South Africa: Vaccination momentum picks up in SA

President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is encouraged that many South Africans see the need to be vaccinated against Coronavirus.

Vaccines are safe. They are our best protection against this disease and the national vaccination programme is our surest guarantee of a swift health and economic recovery, President Ramaphosa said.

In his weekly newsletter on Monday, President Ramaphosa said to meet the demand for vaccination, several vaccination sites around the country are now operating on weekends and many innovations like vaccination drive-throughs and mobile vaccination units are in operation.

As we work to vaccinate as many people as possible by end of the year, we salute the officials, healthcare workers and staff of the vaccination centres who are working tirelessly to support the national effort.

One of the two vaccination sites I visited is run by the private sector, in partnership with government and the other is run by government, yet both facilities had similar levels of excellent service and professionalism, President Ramaphosa said.

He said the private sector, including medical schemes, has worked alongside government from the onset of the pandemic, helping to mobilise resources and most recently, helping to meet the national vaccination targets.

The two vaccination sites I visited are among an estimated 3 000 vaccination sites we have set up in the country. These sites are currently providing vaccines to any person above the age of 35, healthcare workers, and employees in participating workplaces, President Ramaphosa said.

According to President Ramaphosa, the number of vaccinations administered in South Africa has passed the 7.5 million mark.

Around three million people are fully vaccinated. At the present rate, we are vaccinating on average 220 000 people a day. In the coming weeks, this rate will increase significantly due to the arrival of more vaccine doses.

Nearly 1.5 million single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been handed to the Department of Health in the last couple of days.

Over the past weekend, a donation of 5.66 million Pfizer vaccines from the USA government began arriving in the country. This is part of a donation of vaccines from the United States to African countries and low- and middle-income countries in other parts of the world.

President Ramaphosa said South Africa is also making history, with the first COVID-19 vaccines produced in Africa for Africa having been released by Aspen Pharmacare from its flagship manufacturing plant in Gqeberha last week.

These vaccines will be made available to the rest of the continent through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, which we set up during our tenure as African Union chair. Thanks to the efforts of all involved in the multi-sectoral vaccine acquisition response, we now have a comfortable supply of stocks to vaccinate our population.

At the Rabasotho Community Centre in Tembisa, President Ramaphosa said he saw governments Batho Pele principles in action.

The process was efficient and streamlined, from the COVID-19 Vaccination Card people are issued with to help them keep track of their doses, to data-capturing stations, and observation stations with doctors on standby for those who have just received their jab.

Importantly, the site has an information area where those presenting for vaccination are given clear information in their own language on the different vaccine options available, President Ramaphosa said.

President Ramaphosa encouraged South Africans to continue to follow the guidance of the World Health Organisation and the Department of Health around COVID-19 vaccines.

We need to avoid spreading misleading and false information that can cause confusion, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Journalists encouraged to vaccinate

The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), in partnership with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the National Department of Health, is calling on all journalists to get their COVID-19 vaccination.

The call follows the Health Ministrys announcement on Friday that media practitioners can get inoculated at their nearest vaccination site.

The media vaccination programme caters for all age groups of the sector, including journlists under the age of 35.

Journalists above 34 - 60 years of age are still urged to get vaccinated and self-register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) due to their eligibility (sic), GCIS and SANEF said in a joint statement.

Government has concluded a bulk upload for registration of all journalists, who have responded to the call to submit their details through the GCIS facilitated process. Emails will be sent out to all individual journalists, and media houses to confirm their registration on the EVDS.

Individual SMSes will not be sent through the bulk registration system.

Government has thanked the media sector - from the mainstream, community, online/digital, broadcasting, to print as well as freelancers - for participating in the registration process, which took less than a month.

Provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo are already taking advantage of the role the media plays in society by vaccinating journalists, and ensuring that they help encourage young and old in the country to voluntarily participate in the national vaccination project.

This is also helping dispel misinformation and myths about the efficacy of vaccines. The partnership between SANEF, GCIS and the Health Department has proven that a lot can be achieved through cooperation.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: US donates Pfizer vaccine doses to SA

South Africa has received 2.8 million Pfizer vaccine doses from the United States as part of a donation that is set to boost the countrys vaccination rollout campaign.

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi was joined by Deputy Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla and the Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in South Africa, Todd Haskell, in accepting the consignment at OR Tambo International Airport on Saturday.

According to the Department of Health, the arrival of this first batch is part of a donation from the US government.

The initiative is part of the collaboration between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), COVAX, and the US government, with the African Union Member States set to receive about 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to enhance coverage across the continent, and vaccinate at least 60% of the African population.

The next batch will arrive on Tuesday to conclude the 5.6 million doses. The donation will contribute to the countrys expanded vaccination programme, which is fast gaining momentum to reach more people, the Health Department said on Twitter.

The department said these life-saving vaccines arrive at a time when the country gears to vaccinate those aged between 18 and 34 from September.

By the time we open for people between the ages of 18 and 34 to be vaccinated from the 1st of September 2021, we will be able to respond to the demand that this cohort will generate, Kubayi said last week during a media briefing.

The department believes the donation contributes to the security of supply to meet the demands to reach government's milestones to inoculate the majority of the population soon.

In addition, about 1 454 900 Johnson & Johnson vaccines are expected to be transported to various sites on Tuesday.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: SARS seizes illicit cigarettes worth R6m

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has seized illicit cigarettes from a number of Cape Town traders valued at R6 million.

The SARS Customs National Rapid Response Team, together with the South African Police Service (SAPS), seized the consignment on Thursday.

In a statement, the revenue collector said the raid saw 443 master cases, each containing 50 cartons of various brands of cigarettes, seized in the intelligence-driven operation.

SARS said the operation was part of its heightened focus on illicit trade in cigarettes and tobacco products to protect the local industry and broader economy.

The revenue service said the involvement of other enforcement agencies reflects governments approach in which various departments co-operate for a more effective use of resources, greater impact and visibility.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said the import of illicit cigarettes and other goods such as clothing and textiles, counterfeit medicines or remedies, as well as second hand motor vehicles, amongst others, destroys local industry and contributes to the shedding of jobs.

These activities also rob the country of much needed revenue that enables government to deliver basic services to the poor and vulnerable, such as old age pensions, and offer relief to struggling businesses and their employees following the recent riots, he said in a statement.

Kieswetter said there were also health risks for consumers, as illegally imported cigarettes do not comply with South African health regulations and pose a serious health risk to smokers.

There is also a strong connection between these activities and international crime syndicates involved in human trafficking, gun-running, drug-smuggling and terrorism.

SARS has a mandate to facilitate legitimate trade and will not tolerate illicit trade that harms our economy and our people, which is aligned with our strategic objective to make it hard and costly for those who do not comply with our tax and customs and excise legislation, the Commissioner said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Mthethwa sends condolences to Shona Ferguson's family

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, has extended his condolences to the family of television and film icon, Shona Ferguson, who passed away on Friday due to COVID-19 related complications.

Ferguson, aged 47, was married to actress and producer Connie Ferguson.

He cut his teeth in the sector in various television productions, including Generations, Muvhango and The Wild. Ferguson, along with his wife, established Ferguson Films in 2010, and both starred in the companys first TV production, Rockville.

He cemented his talent as a renowned actor when he took on the role of Jerry Maake in The Queen.

He and his wife also set up The Ferguson Foundation in 2010, a programme dedicated to supporting future industry leaders by empowering them in business, education and film.

In 2020, Ferguson made his Netflix debut, partnering with the streaming service on the six-part series, Kings of Joburg.

Mthethwa described Ferguson as a creative gem and a visionary.

He was a media mogul, an innovator and a pioneer who possessed an irrefutable ambition. Our thoughts and prayers are with Connie and the family during this time. Furthermore, we extend our sympathies to the industry at large. May his soul rest in peace, Mthethwa said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Creecy pays tribute to field rangers

Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Barbara Creecy, has paid tribute to field rangers for the incredible work they do daily to keep National Parks and the countrys iconic species safe.

In the battle to conserve our wildlife and halt poaching, it is our rangers who remain at the forefront, putting their lives on the line daily to conserve our environment and vulnerable species, despite the additional risk of contracting COVID-19, Creecy said.

In commemoration of World Ranger Day on Saturday, Creecy also paid tribute to 11 staff members at South African National Parks (SANParks), who lost their lives to COVID-19 over the past year.

We find ourselves in a position where the efforts being made to combat wildlife crime, such as rhino poaching, are influenced to some extent by the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the battle to beat the COVID-19 pandemic.

We also want to remember Field Ranger Checkers Mashego, whose lifeless body was discovered at the Kruger Park late last year. May the souls of all our SANParks staff and field rangers rest in peace after serving our nation with diligence and passion, Creecy said.

She noted that while the national lockdowns that curbed the movement of people to halt the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 contributed to a decrease in rhino poaching, the lifting of the stringent lockdown regulations appears to have seen an increase in rhino poaching in the first six months of 2021.

Over 200 rhino poached

From January to the end of June 2021, a total of 249 rhino have been poached for their horns in South Africa. While this is higher than the number of rhino killed for their horns in the same period last year at 166, it is less than the 318 rhino that were poached in the first six months of 2019.

During the six months, January to June 2021, the Kruger National Park experienced 715 poacher activities, an increase of 3.77% in comparison to the number in 2020, which was 689 for the same period. From January to end of June 2021, a total of 132 rhino were poached for their horns in the Kruger National Park. One elephant was poached for its ivory in the Kruger National Park during this period, Creecy said.

A number of successful arrests and prosecutions has also been recorded in the past six months, underscoring the success of the collaborative work being done by law enforcement agencies.

These include the police, the Hawks, South African National Parks (SANParks), the Environmental Management Inspectorate (Green Scorpions), customs officials, South African National Defence Force (SANDF), provincial park authorities, and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Over 100 arrested for rhino poaching, rhino horn trafficking

From January to June 2021, the Minister said 40 alleged poachers were arrested within the Kruger National Park, with a total of 125 people having been arrested for rhino poaching and rhino horn trafficking across the country in the same period.

Creecy said numerous confiscations of rhino horn have also taken place since January, both within the country as well as at OR Tambo International Airport.

The cohesive partnership with the South East Asian countries is also showing concrete results, with the recent collaboration between South African and Vietnamese authorities resulting in one of the largest seizures of rhino horns and other wildlife products, thereby disrupting syndicate activities. A total of 14 cases have been finalised since the start of the year with a verdict, representing a 93% conviction rate.

The total of 14 convictions represented 20 convicted accused. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finalisation rate in courts has slowed down as witnesses, accused and court staff in many instances are required to isolate or quarantine, and even court buildings in some instances need to be decontaminated. This has had an effect on the finalisation of cases.

It is clear that the multi-disciplinary, integrated approach to investigating illegal wildlife trade is bearing fruit and that effective collaboration with critical role players remains key to our success. I congratulate the teams on a job well done, Creecy said.

Creecy said the department, working with a number of communities, NGOs and donors, continues with various community developmental programmes, in collaboration with its partners, SANParks, provinces and neighbouring countries.

Noticeable increased poacher pressure has been experienced in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State provinces. The department is also monitoring the increased pressure seen on private rhino reserves and is collaborating closely with the private sector, which continues to play a significant role in rhino protection.

Members of the public can report any suspicious activities around wildlife to the environmental crime hotline 0800 205 005, or the SAPS number 10111.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Primary schools resume full-time classes

After more than a year of attending school on a rotational basis to curb the spread of COVID-19, all primary school learners are back in class on a full-time basis from today.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) said the decision to allow Grades 1 to 7 to return to school on a daily basis was approved by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), as advised by scientists who monitor and guide Cabinet on COVID 19- related matters, trends and response mechanisms.

According to the DBE, the return of these learners comes on the backdrop of a successful vaccination programme for the basic education sector with more than 517 000 staffers having received their COVID-19 jab.

The return of primary school learners will enable recovery of learning and teaching time that was lost due to the recently extended school break. To assist in this endeavour, we call on all caregivers eligible for the vaccine to play their part and vaccinate as soon as possible, said the DBE.

The departments spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, visited Kabelo Primary School in Katlehong, Gauteng, on Monday morning to monitor the situation.

Minister Angie Motshekga and Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi were also meant to go to schools as well.

However, due to an urgent matter, both the Minister and MEC were not able to attend this engagement, the department said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Crises an opportunity for SA to review its systems, says PSC

The Public Service Commission (PSC) says the COVID-19 pandemic and recent violence witnessed in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng should be seized as an opportunity to review and strengthen the countrys systems.

These challenges have tested our State, particularly the public services ability to anticipate and respond to disasters, the PSC said in a statement.

After 15 months of enduring the effects of COVID-19, which has left South Africa in the top 10 global list of countries worst affected by the pandemic, the country has in the past two weeks experienced unprecedented levels of unrest and destruction of property, coupled with violence and looting.

The Commission said these acts of violence, which started in KwaZuluNatal and spread to parts of Gauteng, have a socio-economic ripple effect throughout the country.

The cyberattack that has paralysed some of Transnet's critical logistics is also noted as another compounding factor in the midst of these challenges.

The PSC witnessed with shock and regret as the violence took place amidst the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the middle of governments vaccination programme that desperately seeks to mitigate the pandemic and save lives.

While we commend communities organising to protect properties from destruction, we condemn, in the strongest terms, acts of vigilantism that targeted innocent people and even killing some. The reported incidents in Phoenix and Chatsworth, which led to the killing of people, are a matter of grave concern that needs urgent intervention and justice.

We send our sincere condolences to families that have lost their loved ones and wish a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured, the Commission said.

The Commission commended South Africans who, in the midst of the crisis, stood up and ensured that violence did not spread to other provinces and the rest of the country.

COVID-19 and the recent violent lootings underscore the need to urgently address the underlying deep structural challenges of inequality, poverty and food insecurity, youth unemployment as well as the cancer of corruption.

The convergence of the virus and violence has laid bare the urgent need to decisively address South African problems of corruption, poverty, unemployment and inequality, the Commission said.

A capable State would require, among others, a demonstration of strong leadership as well as strong and coherent institutions in a time of crises, the PSC said.

With the implementation of rotational working arrangements aimed at saving lives, the Commission raised concern where services have been negatively impacted.

A simple example is telephone calls in some government institutions that are not answered, despite the modern technology of attending to such remotely, thus compromising the delivery of services.

COVID-19 requires a complete rethink in the way we work and relate across the board, the Commission said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Hong Kong: Half-day schooling continues in Sept

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Schools will continue to conduct half-day, face-to-face lessons in the new school year in September, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung announced at a press conference today.

To offer more flexibility, Mr Yeung said that if an individual student has received their second COVID-19 vaccine dose, the Education Bureau will allow them to stay at school in the afternoon for non-academic activities.

Students could have more chance to exercise and to practise musical instruments and things like that, he added.

In addition, under the latest arrangement, the Government will require all school staff to either get vaccinated or undergo regular testing.

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: Iran warns against any action over tanker attack

Iran vowed on Monday to respond to any "adventurism", its foreign ministry said, after the US and Britain joined Israel in blaming it for a deadly tanker attack, claims Tehran denies.

The MT Mercer Street, managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, was attacked on Thursday off Oman.

A British security guard and a Romanian crew member were killed in what the United States, Britain and the vessel's operator Zodiac Maritime said appeared to be a drone strike.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday Iran should face consequences.

Analysts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of tit-for-tat exchanges in the "shadow war" between Israel and Iran, in which vessels linked to each nation have been targeted in waters around the Gulf.

Israel blamed Iran for the attack, accusations rejected by Tehran, with Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh saying on Sunday that Israel "must stop such baseless accusations".

The US and Britain on Sunday also blamed Iran for the attack, with Washington vowing an "appropriate response".

Iran "will not hesitate to protect its security and national interests, and will immediately and decisively respond to any possible adventurism," ministry spokesman Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

He dismissed the US and Britain's statements as "contradictory", and said "if they have any evidence to support their baseless claims, they should provide them".

Khatibzadeh also accused them of effectively supporting "terrorist attacks against and sabotage of Iran's commercial ships" through their "silence". (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: German academic's wife charged with spying for China

The wife of a German academic charged with spying for China has been indicted herself, with federal prosecutors on Monday saying she assisted her husband in sharing information with Chinese secret services.

According to prosecutors in Karlsruhe, German-Italian national Klara K and her husband Klaus L were approached by Chinese agents during a lecture tour to Shanghai in 2010.

From then until November 2019, the couple "regularly passed on information to the Chinese intelligence service in the run-up to or after state visits or multinational conferences", prosecutors allege.

Klaus L had been running a political think tank since 2001, gaining international importance due to his scientific reputation and the networks he had built up over many years, the prosecutors said.

The pair obtained information primarily from his numerous high-ranking political contacts, they said.

Chinese intelligence allegedly paid for the tips and for the pair to travel to meetings with their handlers.

Neither Klaus L nor his wife are in pre-trial detention.

The case has drawn close interest in Germany, with public broadcaster ARD saying Klaus L, 75, led a double life and had also been working as a spy for the German foreign intelligence services (BND).

According to the report, Klaus L worked for the BND for around 50 years, being paid to supply information from the top professional contacts he made in the course of his career.

Investigators searched his home in November 2019, the ARD report said, just as he and his wife were on their way to Munich airport.

The fact that Klaus L was only formally charged this year is a sign of how complex the case is, the ARD report said  he apparently did not deny that he was spying for the Chinese, but claimed the German secret services knew about it.

It is unclear whether the Chinese secret service knew about Klaus L's connections to the BND. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-08-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Shanghai (Gasgoo)- HOZON Auto, the Chinese startup owning EV brand NETA, said on Monday it achieved its highest-ever monthly sales in July 2021 with 6,011 new vehicles delivered, posting a 392% year-over-year hike. Besides, it was also the first time for the company to get a monthly delivery volume topping 6,000 units.

Of the cars delivered last month, 90% were handed over to private users.

For the Jan.-Jul. period, the EV manufacturer delivered a total of 27,115 new vehicles.



NETA; photo credit: NETA U Pro



HOZON Auto currently has three mass-produced models for sale, namely, the NETA N01, the NETA V, and the NETA U Pro, covering small-sized and compact SUV segments. The company saw its 40,000th vehicle roll off the assembly line at the car manufacturing plant in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province on May 10. The automaker is intensifying efforts to construct the car plant in Yichun, Jiangxi province, which is set to start production at the end of this year. By that moment, HOZON Auto will feature a total capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year.

According to Zhang Yong, co-founder and CEO of HOZON Auto, the startup will strive to hit the annual sales of 50,000 vehicles in 2021.

In the first half of the year, the startup formed a strategic partnership with the cybersecurity giant Qihoo 360 to co-build affordable smart EV models priced around 100,000 yuan ($15,470). The cooperation is expected to improve NETA's brand image and further drive the company's sales.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Beijing-based AI solution provider Horizon Robotics launched on July 29 its new-generation smart driving chip Journey 5. The full-scenario intelligent complete vehicle solution and computing platform built on the newly-launched chip were unveiled at the same time.

The Journey 5 chip is Horizon Robotics' third-generation automotive-grade AI chip following the Journey 2 and the Journey 3.



Photo credit: Horizon Robotics

Used in smart vehicle computing platform, the Journey 5 is available for rapid volume production, the first of its kind in China. The company said it outperforms NVIDIA's Orin in terms of running points. Single chip of the Journey 5 boasts an AI powering power of up to 128 TOPS.

Moreover, the newly-launched chip supports 16-channel camera perception and the demands for multi-sensor fusion, prediction, planning, and control.

The startup claimed the Journey 5 is Chinas first automotive-grade AI chip according with the ISO 26262 functional safety automotive standard.

The computing platform based on the Journey 5 chip features an AI computing power of 200-1,000 TOPS. The company said the platform can create more possibilities for improving intelligent performances of front-view perception, panoramic visual perception, fully automatic driving, multi-sensor fusion, multimodal perception, and positioning decision-making.

In the meantime, the chip developer launched the smart automobile solution named Horizon Matrix SuperDrive that integrates full-scenario driving automation, in-car human-machine interaction, and the connection between the spaces inside and outside car. Riding on the Journey 5-based computing platform, the solution combines up to 47 sensors and can meet the automotive intelligence demands in scenarios like highways, urban areas, car parking, and human-machine interaction.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- NIO Inc. (NIO) delivered 7,931 new vehicles in July 2021, representing a 124.5% year-on-year surge, the Chinese EV startup announced on Monday.

Photo credit: NIO

The July deliveries consisted of 1,702 all-new ES8 SUVs, 3,669 ES6 SUVs, and 2,560 EC6 coupe SUVs. Notably, the monthly deliveries of the all-new ES8 hit a record-breaking level.

NIO ES6; photo credit: NIO



For the first seven months of 2021, NIO's cumulative deliveries amounted to 49,887 vehicles, exceeding the full-year number of last year.

According to NIO, its 100kWh battery pack has been deployed to all NIO Power Swap Stations. The delivery of the 100kWh battery pack will significantly ramp up in the coming months.

The number of NIO's battery swapping stations is expected to exceed 700 by the end of this year, the startup said at the NIO Power Day 2021. Besides, there will be more than 600 stations newly deployed per year between 2022 and 2025. The company is ambitious to deploy over 4,000 battery swapping stations worldwide by 2025.

Regarding NIO's overseas business, the first batch of the NIO ES8s for delivery to Norwegian users was shipped from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port on July 20, and is expected for preorder and delivery in September 2021. Following the ES8, NIO plans to start handing over the ET7 sedan in Norway in 2022.


D. James Kennedy Ministries Weighs Supreme Court Appeal After 11th Circuit Rejects its SPLC Lawsuit

NEWS PROVIDED BY

D. James Kennedy Ministries

Aug. 2, 2021



FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 2, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) is reviewing its legal options after the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on July 28 a lower court ruling dismissing DJKM's defamation and discrimination lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] and Amazon.



"While I disagree with the Court's conclusion in our case, this opinion does have some bright spots," said Frank Wright, Ph.D., President and CEO of D. James Kennedy Ministries.



"We are now four years into our efforts to defend Bible-believing Christians against false and defamatory statements. My guess is that we are not done with this effort. DJKM's Board of Directors will decide on an appeal in the next few weeks."



DJKM sued the SPLC in 2017 after the self-styled "hate" watchdog/Left-wing advocacy group placed DJKM on the SPLC's "hate map" and classified DJKM as a "hate group" for teaching the traditional, Biblical position on marriage and sexuality. Because of SPLC's false and defamatory label, DJKM has suffered reputational injury and financial harm from both increased security expenses and decreased donations.



Because of the SPLC's false label, Amazon excluded the ministry from participating in Amazon's "Smile" charity program. The 11th Circuit, with respect to Amazon, affirmed in its opinion the "bedrock principle" that "no person in this country may be compelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support."



That "bedrock principle," Wright said, is here applied to the world's largest online retailer. Many sole proprietor Christian bakers, photographers and florist, he added, want the same protection. "Instead, they are now forced to fight in courtsand not always successfullyto have this core legal standard applied to them in the context of same-sex 'marriage.'"



The 11th Circuit's opinion, as to the SPLC, did not surprise, said DJKM's attorney, David Gibbs III:

At least with respect to SPLC, the opinion is what we expected. Although the Court did not address this in its decision, we actually cited Justice Thomas' concurrence in Mckee v. Cosby that encouraged litigants to challenge the New York Times v. Sullivan actual malice standard. We cited that opinion with the intent of challenging the actual malice standard. In its decision, the 11th Circuit affirmed the District Court on the basis of actual malice, so we are exactly where we intended to be at this point.

Gibbs noted that two members of the High Court, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have now urged the Court to revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 case on which the 11th Circuit relied in its opinion denying DJKM protection against defamation.



"Justice Thomas and now Justice Gorsuch are looking for a case to use to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan," he said. "This might be the one."



D. James Kennedy Ministries is a media ministry whose television program, Truths That Transform, airs nationwide. It actively communicates the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of His Lordship, and a Biblically informed view of the world.



SOURCE D. James Kennedy Ministries



CONTACT: John Aman, j.aman@djkm.org


What's on August 2-8 (Daily updated)

EXHIBITION





Hanoi-Photographic Exhibition: Italian Routes & Landscapes of Vietnam







Jul 23- Aug 23, 08:30 am  05:30 pm

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Nguyen Van Huyen Street



From Embassy of Italy in Hanoi



The Italian Embassy in Hanoi is delighted to present the photographic exhibition ITALIAN ROUTES  Mountains, mountaineering, climate change.



This is a project of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, heading to the COP-26 co-chaired by the United Kingdom and Italy at the end of 2021 in Glasgow. Viet Nam (Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi) is the first destination before going to the republic of Korea and other Asian locations.



Hanoi-Art Showcase: Illusion











Until Aug 15, 10 am  07 pm

Mo Art Space, 136 Hang Trong Street, Hoan Kiem District



From the organizer:



This July, Mo Art Space would like to invite Hanoi art lovers to visit the art showcase Illusion by Le Brothers ( Le Ngoc Thanh and Le Duc Hai). Illusion is the name of the latest art project of Le Ngoc Thanh and Le Duc Hai, as known as Le Brothers, a pair of twin artists originally from Quang Binh province but living and working in the city of Hue for the past 20 years. The project was first showcased for the first time in 2020 at Le Ba Dang art center  Hue City and would be on display at Mo Art Space in Hanoi this July.



Online exhibition features Vietnamese, foreign artists













An online exhibition The Story of the River featuring 20 paintings by Vietnamese and foreign artists is on display at artspaces.kunstmatrix.com.



The Vietnamese artists joining in the exhibition include Le Dinh Nguyen, Ton That Bang and Pham Binh Chuong.



Painters Nicolaos D. Kanellos of Greece and Hadi Soesanto of Indonesia are also included.



Highlighted works include creations by Kanellos, former Greek ambassador to Vietnam. His paintings feature his love for Vietnam and its people.



The exhibition will be open through July. The organiser, Song Foundation, will host painting auctions online from July 22 to 29 at https://fb.com/jangkeu2007 to raise funds for charity and social programmes.





Hanoi-Exhibition presents latest lacquer paintings















Until August 9,



Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich Street, Ba inh District



An exhibition entitled Om Khoanh Troi Cu or Fragments of Nostalgia, featuring the latest lacquer works by Hanoi-based artist Nguyen Tuan Cuong



Fragments of Nostalgia aims to uncover the interrelationships in space and time and reflects on presences and absences, and shapes and shadows in liminal space.



Hanoi-Exhibition The Mekong  Stories of Man













Until Sep 12

LEspace, 24 Trang Tien Street



From LEspace:



Lam Duc Hien travelled the Mekong river on a 4,200 km stretch, following its waters from the bustling River of Nine Dragons delta in Vietnam all the way to its source in the snow-covered Tibetan plateau. This cross-continent journey bears a special meaning for Lam as a French-Vietnamese photographer who spent his childhood on the shores of the Mekong in Laos, where it is affectionately called Mother of Rivers.



In this visual diary, Lam interweaves his personal story with that of the rivers current inhabitants. Here, the Mekong simultaneously connects and divides lands, cultures, and destinies.



Vietnam to host first national cultural heritage photo contest















Until November



A national cultural heritage photo contest and exhibition to raise awareness of heritage conservation within the local community.



Competitors are able to submit their entries detailing various aspects of Vietnamese heritage, including local historical and cultural sites, architecture, art, and enthralling scenic spots.



The most outstanding artworks will then be selected for a photo exhibition.



The event is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as part of activities in the lead up to Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day on November 23.



Binh Dinh Province-Exhibition: ECO-SUS

















Opening: Apr 8, 03 pm

Exhibition: Apr 8  Aug 8

International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education, 7 Science Avenue, Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province



From the organizer:



Featuring 11 Visual artists across Vietnam.



ECO-SUS is curated by artists The Son and Uu Dam, opening along with Winter School for Sustainable Development with 100 excellent fellows and respected speakers organized by Danh Nguyen. ICISE, a European-style building inspired by Binh Dinh nature, situated in the heart of a 21 hectares valley surrounded by majestic mountains and a long yellow sand beach. A remarkable architecture design by the famous Jean Francois Milou. See you at this fascinating exhibition.



The thrilling ECO-SUS exhibition will take place on the beach at 3 PM on April 8th:

1. 03 pm  Warm-up, kick start with with a viral and ambitious artwork from ECO-I by artist Nguyen Tran Uu am on Quy Nhon yellow sand beach to raise global awareness about the pollution.

2. 04 pm  Opening exhibition of 11 Vietnamese artists with their world-class artworks. Curatorial tour lead by artist/curator The Son

3. 04:30 pm  Chula Fashion show by designer Del Valle Cortizas Diego.



4. 09 Apr  Explore Lang Song, an old monastery, a beautiful structure that built and stood for 158 years, listen to singing hymns, visit publication in the very historic place where Jesuits record the first Vietnamese sounds in Latin.
China fulfills its promise to make COVID-19 vaccine a global public good

20:47, August 01, 2021 By Qu Song ( People's Daily

China has provided more than 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and concentrates to countries across the world, according to the latest data from China's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council. So far, China has donated and exported more doses than all other nations combined.

China has been calling for closer international cooperation on vaccines to ensure that they are both accessible and affordable in developing countries and that they become a global public good. Despite its own huge population and tight vaccine supply, China has actively responded to other nations' requests for vaccine cooperation, injecting confidence and strength into the global fight against the pandemic.

A batch of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines arrives at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 31, 2021. A plane carrying a new batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine landed in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Saturday, giving another boost to the country in its vaccination drive. (Xinhua/Ly Lay)

All-out effort to vaccinate the world

Recently, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization announced that it had signed advance purchase agreements with two Chinese pharmaceutical companies  Sinopharm and Sinovac (both of their respective vaccines have already been included in the WHO's Emergency Use Listing after thorough reviews by WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE)). The move signifies that the two companies will provide vaccines to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program, making a greater contribution to anti-pandemic efforts in developing countries.

With a growing number of people receiving Chinese vaccines worldwide, more and more data has validated the safety and efficacy of the Chinese vaccines.

For many developing nations, Chinese vaccines have been perceived as a "timely rain", since those initial doses have been the first batches of vaccines they were able to obtain. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea, has pointed out that the Chinese vaccines have brought hope for the country's fight against the epidemic. President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe has highlighted that the vaccines donated by China are like a light at the end of the tunnel. "Without assistance from China," said Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, "maybe we will not have vaccines for nearly 2 million Cambodian people," he further claimed, at the 26th International Conference on the Future of Asia.

World heads of state and senior government officials have taken the lead in receiving and casting their votes of confidence in Chinese vaccines. Among them, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got their vaccine jabs live on television; Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he felt pretty good after the vaccination; while Salman, Crown Prince of Bahrain, participated in Sinopharm's Phase III international clinical trial for the company's inactivated vaccine as a volunteer and received one of its very first doses.

On January 29, the Hungarian government sealed a deal with Sinopharm to purchase 5 million doses of vaccines from the company, making it the first member country of the European Union to approve China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, believed that the Hungarian government had made the right decision to join hands with Sinopharm, as he pointed out that vaccines are not a geopolitical issue, but a life-saving tool. "We would like to thank China for providing several batches of vaccines timely or even ahead of schedule to protect the lives of one million Hungarian people, despite China's own tight demand. We will never forget it," the Hungarian minister said during a meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on May 31, 2021.

At the handover ceremony of Chinese-donated vaccines, Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, spoke highly of China's vaccine assistance, highlighting that China has always taken the initiative in aiding and supporting developing countries, which has become ever more precious "when certain nations are still hoarding vaccines".

Indeed, Chinese vaccines have gained a good reputation in the international community with their safety and efficacy being widely recognized. Maria Rene Castro, Deputy Minister of Health for Bolivia, was convinced that the Sinopharm vaccines can help Bolivia to effectively build an "immunity barrier" in the border area.

A staff shows anti-COVID-19 human immunoglobulin at the booth of Sinopharm in the special area for public health and epidemic prevention during the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, capital of China, on Sept. 5, 2020. (Xinhua photo)

Commitment to vaccine production cooperation

In addition to vaccine assistance and exports, China has also carried out joint research and development as well as the joint production of COVID-19 vaccines together with developing countries, including the UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil, and has supported companies in cooperating with their foreign counterparts to carry out phase III clinical trials. With this support, the production capacity of these nations has expanded to 200 million doses, providing a strong impetus in the global fight against the pandemic.

This February, the Butantan Institute, a Brazilian biologic research center, carried out a mass vaccination trial in Serrana, Sao Paulo. Data from the mass trial showed that, after most residents received two doses of vaccines developed by Sinovac, symptomatic cases were reduced by 80% and hospitalizations dropped by 86% while deaths plunged by as much as 95%. Data also showed that cases among those residents otherwise ineligible for the vaccine, due to their being under 18 years old or pregnant, had also declined.

A new factory linked to the Butantan Institute to produce COVID-19 vaccines was jointly developed with Sinovac and has been under construction since last November, according to O Globo, an influential newspaper in Brazil, which is expected to be fully completed this October. Sinovac will dispatch a group of experts to Brazil to provide technical support to the new factory.

On March 28, 2021, an online launch ceremony for a China-UAE cooperative project on COVID-19 vaccine production was held in the capital cities of the two countries and north China's Hebei Province, simultaneously. The project, which consists of three filling lines and five packaging lines, aimed to help the UAE to manufacture its first batch of vaccines named Hayat-Vax (Hayat meaning "life" in Arabic).

In recent days, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt had completed a production run for its first batch of 1 million doses of the Sinovac vaccines. Madbouly stressed that COVID-19 vaccines are currently in short supply globally, and therefore, local production of the vaccines is very important to Egypt.

Last month, Sinopharm and Morocco signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in vaccine filling and production. Working together, the two sides will not only step up efforts in local epidemic control but will also dedicate themselves to serving the entire African continent.

A medical worker learns about a foreigner's medical history before vaccination at a vaccination site in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, May 12, 2021. Anhui has recently started COVID-19 vaccination for foreign nationals in the province. Foreign nationals of appropriate age, following the principle of voluntary participation, giving informed consent and assuming personal responsibility for risk, take the COVID-19 vaccine. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

Vaccinating foreigners in China

In order to optimize the immunity barrier, protect the health of foreigners in China, and safeguard their work, studies and life in the country, China has included foreigners within the eligible age group in its nationwide vaccination drive. So far, more than 350,000 foreigners have received a combination of over 600,000 doses of vaccines in China.

On April 9, Peking University launched its vaccination campaign for Chinese and foreign faculty members and students. Through multi-department collaboration, nearly 1,250 Chinese and foreign teachers and students received doses on that day. Mendu, a student from Cameroon, was confident in the reliability of Chinese vaccines. He hoped that with his vaccination, increasingly more people would join in the common endeavor for epidemic prevention and control.

The tremendous efforts made by the Chinese government and medical staff in the vaccination drive have warmed the hearts of many foreigners. A few days ago, a Shanghai delivery guy posted a short video on social media showing a special order he had received: drinks ordered by a German guy living in Shanghai named Frank that was sent to a community health center. On the receipt, Frank left a note, which read, "I am very grateful that I could get the COVID-19 vaccine in China, please send these drinks to the medical staff there."

Muhammad Sultan Irshad, a Pakistani student at Hubei University, had served as a volunteer during the period of epidemic prevention and control in Wuhan back in 2020. His work involved distributing masks to his classmates, providing mental health support, and even cooking for foreign students. This March, he became one of the first 12 foreign students on the school's campus who volunteered to get vaccinated. In the past few months, Sultan has worked on sharing China's anti-epidemic measures and economic progress through original video clips and articles in a bid to refute misinformation. "China's great efforts have made a huge contribution to the world's fight against the pandemic," Sultan said.

(Web editor: Du Mingming, Bianji)
Building a peace-loving world-class military

Xinhua) 08:05, August 02, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with representatives of troops stationed in Tibet, in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, July 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- When extremely heavy rainstorms devastated central China in July, it was hard not to notice the troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on dams, reservoirs and riverbanks -- the most dangerous areas in the battle against floods.

They rushed to the forefront answering the Party's call, fixed dam breaches, evacuated residents in danger, and blasted barriers to release floodwater. The Party's flag flew over the field, and banners on their trucks read "People First, Life First."

This provides a glimpse of how the PLA is fulfilling duties in the new era.

A strong country must have a strong military, as only then can it guarantee the security of the nation, said Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Over the past few years, the PLA is redoubling the efforts to build a peace-loving world-class military that obeys the Party's command, can fight and win, and maintains excellent conduct.

In his latest speech, Xi reiterated that the Party must command the gun.

Firmly following the Party's leadership is the fundamental reason why the PLA triumphed over all kinds of trials and tribulations, and advanced from victory to victory, according to Xi.

MODERNIZATION FOR PROTECTING PEACE

China aims to basically complete the modernization of its national defense and the people's armed forces by 2035, and fully transform its armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century.

Rescuers carry sandbags to reinforce the embankment in Xunxian County, central China's Henan Province, July 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Li An)

Major structural changes took place in the armed forces after late November 2015, when Xi unleashed a sweeping military reform.

He attaches great importance to military training. Combat capability was established as the "sole and fundamental" benchmark of the military.

Only those capable of fighting can stop battles, and only those prepared for war don't have to fall into war, said Xi.

"We must put all of our mind and energy in honing the combat capability, and ensure that we are fully prepared, able to fight and capable of winning any time the Party or the people are in need," said Xu Dawei, a military officer, whose brigade works on drone technology.

As China keeps building up its national defense and armed forces, the defensive nature of the country's national defense policy remains unchanged.

"This is written into the National Defense Law, becoming a basic, abiding and long-term policy we uphold," said He Lei, a national lawmaker and former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences.

International public security goods were also provided during the PLA's recent exchanges and cooperation with its counterparts around the world.

Over the past 30 years, China has sent over 40,000 peacekeepers to 25 UN peacekeeping missions, according to a white paper on China's United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Operations released last September.

Members of a medical detachment of China's 24th peacekeeping team to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) make rice dumplings on the occasion of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in Bukavu, the DRC, June 14, 2021. (Xinhua)

China is the second-largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and the largest troop contributor among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, said the white paper.

China never seeks hegemony or expansion and firmly opposes hegemonism and power politics, Xi said.

Instead, the Chinese military has tasked itself with the mission of building a community with a shared future for humanity, taking an active part in international disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the wake of COVID-19.

Since February this year, China's armed forces have provided 25 batches of COVID-19 vaccine assistance to armed forces of over 20 countries including Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Sudan.

The Chinese military will always be a staunch defender of world peace, said Xi.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Research firms cut U.S. growth forecast after disappointing Q2 GDP print

Xinhua) 08:08, August 02, 2021

People walk across a street in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

U.S. real GDP is now set to grow slightly below 7 percent for the year 2021 as a whole, versus earlier expectation of a 7.5-percent expansion, says Prajakta Bhide.

NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Multiple research institutions have reduced their forecasts on U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2021 following lower-than-expected GDP growth data in the second quarter issued on Thursday.

The U.S. economy in Q2 only grew at 6.5 percent quarter on quarter in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), well below market expectation of around 8.5 percent, according to data issued by the U.S. Commerce Department.

"This trimmed our 2021 annual growth forecast to 6.2 percent from 6.5 percent," said Michelle Meyer, U.S. economist with BofA Securities, Inc. on Friday.

People walk on a street in New York, the United States, July 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Goldman Sachs also reduced its forecast on U.S. GDP growth in the second half of 2021 by one percentage point citing sluggish consumer spending and impacts of the Delta variant.

While keeping its forecast of U.S. economic growth for 2021 unchanged at 6.6 percent, Goldman Sachs said U.S. economic expansion rate would fall to 1.5-2 percent in the second half of 2022.

U.S. real GDP is now set to grow slightly below 7 percent for the year 2021 as a whole, versus earlier expectation of a 7.5-percent expansion, said Prajakta Bhide, U.S. economy and policy strategist with MRB Partners, a New York-based private research firm.

A visitor is seen in a 2021 Lexus LS 500 convertible at the 2021 Chicago Auto Show held at McCormick Place in Chicago, the United States, on July 15, 2021. (Photo by Joel Lerner/Xinhua)

Supply constraints forced business to reach deeper into already-low inventories to meet demand in H1, which are clearly posing a roadblock to even stronger growth with contraction of residential investment in Q2, said Bhide on Thursday.

Component shortages may restrain the business prospects of some companies in the second half, said Salvatore Ruscitti, U.S. equities strategist with MRB Partners.

However, some economists remain positive on the outlook of the overall U.S. economic growth picture, despite this disappointing GDP print in Q2.

"We are not concerned about U.S. growth heading into and through 2022," said Bhide, adding that the overdue positive growth payback from inventory re-building will materialize in 2022 instead of this year.

Customers are seen at a cafe in a shopping mall in San Mateo, California, the United States, July 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

BofA Securities maintains its forecast on U.S. economic growth in H2 but adjusts the composition, taking up inventories but down residential investment and consumption amid virus headwinds.

The silver lining is that the drop in inventories sets the stage for significant positive payback in coming quarters, which will underpin elevated GDP growth, according to Meyer.

The expansion momentum in the U.S. economy can be sustained due to low inventories at businesses and pent-up consumer demand, according to a research note by UBS Global Wealth Management on Friday.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Commentary: Chinese military: determined defender of world peace

Xinhua) 08:08, August 02, 2021

BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- August 1 marks the 94th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). As the world undergoes profound changes unseen in a century, the PLA will safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests and never seek expansion or spheres of influence.

China's national defense aims to deter and resist aggression; to safeguard national political security, people's security, and social stability; to oppose and contain "Taiwan independence"; to crack down on proponents of separatist movements such as "Tibet independence" and the creation of "East Turkistan"; to safeguard national sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and security; to protect China's maritime rights and interests; to safeguard China's security interests in outer space, electromagnetic space and cyberspace; to protect China's overseas interests, and to support sustainable development of the country.

The Chinese nation has always loved peace. Since the beginning of modern times, the Chinese have suffered from aggressions and wars, and have learned the value of peace and the pressing need for development. Therefore, China will never inflict such sufferings on any country.

Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has never started any war or conflict. Since the introduction of reform and opening-up, China has been committed to promoting world peace, and has voluntarily downsized the PLA by over 4 million troops. China has grown from a poor and weak country to be the world's second-largest economy neither by receiving handouts nor by engaging in military expansion or colonial plunder.

Instead, it has developed through the hard work of its people and its efforts to maintain peace. China has made every effort to create favorable conditions for development through maintaining world peace and has equally endeavored to promote global peace through its own development. China sincerely hopes that all countries will choose the path of peaceful development and jointly prevent conflicts and wars.

China is committed to developing friendly cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. China respects the rights of all people to independently choose their own development path, and stands for the settlement of international disputes through equal dialogue, negotiation, and consultation.

China is opposed to interference in the internal affairs of others, abuse of the weak by the strong, and any attempt to impose one's will on others. China advocates partnerships rather than alliances and does not join any military bloc. It stands against aggression and expansion, and opposes arbitrary use or threat of arms.

The development of China's national defense aims to meet its rightful security needs and contribute to the growth of the world's peaceful forces. History proves and will continue to prove that China will never follow the beaten track of big powers in seeking hegemony. No matter how much it might develop, China will never threaten any country or seek any sphere of influence.

In the meantime, China has the resolve and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow the secession of any part of its territory by anyone, any organization, or any political party by any means at any time.

The "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and their actions remain the gravest immediate threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the biggest barrier hindering the peaceful reunification of the country.

China makes no promise to renounce the use of force, and reserves the option of taking all necessary measures. This is by no means targeted at our compatriots in Taiwan but at the interference of external forces and the very small number of "Taiwan independence" separatists and their activities. The PLA will resolutely defeat anyone attempting to separate Taiwan from China and safeguard national unity at all costs.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Hong Kong stronger as global financial hub with national security law

Xinhua) 08:13, August 02, 2021

-- From investors to businesses, stakeholders have been more optimistic since the national security law in Hong Kong took effect;

-- Over the past years, Hong Kong's closer financial ties with the mainland, which feature bond and stock trading programs, have cemented its status;

-- "There is no better place in Asia to operate the regional office of a multinational than Hong Kong," a businessman from the United States said.

HONG KONG, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- One year after the introduction of the national security law in Hong Kong, the international financial hub has retained, if not enhanced, its global appeal with the restoration of a peaceful business environment.

Guests pose for a group photo during a ceremony themed on National Security Education Day in south China's Hong Kong, April 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

COMPETITIVE AS BEFORE

Hong Kong remains a competitive and attractive financial center, Nicolas Aguzin, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), has said.

"It is home to open, globalized and transparent markets, robust infrastructure, internationally-aligned regulatory regimes, the rule of law, the free flow of information and capital, and a deep pool of talent," said Aguzin, who joined HKEX in May after working in Hong Kong for nine years at JPMorgan.

From investors to businesses, stakeholders have been more optimistic since the national security law in Hong Kong took effect on June 30, 2020.

Photo taken on July 31, 2021 shows the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

A sequence of positive changes has taken shape. There was neither a capital flight nor exodus of foreign firms, and quite the opposite, major global financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, have maintained or planned to increase their presence here.

"The law has proved effective in restoring law and order and guaranteeing a stable and predictable environment, where investment is protected and companies feel more secure to operate," said Liang Haiming, a Hong Kong-based economist.

Figures do not lie. Over 300 billion Hong Kong dollars (38.6 billion U.S. dollars) flowed into Hong Kong from July to October 2020, and there was also a capital net influx for the whole of 2020. As one of the major bourses in the world, HKEX witnessed an over-50-percent year-on-year increase in IPO fund-raising in 2020, while assets under management here amounted to nearly 35 trillion Hong Kong dollars (4.5 trillion U.S. dollars), up 21 percent from the year before.

The IMF recently reaffirmed Hong Kong's status as an international financial center, citing its resilient financial system as well as the policies and regulatory frameworks. Hong Kong was also the third-largest recipient of foreign direct investment last year, according to a report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Photo taken on July 31, 2021 shows the statues on the square of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

BEST OF MANY ADVANTAGES

As a gateway to the mainland, Hong Kong has over the past decades thrived on the rapid growth of the world's second-largest economy and become one of the most prosperous regions in the Asia-Pacific.

Hong Kong's success largely hinges upon "one country, two systems," said Charles Li, a renowned banker who worked for big financial institutions including HKEX, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch, respectively, over the last two decades.

While foreign investors here find better access to the enormous and ever-expanding mainland market, mainland companies see Hong Kong as a springboard for their global journey and a superior fund-raising platform.

Aerial panoramic photo taken on Sept. 12, 2020 shows the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in south China. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

Over the past years, Hong Kong's closer financial ties with the mainland, which feature bond and stock trading programs, have cemented its status. At the end of 2020, mainland enterprises accounted for more than half the companies listed here and held 80 percent of aggregate market capitalization.

"The more integration, the more benefits," said Hong Hao, chief researcher at BOCOM International.

While many parts of the world are still struggling with COVID-19, Hong Kong has bounced back thanks to a fast-recovering mainland economy.

Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, highlighted opportunities brought by a new five-year plan of the country, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The HKSAR government has strong confidence and ability to fully utilize Hong Kong's unique advantages and competitiveness, and grasp the enormous opportunities... leading Hong Kong's economy to prosperity," he said.

Aerial photo taken on July 1, 2021 shows boats cruising at the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

"STRONG HEARTBEAT"

Responding to a recent U.S. government warning about doing business in Hong Kong, Jim Thompson, a businessman from the United States, who has operated a business in Hong Kong for 55 years, said the U.S. intervention was pointless.

"Most of us think it's a ridiculous and unnecessary effort on the part of the United States. We don't need a warning from U.S. President Joe Biden or his advisers because we know what we're doing," said Thompson, chairman of logistics company Crown Worldwide Group.

While the United States has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong over the past year, including freezing assets of its officials and revoking its special trade status, Hong Kong is largely unscathed. Most businesses here remain unchanged.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said Hong Kong is still a critical facilitator of trade and financial flow between the East and West, and it has a crucial role to play as an international business hub.

Hong Kong has one of the best infrastructures in Asia, an internationally-recognized system of commercial law, and a more open and sophisticated digital infrastructure than many of its Asian peers, the chamber said.

People dine at a restaurant in a department store in Central area of Hong Kong, south China, July 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

After doing business here for decades, Thompson remains a staunch believer in Hong Kong.

"Businesses like to operate in a stable environment, with a fair rule of law and a non-corrupt and safe operating atmosphere to have comfort," Thompson said as he welcomed the restoration of stability by the national security law.

"There is no better place in Asia to operate the regional office of a multinational than Hong Kong," he said.

Hong Kong "has always had a very strong heartbeat and that beat remains very strong today," said the businessman.

In 2020, some 9,000 overseas and mainland companies operate in Hong Kong, over 40 percent of which have their regional headquarters or offices here. Business registrations also grew steadily in the first half of this year, adding to evidence of investors' confidence in Hong Kong.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
First verdict shows the national security law in HK shall never be played with

08:17, August 02, 2021 By Wang Yuan ( People's Daily

File photo taken on June 29, 2020 shows a billboard promoting the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in the Central district in Hong Kong. (Photo/Xinhua)

The first verdict under the National Security Law for Hong Kong warned people who "disrupted and damaged Hong Kong society" that the rule of law is never to be played with, and those who go against the laws shall never escape punishment.

On July 30, the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced that Leon Tong Ying-kit had been sentenced to nine years in prison for inciting others to split the country and terrorist activities. This judgment strongly demonstrates the rule of law and justice, establishes legal authority that cannot be challenged, and once again warns the small group of people, who are vainly trying to "disrupt and damage Hong Kong society", that Chinas strong will to safeguard national sovereignty, security and developing interests cannot be shaken. The historical trend from chaos to governance, from governance to revival of Hong Kong is unchangeable.

On July 1st last year, the day after the National Security Law for Hong Kong came into effect, Leon Tong Ying-kit drove a motorcycle with violent flags inciting Hong Kong independence deliberately crashing into the police line and knocked down three police officers. His behavior involves serious violence and it is a dangerous activity that seriously endangers public safety and causes serious harm to society. The police cited the National Security Law for Hong Kong and charged Leon Tong Ying-kit with the crime of inciting others to split the country and terrorist activities. He became the first person convicted under the National Security Law for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a society ruled by law, where the laws must be observed and law-breakers must be prosecuted. The delinquency in the case is conclusive. The judgment of the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is in line with the legislative intent of the HKSARs National Security Law to safeguard national sovereignty, security and prohibit incitement to Hong Kong independence.

Since the implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong from a year ago, Hong Kong citizens legal rights and freedoms have been fully protected, and the rule of law and judicial independence have been intact. Moreover, the people have regained a peaceful life, and social justice has been served. Facts have proved that the the National Security Law for Hong Kong protects Hong Kongs society safety and stability, and it is a proper law to help One country, Two systems stable and far-reaching.

The first verdict under the National Security Law for Hong Kong warned people who "disrupted and damaged Hong Kong society" that the rule of law is never to be played with, and those who go against the laws shall never escape punishment.. The National Security Law takes root in Hong Kong and will surely exert a further effect on curbing crime. It also plays an important role in safeguarding national sovereignty and security, maintaining Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability, ensuring the stability and long-term development of One Country, Two Systems, and illuminating the road to Hong Kongs vigorous development.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
China calls for communication on supervision of Chinese firms seeking listings in U.S.

Xinhua) 08:29, August 02, 2021

BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. and Chinese regulators should enhance communication on the supervision of China concept stocks and work out proper solutions, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Sunday.

These efforts, in the spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, should help create positive expectations for policies and foster a sound institutional environment for the market, said the CSRC.

A CSRC spokesperson made the remarks when commenting on the recent statement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring Chinese companies seeking listings in the United States to disclose more information.

It is an inevitable choice to strengthen regulatory cooperation between the Chinese and U.S. capital markets, both important markets in the world and increasingly interconnected, the spokesperson noted.

The purpose of ongoing regulation of certain industries by Chinese authorities is to ensure both development and security and promote sustained and sound development of market entities, according to the spokesperson.

The CSRC will keep in close touch with relevant authorities when making and implementing regulations and step up coordination between investors, enterprises and regulators to further improve the transparency and predictability of policy measures, said the spokesperson.

China has always been open to enterprises' choice of listing places and supported firms in choosing both domestic and international markets in accordance with laws and regulations.

No matter where an enterprise is listed, it should comply with laws, regulations and regulatory requirements of the place where it goes public or operates in, the spokesperson said.

"The prospects of China's capital market are predictable, with sustainable and healthy development," the spokesperson said, adding that Chinese economy has sustained steady recovery since the beginning of the year, seeing prosperous development of a large number of outstanding enterprises and continuous increase in high-quality investment targets in the capital market.

As long as listed companies are operating well with high quality and constantly improving business ecology, they will naturally appeal to investors, said the spokesperson.

Firmly sticking to the basic state policy of reform and opening-up, China will continuously deepen opening-up in the financial sector, said the spokesperson, adding that more pragmatic measures for opening-up will be introduced in the next stage to promote the high-quality development of China's capital market.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
COVID-19 origin probe must be in right direction

China Daily) 08:39, August 02, 2021

Focusing on 'lab leak' and politicizing search won't help, experts say

Determining the origins of COVID-19 should be driven by science and solid facts, but the "lab leak "hypothesis should not be the focus of the investigation and politicizing the search won't help, experts said.

"I don't see any features in the (COVID) virus genome that do not occur in other coronaviruses," said Benjamin Neuman, chair of the Biological Sciences Department at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, in the United States.

He said some people have tried to use specific features of the SARS-CoV-2 spike gene as evidence that it is an artificial virus, but all these features can also be found on other coronaviruses.

Neuman, a member of the international committee that named SARSCoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, said the explanation that best fits the full set of data is that this new virus probably originated outside a laboratory in nature, like other known coronaviruses.

"I suppose it would be comforting, in a very human way, to be able to point to a person or an event that is responsible for all the misery of COVID-19, or any other virus for that matter," said Neuman. "In stories, that sometimes happens, but not so much in nature."

In addition to the differences in the virus that have been the focus of many conspiracy theories, Neuman said, SARS-CoV-2 has hundreds of other mutations scattered throughout its genome. "These other mutations are distributed in roughly the same way as we might find in any naturally occurring coronavirus," he told China Daily.

"Without a time machine and possibly a magic wand, I don't know how a reinvestigation would be able to turn up anything different," Neuman said.

China has submitted a proposal to the World Health Organization for the second phase of the COVID-19 origin study in an effort to support and coordinate with the organization in tracing the origins of the virus globally, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.

A paper by 21 virologists, posted online in early June, reviewed the scientific evidence for the origin of the virus. It concluded that the virus' origin is overwhelmingly likely to have been zoonotic, transferred from an animal source to human infections, and that there is zero evidence for a laboratory origin.

Lead author Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and virologist at the University of Sydney, said careful and critical analysis of the available data provided no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory.

The paper said that focusing on a highly improbable lab origin distracts from the most urgent scientific tasks to "comprehensively investigate the zoonotic origin through collaborative and carefully coordinated studies".

Though there is no strong evidence yet on the origin of COVID-19, there are many studies and publications on bat coronavirus related to SARS-CoV-2, said Alongkorn Amonsin, director of the Center of Excellence for Emerging and reemerging Infectious Diseases in Animals at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Alongkorn said that more research needs to be done on the pre-COVID exposure in animal, wildlife and human populations to discover the novel coronavirus' origin.

Neuman, from Texas A&M, said it is very important to find the very close relatives of SARS-CoV-2.

"The closest that we have are a couple of bat viruses that are each around a thousand mutations different from SARS-CoV-2," said Neuman, who added the differences could represent perhaps 50 to 100 years of evolutionary distance. "I think there are, somewhere in nature, more viruses similar to this," he said.

The most important issue for dealing with the pandemic now is vaccination, because more variants have emerged, said Obli Rajendran Vinodh Kumar, senior scientist at the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute's Division of Epidemiology.

China has repeatedly expressed opposition to attempts by some Western powers, particularly the United States, to politicize the virus origin probe by targeting a Wuhan research facility.

Beijing's position has been endorsed by many nations, with dozens of them recently writing to the WHO to denounce attempts at politicization of the issue and distortion of facts.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Live-fire drill held to mark China's Army Day

Xinhua) 08:40, August 02, 2021

An air defense brigade from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a live ammunition drill in areas near the Yellow Sea to celebrate China's Army Day.

Aug. 1 marks China's Army Day.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Commentary: Only patriots must govern Macao

Xinhua) 09:18, August 02, 2021

MACAO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The court of final appeal of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Saturday ruled against the appeals by trustees of three candidate lists for the upcoming Legislative Assembly election after the Electoral Affairs Commission refused to accept the lists for failing to include a minimum of four qualified candidates each as required by the election law.

The ruling safeguarded the constitutional order of the Macao SAR as stipulated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, manifesting justice and authority in the SAR.

It is stipulated in the Basic Law of the Macao SAR that members of the Legislative Assembly are legally obliged to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the SAR. As a SAR of the PRC, the governing power of Macao must rest in the hands of patriots.

This is not a lofty standard or requirement, but rather basic political ethics. It is the core of the "one country, two systems" principle and the fundamental rule that must be followed in order to comprehensively and accurately implement the "one country, two systems" principle.

"Patriots administering Macao" is, in nature, consistent with upholding the laws and pledging allegiance to the SAR. Only those who uphold the laws and pledge allegiance can be categorized as patriots. As an important part of the Macao SAR governance structure, members of the Legislative Assembly must, first and foremost, be patriots.

Not a single non-patriot must ever be allowed into the SAR's governance structure or to govern by any means. This is an indispensable bottom line that must be safeguarded and implemented in examining the qualifications of Legislative Assembly election candidates.

Exercising judicial power is a sacred duty of courts at different levels in the SAR, which is endowed by the Constitution and the Macao SAR Basic Law, and an important mission for the courts to safeguard the SAR's constitutional order, pursue equality and justice and promote orderly governance of the society in accordance with law.

Both the decisions of the commission and the court were made in accordance with the Constitution, the Basic Law of Macao SAR and the election law of the Legislative Assembly, with adequate legal evidence backed by solid facts.

The decision and the court ruling were based on the fact that some candidates on the rejected lists did not uphold the laws and pledge allegiance to the SAR. They colluded with external forces to propagate, support or participate in "Hong Kong independence," "Taiwan independence" and other separatist activities, or took part in activities undermining national security and subverting state power.

These facts of not upholding the laws or not pledging allegiance went far beyond the scope of supervising the administration of the SAR government. Such people who attempt to seize positions through election and further conspire to pursue anti-China and destabilizing activities in Macao must be blocked from the SAR's governance structure.

The security of elections is a major issue that concerns the country's sovereignty, security and development interests. Patriots administering Macao with anti-China and destabilizing forces in the SAR out of the picture will help build a strong security barrier, which complies with legal principles and follows public will.

The move will also help build a culture of patriotism, reason and pragmatism in the Legislative Assembly and improve its efficacy of performing constitutional duties.

Voting for the election will start in over 40 days. It is expected that the voting goes smoothly and eventually purely patriotic candidates with sound social image and strong governance ability are elected.

It is also expected that newly-elected legislators will perform their duties conscientiously and actively take on responsibilities and make accomplishments.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Some 2019 EVALI patients in the US may have been infected with COVID-19: sources

(Global Times) 13:50, August 02, 2021

It's possible that some of the patients of the mysterious vaping-related lung disease that swept through all of the 50 US states in 2019 were actually COVID-19 patients, according to a group of Chinese scientists and radiologists after reviewing some 250 chest CT scans from published papers. These scientists urged the US to start screening for COVID-19 patients in 2019 e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) patients.

Questions about CT scan comparison between EVALI and COVID-19 patients in the US (Picture/GT)

The Global Times learned from sources close to the matter on Saturday that after studying 250 chest CT scans of 142 EVALI patients selected from some 60 related studies that have been published, Chinese scientists found that 16 EVALI patients were involved in viral infections, which indicates that they could have had COVID-19. Five of the cases were determined as "moderately suspicious."

The 16 EVALI patients were all from the US, and in 12 patients symptoms started before 2020.

They concluded that there were viral infection cases among EVALI infections reported in the US in 2019, and the possibility of COVID-19 in the vaping-related lung disease in the US cannot be ruled out, sources said.

Sources explained that five patients were deemed as "moderately suspicious" because their CT scans had the characteristics of scans for COVID-19 patients, which consisted of ground-glass opacities that were mainly distributed near the periphery of the lower lungs. In serious conditions, their CT scans showed multiple extensive consolidations in both lungs. Meanwhile, these clinical features are similar to those of COVID-19 patients.

Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Friday that due to the similarity of symptoms between EVALI and COVID-19 patients and since no nucleic acid detection kits were available then, it's highly likely that some COVID-19 patients were actually misdiagnosed as EVALI patients in 2019, Yang said.

CT scans are part of the evidence, the US can now run antibody tests on blood samples of EVALI patients to find out how many of them were actually COVID-19 patients, and share the data with the global community to help the world get closer to the COVID-19 origins, Yang said, noting "it's a very easy job."

According to media reports, the vaping-related lung disease was reported in the US as early as July 2019, the same month the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) issued a "cease and desist order" to halt most research at Fort Detrick.

According to the USCDC, the emergency department visits related to e-cigarette or vaping sharply increased in August 2019, and peaked in September.

As of February 18, 2020, the first COVID-19-related deaths were being reported in the US, a total of 2,807 hospitalized EVALI cases or deaths were reported to the USCDC in all 50 states. As of today, there is still no confirmed cause of the e-cigarette pneumonia, and the contagiousness of the disease is still unknown.

In September 2019, vaping-related lung illness cases also doubled in Maryland where Fort Detrick lab is located, adding to the suspicion of Fort Detrick. This is especially because the lab stores some of the deadliest viruses in the world, including Ebola, smallpox, SARS, MERS and the novel coronavirus.

As a result, a group of Chinese netizens issued an open letter urging the WHO to investigate Fort Detrick lab and entrusted the Global Times to publish it and launch an online petition. So far, the petition has drawn more than 23 million signatures.

In the meantime, the timeline of early cases in the US has been constantly dialed forward. A study of over 24,000 samples taken for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research program in the US between January 2 and March 18, 2020 suggested that seven people across five US states may have contracted COVID-19 at least a month before the country's first officially confirmed cases on January 21, 2020.

Instead of addressing these concerns, the Biden administration called off the scientific research on early cases of COVID-19 in the US and engaged in what the Chinese Foreign Ministry called "origins-tracing terrorism."

The US attempted to link the origins of the virus with China and even Asian countries as a group, which has triggered rising anti-Asian sentiments in the US and other Western countries. Asians are facing discrimination, oppression and even physical abuse, experts noted.

The US has also been suppressing scientists who do not conform to its narrative. Some scientists were even verbally assaulted. Some media have compared such behaviors of the US with acts of terrorism, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a Thursday's media briefing.

Zhao on Friday urged the US to take four steps on COVID-19 origins tracing if it wants to show transparency, including disclosing data on early COVID-19 cases, inviting the World Health Organization (WHO) to probe Fort Detrick, the University of North Carolina, and the team of Ralph S Baric, particularly, and publishing data on sick soldiers who attended the Wuhan Military World Games in October 2019.

Zhao urged the US to disclose data on early cases, including the unexplained respiratory disease in Virginia, vaping-related lung disease in Wisconsin in July 2019 and flu patients in the winter of 2019.

"The US should conduct nucleic acid testing and antibody tests on serum samples of these patients to find out how many of them were actually COVID-19 patients," Zhao said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
China upgrades people's housing conditions through multiple channels in past five years

People's Daily Online) 14:33, August 02, 2021

Volunteers teach an elderly resident how to use a calling device in a public rental housing unit in a community in Wuxing district, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 22. (Photo/Xinhua)

China established the world's largest housing security system during its 13th Five-Year Plan period (from 2016 to 2020), markedly improving housing conditions for its people.

The country mobilized resources to provide more affordable housing through various channels, such as renovating dilapidated rural houses, rebuilding houses in rundown urban areas, and developing public rental housing and relevant supporting infrastructure.

Statistics from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development show that over the past five years, over 23 million housing units were rebuilt in rundown urban areas across the country, helping over 50 million residents move from sub-standard accommodation to new apartments. By the end of 2020, more than 38 million people in straitened circumstances had moved into public rental housing units, and over 22 million people with limited means had received rental subsidies.

"Thanks to the country's poverty alleviation efforts, some 25.68 million impoverished people from 7.9 million households have seen their dilapidated houses renovated," said Pan Wei, an official with the ministry's department of housing security.

Xiaoxu village, Liuhu town, Dongying city in east China's Shandong province, addressed villagers' needs for better housing conditions by renovating their dilapidated houses on a case-by-case basis, allowing them to live in better conditions in a relatively short period of time.

"My new house is great and very comfortable," said 74-year-old villager Cui Xiuying, noting that her old house was dilapidated and the roof would leak when it rained.

A similar story could be seen in Lianxing new village, Wuyuan county, Bayannur, in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. All 457 households there now live in new houses with solar photovoltaic panels installed on roofs, thanks to a poverty-relief relocation program and a photovoltaic power generation project. In addition, cement and asphalt roads have replaced unsurfaced ones, and villagers now have access to natural gas.

Since 2007, Tengchong city in southwest China's Yunnan Province has built 9,910 units of government-subsidized urban housing and allocated 9,621 units to eligible applicants. The city had rebuilt 6,651 housing units in rundown areas and granted rental subsidies of over 4.14 million yuan (about $636,318) to 1,614 households. All the measures effectively addressed housing problems, particularly for groups such as middle and low-income families and migrant workers.

Chen Yanhui, a migrant worker who used to live with three generations of her family in a rented room in Tengchong, has moved into a public rental housing unit in a clean and tidy community. "I'm grateful to the government for providing such a comfortable apartment for me," she said.

Wuhan city in central China's Hubei province renovated its biggest rundown urban area, turning it into a community with a significantly improved appearance and living environment, and easy access to public transportation.

Wuhan plans to renovate another 300 old urban residential communities by the end of 2021, and by the end of 2025, will strive to finish the rebuilding of old residential areas that were built before the end of the year 2000.

"For China, a country with a population of 1.4 billion, it is hard to draw any experience from other countries as it advances its urbanization at an exceptionally fast pace. In this sense, China's achievements in providing affordable housing for its people is a miracle in the world," said Yu Xiaofen, the vice president of Zhejiang University of Technology in Hangzhou city, east China's Zhejiang province.

That view was echoed by Huang Hui, senior analyst at the research institute of China's online housing platform Beike. China, as a developing country, has established the world's largest housing security system, which is a truly remarkable achievement, Huang said.

Going forward, the country will further accelerate the development of government-subsidized rental housing and resolutely implement the long-term housing mechanism, according to a teleconference on developing rental housing and facilitating real estate market regulation on July 22.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun)
An original Design Inspired by the Beauty of the Alps

Above and beyond its technical prowess, the Alpine Eagle collection has been a guarantee of aesthetic finesse ever since its launch, entirely aligned with Louis Sullivan's "form follows function" doctrine. The new Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch fully reflects this principle. On the right-hand side, the chronograph pushers are subtly and discreetly integrated on either side of the protective crown guards so as to preserve the Alpine Eagles characteristic harmony of form and symmetry.

With the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch, harmony also reigns supreme on the dial, which is adorned with a carefully selected natural Swiss stone: an exceptional granite quarried in the canton of Graubunden. Its blue and green inclusions have been chosen to evoke the beauty of the Alpine forests and lakes as seen from the sky by an eagle.

Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch  Chopard

One of these breathtaking landscapes is the Lauenensee. This lake in the canton of Bern is a place dear to Only Watch founder and organiser Luc Pettavino, who liked to go there with his son Paul, whose illness gave rise to this charity project. It is also an iconic landmark for Chopard Co-President Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, who presented the Alpine Eagle collection there for the first time in 2018, along with his father and son. Their shared admiration for this place of refuge justifies the rich decorative work gracing the dial, and exuding a sophistication that contributes to the aesthetic originality and symbolic value of the watch.



The addition of the black counters for the 30-minute, small seconds and 12-hour indications  respectively placed at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock  is carefully designed to highlight the natural hue of the granite. To enhance the legibility of measurements, the dial transfers and the three hands linked to the chronograph function match these precious inclusions, as well as the tachymeter scale, also discreetly punctuated by blue-green transfers at the 100, 160 and 240 graduations. Divided into four steps, the scale features intervals varying from 5, 10, 20 or 40km/h per line. This arrangement facilitates the reading of average speed measurements.



The Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch is the first timepiece in the collection to be fitted with a black calf leather strap.

A Cutting-Edge Chronograph Movement

The extra-wide 44 mm-diameter case of the Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch is sculpted in Lucent Steel A223, an innovative steel alloy made from 70 percent recycled material and developed by Chopard for its anti-allergenic properties and its robustness, as well as its incomparable brilliance achieved through a meticulous resmelting process. In another first, this material has been beadblasted, thereby creating an even nobler texture and accentuating the avant-garde spirit of Lucent Steel A223.



At the heart of the case beats a sophisticated chronograph movement manufactured by Chopard's Artisan Watchmakers and endowed with a precision chronometer, certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). Chopard Calibre 03.05-C has a 60-hour power reserve and also features an elaborate design guaranteeing accurate adjustments and optimal use of the timekeeping functions. Equipped with a column wheel, it represents the culmination of several technical innovations for which Chopard has filed three patents resulting from the daring approach of its research and development teams.

Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch  Chopard

Firstly, it is equipped with a unidirectional gearing system that avoids energy losses while ensuring fast winding, a function particularly appreciated for chronographs which are known to be consistently energy-hungry. In addition, its vertical clutch mode guarantees an accurate start for time measurements. This chronograph calibre is also of the flyback variety, enabling smooth and seamless short-time measurements thanks to three elastic-armed pivoting hammers that facilitate zero-resetting the counters. Lastly, the Variner balance equipping the Chopard 03.05-C movement ensures stability by compensating for its inertia variations throughout the period when the watch is in use.

Chopard and Only Watch, a Heart-Felt Partnership

The ninth edition of Only Watch  considered the world's most important charity watch auction  will be held on 6 November in Geneva. More than 50 watch manufacturers have each donated a unique timepiece, specially created for the occasion. The profits from this sale will be entirely donated to the Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophy to help fund research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disease affecting 250,000 children, adolescents and young adults worldwide. Since its creation in 2005, Only Watch has already raised over 70 million Swiss francs.

Alpine Eagle XL Chrono Only Watch  Chopard

"We are delighted to support the cause of major scientific research into a disease that affects so many children and adults, says Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. "Ever since our first participation in 2005, this longstanding commitment has enabled us to develop unique and daring models stemming from lengthy aesthetic and technical research, endowed with powerful distinctive features that our collectors have not necessarily expected.

The Alpine Eagle Collection: Reinterpreting an Icon

Devised by three generations of gentlemen in the Scheufele family, the Alpine Eagle collection is a modern reinterpretation of the St. Moritz, the first horological creation by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele in the late 1970s. With its pure and assertive design, Alpine Eagle enriches this heritage with powerful inspiration drawn from Nature. Featuring a round case with stylised flanks; a material exclusive to Chopard (Lucent Steel A223); a crown engraved with a compass rose; a bezel with eight functional indexed screws; a textured dial with deep colours and luminescent indications; and a seconds hand shaped like an eagle's feather, Alpine Eagle radiates a resolutely contemporary look of refined elegance.



Chopards independence and integrated skills enables the Maison to perform the entire range of the collections production and assembly stages in its own workshops, from movement to bracelet as well as components and case.
Having hunted high and low in the periodic table, watchmakers decided that they should stake their all on number 14: silicon (chemical symbol Si), the reason being that silicon is light, strong, non-magnetic and less sensitive to variations in temperature. In addition, the related manufacturing processes enable components with highly complex shapes to be produced.

Shared Paternity

In March 2001, Ulysse Nardin presented a breakthrough watch  the Freak  equipped with silicon wheels (later versions also include diamond coated and massive diamond versions), emanating from the research conducted by Ludwig Oechslin and the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). While the results obtained were not yet advanced enough to apply the material to elastic applications (as the thermoelastic modulus of silicon alone does not enable a hairspring to operate within the required chronometric tolerances), they aroused the interest of Patek Philippe, Rolex, and the Swatch Group. All three had realised that silicon would deliver a giant leap for watchmaking. And from that point on, the three of them poured funding into further research at the CSEM. The eventual outcome was a satisfactory material: Silinvar  a contraction of the French for invariable silicon, and a nod to Charles-Edouard Guillaumes acclaimed Invar alloy.

Alarm Travel Time Ref. 5520P-001  Patek Philippe

While the Silinvar consortium (Patek Philippe, Rolex and the Swatch Group) worked together through the CSEM and on their own to reach the promising results, Patek Philippe and the Swatch Group (via Breguet) presented the first timepieces equipped with silicon hairsprings in 2006.

Syloxi Hairspring  Rolex

Patek Philippes Spiromax hairspring, presented in 2006, was followed in 2008 by the all-new Pulsomax escapement with an improved silicon escape wheel and pallet lever.



Together with the 2011 GyromaxSi, the silicon-based update to their well-known Gyromax variable-inertia balance wheel, these major innovations were brought together to form a single, next-generation concept that was to become the cornerstone of Patek Philippe Advanced Research: the Oscillomax. Breguet presented all three silicon components (escape wheel, anchor and hairspring) in 2006, on the Classique 5197 fitted with the calibre 591A.

Type XXII 3880  Breguet

Over at Omega, the silicon hairspring made its first appearance in 2008, while Rolex took a similar approach, developing its own spring made from Syloxi  a composite of silicon and silicon oxide, as its name suggests  whose thermal compensation and paramagnetic properties allow it to maintain its precision even in the presence of temperature variations and magnetic anomalies. The Syloxi was introduced on the 2236 calibre in 2014.

When Patents Collide

These three brands were not the only ones to be working in this direction. Ulysse Nardin joined forces with an existing partner, Mimotec, to set up in 2006 a joint venture: Sigatec, an unpretentious little company based in Sion in the canton of Valais specialising in the design and manufacture of silicon components. Ulysse Nardin thus secured itself an independent supply of the material, which, as they rightly guessed, was destined to become a key component of 21st-century watchmaking. Meanwhile, however, Sigatec, in association with Ulysse Nardin, had also filed a large number of patents relating to the same basic material (silicon), with the same research focus (the regulating organ), at around the same time: a legal battle over patents was inevitable. On one side stood Sigatec and Ulysse Nardin; on the other, Patek Philippe, Rolex and the Swatch Group. The feud lasted more than three years, until 2013, but for once, the outcome was in everyones common interest. The five parties entered into a cross-licensing agreement, under the terms of which each party opened up their patents to benefit everyone elses research.

DB28 Black Matte  De Bethune

*On the occasion of GMT Magazine and WorldTempus' 20th anniversary, we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. This article is an extract. The Millennium Watch Book is available on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English, with a 10% discount if you use the following code: WT2021.

Order now
Founded in the midst of the quartz crisis by the eponymous watchmaker driven a passion for historical timepieces  and with the support of the Sandoz Foundation which entrusted him with restoring its priceless collection  Parmigiani Fleurier soon became a fully integrated manufacture. Its three collections of ladies and mens watches are intended for a discerning clientele and regularly enriched with exceptional creations. Michel Parmigiani has always focused on the creation of watches, leaving the actual management of the brand to executives in agreement with the foundation. At the beginning of 2021, within a difficult global context as Parmigiani Fleurier is celebrating its 25th anniversary, it has entrusted its destiny to a new CEO, Guido Terreni. His network, his product knowledge and his twenty years of successful experience in the highest echelons of the watch industry should enable him to give fresh impetus to this still sometimes underestimated brand.

What have been your priorities since you took office in February?

These first three months have been very intense at Parmigiani Fleurier, which I saw as a prestigious brand with a very strong reputation in the field of mechanical horology and artisanal culture, where expertise reigns supreme. Whereas I needed some time for calm reflection to immerse myself in the soul of the brand, there was a sense of urgency due to the health crisis. My priority was to better understand the brand and to have individual discussions with each of the 80 employees in order to grasp their motivations. A semi-artisanal brand like Parmigiani has a very intimate core, which needs to be apprehended in a specific way because it implies uncompromising choices. These interviews proved to be fascinating and enabled me to see products in a different light, while at the same time identifying the expectations of the customers, which vary greatly from one brand to another. At the same time, I had to get to know Michel Parmigiani, this living watchmaking legend whom I regard as the most fascinating restoration specialist in the industry. He has helped me discover a new perception of watchmaking that I had not encountered in my 20-year career. He has a purists approach and an extremely culturally-oriented outlook; he thinks outside the box and looks for unusual ideas, while being modest and sensitive. During the quartz crisis, he saw in mechanical watchmaking a deeply Swiss cultural treasure that was about to disappear and that had to be saved. His hands work magic, creating art objects to magnify mechanical power on a scale even greater than the watch. I have learned a lot from him. I have found teams capable of reacting very well to external stimuli such as mine and to a new vision of the market.

Tondagraph GT Steel Silver Black  Parmigiani Fleurier

In which ways, for example ?



Take the Tonda GT, introduced last year. We have refined the style to ensure its longevity. We have to ensure we dont spread ourselves too thin. A watch lasts for a century and the real pillars of watchmaking appear every ten years, but some brands launch them all the time for commercial reasons. The brand must remain very precise in its actions and each watch must have its reason for being. We must think of the people who have already bought it and show them respect, rather than focusing exclusively in the next customers. This is what we tried to do with our Tondagraph GT Silver Black. It notably features beautiful guilloche work around the black counters, the warmth of gold in a two-tone version, new shimmering effects and proportions, exceptional comfort on the wrist I am still discovering details procuring new pleasures after three months and it is indeed very comfortable. Our aim is therefore to develop this collection, which has attracted a younger clientele that is getting to know the brand. We are going to add watchmaking substance in a coherent, harmonious way, to imbue it with a very refined spirit reflecting non-ostentatious good taste. We are looking to allow wearers to experience very intimate emotions, rather than showing off what they have on their wrist. These new clients in their thirties and forties are as keen on expertise as they are on contemporary elegance.



What kind of individuals are Parmigiani watches intended for?



We are fortunate to have an average price of around CHF 25,000 to 30,000. This is an educated clientele that understands our know-how and does not want to flaunt its power. These are cultured people with a knowledge refined watchmaking and who are looking for stunning finishes but in a discreet object. This is the very soul of unostentatious Swiss wealth. When one Parmigiani customer recognizes another by the watch on his wrist.

We witness the encounter two people who share a passion and whose discussions rise to a higher level  just as in modern art or photography, where the intuitive conversation between two people with an exclusive profile covers relatively little-known topics. By respecting the models of the past that continue to exist, our new collection addresses these customers in a spirit tailored to the aesthetics of our era. For this reason, our preferred retailers believe in Parmigiani Fleurier; highly competent and well trained, they know how to present watches with significant content and are able to make customers understand what is refined and exclusive rather than merely following marketing plans.

The House  Parmigiani Fleurier

Whats the outlook for 2021

We would like to be able to celebrate our 25th anniversary and are preparing an exceptional piece in the spirit of the substance that the brand puts into its great creations. It will be linked to our heritage and expertise in artistic crafts, thereby illustrating another facet than the innovation for which the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve awarded us a prize in 2020. This authenticity in terms of what we offer is very important to us. There is an audience today with a penchant for less institutional brands, which understands the intrinsic value of niche brands and which likes to have access to watches that require an educated eye. We are living in a historic moment. It is the brands job to be clear about its identity, its soul, and to communicate that effectively. By conveying this emotional dimension, and at the right price, Parmigiani Fleurier definitely has the potential to achieve this.

As a World Tempus reader, we are delighted to offer you the latest digital version of this GMT magazine that you can download here. Happy reading!
By Senior Colonel Wu Qian, Director General of the Information Office of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Spokesperson for the MND



Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), answers reporters' questions at a regular press conference on July 29, 2021.(Photo:mod.gov.cn)

(The following English text of the press conference is for reference. In case of any divergence of interpretation, the Chinese text shall prevail.)

First, I would like to announce two pieces of news.

The first is that the Ministry of National Defense of the Peoples Republic of China and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation jointly announced that, according to the consensus reached by the two sides, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will participate in the Exercise Xibu Unity-2021 to be held in China in early and mid-August.

It is planned that the exercise will be held at the PLAA Qingtongxia Combined Tactical Training Base in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, under the theme of jointly safeguarding regional security and stability. The two sides will establish a joint command post. The Chinese contingent will mainly come from the PLA Western Theater Command, while the Russian side will mainly come from its Eastern Military District. A total of more than 10,000 troops will be dispatched by the two sides, along with multiple types of aircraft, artillery and armored equipment. The two sides contingents will be mixed into teams to make plan jointly and conduct training together, in a bid to verify and improve the troops capabilities of joint reconnaissance, search and early warning, electronic information attack, and joint strike and elimination.

The exercise is aimed to consolidate and develop the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era, deepen the practical cooperation and traditional friendship between the two militaries, and further demonstrate the two sides resolve and capability to fight against terrorist forces and jointly safeguard regional peace and security.

The second is about the Cobra Gold 2021 multi-national exercise on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to be held in Thailand from July 30 to August 3. The Chinese PLA Army is invited to participate in the exercise via video link. Exercise subjects include flood and earthquake relief, de-confliction mechanism, and civilian protection.

Question: In his speech at the Ceremony Marking the Centenary of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping stressed that the peoples military has made indelible achievements on behalf of the Party and the people. It is a strong pillar for safeguarding our socialist country and preserving national dignity, and a powerful force for protecting peace in our region and beyond. On the journey ahead, we must fully implement the Partys thought on strengthening the military in the new era as well as the military strategic guideline for the new era, and elevate the peoples armed forces to world-class standards, so that we are equipped with greater capacity and more reliable means for safeguarding our national sovereignty, security, and development interests. What approaches and measures has the military adopted in studying and implementing the important speech by President Xi?

Answer: The important speech was delivered by President Xi on July 1, a significant moment of the CPCs 100th anniversary and a critical juncture when the two centenary (centenary of the CPC and centenary of the Peoples Republic of China) periods converged. Reviewing our glorious history and looking into the bright future, the speech is a Marxist programmatic document, a political declaration of CPC members in the new era staying true to the original aspiration and the founding mission of the Party and a guide to action for the Party to unite and lead the people to learn from history and create a better future. It is of great political, theoretical and practical significance for that it inspires the Party, the armed forces, and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to make unremitting efforts to build a modern socialist country in all respects and fulfill the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

The General Office of the Central Military Commission (CMC) recently issued a notice asking military organizations at all levels to make studying, publicizing and implementing President Xis speech on July 1 a major political task both for now and for some time to come. It calls for further aligning the thoughts and actions in work, strengthening our consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership; reaffirming confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics; and upholding General Secretary Xi Jinpings core position in the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and upholding the Party Central Committees authority and its centralized and unified leadership. It also demands the whole military to implement the CMC chairman responsibility system and follow the command of the CPC Central Committee, the CMC and Chairman Xi in all actions.

First, deepening study and education. Military organizations at all levels shall take studying President Xi Jinpings July 1 speech as a top priority in the current theoretical education and a key part of the Party history study and education, further study and comprehend the speech through Party committee meetings, study sessions of the Party committee theory learning center group, cadres training inrotation, etc., and incorporate the study of the speech in the political theory teaching at military academies while carrying out educational activities at Party and military history venues in the military, so as to truly understand the essence and gist of the speech.

Second, strengthening publicity and interpretation. The PLA has held a seminar on celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, organized expert teams to provide menu-style services in giving lectures on Party history study and education. Military units at all levels have carried out tailored, and interactive publicity to difference audiences when providing theory tutorial service for primary-level units. Convergence media is adopted for all-aroundpublicity and interpretation, artistic performances and other cultural activities are staged extensively, and the building of military history museums as well as the political and cultural environment in military units is being promoted in a down-to-earth manner, so as to create an atmosphere for studying, promoting and implementing President Xis speech.

Third, concentrating on combat preparedness. Focusing on its main duties, the military shall take strong measures to foster the fighting spirit of the service members, inspire the officers and soldiers to be confident and dare to fight and win, and cultivate new-type, high-caliber and professional military personnel. The PLA shall further promote military training transformation, implementdevelopment plans, accelerate sci-tech innovation, so as to implement the spirit of President Xis speech with actualwork of combat preparedness.

Fourth, strengthening Party organizations. The military shall faithfully implement relevant institutions, enhance Party member team building, work hard to improve Party conduct and enforce Party discipline, effectively implement the spirit of the CMC meeting on Party building and the CMC meeting on the development of primary-level military units, urge the service members to stay true to the Partys original aspiration and founding mission, better fulfill their duties, and dedicate themselves to the cause of building a strong military in the new era, so as to bring greater glory to the Party and the people.

Question: It is reported that leaders of political parties and governments in many countries have warmly congratulated on the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in various ways. Please brief us on the congratulations from foreign defense and military leaders to the Chinese side.

Answer: On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, more than 30 defense ministers, chiefs of general staff and other military leaders of Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the DPRK, Mongolia, Indonesia, Namibia, Syria, Belarus, Fiji, Cuba, etc. have extended their congratulations and best wishes to China through letters or phone calls.

The leaders of foreign defense ministries and militaries expressed that the CPC has made incredible achievements by leading the Chinese people to gain national independence, achieve prosperity, improve the peoples well-being and accomplish the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The CPC has created the Chinese miracle in human history.

Over recent years, the Chinese PLA has actively provided the international community with public security goods and made major contributions to world peace and stability as a strong defender of global security and a reliable partner for cooperation. They sincerely wish that the CPC and PLA will carry on their fine traditions and embrace the second centenary goal with more glorious achievements.

Question: It is learnt that the new emblem of the Chinese Peoples Armed Police Force (PAP) will be officially launched soon. Please give more details about the new emblem.

Answer: With the approval of the Central Military Commission, the PAP will start using the emblem on August 1, 2021. Article 28 of the National Defense Law of the Peoples Republic of China coming into effect on January 1, 2021 stipulates that the flag and emblem of the Chinese Peoples Armed Police Force are the symbols of the PAP. The official launch of the PAP emblem aims to inspire the PAP troops to fulfill their mission and tasks in the new era and serve as the loyal guards of the Party and the people forever.

Question: Please describe what the PAP emblem is like and expound on its design and meanings.

Answer: The design of the PAP emblem is shown in the photo attached. At its center is the national emblem, indicating that the PAP is an important part of the armed forces of the Peoples Republic of China. With the PAP flag as the background, it reflects the uniformity of the flag and the emblem, and represents that the PAP is under the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. The shield and the Great Wall symbolize the PAPs effective fulfil of its mission and tasks in the new era, and the surrounding olive branches stand for peace and stability.

Question: It is reported that the Chinese military will participate in the International Army Games 2021 abroad and host some of the events in China from late August to early September. Please tell us more about it.

Answer: With the approval of the CMC, the Chinese PLA will host certain events of the International Army Games (IAG) 2021 in China from August 22 to September 4, and will also send contingents to participate in other events in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Iran.

China will host three events in Korla, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, namely the Suvorov Attack contest for infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) teams, Clear Sky contest for man-portable air defense missile teams, and Safe Environment contest for nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance teams. Militaries of Russia, Belarus, Egypt, Iran, Venezuela and Vietnam will send contingents to participate in the events held in China.

The Chinese troops will participate in 17 events abroad. In Russia, China will participate in 12 events: Tank Biathlon, the competition among tank crews; Elbrus Ring, the competition among mountain infantry teams; Army Scout Masters, the competition among reconnaissance units; Tactical Shooter, the shooting competition among special forces; Army of Culture, the competition of artistic programs; Sea Cup, the competition among warship crews; Seaborne Assault, the competition among marines; Aviadarts, the competition among flight crews; Airborne Platoon, the competition among airborne platoons; Meridian, the competition among specialists of the military topographic service; Masters of Armored Vehicles, the competition among vehicle crews; and Military Rally , the competition among armored vehicle crews.

It will also participate in three events in Belarus, namely the Sniper Frontier, the competition among snipers, Polar Star, the competition among special forces units, and Confident Reception, the competition among military signalmen.

In addition, China will join Military Medical Relay Race, the competition among medical units in Uzbekistan, and Depth, the competition among military divers in Iran.

In recent years, the PLA has hosted and participated in the IAG many times, playing a positive role in deepening the friendship between the PLA and other participating militaries including Russian military, strengthening training exchanges, and improving real-combat capabilities. This year, China will continue to host some IAG events and participate in more events in Russia and other countries against the backdrop of the rampant pandemic. This will further tighten the ties between the Chinese military and its foreign counterparts, enhance military exchanges and cooperation, and improve the troops realistic training through mutual learning.

QuestionThe US Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently issued a report saying that China has been reinforcing its naval modernization effort in recent years, and it is conducting a growing number of operations in more-distant waters, including the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. The Chinese Navy is posing a major challenge to the US Navy, the first such challenge the U.S. Navy has faced since the end of the Cold War. Do you have any comment on that?

Answer: All along, the Chinese military has faithfully acted on the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, actively fulfilled the international responsibilities as a major countrys military and strived to provide more public security goods to the international community. The Chinese Navy has dispatched naval ships to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the coast of Somalia to carry out regular vessel protection operations, and actively participated in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), such as assisting Indonesia in salvaging its sunken submarine. The hospital ship Peace Ark has performed multiple medical aid missions overseas. These are obvious facts to the international community.

The US hypes up the so-called "Chinese military threat" for no other reason but to create public opinion for suppressing and containing China and to make excuses for seeking its absolute military superiority. The words and deeds of the US illustrate its arrogance and prejudice of "forbidding others to do what it is doing itself. China does not buy it. We ask the US to stop its wrongdoing, speak the truth, and stop telling lies.

Question: It is reported that the US Navys ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious has been conducting high-intensity operations in the waters near the Xisha Islands since it entered the South China Sea in early June this year. Some analysts believed that the ship might have been used to monitor the activities of Chinese naval vessels, and therefore it is necessary to maintain a high degree of vigilance. What is China's comment on that?

Answer: Since the beginning of this year, the US military has strengthened its close-in reconnaissance on China, and its navy has conducted nearly 2,000 times of reconnaissance on China by air and sea in the South China Sea. Such actions of the US have harmed China's security interests, threatened the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, intensified the "militarization" of the South China Sea, and undermined regional peace and stability. We are firmly opposed to that. The Chinese military has been keeping a close watch on the US movements and will always be on high alert.

Question: Recently, it was exposed that the US used the Danish intelligence service to spy on the senior leaders of its allies. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the spying was just a tip of the iceberg. It was also reported that the US Cyber Command has recently substantially increased its budget for cyber intelligence operations and begun to form a new cyber mission force. Do you have any comment on this?

Answer: Relevant US agencies have long been carrying out large-scale, organized, and indiscriminate cyber theft, surveillance, and attacks on foreign governments, enterprises, and individuals. From WikiLeaks, Snowden revelations, Swiss Crypto AGscandal to the recently exposed spying by the US National Security Agency on the leaders of its European allies through Danish intelligence agencies, it has been proven time and again that the US is a recognized top empire of hacking and theft of secrets and the biggest threat to global cyber security.

In addition, the US has spared no effort to promote the militarization of cyberspace and vigorously developed cyber offensive forces. According to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the US has developed more than 2,000 cyber weapons, making it the world's No.1 power in cyber weapons.

We call on the international community to jointly oppose the US cyber bullying and urge the US to explain its surveillance operations and stop creating tension and hostility in global cyberspace. China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty in cyberspace, information security and social stability.

Question: At present, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in the world, and new cases infected with the Delta variant have been found in many countries. Please brief us on the Chinese military's international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic since the outbreak.

Answer: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese military has faithfully acted on the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and actively participated in international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. The leaders of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) have exchanged letters and calls on anti-pandemic cooperation with leaders of defense authorities and militaries from many countries. The Chinese military has carried out international cooperation with the militaries of more than 50 countries, through providing anti-pandemic medical supplies, dispatching military medical expert teams, and holding video conferences to share experience of pandemic prevention and control.

Since February this year, in order to deliver on President Xi Jinping's important pledge of making China's COVID-19 vaccine a global public good, the Chinese military has successively provided 25 batches of vaccine assistance to militaries of more than 20 countries, including Pakistan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia, the Philippines, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Laos, Lebanon, Hungary, Gabon, Ethiopia, North Macedonia, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Mauritania, Guinea, and Mozambique.

President Xi once quoted Chernyshevsky, a famous Russian thinker: "The path of history is not paved like Nevsky Prospekt; it runs across fields, either dusty or muddy, and cuts across swamps or forest thickets." Similarly, the global fight against the pandemic will not go smooth and will inevitably face various setbacks and hardships. But I firmly believe that as long as the people of all countries stand in unity and follow scientific practices to overcome difficulties together, we will be able to defeat the pandemic and usher in a better future.

Question: According to Australian media reports, the navies of seven countries including the US, Australia, Canada, and Japan started the Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 in mid-July. The Australian military noticed that two Chinese PLA surveillance ships approached Australias eastern coast. Australian Defense Minister said that the Australian side was paying close attention to that. What is China's comment on that?

Answer: The Chinese vessels' sailing on the high seas conforms to relevant international laws and international practices, and is completely legitimate and legal. We hope that the Australian side will not get so fussy and respect China's rights entitled by international laws in relevant waters.



Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), answers reporters' questions at a regular press conference on July 29, 2021.(Photo:mod.gov.cn)



Question: US President Joe Biden announced that the US would complete the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan on August 31, which caused great turbulence in Afghanistans security. Some foreign media commented that as the US withdraws its troops, China may become the next major country attempting to shape the future of Afghanistan. Do you have any comment on this?

Answer: China and Afghanistan are traditional friendly neighbors. In President Xi Jinpings phone call with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on July 16, he stressed that China would firmly support the Afghan government in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and always believe that political dialogue is the fundamental way to achieve national reconciliation and lasting peace in Afghanistan. China will continue to support the "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" principle, the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, and an early peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan.

The security situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate since the US announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Facts have proven time and again that the US is the worlds largest mess maker and a world-renowned "blame-shifter." The US is the initiator of the Afghan issue and bears an inescapable responsibility for the current situation in Afghanistan. The US cannot walk away from the mess and pass the buck to other regional countries. The US should shoulder its due responsibilities to ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan and avoid chaos and wars caused by the withdrawal.

Question: Leaders of the Royal Cambodian Armed Force recently sent congratulatory messages to the Chinese side on the centenary of the Communist Party of China. Could you please give us more details on the mil-to-mil relationship between China and Cambodia?

Answer: The Chinese and Cambodian armed forces are good brothers and good friends who help each other. Some Chinese netizens refer to Cambodia as steel brother, describing that the China-Cambodia friendship is as strong as steel. In recent years, under the leadership and promotion of President Xi Jinping and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two countries have witnessed in-depth development in their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and the two militaries have maintained sound exchanges and cooperation in the fields of military training, personnel training, and exchanges between services and arms.

First, China and Cambodia have maintained frequent high-level exchanges. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, senior leaders of the two militaries have kept close communication and coordination through video meetings, phone calls and letters. General Tea Banh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Cambodia, General Vong Pisen, Commander-in-Chief of the Cambodian Royal Armed Forces (RCAF), and NemSowath, Director-General of the General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs under the Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia, have recently sent messages of congratulations to the Chinese side on the centenary of the Communist Party of China.

Second, China and Cambodia have carried out anti-epidemic cooperation. The Chinese government and military have sent medical expert teams to Cambodia and provided anti-epidemic medical supplies and vaccines in multiple batches; and the Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia also assisted China by offering anti-epidemic supplies at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in China last year, which testifies the sincere friendship between the two countries and the two militaries in standing together and helping each other.

Third, China and Cambodia have maintained exchanges in specialized fields. In March last year, the Golden Dragon 2020 China-Cambodia Joint Military Exercise was successfully held in Cambodia. This was the only live-fire exercise conducted by the Chinese military with foreign troops during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, a fine example of the high-level cooperation between the two militaries. In June this year, the Chinese and Cambodian armed forces held the first video seminar on defense white papers, marking the debut of the Chinese militarys exchange on defense white papers with a foreign counterpart.

In the future, the Chinese military will join hands with its Cambodian counterpart to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, and maintain practical cooperation between the two militaries in various fields to take the mil-to-mil relationship to a new high and make new progress.



Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), answers reporters' questions at a regular press conference on July 29, 2021.(Photo:mod.gov.cn)

Question: Its reported that from August this year, the eligible service members will receive the subsidy for parental living expenses and spouses honorary subsidy. Could you please confirm this and give us more details?

Answer: The service members shoulder the sacred duty and glorious mission of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests as well as the peaceful labor of the Chinese people. The military service is an occupation that enjoys public respect. Due to the need to fulfill missions and responsibilities, the occupation of military service is characterized by high risk, high intensity, high mobility, and great efforts. The military families, therefore, make big sacrifices. The establishment and adjustment of the welfare system for the military families this time is conducive to demonstrating the honor and respect formilitary service and highlighting the care and incentives from the state and military for the special contributions made by the military families. It will surely further inspire all the officers and soldiers to contribute to the cause of building a strong military and concentrate on combat preparedness.

Question: According to media reports, the US has frequently colluded with Taiwan recently, as shown by the US congress promoting Taiwan-related legislation, the false statements repeatedly made by the US officials about Taiwan, and the landing of a US military transport plane in Taiwan on July 15. At the same time, the PLA has continuously increased the intensity of military operations in the Taiwan Strait. Whats your comment, please?

Answer: Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and the One-China Principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. The US has violated international law and the basic norms of international relations through irresponsible remarks and deeds, gravely interfered in Chinas internal affairs, seriously harmed Chinas territorial sovereignty and security interests, and severely threathened the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, to which China is strongly opposed. China has solemnly informed the US that those who play with fire would set themselves on fire and the salami-slicing approach taken by the US on the Taiwan question would sure cut itself. China urged the US to abide by the One-China Principle and the three China-US Joint Communiques, stop all provocative acts, and send no wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces. Otherwise, the US will have to bear all serious consequences caused. Furthermore, China warned Taiwans Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities not to misjudge the situation, borrow strength from foreign forces and invite the wolf into the house as a result. Relying on the US to seek independence will only lead to a dead end, harming both the Taiwan people and the DPP itself.

China must and will get reunified. No one should underestimate the Chinese peoples determination and strong ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese PLA has always been on high alert and will take all necessary measures to resolutely smash any separatist plots or actions for Taiwan independence.

Question: It was reported that the UKs HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group, recently holding a joint exercise with the US, Japan and other countries in the Gulf of Aden, has now entered the South China Sea. Another report said that the British Secretary of State for Defense stated during his visit to Japan that the British military would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters. Whats your comment on this?

Answer: Thanks to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the current situation in the South China Sea maintains overall stability and is turning for the better. China respects the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea enjoyed by ships of all countries in accordance with the international law, but firmly opposes some countries provocative actions by sending warships from thousands of miles away to show off their presence in the region. The Chinese military will resolutely take all necessary and effective countermeasures.

Regarding the UK-Japan defense cooperation, China believes that it should neither target any third party nor interfere with the efforts of regional countries in maintaining peace and stability.

Question: Not long ago, General Wei Fenghe, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister, stated at the 8th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) via video link that China would take an active part in the cooperation within the mechanism and make greater contributions to maintaining regional peace and stability. What is the recent cooperation between China and ASEAN countries under this mechanism?

Answer: China has been firmly supporting ASEAN-centered regional defense and security mechanisms, and proactively participated in the cooperation under the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus). In June, General Wei Fenghe, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister, attended the 8th ADMM-Plus via video link. Recently, Chinese military representatives participated in the video conference of the Experts' Working Groups on Counter-Terrorism and Maritime Security within the framework of the mechanism, and held consultations with Cambodia as co-chairs of the Experts Working Group on Humanitarian Mine Action. In these activities, Chinese representatives made active suggestions, shared experiences, advocated a global security concept featuring common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, which was widely recognized by all parties, and achieved the goal of enhancing mutual trust and promoting cooperation.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. The Chinese military will continue to actively participate in ASEAN-related defense and security cooperation mechanisms at all levels and in various fields, and make greater contributions to the development of China-ASEAN strategic partnership and regional peace, stability and prosperity.

Question: Recently, a travel blogger has been placed under investigation after he damaged the reputation and honor of the border-defending heroes by publishing on social media his photos improperly taken in front of the grave monuments at the Kangsiwa Martyrs Cemetery, which has triggered widespread public anger. Do you have any comment on this?

Answer: Heroes are the backbone and the vanguard of a nation. Actions of blaspheming heroes and violating laws will never be tolerated. According to the law, those who damage the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs shall bear corresponding civil, administrative, or criminal liability. Any deed of defaming heroes will get morally condemned or even severely punished by law.



Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), answers reporters' questions at a regular press conference on July 29, 2021.(Photo:mod.gov.cn)

Question: Recently, some students shared online their admission notices of military academies. There were reports stating that some military academies' admissions failed to meet expectations. Please brief us on the details.

Answer: This years admissions of military academies following the national College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) have been wrapped up with a completion rate of 99.6 % in line with the plan. Students admitted this year outperformed those admitted in the previous years. Nearly 100,000 outstanding students signed up for political assessment, physical examination and interview, while 13,000 of them will have been admitted according to the admission plan. Judging from the results of Gaokao, 100 % of the students admitted to military academies score higher than the corresponding provincial admission line for the top tier universities, and 80 % of them are among the top 5 % students in each province. For instance, the average admission score for the National University of Defense Technology has exceeded the provincial admission line for the top tier universities by more than 120 points, despite the 70 % increase of enrollment in this years admission plan. It should be noted that as some candidates may fail to reach the physical and psychological standards of military academies, a small number of students will get admitted through college reapplication. This routine mechanism aims at allowing more candidates to have the opportunity to join military academies. It is not a sign of applicant shortage or "unpopularity of military academies".

The military is a melting pot and also a big family. The students who are about to enter the military academies are warmly welcomed. Born in the times of peace and prosperity, you are expected to hone yourselves and live up to the times, because, in this fast-changing era, there will be no gains if you resign to fate. Excellence can only be achieved through strenuous efforts. Come on, young men!

Question: In recent days, heavy rains fell in Central Chinas Henan Province, causing serious waterlogging, mudslides and landslides in many places across the province, which has seriously threatened the peoples lives and property. The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and Peoples Armed Police (PAP) dispatched troops immediately for emergency rescue and disaster relief. Please brief us on the details.

Answer: In recent days, Henan Province encountered days of torrential rain, which caused heavy casualties and property losses. The flood control situation is grim. Chinese President Xi Jinping made an important instruction on flood control and disaster-relief, demanding the PLA and PAP troops to proactively assist local departments in emergency rescue and disaster relief.

When a disaster happens, a command is issued. And the disaster-hit area is another battlefield for the military. The PLA and PAP troops, as well as the militia and reserve personnel, rushed to the disaster-hit areas to carry out emergency rescue and disaster relief. As of July 28, the military has sent to the rescue operations in Shanghai, Henan, Zhejiang and Jiangsu a total of more than 72,130 military personnel and 83,906 militia personnel, 48 sorties of plane (helicopter), 9,801 vehicles (engineering vehicles) and 1,492 boats. They have assisted in relocating more than 210,000 people from the disaster-hit areas, providing medical treatment to 7,860 people, dredging 21 kilometers of rivers, filling over 1,400,000 sandbags, strengthening dams and river banks of 110-odd kilometers, restoring roads of 430-odd kilometers, and transporting 170,000 pieces of materials.

The Chinese military is the peoples military, and serving the people wholeheartedly is the fundamental purpose of the Chinese military. Keeping in mind President Xis instructions and performing the duties of serving the people, all officers and soldiers of the Chinese military will resolutely complete the flood-fighting and disaster relief tasks assigned by the Party and the people. composing, in the storms and torrents, a heroic chapter of the peoples military caring and sacrificing for the people in the new era.

The 94th anniversary of the founding of the PLA is around the corner. Over the past 94 years, under the strong leadership of the CPC, the heroic peoples military has gone through wars and difficult times, achieving great merit for both the Party and the people. History tells us that it is an irrefutable truth revealed through the Partys arduous struggles that the Party must command the gun and build a peoples military of its own.

Under the banner of the Party, the peoples military is becoming stronger and invincible. The PLA will rally more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and continue to enhance the political work of the military, strengthen the military through reform, technology and talent cultivation, and run the military in accordance with law. The Chinese military will comprehensively improve its strategic capabilities in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and work tirelessly to realize the Partys goal of building a strong military in the new era and fully transform our peoples armed forces into world-class forces!
BEIJING, August 2 -- The Peacekeeping Affairs Center under China's Ministry of National Defense hosted the first China-Latin America peacekeeping webinar in Beijing from July 28 to 29. This event is aimed to implement the vision of building a community of shared future for mankind proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, promote the pragmatic cooperation between the Chinese and Latin American militaries, share peacekeeping experience and uphold multilateralism.

The UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexandre Zouev attended the opening ceremony online. More than 50 officials and experts from China and the main Latin-America troop- and police-contributing countries for UN peacekeeping operations, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, participated in the webinar.

The participants held in-depth exchange of views on how to strengthen the pragmatic peacekeeping cooperation between China and Latin America and make the UN peacekeeping operations more effective. They agreed that as firm supporters and active participants in UN peacekeeping missions, China and the countries in Latin America should further coordinate and cooperate with each other in the peacekeeping mission areas, and continue to make important contributions to world peace.
Liu Jin leads a drill. [Photo for China Daily]

A ground forces unit of the People's Liberation Army in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region introduced a star to the media last month.

The interview room in a military camp was crowded with reporters on July 14, all eager to interview Major Liu Jin, a 36-year-old battalion commander and model soldier ahead of Army Day, which fell on Sunday.

Liu's wife and mother-in-law also attended the interview, with reporters peppering the excited family with questions that they scrambled to answer. The atmosphere became so boisterous that Liu was later asked to go to a separate room to continue the interview.

During his 18 years of service, Liu has won many awards during drills and many medals from military competitions. A skilled member of the special forces, he is also a role model in the military.

"We have to train harder in military exercises and drills so that one day, if we have to go to war, we will be better and stronger than our enemy," he said. "Therefore, I always want to challenge myself, both in military practice and in my life."

Liu grew up in a military family, and even though he was a naughty child, he harbored a sense of awe and respect for the armed forces. When he turned 18 and became eligible for service, his father, who was also a soldier, did not have to persuade him to sign up.

"I told my father at the time that I was not only willing to serve, but also I would serve in the toughest troop in the harshest environment," he said.

Liu was born in Runan county, Henan province. More than 80 years ago, General Peng Xuefeng organized a troop near Liu's hometown and fought Japanese soldiers during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

In Peng's honor, a brigade of a ground forces unit in Ningxia was named Brigade Xuefeng. Liu joined that unit in 2003.

"I knew they were a special forces unit and their members were the best of the best, so I signed up for the brigade without any hesitation," he said.

Liu impressed his comrades-in-arms not long after he arrived. In the first training assessment for recruits, he received full marks in the shooting exercise. All five of the bullets he fired were right on the bull's-eye, and the perfect result led him to join the brigade's most elite company.

"To prove that I was not invited to the company by sheer luck, I was always the first to wake up in the morning and the last to bed. I barely had time to relax because I tried to practice every day, even on the weekends," Liu said.

He also took part in one of the most difficult training exercisesshooting from a moving vehicle. Though the target is fixed, the constant need to shift position means the soldiers have to keep their faces tightly pressed against their rifles to ensure stability.

It took Liu several months before he could hit the target every time. The exercise rubbed off a layer of skin on his face and left it with heavy calluses.

Within three years, Liu had mastered skills including wrestling, parachuting and sniping.

"In 2006, I was recommended to participate in a competition on behalf of my unit in Ningxia. I remember when I was ready to compete in the wrestling event, a commander told me that I did not have to be too serious because I was the only private in the competition," Liu said.

What the commander told Liu motivated him to do the opposite. During the motorcycle riding event, Liu cut his leg to the bone, but he behaved as if it were no big deal and dressed the wound himself.

"I could not tell anyone, because if I did, I would not have been able to participate in the competition anymore," he said.

Liu went on to finish the skills competition in second place. "Daily discipline is how great things get done," he said.

In 2008, because of his impressive performance in that competition and in routine drills, Liu earned the chance to join an army academy in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. Upon graduation two years later, he became a PLA officer.

After becoming a commander, Liu strove to work even harder.

With his achievements continuing to gain recognition in the military, he has been invited to take part in more competitions.

Liu has been selected to represent the Chinese army in various international military competitions and has earned many medals for the country.

"In 2012, I was in a military competition held in Pakistan, and one of the events was called "survival in the wild". Before the start, the examiner asked everybody how we were going to survive if there was no food. I immediately grabbed a handful of grass and ate it in front of him," Liu said.

"He was surprised, but I knew that actions always speak louder than words."

Like many in the special forces, Liu has had to sacrifice something to become an excellent soldier. For him, it has been quality time with his family.

His wife, Bai Xue, said: "We can only spend a few weeks together, as most of the time he has to stay in the military. I remember one day when he came back home, our little son hid behind me because he could not recognize his father."

Liu said he was not there when his son was born.

"As a Chinese saying goes, one's loyalty to the country and filial piety cannot exist at the same time. I owe my wife a lot, and I hope I can make it up to her after retirement," he said.

"But until then, I will continue to do my best in the military, and one day, if I am sent to war, I will be the most intrepid soldier on the battlefield."
By Lin Xin

SHANGHAI, Aug. 2 -- Two coast guard ships "Qushan" and "Haimen" dispatched by the China Coast Guard (CCG) set sail from Shanghai on July 30 to carry out a 31-day fishery law enforcement cruise mission in the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean.

This is the first cruise of the CCG to high seas in the North Pacific Ocean after the introduction of the Coast Guard Law of the Peoples Republic of China, and also the second cruise after CCG obtaining the right to board and inspect fishing vessels in the high seas area of the North Pacific Ocean.

During the cruise, the CCG will follow relevant United Nations General Assembly resolution and the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean to strengthen the supervision over the fishing vessels operating in the North Pacific Ocean and strictly crack down on the illegal fishing in the high seas.

For the suspected rule-breaking fishing vessels, the CCG will board and inspect to effectively maintain the order of high seas fishery production and substantively carry out comprehensive law enforcement cruises.

As a member of the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean, the cruise mission of the CCG to the North Pacific Ocean plays an important role in actively fulfilling its international obligations, participating in global ocean governance, maintaining the order of high seas fishery production, and protecting marine resources.
By Fang Xiaozhi

The US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin proposed the "integrated deterrence" strategy at the recent Global Emerging Technology Summit held by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), claiming that the US needs massive innovation and investment in emerging technologies like AI to maintain its technological superiority and cope with the so-called "major-country competition". Austin emphasized that the strategy will be the cornerstone for Americas defense policies and military strategies.

The "integrated deterrence" concept proposed by Austin focuses on the tech competition between major countries, with a special emphasis on high and new technologies like AI, electromagnetic spectrum, and unmanned systems. It means "working closely with our friends and partners" which are distributed across multiple domains, "using the right mix of technology, operational concepts, and capabilitiesall woven together in a networked way", building a new distributed but highly connected force, and taking collective actions to some extent.

In recent years, the US has kept stressing security threats from major countries and has shifted its military strategic focus from counter terrorism to major-country competition. It claimed that although traditional deterrence, mainly nuclear deterrence, continues to work in the IT age, the deterrence of space, information and network becomes more prominent, and only by maintaining its military and technological advantage in those areas can it stand undefeated in the competition.

The US military also said its new strategy is aimed at uniting the US and its allies to help itself effectively tackle global challenges, threats from mass destruction weapons and various low-intensity conflicts.

It's clear that an important goal of Washington's "integrated deterrence" strategy is incorporating the allies into its deterrence system to create the expected effects, just like the so-called "value alliance" it is currently forging. Meanwhile, due to limited defense budget and other factors, the US military believed it is facing no small difficulties in modernizing its nuclear arsenal, purchasing advanced weapons, and developing high techs, and the current platforms and capabilities are no longer able to effectively meet its needs for strategic deterrence and military operations. Thats why it hopes to borrow the allies strengths to reinforce strategic deterrence.

In this connection, the "integrated deterrence" strategy is also an important step for the Biden administration to reshuffle its ally system to increase the scale and speed of the overall operational force through complementarity. In particular, by working closely with its European and Pacific allies in fields of high technology and cyberspace, the US will forge a joint combat system and turn its own strategic deterrence into common, reliable, and flexible deterrence. The US military also tries to address the many problems appeared in its unilateral military operations through multilateral operations.

It must be pointed out that to what extent America's new deterrence strategy will take effect remains uncertain. The country has spent so much money in the past years on endless anti-terror wars that it's impossible for it to obtain absolute control in multiple domains and super strong deterrence in the short term, which may throw relevant countries into collective anxiety and impair their confidence and input in the "integrated deterrence" strategy. Besides, the uneven capabilities and strengths of the allies can hardly meet Americas strategic requirements and will also compromise the deterrent effects expected in the strategy. All in all, the implementation of America's "integrated deterrence" strategy will face many challenges going forward.

(The author is from the College of International Studies, National University of Defense Technology)
Chinese troops took part in the exercise by video calls.

KUNMING, August 2 -- The opening ceremony of the humanitarian assistance disaster relief field training exercise (HADR FTX) as part of Exercise Cobra Gold 2021 was held at Rayong, Thailand, on July 30. Due to the pandemic influence in Thailand, over 40 troops from 9 countries, including China, America, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and India took part in the joint exercise by video calls for the first time.

It is learned that the joint exercise will last until August 3, and a 12-person Chinese squad, mainly from the PLA 75th Group Army, was assigned to attend the desktop dry run and high-level forum of the HADR FTX. Earlier, the Chinese squad has received intensified training on the standard action procedures for multinational forces, ASEAN disaster emergency response, and Thailand disaster prevention and reduction system, etc.

In the forum started on July 30, eight experts from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center) and other professional institutions had in-depth exchange on Civilian-Military Coordination in Humanitarian Rescue Operation, ASEAN Disaster Response, Civilian Protection, etc. in the context of coping with flood and earthquake relief.

Peng Xiaofei, head of the Chinese squad, said that this participation will show a good image of Chinese military to the world, demonstrate China's positive stance in participating in international multilateral security and defense cooperation, and add positive factors to deepening practical cooperation with Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

As an influential joint military exercise in Southeast Asia, Cobra Gold is held in Thailand on an annual basis. China started to join the Cobra Gold exercise as an observer in 2002 and then assigned an actual military squad for the first time in 2014. Since then, China has actively conveyed Chinese experience to enhance the international joint disaster relief capacity, which has been widely praised by all sides.
By Yang Chengjun

Several senior US officials have visited Asia recently.

Blinken views India as a key force of containing China.

During the visit to India last week, the US Secretary of State Blinken mentioned "human rights and democracy" several times, which piqued the Indians so much that the website Outlook India published an article, titled "Blinken Tour: Should US Lecture India On Human Rights, Democracy?", to expose the so-called "human rights and democracy" in the US. The article called Uncle Sam wily, bringing down many democratic governments and also invading independent countries such as Iraq, and described Blinken's request for India to improve its human rights situation and democracy as arrogant self-beautification.

Blinken's Indian trip was aimed to continue pushing America's return to Asia and further consolidate its dominance in the region. It plans to build an Asian version of NATO to collectively counter rising China and turn India, Japan and Australia all into the accomplices and pawns of its anti-China campaign. It also wishes for India to impose military pressure on Afghanistan after American troops pulled out.

To tighten its ties with New Delhi and make it more loyal and obedient, Washington will provide it with funds, weapons and equipment, but its arrogance and domineering attitude will make it hard for Blinken to get what he wants easily, because India needs to save face and put up some tough gesture to please its citizens.

Austin's trip to Southeast Asia reveals contradictory policy toward China

US Defense Secretary Austin arrived in Singapore on July 27 to meet with the defense minister and prime minister of the host country, during which he constantly criticized Chinas policies and actions in the South China Sea.

Small as it is, Singapore is an influential force in South Asia, once being one of the Four Asian Tigers and commanding a crucial geographical location. With nearly 3 million ethnic Chinese, who account for about 75% of the national population, Singapore is associated with some Chinese culture. Therefore, it is useful and valuable in the eyes of Washington in its attempt to comprehensively contain China, economically, culturally and militarily.

Austin said America is committed to building a constructive and stable relationship with China. His words and deeds, to some degree, just reveal America's contradiction in its policy toward China. Deep at heart, Washington doesn't want to see China develop and even surpass it, but at the same time, it is fully aware that China has become such a vital force in international affairs that many things cannot be accomplished without its participation. Therefore, "building a constructive and stable relationship" is just a ploy to promote America's own global strategy.

China clarifies the principles and bottom line of China-US relations during Sherman's visit

Almost during the same period, the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman wrapped up her trip to Tianjin, China, taking with two lists presented by the Chinese side, one detailing erroneous US policies, words and actions that should be redressed, and the other containing key individual cases of particular concern.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi underlined three basic demands as bottom lines on China-US relations. The first is that the US must not challenge, slander or even attempt to subvert the path and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The second is that the US must not attempt to obstruct or interrupt China's development process. The third is that the US must not infringe upon China's state sovereignty, or even damage China's territorial integrity.

Chinese top diplomat made clear our principles and bottom lines. Both sides expressed the wish to forge a constructive relationship with each other, and Sherman elaborated on the US administration's stance toward. The recent meeting between senior Chinese and American officials has, in my opinion, reached the expected goals.

If the US stops making trouble, the China-US relationship will head in the right direction, which is something generally expected.

(Professor Yang Chengjun, retired researcher from the PLA Rocket Force)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on mil.ifeng.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.
Almost a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has little clue as to the origins of the virus.

Some in the U.S. have called for a second investigation in China, while China says it's concerned about a lab in America. Problems with the disposal of dangerous materials led the U.S. government to suspend infectious disease research at the Fort Detrick Army Base in August 2019. Many in China believe the lab shouldn't escape investigation.

Many experts in China have made their stance loud and clear.

"If some countries still want to look into the lab leak theory, then they should investigate labs in other countries that haven't been investigated as in Wuhan," said Liang Wannian, the Chinese leader of the WHO-China joint experts' team.

One lab under scrutiny is Fort Detrick in the United States. According to media reports, Fort Detrick has a history of storing many deadly viruses like Ebola and anthrax.

In July 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a letter to Fort Detrick, asking it to terminate most of its operations over security concerns.

In the same month, respiratory diseases of unknown origin began to appear in northern Virginia. The media reported on a large-scale outbreak of EVALI  an acronym for e-cigarette associated lung injuries  in Wisconsin that spread to several U.S. states.

In September, Maryland, where Fort Detrick is located, the reported number of patients with EVALI had doubled. The illness has symptoms very similar to COVID-19.

Media reports were quick to cast doubt on Fort Detrick. As of Saturday, a joint open letter calling on the WHO to investigate the Fort Detrick lab has gained over 20 million signatures from Chinese netizens. Global Times, the Chinese media house that published news about the petition, said its server has since been attacked several times by hackers with IP addresses based in the U.S.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Stephen Kinzer, a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, said a thorough investigation into everything that happened at Fort Detrick would be interesting but difficult for reasons of secrecy.

"If there ever is the need for the U.S. to develop a bioweapon, it would certainly be made in Fort Detrick. That's the only place where it could be made. That's where all the scientists are; that's where all the toxins are," said Kinzer, the senior fellow at Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Fort Detrick has also had close ties with the notorious Unit 731, a biological warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army, which conducted horrific human experiments on prisoners of war and abducted civilians in northeast China during World War Two. Fort Detrick was reported to have bought Unit 731's biological warfare data for 250,000 Yen, and the unit's leader Shiro Ishii was even made a bioweapons consultant at the U.S. Army facility.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has on multiple occasions demanded an investigation into Fort Detrick. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a regular news conference on July 22 that the requirement was not only about tracing the origins of the coronavirus but also for the safety of people in all countries. "The questions will not end until the U.S. side gives a reasonable explanation," Zhao said.

But the U.S. has so far remained silent. When it comes to tracing the origins of the virus, Zhao said some people in the U.S. may indeed have a guilty conscience. He cited a June report from U.S. magazine Vanity Fair on an internal warning from the U.S. government against an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus that "could open a can of worms."
After a slow start, the European Union has now overtaken the United States in vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19. Anti-vaccine resistance remains, including in France, where officials estimate more than 200,000 people joined demonstrations this weekend to protest a mandatory health pass.

Brandishing banners proclaiming "freedom" and "pass of shame," tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris and other French cities Saturday against government measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the disease it causes, COVID-19.

While many of the protests were peaceful, several police officers were wounded trying to keep order in Paris. In the southern city of Marseille, demonstrators destroyed a coronavirus testing tent, shouting "assassins" and "collaborators."

The demonstrations marked the third straight weekend of protests and were the biggest so far. Some protesters have worn yellow Stars of David similar to those Jews were forced to wear in the former Nazi Germany -- a move slammed by Holocaust survivors. The protesters included members of the far left and far right, and those representing the yellow vest economic justice movement born a few years ago.

"We're protesting the government system that's been in place for decades," one protester told French radio, calling new coronavirus measures another example of bad government.
The regime has labelled the clandestine government the ousted lawmakers have helped set up in hopes of wresting control from the generals a terrorist group.

The military has also arrested dozens of NLD leaders, including de facto leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and put some on trial for sedition and other alleged crimes. Many more NLD members are in hiding in and outside the country.

Since the coup, security forces have shot and killed more than 900 people and arrested thousands in a bid to quash protests and a stubborn civil disobedience movement opposed to the coup, according to the Assistance Associate for Political Prisoners, a rights group tracking the juntas crackdown from neighboring Thailand.

The military claims it ousted the ruling National League for Democracy because the party had ignored allegations that general elections in November 2020 were riddled with fraud. The NLD had won the poll in a landslide, drubbing the military's proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, in a contest deemed mostly free and fair by local and international election observers.

In a televised address, exactly six months after toppling Myanmar's elected civilian government, the senior general also said he was ready to cooperate with any special envoy appointed by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Min Aung Hlaing has said before that any elections would take place at least a year after the Feb. 1 putsch.

Myanmar's ruling State Administrative Council said Sunday it has become a caretaker government and its leader, Min Aung Hlaing, is to be prime minister. The announcement came after Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday repeated his pledge to hold multiparty elections at an unspecified future date.

 Skepticism Inside Myanmar

Initial reaction to the announcement in Myanmar was mixed. Chan Lian, executive director of the Hornbill Organization, an election monitoring group, told VOA it seemed unlikely elections would be held in the next two years.

"Historically, elections have been held for almost three decades after the previous military coup d'etat," he said. "It is hard for us to believe that it will be held in next two years," he said, adding, "We can only believe it when the election date is announced." He said he thinks "there would be very few political parties running in the upcoming election" if it were held by the military.

Sai Nyunt Lwin, deputy chair of the Shan National League for Democracy, an ethnic opposition party, also was skeptical. "We do not have much trust what he [Min Aung Hlain] has said," Sai Nyunt Lwin told VOA.

"The Hluttaw [Myanmar's parliament] was not convened after the 1990 election. When the 2010 election was held again, the top party leaders including NLD and SNLD were imprisoned. The election was not free and fair and not a credible election.

"Now, the 2020 election result was annulled again. Our party does not accept cancelation of the election result. We still recognize the winning MPs of our party. The SNLD won 42 seats in the 2020 general election," he said.

Khin Zaw Win, the director of Tampadipa Institute, an advocacy group in Yangon, was also skeptical, saying, "It is unbelievable that the military will hold election in the next two years," adding that he does not believe ASEAN has the capacity to deal with Myanmar even if they appoint a mediator.

Phe Than, a member of the Central Policy Affairs Committee of the Arakan National Party, an ethnic party in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, struck a similar chord. "It remains to be seen whether the situation to hold the election will be ready during these years," he told VOA.

Ethnic parties now find it hard to believe in the election, he said, since the military announced the cancelation of the 2020 election results. He said if Suu Kyi's NLD does not run, allied parties will not run, adding, "In the absence of participation, the military will pretend to be trying to hold a general election. at that time, I think it is possible there will be a new type of coup by the military to retain power."

Nandar Hla Myint, however, spokesperson and general secretary of the military-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, was more positive. "We are confident that the chairman of the State Administrative Council will hold election as he pledges," he said.

"As a political party, we will contest the best in the election. The previous election results were annulled because it was not free and fair. It would not have been annulled if it had been handled with responsibility to the complaints of military and political party over election frauds."

 NLD Seen as the Key

Herve Lemahieu, a Myanmar analyst with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said the credibility of any elections the regime stages will rest on whether the hugely popular NLD, which has easily won every general election it has contested, is given a fair chance.

He and other Myanmar watchers believe the junta is prosecuting the NLD's leaders as a pretext, once they're convicted, to ban the party outright. "Given that Min Aung Hlaing has already publicly said that he hopes to learn from the Thai experience, and that the amount of back-and-forth and consultations between [Thai Prime Minister] Prayut Chan-ocha and Min Aung Hlaing, there's every reason to consider these next elections will be highly stacked in favor of the military and have conditions which will basically prevent the NLD or any... rebranded NLD from running, so it will not be free and fair," he said.

Prayut also seized power at the helm of a military coup in 2014 and became prime minister after 2019 elections that the opposition claims were rigged in his favor, an allegation Prayut denies.

Lemahieu said any poll without the NLD's full participation would be little more than "window dressing," though some smaller parties might be convinced to run to at least give the semblance of a genuine contest.

"The generals will hope that it will give them some added degree of credibility at least in the region, if not in the eyes of the West, that will be passable for ASEAN," he said. "I would imagine that most self-respecting, well established pro-democracy opposition figures, if they're not already in jail, would refrain from running," he added. "But you would be left with a small list of fringe parties who probably would see that [election] as beneficial potentially to run in."

Lemahieu said an ASEAN envoy could help nudge the generals toward a fair contest if the bloc selects someone with well-established democratic credentials and lets them operate mostly independent of the group's chair, which rotates among the 10 members every year. If the envoy changes with each new chair, he said, "it's not a recipe for success."
Impoverished North Korea returned to bluster this weekend after agreeing to reopen communication lines with South Korea last week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong, who frequently acts as her brother's attack dog, in a statement on Sunday night called for an end to planned South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises.

Pyongyang "will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision," she said.


Shanghai Jinqiao Development Zone vigorously transforming

By:Fu Yifei | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-08-02 10:26

Jinqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone in Pudong New Area of Shanghai, is the first national export processing zone in China, which has long been known by the slogan World brands are made in Jinqiao. Now, as part of a leading area construction project, Jinqiao will transform from an industrial park to a comprehensive urban area, and speed up the areas industrial positioning, planning, design and carrier construction.



As the only pilot Free Trade Zone in China with advanced manufacturing and producer services at its development core, Jinqiao Development Zone is a manufacturing base with the highest energy level, the best quality and the greatest contribution in Shanghai. In recent years, the traditional pillar industries in Jinqiao Development Zone have been integrated with the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence. Therefore, a new pattern has been formed with four leading industries including the Future vehicles industry based on new energy vehicles and intelligent driving, the Intelligent manufacturing industry represented by industrial networks and robots, the Smart video industry led by mobile Internet, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), and the Innovative communication industry featuring Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G. In March 2020, Jinqiao 5G industrial park opened and became the first 5G Industrial Park in Shanghai and a gathering place for the research and development (R&D) of several of the biggest 5G enterprises in China, including Huawei Shanghai Research Institute, bringing about 55,000 professionals into its talent pool.

During the 14th Five Year Plan period (2021-2025), Jinqiao plans to build and develop an area of about 10 million square meters, and is expected to receive an investment of about 24.8 billion dollars (160 billion RMB). After more than 30 years of development and construction, Jinqiao Development Zone has transformed from an area for processing to an area for manufacturing, and now to an area for intelligent manufacturing. At present, Jinqiao is transitioning into a comprehensive urban area, with its next goal to become a dynamic urban area. The future Jinqiao Development Zone will not only focus on production and ecology, but also become a suitable place for talents to live, work and enjoy their lives to the maximum. Hence, in addition to organically combining residential, commercial, recreational, occupational and other functions to promote the balance of work and living, Jinqiao will also build shared spaces and leisure facilities to establish a 24/7 vigorous urban area, aiming to become a model for a new generation of global urban sub centers".
Landmarks represent the future of Pudong

By:Wu Qiong | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-08-02 14:03

Pudong has begun a new journey since the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Supporting Pudong New Areas High-Level Reform and Opening up to Build a Leading Area for Socialist Modernization was released in July. Over 20 Chinese and foreign media representatives visited several landmarks in Pudong to see what they demonstrated about Pudongs development and future in this developmentally leading area.

An 8K ultra-high-definition multi-functional dome theater; rare meteorites collected from around the world; lunar soil brought back by Change-5; and a 1:1 replica of Chinas space station Tianhe core cabin are all to be found at the Shanghai Astronomy Museum (SAM). Located nearby Dishui Lake in Lingang New Area, it has become the latest cultural hit among citizens. Despite the sweltering heat and the long queue, visitors enthusiasm is still at an all time high. At peak times, 5,000 daily tickets were sold out within two minutes.

(Looking like a floating sphere, the beautiful dome theater at SAM also makes a dialogue between light and shadow.)

Covering an area of approximately 58,600 square meters and with a floor area of 38,000 square meters, the SAM is the worlds largest planetarium. But as Dr. Lin Qing, director of the Astronomical Research Center of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, said, What we want to build is the largest and the best planetarium. Deploying multisensory interaction, data visualization, AR, VR, biometrics and other advanced display methods, the museum shows a panoramic view of the vast universe, which opens an exploratory door to the majestic universe.

(Dr. Lin Qing introduces the interactive technology at SAM)

(A meteorite penetration hole displayed at SAM)

The idea of building the museum was first put forward by Prof. Ye Shuhua, Chinas first female observatory director and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under her advocacy, the project was launched in 2014, and construction started in late 2016, according to Ms. Xin Ge, deputy curator of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and director of the SAM Construction Department. As Xin said, the location of the SAM was mainly decided according to the regional advantages of Lingang, its observational conditions near the sea and the areas ideal potential of development. In the future, the museum will play a bigger part in elevating citizens science awareness and teenagers science education, while serving Shanghais science and technology development by working with universities and enterprises to showcase the latest innovation achievements.

At Zhangjiang Robot Valley, reporters got to learn a good piece of news: By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the total industrial scale of the robotics industry in the park will reach RMB70 billion and 150 core robotics enterprises in total will be settled in the park. The park will become a pace-setter and innovation centre for the development of the robotics industry with a global influence. Whats more exciting is that engineering company ABB is to build an advanced robotized factory right here in the Southeast of the Zhangjiang Robot Valley with an investment of 150 million dollars.

(A sand table model of Zhangjiang Robot Valley)

Currently, there are around 80 enterprises in the Valley, specializing in developing high-end medical, industrial and intelligent service robots. The robots can perform a wide variety of tasks, like doing minimally invasive surgery, solving a Rubiks Cube, making coffee, writing calligraphy and drawing.

Not long ago, a high-tech company from Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province settled a subsidiary in the Valley. With its BCI (brain-computer interface) system, people can control the computer and make commands to a drone. As the company representative said, the technology is now used in research and medical fields. In particular, it meets market demands in the scanning and rehabilitation of stroke and Alzheimers patients.

(A presentation of BCI system)

Likewise, Fourier CEO Gu Jie and his team has become another one of the first enterprises in the Valley. As Gu said, Zhangjiang has provided a sound innovation ecosystem and a talent-concentrated environment for companies like his. There are many upstream and downstream companies here, from component suppliers to application developers, allowing for the development of a complete industrial chain. Whats more, this is where young talents meet. No such place as Zhangjiang might be found in China, added Gu.

(A lower limb rehabilitation exoskeleton robot on display)

As the last stop of the visit, reporters went to Lujiazui to visit the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE). As a result of Chinas economic opening up, the SFE has so far listed 20 futures products and six options, covering major areas of the national economy such as energy, chemicals, and metals.

(SFE building in Lujiazui)

(A trading hall at SFE)

The Pudong New Area in Shanghai will play a leading role in Chinas new journey to fully build a modern socialist country, which is in line with SFEs transformation plans. Looking into the future, SFE will launch more internationalized options, to introduce its products, services and prices to the outside world.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 88F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Roxanne Schaefer, of West Warwick, R.I., stands for a photograph outside of her apartment building, in West Warwick, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Schaefer, who is months behind on rent, is bracing for the end to a CDC federal moratorium Saturday, July 31, 2021, a move that could result in millions of people being evicted just as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Woburn, MA (01801)

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Plenty of sunshine. High 87F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Clear to partly cloudy. Low 67F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Servier Announces Positive Topline Data from the Global Phase 3 Study of TIBSOVO (ivosidenib tablets) in Combination with Azacitidine in Patients with Previously Untreated IDH1-mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Kokomo, IN (46901)

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Sun and clouds mixed. High 82F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
METAIRIE, La. - Plenty of New Orleans Saints fans were in the stands for Thursday's practice session, and the weather was about the best the team has had so far in camp.Fans will be back at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center for Friday and Saturday's practices, as long as the weather holds up for outdoor practice.Observations from the seventh day of training camp:PARTICIPATIONPlenty of participation notes Thursday.Linebacker Kwon Alexander was present but not participating at practice. With Alexander on the team, the Saints waived defensive lineman Kendall Donnerson, who was not present.Receiver Tre'Quan Smith was absent for the second-straight day after leaving Tuesday's practice with an apparent injury. Neither tight end Nick Vannett nor Ethan Wolf were spotted at practice, though Wolf left Wednesday's practice with an injury.Receiver Deonte Harris returned after a one-day absence, and cornerback Grant Haley was present after he missed the last six practices for a personal matter.Several players had appeared to have a scheduled rest day: left tackle Terron Armstead, left guard Andrus Peat, running back Alvin Kamara, defensive end Cameron Jordan and cornerback Marshon Lattimore. They were present at first, but went inside the facility after the stretching period was over.QUARTERBACKS ROUNDUPIt wasn't a great day at quarterback for anyone.Quarterback Taysom Hill took snaps with the ones Thursday, and quarterback Jameis Winston was with the twos. This was flipped from Wednesday, which appears to be the standard operating procedure now that the Saints are through their first week of camp. Quarterback Trevor Siemian was with the threes and rookie quarterback Ian Book the fours.Hill was 8 of 13 with an interception (linebacker Demario Davis with a tip-drill pick) during team drills and Winston was 11 of 16 in full-team drills. Not for nothing, but a solid chunk of of those completions were to running backs.DEFENSIVE NOTESDavis had that interception off of Hill during the first team period. Hill was trying to find receiver Marquez Callaway through a tight window and cornerback Patrick Robinson, who was in coverage, tipped the pass back into the air, which allowed Davis to come down with it.Hill nearly threw another pick in a different full-team session, but Callaway came away with the equivalent of a pass breakup on the would-be interception. The pass itself was underthrown and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was in prime position to make a play on the ball, but Callaway made the head's up play.Later in practice, linebacker Zack Baun nearly had a pick-six off Winston. Winston rolled out and attempted a cross-body throw that looked like a miscue from the start. Baun, standing in the middle of the field, was right there for the misfired pass, but he couldn't come up with it.Several players came away with would-be sacks, too.Defensive end Marcus Davenport burst through the offensive line at least three times for close-call sacks. It's hard to decipher what would actually be a sack since defenders can't tackle quarterbacks, but he made his presence felt in the pocket Thursday. One was in the second team period. Then later in practice he had two almost back-to-back sacks on Hill, running right through second-team left tackle James Hurst both times. Hurst was taking reps with the ones while Armstead had an apparent rest day.Baun had at least one on Winston. Former UL defensive lineman Christian Ringo, who was rotating with the ones during team drills, had at least one sack too on Book.Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon came off the edge in the second-to-last team period to sack Hill.PUNT NOTESOne week into training camp and one position battle appears like there's a leader in the clubhouse.Second-year punter Blake Gillikin had a field day punting the ball, and had one punt that felt like it was never going to come down.Gillikin has shown off his consistency every time he's had reps, and that held true for his session Thursday, too.NUMBERS GAMEWith linebacker Kwon Alexander back in his No. 58 jersey, rookie linebacker Shaq Smith changed to No. 46.
A Starke County councilman who publicly pledged to expel certain racial and religious minorities from the county was appropriately removed from the financial governing body, according to a ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Records show Thomas A. DeCola, a North Judson Republican, told participants at the Dec. 12, 2018 Association of Indiana Counties conference he was "an active member of the Aryan Brotherhood" and "n-----s and Jews were no longer going to be allowed in Starke County."

DeCola also told Indiana county officials attending the conference that "n-----s and Jews" were not safe in Starke County, he knew how to torture people, and previously had tortured "n-----s and Jews" in an underground bunker, according to court records.

Starke County is home to approximately 23,000 people and is located immediately south of LaPorte County. The Starke County seat, Knox, is about 32 miles southeast of Valparaiso.

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Records show the Starke County Council learned of DeCola's behavior at its Jan. 22, 2019, meeting when council members received and reviewed a police report and statements from two individuals confirming DeCola made the threatening and derogatory remarks at the conference after identifying himself as a member of the Starke County Council.

The council then voted to have DeCola respond to the information at its next meeting.

According to court records, DeCola did not materially respond or otherwise deny the allegations at the county council's Feb. 18, 2019, meeting, and DeCola repeatedly declined when asked if he wanted a separate hearing to address concerns about his conference behavior.

As a result, records show the Starke County Council voted 5-1 to remove DeCola from the council for violating the oath of office he signed Dec. 7, 2018, which contained a pledge to "impartially" serve the citizens of Starke County while supporting the U.S. and Indiana Constitutions  neither of which permit the government to expel individuals from a county based on their race or religion.

Under Indiana law, a county council can remove a member for violating an official duty if at least two-thirds of the council members agree.

DeCola unsuccessfully challenged his removal in a lawsuit decided by a Marshall County judge, according to court records.

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In his appeal, where DeCola represented himself, DeCola seemingly attempted to argue the trial court erred by failing to fully consider his claim of wrongful expulsion by the county council.

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The appellate judges, however, said DeCola failed to comply with its rules for appealing a trial court decision, deeming his brief "incomprehensible," and ultimately concluded "we cannot make sense of his argument on appeal."

"Even though DeCola cites opinions of this court and our Indiana Supreme Court, he does not explain how those opinions support his contentions on appeal, as required by Appellate Rule 46," the appeals court said.

"Consequently, we hold DeCola waived all arguments on appeal."

DeCola still can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to consider reviewing the trial and appellate decisions affirming his removal from the Starke County Council.

However, the Supreme Court is not required to hear any subsequent appeal filed by DeCola.

The Starke County Council was represented in the case by Elizabeth Knight, Katlyn Christman and Lisa Baron, of the Knight Hoppe Kurnik & Knight law firm of Merrillville.

DeCola v. Starke County Council ruling of Indiana Court of Appeals

Get to know these new Indiana laws enacted in 2021
Press Release

August 2, 2021 De Lima thanks US Senators for renewed call for her freedom, concern for Filipinos Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has extended her gratitude to the 11 US Senators who recently urged the Biden government to condemn the Duterte administration on its blatant human rights abuses and violations, including her continued unjust detention. On a Twitter post, De Lima thanked the US Senators led by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, and expressed her hope that their passion for justice and accountability will inspire more Filipinos - especially politicians running for office. "Thank you to the 11 US Senators led by @SenMarkey. May their untiring concern for our plight continue to inspire more Filipinos, especially those who are running for public office, to join the fight for justice and accountability," De Lima said. In their letter, the US Senators reminded the US government anew to condemn "the Philippine government's systemic human rights violations", including De Lima's prolonged detention. They also asked whether US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has communicated with the Philippine government about the release of De Lima and has considered sanctions, under the Global Magnitsky Act, to Philippine officials implicated in serious human rights violations, such as Duterte's murderous War on Drugs, and other high crimes. Markey, Chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy was joined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Cory Booker (NJ), Patrick Leahy (VT), Jeffrey Merkley (OR), Sherrod Brown (OH), Ben Cardin (MD), Ron Wyden (OR), Bob Casey (PA), Richard J. Durbin (IL) and Chris Van Hollen (MD). Meanwhile, De Lima, the staunchest critic of the Duterte regime, said that this additional condemnation from notable foreign leaders proves that the international community has not turned a blind eye to Duterte's disregard of the law and blatant violation of human rights. "The international clamor to hold the Duterte regime accountable for its blatant violation of human rights is as loud as ever," she said. It can be recalled that lawmakers from international powers, including the United States, Canada and other European countries, have repeatedly expressed their support for De Lima's causes and their condemnation of Duterte's skewed, corrupt and brutal public order policies. Instead of forming a dialogue with concerned members of the international community, Duterte publicly berated and insulted them, including ordering a ban against three of the 11 US Senators - Markey, Leahy and Durbin, who is the current Senate Majority Whip, the second highest ranking position among the Senate Democrats. De Lima, who recently declared that she will seek reelection in the 2022 elections, vowed that she "will not be cowed" and intends to continue fighting for justice, human rights and democracy. "Sending me to jail has made me even stronger. My zeal to restore the justice you [Duterte] have trampled upon has intensified. All my efforts to fight your crooked regime will be put to waste if I back down from the challenge of seeking reelection," De Lima said in an Indictment letter to Duterte last July 21.
Press Release

August 2, 2021 De Lima denounces spread of fake news vs her after announcing reelection bid Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has denounced the recent proliferation of a fake and misleading content on video-sharing website YouTube falsely claiming that she was removed from office and barred from seeking reelection in the upcoming 2022 polls. De Lima, who has been regularly targeted with fake news stories by pro-Duterte troll farms, stated for the record that contrary to this fake news story, she has not been removed from her post or disqualified as a Senator of the Philippines. The lady Senator from Bicol said she believes that the circulation of a hoax video about her is part of a disinformation campaign against her, especially now that she has declared her reelection bid for the 2022 elections. "Obviously, this aims to create confusion among my supporters and to the people who would support my candidacy. As early as now, those with personal and political interests are employing dirty political tactics such as these false information drives against me. What are they afraid of? For me to be reelected," she said. "We expect more fake news stories directed at me come election period, knowing that these wicked forces, these paid fake news peddlers, will never stop discrediting me. They will always try to wreak havoc on the national consciousness. Gamit ang kanilang malawak na makinarya, pilit nilang babaluktutin at lalapastanganin ang katotohanan para sa kanilang pansariling agenda," she added. Several pro-Duterte pages are sharing the link of a YouTube video that ran a misleading headline implying that De Lima was removed from her post. Uploaded by PH Breaking News YouTube Channel last July 23, the video's title read: "KAKAPASOK LANG: BREAKING! GOODNEWS PRES DUTERTE DISQUALIFIED SI DELIMA SA SENADO TALSIK SA PWESTO." The text "DE LIMA DISQUALIFIED SA SENADO," meanwhile, was positioned in the center of the video's thumbnail. Upon review, the video's content played a report about Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque's reaction to De Lima's plan to seek reelection in the 2022 polls wherein he said that she is free to seek reelection in the 2022 polls. It has been viewed more than 25,000 times as of this writing. It may be recalled that De Lima, in an indictment letter to Duterte last July 21, declared that she would seek reelection in the 2022 national elections to continue fighting injustice and human rights abuses, which became rampant under the present administration, and exact accountability therefor. "Binubuhay na naman nila ang mga fake news laban sa akin. This is not surprising considering that these evil men and women will stop at nothing to completely destroy me," she said. As early as 2016, De Lima said fake news have been circulating that she has been removed or ousted as Senator, or that she resigned, but maintained that these are just part of the massive propaganda to intimidate, pressure and discredit her as sitting Senator. "The Philippine Constitution states that a Senator may be expelled from Office when two-thirds of all the members of the Senate concur to expel a colleague. No such thing has happened. Pure fiction," she said. "Even in my unjust detention, I am still fulfilling the mandate given to me by the more than 14 million Filipinos who voted for me," she said. De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, stressed that it is only upon conviction with finality that the penalty of political disqualification can be implemented. "The Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines and other relevant election laws state that only those convicted with finality of crimes punishable by at least 12 months of imprisonment are disqualified from holding public office. I have not been convicted of any crime based on the charges filed against me by the Duterte regime," she said. "I am absolutely innocent of the trumped-up charges against me. Any decent person who would look into these bogus cases and study the accusations and evidence will plainly see that I am not involved in illegal drugs," she added. De Lima calls on Google Philippines, the owner of YouTube, to be responsible for the content that it allows to be disseminated in its service. Her office has already reported the said fake video but it has not yet been taken down from the video-sharing website. "We are still awaiting Google PH's action about this and as we do so, I want to remind everyone to always check the veracity of clips or stories that they see online. It always pays to do your own validation and research, and be discerning, to avoid being fooled by these fake news stories," she said.
Press Release

August 2, 2021 GORDON UNDERSCORES NEED TO END SEXUAL ABUSE AGAINST CHILDREN, TO SPONSOR MEASURE INCREASING AGE OF SEXUAL CONSENT IN PH Emphasizing the need for an urgent response to child sexual abuse and exploitation in the country, Senator Richard J. Gordon will sponsor a bill defining the crime of statutory rape and other acts of sexual abuse from 12 to the international standard of 16 years of age. "Keeping 12 as the age of consent endangers children and makes them more vulnerable to sexual abuse. The Congress must uphold the right of every child to freedom from sexual exploitation that's why we introduce Senate Bill No. 2332," said Gordon, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Gordon pointed out that the Philippines has the lowest age of sexual consent in Asia and one of the lowest in the world. "The rape statistics in our country that involved children also remain troubling, so, we strongly support the increase of age of sexual consent as thousands of children are robbed of their youth," Gordon stressed. Another significant provision of SBN 2332 is that men and women may be charged with statutory rape. The proposed law, as Gordon explained, will address this issue by giving equal protection to boys. "The sexual orientation of the offender is of no importance as we find that perpetrators of sexual abuse against boys are given much lesser sentences than those found guilty of raping girls," he added. During the deliberation and review of the proposed bills of various Senators, including Senate Bill No. 1853 or the 'Age of Statutory Rape and Other Sexual Abuse Act' filed by Gordon, he said that the first National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children conducted in 2015, led by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), revealed that one in every five Filipino children aged 13-17 years old experienced sexual violence, while one in 25 of all respondents experienced forced consumated sex during childhood. The study further showed that the offenders are often family members. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, where the Philippines is a signatory, recommended to the government to increase the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old. "We are hoping to pass amendments with regard to child sexual abuse as this daunting task will help improve child protection in our country," Gordon said.
Press Release

August 2, 2021 Hontiveros urges COMELEC: Extend voter registration period in areas under ECQ Senator Risa Hontiveros is calling on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to extend the voter registration period, at least in areas affected by the 15-day enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). There is no word yet if the current deadline, September 30, 2021, will be moved. "Sayang 'yung period from August 6 to 20. Especially for some of our first time voters, yung iba sa kanila are not even eligible for vaccination. It is only logical to extend the voter registration period by at least two more weeks. It's two more weeks that may prove critical for our country's future," she said. In May 2021, COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez expressed concern about moving targets, adding it was not likely to extend the voter registration period because there are other things to prepare aside from the official voter's list. However, the senator says the challenges brought on by the pandemic must be considered as "extraordinary circumstances". Hontiversos also pointed out that the voter registration process was already stalled several times due to fears over the pandemic. "I agree that deadlines should be observed. But, hopefully, in this case, COMELEC can make one last necessary extension. Huwag naman sanang i-quarantine pati ang karapatan ng mga tao na bumoto," she stressed. Last year, Hontiveros called for an increase in the COMELEC's budget to prepare for the 2022 elections in light of the major health adjustments due to COVID-19. "COVID-19's Delta variant has already disrupted our communities. Let it not get in the way of our citizens' desire to participate in the May 2022 elections," she concluded.
Press Release

August 2, 2021 Lacson to PDEA, DDB: Look Deeper into Chinese Nationals' PH Drug Operations, Connections

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2021/08/02/lacson-to-pdea-ddb-look-deeper-into-chinese-nationals-ph-drug-operations-connections/ Why are some Chinese nationals being bolder in their involvement in drug operations in the Philippines? How long have they been operating here? Do they have connections in government? These are among the questions that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Dangerous Drugs Board should look into, after a series of anti-drug operations by the Philippine National Police, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Monday. "Salute to the PNP! More than these successful police operations, the DDB and PDEA should look deeper into the bold and imprudent behavior of these Chinese nationals to choose the Philippines as their base; how long they had been operating; their possible connections in government, etc.," Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001, said in a post on his Twitter account. Lacson is the sponsor of the budget of the PDEA, which coordinates the law enforcement operations against the illegal drug trades; and of the DDB, which is involved in policy formulation on drug prevention and control. The PNP said it seized some P1.482 billion worth of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in anti-illegal drug operations in Quezon City, Valenzuela City, and Balagtas, Bulacan on Sunday, Aug. 1. At least one Chinese drug suspect - initially identified as Wu Zishen, 50 - was killed after engaging law enforcers in a shootout while four other Chinese were arrested, the PNP said. Police arrested Willie Lu Tan, Anton Wong, and Wang Min in Novaliches, Quezon City. Seized from them were 127 kilos of shabu worth P863.6 million. A separate operation in Valenzuela City resulted in the arrest of Joseph Dy and the seizure of 16 kilos of shabu worth P108.8 million. Another operation in Bulacan resulted in the death of Wu, and the recovery of 75 kilos of shabu worth P510 million.
Press Release

August 2, 2021 Secure economy, food, front-liners to achieve good health amid Covid: Pangilinan AS THE country deals with the more infectious Covid Delta variant, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan takes the long and comprehensive view for Filipinos to achieve good health by focusing on the economy and access to food, and supporting front-liners. "Right now, sira ang delivery systems ng food at health services. Walang kita pangtustos sa pagkain o gamot. Given these, achieving good health for Filipinos seems pretty straightforward: Secure our economy. Secure our food producers. Secure our health workers," Pangilinan said. Speaking at an online symposium as part of the 35th anniversary of the St. Luke's Medical Center, the farmer-senator describes the current health situation of Filipinos thus: "Our poorest of the poor have become even poorer to the point that they have to choose between eating or taking medicines -- both of which they need to survive and thrive." Fight hunger, secure farmers As hunger remains foremost in the minds of parents, Pangilinan said securing food producers would lower the cost of food. He said the Sagip Saka Act of 2019, which seeks to ease the flow of food from producer to consumer, will effectively lower food prices. The law enables national agencies and local government units to purchase agricultural products directly from accredited cooperatives and associations without the need for lengthy traditional procurement. Support MSMEs, buy Filipino Earlier lockdowns have cost 3.7 million Filipinos jobs in May 2021 and the shutdown of 73.1% of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Pangilinan pointed out. To kickstart the economy, the senator cited his earlier privilege speech with the following proposed solutions: activating the "buy pinoy buy local" campaign to generate jobs, provide cash assistance to MSMEs, and ease credit requirements to help restart businesses. "Nasa emergency situation tayo. Economic opportunities mean access to sources of income. Social services mean access to government assistance and other amelioration programs that would make economic opportunities more accessible in times of need," he said. Securing health workers Strategically, Pangilinan said, health gaps exposed by the pandemic must be filled. These are: modernizing facilities, increasing hospital beds, proper support and compensation for frontline health workers, contact tracing, and testing. For the senator, much like securing food means securing farmers, securing health also means securing front-liners. This includes passing relevant laws needed to compensate health workers such as the Republic Act 11509 or the Medical Scholarship Act that intends to incentivize and institutionalize the government's Doctors to the Barrios program signed December 2020. Pending at the Senate are the Comprehensive Nursing Law of 2019 and the amendments to the 30-year-old Magna Carta for Public Health Workers. Both aim to increase the salary and other compensation of our frontline health workers. "We hope to repay our front-liners by giving them the compensation and recognition that they deserve. We hope to give them the incentive to stay," Pangilinan said. "As I've seen in the past two years, the state of the nation's health depends, to a large extent, on the quality of public leadership in battling the most severe health and economic crisis facing the nation today," he said. As of August 1, the Philippines has a total of 1,597,689 Covid cases, with daily cases reported to be over 8,000 for the third straight day. In preparation for the Covid Delta variant, the National Capital Region has been placed under General Community Quarantine with heightened and additional restrictions from July 30 to August 5. NCR will then shift to Enhanced Community Quarantine, the country's strictest quarantine measure, from August 6 to 20.
Courtney Williams of Crye-Leike Real Estate Services Southaven was named Million Dollar Club Rookie of the Year by Northwest Mississippi Association of Realtors.
Mark Davis (pictured at right), Emergency Medical Services director for DeSoto County reported that twenty-nine percent of DeSoto County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as of Friday, July 30.
Eight Egypt soldiers were injured and killed in a counter-terrorism operations Sunday in Sinai province, reports citing the army.

The fatalities and injuries occurred during clashes with militants loyal to the Daesh group operate, in the northern Sinai. The army also said 19 militants were also mowed down in the operations which also led to the confiscation of arms and ammunition.

The forces also destroyed hundreds of explosive devices and some explosive belts, 13 tunnel entrances used to infiltrate the North Sinai region, which has borders with the Gaza strip and Israel, as well as 200 vehicles, some of them loaded with arms and ammunition.

Egypt has been since 2013 waging war against militants in the restive region. The campaign has caused hundreds of deaths among the army ranks.
According to a tweet published by Mahmoud Gamal on August 2, 2021, the Egyptian Type 209/1400 submarine arrived in Alexandria Naval base after its departure from Kiel, Germany, in July.

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Egyptian Type 209/1400 submarine S44 in Alexandria (Picture source: Egypttoday)

Type 209 is a class of diesel-electric attack submarine developed exclusively for export by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany. The original variant (Type 209/1100) was designed in the late 1960s. The class is exclusively designed for export market. Despite not being operated by the German Navy, five variants of the class (209/1100, 209/1200, 209/1300, 209/1400 and 209/1500) have been successfully exported to 13 countries, with 61 submarines being built and commissioned between 1971 and 2008.

The average Type 209 has a crew of 30 and displaces 1 594 tons submerged. The type is 62 meters long with a 6.2-meter pressure hull diameter. It can dive to a maximum depth of 250 metres and is armed with eight torpedo tubes with 14 torpedoes.

Egypts new Type 209 submarines have a range of 11 000 nautical miles, a top speed of 21 knots, and a displacement of over 1 400 tonnes.

The Type 209/1400 mod series submarines are claimed to be are extremely reliable, can stay submerged for a long time, are fast, and are hard to locate thanks to their low signatures. It is the latest version of the HDW Type 209 family with over 60 boats built or under contract.

The Egyptian Type 209/1400 submarines have eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes and are able to carry and launch up to 14 missiles and torpedoes, in addition to deploying naval mines. They will be fitted with SeaHake mod 4 torpedoes and UGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles (AShM).
According to information published by TASS on August 2, 2021, the Grigory Shadrin big hydrographic boat of Project 23370G was floated in Murmansk, the Russian Northern fleet said.

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Grigory Shadrin large hydrographic boat of Project 23370G (Picture source: Mvestnik)

The Grigory Shadrin is the third big hydrographic boat of project 23370G. The Mikhail Kazansky first boat operates in the Baltic fleet and the Alexander Firsov second boat in the Black Sea fleet.

The boat has a displacement of 146 tons. It is 24.2-meter long and 8.5-meter wide. Full speed is 11.5 knots and the cruising range is 600 miles. The boat can operate in force 4 sea. The water and food stocks provide for a five-day operation with 11 crewmembers and hydrographers.

The Project 23370G boat is designed for navigational equipment maintenance, hydrographic operations, installation, removal and maintenance of buoys, and transportation of maintenance teams, food, fuel and other supplies to coastal-based navigation facilities, including those on unprepared shores. It can conduct depth measurement with the use of an echo sounder for buoy installation.

The Project 23370G modular boat derives from the Project 23370 and Project 23370M vessels being built by the KAMPO Company for the Navys search-and-rescue forces.
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Pranker jailed for 28 months for coronavirus joke in Moscow metro

 AGN Moskva

13:47 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  Moscows Presnensky District Court on Monday sentenced Karomatullo Dzhaborov, a pranker who had played a coronavirus joke in the Moscow metro in 2020, to 28 months in penal colony, the courts press service told RAPSI.

Two his assistants, who had taken part in the joke, received two-year suspended terms.

Dzhaborov and his alleged accomplices stood charged with hooliganism committed in conspiracy.

Prosecutors also demanded 4 years in jail for Dzhaborov and 3 years behind bars for two his accomplices each.

On February 2, 2020, aboard a metro train the young man fell imitating a sudden stroke, according to investigators. Following that, his accomplices began crying that Dzhaborov suffers a dangerous virus infection whipping up panic among passengers, the Investigative Committee reported earlier. His attorneys insist that the pranker wanted to draw the societys attention at the virus problem.




Owner of Moscow Region hospice gets over 6 years in penal colony in fatal fire case

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

14:01 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  An owner of a private hospice in the Moscow Regions town of Krasnogorsk on Monday received 6 years and 5 months in penal colony in a case over the fire that had led to the death of 12 patients, the Investigative Committees press service reports.

The entrepreneur was found guilty of providing substandard services that resulted in the death of two and more persons.

Earlier, the defendant pled guilty, repented and paid victims for damage and funeral expenses.

According to case papers, in May 2020, the fire occurred in the hospice for old persons. During the blaze 9 people in the age from 66 to 90 died; 9 more were hospitalized. Later, three persons died in a hospital.




Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on Wanton Comments by the US and the EU on the Macao Court of Final Appeal Decision to Dismiss Appeals by Three Candidate Teams

2021/08/02

Q: On July 31, the Macao Court of Final Appeal made the decision to dismiss the appeals filed by three candidate teams and to uphold the decision of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election to exclude their candidate lists from the upcoming election. Spokespersons of the US State Department and the European External Action Service voiced their opposition to the disqualification of candidates and called for democracy, rights and freedoms in Macao to be upheld. Does China have any comment on this?

A: We deplore and reject it that relevant sides, in grave violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations, have time and again made wanton comments on the affairs of Chinas Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

Supporting the Basic Law of the Macao SAR of the Peoples Republic of China and pledging allegiance to the SAR are the legal requirements for members of the Legislative Assembly. The ruling made by the Court of Final Appeal of the Macao SAR on the basis of laws and facts has implemented the fundamental principle of patriots administering Macao, safeguarded the constitutional order enshrined in the Constitution and the Basic Law, kept the solemn election of the seventh term of the Macao Legislative Assembly free from irregularities, and demonstrated the judicial justice and authority of the Macao SAR. The relevant decision is supported by all sectors in Macao. We firmly support it.

Since Macaos return, One Country, Two Systems has made remarkable achievements. The wide-ranging rights and freedoms enjoyed by the people in Macao are fully protected in accordance with law. These facts shall not be distorted. I want to stress that Macao is Chinas SAR. The Chinese side will continue to resolutely ensure the steady and sustained implementation of the successful practice of One Country, Two Systems with Macao characteristics. In the meantime, we will firmly oppose interference in Macao affairs and Chinas internal affairs by any external forces.
D. James Kennedy Ministries Weighs Supreme Court Appeal After 11th Circuit Rejects its SPLC Lawsuit

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D. James Kennedy Ministries

Aug. 2, 2021



FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 2, 2021 /Standard Newswire/ -- D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) is reviewing its legal options after the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on July 28 a lower court ruling dismissing DJKM's defamation and discrimination lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] and Amazon.



"While I disagree with the Court's conclusion in our case, this opinion does have some bright spots," said Frank Wright, Ph.D., President and CEO of D. James Kennedy Ministries.



"We are now four years into our efforts to defend Bible-believing Christians against false and defamatory statements. My guess is that we are not done with this effort. DJKM's Board of Directors will decide on an appeal in the next few weeks."



DJKM sued the SPLC in 2017 after the self-styled "hate" watchdog/Left-wing advocacy group placed DJKM on the SPLC's "hate map" and classified DJKM as a "hate group" for teaching the traditional, Biblical position on marriage and sexuality. Because of SPLC's false and defamatory label, DJKM has suffered reputational injury and financial harm from both increased security expenses and decreased donations.



Because of the SPLC's false label, Amazon excluded the ministry from participating in Amazon's "Smile" charity program. The 11th Circuit, with respect to Amazon, affirmed in its opinion the "bedrock principle" that "no person in this country may be compelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support."



That "bedrock principle," Wright said, is here applied to the world's largest online retailer. Many sole proprietor Christian bakers, photographers and florist, he added, want the same protection. "Instead, they are now forced to fight in courtsand not always successfullyto have this core legal standard applied to them in the context of same-sex 'marriage.'"



The 11th Circuit's opinion, as to the SPLC, did not surprise, said DJKM's attorney, David Gibbs III:

At least with respect to SPLC, the opinion is what we expected. Although the Court did not address this in its decision, we actually cited Justice Thomas' concurrence in Mckee v. Cosby that encouraged litigants to challenge the New York Times v. Sullivan actual malice standard. We cited that opinion with the intent of challenging the actual malice standard. In its decision, the 11th Circuit affirmed the District Court on the basis of actual malice, so we are exactly where we intended to be at this point.

Gibbs noted that two members of the High Court, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have now urged the Court to revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 case on which the 11th Circuit relied in its opinion denying DJKM protection against defamation.



"Justice Thomas and now Justice Gorsuch are looking for a case to use to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan," he said. "This might be the one."



D. James Kennedy Ministries is a media ministry whose television program, Truths That Transform, airs nationwide. It actively communicates the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of His Lordship, and a Biblically informed view of the world.



SOURCE D. James Kennedy Ministries



CONTACT: John Aman, j.aman@djkm.org


Paymentology, a United Kingdom-based innovative payment technology solutions provider, is bringing the cutting-edge advanced cards and innovative payments solutions infrastructure to the Middle East. It will change the way consumers make payments for their purchases.

As the banking industry undergoes digitisation process to transform themselves into more agile and effective financial institutions, they need the next-generation solutions. Paymentologys BangkingLive 2.0 solution, a dedicated cloud-based processing platform with high capability to scale up fast, is a great tool that is becoming popular in the region.

Paymentologys unique cloud-native issuer processor platform is driving innovation in card issuance in the Middle East and we remain at the forefront of this innovation in this part of the world, Nauman Hassan, Director for Client Services at Paymentology, says.

The Middle East is one of the fastest growing digital banking markets and has a desire to deploy cutting-edge innovative technology which is why Paymentology is so well placed and their expertise being used.

Paymentology will be a driving factor in the continued success and growth of digital banking in the region. We are currently working with banks and financial institutions across the Middle East region and guide them into the next generation of banking.

This solution uses backup cloud technology to allow the bank to continue to serve its customers round the clock and perform maintenance updates when needed silently in the background without interrupting customers.

This is done via the use of geo-location high availability round-robining cloud infrastructure. This dedicated platform feeds the bank with real-time data, at the point of purchase and provides detailed analysis on customer spend-behaviour. Deep spend data can then be utilised by the bank for customer profiling on risk, spending trends and suitability for additional financial products.

These include product insurance at point of spend, preferential FX rates on foreign currency knowing the customer is travelling soon, and a whole range of personal insurance and micro financing products eg. buy-now-pay-later. All of this is achieved in real-time enabling the bank to present customers with payment services in a simple way yet deliver unique banking experiences that offer long standing value.

Paymentology deployed their BankingLive 2.0 solution to support Mox Bank, a startup digital bank set up in 2019 by Standard Chartered Bank and its partners HKT, PCCW and Trip.com, to help it achieve its target. Mox Bank reached over 100,000 customers in as little as 7 months becoming the second branchless bank to pass the 100,000 thresholds, thanks to the deployment of BankingLive 2.0 solution by Paymentology.

One of the innovative features enabled by Paymentology is to enable the same card with dual payment methods  debit card and credit card.

We helped Mox Bank launch two payment methods with one card  flipping between debit card and credit card payment methods, Nauman Hassan says. Together with Mastercard, Mox Bank introduced Flip for its all-in-one Mox Card, allowing consumers to choose their payment method.

So, instead of carrying two cards, they carry the same card with the same number  but with two different payment methods! This is one of the many innovations that we plan to introduce here in the Middle East.

Paymentologys new innovative cards solutions comes to the region at a time when a number of new digital banks are being granted licences.

The move is expected to accelerate the flow of e-commerce transactions in the Mena region that jumped ten-fold or 1000% from $20 billion (AED73 billion) in 2017 to a whopping $200 billion (AED730 billion) in 2020, according to the GSMA report.

Financial technology (Fintech) is fast changing the banking industry landscape which is currently undergoing rapid transformation through innovative solutions, powered by application programming interfaces (APIs).

APIs are essentially a set of protocols and codes determining how various software components and elements should communicate. They are used to communicate different software applications with each other.

With practically 90% of transactions occurring today outside the physical bank branch, they can save significant resources and expenses, which subsequently assists with improving their financial health and wellbeing.

The London headquartered financial technology (FinTech) solutions provider has already kicked off multiple banking projects in the region to support legacy issuer/card processor with more innovative cloud native BankingLive platform.

Launched in 2015 and with accreditations to operate globally, Paymentology is firmly positioned as a leader in the payment processing world. It has been chosen by banks such as Revolut and Standard Chartered's Mox Bank to support their ground-breaking and highly customer centric payment programmes.

The technical expertise of its people and understanding of the banking space, mean that Paymentology can continuously innovate its services to enable our customers to deliver competitive payment products to the market.

UK-based SME News recently awarded Paymentology the Best Issuer Payment Processing Specialist 2020 award. SME News has a reach to more than 78,000 readers.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) registered a monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 181,879 contracts during July.



Notably, the DGCX Groups Weekly INR-US Dollar (USD) Futures Contract, recorded a year-to-date (Y-T-D) volume growth of 86% this July, compared to the same period last year, when it first went live in July 2020.



The contract has since provided market participants with opportunities for further diversification, short-term hedging, and arbitrage opportunities while tracking the worlds largest pool of offshore liquidity for exchange-traded INR-USD currency products available at DGCX.



The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) Futures Contract also continued to surge in interest since its launch earlier in the year, registering a combined total of 4,853 lots valued at $60.23 million during the month. Moreover, the Silver Futures Contract also continued its strong performance, recording a year-to-date (Y-T-D) volume growth of 83%, compared to the same period last year.



Significantly, another product from the DGCX Groups metals portfolio performed strongly throughout the year  with the exchanges Gold Futures Contract trading a combined total of 34,985 lots worth $2.02 billion since the beginning of 2021, to date.



Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said: During July, the Weekly INR Futures Contract attracted a surge in interest, as members looked to manage their exposure to the Indian market. Since its launch last year, the contract has been particularly beneficial for market participants looking for short-term contracts to meet their business and hedging requirements  and we continue to look at ways to build on the success of our INR portfolio.



We also continued to record marked interest in the DGCX Groups PKR Futures Contract, which has now registered the highest trades since its launch in April, as well as the second highest volume, value and Open Interest. We remain focused on providing our members with a wide range of products to manage their risk effectively and expect to announce further solutions in the coming months.  TradeArabia News Service
Brand Dubai, the creative arm of the Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO), and Dubai Municipality, have announced that they will redesign 10 public parks in the emirate as part of their joint redevelopment project.

The two organisations also announced that 30 individuals from the Emirati creative community have been chosen to participate in the project.

The participants were chosen after an evaluation of over 100 submissions from the community for designs of public park elements and concepts for community events.

Revealing details at an event, Brand Dubai and Dubai Municipality said the selected participants include 10 architects, 10 interior designers and 10 event planners, most of whom are fresh graduates and young professionals. The participants were chosen based on their portfolio of work and their CVs.

Brand Dubai and Dubai Municipality recently invited the participation of Emirati creatives and design and event professionals with the aim of promoting community participation in the redevelopment of parks.

Submissions were invited for designs that can integrate environmentally friendly materials and innovative modern building methods that can revitalise parks and help attract more visitors.

The new park designs will cover urban seating, childrens playgrounds, jogging tracks, landscaping and other elements of the park in addition to concepts for community events or activities.

Asem Abdulrazzaq Al Qassim, Acting Director of Executive Planning Department, Dubai Municipality, said: "The initiative, which supports the vision of making Dubai the worlds best place to live in, stems from the strong priority we place on developing green spaces in the emirate. Public green spaces are critical to enhancing the wellbeing, sustainability and livability of cities and bring diverse other social and environmental benefits."

"We are sure that the participants selected from the community to contribute to the project will help bring new dimensions of creativity and excellence to the project, which will see multidisciplinary teams working on transforming the parks," he noted.

"A total of 10 parks located in the residential areas of Al Mizhar 1, Muhaisnah 3, Al Barsha 2, Al Qouz 1, Al Warqaa 2, Nad Al Sheba 4, Al Twar 3, Oud Al Muteena 2, Al Warqaa 4 and Umm Suqeim 2 will be redesigned as part of our joint project," he added.

Shaima Al Suwaidi, City Branding Manager, Brand Dubai, said: "The Emirati professionals chosen to participate in the redesign project reflect Dubais dynamic young creative talent pool which is bursting with ideas and energy. Supporting their participation in the project is part of our efforts to advance the Dubai leaderships goal of investing in their development and growth and involving the community in urban redevelopment projects."

"The participants will have the opportunity to contribute to generating breakthrough concepts that can enrich these parks while also meeting the unique needs of the local community. Over the coming weeks, we will be working closely with them to further refine ideas for transforming Dubais public parks into more engaging and sustainable public spaces. Brand Dubai will be offering the participants a co-working space in GDMO to use while working on this project over the next two months," she added. -TradeArabia News Service
Emerson has partnered with SirajPower to implement a solar rooftop plant at its Middle East and Africa head office in Dubai, making it the largest solar rooftop plant in a single location within Jebel Ali.

This significant sustainability project supports Emersons long-term commitment and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals to promote decarbonization efforts, minimize emissions and enhance resource efficiency.

Along with SirajPower, Emerson also appointed Clenergize Solar Consultants as comprehensive advisors to cover the specifications, tendering, contract management, design reviews, and project management.

The official signing ceremony was held last week at the Emersons Jafza facility which was attended by Emersons Middle East and Africa President Vidya Ramnath and SirajPowers CEO Laurent Longuet.

This marks the launch of the solar rooftop projects installation and commissioning, which is expected to go live before year-end.

The solar rooftop, which will be financed, designed, constructed, and operated by SirajPower, consists of 5,489 solar panels covering a roof area of 19,340 sqm across four of Emersons warehouses and office buildings in Jebel Ali South.

The solar system has a capacity of 2.6 MWp and will produce 3.923 GWh of clean energy annually. This project will reduce Emersons carbon emissions by 2,891 MT annually.

The development aligns with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authoritys (Dewa) Shams Dubai programme, a leading initiative to make Dubai the smartest city in the world by supporting the diversification of energy mix and promoting the use of clean and renewable energy sources.

"Emerson is transforming its culture, business practices, and infrastructure to support a more inclusive and sustainable planet," remarked Ramnath.

"This solar panel installation project is a great example of our commitment towards sustainability in Dubai and is in line with our global sustainability framework, the Greening Of, Greening By, and Greening With Emerson which addresses how we, as a company, approach sustainability through how we do business, how we support our customers and how we collaborate with stakeholders," she added.

On the tieup, Longuet said: "Were thrilled to have such an enormous global company like Emerson join our journey to a greener economy. As climate change and global warming-related challenges are becoming increasingly important, more companies are beginning to prioritize sustainability as part of their goals towards a sustainable future."

"With clean energy at the very core of the UAEs sustainability vision for the next 50 years, we are honored to be able to support the country achieve its goals," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
After 30 years of struggling with a rare autoimmune disease, Dania Malki has finally found relief thanks to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, an integral part of Mubadala Health.

It was 30 years ago that Malki, a Syrian American communications professional and aspiring artist, was diagnosed with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), a rare disease that only affects around five in every million people.

Over the years, the severity of Malki symptoms had fluctuated as doctors tried a wide variety of medications to control her condition. Despite long periods where she enjoyed minimal symptoms, as her condition progressed, Malkis world became smaller.

Eventually, even walking more than a few steps became a challenge as she struggled for breath. Desperate to find some relief and take her life back, Malki visited Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi where she began an innovative new treatment that has allowed her to start exercising, going out to see friends and looking to the future once more.

When Malki came to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, she had been struggling for a very long time. She was highly symptomatic, she struggled with her breathing and had many limitations in her daily life due to her shortness of breath and coughing. She had received a lot of care over the years but was never able to achieve proper control of her symptoms. When I look back on her the first time we saw her and compare it to now, the change in her life is really stunning, says Dr Fulvio Salvo, an immunologist at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

With no known cause or available cure, EGPA affects the immune system and causes inflammation in the blood vessels around the body. While it can affect many organs including the heart, kidneys and nerves, it most commonly affects the lungs and upper airways. The condition is strongly associated with a history of allergies and asthma occurring almost exclusively in patients with severe asthma. The most common symptoms of EGPA are shortness of breath due to poorly controlled asthma, fatigue, nasal obstruction, muscle and joint pain.

There were years where I just couldnt do anything. I used to work full time even though I would feel very weak by the end of the day but 8 years ago I had to give up work because I had become too weak to continue. I couldnt even walk down a flight of stairs without losing my breath. I would have to lie down to rest every two hours. My social life suffered because I would feel too weak to see people. I love to paint and there were times when the smell of the paint would affect me so much I couldnt even do that anymore, continues Malki.

Since being diagnosed, Malki had seen a great many doctors looking for relief from her symptoms. She had tried numerous courses of treatment including asthma inhalers and even immunosuppressants usually used in transplant patients. However, one medication had been a constant in her life  cortisone.

After being diagnosed with EGPA I was going around from doctor to doctor. Some would know about EGPA, but most of them would just try to treat my asthma. I wasnt really treated -- I was just on long term cortisone. Every so often, doctors would try to stop the cortisone, telling me its not good to be on it for so long and my symptoms would come straight back. At the beginning cortisone is like a magic pill, because it really minimises symptoms but eventually it becomes almost toxic, says Malki.

In 2019, Malki decided to visit Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi as her symptoms had worsened again. She began losing weight rapidly, experiencing extreme allergies and struggled to take more than a few of steps without stopping to catch her breath.

When we first saw Malki, her symptoms were ruling her life despite the fact that she was on the maximal dose of asthma control medications, immune suppressants and cortisone, the long-term effect of which can be very serious. I was really concerned with the fact that she had been using cortisone for more than 20 years. We decided to try a new treatment, a biologic medication thats available here and has been shown to be effective in treating EGPA and Im pleased to say we have seen a real transformation in Malkis condition, continues Dr Salvo.

After beginning her new treatment, injections administered once a month, Malkis care team began to slowly reduce her dose of other medications. As her condition improved, she was able to stop taking immunosuppressants, some of her asthma medications and now only receives a minimal dose of cortisone. Her condition has improved so much that she is exercising, planning to travel and hoping to display her art - paintings of street scenes and landscapes of Syria, her ancestral home.

The moment I got to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, I knew this time would be different. My doctors knew all about EGPA and told me managing that was key to helping me. I wish I had found much sooner the kind of care my team gives me now. It was definitely a waste of time in not finding the right doctors who could take my case and really get to the root cause of my problems earlier. But I cant regret that time as I know medicine evolves quickly and it has given me a fresh perspective that I hope to bring to my art, concludes Malki.-- TradeArabia News Service
Gartner has identified the top five business trends that will impact the global manufacturing sector in 2021. These trends will drive business disruption and widen opportunities for manufacturers, it said in a statement.

The first response to the global pandemic for many manufacturers was to go digital in their operations as fast as possible, said Michelle Duerst, research vice president at Gartner. While going digital is the right path, it is not enough. The trends identified by Gartner can help manufacturing CIOs prepare for similar future disruptions in the long run and mitigate challenges such as lack of customer touchpoints, entering new markets or product lines and financial distress, she added.

CIOs can use these five strategic business trends to improve top-line growth by providing better experiences.

Trend 1: Digital + Product Experience

Digital + Product experience is the combination of physical products and digital services for unique product offerings to B2B customers and consumers. The pandemic limited customer engagement touchpoints due to the severe lockdown restrictions globally. The combination of digital and product aims to address this challenge of providing an engaging platform that matches consumers expectations. This is not just about an additional service, but the ability to have a new digital business model where manufacturers can maintain a connection with the consumer past the sale of the product, by connecting more with the brand as well as with brand experts, other customers and advanced users

Gartner predicts that by 2025, the top 50 consumer goods manufacturers will have invested in a brand app using AI, embedded technology in the product, videos as a digital asset and/or integrated innovation with IT and R&D teams.

Trend 2: Total Experience

Total experience is about how CIOs can use technology and interactions to enhance, empower and embolden both customers and employees to improve their lifetime value. Using this approach, CIOs can identify the right platform that will connect customers, partners and employees. For example, an employee acting as a brand expert or customer service agent to a consumer, answering questions.

Gartner predicts that by 2024, organizations providing a total experience will outperform competitors by 25% in satisfaction metrics for both customer and employee experience.

Trends 3: Ecosystem Partnerships

Global organisations can utilise ecosystem partnerships as an opportunity to grow not only in mature markets, but in developing markets as well. In manufacturing, ecosystem partnerships can enable all types of initiatives, such as earth-friendly packaging, enablement of underdeveloped/underserved communities and emission reduction through remote work capability.

According to Gartner, by 2024, 75% of the top 20 global consumer goods companies will engage in an ecosystem partnership contributing to growth and sustainability goals.

Trend 4: Data Monetisation

Data monetisation gives manufacturing CIOs the ability to obtain revenue from digitizing their products and services. The rapid digitalization within manufacturing organisations creates large amounts of data. CIOs can share and monetize this data across the ecosystem. Using this approach, CIOs can use information as an asset, and create new services or enter new business models. This can ensure continuous revenue even when the business is disrupted by external factors, such as supply chain challenges or human resource shortage.

Gartner predicts that by the end of 2024, half of global heavy asset manufacturing organizations will have succeeded in monetizing their data.

Trend 5: Equipment as a Service (EaSS)

EaaS is a commercial model where businesses pay for operational assets through recurring operating charges rather than purchasing equipment. In this model, CIOs use embedded Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that leverage common IoT design patterns and industry frameworks to ensure asset effectiveness and find solutions to asset non-performance.

Gartner predicts that by 2023, 20% of industrial equipment manufacturers will support EaaS with remote Industrial IoT capabilities up from a current base of near zero.

Gartner clients can read more in the report Top 5 Strategic Business Trends in Manufacturing Industries for 2021

Additional analysis on how CIOs respond to adversity and discover digital business strategic planning tools and techniques to achieve business continuity will be presented during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2021, the world's most important conferences for CIOs and other IT executives. IT executives rely on these conferences to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to overcome business challenges and improve operational efficiency. Follow news and updates from the conferences on Twitter using #GartnerSYM.--TradeArabia News Service
General Mills Middle East has been recognised among Asias Best Workplaces 2021 across Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) by the prestigious international consulting firm Great Place to Work (GPTW) Institute.

General Mills improved its ranking this year by 10 places to the 12th position among a total of 30 multinational companies.

This recognition is based on confidential survey data assessing employee experiences of trust, innovation, company values and leadership. General Mills was also evaluated on how well it is creating a For AllTM workplace experience, inclusive of all employees no matter who they are or what they do.

The award recognises General Mills continued efforts to build a culture of collaboration and commitment across AMEA markets even as the world witnessed disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, considering several proactive measures that General Mills undertook to support its employees during the pandemic to ensure their safety and well-being.

This year, Great Place to Work surveyed over 3.3 million employees from across 16 diverse countries and cultures in Asia and the Middle East to determine the Best Workplaces in Asia 2021.

Commenting on the recognition, Balki Radhakrishnan, Vice President and Managing Director  AMEA of General Mills said: General Mills continued recognition as one of Asias Best Workplaces reflects the trust that our employees place in the company and its strong intent towards inclusion and diversity. As we continue Making the Food the World Loves, we remain deeply committed to the welfare of our employees.

He said this year was particularly relevant as Covid-19 brought physical and mental well-being front of mind for both employers and employees.

Selvi Supuriamaniam, HR Head-Middle East and Africa said: We are grateful to all our employees for helping us achieve this recognition. I believe that they have played a critical role in making General Mills what it is today. Employee welfare is a top priority for us and all our engagement programs are designed and executed, keeping this in mind. This year, the improved ranking is a reflection of the trust our employees have in the organisation and its ability to support them even at a critical time like this. The recognition is an acknowledgment of the companys workplace programs and the key factors that contributed to being a great workplace.

Previously, many of General Mills markets in AMEA have also been individually recognised as a Great Place to Work as well. -- TradeArabia News Service
The Yusuf Bin Ahmed (YBA) Kanoo Group, one of the largest independent family-owned multinationals in the Middle East, has announced a digital transformation partnership with global technology company SAP.

The YBA Kanoo Group operates an extensive portfolio of divisions in shipping, logistics, travel, industrial and energy, capital, and real estate across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.

With capabilities that will support the digital transformation aspirations of the group's businesses, YBA Kanoo has chosen to partner with SAP with their S/4 Hana cloud solution.

This initiative will help to consolidate the data from disparate systems into one centralised solution, and accelerate the automation of manual processes, said a statement from the company.

YBA Kanoo Group Chairman Khalid Mohamed Kanoo said: Our digital transformation with SAP will deliver real-time dashboards and instant financial reporting to ensure our competitiveness, competence, and fairness. We are driving sustainable excellence to optimise customer service and support regional economic visions to 2030 and beyond.

In its digital roadmap, the YBA Kanoo Group will work with channel partner Kaar Technologies to deploy a wide range of solutions. The Group will mark the Middle Easts first deployment of the SAP S/4 Hana Private Cloud Edition, along with the SAP Analytics Cloud solution.

The SAP Cloud Platform will also integrate between SAP and non-SAP systems, including mobile applications.

SAP MENA region Senior Vice President and Managing Director Ahmed Alfaifi said: Conglomerates such as the YBA Kanoo Group need to have full visibility on all lines of business  and that requires a foundation of real-time technology.

The YBA Kanoo Group shows how a regional conglomerate can digitally transform into an intelligent enterprise, and lead global innovation in fields such as investment, travel, and energy," Alfaifi added.-TradeArabia News Service
VFS Global, the outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, has appointed Dr Elena Primikiri as its first head of ESG (environmental, social and governance).

She joined VFS Global in June 2021, based in Dubai, and will report directly to the CEO, Zubin Karkaria. Dr Primikiri will be responsible for increasing the sustainability components and ESG initiatives of VFS Global  from strategy formulation and implementation to operational control.

Nirbhik Goel joined the company in July as Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer and is based out of Dubai.

Reporting to the Chief Human Resources Officer, Bernard Martyris, Goel will be responsible for streamlining the HR function, ensuring greater operational synergies between the HR function across all regions and support the CHRO in HR matters and policy development.

These appointments follow Bapsy Dasturs appointment as General Counsel and head of Corporate Risk, Compliance & Legal last year. A qualified solicitor, Dastur was inducted to the Executive Board of VFS Global in 2021, as the first woman board member.

With 3,498 application centres, operations in 144 countries across five continents and more than 229 million applications processed (since inception in 2001) as on May 31, 2021, VFS Global is the partner of 63 client governments.-TradeArabia News Service
PTSC Mechanical & Construction (PTSC M&C) has signed a contract for Gallaf Batch 3 Project  EPCI05 (Package 5) with North Oil Company, a joint-venture between Qatar Petroleum and Total Energies.

The contract signing ceremony was held online due to Covid-19 restrictions with the participation of senior representatives from all sides.

Gallaf Batch 3 is the next developmental phase of the Al Shaheen oil field, Qatars largest offshore oil field and one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world. The oil field is operated by North Oil Company.

The EPCI05 package is part of the Gallaf Batch 3 Project including two wellhead platforms with a total weight up to 19,000 tonnes.

PTSC M&C has been awarded the main EPCIC contract for Package 5, which involves detailed design, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, load-out, sea-fastening, transportation and installation, hook-up and offshore commissioning.

All onshore works will be carried out at PTSC M&C's fabrication yard in Vung Tau City, southern of Vietnam.

This contract will take three years to complete.

Securing Package 5 is a proud achievement of PTSC M&C in its expanding strategies to overseas markets, especially in the context of the global oil and gas industry, which has been going through the double crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and the drop in oil prices, says a PTSC M&C spokesman.

PTSC M&C is also the main contractor for Gallaf Batch 1 and has successfully delivered three wellhead platform topsides to North Oil Company in mid-2020. Tradearabia News Service
Chevron and Total Energies are engaged in separate partnership talks with ONGC for upstream projects in India in a sign of growing interest in the countrys exploration sector that has barely received attention from foreign energy firms in recent years, said a report by The Economic Times.

While foreign energy companies have not shown much interest in India's energy exploration sector, American company Chevron's senior executives had discussed such opportunities with ONGC last month, the newspapers cited sources as saying. French company Total has formed a technical committee of key executives to explore such opportunities, the report added.

ONGC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2019 with Exxon Mobil to receive its expertise and technology for developing resources in offshore blocks. It provided for ONGC and ExxonMobil jointly bidding for exploration assets in India.

Chevron had reported its highest profit in six quarters and joined an oil industry stampede to reward investors with share buybacks, as rebounding crude oil prices carried earnings and cash flow to pre-pandemic levels. The company last year slashed spending to allow profits to flow at above $50 a barrel. Lower costs and higher prices generated the highest cash flow in two years, enabling the company to pare debt and resume share repurchases.

The company had also outlined a plan, in March, to expand oil and gas production through 2025 without spending significantly more and to limit the pace of growth of its carbon emissions.

Oil and gas are trading near multi-year highs as fuel consumption has thrown off pandemic losses and natural gas has soared on weather demand. Opec's decision to carry production curbs into next year has kept oil trading above $70 per barrel. Tradearabia News Service
Dubai-based airline Emirates said that over 2,500 customers enhanced their travel experience by adding innovative home check-in services to their bookings in July.



The airlines popular service enables passengers departing from Dubai to quickly and efficiently complete the check-in process in the comfort of their home and enjoy a swift and smooth journey through the airport.



During the peak summer travel departures from the UAE in July, Emirates home check-in services were typically booked for groups of four to five people, with travellers most popular destinations being Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon) and Male (Maldives).



Thursdays and the Eid long weekend were particularly busy with up to 130 home check-ins completed and 150 pieces of baggage delivered to the airport a day across Dubai. Underscoring the popularity of the service, some 400 home check-ins were for repeat customers who had already taken advantage of the service before.



During the safe and convenient home check-in process, customer-oriented agents check in travellers for their flights, issue boarding passes, weigh and tag their sanitised baggage and ensure these are delivered to the airport and loaded onto the aircraft. Each piece of baggage is disinfected with a long-lasting protective coating that lasts for up to 72 hours.



Emirates customers can easily book their home check-in service on emirates.com up to 24 hours before their flight and receive the service up to 8 hours before scheduled departure time.



Customers also have the option to book fast-track marhaba services to help whisk them through airport immigration for an even more contactless on ground experience. In addition, travellers can also book pre-travel Covid-19 testing. A qualified medical professional performs the swab test ahead of the home check-in process, and results are shared with customers digitally. All passengers who test negative for Covid-19 receive a medical certificate within 24 to 48 hours to meet the entry guidelines of their destination.



For their return to Dubai, customers can choose to book a land and leave service which enables them to proceed directly home while trained agents collect their baggage, clear it through customs, sanitize the baggage, and then deliver it directly to their doorstep.



Emirates home check-in service is delivered by DUBZ, dnatas baggage technology and logistics company. Based in Dubai, DUBZ providers innovative, unique solutions to travellers, ensuring a safe and seamless experience for them throughout their journey.  TradeArabia News Service
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- When extremely heavy rainstorms devastated central China in July, it was hard not to notice the troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on dams, reservoirs and riverbanks -- the most dangerous areas in the battle against floods.

They rushed to the forefront answering the Party's call, fixed dam breaches, evacuated residents in danger, and blasted barriers to release floodwater. The Party's flag flew over the field, and banners on their trucks read "People First, Life First."

This provides a glimpse of how the PLA is fulfilling duties in the new era.

A strong country must have a strong military, as only then can it guarantee the security of the nation, said Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Over the past few years, the PLA is redoubling the efforts to build a peace-loving world-class military that obeys the Party's command, can fight and win, and maintains excellent conduct.

In his latest speech, Xi reiterated that the Party must command the gun.

Firmly following the Party's leadership is the fundamental reason why the PLA triumphed over all kinds of trials and tribulations, and advanced from victory to victory, according to Xi.

MODERNIZATION FOR PROTECTING PEACE

China aims to basically complete the modernization of its national defense and the people's armed forces by 2035, and fully transform its armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century.

Major structural changes took place in the armed forces after late November 2015, when Xi unleashed a sweeping military reform.

He attaches great importance to military training. Combat capability was established as the "sole and fundamental" benchmark of the military.

Only those capable of fighting can stop battles, and only those prepared for war don't have to fall into war, said Xi.

"We must put all of our mind and energy in honing the combat capability, and ensure that we are fully prepared, able to fight and capable of winning any time the Party or the people are in need," said Xu Dawei, a military officer, whose brigade works on drone technology.

As China keeps building up its national defense and armed forces, the defensive nature of the country's national defense policy remains unchanged.

"This is written into the National Defense Law, becoming a basic, abiding and long-term policy we uphold," said He Lei, a national lawmaker and former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences.

International public security goods were also provided during the PLA's recent exchanges and cooperation with its counterparts around the world.

Over the past 30 years, China has sent over 40,000 peacekeepers to 25 UN peacekeeping missions, according to a white paper on China's United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Operations released last September.

China is the second-largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and the largest troop contributor among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, said the white paper.

China never seeks hegemony or expansion and firmly opposes hegemonism and power politics, Xi said.

Instead, the Chinese military has tasked itself with the mission of building a community with a shared future for humanity, taking an active part in international disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the wake of COVID-19.

Since February this year, China's armed forces have provided 25 batches of COVID-19 vaccine assistance to armed forces of over 20 countries including Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Sudan.

The Chinese military will always be a staunch defender of world peace, said Xi.
By You Xi, Yang Xiaobo

Chinese commanding officer (L) presents flowers to Russian commanding officer (R).

Chinese and Russian Commanding officers deliver speeches respectively during the welcome ceremony.

YINCHUAN, August 2 -- The exercise ZAPAD/INTERACTION-2021 will be held from August 9 to 13 at the combined-arms tactical training base of the PLA Army in Qingtongxia City of West China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. On the morning of July 31, representatives of Chinese participating troops held a warm welcome ceremony for the Russian participating troops.

At the ceremony, Lieutenant General Liu Xiaowu, deputy commander of the PLA Western Theater Command and commanding officer of the Chinese participating troops, presented flowers to the Russian representatives. He remarked that in the context of the big changes and pandemic, this is the first joint strategic exercise participated by Russian troops in China. It also marks the fourth consecutive year that the Chinese and Russian militaries organize joint strategic exercises.

His Russian counterpart, deputy commander of the Russian Eastern Military District, said that China, Russia and even the whole world are facing many new challenges and it is necessary for friendly countries to jointly combat international terrorism.

Both sides have agreed that the exercise fully reflects the high level of friendly and cooperative relations between the two militaries, as well as the great responsibility to jointly maintain regional peace and security.

In the following joint exercise, the two sides will fully exchange operational experience. The Russian troops have completed quarantine and observation and will soon attend the pre-exercise training.

The Chinese participating troops mainly come from China's PLA Western Theater Command and Russia's Eastern Military District. A total of more than 10,000 members will be dispatched, along with multiple types of aircraft, artillery and armored equipment. They will set up a joint command, make plans and conduct training in mixed combat groups, so as to improve the joint anti-terrorism capabilities of the troops.

Five participating Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets sit abreast on the flightline.
The 12th round of India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side. This round of meeting was held followed the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and People's Republic of China on 14th July in Dushanbe and the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held on 25th June.

The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of India-China border areas. The two sides noted that this round of meeting was constructive, which further enhanced mutual understanding. They agreed to resolve these remaining issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations.

The two sides also agreed that in the interim they will continue their effective efforts in ensuringstability along the LAC in the Western Sector and jointly maintain peace and tranquility.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The Arrupe Inn opened on the feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in Jamtalibari, home to ethnic Halam, "A vibrant and outward-looking community, this according to Fr Jothi SJ.

New Delhi (AsiaNews)  Jesuits have opened their first residence, Arrupe Inn[*], in the State of Tripura, on the feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

The facility is located in Jamtalibari, Kailasahar, about 150 km north of the state capital of Agartala. The house was inaugurated and blessed by Bishop Lumen Monteiro of Agartala in the presence of local parishioners and priests.

"This jubilee year, which marks the 500th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Ignatius, is an important occasion for Jesuits to refocus on their life and mission, said Father Jothi SJ speaking AsiaNews.

The Arrupe Inn is dedicated in a special way for the implementation of universal apostolic preferences of the Society of Jesus, he added.

Hitherto, the Jesuit order did not have a permanent residence. In 2018, two Jesuit missionaries, Babu Paul and James Morias, came to Jamtalibari from Kerala.

Over a period of a few months, they built a tin shed that was later given to the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy as their convent and dispensary. The Jesuits and the Sisters work together.

The Arrupe Inn will help change the face of nearby villages in the years to come, said a local resident.

The State of Tripura is home to 19 tribal communities, including the Halam, who number about 57,000 people. They are a vibrant and outward-looking, Fr Jothi said.

Since they arrived, the missionaries have dedicated themselves to tribal groups, who represent 31 per cent of the population of Tripura. The Jesuits have been present in the state since the 17th century.

[*] Inn, in the Halam language, means house.
by Silvina Premat

The Asian city-state joins the bloc formed by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The Alliance wants to become an intermediary between Latin America and Asia. Singapore already developed trade ties with the region through the former TPP promoted by Obama to counter China. The accord is set to be officially signed in December.

Buenos Aires (AsiaNews)  A decade after its creation, the group of Latin Americas four Pacific nations reached one of its most significant achievements. The Pacific Alliance (Alianza del Pacifico, AP) signed an agreement with Singapore, the first external partner to reach a formal accord of cooperation with the trade bloc formed by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

For the Alliances pro tempore president, Colombias Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Maria Ximena Lombana, the agreement marked a milestone in the integration of these Latin American countries with the Asia-Pacific region, one of the reasons the AP was created in 2011.

Reaching Singapore's market allows us to use regional inputs from different countries, which will enhance productive regional chains, Ms Lombana explained.

Jose Miguel Teran, a researcher with the Pacific Alliance Studies Programme[*] at ICESI university in Colombia, also believes that achieving a treaty with one of the worlds main economies is a milestone.

noting that the treaty required the four countries negotiate as a bloc, the expert told AsiaNews that this is a "cutting edge" agreement since it not only includes trade in goods but also services, knowledge and cooperation.

Teran stressed that "the AP, as an integration mechanism, aspires to become an interlocutor or intermediary through which the Latin American region approaches or inserts itself into the Asia-Pacific macro-region.

For the researcher, This agreement goes in that direction. For Singapore, the treaty updates the mechanisms of trade with the Latin American region, especially with the countries with which it already had a relationship.

Thanks to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which replaced Barack Obamas anti-China TransPacific Partnership (TPP), Singapore already developed multilateral ties with three AP members (Mexico, Chile and Peru).

However, after the United States pulled out, the CPTPP never entered into force, Teran noted.

The four AP member countries have a combined population of 230 million and their economic activity represents 41 per cent of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean, corresponding to the eighth-largest economy worldwide.

Singapore became an AP observer state in 2014, and talks began in 2017 to become an associate member.

The two sides are set formally sign the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PASFTA) during the Pacific Alliance Summit in December in Colombia.

Singapores Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong welcomed the deal in a videoconference.

In his view, It sends a powerful message to the global community that our countries remain open for business and, despite the pressures placed on economic multilateralism, we want to reach out to one another and create more opportunities for our people.

The ultimate goal, he added, is to build on this foundation, grow our links even more, and generate opportunities for our people and businesses.

[*]Programa de Estudios de la Alianza del Pacifico.
by Thanh Thao

After the Ho Chi Minh City area, Binh Duong province is the most affected by the virus. Workers are forced to sleep and eat in their workplace. Some of them have fled, while others have been prevented from returning home.

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews)  Several Vietnamese workers have been forced to remain inside factories to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Binh Duong, the province most affected by the health crisis so far after the Ho Chi Minh area.

The province has 29 industrial parks with over 2,000 companies and more than 485,000 Vietnamese workers and almost 15,000 foreign employees.

About 17,000 of the country's 154,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Binh Duong. Yesterdays case count reached 7,447 across the country.

To counter the rising number of infections, the government on 25 July imposed a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am until further notice.

About 3,600 firms in Binh Duong have decided to follow the so-called Three Principles Plan, but some workers have recently tried to go home because of infections.

In one plant with about 600 employees in the city of Tan Binh, many workers rushed to its gates begging to be allowed out after at least 60 coronavirus cases were reported.

At the Limited Company A.I., in the Bau Bang industrial zone, a few hundred people fled.

Some companies have decided to suspend the Three Principles Plan, while others have reduced production, but continue to force workers to stay.

"We are addressing the health situation in a decisive way," said Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, deputy director of the Human Resources Department at Ens Foam, speaking to local media.

To meet production needs, we have provided reasonable accommodation for employees, Ms Huong said. In order to overcome difficulties, people are treating each other as members of one big family.

In reality, many plants have been quarantined recently and stopped production due to a high rate of infection.

Two additional factories in the municipality of Tan Uyen have reported 270 cases, while in the city of Di An, a wood manufacturing plant has reported 248 cases.

According to some sources, employers locked employees in factories without doing enough testing beforehand; at the same time, the high number of cases has prevented them from testing everyone.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Kazakh workers demand greater protection. Oil, transportation and security sectors affected. The strikers live in shacks and earn an average of 200 euros per month. Exploited by private and public industry.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Since early July, workers of various companies have begun a series of strikes and demonstrations in Zhanaozen, an industrial town in Kazakhstan's Mangghystau region, which overlooks the Caspian Sea. The strikers include oil companies, transportation and security agencies. Some broke the strikes after some concessions by contractors, but many continue to protest.

On July 28, employees of Industrial Service Resources, an outsourcing company of the oil company "Karazanbasmunaj", which has long been active in the region, withdrew from the demonstrations. The management of the company promised to hire the employees with permanent contracts.

On July 30, however, the workers of another local outsourcing company, KMG EP-Catering, took to the streets. The protesters recorded a video in which they addressed, among others, the President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zomart Tokaev and the Prime Minister Askar Mamin, asking that at least some of them pay attention to their demands.

In addition to the threatened contracts, the priorities for the strikers are various measures of social protection and increase of salaries, which at the moment do not allow for a decent living. According to a worker interviewed by Radio Azattyk, local workers do everything for the oil companies: "The maintenance of offices and rest rooms; we take loads to the canteen; some work seven days a week, others work night shifts."

All for a salary of between 70 and 100 thousand tenge (140-200 euros); the most they can hope to earn is 200 thousand (about 400 euros) for nightshifts. One worker explains : "This money is not enough for anything, even if we sleep in shacks at the workplace to save on travel."

At KMG EP-Catering, a company dependent on Kazmunajgaz, more than 1,000 people work, 300 of them in the Zanaozen section alone. Journalists were unable to get answers from the management of the companies concerned. KMG prepares hot meals for oil workers on duty at wells in Mangghystau and Atyrau regions; it organizes their rest areas in the Kenderli vacation facility and also ensures cleaning and other service needs.

Kazakhstan has one of the strongest economies in Central Asia. However, the Covid-19 pandemic is putting a strain on its manufacturing operations, which are largely supported by heavy Chinese investment. One of the most acute problems is the conditions of workers, who are poorly protected and exploited by both private and state-owned companies.
The CDC has recommended that in jurisdictions with a case rate of 50 new cases per 100,000 people over a week, or an average of seven new cases per day, masks should be worn in indoor public settings, not only by unvaccinated people, but by everyone, Pittman said. In other words, we need the masks to prevent the delta variant from using healthy vaccinated people as carriers.
When you get your summons, you should let your employer know the date you are supposed to appear and that, if you are selected to be on a jury, you may not be available for multiple days after the date on your summons. If its your first summons, it will come with a survey to determine if you are eligible to serve on a jury.
As a legal principle, incompetence is the inability for a defendant to assist in their own defense or appreciate the nature of the charges against them. It is different from criminal responsibility  Marylands version of the insanity defense  and does not denote guilt or innocence. When defendants are found to be incompetent, they are treated by the Department of Health to restore their competency and stand trial.
While we have made great strides in combating COVID-19, we are still taking all necessary precautions to keep our employees and public safe, Ball said in a statement. Our county employees have worked hard to make our buildings safe and accessible to our residents and businesses who need to access services in person. Again, I implore anyone who has not already gotten vaccinated to do so as soon as possible.
And heres a more fundamental question: Would the Red Line be the best approach to improving city transit services? To restart the project would require, among other things, a more up-to-date study of its feasibility, its environmental impact and whether it has sufficient community support. Will downtown Baltimore be as big a commuting draw post-COVID-19? Red Line advocates sometimes forget that certain neighborhoods (like Canton, for example) were not enthusiastic about light rail the first time around. It would need a champion in Congress (Senator Cardin, for example) to help Baltimore chase dollars that might otherwise go to bigger cities with greater political clout. And it probably would have to wait until Mr. Hogan leaves office in early 2023. What governor would admit he made such an enormous mistake? Responding to questions last week about whether the Red Line might be revived, a spokesperson for the Maryland Transit Administration said only that the agency in May committed to studying potential improvements to the same east-west corridor under its Regional Transit Plan. Not exactly a Red Line endorsement.
In the government, in general, the current administrations objective has been to fill every opening based on a list of racial, ethnic, gender, sexual or religious qualifications regardless of the candidates competence, to the detriment of the nation. Every position in the military is filled by the most qualified candidate. Cohesion and cooperation among service members is paramount. To use the services to emphasize some social agenda will weaken our defense with quotas replacing quality. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia President Vladimir Putin have got to be pleased by the chaos that has been introduced by the diversity training and internal conflict that has been the obvious result.
Lets unpack two of Dan Rodricks assertions in his column, Will new approach to Baltimore crime fight build police legitimacy? (July 29). He applauds the volunteerism of the 50 officers who want to serve in the Baltimore Police Departments Group Violence Reduction Unit; so do I. But my first reaction, cynical former cop that I am, is to question where these volunteers are now assigned. I will go out on a limb and say most are likely in uniform patrol. For, as a high-ranking member the agency bluntly once told me, patrol is a dead end. He had a point. Once out of patrol, no more 911 calls and the tedium of the daylight shift and no more crushing public scrutiny of your every move.
Research News

State selects UB lab as part of effort to bolster identifying COVID-19 variants

By DAVID J. HILL

The more information we have about the viruses circulating in Western New York, the better prepared we are to make public health policy decisions, to respond to the current situation in terms of mitigation measures and clinical decisions, and protect our communities. 

A UB lab has been selected to bolster New York States efforts in identifying COVID-19 variants, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday.

The Genomics and Bioinformatics Core in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences was one of five labs chosen statewide as part of a $20 million sequencing partnership between the state Department of Healths Wadsworth Center and external laboratories.

The effort aims to greatly expand genetic sequencing on SARS-CoV-2 positive specimens derived from the general population of New York State, outside of New York City, thus building on the states current robust genome/variant surveillance efforts. In addition to surveillance, the data generated will help build the states understanding of disease manifestations, therapy or vaccine evasion and efficacy, and will support other discoveries to inform public health intervention.

Sequencing results from the partner laboratories will be reported to the New York State Department of Health and the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data.

The University at Buffalo is pleased to be selected to contribute to this statewide effort to combat COVID-19, said Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. Our Genomics and Bioinformatics Core has, throughout the pandemic, played a vital role in sequencing SARS-CoV-2 and identifying COVID-19 variants in Western New York.

The project at UB is being led by Jennifer Surtees, associate professor of biochemistry in the Jacobs School. Surtees and her colleagues at UBs New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences have been conducting the only genomic sequencing of COVID-19 samples in Western New York, and are among only a couple of labs in the state  outside of New York City  that have been sequencing throughout the pandemic. Their work has identified the highly transmissible delta variant, among others, in Erie County.

The more information we have about the viruses circulating in Western New York, the better prepared we are to make public health policy decisions, to respond to the current situation in terms of mitigation measures and clinical decisions, and protect our communities, Surtees said, adding that the project wouldnt have been possible without the universitys investment in the Genomics and Bioinformatics Core.

In April 2020, Surtees began a project to perform genomic sequencing of SARS-Cov2 in Buffalo, in collaboration with the Erie County Department of Health, which provided de-identified samples from COVID-positive patients, and the UB Genomics and Bioinformatics Core. We have been sequencing SARS-CoV-2 throughout the pandemic, which has enabled us to infer migration of the virus into Erie County and evolution of the virus in the region, she said.

The UB team has since expanded its partner network, receiving samples from Kaleida Health, Erie County Medical Center and KSL Diagnostics. This put us in a strong position to partner with New York State in this latest initiative to expand our sequencing capacity, Surtees said. We are very excited to be able to continue to contribute to the statewide effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by providing timely public health information.

In addition to UB, the four other labs selected are at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Cornell University, University of Rochester Medical Center and New York Medical College.
Duluth, MN (55816)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High around 75F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 63F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.
Separatists burn beer 14-wheeler truck in Tiko CIN

New abuses in Cameroons Anglophone regions by both government security forces and armed separatists highlight the urgent need to protect communities at risk and to hold those responsible for abuses to account, Human Rights Watch said today.

Cameroonian security forces killed two civilians, raped a 53-year-old woman, destroyed and looted at least 33 homes, shops, as well as a traditional leaders palace in the North-West region on June 8 and 9, 2021, Human Rights Watch said in a statement Monday, August 2, 2021. Armed separatist fighters in the South-West region killed a 12-year-old boy on June 6, and a 51-year-old teacher on July 1. Further, on June 25, separatist fighters in the North-West region kidnapped four humanitarian workers and held them overnight.

Cameroons security forces have an obligation to lawfully counter-attacks by armed separatist groups, and protect peoples rights during periods of violence, said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. But yet again, we learn that they have responded to the threat from separatist groups with attacks on civilians and serious human rights violations of their own.

Human Rights Watch reports that since the Anglophone crisis began in late 2016, government forces have regularly committed serious human rights violations during security operations against the armed separatists fighting to create an independent Anglophone state of Ambazonia.

It says the recent uptick in violations came amid renewed clashes, with the army spokesperson reporting that security forces were involved in at least 30 heavy gun battles with separatists in June.

Between June 12 and 23, Human Rights Watch said it conducted telephone interviews with 10 victims and witnesses to human rights violations by security forces, as well as with 18 relatives of victims, journalists, and civil society activists.

Human Rights Watch says it also interviewed a family member of the teacher killed by separatist fighters. Human Rights Watch corroborated victim and witness accounts with photographs the victims provided.

According to the human rights NGO, victims and witnesses said that in the very early hours of June 9, about 150 security force members from both the regular army and elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide - BIR) conducted a security operation in and around Mbuluf village, North-West region. As the forces approached the village on foot, fearful residents fled to the nearby bush.

Human Rights Watch spoke to two Mbuluf residents who said that security forces stopped their group of six  a husband and wife, their two children, another man, and another woman  in the vicinity of the village.

The wife said that the soldiers stopped the group as they were fleeing at around 1 or 2 a.m. The soldiers asked the couple where the separatist fighters were. We said we didnt know, she said. They said my husband had a gun. We said we had no gun. They said they would kill us, and then one of them raped me.

Other soldiers threatened and beat both men, the wife, and another member of the group. The soldiers then forced all six people to walk for about two hours to Ndzeen village, reads the report. When the soldiers arrived in Ndzeen, they broke into, damaged, and looted at least 33 shops and homes, including the residence of the fon (a local traditional authority).

They desecrated my palace, damaging traditional artifacts, including the ancient royal throne and an ancestral chair, and entered into the sacred and secret areas of the palace, where none have access to, the fon said. They ransacked and scattered the royal regalia. It is a shame.

BIR soldiers, Human Rights Watch recalls, previously attacked and looted a world heritage site, the Royal Palace in Bafut, North-West region, in September 2019. Military officials had however said they did not attack the Bafut Palace.

The security forces are reported to have continued to Mbah village on foot, about another two hours away, taking the group of six people with them.

In Mbah they released everyone except the 58-year-old husband of the rape survivor. His body was found on June 11, shot in the mouth, through the head, in Tatum village, about 30 kilometers from Mbah, said Human Rights Watch.

The Human Rights Watch report reads further: On June 8, at about 7 p.m., in Gom village, North-West region, two soldiers in civilian clothes, whom a witness recognized as regular army soldiers from the Gom military base, broke into the fons home, harassed the eight people there, including a 72-year-old man whom they beat. At about 7:30 p.m., they questioned and then shot Nwang Lydia, a 60-year-old woman, in the right leg after she failed to provide information about a separatist fighter.

Her neighbor, the 72-year-old man who had been beaten, said that the assailants forced him and his wife to carry Lydia in the direction of the Gom military base for questioning. They carried Lydia as far as a bridge about two kilometers from her house, when the soldiers told them to leave her there. The soldiers then killed Lydia with a gunshot to the chest. Lydias relatives recovered her body from the bridge the following morning.

On July 15, Human Rights Watch said it emailed its findings to the army spokesperson, Commander Atonfack Guemo, requesting responses to specific questions. But Guemo did not reply.

Separatist fighters up attacks against civilians

The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) reported that on June 6, members of an armed group attacked a religious center in Mamfe, South-West region, killing a 12-year-old boy and wounding a 16-year-old boy.

On July 1, local media reported that suspected separatist fighters killed Fuh Max Dang, a physics teacher at Government Bilingual High School in Kumba, South-West region. Human Rights Watch spoke to a relative of the deceased, who said that separatist fighters had previously threatened the teacher, warning him that he would face consequences if he did not stop teaching.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented widespread separatist attacks on education, including against teachers, students, and schools. Separatists have ordered government schools in the region to close.

International media also reported that at least six civilians were killed in Kumbo, North-West region, on June 12, when an explosive device planted by [separatist] fighters detonated.

The crisis in the Anglophone regions has had a devastating impact on civilians, but those responsible for serious abuses have yet to face any consequences, Allegrozzi said. Cameroons authorities should investigate and prosecute the attackers and their commanders, while the UN Security Council and other regional and international partners should impose targeted sanction against those responsible for the grave human rights violations.
Officials pose with ICT University graduates ICT Project

The Information and Communication Technology, ICT University has sent 300 successful graduates to new careers and the development of innovative solutions for some of societys emergent challenges.

The 6th graduation ceremony of the ICT University took place at the Yaounde Conference Center Saturday, July 31, 2021, in the presence of Nigeria's erstwhile leader, Chief Professor Olusegun Obasanjo, Cameroon's Higher Education Minister, Minister of State Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng, Secondary Education Minister Professor Nalova Lyonga of and former Prime Minister Philemon Yang.

As 300 students, including 13 PhDs, drawn from countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, graduated from the ICT University, they were urged to be solution providers to contemporary societal challenges.

Obasanjo hailed the quality of training offered at ICT University.

In his keynote address, Professor Olusegun Obasanjo, who served as Nigeria's military leader from 1976 to 1979 and later as the country's democratically elected president from 1999 to 2007, said the ICT University is a reference not only in Africa but beyond.

In his capacity as Guest Speaker at the graduation ceremony, Obasanjo said before long, the ICT University will be in the list of top ten universities in the world of ICT.

I foresee you emerging in the coming months and years, in the new list of valuable players in driving the wheels of this great nation and amongst the architects. If we sustain this your current level of quality, I also foresee this University in no distant future in the list of top ten universities in the world of ICT, said Obasanjo.

Obasanjo used his discourse titled 'The hidden processor for success beyond ICT knowledge and skills', to hail ICT University founder, Professor Victor Mbarika for making good and wise investments.

Hear him:  you are making good and wise investments. You are investing in the graduating students and all the other students that are in this institution. You are investing in their development, you are investing in their today for their family, and you are investing in them for the benefit of their community today and tomorrow. 

To the graduating students, President Obasanjo said he is highly impressed from what I have heard and from what I have seen.

He thanked the ICT University for the honor of inviting him and for conferring on him the title of 'distinguished visiting professor of the ICT University'.

Cameroon's Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education Professor Fame Ndongo (R) & ICT University's visiting professor, Nigeria's ex-President Obasanjo (c) ICT University

I assure you that this is a responsibility that I take seriously. And as I assured you yesterday, I will not take this responsibility lightly I will make sure that I'm able to give lectures for a year, or if possible two, said Obasanjo.

Earlier on, the founder and current president of the Board of Trustees of the ICT University, United States-based renowned Cameroonian Professor, Victor Mbarika, described Chief Professor Olusegun Obasanjo as a distinguished statesman, intellectual, educator and a peacemaker.

While justifying the choice of Obasanjo as Guest Speaker, Prof. Mbarika said a keen look at the history of Chief Obasanjo can provide one with content for a book on one of Africa's foremost sons who has shaped the political, economic, social, and cultural landscape of the continent for over five decades.

He said Obasanjo's political life has inspired modern-day politicians and scholars across Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. Obasanjo's brand of political ideology, Professor Mbarika continued, is that of peace, unity, and development of the African continent.

In his closing address at Saturday's graduation ceremony, Cameroon's Minister of Higher Education, Minister of State Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo described President Obasanjo as a friend indeed to Cameroon and President Paul Biya.

He said Obasanjo's role in bringing to an end the border dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula was exemplary and speaks volumes of his commitment as a peacemaker.

Allow me to express my very profound gratitude to Obasanjo for the wonderful discourse delivered, Fame Ndongo concluded.

About ICT University

ICT University is an accredited private university located in Yaounde, Cameroon. It aims to provide ICT and Managerial Human Capacity Development in developing countries.

It operates a purely US-based curriculum to provide quality ICT and Managerial Human Capacity Development specially targeted for Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, the ICT University is a vibrant institution which aims at imposing itself as the premier destination for research, innovation and training of scholars relevant for the context of developing economies.
Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the states highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases.
We dont have control over this cycle our body goes through every month, she said. Every single person on this planet, I dont care who you are, should feel that they can take care of that and not be embarrassed and have to hide it.
India will always be a supporter of initiatives that can bring peace and stability in Afghanistan, said Ambassador of India to United Nations, TS Tirumurti while laying out the Afghanistan policy perspective that India at the UN will pursue during the Security Council Presidency starting today.

"We will not discount the possibility of the Security Council, taking stock of the situation in Afghanistan during this month. And as the President of the Council, we will of course be very supportive of the initiative by member states that can bring these and stability to the country," India's Permanent Representative to UN told ANI in an exclusive interview.

In the backdrop of intensifying conflicts in Afghanistan, Tirumurti's comment comes when asked about how India plans to take the lead highlighting the situation in Afghanistan and will India initiate a discussion on Pakistan for supporting the Taliban.

"India has consistently kept the spotlight on combating terrorism, both inside the discussions in the council and outside as well. They not only strengthened the efforts to combat terrorism, especially for example in financing terrorism. But we also prevented efforts to dilute the focus on terrorism," Tirumurti replied.

The top Indian envoy to the United Nations reiterated that India has always maintained it would like to see an independent, peaceful, democratic stable and prosperous Afghanistan.

"As the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar has underlined, it is important that any government that comes to power in Afghanistan is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the people. I believe these are common concerns of the members of the Security Council as well," Ambassador Tirumurti further added.

TS Tirumurti said that the situation of Afghanistan is of grave concern. The violence has been continuing unabated, and in fact, has increased. The UN has reported that the number of civilian casualties is growing. targeted killings are increasing, women, girls and minorities are being systematically targeted including the recent attack on the United Nations compound that was targeted in Herat.

Tirumurti shared that "The members of the Security Council are naturally deeply concerned at the turn of events."

In the past few weeks, Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in violence as the Taliban have intensified their offensive against civilians and Afghan security forces with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away.

Taliban has captured several territories largely in rural provinces as foreign troops pull out. It has been reported that many injured members of the Taliban are being treated in hospitals in Pakistan and Shuras are also running with full legitimacy from the cities of Quetta and Peshawar.

(ANI)

Also Read: Pakistan 'watchful' as India assumes UNSC presidency for August
Employers are having to look at this issue and reevaluate because in places they cant hire qualified people, said Eric Berlin, an attorney with the Chicago-based cannabis legal team at the law firm Dentons. People are saying this is legal, and I like to do this more than I want a beer. And so Im just not going to work for you.
The new segment will be similar to the setup he had at ABC, where he highlighted a mix of new restaurants and beloved neighborhood spots each week. What will be different is the time slot of Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Motleys life had not been an easy one. Born out of wedlock, he grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents, his mother having moved to New York after his birth. The family lived in what was then the virtually all-white Englewood neighborhood. His older brother, Archibald, was actually his uncle. Nearly 20 years older than Willard, Archibald was a visual artist who convinced him of the power of creativity, and in his early teens, Willard began to write and write. The editors of the Chicago Defender newspaper gave him a weekly column, making him among the first of many to write under the byline of Bud Billiken, a mythical figure created by the paper to tell childrens stories and a character celebrated for decades in the eponymous South Side parade.
Dear Tested: If your husband has been cruising dating sites while married to you, and now has a habit of testing your trust by feigning ignorance about how to send or reply to a group text, then Id venture an educated guess and say that there is no way for you to get him to stop being himself.
That was definitely a worry yesterday, said Burton, 23, who lives in Virginia Beach. If theyre going to start doing evictions again, then Im going to be faced with having to figure out where me and my family are going to go. And thats not something that anyone should have to worry about these days at all.
Board candidates must be U.S. citizens and registered voters who have lived in Chicago for at least a year before the election or their appointment. Board members cannot be CPS employees, nor can they own or work at a company that has a contract with CPS.
Police were called to the 12100 block of South LaSalle Street around 10:50 p.m. Sunday to investigate and found the 35-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he died. He was identified as Jerome Jenkins of the same block where he was killed, according to information from the Cook County medical examiners office.
Most of the arrests were for trespassing when people tried to breach fences to gain access to the concert or otherwise attempted to get in for free, Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said at a news conference. Other arrests were for theft and battery, according to Rocco Alioto, a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department.
The semi overturned on the outbound Dan Ryan around 5:15 a.m. and the vehicle was on its side blocking three lanes of traffic with one lane open, according to an email from Sgt. Delia Garcia, a spokeswoman for Illinois State Police.
He talked about how proud he still was to have appointed Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate and told an anecdote about a debate he had with a fellow prisoner over how many gold records Elvis produced. To settle the debate, Blagojevich said, he looked it up in an almanac in the prison library, where he happened to see a photo of himself with a description of his corruption case.
The Lake County commission, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has preferred to use green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to remedy stormwater management problems since its inception in the 1990s  a revolutionary philosophy for its era, according to Woolford. As awareness of climate change and aging infrastructure has increased, so has a greater acceptance of alternative urban planning techniques, he said.
When I was appointed in 2020 by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, I became the first profoundly deaf commissioner and the highest-ranking deaf person to serve in city government nationwide. I am proud to represent the Mayors Office of People with Disabilities, or MOPD, which was formed in October 1990, shortly after the Americans with Disabilities Act passed We represent people with disabilities residing in each of Chicagos 77 neighborhoods, 400,000 of whom are people of color. With two offices, one in City Hall downtown and a second location in the Tri-Taylor area (2101 W. Ogden Ave.), MOPDs mission is to ensure that all city services are accessible. We are working together to address gaps in education, employment and access to transportation for those living with a disability.
Q: The Chinese side has released the information that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the series of foreign ministers meetings on East Asia cooperation. I wonder how does China see the current East Asia cooperation? What are your expectations for these upcoming foreign ministers meetings?

A: The overall sound momentum in East Asia cooperation at present has strengthened regional countries efforts to combat COVID-19 and revitalize the economy. At the same time, resurgence and fluctuation in the global pandemic situation and flare-up of regional hotspot issues have added more complexity to East Asia cooperation.

China always sees ASEAN as an important force in maintaining peace and stability and promoting integration in the region. We support ASEAN community building, ASEAN centrality in East Asia cooperation, and a greater role by ASEAN in regional and international affairs. China would like to take the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations to call on all regional countries to continue to focus on cooperation, seek common development, jointly address challenges and safeguard peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region.

First, deepen anti-epidemic cooperation. As a responsible major country, China will continue to play its role and do its best to meet regional countries demand for vaccines. We support joint efforts to build a regional vaccine manufacturing and distributing center to promote vaccine accessibility and affordability in the region. All sides should adhere to a science-led response and reject politicization or stigmatization.

Second, boost economic recovery. Efforts should be made to actively dovetail post-COVID national development strategies and foster new engines and highlights of recovery cooperation. We should work for the early entry into force and implementation of the RCEP Agreement, keep regional industrial and supply chains stable and unobstructed, and boost an early economic recovery in all countries.

Third, expand cooperation in sustainable development. Building on the momentum of the new round of scientific and industrial revolution, we should accelerate digital and energy structural transformation in the region and actively conduct cooperation in addressing climate change, environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, and new types of energy and resources to achieve a green recovery in the region and be better prepared for regional and global challenges in the future.

Fourth, practice true multilateralism. We should firmly uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law and reject exclusive cliques or zero-sum games. Commitments of supporting regional economic growth should be honored with concrete actions.
Experts agreed at the "The Rebel" seminar held in Beijing on July 27 that the smash hit Chinese TV series has touched the hearts of young generation while innovating ways to tell revolutionary stories.

The 43-episode TV series, based on Bi Yu's novella "Rebel" and starring Zhu Yilong and Tong Yao, tells the story of how Chinese revolutionaries fought in the 1930s. While working as a Kuomintang operative, the protagonist Lin Nansheng eventually grows to admire the courage and the beliefs held by the Chinese Communists.

Later as a double agent, he strives to fight against the Japanese regime to achieve national justice and peace. After the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lin became a true Communist, and continue to make outstanding contributions to the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country at a critical time of the War of Liberation.

Zhou You, the screenwriter and director of the TV series, said at the seminar that the main creative team tried to create the story as close to history as possible.

"In the era of war and chaos, millions of Chinese people, represented by Lin Nansheng, were touched and inspired by the Chinese Communists to constantly seek and finally embark on the right path to save the country, enabling our country to become beautiful and powerful today. With such enlightenment, inspiration and guidance from history, we created this TV series in the most realistic style possible."

Shen Jijun, an executive from China Media Group, shared CSM Media Research's statistics at the seminar showing "The Rebel" was the highest rating show for 20 days in prime time in June on China Central Television (CCTV) and also enjoyed phenomenal online streaming and discussions. On Weibo microblog platform alone there were more than 20 billion views for relevant posts published by users on topics about the TV series.

"It has a brilliant artistic vision. It builds an immersive TV experience for the audience with a high degree of historical realities and dramatic creation, so that it has achieved high ratings, high popularity, high critical claim, and great social influence and feedback," Shen said.

Xu Xiao, deputy head of Zhejiang Provincial Radio and Television Administration, believed the TV series had achieved a comprehensive upgrade of the theme of espionage warfare, and made a breakthrough in this genre resonating with the patriotism of the young audience.

Wang Qiao, vice president of New Classics Media, pointed out that "The Rebel" focused on characters with an omniscient perspective, which was rare, with calm and restrained expression, which once again enhanced the aesthetics of spy war TV drama genre, winning the hearts and recognition of audiences of all ages.

Zhang Ruodan, an executive for streaming giant iQiyi's film and television program planning center, added that the innovative part of "The Rebel" was not to show "confrontations" but to show "how a man makes choices."

"It impressed the audience with the beliefs and ideals of nobodies in the great epoch, and deeply presents the soul and spiritual core of the story," she said.
You are here: China

China's National Meteorological Center on Sunday renewed its blue weather alert for heavy rainfalls and severe convection in parts of the country.

From 8 a.m. Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday, thunderstorms, strong winds and hail are expected in parts of provinces including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu, according to the center.

During this period, heavy rainfalls are expected to lash certain areas of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan and Shanghai.

Parts of these regions will experience downpours with up to over 70 mm of hourly precipitation, according to the forecast.

The center has advised local authorities to prepare for rainstorms, thunderstorms and gales and be vigilant against possible flooding, landslides and mudslides. It also recommended halting outdoor operations in hazardous areas.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
The executive committee of Rehabilitation International (RI) held a video conference on July 28. Zhang Haidi, president of RI and chairperson of the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), presided over the meeting and delivered a speech.

Zhang began her speech by reporting RI's recent work. She said that on behalf of RI, she had attended the global launch event of the World Report on Hearing, the roundtable meeting for contracting states of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Generation Equality Forum of the United Nations Women.

Zhang actively promoted the pragmatic cooperation between RI and the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the UN Population Fund, the World Health Organization, and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, advising RI members donate essential medical supplies for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Zhang, as of the end of 2020, China has eliminated all abject rural poverty, including among the destitute physically challenged. Zhang also described how RI, the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, and the UN Women jointly launched an initiative promoting the development of disabled women, issued stamps themed around disabled women, and held symposiums on disabled women. The construction of the main body of the rehabilitation university of China has been concluded, which will provide a platform for exchanges and cooperation among the RI members and experts in the future.

Zhang pointed out that RI will continue to lead the progress of the cause of disabled people in the world, prioritizing development in its work. RI will further expand the scale of its membership, enhance the vitality of its members, optimize its organizational structure, guarantee fund supports, explore providing new public goods for the international community, take advantage of more international platforms to further improve its influence, and strive for sustainable development.

Zhang stressed that when RI celebrates its centenary anniversary next year, all members of the executive committee and members of the organization should uphold the torch of the institution to pass it to the next 100 years, and let the radiances of humanitarian care warm the hearts of disabled people.

The chairpersons of RI's regional branches and several special committees also reported their recent work and discussed the organization's future development and centenary celebrations. The agenda of the meeting also covers RI's cooperation projects and preparation for its 24th World Congress.

Zhang Wei, deputy-chair of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, and the officials in charge of the international department of the federation also took part in the video conference.

RI is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1922 in New York. Its mission is to advance the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities across the world. Zhang Haidi was elected president of the organization in 2014.
You are here: World

 Flash

The accusation that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan is "more political in nature," Didier Pittet, a leading infectious diseases expert at Geneva University Hospitals, has said.



There is no evidence that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory, Pittet, also inventor of the hand sanitizer, told Russia's Sputnik news agency in an interview published Saturday.

People often forget that the first destructive bacteria escaping from a laboratory happened in the United States, he noted.
Recently, I lost a friend who died suddenly from complications with Covid-19. Her unexpected death sent shock waves throughout the church community and among her friends and family. As we met together to reflect on her life and the memories we shared with her, one thing was evident: she gave her best in everything she did. As I listened to the tributes offered, I was challenged to reflect on my own life, and to consider the way in which I live and serve those around me; more importantly, I was challenged to reflect on the way in which I serve the Lord.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians chapter 3 verse 17)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters (Colossians chapter 3 verse 23)

The Apostle Paul challenged the Colossian Church to honour God through their actions, by doing everything as though they were doing it for the Lord and not for men. This may not be easy especially when those we are working for or working with are unpleasant to be around; or when those we are serving show no appreciation for what we are doing. However, when we shift our focus from men to God, it becomes so much easier to work and serve others, because irrespective of how men behave, God's love and ways are unchanging, and He is worthy and will always be worthy of our best efforts.

Strive to please God

Sometimes as we work, we do so to gain favour and approval from those around us. While this is not always a bad thing, we must ensure that this does not outweigh our desire to please God. This is because we can become so preoccupied with pleasing others that we lose sight of what God may be doing or saying to us at the time. We must ensure that our actions are in line with what God says, even if it means disobeying those who lead us. Gods Word always has the final say!

Ways to work and serve as unto the Lord

Working as unto the Lord simply means that whatever we do, we do for the Lord and not for earthly rewards or selfish gratifications. Working as unto the Lord means that we will demonstrate a good work attitude regardless of where we are in life. Working as unto the Lord means that despite how we feel, our conduct will align to that of a child of God, who is always displaying the fruit of the Spirit to those around him.

As we work and serve the Lord, we must do so with:

1. Praise and thanksgiving

Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. (Psalm chapter 100 verse 2)

It is not always easy to offer to the Lord praise and thanksgiving while serving others, especially when we are being mistreated. But as we do, we honour God and minister to those around us, even those who mistreat us. Approaching our work with praise and gratitude to God, makes our problems and the issues that present themselves while we work smaller, because God is now magnified. Praise and thanksgiving will shift our focus from the problem to the Problem Solver.

2. Humility

Humble yourselves, therefore, under Gods mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1st Peter chapter 5 verses 6-7)

A part of humility is surrendering our lives completely to God. This means that we are allowing Him to do as He will with our lives and trusting that He has our best interest at heart. This means that we will submit to Him and be compliant with what He asks of us, as He places us in different situations.

This is not easy especially when we are placed in unfavourably scenarios, where we are being taken for granted and mistreated. Oftentimes, these situations cause us to feel frustrated and discouraged and may even lead us to tears. But as we trust the Lord and His plans for us, we come to the realization that we labour not in vain, for God uses trials to mould us into the image of His Son. Furthermore, those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! (Psalm 126 verse 5)

3. Resilience

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians chapter 6 verse 9)

When we serve those around us well, and they are unappreciative, it makes us want to stop. However, the Bible encourages us to not give up, but to keep pressing on and to keep doing good. You see, although those we are working for and are serving take no notice of us and what we are doing, God sees, and in His perfect timing He will acknowledge us; He will lift us up.

We are called to serve others, but as we do, our focus and our reason for doing it must reside in the Lord. If not, we will lose the passion and the motivation because not only do people change, but they can be very unappreciative and discouraging. When our motive for serving others rests in the Lord, we are in a better place because we know that whatever happens, our steps are being ordered by Him and He takes account of everything we do; so, whatever we do, whether in word or deed, lets do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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The woman, whose name was not released, is in her fifties. While the woman was on Woodland Street, detectives have not yet determined the exact spot where the shooting occurred, police said.
Moodys cited other reasons for its negative outlook. Eversource is weighed down by debt to pay for capital projects such as offshore wind development and unfunded pension liabilities, the ratings agency said. It said it does not see meaningful cash flow from the wind project until 2024 at the earliest.
Michael and I always wonder when people are leaving our screenings and they go out for coffee, for a walk, go home, or wherever it is, do they have a conversation about ... would you do this? Mandell said. Would you take these kinds of risks to save somebody in danger? And I think most people say they dont know. They hope they would, but you dont know.
The tail of a JetBlue plane is seen as it prepares to take off in 2020. Hampton University students can now apply for a JetBlue first officer position while still in school as part of a new partnership. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS)
Sager sets Survive the Night in 1991 so Charlie doesnt have the option of Googling Josh and, with no cell phones, shes forced to rely on pay phones that are sometimes out of order, all of which ramp up the terror. Charlie soon wonders if Josh is the Campus Killer. Charlies paranoia is augmented by her habit of mentally disappearing into movies she creates in her mind.
The number of cases in the Tidewater region  consisting of King William, New Kent and King and Queen  has increased from 21 cases in June to 129 cases in July, even though the vaccination rate has risen from about 40% by the end of June to about 45% by the end of July in the area, according to Virginia Department of Health data. The VDH has also reported that hospitalizations of people from Tidewater counties remained low but still jumped in the past month, from 4 in June to 16 in July.
Clayton was stunned when her son, Austin Lemmons, told her about the ring. She knew she had lost her ring years ago  now 57 years old, the last time she remembers seeing it was when she was 28  and could hardly believe it might be found. It was the type of thing she was used to seeing happen to people on TV or in the paper, not to her.
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Looks like Shah Rukh Khan will have to wait a bit longer to get back into the swing of movie-making. While the shooting of Pathan is half done, it appears that permissions to shoot the remaining half in foreign locations is taking time.

Most of the shoot is abroad. Director Siddharth Anand wanted to shoot in locations like Afghanistan, Siberia, Italy etc., but has managed to film only in Russia thus far, reveals a source. Even Abu Dhabi which is a film-friendly location, has not opened up. So Shah Rukh is biding his time, the source adds.

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh will be performing a lot of stunts that he has never tried before in the film, and he has had some special training, says the source. There is something called a 'fire blast' sequence and he has trained hard for it as well as for the fight sequences.
Nagapattinam: A fisherman belonging to Nagapattinam district sustained head injuries as Sri Lankan Navy allegedly opened fire when he was fishing along with others off the Kodiakarai coast.

A total of 10 fishermen belonging to Akkaraipettai and Keechankuppam hamlets ventured into the sea in a mechanised boat from Nagapattinam port on July 28, Nagapattinam fisheries department officials said.

When they were fishing in the sea southeast off the Kodiakarai coast near the International Maritime Boundary Line on the wee hours of Monday, a fast craft of personnel belonging to the Sri Lankan Navy allegedly opened fire at the boats that were fishing in the vicinity, officials added.

"Lankan Navy personnel started attacking many boats in the area. First, they threw stones and then opened fire. One of the bullets came towards our boat and it pierced a partition and hit one among us named Kalaiselvan. The bullet scratched his head and he fell down unconscious," Deepanraj, one of the fishermen who was in the boat, said.

"We immediately turned our boat towards the coast and rushed Kalaiselvan to Nagapattinam GH. Since the bullet first pierced the boat before hitting him, he has escaped with head injuries," he added.

He stressed that the Lankan Navy allegedly opened fire when the fishermen were fishing within the Indian limits.

The injured fisherman hailed from Akkaraipettai hamlet in this district.

Nagapattinam District Collector Dr Arun Thamburaj visited Nagapattinam GH and interacted with the affected fishermen.

He enquired about the incident.

The Coastal Security Group police, Q branch, and Fisheries department officials are conducting enquiries.

The incident led to tension in fishing hamlets of Nagapattinam district.
Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition Congress-led UDF members on Monday raised placards and banner in the Kerala Assembly seeking the resignation of General Education Minister V Sivankutty in a case related to the infamous ruckus incident in the Assembly in 2015.

As soon as the minister began speaking during the question hour, the opposition members stood from their seats with slogans like "resign and go out" and showed protest placards and banner.

It is for the first time that the Minister was arriving in the House after the Supreme Court had dismissed a government plea last week seeking withdrawal of a criminal case against LDF MLAs, including Sivankutty, in connection with the ruckus six years ago.

The banner could be read as "the Chief Minister should be ready to remove the Education Minister, who is facing trial in the case, from the cabinet."

Despite the sloganeering, the minister continued to give his reply to the questions raised by the members.

Intervening in the issue, Speaker M B Rajesh alerted the Opposition Members that raising banners and placards in the House was a violation of Assembly rules.

The decision of the Supreme Court on the ruckus in the Kerala Assembly in 2015 has come as a jolt to the two-month- old second Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in the State.

The court had dismissed the appeals, including the one filed by the Kerala government against the High Court order dismissing its plea seeking withdrawal of a criminal case lodged against LDF MLAs in connection with the ruckus.

The apex court had said allowing the prosecution to be withdrawn would amount to interference in the normal course of justice for illegitimate reasons.

Though the UDF had been pressing for the resignation of Sivankutty in the wake of the court verdict, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan categorically rejected their demand last week itself.
Bommai took oath as the chief minister on July 28. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is in the national capital to hold consultations with the BJP central leadership on the expansion of his cabinet, sources said on Monday.

The chief minister, who reached the national capital late on Sunday night, is scheduled to meet BJP president J P Nadda during the day, they said.

On Sunday, before leaving for Delhi, Bommai had said the cabinet expansion exercise may not take a week's time and a direction from the leadership was likely by Monday.

Bommai took oath as the chief minister on July 28 after the resignation of his predecessor B S Yediyurappa on July 26.

He is the lone Cabinet member in the government.

Meanwhile, many ministerial aspirants have called on Bommai and raised the pitch for a cabinet berth.
KAKINADA: All leaders belonging to political parties and Adivasi associations and flood victims would stage their protest against the Polavaram Project issues in New Delhi on August 5.

According to CPI West Godavari district secretary Dega Prabhakar, backwaters created by the cofferdam of Polavaram project has submerged many villages.

He said the Centre had declared the project as the National Project with the cost of Rs 55,549 crores, but it had not accepted Rs 10,000 crore worth drinking water and power projects.

He demanded the Centre to give Rs 10 lakh to each victim and Rs 5 lakh per acre as compensation.
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CALVID, not COVID, is the teal threat to Arizona from California By Rachel Alexander

The real threat to states like Arizona is not COVID, its CALVID, Arizona turning into California. People fleeing the deteriorating state are flocking to Arizona and bringing their failed political views with them. Former Californians now make up about 10% of the population in Arizona. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey titled an op-ed for The Orange County Register in March warning those considering moving to Arizona, Leaving California? Dont Forget Why. He joked about thanking the California governor during a speech for growing Arizonas economy. More people are leaving the state than moving there. A survey in 2019 found that 53% are considering leaving. Websites have popped up helping people escape. Any growth comes from births, including a large percentage from illegal immigrants. In contrast, Arizona has one of the highest rates of people moving there of any of the states. About 80% of those moving to Arizona choose Phoenix, which explains why its city government is now dominated by Democrats. Registered Democrats in California outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, and hold all the statewide offices. California cannot afford all of its social justice and climate change programs, so taxes are high. The state has such restrictive energy policies due to radical environmentalism that the existing energy infrastructure cannot keep up with demand, resulting in frequent rolling blackouts. The state relies heavily on solar and wind power which are not capable yet of supporting millions of people reliably, while refusing to expand oil, natural gas or nuclear plants. Residents are used to the blackouts, but people in Arizona arent, and it would be deadly for much of the state due to the desert heat. California agricultural businesses are fleeing the state to escape the high energy costs and water shortages. This is affecting the cost of water in Arizona, since Arizona is already maxed out with how much water it uses. Many tech companies have left the state, bringing their lefty tech employees to Arizona. The homeless problem is even worse than the mainstream media portrays it. Its more than just poop and drug needles. The population of the homeless in Los Angeless Skid Row is around 5,000 people, and it spans 50 blocks, almost three square miles. Phoenix has nothing even remotely comparable. Los Angeles designated it a containment zone back in 1976, where the homeless would be tolerated and allowed to live there. In 2019, the city removed the limit on how much stuff the homeless can keep on the streets. Over 50% of crime in central Los Angeles takes place on Skid Row. The cost of living is the highest in the country. The median cost of a home is more than twice the national average. This is in part because slow-growth rules are impeding housing construction, not keeping up with the population. Gas prices are some of the highest in the nation due to all the extra taxes and rules that limit competition. The COVID-19 pandemic hit California harder than other states, even though there was a drastic statewide lockdown. The lockdown resulted in higher unemployment rates than other states. This phenomenon is not just happening between California and Arizona. Nine of the top 10 states people are moving to are red states, with Oregon being the lone exception. Seven or eight of the top 10 states people are fleeing are blue states. The Mercury News bragged in 2019 that people leaving California helped turn Nevada blue. Already, the results have been palpable. In recent months, lawmakers raised the minimum wage, put in place higher green energy standards, guaranteed collective bargaining rights for state employees and enacted new gun control measures. In 2004, there were 1,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Nevada. By 2019, Democrats had developed a 70,000 advantage. Arizonans should be more afraid of CALVID than COVID. Despite the MSM hype, Arizona is not experiencing a third surge of COVID-19. People blame California for starting to turn Arizona blue. While Maricopa County may have gone blue in some of the 2020 races due to voter fraud, Republicans did lose some of their voting edge, as Democrats gained 51,000 more voters in the state between 2016 and 2019. But this may be turning around . The latest quarterly registration numbers released from the Arizona Secretary of State show that 3,093 registered as Republicans and only 539 registered as Democrats, leaving Republicans with a significant 125,322 advantage statewide, and almost 100,000 more voters in Maricopa County. Additionally, 40% of those considering leaving California are Republicans, whereas only 14% are Democrats. Lets just hope the voter fraud in Arizona stops. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative . She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, Enter Stage Right and other publications. Home
Casualties in the 2021 Gaza War: How many and who were they? By Eli Nirenberg and Lenny Ben-David



Map of Hamas rockets that misfired and fell in Gaza (IDF Spokesperson) During the eleven days of Hamas rocket assault against Israel, 12 civilians in Israel and an IDF soldier, Omer Tabib, were killed by Hamas terrorists. An additional 312 civilians and three soldiers were wounded in Israel. In Gaza, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health claimed 256 deaths. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said that only 80 were combatants. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) wrote, at least 253 Palestinians have been killed, 129 of whom were civilians. That means 124 of the dead were combatants, close to a 1:1 ratio, unprecedentedly low in terms of civilians killed in urban warfare. According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel, nine children and ten adults were killed by Palestinian rocket fire. OCHA concluded, The result was Hamas killing its own civilians and destroying infrastructure. It is critical to emphasize that not all deaths in Gaza were caused by Israeli weaponry. At least 680 Palestinian rockets fell short or misfired, landing inside Gaza. These rocket misfires account for some 15 percent of the total Palestinian rockets launched. History repeated itself for the unfortunate residents of Gaza. In 2015, a Hamas rocket fell short and killed eleven children. In the latest round of fighting, a Palestinian rocket struck power lines in the Strip, leaving many Palestinians without power during the war. Israels Precision Strikes Spared Civilians The Israel Defense Forces sought to avoid civilians. However, in cases of senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders hiding amid civilians, including their families, the IDF struck at these military targets  all considered as such under international military law. IDF airstrikes also targeted the Metro, a massive underground network of tunnels built by Hamas that contained command posts, weapons storage rooms, enabling the movement of fighters unseen, in order to attack Israel. The IDF has named 25 senior commanders and senior technical officials of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who were killed in airstrikes. Among those were Bassem Issa, Commander of Hamas in Gaza City; Juma Tahla, head of Hamas Cyber Command; Khazem Khatib, Hamas Chief Engineer; and Dr. Jamal Zabdeh, an aerodynamical engineer and head of development. The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Matthias Schmale, told Israeli TV that Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were precise and did not hit, with some exceptions, civilian targets. He later had to apologize to Hamas for this statement. Israels Moral Defense Forces Israel makes every effort to save civilian lives, and every death is considered tragic. British Col. Richard Kemp, who fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan, called the IDF the most moral army in the world for good reason. There has never been another situation in modern urban warfare in which armed forces destroyed 1,000+ military targets, and such a low number of civilians were lost. This result is not a coincidence; it is because of intentionally cautious IDF procedures that save Palestinian lives. The IDF makes phone calls in Arabic to residents near targets, drops leaflets, and even engages in roof knocking of buildings, in which small bomblets are dropped on roofs to spur people to flee before the target is destroyed. 10 IDF commanders give civilians ample time to flee, and ensure that as many lives as possible are saved. Recently, a journalist complained 11 that the IDF only gave him one hour to flee from an office building used by Hamas. 12 He failed to mention that nobody was killed in the strike, despite the building housing Hamas facilities and offices. Here is the text of an IDF phone call to a Gaza resident in Arabic prior to an attack that appeared on a UN website: How are you? Is everything okay? This is the Israeli military. We need to bomb your home, and we are making every effort to minimize casualties. Please make sure that no one is nearby since in five minutes, we will attack. A UN stated on June 21, 2021: The IDF are on solid legal ground when attacking military infrastructure, the problem being the infrastructure is interwoven with ordinary peoples lives (emphasis added). The IDF should acknowledge that they will inevitably kill civilians, who cant escape the conflict when destroying military targets in Gaza, and possibly find other ways to destroy military targets. Gazas factions, in turn, should stop committing the war crime of firing rockets from residential areas towards other residential areas which would, in turn, not provoke a violent response from Israel. Hamas Turns Palestinian Civilians into a Terror Weapon While the IDF makes every effort to protect the innocent, Hamas makes every effort to put them in harms way. Hamas intentionally places its missile launchers, mortars, armories, tunnel systems, and other weaponry in civilian areas. Hamas terror tunnels have been found underneath schools, apartment buildings, and adjacent to hospitals. Missile launchers are concealed in densely populated residential neighborhoods with no regard to the lives of those who must live alongside them. Even the press has been threatened to accept Hamas weapons in and around their offices, according to a former journalist who worked for the Associated Press. The Deaths of Children One of the most distressing aspects of media coverage of the 2021 fighting was the deaths of children. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel found that 62 children in Gaza under 16 were killed. However, at least nine of these youth were killed by errant Hamas rockets. Likewise, under the cruel reality of the Hamas regime, many young individuals are already combatants and pose deadly threats to the lives of others before adulthood. According to the Coalition to Save Palestinian Child Soldiers, at least 160 minors have died digging Hamas tunnels, and at least 29 have died as suicide bombers. Hamas lauds the presence of youth in its armed wing, promoting a culture of jihad and martyrdom from a young age in education and media. Though, of course, not all children who were tragically lost were involved in terrorist operations, the incomprehensible truth is that some were. Hamas recruitment of children to the cause of jihad is emphasized by the militants. Following the recent fighting, the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, raised a child brandishing a gun and called for the elimination of Israel. Kindergarten graduation ceremonies re-enact the murder of Jews. Hours of this type of footage may be seen in the Gaza childrens TV program Self-Sacrificing Fighter (Fidai). The show includes scenes that justify the murder of Jews because they are all criminals. On the Israeli side, five-year-old Ido Avigal was killed by rocket shrapnel when a Hamas rocket struck his familys apartment building in Sderot. Sixteen-year-old Nadine Awad, a Muslim Arab-Israeli girl from Lod, and her father, were also killed by Palestinian rocket fire. Mainstream Media Embraces Inaccuracies regarding Gaza Children The New York Times provides a case study of inaccurate reporting on casualties among Palestinian children. On May 26, 2021, the Times published a front-page report entitled, They Were Only Children, which displayed pictures of 67 children in Gaza allegedly killed by Israel. It included 20-year-old Khaled al-Qanou and 15-year-old Muhammad Suleiman, both confirmed Hamas members engaged in violent anti-Israel activity. In addition, in its initial publication  corrected later  the paper included an old stock photo of a young girl and falsely claimed that Israel had killed her. Palestinians Do Not All Die from the Conflict Hamas and other anti-Israel groups in Gaza are known to blur the lines between those who died of natural causes and those who died in the war. The CIA Factbook reports the natural death rate (including infants) in Gaza to be 2.94/1,000 people. With a population of just over two million, about 6,000 Gaza residents die of natural causes in a year: about 16 deaths per day. These statistics do not include the deadly impact of the COVID-19 virus in Gaza. It is safe to assume that many people in Gaza also died of natural causes during the eleven-day war. In the Strip, where Hamas tightly censors information, it is difficult to know if some natural deaths were falsely attributed to deaths from the conflict, especially during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. It would not be the first time such errors are used for propaganda purposes: In 2020, U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib retweeted a tweet from Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi claiming that a herd of violent Israeli settlers threw Qais Abu Ramila into a well. In fact, the boy had accidentally drowned in a rain ditch. The Intrafada: Hamas Murders Other Palestinians Whenever Israel retaliates against Gaza terrorists and facilities, the regime in Gaza searches in its midst for possible spies and Israeli collaborators. Hamas uses these victims as scapegoats for their own failures, accusing them of providing information to Israel, but does not present evidence or hold a trial. Sometimes, Hamas does not release the names of those they execute, leading some to suspect that they added these individuals to the civilian casualty toll. Intelligence collection on this subject is difficult in the immediate aftermath of war, but nearly a year after the Gaza War of 2014, Amnesty International exposed that Hamas executed 23 Palestinians during the 50-day war, including six in a public firing squad execution. In February 2016, a Hamas commander, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, was executed without trial, accused of providing Israel with information used in a failed attempt to assassinate Hamas military leader Mohammed Dief in 2014. Following the 2021 fighting, Hamas arrested 43 people on charges of spying for Israel. Some of the accused may have already been brought before a military field court. This is routine behavior for the authoritarian Hamas leadership, and extrajudicial killings likely occurred as a result of this war as well. More details will probably come out after the fact, as in the previous wars. Eli Nirenberg is a student at Washington University in St. Louis. Lenny Ben-David is the Jerusalem Centers Director of Publications. Ben-David served 25 years in senior posts in AIPAC in Washington and Jerusalem. He served as Israels Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy in Washington, D.C. He is the author of the American Interests in the Holy Land Revealed in Early Photographs (Urim Publications). Home
The long defeat -- Where the Canadian Right went wrong (Part Three) By Mark Wegierski

A United Right

Stephen Harper The merger between the Canadian Alliance (under Stephen Harper) and the federal Progressive Conservatives (under the leadership of Peter MacKay), was formally announced on October 16, 2003, and finalized by December 2003. This move, coming after decades of division and infighting for the politically organized Canadian Right, appeared to be a bright way forward. In March 2004, Stephen Harper was selected leader of the reconstituted Conservative Party. The June 2004 election was perhaps one of the most critical in Canadian history, and was supposed to represent the culmination of the now united political Right in its attempt to at least be a voice heard in the national debate, and on a practical level to assume a leadership role by achieving political power. Nevertheless, Stephen Harper essentially flopped  considering that the Liberals were highly vulnerable, especially over the politically sensitive (especially in Quebec) financial scandal known as The Sponsorship Scandal or Adscam. The Liberals managed to win a minority government (a plurality of seats in the House of Commons) in 2004, but were voted down in the federal House of Commons in November 2005. In the ensuing January 2006 federal election, Harper won a minority government. By sticking to centrist policies, Harper continued in power until 2008, when he called an election himself. He won a strengthened mandate, but a majority still eluded him. Finally, the Conservative government was voted down in the House of Commons in 2011. However, Harper was finally able to win a majority in the May 2011 election. Failure in Success The Conservative majority government of 2011-2015 represented one of the comparatively few, post-1896 moments of conservative electoral triumph in Canadian history. However, Harper timidly continued with centrist policies. He could have helped social conservatives considerably, even without touching same-sex marriage and abortion rights  for example, by introducing pro-family tax policies. Harper was demonized as far right and a dictator whereas his policies rarely challenged the Trudeau Liberal consensus of Canada  or what some have called the Trudeaupia. He also failed to properly vet appointments to the Senate, with the result that a highly damaging scandal erupted there. It should be well noted that it was a scandal over administrative, not substantial policy issues. There was a wave of anti-Harper books published during his Prime Ministership, and especially as the date of the 2015 election neared. The Cult of the Leader (Version 2.0) In the October 2015 federal election, Justin Trudeau (Pierre Elliott Trudeaus son) won a strong majority. This was a signal to sweep away whatever fragmentary conservative measures Stephen Harper might have been able to introduce in 2011-2015. In the October 2019 election, the Liberals won a strong minority government, despite various scandals. They have been propped up by the NDP, which is even further left. Justin Trudeau has made various pronouncements indicative of his progressivism, such as his praise of the Chinese Communist dictatorship, and his proclamation that Canada is a post-national state and that there is no core [Canadian] identity. Indeed, Justin Trudeau has exemplified the progressive outlook in Canada. The 2018 federal budget was characterized by a deep social radicalism. Yet at the same time, Justin Trudeau has introduced few economically radical measures, and is looking out well for the interests of the one percent, most of whom are in fact liberals. The Liberal Party has usually been the party of the very biggest business in Canada. Defining the Hegemony of Progressivism One of the central reasons for the continuing failure of the Canadian Right since the 1960s is the ongoing establishment of vast liberal-leaning media, juridical, academic, educational, bureaucratic, and corporate structures  a nexus of interests which certain American and European critics have called the managerial-therapeutic regime  which could be characterized as socially liberal and economically conservative. There is also the fact that North American pop-culture is the primary lived cultural reality for most people in Canada, which tends to reinforce socially liberal, consumerist/consumptionist, and antinomian attitudes, especially among the young. Unlike in most other Western countries, where countervailing factors of various kinds exist to the hegemony of the managerial-therapeutic regime, current-day Canada is probably an example of such a managerial-therapeutic system in its purest form. Some of these countervailing factors in the United States include such things as the far greater saliency of the military, the far greater presence of organized religion (both in regard to fundamentalist Protestants and traditionalist Catholics), homeschooling as a major social trend, the existence of probably hundreds of more traditional-leaning private colleges, and a large network of right-leaning think-tanks and publications  which together are part of what some have called the Right Nation. At the same time, the United States has a more robust tradition of independent-minded, left-wing, anti-corporate, ecological, or agrarian dissent, such as that typified by Ralph Nader, Christopher Lasch, Rachel Carson, Helen and Scott Nearing, and Wendell Berry. It could be argued that social, political, cultural, and economic life in Canada  lacking, in fact, either an authentic Right or Left -- has therefore become the least subject to popular will and democratic input. Indeed, it could be called post-democratic. The lack of robust democratic participation and input in Canada should be of concern to theorists across the political spectrum. Insofar as the system maintains itself through massive prior constraint against a very broad array of ideas, beliefs, and opinions, its pretense to be upholding democracy is questionable. Such a profound lack of equilibrium is radically harmful to a more ideal-typical form and exercise of democracy. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
Examining the Polish-Canadian community on the 77th anniversary of the tragic Warsaw Uprising of 1944 By Apolonja (Pola) Kojder and Mark Wegierski

August 1, 2021 was the 77th anniversary of the beginning of the fateful Warsaw Uprising of 1944. This supreme effort of the Polish Underground against the Nazi German occupiers, was doomed when Stalin suspended Soviet offensive operations, thus allowing the Germans to crush the Uprising over sixty-six nightmarish days. Over 240,000 Poles perished, with the survivors deported to concentration camps. The Germans systematically demolished the defeated city. It was one of the most tragic moments in Polands long history. We would like to memorialize these important events by commenting on the Polish-Canadian community today. Although, according to the statistics of the 2016 Canada Census, there are over a million persons of Polish descent in Canada, that group has a comparatively minor impact on Canadian society, politics, and culture, especially today. Canadian Polonia (the Polish-Canadian community) seems to have a perennial misapprehension of what constitutes objective cultural influence and power in today's Canada. There seem to be a greater number of artists, sculptors, etc., than writers. The community is organizationally weak and faces a chronic lack of funding, whether from private individuals or government cultural and multicultural support. Some types of writing have almost immediate social and political effects. There are currently no opinion-columnists on staff in the major Toronto newspapers, who could be identified as belonging to the Polish-Canadian community, nor do any such opinion-columnists in any major newspaper in the country come to mind. There are also very few authors of books by recognized publishers. What can one say when even the post of the President of the Canadian Polish Congress is a volunteer position. There are, currently, only a few M.P.s who could be identified as emphatically belonging to the Polish-Canadian community, in the Canadian Federal Parliament. One of them is Calgary-area Conservative M.P. Tom Kmiec. In the Ontario Parliament, two dynamic women were elected as Progressive Conservative M.P.P.s in 2018  Kinga Surma (Etobicoke-Centre) and Natalia Kusendova (Mississauga-Centre). In 2011-2015, there were two Polish-Canadian M.P.s from the Conservative Party, Wladyslaw Lizon and Ted Opitz. During the 1970s, Stanley Haidasz represented the Parkdale-High Park riding (then the Toronto-area riding with the highest proportion of persons of Polish descent) as a Liberal, being named as Minister of State for Multiculturalism. His successor in the riding was the Liberal, Jesse Flis. Because of the prominence of Haidasz and Flis, Polish-Canadians tended to support the federal Liberal Party in earlier decades. The main waves of Polish immigration to Canada could be identified as pre-World War I; interwar; post-World War II; 1956-1979; Solidarity era; and post-1989. Before World War I, Poland had endured Partition (harsh foreign occupation under Tsarist Russia, Prussia/Germany, and the Habsburg Empire) since 1795. Independence was regained only in 1918. The Polish Second Republic fell before the savage onslaught of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (then Hitlers ally) in September 1939 (when World War II began). Betrayed by America and Britain at the Yalta Conference, Poland was assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence (to be officially called the Peoples Republic of Poland) -- along with the wrenching displacement of her frontiers in a westward direction. The largest group of Polish immigrants to Canada in the post-World War II period were the Polish ex-soldiers who had served in the Polish armed forces under Western Allied command. Among their greatest military achievements were the contribution of the Polish pilots to the aerial Battle of Britain in 1940; and the storming by the Polish Second Corps of Monte Cassino in Italy, the impregnable German positions blocking the road to Rome, in 1944. The Polish ex-soldiers who came directly to Canada in the late 1940s were required to work for two years on remote farms. Conditions there were sometimes none too pleasant. In consequence of the death of Stalin in 1953, the coming to power of Wladyslaw Gomulka in October 1956 essentially polonized the regime. The disturbances of 1968-1970 brought Edward Gierek to power, whose economic policies initiated a short period of considerable prosperity. Nevertheless, the election of the Polish Pope in 1978 galvanized the opposition, culminating in the flowering of the independent trade-union movement, Solidarity. On December 13, 1981, Communist General Jaruzelski declared martial law and attempted to crush the Solidarity movement, which went underground. Finally, the impetus of Solidarity was one of the factors that helped to initiate the massive transformations that resulted in the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989. The Polish Third Republic was proclaimed. The arrival of Polish-Canadians increased the intra-European diversity of Canada. It could be argued that the initial definition of multiculturalism in Canada was mostly meant to refer to other European groups, apart from the English and French, especially Eastern and Southern Europeans. That definition has been mostly eclipsed since the 1980s, with the arrival of huge visible minority immigration. Apolonja (Pola) Kojder is the main author of Marynia, Dont Cry: Memoirs of Two Polish-Canadian Families (University of Toronto Press, 1995). She lives in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Mark Wegierski is a Toronto-based writer and historical researcher, published in Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, and The Hill Times (Ottawa), among others. They were both born in Canada of Polish immigrant parents. Home
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Born in Valparaiso and raised in Portage, 21-year-old Ethyl Ruehman said she had every intention of staying in the Region and giving back to the community.

She began studying environmental management at Indiana University Northwest in Gary and engaged in a lot of public service, all while working numerous jobs. But after a relationship fell apart, she was unable to find an affordable place to stay and after several tough months of transient living, Ruehman said she made the painful decision to move away to Bloomington, Indiana, where housing was available as part of her studies.

"I was priced out of Northwest Indiana," she said by phone last week.

While Saturday's expiration of the federal eviction moratorium has shed new light on housing struggles, a recently released study shows that there was already plenty of reason for concern in the Region and elsewhere around Indiana.

"Indiana has not prioritized creating affordable housing," said Andrew Bradley, policy director for Prosperity Indiana, which shared details of a recently released report under the headline, "Affordable Housing is Out of Reach in Indiana for Low-Wage Hoosier Workers."

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a pre-existing housing stability crisis in Indiana, with effects particularly concentrated among renter households, families with children, Black and brown Hoosiers, and low-income households," Prosperity Indiana said in a shared statement with the Indiana Institute for Working Families and Indiana Youth Institute.

"Throughout the first year of the pandemic, these Hoosier households were most likely to be affected by job and income loss and least likely to be able to stay current on housing payments. Therefore, they were most at risk of eviction or foreclosure."

Wages not keeping up with rents

Hoosiers must now earn $13.43 per hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home or $16.57 per hour for two bedrooms without spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs, according to a summation of the new report provided by Prosperity Indiana. The typical Hoosier renter earns $14.58 per hour, which is $1.99 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a modest, two-bedroom unit.

A Hoosier being paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour  where it has remained stagnant since 2009  must work nearly two full-time jobs or 74 hours a week to afford a modest, one-bedroom apartment or 91 hours per week for a two bedroom unit, the group says.

"The cost of housing in Indiana just keeps rising, which means the state Housing Wage  what you really need to earn for your home to be affordable to you  keeps going up," Prosperity Indiana Executive Director Jessica Love said.

"Unfortunately, the average renter's wage hasn't risen much for Hoosiers, especially when compared to our Midwestern peers," she said. "And this only serves to widen the disparities experienced by the lowest income renters."

The report found that the median wage for 10 of the state's top 20 largest occupations is below the stated two-bedroom housing wage, with six of those jobs paying less than what is needed for a one-bedroom unit, Prosperity Indiana said.

"Despite Indianas reputation for having a low cost of living, working full time does not guarantee affordable housing for many Hoosiers in Indianas largest occupations," the group said.

Valparaiso resident Jonathan Heins works as a mechanical designer and remained employed over the last year while COVID left others out of work, but the 30-year-old said he has temporarily put a hold on his search for affordable housing in the wider Region.

"The buying power is not there anymore," he said.

While it would be easier to rent a place closer to his workplace in Michigan City, Heins said the cost is just too high these days. This has left him with no other real choice than to continue living with family and saving money until the market becomes more buyer friendly.

"I don't have all the things in line anymore to pull the trigger," he said.

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Not much help available

The situation is far more dire for extremely low income Porter County residents, 85% of whom are considered to be facing a "severe cost burden" as compared to 27% when all income levels are figured in, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The government defines housing cost-burdened households as those paying more than 50% of their income on housing.

LaPorte County is in a similar situation with 81% of its extremely poor facing a "severe cost burden," followed by Lake County at 74%.

Jordan Stanfill, CEO at Housing Opportunities, which combats homelessness in Porter and LaPorte counties, said he does not see a lot of options for help in the area.

His nonprofit offers 186 affordable ($500 per month) rental units in Valparaiso, Portage, Michigan City and LaPorte, with most tenants paying rent on time and staying put.

While rents are high in Porter County and have been going up in neighboring LaPorte County, he said there has not been a lot of turnover.

"The rental market is super tight," he said.

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Eviction crisis looming

This was among the findings of a housing study released earlier this year by the city of Valparaiso, which reported just a 2% vacancy rate among rentals in the city, which consultant Christopher Lankenau said "is extremely low, so theres very much a shortage of rental housing in the area."

The study recommended increasing the housing stock at all price points, though found Valparaiso already has more than half of the countys subsidized low-income housing.

The issue of affordable housing needs to be taken up at the county or regional level, the consultants said.

A further housing crisis looms with the federal eviction moratorium allowed to expire on Saturday.

Lake County has seen 4,025 evictions filed since March 16, 2020, followed by Porter County at 620 and LaPorte County at 595, according to an online tracking provided by Legal Services Corporation, which bills itself as the largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation.

Valparaiso resident Michelle Guardiola said she, her two children, her fiance and her fiance's mother had to be out of her rental home of 10 years on Saturday and she has been unable over the past six months to find an affordable alternative.

Part of the challenge are the credit problems she developed from falling behind in paying back loans she had to take out to make ends meet as a single mom of two. But she has also found rental costs out of reach in Porter County, even with the assistance she receives from others.

"I have nothing right now," she said late last week. "The amount of hoops that people make you jump through to get a place."

As part of its shared statement on the issue, Prosperity Indiana said, "After a year of economic disruptions, Indiana has experienced over 41,000 eviction filings at an average rate over 750 per week, despite two eviction moratoria and two rounds of federally-funded emergency rental assistance.

"With the addition of a new state law that increases eviction powers and reduces local control over landlord-tenant relations, nearly one-third of the states counties are now above pre-pandemic eviction filing rates, with the highest increases concentrated in Indianas smaller and more rural counties."

5 things to know about COVID-19 misinformation super spreader Dr. Joseph Mercola
Kim Yo-jong called to halt the scheduled South Korea-US Drills as not helping foster relations. She asserted that the drills should be suspended as they will not help foster better trust between the two Koreas. If South Korea wants to allow an atmosphere for better relations, any hope of reconciliation is possible.

She has been critical of South Korea and has officiated actions that demonstrated her resolve in citing displeasing activities at the border.

Kim Jong-un's terminator sister

Last Sunday, she made it clear that her brother Kim Jong-un has confidence in her actions. Declaring the upcoming military exercises between the US and Korea is a wrong move for leaders in South Korea, reported The Independent.

The comment was given by Kim Jong Un's sister, which state media had carried. It also seemed to be directed primarily at South Korea.

After a long hiatus in the two Koreas' relations, channels were opened recently; and keeping it status quo is important.

North Korea's choice to reinstate lines of communication is targeted at forcing Seoul to persuade Washington to compromise while nuclear diplomacy remains a stalemate.

She added that the South would conduct the exercises despite the adverse effects they will have on relations.

Furthermore, Kim Yo-jong thinks the South Korea-US Drills unwanted precedent, which severely contradicts the top leaders of the North and South who want a step taken towards rebuilding mutual understanding. This further complicates the North-South current relationship in its future path, noted CNBC.

Read Also: Kim Jong Un's Boat at Private Island Signals Military Activity, Possibly Submarine Construction

Another statement said that the leadership and military would be monitored carefully to see if South Korea performs hostile war maneuvers in August or makes other bold actions.

Drills are not okay with her.

Periodic drills involving Seoul and Washington have long been a subject of antagonism in the Korean peninsula as North Korea blames the South for preparing an invasion and reacting with missile testing. South Korea and the United States have claimed that their maneuvers are only defensive.

On the contrary, the US and Seoul have been conducting smaller exercises the past few years to encourage diplomatic attempts to eradicate the North Korean nuclear crisis.

According to Boo Seung-Chan, spokesperson to South Korea's defense ministry, which concerns the summertime drills.

In a teleconference, last Thursday, Seoul and Washington are addressing the summertime drills considering the current state of the pandemic, works to reach denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and their joint national defense.

A US diplomatic campaign to convince North Korea to abandon the nuke ambitions in return for political and economic benefits has stagnated since a second meeting between Kim Jong-un. Then-President Donald Trump failed in early 2019 following a dispute over penalties for the First Post.

Despite the lag in getting things done, South Korea's regime President Moon Jae-in desires a better reconciliatory move with Nokor. He was the one who bridged the summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

Later on, North Korea went on a rant that scoured Seoul because it attempted to undermine its dealing with the US.

But North Korea was severe against South Korea, telling it not to mess with its talks with the US. Kim Yo-Jong says to have a better outcome, and the South Korea-US Drills are not conducive to this.

Related Article: Kim Jong Un Allegedly Organizes Women by Force to Construct Border Wall With China

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A $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan will be published "imminently" and a vote on the legislation may take place "in a matter of days," Senator Chuck Schumer announced Sunday afternoon.

Senators Working To Finalize the $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

In a recently published article in MSN News, Senators worked over the weekend to finish the legislation's language in hopes to approve it before the August break. President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure proposal includes increased investment in bridges, highways, internet rail, and water infrastructure.

Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat with a swing vote in the U.S. Senate, said he expects the language to be approved on Sunday, with some changes to be debated on Sunday or Monday. He also added that the bill will pass the Senate.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill is a critical step in the Biden administration's broad economic plan, which includes a $4 trillion infusion of government spending over the next decade aimed at transforming the U.S. economy, according to a published article in Financial Times.

Read Also: Much Reduced Biden Infrastructure Bill Meets Rejection as Democrats and Republicans Continue To Disagree

Republican Senator Said the Bill Has Enough Support from Lawmakers

Republican Senator Susan Collins claimed on Sunday that Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure plan has enough support from legislators to pass the Senate this week. Collins said that the measure may be presented on the Senate floor as early as late Sunday and that she expects at least 10 Republican senators to support it.

Collins, the Republican senator for Maine, said, "This bill is good for America. Every senator can look at bridges and roads and need for more broadband, waterways in their states, seaports, airports, and see the benefits, the very concrete benefits, no pun intended, of this legislation."

The bill's magnitude, though, has been a source of contention among legislators. Republicans, who mainly represent rural states and towns, want less money for public transportation, while Democrats, whose support is centered on cities, want more, according to a published article in Head Topics.

Senate Democrats Plan to Introduce $3.5 Trillion Bill

Senate Democrats also want to introduce a second $3.5 trillion package that would contain additional spending on environmental programs, health care, and a variety of other projects. Progressive legislators argue that the bipartisan plan does not go far enough to combat climate change and increase social expenditures.

Republicans have been vocal in their opposition to the $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan proposed only by Democratic Lawmakers. Democrats want to use the budget reconciliation procedure to approve the second package, which may enable them to do it without the backing of Republicans.

After the bipartisan infrastructure legislation succeeds, Schumer said on Sunday, he will immediately go to the other track and take up the $3.5 trillion plan. He also said that the American people need both tracks and that they must be completed.

The accord has been hailed by Biden as vital to the U.S. economy and a proof that he can broker bipartisan agreements in Washington, raising the political stakes of the talks. Last month, Biden was compelled to reach an agreement with a group of moderate senators, including Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Maine Republican Susan Collins.

Related Article: Senate GOP Rejects Infrastructure Bill; Bipartisan Group Affirms They Are Getting Close to Finish Line



@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tom Bower, who is penning a royal biography of the Duchess of Sussex, claimed in a piece that the former actress's next goal is to conquer the United States, followed by the rest of the globe.

The column comes ahead of Meghan's 40th birthday celebrations on Wednesday, which are expected to be a modest affair with only approximately 65 guests in attendance. Bower, writing for The Sun, wondered if she would be tempted to advance her political aspirations through a connection with America's Vice President Kamala Harris and the Obamas after she had "seduced" the Royal Family.

Meghan Markle's intention to enter US politics

He suggested that she can run for president as a way to continue her "Crusade for Goodness." Her potential candidacy for the top position would need a lot of learning, unending travel, and an iron constitution, according to the biographer, who characterized Meghan Markle as a powerful runner.

Meghan asked voters to resist hate speech before the 2020 US election, which was regarded as a direct criticism of disgraced US President Donald Trump, who stated he was "not a fan" of Meghan. Last year, a friend of the Duchess said that one of the reasons she didn't give up her American citizenship when she married Prince Harry was to keep the door open to a career in politics in the United States.

Meghan Markle's dreams to become a US politician have been given a severe setback by her countrymen, with an overwhelming majority of respondents in a recent survey rejecting the notion. Ahead of Meghan's 40th birthday on Wednesday, 80% of Americans say she should not run for office, while 75% of Britons similarly reject a political career change, as per Express.co.

The findings came from exclusive surveys done in the US and the UK for the Sunday Express, which asked: "Should the Duchess of Sussex get into US politics?" Since meeting with California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for an hour in October, the former Suits actress has been connected to a political move.

Ronald Reagan and, more recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who both served as governors of California, have done well in US politics. There was widespread acceptance for Meghan's status as a working royal, with 60 percent of Britons and 65 percent of Americans believing that she was "a positive role model throughout her time with the Royal Family." The survey, conducted on Thursday by OnePulse, a real-time opinion platform, polled 1,000 people in both nations.

Related Article: Shakira Faces Potential Tax Fraud Trial After Judge Cites "Sufficient Evidence," Allegedly Fails to Pay $16.4 Million in Fiscal Obligations

Do Meghan Markle, Prince Harry mirror Obamas?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have sought guidance from Barack and Michelle Obama on life outside the Royal Family. They've known Prince Harry for years, and they've bonded through humanitarian and military issues, as well as his inspiring Invictus Games for injured military people and veterans.

Per Daily Mail, Meghan is an excellent fan of Michelle Obama, and she discreetly attended a presentation she delivered in London in 2018. So it's no surprise that Harry and Meghan looked to the Obamas for inspiration as they began their new life in America.

The Sussexes are likewise following the footsteps of the Obamas by embracing podcasts to garner attention. In 2019, the former US President and his wife struck a multimillion-dollar contract with Spotify to create content, and the Sussexes followed suit a year later.

Before coming into the Royal Family, Meghan was outspoken about her liberal political convictions. She made a little attempt to disguise her dislike for Donald Trump during her acting days in Toronto, labelling him "misogynistic."

After being liberated from the royal system last year, she once again raised her voice to get involved in politics. She urged people to vote in the November presidential election, and Prince Harry, who sat alongside her, echoed her sentiments.

Their remarks about the election being the most important in a generation were interpreted as supporting then-Democrat candidate Joe Biden. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry aren't mourning over their former life in the royal bubble and are establishing solid roots in the United States.

In March, the duo used their Oprah appearance to clear the air amid the repercussions from Megxit. They also stated in the explosive interview that they would not be silent in their post-royal lives. Given Meghan's desire to speak up about causes that matter to her, it's no surprise that royal fans have speculated whether she aspires to be a politician and may run for office in the future.

Related Article: Royal Family Members Urges Queen Elizabeth to Disown Prince Harry, Expert Claims



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A Louisiana groom reportedly shot a friend on his wedding day because he suspected the man of having an affair with his bride. After an altercation with his wife and a male passenger following their nuptials in Kenner, Louisiana, a groom who was still wearing his wedding day tuxedo shot two victims in the middle of mile-long traffic congestion on the Bonnet Carre Spillway late Saturday night.

According to The St. John's Parish Sheriff's Office, Devin Jose Jones, 30, and his bride were traveling with the victim after the wedding on Saturday night when they struck traffic on I-10 in Louisiana. Around 11 p.m., the two guys began arguing. Jones then pulled out his gun and followed his companion down the highway, shooting and injuring him in the leg, authorities said.

Bride tells officials the groom tries to kill her

Meanwhile, police said the bride flagged down an ambulance and informed the crew that her husband was attempting to kill her before barricading herself inside. The Louisiana groom then attempted to enter the ambulance by force. Jones was apprehended by police while walking. The shooter's charges were still pending on Sunday.

A bystander was also injured in the hand after a bullet struck their vehicle's rear glass. The patients were flown to University Medical Center in New Orleans and are expected to recover. Authorities stated that the inquiry is still underway, as per NY Post.

Sheriff Mike Tregre of St. John Parish announced the arrest early Sunday morning. Jones, according to Tregre, had just returned to the Alexandria area after his wedding in Kenner. He was driving his new bride and a guy buddy in a vehicle. Due to a car accident, the three were trapped in traffic on I-10.

Jones began accusing his new wife of having an affair with his friend, according to Tregre. Per Fox 8 via MSN, Jones then exited the vehicle and shot his male companion, as well as another automobile stopped in traffic.

Witnesses rushed to social media while trapped in traffic last night to share their first-hand accounts of the happenings. The guy and a lady accompanying him seemed to be dressed in a tuxedo and a bridal gown, according to Cheri Faucheux.



Read Also: Missing Woman's Burned Body Discovered in a Dumpster After Canadian Authorities Mistake Corpse for a Mannequin

Groom was arrested, faces charges on his wedding night

The Department of Transportation said last night at 1 a.m. that I-10 westbound was blocked due to the incident. Witnesses said the event happened around mile marker 211 when traffic stalled due to congestion after 11:00 p.m.

On his way home from the Monster Jam event at the Caesars Superdome, an off-duty SJSO officer received the call on his radio and quickly exited his car to assist.

Sheriff Tregre stated that the cop, tasked to apprehend the suspect whose identity has not been disclosed, was the primary officer. Jones was arrested and faced the following charges:

attempted second degree murder

two counts of aggravated criminal damage to property

aggravated second degree battery

illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities

The victims were flown to University Medical Center in New Orleans, where their names are yet undisclosed. The intended victim is still in the hospital, but the Lafayette guy has been released, as per WGNO.

I-10 West was shut down for more than four hours, with traffic clogging up to three miles long. The Louisiana State Police Troop B assisted the St. John Parish Sheriff's Office in controlling traffic and the collision scene.

Related Article: Suspect Admits He Beheaded Minnesota Woman As She Tries to Break Up With Him; Girlfriend Had Heartbreaking Letter



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The Taliban group is continuing its advances in Afghanistan, moving forward and taking over some of the region's largest cities, attacking busy transit hubs and placing themselves deeper into the front lines for the first time in nearly two decades after they were overthrown.

On Saturday, Taliban fighters allegedly launched rockets targeting airports in Kandahar and Herta, two of Afghanistan's largest cities and busiest economic centers. Officials reported that the devastating assaults disrupted commercial travel in the areas as Herat continued to allow flights in and out of the area.

Advancing in Afghanistan

Massoud Ahmad Pashtun, the chief of Kandahar airport, said he heard a large explosion shortly before the room he was in started shaking. The official said that three rockets landed seconds after each other and caused damage to one of the runways of the airport.

The recent attacks may become a potential turning point for the conflict within Afghanistan. The Taliban previously confined their attacks in rural areas or smaller cities that were contested. Millions of civilians are at risk in attacks similar to the ones conducted on Kandahar and Herat, the Washington Post reported.

Read Also: Eviction Moratorium Expires in the US; How Did Other Countries Handle The Process?

Authorities initially reported that the rockets came from the eastern side of the city, where many Taliban forces have made their advances. The deteriorating security situation in the region has caused Pashtun to fear potential attacks in the coming days. American officials also opted to remove an antimissile system that protected the area within the airport during the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Kandahar.

Afghan officials said their forces were quickly gaining control of strategic buildings in the western areas around Herat city. Authorities have warned residents to stay within their homes to avoid the risk of getting caught in crossfires. The Taliban has captured more than half of all Afghan territory in recent weeks, including border crossings with Iran and Pakistan, NBC News reported.

Control of Areas in the Country

While the Taliban controls the majority of the Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, the Afghan military, has bolstered its forces in the city on Saturday, including special forces. The army also launched airstrikes against Taliban positions.

The area has strategic routes in all directions, including a highway lodged between Kandahar and Herat. The region is also connected to important agricultural areas to the south of the city. Since 2001, the Taliban has not occupied any part of the capital after they were overthrown.

Government officials fear the loss of Lashkar Gah to the Taliban group, which would mark the first of 34 provincial capitals to be taken by the insurrection group. Taliban forces have surrounded many other areas as they also have control over several major highways across the war-torn country.

One Lashkar Gah journalist reported that the Taliban had control over the ninth district as they continued to fight Afghan forces in the first and seventh districts. The Afghan military currently only has control over one district.

Late Saturday, the 215 Corps tweeted that 51 Taliban members were killed; and 40 others were wounded during an encounter on the outskirts of the city. The incident came as heavy fighting between the two groups continued to escalate, CNN reported.



Related Article: At Least 3 Dead, Dozens Injured in Bloody Mass Shooting in New York

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South Korea said on Monday that no decision has been made about military drills with the US but that they should not cause tension after North Korea advised the South not to perform the exercises amid signs of warming ties.

South Korea and the United States hold military exercises regularly, primarily in the spring and summer although North Korea has long denounced them as a war drill. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the actual date, scope, and other elements of the exercises have yet to be established and are problems that must be resolved by South Korean and US officials.

South Korea urges improvement of ties with North

Boo Seung-Chan, a spokesman for the South Korean government, said that Seoul and Washington are looking into the present condition of the pandemic, diplomatic measures to restrict North Korea's nuclear goals, and military readiness between the two countries. Seoul sees the restoration of communication lines as a beginning point for resuming long-suspended contacts between the Koreas, according to Lee Jong-Joo, a spokesperson for the Unification Ministry.

She stated that Seoul will work diligently to resume negotiations with North Korea but is not in a hurry. After North Korea approached South Korea and the United States in 2018 for talks on its nuclear program, inter-Korean relations blossomed.

After its more significant nuclear negotiations with the United States failed in 2019, North Korea severed relations with South Korea. The two Koreas reconnected phone and fax connections last Tuesday after a 13-month break, increasing optimism for better ties between the separated Koreas.

However, other experts believe North Korea is just trying to use South Korea to persuade the US to make concessions before and when the stalled nuclear talks between the two countries start, ABC News reported.

Kim Yo-Jong's statement appears to be directed solely at South Korea, lending credence to the theory that North Korea's decision to reopen communication lines aims to pressure Seoul to persuade Washington to make concessions while nuclear diplomacy remains stalled.

Regular drills between Seoul and Washington have long been a source of hostility on the Korean peninsula. North Korea accused Seoul of staging an invasion and reacting with missile launches. Both South Korea and the United States have said that their exercises are defensive in nature.

Read Also: Israel Blames Iran for Alleged Tanker Attack in Arabian Sea That Killed Briton, Romanian

US-South Korea's military drills

South Korea and the United States have postponed or scaled back several of their drills in recent years to assist diplomatic efforts to address the North Korean nuclear problem or due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked about the prospects for next month's summer drills, Boo Seung-Chan, a spokesperson for South Korea's defense ministry, said at a briefing Thursday that Seoul and Washington were considering factors such as the pandemic's current status, efforts to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and their combined military readiness.

The US-led diplomatic effort to persuade North Korea to relinquish its nuclear program in exchange for economic and political benefits has stalled since a second summit between Kim Jong-Un and then-President Donald Trump collapsed in early 2019 due to disagreements over sanctions, as per The Independent.

South Korea's administration, under President Moon Jae-in, previously shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to organize the first meeting between Trump and Kim.

On the other hand, North Korea reintroduced harsh rhetoric towards South Korea, urging it not to intervene in its relations with the US. Pyongyang also shut down communication connections with Seoul and demolished an empty South Korean-built liaison office on its territory in June of last year.

According to some experts, Pyongyang blamed Seoul for the failure of the second Kim-Trump summit. It was unhappy with Seoul's unwillingness to break free from Washington and reinvigorate delayed cooperative economic projects stifled by sanctions. Following the reopening of communication lines between the two Koreas on Tuesday, speculation of larger reconciliation measures such as another meeting between Kim Jong Un and Moon swiftly circulated throughout South Korea.

Related Article: Russia, China Team Up for Military Force Training Against Terror, Pose Daily Threat With Lasers and Missiles in Space



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New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the issue of immigration raids that were conducted in the country in the 1970s which disproportionately targeted Pacific Islanders instead of UK, Australia, and South African overstayers.

The raids, known as the Dawn Raids, targeted people who overstayed their visas in the country, forcing them to go back home to their countries of origin. In a recent statement, Ardern issued a "formal and unreserved apology."

Immigration Raids

The apology came as the raids disproportionately targeted Pacific Islanders despite the majority of people who overstayed their visas coming from other nations. Ardern noted many Pacific Islander communities in New Zealand still suffered and carried the scars of those years. The prime minister said she hoped her apology would serve as closure for affected families.

Ardern delivered her speech during an event attended by a gathering of affected families, Pacific Island dignitaries, and government officials from Auckland. Princess Mele Sui'ilikutapu of Tonga reportedly accepted the prime minister's apology and the government's address of the "inhumane and unjust" treatment of her people. The royalty said Ardern's apology was a "dawn for my community," BBC reported.

The New Zealand government during the 1970s launched the Dawn Raids that operated in early mornings to enter the homes and workplaces of people who overstayed their visas at the time. After the end of World War II, the country welcomed thousands of migrants from Pacific Islands after a boom in the economy, causing a large demand for workers. Government officials said that by 1976 there were approximately over 50,000 Pacific Islanders in New Zealand.

Read Also: Suspect Admits He Beheaded Minnesota Woman As She Tries to Break Up With Him; Girlfriend Had Heartbreaking Letter

However, the economic crisis in the early 1970s caused a surge in unemployment rates with some politicians and members of the press opting to target migrants. In 1974, the raids began to force people back to their home countries, an effort that continued through the decade. Many religious, political, and civil groups have criticized the government's decision until it was stopped by the start of the 1980s.

"Today, I stand on behalf of the New Zealand government to offer a formal and unreserved apology to Pacific communities for the discriminatory implementation of the immigration laws of the 1970s that led to the events of the Dawn Raids," Prime Minister Ardern said during her speech, Reuters reported.

Formal Apology

Aupito William Sio, New Zealand's Minister for Pacific Peoples, was one of the victims of the Dawn Raids during his teenage years. He revealed that his memories of that day were vividly etched into his memories.

In June, Sio said that people knocked on their door in the early morning hours and flashed a light in his face. He considered the act to be a disrespect to the owner of the home while an Alsatian dog was frothing at the mouth, eagerly waiting for a chance to come in. Sio said the experience was very traumatizing.

After Ardern made her and the government's apology, Sio said it was the beginning of deeper and longer conversations. He noted that the comprehensive history of the Dawn Raids was a gift by the New Zealand official, NPR reported.



Related Article: House Eviction Moratorium: Congress Calls CDC To Leverage Authority Extending Eviction Ban

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Thousands of more Afghans who may be targeted by the Taliban because of their ties to the United States but are ineligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) will be able to resettle as refugees in the United States, according to the State Department.

Priority 2 Refugee Program

In a recently published article in CNN News, the Department of State has identified groups of particular concern as having access to the program due to their conditions and evident need for resettlement, and these groups are classified as Priority 2.

Afghans who did not satisfy the SIV program's minimum "time in service" criteria but "work or worked as workers of contractors, locally-employed personnel, interpreters/translators" for the U.S. government, U.S., or NATO troops, according to the State Department.

Additionally, those who work or have worked in Afghanistan for a US government-funded program or project supported by a US government grant or cooperative agreement, as well as those who work or have worked in Afghanistan for a US-based media organization or non-governmental organization, will be given Priority 2 designation, making them eligible for the refugee program, according to a published article in Reuters.

State Department Started Processing the Special immigration Visa

The process of filing for a Special Immigrant Visa to immigrate to the United States may take years, and the State Department has said that approximately 10,000 individuals in the SIV pipeline had just recently started the process due to the violence in Afghanistan.

As the violence in Afghanistan has increased in recent weeks, legislators, activists, and non-profit organizations have expressed worry that the Biden administration would not be able to swiftly transfer SIV candidates who assisted American soldiers and diplomats, according to a published article in Local News 8.

This designation allows thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members to permanently resettle in the United States who would otherwise be ineligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) due to lack of qualifying employment or time-in-service requirements.

First Group of Afghans Arrived in the United States

Aboard Friday, the first group of Afghan citizens who helped US and NATO coalition troops throughout America's longest war flew in from Kabul on evacuation planes. As foreign forces leave the war-torn country, the Biden administration announced the start of evacuation flights for Afghan citizens and their immediate families earlier this month, according to a published article in CNBC.

Meanwhile, more than 200 Afghan immigrants and their immediate families are aboard the first evacuation flight, which is part of the Operation Allies Refuge relocation program. Those who wanted coronavirus immunization were given the vaccine in Kabul while those who refused were given a Covid-19 test.

Senior deputy Homeland Security Advisor Russ Travers said the intelligence community, as well as the Departments of State and Homeland Security, have all done thorough security background checks on them. He also explained that after being paroled into the United States and passing a medical test as required by law, these Afghan special immigrants will be placed in cities throughout the nation with the help of the United States Refugee Admissions Program.

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A Samsung phone is a sturdy one. It holds up quite well to use and time, for several years, in fact. However, no piece of technology can last forever. No matter how well you take care of your phone, wear is inevitable and it can and will give up eventually.

Here are some major warning signs that tell you it is time to replace your old Samsung phone.

5 Signs It Is Time To Replace Your Old Samsung Phone

A well-taken care of Samsung device can last a long time but, but you need to replace it if the phone is starting to show these tell-tale signs.

5. Battery running out quickly

Your battery draining fast can usually be fixed at home without needing to have the battery or the entire unit replaced. However, it might be time to swap out your old phone if you notice that your phone is not retaining a charge like it used to, Make Use Of said.

One of the main reasons for the degradation of your battery is simply time. Chemically, the components found in the battery can deteriorate and will start holding less and less charge over time.

Android Authority also noted how batteries are put under strain the more powerful smartphones become. The more recent the version of the operating system the phone is running on, it can put your phone battery on over time to run all the new software bells and whistles.

Batteries hold a finite number of charge cycles and sooner or later, it cannot hold power for long and when it seems like you can't take your phone off of its charger for more than an hour or two, it might be time to get a new phone.

4. Too Slow Performance

If your start to notice that your smartphone is taking a little bit too long to respond than you remembered it to, you're not imaginning it. Going back to how an old phone can run on a more recent version of OS, running the newer OS can put greater demands on your phone's resources ilke the RAM and CPU usage, Make Us Of said.

Performance decay can happen to yoru phone has apps constantly become bigger and more complex, draining more of the phone's resources. It is possible your phone does not have the resources to cope with the demands, said Aundroid Authority. What then happens is you're left with a laggy phone that is too slow to use.

3. Outdated OS

This usually occurs when your hardware and firmware cannot keep up with the demands of the newer OS.

It is also worth mentioning that once a phone is outdated, security updates will be little to none, Make Us Of added. Leaving your phone more vulnerable to malware and hackers.

If you find that you are no longer receiving software updates for a long period of time, it might be time to consider getting a newer replacement.

2. New Apps Aren't Running

Apps are constantly updating to make sure they are compatible with the latest software updates, as well as just improving the app the longer it stays in the market. Even simply installing apps can be difficult with an outdated OS.

If you do manage to download newer apps or you've kept quite a few older versions of other apps, you might find that they often crash when you're running them. This might be a sign that the phone's RAM and CPU are insufficient for the apps.

1. Phone Damage

This one may be the most obvious. If your phone's hardware is broken or worn out, it is to be replaced. Even if has continued running and you can still perform all the functions of the phone, there is no twlling how long it has got left.

If it has a burn-in display, a smashed scree, or a swollen battery, these are all signs to give your old phone up and look for a newer replacement.

Though most physical components can be replaced or repaired to be good as new, the software is a bit harder to replace to keep up to date even if the hardware is still fine. Contact your phone service provider if you are eligible for an upgrade or if you are strapped for cash, opt for second hand models that are a little bit newer than the one you currently own.

Related Article: Android Malware List 2021: Top 5 Apps That Make Your Phone Vulnerable to Hacking [RESEARCH]
The Hubble Space Telescope Deep Field Week is happening, and NASA will take everyone online into a deep dive of Hubble's incredible observations over the years. Find out how to join this week-long event.

NASA Hubble Telescope's Deep Field Week

Deep Field Week will start on August 2 and end on August 6. It's a completely online event, with NASA hosting it on multiple social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using the handle @NASAHubble.

This week-long social media event is dedicated to Hubble's Deep Field images it has taken over the years.

According to NASA, deep fields are long-exposure images that "represent core samples of our universe." These images can capture back to billions of light-years, allowing scientists to observe the early universe and study how the galaxies evolve through time.

Mark your calendars! 



Hubbles #DeepFieldWeek is happening August 2-6.



Follow along on social media as we take a deep dive into some of Hubbles most iconic images and what theyve taught us about our universe  and ourselves.



Find out more here: https://t.co/RKGEJyn9E5 pic.twitter.com/EJL00pzhWh  Hubble (@NASAHubble) July 30, 2021

Hubble is able to take these long-exposure images by focusing on a dark and "relatively empty" part of the sky. These exposures can go on for several days and gather light from distant galaxies. These images of faint galaxies give "fossil" clues as to how the universe looked in the past, ESA Hubble said.

These observations and images have revealed the most distant galaxies ever observed. And because of the time it has taken for these earlier galaxies' light to reach our side of the universe, scientists are able to see some of these galaxies as they were just half a billion years after the Big Bang.

Deep field images are important in the understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies as it fundamentally shapes our perception of the universe. The Hubble Space Telescope and its deep field images will continue to play a large role in further deep space exploration.

What are siblings for! @NASAHubble captures a bickering set of galactic triplets engaging in a gravitational tug of war. This system is featured in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a list which showcases unique galaxies in the universe. Discover more: https://t.co/wIRyxyOGUQ pic.twitter.com/vC6aYetOs5  NASA (@NASA) August 1, 2021

Read Also: NASA Hubble Images: Advanced Camera Captures Heavenly Photo of Orion Nebula!

How to Join Deep Field Week

NASA is involving everyone online, offering anyone and everyone the chance to participate in Deep Field Week. NASA first advised everyone to follow @NASAHubble on their three social media platforms and to check in each day using #DeepFieldWeek. On Twitter, followers can also turn on NASA Hubble's notifications to be alerted of their tweets by push notifications.

The official @NASAHubble Instagram page will also be hosting interactive trivia games to test people's knowledge of Hubble's Deep Field images. People can also download the Deep Field images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope for free on their Flickr page.

Of course, the week-long event would be merrier with more people involved and so NASA wants people to share the excitement by posting about the event and Hubble's amazing deep field observations with the hashtag #DeepFieldWeek, tagging @NASA Hubble.

People can learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope on the official webpage. There, NASA covers the different Deep Field observations such as the deep field south, the ultra deep field, the ultra deep field-infrared, the eXtreme deep field, and the frontier field campaign.

Related Article: NASA Tokyo Olympics Photo: Astronaut Captures Stunning Tokyo Image from International Space Station
The complaint Jeff Bezos filed against the SpaceX contract with NASA officially gets dismissed. Elon Musk's Starship vehicle will push through with the Artemis program to send humans back to the moon by 2024.

In 2020, NASA selected three companies to design and develop human landing systems (HLS) for its next mission to the moon. Three amazing spacecraft designs were immediately submitted:

(Blue Origin) Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) -spacecraft designed as a three-stage lander equipped with New Glenn Rocket System and ULA Vulcan launch system.

(Dynetics) Dynetics Human Landing System (DHLS) - a single structure spacecraft with ascent and descent capabilities equipped on ULA Vulcan launch system

(SpaceX) Starship - a fully integrated lander equipped with SpaceX Super Heavy rocket

However, in April, NASA chose to award SpaceX as the sole winner to develop the next lunar lander. NASA cited that "The cost of SpaceX's bid was about half that of Dynetics, and one-fourth the amount received by Blue Origin." NASA also "praised the [SpaceX] vehicle's innovative design and future-looking technology that might also one day be used on Mars," according to Arstechnica.

This decision did not sit well with Blue Origin, which resulted with a complaint being filed to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

NASA Confirms $2.9 Billion SpaceX Contract After Jeff Bezos' Complaint

An investigation was conducted on NASA's $2.9 billion contract with SpaceX for the incoming moon landing mission. NASA emphasized that it experienced budget constraints, which resulted in only one company getting awarded.

GAO managing associate general counsel Kenneth Patton concluded that "NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award ... the evaluation of all three proposals was reasonable, and consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation, and the announcement's terms," according to The USA Tribune.

Jeff Bezos also offered a $2 billion discount to NASA as a last-minute effort to include Blue Origin in the moon mission. Unfortunately, this failed to block NASA's contract, exclusively awarding Space X and its Starship as the next lunar lander.

Read Also: International Space Station Scary Accident: Complete Details of Russian Module Misfire, Watch Undocking of Old Spacecraft

NASA Makes Jeff Bezos Sad, Elon Musk Happy

The infamous "space race" against two of the world's richest men tilted to Musk's favor.

Musk is incredibly happy with this development and immediately tweeted it online. He wrote, "Can't get it up (to orbit) lol," with an article clipping of Blue Origin's Moon Lander.

Both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have expressed their interest in space ventures and are locked in a heated competition for dominance. Aside from NASA's Artemis program, they also competed in selling out internet satellite services.

Unfortunately for Bezos, Musk got his head start on sending more than 1300 satellites in space, while Blue Origin is still stuck in its developmental phase. Musk's Starlink program is also predcited to have a $20 billion yearly cash flow prediction from analysts.

However, more competition might still come out of these two business competitors later this year.



Related Article: Amazon Stock Price Today Brings Bad News to Investors: Earnings Fall Short of Forecast, Slow Growth Coming
08/02/2021



"I Wish You Were Normal," a photograph by Madison Prince about life in the South.

by Brett Buckner

Madison Prince was in her teens when she discovered a love for art and photography.

I would stay in my room for hours into the night photographing myself with different lighting and poses, said Prince, who will graduate in the fall with a BFA in photography. I found it really expressive and a way to escape reality for a bit.

Fast forward to today, and the college senior has become internationally recognized for her art. She was recently distinguished as an up-and-coming photographer by the online photography platform, Lenscratch, which named her among its 26 to Watch List  a group of students contest jurors believe have a bright future.

Theyre artists who may be at the beginning of their photography journey, but are already working at an elevated level, creating work that is deeply meaningful  especially in a time when change is critical, said Aline Smithson, editor-in-chief of Lenscratch.

Prince was recognized by Lenscratch for on an ongoing series, Quit Squalin, that addresses the feelings of isolation and discomfort that come from growing up LGBTQ in the American South.

It is just what felt natural to me, said Prince of what inspired the photographs. The places and objects are things that I have been surrounded by my entire life. However, I have never felt like I can really connect with these things. I placed harmful cultural norms and bigoted narratives to some objects and activities that are harmless when those narratives are removed. Theres nothing wrong with owning a truck, hunting for food or enjoying a good bonfire with some Patsy Cline playing in the background. It took me this project and working through those conflicting perspectives to see that.

It is the responsibility of the artist to share their perspective with others. This, in turn, helps bring to light the type of haunting beauty that is so often overlooked by those who lack the artists unique vision.

I feel like photographers have the ability to showcase their reality, Prince said. Whether that be realistic or manipulated imagery, photographs have always been the way I've been able to manifest how I feel, combined with what I experience, in the most truthful and authentic way. I hope my photography can be something relatable for other LGBTQ+ youth in the South.

Sarah Cusimano Miles, associate professor of photography in JSUs Department of Art and Design, has worked with Prince for four years. In that time, she said she has watched her grow from a student who enjoyed photography and took interesting pictures to a mature artist who takes risks with her work and expresses complex concepts succinctly.

It is one thing to be able to take a beautiful image every once in a while, but to be able to consistently embody a meaningful concept through a cohesive body of work and verbalize that concept in an artist statement takes time, focus and patience, Miles said. Madisons series reflects pertinent issues in contemporary society. All these qualities are reasons her work was chosen for the 2021 Lenscratch 26 to Watch list. I could not be more proud of her for the commitment and energy she devoted to the development of this series.

The Lenscratch Student Prize receives submissions from all over the world and from some of the best art programs in the country. This years honorees included students from the California Institute of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Yale School of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the International Center of Photography.

For Madisons work to be recognized in this way is a tribute to the quality of students that choose to attend JSU, the level of support for the art department from the administration, and the commitment of faculty and staff to student success found throughout our campus, Miles said.

Having JSU included among so many esteemed universities highlights what Prince has known all along.

I believe JSU is a completely underrated school for the arts, Prince said. The professors truly care about their students, personally and as students. They make sure we are involved and have the resources we need to achieve our greatest potential.

View Madison Princes photography, including the Quit Squalin series, on her online portfolio.
In this file photo, the Bitcoin logo appears on the display screen of a cryptocurrency ATM, last week. AP-Yonhap



By Lee Kyung-min



Korea's cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is coming under heavy criticism over its alleged mismanagement and questionable business dealings, as evidenced by expanding police and prosecution investigations into key figures related to digital asset investments.



Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Monday that an investigation is underway into BK Medical Group Aesthetic Clinic CEO Kim Byung-gun and the exchange's de facto owner Lee Jeong-hoon, who already faces fraud charges involving more than 112 billion won ($100 million). Lee is the former chairman of Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings.



The investigation that began in mid-July is separate from an earlier fraud charge filed by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which indicted Lee without detention for defrauding Kim out of $100 million for a down payment in what later became a failed equity sale of Bithumb stakes. Kim was cleared of the charges at the time because prosecutors concluded that he was a victim of Lee's fraud scheme.



However, 14 investors filed a complaint with the policy agency, claiming that the two were in collusion to defraud them.



They say they gave Kim 718 bitcoins and 7,793 ethereum virtual coins  with a combined value of 6.92 billion won  after he said in October 2018 that he acquired Bithumb from Lee and that Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA) coins will be listed on the exchange.



The acquisition was called off in September 2019, because Kim did not pay Lee the remainder of the funds. The BXA coin listing was also called off, incurring nearly 7 billion won in investor losses.



Previously, prosecutors charged Lee for making a proposition to Kim on the joint management and equity purchase of the exchange in October 2018, based primarily on the BXA coins on Bithumb, despite his clear inability and lack of intention to do so.



Lee, they said, asked for a down payment in what he claimed was only a fraction of the profit to be generated from the BXA coin listing.



According to CoinMarketCap, one bitcoin had been traded for $39,793.80, as of Monday 3 p.m., down 6.27 percent from a day earlier and up 3.77 percent from a week earlier. One ethereum had been traded for $2,558.34, as of Monday 3:30 p.m., down 2.36 percent from a day earlier and up 10.55 percent from a week earlier.








North Korea on Monday slammed an international human rights group for criticizing China's repatriation of defectors, calling the group a "villainous human rights plot organization."







Last month, Human Rights Watch raised concerns after China sent nearly 50 North Korean refugees back to their homeland where they could face torture and imprisonment, saying that more refugees are at risk as Pyongyang has recently reopened its borders.







The North's foreign ministry lashed out at the group, accusing it of making an "anti-China human rights racket" and spreading rumors about forced repatriation.







"When it comes to 'Human Rights Watch', it is a villainous 'human rights' plot organization which, describing itself as an international human rights body, has actively engaged in the anti-China 'human rights' rackets by the successive U.S. administrations," the ministry said on its website.







The ministry also slammed the organization for slandering the "true picture" of human rights in China and spreading "fabrications" that it is violating human rights in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.







Human Rights Watch claimed that the Chinese government is currently holding at least 1,170 North Koreans in detention. (Yonhap)


Students with multicultural backgrounds attend a foreign language and culture class at an elementary school in Seoul in this file photo. Korea Times file



By Lee Hyo-jin



The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will conduct a survey of multicultural households nationwide, hoping to reflect their diversifying needs in government policies better.



The ministry announced Sunday that the triennial survey will be conducted from Aug. 2 to 31 of some 32,000 multicultural households across the country, to obtain detailed data on their economic activities, family lives, childcare situations and education.



"Through this large-scale survey, we aim to analyze precisely the current status and needs of such families," said Kim Kwon-young, a ministry official in charge of multicultural family policies.





According to data from Statistics Korea, there were 370,000 multicultural households in the country as of 2020, accounting for 1.8 percent of total households. The figure has continuously increased over the past few years, from 319,000 in 2017, to 335,000 in 2018 and 350,000 in 2019.



The number of people in multicultural families reached 1.09 million in 2020, accounting for 2.1 percent of Korea's total population.



As a result, the government plans to come up with more tailored support measures that reflect the actual needs of such families.



"The results of the survey will be used to devise support policies for multicultural families, such as a five-year plan with a policy framework which will be established in 2021," Kim added, asking for members of selected households to participate actively in the survey.



The ministry has conducted the survey every three years since 2009, in cooperation with the Korea Statistics Promotion Institute. But this year, the survey has been expanded to include the largest number of respondents ever, amid the steady increase in the number of multicultural families.



Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the triennial survey will be carried out online with additional face-to-face interviews. The results, analyzed by the Korea Women's Development Institute, will be announced in the first half of 2022, according to the ministry.



In addition, this year's survey includes questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as regarding any changes in multicultural families' economic situations, as well as any difficulties in procuring childcare or education due to the prolonged online classes, in order to analyze the impact of the pandemic on multicultural households specifically.


gettyimagesbank



By Lee Hyo-jin



Controversy is growing over whether the government should allow prescription glasses, which are categorized as a medical device in Korea and thus only available for purchase at offline optical stores run by licensed opticians, to be sold online.



Deep-eye, an eyewear startup company selling glasses frames online, recently requested the government's easing of regulations to allow online sales of prescription glasses, a measure it viewed would enhance consumer convenience and growth of the eyewear market.



The company plans to sell glasses to users of its mobile app, eliminating the need to visit an offline store.



To place an order, consumers can select frames using a virtual fitting tool, after which they should enter valid prescription data from an examination by an eye-care professional taken within six months. Other necessary information such as face shape and pupillary distance can be measured using the app.



"Unlike in Korea, ordering prescription glasses online has long been available in other countries such as the U.S. and Japan," an official at Deep-eye said.



"Using advanced technology, the data needed to make a pair of glasses can be measured accurately through the application, enabling consumers to easily purchase prescription glasses that are suitable for their eyes without visiting an optician."



The company's proposal, however, was met with fierce backlash from the opticians' association. The opticians argued that glasses must be prescribed by an eye-care professional, as wearing the wrong prescription of glasses would lead to severe eye damage. They also expressed concerns that the launch of online shops would pose a threat to the conventional eyewear industry.



The Korean Optometric Association, representing some 50,000 opticians across the country, held a rally in front of Government Complex Sejong, July 7, demanding the government nullify any plans to allow online sales of prescription glasses.



"Eyeglasses should not be treated the same as retail goods such as clothing or household items, which can be sold online easily. Poorly fitted glasses will lead to serious side effects such as amblyopia and headaches," said Kim Jong-suk, head of the association.



"This is why glasses are made by licensed opticians who have received years of education and training."



The association has uploaded several petitions on the Cheong Wa Dae website protesting the proposed online sales, and it also plans to conduct research to analyze the possible consequences of online prescription glasses on public health.



Related ministries  the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare  for their part, are trying to settle the dispute.



The ministries have decided to organize discussion sessions attended by representatives of the two parties, consumer groups and dispute resolution experts. They held the first meeting, July 9, with an aim to reach an agreement by October, and their second meeting was last week.



"Although face-to-face meetings would be more effective in resolving issues, things were moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic," an official at the finance ministry told The Korea Times.



"Through deep discussions involving relevant parties, we hope to settle the dispute and release a letter of agreement in the coming months."






Four South Koreans, who were kidnapped near the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa, have been freed, following the release of another Korean national in a separate abduction in the same region, the foreign ministry said Monday.







The four were released at 10 p.m. Sunday (Korea time), about two months after they were abducted by an apparent group of pirates. They all remain in good shape, the ministry said.







On June 29, a Korean sailor on another fishing boat was also released, after having been kidnapped near the Gulf of Guinea on May 20.







The kidnappings came as Seoul has been stepping up calls for Korean seafarers to avoid operating in the treacherous waters off West Africa, which accounts for the vast majority of maritime kidnappings worldwide.







Last year, Seoul sent a Coast Guard official to Ghana to better protect its citizens in piracy-ridden waters off West Africa, while the authorities have been intensifying their monitoring of ships to ensure citizens' safety. (Yonhap)


Serbian artist Vladislav Scepanovic's "Happy Kids" (2016) is on display at the Pohang Museum of Steel Art through Aug. 29. Courtesy of the artist and POMA



By Kwon Mee-yoo



The Serbian Embassy in Seoul joined hands with the Pohang Museum of Steel Art (POMA) in the southeastern city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, to give a glimpse of lesser-known contemporary Serbian art to Korean audiences.



The exhibition, titled "A Painter's Testimony," introduces the works of Serbian artist Vladislav Scepanovic, known for his pop art-style paintings criticizing capitalism and global hegemony. This is the first solo exhibition here for Scepanovic, who represented Serbia at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, together with Milena Dragicevic and Dragan Zdravkovic.



During an interview with POMA curator Lim Eun-min, who organized the exhibition, Scepanovic said that watching the wars and disintegration of the former Yugoslavia while studying at the Faculty of Fine Art in Cetinje (Montenegro) shaped his political attitudes toward representation in the mass media, the political dynamics of international relations and neoliberal capitalism.



"I watched the armies pass by, felt the energy of the fratricidal war, and saw the land of my childhood fall apart. Political processes, greed and international interest have replaced the places of certainty and harmony in which we lived. This encouraged me to start bearing witness to time through art in my honest way, trying to avoid the propaganda and lies that were all around us," the artist said.





Aleksandar Dordevic, right, charge d'affaires ad interim at the Embassy of Serbia in Korea, explains the country and Serbian artist Vladislav Scepanovic's works at the "A Painter's Testimony" exhibition at the Pohang Museum of Steel Art in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, May 27. Courtesy of Serbian Embassy in Seoul



Aleksandar Dordevic, charge d'affaires ad interim at the Embassy of Serbia in Korea, said that the exhibition will contribute in particular to a better understanding of Serbian modern art and the country's cultural heritage in Korea, as well as to strengthening people-to-people exchanges and overall bilateral relations between Serbia and Korea.



"Scepanovic's art bears the distinct markers of being socially and politically engaged, questioning some of the features of modern society: the ruling political and economic structures, war and conflict, capitalism and consumerism, globalization and the alienation of individuals, the media's control of society, propaganda and manipulation," Dordevic said.



"In his works, Scepanovic deals with today's world of simulation, which has the tendency to transform reality itself into an eternally controlled and manipulated spectacle. His paintings carry subversive messages aimed at deeply rooted so-called mainstream values, created by the dominant mass media. To this effect, he uses a strategy of propaganda versus propaganda, wherein he intervenes in contemporary elements like film, advertising, fashion, or any other industry that modern culture is made from, thereby contextualizing in that way (his) criticisms of the modern world's simulacra."





Installation view of "A Painter's Testimony," the solo exhibition of Serbian artist Vladislav Scepanovic, at the Pohang Museum of Steel Art in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of POMA
The U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province / Yonhap



South Korea and the United States have not yet decided when and how to conduct an annual summertime exercise, the defense ministry said Monday, after North Korea warned the drills will cloud the future of inter-Korean ties.



On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, issued a statement saying that the combined exercise could undermine efforts to improve inter-Korean relations at "such a crucial time" after the long-severed cross-border communication lines were restored last week.



Defense ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan said when and how to stage the drills have yet to be finalized, adding that they are issues to be decided by Seoul and Washington.



"South Korea and the U.S. are having close consultations taking into account related situations," Boo told a regular press briefing, citing the pandemic, a combined defense posture, the transfer of wartime operational control and denuclearization efforts as some of the factors being taken into consideration.






Ministry of Unification spokesperson Lee Jong-joo / Yonhap



South Korea will deal with the issue of joint military drills with the United States in a "wise and "flexible" manner so as to not heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the unification ministry said Monday after North Korea warned against such exercises.



On Sunday night, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that annual summertime military drills between South Korea and the U.S. will cloud inter-Korean relations and that Pyongyang will closely watch whether South Korea will go ahead with "hostile war exercises."



"The unification ministry has consistently worked in a wise and flexible manner based on the stance that South Korea-U.S. joint military drills should not be used as a chance to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula under any circumstances," Lee Jong-joo, the ministry's spokesperson, told reporters.



"Efforts will be made in that direction going forward," she added.






Leader of the People's Party, Ahn Cheol-soo, speaks during a policy conference co-organized by the party and the Korea Medical Association, held at the KMA headquarters in Seoul's Yongsan District, July 26. Joint Press Corps



By Jung Da-min



The race for the next presidential election is heating up, after former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-youl, a leading presidential hopeful, joined the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Friday. Eyes are now on whether the leader of the conservative minor opposition People's Party, Ahn Cheol-soo, also a potential presidential contender from the conservative bloc, will join the PPP.



Ahn, who ran in the 2017 election, has yet to announce his presidential bid, but is widely expected to join the race soon, either as a candidate of his own party, or a with the conservative main opposition party, if the PPP and the People's Party successfully conclude negotiations to merge.



Talks between them were boosted after the PPP's landslide victory in the April by-elections for mayors of the country's two main cities, Seoul and Busan, with the two agreeing on the need to merge the parties to form a conservative "big tent" to counter the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).



But the negotiations broke down late last month, with the parties at odds over several issues, including whether to change the name of the PPP after the merger, how to establish a platform to select a single candidate from the conservative bloc, and whether to set up a committee to deal with a bill to ban all kinds of discrimination.



The People's Party requested a change in the name of the party, an increase in the ratio of the public vote when selecting a presidential candidate, and the setting up of a committee to deal with the anti-discrimination law. These requests were turned down by the PPP.



Ahn has yet to issue a statement about the matter after the breakdown of negotiations, but PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok said Saturday the PPP will set a deadline for the merger this week.



"We have been negotiating with the People's Party for a long time and there is no reason to prolong it," Lee said on Facebook. "I am going on vacation after next week. Even if I meet Ahn after my vacation, there won't be enough time to discuss a proper merging of the parties."



People's Party spokesperson An Hye-jin criticized Lee's comments, saying he was not showing respect or sincerity in discussing the merger. "Members and supporters of the People's Party see Lee's attitude as 'gapjil,' an arrogant and authoritarian type of behavior," An said.



People's Party leader Ahn has been receiving support of around 5 percent in polls on potential presidential candidates. Although this is not very high, the PPP wants to bring Ahn in as a presidential contender who can extend its support base to include centrist voters, since he has been claiming to stand for centrist politics, according to political watchers.


Chung Sye-kyun, center, former prime minister and presidential contender of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, delivers a speech during a conversation event with a civic organization representing 15 social welfare-related organizations, including the Korea Association of Social Workers and Korea Association of Social Welfare Centers, on Yeouido in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with his secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae



By Nam Hyun-woo



President Moon Jae-in is set to take on daunting tasks this month with his term heading to the final stage, as the continued surge in the country's Delta variant cases hurt his approval rating while his efforts to improve inter-Korean relations are hitting a snag.



According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon was supposed to take a summer vacation this week but "postponed" the plan to hold meetings with his aides. Though the presidential office said the vacation was postponed, chances are high that Moon will not take it at all so as to address pending state affairs.



If Moon does not take the leave, it will be the third consecutive year that he has canceled his summer vacation. In 2020, he called off his leave due to heavy rainfall that wreaked havoc on the southwestern region of the country, and he scrapped his 2019 vacation plans due to the rising tensions with Japan after Tokyo imposed export restrictions on key industrial materials to Seoul.



Korea's President is allowed to use 21 or 22 days of leave a year, but Moon spent five out of his 21 days in 2019 and one out of 22 last year. He has not taken a single day off this year.



During a meeting with aides, Monday, Moon said he feels "heavy-hearted for the public not spending their summer vacations freely" due to COVID-19 and thanked the public and health workers for their service and cooperation in following social distancing measures.



Despite Moon's initial plan to contain the surge of Delta variant cases as quickly as possible, the country's daily COVID-19 cases have been hovering over 1,000 for weeks, with the country's total caseload surpassing 200,000 as of Sunday.



On July 12 when the government adopted the toughest Level 4 distancing measures in Seoul and surrounding cities, the President said, "Short but full measures will help our prompt return to daily lives." But the government ended up adopting Level 3 distancing measures outside the capital area, as the Delta variant spreads fast.



Moon pledged Monday that the government will spare no efforts for faster vaccination, seeking to have more than 36 million people to get at least one shot before the Chuseok holiday period, which starts Sept. 20.





In this March 2, 2019, file photo, Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP-Yonhap



The North Korea issue is also a conundrum for Moon.



Last week, the government announced that it restored communication lines with Pyongyang, with Moon and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un agreeing on the necessity to improve inter-Korean relations.



This raised hopes that the two Koreas may revive a reconciliatory mood, but the North threw a tough test for Moon on Sunday, demanding Seoul cancel the upcoming combined military exercise with the U.S.



According to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea's leader, said the annual summertime drill will "cloud" the future of the inter-Korean relations.



"I surely see the military drill, which takes place at an important turning point like this, will become an unpleasant prelude to seriously hurting the will of the leaders of the North and South seeking to take the step toward rebuilding trust again and further clouding the path lying ahead for inter-Korean relations," she said.



Over the restored communication lines, she added "I think the restoration of communication lines is nothing but physical reconnection of what had been severed," and "no more meaning than that should be attached to it."



According to sources, South Korea and the U.S. are planning to begin the second Combined Command Post Training on Aug. 16, while monitoring the country's COVID-19 situations. As the North directly demands a cancellation of the exercise, however, a number of ruling party lawmakers are raising voices for the government to postpone the drill.



Cancelling or postponing the exercise is a tough choice for Moon, because of political pressures and criticisms from the opposition bloc that the President appears to be "taking orders from the North."



In December, the National Assembly passed a bill which bans sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other material across the inter-Korean border. This was interpreted as the Moon administration's bid to engage with the North, but the conservative opposition and a number of U.S. lawmakers have been slamming this, which they say seriously damages Korean people's freedom of expression, and also because the revision was passed after Kim Yo-jong demanded Seoul ban the leaflet campaigns.





In this Aug. 8, 2007, file photo, then-presidential contenders Park Geun-hye, left, and Lee Myung-bak wait for their speeches during the primary of the Grand National Party, a predecessor to the current People Power Party, in Daejeon. Park and Lee became presidents in 2013 and 2008, respectively, and were jailed before and after the Moon Jae-in administration was launched, respectively. Korea Times file
Time to join forces to strengthen industrial competitiveness



Exports surged 29.6 percent to $55.4 billion last month, a record monthly figure since the country began compiling the data in 1956. The previous record of $55.1 billion was set in September 2017, when the semiconductor industry was enjoying a worldwide boom.



In the first seven months of the year, accumulated exports amounted to $358.7 billion, setting another record. The trade ministry attributed this year's brisk shipments to the recovery of the global economy and the high performance of the nation's 15 core products, 13 of them posting double-digit growth.



Traditional export items such as semiconductors and automobiles as well as growing industries such as bio-health products and rechargeable batteries performed well. Shipments of chips, fueled by rising global demand for servers, jumped 39.6 percent to reach $11 billion in July, surpassing $10.4 billion in July 2018. Other major winners included the petrochemical industry, which saw its exports soar nearly 60 percent to $4.7 billion, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to more production of packaging and quarantine-related products. Exports to nine major markets all grew, with those to the U.S., Europe and ASEAN countries posting their highest figures yet.



The trade ministry has painted a rosy picture for the second half of the year, citing the recovery of global trade. If the current export trend continues, a full-year export record is possible, breaking the $605.5 billion posted in 2018.



But it is too early to be optimistic, considering some hurdles facing the country, including the spread of variant strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus that could put a damper on the global economy. Also, export companies may struggle with spikes in prices of raw materials and logistics costs as well as supply chain hiccups. That imports also increased at a fast pace (38.2 percent) in July raises fears that the country could suffer a setback in its trade balance which posted a surplus for the 15th straight month in July. It's time for the government and businesses to join forces to take our industrial competitiveness to a higher level.


Korea, US should make wise decision on joint drills



The Ministry of Unification has asked for a flexible approach toward the annual joint summertime military exercises between South Korea and the United States, scheduled to start Aug. 16, in an apparent move to rekindle inter-Korean dialogue.



"We have maintained that the combined military drills should not lead to heighten military tension on the Korean Peninsula under any circumstances," ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said during a regular press briefing Monday. "We have been making efforts to deal with the matter (of the joint exercises) wisely and flexibly and will continue such endeavors in the future."



Her statement came after a ranking ministry official cited the need to postpone the drills during a press meeting Friday. The ministry made clear its position on the matter in order to restart the stalled inter-Korean dialogue after the two Koreas restored their severed communication hotlines last week.



It has, however, triggered a dispute over the possible weakening of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Yet, the prospective postponement of the exercises is unlikely to undermine the country's defense posture seriously in light of the Korea-U.S. combined forces' strong capabilities, though the exercises are essential in enhancing military preparedness. Rather, a flexible approach is necessary given the persistent COVID-19 pandemic.



The Ministry of National Defense said Monday that Seoul and Washington were still discussing the matter. The U.S. Department of Defense also said a mutually agreed-upon decision will be made. The Moon Jae-in administration seems to prefer postponing or scaling back the joint drills in order to pursue the President's ambition of resuming his inter-Korean peace process. But Moon still faces a dilemma because the possible postponement or scaling-down of the joint exercises may foil his bid to take over wartime operational control of South Korea's armed forces from the U.S. by the end of his term.



It is inappropriate to push for the joint drills as planned, given the persevering fourth wave of COVID-19 infections spreading here. Conducting large-scale military exercises is feared to incite mass infections. In addition, the computer-simulated Combined Command Post Training (CCPT), set to take place indoors, is more vulnerable to mass infections than outdoor training.



The U.S. is allegedly opting for the exercise to be held as planned; so the two countries should have closer consultations on how to scale down the drills and shorten their duration. President Moon already expressed negative views on the joint exercises in May during a meeting with political party leaders, saying, "I believe massive drills are unfeasible because of the coronavirus pandemic." Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might have also discussed the matter in the letters they exchanged from April.



A flexible approach is needed for South and North Korea to maintain a conciliatory mood created after the cross-border communication hotlines were reconnected July 27. Most of all, the two allies should put top priority on protecting their troops from COVID-19, as they rearranged the joint exercises scheduled for the first half of last year when the pandemic broke out.


By Deauwand Myers





My maternal grandmother had a sharp wit. At age eight, we were watching a nature program on PBS, where I learned that ants are so complex, they actually display altruism, have universal healthcare and can even sense when it will rain. I exclaimed to her, "I didn't know that." She replied, "What you don't know could make a world."



That stuck with me for the rest of my life. Don't worry. The solution to ignorance is fairly simple. Read. Unfortunately, willful ignorance has become all the rage, particularly in America, brought on by President George W. Bush, who famously derided his Democratic opponent, U.S. Senator (and later Secretary of State under President Obama) John Kerry, for speaking fluent French. The caricature: the left are latte drinking, book-reading, effeminate, weak Americans overburdened with knowledge.



This morphed into deriding people being "woke." In the American vernacular, this is someone educated on the sociopolitical, socioeconomic and historical parameters of the American experience, particularly on the intersectionality of race, class, sexuality and gender. For the American right, being woke is problematic.



Bereft of any real policy objectives, or morality for that matter, Republicans and conservatives have set their focus on classic culture war issues. Trans youth and sports, restricting voting access and of course and always, the biggest hit, race and white supremacy.



We can thank failed Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater for this unvarnished embrace of white angst and racism, and the party has inexorably spiraled into a cadre for low knowledge, poor working white people and their ought-to-know-better wealthy, white counterparts.



The lack of basic civics knowledge and intellectual curiosity is not limited to the American Right, however. Many anti-vaccination advocates are progressives.



This absence of knowledge has dire implications. Conspiracy theories with no empirical evidence flourish in America. Black people aren't immune. I've had to inform Black people, usually men, on their assertions when it comes to Obama and the Biden-Harris administration.



The abbreviated argument is that President Obama, and now President Biden and Vice President Harris, haven't done enough for the African American community, or worse, they've done nothing for said community.



Here are some receipts.



The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) disproportionately affected the Black community in gaining broader access to healthcare, particularly preventative healthcare. Prison sentencing was decreased and police consent decrees were increased under Obama. Federal contracts were structured so that smaller firms, owned and operated by people of color, were eligible to bid and be awarded said contracts. The Biden-Harris administration has continued that policy, one that was discontinued under Trump.



The list of policies and legislation the Biden-Harris administration has implemented that have a positive and disproportionate impact on the lives of Black people is long, but in just over four months, here are a few highlights:



Executive actions were implemented on climate change (of which environmental justice is a part, wherein far too often, communities of color have waste facilities, power plants and poor water quality located near/in said communities); studying maternal birth death rates and infant mortality rates amongst Black women and publishing solutions to it and medical racism in general; and a fully funded taskforce in the Justice Department to investigate hate crimes, white domestic terrorism, employment discrimination and police misconduct.



The COVID relief package passed in Congress will lift nearly half of poor children out of poverty, of which Black children are over-represented. It also earmarked $3 billion to $5 billion in grants/forgivable loans towards farmers of color, most of whom are Black and brown people. Black and brown farmers have been historically underserved by the Agriculture Department in the generous, forgivable loan and direct cash injections their white counterparts enjoy.



The U.S. military, under the first Black defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, is implementing policies to root out white supremacy and better adjudicate sexual misconduct within the ranks, as well as promoting a more diverse coterie of senior, commissioned officers throughout the armed forces. Soon, Black women will be able to wear their natural hair in all branches of the military.



Judges who care about civil and voting rights are being appointed to the federal judiciary. Juneteenth was made a national holiday, which, at the very least, will spark more conversation about America's violent, genocidal history of Indigenous land theft and chattel slavery.



By law and Supreme Court precedence, there will never be a bill entitled "Black People Get Your Money Act." Except for Native Americans, no bill passed by Congress can be race-specific in its title. This doesn't mean that policies and legislation aren't targeted towards Black people and other people of color.



People aren't smart because of some magical gift (though there are genetic traits that certainly increase the likelihood of heightened intelligence). But I know all the aforementioned information for a simple reason: I read. Again, I read. And I see knowledge as a virtue.





Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.


A medical worker in a booth takes a nasal sample from a man during coronavirus testing at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, last week. AP-Yonhap



Korean politicians asking US firm for primary supply in Korea



By Kim Yoo-chul



A schedule delay in the shipment of Moderna's vaccine to Korea has put Samsung Biologics in a tricky situation as the top Korean supplier to the U.S. firm is coming under growing pressure to supply vaccines produced here to the Korean public.



On Monday, politicians from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said "working-level discussions" were currently underway with Moderna representatives to allow its vaccines produced at Samsung Biologics' domestic manufacturing facilities to be used here.



"As far as I know, government officials handling vaccine-related issues contacted Moderna. The core issue is how the country can get more Moderna vaccines right after their production starts at Samsung's manufacturing facilities here," a senior government official told The Korea Times.



Regarding the discussions, the official said chances were "quite high" for the country to have more Moderna doses once Samsung starts output of the vaccines from its contract manufacturing organization (CMD) plants.



"The government is hoping to have a supply of Moderna vaccines as quickly as possible because of the domestic situation. It doesn't want to renew a contract it signed earlier with Moderna," the official said.



The administration is now desperate in addressing vaccine shortages that could hamper its goal of reaching herd immunity by November.





A medical worker prepares a shot of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign at Saint Damien Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, last week. AP-Yonhap
This Jan. 2, 2016 file photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa. The strike on the Mercer Street marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal. AP-Yonhap



The United States and the United Kingdom joined Israel on Sunday in alleging Iran carried out a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.



Calling it a ''unlawful and callous attack,'' British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country and its allies planned a coordinated response over the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken soon followed, saying there was ''no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.''



The strike on the Mercer Street marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal.



While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called ''suicide'' drones in attacks previously, which crash into targets and detonate their explosive payloads. However, Israel, the U.K. and the responding U.S. Navy have yet to show physical evidence from the strike or offer intelligence information on why they blame Tehran.





Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, center, attends a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Aug. 1. AP-Yonhap




Pfizer and Moderna have raised the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.







The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15) against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen.







The price of a Moderna vaccine was $25.50 a dose, the contracts show, up from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 because the order had grown, the report said, citing one official close to the matter.







Pfizer declined to comment on the contract with the European Commission, citing confidentiality. "Beyond the redacted contract(s) published by the EC, the content remains confidential and so we won't be commenting," the company said.







Moderna was not immediately available for comment to Reuters.







The European Commission said on Tuesday that the EU is on course to hit a target of fully vaccinating at least 70 percent of the adult population by the end of the summer.







In May, the EU said it expects to have received more than a billion doses of vaccines by the end of September from four drugmakers. (Reuters)


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(s): Anchorage, AK Salary: DOE FLSA: Exempt Employment Status: Full-time Summary: The Social Services Director (SSD) is under the immediate supervision of the Community & Family Services Director and is a professional level, exempt, full-time position. The SSD will provide direction and oversight of the Community & Family Services Division staff as assigned and may assume Community & Family Service Division Director functions during periods of extended absence by the Community & Family Service Division Director. The SSD will promote Chugachmiut employee values and provide leadership and guidance to develop, manage and implement all functions as assigned by the supervisor. Assignments will be performed with considerable independence and require application of initiative and creativity. The SSD ensures communications, both written and verbal; meet the highest standards of confidentiality, accuracy and professionalism. Qualifications: Graduate degree in public health administration, business administration, behavioral health or related field and at least five years of progressively responsible experience related to the work of the position. A combination of work experience and education which would conclusively demonstrate the ability to do the work may be substituted

Evidence of significant successful program management. Demonstrated experience in public health program planning, development, implementation and execution

Experience in Grant writing and administration preferred Work Hours: Hours worked are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with an hour for lunch. This a full-time 37.5 hours per week and 1950 hours a year position. Chugachmiut maintains a non-smoking and drug & alcohol free work environment. There may be occasional travel to the villages of the region, must be willing and able to travel in light aircraft. Benefits: Full benefits paid: health, Rx, dental, paid half dependent coverage, short and long term disability, life, 12 paid holidays. Personal leave: 1st -3rd years 20 days per year, 4th year 26 days per year, 5th year 29.5 days per year. Retirement: 401(a) Pension Plan 8% by employer & 403 (b) TDA & Roth contributions, a subsidized gym membership, among many other benefits. Moving Expenses: Up to $1,800.00 for legitimate moving expenses per IRS regulations, for additional information on moving expenses please visit the following: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p521.pdf E-Verify: Chugachmiut participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with the Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the United States once a candidate is hired. If E-Verify cannot confirm authorization to work, written instructions will be provided and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security or Social Security Administration for resolution. This description is intended to describe the essential job functions and the essential requirements for the performance of this job. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and requirements of a person so classified. Other functions may be assigned and management may, with or without notice, add or change the duties at any time. Employees are employed at will.

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POSITION PURPOSE Responsible to administer, advise, manage/coordinate and oversee the financial management programs and activities of the Agencys owned and/or managed properties, non-profit, and LLCs including day-to-day financial operations; asset and debt management; directing, maintaining, and controlling an accounting system that properly reflects the financial position of FWBHA; interpreting, communicating and administering Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), IRS, HUD standards and regulatory requirements, and FWBHA policies and procedures; and supervising accounting staff.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND BASIC DUTIES Assumes responsibility to administer, advise, manage, coordinate, and oversee the financial management programs and activities of the Agencys owned and/or managed properties, non-profit, and LLCs. Ensures all accounting activities, day-to-day financial operations, and asset and debt management are in accordance with established legal, regulatory (GAAP, GASP, IRS, HUD), and FWBHA policies and procedures.

Oversees and prepares entries and adjustments to FWBHA general ledger, financial records, files, and statements.

Ensures internal and external financial transactions are accurately and timely recorded and reported.

Maintains accurate fiscal records for annual audits, eliminating any findings or questionable cost.

Maintains accurate fiscal records for annual audits, eliminating any findings or questionable cost. Prepares and electronically submits all required periodic, end of year and special reports and supporting documentation while ensuring accuracy and timeliness.

Assists department/program managers with financial and variance analyses and budget preparation. Analyzes and calculates operating subsidy and revisions. Analyzes Units Months Leased (UML) and HUD-approved exempt vacancies. Prepares annual budgets and revisions. Monitors costs and expenses.

Reconciles and balances financial statements and accounting records and ledgers. Analyzes revenue and expenditures. Researches and reviews financial activities, compiles findings and recommendations for managerial decision-making.

Performs capital funds accounting and budgeting. Processes payment vouchers via eLOCCS and reconcile disburse funds and expenditures.

Invests surplus funds as needed.

Analyzes financial data submission and management data submission at fiscal year-end prior to electronic submission to HUD.

Analyzes financial data submission and management data submission at fiscal year-end prior to electronic submission to HUD. Administer employee benefit program-retirement, life insurance, health insurance, workers compensation, etc.-including annual review and procurement. Assumes responsibility for directing, maintaining, and controlling an accounting system that properly reflects the financial position of FWBHA, and managed properties and for the effective performance of all finance functions. Ensures accounting functions and duties are accurately and promptly completed. Ensures accounting errors and discrepancies are researched and resolved. Prepares journal entries and balances work in more complicated accounting areas.

Ensures accuracy of general ledger accounts and associated components for all programs, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, Capital Fund, Grants, non-HUD programs, non-profit, and LLCs.

Oversees the preparation of regulatory and governmental reports. Reviews financial information needed to ensure an accurate statement of FWBHA, its managed properties, non-profit, and LLCs financial position to various regulatory agencies.

Oversees fixed asset portfolios. Prepares depreciation schedules.

Ensures financial records agree with all approved budgets and comply with financial reporting requirements, audit review, and information technology templates that exist in the software.

Analyzes and monitors financial and management categories for the purpose of achieving maximum PHAS scoring. Maintains expert knowledge of all financial aspects of Public Housing Authority programs, including the non- profit and LLCs. Maintains detailed knowledge and expertise of Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs, bond financing, capital funds, non-HUD programs, non-profit, and LLCs.

Effectively interprets, communicates, and administers HUD programs, policies, and procedures as they relate to the financial operation of the Agency and its managed properties.

Researches and reviews federal publications and websites as well as industry publications as they relate to Agency financial requirements.

Maintains thorough knowledge of developments in the finance and accounting field and of changing governmental and legal requirements.

Ensures accounting function compliance with regulations and policies that are relevant to other Federal, State, and Local regulatory requirements, and FWBHA policies and procedures.

Effectively ensures optimal performance of the Finance Department.

Provides leadership to finance department personnel through effective objective goal setting, delegation, and communication.

Trains and directs accounting staff. Provides support and conducts meetings as needed.

Completes performance appraisals for self and assigned staff on time. Implements and/or adheres to corrective actions or performance improvement plans as needed. Assumes responsibility for establishing and maintaining effective communication, coordination, and working relations with FWBHA personnel and management, auditors, HUD, and other external business and accounting professionals. Primary point of contact with banks, investment firms, insurance companies, and auditors.

Provides highly complex administrative support, interpretation, and training on financial matters, physical needs assessment, Agency 5-Year Plan, and budget preparation to Executive Director, senior management and programs.

Responds to financial and budget-related questions promptly and courteously.

Ensures management is appropriately informed of area activities and of any significant problems.

Completes related reports accurately and timely. Completes special and/or ongoing projects as assigned.

Attends meetings and training as needed. Assumes responsibility for related duties as required or assigned. Monitors departmental policies and procedures and makes recommendations for revisions.

Attends seminars and professional conferences, as needed and approved.

Ensures work area is clean, secure, and well maintained.

Adheres to FWBHA policies and procedures. Complies with Executive Directors expectations of senior management.

Other duties or tasks as may be assigned by the Executive Director or Deputy Director. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS Financial and accounting general ledger, statements, records, assessments, reports, uploads, and draws are accurate and completed on time.

Maintains no findings or questionable cost audits.

Maintains a high performer financial category PHAS rating for owned and managed agencies.

Assets are safeguarded and preserved. Investments are appropriately and timely handled.

Good communication, coordination, and effective working relations exist with internal and external customers. Assistance is provided as needed.

Department personnel are effective and efficient. Performance and/or self-evaluations are completed on time. CORE COMPETENCIES ACCOUNTABILITY Holds self, and others if applicable, accountable for measurable high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results. Determines objectives, sets priorities, and delegates work. Accepts responsibility for mistakes. Complies with established control systems and rules. DECISION MAKING Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals, causes change. Exercises significant discretion and independent judgment in departmental responsibilities. Interprets specific policies, regulations, laws, and theories, and makes recommendations to senior management of action to be taken. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences. COMMUNICATION SKILLS Expresses information to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information; makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal clues, and responds appropriately. Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience. PLANNING AND EVALUATING Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes. PROBLEM SOLVING Identifies and analyzes problems; weighs relevance and accuracy of information; generates and evaluates alternative solutions; makes recommendations. Anticipates and takes steps to prevent counter-productive confrontations. Manages and resolves conflicts and disagreements in a constructive manner. STRATEGIC THINKING Formulates objectives and priorities, and implements plans consistent with the long-term interests of the agency in a local, state, regional, and national environment. Capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks. QUALIFICATIONS EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: (1) Bachelors degree in finance or business administration, or a related field and five to seven years of progressively responsible HUD Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs and non-profit financial management experience in the development, planning, funding, recording journal entries, bank reconciliation, preparing financial statements; and experience in analyzing transactions, preparing adjustments to journal entries, analyses and audit schedules, of which a minimum of three years must have been in a supervisory capacity or (2) some equivalent combination of education and experience. REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE: Thorough knowledge of the principals, policies, rules, regulations, and procedures governing

Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher including HUD regulations, GAAP and GASB standards, Capital Fund, non-HUD programs, and non-profit instrumentalities, and LLCs.

Through knowledge of HUDs on-line Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) to include, but not limited to: eLOCCS, FDS, VMS, Two year tool, IMS/PIC, EIV, EPIC, SPEARS.

Thorough knowledge of Housing Software.

Excellent knowledge of and use of Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Excel spreadsheets, formulas, and cells.

Knowledge of the principals of real estate management and development, affiliated non- profits, and related activities LIHTC and RAD is preferred. SKILLS/ABILITIES: Strong leadership and managerial skills.

Strong interpersonal skills.

Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.

Ability to comprehend and execute complex governmental regulations. Solid planning, organizational, and analytical abilities.

Demonstrated ability to design, recommend, and implement modifications of accounting methods, procedures, forms, and records. PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND REQUIREMENTS OF THIS POSITION FINGER DEXTERITY: Using primarily just the fingers to make small movements such as typing, picking up small

objects, or pinching fingers together.

TALKING: Especially where one must frequently convey detailed or important instructions or ideas accurately, loudly, or quickly. AVERAGE HEARING: Able to hear average or normal conversations and receive ordinary information. AVERAGE VISUAL ABILITIES: Average, ordinary visual acuity necessary to prepare or inspect documents or products, or

operate machinery. PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Sedentary work; sitting most of the time. Exerts up to 10 lbs. of force occasionally. (Almost

all office jobs.)

WORKING CONDITIONS NONE: No hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions. (Such as in a typical office.)

MENTAL ACTIVITIES AND REQUIREMENTS OF THIS POSITION REASONING ABILITY: Highly Complex - Ability to apply logical or scientific thinking to a wide range of

intellectual and practical problems. Able to deal with very difficult concepts and complex variables. Ability to analyze data and prepare assessments. MATHEMATICS ABILITY: Simple Algebra - Ability to compute discount, interest, profit, and loss; commission markup

and selling price; and ratio, proportion, and percentage. Able to perform very simple algebra. LANGUAGE ABILITY: Highly Complex - Ability to read and interpret regulations, abstracts, financial reports, and

legal documents.

Ability to prepare documents, budgets, assessments, reports, and recommendations. Ability to prepare and make comprehensive presentations, participate in formal debate, communicate extemporaneously, and communicate professionally before the Board of Commissioners, HUD, auditors, bankers, and other entities. Click to apply today!

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Schoharie Central School District, a school district of approximately 900 students located in the Village of Schoharie in the county seat and surrounding 8 towns, is recruiting a qualified School Business Administrator who would be able to start on or about Oct. 1, 2021. Schoharie CSD is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to providing excellence in education. Schoharie CSD is prepared to offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience and a comprehensive fringe benefit package to the successful candidate. Candidates are to submit a cover letter, resume, supporting credentials, and at least three letters of reference to www.olasjobs.org by August 15, 2021. SCHOOL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR SCOPE OF POSITION: The School Business Administrator (SBA) is a key member of the administration team representing the Superintendent of Schools and Board of Education in the management of district fiscal matters. This is a 12-month position. The SBA sets a tone of confidence in the financial dealings of the school district. The SBA also has a direct positive impact on the entire staff of the district. The SBA maintains a positive atmosphere in the District Office while balancing the resources of the community with the school programs. Budget Development  The SBA is an active member of the team that develops the school budget (Board of Education, Superintendent, and SBA). The SBA is responsible for making public presentations. The SBA is aware of factors that affect the balance between community resources and the educational program. The SBA acts as a school finance advisor who seeks to achieve educational goals within the budget limitations. Budget Management  The SBA is to be diligent in managing and monitoring the proposed expenditure of monies to ensure sufficient appropriations within the designated line items of the adopted school budget. Management of Reserve Funds  The SBA has primary responsibility for the management of reserve funds to ensure that the district has the on-going fiscal capacity to sustain the instructional programs and operations. Staff Development  The SBA establishes a yearly staff development plan for Business Office staff, as well as the Transportation Department, Food Service Department and Facilities Department employees, and their Supervisors. Payroll Management  system for district employees. Management of Business Office  The SBA is directly responsible for the staff of the Business Office and works in cooperation with building administrators in establishing consistent policies and working conditions for building level clerical employees and other instructional support employees. Cash Flow Management  The SBA is responsible for monthly cash flow statements to be submitted to the Board of Education and Superintendent. Collective Bargaining  The SBA is a member of the Districts collective bargaining team and participates to the extent the Superintendent deems appropriate, especially regarding cost estimates of bargaining unit proposals and salary increase impacts. Investments  The SBA, in conjunction with the Treasurer, maintains the investments of the district according to the policy of the Board of Education. Grant Writing  The SBA seeks grants to aid the programs of the district and is directly responsible for grants management as determined by the Superintendent. The SBA is responsible for overseeing the expenditures of all district grant funds. Accounting  The SBA supervises the financial records and accounting procedures necessary to provide school officials and administrators with financial reports as the basis for school systems operation, for the formulation of proper policies and decisions, and for fiscal reporting to the appropriate authorities. Information  The SBA is responsible for maintaining information for public dissemination that pertains to the financial matters of the school district. Auditing  The SBA provides for an adequate system of auditing procedures for all funds and bank accounts and arranges for a yearly audit by an independent auditor. The SBA also attends Audit Committee meetings and conducts various activities that are requested by the committee. Records Management  The SBA supervises the adequate maintaining and storage of official records of the school system and their disposal according to policy and regulation. This includes the management of the assets inventory system. Financial Reporting  The SBA establishes and supervises the financial records and accounting procedures necessary to provide school officials and administrators with accounting financial reports as the basis for system operations, for the formulation of proper policies and decisions, and for proper oversight. The SBA shall provide proper safeguards for the custody of public funds and all student funds and makes possible the complete reporting of the stewardship of all monies. Purchasing/Supply Management  The SBA is responsible for the purchasing of supplies, equipment, personnel services and facilities according to Board Policy. The SBA is also responsible for the preparation of specifications and standards. Operations and Maintenance  The SBA is responsible for the general operation and maintenance of the physical plant as the direct supervisor of the Facilities Director. Transportation  The SBA directly supervises the Transportation Director and thus the operations of the Transportation Department. The SBA is responsible for the timely replacement of buses and the securing of materials and supplies to service the transportation fleet. The Transportation Department is to run in a cost effective manner stressing safety for students and staff. Food Services  The SBA directly supervises the Food Service Director and thus the operations of the Food Service Program. The SBA provides measures by which to operate the program in a cost effective way while providing for proper nutrition for the students. Educational Facilities Planning  The SBO works closely with other administrators, teachers, community residents and the Board of Education in planning school facilities renovation projects and managing school property issues. The SBA works with financial advisors and attorneys to effect suitable financing with bidders to secure favorable borrowing rates and debt payment schedules, and with contractors to construct and/or maintain building facilities that are conducive to enhanced student learning and improved educational results. Insurance/Risk Management  The SBA secures adequate and cost effective insurance coverage against losses such as fire, liability, theft, vandalism and other risks. The SBA works in conjunction with the districts Risk Management Coordinator to meet all training and reporting requirements of the State and Federal governments. Human Resource Management  The SBA is responsible for the supervision of the directors of the Food Service, Transportation and Facilities departments and the Staff of the Business Office. In this capacity, the SBA is responsible for proper working conditions, employee benefits and policies for quality management in these areas. Community Relations  The SBA will be called upon to represent the District at community meetings. The SBO will prepare materials for use in working with service clubs, citizen groups, the media and other areas of community communications. The SBA provides the Superintendent, staff members, and the Board of Education with information and statistics that will aid them in providing information to the public. QUALIFICATIONS New York State School District Administrator (SDA) and/or New York State School Business Administrator (SBA) certification required. The SBA may also hold certification as a School District Business Leader (SDBL). Deadline 8/15/21 Apply via OLAS only at www.olasjobs.org

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From vaccine inequality to economic apartheid

Thanks to the containment failures of Covid-19 and the resultant new variants, coupled with vaccine inequality, global prospects are overshadowed by economic apartheid  the polarization between the West and poorer countries.



Today, sub-Saharan Africa is in the grip of a third wave, parts of Latin America continue to see high levels of new deaths, and concerns remain about the Covid-19 situation in parts of South and Southeast Asia.



In Africa, the highly infectious Delta variant of coronavirus is spreading like a wildfire. Infection numbers have soared for 1.5 months with 224,000 new cases being recorded every week. Due to the low degree of testing, detection and vaccination, real numbers are much higher than official estimates.



In the past decade, the economic prospects of Africa have been touted as the next big thing. While development is unbalanced across the region, many countries have great secular growth potential. But Delta and other variants could derail that promise.We are witnessing a disruptive shift from vaccine inequality to economic apartheid.

From Asia to UK and Delta variant



In early February, when the official narrative was that the worst is over, there were more than 110 million (confirmed, cumulative) Covid-19 cases and over 2.5 million deaths. Today, barely half a year later, the number of cases has almost doubled exceeding 200 million, while deaths have soared to 4.3 million. In both cases, real numbers could be two to three, in some cases even four times higher.



How did the international community end up in this dire status quo? The simple answer: In three phases.



Until summer 2020, the daily confirmed cases remained below 100,000 worldwide, thanks to stringent measures against COVID-19 in China and several other Asian countries. The dominant virus (Clade 19A, 19B) and its successors (20A, 20B, 20C etc.) were more manageable than contemporary variants.



If the Trump administration and the EU had abided by the WHOs warnings in January 2021 and launched aggressive containment measures, much of the global catastrophe might have been preempted. But such measures were initiated only in late spring 2020.



As the net effect, the mushrooming cases in the UK resulted in a variant (20l, Alpha V1) that proved far more transmissible by fall 2020. Prime minister Boris Johnson promised herd immunity and early exit from lockdowns. Yet, the reverse ensued. The spread of the UK variant was further reinforced by continued mismanagement in the US and Brazil. So, the daily new cases peaked at 840,000 in January.



The third phase followed in late spring, when the complacency of Modis government caused a massive spread in India, unleashing the Delta variant (21A). In May, daily new cases climaxed at almost 900,000.



In early April, Delta still accounted for less than 5% of total cases worldwide; today, that figure is almost 75% of all cases worldwide (Figure 1).

Figure 1 The great covid-19 divergence





Note. Frequencies of viral clades of SARS-CoV-2, Aug 2020-Aug 2021



Source: NextStrain; DifferenceGroup.

Vaccine inequality



By late November 2020, Canada and the US had already pre-ordered up to 8-9 doses of vaccines per person. The UK, Australia and the EU followed in the footprints with 5-6 doses per person.



In January 2021, WHO chief Dr Tedros warned that, due to the unequal COVID-19 vaccine policies, "the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world's poorest countries.



By then, 40 million vaccine doses had been given in 50 rich-income economies. By contrast, 9 out of 10 people in poor countries were set to miss out on COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, according to Oxfam.



Hence, the drastic vaccination gap between the rich and the poor around the world. The new World Economic Outlook (IMF) estimates that close to 40 percent of the population in advanced economies has been fully vaccinated, compared with less than half that number in emerging economies, mainly due to China, but only a tiny fraction in low-income countries (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The great vaccine divergence







Note. Vaccine courses (% of population)



Source: WEO, IMF, July 2021.

And things are about to get a lot more challenging. Not so long ago, the EU pledged great vaccine support to poorer economies, particularly in Africa. That was manna from heaven to the region since only 1.2 percent of the entire African population are fully vaccinated today, according to the WHO.



Yet, the realities of vaccine support have proved very different. Last week, the African Union special envoy tasked with leading efforts to procure Covid-19 vaccines for the continent blasted Europe, saying that not one dose, not one vial, has left a European factory for Africa.

Economic apartheid



Thanks in part to the UK and Delta variants, forecasts for advanced economies have been recently revised up, whereas prospects for emerging and developing economies have been marked down for 2021, particularly for emerging Asia.



Yet, the real challenge is that these changes may not precipitate just cyclical fluctuations, but longer-term secular shifts. In August 2020, a year ago, my COVID-19 report projected years of lost progress and plunging living standards in all economies. In particular, lost decades in poorest countries, increasing divisions, and famines and conflicts in fragile states.



Last February, nearly half a year ago, I warned that vaccine nationalism by developed economies and the consequent vaccine inequality between developed and developing economies was likely to reinforce the projected consequences. Vaccine access would become critical for sustained economic recovery, while splitting the world in two.



Thats now the new normal; one that even the IMF has acknowledged. Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line for the global recovery. Where the IMF and other multilateral development banks may still be too optimistic is the assumption that these initial conditions have mainly short-term consequences.



In reality, the consequent effects are likely to have longer-term impact, due to continued mismanagement and premature exits in advanced economies, vaccine inequality around the world and the resultant new variants. The recovery is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere.



Apartheid is defined as a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race, or segregation on grounds other than race. The mismanagement of the pandemic, the rise of the UK and Delta variants (and new variants to come), coupled with vaccine inequality, are resulting in economic apartheid.



Composite PMIs (purchasing managers index) reflect the divergence between developed and emerging economies. While those of the former have surged, those in the latter have retreated over the past few months. In the short run, this is likely to mean an increasingly lopsided global recovery (Figure 3).

Figure 3 The great economic divergence







Source: DBS, DifferenceGroup

One planet, two worlds



Accordingly, near-term global recovery and longer-term economic prospects are splitting. In one bloc, advanced economies will look forward to further normalization later this year, thanks to aggressive fiscal stimulus packages, increasing debt-taking and accommodative monetary policies.



In the other bloc, developing economies  many emerging economies and most low-income economies - will face resurgent infections and rising COVID death tolls; but with limited fiscal resources, and not-so-accommodative monetary policies.



After four decades of misguided neoliberal policies, inequality is record-high within the high-income West. The stakes are reflected by the US where 7.4 million people are about to face eviction as the Biden administration refused to extend the federal eviction moratorium  while boosting military allocations. Whats far worse, however, is the increasing income polarization between the prosperous West and the poorer global South.



The ongoing economic apartheid between the high-income economies and poorer countries will foster increasing global economic uncertainty, extraordinary social turmoil, political volatility and extremist radicalization  which, in turn, the new protectionism and xenophobia in the West are likely to further inflame.



The worst is yet to come.

Dr. Dan Steinbock is the founder of Difference Group and has served at the India, China and America Institute (US), Shanghai Institute for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see http://www.differencegroup.net/

 2021 Copyright Dan Steinbock - All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Dan Steinbock Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.






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Everything we had been working on for a year, we threw out the window, said Kassie Hilgert, president and CEO of ArtsQuest. There was a lot of reinvention there. We had to unwind all that and redo all the contracts. To pull that together in three weeks was a huge accomplishment.
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International

Ex-Canadian minister accuses Pak of engaging in proxy war in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD/TORONTO, AUG 2 | Publish Date: 8/2/2021 11:00:11 AM IST

Former Canadian politician and diplomat Chris Alexander has accused Pakistan of being complicit in proxy war and war crimes and engaging in an act of aggression against neighbouring Afghanistan.

Alexander, who served as Canadas Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 2013 to 2015, said in a tweet on Sunday, Taliban fighters waiting to cross the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan anyone still denying that Pakistan is engaged in an act of aggression against Afghanistan is complicit in proxy war & war crimes.

Reacting angrily to Alexanders tweet, Pakistans Foreign Office, in an overnight statement, strongly objected to the remarks made by the senior Canadian politician, describing his comments as misleading assertions based on ignorance about the facts on the ground.

Pakistan has faced accusations from the Afghan government officials for the alleged backing of the Taliban, but it is rare that a foreign figure has pointed to it.

India has also repeatedly asked Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border terrorism and not provide safe havens to militant groups.

Alexanders tweet comes as the US military, after nearly 20 years in Afghanistan, is in the final stages of withdrawing troops from the war-torn country, bringing an end to Americas longest war.

The Pentagon has said about 95 per cent of US troops have left Afghanistan and the Taliban has rapidly expanded their presence to large swaths of the country.

In its statement, Pakistans Foreign Office said, We strongly condemn the unwarranted comments by former Canadian minister Chris Alexander, making unfounded & misleading assertions aboutPakistans role in #AfghanPeaceProcess. Such remarks betray a complete lack of understanding of the issue as well as ignorance of facts on the ground, it said.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan has taken up the matter with the government of Canada.

The matter has been taken up with the Canadian side. We have urged the Canadian authorities to take steps to address this motivated and malicious smear campaign, it said.

The Foreign Office also said that the international community had begun to appreciate what Prime Minister Imran Khan had been saying for a long time.

The statement pointed out that Prime Minister Khan has maintained that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and there is a need for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement.
You know how this turns out, the governor said, noting that cases have increased five-fold over the past month. You know what those facts mean. You know whats going to happen in the movie. Dont wait for what you know is going to happen. We beat the damn thing by being smart the first time. Be smart again.
Stark new data on the delta variant that emerged last week showed the virus mutation is comparable to chickenpox in how easily it can be spread. The virus can also be spread to and from those whove been vaccinated, although the health impacts on those whove been vaccinated are considered far less severe. The CDC also found that people who are unvaccinated are more likely to spread the delta variant.
It is inexcusable for a cemetery not to dig a grave large enough to fit the casket, said Eric Rothstein, an attorney representing family members. Having to watch the casket manhandled, damaged, opened, and then placed on the grass as a backhoe is brought in to lengthen the grave while the casket is being replaced is unimaginable and something no family should ever have to endure.
And Kudlow allegedly blocked Congressman Donalds scheduled appearance by saying, No, no, no, I dont want the Black on the show. A senior vice president for programming at Fox Business who was on the call, Gary Schreier, did not reprimand the host, according to Fawcetts lawsuit.
The move, effective Monday, is aimed at reducing a wave of sick calls that has continued even as the city moves on from the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic. In a recent interview, Schiraldi told the Daily News that roughly 2,900 officers were either out sick on a single day last month or on medical monitoring that prevented them from working in detainee areas. Around 7,600 correction officers work for the city.
Helen Elizabeth Showalter was reported missing after being seen walking away from a car near Garrison Rock Park in Wapello County, according to the the Ottumwa Police Department.
But the White House says it doesnt see a path for it to extend the moratorium. Thats largely because the Supreme Court signaled in a 5-4 vote in late June that it wouldnt back further extensions, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that Congress would have to act to extend the moratorium. The White House noted that state-level efforts to stop evictions would spare a third of the country from evictions over the next month.
This handout photo released by the Beauval Zoo shows panda Huan Huan holding her new born female cub in Saint-Aignan, central France, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to two female twin cubs early Monday, a French zoo announced. The Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, said the twins were born shortly after 1 a.m. They weigh 149 and 129 grams (5.3 and 4.6 ounces). (Eric Baccega/AP)
Stepping in, I felt in my ease, my natural garment of self, at home in my spirit, Judd wrote. My leg and foot worked beautifully. I walked up hill on uneven surfaces for an hour confidently and came down carefully and easily. I rested in a meadow on Gods fecund earth for hours. The next day, I walked again on a high Alp in #Ticino, working hard and feeling how much I stamina I have to rebuild. This is the road ahead. But I am up to the daily tasks, as I am even carrying firewood into our Alpine hut!
I am so honored to be recognized with the 2021 Annual James Schamus Ally Award, Spencer said in a statement Monday. I am proud to bring LGBTQIA+ stories to audiences all over the world and am thrilled that our own film, Right to Try, will be making its premiere at this important festival. It speaks to the kind of stories I want to see on screen  celebrating everyday heroes with a true sense of hope.
Corvallis, OR (97331)

Today

Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 79F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
An illustration of some of what Bend, Ore. has to offer its Oregon State Cascades students. After seven terms of remote teaching and learning, the OSU Cascades campus is looking forward to welcoming back in person studies.
Hallandale Beach City Manager Jeremy Earle said the official responsible for sending the notifications out in 2020 is no longer with the city. The city sent notices to 340 outstanding properties on June 30, the week after Champlain Tower collapsed, and another 25 on July 25. Building owners and condo associations in Hallandale have until September to complete their structural and electrical checks, and those that do not respond will be forwarded to a special magistrate for enforcement, Earle said.
One of the biggest surprises was Building X, a 12-story office tower that would add 185,000 square feet of new Class A office space to the district, along with 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Morris said the decision by Electronic Arts to build a new headquarters in Creative Village gave the district legitimacy as an office location at a time when nearly every office project in the Central Business District stalled.
The hospital system no longer allows COVID-19 positive patients to have in-person visitors at any of its Central Florida hospitals, which include facilities in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk, Volusia and Flagler counties. AdventHealth said it will help arrange virtual visits between patients and their loved ones if needed.
Although nothing about the last year and a half has been easy, I would say that some of these decisions have been easier by us staying within our core values of safety first, she said. Its been very critical that we explain the why behind these decisions...Its been a lot of communication with all of our cast and our leaders so that theyre armed with the understanding of why weve done what weve done and how we will help them.
She only had three weeks back on duty before this happened which just wasnt enough, Gay wrote. Her children need stability and assurance in some aspects of their life and right now the most important thing is to keep them in the house that holds so many fond memories of their mom.
Beach Bistro will now require its patrons to be vaccinated, given the dangerous surging of delta coronavirus and the Beach Bistros deep commitment to safety for both staff and guests, the restaurant sent in and email to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Children come in, they register, their parents take them out of school, they re-register, theyre taken out of school. Its a rather transient community and were trying to work hard to give the kids a reason to stay at school  thus achieving a higher level of education and achieving a higher economic and social standing in the community, Hill said.
His wife, Dianne Turull, says it has been a huge amount of work, but the entire family has pitched in.
About two hours later, deputies again responded to the address about the man knocking on the door asking for his things, but he walked away when deputies arrived. Hours after that, deputies were called back again for an aggravated battery, finding the man had forced his way inside and attacked the woman, causing a fractured ulna, a dislocated radial bone as well as burns to her face, chest and arm, the report said.
Ali Skipper of Baldwin Park called for assistance in removing the 4-foot reptile but came to a terrifying realization upon finding it. Skipper had moved into the house several weeks earlier and learned the python was a pet owned by the previous resident, FOX 35 reported. That means the snake had been inside her home for about a month living alongside her.
The details of the Associated Press story by Jason Dearen were shocking. Murder conspiracies always are, of course, but this plot to kill a Black man involved four members of the Ku Klux Klan, half of whom were employed by the Florida Department of Corrections. A third was a former prison guard. Luckily, the fourth was an informant for the FBI
While hospitalizations and deaths are largely occurring in the unvaccinated population, more and more of the vaccinated are also getting infected, getting sick, staying home and suffering. Some will have lingering symptoms, and very sadly, we are beginning to hear reports that in very rare cases, some will die. And the problems at my job are not unique.
How in the world can you possibly justify saying a fisherman, attempting to take a caught shark off the hook, in getting bitten is the ninth attack of the year? No one in their right mind would look at this incident as an attack by the shark. By the fisherman, yes, perhaps. Here in Florida the poor shark can certainly plead it was standing its ground (or water) and is completely innocent in this whole matter.
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
BiVictriX Therapeutics' Chief Executive Officer and Founder Tiffany Thorn joins Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam to discuss their intention to list on AIM, 'signifying a new chapter in our companys long term development'.

The listing is being done to accelerate the firm's growth as well as accelerate their highly selective cancer therapeutics, based on their proprietary Bi-Cygni platform.

Tiffany explains their method, by targeting a combination of antigens expressed primarily on cancer cells, their unique approach enables clinicians to treat patients with higher precision and potentially higher doses of medication. And without causing harmful side-effects to the patient.
Bezant has been given 18 months to assess the portfolio and identify a potential development project

( , ) (AIM: BZT) signed an exclusive option agreement with ( ) (LSE: CMRS) to review the portfolio of copper/gold projects held by Caerus in Cyprus.

Under the agreement, Bezant has been granted 18 months to assess the merits and economic prospects of the unexploited hard rock mining assets and both companies can identify one project as a potential development project.

"We are delighted to engage with Bezant at a time when the market demand for copper is so vibrant and is forecast to remain so for many years, said Martyn Churchouse, chief executive of Caerus.

This partnership will run in parallel with our agreement with Jubilee Metals Group and will allow us to pursue a dual strategy of exploring new underground and mineable resources whilst exploiting the value of our stockpiles of copper and gold-bearing waste, he said.

The companies have agreed to fund an initial amount of up to US$500,000 each during the exploration and project appraisal stage. They will then form a joint venture company to develop the project if it surpasses the development criteria.

At the joint venture stage, 70% of all cash flows will be paid to Caerus until their exploration expenditure has been repaid and Bezant will then receive 80% of all operating cashflows.

Colin Bird, executive chairman of Bezant, echoed Churchouses comments about the outlook for copper.

"The mission of both Bezant and Caerus is to be well positioned in what is globally accepted to be the new copper supply deficit. We both believe that the deficit is very real and will need to be met by large and small mines, he said.

The Caerus portfolio has the propensity to produce a number of secondary developments and/or primary developments and Caerus intends to meet the new copper demand by partnering with likeminded companies in this sector.

The arrangement benefits both parties in that Bezant will assist Caerus in fast tracking its assessment, whilst Bezant gains access to new small scale copper development assets.

We look forward to work with the Caerus team, who in our opinion, have assembled and positioned themselves with an extraordinarily gold/copper portfolio in a mining friendly jurisdiction," Bird concluded.
( )'s ( ) Oliver Andrews joins Proactive London after being appointed to the board as non-executive Chairman.

Andrews will take up the position from Peter Francis, who is stepping down from the role for personal circumstances.

The new chairman talks through his experience, with over 35 years experience in infrastructure development, investing, public-private partnerships and strategic advisory work such as advising and partnering with governments, regional and international corporations and development finance institutions.

Andrews says this is a period of significant change in the natural resources sector, but also one of unprecedented opportunity.
In a meeting last week, the People's Bank of China said it will promote the development of financial services while severely cracking down on illegal activities concerning digital currency

Bitcoin prices were on the slide again on Monday after Chinas central bank reiterated its intention to crack down hard on the sector.

On Saturday, the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) published the results of a meeting held on July 30 concerning the countrys progress on the regulation of monetary policy, mentioning that it will promote the development of financial services while severely cracking down on illegal activities concerning digital currency.

The PBoC also said it will promote the opening up of financial markets, the development of green finance and pursuing the rollout of a digital version of the yuan.

While the bank did not explicitly single out any cryptos, the dedication towards cracking down on illegal activities involving digital currency may be interpreted by many that the attitude of the Chinese Communist Party towards crypto is unlikely to ease any time soon.

Earlier this year, provincial authorities across China moved to ban or severely restrict the ability of crypto miners to operate within their jurisdiction, while the PBoC has ordered all financial institutions to stop facilitating transactions in digital currency.

The actions have caused turbulence in the crypto industry, with prices of many digital assets having tumbled while a large amount of computing power dedicated to mining Bitcoin has been shut off as miners either close down or relocate their operations out of China.

The prospect that the crackdown is likely to persist or worsen saw Bitcoin slide 4.8% in the last 24 hours to US$39,818 in late morning trading on Monday, giving it a market cap of US$747bn.
Assets in the portfolio include drug discovery startup Benevolent AI, next-generation battery developer Nexeon, and digital challenger Atom Bank

The former flagship fund of Neil Woodford is not expected to be fully wound down and with final funds returned to investors until next year, its fund administrator says.

Link Fund Solutions sent a letter to the locked-in investors of the former Woodford Equity Income fund revealing the value of the funds remaining assets is 123.57mln, having being written down from 288mln earlier this year.

Despite winding down the fund, Link has made follow-on investments in two companies, where it said it was seeking to protect value in the funds remaining investments.

These follow-on investments include 1.5mln injected into Mafic, a loss-making basalt producer, to help it with meeting required cashflow, and 0.28mln in clinical biotechnology company Origin, which is aiming to develop a woundcare treatment.

Link said Mafic has now appointed an investment bank with the intention, in the latter part of 2021, to seek a trade buyer.

The fund assets are currently held in nine companies: drug discovery startup Benevolent AI, oncology provider Rutherford Healthcare, next-generation battery developer Nexeon, digital challenger Atom Bank, venture capital firm Cambridge Innovation Capital, luxury Ibiza property scheme Sabina Estates, Mafic and one of its major suppliers ( ), plus the ( ) ICS Sterling Liquidity Fund, a vehicle being used to invest proceeds of sales prior to making a capital distribution.

Link told investors in the latter that it continues to make progress regarding the sale of the remaining assets and it is hoped that the sale of the remaining assets will be concluded in 2022.

However it said it is not possible to provide a definitive end date, which investors know all too well, with the date having been shifted from late 2021 in an update in March and mid to late 2021 in last Octobers update.

Investors have had 2.54bn of capital returned via four capital distributions, but Link has overseen losses of 875mln since the fund was suspended in 2019, with writedowns of the funds unquoted holdings alongside a cut-price 224mln sale of 19 life sciences holdings to US investor ( )  where the several assets have since rocketed in value.
The hole was completed to better understand the assemblages and textures of the sulphides as well as to initiate thin-section studies and metallurgical test-work on this near-surface mineralisation.

Section of half core from diamond drill-hole NPDD007 showing the distinctive net-textured 'triangular ore zone' nickel sulphide mineralisation

( ) is higher after tabling the latest results of up to 4.64 metres at 2.99% nickel and 0.13% copper from 71.58 metres at the Nepean Project in Western Australia, confirming the high-grade and high tenor of near-surface nickel sulphide mineralisation.

The intersection is from the first drill-hole of a three-hole diamond program completed in May 2021 with shares as much as 11% higher intra-day to 21 cents.

Diamond hole NPDD007 was drilled into the known shallow high-grade nickel sulphide mineralisation directly south of the historic Nepean nickel mine.

It was completed with the aim of gaining better understanding of the assemblages and textures of the sulphides, as well as to initiate thin-section studies and metallurgical test-work on this near-surface mineralisation.

Amazed by mineralisation

Auroch managing director Aidan Platel said: We continue to be amazed by the nickel sulphide mineralisation at Nepean.

The high nickel grades seen in the net-textured sulphide mineralisation in hole NPDD007, which historically was referred to as the 'triangular ore zone mineralisation, is testament to the high nickel tenor (nickel content in the sulphides) of Nepean.

This highlights how we can potentially achieve very high-grade nickel intersections from zones of relatively little sulphides, which has huge implications for how we go about exploring the 10km of potential strike at Nepean, as well as for the upcoming Nepean Deeps drill programme.

As we draw closer to the start of our Nepean Deeps program, we are getting more excited by the potential to encounter significant nickel sulphide mineralisation.

Our planning session with renowned nickel sulphide geoscientists was a great success, and I would like to thank them all for their participation and input.

Nepean Deeps diamond drilling

Earlier this month the Auroch held a strategic planning session for the upcoming Nepean Deeps maiden diamond drill program.

Expert nickel sulphide geologists Grant 'Rocky' Osborne and John Hicks, along with nickel sulphide expert geophysicist Russell Mortimer and Bill Clayton (Lodestar Minerals Ltd) joined the experienced Auroch technical team to assess all the existing data at Nepean and to plan the upcoming drilling to test for nickel sulphide mineralisation below the historic mine workings

The first two diamond drill holes of the program have been planned to a down-hole depth of 1,200 metres to be used as both geophysical platform holes and to test projected footwall positions below previous underground workings that were cut off by pegmatite veins.

Geophysical surveys such as DHEM, as well as possible down-hole magnetometric resistivity (MMR) and/or down-hole induced polarisation (IP) will be used to test for any conductive units that may represent nickel sulphide mineralisation within a radius of approximately 75  150 metres from each drill hole.

Further drill holes will then be planned to test any target areas that may arise from the initial drilling.

Preparation for the maiden Nepean Deeps diamond drill program is proceeding on schedule with the program to begin within the next two weeks.

Regional RC program

Three reverse circulation (RC) drill-holes for 744 metres have been drilled into the discrete strong (5,000-15,000S) Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) conductor 1.8 kilometres south of the Nepean Nickel Mine.

DHEM surveys of the three drill holes have been prioritised and will be completed this week, in order to confirm the source and accurate position of the initial MLEM plate.

Samples have been sent to the ALS laboratory for analytical assays. When received, the results from both the assays and DHEM surveys will determine what further work is required to test this target.

Ongoing test-work

Half drill-core samples of diamond hole NPDD007 were taken for the initial geochemical analysis, while quarter core samples have been subsequently taken of the high-grade intercepts to be used in a geophysical properties test.

Auroch will investigate the conductive properties of this ore type in order to help direct geophysical targeting along the Nepean strike and Nepean Deeps target area.

This core will also be used to make polished thin sections to identify the sulphide mineralogy of this unusually high tenor ore (i.e. 20% nickel concentration in 100% sulphides).

The remaining core, and core from further planned diamond drilling into the shallow mineralisation, will be used for ongoing metallurgical investigations.
These new strong results have the potential to deliver improved grades and confidence for the existing underground resource.

Additional drilling is planned for later in the year to further increase the extent and confidence in the mineral resource.

( ) has received further high-grade gold assay results from the recently concluded diamond drilling program at Riverina Underground in Western Australias Goldfields region.

The 18-holes 3,460 metre diamond drilling program targeted infill and extensions to the current underground resource at Riverina which totals 1,008,000 tonnes at 5.6 g/t for 183,000 ounces.

Highlight results returned from Riverina Underground to date include:

5 metres at 16.7 g/t gold from 200 metres;

2.8 metres at 21.2 g/t from 253.7 metres;

6.8 metres at 8.6 g/t from 143.8 metres; and

1.3 metres at 25.3 g/t from 217.8 metres.

The new drilling results will be included in an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Riverina Underground which is currently in progress.

The MRE will be used for mining studies with the aim of publishing a maiden Riverina Underground Ore Reserve shortly thereafter.

Potential to deliver improved grade and confidence

Ora Banda managing director Peter Nicholson, said: These strong results have the potential to deliver improved grade and confidence of the existing underground resource.

The updated resource will provide a base case for mining studies which will look to demonstrate the underground mining potential at Riverina.

Additional drilling is planned for later in the year to further increase the extent and confidence in the mineral resource.

North Shoot remains a high priority exploration target

The Riverina Underground drilling program comprised diamond drilling from surface targeting the Main lodes which were mined from underground between the 1900s and 1930s and again in 1980s.

Main lodes are two sub-parallel, sub-vertical mineralised shears with significant strike length (>1,000 metres) and depth (>250 metres) extent.

The drill program has successfully targeted some upgrades to the resource classification and the down plunge mineralisation extensions to the south.

The North Shoot is yet to be drill tested by Ora Banda but remains a high priority exploration target.
With excellent road and rail connections, Port of Pasajes currently handles around three million tonnes of dry bulk product annually.

Pasajes will facilitate the implementation of the logistics infrastructure and services at port to efficiently attend to Highfields needs.

( ) has signed an updated non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Port Autthority of Pasajes in northwest Spain, confirming the availability of sufficient port capacity for up to 700,000 metric tonnes per annum of muriate of potash and salt.

Pasajes will facilitate the implementation of the requisite logistics infrastructure and services at port to efficiently attend to Highfields needs.

The port, which is the closest port to Highfield's Muga Project mine site and is one of the largest commercial ports in the region, also commits to have all facilities for product handling and shipping operational from Mugas phase-1.

Swift progress towards construction

Highfield chief executive officer Ignacio Salazar said: The company is focused on making swift progress towards the construction of Muga and this MOU with the port of Pasajes is another step in that direction.

The Port of Pasajes will be a key export terminal for Muga given its proximity to the Mine and will be instrumental for Muga to be a low-cost potash project.

After the granting of the Mining Concession, Highfield is updating its key sales and marketing MOUs.

This partnership with the Port of Pasajes allows Highfield to develop and implement its sales and marketing strategy.
The company is undertaking a 4,000 metre drill program comprising seven RC pre-collars with diamond tails and one diamond tail as re-entry of BCRC482 from the 2020 drill campaign.

Initial assay results are due late August

( ) has completed five of the eight planned drill holes at its Palm Springs Gold project in Western Australia, confirming that thick, robust zones of mineralisation extends further south.

The companys strategy of targeting anticlinal hinge zones has resulted in immediate success with visible gold (VG) observed at three intervals in BCRD484 within a 79-metre intersection of strongly veined and altered gold hosting syenite.

Drillhole BCRD 490 has intersected a similar hinge zone with strong alteration of the target syenite at the anticlinal closure and over 80 metres of syenite intersected.

Three further diamond holes are to be completed in August, each targeting untested anticlinal hinges identified by the 2020 drilling, targeting similar structural positions that resulted in BCRD 467 intersecting 69 metres at 4.38 g/t gold in 2020.

In addition, holes BCRD489 and 490, south of the 2020 mineral resource estimate (MRE), intersected thick downhole intervals of host syenite 80 metres south of Butchers Creek Resource, confirming the orebody extends and remains open to the southwest

Opportunity to make discoveries

Meteoric managing director Dr Andrew Tunks said: We learnt a great deal about Palm Springs from last years highly successful maiden drill program - that gold mineralisation is stratabound within a single thick syenite unit and that the highest grade and thickest parts of the orebody occur within the hinge zone of a regional scale anticlinal fold hinge forming a robust high-grade zone that plunges shallowly southeast.

Our 2021 drilling program was designed to further improve our confidence in the spatial distribution of the high-grade zone and further extend this zone down plunge to potentially grow the current gold resource inventory.

Finally, kudos to the site team who have worked diligently since the acquisition of the project, building relationships with the Traditional Owners and their representatives to facilitate the requisite Heritage approvals to begin exploring the exploration leases surrounding the Butchers Creek mining licenses.

We firmly believe that there is real opportunity for us to make further significant discoveries at Palm Springs in these areas.

Palm Springs 2021 drilling

Meteoric is undertaking a 4,000-metre drill program comprising seven reverse circulation (RC) pre-collars with diamond tails and one diamond tail as re-entry of BCRC482 from the 2020 drill campaign.

Five diamond tails have been completed with assays due later this month, with RC pre-collars completed for the balance of the drill holes and diamond tails to be completed this month.

The drilling campaign at Palm Springs is designed to increase confidence in the current mineral resource estimate MRE (5.2 million tonnes at 1.9g/t gold [319,000 ounces]) and extend the resource 200 metres down plunge to the south-west.

Heritage impact assessment meeting

The company attended a successful meeting in Halls Creek on July 12 with a representative from the Kimberley Land Council and members of the Koongie-Elvire (Traditional Owners).

Meteoric presented its proposed 2021-2022 exploration programs on the exploration tenements surrounding the Butchers Creek mining licenses to the group.

The company received approval to commence work on activities not related to any ground disturbance, including mapping and rock chipping, an aerial survey and several ground IP surveys and a heritage survey to review proposed drilling sites is planned for the coming months.
The results from the 2021 Chinook Project resource update further confirms that the project has the geology, resource base and coal quality to support open-cut development.

Montems plans are to continue to explore and define the Chinook Project with its main focus on the Chinook Vicary area

( ) has increased its coal resources at the Chinook Project in Alberta, Canada to 172 million tonnes with 108 million tonnes in the indicated category and 64 million tonnes in the inferred category.

The Chinook Project also contains an exploration target, which has been upgraded from 125 million tonnes to 450 million tonnes.

Plans to drill out remaining areas

Montem managing director and CEO Peter Doyle said: We are very pleased with the significant increase of the JORC resource estimate for the Chinook Project.

This upgrade of the resource is the result of new information from the 2020 exploration which led to a re-interpretation of the geological model for Chinook and follows announcements detailing the excellent coal quality results received from the 2020 drilling program, as well as the positive scoping study we completed for the Chinook Project in early 2021.

The next step is to drill out the remaining areas included in the Scoping Study mine plan and progress to a Pre-Feasibility Study.

As the entire Chinook Project lies within Alberta 1976 Coal Development Policy Category 4 land, we are able to continue exploration and project planning.

We are excited by Chinook and look forward to the next phase of development.

Background and next steps

The Chinook Project is made up of two areas - Chinook Vicary and Chinook South.

Montems resource update is in the Vicary Domain, which makes up the central portion of the Chinook Vicary area.

The Vicary Domain was the target of Montems 2020 exploration drilling program, which confirmed the occurrence of near surface, structurally thickened coal seams suitable for future open-cut extraction.

Montem will continue to explore areas of Chinook Vicary identified in the scoping study mine plan, aiming to define an open-cut project at preliminary feasibility level.
Gaoual is one of only two known major Conglomerate Bauxite' occurrences discovered in Guinea.

The company's current focus is the Gaoual Bauxite Project in Guinea.

Lindian Resources Ltd (ASX:LIN) holds a portfolio of high-grade bauxite assets on both the West and East coasts of Africa.

Lindian Resources makes solid progress towards bringing Guinea bauxite projects to production

Lindian Resources Ltd (ASX:LIN) made solid progress in the June quarter with the primary focus being advancing its portfolio of world-class bauxite projects in Guinea.

The main achievements during the period were defining the optimal export solution and confirming the unique and highly desirable quality of the product.

Lindian has also advanced engagement with multiple infrastructure groups to establish the best logistical options for the project.



"Assets with excellent attributes"

Lindian chairman Asimwe Kabunga said: "Our board and team in Guinea has been working diligently on a number of fronts and whilst we have had limited market updates in the quarter, excellent progress has been made.

"Lindian has a complimentary blend of bauxite assets with excellent attributes: some are close to the coast, they are exceptionally high quality with high grades, and they are massive untapped resources.

"We are actively defining the best way to export product from these projects.

"Ongoing discussions regarding Gaoual indicate that there are a variety of groups interested in this highly desirable and indeed unique product."
Theta Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:TGM) controls 5.8 million ounces of gold in South Africa and is on schedule to complete a Feasibility Study at its first open-cut Theta Hill mine located next to its CIL plant.

Theta Gold Mines secures more than $10 million in new funding package to acclerate TGME Gold Project development

Theta Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:TGM) has secured bond and equity funding for a total of A$10.6 million to support environmental and water studies, approvals, early trial mining and bulk sampling programs, as well as to progress the Beta/Frankfurt/CDM mines' DFS and potentially deliver mineral reserve upgrades at the TGME Gold Project in South Africa.

The funding comprises a A$6 million secured bond from Delphi AG and Deutsche Balaton backed investment company 2InvestAG and a two-tranche, A$3.126 million equity placement to 2Invest AG and various Australian and overseas sophisticated and professional investors.

It also includes a shareholder purchase plan of up to A$1.5 million with up to A$1 million to be underwritten by 2Invest AG.

Theta chairman Bill Guy said: "Backed by Delphi AG, 2Invest AG is the first large European fund to make a significant investment in Theta.

"We thank 2Invest AG for its support, confirming Theta meets its investment thesis.

"I am currently in South Africa onsite with our management team to review next phase of mine development in order to put the capital to good use for all shareholders.

"We welcome 2Invest AG as a new strategic financier and also thank all other new and existing domestic and international investors for their support as we advance into a very exciting growth phase for the Company in a significant gold field."
The capital raise will support work towards a potential operations restart at Poseidons flagship nickel sulphide asset, with drilling to commence immediately.

The current process plant at Black Swan was built in 1996 and upgraded in 2007. It was put on care and maintenance in February 2009 following a period of low nickel prices.

( , , ) has received commitments to raise $22 million via a share placement to drive progress towards an operations restart at its cornerstone Black Swan Project in Western Australia.

The nickel sulphide exploration and development company set out to place 200 million fully-paid ordinary shares with new and existing institutional, professional and sophisticated investors at 11 cents each.

Poseidon is also offering retail investors the chance to increase their holding via a $3 million share purchase plan.

Primarily, the cash injection will support drilling programs at the Golden Swan and Silver Swan targets and fund mining and production studies the consider the potential recommencement of operations at Black Swan.

Placement drives progress at Black Swan

Poseidon Nickel managing director and CEO Peter Harold said: This over-subscribed placement supports the company on our continued strategy to build high-grade nickel inventory at our Black Swan project and progress the project toward a potential recommencement of operations in 2022.

The funds raised will be used to continue exploration activities at Golden Swan and across the Southern Terrace, undertake drilling to convert additional Silver Swan mineral resources to ore reserves and complete mining and production studies at Black Swan.

Funds will also be allocated to reviewing the exploration potential of our Lake Johnston and Windarra nickel projects.

The company would like to thank our existing and new shareholders who participated in the placement. We would also like to thank Morgans and MST Financial for their assistance.

Raise details

Under its $22 million placement, Poseidon will issue 200 million shares at 11 cents a pop.

This price represents a 10% discount to the 10-day volume-weighted average price and an 18.5% discount to the last closing price of POS shares before the trading halt.

Shares issued under the placement will be issued under the companys existing placement capacity, with quotation set to commence next Tuesday.

In addition, under a $3 million share purchase plan, retail holders have the chance to subscribe for as much as $30,000 worth of POS shares at the same price as the placement.

Further details will be announced to the exchange in due course.

Once the placement completes, Poseidon will have around $27 million in cash to work towards an operations restart at Black Swan and undertake exploration at its other projects.

Use of funds

Poseidon will distribute the fresh capital to:

Undertake diamond drilling from surface and/or underground to further test the potential of Golden Swans Southern Terrace to host additional high-grade nickel mineralised zones;

Drill the Silver Swan orebody to upgrade existing mineral resources to ore reserves, increasing the existing reserve base at the project;

Undertake mining and production studies on the recommencement of operations at Black Swan, including both the previously announced 150,000 tonne-per-annum and 1,100-tonne-per-annum processing circuits;

Complete studies on the potential to mine and transport ore from Windarra to Black Swan for processing;

Review the exploration potential of Lake Johnston and Windarra and undertake drilling if suitable targets are identified; and

Support general working capital.

Drilling is set to commence immediately as the company sources additional drill rigs to further accelerate its proposed program of works.
The money will accelerate its strategic programme, said the graphene technology specialist

( , , ) said its Italian subsidiary has qualified for a total of 0.7mln in loans under the Italian government's Covid-19 recovery plan.

The Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo will provide the loan in two tranches with a 90% guarantee from the Italian government, a coupon of 1.50-1.8% and a five to six-year term.

The money will accelerate its strategic programme, said the graphene technology specialist.

Directa added it is also in discussions over an additional 0.5mln loan.

Giulio Cesareo, chief executive, said: "This measure offered by the Italian government to respond to COVID crisis will be utilised by Directa to accelerate activities in areas where our G+ graphene has a significant competitive advantage like environmental, batteries, anti-viral and anti-bacterial textiles."
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors US and Canada newswires

Your daily round-up from the world of Proactive

( ), UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and the University of Pittsburgh said they have forged a collaboration to develop new cancer immunotherapy approaches and streamline manufacturing processes to bring powerful treatments to cancer patients within days instead of weeks. Cancer immunotherapy, which stimulates and trains a patients own immune system to target and kill tumors while leaving healthy cells intact, is an effective treatment for many cancer patients. One of these therapies, cancer immunotherapy called CAR-T, short for chimeric antigen receptor therapy, alters a patients own T-cells to kill their cancer cells. This approach has been successful for some patients with leukemias, lymphomas and more recently, multiple myeloma, but only a limited number of patients have been able to benefit from these therapies, noted the new partners in a joint statement.

( ) has announced the introduction of its new .68 caliber projectile, the Byrna Eco-Kinetic round. The Eco-Kinetic round became available for pre-order on the Byrna website starting on August 1, 2021. The company said the Byrna Eco-Kinetic round is a "revolutionary" .68 caliber non-lethal projectile designed to replace both kinetic and inert practice rounds.

Kidoz Inc, a mobile adtech developer and owner of the market-leading KIDOZ Contextual Ad Network and the Kidoz Publisher SDK, has reported record second-quarter network growth driven by consumers in the wider digital economy and the companys niche contextual advertising. For the second quarter of 2021, the company saw 256 million monetized impressions delivered, up 33% from 192 million paid impressions delivered in the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, 115 million video views were delivered during 2Q, up 35% from the 85 million video views in the 1Q of 2021. The company also reported that over 100 million rich media ads were played in 2Q, up 38% from the 72 million in the 1Q.

PowerTap Hydrogen Capital Corp said it has partnered with Viridian Hydrogen UAE to help establish a hydrogen ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and throughout the Middle East to meet the growing demand for alternatives to fossil fuels. The company, which is focused on installing hydrogen production and dispensing fueling infrastructure, said the collaboration with Viridian will help both private and public entities meet the growing need for renewable options across the UAE in the coming years. The initiative is in keeping with UAE Vision 2021, whose directives include the support of clean energy and the implementation of renewable growth plans, PowerTap added.

Todos Medical Ltd said it has made the final payment of $1.25 million to complete its $10 million acquisition of US-based Provista Diagnostics Inc, a medical diagnostics firm that owns the intellectual property rights to proprietary breast cancer blood test Videssa and has a diagnostic lab performing coronavirus (COVID-19) PCR testing. The company said it is currently expanding Alpharetta, Georgia-based Provistas marketing team as it works to capitalize on its automated capabilities in COVID-19 PCR testing, variant identification, and neutralizing antibody testing. Todos has completed a $2 million investment in order to upgrade the testing equipment in Provistas lab, said the company.

Empower Clinics Inc has completed the acquisition of Medi+Sure Canada Inc in a move which it said fits seamlessly into its North American e-commerce and distribution strategy. The C$3.5 million cash and stock deal was struck in July with Mario Cortis, MediSures sole shareholder. MediSure produces affordable, quality diabetes products that bring economic value to the diabetes testing market while delivering world-class training and educational support to those living with the disease. Empower said its established pharmacy footprint in Canada aligns with its growth strategy of working with and supporting pharmacies and the communities they serve.

( , ) reports that it had $98.8 million of working capital, including $79.4 million of cash and marketable securities and $29.2 million of inventory, as of June 30, 2021. In a statement, the company added that at current commodity prices, its inventory has a value of $39.1 million. During the quarter ended June 30, 2021, Energy Fuels also noted that it incurred a net loss of $10.8 million, which included a non-cash mark-to-market increase in warrant liabilities during the quarter of $3.6 million, resulting from a significant increase in its share price.

( ) has announced the appointment of Jaime Guillen to its board of directors, adding relevant expertise as the company continues the development of projects, including its Net-Zero 1 facility at Lake Preston, South Dakota. Guillen is a managing partner at Faros Infrastructure Partners LLC, an investment firm with offices in the UK, the US and Mexico. He is also the head of asset management for Mexico Infrastructure Partners and has about 30 years of experience in equity investments, project finance, project development, commercial contract negotiations, and company operations in a variety of sectors, including energy, transport, natural resources, private equity and fund management, Gevo noted.

( , ) has announced an increase in the size of its previously announced non-brokered private placement of units of the company. Due to oversubscribed demand, the private placement will now consist of up to 25,192,350 units at a price of $0.13 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $3,275,005. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share at an exercise price of $0.30 until the date that is the earlier of: (i) two years following the date of issue, or (ii) 30 days after the date on which the company gives notice of acceleration. The proceeds from the offering will be used to fund the company's continued exploration and development on its Neita Concession in the Dominican Republic, and for general working capital purposes. Closing of the offering may be completed in multiple tranches and is subject to certain closing conditions including, but not limited to, conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange and receipt of any other required regulatory approvals.

( ) has announced that the director nominations submitted by an activist group led by Paul Rosenbaum and Bruce Patterson were invalid. The Rosenbaum/Patterson Group attempted to nominate five director candidates to take over control of the companys six-member board of directors. CytoDyn said it remains open to engaging constructively with all its shareholders and values their input. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the board continuously evaluates the composition of the board to ensure it has the optimal mix of experience, expertise, and perspectives to represent the best interests of all shareholders. The company said it board will present its director candidates for the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders, which has been scheduled to be held on October 28, 2021, in its definitive proxy materials to be filed with the SEC in due course. The company added that it looks forward to continuing to focus on bringing its believed-to-be lifesaving treatment leronlimab to market.

( , ) has announced a change in its fiscal year-end from November 30 to December 31.

( ) announced that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through the Depository Trust Company (DTC) in the United States. The company's shares trade on the OTCQB under the symbol MARVF. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through 'DTC eligible' have an accelerated settlement period with reduced costs for US investors and brokers enabling the company's common shares to be traded through a much wider selection of firms through an electronic method of clearing securities. The company also said it has engaged GRA Enterprises LLC of Belleville, New Jersey to provide investor relations services under a consulting agreement dated July 29th, 2021. Services will include the production and publication of investor bulletins, distribution of investor bulletins to the consultant's e-mail list, and posts via the consultant's social media accounts. In consideration of these services, the company has agreed to pay the consultant a fee of US$50,000 for a 6 month term. The consulting agreement is subject to TSX Venture approval.

( ) has announced that the resolution, "The Arrangement: Spin-out 1312541 B.C. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company", as described on pages 43 to 47 in the Management Information Circular of the company for the Annual and Special Meeting of the shareholders to be held on August 9, 2021, will not be put to the shareholders for approval. The resolution will be withdrawn at the meeting because the Circular for the Meeting does not adequately set forth all of the details related to the spin-out in sufficient detail for a shareholder to make an informed decision on the subject matter of the resolution. Further information regarding the spin-out will be provided at a later time. This clarification to the Circular has been made at the request of Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) staff in connection with an OSC review of the continuous disclosure record of the company.

( ). said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to its non-brokered private placement announced June 17, 2021, which will see the issue of 2 million flow-through shares at a purchase price of 65 cents per share with 56 placees.

( , ) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation pertaining to an asset purchase agreement dated July 7, 2021, between the company and an arm's-length party, whereby the company shall acquire the remaining interest in the Denain-Pershing property. As consideration, the company will make a one-time $125,000 cash payment and will issue an aggregate 21,603 common shares.

( , ) Inc said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to its non-brokered private placement announced June 11, 2021, which will see the issue of 2.05 million common shares at a purchase price of 40 cents per common share and 3,347,200 flow-through shares at a purchase price of 45 cents per flow-through share, together with 1,025,000 share purchase warrants with an exercise price of 60 cents for a two-year period with 31 placees.

( ) Inc has announced the timing of its second-quarter 2021 earnings conference call scheduled for Wednesday, August 4, 2021. The company's CEO Jason Reid will host the conference call at 11.00am Eastern Time. Topics of discussion will include second-quarter results and an update on current operations. Following Reid's opening remarks, the Company will host a question and answer (Q&A) session. The conference call will be recorded and posted to the company's website. To join the conference via webcast and to view presentation slides, investors can use the following link: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2640/42406. To join the call via telephone dial-in details are: Toll Free 877-407-8031; International 201-689-8031. Investors should connect to the conference call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time'

In its July 2021, issue, Power Growth Investor says buy ( , ) Inc., recently $3.31. Power Growth previously said buy three times from November 2019 to January 2021, at prices ranging from $1.75 to $3.20. Assuming a $1,000 investment for each of the three buys, the $3,000 position is now worth $4,584. Valens is a Canadian cannabis grower, extractor and processor. It recently agreed to buy Green Roads, a U.S. maker of health and wellness products that contain hemp-derived, non-intoxicating CBD. The products include oils, topicals, personal care products and pet products. Valens will pay US$40 million upfront, and has agreed to an additional US$20 million in potential milestone payments. Buy the stock if aggressive, Power Growth Investor concluded.

Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series, has announced the agenda for the upcoming OTCQB Venture Virtual Investor Conference. The program opens at 9.15am ET on Thursday, August 5, 2021, with the first live webcast at 9.30am ET. Investors can register for the event at: https://bit.ly/3iI07ia. "We are proud to highlight our OTCQB Market and the broad range of venture companies representing a diverse mix of industries and sectors," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at ( ) A real-time solution for investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences is part of OTC Market Group's suite of investor relations services specifically designed for more efficient Investor Access. Replicating the look and feel of on-site investor conferences, Virtual Investor Conferences combine leading-edge conferencing and investor communications capabilities with a comprehensive global investor audience network. For more information about the program and to view a complete calendar of Virtual Investor Conferences, investors can visit: www.virtualinvestorconferences.com

Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series has announced that the presentations from the July Green Energy & Precious Metals lnvestor Conference are now available for on-demand viewing. Investors can register or log in to view the presentations via the following link: https://bit.ly/37cWBqt. The company presentations will be available 24/7 for 90 days. Investors, advisors and analysts may download shareholder materials from the "virtual trade booth" for the next three weeks. A real-time solution for investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences is part of OTC Market Group's suite of investor relations services specifically designed for more efficient Investor Access. Replicating the look and feel of on-site investor conferences, Virtual Investor Conferences combine leading-edge conferencing and investor communications capabilities with a comprehensive global investor audience network. For more information about the program and to view a complete calendar of Virtual Investor Conferences, investors can visit: www.virtualinvestorconferences.com
Last week, the Department for Transport announced new space laws to allow space flights and satellite launches to take place in the UK

UK broadband services providers are going to face more competition later this year as Elon Musks Starlink 'space internet' business nears completion on plans to provide a nationwide service.

Starlink is close to getting a license to build a ground station on the Isle of Man, the Telegraph reported, adding to bases in Cornwall and Buckinghamshire.

With these ground stations linked to its growing 'constellation' of small low-Earth-orbit satellites, Starlink would be able to provide coverage across the country, based on its application to the Manx communications regulator.

Starlink, which is a division of Musk's SpaceX rocket company but with plans to float in the not-too-distant future, currently only provides a restricted 'beta' service live in 11 countries, where it has built up more than half a million customers.

Chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said once its current 1,800 satellites reach their operational orbit, Starlink will have continuous global coverage and this should be around September, which will allow it to gain local regulatory permissions and take on more customers.

New UK space laws

Last week, the Department for Transport announced new UK space laws to provide a regulatory framework for the space industry.

The changes mean that space flights and satellite launches can now take place in the UK, with the first launch from UK soil expected to take place next year.

Investment of 31.5mln has been set aside to help set up vertical launch services from Scotland and a separate 7.35mln for Spaceport Cornwall to support a horizontal launch by Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson's launch services for small satellites.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the new rules will unlock "a potential 4bn of market opportunities over the next decade".
Charlie Thomas, managing director of Hashoff, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DGTL Holdings Inc, joined Proactives Stephen Gunnion with news that the company has signed a new social media content services contract with a crypto current trading platform based in Europe.

Thomas telling Proactive that Hashoff will use influencer marketing to create awareness about crypto currencies in North America.
There were a lot of people there that had regrets that they wish that they had known more before they votedThere's three of them that voted [for Biden] that feel terrible about it. I said you know what? I said you didn't know about this but you thought you were voting for something. I said you didn't get to vote. I said China did our voteWhen we get through this and the Supreme Court pulls down this election -- like I've been telling everybody -- when they do this, it's going to be a great uniting and that gives me hope[B]y the night of the 12th or the morning of the 13th, if everyone has seen it, including the administration that's in there now that didn't win, maybe, you know, Biden and Harris would say, hey, we're here to protect the country and resign!"

My Pillow guy and former crack addict Mike Lindell on what will happen after he broadcasts his cyber-symposium on the 2020 election  the return of Trump on August 13.
Creditors demand around $55 million from ex-owners of VIM Airlines

 flickr.com/Anna Zvereva

10:19 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  Four organizations have filed debt recovery claims worth nearly 4 billion rubles (about $55 million) against ex-president of VIM Airlines Rashid Mursekayev and his wife Svetlana, according to court records.

RNGO limited liability company seeks to collect 2.02 billion rubles from the debtors, Rusal Bratsk demands 1.01 billion rubles, Absolut bank wants to recover 800 million rubles and Zenit bank seeks 48 million rubles.

In July, the spouses filed an appeal against the ruling of May 31 confirming their bankruptcy. The Moscow Commercial Court then granted an application filed by VIM Airlines.

In August 2020, the Commercial Court of the Volga District dismissed a cassation appeal against recovery of nearly 20 million rubles which had been paid to the family as dividends for 2015.

In late December 2019, Mursekayev and his wife were ordered to return the overpaid funds. The court therefore declared salary orders as well as accounting and paying scale up wages registered in March 2017 invalid upon an application lodged by bankruptcy trustee Alexander Maksimov. Later, an appeals instance upheld the ruling.

On September 26, 2018, the court declared VIM Airlines bankrupt on the request of the company RNGO. Earlier in August, the court granted an application filed by the company, including a 3 billion-ruble ($44 million) debt into the creditors demands list.

On October 17, 2017, a criminal case was launched over premeditated bankruptcy of VIM Airlines. In September of the same year the court returned a bankruptcy claim against the airline back to the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). According to the court, due to the social tensions surrounding the activities of the airline, the applicant decided to recall the motion.

Investigators believe that certain top managers and owners of the air carrier intentionally made losing bargains in 2016 and 2017 including those aimed at siphoning of assets abroad. The deals led to enormous financial outlay and undoubtedly resulted in the companys failure to pay debts to creditors in full.

According to investigators, employees of VIM Airlines continued to sell tickets to clients despite being aware that the airline was not able to transfer passengers because there were not enough funds to buy fuel. Investigators believe that the employees embezzled more than one million rubles ($17,000).

VIM Airlines CEO and chief accountant Alexander Kochnev and Yekaterina Panteleyeva have been arrested as part of the case. Co-owners of VIM Airlines Rashid Mursekayev and Svetlana Mursekayeva fled Russia and are currently residing abroad, according to investigators. Allegedly Mursekayev and Kalashnikova fled Russia to hide from investigative authorities. In December, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant for Mursekayev in absentia.




Sentencing of Michael Calvey, other defendants in Baring Vostok case adjourned

 screenshot from a video by Moscows Meshchansky District Court

11:34 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  Sentencing of U.S. investor Michael Calvey and other defendants in a case over embezzlement of over 2.5 billion rubles (over $34 million) from Vostochny Bank on Monday was adjourned until August 5, the press service of Moscows Meshchansky District Court told RAPSI.

Earlier, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Calvey to a six-year suspended jail sentence. The prosecutor's office also requested suspended sentences ranging from 4 to 5.5 years for the rest of the defendants in the case - Philippe Delpal, Vagan Abgaryan, Maxim Vladimirov, Ivan Zyuzin, Alexander Tsakunov, and Alexey Kordichev.

Calvey was accused of large-scale fraud in a deal on the purchase by Vostochny Bank of shares in First Collector Bureau. However, in December of 2020, investigators changed the charges to those of embezzlement.

Investigators allege that the price of the asset was overstated, and the transaction brought losses to the bank, referring to the audit report of PricewaterhouseCoopers on the deal, which valued the sold shares at 600 thousand rubles ($8,000), what, investigating authorities believe is an indication of a crime.

At the same time, Delpal explained that expert estimation of the value of the shares in dispute made 254 million rubles (about $3.4 million at the current exchange rate), and stated that the assessment could not be complete without the inclusion of the assets associated with the shares; in Delpals opinion in this case the total value makes 4 billion rubles ($54 million).

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.
Verdict in sanitary code breach case against Navalnys ally Sobol set for August 3

 Moscow's Perovsky District Court

12:00 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  The Preobrazhensky District Court will deliver sentence in a case over abetting violation of sanitary norms at an unauthorized rally held in Moscow in winter against Lyubov Sobol, an ally of Alexey Navalny, on August 3, RAPSI learnt from the courts press service.

Previously, prosecution demanded 2 years of restriction of liberty for Sobol. In particular, the prosecutor seeks to ban her from leaving home at night, from 10 pm to 6 am, participating in mass and other events and going outside the district of her living.

The woman is under restraining order. She is prohibited from leaving home from 8 pm to 6 am, communicating about the investigation online, sending and receiving mails.

Sobol stands charged with breaching sanitary and epidemiological rules. She could face up to two years behind bars if convicted.

According to police, coronavirus-positive persons ordered to isolation were identified among participants of the Moscow rally. A criminal case over violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules was opened over this fact.
IP Court returns lawsuit over Russian companys trademark to Google

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

15:26 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 RAPSI) - Russias Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) has returned Googles lawsuit against Intra Service Company seeking the early termination of its trademark due to the failure to use it, according to court records.

The application has been returned to the U.S. corporation due to its improper execution.

The American company sought termination of "Intra services company" trademark, in which the last two words were unprotected elements, in relation to the services including advertising and business management, as well as scientific and technological services.

In May 2012, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) registered this trademark as owned by Intra Service Company LLC. However, Googles subsidiary Jigsaw introduced the Intra app in October 2018.

The court suspended the application until June 16 due to paperwork irregularities.

As noted by the court, Google failed to attach to its application certain documents, among them those confirming the facts on which the American company bases its claims, and those confirming the payment of the state fee.

Intra Service Company carries out a complex of works on the repair and maintenance of equipment and pipelines at the enterprises of the fuel and energy complex. The company is the only Russian entity that provides a full range of repair services without stopping production of enterprises.




Ex-bank manager sentenced to 4 years in custody for $2.6 mln embezzlement

 vk.com

16:52 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  Moscows Cheremushkinsky District Court on Monday sentenced ex-treasury department chief of Credit-Express Natalya Tsipinova to 4 years in penal colony for involvement in the embezzlement of over 190 million rubles ($2.6 million) belonging to the bank depositors, RAPSI learnt in the press service of the Moscow Prosecutors Office.

Tsipinova was also ordered to pay the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) over 170 million rubles in damages.

According to investigators, from 2013 to 2018, the defendants along with ex-head of a Moscow branch office of Credit-Express bank Elena Chuyeva and treasury chief Natalya Tsipinova stole over 190 million rubles from the credit organization by execution of forged loan agreements with former clients of the banks and employees of the defendants firms. Chuyeva and Tsipinova signed plea deal with investigators.

In late April, Moscows Cheremushkinsky District Court sentenced Chuyeva to 3 years in penal colony for embezzlement. The court also granted the Deposit Insurance Agencys civil claim filed on behalf of the bank and recovered over 88.6 million rubles ($1.2 million) from the woman.

Other defendants in the case are businessman Vasily Boiko-Veliky, who denies guilt in the crime, CEO of the Rostov bank Credit-Express Alla Kabanova, her son Konstantin Kabanov, bank shareholder Tatiana Makarenko, chief accountant of the credit organization Maria Antonova, chief of the banks loan department and its senior economist Egor Pikhtin.

Depending on the alleged role, they are charged with large-scale embezzlement committed by an organized group, money laundering.
Russian prosecutors urge timely aid to disabled minors from Social Insurance Fund

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

17:06 02/08/2021

MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI)  The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has made a submission to the Acting Head of the Social Insurance Fund Alexey Polikashin demanding him to remedy breaches of the legislation on social protection of disabled children and on the contract procurement system, the bodys press service informs RAPSI.

The General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation has received several complaints from citizens raising disabled children about the untimely provision of technical means of rehabilitation they needed. Expensive wheelchairs and other necessary items were not purchased for a long time, and compensation to parents for an independent purchase was often not provided in a timely manner, the body said in a statement.

The prosecutor's office registered such violations of the relevant legislation in the Astrakhan and Irkutsk regions, as well as in other regions, where the offices of the Social Insurance Fund failed to fulfill their obligations on the purchase of rehabilitation means for disabled children in time and the respective procedures were delayed for several months.
Amount of Tavrichesky bank embezzlement comes close to $14 million

 ITAR-TASS

17:17 02/08/2021

ST. PETERSBURG, August 2 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov)  The sum of embezzlement of the Tavrichesky bank depositors money allegedly committed by ex-member of the Russian Federation Council and owner of Liviz liquor producer Alexander Sabadash and his accomplices - former top managers of the credit organization - has come close to 1 billion rubles ($14 millon), the United press service of St. Petersburg courts has told RAPSI.

All defendants are reading case papers now.

Investigators charge alleged accomplices 16 counts of embezzlement totaling to 952 million rubles. Initially, they were accused of 10 counts.

Sabadash, ex-deputy chairman of the bank board Dmitry Garkusha and ex-chief of Tavrichesky board Sergey Somov are in detention. One more defendant, ex-financier of Sabadash, Garry Itkin is on the international wanted list as he has fled abroad.

Investigators claim the defendants took out impaired loans to Milan company basing on fictious agreement allegedly related to legal business concerning import of capital equipment for producing cutting dies for glass bottles at the non-resident company Renaissance Premier S.A.

In 2015, he received a 6-year prison sentence for attempted embezzlement of 1.8 billion rubles (about $25 million at the current exchange rate) involving Arkhangelsk-based developer ES-Kontaktstroy and JSC Vyborgskaya Cellulose. Sabadash, believed to be the owner of Vyborgskaya Cellulose, has organized a fraudulent VAT refund scheme, according to investigators.

In October 2017, Sabadash was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for embezzlement from the Bank Tavrichesky. Somov and Garkusha were sentenced to 7 years in prison each. Moreover, all defendants were fined 100,000 rubles ($1,300) each. According to case papers, from June to December 2013, Somov, Garkusha and Sabadash stole 190 million rubles by signing credit contracts in violation of a procedure of approval and processing of loans established in the bank. The defendants transferred the embezzled money to accounts of foreign companies controlled by Sabadash.

Sabadash was stripped of his seat in the parliaments upper house, the Federation Council, in 2006 after he was accused of carrying out business activities, which senators are forbidden to do.




Posted by Liam on at 09:25 AM CST

Welcome,readers! This week were coveringnovels with a series of articles and videos dedicated to one of the most exciting (and controversial!) Legends storylines ever released. Our Character Profile article will spotlight some of the most popular Legends characters of all-time, our Timeline Breakdown will explore connections to otherLegends media, and with Force Casting well fan cast some of our favorite characters! Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see Bobbys videos covering the subject.While younger viewers may know the names Ben Solo, Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron as the next generation ofheroes, many grew up hearing the names Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. These characters were first introduced as infants within Timothy Zahnsand later fleshed out in theandYA series, butsaga spotlighted the characters in a more mature setting that paved out the future of post-media.Between 1991 and 1999, Lucasfilm began introducing newbooks starting with. These novels introduced new characters like Luke Skywalkers bride Mara Jade and new heroes like Corran Horn, Kyle Katarn (star of the Dark Forces games), and Kip Durron. Most of these novels focused on the remaining Imperial threats left in the wake of Emperor Palpatines (presumed) death, with the Imperial Remnant officially surrendering to the New Republic in 1998sHowever, in 1999 (the same yearhit theaters), Lucasfilm decided to dramatically change up its plans for the post-era with the launch of the highly ambitiousseries. Nineteen books, beginning with 1999sand concluding with 2003schronicled the period between 25 and 29 A.B.Y. (after the Battle of Yavin, AKA after) in which a new threat to the Jedi Order emerged: the Yuuzhan Vong.Unlike the Empire, the alien species the Yuuzhan Vong came from a different galaxy and utilized organic weapons to genetically integrate entire planets. The Yuuzhan Vong hated technology and were organized into a strict caste system, with the Supreme Overlord plotting to take over the entire galaxy from the New Republic. The war that ensues across the nineteen books would be one of the deadliest and most destructive in Star Wars history.It was clear early on thatwasnt messing around; Chewbacca perishes in, and several other major characters are killed off within the series, including Anakin Solo in. Several other major changes occurred during the series including the birth of Luke and Mara Jades son Ben Skywalker and the New Republics reorganization into the Galactic Alliance.The dramatic circumstances sped up the character development of many of the key legends characters, particularly the Solo twins. Jacens developed a romance with Tennal Kal Djo, but he also flirted with the dark side of the force during his epic showdown against the Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord. Anakin Solos love interest Tahiri Veila, introduced in Junior Jedi Knights, would become a victim of Yuuzhan Vong torture and despite helping bridge a solution to end the war also began developing signs of the dark side.The nineteen books that constitute The New Jedi Order series include:(1999)Duology:(2000) &(2000)Duology:(2000) &(2000)(2000)Duology:(2001) &(2001)(2001)(2002)Duology:(2002) &(2002)(2002)(2002)Trilogy:(2003),(2003), &(2003)(2003)(2003)The importance ofwithinLegends cannot be overstated. The dramatic storylines worthy of the films themselves proved that the Expanded Universe had real stakes, and it laid the groundwork for the future development of the post-universe with later books. The series set aside the New Jedi Order vs. The Imperial Remnant conflict and finally allowed the younger characters to take the lead from Luke, Han, Leia, and Mara Jade, who all still served as major characters across the series.Obviously, everything inis non-canon at this point and most likely will not be integrated within the Disney canon given the very different storylines in the sequel trilogy. This means that the appeal of merchandise featuringcharacters holds even greater value for collectors. Jacen, Jaina, a Yuuzhan Vong soldier, Kyle Katarn, Nom Amor, YVH-1, and a-era Luke were all featured within the Legacy Collection figures, with Jaina Solo later appearing in the Black Series.Just becauseisnt canon doesnt mean it isnt a compelling storyline worth investing in, and telling this complex story over the course of an extended novel series provided opportunities that simply wouldnt be possible in a film trilogy. Having two alternate versions of the Solo children allows Legends fans and sequel trilogy fans to co-exist (I happen to be a big fan of both), so lets celebrate this beloved series!What do you think? Did you readseries? Did you like the darker approach, or did you think it went too far? Do you have a favorite book, moment, or character? Let us know, and as always, may the Force be with you!
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 amid ruckus by the Opposition which demanded discussion on the snooping row and the three Central farm laws.

Soon after the House resumed its session at 3.30 p.m., Deputy Speaker Rama Devi asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to introduce the proposed amendments to the Bill.

The amendments were introduced by Sitharaman after negating the amendments moved by RSP MP N.K. Premachandran.

Opposing the Bill, the Leader of Opposition, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, termed it as anti-people and anti-national which has been brought with an aim to benefit certain private players.

Dismissing Chowdhury's claims, Sitharaman said that his allegations are not correct and many private insurance companies are providing insurance facilities on very low premium rates.

She also said that if the Opposition wants to discuss this BIll, she would explain why it is not anti- people.

The Bill was passed by the House amid ruckus, following which the Deputy Speaker adjourned the proceedings for the day.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha was disrupted thrice on Monday as the Opposition was adamant on having discussions on the Pegasus snoopgate and the three farm laws.

The House was adjourned at 11:40 am, at around 12 noon and 2:20 pm.
The national General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee, claimed on Monday that his vehicle was attacked by BJP workers while he was returning to Agartala after offering puja at the famous Tripureswari temple in Udaipur in southern Tripura.

Abhishek Banerjee, while talking to the media here, said that BJP workers armed with lathis and bamboo sticks attacked his car, injuring three of his security personnel.

"To obstruct my travel to the Tripureswari temple, frequent road blockades were organised and even school students were used in the blockades," he said.

Subal Bhowmik, who jumped ship from the Congress to the Trinamool along with other party leaders on Friday, claimed that "BJP goons accompanied by party workers organised road blockades and attacked Banerjee".

"When the BJP workers and their goons attacked the convoy of Banerjee, the police remained a silent spectator," said Bhowmik, who had earlier quit the BJP to join the Congress in 2019.

Trinamool's Twitter handle shared some videos and posted: "Such blatant state-sponsored attacks on democracy can only be seen in BJP-ruled states! Last night in Agartala, posters of AITC and Abhishek Banerjee were torn. Did the BJP government in Tripura allow this? Will strict action be taken against the miscreants?"

West Tripura district Superintendent of Police Manik Lal Das told IANS: "I have no knowledge about any attack on Banerjee. Some people might have raised slogans when he was moving from Agartala to Udaipur."

Das also said that the police are probing the mater of tearing of Trinamool posters.

Tripura police spokesman Subrata Chakraborty said that they have not received any report of physical attack on Banerjee.

However, some people might have raised slogans during his journey to Udaipur, Chakraborty said.

Denying Trinamool's allegations, BJP's Gomati district committee chief Abhisek Debroy said that the party workers led by the leaders on Monday organised rallies and other events to highlight the successful implementation of central schemes in Tripura and the success of the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the state.

"It might be a Trinamool conspiracy to defame the BJP, as no party workers obstructed or attacked Banerjee's convoy during his visit to and from Udaipur," Debroy told the media.
Delhi University (DU) has started the admission process to undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses across various colleges affiliated to it. This year a large number of students have secured more than 95 per cent marks in their class 12 exams as a result of which students seeking admissions in DU colleges are likely to soar.

The last date for filling forms for seeking admissions to UG programmes is August 31. The admission process will be strictly online.

DU Vice-Chancellor P.C. Joshi said, it is true that this year a large number of students have secured good marks in Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE). "We have full respect for the results released by the CBSE and other state boards. The seats in colleges can be increased if required," he said.

Many DU colleges already have had a very high cut-offs for admissions in various courses. These colleges include Hindu College, Hansraj College, Ramjas College, Daulat Ram College, Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and St. Stephen's College.

The DU V-C said, this time the merit list may soar up even higher as compared to previous years. However, despite this, admissions in DU will be conducted on the basis of merit only.

The admission process for the UG courses in DU began on Monday (August 2) while that for the postgraduate programme started from July 26.

DU has decided to maintain the eligibility criteria of the last year for the benefit of the students keeping in view the challenges faced by the varsity due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

According to DU V-C Joshi, the varsity has also decided that there will be no change in the registration fee for merit-based and entrance test-based admissions. Centralized UG admissions will be done through a registration-cum-application form. All departments for entry to colleges will use the same registration-cum-application form for admissions and candidates will not have to fill any other form.

For PG programmes, candidates will have to fill up a registration form but have to pay a separate registration fee for opting for more than one PG programme.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to all state governments and union territories (UTs) on a plea complaining that people were being booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, which has been quashed by the top court.

A bench comprising justices R.F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai directed that notice should be served to registrar general of all high courts and listed the matter for further hearing after 4 weeks.

The Centre has told the top court it is the primary duty of states and UTs to stop registering cases under Section 66A of the IT Act after the provision was quashed by it. The Supreme Court, earlier this month, had said it was "shocking" and "distressing" that people were being booked under Section 66A though the provision was quashed.

On Monday, during the hearing the bench noted that judiciary's aspect can be taken care of separately, but there is police also who are charging people under this section. The bench said there needs to be one proper order because this cannot continue like this.

The Centre, in its affidavit, had said: "It is submitted that 'police' and 'public order' are state subjects as per the Constitution and prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes and capacity building of police personnel as primary responsibility of states".
Social media is abuzz with reports of 50 Pakistanis who went to fight as part of Taliban and have been killed.

"Lists of people who went to fight Afghan army and were killed in the last few months. All are Pakistani nationals and there is no Afghan refugee. Yes Mr. @ImranKhanPTI, Pakistan is not a sanctuary, Pakistan is waging this war by itself against Afghanistan. #SayNoToTerrorism," said Sohail Noor Khan in a tweet.

Khan has pointed out that Pakistani nationals are fighting the Afghan army and Pakistan is waging a war against Afghanistan.

Sohail Noor Khan added in another tweet a madrassa head in Peshawar is given 10 commandos for his security and this man is goading youngsters to carry out terrorism in Afghanistan.

"The man dressed in white is not a scientist or a politician but the superintendent of a madrassa in Peshawar's Taj Bazaar, named Rahimullah Haqqani, which encourages the Taliban to carry out terrorism in Afghanistan. Pakistan has given him 10 commandos his his security."

In another tweet, he said that Taliban are amassing its new fighters near Durand line.

"They're waiting for the authorisation from Pakistani military to open secret doors in the fences. These new fighters will reinforced the Taliban in front line," Khan said.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/02/2021 -- The global Mobility as a Service Market size is projected to reach USD 70.4 billion by 2030, from an estimated USD 4.7 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 31.1%. The growth of global mobility as a service market is influenced by factors such as increasing urbanization and smart city initiatives, growing overall on-demand mobility services, need to reduce CO2 emissions, and improved 4G/5G infrastructure and penetration of smartphones. Therefore, mobility as a service market is expected to witness significant growth in the future.



Electric Mobility as a Service is boosting the mobility as a service market. It combines highly innovative technologies and new business models to create conditions for the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles. For example, more than 20% of Communauto's fleet consists of electric vehicles. The use of electric vehicles not only reduces carbon emissions but also lowers noise and air pollution. It can also be cheaper to run per mile and reduces dependency on fossil fuels. Along with the use of electric vehicles, autonomous self-driving vehicles are expected to be used for ride-sharing purposes and would create immense opportunities for MaaS.



Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=78519888



With the growing popularity and usage of MaaS solutions, the journey management segment is expected to register the highest growth rate of 37.9% from 2020 to 2030. Journey management includes creating a seamless travel experience (single or multi-modal). It also includes providing a range of data generated by users over their transit to the network operators to better understand the network operation and feedback/requirements of users. Journey management allows users to choose any multi-modal commute along with personalization options. It is a dynamic service that gives users real-time information about traffic congestion for an optimized commute.



The bus sharing segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 39.5% from 2020 to 2030. MaaS players provide monthly passes or subscriptions for bus services, prompting customers to avail buses as a preferred mode for short as well as a long-distance commute. Bus sharing is an emerging concept with multiple pilot projects running across the world. The integration of bus services with private transport like ride-hailing and car sharing services will be the key to the success of the market for mobility as a service in this segment. Buses and cars are widely used for enterprise/corporate mobility. Thus, integrating on-demand car-sharing transportation with bus-sharing services will be highly efficient and easy to implement.



Request Free Sample Report @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=78519888



Asia Oceania is estimated to be the second-fastest-growing market due to growth in China, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia. The region is expected to lead the market by 2030. The Asia Oceania MaaS market is witnessing impressive growth with increasing mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and MaaS offerings. In 2018, Grab acquired Uber's Southeast Asia operations and merged Uber's ride-hailing and food delivery businesses with its own operations. In the same year, Toyota collaborated with Grab to expand ride-sharing and MaaS in Southeast Asia. Toyota invested USD 1 billion in Grab to boost its operations in more than 200 cities in the Southeast Asian region. In 2019, Grab integrated public transportation options in its app, and became the first company to introduce MaaS solutions for mass consumers in Thailand.



Key Market Players:



The global mobility as a service market is dominated by major players such as Moovit Inc. (Israel), MaaS Global Oy (Finland), Citymapper (UK), Mobilleo (UK), SkedGo Pty Ltd (Australia), UbiGo (Sweden), Splyt (UK), Qixxit (Germany), Communauto (Canada), and Tranzer (Netherlands). These companies offer extensive MaaS services and have strong distribution networks at a global level. These companies have developed new solutions; adopted expansion strategies; and undertaken collaborations, partnerships, and mergers & acquisitions to gain traction in the growing market for mobility as a service.



To speak to our analyst for a discussion on the above findings, click Speak to Analyst
A team of planetary scientists from the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute has combined computer models of asteroid evolution with observations of known asteroids to investigate the frequency of so-called Chicxulub events.

At the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago, a 10-km impactor crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico.

The impact unleashed an incredible amount of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that led to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and 75% of life on the planet.

Over the last several decades, much has been learned about the Chicxulub event, but every advance has led to new questions.

Two critical ones still unanswered are: What was the source of the impactor? and How often did such impact events occur on Earth in the past? said Dr. William Bottke, co-author of the study.

The Chicxulub impactor was similar to the carbonaceous chondrite class of meteorites, some of the most pristine materials in the Solar System.

Curiously, while carbonaceous chondrites are common among the many large bodies that approach the Earth, none today are close to the sizes needed to produce the Chicxulub impact with any kind of reasonable probability.

We decided to look for where the siblings of the Chicxulub impactor might be hiding, said Dr. David Nesvorny, lead author of the study.

The researchers used computer models that track how objects escape the main asteroid belt, a zone of small bodies located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Over eons, thermal forces allow these objects to drift into dynamical escape hatches where the gravitational kicks of the planets can push them into orbits nearing Earth.

Using NASAs Pleaides Supercomputer, they followed 130,000 model asteroids evolving in this slow, steady manner for hundreds of millions of years.

Particular attention was given to asteroids located in the outer half of the asteroid belt, the part that is furthest from the Sun.

To their surprise, the scientists found that 10-km-wide asteroids from this region strike the Earth at least 10 times more often than previously calculated.

This result is intriguing not only because the outer half of the asteroid belt is home to large numbers of carbonaceous chondrite impactors, but also because the teams simulations can, for the first time, reproduce the orbits of large asteroids on the verge of approaching Earth, said Dr. Simone Marchi, co-author of the study.

Our explanation for the source of the Chicxulub impactor fits in beautifully with what we already know about how asteroids evolve.

Overall, the authors found that 10-km-wide asteroids hit the Earth once every 250 million years on average, a timescale that yields reasonable odds that the Chicxulub crater occurred 66 million years ago.

Moreover, nearly half of impacts were from carbonaceous chondrites, a good match with what is known about the Chicxulub impactor.

This work will help us better understand the nature of the Chicxulub impact, while also telling us where other large impactors from Earths deep past might have originated, Dr. Nesvorny said.

The findings appear in the journal Icarus.

_____

David Nesvorny et al. 2021. Dark primitive asteroids account for a large share of K/Pg-scale impacts on the Earth. Icarus 368: 114621; doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114621
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On July 26, the Honorable Ministers of General Affairs Silveria Jacobs; Justice, Anna Richardson; Finance, Ardwell Irion; TEATT, Ludmila de Weever; and Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, drs. Rodolphe Samuel; met with the Committee for Civil Servants Unions (CCSU) members; WICSU-PSU, WITU, ABVO with representatives of NAPB to continue the discussion on the 12.5% cost-cutting measures on the employment benefits. After calculations were finalized by the Ministry of Finance, the government paid out the 3% (50% vacation allowance) withheld since June 2020 during the first two weeks of July 2021.





During the meeting, Minister Irion presented two proposals from the government per article 112h of the LMA, this in keeping with the fact that the Constitutional Courts verdict is still outstanding. The first proposal represented a package to cover the 3% (50% vacation allowance) already paid out. Parties agreed that the 3% vacation allowance 2019-2020, paid out to government workers based on June 29, 2021, will be compensated by;





a) A reduction in the vacation days (2019-2020: by 2.8%)





b) The elimination of payment of overtime across the board except for the Ministry of Justice (0.2%)





The second proposal regarded the payment of the 2020-2021 vacation allowance, owed. Though liquidity remains a challenge, and the Government intends to pay out the balance of the 6% owed for 2021, parties agreed that Government would look into the possibility to consider the benefits mentioned in article 112h of the LMA, as personnel-related benefits. In so doing, some of the benefits such as travel expenditures, uniform allowances, and the compensation for the usage of personal vehicles to execute work-related services, could be accepted by CFT as personnel-related benefits, and be cut accordingly.





Prime Minister Jacobs stated, These quarterly meetings will continue together with the Council of Minister and the CCSU members in the interest of our civil servants. We will also meet again with the union members once the Constitutional Court renders its decision on the petition of the Ombudsman regarding the 12.5% cost-cutting national ordinances.





Discussions on the issuance of the 6% vacation allowance owed will resume once Government has information to share with the CCSU membership.




The Status of Crimea Is Far More Complicated Than Western Media Admits

All of this is simply to point out that the issues surrounding the status of Crimea are far more complicated than as usually presented in the American press.

by James W. Carden

If there were a moral to be drawn from the Crimean War which might apply to the present it would be this: in a war between Russia and the West, it is the powers which keep out who will be the the real gainers AJP Taylor, February 1951

The issue of Crimea has been back in the news of late, but if Professor Taylors insight is anything to go by, perhaps it never really went away.

Last month, the British naval carrier, HMS Defender, was fired upon by Russian forces patrolling the Black Sea. The Defender was there (with, perhaps not coincidentally, a contingent from the BBC) for the ostensible purpose of supporting Ukraines territorial integrity.

Shortly thereafter, NATO held a large naval exercise in the Black Sea which was then shortly followed by a joint military exercise between the US, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania in Western Ukraine.

Given all this activity, now might be a good time to revisit some history that is at risk of being lost and which might help lend a different perspective as to what has been unfolding in the region since the fall of communism some thirty years ago.

It is not defending Russias actions in 2014 to acknowledge that Putins motives in annexing Crimea are not hard to discern.

The most recent round of geo-politicking around the status of Crimea began in 2008 at a NATO Summit in Bucharest where the worlds largest military alliance declared that the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine would become members of NATO. Russias response, only months later, was to invade Georgia in response to a wondrously ill-considered provocation by then-Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.

Some years later, in March 2014, in the aftermath of a violent street coup fomented by a tacit alliance between Ukraines westernizing liberals and its fascist far-right, three former Ukrainian presidents (Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yuschenko) issued a call to tear up the Kharkiv Pact, an agreement which gave Russia rights to base their Black Sea Fleet in Crimea until 2042 in exchange for discounted prices on Russian natural gas.

Given NATOs clear designs on Ukraine (what the National Endowment for Democracys outgoing president Carl Gershman has called the biggest prize of the post-Soviet space) the national security threat this posed to Russia cannot be easily dismissed.

The new government, led by the State Departments hand picked premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk quickly moved to delegitimize the Russian language and to make pariahs out of 1/3 of the country by launching an anti-terrorist operation that was led by the neo-Nazi Azov battalion which targeted both civilians and combatants in the Russo-phone east of the country.

These moves by Kiev directly challenged Putins policy of protecting Russian minorities abroad and so, a war which has killed over 13,000 people and resulted in the displacement of over a million commenced.

For all the debate over Crimea, one voice that is rarely cited by commentators in the West is that of the late Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Recall that during the first cold war Solzhenitsyn was a favorite of American hardliners like Washington senator Henry Scoop Jackson and the founder of the postwar American conservative movement, William F. Buckley.

Today Solzhenitsyn is held up as an exemplar of Western values among both popular conservative writers and also among some far less thoughtful neocon apparatchiks.

Though not often cited, Solzhenitsyn wrote about the status of Crimea and Russias relations with post-Soviet Ukraine in a small but powerful book published in 1994 called The Russia Question.

In it, Solzhenitsyn describes with barely concealed contempt how Russian president Boris Yeltsin bungled the breakup of the Union treaty at a clandestine meeting he held with the sitting presidents of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Ukraine and Belarus in a small forest town outside of Minsk in December 1991. It was there, according to contemporaneous press reports, writes Solzhenitsyn, that Ukrainian leader

Kravchuk promised his colleaguesa real and indissoluble union , invisible borders, a single army and currency. But all this soon turned out to be a lie. Nothing of the kind was formed and after some time Kravchuk openly declared: we must end the myth of invisible borders.

While expressing best wishes for the development of Ukrainian culture and distinctiveness Solzhenitsyn noted the irony of seeing

Ukraines nationalists, who in the past so staunchly opposed Communism, and in all, it seemed, cursed Lenin, sorely tempted from the first by his poisoned gift: eagerly accepting the false Leninist borders of Ukraine (including even the Crimean dowry of the petty tyrant Khrushchev).

As Solzhenitsyn makes clear, the US has been trying to pull not only Crimea but the Russian naval port city Sevastopol into the Wests sphere of influence for the past thirty years. Solzhenitsyn notes that the American ambassador to Ukraine, an ethnic Ukrainian by the name of Roman Popadiuck

had the gall to declare that Sevastopol rightly belongs to Ukraine. Based on what historical erudition or relying on what legal foundations did he pronounce this learned judgement?he failed to clarify. Why should he, when the State Department immediately supported his opinion? Thisregarding Sevastopol, which even the madcap Khrushchev did not conceive of granting to Ukraine, for it was excluded from the Crimea as a city under Moscows direct administrative supervision. (May one ask: what business is it of the State Department to comment on Sevastopol at all?)

All of this is simply to point out that the issues surrounding the status of Crimea are far more complicated than as usually presented in the American press. The best course of action with regard to Crimea may well be that as suggested by AJP Taylor some seventy years ago.

Author Bio: James W. Carden is a former adviser to the US state department and a frequent contributor to The American Conservative and The Quincy Institutes Responsible Statecraft.

Source: Globetrotter

Credit Line: This article was produced in partnership between ACURA and Globetrotter.
Many wonders as to whether China would go the same way as Hitlers Germany or whether Xi Jinping's China would succeed where Hitler failed.

by N.S.Venkataraman

Observing the aggressive and expansionist policies of China and its unconcealed ambition to become the unquestioned world super power , one cannot but tend to compare Xi Jinpings China with Hitlers Germany, which also had similar ambitions. There are many things common between todays China and Hitlers Germany

Many wonders as to whether China would go the same way as Hitlers Germany or whether Xi Jinping's China would succeed where Hitler failed.

It appears that Xi JinPing is a great admirer of Hitler as he is following Hitlers foot steps meticulously. In Hitlers Germany, dissenters were suppressed and jews were massacred. Under Xi Jinping , there is on going genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and no dissenter in China can survive today. The massacre of innocent Tibetans who protested against Chinas occupation indicate the similarity in the mindset between Xi Jinping and Hitler

While Hitler claimed that his was the Nazi government, Xi Jinping claims that his is communist government. However, in practical terms , there is no difference between these two claimed form of governance , as suppression of freedom , ruthless elimination of dissenters and lack of transparency in administration are the hallmark of Hitlers Germany and Xi Jinpings China.

In Hitlers Germany, tremendous breakthrough in the field of engineering and technology happened, which emboldened Hitler to build a powerful military force to challenge the world. Similarly, today, China has made remarkable progress in the scientific and industrial field , which has boosted the confidence of Xi Jinping and he has strengthened his military in a way that China can confront the world if a war were to happen.

Hitlers Germany aligned itself with Italy and Japan to advance its expansionist and world domination ambition. In the same way, Xi Jinping is forming unequal alliance with Pakistan, North Korea and is increasing its influence in decisive way in several developing countries by extending loan and making them debt ridden and ensuring that they can never get out of Chinas grip.

Hitlers target was Britain as he thought that conquering Britain would ensure that Hitlers Germany could emerge as unchallenged super power in the world, particularly since Britain was occupying number of countries in the world such as in Asian sub continent and other regions. Hitlers view was that conquering Britain would be the pre condition to achieve his ambition of controlling the world.

In almost similar way, Xi Jinpings China wants to conquer Asia first and bring it under its total control , so that Chinas march towards super power status would remain unhindered.

To bring Asia under its control, China has to necessarily destabilise India and weaken the country , so that India cannot block Chinas goal. Chinas aggressive occupation of Tibet , its threat to invade Taiwan and ruthless suppression of freedom fighters in Hong Kong and occupying Indias territory and claiming part of India as its own are all part of Xi Jinpings long term plans and strategies. Further, by making claim with regard to South China Sea, China is also challenging other countries like Phillipines and is also confronting Japan.

With Pakistan under its near total control, it is now a question of time when Afghanistan would go under Chinas thumb. With this strategy, China would continue to harass India and perhaps, by using unethical ways, it may even buy some Indian groups to create internal turbulence.

All said and done, India by itself cannot face attack from China, particularly with countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan under Chinas control. India need the support of western countries and particularly USA.

By withdrawing from Afghanistan all of a sudden, President Joe Biden seems to be behaving like Lord Chamberlain, who was the weak Prime Minister of Britain before Winston Churchill.

Joe Biden seems to be thinking that other countries should solve their problems . This is a weak and counter productive policy and shows a weakness in approach that Lord Chamberlain showed towards Hitler

Today, world is certainly fearing China and not so much respecting it, in the same way that Hitlers Germany was looked upon before the II World War.

China has made its intentions and priorities clear and nobody needs to expect that China will mend its ways. Hitler never did and Xi Jinping will never do.

In such circumstances, the world has no alternative other than confronting China and its allies in the same way the world did with regard to Hitlers Germany and its allies.

.Winston Churchill arrived on the scene in Britain and led the war against Hitler replacing Chamberlain. The question remains whether Churchill like leader would emerge in USA or any other country to make China behave.

As of now, one has to keep the fingers crossed.

The ultimate proof that China has been contained is the liberation of Tibet from Chinas vice like grip
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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b0e4a38)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00ea65458)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b0e4a38)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00ea65458)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00f226820)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00ea65458)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00ea65458)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00acf8480)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00bb6d1a8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00bb6d1a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b624cf8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b65de90)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b624cf8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b65de90)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b5ba188)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b65de90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b65de90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00acf9450)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00b5d94a8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00b5d94a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b490780)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b4d9640)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b490780)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b4d9640)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fc00b2bf160)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b4d9640)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00b4d9640)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fc00acf8fa0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00b581578)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fc00b581578)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Another online SDR now operational in Iceland The KiwiSDR remote receiver at Blafjoll in Iceland covers all the amateur HF bands from 160 to 10 metres



A translation of the IRA post reads:



The KiwiSDR receiver, which was moved from Skeljanes last April and has been stored by Erling Gunason TF3E ever since, was moved this morning, July 30, back to Blafjoll.

URL: http://blafjoll.utvarp.com or http://bla.utvarp.com



The receiver is now located inside a heated house and uses a 70 meter long wire antenna for the amateur bands from 160 to 10 meters. Unim from the Ultimax 100 is used to lower the virtual resistance to the feed point.



Ari orolfur Johannesson TF1A and Georg Kulp TF3GZ made a trip to the mountain today and completed the installation. Those members believe that the current installation should ensure the smooth operation of the receiver on the mountain.



Two other KiwiSDR receivers over the Internet are active; at Bjargtangar in Vesturbygg and at Raufarhofn. URLs:

Bjargtangar: http://bjarg.utvarp.com/

Raufarhofn: http://raufarhofn.utvarp.com/



Thanks to Ara orolfur Johannesson, TF1A and Georg Kulp, TF3GZ for a valuable contribution. This is an important addition for radio amateurs who experiment in these frequency ranges, as well as listeners and anyone interested in the spread of radio waves. Furthermore, thanks to Erling Gunason, TF3E for running under the rug with saving the receiver since last April



Soure IRA https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Iceland
ARISS contact scheduled for students in Kyoto, Japan

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts.

ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).

This will be a direct contact via amateur radio between students at the Notre Dame Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, amateur radio call sign KG5FYG . Students will take turns asking their questions. English is the language that will be used for this contact.

Onsite access will be provided to the student body at the time of the contact, and will be following Covid-19 guidelines. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the radio relay ground station.

Amateur radio operators, using the 8N3ND call sign, will operate the ham radio ground station for this contact.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for August 3, 2021 at 8:10 pm JST (Kyoto, Japan), (11:10 UTC, 7:10 am EDT, 6:10 am CDT, 5:10 am MDT and 4:10 am PDT).

Notre Dame Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School was established for women in 1952. The schools programs leading up to this contact have incorporated studies of amateur radio, the ISS, living in space, space exploration, and earth sciences. Other student activities involved experiments in electronics related to space, space food, and learning about the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. To publicize the ARISS contact to other youth, students provided illustrations for an information booth during the Tachibana school festival.

The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://youtu.be/4uL-kHi1Bsw

As time allows, students will ask these questions (Translation):

1. When did you decide to become an astronaut?

2. Was your mission impacted by COVID-19 restrictions? What measures were taken to stay safe and healthy?

3. How many pieces of luggage can you usually bring from the earth? Also, what did you bring this time?

4. How do you move from a spacecraft or rocket to the ISS?

5. What is the best thing about being in space?

6. What was the most dangerous thing you experienced?

7. What do you do if you get ill?

8. What do you want to do after you come back to earth?

9. How did you learn English?

10. How do you maintain levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the ISS?

11. What made you want to become an astronaut?

12. What did you think when you first experienced weightlessness?

13. At what altitude are you flying?

ARISS  Celebrating 20 Years of Continuous Amateur Radio Operations on the ISS

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASAs Space communications and Navigation program.

The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org .

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Search on Amateur Radio on the ISS and @ARISS_status.

Check out ARISS on Youtube.com.
Prosecution for possessing a prohibited radio

Recently, New Zealand's Radio Spectrum Management successfully brought charges against Moko Turner who was found guilty of possessing an Unrestricted Two Way Radio. The prohibited radio was found in Mr Turners vehicle by police officers during a routine pull over.

On further analysis, the prohibited radio had police frequencies programmed into the unit and was able to transmit on police channels. Mr Turner appeared in the Whangarei District Court and was found guilty of charges under the Radiocommunications Act 1989, s113 and s114.

It is illegal for any person (apart from NZ Police) to transmit on Police channels. Unsolicited radiocommunications can cause serious harm and put Officers and the New Zealand public in danger.

Radio Spectrum Management takes a very serious stance against those who disrupt or cause interference to Police or other emergency services.
The uniqueness of the Walpola Rahula Institute in Sri Lanka, begun by Venerable Galkande Dhammananda the only Monk pupil of late Walpola Rahula Thero, probably one the greatest visionaries of our time, is depicted by the above notice that greets all visitors to the Institute at its entrance.

by Raj Gonsalkorale

The multi religious and multi ethnic approach taken by the Walpola Rahula Institute (WRI) and its head, Venerable Galkande Dhammananda to advance social healing amongst all people in Sri Lanka and elsewhere is set to take a major step forward with the increasing focus on online programs that could potentially reach vast audiences from the comfort of their homes. In the context of widespread ritualism experienced and expressed as Buddhism in Sri Lanka, the focus on Buddhas teachings on the principles of his doctrine and the need for society to be healed of many mental wounds they carry, the WRI and Venerable Dhammananda offers a breath of fresh air to those who are confused and even disillusioned with ritualism that is being expressed as Buddhism.

The uniqueness of the Walpola Rahula Institute in Sri Lanka, begun by Venerable Galkande Dhammananda the only Monk pupil of late Walpola Rahula Thero, probably one the greatest visionaries of our time, is depicted by the above notice that greets all visitors to the Institute at its entrance.

It is unlikely that any other Buddhist institution in Sri Lanka portrays Buddhas fundamental message to human beings as the WRI has done. On account of this openness, it has attracted patrons from all ethnicities, religions and diverse backgrounds, to its premises and its activities.Human Rights Advocate Radhika Coomaraswamy who was a guest speaker at an event conducted by the WRI a while ago said she felt safe in the environment of the WRI.

Over the last 6 years, the Walpola Rahula Institute, led by Ven Dhammananda, and with the participation of its volunteers, and staff have been working tirelessly conducting projects, programs and discussions to achieve Social Healing. Ven Dhammanandas consistent message has been that the principle of dependent origination or Paticca Samuppada is the cause for many conflicts and they have risen from wounded minds which give rise to unwholesome thoughts and which in turn give rise to unfortunate and harmful action, and that this cycle repeats itself without a healing of the wounded. Taken as a collective, societies, which are collection of individuals, in turn experience this same phenomenon of dependent origination, and they will continue to deviate from right thought and right action unless there is social healing. The fundamental theme underlying activities of the WRI has been the dictum Bahujana Hithaya, Bahujana Sukhaya, for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many.

The Twin Schools Project that was done in 2017, linking two under privileged rural schools, one a Tamil medium school in Therankadal, near Killinochchi and the other, a Sinhala medium school in Kebithigollewa, near Anuradhapura, epitomised the objective of social healing through joint activities between the two schools, transcending man made barriers that stood in the way of social healing through closer human interaction. It needs to be noted that these two schools were located in areas that experienced the hostilities during the last war between LTTE combatants and the Sri Lankan Forces.

This, and many other programs initiated by Ven Dhammananda, including an educational program for young novice Monks, multi religious discussion forums, counselling for victims of floods and other natural disasters, as well as victims of man-made disasters such as attacks on Muslims, and Christians like the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, were all directed towards drawing attention for the need for social healing to overcome conflict.

Another notable event in 2019 was the translation into English of one of late Venerable Walpola Rahulas seminal works, Sathoyadaya, into English. This was all the more significant as the scholarly translation was done by a person of Tamil ethnicity, Mr Niranjan Selvadurai.

In keeping with the times arising from the COVID pandemic, and the inability to arrange face to face programs, Ven Dhammananda chartered a new course to bring healing messages via online platforms commencing in 2020.

On the 21st of June this year, eLanka and other eJournals like the Sri Lanka Guardian carried articles about the expansion of online programs on social healing being conducted by the Walpola Rahula Institute (WRI) of Sri Lanka (see https://www.elanka.com.au/walpola-rahula-institute-sri-lanka-expands-online-programs-on-social-healing-by-a-well-wisher-of-the-walpola-rahula-institute/. This article provided some details about the current and intended activities of the WRI.

The WRI has made much progress to broad base online programs and two key developments have happened in the recent past. A specialist on program development (both technical and on content, design and themes) has been recruited, along with another person, who is a Tamil, to assist with program development as well as to undertake and provide translations to Tamil of all programs conducted in Sinhala. Their mobilisation has been delayed due to the COVID pandemic and travel restrictions, but it is very likely that the program development work will commence in August and September.

All such programs will be broadcast over the YouTube channel Rahula Dhammavahini, and other means such as Podcasts. The overriding theme that Venerable Galkande Dhammananda will be focusing on will be social healing. Venerable Dhammananda and the WRI is being assisted by forty patrons who have subscribed to participate in this broad based online program and meet all connected expenditure for a period of one year. It is noteworthy that amongst the 40 Patrons are Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils, showing clearly that the doors of the Walpola Rahula Institute are open to everyone irrespective of their religion or ethnicity.

Mini Studio construction work begins on the 15th of July 2021

While programs will be recorded in a temporary studio arrangement within the premises of the WRI, progress has been made on the new mini studio construction that commenced on the 15th of July. Over 70 persons belonging to all ethnicities and religions have contributed to this project, and are still doing so. It is likely that the building will have a roof within the next 4-6 weeks, and internal work would commence soon after. All internal work will be supervised by an expert in sound engineering inorder to ensure programs of the highest quality are produced and broadcast to well-wishers and the general public

Progress on the 26th of July 2021

More information on the progress, and on the planned programs will be available from mid-August onwards. Meanwhile, anyone wishing to get more information or wish to make a contribution towards the studio construction project may do so by contacting the following

Venerable Galkande Dhammananda (galkandedhammananda@gmail.com) and/orKamal Jayashantha, WRI Program Coordinator & Research Officer (Email wriprogcoordinator@gmail.com)

Regular programs including monthly Poya day Metta meditation sessions, remembrance events such as birthdays, death anniversaries, customary seventh day and 3 months family blessings for loved ones who have passed away, are conducted regularly using online methodologies. Besides this, a monthly Dhamma discussion with Venerable Uduhavara Ananda Thero takes place on the 3rd Sunday of every month.

Recordings of past programs are available on the YouTube channel Rahula Dhammavahini (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rahula+dhamma+vahini)

WRI also has a calendar program where a person could take one day every month as a remembrance day for loved ones. During the Monthly Metta session, all such persons nominated by a person who has taken a day during that month, will be remembered and blessings invoked on them. Those who wish to support the WRI and its activities could do so with a contribution of Rs 5000/= for the allocation of one day every year.

Ven Dhammananda does not encourage material offerings to him for any event or programs he conducts, and instead appeals to those who wish tomake such offerings to do so to one of projects conducted by the WRI. This is entirely voluntary and anyone who wishes to invoke blessings to a loved is free to do so and contact Ven Dhammananda in advance of the day in question.

The Walpola Rahula Trust also boasts of a library that has a collection of over 6000 valuable books, collected by late Venerable Walpola Rahula over many years. The Library is now the corner stone of the Walpola Rahula Research Centre and its catalogue may be accessed via the WRI website (http:www.walpolarahula.institute/library/). Books that will be of interest to a research library focussing on Social Healing would be welcome and the Research Officer Mr Kamal Jayashantha (wriprogcoordinator@gmail.com) may be contacted in advance if donors have any books they wish to donate to the library.Future research oriented programs are being worked out now, and details will be made available soon.

Programs and activities, including reports and photographs of past activities, area available on the WRI website at http://www.walpolarahula.institute/
Those are still well below the 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day seen during the worst of the outbreak, in January. But some places around the country are watching caseloads reach their highest levels since the pandemic began. And nearly all deaths and serious illnesses now are in unvaccinated people.
Why: A whopping 40 violations (10 of which were high priority), led by 64 live roaches inside a storage unit for clean sanitized utensils and chicken bouillon, scuttling underneath a prep table and across a container of beans, and crawling on the floor and inside a storage unit where sanitized pots and pans are stored. Inspectors also spotted 120 dead cockroaches stored in container with clean sanitized utensils in kitchen, beneath the kitchen oven, behind stove, under a shelf where spices are stored, inside light shields above kitchen prep table and inside the reach-in cooler. An inspector also noticed an objectionable odor in kitchen area and in bathroom, and found raw turkey thawing in standing water in  sink with dirty dishes stored on the left and right. Next, inspectors saw seven rodent droppings on floor beside stove cooking uncovered cornmeal, on prep shelf in front of microwave and inside reach-in freezer. One inspector saw an employee cleaning the freezer, then portioned cornmeal, raw meat and washed sink without changing gloves. The restaurant was also ordered to throw away its pikliz due to temperature abuse. A July 31 follow-up inspection found 40 more live roaches, and the restaurant remains closed until a follow-up state inspection clears them to reopen.
At one point a representative from the Miramar-based airline told the crowd one of the flights was being delayed because they were still waiting for a flight attendant, Quinones said. However, they ended up canceling the flight at 1 a.m., attributing it to weather issues, causing an angry reaction from the crowd of passengers, Quinones said. The two other flights were canceled shortly after.
Over the years, Terry Jo Duperrault changed her name and, in Alone, the memoir she co-authored, said that in the years after the tragedy, she managed to carve out a full life, with meaningful work and children of her own.
When Giddings entered the ethics hearing on Monday, she was met with applause, shouts of support and a standing ovation by some supporters in the audience  which included some militia members and others with far-right political activist groups. Some wore shirts with messages of support, including victims for Priscilla, and Stand with Priscilla, fighting for our freedom.
Sharief said money isnt the most important factor in the race. I think that my experience and my platform is going to carry me through to the finish line, she said. Im looking to continue to raise money and doing what I have to do to win.
But in a July 16 motion for a transfer to the Middle District, DeSantis administration attorneys said the case presents the same issue that is being litigated in the states lawsuit against the CDC. That issue centers on what is known as a conditional sailing order in which the CDC required cruise operators to meet a series of requirements before they could resume cruises after being shut down early in the pandemic.
This matters because of the long, documented history of exclusion and prejudice in federal farm lending against farmers of color who have been denied loans, had credit applications ignored or delayed, and have had millions of acres in farmland dispossessed. In the past century, Black farmers nationwide have lost 12 million acres of land, while Florida has seen an 85% decrease in Black farmers, down to just 2,000 today. And during this pandemic, just 0.1% of COVID farm aid went to Black farmers. These are vital steps along the arc of justice and inclusion for those left out from prosperity.
Choosing to expose yourself to a deadly pandemic by refusing to be vaccinated, wear a mask or practice social distancing where necessary is a personal choice with public consequences. It scoffs at personal responsibility. People who dont vaccinate against COVID-19 risk not just their own lives, but the lives of others whom they could infect before they know they are infected.
In February, I received a non-renewal letter from my home insurance company. I have never filed a claim. Never! The house has never had a claimed filed on it since it was built. After many denials, I recently got insurance  after upgrading the roof and everything in the home my agent told me I should upgrade to appease any remaining insurance company left in Florida that might cover me.
The Junta de Andalucia's head, Juanma Moreno, will preside over a meeting of the regional government's Committee of Covid experts in Malaga this Monday afternoon (2 August).

The Advisory Council of High Impact Public Health Alerts (Committee of Experts) will meet in Malaga to study the evolution of the pandemic in Andalucia and will discuss new measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the region.

This Monday (2 August) Andalucia has a total of 4,467 positive cases of coronavirus which includes Sunday, 1 August, a high figure but the lowest since last Wednesday (3,848), according to data from the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalucia (IECA ), which has also added seven deaths, in line with Saturday (seven), but more than last Monday (one).

The regions cumulative incidence rate has seen 32 consecutive days of increases and stands at 584.3 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, two points more in 48 hours - the rate is not updated on Sundays - and 71.5 more points in a week. The region has not had such a high rate since February 12 (583.7).

The 4,467 positives on Monday and Sunday are recorded after 5,138 on Saturday, 5,099 on Friday, 4,893 on Thursday, 3,848 on Wednesday, 4,754 on Tuesday and 4,673 last Monday and Sunday.

By provinces, Seville (942) overtakes Malaga (942) as the one that adds the most, followed by Cadiz with 739, Jaen with 428, Granada with 407, Huelva with 365, Almeria with 360 and Cordoba with 260.

The seven deaths were registered in Malaga (five), Granada and Cordoba (one in each).
An emblematic, five-star, luxury hotel on the Costa del Sol has a new owner after the largest hotel investment deal in Spain, so far, this year.

The Canadian fund Brookfield Asset Management is the new owner of the 299-room Don Carlos Resort and Spa in Marbella after it acquired the Selenta Group and its four hotels in a deal worth 440 million euros.

Brookfield manages assets valued at $600 billion in more than 30 countries around the world.

As well as the Don Carlos the group has acquired the Sofia Barcelona hotel, a five-star grand luxury hotel with 465 rooms, operated under the Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand; the Expo hotel in Barcelona, with four stars and 435 rooms; and the holiday complex Mare Nostrum Resort, in Tenerife, with a five-star rating and 1,037 rooms.

"In total there are 2,237 rooms in prime locations and will continue to be operated by Selenta Group," Colliers, an industry consulting company, points out.

Laura Hernando, Managing Director of Hotels at Colliers, says that Brookfield's move allows it to acquire a portfolio of quality assets in the main Spanish tourist destinations, as well as a consolidated management platform from which to develop its growth plan in Spain. The deal is the largest this year.

The Don Carlos has a long and colourful history that began when the North American Conrad Hilton opened the emblematic Don Carlos, a five-star luxury hotel, whose characteristic high-rise tower broke the aesthetic of the coastal landscape of a Mediterranean town back in 1969.

The benchmark of luxury on the Costa del Sol has hosted many famous names in their largest suite with adjoining rooms on the 14th floor.
The man who suffered a paragliding accident in Villanueva de Cauche (Antequera), last Wednesday, died on Sunday at a Malaga hospital .

Enrique Morales, was a Junta de Andalucia environmental agent, assigned to the Axarquia area as a forest guardian. He was 45 years old.

The Medio Ambiente service reported the death of their agent saying, "Rest in peace; our condolences to family, friends and colleagues.

The accident occurred around 8pm of last Wednesday, when an eye witness called the 112 emergency services to report that they had seen a paraglider hit a hillside in a climbing area known as' Yugoslavia ', located in the Antequera district of Villanueva de Cauche.

An complex operation was launched to find Enrique involving the Guardia Civil, members of the Malaga fire brigade, Local Police, Civil Protection volunteers and health workers.

Enrique was rushed to hospital in Malaga in a serious condition and since then he was treated until Sunday, when he died of the injuries.
The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna have increased the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines through a new agreement with the European Union, according the UKs Financial Times, which has seen the contract.

The price of Pfizer's vaccine increased from 15.50 euros ($18.39) to 19.50 euros ($23.14) per unit and Moderna's, from 19 euros ($22.50) to 21.50 euros ($25.50), according to the British financial newspaper.

This increase comes at a time when the delta variant is more prominent, which the vaccines of the American companies Pfizer and Moderna should be more effective in preventing severe forms of the coronavirus, according to the first studies.

Contacted by the AFP news agency, the European Commission declined to comment. The pharmaceutical companies did not respond either.

Brussels has always refused to reveal the price of its orders for the vaccines, although in December a Belgian minister revealed it on Twitter, before quickly deleting it.

In May, the EU agreed a new contract with Pfizer / BioNTech to purchase 1.8 billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccine through 2023, although it did not indicate the price.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in July that they had achieved their goal of having enough doses to vaccinate 70 per cent of adult Europeans (336 million people).

The European countries' joint vaccine purchase programme ordered some 330 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer, 100 million from AstraZeneca, 50 million from Moderna and 20 million from Johnson & Johnson.
Last week, Spain's Ministry of Health announced the signing of a three-way agreement between the Government, AstraZeneca and Covax (the programme for donating vaccines to third countries). The deal means that the Anglo-Swedish laboratory will begin to send, directly to Latin America, the more than 20 million doses that Spain, despite having paid for them, is not willing to use. This is despite the fact that Spain has not even reached 60 per cent of its population immunised yet.

The agreement was struck after the department, headed by Carolina Darias, made public that it was not going to continue distributing doses of AstraZeneca among the regions. First, though, it had verified that there were enough vaccines in their freezers to administer the second jab to the people who had only had one, especially those in their sixties, the age group for whom the AstraZeneca formula had been reserved after its use was banned for the under-60s after rare blood clots had been detected in spring.

The Ministry of Health disregarded the advice of the European Medicines Agency and stopped the vaccination of essential workers under 60 (police, firefighters, pharmacists and military personnel) who had a first dose of the AstraZeneca and then recommended, without much success, they completed their vaccination with a second dose of Pfizer.

The department has already announced that it will not sign any more contracts with AstraZeneca (or Janssen - the other adenovirus technology vaccine), and will end its troubled relationship with the British laboratory. Some 9.5 million doses of the formula were administered in Spain giving protection against the virus to slightly more than 4.4 million people, 9.3 per cent of the population.

The seventh Pharmacovigilance Report on Covid Vaccines of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps) published this week has dedicated a substantial part of the dossier to analysing what happened with Vaxzevria, the commercial name of the Astra Zeneca formula.

Until 11 July, the final date of the study, 8,482,164 doses of Vaxzevria were administered in Spain, to 5,062,425 people. According to age groups, 83 per cent of recipients were between 18 and 65 years old and 17 per cent were over 65.

During this period, 10,058 notifications of adverse events after a jab were registered in the Fedra database and the majority corresponded to women (74 per cent) and people between 18 and 65 years of age (96 per cent). Of all the notifications registered, some 2,252 were considered serious.

Ministry of Health studies concluded that with the Oxford vaccine there is more than twice the possibility of serious reactions than with any other of the three authorised formulas in Spain.

Fedra reveals that the possibility of suffering a serious problem after a jab with AstraZeneca is one in 3,766, a ratio that rises to one in 7,136 with Moderna; to one in 9,953 with Pfizer; to one in 10,441 with Janssen.

Without a doubt, the biggest fear of AstraZeneca was the 'very rare' cases of thrombosis (formation of blood clots in the blood vessels) with thrombocytopenia (low levels of platelets), known as Thrombocytopenia Thrombosis Syndrome (TTS).

The Ministry of Health explains that in the EU, until 27 June, 479 cases had been reported, of which one hundred had a fatal outcome. All this after more than 51 million doses of the vaccine were administered in Europe, which implies one thrombus every 100,000 jabs and one death in every half a million vaccinations, approximately.
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MANZINI  Tibyo Taka Ngwane was formed with public funds, says Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament (MP) Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane.

Simelane, in a live feed broadcast on his social media page  Mduduzi Simelane Gawuzela  claimed that Tibiyo Taka Ngwane was pioneered by King Sobhuza II, who at first made Lifa Fund. Simelane said when initiating Lifa Fund, King Sobhuza II had intended to buy back farms from the British who were at the time colonising the kingdom. EmaSwati gave their cattle to bring back local land that was in the hands of the white people and King Sobhuza II explained that the money was to assist the citizenry to get land after buying it back from the whites, Simelane alleged. After some time, Simelane said the country was granted independence and the need to buy the land back fell through. He claimed that two locals  ex-Prime Minister Obed Dlamini and Musa Hlophe were the first local bankers who then approached King Sobhuza II about the money.

Signatories

He said they reported that the signatories were no longer around. Simelane claimed that he had questioned Hlophe on this and urged people to do same. He further said royalties were accrued from mineral mines and used to develop Tibiyo Taka Ngwane.

The legislator said today, Tibiyo Taka Ngwane was a thriving corporate as it had business interests in various sectors yet its capital came from funds sourced from the citizenry. Simelane claimed that there were certain people who received shares from Tibiyo Taka Ngwane and when one questioned that, he/ she was referred to as troublesome despite that it was money belonging to the ancestors of the citizenry.

Arrested

Is it a crime to ask that, such that you have to be arrested or chased? he asked. Simelane further questioned why the local army had powers to (allegedly) shoot and kill while in South Africa, wherein they experienced the same unrest, soldiers in that republic did not shoot people. He further alleged that local game rangers shot people even if they were outside perimeters of a game reserve. The Siphofaneni Constituency MP claimed that at some point he questioned the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs about this and he responded by informing him that game reserves were not in his jurisdiction. Simelane posed rhetoric questions on whether it was lies that there were 70 per cent of emaSwati who were unemployed and if it was a lie that the health system in the country had collapsed such that there were people who died while anticipating to receive medical attention in South Africa.

Expensive

This is because there is no referral hospital in the country; yet there is the ICC (International Convention Centre) and the airport that are quite expensive, he said. He further questioned if it was a lie that the education of the rich could not be accessed by the poor as there were exorbitant funds to be paid for one to enrol in certain schools. Simelane also rhetorically asked if it was a lie that for a person to be a premier in the country, one had to be a Dlamini and needed to be appointed. He wondered if the people were in a farm while also questioning whether it was wrong for people to seek democracy. The Siphofaneni Constituency MP said it was only in Eswatini where there was a PM who did not commit to the people.

Develop

He further said in the country, the youth development fund, which was expected to assist 59 constituencies to develop the youth, was allocated E12.6 million which from it, staff and offices still needed to be paid. On the other hand, he claimed that there was a child wearing a watch worth over E21 million who was unemployed and he believed that child received the money from his/her parents. Simelane called upon people to decide to speak the truth and not be happy with the status quo. He took a swipe at armed officers whom he asked were they happy that at certain instances they got paid for performing rituals and even herding cattle.
MBABANE  I like the monarchy, I love the King.

These were sentiments shared by Siphofaneni Member of Parliament Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane, adding that it was his personal feeling which was not supported by many people whom they shared the same (political) views with. Simelane said although it was a personal feeling, he would change it if the people felt it was wrong because its the people who have to decide. According to Simelane despite that he had heard a lot about the authorities were allegedly plotting against him, he did not have ill feelings against anyone. He stated that God entrusted him with the nation and was going to question him one day. Whether I will live after this interview or not, may you please give the people their democracy, he said, directing this plea to the authorities. He said if the King could open dialogue, it would be possible for him to continue sitting on the throne and the people live well.

The MP said he was much against the monarchy interfering in the peoples governance and should not oppress them as well. Simelane urged the King to introspect himself as what was happening was not suppose to be happening, adding that he had to be on the peoples side. He also appealed to Her Majesty the Queen Mother to intervene in the matter, stating that she was alive for a reason and should fix things. The legislator also asked Prince Sicalo and Princess Sikhanyiso to engage with the King as well as Emakhosikati, questioning whether they were happy with what was happening in the country. He said God would judge them as there was life after this.

Appointment

He said as it stood, the issue of the prime ministers appointment was a conjured and what monarchy wanted. The legislator said the late PM Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini was appointed by His Majesty King Mswati III and following his appointment he came with the Bill to build a new Parliament structure worth billions. The late PM knew I would oppose the motion of the Bill, hence he summoned me to his office and spoke the truth that it was not the right time for the bill. He said it was time for improving the health system and roads but if I were also to be in his position, I would be pushing for the bill. He said the late PM urged that he works with him. Simelane said the PM knew the decision was wrong but for him to survive, he had to please the powers that be.

Simelane also questioned some princes; Masitsela and Guduza among others if they were happy in the manner that royalty was handling things in the country. Simelane said he was not a fan of the late King Sobhuza II but could make a comparison during his time and the current one.

He said he was directing the question to Prince Masitsela because he once told him a story that King Sobhuza II sewed his lihiya when it was torn because he respected peoples wealth and believed in the notion that; akusiko kwam, kwebantfu loosely translated it does not belong to me but the people. He said King Sobhuza II also respected Tibiyo and said it belonged to the people. The legislator wanted to know what the prince had done to correct the current situation and why blame him for wanting to correct the wrong happening in the country. Simelane said that was why he was fighting for social justice and if what they wanted was the same thing political parties wanted they would go hand in hand because they have a common motive for the people to be liberated. The MP said he wanted emaSwati to know that if they did not fix the current system it would cost them more in future.
MANZINI  Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament (MP) Mduduzi Simelane took a swipe at the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo.

Simelane made allegations against the minister, which for now cannot be repeated as they have not been independently verified by this publication. While addressing the public, Simelane constantly noted that Khumalo was a man of God who had also assisted him in having a factory constructed in Siphofaneni. The legislator also claimed that he was in possession of sensitive communication between the two which he wondered how Khumalo would get rid of. He expressed his concerns and extended sympathy to the minister on his (Khumalo) structure which was vandalised and torched by protesters at the climax of political unrests in the country. Minister Khumalo was reached for comment but did not wish to be drawn into the matter.

In the same breath, Simelane said he had engaged some members of the business community to have signs that would depict that their businesses were independent from government so that they could be spared from destruction should another unrest take place.

Please dont destroy businesses that are run by people struggling like you; even the trucks. I was saddened by this as one was destroyed in Siphofaneni, he said. Also, Simelane addressed Manzini North Constituency MP Macford Sibandze whom he praised and referred to as a genius. However, he pointed out that the MP (Sibandze) may have been misquoted or quoted out of context. This, he said, was in reference to some legislators seeking guns to protect themselves. I know you are a genius and you could be misunderstood and I hope you will clear the air at some point, Simelane said. In his address, Simelane said he was addressing Sibandze because he was his friend while also said he was not campaigning for him.
MBABANE - The National Commissioner of Police (NATCOM), William Dlamini, says the law will take its course on those who are harbouring Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane.

He said people who had information on Simelanes whereabouts had an obligation to inform the police as he was a wanted person. Dlamini highlighted that according to the law, harbouring a wanted person was a criminal offence. Once we get information that someone has knowledge of his whereabouts, but fails to inform the police, the law will surely take its course on that particular person, said the (NATCOM) of police. He went on to plead with those who were in constant communication with Simelane to encourage him to surrender to the police.

Harbours

Section 43 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act provides that: Any person who harbours or assists in a manner whatsoever in harbouring or concealing any person whom he knows or has reason to believe has committed an offence or is sought by the police in connection with the commission by that person of an offence; knowing the whereabouts of any person whom he knows or has reason to believe has committed an offence or is sought by the police in commission by that person of an offence, fails to report such whereabouts within reasonable time to a police officer or to the nearest police station; shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding E3 000 or to a term of imprisonment exceeding three years or both.

Dlamini further urged those who saw Simelane to contact the police as there was a warrant of arrest against him which was still valid. He also advised those who were closer to him (Simelane) to persuade him to surrender himself. We still urge him to surrender himself to the nearest police station or tell us where he is so we can come to fetch him in the event he has difficulties going to the police station on his own, said Dlamini. Alternatively, the national commissioner of police said, Simelane could ask his lawyer to accompany him to the police station. In an interview with the Times of Eswatini SUNDAY, Simelane was quoted having claimed that he was continuously praying on a secret mountain. He is, however, reported to have declined to reveal the location of the mountain.

The Crown has described Simelane as a fugitive from justice. On July 8, 2021, a warrant of arrest was issued against Simelane. In the charge sheet that was presented in court last Monday, Simelane is alleged to have acted jointly with Members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube to incite the people of Eswatini to revolt against the Government of Eswatini.

Incitement

According to the Crown, as a consequence to the alleged incitement by the trio, there were riots in all regions of the country. The riots, according to the Crown, caused loss of life, bodily injury to people and destruction of private and public properties.

Meanwhile, during the argument of Mabuza and Dubes bail application, the court was implored not to release them as they would follow Simelane. Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo submitted that the accused persons (Mabuza and Dube) co-accused was Simelane, who was at large. Advocate Mduduzi Tsotsi Mabila, who represented Mabuza and Dube, objected to Nxumalos submission. Mabila told the court that the Crown alleged that Simelane was a fugitive. The advocate said a fugitive was one who had been served with a warrant but did not avail himself to law enforcement.

Judge Mumcy Dlamini said Simelane was a wanted person. Mabila said there was a difference between a fugitive and a wanted person. Nxumalo said Mabuza and Dube were charged together with Simelane and Judge Dlamini pointed out that he was raising a point that was not in the Crowns answering papers and asked if the accused persons would follow in the footsteps of Simelane. Nxumalo agreed and the judge asked why that was not in their answering papers and they should forget about it.

On the other hand, Mabuza and Dube will today appear at the High Court for their second remand hearing since their arrest. Remand hearings of accused persons charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act are conducted at the High Court. The Crown opposed their application on the basis that it claimed they were likely to disturb public order, undermine public peace, evade trial, interfere with Crown witnesses, commit similar offences and jeopardise public confidence in the justice system. Judgment on their bail application was reserved indefinitely. During their court appearances on Monday and Thursday, security was heighted at the High Court and some of their supporters were turned back at the entrance.

Remand

The duo filed bail applications last Monday during their first remand hearing. It remains to be seen whether they will garner the same support that they have been receiving in the two days they have appeared at the High Court. Among those who have been present during both their appearances are their close relatives and supporters. Last Monday and Thursday, Mabuzas wives, who were dressed to the nines and drove identical Ranger Rover SUVs with personalised licence plates, stole the show. The MPs supporters demonstrated near the Mbabane Bus Rank after being turned back at the High Court where the bail hearing of the two was taking place. At the High Court, the supporters were advised by security officers to leave since the courtroom where the matter was heard was already full and they could not be accommodated due to COVID-19 regulations restrictions.
MBABANE  I will not surrender because I am too busy lobbying the international community.

This was a statement made by Siphofaneni Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane during a live interview with Swaziland News last night. A warrant of arrest was issued against Simelane, while two of his colleagues, with whom he is calling for political change, were arrested a week ago. The two legislators who were arrested are Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube. They were arrested for allegedly contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act, while Mabuza was also separately charged for allegedly contravening Regulation 4 of the Disaster Management (COVID -19) Regulations 2020 under the Disaster Management Act 2006.

List

Simelane has been on the police wanted list for a week after the Crown, last Monday, went public that there was a warrant for Simelanes arrest, which was issued on the same date as the ones for the pair (Mabuza and Dube) - on July 8, 2021. National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini also confirmed that Simelane was a wanted person and implored him to surrender himself at the nearest police station. Simelane said he was sorry because he could not afford to go to jail and sit there, especially under the current justice system. He said they (together with those he was working with) would upscale their strategies as they were allegedly killed by the security personnel when demonstrating. The legislator said he wanted to suffocate the countrys economy until government submitted to the will of the people. He said those in power should do the will of the people and not what they wanted for themselves. Simelane said he had taken a decision to lay low and avoid social media platforms as well while coordinating their next movement.

He said he could not dismiss the fact that the police would find him if God permitted, but if He (God) did not, they would not find him. As long as there is breath in my spirit, I will be fighting for the people, which is something I have been doing even before through the programme Makhelwane Simbona Ngetento, which was stopped, Simelane said. The Siphofaneni MP said he was fighting for the welfare of emaSwati and not because he wanted attention or that he was proud of himself or was campaigning to become the prime minister. He said he wanted emaSwati to have better opportunities in the future. Meanwhile, he stated that emaSwati illegally attended school in South Africa, while elderly people also accessed grants unlawfully in that country.

Enough

He said the country had enough resources and could be the Switzerland of Africa. Simelane said there was wealth in the country but resources only benefitted certain people. He alleged that this was evident as there were people who wore expensive watches that cost E95 million. This is a lot of money that a lot of emaSwati could share. Simelane said those emaSwati who were doing small businesses were not getting support under this current government. Further, he thanked the business community for aligning themselves with politics. He noted that some businesses were not thriving because they were frustrated by the system, while in the outside world they (government) pretended to be supporting the businesses. Simelane alleged that for a business to be successful, they were forced to be in partnership with princes and princesses because if not, they would not prosper. He stated that everyone was conscious of the fact that they needed to free the country. Simelane said if there were 72 emaSwati who sacrificed their lives to gain freedom, he would not waste his time by allowing himself to get arrested and remain in prison. The blood of our people is calling from the soil and we must not sit back.According to the legislator, they will be issuing out a programme when the time is right to be followed by pupils in high schools, calling for them to have a demonstration day across the entire country. We will see if the security personnel will be able to be present in all these schools, he added.

Chaos

This, he said, would show the world the chaos that Eswatini was going through. Simelane said he was not encouraging the vandalising of property during the school demonstrations, but there needed to be properly planned demonstrations. These demonstrations, he said, would not be posted on social media, but would be planned secretly. Further, he appealed to the transport industry, including truck and kombi drivers, to block the roads as well and only allow ambulances to pass if they would happen to be on the roads. We must frustrate this government by all means, said the MP. Simelane added that political parties should stop campaigning, but focus on the liberation of the country. He said he did not have a party, but had the burden to free emaSwati.

The police will find me busy liberating the people of Eswatini, he said.
Omans Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion has issued a directive prohibiting sale, publicity and promotion of goods or commodities or products or services via network or pyramid marketing.



The decision is based on the Trade Law promulgated under Royal Decree No. 55/90, reported Oman News Agency (ONA).



Article (1) of the decision refers to network or pyramid marketing as any means by which providers, marketers or promoters of goods or services ask the consumer to select a list of other consumers to lure them into buying the goods or receive the services in exchange for benefits that the first consumer (recruiter) gets, and then build downline pyramids groups or networks with the purpose of accumulating wealth or gathering money from the largest number of subscribers to the network or the pyramid group.



Article (2) of the decision bans the use of any electronic or non-electronic network/pyramid marketing methodology to purchase, sell, exchange, publicise or promote any goods or services.



Article (3) imposes a fine of RO5,000 ($13,000) against any person who violates the provisions of this decision. The fine will be doubled/multiplied in the event of further violations.



The decision takes effect from the day following its date of publishing in the Official Gazette.



Mubarak Mohammed Al-Dohani, Director-General of Commerce at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, said that the decision to ban network marketing was issued as a step to stem commercial deception, protect completion among establishments and companies and safeguard individuals. Many countries around the world have banned this type of commercial practices, he noted.
Rolls-Royce and ChefsFridge Co have teamed up to develop an innovative, ultra-low temperature pod to transport and store Covid-19 vaccines globally.

The new ArcticRx system will help bridge the gap in the cold chain currently challenging the global vaccination effort. ArcticRx is a passive, stable, long-term ultra-low temperature (ULT) pod -- the first of its kind to support a two-dose vaccine delivery regimen specifically targeting rural, remote and international areas in support of global equitable access and to help share doses as rapidly and quickly as possible.

Allen Barta, Rolls-Royce, Emerging Technologies and Innovation Lead, said: This new vaccine delivery system developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and ChefsFridge will solve the significant technological challenge of maintaining extremely low vaccine temperatures. Vaccines need to be kept ultra cold and for long enough to transport them worldwide  and not just one, but two doses of vaccines.

Rolls-Royce is proud to bring our innovation to bear on this difficult and crucial challenge, and join ChefsFridge in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ArcticRx pod was designed by Rolls-Royce innovators in Indianapolis and developed with ChefsFridge, also based nearby.

The collaboration has led to a final design, with three models manufactured and tested. With the ability to scale quickly with funding, ChefsFridge Co is currently seeking investment and manufacturing partners as the team moves forward to market.

As Covid-19 vaccines began to roll out, gaps were found in the system for transporting and storing the doses of vaccines. Current solutions are still expensive, bulky, and inaccessible to many regions without resources like electricity and ultra-low temperature storage at vaccination sites.

Most current shipping coolers are only able to carry one of two rounds of doses at a time, causing logistics and sustainability issues. The ArcticRx is reusable, lightweight, and does not require electricity to maintain stable ultra-low temperatures required for mRNA vaccines. ArcticRx can be refilled with additional cooling materials.

Rolls-Royce engineers in the companys LibertyWorks advanced technology unit in Indianapolis designed the system to solve the challenge. The company then connected with ChefsFridge, a company creating an asynchronous meal-sharing platform along with exact temperature-controlled kiosks to provide a 365/24/7 neighborhood focused food sharing.

Stuart Lowry, ChefsFridge co-founder, said: "From the beginning it seemed a natural fit for our creative approach at ChefsFridge Co. The passion from the team at Rolls-Royce melded seamlessly with our energy for creating a way to help with the pandemic, using the toolbox of cooling engineers, innovation, and the build-it-from-scratch approach. It was not only exciting, but possibly revolutionary, in terms of solving this vital cold chain issue.

M Shane Bivens, ChefsFridge co-founder, said: People think the problem is over, but were not even close. Initially, were looking at immediate global challenges that need to be met. With the help were seeking from additional investors and manufacturing partners, the possibilities from this point are enormous for both solving this current pandemic, and shipping and storing other vital medical and non-medical supplies.

There are so many life improving medications pharma leaves on the shelf because stable cold chain transportation for extended time periods did not previously exist to move product around the globe.

-- TradeArabia News Service
Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT), a leading provider of integrated logistics solutions, has partnered with Cruise Saudi to enter the cruise industry with the departure of the cruise ship MSC Bellissima from the terminals new dedicated cruise line berthing facilities.

The 4,500-passenger vessel is being operated by MSC Cruises, the worlds largest privately owned cruise line, said the statement from RSGT.

The berthing and cruise passenger facilities are part of the ongoing expansion and upgrade of RSGT and Jeddah Islamic Port.

As part of a new 30-year concession agreement signed last year, the vessel berthing and passenger embarkation will be conducted at RSGTs expanded facility, said the statement.

RSGT and Jeddah Islamic Port will serve as the home port for MSC Bellissima for the 2021-2022 cruise season, it added.

"This is another proud and important moment for the two entities as we witness the launch of the cruise industry in Saudi Arabia ahead of the departure of the very first cruise ship from our newly expanded terminal," remarked its CEO Jens Floe.

MSC Bellissima is one of the most innovative ships in MSC Cruises fleet and is fitted with a wide range of cutting-edge environmental features and innovative technology to reduce her environmental footprint. She also spearheaded the ultra-modern Meraviglia-Plus class of ships in the MSC Cruises fleet when she launched in 2019.

The ship will sail 21 Red Sea voyages from Jeddah between the end of July and late October with 3- and 4-night cruises to Safaga for Luxor, Egypt or Aqaba for Petra, Jordan before returning to her Saudi homeport.

The summer sailings will add to MSC Cruises previously announced winter 2021/22 Red Sea voyages from Jeddah starting in November.

Cruise Saudi Chief Operations & Commercial Officer Mark Robinson said: "This event marks a great milestone for Cruise Saudi, and indeed for the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia, in line with Vision 2030.

The creation of Cruise Saudi, tasked with launching the cruise industry in Saudi Arabia, happened just six months ago at FII in Riyadh."

"Yet in these few months we have been able to work with numerous partners such as the Red Sea Gateway Terminal to mobilize the infrastructure, manpower and systems required to host global cruise lines for Saudi Arabias first full summer and winter cruise seasons," he noted.

"The remit of Cruise Saudi; to create 50,000 jobs by 2025, to facilitate the building of an additional five ports, with Jeddah as a homeport, and to welcome 1.5 million annual passenger visits by 2028; is an ambitious one, which will play a major part in strengthening the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia," he added.

On the cruise sector foray, Floe said: "Jeddah Islamic Port is one of the most modern ports in the region, and it is only natural that it has now entered a new prominent position in the cruise industry. We are proud as well of our role in supporting the ongoing economic diversification of Saudi Arabia, and our expanding presence in the international port community."

RSGT, which was established in 2006 as Saudi Arabias first private sector Build-Operate-Transfer project, serves as an engine of growth for local and regional economies.-TradeArabia News Service
An ambitious selling exhibition of large-scale sculpture will be held online across the summer by Christies Private Sales team.

A highlight of the exhibition is Abdulnasser Gharems The Capitol Dome, being offered as part of The Future is Unwritten Healing Arts initiative to support a global Covid-19 response through the arts.

Dream Big II includes artists from the Middle East, the Americas, as well as throughout Europe and India, spanning over a century of sculpture making. Included are to date the American artists Jeff Koons and Roy Lichtenstein; Switzerlands Ugo Rondinone; Italys Giacomo Manzu; from the United Kingdom Marc Quinn, Barbara Hepworth and Barry Flanagan; the Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem; from France works by Aristide Maillol, Gaston Lachaise, Fernand Leger, and Niki de Saint Phalle; from India by Anish Kapoor; and Spain a sculpture by Salvador Dali.

Gharems The Capitol Dome is being offered as part of The Future is Unwritten Healing Arts initiative to support a global COVID-19 response through the arts. As part of the World Health Organizations solidarity series of events, Christies Healing Arts Auctions have been running over the course of these past two years, with works offered in a number of sales across a wide range of categories. The initiative was launched in 2020 by CULTURUNNERS in partnership with the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations and WHO Foundation and the Blessed Foundation, as part of the United Nations' 75th anniversary initiative, UN75.

Both a practicing artist and a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Saudi Army, Abdulnasser Gharem is one of the forefront contemporary artists in the Arab World, known for his intellectual courage and innovative use of materials. Gharems paintings, performances and installations have transformed not only the Middle Eastern, but also Western art scene by challenging people to question our global socio-political relationships and cultural perspectives.

As one of the founders of the contemporary Saudi Arabian art platform Edge of Arabia, Gharem first presented this monumental work of 400 x 400 x 500cm, as the centrepiece of the group's London exhibition #COMETOGETHER in 2012. The piece offers a continuing dialogue with Gharem's earlier Message/Messenger, sold with Christie's in 2011 for a world auction record price.

The Capitol Dome constitutes a 13-foot scaled-down replica of the Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C., propped up by a miniature version of Thomas Crawford's nineteenth-century statue of the armed goddess Freedom. The under-side of Gharem's dome is decorated with intricate Islamic decorative motifs, hand-crafted in Morocco, which resemble a mosque interior. It offers an arranged marriage of Western Neo-Classical design and Islamic geometry. Within this juxtaposition, Gharem merely underlines the tension as a way to spark fresh conversation about democracy across West and East.  TradeArabia News Service
World Tunnel Congress 2021, a major event of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark has been postponed to April next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the ITA-AITES has decided to propose and organise their first-ever Tunnelling Week from September 20 to 24.

Complement its Tunnelling Awards, it will be a week dedicated to tunnelling and underground space knowledge transfer and debate.

These five days of conferences and debates dedicated to the underground construction industry, will be the occasion to give an annual overview of the global tunnelling activity, present key figures, and future projects all over the world, said the statement from ITA-AITES.

The online event will be accessed through the ITAs digital platform and allow live debates, conferences, pre-recorded sessions, an exhibition hall and sponsoring.

This moment also intends to gather the industry to discuss about innovations and advances, but also to deal with current challenges like underground space in sustainable planning, structural use of fiber reinforced concrete precast segments, tunnels refurbishment, said the organisers.

Presentations from ITA member nations will include ongoing and future tunnel projects globally, as well as 10 conferences of two-hour duration available either live or post-event on the digital platform. These will cover themes such as underground space planning, structural use of fibre-reinforced concrete in segments, tunnel refurbishment, health and safety, as well as presentations from the latest ITA Working Groups and Committees. In addition, a full two-hour session will be prepared by ITA Young Member groups from various countries.

The different tasks forces composing ITA, Working Groups and Committees, will present their latest reports and publications.

Thanks to a digital platform, each session will include live or prerecorded presentations as well as a live debate with the panelists. The participants will be able to access an exhibition hall, a cinema room with different videos of projects, ITA library with many publications and a chat to exchange with other participants, they added.-TradeArabia News Service
Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies with hotels across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkey, has signed new management agreements with Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon.

The agreement includes the management of two new properties  Lake Residence, serviced apartments in New Cairo which will also mark Rotanas debut in the capital city and Marina Bay, Hotel Apartments in Alamein, North Coast.

Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon partnered with Rotana to manage and operate the hotel projects, capitalising on the brands legacy and its experience in operating hospitality brands in the region.

Rotana Chairman Nasser Al Nowais said: We are delighted to partner with Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon, one of the largest players in Egypts real estate sector.

"Egypt has always been a strategic market for Rotana as it is one of the worlds leading tourism destinations. These projects allow us to bring the world-class services and amenities of the Rotana brand to Egypt and provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our presence in the market," Al Nowais added.

"The two new projects are a testament to Rotanas continued commitment to reinforcing the hospitality sector with diverse offerings and immersive experiences," a Rotana spokesperson said.

"Egypt is witnessing unprecedented progress in various economic and development sectors, with the Egyptian government adopting a clear vision to stimulate economic growth and attract Arab and foreign investments, especially within the real estate development sector," the spokesperson added.

The first contracted project, Lake Residence under Al Marasem development is located within the Fifth Square project in New Cairo. The second project is Marina Way Lagoons 'Marina Bay' which extends over an area of 14,120 metres within the Marina El Alamein tourism hub on the North Coast.-TradeArabia News Service
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the worlds leading hotel companies, has debuted its InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in Azerbaijan with the recent opening of InterContinental Baku.

The 128-room property overlooks the scenic Baku Bay, allowing guests to experience the InterContinental Life in modern surroundings while enjoying views of the Caspian Sea, harbour and Bakus iconic Flame Towers.

The city of Baku is a melting point of architecture inspired by the citys rich history and seamlessly combines the ancient and modern.

General Manager Pawel Czerwienka said: As an international luxury hotel brand, with 75 years of travel across the globe, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has become a symbol of sophistication and worldliness.

"The brand is renowned for weaving modern luxury design and we cant wait for guests to experience the InterContinental Baku," he added.

Baku is known for its 'oil-boom architecture', originating from a period of significant economic growth and development in the 19th century. The hotels facade is inspired by this style, and the rest of the hotels design is inspired by the regions landscape, history, and culture.

Medieval poet and scientist Nizami Ganjavi, who was born in Azerbaijan in 12th century, is considered the greatest romantic poet in Persian literature. His collection of poems, Khamsa, have been reflected in the hotels interior design and inspired the names of different hotel facilities.

The hotel features seven floors of guest rooms, an all-day dining restaurant featuring local and Mediterranean cuisine and a SPA with indoor pool and hammam. The mezzanine floor features the hotels Club InterContinental  named Iksander-nameh after Nizamis ode to Alexsander the Great - with spectacular views of the Baku Gulf and Caspian Sea and offers private check-in and meeting and dining spaces.

Located in the centre of Baku, the hotel is adjacent to both the Sahil metro station and the 25km-long Seaside Boulevard, which connects the unique architectural styles of the urban districts with Icheri Sheher - the Old City - a UNESCO World Heritage site developed from the 6th to the 21st century. Baku Airport is only 25km away.-TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) The 12th round of India-China talks in the Ladakh sector on Saturday saw both sides hold candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the LAC in the Western Sector of the border areas, a statement said on Monday.

The Corps Commander Level Meeting was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side.

The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of India-China border areas.

The two sides noted that this round of meeting was constructive, which further enhanced mutual understanding. They agreed to resolve the remaining issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations, an official statement said.

The two sides also agreed that in the interim they will continue their effective efforts in ensuring stability along the LAC in the Western Sector and jointly maintain peace and tranquility.

This round of meeting was held following the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and Peoples Republic of China on 14th July in Dushanbe and the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held on 25th June, it said.

The 12th round of military talks between corps commander-ranked officers of the Indian Army and the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) began at 10.30 am on Saturday and lasted around nine hours.

India and China have been locked in a border row for more than a year, which also saw the deadly skirmish in the Galwan Valley last year, and heightened tensions between the two armies on the north and south banks of Pangong Tso.

The corps commander-ranked officers had earlier met on April 9, when the Indian Army told the PLA that disengagement at all friction points on the disputed border was crucial for the de-escalation of the conflict.

UNI RN SHK1834
Lava Lamp Tectonics: UW Professor Suggests Giant Blobs of Subducted Sediment Float Up Through Deep Earth

UW Assistant Professor Jay Chapman teaches a winter-term field course in southern Arizona, during which students were able to investigate the Orocopia Schist in person. Chapman is the author of a new paper that suggests the rock originated as sand and mud subducted off the coast of California around 75 million years ago, then returned to the Earths crust by rising up through the mantle as enormous diapirs. (UW Photo)

A University of Wyoming professor has used computer modeling to propose that sand and mud subducted off the coast of California around 75 million years ago returned to the Earths crust by rising up through the mantle as enormous diapirs, like blobs in a lava lamp.

These blobs are now found at the surface of the Earth, far inland from the coast, in places including the Mojave Desert and western Arizona.

These rocks arent the prettiest to look at, but they went on an extraordinary journey and have an incredible story to tell, says Jay Chapman, an assistant professor in UWs Department of Geology and Geophysics who focuses on tectonics.

Chapman is the author of a new paper, titled Diapiric relamination of the Orocopia Schist (southwestern U.S.) during low-angle subduction, which was published in the August issue of the journal Geology.

The rocks started their lives as sediment eroded from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and carried by rivers and streams down to the ocean, where they ended up deposited in a subduction trench, similar to the modern-day Marianas trench, Chapman says. Then, they were carried about 20 miles deep into the Earth by a subducting oceanic plate, where the sediments were metamorphosed into a rock called schist. That in and of itself is pretty amazing, but the truly special thing about these rocks is that they didnt stay subducted, but somehow made their way back up to the surface, where you can go stand on them today.

How the subducted sediments returned to the surface of the Earth and the distribution of the sediments in the subsurface are some of the questions Chapman is trying to answer with his research.

Numerical modeling of sediment subducted beneath North American crust suggests that the sediment may buoyantly rise up through the mantle, like a lava lamp blob, and become attached to the base of the crust.

The prevailing theory is that the sediments were smeared against and plastered to the base of the North American tectonic plate, forming a sheet-like layer, Chapman says. However, the density of these sediments is much lower than rocks in the mantle or lower crust and, over millions of years, computer modeling predicts that the sediments will flow and buoyantly ascend, like hot wax in a lava lamp.

The research has implications for understanding subduction zone processes and the distribution of natural resources.

Geoscientists around the world are working to understand what gives continental crust its unique composition, and subduction and reincorporation of sediment are a popular hypothesis, Chapman says. In addition, many researchers are now wondering whether fluids and elements released from the subducted sediments may have contributed to the concentration of economically important minerals and metals.
UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

Messages emphasizing the personal health benefits of COVID-19 vaccines have the best chance of increasing vaccination levels across the nation, according to the latest research conducted by UW economists. ScienceDaily, India News Republic , Sydney Online News and WyoToday.com published UWs latest findings. Contagion Live reported that results from the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Washington Times interviewed UW political science Professor Jim King about the House Select Committees hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and Rep. Liz Cheneys involvement on the panel. King said he anticipated that Cheney would take an open-minded, sober approach to the investigation.

UW alumna Caitlin Long, who has championed cryptocurrency in Wyoming, was profiled in a Fortune article. Long has helped pass 24 crypto-friendly laws, giving Wyoming a reputation as a national leader in cryptocurrency.

ScienceDaily published UWs release noting research led by former UW graduate student Saeideh Esmaeili that shows animals body size and digestive systems shape ungulate foraging. The Florida News Times published a similar article.

UW chemistry Professor Bruce Parkinson discussed with The Casper Star-Tribune (CS-T) Wyomings burgeoning wind energy sector and how solar energy can complement wind in producing power.

First Coast News noted that researchers from UW, the University of Arizona and Mexico are part of a research project in which a young male jaguar was captured on camera near the U.S.-Mexico border. John Koprowski, dean of UWs Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, was the adviser to the graduate student from Arizona who made the discovery.

UW economist Rob Godby was interviewed for a CS-T article about the companies that own the two biggest U.S. coal mines seeking royalty reductions at some Wyoming mines, despite outperforming economic projections in the second quarter of this year.

Yahoo! Finance posted that Kraken has committed $300,000 to UW to launch a multiyear education effort designed to prepare the next generation for a digital asset-powered economy. Based in San Francisco, Kraken is the worlds largest global digital asset exchange based on euro volume and liquidity.

UW Associate Professor Lilia Soto was among contemporary U.S. Latina literature scholars listed to follow in an Axios article, titled The new wave of U.S. Latina writers tackles race and violence. Also mentioned was former UW Assistant Professor Vanessa Fonseca-Chavez, now at Arizona State University. Yahoo! News published the Axios article.

Laramie Live and The Rocket Miner published UW President Ed Seidels statement on the death of former U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, of Gillette, last week.

UW engineering student Aaron Vigil, of Worland, was among 50 NASA interns invited to watch the live launch of the Boeing Starliner last Friday as part of an unmanned flight to the International Space Station. The Northern Wyoming News published UWs release noting that the launch was from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

K2 Radio, The Rocket Miner and Sheridan Media published UWs release announcing that UW Libraries will provide free access to Pronunciator, a language-learning service, in partnership with the Wyoming State Library and county libraries.

UWs The World Needs More Cowboys community events continue next week. WyoToday.com published UWs releases noting events will take place in Riverton and Thermopolis. County 10 also published UWs release on the Riverton event.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle published UWs release noting that medical students will travel Wyoming this month to interview those who are at risk and underrepresented in public health to create situation-unique solutions to increase health care access across the state. The project is one of five projects selected as part of the Grand Challenges Initiative created by UW to benefit the state. Wyoming Public Radio had a similar story.

UW College of Agriculture and Natural Resources educators and the states producers are stepping into blockchain technology to explore creating value-added agricultural products consumers can digitally verify, according to a Wyoming Tribune Eagle article.

NCAR & UCAR News noted that William Mahoney, who received his masters degree in atmospheric science from UW in 1983, recently testified at a hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology about how 5G wireless networks may interfere with weather observation systems. He currently serves as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) associate director.

UW law Professor Emerita Dee Pridgen provided useful tips in finding and using the right credit cards for college students. MoneyGeek published the interview with Pridgen.

WyoToday.com published UWs release noting that several Fremont County and Washakie County rising juniors and seniors participated in the annual Summer High School Institute. The program offers students an opportunity to achieve intellectual and personal growth, cultivate their leadership capabilities and measure their capacities and interests. The Sheridan Press also mentioned students from Sheridan County who participated.

Representatives from a Fremont County program and some county residents learned about and helped UW Extension personnel construct a geodesic dome greenhouse on the Crook County fairgrounds. County 10 published UWs feature release.

KTVQ Television, in Billings, Mont., posted a Daily Montanan article that noted UW and University of Montana researchers have reported that Rocky Mountain high-elevation forests burned more in 2020 than they have in 2,000 years. Future wildfires are expected to get worse.

Wool shorn from sheep at UWs Laramie Research and Extension Center was processed and knitted into limited edition, UW-themed throws at Mountain Meadow Wool in Buffalo. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle published the universitys release noting that sale proceeds will benefit the states sheep industry.

The Gillette News Record announced that the public will have a chance Tuesday to learn more about the Wyoming CarbonSAFE project at Dry Fork Station in Campbell County. UWs School of Energy Resources, along with Basin Electric Power Cooperative, will host the public outreach program.
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The WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, participated in the first G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting held in Rome on 29 and 30 July 2021. This ministerial meeting, devoted to culture, is the latest addition to the work stream of the annual meeting of the worlds 20 major economies and led to the unanimous adoption of the Rome Declaration of the G20 Culture Ministers. Among various calls for action, the Declaration specifically mentions the need for the development and strengthening of appropriate tools in strong collaboration with organizations such as the WCO.

The G20 Ministers of Culture, as well as heads and representatives of international organizations, namely the Council of Europe, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), INTERPOL, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the WCO, along with the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and the Youth Engagement Group to the G20 (Y20), worked together to address the priorities set by the Italian G20 Presidency.

In his keynote speech addressing the G20 Ministers, Dr. Mikuriya outlined three major takeaways in relation to the protection of cultural heritage. At the outset, he congratulated the Italian G20 Presidency and G20 Members for focusing much-needed political attention, at the highest level, on illicit trafficking of cultural objects, noting that political support was critical to the actions of the global law enforcement community on the ground. He went on to underline the importance of culture for maintaining peace, security and unity, stressing the value of strengthening international and inter-agency cooperation to fight effectively against this type of transnational crime and, accordingly, underscoring the importance of the outcomes of this meeting.

In the margins of the ministerial meeting, Dr. Mikuriya held a series of meetings to advocate the role of Customs in enforcing export, import and transit requirements related to cultural goods. At the invitation of the Honourable Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Secretary General Mikuriya participated in a meeting with the Heads of the UNODC and INTERPOL. A joint press briefing was organized to share the outcomes of the discussions with the Italian public.

During his meeting with the Honourable Mehmet Ersoy, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dr. Mikuriya discussed the challenges in ensuring effective anti-trafficking efforts at the Syrian and Iraqi borders.

At the close of the Secretary Generals meeting with Ms. Aleisha Woodward, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, both sides agreed to explore potential areas for future cooperation based on the excellent operational results achieved by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Targeting Center, Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (HSI/ICE) and the WCO Cultural Heritage team.

Secretary General Mikuriya's discussion with his INTERPOL counterpart, Secretary General Jurgen Stock, focused on the two key areas of post-COVID-19 recovery and cultural heritage. In relation to the latter, Mr. Stock sought the WCO's support for the dissemination and wider use of its new mobile application, ID-Art, which provides public access to INTERPOLs Database of Stolen Works of Art. It was agreed that INTERPOL and the WCO would jointly promote the use of technology, such as ID-Art, by Customs and other border agencies in the coming months.
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Details Emerge on Pursuit That Led to Fatal Crash

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - The McCracken County Sheriff's Department released additional information on the Cairo Road pursuit that ended in a crash on US 60 and claimed the life of a local woman.Monday afternoon, McCracken County detectives attempted to arrest 27-year-old Lamont X. Young of Cairo, who they say was trying to deliver a large quantity of methamphetamine at a hotel in the 5100 block of Cairo Road.After Young backed into a parking spot, detectives attempted to stop him from leaving by blocking him with their vehicles. However, he was able to avoid detectives and fled onto Cairo Road.While driving, Young allegedly threw large amounts of meth from his vehicle.As Young approached US 60 on Cairo Road, detectives said they slowed their pursuit to decrease pressure on Young. As a detective rounded the curve approaching US 60, he reportedly saw Young's vehicle collide with another vehicle on US 60.Detectives immediately began to determine the extent of the injuries on both Young and the driver of the other vehicle. Ultimately, the other driver succumbed to her injuries.Young was taken by air ambulance to an out-of-state hospital due to the extent of his injuries.The Kentucky State Police are investigating the collision.
Two Crashes on Clarks River Road Monday Afternoon

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Two different crashes took place Monday about a mile apart on Clarks River Road, and one of them claimed at least one life.The first crash happened about 12:30 pm at the west end of the Clarks River Bridge, and involved a semi truck and a car. This crash involved a fatality, and the road was blocked in both directions for several hours as first responders transported the injured and investigated the crash.The eastbound lanes reopened to traffic about 6:15 pm, and the westbound lanes opened about 30 minutes later.About 7 pm, another accident happened about a mile east, near the Bingo hall at the intersection of Clarks River Road and Pugh Road. Eastbound lanes were blocked for less than an hour.Details from these crashes have not yet been released.
Weather Service Meteorologist Shanklin Retires

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - The National Weather Service in Paducah is saying farewell to one of its longest serving meteorologists.Warning Coordination Meteorologist Rick Shanklin announced his retirement, after nearly 37 years of working to help keep local residents informed and safe during major weather events.Shanklin said the decision to retire wasn't one he made lightly, and he will miss the job."It's hard, because I so enjoy what I do. It's not easy sometimes, with some of the big events we get in our region, but it's just time to make that transition in life I think," Shanklin said.Shanklin said he has seen a lot of changes since he began his career in eastern Kentucky."When I first came into the Weather Service I started in Jackson Kentucky, we still had what was called the old weather wire. That's how warnings were sent out," He said. "Then we had our first-generation computer system. We used to have just two main weather models, but now we've got hundreds at this point. That's part of the challenge that we didn't have in the early years. You've really got to decipher through and decide as a meteorologist what's the most important thing to look at."Over the years Shanklin has seen no shortage of dramatic weather here. He recounted what he considers his top three events that had the greatest impact on local residents."Number one would be the Evansville tornado, with 25 fatalities. Number two would be the ice storm in 2009. And then there was a big snowstorm in 1983 with 1-3 feet of snow in eastern Kentucky," he said. "There's some others nearby that were terrible events, like the super derecho in southern Illinois, the Harrisburg tornado that claimed eight lives, and even the tornado right here in Paducah in March of 2017. You could see that tornado from the office right here at the airport. That one hit pretty close to home."Shanklin thanked everyone for the show of support as he prepares to enter a new chapter in life."It's been the joy of my life to do this," Shanklin said. "I appreciate the well wishes, and I hope everyone stays safe."On the Net:
Section of Lutes Road to Close Tuesday

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY` - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will close a section of Lutes Road in McCracken County on Tuesday.Lutes Road will be closed from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. near the Y intersection with Lovelaceville Road in Lone Oak. This is near the south end of Highland Church Road where KY 970 runs along Lutes Road for a short distance.The closure will allow for a cross drain to be replaced.
Calloway County Names New Band Director

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - Calloway County High School Principal Chris King has announced the hiring of Nick Calcamuggio as the schools new band director. Calcamuggio will also teach music classes at CCHS.Calcamuggio has previously worked at Hopkinsville High School, where he was the assistant director of bands. He has also held numerous roles in music in Indiana, where he was a music director, camp clinician, and music tutor.Calcamuggio holds a masters degree from the University of Louisville, where as a part of the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra he performed in Switzerland and Costa Rica. He has also earned a bachelors degree from Murray State University and was a student teacher at CCHS in the spring of 2012. He recently married his wife, Abby, who is also an impressive musician.Im very excited to return to the school at which I did part of my student teaching, Calcamuggio said. "I look forward to working alongside Mr. Kevin Suiter again and making outstanding music with the students at Calloway County High School."
Dawson Named Semifinalist for Teacher of the Year

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - A Murray Elementary School third grade teacher has been named a semifinalist in this year's Kentucky Teacher of the Year Award.The Kentucky Department of Education and Valvoline Inc. announced Kandi Dawson as one of ten semifinalists for the Kentucky Teacher of the Year award.Murray Superintendent Coy Samons said, This a well-deserved honor and best wishes to Mrs. Dawson during the next stage.Winners of the elementary, middle and high school Teacher of the Year awards, in addition to the overall Kentucky Teacher of the Year, will be announced in a virtual ceremony in September.Competing for elementary Teacher of the Year are:Kandi Dawson, Murray Elementary (Murray Independent)Cindy Hundley, Gutermuth Elementary (Jefferson County)Miranda Newland, Campbell Elementary (Raceland-Worthington Independent)Ashley Ritchie, Beechwood Elementary (Beechwood Independent)The middle school semifinalists are:Hallie Booth, Ballyshannon Middle (Boone County)Jason Hand, Stuart Academy (Jefferson County)Morgan Preston, Corbin Middle (Corbin Independent)In the high school category, the semifinalists are:Jodie Carnes, Lynn Camp School (Knox County)Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr., Montgomery County HighJennifer Sims, Hart County HighMurray Elementary School principal Denise Whitaker said the MES staff is beyond excited for Mrs. Dawson. Advancing to the next level as semi-finalist, along with nine other Kentucky teachers is a truly deserved recognition for Mrs. Dawsons exemplary service and success with our students.The 10 semifinalists are among 24 educators in Kentucky who were named Teacher Achievement Award winners. They were chosen based on their scores from the first round of judging, which was conducted by a blue-ribbon panel of veteran educators. Applications included nominees teaching philosophies, teaching experiences, involvement in their respective communities and letters of recommendation.A virtual presentation and interview with each of the 10 semifinalists will result in the selection of the Elementary School, Middle School and High School Teachers of the Year.The finalist with the highest cumulative score will be named the Kentucky Teacher of the Year. That individual will go on to represent Kentucky in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
Police Searching for Missing Murray Juvenile

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - The Murray Police Department is requesting the public's help with locating a missing juvenile.Authorities are searching for 17-year-old Tony Johnson. Johnson is black, 6'3" tall, and approximately 250 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black shirt and black shorts.Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Murray Police Department or your local law enforcement agency.
Suspect in Marshall County Shooting Arrested

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MARSHALL COUNTY - A man who was being sought after a reported shooting in Marshall County on Sunday is in custody.On Facebook, the Marshall County Sheriff's Department said Aaron Henson was arrested late Monday morning.Deputies were looking for him after a shooting Sunday afternoon that left three people injured. They responded to the area of the Lazy Dayz RV Park on Old Gilbertsville Highway. There was a strong police presence in the area for several hours while victims were taken for treatment and the incident was investigated.The Sheriff's Office said all three victims appeared to have non life-threatening injuries.
Evictions Expected to Spike as Moratorium Ends

By West Kentucky Star Staff

BOSTON - Evictions, which have mostly been on pause during the pandemic, were expected to ramp up Monday after the Biden administration allowed the federal moratorium to expire over the weekend and Congress was unable to do anything to extend it.Housing advocates fear the end of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium could result in millions of people being evicted. But most expect the wave of evictions to build slowly over the coming weeks and months as the bureaucracy of removing people from their homes restarts.On Sunday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic leaders called on the Biden administration to immediately extend the moratorium, calling it a moral imperative to prevent Americans from being put out of their homes during a COVID-19 surge.The Biden administration announced Thursday it would allow the ban to expire, arguing its hands were tied after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled the measure had to end.Struggling renters are now facing a health crisis and an eviction crisis, said Alicia Mazzara, a senior research analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.Without the CDCs moratorium, millions of people are at risk of being evicted or becoming homeless, increasing their exposure to COVID just as cases are rising across the country. The effects will fall heavily on people of color, particularly Black and Latino communities, who face greater risk of eviction and more barriers to vaccination.More than 15 million people live in households that owe as much as $20 billion to their landlords, according to the Aspen Institute. As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey.Parts of the South and other regions with weaker tenant protections will likely see the largest spikes and communities of color where vaccination rates are sometimes lower will be hit hardest. But advocates say this crisis is likely to have a wider impact than pre-pandemic evictions.The Biden administration had hoped that historic amounts of rental assistance allocated by Congress in December and March would help avert an eviction crisis. But the distribution has been painfully slow. Only about $3 billion of the first tranche of $25 billion had been distributed through June by states and localities. Another $21.5 billion will go to the states.Ashley Phonsyry, 22, who will be in court Thursday for an eviction hearing after falling several thousands dollars behind on her Fayetteville, Arkansas, two-bedroom apartment, said her landlord refused to take rental assistance. She left her job after being hurt in a domestic violence incident and suffering from depression and anxiety. The eviction hearing is a day after her domestic violence case goes to court.It frustrates me and scares me, she said of being evicted. I'm trying so hard to make it right and it doesnt seem like it's enough.Around the country, courts, legal advocates and law enforcement agencies are gearing up for evictions to return to pre-pandemic levels, a time when 3.7 million people were displaced from their homes every year, or seven every minute, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.In St. Louis, where the sheriffs office handles court-ordered evictions, Sheriff Vernon Betts said 126 evictions had been ordered pending the end of the moratorium. His office plans to enforce about 30 evictions per day starting Aug. 9.Betts knows there will be hundreds of additional orders soon. Hes already been contacted by countless landlords who havent yet filed for eviction, but plan to. And he expected to increase his staffing.What were planning on doing is tripling our two-man team, he said. Right off the bat we want to clean up that 126 evictions.Sgt. William Brown, who leads the evictions unit for the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office, expects many evictions to follow the end of the moratorium. He rattled off statistics that showed the steep decline in evictions since the pandemic began: nearly 4,000 in 2018 and 2019, then a plunge to about 1,900 in 2020.I think that once evictions are there fully, theres no more moratorium in place, its going to get really bad, he said.Its the most challenging position that Ive ever been in, because at the end of the day I have an empathy and sympathy. Im required by state statute to execute this, he said. You have to feel for these people ... watching small kids go through this, this entire process.Lee Camp, an attorney with the St. Louis legal group ArchCity Defenders, said the vast majority of tenants facing eviction dont have lawyers, often because they cant afford them. Meanwhile, he said, eviction cases move through the courts quickly in Missouri, often in a matter of weeks.The scales of justice are just at this incredible imbalance, Camp said.In Wisconsin, Heiner Giese, legal counsel for the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, said his trade association for rental property owners in the Milwaukee area has been very strong in urging our members and all landlords not to evict.I pretty strongly believe from the feedback we get from our members in the Milwaukee area  there will not be this giant tsunami of (evictions), Giese said.Still, Colleen Foley, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, said she certainly expects an uptick. She said 161 evictions were filed last week, a significant increase from prior weeks where filings tended to hover around 100 to 120.
Masks Required at State Health Care Facilities

By West Kentucky Star Staff/The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - The State of Kentucky is requiring universal masking in all state-run health care facilities, including veterans nursing homes, effective Tuesday. That announcement was made at Monday's special COVID-19 briefing.In addition to universal masking in all state-run health care facilities, the state will also require all contractors and state employees working in these facilities be fully vaccinated by October 1, unless there is a religious or medical reason they cannot. If any of the staff in these facilities is unvaccinated, they will be tested at least twice weekly.Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentuckys vaccination rate against COVID-19 has taken a sudden upward turn as people seek to protect themselves from the highly contagious delta variant that has caused the most coronavirus cases in months. Since last Friday, he says more than 22,000 Kentuckians have received a dose of vaccine. Beshear says nearly 41,000 Kentuckians received the shot last week.Beshear also continued to urge unvaccinated Kentuckians to get vaccinated as the delta variant continues to spread."We are back into a period of time where a whole lot of things are moving  in the public sector, at the federal level  and we are learning more about the delta variant," said Beshear. "The delta variant is spreading like wildfire. This variant is spreading faster than anything we have seen. If you're unvaccinated, you are at significant risk."The governor continued pressing for grassroots efforts to increase vaccinations, urging those who are vaccinated to talk to their unvaccinated friends and neighbors about getting the shot. Nearly 800 coronavirus patients were hospitalized Monday in Kentucky, including 250 patients in intensive care units.COVID-19 Case Information as of Monday:- Number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose in Kentucky: 2,319,625- Number of unique individuals who have received a vaccine dose since Friday: 22,663- New Cases: 1,052- Positivity Rate: 9.77%- Current Hospitalizations: 796- Current Intensive Care Admittances: 250- Currently on Ventilators: 98
Source: Xinhua| 2021-07-30 10:05:01|Editor: huaxia

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Syrian Minister of Health Hasan al-Ghabash (3rd R, front) welcomes the Chinese COVID-19 vaccines at the international airport of Damascus, Syria, on July 29, 2021. The Syrian Health Ministry on Thursday received a batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines provided by the Red Cross Society of China. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Health Ministry on Thursday received a batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines provided by the Red Cross Society of China.

Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabash attended the reception ceremony at the Damascus International Airport alongside Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao, as the Chinese embassy has supervised the delivery of the vaccines to the Syrian government.

During the ceremony, al-Ghabash expressed the Syrian government's gratitude to China for sending the vaccines, which he hailed as effective and successful.

"We thank the government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese people for their important contributions in light of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the world," he said.

"This vaccine is one of the recognized and registered vaccines by the World Health Organization and it has proven its effectiveness and success in China and in other areas which have received this vaccine," he said.

Feng said the new delivery reflects the friendship between the Chinese and Syrian people.

"Nowadays, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world in tandem with the appearance of new variants of the virus, which makes it the most important duty for the world to exert efforts to counter the pandemic," the Chinese ambassador said.

Feng called on all parties to abide by scientific principles in tracing the source of the virus and oppose politicizing this issue.

In April, Syria received a batch of Chinese vaccines as part of many medical donations offered by the Chinese government to Syria to deal with the pandemic. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-01 23:48:09|Editor: huaxia

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Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah waves to the crowd during a meet-and-greet event in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Aug. 1, 2021. Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien in the capital on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a special performance by around 300 participants. The meet-and-greet event was attended by around 2,000 people, which is also part of an annual tradition during birthday celebration of the Sultan, who turned 75 on July 15 this year. (Photo by Jeffrey Wong/Xinhua)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien in the capital on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a special performance by around 300 participants.

The meet-and-greet event was attended by around 2,000 people, which is also part of an annual tradition during birthday celebration of the Sultan, who turned 75 on July 15 this year.

One of the unique features of this event is the chance for the local people to personally meet the monarch and demonstrate their unwavering loyalty to him. The meet-and-greet event was held in the Brunei-Muara District, the sultanate's main administrative district.

Prior to this, similar meet-and-greet ceremonies were held in districts of Temburong and Tutong. Belait will be the last district to have a similar ceremony for the royal birthday.

Unlike last year, this year saw the meet-and-greet ceremonies successfully held in Brunei as the country has basically brought COVID-19 pandemic under control with no local transmitted cases for more than one year.

Brunei reported one new imported COVID-19 case on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 338.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, there are currently 55 imported cases being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center. One patient has been admitted to the Intensive Case Unit for monitoring while the rest are in a stable condition.

Brunei has recorded 457 days without local COVID-19 infection cases since the last local case on May 6, 2020.

There have been a total of 280 recovered patients and three deaths reported from COVID-19 so far in the country.

The health ministry also said that as of July 31, 134,829 individuals had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 29.7 percent of Brunei's total population.

Brunei previously announced that COVID-19 vaccines, including those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, China's Sinopharm would be administered in the country.

All Brunei citizens and residents, including foreign nationals with a valid identification card, can receive the COVID-19 vaccination for free. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 00:38:09|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and over 10 others were wounded on Sunday in an armed clash between supporters of Hezbollah and a rival faction in Khaldeh at the southern entrance of Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.

The armed clashes erupted after the funeral of Ali Chebli, a Hezbollah supporter who was killed during a wedding in the area on Saturday night. Saturday's killing was committed by the brother of a teenager who was killed in a clash last year, allegedly by Chebli, according to the report.

Contacts among Lebanese authorities are underway to reduce tensions in Khaldeh while the Lebanese army units were deployed in the area.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Red Cross has been calling for a ceasefire so that the injured people can be sent to hospitals. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 03:01:29|Editor: huaxia

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A loaded trailer truck arrives at the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing in the south Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Aug. 1, 2021. Residents of the Gaza Strip said Israel has eased restrictions on the blockaded enclave by expanding the allowed fishing zone and granting entry access to some imported goods. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

GAZA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Residents of the Gaza Strip said Israel had eased some restrictions on the blockaded enclave by expanding the allowed fishing zone and granting entry access to some imported goods.

In the early morning of Sunday, dozens of Gazan fishermen gathered to sell various kinds of fish caught a night earlier, saying the expansion of the allowed fishing zone enabled them to fish more.

Mohammed Saeed, a fisherman from the al-Shati refugee camp, told Xinhua that for the first time in months, he had succeeded in fishing many kinds of fish off the coast of Gaza.

"Today, I fished sardines, shrimp, lox, bream, and other types of fish. If the Israeli authorities further expand the allowed fishing zone, we will fish more and earn enough money," said the 36-year-old, the only breadwinner of a 12-member family.

"Since 2007, we have been suffering from the Israeli blockade as a result of the political conflict between Israel and the armed Palestinian groups," said Samir al-Masry, a 54-year-old fisherman from Gaza city.

The father of seven added that the siege imposed on the sea prevented many fishermen from living a decent life and forced them to rely on aids provided by international institutions.

"We need to put an end to the Israeli restrictions imposed on the sea, and to be able to fish in the entire coast of the Gaza Strip," the man said, adding that both sides should "avoid punishing civilians and let them live in safety."

On Sunday morning, the Israeli authorities allowed the entry of 29 vehicles into Gaza, which had been held at Israeli ports since May. Meanwhile, dozens of goods entered Gaza through the crossing point of Kerem Shalom, the only commercial passage that connects the enclave to the outside world.

Mahmoud Dawood, a car trader from Gaza city, finally received his cars that had been held at the Israeli ports for months.

"We were looking forward to receiving our cars in the Strip and sell them to our customers," the man said, adding that car trading can affect the economic situation of Gaza due to the high demand in the local market.

He expressed his hope that the Israeli authorities would decouple the political and economic situations in the Gaza Strip.

"Most of the Palestinians are civilians who are looking forward to living in peace. Therefore, I call on all the parties of the conflict to avoid getting us involved in any consequences of the political or military conflict," he said.

For his part, Tamer Ashour, an official in the Syndicate of Vehicle Importers, told Xinhua that only 29 cars were allowed to enter Gaza for the first time after the ban lasted for more than two months.

"On ordinary days, at least 100 vehicles enter Gaza. But after the military escalation between the Israeli army and the armed Palestinian groups, Israel stopped the import of vehicles," Ashour said.

On May 10, Israel waged a large-scale airstrike on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other militant groups fired hundreds of rockets towards Israel. On May 21, Egypt mediated a ceasefire between the two sides that ended the fighting between the two sides. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 03:18:25|Editor: huaxia

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GAZA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned on Sunday of the shortage of raw materials to launch reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

Director of UNRWA in Gaza Sam Rose said in a press statement that the lack of raw materials for starting the reconstruction plan "was due to the closure of the only commercial crossing between Gaza and Israel."

"Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip has not started yet, and we, like many others, are deeply concerned over the continued Israeli closure of the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing point," he said.

On Sunday, Israel started to ease restrictions that had been imposed on the Gaza Strip since the last round of tension that lasted for 11 days and ended on May 21.

Ghassan Alian, chief of the Coordination of the Government Activities in the Territories, said in a statement that "it will be possible to bring equipment and goods to Gaza, including materials for projects funded by the international community in the areas of food, water, medicine, and fishing."

Rose stressed the need to reach beyond the humanitarian relief through the commercial crossing between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to support the reconstruction process in Gaza.

The last round of fighting left more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead, in addition to the large destruction of houses, buildings and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

"Some materials such as cement, concrete and iron are not available in the local markets of Gaza," Rose said, adding that the shortage of raw materials stops and delays the reconstruction process.

In June, UNRWA launched an appeal to obtain the necessary funds for reconstruction to serve the Palestinian refugees in Gaza that constitute the majority of the population.

According to the Gaza ministry of housing and public work, 1,200 housing units were completely destroyed in the last round of fighting in the Gaza Strip, adding that 1,000 housing units are badly damaged and not suitable for living.

The reconstruction of the housing units will cost about 165 million U.S. dollars, it added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 03:18:56|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Sunday blamed Iran for the attack against an oil tanker managed by an Israeli-owned company in the north Arabian Sea, saying "an appropriate response" is forthcoming.

Zodiac Maritime, a London-based firm owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, said on Friday that its oil tanker Mercer Street was attacked on July 29 in the northern Indian Ocean, and two crew members onboard were killed.

"Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

"We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier in the day had accused Iran of being behind the deadly attack. "I declare unequivocally: Iran carried out the attack against the ship," Bennett said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting.

In a press conference on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the Israeli allegations that Iran conducted the attack as "baseless." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 10:32:22|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The work plan of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the second phase of investigation into the origins of COVID-19 is politicized and lacks a spirit of cooperation, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Britain said Sunday.

Responding to the question of why China rejected the WHO's work plan, the spokesperson said the plan "was heavily disrupted by politicization and was a document that lost scientific principles and lacked a spirit of cooperation."

"This work plan still listed the hypothesis that 'a Chinese violation of laboratory protocols had caused the virus to leak' as a research priority," despite the fact that the WHO-China joint mission report clearly concluded that "lab leak is extremely unlikely" and there is broad consensus in the international scientific community on this, the spokesperson said.

"One cannot help but think that this work plan is made to echo the 'lab leak theory' advocated by certain countries such as the United States. And the lack of transparency in the drafting process also added to the suspicion that the work plan is the product of political manipulation," the spokesperson said.

This work plan, put forward unilaterally by the WHO Secretariat, is inconsistent with the requirements of the resolution of the 73rd World Health Assembly, which clearly stipulates that the WHO secretary-general will continue to work closely with member states to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, according to the spokesperson.

This means that the formulation of the next-phase origin tracing work plan needs to be led by WHO member states, and the WHO has to reach consensus with its member states after full consultation, said the spokesperson.

The origins study is a serious scientific issue that requires the cooperation of global scientists, the spokesperson added.

"We hope the WHO can adhere to the spirit of science, professionalism and objectivity and work with the international community to jointly uphold the scientific integrity of origins study, resist politicization and safeguard the sound atmosphere of global anti-epidemic cooperation," the spokesperson noted. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 10:52:17|Editor: huaxia

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CHANGCHUN, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hongqi, a car brand under China's leading automaker FAW Group Co. Ltd., recorded over 170,600 vehicle sales between January and July this year, an increase of 95 percent year on year.

FAW Group attributed its soaring sales to the diversified consumption options of Hongqi-branded vehicles. The group plans to double its 2020 sales of Hongqi vehicles to 400,000 units this year.

Hongqi, meaning "red flag," is China's iconic sedan brand. Established in 1958, the brand has been used in parades for national celebrations.

Founded in 1953 in the northeastern city of Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, FAW Group is regarded as the cradle of China's auto industry. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 16:42:57|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported three new imported cases of COVID-19 on Monday, taking the total tally to 11,990.

Of the new cases, two were found to carry L452R and N501Y mutant strains, respectively, according to the CHP. A total of 29 cases have been reported in the past 14 days and all are imported.

Hong Kong launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb. 26, and about 5.72 million doses have been administered so far. Some 3.26 million people, or about 47.9 percent of the eligible population, have taken at least one shot of the vaccine, and more than 2.46 million people have been fully vaccinated. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:10:56|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Al-Shabab militants killed three Kenyans over the weekend in two separate terror attacks in northeastern Kenya's Mandera County, authorities confirmed on Monday.

Rono Bunei, northeastern regional police commander, confirmed the two incidents near the Somalia border, saying three others were injured during the attacks.

In the first attack, the militants ambushed three people who were traveling in a vehicle from Fino to Mandera Town at Kamor Bahaw area on Saturday, firing several bullets at their car.

The attack, according to police and locals, left a sick woman who was being taken to hospital dead, while two others sustained injuries.

Hours later, the militants opened fire on another vehicle at the outskirts of Fino, killing a man and his son on the spot.

This is the latest such attack after a lull over the past few days. The attacks had in June grounded operations in the county as most roads were rendered impassable.

Kenya's northeastern region has borne the brunt of grenade and gun attacks in the last several years since Kenya took its troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight the al-Shabab.

But Kenya says the deployment of its troops in the southern regions of Somalia has so far helped to prevent the movement of explosives, counterfeit electronics, and contraband sugar smuggling across the border. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:54:45|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and the ASEAN Regional Forum via videoconferences from Aug. 3 to 6, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Monday.

Wang will attend the meetings at the invitation of Haji Erywan, second minister of foreign affairs of Brunei, the rotating chair of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Hua added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 18:37:34|Editor: huaxia

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AMMAN, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A Royal Jordanian flight from Cairo on Monday made an emergency landing in Amman, with all passengers and crew members safe and sound, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Royal Jordanian Airlines announced that its flight RJ 508 was forced into an emergency landing at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled landing time, Petra said.

All 133 passengers and six crew members of the flight were evacuated after the successful landing, according to the airline.

Royal Jordanian Airlines is working with the authorities concerned to probe the reason behind the incident. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:01:08|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Beijing reported one new locally-transmitted confirmed case of COVID-19 from 12 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, local authorities told a press briefing.

The virus carrier was a close contact of the confirmed case reported on Wednesday.

The close contacts of the new confirmed case are under medical observation.

Beijing authorities have launched epidemiological investigations and massive nucleic acid testing. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:13:26|Editor: huaxia

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The Zunyi Meeting is known as an important wartime meeting in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC). "The Party, the Red Army and China's revolution were saved at the most perilous moment," Chinese President Xi Jinping said, adding that the Zunyi Meeting's distinct features still have significance today.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:37:42|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, announced Monday that it has decided to set up an investigation team to assess the responses to the devastating flood in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

The team will be headed by the Ministry of Emergency Management and include officials and experts from relevant departments, the State Council said in a statement.

The investigation aims to summarize the experience and lessons drawn from the response and propose measures that can be taken to improve disaster prevention and relief in the future, the statement said.

Those who are found breaching their duties in the Zhengzhou flood will be held responsible according to the law and regulations, it added.

As of Monday noon, a total of 292 people were confirmed dead and 47 missing in Zhengzhou City, the provincial capital of Henan, due to the serious flood in mid-July, according to the provincial government. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:41:37|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- BMW (China) Automotive Trading Ltd. is recalling 8,097 vehicles due to safety risks in airbag inflators, China's market regulator said Monday.

The recall involves imported 1 Series, 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, X1, X3, X4, X5, X5 M, X6, and X6 Active Hybrid cars manufactured between Feb. 17, 2005, and Aug. 27, 2017, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

When these cars' airbags are being inflated, the flawed gas generating agent could cause overpressure which may break up the inflators and pose safety hazards, the statement said.

The automaker has promised to replace the faulty parts free of charge. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:42:29|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, has delivered the first batch of fertilizer to the rain-battered Henan Province to ensure the need for post-disaster agricultural production.

It has issued a notice and required relevant companies to release the national reserves of disaster-relief fertilizer to regions that have been hit hard by floods in Henan, the commission said on Monday, adding that the delivery has been made following its requirements.

The top economic planner will keep a close eye on the crops in disaster-affected areas and the fertilizer market across the country. It may continue to release national commercial reserves of fertilizer if needed, said the commission. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:42:49|Editor: huaxia

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NANNING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Border police in the city of Baise, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Monday they have busted a case involving the smuggling of endangered wildlife products.

The police intercepted a total of 10,328 dried seahorses weighing about 40 kg while inspecting a suspicious vehicle in the border county of Napo on July 26.

The goods were seized as the driver failed to furnish valid legal documents for the goods, the Baise police said.

According to the police, the destination of the bus was Dongguan, a city in Guangdong Province, and further investigation is underway.

In China, illegally importing, exporting, or smuggling products from endangered wild animals and plants are punished under relevant laws and regulations. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:13:22|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes interference in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) affairs and China's internal affairs by any external forces, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

The spokesperson made the remarks in a press release answering a query on a Macao-related issue.

On July 31, the Macao Court of Final Appeal decided to dismiss appeals filed by three candidate teams and to uphold the decision of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election to exclude their candidate lists from the upcoming election. Spokespersons of the U.S. State Department and the European External Action Service then voiced their opposition to the disqualification of candidates.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said China deplores and rejects it that relevant sides have time and again made wanton comments on affairs of China's Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

Their moves are in grave violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations, the spokesperson said.

Supporting the Basic Law of the Macao SAR of the People's Republic of China and pledging allegiance to the SAR are the legal requirements for members of the Legislative Assembly, said the spokesperson.

The ruling made by the Court of Final Appeal of the Macao SAR, based on laws and facts, has implemented the fundamental principle of "patriots administering Macao" and safeguarded the constitutional order as established by the Constitution and the Basic Law. It has also kept the solemn election of the seventh term of the Macao Legislative Assembly free from irregularities, and demonstrated the judicial justice and authority of the Macao SAR. "The relevant decision is supported by all sectors in Macao, and we firmly support it," said the spokesperson.

Since Macao's return, "one country, two systems" has made remarkable achievements. The wide-ranging rights and freedoms enjoyed by the people in Macao are fully protected under law. These facts shall not be distorted, the spokesperson said.

"I want to stress that Macao is China's SAR. China will continue to resolutely ensure the steady and sustained implementation of the successful practice of "one country, two systems" with Macao characteristics. In the meantime, we will firmly oppose interference in Macao affairs and China's internal affairs by any external forces," said the spokesperson. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:48:44|Editor: huaxia

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ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior commander of the pro-government Yemeni security forces was killed by armed tribesmen in the country's oil-rich province of Marib on Monday, a military official told Xinhua.

"Confrontations erupted between the security forces and armed tribesmen who set up checkpoints and barriers near an oil field in Marib's eastern part," the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

He confirmed that the armed confrontations resulted in the killing of General Abdul-Wahed Dokar, commander of the 2nd Security Brigade in Marib.

Several people of the two sides were either killed or injured as the situation is still tense in Marib, the official added.

Tribal gunmen sporadically cut off the main roads and prevent the basic supplies from reaching the government-controlled city of Marib and its surroundings, where hundreds of thousands of residents and internally displaced people live.

Large areas in Marib are also witnessing intense battles between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Houthi rebels who are attempting to capture the province. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 23:25:56|Editor: huaxia

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ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The central Chinese city of Zhengzhou had reported 13 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 50 asymptomatic cases by 6 p.m. Monday in the latest resurgence of COVID-19, local authorities said Monday.

The resurgence emerged after an asymptomatic case was reported in the Erqi district of the capital city of Henan Province on Friday, said the leading municipal group for COVID-19 prevention and control.

All the confirmed cases were mild or moderate, it said.

The first two cases were highly homologous with confirmed imported cases from Myanmar under treatment at the sixth people's hospital of Zhengzhou. They were infected with the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the viral genome sequencing indicated.

Most of the 63 infections were related to the sixth people's hospital of Zhengzhou. The few that do not have clear relations there either live nearby the hospital or once traveled around the hospital, the leading group said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 00:01:23|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of National Defense Monday said the 12th round of the China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting was held on the Indian side of the Moldo-Chushul border meeting point.

The two sides had candid and in-depth exchanges on promoting disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of the border, said a statement of the ministry.

They agreed this round of meetings is constructive and helped promote mutual understanding.

The two sides also agreed to maintain the momentum of negotiations and dialogue and resolve any remaining issues soon.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to make further efforts to ensure stability in areas along the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of the border and jointly maintain peace.

Before the meeting, foreign ministers of the two countries met in Dushanbe on July 14. The two sides also held the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs on June 25. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 05:25:39|Editor: huaxia

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T.S. Tirumurti (C, Rear), the Indian UN ambassador, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for the month of August, addresses a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 2, 2021. The Security Council is not considering a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan although the situation in the country is a matter of grave concern in light of the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces, said T.S. Tirumurti. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council is not considering a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan although the situation in the country is a matter of grave concern in light of the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces, said T.S. Tirumurti, the Indian UN ambassador, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for the month of August.

"At this point of time, I think we are looking at how the talks shape up. At this point of time, we are hoping the talks, the peace talks, will yield results. We are also hoping that there will be no military solution," he told reporters on Monday.

"That is where the focus has been right now. I don't think we have quite come to the idea of a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan," he said.

The situation in Afghanistan is of deep concern to all members of the Security Council, he noted.

The violence is increasing. Women, girls, and minorities are being systematically targeted. Recently there was an attack on the UN compound in Herat, said Tirumurti.

"In fact, I expect that probably the Security Council will be looking at these aspects sooner rather than later on Afghanistan," he said.

The United Nations has no peacekeepers in Afghanistan. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is a political mission.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Monday that the world body is taking the security of UN staff in Afghanistan seriously.

"We clearly take the security of our staff extremely seriously. It is being assessed on a regular basis, whether in Afghanistan or any other high violence zone in which we operate by definition," he said.

Ultimately, the responsibility of the protection of UN staff is with the local authorities. But the United Nations also takes the necessary measures, he said. "We work with the local authorities. We also take our own precautions. As the situation evolves, we will take the necessary precautions."

Asked whether a different mandate or a stronger mandate from the Security Council in Afghanistan will be helpful, not only for UN workers but for the people of Afghanistan, he said, "What would be helpful is for a political settlement to take place, for a halt to the violence, and a political settlement that takes into consideration the human rights gains made by all Afghans but especially Afghan women and the minorities in Afghanistan over the recent years." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 15:27:46|Editor: huaxia

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Namibia's Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, July 22, 2021. (Photo by Sharon Kavhu/Xinhua)

WINDHOEK, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Namibia is eager to partner with China on wildlife cooperation, the African country's environment minister said during an interview with Xinhua.

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said that China has been a supporter of Namibia's conservation programs, adding that he had discussed others areas of cooperation with his counterparts during a trip to China.

"Namibia-China cooperation is very cordial and a genuine one, especially when it comes to conservation programs and also environmental programs. We have cooperated in many areas, especially areas of anti-poaching programs, areas of general conservation of our biodiversity," he added.

China has provided Namibia with some equipment and funding to purchase vehicles used for anti-poaching programs, Shifeta said.

The minister said the two countries have worked together at international forums, where China has supported Namibian proposals. "We hope that this will continue," he added.

"Namibia is very blessed with an abundance of wildlife, and we have about 75 percent of the wildlife species found in the whole of southern Africa. We also have 14 species that are only prevailing in Namibia, and this makes us very unique when it comes to wildlife conservation," he said.

Namibia has adopted measures to help combat human-wildlife conflict, Shifeta said.

One of these measures is a national policy aimed at protecting communities from wild animals, especially more dangerous animals like hippos, elephants, lions, and even crocodiles, he added.

"We also teach communities on how to prevent or mitigate human-wildlife conflict, when animals are approaching or when they have seen dangerous animals in their areas. This will help them on what to do in order to preserve life and avoid damage to properties," he added.

The minister also said Namibia will send a delegation to the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in the southern Chinese city of Kunming later this year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:16:03|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Interior Ministry on Sunday said that people who breach curfew instructions against COVID-19 could be punished with six months in prison or receive a fine of 200 dinars (about 44 U.S. dollars) or both.

The ministry said the decision aims to "save people's lives, maintain their safety, and prevent rapid spread of the virus."

Interior Minister Khaled Mazen issued instructions to all security services to implement the instructions.

The Libyan Government has imposed a curfew due to an increased number of COVID-19 infections.

The curfew lasts for two weeks and runs from 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) until 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) the following morning, said the government.

Earlier in July, the government closed the border with Tunisia due to a high number of infections.

According to the National Center for Disease Control, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Libya stands at 253,436, including 192,184 recoveries and 3,548 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:17:05|Editor: huaxia

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NIAMEY, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen soldiers were killed Saturday in an ambush by unidentified armed individuals in Torodi, a department in Niger's western Tillabery region, near the border with Burkina Faso, the Defense Ministry has said.

"Elements of the Defense and Security Forces of Operation Saki 2, on a supply mission for the Boni outpost in the north of the Torodi department, were ambushed by armed terrorist groups," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"They came across an improvised explosive device in their efforts to evacuate the wounded. This attack caused 15 soldiers killed, six missing and seven wounded," it said.

Army and police forces, backed by the air force, have launched a wide sweep in the area, the statement said.

Niger has in recent years suffered devastating attacks in its western part, perpetrated by terrorist organizations linked to Alkaidah in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi), Ancar Dine and other militant groups based in north Mali. Hundreds of civilians and soldiers were killed in those attacks, according to official statistics. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:41:47|Editor: huaxia

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MOGADISHU, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Somali National Army (SNA) on Monday morning captured some key areas in Qaycad, in Mudug region, after heavy fighting against the militant group of al-Shabab, officials said.

The Ministry of Internal Security for Galmudug State said that SNA and Galmudug forces recovered a large number of weapons and communication equipment during the operation in central Somalia.

"We have completely taken control of some key areas in the east and south of Qaycad location in which the militants were trying to secure in recent days. We recovered about 20 guns, communication equipment and other materials this morning," the ministry said in a statement.

The government's Danab elite forces and international partners are also targeting terrorist bases in the region, carrying out three airstrikes within two weeks in central Somalia. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 22:09:14|Editor: huaxia

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TUNIS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A new batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines and protective medical equipment donated by China arrived in Tunisia on Monday.

At the delivery ceremony at El Aouina Airport in Tunisia's capital Tunis, Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Zhang Jianguo highlighted the successful arrival of the donated vaccines in Tunisia through the close cooperation between China and Tunisia.

"I am convinced that this batch of vaccines will play a positive role in slowing the spread of the pandemic and preserving the health of the Tunisian people," Zhang said.

"China advocates deeper international cooperation on vaccines and will ensure the access and affordability of the vaccine for the developing countries," he added.

Meanwhile, Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi expressed gratitude to China for its medical donations. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 22:10:46|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) would take place at a critical moment for strengthening Sino-Africa ties across various sectors, a senior African Union (AU) official has said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Amani Abou-Zeid emphasized the need to make use of the approaching FOCAC meeting slated to be held in Senegal later this year for even stronger relations.

"The FOCAC this year comes at a critical time. It is critical and timely, because all the events that happened last year since the eruption of the pandemic have also made us rethink our approaches, strategies and our priorities for the coming years," said Abou-Zeid.

The commissioner believes that energy, infrastructure and the digital economy are potential areas for enhancing Africa's connectivity and integration and boosting bilateral partnerships, which thus will come to the spotlight during this year's FOCAC meeting.

In February, the African continent launched the Program for Infrastructure Development-Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP2), which will run from 2021 to 2030. "We are talking about 69 regional projects that address issues of all modes of transport, address energy, and also inter-connections," Abou-Zeid said.

"Our expectation, also what we are going to put forward and share in the FOCAC, is to formulate a China-Africa infrastructure cooperation plan aligned to the second phase of the PIDA priority action plan," she said.

In Abou-Zeid's view, augmenting partnerships in infrastructure is important for the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which went into operation in January. "More than ever, issues of regional transport are coming to the fore, and we need to expedite and fast track the programs for transport," she said.

Noting both sides' intention to cooperate in the Single African Air Transport Market project, an initiative of the AU to advance Africa's civil aviation industry, Abou-Zeid called for further cooperation between the Chinese and African civil aviation authorities.

"It is also highly important to establish the Africa-China Energy Partnership with a secretariat to assist the African Union Commission to move forward the Africa energy agenda," she said, adding, "This is something that we started during the last FOCAC and I hope this time we will establish the secretariat."

She highlighted China's supportive role in the AU's 50-year continental development Agenda 2063, saying, "For us at the African Union Commission, we do appreciate the approach adopted by China to advance the partnership based on African priorities and the Agenda 2063."

"We do appreciate the commitment of China in bridging infrastructure gaps in terms of transport projects at national levels in roads, railways, ports, and airports," she continued.

The commissioner also thanked China for its efforts to help Africa improve infrastructure connectivity.

"The approach taken (by China) to build local capacity through transportation and engineering technologies, the exchanges and trainings that we had, and the promotion of African technical capacity are also the areas that are appreciated," Abou-Zeid added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 22:27:53|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Monday called on the business community to intensify efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 amid a surge in cases.

Betty Maina, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, told journalists in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, that the current fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially overrun the health sector and at the same time worsen the economic downturn.

While saying that COVID-19 is likely to stay for an indeterminate future and so the guidelines for safe business operations during COVID-19 will ensure that premises do not turn into avenues of spreading the virus to workers and clients, Maina noted the last one year and four months have been very challenging for the business community because their output was curtailed on account of the measures employed by the government to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Maina, if the surge of infections is under control through observing the containment measures, business operations will remain normal besides saving on medical expenses and loss of man-hours.

"Non-adherence is likely to lead to the spread of the virus hence necessitating stringent measures that will further curtail business operations," Maina added.

Kenya's Ministry of Health has partnered with multilateral bodies to roll out inoculation against COVID-19, reduce infections, fatalities while hastening a return to normalcy.

The country has administered 1.72 million COVID-19 vaccines as of Friday, including 1.06 million first doses and 662,104 second doses, while 2.4 percent of the adult population is fully immunized.

The east African nation has so far recorded 203,680 COVID-19 confirmed cases, 189,131 recoveries, and 3,946 deaths as of Sunday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 23:07:15|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Monday said it will reopen schools for examination classes following a reduction in COVID-19 cases in the southern African nation.

Schools for examination classes will reopen on Aug. 5, instead of the earlier announced Aug. 16, after being closed due to a spike in cases during the third wave.

A statement released by the Ministry of Health said the assessment of the evolution of the pandemic has provided critical information to guide the way forward in terms of the reopening of schools.

The statement however said the situation will closely be monitored.

"The decision to open the classes will enable exam classes to adequately prepare for their final examinations," the statement said.

According to the statement, there was an urgent need for the classes to catch up on lost hours in order to cover up the syllabus, adding that extending the closure of schools will result in difficulties in managing the transition.

The statement however said casinos and nightclubs, as well as gymnasiums, will remain closed for the next 21 days while restaurants, bars and taverns will be operating on a take-away basis during the same period.

In the past 24 hours, the country recorded 197 new cases, bringing the cumulative cases to 196,490 while six people died during the same period, bringing the total deaths to 3,412. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 23:35:41|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenya could be on the verge of the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that was predicted earlier by local epidemiologists as the capital, Nairobi and eight other counties grapple with a record spike in new cases and fatalities.

Kenya's Ministry of Health acknowledged recently that a surging COVID-19 caseload, largely driven by the Delta variant and lax observance of containment measures, could have ushered the fourth wave. Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary for health said at a briefing in Nairobi on July 30 that a sudden upsurge in coronavirus positive cases after a brief lull could reverse progress towards flattening the curve.

He disclosed that health facilities in Nairobi were getting overwhelmed amid an influx of COVID-19 patients, adding that demand for oxygen had shot up as mild cases became severe at a faster rate.

Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) late May predicted that the country might experience its fourth COVID-19 wave in July, citing a three months interval since the onset of the pandemic in mid-March 2020. The epidemiologists domiciled at Kenya's premier medical research body said it was possible to avert the worst outcomes of a fourth wave subject to enhanced adherence to measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

The ministry warned that new upticks in Nairobi, several counties in central Kenya, Rift Valley, eastern and the coastal region, had reversed gains achieved previously toward containing the pandemic. Non-compliance to public health protocols like wearing of face coverings, hygiene and social distancing was fuelling infections in counties that had experienced some level of normalcy.

Mercy Mwangangi, chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Health said that surging COVID-19 cases in Nairobi, adjacent counties and the coastal region were an indicator the country was on the verge of a fourth wave that could extend throughout August in the absence of mitigation measures.

According to Mwangangi, the fourth wave that was slated to begin in mid-July was inevitable amid enhanced mobility, community transmission of the Delta variant and easing of containment measures. Kenya had improved on genomic sequencing to identify variants of concern besides accelerating vaccination and revamping critical care facilities to help the country withstand the adverse impacts of a fourth wave.

Kenya as of Monday has reported a total of 204,271 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 189,692 recoveries and 3,970 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 00:04:06|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday that more than 1,000 illegal migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast and returned to Libya in the past week.

"From July 25 to July 31, as many as 1,111 migrants were rescued or intercepted at sea and returned to Libya," IOM said.

So far in 2021, a total of 19,393 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued, while 360 died and 570 went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, according to IOM.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.

Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 00:11:34|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's naval forces received on Monday the fourth Type 209/1400 submarine from Germany, the armed forces said in a statement.

The submarine, S44, the last of four submarines that Egypt ordered from Germany in 2011 and 2014, has arrived in a military base in the coastal city of Alexandria, said Tamer al-Refai, spokesman of the Egyptian armed forces.

"It will promote the naval forces' battling capabilities, maintain the economic interests in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as secure the Suez Canal navigation," he added.

Egypt received the first submarine S41 in December 2016, the second S42 in August 2017, and the third in April 2020.

"The deal signals deep cooperative relations between Egypt and Germany," al-Refai said, adding that the S44 submarine, manufactured by the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, is an unprecedented leap that will contribute to raising Egypt's naval forces world ranking. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 01:43:45|Editor: huaxia

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Rwandan President Paul Kagame (R) greets his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, Aug. 2, 2021. Paul Kagame said on Monday that cooperation agreements signed between his country and Tanzania earlier in the day will give new impetus to the implementation of joint projects like standard gauge railway. (Xinhua/Cyril Ndegeya)

KIGALI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday said cooperation agreements signed between his country and Tanzania earlier in the day will give new impetus to the implementation of joint projects like standard gauge railway.

"Rwanda and Tanzania share more than just a border. Our strong historical ties and common aspiration to deliver prosperity to our people have always been central to our cooperation," Kagame told a joint press briefing with his visiting Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan in the capital city Kigali, shortly after they witnessed the signing of four cooperation agreements in the areas of information and communication technology, immigration, education and regulation of medical products.

The signing of the agreements gives new impetus to key infrastructure and investment projects of mutual benefit, particularly the standard gauge railway line, milk production and improved port logistics, said Kagame.

There is a lot more the two countries can learn from each other in the spirit of strengthening trade ties, ensuring prosperity and development of the economies and peoples, said Hassan, adding that the signing of the agreements would pave the way for this.

She also highlighted the need for cooperation in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and in full operation of the one-stop border post at Rusumo, a town on Rwanda-Tanzania border.

Rwanda and Tanzania in 2018 agreed on joint construction of a standard gauge railway from Isaka in northwestern Tanzania to Kigali to facilitate logistics movement between the two countries.

Rwandan Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete in July presented a bill to the parliament that provides a framework for the country's implementation, management and maintenance of the standard gauge railway project, saying the country plans to commence the construction as soon as the railway line reaches Isaka.

The government has resumed discussions with partners on the funding of the projected railway, which is expected to cost the central African nation about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 07:54:09|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- India on Sunday assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of August, when two signature meetings focusing on maritime security, and technology and peacekeeping will be held.

During the month, India will organize a high-level videoconference open debate on maritime security. Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, will chair the meeting. A presidential statement is an expected outcome, according to the Security Council Report (SCR), whose mission is to advance the transparency and effectiveness of the Council.

Modi is likely to address the Council on Aug. 9.

Former permanent representative of India to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said that "our prime minister Narendra Modi will be the first Indian PM who has decided to preside over a meeting of UNSC. This is our eighth stint on the UNSC," according to media report.

India is also planning to hold a ministerial-level open debate on technology and peacekeeping. India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will chair the debate. A presidential statement is an anticipated outcome. India may also pursue a resolution on the protection of peacekeepers during the month.

In a video message, India's representative to the United Nations T.S. Tirumurti on Friday talked about New Delhi's agenda. He said India will be organizing signature events in three key areas - maritime security, peacekeeping, and counterterrorism.

Tirumurti added that New Delhi will continue to keep the spotlight on counterterrorism.

The first working day of India's presidency will be on Monday, Aug. 2, when Tirumurti will hold a hybrid press briefing in the UN headquarters on the Council's program of work for the month.

The Council will continue to follow the developments in Ethiopia (Tigray), Haiti and Myanmar closely during the month. Meetings on these and other issues are possible, according to SCR.

Ahead of India assuming presidency, Pakistan on Saturday expressed its hope that New Delhi would follow international rules and norms. "We hope that India will abide by the relevant rules and norms governing the conduct of the Security Council presidency," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 12:21:54|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Joining Tokyo and Okinawa, the four prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Osaka entered into a COVID-19 state of emergency in Japan on Monday due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

The state of emergency for the three prefectures near Tokyo, namely Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, and the prefecture of Osaka, would last until Aug. 31. Meanwhile, the emergency period in Tokyo and Okinawa was also extended to Aug. 31 from the originally planned Aug. 22.

The Japanese government is planning to roll out standards for easing restrictions with the progress of vaccination of the population. However, the end of the epidemic seems yet to come in Japan.

Under the state of emergency, establishments serving alcohol or offering karaoke services are asked to suspend their business, and those not serving liquor are requested to close at 8 p.m. local time. The government would offer monetary compensation for compliance.

Outside of the six prefectures, a quasi-state of emergency is implemented in parts of five prefectures, namely Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka from Monday to the end of August. The quasi-state of emergency is less restrictive on business activity than the state of emergency.

According to the government's policy, serving alcohol is prohibited and restaurants not serving liquor are asked to close at 8 p.m. local time under the quasi-state of emergency as well, and the local governors of the five prefectures could ease restrictions based on improvements in the situation.

According to the data released by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the number of COVID-19 patients being taken care of at home increased to 18,927 as of July 28, 1.8 times the number in the previous week. Hospital bed occupancy rates in Tokyo, Saitama, Ishikawa, and Okinawa prefectures were 50 percent or higher.

In pace with the summer and Obon holidays, the National Governors' Association on Sunday urged people to avoid making trips across prefectural borders in principle. In case of making essential trips, it asked people to take virus tests. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 12:32:47|Editor: huaxia

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PYONGYANG, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday night urged South Korea to cancel its regular joint military exercises with the United States and said a North-South leader-level summit remains unlikely in the short term, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The joint military drills are "an undesirable prelude which seriously undermines the will of the top leaders of the North and the South wishing to see a step taken toward restoring mutual trust and which beclouds the way ahead of the north-south relations," said Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in a statement.

"Our government and army will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision," she said.

The DPRK has long denounced Seoul and Washington's military drills as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North. The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-1953 Korean War was ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Kim also accused the South Korean government of "inflating the significance" of last week's restoration of the two Koreas' cross-border communication lines, which had been severed for over a year.

Those inside and outside South Korea "are freely interpreting" the meaning of restoring communication lines, and "it is a premature hasty judgment" to say that there is a public opinion about the issue of the North-South summit, she noted.

"What I think is that the restoration of the communication liaison lines should not be taken as anything more than just the physical reconnection," said Kim, adding that hasty speculation and groundless interpretation will only bring despair. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 12:39:05|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense ministry said Monday that no decision had been made yet over the joint annual military exercise with the United States this summer.

Boo Seung-chan, defense ministry spokesman, told an online press briefing that nothing was finalized yet over how, when and on which scale the annual South Korea-U.S. command post exercise would be conducted, saying it would be decided by the authorities of South Korea and the United States.

The combined forces of South Korea and the United States have annually staged the summertime command post drills around mid-August, which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

Boo said Seoul and Washington were in close consultations over the issue taking into account the overall situations, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the combined defense posture, the transfer of the wartime operational control, and the support for diplomatic efforts to establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

On July 27, South Korea and the DPRK restored their cross-border communication channels that had been severed for over a year, raising expectations for a conciliatory mood between the two Koreas. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 14:03:28|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Monday confirmed a daily record of 560 COVID-19 infections including 169 imported cases, pushing the national total caseload to 78,474 so far, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.

Twenty-two more fatalities had been registered, bringing the overall death toll to 1,442, the ministry said, adding that 763 other patients had recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 71,517.

MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine called for greater participation from individuals to stem the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

"We must act responsibly together now if we do not want to go through a public health disaster later on," she said on social media.

World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Cambodia Li Ailan said both Alpha and Delta variants had been detected in Cambodia, urging people to strictly comply with health measures.

"It is our new challenge. Be aware that the good combined public health and social measures, if well implemented with good compliance, are effective in suppressing transmission," she wrote on Twitter.

The Southeast Asian nation launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb 10, aiming at inoculating 12 million people -- 10 million adults and 2 million adolescents, or 75 percent of its 16 million population by November.

As of Sunday, some 7.38 million people, or 46.16 percent of Cambodia's total population had received at least one vaccine dose, the MoH said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 14:14:53|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 1,063 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 166,210, the country's health ministry said Monday.

A total of 5,221 samples were tested across the country in the past day.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 283 were detected in the capital city Ulan Bator, with the rest reported elsewhere in the country.

Ulan Bator, which is home to over half of the country's total population, is the hardest hit by COVID-19.

The disease has claimed 850 lives in Mongolia since the country's first case was reported in March last year.

The Asian country launched its national vaccination campaign in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.

So far, 61 percent of the country's residents have received two jabs. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 15:50:06|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Aug.2 (Xinhua) -- Severe weather conditions killed a total of 2.4 million heads of livestock across Mongolia in the first half of this year, the country's national statistics office said Monday.

Extreme wintry weather known as dzud, heavy snow and dust storms, and drought are the main causes of the animal deaths, the statistics office said.

Around 70 percent of the livestock deaths occurred in four provinces, namely Bayankhongor, Dundgovi, Uvurkhangai and Govi-Altai, which had suffered mostly from heavy snow and dust storms in the spring of this year.

Nearly 90 percent of the dead animals were goats and sheep.

Animal husbandry is the backbone of the landlocked country's economy as nearly 40 percent of its nomads depend on animal husbandry for their livelihoods. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:01:24|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines on Monday condemned politicizing the origins of COVID-19, joining a growing number of countries on the issue.

"We must know the origin of COVID-19, but let us leave that to scientists, experts. Let us leave it to science," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told a televised news conference, stressing the need to seek a "scientific but not political answer."

Roque said COVID-19 is "the common enemy of the entire humanity regardless of nationality, color or shape."

"It is important that the world link arms to fight this. The problem is if we politicize this, it becomes a hindrance to our efforts to combat this," Roque said.

On July 15, permanent representatives of 48 countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva sent letters to the World Health Organization opposing the politicization of the probe on the origins of the coronavirus.

"That is also our position," said Roque, the second member of Philippines' Cabinet to oppose such politicization.

Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque last week also rejected efforts by some leaders and politicians to politicize COVID-19.

"We shun the politicization of anything that has something to do with the COVID-19," Duque told reporters.

"That is something that we were indifferent, totally indifferent about because you know we're very busy ramping up our (pandemic response), and we do not want to politicize the issue of the COVID-19," Duque added.

Duque also urged leaders and politicians to stick to scientific data to combat the highly infectious disease that has already killed millions worldwide. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 17:38:43|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Payment company Square has acquired the Australian-owned Afterpay for a whopping 39 billion Australian dollars (about 29 billion U.S. dollars), sending shockwaves through Australia's share market on Monday.

The U.S. financial and digital payment services provider was co-founded in 2009 by billionaire and CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey as a response to traditional finance institutions, while Afterpay was founded in 2014 by Australian tech entrepreneurs Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen.

"Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose. We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles," said Dorsey in a statement.

The colossal price tag represents the largest buyout in Australia's corporate history. The price is a 30 percent markup on Afterpay's closing price last Friday and equates to 42 times the company's 2021 revenue.

The sale shook Australia's stock market with Afterpay's stock lifting more than 18 percent from Friday. More broadly the purchase pushed Australia's ASX 200, indexing Australia's top 200 companies, to a historical high of 7,500 points on Monday.

When Afterpay was listed on the ASX in May, 2016, its shares was at just one Australian dollar each. But at Monday's close they were worth just under 115 dollars each.

Afterpay's promotion as a contactless payment solution has bolstered its growth over the course of the pandemic. Its model of "buy now, pay later" has also been wildly successful, especially among younger Australians, offering an alternative to traditional credit cards.

Co-CEOs Molnar and Eisen will both join Square after the deal finalizes early next year, but Afterpay will retain its branding. They are enthusiastic that the deal will propel Afterpay's growth in the United States.

"The transaction marks an important recognition of the Australian technology sector as homegrown innovation continues to be shared more broadly throughout the world," the two said in a statement. (1 U.S. dollar equals 1.36 Australian dollars) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 19:37:31|Editor: huaxia

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BANGKOK, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thailand has set a target to reach a vaccination rate of over 50 percent in August, as the country battles its worst outbreak fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.

The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced on Monday that it planned to vaccinate 80 percent of residents in capital Bangkok, 70 percent in other provinces deemed as "dark red zone," the most affected area, and 50 percent in the remaining provinces by the end of this month.

As of Sunday, Thailand has administered over 17.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide, with nearly 20 percent of its total population received the first jab.

The Southeast Asian country on Monday registered 17,970 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 633,284, according to the CCSA. The accumulative deaths also rose by 178 to 5,168.

The CCSA has decided to extend current lockdown restrictions for at least two weeks and to expand the "dark red" zone provinces from the current 13 to 29. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 20:22:28|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Four more areas in Japan were added into the COVID-19 state of emergency by the government on Monday, while the Australian state of Queensland announced an extension of lockdown after the state saw rising daily cases.

Joining Tokyo and Okinawa, the four prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Osaka entered into a COVID-19 state of emergency in Japan due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

As Australia's most populous city of Sydney continues to battle its spiraling outbreak of COVID-19 triggered by the Delta variant, the neighboring state of Queensland is struggling to reign in its own outbreak caused by the same variant.

The Queensland government announced that the current three-day snap lockdown on 11 areas in the state's south-east, including Brisbane City and Gold Coast, will be extended until 4 p.m. local time this Sunday.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 22,404 within one day to 3,462,800, with the death toll adding by 1,568 to 97,291, the Health Ministry said.

Thailand has set a target to reach a vaccination rate of over 50 percent in August, as the country battles its worst outbreak fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.

The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced that it planned to vaccinate 80 percent of residents in capital Bangkok, 70 percent in other provinces deemed as "dark red zone," the most affected area, and 50 percent in the remaining provinces by the end of this month.

Malaysia recorded a fresh high of 219 single-day death toll from COVID-19, bringing the total deaths to 9,403, according to the Health Ministry.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that another 15,764 new COVID-19 infections were reported, of which six are imported and 15,758 are local transmissions, bringing the national total to 1,146,186.

Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong confirmed 13 new COVID-19 deaths from July 29 to Aug. 1 and 1,100 new daily infections. The death toll has reached 254 in the island nation, and the seven-day rolling average of deaths per day is seven.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 8,167 new infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,605,762. The death toll climbed to 28,093 after 77 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

Pakistan on Sunday reported 4,858 new COVID-19 cases, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said, and the country's number of overall confirmed cases had risen to 1,039,695, including 943,020 recoveries.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 31,695,958 as 40,134 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data. Besides, as many as 422 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Sunday morning, taking the total death toll to 424,773.

Cambodia confirmed a daily record of 560 infections including 169 imported cases, pushing the national total caseload to 78,474 so far, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.

Three Cambodian dogs had been successfully trained to sniff out COVID-19, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) Heng Ratana said.

South Korea reported 1,219 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 201,002. The daily caseload was down from 1,442 in the prior day, but it hovered above 1,000 for 27 straight days. The daily average tally for the past week was 1,549.

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities, and no cases in the community. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:39:31|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan reported 8,393 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, nearly double the figure confirmed the same day in the previous week, as infections continued to surge in and around Tokyo where the Olympics are being held, local media reported Monday.

Tokyo, after reporting over 3,000 cases for five consecutive days, on Monday confirmed 2,195 cases, and the surrounding prefectures, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama, logged 1,686, 787, and 762 cases respectively.

People in their 20s and 30s accounted for the majority of Monday's infections in Tokyo, with 773 and 520 respectively.

Tokyo's seven-day rolling average of cases has increased to a record 3,214.4 per day, rising 106.9 percent from the previous week. Patients experiencing severe symptoms increased by 13 from the previous day to 114.

According to the prime minister's office, more than 50 million people, or about 40 percent of Japan's population, have taken at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Tokyo entered the fourth state of emergency on July 12. Although foot traffic in Tokyo's downtown areas has slightly reduced, the turning point of the number of infections is yet to come amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:50:17|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A soldier was killed as terrorists attacked a military post in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an army statement said on Monday.

The military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement that the terrorists opened fire on the post in the Ghariom area of North Waziristan district of the province.

"Own troops responded in a befitting manner," said the ISPR statement, adding that during an exchange of fire with the militants, one soldier of the Pakistani army was killed.

"Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists in the area," said the statement. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 22:08:02|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia on Monday decided to extend its restrictions on community activities, known locally as PPKM, in several regions until Aug. 9 as the country is still fighting the second COVID-19 wave that has overwhelmed hospitals.

Initially, the government imposed the policy, previously called PPKM Darurat (emergency community restrictions) on the country's most populated Island of Java and the resort island of Bali from July 3 to 20.

The PPKM Darurat was later expanded to some regions that saw surges in new cases until Aug. 2, and the name of the policy was changed to PPKM Level 4, requiring workers in non-essential sectors to work from home and shopping malls to temporarily close.

"Taking into account the development of several indicators of cases this week, the government has decided to continue PPKM Level 4 from Aug. 3 to 9, 2021 in some particular districts and cities," President Joko Widodo said at a virtual press conference on Monday evening.

The Health Ministry reported on Monday that the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 22,404 within one day to 3.46 million, with the death toll adding by 1,568 to 97,291.

During the past 24 hours, 32,807 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals, raising the total number of recoveries in the Southeast Asian country to 2.84 million, according to the ministry. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-03 00:10:32|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was killed in firing by unknown gunmen in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Monday, according to police officials.

Unknown miscreants riding on a motorcycle shot dead the police officer assigned to guard polio vaccination workers in the Kot Attal Sharif area of Dera Ismail Khan district of the province, said Muhammad Aslam, a senior police official in the area.

The policeman was on his way to perform duties with an anti-polio team when he was attacked, said the official, adding that the attackers fled the scene afterwards, and a search operation is underway to arrest on-the-run culprits.

This was the third attack in two days on Pakistani policemen assigned to protect anti-polio workers in the province.

Earlier on Sunday, a police officer, who was returning home after security duty with polio vaccination workers, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Peshawar, the provincial capital of KP province.

Similarly, a cop was injured when a roadside bomb hit a police van escorting a polio vaccination team in the Ladha area of South Waziristan district of the province on Sunday.

According to government officials, Pakistan is one of the only two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbor Afghanistan. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 16:18:23|Editor: huaxia

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A Chinese staff member takes care of giant panda Huan Huan at Beauval Zoo in central France, Aug. 2, 2021. Huan Huan, a giant panda at Beauval Zoo in central France, has given birth to twins early Monday, the zoo announced. Both babies were healthy, the first weighing 149 grams and the second 128.8 grams. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

PARIS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Huan Huan, a giant panda at Beauval Zoo in central France, has given birth to twins early Monday, the zoo announced.

"Huan Huan, our female panda, lost water around 0:30 am. Her 1st baby was born around 1:05 am and the 2nd followed a few minutes later," said the zoo in a press release.

Both babies were healthy, the first weighing 149 grams and the second 128.8 grams. "Huan Huan is very maternal, licks her cubs and holds them tight against her," added the zoo.

Huan Huan, which means "happy" in Chinese, and her male companion Yuan Zi, both born in Chengdu, China, arrived in France in 2012 at the age of three.

At the end of March, the pandas tried to mate under the watchful eye of veterinarians and caretakers. Artificial insemination was also carried out as a precaution, as a female panda is fertile only 24 to 48 hours per year.

In 2017, Huan Huan gave birth to twin cubs, the first panda babies born in France. The first cub died shortly after its birth and the second one was named Yuan Meng, which means "the realization of a dream" in Chinese.

Giant panda newborns are even more helpless than most other mammal infants because they don't open their eyes until they are about six to eight weeks old and don't move around until about three months. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 20:09:19|Editor: huaxia

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NICOSIA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus' Health Ministry said it on Monday started a vaccination program for 12- to 15-year-olds.

The ministry said that the decision was made after it was established that 20 percent of new COVID-19 infections related to these age groups.

The ministry also said that the youngsters would be eligible for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines, provided they had the consent of their parents or legal guardians.

The vaccination program was launched after the Cyprus Pediatric Society issued a recommendation to immediately include 12- to 15-year-olds.

The society said that it came to the conclusion after establishing that the mRNA vaccines are safe and effective and that the benefit of vaccinating these age groups far outweighs any potential risks.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Pediatric Society Chairman Michalis Anastasiades said that some of its members became targets of insults and threats in postings on social media for coming out in favor of children vaccination.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou said that following a complaint, police started a criminal investigation and were evaluating the content of online posts.

Cypriot authorities tightened COVID-19 restrictions as of the start of this week, demanding that all people hold a SafePass to enter public offices and private venues where 10 or more people are present.

The Health Ministry said that hospitals providing treatment to COVID-19 patients are currently operating at 100 percent of their capacity, adding that this is the main reason behind the decision to tighten restrictions. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:06:32|Editor: huaxia

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BUCHAREST, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Romania strongly condemned the attack on the "Mercer Street" oil tanker, which resulted in the loss of the life of the captain of the ship, a Romanian citizen, said the Romanian Foreign Ministry in a press release on Monday.

According to the press release, the Foreign Ministry urgently summoned the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Bucharest, "given the elements presented by the international partners of Romania regarding the fact that the attack was deliberate and was coordinated by Iran."

"Romania calls for the presentation of explanations by the Iranian authorities, without delay, and reserves the right to act accordingly, together with its international partners, for an adequate response," read the press release.

Zodiac Maritime, a London-based firm owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, said on Friday that its oil tanker "Mercer Street" was attacked on July 29 in the northern Indian Ocean, and two crew members onboard, a Romanian and a British national, were killed.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Sunday dismissed the allegations that Iran conducted the attack. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 21:38:49|Editor: huaxia

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Trees are seen burned by wildfires near Manavgat, a resort town of Antalya province, Turkey, on Aug. 2, 2021. Turkey has been battling wildfires that erupted in the southern and southwestern coastal resort towns and have lasted six days, officials announced Monday. Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli pointed out that the fire in Manavgat continues and has the potential to cause new evacuations. (Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has been battling wildfires that erupted in the southern and southwestern coastal resort towns and have lasted six days, officials announced Monday.

"We have controlled 125 out of the 132 fires in the last five days, and are still fighting the remaining seven ones," Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli told reporters in Mugla Province.

Firefighters have hard times in Marmaris and Bodrum, the resort towns of Mugla Province, because of a low humidity rate which dropped to 10 percent in the morning hours.

"Under normal conditions, the humidity should not be below 30 percent," Pakdemirli explained.

He pointed out that the fire in Manavgat, a resort town of Antalya province, continues and has the potential to cause new evacuations.

According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, approximately 10,000 citizens have been evacuated from their houses in Mugla.

Soylu said eight neighborhoods were completely deserted while five others partially evacuated as blazes hit the residential areas.

The fires have claimed eight lives so far in Turkey.

Meanwhile, the European Union announced that the bloc would send three firefighting planes from Croatia and Spain after Turkey activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on Sunday.

"The EU stands in full solidarity with Turkey at this very difficult time," the EU said in a statement.

Amid the ongoing fires, Turkey has experienced "unplanned" wide-scale power outages on Monday in at least 14 big cities including Istanbul, the capital Ankara, and Izmir.

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said in a written statement that partial interruptions occurred because of high demand for electricity prompted by high temperatures. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-02 23:45:47|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported another 21,952 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 5,902,354, according to official figures released Monday.

The country also recorded another 24 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 129,743. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Fewer contacts of people with COVID-19 will be told to isolate by the NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace app after an update, Sky News reported on Monday.

It will now only look back at contacts two days before someone tests positive, as opposed to five days of contacts the app was tracking before, according to the report.

While this will not impact the sensitivity of the app, the change will mean fewer people who were in contact with a person when they were unlikely to be at the peak of their infectiousness will be told to self-isolate, according to the government.

The latest development came as supermarkets, emergency services, public transport and postal deliveries had all been hit by staff shortages due to a record number of people told to isolate by the app.

England recently lifted most COVID-19 restrictions as part of the final step of the roadmap out of the lockdown. Scientists have warned that lifting all restrictions at this stage could increase likelihood of dangerous variants.

More than 88 percent of adults in Britain have received the first jab of COVID-19 vaccine and more than 72 percent have received two doses, according to the latest figures.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
"We are aware that owners of private jets are highly placed Nigerians..."

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says 30 out of 65 private airplanes verified so far are liable to pay required duties to the federal government.

The Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, made this known while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

Mr Attah explained that some of these planes came into the country by Temporary Importation agreement which allows them to bring the jets without payment because it was secured by a bond.

He said that thereafter many of them failed to turn up to pay on the expiration of the agreement which necessitated the verification.

He stated that with this exercise, there would be more revenue to be accrued to the federal government because those who failed to adhere to the agreement would be made to pay the duties.

The customs' spokesperson said the verification had also given an opportunity to the service to clearly differentiate those planes in the country that were on commercial operations from those owned and used for private purposes.

Mr Attah restated that the verification was not meant to embarrass anybody but to ensure that the right or required duties were paid to the government by the owners of these private planes.

He further disclosed that with the impact of the first two weeks extension, the service had again given another two weeks which commenced from Monday, July 26, to Friday, August 6.

"Considering the rising number of compliance and the number of jets that are liable for payment of duties as well as indications by those people to do so, the Comptroller-General has again graciously given them another two weeks.

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"The exercise as I stated in our previous briefings, is not intended to be punitive or to embarrass them but to ensure that these private jets that operate in the country are properly documented.

"And also, to ensure every collectable revenue is collected into the coffers of the Federal Government.

"As you all know the case of increasing economic challenge, every source of revenue is important to the government and beyond that, for security purpose.

"With this, you can now tie proper ownership to every aircraft or private jet that flies into and out of the country. Through the exercise, we have been able to know those hiding under temporary importation agreement.

"We are aware that owners of private jets are highly placed Nigerians who should be respected and approached in a manner that provides all necessary convenience and that is what these extensions stands for," he explained.

According to him, this will be the last extension because whoever fails to turn up for the verification will have his aircraft impounded.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has stated that Nigeria and 22 other countries across the globe would experience acute food insecurity over the next four months as steep food insecurity levels continue to increase in scale and severity.

According to WFP's report obtained from its website, the situation is of grave concern as conflict, the economic repercussions of Covid-19 and climate crisis are expected to drive higher levels of acute food insecurity in these countries which it tagged as "hunger hotspots."

The 23 hotspots identified are Afghanistan, Angola, Central Africa Republic, Central Sahel, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and El Salvador. The rest are Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone as well as Liberia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen.

This is just as the WFP and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Nigeria have partnered to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.

The partnership is apt as agri-food systems are failing and not sustainable in many parts of the world posing a great threat to global food insecurity.

Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and WFP warned that 41 million people were at risk of falling into famine unless they received immediate food and livelihood assistance, stating that 2020 saw 155 million people facing acute food insecurity.

WFP stated that bureaucratic obstacles as well as a lack of funding also hamper the two UN agencies' efforts to provide emergency food assistance and enable farmers to plant at scale and at the right time.

The Director-General, FAO, QU Dongyu, said the vast majority of those on the verge are farmers, stressing that alongside food assistance, world food bodies would do all they can to help farmers resume food production themselves, so that families and communities can move back towards self-sufficiency and not just depend on aid to survive.

"That is difficult without access, and without adequate funding and so far, support to agriculture as key means of preventing widespread famine remains largely overlooked by donors, unfortunately. Without such support to agriculture, humanitarian needs will keep skyrocketing, that's inevitable,"he added.

The Executive Director, WFP, David Beasley said families that rely on humanitarian assistance to survive are hanging by a thread, saying that the thread to reach these families describing the consequences as nothing short of catastrophy.

The report also said the new highest alerts issued for Ethiopia and Madagascar add to South Sudan, Yemen, and northern Nigeria, which remain among the acute food insecurity hotspots of greatest global concern.

"In some areas of these countries populations already experiencing conditions of famine and significant numbers of people are at risk of falling into famine," WFP added.

The report also flags other countries as amongst the worst hunger hotspots - where life-threatening hunger is on the rise - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the country with the highest number of people in urgent need of food assistance in the world, Haiti, Honduras, the Sudan, and Syria.

Meanwhile, speaking at a forum in Lagos, the Country Director in Nigeria, WFP, Paul Howe, said there is an urgent need for a wholistic society approach to achieve zero hunger, maintaining that to address food insecurity, there is need to tap into the dynamism of Nigeria which he described as a gateway to achieve food security in Africa and indeed the rest of the world.

Howe stated this at a zero hunger sprint pitch event to reward five young entrepreneurs with innovation and ideas to find practical ideas to ending hunger in Nigeria.

"The problem of hunger in Nigeria goes beyond the North East and much bigger than any single entity can address on its own. We really need a wholistic society approach to achieve zero hunger. We must tap into the potential that is here in Nigeria for us to be successful. So fuller societies approach, the government, private sector, UN agencies, development agencies must work together in tapping into the dynamism that Nigeria has, "he said.

He said the zero hunger sprint pitch event expected to reward five entrepreneurs with $50,000 each would expose young and talented people with incredible ideas while also matching them with mentors and investors that would help to address food insecurity.

"We are very much aware that the problems of hunger with conflict, high food prices, Covid-19 are big in Nigeria and we also know that the potential of this society is even bigger and we are hoping to use this event to address this problem," he said.

In his words, "One of the things we want to do with the conference is to make sure that it does not end today as entrepreneurs would get access to funds from investors and mentorship to help them through this process of getting started. We are looking for ideas that young companies have and we hope that these great ideas will be the start of efforts to end hunger."

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation and Chairman of Zero Hunger Roundtable, Ms. Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, said the objective of the pitch is to connect private sector companies to invest in investor ready start ups, stating that for close to a decade, food insecurity has been increasing with insecurity in the North East as well as communal conflicts as operators are straining under the weights of insecurity.

She said as a result of this, WFP Nigeria in 2020 collaborated with the government and the private sector to convene the Zero hunger roundtable bringing together key actors to address the severe hunger challenges in Nigeria by exploring new ways to eliminate the causes of hunger and contribute Nigeria's effort to achieve Zero hunger by 2030.

According to her, through innovation, Nigeria can truly rise up to the challenge of food insecurity, pointing out that through innovation, the private sector and entrepreneurs can blaze the trail to achieve Zero hunger in Nigeria by 2030, boost food production by connecting small holder farmers to markets and accelerate the transformation and consumption of nutritious foods.

She added that by investing in these innovative ideas, strongly linked to zero hunger, Nigeria food systems would receive a much-needed boost from the private sector.

"The two key areas of investment needed are support to the small holder farmers and support to transformative approaches."We are here with these innovators that would blaze the trail in our efforts to end hunger by achieving SDG 2 Zero hunger in Nigeria by 2030," she added.

She noted that Nigeria has many incredible start ups that would provide solutions to Nigeria's agricultural sector.

The Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Rotimi Odusola, said Nigeria is where it is due to the culmination of a problem that has been long coming, stressing that the fight against hunger is a collective responsibility having neglected the agricultural sector for decades.

"We are looking for ideas that are scalable, ideas that would result to very impactful multiplications, ideas that small holder farmers can exponentially use to multiply their activities in the country to end hunger. This is just the beginning of one the efforts to tackle food insecurity, "he said.

Mastercard Confers Quality Certification on Electronic Payplus

Globally-acclaimed electronic payment company, MasterCard, has retained its seal of authority on the quality of cards produced by Nigeria's foremost smart card manufacturer and payment solution company, Electronic Payplus (Epay Plus) Limited.

Epay Plus, a member of the prestigious International Cards Manufacturers Association (ICMA), recently announced a partnership with another international electronic payment company, American Express, to produce its range of smart cards in Nigeria.

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American Express, in its approval said Electronic Payplus Limited had complied with the security requirements as stipulated by the Payment Card Industry (PCI).

MasterCard, in a Statement of Quality letter, dated June 10, 2021, said it restated approval to Electronic Payplus Limited, based on the company's submission of, "a number of Smart Cards Products and Services in conformity with the MasterCard Card Quality Management (CQM) Requirements."

It further noted that, "the terms and conditions of the MasterCard Card Quality Management Certification Agreement shall apply to this Statement of Quality and related CQM Label(s)."

Electronic Payplus Limited started operations in May 2005, as a payment service provider. Sixteen years later, the Company has grown to become Nigeria's biggest Smart and Digital Card production, with capacity to produce all kinds of secure cards.

Apart from bank cards, the company has expanded capacity to produce SIM Cards, Biometric Identity Cards, Electronic ticketing for public transportation (Rail, Bus Rapid Transport, Ferry, etc.), Voter's Card and Residency Cards for Diplomatic and Expatriate Workers.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Payplus Limited, Mr. Bayo Adeokun, described the MasterCard Card Quality Management (CQM) as a vote of confidence on the quality of cards produced by his company.

"What this means is that Mastercard has certified that all products from our factory meet the required standard as specified by MasterCard and they are of the same quality with products from any other MasterCard certified factory in the World.As you can see, this certificate was issued on 10th June, 2021," Adeokun explained.

Electronic Payplus Limited continues to bolster Payment Card Industry confidence in the range of card service offerings, which include Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Verve, with the high quality and security of cards produced in its facility.
Potato trials to produce resistance to late blight at the Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (KAZARDI) in Uganda.

analysis

What will it take to build sustainable, resilient food systems in African countries? This was among the questions considered at the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit in late July. The summit, the first of its kind in this century, aims to identify bold, innovative actions, with measurable outcomes. These actions are needed to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals in what the UN has dubbed the "Decade of Action".

African ministers of agriculture met before the summit to discuss the continent's common position. Among the issues they tabled was using agriculture to reduce poverty, particularly for women and youth. We want to contribute to the African common position by flagging the importance of technical innovation and the role of agricultural research and development (R&D) in building the food systems the continent needs.

When agriculture grows, there are benefits across the board. Its extensive linkages with the off-farm stages of the agrifood system and non-farm sectors expand employment and livelihoods in the rest of the economy. High farm production growth in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 has contributed to high overall economic growth and improvements in the welfare of most people in the region. But approximately 75% of Africa's agricultural production growth resulted from area expansion and only 25% from yield improvements. This is not sustainable in the long run: 90% of Africa's available arable land is located in eight countries. Many of these countries are fragile states.

The future livelihoods of millions of land-constrained African farmers will depend on raising the productivity of existing farmland. Technical innovation is key to raising yields and productivity. This sort of innovation comes from continuous investments in agricultural R&D and extension systems. Examples include higher yielding seed varieties, mechanisation, improved soil management and conservation practices. Profitable and efficient fertiliser use is also critical.

Spending below target

In 2006 African leaders met in Khartoum, Sudan and pledged to allocate 1% of agricultural GDP to R&D. However, most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have failed to achieve this target. The average for sub-Saharan African countries is only 0.38%.

We examined the International Food Policy Research Institute's Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators database for more nuanced detail. It revealed that, for the latest available year, only six of the 40 sub-Saharan African countries tracked - Botswana, Cabo Verde, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe - spent more than 1% of agricultural GDP on agricultural R&D.

As a continent, Africa has set a target and made a political commitment. It needs to get serious about achieving this target. Governments must identify and address the factors constraining their ability to achieve the 1% target. The consequence of not achieving it includes constrained productivity and limited transformation of Africa's agricultural sector. Ultimately, it also means slower progress in reducing poverty and food insecurity.

Innovation at all stages

While it's a necessary condition, increased R&D spending alone is certainly not sufficient. It's also important for African countries to produce agricultural innovations and technologies at all levels of the food system.

An interesting pattern emerges when looking at the number of published patents by Africans in Africa across two decades: 2000-2009 and 2010-2019. In fields of technologies with greater on-farm application, the number of patents published increased between the two decades.

For example, in biotechnology and environmental technology, the number of patents published increased from 133 to 200 and from 197 to 212, respectively.

However, in fields with greater technology application in downstream levels of the food system, the number of patents published tended to decline between the two decades. In food chemistry this number fell from 216 to 190. Handling technologies saw a significant decline in the number of patents published, from 650 in 2000-2009 to 264 in 2010-2020.

Ultimately, Africa's food system needs to produce healthy and nutritious food that meets the standards of the global end consumer. Innovation at every level of the food system is crucial to achieving this objective.

In addition, beyond the hard sciences, we need to think differently about which disciplines contribute to the adoption of agricultural innovations at scale. People don't typically think of the social sciences and humanities when discussing agricultural R&D. In general, investments in these disciplines tend to be a small share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D. This trend needs to be reversed.

Social scientists can achieve two important goals in the food system. First, they can provide relevant evidence to support decision-making. After all, these disciplines are centred on the study of what motivates decision makers.

Second, social scientists can provide concrete evidence to policymakers on how alternative national agricultural investments will affect welfare. They are able to facilitate dialogue between stakeholders to set priorities, shape research agendas, and build coalitions of support on the way forward. For example, they can help to create platforms or dialogue spaces that ensure global research institutions do not crowd out local institutions and instead work collaboratively with them to share knowledge.

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Sustainable solutions

Agricultural R&D focused on farm productivity is critical. However, resilience and sustainability of the entire food system will be enhanced by public investments that include technologies relevant to the downstream stages of the food system, too.

And in the conversation on R&D, let's not forget the role social scientists can play in helping policymakers appreciate the actions needed to achieve their national objectives. The combination of strengthened R&D for the food system and stronger local policy analysis will certainly help Africa realise its "Decade of Action".

Lulama Ndibongo Traub, Technical Chair, Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI), Stellenbosch University; Thomas Jayne, MSU Foundation Professor, Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, and Wandile Sihlobo, Visiting Research Fellow, Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand
A past picture taken during the discovery of Orrorin Tugenensis fossils in Orrorin, Baringo County in 2000.

Experts have questioned Kenya's decision to "lend" delicate fossils and ancient tools dating back millions of years to a small museum in Southern France for an exhibition.

The decision to allow the more than 145 specimen, which were discovered in Kenya over the years, to be flown out for display is said to have gone against a decades-long policy that has kept the museum items under lock-and-key.

Experts who spoke to the Sunday Nation say the only time such precious items are allowed out is for scanning and scientific analysis under strict conditions, including timelines, by the Sports, Culture and Heritage ministry and the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). Photographing or touching the specimen with the bare hands is usually prohibited. Items displayed for public viewing in Kenya are usually replicas, to avoid exposing the originals.

But recently, despite protests from experts, Kenya sent the delicate items to the Reunion des musees nationaux-Grand Palais, a cultural organisation in France, which currently has them on a public exhibition. Among them are stone tools obtained in Turkana and announced six years ago. Some were found to be 3.3 million years old upon conducting of scientific age testing, making them the oldest known human-made objects in the world.

Yesterday, Heritage PS Josephta Mukobe told the Sunday Nation that the items were lent out and not exported permanently.

Exhibition

"Museums all over the world lend each other some materials for specific purposes," she said. "At the moment, there is an exhibition in France and the National Museums of Kenya has lent them some archaeological materials which are expected to be returned after the exhibition."

It was not immediately clear what benefits Kenya would get from the deal.

What angers scientists is the fact that Kenya sent the original items to France and not duplicates.

Among those opposed to the move to transport original samples to France is the Turkana Basin Institute, a centre that specialises in human origin research. In an April 23 letter to the National Museums of Kenya (director-general Mzalendo Kibunjia, seen by the Sunday Nation, the institute's director for research and science, Prof Isaiah Nengo urged that the transportation be halted.

"It has been a policy for decades that original fossils and archaeological artefacts are to be exported only for specialised scientific analyses not possible in the country. The exportation of these materials will set a precedent which may very well lead to loss or damage of irreplaceable scientific specimens," stated Prof Nengo.

"I am writing with the kind request that the decision to export the original materials be reversed, and high-quality casts be used instead; not only for this but for all other future public exhibitions," he added.

On May 12, paleoanthropologist and former NMK boss Richard Leakey wrote a letter to Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed of Sports, Heritage and Culture, also stating that the exportation should be aborted.

"The long-term dangers posed by the abrupt reversal of the long-standing policy not to permit the export of artefacts and fossils except for verified specialised scientific analyses ... are quite serious," wrote Dr Leakey.

He noted that the very items taken to France were being studied by a team, incidentally also from France, led by Dr Sonia Harmand, the director of the West Turkana Archaeological Project and whose team had found some of the the specimens. Incidentally, the work by the team in Kenya is supported by the French government through a bilateral research agreement bilateral

"The export of the material discovered by and still under study by her team, and without consultation, violates a long-standing tradition of not interfering with ongoing research," Dr Leakey further stated.

Dr Harmand's team discovered the specimens at Lomekwi 3, which they started exploring from 2011. Some of the results of their exploration at the area were released in California in 2015.

"Researchers say they have found the oldest tools made by human ancestors -- stone flakes dated to 3.3 million years ago. That's 700,000 years older than the oldest-known tools to date, suggesting that our ancestors were crafting tools several hundred thousand years before our genus Homo arrived on the scene," the Science Journal reported of the findings in 2015.

Provincial museum

That made the discoveries a coveted possession. Under normal circumstances, such items are stored under tamper-proof conditions.

"They stay in vaults like those in banks. The walls of the vault are thicker than a metre," said Dr Leakey.

Yesterday, we asked Ms Mukobe whether she was aware of the opposition to the transportation of original artefacts.

"Movement of artefacts from the museums is done within general guidelines," she said, as she attempted to find out where the Sunday Nation got the information.

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Dr Leakey said on the matter. "I'm surprised the National museum and the minister would agree to send one of the most important scientific discoveries ever made in Kenya, that is those artefacts, to be exhibited in a provincial museum in France. Kenyans have never seen them; why do we favour the French or anybody else before our own people?" posed Dr Leakey.

In the 1970s, he said, a long-standing disagreement arose between him and his father Louis because of divergent opinions on cross-border movement of fossils and other discovered items.

"He (his father) was sending very precious specimens to a colonial power, Britain -- to the British Museum. Not for exhibition, but for scientists to study and make casts," said Dr Leakey. "And when I came to the museum as the first Kenyan national director, I went to the board and said, 'I don't think we should do this. These things should stay here and people who want to see them, let them come to Kenya."

According to a list seen by the Sunday Nation, some of the items taken to France include stone flakes, hammer stones, a pick axe, a hand axe and fossils of parts of various animals that include a hippopotamus, crocodile and an extinct member of the big cat family.
Their faces and stories in last week's Sunday Nation had desperation written all over. They had excelled in KCPE exams but had slim chances of joining secondary schools.

Most of them had problems paying fees. But a week later, it is smiles galore. At least 30 students now have sponsors for their secondary education following the publication of their plight.

Grace Adhiambo, a student whose appeal for assistance was featured in the Sunday Nation of May 2 after scoring 361 marks -- despite the fact that she sat KCPE exam just days after her father had been shot by a gun-totting man in Kisumu town -- has found a sponsor in Jubilee Insurance.

Following last week's story, a number of organisations stepped up to help students through their four years in secondary school.

Broadway Group of Companies sponsored six of the 24 whose stories were published last week.

"We have committed to sponsor their education for the next four years with a pledge of Sh50,000 for each student for each of the four years," said Deval Shah, the business development executive at the Broadway Group of Companies that comprises Broadway Bakery and Bakex Millers.

Photos shared by the firm on Friday as the learners received their cheques at their Thika offices told a different story; a story of hope in an oasis of despair.

Among those in the Broadway sponshorship was Changirwa Shadrack from Migori. Having scored 383 marks and secured admission at Mbita High School, the son of a single mother had little hopes of joining the school.

His elder brother had terminated his studies at Standard Eight and Shadrack feared going down that route. With the Broadway intervention, he is now assured of an education until Form Four.

On the other hand, Help Change Lives, a UK-based charity organisation run by former Deloitte executive Pallvee Shah, at first offered assistance to seven children in the list.

Upon realising that one of the children in the list came from a community centre in Dandora that hosts children from equally humble backgrounds, the organisation took nine more to make 16 the total number of beneficiaries.

"When I saw the Sunday Nation appeal, I felt moved to help the students achieve their dreams as poverty should not hold people back," Ms Shah said.

"The plight of these children was so sad. A lot of them have been impacted by Covid, which is destroying lives. We are now sponsoring 16 new students in secondary boarding schools as a result of the appeal in the Sunday Nation," she added.

Spotlight Publishers through its managing director Simon Sossion and Edward Asitiba Associates Law Firm via its managing partner Edward Asitiba also offered assistance to needy students.

A number of individuals also emerged to lend a hand. Obstetrician and gynaecologist Kireki Omanwa offered to help six students through their secondary school.

"I know what it means; I know what education is. And I have been there, so I know how it is," he told the Sunday Nation.

"I know what it means to really want to go to school; so I absolutely understand where they (needy students) are coming from, and if we have a chance to help, let's just help," he said.

Jomvu MP Badi Twalib assisted Penina Mkanyika, a girl who had scored 380 marks and whose parents live on odd jobs.

"Through my office, we shall fully sponsor the young, promising girl by paying her tuition fees from Form One to Four," the MP wrote on Facebook, sharing photos of a beaming Penina and her parents in his office.

In the case of the Kisumu girl who lost her father, Jubilee Insurance changed the course of her life on Friday.

Jubilee Insurance team led by Ms Neema Mwende, the corporate communications manager, presented a school fees cheque to Grace and her mother at their Nyalenda slums home in Kisumu. Jubilee will also provide for her school uniforms and books.

"We read Adhiambo's story and we were touched. We saw that she qualified for the scholarship. As an organisation, we have the Jubilee Children's Fund targeting needy and vulnerable children in health, education and social action matters," she said.

Nine learners benefitted under the scholarship programme in 2020. This year, the number increased to 34. More than 600 applications were received.

Ms Mwende explained that Adhiambo was picked on the basis of her academic merit.

Selection of beneficiaries is based on economic background of families, disability and county balance.

"We have many needy children in slums who have no support and we are glad to make a difference. We want to support future generations that are empowered appropriately and we hope this will open up doors for them," Ms Mwende said.

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And in Vihiga County, Vallary Angachi and Ibrahim Osotsi, children from different backgrounds who were facing difficulties joining secondary school, have Equity Bank to thank for intervening on their plight.

Vallary's father had died of throat cancer as she was sitting KCPE exam. She could not attend the funeral and did not have an opportunity to see her father on his last days on earth.

With the sole provider gone, there was no hope for the first born in the poverty-stricken family to advance her education, despite scoring 362 marks. Thanks to Equity's Wings to Fly programme, now she has some assurance.

Vallary was selected to join Moi Girls Vokoli, an academic bastion in Vihiga County.

As for Ibrahim, who comes from a humble family and scored 362 marks, he can now join Nyang'ori Boys with pride, thanks to the Wings to Fly assistance. Vallary and Ibrahim were among the 74 beneficiaries from Vihiga County.

Reporting by Elvis Ondieki, Caroline Wafula and Derick Luvega
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) board has appointed David Muchilwa as acting Director-General to replace outgoing Peter Mundinia.

In an internal memo dated July 30 and signed by chairperson Wangai Ndirangu, the board announced Mr Muchilwa will hold the office with immediate effect as Mr Mundinia proceeds on leave.

"Eng Muchilwa will perform the duties of the DG in an acting capacity with immediate effect until the vacancy is substantively filled as Eng Mundinia is proceeding on leave from 30th July 2021 pending the expiry of his service contract on 28th August 2021," read part of the memo.

In the notice, Mr Ndirangu said Mr Mundinia has been an integral part of the growth and success of KeNHA in the past six years, and his contributions and commitment will always be remembered and be admired.

The process of recruiting a new DG will begin immediately according to the Kenya Roads Act 2007, which establishes the authority and provides guidelines for the process.

According to the Act, each authority shall have a DG who shall be appointed by the concerned board in consultation with the minister from among three candidates competitively selected by the board.

Mr Mundinia exists after serving for two terms starting August 28, 2015 when he took over from Mr Linus Tonui before being reappointed on August 28, 2018.

Amendment

The DG is exiting as Parliament continues to push for the amendment of the Kenya Roads Act, 2007, which requires that the DG serves for a maximum of two three-year terms.

In the amendments, Parliament seeks to extend terms for Kenha, Kenya Urban Roads Authority and Kenya Rural Roads Authority bosses from the current three years to five years.

In May, National Assembly Transport Committee chair David Pkosing (Pokot South MP) tabled the Kenya Roads (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Bill seeks to amend Section 13 and 14 of the Kenya Roads Act of 2007, on term of office of the directors general.

Some Kenyans have supported Pkosing's Bill, saying road projects take long to be completed, therefore, a three-year term is not enough.
Adverse water scarcity has pushed residents in Bura and areas of Galole constituencies, in Tana River County, to dangerous limits in the quest to find water.

The biting drought has affected more than 12,000 people in these areas, forcing residents to risk their lives, by digging dangerous wells.

In Lakole location, a group of men and women took two months to dig 18 feet shallow well, where nine people line up from the entrance to the water table to draw water for their livestock and domestic use.

The last two people on the line-up cannot be seen, as only their voices can be heard.

To access the segments to the water table, a branch of a tree is used as a ladder, passed from one person to the other.

"This has been our life for the last 20months, and we have adapted to it so far, we were promised a lot during elections, we only asked for water, but even that has not been delivered," says Ibrahim Dakane, an elder.

The rains were last seen in the area in November 2019, as a result, all the water pans and water reservoirs dried up.

The roads were washed away, and in its place, thorny shrubs sprung up, making it difficult to deliver help to the residents.

"We don't have a phone network in this place, the last time the county government did anything here was dig a water pan in 2014. We haven't seen anyone since then," says Kanchoru Galgalo, a resident.

According to Mr Galgalo, more than seven people have died in the wells while trying to draw water.

In other cases, the walls of the wells caved in burying people alive.

"We have lost women, men, and even children trying to draw water from these wells, one slid from the top where she was positioned to receive water from and broke her spine at the bottom of the well," says Fatuma Roba, a resident.

Each village cluster has its shallow well dug by its people and is used for seven months, before it dries up and another spot is identified for digging.

Most of the families that have lost loved ones in the wells have chosen to travel with their donkeys 52km away, to fetch water at a water pan whose water is now suspected of being toxic.

"The water pan in Take and Walestokocha has been the source of life for these people, but the water has turned green and unsafe for use," says Hirimani Ward Boss Ishamael Kodobo.

According to the MCA, Tana County promised to dig a borehole for the residents and surveyed the area for potential water spot in 2018, marked it but is yet to drill a well.

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Also, Mr Kodobo noted that several organizations have expressed interest in drilling a water reservoir for the residents but find access roads to the place pathetic.

"Every time we put a budget for the upgrading of this road, the executive strikes it out, we don't understand why they don't prioritize this road, yet we have people here," he said.

However, the residents have called on the area member of parliament and the national government to investigate their plight and deliver necessary support.

"Since the county government has chosen to marginalize us, we plead with the national government to at least rehabilitate the road to this place and fair network," said Hawaa Bocha.

More than 50,000 heads of livestock face starvation and imminent death as drought continues to bite.

People in the flanked parts of Bura and Galole have begun migrating towards the Tana Delta in search of water and pasture.

However, with poor rains experienced at the Tana Delta, the pasture is fast getting depleted and wrangles between farmers and herders have been reported.
opinion

The attempted military coup on August 1, 1982 remains one of Kenya's defining moments 39 years later. Perhaps what makes it more memorable is that, according to many expert accounts, it is thought to have resulted in -- or at least accelerated -- President Daniel arap Moi being a less tolerant leader four years after he succeeded Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and Kenya turning into a more authoritarian State.

However, this was not the only military revolt in Kenya's history and previously confidential documents seen by the Sunday Nation have revealed details of previous incidents that would have changed the country's course.

For a start, a mutiny is a revolt by soldiers to express their grievances by defying the authority, while a coup is a rebellion led by the military and some time the political elites to oust the government.

Nevertheless, they all denote armed outbreak against powers in authority. If not dealt with in time, mutinies can escalate to coups. Such was the case in Burkina Faso in 2012, and in Sierra Leone in 1992.

The 1897 mutiny at Eldama Ravine

The earliest recorded military revolt in the area now known as Kenya happened in Baringo on September 23, 1897 when Nubian soldiers serving in the East Africa Rifles staged a mutiny at Eldama Ravine and broke their allegiance to the British. They wanted better pay, clothes and to have their wives accompany them to expeditions.

The soldiers were to accompany James MacDonald who had been sent by the Foreign Office to review the northern boundaries around Lake Turkana after the British feared the French and the Italians would claim the territory.

Under their leader captain Mabruk Effendi, the African soldiers then began marching towards Uganda to present their grievances to their commandant. On reaching Kapsabet, they arrested and detained the District Commissioner Captain Bagnall, who had decided to stay put despite being warned of the danger. They also burnt alive 100 Nandi residents in revenge for the murder of three of their colleagues.

Their next target was Mumias where the District Commissioner Stanley Tomkins had already been warned by runners about a looming attack. Since Mumias station was undermanned, the government official turned to King Nabongo Mumia, who responded by providing 1,000 spearmen.

The mutineers arrived in Mumias as expected and ordered the District Commissioner to give them food. The DC acceded to their demands and they proceeded to Uganda without a fight.

The British feared that the mutiny could complicate the situation in Buganda where they had just deposed King Kabaka Mwanga II, for rejecting their influence. It later turned out that the mutineers had already hatched a plan to stage a coup and reinstall King Mwanga II with some of them being appointed to senior positions. Urgent steps, therefore, had to be taken by the British to prevent the mutineers from reaching Buganda.

It took the British five months to crush the mutiny with the help of Indian soldiers who had been brought in hurriedly from India through Mombasa.

The British began considering plans to reorganise the army and to review the kind of soldiers they needed in East Africa. They made attempts to recruit the Zulus but the South African government refused. At the same time, recruiting Indians to serve in East Africa was considered too expensive.

In the end the colonialists came to the conclusion that Nubian soldiers were still the best. They were not only brave, but also cheap to maintain. However, other natives such as the Swahili and the Somalis were to be recruited into the battalions to reduce their influence. Salaries were also increased from 10 to 18 Rupees per month.

The 1964 mutiny at Lanet

In January 1964, just a month after independence, there was growing discontent in the Kenya Army over low pay and European officers who still held senior positions. Similar grievances had just led to mutinies by the armies of Tanganyika and Uganda.

According to previously restricted court martial documents and witness testimonies seen by the Sunday Nation, the British Intelligence had already taken note of the disquiet among Kenya Army soldiers of the 11 Battalion Kenya Rifles based at Giffard Barracks, Lanet.

As a result, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Michael Victory, the commanding officer 3 Regiment of British Army's Royal Horse artillery (3 RHA) based at Gilgil was instructed to keep an eye on Giffard Barracks Lanet, and be ready to take responsibility if anything happened.

Acting on this tip off, Lt-Col Victory sent a battery of soldiers on a tactical mission at Lanet. The soldiers were to pretend to be on an exercise at Lanet to stay in the vicinity of Giffard Barracks. This was to give them the opportunity to act in case of any trouble. According to the documents, the soldiers sent on the mission were only to move at night, and not go too near to the camp to conceal the mission.

Since early mutinies in Uganda and Tanganyika had led to better pay for African soldiers and the dismissal of European officers, the Kenya Army soldiers of 11 Battalion expected Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta (who would later become President) to take cue from the two neighbouring countries and address their concerns in a live broadcast that was to be made on January 24, 1964 at night.

That same day Lt-Col Victory, who was tasked with keeping an eye on Giffard Barracks Lanet, received another tip off that trouble was likely to occur that night. After consultation with the Regional Police Officer and the Commanding Officer of 11 Kenya Rifes, two British sergeants of the 3 RHA Battery that had been monitoring the situation from outside were sneaked into the camp and placed at vantage point where they could observe the Battalion's armoury.

They were equipped with thunder flashes and radio sets. In addition, one officer and a wireless telegraphy operator were also sneaked into the house of the European Commanding Officer of the Kenya Army's 11 Kenya Rifles inside Giffards Barracks Lanet.

In case of any trouble, the two sergeants were to throw the thunder flashes and inform the Royal Horse Artillery at Gilgil if any attempt was made to break the armoury. Meanwhile, soldiers from the Royal Horse Artillery remained hidden in a bush 2 miles from Lanet Camp.

On the night of January 24, 1964, soldiers of 11 Battalion Kenya Rifle gathered in the TV room hoping to receive good news from Mzee Kenyatta. However, Kenyatta never appeared on TV as expected but instead his picture was put on the screen and a personal message from him was read by the presenter.

The message stated that a "committee was being set up to examine existing conditions and pay" , and that a general review of these aspects would be made on March 1, 1964." The disappointed soldiers immediately stormed out of the TV room with some shouting "we have been cheated". They went on the rampage, broke into the armoury and took arms.

The British soldiers from the Royal Horse Artillery who had been keeping an eye on the camp quickly swung into action by surrounding the camp and isolating the rebels. Using loud speakers, they warned the mutinying soldiers that they would sweep the camp with maximum force unless they surrendered.

Any soldier who defied the orders and tried to breach the lines was shot at straight-away. Killed in this way, according to the documents, was Private Simon Kiprop. Other British soldiers were quickly deployed to strategic points in Nairobi. They sealed off the Voice of Kenya, Nairobi telephone exchange, the overseas cable office, and Embakasi Airport.

Mzee Kenyatta had to swallow his nationalist pride and call for help from the British. At his request, the British government quickly dispatched 700 Royal Marine Commandos to Nairobi from the Royal Air Force Base at Lyneham Wiltshire. In Mombasa, Royal Navy ship Centaur docked with another 600 commandos and an unspecified number of jet fighters.

Rather than negotiate with rebel soldiers as Tanganyika and Uganda had done, Mzee Kenyatta took a firm stand warning that "those who took part in the Lanet incident have gravely broken military discipline and must be dealt with firmly". He added: "I do not intend to meet them or allow any of my ministers to negotiate with them."

It was thought the statement was targeted at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga after rumours emerged that he was on his way to negotiate with the rebels to lay down their arms.

The mutineers were disarmed the following day -- January 25 , 1964 -- after a brief exchange of fire. All recovered arms and ammunition were loaded into vehicle and sent to Gilgil. The Royal Horse Artillery then carried out a systematic sweep of the whole camp looking for soldiers and weapons.This was completed at 4.30pm.

All soldiers of the 11 Battalion Kenya Rifles below the rank of sergeant were paced under guard and the process of separating mutiny participants and non-participants began. In the end, at least 597 soldiers, mainly from Ukambani and the Rift Valley, were accused of participating in a mutiny. The 11 Kenya Rifles was also disbanded and a new 1 Kenya Rifles formed.

Those accused were categorised as red, yellow and green depending on the level of their participation in the mutiny. At least 158 in the yellow category were discharged and restricted in their home districts, while those in green numbering around 340 were allowed to rejoin the newly formed 1 Kenya Rifles. 99 in the red category were discharged and charged with mutiny. However, only 33 were prosecuted by the court martial whose president was Major Joseph Ndolo.

Among those who testified against the mutineers was 23-year-old Lt Daudi Chepkonga Tonje who later rose to become Chief of General Staff. Part of his testimony seen by this paper stated, "We finished dinner and went into the television room, sometime before 2100hrs, l heard a loud bang followed by two more loud bangs. I ran in a general direction towards 'B' Company. As I passed near the armoury, I heard some soldiers speaking in Kalenjin dialect. They sounded very excited and I heard the word bunduki (gun) mentioned.

"On arrival at B company, I passed a soldier who I immediately recognised as Gideon Musyoka and he was armed with a rifle. I have no doubt this man was Musyoka as I passed close to him and recognised him as one of my platoon riflemen."

Tonje then requested Colour Sergeant Wambua to fetch him a microphone and a pressure lamp.

"Through the microphone I broadcasted that the actions of the mutineers were against the wishes of the Prime Minister and his government. I advised them to return to their rooms," he said.

Some of the mutineers heard his message and booed him. On his way to his platoon line, a group of about 60 men ordered him to stop.

"I then heard a man say, 'It is a Lieutenant of 5 platoon. You can come forward sir'." He immediately recognised the man as private Mbuvi. As he walked slowly towards the men, he was again told to stop, and told to extinguish the lamp he was carrying but he refused. He tried reasoning with the group to no avail.

The now retired General then heard a voice of a man he recognised as Lcpl, Kiptigin's saying "What are waiting for" At this point he was again ordered to extinguish the lamp. "But instead I placed it on the ground and walked away." Behind him he heard someone say ,"Why don't we put him in the guardroom."

Nevertheless, the mutiny somehow achieved its goal. African majors were quickly promoted to take over the command of the battalions of the Kenya Army. Just three days after the mutiny, Major Jackson Mulinge was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made the commander of the 3 Kenya Rifles, replacing Lieutenant Colonel J.R. Anderson. He was the first African to command a battalion in Kenya. A couple of months later, Joseph Ndolo was appointed the commander of the 5 Kenya Rifles. In April, those serving in the military, the police and prisons received a pay rise.

To the British and the Kanu moderates, the mutiny provided them with the opportunity to drive a wedge between Kenyatta and Jaramogi despite admitting that there was no evidence linking the latter with the revolt.

According to a telegram marked "confidential" and "priority" on the same day the mutiny was crushed, the Security Liaison Officer of the British spy agency MI5 requested Governor General Sir Malcolm MacDonald to ask Mzee Kenyatta to dismiss Jaramogi from the Cabinet or "subject him to full Special Branch surveillance."

On that very day, Cabinet Minister Tom Mboya visited Premier Kenyatta at Gatundu to urge action against Jaramogi, but Kenyatta "strongly rebuffed" him. Kenyatta whilst deeply concerned, resisted any steps against Jaramogi.

The 1971 coup plot

The attempt to oust Mzee Kenyatta was foiled at an early stage. It was said to be the brain child of Joseph Daniel Owino, who in 1964 had been implicated in the Lanet mutiny.

Unlike other military revolts in Kenya, the plot appeared to be well-organised and involved those in the top echelons of the military, politics and other sectors. Among those mentioned by the plotters were Chief Justice Maluki Kitili Mwendwa, Chief of Staff Major General David Ndolo and Gideon Mutiso the MP for Yatta, among others.

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A document on the plot by the CIA reads, "The possibility that the military might become involved in politics is an entirely new factor that has developed as a result of the tribal tensions and government's actions since the assassination of (Tom) Mboya (in 1969)."

The document also reveal Major General Ndolo was incensed by corruption in the government and the Kikuyu tribal oathing that had been extended to the military.

The role of Mutiso, who became chairman of the revolutionary council, was to liaise with senior officials sympathetic to the plot, key among them Major General Ndolo. Eliud Langat was tasked with collecting intelligence information from the GSU since he had good connections in the unit.

The GSU was considered the only threat as it had also been trained in counter insurgency. Secretary-General of the Kenya Railways Union John Mollo was to mobilise the labour movement.

The role of subverting dissidents within the military was left to Israeli-trained jet fighter pilot Captain Frederick Coleman Omondi, 27. And, Makerere University lecturer Dr Joseph Ouma Muga was tasked with soliciting support for the planned coup from foreign embassies and neighbouring countries.

One of the first acts of the conspirators, was to contact Mrs Pamela Mboya, the assassinated politician's widow. They wanted her to connect them with Irving Brown, an American trade unionist whose friendship with Tom Mboya dated back to the 1950s.

Brown, who was known to mobilise huge amounts of funding, was the key man in CIA's manipulation of African trade union movements, and played a great in splintering communist led movements.

Declassified documents, for example, show how he delivered huge sums of money to Mboya in 1958. The close links Between Mboya and Brown made Kenyatta uncomfortable. Following Mboya's assassination, the conspirators were sure Brown would be sympathetic to their plot and provide funds.

It was revealed in court that while Pamela Mboya said she supported the idea of a coup she did not want to get involved. She, however, wrote an introductory covering note on the conspirator's letter to Brown -- who refused to get involved. The conspirators also approached Russian Embassy and Tanzania government for funds.

In a statement revealed in court, Dr Ouma admitted that he had met Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, and asked him for 39 machine guns, $90,000 and a Tanzanian military presence near the Kenyan border.

But Nyerere replied, "Not against Mzee's government. If it was Malawi I would have thought about it." Nyerere would later leak the plot to Kenya, according to one of the conspirators Coleman Omondi in a later interview.

While top officials sympathetic to the plot such as Major General Ndolo and Chief Justice Mwendwa were retired from the government, the other plotters were jailed for a period between 7 to 10 years.

The writer is a London-based Kenyan researcher and journalist.
Days after his party kick-started the process to formally withdraw from the now moribund Nasa coalition, ODM leader Raila Odinga is crafting a new political outfit that he will be unveiling at the end of August.

The line-up will have a mix of the young and the old as Mr Odinga, who is expected to announce his presidential bid any time this month, seeks to appeal to the younger voters, some of whom were born as recently as 2004, sources privy to the plan revealed.

"The summit that Jakom (Mr Odinga) is working on will have a youthful leader as one of the key principals," an aide of the ODM leader who did not want to go on record said.

Reference to the "summit" rekindles memories of 2002/20003 when President Mwai Kibaki swept into power riding on the back of almost all opposition parties, whitewashing Kanu. Leaders of the affiliate parties made up the top decision-making organ, the Summit, which was later disbanded after President Kibaki and his inner sanctum decided to flex their muscles.

The ODM leader left no doubt last week that he has his eyes trained on a new arrangement post Nasa.

"The ODM Party NEC (National Executive Council) has resolved that the party formally exits the Nasa coalition. We shall now embark on a new, inclusive and futuristic political trajectory," Mr Odinga said on Thursday.

The timing of the announcement, a year to the presidential elections, is the culmination of what we established is intense pressure Mr Odinga has come under from supporters and handlers who feel he is taking too long to declare his State House bid yet Deputy President William Ruto, considered his strongest challenger, has covered so much ground, even dictating the national political conversation. The Orange party and other senior politicians have been forced to react to the raging debate on the bottom-up economic model proposed by the DP Ruto.

Fresh negotiations

The feeling in Chungwa House is that they should be the ones setting the agenda and not allow themselves to be boxed into a corner, only reacting to an opponent's sentiments.

The Sunday Nation also learnt that ODM finally agreed to bolt out of the coalition that had Mr Odinga and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka as the presidential candidate and running mate, respectively, in the last elections to pave the way for fresh negotiations with some of his old associates.

The major partners are already known to be party honchos, with a leading strategist disclosing that they have two coalition names and a catchphrase they hope will resonate with their support base. The party leaders will make a choice on which of the two names they should go for. Mr Odinga used Cord in 2013 and Nasa in the subsequent General Election.

The need to breathe fresh air in his camp saw a team rooting for the disbandment of Nasa carry the day during the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) last week.

The faction that was of the view that the alliance could be revived was outnumbered largely on grounds that the affiliated parties had also grown restive and were threatening to go their separate ways. There was, therefore, the danger of their leader being exposed to blackmail in trying to persuade his co-principals to stay on, another aide said. Earlier, the pro-Nasa wing got the party to agree to release part of the funds meant for political parties to the partners, a decision that is now under review.

Between now and the month's end, when the former Prime Minister will be unveiling his new lineup, he will embark on nationwide consultations that largely target the strongholds of the new partners.

Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, Kisii Governor James Ongwae and his Homa Bay counterpart Cyprian Awiti will be playing host to the inaugural meeting next Friday in an approach Mr Odinga's handlers say is a departure from the past coalitions.

The meeting will have representatives from six counties: Kisii, Nyamira, Migori, Kisumu, Siaya and Homa Bay.

Past coalitions

"This time we want partners who will come from the grassroots. All the past coalitions have been products of boardroom negotiations. We will be visiting all parts of the country to listen to issues that concern the people, the kind of political direction they want us to take and develop action points before we decide which way to go by the end of August," Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, a very close ally of Mr Odinga, said. He promised a major announcement that would change the political landscape.

On Saturday, Kakamega Governor Wickliffe Oparanya and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa will host a similar gathering targeting all the counties that make up "Mulembe Nation": Busia, Vihiga, Bungoma, Kakamega and Trans Nzoia.

Governor Oparanya and the CS are considered possible replacements for ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang'ula who are also leading their troops out of Nasa.

Next will be Mombasa where Governor Hassan Joho is organising a grand fete meant to show that the Coast, which has cast its lot with Mr Odinga in the last three general elections, is still with him. Mr Joho is fully back into the fold of the former premier. Mr Joho was at some point seen as leading the region in a different political direction, at one point even meeting President Kenyatta without Mr Odinga in what those with information about the inside dealings suggested was part of efforts to create an alternative centre of power in the region away from ODM.

Damascus moment

Mr Joho had a Damascus moment and is expected to partner with Mr Odinga as one of the regional kingpins. He will be working with others like gubernatorial hopeful Suleiman Shabhal, who recently defected from Jubilee Party.

Mr Joho's Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi is yet to reconcile with Mr Odinga after he attempted to spearhead a break-away from the Orange party to create a Coast-based party. The mission is yet to gain traction.

Governor Kingi faults ODM for what he terms "failure to champion the interests of the Coast people" after Mr Odinga made a political truce with President Kenyatta in March 2018.

Once all the regions are covered, Nairobi will be the last stop. It is here that the declaration and presentation of the team will be made, tentatively on the last weekend of the month.

"These will not be ODM meetings, expect to see faces from other parties such as Jubilee and others," Mr Mohamed said.

Running concurrently with the plan to unveil his 2022 partners is also the push to have old friends back to his camp since he is aware that to hit the magic number, 50 per cent plus one of the total votes cast, requires a "gather all and scatter none" strategy.

In the event that the political marriage with Mr Musyoka proves beyond redemption, Mr Odinga has already lined up other politicians from Ukambani. Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu and Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, who recently accompanied him to a public event in Murang'a are crucial fall-backs, not only to checkmate the former vice-president but to also ensure he keeps his footprint in the lower Eastern bloc.

A number of governors serving their second and final terms in office and supporting Mr Odinga's bid to succeed President Kenyatta are featuring prominently in the team that hopes to cash in on the proposed changes to the Constitution to expand the Executive.

Raila presidency

Murang'a governor Mwangi Wa Iria, another second-term governor, accompanied Mr Odinga to a meeting with Central Kenya musicians last week, a function organised by business magnate SK Macharia who is among billionaires from the Mountain rooting for a Raila presidency.

When he met Abagusii leaders on Friday, Mr Odinga charged the team led by Governor Ongwae to ensure the region is united for better bargaining power on the national front.

Power matrix

They may not admit it publicly, but in their power matrix, both Mr Odinga and DP Ruto are banking on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which seeks to amend the Constitution and create "a bigger cake" to ease coalition building.

The High Court stopped the BBI push and the case is before the Court of Appeal, with a ruling expected towards the end of this month.

In the event the BBI goes through, positions such as those of Prime Minister and two deputies, together with giving the President room to appoint some of Cabinet secretaries from Parliament, will be key in enticing politicians to support any particular coalition.

In the evening of the same day he hosted Dr Matiang'i and team, Mr Odinga hosted representatives of the Agikuyu business community operating in Nyama Kima, Nairobi at the 3D hotel, a session that saw him get first-hand information on the challenges they are facing and discussed ways of solving them.

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The ODM leader is scouting for a Central Kenya politician who can appeal to a broader audience in a divided Mt Kenya region to earn considerable support at the ballot. Former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo are some of the names being bandied as possible pillars of the new outfit from Central.

Interestingly, some of Mr Odinga's harshest critics in the past from the region today think he fits the bill. They argue that other than the fact that he has mellowed with age as opposed to the firebrand he once was, his business acumen would work in the interests of the Mt Kenya region.

"Raila will be a transitional president. The country has a chance for a Mandela moment," Mr Murathe said.

Mr Odinga and the Deputy President are all betting big on the Mt Kenya vote to become the fifth president. If the results of the recent by-elections are anything to go by, DP Ruto has a slight edge over him that could grow bigger or diminish depending on the kind of re-alignments the country witnesses ahead of the election day.

Reunion

At the same time, Mr Odinga's handlers are not ruling out the possibility of a reunion with one or two former co-principals in Nasa who are also disengaging from the union to strengthen their respective parties and a new grouping; One Kenya Alliance (OKA).

Last month, OKA held out an olive branch to Mr Odinga, asking him to join them as part of a larger coalition to block Dr Ruto's march to State House.

"We are firmly in One Kenya Alliance together with my brother Kalonzo and others, but doors are wide open to accommodate more leaders. We want Raila and others to join us. We can't afford to lock others out because everyone has a part to play in building the country," the Baringo Senator Gideon Moi said.

Mr Odinga is also keen to fill the void left in Turkana County after Governor Josephat Nanok crossed over to the DP's camp. Petroleum CS John Munyes is increasingly being seen as a possible replacement, even with suggestions that Mr Nanok could be making his way back.
Government officials and children welfare workers in Meru have decried the surge in teenage pregnancies in the county, majority of which are perpetrated by relatives.

Meru Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu and Ripples International director Mercy Chidi Baidoo said 16,827 teenagers had become pregnant between January 2020 and February this year.

Speaking at the county offices where Ripples International gave out Sh15 million in bursary cheques to 200 vulnerable and orphaned students, Ms Chidi said most of the pregnant teens do not attend clinics.

Mr Ntuchiu said there is a need for the community to cultivate good morals and urged chiefs and their assistants to deal with the perpetrators to help end the vice.

"I do not know what has become of some people. We hear some of the perpetrators are fathers and uncles. These people are supposed to take care of the children but they are harming them. We have lost morals and it is ruining our society when people have sex with girls," he said.

Mr Ntuchiu also encouraged students to resist sexual interactions, saying it will ruin their future.

Cases not reported

Ms Chidi said many cases of defilement are never reported since they are committed by relatives and there is always collusion to have the matters dealt with according to the law.

She said her organisation had rescued 92 girls who had been sexually abused and who were in need of care and protection after their families became hostile towards them for insisting on pursuing justice in defilement cases.

Ms Chidi cited an incident where a girl who was defiled by her father, who was later jailed for life, was being denied a chance to join a prestigious secondary school despite receiving full scholarship.

"She was sexually abused by her father and we assisted [that she pursues] justice and he was jailed for life but the mother is still very bitter about the incident and seems to blame the girl for the incarceration," she said, adding that there are many cases which people seek to resolve out of court.

"Most of these cases are incest. The perpetrators are either father, grandfather or an uncle. But the majority of the culprits are fathers and grandfathers," she said.
12:43 | Paracas (Ica region), Aug. 2.





Most visitors headed to the Paracas National Reserve and Ballestas Islands, which has generated great expectation mainly among inhabitants and the productive economic sector.





This was revealed by Tourism and Foreign Trade Chamber (Capatur) Chairman Eduardo Jauregui, who noted that visitors monthly from the Peruvian capital Lima (90%) packed hotels and apartments as they enjoyed the local seafood.





Jauregui estimates that lodging, food, short trips, and drives throughout the week of Independence Day have generated around US$5 million in revenue for the district of Paracas





"What has happened in Paracas is much bigger (by 150%) than what was reported in the same period of 2019 and only comparable to the revenues recorded during Holy Week or New Year celebrations," the business leader explained.





The entrepreneur affirmed that the presence of tourists in Paracas and in other destinations throughout the national territory is sparking the beginning of the tourism recovery in Peru.





"In the case of Paracas, tourists choose to visit the Ballestas Islands and the Paracas National Reserve, which includes La Mina, Lagunilla, El Raspon, and Mendieta beaches. The nice weather and sunny days contributed to the attraction of visitors," he pointed out.





In addition, he noted that another important aspect of their visit was the wide range of seafood that Paracas has to offer.



The most popular dishes among tourists were arroz con mariscos, an array of ceviches, conchitas a la parmesana, pejerrey arrebozado, chicharron de pescado, and jalea de pescado.





(END) NDP/JCB/TMC/RMB





The recent national holidays that commemorated Peru's Independence Day were a great success as they marked the beginning of tourism recovery in the Paracas beach area (Ica region), with the arrival of at least 30,000 tourists.Published: 8/2/2021
La inclusion social es un compromiso en el que pondre todas mis fuerzas. #Gracias a los funcionarios que nos dejan la posta para continuar sirviendo al pais. #GobiernodelBicentenario https://t.co/wncnSdWjhz
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian prioritized finding solutions to the multilayered and deep crisis and attached importance to ruling out division. In his remarks to the new parliament, the president emphasized that the new legislative body has the opportunity to develop and implement future-oriented, real, strategic programs.

Citizens of the Republic of Armenia expect that solutions to the existing problems will be found and that you will display will to guide Armenia towards development and future, Sarkissian told the new Members of Parliament. That future must be shaped around a vision of a strong, balanced and progressive state. The future isnt the interest of any of us individually or of any political party, all of us are the future as one entirety, united by a common historical memory, as well as our debt before our children and our ancestors who for many centuries fought to have their own independent state. We are obliged to deeply realize and value the fact of existence of our statehood.

Sarkissian said that everything must be done to defend and protect the Armenian statehood. He said the essence of effective governance is being honest and responsible.

Only honest and fair governance can change the situation and overcome despair, instill optimism, restore and strengthen the connection between the citizen and the state.

Attempts to present the desirable as reality, demagogy and populism are a path to a dead-end, the president said, emphasizing that the guarantee for security is unity.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. The first session of the new parliament isnt proceeding smoothly as the opposition argues that the rules of procedure are being violated because two of their colleagues  the ex-mayor of Meghri Mkhitar Zakaryan and ex-mayor of Sisian Artur Sargsyan who ran for parliament under the Armenia alliance- are not in attendance because they are jailed. Lawmakers from the majority counter that the two have been jailed before receiving the parliamentary mandate and are calling for order.

Zakaryan and Sargsyan are jailed on charges of abuse of power and fraud. They deny wrongdoing.

We are in an unusual situation, there hasnt been a convocation like this where two colleagues were under arrest and are unable to participate in a session and fulfill their duties, MP Armen Rustamyan from opposition Armenia bloc said. We dont have the right to move forward with a gross violation of the rules of procedure, he added.

Rustamyan said the absence of their colleagues is not only an infringement against the lawmakers but disrespect against the parliament because during this session the committees and the leadership of the legislative are expected to be formed. He said the jailed MPs are deprived of the opportunity to vote or be elected if they are not participating.

MP Vladimir Vardanyan from Civil Contract party noted that lawmakers have parliamentary immunity but in this case the suspected wrongdoing committed by the two politicians has taken place prior of them getting their mandates. And as candidates, their immunity was violated by the decisions of the central electoral commission, he said.

He called on the opposition to allow the session to proceed and form the parliamentary bodies, after which all issues will be debated.

Vardanyan underscored that the parliament cannot influence the justice system and cannot consider itself higher that the decision of a court.

Armenia bloc MP Aram Vardevanyan took the floor as envisaged by the rules of procedure and countered Vardanyans arguments. I am so sorry that Vladimir Vardanyan, by very well realizing Article 96 of the Constitution, which doesnt envisage any exception for overcoming parliamentary immunity by any other mechanism, is speaking about some prosecutor or a judge bypassing the Constitution.

The opposition I Have the Honor bloc announced it is joining Armenia bloc in their demand.

The session adjourned for 20 minutes.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan city councilor Arman Antonyan from the My Step bloc is in critical condition after being stabbed 11 times in what authorities probe as attempted murder.

Antonyan was stabbed in his home in Nor Hajn, Kotayk province around 01:00, August 1, Investigative Committee spokesperson Vardan Tadevosyan told ARMENPRESS.

A criminal case on attempted murder by a group of persons, battery and housebreaking is filed, he said.

In turn, Yerevan City Council My Step faction secretary Armen Galjyan released a statement saying that a group of masked assailants armed with knives and bats breached into Antonyans home. He was brutally beaten and stabbed.Arman Antonyan is in critical condition, a criminal case is filed. According to preliminary assessments this couldve been tied to Antonyans activities as a councilor, he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. The Artsakh Defense Army says one of its soldiers was found dead after leaving his military base in circumstances that are yet to be determined.

The body of serviceman Pargev Margaryan (born 1998), was found 2,5 km from his military base in the northern direction around 11:30 on July 31.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, 2 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 2 August, USD exchange rate is up by 1.95 drams to 488.19 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 2.37 drams to 580.70 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is up by 0.03 drams to 6.69 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 0.28 drams to 679.51 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price is up by 570.16 drams to 28656.37 drams. Silver price is up by 12.46 drams to 400.08 drams. Platinum price is up by 2.92 drams to 16386.28 drams.
In the year since a monster explosion disfigured Beirut, a local probe has yet to yield significant arrests or even identify a culprit, with politicians widely accused of stalling progress.

The August 4, 2020 explosion at the Beirut port killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital.

It devastated its dockside harbour, where the initial fire had broken out, and was felt as far as Cyprus.

Authorities said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser haphazardly stocked in a port warehouse since 2014 had caught fire, causing one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.

Political leaders have repeatedly refused an international investigation, although France has launched its own probe over the death of some French citizens in the blast.

The domestic investigation has yet to determine what triggered the blast, where the chemicals originated from or why they were left unattended for six years.

In a country where even high-profile assassinations and bombings go unpunished, many fear that a Lebanon-led blast probe will also fail to hold anyone to account.

Officials in government, parliament and the country's top security agencies have so far dodged questioning by referencing so-called "immunity" clauses in the constitution.

"They are simply trying to evade justice," said lawyer Youssef Lahoud, who represents hundreds of blast victims.

Despite such obstacles, Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the investigation, has completed more than 75 percent of the case, said a judicial source familiar with the probe.

"He almost has a full picture of what happened," the source said, adding that Bitar hoped to unveil his findings by the end of the year.

The investigator has so far identified who is responsible for shipping the ammonium nitrate to Beirut and who decided to unload it and store it at the port, according to Lahoud.

"But there are key questions that we still don't have answers to, most notably, what sparked the explosion and are there any hidden links regarding who brought the shipment into Lebanon?"

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- The shipment -

The ammonium nitrate is widely understood to have arrived in Beirut in 2013 onboard the Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged ship sailing from Georgia to Mozambique.

The vessel was seized by authorities after a company filed a lawsuit against its owner over a debt dispute.

In 2014, port authorities unloaded the shipment and stored it in a derelict warehouse with cracked walls.

A Mozambican factory -- Fabrica de Explosivos de Mocambique -- confirmed it had ordered and never received the ammonium nitrate.

Bitar has identified key protagonists like the owner of the company that shipped the ammonium nitrate and a bank in Mozambique that funded the shipment, Lahoud said.

"But the investigation has not concluded yet if there are other parties" behind the shipment, Lahoud added.

The head of Savaro Ltd - an intermediary company that is believed to have procured the ammonium nitrate in 2013 - refused to disclose the real owners' identity, he said.

The investigation is also looking into reports alleging that three Syrian businessmen holding Russian citizenship had a hand in purchasing the chemicals.

- The cause -

According to Lahoud, the "weak point" of the investigation is that it has not yet determined what triggered the blast.

He said that the investigation "has confirmed so far that the ammonium nitrate had been stored near explosive material".

Security sources initially suggested that welding work could have started the fire, but experts have since dismissed that theory as unlikely and an attempt to shift the blame for high-level failings.

Bitar is planning a simulation to zero in on the origin of the blaze.

In recent months, he has issued requests for assistance from more than 10 countries asking for satellite imagery.

According to the judicial source, only France responded, saying it had no satellite trained on Lebanon at the time of the blast.

Without satellite images, "it's difficult for investigators to determine whether ammonium nitrate was smuggled from the port warehouse", Lahoud said.

Some experts believe that the quantity of ammonium nitrate that blew up last year was substantially less than 2,750 tonnes, leading many to suspect that large quantities had been stolen prior to the incident.

Lahoud has not ruled out an attack but French and American experts assisting with the probe downplayed the scenario of a missile attack after testing water and soil samples from the blast site.

- Obstruction -

Port authorities, security officials and political leaders, including then-premier Hassan Diab and President Michel Aoun, knew the chemicals were being stored at the port.

In a report seen by AFP, the State Security agency -- quoting a chemistry expert -- had warned that the ammonium nitrate would cause a huge explosion that could level the port.

After the blast, the State Security agency confirmed it had alerted authorities.

Fadi Sawan, the first judge tasked with investigating the blast, issued charges of negligence against Diab and three former ministers in December. He was removed for his trouble.

Bitar picked up where Sawan left off by summoning Diab and demanding parliament lift the immunity of ex-finance minister Ali Hasan Khalil, former public works minister Ghazi Zaiter and ex-interior minister Nohad Machnouk.

Bitar has also asked for permission to investigate State Security chief Tony Saliba and the head of the General Security agency, Abbas Ibrahim.

He also brought charges against several former high-ranking military officials, including ex-army chief Jean Kahwaji.

Documents and witness testimony suggest they were "all aware of the ammonium nitrate shipment and its dangers," the judicial source said.

But the country's reviled political class has closed ranks to stall the investigation.

"Every time the lead investigator tries to summon or investigate one of them, they turn to immunity for cover," Karlen Hitti Karam told AFP.

The young woman's husband, brother and cousin were among the firefighters killed in the blast.

"It's like Lebanon is Ali Baba's cave, and not an actual state," she said.

rh/ho/jmm/hkb/lb
In our monthly feature, Then and Now, we reveal some of the ways that planet Earth has been changing against the backdrop of a warming world. In recent years, the devastating impact of wildfires has been dominating headlines around the world. Although fires have long been part of natural history, scientists are voicing concern that recent fires are becoming more frequent, more intense and more widespread.

In recent years, the widespread devastation of wildfires has dominated headlines around the world, as millions of acres were destroyed and thousands of people left homeless.

Fires in the western US and Australia have been among the most deadly.

In the first few hours of the new year in 2020, a devastating bushfire arrived in the New South Wales village of Cobargo. Within hours, the fire had ripped through the main street, leaving little but smoky, charred ruins in its wake.

The destroyed village became one of the defining symbols of what is now being referred to as Australia's Black Summer, which killed at least 34 people, an estimated three billion animals, and scorched 46 million acres (186,000 square kilometres).

Although wildfires have long been part of the landscape, they are becoming more frequent, more widespread, and more intense.

Wildlife struggled to find food and shelter after the fires

Each summer, parts of the world are gripped by these natural infernos, with flames travelling at speeds similar to the bulls rampaging through the Spanish streets of Pamplona.

At these speeds, it becomes almost impossible for firefighters to stop and control the spreading fire, and to protect homes and properties in its path.

Rewriting (natural) history

However, it is worth noting that wildfires have long been part of the natural cycle in many habitats. Without these natural fires, we would not have many of the species that thrive in these environments.

There are trees that actually need fire in order to germinate and produce the forests of the future.

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For example, a species of gum (eucalyptus) tree has seeds that are coated in a resin requiring them to be exposed to fire in order to melt the resin and expose the seed within. There are other trees with thick barks which act as heat shields to protect the vital sapwood that transports nutrients and water throughout the tree.

Without fire, many of the trees that depend on, or have adapted to, this "fire ecology" would struggle to reproduce, changing the habitat. This would make life difficult for the species that depend upon them to survive.

Feeling the heat

However, there is real concern that the fires that once were the saviour of these landscapes are now becoming too frequent and too intense.

A 2017 report by the US Global Change Research Program recorded a "profound increase in forest fire activity" in recent decades.

It cited warmer, drier conditions, increased drought, and a longer fire season as reasons for boosting the wildfire risk.

How bushfires can create own weather

Another factor is the emergence of new pests and diseases that cause widespread dieback of plants and trees.

For example, the emerald ash borer has killed millions of trees throughout the US.

This results in a vast volume of dead wood remaining in the landscape, which - in turn - acts as a fuel to feed any wildfires that do break out.

In its fourth assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said: "Disturbances such as wildfire and insect outbreaks are increasing and are likely to intensify in a warmer future with drier soils and longer growing seasons."

It added: "Warmer summer temperatures are expected to extend the annual window of high fire ignition risk by 10-30%."

While some wildfires are caused by lightning strikes, the vast majority are believed to be started by people - either accidentally or intentionally.

Scientists say it is necessary to develop measures to help local communities to become more resilient to the increased risk of wildfires - primarily through land management of areas surrounding settlements, and through an education programme of how to reduce the risks of fires being started in the first place.

Our Planet Then and Now will continue each month up to the UN climate summit in Glasgow, which is scheduled to start in November 2021

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AUBURN  A special board meant to address properties that have been deemed nuisances in Auburn is set to meet for the first time this month.
Canadians have argued over how quickly to lift limits on public gatherings, restaurants and retail stores, but their debates have been muted by U.S. standards. The country's toughest lockdown was imposed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a populist conservative who has been compared to former President Donald Trump.

"I can't stand lockdowns," Ford complained, but he stuck by his health experts' recommendation to keep the restrictions until almost 80% of Ontarians had received their first doses of vaccine.

Like the United States, Canada has anti-vaxxers  just fewer of them. An Angus Reid Institute poll last month found that only 8% of Canadians said they definitely do not intend to get a COVID vaccination, including 15% of Conservative Party voters. Polls in the United States have found refusal rates at least twice as high.

And there lies a clue toward a deeper, more complex explanation for Canada's vaccination success over that of the U.S.: the underlying differences between the countries' political cultures and, especially, their conservative parties.

"There is much less polarization in Canada overall," Peter Loewen, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, told me. "There's not a lot of political mileage in appearing to be anti-science in Canada; there is in the United States."
Renault India on Monday informed it has started exporting Kiger SUV models which are developed and manufactured in the country to the South African market. The company already started exporting Kiger to Nepal last month and has been exporting the Triber MPV to South Africa with the first batch being dispatched back in December of 2019.

Kiger was launched in the sub-compact SUV segment in India earlier this year and has the potential to be counted among the favourites in emerging markets across the world. And while it is specifically designed for the Indian customer, Venkatram Mmillapalle, Country CEO and MD at Renault India Operations feels the vehicle has the appeal to cater to a wider audience. "market.The commencement of Kiger exports to South Africa today and Nepal earlier this month highlights Renaults strong commitment to the Make in India mission, demonstrating the competence of Indias design, engineering and world class manufacturing capabilities," he said. "Renaults diverse range of offerings in passenger vehicles has been consistently well- received by the people of South Africa. Kiger will further bolster our existing portfolio in the country."

In India, Kiger has a long list of rivals to compete against. It includes Nissan Magnite, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, among others. But what seeks to set this car apart from its rivals is (also) its more coupe-ish silhoutte.
Tata Motors on Monday announced a minor hike in prices of all its passenger vehicles offered in the Indian car market, effective Tuesday (August 3) onwards. While no official reason has been assigned behind the decision to hike prices, rise in input costs have been cited by the company in the recent past. There is, however, price protection on all retail till August 31.

The price hike across Tata Motors' PV range, on an average, would be around 0.8%. The exact figure would vary from model to model and from variant to variant.

The car maker states that because of the strong response from customers for its vehicles, it has decided that there would be price protection on vehicles retailed/billed on or before August 31 of this year. Tata Motors further adds that the price protection is a form of 'acknowledgment for the faith customers have reposed' in its New Forever range of vehicles.

Tata Motors had previously hinted that a price rise was in the offing. Speaking to PTI, Shailesh Chandra, President of the Passenger Vehicles Business Unit at Tata Motors, had blamed hike in input costs. ""We have seen a very steep increase in the prices of steel and precious metals over the last one year. The financial impact of the increase in commodity prices is in the range of 8-8.5 per cent of our revenues in the past one year," he had said.

To note here is that the most recent hike is the third from Tata Motors this year. Hikes were brought in for cars like Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, Nexon EV and Harrier in January. This was followed by another round of hike in May. (Full report here)

Tata Motors now joins several car makers in the country who have announced price hikes starting August. The list includes the likes of Honda Cars India and Toyota
LOS ANGELES  ASACP, the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, on Monday announced MojoHost, Cherry Pimps, and Cybersocket as its Featured Sponsors for August 2021.

ASACPs Featured Sponsors rank among the industrys most respected companies and serve as excellent examples of how corporate responsibility, ethical operation, and basic proactive measures all help to protect minors and other online viewers from accidental exposure to age-restricted materials.

ASACP Executive Director Tim Henning said that the nonprofit associations success relies on the continued support it receives from companies and organizations that assume a bold, leadership role in the fight to keep children out of and away from adult-oriented materials.

ASACPs sponsors promote online child safety and help protect the innocence of youth by taking several simple steps to restrict access to their apps and sites, Henning said.

By working with content publishers and other industry stakeholders, ASACP helps raise awareness of relevant issues and eases the deployment of effective measures across an evolving range of digital media platforms, Henning explained. Through our partnerships and programs, the association continues to improve the safety of childrens daily digital lives.

The generous guidance and support that ASACP receives from its sponsors, such as MojoHost, Cherry Pimps, and Cybersocket, power its 25-year-long record of success and enables its free child protection resources; including publishing market-specific Best Practices and a comprehensive Code of Ethics for businesses, app publishers, and all operators of age-restricted websites.

At the pinnacle of ASACPs significant achievements are its globally recognized RTA (Restricted To Adults) meta labeling system that helps parents prevent childrens access to adult-oriented webpages and mobile apps; and its CP Reporting Tipline, which has earned worldwide respect for processing more than 1 million user reports to date, leading to the takedown of numerous bad actors in the online space.

As with all of ASACPs services, these tools are provided to all website and app publishers free of charge, thanks to the ongoing generosity of its sponsors.

For Augusts Featured Sponsors, ASACP honors MojoHost, Cherry Pimps, and Cybersocket, recognizing the continued commitment that these market leaders make to keeping the internet safer for children and their families.

MojoHost

As a leading adult technology company, MojoHost has a generous history of supporting the industry, recognizing the vital work by ASACP when it became a sponsor a decade ago. The company specializes in adult website hosting with shared and dedicated hosting. Additional services include the MojoCDN content delivery network, MojoCloud storage and private cloud architecture, MojoShield web application firewall, MojoDomains service, and more.

Founder and CEO Brad Mitchell serves on the association's Advisory Council and Executive Board and provides marketing resources. Keeping children away from age-restricted content fits in line with his personal goals as a parent, even more than his role as a technology and thought leader.

The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) needs more industry support, stated Mitchell, who urged the community to step up. Now more than ever, I challenge business owners to pick a membership level that they can afford, and step up no matter how small. It truly helps the organization and goes towards a critical cause in the digital age.

Cherry Pimps

Supporting the association as a Corporate Sponsor since 2013, Cherry Pimps helps to protect children and other viewers from inadvertent exposure to age-restricted materials by locking its content behind a paywall  requiring viewers to purchase access to the companys adult material, including its live webcam sex shows  rather than offering it as a free-for-all.

Were happy to continue our support of the ASACP as they work to help protect children online, says Cherry Pimps Director Eric. Their work is invaluable and we must remember that their work is often thankless, but extremely necessary to keep child predators out of the online environment.

We thank the entire team at ASACP and look forward to many more years of cooperation, he added. I encourage all those who are not sponsors, to step up to the plate and participate, and give back to your community.

Cybersocket

An ASACP Corporate Sponsor since 2003, Cybersocket promotes gay adult websites to a large and varied audience while providing news, practical resources, and provocative original content for the LGBTQ community. An industry leader, it has for the past two decades hosted the annual Cybersocket Web Awards honoring the finest gay online services and provides a powerful example of how to keep children out of and away from adult-oriented material, in part by using the RTA label.

My business partner and I have supported the mission of ASACP from its inception. And for several years I was able to be on its advisory panel, Cybersockets Morgan Sommer says. I know the real-world work that ASACP does in the realm of child protection that it is necessary, and most of which goes unseen and unpublicized. In the current social and political climate, I feel it is more important than ever to self-police as an industry and make it clear to all that we have no interest in minors visiting our sites and that we as an industry are just as keen as anyone else to expose and remove child predators who lurk online.

ASACP is thankful for the continued commitment, generosity, and leadership displayed by our family of sponsors, including MojoHost, Cherry Pimps, and Cybersocket, and we encourage other market leaders to join us in carrying our mission forward, Henning concluded. ASACPs sponsors make a meaningful difference in the battle for online child protection  and your company can too.

To learn more about how your company can protect itself by protecting children, email [email protected].
Jay Pickett, a veteran soap opera actor best known for his roles on "General Hospital," "Days of Our Lives" and "Port Charles," has died. He was 60.

His wife, Elena Pickett, confirmed his death.

Pickett was on location in Idaho, filming a scene for his upcoming movie "Treasure Valley" when he died, according to the film's director, Travis Mills.

"Jay Pickett, our leading man, writer, producer, and creator of this movie passed away suddenly while we were on location preparing to film a scene," Mills posted on the film's official Facebook page. "Our hearts are broken, and we grieve for his family who are so devastated by this shocking tragedy."

"He was doing what he loved: acting, riding horses, making movies. And he was magnificent," he continued.

While the cause has not yet been released, Pickett's death "appears to have been a heart attack," Mills said, adding that everyone who was there did their best "to keep him alive."

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Expiration of the U.S.'s COVID-19 eviction ban on July 31 threatens to compound America's worsening socioeconomic crisis. The pandemic unexpectedly made it even more difficult for many already struggling Americans to make ends meet.

That was one of the reasons why the former Trump administration implemented its plan to send checks to its citizens, increase unemployment benefits and ban evictions. It didn't want more people to become homeless during the pandemic because that could pose a serious epidemiological threat apart from how immoral it would be, not to mention the impact on the U.S.'s soft power.

It's unclear whether there's any realistic way to reimpose the eviction ban or devise some legal workaround for prolonging it in practice. What matters most at this moment is that "more than 15 million people in 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on rental payments, according to a study by the Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, collectively owing more than $20 billion to landlords," as cited by Reuters.

This presents multifaceted challenges for America. It must avoid a sudden surge in homelessness, keep its citizens safe from COVID-19, and also prevent the rental market from collapsing.

The expiration of the COVID-19 eviction ban will likely lead to more homelessness. Not everyone has close family or friends who would be offering to house them and, in some instances, also their families, not to mention for free if they're still unemployed or underemployed and was the reason why they couldn't pay their rent in the first place.

Furthermore, people are rightly concerned about reducing their interpersonal contacts to diminish their chances of catching the virus. Bringing more people into their home would therefore be counterproductive from an epidemiological security perspective.

This brings the discussion to the second identified challenge, which is keeping everyone safe from COVID-19. Those who are evicted from their homes and forced into someone else's or into the streets will have a higher chance of catching the virus.

More infected people means a greater strain on the country's healthcare services, and each death that might come with it is tragic in its own way, to say nothing of theoretically having been avoidable had the deceased not caught COVID-19 due to their worsening circumstances after the eviction ban expired. The U.S. has an epidemiological, economic and moral obligation to prevent this worst-case scenario.

The final challenge is to prevent the rental market's collapse. Regardless of how one feels about landlords, these people have bills to pay and families to feed. Some of them have also been struggling after being unable to collect rent from their tenants but still having financial obligations that they hitherto expected to meet prior to COVID-19 causing the current socioeconomic crisis.

Struggling landlords are also prone to raise rent in order to compensate for additional costs, which places an even greater burden among struggling renters, some of whom are then evicted if they can't pay. The cycle then continues and everything becomes worse.

These observations suggest an obvious solution: extending the moratorium on evictions during the pandemic. If that's too legally difficult to do on a federal level, then the states should take the lead like California and New York have done according to Reuters' earlier cited article. For those that don't follow in their footsteps, civil society will have to step up however possible in order to protect their compatriots.

Charities, religious groups and other non-governmental organizations will have to band together to help their desperate neighbors. Under no circumstances must they allow the impending eviction crisis to take shape.

The prevailing uncertainty makes many people uncomfortable, even those not directly affected by the eviction ban's expiration. It also reflects very poorly on America's image across the world. Everyone sees that the U.S. can't properly care for its citizens during the pandemic and is even risking a sudden surge of homelessness due to its government's political dysfunction.

This powerfully exposes the false narrative that was recently pushed by the influential media outlet Bloomberg, which earlier claimed that the U.S. tops the world in terms of its society's resilience to COVID-19. The impending eviction crisis proves that wasn't true at all. By Andrew Korybko a Moscow-based American political analyst. Source: CGTN)
From his farm west of Davenport, Iowa, Glen Keppy has watched as a plastics factory and now an Amazon warehouse have gobbled up acres that used to produce corn, beans and wheat.

The encroachment of development, Keppy said, is one of the reasons why its so important to preserve the history of farming through efforts like a multicounty National Heritage Area, a locally governed adjunct to the National Park Service.

People come in by the busload, he said, to watch demonstrations of old-time farming with teams of horses and steam-powered tractors.

Thats what you call preserving what Iowa was made of, said Keppy, a former president of both the Iowa Pork Producers Association and the National Pork Producers Council.

He just ended a three-year stint on the board of the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, which promotes historic farms, museums, bed-and-breakfasts and tourism in a 37-county area of northeastern Iowa.

When asked if such heritage areas threaten private property rights  as has been claimed by critics of a proposed heritage area in Nebraska and Kansas focused on prairies and homesteading  Keppy said not at all.

We are not at all into forcing preservation; were just suggesting it. Were just an organization that tries to put things together, he said. Theres not an evil bone in the body of the organization, or the individuals.

Some officials at tourist attractions in south-central Nebraska and north-central Kansas express similar puzzlement.

They say they were blindsided, and disappointed, after Gov. Pete Ricketts and a coalition inspired by a retired Colorado researcher-writer whipped up a firestorm of protest over the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Area.

Heritage area opponents used labels like scam, federal overreach and conspiracy to describe what tourism officials maintain is a simple effort to increase marketing of heritage tourism to Willa Cathers hometown of Red Cloud, the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island and the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas, among other places.

We are trying to do the right thing for the right reason, said Kim Wilson, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln architecture professor who serves as executive director of the all-volunteer Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Area Partnership, a committee of people involved in local tourism formed to pursue the idea.

Ricketts, in a statement recently, remained unconvinced.

Federal designations, such as wilderness areas, national parks and heritage areas, give the federal government more control and oversight of private land. I have significant concerns about (that).

Now, after 38 county boards in the proposed 49-county Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Area have passed resolutions opposing the idea, what started as a no-brainer suggestion to boost economic development is in tatters after facing the same anti-government/pro-landowner rights sentiments that led Ricketts and some farm groups to condemn President Joe Bidens 30-by-30 goal to conserve more land.

Five of the Heritage Area Partnerships 13 board members have quit, fearing that their attractions might face retribution if they remain active supporters, and the partnership has suspended meetings until the fall, when it will regroup to decide if it wants to push forward.

The Willa Cather Foundation, which had asked some UNL students to study how to increase heritage tourism, has distanced itself from the now-controversial idea.

Wilson is unsure what the future holds. She said opposition seemed to explode from nothing.

Someone capitalized on fear of the unknown, without really understanding what it was all about, she said.

* * *

Norman Kincaide, 70, was a writer-researcher for the information database LexisNexis until his job was outsourced. He ended up in Rocky Ford, amid the arid plains of southeast Colorado, where he worked for the local newspaper.

He said he first began to believe that national heritage areas were a conspiracy to control private lands after serving on a county preservation board. The Otero County Historical Preservation Advisory Board was conducting several studies of historic buildings.

Kincaide said he didnt learn until later that the studies werent for local use, but were conducted in conjunction with the National Park Service to create the Canyons & Plains National Heritage Area. Local ranchers knew nothing about it.

Do you think I was angry? Yeah, Kincaide said. So I went after them with everything I had. I joined with good people who live on dirt roads  and in seven months, we shut them down.

Kincaide eventually wrote a book about his experience called Scammed? Canyons & Plains National Heritage Area Initiative for Southeast Colorado, Degrading Private Property Rights while Subverting Local Sovereignty. That established him as a sought-after speaker by groups opposing heritage areas, including here and in Montana.

He said he learned of the Kansas-Nebraska idea from Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City, a former member of the Nebraska State Board of Education, who has written that heritage areas could force farmers to stop growing corn and convert fields to native grasses.

Kincaide went all in, launching what he calls Operation Blindside.

He sent packets of anti-heritage area talking points to county board members in the 49-county area proposed for the Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Area, urging them to pass resolutions of opposition. It said that an unelected management entity whose plans are approved by the feds and works in the shadows would be an undemocratic threat to their property rights.

He followed that up with speaking tours in March and April in 10 rural towns across the proposed heritage area (and has another tour scheduled for Aug. 13 to 15). On his Facebook page, Kincaide said 2,500 people have attended the meetings, and he charts the passage of every new county resolution against the proposal.

Do you want any more incompetent government? he asked in explaining how the opposition has grown. They cant control the border? They cant fund the police? Its spread like a noxious weed.

He calls heritage areas an unneeded expansion of the federal government, via adjuncts of the National Park Service, and says tourism sites are just after federal funding, which was originally supposed to be only for seed money to get heritage areas off the ground.

But when asked for specific examples of where heritage areas have affected private property rights, Kincaide is less precise. Yes, heritage area management plans are voluntary, he said, and they have no zoning power, but they can influence passage of local laws to preserve scenic views or protect prairie dogs. Kincaide couldnt cite an example of a heritage area purchasing land, but Congress has authorized the creation of two national parks, in Louisiana and Massachusetts/Rhode Island, within designated heritage areas.

Ricketts has said such a designation would require a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) plan to be developed, which he called one of the most significant bureaucratic barriers to infrastructure projects and development.

But the Park Services national coordinator for heritage areas, Elizabeth Vehmeyer, said that whether a NEPA plan is required depends on the types of projects proposed. If a visitors center affected a wetland, yes, it would be required, she said, but a plan wouldnt be required for marketing and promotional projects.

Kincaide is unconvinced.

It wasnt really about historic preservation; it was wringing their hands about placement of cellphone towers, he said. To me, it was about controlling private property.

He dismisses critics who call him a political entrepreneur  one who profits off of a political issue. He said he received some donations when he came to Nebraska but came on his own dime and sold only a few books.

Overall, Kincaide said you dont need help from the National Park Service or the creation of umbrella organizations to promote cultural sites, preserve history and learn about local events.

Its all on your phone, he said.

* * *

We protect private property rights in our area, it states in bright red letters on the homepage of the website of the Lawrence, Kansas-based Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area.

Following that are a list of disclaimers, including We never interfere with private property  We never purchase private property  We never impose local zoning changes 

Even though all of those restrictions are etched into federal law, some people, wrapped up in the divisive politics of today, dont believe it, according to Jim Ogle, executive director of the Freedoms Frontier group.

The heritage area, he said, is about highlighting the stories and sites surrounding the Bleeding Kansas era around the Civil War, the desegregation of schools via the Brown v. Board of Education ruling out of Topeka, and helping local attractions and events improve and draw more visitors.

If you dont want my help, all you have to do is tell me to go away, and I go away, Ogle said.

But in the past few months, as more and more Kansas and Nebraska counties passed resolutions against the proposed heritage area there, he posted the disclaimers on his areas website.

National heritage areas have been around since 1984, when the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Area was created. In signing the law, President Ronald Reagan hailed the area as a new kind of national park.

Such areas are not owned by the federal government or managed by the National Park Service, though they do receive federal money, ranging from $150,000 to $710,000 a year, that must be matched locally. The Park Service, through an eight-member staff and a $23 million annual budget, offers technical support and guidance to the paid staff and volunteer board members who actually run the heritage areas.

The ride hasnt always been smooth, with objections based on private property rights rising in recent years.

Critics have said that national heritage areas are pork barrel prizes for some congressional representatives and that federal money should be devoted to maintaining federal parks, not supporting local coalitions.

But advocates say the federal money is better spent on heritage areas, which highlight important national history. An alliance of heritage areas maintains that every $1 of federal money leverages $5 in local support.

President Donald Trump had tried to defund national heritage areas but instead ended up signing legislation in 2019 to create six new ones. That same legislation spells out prohibitions against intruding on property rights.

There are now 54 national heritage areas funded across the country, from one promoting the coal-mining heritage of West Virginia to one highlighting the Civil War that covers the entire state of Tennessee. One, in southwest Pennsylvania, is inactive after its federal funding lapsed.

Anthony Schutz, a law professor at UNL who specializes in agricultural law, said heritage areas seem mostly about marketing and branding an area as having special historical significance. He compared it to Nebraskas livestock friendly county designations, which illustrate, through the passage of a resolution and placement of a roadside sign, that a county is open to livestock operations.

Schutz said he doesnt see heritage areas as a legitimate threat to private property rights, but as a wedge issue that has been used politically.

Divisive issues like this are fun stuff for politicians to play with because it gives you an audience, he said.

If Silos and Smokestacks is fine for (northeast) Iowa and one is appropriate for Kansas, why wouldnt we be interested in it? Schutz asked.

But Webster County board member TJ Vance said he didnt see how a national heritage area would benefit his county, except tourism in Red Cloud and at the Willa Cather sites.

The main issue for landowners is Why does my land have to be involved in this? said Vance, who attended one of the meetings featuring Kincaide. He said it appeared to him that several people were mixed up, thinking that the heritage area idea was part of Bidens 30-by-30 plan.

But Vance said he got more requests to oppose the heritage area than on any other issue. His county board declined to vote on a resolution to oppose it because by the time they got around to it, the proposal seemed dead, he said, even though a resolution would surely pass.

Harmless or not, Vance said, people dont want to take the risk of getting the federal government involved.

* * *

The Kansas-Nebraska National Heritage Area began with a simple question: How do we increase tourism?

A group of third-year architectural students were asked by the Willa Cather Foundation four years ago to explore that question. Wilson, who led the UNL students, said a representative of a local historic site suggested exploring a national heritage area designation.

So a group of officials from tourism sites and economic development groups began meeting. The Kansas-Nebraska National Heritage Area Partnership finally put it to a vote. It was unanimously decided to explore the idea.

We didnt even know if we qualified, Wilson said.

Becoming a heritage area requires a feasibility study, then authorization by Congress and approval of a local management plan by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Wilson said the partnership was still considering whether to apply when the whirlwind of opposition hit this spring.

The partnership first reached out to the Ricketts administration in December. About 30 tourism and history organizations from Kansas and Nebraska signed onto a letter asking to brief officials on the idea.

The letter prompted a question from Steve Wellman, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, about what exactly is a heritage area. Their white paper clearly states this will not impact land use, responded Taylor Gage, the governors chief spokesman, in an email, adding, Do we anticipate any concerns from ag groups or other stakeholders?

A briefing with the Heritage Area Partnership was held in January. The next time the group heard from the Governors Office was April 6, when Ricketts released a letter saying he opposed the creation of the Kansas-Nebraska National Heritage Area. He said that it poses the risk of federal overreach in our communities and that federal designations come with unknowable and unquantifiable risks that could hinder development and growth.

Ricketts said Nebraskans had contacted him to oppose the heritage area idea, though a public records request failed to show any written contacts from opponents, including Kincaide. A Governors Office official said that conversations with Ricketts, not written emails or letters, prompted his opposition.

Ricketts, in his letter, also said that promotion of heritage tourism in Nebraska could be done locally and that federal involvement wasnt needed. But the letter gave no indication if the governor had plans to boost marketing of such tourism.

Whether the Kansas-Nebraska National Heritage Area has any life left wont be decided until this fall. Backers of the idea feel demoralized, as well as caught up in a larger political firestorm over proposals by a new president to conserve land.

This is economic development that could benefit the whole region, areas that have lost population, Wilson said. Were really proud of the state of Nebraska. This is one way to demonstrate that to the rest of the country.

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Keck directed chemical dependency programs in Hastings and Omaha before starting his work at the Siena Francis House. He was Bauers counselor at Siena Francis when Bauer sought treatment there. Bauer said Keck was very knowledgeable and committed to the 12-step program, and was also a living, breathing example of how an addicted person can be transformed.

Think about the ripple effect, Bauer said. All those people he helped had families, friends, people who loved them.

Dan Keck said his father went at recovery and addiction counseling as extremely as he had gone at his addiction. He said that it was hard and scary growing up with his father but that they made peace and got along well for many years.

He said he hears evidence all the time of how his father made a difference in peoples lives, although he said his father gave credit to God rather than taking it for himself.

Its hard to turn around in Omaha without bumping into somebody that my dad has impacted in a major way, he said.

Often people he meets will ask if hes related to Bill Keck.

And I know instantly what is going to follow: a story of how he helped them, encouraged them, he said. And they were just like, he saved my life.
Former President Barack Obama will celebrate his 60th birthday this weekend with a party in Martha's Vineyard, with many COVID-19 safety protocols in place amid heightened concerns over the Delta variant, a source familiar with the planning told CNN.

The event on Friday, which will be held outside and will reportedly have roughly 700 people, will follow all U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health protocols, the source said. There will be testing for guests and a COVID safety coordinator on site.

Martha's Vineyard, in Dukes County, Massachusetts, is currently designated by the CDC as an area of "moderate" COVID-19 community spread.

The CDC has only recommended mask wearing indoors for areas of "high" and "substantial" transmission, which includes nearly two-thirds of all U.S. counties.

Obama's birthday is Wednesday, Aug. 4. The Hill was first to report on the former president's big birthday bash.
A 41-year-old Florida woman is now in jail for disorderly conduct on a plane at the Rapid City Regional Airport Friday.

Mistie Justice Watkins of Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, was charged with disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, simple assault on law enforcement and a Meade County Warrant. According to court records, she is also charged with unlawful occupancy.

Justice Watkins appeared in court Monday and is held on a $100 cash only bond for simple assault on law enforcement and a $1,000 cash only bond for unlawful occupancy.

According to a police press release, an officer at the airport was notified of an unruly passenger around 8:50 p.m.. The officer told Justice Watkins he would escort her off the plane and she was loud and disruptive.

According to the release, Justice Watkins indecently exposed herself to other passengers on the plane and was advised she was going to be put under arrest. The officer noted he could smell alcohol from her person.

Justice Watkins also attempted to pull away from the officer and kicked him, and additional officers arrived to transport her from the airport.
Around here, we dont have things like that happen, he said. People were scared.

Helbling said Bismarck, Burleigh and Morton counties -- which he called Mandans sister communities -- and area businesses came together to support the city and to help law enforcement in the investigation.

The trial might help bring closure, which Helbling said the community and the families need, but the families are never going to get over it.

And the community is always going to remember it, Helbling said. As long as justice is done, thats all you can hope for.

Isaak's attorneys declined to discuss the case ahead of the trial, but court documents and public comments suggest they will argue that police did a shoddy job in their rush to gather evidence and that Isaak had no reason to commit the killings. No motive has been offered by police or anyone at the company.

Juries want to know why something happened, said Alex Reichert, a criminal defense lawyer from Grand Forks who has handled numerous homicide cases but who has no connection to the Isaak case.
More North Dakota students are attending summer school this year, though the increase isn't uniform across the state, according to the Department of Public Instruction.

The rise is due in part to a change in state law, for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

"Prior to this Legislative session, children that were in grades K-4 could only attend summer school if they were deemed as 'remedial,'" said Joe Kolosky, director of the department's Office of School Approval and Opportunity. "They removed that to open up summer school for all students that are from K-4."

Students in grades 5-12 were allowed to attend summer school without having to be deemed remedial, which is determined by such things as low test scores or low grades.

Kolosky told Prairie Public that 11,539 K-4 students are attending summer school this year, nearly doubling the 2020 figure. Enrollment in the other grades also is up. But in some areas of the state, summer school attendance has actually declined, which Kolosky believes is due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Attorneys on Monday began the task of choosing the jurors who will determine the fate of a man accused of killing four people at a property management business in Mandan more than two years ago.

Twelve jurors and two alternates will be chosen to hear the case against Chad Isaak, 47, of Washburn, who is accused of killing RJR Maintenance and Management co-owner Robert Fakler, 52; and employees Adam Fuehrer, 42; and William Cobb, 50, and Lois Cobb, 45, on April 1, 2019. The Cobbs were married.

No motive has been offered by police or anyone at the company, and the trial that is expected to play out over the next three weeks at the Morton County Courthouse in Mandan is expected to largely focus on the evidence that investigators say points to Isaak, a chiropractor whose mobile home is managed by RJR.

Isaak is charged with four counts of murder, along with felony counts of burglary and concealment within a vehicle, and a misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He has been jailed since his arrest three days after the killings, held on $1 million bond. He pleaded not guilty in August 2019. He could face life in prison without parole if convicted.
This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week.

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Bismarck unveiled two fast charging stations for electric vehicles last week, one at the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau and another at the Bismarck Airport. The stations -- the first of their kind in Bismarck -- can provide a vehicle a nearly full charge in about 30 minutes. Other charging stations in Bismarck are not as powerful or are compatible only with Tesla cars. Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken said the stations help the city be a connecting point across the region. A lack of charging infrastructure has caused electric vehicle owners to avoid driving through North Dakota and the region. The Bismarck charging stations were funded with money from a 2016 settlement between Volkswagen and the federal government.

Down
There needs to be public accountability for the insurrection. Public accountability is the hallmark of modern democratic governance. Democracy remains a paper procedure if those in power cannot be held accountable in public for their acts and decisions.

Individuals at all levels need to be held accountable for the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to our Constitution addresses this public accountability.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

The goal of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 is very clear. It was to prevent the formal acceptance, via the electoral college votes, of President-elect Biden as the duly elected president, thus maintaining President Trump as president.
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Pamm Lent, director of communications for Empire State Development Western New York, said ESD doesnt have plans for anything right now.

Theres been no discussion.  We have no plans to purchase a portion of the city street, she said.

And Ron Reinas, general manager of the Peace Bridge Authority, said, currently our board has not approved anything in terms of acquisition.

This was a project of the state of New York and Empire State Development from 2012, 2013, where there was lots of discussion about acquisition of that to facilitate a future expansion of the plaza. Those plans didnt go anywhere, and we have not pursued it since that time, Reinas added.

But Daniel Brady, a resident of the Front Park neighborhood near the bridge and a board member of Vision Niagara, shared with The Buffalo News an email exchange from early June with an engineer in the citys Department of Public Works, Parks and Streets that seems to contradict the denials.

Brady was inquiring about the status of traffic-calming improvements and bike lanes on Busti Avenue using money from the states Transportation Alternatives Program that the city has received.
"Eleven years of my life was gone, and in one decision," she said of the appellate ruling. "I fought so hard for years and honestly, I feel like I got nothing through the schools head. They are more worried about their reputation than actually protecting their students. This is why Im doing this."

She wants students kept safe in schools, so they don't have panic attacks in their sleep or suffer from severe anxiety like she did after the attack, or get diagnosed as she was with post-traumatic stress disorder.

For Knaszak, the effects of the trauma have lasted years, as she struggled to trust men and at times found herself "in a very dark place."

With the help of others, she's better, she said. Acceptance has replaced fear.

"I still deal with it, and I have issues with going places alone, people coming up behind me and certain triggers, but Ive come far from where I was," she said.

She's offended by the district's legal argument and how the appellate court accepted it.
Presently the law recognizes harm from doing something, but not for doing nothing. Putting unvaccinated children at risk from infection because you choose not to be vaccinated, carries no punishment. The FDA has given emergency approval for the immunization and continues to actively monitor for adverse effects. To use the excuse that you are waiting for full FDA approval is a specious argument when millions have been vaccinated safely without evidence of serious sequelae. In addition, the transmission of the disease to other unvaccinated individuals results in significant avoidable medical cost for care and potential mortality. In addition, the possibility of the newly infected individuals developing a mutant strain of virus is increased and one of these emerging strains may be resistant to our present vaccines. People without contra indications, who choose not to be vaccinated are public health hazards and should be treated as such.
Every year we raised more money; and each year we were blessed to see our efforts help the cancer patients there. Our teams fundraising helped create an art therapy program to help the kids express their feelings while undergoing chemotherapy.

We also fulfilled a number of patient wishes. One of the most poignant was sending a young lady and her family to Dallas so she could see her favorite band perform live. She died soon after the show. It was bittersweet, but we were thankful that we helped her fulfill one of her final wishes.

Our Ride For Roswell team continues to grow. This year, Kids Just Want To Have Fun has 57 riders. We also have 14 affiliated teams and together weve raised more than $410,000 for this years ride. The greatest feeling is that were all raising money to help kids, teens and young adults deal with their cancer treatments.

The added bonus for me is the chance to talk to many of our riders. In almost every case these people have been touched by cancer. Some have overcome it. Some are caring for someone with it. And some have lost loved ones to the terrible disease.

But an overriding theme runs through every one of these people. The joy of knowing that their mission to raise money will positively affect others combating cancer.
SAN RAMON, Calif., August 02, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) announced today that Joseph C. (Joe) Geagea, executive vice president, Technology, Projects and Services, will retire from the company after 40 years of outstanding service. Geagea will continue as an executive vice president and serve as senior advisor to chairman and CEO Michael Wirth until his retirement on or about March 1, 2022.

"Id like to thank Joe for four decades of significant contributions to Chevron," Wirth said. "Joes career has spanned the globe as well as Chevrons many businesses. He has left an enduring mark on the company, and we are better for it."

Geagea joined Chevron in 1982 as a design engineer. Prior to his current role, Geagea was senior vice president of Technology, Projects and Services. He served as a corporate vice president and president of Chevron Gas and Midstream, responsible for commercializing Chevrons natural gas resources and overseeing the companys shipping, pipeline and power operations as well as supply and trading operations. Previous positions include: managing director, Chevron Asia South Ltd., responsible for Chevrons upstream activities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam; vice president, Upstream Capability, responsible for improving the delivery of support services to Chevrons global upstream operations; vice president, Chevron International Exploration and Production Company; president, Fuel and Marine Marketing, as well as president, downstream operations in East Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan.

Outside of Chevron, Geagea serves on the board of directors of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He previously served on the board of trustees of the San Francisco Ballet Association. Geagea earned a bachelors degree and a masters degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981 and 1982, respectively.

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Chevron is one of the worlds leading integrated energy companies. We believe affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy is essential to achieving a more prosperous and sustainable world. Chevron produces crude oil and natural gas; manufactures transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and additives; and develops technologies that enhance our business and the industry. To advance a lower-carbon future, we are focused on cost efficiently lowering our carbon intensity, increasing renewables and offsets in support of our business, and investing in low-carbon technologies that enable commercial solutions. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005273/en/

Contacts

Braden Reddall -- +1 925-842-2209
The war between federal forces and the Tigray rebels is nearly nine months old

The commander of the rebel group in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray has told the BBC they will continue fighting until their terms for a ceasefire are met.

Gen Tsadkan Gebretensae said the group aims to force the federal government to lift a blockade in the region and agree to a political solution to the crisis.

The government denies there is a blockade and has ruled out talks.

Thousands have been killed since war broke out in November last year.

Millions of people have also been displaced by the fighting which both sides have been accused of committing human rights abuses and war crimes.

At least 400,000 people are living in famine conditions, according to a UN estimate, with access to the region still being hampered. UN World Food Programme lorries did manage to reach Tigray at the weekend after a long delay because of security concerns.

However, Ethiopia's Minister for Democracy Zadig Abraha has denied that the government had blocked humanitarian aid to Tigray.

"In fact, our government supplied the most amount of humanitarian aid than all over partners combined," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.

He accused the rebels of "invoking the humanitarian aid discourse" to win sympathy from the international community.

Despite the government announcing a unilateral ceasefire in June after the rebels made significant gains, including the recapture of the region's capital, Mekelle, it has continued to mobilise militia from other parts of the country to help stall the rebels' advance in neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.

Gen Tsadkan is accused of treason by the federal government

On Sunday, Gen Tsadkan, a former head of the Ethiopian army, told the Newshour programme that his fighters' incursion to the neighbouring regions was aimed at removing a federal blockade that has prevented aid from coming through.

He said that before a ceasefire is agreed the federal government had to:

stop the persecution of Tigrayans

release political prisoners

accept an inclusive dialogue to determine the region's future.

He said the war could have been avoided, and accused Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of not willing to find a peaceful solution to the political standoff between the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Story continues

"I regret that this has happened, I regret that this could have been avoided, but I'm happy that the Tigray people fought and are in a position to demand their rightful position in the region," Gen Tsadkan said.

The Ethiopian government, which has designated the TPLF as a terrorist organisation, has dismissed calls to hold talks with the rebel leaders.

Mr Zadig said TPLF's terms for a ceasefire were "coming out of a false sense of power," warning that the government would escalate its military offensive.

"We are coming out of a humanitarian ceasefire, and if you want to see the showdown, you'll have to wait for some weeks. When we run out of patience, you will see how we're going to drive them from each and every city and village of the earth," he said.

The TPLF was Tigray's governing party until it was ousted by the national army in November last year but the rebels say they are the legitimate regional government of Tigray.

Its leaders fell out with the Mr Abiy over his political reforms, though the TPLF's capture of federal military bases in Tigray was the catalyst for the invasion.

More on the Tigray crisis:
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) - Good health is the greatest gift that Filipinos can ever receive. With malnutrition affecting many children, it is crucial for the community to work together to help them, the future of the country.

Recognizing its role in helping build the nation, Mega Global Corporation, together with the Mega Tiu Lim Foundation, will once again hold the Mega Bigay Sustansya program, a health and nutrition program that's deep rooted from the company's core value of malasakit.

Now on its third year, this initiative embodies the determination of the company to improve the health sector, as it aims to reinforce the importance of nutrition to every Filipino family nationwide and extend a helping hand to those in need.

This year, Mega Global also teamed up with Reach Out Feed Philippines, which will spearhead the daily preparation of meals, deliver these to each beneficiary and provide a nutritional assessment of recipes, and evaluate the results of the program.

Mega Bigay Sustansya aims to support 870 children from various barangays in Batangas, Navotas, Valenzuela, Samar, Surigao del Sur, and Zamboanga through a 60-day nutrition program.

PHOTO FROM MEGA GLOBAL

Beneficiaries, who are aged 4-12, will receive two meals daily throughout the program. The daily meals will include at least one sardines meal made using Mega Global's vitamin- and nutrient-packed high-quality sardines.

The weight, height, and mid-arm circumference of the children will be taken at the beginning of the program to gauge their progress. To encourage parents to support the nutrition program for their children, Mega Global will provide incentives to select participants who fit the program's criteria - including biggest gainer and most improved.

To further ensure that the progress made is sustained, Mega Global will also be developing leave-behind materials containing affordable nutritious recipes made from ingredients that are easily accessible to the families. This will equip the parents and the community with knowledge on how to prepare nutritious meals for the well-being of their children and loved ones.

"When we first launched this nutrition program two years ago, we saw how transformative it was for the beneficiaries, who not only saw an improvement in their weight, but also in their health and well-being," said Marvin Tiu Lim, Chief Growth and Development Officer.

Lim said this development pushed them to expand the program by adding the education aspect to better inform the community of the importance of having good food and nutrition for the whole family.

In all that it does, Mega Global Corporation gives life to its core value of malasakit. From products to people to the greater community, every decision made by the brand is anchored onto the belief of malasakit for all.

This once again comes alive in Mega Bigay Sustansya, which is envisioned to uplift the lives of impoverished children and allow them to achieve their potentials.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  The country's COVID-19 case count breached 1.6 million on Monday, with new infections in a day remaining high at 8,167, the Department of Health reported.

This is the fourth consecutive day that over 8,000 more people were reported to have caught COVID-19.

The tally now stands at 1,605,762, of which 62,615 or 3.9% are active cases. The bulletin shows 93.9% of the currently ill are classified as mild, 1.3% as asymptomatic, 1.48% as moderate, 2.1% as severe, and 1.2% as critical.

Data from a non-operational testing laboratory and another three facilities that failed to submit on time were not yet included in the update, the DOH said. It added that based on figures in the last two weeks, these laboratories contribute around 1.5% of samples tested and 1% of positive individuals.

Deaths also climbed to 28,093 with 77 more succumbing to the disease. Of the newly confirmed fatalities, the DOH noted 29 were incorrectly tagged as recoveries in previous reports.

The DOH records 9,095 recovered patients, raising the number of survivors to 1,515,054.

It also said that of the 50,601 tests reported on July 31, 15.7% turned out positive. According to the World Health Organization, a positivity rate of below 5% is one of the indications COVID-19 transmission is under control.

After final validation, the DOH removed 94 duplicates from the total count, including 20 recoveries. The agency said 19 who were earlier classified as survivors were found to be active cases.

Among Filipinos abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs said 503 more infections were confirmed over the last seven days.

This brought the number of cases in that sector to 21,641. Active cases are at 7,789 -- a 5.14% rise from last week's figures.

Fifty-six more overseas Filipinos lost their lives to the virus, marking a 4.42% increase from the last update and raising the death toll to 1,322. Meanwhile, 71 more got well for a total of 12,531 recoveries.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2) - Metro Manila will enforce longer curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. when the capital region shifts to enhanced community quarantine on Friday.

In a press briefing on Monday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Benhur Abalos said Metro Manila mayors came to a unanimous decision on the new curfew hours.

Metro Manila will remain under general community quarantine with "heightened and additional" restrictions until Aug. 5. It will shift to ECQ, strictest status, on Aug. 6 to 20 due to the threat of rising COVID-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant.

Curfew hours in Metro Manila are currently from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Meanwhile, Abalos said imposing a liquor ban will be up to the discretion of local government units.

Sa nakikita namin, ang Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Pasay, Navotas, Pateros, Quezon City, at San Juan, may mga liquor ban, he said.

[From what we know, the cities of Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Pasay, Navotas, Quezon City, and San Juan have a liquor ban.]

He added that the cities of Taguig, Pasig, and Las Pinas do not have a liquor ban.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3)  President Rodrigo Duterte assured that COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed to all local government units when the government already has stable supplies.

During his televised weekly address, the President also noted that given vaccine supply problems, areas with high number of COVID-19 cases will be prioritized for the meantime.

Let me just assure everybody, anywhere in the Philippines, that the vaccine that we are giving is for all Filipinos, he said. Its just a matter of priority dito sa mga (here in the) hotspots kagaya ng Maynila (like Manila)... nandito lahat ng tao so iyong transmission mas mabilis (most of the people are here so transmission is faster).

Duterte emphasized that if the government has enough doses, no one would have to wait, and vaccines will be given immediately.

Ang problema talaga ng Pilipinas ay wala tayong supply na maganda If we have the numbers in sufficient vaccines, hindi na sila maghintay, ibigay na natin agad, he explained.

[Translation: The problem of the Philippines really is we have no steady suppy. If we have the numbers in sufficient vaccines, they woud not have to wait and we'll give it to them immediately.]

Currently, the country has received some 34 million coronavirus shots, of which almost 21 million were already administered.

Most of the supply had been allocated to the National Capital Region, the center of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, followed by CALABARZON, and Central Luzon.

Latest government data also shows that total COVID-19 cases in the country has reached over 1.6 million after adding 8,167 on Monday, of which 2,074 came from NCR.

Death toll stood at 28,093 and recoveries at 1,515,054.

Meanwhile, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also noted that there is still the issue of vaccine hesitancy among the elderly. He noted that only 2.6 million senior citizens have received both their doses since the government started vaccinating the group early this year.

By end-August, he said they hope to fully immunize 5 million senior citizens.

To date, around 9.1 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated. The figure is still far from the governments 70-million target in order to achieve population protection this year.
(CNN)  Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been detained by Beijing police on suspicion of rape after "repeatedly seducing young women into having sex," police said in a statement Saturday night.

The case against Wu, 30  whose Chinese name is Wu Yifan  is still under investigation, police in the Chaoyang district of the Chinese capital said.

The allegations first emerged last month on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, when a woman posting under the verified handle "Du Meizhu" alleged she was sexually assaulted when she was a student at the Communication University of China in Beijing. She said she was 17 at the time of the alleged assault.

The allegations gained further traction after she was interviewed by 163.com, a major news portal.

CNN has reached out to Wu's representatives and is still awaiting a response.

Wu, who was born in southern China but is a Canadian citizen, denied the allegations on his personal Weibo account last month. His company announced it was pursuing legal action against his accuser, calling the accusations "malicious rumors."

His once wildly popular social media accounts, including his Weibo page with more than 51 million followers, have been taken down following the police statement.

China's top law enforcement agency, the ruling Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, commented on Wu's detention on Saturday, posting on Weibo, "On Chinese land, it is necessary to abide by Chinese laws. We do not wrong; we do not indulge. We take facts as the basis and the law as the criterion."

Wu rose to fame as a member of popular Korean-Chinese pop group EXO, then as a solo act after he left the band in 2014. He starred in multiple movies and modeled for brands like Burberry, soon becoming one of the country's top brand ambassadors.

But many of his biggest brand partners were quick to distance themselves as the rape allegations spread.

French fashion house Louis Vuitton, which named Wu as brand ambassador in 2018, told CNN in July that the company was suspending its relationship with the artist until the claims are investigated.

"Louis Vuitton takes the recent accusations concerning Mr. Kris Wu very seriously and as such suspends its collaboration with the artist until the investigation is concluded," it said in an emailed statement at the time.

Italian luxury brand Bulgari, Porsche China, and cosmetics brand Kans were among those that suspended or severed ties completely with Wu in July.

China's #MeToo movement

Though some on Chinese social media came to Wu's defense after news of his detention, many expressed support for Du Meizhu  as well as surprise that Wu was detained at all, highlighting the difficulties victims of sexual abuse often face in pursuing justice in China.

"I have to say thank you to Du Meizhu," one Weibo user commented. "I'm really thankful to her for speaking out for women!"

The #MeToo movement that spread worldwide in 2017 and 2018 highlighted the systemic problems of sexual assault and lack of accountability for high-profile offenders. In numerous countries, women used the hashtag to share their own experiences with sexual misconduct or abuse, and to demand concrete change.

In China, activists say they have seen some signs of progress -- but also significant pushback and pressure to be silent. When the fledgling movement arrived in China in 2018, a large number of posts on social media discussing sexual misconduct and #MeToo were censored, and women who came forward said they still faced resistance at the official level.

In 2018, Peking University student Yue Xin received widespread attention after administrators attempted to shut down a petition by her and other students over an alleged rape case, sparking significant outrage.

One woman who made accusations against a prominent state television anchor said online that she was urged by police to withdraw her complaint because the man in question had an "enormous 'positive influence' on society."

And while surveys suggest that sexual assault and harassment is prevalent in China, the number of actual prosecutions is small. Out of the country's population of 1.4 billion people, only 43,000 were prosecuted for "crimes of violating women's personal rights" from 2013 to 2017, according to the office of China's top prosecutor. These crimes range from trafficking and forced prostitution to rape.
Mang Nelsons filigree tambourine jewelry is modern, but not quite; he calls it modern heritage. A fourth generation craftsman and Living Treasure Awardee of the Province of Ilocos Sur, Mang Nelson is the designer behind local label Kaya Mana that focuses on traditional jewelry with a minimalist and contemporary feel, like a gold drum-shaped bead that can be worn as studs or a bracelet with interlocking lace-like chains.

Born into a family of jewelers, 52 year-old Mang Nelson learned the craft when he was a child. As he started a family of his own, he  like his father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather  relied on making filigree tambourine-style jewelry for over 40 years to make a living, put his children through school, and build his own house. Ang filigree tambourine necklace ay ang kuwintas na buhay na ala-ala ng aming ama, he said. Dahil sa paglilikha ng kuwintas na ito, lahat kaming anim na magkakapatid ay napag-aral at napagtapos ng aming mga magulang.

But as the bespoke handicraft waned in popularity against foreign goods, western trends, and rise of machinery, Mang Nelson realized that filigree tambourine was slowly becoming a dying craft. He also came to learn that unscrupulous businessmen were duping local customers by mimicking and overselling faux filigree tambourine jewelry (which is traditionally made with only 18K gold) produced using 10K or 14K gold at exorbitant prices. And because of these, both new and local customers developed a fear of buying from their community of craftsmen. The continued decline in demand for his pieces left him at a crossroads between joining his wife, an Overseas Filipino Worker in Canada, to make ends meet or continue saving the cultural heritage that his family had fought for and preserved for years.

Fourth generation craftsman and Living Treasure Awardee Mang Nelson is the designer behind local label Kaya Mana that focuses on traditional jewelry with a minimalist and contemporary feel. Photo by JULI SUAZO

Thats when he crossed paths with Paolo Palanca who, at the time, was a legal management student taking a sociology minor purely out of interest. During a sociology and anthropology course taught by his universitys Head of Cultural Heritage Studies Fernando Zialcita, Palanca was introduced to Mang Nelson who is the last practicing craftsman in Ilocos last 2017. Together with his groupmates Tenny Cayco, Bea Constantino, and Nikki Vocalan, he recorded and documented everything he could about the waning craft.

When we first met, [Mang Nelson] said that there would be times they would go on for more than a year without selling a single piece which pushed him to take temporary jobs in construction or housework to make ends meet, Palanca said. It was heartbreaking. That was why our research was so important because if the last master craftsman chose to leave, then the knowledge and skills of the craft would go with him and we would lose a precious part of our cultural heritage.

Filigree tambourine jewelry connects us to our past. Though the use of gold is an artifact of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines (the relikaryos or lockets themselves contained religious artifacts or relics of saints, strung on chains like rosary beads), there is an infusion of the artisans own culture in the design itself and the choice of motif.

The word filigree refers to the art of turning gold ores into fine thin wires to be woven into the intricate designs while the etymology of tambourine remains to be fluid. According to craftsmen in Ilocos, the word is derived from tambol which is synonymous to drum (a style of necklace bead). Historical literature (Ramon Villegas book Hiyas) states that the origin of tambourine or tamborin traces back to tambour which refers to the frame used to guide looped and twirled gold wire in the making of these fine designs.

During our fieldwork, [Mang Nelson] showed us some of the last few pieces he still had left unsold for so many years wrapped in simple red craft paper and stored in plastic pouches, Palanca shared. I think it was at this moment that my goal evolved from preserving knowledge of the tradition to trying to preserve the tradition itself.

Going beyond research and documentation, Palanca wanted to revive the dying craft by helping Mang Nelson and his family sell his jewelry designs, bring it to areas they werent able to reach before, and conceptualize with modernized filigree tambourine designs. This was when preservation of this cultural heritage also meant the promotion of it, he shared. Having taken a number of business and marketing courses, Palanca built the brand of Kaya Mana in order to market Mang Nelsons pieces to a larger reach.

Kaya points to strength while Mana refers to inheritance and heritage so putting them together, it becomes the power of our heritage while also being a play on the word kayamanan which points out the value of our rich history, he said.

Mang Nelson designed new filigree tambourine jewelry with a more modern look exclusive to Kaya Mana. Photo courtesy of PAOLO PALANCA

As weeks passed by, Palanca witnessed the project grow bigger and so did his goals. I wanted to show him that Filipinos are still interested in his works of wearable art so that he wouldnt be forced to leave the country to support his family, he said.

Our group wanted to help him sell and make it a sufficient source of income for him  enough for him not to need to leave the country just to support his family, finish putting his kids through school, and finish the construction of his then roofless house, said Palanca.

While he had expected the original course of his life after university to lead him towards finishing law school, Palanca had discovered a new career path in continuing the business of Kaya Mana with the purpose of bringing a piece of Filipino heritage into the modern era, one fine handcrafted piece at a time.

Paolo and Manang Cynthia (Mang Nelsons sister who assists in the administrative side of Kaya Mana) were able to earn enough profits to complete the construction of the roof of their house Ilocos Sur last March 2019. Photo courtesy of PAOLO PALANCA

Youd think [filigree tambourine jewelry is] something old, something very traditional, something youd only wear for your Filipiniana Day or cultural events, Palanca explained. It has to break through that mentality. It cant just be limited to that one perception that thats all its good for. It needs to become a more contemporary type of jewelry in the sense you can walk on the streets and see someone wearing filigree tambourine jewelry.

Theres a special kind of magic about something thats made entirely by hand. The delicate and elaborate process of making a single piece of filigree tambourine jewelry involves antique tools passed on from generations such as old draw-plates, molders, and pamuk-pok (pounder). Strings are cut into pieces and melted into miniscule balls of gold which are placed on the beads to add detail to each and every jewelry design. For Mang Nelson and his family, the craft was more than just their business but also an artistry that carried personal significance to his familys lifestyle.

He said, Napakaimportante ang filigree tambourine sa akin kasi ito ay isang art. Lalo na, ito ay buhay na ala-ala sa aming ama na siyang nagturo kung paano gumagawa ng tambourine jewelry. Pinili naming i-preserve ang lokal tradisyon na ito dahil sa Ilokos lang makikita ito. (Filigree tambourine is very important for me because its an art form. Especially because its a living memory that has been handed down to us from our fathers who taught it to us).

Uncompromising to the commitment to honest pricing, sustainable production, and ethical sourcing, Palanca continues to work directly with Mang Nelson to maintain the passion, dedication, and care that allows them to preserve the art and tradition that filigree tambourine jewelry carries.

For me, the goal is for the craftsmen to no longer need us, shared Palanca. Eventually, I hope to return to the point before the industry declined  when there was a steady demand for filigree tambourine jewelry and craftsmen like Mang Nelson can sustainably manage the entire business end-to-end by themselves and start crafting together again as a family.

The delicate and elaborate process of making a single piece of filigree tambourine jewelry involves antique tools passed on from generations such as old draw-plates, molders, and pamuk-pok (pounder). Photo by JULI SUAZO

Ang plano ay gumawa ng tambourine jewelries for Kaya Mana para lalong ma-preserve ang filigree making, lalong lalo na ang tambourine para mabuhay uli ang matamlay na industry ng pag-aalahas (The plan is to make tambourine jewelry for Kaya Mana so we can preserve filigree making, especially tambourine so we can keep the industry alive), said Mang Nelson.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was honored by the Philippine Postal Corporation with the release of a commemorative stamp on Monday.

"The postage stamps we issue symbolize unity, respect, love of the country and concern for one another regardless of color, race or creed. When a former president passes away, we set aside politics and the whole country mourns," said Postmaster General Norman Fulgencio during the launching event at the Manila Central Post Office building.

Meanwhile, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the release of the "Pnoy stamp" honors the former leader's legacy of public service.

Aquino's sisters were not present at the event but were represented by their cousin Malabon City Mayor Antolin Oreta.

Aquino died on June 24 at the age of 61.
(CNN) -- "I don't want to. I don't want to be in here. I don't like this."

Miles' temper tantrum had been building up from the moment he got out of the car. He clutched his mother, Kyle, and asked to go back home.

Moments later, Kyle, who didn't want their last name used to protect their privacy, watched her 3-year-old stubbornly flop on the floor of the indoor pool deck. He eventually began crying and yelling.

It was one of their first major outings after more than a year of living in relative isolation.

As Miles' eyes darted around, his mom noticed that her friend's toddler was also having a meltdown.

Going to the pool had previously been a routine activity for the family, and Miles, who is typically social, had told her he was excited to go for the first time since the pandemic began.

"Talk about something that knocks you on your butt," his mom said. "I hadn't realized how scared he would be."

There are many toddlers like Miles who may have been comfortable socializing before the pandemic but are too young remember those days clearly. As many people have come out of pandemic isolation, their kids may struggle transitioning to a new way of living that now includes places they couldn't previously go.

At least for now. Parents' decisions are still in flux. While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines had stated that people who are fully vaccinated can participate in many of the activities they did before the pandemic, new guidance now urges mask-wearing indoors if you are in an area of substantial or high coronavirus transmission to maximize protection from the Delta variant. (The agency is also recommending that people in K-12 schools wear masks.)

CNN spoke with two pediatric medical professionals to help parents help their toddlers navigate these new experiences. Here's what they had to say.

Don't 'snap back' into a pre-pandemic norm

Memories start forming around the age of 2.5 years, said Dr. Jenny Radesky  a developmental behavioral pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan Medicine. That means a child who is currently around 3 or 4 years old doesn't have many strong memories of what life was like before the pandemic.

Radesky encourages parents to allow kids to develop their social skills, but at a proper pace.

"This idea of getting back to normal is really overwhelming for a lot of people, so I want parents to feel that you don't have to get your kids rushed back into everything being 'normal' right now either," she said.

Dr. Neha Chaudhary, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, also encourages families to focus on social connections and relationships, saying that it's important for children's overall mental and physical well-being  and parents', too.

But she noted that after more than a year in which socializing wasn't the norm, the transition could be hard for some toddlers, especially if they are just a little more rigid by nature.

"I would encourage parents not to snap back into treating things as business as usual ... because for kids, it's not going to be business as usual," Chaudhary said. "Even though it's positive, it's still a change."

Kyle said it has been difficult balancing her children's physical and social health.

"Just the idea that people were the danger was just a very hard concept to get across in a way that wasn't going to scare them into not wanting to be around people later," she said.

Prepare your child

When you make plans for your child  whether that's a play date, school or camp  there are ways you can mentally prepare your child to help them feel more comfortable.

Chaudhary emphasizes that it's "perfectly normal" for a toddler to express nervousness, fear or worry about a new social situation.

"The more information that parents can equip the kids with, the more empowered they might feel to go through that transition," Chaudhary said.

Radesky suggests talking about the social activity in advance. If it's something your toddler has done before, help them remember what it's like. If they haven't, Chaudhary says taking them to the location beforehand can help them orient themselves to a new environment.

But when last-minute plans arise, parents don't have the luxury of preparing their child. If that happens, Radesky said parents should focus on the positive aspects of what they are doing and provide information about what to expect.

If separation from family members is an issue, Chaudhary said to arrange for the child to spend time away from parents or siblings for small increments, building up as the child gets more comfortable. For example, a short walk with a trusted adult could be a good place to start.

Since lockdown, Kyle said she has seen Miles become "intensely codependent" with his 5-year-old brother. During an outdoor school activity, she noticed that the brothers never left each other's side to interact with their classmates.

"The whole point of it was to get them some kind of socialization, but that's the way every other family was acting, too," she said. "Siblings stayed together, only children just played by themselves."

Radesky said another way to help prepare your toddler for social situations is to prime them about what they can do if they start feeling overwhelmed, such as finding the teacher and holding his or her hand.

Talk to your children

Chaudhary suggests parents open up to their child about how they cope when they're feeling overwhelmed.

"Being proactive about asking kids about how they're feeling and making those safe spaces to have those conversations  that's a really healthy foundation even for little kids as they then get a little bit older and start going through more difficult transitions," Chaudhary said.

Chloe Massey, a mother in Falls Church, Virginia, said she has spoken a lot with her 3-year-old son, Keenan, about what it means to be nervous over the past year.

When a delivery or service person would come up to the door during the pandemic, Keenan would become shy and scared, Massey said. Lip quivering, he would tell his mother, "Kee Kee's OK," in those moments.

Now, as the family has become more social after Massey and her husband got vaccinated, Keenan's nerves around people have disappeared, she said.

"It funny how staying distant was just really part of our vocabulary for over a year  and part of his vocabulary  and I haven't heard him say it in two months, not a peep," Massey said.

Stay calm in the moment

No matter how much you prepare your child for new situations, they may unravel.

Radesky noted that young toddlers tend to communicate their emotions through their behavior, such as tantrums that help them put a halt to the situation in the moment. If this happens, Radesky encourages parents to not overreact.

"If you show that you are scared of your child's feelings, they'll find their feelings even scarier and even more overwhelming," she said.

Instead, parents can help their child calm down by playing a game with them to focus on the senses, Radesky said. Just take turns describing things you can feel, smell, hear and touch.

Seek help if the problem persists

Chaudhary said there should be a low threshold for getting a well check with your toddler's pediatrician or consulting with a therapist if you are concerned about any out-of-character behavior. If your toddler continues struggling to adapt for more than a couple weeks or their emotions become more severe  such as shutting down or not being engaged  seeking professional help can greatly benefit them.

Kids are resilient

Looking back on how the pandemic has affected her family, Kyle said she has worried about the future, noting that is has been hard to instill her values of inclusivity and helping others while she must demonstrate keeping space from people to her children.

"I'm really afraid that this will permanently alter the way we as a family interact with others socially," she said.

She said she is often unsure how much of Miles' struggles come from living amid the pandemic or from just being a 3-year-old.

But as months have passed since Miles' meltdown at the pool, she said she has seen his personality start to blossom around adults.

"Any time there is more than one adult around that is kind of new to him, he just launches into these long, long epic stories full of all this creativity that we had not seen before because apparently he needs a group, an audience," Kyle said.

It's the resilience of young minds, Radesky said, that will ultimately help those struggling to adjust overcome their fears.

"I have no reason to feel negative or nihilistic about the prognosis of kids at large right now," Radesky said.

Massey, a childhood educator, said she also believes children are resilient.

Yet, Massey said she was still relieved to see that when she dropped him off for his first day of camp in June, he said "Bye, mommy," put his backpack on, walked away and didn't look back.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Your toddler may not remember socializing before the pandemic. Here's how to help them adjust"
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Metro Manila may implement 24/7 vaccinations during the two-week enhanced community quarantine, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said Monday.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, Ano said he is "amenable" to the idea in order to fast-track the administration of the four million COVID-19 shots previously requested by Metro Manila mayors for their residents.

"Yes, I am amenable to that. In fact, we will employ additional law enforcement officers in vaccination sites to ensure that there (is) order in the vaccination. Including personnel from BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection), we will have standby ambulances," he said.

"Twenty-four hours a day is okay with me para matapos yung at least four million vaccines. Kung may madadagdag pa mas mabuti," Ano added.

[Translation: Twenty-four hours a day is okay with me in order to finish at least four million vaccines. If there will be more doses, that will be better.]

Ano did not specify when the 24/7 vaccinations will be implemented, but he noted that these must start "as soon as possible."

The city government of Manila already called for volunteer doctors, nurses, other health workers, and computer-literate college students willing to help out in their 24/7 vaccine drive.

Ano said during their meeting last week, the national government assured Metro Manila mayors they will get the 4 million doses.

He also said part of the 3 million COVAX-donated Moderna doses arriving in the country on Tuesday will be distributed to the capital region.

READ: Duterte to personally welcome COVAX-donated vaccines on Aug. 3

No house-to-house vaccinations

Meanwhile, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya dismissed the possibility of implementing house-to-house vaccinations among those who are not considered bed-ridden patients.

"Kung mag-house to house tayo, we will have to move all those people na magbahay-bahay. Sa panahon ng habagat, that would be very difficult for us to implement," he said in a briefing, noting that the system may also place the safety of vaccinators at risk.

[Translation: If we do house-to-house vaccinations, we will have to move all those people who will conduct house-to-house. During monsoon season, that would be very difficult for us to implement.]

Metro Manila will revert to the strictest enhanced community quarantine on Aug. 6 to 20 to control the spread of the feared Delta variant.

Residents scheduled to receive their doses will be considered authorized persons outside of residence, as long as they provide proof of their vaccination appointment. Ano said. Walk-in vaccinations are discouraged to avoid crowding.

READ: NCR residents getting vaccinated can go out during ECQ
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  The Department of Health agrees with a US agency's report saying the Delta variant appears to spread as easily as chickenpox.

The report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the Delta variants transmissibility is comparable to chickenpox since a person infected with it can also infect up to eight others in one sitting.

With this kind of analysis, yes we agree to that, and nasa ebidensya naman po talaga na ang Delta variant po [and evidence really shows the Delta variant] is highly transmissible compared to the UK variant na nakakainfect lang ng hanggang apat [which can infect just four] to five persons, DOH Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said.

The CDC report said the Delta variant also appears to cause more severe illness.

It added that fully vaccinated people can spread the Delta variant in the same rate as people who have not been immunized against COVID-19.

The country has so far confirmed over 200 Delta variant cases in the past two weeks, with 17 currently active.

OCTA Research Group said last weekend the Philippines is "flying blind" on the actual number of Delta variant cases due to limited sequencing capacity.

The DOH, however, said the main purpose of genome sequencing is to detect variants of concern and if these variants are causing severe illness among those who get infected.

As to the extent at kung sinu-sino sa buong bansa ang merong Delta variant [As to the extent and who have been infected with the Delta variant nationwide], we are way past that when it comes to management. We are now assuming that there are really a lot of Delta variant (cases) already and we are doing response dyan sa direksyon na 'yan [in that direction], Vergeire explained.

She added that the Philippine Genome Center is doing well as it has one of the highest outputs compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  President Rodrigo Duterte will personally welcome the arrival on Tuesday of 3 million Moderna vaccines from the COVAX facility co-led by World Health Ogranization.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano confirmed with CNN Philippines' The Source on Monday that the President will be among officials who will grace the arrival of the additional vaccines.

"Yes, bukas darating (they will arrive tomorrow) and the President will be one of those who will welcome the arrival of the vaccines," he said.

Ano did not mention the brand of the vaccines, but Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during the Malacanang briefing that 3,000,060 Moderna doses will arrive on Tuesday.

Some 415,000 AstraZeneca doses will be delivered on Monday afternoon, while over 1 million Sinovac doses will be received within the first week of August.

Earlier reports said the incoming Moderna doses were from the United States, following the courtesy call of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III on the President last Thursday.

Austin's meeting with Duterte also paved the way for the retraction of the termination of the Philippines' Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

RELATED: Duterte cancels order to terminate VFA with US

Meanwhile, Ano noted that the 3 million vaccines that will be shipped to the country may be part of the doses that will be distributed to Metro Manila, which will shift to the strictest enhanced community quarantine starting Aug. 6. He did not say whether all 3 million doses will be earmarked for the metropolis alone.

"Kasama ito sa mga idididistribute natin sa NCR (These will be part of the vaccines that we will distribute to the National Capital Region)," Ano said.

Local chief executives of Metro Manila earlier appealed to the national government to provide at least four million doses if stricter measures will be implemented in the capital region for two weeks.

Metro Manila is still under general community quarantine with "heightened and additional" restrictions until Aug. 5, but will revert to the strictest enhanced community quarantine on Aug. 6 to 20 to control the spread of the feared Delta variant.

READ: Metro Manila still under week-long GCQ, to shift to ECQ starting August 6

READ: LIST: No dine-ins, other restrictions in Metro Manila under tighter GCQ
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Quarantine passes will be making a return in Metro Manila for duration of the enhanced community quarantine starting Friday, Aug. 6, officials said on Monday.

"Naabisuhan na ang DILG ng LGUs na ibabalik daw nila ang quarantine passes para maging maayos ang paglabas ng ating mga kababayan," Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya of the Department of the Interior and Local Government said in a media briefing.

[Translation: The local government units have informed the DILG that they will bring back quarantine passes for the orderly movement of the people.]

LGUs previously issued one quarantine pass per household so that a designated person can have access to essential goods.

The Joint Task Force COVID Shield, the enforcement unit that ensures protocols are followed in public, also said frontliners can present their valid IDs when traveling between home and work.

Those scheduled to get vaccinated can also go out as long as they present their vaccination card or text of their appointment schedule.

At least two cities in the National Capital Region have announced they will require the use of quarantine pass during the lockdown period from Aug. 6 to 20. Valenzuela City announced its local personnel will distribute one pass per family starting Monday.

MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos said it will be up to the LGUs if they will issue new passes or accept old ones.

The Metro Manila Council is also set to announce new rules on liquor ban, which will be the independent call of each mayor, Abalos said.

Metro Manila will also enforce longer curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. when the capital region shifts to a two-week ECQ.
Cebu (CNN Philippines, August 2)  The demand for oxygen has increased in Cebu City as patients continue to line up outside of some major hospitals following the surge of COVID-19 cases, sources in the medical supplies industry confirm.

Emergency rooms are filling up and reservations to purchase or rent oxygen tasks have also become difficult.

At the Sanjo Medipharma Philippines, located in front of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, all their 38 stocks of oxygen for the day Monday have been purchased. There are more than 50 other pending orders, and they have to get more stocks from the factory, salesclerk Kevin Kates Revelo told CNN Philippines.

Revelo said demand for the past two weeks have been high, and he said patients are lining up at nearby hospitals. But Revelo said there is no shortage of oxygen tanks supply now.

The cost of the biggest tank is at 8,950 while the smallest is 3,500.

Most of the clients are from the ambulance and cars that are parked in front of the hospital waiting to be admitted. There are also purchases for use in private homes, Revelo said.

Jessa Austre who lives in Asturias said her mother is currently awaiting admission at a hospital in Cebu City. She went to the pharmacy to get a tank because her mother had difficulty in breathing.

In separate interview, Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak admitted that "our hospitals are full."

On Saturday night, Tumulak said at least 33 patients with oxygen tanks waited outside a private hospital. Some of the patients stayed at the hospital lobby while others stayed inside their cars.

The Cebu City Traffic Office has also closed the road in front of Chong Hua Hospital to divert traffic away from parked vehicles and ambulances in the area.

As of Aug. 1, Cebu City had a total of 2,942 active COVID-19 cases. It also registered the biggest number of new infections at 415 on the same day with 11 new deaths.

Cebu province on the other hand had 3,037 active COVID infections with 261 new cases and 5 deaths on Aug. 1.
(CNN) -- Cars and houses submerged in water, commuters wading through buses knee-high in floods, and homeowners counting the cost of destroyed properties.

Welcome to Lagos during rainy season.

Residents of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, are used to the yearly floods that engulf the coastal city during the months of March to November. In mid-July, however, the major business district of Lagos Island experienced one of its worst floods in recent years.

"It was very bad, and unusual," Eselebor Oseluonamhen, 32 told CNN.

"I drove out of my house ... I didn't realize it had rained so much ... There was heavy traffic on my route because of the flood. The more we went, the higher the water level. The water kept rising until it covered the bumper of my car ... then there was water flowing inside my car," Oseluonamhen, who runs a media firm on the Lagos mainland, recalled.

Photos and videos posted to social media showed dozens of vehicles inundated with water after torrential rain. The floods paralyze economic activity, at an estimated cost of around $4 billion per year.

Home to more than 24 million people, Lagos, a low-lying city on Nigeria's Atlantic coast, may become uninhabitable by the end of this century as sea levels rise due to climate change, scientific projections suggest.

The problem is exacerbated by "inadequate and poorly maintained drainage systems and uncontrolled urban growth," among others, according to a study led by the Institute of Development Studies.

Nigeria's hydrological agency NIHSA has predicted more catastrophic flooding in September, usually the peak of the rainy season.

Eroding coastline

Lagos is partly built on the mainland and a string of islands.

It is grappling with an eroding coastline that makes the city vulnerable to flooding, which Nigerian environmentalist Seyifunmi Adebote says is attributable to global warming and "human-induced action over a prolonged period."

Sand mining for construction is a major contributor to shoreline erosion in Lagos, environmental experts have said.

Manzo Ezekiel, a spokesman for Nigeria's emergency management agency (NEMA), told CNN that the riverbank of Lagos' Victoria Island is already being "washed away ... particularly in the V.I area of Lagos." "There's this problem of the river bank being washed away. The increase in water level is eating into the land," Ezekiel added.

In Victoria Island, an affluent Lagos neighborhood -- an entirely new coastal city christened 'Eko Atlantic' -- is being built on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean, and will be protected from rising waters by an 8-kilometer-long wall made from concrete blocks, developers say.

While the ambitious project could contribute to reducing housing shortages in other parts of the city, Ezekiel fears that "reclaiming land from the sea will put pressure on other coastal areas."

Other critics have argued that adjacent areas not protected by the wall will be left vulnerable to tidal surges. CNN has contacted Eko Atlantic for comment.

Coastal cities at risk of being submerged

Low-lying coastal cities in some parts of the world may be permanently submerged by 2100, one study's findings showed. The study published by research group Climate Central stated that affected areas could sink below the high-tide line if sea levels continue to rise.

"As a result of heat-trapping pollution from human activities, rising sea levels could within three decades push chronic floods higher than land currently home to 300 million people," the study said. "By 2100, areas now home to 200 million people could fall permanently below the high tide line," it added.

Global sea levels have been predicted to rise more than 6 feet (2 meters) by the end of this century.

This leaves Lagos, which experts say is less than two meters above sea, in a precarious state, given that a chunk of Nigeria's coastline is low-lying. In a study from 2012, the UK's University of Plymouth found that a sea-level rise of just 3 to 9 feet (about 1 to 3 meters) "will have a catastrophic effect on the human activities" in Nigerian coastal environments.

Adebote told CNN that Lagos' fate "would depend on how we prioritize this science prediction and what corresponding actions we take as a response." "It is only a matter of time before nature pushes back and this could be a disaster," he added.

Nigeria deadly floods

Perennial flooding in Nigeria's coastal areas has left many dead and scores displaced. According to NEMA data, more than 2 million people were directly affected by flooding in 2020.

At least 69 people lost their lives in flood disasters last year. In 2019, more than 200,000 people were affected by floods with 158 fatalities.

"Every year we witness flooding in Nigeria. It is a problem that climate change has brought and we are living with it," Ezekiel told CNN.

Beyond Lagos' vulnerability to climate change, poor drainage systems and clogged street gutters in large swathes of the city are believed to have escalated its flooding challenges.

"As much as climate change plays a part in rising sea levels, what you can see in this video is predominantly a drainage system issue," a social media user tweeted while reacting to a video of the recent flooding in Lagos.

However, as flooding rages in some areas, low-income neighborhoods constructed on reclaimed wetlands have to contend with sinking buildings.

Keeping Lagos afloat

Adebote told CNN that for Lagos to stay afloat in the face of floods and rising sea levels, it must adapt to climate change.

"We need to look at our infrastructures -- drainage systems, waste management facilities, housing structures ... How resilient and adaptive are these infrastructures in the face of environmental pressures and when put side-by-side with our growing population?" he said.

Authorities in Lagos have since commenced the clearing of the state's water channels to mitigate perennial flooding.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has also expressed the country's willingness to partner with global allies in tackling climate change.

"We look forward working with President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris. We have great hope and optimism for the strengthening of existing cordial relationships, working together to tackle global terrorism, climate change, poverty, and to improve economic ties and trade," Buhari wrote in a January tweet.

But Adebote remarks that government responses to climate action "have been largely poor."

"There is a lot that must be done and will take consistent and deliberate actions on the parts of various stakeholders for Nigeria to properly take climate actions, especially in adapting to the impacts that are already threatening our livelihood," he added.

An environmental activist, Olumide Idowu, urged government authorities to partner with the private sector in order to boost funds to tackle the issues.

"Government should look at private sector partnerships in order for them to drive climate finance to solve the flooding issues," Idowu told CNN.

Nigeria's economy has struggled in recent years, shrinking financing for climate change and other critical sectors. Authorities are nonetheless still pledging to ramp up the country's climate change response.

Last month, Nigeria's Ministry of Environment announced a presidential approval for a revamped national policy on climate change, aimed at addressing "most, if not all, of the challenges posed by climate change and climate vulnerability in the country," a spokesman for the ministry wrote in Twitter post.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Africa's most populous city is battling floods and rising seas. It may soon be unlivable, experts warn".
(CNN) -- TikTok is full of users with big mouths, but one star on the social media platform just proved hers is quite literally the largest.

Guinness World Records confirmed that Samantha Ramsdell, from Connecticut, is the record holder for the world's largest mouth gape for a female.

Her mouth gape measures 6.56 centimeters, or about two and a half inches. When measured across, it reaches more than 10 centimeters, or four inches.

Ramsdell said she has always known she has a big mouth, but it wasn't until the "children of TikTok" pointed out she may have a record-sized mouth that she was encouraged to go for the record.

"I never thought it would be possible to be this famous off my mouth," she said.

Her videos include one of her stuffing three donuts in her mouth, a step up from her video fulfilling a request to eat two at one time. She can also fit in a large order of fries.

It wasn't always fun and games for her though. Ramsdell said she was bullied growing up for her mouth's size.

Now at age 31, Ramsdell embraces her unique feature for her 1.7 million TikTok followers.

She said it used to be "something that really I was so insecure about, something that I wanted to keep so small," but it's now "one of the biggest, best things about me."

"It's your superpower. It's the thing that makes you unique and special," she said. "Everyone should be celebrating what makes them different."

Ramsdell hopes to one day have her own show, using her humor, wit and singing.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "This woman has the largest mouth in the world, according to Guinness"
That's not only a disservice to the students, he said, but to the scientific community.

"Some brains may be in this room that can solve some major problems in different areas of science," he said.

Chuck Gardner, who directed the weeklong camp, agreed that the students have incredible capabilities.

"These are some of the most complex bots we've seen at a camp like this," he said of the students' creations.

While this is the first year the program has been hosted in Nebraska, Gardner said he has worked in camps like this for years in Virginia.

"Every time it amazes me," he said. "The abilities these kids have to overcome the obstacles that we present."

Aiden Garza, a 17-year-old from Chadron who attended this week's camp, said it was meaningful to him to have the opportunity to build the bot and learn so many skills. He also enjoyed the chance to go rock climbing and bowling at University of Nebraska-Lincoln facilities.

Garza said he hopes to take some of the skills he learned this week and use them in the computer science field. Gardner thinks that's a real possibility for the students who attended the camp.
The campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in Belarus, Alexander Opeikin, a spokesman for the BSSF, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Tsimanouskaya summoned Japanese police at Haneda Airport and did not board a flight departing for Istanbul. Foreign ministry officials arrived later at the airport, Opeikin said.

In a statement released by the BSSF, Tsimanouskaya said she was in a police station early Monday morning.

"I explained the situation to a police officer of how I was taken from the Olympic Village," she said. Now I am in a secure situation and am figuring out the question of where I will spend the night.

The IOC, which has been in dispute with the Belarus National Olympic Committee ahead of the Tokyo Games, said it had intervened.

The IOC  is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC for clarification, it said in a statement.

Belarus' neighbor, Poland, where many critics of the Minsk regime have come to live, offered help to Tsimanouskaya. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter that Tsimanouskaya has been offered a humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses.
A man wanted in a homicide out of Maryland was arrested after a pursuit and manhunt through the Carlisle area Sunday.

North Middleton Township Police said they have filed charges of fleeing police, resisting arrest, recklessly endangering another person, false identification and unauthorized use of a vehicle, against Tyliek Spence, 19, of Waldorf, Maryland.

Township police were first alerted to Spences presence in the area with a call for a suspicious vehicle in a construction area near Crestview Drive at 7:59 a.m. Sunday. The arriving officer was in the process of identification when Spence fled the scene at a high-rate of speed, almost striking a back-up officer, according to police.

Officers pursued the vehicle through Carlisle Borough to Waggoners Gap Road where the vehicle fled north, reaching speeds in excess of 80 mph, which is when the officers discontinued the pursuit.

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Police said the vehicle was then located in a driveway at a residence on Enola Road where Spence allegedly attempted to get gasoline from a resident for the car, which ran out of gas.

Upon seeing police, Spence fled on foot, police said.
He says he has more appellate experience than the sitting justices did when they joined the high court, and a track record of handling difficult, high-profile cases. Among them was a congressional redistricting decision that was promptly overturned by the Democratic majority Supreme Court in 2018.

My record is out there, I cannot hide from it, Brobson said this week. Im sure that theres decisions out there, if people want to look, that people dont like. But Im very proud of the body of work I have.

Brobson told the state bar association earlier this year that he had not shied away from controversial cases  including siding with Republicans in a contested state Senate race over counting mail-in ballots without handwritten dates.

McLaughlin, who spent almost two decades as a prosecutor under Philadelphias then-district attorney, Democrat Lynne Abraham, was elected to Superior Court three years ago after serving as a city judge from 2012-17. She is a native Philadelphian.

Everything Ive ever gotten in my entire career has been by hard work and determination, said McLaughlin, who considers the potential elevation to the high court a pathway and a segue. To me, its a natural progression.

Superior Court
CHEYNEY, Pa.  Cheyney University, the nations oldest historically black college, has announced that it will erase unpaid student bills since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The southeastern Pennsylvania university said on its Facebook page Friday that in light of the hardships students and their families have experienced, it will forgive student balances from the spring 2020, fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters.

The university will use funds it received through the federal stimulus package to settle those accounts, the announcement said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Cheyney president Aaron Walton said he expected roughly $400,000 to be spent for the benefit of about 180 students, who would see an average debt of more than $2,200 forgiven.

Our students have gone through a lot over the past 18 months, and we want to do whatever we can to lighten the burden, Walton said. With this financial weight lifted from our students, we look forward to seeing them on campus in the upcoming semester with their minds focused on their studies, not their debt.
And the history of that industry is full of intrigue. Hazelwood Brewing Company became a national test case of prohibition legislation, according to Mr. Kahley. He added that at one point there were even U.S. Senate hearings in Washington, D.C., that discussed raids and enforcement at Hazelwood Brewery.

So thats scallywags and the mob, and you know, all that kind of stuff was going on in Hazelwood, Mr. Kahley said.

The building will have room for three independent brewing companies to craft their drinks, but seating will be shared among all three.

Mr. Kahley mentioned Travis Tuttle of Butler Brew Works and Bonafide Beer Company as one of the brewers they are in discussions with. Mr. Kahley did not name the other two brewers the Progress Fund is in discussions with to fill the remaining spots.

The preservation of Hazelwood Brewing Company has only recently been eligible for funding through historic tax credits. Last year, Mr. Kahley and the Progress Fund worked hard to get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places so they could access that revenue stream. They got the building listed in November.

Its not just an old, cool, historic building. Its an old, cool, National Register historic building, Mr. Kahley quipped.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP)  A German diplomat on Monday took office as the top international envoy to Bosnia, facing opposition from the country's Serbs, who have rejected both his appointment and a ban on genocide denial brought by his predecessor.

Christian Schmidt took over from Valentin Inzko, an Austrian diplomat, at a ceremony in the capital, Sarajevo. The Office of High Representative that Schmidt will run was established after Bosnia's 1992-95 war to oversee peace implementation and promote reconciliation and development.

While backed by the United States and the European Union, the United Nations office has recently has faced criticism from Bosnia's Serbs and their allies Russia and China, who have demanded that it be dismantled, reflecting a bid by Moscow and Beijing to increase their influence in the Balkans.

In a speech, Schmid pledged that he will work to help Bosnia reach stability and economic prosperity nearly three decades after the war that killed over 100,000 people and left millions homeless. He also urged the international community to step in more resolutely to help achieve these goals.

Bosnia-Herzegovina must be put back on the political agenda of the international community and the European Union, he said. I take office with a firm will to help the people here.
St. Francois County and the surrounding counties are seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases.

According to the states data dashboard, Washington County had a 570% increase in cases over the past seven days. On Monday, the health department reported 109 new confirmed cases over the past week and the positivity rate increased from 3.9% to 20.4%.

There are 101 active cases in the county and 34 are associated with a congregate setting.

As for recommendations for residents with the increase in cases, Washington County Health Department Director Shawnee Douglas said they follow the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The guidance for areas with high transmission are to social distance, wear a mask when unable to distance, wash hands frequently, get vaccinated for COVID-19, and stay home if sick, she said.

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The Washington County Health Department does recommend that everyone over the age of 12 get the vaccination, she said, and they have the vaccine available Monday through Friday. Great Mines Health Center, Walmart, and Pharmax also have the vaccine. The county has one of the lower rates of vaccination in the state with 22.3% of the population having completed vaccination.
Two ERDCC inmates are facing charges in separate cases after allegedly assaulting corrections officers.

Antonio Bell, 42, who is serving life in prison for murder, was charged this month with two felony counts of violence to an employee of the Department of Corrections (DOC).

Daryl Chatman, 29, who is serving time for robbery, was charged this month with two felony counts of violence to an employee of the Department Of Corrections (DOC).

According to a probable cause statement in Bell's case, on June 6, 2020, at approximately 8:10 p.m., Bell was in the classification staff area while two corrections officers were counseling him on his job duties as a porter at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

The report states that one of the officers told Bell to return to his cell and lock down. As Bell was leaving the office area, he reportedly began to make threatening remarks to the officers.

At that point, one officer directed Bell to submit to handcuffs. Bell did not comply and reportedly struck the officer with a closed fist multiple times in the facial area. The officer then attempted to gain control of Bell's arms.
The thing thats so neat about Missouris annual cicadas is how unique they are, said Doerhoff. You can identify species by their song and the time of day they sing.

For example, the call of a Robinsons annual cicada is a repetitive, rhythmic pZEE-ape, pZEE-ape and mostly occurs in midday. Buzz saw cicadas call from high trees with a distinctive WHEE-oo, WHEE-oo during the evening and at dusk.

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Though their unique calls can be bothersome to some, the annual singing of males is imperative to finding a mate.

The adult males have sound-producing membranes called tymbals that emit that loud, raspy call used to attract females, said Doerhoff. Studies have shown cicada calls can reach 92 decibels  which is louder than a lawn mower!

Annual cicadas can be found statewide and are most common in wooded areas, parks, and forest borders. Females lay their eggs in the woody twigs of trees and shrubs, occasionally causing the tips of twigs to turn brown. After hatching, nymphs fall from the twigs and burrow underground to feed off tree, shrub, and perennial plant roots.

Cicadas really thrive in areas where the land is relatively undisturbed for the years it takes the nymphs to develop underground, explained Doerhoff.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), Quail Forever, and local landowners have joined together to create the Foothills Prescribed Burn Association (FPBA). Through the partnership, landowners gain access to resources and expertise as they work together to improve their woodlands and grasslands as neighbors helping neighbors.

Since FPBAs formation in January, landowners within Perry, Bollinger, and surrounding counties are working cooperatively to conduct safe prescribed burns. FPBA is led by a board of directors who have successfully guided the association since its launch.

MDC and Quail Forever have partnered with local landowners to help purchase several items to support the FPBA.

The proper tools arent cheap. And to be an assistance to the community, and for safe burning to occur, the proper equipment was required, said MDC Community and Private Land Conservation Supervisor Brad Pobst. So Quail Forever and MDC helped purchase some tools to assist.

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That meant acquiring an enclosed trailer to house those tools, including drip torches, hand tools, three water units, and radios.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that Randy Moore, who once worked with Mark Twain National Forest, will serve as the 20th chief of the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Forest Service.

Randy Moore has been a catalyst for change and creativity in carrying out the Forest Services mission to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations, said Secretary Vilsack. In his role as regional forester, Randy has been a conservation leader on the forefront of climate change, most notably leading the regions response to the dramatic increase in catastrophic wildfires in California over the last decade.

"His proven track record of supporting and developing employees and putting communities at the center of the Forest Services work positions him well to lead the agency into the future at this critical time in our country.

Upon swearing in, Moore will serve as the first African American to hold the role of chief of the Forest Service.

Current Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen will step down from her role on July 26.

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How about a little less hypocrisy and a bit more help?
One Nation, One Country: the country we could have been. So near, yet so far.
We fill the buses up with what we do know is needed, Powell said. And then what scares me or hurts me is that child that you didnt know about. We filled the buses with the drivers that we do have available at the time, and then we have to work waitlists.

Working the waitlist entails reaching out to community groups for assistance and relying on school staff members to go above and beyond, potentially having them drive students to and from school, she said.

Its gut-wrenching for us, Powell said. Thats the stuff were bracing for.

The city School Board will hear more about transportation for the coming school year at its meeting Thursday.

Powell said the school division and the city need to work quickly and do everything they can to address the issue.

Theres no easy button we can push, she said, noting that the bonus and other efforts were promising. But none of that can happen fast enough to solve our problems and to give us the relief we need for when school starts.

Bonus or raise
Nearly a month after a Virginia health official halted most admissions to five of the states eight public mental hospitals for adults, the General Assembly will meet in a pre-arranged special session to tackle that and other needs. The states only facility for children already had curtailed admissions.

The hospitals are suffering a crisis of overcrowding and understaffing.

The overcrowding traces largely to a 2014 law that required state hospitals to take patients ordered into treatment if beds could not be found for them elsewhere. The law intended to ensure that no person experiencing a mental health emergency would be denied care.

Not unexpectedly, that mandate increased the numbers of admissions.

The understaffing comes from a combination of factors  including the basic problem of higher patient populations at the hospitals.

Critics maintain that the state has not sufficiently funded community mental health services. If patients could be effectively treated locally through outpatient care, they might not need hospitalization.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Jamaicas telecom sector has for many years been propped up by the mobile sector, which accounts for the vast majority of internet connections and voice lines  as well as just over half of telecom sector revenue.

The merger between Digicel and Claros Jamaican business in 2012 strengthened Digicels position in the market, but in recent quarters Digicel Groups financial difficulties have caused it considerable problems. The Group has considered selling off its units in the Pacific region, while it has renegotiated a number of bonds to reduce its debt to about $5.8 billion. Assets have been placed under the management of a newly created holding company.

Both Digicel and its only rival, Flow (supported by its new owner Liberty Latin America), have extended their LTE networks across the island, particularly during the pandemic in response to a sharp increase in data traffic.

The regulator has endeavoured to develop the MVNO sector in a bid to improve competition, though with little success. The 700MHz licensee Symbiote Investments, trading as Caricel Jamaica, had its license revoked at the end of 2018 due to breaches of the terms of the Telecommunications Act. The UK-based Privy Council in August 2020 refused Caricels application for permission to appeal the revocation of its telecom licences. To fill the gap in the market, a new operator, Rock Mobile, was licensed in May 2021, with obligations to provide 95% population coverage within two years.

In December 2020, the government announced the rollout of a national broadband network costing up to $237 million. The funding will be spent on improving connectivity in underserved areas, improving access to education, and deploying networks to public locations such as hospitals, municipal institutions, and police stations.

To aid in this national broadband effort, the government received a donation of 650km of fibre cabling from local cable TV providers and the two main toll road operators.

To encourage the use of digital channels as the country deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, companies such as Scotiabank have given their customers zero-rated data access to mobile banking applications, while Digicel Jamaica has subsidised data plans and zero-rated data access to some educational platforms and websites.

This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Jamaican fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets together with information on convergence issues and on the countrys fixed line incumbent and major mobile operators.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. Since 2020 the telecoms sector, to various degrees, has experienced a downturn in mobile device production. It was also difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G has been postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, has offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect will continue to be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the pandemic, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments

Rock Mobile secures 700MHz licence, becoming Jamaicas third mobile provider;

Digicel transfers assets into a new holding company as its struggles with debt;

Digicel Foundation donates $1 million to the National Health Fund for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines;

Government announces rollout of national broadband network, receives donation of 650km of fibre cabling from cable TV and toll road operators;

Flow embarks on $150 million investment program, secures spectrum in the AWS band between 1710MHz and 2200MHz;

Jamaica Public Service awarded funding by the US Trade and Development Agency to advance the Smart City New Kingston program;

Report update includes the regulators market updates to Q2 2020, operator data to Q1 2021, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of Covid-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Get a Full Copy of this Report

Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeComm, the worlds largest continually updated online telecommunications research service.

The above article is a summary of the following BuddeComm report:

Report title: Jamaica - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Edition: May 2021

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

Number of pages: 119

Companies mentioned in this report: Columbus Communications, Liberty Global, China Mobile, Digicel Group, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Flow, Huawei, LIME, Rivada Networks, Rock Mobile, Symbiote Investments (Caricel), ZTE

Single User PDF Licence Price: US$890

For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Jamaica-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83
Axiata Group and its Indonesian subsidiary XL Axiata have signed a non-binding agreement to acquire a 66.03% holding in Indonesian broadband provider LinkNet.

The Axiata firms are buying 1.82 billion shares from current LinkNet shareholders CVC Capital and PT First Media (part of Lippo Group), although no total amount has been confirmed. The remaining third of LinkNet is listed publicly on the Indonesian stock exchange, obliging a tender offer to minority shareholders if a new party assumes control over the unit.

XL Axiata corporate secretary Ranty Astari Rachman confirmed: When the takeover plan is complete, XL or XL and Axiata will become the new controlling shareholders of LinkNet and then carry out a mandatory tender offer.

CommsUpdate reports that Axiata is mulling several purchase options, including acquiring a shareholding via XL Axiata. The acquisition is aimed at helping the company to increase its presence in Indonesia and become more competitive in the market.
The on-again-off-again story of the sale of two full-service telecoms licences in Ethiopia is back in the news after an announcement from the countrys government that it plans to reopen bidding for its second telecoms operator licence, which did not attract acceptable bids the first time round.

In what may be an acknowledgement that earlier restrictions lowered the value of the second licence, there have been hints that mobile financial services, formerly not permitted in the sale, will be included in the new licence offering.

Reuters quotes Brook Taye, a senior adviser at Ethiopias Ministry of Finance, as saying that the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, will serve as transaction adviser in the deal.

A consortium led by Kenya's Safaricom already owns one licence after an $850 million bid, but pan-African giant MTN had its bid of $600 million turned down as too low.

So will the new terms attract stronger bids? This seems likely given the clearly massive interest in mobile money in the country. The recently introduced mobile finance service Telebirr from Ethio Telecom has enjoyed a very strong response. However, the new terms also beg the question of whether the Safaricom consortium will now want a rule change to allow it to offer mobile financial services alongside the winner of the second licence.

A separate sale of a 40 percent stake in Ethio Telecom is also under way.
Bahrain Telecommunication Company (Batelco) reported an increase of 5% in net profits to BD37.5 million ($99.5 million) for H1 2021.

The principal telecommunications company in Bahrain posted a 3% increase in net profit attributable to equity holders of the company of BD17.8 million ($47.2 million) for the second quarter (Q2) compared to BD17.3 million ($45.9 million) for Q2 2020.

The increase in net profit is mainly attributable to steady increases in revenues for the first six months of the year, Batelco said.

Revenues for Q2 increased by 7% to BHD 98.4 million, thanks to growth in fixed broadband, adjacent services, and wholesale revenues of 18%, 16%, and 5% respectively. EBITDA amounted to BHD 41.7 million compared to BHD 40.3 million in Q2 2020, an increase of 3 %.

Batelco Chairman, Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said, Batelcos Board is pleased with the Companys performance for the first half of the year. Following a positive start to the year, we are glad to maintain the momentum, which is reflected in our financial results for the second quarter. Batelco achieved a 4% increase in revenues, contributing to a 4% increase in EBITDA and 5% increase in net profit for the six months ended June 2021. We appreciate the efforts of the executive team for their diligent management and commitment to implementing the strategic objectives.

Batelco CEO Mikkel Vinter said: During the first half of 2021, Batelco focussed on delivering exceptional speeds and innovative products for the enterprise, consumer, and global business sectors. Key achievements included introducing new 5G Mobile Broadband packages to deliver speeds six times faster than 4G, and redesigned Home Fiber Broadband packages with speeds as high as 1Gbps."
Uruguays state operator Antel is aiming to invest US$147 million into upgrading its fibre-optic network throughout 2022.

According to local news outlet La Diaria, the operators president Gabriel Gurmendez outlined plans to upgrade all of its copper connections to fibre before the end of 2022.

TeleGeography reports that Antel is seeking to increase its coverage to 99% of Uruguays population, and that to achieve this, it plans to invest in extending its network to areas with fewer than 500 residents.

Gurmendez noted that Antel has set aside an allocation to ensure that it is able to obtain 5G-ready spectrum when Uruguay holds auctions for these frequencies. In recent comments, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Omar Paganini indicated that the 3.5GHz band could be made available for auction by early 2022.
Slovenian provider of telecommunications services Telekom Slovenije is the only telecom operator participating in the European project 5G-IANA (Intelligent Automotive Network Applications).

The 5G Public Private Partnership (5G PPP) is the 5G collaborative research program that is organized as part of the European Commissions Horizon 2020 program  The European Union Program for Research and Innovation.

It is aimed at fostering industry-driven research, monitored by business-related, technological performance, and societal KPIs. The 5G PPP will deliver solutions, architectures, technologies, and standards for ubiquitous next-generation communication infrastructure over the coming decade.

According to local media reports, in the test environment of Telekom Slovenije's 5G network, several use cases will be presented, which will include various scenarios, namely remote control of the vehicle, coordination of autonomous driving maneuvers, virtual bus trip, provision of Augmented Reality content for vehicles, the flow of car parks, detection of high-risk road points, monitoring of the network condition and monitoring of the situation in accidents in cross-border road tunnels.

These applications will provide a starting point for interested companies, telecommunications operators, and research organizations to develop, test, and implement their own solutions.
MyT Mobile, Mauritius Telecom (MT)'s mobile network, has launched the 5G services in the country one month after it obtained a 5G license for mobile telephony.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mauritius Telecom, Sherry Singh, stated that the operator is among the first to launch 5G in Africa.

"With the launch of the four MyT 5G Experience Zones, Mauritius Telecom is the first operator to deploy the 5th generation of mobile network in Mauritius," he said in a press release.

He said MyT Mobile subscribers will get a message inviting them to register to connect to the 5G network in the Cybercity regions of Ebene, Trianon, Bagatelle, and Reduit.

"With the deployment of its MyT 5G Experience Zones, Mauritius Telecom propels Mauritius on the world map of countries that have deployed 5G and at the same time joins the Top 10 African countries that have launched this technology," explained the telecommunications company in a press release.

Despite a challenging business environment, we have to take a step and get our country ready for tomorrow's Technology ... today, said the CEO of MT. It is above all a question of laying the foundations to prepare the country today to face the technological challenges of tomorrow.
MONTGOMERY  Alabama families who qualify for Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) can expect to see additional benefits loaded onto their EBT cards within the next week.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) in June issued P-EBT benefits to approximately 470,000 children who missed out on free or reduced-price school meals because of the pandemic. Those benefits covered meals missed from August through December 2020. Now, eligible children will receive benefits for January through May 2021.

The upcoming P-EBT benefits will be added electronically to EBT cards that eligible families already received in June and July. Recipients should keep their cards because additional benefits may be added in the future.
Coffee County Commissioner Josh Carnley announced Monday that he will run for the State Senate District 31 seat being vacated by longtime State Sen. Jimmy Holley.

I have a strong conservative record as a Coffee County Commissioner. I fight every day for the things that make America great, said Carnley, who is a Republican. I would like to thank Senator Holley for his service to our area, and his long and storied career. Im going to continue to be a voice for Coffee, Covington, Dale and Pike counties.

Carnley is a native of Ino in Coffee County. He is an owner and president of SanBuck Insurance that has offices in Andalusia, Enterprise and Troy and provides personal, commercial and agricultural insurance throughout Alabama and Florida. He also farms cotton, peanuts, corn and beef cattle.

Carnley and his wife, the former Valerie Presley of Opp, have been married for 18 years. They have three children, daughters Presley, 15, and Stella, 12, and son John Matthew, 9, who attend public school in Opp.
The final amount to be received by students for the 2021-22 academic year will not be determined until enrollment numbers are finalized each semester. These dollars are intended to help students with technology, course material, health care and childcare costs as well as other essential college needs.

Students are urged to sign up for direct deposit to receive this payment quicker. Students may receive the funds by mail or through direct deposit. To ensure that funds are correctly distributed, students are asked to log into their MyESCC account and verify that all mailing and banking information is up to date.

We are excited to have the opportunity to provide additional financial support to students during this difficult time, Mathis said. Many of our students and their families have experienced significant financial setbacks as a result of the pandemic. Our hope is that the stimulus grants will enable our students to continue their education at ESCC in the fall.

Registration for the fall semester is still happening at ESCC and AAC. For individuals interested in attending class in the fall who have not applied, the Colleges free application can be found at escc.edu/apply. To register for the fall semester, students can visit escc.edu/registration and follow the steps to register.
Explorers are slow, moving no more than a few miles per hour on their wind-powered propulsion systems.

But the idea is for the drones to work continuously, collecting data about normal ocean conditions in categories ranging from currents, temperatures, wind speeds and barometric pressure to dissolved oxygen, carbon levels and wave heights.

When a hurricane develops, the drones are designed to be able to steer straight into it, recording the storm with high-resolution cameras mounted on wings built to withstand punishing winds and waves that can weigh hundreds of tons.

Vessels with crews regularly leave the paths of hurricanes to avoid disasters like the 2015 sinking of the cargo ship El Faro, which killed 33 mariners sailing from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico.

Between the Explorers everyday readings and data collected in the storm, boosters expect the drones to give hurricane researchers new insights that cant be gathered from hurricane-hunting surveillance planes.

All we can measure from planes is pressure, said Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins, a British-born engineer who was dockside Friday, untying lines that moored the Explorers until they were ready to be towed out to sea.
Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the states highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.

Florida's Democratic agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who is seeking to run against DeSantis for governor, on Sunday urged unvaccinated Floridians to get the shots. She said she was heartened by a recent uptick in vaccinations in the state.

We are already behind the curve and in a worse spot every time the numbers come out," Fried said at a news conference in Tallahassee. This surge is and will impact every single one of us."

Throughout Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa, hospitals have become overwhelmed.
Hanoi will supply food to the poor and other vulnerable communities amid the ongoing Covid-19 social distancing order, the People's Committee said Sunday.

Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh requested local authorities to support the poor and those who've lost their incomes both medically and with other aspects of life. This includes providing them food during the social distancing period.

"We absolutely must not let people exit the city during the social distancing campaign, unless otherwise approved by authorities," he stressed.

Local authorities are allowed to decide on more restrictive coronavirus control measures like locking down a neighborhood to stem infections.

Medical authorities should cooperate with city leaders to devise Covid-19 treatment plans for 20,000 patients, with results reported before Aug. 5. The city should also devise schedules for cremation of those who had succumbed to the coronavirus.

Hanoi has recorded 1,457 local Covid-19 cases so far, including those contained within locked down locations, in the fourth coronavirus wave that struck Vietnam in late April.

Multiple clusters have emerged in the capital over the past week, raising concerns of a potential new infection wave.

The city of over eight million is undergoing a two-week social distancing order starting July 24, requiring people to stay home and only go out to buy food or medicine or to engage in other activities deemed "essential" like working in factories producing necessities.
As Vietnam progresses into its third month of social distancing we have all began pining for the things we love.

Leigh Doughty

We have all spent months on our best behavior, wearing our masks, avoiding crowds, and we've all missed out on so many of the things that we love about Vietnam.

We've probably all grown tired of our own home cooking. We've eaten every type of instant noodles; drunk a variety of disappointing home coffees, and put together meals with as much flavor as a brick. We've also watched every silly YouTube video that has been sent our way and finally watched all of those TV series that friends have been pestering us to watch.

It's getting to the point where we're all hungry for Vietnam to get back to its full and frenetic pace.

For British national Maizy Wright, she can't wait "to experience life again when everything returns to normal." She explained that "the first day back to normality; I want to eat all the Vietnamese food I can, especially bun bo Hue. Secondly, I'm desperate to see my friends face to face and have a much needed coffee. Lastly I can't wait to trek around Hanoi, my adventure plans to this beautiful city have been thwarted by Covid outbreaks twice already; hopefully the third time's the charm."

For others, it was more about becoming even closer to their loved ones. Huy Nguyen Ngoc, from Lam Dong Province, explained that he's realized "the value of family."

"I know it's perhaps a cultural thing but Asian people - Vietnamese like us particularly - will definitely gravitate towards family. We live together, we take care of each other. For those living far from their hometown for the sake of their livelihoods, they will have the chance to pay their parents a visit."

Lydia Garcia-Potter, an American living in Vietnam, craved the simple pleasures of "going to a coffee shop by the canal and just hanging out." She even missed the more everyday tasks of just "getting back to normal and seeing all my coworkers again and having a fun time in the office."

After seeing loved ones and returning to work, many dreamed of traveling around Vietnam. Amy Richards, a Vietnam based teacher from the U.K., said she was "hoping to be able to visit Hanoi and maybe Sa Pa before the end of the year. I want to see the different types of food and compare Saigon's banh mi to Hanoi's. But most importantly I can't wait to see my friends, but I don't think I'll be able to see my bestie before she leaves for good."

Amid social distancing, the once busy Dong Khoi Street in HCMC's District 1 sees little traffic one day in July 2021. Photo by Ngo Tran Hai An.

This theme of seeking the common and everyday things was the link that ran through each conversation I've had. Most people just wanted some sense of normality back. Some wanted to sink their teeth into a fresh and crispy banh mi. Others wanted to just relax in coffee shops, to be around a group of people, and to savor a fresh cup of coffee.

Even the more banal things that we often begrudge were missed, like getting back to work and seeing colleagues. Perhaps it took a pandemic to realize we may like each other more than we thought.

It was the words of Xiao Long from HCMC that brought everything into perspective. He revealed that he was desperate to see his close friend so that they could "scatter the ashes of my Mom in her hometown - she passed away a few days ago because of Covid."

Each person had a desire to move around in some way. Sometimes it was for love; sometimes it was for family; sometimes it was to cherish a memory that could never be shaken.

Every person was missing somebody: from friends, to colleagues, to partners, to their own families. The desire to be closer to the ones we love is universal. We are all connected together and entwined in this common thread to be reunited with our friends and families.

Weve all lost something during this time and we are all eager to get life back to normal. The one thing that seems certain to change is our perspectives - while weve been staying indoors weve all had time to reflect on things that matter most.

The recurring pattern is that while we have all temporarily lost something; we all gain a healthier outlook and a new appreciation for all the things we may have taken for granted. When were over this, when we can look back at this as a hard fought battle - we can walk forwards knowing that we have to cherish the small things, seize our travels plans, and hug the ones we love just that little bit tighter.

*Leigh Doughty is a language tutor and writer based in HCMC, Vietnam. The opinions expressed are his own.
A room of A&Em Saigon Hotel in HCMC's District that serves as a paid quarantine facility. Photo courtesy of the hotel.

Those in close contact with Covid patients wishing to be quarantined in HCMC hotels can book rooms or transportation via mobile travel booking app Traveloka from Aug. 1.

It is part of efforts between the city's Department of Tourism and Traveloka, a leading hotel and flight booking platform in Southeast Asia, to help high-risk people easily book hotel rooms for mandatory quarantine and reduce overload at centralized isolation facilities amid the worsening pandemic situation.

People can search for information of nearly 80 hotels designated as paid quarantine facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, room types, room rates as well as transportation services for quarantined people. After booking, they can make online payments.

Le Truong Hien Hoa, director of the city's tourism promotion center, said HCMC is the first locality in Vietnam to pilot the digitization of quarantine hotel booking service and transportation services for those in close contact with Covid patients.

He said the service would expand to international visitors in the coming time while it opens up opportunities for hotels and travel agencies to transform their business model in response to the current pandemic situation.

The Health Ministry earlier cut the centralized quarantine period by seven days to 14 after consulting with international organizations.

Three- to five-star hotels in the city chosen as paid quarantine facilities are offering rooms at VND1.2-5 million ($50-200) a night.

The hospitality industry has been devastated by the lack of tourists, with three- to five-star hotels reporting a 70 percent fall in revenues and some even temporarily closing down in the first half of this year, the tourism department revealed.

The city received 7.1 million domestic tourists in the first five months this year, down 47 percent from 2019, and earned revenues of VND35.5 trillion ($1.54 billion), down 37 percent.

HCMC is now the epicenter of the ongoing wave that hit the country in late April. The southern metropolis has recorded 96,292 infections to date.
Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, are the future. Its becoming clear that our world will be shaped by the norms and standards of use for emerging technologies. We now know that even as the first wave of the digital revolution emphasized democracy and human rights, the second wave facilitated the infringement on those rights by authoritarian governments. Thus, it is imperative that democratic nations shape the way new technologies like artificial intelligence are used.

Speaking at a recent National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence event, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that working with partners and allies will be essential to mitigating risks, from preventing cyber-attacks that target our businesses, to regulating technology that threatens our privacy, to defending our democratic values and way of life.

 More than anything else, our task is to put forth and carry out a compelling vision for how to use technology in a way that serves our people, protects our interests and upholds our democratic values. Its not enough to highlight the horrors of techno-authoritarianism, to point to what countries like China and Russia are doing, and say that its wrong and dangerous, even as it is. Weve also got to make the positive case for our own approach, and then weve got to deliver. That is the challenge before us.

Secretary Blinken outlined six pillars of the State Departments approach addressing these challenges.

First, we must reduce the national security risks posed by malicious cyber activities and emerging technologies.

Second, we must ensure our leadership in the fierce strategic technology competition by preserving our competitive and comparative advantages.

Third, we must defend an open, secure, reliable, and interoperable Internet, even as it is growing more closed, more insecure, more fractured.

Fourth, we must set technical standards and create norms for emerging technologies.

Fifth, because some of the leading threats to democracies are playing out in cyberspace, we must make technology work for democracy and respect democratic tenets.

And most importantly, we must share information and cooperate fully, because no country can deliver these goals on its own.

We need the United States, and we need its partners to remain the worlds innovative leaders and standard setters, said Secretary Blinken, to ensure that universal rights and democratic values remain at the center of all the innovation thats to come, and that it delivers real benefits in peoples lives.
The State Department recently released its 2021 Congressional Report Pursuant to the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. It serves as a reminder that while we are making progress on preventing. . .genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, we still have much more work to do, said Acting Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations Robert Faucher.

This years report highlights several countries where atrocities have occurred in recent years, and thus are at risk of further atrocities, said Acting Assistant Secretary Faucher:

For example, the report draws attention to Xinjiang, where the Peoples Republic of China has committed and continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity, against Uyghurs, who are predominantly Muslim, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.

The genocide report also draws attention to the heinous acts of sexual violence and gross human rights violations that have been reported in Tigray, Ethiopia, including indiscriminate attacks against civilians, medical personnel, and humanitarian workers.

The report calls attention to the brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors and human rights defenders in Burma by the military regime. Many among the junta are responsible for ethnic cleansing against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya, and appalling violence against other ethnic and religious minorities.

With the submission of this report, the United States reaffirms that atrocity prevention must remain at the forefront of international peace and security efforts, said Acting Assistant Secretary Faucher:

Atrocity crimes pose some of the gravest threats to the rules-based international order that has helped bring peace and prosperity for more than seven decades.

Prevention mechanisms include the White House-led Atrocity Early Warning Task Force, which coordinates a whole-of-government approach to prevent, mitigate, and respond to atrocities.The United States has trained thousands of diplomatic, development, and defense professionals to do the crucial work of prevention. Satellite imagery is used to give early warning of potential violence. And life-saving aid is sent to human rights defenders and civil society leaders threatened by and in danger from repressive regimes.

These steps taken together move us one step closer to never again, said Acting Assistant Secretary Faucher.

The United States is committed to reducing the risk of future atrocities, and, with persistent determination, create conditions for a more peaceful and prosperous world.
The United States government has long been concerned that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that will link Russia and Germany below the Baltic Sea could pose a risk to European energy security. The direct flow of gas to Germany from Nord Stream 2 would potentially position the Russian government to be able to shut off existing pipelines leading through Eastern Europe.

In order to address these dangers, Germany agreed to a package of measures to protect European energy security. This package, said a senior State Department official, is designed to address the root causes of those risks  Russias use of energy as a geopolitical weapon and the vulnerability of countries like Ukraine, which are dependent on Russian gas and transit fees, to Russian malign activities.

It will take time and resources for Ukraine to end its dependence on Russian energy. That is why Germany has committed to appoint a special envoy to help Ukraine negotiate an extension of its gas transit contract with Russia well beyond 2024.

In the meantime, Germany and the United States have proposed a number of measures to help Ukraine become independent from Russian gas and transit fees for its energy or revenue.

First, Germany has committed to create and administer a billion-dollar Green Fund for Ukraine to support its energy transition and energy security. The goals of the fund will be to expand and promote the use of renewable energy; facilitate the development of hydrogen; increase energy efficiency; and foster carbon neutrality.

Second, Germany has committed an additional 60 million euros to support Ukraines energy security, including in such areas as safeguarding reverse flow, facilitating electrical grid integration, building cyber capacity for critical infrastructure, and supporting modernization of and reform to Ukraines energy sector.

Third, in light of the adverse effects Nord Stream 2 would have on Central and Eastern European EU member states, Germany will also enhance its engagement with the Three Seas Initiative, with an eye toward investing in projects related to, or part of the initiative.

Fourth, Germany has also committed to support the principles of diversity and security of supply within EU energy markets.

These measures represent a significant commitment by Germany, supported by the United States, to push back against Russian malign activities and to advance a more secure and sustainable energy future for Ukraine and other frontline NATO and EU countries.
July 30

Crystal L. Barnes, 30, of Carlin was arrested at 1647 Maggie Court for domestic battery. Bail: $3,140

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Devin V. Dente, 30, of Elko was arrested at Monte Carlo Apartments for two counts of false statement to obstruct a public officer. Bail: $2,280

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Crystal L. Gilliland, 42, of Elko was arrested at 680 River St. for destroying the property of another. Bail: $1,140

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Tammy L. Hallett-Patterson, 33, of Elko was arrested at 610 S. 12th St. for battery and coercion. Bail: $1,780

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Nichole L. Hastings, 45, of Wells was arrest at Sixth and Clover streets on a warrant for two counts of failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $1,865

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Warren B. Jessup Jr., 28, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin was arrested at the Alamo Casino for fugitive felon from another state.

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Coyotes attacked all three tortoise populations near the area. According to Esque, its difficult for a coyote to eat tortoises because they require more energy to eat than the rabbits that coyotes typically prey on. But during drought, if rabbits die out, coyotes will resort to eating tortoises, which is what happened in Fort Irwin.

So the story was not that theres one thing happened, and they moved tortoises, and they all got whacked, said Esque. Its that, the whole desert ... there are patches where its a higher risk to be a tortoise when youre near a town. And thats the bad news. For tortoises, it was much bigger (risk) than just an incident of moving the tortoises in one time.

For their Fort Irwin study, it was not the act of translocating tortoises that led to their death, but how much more residential areas are blending into wildlife where many predators reside. It was difficult to compare badgers and coyotes changing their prey toward tortoises.
Lets say theres an outbreak of deadly parvovirus in your neighborhood. Your beloved golden retriever Red, however, goes into a full-scale panic attack at the sight or smell of a veterinarian. You know the disease is highly communicable and potentially fatal.

Theres a reliable vaccine, but the dog wont listen. Runs and hides under the porch. Fights the leash like a smallmouth bass on a hook. Rolls over on his back and has to be dragged, panting and drooling. Maybe even bites the hand that feeds him.

God forbid you should force the issue. No vaccine shot for Red. Even a dog has his rights, after all  among them the right to die in agony while shedding the deadly virus all over the neighborhood.

Put that way, the whole national debate over the COVID-19 vaccine seems kind of crazy, doesnt it? When the vaccine refuser is a golden retriever, we take action because we understand that the dog cant be reasoned with.

(When I lived in the country, I learned to administer my own vaccinations. I also prevented the animals from watching Fox News. It only riles up the cows.)
But months later  even after some colleges and businesses have already won key legal victories over such mandates and a July opinion from the U.S. Justice Department that the EUA language does not prohibit vaccine requirements  there are still few details on if or when either NSHE, the Board of Regents or the State Board of Health may act.

Things could still change over the course of the next few weeks. Regent Donald McMichael raised the prospect of formally voting to urge the Board of Health to add the COVID vaccine to the list of vaccines required for enrollment in Nevada schools during a regents meeting on Friday.

But the suggestion of an agenda item is no guarantee that the item will formally be discussed  nor does it come with any commitment to discuss the item at any particular meeting. Even if such an item does come before the board, it is unclear whether or not it has the seven votes needed to pass.

Regents are next set to meet as a full board at the end of August, and again for a two-day quarterly meeting in September. Regents could also accelerate the timeline by calling a new emergency meeting sooner, so long as the agenda is published publicly one week in advance, per Nevadas Open Meeting Law.
With no sign of a fourth stimulus check from the federal government, some states have sought to provide their own short-term financial boost to residents.

On 12 July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 129 into law, approving the majority of the states 2012/22 budgetary agreement. The centre-piece inclusion in the package was the $100 billion California Comeback Plan, the largest economic recovery bill in the states history.

It included a round of stimulus checks covering around two-thirds of Californians, which are expected to be sent out in September.

How much are the California stimulus checks worth?

The new legislative package will see the majority of California residents become eligible for a $600 direct payment, commonly known as the Golden State stimulus check. Eligible Californians who claim at least one child dependent will also be able to receive another $500, although these payments are limited to one-per-filer.

In March the Golden State Stimulus bill provided a round of stimulus checks for low-income households, typically only those who qualified for the states CalEITC benefits programme. However the recent legislation broadens that out to all individuals with an annual income of $75,000 per year or less.

To receive the payment a 2020 tax return must be filed with the California Franchise Tax Board, who are in charge of administrating and distributing the checks. Residents have until 15 October to file a tax return for last year, if they have not already done so, to become eligible for the payment.

Stimulus checks are the result of record-breaking budget surplus

The $100 billion package will be funded in part by an enormous budgetary surplus which exceeded all expectations. Little over a year ago the state was estimating a shortfall of over $50 billion, but a surge in state tax revenue and additional recovery funds from the federal government resulted in a $75.7 billion surplus.

Eager to put this money towards the ongoing economic recovery, Newsom has ploughed it into a package specifically designed to boost struggling businesses and provide a support for struggling families.

Newsom said, when announcing the package: Through this comprehensive plan, the state is taking on the inequities laid bare by the pandemic, expanding our support for Californians facing the greatest hardships, increasing opportunity for every child, confronting homelessness head-on and doubling down on our work to build resilience against the climate change impacts that threaten Californias future."
There had been hopes that the United States would be able to reopen the borders to allow foreign travel this year but with the Delta variant of covid-19 tearing through the nation that may not be possible.

The US is one of a number of countries struggling to contain the much more aggressive variant and authorities have been forced to tighten travel restrictions on a number of potential holiday destinations.

On Monday, 26 July the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new advisories for five nations, raising their danger level:

Cyprus (Level 4: Do not travel)

(Level 4: Do not travel) Israel (Level 3: Reconsider travel)

(Level 3: Reconsider travel) Kyrgyzstan (Level 4: Do not travel)

(Level 4: Do not travel) Portugal (Level 4: Do not travel)

(Level 4: Do not travel) Spain (Level 4: Do not travel)

Of those included in the amendments Portugal and Spain are particularly popular tourist destinations, further limiting the options for trip abroad this summer. They join a number of other countries traditionally popular with travellers on the 'Do not travel' list: Argentina, Brazil, the Maldives, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

For the full list of travel destinations and their risk level check out the State Department advisories.

White House is unlikely to lift restrictions in the near future

Reflecting on the changes made to travel restrictions imposed by the CDC, in late July the White House confirmed that there were no plans to loosen them in the near future. Reuters reported that a senior level White House meeting decided that there was no evidence suggesting that they could be safely removed in the short term.

"Given where we are today ... with the Delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point," said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki. "Driven by the Delta variant, cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely continue to increase in the weeks ahead."

This comes as a blow for the ailing travel industry which had hoped that this summer would bring about a renaissance after a barren 2020. The US Homeland Security Department has confirmed that land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed for all non-essential travel until 21 August at the earliest.

The new guidance came as a result of the rising cases numbers which have been attributed to the Delta variant. Unfortunately in the week since those changes were made the seven-day average of covid-19 cases has risen from 56,987 to 79,763.
This photo shows a disinfection robot disinfects the check-in hall at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport have strengthened epidemic prevention and control measures following the recent outbreak of coronavirus in east China's Nanjing. Staff members were arranged to check the health code of all passengers arriving in Shanghai one by one. The health declaration desks were set up in airports for passengers to declare on their own initiative.

Passengers wearing masks wait for departure at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

Staff members take personal protective measures to serve the passengers at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

Passengers wearing masks wait for departure at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

Staff members disinfect the exit at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

A staff member monitors the temperature of passengers at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

A staff member monitors the temperature of passengers at Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Aug. 1, 2021. (Photo/Yin Liqin)

Editor: WPY
Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas in the women's triple jump at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo has broken the best result in the world set by Ukrainian athlete Inessa Kravets 25 years ago, according to the official website of the Olympics on Sunday.

"The record, which was held by Ukrainian Inessa Kravets since 1995, was always under threat from the outset of the event. And Rojas fairly blew away the previous world-best of 15.50 meters with her massive final jump," according to the website.

As reported, Rojas completed a triple jump of 15.67 meters  this is 17 centimeters more than the Ukrainian athlete at one time. So Rojas set a world record in the discipline.

It is noted that she also became the first Venezuelan woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has given permission to conduct an investigation in absentia against former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in the case of murders of protesters on the Maidan (Independence Square) in 2014, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) reports.

"Pechersky District Court of Kyiv upheld a motion of an investigator of the State Bureau of Investigations [SBI] to grant permission to carry out a special pretrial investigation against the former President of Ukraine in criminal proceedings on the facts of organizing a number of grave and especially grave violent crimes, including premeditated murders of protesters in February 2014 in the central part of Kyiv  on the Independence Square and adjacent streets," the report says.
The consolidated diving unit of the Ukrainian Naval Forces on board the Oleksandr Okhrymenko search and rescue vessel arrived at the Constanta maritime base of the Romanian Naval Forces to participate in international exercises.

"The purpose of the visit is to participate in the multinational mine action diving exercise Dive 2021, which begins today, August 2, with the participation of representatives from Ukraine, the United States, Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia," the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

It is noted that the entire exercise will consist of four phases and will be held in the Black Sea within the territorial waters of Romania.
Minister of Health Viktor Liashko called for disseminating information about vaccination against coronavirus infection during the events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

"We ask you to promote the vaccination campaign during all the events that will be timed to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence," he said at the all-Ukrainian forum "Ukraine 30. Image of Ukraine" on Monday in Kyiv.

The Minister also called on all Ukrainians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible. At the same time, he said that vaccination is an opportunity to get through the disease in a mild form.

In addition, Liashko called on organizers of all levels to hold as many events as possible to celebrate Independence Day in the open air.
The Security Service of Ukraine in Ternopil region exposed officials of a construction company who overestimated the cost of work by 15.5% during the reconstruction of the medical treatment building and the construction of a reception department for ATO/JFO participants.

According to the SBU website, according to preliminary estimates, the total amount of damage caused to local budgets is more than UAH 3.3 million.

"In 2017, the utility company announced a tender for the reconstruction of the medical building of the regional narcological dispensary and the completion of the reception department. This was supposed to improve the quality of medical care for demobilized and actual anti-terrorist operation participants." The contractual cost of the works amounted to almost UAH 21 million. During the execution of the order, the officials of the company that won the tender forged the acts of work performed. The dealers made knowingly false information about the volume and cost of work performed," the report said.

Such actions led to the freezing of construction in 2019, and 1/6 of the allocated funds was stolen. State and local budgets received losses of UAH 3.3 million. Abuse by the management of the contracting organization is confirmed by forensic, economic, construction and technical examination.

The owner of the construction company was informed about the suspicion under Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of Article 191 (misappropriation, embezzlement of property or seizure of property by abuse of office) and Part 1 of Article 366 (forgery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint for him is being resolved.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the United States and its European allies to institutionalize Ukraine's place in the Western world by adopting a roadmap for Ukraine's accession to NATO and the European Union.

"After 1991, a common history for some time still united the countries that appeared on the ruins of the Union. However, in the following decades, they moved along extremely different trajectories, and the common experience lost importance. It is time for Western countries to get rid of the view of the region as simply a 'post-Soviet space,'" Kuleba said in an article for Foreign Affairs, the translation of which was released on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Monday.

"What should the United States and its allies change in their policies to bring them into line with the new realities? In the case of Ukraine, we are talking, first of all, about the institutionalization of the place of our state in the Western world. Time for the U.S. and European allies to finally define a clear roadmap for Ukraine's accession to NATO and the EU," he said.

The minister said the United States and its Western partners have the opportunity to develop an ambitious strategy for the region, providing for a special policy taking into account the circumstances of individual countries and blocs.

"In the case of Ukraine and Georgia, the main priority should be the advancement of our countries' accession to NATO. As the Alliance itself said in the final declaration of the 2008 summit in Bucharest and confirmed at the summit in Brussels this year, this day will inevitably come," the minister said.

According to him, in addition to interaction on security, Ukraine and Georgia are also committed to further economic and political integration with Europe. He recalled that together with his colleague from Moldova, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Georgia have established an Associated Trio in Kyiv in 2021, which declares the goal of acquiring the membership of the three countries in the European Union.

"Deepening engagement with this group of countries provides Europe with an opportunity to strengthen its global influence, expand its space for its democratic values and build additional economic muscle. It also helps Joseph Biden administration realize its goal of supporting transatlantic unity and strengthening the eastern border of democratic Europe," Kuleba said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said that Ukraine has already made significant progress in reforms, although further internal transformations are required. This is primarily about the eradication of corruption, he said.

"We are realistic about how much more needs to be done to tackle corruption in the judiciary, defense and security sector and other institutions. But there is a strong political will to move forward: this is evident from the recent bold steps taken despite the fierce resistance of the corrupt forces," Kuleba said.
On Tuesday, August 3, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "ARMA: changes in a year and a half and risks for further work." Participants include Deputy Head of the National Agency for the detection, search and management of assets received from corruption and other crimes (ARMA) Volodymyr Pavlenko; attorney-at-law Stanislav Borys (8/5a Reitarska Street). The broadcast will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Due to quarantine restrictions, the number of seats in the press center is limited. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
The giant panda Huan Huan and her twin cub are seen inside their enclosure after she gave birth at the Beauval zoo in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, central France, (Photo : ZooParc de Beauval/Handout via REUTERS)

Two baby pandas have been born at the Beauval zoo in France, said the zoo on Monday, adding that the newly born animals were in good health.



The zoo said its female panda - Huan Huan - had given birth to the two babies in the early hours of Monday.



Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi came to France on loan from China in 2012, and their arrival was hailed at the time as a sign of warming diplomatic ties between Paris and Beijing.



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While an adult female panda can weigh up to 125 kilograms (275 pounds), a baby panda weighs barely 120 grams (4 ounces) at birth.


Reese Witherspoon's media firm to be sold to Blackstone-backed company

Reese Witherspoon arrives to the Oscars red carpet for the 93rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S (Photo : Chris Pizzello/Pool via REUTERS)

Academy award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon's media company, Hello Sunshine, is selling itself to a newly formed media firm backed by Blackstone Group Inc for an undisclosed sum.



The sale will value the company at about $900 million, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.



Founded in 2016, Hello Sunshine is the women-led production house behind series like HBO's "Big Little Lies," "The Morning Show" on Apple TV+ and "Little Fires Everywhere."



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The deal comes as a video streaming war between Netflix Inc, Walt Disney Co's Disney+ and AT&T Inc's HBO Max heats up, forcing the companies to spend billions of dollars on content.



"The rapidly growing demand for high-quality content is one of our firm's highest-conviction investment themes," Joe Baratta, the global head of private equity at Blackstone, said in a statement.



Earlier this year, Amazon.com Inc announced the purchase of MGM, the fabled U.S. movie studio home to the James Bond franchise.



Blackstone is executing the Hello Sunshine deal through its private equity arm, which had previously bought a majority stake in dating app Bumble Inc's parent Magic Labs.



The new media company buying Witherspoon's firm will be led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.



Its board will include Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine Chief Executive Sarah Harden, who will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the production house.



Witherspoon and Harden will also remain significant equity holders of Hello Sunshine.


A policeman inspects vehicles at a checkpoint placed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines (Photo : REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez)

The Philippines will extend a night curfew in Manila amid a tightening of restrictions to combat a potential surge in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, a government official said on Monday.



Metropolitan Manila, already subject to a six hour curfew from 10:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), will bring forward that curfew by two hours to 8:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), said Benjamin Abalos, chair of the region's governing body.



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"This will stop the virus for the meantime. What's important is our hospitals don't get full," Abalos told a briefing.



Authorities have deployed police personnel to quarantine checkpoints in the capital region, where inbound and outbound travel will be restricted. Home to more than 13 million people, the region will be locked down from Aug. 6 to 20.



Infections in the Philippines exceeded 8,000 a day from Friday to Monday. Sunday's recorded tally of 8,735 infections was the highest since May 28.



In the central province of Cebu, the number of cases has overwhelmed healthcare facilities, city councillor David Tumulak told local media.



A surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant has been rattling parts of Asia, including countries which had been relatively successful at containing the virus.



Just 200 cases of the Delta variant had been detected in the community, of which 17 were still active, Philippines' Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said, although genome testing capacity in the Southeast Asian country is limited.



Strict quarantine curbs could help cap the number of active COVID-19 cases to around 25,000 by the end of September, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

In a weekly national address, President Rodrigo Duterte committed to providing vaccines to every Filipino. "It's just a matter of priority on hot spots like Manila. People are here so transmission is faster."


Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directed the government to keep up economic performance rates in order to ensure stable monetary and financial conditions in the country.

El-Sisis directives came during his meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Policies Ahmed Kouchouk, and others, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said.

El-Sisi stressed the importance of regularly updating and upgrading the management of GDP data to accurately monitor different aspects of economic development in Egypt.

The president also highlighted the significance of increasing funds earmarked for public investments to meet the development targets listed in Egypts Vision 2023.

The meeting reviewed the economic performance and fundamentals for the fiscal year 2020/2021, which showed that the government had managed to increase its revenues by 12.2 percent to EGP 119 billion (about $7.6 billion), in addition to increasing its primary surplus by 1.4 percent to EGP 93.1 billion (about $5.9 billion).

The budget deficit was also narrowed to 7.4 percent, down from 8 percent.

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Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi said she hopes Ethiopia will come to its senses and accept the unwavering Sudanese stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute

In a meeting with her Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, Al-Mahdi said Khartoum seeks to reach a diplomatic solution to the GERD crisis, the Sudanese news agency (SUNA) reported.

She highlighted Sudans stance on the need to reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

As Ethiopia implemented this month the second phase of the filling, Sudans irrigation ministry said the River Nile revenue in July reached five billion cubic metres, compared to 7.8 billion cubic metres in July last year.

Egypt and Sudan reiterated that they support development in Ethiopia, but called for reaching a legally binding instrument on the filling and operation of the dam.

The two downstream states warned of probable significant harm to their water rights and peoples lives.

While Ethiopia calls for the resumption of the GERD talks under the auspices of the African Union, Sudans irrigation minister Yasser Abbas affirmed on Wednesday his countrys rejection of participating in the GERD negotiations under the same methodology adopted in previous talks.

Abbas described the previous methodology as a waste of time, reiterating Sudans call to involve the international quartet of the United States, United Nations, African Union, and the European Union in the talks to boost the AUs mediating role."

Egypt agrees with Sudan on the need for the international community to get involved in the talks to help the three countries reach a legally binding deal.

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Unsighted students suffer badly in scientific subjects at university. Not all the academic textbooks are printed in Braille format. Sometimes, the books are delivered late. Students do not have enough time to study before exams, Lily Attallah, executive director of the Development Association for Empowering Special Needs (DAESN) told Ahram Online.

Students do not have privacy in exams. They feel degraded and waste a lot of time, Attallah added.

Sightless students have difficulty reading and writing the answers during exams. They need employees from the students affairs department to do the task for them. Sometimes, the employees do not understand the questions or they may write the answers incorrectly.

DAESN signed a collaboration agreement with Zagazig University, Sharqiya governorate, in May to launch an electronic university application to serve students with complete visual impairment.

The programme will be applied at the different colleges of Zagazig University. It is funded by Ataa Charitable Investment Fund for supporting people with disabilities, the first fund of its kind in Egypt.

DAESN is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that began working in 2008. Its mission is to develop the full potential of visually impaired people to lead independent lives and ensure their equal rights and dignity. It tries to integrate the visually impaired into the education system.

The application DAESN-Ataa is being tested from May 2021 to April 2022.

Students deprived from vision or with disabilities enter theoretical, not practical, colleges. Unsighted students from the faculties of arts, commerce, law, education, and disability and rehabilitation sciences will have the academic content on this app.

Fifty undergraduate and post-graduate students with complete visual impairment from Zagazig University will benefit from this app. This is a huge number of students in universities, said Ihab El-Beblawi, the coordinator of the project and dean of the Faculty of Disability and rehabilitation Sciences (FDRS) at Zagazig University.

FDRS is for students with mental or physical disabilities. The faculty has two programmes. Faculty graduates can work as teachers or category specialists. It also accepts disabled students too, El-Beblawi added.

The app includes all the textbooks and recorded lectures by faculty members. Lecture summaries are converted into audio files and reference lists, El-Beblawi stated.

It is obligatory for the deans and heads of different departments to upload all the subjects on the app, he added.

One of the main obstacles in building the app was to protect the data from hackers, malware, and other threats. It has a high level of security in order to protect the intellectual property of the university and prevent the theft of e-books, said Hany Nader, the designer of the app.

The app is multilingual, which allows the learners to read the text in any language. The app opens new opportunities for blind students to join any foreign language departments in different colleges, Nader explained.

He emphasised that it is a small-sized app. It can be installed on a computer, tablet, or mobile phone. The app can also describe and explain images so that visionless students using a screen reader can listen to what the image is all about. It also reads the majority of Arabic texts with diacrisation, Nader added.

DAESN will equip the lab for students with visual disabilities with 10 new computers and seven mobile devices. The devices have speaking programmes and the operating systems necessary to train students and university administrators on the app to ensure quality service.

Younan Samir has been visually impaired since he was a child. He has a bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Arts, history department. He has been working with people with visual impairment for 12 years.

Students will receive practical training and apply what they have learned. They will type faster than their sighted peers, he added.

Samir is a marketing organiser and public affairs employee at DAESN and one of the team on the project.

He explained that students will learn to use regular computer keyboards. Users will acquire the knowledge to type accurately by using keyboard shortcut commands to navigate quickly. The students also become competent in touch-typing skills. These functions are available in all new computers.

Five teaching assistants and three assistant lecturers from the education technology department at the Faculty of Specific Education will train to be responsible for the project in the future.

Students will be trained for one month before the beginning of the new academic year, while IT university administrators will be trained for two weeks, said Remon Maher, a blind computer training instructor from DAESN Association.

Sightless students will take their exams electronically by mid-term 2022, El-Beblawi added.

At the end of the year Zigzag University, DAESN and Ataa Fund will evaluate and monitor the results. Ataa Fund will present results for the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Then, the ministry will begin addressing different universities to apply it broadly, El-Beblawi said.

The app is only the beginning of many more projects to come, El-Beblawi confirmed.

Zagazig University is discussing a new project with Ataa Fund for supporting people with disabilities, he added.

El-Beblawi concluded that Zagazig University will provide all the possible facilities as special corridors or pathways, signs along footpaths, tactile ground surface indicators, Braille elevator buttons, stairs and sidewalk ramps for students with disabilities to easily reach their faculties.

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A German S-44 submarine joined the Egyptian Navy in Alexandria on Monday, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement.



This 209/1400 mod class submarine is the last of four that Egypt received with the aim enhance its defense capabilities and combat efficiency, according to the statement



The four submarines will also help achieve maritime security, and protect Egyptian coasts, as well as promote economic interests between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.



The contract for the delivery of the first two 209/1400 mod class submarines to Egypt was signed in 2011.

In 2015, Egypt decided to take the option for two additional units. The first submarine was handed over in December 2016, the second in August 2017 and the third in April 2020.

The S-44 submarine is extremely reliable, can stay submerged for a long time, is fast, and hard to locate thanks to their low signatures.



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Egyptian air forces have arrived in the UAE for a joint military exercise dubbed 'Zayed 3' with the Emirati air forces, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced on Monday.

The UAE's Al-Dhafra Air Base will host the multi-day drills, which will see the participation of a number of multi-tasking combat aircraft of various models, the statement added.

The exercise aims to hone the skills of the participating forces from both sides to reach the highest levels of efficiency and readiness to carry out joint tasks and manage air operations using the latest air weapons with high efficiency under various circumstances, the statement said.

The drills also aim to support and strengthen military cooperation and coordination between the Egyptian and Emirati armed forces through the implementation of several joint exercises.

In May, Egypt and the UAE carried out a two-week joint military exercise as part of the 'Zayed 3' maneuvers, which witnessed the participation of units from the Special Forces of the two countries, according to the Egyptian Armed Forces.

The 'Zayed 1' maneuvers were held in 2014, while the 'Zayed 2' exercises were carried out in 2017 with the participation of naval, air and ground forces from both countries.

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The Egyptian foreign ministry issued on Monday the countrys 2021 national report on combating terrorism.

The report, which was compiled in coordination with other ministries and state bodies, reviews the state's policies and practices in combating terrorism and extremist ideology, according to the ministry.

Mohamed Fouad, director of the foreign ministrys international counterterrorism unit, said the report also discusses the legislations passed to combat terrorism in a way that is consistent with Egypt's relevant international obligations.

The report also presents the pioneering Egyptian experience in raising peoples awareness and the prevention of extremist ideology, Fouad said, highlighting the 2014 initiative launched by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to reform religious discourse.

This is the second issue of the annual report. It is currently available at the Egyptian foreign ministry's blog in Arabic.

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed on Monday the importance of Ifta organisations in Muslim countries in promoting the real understanding of religion and correcting religious misconceptions, the Egyptian presidency said.

Ifta organisations are the bodies responsible for issuing religious edicts (fatwas).

During a meeting with Islamic preachers and scholars from different Muslim countries at the 6th International Conference for Fatwa in Cairo, the Egyptian president underlined the important role Ifta organisations play as the legitimate source of fatwas.

El-Sisi also stressed the importance of Ifta organisations in keeping up with the latest developments in the world, especially with the spread of social media and how some of these platforms spread misconceptions about Islam.

The Egyptian president also pointed out the significant role played by Egypts Al-Azhar and Dar El-Ifta in Egyptian social life and their recent use of social media, highlighting that Dar El-Ifta issued 1 million fatwas online in 2020.

Organised by Egypts Dar El-Ifta, the 6th International Conference for Fatwa is being held on 2-3 August in Cairo under the auspices of President El-Sisi.

Delegates from 85 countries, including scholars, muftis, religious leaders, ministers and public figures, are participating in this years conference, titled Fatwa Authorities in the Digital Age.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has asserted Egypts unwavering support of the Palestinian cause and its rejection of anything that could undermine Jerusalems Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, violate the citys sacred places, or change the historical and legal status quo.

Shoukry made the remarks in a meeting on Monday the Palestinian president's Advisor for Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash at the foreign ministry headquarters in Cairo, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said.

The Palestinian official briefed the foreign minister on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, the escalation and violations committed by Israel in East Jerusalem, and the continued attempts to impose a fait accompli and change the city's historic and legal status.

Habbash expressed the Palestinian leadership and peoples appreciation for Egypts support of the Palestinian cause, its role in backing Palestinian rights, and its efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.

Shoukry highlighted Cairo's continued efforts to revive the negotiation track with a view to reaching a comprehensive and just settlement that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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Awoken by gunshots in the middle of the night, Fatima Amadou was shocked by what she saw among the attackers: children.

Guns slung over their small frames, the children chanted Allahu akbar, as they surrounded her home in Solhan town in Burkina Fasos Sahel region. Some were so young they couldnt even pronounce the words, Arabic for God is great, said the 43-year-old mother.

When I saw the kids, what came to my mind was that (the adults) trained these kids to be assassins, and they came to kill my children, Amadou told The Associated Press by phone from Sebba town, where she now lives.

She and her family are among the lucky ones who survived the June attack, in which about 160 people were killed  the deadliest such assault since the once-peaceful West African nation was overrun by fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State about five years ago. As that violence increases, so too does the recruitment of child soldiers.

The number of children recruited by armed groups in Burkina Faso rose at least five-fold so far this year, up from four documented cases in all of last year, according to information seen by the AP in an unpublished report by international aid and conflict experts.

At least 14 boys are being held in the capital, Ouagadougou, for alleged association with militant armed groups, some there since 2018, said Idrissa Sako, assistant to Burkina Fasos public prosecutor at the high court in the city.

Amadou said she saw about seven children with the fighters who surrounded her home during the Solhan attack. She did not see them kill anyone, but they helped burn down houses.

We are alarmed by the presence of children with armed groups, said Sandra Lattouf, the representative for the United Nations Childrens Fund, or UNICEF, in the country.

The effects of the conflict on children  including their recruitment as soldiers but also attacks on schools and kids themselves  have become so concerning that this year Burkina Faso was added for the first time to the U.N.s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict.

Aid groups say they are seeing more children with jihadi fighters at roadside checkpoints in the Sahel  an arid region that passes through Burkina Faso but stretches straight across the African continent just south of the Sahara. In recent years, the western Sahel has become an epicenter of jihadi violence.

During a recent trip to Dori, a town in the region where nearly 1,200 people fled after the attack on Solhan, the AP spoke with eight survivors, five of whom said they either heard or saw children partake in the violence.

We heard them say, we good children have come to change Solhan in a better way, said Hama Amadou, a resident, who hid in his shop during the fighting. He said he also heard women directing the children, saying kill him, kill him.

Burkina Fasos ill-equipped and undertrained army is struggling to stem the violence, which has killed thousands and displaced 1.3 million people since the jihadi attacks began.

Experts on child recruitment say that poverty pushes some kids toward armed groups. Sako, who works with the public prosecutor, said some children who wanted money to enroll in school joined because they were promised approximately $18 if they killed someone. Others were promised gifts like motorbikes.

But civil society organizations also accuse army troops of contributing to the problem by committing abuses against civilians suspected of being jihadis.

There are more security operations ... (so) there are more military abuses, said Maimouna Ba, head of operations for Women for the Dignity of the Sahel, a Dori-based advocacy group. It is hard for a child to get up in the morning and see that their father was killed. As they get older, children may become angry and start asking why the state isnt helping them, she said.

The army denied these allegations, along with accusations that it was slow in responding to the attack in Solhan, but would not provide a detailed comment.

The deteriorating security is sparking unrest, with protests across the country demanding the government take stronger action. In response, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore fired his security and defense ministers, appointing himself minister of defense.

Amid this raft of problems, Burkina Faso must now also figure out what to do with the children accused of being affiliated with armed groups.

None of the boys being held in Ouagadougou has been put on trial, according to Sako. The government has not yet signed an agreement with the United Nations that would help it to treat such children as victims, not perpetrators, for instance, by moving them from prison to centers where they could receive psychological care.

It is a real concern for us to find a permanent solution for children, said Sako.

Preventing further recruitment, meanwhile, means tackling economic hardship and all that comes with it, including helping kids who have left school to catch up on their lessons.

Neglecting to act now will only lead to a more intractable crisis and greater instability in the months and years ahead, giving these armed groups the heartbreaking advantage they are so violently seeking, said Dr. Samantha Nutt, founder and president of War Child Canada and War Child USA.

For now, many parents, already struggling to feed, clothe and educate their kids, feel powerless to protect them.

Im really afraid for my child to be recruited by jihadis, said Isma Heella, a Dori resident and father to a 4-year-old boy. We fear for our children and for ourselves as parents because we are not stronger than them.

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A Sudanese official says local authorities in Kassala province have found more than 40 bodies, apparently people fleeing the war in neighboring Ethiopia's Tigray region, floating in the river between the countries over the past week, some with gunshot wounds or their hands bound.

The official said Monday a forensic investigation is needed to determine the causes of death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Two Ethiopian health workers in the Sudan border community of Hamdayet confirmed seeing the bodies found in the Setit River, known in Ethiopia as the Tekeze.

The river flows through some of the most troubled areas of the nine-month conflict in Tigray, where ethnic Tigrayans have accused Ethiopian and allied forces of atrocities while battling Tigray forces.

Tewodros Tefera, a surgeon who fled the nearby Tigray city of Humera to Sudan, told The Associated Press that two of the bodies were found Monday, one a man with his hands bound and the other a woman with a chest wound. Fellow refugees have buried at least 10 other bodies, he said.

He shared a video of men appearing to prepare a shroud for a body floating face-down in the river.

Tewodros said the bodies were found downstream from Humera, where authorities and allied fighters from Ethiopia's Amhara region have been accused by refugees of forcing out local Tigrayans during the war while claiming that western Tigray is their land.

``We are actually taking care of the bodies spotted by fishermen,'' Tewodros said. ``I suspect there are more bodies on the river.''

While it was difficult to identify the bodies, one had a common name in the Tigray language, Tigrinya, tattooed on his arm, the surgeon said.

Another doctor working in Hamdayet who saw the bodies told the AP that some of the corpses had facial markings indicating they were ethnic Tigrayans.

``I saw a lot of barbaric things,'' said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. ``Some had been struck by an axe.''

Witnesses at the river told him they had not been able to catch all the bodies floating downstream because of the water's swift flow during the rainy season, the doctor said.

An Ethiopian government-created Twitter account on Monday called the accounts of bodies a fake campaign by ``propagandists'' among the Tigray forces.

Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, on Monday visited a refugee camp in Sudan hosting thousands of Ethiopians who fled the Tigray war.

She next will visit Ethiopia to press the government to allow humanitarian aid to Tigray, a region of some 6 million people where the world's worst hunger crisis in a decade is unfolding. The US says up to 900,000 people now face famine conditions.

The UN food agency said it is working to provide food to Tigray through Sudan despite frayed ties between Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

Negotiations to access the blocked Tigray region have proved to be quite difficult, Marianne Ward, the World Food Program's deputy country director in Sudan, said. She said WFP has already moved 50,000 tons of wheat to Ethiopia through Sudan.

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Related Egypt sends two additional planes with medical aid to Djibouti Djibouti's President Guelleh wins fifth term with 97% of votes At least three people died after a rare outbreak of intercommunal violence in Djibouti during which the police intervened, the public prosecutor said Monday.

Fighting broke out on Sunday in several parts of the capital Djibouti, between the ethnic Afar group, which straddles Djibouti's borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Issa, Djibouti's other main ethnic group.

"There were several extremely serious criminal acts. Houses were intentionally set on fire," Lamisse Mohamed Said told public television, without giving any possible reason for the violence.

"Innocent people were gratuitously attacked," she said.

Three people had died, she added, without specifying whether they had done so during the intercommunal fighting or after police intervened.

Interior Minister Said Nouh Hassan, in a televised speech broadcast overnight, referred to "events of a new magnitude" which he described as "intolerable".

Local residents spoke of a dozen killed, one saying a baker had been "lynched by Afar youths".

Witnesses told AFP that the violence began in the Warabaley district, where Issa homes were torched, then spread to other areas.

Daher, a local entrepreneur, said he saw his Afar neighbours flee their home, fearing it would be set alight.

Calm had largely been restored Monday, with a major police presence remaining in some areas of the capital, but internet connections were erratic and Facebook inaccessible.

Djibouti social media platforms have been extra busy for days following similar violence in neighbouring Ethiopia in late July.

Following the violence in Djibouti several people were detained, the public prosecutor said.

"We are taking firm measures against those who sow these troubles and crimes in our country," she said.

Flanked by Somalia and opposite Yemen, Djibouti has remained stable in a volatile neighbourhood, drawing foreign military powers such as former colonial ruler France, the United States and China to establish bases there.

But the country has also seen an erosion of press freedom and a crackdown on dissent as it has courted foreign interest.

Djibouti's GDP per capita income is about $3,500, higher than much of sub-Saharan Africa, but around 20 percent of the population live in extreme poverty and 26 percent are unemployed, according to the World Bank.

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Palestinians said the offer was made that they remain in their properties in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood as "protected tenants" who would recognise Israeli ownership of the homes and pay a symbolic annual rent, but they refused.

"They placed a lot of pressure on us to reach an agreement with the Israeli settlers in which we would be renting from the settler organisations," said Muhammad el-Kurd, from one of four Palestinian families at the heart of the case.

"Of course this is rejected," he said.

Justice Isaac Amit called for further documentation and said "we will publish a decision later", but without setting a date.

Monday's hearing was part of a years-long legal battle waged by Jewish Israeli organisations trying to reclaim property owned by Jews in east Jerusalem prior to Israel's founding in 1948.

Palestinian residents say Jordan granted them homes on the property after they were expelled from towns that became Israel.

Lawyer Sami Irshid, representing the Palestinians, insisted on Monday that his clients would reject the Jewish Israeli claims in any arrangement.

"We are willing to be listed as protected tenants while retaining our rights," he said in court. "We will request recognition of the property rights the government of Jordan gave us."

Ilan Shemer, representing the Jewish Israelis, said: "This arrangement will be an empty arrangement."

The case has become an international cause, with dozens of people demonstrating outside the court on Monday.

11-day Gaza war

Clashes in May over possible Sheikh Jarrah evictions spread to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, sparking an Israeli crackdown that escalated into an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The families in Monday's case appealed to the supreme court after two lower courts ruled that under Israeli property law, the homes in question belonged to the Jewish owners who purchased the plots before 1948.

In 1956, when east Jerusalem was under Jordanian control, Amman leased plots of land to families in Sheikh Jarrah, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees built homes for them.

Jordan promised to register the properties in their names, but did not complete the process before Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

In 1970, Israel enacted a law under which Jews could reclaim land in east Jerusalem they lost in 1948, even if Palestinians by then already lived on it.

No such option exists for Palestinians who lost homes or land.

"As long as the court drags this on, there is more room for Arabs to make riots," King told AFP.

The Palestinians' lawyer Irshid told AFP after the hearing "there is reason for optimism".

Israeli anti-settlement group Ir Amim says that more than 1,000 Palestinians are at risk of losing their homes to Jewish settler groups and individuals in Sheikh Jarrah and the Silwan neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.

*This story was edited by ahram Online

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The conference on Wednesday, co-hosted by President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, coincides with the first anniversary of the blast that disfigured Beirut and killed more than 200 people.

Former colonial power France has spearheaded international efforts to lift Lebanon out of crisis.

A first conference in the immediate aftermath of the blast collected 280 million euros ($332 million at current rates).

"The situation has worsened," Macron's office said on Monday.

Citing a UN estimate, his office said Lebanon's new needs amounted to $357 million and concerned food security, education, health and clean water supply.

World powers have made much of their help conditional on Lebanon installing a government capable of tackling corruption.

A local probe into the catastrophe has yet to yield significant arrests or even identify a culprit, with politicians widely accused of stalling progress.

In the past year, Lebanon has plunged into political and financial crisis and on Monday newly designated prime minister Najib Mikati said there was no chance of a cabinet lineup by mid-week to coincide with the anniversary.

The institutional vacuum is holding up a potential financial rescue plan for Lebanon, which defaulted on its debt last year and has since sunk into what the World Bank has described as one of the world's worst crises since the mid-19th century.

Wednesday's conference is to tackle emergency needs only and will not be concerned with structural financial assistance, Macron's office said.

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Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, has been living in the Indian capital of New Delhi since 2013 when he fled violence in Myanmar. Stateless, and now homeless after a fire razed his camp, the 35-year-old lives in a tent with as many as 10 other people at a time.

Before the pandemic, he ran a small business selling groceries from a shack. But that was closed during Indias harsh, months-long lockdown, and his savings are gone. He and his family have been surviving on donated food, but he has to return to work soon, despite the risk of getting COVID-19 and infecting others.

Although some refugees in India have begun getting vaccines, no one in his camp has received shots. Just over 7% of Indias population is fully vaccinated and vaccine shortages have plagued the nation of almost 1.4 billion.

The disease doesnt discriminate. If we get infected, locals will also, Salimullah said.

It wasnt supposed to be like this.

For months the World Health Organization urged countries to prioritize immunizing refugees, placing them in the second priority group for at-risk people, alongside those with serious health conditions.

Thats because refugees inevitably live in crowded conditions where the virus can spread more easily, with little access to the most basic health care or even clean water, said Sajjad Malik director of the U.N. refugee agencys division of resilience and solutions.

They are really living in difficult situations, he said.

Over 160 countries included refugees in their plans, but these have been upended by supply shortages. According to the WHO, some 85% of vaccines have been administered by rich countries. In contrast, 85% of the worlds 26 million refugees live in developing countries struggling to vaccinate even the most vulnerable, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Some countries, like Bangladesh, pinned their hopes on COVAX, the global initiative aimed at vaccine equity. In February, it altered its original vaccination plan to include nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps on the countrys border with Myanmar. But so far, its received only 100,620 doses less than 1% of its allocated shots  from COVAX, leaving Rohingya refugees without.

COVAX hasnt only faltered in Bangladesh. Globally the initiative has delivered less than 8% of the 2 billion vaccine doses it had promised by the end this year.

Even in countries where refugee vaccination has started, supplies remain an issue. In Ugandas Bidi Bidi camp less than 2% of the 200,000 refugees have received a single shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with second doses in short supply after India stopped exporting them after its own cases exploded.

Other obstacles ranging from language barriers to misinformation about vaccines are exacerbating the problem. Thomas Maliamungu, a South Sudanese refugee and teacher in Bidi Bidi, said he overcame his fears to get his first shot only after it was made mandatory for teachers.

Based on the rumors on the ground, I never wanted it, he said.

Some countries, like India, initially required documents like passports or other government identification, that many refugees lack to register for vaccines. Online registration was also a barrier for many without internet access.

India started vaccinating people in January. Four months later documentation requirements were eased. The Chin community in New Delhi, a Christian minority who fled the violence in Myanmar, started getting shots in June. By then, Indias monstrous surge had already ripped through their crowded settlement, with entire families falling sick and dying.

With the citys health system collapsing, refugees struggled to get a hospital bed and private hospitals were charging around $4,000 for a few days, said James Fanai, president of the Chin Refugee Committee in Delhi. Getting oxygen was almost impossible, he said.

Registration initiatives, like volunteers going to camps to help refugees sign up for vaccines, have sometimes fallen flat, said Miriam Alia Prieto, the vaccination and outbreak response adviser for Doctors Without Borders.

Many arent in camps but living with relatives, she said, noting refugee populations in Jordan and Lebanon.

Due to the transient nature of some refugee populations, some countries in Europe are gravitating towards using the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine for refugees. Prieto said that Spain is waiting for these vaccines to arrive. Greece began a drive for those living in migrant camps and shelters in early June using Johnson & Johnson shots.

Refugees are getting shots in EU countries, but the situation is worse in other parts of the continent, said Frido Herinckx, COVID-19 Operations Manager at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescents Regional Office for Europe. For example, only some 1.5% of people in Armenia and 4.2% in Ukraine are fully vaccinated.

In some countries, like Montenegro, the fear of arrest or deportation remains an obstacle and, he said, Red Cross volunteers are accompanying migrants, including refugees, to help them get shots while ensuring they werent arrested afterwards.

So (its) keeping that firewall between ... the border guards and the health service, he said.

But even if vaccine supply increases theres the issue of liability  the question of whos responsible in rare cases of serious side effects from the vaccine.

Humanitarian organizations can apply to distribute vaccines under the humanitarian buffer  a contingency mechanism set up by COVAX as a last resort. But doing so also means accepting liability for any serious side effects.

Prieto said Doctors Without Borders wants to try to get vaccines from the manufacturers but doesnt want to assume liability. Many vaccine makers have refused to ink deals for vaccines or ship them without that stipulation.

Another obstacle, she said, is that sometimes a vaccine greenlit by WHO is not yet authorized by the host country, creating a mismatch between what vaccines are available and what can be used.

Were in this weird phase where theres a drug being approved, but no one wants to take liability, she said.

As the virus continues to spread, the difficulties facing vaccinating refugee populations around the globe could spell disaster for host communities.

The virus doesnt distinguish between a national and a refugee. So, if you dont protect and save your refugee population it becomes a public health issue, Malik said.

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Millions of people were confined to their homes in China Monday as the country tried to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months including seven positive tests found in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.

China reported 55 new locally transmitted cases on Monday as an outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta variant reached over 20 cities in more than a dozen provinces.

The Wuhan cluster came after the official daily tally was released, but it was confirmed by state media which said the infections had been traced to a train station.

"The seven were identified as migrant workers," Xinhua reported, citing COVID-19 prevention and control officials.

Major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.

Over 1.2 million residents were placed under strict lockdown for the next three days in the central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province Monday, as authorities roll out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement.

"The situation is still grim and complicated," the Zhuzhou government said.

Beijing had previously boasted of its success in bringing domestic cases down to virtually zero after the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, allowing the economy to rebound.

But the latest outbreak, linked to a cluster in the city of Nanjing where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive on July 20, is threatening that success with more than 360 domestic cases reported in the past two weeks.

In the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, famed for its national forest park, an outbreak spread last month among theatre patrons who then brought the virus back to their homes around the country.

Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.

Officials are urgently seeking people who have recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.

Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season.

Only "essential travellers" with negative nucleic acid tests will be allowed to enter after the discovery of a handful of cases among residents who had returned from Zhangjiajie.

Top city officials on Sunday called for residents "not to leave Beijing unless necessary".

The capital's Changping district locked down 41,000 people in nine housing communities last week.

Fresh cases were also reported on Monday in the popular tourist destination of Hainan as well as in flood-ravaged Henan province, national health authorities said.

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death toll from floods in central China last month is at least 302 with dozens of people still missing, officials said Monday, after record downpours dumped a year's worth of rain on a city in just three days.

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province and the epicentre of the record flooding, was hardest hit with 292 people dead and 47 missing, the local government said at a press briefing.

Residents were trapped in subway carriages, underground car parks, and tunnels.

Images of passengers inundated by shoulder-height water went viral on Chinese social media on Line 5 of the city subway where 14 people died, while dozens of cars in a tunnel were tossed aside by the deluge, many with passengers still inside.

Scores were killed in Zhengzhou due to floods and mudslides, mayor Hou Hong told reporters while updating the overall toll. She added that 39 bodies were recovered from underground car parks and other below-ground spaces.

The disaster marked China's deadliest floods in a decade.

Heavy downpours that began July 17 have affected over 14 million people, damaged thousands of homes, and caused economic losses in Zhengzhou estimated at 53 billion yuan ($8.2 billion).

The total losses across the province were almost double that amount.

Experts say freak weather events -- heavy floods and punishing droughts -- are increasingly common due to climate change.

Questions are turning to how China's bulging cities can better prepare for extreme weather.

As the water retreated, slaking roads in mud, residents counted the financial cost in lost businesses and property -- and attempted to mark the human tragedy which took place there.

Angry response

City and provincial officials have faced calls for accountability, with the wife of one of the subway victims telling local media she would sue the metro operator for negligence.

News of the death tolls enraged China's social media users who demanded better disaster management protocols and criticised the government's response.

"Can we do a good check of Zhengzhou's drainage system?" a Zhengzhou resident wrote on Weibo.

"We're digging and building roads every day change the leadership and do it all over again, all the money has been spent on superficial things!"

But criticism of the government's handling of the disaster was met with a stern response.

A large floral tribute at the subway in Zhengzhou was sealed off last week by authorities and foreign journalists covering the floods have been harassed online and on the ground.

Reporters from AFP were forced to delete footage by hostile residents and surrounded by dozens of men while reporting on a submerged traffic tunnel in Zhengzhou.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian last week singled out the BBC for criticism, labelling it a "Fake News Broadcasting Company" that has "attacked and smeared China, seriously deviating from journalistic standards."

Officials and state media have long accused Western news organisations of anti-China bias.

The United States has since said it was "deeply concerned" over the harassment and intimidation of foreign correspondents covering deadly floods in China.

For now, air, rail, and road transport in Henan have resumed although the Zhengzhou subway has not, according to a Henan official.

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Moody's announced that it has maintained Egypts long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings (credit rating) at B2 with a stable outlook.

Moody's has also kept Egypt's foreign currency senior unsecured ratings at B2, and its foreign currency senior unsecured MTN program rating at (P) B2.

The affirmation of the B2 ratings and stable outlook reflects Egypt's continued exposure to volatile financing conditions driven by weak debt affordability and high gross borrowing requirements, balanced against improving shock resilience evidenced during the pandemic as a result of the government's track record of economic and fiscal reform implementation, Moodys explained.

It added that Egypt's broad domestic funding base and renewed build-up of foreign exchange reserves support the countrys economy against volatile capital flows as well as backing the government's second wave of economic reforms, which focus on attaining structural reforms.

Local currency ceiling kept, foreign currency ceiling raised

Concerning the countrys local currency ceiling, Moodys also kept its rating unchanged at Ba2.

This affirmation acknowledges the public sector's large footprint in the economy that stifles private sector development and credit allocation, mitigated by the growing implementation of structural competitiveness reforms, Moodys illustrated.

On the other hand, Moodys raised Egypts foreign currency ceiling to Ba3, up from B1 previously.

This advancement reflects the progressive removal of remaining barriers to capital inflows and outflows and a more elastic exchange rate, according to Moodys.

Egypts debt affordability very poor

Yet, Moodys warned that Egypt remains exposed to potential liquidity and external financing shocks, driven by the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the volatile external liquidity conditions.

Egypts debt affordability is very weak and susceptible to a sharp rise in financing costs; its external position remains sensitive to bouts of capital outflows. The renewed build-up of foreign exchange reserves provides a buffer against sharp capital flow reversals, but vulnerabilities persist, Moodys elaborated.

Egypt's debt affordability as measured by interest/revenue at 46 percent and interest/GDP at 9 percent in general government terms estimated for FY2021/22 is among the weakest of sovereigns rated by Moody's and underpins its exposure to potential funding shocks, according to Moodys.

Despite improving from recent peaks, Moody's expected such risks to remain elevated compared with B-rated peers.

Moreover, Moodys said that Egypt's exposure to funding shocks is exacerbated by very high annual gross borrowing requirements at about 35 percent of GDP in both FY2020/21 and FY2021/22.

On this point, Moodys clarified that the countrys funding risks are mitigated by the large banking system which represents a reliable domestic funding base for the government through continued access to international capital markets at favorable terms and by the government's gradual maturity lengthening strategy that aims for an average domestic debt maturity at five years by 2025 from about 3.5 years in FY2020/21.

Borrowing requirements the highest

Nevertheless, Egypts annual gross borrowing requirements are expected to remain among the highest of Moody's rated sovereigns for the foreseeable future.

For the external side, the structural narrowing in the current account deficit and renewed build-up of foreign exchange reserves to $36 billion at the end of fiscal 2021 after declining to $32 billion in May 2020 provides a buffer against future outflows, potentially related to a resurgence of the pandemic or to tightening international liquidity conditions, according to Moodys.

In this respect, Moody's expected Egypts foreign exchange reserve buffer to remain sufficient to fully cover annual external debt service requirements accruing over the upcoming three years.

Egypt responded to pandemic flexibly

Regarding Egypts response to the pandemic, Moodys noted that the government's flexible crisis response has sustained growth during the pandemic despite the sharp contraction in the tourism industry, which accounted for about 10 percent of GDP in 2019, supported by continued public investment and strong remittance inflows.

Furthermore, the government maintained a primary surplus at 1 percent of GDP by raising revenue in FY2020/21, keeping the debt to GDP ratio close to the 90 percent.

Looking forward, Moody's projected Egypts debt to GDP ratio to decline to 84 percent by 2024 owing to the continued primary surpluses and the tendency to return to economic trend growth of 5.5 percent starting FY2021/22.

Also, Moodys said that Egypts exposure to social risks is high, driven by low employment rates, resulting in high youth unemployment rates at over 25 percent of the labor force, including among graduates.

Relatively high poverty rates and gender inequality also contribute to social risks which have been exacerbated by the large economic reform adjustment costs borne by consumers over the past few years. As part of the government's reform effort, social risks are being mitigated by a more targeted social safety net, although the breadth of coverage remains relatively narrow, Moodys also said.

Egypts Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Saturday that Moodys affirmation of Egypts credit rating reflects the international financial institutions (IFIs)s confidence in Egypts economy, its resilience, and its ability to cope positively with the harsh impacts of the pandemic.

He also added that this action comes while Moodys has downgraded the credit ratings and revised down the outlook for about 50 percent of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions countries.

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A ceremony will be held on Tuesday afternoon at the Tharwat Okasha Cultural Centre, led by Egyptian Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem, to honour the makers of the film 'Reesh' (Feathers), the debut feature by director Omar El-Zohairy, after its triumph in Cannes.

Feathers premiered in Paris in mid-July, winning the Critics' Week Grand Prize (Semaine de la Critique) as well as the International Federation of Film Critics Award for best first feature in parallel sections at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

The ceremony honouring the filmmakers, organised by the National Cinema Centre under the helm of writer Mohamed El-Basosy, will be open to public attendees, where the director and most of the crew will attend, including producers Mohamed Hefzy and Shahinaz El-Akkad, as well as DOP Kamal Samy and editor Hisham Saqr.

The celebration will also include the presence of Feathers cast of rising talents, which includes Demyana Nassar, Samy Bassouny, Fady Mina Fawzy, Abu Sefen Nabil Wesa, and Mohamed Abdel-Hady.

The first representation for Egypt at the Semaine de la Critique, Feathers is a 112-minute Arabic-language film that explores the adventures of a mother who is stuck in a repetitive daily routine when a magician mistakenly turns her strict husband into a chicken, forcing her to adapt while going through a rough and absurd transformation.

Feathers will be premiering in Egypt in October as part of its participation in the Gouna Film Festival's fifth edition, which is scheduled for 14 to 22 October.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Diwan Bookstore

105, Abu Bakr El-Seddiq St, Heliopolis, Misr Algedida, Tel 02 2690 8184/85/ 0122 6000168

Thurs 29, 7pm: A meeting with author and researcher in positive psychology Dr. Sherif Arafa.





French Cultural Institute

The Institute has launched its new website at the beginning of 2021. You can visit it through this link: www.ifegypte.com

The new website is carefully designed to meet your requirements and facilitate access to information. It is also fast, easy to use, and offers a variety of content and new ways to communicate with the institute. With one click, you can view the spaces devoted to French language courses, Arabic language courses, various events in all branches (exhibitions, conferences, and cultural events). In addition to contacting the institute directly by sending your messages to any of its sectors through its website. If you have difficulty completing the French language courses at the headquarters of the French Institute in Egypt in Mounira, Heliopolis, New Cairo, Sheikh Zayed and Alexandria, you can continue them online. It takes the health of its customers very seriously and has implemented strict health measures to provide you with the best possible educational conditions. Wearing a mask is mandatory for all and physical spacing is respected in the classroom and in the building.

For more information flock to the institutes [email protected] You can choose the branch you prefer and see the French language courses for adults and children that are appropriate for you and register there. You can also call the institute at the following numbers: 01205558639/01227484951/ 01222196984, from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.





French Cultural Institute

Madrasset Al-Huquq Al Frinseya St, Mounira, Tel 02 2791 5800

Media Library

Fri 30, 11am-1pm: Scientific workshop for children from 6 years old by Taina Cluzeau, light a candle without touching it, bend the metal effortlessly, levitate tea So many impressive magic tricks. Cluzeau will transform children into apprentice magicians but above all they will discover together the scientific side of magic tricks.





Italian Cultural Institute

Registration for August 2021 online conversation courses is open. The course will last 18 hours and will be carried out through Zoom connection with native teachers. Duration: from 8 to 31 August, 2021 - Schedule: 3 times a week (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday or Saturday/Monday/Wednesday, from 5 to 7pm or from 7 to 11pm). For further information write to [email protected]





Italy has been celebrating the 700th anniversary of the passing of Dante Alighieri. Also, the Italian Institute continues to post videos in Arabic with translations from Dante Alighieris masterpiece The Divine Comedy to bring the Arab-speaking public closer to the work of the supreme poet. Videos are directed by Giabluca Barbadori, with the special participation of Ashraf Farouk, Amir Salaheddin, Sherine Hegazy, and Sara El-Mokadem.



El-Sawy Culturewheel End of 26th of July St, under the 15th of May Bridge, Zamalek, Tel 02 2736 8881/6178/2737 4448

(No entry without a mask and the hall will be open at only 25 percent audience capacity)

River Hall

Fri 30, 8pm: An evening of poetry with poet Hisham Algakh.

Sun 1, 7pm: A poetry night with Mohamed Antar and Mohamed Amer.









*A version of this article appears in print in the 29 July, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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KYODO NEWS - Aug 2, 2021 - 21:30 | All, Japan, News, Coronavirus

Japan reported 8,393 new coronavirus cases on Monday, almost double the figure confirmed the same day in the previous week, as infections continue to surge in and around the capital where the Olympics are being held.

The nationwide tally of cases included 2,195 in Tokyo, which confirmed over 3,000 cases for five consecutive days through Sunday, and high numbers in the surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, which logged 1,686, 787 and 762 cases, respectively.

The capital's seven-day rolling average of cases has risen to a record 3,214.4 per day, up 106.9 percent from the previous week. Those experiencing severe symptoms rose by 13 from the previous day to 114.

According to the prime minister's office, over 50 million people, or around 40 percent of the population, have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Three weeks have passed since the central government placed Tokyo under a fourth state of emergency from July 12. But the measure, which mostly relies on a cooperative public and not a hard lockdown as in some countries, has had little effect in slowing infections.

Although foot traffic in the capital's downtown areas has slightly decreased, the surge in infections comes amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Related coverage:

Japan's ruling party policy chief seeks Diet debate on virus lockdown

Japan expands COVID state of emergency to Osaka, 3 areas near Tokyo

Tokyo's daily new COVID-19 cases top 3,000 for 5th day in row
KYODO NEWS - Aug 3, 2021 - 00:29 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

The Japanese government said Monday it will tighten border controls for travelers from three U.S. states, Finland and some other areas in response to the spread of highly contagious variants of the novel coronavirus.

In a set of changes to border control measures taking effect Thursday, those arriving from the U.S. states of Indiana, Kansas and Texas, as well as Finland, will be asked to stay in government-designated facilities for three days after arrival and take additional virus tests on the third day.

The same measure will also be applied to travelers from Georgia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Luxembourg and five Russian oblasts including Astrakhan.

Japan will also shorten the quarantine period of 10 days on visitors from Afghanistan to six days in designated facilities, and subject them to more coronavirus testing on the third and sixth days after arrival.

They will still be requested to undergo self-isolation for 14 days after entering Japan.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 3, 2021 - 00:20 | World

Brunei's second foreign minister Erywan Yusof has become the leading contender for the job of ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, tasked with mediating among the parties and finding a peaceful resolution to the crisis in the country, ASEAN sources said Monday.

The matter was discussed when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held an online foreign ministers' meeting the same day, partly to discuss a peaceful resolution of the situation in Myanmar where the military seized power six months ago.

However, the situation is in flux as to whether the Myanmar side agrees to accept Erywan's appointment, the sources said.

The one-day meeting had been scheduled to end in the morning, but the discussions were significantly exceeded.

The sources said Indonesia strongly opposed the selection of Thai candidate Virasakdi Futrakul, a former deputy foreign minister and veteran diplomat who was publicly endorsed by Myanmar's junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday.

Considering his closeness with Myanmar's ruling generals, however, he has been seen to be less likely to succeed in drawing a path to the return to civilian rule through dialogue with detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.

At Monday's meeting, Indonesia and Singapore had pushed for Erywan of Brunei, the current chair country of the 10-member ASEAN, the sources said.

They said negotiations were difficult, with most ASEAN members eventually settling on Erywan. As of Monday evening, however, Myanmar had not made its stance known.

After the end of the meeting, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged Myanmar's junta to immediately approve the appointment of the special envoy.

She told reporters that even though the meeting had officially concluded, discussions were still ongoing in drafting a joint communique.

The minister said she lamented in the meeting that "no significant progress has been made" over the implementation of five points agreed upon at an extraordinary ASEAN summit held in Indonesia in late April to discuss the situation in Myanmar.

She also said that if the ASEAN foreign ministers fail to guarantee concrete measures over the implementation of the five points, including the dispatch of the special envoy, Indonesia will propose to return the issue back to the leaders for guidance.

The five items also included the need for an immediate suspension of violence and humanitarian assistance from ASEAN.

Other nominees put forward had included Hassan Wirajuda, a former Indonesian foreign minister, and Razali Ismail, a Malaysian who was a U.N. special envoy for Myanmar in the 2000s tasked with facilitating national reconciliation and democratization in the country, according to the sources.

It had initially been believed that the special envoy would be dispatched in mid-May, but the military government had shown little willingness to accept such a delegation.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Related coverage:

Myanmar military forms caretaker gov't with army chief as PM

Myanmar's military leader agrees to accept ASEAN special envoy
New Delhi:

In a student-friendly move, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday dashed a letter to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman Anita Karwal, seeking a probe into the alleged NEET data leak scandal.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress on Tuesday confirmed the news and said, "Congress President Rahul Gandhi writes to the Chairperson CBSE to order an enquiry into the data breach and to put in place effective safeguards to prevent safeguards to prevent future breaches".

"It's alleged that data of candidates who appeared for NEET this year, is available on certain websites for a price & has leaked data of over 2,00,000 students. I strongly urge you to order an inquiry," Rahul wrote in his one-page letter to the CBSE.

Congress President @RahulGandhi writes to the Chairperson CBSE to order an enquiry into the data breach and to put in place effective safeguards to prevent safeguards to prevent future breaches. pic.twitter.com/R7WWbsHb7D  Congress (@INCIndia) July 24, 2018

Read | Madras High Court orders CBSE to grant 196 marks for 49 erroneous Tamil questions

Meanwhile, talking about the NEET 2018 data leak issue, MoS HRD Satyapal Singh said, "The DG of NIC has told me there has been no data leak from their server. But some private agency has collected data from students".

"So, perhaps it has been compromised. However, the Govt of India ensures no data leak from any Govt agency," Singh added.

In a massive breach of data, the personal details such as phone numbers, email IDs and addresses of thousands of NEET applicants were made available online for a payment of up to Rs 2 lakh.

The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which was announced on June 4. Over 13 lakh candidates had appeared for the same.

The NEET data scandal came to light months after the Class XII Economics paper of the CBSE had allegedly been leaked one day before the examination.

Read | Madras High Court raps CBSE over NEET question paper errors

According to reports, several handwritten notes, containing the Class XII Economics questions were widely circulated on WhatsApp a day before the examination on March 26.

The board, however, had conducted the Class XII Economics re-examination on April 25 and published the both Class X and Xlass XII examination results on time.
New Delhi:

Jammu and Kashmir policeman Salem Ahmed Shah, who was abducted by the terrorists from his home in Kulgam on Friday night, has been found dead.

The bullet-ridden body of Khan, a constable, was recovered by security forces from a field in Qaimoh Gath area of the district on Saturday evening, according to ANI.

Our colleague Salem Ahmed Shah was abducted and killed by terrorists in #Kulgam. We condemn this cowardly act. We all stand by his family at this critical juncture, Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

Our colleague Salem Ahmed Shah was abducted and killed by terrorists in #Kulgam. We condemn this cowardly act. We all stand by his family at this critical juncture.@JmuKmrPolice pic.twitter.com/pTtuIUraf4  Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) July 21, 2018

The tragic incident came nearly a month after the terrorists abducted and killed an Army soldier from south Kashmir. Rifleman Aurangzeb of 44, Rashtriya Rifles, was going to his home for Eid celebrations when some terrorists intercepted the private bus he had boarded and abducted him.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today lashed out at the Narendra Modi government, saying the people of the country have to be rescued from a "dangerous regime" that is "compromising" with India's democracy.

In her address to the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee, which met for the first time under the chairmanship of party chief Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi also cautioned the people about the "reign of despair and fear" heaped upon India's deprived and poor.

She said the rhetoric of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his "desperation" reflecting that the "reverse countdown" of the Modi government has begun.

Also Read | CWC meeting LIVE updates | Reverse countdown of PM Modi's government has begun: Sonia Gandhi

We are committed to make alliances work and we are all with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in this endeavour.

We have to rescue our people from a dangerous regime that is compromising with the democracy of India, she said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

In a tragic incident, seven people were injured while several others were feared to be trapped under the debris after a five-storey under-construction building collapsed in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Sunday, said District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari.

Rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire department and UP police were rushed to the spot to carry out rescue and search operation.

All the injured, including two children and as many women, were admitted to a nearby hospital for medical assistance.

Eyewitnesses said that the under-construction building, which was located in the dense Missal Gadi area of Ghaziabad, collapsed suddenly and labourers were working inside when the incident took place.

Labourers working at the building said that they were forced to work despite a crack in the column of the building on Sunday morning. They informed the builder about the crack but he asked them to full the cracks with cement.

Labourers working at the building collapsed in Ghaziabad say'A crack appeared in the column of the building this morning,Builder told us to fill the cracks with cement & forced us to continue. We were working on the upper floor, the column must have collapsed at the ground floor' pic.twitter.com/fwZTq1XQpX  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 22, 2018

This was the second such incident in less than a week in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, a six-storey under-construction building had collapsed on another five-storey building in Greater Noida. The twin-building collapse in Shahberi village had claimed nine lives, including that of a toddler and two women.

Highlights:

#06:10 PM: UP CM Yogi Adityanath directs DM & SSP Ghaziabad to visit the site of building collapse in Ghaziabad, to take immediate action for rescue operations along with NDRF and lodge an FIR and take action against those guilty.

#05:41 PM: Ghaziabad: NDRF team and dog squad are present at the site where a five-storey building collapsed in Missal Gadi. Search and rescue operation are underway. Seven people have been rescued so far.

Ghaziabad: NDRF team and dog squad are present at the site where a five-storey building collapsed in Missal Gadi. Search and rescue operation are underway. Seven people have been rescued so far. pic.twitter.com/R0kWEp4Y0j  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 22, 2018

#05:30 PM: Prima facie, there seems to be issues with quality of the building. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered. 7 people have been rescued and sent to hospital. There is no casualty as of now. Rescue ops are underway: Ritu Maheshwari, Ghaziabad DM on building collapse in Missal Gadi

#05:10 PM: Spot Visuals: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has rescued a person from the site of a five-storey building collapse in Ghaziabad's Missal Gadi. One body has also been recovered by the team.

#UPDATE: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has rescued a person from the site of a five-storey building collapse in Ghaziabad's Missal Gadi. One body has also been recovered by the team. pic.twitter.com/wJMUmsY8O4  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 22, 2018

#04:50 PM: Five-storey under-construction building collapses in Ghaziabad's Missal Gadi area. Several construction workers feared trapped under the debris. UP Police, NDRF teams on spot. Rescue operation underway.
New Delhi:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for concocting a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the procurement deal of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft.

"Rahul Gandhi, by concocting a conversation with President Macron, has lowered his own credibility and seriously hurt the image of an Indian politician before the world at large," Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

During the no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the Congress president had alleged that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lied to the nation when she refused to reveal the price of Rafale aircraft citing a security pact with France.

He had said that there was no such security deal with France and he was told this by none other than but the French president himself.

Also Read | After Modi hug, Rahul Gandhi says only love and compassion can build nation

The French government came out with a clarification and said that not revealing the actual cost of the Rafale fighter jet fell under the security pact between India and France signed in 2008. However, the statement didnt refer to the claimed conversation between Gandhi and the French President.

Jaitley said that facts are always sacrosanct and one should never misquote a conversation with a Head of State as he will never feel comfortable to speak in the presence of that person.

One should never misquote a conversation with a Head of Government or a Head of State. You do it once, serious people will be reluctant to speak to you or speak in your presence," the finance minister added.

The Congress president has been alleging a scam in the revised Rafale deal signed by the Narendra Modi government. He claimed that the price of one fighter jet was higher than what was finalised during the UPA rule.

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Bengaluru:

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he would not contest the next Lok Sabha polls.

..I have said that I will not contest for Parliament, I will not contest, Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

After Siddaramaiahs recent induction into the congress working committee, speculation has been rife that he may be considering contesting the Lok Sabha polls.



Siddaramaiah, who currently holds the post of congress Legislature party leader and the head of Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee, had contested the May 12 assembly polls from two constituencies.

He won from Badami but lost from his home turf Chamundeshwari in Mysuru.

Ahead of assembly elections, Siddaramaiah had announced that it was most likely to be his last election.

Earlier, addressing party office-bearers, district congress committee heads at a meeting, organised by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, he urged party men to recharge themselves to face the Lok Sabha polls.

He said though there were strong expectationsthat the party will retain power in the assembly polls, hesaid we lost due to false campaign by the BJP.

Lets prepare ourselves for the Lok Sabha polls, defeating BJP in that election should be our only target, he was quoted as saying by his office in a statement.

The former chief minister also hit out the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promises made to people.

The prime minister is like a drama artiste... what people need is Kaam ki Baat and not Man ki Baat, he added.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A fresh fatwa was issued against triple talaq crusader Nida Khan, which allegedly announces a reward of Rs.11786 for anybody who stones and chops her hairs.

Nida said she had been asked to leave India within three days or shell be stoned.

A fatwa issued against me says whosoever brings chopped hair of Nida Khan will be rewarded with an amount of Rs.11786 and if I do not leave this country within 3 days, I will be attacked with stones, ANI quoted Nida Khan as saying.

Nida said she will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to take actions against the people issuing fatwas.

She added she decided not meet the prime minister citing security issues.

These people issuing such fatwas should be stopped. I will take a proper appointment to meet PM Modi and will appeal to him about it. He was in Shahjahanpur today but I decided not to go to meet him due to my own security issues, Nida said.

On Friday, a Bareily NGO, All India Faizan-e-Madina Council announced rewards of Rs 11,786 to anyone who stones and shaves the head of Nida Khan and Farhat Naqvi.

Our group will award Rs 11,786 to anyone who stones Nida Khan and Farhat Naqvi, shaves their heads and scares them away from India, All India Faizan-e-Madina Council head Moin Siddique Noori announced.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Upping the ante against Narendra Modi government, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday smelled a scam in Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France, accusing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of doing flip-flops on secrecy close.

Our Defence Minister said she would, but now she wont. She flip flops between its-not-a-secret & its-a-BIG-secret. The PM squirms when asked about the price of RAFALE and refuses to look me in the eye. Sure smells like a scam, Gandhi tweeted.

The claims of a scam in the Rafale deal with France came two days after he launched a scathing attack on the Modi government and Sitharaman over the deal.

On Friday, the Congress president in his speech during the no-confidence motion debate had accused the defence minister of lying to the people of the country and claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron had told him that no secrecy pact was stopping her from revealing the Rafale aircraft pricing.

Hours after his claim, government of France issued an official statement saying that the 2008 security agreement between India and France was applicable in the Rafale deal. However, the statement didnt mention the Congress presidents claimed conversation with Macron.

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A total of 42 children from Assam have been rescued in Sikkim and brought back to the state on Friday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The parents of the children, hailing from four villages of Chirang district along the Indo-Bhutan border, were lured by two persons who assured that their education would be taken care of, but they ended up as domestic helps, Sarma told reporters here.

The two accused have been arrested and during interrogation, one of them claimed that in the last two years, 80 children have been trafficked from the state, with some sent to Dubai as well, officials said.

The operation to rescue the children was initiated by Chirang Police under the guidance of Bodoland Territorial council chief Promod Bodo and Special DGP L R Bishnoi, while Sikkim Police provided the necessary help and cooperation.

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Kabul: Afghanistan's first Vice President Amrullah Saleh on Sunday lashed out at Pakistan for the deteriorating situation in his country and said that the neighboring country had no intention of engaging in meaningful negotiations.

Saleh is undoubtedly the pre-eminent face of the country's leadership who is not mincing words against Pakistan and its leadership in fomenting trouble. In a latest tweet, Saleh blamed Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for "once again speaking on behalf of Taliban". Saleh queried in a tweet on Sunday which reads: "Once again speaking on behalf of Taliban terrorists, the strategic proxy of his country in Afghanistan & the region, Foreign Minister Qureshi is louder. But can he explain where does he gets his confidence? When was the latest meeting of GHQ with Quetta Shura & HQN?" The tweet comes after Qureshi said that the Taliban would not allow the Islamic State (IS) militants to penetrate into their country.

All of Saleh's messaging over the last few days and weeks is directly attacking Pakistan, the ISI, Pakistan Army and the Taliban. Taliban have intensified their offensive against civilians, Afghan defence, and security forces as the foreign troops are withdrawing from the war-torn country.

Over the last few weeks, they captured several districts in Afghanistan including Takhar, the country's northeastern province. The extremist group issued diktats like ordering women to not leave home alone and men to grow their beards. The First Vice President has also accused Pakistan of full-scale invasion of Afghanistan.

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Washington: The US has blamed Iran for carrying out a deadly drone attack on an oil tanker in the North Arabian Sea last week, saying there is going to be a proper response. In a statement issued on Sunday, the State Department said, "On reviewing the information present, we are sure that Iran carried out the attack, killing two innocent people."

The department further said there was no justification for the attack, which follows a pattern of attacks other combative behaviour. These works threaten the lives of those on board the ships involved in this important waterway, freedom of navigation through international shipping commerce. We are working with our partners to consider our next steps, consulting with governments beyond that within the region on a reasonable response.

On July 30, Rashi Chakra Maritime, a London-based firm owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, reported that its oil tanker Mercer Street was attacked the day before. On Sunday too, Israeli PM Naftali Bennett blamed Iran for the attack, saying his country had intelligence evidence of Tehran's involvement, hoping that the international community would put pressure on the Islamic Republic that made a major mistake.

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Mumbai: Deepika Padukone, who appeared in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) protest while promoting her film 'Chhapak', is once again seen in controversy. She is alleged to have taken about Rs 5 crore from Pakistani agent Anil Musarat to go and stand among the protesters in JNU. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is now investigating the matter after it came to light. There is no ordinary citizen who disclosed such serious allegations against Deepika, but a former officer of the Indian intelligence agency RAW NK Sood.

NK Sood says Anil Musrat had called Deepika and asked her to go to JNU. The entire matter is in the news after the death of Sushant Singh in the recent past and the revelation of the black truth of Bollywood and the relationship between Pakistani agents of people related to the industry. Meanwhile, NK Sood in one of his videos has exposed the truth behind Deepika's JNU. Earlier it was believed that it was a PR stunt for Deepika. N.K. Sood in his video spoke about Anil Musarat's profession and how Anil Musarat is close to Pakistan PM Imran Khan. As a result, it has also extended a lot of support to Imran Khan's party PTI. Anil is also closely associated with the Pakistani army and Pakistan's Intelligence Agency ISI. Even then there are many Bollywood celebrities who are constantly associated with Anil. It has many big names like Karan Johar and Anil Kapoor. Anil's daughter's wedding was also attended by many Bollywood actors and even when Anil Kapoor's daughter Sonam Kapoor got married, Pak agent Anil appeared in it.

According to Nk Sood, Anil Musarat supports many anti-India activities and was the one who funded the demonstration even when there was anti-citizenship amendment bill (CAA) protests in London. On its surface, even films in which Hindu deities are depicted with indecency are willing to finance Anil Musarat. Anil Musarat has been questioned many times by the British administration on matters like money laundering and tetar funding. On the 3:35 slot of a video uploaded on a YouTube channel called Indian Security Research Group on July 24, you can hear that NK Sood is referring to Deepika Padukone's departure from JNU in January. He says Deepika arrived JNU in January 2020. There was a piece-by-piece gang demonstration going on. Deepika went there to support her and promote her film. But they did all this at the behest of Anil Musarat.

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Renault India on Monday informed it has commenced shipping Kiger SUV models which are developed and manufactured in the country to the South African market. The company already began exporting Kiger to Nepal last month and has been exporting the Triber MPV to South Africa with the first batch being dispatched back in December of 2019.

Kiger was launched in the sub-compact SUV segment in India earlier this year and has the potential to be added among the favorites in rising markets across the world. And while it is specifically designed for the Indian customer, Venkatram Mmillapalle, Country CEO and MD at Renault India Operations feels the vehicle has the appeal to cater to a wider audience market." The commencement of Kiger exports to South Africa today and Nepal earlier this month highlights Renaults strong commitment to the Make in India mission, demonstrating the competence of Indias design, engineering, and world-class manufacturing capabilities," he said." Renaults diverse range of offerings in passenger vehicles has been consistently well- received by the people of South Africa. Kiger will further bolster our existing portfolio in the country." he further stated.

In India, Kiger has a long list of rivals to compete against. It includes Nissan Magnite, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, among others. But what seeks to set this car apart from its rivals is (also) its more coupe-ish silhouette. Renault Kiger's design is highlighted by its horizontally stacked headlamps above the front bumper and sleek LED DRLs. But Renault is increasing its reach in India following the launch of Kiger. Currently, Renault India has more than 500 sales and service touchpoints in India.

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is likely to visit Iran this week to represent India at the oath-taking ceremony of the new Iran President Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi's oath-taking ceremony will take place in Tehran on 5th August which will see participation by several heads of government and foreign ministers participating. Raisi, a hardliner and known to be close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, won the presidential election in June by a landslide.

This will be Jaishankar's second visit to Iran in a matter of one month. Last month he had visited Iran while going to Moscow. During the stopover he called on President-Elect Ebrahim Raisi, becoming the first foreign minister to do so. During his meeting with the Iranian President-elect, he handed over a personal message from Indian PM Narendra Modi. India has already accepted an invitation by Iran for the event, which is likely to be attended by leaders and representatives of a number of countries.

In a tweet after the meet, Indian External Affairs Minister said, "Deeply value his strong commitment to strengthen our bilateral ties and expand cooperation on regional and global issues." At a connectivity conference in Tashkent last month, Jaishankar projected Iran's Chabahar Port as a key regional transit hub.

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Butwal, August 2

Opposition parties in the Lumbini Provincial Assembly have submitted an application to the new province chief, Governor Amit Sherchan, requesting he initiate a fresh process to form the new government in the province.

The Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha, in the application submitted on Monday, have claimed Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel has already lost majority support in the assembly. They have also submitted the signatures of 41 lawmakers of the 80-member assembly, stating they can garner the majority support to form the new government.

Earlier on May 2, Pokhrel was reappointed as the chief minister, hours after he resigned from the position, as he had claimed his party, CPN-UML, had the support of 41 lawmakers in the province. However, two lawmakers had resigned from the positions expressing dissatisfaction with Pokhrel whereas one defected to the CPN-Maoist Centre.

It means Pokhrel has the support of only 38 lawmakers currently.

Consequently, the opposition parties had filed a no-confidence motion against him on May 9, but the then governor Dharma Nath Yadav, who was close to the UML, had rejected the call, arguing the motion cannot be filed in the first two years of the appointment.

Apparently, to pave the way for the opposition parties to topple the government, the federal government consisting of the NC, Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party had removed Yadav from the position to be replaced with Sherchan, a former Maoist leader.
Three years ago, 13-year-old Nirmala Pant went missing from her home in Kanchanpur. Not seeing her daughter come home, Durga Devi, worried, went to the nearest police office to file a complaint. But, the officers on duty did not take her seriously as they refused to file the complaint.

They told me she must have eloped and would be back tomorrow, Durga Devi had told Onlinekhabar three years ago. Had they been serious about investigating the case, maybe things would have been different. Police Inspector Jagadish Bhatta, who was the ward police chief of the area, had also told her that they would search for Durga Devis daughter the following day.

An investigation officer at Nepal Police says that this was the point where the police failed as officers did not show any interest to carry out a preliminary investigation into the case that later emerged as one of the biggest murder mysteries of recent years in Nepal.

They shouldve taken the case and started investigation. Had they done that, things would not have been as bad it has been, says retired DIG Pitambar Adhikari. For a family that is worried, a good preliminary investigation goes a long way as it gives them the confidence that the police will do their job honestly.

Kanchanpur police, however, failed to do so. SP Dilliraj Bista, this district incharge of Kancharpur Police, did not even go to the place where Pants body was found, which caused uproar in the community. The police were even accused of trying the save the culprits as they cleaned the deceaseds clothes.

Female police officers covered her lifeless body to hide from people who had come to see the commotion. But in cases like these, transparency is the only way you can give the victims family and others the assurance that youre doing the right thing, says Adhikari.

He says that from a forensic viewpoint, it is a crime to wash the clothes of a victim but adds that there are times other things need to be taken into consideration as well.

It was wrong to do that, but there are times when the police do things based on their instinct. But that said, the intentions should be clear from the start, says Adhikari.

Durga Devi in Kathmandu seeking for justice.

Twenty-five days after the incident, the Kanchanpur District Police Office and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) announced that Dillip Singh Bista was the person who had killed pant, but the locals did not believe the police as they were not kept in the loop about the investigation from the start.

Chief investigator of the case, DSP Angur GC, however, said Bista was the only person who could have done such a crime based on all the evidence they had. In order to prove their claim, the investigators sent Bistas DNA to be tested. But, his DNA did not match with the vaginal swab collected from the victims body as the case took another drastic twist.

Bista was released by the police which resulted in an uproar in the country as the investigators were dubbed the culprits by the locals.

Three years on, the police still do not know who actually killed Nirmala Pant. There could be several reasons why the case still remained a mystery, but investigators and stakeholders say local polices ignorance of the preliminary information the families provided is the first error.

But, there are several cases like this when the investigators cannot consider the information they were given seriously, which not only further victimises the potential victims but also makes the public lose faith in the police institution.

Unlearned lesson

Sujita Bhandaris body was found in the woods.

After this incident, there was hope that the police would learn a lesson and conduct investigations in a fair and just manner. But, in less than three years, another incident shed light on how poor polices preliminary investigations are.

On June 25, 2021, Sujita Bhandari went missing from her home in Chitwan. Bhandari had called her sister Kavita telling her she had been kidnapped. But when Kavita went to the police to file a complaint, the police did not take her seriously as suspected that this was all hoax.

Chitwans District Police Office also disregarded the claim that Bhandari had been kidnapped and told her family that she might have eloped. But on July 4, her body was found in a community forest near her home and the police finally took the case seriously.

The kidnapping story sounded fabricated as we felt that the call Sujita made was fake, says an officer who was associated with the case.

Former DIG Hemanta Malla says that a police officer cannot take any information lightly. He says that even though this case looks like a suicide, the police could have taken her sister seriously which may have avoided Sujitas death.

The District Police Office has already announced that Bhandari committed suicide, but whether that was the case is yet to be proved.

Her body was brought to Kathmandus TU Teaching Hospital for post-mortem. But doctors have not been able to determine whether it was murder or suicide.

The police say she committed suicide because they found a packet of poison near her lifeless body. But coming to a verdict without waiting for a viscera report is wrong, say experts.

Were still waiting for the viscera report from the National Forensic Science Laboratory. But due to Covid-19, they are only operating with 50 per cent staff, which is causing a delay, says an official working at the District Police Office.

While this case was going on, another news of 21-year-old Bina Sapokta disappearing started to surface. Her family filed a complaint at the police over a month ago, yet police have found little to no leads.

Sapkotas father Jayeshwar says that Pravesh Kandel, who has been arrested by the police, is soon being released as they do not have enough evidence to keep him in custody. Kandel, according to Jayeshwar, is Sapkotas boyfriend who had taken her to Chitwan from Nawalpur on the day she disappeared.

But as she did not come home by 9 pm, Jayeshwar went to the district police office to file a complaint. The police arrested Kandel and started an investigation, but Kandel says that he last saw Sapkota at an ATM lounge near the Narayani Hospital.

Police say Sapkota and Kandel had an argument near the hospital, which has been captured in CCTV. The footage shows the two arguing as Bina throws her mobile phone. But around 8 pm, Bina seems to have called Pravesh (Kandel) from a different phone, says a police officer associated with the investigation.

According to the police report, Sapkota was last seen near the banks of the Narayani river. Apart from that, the police have no leads whatsoever.

Mistakes after mistakes

Police investigating the area where Nirmala Pantas body was found.

There have also been cases in which the investigation has been affected by the victims families themselves. When Sujita Thakur, from Mahottari, went missing on June 3, her family told the police that she had eloped.

After being informed by her family, the police arrested a person she had an alleged relationship with and started an investigation.

The police, on that basis, told her family that their daughter had run away, without investigating the case deeply. But after a month, the case took an interesting turn as police started to suspect the family itself including her husband Mukesh and brother-in-law, Rupesh. Rupesh was the one who had told the police she had eloped with another man.

Police eventually found Sujita Thakurs body which was hidden at a septic tank of a sawmill, a kilometre away from her house. Upon finding the body, police then started to quiz her entire family.

These are just a few cases. In the past three years, there have been countless examples in which the polices negligence has affected cases.

According to an expert, police have been making similar mistakes in the past as well, but due to a lack of mediums, they had not been coming out to the public.

These happen because of mistakes, not because of ill intentions, says DIG Uttam Subedi.

According to data provided by the police headquarters, in the past three years, 21,712 women and girls have gone missing in Nepal, out of which 736 were found dead.

Investigation process questioned

Over the past few years, the public has been questioning the effectiveness of these investigations carried out by the police.

On June 8, 2021, Sejal Koirala, from Ilam, was declared dead by Lifeline Hospital in Damak. Koirala was found unconscious by her boyfriend Arun Rai. Police, sniffing something shady, arrested Rai and started investigating the case. During the investigation, Rai continued to reiterate that Koirala fell in the bathroom and died due to it.

The polices initial investigation found out the two were living together and were also involved sexually. The post-mortem report said that Koirala was strangled, after which Rai admitted that he killed her because she would not have sex with him as she was ill.

Lawyers believe Rai should have been charged with both rape and murder of Koirala as does her family. But, the police did not ask for the vaginal swab during the post-mortem, as a result, Rai will only face one charge (murder).

Two years ago, polices initial investigation confirmed that the survivor who had accused controversial religious leader Siddhababa of rape had been to his ashram to meditate. After the incident, Siddhababa calling the victim to apologise was also found out in the initial investigation as he was presented at the court. But, Sunsari District Court judge Ram Krishna Upreti released Sidhhababa for a bail of Rs 300,000.

The survivor states the police had asked the two parties to come to an agreement since the beginning. She says SP Yagya Binod Pokharel took her to the side to minutely take her statement. But according to Nepals rule, a female police officer should have been doing that.

Human rights activist Mohna Ansari says these type of incidents show how weak Nepal Polices initial investigation is.

Investigations should be done fairly with the help of forensic science and should be victim-friendly. But, the current state in which police investigate cases is wrong, she says. When the polices investigation is weak, the court will not be able to make the correct verdict.

Ansari further says the police need to change the way they investigate cases, also adding influence and greed have been affecting investigations.

Another example is the Durbarmarg rape case of 2017, in which the police tried to settle the case between the survivor and the offender by offering the victim Rs 3 million. But as the case gained media attention, DSP Tilak Bharati was removed from his position as the chief of the Durbarmarg Police Circle while inspector Laxman Singh Thakuri was suspended.

Advocate Mira Dhunga feels this is an example of the police looking at women as objects.

The way police look at women is wrong, says Dhungana. Most of the time when a woman is missing, they say she must have run away with a man. This needs to change.

Even when they find a dead boy, the police seem to make some sort of errors. SP Jaya Bishnu Nepali, who has spent a lot of time in crime scene investigation, says this happens when the police do not send skilled personnel to the crime scene.

The crime scene officer is important when it comes to gathering evidence from a crime scene. He even asks from a specific report from the post-mortem based on what he sees in the crime scene, says Nepali, who adds there are not many skilled and experienced crime scene officers in Nepal.

In Nirmala Pants case, police should have kept her clothes away from the sun instead of washing them and have covered her body with something else. Doing that would have helped investigators a lot, he claims.

Nepali police does not even protect the crime scene in a manner that they should, say experts. This again has to do with inexperienced crime scene officers.

These small things play a major role in making sure the culprits are caught. Chief investigation officers are also turning a blind eye to all this, which is causing further issues, says Nepali.

Dhungana feels there are incidents in which the police are hostile towards the survivors themselves.

A new ordinance has been passed which has made things even more difficult because a woman will have to face the consequences if her claims are not proved. It is hard because the police do not investigate the matter with competence, says Dhungana, who adds that it is likely that there will be fewer cases due to it.

She says that mistakes even happen during prosecution, due to which the survivors do not get justice.

Helpless police

DIG Uttam Subedi feels that a protest after a murder or any crime is pointless as it affects the polices investigation and, in many cases, causes a diversion.

Weve had to mobilise the police that we need for investigation to control the crowd that causes havoc in the respective cities, says Subedi.

Nepal Police Spokesperson SSP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar says that because the investigation is not maths or science, they cannot follow the set criteria at all times.

Police will face difficulties due to different circumstances. Sometimes, its the weather that makes it tough while sometimes its other situations. Things arent always black and white, says Kunwar, who says that they also need technical help.

Former DIG Adhikari says police should now make sure they look after call detail records and locations in every criminal case. But for this to happen, police will need permission from a court.

The court preaches anonymity which is good, but it does affect the investigation as we have to wait a long time before we get these intricate details, says Adhikari. Take kidnapping for example. If we get the location of the person when they call, itll be easy to catch them. Now due to these rules, it takes us ages.

An official at the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office says that policy does not favour the police even though technology does.

If we misuse it, take action. But when we have technology available, dont make it hard on us to investigate please, he says.

Police have the provision to gather fingerprints, but sadly, they do not have the data to match these fingerprints with, which causes a lot of problems.

We can only trace fingerprints of people who have been arrested previously. We need to do what countries in the West do. We need to have every citizens fingerprint on our database, says Adhikari

He further adds Nepal needs more CCTV cameras in all major areas of the country, which will in the long run help catch culprits. There are CCTV cameras in many areas in major cities in the country, but most of them are below par.

We have to look at the movement and then investigate the matter. When these cameras are substandard, its hard, says an investigation official.

Nepal Police has brought a new sim locator that will help them find phones which have been switched off. But, it is yet to come into operation.

A few bad investigations should not undermine all the good things that we have done. We know that we have to improve and that is what we have been doing, says an official.
Kathmandu, August 2

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) handed over the oxygen cylinders worth Rs 11.9 million (equivalent to USD 100,000) to the government of Nepal to help it better prepare for the next wave of the pandemic, on Monday.

UNFPA Deputy Representative Hashina Begum handed over 800 oxygen cylinders to Bhim Singh Tinkari, the director of the Management Division under the Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Population.

The UN agency says this support was made possible under the existing South-South and Triangular Cooperation Project agreement between the governments of Nepal and China, and UNFPA.

Receiving the support, Dr Tinkari said, We require oxygen supplies to respond to the current emergency as well as to prepare for a possible third wave. This support from the government of China and UNFPA will help increase access to health facilities with functioning oxygen supplies.

Likewise, UNFPA Representative to Nepal, Lubna Baqi, said, While we are providing the critical support to the Covid-19 response efforts, we must ensure continuity of reproductive health services including consistent supply of contraceptives and essential reproductive health commodities to mitigate the impact of the unprecedented pandemic on women and girls.

Earlier, also with funding from the government of China, UNFPA had delivered over 7,000 PPE kits to support the government of Nepals effort to prevent transmission and respond to the pandemic. In addition, through the hospital-based one-stop crisis management centres and safe houses, the agency had delivered over 340,000 sanitary pads, supported by China, to young women and girls across the country as a part of Covid-19 and monsoon emergency responses.
Workforce

Bipartisan bill looks to get acquisition workforce on board with AI

The leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee are looking to get the federal workforce  particularly program managers and acquisition specialists  on board with artificial intelligence.

A new bill, the Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act, would set up a training program for federal workers to learn more about AI technology, from its scientific underpinnings to risks associated with its use.

"Federal employees must be aware of the ethical implications, risks, and benefits associated with AI," Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the chair of the committee and a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. "This important legislation will help protect our national security, help us remain competitive in the long run, and make sure AI technology is used properly."

The bill tasks the Office of Management and Budget with establishing training to help the federal workforce understand the science behind AI, how AI can benefit government programs as well as the risks associated with AI, including privacy violations and inherent bias in algorithms that power AI programs.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the committee and a co-sponsor of the bill, couched his support for the measure in economic terms.

"We need a federal acquisition workforce that understands AI, how it works, how it can help the government run better, and the ways we can fix the problems with AI systems so those procurement professionals can know they are buying the right AI systems for the government," Portman said in a statement.

The bill was introduced July 29 and awaits a committee vote.
Every investor wants an in, some hint that will tell exactly what a stock is going to do, and when. The kind of signal that will cut through the markets noise, and makes sense of the deluge of raw data that every company generates. Multiply that data by 10,000 publicly traded stocks, and youll have some idea of just how daunting the markets can be.

Its tempting to follow an expert: a Wall Street analyst, or a trading guru. They all have important contributions to make. But here, well take a look at some corporate insiders. These are names you likely havent heard, because they have a lower profile. They are company officers, with close insight to their own companies and business niches.

Insiders know whats in store for their companies, based on their positions of corporate responsibility  responsibility to Directors and shareholders, for bringing in profits and returns. Which makes their trades a sound place to start looking for solid buys.

TipRanks Insiders Hot Stocks tool offers investors a range of ways to follow insiders, and data filters that make search results easy to parse. Weve picked three stocks with recent informative buys to show how the data works for you.

Nicolet Bankshares (NCBS)

We'll start with Nicolet Bankshares, a small-cap regional bank holding company based in Wisconsin. The subsidiary company, Nicolet National Bank, operates 30 branches in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, offering a full range of personal and business banking solutions, ranging from checking accounts and savings deposits to mortgages, wealth management, and retirement services.

The company has seen sound revenue and earnings through the last 5 quarters, which continued in its latest quarterly statement. Nicolet reported EPS of $1.77 per share in 2Q21, based on $18.2 million in net earnings. The net was up 34% year-over-year, with the EPS gaining 38%  and beating consensus by over 8%. Revenue also came in ahead of the Streets forecast, increasing by 13.8% from the same period a year ago to reach $55.75 million, a $19.62 million beat. The company finished the first half of the year with $4.6 billion in total assets, of which $792 million was cash or cash equivalents.

Story continues

Management boasts that Nicolet has the most active acquisition record among Wisconsin banks  and in 1H21, the company made two relevant announcements. First, in April, Nicolet reached a firm agreement to acquire Mackinac Financial, a regional bank with $1.5 billion in assets. The deal will close in 3Q21, pending shareholder approval; regulatory approval has already been obtained.

Second, Nicolet entered an agreement to acquire County Bancorp, a major agricultural lender in Wisconsin. County will also bring $1.5 billion in assets to the company, and the merger is expected to close in 4Q21. Both companies are now seeking shareholder and regulatory approval.

Turning to the insiders, we find that the companys CFO, Hubert Moore, and a Board member, Robert Weyers, have both made informative buys in recent days. Moore spent over $510,000 buying up 7,000 shares, while Weyers buy was smaller, $253,000 for 3,500 shares.

Writing for Maxim, 5-star analyst Michael Diana sees the companys acquisition activity as key.

We believe that NCBS deserves a premium due to its record of making accretive acquisitions, the most recent of which was announced last month. Since 2016, NCBS has acquired Baylake Corp, First Menasha Bancshares, and Choice Bancorp to become the leading independent bank in the demographically attractive areas of Green Bay and the Fox Valley. Its recently-announced acquisitions of MFNC [Mackinac] and ICBK [County] should continue NCBS' streak of successful acquisitions, in our view, Diana wrote.

Diana gives the stock a Buy rating and $94 price target that suggests room for 30% share appreciation in the year ahead. (To watch Dianas track record, click here)

This small-cap banking company has picked up 3 recent reviews from Wall Street  and they all agree that its a stock to Buy, making the consensus a unanimous Strong Buy. The shares are priced at $72.33 and their $89.33 average price target implies a 23.5% one-year upside potential. (See NCBS stock analysis on TipRanks)

Read more: 3 Strong Buy Stocks Trading at Steep Discounts

Glacier Bancorp (GBCI)

The second stock on our list is another bank holding company, this time the parent corporation of Montana-based Glacier Bank. The company has banking locations across 8 states, including Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, Washington and Nevada. Glacier Bancorp is another of the many regional mid-cap banking companies, and its subsidiary offers the usual range of banking services to individual and commercial clients, in both brick-and-mortar locations and online.

Glacier boasts over 190 locations, total assets of $20.5 billion, deposits of $16.8 billion, and loans of $11.2 billion. The companys year-to-date net income is given as $158.4 million. Second quarter income was $76.2 million, up $14.2 million year-over-year, or 22%. EPS came in at 81 cents, gaining 21% yoy and beating the forecast of 73 cents by over 10%. Excluding the PPP (payroll protection program) activity from the government during the corona crisis, the company reported a 10% annualized increase in loan activity, mainly in commercial lending, a gain of $249 million in the quarter.

Like Nicolet above, Glacier is active in acquisition activity, and announced a merger with Altabancorp during the quarter. This Utah-based company will bring assets worth $3.52 billion to the table, once the merger receives shareholder and regulatory approval.

On the insider front, the informative buy here was made by Craig Langel, Director and Chairman of the Board at Glacier Bancorp. Langel spent $773,250 on 15,000 shares of GBCI.

Brandon King, covering Glacier for Truist, writes: We view GBCI as a preferred acquirer in a footprint with limited competition and attractive demographic trends. The company has a disciplined credit culture and was able to resolve a higher than peer level of problem assets a few years ago. Moreover, the company has one of the best deposit bases in the country, which should provide greater NIM support in a higher rate environment. In our view, GBCI will likely continue to augment organic growth with digestible acquisitions given its strong currency."

King rates GBCI a Buy, and sets a $60 price target, implying an upside of 17% in the next 12 months. (To watch Kings track record, click here)

Overall, Glaciers shares get a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus, based on 2 Holds and 1 Buy. The shares are priced at $51.18 and their $58 average price target suggests an 11% upside from that level. (See GBCI stock analysis on TipRanks)

IMARA (IMRA)

Last but not least is IMARA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical firm, engaged in research on Hemoglobinopathies. Specifically, the company has a drug candidate in the pipeline as a treatment for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. These are two blood disorders  both sets of related diseases  that cause anemic symptoms; sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes misshapen red blood cells and can lead to serious quality-of-life issues and shortened life span, while beta thalassemia is a hemoglobin disorder, also inherited, that reduces the bloods ability to carry oxygen. Neither set of diseases currently has a fully effective treatment.

The chief drug candidate in IMARAs pipeline, IMR-687, is a selective and potent small molecule that inhibits PDE9. PDE9, in turn, plays a part in lowering levels of cGMP in blood-disorder patients, with associated inflammation, reduced blood flow, and other symptoms. Blocking PDE9 has been associated with reactivation of fetal hemoglobin  with consequent reduction of symptoms.

In June, IMARA reported final data from a Phase 2a clinical trial of IMR-687 in sickle cell disease which showed a significantly lower annualized rate of vaso-occlusive (blood flow blocking) crises (VOCs) in patients. New patients started on the drug also showed a longer time to the first VOC. IMR-687 was also well-tolerated by patients, both as a monotherapy and in combination with hydroxyurea.

In insider trades, the key transaction from an investor perspective was made at the end of July by Board member Mark Chin. Chin bought 1.333 million shares for nearly $8 million. Chins stake in the company now totals over $13.5 million.

Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz is bullish on IMRA, and takes the long-term view when assessing the companys prospects.

Although IMRA shares have been under pressure this year, we believe encouraging Ph.2a VOC data should give the stock some lift today ahead of Ph.2b interim data expected in 2H21... Ahead of interim Ph.2b ARDENT and FORTE data in 2H21, we reiterate our OP rating on IMRA," Schwartz wrote.

The analyst added, "We currently estimate gross peak sales of ~$2.8B (2035E), and ~$290M (2035E) for IMR-687 in SCD and -thalassemia, respectively. We account for clinical and regulatory risks in our probability of success (PoS) estimates, which range from 60%/40% in SCD (US/EU) to 40%/20% in thalassemia (US/EU)."

To this end, Schwartz gives IMRA shares a $42 price target  indicating true confidence, and an impressive 661% upside potential from the current share price. (To watch Schwartz's track record, click here)

Overall, IMRA has received two recent Buy recommendations from the analysts, for a Moderate Buy consensus rating. (See IMRA stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
The plan includes the acquisition of a 250-megawatt solar + 180-megawatt hour storage facility

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AES Indiana, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), today announced plans to acquire and construct a 250 MW solar + 180MWh energy storage facility in Pike County, Ind., 125 miles southwest of downtown Indianapolis. The Petersburg Solar Project is the next step toward AES Indiana's transition to greener and smarter solutions to meet the state's future energy needs.

"The Petersburg Solar Project is a win-win solution that adds new technologies to our generation fleet, while also keeping economic benefits right here in Indiana," said Kristina Lund, AES Indiana President and CEO. "We are excited to evolve our long-time partnership with Pike County, a community that has helped support and power the needs of Indianapolis for 50 years."

Connected to AES Indiana's existing Petersburg Generating Station, the project will power the equivalent of 45,000 homes during peak hours. The project is expected to bring job creation and provide lasting economic benefits to the community.

"Pike County welcomes the new investment of the Petersburg Solar Project and the several benefits of the project including new construction jobs and new tax revenue to the county," said Ashley Willis, Director of Economic Development, Pike County Economic Development Corporation. "Our community embraces new business, industry and job creation. Clean energy is critical infrastructure for the future and Pike County is proud to be a part of the exciting industry sector."

AES Indiana will acquire the project from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. NextEra Energy Resources will develop and construct the project.

"We are pleased to work with AES Indiana on this innovative solar and storage project," said Matt Handel, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. "The Petersburg Solar Project will bring economic benefits and clean, homegrown energy to the region for decades to come."

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This project requires approval by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). If approved, the project is expected to be operational no later than May 1, 2024. Last month, AES Indiana received approval from the IURC to acquire the Hardy Hills 195 MW solar project in Clinton County, Ind.

"The Petersburg Solar Project is another step in our strategy to accelerate the future of energy by diversifying our portfolio to include renewables along with conventional fuel sources and to prioritize major investments to modernize our energy grid," said Lund.

Since 2015, AES Indiana has achieved a 67 percent decrease in emissions, including a 33 percent reduction of CO2 emissions rate. In 2019, AES Indiana went through an extensive Integrated Resource Planning process and identified new and diverse generation resources to serve customer needs at the reasonable, least cost for the future. The extensive bid process included an all-source request for proposals.

The Petersburg Solar Project and others like it will provide long-term savings to AES Indiana customers. Learn more about how we are accelerating the future of energy, together at aesindiana.com/hellofuture.

About AES Indiana

AES Indiana, an AES Company, provides retail electric service to more than 500,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Indianapolis, as well as portions of other Central Indiana communities surrounding Marion County. During its long history, AES Indiana has supplied its customers with some of the lowest-cost, most reliable power in the country. For more information about the company, please Connect with AES Indiana on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For more information about how AES Indiana is accelerating the future of energy, visit aesindiana.com/hellofuture.

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SOURCE The AES Corporation
BoxGroup has quietly, yet diligently, been funding companies at the early stage for over a decade. The 11-year-old firm in fact was the first investor in Plaid, a fintech company that nearly got sold to Visa last year for billions of dollars.

It has seen a number of impressive exits over the years, proving an eye that can detect winners before the winners themselves may even realize it. In fact, its that early faith in companies that partner David Tisch believes has been key to BoxGroups success.

If youre starting a company and youre going to raise money, that first yes is the hardest. And its the one that gives you the confidence, the excitement -- to know that there's somebody out there that's going to believe in this and give you money for it, Tisch told TechCrunch. We really do try to pride ourselves on being that first yes on a regular basis. So the earlier we meet companies, the better.

Today, BoxGroup is announcing it has beefed up its war chest so that it can be that first yes to more companies with the closure of two new funds totaling $255 million of capital. BoxGroup Five is the firms fifth early-stage fund, and is aimed at investing in emerging tech companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. BoxGroup Strive is its second opportunity fund that will back companies in their subsequent follow-on rounds. Each fund amounts to $127.5 million.

Over the years, BoxGroup has made more than 300 investments, including having invested in the earliest rounds of Ro, Plaid, Airtable, Workrise, Scopely, Bowery Farms, Ramp, Titan, Warby Parker, ClassPass, Guideline and Glossier. It has had a number of impressive exits in Flatiron Health, PillPack, Matterport, Oscar, Mirror, Bark, Bread and Trello.

Besides being the first firm to write Plaid a check, BoxGroup was also the first investor in PillPack, which ended up selling to Amazon for just under $1 billion in 2018.

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BoxGroup Five will invest in about 40 to 50 new companies a year with investments ranging from $250,000 to $1 million.

We want to be the second or third biggest check in a round, Tisch said.

Image Credits: BoxGroup; Adam Rothenberg (left), Nimi Katragadda (bottom), Greg Rosen (top), David Tisch (right)

The opportunity fund occasionally makes later-stage investments in new companies, but mostly just continues to support companies it invested in at an earlier stage. For example, BoxGroup first invested in id.me in 2010.

The company is sort of an eleven-year overnight success that we've been backing for over a decade now, Tisch said. Its an example of us just continuing to support companies through their life cycle.

BoxGroup also pre-seeded digital healthcare startup Ro, but also funded every round it has raised since, including its most recent $500 million funding at a $5 billion valuation.

Tisch describes the BoxGroup six-person team as generalists in terms of the spaces it invests in, with a portfolio consisting of startups in the consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, marketplace, synthetic biology and climate sectors.

Interestingly, BoxGroups last fund closures -- which totaled $165 million -- marked the first time the firm had accepted outside capital in nine years. Prior to that point, it had been funded with only personal capital. Its LPs are a mixed group of endowments, foundations and family offices.

For BoxGroup, building authentic relationships with founders is at the root of what the firm does, says partner Nimi Katragadda. That includes taking bets on founders, sometimes more than once, even if one of their companies didnt work out. It means backing just ideas in some cases, and people.

This cannot be transactional, it has to be personal, she said. We want to go on a journey with someone for a decade as they build their business.... We're comfortable with what early means, including a lot of assumptions, more vision than traction, and raw product.

Partner Adam Rothenberg agrees, saying: "Our goal is to be the friend in the room. We believe in honesty, tough love and transparency in building relationships with founders. We focus on the "how" more than the "what"  how a founder thinks, how they will build product and how they think about attracting talent."

With offices in San Francisco and New York, the firm will likely be growing in the near future as BoxGroup is looking to add on some first-line investors, Tisch said.

Recently, Greg Rosen was named a partner at the firm. Rosen originally joined BoxGroup in 2015, where he spent three years before leaving to join Benchmark. He re-joined BoxGroup in early 2020 and joins the firm's three other partners: Tisch, Rothenberg and Katragadda.

While the world of venture is crazy-hot right now, Tisch said the firm keeps itself grounded with a wisdom that can only be gained with experience and in time.

"There is seemingly infinite capital waiting to be deployed," he said. "Without calling the cycle, we know that over time markets go up and down...No matter where we are in a given cycle, smart and determined minds will come together to build important technology companies. Our job is to make sure we are meeting those founders and choosing wisely about which ones to partner with for 10+ year journeys."
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brickworks North America Corporation (Brickworks N.A.), parent company of Glen-Gery Corporation, announced today the acquisition of several key businesses from Southfield Corporation. These companies include Illinois Brick, Indiana Brick, Rose Brick, Edgewood Landscape Supply, Lafayette Masonry Supply and Kokomo Masonry and Landscape Supply locations.

Brickworks North America Corporation Expands Direct Distribution Network with the Acquisition of The Largest Independent Brick Distributor in the U.S.

Southfield's family of companies is the largest independently-owned and operated brick and masonry supply companies in the U.S. It offers a full-line of brick, natural and manufactured stone, hardscapes, masonry supplies and tools. The acquisition comprises of 17 supply centers.

According to Mark Ellenor, President, Brickworks N.A., the acquisition is strategically important to the company, providing Brickworks with a larger presence in the Midwest and expanding its network of company-owned distribution locations from 10 to 27. Glen-Gery manufacturing facilities in the Midwest are located in Adel and Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; Caledonia and Iberia, Ohio; Marseilles, Illinois; and Cynthiana, Kentucky.

"Southfield has been one of Glen-Gery's largest distributors for many years," says Ellenor. "We have long standing relationships with their sales and management teams and look forward to welcoming their talented people to the Brickworks family. Our two companies share the same values and passion for the brick industry and are focused on supporting the contemporary style needs of today's architects, designers and home builders. It was time for these two great companies with innovative leadership to come together."

These additional distribution outlets will give building and design customers access to a continuous supply of competitive brands, backed by one of the top brick manufacturers in America, Glen-Gery. By leveraging the full-line of hardscapes and accessories at the Southfield locations, Brickworks can expand this product offering to its other company-owned supply centers.

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Since entering the North American market in 2018, Brickworks has acquired three major brick manufacturers and now one of the country's largest masonry supply companies.

"As we continue on this growth journey, we are working diligently to modernize our manufacturing plants, expand our offering of innovative, design-driven building products and are currently building our global flagship design studio on 5th Avenue, New York" says Ellenor.

Alan Oremus, Chief Executive Officer at Southfield Corporation, sees the acquisition as a significant milestone in the 40-year history of IBC. "The Brickworks and Glen-Gery culture are the perfect fit for Southfield," he says. "They are industry leaders with rich histories who share Southfield's customer-first service philosophy, its focus on the architectural and design community, and its passion for the brick industry. They offer unlimited potential to grow the business and increased opportunities for all employees. I'd like to thank all of our employees for their incredible hard work over many decades."

To view the Brickworks Limited financial release related to this acquisition, visit: (link).

About Brickworks (ASX: BKW)

Brickworks has been building the Australian dream for over a century. Today, Brickworks is more than Australia's largest and most trusted brick manufacturer. It comprises a diversified portfolio of attractive assets, offering shareholders stability and long-term growth. The Company has a proud track record, having paid a dividend every year since listing on the ASX in 1962. Brickworks comprises four divisions  Building Products Australia, Building Products North America, Industrial Property, and Investments.

Building Products Australia includes Austral Bricks, the country's largest bricks producer, and other leading brands such as Austral Masonry, Austral Precast and Bristile Roofing. Building Products North America is the leading brick producer in the Northeast of the United States and includes the flagship brand of Glen-Gery.

On surplus land assets, Brickworks has developed extensive industry property assets in conjunction with Joint Venture partner the Goodman Group. These facilities help our customers to meet the supply chain needs of the growing digital economy.

Brickworks also has a long-standing investment in Washington H. Soul Pattinson, a diversified investment house and ASX100 company. This investment has delivered outstanding returns for the company and provides stability and growing cash dividends.

About Glen-Gery

Glen-Gery Corporation, part of Brickworks Limited of Australia, is a premier brick and stone manufacturer offering the most diverse product portfolio of more than 700 brick and stone products. For more than a century, Glen-Gery has provided high quality building products that meet both innovative design challenges and demanding construction specifications. Through technology advancements and product innovations, Glen-Gery delivers a premium product line that caters to the high-style needs of today's architects, designers and homeowners. Founded in 1890, Glen-Gery is headquartered in Wyomissing, PA. www.glengery.com

About Southfield Corporation

Southfield Corporation, the largest independently-owned and operated brick distributors in the midwest, offers the widest selection of brick and block from the largest and most respected manufacturing partners. In addition, the company carries a full line of natural and manufactured stone, hardscapes, masonry supplies and tools. The company's Midwest family of brands include Illinois Brick, Indiana Brick, Rose Brick, Edgewood Landscape Supply, Lafayette Masonry Supply and Kokomo Brick.

Media Contact:

Tim Leese

(484) 335-2333

Tim.Leese@glengery.com

www.glengery.com

Glen-Gery logo (PRNewsFoto/Glen-Gery)

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SOURCE Glen-Gery
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens, Inc. (NYSE: CIA) announces the appointment of three new board members, effective August 1, 2021, demonstrating a continued commitment to Board diversity and an inclusive culture. The new members bring years of insurance experience to the Board, each from a different perspective, bringing unique expertise to enhance the Board's ability to effectively oversee the Company's business operations and guide management's efforts to achieve long-term strategic objectives.

Citizens, Inc. Logo (PRNewsfoto/Citizens, Inc.)

New Board members:

Cindy Davis is a seasoned executive in the insurance industry with over 30 years of underwriting in both the carrier and brokerage side. She is currently the Assistant Vice President and Senior Underwriting Consultant at NFP/Partners Financial providing underwriting expertise specializing in complex high net worth cases, foreign nationals and offshore insurance. Previously, Ms. Davis was the Chief Underwriter at Financial Industries Corporation (FIC) and Great American.

Ms. Davis is involved with the Texas Wide Underwriting planning board and volunteers for various community organizations, including the Austin Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Davis received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Georgia and has been a Fellow, Life Management Institute since 1993, a Fellow, Academy of Life Underwriting since 2015 and is a LOMA certified Associate, Customer Service.

Keith Morgan has decades of experience as a senior legal executive, most recently as Chief Legal Officer & Senior Executive VP at TIAA, a $1 trillion retirement, insurance and asset management company. Mr. Morgan specializes in securities law, financial regulation, international transactions and mergers and acquisitions. He spent nearly 20 years at GE, serving as general counsel and senior vice president of GE Commercial Finance Ltd. and GE Capital Corporation. Before joining GE, Mr. Morgan served as the managing partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's London, Paris, and Saudi Arabia offices. Earlier in his career, he served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps.

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Mr. Morgan served as a Board Member for GE Capital and GE Capital Bank and as a Trustee for The Master's School. He also participates in various community activities, including having volunteered for the New York City Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Morgan received a B.A. in Economics from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law School.

Mary Taylor is a businesswoman and politician who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2018 and the Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance from 2011-2017. Currently the Vice President for Operations and Finance at Northeast Ohio Medical University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and recognized tax and auditing expert with over 30 years of experience in the public and private sector, including serving as the former Auditor for the State of Ohio. Ms. Taylor has extensive experience in transforming operations, implementing automation in insurance and delivering results in complex tax cases with the IRS and the Department of Labor.

Ms. Taylor currently serves as a Board Member for the American Red Cross (Greater Akron and Mahoning Valley), Crystal Diagnostics (as a member on behalf of Northeast Ohio Medical University), and eMAXX, where she Chairs the Audit Committee. Ms. Taylor received her B.S. in Accounting and Master of Taxation from the University of Akron.

J.D. "Chip" Davis, Jr., Chairman of the Board, said, "We are thrilled to welcome our new board members, demonstrating a continued commitment to diversity and an inclusive culture. The new members join a 10-member board with a wide array of expertise and 20% diverse membership. Each of our new members brings a unique background and wealth of experience to strengthen our foundation as we strive to fulfill our mission to serve and benefit all of our stakeholders."

About Citizens, Inc.

Citizens, Inc. is a financial services company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CIA. The Company utilizes a three-pronged strategy for growth based upon worldwide sales of U.S. Dollar-denominated whole life cash value insurance policies, life insurance product sales in the U.S. and final expense and limited liability property product sales in the U.S.

Information herein contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which can be identified by words such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate", "intends," "continue" or comparable words. In addition, all statements other than statements of historical facts that address activities that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Readers are encouraged to read the periodic reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and its current reports on Form 8-K, for "Risk Factors" and other meaningful cautionary language disclosing why actual results may vary materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or changes in the Company's expectations. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements. The Company also disclaims any duty to comment upon or correct information that may be contained in reports published by the investment community.

For further information contact:

Investor Relations

PR@citizensinc.com

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SOURCE Citizens, Inc.
NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, announces that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Concho Resources Inc. ("Concho" or the "Company") (NYSE: CXO) from February 21, 2018 through July 31, 2019 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleges violations of the Exchange Act of 1934.

Bernstein Liebhard LLP. (PRNewsFoto/Bernstein Liebhard LLP) (PRNewsfoto/Bernstein Liebhard LLP)

If you purchased Concho securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Concho Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Noah Wiesner toll free at (877) 779-1414 or nwiesner@bernlieb.com

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the well spacing at the Company's Dominator Project was aggressive and highly risky, and premised on no reasonable basis to believe it would work as intended; (ii) Concho's practice of implementing tighter well spacing was not relegated to a handful of "tests" and therefore more widespread than the market was led to believe; (iii) it was known or recklessly disregarded that any measures to mitigate well spacing risks were non-existent and/or impossible; (iv) these risks had manifested during the Class Period, causing underground well interference and permanently decreasing production, forcing the Company to scale back production targets and adopt more conservative spacing measures in its other projects; (v) it would take multiple quarters to unwind the impacts of the widespread well spacing failure; and (vi) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On July 31, 2019, after the close of trading, Concho released its financial results for the second quarter 2019. On this date, the Company revealed that the Dominator Project's 23 wells were spaced "too tight," and that Concho had already "incorporated learnings from [the Dominator Project] into its second half of 2019 program and future Delaware Basin projects." Concho also revealed that it would be forced to scale back production targets for the rest of this year, including by reducing its active rig count to 18, down from 33 in the first quarter 2019.

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On this news, Concho sank 22% to close at $75.97 per share on August 1, 2019, down from the closing price of $97.68 per share on July 31, 2019.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 28, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased Concho securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/conchoresourcesinc-cxo-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-422/apply/ or contact Noah Wiesner toll free at (877) 779-1414 or nwiesner@bernlieb.com

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2021 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

Contact Information

Noah Wiesner

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

https://www.bernlieb.com

(877) 779-1414

Nwiesner@bernlieb.com

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SOURCE Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Renown Transfer and Operations Center team coordinates care across a patients journey, serving 27 counties across northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California.

Renown Regional Transfer and Operations Center.

Renown Regional Transfer and Operations Center.

Reno, Nev., Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Renown Health announced the opening of the Renown Transfer and Operations Center (RTOC). Powered by Renown doctors, nurses, technicians and national technology partners, this state-of-the-art facility helps ensure seamless care for patients and providers for 27 counties across northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California. The Transfer and Operations team ensures a better experience for every Renown patient and family.



Through this highly coordinated care logistics system, Renown is now able to customize health care to the needs of every patient; delivering the right care, at the right time and place across the integrated delivery system. This system enables providers to provide care closer to home, in lower-cost ambulatory, outpatient surgical and skilled nursing settings- instead of the hospital, and to deliver a sizeable portion of care to patients- where they want to be- in their homes.

We at Renown are proud of our national reputation as an innovator  and our ability to bring better systems of care to Nevada, said Tony Slonim, MD, DrPH, President & CEO. Our extraordinary clinical experts are leading the way, partnering with the nations top technology firms to transform care and demonstrate value to patients. Putting the patients of Nevada first, we have opened the Care Traffic Control Center to make health care more accessible and affordable. This facility is amongst the largest in the country, and this team is a gift for clinicians across the state, allowing them to dedicate more time to serving patients, and improving outcomes- and leaving the logistics to other experts. The Renown Transfer and Operations Center, the grandest facility of its type, is pleased to serve as a model of coordinated patient care for the nation.



Similar to how air traffic controllers manage traffic in and out of airports, the Renown Transfer and Operations Center (RTOC) team sees a birds-eye view of whats happening across our entire integrated delivery system, explained RTOC Director, Melanie Morris, MSN, RN. Having access to real-time information is critical because every action we take is tied to improving the health and well-being of our patients. Time and accuracy is always of the essence, and this Center drastically improves the efficiency of the entire health care system.

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Renown Regional Medical Center is the regions only Level II Trauma Center. Our caregivers and specialists are prepared to care for high-acuity patients including those who have suffered heart attacks and strokes, said Paul Sierzenski, MD, MSHQS, CPE, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer, Acute Services. Serving over 1 million people, the Transfer and Operations Center assists in caring for patients in both urban and rural communities. We now work together, in one location, to ensure we have the appropriate care teams and facilities ready to serve patients- immediately and upon their arrival at Renown Regional Medical Center, Renown South Meadows Medical Center, Renown Childrens Hospital and Renown Rehabilitation Hospital, as well as our emergency and urgent care sites.

We are excited for our next stage- bringing electronic intensive care unit (e-ICU) remote monitoring capacity within the Transfer and Operations Center, said Jacob Keeperman, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, FAEMS, FCCM, Medical Director and Intensivist in Critical Care Medicine at Renown. This e-ICU technology, supported by high-definition two-way cameras, video monitors, microphones, and smart alarms  is constantly monitored by ICU physicians and experienced nurses  and will enable patients requiring intensive care to receive it from the convenience of the community hospitals near their homes. Not only will this advanced technology improve the patients experience, recovery and clinical outcomes, it also preserves the critical care beds at Renown for those who are most in need of specialized quaternary care. We will assist our rural partners in keeping patients in their home communities, close to family support and their primary care providers.



Remote hospital at home monitoring systems are a game-changer in improving patient care at Renown, said Mitchell Fong, Director, Telehealth. "We are now able to provide appropriate patients with a telehealth solution using wearable, continuous pulse oximetry, allowing patients the convenience of being in their own homes, with the confidence and security of knowing that Renown clinical staff are closely monitoring their health data, and regularly communicating with them through their recovery process.

The Transfer and Operations Center spans 6,000 square feet, and is one of the largest centers of its kind in the nation, equipped with 28 high-definition dashboards on the front wall, two in the center of the room and four hanging monitors toward the back. Large plasma screens display important metrics such as patient vital signs, bed availability, facility capacity, staffing, technology and more. Registered Nurses and dispatchers continuously monitor activity around the clock, across Renowns 100,000 square mile service area, 100+ locations and partner facilities to make the best decisions for patients, providers and care teams.



"In addition to offering the most advanced technology, the team supporting the Transfer and Operations Center works in the most beautiful setting; one that inspires good health. The Center features large windows with views of the surrounding mountains, natural light, sound proof barriers, under-desk exercise equipment, a full kitchen and guest hoteling work spaces, said manager, Kelli McDonnell, MSN, RN. All these elements contribute to building a collaborative and enjoyable work environment for our health care teams to do their best work.



Benefits of the Renown Transfer and Operations Center include:

Coordinating all incoming patients transferred from neighboring hospitals and 27 counties across northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, northeast California and neighboring states, as well as direct patient admissions into Renown Health and partner ambulatory, outpatient surgical, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities;

Matching patients to the most appropriate bed placement using diagnostic, triage and EPIC electronic medical record clinical information in conjunction with medical staff expertise to outline a plan of care that determines the best bed assignment given the patients needs, matching this to the most appropriate unit or facility, and estimating a discharge date. Dashboard metrics measure efficiency  including patients receiving treatment, being admitted or ready for departure, the number of procedures performed and the quantity of laboratory and radiological services performed;

Providing in-house hospitality . An environmental service dispatcher ensures that every patient receives a clean and sanitized hospital room in a timely manner, and a centralized transport dispatcher provides patients with smooth and efficient transport to the right place at the right time. Patients may receive additional transportation assistance as needed, as they depart the hospital for home or another sub-acute care facility; and a REMSA Health "care coordinator" may arrange for air flight or ground emergency medical services as needed.

Coordinating Video-Enabled Telehealth monitoring capabilities for Renowns four Intensive Care Units (ICUs), facilitating clinical collaboration and communication around all aspects of patient care, as well as Renown patient Telehealth and virtual visits.

Monitoring Remote Home systems with Masimo, where some patients may now receive hospital-level care in the comfort of their own homes while Renown clinicians monitor and evaluate their data and plan of care.

Serving emergency and disaster management for area hospitals, first-responders and the community with local, regional and statewide emergency and disaster management for sudden-onset emergencies.

As a non-profit organization, Renown and the Transfer and Operations Center are funded, in part, by generous donors. Individuals wishing to support future innovation and life-saving work performed at this Center may submit a charitable donation to the Renown Health Foundation at renown.org/give, 775-982-5545, Venmo: @RenownFoundation.



###



About Renown Health



Renown Health is a locally governed, not-for-profit integrated healthcare network serving northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California. Renown has a long tradition and commitment to improving the care and the health of our community. For more information, visit renown.org. For the fourth year in a row, Renown Health earned the Digital Most Wired honors by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). The CHIME annual survey accesses how effectively health care organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and expand access to care in their communities.

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CONTACT: Renown Health Public Relations Renown Health 775-691-7308 news@renown.org




Move Reimagines the Traditional Accounting Firm Model; Significantly Increases Investment in Client Service and Growth

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout its long history, EisnerAmper has made bold moves to ensure it has remained a market leader. With that same visionary spirit, the global business advisory firm announces today that TowerBrook Capital Partners ("TowerBrook"), an international investment management firm, has made a strategic investment in EisnerAmper.

Charly Weinstein

TowerBrook's significant capital infusion will help drive EisnerAmper's long-term growth initiatives, which include accelerating the evolution of service offerings, investing considerably in talent and technology, and strategically expanding via organic growth and targeted mergers and acquisitionsall directed at exponentially enhancing client service.

Going forward, EisnerAmper LLP, a licensed CPA firm, will provide attest services; and Eisner Advisory Group LLC, will provide business advisory and non-attest services.

"EisnerAmper and TowerBrook share common goals to provide superior client service, accelerate growth, create value, attract and retain the best and brightest talent, and be responsible corporate citizens," said Charly Weinstein, EisnerAmper CEO. "We're supremely confident that now is the right time for this forward-looking move, and we're excited about the future opportunities this creates for our clients, our communities and our team."

"Rather than conforming to traditional frameworks, adopting a new model of ownership facilitates the best structure for the Firm to drive growth and innovative solutions to our clients. Our colleagues will be able to chart a course for success in our purpose-built practice structure. EisnerAmper will continue to be a leader of positive transformative change for the profession as a whole," added Mr. Weinstein.

"EisnerAmper's commitment to providing industry-leading services has helped it to build a large, long-term client base that is continuing to grow," stated Jonathan Bilzin, Co-President, Managing Director at TowerBrook. "We see a significant opportunity for the business to increase the pace of that growth with the help of TowerBrook's resources and relevant experience."

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"We look forward to working with Charly and the partnership at EisnerAmper to continue to grow their platform through strategic M&A and further investments in technology to support their client base," added Walter Weil, Managing Director at TowerBrook.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. acted as sole financial advisor to EisnerAmper and has provided committed debt financing in support of the transaction.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About EisnerAmper

EisnerAmper, one of the largest business consulting firms in the world, is comprised of EisnerAmper LLP, a licensed independent CPA firm that provides client attest services; and Eisner Advisory Group LLC, an alternative practice structure that provides business advisory and non-attest services in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, standards and codes of conduct. Clients are in all business sectors and leverage a complete menu of service offerings. Our combined entities include more than 200 partners and principals and 2,000-plus employees. For more information, please visit eisneramper.com, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About TowerBrook Capital Partners

TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. is an investment management firm that has raised in excess of $17.4 billion to date and has a history of creating value for investors. The firm is co-headquartered in New York and London and focuses on making investments in companies headquartered in North America and Europe. TowerBrook's private equity strategy primarily pursues control-oriented investments in large and mid-market companies, principally on a proprietary basis and often in situations characterized by complexity. TowerBrook's structured opportunities strategy allows access to a broad array of opportunities, principally via structured asset and structured equity investments, enabling investment companies to access funding and expertise to support growth without ceding control. TowerBrook is a certified B Corporation. B Corporation certification is administered by the nonprofit B Lab organization and is awarded to companies that demonstrate leadership in their commitment to environmental, social and governance ("ESG") standards and responsible business practices. For more information, please visit towerbrook.com.

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SOURCE EisnerAmper LLP
- Integration of emerging technologies such as digital printing is likely to drive innovations in designs of cup carriers in North America

- In North America, the food & beverage industry is becoming increasingly dynamic. This transition provides packaging producers with a number of options for meeting the need of innovative packaging in the food & beverage industry.

ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- North America Cup Carriers Market: Overview

Transparency Market Research Logo

The food & beverage sector is expanding and becoming progressively dynamic in North America, which is likely to play an important role in driving the North America cup carriers market. In order to meet the soaring demand for on-the-go beverages in the region, several major firms are offering varieties of cup carriers. In addition, the option of takeout food and beverage items has gained traction in North America. There is a high demand for long-lasting and visually pleasing cup carriers. For years, the most prevalent varieties of cup carriers has been made of a strong texturized pulp fiber and durable cardboard-type paper.

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A cup carrier is a tool that allows one to carry many filled beverage cups in one go. The majority of these items are made out of plastic, molded pulp or another flexible material capable of enduring the pressure of filled beverage cups while still being held. It also assists in avoiding the spilling of cold or hot beverages by preventing the carriers or cups from falling down. Cup carriers are presently available in a variety of designs and forms. Thus, to gain new consumers and retain the existing ones in the market, manufacturers are focused on improving robustness and layout design.

Due to the expansion of food service outlets and rising consumption of beverages in North America, the North America cup carriers market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period.

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View Detailed Table of Contents at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/82308

Key Findings of Market Report

Integration of Print-on-demand Technology to Make Cup Carriers More Appealing to Customers

In order to generate and replicate pictures on any physical package, digital printing is carried out. Manufacturers frequently utilize this technology to advertise their products by including brand ambassadors, logos, product details, brand information, taglines, and other relevant data on the packaging. Cup carriers are frequently printed using this method to make them more interesting and appealing to the customers. It also serves as a customizing tool, and gives product and brand knowledge to customers. One of the developments that is assisting cup carriers in their market sustainability in North America is the print-on-demand technique. Such technological developments are likely to fuel the growth of the North America cup carriers market in the near future.

Innovation in Designs, Materials to Support Consumer Demand for Convenience, Biodegradability

The most used conventional cup carriers are made from durable cardboard-type paper and robust texturized pulp fiber. Around two to four cold or hot drinks can be securely transported in each style of these carriers. Cup carriers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are simple squares, whilst others come in a more defined shape or have an origami appearance as the edges of the cup are higher. The boundaries are nicely defined and easy to grip. Many cafes in North America favor handles, as they make it simpler to move about and help with balance if one of the hands is already occupied. Many companies are already developing cup carriers with slim designs to make it easier for customers to handle. Moreover, as environmental concerns rise, the trend of eco-friendly products is expected to gain traction. The need for biodegradable and environment-friendly cup carriers is growing in North America, due to rise in popularity of supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, etc.

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North America Cup Carriers Market: Growth Drivers

As a result of rising health consciousness in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, most manufacturers in North America are witnessing an increase in the demand for packaging of flavored milk beverages and healthy drinks. As a result, the need for cup carriers has grown.

Firms are continuously focusing on improving their cup carrier materials and designs to accommodate the escalating demand for on-the-go foods. Besides, manufacturers of single-use food accessories are ramping up manufacturing of low-cost, environment-friendly items.

North America Cup Carriers Market: Key Competitors

Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP

Graphic Packaging International, LLC

Green Paper Products, LLC

Sabert Corporation

Southern Champion Tray, LP

WestRock Company

North America Cup Carriers Market: Segmentation

Material

Paper/ Molded Fiber

Plastic

Number of Cups

1 to 2

3 to 4

5 to 6,

Above 6

End Use

Food Service Outlets

Institutional Food Services

Household Use

E-commerce to Become Growth Back Bone of Packaging Market, read more about the most trending reports by TMR:

Healthcare Packaging Market - Despite COVID-19 pandemic's unwelcome interruption in various business activities, packaging innovations continue to grab the attention of healthcare industries. Pharmaceutical packaging companies in the healthcare packaging market are involved in continuous R&D to introduce innovations to overcome challenges in child resistant and senior-friendly packaging solutions.

Cosmetic Pipette Market - The cosmetic pipette market is projected to cross the production of 440 million units by 2031. However, variable supply of natural rubber bulbs and issues such as non-compatibility with solvents or oils is concerning pipette manufacturers.

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
The 120 Pages reports on the healthcare information software market offers comprehensive analysis by Deployment (On premises and Cloud based), Application (HIS and PIS), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA)

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Healthcare Information Software Market by Deployment, Application, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025

The global healthcare information software market is expected to grow by USD 11.10 billion, progressing a CAGR of almost 8% during 2021-2025, according to Technavio's latest market report. Based on our research, the Health Care Technology sector witnessed a positive impact due to the widespread growth of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also throws light on the pre-and post-impact of COVID-19 on businesses.

Technavio reports offer customer landscape matrix and vendor landscape analysis that assists global businesses to obtain growth opportunities.

Download a Sample Report Covering COVID-19 Impact

The on-premise segment offered significant growth opportunities for market players in 2020. The on-premise deployment offers better security than the cloud-based deployment model. Based on the geography, the market witnessed maximum growth in North America in 2020 and the region is expected to continue its dominance in the market during the forecast period. Factors such as rising investments in healthcare and the introduction of various government policies are expected to foster the growth of the healthcare information software market in North America.

Healthcare Information Software Market: Major Growth Drivers

The healthcare information software market reports the following factors as major growth drivers during the forecast period:

Increasing adoption of EHRs

Presence of favorable government initiatives

Rising prevalence of fatal diseases

In addition, the report identifies the increasing adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare as a major trend in the healthcare information software market.

Technavio report helps businesses create strategies to make the most of future growth opportunities.

Download a Free Sample Report Now!

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Healthcare Information Software Market: Key Vendor Offerings

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc: The company offers EHRs, such as Sunrise, Paragon, Sunrise Community Care, Allscripts TouchWorks EHR, and Allscripts Professional EHR.

athenahealth Inc.: The company offers software solutions, such as athenaClinicals, Population Health, athenaCoordinator, and EHR.

Cerner Corp.: The company offers software solutions, such as Healthcare, HealtheIntent, HealtheEDW, HealtheLife, and HealtheAnalytics.

Reasons to Buy Healthcare Information Software Market Report:

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025

Detailed information on factors that will assist healthcare information software market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the healthcare information software market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the healthcare information software market across North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of healthcare information software market vendors

Our experts can help your businesses with a tailor-made report to suit requirements.

Enquire Before Purchasing

Related Reports on Healthcare Include:

Global Digital Health Market- The digital health market is segmented by application (wireless health, mobile health, EHR, and telehealth) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW).

Download FREE Sample Report

Global Blood Pressure Transducers Market- The blood pressure transducers market is segmented by product (disposable blood pressure transducers and reusable blood pressure transducers) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW).

Download FREE Sample Report

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Technavio Research

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Media & Marketing Executive

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Email: media@technavio.com

Report link: https://www.technavio.com/report/healthcare-information-software-market-industry-analysis

Newsroom: https://newsroom.technavio.com/news/healthcare-information-software-market

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SOURCE Technavio
DUBAI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - An Iranian official warned of a "strong" response to any move that threatens Tehran's security, an Iranian news agency said on Monday, after the United States, Britain and Israel blamed Iran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker.

Iran has denied any involvement in the attack off the coast of Oman last week in which two crew members - a Briton and a Romanian - were killed.

"Although Iran considers the threats of Western officials and the Zionist regime (Israel) to be more of a propaganda gesture, any action against Iran's national interests and security will be met with a strong and decisive response," the unnamed official told Nournews news agency.

"And Washington and London will be directly responsible for the consequences," the official told Nournews, which is close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their partners to respond to last week's attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

Britain said it was highly likely that Iran carried out the attack, using one or two drones. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Jason Magee

Jason Magee, CEO

Jason Magee, CEO

TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ConnectWise, the leading provider of business automation software for technology solution providers (TSPs), today announced that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company , has named Jason Magee, CEO, to its 2021 Top 100 Executives list. This annual list honors the passionate and hard-working technology executives who are supporting, growing, and redefining the IT channel. The executives named on this list have demonstrated their commitment to the channel and proved themselves as exemplary leaders through their innovative channel-focused strategies and initiatives.



It is a tremendous honor to be chosen for CRNs Top 100 Executives list, said Magee. As ConnectWise continues its rapid growth trajectory, it is my aim to continue helping global technology solution providers (TSPs) grow as well, ensuring they are equipped to deal with the latest cybersecurity threats and positioned to drive business efficiency around business automation, IT documentation and data management capabilities.

Magee was named CEO following Thoma Bravos acquisition of ConnectWise in February 2019, and set about executing on a five-year strategic plan co-developed by the two companies. During his tenure, Magee has spearheaded ConnectWises transformation into a cybersecurity-focused company that helps managed service providers (MSPs) and TSPs deal with an ever-increasing threat landscape to better protect themselves and their customers. He has overseen the acquisitions of Continuum, Perch Security, StratoZen and Service Leadership, Inc., as well as cybersecurity-initiatives such as the Certify training and development program and the MSP+ Cybersecurity Framework, the first framework of its kind for the MSP community.

Prior to becoming CEO, Magee served as president and chief operating officer of ConnectWise, overseeing corporate strategy, operations and procurement, as well as the product, customer success and IT Nation teams. As COO, Magee led the companys international expansion into the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as the launch of its highly successful EcoSystems business. Magee also oversaw several key acquisitions, including ScreenConnect, now known as ConnectWise Control, and HTG Peer Groups, now known as IT Nation Evolve, as well as HashInclude, Sienna Group and an investment in Perch Security.

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CRNs Top 100 Executives list acknowledges the tech visionaries who are blazing new trails within the larger IT space. It honors executives across four sub-categories: the 25 Most Influential Executives, Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders, Top 25 Innovators and Top 25 Disruptors, each with its own set of strengths that impact the IT channel.

New technology trends, such as the shift to remote work, cloud computing, SaaS, and IoT, have forced companies to rapidly adapt to an IT landscape that gets more complex by the day, said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. However, with IT executives like those featured on our CRN 2021 Top 100 Executives list leading the charge, those same companies are better equipped to tackle modern IT challenges. These leaders have demonstrated an unceasing commitment to business growth and IT innovation, and I have no doubt theyll continue to do so as new challenges arise.

The Top 100 Executives list will be featured in the August 2021 issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/Top100 .

About ConnectWise

ConnectWise is an IT software company that empowers Technology Solution Providers to achieve success in their As-a-Service business with intelligent software, expert services, an immersive IT community, and a vast ecosystem of integrations. The unmatched flexibility of the ConnectWise platform fuels profitable, long-term growth for our Partners. With an innovative, integrated, and security-centric platform, ConnectWise enables TSPs to drive business efficiency with business automation, IT documentation, and data management capabilities. And increase revenue using remote monitoring, security, and backup disaster recovery technologies. For more information, visit ConnectWise .

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn , and Facebook.

 2021 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d85da248-9738-4622-970e-0f664e1981ad

CONTACT: PR Contacts: Elizabeth Bassler, ConnectWise Ebassler@connectwise.com Jeff Tieszen, Touchdown PR connectwise@touchdownpr.com The Channel Company Contact: Jennifer Hogan The Channel Company jhogan@thechannelcompany.com




Square Inc. said it reached a deal with Afterpay Ltd. to acquire the buy now, pay later company in an all-stock deal valued at $29 billion.

Square said in a statement today that the acquisition aims to enable the companies to better deliver compelling financial products and services that expand access to more consumers and drive incremental revenue for merchants of all sizes.

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The company expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2022.

Jack Dorsey, cofounder and chief executive officer of Square, said in a statement that the two companies have a shared purpose: We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles.

Together, we can better connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands, Dorsey noted.

Square said the deal is expected to accelerate the companys strategic priorities for its Seller and Cash App ecosystems. Square plans to integrate Afterpay into its existing Seller and Cash App business units, enable even the smallest of merchants to offer BNPL at checkout, give Afterpay consumers the ability to manage their installment payments directly in Cash App, and give Cash App customers the ability to discover merchants and BNPL offers directly within the app.

Alyssa Henry, lead of Squares Seller business said the buy now, pay later model has been a powerful growth tool for sellers globally. We are thrilled to not only add this product to our Seller ecosystem, but to do it with a trusted and innovative team.

Brian Grassadonia, lead of Squares Cash App business, said the addition of Afterpay to Cash App will strengthen our growing networks of consumers around the world, while supporting consumers with flexible, responsible payment options. Afterpay will help deepen and reinforce the connections between our Cash App and Seller ecosystems, and accelerate our ability to offer a rich suite of commerce capabilities to Cash App customers.

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Afterpay serves more than 16 million consumers and nearly 100,000 merchants globally, including major retailers in fashion, homewares, beauty and sporting goods. Afterpay empowers consumers to access the things they want and need, while allowing them to maintain financial wellness and control, Square said in a statement. Afterpay also assists merchants in growing their businesses by helping to drive repeat purchases, increase average transaction sizes and provide their buyers with the ability to pay over time.

Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar, Afterpay cofounders and co-CEOs, said that by combining with Square, we will further accelerate our growth in the U.S. and globally, offer access to a new category of in-person merchants, and provide a broader platform of new and valuable capabilities and services to our merchants and consumers.

Eisen and Molnar are expected to stay on following the deals closing.
MIAMI, August 02, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--I Squared Capital, through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III and ISQ Growth Markets Infrastructure Fund, has signed an agreement to acquire KIO Networks, a leading digital infrastructure service provider in Mexico. The company is the largest data center operator in Mexico, with a strong regional presence in Central America and the Caribbean through an extensive network of 11 core data center campuses and 11 EDGE facilities, with over 20 megawatts of installed operational capacity and significant expansion potential.

"Mexico is a core component of our Latin American strategy and this investment in KIO Networks continues our commitments to digital infrastructure, where we have committed over $3 billion1 across six investments around the world," said Adil Rahmathulla, Managing Partner at I Squared Capital. "Our global digital infrastructure portfolio connects millions of people across four continents through a diverse set of assets including data centers, fiber networks, and cellular sites."

KIO Networks is a specialized digital infrastructure company providing infrastructure-related services through a robust and extensive platform of data centers. The company also offers managed services for Cloud, cybersecurity, and business applications. Through two decades of providing carrier-neutral colocation services, the company has built a highly diverse ecosystem of clients including hyperscaler, telco, technology, financial, corporate, and government customers.

KIOs robust set of assets, strong customer depth and diversification, and experienced management team, position the company to capture the rapid growth in demand for data storage and anchor the development of the I Squared Capital digital infrastructure strategy in Mexico and the rest of Latin America.

____________________

1 Including co-investments in digital infrastructure assets managed by I Squared Capital.

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About I Squared Capital: I Squared Capital is an independent global infrastructure investment manager focusing on utilities, digital infrastructure, energy, transport and social infrastructure in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Headquartered in Miami, the firm also has offices in Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, and Singapore.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005433/en/

Contacts

Andreas Moon, Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations

+1 (786) 693-5739 | andreas.moon@isquaredcapital.com
(Bloomberg) -- Tyson Foods Inc., Americas biggest meat company, is requiring workers at U.S. offices to be fully inoculated by Nov. 1. New York City will require anyone dining indoors at restaurants or exercising at gyms to show proof of their inoculation.

The spread of the delta coronavirus variant has pushed the threshold for herd immunity to well over 80% and potentially approaching 90%, according to an Infectious Diseases Society of America briefing.

U.S. President Joe Biden singled out Florida and Texas, where cases are surging, criticizing the pandemic response by the Republican governors in those states. The two states are responsible for about one-third of all new cases in the U.S. in the past week, the administration said Monday.

Key Developments:

Global Tracker: Cases top 199.3 million; deaths pass 4.24 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 4.16 billion doses administeredApathetic U.S. youth shrug off vaccines as delta variant spreadsCovid disguises chronic scarcity of workers for U.K. recoveryAre Covid shots working? What the real world tells us: QuickTakeHeres what major U.S. companies have said about latest policies

Idaho Sees Surge Among Babies, Toddlers (5:40 p.m. NY)

Idaho is suffering a surge in Covid-19 infections among babies and toddlers, prompting an urgent call for unvaccinated adults to get shots and cocoon these kids.

The current pace is 53 per 100,000 children from newborn to age 4, up from 16 per 100,000 two weeks ago, Kathryn Turner, deputy state epidemiologist at the Idaho Division of Public Health, said during an online briefing Tuesday. The most likely cause is circulation of the delta variant, Turner said.

Biden Says CDC to Issue New Eviction Ban (5:40 p.m. NY)

President Joe Biden said U.S. authorities plan to announce new measures aimed at protecting struggling renters after an eviction moratorium lapsed days ago, setting off a firestorm of criticism from fellow Democrats and housing advocates.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions new moratorium would apply to counties with high rates of coronavirus infections, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move shows the extent to which the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus has upended the administrations agenda.

Quest Diagnostics Feels Delta Strain (5:25 p.m. NY)

The delta-fueled surge could mean strains for the largest diagnostics maker, as Quest Diagnostics indicated its looking at increasing capacity to an uptick in demand for tests.

Our average positivity rate has also steadily increased over the past six weeks, making it more difficult to pool specimens, a method of screening multiple samples at once as a way of turning test results around more quickly while using fewer resources, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Quest said its tests can pick up infections with the delta variant as well as other strains and is still turning around most Covid-19 tests within a day. But the company is currently evaluating measures to increase capacity should cases and positivity rates continue to surge.

Biden Blasts Florida, Texas Governors (5:05 p.m. NY)

U.S. President Joe Biden singled out Florida and Texas, where cases are surging, criticizing the pandemic response by the Republican governors in those states. The two states are responsible for about one-third of all new cases in the U.S. in the past week, the administration said Monday.

We need leadership from everyone, Biden said at a briefing. Some governors arent willing to do the right things to make this happen. I say to these governors, please, if you arent going to help, at least get out of the way for people who are doing the right thing.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to withhold funding to local school districts that have mask requirements, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott has banned vaccine mandates.

Vanguard Offers $1,000 Vaccine Incentive (5:05 p.m. NY)

Vanguard Group Inc. is offering $1,000 to employees who get vaccinated by October, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The asset manager is extending the payments to all workers who can prove theyve gotten a Covid-19 vaccine, even if they were inoculated before the firm extended the offer. A Vanguard spokeswoman confirmed the company is offering an incentive.

Brazil Lifts Restrictions as Cases, Deaths Ease (4:35 p.m. NY)

Brazilian states and cities are preparing to suspend most limitations on businesses and gatherings as Covid cases and deaths drop to the lowest in months while vaccinations pick up speed.

In Sao Paulo, many schools have reopened at full capacity for in-person classes this week, and the state will end restrictions on opening hours and capacity for most businesses starting Aug. 17. Rio de Janeiro also has plans to ease rules as of Sept. 2, including on the use of masks. The reopening will include a four-day celebration, Mayor Eduardo Paes said, adding that New Years festivities will be the largest in the citys history.

Denver Schools Require Indoor Masks (3:05 p.m. NY)

Public schools in Denver will require indoor masks for students, teachers, staff and visitors when classes resume Aug. 9 regardless of vaccination status, Will Jones, a spokesman for the school system, said in an e-mail. On Monday, the city announced all municipal workers, including teachers, must be vaccinated by the end of September.

U.S. Preparing for Future Pandemics, Fauci Says (3 p.m. NY)

The U.S. government is in active and sensitive discussions about investing in a comprehensive pandemic preparedness program, said Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert.

Speaking at a Tuesday event with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, Fauci said the U.S. is continuing to plan for the future, ever-focused on how vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics might be used to combat future pandemics.

In June, the Biden administration announced it would invest $3.2 billion in a new antiviral program for pandemics that would focus on developing medicines to combat Covid-19 and other viruses with pandemic potential. Fauci said the new program is already working with companies such as Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc. to aid with the trials of antiviral pills the companies have in late-stage development. He added the U.S. would start deploying capital to discover other antivirals in 2022.

The program is but one pillar of a more comprehensive effort to combat viruses and other threats, Fauci said. Its a really good start.

Florida Schools Retreat on Masks Under Threat (2:25 p.m. NY)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantiss move to bar school mask mandates is already working even as the state reports a record number of people hospitalized with Covid-19.

Less than a week after the Republican governor threatened to withhold state funding to school districts that require masks, two schools are backing down on such mandates. Broward County Public Schools reversed its masking rule, which the school board mandated just a week prior, in an effort to comply with the governors executive order that schools should leave masking decisions to parents, according to a statement Monday.

Gadsden County School District had also planned a mask requirement for the coming year, but has reversed the order, according to WTVT in Florida.

Argentina to Get 3 Million Sputnik Doses (11:20 p.m. NY)

The Russian Direct Investment Fund said its reached agreement to produce 3 million doses of the second shot of its Sputnik V vaccine in Argentina this month, after a presidential adviser in the Latin American country criticized delays in deliveries.

Laboratorios Richmond SA will start making Sputnik vaccines available in Argentina starting this week with an initial batch of 150,000 doses, Russias sovereign wealth fund, which is in charge of Sputniks international rollout, said by email on Tuesday.

Read more:

Russias Global Vaccine Ambitions Stumble on Supply Shortage

Florida Hospitalizations Hit Record (10:55 a.m. NY)

The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Florida climbed to a record 11,863, even as Governor Ron DeSantis reaffirmed his stance against against new public-health mandates.

Speaking at an event Tuesday in Everglades National Park, DeSantis said the wave has so far been 70-75% less deadly than the previous ones.

He also said trends in emergency room visits with Covid-like illness showed signs of starting to stabilize.

Weve basically been plateau, he said. When that levels off or goes down, all the other indicators follow that.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- which is available only through July 30 -- shows Floridas emergency department visits with confirmed Covid continue to rise, but the pace of increases had begun to moderate somewhat.

NYC to Require Vaccination Proof Indoors (9:46 a.m. NY)

New York City will require proof of vaccination for workers and customers at indoor restaurants and gyms, according to Bill Neidhardt, the mayors press secretary. Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce the mandate at his Tuesday virus briefing, Neidhardt said.

The move by de Blasio is the latest step to encourage New Yorkers to get vaccinated. City workers must get the Covid-19 shots or be tested weekly.

Vaccine Stocks Rise (9:46 a.m. NY)

CureVac and Arcturus Therapeutics rose after Sanofi agreed to buy Translate Bio Inc. for $3.2 billion. Sanofi and Translate were partnered on Covid-19 vaccine development before the French drugmaker made a bid for the Massachusetts-based biotech.

Arcturus also said it got the go-ahead in Singapore to advance two mRNA candidates to a Phase 1/2 study.

Weekly Dutch Cases Drop 44% (9:22 a.m. NY)

Weekly cases in the Netherlands continue to fall with 21,005 infections reported on Tuesday, down from 37,343 in the previous week. The national health service said the country appears to have reached a peak in Covid-19 hospitalizations, with 541 new admissions reported in the past week, down by 23.

Scotland to Proceed With Lifting Restrictions (9:15 a.m. NY)

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the country will lift most virus restrictions on Aug. 9, in line with the governments plan and after a drop in infections.

Tyson Foods Requires Shots for U.S. Workers (8:15 a.m. NY)

Tyson Foods Inc. is requiring all of its U.S. workers to be fully vaccinated no later than Nov. 1. The move by Tyson, Americas biggest meat company, is among the most aggressive yet to prevent another wave of infections that shuttered food-production plants in 2020.

Tyson in a statement Tuesday said all company leadership must be vaccinated by Sept. 24, all in-office workers by Oct. 1 and all other employees by Nov. 1.

Walmart Inc., the biggest private employer in the U.S., and Walt Disney Corp. announced vaccination requirements for some employees last week.

Sinopharm Shot Falls Short on Antibodies (7:18 a.m. NY)

The Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine has failed to produce sufficient antibodies in a quarter of elderly people who were voluntarily tested in Budapest, according to a study by the opposition-led Budapest City Hall.

The results were published just as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbans government, which has faced opposition criticism for having widely given Sinopharm shots to older people, started offering third shots this week for anyone who requests them.

Hungary, which has had the highest level of Covid-19 deaths per capita after Peru, was the only European Union country to have deployed the Sinopharm vaccine.

Lilly Cuts Covid Drugs Sales Forecast (7:01 a.m. NY)

Eli Lilly & Co. reported second-quarter earnings that missed analysts estimates as the drugmaker narrowed its 2021 revenue outlook, saying that Covid therapy sales wont reach the high end of an earlier forecast.

Indonesia Looks to Speed Rollout (6:42 a.m. NY)

Indonesia called on local health officials to work with disability organizations, indigenous peoples and other groups representing vulnerable populations to administer vaccines to those who lack national ID numbers.

The government seeks to quicken the rollout to 2.5 million doses a day in August, more than double the rate last month. Just 8% of the countrys population of 270 million is fully inoculated. Indonesia has topped the worlds tally of daily Covid-19 deaths recently, reporting 1,598 fatalities on Tuesday, with 33,900 new cases.

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ROME, Aug 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Cultural leaders of the G20 have met for the second time since Saudi Arabia inaugurated the Cultural Ministerial Meeting during its presidency last year

The G20 Culture Ministerial Meeting is a leading cultural policy forum for a sector worth US$2.3 trillion globally

Saudi Arabia moves forward with its cultural transformation, fostering its domestic creative talent and supporting multilateral efforts to conserve global culture

The second G20 Culture Ministerial Meeting (CMM) has taken place in Rome, building on the success of the Saudi-led initiative inaugurated under its presidency last year.

G20 cultural leaders meet in Rome for the Culture Ministers' Meeting.

A Ministerial Declaration on culture will be adopted by the G20 members. It is expected that Ministers will agree to strengthen rules combatting illicit trafficking of cultural property and give greater prominence to the role of culture as a driver of climate action, particularly the preservation of cultural heritage. They are also likely to promise greater investment in culture-related education, training, employment and provide greater access to culture online.

In a statement following the meeting, UNESCO celebrated the expected outcomes: "Italy has taken important steps with a view to integrating culture on a permanent basis in the G20 This dynamic is in line with the historic advance achieved at the initiative of Saudi Arabia, which put culture on the G20's agenda in 2020."

The CMM is a high-level platform intended to tackle issues of critical importance to the global cultural and creative economy, which is estimated to be worth US$2.3 trillion. The addition of a cultural pillar to the G20 agenda boosts a sector affected by the pandemic more than most, given that G20 members represent 60% of the world's population and 80% of global GDP.

The Kingdom was represented by HH Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture, who said:

"Saudi Arabia celebrates the return of culture to the annual G20 Agenda, recognizing the importance of culture in advancing the G20 mission for greater global economic cooperation. We thank our Italian hosts for building on the momentum generated in Riyadh last year.

Story continues

"For the last two years, G20 members have discussed the critical importance of culture  its preservation and development  as a driver of economic growth.

"Saudi Arabia is seeing the benefits firsthand as we undergo a cultural transformation across the Kingdom  from the addition of the Hima Cultural Area as our sixth UNESCO World Heritage Site, to celebrating home-grown talent on the global stage at world renowned events, such as the Venice Biennale and Cannes Film Festival."

Saudi Arabia, which is undergoing a cultural transformation as part of Vison 2030, has made great strides towards preserving and developing its cultural sector. This includes developing a world-leading center to preserve underwater cultural heritage in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf Region, announced at last year's CMM, the establishment of new cultural festivals throughout the Kingdom, and the creation of new support ecosystems for Saudi creatives.

Saudi Arabia is also supporting other multilateral efforts to conserve global culture. In 2019, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNESCO to contribute $25 million to the preservation of heritage worldwide. The Kingdom invests in initiatives that will enhance international cooperation for research and capacity building, education, training and to explore the tremendous potential of digitalization in the cultural sector.

Notes to Editors:

UNESCO

- UNESCO statement: G20 adopts Culture Declaration for the first time .

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585684/G20_Rome.jpg

SOURCE Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture
Columbus Mayor Jim Bulkley said he knows of four people who have been tested for carbon monoxide, but he did not say the cases had been officially linked to a coal fire that has been smoldering at the Columbus Archer Daniels Midland facility for three or four weeks.

"I know of two incidents that were late last week or the weekend," Bulkley said. "I'm not sure about the other two."

Bulkley emphasized that no one has been hospitalized.

Bulkley said he has known about the fire since Tuesday morning. He said he visited the ADM facility and met with Columbus Fire Chief Dan Miller that day.

"The fire department was informed three to four weeks ago of a smoldering incident at the coal pile," Bulkley said. "They responded for the first time at that point.  They worked the scene and then had to come back a couple of different times."

The Columbus Telegram was unable to reach Miller for comment.

Bulkley said ADM brought in an outside firm to help deal with the fire between 10 days and two weeks ago.
Deputy Dodge County Attorney Thomas Gross said the state was torn on what to recommend in Hummels case, but ultimately said probation would be the best option.

Our position a couple of weeks ago wouldve been asking for 18 months in prison, based on the defendant not taking responsibility, he said. At that point, she was continuing to use meth and testing positive, but I do see that on July 30 she was tested again and tested clean.

Gross also expressed concern about Hummels presentence investigation report and evaluation, as the former said she and Reyes spent $100 a day on meth, while the latter said she only used drugs two to three times a month.

However, I dont know if this is a Judgment Day is coming as Im starting to get my stuff together, but it does appear as though shes at least making efforts to move in the right direction, he said.

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Hummels attorney said her client had a wake-up call with the incident and that she had no control over her substance use. She said Hummel had submitted to an evaluation and therapy and wanted a higher level of care, as well as to reunify her family.

I understand that I accept full responsibility for what has happened, Hummel said. Everythings going to be different.
Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue is emerging as a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2022.

Blood confirmed Monday that she is considering entering the race and expects to make a decision next month.

All of the attention on the 2022 gubernatorial contest to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts has centered thus far on a field of GOP candidates that includes University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen of Columbus, Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha and agri-businessman Charles Herbster of Falls City.

Former Republican Gov. Dave Heineman is also considering entering the Republican derby.

"I believe in people and policy, not party and politics," Blood said.

"Nebraskans have been reaching out to me to ask how do we transform all of this division into a shared connection and a shared understanding of one another," she said during a telephone interview.

"They want a we're-all-in-this-together type of candidate," Blood said.

"People want us to find a middle ground," she said. "They don't want polarization."
The United States and Britain have said the Taliban may have committed war crimes and accused the militant group of massacring Afghan civilians when it captured the southern town of Spin Boldak in July.

The urgent warnings came as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed increasing insecurity on Washington's "sudden" withdrawal decision and as the United States opened its doors to more at-risk Afghans who worked for the United States or U.S.-funded entities.

"In Spin Boldak, Kandahar, the Taliban massacred dozens of civilians in revenge killings," the U.S. and British embassies tweeted separately on August 2. "These murders could constitute war crimes; they must be investigated and those Taliban fighters or commanders responsible held accountable."

The tweets cited a new report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission that documents atrocities committed by the militant group when it seized Spin Boldak, near the Pakistani border.

The embassies said that the Talibans leadership must be held accountable for the crimes of its fighters.

If you cannot control your fighters now, you have no business in governance later, the U.S. and U.K. embassies said.

In its report, the Afghan watchdog says the Taliban killed dozens of civilians, including civil servants, and looted peoples properties when it captured southern regions in July.

Afghan government troops are battling Taliban militants for control of the capital of the southern Helmand Province following weekend assaults on urban centers in a major escalation.

Fighting raged in Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched a coordinated offensive on the city center just hours after the government announced the deployment of hundreds of special forces to the area.

Taliban fighters also continued attacks on least two other provincial capitals overnight -- Kandahar, also in the south, and Herat in western Afghanistan -- after a weekend of heavy fighting that saw thousands of civilians flee the violence.

"The reason for our current situation is that the [U.S.] decision [on the withdrawal] was taken abruptly," President Ghani told a joint session of the Afghan parliament on August 2.

He said he had warned Washington of such "consequences."

But he said his government had a plan to bring conditions under control within six months and that the United States supported the scheme.

Fighting has intensified since early May amid an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces scheduled to be completed by the end of August and an ongoing stalemate in intra-Afghan talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

Taliban militants have captured dozens of districts and border regions as government forces said they were focusing their efforts on more populated areas.



Helmand Province was one of the major focal points of the waning U.S. and British military campaign in Afghanistan.

"Afghan forces on the ground and by air strikes repelled the attack," the military in Helmand said of the offensive on Lashkar Gah.

Helmand, with its vast poppy fields, provides most of the opium for the international heroin trade -- making it a lucrative source of tax and cash for the Taliban's war chest.

The loss of the Helmand capital would also be a massive strategic and psychological blow for the Kabul government, which has already lost much of the rural countryside to the Taliban over the summer.

Fighting has also been raging in Herat, where a spokesman for the provincial governor told RFE/RL that ground operations and air strikes continue against the militants.

Jailani Farhad said the militants suffered heavy casualties during the operations, which were joined by hundreds of Afghan commandos.

"As a result of the clearance operation by the Afghan joint forces, 100 Taliban militants were killed and several others injured," Farhad said.

Aref Jalali, the head doctor of Herat Central Hospital, says 19 bodies, including four civilians, and 78 wounded, including 48 civilians, were transferred to the hospital on August 1.

Heavy fighting was also reported in some districts of Kandahar and on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.

Kandahar airport came under a Taliban rocket attack that damaged the runway overnight on July 31, leading to the suspension of flights for several hours.

Kabul has repeatedly dismissed the militants' steady gains over the summer as lacking strategic value but has largely failed to reverse their momentum. The loss of government control included several border crossings into neighboring Central Asian states to the north and Pakistan to the south.

Hundreds of Afghans, including police and government troops, have fled the country in recent weeks and sought refuge in neighboring Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan amid the Taliban offensive.

Russia has announced joint military drills from August 5-10 at Tajikistan's and Uzbekistan's borders with Afghanistan, including some 1,800 Russian soldiers and about twice the military hardware it originally planned.

One day after calling for a "countrywide mobilization," Ghani told Afghan lawmakers that "we have had an unexpected situation in the last three months."

The Taliban will not return to substantive peace talks unless the worsening security situation is curbed, Ghani warned.



But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on August 2 dismissed Ghani's statements as "nonsense, an attempt to control his fears" in the face of the government's "dire situation."

"Declarations of war, accusations, and lies cannot prolong Ghani's government's life; his time has run out, God willing," the spokesman said via Twitter.

This story is based on reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.

With reporting by AFP and tolonews.com
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Some clouds and possibly an isolated thunderstorm this afternoon. High near 90F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Ask people in Canon City about the early days of their residency, and there is a chance their origin stories will contain one common feature: the river.

I arrived here in May 2004. I walked in the front office of Echo Canyon River Expeditions and on that day I met my future husband, said Ashlee Sack, who would go on to spend six years as a whitewater rafting guide.

We lived across the street from a river in Wisconsin. We had a boat on the river, said Rick Harrmann, a part-time Jeep tour guide when he and his wife moved in 2015, and is now the citys economic development manager. Our lives are really outdoor-related."

For Loretta Bailey, who grew up in Canon City more than seven decades ago, there were two things she remembered that children and their parents would regularly check: the weather and what the river was doing.

Outsiders may know the Fremont County city of 16,500 residents more for its numerous prison facilities above all else. Canon City itself acknowledged that the corrections industry "seems to loom as a dark cloud over everything." (The population estimate includes inmates.)

The city also boasts a recreational and tourism economy based around the Arkansas River. There are roughly 845 people in the county employed in that sector who largely live in or close to Canon City. While that represents approximately 10% of the citys workforce, tourism grew by 148 jobs between 2016 and 2019, while many other industries saw lesser growth or even declines.

The heart of the urban-river interface lies just south of downtown between Fourth and First streets, with Centennial Park as the "crown jewel," as the city's parks director called it. A giant splash pad opened in 2018 for those on land, with gently sloping boulders facilitating a step-down into the water. Boogie boarders ride the play wave at the west end. The park's master plan eventually calls for a pedestrian plaza and connection to Main Street, on the other side of the river.

And Canon City is not letting the river stand still: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected it as one of 11 communities nationally to receive a cleanup and revitalization grant, totaling $800,000 for riverfront and downtown planning. Council members also heard recently about plans for a project to improve Whitewater Kayak and Recreation Park, creating a venue for competitions and even Olympic athletes.

We are trying to build a culture in the community so people can be proud of being from here," a representative from the nonprofit group Royal Gorge RIO told the council at its June 21 meeting.

The Arkansas River is still on the mend from Canon Citys industrial past, and leaders are trying to figure out how to fill the physical and economic gaps in the process.

Diverse economy from the start

The hot and cold springs around Canon City were already familiar to the Ute Indians by the time white settlers arrived in the area.

It was pretty much the last stop for a wagon before they had to change to mules to get to the mining camps, said Lisa Studts, director of the Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center.

Although historical accounts report Canon City was booming by spring 1861, the Civil War drew away many of its residents. One man, Anson Rudd, stayed behind with his family in their cabin mere feet from the river. Twenty families rejoined the settlement in 1864, and became known as the resurrectionists for breathing life back into the community.

When the population rebounded, the towns economy began to diversify. Those who did not strike it rich in mining turned to agriculture. Canon City secured the state penitentiary. The town began advertising the Arkansas River and its natural amenities to visitors. And railroads began competing over the route through the Royal Gorge.

At one point, the U.S. Supreme Court even had to weigh in on the dispute between the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe railroads, which each sought to build next to the river.

Where the Grand Canon is broad enough to enable both companies to proceed without inference with each other in the construction of their respective roads, they should be allowed to do so, wrote Justice John Marshall Harlan in 1879. But in the narrow portions of the defile, where this course is impracticable, the court, by proper orders, should recognize the prior right of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company to construct its road.

Apples, cherries, plums, apricots and celery were some of the commodities of the fields near Canon City. So was zinc, with The Empire Zinc Company supporting as many as 400 jobs by the 1920s at its facility next to a coal mine southwest of downtown.

However, the river historically was a place where industry was, said Ashley Smith, Canon Citys mayor. You had the ice plant there, Skyline Steel, the petroleum place, the coal plant was along the river. And it was the designated spot if you had cement peelings  youd dump it on the river banks.

Cleanup efforts

In the latter part of the 20th century, efforts were underway to abate the industrial pollution. The Bureau of Land Management noted in 1993 that the state had recently worked to stabilize mine waste, and an effort was ongoing to remedy pollution from the Leadville mine drainage tunnel.

All of these studies and projects indicate that the trend for water quality in the Arkansas River is toward improvement, the agency said.

But in 2005, an estimated 50,000 gallons of oil and water spilled into ditches and drainages along the river, which Fremont County attributed to a paving and trucking company. In 2015, Cotter Corp.s shuttered uranium mill south of the city leaked 1,800 gallons of contaminated water, the latest of at least five incidents at what is now a "Superfund" site. With floods in the 1960s causing ponds at the site to overflow into Sand Creek and contaminate nearby areas, a legal settlement two decades later resulted in Lincoln Park being connected to the municipal water supply and Cotter Corp. cleaning up railroad loading sites in Canon City where uranium ore had spilled.

"One of the things that those of us who live here in the area keep pressing for is further testing and further checking, because through the years there have been reports of containments," said Jeri Fry, a co-founder of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste and who is involved in the citizens' advisory group for the cleanup. However, she added, "I wouldn't express any concerns at all about people rafting or playing in the water as it flows by."

The city has pushed ahead: a community cleanup covered 35 miles this year. When the whitewater park was installed a decade ago, the project involved riverbank remediation and restoration, including removing old industrial waste.

We have worked very hard getting the town to buy into improving the river corridor, specifically near Centennial Park," said Chris Moffett, the president of the conservation organization Royal Gorge RIO.

The monetary investment has been substantial: Royal Gorge RIO estimated there have been $1.5 million invested since 2010 in the cleanup and upgrade of the river in town between First and Fourth streets.

It is probably one of the most pristine and beautiful rivers there is. They cleaned up an awful lot of the mining waste and things we were having issues with 20 years ago, said Mannie Colon, a third-generation produce farmer and a director on the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy Districts board.

However, Colon was concerned that fires bring sediment into the river via snow melt, which can adversely affect irrigation.

The burn scars are newer things, and that becomes an issue, he added.

Future plans

River watchers are currently eyeing a piece of property west of downtown owned by Black Hills Energy. If all goes well, that could soon be an additional parcel of open space, and the city as of 2016 acknowledged its "motivated interest in acquiring" the land.

"We want to bring the people from all over southern Colorado to use our section of river, but also to teach the locals how to be safe. Historically, the river wasn't the safest thing in town, so people wouldn't use it," said Moffett. "Now that we've got it cleaned up, we still have some of those old attitudes."

Canon City has also been a place where people relocated for its climate and its amenities, but Smith, the mayor, said 2020 gave a new group of people a reason to migrate.

"There are a lot of people now that are coming to Canon City to enjoy the outdoors and get out of the big cities. We definitely see that  to get away from violence and rioting," she said. "And now that people can remote work, it's a great place to enjoy small town charm."

Like other attractive locales, Canon City has a housing shortage it is attempting to address, including through mixed use development along the river. Harrmann, the economic development director, said that some residents worry the riverfront may replace, rather than complement, downtown. The downtown strategic plan from 2012 alluded to the tension between river and city center, but a five lane expanse of pavement creates a physical barrier.

"We need to increase the number of year-round, full-time jobs," he said, hoping to staunch the outflow of spending to Pueblo and Colorado Springs by people who live in town.

Although the railroad ceased regular, intercity passenger service through the Royal Gorge in 1967, the Royal Gorge Route takes tourists on a 24-mile round trip from the Santa Fe depot, and is firmly integrated with the river, supporting more than 300 employees and carrying roughly 160,000 passengers annually from all around the world.

The amenities of the city consequently can be quite the draw. On a July afternoon, Heather Black of Colorado Springs watched her young children play in the river adjacent to Centennial Park.

"I read that they cleaned it up," she said. "I looked it up to make sure it was safe, and they were like, 'Oh, yeah, it used to be polluted but now it's really nice.'"
Just when Coloradans had hoped for a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the delta variant has thrown another curve at the state, according to Gov. Jared Polis.

Polis told reporters Monday that the state experienced a fairly big jump in the number of people hospitalized with the delta variant, from 358 on Monday, up from 270 last week.

Its not as bad as other states, Polis said, but the data appears to show that this will get worse before it gets better.

That said, hospital capacity is not in jeopardy, and he does not anticipate a scenario where it will be anytime soon. Polis has said in the past that the state's role for instituting COVID-19 measures has passed, now that the threat to hospitals has abated.

Other COVID-19 statistics are similarly concerning. As of Friday, when the data was last updated, Colorado averaged nearly 740 new cases per day over the preceding seven days. That number's steadily gone up over the past three weeks and is the highest since May 27. An average of 5.1% of COVID-19 tests over the past week returned positive, the highest since May 12.

Polis did have some good news Monday: 70% of all eligible Coloradans, age 12 and older, are now fully vaccinated. For adults, the vaccinated population is at 72%. The goal, the governor said, is to get to 80%. In Denver, where the partial vaccination rate is ahead of the state's, health officials said Monday that 70% wasn't enough and couldn't predict what threshold would be needed to better suppress the virus's spread.

The pandemic is now one among the unvaccinated. He pleaded with people to get vaccinated.

Were all very tired of this virus, and we have a highly effective tool to combat it, he said.

With the delta variant now spreading, theres a new urgency around vaccination. The vaccines do work against the delta variant; even for those who are vaccinated and catch the virus, the illness is much less severe and hospitalizations are less dire.

Polis addressed his recent requirement that state employees be vaccinated by Sept. 20 or be tested twice weekly and wear masks.

We want to model as a state what a safe workplace looks like, Polis said.

Polis also addressed the recent news out of Israel that people are getting a third shot  a booster  to protect against the variant. He said he encourages the Food and Drug Administration to both review Pfizers request for a third dose and to fully approve the vaccines, which have been under emergency use authorization.

Polis was joined by state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy, who said that over the last few weeks the state is seeing a 30% increase week over week in cases, which she called dramatic.

The increase is among unvaccinated people  five to six times the rate of infection for those who are vaccinated, she said. And thats driving the increase in hospitalizations, she explained.

The state is seeing breakthrough cases of COVID among vaccinated individuals, but she said the vaccines are highly effective in lessening the severity.

The most effective vaccine among the three available is Moderna, Herlihy said, with less breakthrough cases among vaccinated individuals, followed by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. However, the state has seen a slight decrease in vaccine effectiveness, she said.

Most of the lower vaccination rates are in rural counties, and Polis said they are working with local partners, including county commissioners and public health officials, on how to reach their populations and get information to people from trusted sources, such as doctors, faith leaders and migrant leaders.

Without reaching that 80% vaccination rate, Polis predicted that hospitalization numbers could reach 700 or 800. This is tough to face another peak when we thought the last peak was behind us. We do have the ability to reduce the peak by getting vaccinated.

On the subject of masks, both Polis and Herlihy echoed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice that people wear masks indoors. But it shouldnt be a substitute for getting vaccinated, they said. In Denver on Monday, the top health official there said the city could not mask its way out of the current spike, which prompted the city to require a vast swath of employees across high-risk settings and occupations to be vaccinated.

Masks do not reduce the severity of the illness, Polis said. Get vaccinated to show you care for others."

Gazette reporter Seth Klamann contributed to this article.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced a sweeping public health order Monday that will require municipal, hospital, long-term care, school, jail and prison, and homeless workers to be vaccinated by the end of September.

Every teacher and staff member in Denver at every level of schooling will be required to be vaccinated, Hancock said. So, too, will the roughly 10,000 municipal workers. The order extends beyond people who work directly for the city or for government in general and will cover employees at hospitals and nursing homes.

According to state data, more than 78% of Denver's long-term care staff have been vaccinated. That's the second highest in the state, behind Boulder County.

The order requires vaccinations by Sept. 30. City attorney Kristin Bronson said Denver officials goal is "compliance" and that employers will be expected to keep records and "demonstrate compliance." The city can impose "penalties" for not following the order, but first priority, she said, is to work with them.

Hancock then said the city will work with city employees who have questions but that there "might be some folks who may lose their jobs behind this, we recognize that."

"We have been for a year and a half now, we've ordered face coverings to be worn. We've had a series of testing regimens. We've tried a stay-at-home order. We've tried capacity limits. We've tried all of those things, and a year and a half later, after all of that, here we are," said Bob McDonald, the executive director of Denver's Department of Public Health and Environment. "We have a virus that's mutated to the point where those things are becoming decreasingly effective after a year and a half."

The county was among the first in the state to hit a 70% vaccination rate. But Hancock said that "is not enough" and that masking and distancing are "no substitute for what we need to shut the virus down for good." Seventy percent was for several months reported to be the threshold for herd immunity. But the delta variant, now dominant city and statewide, has changed that position.

McDonald said he wouldn't predict what rate would be needed to squash the virus more significantly. He said any future orders will be "data driven."

McDonald noted that deaths have plateaued and posed the question - to himself - about why the city would take this step now, with a relatively high vaccination rate and relatively few deaths and hospitalizations.

"My question would be, 'Would the preference be that I wait until mortality goes up?'' he said. "We need to make sure we're ahead of this so we don't see another spike in deaths going into the fall."

"We're not going to mask our way out of this," he continued."We're not going to test our way out of here."

It's been just short of three months since Denver dropped its own mask order, as cases declined after the brief fourth wave of April and early May. Cases here steadily plummeted, hospitalizations dropped, and vaccinations continued to climb.

But cases have rebounded, and vaccinations have, as McDonald pointed out, "largely stalled."

As of late last week, the last time the data was updated, Denver averaged 975 new doses each day for the proceeding seven days. Though not the lowest, it's a far cry from the more than 10,000 doses delivered per day in April. Part of that is doubtless that most Denverites have been inoculated, but Hancock announced last week that he's setting aside another $500,000 to boost vaccinations, particularly among middle and high school students.

Denver is not alone in seeing its cases climb. Statewide, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased each day since mid-July. The state positivity rate is higher than its been in months. Hospitalization are up slightly, they're still well below previous peaks.

Hancock and McDonald stressed there was no mask requirement in the city. That position comes on the heels of federal guidance released last week that certain high-risk counties - including Denver - should require masking indoors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said everyone in school settings, vaccinated or not, should wear masks.

Denver Public Schools officials said last week that the district's COVID-19 plans were being finalized and would be announced this week. A spokesman for the district said he was still checking Monday morning if those measures had been finalized. Denver school board member Tay Anderson tweeted that the city should institute a mask order. He tweeted last week that anyone who didn't want their children wearing masks next year should enroll them in a remote-learning option.

Messages sent to Denver institutions impacted by Hancock's new order were not immediately returned Monday morning.
Never give your personal information over the phone, Brinkley said.

If a caller cannot read off your personal information or they avoid answering questions that you have, they are most likely a scam caller, according to Brinkley.

Anything that you can do as a consumer to vet them is good, Brinkley said.

One of the key signs that a call might be scam is asking for payment in gift cards. Brinkley said that local businesses are very good at helping stop people who might fall for this trap by asking what they are doing with a possible purchase of multiple gift cards.

Scam calls increase around tax season, but more recent is local businesses getting fraudulent unemployment claims about their employees.

For those with elderly family members, Brinkley recommends helping them out by following up on the sketchy calls they might receive.

If uncertain, always call into the billing department (of the organization the caller claims to be affiliated with), Brinkley said.

Scam calls can be reported to the Mason City Police Department through the non-emergency number.

Abby covers education and public safety for the Globe Gazette. Follow her on Twitter at @MkayAbby. Email her at Abby.Koch@GlobeGazette.com

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Last year marked the centennial of women getting the right to vote, but this year marks another centennial  the first year in which women could run for office in Virginia. And some did. They all lost, but that does not diminish the historic nature of what they did and it shines some light  not always a favorable light  on our politics today.

By the time the 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920, the party slates for president, Senate and the House of Representatives were already set.

But 1921 was a different matter. That year, like this year, Virginia elected statewide officers and members of the House of Delegates.

One woman dared run for governor. Lillie Davis Custis of Accomack County got into the race late  she didnt declare until October  and polled either 227 or 251 votes, 0.11% of the total (accounts vary).

Still, she goes down into Virginia history as the first woman to run for governor. She was also a Socialist.
When Thurgood Marshall was strategizing his legal attack on segregation in the public school system of Topeka, Kansas, he asked psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark to repeat an experiment they had first conducted 20 years earlier in the 1930s. In what has come to be known as the Doll Test, the Clarks handed African American children two sets of dolls, one white and one Black. They then asked the children a number of questions, including which doll looks the most like you and which doll is nice, which is bad? The overwhelming majority picked the white dolls as being both nice, and looking the most like them. From this, the Clarks deduced that the forced segregation of Jim Crow taught Black children to feel inferior. Marshall used this information in his powerful arguments to the Warren Court and convinced the justices to overturn the principle of separate but equal. Among other things, this case stands for the proposition that children are extremely impressionable, and that they will interpret messages in a completely different way than adults. They dont have the mental acuity or sophistication to distinguish fact from fiction, nuance from clarity and are highly suggestible. Thats why they always used to say that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, because the first powerful influence on a child-its mother-leaves a lasting imprint. So, however, do teachers. If those teachers start teaching lessons that encourage certain children to feel less valued and important, it doesnt take a psychologist or a Supreme Court justice to realize the damage thats being done. And thats exactly whats happening with this push in so many school districts to implement critical race theory protocols and lesson plans. CRT is shorthand for a process by which white children are taught that their ancestors enslaved and persecuted the ancestors of their classmates of color, and that this is the reason that so many of those classmates face discrimination and  the lefts new favorite word  inequity. Its not that the message doesnt have truth in it. Black and brown and immigrant groups have always been subject to discrimination in this society, and slavery casts a long shadow. Jim Crow was still in force when I was born, as my father could attest, and the imbalance in the criminal justice system is a reflection of generational inequality. The fact that populations of color are more likely to face the death penalty than white felons is just one example of the problems. To attack CRT is not to attack history. But CRT is subversive, toxic and dangerous in that it doesnt just teach about history. It points fingers at those who have no guilt, no investment in past abuses, no responsibility for their classmates pain, and no obligation to apologize. Children do not bear the mark of Cain. This is why so many parents are turning out for school board meetings. You just have to Google Loudoun, Va. and up pops a series of videos with men and women standing at the podium pleading with the school board members not to pursue policies that will make their children feel like strangers in their own classrooms. Many supporters of CRT are trying to go on the counterattack, pretending that these policies are nothing more than an attempt to bring transparency to a discipline  history  which has long glossed over the suffering of minorities. CRT advocates push forcefully back against the suggestion that they are making white children feel bad about anything. But when you sit a third grader down and ask him to reflect upon what it means to be white, which is happening, and when you have discussions about white privilege and when you divide kids into groups based on eye color and then give treats to the ones who have the preferred eye color just to show them how racism works, you are abusing that child. In fact, you are doing as much damage to that child as any adult who uses his or her power advantage to influence thought, action and emotion. Those who have rightfully criticized the Catholic Church for past abuses should be applauding that assertion, although I have a strong suspicion that they wont. The takeaway from this column should not be that we cover up the past. I, as much as anyone, agree with Santayana that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. But, ironically, repeating the past is exactly what the CRT advocates are doing when they insert damaging and fraudulent theories of privilege and race into a classroom where children are captives to the whims of woke adults. It was heartbreaking that Black children were forced to feel inferior to their white classmates. It would be equally heartbreaking if, 70 years later, we simply reverse the skin color of the victims.
Krawiec said in late June she was responding to constituents concern, particularly parents not wanting their children to get the vaccine.

Parents should not have to worry that this might happen without their consent, Krawiec said.

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The vaccines  are only approved for emergency use authorization. Parents should make these decisions with their children and should not be excluded.

Public health experts point out that all vaccines are required to undergo the same rigorous testing, whether they are approved for emergency use or through a typical license.

Cooper briefly discussed the revamped HB96 following a tour Thursday of the vaccination site for the Forsyth Department of Public Health.

Cooper said the inserted language concerns me.

I will talk with our public health officials and the legislature about that before we make any decisions.

Background

There is no state public health or educational requirement for young people to get the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the 2021-22 school year.
Dear Annie: My 10-year-olds school administrators are over-the-top nosey and wont stay out of our business. I think they mean well, but at times, they try to micromanage the care of our child. For example, his favorite pair of shoes are falling apart, and although he has new shoes, he prefers the old ones. The school sent home a pair of shoes, as if we couldnt afford to buy any. It seemed insulting and passive-aggressive, and my son liked those shoes even less than the new ones wed bought him. So that was a waste.

Also, our son recently had a cut that became infected. The school nurse spotted the beginning of the infection, so we are grateful for that, though we were watching it closely, too. We took him in immediately and began treatment. The school sent home notes about where we could take him in case we could not afford a doctor. (We can and have never implied that we dont have the means or insurance.) The administrators even sent instructions on how to give him a bath using Epsom salt for the wound. They know that we are both professionals with advanced degrees, yet they treat us like nimrods.  Capable With a Cub

Dear Capable: Unless the school addressed the note home to Mr. and Mrs. Nimrod, youre jumping to conclusions. I guarantee that the administrators were just trying to help.
Across North Carolina, about 6% of more than 58,000 COVID-19 cases reported since May have been breakthrough cases, Gov. Roy Cooper said last week.

... Vaccines are working, because almost across the board, the people who become infected who are vaccinated are less seriously ill, Cooper said.

Vaccines curb risks

Breakthrough cases resulting in severe complications or deaths are exceedingly rare, Atrium Health infectious disease expert Dr. Katie Passaretti told reporters this week.

In fact, about 99% of recent COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in North Carolina and across the country are among unvaccinated people, she said.

New research shows that the two-shot Pfizer and Modern vaccines were somewhat more effective than the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine for preventing breakthrough infections, Washington said.

But health officials say all three vaccines are highly effective at curbing the risk of severe illness and death.

During a Thursday news conference, Cooper pleaded with North Carolinians to get their COVID-19 shots.

After months of low numbers, our trends are turning sharply in the wrong direction, Cooper said. I want to be clear about why: Unvaccinated people are driving this resurgence and getting themselves and other people sick.
Once again, a DC Super PAC spent millions on a candidate whose voter card they wanted to control only to be rejected by the voters, Walker said on Twitter. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on what the Texas election says of Trumps endorsement.

The Texas race also gives reason to revisit a memo authored by Paul Shumaker, an adviser to McCrorys campaign, in June that cited polling to predict the Republican Partys chances in next years general election.

A hit for the Trump endorsement?

Club for Growth declined to comment on what, if anything, its loss in Texas might mean for North Carolina. The groups president, David McIntosh, said in a statement that President Trump remains the leader of the party and no one will win the NC Senate Republican primary and general election with an anti-Trump message.

The group spent $60,000 on an ad that ran during the Olympic games on Thursday attacking McCrory, the early leader in polling and fundraising. McCrorys campaign also declined to comment on what the loss could mean for the value of a Trump endorsement going forward.
DeSantis and the GOP fueled a fierce political culture war over the use of masks and vaccines. He politicized the virus, repeatedly chose economic buoyancy over peoples health, and drew partisan lines in the sand, as if the deadly infectious coronavirus droplets checked party affiliation.

The Republican-Democrat divide became fertile ground for misinformation and conspiracy theories to flourish and has led to vaccine hesitancy even among otherwise intelligent people.

Its so confusing out there that people who arent mainstream-media-savvy cant tell the truth from preposterous lies.

Elected officials have a responsibility to model good behavior, but DeSantis wouldnt even discuss his own vaccination. It wasnt until April, after much media prodding, that his spokeswoman confirmed he had gotten a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

What is he doing about the new crisis?

Nothing other than constantly congratulating himself on handling a pandemic he has bungled at practically every step. In fact, he has been hiding the Department of Health data again at a time when the public needs it to make smart decisions.

Its heart-wrenching to see the suffering again.
We were almost there.

Thats the most frustrating thing about the most recent announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that even those who are fully vaccinated against the disease should return to wearing masks indoors in cities that are COVID-19 hot spots. It was only two months ago the CDC said we could put our masks away.

We were this close to getting this thing under control, to seeing one another smile, to cookouts, to visiting Grandpa, to signing off Zoom, to normal. Now we see it all slipping away as inexorably as the tide going out. We return to masking up, hiding our faces like bank robbers.

Some of us are vexed with the CDC over its shifting guidelines, but you wont get an amen from this corner. Scientists have to follow science, and if this is where the science leads, so be it. No, if youre looking to apportion blame, blame the delta variant. And blame, too, those people who refused to wear masks or be vaccinated, and the public officials who seconded them. Blame the ones who said these were matters of personal choice. As if personal choice supersedes public interest.

And how often have we seen news stories about those same people, newly repentant and freshly contrite, their minds changed after coming nose to nose with their own mortality, courtesy of COVID?
Aug 02, 2021 10:00 AM

Read time: 2 minutes

What is Screen to Save?

Screen to Save is an initiative started by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The goal is to work with cancer centers such as Huntsman Cancer institute (HCI) to provide colorectal cancer education to people in their community.

HCIs Screen to Save program focuses on improving early screening rates and health outcomes for people in rural areas and the Pacific Islander community.

Screen to Save gives information about where and how to get screened for colorectal cancer, including free at-home colorectal cancer screening kits to Pacific Islanders and rural residents who are 45-75 years old and at average risk of colorectal cancer.

HCI has the only community health educator involved with the Screen to Save program in the Mountain West region. That includes Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Members of the Pacific Islander Community with HCI's inflatable colon exhibit

I am a Pacific Islander. Why should I get involved with the S2S Program?

The Pacific Islander community has the highest incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer compared to all other racial groups in Utah. This means Pacific Islanders get colon cancer and die from colon cancer more often than other groups.

The Pacific Islander community also has low screening rates (62.3%) compared to the state average (70.7%). Due to low screening rates, Pacific Islanders are not diagnosed with colorectal cancer at early stages, when it is easier to treat. Screening is the best way to find cancer in its early stages.

As someone who lives in a rural community, why should I get involved with S2S program?

Residents of rural areas are at a greater risk of early onset colorectal cancer than those in urban areas. According to study results published in Cancer, early onset colorectal cancer cases increased 35% among rural populations, from 2000 to 2016.

Colorectal cancer is very aggressive, so catching it early is extremely important.

How can I get involved?

Visit our colorectal cancer education website to participate.

The Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition and Pacific Islander Knowledge 2 Action Resources (PIK2AR) both support the Screen to Share program. The Screen to Save program is housed at several clinics, including the Maliheh Free Clinic in Salt Lake City and the Stansbury Health Center in Tooele.

We also love to collaborate! If you are part of an organization that would like to participate, contact Nathaniel Ferre at HCI for more information.

You can also visit our community engagement page to contact our community outreach and prevention education team.
After attending CTR A School in Pensacola, Florida, Blade was assigned to Naval Security Group Activity in Okinawa. He next deployed as a direct support operator onboard the USS Tripoli, Kitty Hawk and Midway.

During Operation Frequent Wind on April 29-30, 1975, suddenly in the midst of the chaos  including mothers scurrying across the deck carrying babies  a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog two-seat observation plane started circling the Midway. Unable to establish voice communications, the pilot dropped a weighted note.

Can you move these helicopter to the other side, the scribbling read, I can land on your runway, I can fly 1 hour more, we have enough time to move. Please rescue me. Major Buang wife and 5 child.

Until then, all the landed Hueys were onboard, but then commanding officer Capt. Larry Chambers ordered all hands to assist clearing the deck. Blade went topside, and while he helped remove debris he saw helos being jettisoned over the side.

The aircraft carrier's Skipper purposely didnt watch, as he wanted testimony at his (expected) court-martial to be that he did not know how many went over.
HONOLULU (AP)  Firefighters gained more control over a wildfire in Hawaii that forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend and destroyed at least two homes on the Big Island, but officials warned that strong winds will return on Tuesday, raising the danger again.

Authorities have lifted evacuation orders but warned they could be reinstated at any time and that people should be ready to go.

Its the biggest (fire) weve ever had on this island, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of the more than 62-square-mile (160-square-kilometer) blaze. "With the drought conditions that weve had, it is of concern. You see something like this where youre putting thousands of homes in danger, its very concerning.

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

Even though Hawaii has a wet, tropical climate that isnt typically at risk from large fires, blazes could become more frequent as climate change-related weather patterns intensify.
"I don't want to treat anyone any better or anyone any worse because of their position," he said.

He added the $350 fine was typically higher than he would have offered to another defendant, but didn't feel it was exorbitant.

"I feel that the deterrent effect was probably accomplished," he said.

A Montana Highway Patrol trooper stopped Ellsworth at about 10:20 p.m. on May 23 when her radar clocked him driving 88 mph in a 55-mph construction zone, according to charging documents.

After he had stopped, Ellsworth exited his vehicle with the Montana Constitution readied on his phone. Trooper Mackenzie Gifford repeatedly told Ellsworth to return to his car, but Ellsworth insisted he be let go due to a provision in the state constitution that exempts lawmakers from an arrest in any case  except a felony  while going to and returning from the state legislative session. The session had concluded the month prior, although Ellsworth attended a Legislative Council meeting at the state Capitol the morning after his traffic stop.
COLUMBUS, Neb.  The mayor of Columbus, Nebraska, said four people have been tested for carbon monoxide, but did not say the cases had been officially linked to a coal fire that has been smoldering at the Columbus Archer Daniels Midland facility for three or four weeks.

"I know of two incidents that were late last week or the weekend," said Columbus Mayor Jim Bulkley. "I'm not sure about the other two."

Bulkley emphasized that no one has been hospitalized.

Bulkley said he has known about the fire since Tuesday morning. He said he visited the ADM facility and met with Columbus Fire Chief Dan Miller that day.

"The fire department was informed three to four weeks ago of a smoldering incident at the coal pile," Bulkley said. "They responded for the first time at that point.  At that point they worked the scene and then had to come back a couple of different times."

The Columbus Telegram was unable to reach Miller for comment.

Bulkley said ADM, which has its North American headquarters in Decatur, brought in an outside firm to help deal with the fire. That was between approximately 10 days and two weeks ago, Bulkley said.

"It was more than (the Columbus Fire Department) was able to handle with the resources that our city has," Bulkley said. "... After the second or third call onto the scene the fire chief determined that this needed to be addressed by more expertise."

The fire was also tying up CFD personnel, making it harder for the department to respond to citizens elsewhere, Bulkley said.

"ADM corporate contacted me (Friday) morning to update me on what they have going on," Bulkley said. "They have professionals on site in different teams, not only to work the smoldering coal but also they've got a company that specializes in air quality management. They're setting up air testing and monitoring all around the area."

The Columbus Telegram received a statement about the coal fire from ADM Media Relations on Friday afternoon.

"ADM is continuing to work with outside experts to extinguish hot spots in our Columbus coal dome, while simultaneously closely monitoring air quality. While ADM's own tests have shown no indication that carbon monoxide has escaped beyond the dome area, out of an abundance of caution, we engaged CTEH ... to confirm our results," the statement said.

CTEH, or the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, is an environmental consulting firm based in Arkansas. CTEH has done environmental data collection for a number of major disasters, including a 2005 crude oil spill during Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Last night, CTEH began continuous air quality monitoring in the area surrounding our Columbus facility. Among 200 samples taken in all directions, at distances ranging from the facility fence line to approximately two-and-a-half miles away, CTEH has not detected any carbon monoxide," the ADM statement said.

Bulkley said ADM will be giving him a daily update until the situation is under control.

ADM has been a part of the Columbus community for almost 20 years. We live and work here, and the safety of our colleagues and our neighbors is our highest priority. Thus, CTEH will remain onsite, and we will continue to work with their experts to monitor the situation until we have extinguished the final hot spots," the ADM statement said.

Meanwhile, a Thursday afternoon press release from East-Central District Health Department (ECDHD) encouraged residents in the "immediate vicinity" to take precautions against possible exposure to carbon monoxide. The ECDHD release said the health department has notified the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy of the situation at ADM.

ECDHD Chief Public Health Officer Chuck Sepers told the Telegram on Friday morning that the haze visible in the air throughout Columbus for the last few days is not related to the ADM fire.

"The haze primarily is from the Canadian wildfires as reported by Platte County Emergency Management," Sepers said. "Our report from the city yesterday is that the ADM fire is a small smoke plume with some very small plumes in the pile -- something that would not be associated with anything that looks like fog."

Bulkley said ECDHD has known about the smoldering fire at ADM since Thursday morning, when he reached out and notified the health district.

"That was the first they had heard about it," Bulkley said.

Bulkley added that Platte County Emergency Management was also unaware of the fire.

"I do feel we should have been informed earlier, but hindsight is just that: Hindsight," Bulkley said.

Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at molly.hunter@lee.net.

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WITT  State Police report that a driver and his passenger died, and a Clinton man was injured, when the vehicle they were riding in was involved in an accident and overturned Saturday night near the Montgomery County town of Witt.

Police listed the fatalities as driver John E. Thompson, 51, and passenger James E. Thompson, 21, both from Witt. Police said they had been thrown clear of their pickup truck in the 11:16 p.m. crash and later pronounced dead at an area hospital.

A rear seat passenger, named as Dakota L. Cook, 24, from Clinton, was being treated in hospital for injuries.

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Police said their preliminary investigation shows the truck was traveling southbound on Illinois 16 near North 19th Avenue when, for unknown reasons, it drove off the road to the right. It then overcorrected and swerved back onto the roadway before overcorrecting again and plunging into the right ditch and overturning.

The road was shut down for four hours while police worked the crash scene and the police said Sunday their investigations were continuing.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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PEORIA  A Peoria man is being held on $1 million bond for allegedly shooting at two Peoria County Sheriff's deputies on Friday night, the county's top prosecutor said.

Shavaun Leemon, 20, of 4019 W. Virden Court, was charged with two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm for the incident that occurred Friday night, said State's Attorney Jodi Hoos in a news release. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Probation is an option if he's found guilty.

The charge alleges Leemon shot in the direct of the officers but did not strike them.

On Friday night, deputies were investigating "multiple incidents" involving Leemon, Hoos said. One of those was an alleged hit and run accident earlier in the day as well as an alleged shooting, she said.

When deputies observed him, they repeatedly told him to stop.

"Rather than comply, the defendant fired multiple rounds at the deputies," she said in the release. "At least 9 shell casings were located."

No one was injured.

The case is continuing to be investigated by the Illinois State Police because the deputies fired their weapons in return.

Additional charges are expected to be filed against the defendant, she said.

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When Indiana State Police trooper Allison Marlowe saw brake lights on Interstate 65 Sunday afternoon, the first thing she did was to look for the crash.

Then she heard about the dog.

More than 30 minutes later, Marlowe and at least five bystanders successfully coaxed a scared puppy to safety and brought an unusual traffic jam to a happy end, with the hungry dog scarfing down a bag of Pup-Peroni dog treats in the back seat of the troopers air conditioned car.

Marlowe, a self-proclaimed huge dog person who joined the ISP in December, pulled up to the backup on southbound I-65 between the Ridge Road and 61st Avenue exits about 2 p.m. Sunday. When the call about a dog running loose on the highway came across her radio, she made her way to the front of the jam and found several people outside their vehicles peering under a tow-behind camper parked in the center lane. Traffic in all three lanes was at a standstill.

Under the camper, soaking in the cool, shaded concrete and avoiding the terrifying stream of traffic she had been darting in and out of earlier, was what Marlowe estimated to be a 4- to 6-month old large-breed puppy, scared to come out.

There was nowhere (for the dog) to go, Marlowe said.

Even before Marlowe got there, compassionate bystanders had filled a bowl of water for the pup and one witness said a passing bus driver had wrapped a belt around the dogs collar as a makeshift leash. But no one could catch hold of the skittish canine before it took refuge under the camper.

Thats where Marlowes dog rescue tools came in handy. After a different call about a loose dog earlier in her brief career, the rookie trooper said she stocked up on supplies just in case the need arose.

I would not say every (trooper carries dog treats) but theres a good amount of them that do, she said. Im like, dogs are going to be persuaded with food so I got some treats, a collar and a leash  and it came in use (Sunday).

To the bystanders who helped keep the dog safe, and the bus driver who sacrificed a belt before they had to leave the scene, Marlowe expressed her gratitude.

They were hanging out trying to help and they didnt want to leave, she said. I was thankful for them.

Marlowe said the dog appeared undernourished and dehydrated but otherwise was in good spirits as she transported her to Lake County Animal Control, with the pup finishing the entire bag of treats on the way.

Animal control referred any inquiries about the dogs condition or adoption status to the Lake County Sheriffs Office. A spokesperson did not have an update on the dog's status as of 1 p.m. Monday.

Traffic on I-65 backed up for several miles during the rescue effort, with vehicles eventually getting by on both shoulders. Delays reached as far back as Interstate 80/94, Marlowe said.

ISP and Marlowe said a witness who first reported the dog running across the highway also said they saw a van pull over and dump the dog. The department has no other information about the van or its occupants.

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While they speak of the sadness and unfairness of her not living to pursue that dream, Steven and Brandy have established a foundation in her memory, the Gracie LeAnn Dimit Memorial Foundation.

We want her servants heart to live on, said Brandy. Well do it for her  in her honor  her legacy.

They also believe supporting the foundation will help Gracies brothers as they grieve and remember their sister. Brian, 25, was Gracies big brother, and Garrett, 16, and Grady, 13, were among the first youngsters their sister nurtured.

Of all her brothers, Brandy reflected, She mothered them so much.

Stevens brother, Scott, and his wife, Analia, wanted to help grow the foundation. This spring, they bought a farm of 100+ acres on Old Ebenezer Road in Marion to be used for that purpose.

One day, the Dimits want the former cattle farm that includes a stretch of river frontage and a panoramic view of mountains to become a camp for children with special needs and disabilities and their families. Brandy and Steven, who have already had plans drawn, imagine cabins for families to stay together, and opportunities for fishing, hiking and so much more.

Now, Steven said, the camp is in the early planning stages.
Every time Trump holds another rally, though, Taylors store gets more business, he said.

Even people who despise Trump stop in, as Utah resident Williams proved. I think I had the only Biden sign in front of my house in my entire city, he said.

As a political science major, hes fascinated by the entire Trump phenomenon. Indicating the row of Trump flags alongside the former church building, Williams said, You dont see stuff like this for Bush, or anybody.

Taylor has had personal interactions with Trump, though they dont rise to anything like a formal meeting or conversation  theyre more the sort of accidental contacts a fan might have with a rock musician whose concerts he regularly attends.

The red ballcap Taylor wore during a Roanoke Times interview read All aboard the Trump Train. More than an expression of loyalty, he wears the caps because it helps to sell them, he said.

While at the front of a rally in Wisconsin, Taylor said, Donald Trump reached over three people to sign the hat Taylor was wearing. People had seen it, and so as I was going out the door, this old farmer says, Hey, whatcha want for that hat? And I said, Give me $200. After Id seen his wallet, I shouldve got $600. He would have paid it, you know.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Artem Dolgopyat fulfilled a lifelong dream when he won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But back home in Israel, his hopes of trading gold wedding bands with his longtime girlfriend seem to be an impossible dream.

The Ukrainian-born Israeli gymnast was hailed as a national hero for winning Israel's second-ever gold medal  and its first in artistic gymnastics. But the celebrations were tempered after his mother lamented that the country's authorities will not allow him to wed because he is not considered Jewish according to Orthodox law.

The state doesnt allow him to marry, Dolgopyats mother, Angela, told 103FM in an interview Sunday.

Her comments touched a raw nerve in this country, which has repeatedly struggled with balancing matters of religion and state since it was founded as a refuge for Jews 73 years ago.

Under its Law of Return, anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible for Israeli citizenship. But while Dolgopyat's father is Jewish, his mother is not. Under halacha, or Jewish religious law, one must have a Jewish mother to be considered Jewish.
Lazio regional Health Commissioner Alessio DAmato told state TV that the very powerful hacking attack began just after midnight and that by early Sunday evening it was still crippling the website. He said those scheduled to receive the vaccine on Sunday would still get the injection, but that the process would be slow since all data for now must be recorded by hand.

So far, some 70% of Lazio residents 12 years or older and eligible for the vaccine have been vaccinated. Nationally, 60% of Italys residents have been vaccinated.



WASHINGTON -- The director of the National Institutes of Health says federal guidance urging vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in communities of high COVID-19 spread is aimed at mostly protecting the unvaccinated and immunocompromised.

Dr. Francis Collins tells CNNs State of the Union that mask mandates can help as virus infections spike higher in parts of the U.S. because studies show vaccinated people can spread the virus to others.

But he stressed Sunday that masks are no substitute for getting a shot, which work extremely well and reduce a persons risk of serious illness and hospitalization by 25-fold, including the delta variant.
Granted, many unvaccinated people, particularly Black and Latino Americans, are leery of the shots because of the governments poor track record when it comes to their communities health. But whatever the reasons people may have for not getting vaccinated, we need to move them out of their comfort zones for the sake of their own safety  and ours.

The new COVID-19 rules prompted a predictable backlash from those who insist the Constitution gives them the freedom to infect others. (It doesnt; witness the Supreme Court decision in 1905 declaring that states could mandate smallpox vaccinations.) We have little patience with the knee-jerk naysayers who label every new pandemic policy a governmental overreach. What exactly would the government gain by asking people to put cloth over their faces to save their own lives? In what bizarro world is it an abuse of power to give people the choice of taking a free, lifesaving medication or doing preventive testing to prove they arent infectious?
We were almost there.

Thats the most frustrating thing about the most recent announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that even those who are fully vaccinated against the disease should return to wearing masks indoors in cities that are COVID-19 hot spots. It was only two months ago the CDC said we could put our masks away.

We were thisclose to getting this thing under control, to seeing one another smile, to cookouts, to visiting grandpa, to signing off Zoom, to normal. Now we see it all slipping away as inexorably as the tide going out. We return to masking up, hiding our faces like bank robbers.

Some of us are vexed with the CDC over its shifting guidelines, but you wont get an amen from this corner. Scientists have to follow science, and if this is where the science leads, so be it. No, if youre looking to apportion blame, blame the delta variant. And blame, too, those people who refused to wear masks or be vaccinated, and the public officials who seconded them. Blame the ones who said these were matters of personal choice. As if personal choice supersedes public interest.

And how often have we seen news stories about those same people, newly repentant and freshly contrite, their minds changed after coming nose to nose with their own mortality, courtesy of COVID?
Yes, I do, because each work experience allows me to apply part of my knowledge. It brings me new ideas. I meet new people, and it also allows me to reapply some knowledge to improve what is done or create new ways of doing things.

Im also passionate because I solve the most complex problems that come my way, trying to save as much time and money as possible in the process.

What are some of your experiences in life that stand out to you most?

First, the lack of resources during my childhood motivated me to develop the desire to improve and the creativity to solve disadvantaged situations. I have worked and studied simultaneously since I was 12 years old, and that has allowed me to learn many things.

Second, the case of my wife. Twenty-three years ago, when I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend, I was confident that she would say yes at once because I had everything well-calculated, but at that moment she said no. I had to reformulate the whole strategy again and insist until she finally said yes.

What is the most important thing to know about you?

That I have a great fighting spirit, with sureness and faith to do what I propose to myself. I am honest, sincere, trustworthy and I always try to do the right thing. I am straightforward and guided by the principles and values that I learned from my family, at school and in the Boy Scouts movement, because for me, principles and values are not negotiable.

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Myanmar prefers the candidate from Thailand, former Thai ambassador to Yangon Virasakdi Futrakul, but it remains uncertain when its military leaders would decide to accept the envoy and if access to Suu Kyi, who has been detained with other political leaders and put on trial for a slew of charges, would be granted, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly.

More than 900 people have been killed by Myanmar authorities since the February takeover, according to a tally kept by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Casualties are also rising among the military and police as armed resistance grows in both urban and rural areas.

ASEAN leaders met in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in April and called for an end to the violence and the start of a dialogue among contending parties to be mediated by an ASEAN envoy.

On Sunday, Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing repeated his pledge to hold fresh elections in two years and cooperate with ASEAN on finding a political solution. He said without elaborating that Myanmar is ready to work on ASEAN cooperation within the ASEAN framework, including the dialogue with the ASEAN special envoy in Myanmar.
There's no reason an inventor has to be a human. Image: Shutterstock

The Australian Federal Court has ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) systems can be inventors of patentable inventions in a landmark case.

Justice Jonathon Beach handed down his ruling on Friday, saying an inventor could legally be an AI system, but that such a system could not be the owner, controller or patentee of a patentable invention.

He said classifying an AI as an inventor was consistent with the legislations aim to promote technological innovation  by rewarding it, irrespective of whether the innovation is made by a human or not.

Dr Stephen Thaler brought the case against the Australian Patent Commissioner after trying to patent an invention made by his device for the autonomous boot-strapping of unified sentience, or DABUS.

DABUS is a machine learning system that Justice Beach recognises can generate novel patterns of information which is capable of adapting to new scenarios without additional human input run on self-assembling software.

Dr Thaler has named DABUS as inventor on two patent applications around the world for a fractal-shaped container and a unique signal that attracts attention among competing sources.

Only South Africa has granted the application so far.

Richard Hamer, lead partner of law firm Allens, which represented Dr Thaler, said the Federal Court ruling was significant by being the first judicial recognition of the AI patent claim.

This is the first time a judge anywhere in the world has ruled that inventions made by artificial intelligence can be patented, he said.

The Patents Act aims to encourage innovation whether by human or robot. This decision will encourage the use of AI to make inventions.

Justice Beachs ruling last week paves the way for a DABUS-created patent to be granted in Australia, pending appeals from the Patent Commissioner, but is far from giving AI systems rights.

While Justice Beach had a thorough examination of artificial intelligence in decision making processes, a key element of the case was a lack of clarity in Australias patent legislation which does not specify that an inventor has to be a person.

An inventor as recognised under the [Patents Act] can be an artificial intelligence system or device, he said.

But such a non-human inventor can neither be an applicant for a patent nor a grantee of a patent.

Professor Natalie Stoianoff, Director of the Intellectual Property Program at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), described the case as groundbreaking.

It really is a true case of statutory analysis and interpretation, but its also taken us beyond what were used to as an understanding under patent law, Professor Stoianoff told Information Age.

You could argue weve been using AI for quite some time and not even questioning these ideas around who the inventor really is.

An AI could be sold in multiple platforms with many different people and I think there remain more questions to be answered.

Professor Stoianoff noted that AI systems may be sold to different users for different inventive purposes  such as for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as pointed out in the Federal Court ruling.

In that case, who is the owner of an invention? The AI, the person controlling the AI, or the person who developed the AI?

She thinks the case points to a need for clearer legislation around patents which will likely err on the side of seeing AI as a tool, not a sentient being.

While we have AI machines assisting us to achieve goals, were probably going to have to recognise them as being the tool of the human being controlling it, Professor Stoianoff told Information Age.

You cant have a situation where a patent is owned by a machine; and you also cant have a situation where people are investing money into machines and processes and are finding that, because a machine did the theoretical invention, no one owns the patent.
Representative image

Kandahar [Afghanistan], August 2 (ANI): At least five civilians were killed when a mortar shell struck a taxi in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Sunday, reported Anadolu Agency citing a police statement.

The incident took place on the outskirts of Kandahar city amid clashes between the Taliban and security forces.

Meanwhile, police spokesman Jamal Naser blamed the Taliban for the attack, reported Anadolu Agency.

Earlier, flights were suspended at Afghanistan's second-biggest Kandahar international airport after rockets hit its runway. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban also claimed over running multiple security check posts in Lashkargah, capital of restive southern Helmand province.

The war between the Taliban and Afghan forces has intensified as foreign troops withdraw from the war-torn country.

Over the last few weeks, the Taliban captured several districts in Afghanistan including Takhar, the country's northeastern province.

The Taliban seized over 193 district centres and 19 border districts, according to the Afghan foreign ministry.'

The Taliban have also taken control of 10 border crossing points across the country in Takhar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Herat, and Farah provinces leading to the complete shutdown of cross-border movements and trade in these areas. (ANI)
Islamabad/Toronto, Aug 2 (PTI) Former Canadian politician and diplomat Chris Alexander has accused Pakistan of being complicit in proxy war and war crimes and engaging in an 'act of aggression' against neighbouring Afghanistan.

Alexander, who served as Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 2013 to 2015, said in a tweet on Sunday, 'Taliban fighters waiting to cross the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan anyone still denying that Pakistan is engaged in an act of aggression' against Afghanistan is complicit in proxy war & war crimes. Reacting angrily to Alexander's tweet, Pakistan's Foreign Office, in an overnight statement, strongly objected to the remarks made by the senior Canadian politician, describing his comments as 'misleading assertions' based on ignorance about the facts on the ground.

Pakistan has faced accusations from the Afghan government officials for the alleged backing of the Taliban, but it is rare that a foreign figure has pointed to it.

India has also repeatedly asked Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border terrorism and not provide safe havens to militant groups.

Alexander's tweet comes as the US military, after nearly 20 years in Afghanistan, is in the final stages of withdrawing troops from the war-torn country, bringing an end to America's longest war.

The Pentagon has said about 95 per cent of US troops have left Afghanistan and the Taliban has rapidly expanded their presence to large swaths of the country.

In its statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office said, We strongly condemn the unwarranted comments by former Canadian minister Chris Alexander, making unfounded & misleading assertions aboutPakistans role in #AfghanPeaceProcess. Such remarks betray a complete lack of understanding of the issue as well as ignorance of facts on the ground, it said.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan has taken up the matter with the government of Canada.

Story continues

The matter has been taken up with the Canadian side. We have urged the Canadian authorities to take steps to address this motivated and malicious smear campaign, it said.

The Foreign Office also said that the international community had begun to appreciate what Prime Minister Imran Khan had been saying for a long time.

The statement pointed out that Prime Minister Khan has maintained that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and there is a need for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement. PTI SH MRJ AKJ MRJ
CHARLESTON  The three children of James L. Pearcy, a Charleston native, expected a simple family reunion on Sunday afternoon.

Pearcy's grandson had other plans in mind.

Tye Auter had been pulling together documents on his grandfather, who died 24 years ago, for the last several months, during which he learned Pearcy earned a Bronze Star medal during World War II that he had never received.

Auter and the rest of the family decided to surprise James Pearcy's three children  his father, Mike Pearcy, and Fran Gover and Jim Pearcy  at the Charleston VFW with a celebration.

We were just told to be here, Gover said. The other family members knew what was going on but the three of us had no clue.

Once they arrived, the award ceremony became an emotional moment for the family, who remembered their father fondly.

It was wonderful, Jim Pearcy said, with a tear in his eye, as he recalled his fathers dedication to other veterans.

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I'm not sure there was a dry eye in the seats, Auter said. It was awesome.

The day would not have been possible without Auter, who traced all the paperwork.

It began when Auter reunited with the Pearcy family by discovering them on ancestry.com three years ago. Through that, he started to discover more military records. When he started to track-down his grandfather, he noticed that some documents werent complete because they were destroyed in a fire in St. Louis.

Auter spent months talking to people, reconstructing records and going to armed services review boards.

I continued to follow up, provided any type of paperwork that they (the review board) needed to support the evidence, which was really up to 14 assignments, said Auter. And then, April 5, is when I got the word that the review board had taken a look at (Pearcys records) and awarded him a Bronze Star.

It's just a matter of being persistent, providing the paperwork, and getting what he deserves for 75 years, now, said Auter.

The family is a military family. Mike Pearcy served in the Vietnam War. Jim Pearcy served in the Air Force, though he was not deployed to Vietnam, and members of Govers family now serve in the military, too.

Were proud of it, said Gover. It takes a lot for the freedoms that we have.

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Although the National Black Theatre Festival was postponed until August 2022 because of the pandemic, Truist Financial and the North Carolina Black Repertory Company are presenting a free, weeklong Holy Ground Revival to let festivalgoers know that the arts are still alive and well.

Holy Ground Revival will be held nightly from Monday, Aug. 2 through Saturday in the Winston Square Park Amphitheatre at 310 N. Spruce St. in downtown Winston-Salem. The event is presented in association with The Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County and OUT at the Movies.

Recording artist Alyson Williams featuring Reggie Buie Trio will kick off the event at 7 p.m. Monday. There will be a special guest performance by Larry Barron, aka LB the Poet, host of NBTFs Words & Verses.

At 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, eventgoers will be treated to movies.

The Wiz will be shown Tuesday. Dianna Ross plays Dorothy, who, along with her dog Toto, gets caught in a snowstorm and travels to the Land of Oz. To get home, Dorothy and her new friends  the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion  ease on down the road to see the wizard.

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The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services was required to sign off on the federal recommendations  which it did on May 12  before vaccine providers in North Carolina could proceed.

DHHS says the expectation is that, in most cases, parental consent is obtained for a COVID-19 vaccination for people under 18.

However, teenagers can consent for themselves for COVID-19 vaccines, pursuant to N.C. General Statute 90-21.5, if they have the ability to understand and make decisions about their health. As part of normal development, most children are able to understand and make decisions about their health some point before the age of 18.

State law does require K-12 students receive a series of immunizations, including boosters necessary before entering certain grade levels. That law does not include COVID-19 vaccinations.

Children who are home-schooled or attend public, private, charter or religious schools are required to be up-to-date with North Carolina-required vaccinations within 30 calendar days from the first day of school.

State law allows for medical and religious exemptions from school-required immunizations.
The U.S. Commerce Department last week announced the nation's economy had grown 6.5% in the second quarter and is now larger than it was before the pandemic.

While hard data for the local and state economies won't be available for quite some time, all signs point to very strong growth in both the Lincoln area and across Nebraska.

Nebraska has had the lowest unemployment rate in the country all but one month this year, and its rate of 2.5% in June was the lowest it's been in more than 20 years.

The Lincoln and Omaha areas also have sported historically low unemployment rates recently, and personal finance website WalletHub last week ranked the cities No. 1 and No. 2 nationwide for the recovery in their unemployment rates.

"The pandemic continues to have less of an impact on the Nebraska economy and on the metropolitan economies within the state," said Creighton University economist Ernie Goss. "This, of course, spills over into the broader economy via lower unemployment rates and other positive economic outcomes."
Targeting by such groups helped sink three moderate Republican lawmakers in 2016. All three were attacked for votes that put them at odds with Gov. Pete Ricketts, and all three lost, despite outspending their opponents' campaigns.

Geis said candidates tell him that they have to "over-raise and overspend" in preparation for possible spending by such outside groups, in addition to countering spending by their opponents' campaigns.

Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers of Lincoln said he expects such pressures to continue pushing up campaign costs. Hilgers spent $261,813 on his 2016 race, making him the top spender that year. He spent $375,656 on his reelection bid last year, which was the second-most for the election.

"In competitive races, and with the increase in outside group spending, it can take a lot of resources to get your message out and communicate with voters," said Hilgers, a Republican.

In addition, Bostar pointed to the growing polarization of society, which has made donors more motivated to see their ideology prevail in the State Legislature. He said that has translated into larger campaign donations and harder-fought, partisan-tinged races.
That kid had a good sense of humor, said a laughing Wasserburger, the Olsons son-in-law and Rouseys pasture neighbor.

He said he knows Buoy from working closely with his father, Mark, a North Platte-based brand inspector for the Nebraska Brand Committee.

When the auctioneer issued the $1,000 challenge, Wasserburger leaned toward his companions.

I said (to them), You want to partner on it? he said. They said, Yeah, and the whole place clapped.

The humorous scenario was set up by the Lincoln County Agricultural Societys decision to retain an alternative to the traditional end-of-fair animal auction.

The youth exhibitors were bid upon Monday after describing themselves and what theyd use their extra money for.

After seeing how things went in 2020, they kind of liked that, so they kept it, Buoy said.

So how did he wind up literally losing his hair at Mondays premium auction?

Heres what Jordan read to the crowd:
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's Cabinet advanced a national budget on Monday for the first time since 2018 in a sign of stability for the country's fragile new government.

The 120-member Knesset must still approve the two-year spending plan by November to avoid dissolving the government and new elections.

A failure to agree on a budget was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the previous government, led by Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu. That resulted in new elections early this year that ultimately put Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in charge of an eight-party coalition spanning the political spectrum.

Israel is returning to work, Bennett said after an all-night session. He said the 2021-2022 spending plan reflects concern for all citizens of Israel and does not serve any narrow sectorial interest.

The Cabinet's approval of the spending plan is no guarantee the parliament will approve the budget, but it is another step toward avoiding new elections.

The coalition government is delicately balanced, including far-right and far-left parties as well as an Arab party. With a narrow 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament, a host of issues, ranging from economic policies to dealing with the Palestinians, could threaten the fragile alliance at any time.
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VIOLENT CRIME

Community leaders call for more investment in prevention as prison costs rise

RACINE  When Racine Police Chief James Carvino addressed the city on the topic of violent crime in the spring of 1980  he deployed greater manpower and more foot patrols to the citys high-crime areas that summer  he could not know the urban landscape was about to change drastically with the introduction of crack cocaine.

Crack not only ravaged lower socioeconomic neighborhoods in the next two decades, it changed peoples perception of who was using, and how police responded to drug use and abuse.

Crack epidemic

Illegal drugs were not new to the United States in the 1980s. But how they were perceived changed substantially.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, when marijuana was the illicit drug of choice for college students and cocaine the choice of the rich and celebrities, sentencing laws in most states remained lenient.

When crack cocaine hit the streets in the 1980s, perceptions changed and crack became associated with poor people of color in urban city centers.

Policymakers responded to the drug epidemic as the problem itself rather than a symptom of larger problems  poverty and lack of access to education, job training and mental health.

Rather than treating the epidemic as a public health crisis, it was treated as a crime.

Journal Times staff The Racine Police Department Major Crimes Unit and several other Police Department vehicles line 11th Street near its intersection with Lockwood Avenue on July 13 after an incident in which a Racine police vehicle was hit by bullets.

Tough-on-crime era

The state responded to the crack epidemic by toughening drug laws for dealers and users, leading to more and longer prison sentences.

Then the State of Wisconsin went on a building spree:

From 1981 to 2021, the state purchased facilities or constructed 20 of the states 36 current correctional facilities as the prison population went from 3,980 (in 1980) to 7,332 (in 1990) to 20,366 (in 2000) to 24,578 in 2019

.

The state and Racine County are currently in the process of funding a new $50 million juvenile corrections facility.

By 2019, taxpayers were spending $933.9 million  a 2.7% increase from the previous budget  just on the prison systems operating budget, according to a

report by the Legislative Audit Bureau.

The incarceration of people at the state and local level combined was costing Wisconsin taxpayers $1.5 billion in 2015, according to

analysis by the Wisconsin Budget Project

. That dollar amount was 12% higher than the national average.

Tough on taxpayers

As noted in an article published by the Badger Institute, the states tough-on-crime policies have actually been tough on taxpayers.

And legislators may soon be coming back to taxpayers with their hands out.

An article by Patrick Hughes, published by Badger Institute in February 2020, points out that the current Wisconsin adult prison population is 133% over capacity.

Quoting the states consultants on the issue, BWBR/Mead & Hunt, Wisconsin taxpayers will likely have to build at least one new prison  at a cost of $450 million to $500 million for construction alone  and dramatically expand two prisons ($240 million).

Urban landscape

Despite the spending on prisons, violent crime in Racine remained steady, although it did not return to the 1990s surge.

1980 (population: 85,145) murder, 4; robbery, 241; aggravated assault, 321.

1990 (population: 84,298) murder, 10; robbery, 307; aggravated assault, 410.

2000 (population: 81,855) murder, 4; robbery, 256; aggravated assault, 261.

2020 (population: 76,130) murder, 5; robbery, 101; aggravated assault, 238.

In 2005, Racines crime rate surpassed the state average and remained there. It ticks up and down from year to year, but in the citys most vulnerable neighborhoods, crime is a constant.

Robinson

In 2021, Racine hired a new police chief. You cant arrest your way out of these problems, Chief Maurice Robinson said earlier this month.

Horton

Alderman Maurice Horton, who operated a gang diversion program at one time and has worked with at-risk youth for years, stressed the problems must be addressed with the child, with the family, and with the neighborhood.

You have to walk with them, and you have to look at what theyre surrounded with daily, Horton said. Im talking about the neighborhood, and Im talking about poverty, and Im talking about home.

Racine has a 21% poverty rate, but kids in vulnerable neighborhoods are surrounded by poverty.

Horton said 80% of the people they go to school with may be living below the poverty line.

I really want people to start investing, he said. You can invest in the lake, in the park, but were going to have to start investing in our kids if we want to see change.

Prevention

The 40-year history of violent crime  in the city, state, and nation  is one of significant investments in response to violent crime rather than prevention.

Alderman John Tate II, the president of the Racine City Council, agreed the public safety focus has been on response rather than getting to the heart of the issue.

Law enforcement and the fire department are about response, he said. The fire department educates people on smoke detectors, but theyre still really about response.

There is just not a robust preventative infrastructure, Tate said.

Demske

County Supervisor Nick Demske, who represents Racine, would like to see some changes to the way policymakers respond to crime, and he advocated for more investment in the citys most vulnerable neighborhoods.

If a community wants to generally be more resilient, to resist crime and decrease violence, you need to invest in neighborhoods and communities that are most vulnerable, he said.

He argued when people are stable they are resilient, they wont take desperate actions, and will make fewer bad decisions.

Resources

Mental health is the resource mentioned most frequently as the one most needed.

Children who live in high-crime neighborhoods are more likely to witness and be the victims of violent crime; they witness higher rates of substance abuse inside the home and in the community; they are more likely to live with food insecurity and housing insecurity.

These traumatic events are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which impact how children develop.

Kelly Scroggins-Powell of the Racine Women for Racial Justice advocates for mental health services, especially for children.

We say things like children are resilient, she said. And children are not resilient.

Instead, children are forced to live these experiences because they are not given an alternative, she said, and these traumatic events take a toll.

It is affecting their normal childhood development because ACEs impede on a persons ability to develop normally, Scroggins-Powell said.

They have adult-size problems without support or resources, and educators, community stakeholders, lawmakers do not seem to fully understand the impact that has on a child.

Scroggins-Powell noted the irony is that once youths are adjudicated, once theyre in the system, then they can get some kind of services. However, even those services may not match the need of the child.

Racine lacks the appropriate services, she said, such as mental health services, pediatric mental health services, youth development services, youth prevention services, youth intervention services or youth substance abuse treatment programs.

We are failing children and setting them up, but we are not forgetting to prepare a place to house them, she said.

The right people for the job

Effectively providing services for vulnerable neighborhoods requires not only funding but also the right people.

Horton knows from experience and understands the people, the services needed, and how to recruit the right people to work with populations in underserved communities.

He said to keep young people out of gangs and diverted away from drugs, it is important to connect with them, but the people in some existing programs are not the right people for the job.

They say theyll hire an outreach person, but it cant be just any outreach person, Horton said. You need a special type of person to do that.

Some of the people in the gang diversion program had records, but that allowed them to interact with the young people on an honest level, he said.

Many programs, especially in schools, no longer allow ex-felons to work with young people, Horton said. He views that as a mistake because it eliminates a lot of people who understand gangs, drugs and the culture of the neighborhood.

Violent crime always present in high-density, working-class neighborhoods Crime ticked up last year, and down this year, but in the city's poor and working class neighborhoods, poverty is always present.

These are the people who have credibility with the folks living in high-crime neighborhoods.

Horton remembers a person from the rural areas of Wisconsin who came to work in Racine. She was sincere but unprepared for the realities of urban problems.

It was a disaster, he said.

Gather the right people, he advised, people who have risen up out of the same neighborhoods who can empower the young people from vulnerable neighborhoods to see a different life for themselves.

Echoing others who spoke about the issues of poverty and violent crime, Horton said it was time to start investing in vulnerable neighborhoods.

This is the second in a series of reports exploring the subject of violent crime. The first report can be found here.
Investigator also found three 9mm Luger handgun casings in the kitchen.

According to the criminal complaint, the victims sister told police that she gave her brother a ride to the residence. When she pulled up, she said her brother took off his shirt and headed inside.

She thought he was going to fight someone and was concerned, so she exited the vehicle and followed him.

She said that she heard someone yell Whats up? and then heard three gunshots.

Witness statement

According to the criminal complaint, the witness said she saw a man exit the residence wearing a multicolored face mask. She got into her vehicle and followed the suspect. She called police and told them which way he was headed and started recording him.

The sister said she lost track of the suspect between the 500 blocks of Center and Villa streets.

Police secured video surveillance footage that showed a white Chevrolet pull up to the residence at 9:21 a.m. The video shows two passengers exiting the vehicle, with one of the passengers wearing the clothing that was described by the witness.
Houston said private landowners currently in the town want to be annexed into the village, primarily for better sewer and water service to spur development on their land. Creating the Village of Tichigan to lock down the borders, he said, would deprive those landowners.

Its the rights of the property owners, Houston said. Thats why the village is fighting this  its for the property owners.

State law allows villages greater authority than towns in blocking annexation from neighboring municipalities.

The existing Town of Waterford has about 6,300 residents while the Village of Waterford has a population of about 5,500.

Two-year process

The town initiated its incorporation effort in July 2019 and filed a required petition six months later in Racine County Circuit Court. State law gives circuit judges authority to determine whether such a petition qualifies to be considered by the state review board.

A judges ruling in June 2020 cleared the way for state review  and for Mondays public hearing as part of the process.
Wisconsin had been averaging fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per day through June and the first half of July. By July 29, the seven-day average in new cases had risen to 638 with a single-day total of 1,058  the highest total in over three months. The states overall peak came on Nov. 17, when 7,880 new cases were confirmed in a single day.

However, with the ongoing spike, deaths havent jumped  not yet at least. They remain at a statewide average of one or two per day, although spikes in deaths from COVID-19 typically come about at least two weeks after spikes in cases.

Were very health-conscious, Langenfeld said of how shes managing the store.

She has been monitoring the Delta variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the Delta variant has about a 50% higher chance of transmission than the originally tracked strains of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The Delta variant also has been linked to increases in the severity of hospitalizations and fatality rates, too.

If (the Delta) strain hits hard, were going to go back to masks and put up a sign, Langenfeld said.

Wary of mandates
Outside the courtroom, Katie Barrington, a case manager with Crossroads Rhode Island, a nonprofit housing and homeless agency, signed him up with a housing counsellor to help him secure a new home and enrolled him for federal rental assistance.

In Columbus, Ohio, Chelsea Rivera showed up at Franklin County court Monday after receiving an eviction notice last month. A single mom, shes behind $2,988 in rent and late fees for the one bed-room apartment she rents for herself and three young sons.

The 27-year-old said she started to struggle after her hours were cut in May at the Walmart warehouse where she worked. Shes applied to numerous agencies for help but theyre either out of money, have a waiting list, or not able to help until clients end up in court with an eviction notice.

Rivera said shes preparing herself mentally to move into a shelter with her children until her situation improves.

We just need help, Rivera said, fighting back tears. Its just been really hard with everyday issues on top of worrying about where youre going to live.

But there was more optimism in Virginia, where Tiara Burton, 23, learned she would be getting federal help and wouldnt be evicted. She initially feared the worst when the moratorium lifted.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Considerable clouds this morning. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. High 89F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
1. Yes. A sudden surge could be devastating. A mask mandate may be required.

2. Yes. Each county faces different COVID challenges. Let local officials act accordingly.

3. No. Nobody should be forced to wear a mask. It should always be optional.

4. No. A mask mandate isnt any more effective than a strong recoommendation.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether a change is in policy is necessary at this point.

Vote

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Gov. Gavin Newsom has a simple way to beat back the recall election that could force him out of his job: Get Democrats to vote.

But it may not be as easy as it sounds. Democratic registration almost doubles that of Republicans in the state, but party leaders are alarmed because Republicans appear more eager to vote, which is backed up by polling. Some Democrats might not be paying attention because they are convinced Newsom is headed toward an easy victory.

The kind of voter Newsom needs to connect with is 37-year-old barber Dwayne Speed of Sacramento, who is a registered Democrat but has been thinking about switching to independent. He felt Newsom pushed his own personal agenda during the pandemic. But he isnt convinced by recall supporters either and hasn't decided how he will vote.

I want to know every single basis that theyre trying to recall him on, Speed said. Nobodys going to have a job and do it 100% perfectly.
Brighter Tomorrows program coordinator Jan Bruder knows how a therapy dog can help victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

A donation by the Tomah Health Community Foundation will help those survivors in Monroe County. Members donated $1,500 Thursday to support a therapy dog recently purchased by Brighter Tomorrows.

Being all grant-funded and donation-funded, we really needed the support of our community to help fund this project and Tomah Health Foundation really stepped up to the plate and was able to make a contribution that will help us to purchase the dog and help pay for some of his training, Bruder said

She said a recent donation from New Lisbon Correctional Institution was also instrumental in purchasing the Golden Retriever named Sol (after the sun) and an appropriate name for a dog who will bring brightness to clients who have been living in dark situations.

On average we help about 400 survivors of abuse a year in Monroe County including adults and children. With the pandemic, we saw a dramatic increase in the number of people we were serving, services that we have been providing and the emergency assistance that those folks needed, Bruder said.
Vernon County and state leaders gathered on the grounds of Great River Road Interpretive Center at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Thursday, July 29, to celebrate the dedication of Wisconsins Great River Road as an All-American Road.

Wisconsins segment of the roughly 3,000 miles of Great River Road has been officially deemed an All-American Road by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, officials said. It is now one of only 49 roadways in the country to receive the designation.

Wisconsin Great River Road (All-American Road) covers 250 miles in Wisconsin and passes through 33 Mississippi River towns along Wisconsin Hwy. 35.

Andrew Nussbaum, regional tourism specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, thanked those in attendance for making the area the best place to work, live and play on the planet.

Sherry Quamme, chairperson of the Wisconsin Mississippi River Parkway Commission, said the last time the All-American Road designation was open for nominations was in 2012. We are one of 15 All-American Roads awarded this year in the country.

Quamme said this designation puts us on the international stage. She added partnerships were formed to make the application for nomination possible.
That approach could potentially work better than the annual flu shot, for which the three or four strains expected to circulate most are selected months in advance to be included. Mismatches can greatly reduce the effectiveness of existing flu vaccines, which in recent years have worked between 10 percent and 60 percent of the time.

COVID-19 vaccine work stalled

Meanwhile, FluGen continues to work on CoroFlu, a vaccine against flu and the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but is not focusing on the effort as much as it was before, Radspinner said.

FluGen researchers have been studying several CoroFlu vaccine constructs in cells, and in tests in mice and hamsters, he said. But while Radspinner said early this year the company could apply this summer to do human trials that might start late this year, those plans are now on hold.
Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden accepted the nomination from his home in Delaware instead of in Milwaukee.

Earlier this year, Harrison told Milwaukee TV station WITI that Biden was heartbroken that the convention had to be scaled back, and that hed keep it in mind when considering the 2024 convention site.

A spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett didnt respond to a request seeking comment. Its unclear whether Milwaukee would put together a bid.

The Milwaukee County Democratic Party urged the DNC to quickly reselect Milwaukee as host city.

We should not have to make the case for why Milwaukee would be an excellent location for the DNC in 2024  we already did that just a few years ago, its executive committee wrote. Instead, we simply ask the selection committee to follow the precedent of so many other postponed events and follow through on your national commitment to our state.
The Lancaster County community will get an opportunity to welcome back a homegrown Olympian on this evening.

Casey Kaufhold, the 17-year-old archery wunderkind who recently placed 17th in individual archery competition at the Tokyo games, will be honored with a ceremony featuring speakers from Conestoga Valley School District, an onstage interview, and a short ride on a fire engine from Lafayette Fire Company.

The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Conestoga Valley High School outside of Rill Auditorium. Admission to the ceremony is free and Kaufhold will be on hand until 7:30 p.m. for photos.

"I think I'll be on a fire engine...I'm really excited," Kaufhold says over the phone. "I've seen fire engines up close, but I've never been on one, so it should be interesting. First time for everything!"

Kaufhold beat Spain's Ines de Velasco in the round of 64 before falling in her next match and being eliminated by Japan's Ren Hawakaya. Previously, the Conestoga Valley High School student was part of the U.S. women's team that reached the quarterfinals before losing to Russia.
An Annville man is the second person to be charged with an April barn fire that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and endangered the lives of more than 100 firefighters, according to East Earl Township police.

Christopher Adam Good, 23, was charged with arson, causing or risking a catastrophe, agricultural vandalism and criminal conspiracy.

Good helped start a blaze in the 200 block of Bridgeville Road in East Earl Township around 2:25 a.m. on April 8, police said in a news release. The fire caused more than $500,000 in damage, destroying a barn containing hay, a 2005 John Deere harvester and a 2004 John Deere tractor.

The blaze also endangered the lives for 115 firefighters from 15 departments who battled the inferno for nearly six hours, police said.

A Pennsylvania State police fire marshal determined that one of the likeliest causes of the fire was arson.

Investigators received a tip on June 25 that Good had conspired with Jonathan Lynn Yoder, 18, to start the fire, according to the news release. Yoder, of Narvon, was previously charged with arson, criminal conspiracy to commit arson, burglary, causing catastrophe and agricultural vandalism after an anonymous tip led to him being arrested in June.

Good surrendered to authorities in Tuscarawas County, Ohio on July 6. He remains in the Tuscarawas County Prison awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania, police said.

A date for a preliminary hearing has not yet been set, court records show.

Yoder has remained in Lancaster County Prison since June 27, unable to post a $1 million bail, court records show. He is still awaiting trial on those charges.

Goods attorney, Raymond Ellsworth Stout, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Yoders court-appointed public defender, Jonathan Patrick Chieppor, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ephrata police are looking for a woman they say called and threatened a district judge's office on the day she was scheduled to turn herself in.

Anna Marie Shreiner, 24, whose last known address was in Strasburg, is wanted for terroristic threats and threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, according to police.

She was expected to turn herself in for drug charges at 10 a.m. on May 19 at Magisterial District Judge Russell's office, according to police. At 9:26 a.m., she called the judge's office and told a staff member, "You're gonna blow up today, there's a bomb in there and you don't know where it is."

The building was evacuated until 1 p.m., according to police.

Anyone who knows where Shreiner is is asked to called police at 717-733-8611. Tips can also be submitted anonymously on CrimeWatch.
Editors note: This meeting took place before the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions latest guidance on masks, issued July 27.

When: Manheim Central school board meeting July 26.

What happened: After hearing comments from parents about allowing parental choice for student COVID-19 vaccinations and mask wearing, the board approved a health and safety plan that does not require students or staff to wear face coverings or to be vaccinated.

More context: The districts goal is to resume pre-COVID-19 measures in schools and school activities. The district plans to have all schools open for in-person instruction five days a week. Assistant Superintendent Amy Flannery said students or staff who wish to wear face coverings may do so, though face masks are not required. Also, she said the district has no plans for restrictions or physical distancing measures. Staff, students and visitors to school buildings should self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms before coming to school or work.

Parent discussion: We as parents expect that masks and vaccines will be optional for students and teachers, said Rebecca Glass, a parent of four children in the district and a member of MC Parents for Change. There is an election coming up and several school board members are up for reelection, she said. Shari Herr, a nurse and a mom of fifth and eighth graders, said in an email she experienced two COVID-19 outbreaks in her workplace. She urged the board to get back to education and to allow parents a choice in deciding to mask their children. In an email that was read during the meeting, Stacia Brandt, a mother of a son in second grade and a daughter who just graduated, urged the board to not require masks in the upcoming school year. She said masking is abusive both mentally and physically, and there may be long-term impacts on childrens social skills after a year of wearing masks in school.

Quotable: The CDC does not make laws, Brandts email said. I will choose what is right for my child. I will choose how to parent. Put the control and decision making back in the hands of parents.

Board discussion: Superintendent Peter Aiken said the districts health and safety plan is intended to keep the decision-making about masks and vaccines local. School board member John Nied said everyones comfort level is different, and its important the districts plan consider that.

High school: Alexis Baker, the districts facilities director, reported the renovation project at the high school has begun and is on schedule. The start of the year will be staggered due to the construction project. The first day of school for grades 10 and 12 will be Aug. 30. The first day of school for grades nine and 11 will be Aug. 31.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021

Thinking Outside the Box

Aug. 1, 2021 (EIRNS)It has been a hallmark of the half-dozen international conferences organized by the Schiller Institute over the last 18 months, that at the end of each of them many of the participants have thanked Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche for presenting creative, new policy ideas for solving the worlds pressing crises, for thinking outside the box and for helping them to do the same. In a few cases, this was stated begrudgingly; in most cases, it was animated and appreciative. This thoughtful recognition has come from policy leaders and scholars in numerous fields from China and Russia, Germany and Italy, Syria and Yemen, India and Mexico. And, conspicuously, from the United States as well.

The July 31 five-hour dialogue on Afghanistan: A Turning Point in History After the Failed Regime-Change Era, continued and enriched that process. Zepp-LaRouche convoked the conference on short notice, because of the grave danger and unique opportunity that the American and NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan had opened up for global strategic cooperation among otherwise contending powers. She made a concrete proposal for Russia, China, the U.S., India, and regional partners such as Iran and Pakistan, to present a concrete development program for Afghanistan, within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, and to use that to help organize a stable power-sharing agreement among the contending parties inside Afghanistan. She stressed that a required starting point would be the building of a modern health system in that country, as in all countries around the world, to fully address the COVID-19 pandemic. Peace through development has to be the operant approach, she emphasized.

The discussion period reflected the impact of such a visionnot universal agreement, but thoughtful consideration. Exemplary were the comments during the discussion period of Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva, Russias Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who stated:

The Afghanistan issue [is] one of the problems we are working on really hardrelatively, I must say that, effectivelywith all these rivals previously mentioned. Russia, U.S., China, Pakistan, [and others].... So this can be a turning point, and a very good forum for cooperation, because our goals are the same. Its important also to have a common strategy, and to build on trust, and work together to reach a stable Afghanistan.

The process of these international Schiller Institute conferences was initiated by Helga Zepp-LaRouche shortly after the Feb. 12, 2019 passing of her husband, Lyndon LaRouche, to ensure the continuity of his thinking and strategic approach. Two weeks from now, on Saturday Aug. 14, the LaRouche Legacy Foundation will hold its first international online seminar, So, Are You Finally Willing To Learn Economics? which will explore in depth Lyndon LaRouches fundamental discoveries and breakthroughs in the field of the science of physical economy.

In an article that he wrote on Nov. 6, 2000, Politics as Art, Lyndon LaRouche was prescient about the breakdown crisis that was upon us, and about the concepts needed to solve it:
For years, Palestinian farmers have exported special plants to Europe. Those plants, or herbs, are turned into high-priced cosmetics and beauty products.

Now, however, a group of Gaza women have brought that process home. They are processing the herbs themselves and creating personal care products such as shampoo for the hair and moisturizer for the skin. The products are now sold in 50 stores in the area.

This project operates from a factory in Gaza City. All four employees are women. They use steam to draw out, or extract, oils from the herbs. The oils are the main ingredient used to make the beauty and personal care products. The herbs they use include ones you would use for cooking: rosemary, basil, mint, thyme, and chamomile. All the herbs come from farms run by women.

"When you hold the product, you feel like you are taking something from the earth - with no additives," Refqa Al-Hamalawi told Reuters news agency.

The project currently makes 17 different products, including cleansers and body wash. They sell them under the name GG. The letters stand for Green Gold. That is what the farmers of northern Gaza call mint.

"As women, we (are) proud of the idea and the production, an idea like in European countries," Hamalawi said.

The project is aimed at empowering women and helping the economy. It is supported financially by Australia and the global aid organization Oxfam.

While the project is small, the women involved say it has already begun to make a difference in Gaza. The unemployment rate in the territory is around 50 percent. Female unemployment is higher at 62 percent. These numbers come from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Dawlat Marouf is 55 years old and the mother of 12 children. She said that before she started working with the project, she struggled to make a living selling her mint and thyme in local markets. Now, she says she "wakes up every day at 5 a.m. to come to the field and prepare 40-50 (kilograms) ordered by the factory.

Marouf's daughter-in-law is named Ekhlas. She said she did not know herbs had uses outside of cooking. The project, she said, will provide income for our children and our families.

Narmin Al-Banna is a pharmacist who sells the products at her store. She said she likes "these products because they are natural and have no chemicals in them." She said she tried them on many people, and many customers, and they gave her great feedback.

Im Anna Matteo.

Nidal al-Mughrabi reported this story for Reuters. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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Words in This Story

cosmetic n. a substance that is put on the face or body to improve appearance

moisturizer n. a substance used on the skin to keep the skin from drying out

ingredient n. one of several materials used to make a kind of food

additive n. something added to something else

proud adj. to be pleased with something about something you have done, something you own or people you are connected with

customer n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

feedback n. helpful information or criticism that is give to someone for the purpose of improving performance or a product
Record numbers of migrants and extreme heat are resulting in many deaths among immigrants trying to cross the southern U.S. border.

The nonprofit group Humane Borders says that in June, the remains of 43 people were found in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. The desert is just north of the U.S. border with Mexico.

The group follows the recovery of bodies in one area along the 3,145-kilometer border. It studies data from local coroners offices to find out how many migrants have died.

Brad Jones is a volunteer with Humane Borders. He said, "What is happening is climate change is real, and the temperatures have been getting hotter and the weather itself is more volatile.

The group said there has been an increase in the number of migrants trying to cross the border in the remote western desert. Migrants cannot get emergency aid there.

The National Weather Service reported that June was the hottest month on record in the Phoenix and Tucson areas of Arizona. Temperatures often reached 43 degrees Celsius.

Jones said the number of migrant deaths in June was sad but not unusual.

"There's been a migrant death crisis on our border right at your doorstep for 20 years. And in the Arizona-Mexico borderlands itself, nearly 4,000 people have lost their lives over the last 20 years," he said.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP, spokesperson said that the land and desert climate along the border is extreme. The official said that people thinking of crossing the border are putting their own lives in danger.

"CBP's message for anyone who is thinking of entering the United States illegally along the Southern border is simple: don't do it, the spokesperson wrote in an email to VOA.

There have always been dangers in the border area. Drowning, for example, is a danger in the Rio Grande River. But researchers have seen a rise in migrant deaths caused by heat.

Sam Chambers is a scientist at The University of Arizona's Binational Migration Institute. He said heat is to blame for most migrant deaths recorded by the Pima County medical examiner's office in Arizona.

Chambers said U.S. border enforcement has caused migrants to walk through more dangerous and remote areas of the Sonoran Desert. He said people are unlikely to have enough water, even in cooler areas of the border. They have perspired all the water and they can only carry so much," he said.

Chambers research suggests that migrants who died were mostly male and usually between 20 and 49 years old. About 80 percent were from Mexico.

Humanitarian groups working along the border believe more migrants have died than have been reported. They say some bodies have never been found.

Border Angels is a nonprofit group in San Diego, California, that supports more than 15 shelters in Tijuana, Mexico. It estimates that over the past 27 years, more than 11,000 migrants have died in their attempt to cross the southern border.

Water drop programs

Border Angels operates what is called a water drop program. For 20 years, volunteers have been leaving water along desert trails used by migrants entering the country illegally.

In 2020, they placed more than 4,000 liters of water with messages saying, I wish you luck in Spanish.

Humane Borders has its own water program. Jones said it can be dangerous giving out water because there are several groups that try to stop supplies from being given to migrants.

If Humane Borders' volunteers find human remains during their water drop runs, Jones said, they immediately contact the U.S. Border Patrol.

Looking at data for bodies found in the month of June, Jones said most died within the last 30 days.

"These are real, living, breathing people who in May were alive and, by the end of June, were not alive anymore," he said.

Im Dan Novak.

Aline Barros reported this story for Voice of America. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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Words in This Story

coroner  n. a public official whose job is to find out the cause of death when people die in ways that are not natural

volatile  adj. likely to change in an extreme or sudden way

remote  adj. far away from other people, houses, cities or civilization

perspire v. to produce a clear liquid from your skin when you are hot or nervous; sweat
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

On Earth, something is always burning. That is what experts at the American space agency NASA say about wildfires.

They explain that a wildfire can start naturally by lightning. Sometimes people using controlled burns to clear land for farming can accidentally start a wildfire.

The United States National Park Service says on its website that from 2000 to 2017, 85 percent of wildland fires in the U.S. were caused by human behavior. This behavior includes leaving campfires burning, burning trash, throwing lit cigarettes and starting a fire on purpose, or arson.

Wildfires can clear dead and dying plants to help new growth. However, wildfires create large amounts of smoke which is dangerous to breathe. And they release waste gas which is harmful to the environment.

How dangerous is it?

Wildfire smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds, and many can be harmful in large amounts. Smoke from burning houses and buildings contains even more toxic chemicals. This is from all the manufactured materials.

Growing scientific research points to possible long-term health damage from breathing in very small particles of smoke. These long-term health problems include decreased lung function, weakened immune systems and higher rates of flu.

There are short-term issues as well. At-risk people can be hospitalized and sometimes die from breathing in large amounts of smoke, say doctors and public health officials.

Officials in the U.S. have been moving quickly to better protect people from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke. However, they find it more difficult to communicate these dangers to communities and people who live thousands of kilometers from the fires.

Jeff Pierce is an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University. He said smoke loses its odor. But it remains harmful even when it travels very far.

It is certainly unhealthy, Pierce said of the air along the eastern U.S. coast in recent days. If you have asthma or any sort of respiratory condition," he said, you may want to change your plans if youre going outside.

A recent study by Pierce and Sheryl Magzamen, another Colorado State University scientist, found that people who live close to fires are more likely to be prepared. However, those who live farther away may not know of the dangers.

How can I protect myself?

There are ways to protect yourself.

Listen for warnings about smoke. If advised, avoid outdoor activities to reduce your exposure. Keep doors and windows closed. Run an air filter to clean the inside air.

Face coverings, or masks, can protect against breathing in smoke. As with COVID-19, the most effective are N95 masks. They are designed to block the smallest particles.

Where are the fires?

NASA satellite images show that wildfires are now burning on every continent, from Asia to South America and Africa to Australia.

Large wildfires in Australia and the U.S. often capture the worlds attention. But researchers said under-reported and smaller wildfires in Africa make up about 70 percent of all the burned areas around the world. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Siberian city of Yakutsk is sometimes known as the worlds coldest city. In July, the Reuters news agency reported that wildfires during a heatwave there burned over 1.5 million hectares. The heavy smoke forced people to stay indoors and suspended flights at its airport.

In Turkey, a massive forest fire spread to the town of Manavgat. The towns mayor, Sukru Sozen told local media, "It's growing even more with the wind. It's impossible for us to determine the size of the damage We have not seen anything like this.

In the U.S., the National Interagency Fire Center said more than 80 wildfires are burning in the western United States. In Canada, the government said more than 4,500 wildfires have already happened in a year of record high temperatures.

Smoke from these fires recently reached unhealthy levels in North America, and they could be seen nearly 5,000 kilometers away on the East coast.

Dan Jaffe is a wildfire smoke expert at the University of Washington in the U.S. He told the Associated Press about the fires burning in the western U.S. and Canada: These fires are going to be burning all summer.

He added, In terms of bad air quality, everywhere in the country is going to be worse than average this year.

And thats the Health & Lifestyle report, Im Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this story for Learning English with reporting from the Associated Press and Reuters. Additional information came from NASA, U.S. National Interagency Fire Center, and Natural Resources Canada. Hai Do was the editor.

Quiz - Risks of Wildfire Smoke Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

exposure -n. the condition of being subject to some detrimental effect or harmful condition

immune system -n. the system that protects your body from diseases and infections

campfire -n. a fire built outdoors (as at a camp or a picnic)

toxic -adj. containing poisonous substances

odor -n. a particular smell

asthma -n. medical : a physical condition that makes it difficult for someone to breathe

respiratory -adj. dealing with respiration : respiration -n. the act or process of breathing : the inhaling of oxygen and the exhaling of carbon dioxide

air filter -n. a device or equipment designed to improve the quality of circulating air by filtering out dirt and germs (impurities)

determine -v. to come to a decision
The United States is expanding efforts to permit Afghan citizens who have worked with the U.S. to resettle as refugees in America.

The U.S. State Department announced Monday it was widening a refugee program. The move is expected to offer permanent U.S. refugee status to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members.

The State Department said the U.S. objective remains a peaceful, secure Afghanistan. However, it added that the refugee program was being expanded in light of increased levels of Taliban violence in the country.

The expansion aims to help Afghans who might be targeted by Taliban militants because of their work with U.S.-based organizations during the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

The announcement came as Taliban violence has increased ahead of a planned withdrawal of U.S. military forces from the country by the end of this month.

The State Department said it had created a new Priority Two category to accept more Afghan refugees within its U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

The change extends refugee status to current and former employees of U.S.-based aid and development agencies. Other assistance groups receiving U.S. financing are also included. In addition, Afghan citizens working for U.S.-based news organizations are included in the program.

The expansion will also cover current and former employees of the U.S. government and NATO military operations who do not meet requirements for existing refugee programs.

The new category is meant for Afghans who are not able to get a Special Immigrant Visa, SIV, because they did not work directly for the U.S. government or did not hold their government jobs long enough.

To qualify, Afghans must be nominated by a U.S. government agency or by the highest U.S. citizen employee of a U.S-based media company or nongovernmental organization.

The first group of approved SIV holders -- most of whom served as translators or did other work for U.S. troops or diplomats -- arrived in the U.S. last Friday. That group of 221 people is among 2,500 who will be brought to the U.S. in the coming days.

Another 4,000 SIV holders have not yet received full approval. They are expected to be resettled with their families to third countries ahead of the completion of the U.S. withdrawal. About 20,000 Afghans have expressed interest in that program.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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

____________________________________________

Words in This Story

category  n. a group of people or things that are similar in nature

objective  n. something that you are trying to achieve

qualify  v. to be permitted to do or have something

translator  n. a person who changes words in one language into another
ATLANTA (AP)  After two women were found dead in Atlanta-area parks last week, false reports spread on social media suggesting a serial killer was on the loose. Law enforcement say the killings are not related and there's no reason to believe they are the work of one person.

Heres a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: A serial killer is loose in Atlanta and police officials are not sharing the details of an ongoing serial killer investigation.

THE FACTS: False. Atlanta-area police officials are not treating the two cases as being connected, and they say theres no evidence of a serial killer targeting individuals in that region. Still, false reports making the claim circulated widely across social media with warnings to be careful.

The first killing was discovered about 1 a.m., on July 28, in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. In that case, 40-year-old Katherine Janness, was found stabbed multiple times. In the second case, Tori Lang, 18, was found shot to death in Yellow River Park, near Stone Mountain, around dawn. The parks are about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from each other.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump's Twitter cannon roared over the weekend as the latest turn in the Russia investigation seemingly placed him on the defensive. He denied he had ever absolved Russia of meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, despite his plentiful record of voicing doubts on that question.

Resurrecting an old tale from the campaign, Trump also described a diplomatic transaction between the U.S. and Iran during the Obama years as a dark plot that should have been investigated by U.S. authorities. The transaction actually was money the U.S. owed to Iran from decades ago and one in a series of claims that were addressed by an international tribunal set up by both countries.

Trump's rash of tweets followed an indictment released Friday charging 13 Russians with running a massive social media trolling campaign and field operations in the U.S. aimed in part at helping him defeat his 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller provided the most concrete evidence yet of Russian attempts to subvert the election.

Here's look at some of Trump's broadsides and how they stack up with the facts:

TRUMP: "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.' The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"

I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer. The Russian hoax was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

THE FACTS: On multiple occasions Trump has challenged the veracity of the mounting evidence about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. On Air Force One, during foreign travels in November, he was asked about a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "How did you bring up the issue of election meddling? Did you ask him a question?"

Trump replied: "He just  every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that.' And I believe  I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, 'I didn't do that.' I think he's very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth."

And in September, he tweeted: "The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook," referring to the discovery that Russian entities had posted ads on Facebook critical of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and supportive of him.

The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017

Mostly, he has equivocated on the question of Russian interference, speaking at times as if he believes it happened and other times as if he does not, even as lawmakers, intelligence officials and some of his own aides say there is no doubt Russia meddled. He's been consistent only in denying that his team colluded with Russia.

TRUMP: "Never gotten over the fact that Obama was able to send $1.7 Billion Dollars in CASH to Iran and nobody in Congress, the FBI or Justice called for an investigation!"

Never gotten over the fact that Obama was able to send $1.7 Billion Dollars in CASH to Iran and nobody in Congress, the FBI or Justice called for an investigation!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

THE FACTS: It's not clear what there could be to investigate.

In the late 1970s the Iranian government, under the U.S.-backed shah, paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment. The equipment was never delivered because in 1979, his government was overthrown and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran ruptured. In 1981, both countries agreed on a commission at The Hague to rule on claims by each country for property and assets held by the other. Iran paid more than $2.5 billion to U.S. businesses and citizens to resolve claims.

In January 2016, the U.S. agreed to settle an Iranian claim, paying the $400 million and committing to follow up and pay $1.3 billion in interest, for a total of $1.7 billion. U.S. officials said they settled because they expected the tribunal to rule on the claim soon and assess higher interest. The Obama administration delivered the initial payment the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners, and later acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave.

TRUMP: "General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.

General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

THE FACTS: H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, would have had no basis to say Russia failed to impact the U.S. election because that is an open question.

McMaster said in remarks the previous evening that the indictment provides "really incontrovertible" evidence of Russian malfeasance in the election. The indictment does not allege collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and does not assert that Russia's deeds tipped the election in Trump's favor. But Mueller's investigation continues and nothing is ruled out.

Trump tweeted Friday about his conviction that Russia had no impact and Vice President Mike Pence said in an Axios interview days earlier that "it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any impact on the outcome of the 2016 election."

U.S. intelligence agencies, however, have reached no such conclusion.

This much is thought to be true: Russia is not known to have succeeded in manipulating voting systems or ballots. Officials said as much months ago. But since then, much more has been discovered about the Russian assault on Facebook, Twitter and Google as propagandists pushed fake or negative news to readers to deepen public discord and influence opinions on whom to vote for. Now the Mueller indictment adds voluminous detail to that understanding.

The extent to which such efforts may have motivated people to vote for Trump may be impossible to measure.

But Pence's apparent equanimity on the subject was not shared by Trump's director of national intelligence in testimony to senators Tuesday. "There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful," Dan Coats said in warning that Moscow was already meddling in the 2018 midterms. Coats said Russians "upped their game" in the 2016 election, "took advantage, a sophisticated advantage, of social media" and interfered in "pervasive" fashion  a conclusion underscored by the criminal charges brought Friday.

___

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Patty Baird hasnt taken a single day off in the past year. Cedar House Sport Hotel, her boutique hotel in Truckee, is experiencing a surge of reservations. Even weekday evenings are getting booked up by the work-from-anywhere contingent. Baird is grateful for the additional business, but shes struggled to hire more staff, which has left her working 12- to 16-hour days.

Difficulty hiring is just one of several issues Baird faces this summer as Californias economy reopens. The uptick in COVID-19 cases across the state caused by the more contagious delta variant has renewed her sense of uncertainty. She has stopped taking deposits for events because cancellations and refunds last year created gaping holes in her balance sheet. An air conditioning unit she ordered in May wont arrive until August at the earliest. In the meantime, staff routinely spray it with water to keep it from overheating. This year feels harder to manage than last year.

It just feels more stressful, because of the unknowns, Baird says. Is something around the corner?

Californias economy is no longer at its nadir. The state has regained slightly more than half of the 2.7 million jobs it lost in March and April 2020 when the pandemic shut down many businesses. Gov. Gavin Newsom, squeezed by the Sept. 14 recall election, touts the states economic gains bolstered by a massive budget surplus and an infusion of billions from federal stimulus programs. Yet its clear that the states economy is in a different place than it was before the pandemic.

No region of California  from Silicon Valley, to Hollywood, to the Central Valley  is back to pre-pandemic employment rates. And while some large companies raked in record profits over the past year and a half, small business owners say several factors  including the possibility of new restrictions, difficulty hiring staff and inadequate child care  make the coming months feel uncertain, which is preventing California from making a full comeback.

Positions going unfilled

According to the state, California employers added roughly 73,500 non-farm jobs in June. But total civilian employment increased by only 24,500. That means thousands of positions remain open  and lots of small businesses are stretched thin.

There are several reasons those jobs are going unfilled, says Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics. People may be taking more time to find their next job, or holding out for a job that is linked to a career path, and getting by on unemployment benefits and stimulus money in the meantime. The workforce has also shrunk: The pandemic spurred an uptick in retirements across the country, according to analysis of government data by Pew Research Center. Some parents may be waiting to reenter the workforce until they have reliable childcare options.

As a result, unemployment rates are still up  Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Francisco, for example, all have jobless rates more than double their pre-pandemic numbers. The upside for workers is that wages have been rising over the past year and demand for employees is high.

How difficult is it to recruit workers?

Jim Mayfield, president and owner of Rainbow Ag, a chain of stores selling home goods and pet supplies in rural Northern California, says the number of applications hes receiving for job postings is a quarter of what it was before the pandemic. Applicants for positions on the business team are increasingly requesting the option to work from home. Retention is difficult as well.

Maybe theyre putting their own individual needs and fears in front of the job, which I cant blame them for, said Mayfield, who is rewriting job descriptions to make them more appealing to prospective employees.

Another looming question is whether school will be held in person this fall and whether parents send their children back. What would several more months of virtual school mean for working families? For some, it could mean a shift from having two incomes to one, says Rob Lapsley, president of California Business Roundtable. While employment for working women without children had nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels by May, employment for women with school-aged children was still more than 6% behind, according to an independent analysis by Misty L. Heggeness, a principal economist at the U.S. Census Bureau.

In a state with one of the highest costs of living, it can be hard for families to get by on one salary. A recent report from United Ways of California found 3.5 million working families dont make enough to meet their basic needs.

For Baird, the lack of reliable child care for her staff has made her more concerned about burnout. Shes been letting her employees at Cedar House Sport Hotel bring their children to work if they dont have easy access to daycare or school. The kids take over one of the hotel meeting rooms, and staff in the nearby laundry room are able to keep an eye on them.

Hiring incentives

Luis Sanchez, owner and chef at Mouthful Eatery, a Latin-fusion restaurant in Ventura County, says he saw the surge in demand for workers coming. In the spring, a couple months before the state was set to loosen restrictions, he increased employees hourly wages and meal discounts, and even started a 401(k) retirement program. He also hired two more workers he didnt yet need and trained them so that when the state officially reopened on June 15 he wasnt scrambling for staff.

Still, the uptick in cases from the delta variant, Sanchez says, is concerning. Since neighboring Los Angeles County reimposed a mask mandate on July 17, he thinks Ventura may soon follow. But in the meantime business has been good. In fact, he said, his restaurant was busier the week after the mandate, possibly as Angelenos sought out less-restrictive dining options.

For Mayfield, owner of Rainbow Ag, the possibility of new rules that affect his business are his top concern. He knows how to take care of his team, he says, and hes not going to put them at risk. But he doesnt want to be told what to do by the governor or a public health officer.

Give us the facts, he says, and he will take appropriate steps.

A new normal?

The roller coaster of the past year  outbreaks, shutdowns, new regulations  has become the new normal for some business owners, says Bruce Stenslie, president and CEO of Economic Development Collaborative, a small business development center assisting employers in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Most businesses that were working with are pretty reconciled with the notion that its not over, he says. Its never over.

For others, temporary adjustments to the pandemic have become permanent ones. Takeout used to be 5% of Sanchezs business at Mouthful Eatery. Now he says its 30% to 40%, and he believes it will remain popular in the years to come.

In fact, hes betting on it: He plans to open another restaurant focused exclusively on takeout.

Tom Sawyer Camps, which runs day and after school camps in Pasadena, had to close its doors when the governor issued a stay-at-home order. They used to run after-school programs at four different campuses, but with schools shut down, they moved that program to a park. The adjustment, says executive director Guy Fish, has been easier on staff.

Despite uncertainties, Fish and other small business owners are feeling optimistic. There was a time last year when Fish thought hed have to shut down the nearly century-old camp. We feel hopeful, given everything weve been through and survived, he says. I feel like weve weathered the worst of it financially and physically.
Robert Nichols is the state senator for Senate District 3. First elected in 2006, Nichols represents 19 counties, including much of East Texas and part of Montgomery County. He can be reached at 699-4988 or toll-free at (800) 959-8633. His email address is robert.nichols@senate.texas.gov.
Two Lufkin residents have been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of a man in Nacogdoches early Sunday, according to a Facebook post from the Nacogdoches Police Department.
The state's largest organization representing physicians is urging all health care facilities to require their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

"At some point, all employers have to step up and start mandating vaccinations to protect their employees and customers," said Wisconsin Medical Society COVID-19 Task Force chair David Letzer, DO, in a statement. "Because the delta variant is two to three times more infectious than the original strain, the time has come to take this next step. We are calling on all health care organizations to mandate their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19, barring rare medical contraindication."

The organization's plea comes as Wisconsin, like the rest of the country, is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, primarily attributed to the rapidly spreading delta variant  especially among unvaccinated people. The rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases increased by 330% in just two weeks at the end of July.

Nearly 52% of Wisconsinites have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 49.3% have received the complete series.
Most renters in the city are considered rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Also, the price of an average house in the city increased $50,000 in the last decade.

The city has a 3% vacancy rate  compared to a healthy rate of 5%  and needs to add 2,000 units per year to keep up with population growth.

Solving these housing challenges are complicated and likely require a number of solutions. Matt Wachter, Madisons director of planning and community and economic development, said it can be tempting to copy what other cities may be doing on this issue without adapting solutions for Madisons unique characteristics.

In his job, he focuses on how to define the problem with data, look at a range of solutions and then implement them.

It's really nice to have world class housing and real estate faculty here to lean on, Wachter said. A lot of the major research papers are not talking about Madison, Wisconsin, theyre talking about New York and San Francisco.
Its one thing to be an employee at a business thats moving.

Its another thing to be an employee at a boss-free business thats moving.

Thats the situation of the roughly 20 workers of Community Pharmacy, a downtown institution whose storefront at 341 W. Gorham St. is slated for redevelopment. Developer Core Spaces announced plans in January to build a 10-story apartment building on the site that the business had occupied for nearly four decades.

As a worker-managed cooperative, the pharmacy has no managers. Except for the four pharmacists, every member of the staff has the same job title (Community Pharmacy co-op worker) and is trained to do most store roles. All major decisions go to a staff vote.

Theyd need to plan the move together.

Already, the workers had been considering leaving downtown. The rent was high, and few of their customers or staff lived downtown anymore. When news of the development plans made a move inevitable, they considered other State Street spaces but found them all too expensive.

Issy Bilek had only been working at the pharmacy for a few months when the word came down that theyd need to move out by early August. Workers at the pharmacy typically get to choose the work that interests them most, and soon the 25-year-old was offering to lead the effort to find and set up a new home for the 48-year-old pharmacy.

Bilek figured it would be a chance to use their prior experience in construction and labor organizing. Because we make decisions collectively, you have to be the middleman between construction and staff, landlords and staff, and landlords and landlords, Bilek said.

I was like, I want to try to push myself to be that person.

To avoid having to put every decision to an all-staff vote, the workers delegate some tasks to teams made up of those most interested in a given project. In this case, a handful of other employees worked closely with Bilek on the project, visiting possible locations and compiling spreadsheet after spreadsheet to compare them. When they eventually found a new spot  130 S. Fair Oaks Ave., across from the Garver Feed Mill  the team worked together to design the layout of the new store and plan for the move.

But in many ways, the move has been an all-hands-on-deck affair, with employees scouting vacant retail spots on their days off and signing up for shifts to help with the cross-town move scheduled for next weekend.

Because customers depend on the pharmacy for their prescriptions, the staff plan to close the downtown location one afternoon and open the east side location the very next day; their pharmacy license wont allow them to operate both shops at once. The new location is tentatively scheduled to open on Monday, Aug. 9.

It takes a village to open up something like this, Bilek said. Literally all of my co-workers have been helping me oversee this store.

Team players

The pharmacy has been getting work done through worker teams for more than 30 years, thanks to a suggestion from employee Jackie Nikolaus, now 60, who came the pharmacy in the 1980s after years of managing trendy teen fashion stores in malls.

At that time, the members of the pharmacy collective were mulling whether theyd like to take on a traditional management structure, become a worker-run cooperative or something else. Nikolaus began reading the theories of engineer and management consultant W. Edwards Deming, who argued that if management delegated responsibility to teams of employees, the employees would become more engaged and invested in their work.

I just sat down and drew out a diagram about what if it was just a team managed thing, not a hierarchical managing thing? Nikolaus said. She proposed an initial set of five teams. They said, Let's try it.

Today, she sees a new generation of workers stepping up to reshape the business. Last year, in part at Bileks prodding, they raised the lowest wage to $15 an hour, and others have pushed for more work-life balance.

I totally am a baby boomer  so I had this really different sense of what work was supposed to be in my life, Nikolaus said. So it's been really great to be like, I have a lot to learn from you.

Six years ago, when the pharmacy formed a new team to establish its second location, Community Wellness Shop in Middleton, Nikolaus was among its leaders. Shes glad to participate in another big transition.

We're kind of in a new phase of being reborn, reinvented again, Nikolaus said. So it's exciting to be part of that at this ripe old age of 60.

Life without a boss

Barb Brown, 63, has worked at the pharmacy for 37 of its 48 years. Originally trained as an auto mechanic, she came to the pharmacy after years at a car dealership.

I was really unhappy, Brown said, and she liked the idea of working in a co-op. To be able to run a business without having the full responsibility of owning it is an amazing opportunity, Brown said.

Now, nearly four decades in, she knows well the perks and drawbacks of being her own boss.

I don't have somebody telling me what to do. But that means I'm responsible, and it also means I take that home with me. I don't usually take physical work home with me much, but mentally I do.

In years when business is good, her fellow workers are happy. In other years, they arent. Shes seen the business weather some pretty dire financial straits.

The cost of running the business skyrocketed, she said, as more Americans got their prescriptions through health insurance and as insurers hired firms to manage their prescription drug benefits. Independent pharmacies across the country closed, though a handful have managed to hold on in Madison.

Now, shes preparing to retire and looking forward to the pharmacys next chapters. I've been here a long time. I'm old, and it's time for the young folks to take over. I know that they've got ideas, Brown said.

Some of them might stay for only a few years, while others might stick around for decades like she did.

Some people leave here and they realize they want a job where they're just told what to do, and they just come in, do it, and go home, Brown said. And some people realize they'll never be able to work in a traditional situation again.

Some of those who leave opt to pursue other careers in the medical field. Thats the long-term plan for Brendan Schwaab, 26, who started working at the pharmacy about three years ago after regularly visiting for help with chronic health issues. Schwaab is currently taking prerequisite courses with the goal of eventually becoming a nurse practitioner or a doctor.

For now, though, Schwaab is excited to be part of the pharmacys big move. Its felt exciting and impactful, and also nerve wracking, because these are big decisions that we're collectively making, Schwaab said. The agency you have here is incredible.

Bilek agrees. Having no boss is really hard, and its also so empowering  You have the Wizard of Oz moment where you pull behind the curtain of what a boss actually does (and see that) it's really difficult  and also you can do it.

If you've got a good group of people, you can do it.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
STEVENS POINT  My longtime personal doctor doesnt mince words.

When I turned 60, he told me, Well, its all an experiment now. Another time, after I had ignored some of his medical advice with predictably bad results, he scolded me, saying, What, you think youre the smartest guy in the room?

So when I recently asked him for advice about what to do at this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic, his response was predictably direct: Avoid stupid people. It sounded like good advice to me, and Id sort of been practicing it for the better part of a year. Now it looks like that will have to continue.

My doctor isnt some lefty liberal. Hes a down-the-middle guy who happens to believe in vaccines for his patients, whether for COVID-19, shingles, flu or any of the other diseases that are at least somewhat abated by a shot. He definitely takes COVID-19 seriously, having witnessed some of its ravages. He expressed chagrin during the height of the pandemic that about a third of his patients thought it was a hoax. When I expressed concerns about having to attend gatherings with others who were ignoring public health advice, he said, Stay away. Blame me. Doctors orders.
Government support for agroforestry practices, education and technical assistance should be a no-brainer, and now is the time to make it happen.

Margaret Krome of Madison writes a semimonthly column for The Capital Times. She is policy program director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
But government researchers found little evidence of the virus spreading to wildlife from affected mink farms in Utah last year.

In general, if biosecurity and infection control processes are implemented on the farms, it will mitigate the spread of diseases in and out of farms, said Hon Ip, a virologist at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison who worked on the study.

Dr. John Easley, a Sheboygan County veterinarian and director of research for Fur Council USA, said Wisconsins ranchers are in the process of vaccinating about 95% of the states captive mink.

The industrys set up very well to keep the farms biosecure, Easley said.

Boost for U.S.?

Whelan said he expects production to rebound this year as prices climb.

We definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel through these numbers, he said.

Rhoda-Reis said producers and auction houses are also optimistic and stand to benefit from an end to mink farming in the Netherlands, which historically produced about twice as many pelts as the United States, and a temporary ban in Denmark, the worlds top producer.
The plaintiffs previously discovered that Huebsch applied to be CEO of Dairyland after leaving the commission in February 2020, though he did not get the job.

In briefs filed Saturday with the Court of Appeals, Huebschs attorney argued that Frost ignored presumptions of impartiality, honestly (sic), and integrity outlined in state law that forbid fishing expeditions based on nothing more than speculation.

The former state legislator and member of Gov. Scott Walkers cabinet has testified he used Signal to send encrypted, ephemeral messages to long-time friends in the utility industry but never to discuss official commission business.

Attorney Ryan Walsh said Frosts decision, if allowed to stand, would have breathtaking implications for public officials, especially judges.

All it would take is for one party wishing to shop for a new judge to make allegations of connections between chambers and interested law firms, businesses, or other entities, Walsh argued. And if a judge left the bench and pursued employment at a company that had a matter before it previously, perhaps that would even be grounds for vacating the judges previous decision in favor of the business.
The council also signed off on using $500,000 in stimulus funds to replace a shelter in Wetmore Park near a recently opened splash pad. Originally, the city planned to spend about $150,000 of its own money to rehab the shelter, said city administrator Aaron Oppenheimer.

But the American Rescue Plan gives leeway on how money can be spent in low- to moderate-income census tracts, such as the area around Wetmore Park, Oppenheimer said. The federal grant will allow the city to lower the local tax burden, he said.

Verona is also using a portion of its $1.4 million allocation on immediate uses this year.

City administrator Adam Sayre said the City Council approved spending $447,072 to reimburse a city-funded small-business grant program and to replace lost recreation and room tax revenue.

While plans are in place in Sun Prairie and Verona, Monona city administrator Bryan Gadow said his community, which is to get $855,665 from the American Rescue Plan, will likely make decisions on how to spend it as part of the fall budgeting process for 2022.
The retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who is heading up a GOP-led review of the 2020 presidential election said Sunday that a thorough examination of the election is warranted, but the purpose of the investigation is not to overturn the results.

Retired Justice Michael Gableman made his comments Sunday on WISN-TVs Upfront. It was one of the first times hes spoken publicly about the review of President Joe Bidens narrow win in the state. Gableman said he wants to look into election concerns so people can have confidence that their votes count.

I firmly believe that this is not a partisan issue, that everybody should be interested in making sure that going forward, our voting and ballot system is transparent and honest, he said.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos designated Gableman to lead the election review, which has the backing of former President Donald Trumps supporters. Last week, Vos said he was expanding the probe after Gableman told him a more robust effort was needed.

Wisconsin Democratic Party executive director Nellie Sires has called the partisan review a sham investigation. Recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties upheld Bidens win, as did several courts.

Want to steal an election in Wisconsin? It's harder than you think The state has multiple, overlapping safeguards aimed at preventing ineligible voters from casting ballots, tampering with the ballots or altering vote totals.
A driver who told police he swerved to miss another vehicle rammed his car into a Near East Side boutique early Monday, cracking the corner of the three-story building and forcing an evacuation of some of the buildings residents.

The crash happened around 4:21 a.m. Monday at the corner of Williamson Street and South Baldwin Street, damaging Change Boutique, according to the Madison Fire Department.

Although no one was injured, firefighters ordered an evacuation of some residents fearing structural damage to the building.

The driver of the car told police he had swerved to miss a vehicle that turned in front of him, lost control and hit the building, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said.

Some residents who were not evacuated worried about the structural integrity of the building. Those included Will Hardt, who lives on the third floor above Hatch Art House, a business next door to Change Boutique, who said he was not aware of the crash until later that morning.

My fiancee was awake at the time and saw flashing lights, but nobody came to our door to evacuate us, Hardt said.
The Cassia County Sheriffs Office is asking for the publics help finding the person who chased a boy on a bicycle in a gray pickup at the Burley skate park on Friday and then ran over the boys bike after he jumped off of it.
Not vaccinated yet? Heres what to know

The COVID-19 vaccine is free, even if you dont have insurance. Anyone age 12 and older can be vaccinated. Visit covidvaccine.idaho.gov to find a nearby vaccination site, a local pharmacy offering walk-in shots, or to schedule an appointment with a health care provider.

Have questions about the vaccine?

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare answers more than 65 questions about the vaccine on its COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six women who faced hardships from the pandemic and were relying on the next five weeks of federal payments to keep them and their children from experiencing poverty, homelessness and hunger, according to affidavits submitted to the court. Among the attorneys filing the litigation was Democratic state Rep. Mandie Landry, of New Orleans.
LONDON (AP)  Black people whose right to live in the U.K. was illegally challenged by the government marked the anniversary Sunday of the act that freed slaves throughout the British Empire, drawing a direct link between slavery and the discrimination they suffered.

Dozens of activists gathered in Brixton, a center for the Black community in south London, to back the international drive for reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans. They also demanded legislation to compensate legal U.K. residents who were threatened with deportation in what is known as the Windrush Scandal.

The Windrush injustice would not have happened if Africans were not torn from the continent of Africa, said Kofi Mawuli Klum, organizer of the Emancipation Day event, which marked the 187th anniversary of the day in 1834 when slaves in the Caribbean and other parts of the British Empire were freed.

After the gathering, some activists traveled to Buckingham Palace, hoping to deliver a written appeal asking Queen Elizabeth II to back their call for a Windrush Act to pay reparations to those hurt by the scandal. They were turned away by palace guards, who told them to send their request through the mail.
All this is typically done for a crime that never took place.

There are numerous moral and constitutional problems with this behavior. The first is the illicit use of government assets to entrap an innocent person. How does the government decide whom to entrap? Add to this the absence of due process. The feds fear due process. They fear a jury saying, Enough is enough, hence the overcharging and guilty plea scenario.

The government will claim that the defendant was a conspirator  a person who agreed with others to commit a crime, where at least one of them took a material step in furtherance of the crime. In order to fortify its case against the unwitting defendant, the government usually has him take the material step in furtherance of the plot by having him deliver what he believes is an explosive, but in truth is not, to the place of its intended detonation only to arrive and find his fellow plotters there to arrest him.

I have interviewed FBI officials about these techniques. On the record, they acknowledge that no one was harmed and no one was in danger by their government-created plot. They also argue that they took a bad person, predisposed to crime, off the streets. Yet, being bad and having a criminal predisposition are not crimes; they are states of mind protected by the First Amendment.
The House of Delegates and the Senate will return to the Virginia Capitol on Monday to meet in its historic chambers for the first time in almost 17 months, but they wont leave behind the issue of whether to wear face masks for indoor gatherings to forestall a new surge in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legislators, who have been told to wear face masks inside the Capitol and the Pocahontas Building if they are not vaccinated against the coronavirus disease, will decide whether to allow people to wear masks publicly as protection against COVID-19, despite a long-standing state law that generally forbids the wearing of masks in public.

We will be encouraging everyone to wear masks in the Capitol and Pocahontas Building, House Clerk Suzette Denslow said Friday after the Richmond and Henrico County health districts recommended that people wear masks when indoors with people who are not in their family.

Plexiglass shields have been installed between desks in the Senate, which lost a member to COVID-19 with the death of Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, on Jan. 1. Senate Clerk Susan Schaar said, No masks are required, but we are encouraging people to be masked.
Historically, Taylors ventures have given headaches to government officials, and the Trump Store is no exception.

Knowing the history of the building that houses the Trump store, it is hard to see it being used other than the church it once was, wrote Boones Mill Mayor Victor Conner in an e-mail. The only concern I have that outweighs any other, he wrote, arises not from politics but from the safety issues with the traffic and the folks standing beside or right on the edge of Route 220 and/or Bethlehem Road.

Weve had numerous complaints, said Boones Mill Town Manager B.T. Fitzpatrick. Ive even had complaints from Republicans, but, you know, its private property.

With a country as divided as ours is right now, imagine how all the people who are not Trump supporters must feel about Boones Mill, wrote Allison Harl in a March 25 letter to the town. While some feel its simply inappropriate, others have expressed extreme embarrassment and even disgust.

A Franklin County resident for 13 years, Harl built a home in Boones Mill in 2020. I do believe everyone has a right to their voice, she wrote in an e-mail to The Roanoke Times, but the store is centrally located in the heart of downtown and an egregious eyesore at the gateway to Franklin County.
All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss

99 Cents Solutions: 1,465 Smart and Thrifty Uses for Everyday Items by Readers Digest

Farm to Table Cookbook 279 Recipes That Feature Fresh Foods All Year Long!: by Taste of Home

Little animals

In nature, rabbits live in underground warrens that maintain an even temperature of about 50 degrees year-round. They are better adapted to the cold than the heat but need at least one other rabbit with them for companionship and warmth, and they shouldnt be outdoors when its less than 30 degrees.

Temperatures above 85 degrees can cause heat stroke in rabbits. Their ideal range is 55 to 70 degrees.

Guinea pigs can tolerate only between 65 and 75 degrees outside. The Stroller puts the school guinea pigs, which are being kept while school is closed, out in the mornings and evenings so they can have some fun.

SUNDAYS TRIVIA ANSWER: The eight most watched television broadcasts in American history were all Super Bowls. The ninth was Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, the finale of M*A*S*H. Then top shows 10 through 30 were also Super Bowls.
The McDowell County Health Department reported Monday that 28 additional McDowell County residents had tested positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

This brings the total number of positives to 5,403 in McDowell County. There have been 47,933 tests conducted, 42,521 negative results and nine tests are pending results. At the time of Mondays report, there were 134 individuals in quarantine, 5,191 out of quarantine and 78 deaths. McDowell Countys 14-day positivity rate was listed Friday at 22.9%, according to a news release.

McDowell Countys COVID-19 data dashboard is updated daily (Monday-Friday) and can be found by visiting www.mcdowellem.com or by clicking the following link: http://www.mcdowellem.com/covid-19-information.html. Due to dramatic increases in COVID-19 infections across McDowell County, press releases have been transitioned back to Monday-Friday.

McDowell County continues to see widespread community transmission of COVID-19. The vast majority of these cases are in people who are not fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated people are very vulnerable to the more contagious and dangerous delta variant of COVID-19 that is spreading across North Carolina. If you are not vaccinated, health officials strongly encourage you to get your vaccine as soon as possible, according to the news release.
Currently in North Carolina, 12- to 17-year-olds are allowed to decide for themselves on whether to get a COVID-19 vaccine under a state law that applies to medical services that prevent or treat communicable diseases.

The language inserted into HB96 says that ... a health care provider shall obtain written consent from a parent or legal guardian prior to administering any vaccine that has been granted emergency use authorization and is not yet fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration to an individual under 18 years of age.

Young people who have been emancipated from their parents would be exempt from the provision.

Health-care analysts say the FDA could provide full authorization for the Pfizer vaccine as early as October and likely before January.

Infectious diseases experts say some unvaccinated adults also have been waiting for the full FDA authorization before getting the vaccine.

Vaccination push

The timing of HB96 going before Senate Rules is apt given the push to vaccinate more youths ages 12 to 17 as the highly infectious delta variant spreads in the Triad and statewide.

About 30% of North Carolina's 12- to 17-year-olds are fully vaccinated.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A rise in cases of short-sightedness (myopia) among children in Hong Kong may be linked to a significant decrease in the time they have been able to spend outdoors and a sharp rise in screen time during the coronavirus pandemic, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

By September 2020, more than 180 countries had closed schools and colleges, affecting one billion learners, or 80% of the world's students, in a bid to control the march of coronavirus, say the researchers.

Children have been particularly badly affected, with outdoor activities restricted or banned and socialising severely limited. Hong Kong is also one of the world's most densely populated cities, with most residents living in high-rises and small apartments with little outdoor space.

An increase in close working and screen time and a decrease in time spent outdoors have been implicated in short-sightedness, a condition in which the shape of the eye changes, causing light rays to bend (refract) incorrectly, focusing images in front of, instead of on the surface of, the retina.

Short-sightedness in children matters because it puts them at risk of developing complications that increase the risk of irreversible impaired eyesight/blindness later in life, say the researchers.

To find out if enforced behavioural and lifestyle changes during the pandemic might have affected children's vision, the researchers studied the eyes of 1793 children, all of whom were part of the Hong Kong Children Eye Study (HKCES). This is an ongoing population-based study of eye conditions among 6-8 year olds.

Some 709 of the children were recruited to the study at the start of the pandemic (December 2019 to January 2020) and were monitored for around 8 months; 1084 children had entered the study before the start of the pandemic and had been monitored for around 3 years.

The children's visual acuitythe ability to see clearlywas measured and they filled in questionnaires on their lifestyle, including how much time they spent outdoors and on close work, at study entry and during subsequent clinic visits.

Around 1 in 5 (19.5%) of the children in the COVID-19 group developed short-sightedness between January and August 2020, compared with around 1 in 3 (37%) of those in the pre-COVID-19 group over a period of three years.

And after factoring in age, gender, length of monitoring period, parental short-sightedness, and how much time was spent outdoors and on close work, the numbers of new cases of short-sightedness were higher among children in the COVID-19 group.

The estimated 1-year incidence of short-sightedness was 28%, 27%, and 26%, respectively, for 6, 7 and 8 year olds in the COVID-19 group, compared with 17%, 16%, and 15%, respectively, for 6, 7, and 8 year olds in the pre-COVID-19 group.

These changes coincided with a reduction in the time the children spent outdoors, from around an hour and 15 minutes to around 24 minutes/day and an increase in screen time from around 2.5 hours/day to around 7 hours/day.

The researchers also compared the current COVID-19 group with the findings of their previous study, which looked at the development of short-sightedness in children of the same ages in Hong Kong.

In the previous study, 13% of the children developed the condition over a period of 1 year. This compares with 19.5% of the COVID-19 group in the current study over a shorter period of 8 months, lending further weight to a link between the pandemic and a heightened risk of short-sightedness, suggest the researchers.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause, added to which the research included questionnaire data, which rely on recall.

And the findings might not reflect the impact of COVID-19 in other parts of the world, where social distancing, quarantine, and school closure policies may be different, caution the researchers.

Nevertheless, they write: "Despite all these insurmountable study limitations, our initial results still show an alarming myopia progression that warrants appropriate remedial action."

And they conclude: "[They] serve to warn eye care professionals, and also policy makers, educators and parents, that collective efforts are needed to prevent childhood myopia, a potential public health crisis as a result of COVID-19."

Explore further Researchers tackle mystery of short-sightedness increasing in children

More information: Myopia incidence and lifestyle changes among school children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based prospective study, British Journal of Ophthalmology (2021). DOI: 10.1136/ bjophthalmol-2021-319307 Journal information: British Journal of Ophthalmology Myopia incidence and lifestyle changes among school children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based prospective study,(2021). DOI: 10.1136/ bjophthalmol-2021-319307
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Chinese cities rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as health authorities battled Sunday to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months.

China on Sunday reported 75 new coronavirus cases with 53 local transmissions, with a cluster linked to an eastern airport now reported to have spread to over 20 cities and more than a dozen provinces.

The outbreak is geographically the largest to hit China in several months after the country's successes in largely snuffing out the pandemic within its borders last year.

That record has been thrown into jeopardy after the fast-spreading Delta variant broke out at Nanjing airport in eastern Jiangsu province in July.

Authorities have now conducted three rounds of testing on the city's 9.2 million residents and placed hundreds of thousands under lockdown, in an effort to curb an outbreak Beijing has blamed on the highly contagious Delta variant and the peak tourist season.

They are also scrambling to track more than 5,000 people nationwide who attended a theatre festival in Zhangjiajie, a tourist city in Hunan province which has locked down all 1.5 million residents and shut all tourist attractions after four visitors tested positive.

Health officials say the mini-outbreak in Zhangjiajie was sparked by travellers from Nanjing and has helped spread the disease to more than 20 cities.

"Zhangjiajie has now become the new ground zero for China's epidemic spread," virologist Zhong Nanshan told reporters Saturday.

"We must cast the net wider when tracing close contacts of the Delta variant."

Beijing Sunday reported three locally transmitted infectionsa family living on the outskirts of the Chinese capital that had returned from Zhangjiajie, the local health bureau said.

Beijing has cut all rail, bus and air links with areas where coronavirus cases have been found.

The Chinese capital has also closed its doors to tourists during the peak summer holiday travel season and is only allowing "essential travellers" with a negative nucleic acid test to enter.

Fresh cases were also reported Sunday on Hainan islandanother popular tourist destinationas well as Ningxia and Shandong provinces, authorities said.

The country is also battling a separate rise in cases in the flood-ravaged city of Zhengzhou in Henan province after two cleaners at a hospital treating coronavirus patients coming from abroad tested positive.

Thirty locally transmitted cases have been detected, with authorities Sunday ordering tests of all 10 million residents. The head of the city's health commission has also been sacked.

And after reports that some people sickened in the latest cluster were vaccinated, health officials have said this was "normal" and stressed the importance of vaccination alongside strict measures.

"The COVID vaccine's protection against the Delta variant may have somewhat declined, but the current vaccine still has a good preventative and protective effect against the Delta variant," said Feng Zijian, virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 1.65 billion vaccine doses have so far been administered nationwide as of Saturday, Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC) said. It does not provide figures on how many people have been fully vaccinated.

Explore further China says Delta variant behind virus surge

 2021 AFP
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 57% of people in the U.S. 12 years of age and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While the high vaccination rates in certain areas are helping local authorities to safely reopen, there is no consensus on a common approach, particularly as the Delta variant spreads. Furthermore, areas with a vaccine hesitant population, or ones with less access to the vaccine must still take a cautious approach to lifting or potentially reinstating restrictions.

To help public health officials create a data-centric approach to reopening towns, Maurizio Porfiri, Agnieszka Truszkowska and Zhong-Ping Jiang from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, expanded on an agent-based model (ABM) they developed in January this year to predict the spread of COVID-19. The improved model offers accurate treatment of human mobility to capture the epidemiological implications of gradually reopening the economy. By considering a vaccination rate of about 0.5% of the population per day, the researchers determined that increasing access to social gatherings in leisure locations and households, public transportation and work environments at a 1% daily rate would lead to a nearly 30% increase in fatalities within the next three months. However, they also demonstrated that a vaccination rate of at least 1% population per day would support a safe, rapid reopening, a demonstration of the critical role the vaccine roll-out plays in safe reopening of population centers.

The study, "Designing the Safe Reopening of US Towns Through High-Resolution Agent-Based Modeling," in Advanced Theory and Simulations, was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Northern Illinois University (Malav Thakore and Sachit Butail), University of Groningen (Lorenzo Zino), Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Emanuele Caroppo) and Politecnico di Torino (Alessandro Rizzo).

"This model provides additional evidence to support the need for rapid vaccinations before areas can open safely," said Porfiri. "Areas with low vaccination numbers, under 1% of the population per day, should express extreme caution with their strategies to open up the economy and should focus their efforts on increasing the rate of vaccinations."

The research specifically focused on the town of New Rochelle, located in Westchester County in New York State. The ABM replicates, geographically and demographically, the town structure obtained from U.S. Census statistics and superimposes a high-resolutionboth temporal and spatialrepresentation of the epidemic at the individual level, considering physical locations as well as unique features of communities, like human behavioral trends or local mobility patterns. While New Rochelle's high vaccination rates make this model no longer relevant to advise on the town's plans to reopen, the model can be used to inform public health decisions in towns that are lagging in their vaccination campaigns.

More information: Agnieszka Truszkowska et al, Designing the Safe Reopening of US Towns Through HighResolution AgentBased Modeling, Advanced Theory and Simulations (2021). Agnieszka Truszkowska et al, Designing the Safe Reopening of US Towns Through HighResolution AgentBased Modeling,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/adts.202100157
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Infections from the COVID-19 delta variant are rising across the country just as most K-12 schools are preparing to reopen.

Children aged 12 and older can get vaccinatedand nearly 58% of them in America have done so, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many districts have urged educators to be vaccinated, too, to help limit the spread of COVID-19.

Still, cases are expected to surge.

"It's difficult to predict new waves, but a model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows we may see cases increase until about mid-to-late September. The surge may further accelerate as schools reopen," said Jakub Hlavka, a research assistant professor at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

Nationwide, 40% of American adults 18 and older have yet to be fully vaccinated, well short of the 80% to 100% needed to achieve herd immunity, CDC data show.

How schoolsand parentscan limit the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant

What could schools do to create a bubble of vaccinated protection to limit the spread of COVID and its highly transmissible variants?

"We have a very safe, highly effective intervention called vaccination, and we are falling short on making sure that we're really using it. Schools should require workers there to be vaccinated," said Jeffrey Klausner, a clinical professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Parents also have options, he said: They "should send them to places where the people are vaccinated. In general, kids are much less likely to get sick and less likely to have serious complications and be hospitalized or die from COVID, so we can reduce parental anxiety about the consequences."

Even if schools experience an outbreak, they have proven that they can stay open by following the best public health protocols to limit spread, said Rita Burke, an assistant professor of clinical preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine.

"Schools have demonstrated that they are able to successfully stay open even when someone tests positive on campus," she said. "They adhere to the contact tracing and quarantine protocols in place that we know are effective."

The shift to distance learning during the first year of COVID is what led many parentsmost of them mothersto struggle considerably during the pandemic shutdown, studies by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences showed.

The struggle was nearly universal. As the first wave of COVID-19 made its way around the world, countries closed their schools, forcing more than 1.5 billion children worldwide to stay at home and sending parents and other caregivers scrambling to ensure their supervision, according to a study last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

"We have seen the dire impact of school closures on students and families, and we each need to do our part to ensure that everyone stays safe and healthy," Burke said. "That means getting a vaccine if you are eligible and wearing a mask indoors."

As worldwide COVID cases rise, vaccination mandates may be coming

Vaccination is not just the responsibility of parents and schools.

Karen Mulligan, a fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center, said all employersregardless of which industry they are inshould consider requiring workers to be vaccinated.

"If employers want to operate reliable in-person workplaces and attract customers, they will have to embrace a solution that the government has so far shied away from: vaccine mandates. Higher education and health care providers are already leading the way," said Mulligan, who also is an assistant professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced such a mandate for federal workers, though it may be challenging for him to implement it across the board. Some unions have said such a requirement would have to be discussed during negotiations for new contracts.

Earlier this week, however, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs issued such a requirement, following the trend of many hospitals and health care clinics around the country.

The COVID-19 delta variant has provided new impetus for vaccination, even for elected officials who previously had adamantly opposed it. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise was recently vaccinated, though he opposes the CDC's latest recommendation on mask-wearing indoors to reduce the spread.

More people worldwide are getting the vaccine as COVID cases spike. As of Thursday, 69% of U.S. adults have had at least the first of two shots.

The delta variant's rapid and wide transmission offered plenty of impetus, as news coverage of its impact in India was hard to ignore. Photos and video footage of overwhelmed hospitals, weeping and hopeless doctors and nurses, and overflowing makeshift graveyards documented a worst-case scenario: a rapid plague outpacing a nation already overwhelmed and under-resourcedand only just beginning to vaccinate.

"Remember, one person can infect six or seven people," Hlavka said. "You would really have to live under a rock to not be exposed to this virus at some point. And we are only at delta; we are not very far into the Greek alphabet with this virus yet. It's hard to know if we will ever suppress the virus on a global scale."
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The University's coronavirus sequencing effort uncovered that there are several variants present in its patient population, but Delta is chief among them and easily transmitted. And its presence is likely triggering a local surge in the infectious disease.

University of Miami researchers and physicians are seeing firsthand how rapidly the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading through the local population.

While just a month ago University researchers had identified just two cases of the Delta variant in Miami-Dade County, new sequencing data from the second week of July reveals that 63 percent of a sampling of COVID-19 patients in Jackson Memorial Health System and at University of Miami's UHealth Tower had the highly transmissible form of the virus. This sequencing data also revealed that 20 percent of patients had the Brazilian variant (now known as Gamma), 9 percent had the Colombian variant (B.1.621), which is dominating that country, and 3 percent had the Lambda variant that is currently the dominant COVID-19 strain in Peru.Dr. David Andrews

"The Colombian variant and the Lambda variant share many of the properties of the other bad players we have seen emerginglike Deltasuch as increased transmissibility and a potential to escape the immunity provided by vaccines," said Dr. David Andrews, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, who is leading the University's effort to sequence COVID-19 positive samples.

Dr. Lilian Abbo, a professor in the Miller School of Medicine's Division of Infectious Diseases, said the data affirms recent case spikes she has noticed at Jackson Memorial Hospital, but suspects that the number of patients with the Delta variant today is much higher. In short order, the Delta variant has permeated the United States, pushing the nation into another COVID-19 surge, particularly among the unvaccinated. It now accounts for at least 83 percent of COVID-19 cases nationally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated last week.

"I'm seeing a more than 350 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations," said Abbo, who is also chief of infection prevention and microbial stewardship at Jackson Memorial Health System. "At Jackson Memorial Hospital, I suspect we are seeing more than 80 percent Delta already."

Andrews, who gathered a team this past January to sequence COVID-19 samples, agreed.

"It's obvious to me we will be at 80 to 90 percent Delta by next week," said Andrews, who is also vice chief of pathology for Jackson Health System.Since the Delta variant is much more easily transmitted than earlier variants, the Miller School is ramping its sequencing efforts and will now be gathering samples weekly to survey the variants circulating locally, according to Andrews. While the Florida Department of Health is doing some COVID-19 sequencing that they share with the CDC, reports indicate that only 2,688 positive COVID-19 samples have been sequenced in Florida since the pandemic began, or about 0.1 percent of cases.

Through the sequencing process, researchers can determine the genetic origins of each positive COVID-19 sample, but the process is time-consuming and costly. So, only a fraction of the samples is sequenced. University researchers want to contribute to the effort to monitor the variants in South Florida because this knowledge could help guide medical treatment. Andrews is also working with researchers at the Miller School to develop a rapid test that could determine if a positive COVID-19 sample contains the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, Abbo is observing the severity of the Delta variant firsthand. She said that in UHealth and Jackson Health System urgent care clinics, Jackson Health System emergency rooms, hospitals, and the correctional facilities, she is seeing a spike in COVID-19 positive rates. She attributes this to the more contagious Delta variant, along with people working closely together at the tragic building collapse in Surfside, many gathering for massive demonstrations in support of protesters in Cuba, and the Miami heat keeping residents indoors.

As an example of the Delta variant's contagious nature, Abbo cited a recent study out of China where researchers swabbed COVID-19 patients with the Delta variant and found that the amount of virus in each sample was on average 1,000 times higher than the original Wuhan strain of COVID-19. "Therefore, the Delta variant is highly infectious and infected people are spreading a lot more virus," she warned.Dr. Lillian Abbo

Abbo also described the type of COVID-19 patients she is seeing at Jackson Health System's three hospitals. First of all, Abbo noted, 90 percent of them are unvaccinated. And of those in the intensive care unit, 95 percent are unvaccinated. She has also noticed that this summer's COVID-19 patients are typically younger than those infected before and often fall within the age range of 30 to 60.

"Vaccinated people with good immune systems are typically able to neutralize the virus, so they aren't getting as sick as people who are not vaccinated," she said. "But we are also noticing that unvaccinated people with the Delta variant seem to deteriorate much faster, even with treatment."

However, in what are called breakthrough cases, people who are vaccinated are still able to get COVID-19, particularly the Delta variant. Even though most of these people are not hospitalized, up to 15 percent of the COVID-19 cases in Miami-Dade County now are breakthrough cases, according to a Miami-Dade division of the Florida Department of Health report. While only about 10 percent of the COVID-19 patients in Jackson Health System are vaccinated, Abbo explained that these patients are typically elderly, immunocompromised, diabetic, or have another preexisting medical condition.

All of the unfortunate outcomes she is seeing right now point to one solution, Abbo said. "For anyone right now who is not vaccinated, I urge you to go and get vaccinated and believe in science," she urged. "We need to control the pandemic and we will be able to control it with science and by taking responsible actions."

Abbo also pointed out that she is seeing reinfection cases among unvaccinated young adults who had COVID-19 once. Because previous infection is not providing a lasting immunity in most people who had "mild COVID-19" before, it is extremely important to get vaccinated because it is the most powerful form of protection for everyone and prevents severe disease or death, she added.

According to the CDC, Miami-Dade County is now at 12.6 percent positivity rate for COVID-19 and Broward County is at 14.8 percent. The Florida Department of Health reports that last week 73,199 Floridians were infected with COVID-19. Of those, 9.5 percent of COVID-19 cases were found in children younger than 12 and 19.6 percent of the state's caseload contains people younger than 19 years old. Adults between 20 and 49 made up the bulk of the COVID-19 cases, or 53 percent. Just 14 percent of cases occurred in people older than 60.

For South Florida's entire populationvaccinated or notAbbo recommends wearing a mask any time you are indoors and not at home. She also suggests dining outdoors only at restaurants and avoiding crowded, cramped settings like bars.

"We are at very high numbers of infection in our community, and you can no longer trust who is vaccinated or not," she said. "Everyone is infected until proven otherwise."

Explore further 1st COVID-19 death from Delta variant confirmed in Reno area

More information: Viral infection and transmission in a large well-traced outbreak caused by the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant: Viral infection and transmission in a large well-traced outbreak caused by the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant: virological.org/t/viral-infect  rs-cov-2-variant/724

Provided by University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine
Raquel Heres gets a COVID-19 rapid test to be able to travel overseas, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in North Miami, Fla. Federal health officials say Florida has reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine. Credit: AP Photo/Marta Lavandier

A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida.

The hospitalizations and increasing cases have come as the new, more transmittable delta variant has spread throughout Florida, and residents have returned to pre-pandemic activities.

"The recent rise is both striking and not-at-all surprising," Salemi said in an email late Saturday.

Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials' ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.

Florida's Democratic agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who is seeking to run against DeSantis for governor, on Sunday urged unvaccinated Floridians to get the shots. She said she was heartened by a recent uptick in vaccinations in the state.

"We are already behind the curve and in a worse spot every time the numbers come out," Fried said at a news conference in Tallahassee. "This surge is and will impact every single one of us."

A group waits to get a COVID-19 test, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in North Miami, Fla. Federal health officials say Florida has reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine. Credit: AP Photo/Marta Lavandier

Throughout Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa, hospitals have become overwhelmed.

Barry Burton, the Pinellas County administrator, told the Tampa Bay Times that some local hospitals are already having to divert ambulances to different locations because of capacity concerns.

There has been a startling rise in the number of children with the virus at hospitals in Miami, many of them requiring intensive care.

Memorial Health's Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood had seven patients with COVID-19. At Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, there were 17 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, including six in the ICU and one who needed a ventilator, Dr. Marcos Mestre, vice president and chief medical officer, told the Miami Herald.

About half of the patients were under 12, Mestre said, and the rest were older and eligible for the vaccine. But none of the patients with COVID-19 at Nicklaus Children's on Friday were vaccinated. Most children who get COVID-19 do not need hospitalization, Mestre said.

In the state capital, COVID-19 hospitalizations reached 70 patients on Sunday at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a jump of 11 people in two days.

"This is the most we've ever had," Stephanie Derzypolski, a hospital spokeswoman, told the Tallahassee Democrat.

The Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville said it had exceeded its capacity of 304 licensed beds due to COVID-19 cases and asked the Agency for Health Care Administration for permission to operate overcapacity until the current surge ends, First Coast News in Jacksonville reported Sunday.

At the UF Health North hospital emergency room in Jacksonville, COVID-19 patients once again were being put in beds in hallways due to a surge in visits.

For many hospital workers, up until a month ago, it looked like there was light at the end of the tunnel, as people got vaccinated and hospitalizations decreased. But then the summer surge, powered by the new delta variant, hit Florida in July.

"That light did turn out to be a train in this case," Marsha Tittle, a nursing manager at UF Health North, told The Florida Times Union. "We're taking more patients than we normally would take. ... My staff is wonderful. You walk out there, they're going to have smiles on their faces and they're doing a great job. But there's a sense of defeat, like they're just defeated."

Explore further Florida breaks record with more than 21,000 new COVID cases

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new study from the University of Kansas in the journal Appetite examines people's choices when confronted with an all-you-can-eat buffet.

It turns out that the food we choose to heap on our plates might predict our chances of having higher weight gain or obesity. The researchers focused on foods defined as "hyperpalatable"dividing this category into carbohydrate and sodium (CSOD) foods or fat and sodium (FSOD) foodsand compared them with high-energy dense and ultra-processed foods.

"Hyperpalatable foods have combinations of ingredients that can enhance a food's palatability and make a food's rewarding properties artificially strong," said lead author Tera Fazzino, assistant professor of psychology at KU and assistant director of the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the KU Life Span Institute. "Common examples would be various chocolates, hot dogs, pretzels or browniesfoods that can be difficult to stop eating."

In the study, younger adults without obesity ate a meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet. The research team measured their body composition before the meal and followed up a year later. The study tracked associations between proportions of buffet items chosen by participantshigh-energy density foods, ultra-processed foods and hyperpalatable foodsand participants' weight change and percent body fat change one year later.

"We were able to look at their behavioral tendency to consume certain types of foods," Fazzino said. "Is that associated with greater energy intake relative to their physiological energy needs, and is it longitudinally associated with weight and percent body fat gain?"

Fazzino's co-authors were James Dorling, John Apolzan and Corby Martin of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System. They shared the dataset that was analyzed for this study and collaborated on the article.

Fazzino and her colleagues found participants who consumed a greater proportion of hyperpalatable carbohydrate and sodium (CSOD) foods in their buffet meals had significantly greater weight change and percent body fat change at the assessment a year later.

"A couple of classic examples of hyperpalatable CSOD foods would be pretzels or popcorn," Fazzino said.

But the study also found no significant body changes a year later for those in the buffet study who ate high proportions of fat and sodium hyperpalatable foods, high-energy dense and ultra-processed foods.

The researchers concluded eating more hyperpalatable carbohydrate and sodium foods at an all-you-can-eat buffet may indicate a tendency toward "hedonic eating," which may boost a person's risk for weight and body-fat gain in early adulthood.

"'Hedonic eating' is a general term that's used in the literature to refer to eating that's more focused on the rewarding characteristics of a food, as opposed to strictly satisfying physiological hunger," Fazzino said. "The take-home point is really that people who tended to consume more carbohydrate and sodium foodswhen they were freely availablewere at greater risk for weight and body fat gain."

However, some people don't have a choice in eating hyperpalatable foods.

Fazzino's new paper builds on research she co-wrote earlier this year in Frontiers in Psychology intended to discover how much babies are exposed to foods deemed hyperpalatable.

"If we think about how these foods can activate the brain-reward neural circuitry in a similar manner as some drugs of abuse, we want to look at the earliest point of exposure," Fazzino said. "When babies start to eat tablelike solid foodsthat's what we were interested in. We wanted to know the earliest exposure point possible for these foods and the exposure rate among infants. Also, we wanted to characterize the prevalence of these types of foods in baby foods that are available in the U.S. food system."

The researchers found an astounding 90% of 147 babies in the study were fed hyperpalatable foods, mainly because they're being fed adult foods regularly. Moreover, 12% of foods marketed as "baby food" were found to be hyperpalatable in the study.

"We found when babies are starting to eat the adult foods, that's the primary vehicle for their exposure," Fazzino said. "We did characterize their overall caloric intake. For infants under 12 months, they consumed on average 38% of their daily food calories from hyperpalatable foods, and for older infants it was 52%."

Because the prevalence of hyperpalatable foods among U.S.-produced baby food is relatively low, Fazzino cautioned parents should focus their attention on the adult foods offered to babies to head off potentially harmful eating habits that could take root in babies as they age.

"If babies are consuming foods that are artificially highly rewarding at early in infancy, this could essentially indicate to their system physiologicallyand to their brainthat, 'Hey, this is what food is supposed to taste like, and this is how rewarding it's supposed to be.' Our concern is they'll get used to this level of really intense taste and intense reward at an initial point, which will then make them want to consume those types of foods more as they grow up. Ultimately, the worry is that maybe this is an early predisposing factor for obesity risk."

More information: Tera L. Fazzino et al, Meal composition during an ad libitum buffet meal and longitudinal predictions of weight and percent body fat change: The role of hyper-palatable, energy dense, and ultra-processed foods, Appetite (2021). Journal information: Appetite Tera L. Fazzino et al, Meal composition during an ad libitum buffet meal and longitudinal predictions of weight and percent body fat change: The role of hyper-palatable, energy dense, and ultra-processed foods,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105592
Children attending the after school music club. Credit: Mari Tervaniemi

Research has shown that a music-related hobby boosts language skills and affects the processing of speech in the brain. According to a new study, the reverse also happenslearning foreign languages can affect the processing of music in the brain.

Research Director Mari Tervaniemi from the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Educational Sciences investigated, in cooperation with researchers from the Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the University of Turku, the link in the brain between language acquisition and music processing in Chinese elementary school pupils aged 811 by monitoring, for one school year, children who attended a music training program and a similar program for the English language. Brain responses associated with auditory processing were measured in the children before and after the programs. Tervaniemi compared the results to those of children who attended other training programs.

"The results demonstrated that both the music and the language program had an impact on the neural processing of auditory signals," Tervaniemi says.

Learning achievements extend from language acquisition to music

Surprisingly, attendance in the English training program enhanced the processing of musically relevant sounds, particularly in terms of pitch processing.

"A possible explanation for the finding is the language background of the children, as understanding Chinese, which is a tonal language, is largely based on the perception of pitch, which potentially equipped the study subjects with the ability to utilize precisely that trait when learning new things. That's why attending the language training program facilitated the early neural auditory processes more than the musical training."

Tervaniemi says that the results support the notion that musical and linguistic brain functions are closely linked in the developing brain. Both music and language acquisition modulate auditory perception. However, whether they produce similar or different results in the developing brain of school-age children has not been systematically investigated in prior studies.

At the beginning of the training programs, the number of children studied using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings was 120, of whom more than 80 also took part in EEG recordings a year later, after the program.

In the music training, the children had the opportunity to sing a lot: they were taught to sing from both hand signs and sheet music. The language training program emphasized the combination of spoken and written English, that is, simultaneous learning. At the same time, the English language employs an orthography that is different from Chinese. The one-hour program sessions were held twice a week after school on school premises throughout the school year, with roughly 20 children and two teachers attending at a time.

"In both programs the children liked the content of the lessons which was very interactive and had many means to support communication between the children and the teacher," says Professor Sha Tao who led the study in Beijing.

Explore further Music develops the spoken language of the hearing-impaired

More information: Mari Tervaniemi et al, Improved Auditory Function Caused by Music Versus Foreign Language Training at School Age: Is There a Difference?, Cerebral Cortex (2021). Journal information: Cerebral Cortex Mari Tervaniemi et al, Improved Auditory Function Caused by Music Versus Foreign Language Training at School Age: Is There a Difference?,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab194
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression is often just as effective as traditional CBT. This is clear from an international study involving scientists at the University of Gothenburg. However, some online treatments have components that can be harmful.

Internet CBT (iCBT) as a method of delivering treatment is on the increase. Nevertheless, it has been unclear to date which parts of the treatment are most helpful against depression, which are less efficacious and which are potentially detrimental to patients.

In an international study, researchers at the University of Gothenburg participated in a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. The study was based on 76 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Sweden and elsewhere. In total, the RCTs included 17,521 patients, 71% of whom were women.

The study, under the aegis of Kyoto University in Japan, is published in The Lancet Psychiatry. One coauthor is Cecilia Bjorkelund, Senior Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy.

Major advance

"In mild or moderate depression, the effect of iCBT is as good as that of conventional CBT. For many, it's a superb way of getting access to therapy without having to go to a therapist. We also saw that it was especially good for the elderlya finding we didn't entirely expect," she says.

Just as in traditional CBT, its online counterpart involves modifying patients' thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are obstacles in their lives and impair their mood. During the treatment, which often lasts about ten weeks, they are given tasks and exercises to perform on their own.

The factor that proved most significant for the prognosis was the depth of depression at the start of treatment. In milder depression, better results were obtained. Therapist support and text-message reminders increased the proportion of patients who completed the therapy.

"If you're going to use iCBT in health care, the programs have to be regulated just as well as drugs are, but that's not the case today. With this study, we're taking a real step forward. First, the study surveys what's most effective. Second, it provides knowledge of how to design a program and adapt its composition to patients' problems," Bjorkelund says.

Contact crucial

However, iCBT requires continuous therapeutic contact. One reason is the importance of the therapist being able to see an improvement within three to four weeks, ensuring that the trend is not in the wrong direction. Bjorkelund stresses the great potential danger of depression. In severe depression, internet-mediated therapy is inappropriate.

The study shows the danger of using iCBT with programs that include relaxation therapy. Rather than being beneficial, this may have negative effects, exacerbating depressive symptoms and causing "relaxation-induced anxiety."

"For a depressed person, it isn't advisable. Relaxation programs shouldn't be used as part of depression treatment in health care," Bjorkelund says.

One of the studies forming the basis for the current publication is a randomized controlled trial of iCBT known as PRIM-NET. This comparative study was conducted in Region Vastra Gotaland's primary care in 20102013 by researchers at the University of Gothenburg's Institute of Medicine and Department of Psychology.

Explore further Cognitive behavioral therapy delivered online effective for treating depression

More information: Toshi A Furukawa et al, Dismantling, optimising, and personalising internet cognitive behavioural therapy for depression: a systematic review and component network meta-analysis using individual participant data, The Lancet Psychiatry (2021). Journal information: The Lancet Psychiatry Toshi A Furukawa et al, Dismantling, optimising, and personalising internet cognitive behavioural therapy for depression: a systematic review and component network meta-analysis using individual participant data,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00077-8
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Over a year into the pandemic, questions around immune responses after COVID continue to confound.

One question many people are asking is whether the immunity you get from contracting COVID and recovering is enough to protect you in the future.

The answer is no, it's not.

Here's why.

Remind me, how does our immune response work?

Immune responses are innate or acquired. Innate, or short-term immunity, occurs when immune cells that are the body's first line of defense are activated against a pathogen like a virus or bacteria.

If the pathogen is able to cross the first line of defense, T-cells and B-cells are triggered into action. B-cells fight through secreted proteins called antibodies, specific to each pathogen. T-cells can be categorized into helper T-cells and killer T-cells. Helper T-cells "help" B-cells in making antibodies. Killer T-cells directly kill infected cells.

Getting vaccinated is important even if you've had COVID. Protection after natural infection is good, but we don't know how long it lasts. Vaccination boosts your antibodies and reduces the risk you'll get reinfectedand it's clear vaccine protection lasts at least six months.  Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) May 20, 2021

Once the battle is over, B-cells and T-cells develop "memory" and can recognize the invading pathogen next time. This is known as acquired or adaptive immunity, which triggers long-term protection.

What happens when you get reinfected? Memory B-cells don't just produce identical antibodies, they also produce antibody variants. These diverse set of antibodies form an elaborate security ring to fight SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Natural immunity is not enough

Getting COVID and recovering (known as "natural infection") doesn't appear to generate protection as robust as that generated after vaccination.

And the immune response generated post-infection and vaccination, known as hybrid immunity, is more potent than either natural infection or vaccination alone.

People who have had COVID and recovered and then been vaccinated against COVID have more diverse and high-quality memory B-cell responses than people who've just been vaccinated.

Studies indicate mRNA vaccines generate a more potent immune response with previous infection, at least against some variants including Alpha and Beta.

New Australian study suggests vaccination is more effective than the body's natural immune response following infection and shows the need to invest in new vaccine designs to keep pace with emerging COVID variants. Another reason to vaccinate children now. https://t.co/5GVXbiVJkq  Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) July 7, 2021

And studies have shown that antibody levels were higher among those who'd recovered from COVID and were subsequently vaccinated than those who'd only had the infection.

Memory B-cells against the coronavirus have been reported to be five to ten times higher in people vaccinated post-infection than natural infection or vaccination alone.

Is one dose enough after COVID?

Some reports have suggested people who've had COVID need only one dose of the vaccine. Clinical trials of approved vaccines didn't generate relevant data because people who'd already had COVID were excluded from phase 3 trials.

One study from June showed people with previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 tended to mount powerful immune responses to a single mRNA shot. They didn't gain much benefit from a second jab.

A single dose of an mRNA vaccine after infection achieves similar levels of antibodies against the spike protein's receptor binding domain (which allows the virus to attach to our cells) compared to double doses of vaccination in people never exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

We need more studies to fully understand how long memory B-cell and T-cell responses will last in both groups.

Also, a single dose strategy has only been studied for mRNA-based vaccines. More data is required to understand whether one jab post-infection would be effective for all the vaccines.

At this stage, it's still good to have both doses of a COVID vaccine after recovering from COVID.

Does Delta change things?

The development of new vaccines must keep pace with the evolution of the coronavirus.

At least one variant seems to have evolved enough to overtake others, Delta, which is about 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant. Delta is moderately resistant to vaccines, meaning it can reduce how well the vaccines work, particularly in people who've only had one dose.

There's no data available yet about how effective a single jab is for people who were previously infected with Delta and recovered.

The most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Delta is to get fully vaccinated.

According to a Public Health England report, one dose of Pfizer offered only about 33% protection against symptomatic disease with Delta, but two doses was 88% effective. Two doses was also 96% effective against hospitalization from Delta. The AstraZeneca vaccine was 92% effective against hospitalization from Delta after two doses.

A few vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, are now planning to use a potential third dose as a booster to combat the Delta variant.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
In this March 4, 2021 file photo Gen Til wears a protective face mask while working out at Planet Granite climbing gym in San Francisco. Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor settings as COVID-19 infections surge because of the highly contagious delta variant. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor public settings as COVID-19 infections surge because of the highly contagious delta variant.

The new mandate applies to everyone, regardless of their vaccination status, and takes effect on Tuesday in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Berkeley.

In a news conference announcing the new orders, Bay Areafor health officers also recommended that people gather outdoors if they have that option.

"It is unfortunate we have to do this at this point in the pandemic. None of us wanted to be here," said Dr. George Han, deputy health officer for Santa Clara County. "But the virus has changed."

The delta variant accounts for 95% of new coronavirus cases in the region, said Sundari Mase, the interim health officer for Sonoma County, which is north of San Francisco.

"We are facing a much more aggressive and contagious opponent right now," she said.

The vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations are among unvaccinated people, but the Bay Area mandate affects all people because there has been an increase in the number of vaccinated people testing positive and evidence that vaccinated people can transmit the virus.

Mase and the other health officials said the relatively low number of vaccinated people who are hospitalized now are primarily elderly or those with significant underlying health conditions.

In this Dec. 22, 2020 file photo, signs advising facial covering requirements are shown as travelers stand in line at a Delta Air Lines desk at San Francisco International Airport during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor settings as COVID-19 infections surge because of the highly contagious delta variant. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

In line with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, California last week recommended that everyone wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, but officials stopped short of requiring it.

Indoor mask mandates are already in effect in Los Angeles, Yolo and Sacramento counties. In a major retreat in the Deep South, Louisiana, with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, also reinstated a mask mandate Monday, going a step further to include schools and colleges.

The San Francisco Bay Area's health officers were the first in the nation to announce a shutdown at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The region collectively leads the state in vaccination rates, with over 60% of residents fully vaccinated. Marin County, north of San Francisco, has the highest rate, with about 73% of its residents vaccinated.

California has experienced a steady rise in virus cases since the state fully reopened its economy on June 15 and did away with indoor and outdoor capacity limits and social distancing.

The Bay Area health officers said they took action Monday because of troubling numbers of hospitalizations and that they will consider easing the new restrictions when those rates go down.

"We are alarmed at the rate at which COVID patients are filling our community hospital beds," said Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, where the number of hospitalized patients has doubled in the past 10 days and increased by more than 400% in July.

He urged unvaccinated people to get the shots and said indoor gatherings presents the highest virus spread risk.

In this Nov. 24, 2020, file photo, Juan Avellan, center, and others wear masks while working out in an indoor class at a Hit Fit SF gym amid the coronavirus outbreak in San Francisco. Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor setting as COVID-19 infections surge because of the highly contagious delta variant. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

"If you are unvaccinated I would strongly advise against higher-risk indoor activitieslike eating in an indoor restaurant, going to exercise in a gym, going to a movie theater," Farnitano said.

Indoor restaurant dining will still be allowed, although people will have to keep masks on when they are not eating or drinking.

In other public settings like gyms and movie theaters, face coverings must be worn, though enforcement will vary depending on location.

In Santa Clara County, businesses will be required to enforce the mask mandate and residents can submit complaints on the health department's website, Han said.

In the city of Berkeley, which is in Alameda County but has its own public health department, businesses will be required under the new order to have signs indicating that masks are required indoors, said Lisa Hernandez, the city's health officer.

San Francisco does not plan to enforce its new order but will rely on the tendency of residents "to follow the science and the data," said Naveena Bobba, the city's deputy director of health.

The Kaiser Permanente health care business joined other U.S. employers and public health departments Monday in making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for an estimated 239,000 employees and physicians.

The Oakland-based health care and health plan provider said nearly 78% of its employees and more than 95% of physicians are fully vaccinated.

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Millions of people were confined to their homes in China Monday as the country tried to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months including seven positive tests found in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.

China reported 55 new locally transmitted cases on Monday as an outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta variant reached over 20 cities in more than a dozen provinces.

The Wuhan cluster came after the official daily tally was released, but it was confirmed by state media which said the infections had been traced to a train station.

"The seven were identified as migrant workers," Xinhua reported, citing COVID-19 prevention and control officials.

Major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.

Authorities in the capital met and agreed on the need to "raise vigilance, take strict precautions and defend (the city) to the death, sparing no expense," in comments put out by the Beijing government.

Elsewhere, over 1.2 million residents were placed under strict lockdown for the next three days in the central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province Monday, as authorities roll out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement.

"The situation is still grim and complicated," the Zhuzhou government said.

China had previously boasted of its success in bringing domestic cases down to virtually zero after the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, allowing the economy to rebound.

But the latest outbreak, linked to a cluster in the city of Nanjing where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive on July 20, is threatening that success with more than 360 domestic cases reported in the past two weeks.

In the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, famed for its national forest park, an outbreak spread last month among theatre patrons who then brought the virus back to their homes around the country.

Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.

Officials are urgently seeking people who have recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.

Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season.

Only "essential travellers" with negative nucleic acid tests will be allowed to enter after the discovery of a handful of cases among residents who had returned from Zhangjiajie.

Top city officials on Sunday called for residents "not to leave Beijing unless necessary".

The capital's Changping district locked down 41,000 people in nine housing communities last week.

Fresh cases were also reported on Monday in the popular tourist destination of Hainan as well as in flood-ravaged Henan province, national health authorities said.

Explore further Chinese cities test millions as virus cases surge

 2021 AFP
The newly launched Outreach Pro, a tool for Alzheimers researchers who need to create and customize recruitment resources such as websites, handouts, videos, and social media posts. Credit: NIH National Institute on Aging

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched a new online research tool to help increase participation by traditionally underrepresented populations in clinical trials on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Unveiled at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC), Outreach Pro enables those involved with leading clinical research to create and customize participant recruitment communications such as websites, handouts, videos, and social media posts.

"We are facing a critical and growing need for people living with Alzheimer's and related dementias, as well as those at higher risk, and healthy people, to participate in clinical trials," said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes M.D. "That need is especially acute for frequently underrepresented groups such as Black and Hispanic Americans, which is why Outreach Pro includes an emphasis on helping clinical trial researchers connect with these and other important communities."

Outreach Pro is an integral part of NIA's efforts to implement the National Strategy for Recruitment and Participation in Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Clinical Research. Released in 2018, the national strategy was developed in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Association with input from government, private sector, academic, and industry stakeholders, as well as from individuals, caregivers, and study participants. The overarching goal is to engage broader segments of the public, including underrepresented populations, to participate in Alzheimer's and related dementias clinical research.

"It is critical that clinical trials have appropriate representation to ensure we have a complete understanding of how well different therapies or approaches to dementia care work in different populations," said Holly Massett, Ph.D., NIA senior advisor on clinical research recruitment and engagement, who oversees the implementation of the national strategy. "Outreach Pro was designed to provide well-tested and culturally appropriate outreach materials that resonate with diverse populations and encourage them to participate in clinical trials."

To use Outreach Pro, researchers and clinicians first select desired templates with one of three communication goals in mind: 1) to educate about Alzheimer's, related dementias, and/or brain health; 2) to increase awareness and interest in Alzheimer's and related dementias clinical trials; or, 3) to provide information about a specific Alzheimer's or related dementias clinical trial currently enrolling participants. Each template can then be tailored using a central library of messages, headlines, photos, and text that have been extensively tested among individuals representing diverse and underserved populations.

Outreach Pro's current library of content includes materials specifically designed for a range of audiences, including Black Americans and Hispanics/Latinos. Initially, the materials will be available in English and Spanish, and there are plans underway to add Asian American and Pacific Islander resources and languages by fall 2021. Materials for American Indian and Alaska Native communities will be developed and added in 2022.

NIA developed Outreach Pro and its content systematically by using literature reviews, environmental scans, listening sessions with stakeholders, focus groups, national surveys, and user testing. The NIA team created tool features in a culturally responsive way, so that all stages of content development reflect the culture and languages of the communities for whom the materials are designed. NIA plans to add content and scale up the tool's capabilities based on feedback and performance measurement.

Outreach Pro expands NIA's resources dedicated to recruitment diversity. For example, in 2020, NIA funded four exploratory Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers that will broaden research initiatives with underrepresented groups, including Black Americans, Native Americans, and those in rural communities. In 2019, NIA launched the Alzheimer's and Dementia Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement (ADORE) Resources. The ADORE repository offers the research community resources to support recruitment and retention of volunteers into clinical trials and studies.

In total, NIA is supporting 270 Alzheimer's and related dementias clinical trials, including those focused on lifestyle and caregiving interventions. Late-stage trials often include thousands of participants, requiring even more volunteers to help researchers meet recruitment goals for diversity.

Explore further Barriers to recruitment and retention of participants dementia clinical trials identified

More information: Outreach Pro: Outreach Pro: outreachpro.nia.nih.gov/ Volunteer gateway: www.alzheimers.gov/taking-action/volunteer

Provided by National Institute on Aging
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased older adults' risk of falling and injuring themselves, due to changes in physical activity, conditioning and mobility, a new national poll suggests.

More than a third of people between the ages of 50 and 80 report their physical activity declined in the pandemic's first 10 months, and more than a quarter say they're in worse physical condition now than before the pandemic, according to the new findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging. Many of these adults also reported an increased fear of falling.

Fall research suggests that both reduced physical conditioning and fear of falling can increase future fall risk and reduce independence. As the pandemic eases in the United States, the poll leaders note that better awareness of this connection could help motivate adults of any age to safely increase or maintain their physical activityespecially if they have been less active or mobile due to the pandemic.

The poll finds 25% of older adults experienced a fall between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and January 2021, when the poll was conducted. Forty percent of those who experienced a fall had more than one fall during this period.

The poll also points to specific groups of older adultswomen, Blacks, older adults experiencing loneliness and adults over age 65who may need additional help to improve physical conditioning and reduce fall risk. That help could come from health and fitness providers, and family and friends.

The poll is based at the University of Michigan's Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and receives support from AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center. The new report is based on answers from a national sample of more than 2,000 adults aged 50 to 80 to a poll taken in January 2021.

"Many older adults fall each year, and the pandemic was no exception. Many falls result in at least a minor injury in this age group, and a third require medical attention," said Geoffrey Hoffman, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the U-M School of Nursing and falls researcher who worked with the poll team. "Physical conditioning can make a major difference for maintaining independence, including avoiding a fall, but also how well someone reacts to and recovers from one. Focusing on prevention now, including physical health and activity but also home safety and social factors that can increase risk, is crucial."

Key findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging report on fall risks and experiences among adults age 50 to 80 during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: University of Michigan

Less activity, more fear

More than a third of older adults (37%) reported being less physically active since the pandemic began. Nearly the same percentage said they spent less time on their feet, walking or standing, after March 2020.

This reduced activity translated into 27% saying their physical conditioningflexibility, muscle strength and endurancehad worsened. Mobilitythe ability to move around including with a cane, walker or vehicledeclined in 25%, according to poll responses.

The poll also asked about fear of falling, which was experienced by 36% of respondents overall, and by nearly half of all poll respondents over age 65 (46%) and of women age 50 to 80 (44%).

Among all older adults who said they fear falling, 23% said that fear had increased during the pandemic. But the percentage that reported increased fear of falling was much higher among those who reported less physical activity (32%), worsened physical conditioning (42%) or worsened mobility (45%).

Falls lead to the deaths of more than 32,000 older adults each year, and the number has risen steadily in recent years and is expected to continue to increase with the aging of the US population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Key findings about fall risk factors among adults age 50 to 80 during the first nine months of the pandemic. Credit: University of Michigan

Links with loneliness and delayed care

The poll also reveals clues about how the loneliness and lack of companionship that increased among older adults during the pandemic might play into changes in activity levels, mobility and fall risk, says poll director Preeti Malani, M.D., a Michigan Medicine infectious disease physician also trained in geriatrics.

The percentage of older adults reporting falls was higher32%among those who said they lack companionship. This group was also more likely than others to report less physical activity and worsened mobility and physical conditioning. The NPHA has issued two previous reports on the health aspects of loneliness in older adults, both before and during the pandemic.

"As life gets closer to normal, especially for the large percentage of older adults who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, health care providers and loved ones should encourage more interactions that involve safe physical activity," she said. "We need to make up for lost time and get older adults on track, or back on track, with the kinds of movement and strengthening that can safeguard their independence by reducing their risk of falls or of major fall-related injuries. Even better if this happens in conjunction with social interaction."

Hoffman and Malani also note another of the poll's findings: During the pandemic, 28% of the older adults injured by a fall either delayed or did not receive medical care they felt they needed. Forty percent of this group said the pandemic was directly related to this lack of care. People who have lingering effects from a fall experienced during the height of the pandemicjoint pain or reduced mobility and strength, for instanceshould seek rehabilitation and other care to avoid or reduce the risk of any further issues, they add.

"Falls are a significant health and safety concern for older adults," said Alison Bryant, Ph.D., senior vice president of research for AARP. "Thankfully, there are many ways you can reduce your risk of falling, including simple home modifications like using brighter lightbulbs, removing throw rugs and making sure electrical cords are tucked out of the way."

AARP offers a free checklist for things older adults and their caregivers can do to prevent falls at home.

The CDC offers a toolkit for older adults and their caregivers, and for health providers, to assist with fall prevention.

The National Poll on Healthy Aging results are based on responses from a nationally representative sample of 2,074 adults aged 50 to 80 who answered a wide range of questions online in January 2021. Questions were written, and data interpreted and compiled, by the IHPI team. Laptops and Internet access were provided to poll respondents who did not already have them. A full report of the findings and methodology is available at www.healthyagingpoll.org, along with past National Poll on Healthy Aging reports.

Explore further Study suggests need to screen older adults for mental health symptoms as pandemic continues

More information: The poll is available at The poll is available at www.healthyagingpoll.org/repor  ng-COVID-19-pandemic
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Patients undergoing surgery and other medical procedures are routinely pre-screened for urinary tract infections (UTIs), but the vast majority of these tests are not needed, according to a new investigation by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The authors of this research letter, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, argue that these unneeded tests not only waste money and resources but also expose patients to potential harms and may worsen the persistent problem of antibiotic resistance.

A urinalysis is a medical test that screens urine for a variety of abnormalities, including the presence of bacteria. Clinicians commonly order a urinalysis if a patient has signs and symptoms of a UTI, such as fever and pain with urination. However, unless a UTI is suspected, urinalysis screening is not recommended except in limited circumstances, such as in pregnant women and patients undergoing urological surgery. That's because bacteria in urine in the absence of symptoms of infection, known as asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), is common and does not require treatment.

Patients scheduled for surgery and certain other medical procedures are often instructed to undergo preoperative urinalyses; those with abnormal results may be treated with antibiotics. Many physicians likely order a urinalysis in asymptomatic patients before operating due to concerns that an unidentified urinary infection could result in complications after surgery, explains infectious diseases specialist and health care epidemiologist Erica S. Shenoy, MD, Ph.D., associate chief of MGH's Infection Control Unit. "But the evidence to date does not support screening for and treating ASB for almost all asymptomatic pre-operative patients," says Shenoy, who is also an associate professor of Medicine at HMS. Guidelines established by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and the United States Protective Services Task Force (USPSTF) discourage routine preoperative screening for and treatment of ASB, with the limited exceptions described above.

Shenoy became interested in identifying the prevalence of preoperative urinalyses from her clinical experience: She is often asked by other physicians to advise on cases of abnormal urinalysis results and urine cultures in patients who lacked signs or symptoms of infection but were screened prior to surgery. Shenoy and MGH primary care physician Zirui Song, MD, Ph.D., along with research assistant Mia Giuriato, BBA, MA, analyzed one of the largest available databases of commercial insurance and Medicare claims. Included in the study were 13,169,656 inpatient and outpatient procedures in which urinalysis is not recommended that were performed between 2007 and 2017. These procedures fell into 14 broad categories, such as breast surgery, spine surgery and joint replacement procedures.

The team found that 25 percent of patients who had these procedures had undergone urinalyses in the 30 days preceding their operations. Within this group, the researchers found that only a small portion (11 percent) had documented indications consistent with a UTI prior to their procedures, suggesting that a urinalysis was appropriate. In the remaining 89 percent of procedures, urinalyses were performed unnecessarily. Perhaps more concerning, the analysis found that between 5.8 percent and 28.0 percent of patients who had urinalyses without plausible indications of a UTI received prescriptions for antibiotics, depending on which procedure they had.

"These antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary and expose our patients to potential harm," says Shenoy, noting that the costs to patients and to the system are substantial. Total spending on the inappropriate urinalyses identified in this study was $48,675,408. But Shenoy stresses that the costs of the test are just the beginning. At minimum, a patient may need to take time out of work to visit a lab and pay a portion of the cost of a urinalysis. If an antibiotic is prescribed, it could require additional copayment, interact with another medication the patient takes, or lead to a complication such as Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection. "And there can be downstream societal consequences," adds Shenoy, since overuse of antibiotics has led to a growing problem of resistance to these important medicines.

Song, an assistant professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine at HMS, says that overuse of urinalyses is just one example of low-value care, or medical treatment that offers little or no benefit to the patient. Insurers and self-insured employers could play a role in curbing the problem, he suggests. "Opportunities to reduce low-value care exist, especially on the provider side," says Song, through strategies such as reducing reimbursement for unnecessary urinalyses and other services in situations that don't benefit patients. "Policymakers and purchasers can do more to align providers' financial incentives with clinical appropriateness."

Explore further Researchers tell doctors to avoid routine urinary tests for older patients with delirium

More information: Prevalence, Costs, and Consequences of Low-Value Preprocedural Urinalyses in the US, JAMA Internal Medicine (2021). Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine Prevalence, Costs, and Consequences of Low-Value Preprocedural Urinalyses in the US,(2021). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.4075
(HealthDay)The Cape Cod resort town of Provincetown draws big crowds every summer. In July, those largely vaccinated crowdspacked into bars, restaurants and private homeswere the genesis of an outbreak of the Delta variant that could be a sobering model for the nation.

New data on the outbreak, released Friday, shows there were a known total of 469 COVID-19 cases "associated with multiple summer events" among Provincetown revelers. Three-quarters (74%) of those cases occurred among people who'd gotten their COVID vaccinations an average of almost three months before.

In 89% of those cases, the highly contagious Delta variant was implicated, concluded a team led by Dr. Catherine Brown of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

There was some good news, however: While many of the 346 cases among vaccinated individuals might have made them feel miserable for a timecoughs, headache, sore throat, aches and fever being the major symptomsthere were only four cases (1.2%) in this group that required hospital care.

In all four of those hospitalized cases, patients had underlying medical conditions that upped their odds for severe COVID-19, the researchers found.

A fifth case requiring hospitalization occurred in an unvaccinated patient, Brown's team noted, and that case also involved an underlying medical condition.

There were no deaths linked to the outbreak.

The researchers noted that it's not surprising that three-quarters of cases in the Provincetown outbreak occurred among the vaccinated, because a full 69% of the town's vaccine-eligible residents have gotten their shotsa number that's much higher than the national average.

Equal viral loads

However, given the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant, Brown's team believe their findings "suggest that even jurisdictions with substantial or high COVID-19 transmission might consider expanding prevention strategies."

Those strategies should include "masking in indoor settings regardless of vaccination status, given the potential risk of infection during attendance at large public gatherings," they said.

The Provincetown findings also confirm that, unlike its predecessor, the Delta variant appears to produce high viral loads in people's systems, upping transmission risks.

"Specimens from 127 vaccinated persons with breakthrough cases were similar to those from 84 persons who were unvaccinated," the research team noted.

That finding helped drive the CDC's decision this week to reverse course on its masking advisory. The agency now recommends that even the vaccinated once again don masks in many indoor settings, to lessen the odds they might transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others.

It also adds new energy to federal, state and local efforts to get more Americans vaccinated.

However, one leading infectious disease expert stressed that the one thing the Provincetown report should not do is lessen the average American's faith in the power of vaccines to protect against what's most important: Severe illness.

"The new data should not alarm anyone, but reinforce that vaccinations are the solution to the pandemic," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

A return to masking indoors

"That severe breakthrough infections were rare is testament to the vaccines, which limit the harm an infection can do in a fully vaccinated person," he said. "It's also important to remember the breakthroughs that occurred in this situation are likely not completely applicable to the everyday life of the vaccinated, as the intensity and nature of exposure was in the context of a large public gathering."

Another expert said the implications of the findings are clear.

"At this time, even fully vaccinated people need to consider large gatherings as a potential place to contract the virus," said Dr. Teresa Murray Amato, chair of emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, in Queens, N.Y. "This also means that for Americans that are not yet vaccinated," they should strongly consider doing so.

Adding to the Provincetown findings, a new internal federal government document also finds the Delta variant can cause more severe illness than earlier coronavirus variants, especially among the unvaccinated, and spreads as easily as chickenpox.

In laying out the evidence that this variant looks like the most dangerous one yet, the document urges health officials to "acknowledge the war has changed," the Washington Post reported.

The document mirrors the data in the Provincetown study, finding that vaccinated people infected with Delta have viral loads similar to those who are unvaccinated and infected with the variant, the Post reported.

CDC scientists were so alarmed that the agency changed masking guidance for vaccinated people earlier this week, even before making the new data public, the newspaper said.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement on Friday that the Provincetown investigation "is one of many CDC has been involved in across the country and data from those investigations will be rapidly shared with the public when available."

The Provincetown study was published July 30 in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Explore further New data shows the power of COVID vaccines

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Coronavirus infections among vaccinated people are on the decline but for the unvaccinated, cases continue to increase. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Los Angeles found text-based nudges are an effective way to remind people to schedule their first COVID-19 vaccination appointment and show up. The results of the study are available in the August 2 issue of the journal Nature.

"The Delta variant is driving increased COVID infections across the globe, and currently in the United States more than 97% of COVID related hospitalizations are in unvaccinated people," said Daniel M. Croymans, MD, MBA, MS, Primary Care Physician, UCLA Health and co-author on the paper. "Our study highlights that marrying text messaging, a widely accessible technology, alongside behavioral science, may help deliver messages that encourage others to get vaccinatedhelping to protect our community and our economy.

Vaccination efforts have been hindered by safety concerns and misinformation, as well as by barriers to action, such as forgetfulness, hassle cost and procrastination among those who intend to get vaccinated. The research team conducted two large randomized controlled trials to identify methods that could overcome barriers to schedule an appointment and get the vaccine. The study involved UCLA Health patients eligible for COVID-19 vaccine in February 2021, mostly people over 65 years of age or with a pre-existing condition.

Saccardo was joined by Hengchen Dai, assistant professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management and applied their expertise in behavioral science to construct the study. They partnered with Daniel Croymans, MD, MBA, MS, in Internal Medicine at UCLA Health and his team at UCLA Health, who led the patient outreach effort.

After initial notification of eligibility for the vaccine, participants in the first randomized trial received one of four types of text message or no text reminder. Each of the five groups consisted of around 20,000 people. The text nudge was subdivided into four styles: 1) a simple text reminder; 2) simple text reminder with an informational video; 3) a text crafted with ownership language like 'The vaccine has just been made available for you' and "Claim your dose," and 4) a text with ownership language and the informational video.

The text message boosted appointment rates at UCLA Health. The baseline appointment rates within six days were at 7.2% among patients without a reminder, while patients who received a reminder increased their appointments to13.2%, an 84.33% increase. In addition, the text message accelerated how quickly the vaccinations were scheduled and acquired, increasing vaccination rates at UCLA Health within a month from 13.89% to 17. 56%. This approach was particularly effective with the population that typically schedules a seasonal flu shot, and the benefits even held when the researchers examine vaccinations obtained outside of UCLA Health clinics.

Adding ownership language to the text message brought an additional boost in appointment and vaccination rates, compared to text messages without such language. Surprisingly, adding the video message to the text message did not further improve appointments schedules or vaccinations. The researchers point to low video view rate as one potential explanation.

"I was surprised that adding an information intervention to text reminder did not yield a detectable effect on actual vaccination behaviors among UCLA Health patients," said Dai. It is very interesting that while a video-based intervention seems to elevate vaccination intentions in a hypothetical setting where people are asked to watch the video, this intervention does not yield benefits in the field where people are invited to watch the video and where we assess actual behavior."

The second randomized trial consisted of more than 67,000 people who did not schedule an appointment after receiving the first reminder and were divided into two groups. On the eighth day following the initial invitation, one group received a second reminder text received a second text message and the other did not.

The found when people got a second reminder they were more likely to schedule their first does within six days (1.65 percentage points) and obtain the vaccination (1.06 percentage points). While the change is small, Saccardo and Dai point to the fact that the group being vaccinated were initially hesitant.

According to Saccardo, vaccination strategies should focus on helping people overcome barriers to scheduling the first dose. Text reminders proved to be an effective method to motivate people across demographic groups.

"One simple reminder, which is cost effective, could prompt people to schedule their appointment," said Silvia Saccardo, assistant professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at CMU and contributing lead author on the paper. "Getting scheduled for the first does was the biggest barrier. Once scheduled, people went to the appointment and then returned for their second dose."

Explore further Text message reminders increase rates of influenza vaccination
Transmission electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, emerging from human cells. Credit: NIAID

Thailand has extended a night-time curfew and other virus restrictions to 16 more provinces beginning Tuesday as the kingdom's COVID-19 death toll soared to a new record.

The Southeast Asian country is struggling to contain its latest outbreak fuelled by the Delta variant, with infections and deaths skyrocketing and the healthcare system stretched thin.

Severe curbs on daily life including a seven-hour night-time curfew have already hit residents in a dozen provinces and the capital Bangkok, where an estimated 10 million live.

But the kingdom's caseload has not slowed, and Saturday brought a new record in cases and deaths. More than 18,900 new infections and 178 fatalities were registered in a single day.

"Provinces categorised as dark red zones will increase from 13 provinces to 29," said Apisamai Srirangsan, deputy spokeswoman for Thailand's COVID-19 taskforce.

Restrictions for these zoneswhich will be imposed from Tuesday to August 19include no dining or alcohol sales in restaurants, which are allowed to open only for delivery until 8 pm.

Public venues such as parks, swimming pools and museums will also be closed.

Apisamai said none of Thailand's 79 provinces currently fall under its "green" categorythe colour denoting an area is safe from the outbreak.

"If the situation does not improve, it might be extended to August 31," Apisamai added.

Thailand has reported more than 615,000 virus cases in total and 4,990 deaths.

The bulk of infections have been detected since April when the latest COVID wave was sparked by a cluster in an upscale Bangkok nightlife district.

A health official admitted on Thursday that epicentre Bangkok no longer had enough beds for the unceasing tide of patients and that isolation facilities were filling up.

Explore further Thai hospitals short of beds as COVID cases soar: ministry

 2021 AFP
Bodnar told the Missoulian on Monday that Yellow Robe was a strong advocate for Native Americans as well as a talented playwright and a beloved teacher.

"As an educator, he was able to unlock the passion for storytelling for a countless number of students," Bodnar said. "It was an honor to get to know Bill as we awarded him an honorary doctorate from UM, and I join the entire UM family in expressing our condolences to the Fort Peck community and celebrating his timeless contributions to society.

John DeBoer, the director of the School of Theater and Dance at the university, said he didn't know Yellow Robe but was at the ceremony.

"He had a really powerful speech that I was really honored to be there for," DeBoer said on Monday. "It changed the way I think about how we make UM a more welcoming place for Native American students who are interested in studying the arts, and I'll be forever grateful for that opportunity."

During the ceremony, Yellow Robe talked about being the target of racism growing up.

I dont feel angry toward the people who used to use race to attack me, he said, according to a news release. They have a sadness to them.

Yellow Robe is survived by his wife and many other relatives. A funeral service was held on July 27 in Wolf Point.

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Rain touched much of western Montana on Sunday and Monday, giving firefighters a brief respite from a week of intense activity.

Between one and two inches of rain fell along the Montana-Idaho border, where the Granite Pass and West Lolo fire complexes have burned a combined 23,300 acres in multiple locations. Incident commanders on those two complexes have teamed up to share personnel and equipment.

The biggest challenge of the bunch remains the Thorne Creek Fire five miles northeast of Thompson Falls, which has covered 17,685 acres. It has 268 people deployed along with three helicopters. Efforts on Sunday concentrated on protecting structures while trying to tie fire lines to the Deep Creek Fire burn scar and prevent spread to the west.

Further south, the Shotgun, Boulder Creek, BM Hill and Lolo Creek fires of the Granite Pass complex have burned a combined 5,739 acres. Of those, the BM Hill dominates at 4,882 acres about a mile north of the Lolo Pass Visitor Center. Both it and the Lolo Creek Fire (165 acres) are very close to U.S. Highway 12. The highway is usually open, but motorists should be prepared for smoky conditions, firefighting equipment using the road and sudden closures as fire behavior warrants.
FirstEnergy made the payments to Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio Inc., of which Randazzo was the owner and sole employee.

The $4.3 million payment paid in January 2019 was for years 2019 through 2024 listed in the consulting contract. The consulting contract showed Randazzo was to be paid nearly $7 million from 2013 through 2018. It's unclear when and why the remaining $11 million was paid.

Randazzo resigned as utilities commission chair in November after FBI agents searched his Columbus townhome and FirstEnergy made public the $4.3 million payment in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Randazzo met with FirstEnergy Executive 1 and Executive 2 on Dec. 18, 2018, at his Columbus townhome, the day after he emailed Executive 2 and others an announcement that the utilities commission was seeking applications for an open seat.

It has not been disputed that Executive 1 is Chuck Jones, who was fired in October as CEO for violating company policies and its code of conduct. Executive 2 is one of two senior vice presidents who was fired with Jones, according to the statement of facts.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP)  A Mississippi man was sentenced to life without parole for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend inside the Walmart where she worked as an optometrist.

William Thomas Tommy Chisholm was found guilty of capital murder in the killing of Dr. Shauna Witt after just 26 minutes of deliberation on Friday, The Commercial Dispatch reported. Witt ran the eye clinic at Walmart Vision Center in Starkville, and was seeing a patient who brought along her 4-year-old daughter when Chisolm entered the store in January 2018.

Employee Kaylace Beatty Dorman testified that she tried to open a door to enable Witt to escape, but she didn't make it, the newspaper reported.

I remember hearing shots, Dorman told the court. I remember looking at her, looking at Dr. Witt, and I was thinking, Shes going to get away, and then I saw her getting hit.
Both biologists also stressed that black bears arent generally dangerous if theyre not habituated to food.

For anyone living or playing in Wyomings mountains, Knox and Thompson offered a series of advice on how to keep yourself  and bears  safe the rest of this summer and fall.

Call if you see a bear near humans or food

Many people believe if they call wildlife officials about a black bear, the bear will be killed on the spot, Thompson said. Thats just not the case. None of us wants to catch a bear and kill it, Thompson said. But once a bear becomes food conditioned, really food conditioned, we dont have any options. Dont wait a week or more to call biologists about a bear wandering in rural neighborhoods, getting into bird feeders or campsites. If biologists catch bears early, they can help people secure food and vehicles and hopefully the bear will move on to better habitat.

Keep food inside

Store any food including dog food, snacks, meat and vegetables in vehicles or other bear-proof containers. People recreating in grizzly bear country might be used to properly storing food, but those outside of the northwest corner should also be aware, Knox said. Bears can open coolers, garbage bags and plastic tubs.
Simply put, deforestation is just about the worst thing we could do right now. That Gianforte and his fellow Republican, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, are backing even more destruction of our dwindling national forests is about what weve come to expect from these ideologically blinded politicians. When faced with the serious problems confronting the state, nation and globe, they fall back every time to business as usual  log it, mine it, burn it and dont worry about the consequences.

Whats particularly pitiful about this latest episode in incompetent leadership is when Gianforte announced he was pulling Montana out of a multi-state climate pact, he lauded innovation as the solution to our burning state and baking planet. Someone might want to ask the governor whats so innovative about logging  other than that the chainsaw timber jobs have been replaced by and one person driving a feller-buncher machine that cuts, limbs and stacks more trees in an hour than a crew of traditional sawyers could do in a day.
Garrity also criticized the use of potassium permanganate to neutralize rotenone. Again, his claims are inflammatory and misleading. Potassium permanganate is available for unregulated over-the-counter and online purchase and is widely used as a disinfectant at municipal water treatment facilities, food preservative, and a control agent of nuisance and invasive organisms like zebra mussels. Potassium permanganate is on the World Health Organization's Model List of Essential Medicines, representing the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system. There has never been an instance in Montana that potassium permanganate did not successfully neutralize rotenone when employed to do so. Numerous studies near rotenone fish removal projects have demonstrated that neither rotenone nor potassium permanganate contaminate groundwater wells because these chemicals quickly bind with fine sediments and organic matter within the top inch or two of the stream or lake bed.

Garrity suggests that fish removal projects can be successfully completed using mechanical methods such as electrofishing, angling or netting. He is right, they can, in small water bodies, such as streams less than about 2 miles in length and with very simple habitat. Several projects using mechanical methods have been successfully completed in Montana. However, these techniques are simply not a viable option for the proposed Blackfoot project due to the expansive size of the stream network. Game Creek, the Wyoming project he cites where Trojan male brook trout will be stocked, is described in the May 11, 2020 Jackson Hole News and Guide as a small seep, only a couple feet wide and 5 miles long. It is telling that Wyoming biologists attempted electrofishing but found it ineffective as the sole fish removal method in this stream that is many times smaller than the North Fork Black Foot River. The Trojan male concept has been developed only for brook trout, and to date successfully used only in a controlled environment, such as a hatchery. Additionally, it would be pointless in the Blackfoot project because no brook trout exist in the project area despite Garritys claims. The proposed Blackfoot project would remove non-native rainbow trout that have hybridized with cutthroat trout.
Glynn County Detention Center via AP

The trial of three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery is slated to begin in October. But if a Georgia Superior Court judge grants a series of requests made by attorneys for the defense, it will be Arbery who goes on trial.

Lawyers for Gregory and Travis McMichaelthe father and son, respectively, who chased down Arbery in their pickup truck before fatally shooting him three times at close rangefiled a motion late last year requesting that Judge Timothy Walmsley permit only one photo of Arbery when living to be shown during the trial, that he be depicted alone and not in the company of loved ones, and that he be identified to the court during trial by a non-family member. In the filing, the defense team argues that to allow more photos would potentially create the danger of unfair prejudice among jurors.

The McMichaels lawyers have also filed a motion asking that prosecutors be barred from referring to Arbery as a victim for the same reasons. The purpose of this motion is to prevent the prosecution from ignoring its duty to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that crimes were actually committed and that [the] McMichaels committed the crimes as charged, the defense motion states. The filing goes on to note that the McMichaels do not concede that criminal conduct occurred in this case, and that the use of loaded words, such as identifying Arbery as a victim, tacitly ascribes guilt to the McMichaels, denying them the presumption of innocence.

Its Murder: This Shooting of an Unarmed Black Man Is Roiling Georgia

These are the tactics of a defense team attempting to justify the white vigilante killing of Arbery, who can no longer speak for himself, by framing it into an act of self defense. Cellphone footageshot by third defendant and ambush participant William Roddie Bryanclearly documents the armed vehicular pursuit of Arbery by his attackers, capturing the horrific moment when Travis McMichael fired off the shotgun blasts that killed the 25-year-old Arbery. In the face of that unequivocal evidence, the McMichaels and Bryan have nonetheless entered not guilty pleas to the nine charges they each face: four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, malice murder, false imprisonment, and criminal intent to commit false imprisonment. In recent months, their lawyers have filed an ever-growing mountain of motions to prevent a jury from seeing the human life his killers snuffed out that day. Instead, defense lawyers are working to portray a young man who was jogging near his home as a dangerous Black threat whose death was warranted and even necessary.

Story continues

The legal teams strategy for getting a jury to agree is to make Arbery, who was unarmed and on foot when armed white men in pickup trucks gave chase, into a criminal threat to white society. At a July hearing, Kevin Gough, a defense lawyer for Bryan, suggested that Arbery was attempting a carjacking. Whether he intends to take the vehicle, push Mr. Bryan out or bury him in the woods, we dont know, Gough said to the court. But a jury can reasonably infer that Mr. Arbery was trying to commit a felony.

In multiple motions and responses, defense lawyers have asked the court to, in the words of prosecutors, engage in a fishing expedition into Arberys mental health records to raise questions about his mental stability at the time of the shooting, including information from his toxicology report, to support the McMichaels contention that Arbery was acting funny and not right. (Prosecutors counter that the only reason to put such evidence before the jury is to suggest that Mr. Arbery got what he deserved.) This goes hand in hand with defense efforts to portray Arbery as having the kind of superhuman strength that always serves as a white alibi for murdering Black folks.

Five Things to Do Before Calling 911and Option 1 Will Blow Your Mind

Defense attorney Bob Rubin, reusing a well-worn script, told CBS News that Travis McMichael is a a good man who had to defend himself, because he was being attacked and overwhelmed by Ahmaud Arbery's strength and had no choice but to either fire that gun or lose his life at that point. (Rubin told the outlet that a 17-year-old Travis McMichael saved a young Black man from drowning in a pool. Defense attorney Frank Hogue has an almost identical story about Greg McMichael rescuing a young Black sailor who was drowning.) In a motion filed in June, the defense team writes that Arbery, when trying to grab the shotgun Travis McMichael was aiming at him, wasnt trying to protect himself from his killers, but was attempting an assault to kill or seriously injury McMichael. To support the contention that the McMichaels were just good guys with guns faced with a violent, aggressive, dangerous, confrontational attacker, theyre asking Judge Walmsley to OK testimony that would indicate Mr. Arbery has a reputation for being all of those things, which they claim offers insights into Arberys intent and motive.

I asked Earl Ward, a prominent New York City defense attorney and trial lawyer, about some of the defenses filings, including the aforementioned motion to introduce Arberys reputation. The motions to prevent prosecutors from using the term victim or its photo request is typical for criminal defenders, he says.

Let me start by saying Mr. Arbery was a victim. There's no doubt about that. But in a court of law, the argument is, theres not a victim until the jury has determined theres a victim, Ward told me. And if the government refers to him as the victim, it sends a message that the defendants on trial are the victimizers. It takes away the presumption of innocence, which is so key to our constitutional system. The same is true with bringing in a lot of photographs with family, which would go too far, in the sense that it appeals to sympathy. The government has to prove the case and sympathy shouldn't come into play. Its consistent with the idea that theres a presumption of innocence. Which is why most defense attorneys typically try to keep that out.

But what about the effort to introduce whats known as 404(b) evidencetestimony that Arbery was aggressive in the past? Ward told me that qualifies as bullshit.

Typically, you cannot bring in evidence of the decedents behavior, unless the defendants knew about it. If they didn't know that Ahmaud Arbery had done something in the past, it cant be used to justify their behavior in that moment, Ward told me. To just bring it in sort of randomly, because you want to prejudice the jury because theyre going to hear that hes done some bad things in the pastwhats the relevance?

Even as they lobby the court to put Arbery on trial, using every legal trick in the book to turn the victim into a predator, they want to stop the state from using any testimony about the fact that the McMichaels were in possession of firearms at the time of their arrest, that they had other firearms in their home, or that they shoot their firearms while on the river. They have also asked that racist texts and social media posts sent by the McMichaels and Bryan, which reportedly included frequent use of the n word and jokes about shooting Black people, not be allowed as evidence.

Travis McMichael Called Ahmaud Arbery the N-Word as He Lay Dying on the Ground: Witness

The defenses recent motions are tied to a strategy, as they expressly noted in their filing, to rely heavily upon Georgias then-applicable citizens arrest statute. The McMichaels contend they believed Arbery was responsible for a number of burglaries that had recently occurred in their neighborhood. Their lawyers will argue that, because of that probable cause belief, Arberys decision not to obey the white men stalking him was illegal, because it is unlawful to resist lawful citizens arrest.

Georgias racist, slavery-era citizens arrest law was repealed in May, primarily because of Arberys killing, with even rightwing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp writing in an op-ed that Arbery was the victim of a vigilante-style of violence that has no place in our state, and some tried to justify the actions of his killers by claiming they had the protection of an antiquated law that is ripe for abuse. Prosecutors have filed a motion to prevent the defense from arguing that the law was repealed because it gave the Defendants the right to chase Mr. Arbery through the Satilla Shores neighborhood after not having seen him do anything and shoot him dead when he did not stop.

The state has filed paperwork to push back against many of the defenses motions. In one lengthy response, they offer a rebuttal to a specific request that also seems like a refutation of the defenses entire scheme to blame Arbery for his own death.

Had the defendants stayed at their homes and simply called 911, Mr. Arbery would be alive, the document reads. Instead, the defendants took it upon themselves to gather their firearms, get into their pickup trucks, and chase after Mr. Arbery...They chased him, attempted to hit him with the pickup trucks, assaulted him and repeatedly tried to falsely imprison him.

They were the initial aggressors, they stated the chain of events that led to Mr. Arberys death, and Mr. Arbery did nothing to initiate or instigate interaction with the defendants. For over five minutes, Mr. Arbery ran away from the strange, shotgun-wielding men, who were chasing him, and trying to hit him with pickup trucks. How terrifying it must have been for him to be hunted down in such a fashion.

Jury selection in the case begins on Oct. 18. Lawyers for the McMichaels had petitioned the court to prohibit media from observing the process, but withdrew that motion after significant pushback. Bryan and the McMichaels also face hate crimes charges in a federal court.

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Burke County has added 192 new cases of COVID-19 in a week, with 50 of those cases being in children.

The Burke County Health Department reported a total of 10,751 cases on Friday, up from 10,559 cases on July 23.

Chae Moore, Burke County Health Department public health educator, said the 50 children from 0 to 19 years old have tested positive since June 25.

In addition, there also have been roughly 24 breakthrough cases since June 25, she said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says breakthrough cases are those who have been fully vaccinated but who still get sick or have to be hospitalized or even die.

The CDC says 163 million people in the U.S. have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of July 26. It says while COVID-19 vaccines are effective and a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control, no vaccine is 100% effective in preventing illness. However, there is evidence that vaccines make illness less severe, it says.

The CDC also says asymptomatic infections among some vaccinated people is expected.

The Burke County COVID-19 dashboard on Friday showed 293 active cases with 13 people hospitalized.
This is so heartbreaking, she explained. We had to do something.

In the midst of such a tragedy, Prunty has been overwhelmed by the generosity of her community and beyond.

People who have never met Drew and Jennifer are donating because they are touched by their story and want to help, said Prunty.

So far nearly 650 people have donated anywhere from $10 to $1,100.

The Hartford woman has been on the receiving end when it comes to the generosity of friends and neighbors.

In 2008, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and the Hartford community held a benefit for her, but more importantly, rallied behind her when she needed it most.

Thats what prompted me to do this GoFundMe page, she explained.

While heartbroken at the loss of her friends, as the donations keep coming in, Prunty cant help but smile.

When people rally like this, she said, it proves that there are innately good people out there that want to do the right thing.
Trace Knighten, 12, of Butte sat with bandaged hands and gave a statement to a game warden about the wildlife attack Knighten had suffered Friday along the Big Hole River.

It wasnt the average mauling.

The animal involved in the attack is known for its playfulness, its aquatic acrobatics and seemingly sleek and carefree frolics.

Trace Knighten was attacked by an otter.

He and a cousin were floating the river on inner tubes and were about a half mile upstream from the Powerhouse Fishing Access Site when they spotted several otters downstream.

The boys tried to avoid the otters but one approached and attacked Knighten.

It bit his ankle and head and arms and hands, said Steve Knighten, the boys father.

There were some chunks missing out of his arm. Hes got stitches and staples but hes fine, Steve Knighten said Monday.

Hes out riding his bike, he said.

Shane Yaskus, a game warden for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, took Trace Knightens statement.

FWP issued a press release Monday.
When asked what he thinks audiences will enjoy about this show, Reiner pointed towards the Hoover history that is found throughout the show, most of which he suspects not many people might have heard about before.

Its all based on the Hoovers lives and real life events, so its something that you dont get to see that often in a stage play, he said, I think theyre also going to enjoy hearing about her. Lou Henry Hoover was a very strong woman who was compassionate and a visionary, and hearing about her experiences from her perspective will be a little bit of a different experience too. Its going to be quite a change from what audiences might expect, but also very enjoyable.

Additionally, Lous great-granddaughter, Leslie Hoover-Laubler, will also be in attendance at the Muscatine show as well as throughout the Iowa tour. Following the performance, Leslie will hold a Q&A session for those who wish to learn more about her great-grandmother.

Leslie, out of all the Hoover family members, is kind of our Lou Henry Hoover expert, Reiners said, Our whole purpose at the Hoover Presidential Foundation is to share Hoover history, and so by having the Q&A feature with an actual Hoover family member and the actress who played Lou, its just another opportunity to get that deep understanding of Lou and all things Hoover.
MTN has released a trading statement for the six months ended 30 June 2021 to notify shareholders about a major drop in expected earnings for the company.

The company said it is expecting a decrease in earnings per share of between 75% and 85%  or R5.06 to R5.73  down from the earnings per share of R6.74 for the corresponding six-month period ended 30 June 2020.

MTN explained that the earnings per share includes impairment losses totalling approximately 75 cents (2020: 99 cents) that relate mainly to MTN Yemen.

These are largely non-cash losses from the deconsolidation of subsidiary MTN Syria of approximately 262 cents (2020: 0 cents) and a gain on the fair value uplift on consolidation of the Groups equity accounted investment in aYo of 96 cents (2020: 341 cents gain from disposal of ATC Uganda and ATC Ghana tower joint ventures).

MTN said that it has made meaningful progress in strengthening its financial position, maintaining a healthy liquidity position and faster de-leveraging of the holding company balance sheet. This has been supported by upstreaming of approximately R9.3 billion in cash from its operating companies, including R4.0 billion from MTN Nigeria, in the six months to 30 June 2021, MTN stated. It said that it has received a further R700 million in cash from Nigeria after 30 June. MTN also reported that a magistrate has recommended to dismiss a case brought against two of its overseas operations for allegedly supporting the Taliban by making payments to the terrorist group to ensure the protection of its infrastructure. The civil damages case was brought against MTN Dubai and MTN Afghanistan, and MTN filed a motion to dismiss the case in 2020. MTN said it requested that the court dismiss the complaint for two independent reasons: The court lacks jurisdiction over MTN Dubai and MTN Afghanistan The complaint does not allege any conduct by MTN Dubai or MTN Afghanistan that violated the US Anti-Terrorism Act. MTN is pleased to report that on Friday evening, 30 July 2021, the magistrate judge to whom the case had been referred made a recommendation to the district judge presiding over the case to grant the motion to dismiss for all defendants in the case, the company said. The magistrate judge further concluded that the court did not have jurisdiction, it said. MTN noted that under the US courts procedures, the plaintiffs are permitted to file objections to the report with the district judge, and MTN Dubai and MTN Afhanistan will have an opportunity to respond. MTN is in the process of studying the full report with its legal counsel, however, the company is pleased with this positive development supporting MTNs strong defence and arguments with regards to its motion to dismiss.

Now read: MTN 5G network expansion in South Africa
Local authorities are struggling to control a fire at one of Tesla Inc.s biggest utility-scale batteries in Australia after the blaze initially erupted on Friday.

While the fire has subsided significantly, it is not yet under control, the Victoria Country Fire Authority said in a statement on Monday.

The fire occurred within one of the Tesla Megapacks at the Victorian Big Battery during initial testing Friday morning.

There was one battery pack on fire to start with, but it did spread to a second pack that was very close to it, said CFA Incident Controller and District 7 Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Ian Beswicke.

The cause is undetermined and will be investigated once it is safe to do so, according to the CFA.

Battery storage technology is being deployed on an ever-growing scale to meet demand to back up the surge in wind and solar power generation, and Teslas technology has been used at several utility-scale projects across Australia.

Australia has been at the forefront of large-scale battery deployment since Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in 2017 won a bet on Twitter that he could install one within 100 days.

The Victorian Big Battery owned by Paris-based Neoen SA was the latest vying to be crowned the worlds largest.

JUST IN: Fire crews are currently on the scene of a battery fire at Moorabool, near Geelong. Firefighters are working to contain the fire and stop it spreading to the nearby batteries. https://t.co/5zYfOfohG3 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/HAkFY27JgQ  7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) July 30, 2021

Now read: Tesla may accept Bitcoin again
A protest is already being planned for 10 August when former President Jacob Zuma appears in court, and the police are worried that stolen ammunition could be used in new attacks.

Zuma is currently serving a 15-month jail sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre for contempt of court after ignoring an order to appear before the Zondo Commission.

While serving his jail term, Zumas corruption trial related to the arms deal will start in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.

Zuma is accused of taking bribes from his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, in exchange for political influence linked to the South African military procurement programme.

He is facing 16 counts of corruption, racketeering, fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. Zuma pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the trial will begin on Tuesday, 10 August.

The City Press reported that there are now renewed concerns about violence in KwaZulu-Natal, following the devastating riots and looting three weeks ago.

According to the newspaper, the police is particularly worried that protestors will use ammunition stolen from a depot during the riots on the day Zuma appears in court.

Acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni recently confirmed that rioters looted ammunition from a shipping container at a depot in Prospecton in Durban South.

While some of the bullets had been recovered, the Mail & Guardian reported that the bulk of the 14-tonne consignment remains missing.

Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies Johan Burger warned that this ammunition could be used during more public violence.

It did not take long for Burgers warning to become true. News24 reported that the stolen ammunition has already been used to attack police officers on Thursday.

Gunmen, who fired on police officers conducting a raid in Lamontville, south of Durban, were armed with stolen ammunition looted from a container during the rampant unrest, the report said.

Bullet casings recovered from the shooting scene in Durban were linked to the cache of stolen ammunition.

Despite the concerns of renewed violence in KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC in the province is allegedly powerless to act against the instigators.

Rapport reported that the party has so many Zuma supporters that it is paralysed and could not decide what to do.

Now read: Tremendous damage caused by looting shown in one table
Dear EarthTalk: Are the new SST jets friendlier to the environment than the SSTs of the 1970s?  P. Barnes, Midlothian, Texas

Nearly 20 years have passed since the last flight of the Concorde, the first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial airplane (or supersonic transport, SST). The aircraft cruised the Queen of England and the ultra-wealthy across the seas at Mach 2 speed, or 1,350 mph, while soaring at an altitude of 60,000 feet. In 1996, the Concorde achieved its fastest flight from New York to London in under three hours.

Now a new wave of supersonic flight may be on the horizon with the recent partnership between United Airlines and Denver-based Boom Supersonic. In June 2021, United Airlines announced plans to purchase 15 of Boom Supersonics first commercial supersonic jet, the Overture. Boom plans to engineer the Overture to fly up to 88 passengers at a speed of Mach 1.7, or 1,300 mph, at 60,000 feet. Most flight times will be cut nearly in half: Traveling from Paris to Montreal will only take three hours and 45 minutes instead of the usual eight and a half hours; a trip from San Francisco to Tokyo will take just six hours rather than the usual 10 hours and 15 minutes.
You might see some of our neighbors trucking lots of water, because they have no choice if they don't want to remove their vines, he explained. Some people I've talked to, they decided to just not grow grapes, and are keeping them barely alive and drop all the fruit because they don't have enough water to get the quality that they need.

Garcia said it's been a stressful year for everyone, and he hopes that services like theirs will help create more resilient soils -- and thus businesses -- for these farmers. After working all across California with other crops like dates and strawberries, Garcia loves learning more about the area and viticulture and finds Napa to be unique in terms of adopting sustainable practices.

The farming community here in Napa is more progressive, and more educated as well  You don't find something like this anywhere else in the world, said Garcia. The crop is expensive, the land is expensive, there are wineries everywhere, and they're making a lot of money on this, so they invest a lot of money in it.

An easy way to do this is to implement a controlled, micro-irrigation system, which according to the 2020 Sustainability Report, about 82% of growers have used since 2016. Similarly, 99% have developed a water management plan, with 87% measuring their water use with flow meters or other mechanisms.
The Foundation wants to ensure that Napa Valley has the best options in education for our families, including the unique integration of social-emotional and project-based learning that we are hard-wiring into the new charter school model, said Jolene Yee, co-president of the Foundation.

Our children have benefited greatly from the model used at River School, and while we cant continue River School in its current form, wed like to see the model live on and even improve in a new charter school and continue to be offered to all students in Napa Valley in their middle school years, Yee continued.

Were very excited to announce that we will be partnering with the New Tech Network, allowing for a K-12 pathway of current New Tech Network schools that actively utilize project-based learning methodology to Napa families who choose to pursue it, said Lauren Daley, co-president of the Foundation.

The New Tech Network Resources, coupled with some outstanding tools we will be using, plus the planned 9 a.m. start time, are all things that are highly suited to middle-school learning and development, said Daley.
On more solid financial footing is proposed transportation spending based on expected federal, state and regional revenues. Future Napa County projects listed include interchanges on Highway 29 at Airport Boulevard/Highway 12 and Trower Avenue.

If the draft Plan Bay Area is correct, at least some of the cars traversing these roads will be self-driving. It said 5% of vehicles used by 2035 will be autonomous and 20% by 2050, calling this a conservative estimate.

Autonomous vehicles might make longer-distance commutes more feasible, the plan said. It might also reduce the attractiveness of more sustainable travel modes such as biking and mass transit and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Poised to launch another revolution in transportation, autonomous vehicles are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in planning for the regions future, the draft Plan Bay Area said.

People who like to zoom down freeways might dislike the Plan Bay Area future. It calls for maximum freeway speed limits of 55 mph to reduce accidents and using automated speed enforcement.

Automated speed enforcement is not permitted in California at this time. Plan Bay Area said this is one way to cut down on bias and make uncertain undue burdens aren't placed on communities of color.
In Tulare County, which has one of the largest Medi-Cal populations in the state, 48% of the county's residents have been vaccinated but only 33% of Medi-Cal enrollees. In Los Angeles County, 70% of its overall population is vaccinated, compared to only 49% of people on Medi-Cal.

"It is problematic that this gap exists, but it is consistent with national trends that show people with low incomes are less likely to be vaccinated," said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at UC Berkeley's Labor Center.

State and county health officials and nonprofit groups have been struggling to reach people in low-income communities. They are trying mobile vaccination clinics, door-to-door canvassing and monetary incentives.

The state's Department of Health Care Services said it's doing several things to increase vaccination among Medi-Cal patients, including sharing data with health plans about which enrollees have yet to be vaccinated, encouraging more Medi-Cal providers to sign up to administer the vaccine and working with hospital associations to improve vaccine access in emergency rooms.

Experts said one major reason that many people on Medi-Cal may be unvaccinated is that it is harder for them to take time off work.
It started off as a routine call. But before Rico Millan knew it, the woman on the other end of the phone was crying.

She had phoned for help finding food pantries in Concord  making her one of hundreds of desperate people who dial 211 every day in the Bay Area, looking to connect to their county's catch-all helpline. But as Millan asked more questions, the truth came out: the woman had moved to the Bay Area from Susanville, and it hadn't worked out. Now, she was living in her broken-down Saturn, trying to get back home.

The worst part was, Millan couldn't do much to find her a bed for the night. Space in shelters and affordable housing is scarce throughout the Bay Area. And the woman had a dog, making it exponentially harder.

He passed her information to Contra Costa County's homeless outreach team. But, overwhelmed with demand on a Friday, the county said it likely couldn't get to her until Monday.

"I remember texting my wife after I got off the call and telling her how crappy I was feeling," Millan said. "Because I wanted to do more, but my hands are tied."
Banner for Armenian singer Andre's concert torn in Stepanakert

Opposition MP: Armenia was interesting for the world with Artsakh issue, Syunik Province and nuclear power plant

Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijani military servicemen are deliberately setting fires to lands near Yeraskh (VIDEO)

Armenia to also participate in CSTO's "Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021" military exercises

Armenia premier introduces newly appointed high-tech industry minister

Large fire breaks out at logistics center in Istanbul

Erdogan says Turkey will plant 250,000,000 trees in areas affected by forest fires

Opposition "Armenia" faction MP: Person holding highest position in country hasn't visited Artsakh since October 2020

China premier congratulates Armenia's Pashinyan

Armenia ruling party MP Lena Nazaryan states numbers of Armenian soldiers killed

Armenia MOD receives Human Rights Defender

Opposition 'Armenia' faction leader on deployment of Russian troops in Voskepar village and defense minister's order

Armenia ruling faction rejects opposition's proposal to set up parliamentary committee on Karabakh issue

Person who burnt statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Yerevan identified

Digest: Azerbaijan shelling Armenian positions, COVID-19 situation in Armenia is tense

Karabakh State Minister meets with civil society representatives, agreement reached

Armenia MOD: Situation in direction of Yeraskh stable as of 6 p.m.

First deputy head of Operative Department of Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff dismissed

Greek authorities postpone performances in ancient theaters amid forest fires

Armenia MOD: Armenian peacekeeping contingent in Lebanon awarded

Man found dead after being stabbed in his house in Armenia's Dzoraghbyur village

Earthquake recorded in Armenia-Georgia border zone

Karabakh emergency situations service: Searches for remains of Armenian servicemen were fruitless today

Azerbaijani soldiers deliberately set fires near Armenian border

Opposition 'Armenia' bloc MP: I'm not ready to trust current authorities with solution to Karabakh issue

Armenia's new justice minister on restrictions on reporters in parliament, says freedom of speech is not absolute value

Armenia deputy emergency situations minister meets with ICRC Delegation

Dollar and euro down again in Armenia

Armenia opposition faction leader: Setting up standing parliamentary committee on Karabakh is a clear political message

Armenia economy minister is sure there will be sharp deflation soon

Armenia court rejects attorney's appeal, opposition MP Artur Sargsyan to remain under arrest

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijani army opens fire at military positions in Yeraskh area

Azerbaijan shelling Armenian positions since Friday noon

UN Secretary General: The only guarantee against use of nuclear weapons is their complete destruction

Turkish companies build new road to bypass Lachin

Insanity grows stronger: Turkey calls on Armenia to abandon aggressive rhetoric and actions

US ambassador is in Armenia's Syunik province

Phone talks take place between FM of Artsakh and Transnistria

Pashinyan proposes taxing ads on Facebook and other platforms

Changes in Armenian Tax Code: E-service providers will pay VAT

Eurasian Development Bank to allocate $ 3 million grant to Armenia to fight COVID-19

Over 70 Democratic congressmen urge Biden to once and for all close Guantanamo Bay

Greece is on fire: Thousands of residents flee from wildfire

Russian peacekeepers clear 2 hectares of farmland in Nagorno-Karabakh from explosives in day

Armenian and Artsakh defense minister's meeting takes place

Virgin Galactic plans to start commercial space flights: Ticket price $ 450,000

Beijing accuses Washington of interfering in its internal affairs over decision on Hong Kong

303 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Armenia per day

Secret ballot is held to elect Armenian parliament's opposition vice speaker

Armenia MOD, Rustam Muradov discuss situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border

China seeks to provide 2,000,000,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to the world

Suspect in murder of Kurdish family in Turkey arrested

US urges Iran's Raisi to return to talks on nuclear deal

Armenia opposition's candidate for deputy parliamentary speaker promises to present talk with PM in detail

Russian peacekeepers clear 2 hectares of area of unexploded ordnance in Karabakh's Martuni

Military expert on deployment of Russian border guards in Armenia's Voskepar and possible developments

Armenia Constitutional Court declares Law on Higher Education and Science and several other laws unconstitutional

Armenian Turkologist: Fires in Turkey don't pose a danger to Armenia

Republican Party of Armenia vice-president on Pashinyan's behavior at Iranian President-elect's inauguration

Armenia MOD orders to destroy Azerbaijani soldiers who attempt to trespass border

Turkey's Baykar is leading negotiations with 10 countries to sell combat drones

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff chief awards former head of army department Valery Kocharyan

Armenia 1st President hosts Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan at his mansion

Armenia MOD: Russian border guards are deployed in Voskepar village within scope of cooperation with Russia

Armenia PM attends Iranian President-elect's inauguration

Armenia MOD: Advisory Board adjunct to defense minister holds session, discusses situation on border with Azerbaijan

Yerevan court adjourns hearing over case of Armenia 3rd President and other persons

Digest: Pashinyan visits Iran, Mary Hakobyan appointed Ukraines Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs

Russian MFA: Russia has always paid special attention to cultural-historical heritage issues in Karabakh

Situation is tense in Armenia's Zolakar, police continue to apprehend village council's employees

Russia MFA on possibility of deployment of Russian border guards on Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Second secret ballot for election of last vice-speaker of Armenia parliament to be held tomorrow

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another Armenian serviceman removed from Jrakan region

Macron, Aliyev discuss regional security issues

Azerbaijani and Turkish special detachments conduct joint military exercises in Nakhchivan

Russian MFA on possibility of Azerbaijan obtaining status of observer in CSTO

Armenia President appoints new commander of Armed Forces' 3rd army corps

Armenian NGO president: Ban on entry of journalist in parliament will make Armenia regress in World Press Freedom Index

Opposition 'Armenia' faction MP: We discuss our activities with Robert Kocharyan

Dollar continues to go up, euro is stable in Armenia

Opposition 'Armenia' faction's candidate for deputy parliamentary speaker: I'm not going to ask anyone for anything

Ruling party MP: Opposition 'Armenia' faction member Davit Sedrakyan led the vote to failure with his absence

Armenia President receives Japan's Ambassador Fukushima Masanori

Opposition 'Armenia' faction nominates Ishkhan Saghatelyan for deputy parliamentary speaker for the third time

Consul General of Armenia in LA holds remote meeting with Congressman Michael Steele

Opposition 'Armenia' bloc's candidate for deputy parliamentary speaker not elected twice

Armenian MFA expresses solidarity to Greece in connection with wildfires that engulfed country

2nd secret ballot is held in Armenian parliament on vice-speaker election

Mayor of Armenia's Goris to remain in custody

11 people killed in traffic accident with migrants in Texas

329 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Armenia per day

Turkmenistan President congratulates Armenia's Pashinyan

CSTO Secretary General sends congratulatory message to Nikol Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan and Ebrahim Raisi discuss issues of bilateral cooperation

Armenian MPs to elect 3rd vice-speaker of parliament

Nikol Pashinyan arrives on a working visit to Iran

Over 80 people injured in clashes in Beirut on day of mourning

Artsakh Foreign Minister held a meeting with AGBU and Ronak Press training participants

Oil rises in price

Microsoft to require fully vaccination of employees to enter company offices
The incumbent government has forgotten about the motion that ex-Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan had filed for Nikol Pashinyan. This is what secretary of the Armenia blocs parliamentary faction Artsvik Minasyan said during the first session of the newly elected National Assembly of the eighth convocation, commenting on the detention of former Mayor of Meghri Mkhitar Zakaryan.

Minasyan went on to ask why the deputies of the ruling Civil Contract Party arent daring to say even one word in defense of the former mayor when he is in custody. The Prosecutor Generals Office was obliged to act within the scope of the rules and requirements defined by the Criminal Code and change the pre-trial measure against the prisoners. However, we see that the illegal actions continue, Minasyan said, demanding that the Prosecutor Generals Office start to at least substantiate and interpret its actions.
Its internationally accepted that there are small countries that have contractual ties for strategic partnership with other countries which ensure border security. This is what deputy of Civil Contract Party, businessman Khachatur Sukiasyan told reporters today, touching upon Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans proposal according to which Russian border guards may be deployed along the entire length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Sukiasyan added that Armenia needs to create an army that will be able to maintain border security while Russian border guards ensure the countrys border security along with Armenian border guards. When told that this will lower the level of Armenias sovereignty, Sukiasyan disagreed. Security comes first, and Armenia will always be a sovereign state, he said.

Touching upon the current situation on Armenias border, Sukiasyan said even though there will be escalation and provocations, Armenia must be ready to manage everything very calmly and cold-heartedly in order to ensure border security.

Sukiasyan added that he didnt know what the Russian Federation has discussed in regard to the border situation and that he doesnt think the ruling party has held discussions on ceding new territories.
President of Argentina Alberto Fernandez has sent a congratulatory message to Nikol Pashinyan to congratulate him on being appointed Prime Minister of Armenia. The message particularly states the following:

Mr. Prime Minister,

It is an honor for me to convey my best wishes to you on becoming the head of the Government of Armenia following the victory in the parliamentary elections held on June 20 and to wish you success.

Based on the principles and values that our countries share, as well as the strong ties that unite our societies, with this letter, I would like to express certainty that together we will be able to overcome the difficult historical challenges in the near future.

I reaffirm my governments willingness to continue to strengthen the traditional friendship and cooperation hinged on mutual understanding and respect that unite Argentina and Armenia.

The presence of the major Armenian community on our land contributes to these close ties and enrichens our culture and reminds us of the potential that we can still use in all of our exchanges. I cordially salute you and express the assurances of my highest consideration.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to Alen Simonyan on being elected Speaker of the National Assembly.

Dear Mr. Simonyan,

I congratulate you on being elected Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia.

You are assuming the office of parliamentary speaker in a period that is crucial for our country and region and in a period in which we are all undergoing historical tribulations.

On this path, it is important that the parliament and the debates in parliament serves as a means for consolidation and that the quality and substance of the adopted laws and decisions are adequate to the challenges facing the nation and state and the aspirations.

The agenda for reinforcing our state and its institutions must be in the axis of all that. This must be the guideline for all of us, including the National Assembly.

I wish you success and fruitful work.
Armenia bloc will apply to the Constitutional Court of Armenia with regard to the election of the Speaker of the National Assembly and with the demand for restoration of the parliamentary immunity of MPs Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan. This is what deputy of the opposition Armenia blocs faction Aram Vardevanyan told reporters today.

Asked what the blocs expectations are from the Constitutional Court, taking into consideration the examination of the legitimacy of the elections, Vardevanyan emphasized that after resolute efforts, even the most dependent body simply cant continue with the ongoing regime of committing unlawful acts.

Asked if it is likely that the opposition blocs refuse to nominate a candidate for deputy parliamentary speaker, Vardevanyan rejected this and noted that this might be a manifestation of self-harm.

The institution of deputy parliamentary speaker is one of the major tools of the opposition, and the latter must use each of its tools, Vardevanyan said.

Asked how active second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan will be, Vardevanyan mentioned that President Kocharyan is the leader of Armenia bloc and is very actively involved in the activities.
The spokesman of the presiding board of Iranian Parliament Seyyed Nezam Al-Din Mousavi announced the presence of 115 officials from 73 countries at the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Ebrahim Raeisi, Mehr reports.

"So far, 115 officials from 73 countries have announced their readiness to attend the inauguration of the president-elect," Mousavi told reporters on Monday.

"The inauguration ceremony will be attended by 10 presidents, 20 speakers of parliament, 11 foreign ministers, 10 other ministers, envoys of presidents, vice presidents and parliamentary delegations," he added.

"Representatives and prominent figures of different religions and sects of the world were also invited. Important cultural and social figures of the Islamic world will also be present and these figures will arrive in Tehran in the coming days," Mousavi noted.

"The presidential decree of newly-elect president Ebrahim Raeisi will be endorsed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei in a ceremony tomorrow. President-elect will be sworn in as the next Iranian President on Thursday in a ceremony at Iran's Parliament," the spokesman said.

The ceremony will be broadcast live at 10:30 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday from the Iranian national TV, Leader's official website and official pages on social media.

Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi won Irans presidential election which was held on 18 June, gaining 61.95% of the total votes.
Among the issues that emerged after the war, we realize that the return of captives is the most pressing issue. This is what Ambassador of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacote said during a meeting with the relatives of Armenian prisoners of war near the Embassy of France.

Besides the fact that the release of captives is stipulated by the statement of November 9, 2020, their release is also binding on the ground of international law. France has some hope that they would be released when some captives were recently released, even if they are released in small numbers and rather late. We hope the return of captives continues. The captives should not be used to exert pressure on Armenia. France maintains its capacity to speak to both sides, the Ambassador said, noting that this is also interested in this topic.

The Ambassador also said he is always willing to receive the relatives of captives and they can be rest assured that France support them.

Today the relatives of prisoners of war held a protest near the French Embassy in Armenia with the demand for the release of the captives.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia condemns the actions of the National Security Service against journalist Nairi Hokhikyan and calls on the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia to investigate and give a public assessment on the act of the state power structure against the journalist. This is stated in the statement issued by the Union of Journalists of Armenia.

On July 29, 2021, member of the Union of Journalists of Armenia, journalist and TV commentator Nairi Hokhikyan was summoned to the National Security Service (NSS) for an interview as a witness, during which the mobile phone of the journalist was seized.

Hokhikyan offered to voluntarily provide the investigative body with the facts at his disposal, but the officers of the National Security Service neglected the journalists willingness and seized his mobile phone in which there were several pieces of personal and professional information. In this sense, the investigative body de facto hindered implementation of the professional activities of the journalist as well.

It should be mentioned that Nairi Hokhikyan has publicized a documentary on the 44-day war that took place in 2020 and several facts that became a topic for wide public discourse, after which the Armenian authorities have de facto started persecuting the journalist who is carrying out his professional activities. Summoning a journalist to an interview as a witness without familiarizing him or her with the specifics of the particular criminal case and committing acts against him or her that are specific to the status of a suspect (asking accusatory questions, seizing personal items) are unlawful acts and pressure against the journalist.

Nairi Hokhikyan has disclosed several details of his conversation with Jewish blogger Alexander Lapshin which shed light on the dark pages of the 44-day war, contain de facto evidential base, but the NSS have seized the mobile phone of the journalist.

The Union of Journalists of Armenia condemns the actions of the National Security Service against journalist Nairi Hokhikyan and calls on the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia to investigate and give a public assessment on the act of the state power structure against the journalist, the statement reads.
The U.S. government has sent Russia a list of 24 Russian diplomats who must leave the U.S. by September 3 since their visas will be expired. This is what Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told National Interest.

Almost all of them will leave without replacements because Washington has abruptly tightened visa issuing procedures.

It has gotten to the point where the U.S. authorities cancel valid visas of spouses and children of our staff with no reasons provided. The widespread delays in renewing expired visas are also aimed at squeezing Russian diplomatic workers out of the country. As a result, about sixty of my colleagues (130 together with family members) cannot return to their motherland even under urgent humanitarian circumstances.

We have shown restraint for a long time but after another wave of aggressive sanctions by the United States in April we were obliged to take additional steps to equate conditions of work for U.S. missions in Russia, including a prohibition to hire local personnel. It is certain that nobody benefits from such a situation. There is a need for solutions based on the principle of parity. We are convinced that the easiest and fastest way to do it is to completely repeal all the measures and countermeasures which are constraining the activity of diplomats.

Washington does not show a readiness to take such a decision while trying to secure unilateral advantages for the American side. The same is true about the prospects of resuming the work of the Consulates General of Russia in San Francisco and Seattle which were closed by coercion. Even temporary access of maintenance teams to the confiscated premises of the Russian diplomatic property is still denied, which leads to a further deterioration of conditions there.

We hope that common sense will prevail and we will be able to normalize the life of Russian and American diplomats in the United States and Russia on the principle of reciprocity. Our presidents agreed in Geneva to continue consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the State Department with a view to resolve this problem, he added.
Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, has been nominated by the White House to serve as the State Departments special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, a position with the rank of ambassador.

Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves issued the following statement July 30 on the nomination of historian Deborah Lipstadt:

Today, the White House nominated Deborah Lipstadt as the State Departments special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. Pending Senate confirmation, she will hold the rank of Ambassador. Dr. Lipstadt is Emorys Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, and her scholarship and thought leadership have distinguished her for decades as one of the worlds foremost experts in the study of antisemitism.

Through her acclaimed books, articles, and commentary, Dr. Lipstadt has combated Holocaust denial and discrimination, uncovering the historical roots of antisemitism and exploring its persistence through the millennia. In 2000, Dr. Lipstadt successfully defended her scholarship in a prominent libel case, later chronicled in her book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier and the film Denial.

At Emory, Dr. Lipstadt has been a transformative teacher since 1993 and an inspiration to generations of students, receiving Emorys Cuttino Award for Excellence in Mentoring and the Exemplary Teacher Award. Because of her expertise, she has advised previous U.S. presidential administrations. And she has the experience to lead at a time when antisemitism has been on the rise in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Lipstadts nomination is a sign that our country is committed to addressing acts of bigotry and hatred aimed at the Jewish people.

There is no place for antisemitism in our society. For thousands of years, it has appeared in communities the world over, taking different forms but always serving to marginalize the Jewish people. The Holocaust, which claimed the lives of 6 million Jews including many of my family members, was built on a foundation of antisemitism. But as Dr. Lipstadt has made clear, particularly in her recent book Antisemitism: Here and Now, antisemitism isnt just in the past. Hateful acts against Jews continue to haunt us to this day. And it is our responsibility to stand strongly in opposition to these targeted attacks on the Jewish people.

I am heartened to see the nomination of Dr. Lipstadt as an expert and teacher who can help lead our nation forward on this vital issue. And I am proud that, pending Senate confirmation, she will be representing Emorythrough her public serviceat the very highest level.
US, UK accuse Taliban of 'massacring civilians'

US, UK accuse Taliban of 'massacring civilians'

Afghan forces battled on Monday to stop a first major city from falling to the Taliban as the United States and Britain accused the insurgents of "massacring civilians" in a town they recently captured near the Pakistan border.



Taliban fighters assaulted at least three provincial capitals overnight  Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat  after a weekend of heavy fighting that saw thousands of civilians flee the advancing militants.



Fighting raged in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched coordinated attacks on the city centre and its prison  just hours after the government announced the deployment of hundreds of commandos to the area.



The war has intensified since early May, with the insurgents capitalising on the final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after almost 20 years.



President Ashraf Ghani blamed Washington for the deteriorating security and said he had warned Washington that the withdrawal would have "consequences".



His comments came as Washington said that, in light of the increased violence, it will take in thousands more Afghan refugees including those who worked with the United States.



The United States and Britain on Monday accused the Taliban of atrocities that may amount to "war crimes" in the town of Spin Boldak, which the insurgents captured last month along the border with Pakistan.



The diplomatic lashing comes after Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission said the insurgents had indulged in revenge killings in Spin Boldak.



"The Taliban chased and identified past and present government officials and killed these people who had no combat role in the conflict," the group said.



"These murders could constitute war crimes," the embassies of Washington and London said in separate tweets.



Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also slammed the militant leaders, saying the reports were "deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable."



An Afghanistan without a democratic, inclusive government would be a "pariah state," he said, adding that the international recognition the group wants will not be possible if it "seeks to take the country by force and commits the kind of atrocities that have been reported."



State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Taliban attacks show "little regard for human life."



"If the Taliban leadership truly supports a negotiated solution to this conflict, as they say they do... they must stop these horrific attacks," he said. (AFP)
Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Prosecutors in Germany said on Monday that a 100-year-old man accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard is fit to stand trial in October.

The man, whose name has not been released, allegedly served as a guard at the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin, with prosecutors accusing him of being complicit in the murders of 3,518 prisoners between 1942 and 1945. He went through a medical assessment and it was determined that he is fit to spend two-and-a-half hours a day inside a courtroom for his trial.

An estimated 200,000 people were held at Sachsenhausen from 1936 to 1945, BBC News reports, and tens of thousands died from forced labor, hunger, and disease or by execution. There aren't many former guards who are still living, but now there is legal precedent that prosecutors do not need evidence of direct involvement in murders at concentration camps to bring someone to trial. In March, a 96-year-old accused of being a Nazi guard was found unfit to stand trial.

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Two airline passengers entering Canada from the United States were fined nearly $16,000 each for submitting fake vaccination cards and Covid-19 test results, officials said.

The passengers also failed to stay at government-authorized accommodations, as is also required by the countrys government, Canadas public health agency said Friday.

The passengers, who were not identified in a news release, traveled to Toronto two weeks ago and were Canadian citizens, Health Canada spokeswoman Maryse Durette told NBC News. They mark the first case of travelers using fake vaccination documents to enter the country, Durette said.

They were fined nearly $20,000 Canadian dollars, or about $16,000 in U.S. dollars. Durette declined to release other information about them.

Nor did Durette say how the fraudulent documents were identified. In March, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warned of fake vaccine cards circulating on social media sites as instructions on how to produce them appeared on forums frequented by anti-vaxxers and supporters of former President Donald Trump.

In some cases, templates were downloaded from state health department websites and users gave specific instructions on how to create them, including what thickness of card stock to use.

In July, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a naturopathic doctor in Northern California who allegedly gave patients false vaccine cards and homeopathic remedies that she said would boost the bodys immune response to the disease.

According to a complaint filed in Northern California federal district court, the cards allegedly provided by the doctor, Juli Mazi, falsely said that patients had been inoculated with the Moderna vaccine.

Mazi was charged with wire fraud and making false statement related to health care. Her lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

And in May, a California bar owner was arrested charged with forging government documents after allegedly selling fake vaccination cards, the San Joaquin Country District Attorney announced.

Undercover agents were able to buy the fraudulent cards multiple times at the Old Corner Saloon in Clements, about 40 miles southeast of Sacramento, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said.
Walter Plywaskis death earlier this year from complications related to COVID-19 went largely unnoticed by national media.

Only an invitation by his family to donate to the civil liberties group ACLU in Plywaskis memory gave hint to his legacy in the fight for religious freedom. Almost 70 years ago, Plywaski fought for the right of atheists to become U.S. citizens  and won.

As a scholar of religious and political rhetoric, I believe that Plywaskis fight is worth remembering. Stories like Plywaskis give an insight into the discrimination atheists in the U.S. face even today and the role that those professing no faith have had in holding society accountable to the goals of religious tolerance and freedom.

Seeking admission on your own terms

Polish native Walter Plywaski, born Wladyslaw Plywacki, spent five years in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. After being liberated from Dachau, the Bavarian camp in which 41,500 prisoners died, he worked as an interpreter before immigrating to the U.S and serving four years in the U.S. Air Force.

In August 1952, Plywaski petitioned for U.S. citizenship while in Hawaii. All he had left to do was say his oath of allegiance.

Plywaski, however, was an atheist. He informed the judge that he could not sincerely end the oath with the words so help me God and requested an alternative.

Judge J. Frank McLaughlin reportedly asked Plywaski to consider what it says on the back of U.S. coins: In God We Trust. McLaughlin then denied Plywaski citizenship, justifying his decision by proclaiming, Our government is founded on a belief in God, and accused Plywaski of seeking admission on your own terms.

With the help of the ACLU, Plywaski appealed McLaughlins decision, arguing it was a violation of religious freedom while noting that natural-born citizens had the option to say affirmations rather than oaths, which allowed them to affirm their allegiance based on their own honor rather than a belief in a higher power.

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McLaughlin, however, stood his ground. He argued that the case was not about religious freedom but about whether Plywaski believes in all the principles which support free government, which according to McLaughlin included a belief in God.

Plywaski moved to Oregon and successfully petitioned to have his case moved there to be looked at by a different judge. In January 1955, Plywaski won his case and became a citizen.

Plywaskis case confirmed that those applying for citizenship must have the option to not recite so help me God when taking their oath, a policy that is now explicit in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy manual.

Anti-atheist discrimination

But despite the precedent he set, Plywaski was not the last atheist who would be denied U.S. citizenship  more than 60 years later, nonreligious people still had to fight for immigration rights. In 2013 and 2014, two women were initially denied citizenship after being told they had to be religious in order to be conscientious objectors when refraining from stating in their oaths that they will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law.

This was despite 1965 and 1970 court cases that affirmed that atheists could be conscientious objectors.

And even atheists with citizenship have been denied certain rights because of requirements that a religious oath be uttered.

Roy Torcaso won a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court case after he was denied a position as a public notary when he refused to recite an oath acknowledging the existence of God. Torcasos case made clauses in state constitutions banning atheists from holding public office unconstitutional and unenforceable. Yet such bans have still occasionally been used to challenge open atheists who have won public office, though such challenges have failed.

And in 2014, an atheist in the Air Force was denied reenlistment after refusing to say so help me God in his oath. The Air Force later reversed the decision and updated its policy after atheist groups threatened to sue.

Such instances fit a pattern of discrimination against atheists. A 2012 study found that that nearly 50% of atheists have felt forced to swear a religious oath. While they legally should have options to say alternatives, the pressure to take the religious oaths remains.

Because so help me God is the a default in many oaths, atheists often have to decide between passing as theistic or outing themselves as atheists  which, in a country where good citizenship is often unfairly tied to a belief in God, could potentially bring stigma onto themselves or mean risking being denied certain rights.

Atheists tend to win cases in which they challenge the denial of their citizenship and other rights based on their refusal to acknowledge God. Yet the fact that atheists risk facing additional obstacles and legal fights to have their citizenship recognized speaks, I believe, to their continued marginalization.

The atheist fight for religious tolerance

The atheist fight for equal rights is rarely acknowledged outside of active atheist communities. My research shows how the discrimination against atheists fits with what I describe as a deeply ingrained and coercive theistnormative mindset that frames democratic societies and good citizenship as being tied to belief in a higher power.

[Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Historians such as Leigh Eric Schmidt, David Sehat and Isaac Kramnick and Robert Laurence Moore have all written about religious oppression in the United States and its impact on atheists. These histories highlight how stigma surrounding both atheism and openly critiquing religion and religious oppression often pressured atheists to hide their identity.

Yet, there were  and still are  atheists, like Walter Plywaski, willing to openly challenge discrimination. Their stories are part of the larger fight for religious tolerance within the United States.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Kristina M. Lee, Colorado State University.

Read more:



Kristina M. Lee is affiliated with Atheists United and the Boulder Atheists.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday blamed the United States "sudden" decision to withdraw its troops for the rapid collapse of security in the country as Taliban forces close in on three major cities.

Ghani told the Afghan parliament that "the last three months" have been an "unexpected situation."

He added, though, that the government had a U.S.-backed security plan to bring the situation under control within six months as peace talks between the government and Taliban negotiators continue to stall, Reuters reported.

President Biden in April pushed back former President Donald Trumps deadline for a military withdrawal from May to Sept. 11. The withdrawal began in May, and by early July the situation was rapidly deteriorating: The Pentagon on July 9 detailed "concerning advancement" by the Taliban in the wake of the withdrawal.

CITING TALIBAN VIOLENCE, US EXPANDS AFGHAN REFUGEE PROGRAM

Two weeks later, the Pentagon said the withdrawal was about 95% finished while admitting the Taliban appeared to have "strategic momentum."

The Taliban have closed in on key cities as the government continues to withdraw its forces to bolster defenses in the capital. Forces clashed in Herat, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar as the Taliban try to add to their already impressive hold on the country.

Fighting over the past few days has been particularly intense, according to Fox News sources. Taliban insurgents have killed civilians in different occupied parts of Kandahar, and a few police districts have fallen into Taliban hands.

UN COMPOUND IN AFGHANISTAN ATTACKED, AT LEAST ONE GUARD KILLED

The fundamentalist Islamist militia is thought to have so far captured half of Afghanistans territory, including key border crossings with Iran and Pakistan, the BBC reported.

Taliban insurgents were reportedly within a few hundred feet of the governors office Saturday, but the military pushed them back by nightfall. Sources also tell Fox News that insurgents are targeting the media, and at least one radio channel was taken off the air.

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The U.S. and Afghanistan executed air strikes over the weekend on supposed Taliban positions, with Kabul claiming to have killed dozens of militants.

CHINA EXPECTS TALIBAN TO PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN AFGHAN PEACE

Thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded in the crossfire, hitting the highest number of casualties for the May-to-June period since the U.N. started monitoring data in 2009, The New York Times reported.

The U.N. is in fact dealing with numerous "internally displaced person" (IDP).

Areas that had previously been deemed safe have started to feel the edge of the conflict: Stores in Herat shuttered early, and the citys airport remained closed to civilian travel for a third day.

Residents in Lashkar Gah have fled their homes.

"We are just waiting for the Taliban to arrive  there is no expectation that the government will be able to protect the city anymore," Mohammadullah Barak, a resident, said.
Aug. 2The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission to the moon with one of that mission's defining moments: a replica of the first of three lunar rovers astronauts drove on the moon's surface.

The replica of the rover, built by Ohio Northern University engineering students, is a 10-foot-long, one-to-one scale electric, drive-by-wire, four-wheel-steering car, said Greg Brown, experience coordinator for the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, who was at the museum Monday.

"That was the first mission that actually used a lunar rover," Brown said, referring to Apollo 15.

The rover replica  capable of a top speed of some 5 mph  will be at the museum Monday only, but the museum's overall exhibit celebrating the Apollo 15 mission, will be in place through Saturday and is well exploring, museum officials said.

"Our rover, just like the vehicles that went to the moon, is a four-wheel steering vehicle," Brown said. "Not just four-wheel drive ... so we can use all four (wheels) to turn around. It's pretty maneuverable.

He added: "It's actually pretty fun to drive."

The three actual rovers remain on the surface of the moon, Brown noted.

Apollo 15 was the first "J" mission to the moon, missions meant to be extended scientific endeavors, he said.

"They're going to take the rover for the first time, they're going to drive on the moon, and they're going to cover a much larger area," he said.

The overall exhibit includes the Apollo 15 command module Endeavor, complete with atmospheric re-entry burn-streak marks. The module is on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

David Thomas, a special events coordinator for the Air Force Museum, said the overall space celebration includes more than the stationary exhibits, which can be found in the museum's building four.

On Saturday, the museum will host a "rocket day," in which visitors can build rockets and launch them outside on the museum's front lawn.

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"We have 750 rockets for visitors to build and launch," he said.

While masks and face coverings are once again required while inside the museum, they are not required while outside. (Thomas said the new masking requirement has not affected attendance at the museum.)

Visitors will also be able to inspect the cockpit of the rocket-powered, hypersonic X-15 research plane, similar to the one flown by former Apollo astronaut (and Ohio native) Neil Armstrong when he was a test pilot. Visitors can also enter the C-119 "satellite catcher" aircraft, Thomas said, and volunteers will be on hand to discuss other planes and missiles.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, the museum will also host the "Solar System 5-K run" on historic Wright Field, featuring a proportional representation of the solar system.

For more information about the space celebration, visit the museum website at https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Space-Celebration/
Judge Andrew Napolitano, a longtime analyst at Fox News, "parted ways" with the network following allegations of sexual harassment.

A producer who works on the Kudlow show, hosted by Larry Kudlow on Fox Business, accused Napolitano of engaging in sexual misconduct with "numerous young male" employees, including himself, according to a lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court. The producer, John Fawcett, claimed Fox's human resources department and senior executives were aware of the matter but "took no action whatsoever" to remove Napolitano from his on-air role.

Upon first learning of John Fawcetts allegations against Judge Andrew Napolitano, FOX News Media immediately investigated the claims and addressed the matter with both parties," a spokesperson for Fox told the Washington Examiner in an email. "The network and Judge Napolitano have since parted ways. We take all allegations of misconduct seriously, are committed to providing a safe, transparent, and collaborative workplace environment for all our employees and took immediate, appropriate action."

ED HENRY SUES FOX NEWS CEO FOR DEFAMATION

Napolitano previously faced allegations of sexual misconduct in separate lawsuits filed by two men last year, including one who accused him of coercing a defendant from his courtroom into giving him oral sex in 1988, which he strongly denied and characterized as smear campaigns.

Monday's lawsuit also asserts sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and racial discrimination are still tolerated at Fox," as Kudlow has used ethnic slurs and made sexually inappropriate comments about women in front of multiple staff members, including [Fawcett]." Kudlow, who was director of the National Economic Council during the Trump administration, was quoted as making racist remarks toward Florida Reps. Byron Donalds, a black Republican, and Maria Elvira Salazar, a Hispanic conservative, according to the complaint.

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Fawcett further accused Kudlow of remarking he wanted to have a three-way encounter with anchor Sandra Smith before he suggested, Why dont we just let the Mexicans in because America needed more jalapeno pickers," ahead of an interview with Salazar. Fox disputed the accusations.

"Furthermore, the additional allegations laid out in this claim are completely baseless, and nothing more than a desperate attempt at a payday by trying the case in the court of public opinion as the complaint does not meet the standards of the law," the network said. "We will defend the matter vigorously in court.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Fawcett's attorney, Ty Clevenger, sued Fox previously as he represents Ed Henry, a former anchor for America's Newsroom who was fired over a year ago. Henry filed a lawsuit in June accusing Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott of defaming him as a "sex criminal" after Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer on Fox Business, accused Henry of sexual assault, including rape.

Henry denied these accusations. He insisted Scott used him as a "scapegoat to divert attention away from her own sordid history at Fox News." At the time, the network responded by calling the allegations "baseless."

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Tags: News, Fox News, Andrew Napolitano, Fox Business, Larry Kudlow, Sexual Abuse Allegations, Media

Original Author: Jake Dima

Original Location: Andrew Napolitano out at Fox after sexual harassment allegations
A US Marine Corps tank crew in Baghdad, April 2004. Gilles BASSIGNAC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

A year after the US's March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the country faced a growing insurgency.

That violent campaign challenged US special-operations forces tasked with operations to counter those militants.

In mid-2004, US Army special operators executed a rare daylight raid to rescue foreign contractors held hostage near Baghdad.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Almost a year after the US invasion in March 2003, Iraq was starting to spiral out of control, with a complicated Islamist and sectarian insurgency forming up.

On a normal spring day in 2004, a gang of Iraqi kidnappers abducted five contractors, four Italian and one Polish, off the streets of Baghdad.

Soon after the abductions, the Iraqi kidnappers executed one of the hostages, releasing a video of it as a warning. If the Italian and Polish governments didn't pay a hefty sum, the rest of the hostages would be executed one by one.

US and Coalition special-operations units began looking for leads on the location of the four remaining captives. The task fell primarily to the top special-missions unit in-country: the US Army's Delta Force.

Alongside Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, Delta Force is the US military's dedicated counterterrorism and hostage-rescue special-missions unit.

With four squadrons (A, B, C, D) of about 70 operators each, the Unit, as Delta Force is known, has an exemplary hostage-rescue record, with several successful high-risk operations since its creation in the late 1970s.

Part of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Delta Force and DEVGRU are the US's first responders for any urgent hostage rescue and counterterrorism contingencies.

Find, fix, and finish

US Black Hawk helicopters take off from Baghdad's Green Zone, July 13, 2007. REUTERS/Nikola Solic

A lot of groundwork has to be done before such an operation. The task force had to pinpoint the location of the hostages - a tall order in the middle of a growing insurgency that included several different sectarian militias and terrorist organizations, such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Iran-backed Mahdi Army.

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For the majority of operations, that intelligence would come from other raids, including details from prisoner interrogations or from cellphones or other materials gathered by commandos during other missions.

Any information gleaned from interrogations or devices would give the task force additional leads for more raids in a perpetual cycle until they got to their primary target. Essentially, US and coalition special-operations units would "raid" themselves to the top.

"Time is really off the essence in HR [hostage rescue] and CT [counterterrorism] ops. Hostages or HVTs [high-value targets] can literally be moved in a matter of minutes," a retired Delta Force operator with several deployments to Iraq told Insider.

"We've had occasions where when we launched a mission the target was there, but by the time we had arrived they had moved. These kinds of missions are very kinetic, and you can come up with a dry hole even if you've got overhead ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] monitoring the area," the retired operator said, speaking anonymously to discuss mission planning.

A still image of three Italians held captive in Iraq, Umberto Copertino, Salvatore Stefio, and Maurizio Agliana, on April 26, 2004. Eric VANDEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

On this occasion, intelligence about the location of the four hostages came from a coalition special-operations unit that had debriefed a prisoner.

Once the suspected location of the hostages was pinpointed, JSOC and the intelligence community began monitoring the compound for any signals intelligence that might reveal more information about the kidnappers or the hostages.

In addition, JSOC teams conducted close-target reconnaissance of the area to gather more information about the building's layout and the pattern of life of those inside.

On June 8, JSOC managed to pinpoint the exact location of the four hostages. Within minutes, the operators had donned their gear and the helicopters spun up for a daring daylight mission.

Objective Medford was on.

Usually, special-operations units operate in the night, using their advanced night-vision and thermal optics and goggles as an advantage. Daylight operations aren't unheard of but are rare.

In this case, however, the Delta Force operators had to get to the compound as soon as possible to avoid a last-minute relocation of the hostages or, even worse, an execution. Every minute mattered.

'We're Navy SEALs, we're here to get you out!'

US special-operations troops during a hostage rescue in Iraq, June 2004. US Defense Department

The assault force was composed of a troop of Delta Force operators from A Squadron and eight special-operations helicopters from the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the "Night Stalkers."

Four MH-60 Black Hawk choppers carried most of the ground force, while four AH/MH-6 Little Bird helicopters provided armed overwatch and assault support.

The assault force flew fast and low across busy highways and farms, touching down just outside the target compound. Knowing that their loud entry would alert the hostage-takers, the Delta Force operators sprinted toward the building.

In record time - just over 17 seconds - the Delta operators swept the compound and located and recovered the four hostages alive. The kidnappers still in the building offered no resistance.

US Black Hawk helicopters prepare to land in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, February 14, 2007. REUTERS/Mahmoud Rahouf Mahmoud

A leaked helmet-camera video provides unique insight into a real hostage-rescue operation by one of the world's top special-operations units.

As the Delta operators stormed the compound and secured the four hostages, Delta Force operator Jamey Caldwell shouted, "We're Navy SEALs, and we're here to get you out," jokingly quoting the infamous 1990 movie "Navy SEALs," starring Charlie Sheen.

The movie is a sore point for the Naval Special Warfare community, which sees it as bad publicity.

"That's what we're trained to do. We specialized in hostage rescue, and to me that was the most satisfying work. You're risking your life for someone in dire need and making split-second decisions on whether the guy in the room is a threat or needs help," Caldwell, now retired, told Coffee or Die Magazine last year.

Delta Force and the Night Stalkers had once again pulled off an impressive operation. As the insurgency flared up in the years that followed, they would have to repeat similar and more difficult feats on an industrial scale.

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A blaze at a massive Tesla battery site in Australia that started three days ago was brought under control on Monday, firefighters said.

Emergency services were first called to the Victoria Big Battery project -- built by French renewable energy firm Neoen using Tesla batteries -- on Friday morning.

A 13-tonne lithium battery inside a shipping container had caught fire at the site near Geelong, about an hour's drive from Australia's second city Melbourne, the Country Fire Service (CFA) said.

"There was one battery pack on fire to start with, but it did spread to a second pack that was very close to it," incident controller Ian Beswicke said in a statement.

Images released by the CFA showed a cloud of smoke rising from one of the units at the site.

The fire service said the incident had been declared "under control" just after 3 pm (0500 GMT) on Monday.

"Firefighters have successfully completed the operation of opening all doors to the container of the battery, with no sign of fire," the CFA said in an update.

Fire authorities said the cause of the blaze was unknown.

"A smaller number of firefighters and fire trucks from CFA will remain on scene for the next 24 hours as a precaution in case of reignition, the update added.

"The will continue taking thermal temperature readings two-hourly to monitor damaged units."

The battery site -- one of the largest in the world -- is designed to store energy produced by renewables and send power to the grid.

Local residents were initially warned about the possibility of toxic smoke but the Environmental Protection Agency said monitoring had shown "good air quality" near homes.

Neoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy said no one was injured in the incident, and with the site disconnected from the grid, there had been no impact on electricity supply.

"Investigation preparations are underway and physical inspections will commence once the CFA have completed their procedures," he said.

hr/arb/qan
BGR

Every once in a while, Netflix lets us know which of its original movies have garnered the most views. At last count, Extraction was the most-watched Netflix movie ever, with 99 million views in its first four weeks. In fact, several 2020 movies climbed into the top ten last year, including Spenser Confidential, The Old  The post Red Notice is set to be the biggest movie Netflix has ever made appeared first on BGR.
San Francisco's iconic cable cars were rolling again Monday, the same day health officials announced people will have to wear masks indoors again because of a COVID-19 resurgence. (Associated Press)

Concerned about new COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated individuals, seven Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley issued a new mask mandate Monday for gathering indoors.

Who is covered

Health officers from San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties and the city of Berkeley said that the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus requires that all businesses have their customers wear masks indoors. Restaurants and bars will remain open, but patrons inside must wear masks when not eating or drinking, the health officers said.

When it takes effect

The health officers said the new mandate, which takes effect Tuesday, was needed because of escalating cases of COVID-19, primarily among those who have not been inoculated, and the fact that even vaccinated people may spread the virus.

Hospitalization status

Most people now hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Bay Area had not received the vaccine, but fully vaccinated elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions are also being hospitalized, the officers said. In response to questions, the officers said they continue to support the reopening of schools as long as students and staff are masked. The officers said many of those now hospitalized with COVID-19 are in their 40s, 50s and early 60s because the older population is largely vaccinated.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Slavery and racism historically prevented and disrupted Black marital unions and continues to plague the Black community and Black relationships today

Fans of the 2000 film Love and Basketball can testify to the collective heartbreak felt when Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) dunks on Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) to win their final game that would decide the fate of their union. As Wright walks away in grief after losing both her heart and the game, McCall says, Double or nothing, to profess his love for her despite being two weeks away from marrying someone else.

While few of us will find ourselves battling it out on the basketball court desperately trying to win at love, many heterosexual Black men and women find themselves in a fight to find the one. Although some self-help books and online relationship experts will have us all believing self-development is the only cure for the distance between Black men and women seeking companionship, the issue is far deeper than that.

In fact, Dianne M. Stewart, associate professor of religion and African American studies at Emory University and author of Black Women, Black Love: Americas War on African American Marriage, delves into how slavery and racism historically prevented and disrupted Black marital unions and continues to plague the Black community and Black relationships today.

I wrote the book because I could not find any other materials that comprehensively addresses what some perceive as a crisis in African-American love, dating, and marital relationships today, Stewart explains. What I mean by this is many authors and pundits treat the low rates of romantic partnership and marriage among Black women as a personal issue. My book elevates the issue to the level of civil rights.

Middle passage and slavery

The capture of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade during their prime years for marriage and companionship displaced potential relationships that could have built familial foundations. As partners disappeared into oblivion, with no closure or explanation of where they were going except that they would never see their loved ones again, Black families had to adapt to this new, extremely traumatic normal.

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They arrive to a hostile new world and find themselves navigating oftentimes what they called abroad marriages because many women and men who were married did not live on the same property. The image of the large plantation with hundreds of slaves was typical in the Caribbean but not in the United States. By 1860 less than 1% of slaveholders held 100 or more Africans in bondage. So it was quite common to see wives and husbands living on different farms and having to secure permission to visit one another on days of the week, Stewart said.

German engraving shows slaves as they harvest and process cotton on a plantation, Southern United States, mid 19th Century. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In addition, the incessant sexual violence and exploitation that occurred tested the anatomical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual limits of those subjected to heinous violations as their bodies were used and abused at the whims of their owners and other white handlers.

Shame, embarrassment, exposure, lack of control over ones body  its unbelievable that so many survived these rituals and rites of passage. Stereotypes of Black women as licentious, immoral, and insatiably sexual permeated American culture in order to justify the horrors that white people subjected them to on the plantation, Stewart maintains.

Post-emancipation

When chattel slavery was formally abolished, Black love and marriage continued to be hindered by white institutions. While Black family structures historically required both partners to work, western standards of marriage were forced upon Black families, creating standards for relationships that contradicted the reality of Blackness in this country.

In the aftermath of slavery, the state denounced courtship and marital arrangements that African-Americans devised during slavery and presented Christian heterosexual marriage as a gateway to responsible citizenship, which meant that Black husbands were socialized to be patriarchal providers and Black wives subordinate helpmates. In this way the state conveniently alleviated itself of the burden of caring for indigent Black women and children, because Black men were now responsible for themselves and their families, Stewart explains.

To make matters worse, according to Stewarts research, welfare policies, particularly those developed during the Civil Rights era, directly targeted Black families.

380887 34: A young African American woman listens during a civil rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial August 28, 1963 in Washington. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)

When Black women entered welfare programs in large numbers during the late 1950s, state welfare programs began to establish austere regulations, such as man-in-the-house, substitute father, and suitable home policies.

It would be these policies that would create an unprecedented displacement of Black families with men being forced to leave their homes to ensure financial stability.

These policies wreaked havoc on Black families because local welfare offices sent social workers to visit welfare recipients homes, often unannounced, and anyone in violation of these policies were disqualified and denied benefits. These policies ultimately controlled the sexuality of Black women and Black men and deprived poor African Americans of the pleasures of romantic love, courtship and spousal support.

Benefits were denied to Black families and only available to single Black women with children. This made it necessary to enter into an open and healthy cohabitating marriage or to lose benefits that were necessary due to enforced poverty.

Black men were shut out by these policies as Black women were devalued by welfare queen stereotypes. Rooted in slavery, myths circulated of Black women who had too many kids because they couldnt control their sexual impulses. These stereotypes seeped into the consciousness of some Black people leading to a deeper disconnection that still exists today.

Modern Popular Culture

The rise of the music video era added fuel to a growing fire brewing between Black men and women. For example, historic colorism perpetuated in media depicts light skin versus dark skin battles, which can be found in song lyrics, music videos, movies, and many other aspects of Black culture. This also began on the plantation, where slaves who were closer to whites in complexion and hair type were given privileges and usually worked in the house while darker-skinned individuals were seen as closer to Africans and usually worked in the fields.



Stewart notes the impact of these ideologies present themselves in how colorist beliefs manifest in Black adolescent boys who increasingly  since the MTV era  saw darker-skinned Black girls as undesirable. Unfortunately, she contends research indicates that these beliefs typically do not change and have long-term implications that impact marital partnerships between Black men and women.

In fact, a 2009 study by Darrick Hamilton, Arthur H. Goldsmith and William Darity, Jr. looked at a large database of Black women and girls, and found that, among 16-29 year-olds, light-complexion Black women were twice as likely to marry than dark skin women, and 17% more likely to marry than women of median skin complexions.

In addition to perceived undesirability, dark-skin Black women collectively carry the burden of myths and stereotypes that commonly portrayed them as hypersexual objects, unworthy of being treated with dignity and respect. Similarly, Black men are often battling unfounded characteristics of being lazy, shiftless and criminals. These internalized views of another have created an atmosphere of skepticism and negativity between too many Black men and women in their relationships and in many other aspects of their lives.

Its important for us to understand this history so that we can interrupt cycles of generational trauma that this history has produced. Even if we dont directly realize it, this history does impact us. It impacts how we see ourselves and treat one another.

Learning more about how racism impacts every aspect of our lives, as well as making an intentional effort to recognize and challenge stereotypes and negative depictions of one another when we see them, are some important first steps in redefining ourselves, our relationships, and our communities as a whole.

Eartha Hopkins theGrio.com

Eartha Hopkins is an alumna of The Ohio State University. Born with a penchant for storytelling, the lifestyle and beauty Journalist offers a distinct voice with the goal to inspire her generation to live authentically. Be sure to catch her two cents on her website muvvaearth.com and Instagram @eartha__hopkins.

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LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he wanted to get the travel industry moving again with a simple user-friendly system to allow for trips abroad without importing new variants of the coronavirus.

"We need to get people, get the travel industry moving again," Johnson told reporters. "We want an approach that is as simple as we can possibly make it."

Britain has double vaccinated a higher proportion of its population against COVID-19 than most other countries, but the government has prevented travel to many destinations by imposing rules that the travel industry says are hobbling the economy.

Johnson's travel regulations have angered some of Britain's European allies, frustrated millions of sun-seeking Britons and brought warnings from airports, airlines and tour companies.

In a letter to Johnson that was leaked to media, finance minister Rishi Sunak called for an urgent easing of travel restrictions.

The Times newspaper reported that Britain planned to warn holidaymakers against visiting popular tourist destinations such as Spain because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such a step could trigger an exodus of about a million British tourists already abroad, cause further damage to the travel sector and deal a new blow to southern Europe's summer tourist season.

A spokesperson for Britain's transport ministry declined to comment on The Times report, published on the day when rules were eased for double-vaccinated travellers from the United States and most of Europe.

Under rules to be reviewed on Thursday, double-vaccinated travellers can return without quarantining from countries rated "amber" on a "traffic-light" list assessing the COVID-19 risk.

Those returning from red-list countries - the most severe risk - must pay 1,750 pounds ($2,436) to spend 10 days in a hotel.

An amber watchlist was due to be signed off on Thursday but a split in the government could delay a decision, The Times said.

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Citing the threat posed by the Beta coronavirus variant, England has maintained quarantine rules for double-vaccinated travellers from France, while scrapping the requirement for travellers from other medium-risk "amber" countries.

France has complained, saying the bulk of its Beta variant cases come from the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

($1 = 0.7183 pounds)

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton, Timothy Heritage, William Maclean)
Photos of a maskless Muriel Bowser, her office said, were taken during the indoor dinner, when she was eating or drinking.

Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., is pushing back against conservative media slamming her for going maskless at a wedding this weekend after her office reinstated an indoor mask mandate in the wake of rising coronavirus cases due to the delta variant.

If Mayor Bowser was photographed indoors without a mask, it was during the indoor dinner, when she was eating or drinking, the mayors office told WTOP in a statement.

Bowser officiated the ceremony, which was held on a rooftop. She also attended the dinner immediately following. The Mayor wore a mask indoors in compliance with the mandate, her office said, and the organizers and venue staff worked to create a safe environment for the staff and guests.

According to WTOP, there are photoraphs of the bride, groom and other wedding guests dancing and posing for pictures without masks. Bowser is reportedly not in any of the photos.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a hearing on Examining D.C. Statehood before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

There is a single photo of Bowser at the event, in which she sits at a table maskless, that was run in the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner.

Saturdays wedding came a day after Bowser posed for photos with Washington, D.C. native Dave Chappelle at a different event Friday night. The mask mandate went into effect at 5 a.m. on Saturday.

The mask mandate is for indoor settings (excluding while eating and drinking) and does not apply to outdoor settings. DC is open, and the mask guidance helps provide residents, workers and visitors an extra layer of protection while continuing their daily activities, said the mayors office.

We continue to emphasize everyone should be vaccinated as soon as possible and to wear a mask at indoor public settings to protect yourself, your loved ones and your neighbors, the statement reads.

According to the official District website, an estimated 62% of the Washington, D.C. population is partially or fully vaccinated.

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The newly reinstated mask mandate is for everyone over the age of 2 who is indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

We want to get ahead of it and nip it in the bud, Bowser said at a press conference announcing the new mandate, according to DCist. We know that masks can be very effective in doing that.

Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser testifies at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the District of Columbia statehood bill on Capitol Hill on March 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Carlos Barria-Pool/Getty Images)

According to a local report, small businesses are worried about how reinstated mask mandates could affect their customers.

Our sign-ups got cut down in half as soon as that happened, Debra Mishalove, founder and creative director of Flow Yoga Center, told WTOP. Ive seen so many businesses close  small and large gyms, fitness studios, boutique studios  and everyones struggling so much.

Mishalove said shes hoping there will be more support for businesses like hers as the pandemic wears on.

I have testimonial after testimonial that fitness facilities have been what has gotten people through this pandemic so far, so we want to keep being able to offer that to the community, she said. But at this point, Im not sure how much longer we will last.

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Amari Miller, 20, has been jailed for his role in a county lines drugs gang. (West Midlands Police)

A county lines drug dealer who offered heroin addicts four small wraps for 25 has been jailed.

Amari Miller, 20, had a dedicated phone which he would use to message all 86 of his contacts in Telford, Shropshire, with special offers on heroin and crack cocaine.

For 25, users could have four small wraps of drugs personally delivered to them from Birmingham.

West Midlands Police traced the phone and arrested Miller at Telford railway station on 2 September last year.

Read: Man found guilty of murdering 39-day-old son

When he was searched, officers found the phone and 166 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine worth 1,755.

Miller was jailed for five years at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.

Watch: Police want help with drug gangs

In 2018, Miller had been found guilty and sentenced for running a similar operation in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: "The cost to the West Midlands region of substance misuse is 1.4 billion every year. That includes the cost to society of drug-related crime, health and social service use and deaths.

"Half of all burglary, theft, shoplifting and robbery is committed by people who use heroin or cocaine regularly.

"This represents one in five crimes reported to West Midlands Police and tens of thousands of victims.

"Every three days in the West Midlands somebody dies from drug poisoning, with a death every four hours in England."

Watch: More than 1,000 arrested in a week of action on county lines drug gangs
Many doctors expressed concern their patients are frustrated by the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on mask-wearing and other COVID-19 precautions.

On Tuesday, the CDC recommended people who have been vaccinated should wear a mask indoors in public  in an area of substantial or high transmission to reduce the risk of being infected with the delta variant and possibly spreading it to others.

Dr. Juliette Madrigal, a primary care physician in Marble Falls, Texas, has several patients who find the guidelines frustrating.

They are very frustrated in that they got the vaccine in the hopes that they would have a lot more freedom, maybe be able to get rid of the masks, travel freely, and so forth, Madrigal said.

Still, she said she agrees with the new CDC guidelines.

Im following the guidelines, Madrigal said. Even if youre vaccinated, if you are exposed over and over, that increases your chances of getting hit with a large viral load. And with the delta variant it doesnt take near as much of an exposure to catch it.

LINK BETWEEN CASES AD DEATHS GREATLY WEAKENED IN DELTA SURGE

Madrigal said shes seen more people coming into her clinics with COVID-19. About 5% are those who have been vaccinated.

Dr. Alieta Eck, who runs an internal medicine practice in Piscataway, New Jersey, said her patients are not happy about the new guidelines.

All they do is shake their heads because all these rules keep changing, and none of it makes much sense, Eck said. I think you are going to see a lot more people resist these rules.

On Friday, the CDC released a study to back up its new guidelines, one examining 469 cases of the delta variant in Massachusetts, of which almost 75% had been previously vaccinated. The viral loads in those vaccinated were high enough to transmit the virus to others.

Previously in May, the CDC announced that vaccinated individuals didnt need to use masks in most settings.

The reversal angered some patients, who call it a mixed message.

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"I think it's pretty [confusing]. I mean, what is the point of the vaccine if it doesn't protect us from all variants of COVID?" Brenda Morrison, a Maryland resident who is vaccinated, told the NBC affiliate in Baltimore.

Dr. Carolyn Salter, a primary care physician who runs the Sycamore Medical Clinic in Palestine, Texas, disputes that the CDC is sending a mixed message. She argued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott created more problems when he recently said he would not impose a statewide mask mandate. Earlier in the year, he prohibited government entities in Texas, including public schools, from imposing mask mandates.

What is confusing is when Gov. Greg Abbott says nobody has to wear a mask anymore  Thats where the confusion comes from, Salter said. There is also a lot of confusion among other Republican leaders, with some saying, Get the vaccine and wear a mask,' with others saying, 'Dont do it.' When political leadership is not aligned on recommendation, there is going to be confusion.

In 2020, Salter ran as a Democrat for the House of Representatives from the 5th Congressional district in Texas.

Dr. Jeremy Levin said he thinks the CDC is doing the best it can, given the circumstances.

In the fog of war  and we are in a war with the coronavirus  you get confused messages until you really understand what is going on," said Levin, chairman of OVID Therapeutics in New York City. I think the CDC and other government organizations will get the message right.

But Eck disagrees, arguing it has less to do with clear guidelines and more with government exercising power.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

My impression is that politicians just want to control us, she said.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: Healthcare, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coronavirus, Vaccination, Doctors, Delta Varient, Texas

Original Author: David Hogberg

Original Location: Doctors see patients frustrated with new COVID-19 masking guidelines
PARIS (Reuters) - It would be an honour if Europe were to grant political asylum to Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Monday.

Tsimanouskaya, who refused to board a flight after saying she had been taken to the airport by her team against her wishes, was "safe and secure" in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.

"Political asylum - it would be an honour for Europe to do so," Beaune told RFI radio.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
(Getty Images)

Professional skateboarder Terry Kennedy could face charges of homicide after a man he allegedly attacked at an Illinois motel died.

Mr Kennedy was arrested last week for allegedly attacking Josiah Kassahun, 23, at an Oakbrook Terrace motel.

The man suffered a fractured skull and concussion from the alleged attack, and he died in the hospital on Saturday, TMZ reported, citing the Cook County Medical Examiners Office.

Although Mr Kenendy, 36, was initially booked for assault, prosecutors would now pursue either a manslaughter or murder charge from the skateboarder. It was not clear which charge they would pursue.

Mr Kenendy was booked after he reportedly first fled the scene following the attack.

He then told a police officer nine times that he would kill one of you police. We kill police where Im from, TMZ reported.

The man also faces charges of aggravated battery in a public place and threatening a public official.

It was not clear what led to the alleged altercation between Mr Kennedy and the victim.

Mr Kennedy, who previously appeared alongside fellow skateboard Rob Dyrdek, including appearances on MTVs Rob Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory, has a bail of $100,000. This bail could increase if prosecutors escalate the charges against the man.

He is expected to remain in prison until his first court appearance.
Reuters

COLFAX, California (Reuters) -A rapidly spreading wildfire burned homes and forced thousands to evacuate in two heavily wooded counties northeast of Sacramento in Northern California on Wednesday, generating a towering plume of smoke visible from at least 70 miles (110 km) away. The so-called River Fire scorched 1,400 acres (566 hectares) in Placer and Nevada counties, with 1,000 acres burnt within the first two hours, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said. The River Fire was less than 100 miles (160 km) south of the enduring Dixie Fire, which according to Cal Fire has consumed 278,000 acres and was only 35% contained three weeks after it started.
Aug. 2Graham Local Schools has been granted $100,000 to provide educational opportunities and help with local food access for the community.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm to School Grant will help eligible schools improve access to local foods, according to a release.

The grant will allow Graham to partner with the local agricultural community, the Champaign County Local Food Council, area culinary arts programs, Champaign County Family YMCA, and the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce to provide education about local products, nutrition, production opportunities in the shared-use commercial kitchen, and gardening skills, according to a release from the district.

This partnership will allow the district to add more locally grown items to school meals.

"We are very excited to be selected by the USDA for this competitive grant. The Farm to School Grant is about education, and educational opportunities for students," said Assistant Superintendent Emily Smith. "Graham is excited for this opportunity and we are so appreciative of our local partners that will work with us to grow and develop our Farm to Table initiative."

Smith said most of the learning opportunities will be accessible to the middle school and high school's after-school programs. The funds will help improve and expand the outdoor learning space by adding more raised garden beds, planting fruit trees, adding greenhouse supplies, installing an irrigation system for the specialty food plot area, and create a curriculum that focuses on nutrition and the impact of locally grown food, the release stated.

"Graham currently provides outdoor learning opportunities through the middle school greenhouse, raised garden beds, and a specialty crop plot that is student-maintained. The grant will provide additional raised garden beds, garden supplies, greenhouse supplies, worm farms, compost tumblers, and irrigation for the specialty crop plot," she said.

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The goal of these opportunities will be for students to learn how locally grown foods can impact the community, selling products at local farm markets and providing fresh food to the cafeterias at the schools, Smith said. There will also be opportunities to use the Champaign County Local Food Council's Commercial Kitchen, which will be housed at Graham, to produce products grown on campus and to provide fresh food to the food service operations across the district.

The grant was announced last week by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). More than $600,000 was awarded to eight communities across Ohio, including Graham, after Brown recently introduced legislation to renew this program, the release stated.

"Children deserve access to nutritious foods in their schools so they can focus on their studies and grow into healthy adults," Brown said. "The Farm to School program increases the amount of Ohio grown food in school cafeterias and teaches children about how and where our food is grown."
The CEO of one of the largest developers of wind and solar farms in the country is warning Congress not to squander an opportunity to boost his industry, which must scale rapidly to achieve domestic climate goals and catch competitors such as China.

Sheldon Kimbers San Francisco-based Intersect Power is poised for growth after developing more than 1.7 gigawatts of solar projects across California and Texas in its first three years of existence. It is expanding into new markets enabled by cheap renewable power with another 2.4 gigawatts of projects planned to be developed by 2023, including green hydrogen and direct air capture.

THE CLIMATE MEASURES IN THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEAL

The thesis of our business is we are not just a renewables company but aim to be vertically integrated to include industries of tomorrow, Kimber told the Washington Examiner.

Kimber, 43, says a massive amount of renewable energy in the United States will remain on the sidelines unless federal policymakers take a pair of simple steps.

We are in a good position regardless of what happens, Kimber said. The issue becomes what more we as an industry can do. We have a tremendous opportunity as a country to assert geopolitical and industrial leadership we haven't had for many years.

The bipartisan infrastructure agreement advancing in the Senate and endorsed by President Joe Biden contains billions in funding to scale up emerging clean energy technologies.

It does little, however, to help the proven bread and butter of the green energy sector, wind and solar power, that are spreading rapidly and cheaper than natural gas in some parts of the country but need to grow massively to meet Bidens target of using 100% carbon-free power by 2035.

Kimber says Biden and Democrats in Congress in a subsequent larger climate-focused infrastructure bill must deliver on their pledge to boost clean energy tax subsidies and require electric utilities to generate power from nonpolluting sources in order to achieve the presidents goals.

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He has said Bidens target is phenomenally aggressive but not completely unrealistic if policymakers take those steps.

Kimber proclaims himself more conservative than most peers working on green energy, having grown up in a series of small Ohio towns where coal mines closed. He is the son of a minister and a public school teacher who he says were politely asked to leave their native South Africa because his father was vocal from the pulpit opposing apartheid.

Before starting Intersect Power, Kimber spent five years at Calpine, working on the financing and development of natural gas-fired power projects.

I am not a zealot, Kimber said. I am not looking to stick it to the oil and gas industry. I am just a realist who sees what we need to do as a society. As a businessperson, we need to prepare to thrive in the future. Whether we agree on the policy road, the world is going down the road of regulating carbon.

Kimber has been outspoken about what he sees as the biggest challenge facing renewable energy developers. He says theres an enormous backlog of solar and wind projects across the country that are stalled out because of the inefficient way that Washington provides tax credits.

While wind and solar builders have been eligible for production and investment tax credits for years, to make use of these subsidies, companies have to partner with banks to exchange the credits for financing.

In this theoretical win-win, Kimber said, banks get to reduce their tax liability, and renewable energy companies are able to build solar and wind farms.

But Kimber says banks usually like to partner with big players that they have pre-existing relationships with  leaving small and medium-sized developers on the sidelines.

The tax equity markets were especially frozen amid the economic fallout from the pandemic, which created a financing shortfall of roughly $23 billion, or 31 gigawatts worth of solar and wind projects nationwide, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Kimber and other renewable energy proponents have urged Congress to remove the choke point (the banks ability to offer financing) and allow refunds for any unused tax credits.

That would enable clean energy developers to claim the tax incentives as direct cash payments in order to expand the scope of companies that can take advantage of the credits.

Bidens fiscal year 2022 budget request proposes to do just that, aiming to spend more than $265 billion on expanded renewable energy tax credits, which he would extend by 10 years.

A clean energy tax proposal advanced by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee also includes a direct pay provision, as does a green energy tax package introduced by House Democrats.

While critics might question why the maturing renewable industry needs more help, Kimber notes there are provisions in the tax code benefiting fossil fuel companies that have existed for 100 years.

Biden is proposing to eliminate more than a dozen tax breaks for fossil fuel companies in an effort to align the tax code with his aggressive climate regulatory agenda. The Senate Finance Committee proposal also targets many of the same favorable provisions for oil and gas companies.

Our competitors are some of most highly subsidized industries, Kimber said. There is a little bit of, I will put my gun down if you put down yours.

Subsidizing renewable energy deployment has helped saturate many rural areas of the country with wind and solar farms. But Kimber says the federal government must also incentivize demand for green power with a policy such as a clean electricity standard that requires utilities to generate a growing percentage of power from emissions-free sources by a certain time.

Senate Democrats working with Biden are planning to include a form of that policy as part of their larger infrastructure bill that would essentially pay utilities to use more clean power.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Kimber says a policy like this would enable the growth of wind and solar in the right places closer to larger power markets and encourage the buildout of transmission lines and storage technologies needed to spread out the use of renewables.

Its now about meeting a different quality of renewable power, Kimber said. We need to be able to move it places and store it to address all of Americas power needs.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Energy and Environment, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, Texas, California, Taxes, Regulation

Original Author: Josh Siegel

Original Location: Green energy CEO warns Congress not to 'squander' opportunity to boost industry
WASHINGTON  A Utah college with online degrees closed abruptly over the weekend, disrupting the lives of thousands of students. But its the universitys efforts to push students to new colleges that has the federal government asking questions.

Stranger still, as of Monday afternoon, there was nothing on Independence University's website to indicate the private college had closed Sunday, nor on the website of its owner, The Center for Excellence in Higher Education. Instead, students are relying on their peers, emails from the college administration, and the U.S. Department of Education to guide them.

Independence University's situation highlights how a troubled institution can stay in business, with students unaware, and then leave them in the lurch when it finally closes. The case also shows an Education Department more willing to exercise its regulatory oversight under President Joe Biden's administration.

The college's closure, which was announced to students via email on Wednesday, is the latest development in the Center for Excellence in Higher Education's troubled history. The group owns three other colleges in the process of shutting down.

Independence University closed on Sunday, but students hadn't known the college was in trouble.

When a university closes unexpectedly, it can develop a plan for its students to transfer their credits to other colleges. But students also have the option to stop their studies and request a discharge of their federal student loans. Independence University is directing students to the Miami International University of Art & Design or South University in Georgia. Both institutions offer online programs.

The Education Department questioned Independences plans. In a letter to Paul Gardner, the CEO of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, the department noted it generally doesn't review transfer plans for schools that close. But, federal officials said, "students are being pressured to agree to transfer," and the "unusual arrangement" warranted a closer look.

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A fake college? Feds cancel accreditor after USA TODAY finds college apparently without students or faculty

What's more, the department had previously been investigating Independence University. Richard Cordray, who oversees financial aid for the government, suggested the college opted to shut down to avoid the findings of that inquiry.

We have already emailed students to help them understand they do not have to be rushed into accepting a transfer to another school of CEHEs choosing, Cordray said in a statement to USA TODAY.

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The Center for Excellence in Higher Education told USA TODAY a statement was forthcoming.

The colleges troubled history came as news to many of the students trying to finish their studies and improve their chances in the workforce.

Alexis Sippel, 25, said she had been laid off from Verizon Wireless in the middle of the pandemic and was trying to figure out what she should do next when she saw a television ad for Independence University. Sippel, who lives in Illinois, wanted to improve her career prospects, and Independence seemed like a good place to do that.

But she received an email on July 28 informing her that the school would close in just days.

She already had spent about nine months working toward an associates degree in medical assisting and had just 10 months to go in the program. I worked extremely hard to make the honor roll and get good grades, Sippel said. To just have an email like that rip it all away, its very disheartening.

Only after learning about the closure did she do more research about the college and learned about its ongoing oversight issues.

The Center for Excellence in Higher Education also had been sanctioned by the Colorado government in 2020 in connection to fraud. And the federal government had Independence University on a monitoring list and placed restrictions on how it received taxpayer money.

The schools accreditor, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, had ended its approval of the college in April. That agency said the school had failed to maintain acceptable student graduation and employment rates despite being given many opportunities to do so. The end of accreditation also meant the loss of federal money, which can be a death blow to colleges reliant on such funding.

Sippel said she felt pressured to enroll at one of the schools suggested by Independence. She has instead opted to continue her medical assistance studies online at Keiser University.

Other students told USA TODAY they planned to continue their studies at one of the universities suggested by Independence University.

Yessenia Delgado, 27, said she had been studying graphic art at the university, and shell pursue a similar program at the Miami International University of Art & Design in graphic and web design. Delgado, who lives in Pennsylvania, is worried about her credits transferring and falling further behind in her studies.

Delgado said she was given two options, get a refund or transfer. But she also has three children and works full time. Stopping didnt feel like an option.

The sooner I graduate the better, she said. With the degree comes a good job.

The Education Department said students should check its website for more information about the closure.

Feds investigating: USA TODAY report flagged massage school accused of ties to prostitution

Contributing: Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Independence University closing: Education Department investigation
By Tom Allard and Agustinus Beo Da Costa

Jakarta (Reuters) -Indonesia's foreign minister urged Myanmar on Monday to approve the appointment of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy and said little progress had been made on a plan to promote talks between Myanmar's rival sides.

Six months after the military toppled Myanmar's democratically elected government, ASEAN foreign ministers met on Monday to finalise the envoy tasked with ending violence and promoting dialogue between the junta and its opponents.

Talking to media by video conference, Indonesia's Retno Marsudi said the group had made "no significant progress" on implementing its five-point plan to stop the turmoil in Myanmar, which was announced in April.

The delay "does ASEAN no good" and, if inaction went on, the issue should be returned to leaders to give directions, she said.

Myanmar has been racked by a deadly crackdown on protests, economic collapse and a refugee exodus since the Feb. 1 coup. A surge in coronavirus infections has overwhelmed its health system, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the past month.

The United Nations and many countries, including the United States and China, have urged the Southeast Asian bloc, whose 10 members include Myanmar, to spearhead diplomatic efforts to restore stability in Myanmar.

"Indonesia hopes that Myanmar will immediately approve ASEAN's proposal for the appointment of a Special Envoy," Retno said.

Indonesia's foreign minister said the envoy should move freely in Myanmar and have full access to "various parties", an apparent reference to ousted lawmakers, many of whom are in prison.

Retno did not specify who had been selected for the post of envoy, but diplomats told Reuters that Brunei's second minister for foreign affairs, Erywan Yusof, was strongly favoured to take the position.

Myanmar's military ruler, Min Aung Hlaing, said in a speech on Sunday that the military regime wanted Thailand's former deputy foreign minister Virasakdi Futrakul as envoy, but "new proposals were released and we could not keep moving onwards".

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"Myanmar is ready to work on ASEAN cooperation within the ASEAN framework, including dialogue with the ASEAN special envoy in Myanmar," he said.

ASEAN - whose members include democracies, one-party communist states and authoritarian governments - operates under consensus decision-making principles. This means Myanmar will have to support the envoy's appointment, diplomats said.

Myanmar has shown little willingness to adopt ASEAN's five-point plan, instead referring to its own plans for Myanmar's future. In a speech on Sunday, Min Aung Hlaing repeated a pledge to hold elections by 2023.

Retno said ASEAN must provide immediate humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, as well as explore a mechanism for sharing COVID-19 vaccines.

"We must not be silent and allow the suffering of the Myanmar people to continue," she said.

(Reporting by Tom Allard and Agustinus Beo Da CostaEditing by Ed Davies, Robert Birsel)
Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo on Monday called for 110 detainees to be released, describing them as political prisoners.

"We are fighting to get them out of there," he told around 100 wives of the prisoners whom he met in the economic capital Abidjan.

"The current goal of my programme is to fight for the release of all prisoners of conscience," he said.

Gbagbo raised the issue during a meeting last week with current President Alasanne Ouattara, the first between the two men since post-election violence in 2010-11 left 3,000 people dead.

"He didn't say no but he didn't say yes. He will do all he can to free them as soon as possible," Gbagbo said Monday.

The crisis was sparked after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara in the 2010 presidential election.

The ensuing conflict was brutal, with both sides accused of atrocities. After Gbagbo was ousted, he was flown to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, of which he was eventually acquitted.

He returned to the former French colony, the world's top cocoa producer, in June with Ouattara's blessing.

Among Gbagbo's list of 110 prisoners are some arrested in the 2010-11 crisis and others picked up during the last presidential campaign last year.

Some of the named prisoners were detained for actions linked to Gbagbo's return to the country in June.

While Gbagbo calls them political prisoners, some on the list were convicted of violent crimes.

General Brunot Dogbo Ble, a Gbagbo loyalist who used to head the Republican Guard, was sentenced to 18 years behind bars over the murder of four people, including two French nationals, in April 2011.

"True reconciliation must include the release of these prisoners," said Simone Datte, president of the collective of women and parents of those detained in 2010-11, who took the stage with Gbagbo on Monday.

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Harry Kane reportedly failed to turn up for his scheduled pre-season tests with Tottenham on Monday amid mounting speculation the striker wants to force a move to Manchester City.

England captain Kane was due back at Tottenham's training headquarters for a coronavirus test and a fitness assessment following his three-week holiday after Euro 2020.

However, it was widely reported Kane did not make an appearance at Tottenham's Enfield base, sparking fresh talk that he is determined to engineer a transfer to Premier League champions Manchester City.

Tottenham, who ironically face Pep Guardiola's team on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, have declined to comment about Kane's absence.

The 28-year-old went public with his desire to leave Tottenham at the end of last season.

Kane has grown frustrated at Tottenham's failure to win a major trophy since 2008, with their latest letdown coming in last season's League Cup final defeat against Manchester City.

He believes he has a 'gentleman's agreement' with Tottenham which allows him to move this year.

But with three years left on his contract, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has no intention of selling his club's prized asset, who is valued at around 150 million ($208 million).

Kane has been in the Bahamas following England's Euro 2020 final loss to Italy.

With the top-flight season due to start on August 13, Kane appears to intend to push for a move.

It could be a rocky road for Kane if he steps up his demand to leave, with some Tottenham fans expressing their anger at his training ground snub on social media.

New Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo was reportedly assured Kane would not be sold during discussions before he took charge.

Nuno said last month that Kane could be "counted on" next season.

smg/pb
Comedian Kathy Griffin has been diagnosed with cancer. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Kathy Griffin has been diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer, the veteran comedian and actor announced Monday morning on social media.

In a statement shared to Instagram and Twitter, Griffin revealed her condition before undergoing lung surgery, adding that she is "fully vaccinated" against COVID-19.

"I've got to tell you guys something," she wrote. "I have cancer. I'm about to go into surgery to have half of my left lung removed. Yes, I have lung cancer, even though I've never smoked!

"The doctors are very optimistic as it is stage one and contained to my left lung. Hopefully no chemo or radiation after this and I should have normal function with my breathing. I should be up and running around as usual in a month or less."

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In March 2020, Griffin was hospitalized with an abdominal infection and claimed she was unable to get tested for the novel coronavirus despite falling severely ill and "showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms, she tweeted at the time.

Griffin documented her experience in a "#COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER" on social media in response to then-President Trump's claim that the United States had outpaced South Korea in coronavirus testing.

On Monday, the "Crank Yankers" performer described her diagnosis and urged others to be diligent about their own medical care.

"It's been a helluva 4 years, trying to get back to work, making you guys laugh and entertaining you, but I'm gonna be just fine," she said before disclosing her COVID-19 vaccination status.

"The consequences for being unvaccinated would have been even more serious. Please stay up to date on your medical check ups. It'll save your life. XXOO, KG."

The standup comic was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last year at the beginning of the health crisis after suffering "incredibly intense pain, vomiting, diarrhea, every 20 minutes," according to her husband.

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While hospitalized, the "Suddenly Susan" alum received a chest X-ray that showed healthy lungs. Due to her lack of lung complications, fever and cough, Griffin did not qualify for COVID-19 testing, per CDC guidelines, despite exhibiting other symptoms of the respiratory illness.

"I just think its so obvious that those tests have to be accessible to everybody, Griffin told The Times in March 2020. A lot of people, when they hear the president saying everyone who needs a test should get one, they shouldnt have to then go to a hospital where, frankly, they may be exposing themselves or exposing others."

Griffin has long been a vocal critic of former President Trump. A 2017 photo shoot in which she posed with a bloody replica of Trump's head nearly ended her career  resulting in an addiction to painkillers and attempted suicide.

The irony is not lost on me that, a little over a year ago, all I wanted to do was die," Griffin recently told ABC News upon discovering a cancerous tumor in her left lung. "And now, all I wanna do is live."

In conversation with ABC News, Griffin was still reeling from the shock of her current illness, while acknowledging her relatively positive prognosis.

When you're a comic, the doctors all wanna be funny," she told ABC. "I love when they try material on me, like it hasn't been happening to me for 40 freaking years. ...

He's like, Well, you know, the lung is actually a couple of balloons. And so we basically just deflate the lower balloon  remove it. It's kinda like taking out a used condom. You can use that,' ... And I'm, like, OK. Why don't you do the surgery and I'll do the jokes."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Ben Makori

LONDON (Reuters) -Families and friends were overjoyed at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday after a travel rule change meant they could reunite after 18 months of pandemic separation.

"Very, very excited. It means the world," said Sue Blake, as she waited to greet her son, daughter-in-law and grandson who had flown in from New York and who she last saw two years ago.

"It's a big chunk of his life and I'm so thrilled for him that he can come here," she said of the eight-year-old.

Watching the hugs and tears in the arrivals hall, Heathrow's boss urged Britain to remove barriers to travel, not add to them, amid speculation that the government was poised to impose more rules.

"Let's just make it easier now for people to travel," Heathrow's chief executive John Holland-Kaye told Reuters.

Britain, where the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has nearly reached 130,000, reopened its borders to large parts of the world on Monday, scrapping quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals from the European Union, excluding France, and the United States.

The move was welcomed by families divided by the pandemic and airlines strained by it.

"It is really awesome," said 31-year-old medical writer Colleen Castro after collecting her luggage.

She and her husband had come to London to deliver some happy news to his parents.

"It's been a really long time and, actually, I'm pregnant with my in-law's first grandchild, so it's really exciting to finally be able to be here and share that news with them."

But just as families, friends and business travellers arrived at British airports like London Heathrow, the travel industry faced a new headache over potential COVID-19 warnings against holidays to Spain.

"We just need to keep things simple. We need to build confidence in travel," Holland-Kaye said when asked about the reports of another rule change.

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Britain has one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the world but the government has prevented the travel industry from bouncing back because of its maze of rules and track record for making last-minute changes.

In the latest twist, The Times reported on Monday the government planned to warn holidaymakers against visiting Spain, Britain's most popular holiday destination, because of concerns about COVID-19 there.

Spain could go on a new category of risk - the "amber watchlist" - meaning it could be upgraded to "red" at short notice, with arrivals having to quarantine in hotels.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Ben Makori; Writing by Sarah Young, Editing by Kate Holton and Angus MacSwan)
Libya called Monday on people to come forward to be vaccinated after it received two million doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, with more on the way.

"We call on all our fellow citizens to be vaccinated," Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah told reporters at Mitiga airport near Tripoli after the shipment arrived.

Adding to its security and political problems, the North African country of around seven million people has been hard hit by the pandemic.

Dbeibah, who heads a transitional government ahead of elections set for December, added that another 1.5 million doses of vaccine were expected "in the coming weeks".

Since the pandemic began, Libya has recorded 256,328 cases and 3,579 deaths from Covid-19.

Recently, it has seen an increase in daily cases of several thousand, partly because of increased testing.

Last Tuesday, a two-week overnight curfew aimed at halting the rise in new infections came into force in central and west Libya.

It does not apply in eastern and southern Libya, which are de facto controlled by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, despite the political and military situation improving.

hme/rb/srm/pjm
Matt Damon

Actor Matt Damon says he only recently stopped using the homophobic "f-slur for a homosexual" after his daughter explained it was unacceptable.

Damon told The Sunday Times she had written him "a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous", after he used it in a joke.

He said the derogatory term for gay men "was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application".

"She left the table," the star recalled about the family disagreement.

"I said, 'Come on, that's a joke! I say it in the movie Stuck on You!'

"She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood."

'Insulation and isolation'

American comedian, actor and writer Travon Free suggested online that Damon's realisation came a little too late.

"So Matt Damon just figured out 'months ago', by way of a 'treatise' from a child, that he's not supposed to say the [F-]word," posted the writer, who identifies as bi or queer.

"Months ago... Months ago."

"I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced [the word] with," wondered actor Billy Eichner, apparently unconvinced by Damon's story.

Hollywood Reporter TV critic Daniel Fienberg noted: "As a member of the press, I like when celebrities talk to the press, but it's always illuminating to hear the stories that folks like Liam Neeson or Matt Damon think are humanising and charming, but actually reveal insulation and isolation (among other unsavoury stuff) instead."

Fienberg was referring to an interview Neeson gave in 2019, where he said he had reacted to the rape of a close friend by taking to the streets with the intention of killing a black person.

Although he expressed shame and horror at his actions, the comments led to widespread shock and criticism.

Abigail Breslin (L) is Matt Damon's on-screen daughter in Stillwater

Damon told his "f-word" anecdote while promoting the new film Stillwater, which director Tom McCarthy said was inspired by Amanda Knox's legal fight to be cleared of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

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Knox recently criticised the filmmakers for "profiting" from her wrongful murder conviction.

It's not the first time Damon has landed in hot water. In 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Damon told reporters that inappropriate sexual behaviour needed to be seen as existing on a "spectrum".

He recently apologised for the comments, admitting he had been "tone-deaf".

"Like everybody, I'm a prisoner of my subjective experience and that leads to having blind spots," he told The New York Times.

"Me more than most given the experience that I've had as a white male American movie star. It's a very rarefied air. I don't even know where my blind spots begin and end.

"So, yes, I was and am tone-deaf. I do try my best not to be."

Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
By Maria Semerdjian

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A sculpture of a giant angular figure made from the wreckage of last summer's Beirut port blast was unveiled at the site on Monday, drawing support from some but also stoking anger among other Lebanese who believe justice should come before memorials.

The artwork dubbed The Gesture is the creation of Lebanese architect Nadim Karam, a Beirut resident and artist who says he wanted to pay tribute to the families of the victims of the explosion. It was funded by a number of private companies.

You have a giant made of ashes, the scars of the city, and the scars of the people that did not yet heal, Karam said, adding he hoped the families of those who lost their lives would look at the work positively.

The Beirut port blast left more than 200 dead, thousands injured, and large swathes of the city destroyed. One year afterwards, no top officials have been held accountable as a local investigation stalls.

Some relatives of victims attended the event on Monday, saying Karam was trying to claim part of the city for the public.

"When you have independent companies supporting the project and building such a project for seven or eight months ... definitely I will support," said 46-year-old Joseph Chartouni, an architect who lost his mother to the blast.

"For me the fact that it is made of steel from the site it is already a statement."

But others were angry at the project, saying there should be no commemoration without justice being served.

A social media campaign denouncing Karam and accusing him of collaborating with the government spread a week prior to the unveiling.

Rawan Nassif, a 37-year-old filmmaker, is one of many Lebanese offended by the structure, saying the blast shouldnt be treated as a memory yet.

The killers have complete impunity and we are already pretending something is in the past and we are trying to transcend it through art, Nassif said. I feel this is a crime scene that cant be touched yet, and it has to be investigated, you cant come and do an event from a crime scene.

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But Karam defended his work.

All our intentions are positive and we have no affiliation to any political party nor to any politicians, Karam said, adding that claims about him being associated with top officials were false. The statue reflects Beirut in its sadness and its scars.

(Reporting By Maria Semerdjian; Additional reporting by Imad Creidi and Alaa Kanaan Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by David Holmes)
A July ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court found gas stations can be held liable for selling fuel to intoxicated drivers.

The state Supreme Court ruled 3-1 on July 19 that while no law prevents the sale of gas to a drunken driver, vendors have a legal responsibility not to sell to someone who is drunk. Tennessee is the only other state to place the liability on filling stations, the court noted.

"Providing gasoline to an intoxicated driver is like providing car keys to an intoxicated driver. Accordingly, liability under negligent entrustment for the sale of gasoline to an intoxicated driver is consistent with New Mexico law," the judges wrote in their opinion.

HIGHEST GAS PRICES SINCE 2014 THREATEN BIDEN

The ruling was made after the state Supreme Court agreed to hear a request from a federal appeals court regarding the liability of a filling station retailer that sold fuel to an intoxicated driver in 2011, according to Access WDUN.

After leaving a gas station and returning to a highway, the driver crossed the center line and crashed into an oncoming car, the outlet said. The driver had a blood alcohol content level of 0.176, which was more than double the legal limit of 0.08 in the state, the report added.

Now-retired Justice Barbara Vigil, who disagreed with the majority, wrote in her dissenting opinion that "this sea change in the law could have far-reaching consequences for retail businesses." She argued that the sale and serving of alcohol are already regulated and that the law does not warrant extending liability for intoxicated driving to retail sales of nonalcoholic items.

Vigil also said there is a lack of established guidelines as to how retailers should investigate a supposed drunken customer or whether the liability would extend to self-service stations.

Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the Supreme Court "overreached to make a new rule in New Mexico," according to an interview with nongovernmental organization Pew Trusts.

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"There are clear laws about age restrictions. You've got to make sure someone is old enough to sell them alcohol or tobacco," Kantor said. "But store clerks who sell gas just aren't in a position to police whether people have been drinking or not or whether their mental state is impaired or not."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Kantor said he hopes the state's courts will recognize the 2011 incident as an unusual case and that the state Legislature will make changes to the rule where necessary.

Every day, 29 people in the United States die in vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver, and the annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, New Mexico, Drunken Driving, Supreme Court, Rule of law

Original Author: Kaelan Deese

Original Location: New Mexico Supreme Court rules gas stations can be liable for drunken driving accidents
Most Minnesotans who have fallen behind on rent during the pandemic do not need to worry about losing their housing after the nationwide ban on evictions ended at midnight Saturday.

State leaders recently passed an eviction moratorium "off-ramp," which phases out the halt on evictions that Gov. Tim Walz instituted last year.

"I want renters to understand that the end of the federal eviction moratorium does not affect Minnesotans. Minnesota has its own timeline," Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho said in a statement, urging property owners and renters to work together to apply for emergency assistance. "We have the funds to help pay back rent and three months of future rent."

The state and local governments have received about $672 million to help people with housing expenses, and have been encouraging residents to apply for the dollars through RentHelpMN.org. As of Friday, Minnesotans had requested $196 million in assistance, and officials had distributed nearly $27 million in aid.

The end to the federal moratorium, which was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has drawn condemnation from some Democratic lawmakers in Washington. It follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the eviction halt to continue through July 31.

About 3.6 million people in the country are facing eviction in the next couple months, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey with data as of July 5.

But Minnesotans who have applied for the federal help and are eligible for it will be protected from evictions until June 1, 2022. Those who have not paid their rent and do not qualify for the aid could be evicted starting Sept. 12.

However, renters in Minnesota currently can be evicted for a material violation of their lease that is not related to payment, such as smoking in a nonsmoking unit or having a pet in an apartment where it is not allowed. They can also be removed if they qualify for federal rental assistance but refuse to apply for it.

Jessie Van Berkel  651-925-5044
Doctors at Nigeria's state-run hospitals began an indefinite strike Monday to protest low pay and inadequate facilities many doctors say they are working in.

Why it matters: The strike comes as COVID-19 cases numbers surge in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. July saw the nation's highest case numbers since March, sparking fears of a third wave, Bloomberg reports.

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State of play: The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which called for the strike, represents more than 90% of doctors in Nigeria's teaching hospitals, per Bloomberg.

Resident doctors are pivotal to frontline care in Nigeria, as many work in hospital emergency wards, according to Reuters.

The big picture: NARD called the strike over unpaid salaries, COVID-19 hazard allowances, and insurance benefits to families of doctors who died of coronavirus, Al Jazeera reports.

NARD said some of its members are owed as much as 19 months' worth of salary pay by state governments, and that some hospitals have failed to give doctors the hazard stipend promised to those helping fight the virus, per Bloomberg.

The families of 19 doctors who have died of the virus have not received benefits from the government, Jerry Isogun, the general secretary of NARD, told Bloomberg.

NARD president Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi also decried the state of Nigeria's underfunded poorly equipped state-run hospitals, dubbing them "deplorable," in an interview with AFP, per Al Jazeera.

The Nigerian government has called the strike "hasty" and "appealed for restraint from NARD doctors," per Reuters.

What they're saying: The nationwide strike started at 8am. Its an indefinite strike, NARD president Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi told the AFP news agency, per Al Jazeera. There will be no exemption for doctors handling COVID-19 cases.

We appeal to Nigerians to bear with us. Doctors and their families are suffering," Okhuaihesuyi added. "We can no longer pay our bills because of [the] governments insensitivity and neglect of our welfare.

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Christine Weston Chandler was charged with incest. YouTube/CwcvilleGuardian

Christine Weston Chandler, known online as Chris Chan, was arrested on a charge of incest on Sunday.

On Friday, a call leaked that seemed to involve Chandler saying she'd had sex with her mother.

Chandler has a long, complicated online history fueled by trolls.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Christine Weston Chandler, known online as Chris Chan, was arrested and charged with incest after a leaked phone conversation spread online.

Chandler, 39, is being held in the Henrico County jail in Virginia after the police brought her in on Sunday afternoon. No court date or bond has been set, a representative for the jail said. Her arraignment will be in Greene County, a sheriff told Newsweek.

On Friday morning, an eight-minute recording was posted on Kiwi Farms, a forum dedicated to discussing internet figures that began as a way to chronicle Chandler's online presence in 2013. In the recording, someone purporting to be Chandler discussed sexual interactions with her 79-year-old mother, Barbara.

Chandler has for decades been known in niche online spaces as the creator of Sonichu, an animated character that's a cross between Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog. Online discussion about Chandler and the character began around 2000, and her persona became more widely known around 2007.

For years, Chandler has been the target of online scrutiny and trolling. Several internet denizens have made profiles pretending to be Chandler's friends or girlfriends and leaked personal details about her.

Engaging in sexual intercourse with one's father or mother is a Class 5 felony in Virginia.

Chandler did not respond to requests for comment.

Leaked audio spread online alleging that Chandler had sex with her mother

In the recording, the person said to be Chandler could be heard saying that since June "we've been doing it every third night" and describing sex acts in detail.

A text said to be from Chandler that was posted alongside the recording said, "Barb and I just had another romp in the hay."

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The recording and texts spread like wildfire. Later on Friday, "Chris Chan" was a trending topic on Twitter.

"There is drama in the air today," Chandler tweeted on Friday. "Each and every one of you all are encouraged to withdraw from any and all dramas, gossip, rumors, and whatever else will, and already has, approached your way today."

On Sunday, a livestream from the alt-right podcaster Ethan Ralph appeared to show Chandler's arrest outside a hotel in Charlottesville. While it appeared that Chandler was in handcuffs, she told Ralph, "Everything is going to work out."

In October 2011, Chandler and her mother were arrested after her mother hit the manager of a game store with her car; they paid a fine and underwent community service and a year of probation.

In 2014, Chandler was arrested and barred from GameStop after she maced an employee who had asked her to leave.

Read more stories from Insider's Digital Culture desk here.

Read the original article on Insider
Aug. 2A lawsuit filed this week in Nevada accuses the maker of the magazine used in the Oregon District mass shooting of recklessly marketing and selling "instruments of mass slaughter" to the general public without reasonable safeguards or screening measures.

The lawsuit, filed on Sunday on behalf of the families of four victims of the Oregon District tragedy, alleges that the mass shooting was only made possible by the 100-round drum sold by Kyung Chang Industry USA Inc (KCI).

"Almost 60% of mass shootings involved high-capacity magazines," said Ben Cooper, an attorney with Columbus-based law firm Cooper Elliott. "We see it over and over: Aurora, Newtown, Las Vegas, Parkland and we saw it in Dayton."

"If the Dayton shooter did not have such a large-capacity magazine, he would not have been able to inflict the damage that he did," Cooper said. "No civilian needs a 100-round magazine  it's only useful for the military or mass shootings."

Two years ago, it took only 30 seconds for the Oregon District gunman to kill nine people and injure 17 others because he had a 100-round magazine, Cooper said.

Authorities have estimated shooter Connor Betts fired more than 40 shots within the span of about 30 seconds.

Cooper said the lawsuit is intended to get KCI, and a related South Korean company, to stop selling dangerous products in dangerous ways.

Brady, a national gun violence prevention organization, and Columbus-based law firm Cooper Elliott jointly filed the wrongful death lawsuit against (KCI) and its related South Korean company alleging negligence, negligent entrustment and public nuisance.

The lawsuit claims that the 100-round drum that Betts used during his rampage only has meaningful uses for military personnel and mass shooters.

The risks of selling these magazines to the public far outweigh any benefits, and there's no evidence that KCI has taken any meaningful steps to make sure its products aren't used in mass shootings, according to a news release announcing the lawsuit.

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The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of Dion Green, whose father Derrick Fudge died in his arms outside of Blind Bob's; LaSandra James, mother of victim Lois Oglesby; Danita Turner and Michael Turner, the parents of victim Logan Turner; and Nadine Warren, the mother of victim Beatrice Nicole Warren-Curtis.

Dion Green said he worked hard to bring a lawsuit in order to hold a company accountable for the bloodshed it helped create that has resulted in immense sorrow for so many surviving family members.

"You are putting these weapons of mass destruction in people's hands that are putting our families through a lifetime of grieving and pain," he told this newspaper on Friday. "We want to show you that it's not over for us and we want to hold you accountable."

KCI has not returned a request for comment.

Green said this company is just as guilty as the shooter for selling a product that's only purpose is mass death and he wants to draw attention to their misdeeds.

He said he wants to see these kinds of products taken off the market.

"The amount of ammo it holds  my god," he said. "When someone buys that, they should do their own background checks."

He continued, "What do you need this for  you're not going hunting with it. Well, you are, but on persons' lives."

Logan Turner's family members also said they hope this lawsuit can help prevent another tragedy like this from happening again.

Michael Turner said he does not know any reason why gun magazines sold to the public should be that large.

"I'd like to see large magazines taken off the market, let alone being able to order them through the mail," Turner said. "You don't have to go hunting with a 100-round magazine, you don't go target shooting with a 100-round magazine."

Turner said he believes in the Second Amendment, but he also believes online firearm sales need to be regulated and background checks need to be improved and enhanced.

Betts had a friend buy the 100-drum magazine and keep it at his home to hide the purchase from his parents, authorities said.

Gun makers across the nation have been sued by survivors of mass shootings and family members of slain victims.

Remmington Arms Co. recently offered $33 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims killed in the 2012 school massacre in Newtown.

Family members sued the gun maker, claiming some of its marketing practices were responsible for the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.
A man receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in a northern suburb of Paris, France. ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

Pfizer and Moderna upped the prices of their vaccines in new EU contracts, per the Financial Times.

A single Pfizer will now be worth $23 in Europe, while a Moderna shot will be $30, the report said.

The new contracts come as experts mull booster shots to combat the fast-spreading Delta variant.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Pfizer and Moderna raised the prices on their coronavirus shots in their latest contract negotiations with the European Union, the Financial Times reported.

One official close to the negotiations told the FT that Pfizer and Moderna had used the "usual pharma rhetoric" to increase the price. The companies essentially said that "vaccines work so they increased the 'value,'" the source said.

According to portions of contracts seen by the FT, Pfizer will now charge 19.50 euros ($23) a shot - up from the previous price of 15.50 euros ($18.40).

Moderna, meanwhile, will now charge 25.50 euros ($30.30) per shot, up from 19 euros ($22.60), people familiar with the matter told the FT. Moderna's final price was actually lower than previously agreed since the EU decided to up its order, the FT reported. The original amount that was agreed upon was 28.50 euros ($33.90) per shot, an official close to the negotiations told the FT.

Neither Pfizer nor Moderna immediately responded to Insider's request for comment on the new EU vaccine contracts.

The new contracts came as experts mull booster shots to combat the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant, and the EU has faced issues with the cheaper vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Both vaccines have been connected to potentially fatal - but extremely rare - blood clots which have made them unpopular in Europe, and there have also been supply issues with both vaccines in Europe.

Meanwhile, vaccine trial data has shown that Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines - which both use mRNA technology - are more effective than the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines.

Read the original article on Business Insider
MANILA (Reuters) -The Philippines will extend a night curfew in Manila amid a tightening of restrictions to combat a potential surge in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, a government official said on Monday.

Metropolitan Manila, already subject to a six hour curfew from 10:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), will bring forward that curfew by two hours to 8:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), said Benjamin Abalos, chair of the region's governing body.

"This will stop the virus for the meantime. What's important is our hospitals don't get full," Abalos told a briefing.

Authorities have deployed police personnel to quarantine checkpoints in the capital region, where inbound and outbound travel will be restricted. Home to more than 13 million people, the region will be locked down from Aug. 6 to 20.

Infections in the Philippines exceeded 8,000 a day from Friday to Monday. Sunday's recorded tally of 8,735 infections was the highest since May 28.

In the central province of Cebu, the number of cases has overwhelmed healthcare facilities, city councillor David Tumulak told local media.

A surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant has been rattling parts of Asia, including countries which had been relatively successful at containing the virus.

Just 200 cases of the Delta variant had been detected in the community, of which 17 were still active, Philippines' Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said, although genome testing capacity in the Southeast Asian country is limited.

Strict quarantine curbs could help cap the number of active COVID-19 cases to around 25,000 by the end of September, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

In a weekly national address, President Rodrigo Duterte committed to providing vaccines to every Filipino. "It's just a matter of priority on hot spots like Manila. People are here so transmission is faster."

(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by James Pearson and Grant McCool)
Associated Press

The Kentucky attorney general who investigated the Breonna Taylor case responded to months of blistering criticism by saying the decision not to charge any police officers in her death was ultimately in the grand jurys hands, though some jurors have complained they were limited in what crimes they could consider. Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, speaking to The Associated Press on Thursday, said he hopes people recognize that his role was to look at the facts as they are, and not how a particular narrative is being driven by particular people. Reflecting on a case that thrust him into the national spotlight, Cameron said: Ive said this until Im blue in the face that what happened to Miss Taylor was a tragedy, unequivocally a tragedy."
"The Prince," HBO Max's new cartoon spoofing the royal family and 8-year-old Prince George, isn't funny or original. HBO Max

"The Prince" is HBO Max's new cartoon spoofing the royal family, including 8-year-old Prince George.

It turns Kate Middleton into an alcoholic and makes Harry so out of touch he can't work a fridge.

The show is cruel without being funny, and its jokes about the royals feel expected and unoriginal.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nothing is certain except death, taxes, and the icky feeling you get when you watch a real 8-year-old kid get repeatedly roasted.

OK, so Benjamin Franklin didn't mention the latter, but I couldn't help but think it as I sat through episode after episode of "The Prince," HBO Max's new cartoon spoofing the royal family.

The series - which was inspired by creator Gary Janetti's Instagram account - instantly made headlines after all 12 episodes were dropped at midnight on Thursday with little promotion or fanfare. Critics and royal commentators called out the show (and Sophie Turner, who plays Princess Charlotte) for taking aim at Kate Middleton and Prince William's young children, while others were appalled that it made fun of Prince Philip's deteriorating health just months after his death.

But those aren't the only issues with the cartoon.

'The Prince' just isn't funny, not even a little. And its jokes about the royal family feel expected and unoriginal.

The royal family in HBO Max's "The Prince." HBO Max

Under Janetti's pen, Prince George is transformed into a prima donna who torments his sweet butler Owen while obsessing over his Instagram follower count and befriending Andy Cohen. As other critics have pointed out, George mostly feels like a rehash of Stewie on "Family Guy," Janetti's alma mater.

Painting a royal child as a brat already feels obvious. But it's also uncomfortable and tone-deaf after both Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken at length about the mental-health struggles they faced while growing up in the harsh spotlight of British tabloids.

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There are also plenty of adults to make fun of in the royal family, and "The Prince" doesn't hold back as it takes aim at every member. The Queen constantly throws tantrums over tarts, Camilla's a mute, Prince Charles is desperate for his mother's love, and Prince Philip is a bumbling old man who can't chew his own food.

Many critics called out the show for making fun of Prince Philip's health just months after his death. HBO Max

"The Prince" was actually delayed following Philip's death in April, but the show made no effort to remove repeated jokes about his condition, including Prince George's quip to "get the defibrillator paddles ready."

Meanwhile, Meghan Markle is portrayed as a desperate actress who can't land a new gig, Prince Harry is so out of touch that he can't buy milk or work a fridge, and Middleton is constantly guzzling wine to cope with being married to Prince William.

The show portrays Kate Middleton as an alcoholic who can't stand Prince William. HBO Max

"I thought everyone in LA was just a vapid alcoholic," she tells her husband in one episode.

"No, that's just you," William replies.

"There's not enough liquor in the world to make you tolerable," she shoots back.

Anyone who has read a British tabloid - or just gazed at the front page of one - wouldn't find these spoofs of the royals to be surprising. And that's just the thing, they're extremely cliche. I could predict how every subplot was going to unfold within the first few minutes of each episode.

There are some bright spots in 'The Prince,' but they're few and far between

One of the show's bright spots is an episode that features the cast of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." HBO Max

The episode where Markle joins the cast of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and takes them to Buckingham Palace actually got a few laughs out of me, mostly thanks to Lisa Rinna (who guest stars with Erika Jayne, Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley, and Teddi Mellencamp).

I also loved the running subplot of two married Buckingham Palace butlers who desperately just want to keep the spark alive - and find some free time to finally watch "Game of Thrones" together.

With everything that has happened in the royal family over the last few years, the adults are a ripe source of inspiration for commentary on the monarchy, as well as celebrity culture and the differences between British and American media and society.

But satire still has to be smart, funny, and surprising. "The Prince" drops the ball on all three, and needlessly makes fun of a kid in the process.

Read the original article on Insider
Reese Witherspoon's women-focused production company behind television hits such as "Big Little Lies" is being purchased by a new private equity-backed venture aiming to break into Hollywood's fast-expanding streaming market.

The majority investment from a not-yet-named media venture backed by US private equity giant Blackstone and announced Monday reportedly values Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine at $900 million, according to the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

"I started this company to change the way all women are seen in media," said Witherspoon of the entity behind series including "The Morning Show" and "Little Fires Everywhere."

The Blackstone deal "will enable us to tell even more entertaining, impactful and illuminating stories about women's lives globally," she said in a statement.

The new media venture is headed up by two former Disney executives, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.

Its launch comes as multiple Hollywood giants are competing to expand their streaming services, with the likes of Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video hungry for content.

Witherspoon, 45, who won a best actress Oscar for 2005's "Walk the Line," has moved increasingly into producing in recent years, although she also stars in Apple TV+ hit "The Morning Show," alongside Jennifer Aniston.

The company is working on feature films including "Legally Blonde 3" and an adaptation of best-selling novel "Where The Crawdads Sing," which was boosted by its selection as part of Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club.

She will continue to oversee Hello Sunshine's day-to-day operations along with current CEO Sarah Harden, a joint statement said.

"We look forward to backing Reese, Sarah, and their world-class team as they continue to produce and identify dynamic, engaging content for years to come," said Mayer and Staggs.

Mayer and Staggs are reportedly targeting further purchases of content creators to build an "independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises," joining a fiercely competitive market.

In May, Amazon agreed to buy MGM studios for $8.45 billion, giving the US tech giant a vast content library to further its ambitions in streaming.

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Miamis second-highest ranked Black female police officer, one of four majors demoted this week with little explanation by the new police chief, has informed the city she is seeking whistleblower status and intends to file a civil rights lawsuit.

Keandra Simmons believes she was targeted because she did not support the termination of the citys highest-ranked married couple, a deputy chief and his wife, who commanded the Little Havana neighborhood.

Simmons, a 16-year veteran who oversaw the evidence room, once commanded Liberty City and was one of the citys first Black female public information officers. She was told late last week by Chief Art Acevedo that she along with three others were being demoted and that the chief was hiring a new deputy who had worked for him previously in Houston.

The brief memo sent to senior officers last Friday said Acevedo decided to make the changes after speaking with every staff officer and members of the community. Simmons, 41, was rolled back to a lieutenant in field operations and had her salary slashed.

Late Sunday night, Simmons attorney Michael Pizzi filed complaints with the city notifying Acevedo, the mayor, city attorney and city manager that Simmons was seeking whistleblower protections and that the city had failed to explain why she was being demoted.

Pizzi said the major would move forward with a lawsuit based on injuries sustained from defamation, racial and gender based discrimination, harassment, deprivation of First Amendment and due process right.

The attorney said his client believes she was demoted for statements made as a witness when she was interviewed about the June firing of Deputy Chief Ron Papier and his wife, Cmdr. Nerly Papier  a controversial move by the new chief after Nerly Papier blew out two tires hitting a curb with her city-issued vehicle. The accident happened as the chief was introducing himself to staff and just three days before his swearing in.

The chief found that Nerly Papier left out important details during the investigation and that her husband didnt recuse himself or speak up about a Miami-Dade State Attorney investigation into the matter. Pizzi claims Simmons was fired because she wasnt willing to support the chiefs findings and testified that her commanding officer was aware of the accident and had seen pictures.

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Hes punishing her for the way she participated in an investigation, Pizzi said, calling her demotion a slap in the face to the Black community in particular all Miami residents.

Late Monday morning Acevedo said he had not seen the letter from Simmons yet and he wasnt willing to debate the issue publicly.

If they want to file a lawsuit, thats their prerogative, the chief said. When youre in an appointed position, you know youre [working] at will.

Filing for Whistleblower status serves two purposes: It informs the city of a potential future lawsuit - a requirement that gives the city a chance to correct an alleged wrong - and it is supposed to protect Simmons from any retaliation.

Simmons attended the police academy in 2004 and has worked in administration, criminal investigations and field operations in Miami. She rose through the ranks to become a sergeant, lieutenant, commander and major. Prior to her demotion - which went into effect Sunday - she oversaw the citys fleet and the departments property room.

Acevedos new hires include his former assistant chief in Houston, Heather R. Morris. She will be Acevedos new deputy. Also hired as a crime analyst was Joelle Lee-Silcox, a recent Florida International University graduate in international crime and justice.

In a letter to the city, Pizzi said Simmons is seeking an immediate reinstatement to major and damages.

Chief Acevedo is retaliating against Simmons because she refused to support Chief Acevedos reckless and knee-jerk witch hunt to take adverse action against Chief Papier and others, said Pizzi.
Both parties' plans to win a Senate majority revolve around a handful of states, including contests in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Now, Senate Republicans are trying to add Nevada to the list. They see Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, elected in 2016 and seeking reelection next year, as potentially vulnerable. Even though Nevada has trended blue of late, with Democratic presidential candidates winning there from 2008 on, and with most statewide offices, plus both legislative chambers, under party control.

Republicans are trying to lure former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt into the race. Scion of a famous Nevada political family, as grandson of former Gov. and Sen. Paul Laxalt, a Senate contest would offer a chance for electoral redemption. Adam Laxalt in 2018 lost the Nevada governor's race to Democratic rival Steve Sisolak.

A former Nevada attorney general and protege of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Cortez Masto won her Senate seat as former President Donald Trump lost the state to Hillary Clinton while winning nationally. In 2020, President Joe Biden beat Trump in Nevada by less than 3 percentage points, suggesting Nevada, despite its blue tilt, is still a swing state of sorts.

HOUSE MASK FINES PUT IN PLACE BY PELOSI FACE LAWSUIT FROM REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS

Still, Nevada Democrats have an advantage in voter registration numbers, with 35.3% to Republicans 30.8%. Another 33.9% of active voters are not registered with either party.

And despite Nevada trending blue in the past few cycles, Laxalt managed to win a statewide race in 2014 to become attorney general. Although Laxalt has not declared his Senate candidacy, he would likely receive support from grassroots conservatives and Trump himself, along with Republicans in Washington, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Laxalt must still shed his image as politically damaged goods after his 2018 failed gubernatorial run against Sisolak. Yet he is considered Republicans best chance at flipping the seat.

Story continues

Every potentially competitive Senate race is important in the 50-50 chamber, where Democrats hold the majority due to the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. It remains to be seen if Nevada will rise to the top of each party's "must win" list.

That includes Arizona, where Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is seeking a full six-year term. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is in a similar situation. Senate seats in North Carolina and Pennsylvania are open in 2022 due to the retirements of Republican senators, respectively, Richard Burr and Pat Toomey. And in Wisconsin, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson has not said whether he'll seek reelection. Either way, Wisconsin Democrats have a crowded Senate primary field.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

In Nevada, as Laxalt decides whether to jump into the Senate race, Cortez Masto is on the campaign trail raising millions of dollars for her reelection. She banked almost $2.8 million in the last quarter, bringing her cash on hand to nearly $6.6 million.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Senate, Election, Nevada

Original Author: Kerry Picket

Original Location: Senate Republicans try to expand 2022 playing field to blue-trending Nevada
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On Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday, Cooper aired an interview between CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. Lindell has made numerous claims of voter fraud, even claiming to have indisputable evidence that former President Donald Trump won the election, but he has yet to actually provide that evidence. Lindell has claimed to have spent millions in his futile quest to prove the election was fraudulent, leading Griffin to wonder if Lindell is just being scammed. You could possibly be the victim of a scam here, Griffin said. Well then why dont you come to the symposium and make $5 million, Lindell replied. Are you worried about me? We should give a hug. Youre worried about old Mike? Oh, God bless you. But Lindells jovial mood was brief. Were worried that what you are doing is mistakenly or deliberately destroying the confidence in the legitimate, elected President of the United States, and fostering real damage to this country, Griffin said. Lindell furiously denied ever saying anything bad about Democrats or President Biden, and accused Griffin of lying.
Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. has agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal to remain in Dallas, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Hardaway Jr. was one of the Mavericks bright spots this past season. He averaged 16.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game over 70 games and 31 starts.

Coming off the bench in the latter half of the season, Hardaway Jr. made a push for Sixth Man of the Year honors. He was fifth in voting behind winner Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz.

The Mavericks earned the fifth seed in the 2020-21 playoffs, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round in seven games. Hardaway Jr. started all seven games in the series, averaging 17 ppg and 3.3 rpg.

Dallas Mavericks forward Tim Hardaway Jr. agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal to remain in Dallas. (Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports)

He found his stride in Dallas after being traded from the New York Knicks in January 2019 as part of the deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas and DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and Dennis Smith Jr. to New York.

Over two and a half seasons, Hardaway Jr. shot 43.6% from the field and 38.6% from beyond the 3-point arc.

Another free agency domino expected for the Mavericks is star Luka Doncic's supermax extension. It is expected to get done, but that could come after the Olympics and Doncics Slovenia are done in Tokyo.

More from Yahoo Sports:
Kim Hana is one of the few police officers in South Korea who are not ethnically Korean

Getting married in South Korea is something that's almost considered a social responsibility.

Since the 1990s, the South Korean government has had to create policies to encourage Korean men, initially those in rural areas who could not find a match, to marry women from overseas.

But the lives of these "marriage migrant" women are not easy. Some face stigma once they move to South Korea, and there have been reports of domestic violence and abuse.

Many of these women come to South Korea without even knowing the language, but despite this, they are carving out a significant place for themselves in Korean society.

These are some of their stories.

The police officer

Kim Hana first met her husband on a blind date arranged by her aunty in Nepal.

He had flown over from South Korea, and within three days they were discussing marriage. They moved to Korea that same year.

According to her, it's not uncommon for young Nepalese people to want to go overseas - whether for marriage or work - as there are limited opportunities in Nepal.

Fast forward 11 years, and she is now a police officer, one of few who are not ethnically Korean.

"There may be people who think I'm not a good enough cop compared to a native Korean person... but I don't have time to think about that," said the 31-year-old, who changed her Nepali name (Samjhana Rai) when she became a naturalised citizen.

"When I'm wearing my uniform and have a gun on my waist, I don't think anybody has a problem with me not 'looking Korean'," she says.

She works as a Foreign Affairs Officer, acting as a bridge between the Nepalese and Korean community.

Following her move to South Korea, Kim Hana (right) studied at a university where she met other Nepali students

The number of women who have come to Korea and married Korean men has more than doubled in recent years, from 120,110 in 2007 to 287,298 in 2019, according to the government-run Multicultural Family Support Centre.

But stereotypes that East and South Asian migrant wives are mail order brides or who are "sold" to their husbands still exist, as does discrimination.

Story continues

"I remember, when my son was little, getting on the bus and a man shouted at me, 'Vietnam, come sit here!'" Kim Hana said. Vietnamese women make up about a third - and the biggest percentage - of foreign wives in South Korea.

Kim Hana however, has largely been able to shake this off - and feels Korean society has made progress in including more people from different cultural backgrounds.

Since 2008, the Korean government has established multicultural support centres.

"Now there is a large foreign community and I've met so many different people while doing my job," she said.

The migrant rights activist

Won Ok Kum first met her husband in her home country of Vietnam.

Today, the farmer's daughter holds a master's degree in law administration and previously held the title of the honorary mayor of Seoul.

Last year, she even ran to become an MP for the ruling liberal Democratic Party, one of few people of non-Korean ethnicity to do so - but she lost.

Despite this, she's continuing her work and is campaigning for a law which would amp up the monitoring of discrimination against migrant workers.

Won Ok Kum has faced challenges living in South Korea, but also sees more opportunities there than back home

A turning point for her was when she helped Vietnamese workers who had been arrested for striking over their working conditions.

"In Vietnam I could never have imagined holding those in power to account, but seeing those workers win the case, I realised in South Korea we could make real change," she said.

Despite this she has met her share of setbacks. Recently, when trying to help migrant workers get their visas extended, an immigration officer refused to address her using customary honorific terms.

"If I was being treated like that, imagine how other migrants are being treated," she says.

The interpreter

When Kyla* arrived in Seoul from the Philippines in 1999 at the age of 24, she couldn't communicate with her Korean husband. She had never been abroad and this was her first relationship.

They had been matched through the Unification Church in the Philippines, but after a few years her marriage broke down.

He started drinking and finally he left the family home, cutting off financial support for her and their three children.

"He asked for a divorce, but divorce isn't the done thing in the Philippines, so I initially refused," she says.

Left without support, Kyla sought work as a teacher.

"I would work long hours. But then sometimes I didn't bring home enough money to cover all the bills," she explains.

Many migrant wives arrive in South Korea not knowing the language

Today, Kyla has moved on and works as a mentor for migrant wives, while also translating for the police and immigration services.

She tells her mentees they are not just marrying into a family but also a culture. Kyla adds that the support given by the multicultural centres, which are now increasingly including men in the conversation, has also proven helpful.

"Korean men get educated on what it means to start a multicultural family, that didn't used to happen," she says.

Looking ahead, Kyla says she wants her children to have the same opportunities as other Korean children.

Her daughter is training to be a K-Pop star, her middle son started work at an IT company and her eldest son is doing his compulsory military service in the Navy.

"I have done everything I can to [help] my children to flourish," she says.

*Name has been changed.
After over a year of travel restrictions, the arrival of American Airlines flight LY8051 to London's Heathrow Airport on Monday from New York marked a step back to normality for families separated by the Atlantic and Covid.

"It's amazing," Reece Wilson, 31, told AFP as he was reunited with his family for the first time in 21 months at Heathrow's Terminal Five.

"It's one of those things that we take for granted and I am struggling to put into words," the British maritime worker based in New Orleans added, before his voice trailed off with emotion.

Following the relaxation of strict rules on foreign travel to England at 4:00 am, the flight, arriving at 6:20 am, was one of the first to touch down with fully vaccinated passengers allowed to avoid quarantine.

Before Reece passed through the double doors at arrivals with his Texan wife and two children, his parents Sharon and Ray Wilson, both 57, waited in expectation and relief with their other son and daughter.

"We just want to get back to normal as quickly as we can," Sharon Wilson said. "Sadly (Covid) has been awful for everybody."

The grandmother explained that over the nearly two years the family had been apart, she had kept in touch through video calls.

"Usually we go out there two or three times a year, especially since they got the children," she said.

"I am just so happy that we can all get together again and start travelling again," Sharon Wilson added as the couple explained the US had become like a "second home" to them before Covid.

- Sausage roll -

As they were reunited, tears streamed down Sharon's face and Covid mask.

With an arm around his quietly sobbing younger sister, Reece said he was looking forward to a British sausage roll before going back to the family's home in Surrey, southeast England.

He added he was going to make sure he came back to the UK "every opportunity I can".

Story continues

"You don't know when something's going to prevent you from doing that."

Ishak Mogul, a grandfather from Swindon, west of London, waited at the terminal for the arrival of his daughter Nabila, whom he hadn't seen for three years after the pandemic postponed an already overdue trip home.

His grandchildren, who waited with him, carried colourful signs welcoming their American cousins from Charlotte, North Carolina, to the UK.

"We haven't slept. I probably slept one hour last night. We've been kind of waiting for her, getting everything ready," he said.

He explained that the time apart had been fraught, with his daughter separated from the family for so long.

"She has been struggling quite a lot. She had been waiting for us to go and then we couldn't... it's been a lot of stress on them," Mogul said.

As Nabila and her children emerged from the baggage hall, they were swept up in an emotional family embrace.

Mogul said he was looking forward to putting the strain of recent months behind them.

"It's been a really exciting day for us. We are looking forward to a lovely week," he said.

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When the press release from the Department of Homeland Security landed at 5:13 p.m. Friday, it appeared to report good news about the border.

DHS Statement on Expedited Removal Flights for Certain Families, it read, leading to cheering headlines about the department resuming fast track removals of illegal immigrants.

But immigration hawks sniffed the headline bait and are calling it a bluff.

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This is all talk until we see some numbers. Its very carefully worded, said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.

They know they have to look like theyre doing something, anything, to address what is clearly a policy, humanitarian, fiscal, and security disaster. Their bungling of border policy is clearly endangering their entire agenda, and this is just a token step that will not help them dig their way out of this, she told Secrets.

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Former Trump immigration czar Stephen Miller was a bit blunter.

In a tweet, he wrote, Dear media: please dont be so credulous. This fast-track story is another misdirection from pathological liar @SecMayorkas (who claimed the border is closed.) The vast, overwhelming % of illegal families are being resettled inside US  including countless w/COVID.

Over a series of tweets in that thread, Miller poked holes in the statement and showed how the administration is actually fast-tracking the release of illegal immigrants into the United States, many with COVID-19. He also said that the department was hoping to slip a story by media unfamiliar with the technical aspects of immigration law.

Asked his goal, he told Secrets, Just needed to correct the record. Lots of deeply misleading headlines.

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In simple language, he provided details of how the system is working now to keep illegal immigrants in the U.S.

For example, he wrote, The fast-track family removal process 45 [former President Trump] pioneered only works if asylum loopholes are shut. But Biden opened them to fit innumerable millions. What does this mean? Any illegal family that merely requests asylum (or claims fear) stays in US. Its biggest loophole on earth.

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He added, Every move Mayorkas makes is calculated to resettle, not return, illegal families. Hence, only 73 family aliens were removed out of daily 2K+ apprehended (from dozens of nations)! Just 1 sector enrolled. Its a publicity stunt to mask endemic catch & release. Media was duped.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: Biden Administration, Border Crisis, Alejandro Mayorkas, Stephen Miller

Original Author: Paul Bedard

Original Location: Stephen Miller: DHS lying about deportations, media was duped
Earlier this year, Steve Dolinsky left ABC 7 after covering the local food scene for 17 years. At the time, the award-winning food reporter said he looked forward to getting serious about my own business, which he said would include a mix of food-related freelance projects.

But when NBC Chicago (WMAQ-Ch. 5) approached him about returning to the air, he couldnt say no.

Just dont call him the Hungry Hound. For his new segment, hell simply be known as The Food Guy and will debut the new segment Thursday. Robert Feder broke the news Monday.

According to Dolinsky, hes super excited about the new gig. But he also hadnt really stopped working after leaving ABC 7.

Ive been doing stories on my own YouTube channel for the past few months, Dolinsky told the Tribune on Monday. Id also taught a college class at (Northwestern Universitys journalism school) Medill, did some real estate consulting, and was lining up some other freelance projects. I wasnt expecting the call from NBC.

The new segment will be similar to the setup he had at ABC, where he highlighted a mix of new restaurants and beloved neighborhood spots each week. What will be different is the time slot of Thursdays at 10 p.m.

Ive always wanted to do that time slot, Dolinsky said. Its right before the weekend, so people can plan where they want to go out to eat.

nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com

What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. Sign up for our Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here .
Keara Wilson, the TikTok creator who choreographed the viral #SavageChallenge dance, is copyrighting the moves.

Choreographer JaQuel Knight and Logitech joined forces to recognize BIPOC creators, including Wilson, at a dinner Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The partnership helped 10 creators start the process for copyrighting their choreography through labanotation, a method that documents dance steps with symbols in specific patterns, according to their announcement.

"The labanotations is the first step in a complex and challenging process to copyright choreography. The process can take up to 4 months from submission of application to the copyright office for review," a spokesperson for the partnership said.

Wilson created the dance to Megan Thee Stallion's hit song "Savage" in March 2020. It immediately blew up; millions of people tried the moves and posted their own videos on social media, including celebrities like Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, and Megan Thee Stallion herself.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Wilson, 20, said it took her one hour to create the dance. After it took off, she started making a living as a TikToker.

According to the announcement, the US Copyright Office receives fewer than 20 applications annually for choreography. Once the "Savage" dance is copyrighted, it added, she should receive proper credit. And if the dance is used in a film production or video game, Wilson will be able to claim payment. She can also take legal action if she doesn't get proper credit.

It's a big win for Black TikTok creators, who have been fighting for proper credit on the app. Charli D'Amelio and Addison Rae Easterling, two of the most popular creators on TikTok, have gained millions of followers from doing dances choreographed by Black creators. Things came to a head when Rae appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and performed several dances originated by Black TikTokers. Critics said the show did not properly credit the creators and that Rae didn't do the dances justice.

Story continues

A few weeks ago, several Black creators announced they were protesting the app in an attempt to get recognition for their work.

I feel that we continue to show that we as Black creators, especially Black femme and Black queer creators, carry the app and drive much of the culture and trends that people are talking about and end up on our For You pages," Daniel Akomolafe, a 19-year-old TikToker better known by his username Uniekue, told BuzzFeed News in June. "I think just from a business POV, its in TikToks best interest to not just suggest but actually implement changes that make the platform a more safe and enjoyable environment for Black creators."

More on this
Janet Yellen. Greg Nash -Pool/Getty Images

In a letter to congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday implored lawmakers to "protect the full faith and credit of the United States" by raising or suspending the U.S. debt ceiling, something she had previously requested be handled by Aug. 2, CNBC reports.

The letter also notified leaders that the Treasury Department had begun using "extraordinary measures"  or emergency cash conservation steps  to keep from breaching the federal borrowing limit after it went back into effect over the weekend, per CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.

"As I stated in my July 23 letter, the period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to heightened uncertainty related to the economic impact of the pandemic," wrote Yellen. "Therefore, I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible."

The so-called "extraordinary measures" will reportedly buy the Treasury some time  but after that, Congress "will need to either raise or suspend the borrowing limit or risk the U.S. defaulting on its obligations," writes CNBC. Defaulting, which the federal government has never done, would have "disastrous effects" on the U.S. economy.

Lindsey Piegza, chief economist for Stifel, told CNBC that "from a procedural standpoint," the extraordinary measures aren't "much of a concern." However, she added "the implication is a further showdown in Washington eroding the average American's confidence in a cohesive, functioning government" that simultaneously highlights "ongoing infighting among policy officials" on both sides of the aisle. Read more at CNBC.

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AP Poll Trump Republicans (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Donald Trump moved more than $200,00 donated to his Make America Great Again PAC into his own private business accounts, according to an analysis of his federal filings.

The money was moved in February, a month after Mr Trump left office. Money donated to PACs is meant to be spent solely on campaign efforts.

Forbes reports that the former president also set up a leadership PAC, which is generally used to support other candidates. Mr Trump took $30m from his Make America Great Again PAC and moved it to the new PAC, called Save America.

That PAC eventually grew to $90m, and Mr Trump took an additional $79,000 out of that PAC for his own uses.

Mr Trump's business, the Trump Organization, regularly interacted with his campaign PACs. In one instance, the Trump Organization charged his campaign PAC $38,000 in rent via the Trump Tower Commercial LLC, in which Mr Trump has 100 per cent interest.

During 2016, Mr Trump ran his campaign out of the skyscraper, but his 2020 campaign was partially run from Washington DC. Despite this, the Trump Organisation continued to collect rent for Trump Tower.

In total, the Trump Organization collected $188,000 in rent between January and June, all paid for through Trump's campaign donations.

Trump Restaurants LLC also collected rent from the PAC  even after the former president left office and during a time when tourists visiting Trump Tower were few due to the coronavirus pandemic  totalling $15,000, according to federal filings.

Save America, the leadership PAC, paid the Trump Hotel Collection $79,000 in total after Mr Trump left office, according to the White House. Those expenses were largely for lodging and meals.

The Trump Organization did not comment on the self-dealing payments, but the former president did issue a statement boasting that his affiliated committees have approximately $100m of cash ready for use.

These fundraising numbers, coupled with tremendous support in so many other ways, show that President Trumps supporters want him to continue the fight, the statement said.

Mr Trump has not yet committed to running another presidential campaign in 2024, though insiders have claimed he has told his dinner guests that he will once again compete for the Oval Office.

In the meantime, the Trump Organization is at the centre of an investigation by the Manhattan DA's office into alleged financial crimes.
These two baby goats survived Turkey's wildfires

Location: Manavgat, Turkey

Farmer Sercan Bayat lost eight of his livestock in the blaze

but later found a newborn goat lying helpless

after its mother had died in the fire

(SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) FARMER, SERCAN BAYAT, SAYING:"Two or three hours after the flames were put out, I saw this one on the ground. He is our baby goat now. We called him Miracle.//We found another goat amidst the wildfire. She has a baby. There you go. Miracle number two. This is our Miracle number two. Miracle suckles her mother. So our miracle has arrived. This is the fourth day of wildfires. Let's see what the future holds."

The massive forest fire that swept through Bayat's village

was one of about 100 fires across southern and western Turkey

Thousands were evacuated from their homes

(SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) FARMER, SERCAN BAYAT, SAYING:"I am only worried about these animals. If I had died, it wouldn't matter. Gendermarie soldiers couldn't take me away. When our village was being evacuated, I couldn't leave. I asked my parents to stay. I asked them: 'If we die here, shall we die together with them?' And they said yes. So we stayed. I wish the animals survived and I was dead instead. They are innocent creatures of God. I wish they survived."
Twitter is partnering with The Associated Press and Reuters to help its curation team put credible information in front of users. Made up of employees who work together to contextualize some of the most popular topics people are discussing on Twitter, the curation team oversees some of the platforms more visible and sometimes controversial features, including Trends and the Explore tab.

As a Twitter user, the company says you can expect to see it work faster to ensure theres more and better contextual information to see as people discuss things on the service. As a starting point on that front, the company says Trends will include contextual descriptions and links to reporting from reputable publications more frequently. Additionally, the company says the program will help it proactively identify topics that could become a wellspring of misinformation. Rather than waiting until something goes viral, Twitter will contextualize developing discourse at pace with or in anticipation of the public conversation, the company said.

Twitter also expects the partnership will help some features, where context is vitally important, work better. Here, the company points to tools like Birdwatch. Initially, The Associated Press and Reuters will focus on helping the company with English-language content, but its worth noting the curation team contextualizes Japanese, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese content as well.

In trying to support its curation team better, Twitter wants to avoid a repeat of a situation like the one it found itself in last year following the death of Jeffrey Epstein. The social media network was overrun with conspiracy theories about Epsteins suicide, and the company was seemingly unable to stop hashtags like #ClintonBodyCount from trending. Even when you take blatant disinformation out of the picture, Twitter trends are frequently easy bait for trolling, as was on display when US gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics. While trolls are likely to continue trying to game the service, enlisting the help of The Associated Press and Reuters could make those efforts less visible
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached.

The report also cited "ample evidence" that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists - aided by U.S. experts and Chinese and U.S. government funds - were working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and such manipulation could be hidden.

Representative Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the report by the panel's Republican staff. It urged a bipartisan investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that has killed 4.4 million people worldwide. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi

China denies a genetically modified coronavirus leaked from the facility in Wuhan - where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in 2019 - a leading but unproven theory among some experts. Beijing also denies allegations of a cover-up.

Other experts suspect the pandemic was caused by an animal virus likely transmitted to humans at a seafood market near the WIV.

"We now believe it's time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source," said the report. "We also believe the preponderance of the evidence proves the virus did leak from the WIV and that it did so sometime before September 12, 2019."

The report cited what it called new and under-reported information about safety protocols at the lab, including a July 2019 request for a $1.5 million overhaul of a hazardous waste treatment system for the facility, which was less than two years old.

In April, the top U.S. intelligence agency said it concurred with the scientific consensus that the virus was not man-made or genetically modified.

U.S. President Joe Biden in May ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to accelerate their hunt for the origins of the virus and report back in 90 days.

A source familiar with current intelligence assessments said the U.S. intelligence community has not reached any conclusion whether the virus came from animals or the WIV.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
The United States said Monday it was ready to take in thousands more Afghans whose US links put them at growing risk but acknowledged an arduous path ahead for its allies as Taliban insurgents make gains.

Less than a month before the United States is set to end its longest-ever war, the State Department broadened refugee admissions beyond the roughly 20,000 Afghans who have applied under a program for interpreters who assisted US forces and diplomats.

The State Department said that greater priority will now also go to Afghans employed by US-based media organizations or non-governmental organizations or on projects backed by US funding.

"Afghans who worked with the United States or the International Security Assistance Force at some point since 2001 are facing acute fears of persecution or retribution that will likely grow as coalition forces leave the country," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters.

"We have a special responsibility to these individuals. They stood with us. We will stand with them."

But he conceded the tough task ahead for asylum-seekers who first need to leave Afghanistan on their own and in most cases must wait more than a year for visa processing.

"You're right -- This is incredibly hard," Blinken said.

"As we see again and again, people have to do very difficult things to make sure that they can find safety and security, and we will do everything we can to help them, including making these different avenues of arrival to the United States for this group of people possible."

Blinken said the United States will also let in more Afghans who served as interpreters or in other support roles to forces of the US-led coalition but did not meet earlier requirements on time served.

A second flight of 400 Afghan interpreters and their families arrived Monday in the United States, Blinken said, after 200 landed on Monday as part of what has been dubbed Operation Allied Refuge.

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- Long road to US -

Unlike with the interpreters, the United States said it had no immediate plans to fly out the newly eligible Afghans even as the Taliban seize a growing number of border areas.

The applicants cannot seek directly to come to the United States but need to have referrals by their current or former employers. Once they make it outside Afghanistan, processing will take one year to 14 months, a US official said.

Another US official said that Washington, while not helping the new applicants escape, has asked other countries including Pakistan to keep their borders open to them.

But Pakistan was the historic backer of the Taliban and has also seen violence against Afghans, especially from the Hazara Shiite minority. Just Monday, the United States and Britain jointly accused the Taliban of massacring civilians in a town they recently captured on the Pakistani border.

The other major recipient of Afghan refugees is Iran, which has no diplomatic relations with the United States. The second US official said that potential applicants had started moving on from Iran to Turkey, already the temporary home to millions of refugees from Syria.

The State Department is designating the new refugees under so-called Priority 2, the same level given to persecuted minorities from a number of countries.

President Joe Biden has ordered a withdrawal of remaining US troops by the end of the month despite fears for the stability of the internationally backed government.

He insists that the United States has done all that it can and long ago accomplished its stated mission of eliminating al-Qaeda extremists who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks.

sct/mdl
U.S. and allied officials are planning a collective response to an alleged Iranian attack on an oil tanker that killed two civilians, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

We've conducted a thorough review, and we're confident that Iran carried out this attack, Blinken told reporters. And there will be a collective response.

Iranian officials have denied responsibility for the attack on Mercer Street, a tanker owned by a company based in London with ties to an Israeli billionaire. Iranian state media, by contrast, have carried reports suggesting the vessel was targeted in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Syria, where Iranian forces are fighting to preserve dictator Bashar Assads regime.

With profound sadness, we understand the incident onboard the M/T Mercer Street on 29 July, 2021 has resulted in the deaths of two crew members onboard: a Romanian national and a UK national, Zodiac Maritime, the London-based company that manages the tanker, announced Friday. We are not aware of harm to any other personnel. Our primary concern remains the safety and wellbeing of everyone onboard and all those affected by the situation. Details of the incident are still being established and an investigation into the incident is currently underway.

ISRAELIS PLAN MILITARY BUILDUP TO COUNTER IRAN ARMING ITSELF WITH A NUCLEAR WEAPON

Blinkens announcement adds a threatening edge to the accusation lodged against Iran by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Romania on Sunday.

Romania asks Iranian authorities to offer explanations right away and reserves the right to act accordingly, alongside its international partners, for an adequate response, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said.

Israeli officials arent proposing to wait for a response from Tehran.

This is the exact reason that we must act right now against Iran, which not only strives for a nuclear military [program] but also is leading to a dangerous arms race and the crumbling of stability in the Middle East, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told the Israeli legislature on Monday. In the past year, there have been no less than five Iranian attacks on international ships, some using UAVs manufactured by the Iranian military industry.

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The diplomatic conflagration comes at a time when indirect talks over the renewal of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal remain stalled, as hard-line Iranian jurist Ebrahim Raisi prepares to take over the presidency after being designated the winner of the latest election earlier this year.

Iran, under the hangman Raisi, who will take office this week, will be more dangerous to the world than it has been so far, more destructive to the region than it has been so far, and will strive to become an existential threat to Israel," Gantz continued.

Iran has denied the allegations, declaring it illegal and unacceptable to lodge such accusations. Now, the Mercer Street attack creates a new dispute between Iran and the U.K., despite Londons fundamental desire to keep the nuclear talks on track to rehabilitate the 2015 accord British officials regard as key to avoiding a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Israel, like many partners in the region, is threatened by this kind of activity. But clearly, each country needs to make its own considerations, British deputy ambassador to Israel Mark Power said this week. At this point, we call on our partners to condemn it, and were working with them to decide on an appropriate diplomatic response.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Iran, Israel, Antony Blinken, Romania, United Kingdom

Original Author: Joel Gehrke

Original Location: US vows collective response to Iranian attack on oil tanker Mercer Street
Li Ran/Xinhua via Getty Images

As the U.S. brings its long war in Afghanistan to a close, the Chinese government this week hosted a Taliban delegation in the port city of Tianjin. Chinese diplomats extended to the Afghan delegation warm hospitality, flattering words, and signs of an apparent willingness to play a greater role in Afghanistan going forward.

Personally, I feel that the U.S. stance toward China has sometimes been more hostile than is helpful in recent years. But, passing the baton on Afghanistan to them seems especially harsh. After all, for centuries it has been the losing ticket of geopolitics and, in recent decades, for the U.S. and the Soviet Union a particularly costly and tormenting one.

Of course, the U.S. government is not actually pulling out of Afghanistan to make way for China or to lure it into a trap. Quite the contrary, one U.S. official with whom I spoke said the U.S. would monitor Chinas involvement closely and that it might someday become a potential source of concern should Chinas role become overlarge.

China Has a BIG Plan for Post-U.S. Afghanistanand Its Worth Billions

When it comes to Afghanistans history as the graveyard of empires, China may think they know better than us how to avoid the countrys pitfalls. After all, the invasion of what is today known as Afghanistan by Genghis Khan in 1219 marked the beginning of one of the longest tenures for a foreign power ruling over the country. Yes, Khans grandson was ultimately killed in the bargain, but Mongol rule lasted until 1332.

In addition, it has to be said, China has not exactly celebrated the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as an opportunity. Quite the contrary, their engagement is due in part to their fear that Americas absence may create a destabilizing void in the region. In mid-July, Chinas foreign minister, Wan Yi, was quoted as saying The United States, which created the Afghan issue in the first place, should act responsibly to ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan. It should not simply shift the burden on to others and withdraw from the country with mess left behind unattended.

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How the War on Terror Enabled Chinas Surveillance Dystopia

For China, unrest associated with Afghanistan is troubling on several levels. First, they are concerned it may impact their significant investments in the region. China is the largest foreign investor in neighboring Pakistan and has made developing links to that country a key part of its Belt and Road Initiative. An explosion killed nine Chinese workers in Pakistan in July and Beijing quickly condemned it as an act of terrorism even as Pakistan denied it was such. The Chinese are naturally worried that if Afghanistan turns to chaos, it may impact their stake in the region.

They also worry that Islamic extremism may exacerbate problems that extend across Central Asia, inflaming Chinas Uighur population and, for all these reasons, could not tolerate a meltdown in Afghanistan. Hence, they are likely to be paying close attention to what happens there and keeping their ties open to all significant parties for the foreseeable future. That includes by the way, the government in Kabul as well as the Taliban. In this respect, their approach is pretty much like that the U.S. has embraced the past few years. They want to do whatever they need to and deal with whomever they must to ensure Afghanistan does not metastasize in a way that negatively impacts their interests.

Whereas U.S. interests in Afghanistan were largely tied to containing terrorism and avoiding threats such as the one that emerged there from Al Qaeda, Chinas interests are deeper and more complex. There are historical ties and security issues, their shared 47-mile border and Chinas broader concerns about stability in the sub-continent and its strategy for counterbalancing India, a regional rival with whom tensions have been high recently. Afghanistan directly impacts Chinas major investment in Pakistan and it also impacts Chinas growing involvement in the greater Middle East. In short, while the U.S. reasons for remaining engaged in Afghanistan were few and diminishing, Chinas are manifold.

This may seem like an isolated issue or perhaps an instance of foreign policy schadenfreude (Afghanistan couldnt become the headache of a nicer group of guys) but it is more than that. It is a story that is being told around the world. In part, it is driven by Chinas express desire to assume a greater leadership role on the world stage, a goal articulated by Chinas president Xi as a centerpiece of his policies. That goal is driven by an awareness that to continue its growth, China requires massive resource inputs from around the world and active markets to which to sell. Of course, with such deepened economic ties come deepened political ties and greater influence for the leaders in Beijing. It is all part of Chinas emergence as one of this centurys two dominant powers alongside the U.S.

But there is a twist here. The U.S. has for decades paid a high price for its superpower status. Some of this has been driven by hubris, some by global expectations of the worlds richest and most powerful nation. Our wars in the Middle East alone have been estimated to cost over $3 trillion and the price in losses to our troops has also been immense. In fact, for much of the past two decades China was content to see its principal rival distracted and burdened by its foreign entanglements while China, with no such costs, could focus on investing in its own infrastructure and domestic growth.

But that period of global activism seems to be coming, at least for the moment, to an end for the U.S. We are eager to end our forever wars and deeply reluctant to be drawn into others. Also, as this weeks headlines underscore, the U.S. is finally starting to seriously consider investing in ourselves.

This policy shift is creating a void. And in some cases, particularly for China in its own neighborhood or in regions upon which its future growth will depend, it is finding itself drawn into filling that void. As the US pivots out of the regions that have cost it so dearly for so long, China is cautiously, gradually, but seemingly inevitably pivoting in. Chinas involvement does not and likely will not look like Americas sometimes gargantuan past errors. But for every area in which it gains influence, it will also gain headaches.

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COVID-19 Vaccination Drive

A beneficiary poses for a photo after getting vaccinated with a dose of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre, on July 13, 2021 in Mumbai, India. Credit - Satish Bate-Hindustan Times

China and Russia both thought the pandemic would give them a chance to show that they are scientifically innovativeand more generousthan Western countries, which were slower to roll out vaccines and which have been accused of hoarding supplies.

It hasnt worked out.

Chinas president Xi Jinping referred to Chinese vaccines as a global public good. Chinas Sinovac vaccine also offers developing countries some important advantages that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines cant match. Sinovac can be stored in a standard refrigerator. The Moderna vaccine must be stored at -20C and the Pfizer vaccine at -70C, an obstacle in countries where health infrastructure is lacking. Thats part of why Chinas vaccines have been injected into arms in more than 80 countries across the developing world.

Doubts about Chinese-made vaccines

The trouble is that, when compared with these other vaccines, Chinas jabs just arent very effective. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines have efficacy rates of more than 90%. The World Health Organization noted in June that the Sinovac vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe Covid-19 and hospitalization in 100% of the studied population, though it acknowledged that few adults over age 60 took part in the trials, , potentially skewing the numbers by with a sample population thats less vulnerable that the public at large. Data for the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine demonstrated a vaccine efficacy [rate] for symptomatic and hospitalized disease at 79%though here too patients over 60 were underrepresented.

Crucially, these studies tested vaccines only against the version of COVID-19 virus that emerged in late 2019 from the city of Wuhan. They provided no data on effectiveness against variants, including the Delta variant, which is becoming the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in many countries, including the U.S. In many of the places where Sinopharm and Sinovac are in use, there has been a sharp spike in the number of COVID-19 infections in recent weeks.

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Russias lousy rollout

Russias Sputnik V vaccine, now in use in nearly 70 countries, has recently been found to be safe and effective in international studies, but it remains controversial for other reasons. Not only was Sputnik the worlds first vaccine authorized for use in any countrythe Russian Health Ministry okayed it in August 2020, more than a month before its Phase 1 and 2 trial results were published, and before its Phase 3 trial had even begun. Questions about the credibility of Russian government assurances immediately became suspect. Indeed, both the WHO and European Medicines Agency have yet to authorize Sputnik V for emergency use, due to a lack of access to raw data from the trials, and concerns over rare side effects. But countries like India, South Korea, Argentina, Hungary, Iran and many others which lack more transparent alternatives have proven willing to take the risk. COVID-ravaged India, for example, plans to eventually manufacture at least 850 million doses of Sputnik V per year.

But beyond questions of efficacy, the Russian rollout of Sputnik has faced a series of embarrassing problems. In April, Brazilian regulators rejected Sputnik as potentially dangerous before reversing the decision in Junewhen COVID-19 infections were soaring across the countryand allowing a small number of doses at a time into the country. Slovak officials said in April that the Sputnik doses it received from Russia did not have the same characteristics and properties as Sputnik doses provided by Russia for evaluation in international studies. Indian officials say delayed supplies from Russia have put big production plans there on hold. The Moscow Times reported earlier this month that Russia has awarded an Emirati royal the exclusive rights to sell its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to a host of countries in at least three continents in a deal that has seen buyers paying huge premiums for supplies.

Put it all together, and its easy to see why Russias claim that 800 million people worldwide will be vaccinated with Sputnik by the end of 2021 is farcical. Because of delays that have hampered production of Sputnik in other countries, many of the Sputnik doses administered abroad have come directly from Russia, which sharply limits the number than can be manufactured globally. In May, the Russian edition of Forbes reported that some 16.3 million doses of a two-dose vaccine had been exported. Thats just a bit better than 1% of the target Russia set for global Sputnik vaccinations.

But the best tests of the Russian governments (lack of) credibility comes directly from the Russian people. A poll conducted in March found that a startling 62% of Russians surveyed didnt want to be vaccinated. As of June 28, just 15% of Russians had received at least one dose of a vaccine that has been authorized inside Russia for nearly a year. This in a country that is breaking records for daily deaths from COVID-19.

The bottom line

Chinese and Russian vaccines wont win those countries the geopolitical victories they hoped for. A huge missed opportunity for Moscow and Beijing.

What to watch

A remarkably clear explanation in six minutes from an expert on variants and vaccines. The takeaway: Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines are clearly most effective against the Delta variant, but the Chinese or Russian vaccines are still much better than nothing.
Clara Ledward, 29, stands accused of murdering her husband, Jacob Ledward, 24. (Family image / Odessa Police Department)

Clara Ledward, a 29-year-old woman from Texas accused of murdering her 24-year-old husband, has been captured in Mexico.

She was arrested on Friday over allegations that she killed Jacob Ledward in May and allegedly fled south of the border following the murder.

According to the police in Odessa in western Texas, Ms Ledward sustained non-life-threatening injuries after being shot by Mexican authorities in Ojinaga, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, just across the Rio Grande from the town of Presidio, Texas.

Police suspected that she may have left the country when they learned that she has family near Ojinaga. Police initially wanted to question Ms Ledward about her husbands death but subsequently issued a warrant for her arrest.

The Mexican authorities extradited Ledward to the United States and to Brewster County for medical care, a statement from the police department says.

Ms Ledward was taken into custody by Odessa Police at the hospital in Alpine, Texas.

According to the police, she allegedly killed Mr Ledward in Odessa on 16 May. His body was found in his home after the police received a welfare check request from relatives.

Authorities have not said how Mr Ledward was murdered, and also hasnt revealed a possible motive for the killing.

Early into the investigation, the Odessa Police Department became aware of the fact that Ms Ledward fled to Mexico, the statement from the police department adds. Our partners with the FBI assisted by issuing an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution arrest warrant in order for us to work with the Government of Mexico in her apprehension.

Ms Ledward has been charged with felony murder and tampering with evidence. She has not yet gone before a judge to enter a plea.

After Fridays arrest, Mr Ledwards family issued to statement to KMID: We, his family, give all praise and thanks to God for her capture as well as all those who have been involved in making it happen. This is just the first step toward getting Justice for Jacob.

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The Independent has reached out to the Odessa Police Department for comment.

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Barack Obama. Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock

Over the weekend, former President Barack Obama announced plans for a lavish birthday party at his Martha's Vineyard estate. The bash will attract around 500 guests, to be entertained by the rock band Pearl Jam, and served by a staff of 200.

The announcement makes a mockery of heightened COVID-19 restrictions being imposed around the country. Even if the outdoor event is safe, the prospect of well-connected Democrats partying while ordinary Americans contemplate rising hospitalizations, mask mandates, and even renewed lockdowns is unseemly.

Public health hypocrisy isn't the only problem. Obama is just the most recent president who adopted a plutocratic lifestyle after leaving office, partly at public expense. Former presidents enjoy benefits and subsidies worth millions of dollar annually under the Former Presidents Acts.

It's always been a bit fraudulent. The FPA was passed in 1958, partly due to the influence of Harry Truman. Truman claimed he was broke after decades of public life, a claim echoed in David McCullough's bestselling biography. But new scholarship finds that Truman was very rich by the standards of his time. In addition to a fortune earned by sale of his memoirs, Truman may have embezzled funds from the White House expense account.

In addition to Truman's lobbying, the FPA was passed because some earlier presidents struggled to earn a living after leaving office. American history is haunted by the image of Ulysses S. Grant, furiously composing his bestselling (and brilliant) memoirs as he was dying of cancer. It's reasonable to provide ex-presidents a pension. And it's probably necessary to guarantee some level of Secret Service protection.

But benefits should be means-tested against other income. Ex-presidents who make big bucks from book deals, speaking fees, or borderline scams don't deserve additional public support. Truman was right: We don't want public service to be a path to bankruptcy. But ex-presidents haven't earned the right to party like rock stars.

Story continues

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Zoom will pay $85 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that weak privacy controls opened too many peepholes into the personal information of users and that it was too easy for outsiders to disrupt video meetings during the early stages of the pandemic.

The proposed agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for Oct. 21 in San Jose, California.

Millions of people in the U.S. who have used Zoom since March 31, 2020 could be eligible for a slice of the settlement that was reached over the weekend. The payment amounts are expected to average $34 or $35 for those who subscribed to Zoom's paid version, and $11 or $12 for the overwhelming majority who used the free version, based on estimates in court documents.

Zoom was bedeviled by security issues early last year after stay-at-home orders transformed the company's videoconferencing service from a niche product into a cultural phenomenon. Almost overnight it became the go-to venue for business meetings, schools, social gatherings and, in a deadly global pandemic, funerals.

The lawsuit alleged that the Silicon Valley company violated the trust of millions of people by sharing the personal information of users with platforms like Facebook, Google and Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. The case, which consolidated 14 different lawsuits filed since March 2020, also targeted the disruptive practice of Zoombombing  a term coined to describe hackers who broke into videoconferencing meetings being held by others.

The company in a prepared statement Monday said that it acted quickly to tighten security after reports of Zoombombing began to surface.

We are proud of the advancements we have made to our platform, and look forward to continuing to innovate with privacy and security at the forefront," Zoom said Monday. The company didn't acknowledged any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Security concerns did not prevent Zoom from permeating the daily lives of millions during the pandemic.

The Zoom's annual revenue quadrupled last year to nearly $2.7 billion and it ended April with 497,000 customers that employed at least 10 workers and subscribed to the premium version of its service, up from 81,900 customers before the pandemic hit the U.S. Its stock price has tripled and traded close to $380 Monday.

The lawyers that pursued the case are seeking $21.25 million, or 25% of the $85 million settlement fund.
We have very few options in this county for older people, Guill said of the housing offered. Im looking at something just like this right now.

Guill said two friends have moved from Amherst County to Lynchburg in the past two years in search of housing friendly to seniors.

There were not options in the county that they wanted. They wanted to stay but there wasnt any options, Guill said. This is something that is very much needed. We need some growth in this county.

Bryant presented a concern the project could be considered spot zoning since no R-3 zoning is located near the parcel. He also said staff has concerns about needed environmental protections of a downstream lake, a stream on site and wetlands on the parcel.

The developer has formally agreed to work closely with county planners, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a plan that adequately protects the wetlands, on-site streams and downstream properties.

White said about 40% of the property site at 2044 South Coolwell Road is undevelopable.
The effects of unregulated chemicals

A lot of chemicals are in use today, and tracking them all is incredibly difficult. Today, more than 80,000 chemicals are registered with the National Toxicology Program. When the program was founded in 1978, 60,000 of those were grandfathered into the program with minimal information, and nearly 2,000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Many scientists believe that the safety testing for health and environmental risks is not strong enough and that the rapid development and introduction of new chemicals challenges the ability of organizations to test long-term risks to human health.
In early proposals, the coalitions name only referred to the opioid crisis. But advocates spoke up and stressed that it was important to shed light on the broader reach of the addiction epidemic beyond opioids alone.

Baldwin said raising that awareness and spurring more conversations about addiction in the community is key.

We need to talk about it, said Baldwin, whos with the Hope Initiative. Addiction still carries such a stigma. There is so much guilt and shame and lack of understanding and education. It can be really uncomfortable for a lot of people to talk about.

But the more we can have those open conversations and advocate for people who are seeking treatment and advocate for an expansion of services in the community, that is how were really going to make an impact.

In September, the Roanoke Valley Collective Response rolled out an action blueprint that outlines dozens of steps it plans to take over the next three years.

Some of its focuses to date have included strengthening re-entry support for people leaving jail custody, exploring how to make recovery housing more available and making it easier for families of people battling addiction to connect with support.
Whatever the case might be, we all isolated from our loved ones, Chung said.

As a freshman at the University of Richmond, Alicia found it hard to make new friends. She had struggled with depression before, and the pandemic amplified her challenges. She felt like she had no support system. Alicia, who declined to give her last name because of the stigma sometimes attached to seeking mental health treatment, started missing assignments and classes, lying in bed all day.

At the end of October, she overdosed and called poison control. She gave them only her first name and the fact that she was a UR student. But poison control called university police, who connected the dots and found her. Police and paramedics knocked on her door and took her to the hospital. She withdrew from classes to return home and focus on recovery.

Alicia will return to UR this fall, but shell continue seeing her therapist from home, as UR isnt equipped to give her all the care she needs, she said.

Mental health was already a crisis before the pandemic began, Chung said. One in five kids or young adults experiences a diagnosable mental health condition. The number of VCU students who have sought care has risen about 15% between 2014 and 2019, Aziz said. VCUs counseling staff has grown to keep up with the rise.
We have always had them among us: fortune tellers, diviners, readers of palms, tarot cards, tea leaves, stars, horoscopes, discerners of animal entrails, calling on gods of wood and stone, and all sorts of other seers who have attempted to convince the gullible that they have the power to predict the future.

To some, climate change proponents are little more than modern-day soothsayers that media continues to legitimize, even when their dire predictions of global catastrophe turn out to be not so dire.

The latest, but assuredly not the last, is President Bidens climate envoy, John Kerry. Kerry, whose scientific credentials are nonexistent, recently predicted we have only 100 days to save the planet from climate disaster. That Chicken Little prediction was made at the UN Climate Summit a few days ago, so we had better subtract the days that have followed.

Kerry said on CBS This Morning in February that the world has nine years to avert a climate catastrophe. What happened in the last five months to advance his forecast? He doesnt say and reporters wont ask him.
For me, and no doubt others who dedicated the bulk of their careers to [the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services], the neglect of the hospitals and its consequences are distressing and demoralizing, Barber said in an email message to Dr. Dan Carey, secretary of health and human resources, on July 15.

Honestly, I am amazed at the lack of accountability for you and the administration for the cascade of decisions and actions that led to this point, Barber said to Carey.

Now, Carey replaced Barber three years ago  which is why Barber would have been briefing his replacement. That commissioner, Dr. Hughes Melton, died in August 2019 from injuries received in a car crash in Augusta County. Carey then appointed Land to the position.

But the General Assembly also bears some responsibility.

Were already on fire  and the fire is going to get hotter, Barber told lawmakers four years ago, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Barber then proposed to restructure the states system of financing public mental health care. His plan would have shifted more funds from institutions to community-based care  something that has been a long-term goal for Virginia and that politicians, advocates and many in the public have said they support.
Japanese trading house Itochu is set to begin commercial production of ammonia in Canada in 2026 at what is slated to be one of the world's largest manufacturing facilities for the clean-burning fuel.

Itochu has agreed to conduct a joint feasibility study with a Canadian subsidiary of Malaysian state energy company Petronas, as well as a local infrastructure company that builds gas pipelines. The $1.3 billion plant will manufacture ammonia from natural gas extracted from a field owned by the Petronas unit, making up to 1 million tons per year.

The trading house plans to ship the fuel to Japan, helping to bring the coal-reliant country a step closer to meeting its emissions-cutting goals. Ammonia generates no carbon dioxide when burned and can be blended with coal to reduce emissions at fossil-fuel power plants.

Plans call for breaking ground on the facility in an Alberta industrial zone in 2023. Itochu and the local infrastructure company will set up a joint venture for the plant. The trading house will handle most of the sales as well as set up a transportation network.

Ammonia is produced by stripping away hydrogen from natural gas and combining it with nitrogen. Itochu plans to capture and store carbon dioxide produced in the process. The resulting fuel, made with a reduced climate impact, is so-called blue ammonia, as opposed to "green" ammonia made using renewable energy sources such as solar power.

Ammonia from the new plant will be shipped from western Canada by sea to Itochu's home country, mainly for sale to power companies as well as manufacturers that generate their own power, such as steel and chemical makers.

A million tons of ammonia blended with coal at a 20-80 ratio is enough to power two 1-gigawatt power station units for a year. The Japanese government aims to have the country consume 3 million tons of ammonia fuel each year by 2030.
New Delhi: BJP MPs from North East today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a memorandum on various issues pertaining to the region incl Assam-Mizoram border row.

It states, Series of confidence-building measures have taken place over last few days. Yet actions of Congress remain as devious & mischievous, Tweeted ANI.

According to the memorandum,BJP MPs expressed their disapproval of attempts by a section of polity led by Congress and using these incidents to indulge in one-upmanship.

Here is the memorandum

We, the undersigned, like our fellow Indians are extremely pained by the violence that took place on the Assam-M izoram border. At the same time, we would like to express our clear disapproval of the attempt by sections of our polity led by the Congress Party to indulge in politics over these happenings and use this as a means to indulge in one-upmanship. The Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram have expressed the de sire to amicably resolve issues. A series of confidence building measures have also taken place over the last few days. Yet, the actions of the Congress Party remain as devious and mischie vous.

We would like to strongly convey to all those elements who view the Assam-Mizoram issue as a means of spreading chaos in India that their shenanigans will not work. India is united and will continue to move ahead on the path of progress.

We would like to unequivocally state that under the NOA Gov ernment led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi develop ment work in the Northeast has been historic and unparalleled. No Prime Minister has been as sensitive to the aspirations of the Northeast as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people of our region are deeply touched by his describing the Northeast as the Ashtalakshmi of Indias progress and the rapid devel opment in the region as a part of the Act East Policy.

In contrast, successive Congress governments of India failed to do justice to the dreams of region. The problem with the par ty is fundamental  their view towards our region is patronising, condescending and reeks of a mindset akin to orientalism.

We would like to briefly turn the pages of history to illustrate our point. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs. Indira Gandhi were not sensitive to the aspirations of the Naga and Mizo communities. The Congress Party keeps taking credit for the Mizo Accord but in less than two years of the Accord, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi dismissed and humiliated Lalden ga so that the state could have a Congress Government. If the Congress Party took a harder stand on China, the people of Arunachal Pradesh would sleep even more peacefully than they did for many years. In Assam, it is an open secret how top echelons of the Congress encouraged instability in the state through the 1970s and 1980s.

As for the development indices, successive Congress Govern ments left the people of the Northeast to their own fate. Basic development facilities did not reach even the relatively urban centres of the Northeast, leave aside the remote areas.

It is after 2014 that the Northeast underwent a transformative change under the statesmanship of PM Narendra Modi. Shri Narendra Modi has visited the region more than any other Prime Minister. On a weekly basis there is some or the other Central Minister in the Northeast. The Budget of the DONER Ministry has risen by 65% between 2014 and 2020. Grants from the Centre and under the 14th Financial Commission have seen a historic increase.

Over Rs. 2 lakh crore have been spent on infrastructure works in the Northeast during the last 7 years. It was under PM Narendra Modi that many states of the region came on Indias railway map. Air connectivity has improved across all the states and Sikkim got a new airport. Thousands of villages received electricity connections, roads were built at rapid pace. Similar ly, a record number of educational institutions and hospitals have been built. In line with PM Modis vision of providing peo ple-centric solutions to long lasting problems, the Naga Accord, Bodo Accord and the Bru-Reang issue moved towards peaceful resolution. The Northeast is now home to iconic in frastructure like the Bogibeel Bridge and Dhola Sadiya Bridge. Under the Modi Government, violence and insurgency in the region are down. Several people who were earlier associated with militancy have surrendered and joined the mainstream.

There are numerous other steps taken by the Modi Govern ment that have benefitted the Northeast. This includes the LBA with Bangladesh, NLFT agreement and the Karbi Anglong agreement which is in the final stages. The state of Manipur, which was constantly under the shadow of blockades is now past those troubling times.

Congress and its leaders have zero regard for the culture of the Northeast. We cannot forget how one senior Congress leader called headgear from the Northeast outlandish when pictures of our beloved Prime Minister wearing traditional gears from Northeastern states were showed on social media. During the UPA years, attacks on people from the Northeast in Delhi were at an all-time high. Chief Ministers from the Northeast had to wait for weeks before Congress leaders granted them ap pointments and even if they did, they would play with their pets instead of focusing on the development issues of the North east.

In contrast, it was the Modi Government which conferred the Bharat Ratna on the great Bhupen Hazarika. Before that, it was the Vajpayee Government that conferred the award on Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi. For the first time in the history of Independent India, Arunachal Pradesh has a Cabinet Minister and Tripura has representation in the Council of Ministers.

Today, the NEDA is a strong and inclusive alliance that is cater ing to all sections of the Northeastern society. No wonder the region is standing solidly behind the NDA and PM Modi. Un-able to digest this, Congress and their eco-system is trying many dirty tricks. Through 2018 they tried to make the CAA and NRC as political issues but the people of the Northeast gave them a befitting reply. Now, they are stoking tempers be tween Assam and Mizoram.

We, the undersigned, want to state clearly that the nefarious designs of the Congress will not succeed in the Northeast. They should stop politicking on issues and focus on develop ment agenda. The Northeast stands with PM Modi in the pur suit for all round development. We are also pained by the fre quent disruptions of the Congress, which deny us our Parlia mentary privilege of raising pro-people issues from our con stituents. It pained us to see over Rs. 130 crore of public mon ey being thrown down the drain just because of the obstruc tions of the Congress.

Let us join ranks and work for the development of the North east and progress of our nation.

Jai Hind!
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North Platte native Elizabeth Tegtmeier announced her candidacy for the Nebraska State Board of Educations District 7 on Monday.

Robin Stevens of Gothenburg is the current District 7 representative. He ran unopposed in the November 2018 election.

In a press release, Tegtmeier said she would be a strong voice for western Nebraska values and promises to protect Nebraskas children from harmful ideologies that promote racially divisive ideas and inappropriate sexual content.

Tegtmeier expressed her concerns about recent proposals from the state board.

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The proposed state health standards have revealed that our current board is trying to include information in school curriculum that falls under the jurisdiction of the parents, Tegtmeier said. This board needs to stay in its lane.

She holds a Master of Arts in education with a focus on curriculum and instruction. Tegtmeier and her husband, Brian, have chosen to home-school their children through middle school. Their oldest two children are recent graduates of North Platte High School.

Tegtmeier said she believes that each childs educational needs are unique and may be addressed in a variety of ways through public, private, or home-school environments.
Arizonas state capitol, just a short hop from Austin. Photo: Jon Hicks/Getty Images

I really admire the chutzpah of Texas Democratic state legislators in going (quite literally) the extra mile to stop an egregious power grab by the Republicans who control their state government. For all the huffing and puffing (including threats of arrest and incarceration) by said Republicans about the maneuver, leaving the state to deny Republican a quorum is as defensible as the travel-free filibusters the GOP deploys so regularly in Washington to deny the majority the ability to work its will.

But speaking of Washington  I do have some issues with the destination chosen by those Texas Democratic legislators: Washington, D.C. Yes, I understand the logic of protesting a voter-suppression bill by going to the place where legislation to preempt such bills is pending, namely the U.S. Senate. But on the other hand, the gambit reinforced several decades of anti-Washington demagoguery by Republicans everywhere: Look at them! Instead of making their case and earning their pay in Austin, the Democrat socialists went right up the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to beg Uncle Sam to take control of the Lone Star States election laws! The substance of the Democratic plea to Congress was sound, but the optics, as the saying goes, were sub-optical, to say the least.

Now Texas Democrats are getting some reinforcements  but unfortunately theyre just feeding these Republican talking points. Per the Washington Post:

More than 100 state legislators from across the country will converge in Washington on Monday to join their Texas counterparts in pushing the Senate and President Biden to take action on voting reform legislation.

The lawmakers represent more than 20 states, including some in which Republican-led legislatures have passed or are considering new voting restrictions, and will urge senators to pass the For the People Act, or at least show progress on a federal voting law, before their summer recess. They are scheduled to rally outside the Capitol on Tuesday and press their case during other public events and private meetings.

The implied suggestion, unfortunately, is that President Biden and Senate Democrats generally could pass voting-rights legislation if they really wanted to. They cannot, of course, because (a) nobody has figured out a way to include such legislation in a budget-reconciliation bill that cannot be filibustered; (b) Senate Republicans are united in defending an unreformed right to filibuster; and (c) certain Senate Democrats, most notably Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, refuse to support even a limited filibuster reform carve-out for crucial items like voting rights. So if state-level Democrats really want to put pressure on those stopping the For the People Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, theyd be better off targeting the home states of a few key Senate Republicans, or of Manchin and Sinema.

Now its likely that Manchin would greet a delegation of hostile Democrats from Texas or other states with great joy, for the same reason that protestations aimed at him in Washington have zero positive impact: He represents a heavily Republican state where perceived independence from other Democrats is a priceless political gift. Perhaps the most effective thing Joe Biden could do to sway Manchin is to spend a week or so traveling around West Virginia calling the senator every nasty name in the book.

So maybe a better travel destination for Democrats wanting to force action on voting rights in Washington is Kyrsten Sinemas Arizona, a highly competitive state where Democrats do not have to behave like Republicans to get elected statewide, and anger has been building towards her cynical belief that triangulating against her own party is the ticket to Senate seniority. Phoenixs Sky Harbor airport is just a short hop from Austin. And Democratic legislators visiting Arizona could stop by the state fairgrounds to draw attention to the bizarre 2020 election audit that shows the hostility of Republicans to basic democratic norms.
Protesters with Representative Cori Bush outside the U.S. Capitol on July 31. Photo: Getty Images

Established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2020, the federal eviction moratorium was designed to halt evictions due to missed rent because of surging unemployment and the reality that forced removals threaten to increase the spread of COVID-19. And while the more contagious Delta variant is spreading at an alarming rate throughout the United States, the protection expired at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, requiring hundreds of thousand of renters to pay back rent that accrued during the pandemic, or potentially face removal from their homes  and increased risk of being exposed to the virus. Below is a primer for the developing crisis, how it is affecting tenants whose income has been impacted by the virus, and how it may affect the pandemic.

What happens to tenants who owe back rent?

In addition to the rent due for August 1, tenants must pay any additional months they missed during the pandemic, except in states where extended protections are in place: Hawaii (August 6), Maryland (August 15), New York (August 30), Minnesota (September 12), California (September 30), Washington (September 30), and New Jersey (the official end of the public-health emergency designation plus two months). Several federal agencies  including the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs  have also extended their moratoriums until September 30. Renters in many states are also required to pay late fees for payments they have missed.

While its difficult to determine how many Americans could lose their homes, according to a U.S. Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey conducted on July 5, around 3.6 million people said they could face eviction in the next two months. Another recent survey by the Census Bureau found that an estimated 11 million adult tenants are considered seriously delinquent on rent.

Courts throughout the United States could be hit with a large number of eviction filings in the early days of August. Meanwhile, some 450,000 eviction cases have already been filed since the beginning of the pandemic in March of last year  cases that could now move more quickly through the courts because they are already in motion.

What are the Biden administration and Congress doing to address the crisis?

Following a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in June  which barred the CDC from further extending the ban without a bill passed by Congress  the Biden administration requested last Thursday that lawmakers approve a one-month addition to the moratorium. Really, we only learned about this yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last Friday. Frustrated by the short notice, Democrats were not able to pass the bill through the House in time. And while the eviction process began ramping back up on August 1, that date marked the beginning of vacation for representatives, whose recess lasts through the entire month. Shortly before the order expired, President Biden ordered the federal agencies mentioned above to extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until the end of September.

To protest against the failure to extend the moratorium, Missouri representative Cori Bush  who has faced evictions and homelessness prior to her time in office  slept on the steps of the Capitol. While encamped there, she urged Congress to reconvene to reinstate the eviction moratorium to put an end to the eviction emergency.

And while lawmakers have secured $47 billion for relief as part of the Emergency Rental Assistance program, logistical issues have resulted in only about $3 billion of the funds actually being distributed to around 600,000 tenants.

How might the end of the moratorium affect the pandemic?

Just as the Delta variant has upended many of the pandemic calculations made earlier this year, the plan for the moratorium to expire, with widespread vaccine access significantly slowing the spread of the virus, has been frustrated by the recent surge in cases. In the past seven days, cases have shot up by 53 percent to a daily average of 66,606. (Showing the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious cases, hospitalizations are up 31 percent and deaths just 8 percent.) But as Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Sunday, things are going to get worse before the Delta surge collapses in the U.S.

If evictions move forward in large numbers, its possible that travel associated with moving, increased reliance on shelters, and more family members living in close quarters could increase the risk of transmission for those who have been forced from their home for failing to pay back rent. Just because the federal moratorium has expired, it does not mean that the science behind the CDCs determination that evictions can spread COVID has lapsed with it.
Why Wear Anti-Vibe Gloves?

Sustained use of vibrating machinery can lead to severe cases of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome that can be both debilitating and irreversible.

Anybody whos ever spent a few hours weed eating, pushing a lawnmower around the yard or going for a lengthy bike ride has probably experienced it on some level: tingling and numbness in the hands and arms.

Its not your imagination. Hand-arm vibration is a real thing. Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome is a genuine affliction that particularly affects workers who regularly operate vibrating machinery as part of their daily work routine. While HAVS can disproportionately have an effect on workers operating heavy machinery, such as jackhammers, even fewer jarring tools such as hand saws, power drills and, yes, lawnmowers, can still contribute to more modest incidents of HAVS.

HAVS is nothing that should be taken lightly, although its admittedly disconcerting to have yet another acronym-laden malady to have to stop and consider. While occasional use of vibrating machinery may only cause numbness and tingling for a few minutes or hours, regular, sustained use of such machinery can lead to severe cases of HAVS that can be both debilitating and irreversible.

In cases such as sustained jackhammer operation, for example, an individual may suffer a loss of grip strength and decreased dexterity, an increased chance of developing arthritis, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and even experience chronic pain.

Extreme vs. Nuisance Vibration

Some of the higher HAVS risk occupations, not surprisingly, include construction, sheet metal work, welding, automotive repair and electrical work. However, even professions in the medical and dental fields carry some risk, due to the prevalence of machinery that produces high frequency vibrations that may not be as profound as a jackhammerunless you have a particularly sadistic dentistbut sustained use of such machinery can be debilitating nonetheless.

If a job requires the regular use of any machinery that vibrates at all, the potential exists of developing HAVS to some extent or another. Its estimated that as many as two million or more workers are exposed to some level of workplace vibration of some sort. Of those workers, about half can expect to experience some HAVS symptoms.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.
New Mexico broke an oil production record in May, pumping an average 1.22 million barrels daily as the Permian Basin returned to output growth again.

Bloomberg reports, citing government data, that New Mexico produced more oil than North Dakota, and it did so for three months in a row to May.

New Mexico also recently reported record oil and revenues for the fiscal year 2021. According to the New Mexico State Land Office, it had received some $1.26 billion in total revenues in the latest fiscal year, of which $1.25 billion or 96 percent came from oil and gas royalties.

Since the start of this year, revenues have strengthened further, averaging some $100 million per month and rising to a record $135 million for June, according to preliminary data.

State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said, as quoted by the Carlsbad Current-Argus, that oil and gas production in New Mexico rebounded quickly thanks to relief granted by the state. The relief consisted of drillers keeping their leases despite well closure during the worst of the demand crisis last year.

At the onset of the pandemic, we worked to put safeguards in place in order to assure that active oil and gas leases would be as successful as possible for the institutions we support, the commissioner said. Those efforts paid off in the long run.

Speaking of oil leases, New Mexico senators are among those getting increasingly frustrated by the Interior Departments delay in restarting the issuance of federal oil and gas leases. President Biden imposed a moratorium on oil and gas leases for federal lands in January, but recently, a Louisiana judge overturned the moratorium. The Interior Department, however, has been slow to remove the obstacles to new lease issuance.

New Mexico is among the states with a substantial portion of oil royalties coming from federal land leases.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The global push to substantially reduce carbon and other fossil fuel emissions is expected to sharply impact demand for fossil fuels. It will eventually trigger a phenomenon known as peak oil demand, where crude oil consumption will cease growing, flat line, and then progressively contract causing prices to fall. A raft of analytical agencies and global oil supermajors believe that it could occur by 2030, or potentially even earlier as fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has indicated. While peak oil demand poses an ominous long-term threat to the global petroleum industry it has not crimped the massive oil boom underway in South America. If anything, global energy supermajors are ratcheting up their investment in the continents petroleum industry, particularly the Guyana-Surname Basin and offshore Brazil.

Despite peak oil demand and the global push to cut carbon emissions, hydrocarbon consumption is rising at a steady clip, mostly driven by an energy-hungry China. If India, the worlds sixth-largest economy, can recover from the coronavirus pandemic and return to growth then the rate at which global petroleum consumption is growing will accelerate. Global energy supermajors are increasingly attracted to South America, with investment in Argentinas oil patch steadily ratcheting up and Colombias 2021 bid round gaining attention. But it is offshore Brazil that has become the focal point of the continents oil boom. Even the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and a spat between President Bolsonaro and Petrobras highly experienced CEO Roberto Castello Branco, which initially alarmed energy investors, have had little if any material on Brazils economically crucial oil industry. In fact, Brazils oil output over the next five years is expected to grow at a greater rate than any other nation except the U.S. and those comprising OPEC. This will occur even with big oil pushing to make operations carbon neutral and avoid being burdened with stranded assets, or those petroleum reserves which are uneconomic to exploit in a carbon-neutral world.

It is Brazils offshore ultra-deepwater pre-salt oilfields that are attracting considerable interest from foreign energy majors, with breakeven prices that have been steadily falling over the last decade to be some of the lowest globally. Industry analysts estimate offshore projects in Brazil are breaking even at a low $35 per barrel, which with operational costs tipped to fall should fall further, potentially below $30 a barrel. In early April 2020, at the height of the 2020 oil price collapse, triggered by Russia and Saudi Arabias brewing price war and the coronavirus pandemic, Petrobras claimed to be operating with a companywide breakeven price of $21 per barrel. Brazils national oil company continues to report an impressive total cost of oil produced, which for the first quarter of 2021 was a low $32 per barrel. That, in conjunction with a very low lifting cost of $2.70 per barrel for Petrobras pre-salt oilfields, underscores the profitability of Brazils offshore oil industry. The attractiveness of investing in offshore Brazil was significantly enhanced by the reforms initiated by the Bolsonaro administration, including a focus on increased privatization. Those legislative amendments have increased competition, reduced regulatory restrictions and provided greater access to the pre-salt oil basins for foreign energy companies. This will also assist with driving breakeven prices lower, further enhancing Brazils attractiveness for foreign energy companies. Related: Oil Tops $75 On Shrinking U.S. Crude Inventories

As a result, big oil is flocking to invest in Latin Americas largest oil producer, particularly after oil prices have recovered since the March 2020 oil price collapse with the international Brent benchmark up by 49% since the start of 2021. Brazils hydrocarbon regulator, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP  Portuguese initials) forecast in January 2021 that investment inflows into petroleum exploration and production activities would reach an impressive $13 billion during 2021. This the regulator believes will fund the drilling of 45 exploration wells this year, with 19 slated for offshore Brazil, primarily in the prolific low-cost pre-salt oil basins. The attractiveness of investing in offshore Brazil is underscored by global oil supermajor ExxonMobil announcing that it was prioritizing the region for near-term capital spending because it believes those assets have the potential to generate some of the strongest returns in its portfolio. That commitment is demonstrated by Exxon and its partners Equinor and Petrogal committing to invest a combined $8 billion to develop the ultra-deepwater Bacalhau oil discovery in Brazils offshore Santos Basin. Exxon holds a 40% interest in the project with another 40% controlled by Equinor, which is also the operator, and the remaining 20% is owned by Petrogal. The consortium expects the oilfield, which is estimated to contain recoverable resources of up to two billion barrels of oil equivalent, will produce first oil by 2024. Bacalhau is a particularly attractive asset to develop because of the low contaminant sweet light crude oil which the consortium claims possesses a carbon content of nearly half the global average.

To draw further foreign energy investment, the ANP is auctioning 92 exploration and production concessions in the Potiguar, Campos, Santos, and Pelotas offshore basins in Brazils pandemic postponed October 2021 bid round. This will further boost investment and ultimately petroleum output in what is shaping up to be one of the worlds hottest offshore jurisdictions, which will lead to global non-OPEC and U.S. oil production growth. While big oil is selling higher-cost aging petroleum assets in developed regions it is ramping up investment in Brazils rapidly expanding offshore oil boom. A combination of favorable legislation, low breakeven prices, and high-quality low emission sweet light and medium crude oil makes Brazil an extremely attractive destination for big oil even in a world where developed nations are pushing the decarbonization of their economies.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Despite a near economic collapse, shattered petroleum industry infrastructure and empty government coffers, Venezuelas oil minister Tareck El Aissami continues to talk-up the prospects of the OPEC members crude oil output significantly expanding.



In a June 21 interview with Bloomberg El Aissami claimed that Venezuela would quadruple its oil output by the end of 2021. The oil minister further asserted that regardless of U.S. sanctions foreign investment would gush into the founding OPEC members petroleum industry and production would eventually recover to such a level that Venezuela would rank among the worlds four largest crude oil production nations. According to El Aissamis Venezuela will be pumping up to two million barrels of crude oil daily by the end of 2021, which is four times greater than the 500,000 barrels per day produced during 2020. Current circumstances, regardless of El Aissamis assertions, indicate that the state goal is nearly impossible to achieve. OPECs July 2021 Monthly Oil Market Report shows that based on direct communications Venezuela pumped an average of 6330,000 barrels per day for June 2021. While this does represent a 9% increase compared to May and an impressive 67% year-over-year gain, it is still significantly less than the record 3.1 million barrels per day pumped during 1998 before Chavez came to power. Furthermore, the data released by Venezuela concerning the performance of the national oil company PDVSA is unreliable leading many analysts to rely on information from secondary sources. OPEC data from secondary sources indicate that Venezuela only produced an average of 529,000 barrels per day during June 2021, which is 16% less than the earlier number provided by Venezuela. Those numbers indicate there is a considerable way to go before petroleum production recovers to pre-crisis levels.

Venezuelas immense production decline over the last two decades is the result of strict U.S. sanctions preventing Caracas from accessing international energy and capital markets. Those restrictions are also preventing oil companies from doing business with the Maduro regime with many opting for over compliance to avoid penalties. The late-2014 oil price collapse, systematic malfeasance and endemic corruption accelerated that deterioration. Despite El Aissamis optimism, there are signs of a long road ahead for Venezuela before any sustained recovery in oil production will occur.



A leaked PDVSA document states the national oil company believes investment of $58 billion in Venezuelas oil industry is required to revive production to 1998 levels. That is a tremendous amount of capital which ultimately will only be obtained by courting and attracting substantial investment from major foreign oil companies. Even Russian energy supermajor Rosneft chose to sell its substantial Venezuelan assets, acquired through a series of unprofitable joint ventures with PDVSA and government loans to a Kremlin-controlled entity during 2020.

Related: Natural Gas Deficit Causes Prices To Soar



This was because of stricter U.S. sanctions, which saw Washington impose penalties on two Rosneft subsidiaries. The Russian energy supermajor took the decision despite sinking $9 billion into joint ventures with PDVSA since 2010 and incurring a significant loss on those investments. That event highlights U.S. sanctions are now a major deterrent for privately owned energy companies seeking to operate in Venezuela or conduct business with the Maduro regime.

Washingtons sanctions have also substantially amplified the logistical difficulties associated with maintaining, repairing, and refitting Venezuelas crumbling petroleum infrastructure. Chinese engineering firms which initially committed to repairing and upgrading Venezuelas heavily corroded refineries backed out of the deal because of their seriously dilapidated condition and lack of access to crucial parts.



While Iran has provided some assistance with rebuilding Venezuelas ramshackle refineries, U.S. sanctions have prevented Teherans technicians from obtaining key parts for the western designed and built facilities. Much of Venezuelas petroleum infrastructure was built by western energy majors, making it reliant upon parts and technical expertise sourced from outside of Venezuela, primarily from the U.S., for maintenance and refits. Those issues stress how important it is for U.S. sanctions to be eased before Venezuela can attract sufficient capital to rebuild its crumbling petroleum infrastructure. That simply will not occur for as long as strict U.S. sanctions preventing the sale of Venezuelan oil and penalizing companies doing business with the Maduro regime remain in place.

It is not only sanctions that are blocking much needed foreign energy investment, Venezuelas heavy and super-heavy high sulfur content carbon emission intensive crude oil grades are also deterring foreign investment. French supermajor Total Energies and Norways Equinor recently announced they had decided to exit Venezuela transferring their 30.32 % and 9.67% respective interests in the Petrocedeno (Spanish) extra-heavy oil project to PDVSA. Both companies cited the decision was reached on the basis that the high carbon intensity of the project did not meet their stated goals of reducing carbon emissions and the environmental impact of their operations.



Petrocedeno lifts extra-heavy crude oil from the Orinoco belt and then processes it into lighter oil grades for sale or refining. This latest development highlights the risks connected with Venezuelas heavy and extra-heavy crude oil, which are estimated to make up over 80% of the countrys vast oil reserves, becoming stranded assets as the global economy is decarbonized.

A chronic lack of access to condensate because of limited local supplies, for diluting the extra-heavy crude oil grades so they can be transported and processed, is weighing heavily on production. Until a 2.1 million barrel July 2021 shipment from Iran, Venezuela had not received any condensate since September 2020 forcing it to rely on limited local light oil and condensate production. Prior to Washingtons imposition of additional sanctions in January 2019 the U.S. was the primary source of crucial condensate imports. Until those sanctions are eased it is unlikely that the OPEC member can obtain sufficient condensate to increase petroleum output, which is a further deterrent to energy companies considering investing in the Orinoco Belt.

Clearly, neither Caracas nor PDVSA can significantly expand Venezuelas oil production until strict U.S. sanctions are eased. No global oil major, which are the only energy companies possessing the resources and expertise required to rebuild Venezuelas shattered oil industry, is willing to invest until they can operate profitably in the petrostate. That will not occur until a significant portion of Washingtons sanctions are lifted.



The carbon-intensive nature of exploiting Venezuelas heavy and extra-heavy crude oil in a post-Paris Agreement world is an additional deterrent to investment with big oil under considerable pressure to make operations carbon neutral. Those impediments to investment are further magnified by the risks associated with investing in a country led by an autocratic socialist regime that has a long history of nationalizing privately-owned petroleum assets. For those reasons, El Aissamis claims appear unrealistic and Venezuelas derelict oil industry will not recover nor will petroleum production experience sustained growth any time soon.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Iran on Sunday issued a formal denial that it was behind the major Thursday night drone attack on the Mercer Street oil tanker off Oman that was managed by an Israeli firm which left two crew members dead. But both the United States and Israel on the same day charged that Tehran was without doubt behind the attack, which the US Navy previously said involved multiple explosive drones targeting the vessel in the Arabian Sea. Iran's PressTV subsequently responded on Monday by vowing a "strong and crushing" military response to any hostile moves against the country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned that an "appropriate response" is coming: "There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior," he said. "We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming."

Mercer Street attack aftermath

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett struck an even more ominous tone in terms of a warning and threat. He first laid out that Israeli intelligence has determined Iran to be "unequivocally" responsible for the attack, and then said, "We expect the international community to clarify to the Iranian regime that it made a terrible mistake. We have our ways of getting the message to Iran."

His address to a cabinet meeting on Sunday also included: "I say absolutely that Iran is the one that carried out the attack against the ship." Bennett added: "The thuggish behavior of Iran is dangerous not only to Israel but also to the global interest in freedom of shipping and international trade."

Iran's response to the accusations and increasingly bellicose warnings was to denounce them as "false", with a Foreign Ministry statement countering, "This is not the first time that the Zionist regime has made such accusations against Iran. This regime has taken violence and insecurity with it wherever it has gone." This despite a Friday Iranian state media report that asserted the Islamic Republic had "retaliated" for prior Israeli airstrikes inside Syria.

First photos of the Mercer Street following the Iranian drone attack https://t.co/DAaNF3m4RV  Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) August 2, 2021

The UK is also backing the US-Israeli version of events, with a weekend joint US-UK statement saying the following:

"Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region."

A number of fresh headlines are now underscoring that the 'tanker wars' are back and in full force, with industry analysts at Dryad Global describing that "this latest attack has the hallmarks of the ongoing Israel/Iran 'shadow war'".

Likely something big is coming in terms of a major escalation in the next days...

BREAKING: Netanyahu says the Biden administration could leak information about planned Israeli operations against Iran to the international media in order to prevent it and therefore Israel shouldn't agree to a "no surprises" policy regarding Iran with the U.S.  Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 2, 2021

The Israelis have further taken the incident to the Untied Nations, urging collective action, likely also as part of efforts to halt nuclear negotiations in Vienna, which are already stalled at least into August.

By Zerohedge.com

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China has launched full-capacity production at its first independently developed deepwater oil project, which is located in the eastern section of the South China Sea, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) said in a statement sent to Global Times on Monday.

The Liuhua 16-2 oilfield cluster started production in September 2020, CNOOC said back then.

As part of the project, CNOOC plans to put into production and development a total of 26 wells via a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) and three underwater production systems, the Chinese offshore oil giant said.

The Eastern South China Sea is one of CNOOCs most important crude oil and natural gas producing areas, where crude is mostly of light to medium gravity.

As of the end of 2019, the reserves and production in the Eastern South China Sea reached 633.9 million BOE and 242,026 BOE/day, respectively, accounting for 12.2 percent of the companys total reserves and approximately 17.4 percent of its production, CNOOC says.

Now at its full-capacity production, Liuhua 16-2 pumps around one-fifth of all the production in the eastern part of the South China Sea, CNOOC said today.

Peak production at the Liuhua 16-2 project is expected to be reached at around 15,070 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) in 2023.

At the end of June, CNOOC also started production from the first deepwater gas field it operates fully. The field is expected to yield some 4.39 billion cubic meters of natural gas, representing 2 percent of Chinas total output.

The Chenhai-1 well was drilled at the Lingshui 17-2 field in the South China Sea and, according to CNOOC, could push its total natural gas production capacity to more than 13 billion cubic meters annually.

The launch of production from the Chenhai-1 well is part of CNOOCs plan to boost offshore drilling considerably in a bid to increase the share of natural gas in its total output from 21 percent right now to half by 2035.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Incidents of piracy in the Mexican waters in the Gulf of Mexico have led to calls to Mexicos Navy to increase its presence in the area where pirate attacks on vessels and oil platforms have been rising in recent years.

According to InSight Crime, Mexicos authorities have failed to adequately respond and proactively work to prevent pirate attacks in the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico.

Last year, the U.S. Maritime Administration issued warnings after four reported attacks on vessels in the Bay of Campeche area in the southern Gulf of Mexico, involving crew injuries and theft.

Incidents have even spread to oil platforms.

Last month, for example, armed thieves, which Mexican media called pirates, attacked the Sandunga oil platform in the Bay of Campeche, stole equipment and belongings of rig workers, and fled with speed boats which they used to approach and board the platform, owned by the Mexican oilfield services supply company Goimar. There was gunfire, but no casualties were reported in this particular incident.

Mexico has been saying since last year that it is cracking down on the piracy in the Gulf of Mexico, but rig workers say the Navy presence is not enough. The Navy should constantly patrol the Bay of Campeche, oil platform workers tell Mexican media.

According to InSight Crime, very little is known about the pirates in the southern Gulf of Mexico, but no connection with major criminal groups has been established.

Last year, researchers from the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden, wrote in a paper that piracy and armed robbery in the Southern part of the Gulf of Mexico had jumped in recent years. The researchers documented 11 serious security incidents against ships for the first half of 2020 alone. They recommended ports in the area to increase security and to have the Southern part of the Gulf of Mexico declared as a High Risk Area (HRA).

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The worlds largest oil firm, Saudi Arabias state-held Aramco, denied on Monday reports from the past days that it would start Bitcoin mining activities.

With reference to recent reports claiming that the Company will embark on Bitcoin mining activities, Aramco confirms that these claims are completely false and inaccurate, the Saudi state oil giant and one of the worlds most valuable listed firms, said today in a one-sentence denial of an earlier media report.

Before the Saudi oil firm denied the Bitcoin mining venture, media reports quoted a Brazilian Bitcoin miner, Ray Nasser, who has reportedly said in an interview with Bitconheiros Youtube channel that Aramco was planning to start mining the most popular cryptocurrency.

We are negotiating with Aramco. All black liquid (oil) that comes out of the desert belongs to this company. All the flared gas they are not using, and thats public information, I can tell you is enough to power up half of the Bitcoin network today, from this company alone, the Brazilian Bitcoin miner was quoted as saying.

Saudi Aramco denied the reports, but a unit of Russias gas giant Gazprom is already in the business of crypto mining.

Gazprom Neft, the oil unit of Gazprom, has launched a cryptocurrency mining operation at one of its oil sites in Siberia, CoinDesk reported at the end of last year.

Gazprom Neft, the third-largest oil producer in Russia, is using associated gas from an oilfield in the Khanty-Mansiysk region of northwestern Siberia to generate electricity it sells to the crypto mining operations, CoinDesk reports.

Gazprom Neft doesnt plan to mine for cryptocurrencies itself, a spokesperson for the company told CoinDesk. However, the Russian oil producer is open to sharing its energy resources with crypto miners.

Gazprom Neft believes that crypto miners could be one of the customers of the electricity produced from associated gas.

Power from associated gas can power data centers and mining farms, Alexander Kalmykov, Head of the Blockchain Technology Center at Gazprom Neft, told Russian outlet Forklog.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The United States and the United Kingdom have blamed Iran for the Mercer Street tanker attack that killed two.

The Mercer Street was attacked with drones on Friday off the Omani coast. The tanker is managed by UK-based Zodiac Maritime, a company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.

We join our partners and allies in our strong condemnation of the attack against the Mercer Street, a commercial ship that was peacefully transiting through the north Arabian Sea in international waters, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Sunday.

Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region.

There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior. These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved, Blinken also said.

The UK Foreign Office also condemned the attack and blamed Iran for it.

The UK condemns the unlawful and callous attack committed on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman, which killed a British and a Romanian National. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of those killed in the incident, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.

We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran. UK assessments have concluded that it is highly likely that Iran attacked the MV MERCER STREET in international waters off Oman on 29 July using one or more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Iran must end such attacks, and vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.

Raab added that the UK was working with international partners to come up with a concerted response to the attack. Israel also blames Tehran for the attack.

Iran has denied any involvement.

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Berry Law

Berry Law announces the addition of Mallory Hughes to its team. Hughes, who has joined the Omaha office, has been a licensed attorney since 2010 with bar admissions in Nebraska and Colorado. Her areas of practice include defense of sexual assault cases, homicide and major felony, domestic violence, and Title IX investigations.

During her career, Hughes has received over 20 not guilty verdicts and case dismissals, including a Nebraska Supreme Court win. She has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Criminal Defense Top 40 under 40 four years running and is on the Super Lawyers Great Plains Rising Star List. The American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys named her one of the 10 Best Attorneys in the state of Nebraska.

"Strive for excellence, and you will achieve success. It doesn't work the other way around," said Hughes.

She serves as an Executive Board Member for the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association and as Education Chair for Young Lawyers with the Omaha Bar Association. Hughes is an active member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and frequently speaks on legal issues.
After 80 years, the hump is gone.

The 8-foot bulge near the north end of Offutt Air Force Bases single runway was one of the airfields quirks, one that will now disappear during an 18-month, $198 million reconstruction project that is the most extensive in its long history.

The hump, and a corresponding 8-foot valley toward the south end, were gentle enough that they never posed a threat to pilots, said Lt. Col. Derrick Michaud, director of the 55th Wing Runway Project Management Office.

This just makes it a straighter runway, he said. Our pilots got used to it, but now it will be more of a straight shot.

For the past five months, a fleet of construction equipment has been swarming over Offutts 2-mile runway, chewing it to bits and depositing it into giant piles of rubble.

Much of that concrete will eventually be recycled, mixed with other fill, and compacted to form a base for the new runway, said Rob Hufford, chief of construction management for the project.

The new runway must not only absorb a pounding from Offutts fleet of RC-135 reconnaissance jets (with a maximum takeoff weight of almost 149 tons) but also its E-4Bs, which are among the Air Forces heaviest jets (400 tons).
Hazer also worked as president of the Federal Leasing Corp. and served on the Metropolitan Utilities District board from 1983 to 1986. He lost a 1988 bid to return to the MUD board.

He and his late wife, Adele, were married for 46 years and devoted many hours to the community. It was the second marriage for both, and together they raised seven children.

Hazer had a long history of community service, including as chairman of the Board of Counselors of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Nebraska Wesleyan University board and the Methodist Hospital Foundation board and president of the Phoenician Club of Omaha and the Midwest Federation. He also served on the City of Omaha Planning Board of Appeals, the board of Mount Michael Benedictine School and Upper Iowa University board.

Ted was quite a generous man and a good community citizen, former Omaha Mayor PJ Morgan said. He and Adele were best friends with (former Sen.) Ed Zorinsky and Cece, his wife. They all contributed greatly to a lot of different causes.

Hazer was especially proud of being a founding member of American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, which is the national fundraising arm of St. Jude. Hazer, a past chairman of St. Judes board of directors, became an emeritus vice president of the board in 1988.
On wearing a mask, Blunt said, I think it actually is one of the reasons that people are encouraged to get the vaccine is they dont have to.

Theres no way to know just how risky it was for the people who were near Graham  vaccinated or not. Vaccinated people are at a much lower risk of being infected at all and for contracting a serious case. But the level of risk depends on whether Graham was masked, whether they were masked, how much virus his body was producing when they met, how close they were and for how long.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people determined to have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they are asymptomatic but should be tested within five days and wear a mask indoors for 14 days or until testing negative.

Graham, who was vaccinated in December, has long been a proponent of vaccination, saying during a visit this spring to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston that the sooner we get everybody vaccinated, the quicker we can get back to normal.
There was was no celebration at the White House on Monday, nor a setting of a new target, as the administration instead struggles to overcome skepticism and outright hostility to the vaccine, especially in the South and other rural and conservative areas.

The U.S. still has not hit the administration's other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4. It is about 8.5 million short.

New cases per day in the U.S. have increased sixfold over the past month to an average of nearly 80,000, a level not seen since mid-February. And deaths per day have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 259 to 360.

Those are still well below the 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day seen during the worst of the outbreak, in January. But some places around the country are watching caseloads reach their highest levels since the pandemic began. And nearly all deaths and serious illnesses now are in unvaccinated people.

The surge has led states and cities across the U.S. to beat a retreat, just weeks after it looked as if the country was going to see a close-to-normal summer.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A court in Belarus convicted a journalist of insulting the president in messages in a deleted chat group and sentenced him to 1 1/2 years in prison, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said Monday.

The verdict in the case against Siarhei Hardziyevich, 50, comes as part of a massive crackdown that Belarusian authorities have unleashed on independent media and human rights activists.

Hardziyevich on Monday was found guilty of insulting the president and slandering police officers, according to the association. The court sentenced him to a prison term and a $1,600 fine.

The charges against the journalist from Drahichyn, a city 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Belarus' capital of Minsk, were brought over messages in a chat group on the messaging app Viber which was deleted last year.

Hardziyevich, who worked for a popular regional news outlet, The First Region, has maintained his innocence. His defense team demanded the charges be dropped due to a lack of evidence and because the crime was impossible to establish.

I have nothing to do with these crimes, I don't consider myself guilty," Hardziyevich said in his address to the court before the verdict.
Humble approves new fee schedule for civic center, arena

The Humble City Council voted to raise rates at the Humble Civic Center and Arena Complex. The move came July 22 at the council meeting. City Manager Jason Stuebe said, These new rates put the civic center at rates that are competitive with the market rates for the value people are receiving.

When citizens and groups rent out the larger ballroom, the rate will be higher than if they chose to rent a smaller facility  so that the rates reflect the amount of space provided. Likewise, the same is true for the Humble Civic Center Arena, which will also see higher rates as well. This means that concerts in this venue will be impacted within the current, analyzed fees, added Jennifer St. Julian Wooden, director of the civic center complex and the Bender Performing Arts Center.

Not all rates were raised; most of the higher rates will apply to the arena complex, where rates had been substantially lower than comparable facilities.

The new fee schedule will take effect as Aug. 1 and can be found at cityofhumbletx.gov/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/07-22-21-Council-Agenda-Packet.pdf.

Several senior members of the community spoke to the council on the idea of turning the current Lakeland Elementary School campus into the Humble Senior Center since the school has been relocated to a new location.

Citizen Sharon Roberts said It would be great to see a partnership between the City of Humble and the Humble ISD. If this campus could be used for the seniors, they would have a dedicated place to hold activities and they would not get pushed to the side or commingled with other age groups by having a dedicated space. This could even be a revenue-generating location.

Lakeland Elementary is more than 60 years old and the school district has built a new facility near Humble High School. The previous Humble Senior Activity Center was deemed unsafe. The city is building a new wing at the civic center dedicated to the senior program.

The council also approved regulations surrounding storage containers on non-residential properties to be like dumpsters, and finally, approved engineering services by Martinez Architects, LP. For Fire Station No. 2.

Council member David Pierce gave community announcements.

On Aug. 7, there will be a Living Well Farmers Market held at Schott Park at 9 a.m. On Aug. 7-8, the Civic Center will once again host the Premier Gun Show starting at 9 a.m. Finally, Aug. 13 is the Harris County Precinct 4 Opry to be held beginning at 6 p.m, he said. To obtain details or purchase tickets, see humblecc.com/event-calendar.

Finally, Pierce concluded with, As always on the second Friday of the month at 308 E. Main Street, Music on Main entertains with various artists and food trucks. The Aug. 13 event will commence on the streets at 7 p.m. and will feature Blue Raven. For more information on these events, see facebook.com/livemusiconmain.
Izwe Savings and Loans Plc has launched a series of activities to commemorate its 10th Anniversary.



The three-month long celebration is themed Celebrating 10 years of Positively Impacting Lives and features activities such as regional customer appreciation dinners, financial literacy programmes, health workshops and 10 social impact projects as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.



At a maiden customer dinner with key customers held at the African Regent Hotel, the Chief Executive Officer, Raymond Kwakye Bismarck stated that, the vision of Izwe Savings and Loans is to unlock potential by fueling developmental aspirations among small businesses and individuals, aimed at real community and economic development as we grow businesses and enrich lives, through innovative financial solutions and secured investments.



He thanked customers and staff of the company for their loyalty over the years, which has contributed to the success and growth of Izwe Savings and Loans.



Izwe started with a focus on products & services for employees in the government sector and is currently one of the top payroll lenders in Ghana. In 2019, the business started providing innovative financial services to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, as they recognised the significant contribution SMEs make to the GDP of the country. The company plans to introduce more innovative products and services to contribute to industry efforts and accelerate the development of SMEs in Ghana.



As part of Izwes 10th anniversary celebrations, further customer appreciation dinners, financial literacy and health awareness programmes will be held for customers and other people in the community across the regions of Ghana where it operates. Additionally, the company will be undertaking projects aimed to provide 10 deprived communities support to rehabilitate or refurbish a chosen facility that serves the social needs of the community.



After a decade of successfully doing business in Ghana and positively impacting lives, Izwe wants to continue to positively impact 10 deprived communities across Ghana with this project, remarked the CEO.



Our Impact Izwe Savings and Loans Plc is a subsidiary of the Izwe Africa Group, which is headquartered in Mauritius and has operations and offices in 4 other African countries. After 10 years of doing business in Ghana, Izwe now has 13 retail outlets in 8 regions of Ghana and proudly employs over 200 staff.



The company has been able to provide educational support to 124,956 people; enhanced the home and family lives of 73,146; helped 21,665 businesses to grow in three, years and helped 16,520 people save for their future.



With backing from the Izwe Africa Group, whose successful track record remains undoubted across Africa, Izwe Ghana is indeed one of the most promising, trusted, and respected financial institutions in Ghana.

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Fidelity Bank Ghana in partnership with MDF West Africa has initiated a trade road show focused on training Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).



The various subject matters covered included international trade payment methods and their associated risks; opportunities available in the international trade business; and understanding the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) new clearing process. T



his forms part of the Banks SME-focused measures to enable businesses to adapt swiftly and navigate the global challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.



The initiative also ties in with the MasterCard Foundations sponsored MSMEs COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Program (MCRRP), which aims to support MSMEs to sustainably diversify their business lines and/or enter new markets.



The MCRRP has Pyxera Global as the implementing partner for coordination and quality control with MDF West Africa providing digitization, online and virtual resources and other Business Development Services (BDS) support. Other partners of the MCRRP include Scale up Africa, Global Mamas and J. A. Venture Capital Investments. The first session of the roadshow under the theme, How to Navigate the International Trade Business Landscape in the Midst of COVID-19 was held at the Golden Bean Hotel in Kumasi, Ghana.



Opening the training session, Gustav Nii Ayi Mokobi Aryee, Head, Commercial Banking of Fidelity Bank Ghana, said, Commercial businesses and MSMEs are a critical segment of our economy and the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global supply chain system and by extension, affected international trade where MSMEs mostly operate. However, we are confident that by equipping our partner MSMEs with the relevant know-how and expertise regarding critical developments in the international trade arena, they will be sufficiently armed to strategize effectively and continue to grow their businesses in spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic.



Julia W. Anyanewaa Appiah, Project Manager, MDF West Africa Ltd further elaborated on the objectives of the training roadshow. She stated, This training session is geared towards increasing the operational capacity of MSMEs, empowering them to continue operating at or even above pre-COVID-19 levels and ensuring that MSMEs maintain or expand employment levels in spite of the pandemic. Ultimately, the goal is to build capacity among participant MSMEs to enable them to become more resilient to current and future shocks or stressors. She also informed participants that they will be enrolled on the MCRRP platform so that their companies can enjoy all the benefits of the program in addition to further training and digitization of their services. A follow up visit will therefore be made to all the MSMEs for further training and support.



In his presentation, Aaron Ameyaw, Head, Corporate and Transactional Banking Operations of Fidelity Bank Ghana, advised MSMEs to close the trade gap by adopting e-channels like the Fidelity Mobile App, Cheque Scanner and Fidelitys Corporate Internet Banking platform. Additionally, he advised MSMEs who are already feeling the pinch of the pandemic to take advantage of interventions such as Fidelitys trade loans to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on their operations and to assist in expediting their return to buoyancy.



Raymond Amaglo, and Lipton S. Baffour representatives from Ghana Link Network Services Limited, also trained participants on the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) Project. The ICUMS Project is a Government-sponsored initiative where a single service provider has been commissioned to develop and implement an end-to-end automated trade facilitation and customs management system.



Mr. Amaglo briefed participants on the various components and processes of ICUMS and encouraged them to take advantage of the system as it reduces the time and cost of doing business for importers and exporters.



Over 70 MSMEs participated in the maiden training session. Representatives of selected MSMEs who were interviewed after the programme, expressed satisfaction with the session.



Fidelity Bank and MDF West Africa will hold two more training sessions in the ensuing months with a focus on training more MSMEs on international trade and the various digital platforms available to enable them to address the challenges presented by the pandemic.

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The Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, says government is committed to ensuring that every 10-year-old Ghanaian child can read and write.

To this end, he says government will put in place the necessary facilities and interventions to create the needed conducive environment for teaching and learning in Ghanaian schools.



Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who is also the Member of Parliament for Assin South, made the remarks when he presented some items to the Assin Asamankese D/A basic school.



The items included exercise books, sets of crayons, pencil packs, veronica buckets, handwashing soap and a digital piano.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour, for instance, cited the National Standardised Test (NST), spearheaded by the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, as one of the interventions being instituted to put the countrys basic education side on sound footings.



He said the NST is not only aimed at seeking to improve learning outcomes but also at reducing learning poverty across the country.



He noted that all primary four pupils in Ghana will be the first batch to sit for the NST test, adding that it will also give government the opportunity to assess the challenges inherent and undertake the remedial actions when they were in class five.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour has, therefore, appealed to chiefs, parents, guardians, and the public to support governments policies to help move the country forward.





Children are the future of the country, and nothing should hinder them from achieving their dreams. There are, among them, those with exceptional talents and skills, gifted and talented kids and they need to be guided and mentored appropriately, the Deputy Minister said.



On behalf of the school, the Headmaster, Mr. Seth Adjei thanked the Deputy Minister for the items and promised to put them to good use.









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Governments flagship programme, One District One Factory (1D1F), outperformed expectations in the short term as over 150,000 Ghanaians benefited from jobs created by 104 factories in its first five years of operation.



Ghana's Trade Minister, Hon. Allan Kyerematen, under whose Ministry the policy operated, said this while explaining portions of the governments mid-year budget in an interview last Friday on Asempa Radio.



Hon Kyerematen said that a healthy 58 state-of-the-art factories have been established to help reduce unemployment among the youth in the country.



On the Agricultural sector, Hon Kyerematen said the establishment of silos to store produce from farmlands will go a along way to minimise post-harvest loses and make food abudantly available throughout the year.



He added that "five Medium-Scale Agro Processing factories have been established in Sefwi Akontombra, Nsuta, Savulugu, Dompim and Nkra Nkwanta", aimed at boosting agribusiness and create more incomes for farmers.



Located in typical farming communities, these processing factories are will create direct and indirect jobs in the rural areas for the youth and help minimise the debilitating rural-urban migration.



On revenue mobilization, Ghana's Trade and Industry Minister said the "government has mobilized GHC2.69 Billion for companies under 1D1F".



He said Ghana's industrial drive has been enhanced with the establishment of four new vehicle manufacturing firms aimed at making the country the Vehicle manufacturing of West Africa.



He said the vehicle companies who are giants in the industry as "Volks Wagen, Nissan, Sinostruck and Toyota."



On the payment of subsidy to support industry Hon Kyerematen said the "government has given interest subsidy support of GHC260.9 million to 3companies under 1D1F in the 134 districts that have benefited from the Project so far".



Wrapping up on the beneficial impact of the 1D1F, the Trade Minister leaned on the Port Revenue incremental growth and the import duty exemption worth millions of Ghana Cedis.





Hon Kyerematen said govrnment initiatives, such as the automized system of clearing goods at the ports, UNIPASS, has yielded enormous benefits as revenue at the ports increased by GHC 3.1 billion in its first months of operation even as companies under 1D1F have enjoyed import duty exemption worth GHC585 million.



During the phone- in session, Industry players in the raw materials sector heaped kind words on Hon Allan Kyerematen for his unique management of the 1D1F policy despite the recent influx of the post COVID 19 effect on the economy.

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The management of Empire Builders (Trasacco Valley) Limited has categorically stated that they now have in their possession the Judgment Plan from the Supreme Court Ruling of the Empire Builders-Top Kings disputed land issue, a statement signed by Kwame Owusu Danso, PR consultant, Empire Builders has said.



Consequently, Empire Builders has cautioned Top Kings to stay away from its lands and stay within its 62-acre jurisdiction.



It sought to bring finality to the disputed land issues with Top Kings Enterprise Limited after a court judgment.



According to the statement, Empire Builders have been compelled to address the issue taking into account that actions are being taken in contravention of the judgment.



BACKGROUND



On June 24, 1999, Empire Builders took Top Kings Enterprise Limited (Top Kings) to court for trespassing on a 62-acre Empire had Title to.



In its judgment of the June 11, 2003 the High Court, Coram: His Lordship Justice Brobbey JSC (as he then was) sitting as additional High Court Judge, held that Top Kings was to, and I quote, keep the portion of the disputed land that are already in its possession.



The parcel referred to by the learned judge was made up of 22 acres, eight (8) acres and the 32 acres of the land. The entire parcel of land granted to Top Kings per the High Court judgment totaled 62 acres and Top Kings was already in possession of that parcel of land and took steps to dispose of and develop into what is known as Kings Cottage Estate. The portion of land never fell within the master scheme that is currently Trasacco Valley.



The statement mentioned that the High Court also entered judgment for the Lands Commission (3rd Co-Defendant, acting on behalf of the Government of Ghana) in respect of 114 acres out of 456 acres of land Empire Builders was in possession of.



The Court further indicated that a portion of land within the 456 acres also belonged to the Government, which formed part of a large parcel of land acquired by the Government of Ghana for animal husbandry.



The Court made additional orders that Empire Builders was entitled to keep possession of the rest of the 456 acres not affected by the 62 acres for Top Kings or the Government of Ghana.



It added that Empire Builders appealed the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal. In its judgment dated December 18, 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the High Court decreeing possession to Top Kings over the 62 acres it was in occupation of.



The piece of land decreed in favour of the Government per the High Court judgment on June 11, 2003 which is the 114 acres formed part of the parcel of land released by the Government.



By a Lease dated August 12, 2010, the Government of Ghana released to the Nungua Stool 974.53 acres of land, a portion of which was used for Nungua Farms and Animal Husbandry



The Nungua Stool, following the release mentioned earlier, subsequently transferred approximately 62 acres of the land to Empire Builders, for valuable consideration. The said 62 acres is separate and distinct from the 62 acres declared in favour of Topkings by the High Court. Additionally, the Government transferred 57 acres of the parcel decreed in its favour to Empire Builders thereby making Empire Builders the owners of that portion of land.



The statement said Empire Builders appealed the Court of Appeals judgment to the Supreme Court. On December 16, 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals order. The summary of the Supreme court judgment was that Top Kings owned 62 Acres (already in its possession),



The 62 Acres of Land which Supreme Court judgment allowed Top Kings to keep never formed part of the Trasacco Valley master scheme.



It also never formed part of the land declared in favor of the State.



SITUATIONAL REPORT



The Judgment Plan plotted by Survey and Mapping Division of the Lands Commission, clearly shows the boundary of the 62 Acres granted to Top Kings.



As already mentioned, Top Kings was already in possession of this land as far back as 1999 and by the time of the Supreme Court judgment in December 2020 had already developed this area unto what is Kings Cottage Estates.



Top Kings purporting to be relying on a site plan allegedly issued by the Nungua Stool and dated 1978 has in complete disregard to law and with the aid of armed thugs and land guards commenced a campaign of aggressive land grabbing against the assets of Empire Builders.



In addition, Top Kings has justified his trespass on the land belonging to Empire Builders on the claim that the Court of Appeal set aside the Companys right to remain in possession of the portions not decreed in favour of Top Kings and the Lands Commission.



Accordingly, Top Kings has taken the erroneous view that it can take over all the land from Empire Builders even though the Court of Appeal never granted Top Kings possession beyond the 62 acres.



Shown on the judgment plan Top Kings has destroyed several houses and other properties belonging Empire Builders, and rendered homeless hundreds (100s) of the workers and families of Empire Builders and its associated companies. Such activities having been carried out by land guards (often armed).



Empire Builders wish therefore, to draw the attention of the media and the Ghanaian people to the illegitimate activities of Top Kings Limited on Empire Builders Lands as well as the certified Judgment plan as determined by the Supreme Court which details the plotting and Mapping of Top Kings 62 acres.



SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT



It is important to address your minds to what the current situation is as regards the how badly these issues have been managed by Top Kings.



In addition, the activities on the ground, Top Kings, in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment commenced on a media campaign to spread false claims that it had Judgment of the entire Trasacco Valley and that Empire Builders has disobeyed a Supreme Court order not to interfere with Top Kings Trasacco Lands OPKINGS and Lost Trasacco Valley.



The question then becomes why did Empire Builders proceed to court, what was the defense put forward by Top Kings, and what was the ruling of the distinguished court.?



There was never any disobedience of the Supreme Court Judgment by Empire Builders but rather the reverse where Top Kings has flagrantly disobeyed the judgment by encroaching on land outside of the 62 acres which it does not have possession of.



It also destroyed property and made homeless various workers of Empire Builders in the process of its encroachment. It is evident that the various media commentaries which have been generated on this issue have been based on complete misinformation and/or deliberate falsehood to instigate public opprobrium and disdain against Empire Builders.



The results have been: Damage to the reputation of the Company; Damage to the reputation of the Trasacco Valley Estate and its occupants and residents, loss of business, emotional distress, and tarnishing the image of private individuals even though this was a company to company matter Certainly, as an establishment that believes in the Rule of Law and its importance for social order, we are calling on all sides to respect the Courts order.



We ask that Top Kings Enterprise Limited stay within the 62 acres stipulated by the Courts. We ask that the land guards are called



off so the intimidation and threat to property ceases, along with all the distress.



We also call on the media, to carry out your mandate with fairness, guided by the truth and the ethical requirement of upholding the public interest always.



We appreciate that the facts may have been presented muddied to you but  Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. We trust that we can count on you, as always, to be the voice of reason and the conscience of this society, the statement said.





Source: Peacefmonline









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 Ashaiman Municipal Assembly has commenced the construction of 3,000 Market stores valued at GHS 50.3 million.



The assembly led by the MCE, Albert Boakye Okyere, and Best Point Savings, and Loans, Akyemfour and Sons have partnered to construct the market stores for traders in Ashaiman Kufour Market.



The Project valued at Fifty Million, three Hundred and Ninety-Six, Eight Hundred and Eleven Twenty Seven Pesewas (GHS 50,396,811.27) has a Six Month constructional duration will have large, medium, and small shops tailored to suit all traders.



The Project will also have a permanent police station, Fire Service and Banks.



It will have storerooms, a rest arena, washrooms, changing halls for traders, and others.



This Project is a kind in the history of the Municipality and the traders praise the MCE, Albert Boakye Okyere for this massive vision.



The project is expected to be completed in a six-month scheduled and the contractors have promised it will be done within the stipulated time.



In a short ceremony to start the project the exciting market women were there and graced by the traditional authorities.

Source: Peacefmonline









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 management of the Future Gold Resources (FGR), the operator of the Bogoso Prestea Mine, has appealed for calm following violent attacks by a group of people which led to the destruction of properties at the mine.

The management, in a press release, has indicated that it has commenced a series of constructive engagements and negotiations with relevant stakeholders on long standing issues relating to the community.



In order to protect the community and our own workforce, we are working closely with the police to identify those involved in this violent activity, the press release noted.



Shooting incident



On July, 26, it was reported that two vehicles being driven by the company persons were attacked by unknown assailants in the village of Dumasi.A gun was fired into one of the cars but fortunately nobody was injured.



The company, in the release, indicated that one of the vehicles was at Dumasi to deliver a letter to the Regent, Nana Dr Francis Kofi Bih as part of an agreement on a way forward to establishing a long-term dialogue and commitment to social investments by the company as requested by the community.



As a result of the attack, the said letter was not delivered.



Things escalated quickly on July 27 when a group of young people allegedly from the Dumasi community arrived at the FGR Bogoso site with machetes and two shot guns and set fire to equipment and buildings in a targeted and orchestrated attack.



No personnel was injured in the attack.



As a result of these incidents, the police and military were mobilised to protect people and property.



Since their arrival, there has been no physical confrontation between the group and the authorities, the press release explained.



Lasting solution



The management of the company, however, noted that it was making all efforts to proffer a lasting solution to the issues raised by the community which have been outstanding for many years before the FGR took over.



This illegal activity intended to cause damage and fear must be prevented in order for the company to operate, which will lead to benefits to the community and Ghana.



We are committed to rectifying long standing issues that it inherited from the previous owner, the GSR. Our recent severance settlement agreement with employees demonstrates the companys good faith and its long-term commitment to the people.



The management of the company also assured the community that when calm is restored and safety could be assured, it would take steps to reaffirm its desire to engage all stakeholders in the Dumasi community to discuss the comprehensive list of issues that had been raised.



We are strongly committed to developing a positive and long-lasting relationship with the community.









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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The Mampong Akwapim Traditional Council has expressed gratitude to the President, Nana Addo Dankwan Akufo-Addo for appointing Sammi Awuku as the next CEO of National Lottery Authority (NLA).



The Council also applauded Sammi Awuku for the appointment and noted that, he indeed deserves it.



In a press interview with the media, the Apesemakahene of Mampong Akwiapim, Nana Yirenkyi l who is responsible fir the councils communication pleaded with Ghanaians to support Sammi Awuku to succeed.



According to them, they believe Sammi Awuku can develop and grow the industry but that will be achieved when he is given the support needed.



According to Nana Yirenkyi, Sammi Awuku has worked very hard to make sure NPP retain power and he distinguished himself as the Board chairman for the Youth Employment Authority and he believes that he (Sammi) has a lot to offer to Ghanaians.



We all want the best for Ghana. So whoever is given the appointment based on good judgement from the President, must be supported. We know our son and we know he will deliver and make us proud, he said.









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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The United States (US) Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Stephanie S. Sullivan, has emphasised the need to break down the barriers that hold women back from succeeding as entrepreneurs to make economies stronger for everyone.

She said although women entrepreneurs had the drive, talent and commitment to start and grow businesses, they often did not get the same opportunities and support that men in businesses received.



One of the top priorities of the US government is the promotion of inclusive economic growth and increasing trade and investment between the US and countries in Africa.



We aim to support and develop entrepreneurs because we know they can be powerful engines for economic growth and job creation, she said at the graduation ceremony for women entrepreneurs by the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE).



A total of 89 women, out of 103 participants in the third cohort, graduated after a 15-week hybrid (virtual and in-person) training in entrepreneurship and business management.



The programme, launched in early 2019 by the White House and funded by the Bureau of Education and Culture of the US Department of State, seeks to teach women around the world to become successful entrepreneurs.



Mrs Sullivan said the increase in the number of participants from 30 to 42 and to 103 in cohorts one, two and three, respectively, showed the demand for such training.



We see the benefits multiply because when women succeed, children are educated and communities thrive. You should be proud of your accomplishment in completing this course, in the midst of all the competing demands on your time and energy, she said.



AWE training



Giving an overview of the AWE training, the Country Lead, AWE Ghana and Project Director, YALI Regional Leadership Centre, Mrs Shola Safo Duodo, described the third cohort as the largest ever and widest coverage in terms of implementing regions.



She said the AWE was unique because it brought together a pool of enterprising young women drawn from all sectors of the economy to network and harness their potential, with the ultimate aim of improving their businesses.



Mrs Safo-Duodo explained that participants were selected from six regions  Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti, Volta and Eastern.



These industrious women have braved the odds to complete the entire programme, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic which influenced the implementation, she said.



She said participants were taken through modules in confidence building, strategic planning, social media marketing, basic accounting, client relations and management, among others.



She expressed gratitude to the US Department of State and the US Embassy in Accra for their immense support, in terms of training and facilitation, to the AWE programme from its inception to now.



Mrs Sarah Danquah Yeboah, the CEO of Sangy Nursing Services, one of the graduands said the training had helped her to better understand her strengths and weaknesses in running her business and how to overcome them.



Another graduand from the Grace Star Fashion Design and Bead-Making in Gomoa Central, Ms Grace Abena Mbro, said the AWE training had helped build her confidence to push forward to succeed as an entrepreneur.



Initially, I sold saabo, but through the AWE training, I have diversified and I am now able to cater for my family, she said.





The CEO of Cling Events Ghana, Nana Akua Akuffo, said she was able to manage her business well through a proper accounting system.









Source: graphiconline.com









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The Sege Police Command has arrested one Osmanu Quaye, a 21-year-old, for allegedly killing and beheading an 18-year-old herdsman at Amuyaokorpe, a suburb of Sege in the Greater Accra Region.



In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, DSP George Aboagye, Sege District Police Commander, said the chief of the area, Nene Amuyao Narh, reported the missing of one Jonathan Amuyao 18-year-old, who had sent cattle to graze but had not return on Friday July 23rd.



On July 26th, at around 1215 hours the chief, accompanied by the cattle owner Moses Amuyao reported that a search team has found the boy in the bush with the head chopped off. 



DSP Aboagye said the police picked up Osmanu Quaye, who was suspected to have committed the crime and to assist in investigations.



The Assembly Member for the area David Amuyao Narh, on his part, told the GNA that a search team found the head and the body at different places in the forest.



The suspect is in the custody of the Sege Police while the body of the diseased has been deposited at the Police Hospital Morgue for autopsy.







Source: GNA









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Popular Ghanaian actress and founder of Mama Mariams Mother and Children Care Foundation, Habiba Sinare has donated a fully connected Polytank to the Tamale Teaching Hospital to connect their NICU department.



According to the management of the department, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has been without a water facility over the years, this was a major issue affecting newborn babies and their mothers but now with the help of Mama Mariams foundation, there is a stable and portable water supply



Speaking after the donation, Ms. Sinare shared that, she is happy to contribute to the departments endeavour to save lives of newborn babies and also happy to make work efficient for the staff I must say I feel extremely happy doing this for my little angels.



She explained that Water is LIFE and this initiative forms part of my foundation; MAMA MARIAMs mother and children care. This, in particular, focused on giving the department full water supply anytime; reducing infections in the NICU department and of course easy and effective flow of medical staff activities.



She congratulated staff at the NICU department of Tamale Teaching Hospital for their amazing works.

You are doing extensively well. And your rewards are with the Almighty She added.



She expressed her thanksgiving to God and the staff of the hospital for the privileged accorded her to be in a position to support the needs of the less privileged in society.



A senior staff of the hospital who supervised the installation of the water system from its inception, also thanks Ms Habiba Mariam For the kindhearted gesture and pray for her to get more opportunities in life to be in a good position to help the needy in society.









Source: Peacefmonline









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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Information reaching DGN Online indicates that a police officer, Const. Sandra Asiedu stationed at the Savannah Regional Police Headquarters in Damongo has allegedly been killed by her boyfriend.



A police report indicates that the deceased was stabbed to death on Sunday August 1,2021 in her room in a rented apartment in Damongo.



The report further stated that the crime is suspected to have been committed by her boy friend from Obuasi who visited her.



Police in the region have launched a manhunt for the suspect and called on residents to volunteer information to assist them apprehend him.



The body of the deceased has since been conveyed to the Damongo hospital for preservation.



Meanwhile, the landlord of the deceased one Mahama Zakariah told DGN Online that he was informed of a misunderstanding between the boyfriend of the deceased and another man .



 I was called that there was a fight in the house around 10pm but I wasnt feeling well so I couldnt go there and was told the husband of the deceased came and met one man there and they were fighting so later I was told that they had stopped the fight.



The nexy morning they realised the deceased did not come out and so he decided to inform the police and when they came to the house they forcibly opened the door and saw the police officer dead in her room.







Source: DGN Online









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Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has called for the strengthening of unity and promotion of cooperation between the nations two leading religious groups, Muslims and Christians to ensure a more impactful development in the country for citizens.



Speaking at the opening of the first National Muslims Conference in Accra on Friday, July 30, 2021, Dr. Bawumia welcomed the development-based vision of the Muslims Conference, adding that faith-based groups, particulary Muslims and Christians, have contributed immensely to aiding governments development efforts.



The Annual Muslims Conference, which is organised under the auspices of the National Chief Imam and the Muslim Caucus of Parliament, seeks to bring together the various Islamic sects, as well as Muslim groups, to tackle development issues affecting Muslims in Ghana and the nation as a whole, such as education, finance and healthcare.



Whiles commending Muslim stakeholders for coming together to establish the Conference, he urged them to stay united, and also forge hands with their Christian brothers and sisters for more impactful development.



Mr. Chairman, I am proud to say that as an immutable religious community in the country, Muslims, just like Christians have been involved in nation building, Dr. Bawumia said.



It is my expectation that with a concerted inter-faith effort, and in partnership with various stakeholders, especially our brothers from the Christian religious divide, the Ghana Muslims Conference will chart a path which will make meaningful contributions towards the development of our country.



A CALL FOR STRENGTHENING OF INTER-FAITH TOLERANCE



Dr. Bawumia told his fellow Muslims that despite the peace and tolerance between Muslims and Christians in the country, there is the need to guard against endangering it, by eschewing acts which divide, and embracing acts which unite the two groups for greater peace and development for the citizenry.



Mr. Chairman, Ghana is one of the luckiest countries in the world, where we can say we are a model of religious tolerance in the world. Muslims and Christians have been living together in peace, Dr Bawumia said.



However, despite the very good relationship that exists between Muslims and non-Muslims in Ghana, there is the need to deepen the peaceful co-existence among the diverse religious faithful in the country.



Relationships that engender peace must be grown from strength to strength; for any lapse in such relationships can be exploited by belligerent individuals and groups to destroy the hard won cordial relationships established through decades of efforts towards peaceful co-existence among various religions in the country.



EDUCATION



The inaugural theme of the Conference focused on the promotion of education, and Dr. Bawumia commended organisers for prioritising education, which he said remains the surest route to alleviating poverty.



The Vice President said the Free SHS policy was implemented by the Akufo-Addo government was implemented to ensure that every Ghanaian child, especially thise from excluded communities, get free access to education to at least the secondary level.





He also listed a number of educational interventions and infrastructure projects the Akufo-Addo government has provided in Zongo communities which included construction of classroom blocks, roads, bridges, water systems, health facilities, and the award of scholarships to 40 students to study medicine in Cuba.



The Conference, which will end on Sunday, August 2, was also graced by some members of the Diplomatic Corp.















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 Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice has dragged a former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH), Alhaji Collins Dauda; his successor, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, and three others to court, accusing them of wilfully causing financial loss to the state over the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.



The state is pressing 52 counts of criminal charges against the accused persons for intentionally misapplying $200 million of state funds by paying for 1,412 affordable housing units at Saglemi, instead of 5,000 units, as Parliament had approved.



Alhaji Dauda and his alleged accomplices are also charged for wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contrary to Section 179A (3) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).



The other accused are Alhaji Daudas successor at the Housing Ministry from April 2015 to 2017, Agyeman-Mensah; the Chief Director at the ministry from 2009 to 2017, Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu; the Executive Chairman of Construtora OAS, the Brazilian company which constructed the affordable housing project at Saglemi, Andrew Clocanas, and a director of RMS, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) consultancy subcontractor, Nouvi Tetteh Angelo.



They are also facing charges of intentionally misapplying public property, contrary to Section 1 (2) of the Public Property Protection Act, 1977 (SMCD 140); issuing false certificates, contrary to Government Contracts (Protection) Act, 1979 (AFRCD 58), and dishonestly causing loss to public property.





The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, on behalf of the A-G, filed the charges at the Accra High Court last Friday, just before the courts rose for their annual vacation.



The prosecutor alleged that although $196.43 million had been spent on the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project, the contractor having been paid $179.9 million, investigations carried out revealed that the cost of works executed on site, including consultancy services, was about $64.98 million, with only 651.75 acres of land used, out of the 2,172 acres available for the project.



Investigations further revealed that only 668 housing units were completed by the contractor. These are, however, not habitable, the A-G said, adding that not a single house under the project has been sold and the facility remains unpaid, resulting in huge financial loss to the Republic of Ghana.



Facts



The facts, as presented by the A-G, are that in August 2012, the then President, John Dramani Mahama, granted an Executive approval to the Housing Ministry for the construction of 5,000 affordable housing units, to be known as the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.



The housing units, to be executed by Construtora OAS Ltd, were to be sold to workers through mortgage arrangements provided by the then Ghana Home Loans Company.



The project was funded by Credit Suisse following a parliamentary approval.



The Ministry of Finance (borrower) and the lender signed a facility agreement on January 4, 2013 for the release of $200 million to fund the construction of the 5,000 housing units, the day on which the Housing Minister also signed the EPC agreement with Construtora OAS, represented by Clocanas, the fourth accused.



According to the prosecutor, the project was to be executed in four phases on 2,172 acres of land at a contract price of $200 million, including consultancy services.



An Escrow Management Agreement, a condition precedent to the release of the facility to the borrower, was also signed, pursuant to the facility and the EPC agreements, he said.



That was among the Finance Ministry (borrower), the MWRWH (account holder), the Bank of Ghana (account holding bank) and Construtora OAS (contractor).



The purpose of this agreement was to ensure that the $200 million facility would be properly applied towards the development of the 5,000 housing units, the A-G said.



Per the agreements, the prosecutor said, payments were to be effected only when specific works had been duly executed, verified and certified by the consultants of the project, the Architectural and Engineering Services Ltd (AESL).



However, the EPC agreement provided for an advance payment of 40 per cent of the contract price to the contractor within five working days of receipt of the facility in the Escrow Account.



The advance payment was to be applied towards specific works set out in the contract, with the remaining amount paid to the contractor based on fulfilment of specific milestones.



The contractor was required under the agreement to set out the details of the achieved project milestones, which had to be verified and certified by the consultants before receiving payment, the prosecutor said.



Disbursement



Credit Suisse, he said, disbursed the $198 million ($200 million less fees and transaction expenses) into the Escrow Account and the 40 per cent advanced payment to Construtora OAS effected on February 27, 2013.



He alleged that the contractor failed to apply the amount towards the intended purpose.



A portion of the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project



Review



The prosecutor said on February 27, 2014, Dauda, without parliamentary approval, reviewed the EPC agreement and signed both the original and the revised (restated) agreement with Construtora OAS, represented by Clocanas.



The revision allegedly changed the scope of works and the application of the $200 million approved by Parliament, the A-G said.



This new agreement required the contractor to execute the project in three phases over a site of 1,272 acres, while the $200 million was now to be applied towards the execution of only the first phase of the project, comprising just about 1,502 housing units, he alleged.



This was contrary to the executive and parliamentary approvals, as well as the facility and Escrow Management agreements, he added.



On December 21, 2016, the prosecutor said, the Chief Director, Yakubu, again reviewed the original and revised (restated) agreement and signed them (second and his revised or restated), without recourse to Parliament.



That led to a further reduction in the scope of works to 1,412 housing units at a revised price of $181 million and extended the completion period to July 31, 2017, the prosecutor alleged.



Read also: Parliament approved $200m loan for 5,000 units Saglemi Housing Project



Subcontract



According to the A-G, the AESL, which was the consultant, on April 15, 2013 signed a contract with Vito Hugo-Coordenacao e Gestao De Projectos (VHM), subcontracting the consultancy services under the EPC for $5 million over a period of 24 months, the amount provided under the EPC agreement.



While the AESL was to take $2 million, VHM was to be paid more than $2.98 million for its services.



According to the facts, in April 2015, while both companies were still providing consultancy services under the contract, the MWRWH entered into another contract for consultancy services with Ridge Management Services Solutions DWC-LLC (RMS), represented by the director and majority shareholder, Tetteh Angelo (the fifth accused), for three months for a contract sum of $5.6 million.



This was at a time RMS was not registered in Ghana as a company. Once again, the MWRWH was required to make an advance payment of 40 per cent of the contract sum, the facts said, adding that it was also outside the EPC agreement.



The prosecutor said the investigations revealed that Angelo, the majority shareholder of RMS, was also a Director of VHM Ghana Ltd.



He said Agyeman-Mensah, in August 2016, again entered into another agreement with RMS, referred to as marketing implementation services, for the sum of $2.5 million, with the ministry required to make 40 per cent advance payment.



All this while, the AESL and the VHM were purportedly performing the same consultancy services for the project, their agreements having been extended at various times by Dauda and his successor, Agyeman-Mensah, he said.



Read also: Saglemi housing contractor short-changed Ghana - Atta Akyea



Payment for no work



The prosecutor further alleged that between March 2014 and January 2015, the government paid $46.13 million to the contractor, Construtora OAS, while $3.38 million was paid to the consultants, the AESL and the VHM, when no work had been duly executed.



These payments were authorised and approved by the 1st and 3rd accused without any evidence of specific project milestones achieved by the contractor, as required under the EPC agreement, he alleged.



Similarly, there was no justification for an $80 million payment earlier made, the prosecutor further said.



Again, he alleged, $54.1 million was okayed by Dauda and Yakubu and paid to the contractor between June 2015 and January 2017, with evidence of works and milestones achieved.



The prosecutor alleged that payments made to the AESL, the VHM and the RMS were far in excess of the $5 million stated consultancy fees and without evidence of work done.



Arraigning



It is not clear when the accused persons will be arraigned, as the courts are expected to resume from legal vacation in October this year.



If they are arraigned within the legal vacation, the accused persons will appear before a vacation judge. These are judges who are made to stay on and work so that the legal system will not go to sleep during the vacation period.



Since a vacation judge does not deal with substantive issues, the accused persons will only be in the vacation court for their pleas to be taken, apply for bail or for remand purposes.

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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Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe has hit out at the opposition NDC over their incompetence and failure to discern that deposed James Gyakye, former MP for Assin North was not qualified to contest for elections.



According to Abronye, this shows that all the NDC are only good with insults. He mentioned that the NDC did not just lose the case but their candidate will be tried for perjury.



Abronye mentioned that the NDC have nothing to offer and their tenure in office was one of the gloomy years for the party. He noted that per what the NDC did to NPP officials like Adamu Sakande, who died few days after being granted pardon by John Mahama, the NPP had to retaliate.



That is why sometimes I dont understand Nana Addo when he does some of these good deeds. At this time, I am the only one to point it out to him. Some good deeds are unwarranted. Am the only one who can advise him to stop certain acts of charity. He is too charitable. Your uncle, J.B Danquah died in prison Sakande died after being pardoned. Some NDC people protested against this pardon. Some people deserve to be punished but Nana is letting them go scot-free Abronye said.



It can be recalled that President Akufo-Addo granted presidential pardon to Abuga Pele, former National coordinator for the defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development GYEEDA. Abronye was of the view that this should have been a payback time and not have caused the president to grant a pardon. Abronye argued that the president needs to stop intervening and showing mercy to NDC officials.



He was of the view that the NDC are confused as to whether they will go to the Supreme Court or appeal the case. He called off the bluff of the NDC by insisting that the party is currently in shambles and they might not recover from this









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" " The Mafia family tree has many layers. HowStuffWorks

The structure described below refers specifically to La Cosa Nostra. Other crime organizations have similar structures, but may differ in some ways.

Each Mafia gang is known as a family. The number of families can range from fewer than 10 to more than 100. Sometimes, the emergence of a new family must be approved by the heads of other families, while in some cases a group can splinter off from another family and consolidate its power, becoming recognized as a new family over time. Each family has separate business dealings, but the dealings of the families can intermingle depending on their proximity to one another and the commonality of their ventures.

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The leader of each family is known as the boss, or don. All major decisions are made by the don, and money made by the family ultimately flows to him. The boss's authority is used to resolve disputes and keep everyone in line.

Just below the boss is the underboss. The underboss is the second in command, although the amount of power he wields varies. Some underbosses resolve disputes without involving the boss. Some are groomed to replace the boss if he is old or in danger of going to jail.

Beneath the underboss are the capos. The number of capos varies depending on the overall size of the family. A capo acts like a lieutenant, leading his own section of the family. He has specific activities that he operates. The capo's territory may be defined geographically (as in, "everything west of 14th Street belongs to Louie 'The Key' DiBartolo") or by the rackets he operates ("Alfonze 'Big Al' Maggioli is in charge of illegal gambling"). The key to being a successful capo is making money. The capo keeps some of the money his rackets earn and passes the rest up to the underboss and boss.

The dirty work is done by the soldiers. A soldier is the lowest rank among made men. Soldiers are part of the family, but they hold little power and make relatively little money. The number of soldiers under any given capo can vary tremendously.

In addition to soldiers, the Mafia uses associates. They're not actual members of the Mafia, but they work with Mafia soldiers and capos on various criminal enterprises. An associate can include anyone from a burglar or drug dealer to a lawyer, investment banker, police officer or politician.

One other position within the family is somewhat legendary: the consigliere. The consigliere is not supposed to be part of the family's hierarchy. He is supposed to act as an adviser and make impartial decisions based on fairness and logic rather than personal feelings or vendettas. This position is meant to be elected by the members of the family, not appointed by the boss. In reality, consiglieres are sometimes appointed and are not always impartial. The position was made famous with Robert Duvall's portrayal of lawyer Tom Hagen, fictional consigliere to the Corleone family in two of "The Godfather" movies and the Mario Puzo novel upon which they were based.
" " Friends, family and residents of Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood attend a vigil for 10-year-old Lena Nunez on June 29, 2020. Nunez was shot and killed by a stray bullet while watching television with her brother in her grandmother's home. Gun violence soared in Chicago in 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images

In 2020, more than 4,000 people were victims of gun violence in the city of Chicago. That number was almost 1,500 more from the year before. Those 4,000 were just part of the story in a particularly (if not historically) violent year in the Windy City, which reported a staggering 769 homicides in 2020, a more than 55 percent jump from 2019.

Chicago, of course, is not alone among U.S. cities struggling against a rising level of violent crime, much of it gun-related. The surge has put a spotlight on one possible tool to combat the problem, a decades-old technology that, these days, can almost instantaneously root out the location of a gunshot and quickly dispatch law enforcement to the scene.

President Joe Biden recognized the lure of such tech in June 2021 when he trumpeted money from the American Rescue Plan that he said could be earmarked for "gunshot detection systems." He was referring to companies like ShotSpotter, a Silicon Valley firm that sells "acoustic surveillance technology"  read: hardware, software and an around-the-clock service that detects and pinpoints the location of gunshots  to law enforcement agencies.

No one is touting these systems as a cure-all to the nation's gun-violence problem. The epidemic has far too many causes and is way too deeply ingrained in society for one easy solution, no matter how well it does, or doesn't work.

But ShotSpotter, and other technology like it, could be a critical component in calming things down and turning back the swelling tide of violence.

"The goal is to improve public safety," says Ron Teachman, the company's director of public safety solutions and a longtime law enforcement agent in New Bedford, Massachusetts and South Bend, Indiana. "Getting the police to respond comprehensively and effectively. Enhance community trust. Improve community collaboration. And ultimately, reduce gun violence."

" " The ShotSpotter system uses an array of microphones that can detect, identify and send alerts when and where guns have been fired. ShotSpotter

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How Gunshot Detection Works

The ShotSpotter system, which is the major provider of gunshot detection systems to the civilian market, is based on an array of microphones that can detect, identify and wirelessly send an alert when a gun has been fired, alerting local law enforcement to the time and location of the shot within 60 seconds. (Other companies like Raytheon Technologies provide of gunshot detection systems to the armed forces.)

The number of sensors that are deployed in any given area depends on a range of factors, including architecture and topography. Engineers will map out an area, decide where the sensors should be located, and how many, then go about building the coverage.

ShotSpotter will place the sensors, first, on rooftops of government buildings (less red tape). They'll go for commercial and residential buildings next, with permission, and then may put these high-tech microphones at various heights along a streetscape, including on utility poles.

(ShotSpotter, though, only provides gunshot location with latitude and longitude, not on height.) Teachman says that, generally, an average square mile can be covered by 20 to 25 sensors, which are wired for power but send their alerts wirelessly.

When a gun is fired, several of these sensitive sensors are triggered, enabling the system to triangulate  Teachman says more often it's "multi-angulate"  the relatively exact coordinates of the sound. This all happens in seconds; even milliseconds.

The information is sped to a ShotSpotter Incident Review Center, where it's first analyzed by computer algorithms, flagged as a possible gunshot, and then listened to by humans sitting in a 911-type environment. Within a minute  often, it's something like 45 seconds  an alert is conveyed to police, via smartphone, desktop computer, laptop or even smartwatch, marking a precise location of the shot on a map. Authorities respond as needed, depending on local policies.

" " Once a gunshot is detected by the SpotShotter system, it's analyzed by computers then sent to be reviewed by a person at a call center who can then dispatch police to the exact location where the gun was fired. ShotSpotter

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Refining the Technology

Over the years, the algorithms have been refined and now can differentiate between the sound of fireworks, say and an automatic handgun. The software has been improved to account for different atmospheric and weather conditions, and can single out a shot while discounting, for example, a car backfire. The program considers echoes and acoustic anomalies that may be unique to an area.

The system is not effective with suppressed sounds  a shot from a "silencer" on a handgun, from inside a vehicle, within an apartment, or against a human body  because the sound is not as widely available for the sensors to pick up. Still, if it's out on the street or in other public places like parks or schoolyards (in 2019, 66 percent of homicides in Chicago and 44 percent of shootings happened in streets or alleys), ShotSpotter will hear.

And when police are dispatched, they don't go to the place where a 911 caller alerted them. They go to where the actual shot was picked up by the sensors.

"We dispatch to the dot, which could be driveways, backyards, alleys, fields, parking lots. Going to the dot increases the likelihood of finding a victim, finding evidence, saving a life," says Teachman, referring to the pin on the alert map that marks the spot of the shot. "Many times, officers say, 'I rolled up in my car in the dark and got out and I was almost stepping on a spent shell casing.'"

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How Effective Is It?

ShotSpotter and similar systems are not without critics. A recent report from the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University's School of Law found that an alarming majority of ShotSpotter's reports turn up no proof of gunshots or of any gun-related crimes. The report, in effect, accuses ShotSpotter of sending cops on phantom calls, making situations worse.

"High-tech tools can create a false justification for the broken status quo of policing and can end up exacerbating existing racial disparities," Jonathan Manes, an attorney for the MacArthur Center and a driving force behind the report, said in a news release. "We needed to know whether this system actually does what it claims to do. It does not."

A July 2021 article in Vice, too, accuses ShotSpotter and police of monkeying with results to manufacture favorable evidence in court cases, an allegation the company denies. "ShotSpotter has never altered the information in a court-admissible detailed forensic report based on fitting a police narrative," the company says in a release. "The idea that ShotSpotter 'alters' or 'fabricates' evidence in any way is an outrageous lie and would be a criminal offense. We follow the facts and data for our forensic analysis. Period."

ShotSpotter  used in more than 100 cities worldwide, including big cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Detroit and New York City  claims several success stories, including a 29 percent drop in homicides in the first year it was used in West Palm Beach, Florida; a 30 percent reduction in shootings over the first four months it was deployed in Cleveland, Ohio; a 26 percent reduction in violent crime in a hot spot in Las Vegas, Nevada; a 56 percent drop in the number of gun-violence victims over an eight-year period the system was used in Omaha, Nebraska.

According to the company, ShotSpotter increases the number of gun incidents that are reported, to the point that some 97 percent of external gunfire in a monitored area is identified by the system. (The vast majority of gunfire, ShotSpotter says, is not reported otherwise to police.) The company says the system also drastically cuts down response time, gets victims transported to hospitals more quickly, and improves investigation by pinpointing the location of the incident more accurately.

All the focus on gunshots, Teachman insists, has another hugely important benefit: Gunshot detection systems act as deterrents to the bad guys and help police officers better connect with the people whom they're trying to protect and serve.

"Ultimately, you reduce gun violence by identifying those perpetrators and bringing them to justice. When people start seeing police responding, you start building a community trust. And that's what we're hoping for," Teachman says. "It's not just a police response. We're not going to arrest our way out of the gun-violence problem. It requires a community engagement as well. But the community has to believe in the public safety officials that are working with them. And that's what we're in the business of doing."

" " Once a gunshot has been vetted and confirmed, police can respond to its exact location, often in time to get victims of gunshots to the hospital for lifesaving treatment. ShotSpotter

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING All that tech doesn't come cheaply. More than 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of the city of Chicago are covered by the ShotSpotter system. For that, the city will pay the company up to $33 million in a three-year contract that ends in August 2021. The contract can be extended through 2023.
FILE PHOTO: Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a news conference following her resignation from her post in President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet, at the Quezon City Reception House, December 5, 2016. (Source: REUTERS/Ezra Acayan)

Urging Filipinos to keep fighting for a better country, Vice President Leni Robredo paid tribute to former President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III on Sunday (August 1), 40 days after his death.

Kung worth fighting for kami, mas lalo kang worth fighting for," the vice president said. (If we (Filipinos) are worth fighting for, you are all the more worth fighting for). "Worth fighting for ang legacy mo, worth fighting for ang mga prinsipyo mo, worth fighting for ang Pilipinas na pinangarap mo," she added. (Your legacy is worth fighting for. Your principles are worth fighting for. The Philippines you dreamed of is worth fighting for).

Stressing that the best way to honor Aquino is to stand up for the Philippines he envisioned for us, Robredo encouraged Filipinos to keep fighting, despite the hardships the country is facing.

"Ito na rin siguro yung pinakamagandang tribute na puwede nating ibigay kay PNoy: Ang mahanap ang lakas ng loob na tumindig at pandayin ang Pilipinas na pinangarap niya para sa atin," the vice president said. (This is probably the best tribute we can give to PNoy: To find the courage to stand up and forge the Philippines that he dreamt for us.)

"Tayo ang Boss  tayo ang may kakayahan, hindi tayo passive observer lang sa demokrasya, kundi may responsibilidad na makilahok," she added. (We are the Boss  we are capable, we are not just passive observers of democracy, but have a responsibility to participate).

Opposition leader Leni Robredo, is one of the six possible nominees for the top two positions named by the united opposition coalition 1Sambayan last Independence Day. She has yet to officially declare her 2022 plans.

The August 1st service was among 40 masses held across the country to mark the 40 day since Aquino's death, as well as the 12th anniversary of the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino, who died on August 1, 2009.

Noynoy Aquino, who served as president from 2010 to 2016, died peacefully in his sleep on June 24 at the age of 61 after being hospitalized at the Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City due to renal disease secondary to diabetes. His mother, Cory Aquino served in the post-Martial Law era from 1986-1992.

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Ana Catalina Paje is a development journalist passionate about grassroots communication geared towards genuine social change. She also writes about showbiz, lifestyle, and all things Pinoy pride. The views expressed are her own.
Protesters prepare to burn the ASEAN flag in a June 2021 demonstration in Yangon against the military junta in Myanmar

The United States said Monday that Myanmar's junta was playing for time with a two-year election timeframe as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to encourage ASEAN to appoint an envoy.

Blinken is participating virtually in a week of talks involving foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the latest bid by President Joe Biden's administration to engage a region at the frontlines of US competition with China.

Ahead of the ASEAN talks, Myanmar's junta chief promised to hold elections and lift a state of emergency by August 2023, extending an initial timeline given when the military deposed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.

The announcement is "a call for ASEAN to have to step up its effort because it's clear that the Burmese junta is just stalling for time and wants to keep prolonging the calendar to its own advantage," said a senior US official, using Myanmar's former name of Burma.

"All the more reason why ASEAN has to engage on this and live up and uphold the terms of the five-point consensus that Myanmar also signed up to."

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing attended a meeting with ASEAN members on the crisis in April that led to the so-called consensus statement that called for an immediate end to violence and a regional special envoy.

But the junta leader later distanced himself from the statement, no envoy has been appointed and more than 900 people have been reported killed in the six-month crackdown on dissent.

ASEAN is not known for its collective diplomatic clout and its meetings have frequently pitted the United States and China against each other as they seek influence.

The US official said Blinken would address Beijing's "coercion" against ASEAN nations in the dispute-rife South China Sea and also highlight human rights concerns within China.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Southeast Asia last week, where he hammered in on the South China Sea, saying Beijing's claims had no basis in international law.

Story continues

Vice President Kamala Harris plans this month to visit historic US partner Singapore as well as Vietnam, which has moved increasingly close to Washington despite war memories.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is expected to meet Blinken in person in Washington this week, while Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman earlier visited Indonesia and Thailand as well as Cambodia -- often seen as the most pro-Beijing ASEAN nation.

sct/caw
Flooding in Thailand in 2011. Credit: EU/ECHO/Mathias Eick (https://flickr.com/photos/eu_echo/6975606719/), CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

Even as Asia's megacities continue to submerge, officials of one small Philippine city are planning a major US$460 million reclamation project that will damage or sink their beautiful seaside city into the dark blue southern sea.

Scientists and environmentalists have called on the local government of Dumaguete to scrap the reclamation project, citing the devastating impact it may have on the marine environment and coastal communities. The 174-hectare project seeks to develop the site as a "5G-ready mini-city, complete with shopping malls, condominiums, esplanades and other business establishments."

This is developing as rising sea levels and climate change are posing serious threats to the population and economy of several Asian coastal citiesBangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Manila and Shanghai, among them.

Threats come from a combination of tropical cyclones, storm surges, high tides and sea-level rise that increase risk of serious flooding by 2030. Some 600 million people worldwidethe majority in Asiawill be affected by rising sea levels in flood-prone coastal regions, some of them economic centers.

Sinking cities, rising seas

Imperceptible to most residents, major Asian cities continue to slide under water for a variety of causes. As global warming comes, scientists worry that the world is heading towards a perfect storm of sinking cities and rising seas in a decade.

This is not a new story, of course. More than a decade ago in 2008, some South-East Asian coastal nations were concerned about how vulnerable they were to the forces of the seas. In one of the early conferences on the problems of coastal cities, scientists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan studied the impact of sea flooding on migration from coastal areas.

The study focused on migration as a response to the sinking cities. The idea was that people would leave their homes voluntarily and migrate to safer places to avoid the rising seas. The study said Vietnam was in a class by itself with a high coastal plain population. By 2040, it was expected to experience a relatively high land loss due to submergence forcing people to migrate.

According to the study, by 2100 the continuing sea level rise was expected to result in a loss of wetland area with nearly 22 million people experiencing floods every year in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

The causes of the sinking cities and rising seas are not quite the same though the impacts are similarsubmerging large areas of cities and populations under water in a decade or sooner. As cities plan their retreats, the big cities slowly sink at different rates, some faster than others.

Jakarta reportedly holds the record for the world's fastest sinking city, at a rate of around 25.4cm per year. Around 40 percent of the city now lies below current sea levels. Over half of its 10.6 million people lack access to piped water and surface water is heavily polluted, so they dig illegal wells to extract groundwater. Rains are not enough to replenish water in the soils because over 97 percent of Jakarta is covered in asphalt and concrete.

Bangkok with its 9.6 million population is also vulnerable to rising sea levels. Six years ago, in 2015, its government published a report that said the city could be underwater in 15 years. The city, now only around 1.5 meters above sea level, is sinking at a rate of about two centimeters per year. Bangkok's sinking has been made worse by the sheer weight of its high-rise buildings which pressing into the sea the foundations of the city. The city has about 700 buildings with 20 floors or more and 4,000 buildings with 820 floors, putting considerable pressure on the land on which they sit.

Manila with its core city population of 13.3 million people is sinking at around 10 centimeters per year. Since the city has an average elevation of around five meters it is living on borrowed time. The sinking increases the risk of floods and cause high tides to penetrate further inland and water to recede more slowly. Unless there is intervention, much of the land area bordering Greater Manila BayPasay to Manila to Malabon to most of Bulacan province north of Manilawill go under several centimeters of water by 2050.

Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka, population 18.9 million, is another low-lying, riverside city in Asia beset by a sinking feeling caused by unsustainable extraction of groundwater. As in other cities they exploit groundwater because the rivers are polluted. The city is sinking at a rate of about 1.4 centimeters per year, with most urbanized areas a mere 68 meters above sea level. Sea level rise appears to be happening at a rate ten times greater than the global average in the Bay of Bengal, southwest of the city.

Managing retreat from rising seas

There is still time to prevent a worst-case scenario if people act now. Governments and corporations must immediately transition to large-scale renewable energy to keep the world's temperature rise under 1.5 degree Celsius.

Governments can do this if they phase-out coal-fired power plants and accelerate the shift to clean and renewable energy. Governments must upgrade their nationally determined contribution targets promised in the Paris Agreement ahead of COP26.

As seas rise and climate change brings rains and floods, countries must now plan strategies to protect their communities. They have a variety of defenses to choose from: protection (e.g., hard shoreline dikes), accommodation (e.g., elevating or flood-proofing structures), or managed retreat. 4

Managed retreat for now seems to be a last resort. This basically means relocating people and infrastructure away from vulnerable coastal areas to flood-free ecosystemsout of harm's way before disasters strike.

For instance, about two years ago, the Indonesian government announced that they are planning to develop a new capital in Kutai Kertanagara in East Kalimantan at an estimated cost of US$33 billion. The new city will relocate some 1.5 million people mostly civil servants and their families and economic actors. However, it seems that there is no commitment on the poor coastal folks in North Jakarta which will be left to deal with the unsolved land subsidence and rising seas.

Certainly, a managed retreat should be inclusive for all especially the most vulnerable and impoverished who are left with little choice but to sink or swim hard to survive.

Explore further Sea level rise up to four times global average for coastal communities

Provided by SciDev.Net
The remobilisation of pollutants from sediments during severe flooding is a so far underestimated consequence of extreme events. Credit: DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126691

Sediments are regarded as a river's long-term memory. They mainly comprise particles that are eroded from the ground, ending up at some point in river deltas or the sea. However, sediments can also remain stable for a relatively long timeand bind pollutants which, for example, have entered the rivers through mining or industrial wastewater. As a consequence, many old river sediments contain pollutants as "chemical time bombs," such as heavy metals or dioxins and dioxin-like compounds that are not easily degradable.

During flood events in the more industrial regions of Europe, North America and Asia, old sediments can be churned up as a result of the high speeds at which the water is flowing. In the process, the pollutants bound in them are regularly released in one go and contaminate flooded areas. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Goethe University, RWTH Aachen University and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, along with other partners, has compiled a review of previous scientific studies on this topic. In it, the researchers, headed by junior research group leader Dr. Sarah Crawford in Frankfurt and Canadian researcher Professor Markus Brinkmann, show, for example, which pollutant loads were measured after various flood events, which test systems were developed for different pollutants and how different sediments behave when water flows at high speeds. It describes the risks for drinking water production, the influence of temperature on pollutant intake by fish and methods for assessing the economic costs associated with the remobilisation of pollutants.

Despite the many years of research on this subject, Henner Hollert, professor of environmental toxicology at Goethe University and senior author of the publication in hand, is greatly concerned: "I have the impression that the problem of pollutants from old sediments is greatly underestimated in Germany and also in Europe as a whole. One reason for this could also be that to date there have been practically no studies at all on the economic consequences of this problem, as we've been able to show. However, contaminated sediments are a ticking time bomb that can explode each time there's a flood. What we need now is good river management across the board that not only looks at immediate hazards for humans, animals and infrastructure but also at the long-term consequences resulting from pollutants in the riverbeds. It's imperative, for example, that we examine flooded areas used agriculturally for river-specific pollutants so that these do not end up on our plates in the form of meat and dairy products."

In an interdisciplinary approach, researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt, in collaboration with RWTH Aachen University, the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), the Senckenberg Institute, the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics and many other partners, are also studying the recent extreme flood events in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in terms of hydraulic engineering and the biological, ecotoxicological, ecological, geoscientific but also the social-ecological and economic consequences. These studies are embedded in the new research cluster RobustNature at Goethe University, which is examining the robustness and resilience of nature-society systems in the changing Anthropocene and aims to contribute to knowledge-based transformation research using the examples of biodiversity and waterthat is, from knowledge to action.

Explore further River sediments, a dynamic reserve of pollutants

More information: Sarah E. Crawford et al, Remobilization of pollutants during extreme flood events poses severe risks to human and environmental health, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2021). Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials Sarah E. Crawford et al, Remobilization of pollutants during extreme flood events poses severe risks to human and environmental health,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126691
The death toll from floods in central China rose to 302 after torrential downpours dumped a year's rain on a city in just three days last month.

The death toll from floods in central China last month is at least 302 with dozens of people still missing, officials said Monday, after record downpours dumped a year's worth of rain on a city in just three days.

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province and the epicentre of the record flooding, was hardest hit with 292 people dead and 47 missing, the local government said at a press briefing.

Residents were trapped in subway carriages, underground car parks, and tunnels.

Images of passengers inundated by shoulder-height water went viral on Chinese social media on Line 5 of the city subway where 14 people died, while dozens of cars in a tunnel were tossed aside by the deluge, many with passengers still inside.

Scores were killed in Zhengzhou due to floods and mudslides, mayor Hou Hong told reporters while updating the overall toll. She added that 39 bodies were recovered from underground car parks and other below-ground spaces.

The disaster marked China's deadliest floods in a decade.

Heavy downpours that began July 17 have affected over 14 million people, damaged thousands of homes, and caused economic losses in Zhengzhou estimated at 53 billion yuan ($8.2 billion).

The total losses across the province were almost double that amount.

Experts say freak weather eventsheavy floods and punishing droughtsare increasingly common due to climate change.

Questions are turning to how China's bulging cities can better prepare for extreme weather.

As the water retreated, slaking roads in mud, residents counted the financial cost in lost businesses and propertyand attempted to mark the human tragedy which took place there.

Residents were trapped in subway carriages, underground car parks, and tunnels as central China was hit by a year's worth of rain in three days.

Angry response

City and provincial officials have faced calls for accountability, with the wife of one of the subway victims telling local media she would sue the metro operator for negligence.

News of the death tolls enraged China's social media users who demanded better disaster management protocols and criticised the government's response.

"Can we do a good check of Zhengzhou's drainage system?" a Zhengzhou resident wrote on Weibo.

"We're digging and building roads every day... change the leadership and do it all over again, all the money has been spent on superficial things!"

But criticism of the government's handling of the disaster was met with a stern response.

A large floral tribute at the subway in Zhengzhou was sealed off last week by authorities and foreign journalists covering the floods have been harassed online and on the ground.

Reporters from AFP were forced to delete footage by hostile residents and surrounded by dozens of men while reporting on a submerged traffic tunnel in Zhengzhou.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian last week singled out the BBC for criticism, labelling it a "Fake News Broadcasting Company" that has "attacked and smeared China, seriously deviating from journalistic standards."

Officials and state media have long accused Western news organisations of anti-China bias.

The United States has since said it was "deeply concerned" over the harassment and intimidation of foreign correspondents covering deadly floods in China.

For now, air, rail, and road transport in Henan have resumed although the Zhengzhou subway has not, according to a Henan official.

Explore further Death toll from Henan floods rises to 71 as China braces for more rain

 2021 AFP
Tree stomp in lignite deposits. Credit: Vittoria Lauretano

New research led by the University of Bristol demonstrates that a decline in the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 played a major role in driving Earth's climate from a warm greenhouse into a cold icehouse world around 34 million years ago. This transition could be partly reversed in the next centuries due to the anthropogenic rise in CO 2 .

Between 40 and 34 million years ago, Earth's climate underwent a major climatic transition. Before 40 million years ago, during the Eocene, Antarctica was covered by lush forests, but by 34 million years ago, in the Oligocene, these forests had been replaced by thick continental ice sheets, as we know Antarctica today. The main driver of this greenhouse to icehouse transition is widely debated, and little information is available about how climate changed on land. An international team led by Dr. Vittoria Lauretano and Dr. David Naafs at the University of Bristol used molecular fossils preserved in ancient coals to reconstruct land temperature across this transition.

The team used a new approach based on the distribution of bacterial lipids preserved in ancient wetland deposits. It was developed as part of the ERC-funded project, The Greenhouse Earth System (TGRES), which also funded this study. The TGRES PI and paper co-author Rich Pancost, from the University's School of Chemistry, explained: 'These compounds originally comprised the cell membranes of bacteria living in ancient wetlands, with their structures changing slightly to help the bacteria adapt to changing temperature and acidity. Those compounds can then be preserved for tens of millions of years, allowing us to reconstruct those ancient environmental conditions.'

Lignite mine in South East Australia. Credit: Vittoria Lauretano

To reconstruct temperature change across the greenhouse to icehouse transition, the team applied their new approach to coal deposits from the southeast Australian Gippsland Basin. These remarkable deposits span over 10 million years of Earth history and have been extensively characterized by collaborators on the study from the University of Melbourne, Dr. Vera Korasidis and Prof. Malcolm Wallace.

The new data show that land temperatures cooled alongside the ocean's and by a similar magnitude of about 3C. To explore causes of that temperature decline, the team conducted climate model simulations, Crucially, only simulations that included a decline in atmospheric CO 2 could reproduce a cooling consistent with the temperature data reconstructed from the coals.

These results provide further evidence that atmospheric CO 2 plays a crucial role in driving Earth's climate, including the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet.

"Eocene to Oligocene terrestrial Southern Hemisphere cooling caused by declining pCO 2 " is published in Nature Geoscience.

Explore further Throwing a warm sheet over our understanding of ice and climate

More information: Eocene to Oligocene terrestrial Southern Hemisphere cooling caused by declining pCO 2 , Nature Geoscience (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00788-z Journal information: Nature Geoscience Eocene to Oligocene terrestrial Southern Hemisphere cooling caused by declining pCO(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00788-z
Figure 1: 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia spectra. Horizontal axis marks wavelength, while the vertical axis shows the reflectance intensity, normalised to that at a wavelength of 0.55 microns. Longer wavelengths have a higher intensity, which is said to be more "red." If the intensity decreases with lengthening wavelength, the spectra is said to become more "blue." Credit: Hasegawa et al. 2021

Two asteroids (203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia) have been discovered with a redder spectrum than any other object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The discovery was led by HASEGAWA Sunao, Associate Senior Researcher at ISAS JAXA, with an international team of researchers from MIT, the University of Hawai'i, Seoul National University, Kyoto University and the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

These two asteroids have a steeper spectral slope than the D-type asteroids, which were thought to be the reddest objects in the asteroid belt. Rather, their spectra resembles that of trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs in the outer solar system that have a very red spectrum.

Spectroscopic observations suggest the presence of complex organic matter on the surface of these asteroids. It is possible that these objects were formed near the outer edge of the solar system and migrated to the asteroid belt during the early stages of the solar system's formation. This discovery therefore provides new evidence that planetesimals formed at the outer edge of the solar system have moved to the asteroid belt within Jupiter's orbit.

The results of this research were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, an academic journal of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), on July 26, 2021.

Background

The internal structure of a large planet such as the Earth is differentiated into the core, mantle and crust. However, such differentiated bodies that lost most of the information about their formation prior to differentiation that occurred during the early stages of solar system formation. For information about that era, we need to examine undifferentiated (primitive) objects. Some meteorites that have landed on the Earth are thought to have been ejected from primitive minor bodies such as asteroids. Ordinary chondrite meteorites and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites are typical examples. Ordinary chondrites are thought to have been derived from celestial bodies that were formed in the inner region of the solar system, within the water ice snow line, while carbonaceous chondrites are thought to have been formed in the outer region past the water ice snow line.

It is known that such primitive objects occupy most of the asteroid belt (between 2.1 to 3.3 astronomical units, AU) that sits in the solar system between Mars (at 1.5 au) and Jupiter (5.2 au). Asteroids that correspond to the ordinary chondrite meteorites on Earth are called S-type asteroids, and a sample from a member of this S-type class, asteroid 25143 Itokawa, was returned to Earth by the Hayabusa (MUSES-C). The asteroids thought to correspond to carbonaceous chondrites meteorites are known as C-type asteroids and the sample from asteroid 162173 Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is an example of this asteroid class.

The distribution of S/C type asteroids within the asteroid belt have a large proportion of S-type asteroids in the inner part of the asteroid belt, while the proportion of C-type asteroid increases towards the outer edge. This arrangement is expected, but it is not a "sharp" distribution, but rather "blurred." The observation of this distribution is considered to be evidence that asteroids have moved in a radial direction through the solar system and mixed during the formation of the asteroid belt we see today.

Further out into the solar system are the D-type asteroids. Just outside the asteroid belt are a group of small bodies known as the Cybeles (3.3 to 3.7 au), which predominantly consist of D-type asteroids. D-type asteroids also form half the population of objects in the more distant Hilda group (3.74.2 au) and that of the Jupiter Trojans (around 5.2 au). The Tagish Lake meteorite is considered a D-type-related meteorite and its analysis suggests it is the most primitive of the carbonaceous chondrites. D-type asteroids are also known to have a spectra similar to that of comets, which are known to contain a lot of volatile components such as water and carbon dioxide. Judging from the Tagish meteorite analysis and comet observation results, it is thought that D-type asteroids were formed beyond the carbon dioxide snow line, where carbon dioxide formed solid particles (as well as water ice).

Looking towards the outer edge of the solar system around Neptune, there are many trans-Neptunian and Centaur objects that resemble the asteroids of the asteroid belt. Some of these objects have come within the vicinity of the Earth as comets, but the question has remained as to whether there are any objects in the asteroid belt that have migrated from further away where the D-type asteroids were formed during the early stages of the formation of the solar system.

Research results

In the asteroid belt, asteroids with sizes over ~100 km in diameter are generally considered to have avoided catastrophic destruction and are thought to be the surviving population of the planetesimals that formed early in the formation of the solar system. Our international research team therefore conducted a spectroscopic survey of asteroids with diameters of ~100 km or more in the asteroid belt to acquire near-infrared spectroscopic data for objects which have no previously obtained observational data in order to uncover the distribution the planetesimals and the composition of such objects during the formation of the asteroid belt.

In the spectroscopic survey, we discovered that 203 Pompeja, with a diameter of 110 km, has a spectrum redder than even that of the D-type asteroids (Figure 1). Furthermore, examination of past observations revealed that 269 Justitia, with a diameter of 55 km and whose very red spectrum had been previously recorded, has a redness similar to that of 203 Pompeja (Fig. 1).

In the left-hand figure, the typical spectra of currently known Near-Earth asteroids, asteroid belt asteroids and Trojan asteroids which are dark asteroids with an albedo (absolute reflectance) of 0.1 or less is compared with the spectra of 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia. Asteroid 162173 Ryugu is a C-type asteroid, while Bennu (destination of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission) is a B-type. D-type asteroids have the reddest spectra of the asteroids and are abundant in the Trojan population. You can see that 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia are redder than even the reddest D-type asteroid.

Figure 2: Evolution of the Solar System. Created in reference to Neveu & Vernazza, 2019 and DeMeo & Carry, 2014. Credit: NASA, JAXA

The figure on the right is a comparison of the dark icy moons, Centaurs and outer edge solar system objects with albedo of 0.1 or less, with 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia.It can be seen that 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia have similar spectra to these trans-Neptunian objects.

Asteroids with a very red spectrum, such as 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia, have not previously been found in the asteroid belt, Cybele, Hilda or Jupiter Trojan groups. But as we look at the outer edge of the solar system, these distant celestial bodies and Centaurs are known to have similar or even redder spectra. The spectroscopic comparison revealed that 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia share similar spectral characteristics with the outer solar system celestial bodies and those of the Centaurs (Fig. 1).

Previous studies have pointed to the surfaces of the trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs, which have a redder spectra than the D-type asteroids, being covered with complex organic matter. These two objects in the asteroid belt may therefore also be covered with organic matter.

Scientific significance of this research

The surface of trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs are covered with complex organics, which are thought to be produced from simple organic compounds such as methane and methanol ice.

On the other hand, the analysis of meteorites thought to correspond to the D-type asteroids suggests that D-type asteroids formed further out than the carbon dioxide snow line.

The three snow lines related to this work are the water ice snow line, the carbon dioxide snow line and the organic compound snow line, and are located steadily further from the sun in this order.

Let's now look at the evolution of planetesimals from the perspective of the solar system formation model. In the classical solar system formation model, the planets did not move from their location during the early stages of formation to the present day. However, more recent models suggest that the movement of planets such as Jupiter in the early solar system caused the gravitational field to shift and mixing to occur.

Combining the idea of the snow lines with the latest solar system formation model, the following can be supposed:

D-type asteroids are formed in the inner region of the solar system, compared to those asteroids that have a very red spectrum. As a result of planetary migration, a number of these D-type asteroids end up in the range between the asteroid belt and the Trojan group.

Asteroids with a very red spectra, which share an origin with outer solar system bodies and the Centaurs, are formed further out than the D-type asteroids. They are therefore less numerous in the region between the asteroid belt and Trojan group.

The distribution of asteroids within the asteroid belt show that asteroids with a very red spectra are much less common than D-type asteroids (Figure 2). This is consistent with the location of the snow lines combined with the latest solar system formation model, and is supporting evidence for this model of solar system formation.

Asteroid 162173 Ryugu, from which Hayabusa2 returned a sample, is a C-type asteroid and thought to have formed outside the water ice snow line before moving to a position closer to the Earth (Fig. 2).

However, asteroids 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia that were discovered here are thought to have been formed near the outer edge of the solar system beyond the distant organic snow line and then moved to the asteroid belt during the early epoch of the solar system's formation (Fig. 2).

By exploring these kinds of objects, it is highly possible that information regarding the outer regions of the solar system beyond the organic compound snow line during the solar system's formation can be obtained without having to travel to the outer edge of the solar system. This is worth considering as candidate destination mission targets in the future.

Explore further What did the solar system look like before all the planets migrated?

More information: Sunao Hasegawa et al, Discovery of Two TNO-like Bodies in the Asteroid Belt, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2021). Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters Sunao Hasegawa et al, Discovery of Two TNO-like Bodies in the Asteroid Belt,(2021). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac0f05

Provided by ISAS
NASA image of Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo from 2013.

What if Earth's atmosphere was infused with extra carbon dioxide, mused amateur scientist Eunice Foote in an 1856 research paper that concluded the gas was very good at absorbing heat.

"An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature," she wrote in the study, published in the American Journal of Science and Arts and then swiftly forgotten.

The American scientist and women's rights activist, who only wrote one more paper, could not have known the full significance of her extraordinary statement, said Alice Bell, author of a recent book on the climate crisis"Our Biggest Experiment"that features Foote.

This was the decade that the United States first began to drill for oil. It is also the baseline period of global temperatures we now use to chart the fossil fuel driven warming of the planet.

Foote, whose work was rediscovered in recent years, is now seen as part of a multi-generational exploration, spanning some 200 years, unravelling the mysteries of how the climate worksand more recently how human activities have tipped it out of balance.

"There is no eureka moment with one great genius in climate change science," Bell told AFP.

"Climate science is a story of people over centuries and different disciplines, different countries working together, incrementally learning more and more."

An undated picture of a coal mine in Lens, northern France.

People have believed human activities like deforestation could alter the local climate since at least the ancient Greeks.

But in terms of the global climate, the story of our understanding of what we now call the greenhouse effect, arguably began in the 1820s with French scientist Joseph Fourier.

Greenhouse gases

Fourier calculated that Earth would be much colder if it was not enveloped in an insulating blanket of gases.

"He realised that the atmosphere was doing something to prevent heat immediately being radiated into space," said science historian Roland Jackson.

A few decades laterin perhaps the first documented experiment of CO 2 's warming potentialFoote filled glass cylinders with ordinary air, moist air and carbon dioxide to see how hot they became in sunlight compared to shade.

The container with CO 2 warmed more than the others and "was many times as long in cooling", she reported, although she was not able to make a distinction between Earth's outgoing infrared radiationwhich is behind the greenhouse effectand incoming solar radiation.

The UN now says nature thrives when indigenous communities are allowed to manage their lands.

"Carbon dioxide can absorb heat, that's her discovery," said Jackson, who co-authored an analysis of her work published by the Royal Society last year.

"And she made the supposition from that, that if you increase the amount of CO 2 , it could change the climate. She needs to be recognised for that."

Cooling fears

A few years later, the Irish physicist John Tyndall performed a more rigorous study showing that water vapour and CO 2 absorbed infrared radiationthe mechanism of the greenhouse effect.

His discovery was taken seriously, but even then it was twenty years before his findings on water vapour were fully accepted, said Jackson, who is the author of a biography of Tyndall. "CO 2 didn't feature."

In December 1882, a letter to the editor published in Nature cited Tyndall's work on gases.

"From this we may conclude that the increasing pollution of the atmosphere will have a marked influence on the climate of the world," said the letter, signed H. A. Phillips, in one of the earliest published links between human-made emissions and a changing climate.

It is now understood that climate change involves not just higher temperatures, but also more intense and frequent extreme events like heatwaves that spark wildfires.

But it would be decades before there was wider concern that coal smoke belching from factories could one day heat the whole planet.

When Swedish scientist Svante Arrheniusa distant relation of climate campaigner Greta Thunbergsuggested in the late 1800s that burning fossil fuels could influence the climate and calculated what would happen if CO 2 doubled, it was not seen as a cause for alarm.

This is not only because the amounts of CO 2 being emitted at the time were considered negligible, but also because scientists were preoccupied with understanding the carbon cycle in relation to past ice ages, said Robbie Andrew of the CICERO Center for International Climate Research.

"Nothing survived in large parts of the planet during the Ice Age, that's kind of the thinking'We hope we're not going back there'," he told AFP.

Even into the 1930s, when scientists said temperatures were already rising, they thought a little warming could be beneficial.

"The idea that it changed not only temperatures, but other aspects of climate might not have occurred to them," said Andrew, who has compiled a history of emissions predictions.

Even now countries including Germany continue to burn coal.

'Life itself'

There are a few examples of public commentary linking emissions to the risks of warming, although Andrew said the burning of coal was largely seen as a "necessary evil" and health fears were put aside for the sake of progress.

In 1958, an American television show, The Bell Telephone Science Hour, said CO 2 from factories and cars could be warming Earth's climate.

"We are not only dealing with forces of a far greater variety than even the atomic physicist encounters, but with life itself," the narrator said.

But fear of global coolingcentred on aerosol pollution and the nuclear winter that would follow atomic warfarewas dominant, and continued well into the 1970s and 80s.

It was only in 1975 that the scientist Wallace Broecker wrote a paper asking "Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" and the expression began to enter the popular lexicon.

And in 1988, amid record temperatures, US government scientist James Hansen told a Congressional hearing "the greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now".

Scientific advances have not only given us knowledge of climate change but also technological solutions, like these solar panels.

That same year, the United Nations formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Since then climate science has become ever more sophisticatedIPCC reports detail in ever-greater urgency the pace of warming, while scientists can now say whether a particular deadly heatwave, storm or wildfire was amplified by climate change.

But this greater knowledge has been met with industry efforts to sow public confusion about the effects of fossil fuel pollution.

"It's a long history of scientists battling to get this out there. Just stop fighting us," said Andrew.

'Not fiction'

Bell, who co-runs the climate charity Possible, welcomed the recognition of Foote as part of that history.

But she said there are "an awful lot of other voices that have been lost along the way".

For example, she said the colonial era was in some ways a period of "unlearning"when European settlers brutalised indigenous peoples and disregarded their knowledge.

People around the world are increasingly demanding urgent climate action.

Now it is widely recognised that these communities are often far better at managing their lands sustainably.

With the evidence of climate change and record temperatures now impossible to ignore, Bell said decades of scientific endeavour has armed us with both knowledge and technology"we have a lot of the solutions".

But societies must now act to avert the most catastrophic effects.

"It is especially hard to admit that the entire responsibility rests on the people who are active in this decade: that everything depends on us, here, now," said Spencer Weart in his history of climate change science.

"It's as if we have woken up in a science-fiction movie. But it's not fiction, it's physics."

Explore further The physics of climate change was described in the 1800s by scientist Eunice Foote

 2021 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Being in a classroom surrounded by children who are confident and interested in science can actually put girls off pursuing a career in STEM subjects, according to a new study. In contrast, boys seem to be inspired by their peers' confidence and are more likely to see themselves in STEM roles as a result.

Despite studies consistently showing that girls perform at least as well as boys in science subjects at school, women are far less likely to work in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) occupations than men.

One explanation for this phenomenon is that girls are the victims of negative gender stereotypes. Put simply, STEM subjects are often viewed as masculine, and girls are often portrayed as being 'less gifted' in maths and science than men.

Efforts to reverse this trend have focused mainly on providing girls with visible role models. The idea being that if girls see successful female scientists in the media, or read about them in books, they will be much more likely to consider a career in STEM.

However, this study, published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Sociology of Education, suggests that the issue may be more complicated.

Janina Beckmann, a researcher from the University of Cologne and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Germany, analysed data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a longitudinal study in Germany which tracks the lives of 60,000 people from birth until adulthood.

Beckmann focused on 8,711 9th graders from 916 classrooms across Germany. In Germany, 9th graders are usually 14-15 years old.

Each of the children were asked what their dream occupation would be given no constraints, what kind of job they expected to do in the future and to what extent they agreed with statements like 'mathematics is one of my best subjects', 'I learn quickly in mathematics' and 'I've always been good at mathematics'.

The study showed that just 10% of the pupils surveyed expected to work in a STEM occupation in the future. Of those, 84% were male and 17% female.

The results highlight the huge impact that classroom culture has on male and female pupil's job expectations.

Being in a classroom surrounded by pupils who see STEM as an aspirational career choice seemed to inspire boys, who were more likely to view themselves in such a role as a result. However, this environment had the opposite effect on girls, even when they found themselves in classrooms with a high proportion of females with high aspirations in science.

The same pattern was found when looking at classmates' confidence in maths. Girls taught alongside pupils who expressed confidence in maths were far less likely to see themselves in a STEM role. While boys taught in this environment were much more likely to choose a STEM job.

The finding challenges the idea that all you need to do to increase the number of female scientists is to provide girls with visible role models.

'My study confirms that females are less likely than males to expect to work in STEM occupations, even when they have comparable abilities and aspirations,' says Beckmann.

'One explanation could be that perhaps despite perhaps aspiring to be scientists, girls lose confidence in their abilities when taught alongside other confident and aspirational pupils. Whereas boys may be more likely to thrive in such a competitive environment.'

More information: Janina Beckmann, Gendered career expectations in context: the relevance of normative and comparative reference groups, British Journal of Sociology of Education (2021). Janina Beckmann, Gendered career expectations in context: the relevance of normative and comparative reference groups,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2021.1914547
Lead author Jenny L. Reiniger taking measurements on the laser ophthalmoscope. Credit:  Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn

When we fixate an object, its image does not appear at the place where photoreceptors are packed most densely. Instead, its position is shifted slightly nasally and upwards from the cellular peak. This is shown in a recent study conducted at the University of Bonn (Germany), published in the journal Current Biology. The researchers observed such offsets in both eyes of 20 healthy subjects, and speculate that the underlying fixation behavior improves overall vision.

We like to think of the eye as a camera, but the analogy falls short if we look at the distribution of light sensitive cellsphotoreceptorsin the human retina. In digital cameras, the sensor consists of many millions of photosensitive cells distributed evenly over the sensor surface. These pixels all have the same size and are uniformly packed. In the human retina, on the other hand, there are two types of pixels: rod and cone photoreceptors. While rods help seeing in dim light, cones enable us to see color and fine details. In contrast to their technical counterparts, cones vary greatly in size and spacing. In the fovea, a specialized central area conveying sharpest vision, there are up to 200,000 cones per square millimeter; this number drops to about 5,000 in the periphery. This is comparable to a camera with varying resolution across the field of view, resulting in sharp and less sharp areas in the final image.

Dr. Wolf Harmening, head of the adaptive optics and visual psychophysics group at the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Bonn explains, "In humans, cone packing varies within the fovea itself, with a sharp peak in its center. When we focus on an object, we align our eyes so that its image falls exactly on that spotthat, at least, was the general assumption so far."

The measurements were performed with a special, extremely high-resolution laser ophthalmoscope. The reflections in the image show the mosaic of cones in the fovea. Credit:  Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn

Gaze is optimized to seeing with two eyes

As part of her doctoral thesis, Harmening's colleague, Jenny Loren Reiniger, found that this is not quite the case. Her research showed that fixated objects are somewhat shifted nasally and upwards in relation to the location of highest cone densityin a systematic way. "We studied 20 subjects, and found this trend in all of them," Reiniger says. "The offsets were a little larger for some and smaller for others; yet the direction was always the same, and symmetrically so between the two eyes. We also found that same spot when we repeated the measurement a year later."

At first glance, this seems paradoxical: Why do we not use the sharpest part of our retina for seeing? Perhaps this "trick" allows us to reserve our eyes' maximum resolution for areas of the image that need it most. "When we look at horizontal surfaces, such as the floor, objects above fixation are farther away," Reiniger explains. "This is true for most parts of our natural surrounds. Objects located higher appear a little smaller. Shifting our gaze in that fashion might enlarge the area of the visual field that is sheen sharply." The researchers speculate that this behavior is an adaptation to seeing with two eyes.

The observed image shift is quite small. "The fact that we were able to detect it at all is based on technical and methodological advances of the last two decades," says Harmening. The researchers from Bonn use a laser-based adaptive optics ophthalmoscope, enabling them to directly see individual cones in the eyes of their participants. "The method also shows us exactly which cells were used to fixate an object," says Harmening, who is also a member of the transdisciplinary research area "Life and Health" at the University of Bonn, and part of the Medical Imaging Center Bonn.

In the human retina, there are up to seven million of these tiny color receptors, but when we focus on a point we use only a small fraction of themprobably only a few dozenand possibly always the same ones throughout our lives. Cell targeted vision testing will likely help to understand which ones are the most important, in health and disease.

Explore further Researchers measure the basis of color vision

More information: Jenny L. Reiniger et al, Human gaze is systematically offset from the center of cone topography, (2021). Journal information: Current Biology Jenny L. Reiniger et al, Human gaze is systematically offset from the center of cone topography,(2021). DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.19.436115
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

More than two weeks after a flood of raw sewage inundated the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant and triggered a massive discharge into Santa Monica Bay, the damaged facility has continued to release millions of gallons of partially treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, in violation of its environmental permit, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

Responding to repeated inquiries from The Times, Los Angeles city sanitation officials confirmed that the facility has violated multiple state and federal water pollution limits since an emergency discharge sent 17 million gallons of raw sewage into the waters off Dockweiler and El Segundo beaches July 11 and 12. The surge of wastewater sent workers fleeing for their lives and has left the plant in a damaged state.

Sanitation officials said in emails that the facility has exceeded levels for solid particles in the wastewater as well as levels for biological oxygen demand and turbidity, or water clarity, all of which are used to measure the degree of organic pollution during the treatment process.

Each day, the plant discharges 260 million gallons of wastewater into the ocean through a five-mile pipe about 12 feet in diameter. State regulators and environmental experts say that because the wastewater is not fully treated, it could harm people and marine life.

"We are very concerned about the potential impacts on Santa Monica Bay," said Renee Purdy, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The water board ordered Hyperion officials on Thursday evening to conduct daily offshore testing and provide daily status reports on water quality and equipment repair until the plant can resume normal operations, which sanitation officials say could take weeks. The order corroborates information obtained by The Times and shows that the violations began on July 19 and have continued through Wednesday, when the most recently available testing data was returned.

Residents who live near the plant, as well as environmental experts, say city sanitation officials should have informed the public that the facility has been releasing partially treated wastewater into the ocean.

"We are shocked," said Katherine Pease, science and policy director for Heal the Bay. "It's been two weeks since the 17-million-gallon sewage spill, and we are only learning now that the plant is not able to fully treat sewage."

A spokeswoman for the L.A. Sanitation and Environment Department, which operates the Hyperion plant, said in a statement Friday that the violations were the result of the significant damage caused to the plant by the flooding.

"Hyperion had 11 years of compliance with effluent discharge permit limits prior to the July 11, 2021, flooding incident," spokeswoman Elena Stern said. "Hyperion expects to return to its exemplary compliance record with effluent discharge limits in the near future."

The state order also provides new details on the damage caused after a rapid and huge flow of raw sewage on July 11 forced Hyperion crews to evacuate a water treatment building and subsequently flooded about half of the 200-acre facility.

"Multiple pieces of equipment were rendered non-operational as a result of the flooding," the order said, including sludge pumps and a waste solid processing system. As a result, solids have accumulated in processing tanks and affected water quality, according to the order.

Hyperion officials have credited the "valiant" work of crews during the flooding with preventing a large-scale environmental disaster.

In an update posted July 21, Sanitation and Environment Department officials said that multiple ocean water tests conducted by the agency showed that bacteria levels were well below state standards.

The agency did not say in that update or subsequent reports posted on its website that sanitation officials had begun notifying state regulators on July 19 that the Hyperion plant was exceeding water quality standards, records show.

"The public still doesn't know the full impacts of the spill on the facility's treatment processes or whether current discharges are impacting our marine environment," said Ben Harris, a staff attorney with the environmental organization Los Angeles Waterkeeper.

Operations at Hyperion have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism by local officials and residents who live near the plant. They say that sanitation officials have provided insufficient information regarding the spill and its effects on people and marine life.

A report prepared for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors earlier this week found that multiple communications breakdowns involving officials at the Hyperion plant and the county Department of Public Health delayed critical public notifications and a full emergency response during the sewage discharge incident.

In El Segundo, which borders the facility, neighbors have complained of continuous foul orders, as well as rashes, burning eyes and nausea.

Neal Boushell, who lives about a block from the plant, said Friday that the smell was so bad that he left with his family two days earlier to spend time in Carpinteria.

"It is just so awful," he said of the odor.

Explore further 17 million gallons of sewage discharged from treatment plant; some LA beaches closed

2021 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The study system evolves on the Aland archipelago, which stands in the Baltic Sea, between the coasts of Finland and Sweden. (a) Samples used in the study originated from the five local communes of Finstrom (red), Foglo (green), Seglinge-Kumlinge (yellow), Saltvik (blue) and Sottunga (dashed-yellow). The habitat patches of this insect community have been studied since 1990 (Ojanen et al., 2013). (b) Melitaea cinxia caterpillars that were parasitized by Hyposoter horticola and the hyperparasitoid Mesochorus cf. stigmaticus were introduced to Sottunga (dashed yellow) from Finstrom (red) in 1991, and specimens of H. Horticola succesfully migrated to Seglinge-Kumlinge later in the 90s. (c, d) The geographic distribution in Aland of the three species of this insect community changed after 1991. X:absent, V: present, and ??: unknown. Credit: DOI: 10.1111/mec.16065

Larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly, Melitaea cinxia, were introduced to the island of Sottunga in the Aland Islands, Finland, in 1991. The original research project for which this introduction was aimed failed. However, although the island was previously free of the butterfly, the relocated species persisted, offering the ground for investigating how an entire insect community could be affected by one introduction event.

"What the researchers did not know 30 years ago was that the larvae carried along with them the butterfly parasitoid wasp Hyposoter horticola. The parasitoid then carried its hyperparasitoid wasp Mesochorus stigmaticus, and a mum-to-offspring transmitted bacterial symbiont Wolbachia pipientis that somehow increases the susceptibility of the host H. horticola to M. stigmaticus," says academy research fellow at the University of Helsinki, Dr. Anne Duplouy.

Thanks to yearly survey of the Aland butterfly population, researchers from the University of Helsinki and the Cornell University, U.S., have shown that the butterfly population introduced to Sottunga has faced several bottlenecks since 1991. It consequently is genetically quite diminished and faces a high risk of extinction.

"If local butterfly populations are small and unstable their parasitoids must be mobile enough to find hosts elsewhere. We have been able to show that the parasitoid H. horticola is dispersive in Aland. Furthermore, it has persisted and shows less genetic structure than the butterfly host. This probably explains their genetic mixing with populations on a nearby island after introduction to Sottunga. Introduced genotypes have potentially kept nearby populations from extinction during host population declines," Anne Duplouy says.

The hyperparasitoid M. stigmaticus isn't quite as mobile and has a smaller population size, so it suffers from inbreeding and is absent from some islands. Where the hyperparasitoid is absent, the parasitoid lineages with Wolbachia can flourish.

"The genetic signature of introduced wasp lineages gives us a window into what has happened in an island archipelago over the 25 years since their accidental introduction, including persistence through population bottlenecks, dispersal and interbreeding, as well as sorting among lineages depending on a hyperparasitoid and bacterial symbiont," says Dr. Saskya van Nouhuys from Cornell University, U.S., who has studied the parasitoid populations in Aland since 1998.

The researchers are excited to see how genetic methods can complement ecological studies and be useful in studying and making inferences about a population introduced decades ago.

"We have integrated population genetic and population ecology methods to find exciting insights about host and parasitoid ecology, as well as the influence of their bacterial symbionts over such short period of time," concludes University Researcher Dr. Abhilash Nair from the University of Helsinki.

Explore further Small things can have a major effect on the prevention of biodiversity loss

More information: Anne Duplouy et al, Longterm spatiotemporal genetic structure of an accidental parasitoid introduction, and local changes in prevalence of its associated Wolbachia symbiont, Molecular Ecology (2021). Journal information: Molecular Ecology Anne Duplouy et al, Longterm spatiotemporal genetic structure of an accidental parasitoid introduction, and local changes in prevalence of its associated Wolbachia symbiont,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/mec.16065
Rock samples are purified to test for thallium isotopes at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Credit: Stephen Bilenky / National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Two hundred fifty-two million years ago, much of life on planet Earth was dying.

In an event that marked the end of the Permian period, more than 96 percent of the planet's marine species and 70 percent of its terrestrial life suddenly went extinct. It was the largest extinction in Earth's history.

Now Florida State University researchers have found that the extinction coincided with a sudden spike and subsequent drop in the ocean's oxygen content. Their findings were published in Nature Geoscience.

"There's previous work that's been done that shows the environment becoming less oxygenated leading into the extinction event, but it has been hypothesized as a gradual change," said lead author and FSU graduate research assistant Sean Newby. "We were surprised to see this really rapid oxygenation event coinciding with the start of the extinction and then a return to reducing conditions."

Scientists have previously seen a gradual decrease in oxygen during this extinction, but the rapid oxygen increase at the beginning of the extinction was a new finding. The researchers think the oxygenation occurred over a few tens of thousands of years, a very brief period on the scale of the millions of years of the Earth's geological history.

"For the geological record, that's practically instantaneous," Newby said. "And then you can of course compare that to modern, human-induced climate change, where we're having huge, rapid changes on fractions of the time compared to this mass extinction."

The exact cause of this spike in ocean oxygenation is unknown, but the researchers hypothesized that the continual eruption of at least several hundred thousand years of a massive volcanic region led to a brief cooling and the sudden marine oxygenation spike and subsequent crash.

Although ancient marine oxygen levels were on a downward trend ahead of the spike and remained low afterward, it's the geologically rapid shift back and forth and long-term oxygen deficiency that seemed to be more detrimental to life than the gradual decrease. The carbon dioxide released during that volcanic eruption caused the Earth's atmosphere to warm, which lowered oxygen in the oceans and caused the oceans to become relatively inhospitable for millions of years.

It is impossible to directly measure ancient marine or atmospheric oxygen levels, so the research team instead measured thallium isotopes, which indirectly provided information to understand the marine oxygen levels of the past.

The researchers plan to study other ancient extinctions to see if similar dramatic swings in oxygen coincided with any of those mass extinctions, which could have modern-day implications as climate change and increased nutrient discharge decrease the amount of oxygen in our present-day ocean.

"It's not just the loss of oxygen in the modern ocean," said Jeremy Owens, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science and paper-co-author. "The loss of oxygen is important because the organisms living now are adapted for high oxygen, but if you have low oxygen there's also many organisms that may be able to adapt. Any rapid fluctuation in either direction will have an impact."

Researchers from Florida State University, Western Carolina University and the University of Cincinnati contributed to this work.

Explore further Volcanic activity, declining ocean oxygen triggered mass extinction of ancient organisms

More information: Transient ocean oxygenation at end-Permian mass extinction onset shown by thallium isotopes, www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00802-4 Journal information: Nature Geoscience Transient ocean oxygenation at end-Permian mass extinction onset shown by thallium isotopes, DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00802-4
Limestone outcrop on the Taymyr Peninsula in North Siberia, in one of the areas where increased methane concentrations appeared in summer 2020. Credit:  Dmitry Zastrozhnov

Which effects did the heat wave of summer 2020 have in Siberia? In a study led by the University of Bonn (Germany), geologists compared the spatial and temporal distribution of methane concentrations in the air of northern Siberia with geological maps. The result: the methane concentrations in the air after last year's heat wave indicate that increased gas emissions came from limestone formations. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Permanently frozen permafrost soils cover large areas of the northern hemisphere, especially in northern Asia and North America. If they thaw in a warming world, this can pose dangers, because CO 2 and methane are released during thawingand amplify the anthropogenic greenhouse gas effect. "Methane is particularly dangerous here because its warming potential is many times higher than that of CO 2 ," explains Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Froitzheim from the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Bonn. Pessimists therefore already spoke of an imminent "methane bomb." However, most previous projections showed that greenhouse gases from thawing permafrost will contribute "only" about 0.2 degrees Celsius to global warming by 2100. This assumption has now been challenged by a new study by Nikolaus Froitzheim and his colleagues Jaroslaw Majka (Krakow/Uppsala) and Dmitry Zastrozhnov (St. Petersburg).

Most previous studies only dealt with emissions from the decay of plant and animal remains in the permafrost soils themselves. In their current study, researchers led by Nikolaus Froitzheim made a comparison between methane concentrations in Siberian air, determined by satellite-based spectroscopy, and geological maps. They found significantly elevated concentrations in two areas of northern Siberiathe Taymyr Fold Belt and the rim of the Siberian Platform. What is striking about these two elongated areas is that the bedrock there is formed by limestone formations from the Paleozoic era (the period from about 541 million years ago to about 251.9 million years ago).

Left: Satellite image of North Siberia. Two areas of Paleozoic limestone are marked with yellow dashed lines. Upper right: Satellite-measured methane concentration in May, 2020; lower right: in August, 2020. Credit:  N. Froitzheim & D. Zastrozhnov, using data of GHGSat (pulse.ghgsat.com/)

In both areas, the elevated concentrations appeared during the extreme heatwave in summer 2020 and persisted for months after. But how did the additional methane occur in the first place? "The soil formations in the observed areas are very thin to nonexistent, making methane emission from the decay of organic soil matter unlikely," says Niko Froitzheim. He and his colleagues therefore suggest that fracture and cave systems in the limestone, which had been clogged by a mixture of ice and gas hydrate, became permeable upon warming. "As a result, natural gas being mainly methane from reservoirs within and below the permafrost can reach the Earth's surface," he says.

The scientists now plan to investigate this hypothesis by measurements and model calculations to find out how much and how fast natural gas may be released. "The estimated amounts of natural gas in the subsurface of North Siberia are huge. When parts of this will be added to the atmosphere upon thawing of the permafrost, this could have dramatic impacts on the already overheated global climate," says Niko Froitzheim.

Explore further Thawing permafrost produces more methane than expected

More information: Methane release from carbonate rock formations in the Siberian permafrost area during and after the 2020 heat wave, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Methane release from carbonate rock formations in the Siberian permafrost area during and after the 2020 heat wave,(2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2107632118
Henrietta Island from southeast. Henrietta is the northernmost island of the De Long group, Russian Arctic. Credit: Anton Dit/Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0

Glaciers and ice caps in two archipelagos in the Russian Arctic are losing enough meltwater to fill nearly five million Olympic-size swimming pools each year, research shows.

Satellite data suggests that the amount of ice lost between 2010 and 2018 would put an area the size of the Netherlands under seven feet of water.

Warming of the Arctic Ocean appears to play a key role in accelerating ice loss from two large groups of islands that border the Kara Sea, researchers say.

Satellite data

The Edinburgh team mapped data collected by the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 research satellite to monitor changes to the surface height and mass of ice caps and glaciers.

Comparing these with climate data for the same period revealed a clear link between rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures and increased ice loss from two archipelagos.

The team's analysis shows that the Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya archipelagoswhich cover a combined area of around 50,000 square mileslost 11.4 billion tons of ice each year between 2010 and 2018.

Arctic warming

Thinning of the ice has already had a major impact on the stability of some of the region's glaciers and ice caps, which could further increase ice loss in the future, the team says.

Compared to the relatively small size of glaciers, ice caps are large bodies of ice several hundred meters thick that cover areas of up to around 8,000 square miles in the region. Some of these store ice up to 12,000 years old, which provides scientists with valuable long-term records of the Arctic climate.

Improved predictions

Findings from the study add to a body of research suggesting that conditions in the Arctic Ocean are becoming more like those in the North Atlantic, which is much warmer.

The study could help predict future ice loss in regions experiencing similar patterns of atmospheric and ocean temperature change, and improve global sea level predictions, the team says.

The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, was supported by the European Space Agency.

An Open Access version of the paper is available here: www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publi  ia-in-response-to-at

"The Russian Arctic is largely inaccessible, but satellite data has enabled us to monitor changes to its ice caps and glaciers. As has been observed elsewhere in the world, ice loss in the region is accelerating. As the climate continues to warm, significant ice loss in the Russian Arctic will have clear impacts for sea level rise," says Dr. Paul Tepes, School of GeoSciences.

Explore further Recent Russian Arctic glacier loss doubles from the previous 60 years

More information: Paul Tepes et al, Accelerating Ice Mass Loss Across Arctic Russia in Response to Atmospheric Warming, Sea Ice Decline, and Atlantification of the Eurasian Arctic Shelf Seas, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (2021). Journal information: Journal of Geophysical Research Paul Tepes et al, Accelerating Ice Mass Loss Across Arctic Russia in Response to Atmospheric Warming, Sea Ice Decline, and Atlantification of the Eurasian Arctic Shelf Seas,(2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021JF006068
The cliffs of the volcanic island of Santorini showing the layers of deposits from past volcanic eruptions. Credit: Dr. Ralf Gertisser (Keele University)

The rise and fall of sea levels influence the likelihood of volcanic eruptions on the Greek island of Santorini, new research led by Oxford Brookes University has discovered. Analyzing the timings of eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years, the researchers found that a 40 meter fall in sea level is a crucial point beyond which eruptions are more likely to occur. The findings could have implications for millions of people living on volcanic islands around the world.

Santorinicliffs reveal history of eruptions

The research on the popular tourist destination was led by Dr. Christopher Satow, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography at Oxford Brookes.

He says there are clues about past volcanic activity on Santorini in the layers of rock on the cliff face encircling the inner part of the island: "A huge eruption 3,600 years ago caused the center of what was then a conical island to sink into the sea, revealing an extraordinarily detailed history of over 200 volcanic eruptions preserved within the remaining circle of cliffs.

"Comparing this eruption history to a sea level record allowed us to show for the first time that the sea level has had an important role in determining the timing of eruptions at Santorini, and probably at many other island volcanoes around the world.

"The mechanism is quite simple: falling sea levels remove mass from the Earth's crust and the crust fractures as a result. These fractures allow magma to rise and feed eruptions at the surface."

The researchers say that eruptions at hundreds of other volcanic islands around the world may also have been influenced by fluctuations in sea level. Dr. Satow added: "Just as when you pull a plug out of the bath, the water level drops everywhere throughout the bath at the same time; in a similar way, sea level changes occur at the same time everywhere across the globe."

Animation of sea level affecting volcanic activity. Credit: Oxford Brookes University

Volcanic eruptions and climate change

Volcanic eruptions can change the climate, for example the eruption of the Philippines' Mt. Pinatubo in 1992 resulted in a fall in global temperature of 0.5 C.

But Dr. Satow says the climate also impacts on volcanic activity: "What is less well known is that on long timescales, the climate can also affect volcanoes. As ice sheets retreated across volcanic landscapes after the last ice age, the removal of mass changed the stress conditions in the Earth's crust, allowing the fractures which feed volcanic eruptions to form more easily.

"As these ice sheets melted the global sea level rose rapidly, by around 100 meters, adding a significant mass to the crust around many volcanic islands which, in theory, should alter their eruptive activity."

Dr. Satow concludes: "57% of the world's volcanoes are islands or are coastal, and are often home to large populations. Further vital research is needed to fully understand the effects of changing sea level on these volcanoes and the risks they pose to their populations."

Dr. Satow collaborated with researchers from Royal Holloway University of London, Keele University, the University of Oxford, Uppsala University in Sweden, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Leicester.

"Eruptive Activity of Santorini Volcano Controlled by Sea Level Rise and Fall" is published in Nature Geoscience.

Explore further Indonesia's Sinabung spews column of volcanic ash into sky

More information: Eruptive activity of the Santorini Volcano controlled by sea-level rise and fall, Nature Geoscience (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00783-4 Journal information: Nature Geoscience Eruptive activity of the Santorini Volcano controlled by sea-level rise and fall,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00783-4
Warren County reported 13 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total caseload up to 61  the highest since May 15.

This change moves the county into the category of substantial transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions classification. This is triggered when there are at least 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days. Warren County is at 51.61.

County spokesman Don Lehman pointed out that the CDCs figures are based on a population estimate of just over 64,000. Warren Countys summer resident population is much higher.

The county is continuing to recommend that people wear masks in crowded public places where they do not know the vaccination status of others.

Three Warren County residents are hospitalized  one in critical condition and two in moderate condition. One person is moderately ill outside of the hospital and the rest have mild illness, according to a news release.

Six cases involve people in quarantine because of a prior household exposure. Three others involved other household exposure. County officials reported that a number of recent cases involve children under the age of 12, who are too young to be vaccinated.
Beck, who said he was traveling with about 20 members of his family for the vacation, was hoping Disney World would allow him to change the dates of his visit without penalty.

Were working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges, wrote airline spokesperson Field Sutton in an emailed response to a request for comment. We needed to make proactive cancellations to some flights across the network, but the majority of flights are still scheduled as planned.

Spirit isnt alone in canceling flights.

In June, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines canceled hundreds and delayed thousands of flights, angering travelers. The airlines have blamed labor shortages as they struggle to get back to full capacity after a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the effects of weather.

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Carole Fischer, of Bridgeton, said she drove an hour to the airport to buy tickets for an October trip, and was told no tickets would be sold. Tickets are much cheaper when purchased at the airport than online, she said.
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  The Cape May Chamber of Commerce wants President Joe Biden to speed plans to allow Canadian tourists to cross the border.

The border has been closed to most travelers since March 20, 2020, due to the pandemic. Plans are to reopen this month.

Local businesses want to accelerate the timeline.

According to a statement from the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Canada plans to open the border to vaccinated visitors from the United States on Aug. 9, but the U.S. wont allow Canadian visitors to cross the border until Aug. 21.

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The organization believes the delay will cost local businesses.

We believe that there is no reason to wait until Aug. 21 and ask President Biden to welcome our Canadian visitors now in the interest of our tourism industry and economic recovery, said Vicki Clark, president of the county chamber.

Most summers, visitors from the province of Quebec visit Cape May County in significant numbers. That was not possible last year, and businesses are worried that they are running out of time for 2021.
Vaccines are our most powerful tool that we have to end this pandemic, Persichilli said.

She said that even so, research has shown that even vaccinated people infected with delta can transmit the virus to the others, which was not the case in previous strains. This was one of the reasons behind the CDC, followed by the state, strongly recommending masks for vaccinated people in indoor spaces.

Following the governors announcement, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees New Jersey Council 63 members said that while vaccination is key to ending the pandemic, it is also a bargaining point.

It has been our stance from the beginning that if the State of New Jersey  or any employer  intends to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing, they must first meet with us to bargain over the impact of their decision, the union stated. This is clearly an issue over which the State of New Jersey, and any employer, is required to bargain.

The union said the governors office agreed Monday to bargain with the union over the impact of mandating the vaccine or weekly testing for the state workers that we represent.
The gift cards, which would be valid for one year, cant be used for cigarettes or other tobacco products. Since Wawa is required to pay no more than $9 million to consumers, the individual value of the gift cards and cash payments could be reduced depending on how many customers submit claims, according to court papers.

Pratter overruled objections by lawyers representing Wawa workers who are also customers. Those employees want to assert their own claims and not be locked into the settlement for consumers. They also argued the gift cards  which they called coupons  provides little value to consumers who no longer live near a Wawa or choose not to shop there.

Pratter ruled that employees arguments were premature, since they can voice their objections before the final approval hearing. And she said the gift cards were adequate relief, noting 97.5% of Wawa gift cards are redeemed and Wawa sells more than 3,000 items for less than $5. Wawas lawyers also argued it is more expensive to distribute checks, likely allowing the company to pay consumers higher amounts through gift cards.
Lagway has been homeless for eight years. Hes stayed in shelters, been to jail and tried to rent hotel rooms, but he always ends up back on the streets. People need him here, he said. He fixes bikes for other homeless people and charges what they can afford. These small acts have helped him feel more like a human being than any program or intervention hes participated in. In fact, he wont accept housing unless his friends to come with him.

Closer to the beach, I met Danny Parker, 53, of Bakersfield. Parker was open about the mistakes that led to his drug addiction and alcoholism. He lost his car, his address and finally his drivers license. When he was incarcerated, he worked as a firefighter for three years. But for a lot of homeless people, he said, obtaining an official proof of identification is the first and most difficult hurdle in a daunting journey back to society.

That means he cant get care for the hernia hes been suffering from. It causes him so much pain that he can barely stagger the three blocks from his sleeping place to the street where he gets meals each day.

Down the street, I met a good-natured blond man with a shy smile. He came to Los Angeles from Illinois at the age of 16 because after he came out as gay, he said, his family started physically, mentally and sexually abusing him. Hes been homeless ever since.
Short-term room rentals made online have sharply divided resort areas across America. Residents in Colorado ski resorts bemoan the commercialization of their neighborhoods and loss of community feeling. Foes on Nantucket Island off Massachusetts forced a referendum to impose tight limits on the rentals, then vowed subsequent votes when the first was defeated.

Dozens of New Jersey municipalities have simply banned housing rentals shorter than 30 days. Others with a significant tourism trade have sought to balance peoples expectation that business will be excluded from their residential zones with the desire of some property owners to make money and the town to encourage commerce.

Atlantic Citys mix of intensive resort business and multiple historic neighborhoods in a small city has made such balancing especially challenging. City leaders have diligently pursued fair treatment for all sides regarding short-term rentals, and patiently developed and adjusted regulations to good effect. Rental property owners have been required to register (an online portal is provided for their convenience), pay fees and tax, and ensure a responsible contact for the property is always available and responds to calls from the city within an hour.
All too often do administrators accept a version of events without properly investigating. The result damages reputation and character under guilty before proven innocent theory. This student slandered and defamed me with unjust mendacities that have exemplified retaliatory measures which have succeeded thus far.

This has impacted my livelihood. As such, I have retained counsel and a lawsuit is being commenced against the appropriate parties. My innocence will be proven and my integrity reinstated.

John Fisher

Northfield

Everyone will pay for massive spending

Politicians keep talking about $2 trillion or $3 trillion or even $4 trillion for infrastructure and reconciliation like it were pocket change. But they fail to satisfactorily explain where these trillions of dollars will come from.

They are saying that they will not tax the middle class, but will instead tax big businesses. But those taxes on big businesses will just be passed onto the middle class as increases in prices of goods and services.

So that will amount to a tax increase for everyone without a corresponding increase in their incomes. Another political shell game.
RIC FLAIR TO APPEAR ON THIS WEEK'S EDITION OF DINNER DRIVE WITH KYLE PETTY

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair will appear on this week's episode of Dinner Drive with Kyle Petty, a new series on music and lifestyle TV network Circle.

Promotional material for the episode, which will debut on Thursday 8/5 notes," Kyle travels to Atlanta, Georgia to visit Flair, and he brings a familiar car with him to surprise The Nature Boy. After a trip down memory lane, Ric gets candid about the highs and lows of his career and personal life as the two chat over a meal at Uncle Jacks Meat House."

The series features Petty visiting celebrity friends in their hometowns and checking out vehicles that have special meaning to their lives and careers.

For more on the series, click here.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
"We take every opportunity to build a positive, meaningful relationship with all our citizens," Harris said.

The officers said they hope the program can benefit children who don't have as many opportunities for reading and literacy. They mentioned that even access to public libraries can be more difficult for some families than others, since even though a library card is free, children sometimes damage books, incurring fines that their parents may not be able to afford.

"Not everybody is privileged like I was growing up to just pay for that, and having your own book, having the ability to call it yours, gives it a little bit more meaning," Carver said. "You don't know everybody's own personal journey, and giving them the means to succeed is so much greater than just telling them, this is what you should do."

The officers have been bringing books to Davenport's party in the park events, and Singleton said she brought some to the Lincoln Center's Juneteenth celebration, where she gave away a little over 100 books.
A Davenport man was arrested early Sunday morning after a car chase with Iowa State Patrol ended when the man drove into a chain link fence.

Ronald Lester Hanchett Jr., 30, has been charged with two counts of eluding and one count each of third-degree possession of marijuana and second-degree criminal mischief, all felonies. He's also been charged with 12 traffic- and drug-related misdemeanors.

According to court documents, a Bettendorf police officer tried to pull Hanchett over around 10 p.m. Saturday for a broken brake light on the blue Jeep he was driving. Hanchett fled the traffic stop and the Bettendorf officer did not pursue.

An Iowa State Patrol officer saw Hanchett fail to obey a traffic control device about 15 minutes later in Davenport. The patrol officer attempted a traffic stop and gave chase when Hanchett didn't pull over.

Hanchett reportedly drove into a chain link fence on Division and West 9th Street, Davenport, and tried to run on foot. The patrol officer caught him with help from Davenport police officers. Hanchett had multiple warrants out for his arrest.
"There were more barriers," Larned, of the Salvation Army, said of using the federal CARES Act funds. "That has changed. They still have to be able to show they" have the required income to afford rent once temporarily assistance expires, in addition to showing a direct or indirect financial hardship caused by the pandemic.

"But, if they don't have any direct impact from COVID ... because they're (being forced to leave) and at risk of becoming part of the homeless population, which is more susceptible to getting COVID, therefore, we can relate it that way to COVID ... and use the funding that way," Larned said.

Other tenants, she said "don't have any income at all," because they've lost their job or cannot work due injury or disability.

"And therefore, even if I had all the dollars in the world to give them for rent assistance, it's not going to help them be able to get into a place, because landlords want you to be able to have money to sustain a place and that's an issue as well," Larned said.
"This project has been years in the making and will positively affect the city of Rock Island and its surrounding areas," Young said.

The project is expected to break ground this fall and the GSA is expected to occupy the building in late 2022 or early 2023, Young said.

A protest against the GSA contract award was filed July 30 by Joe Lemon. Lemon was one of several developers who submitted applications to the GSA in March, 2020 as he attempted to offer up the old county courthouse for renovation and reuse as a federal courthouse.

"The protest is being responded to by the GSA," Young said. "They will let us know when or if anything is required from us. We are confident it will be resolved quickly."

Lemon could not be reached for comment.

When the new courthouse opens, it will be the first time since October 2018 that Rock Island County residents won't have to travel across the river to conduct business at the federal courthouse in Davenport at 131 E. 4th St. The former Central District of Illinois courthouse, 211 19th St., Rock Island, was permanently closed due to mold and flooding issues.

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The Bay Area health officers said they took action Monday because of troubling numbers of hospitalizations and that they will consider easing the new restrictions when those rates go down.

We are alarmed at the rate at which COVID patients are filling our community hospital beds, said Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, where the number of hospitalized patients has doubled in the past 10 days and increased by more than 400% in July.

He urged unvaccinated people to get the shots and said indoor gatherings presents the highest virus spread risk.

If you are unvaccinated I would strongly advise against higher-risk indoor activities  like eating in an indoor restaurant, going to exercise in a gym, going to a movie theater, Farnitano said.

Indoor restaurant dining will still be allowed, although people will have to keep masks on when they are not eating or drinking.

In other public settings like gyms and movie theaters, face coverings must be worn, though enforcement will vary depending on location.

In Santa Clara County, businesses will be required to enforce the mask mandate and residents can submit complaints on the health departments website, Han said.
Paying for the package has been a challenge after senators rejected ideas to raise revenue from a new gas tax or other streams. Instead, it is being financed from funding sources that might not pass muster with deficit hawks, including repurposing some $205 billion in untapped COVID-19 relief aid, as well as unemployment assistance that was turned back by some states and relying on projected future economic growth.

Bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic senators pushed the process along, and Schumer wanted the voting to be wrapped up before senators left for the August recess.

Last week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start work on the bipartisan bill. That support largely held, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voting yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster an advance legislation.

Whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass the bill grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the president's signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Cornyn said he expects Schumer to allow all senators to have a chance to shape the bipartisan bill and allow for amendments from members of both parties.
The Virginia event in late July is part of a growing national movement  bolstered by tens of billions of dollars in federal rental assistance  to find ways to keep millions of at-risk tenants hurt by the coronavirus pandemic in their homes.

The push has the potential to reshape a system long skewed in favor of landlords that has resulted in about 3.7 million evictions a year  about seven every minute  according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Many are Black and Latino families.

This is an opportunity not to go back to normal, because for so many renters around the country, normal is broken, Matthew Desmond, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on evictions and the principal investigator at the Eviction Lab, told a White House conference on the issue.

This is a chance to reinvent how we adjudicate and address the eviction crisis in a way ... that works for tenants and property owners better than the status quo, in a way that clearly invests in homes and families and communities, with the recognition that without stable shelter, everything else falls apart."

Housing advocates have mostly attacked the problem from two directions.
But there has never been a hard-line/moderate dichotomy. Khamenei has the real power in Iran, and he approved the deal, just as he now appears to be souring on the prospect of returning to it. Raisi was elevated to head the Justice Ministry in 2019, remember, as part of Rouhanis allegedly moderate government.

A better rationale for not returning to the Iran talks are the growing signs that Khameneis regime is wobbly. It is failing to meet the basic needs of its people. Earlier this month, protests broke out in Khuzestan province over the failure to provide drinking water. This week, demonstrations spread to Tehran. Some videos of those protests showed Iranians calling for Khamenei to resign, just as the protests in 2018 and 2019 called for his ouster.

Some protesters are angry because Irans electricity grid cant keep the power on. This round of demonstrations began because of water shortages. But in the last four years, other state failures have brought Iranians out to the street. In 2017 and 2018 it was failed banks, which wiped out the savings of average Iranians, that prompted national protests. In 2019, it was the fact that state security services shot unarmed demonstrators. In 2009, it was a stolen election.
CHICAGO (AP)  A judge on Monday granted lawyers for Jussie Smollett more time to prepare arguments on several issues, including whether they can introduce a key witnesss previous conviction for battery.

Cook County Judge James Linn scheduled the next hearing in the case for Aug. 26.

But Linn also urged lawyers for Smollett and the special prosecutors office to get prepared for a trial or other resolution to the charges that the actor staged a racist and homophobic attack in January 2019.

One of Smollett's attorneys said after the hearing that the legal team has evidence to prove Smollett is innocent of the charges that he lied to police about an attack prosecutors allege he staged himself.

Like many people in Chicago, when I first heard of the Smollett case  I was absolutely certain that he was guilty based on the media coverage, attorney Nenye Uche told reporters. But I can say now categorically, looking at the evidence, hundreds of pages so far, and there are many, many more to look at, so far its obvious to us hes absolutely innocent.
Blagojevich, 64, is seeking a permanent injunction from a federal judge declaring the resolution unconstitutional. Blagojevich repeatedly insisted to reporters that he had no specific plans to run for office should the suit succeed  but he wouldnt rule it out, either.

The long-shot suit, for which Blagojevich plans to act as his own attorney, offered the famously garrulous Chicago Democrat a chance to rehash his well-worn talking points for the cameras, from his familiar play all the tapes refrain to the railroading he said he received from House Speaker Michael Madigan and others after his arrest in December 2008.

He talked about how proud he still was to have appointed Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate and told an anecdote about a debate he had with a fellow prisoner over how many gold records Elvis produced. To settle the debate, Blagojevich said, he looked it up in an almanac in the prison library, where he happened to see a photo of himself with a description of his corruption case.

I was in that almanac for this, Blagojevich said, jerking his thumb toward the courthouse behind him. It sucks.

His appearance certainly brought a little bit of the Blago circus back to a federal courthouse that has been largely devoid of media presence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson, Bequeaith, Dikkers, Penna and Ramus were among 17 people protesting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement at the Capitol in July 2020. They were calling for Gov. Kim Reynolds to sign an executive order restoring voting rights for felons, an action she took the following month.

The five were arrested when a scuffle broke out between police and the protesters. Afterward, they were told by troopers that if they returned to the state property around the building they would be arrested for trespassing. Some were banned for six months and others for a year.

They claimed the ban blocked their fundamental constitutional rights of free speech, assembly, their right to petition their government, their fundamental freedom of movement and due process.

Attorneys representing the protesters argued there is no statutory authority for such a ban and a federal district court ruled last December in favor of the protesters, saying the state can't ban them from the Iowa Capitol Complex grounds. The court issued a preliminary injunction, saying the ban was likely to violate the activists rights because it restricts all "expressive activity" at the Iowa State Capitol.
But we need this statute because we need to set the record straight. There can be no double standard when it comes to acts of terrorism. Whether the perpetrator is Christian or Muslim, American or foreign, violence committed on behalf of an ideology needs to be called out by its proper name.

"We've had far more mischief caused by right-wing extremists than we have by Islamists," said Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland. "I think part of the reason we are getting more domestic right-wing terrorism is because we have been so tepid in our response."

A federal statute would provide impetus to take a more proactive and direct approach to domestic extremism. We have the resources we need, Chapman University professor Peter Simi argues; we're just not using them.

"We didn't ignore this problem because we didn't have the right tools," Simi said. "Most of the failure to address this problem has been that we just haven't perceived it as a problem."

What we really need is a fundamental shift in the way we view domestic actors.
Citing an increase in COVID-19 community transmission and updated policies from the Department of Defense, Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City announced new face mask mandates on Monday.

According to a Facebook post Monday morning, all base personnel are again required to wear face masks in indoor facilities as the Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread in the Black Hills. All service members, federal employees, onsite contractors and visitors to Ellsworth AFB will also be required to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

The social media post also said that effective Thursday, all active duty service members will be required to wear face masks off-base as well, both indoors and outdoors, when social distancing cannot be maintained.

The social media post said the new protocols are in effect because of the high number of visitors to the Black Hills during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

South Dakota is seeing an uptick in coronavirus infections just ahead of the annual rally. According to the state Department of Health, which is now only reporting COVID-19 spread once a week, the state saw the highest number of new infections last week since May.

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The thick patches of thimbleberry bushes climbed above our heads, their broad elephant-ear leaves slapping at our backpacks and arms as we threaded the overgrown trail, unable to see the ground.

They grew heavy with their bright red berries in the shade of sky-touching western white pine and red cedar trees 150 feet overhead. Some of these trunks were so big around it would take three people to embrace an entire tree.

The tropical understory also bristled with a wild abundance of black currants, huckleberries, raspberries and elegant ferns. Their lush presence filled the air with the humid perfume of a greenhouse, occasionally highlighted by the vanilla tang of pine needles or the sharp scent of sap.

A waterfall, about three miles into the hike, dove off a mossy rock cliff into a cool, log-dammed pool, providing a soothing forest refrain and chilled drinking water.

This was an alien land, fit for mythical fairies and unicorns rather than bedraggled, sweaty backpackers. To trek through the foreign forest required a 565-mile drive to Montanas northwestern extreme, the remote Yaak River Valley.

The valley is less than 10 miles south of the Canadian border in the 2.2 million-acre Kootenai National Forests Purcell Mountains. One visitor to the region extolled it as one of the most scenic and diverse areas a Montana hiker will ever visit.

Trace

The region also seemed possessed of over-achieving, nature-altering visitors.

A full-sized picnic table, chainsaw carved from logs, squatted at one of the heavily trod campsites. Next to the table  which was laden with names, initials and even a checkerboard carved in its top  a heavy metal campfire ring had been hauled the four miles in. (I pity the mule that had that job.) Leaning against the table was one of the largest of the assorted trash scattered about  an adjustable metal cane.

Nearby, some energetic rock mover had built a low toilet seat out of native stone. And on the banks of the nearby lake, a full-size rock chair had been erected  complete with arm rests  to seat an angler as they attempted to tease trout from the green waters.

In one corner of the campsite someone had piled tree branches, now dry and brown, to create a natural shelter.

The human industriousness wasnt limited to this one site, but also continued up the trail to other campsites where flat spots had been hoed into hillsides to create tent sites. At one spot a metal pot was abandoned along with a fire grate for future use.

Apparently the leave no trace ethic (take only photos, leave only footprints) is not popular with visitors to this remote area.

Rocky

Considering the lushness of the forest, teeming with plant life, it was hard to reconcile that much of the trail was carved through rock slides. Many of the rocks were about dessert-plate size, meaning they were too small to provide steady footing but too big to ignore. I prefer my trail rocks to be big and heavy, easier to plant a foot and full weight on than shifty smaller rocks that threaten the strength of my ankles, especially when compounded by the weight and unsteadiness that a backpack adds to the nomadic equation.

The continual rock pounding made me wonder how our ancestors navigated such difficult terrain, presumably carrying less-well-anchored loads, wearing only moccasins or maybe even barefoot. Many people living a few thousand years ago must have had at least one foot ailment or walked with a noticeable limp. Maybe that's why the cane was forgotten at the campsite.

A small rainstorm seemed to loosen some of the scree, as a cascade of stone crackled downhill one morning. It silenced the peeps of pikas roaming the rocks as they anxiously harvested plants to store for their long winter under snow.

That night I awoke to a strange guttural honk unlike anything I have heard in the wild. The sounds were followed by high pitched whistles, as if a mother was calling its babbling babies along while migrating through the forest. My attempt to remember the sound faded with slumber. Perhaps it was a mythical "unihorn," which would explain the honk-like tone.

Dazed

For all of these reasons the entire adventure left me a bit bewildered and nagged by an incongruous feeling of being out of place in my native state.

It probably didnt help that my body was sleep starved, the temperature was hovering in the 90s and the sky was hazy with the smoke of surrounding wildland fires. Taken together the elements created an otherworldly feeling, as if I had visited an exotic land, and emphasizing that Montana is an amazingly diverse and beautiful state.

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If you havent got vaccinated, please get vaccinated, Jones said. Its important. The quickest way we can get back to doing things like this every single week, every single year  get vaccinated.

For many attendees, the free gospel event has been a summer tradition for years.

Tawanda Watkins has been at the event twice. The 51-year-old Richmond resident said the sense of community and the communion has her returning every year.

But for others, Sundays gospel music festival was a first for them.

Kathy Crafton, 63, of Richmond learned about the Gospel Fest through the Richmond Parks & Recreation website.

Crafton said shes excited to see the performers dance and sway as they sing.

Its like going to heaven for me, she said.

Richmond resident Victoria Hernandez has enjoyed gospel since she was a little girl, having sung in a church choir at age 8.

Although the 63-year-old Hernandez is no longer in a gospel choir, she still makes time to immerse herself in the music.
Before beginning to decide how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, Democrats had another priority on the agenda in Richmond on Monday: raising money for their re-election campaigns.

The majority party in the General Assembly kicked off a special session with a morning fundraiser at the John Marshall Ballrooms, inviting lobbyists to join Democratic legislative leaders for breakfast at 8 a.m., according to an invitation.

Democrats also canceled a tentatively scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting Monday of a study group on campaign finance reform, which has never met even though it has a Nov. 1 deadline to issue a report.

The office of Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, emailed other lawmakers on Friday to say that the campaign finance reform subcommittee would not meet Monday so as not to interfere with the special session schedule.
Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, rallied with several dozen supporters outside the state Capitol on Monday to call for a forensic audit of Virginias electoral process.

Since the November election, former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters have continued to promote debunked or unsubstantiated claims of election fraud that election officials and courts have rejected. Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump in Virginia by 10 percentage points.

Its so imperative that we make 100% sure that voters have 100% confidence in our election process, Chase said at the Capitol on Monday, speaking in front of supporters holding homemade signs.

Its important that we audit Virginia. Its important we have a forensic audit, not the faux audit that the State Board of Elections did.

Chase said that when the General Assembly makes decisions, Virginians need to know that these people are elected by we the people and that the decisions they make are what the people want.

In March, the Virginia Department of Elections said election administrators around the state had completed an audit of ballot scanner machines used in the November elections in which Biden defeated Trump and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., beat Republican Daniel Gade.
At that time my administration advanced the car-tax cut to 70% off, with plans to do a complete phaseout and abolition over the next several years. That phaseout of the car tax never happened after my term in office was over.

The people of Virginia enthusiastically embraced the car-tax cut in 1997, and the General Assembly agreed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in 1998 to begin the phaseout process. Even now, after 23 years, I am approached almost every day by random citizens who thank me for that partial tax relief that continues today.

Unfortunately, big government spenders in 2002, including liberal Republicans, hated the car tax relief. As soon as Gov. Mark Warner came into office, he broke his pledge to continue the car-tax cut and combined with liberal members of the General Assembly to cap the car-tax cut to a specific amount.

The argument at the time was that we were in recession and could not continue the phaseout. The recession passed, taxes were raised and the budget of Virginia dramatically increased. Even now, Northam claims to have a giant surplus this year. Nevertheless, the cap on the car-tax cut stays in place.
Nearly a month after a Virginia health official halted most admissions to five of the states eight public mental hospitals for adults, the General Assembly is meeting in a prearranged special session to tackle that and other needs. The states only facility for children already had curtailed admissions.

The hospitals are suffering a crisis of overcrowding and understaffing.

The overcrowding traces largely to a 2014 law that required state hospitals to take patients ordered into treatment if beds could not be found for them elsewhere. The law intended to ensure that no person experiencing a mental health emergency would be denied care.

Not unexpectedly, that mandate increased the numbers of admissions.

The understaffing comes from a combination of factors  including the basic problem of higher patient populations at the hospitals.

Critics maintain that the state has not sufficiently funded community mental health services. If patients could be effectively treated locally through outpatient care, they might not need hospitalization.
Officials involved with housing via the Blue Ridge Continuum of Care are concerned that  even with millions of dollars available in rent relief  a late-summer wave of evictions in August and during months to come could cause a flood of homelessness.

Roanoke is encouraging its residents in need to go online to Endhomelessnessblueridge.org, and use the get help tab to determine what aid they are eligible for, said Human Service Director Matt Crookshank.

The eviction moratorium has been, I think, good and bad, Crookshank said. Its been good at keeping people safe in their house, because having a huge homeless population during a pandemic would have just made it doubly as awful. But we do realize the impact it had on landlords inability to collect income.

Furthermore, there are people who were protected from evictions for longer than a year, piling up untold sums of rental debt, he said. Now that the moratorium is ended, eviction cases are expected to increase, and it stands to reason that homelessness could rise as a result.

Its kind of hard to gauge how bad things are going to be, Crookshank said. Were preparing as much as we can to be able to handle a high volume of people looking for assistance.
We were looking for someone who could come in and really be a leader in growing the region through the airport, said Dale Guidry, the commissions chair.

The Roanoke-Blacksburg airport has been striving to persuade airlines to offer additional, regular non-stop flights. Officials hope Stewart can use his industry experience and contacts in the industry and in state government to make that happen. Local officials say they are confident that more flights will make possible more growth in the local economy.

The airport, which uses the symbol ROA, offers nonstop service to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dulles and Philadelphia, plus airports in Florida. Service to New York is not operating but has in the past and could return. Passenger traffic has partially rebounded from lows seen during the pandemic last year.

But airlines wont add destinations without first seeing strong evidence of sufficient, stable ticket demand. The Roanoke airport experiences a high amount of leakage in the form of area residents driving to more distant airports to catch planes, which deflates demand from what it could be.

Asked if Roanoke is doing the right things to counter leakage, Stewart said he didnt know.
I keep saying Im going to rebuild it but my wife says, Frank, why dont you just put up a sign that says Here stood the Black Horse Tavern?

I might just do that.

Neighbor Bud Derey, who made a painting of the tavern when it was still standing, advised that such a project could turn out to be expensive.

I told him it could cost his $250- to 300,000 to do it, said Derey, a retired building contractor.

The president of American National University, Longaker is interested in history, not to mention education and restoration, and has not said he wont bring the old tavern back to life. Time may have the last say.

Nobody can accuse the Longakers of lacking energy. What theyve done with the main residence and the rest of the property since buying it in 1999 has involved one big project after another.

The disassembly of the tavern and sorting and storing the materials, Longaker did himself with the help of a hired hands. The foundation stones are piled neatly doing battle with the weeds between one of the chimneys and the road. The hand-hewn logs are stored across the road from the main residence at an abandoned farmhouse Longaker owns. Some of the taverns original cedar shingle shakes survive.
The Wolf Administration recognizes the need for strategic investments in the states Appalachian counties, where a dynamic and growing economy can offer opportunities and help strengthen individuals and communities. However, we also understand that the region is vulnerable as states throughout the nation are working overtime to meet the demands of the technology driven times. Our collaborative efforts with ARC are critical in supporting Appalachian Pennsylvania to position itself to be a full, invested partner in the changing world economy.

These investments have long-been a top priority for my administration, yet one of the major limitations the region faces was exacerbated last year during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be highlighted as a national issue for rural communities  broadband limitations, also known as the digital divide. Investments into Appalachian Pennsylvania would help level the playing field for internet access, one of the most critical infrastructure needs of our time. Whether for work, education, or leisure, having broadband access is a necessity, everywhere.
Ever since the first Covid-19 vaccine was approved for use in the United States about seven months ago, most Americans have dreamed of the day when the virus will be vanquished and life gets back to normal.

But according to the Bloomberg Covid-19 tracker, only 50% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, despite states being flush with supply of the vaccine. To make matters worse, the vaccination campaign appears to have stalled.

In fact, more than 20 nations now boast higher vaccination rates than the United States despite the latter once being the envy of the world for its swift rollout. The gap between the most and least vaccinated counties in the U.S. has been widening, leaving many communities vulnerable to continued outbreaks.

And now U.S. employers are stepping up to the plate and issuing the ultimate ultimatum to employees: No Jab, No Job.

Broadening mandates for Covid-19 inoculations have been coming fast and swift as the newer Delta variant has sent cases soaring across the United States, all because tens of millions of Americans have refused to get free and effective shots whose safety has been scientifically established beyond reasonable doubt.

Big Business is now in the front line: Facebook, Google, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and Saks Fifth Avenue are amongst the notable blue-chip companies that are leading the charge. Netflix now requires vaccines for actors and anyone who wants to do business with them at its studios.

No Jab, No Job Policy

The latest corporate push has come as President Joe Biden recently announced that federal workers need to be vaccinated or risk going through an onerous testing regime.

Biden is hardly alone.

In fact, a broad majority of U.S. employers has stated its intention to require employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as a condition of employment.

According to an ASU/Rockefeller Foundation survey via CNBC, 63% of U.S. employers will soon require proof of vaccination by their employees while 65% plan to offer employees incentives to get vaccinated.

Overall, 44% of employers will require all employees to get vaccinated; 14% will require some employees to get vaccinated while 31% will just encourage vaccinations.

No employment

These are not empty threats.

A good 42% of businesses say they will not allow employees who have not received the jab to return to the physical work environment, with 35% saying disciplinary actions are on the table, including possible termination.

The survey represents the responses of 957 facilities across 24 industry sectors in the United States, majority being businesses with 250 or more employees.

There are genuine reasons why employers are taking an increasingly hardline stance when it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations.

First off, Americas vaccine-supply crunch is over, and now its vaccine galore. The country has ordered, optioned, or procured enough doses to immunize its entire population more than five times over.

Second, anti-vaxxers are putting the countrys chances at bringing Covid-19 under control in serious jeopardy. The U.S. needs to vaccinate between 70% and 85% of the population quickly to suppress the virus and limit its spread, especially the highly transmissible Delta variant. A recent NPR/Marist poll reveals that ~60 percent of Americans said they plan to be immunized, if they haven't already, with refuseniks coming in at 25% thus putting the so-called concept of herd immunity at risk.

Fortunately, the number of Americans who are resolutely anti-vaccine has declined to a stubborn 13 percent, so finding ways to win over the rest remains an urgent task.

Fortunately, again, employees who for one reason or the other fail to get vaccinated can still fashion a workaround by opting to work from home.

The ASU/Rockefeller Foundation survey says 66% of employers are planning to allow employees to work from home full-time through 2021, while 73% plan to offer flexible work arrangements when the pandemic is over.

That said, the vast majority--73% of businesses--still want employees to work from the office at least 20 hours a week, meaning many employees are bound to find themselves in a Catch 22 if they fail to get the jab.

Can businesses require proof of vaccination?

As businesses everywhere rush to adopt no jab, no job policies and develop so-called "vaccine passports," the first question that springs to mind is whether its even within their power to do so legally.

Tech companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, have been working on vaccine credentials that can be flashed at concerts, ball games, and airports for entry, while thousands of other businesses are pondering whether they should follow suit.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already weighed in, with the verdict that, "generally," employers have the right to require their employees to get one of the approved vaccines.

"It is lawful and ethical for a business to require proof of vaccination as a condition of working or getting service. The employer must offer medical and religious exemptions. Businesses have a legal and ethical obligation to provide a safe environment. Requiring vaccinations is the best way to do that," Georgetown Law professor and public health expert Lawrence Gostin has told CBS News.

People in some states might still be able to avoid having to flash vaccine passports everywhere they go.

Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have made their opposition to vaccine passports clear, with DeSantis using his emergency powers to not only prohibit public entities, but also private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination for entry.

Well certainly be hearing more of this, with some experts having questioned whether the likes of DeSantis' have any real authority to restrict the freedom of private businesses.
It is for this reason that more thought is being given to create alternate non-cash payment methods, with online and non-contact with cash across countries. This new preference and shift towards digitization will bring about a new form of exchange between service providers and consumers.

New cashless trends

According to recent statistics from Square, which is a global payment service provider, the percentage of cashless service providers have more than doubled in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan. A survey by Frost & Sullivan shows that 53% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region shop online more often than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. It was also seen that almost 54% of consumers in Thailand, 57% consumers in Singapore, and 68% consumers in Malaysia shop online more often now, than they did during the years before the global Covid-19 pandemic.

With the rise of e-commerce platforms, the use of digital pay services is forecast to also increase. A survey shows that non-cash payment methods, such as online payment by card, e-wallets, digital money transfer, will all grow strongly in the future. Contact forms of payment such as at a POS or transactions via ATM will drop sharply. Along with this will be the development of cashless payment support infrastructure such as UPI, IMPS, and BBPS. In addition, new payment types such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services have also appeared, which are often advertised as interest-free. BNPL services also allow users to make payments in scheduled recurring instalments. In Singapore, about 1.1 million people, or 38% of the total population, are using BNPL services.

Along with the development of non-cash payment methods in commercial activities, governments have also promoted the use of non-cash payments in disbursing support to people and businesses through digital payment service providers. For example, the Malaysian Government supports people through the MySejahtera application which is a government mobile application, and Malaysia's main e-wallet service providers, Boost, GrabPay, and Touch 'N Go. While Indonesia offers support via Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) bank account or e-wallets such as GoPay, OVO and LinkAja.

Vietnam is also moving fast towards this new trend. A survey by Visa in April 2021 showed that non-cash payment methods such as QR code increased by 56%, e-wallet increased by 51%, online card payment increased by 45%, non-contact payment by card increased by 48%, and non-contact payment by Mobil increased by 50%. In addition, a new form of payment, the BNPL form, has also appeared in Vietnam in the past two years.

Post pandemic pay methods

The serious effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has compelled the need to digitize payment methods, and develop forms of digital payments to also meet the needs of introducing a full scale digital economy in the future. In the post-Covid pandemic phase, payment forms such as digital currency and e-wallets, wearable and contactless payments, and QR code scanning will continue to be emerging payment technologies as consumers will feel more comfortable and safe about such payment technology methods.

In the future, stablecoins, especially stablecoins with very low value and volatility, will increase as a means of payment, because stablecoins have the potential to be universally accepted for payments globally and become a convenient means of payment for e-commerce, especially when integrated into online platforms.

However, the development of digital forms of payment also pose several challenges. If cash is not accepted as a means of payment, this can create a payment gap between those who can access digital payment services and those who cannot. This could negatively impact elderly consumers and those consumers who do not bank. A BIS report in 2020 showed that in London difficulties in paying with cash made it difficult for 1.3 million consumers who did not bank in the United Kingdom.

Along with the diversity of digital payment forms is the increasing participation of Non-Banking Payment Service Providers (NBPSP), especially for financial technology companies and big techs. The participation of these organizations, in addition to promoting financial inclusion, also increases competition and efficiency in the payment market. However, this comes with potential risks in terms of consumer protection, operational resilience, and complicated network infrastructure, protecting customer funds when using payment services, data protection, user access issues, and market concentration.

In addition to the development of private sector powered digital payment methods, countries will also accelerate the conversion of paper money to digital currencies. According to a report released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in January 2021, a survey conducted with Central Banks of 65 countries and regions around the world, showed that 86% of banks are actively learning about Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Six out of ten central banks are in the process of piloting, while 14% are in the process of developing and arranging for pilot implementation. In this field, China is currently the leading country in the development of CBDC.

Almost all forecasts for the future show that retail payments will first switch to using digital currency, especially those currently only using high-value transfers. If this becomes a reality, banks will need to review their existing payment infrastructure methods to ensure that they have the necessary capacity, capability and resources to implement CBDC payment methods in the very near future to meet a fast rising consumer demand.

Asso. Prof. Dr. Tran Hung Son, University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University, HCMC
FLORENCE, S.C.  Snatched Body Sculpting and Contouring opened this week at 1927 C W. Palmetto St. in Florence.

A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday afternoon with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce. Chamber ambassadors joined the owners and their family and friends as they celebrated joining the chamber, too.

The owners are Wanda Jones, RN, MLD-C; Tonya Marshall, Family Nurse Practitioner, board certified and certified and MLD-C; and Adrinel Thomas, AATB.

The three owners offer health and wellness services for clients to reach their body weight goals.

The trio is trained in body sculpting and imagery, along with lymphatic drainage and total body detox. These are just some of their services.

The three owners were trained in Dallas, Texas, for lymphatic drainage. They are all certified in body sculpting and contouring.

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There are many people in the community who are overweight, and those who need help managing their diabetes and A1C, Jones said. She said they also help with body augmentation.

There is a staff of four. Evelyn Lane is the office manager.
Some acknowledge global warming's role, but most say they are victims of bad government policy in what's been framed as a battle between farmer and fish.

The two species of suckerfish have been listed as federally endangered since 1988 and are of critical cultural importance to the Klamath Tribes, which have fought for decades to preserve them. The tribes' studies show that if nothing changes, the fish will disappear from the lake within a generation.

"Our world view, our traditional world view, is everything was placed here for a purpose, including us, and those fish that were created for us were to provide for our subsistence," said Klamath Tribes Chairman Don Gentry.

With fields and now wells drying up, and the fish struggling, everyone is wondering where to go from here.

Nathan Buckley was on a camping trip on Memorial Day weekend when his wife called him to say their sprinkler had stopped running and the kitchen faucet was dry.

A pump specialist told them they had an inch of water left in their 180-foot well. The only solution, he said, was to dig a deeper well  but the wait for service is at least six months.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  The number of children traveling alone who were picked up at the Mexican border by U.S. immigration authorities likely hit an all-time high in July, and the number of people who came in families likely reached its second-highest total on record, a U.S. official said Monday, citing preliminary government figures.
* "I Alone Can Fix It," hardcover, 592 pages, uh, probably not. Still waiting for somebody to form a 250-page book club.

* Masked messages now on when to wear one or not are feeding animosity and division along with a whole lot of resentment on both sides of this cultural/political divide, especially over vaccinations that really ought to be a no-brainer. The Russians don't need to do anything to stoke this bonfire.

* The rapid spread of the dangerous Delta variant of COVID-19 is a reminder that we're all in this together, but some of us aren't doing our part.

* A week of stunning trades has changed this year's baseball season  and all for the better! But not at Wrigley.

* Coming next month: Ken Burns documentary series on the life and times of Muhammad Ali on PBS. That is a championship matchup.

* Wondering if unvaccinated players may alter, or even destroy, this year's college football season.

* The dash to the money by universities, athletic conferences and players threatens to take the joy out of college football. What used to be a sport is clearly a business now.

* August? Really?

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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PIERRE, S.D. (AP)  The South Dakota Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit to go forward alleging police officers used excessive force when arresting a Sioux Falls woman in 2016.

Nichole Boggs sued in Second Circuit Court for injuries she suffered when two police officers took her into custody while investigating a call for help at her apartment. When officers arrived they found an injured man, Boggs' son, outside the apartment complex and determined he had been hurt in his mother's apartment.

Boggs refused to let the officers into her apartment. Eventually another son came out of the apartment with injuries, so police entered the unit without a warrant or consent.

In its recently released opinion, Supreme Court justices agree that circumstances at the time created an exception to the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches.

But the Supreme Court did not agree that the police officers accused of excessive force are entitled to qualified immunity, which generally protects them from personal liability, South Dakota Public Broadcasting reported.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Tunisia's leader claimed Sunday that some desperate youths are being paid to try to leave Tunisia illegally for Europe, saying the goal is to damage the country from within and hurt its ties with Europe.

President Kais Saied made the remarks during a stroll down the iconic Avenue Bourguiba, the main axis in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, a week after firing the prime minister and other top officials and freezing parliament. He listened to passersby calling out his name and shouting Tunisia! but said nothing about his much-awaited next steps.

Many fear Tunisia's fragile democracy is in danger without a clear map of how the president plans to restore democracy. It is the only nation to develop a democracy after the Arab Spring uprisings.

Instead, Saied denounced those who exploit migrants, as hundreds of youths leave Tunisia in the warm season to try to make their way by smugglers' boats to Europe. He claimed that some of his countrymen with political motives are paying desperate youth to make the trip, saying their intention is to repeat the mass illegal migration that began after the Tunisian revolution a decade ago.

There are people who hurt Tunisia. I ask myself how they could make 1,500 youths leave, he was heard saying in a video released by his office.
Jack Whitehall has recalled his failed audition for 'Harry Potter'.

The 'Jungle Cruise' actor and comic tried out for a role in the blockbuster wizarding franchise when he was just starting out as an actor, but admitted he didn't stand a chance of landing the part because he hadn't even read J.K. Rowling's book.

He told Collider: I was taken to this audition by my parents and they were like please dont mess this up this could be a huge career opportunity for you as a child actor."

The 33-year-old star then quipped that he "gave it my best shot and in the end, they decided that Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) was better for the part.

Jack added: They started asking me a lot of questions about [the book] and I hadnt completed the book at that time. That did not play particularly well. I think I started talking about goblins, and elves and stuff like that and got slightly confused.

Meanwhile, after starring alongside Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney's 'Jungle Cruise', the British star has landed another role in 'Robots' alongside Shailene Woodley.
"To kind of show that pollen needs to move from flower to flower, and that the bees help to transport it from flower to flower," said Bryanna Kuhlman, environmental education coordinator at the Dickinson County Nature Center.

Pollen in real life is a yellowish dusty substance generated by plants for fertilization; it's produced by the male part of a flower, referred to as the stamen or the anther. The pollen has to reach its female counterpart, the stigma or pistil. Trees and other plants release a blast of pollen during the spring and summer, much to the dismay of allergy sufferers.

Apple trees are perhaps the easiest way to demonstrate the pollen system. An apple tree planted all by itself can survive but, in most cases, will fail to bear much in the way of fruit.

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This is why apple trees are usually planted in groups or in orchards. The trees need a pollen-producing neighbor nearby so that their blossoms in the springtime can be, in a sense, impregnated with pollen. Once pollinated, the blossoms eventually produce fruit.

Some plants are self-pollinators, meaning that the plant receives and uses its own pollen, but the vast majority of plants require assistance to get their pollen to the female parts of another flowering plant.
Roughly half of states have pulled the plug on the $300 a week federal unemployment benefit passed in March as part of the coronavirus relief package. The goal is to force people back into the workforce, as Republican lawmakers argue that generous unemployment checks have encouraged people to stay home as jobs have rebounded. But Wisconsin Watch reporter Bram Sable-Smith sees things differently. People tell him they want to work, but theyre facing a range of obstacles that are getting ignored. At some point, it seems like we just decided that everyones going to go back to work, Sable-Smith says. But no one was asking the workers, whats going on? Hows your work search going? Are you feeling comfortable going back to work? Are you having success finding jobs that work for you? On Mondays episode of What Next, I talked to Sable-Smith about whats really behind continuing unemployment, and what the government can do about it. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Mary Harris: Lets go back to the beginning. In March of 2020, unemployment spiked, and the federal government responded by flooding state governments with assistance. But the local systems just werent able to deal with it, so the unemployed had to fight for their benefits. In Wisconsin, for instance, there was this rule that people getting disability could not also get unemployment assistance, even though the feds said these workers qualified for checks. It took months to figure that problem out. On top of that, the computer systems in the state were simply too old to keep up with demand.

Bram Sable-Smith: It absolutely was not ready for the volume of people that were there. Something about the unemployment system in many states, and Wisconsin is one of them, is that the technology it uses is completely outdated. Were talking about a system that has to be programed sequentially and that can only do one thing at a time. So, you know, one of the calls in Wisconsin was that we needed the call centers to be open 24 hours a day, so that people could be able to call with their questions about the unemployment system, about their claims, to see, hey, whats going on, can we move things along a little bit better? But what that call doesnt recognize is that because of the data technology that the system uses, they actually have to shut down the call centers because they cant have the people on the phone accessing the system at the same time that the system is doing something like writing the checks that go out to the people who are getting unemployment benefits. It cant do two things at the same time.

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So it needs the overnight to, like, rest and make checks.

Exactly. It needs to stop the part where you can adjudicate someones claim so it can start the part where its adjudicating checks.

Did most of the people you spoke with eventually get the benefits that they needed or that they were owed?

Yes, for the most part.

Did it feel like a victory when that happened?

Its one of the things that feels frustrating. I wrote in March about a man who had waited a year to get unemployment benefits, so he had basically fallen into every hurdle that anyone in the unemployment system had faced. First he was denied because he receives disability help. Then he was denied because he lost an appeal. Then he got held up in this appeals process that takes many months. Then he won his case. But it took another several months. So he ended up waiting basically a year for his unemployment benefits. When I spoke to him, he had won all that stuff, but he was still waiting for his benefits.

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How are people like him getting by in the meantime? They still have mortgages to pay and car payments and all that stuff.

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Theres a lot of commonalities in the problem they had, and the uniqueness really happens in how they dealt with it and what happened to people. People were facing impossible situations. People were leaving their houses. People were losing their houses. I spoke to one woman, Karen Miller, who was working in Wisconsin. She lived in Illinois. She waited 11 weeks for her unemployment to come. She owns a home with her son. He waited 13 weeks for unemployment help to come. In that time, they spent down their entire savings so that they could stay current on their mortgage and stay in their home.

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Did they think of applying for mortgage relief? I know that was another program that was available to some homeowners.

They did. So they got a forbearance. This is another CARES Act thing. Homeowners were able to get up to 18 months where they could kind of defer their payments on their mortgage. They qualified for that. But they decided, even though they qualified for it, they want to stay current on their mortgage. So they ended up paying that anyway.

One of the biggest problems [Karen] has is that shed love to get back to work. She had a great job digitizing government documents. She lost that work. And she would love to get another similar job. She has a heart condition that prevents her from doing too much physical work, so a desk job would be great for her. But when shes doing her work searches, the jobs that are coming back to her are for things like warehouse work or delivery driving, things that she cant really physically do. Or shes also receiving job postings for registered nurse jobs, which is a credential she doesnt have. So in her case, the thing thats really holding her back is finding a job that shes able to do. And that seems to be the case for a lot of people.

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At the same time, Wisconsin politicians are looking to put pressure on people to force them back into work. Theres a Democratic governor, but theres a Republican-controlled Legislature. So how did that fight play out?

The Wisconsin Legislature actually passed a bill ending the federal supplemental payments, but that was vetoed by the governor, and then just recently they tried to override the veto but were unable to do so. So we still in Wisconsin have this $300 extra federal supplemental unemployment benefit. But that expires in September.

Youve said that many of the people you spoke with who are relying on unemployment benefits dont want to be reliant on these benefits. Like Karen Miller, who kept paying her mortgage even after qualifying for relief. Theres an element of dignity at play. If many of these people could find appropriate work that paid them a living wage, theyd take it.

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Its something I heard a lot, that I never thought it would be me, I never thought I would be on unemployment, I never thought I would be in this position. Theres a lot of people who are really proud, you know, really proud and dont want to be accepting public benefit like this. And there was something about the pandemic earlier when there was a common understanding that there was something really drastic, really radical happening, and it made it OK. It was OK to be on unemployment, because you never thought youd be here. And it took this enormous event that we didnt see coming, that dramatically changed the entire society, to make it OKfor a little bit. And then thats kind of changed again.

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Even someone like Karen Millershe sees how people who are on unemployment are being referred to in the media, being made out as lazy people. The speaker of the Assembly in Wisconsin called the extra $300 unemployment benefits a disincentive to work that prompts mischief among the unemployed. She hears that language. And even she was telling me that, like, Im sure theres probably someone out there whos doing this, but the majority of us, were not lazy people. Were people who were working, and then we lost our jobs.

One man you talked to, Pierre Young, got through the pandemic while he was waiting for benefits by selling his vehicles. And now that hes looking for work again, he doesnt have a car to get there. There are real limitations to what he can do.

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Yeah, I mean, Pierre is really struggling. This is another person who receives Social Security disability insurance. In Wisconsin, in order to get unemployment benefits, if youre on Social Security disability insurance, first you have to get denied for regular unemployment benefits and thenonly thenyou can apply for the pandemic unemployment benefits. And he is being denied those benefits now because theyre saying his paperwork wasnt submitted in a timely manner. He didnt submit his pay stubs in a timely manner, which he says he didnt realize he had to do that. Hes appealing that decision, and the appeals process can take many months, so hes just sitting here struggling. And, yeah, he had two trucks, he sold both of them together for $800, which helped him pay his rent. But now he still hasnt received unemployment benefits and hes looking for work, but he doesnt have a car to get there. Hes a handyman. He found, I think, on Indeed.com, a 12-week construction job that he would love to do. He said, oh, this is perfect for me, but its in Iowa, and hes in Milwaukee. You know, thats a long drive. He cant get to that construction site. So the decisions hes had to make to stay afloat, to keep a roof over his head while hes waiting for the benefits to come, are impacting his ability to find the work that can get him out of this situation.

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I wonder if, talking to people who are actually unemployed, you came out of that with an idea of what politicians should do if they actually want to get people back to work, if there was something that became clear to you through your reporting.

It could be as simple as money.

What do you mean by that?

Well, if you look at the average unemployment benefit in Wisconsin and then you tack on the $300 supplement and you divide by 40, so the hourly wage equivalent, it comes out to a little under $15 an hour. Theres a lot of people in the country who are pushing for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Theres a lot of jobs that offer $15 an hour. If you do take at face value that one of the impediments of hiring people, getting people back to work, is competing with the assistance people are getting from the unemployment system, if you take at face value that thats a problem, and the way to beat it is with a wage thats higher, you know, $15 is right there. Fifteen dollars is a higher wage than the average person is making in equivalency with the unemployment benefits. To a certain extent, money is an issue.

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Theres also a mismatch of people who are wanting to find a certain amount of dignity in their work. I mean, I interviewed a 44-year-old bartender whos worked in the service industry for over 20 years and hes leaving. He cant take it anymore. Bartenders were people who were being asked to enforce things like mask-wearing during the pandemic. And thats something that a lot of people didnt want to do. He got heckled a lot and he was saying, like, I dont have to take this anymore. I dont get paid enough to deal with having to be the mask enforcer. And so hes leaving the industry.

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Have you been able to talk to any of the people youve been following about what their plans are for the fall? Because in September, these extended unemployment benefits, theyre scheduled to go away.

I think the plan is what its always been, and its to get back to work. When Im talking to these people, the unemployment benefits have been helpful. Theres no question about it. But it hasnt changed the fact that theyve been searching for work. People who are looking for work are going to continue looking for work and hoping that they find that. Thats plan No. 1, because one way or another, unemployment is going to end. The federal supplements are going to go away. Its never meant to be a permanent thing. Unemployments always been there to be in place to get people through the hard times as a bridge until they can find stable work again. That hasnt changed. Its maybe just a question of whether you think people still need a bridge right now.

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Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

Dear Care and Feeding,

My 8-year-old son, Calvin, has gotten himself into trouble a couple times lately, not for starting fights, but for reacting to them. About a month ago, he was playing with his BFF Susie (a girl his age) at her house; when some older neighbor girls starting getting physical with her in a bad way, Calvin pulled at them to get them off Susie. This upset one of the moms who was present (I wasnt, nor Susies), I think because a boy laying hands on a girl for any reason (even to protect another girl) is a no-no for a lot of people. Today Calvin was at camp and annoying a bunkmate, Moe (think along the lines of This is the song that doesnt end); Moe grabbed Calvin apparently pretty hard, and Calvin bit Moe to get him off of him. (No skin was broken and everyone is fine.) Camp almost sent them both home for the day over this, but thankfully there arent further repercussions.

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The thing is  I dont know how to feel about all this. My son is very slight and not particularly strong. He has an instinct, apparently, when someone violently grabs him, to bite that person to get them off of him. And  do I want to train that instinct out of him? Hes about to start at a school with kids up through 12th grade. If an 18-year-old violently grabs him, I would want him to bite that kid to get away. There are no Marquess of Queensberry rules for being bullied by an asshole. Meanwhile, in the first scenario, my gut reaction is, good job, kid! A bunch of older kids were bullying your BFF, and you came to her rescue. But I had to tell him, well, try yelling for a grown-up instead. And if there are no grown-ups around (the kids in our neighborhood often play together outside without real supervision)  I dont know! Never lay hands on a girl seems like a dumb rule to me when, again, Calvins about to enter a school where there will be girls three times his size. Yell for a grown-up just cant be the final answer here.

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When I was a kid, a lot of the bullying simply took place in the opportunistic adult-free gaps in childrens lives (e.g. walking home from the bus stop). So Im stuck trying to formulate rules for him when I honestly dont know what the rules should be, and when I think I disagree at least in part with what Im supposed to think the rules are. C&F Team, tell me what the rules should be, because Im at a loss.

 The Marchioness of Booberry

Dear Marchioness,

Most 8-year-olds, including your son, are old enough to understand that rules arent one size fits all. He knows that the best practice is yelling for an adult and not intervening physically in a fight if possible, but he probably also understands that there are exceptions to every rule, and he has to learn to trust his judgment. Other parents will always tend to think their kids are in the right and yours are in the wrong, which is as it should be. The real nightmare parents are the ones who dont automatically side with their kidswatch out for those people.

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The other situation you mention, where Calvin bit a friend to get him off him  hmm, slightly harder to think of Calvin as the hero of this story, but Ill go with it. Youre right, you shouldnt be trying to train the instinct for self-defense out of your kid, but the good news is, thats probably impossible. You can probably impress on him, though, that biting should not be his go-to: If he does break the skin, theres potential for infection, and people tend to panic about biting.

Going to a new school with older kids is scary, but you can impress on Calvin that in most situations, there will be an authority figure to intervene when fights break out, and that appealing to adults is always his best bet. But to improve his confidence and self-trust, why not enroll him in taekwondo or similar? Its unlikely hell have to use the physical self-defense lessons he learns there, but he might like the structure and rules, and its a good way to outsource that stuff so you dont have to come up with it all on your own.

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Dear Care and Feeding,

I have two very sweet, thoughtful, sensitive kids, ages 9 and 11. I grew up often hearing Its not nice to talk about that or Dont worry about that when I had a challenging question, so Ive tried hard to find ways to answer my kids honestly, if age-appropriately, when they ask about big life stuffsex, illness, death, etc. This past year they have been very anxious, of course, and Ive tried to be honest and reassuring at the same time. For example, I dont know if well catch COVID, but I know we are all being very careful and whatever happens, well take care of each other. My problem is, I dont know what to say when they ask me if my spouse and I will ever get divorced, because I do think thats a possibility for us sometime in the future. It doesnt come up often, and is mostly prompted when they learn that a teacher or a friends parent is getting divorced. But I dont want to tell them it will never happen, because I dont think thats certain, and I dont want to leave them feeling it might! Is there a better answer I can give?

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 Honest Annie

Dear Honest,

You cant have it both ways. You cant be perfectly honest with your kids when it comes to the possibility that you might get a divorce, and also prevent them from feeling that you might get a divorce. As with your COVID example, the goal is to mitigate their worry and let them know that whatever happens your family will love them and be there for them. You know them better than I do, so you have a better sense than I do about whether they can handle hearing something like I dont know what the future holds, but I do know that our family is full of love and that your [other parent] and I will always love and care for you, no matter what happens. If theyre sophisticated and suspicious enough to follow that up with So youre saying you might get a divorce? (I would!), you might consider a different approach: lying to them! If, later on, you get a divorce and they say you told us you would never, you can tell them you were too young to understand and I didnt want you to worry. Which will be the truth.

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Dear Care and Feeding,

My 10-year-old daughter has been having trouble getting along with her peers for a while now. It started last year right before the pandemic when she was in third grade. There was a lot of playground drama and tears, and it seemed like my daughter was at the center of it all. Before schools closed it seemed to sort of resolve itself. My daughter apologized. We stressed the importance of speaking kindly, including others, and watching the tone in which she speaks. I was assured by her teacher and some family members who are teachers that this is incredibly common in third grade, especially with girls. I let it go for the most part.

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The world shut down slightly after this and of course it has been a difficult year for everyone, but it seemed to make her social skills worse. She had a tough year getting along with others. She said words just come pouring out of her mouth and before she can stop herself she says something hurtful. She has done this with friends, her siblings, and with me and my husband. Each time we have a heart to heart about what she says and how it is hurtful. She seems to genuinely feel bad, she often cries, and feels guilt after. But then she does it again and again. At the end of school, she had trouble with talking back to her teacher and got in trouble. AGAIN we had the same conversations. Electronics were taken away, she had to write notes of apology and we had a big talk. It was the same thing, I am sorry it just happens, it comes out.

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Last week, she went to day camp and again had trouble getting along with the kids there with the same issues as before. She has a solid core group of friends (three to four girls) that this doesnt seem to be an issue with, and they get along pretty well. It seems to be kids that she is only sort of friendly with. I am sort of at a loss on how to handle this. My husband and I dont talk this way to each other or the kids. So I know she doesnt hear this sort of conversations at home. One caveat: My MIL who helps us quite a bit with child care can be a very blunt and honest person. Often words just come flying out of her mouth. I have told her not to do it to me, and she stopped. My husband had these issues early in our relationship that ended in ultimatum of us breaking up or him stopping the brutal and hurtful honesty. He really worked on it, went to counseling and rarely if ever does it anymore. So I am not sure if this is a contributing factor. Is there anything we can do about this?

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 At My Wits End

Dear Wits End,

Your daughter is struggling with impulsivity, which can be related to executive functioning disorders like ADHD. She genuinely doesnt want to blow up like that, and all the punishments and lectures in the world will not help her stop, as youve already noticed. She needs to see a therapist who can help her figure out some strategies for changing her behavior, and who might recommend a treatment plan that includes medication. Please dont hesitate to get her the help she needs. It might seem like a minor thing, but it could be a symptom of something thats having a negative effect on aspects of her experience that arent as noticeable.

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For more of Slates parenting coverage, listen to Mom and Dad Are Fighting

Dear Care and Feeding,

I wanted to respond to the parent who is tired and confused about their childs journey of gender discovery and also to you in your response. First of all, you can absolutely be polyamorous (many loves) and be asexual (lack of sexual attraction or low interest in sexual activities). Romantic relationships do not have to include sex, and asexuality is not necessarily a complete absence. I say this as an asexual polyamorous adult in my thirties. Im also a therapist who works with gender diverse teens and adults. It sounds like this parent is not able to support their teen in this journey, and it sounds like this teen is looking for support. There are a lot of great therapists who can help your teen on this journey, and there are really awesome groups for teens who are exploring their gender and other related identities.

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It makes sense that it would feel overwhelming and maybe even disingenuous to see your teen trying on genders and identities like outfits, but it is more likely that your teen can sense that the binary doesnt fit for them and theyre really wanting to figure out what does. It can be an incredibly hard thing to do when your experience and identity are not the norm, and you dont see yourself represented in media, movies, TV, etc. (take it from a 36-year-old agender person who has been struggling with and navigating gender since 1989). Tell your teen that you absolutely support their self-discovery and that you want to help them find a therapist or group that can help, because honestly, this is about them and not you, and you being tired of it shouldnt limit their discovery or create shame.

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 The Agender Therapist

Dear T.A.T.,

Mea culpa. I got a lot of pushback about this letter, especially from people pointing out that polyamorous and asexual are not mutually exclusive identities. This is new territory for a lot of people, and a therapists help is always a good idea. Id say find a great and experienced therapist who specializes in exactly this, if you can in every response if that wasnt so boring to read. The one tiny quibble I have with your response to the parent who is tired of discussing their teens shifting identities with them is that: Parents also are people, and they also need support. They arent perfect, and they are sometimes tired. Its easier to give someone unconditional positive regard in a therapeutic setting than to process their feelings with them 24/7. The advice I should have given, in addition to everything you wisely suggest, is that the parent whos having trouble finding the internal resources to help her child find external support with a therapist or group, alongside her kid. Kids cant thrive unless their parents are thriving, too.

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 Emily

More Advice From Slate

Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram are all (perhaps) necessary evils. Today my 12-year-old was invited to a pool birthday party that was washed out due to thunderstorms. Later in the day he was moping and withdrawn, and when confronted he said he saw on Snapchat that some smaller group of kids was invited to the birthday boys home for what appears to be an impromptu make-up event. Hes quite upset that he didnt make the cut. Telling him it was probably last-minute, and that likely no offense was meant, was met with a blank stare and a shrug. Any advice on how to approach a child who is popular enough but doesnt always get invited to the hot birthday party? Separately, should I go back in time and strangle social media in the crib?
Coronavirus Diaries is a series of dispatches exploring how the coronavirus is affecting peoples lives.

Last Thursday, an internal slide presentation leaked from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the delta variant of the coronavirus is even more contagious than previously thoughtmore communicable than Ebola and the common cold, as spreadable as the chickenpox. While vaccines appear to remain strong against the virus, new evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people with so-called breakthrough infections may be every bit as infectious as those yet to receive their shots, even if their own cases remain relatively mild. According to a report the agency released on Friday, the CDCs latest findings were based on a July 4 COVID-19 outbreak in queer mecca Provincetown, Massachusetts, where among a cluster of 469 (with no deaths) at the time of study, an astonishing three-quarters of the infected had been fully vaccinated. As of July 31, the P-Town outbreak had ballooned to 965 cases.

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I was one of them.

This year, my partner and I were among thousands from all over the country who descended on Provincetown in early July. As for many, this was to be our government-approved hot vax summer, when masks came off and inhibitions could finally breathe again. We were going to get our dance on, and when we arrived out at the beautiful tip of Cape Cod, the mood was aptly exuberant. Indoor restaurant reservations had to be made more than a week in advance. Revelers crowded maskless into iconic dance clubs like the Atlantic House and the Crown & Anchor. The last time I saw this kind of joy in P-Town, a friend quipped, was the year Truvada [the HIV prevention drug] came out.

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It was about halfway through our weeklong stay when one vaccinated friend from New York City began to report not feeling well. Unable to stop coughing, he and his boyfriend drove to Outer Cape Health Services, where he tested positive for COVID and immediately fled the cape. Soon after that, I began to hear whisperingswhether at the Mussel Beach gym or traditional high tea gatherings by the pool at the Boatslip Resortof a gay cough circulating among some out-of-towners. Although the atmosphere in Provincetown remained celebratory, I began to sense, and eventually share, a certain dread; it stayed with me until my departure the following weekend.

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Within a day or two of my return to New York, I received eight Instagram DMs from P-Town acquaintances who had scattered back across the country. All of them bore similar news. Were not feeling well, went one message from a (vaccinated) San Franciscobased couple. We started getting flu-like symptoms on Friday night. We thought all the partying and late nights, but symptoms are getting worse, and we just lost our sense of smell.

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Days later, I awoke with chills of my own, backaches, and crippling fatigue. When my sense of smell vanished later that afternoonI dutifully circled around the apartment and whiffed each candle, without successI turned up at CityMD and tested positive on a rapid test. Id received my Moderna vax in April.

Being in quarantine can be a lonely endeavor, and yet as I recuperated, I found myself part of a growing cohort of friends who were also in recovery from Provincetown. In my gay networks on social media, I kept hearing more and more stories: the guy who hadnt left his bed since his return to Boston; the couple who had reported to the testing clinic in P-Town and been greeted by a long, long line. In two days, I could count on both hands the number of positive, vaccinated cases Id heard of. In three, I estimated that I knewno exaggerationat least two dozen people, all vaccinated, all sick with COVID.

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What on earth? I wondered aloud online, as we all contacted one another about new breakthrough cases and compared our symptoms at virtual book club meetings. What did it mean, I asked the contact tracer who called me two days after I first presented symptoms, that Id come down with COVID and my partner, also vaccinated, hadnt? For months, the CDC had advised us that breakthrough cases among the vaccinated were rare events, that even if sickened by delta, we should be only mildly symptomaticmild, of course, losing its meaning when you cant taste your food for more than a week. If Id known the truth of how awful a breakthrough infection could be, I might have thought twice about hitting the cape in the first place.

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The CDCs misleading promises of safety aside, it wasnt just my infection that felt like a betrayal. More than a few of my friends surprised me with gallows humor about the AIDS crisis and the outbreak, theorizing that itd been too much sex, too many drugstoo much fun? that we might blame for our predicament. Suddenly, my illness was being casually equated with promiscuity, as if personal behavior, and not poor public health guidance and quickly shifting science, was the culprit. Still, if being at the center of this latest chapter of the COVID story had chipped away at my trust in the CDCs ever-evolving guidelines, it had also offered us gay men a glimpse of an important facet of our history, exemplified most powerfully in the legendary self-advocacy of ACT UP: playing armchair scientist when institutional and social knowledge isnt there for us, when it breaks down.

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Forty years almost to the day after the New York Times first reported on the rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals, here we were again, confused and angry participants in a public health emergency. Many of us began sounding the alarm just after the July Fourth holiday, and by midmonth the Massachusetts Department of Public Health had started collaborating with the CDC to track the new cluster. Around that same time, the CDC began asking for Provincetown positives to come forward with their stories. I cant believe we were joking about the Fagbash variant a few weeks ago and now we are literally the case study for the variant, a friend texted me in response to the CDCs sudden interest, referencing a popular P-Town party. Those of us who reached out, I like to think, pushed our collective understanding of delta a step forward with our reporting.

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Indeed, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at New Yorks Bellevue Hospital Center, said as much to the New York Times. This is one of the most impressive examples of citizen science I have seen, she said. The people involved in the Provincetown outbreak were meticulous in making lists of their contacts and exposures.

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I guess thats something to be proud of. But its also a dispiriting wake-up call: In an era of constantly updated variants (delta plus has already been identified, like some new dystopian iPhone release), it appears that private citizens will have to rely, at least in part, on their own ability to research and reason their way to best practices. Weve now learned that life as normal at this point in the pandemic was never realistic: There are still too many questions outstanding, too much residual uncertainty over long-term effects, or whether we can contract delta twice. Hot vax summer has become the summer of not knowing. And the fall? Thats even less certain.
On July 31, the federal governments eviction moratorium expired, potentially forcing millions of Americans out of their homes during yet another COVID surge. In the days before the eviction cliff, House Democrats attempted to extend the moratorium, but Republicans easily blocked their measure. Democratic lawmakers then spent the weekend arguing over who was to blame for the looming catastrophe.

Curiously, most Democrats chose not to focus on the primary culprit: the Supreme Court. In late June, five conservative justices signaled that they would not let the White House extend the eviction ban beyond July 31 absent further congressional authorization. These Republican-appointed justices set the terms of the debate, yet were largely absent from Democrats blame game. As a result, most vulnerable Americans will likely not understand they face homelessness in a pandemic because of SCOTUS. This strange dynamic is symptomatic of a deeper pathology in contemporary American politics: Democrats appear incapable of explaining how the Supreme Court stymies their own agendaand the resulting confusion shields the court from criticism, consequences, and accountability when its decisions wreak havoc.

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When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Biden to extend the eviction moratorium on his own, she framed the issue as a matter of morality. But the presidents inaction was almost certainly a legal calculation. To understand his hesitation, its key to remember that the recently expired moratorium was not the same policy that had been in effect since the start of the pandemic. Congress passed its first eviction ban in March 2020, explicitly prohibiting landlords from kicking out tenants who could not afford rent because of the pandemic. After this provision expired that August, Donald Trump issued an executive order asking the CDC to take action. The CDC responded in September with its own eviction moratorium set to run through the end of 2020. It was rooted in a federal law that allows the agency to make and enforce such regulations that are necessary to prevent the spread of communicable diseases between states. In December, Congress passed legislation that explicitly extended the CDCs moratorium through Jan. 31, 2021. The agency then extended the ban several more times.

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While the CDC kept the moratorium in place, a group of landlords sued to block it, claiming it exceeded the agencys authority. On May 5, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich sided with the plaintiffs against the ban but stayed her order. One month later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit court refused to block the ban. The plaintiffs then appealed to SCOTUS, which came within an inch of ending the moratorium. Five justicesClarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrettbelieved it violated the law. But Kavanaugh, who cast the decisive fifth vote, wrote separately to explain that although he believed the CDC had exceeded its existing statutory authority, he would not invalidate the ban. Instead, weighing the balance of equities, he would allow it to remain for a few weeks.

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In my view, the justice declared, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.

Kavanaughs analysis is dubious at best. (Maybe thats why Chief Justice John Roberts didnt join it, instead quietly voting to keep the moratorium in place.) Congress already gave the CDC expansive powers to fight the spread of communicable diseases between states. The agency acted pursuant to this law when it determined that mass evictions would force many Americans to live unhoused or crammed together in close quarters, transmitting the virus more widely. Crucially, when Congress chose to extend the moratorium, it simply passed a law extending the CDCs own ban. By doing so, lawmakers chose to embrace the agencys action and expressly recognized that it had the authority to issue the ban, in the words of the D.C. Circuit. It would not make a lick of sense for Congress to extend the CDCs moratorium if it did not believe the CDC had authority to issue it.

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Democrats hesitation to take on the courts has created a political hazard.

Admittedly, it is difficult to convey this legal conflict to the public. But for the most part, Democrats didnt even try. In a belated statement, the White House explained that it could not extend the moratorium by itself because of the Supreme Court. It did so in the most roundabout language imaginable, devoting just a single sentence to the root of the problem.

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This refusal to criticize the court is nothing new for Democrats. While Trump spent four years bashing an array of judges, Democratic presidents take pains to avoid overtly condemning the federal judiciary. Their hesitation to take on the courts has created a political hazard: Democratic voters do not appear to understand that the Supreme Court routinely quashes their preferred policies. According to a new Gallup poll, 51 percent of Democrats approve of SCOTUSthe same approval rating that Republicans give the institution. Even though the court boasts a 63 conservative majority, more than half of Democrats think its doing a good job.

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Its easy to see why. In their fight for voting rights, Democrats rarely mention that many states can only pass new voter suppression laws because the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. In their quest for greater health insurance coverage, they almost never mention that the Supreme Court kneecapped Obamacares Medicaid expansion, allowing states to opt out. Time and again, SCOTUS has hobbled Democratic priorities, making it harder to vote and access health care. The crackdown on racial minorities access to the ballot in Georgia and the sky-high rates of uninsured Americans in Texas are the predictable consequences of judicial interference with democratically enacted legislation. But unless you are a lawyer or way too online, you might assume that Democrats just cant get the job down.

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Why dont more politicians highlight the courts role in paring back progressive policies? Perhaps because, if they did, voters might demand that they do something about it. Most Democratic lawmakers still treat court reform like a taboo topic, and few have come out for expansion of the Supreme Court. If cautious, moderate Democrats blame SCOTUS for blowing up their plans, voters might ask them for their plan to fix SCOTUS. If they have no plan, voters might rightly see them as shirking responsibility. It is easier to act as if some ineffable force is stopping Democrats from enacting their platform than it is to confront the court.

So here we are again, watching politicians fight over an obstacle of the Supreme Courts creation while largely pretending that it materialized out of thin air. The lines of accountability are hopelessly muddled, while the real culpritsKavanaugh and his four colleaguesare spared from any consequence. If Democrats do not confront the courts, they will come to share the blame for the judiciarys destruction of their own policies.
Last Thursday, as the House of Representatives was wrapping up lingering business before leaving town for the summer, the White House threw a grenade into Democratic leaders laps. You know that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium that was set to lapse at the end of Julyas in, a few days later? The White House would need Congress to pass legislation extending that, immediately.

The July 31 deadline has come and gone, with neither Democrats in Congress nor the White House having extended it. This could leave millions without housing as landlords resume what they lovingly call property operations. And while congressional Democrats and the administration are still in conversations about what they can do, the main battle plan for each participant appears to be ensuring that the blame for the ensuing mess sticks to someone else.

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This is unusual territory for House Democratic leaders, who have operated as a pretty well-oiled machine for most of the year. The team of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Majority Whip James Clyburn has passed just about everything asked of it, despite the narrowest of majorities. Pelosi has not had to turn to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for votes on anything.

But the White House request last Thursday was too much. Leaders began whipping that night and could not find the votes, with too many moderates dead set against another extension. Pelosi issued a letter to the Democratic caucus Thursday night pleading with them to come around, to no avail.

The efforts to find the votes continued through Friday. But in the end, Hoyer tried to pass an extension through unanimous consent, Republicans blocked it, and members started for the airport. When Democratic leaders came to brief the press and pin blame on Republicans, though, they were met with a scene that was not indicative of a party in array. Pelosi and Hoyer waited just feet from California Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, until she finished explaining why she thought they shouldve fought harder.

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Amazing scene here as Pelosi and Hoyer wait to speak as Rep. Waters says this wasnt the right way to handle it pic.twitter.com/QnUrxncX6X  Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) July 30, 2021

Now, Democratic congressional leaders would never outright say that their dear friends in the Biden administration had thrown them under the bus at the last minute. But its not an accident that the first sentence of her letter to colleagues last Thursday pleading with them to pass an extension began, In the last 24 hours, a challenge to the conscience of the Congress has descended upon us. And in her remarks to reporters following the failed unanimous consent effort on Friday, Pelosi noted that we only learned of this yesterday and there was not enough time to socialize it within our caucus as well as to build a consensus necessary. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted on CNN this weekend, too, that the White House had dithered on making its position known until the last minute.

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I sit on the Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over housing, Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday. We had the housing secretary there, asking about the administration stance. We asked the Biden administration about their stance. And they were not being really forthright about that advocacy and that request until the day before the House adjourned. And so the House was put into, I believe, a needlessly difficult situation.

Still, progressives were, and are, furious at their colleagues. Missouri Rep. Cori Bush slept on the Capitol steps to protest Congress leaving for seven weeks without getting this done. And while AOC placed some blame with the White House, she also questioned the leaders strategy, saying in that CNN interview that its not good enough to just let Republicans block a unanimous consent request and claim the wave of evictions is their fault.

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We have to really just call a spade a spade, she said. We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority. She, and others, are calling for the House to return to pass an extension.

If were calling spades spades, though, heres what the House passing an extension either last week or sometime in the future would likely get renters who are on the precipice of eviction: nothing. It would take 60 votes to pass this in the Senate, which already has more than it can handle this week, and Senate Republicans are not interested. If House Democrats were able to pass an extension, it would allow them to shift blame to Senate Republican obstructionists. But that doesnt pay the rent.

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In her most recent updates to colleagues, Pelosi has noted that the House passing the eviction moratorium without the Senate acting does not extend the moratorium. Instead, Pelosi and House leaders have tried to throw the question back at the administration, and have repeatedly called on them in the last couple of days to have the CDC extend the moratorium.

If the administration were confident it could, though, it would. The issue is that it very likely cannot. Real estate interests had challenged the CDC-issued eviction moratorium in court, and it only survived until July 31 by the skin of its teeth. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion in late June, agreed with the challengers that the CDC had exceeded its existing statutory authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium, but wouldnt shoot it down because there were only a few weeks left. He added, though, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31. The White House has been clear that it does not believe the CDC has the authority to extend it any further, and doesnt want to try and risk additional legal backlash.

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And yet everyones still trying. The White House issued a new statement Monday saying that while the CDC so far has been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium, the White House would be redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections. In the meantime, it will be taking steps encouraging everyone to be nice, such as challenging every landlord to hold off on evictions for the next 30 days.

The urgency with which these statements are being issued does at least suggest that Democrats in both the administration and Congress recognize theyre on the verge of a screw-up that wont soon be forgotten. The eviction moratorium cant last forever, but it sure could use a couple more months. Congress has authorized $46.5 billion in rental assistance in COVID relief packages, but only a tiny fraction of that has gone out the door as states and localities have struggled to get programs off the ground. An extension of the moratorium in some fashion, while the delta variant is surging, would allow the assistance to be disbursed, more renters to stay in their homes, and more landlords to get paid. Instead, there could be a rush of evictions of those who were promised help from the federal government but never got it because of implementation issues. This is the sort of thing that can breed resentment for a long time, and it was worth preparing for more than two days before the deadline.
Its clear that vaccination works. More than 9 in 10 COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have occurred in people who havent received the vaccine. Vaccination is highly effective at preventing the most serious COVID cases, but occasionally even immunized people can develop whats called a breakthrough infectionand it seems that these breakthrough infections happen more frequently with the virulent delta variant of the coronavirus.

One open question is how often breakthrough infections can lead to long COVID.

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One of the most baffling aspects of the coronavirus, long COVID is an array of debilitating symptoms that can persist for weeks or months after an infection ends. Typically, these include fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and brain fog, but some people develop more severe issues across multiple organs, including the lungs, heart, and brain. The problem is that there is a lack of good data around long COVID and breakthrough infections.

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This dearth of data has made it impossible for most experts to state definitively that vaccinated people can develop long COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used to track all breakthrough cases, but as of May 1 it tracks only those that lead to hospitalization and death, using data collected by state and local health agencies. This decision was made to maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance. But without comprehensive data on breakthrough cases, it will be impossible to know the likelihood that immunized people can get infections that lead to long-lasting symptoms.

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In my opinion, CDC should be tracking all consequences of breakthrough cases, not just hospitalization and death, Akiko Iwasaki, the Yale University immunology professor at the forefront of long COVID research, said in an email. Even mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to long COVID. Tracking this on a national scale would be very informative. Iwasaki is one of the only experts to have stated outright that fully vaccinated people can still get long COVID.

But again, theres limited data to support that. Right now, there are only two published sources of data on breakthrough cases and long COVID. In a peer-reviewed study of 1,497 vaccinated health care workers in Israel, published July 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, 39 people had breakthrough infections, 19 percent of whom reported symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and muscle pain lasting more than six weeks. Bob Wachter, chair of the University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine, tweeted that Im not certain that a mild Delta breakthrough case cant lead to long COVID, adding that the study from Israel supports that concern.

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The second source, published to the preprint server medRxiv on July 26, compiles the results of a poll on social media asking about vaccination and COVID infection. The public poll was posted to the Facebook group for Survivor Corps, a grassroots organization of COVID-19 survivors founded by Diana Berrent in March 2020. Out of 1,949 respondents, 44 reported having a symptomatic COVID-19 infection after getting vaccinated. Of that group, 24 reported they had symptoms of long COVID. One person said that their infection led to long COVID and hospitalization.

The paper, co-authored by Berrent, Yale School of Medicine cardiologist Harlan Krumholz, and postgraduate associate Daisy Massey, is not peer-reviewed, and its methods are far from rigorous; by no means should the numbers be extrapolated to apply to the general population. Ill be the first to say this isnt great data, said Berrent of the poll results. But its an important signal that we need to do a better job of tracking these cases. When Iwasaki stated on Twitter that breakthroughs could lead to long COVID, she pointed to an early version of the Survivor Corps data.

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Breakthrough infections are more likely with the increasingly prevalent and highly contagious delta variant, according to an internal CDC document obtained by the New York Times, and the CDCs latest report shows that vaccinated people can spread this variant. If breakthrough cases become more likely, and the development of long COVID is a possibility, then the U.S. must be ready for it. Right now, as the heartbreaking testimonies of people who are suffering from long COVID without meaningful treatment suggest, we are woefully unprepared.

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To be very clear: The occurrence of breakthrough cases, and long COVID that may develop as a result, is not a knock on the vaccines. On the contrary, vaccination is our most potent shield against long COVID. It may not be perfect, but it prevents hospitalization and death in most cases. You cant develop long COVID if you dont get infected in the first place.

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Estimates of the proportion of infected people who develop long COVID vary, but National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Director Walter Koroshetz points to a Nature Medicine study of 312 unvaccinated people in Bergen, Norway, with COVID-19, published in June, as the most robust approximation. Some people were hospitalized for their infection, but most isolated at home, suggesting only mild cases. After six months, 61 percent of the patients still had symptoms. Troublingly, 52 percent of people ages 16 to 30 with mild COVID-19 reported symptoms after six months.

Asked whether these numbers could translate to the U.S., Koroshetz said, I would think so. I dont know why it would be different.

Koroshetz is a co-leader of the RECOVER Initiative, a massive National Institutes of Health effort to study long COVID funded by $1.15 billion set aside by Congress in December 2020. NIH Director Francis Collins announced the initiative in February, but the NIH didnt award the first funds to institutions to support infrastructure and core research developmentsetting the stage for actual studies to take placeuntil June. At the time, Collins said he expected trials to launch in the weeks and months ahead.

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The goal of RECOVER is to find treatments for people with lingering COVID-19 symptoms. To do so, scientists will first have to figure out the biological causes of long COVID, said Koroshetz. Several hypotheses already exist, and Iwasaki has proposed three: The virus might simply persist in the body after infection, causing symptoms. The ghost of the viruslingering fragments like proteins and RNAmight be to blame. Or an autoimmune response is at work, triggered by the initial infection. Iwasaki says that the latter is consistent with why some fully vaccinated people still get long COVID.

Vaccine-induced immunity is expected to clear most of the incoming virus and prevent viral spread to distal organs, she said. I suspect that viral reservoirs will be unlikely to be established in a fully vaccinated person. However, if the virus triggers an autoimmune response, this will lead to long-term symptoms.

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Encouragingly, research shows that vaccination can alleviate some symptoms of long COVID. Iwasaki has found that up to 30 to 40 percent of people experience relief from vaccination. It might do so by dampening the autoreactive immune cells causing symptoms, she said. Shes currently collaborating with Survivor Corps on a study of the impact of vaccination on people with long COVID, which was inspired by another of the groups Facebook polls.

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The RECOVER Initiative will be a massive undertaking, tracking people with new, acute COVID-19 infections over time as well as those who were previously infected and now have long COVID. Studies of autopsies and electronic health records will respectively shed light on the long-term damage caused by these symptoms and factors that affect recovery. The effort will eventually produce much-needed data on long COVID, but not as quickly as its needed.

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While the NIH sits around and does their bureaucratic thing, people are suffering and they are dying, said Berrent.

Koroshetz recognizes the frustration of suffering patients and the doctors trying to treat them. With the RECOVER initiative, weve been working constantly to launch it, and all its pieces, he said. I do have to apologize for how long things took to be able to move the money out into the research. Its much faster than our usual process, but still, I have to apologize to people.

Understanding the pathology of long COVID is necessary to develop therapeutics and diagnostics that will ultimately help prevent additional suffering and economic hardship, said Iwasaki. There is a growing number of patients who have survived COVID-19 only to develop long-term debilitating effects like severe fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, preventing them from resuming work and living normal lives, she added. This is devastating millions of people around the world.

The Survivor Corps Facebook poll on breakthrough cases and long COVID is still live and public. Right now, Berrent is focused on long COVID advocacy and convincing the CDC to mandate reporting of all breakthrough cases.

We have to step in where nobody else is doing it, and that is ludicrous, she said. But if its necessary, then were here to do it.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Several years ago, faced with a broken laptop screen and a $700 quote from Apple to repair it, journalist Jason Koebler thought: Why not try to fix this thing myself? Ten hours, $50, and one ill-advised Exacto knife to the screen later, Koebler had a working laptop and a newfound desire to discover why exactly repairs cost so much, and why its so difficult to perform them ourselves. The answer that Koebler has found is that manufacturersfrom Apple and Microsoft to John Deeremake it that way. They control both the supply of parts and the software needed to fix them.

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But theres a movement to change this, to allow people to fix their own products or take them to whoever they choose. Its called the Right to Repair. And it just got some very powerful allies in the Biden administration and the Federal Trade Commission who want to create new rules so tech companies and manufacturers have to let people repair their own devices.

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On Fridays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Motherboard Advice, about the right to repair and what stands to be gained (or, for big manufacturers, lost) from the FTCs new rules.

Lizzie OLeary: If you were to just look around your house, how much of your stuff or a persons stuff cant be fixed by you or an independent repair person?

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Jason Koebler: Most things. Its everything, its your phone, its everything in your kitchen. Its definitely Keurig machines and coffee machines. Thats a big one. Its washing machines.

Lets lay out how things used to work. If my washing machine broke, I could fix it or have somebody do it. Now, what stands in my way?

The thing that stands in your way is computer chips, and encryption, and passwords, and things like this. All of our things have sensors on them now, and all of the sensors are encrypted or have password protection. And the only people who know the password are the manufacturers.

But trying to bypass the manufacturers can be risky. Until a couple of years ago, if you took your iPhone to an independent repair place, like a mall kiosk, there was a chance the unauthorized repair might kill your device. Youve done a lot of reporting about this issue in Nebraska, regarding tractors. What was happening there?

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So John Deere is obviously this big tractor company, the biggest in the world. They have this situation where only authorized dealers can work on tractors. What kept happening was people were out in the cornfields in Nebraska and their tractor would break and they would call John Deere and they would be far from a dealer. And the dealer would say, OK, I can come tomorrow. Or, I can come in three days, or whatever. The farmers there would say, Well, my corn is going to go bad. I need it now.

Theres this piece of software called John Deere Service Advisor, and that is a piece of software on a computer that you hook into the tractor, and that says, Hey, this person is authorized to work on this tractor. So if you put a new part in and dont have that piece of software, it wont work. I found a community of people who are using Pirate Baywhich is what I used to download music and movies on in high school illegallywho had found a hacked version of John Deere Service Advisor that was taken from a guy in Ukraine, and they were passing it around and were using it to hack their tractors.

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My mental picture of a hacker is not a bunch of middle-aged white dudes in Nebraska driving John Deere tractors who were actually swapping tips about how to get around these software protections.

My favorite detail is actually the place that I found the software and found that this was happening was on an auto parts website, where you have to buy a part. I think it was a spoke for a wheel or something, but in the fine print of the details of that product said, Were not going to send you a spoke. Were going to send you a link and a password to log into a forum where we talk about how to fix your things. So it was like a password-protected secret forum where farmers were trading repair tips.

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Theres this entire movement from activists and repair folks and people who are angry at Apple and John Deere and things like this to pass right to repair rules. And what that means is, it would become essentially illegal for manufacturers of our equipment to not sell the same replacement parts that they provide to their ownthe Apple store or the John Deere dealer. They would have to sell that to the general public as well. And this is already the rule of the land for cars. If your car breaks, you can take it to the Ford dealer, or you can take it to the random person around the corner, and theyre going to be able to fix it. It might be a tough repair, but theres nothing preventing them from fixing anything thats wrong with your car. And so this is the same state of affairs that people want to have happen for tractors, for refrigerators, for laptops, for phones.

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The farmers did get some Nebraska state lawmakers on board in 2017. But the bill met with intense pushback from John Deere, manufacturing trade groups, even Appleand it failed. Similar fights have unfolded across the country in more than 17 states. And most of the time, the big manufacturers win.

They hate Right to Repair. And so anytime this has popped up in any state, lobbyists will show up and will start fear-mongering about why it is very dangerous to make it easier for people to fix their things. The main argument that they make is they say its a security issue.



Yeah, they say, we make this private and safe and secure. Do you think that claim holds up?

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It doesnt hold up, because theyre giving this to a bunch of authorized service providers. And theres thousands of people in the US who can fix these things because they just pass it out kind of willy-nilly to anyone who pays them money. State lawmakers are often not security experts. And so Apple has been able to go to a lot of different states and say, Oh my God, if you pass this law, youre going to turn into a lawless hacker state, and its very dangerous. And so theyre able to scare lawmakers out of passing this sort of thing.

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You got some documents a couple of years ago that seemed to show that Apple specifically is quite capable of doing what activists want, giving some small repair companies access to software, to parts, etc. What did the documents say?

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The documents didnt say, We could do this but were greedy and we want to make a lot of money. It was more like, We could do this, but its difficult for us to implement. Apple has spent the last five years saying that the iPhone is the most secure device on the planet. And we care about your privacy.

Thats their big selling point.

Yeah. They make a very good product. And from everything we know, they take security very seriously. And so the idea that, by selling you a new screen, and by allowing you to fix Touch ID or Face ID if its broken, that the entire security ecosystem of the iPhone would be undermined, it doesnt stand up to scrutiny. Apple is a much more sophisticated company than that.

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In July, President Biden issued an executive order that calls on the Federal Trade Commission to make new rules around the right to repair. And the FTCs chair, Lina Khan, said big companies are hurting consumers with their repair restrictions. How much can the FTC really do?

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What the Biden administration said is, there should already be a law in the books that allows the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, to enforce antitrust rules. So theyre basically saying, by creating this repair monopoly, all of these manufacturers are already in violation of existing antitrust laws. And so his executive order states that the FTC needs to create rules that would specifically ban this anti-competitive behavior. The FTC voted and said, We are going to create rules and enforce them.

So I think its a big deal. I think, whether it stands the test of time, like whether manufacturers challenge this in court or whether the next administration repeals these sorts of rules, that could happen. But its a big deal. I think it will make things easier for everyone.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
President stresses importance of Roma Holocaust stories, PM advocates for education of young Roma

Several politicians, Roma activists, artists and athletes attended an event commemorating Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.

The event commemorating the Roma Holocaust was held at SNP Museum in Banska Bystrica. (Source: TASR)

The statistics of the Holocaust are comprised of thousands of individual human tragedies, each of which deserves special attention and a special mention, said President Zuzana Caputova on the occasion of Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, which falls on August 2.

The Roma Holocaust Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the events from the night between August 2 and 3, 1944, when nearly 3,000 Roma, mostly women, children and seniors, were killed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. About 500,000 Roma died in WWII.

PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO), who was present at the commemoration held in Banska Bystrica, said that working with marginalised groups, without violence and extremes, is the path to success. Similar to his predecessor Igor Matovic, who attended the event last year, he stressed that the politics of the hidden Holocaust in us should end.

He, along with other politicians, Roma activists, artists and athletes, attended an annual commemorative event to pay tribute to more than 3,000 Roma people, mostly women, children and seniors, who were killed between August 2 and 3, 1945, in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The event is known as the Roma Holocaust, or Porajmos.

Reducing the space for hatred

President Caputova highlighted the need to reduce the space for hatred.

There were concrete human stories of the ancestors and families of people who live here with us, she said in a statement, as quoted by the TASR newswire. And people who still encounter something they shouldnt  humiliation and verbal and physical attacks for their ethnicity. Unfortunately, were witnessing again how easy it is to abuse prejudice to incite hatred that can grow into a terrific size, as we know from the past.

It is our common duty to reduce the space for hatred, the president stressed, adding it should be done through humanity, mutual respect and understanding.

Caputova also referred to the stories about the slavery of men in work camps who were forced to build water dams or railway tracks and the Roma from the southern parts of the country who were sent to the concentration camps. She added that there were mass executions of the Roma and of those that helped in the resistance movement.

Government allocates sources for Roma education

Matovic promises to end the politics of the hidden Holocaust in us Read more

PM Heger pointed out that thousands of Roma were forced into gas chambers in the Auschwitz camp, including men, women, children and seniors. It was one of many horrible events that happened during WWII; these people were stripped of their rights and killed en masse.

We must learn from history and we mustnt allow something similar to happen again, he said, as quoted by TASR. We know that prejudices in us often stand at the beginning of such deeds, violence and evil. These are the source of exclusion and discrimination.

He said that his government wants to offer equal opportunities chance to everyone living on the edge of society, including the Roma.

Weve allocated some sources that should be invested in educating young Roma, Heger said, as quoted by TASR. We believe that education from a very young age gives them a chance to be successful.

Focus on young generations

Ombudswoman Maria Patakyova said that the more time that passes since WWII, the fewer opportunities we have to authentically connect with survivors. Still, their memory can survive through memorial days, authentic sources, documentaries and even a passage from a theatre play about a prisoner who died in a concentration camp.

Breaking the silence on the Roma Holocaust Read more

If we allow these tragic stories from the past to touch our hearts, we have a chance to learn from them and see what is happening around us now, Patakyova said. Lets notice and stand against the hatred, discrimination and segregation of minorities.

The governments Proxy for Roma communities Andrea Buckova stressed the need to remind the young generations that racism, discrimination and hate speech have no place in our society.

Unfortunately, discrimination keeps persisting in Slovakia, while the stereotypes and prejudices towards the Roma people are deepening, which has been confirmed by several polls and individual experience, she said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Its our duty to speak up against spreading this evil.

She pointed to the governments strategy concerning the inclusion and participation of Roma, with plans outlined until 2030. Buckova hopes that thanks to this document our country will become more tolerant and will reject any signs of discrimination and violence against the Roma.

2. Aug 2021 at 11:23 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Slovakia and Greece will cooperate on migration-related issues

The bilateral collaboration will include in-field work and the exchange of information and knowledge.

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Slovakias Migration Office, which runs under the Interior Ministry, and the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, will cooperate in migration-related issues.

Starting in September, the institutions will exchange information on social in-field work, the identification of vulnerable people and the solution of conflicts in refugee camps, among other.

Moreover, Slovakia will send its in-field social workers to help in one of seven refugee camps in Athens, and send material assistance, particularly school aids and toiletries. It is also possible that members of the polices anti-conflict unit will be sent to Greece to help directly in the field or help with training.

We were very pleased when Greece accepted our proposal, claiming that Slovakia is the very first country that offered bilateral cooperation in this field and in this form, said Petra Achbergerova of the Migration Office. It is also an opportunity for us to broaden our knowledge and work experience, since the asylum facilities in Slovakia are only minimally filled.

2. Aug 2021 at 17:41 | Compiled by Spectator staff
He said he knows Jordan from working closely with his father, Mark, a North Platte-based brand inspector for the Nebraska Brand Committee.

When the auctioneer issued the $1,000 challenge, Wasserburger leaned toward his companions.

I said (to them), You want to partner on it? he said. They said, Yeah, and the whole place clapped.

The humorous scenario was set up by the Lincoln County Agricultural Societys prefair decision to retain an alternative to the traditional end-of-fair animal auction.

Due to COVID-19, Buoy said, the 2020 fair had 4-H exhibitors sell their animals privately  without a typical auction  after finishing their last contest. All the sold animals were off the fairgrounds by Sunday, Buoy said.

To let local residents pitch in more support, the youth exhibitors were bid upon Monday after describing themselves and what theyd use their extra money for.

After seeing how things went in 2020, they kind of liked that, so they kept it, Buoy said.

He got base price  approximately $1,725  after the July 24 4-H cattle show for the steer he had raised all year, said his mother, Julie.
Fort Lewis originally was a U.S. Army post constructed in Pagosa Springs before being relocated in 1880 to Hesperus, about a 20-minute drive west of Durango, said Lauren Savage, a Fort Lewis College spokeswoman. In 1891, Fort Lewis was decommissioned as an Army post and converted into the Fort Lewis Indian School, which operated until 1911.

From there, the property was transferred to the state and established as a high school that later morphed into a two-year college and eventually moved in 1956 to Durango, where it became the Fort Lewis College of today.

Bitsoi, of the Dine, described how boarding schools across the country attempted to erase Native culture and language.

Thats what is dear to Native people, Bitsoi said. Thats whats dear to me. If children did get sick and couldnt go home, did they perish there and what happened to those bodies? We dont know.

For years, leaders at Fort Lewis College have discussed how to most appropriately face their schools past while looking to the future. Bitsoi is among a group of Fort Lewis employees, students and community members meeting about reconciliation efforts impacting the college community.

The search for remains is now at the forefront of those discussions.
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Courthouse Supervisor Jerry Boothe, connected by phone, voted no.

DeVito Kuchenbuch disagreed with Durbins ruling, saying she had abstained in other votes that were considered to be no. Durbin said that might apply on budgetary votes but not in this instance. Kuchenbuch said she would have voted no if she had known that.

Yoder objected to the resolution being offered for consideration for a vote since it was not on the agenda or was not placed there by a vote by the board at the start. He said a statement in the resolution claims the Supervisors had read and studied the various recommendations made by the Virginia Department of Education were incorrect and said voting for it would be a lie.

I had skimmed the earlier copy of the resolution, Yoder said but had not studied each of the recommendations.

Boothe also said he had not seen the final document and felt a vote was premature. Coleman disagreed and told Boothe he wanted a vote, which Turman called, resulting in the 2-1 approval.

After Durbins call that the vote was valid under Roberts Rules of Order, he told the board that it could consider a motion to reconsider, but no supervisor offered that and a motion to adjourn passed unanimously.
A Wednesday night press release from the Cowlitz County Sheriff's department said the 55-year-old man will be charged with second degree assault from the initial incident, then with two counts of second degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault, felony harassment, harming a police dog, obstructing a law enforcement officers and resisting arrest stemming from the standoff. His name will be released when he is booked.
In what will come as good news for bug bounty hunters looking for opportunities to make a name for themselves as well as win some money, loyalty management firm Antavo (linked to companies like Pepsi, BMW, United Colors of Benetton, and Telarus), has announced a new programme where it has invited researchers to find bugs in its software, which can compromise its platform. Now, finding and fixing security flaws in a computer system is like a game of cat and mouse. With every new software update, new security flaws are fixed and newer ones are discovered. Companies with many users and lots of features sometimes invite security researchers to identify security issues with their systems and disclose them responsibly, in return for a reward. By letting more users keep an eye on the code, these companies are able to improve their security by identifying vulnerabilities in their code and fixing them. This also ensure that these security flaws and not sold to hackers on the dark web.

Bug bounty programs are offered by large and small companies, and offer varying amounts of money for the security flaws discovered. This means that if a bug is discovered and revealed responsibly, the researcher could receive compensation for their effort in identifying the flaw and helping the company improve the security of its service.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

Antavo has recently set up its own bug bounty program - if youre a security researcher or a budding ethical hacker, heres what you need to know about the program.

Bounty hunters who are able to demonstrate vulnerabilities in Antavos loyalty management software will be eligible to receive a payout of 240 (or around 21,200) as part of the companys bug bounty program on the Hacktify platform, which was set up in July. For a bug bounty program to work successfully, a company has to offer a reward that is commensurate to the vulnerability disclosed  companies like Microsoft and Facebook have paid thousands of dollars to several researchers for responsibly disclosing security flaws in their services.

The firms engineering director Csaba Horvath had previously stated that Antavo already dedicates resources to ensure data and privacy protection for clients and customers, and has expanding its infrastructure and development teams. Still, sometimes an outside perspective can yield further findings, which is why we have decided to enlist the help of white hat hackers from all across the globe, he added.

Interested users can visit the companys Hacktify page to participate in the bug bounty program if they manage to find eligible security vulnerabilities in the service.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most life-changing events on a global scale, affecting almost every person. It forced everyone indoors and that included people who needed regular medical attention. However, just as in work and education, people began to rely on video meeting services like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Cisco Webex and many more for consulting doctors for their ailments. Now, more and more people, people who are unable to visit their doctors and therapists have begun to use these platforms to get cured. However, know that there are certain disadvantages of telemedicine.

However, while video meeting apps have certainly made things a lot more convenient for patients and doctors, there is no single solution that suits every situation. A recent study reportedly revealed that treating and evaluating patients with voice and speech disorders was challenging, as these platforms were reportedly unable to capture sounds accurately, according to a report by IANS.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

The report is based on the findings of a study conducted by researchers at Boston University, who found that these platforms use technology of their own to deal with background noise. The tech that they use reportedly causes distortions that adversely impacted the acoustic recordings used by voice therapy specialists, according to the report.

Hasini Weerathunge, one of the graduate researchers at the universitys Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, worked with other researchers to test five of these platforms: Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, Doxy.me, VSee Messenger, and Zoom. These platforms have increasingly been used for telemedicine since the pandemic began.

In order to conduct the tests, the researchers recorded the audio from 29 patients who were between 18 to 82 years old and then played these back using a speaker, to researchers that were on the other end of a video meeting platform. According to the report, all the platforms could not capture dynamic range (for vocal loudness) and pitch accurately, along with other parameters for speech evaluation. However, the researchers did find that Zoom was the only platform that allowed users to turn off their audio enhancements.

As a result, the team has urged caution while using these platforms for telemedicine, where voice and speech therapy were concerned, as the results showed differences in data collected from these platforms compared with when they were collected in person, according to the report.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, file photo, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey appears on a screen as he speaks remotely during a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington. On Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, digital payments company Square Inc. said it has agreed to acquire Afterpay, which provides a "buy now, pay later'' option for merchants, in an all-stock deal valued at about $29 billion. "Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose," Dorsey said in a statement. Credit: Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP, File

Digital payments company Square Inc. says it has agreed to acquire Afterpay, which provides a "buy now, pay later'' option for merchants, in an all-stock deal valued at about $29 billion.

Square said Sunday it has agreed to buy all of the Australian company's shares, and that the transaction's estimated value is based on last Friday's closing price of Square common stock.

Square allows retailers to process credit card transactions using devices that plug into tablets or smartphones. The San Francisco-based company said the acquisition is expected to close early in 2022.

The company plans to integrate Afterpay into its services, enabling merchants to offer customers the option to pay for goods later without relying on a credit card. Afterpay users would be able to manage their installment payments directly in Square's cash app.

"Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose," Square CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement.

Some 70 million people use Square's cash app. As of June 30, Afterpay was serving more than 16 million users and nearly 100,000 merchants, including major retailers, the company said.

Installment plans are popular with retailers because they encourage customers to spend more money. And they enable customers with insufficient funds or credit at the time of purchase to walk out of a store with the item they want. Payments are made in multiple installments over time, without interestunless customers are late, in which case additional fees or interest may kick in.

"Afterpay is deeply committed to helping people spend responsibly without incurring service fees for those who pay on time," the companies said in a joint press release announcing the transaction.

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Stage 2: Subclinical sheddersThese animals do not show clinical signs of disease but will shed the bacteria in their manure at high levels, contaminating the environment. Fecal culture may be able to detect the bacteria, but blood tests for the disease are not always accurate. These animals may or may not progress to Stage 3.

Stage 3: Clinical diseaseCattle in this stage exhibit a normal appetite with weight loss and diarrhea. Signs may initially present or recur at times of stress such as at calving. Cattle in this stage shed huge quantities of the bacteria. They are typically positive on fecal and blood tests. Cattle may stay in this stage from days to weeks before progressing to Stage 4.

Stage 4: Emaciation with fluid diarrheaThis is the final and most severe stage of the disease. Cattle sent to slaughter at this stage may not pass inspection if the infection has spread throughout the body. Affected animals will have severe fluid diarrhea leading to severe weight loss and bottle jaw.

Testing of animals is challenging as many Stage 1 and 2 infected animals will not test positive, and tests are never 100% accurate. Testing may be performed from blood and fecal samples. Producers should consult with their veterinarian for assistance in selecting tests that correlate with operational needs and conditions.
With them, they brought their two grandchildren. It was the youngsters first time seeing the band live, as well.

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Colgin said he appreciates the bands unique vocal style.

Their tenor style, they harmonize really well in that music, he said.

Mike Love, a founding member of the band and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, spoke Thursday with The Independent about the bands Midwest summer tour.

Along with their classics, the audience at this Sundays show will be treated to new songs by the band, composed during the pandemic, Love said.

About a year ago, while we were sitting around at our individual homes, we all got together electronically, and we came up with a song called This Too Shall Pass, he said. Were doing it for our encore, and people seem to like it because they certainly relate to it.

The chorus, he said, goes:

People are asking, how long will it last;

the saying goes, this too shall pass;

I believe the best is yet to come,

and well get back to having fun, fun, fun; fun in the sun.
Rayburn told the alleged victim that he would sell him three vapes for $300.

The alleged victim arranged to have Rayburn pick him up at his residence. When the alleged victim got into the vehicle, another male was in the vehicle. The alleged victim knew him only as Caleb.

The alleged victim gave Rayburn $300, and Rayburn provided him with a box that had wax in it. The alleged victim said Rayburn was waving the $300 around, and the alleged victim attempted to grab the money back. As he was trying to grab the money, Rayburn allegedly pointed a gun at him and then at his head.

The alleged victim grabbed the gun and knew it was real once he felt it. He also saw bullets in the gun.

The alleged victim described the gun as a black revolver that had orange or green on the barrel but not at the end of the barrel like a fake handgun.

The alleged victim began recording Rayburn and McKeon, and he grabbed two vape pens from the center console. He was able to get out of the vehicle in the 1200 block of 13th Street and ran home.

Later that day, Kearney Police Department officers conducted a felony stop of a vehicle associated with Rayburn.
Of the large utilitys partnership with Lichti Oil, he said. They provided us a site. Without their cooperation this would not be possible.

Anne McCollister representing the Nebraska Community Energy Alliance, a coalition of 38 business and public interests, who didnt want Nebraska to be 10 years behind other states in providing support to the burgeoning electric vehicle market of the future, added, This is a big deal. For the same money you can go four times as far as with fossil fuels while simultaneously cutting emissions and environmental damage drastically.

Vincent said NPPDs work at the site was done to support the traveling public which is looking more and more to electricity for transportation.

The end game is to arrive at a place where in-home charging stations become common. Predictions from the industry foresee new home construction including a charging station as a matter of routine.

Lichti spoke of the York interchange of years ago with little or no development at all. Obviously that is no longer the case. Growth has been both dramatic and dynamic on all four quadrants of the intersection where major trunk lines I-80 and U.S. Hwy 81 meet.
The police department and sheriffs department then assisted in order to locate the vehicle. The troopers were informed of the vehicles previous owners address and when they were contacted, they said they sold the vehicle two weeks earlier to Martin. They also advised they thought Martin lived in Geneva and they provided the VIN number for the vehicle.

The trooper went to York County Corrections to speak with Martin who told him he was the only person in the vehicle and he freaked out when he saw the troopers cruiser. Martin stated he got off of parole in early March and he said his license was suspended and thats why he fled. He agreed he was driving extremely fast on residential streets. He said he drove to (that particular house) and parked the vehicle. He said he then went to a relatives house to inform her that he was going to be going to jail. He said he also was working to inform his boss that he was going to be going to jail and while walking back to where the vehicle was, he was taken into custody by the police department.
Schools are soon to start back in session just as Covid-19 cases are rising in the Red River Valley. The rise is due to the delta variant, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is as contagious as chickenpox and four to nine times more infectious than previous Covid-19 strains. The majority of cases are being seen in unvaccinated people, a group that includes school-age children. The back to school guidance from local and national medical groups includes having mask requirements in place, however, Gov. Greg Abbott has prohibited schools from taking such action. Should schools be allowed to require masks?

You voted:
During questioning by police, Bahena Rivera acknowledged that he encountered Tibbetts as she was running near her small eastern Iowa hometown of Brooklyn and he led investigators to the field where her body lay hidden under cornstalks.

But during his trial, he claimed publicly for the first time that two masked men kidnapped him at gunpoint from his trailer, forced him to drive to where Tibbetts was running on a rural road, killed her, put her body in his trunk and made him dispose of it. He said he didnt tell investigators about the two men earlier because they had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and young daughter.

Bahena Rivera was to be sentenced last month. But toward the end of the testimony portion of his trial, two new witnesses came forward independently of one another and told police that a local 21-year-old man told them he had killed Tibbetts. Defense lawyers requested a new trial based on that and other newly discovered information, and Yates agreed to postpone sentencing while he considered their request.
When Indiana State Police trooper Allison Marlowe saw brake lights on Interstate 65 Sunday afternoon, the first thing she did was to look for the crash.

Then she heard about the dog.

More than 30 minutes later, Marlowe and at least five bystanders successfully coaxed a scared puppy to safety and brought an unusual traffic jam to a happy end, with the hungry dog scarfing down a bag of Pup-Peroni dog treats in the back seat of the troopers air conditioned car.

Marlowe, a self-proclaimed huge dog person who joined the ISP in December, pulled up to the backup on southbound I-65 between the Ridge Road and 61st Avenue exits about 2 p.m. Sunday. When the call about a dog running loose on the highway came across her radio, she made her way to the front of the jam and found several people outside their vehicles peering under a tow-behind camper parked in the center lane. Traffic in all three lanes was at a standstill.

Under the camper, soaking in the cool, shaded concrete and avoiding the terrifying stream of traffic she had been darting in and out of earlier, was what Marlowe estimated to be a 4- to 6-month old large-breed puppy, scared to come out.

There was nowhere (for the dog) to go, Marlowe said.
Local

editor's pick alert top story

Berry: 'OCtech is my foundation'; college's new VP of academic affairs builds on experience

SPECIAL TO THE T&D Veteran educator Williette Waring Berry is vice president of academic affairs at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

Williette Waring Berry loves learning, but she also enjoys sharing what she learns with others, particularly among the students and administration at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, where she has become the new vice president of academic affairs.

Having first served at OCtech as an advisory board member for its paralegal program in 2000, she has worked her way up with a perseverance she said was largely cultivated at the college.

I see myself

as an advocate

Ive been here full-time since 2003. I wouldnt trade it for the world. I always tell people that anybody can have a job, but it takes dedication and commitment to make a career. Thats what Ive done here at OCtech, Berry said.

She served as an adjunct instructor for both the criminal justice and paralegal studies programs before becoming a full-time instructor in the latter program in 2003. She went on to become program coordinator for the criminal justice and paralegal studies program before serving as assistant dean for career and technology.

OCtech tuition wont increase; Area Commission approves budget Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College wont increase the cost of tuition next year under a budget approved by its Area Commission.

Berry became dean of business, computer technology, education and public service in 2015 before taking on the position of assistant vice president of academic affairs in January of 2020. The veteran educator was later tapped to become the VP of academic affairs upon the retirement of Donna Elmore.

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College: Federal funds boost budget The Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Area Commission has learned that the colleges budget received an added boost from more than $13 million supplied by the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.

She began her latest duties on June 1, 2021. Berry will earn $126,965 a year.

Im passionate about what I do here at OCtech, and I just love the idea now of taking it to another level. Being on the executive team, of course, puts me in the position to have a little bit more say-so of how things run in the academic field versus being a dean. But at the same time, were all working together. Its about working together, Berry said.

OCtech President Dr. Walt Tobin said, Williette has had a stellar career in a variety of roles at OCtech before assuming the position of the vice president of academic affairs. Throughout her time at OCtech, she has proven herself to be a good leader and a dedicated member of the college.

Tobin continued, I am excited about what the future holds for the college with her serving in this capacity.

The college had to adjust to using virtual learning tools with the advent of the coronavirus last year, some elements of which will remain, Berry said.

When the pandemic hit, of course it was a shock to everyone because we were working one day and at home the next day. So I think that faculty and students have kind of adjusted, but theres always those students who want to be in a face-to-face setting. Then for some students who are working full-time jobs, that flexibility means a lot to them. So if were going to stay on the cutting edge, then were going to have to continue to be flexible, she said.

Berry continued, I think that the asynchronous with our online courses and the synchronous with our virtual classes is the only way to go. There are some courses where the students need to be here. They need to have that hands-on experience so that when they go on the job, theyre prepared to do the job. But I still say that the pandemic was kind of a blessing in disguise because it showed us what we can do when we need to do what we have to do.

She said her goals are implanted in the schools vision to engage, empower and transform not only students, but faculty. Her favorite quote is the following from American industrialist Henry Ford: Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; (but) working together is success.

As part of an effort to engage students, she said school officials are envisioning the development of a learning commons area.

Its going to be an area thats going to be very inviting to the students. Its going to be user friendly, computer stations, just areas where they can get together as a group and study. We have study rooms and things in the library, but just in a different setting. So thats going to provide an opportunity for us to, again, keep them engaged while theyre here, Berry said.

OCtech honors 2020 Educators of the Year Three faculty and staff members have been honored as Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical Colleges Educators of the Year and were recognized during the South Carolina Technical Education Associations annual conference Feb. 13-15 in Myrtle Beach.

In the area of professional development, she said the development of a master teacher program is something else that will be worked on.

In my role, I see myself as an advocate for students and faculty. ... Were looking at starting a master teacher program using ACUE, Berry said, an acronym for the Association of College and University Educators, which prepares credentials and supports faculty to teach with research-based best practices that improve student achievement and close equity gaps.

We piloted about 10 faculty members this summer to go to that program. Its just a means of trying to help us to better engage those students. If you think about with COVID, we moved to that virtual platform almost 100 percent. So its harder to engage students when theyre not in your presence, Berry said.

So the ACUE cohort that we started this summer kind of focused on that online learning and how to keep those students engaged with one another, putting in more interactive discussion-type questions versus just, OK, tell me a little bit about what you read.

We want to be a little bit more interactive, responding to your classmates, giving feedback on different assignments. So it was kind of interesting. So were going to see whether we can get that rolling out for future employees, she said.

I love it here

A native of Holly Hill, Berry is the daughter of the Rev. Willie N. and Betty Lee Waring. She and her husband, Gregory, are the parents of one son, Brayden, 10.

She is an active member of the Orangeburg Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and also a licensed attorney who has enjoyed her foray in the teaching world.

Most people, especially my students, are like, Ms. Berry, why are you here when you could be making probably a whole lot more money? For me, its never been about money. My husband always say, If you do the things you love the most, the money will follow, Berry said

She initially wanted to become a teacher until reaching third grade.

By the time I reached third grade, I had made up in my mind that I wanted to be a lawyer. So I did everything I needed to do to get through that process, making the good grades and doing what I needed to do in school to get to that point, Berry said.

Her work as an adjunct professor helped her realize her love of teaching.

I was like, OK, I really like this. I like teaching. So I always tell my students on the first day of class, Ive got mine, Im here to help you get yours ... and if at all possible, I want you to take it even further than where I went with it, said Berry, noting that spreading knowledge is something she is dedicated to.

It just became like second nature, and I love speaking. Ive been doing public speaking since probably fifth grade, (with) church all the time, graduations, scholarship galas. So its just been a way for me to impart knowledge on others about what Ive learned, she said.

She said OCtech has provided her with fertile ground from which to work.

Every chance I get, Im just saying good things about OCtech because I love it here. To me, its close knit, kind of like a family environment. I love the people that I work with. I hope they feel the same way about me. I just enjoy it, Berry said.

She was chosen as Faculty Member of the Year in 2015 and was recently recognized as Administrator of the Year in 2020.

TheTandD.com: Full access for 3 months for just $1 Support local journalism by becoming a member at www.TheTandD.com The editor's limited time offer is full access to all the website has to offer for just $1 for three months. https://go.thetandd.com/june3

I always tell people if I ever wake up in the morning and I dont want to go to work, its time for me to change jobs. I have not gotten to that point, and I dont plan on getting to that point. I love it here, I love what I do, and I just cant wait to continue to pick up where I left off as assistant VP, Berry said.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says he wants to reach some kind of accord with the European Union amid a standoff over the way Poland's government has sought to discipline judges and other judicial changes.

His comments, following similar remarks from President Andrzej Duda, seem to be preparing the ground for some changes to the way the right-wing government approaches changes to the justice system.

Since the ruling party took power in 2015, it has overhauled the justice system in a way that has given the party new powers over the courts and appointment of judges. The changes have drawn strong criticism and warnings of sanctions from the EU, which considers the changes undemocratic.

Morawiecki said in an interview for the pro-government Republika TV late Sunday that his government appreciates EU membership and for that reason needs to smooth out relations with Brussels.

The situation is complex because we are an EU member, we want to be in the EU, we benefit from free trade, Polish companies are growing, employees have higher earnings, Morawiecki said.

For that reason we must achieve some kind of accord with the EU, Morawiecki said.
In the late spring of 2020, many of us warned against government mandates. Mandates restrict individual freedom. Mandates proliferate like proverbial rabbits. Remember flatten the curve? Just two weeks. Thats all. We can all lock down, wear masks, wash hands, and maintain social distancing for two weeks. Thats all they asked.

Some knew even then what was coming. People talked about a new normal. Whats that mean? Can we ever shake hands again, or are we doomed to fist and elbow bumps forever? Of course, all mandates are justified by the powers-that-be for the good of the people.

In other words some people justify eliminating or severely restricting individual rights, i.e. freedom, if by doing so the people will benefit. How did our individual freedoms become so politicized? Who did that?

Studies last year proved that cloth or even N95 masks cannot prevent the spread of viruses. According to the NIH National Library of Medicine, Airborne simulation experiments showed that cotton masks, surgical masks, and N95 masks provide some protection from the transmission of infective SARS-CoV-2 droplets/aerosols; however, medical masks (surgical masks and even N95 masks) could not completely block the transmission of virus droplets/aerosols even when sealed.
We like poverty, or to put it another way, we like it better than paying the price for reducing it. Its not that we cant choose to eliminate poverty. We choose not to because to do so would cause us to make sacrifices we are unwilling to make.

To be sure, we dont want to say or think that we desire poverty. That would be unseemly. Mostly we turn our eyes away from the steps that are needed to eliminate it. Yet among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Developments 43 countries, which include most of Europe, and the worlds major democracies, the United States has the third highest level of poverty, three times as great as the least impoverished countries and almost twice as much as one-half of the OECD countries. Yet, we are the sixth most prosperous country in the world per capita.

Examining the data of the OECD counties whose control of poverty is superior to the United States shows that Mexico, Italy, and Poland, are less impoverished  Countries far less affluent than the United States. So, poverty-wise, we are an outlier and not in a positive sense.
He said the DAI is committed to providing the best outcomes for patients whether it be through less-invasive procedures, or using enhanced techniques and technology with those which are more invasive.

"Definitely one of the new things coming to the industry is percutaneous fistula creations. Instead of doing the incision, we can actually use needles and catheters and wires to create the fistula. There's been some good success with a subgroup of patients, of where that procedure worked well, London said.

He said the DAIs highly specialized staff and physicians are able to conduct HeRO catheter placements which is for patients that are either occluded centrally or don't have any veins for us to create access.

The HeRO catheter, Dr. John Ross pioneered this, and I think he has more catheter placements than anyone in the world, definitely in the country. We're one of the only places in South Carolina that does HeRO catheter placements. So we're seeing patients from a lot of the surrounding states to place the HeRO catheters, London said.

He continued, With laparascopic peritoneal dialysis catheter placement, I have done a lot of training and teaching across the country in using advanced laparascopic techniques so these catheters work well and we don't get a lot of dysfunction with them.
Job Title: Emergency Management and Response Specialist

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The Emergency Management and Response Specialist serves as the Global Health Security (GHS) Outbreak Coordinator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Uganda office. The position is responsible for public health emergency management and response activities, primarily infectious disease outbreaks, but also including natural, accidental and intentional disasters with public health implications. The incumbent serves as a key advisor to the Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP) Program Director on public health emergency management and response activities in Uganda and in support of the Global Health Security Agenda. The incumbent serves as the primary liaison between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Uganda and the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), other Government of Uganda (GOU) entities, collaborating US Government (USG) agencies (United States Agency for International Development, Department of Defense, State Department), non-governmental organizations, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters (HQ). The incumbent participates in identifying and prioritizing emergency management and response activities in order to strengthen national, regional and district level public health response capacity and maintain a highly functional Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), and incident command system in Uganda. The incumbent will report directly to the Division of Global Health Protection Program Director.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal applicant for the United States US Embassy Emergency Management and Response Specialist job must hold a Masters degree in Medicine, Public Health, Laboratory Sciences, Informatics or Epidemiology is required.

At least three years public health experience in a field directly related to emergency management, outbreak response, and/or epidemiology is required.

The incumbent must have knowledge and experience in field epidemiology, outbreak response, biosafety/biosecurity, and overall management of public health emergency response programs.

The incumbent must have a general knowledge of the local emergency management processes and/or systems and the role of the Uganda MOH and the Public Health Emergency Operations Center in public health emergencies. The incumbent should have a good working knowledge of global public health preparedness methodologies.

The incumbent must have extensive knowledge of the development of emergency management and response program goals and objectives, the sequence and timing of key program events and milestones, knowledge of the development and implementation of capacity and program assessments, and methods for evaluating program accomplishments. S/he must have extensive knowledge of global public health activities and strategies, including advanced knowledge of the Incident Command System framework (ICS).

The incumbent must also demonstrate an awareness of safety hazards in the work environment; working knowledge of administrative, budgetary, procurement, and travel issues related to government purchasing and funding guidelines.

Position requires a highly innovative and well-trained public health professional with strong leadership and interpersonal skills to work with all levels of staff in a team setting to accomplish program goals.

A high level of oral and written communications skills is required in order to convey program progress, technical requirements and to influence other collaborative organizations engaged in emergency management and response programs to adopt appropriate strategies for their program activities.

Strong working knowledge of computer software programs such as Microsoft Office is required.

Demonstrated typing proficiency at 40 words per minute or higher.

Ability to gather, analyze and interpret quantitative data, provide factual and interpretive reports and communicate findings to a variety of audiences is required.

Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and effectively in a high-performance environment under tight deadlines is required.

The incumbent must also have skills in diplomacy in order to work effectively with the Ministries of Health (MOH), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations Disaster Assistance Coordination (UNDAC), Department of State (DOS), Embassies and international public health entities

Language: Level IV (Fluent) speaking/reading/writing of English ability is required. This may be tested.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 11th August 2021

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
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Today

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Cloudy with showers. High around 85F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Today

Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. High near 85F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
The filing again says that, regardless, potential FLSA violations would fall outside the boards jurisdiction, and the board has historically waited for the appropriate fact finder  in this case, the Department of Labor  to decide whether a law was broken, or for an attorney to plead guilty, before taking any action.

Further, the filing says, if the board made findings about FLSA violations or personnel matters, the state could potentially be bound by those findings in future private action.

Mark Gifford, attorney for the Wyoming State Bar, said he disagreed that the alleged FLSA violations and personnel matters fell outside of the boards jurisdiction because they constitute conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, which violates the Rules of Professional Conduct.

He also said the alleged violations of Rule 1.1 pertain to alleged incompetence in discharging Ms. Manloves duties as an elected prosecutor, including the specific conduct described in the formal charge.

A response to the petition will be filed with the Supreme Court within 15 days, Gifford said. After that, the court will decide how to proceed.

The Attorney Generals office certified that the petition had not been filed in an attempt to delay proceedings.
I was really sad, Chelsea said. Sometimes I was scared to go outside.

The transplant

Chelseas journey with infertility began when she was 15 when she realized she wasnt starting her menstrual cycles. After doctor visits and exams, her diagnosis brought the news that she would never carry her own pregnancy. At the time, it seemed relatively inconsequential to the young teen. But as her friends began having children and baby shower invitations came regularly, Chelsea began to grieve her infertility.

Soon after her marriage to Jake in 2018, they decided to explore their options for starting a family. Through in vitro fertilization, Chelsea and her husband preserved three embryos and planned for surrogacy with her best friend acting as the gestational carrier.

Just before the transfer of the embryo, the doctor called and said that the surrogate had fluid in her uterus and the procedure would have to be postponed. Chelsea and Jake were devastated.

We could try again with her, but I was ready to be done, Chelsea said. I was sick of crying  dealing with infertility is hard in itself and going and reliving it every day is hard.
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Last year in the food writing world, chili crisp was all the rage. Its a fiery oil with crisp bits of chiles that has its origins in China. Its fans sluiced it on everything, including one ill-advised (in my opinion) idea to put it on chocolate cake.

I made some. I tried it (but not on chocolate cake). I found it, well, not so exciting. Fiery, yes, but its flavor is one-note  just heat, no complexity. I just discarded the last of it a week or so ago.

This year, Im loving salsa macha, a not-so-fiery but complex oil-based salsa that hails from Veracruz, Mexico. I am putting salsa macha on everything (but not on chocolate cake).

Despite its name, it isnt macho at all. This salsa isnt meant to be chile-hot. Instead, because you use a variety of dried chiles to make it, you end up with a far more interesting flavor profile. Its roasty-toasty from the dried chiles, with lovely nutty notes from the pecans, almonds or peanuts. Sesame seeds, if you have them to add, contribute their own nutty flavors.

I made my first batch in early July, and its all gone now. Over the weekend, I made another batch and, although it will keep for about a month in the refrigerator, I doubt it will last that long.

A few tips for perfect salsa macha:
DETROIT (AP)  Federal prosecutors have dropped charges, at least for now, against a Canadian trucker who was arrested at the U.S. border early last month with more than a ton of marijuana in his rig, after his lawyer made the case that he was an unwitting victim of the drug smuggling scheme.

Tasbir Singh, 32, was detained on July 7 after border agents in Detroit found more than 2,200 pounds (998 kilograms) of marijuana worth an estimate $3.2 million in his truck.

Singh told authorities that he believed he had picked up compression springs in North York, Ontario. The delivery was supposed to go to Ohio. Because of COVID-19 rules, he never got out of his truck while it was being loaded, his attorney Ellen Michaels said.

I had not done anything wrong," Singh told the Detroit Free Press.

Michaels said Singh was the victim of marijuana dealers who hacked into the trucking company's computers, created a fake order for springs and packed the trailer with marijuana.

He had no knowledge of what was in his truck," Michaels said.
It wasnt until I was able to get to learn more about Steven, his life history, and his life course, that I was even able to begin to fathom how something like this could happen, Evans said.

Monday also opened witness testimony in the trial, starting with Baker's widow, Lisa.

Baker was responding to a call about a suspicious car in 2018 when he discovered it was stolen, authorities have said. Erika Castro-Miles, who is also charged in Baker's death, was in the car when Wiggins shot Baker, dragged the deputys body into the police cruiser and drove it to a rural area, where he set it on fire, court documents state.

A backpack he said he fled with was found nearby with two guns inside, including Bakers backup weapon, court documents state.

Wiggins had been at large after being charged the day before for assaulting Castro-Miles and stealing that car from her, according to a local police report. Castro-Miles told police Wiggins had been doing meth all night and smoking marijuana, the report says.

Baker had determined the car was stolen and ordered the two out of the car, but Wiggins claimed his door wouldnt open and Baker ordered Wiggins to leave from the passenger side, prosecutors said.
That $100 offer remains in effect through the end of August. The strategy was pioneered by New Mexico for several days in June, with about 25,000 eligible participants. The states $5 million sweepstakes prize for one vaccinated resident is scheduled to be awarded on Saturday.

President Joe Biden recommends that more states use cash payments to increase the pace of vaccination, as health authorities grapple with the more-contagious delta variant.

Starting on Tuesday, New Mexico is requiring that vaccine-eligible state workers either get the shot or get tested each week for infection.



ATLANTA  A top federal health official said Monday that he understood frustration with new mask requirements, but hoped Americans recognize their responsibility for combating the coronavirus.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was in Atlanta as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in Georgia continued to rise amid a low vaccination rate.

I cant tell you the depth of frustration that Americans are feeling whove done everything they can, theyve done it right, to know that now weve got to go back to wearing masks, he said.
THE FORKS, Maine (AP)  Tree-cutting is resuming on a $1 billion electric transmission project in western Maine after a two-month hiatus over a federally protected bat.

The New England Clean Energy Connect was able to resume construction beginning as early as Sunday on a key part of a 145-mile (233-kilometer) power line that would serve as a conduit for up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to reach the New England power grid.

Tree-cutting was put on hold in June and July to protect the newly born young of a federally protected bat.

Northern long-eared bats are tiny  the size of a small mouse  and they live in trees instead of caves. Like most hibernating bats, their numbers have been decimated by so-called white nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease that has killed millions of bats since it first appeared in New York in 2006.

Northern long-eared bats are listed as threatened by the federal government and endangered by the state government.

While tree-cutting will be suspended in June and July, other construction including the setting of poles continued.
OPINION: Tax breaks on the wealthy, what we teach our kids in school and un-American actions are the topics of the day. Join the discussion by submitting a letter at tucson.com/opinion.
The United States last month extended its pandemic restrictions on nonessential travel at the U.S.-Canada land border for at least a month. The announcement came shortly after Canada shared plans to reopen the border to fully vaccinated Americans in August.

Heres what the current restrictions mean for travel between the U.S. and Canada.
Were working to make the process faster, he said. We also have to be responsible with the funding that has been entrusted to us.

Despite the heavy workload, Jaynes expects a huge increase in applications this week. In fact, he hopes for an increase, because he wants landlords to direct tenants to ERAP instead of taking them to court.

I cant help you with an empty apartment, Jaynes said. But if you let your tenant stay, I can make sure you get paid.

Be patient

As one local property manager described eviction moratorium: Imagine forcing restaurants to serve food to customers who couldnt afford to pay for it. Not just once, but month after month after month.

If you went to a restaurant and a didnt pay for your meal, they would call the police and there would be a recourse, said Heidi Blackshaw who manages more than 1,800 rental units in Tulsa for LynCo Properties. But were the only industry right now thats being affected by the pandemic and we have no recourse, as an industry, to do what we need to do to be successful. It has tied our hands.
Arriving at the African American Civil War Museum, he ran to a part of the memorial inscribed with the names of soldiers.

There I was with a flashlight, the middle of the night, going over those names, Osborne said.

Sure enough, there it was  my great-great-grandfathers name listed with the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.

When the memorial was dedicated in the late 1990s, Osborne had been on hand with his reenactment unit.

It never crossed his mind then, he said, that he had a family member on that wall.

Seeing it there that night made it all more real, he said.

That late night drive, however, only meant that another, much longer trip now had to happen.

Having learned the location of Lacys grave site, Osborne knew he had to go to Tulsa.

It was pouring rain, he said, recalling the day not long afterward that he drove up to the entrance of the Thomas Smith Cemetery.

Slogging through tall, wet grass, it took him some effort. The old site  home to mostly Creek Freedmen and other African American burials  is not regularly maintained.
Despite criticism from top Republicans, the leader of the Oklahoma Republican Party on Sunday defended a Facebook post that compares COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the persecution of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

In a six-minute Facebook video, Republican Party chairman John Bennett doubled down on the post critics have called inappropriate.

In the video, Bennett criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates and said he wrote the controversial Facebook post. Previously, it was not clear who wrote the post on the Oklahoma Republican Partys official Facebook page.

If we dont do something now, its going to end in the same exact result as we saw when nobody stood up whenever the Jews were told that they had to wear that star, he said in the pre-recorded video.

Using a photo of a yellow Star of David with the word Unvaccinated, the post from Friday likens COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the emblems Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany. The post encouraged Oklahomans to ask top state officials to call a special legislative session so lawmakers could prevent businesses from requiring their employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
Democrats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives put out an almost-certain-to-be-ignored call Monday for a special legislative session to give school districts more flexibility in fighting COVID-19.

What has to happen before we take COVID seriously? asked Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman. We have children in ICU. Our schools are about to open without the ability to protect staff and students, and as cases continue to rise, our vaccination rate is one of the worst in the nation.

If the governor is going to abdicate his responsibility, the Legislature must act.

But about the only action the Legislature has taken concerning the prevention of COVID-19 has been to restrict the actions of school districts, local governments and Gov. Kevin Stitt. It seems unlikely, then, that the requisite two-thirds majorities can be found for the House and Senate to call a special session.

At least not for the purpose advocated by the House Democrats. Separately, a group of Republican lawmakers is pressing for a special session to ban employer vaccination mandates for health care workers and others.

Stitt could call a special session but also seems unlikely to do so given the unpopularity of COVID-19 restrictions among Oklahoma Republicans.
Many residents in Ho Chi Minh City have reported a price upswing, coupled with late conveyance and constant cancelations, on delivery apps like Grab, Ahamove, and Now, which could be attributed to a shortage of delivery workers during the extended social distancing period that the city is going through.

Quynh Anh, a resident of District 12 in Ho Chi Minh City, said she has relied on an app-based delivery service to source groceries from the nearby Co.op To Ky Supermarket for quite some time.

After the city has been put under an extended social distancing drive that forced everyone to stay home since late May, the service was shut down, leading her to find groceries at a shop farther away in Go Vap District.

However, she no longer has that option as a recent update in Ho Chi Minh City's epidemic prevention guidelines stated that delivery workers are not allowed to travel cross-district, except for some necessary cases.

In a desperate attempt, she contacted another supermarket in her district, only to find out that it has stopped receiving new delivery orders due to high demand.

Multi-service apps no longer work as there are no drivers who pick up orders, Anh said.

In the end, I have no choice but to go out and queue at a supermarket."

Anhs situation is echoed by many other customers as they struggled to place grocery delivery orders on Thursday.

Nguyen My Chi, a dweller in Thu Duc City, was charged VND70,000 (US$3) by Ahamove for a delivery trip from her house to a relatives, an almost three-fold rise from the normal fare.

The fee is high, but there is hardly any driver to take my order, she complained.

Such issues are attributed to the new restrictions that the city imposed upon the local roster of delivery workers.

Delivery workers on tenterhooks

According to digital delivery solutions, the Ho Chi Minh City administration has recently ordered their drivers to wear name cards and arm bands to prove their work status.

Besides, they must restrict their movement within an area of their choice, while the companies are told to cut around 10 percent of their delivery workforce.

I only dare to drive around my home district now, which means I can only pick up a few orders per day, said The, a delivery person in Thu Duc City.

These restrictions, while crucial, have greatly hindered delivery workers from fulfilling customers orders.

Hiep, a driver for Ahamove, said the company only provided them with a QR code for identification, while they had to source out name cards and arm bands by themselves, at a time when most printing shops have closed following the citys order.

Delivery workers are stopped at a checkpoint in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tu Trung / Tuoi Tre

Without paperwork and identification, we are on tenterhooks every time we fulfill an order, said Tam, another delivery driver.

In the past, cross-district orders made up 80-90 percent of our commissions.

The area limit and night-time travel restrictions have greatly affected our income.

In theory, delivery workers can travel cross-district when they convey essential items to lockdown areas and quarantine centers.

In reality, many have reported being pulled over and penalized by officials at COVID-19 checkpoints for leaving their respective district, delivering non-essential items, or not wearing identification accessories for delivery workers, even when their duties are legally justified.

In order to fulfill an order, they now have to figure out ways to dodge checkpoints, going winding routes to reach the destination.

As checkpoints make it harder to convey orders, not to mention risks of financial penalty and virus transmission, many have dropped out of the job, said Minh, a delivery worker.

The monitoring of epidemic safety guidelines among delivery workers are necessary, but an all-inclusive definition of essential items is also needed, as it is standing in the way of delivery operations, said Nguyen Ngoc Dung, deputy chairman of the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM).

According to Dung, VECOM fully supports the citys decision to tighten control on delivery workers, including the issuance of a special ID for all active workers, but limiting a person's travel area to their respective home district is unreasonable, as it disrupts the supply chain and impedes circulation of goods.

We suggest that the city utilize a QR code-based system or an ID card system to manage delivery workers," he said.

As city authorities have introduced a 6:00 pm - 6:00 am travel restriction to combat the spread of COVID-19, Dung also proposed that delivery workers wear special reflective outfits to signify their essential working status as they work during the restrictive hours.

Inflated delivery fees

Seeing the delivery worker shortage, digital solutions like Grab, Gojek, and Ahamove are scrambling to complete QR code identification and delivery worker profile registration for their remaining drivers.

Approved drivers will receive a confirmation message from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and will be allowed to operate in a specific area.

Discussing with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the apps representative confirmed that they had to hike up the fares in order to incentivize their driver partners to stay with the job and refrain from canceling orders.

According to Phan Tuong Bach, chief operating officer at Ahamove, the current fee surge does not seem to be sufficient, as the app has not found enough drivers to fulfill customers demand.

Many delivery workers want to stay at home as they will have to face risks of COVID-19 transmission and penalties at checkpoints, he expounded.

Residents of Ho Chi Minh City are placing around 100,000 delivery orders per day, but there are not enough drivers.

Responding to the dearth of delivery workers, mobile application Grab has limited their delivery services within each districts border, which is anticipated by the firm as a solution to cool down the fare raise.

Meanwhile, Grabs competitor Gojek has promised not to raise delivery fees during social distancing, even when demand is rising up to six times and manpower is in short supply.

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The Ministry of Health recorded over 7,400 domestically-transmitted COVID-19 infections in Vietnam on Monday, together with more than 3,800 recoveries.

Thirty-eight provinces and cities reported 7,445 locally-infected patients while another 10 cases were imported from abroad, the health ministry said.

More than 2,300 cases were detected in the community whereas the remainder were found in isolated areas or centralized quarantine facilities.

Ho Chi Minh City recorded 4,264 of the latest domestic infections, Binh Duong Province 949, Long An Province 445, Dong Nai Province 380, Khanh Hoa Province 286, Can Tho City 221, Hanoi 159, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 132.

Since the fourth COVID-19 wave began in Vietnam on April 27, the country has detected 157,919 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities.

Ho Chi Minh City is taking the lead with 98,559 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 17,807, Long An Province with 6,457, Bac Ninh Province with 5,735, Dong Nai Province with 4,931, Dong Thap Province with 3,264, Tien Giang Province with 2,299, and Khanh Hoa Province with 2,294.

By comparison, Vietnam confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

The health ministry logged 3,808 recoveries on Monday, taking the total to 46,965 recovered patients.

The death toll has jumped to 1,695 after the ministry added 389 fatalities the same day, including 354 registered in Ho Chi Minh City from July 17 to August 2.

The Southeast Asian country has overall logged 159,489 domestic and 2,272 imported cases since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit it on January 23, 2020.

Health workers gave 209,156 vaccine doses today.

To date, over 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Vietnam since the country rolled out vaccination on March 8, with 659,064 people having been fully vaccinated.

The Vietnamese government expects to obtain 175 million shots of various vaccines, including 51 million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs, by early 2022.

It set a target of immunizing two-thirds of a population of nearly 98 million people against COVID-19 by the first quarter of next year.

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Read what is in the news today:

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health documented 3,198 local infections, including 1,997 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, on Monday morning, raising the national tally to 157,507, with 43,157 recoveries and 1,306 deaths.

-- The Hanoi Center for Disease Control on Sunday night reported 21 coronavirus infections at a Hai Ba Trung District-based company, which supplies meat to several supermarkets in the capital city.

-- Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long called on private medical facilities to participate in treating COVID-19 patients during a visit to inspect the establishment and operation of intensive care centers for severe cases in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night.

-- The Ministry of Health has said in its new guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and control that direct contacts are not only people having close contact within two meters with a patient, but also those in the same enclosed space like workplaces, amusement parks, and means of transport as the infected person.

-- A helicopter of the Southern Vietnam Helicopter Company carrying COVID-19 vaccines left Vung Tau Airport for Con Dao District off Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province on Sunday to implement the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination for local people, starting from Monday, according to the Peoples Army online newspaper.

Society

-- The Peoples Committee of Vinh Long Province in the Mekong Delta region on Sunday established teams of volunteers to help residents go grocery shopping during the extended social distancing period.

-- The last caravan of domestic migrants allowed to return to their hometowns from southern localities passed the Cai Chanh checkpoint in Dak Nong Province, which is considered the gateway to the Central Highlands region, on Sunday night.

-- Rain is forecast to occur early on Monday in some Mekong Delta localities and be accompanied by strong winds in the afternoon in the southeastern region, according to the Southern Hydro-meteorological Center.

-- Two people drowned, two others were hospitalized, and a child remains missing after swimming at a beach full of strong waves in Phu Quoc City off southern Kien Giang Province on Sunday afternoon.

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Vietnam on Monday received 1,188,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX Facility, bringing its total donations to the Southeast Asian country to 8,681,300 doses.

Among the 8,681,300 doses delivered to the nation through the COVAX Facility, 5,000,100 shots are Moderna vaccine from the U.S. government and 3,681,200 jabs are AstraZeneca, UNICEF said in a press release the same day.

The latest batch was shipped from Laboratorio Univesal Farma, a manufacturing facility in Spain.

The COVAX Facility is co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF as the key delivery partner.

The additional vaccine shots will help the ministry expand coverage and reach more people from priority groups, helping the country attain its target of vaccinating two-thirds of a 98 million-strong population by the end of the first quarter of next year, UNICEF said.

COVID-19 vaccines are lifesaving tools, but with a limited supply, prioritizing the most vulnerable is the most optimal way to save lives, Dr. Kidong Park, WHO representative in Vietnam, was quoted as saying in the press release.

As we face the surge of cases, we need to accelerate and ramp up our efforts in vaccinating the health workers, the elderly and those with underlying conditions to protect them from severe illness and death.

It is critical that priority groups, including health and social workers and teachers, are vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to ensure that children are able to return safely to school and get the preventive health services they need, said Lesley Miller, UNICEF deputy representative.

Vietnam has received about 17.6 million shots of various vaccines, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik-V, and Sinopharm, before the arrival of the new shipment, according to the Ministry of Health.

To date, over 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Vietnam since the country rolled out vaccination on March 8, with 659,064 people having been fully vaccinated.

The country has battled the fourth and worst virus wave since April 27, with 153,672 local cases reported across the country.

Ho Chi Minh City is leading the rounds table at 96,292 patients.

By comparison, Vietnam confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

A total of 43,157 patients have recovered from the respiratory diseases while the death toll is 1,306, as recorded from early last year, when the pathogen first struck the country.

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The Hanoi Center for Disease Control (HCDC) on Sunday night reported 21 coronavirus infections at a Hai Ba Trung District-based company, which supplies meat to several supermarkets in the Vietnamese capital city.

A quick response team of the HCDC arrived at the cold storage warehouse of Thanh Nga Food Co. Ltd. at 82/651 Minh Khai Street in Hai Ba Trung District at 5:30 pm on Sunday to conduct contact tracing after receiving information about the cluster.

The contact-tracing results showed that the first patient was identified as V.N.A., a 21-year-old resident of Dong Da District, who worked as an intern at Thanh Nga through July 30.

A. visited Xanh Pon Hospital on July 28 for a cough, a fever, and a sore throat and tested positive for the coronavirus.

Another test conducted by the HCDC affirmed A.s infection on Saturday.

The medical center in Hai Ba Trung District collected samples for COVID-19 testing from A.s 30 direct contacts, three of whom were later sent to quarantine at Ha Dong General Hospital, while 24 and three others were placed in isolation at the company and home, respectively.

Twenty of the 30 samples returned positive for the virus, the HCDC announced on Sunday.

Following the detection of the cluster, about 300 households, with 1,000 residents, have been placed under lockdown.

Seventeen direct contacts of the infections at Thanh Nga were sampled, with ten of them testing negative and the other seven awaiting results.

The test results of 750 related people and residents in the cluster area are also pending.

In addition to the aforementioned cold storage warehouse, Thanh Nga Food Co. Ltd. has the main office at 12/651 Minh Khai Street, where five other companies are located.

Many of its 43 employees live and work at the warehouse.

The company supplies meat to dozens of convenience stores and large supermarkets in Hanoi.

The HCDC is looking for people in relation to the company from July 14 to Sunday and requested those who visited and performed in-person transactions with this supplier to self-isolate at home and immediately contact local medical stations or call 0969.082.115 or 0949.396.115.

Vietnam had documented 157,507 COVID-19 cases as of Monday morning, with 43,157 recoveries and 1,306 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has recorded 153,672 local infections in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities, including 1,457 cases in Hanoi, since the fourth wave began on April 27.

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Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have hiked the number of COVID-19 vaccination teams to 1,200, with each setting a goal to administer at least 200 doses a day.

The southern Vietnamese city initiated its fifth inoculation campaign on July 22, during which 930,000 vaccine doses are set to be given to local residents within two to three weeks.

The original number of vaccination teams was 624 and has been increased to 1,200 following a decision by vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Duong Anh Duc on Sunday.

Each team will strive to administer at least 200 jabs of COVID-19 vaccine per day.

From July 22 to August 1, the inoculation campaign gave more than 767,800 doses.

The campaign targets all residents aged 18 and older, with priorities given to people over 65 years old, those with underlying health conditions, and frontline workers.

Family members of frontline workers also received their shots at some inoculation sites on Sunday.

Thu Duc City on the same day put into operation a number of mobile vaccination teams to serve residents in isolated areas or those unable to come to inoculation sites.

As of the end of July, Ho Chi Minh City had received 3,096,770 vaccine shots, while five million more are expected to be distributed to the metropolis in August.

The city has 6,966,626 residents age 18 and older, and needs approximately 13.8 million vaccine shots to vaccinate 99 percent of these citizens.

Having recorded 96,292 local COVID-19 infections since the fourth wave started, Ho Chi Minh City is now the hardest-hit locality in Vietnam.

Municipal authorities have implemented social distancing at various levels since May 31, with the latest extension lasting for 14 days from August 2.

Residents are required to follow regulations under the prime ministers Directive No. 16 and stay indoors from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am, except in emergency health situations.

Vietnam had recorded 157,507 COVID-19 cases as of Monday afternoon, with 43,157 recoveries and 1,306 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has registered 153,672 domestic infections in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since April 27.

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An unofficial delivery worker in Ho Chi Minh City was found on the weekend carrying multiple name tags issued by mobile solution Grab, which he used to pass COVID-19 checkpoints as an authorized driver during the ongoing social distancing period.

The man was detected on Saturday by a cohort of Go Van District police in Ho Chi Minh City as they were monitoring traffic at a COVID-19 checkpoint on Phan Huy Ich Street.

Pham Khac A., the man in question, was ordered to present his QR code-based identification and paperwork, as per local travel restrictions, after he claimed to be a delivery worker crossing the checkpoint.

In an effort to curb the rising COVID-19 caseload, the Ho Chi Minh City administration has recently tightened their existing social distancing measures, asking delivery drivers to limit their movement to a district of their choice, wear name tags and arm bands, as well as obtaining a QR code-based ID to prove their job status.

However, A. was not able to present any QR code, only handing over a name tag with a portrait photo and a seal from Grab on it.

Police found that A. was carrying five other similar tags, each claiming the owner to be able to drive in District 12, Binh Tan District, Tan Binh District, Tan Phu District, and Hoc Mon District.

A. admitted that he had purchased them for VND50,000 (US$2) each.

He was later escorted to a nearby police station, alongside his vehicle, for further investigation.

Earlier on Friday, reports of Grab delivery worker name tags to be illicitly traded to flout Ho Chi Minh City regulations emerged on social media.

Responding to these reports, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications has deemed the reselling of name tags issued by delivery platforms to be illegal, and vowed to handle those breaking the law during the current movement curb.

Signs of seal forging have also been noticed on these name tags, the department added.

Over the past few weeks, Ho Chi Minh City has emerged as Vietnam's largest epicenter of COVID-19, recording 92,270 cases out of the countrys total of 153,671 domestic infections since the fourth wave began on April 27.

In response to the rising caseload, city authorities have introduced stringent prevention measures, including an outdoor travel ban from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am the next day, shutdown of public transport and ride-hailing services, as well as rigid monitoring of delivery workers, who are deemed at high risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Due to the tight restrictions imposed upon them in the past few days, a considerable number of delivery drivers in Ho Chi Minh City have dropped out of their job, causing a dearth in the workforce and driving the delivery fare on applications like Grab, Ahamove, and Now sky-high.

Since the pandemic broke out in early 2020, Vietnam had documented 157,507 COVID-19 cases as of Monday morning, with 43,157 recoveries and 1,306 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

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Two people drowned, two others were hospitalized, and a child remains unaccounted for after swimming at a beach full of strong waves in Phu Quoc Island City off Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam on Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers were still looking for the nine-year-old child as of 8:00 pm on the same day.

The child had gone with six other people to Dat Do beach in An Thoi Ward, Phu Quoc City prior to the incident.

Although some locals had warned the group of seven beachgoers of the strong currents there, five of them, including the child, still went swimming.

As the five swimmers were swept away, the two people remaining ashore cried for help.

It took a while before local people managed to bring four of the victims out of the water.

One of them died on the beach while three others were taken to hospital.

At 7:30 pm on the same day, one of the hospitalized people passed away.

Meanwhile, the child remained missing at that time.

The group of seven people in question hailed from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang and were temporarily living in An Thoi Ward, according to the wards chairman Phan Quoc Thoi.

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Two men have been arrested after they were caught transporting seven live baby tigers for sale in the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An, local police reported.

Nghe An police officers on Sunday afternoon said they had detained two wildlife traffickers, 37-year-old Tran Trung Hieu and 54-year-old Nguyen Van Lai, both hailing from neighboring Ha Tinh Province, for investigation.

At around 4:00 am on the same day, Lai and Hieu were traveling in a car in Nghe Ans Dien Chau District when a traffic police team signaled them to stop for inspection after receiving a tip-off that the vehicle was likely carrying wildlife.

The men did not stop their car but drove at the police team before trying to escape.

Police officers were eventually able to stop the runaway car.

They searched the car and found seven healthy tiger cubs stashed in four plastic containers inside.

Lai and Hieu failed to show police any documents proving the origin of the wild animals, simply saying they were transporting them to Nghe An for sale.

The team seized all the tiger cubs and handed them over to the Pu Mat National Park in the provinces Con Cuong District for care and nurturing.

Four years ago, provincial police arrested a man of Dien Chau District for storing five dead big cats in a freezer in his house.

The animals, which all had been cut open and had their organs removed, were estimated to have weighed up to 150 kilograms when they were still alive, police said.

Tigers and many other wild animals are strictly banned from being traded in, imported to or exported from Vietnam as they are on the list of endangered wildlife protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which the country has been party since 1994.

Transporting, trading, capturing or killing wild animals or parts thereof is a criminal offense in Vietnam punishable by between six months and 12 years in prison, according to the Penal Code.

As some people believe that tiger-derived products can cure bone and joint illnesses, tigers are in demand in Vietnam for their meat, bones, and skin.

The Lower Mekong region, which comprises Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, has long been recognized as a hotbed for illegal wildlife trade, according to TRAFFIC, a non-governmental organization operating as a global wildlife trade monitoring network.

Between 2019 and 2020, nearly 78,000 illegal wildlife parts and products were found for sale in more than 1,000 outlets in the five countries, TRAFFIC reported.

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The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has requested local authorities not to spray coronavirus disinfectant in outdoor areas or on people, since such practice is both ineffective and unsafe.

The ministry made the request on Monday morning in a dispatch to all localities nationwide, asking them to stop such disinfectant spraying, based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In coping with the pandemics complicated developments that have caused surging infection cases, many cities and provinces have recently sprayed antiseptics in public areas to kill the coronavirus.

In addition, mobile disinfection chambers have also been created to serve people in coronavirus-infected areas.

However, the WHO has said that such disinfection is inefficient as streets and sidewalks are not places that contain SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the virus that causes COVID-19, said the ministry.

The WHO and CDC do not recommend public disinfection as such practice is not only ineffective and wasteful but also affects the sprayers' health and harm the surrounding environment, the ministry reported.

In addition, it is not advisable to spray COVID-19 disinfectant on people under any circumstance, for such spraying does not reduce the risk of infection, but it can be harmful to human health, these two agencies said.

Therefore, the ministry requested all provinces and cities not to spray coronavirus decontaminants in outdoor areas or on people in any case and any form.

Instead, antiseptic spraying should apply only to confined areas intended for COVID-19 patients, and only licensed disinfectants should be allowed to be used at the right doses and in the proper methods indicated on their labels, the ministry required.

Before the ministry released these instructions, there had existed warnings that outdoor sterilization and disinfection chambers against COVID-19 are costly and ineffective.

Since the pandemic erupted in Vietnam in early 2020, mass disinfection drives have been carried out in public areas in many provinces and cities.

Most recently, Ho Chi Minh City launched a large-scale COVID-19 disinfection campaign on July 23, followed by Binh Duong Province and Hanoi one day and three days later, respectively.

The health ministry on Monday morning confirmed 3,201 new cases, which have taken the countrys tally to 157,507, including 43,157 recoveries and 1,306 deaths, as recorded since early 2020.

Among the latest infections, 1,997 cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, which has recently become the largest epicenter in the country, with 97,076 cases reported as yet.

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Tonight on Catalyst Dr Ann Jones explores the fascinating new technology helping to safeguard our species.

Nature journalist, Dr Ann Jones knows firsthand that Australia is one very lucky country.

Our vast, dramatic, and diverse landscape is home to more than one million species of plants and animals. Many  like our most endangered animal, the mountain pygmy possum  are found nowhere else in the world. But our abundant biodiversity is under increasing pressure from habitat destruction, predation and climate change. With one of the worst extinction records in the world, the speed at which Australia is losing its native species is accelerating.

We are in a race against time to protect whats left.

To understand the rate of loss, experts use tools to monitor and assess each threat. And right now, there is a revolution taking place, one where emerging technology is helping to safeguard our wildlife in bold new ways.

In this episode of Catalyst, Ann travels across the country to meet the Australian scientists who are using these innovative technologies to work smarter and faster.

From revealing surprising behaviours in our native bat species and identifying ways to rejuvenate our ocean kelp forests; to road-testing Australias new weapons in the fight against the illegal animal trade. Emerging technology hopes to be our insurance policy against losing our most endangered animals forever

Could this be the wildlife revolution weve all been waiting for?

8:30pm Tuesday on ABC.
This week on Foreign Correspondent Kathryn Diss travels to the Midwest for Right to Choose.

The right to an abortion in the US is on the brink. Guaranteed by the Supreme Court 50 years ago, that right has been wound back by the states. With the Court about to reconsider the issue, many states could ban it overnight.

Theyve been abused, assaulted and murdered. The clinics where they work have been harassed, bombed and set alight. US doctors who perform abortions have long been the targets of religious extremists.

They are terrorizing the people who need care, theyre terrorizingme and my staff, says one Missouri doctor.

In the state of Missouri, the campaign by religious activists has succeeded in winding back access to abortion. There used to be 30 clinics in the state; now there is just one and its almost empty.

Were happy that here in Missouri, were down to one clinic, says a Catholic deacon. He condemns the use of violence against doctors as deplorable but fights hard on the legal front for what he believes is the right choice.

The bitter battle over abortion rights has long divided and ignited America. Now its set to intensify, with the Supreme Court due to reconsider the seminal Roe v. Wade decision later this year.

50 years ago, the Supreme Court guaranteed a womans right to an abortion but that right has gradually been whittled away at the state level. If the new conservative majority on the Court reverses the federal precedent, many pro-life states could ban abortion overnight.

The two states of Missouri and Illinois illustrate the great American divide. They share a border  the mighty Mississippi River  but when it comes to womens reproductive health, theyve got little in common.

US correspondent Kathryn Diss travels to the Midwest at a time when activists on both sides are gearing up to fight for this highly contested right.

A controversial and sensitive subject, it took Diss one year to gain rare access to film inside clinics in both states. She meets 31-year-old India, a single mother of three, who felt strongly enough about the issue to go on camera.

It bothers me when someone sits back and judges a woman because she gets an abortion, she tells Foreign Correspondent. You never know what a woman is going through, what her reasonings are about wanting to get an abortion.

India must leave Missouri and cross the river to the state of Illinois where the procedure is cheaper and easier to access.

Diss meets a Catholic deacon, who has set up a maternity home for pregnant women. My core belief is that every human life should be protected from conception through birth, he tells Diss.

His next goal is to get a bill passed which will stop women from leaving Missouri to get an abortion elsewhere. I would love to see no abortions in MissouriBy that I mean, not only that none are performed here, but that no woman even considers going out of state to get an abortion.

Thursday 5 August at 8pm on ABC.
Architecture, Design, Home & Outdoor Living streamer Shelter has titles from Australia, USA, France & Canada in August.

There Goes Our Neighbourhood (57 mins) Australia 2018

August 2

There Goes Our Neighbourhood is the powerful, funny and uplifting story of a team of public housing locals who come together with a hope to unite their neighbourhood, convince residents and the outside world of the value of their community through an ambitious art project, in an attempt to prevent the destruction of their suburb Waterloo. The film explores the formidable forces stacked against them: the government, developers, real estate agents as well as the middle class gentrifiers who now covet convenient inner city addresses previously occupied by the urban poor.

Design v Build (32mins) USA 2021

August 9

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Northwest Arkansas is a world-class theatre dedicated to creating in-house productions for an intimate and inclusive environment. When it came time to expand, they landed a once-in-a-lifetime grant from the Walton Family Foundation, giving them the opportunity to work with world-renowned architects and theatre designers to create the perfect space. The new theatre was awarded the 2020 American Architecture Award, the AIA New York State Honor Award, an Interior Design Best of Year Award; and is widely held as a cultural landmark in Northwest Arkansas.

Form & Place (6 x 8mins) Canada 2020

August 16)

From the writer, director & producer of Coast Modern comes a series of shorts about people, places, and things that have left their mark on British Columbias Design and Architecture history.

Nature = Future (30 x 5mins) France 2016

August 23

From nature to high-tech, theres only one tiny step. Lets take that step with Nature = Future, a series that is all about scientific knowledge and the wonders of nature. We discover how scientists reproduce these unique properties from the living world to give us a future that will be more intelligent and more sustainable through design.
Another group of the fire and rescue unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, sent in accordance with the instructions of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Turkey to extinguish forest fires and prevent their further spread, arrived in the brotherhood country, according to the ministry.

The group has already entered the territory of Turkey and is currently moving towards the area where the fires occurred.

The fire and rescue team of the Ministry of Emergency Situations at the border, along with officials, were also met by local residents.
T telephone conversation took place between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu on August 1, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

The ministers exchanged views on forest fires in Turkey, firefighting operations and ongoing rescue work.

Regarding the assistance sent to Turkey on behalf of the President of Azerbaijan, the minister noted that, as always, Azerbaijan is next to fraternal Turkey. Jeyhun Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan is ready to provide any assistance in the future.

The diplomats also discussed other issues of mutual interest.
The death toll from wildfires on Turkey's southern coast rose to eight on Sunday as firefighters battled for a fifth day to contain blazes still raging in coastal resort towns.

Two more people died on Sunday due to wildfires in the southern town of Manavgat, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding that 10 others were receiving treatment in hospital in the area.

Most of more than 100 blazes that erupted in Turkey in the last five days have been contained, authorities said. However, fires were still blazing in Manavgat and in Marmaris and the inland town of Milas, Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said, prompting the evacuation of some residential areas and hotels.

In the popular resort town of Bodrum, a group of tourists and hotel staff was evacuated by boat as flames spread and plumes of smoke filled the sky, footage showed. Pakdemirli said the blaze in the area had been contained by Sunday morning.

The fires had already claimed the lives of five people in Manavgat and one person in Marmaris in recent days. Efforts were being made to put out six fires still blazing in Turkey on Sunday, according to Forestry Ministry data.

Since Wednesday thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. Locals as well as support teams from Russia, Ukraine, Iran and Azerbaijan were deployed to help firefighters. The Turkish government pledged to rebuild damaged homes and compensate for losses in areas affected by the fires.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday held separate phone conversations with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, according to Turkeys Communications Directorate.

Erdogan and Garibashvili discussed Turkey-Georgia relations and regional issues, the Turkish leader thanked the PM for expressing support over forest fires that have killed at least 8 people besides material and environmental damage.

He said Turkey-Georgia strategic partnership has become more meaningful, and that Turkey considers Georgia key to regional cooperation.

Erdogan emphasized that it is essential to act together, especially with regards to regional transportation and energy transmission lines.

He also expressed the desire to revive the Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan tripartite mechanism, Anadolu Agency reported.
The Georgian parliament has elected Giorgi Kalandarishvili as the new head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in a fourth vote, following the resignation of the bodys former chair Tamar Zhvania in late June.

Two other individuals, Gia Tsatsashvili and Maia Zaridze, were elected members of the commission.

Zhvanias resignation was preceded by electoral amendments which were proposed by the ruling party and opposition party Citizens and were revised in line with the EU-mediated agreement that resolved the political standoff caused by parliamentary elections of 2020 and afterwards were adopted in the Georgian parliament.

Per the amendments, the CEC head can now be elected only by the Georgian parliament with the Georgian presidents nomination and not by the CEC itself.

Giorgi Kalandarishvilis candidacy received 83 votes in favour and three votes against, while Tsatsashvilis and Zaridzes candidacies for the membership on the CEC were supported by 81 votes.

In the previous three votes none of the candidates received either 100 or 90 votes, therefore the newly elected candidates have been appointed to the posts for six months, instead of five years.

The new head of the CEC Kalandarishvili has worked on the CEC for 13 years. He was appointed as the head of the CEC Human Resources Management Department in 2019.

NGOs and the majority of opposition political parties did not support Kalandarishvilis candidacy for the post and expressed their distrust by questioning his independence.

Several opposition parties refused to participate in the voting process, Agenda.ge reported.
The United States and the United Kingdom joined Israel on Sunday in alleging Iran carried out a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.

Calling it a unlawful and callous attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country and its allies planned a coordinated response over the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken soon followed, saying there was no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.

The strike on the Mercer Street marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal. However, Israel, the U.K. and the responding U.S. Navy have yet to show physical evidence from the strike or offer intelligence information on why they blame Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett went further than Blinken and Raab in his remarks Sunday at a Cabinet meeting, making a point to stare directly into the camera and slowly warn: We know, at any rate, know how to convey the message to Iran in our own way.

The drone attack blasted a hole through the top of the oil tankers bridge, where the captain and crew command the vessel, a U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as an investigation into the attack still was ongoing. The blast killed two crew members from the United Kingdom and Romania, The AP reported.

The Navy said the American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the guided missile destroyer USS Mitscher had escorted the Mercer Street as it headed to a safe port. On Sunday, satellite-tracking information from MarineTraffic.com showed the tanker stopped off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

In his statement, Raab said it was highly likely Iran attacked the tanker with one or more drones. We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted and a clear violation of international law by Iran, he said. Iran must end such attacks, and vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.

Blinken similarly described the U.S. as confident Iran carried out the attack, using multiple drones. These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved, he said in a statement.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described the allegation Iran carried out the attack as baseless. Its not the first time that the Zionist regime occupying Jerusalem has made such empty accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Khatibzadeh said. Wherever this regime has gone, it has taken instability, terror and violence with it.

He added: Whoever sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind.
Nikol Pashinyan has been appointed as prime minister after he was nominated by the Civil Contract party, Armenian President Armen Sarkissians executive order was published on Monday.

"On the basis of Article 149 of the Armenian Constitution, to appoint Nikol Pashinyan prime minister," the order reads.

The Civil Contract party which holds the absolute majority in the Armenian parliament earlier moved to nominate acting head of government Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister, lawmaker Nazeli Baghdasaryan wrote on Facebook on Monday, attaching a photo of the document containing the partys decision. "Guided by the Armenian constitution and the law on the National Assembly procedure, to nominate Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister," the document reads.

The new convocation of the Armenian parliament began working on Monday after the elections that took place on June 20, 2021. It is planned that speaker and deputy speaker as well as heads of standing commissions will be elected at the first meeting, while "changes in the government structure" will be introduced. It is unclear what these changes will be.

The parliament meeting on Monday opened up with a scandal as the opposition demanded to look into the legality of keeping their two lawmakers under arrest. An unscheduled break was announced to address the situation.

The new convocation of the Armenian parliament will have 107 members, with 71 of them representing the Civil Contract party.
The tense COVID-19 situation in Russia may persist for up to three years as the country has failed to reach the herd immunity yet, Russian scientist Alexander Gorelov said.

Gorelov, deputy director of the Russian sanitary watchdogs Central Research Institute of Epidemiology and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences spoke in a live broadcast of the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"The tense situation may persist for no more than two or maximum three years Unfortunately, yes [new COVID-19 outbreaks can be expected]. This is because we have not reached the 60% [herd immunity] level," the expert said, commenting on the probability of further novel coronavirus outbreaks.

The delta strain of COVID-19 prevails in Russia, he added. "The delta [strain] has been active on about 80% of the [countrys] territory. There are regions, first of all, the Far East, where the delta strain is not predominant yet," he specified.

Almost 198 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in the world since the start of the pandemic and about 4.2 million have died. Russia has registered a total of 6,288,677 coronavirus infections, 5,625,890 recoveries and 159,352 fatalities, according to the data of the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center. The Russian government has set up a hotline to inform the public about the coronavirus situation in the country.
The U.S. debt ceiling officially became operative again on Sunday after a two-year suspension, with lawmakers in Washington yet to outline how theyll avoid a potential default later this year.



The debt limit - the total amount that the federal government is authorized to borrow - was set at $22 trillion in 2019. It will adjust to the current level of debt - which had risen to $28.5 trillion as of the end of June - when the suspension ends, putting pressure on Congress to find a solution that will allow the government to keep borrowing, Bloomberg reported.



The debt cap was paused for two years in August 2019, as part of a budget deal in Congress. Democrats, with a slim majority in both chambers, have yet to outline a plan to either increase the limit or suspend it again.



Without action, the U.S. is on a path to default as early as October. That outcome has been avoided in debt-ceiling crises since the 1980s, although the federal government has sometimes been forced to shut down until a deal could be reached.



The Treasury Department already started taking special measures on Friday to shore up cash. At noon that day, officials stopped selling State and Local Government Series securities, which help local authorities to invest bond proceeds. Other options for the Treasury include suspending new investment in funds for retired public-sector workers.



Before leaving for the August recess, Democrats last week said they would address the debt-ceiling problem, without giving details.



House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth and Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber, said theres no concrete plan to approach the debt ceiling through budget reconciliation. That would bypass Republicans, but leave President Joe Bidens party with sole ownership of a potentially unpopular move.



Other alternatives include negotiations with Republicans to increase the ceiling in return for agreeing to some of their favored budget items, or tying a rise in the ceiling to other bills that need to pass.
Eleven associations have asked to give priority to workers at enterprises to maintain production.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on July 27 sent an urgent document to the PM, asking the Government to release a list of goods banned from circulation instead of the list of essential goods allowed to be circulated during the social distancing time under Directive 16.

The proposal was made following a request from 11 professional associations after discussion with the Vietnam Industry Agency (VIA) under MOIT at a meeting on July 22.

The fourth outbreak has occurred mostly in provinces with high numbers of Industrial Zones (IZs) and manufacturing enterprises. The number of community transmitted Covid-19 infections in IZs and factories alone is high enough to interrupt production activities. Many enterprises have had to halt their production, which will affect product delivery plans.

Meanwhile, goods circulation control and the regulations on essential goods are different under the Prime Ministers Directive 16.

Only trucks with essential goods are allowed to travel during the social distancing period. Vehicles must have QR codes when traveling through HCM Citys gateways and other provinces.

Drinks, for example, are not listed as essential goods, therefore, they cannot be carried to sale agents. Drinks have a short shelf life, just 2-3 months. If the pandemic lasts a long time, the products will expire, seriously affecting drink manufacturers business results.

Drinks are not listed as essential goods, therefore, they cannot be carried to sale agents. Drinks have a short shelf life, just 2-3 months. If the pandemic lasts a long time, the products will expire, seriously affecting drink manufacturers business results.

Dairy products are considered essential goods in some provinces, but not in other provinces. As a result, dairy producers cannot deliver products to sale agents.

When localities and provinces apply different regulations for social distancing, enterprises suffer.

Export companies keep complaining about the customs declaration procedures and the congestion at ports.

Some of them said they have to go to the Passing buoy No 0 to put goods on board, not at ports, because of the delay in delivery. The strict control by provinces and inconsistent regulations of customs agencies have caused difficulties for enterprises, especially those making products that need strict preservation conditions and have a short shelf life.

The 11 associations said their members have suffered heavily from the supply chain disruption, leading to an interruption in cash flow and financial pressure.

Businesses want vaccines

The Vietnam Industry Agency warned that if there are no measures to help enterprises maintain production, clients will cancel orders. It will be difficult to re-establish business relations with clients after the pandemic.

At a meeting with VIA recently, 11 professional associations, including associations of automobile manufacturers, textile and garment, and dairy producers, measures were proposed to ease difficulties for enterprises.



Enterprises want priority in vaccinations for their workers so that they can stabilize production and business activities. They will pay for the vaccinations.

The workers in the logistics industry should be a higher priority in the list of workers for vaccination, because the industry plays an important role in ensuring the smooth circulation of goods.

Local authorities have been asked to include drinks and dairy products, materials and services (including maintenance and repair) that serve the the processing and manufacturing industry on the list of essential goods and services.

Enterprises are also seeking permission to apply flexible working hours during the pandemic, to set the number of a higher number of extra working hours within a month, more than regulated, provided that the total extra working hours within a year is not higher than regulated.

To ease financial pressure on enterprises and create favorable conditions to restore production and business activities, provinces have been asked to delay plans to raise land rent.

The associations asked the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to extend the grace period and delay tax and fee payment; and continue applying measures such as registration tax reduction. These measures will help the domestic consumption market recover.

Financial institutions have been asked to lift the credit limits for enterprises, as the prices of imported materials all have increased during the pandemic. As a result, enterprises have found it difficult to collect enough materials for production.

Local authorities have been asked to consult associations, local enterprises and localities to reach consensus on regulations so as to facilitate goods circulation.

Once the conditions for pandemic prevention and control are satisfied, local authorities should remove the restrictions on the number of vehicles entering and exiting provinces, and allow rapid testing results for inter-provincial drivers instead of PCR results only.

Pham Huyen

Confusion over 'essential goods' hampers QR code implementation Ministry of Transport (MoT) has asked provinces and cities to urgently update and add types of goods that are allowed to travel during the lockdown...
The incident occurring on July 19 on the AAG international undersea fiber optic cable route has been fixed. International Internet services resumed on July 31.

Currently, all five undersea cable routes that account for the majority of Internet connection traffic from Vietnam to the world, including APG, SMW3, AAE-1, AAG, IA, are all working normally. Illustrative image

The incident reported at 4 am on July 19 on the S1H segment, the Vietnamese branch from the Vung Tau docking station to the international axis, is the second time the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea fiber optic cable was broken this year. This incident interrupted all Internet connection services from Vietnam to the world on the AAG undersea cable line.

According to the plan announced by the cable operator to Internet service providers (ISPs) in Vietnam on July 24, the incident was expected to be fixed within July 27-31. But on July 26, the deadline for repair was set on August 3.

However, in fact, the incident that the AAG route encountered on the morning of July 19 had been repaired since July 26.

An ISP in Vietnam told VietNamNet on August 1 that the incident was completely fixed at 13:20 on July 31.

Currently, all five undersea cable routes that account for the majority of Internet connection traffic from Vietnam to the world, including APG, SMW3, AAE-1, AAG, IA, are all working normally.

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces are under social distancing, so the demand for using the Internet and social networks is increasing. The resumption of normal operation of AAG will help reduce pressure on ISPs in ensuring the quality of Internet services," said a representative of an ISP.

According to the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA), although the AAG cable often has problems, this is the route with the most reasonable price. In the usage structure of local ISPs, AAG is still an important element.

Officially put into operation in November 2009, AAG cable has a total length of 20,191 km. This cable route directly connects Southeast Asia with the US, passing through 8 countries and territories including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Hong Kong (China), the Philippines and the United States (Guam, Hawaii and California). The AAG branch in Vietnam has a length of 314 km, with a landing point in the southern city of Vung Tau.

This year, the AAG cable route encountered a problem for the first time at 5:40 am on June 22 on the S1H branch at a location about 102 km from the Vung Tau docking station. The incident was fixed from July 2 to July 12.

Van Anh
On August 1, an additional 3,207 Covid-19 patients were discharged from the hospital, bringing the total number of recovered cases so far to 37,846.

A British Covid-19 patient was discharged from hospital after 14 days of treatment. Photo: BVCR.

As of 6 am on August 2, the Ministry of Health announced a total of 97,076 Covid-19 cases in HCM City.

The city is treating 34,438 patients, including 924 critically ill cases who need ventilators and eight patients undergoing ECMO intervention. During the day, 170 more deaths were recorded.

According to the HCM City Center for Disease Control, in the past two days, the city had no new outbreaks. There are 29 active outbreak clusters in the city. Local forces are trying to trace, localize and control the infection chains.

Also, the city has 43,767 people under quarantine, including 6,175 people at quarantine centers and 37,179 people under home quarantine. There are 4,801 F1 (close contacts of Covid-19 patients) under home quarantine under the Ministry of Healths instruction.

HCM City has provided support for workers affected by the epidemic according to Resolution 09 of the HCM City Peoples Council and Resolution 68 of the Government. As of August 1, more than 365,000 workers, business households and traders at the city's wet markets have benefited from this support package. At the same time, the city is counting the number of affected self-employed workers who are not subjects supported under Resolution 09 in order to give support to them.

According to the HCM City Center for Disease Control, the epidemic situation in the city has made positive changes, partly thanks to the cooperation of people through self-management and green zone protection models. To keep reducing the number of cases and expand the green zones, each citizen should follow the epidemic prevention and control regulations, the 5K recommendation of the Ministry of Health, and minimize human-to-human contact. In addition, the health sector continues to accelerate vaccinations to quickly cover the whole city.

Tu Anh
HCM City has called for local residents to "stay where one is" and people from other provinces to stay in the city where they will be fully taken care of, including vaccinations against Covid-19.

Ho Chi Minh City will extend social distancing under Directive 16 for another 14 days. The local authorities have called for local residents to "stay where one is" and people from other provinces to stay in the city where they will be fully taken care of, including vaccinations against Covid-19.

In recent days, under pressure of workers massively leaving the city to return to their hometowns to avoid the epidemic, HCM City leaders have urged them to stay.

At a recent meeting, HCM City Party Secretary Nguyen Van Nen asked districts to review and compile statistics to take measures to assist these people to stay in the city.

Nen said that for those who wanted to return to their hometown, relevant agencies must have specific plans to help them. Specific lists of people must be made and handed over to the host localities. He called for people to cooperate with the authorities, and not to travel freely to prevent the spread of pandemic.

HCM City Party Secretary Nguyen Van Nen.

HCM City Deputy Party Secretary Phan Van Mai told VietNamNet that the city wished that people would stay and the city would try to take good care of them.

If they stay, in addition to taking good care of their material life, the city will also give them vaccinations, so that if they return to their hometown, it will be less pressure for the locality in epidemic prevention, he said.

According to Mr. Nen, drastic measures applied recently have been effective to help the city basically control new infections. The proof is that most of the new infection cases are found in isolated areas.

With the goal of limiting the mortality rate, he asked agencies to focus on treatment for covid-19 patients.

A vaccination site in HCM City.

The original lockdown order for the entire southern region with a population of about 35 million people, effective since July 19, was set to expire on August 1 but the fourth-wave COVID-19 outbreak has shown no signs of letting up.

HCM City along with 18 southern provinces and cities, thus, will continue to enforce lockdown measures in line with the Governments Directive 16 for two more weeks, per a dispatch issued by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on July 31.

The Prime Minister wants all localities under Directive 16  which includes measures like the closure of all non-essential businesses, leaving home only for essential goods and services, and suspension of public transport  to strictly abide by the rules and stand ready to roll out more stringent measures if necessary.

Ho Van

Traffic police lead thousands of people home Traffic police officers from many areas have extended help to thousands of people as they try to flee the virus centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
The first "VND0 mini supermarket" in Hanoi opened on August 1 in the courtyard of the People's Committee of Duc Thang ward in Bac Tu Liem district,

serving nearly 1,000 poor workers and students who are "stuck" in dormitories due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

At 1 p.m., people queued for disinfection and making medical declaration before entering a special supermarket in the yard of the local People's Committee.

They received market coupons before going to this special supermarket. The coupons noted the certain time they could go to the supermarket. Such coupons are used to ensure distance and limit the gathering of people.

This is part of the campaign "Hanoi with a Red Heart", organized by the Youth Union and the- Vietnam Student Association of Hanoi and a number of businesses and organizations in Bac Tu Liem district.

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Youth Union Tran Quang Hung said: Through this activity, we want to bring necessities to people in difficult circumstances during the time of social distancing. For those who can't come to the VND0 supermarket, our volunteers will bring goods to their houses."

The supermarket serves 150 to 200 customers each day, with over 60 products, from dry to fresh food, spices, vegetables and more. All products have clear origins, and are supplied from large reputable units.

The supermarket operators give each household a Gift Voucher worth VND400,000 through the local government. Representatives of each household will go to the supermarket to buy goods according to their needs on the specified dates and times, noted on their coupons.

In the first week of August 2021, three more such supermarkets will be set up. The target is to have more than 20 supermarkets in the capital city in the coming time, with tens of thousands of "Gift Vouchers" to be allocated.

In addition to the offline "VND0 mini supermarket" for disadvantaged people, online "VND0 mini supermarket" for poor students. They can order goods online and receive goods from shippers.

Mr. Le Thanh Me, 73, said: "Today I bought fish sauce, rice, sugar, some food and vegetables. There are 15 people in my area who received gift vouchers to purchase goods at this supermarket."

The first "VND0 mini supermarket" model was operated at 23 sites in Bac Giang province during the third outbreak, when thousands of workers were stuck in the Covid-19 epidemic center.

So far, this model has been organized in Ho Chi Minh City with more than 20 supermarkets, and Can Tho, Binh Duong, Da Nang with four supermarkets.

People wait in line to buy goods.

Before going to the supermarket, people were given gift vouchers to buy goods, along with market coupons and medical declaration sheets.

The VND0 mini supermarket chain has attracted donations from many people.

The supermarket supplies over 60 products, from dry to fresh food, spices, vegetables and more.

Mr. Vu Quoc Binh, 63, goes to the market on behalf of his 90-year-old mother.

Tran Thuong

Zero-dong supermarkets ease hardship for workers in Bac Giang Holding a bag of rice from a zero-dong supermarket brought home by his landlord, Luong Van Han could not hide his joy.
From: Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Funding doubled, deadline extended to Sept. 3, and students are wanted for Virginia Cybersecurity Challenge!

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, in partnership with US Ignite, is hosting the Virginia Cybersecurity Challenge to accelerate the commonwealths development of talent and products that enhance cybersecurity.

The challenge seeks submissions from researchers and faculty members to develop a cybersecurity prototype that leverages unique elements of emerging 5G technologies to provide secure operations or communications in ways not possible on previous generation networks. This prototype will ultimately develop into a commercializable product solution. Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to participate actively on researcher-led teams.

Learn more: https://cyberinitiative.org/innovation/virginia-cybersecurity-challenge.html
The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has sided with those voting to allow debate to proceed, but he has not signaled how he will ultimately vote. He described the bill Monday as a good and important jumping off point" for a robust, bipartisan amendment process. He warned Democrats against setting any artificial timetable."

Infrastructure is exactly the kind of subject that Congress should be able to address across the aisle," McConnell said.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the first two amendments to the bill late Monday. Each was noncontroversial and received far more than the 60 votes necessary to be added to the legislation. Other amendment votes, particular on the issue of how to pay for the new spending, are expected to be more spirited affairs.

Senators and staff labored behind the scenes for days to write the massive bill. It was supposed to be ready Friday, but by Sunday, more glitches were caught and changes made.

Late Sunday, most of the 10 senators involved in the bipartisan effort rose on the Senate floor to mark the unveiling of the text.
CONTRACTS

Technica lands $43M Air Force contract for intelligence support

Technica will support a pair of Air Force intelligence organization with program management and sustainment services under a four-year, $43 million contract.

The company will be supporting the Air Force Air Combat Command Intelligence Directorate Blue Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (BlueSCI) and the 690th Intelligence Support Squadron.

Technica will work with the Air Combat Command and the 690th battalion at Joint Base San Antonio and Writer Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The company will operate, support and sustain a system that provides standardized services for the command and control of BlueSCI enterprise operations. The work will help standardize consistent processes.

Technica has supported the ACC Intelligence Directorate since 2017 providing critical engineering and delivering essential innovation, said Technica President and CEO Miguel Collado.

This contract will help the Air Force move to a more secure network to support missions worldwide, he said.
Redemption is the novels central theme. Billy has always told himself he only kills bad men who deserve it, but when he starts having doubts about his final job, he distracts himself by writing his life story.

Its when he finds an audience for his story that the book really starts to find its groove. Before that, its heavy on inner monologue as Billy thinks through all the possible consequences of his actions and the motivations of the people around him. The plot is straightforward and not really very compelling until about the midway point, when Alice Maxwell enters the story. A victim of gang rape, shes dropped out of a slowly rolling car around midnight outside the apartment where Billy is lying low. Her story reveals a compassionate side to Billy and flips a switch in the narrative. She gives him a new purpose as an avenging hitman while serving as an eager audience for Billys life story.

The action kicks into a higher gear as Billy and Alice head west to tie up loose ends. Theres even a cameo from a certain hotel landscaped with animal topiary. Its just one of those King-winks for fans. And those fans will happily ride along with Billy and Alice. For readers who are new to the King canon, there are literally dozens of other books  most of them are also movies or TV shows at this point  with which youre better off beginning your Stephen King journey.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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CRESCO  A Cresco businessman has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for continually harassing an ex-girlfriend who lived in Minnesota.

In sentencing 58-year-old Michael Shawn McGuire on Friday, District Court Judge C.J. Williams said the insurance agent and landlords campaign against the woman was a form of mental torture and public terrorism.

He was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, and $17,500 in restitution to the victim.

Acting U.S. Attorney Sean Berry said the prison sentence for four counts of cyberstalking sends a strong message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Michael McGuire tormented the victim for over two years, Berry said. He will spend the next decade in federal prison, protecting both his victim and the public from his malicious behavior.

McGuire and the woman met on a dating site and dated for about seven months. During the relationship, he once asked her if she liked to get revenge, and he told her he once put sugar in the gas tank of one of his tenants, according to court records.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee state trooper testified Monday that he saw his former colleague on the force yank the mask off a protester last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic, refuting the former officer's denial before a judge advanced the misdemeanor assault charge against him.

Nashville General Sessions Judge William Higgins sent the case against former Trooper Harvey Briggs to a grand jury after Monday's preliminary hearing, which included testimony from the protester whom Briggs is accused of assaulting, Andrew Golden, and Trooper Brian Carmouche, who said he watched Briggs pull the mask off Golden's face.

Prosecutors also played Golden's widely circulated recording of the August 2020 incident, which shows Goldens mask on the ground but didnt capture Briggs removing it, and when Golden said the trooper ripped off his mask Briggs denied doing so on camera.

I just saw (Briggs) pull (Golden's) mask off, and throw it in the grass, said Carmouche, who said he saw the incident from 75 or 100 feet (23 to 30 meters) away. Carmouche has previously told department investigators he was 110% sure of what he observed, records show.
MASON CITY (AP)  A squabble over decaying chicken carcasses in Mason City is drawing attention to a larger struggle between some Iowa homeowners and farms. Local officials say they arent optimistic about stopping cases where homeowners complain about smells from nearby farming operations, according to the Mason City Globe Gazette.

The problem is the state of Iowa is predominantly an ag state so when it comes to ag-related issues its tough for us to do much, said Cerro Gordo County Public Health Director Brian Hanft.

Dan Breyfogle of Mason City has experienced the problem firsthand. He said that in July, two trucks deposited loads of chicken manure and carcasses on a farm property adjacent to his. The smell was overpowering, and Breyfogle and his wife complained to county officials, public health officials, elected officials and officials from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Breyfogle said the case meandered its way through several agencies, who couldnt do much. Eventually, officials from an Iowa DNR field office contacted the offending party and got them to remove the chicken parts. But the DNR only had regulatory control over the chicken remains.
Lynch said it investigated the allegations and terminated an unspecified number of employees who engaged in those practices.

Although this situation arose due to the actions of a few employees at one buying station, we take this matter very seriously, Gary Lynch, 74, was quoted as saying. We have already made great strides in establishing new processes and procedures to empower employees and ensure producers receive fair compensation.

USDA said its investigation found the practices went on for three years, from January 2018 through 2020. The agency ordered Lynch Livestock to pay $445,626 in penalties and restitution, and to stop recording false weights, altering classifications of hogs delivered, and creating false scale tickets.

The company said restitution has already been sent to producers who were underpaid for their hogs.

The USDA had ordered Lynch to pay a fine and restitution and to stop the same practices in 2017, after an investigation found the company willfully violated the Packers and Stockyards Act. Company employees arbitrarily lowered weights for delivered hogs, downgraded their classifications, fictitiously claimed dead hogs to lower prices and created false scale tickets to back up altered weights.
Why are pork producers constantly trying to overturn laws relating to cruelty to animals? Balk asked. It says something about the pork industry when it seems its business operandi is to lose at the ballot when they try to defend the practices and then when animal cruelty laws are passed, to try to overturn them.

In Iowa, which raises about one-third of the nations hogs, farmer Dwight Mogler estimates the changes would cost him $3 million and allow room for 250 pigs in a space that now holds 300.

To afford the expense, Mogler said, hed need to earn an extra $20 per pig and so far, processors are offering far less.

The question to us is, if we do these changes, what is the next change going to be in the rules two years, three years, five years ahead? Mogler asked.

The California rules also create a challenge for slaughterhouses, which now may send different cuts of a single hog to locations around the nation and to other countries. Processors will need to design new systems to track California-compliant hogs and separate those premium cuts from standard pork that can serve the rest of the country.
To break the no-slumber cycle, Schiff recommends that you keep a bedside journal to jot down the worries keeping you up at night, whether thats tomorrows to-do list or other preoccupying thoughts. Getting it down on paper and theoretically out of your mind can be helpful and free up some mental space, so you can focus on getting a restful nights sleep, she says.

2. Changes in mood and thinking

Changes in mood, like increased sadness or irritability, are another stress warning sign, according to psychoanalyst Gail Saltz, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell Medical College.

If you are highly anxious because youre highly stressed, the feeling could definitely be one of agitation or restlessness in your body, a feeling of being fearful, she says. In the case of chronic stress thats making you feel very burned out, it could be a feeling of being very down or even numb.

Along with shifts in mood, Schiff notes that changes in thinking  like a feeling of brain fog (or, conversely, racing thoughts)  difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness are other signs to watch for.

3. Somatic symptoms

Somatic symptoms (or physical signs of stress) include headaches, upset stomach, dizziness, shaking (another symptom that Biles said she experienced before competition), and general aches and pains.

These signs arise from stresss physiological effect on the body (stress triggers the release of symptom-causing hormones and neurotransmitters, such as cortisol and norepinephrine). Experts say that physical symptoms are more common among older adults, particularly those who may view mental health issues as taboo or stigmatized.

Todays older adults  may not recognize whats going on as readily, Saltz says. Or if they do, [they] may not feel as comfortable talking with others or seeking treatment.

4. Social isolation and withdrawal

Experts say another hallmark of stress and related mental health issues is pulling away from friends, loved ones and day-to-day activities.

But Saltz notes that theres a fine line between self-isolating because of stress, anxiety or a mood disorder like depression (which worsens symptoms) and choosing to take a break from certain activities in order to address burnout  a state of physical and mental exhaustion that results from a situation in which someone faces chronic stress, like work or caregiving.

A professional evaluation is a good option for those who want to ensure they take the right approach to understanding and treating the root cause of their symptoms, Saltz says.

And because of the wide range of ways that stress can present itself, plus the overlap between its symptoms and signs of other physical ailments and mental health conditions, Schiff and Saltz recommend checking in with a health care provider or a mental health professional about new or concerning symptoms of stress that interfere with daily functioning.
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How many more years are you going to live? It's not an idle question. Twenty-eight percent of Americans 50 and older underestimate their life expectancy by five years or more, according to a recent study by the Society of Actuaries. This finding was even more pronounced among women; nearly a third significantly miscalculate their life expectancy.

You could argue that this is a good thing  so many more grandchild hugs! But operating under a misconception about how many years you have ahead of you has one potentially huge downside: You could run out of money. Money managers say pessimistic assumptions about your longevity can be one of the biggest money mistakes you make, leading you to sock away too little each month in your 401(k) or to choose to retire before you're financially stable. Your life expectancy is the foundation of your planning, says Chris Heye, CEO of Whealthcare Planning.

Finding the right target

There have been lots of headlines in recent years regarding decreasing life expectancies in the U.S. due to COVID-19 and other societal issues. But these reports don't pertain to your specific situation; they're averages for the entire population. In general, the older you become, the greater the likelihood that you'll reach your 90s.

To get a fresh, relatively objective sense of your longevity, there are any number of tools available. Search online for life-expectancy calculator and you can get an estimate from several organizations, each based on slightly different algorithms. Some require answers to only a few questions; others take a deep dive into your eating habits, medical history and other matters.

Whatever number you end up with, financial planners  such as Donald D. Duncan of Savant Wealth Management in Chicago  recommend adding a few years to it to account for the wild card: medical advances that could keep you going even longer. I have a lot of clients with financial plans that don't terminate until age 100, he notes.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Connecticut-based energy giant Avangrid has taken a beating in state regulatory proceedings to approve its proposed merger with PNM Resources.

Ashley Schannauer, the Public Regulation Commission hearing examiner overseeing the case, said in May that the company has been less than forthcoming in providing needed information to fully evaluate Avangrids business practices in other states, raising troubling questions about its transparency and how it might conduct business in New Mexico if it takes over PNMR and its two utility subsidiaries, Public Service Company of New Mexico and Texas New Mexico Power.

Other parties in the case also question whether PNMR will be able to operate independently from Avangrid  and from Avangrids majority owner, Spanish company Iberdrola, S.A.  to make sure the interests of New Mexico ratepayers are always elevated above and beyond those of its future parent firms in business transactions. As a result, Schannauer ordered Iberdrola in June to become a direct party in PRC proceedings alongside Avangrid to address those concerns and other issues raised in the regulatory proceedings.

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Until last week, only Avangrid executives had spoken directly with local media outlets about the proposed merger. But on Thursday, Iberdrola Chief Development Officer Pedro Azagra Blazquez offered an exclusive interview with the Journal, providing the first local media opportunity to directly discuss a myriad of issues under debate at the PRC.

Transparency about Iberdrolas intentions and long-term goals here is critical. The company is a global energy powerhouse that operates in dozens of countries and is billed as the worlds third-largest utility and renewable energy developer.

It controls an 81.5% stake in Avangrid, giving it immense sway over how Avangrid manages its U.S.-based subsidiaries. That includes two company divisions  Avangrid Networks, which owns eight electric and gas utilities that serve 3.3 million customers in the Northeast, and Avangrid Renewables, which builds and operates renewable energy facilities across the country.

Azagra Blazquez sits on Avangrids board. Hes participated in many of its operations in the Northeast, including all merger negotiations to acquire utilities there.

Hes now Avangrids key witness in New Mexico, providing testimony to the PRC on its merger proposal with PNMR. And since mid-July, hes been meeting directly with organizations here to negotiate more support for the merger.

Why acquire PNM?

New Mexicos aggressive goals under the Energy Transition Act  which requires all public utilities here to convert to 80% renewables by 2040 and carbon-free generation by 2045  is a central reason for Iberdrolas interest in PNM, and in the state in general, Azagra Blazquez told the Journal.

New Mexicos abundant wind and solar resources provide immense opportunities to not only accelerate that clean-energy transition, but to convert the state into a central hub to supply renewable electricity throughout the West, creating hundreds of jobs in the process with huge benefits for the local economy, he said.

New Mexico is abundant with renewable resources and has a carbon commitment that requires substantial investment, and we can assist the state to achieve those goals, Azagra Blazquez said. New Mexico has substantial growth opportunity that will benefit its residents and PNM customers.  New Mexico has not yet hit its potential, but we believe it will.

Renewable development is driving Iberdrola expansion into the U.S. Southwest, and into many other countries and regions as well. Its been pursuing those goals since the late 1990s, before most other energy companies began expanding beyond fossil fuels, said Azagra Blazquez, who joined the firm in 1997.

The company still has a lot of natural gas and nuclear energy in its global portfolio. But its spearheading renewable development worldwide, managing some of the largest projects underway today in Europe, including on-shore and off-shore wind farms, solar generation and green hydrogen production.

In the U.S., Avangrid has major projects in the works. It will break ground this year on the nations first offshore wind farm  an 800-megawatt facility off New England to supply electricity to more than 400,000 homes and businesses. And it plans to construct green hydrogen facilities in four states.

That could soon include New Mexico under proposals Avangrid submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is pushing green hydrogen technology around the country, Azagra Blazquez said.

Local strategy

Since the 1990s, Iberdrola has pursued a parallel, two-pronged strategy for global expansion that includes acquisition of local utilities on the one hand, and construction of new clean-energy generation on the other. Its utility subsidiaries, which now serve 13 million customers worldwide, are all run by local management.

Our mission is based on a global company run locally, Azagra Blazquez said.

Thats at the core of Avangrids strategy in New Mexico, where both Avangrid and Iberdrola expect PNMR to be run entirely by New Mexicans. Indeed, in new written testimony that Avangrid filed with the PRC on Thursday, the company committed to a seven-member PNMR board of directors made up only of New Mexico residents. Independent members will hold 40% of the seats, and theyll have veto control over all dividend-related policies and executive compensation.

Iberdrola is now participating in negotiations and regulatory proceedings, but its direct involvement here will end once the merger is done. Azagra Blazquez personally manages Iberdrolas mergers and acquisitions across the globe.

Im the one with the expertise needed for these deals, he said. We cant have subsidiaries (like Avangrid) buying companies  thats a higher level of strategic management. Im here now meeting with people, but once we close, Im out of here, and it will be local people running utility operations and projects.

Apart from PNMRs local control, both Iberdrola and Avangrid have fully committed to submit to PRC jurisdiction in all PNM-related regulatory matters, something theyve promised from the start. But Azagra Blazquez didnt formally join the PRC proceedings until the hearing examiner ordered it, because hed never been asked by regulators to directly participate in previous merger cases, he said.

Transparency

Azagra Blazquez says Avangrid has been forthcoming in providing all information requested by parties in the merger case, particularly in response to hearing examiner orders that the company provide documentation on poor performance of its Northeastern utilities, and about a criminal investigation in Spain that has involved some Iberdrola executives.

In May, Schannauer criticized Avangrid for not voluntarily offering documentation about fines imposed by northeastern regulators on some of its utilities there. After he ordered the company to submit all information on that into the PRC record, Avangrid produced about 2,500 pages of material.

But it wasnt until PRC Commissioner Jefferson Byrd signed a separate bench request for additional information that Avangrid provided another 7,000 pages.

Azagra Blazquez blamed that on miscommunication. Regulators in previous merger cases never requested information about other Avangrid utilities, he said, so the company didnt submit such documentation until directly requested. Then, Byrds directive provided more precise detail about issues of interest, expanding the range of documents requested.

We werent trying to hide anything, Azagra Blazquez said. We give information when asked for it.

Avangrid says its filings show the company has complied with all regulatory mandates to improve service at its northeastern subsidiaries, and its performance there is superior to other utilities in the region.

Some parties may dispute that during PRC open public hearings, scheduled for Aug. 11-20. But either way, Avangrid has agreed to establish new grid reliability and customer quality-of-service standards here, including annual reporting for the PRC to monitor PNM performance under Avangrid ownership, Azagra Blazquez said.

As for the criminal investigation in Spain, Iberdrola executives have only been asked to provide information about contracts the company had with a Spanish private investigator who did risk-assessment and market analysis on security issues. The courts are now investigating whether that private detective broke Spanish law by providing those services while also working for the government as a policeman. But Iberdrola is not being investigated, and hasnt been accused of wrongdoing, Azagra Blazquez said.

Last week, Iberdrola filed testimony about the issue at the PRC, including confidential documents for review by parties in the case.

Merger benefits

Azagra Blazquez and PNMR executives say that, if approved, the merger will provide major benefits for PNM ratepayers. That includes promises to invest $115.5 million after the merger, with $88 million in direct rate relief through credit on customers monthly bills and assistance for low-income consumers, plus $27.5 million for economic development programs.

Avangrid also promises to create 150 new high-paying jobs over three years, generating an estimated $200 million in local economic impact.

And its committed to strive for carbon-free generation by PNM by 2035, 10 years ahead of state mandates. Thats something PNM would be hard-pressed to achieve on its own, but the financial might of Avangrid and Iberdrola will make the transition much more attainable.

We bring financial muscle to the table, with almost unlimited access to low-cost capital and equity held by Avangrid and Iberdrola, Azagra Blazquez said.

Economies of scale also allow those companies to command lower prices when purchasing products and services, said PNMR Chairman, President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn.

From the start, weve been impressed by the breath of global investment and strength of Iberdrola and Avangrid, Vincent-Collawn told the Journal. Thats a huge benefit for New Mexico  Avangrid is the nations third-largest developer for wind and solar generation, and it has the vision, the technology and the capital to help move us forward.

Join the process

Open public comment on the proposed PNM Resources merger with Avangrid will be held at 9 a.m. Aug. 9 and will be streamed live on YouTube. For more information about how to make oral or written public comment, visit www.nm-prc.org. Hearings with organizations intervening in the case will be held Aug. 11-20, before the hearing examiner makes a recommendation and members of the Public Regulation Commission vote on the deal.
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Q: I purchased a sandwich shop that also sells basic grocery items. I bought the business in March 2019 and operated for about a year before I had to shut down. I reopened but am still struggling and am still reporting a monthly loss from operations. My CPA had me allocate the purchase cost to different assets including goodwill represented by the existing customers. The goodwill was the most significant asset. I showed a profit in 2019 but the 2020 year was a disaster with a large loss. I am allowed to use this 2020 business loss against my prior years income and get a tax refund but have not filed the 2020 return yet pending a significant tax question. The loss will be much larger if I write off the goodwill I purchased. The CPA says I cannot write off goodwill except as allowed by the IRS over 15 years. I believe I can prove the goodwill is exhausted. The business was shut down for much of 2020 and when I reopened, I had to work to build up business. Doesnt it make sense that I can write off the 2019 goodwill of the old business owner? If you can point me to a tax source that says so it would help me with my tax preparer.

A: It sure does make sense that you should be able to write off goodwill that seems to have evaporated during the pandemic. But, you cant. I will even try to convince you that the no write off makes sense.

Accounting rules generally allow you to write off the cost of a purchased asset that declines in value over time. This is usually called depreciation but is called amortization if the asset is intangible.

The tax law follows this general principle but assigns a different life to the asset than conventional accounting rules might suggest. However, for our purposes the concept is the same.

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The IRS historically argued that goodwill could not be amortized for tax purposes. Amortization was allowed only if the taxpayer could show a specific useful life of the goodwill.

Goodwill often grows with the life of a business. Even if it does not grow, it can be very difficult to show the rate at which it declines. Without demonstrating a useful life, amortization could not be justified.

IRS had the upper hand in this argument and won many court challenges. Then almost 30 years ago, the Supreme Court heard the case of the purchaser of the Newark (New Jersey) Morning Ledger newspaper.

The buyer allocated purchase price to customers  customers make a newspaper valuable. The buyer also used past data to show the useful life of a customer of that newspaper.

The buyers homework project produced strong enough evidence to allow it to amortize the purchased intangible. The Supreme Court decision also offered a road map to others that could support amortization in other purchases.

IRS then supported legislation in Congress to specify a single life for purchased intangibles. That is why 15 years is the period used to amortize goodwill and other intangibles.

However, this legislation also denied an early write off of purchased goodwill provided the business to which it relates is still operating.

You seem quite logical in saying that goodwill that no longer exists should be able to be deducted in full when it is no longer useful.

The post-Newark Morning Ledger statutory rule that supports amortization of goodwill also has a logical reason why you should not be able to write off the goodwill.

The 15-year amortization period set by law is revenue neutral. This means it was a Solomon-like decision to split the baby in a way that helped administer the tax laws and avoid disputes over proof of useful life.

To keep it revenue neutral the rule had to ensure that you stayed true to the 15-year write off. The only exception is if the business itself disappears.

Your goodwill may be dead. However, your business is still alive. Because that is the business to which that goodwill attached when you purchased it in 2019, your write-offs must continue for 15 years or until the business dies, whichever is earlier.

James R. Hamill is the Director of Tax Practice at Reynolds, Hix & Co. in Albuquerque. He can be reached at jimhamill@rhcocpa.com.
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In 201819, I participated in National Governors Association round tables to gather feedback for a Future Workforce Now toolkit they were preparing for states.

One of the more illuminating comments from the participants came from a Walmart HR consultant: Corporate is bringing in janitorial robots to our stores today and HRs biggest worry is who is going to fix them?

Just as workforce transitioned from the horse and buggy days to the automobile age, jobs are changing. Today, Its dejA -vu in workforce transformation. The robots are here and we need humans to program, monitor, and yes, fix them when broken. The robots do the heavy lifting, freeing humans to do what we do best  innovate!

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Blue collar jobs are now digital, creating what IBMs Ginni Rometty calls New Collar Jobs. These are engaging, well-paying career paths using tools like 3D printers, lasers, robots, CAD design, AI VR and more disruptive technologies that are being implemented across industries.

Previously the purview of manufacturing, robots are now cleaning big retail stores, assisting in surgeries and moving heavy boxes in warehouses. The VA Hospital in Albuquerque was selected as the national lead in a program to implement 3D printing for health care and dentists and dental labs are 3D scanning, then printing crowns, bridges and clear braces. This is happening all over the country and we recently identified 1,000 jobs projected to be open now and into the next 25 years in New Mexico for technicians that require 3D printing skills. And that was a small study of only four employers.

Many of these jobs do not require college degrees but specific skills are needed to operate 3D printers, program and repair automation tools, and create in Computer-Aided Design or CAD. For decades, IBM and Mozilla have led an international micro-certification program of digital badges that adhere to standards ensuring security of badge earner status.

Based in these digital badge standards, the New Collar Network, based in Santa Fe, developed a series of badges for these New Collar jobs. Teaching everything from CAD design, operating 3D printers, design thinking, prototyping principles, CNC router machining and more, students earn employable skills. We are also seeing increased employer acceptance of skills over degrees, including a White House directive for the entire federal governments hiring practices to make this shift.

New Collar Innovation Center

But it takes collaboration and partnerships to accelerate change. Luckily, Santa Fe Community College President Dr. Becky Rowley recognizes a changing dynamic in education and has driven a public-private partnership at the Santa Fe Higher Education Center. SFCC has partnered with the New Collar Network that is part of the MIT Fab Lab Network to offer digital badges in New Collar job skills and with Fab Lab Hub, LLC, a digital contract manufacturing company in Santa Fe, to provide earn-as-you-learn jobs for badge earners.

Fab Lab Hub was recently granted a U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship for 3D printing apprentices and in March 2021 hired two displaced COVID-19 workers to launch the apprenticeships with full-time salaries and free New Collar digital badge training. The team will also be offering a four-week 3D printing bootcamp that is free, thanks to a grant from the Ready NM program.

The New Collar Innovation Center partnership hopes to innovate education and workforce training, as well as foster entrepreneurship for startups creating New Collar Jobs.

I believe the New Collar workforce that innovates to solve the worlds most pressing problems will create a shining future for all humankind.

Sarah Boisvert is the founder Fab Lab Hub, LLC, and co-founder of The New Collar Network. Shes also the author of The New Collar Workforce: An Insiders Guide to Making Impactful Changes to Manufacturing and Training. The executives desk is a guest column providing advice, commentary or information about resources available to the business community in New Mexico. To submit a column for consideration, email gporter@abqjournal.com.

the executives desk
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

On a blazing-hot afternoon last week parts of the arroyos that crisscross town were empty except for a stray jacket, a hat and empty bottles sitting in the shallow puddles and receding water left over from recent storms. Elaborate, brightly colored graffiti adorns the tunnels underneath Interstate 40.

No one could be seen in the Embudo Arroyo near Constitution and Pennsylvania NE where three men were swept to their deaths in a sudden flash flood almost two weeks ago.

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But advocates say those living transient lifestyles often choose to camp out in the channels that direct water from around the city to the Rio Grande. This leads them to believe a flood warning system  of either sirens or flashing lights  could be beneficial.

Alexandra Paisano, director of the Albuquerque Coordinated Entry System for the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, said the organization has clients who say the arroyos are sometimes their best places to stay. She said she has heard of dozens of people living in tunnels not far from the coalitions office.

A few clients say they have had negative experiences when they go to shelters, Paisano said.  The arroyos are a place with a little more privacy. Sometimes they feel like theyre less likely to have someone come and tell them their camp needs to be torn down and moved. Its a little more inconspicuous in the arroyos.

And, she said, unlike the far-flung foothills or mesas, the areas around the arroyos are closer to services people might need.

But the arroyos can also be deadly. Over the past two weeks, five people have been swept away. Four of them died, and their bodies were recovered across town in a washout where the North Diversion Channel meets the river.

Paisano said she thinks a warning system could help save lives.

Its still a choice whether or not someone wants to be in the arroyos and take that risk; we cant stop people, she said. But if we can make it safer, thats one step in the right direction.

Safety studies

Last week, City Council President Cynthia Borrego filed legislation encouraging the Albuquerque ditch and water safety task force to conduct a study to improve the safety of the arroyos. The resolution urges the study to consider, among other things, a map of storm water channel, arroyos and irrigation canal locations where persons regularly frequent and a report on capital improvements including, but not limited to the installation of flash flood early warning systems.

But the idea to implement a flash flood warning system in the arroyos is not a new one.

Several years ago, Gary Tinagero of Albuquerque Fire Rescue wrote a paper on designing a flash flood warning system. He recommended that stakeholders design a sign that would flash when danger is imminent. He also recommended an audible warning device that would blare in parks near arroyos.

Tinagero cited a 2007 paper that suggested that inadequate warning systems are the primary contributor to weather-related deaths and injuries.

The paper showed that warning systems are geared toward the cultural majority and are less likely to reach the poor and elderly, Tinagero wrote.

There are no plans for the city to get any kind of warning system for flooding in the arroyo, despite money previously being allocated to it.

In 2015 and 2017, voters approved a bond measure that included $300,000 and $250,000, respectively, for a warning system. The money was supposed to go to plan, design, and install the arroyo flash flood indication system for the Embudo Arroyo to warn the general public of potential storm conditions that may exist within the arroyo.

However, the city determined that a warning system would cost much more than $550,000. Johnny Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Municipal Development, said a comprehensive system would cost $4 million.

Instead, in January 2020, the city council reallocated the money toward upgrading pump stations citywide.

The money was diverted to pump system maintenance to protect property and life, Chandler said. Flooding houses can jeopardize life, as well, and it jeopardizes property.

Brad Bingham, a drainage engineer with Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority, said that as a result of Tinageros paper the authority added a warning system to its project schedule. However, he said, it has not been funded and AMAFCAs engineers do not have the ability or expertise to implement it, given that they specialize in drainage, not in maintaining emergency alert systems. Bingham also pointed to jurisdiction issues as AMAFCA manages the North Diversion Channel and the city maintains the rest.

He said AMAFCA has been putting up warning signs and supports the idea of a warning system.

Lives lost

On July 20, Alexander Corrie, 31, and Stephen Camp, 32, were swept away along with a third man who has not been identified. A week later, on July 27, a woman and a man were overtaken in another rush of water. The man survived; the woman did not. She has not been identified.

While flash flood alerts blare on cellphones across the city as storms roll in, Paisano said, the warnings often dont reach her clients.

Either they have phones and theyre dead because they have no place to charge them or their phones are constantly getting stolen, getting broken, she said.

Family members of Corrie and Camp agree, saying neither man had a cellphone.

Video from AMAFCA shows the empty channel in the seconds before the flood rushes through. In a matter of seconds, its blanketed in water.

Bingham said the first flush is usually 1 to 2 feet high but the levels can rise very quickly depending on the direction of the storm and other variables. He said on the day the three men were swept away the water level reached 8 feet at Menaul and about 25 feet per second.

Both Camps and Corries fathers said they had heard about a proposal to put flash flood warnings along the arroyo and feel like that could have averted tragedy.

Ronald Camp, Stephens father, said he is planning to come to Albuquerque from his home in Roswell and visit the place where his son was swept away.

If they put up the sirens now at least it could be in his memory or something so no one else has to die, Camp said.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico is crafting clean car standards that could go into effect by 2025, in an effort to target the states second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

State regulators want to adopt Californias rules requiring more fuel-efficient vehicles and zero-emission vehicles.

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Californias standards are the strictest in the nation, and states can choose either to adopt those rules or the federal governments more relaxed standards.

Rules would apply only to new vehicles, said Sandra Ely, the New Mexico Environment Departments Environmental Protection Division director.

You dont have to retrofit your vehicle, Ely said. It does not apply to off-road or heavy-duty vehicles like farm equipment, and it does not require additional emissions testing.

A low-emission vehicle, or LEV, standard would require manufacturers new fleet deliveries to New Mexico dealers to meet a combined specific emissions standard over a one-year period.

That means that some in the fleet may surpass the standard, and some may release more pollutants than the target.

From 7% to 10% of vehicles that in-state dealers offer beginning in 2025 would need to be zero-emission under the rules.

Ely said the rules would help expand vehicle choices to include more fuel-efficient options that other clean-car states have.

The variety of models will still be there, she said. SUVs and trucks will still be available under these standards.

NMED data shows the transportation category emitted about 16 million metric tons in 2018, or 14% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The oil and gas industry accounts for 53% of state pollution.

The state estimates the changes would slash carbon dioxide emissions by about 2 million tons by 2030.

Claudia Borchert, NMEDs climate change policy coordinator, said adopting clean car standards is an important part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by the year 2030.

Cleaner air means less money going towards health treatments, Borchert said. It means more efficient vehicles, (and) it means that New Mexicans will spend less money at the pump.

New Mexico had 1.16 plug-in electric vehicle registrations for every 1,000 people in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That puts the state 35th in the nation for electric vehicle ownership.

New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque are working together on proposed rules because the state does not have air quality jurisdiction in Bernalillo County.

Targeting vehicle emissions is necessary to reduce ground-level ozone pollution, said Mara Elana Burstein, Albuquerques deputy director of environmental health.

Bernalillo County had 23 days from 2017 to 2019 when ozone reached unhealthy levels.

Its important that we take action, because fine particulates and ozone can cause adverse health effects, Burstein said.

Ozone forms from chemicals found in vehicle and industrial emissions and wildfire smoke.

The pollutant can cause respiratory problems.

The city conducted an ozone awareness campaign in 2019.

Public health messaging encouraged residents to bike to work, fill up on gas during the coolest part of the day and avoid idling engines to help cut down on the pollution.

A big investment

Ken Ortiz, president of the New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association, said expanding electric vehicle charging stations outside the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas should go hand in hand with the state clean car initiative.

Most of the dealers that have been certified by manufacturers to sell electric vehicles had to make a significant investment, such as charging stations at dealership lots, and tools to be able to service the vehicle. Its quite a big investment, Ortiz said. We cant just turn the switch without the (charging) infrastructure there.

New Mexico has 376 electric vehicle charging ports at 158 stations, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Ortiz, who recently retired as state general services secretary, also said the association is looking forward to working with the state and the city on the rules and policies that would further expand the electric vehicle infrastructure network.

The Legislature has directed nearly $4 million in capital outlay funds to EV charging stations and infrastructure since 2019.

NMED has also awarded more than $2.7 million from a Volkswagen settlement to charging station projects.

More than a dozen other states have adopted or are adopting the California standards.

The countrys patchwork regulations could come into play if a customer wants a specific car that a dealer doesnt have on site.

A lot of our dealers have stores across state lines, said Ortiz, whose association represents nearly 100 storefronts. They may have several vehicles in other states that may meet all the demands a customer wants, but because that state may not have the same emission standards, there may be challenges finding a vehicle from a state that meets the California and New Mexico standards. As more and more states get to where were headed, that may not be an issue down the road.

Rules repealed in 2013

NMED and Albuquerque adopted clean car standards in 2007 during Gov. Bill Richardsons administration.

But the state repealed those rules in 2013 under Gov. Susana Martinez.

Lujan Grisham announced in September 2019 that the state would adopt stricter vehicle emissions standards by the end of 2021  a deadline the Environment Department will most likely miss.

Earlier this year, the agency released draft rules aimed at reducing air pollution in the oil and gas industry.

Ely said NMED doesnt have the resources to tackle another full rule-making process for auto emissions this year.

In order to bring a rule to the board, it takes a fair amount of technical analysis by the department to understand the costs, to understand the environmental impacts, to understand the impacts to the community, Ely said.

On July 23, the state Environmental Improvement Board denied a clean car rule-making petition by the Sierra Club and seven other environmental groups that would have helped pave the way for adopting new standards by the end of this year.

Mona Blaber, a Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter spokesperson, said that means it will take longer for New Mexicans to see the impact of less vehicle pollution.

(NMED) said they were short on resources, so these groups started it for them, including documents to get a rule-making started, Blaber said. Rules would make EVs a lot more accessible for New Mexico and hopefully expand their use.

Under NMEDs current timeline, rules would apply to model year 2026 vehicles at the earliest.

Adopting Californias rules should be a straightforward process that could accompany a credit system for dealers who go above and beyond the rules, said Tammy Fiebelkorn, New Mexico representative for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.

On a regular day not in a pandemic, you go to a car dealership and want to buy an electric vehicle and there isnt one, Fiebelkorn said. I recently traded in my old Chevy Spark to get a Nissan Leaf, and it was really hard to find. Having those vehicles available is critical to really starting the EV market movement in New Mexico.

NMED plans to file a rule-making petition in December with the EIB and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board.

If the boards take up the petition, they could hold a joint hearing in May 2022, and rules could be adopted as early as October 2022.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Sometimes, even in paradise, you forget things.

Like sunblock. Ice. A life jacket.

Sometimes paradise is best enjoyed with fresh coffee or a frosty Italian cream soda. Maybe some potato chips or pickles.

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If paradise is the pristine Morphy Lake high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, earth and sky are about as close as they can be, but civilization is about as far as it can be when you need to make a grocery run.

Which is to say that if you are lucky enough to escape to this hidden gem in northern New Mexico but you forgot to bring toilet paper or aluminum foil, your only recourse until recently was to make the 28-mile trek to the Walmart Supercenter in Las Vegas or the 8-mile trip to the Allsups in Mora, both of which take precious time away from the beauty and the tranquillity and a trout or two at the lake.

This summer, though, two teenagers and their family came up with an idea to provide those bare necessities closer to the lake, earn money, learn how to run a business and spend time with each other  because, yes, these are teenagers who actually like to hang out with family.

The idea began  even before Sierra Trujillo, 17, and brother Cameron Trujillo, 16, were born  with their grandfather, Rumaldo Pino, who lives in Ledoux, a tiny community two miles from Morphy Lake.

My grandpa loves the lake and always wanted to have a vending trailer that he could park nearby to sell necessities that people forget on their way to the lake, Sierra says. He just needed to find a good trailer.

And what do you know? A vending trailer just happened to be parked in a field about a block away from his house. The trailer belonged to the Mora Little League but hadnt been used in more than 10 years.

And what do you know? Sierra just happened to be looking to earn money to help pay for a used car to get to class at Volcano Vista High School, where shell be a senior this fall. Cameron, who will be a junior at the Albuquerque school, wanted to earn money to buy a weight bench.

I like to work out, he said. I like bigger muscles.

So in March, they worked out a plan with their parents to fulfill their grandfathers dream while also fulfilling theirs by opening a little shop in the vending trailer.

They thought about getting jobs working for someone else, then soon realized they would be spending most of their summer working and not spending time with their family, most importantly their grandparents, who live 2 hours away from us, mom Sonia Trujillo said. They decided to work for themselves while spending every weekend with their grandparents and family.

Trujillo came up with the shops name  Bare Necessities.

I told them, this isnt going to be a store with everything, she said. Its going to have the bare necessities for people at the lake.

Sierra and Camerons parents bought the vending trailer from the Mora Little League, and their grandfather dragged it, quite literally, to his house since all four wheels were flat and decrepit.

Getting the trailer cleaned up and ready for retail fell largely to Sierra and Cameron.

It was a daunting task. Old grease splattered on the interior walls was crusted over with dirt and cobwebs. Dead insects and mouse droppings peppered every crevice.

The trailer was disgusting, their mom said. They had to completely gut the trailer to the studs.

The process took about two months, then more time finishing paperwork and signage, setting up credit cards and Apple Pay to accept payment, stocking the trailer with items to sell.

On Memorial Day weekend, they hauled the trailer to a spot on family property right off the road to Morphy Lake and opened for business. Theyve been open almost every weekend since then.

They sell snacks, drinks, fishing and camping supplies and the best Italian cream sodas, their proud mother beams. They added life vests at a rangers suggestion as vests are required on boats at the lake, and worms at several customers request.

We do pretty well, Sierra said. People seem to appreciate us there.

Added Cameron: Its really taught me responsibility.

Although responsibility for minding the store falls to him and Sierra, Bare Necessities is definitely a family affair. Every Friday evening after their pharmacist dad comes home from work, the family, which includes younger siblings ages 6 and 12, drive to Ledoux for the weekend.

Sierra and Cameron are up by 6 on weekend mornings to get the store ready to open by 7. The rest of the family goes fishing or boating with their grandfather, though Sierra and Cameron do take a break to also enjoy the lake while Mom mans the store.

They close up shop by 2 p.m. Sunday to head back to Albuquerque.

Sierra and Cameron say two things about running Bare Necessities that surprised them are the tips people leave them and the tip a few folks have imparted about making money without doing much work through GoFundMe.

The latter, they said, just isnt right. Theyd rather work for their money. The former, they think, is an indication that people like that work.

Because of the cost of buying and refurbishing the trailer, the Trujillos say they have yet to show a profit or raise enough to buy that car or that weight bench.

Were still working on it, Sierra said.

But, oh, has it been a rich experience.

After high school I plan to go to college and that will mean not having as much time as I do now to spend time with my family, Sierra said. So this summer we get to do that.

Thats enough to make a mothers heart sing.

We are beyond blessed to have children who enjoy spending time with their family, especially now when kids are hooked to their phones, Trujillo said. We are thankful they are with us on the weekends and not out getting into trouble or doing drugs. Its a huge responsibility to own your own business, and these kids work hard doing that. Were really proud of them.

Thats paradise indeed.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Reach Joline at 730-2793, jkrueger@abqjournal.com, Facebook or @jolinegkg on Twitter.
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PHOENIX  ON Semiconductor Corp. (ON) on Monday reported second-quarter net income of $184.1 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Phoenix-based company said it had profit of 42 cents. Earnings, adjusted to extinguish debt and for amortization costs, came to 63 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 49 cents per share.

The semiconductor components maker posted revenue of $1.67 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.62 billion.

For the current quarter ending in October, ON Semiconductor Corp. expects its per-share earnings to range from 68 cents to 80 cents.

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The company said it expects revenue in the range of $1.66 billion to $1.76 billion for the fiscal third quarter.

ON Semiconductor Corp. shares have risen 19% since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased 90% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ON at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ON
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LAS VEGAS, Nev.  Las Vegas police have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a man who was found unresponsive on the floor of a Laughlin casino after a fight early Friday.

Officers responding to the casino on the Nevada-Arizona line about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Las Vegas found the victim at about 1:20 a.m., police said.

He was transported to the Western Arizona Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. His name has not been released.

A preliminary investigation indicates he and his party at the casino were involved in an argument with another group that escalated into a physical fight between the victim and two men. The two other men fled when he was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground, police said.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Las Vegas homicide detectives at 702-828-3521 or homicide@lvmpd.com, or call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-555 or www.crimestoppersofnv.com.

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EL PASO, Texas  The Biden administration sued Texas on Friday to prevent state troopers from stopping vehicles carrying migrants on grounds that they may spread COVID-19, warning that the practice would exacerbate problems amid high levels of crossings on the states border with Mexico.

The Justice Department asked for an immediate block on Gov. Greg Abbotts order issued Wednesday, which allows the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion that it transports migrants. Troopers could then reroute vehicles back to their point of origin or impound them.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in El Paso, mirrors a letter that Attorney General Merrick Garland sent the governor a day earlier, arguing that the state was usurping and even interfering with the federal governments responsibility to enforce immigration laws.

Abbott, a Republican who is facing reelection next year, wrote Garland on Friday to argue that the federal government was interfering with his obligations to protect Texas residents.

It is clear from the arguments in your letter that the State of Texas and the federal government face a constitutional crisis, Abbott wrote.

The lawsuit escalates tensions between the Biden administration and Abbott over the governors actions on the border, which have included jailing migrants on state crimes and building new barriers.

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For months, the two-term governor has sought to claim former President Donald Trumps hardline mantle on immigration, inflaming passions on a polarizing issue. Civil rights groups and immigration advocates have said Abbotts move for troopers stop vehicles could invite racial profiling and restrict the ability of shelters to take in newly arriving families.

Declarations submitted with the lawsuit offered fresh evidence of large numbers of migrants showing up at the border with Mexico, with senior officials warning that the governors order could significantly impede transportation and other federal operations.

The Border Patrols Rio Grande Valley sector, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings, had more than 8,300 migrants in custody Wednesday, with an average processing time of 57 hours, said Brian Hastings, the sector chief. The sector has released more than 100,000 migrants since Oct. 1, including 9,000 in the last week.

The Homeland Security Department reported that 646 children traveling alone were taken into custody across the Mexico border on Thursday, compared with a daily average of 480 over the previous 30 days.
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ATLANTA  After two women were found dead in Atlanta-area parks last week, false reports spread on social media suggesting a serial killer was on the loose. Law enforcement say the killings are not related and theres no reason to believe they are the work of one person.

Heres a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: A serial killer is loose in Atlanta and police officials are not sharing the details of an ongoing serial killer investigation.

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THE FACTS: False. Atlanta-area police officials are not treating the two cases as being connected, and they say theres no evidence of a serial killer targeting individuals in that region. Still, false reports making the claim circulated widely across social media with warnings to be careful.

The first killing was discovered about 1 a.m., on July 28, in Atlantas Piedmont Park. In that case, 40-year-old Katherine Janness, was found stabbed multiple times. In the second case, Tori Lang, 18, was found shot to death in Yellow River Park, near Stone Mountain, around dawn. The parks are about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from each other.

There is nothing to connect the two cases and no reason to believe a serial killer is operating in the area, said Gwinnett County police Sgt. J.R. Richter. Authorities there are investigating the case in Yellow River Park.

Police in Gwinnett County and in Atlanta are not working together on the two cases, Richter added.

Officer Steve Avery, of the Atlanta Police Department, said in an email that the killing of the woman in Gwinnett County is not related to the incident in Piedmont Park.

Regarding the incident in Yellow River Park, we have leads we are pursuing but I cant release those details as yet, said Richter, the Gwinnett officer. Atlanta police have not discussed any possible leads they might have.

Some of the posts mention a supposed third killing in the nearby city of Norcross, Georgia, but police there are investigating no such reports. Nothing factual about the posts weve seen, Norcross Police Chief Bill Grogan said Monday.

Nevertheless, law enforcement officials are stressing the importance of practicing personal safety at all times. That means being aware of your surroundings, staying in well-lit areas, letting friends and family know where you are, not being distracted by your phone and trusting your instincts, Richter said.

The FBI is helping Atlanta police to investigate the Piedmont Park killing, but the FBI isnt providing details of its involvement in that case, agency spokesperson Kevin Rowson said.

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Fraser reported from New York.

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This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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WASHINGTON  The White House moved Monday to pressure state and local governments to swiftly adopt policies to protect renters after an eviction moratorium expired over the weekend, potentially pushing millions of Americans out of their homes.

In a statement on Monday, the White House emphasized that the federal government has provided $46.5 billion to keep renters in their homes. But it accused states and cities of being too slow to act, preventing that aid from making its way to tenants whose livelihoods have been upended by the pandemic.

The focus on states comes as President Joe Biden faces stinging criticism, including from some in his own party, that he was was slow to address the end of the moratorium. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the prospect of widespread evictions unfathomable. The Congressional Black Caucus intensified pressure on the White House to issue an immediate extension. And one Democrat, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who has been camped out in protest had a brief conversation at the U.S. Capitol with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday.

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Some people were at risk of losing their homes as soon as Monday. But the White House insists there is only so much it can do on its own and that state and local leaders need to step up and get the aid out.

The president is clear: If some states and localities can get this out efficiently and effectively theres no reason every state and locality cant, Gene Sperling, who oversees the administrations coronavirus relief plans, told reporters. There is simply no excuse, no place to hide for any state or locality that is failing to accelerate their emergency rental assistance.

Late last week, Biden announced he was allowing the ban to expire. The White House said he would have supported an extension of the moratorium but pointed to the Supreme Court, which signaled in a 5-4 vote in late June that it wouldnt back further extensions. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that Congress would have to act to extend the moratorium. The White House noted that state-level efforts to stop evictions would spare a third of the country from evictions over the next month.

While the administration is still investigating legal options to forestall evictions, officials said their options were limited. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the CDC, which issued the eviction ban, was unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium.

Mass evictions could potentially worsen the recent spread of the COVID-19 delta variant as roughly 1.4 million households told the Census Bureau they could very likely be evicted from their rentals in the next two months. Another 2.2 million say theyre somewhat likely to be evicted.

Sperling said the administration will keep looking for additional legal avenues to keep people in their homes. Yet he stressed the complexity of the problem by also noting that the Trump administration developed guidelines for providing aid to renters and landlords that were unworkable. Those guidelines which required extensive documentation were changed once Biden was in office.

This is not an easy task, Sperling said. We as a country have never had a national infrastructure or national policy for preventing avoidable evictions.

Pelosi, for her part, said that she welcomed the administrations urging of states and cities to impose their own moratoriums. And she said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would hold a virtual briefing Tuesday with lawmakers as they push to more quickly ensure the states distribute the federal aid.

Rep. Maxine Waters, the powerful chair of the Financial Services Committee, has been talking privately for days with Yellen. She said in a statement that she urged Yellen to use her influence to urge states to push the money out the door and the treasury secretary has personally committed to doing so.

The CDC put the eviction ban in place as part of the COVID-19 response when jobs shifted and many workers lost income. The ban was intended to hold back the spread of the virus among people put out on the streets and into shelters.

Democratic lawmakers said they were caught by surprise by Bidens decision allowing the ban to expire, creating frustration and anger and exposing a rare rift with the administration.

Congress was unable to pass legislation swiftly to extend the ban, which expired at midnight Saturday, and the House Democratic leaders have said it was now up to Bidens administration to act.

Bush, a St. Louis-area congresswoman, has been leading a protest at the Capitol since the eve of the expiration. She has been joined at times by other top progressive Democrats urging action, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders were among those stopping by to visit with Bush outside the Capitol. But she also talked briefly with Vice President Kamala Harris.

I needed her to look me in my eyes and I wanted to look in hers when I asked for help to prevent our people from being evicted, Bush said on Twitter. Madam Vice President, lets work together to get this done.

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Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Made in Chelsea' star is officially a married woman as she has exchanged wedding vows with Max Fredrik Darnton only two months after welcoming their first child.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - British reality TV star Binky Felstead has wed Max Fredrik Darnton.

The "Made in Chelsea" favourite made the big reveal in Hello! magazine, announcing the nuptials took place at Chelsea's Old Town Hall in London last week (23Jul21), seven weeks to the day Binky, real name Alexandra, gave birth to the couple's first child, son Wolfie.

The new parents announced their engagement in a sweet social media post last September (20), after dating for 19 months, and gushing about the low-key wedding, the bride told the magazine her wedding was "the most perfect day."

Her groom added, "It's amazing. To be honest, it felt official when Wolfie was born, because of him and India being siblings, but getting married has cemented it."

The newlyweds have revealed they plan to do it all over again next year (22), throwing a grander wedding party in Greece if travel restrictions prompted by the coronavirus allow.

Max told Hello!, "We've hired a big boat to sail around the coves, go snorkeling and have a BBQ on the beach. We've rented a cliffside venue for the day of the wedding then we've hired a private beach restaurant for the day after."

And his thrilled wife is happy there's no rush ahead of their ceremony.

"I've got a whole year to get ready for the next wedding!" smiled Binky, who is also mum to three-year-old India, her daughter from her romance with Josh 'JP' Patterson.
Celebrity

The 32-year-old Chicago-based artist, who is often credited for helping to bring the Chicago drill scene to life along with Chief Keef, reportedly died after being shot multiple times in the back.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Hip-hop community is once again losing one of its own to street violence. Chicago-based rapper Edai has tragically passed away at 32 years old after he was involved in a shooting over the weekend.

Details of the incident are still scarce, but it's reported that Edai was shot and killed either late Saturday night, July 31 or in the wee hours of Sunday morning, August 1. According to Saycheese TV, he was shot multiple times in the back and was rushed to the University Chicago Hospital, but he couldn't survive the injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

His death has prompted a strong reaction from the mother of late Chicago rapper FBG Duck, Lu Sheen. The blogger, who also lost her son due to shooting in a daytime shopping attack back in August 2020, took to social media to vent her frustration over violence in the city.

"GUESS I GOTTA SAVE US BY MYSELF. DONT MAKE NO SENSE BUT THEY DID IT TO DUCK N BRICK RITE BUT JUST REMEMBER EVERBODY GOT A CHECK OUT DATE PRAYIN FOR DAT MANS MOTHERS," so she posted on Twitter on Sunday in all caps.

Reposting the tweet on his Instagram page, Lu wrote angrily, "EVERYBODY GOTTA DIEEEEEE DAMNN NORMALIZE GROWIN UP N BEING A GRANDDADDY TO YALL KIDS CHILDREN. TELL THEM HOW U SURVIVED THE TRENCHES SO THEY CAN WANT BETTER @koopa600 U GOOD NO MORE WORRIES NOR PAIN FOR GOD WAS READY FOR HIS CHILD BACK."

A day prior, Lu pledged to stop gun violence. Sharing a message by BIG30 who said, "Only if yall knew how much trouble uploading these guns get us in YALL WOULD STOP TODAY," she captioned it, "I BEN TRYNA TELL YALL WILL YALL LISTEN NOW PUT EM DOWN YALL,IF U NOT DEFENDING YOSELF."

Edai is often credited for helping to bring the Chicago drill scene to life along with Chief Keef. He first gained fame in 2012 with his single "Gucci". Soon after, Edai started his own record label Team 600 ENT, and released his solo album "Came From Nothing" in February 2014.



In his last post dated Thursday, July 29, he vowed to keep making music for his fans. "I pledge allegiance to my fans to keep dropping the hottest Shit In America new s**t just dropped link in the bio," so he declared.


Instagram Music

After performing the band's opening number in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, guitarist Billy Gibbons introduces Elwood Francis to fans as their late bassist's replacement.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - ZZ Top paid tribute to bassist Dusty Hill at their first gig since his death last week.

Guitarist Billy Gibbons addressed his bandmate's passing as the "Sharp Dressed Man" rockers performed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Friday, July 30.

Billy explained Dusty would have wanted the band to continue playing as he introduced the late bassist's replacement, Elwood Francis, to fans.

"We're gonna have a good time in here tonight," Gibbons said after performing the band's opening number. "Got a new guy up here, as you know. Dusty gave me the directive. My friend, your pal, Elwood Francis is gonna hold it down behind me."

Later in the show, Gibbons added, "How about that Elwood, tearing up that bottom there for Dusty."

Billy admitted the tears have been "coming and going" since his friend's death, adding, "I said, 'Gee whiz, maybe I am human after all'. This is coming from a very deep and glorious place, with respect to knowing that after 50 years with the guy, we were all joined at - no pun intended - joined at the hip."

"But knowing that we can take his wishes forward and give him all due respect... You know, he was adamant. He said, 'I'm going to go down and see what's up. In the meantime, the show must go on. Don't forget it'. And he was pointing his finger and shaking it."
Celebrity

The former Vine star is sent behind bars after brutally assaulting a man, leaving the alleged victim with a broken left orbital bone, bruised ribs, bleeding from the back of the head and hearing loss.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Hayes Grier is in serious trouble with the law. The "Dancing with the Stars" alum has been arrested and sent to a Mecklenburg County jail in North California after leaving a robbery victim with brain damage.

According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, the 21-year-old was sent behind bars on Friday, July 30. The former Vine star was booked after a warrant was issued to extradite him from his Encino, California home.

Hayes was accused of brutally assaulting a man and then stealing his $1,200 cell phone. Per the warrant, a judge found preliminary evidence linking the Mooresville, North Carolina native to the alleged attack, in which the victim was seriously injured.

The attack was said to have left the alleged victim with a broken left orbital bone, brain damage, bruised ribs, bleeding from the back of the head, hearing loss and more, according to police reports. The influencer was then arrested for common law robbery, felony conspiracy and assault causing serious bodily injury.

According to the cops, there was another person named Luke Foushee that they claimed Hayes conspired with to commit this alleged crime. However, it seemed that he hasn't been arrested yet.

Hayes was reportedly released after posting $17,500 bail later that night. He was also set to face a judge on Monday morning, August 2, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Hayes gained his fame back in 2013 for his series of Vine videos alongside his brother Nash before the platform was shuttered. Since then, he has moved over to Instagram and YouTube. He currently has 5.6 million Instagram followers and 880,000 YouTube subscribers.

The social media star was also the second-youngest contestant to ever appear on ABC's long-running show "Dancing with the Stars" when he was paired with pro dancer Emma Slater during season 21. The pair made it to week 7 before they were eliminated.
WENN/Brian To Celebrity

In the note accompanying her post, the 'A Dog's Way Home' actress shares that though her leg 'will never be the same' after suffering 'catastrophic injuries' during her trip in Congo rainforest, she will 'have a fabulous life ahead.'

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Ashley Judd is sharing a major update on her leg injury. Announcing that she is walking again nearly six months after shattering her leg, the "A Dog's Way Home" actress shared a video of her hiking Swiss National Park on her social media page.

On Sunday, August 1, the 53-year-old actress took to her Instagram feeds to reveal that she could walk again. "Dear Friends, It is with reverence and quiet awe I offer this update. Today, five months and three weeks after the accident in the Congolese rainforest, I walked again, and in what fashion! I hiked in the #SwissNationalPark," the "High Crimes" star wrote in her caption alongside a series of videos and photos documenting her progress.

Ashley went on to detail how she felt about walking again, "Stepping in, I felt in my ease, my natural garment of self, at home in my spirit. My leg and foot, worked beautifully." She added, "I walked up hill on uneven surfaces for an hour confidently and came down carefully and easily. I rested in a meadow on God's fecund earth for hours."

Elsewhere in her lengthy note, Ashley thanked people who helped her during her recovery. "I have so many people to thank for helping to make my recovery possible," the "Divergent" actress said. "Many I have previously acknowledged, such as Dr Phil Kregor, the trauma orthopedic surgeon. He, in consultation with Dr Susan Mackinnon & Dr Scott Levin, made a very gutsy decision to decompress my deeply damaged peroneal nerve."

"The video of my foot moving is unheard of. We expected my foot - if ever - to begin to move in one year," Ashley further elaborated. "In four months to the day, she went blew us all away. Now, after crying while trying to spell the ABCs with a paralyzed foot.well, you see!"

In her post, Ashley went on to highlight that her leg "will never be the same." The actress noted, "She is a new leg. And I love her. We are buddies. We have a come a long way and we have a fabulous life ahead."

Ashley concluded her message by expressing her gratitude to her fans and followers for their continuous prayers. "Many of you have been praying for me, and sending me notes. Thank you. I have felt you. I have especially been held by family and my partner. Peace be with you," she wrote.

In February, Ashley divulged that she was hospitalized in South Africa after she suffered "catastrophic injuries" during her conservation trip in Congo rainforest. She detailed that it took 55 hours for the locals to finally rescue her.
Instagram Celebrity

At the star-studded event, the 'Semi-Homemade Cooking' star looks gorgeous in a yellow chartreuse Maticevski gown, a pair of strappy and stone-encrusted Miu Miu stilettos.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Sandra Lee turned heads with her look at the LUISAVIAROMA and UNICEF Gala in Capri, Italy. The "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee" star looked stunning on her first red carpet appearance after breaking up from Andrew Cuomo and undergoing breast reconstruction surgery.

At the event, the 55-year-old donned a yellow chartreuse Maticevski gown. The celebrity chef paired it with a pair of strappy, precious stone-encrusted Miu Miu stilettos while carrying a fuchsia Amanda Pearl clutch and accessorizing with an antique 30-carat ruby cocktail ring.

"I'm having the best summer of my life," Sandra told PEOPLE at the Italian gala. Offering more details, she explained to the publication at the star-studded event, "I'm here to support UNICEF and the amazing work they do for children around the world."

Other notable attendees included performers Katy Perry and John Legend, who wowed everyone with their gorgeous "Moon River" duet, Vanessa Hudgens, Maria Bakalova, Saweetie, Emily Ratajkowski, Olivia Culpo and Heidi Klum. From the event, more than $5 million was raised in support of UNICEF's work to provide care and protection to vulnerable children across the globe.

This was Sandra's first red carpet appearance after she finished her breast reconstruction procedure back in January 2020, four years after mastectomy complications. Of her medical procedure, a source said that it was "a seven-hour, intense surgery."

A year earlier, the bestselling author split from her partner Andrew. The two decided to part ways after 14 years together. "Over the recent past, we have realized that our lives have gone in different directions and our romantic relationship has turned into a deep friendship," the couple said in a joint statement.

"We will always be family and are fully supportive of each other and dedicated to the girls. Our personal lives remain personal and there will be no further comment," the former couple added. Their breakup came a few months after they listed their six-bedroom estate, nicknamed "Lily Pond."
WENN Celebrity

According to a source, the former star of 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' 'wants more communication and family unity and plans' with the 'Jesus Is King' artist.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Kim Kardashian reportedly is determined to make her split from Kanye West the most amicable one. According to a new report, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" alum wants to keep the communication between them open despite divorcing.



A source close to the TV star shares with HollywoodLife.com that Kim wants "more communication" after splitting from the "Gold Digger" hitmaker after seven years of marriage. "Kim and Kanye have made a pact to support each other," the source explains.

The source also adds, "They realize the importance of their union and get that together they are where they are financially because of their union and neither of them are willing to give that up."

"Kim wants more communication and family unity and plans with Kanye. She wishes it wasn't like this and it was more often," the insider continues. "It's her hope that he'll support her when the time comes for her to promote or do something big, but she's unsure if he will."

It is also said that the SKIMS founder "knows" that her rapper ex is "a bit unpredictable like that and that devastates her but she does the best she can for the sake of the children. She absolutely will continue to show up for him though."

Kim previously showed support to Kanye by attending the listening party for Kanye's new album, "Donda", at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on July 22. The reality TV star showed up at the event alongside her four children, North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm, her sister Khloe Kardashian as well as their family friend Jonathan Cheban.

Kim filed for divorce from the rapper in February. While Kim is seemingly not jumping back to the dating game after the split, it is rumored that Kanye is currently romancing model Irina Shayk.

"Kanye is doing well. He had a great trip to France with Irina," a source previously said of the rumored lovebirds. "They will date long distance. Kanye will continue to be L.A.-based. He has no plans to move to NYC."

The source continued, "He is very focused on business in LA too. He likes spending time with Irina though and plans to see her soon again."
WENN/Ivan Nikolov Celebrity

To celebrate the special occasion, the former 'Gossip Girl' star and the 'Deadpool' actor visit Boston sushi eatery O Ya, the same location of their first date.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Apparently there's no day without trolling each other for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. The "Gossip Girl" alum and the "Deadpool" actor, who have been known for making fun of one another on social media, even kept up their tradition when celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first date.

On Saturday, July 31, the 33-year-old beauty shared a photo of herself posing next to her husband before going out for an evening outing. "10 years later. We still go out on our 'first date.' But in much more comfortable shoes," she captioned it.

Blake and Ryan then went to Boston sushi eatery O Ya, the same place where they had their first date. "If it weren't for this place. We wouldn't be together. No joke. No restaurant means more to us," she wrote alongside a picture of Ryan.

The married couple later took a selfie outside the restaurant. "Our favorite restaurant with her 4th favorite date," the 44-year-old quipped, before sharing a broader crop of the photo as his wife requested.

"Posting this again because I cut out my wife's cute earrings. She trained me better than this. Sorry if I let anyone down," Ryan wrote on the top of his face. Blake then reposted his Story and simply agreed, "That's right."

During the meal, Ryan and Blake set aside time to take a photograph with restaurant employees. The mother of three looked stunning in a white button-down sundress with black polka dots that she paired with black sandals. Her spouse, meanwhile, donned a blue shirt, grey slacks, tan sneakers and a tweed driving cap for the outing.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds celebrated the 10th anniversary of their first date.

The twosome met on the set of "Green Lantern" in 2010. They began dating a year later and married in September 2012. Together, they share three daughters, 6-year-old James, 4-year-old Inez and 21-month-old Betty.

Earlier this month, Ryan got candid about his first meeting with Blake. "I met Blake on the darkest crease in the anus of the universe called 'Green Lantern'," Ryan recalled when speaking to Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on "SmartLess" podcast. "We were friends and buddies and about a year and a half later we went on a double date but we were dating separate people."

"We hung out and kind of, you know, we always kind of kept in touch but sort of casually. And then next thing you know, she was going to Boston. I was going to Boston. So I was like, 'I'll ride with you,' " he further detailed. "We got on the train and rode together and then I was just begging her to sleep with me."
Instagram Celebrity

The former star of 'The Real Housewives of Orange County' is accompanied by her husband Rick Leventhal when partying at the Orange County gay bar Strut.

Aug 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Kelly Dodd wanted to prove that she's not against LGBTQ+ community. Days after drawing backlash over her transphobic remarks, the former star of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" was spotted hanging out at a gay club.

The 45-year-old reality star was accompanied by her husband Rick Leventhal while hitting the Orange County gay bar Strut over the weekend. According to Radar, the couple was seen in the VIP booth being served drinks while taking in the DJ set.

The news arrived just days after Kelly was accused of making transphobic comments in a Cameo video. After she got paid $100 to give someone named Jennifer a birthday shout-out, the TV personality said, "This is Jennifer 'she/her,' I don't get this."

"You're either a boy or a girl, OK? You're born a girl or a boy. I don't get it. You're Jennifer," the mother of one continued. "I'm sorry, I don't give a f**k."

Kelly has since come under fire. Having caught wind of the criticism, she clarified in an Instagram video, "I've been doing Cameos now for two years and I never saw the pronoun thing before."

Nothing that it was "the first time [she] saw a reference of he/him/she/they/them," Kelly elaborated, "I grew up, I grew up in Arizona with people who were born a boy and a girl and maybe a hermaphrodite here and there." She added, "When I was reading the Cameo I saw the pronouns and we'd been drinking and I was just reacting in my own raw and unfiltered way."

"I want to be very, very clear about this. That I accept everyone for who they are," Kelly went on explaining. "I accept everyone for who they want to be and who they believe themselves to be and I don't hate on anyone. I'm not transphobic. I was just unfamiliar with the language."

"If you want me to be tolerant, then you also need to be tolerant of me," Kelly told his followers. "That's only fair. And I'm learning and I'm growing and maybe you can help me with this." Along with her clip, she captioned, "My Cameo controversy. Please listen to my side with an open mind ! Thank you."
ASSOCIATED PRESS- The U.S. finally reached President Joe Bidens goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot in the arms of 70% of American adults.

But its a month late and amid a fierce surge by the delta variant that is swamping hospitals and leading to new mask rules and mandatory vaccinations around the country.

Biden set a goal of reaching the 70% threshold by the Fourth of July. But that target was set well before the highly contagious delta variant enabled the virus to come storming back and undermined the assumptions that were used to arrive at that figure.

The U.S. still has not hit the administrations other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4 It is about 8.5 million short.
Dentsu Webchutney, the digital creative agency from the house of dentsu India, has won the social media mandate for ACKO General Insurance, one of Indias leading digital insurance policy providers with its entire operations offered through the digital platform. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch.

In just 4 years, ACKO has set new benchmarks for customer experience in an otherwise slow-moving category. Dentsu Webchutney comes in with a specific goal to grow ACKOs place in the market, with an always-on social excellence approach.

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GD Prasad, Vice President, Dentsu Webchutney, said, In a short time, ACKO has established itself as a disruptive brand that every player in the category will soon follow. To partner with them, is to take another step into the deep end of the impact of digital technologies. We have the enviable chance to build a brand whose actions are aligned with its values. We will continue to push the bar for them in what has turned out to be a year of fantastic partnerships with disruptive new brands for Dentsu Webchutney.

Speaking on the partnership, Ashish Mishra, Executive Vice President - Marketing, ACKO General Insurance, said, We are absolutely thrilled to be joining forces with Dentsu Webchutney. Partnering with them to lead our charter on digital marks the beginning of a journey that is filled with intent and backed by action. We are certain that Dentsu Webchutney, with their nuanced understanding of the digital landscape, will fuel our vision to be the countrys most loved general insurance brand.

It is pertinent to note here that with this new association, Dentsu Webchutney will continue its progressive discourse, as it successfully has with Uber, Flipkart, IKEA, Swiggy and several other brands.
Elite Marque Public Relations has bagged the PR mandate of Blaupunkt TV India, one of the oldest German-based audio equipment manufacturers in the world. With this mandate, the agency will be responsible for the brands media duties, strategic brand positioning and advocacy, influencer engagement activities and reputation management in India.

The agency will service the account from its New Delhi office.

Blaupunkt founded in 1924, is a renowned German brand for consumer electronics, car multimedia, and related consumer lifestyle products. Now, the brand has recently launched the Smart TV segment in India and has entered into a brand licensee agreement with Super Plastronics (SPPL), Indias largest TV manufacturer.

Avneet Marwah, CEO SPPL, Blaupunkt licensee in India, said, "We are super thrilled to this strategic brand communication partnership with an experienced team composed of young creative minds of Elite Marque. The consumer tech sector is booming in India and along with the increasing user engagement, it is important to build awareness and the brands positioning amongst the audience. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration ahead. With Elite Marque, we believe that we would not only intensify our brands enhancement but also streamline our communication with the consumers, stakeholders, employees, and media."

Speaking on the announcement of the strategic agreement, Rajat Grover, Founder and CEO, Elite Marque Public Relations said The opportunity to work for a consumer-tech giant is an important milestone and an exciting opportunity for us. Therefore, we are elated to have Blaupunkt TV as our new client. We look forward to create meaningful brand strategies, craft powerful stories that connect with the target audience, deliver end-to-end solutions and strengthen SPPLs & Blaupunkts presence in India.

Elite Marque Public Relations was founded in October 2019 with a mission to educate, support and help established brands, emerging & aspiring entrepreneurs by looking at their goals and challenges and devise the most effective strategy for their organization. With the agency's extensive experience in communication strategies, reputation management and robust media relations, the firm grew by more than 100% YOY with a strong national and international clientele in Corporate, Technology, BFSI, FMCG, Retail, Technology and EdTech domains.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 02.08.2021 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, kicked off his trip to the Mekong region with a two-day visit to Thailand. Mr Cassis delivered a virtual 1 August address from the Swiss embassy in Bangkok to the Swiss community in the region. His talks with members of the Thai government focused on an expansion of bilateral cooperation. Together with Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Mr Cassis also attended celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries. Finally, on 2 August, he attended a ceremony to hand over to the Thai authorities a consignment of humanitarian supplies dispatched by Switzerland last week.

Switzerland's donation of approximately 100 respirators and over one million antigen test kits was made in response to an increase in COVID-19 infections in Thailand. At the handover ceremony, the Thai authorities thanked Mr Cassis for Switzerland's assistance. Mr Cassis also met with Thailand's Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to discuss the challenges of dealing with the pandemic.

At a virtual town-hall meeting in the Swiss embassy, he delivered a 1 August address to members of the Swiss community living in the Mekong region, in order to mark Switzerland's national day and to discuss with them how they were coping with the COVID-19 situation. Several thousand Many interested people joined in via Facebook and were able to watch the speech of the Federal Councillor live. Mr Cassis also met in person with representatives of the Swiss community in the region to discuss issues of concern to them.

Political talks with prime minister and foreign minister

The official talks with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), human rights and the crisis in Myanmar. Mr Cassis and his hosts also paid tribute to the friendly relations between the two countries. This year, Switzerland and Thailand are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Mr Cassis thanked Mr Pramudwinai for Thailand's good cooperation in facilitating repatriation flights of Swiss nationals in March 2020: "The support we give each other in times of crisis underscores that our bilateral ties have grown from strength to strength over the years. As an economic partner and a prominent member of ASEAN, Thailand is not only key for Switzerland but also for political and economic stability in the region." Switzerland has been a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN since 2016.

Mr Cassis also met with Varawut Silpa-archa, Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, to discuss climate change and opportunities for cooperation in this area.

Second most important trading partner in South East Asia

The two sides also expressed their interest in initiating negotiations on a free trade agreement. Technical discussions are currently under way between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Thailand on the general framework for potential negotiations. With an annual trade volume of approximately CHF 10.5 billion, Thailand is Switzerland's second most important trading partner in South East Asia. Over 200 companies with ties to Switzerland currently operate in Thailand, employing several thousand people. Mr Cassis also took advantage of his visit to Bangkok to inaugurate the new offices of the Swiss-Thai Chamber of Commerce (STCC) on the grounds of the Swiss embassy. In conjunction with this inauguration, Mr Cassis also took part in a hybrid signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between ETH Zurich  Leading House for bilateral cooperation in science and technology in Asia  and the STCC for an exchange programme for Swiss interns in companies affiliated with the STCC.

Thailand: a popular destination for Swiss tourists and expats

Approximately 15,000 Swiss citizens live in Thailand. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 200,000 Swiss tourists visited Thailand and 150,000 Thai tourists visited Switzerland every year. To facilitate an optimal response to developments in the travel sector, the two countries therefore signed an MoU in Bangkok on regular bilateral consular consultations.

Mr Cassis will travel on to Laos tomorrow and conclude his trip to the Mekong region with a visit to Vietnam on 5 and 6 August.

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Fall calving can give cattle producers some other options, from a management and marketing perspective.

Teresa Steckler, University of Illinois Extension educator, says the herd at the universitys Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in southern Illinois has been fall calving for several years.

Steckler says weather factors were a big part of the decision.

One of the biggest contributing factors for us was the mud issue, she says. For us in southern Illinois, we get a lot of rain in the spring.

While fall rains are common, it is a less muddy time, and Steckler says this helps with disease control. It also helps to avoid late winter and early spring winter storms.

You dont have to worry about respiratory issues as much, she says. Sometimes certain diseases are transferred through mud, and mud can get on the udder.

There are a number of factors to consider when thinking about switching partially or entirely to fall calving. Steckler says in addition to weather, the grass and forage situation is a key consideration.

Were going into the fall growth of fescue as well (during fall calving), she says. There are not as many endophyte issues either.

There can be challenges, such as when late summer and early fall conditions are hotter  especially if cows calve a few weeks early. Summer droughts can challenge producers ability to get cattle in good condition ahead of calving. But Steckler says having a good mix of cool-season and warm-season grasses can help work through the summer heat and keep good forage for cattle. She recommends a 50-50 mix of cool- and warm-season grasses, or at least having 30% warm season grasses.
Paul Lasley retired June 30 as a professor and Extension sociologist at Iowa State University.

Lasley, 69, grew up on a farm near Queen City, Missouri, and came to ISU in 1981 after receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Missouri. Lasley chaired both the sociology and anthropology departments at ISU, and is widely known for helping to develop the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll in 1982.

IFT: How did choose your career path?

LASLEY: I wasnt entirely sure what I wanted to do, but when I was in school, I found courses on sociology very interesting. My bachelors degree is in animal husbandry, but because of my interest in sociology, a couple professors thought they needed to get me into grad school.

IFT: You started working at ISU in 1981. Describe that experience.

LASLEY: I was very fortunate to come into a good department with a lot of support, and a department that had a real concern for the well-being of rural America.

IFT: Not long after you started at ISU, the farm crisis of the mid-1980s bared its teeth. It had to be overwhelming for you and your colleagues. How rough was it for not only rural America, but those who were trying to help farmers through it?

LASLEY: It was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We were doing our best to provide information to the various entities, to let people outside of the rural community know what was happening. We were able to document the extent of the financial hardship these people were going through, and hopefully we were able to inform folks about the plight of rural America.
The history of the Ravalli County Fairgrounds can be traced back to the late 1800s when Copper King Marcus Daly originally donated the land. Over the years since those humble beginnings, the Ravalli County Fair has morphed into one of Montanas most quintessential extravaganzas.

Nowadays, the Ravalli County Fairgrounds sits at the heart of Hamilton, Mont., both literally and figuratively speaking. County fairgrounds can often be taken for granted, but Joy McClure, president of the Ravalli County Fairgrounds Foundation, admits it takes a lot of behind the scenes work to upkeep a fairgrounds.

In the past we have always counted on 4-H and FFA dads to come in and do whatever needs to be done. We are very grateful for that, but the time has come where they cant handle it all, McClure said.

With the goal of promoting and encouraging the agriculture and history of the area, the Ravalli County Fairgrounds Foundation is a 501 (c) (3). As such, the foundation has the ability to apply for grants and with their monies the organization has been working on a wide array of projects for the last four years.

We have done a lot of different things around the fairgrounds  some big, some small projects  but we just keep trucking along, she said.

An example of one of the bigger projects made possible by funding procured by the Ravalli County Fairgrounds Foundation is the recent addition and upgrade of a handicap seating platform in the rodeo arena grandstands. The platform will be able to hold roughly 60-70 people and it will offer those seated a clear view of the rodeo action.
With maxed-out power lines and ever-increasing power prices, Nicollet County farmer and Minnesota Corn Growers president Tim Waibel said that power grid resilience is going to be on the forefront of every farmers mind in the coming years.

Waibel will join other experts in agriculture, politics and energy at the Rural Resiliency  Redesigning the U.S. Energy System panel set for 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, at Farmfest.

With an opportunity to learn more about clean energy proposals, and how biofuels, wind, and solar energy are fitting into the U.S. energy grid, Waibel will be joined by Congresswoman Angie Craig, D-2nd District; Sen. Gary Dahms, R-16th District; Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Director Bob Worth; and Novel Energy Solutions CEO Cliff Kaehler.

While a panelist himself, Waibel said his main concern moving forward is how the energy grid continues to survive the ever-increasing demand for power.

On our farm, there are 105 fans ranging from a horsepower to two, he said. Its of great importance to me to have a reliable source of power and a reasonably priced source of power.

Waibel said the fees on the farm are increasing every year and while he doesnt expect the cheapest energy available, hed like to see more reasonable solutions to the current energy demands. Part of his concern stems from load power lines already bear.

People are somewhat unaware that we are completely maxed out on capacity, he said.

Last winter, power was cut off to the Waibel farm, forcing them to use backup generators to run the operation. While theyve used backup generators for over 20 years, this was the first time he can remember that they came on in the winter.
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Historically, Democrats and Republicans were merely opposition parties. They had a few shared objectives  prosperity, liberty, and national security. However, they had very different ideas about how to achieve those objectives. It was a political environment well suited to debate and compromise.

Then the election of 2000 happened, and something changed. George W. Bush won the presidential election by a mere 537 votes. Losing in such a narrow fashion was too much for the Democrats to cope with. In their rage, they went insane.

The Democrat party has always had radical elements. But up until 2001, the party had mostly kept them at bay. In that year, surrendering to their insanity, they welcomed the guidance of radical leftists  and the purges began. With primary challenges, the leftists began driving moderates from the Democrat party. They even forced Joe Liebermann out of the party  and he had been their vice presidential candidate in the election of 2000. A mere 20 years after that devastating election loss, the likes of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar are now the soul of the party. The Democrats no longer share any meaningful common ground with Republicans.

After the leftists had taken over the Democrat party, the attacks on Republicans changed. There was even a political commercial that portrayed Congressman Paul Ryan pushing a wheelchair-bound grandmother off a cliff. They were no longer arguing that Republican policies were wrong. They were arguing that all Republicans were evil. In classic fashion, their war preparations had begun. The Democrats were dehumanizing their enemy.

And then, before audiences of thousands, Barack Obama called Republicans the enemy. The Republicans were no longer the opposition  now they were the enemy. The Democrats weren't interested in working with Republicans. Their objective was to destroy the Republicans  and they made no secret of it. Even when Republicans offered to work with the Democrats, they were told, "We won. You lost." The war between right and left is now out in the open for all to see. A New York Times reporter even referred to Trump supporters as "enemies of the state." Whether the political right wishes to admit it or not, the left has made its intentions clear  these people are at war with Republicans and their conservative fellow travelers.

Republicans in general, and RINOs in particular, need to wake up and realize that the Steele dossier, Crossfire Hurricane, and two impeachments were not about Trump. None of this was done because The Donald sends mean tweets. These attacks were done because he had denied them their "rightful victory." He dashed their dream to become our unchallenged rulers. Does anyone believe that had Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, or Jeb Bush been elected, he would have been spared similar attacks? When Mitt Romney (their ideal Republican) ran in 2012, was he spared? The Democrats would not have extended a hand of cooperation to any Republican president. They would have extended the same clenched fist which they presented to Donald Trump.

Since President Asterisk's inauguration (we know he was inaugurated; we don't know if he was elected), the attacks have escalated. The Democrats, and their leftist allies, are determined to never allow another conservative to dethrone them. Observation of their tactics reveals that there is no limit beyond which they will not go to retain power. They are seeking to:

Silence political opposition

Pack the Supreme Court

Weaponize government against its citizens

Nationalize elections and institutionalize election fraud

Indoctrinate our children

Manage the population with propaganda

Suppress our freedom of speech

Restrict our freedom of assembly (religious and political)

Eliminate our right to self-defense

Ally their party with rioters and looters

In short, they're willing to destroy the American dream to retain power. That will require tyranny  which they are quite comfortable with as long as they're the tyrants. If you doubt that statement, recall that Joe Biden's inaugural address was the first in U.S. history delivered solely to an armed military contingent. If given their way, leftists will turn America into Cuba of the North  with their ally the Democrat party.

If conservatives seek liberty, and our opposition seeks tyranny, it's foolish to think we can compromise  and immoral to try. Every Republican needs to realize that the time for compromise is past. Democrats allow Republican participation only when it supports their bipartisan narrative. Negotiating a bipartisan infrastructure bill doesn't serve the American people. It shows support for those who are trying to oppress our liberties. To think we can fight them on the oppression front but find common ground for infrastructure is wrong-headed. It's the modern-day equivalent of the "he makes the trains run on time" rationalization. Listen up, RINOs: if they are trying to destroy America, we don't care if a few bridges get fixed  get your priorities straight.

This brings us to the Vichy Republicans  AKA the "Pelosi Republicans." Whether through stupidity, vanity, or sympathy, they are helping the enemies of liberty. San Fran Nan's January 6 inquisition includes only those Republicans who will reliably support the Democrat narrative  and specifically excludes any Republicans who would ask hard questions. It's not a true investigation. It's political theater, with Republican useful idiots as the star performers.

It's time to end the charade of comity. The left will accuse conservatives of being extremists. But as Barry Goldwater famously said, "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue." It's time to defend liberty with the same passion that leftists have employed in imposing Marxism.

The past six months have been a time for Republicans to choose  and they have. Some have chosen liberty, while others are enabling tyranny. Some stood as patriots, and suffered for it, while others chose to be Vichy and stand with the oppressors. Now the electorate will judge the Vichy. Next year, the voters will decide whether to reward or punish them for their treachery.

In 1945, the French dealt with the Vichy by shaving their heads and ostracizing them. In 2022, primary challenges will probably suffice.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Star, Idaho. He is a retired engineer with 40 years of experience in the areas of product development, quality assurance, organizational development, and corporate strategic planning. He currently writes at the American Free News Network (americanfreenewsnetwork.org). He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: MasterTux via Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." That's from President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. Poor John must be spinning in his grave. Since then, the USA has revised his words. It is now, "Ask what you can do for your country and how much it is willing to pay you to do it."

Welcome to the Bribe-ocracy.

"Bribe-ocracy": a system of government where citizens and/or residents are bribed to behave in a way consistent with the goals of the administration.

"Bribe-ocrat": government officials who bribe the population to behave in a manner the officials desire. (Please note that a bribe-ocrat is different from a venal official, commonly known as a "politician.")

The latest bribe-ocratic behavior modification attempt was announced by The Big Guy on July 29, 2021:

President Biden is urging state and local governments to use coronavirus relief funds to pay citizens $100 a pop to take the coronavirus vaccine, the Treasury Department announced Thursday. The Biden administration said the payments can come from American Rescue Plan Act funding "as an extra incentive" to increase vaccine acceptance around the country. The administration had said earlier this year that lotteries and other incentives were acceptable uses of the $350 billion in aid funds doled out to state and local governments.

The latest offer is intended to incentivize people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Biden is not the only pol who is paying people to behave:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has ordered public sector employees in the Big Apple to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, announced the $100 payouts for anyone who got the vaccine at a city-run site earlier this week. Embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom handed out millions of dollars last month as part of the Golden State's vaccination push. In Missouri, state leaders are offering $100 gift cards to thousands of public employees  and Alabama is allowing vaccine recipients of driving age to take two laps around the Talladega Superspeedway West Virginia is giving vaccine recipients the choice of either a $100 savings bond or a $100 gift card. In Detroit, just driving someone to a vaccination site can net you $50.

And the USA is not the only country to bribe its population into COVID compliance, as this headline attests:

Governments Around The World Offer Extravagant Bribes In Desperate Effort To Increase COVID Vaccine Uptake

Bribe-ocratic behavior is neither new nor unique to COVID.

It has been used to bribe kids to attend school:

Students with perfect attendance in California's Temecula Valley School District can win iPods, DVD players, and even a trip to Disneyland. In Hartford, Connecticut, Fernando Vazquez, 9, is $10,000 richer because he didn't miss a single day of class last year. Across the country, schools are rewarding students for perfect and improved attendance. Prizes range from free meals at Applebee's to $10,000 in cash[.] ... The Chicago School District will spend $500,000 on incentive programs this year. If attendance goes up by I percent, the district will receive an extra $18 million in state funding. Christian Soils, 14, thinks that students will also benefit from the program: "It influences kids to go to school instead of staying at home," says the eighth-grader at Darwin Elementary School in Chicago. "Whatever way possible to get kids in school is fine by me."

Surprisingly, a result has been that:

Nicole Salamone, 12, a seventh-grader at Allendale Columbia School in Rochester, New York, says that students should be paid to learn: "I don't see why the teachers get paid for going to work and kids don't get paid for going to school. It is our job to go to school."

I wonder where she got that attitude.

It has been used to entice obese people to lose weight:

Fat people could be paid to lose weight under Government plans to tackle obesity. Ministers said the Health Service and employers could give vouchers to the overweight to spend on healthy food in supermarkets. They also suggested that those who manage to lose weight could be given cash prizes.

The bribe-ocrats have reached out to gangs:

As Blue Lives Matters shares, "The city of Sacramento is setting aside $1.5 million dollars of taxpayers money to pay gang members to stop killing people." ... "The program pays gang members to graduate school and stop shooting at people. If a gang member wants to start killing people, they'll be forfeiting their taxpayer-funded payday," Blue Lives Matter adds.

UBI (Universal Basic Income) has been described as a bribe:

"The Democrats might have just figured it out. Just bribe people to vote for them. Why stop at $1,000? Let's go to 2 and 3 until you can just overload the Treasury and no one knows what's going to happen  We will just print [the money]," he said. "I just see every homeless person or someone is down on their luck or drug abuser  [they can] just move to L.A., Chicago, New York, get a mailbox address. Collect $1,000 a month. Why not?"

Gun "buy-back" programs bribe people to relinquish their firearms:

Cleveland Police are working to make your streets safer through their annual gun buy back program.

...and...

The doors of St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Reading will be open to anyone on Saturday  not for worship but for a gun buyback event[.] ... Jones says Reading police officers will be on hand to evaluate the firearms. Handguns, shotguns, and rifles will be exchanged for $100 while assault weapons will go for $200.

It's not just for cash bribes, either:

Turn in a gun anonymously and receive a gift card. Free gun locks and safe gun storage information provided. Gift card amounts: $25  Single & double-shot handguns $50  Rifles and Shotguns $100  Pistols and Revolvers $200  Assault Weapons (to be determined by Guilford PD)

Other examples abound (e.g., forgiveness for traffic violations, library fines, tax delinquency).

Bribing a segment of the population to act in a certain way  e.g., get vaccinated, maintain a "healthy" body weight  when others have voluntarily acted "responsibly" incentivizes everybody to disregard doing what is "right" until the bribe is offered.

Why do willingly for free when being unwilling will net you a payment for the same behavior?

If the government wants to go down that road, would it not be better to contribute to the bank accounts of those who did what was "right" and make those doing "wrong" feel jealous?

"Everybody who has been fully vaccinated will get a $100 check in the mail. If you have not, see what you missed?"

"Everybody who has been fully vaccinated will be entered into weekly $100,000 lotteries. To those of you who haven't, you are not eligible."

Our bribe-ocratic system of government has tentacles that reach foreign soil after passing through our wallets.

Kamala Harris revealed her 5-Point Plan for addressing the "root causes" of illegal migration. Not even one is without American dollars being spent:

Addressing economic insecurity and inequality

Combatting corruption

Promoting respect for human rights

Countering and preventing violence

Combatting sexual violence

The eligibility requirements for asylum in the USA are as follows:

The person seeking asylum must meet the definition of "refugee" according to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) The INA defines "refugee" as a person who has been persecuted or has a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country, on the basis of: Race Religion Nationality Membership in a social group, or Political opinion.

How Kamala's five pillars address these requirements on point is a mystery, making the reasoning behind the bribery quite opaque.

It is an odd quirk, that lawbreakers, irresponsible citizens/residents, truant students, and other wrongdoers are rewarded for their rebelliousness and that contributing citizens/residents get disadvantaged.

Biden and Harris, together with other bribe-ocrats, have placed their own unique spin on the carrot and stick. Carrots to the transgressors; stick it to the compliant.

Unfortunately, bribing the population to be accountable is not a mere slippery slope. It is an event horizon.

Image via Piqsels.

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In one of the most outrageous instances of internet censorship, YouTube has suppressed Australian news giant SkyNews for a week, based on its reports about hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

The London Telegraph has the first report here:

Sky News Australia has been banned for a week from uploading videos to Youtube after it was accused of spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. The Sky News Australia channel on YouTube received a "strike" over "numerous" video clips, including "content that denies the existence of Covid-19," the video platform said. It means that the broadcaster is blocked from publishing videos on YouTube for seven days, and will be permanently banned from the platform if it receives a second and third strike in future.

SkyNews has explicitly denied that it ever claimed that COVID does not exist, according to this Washington Post report just out. Here's what it probably was really about:

These include featuring some right-wing personalities that discourage viewers from taking the coronavirus threat seriously.

The rest of the beef comes to this, emphasis mine:

Australian media reported that the one-week suspension came after a review of Sky News Australia content that denied the existence of Covid-19 or encouraged people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat the coronavirus. A YouTube spokesman told the Guardian that the video clips on hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin would have been allowed if "sufficient countervailing context" had been provided by the uploader. They added that "we dont allow content that denies the existence of Covid-19."

This is an amazingly heavy hand of censorship of bona fide news, given that YouTube is a near-monopoly.

And it's wrong on at least two levels. One, even if the network were wrong (a big "if"), the censorship would be wrong, too. In a free society, news agencies sink or swim based on the accuracy of their information. To shut them down on a false claim of denying COVID, or for reporting on the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, serves zero useful purpose. In a country with a free press, if SkyNews is wrong about those treatments, its credibility will vanish, and its audience will evaporate. Viewers are not stupid. But YouTube seems to think they are.

Meanwhile, YouTube's disgusting bottom note that it will permit some reporting on ivermectin and HCQ provided the news reports include skeptical notes from officials is even more appalling. Who the heck are they to tell reporters how to structure what is important to include in a story? Is that a free press?

They seem to think they've got a monopoly on truth when in reality they have a monopoly on power.

Two, now COVID is catching fire again, apparently in some places  NBC News sensationally reports 35 million cases in the U.S.  so honest reporting about treatments is more than a little newsworthy. To repress news of any treatments in a pandemic is not only anti-news, it's utterly scary.

Because the hard fact here is that news shifts. The mainstream media first downplayed the COVID virus last year as anti-Chinese racism, then overplayed it, complete with utterly false information denying the origins of the virus, likely from a Chicom lab. It has backtracked and pushed forward on other aspects, such as the wearing of masks and the shutdown of schools, seemingly with zero regard for facts, the only common thread visible in it is the urge to Get Trump and support corporate Big Pharma profits.

Censorship has already been pretty bad out there, with doctors on the ground reporting successful HCQ and ivermectin treatments outside the conventional wisdom; we've seen them get abused and shut down.

At this point, what we know now is that the skeptics and outliers have frequently been proven right. Yet right as they may be, the censoring just keeps going on  a bad thing, given that these are life-saving treatments, the current treatments in place aren't impressive, and all of the attention has been on the vaccine.

It's important now because what we know so far is that vaccines don't seem to be working all that well (see AT contributor Brian C. Joondeph, M.D.'s excellent op-ed here), so people are catching it. While deaths don't seem to be all that high, as most cases are mild, in line with the historic pattern of pandemic viral variants to be weaker, the virus is still highly contagious, and some people are in danger.

With vaccines no panacea, it makes sense to look hard at effective treatments for those who get sick.

In Australia, home of SkyNews, as well as its neighbors in the region  Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India  the effective treatment is widely recognized to be hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and ivermectin. Just google the names of any of those countries with either of those medicines, and there's your proof. All of these countries have significant experience with battling tropical infectious diseases, so even without the FDA's say-so, it's a given that they've got an opinion about what's safe, what's worth trying, and what's likely to work. HCQ is historically an anti-malarial drug that's cheap and abundant, while ivermectin is known to battle parasites and is also cheap and easy to acquire. These drugs, incidentally, have been hailed in the region as responsible for halting India's disastrous COVID outbreak earlier this year.

According to MedPage Today, which reported that result skeptically:

The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which has long championed the drug, paid little attention to the difference between causation and correlation in a recent tweet on the issue: "Case counts and deaths are falling in India! A close look ... shows that the declines occurred as the Health Ministry [sic] began its widespread distribution of #ivermectin."

(Apparently, we're supposed to think it all just died off on its own).

These countries in the SkyNews orbit have also produced more than anecdotal evidence that these treatments work  they also have hard studies.

Here's one from Singapore finding that HCQ is effective in treating COVID (added note: Singapore has internationally respected medical research and the region's best medical care).

Here's a devastating case made from leading medical researchers in the states noting study after study on ivermectin's effectiveness, from the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page, which ran this on July 28 under the headline: "Why is the FDA attacking a safe, effective drug?"

Ivermectin was developed and marketed by Merck & Co. while one of us (Mr. Hooper) worked there years ago. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing avermectin, which Mr. Campbell and associates modified to create ivermectin. Ivermectin is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines. Merck has donated four billion doses to prevent river blindness and other diseases in Africa and other places where parasites are common. A group of 10 doctors who call themselves the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance have said ivermectin is one of the safest, low-cost, and widely available drugs in the history of medicine. Ivermectin fights 21 viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19. A single dose reduced the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in cells by 99.8% in 24 hours and 99.98% in 48 hours, according to a June 2020 study published in the journal Antiviral Research. Some 70 clinical trials are evaluating the use of ivermectin for treating Covid-19. The statistically significant evidence suggests that it is safe and works for both treating and preventing the disease.

The rest of the piece is brutal to skeptics of ivermectin with hard facts and cases, which pretty well make the case that news of this treatment should get out.

Yet this is the news that YouTube is suppressing in its sickola censorship of SkyNews.

How many people are going to catch COVID and die from it because they don't even know about ivermectin or HCQ, both of which show significant evidence of working, all because of YouTube's censorship?

Why is this news of an actual cure being repressed? And show us someone who got sick from the treatment in a controlled prescriptive environment? I have yet to see any; I just see self-interested bureaucrats screaming danger in an exaggerated way, while unsung heroes, such as the doctor in Texas who saved a whole nursing home full of elderly COVID patients based on HCQ use with no bad side-effects, go ignored, demonized, or suppressed.

This is about as strong an argument as can be made for revoking social media's Section 230 protections, which allow them to claim the title of a neutral platform with no liability worries yet act as an East German censor, suppressing news in the name of its own political agenda. If they can't lay off the censorship, then it's time for Congress to take legal action. Lives are at stake now in Season II of COVID, and these censors should be held responsible, should anyone die of COVID, not knowing of the treatments they might have had. Twenty twenty-two can't come soon enough, for this alone.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay license.

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The Biden administration believes that boder violators have more rights than American citizens. If you or I try to enter our homeland from a foreign country, we are required to provide a negative COVID test, but an illegal entrant on the southern border faces no such necessity. And receives complimentary transportation to the destination of his/her/their choice courtesy of our taxes, to boot.

Illegal aliens wait on US side of the border for processing, food and accommodatilns, transportation to their intended destination, and even legal representation if Biden gets his way (YouTube screengrab)

While Americans are guaranteed legal representation in criminal cases regardless of ability to pay, when it comes to civil court proceedings, were all on our own. But if the Biden administration gets its plan passed, illegal aliens will benefit from taxpayer-funded lawyers in these civil cases, even though another law forbids such assistance. Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washington Examiner:

President Joe Biden proposed in his immigration plan released this week that Congress should make available $15 million to cover the costs of private lawyers for families and vulnerable individuals, with another $23 million to cover legal orientation programs administered by the Justice Department. The proposal, first outlined in Biden's fiscal year 2022 budget, is the first time that an administration has proposed covering such an expense, and the White House has not shared additional information. (snip) [Heritage senior fellow for homeland security Lora] Ries and [former federal immigration judge from the York Immigration Court Andrew] Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a group that advocates for tighter restrictions on immigration, pointed to a passage in the Immigration Nationality Act that they said bars the government from spending its own money on legal representation in immigration proceedings. Section 292 of the law states that in any removal proceedings before an immigration judge and in any appeal proceedings before the Attorney General from any such removal proceedings, the person concerned shall have the privilege of being represented (at no expense to the Government) by such counsel, authorized to practice in such proceedings, as he shall choose. An alien should pay for their own counsel, or there are many, many pro bono organizations and advocacy organizations that can represent them. The American taxpayer should not be paying for an attorney for someone who is removable, said Ries. Ries and Arthur said it would not be fair to provide lawyers for people in immigration cases, which are civil matters, because U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents do not receive taxpayer-funded legal representation if they are the defendant in other civil matters, such as divorces or rent disputes.

The sums proposed would cover only a tiny fraction of the illegals violating our borders, ever since Biden threw out the welcome mat. Which means that the next stage will be expanding the funding because of the crisis of unrepresented illegals.

Dont expect the agitprop media to cover this story now. But wait until the initial round of money is passed and court cases start being attended by taxpayer-funded legal counsel and then the money exhausted. Thats when youll see stories on CNN, MSNBC, and the alphabet networks featuring the cutest possible little children who face deportation because there wasnt enough money for their lawyers. Denied counsel and deported will scream the headlines, preferably with a grieving parent or two separated from the child.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky
Forget about the Constitution and the God-given rights it affirms, at least according to St. Anthony Fauci and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Over the weekend, they announced that due to the less lethal but more contagious delta variant of COVID-19, those rights mean nothing. Hysterical fear has always been the wannabe tyrant's best friend.

Appearing on ABC TV's This Week, responding to a set-up question by substitute host Jonathan Karl that positioned Republican governors as villains standing in the way of mask and vaccine mandates, the highest-paid bureaucrat in the federal government averred that "the spread of infection" impacts everyone, "when you are dealing with a public health situation ... a person's individual decision. ... You very well may infect another person. ... So in essence, you are encroaching on their individual rights."

The speaker of the House, meanwhile, tweeted out yesterday that the widely distrusted CDC has the power on its own to deprive landlords of their contractually due rent payments from tenants. This, after she failed to get an extension of the moratorium passed by the elected legislative body she leads.

The CDC has the power to extend the eviction moratorium. As they double down on masks, why wouldn't they extend the moratorium in light of delta variant?  Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 1, 2021

In stating this, the speaker contradicted a ruling from the Supreme Court:

Congress extended the ban in December for a month, but then the Biden Administration extended it three times through Saturday despite rulings from several judges that the CDC had exceeded its authority. Last month Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the liberals in maintaining a stay on a lower-court injunction reversing the ban. Justice Kavanaugh wrote that he agreed the CDC acted unlawfully but allowed the moratorium to continue so rental assistance appropriated by Congress could have more time to be distributed. But he said a "clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31."

The irony of Pelosi taking this position was noted by others on Twitter:

The Supreme Court just ruled the opposite not too long ago. https://t.co/Z1G7PqkP44  Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) August 1, 2021

Speaker of the House urging an executive branch agency to openly defy the Supreme Court. Remarkable. https://t.co/6Os8SxEDBV  Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 1, 2021

Hat tip: The Last Refuge and The Right Scoop

Photo credit: Rumble video screen grab

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(Although it can be hard to tell nowadays, this post is satire.)

To help our colleagues at Homeland Security identify potential threats from domestic terrorists, we here at the White House Task Force on Lawless Online Lowlifes (WTFLOL) are asking for your help.

After all, our records show that the average American spends approximately 22.5 hours a day on various social media sites. Although the government's surveillance program is quite thorough and sophisticated, and our partners in Big Tech have been extremely cooperative, it is still theoretically possible for you to notice something online that we miss.

For that reason, we offer this brief tutorial on how to spot potential domestic terrorists among your social media friends and followers. This list, while not exhaustive, is nevertheless an accurate means of identifying individuals who might not be in complete conformity with the priorities of the current United States government.

Demographics. The first indicator is demographics. According to our colleagues at the FBI, domestic terrorists are likely to be white, male, and middle-aged. That is not to say all your middle-aged, white male friends and followers on social media are domestic terrorists. It is simply a way of narrowing down the pool of potential miscreants. You can basically eliminate from consideration anyone who is not white, male, and middle-aged while directing more scrutiny toward those who fall into that demographic.

Other distinguishing features. Potential or nascent domestic terrorists  that is, those in the process of being radicalized  also tend to have other distinguishing physical features, including facial hair (especially goatees), shaved heads, and military insignia tattoos. They may also wear hats or tee-shirts with such insignia, and they tend to have a penchant for cargo shorts.

Science denial. As we come together to fight COVID-19 by temporarily suspending basic human rights for the good of the entire country, one specific behavior that has emerged among potential domestic terrorists is denial of The Science. This typically manifests in posts that question or disparage CDC guidance regarding masking, social distancing, and other restrictions in public places, especially schools.

These posts may seem confusing because they cite actual scientific data. What is important to remember, however, is that when people question the CDC, they are not only denying The Science, but are also promoting distrust in our government. That sets a dangerous precedent  especially where the COVID-19 vaccines are concerned.

Today's domestic terrorists sow discord by questioning the process by which the vaccines were approved and the government's desire for universal vaccination. They assert that those in low-risk groups, such as children and those with prior infections, might not need to be vaccinated. Although these claims might appear to have scientific support, they run counter to the CDC's recommendations.

Remember that the vaccines were developed and brought to market in record time, which was nothing less than a modern miracle. Under the circumstances, determining efficacy is an ongoing process, and adverse events are to be expected.

Political discourse. Domestic terrorists self-identify almost exclusively as conservatives or libertarians (although recently a small number of self-identified liberals have become radicalized as well). Their political leanings are readily apparent in their online activity.

For example, potential domestic terrorists frequently quote the so-called "Founding Fathers," including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. Since all have been discredited as racists and misogynists, their words may foment discord or even rebellion. Other names to look for include Friedrich von Hayek, Adam Smith, C.S. Lewis, John Locke, and Abraham Lincoln, all well-known colonizers and white supremacists.

Subversive symbols. As you interact online with individuals you suspect might be domestic terrorists, keep an eye out for telltale symbols, such as the American flag. Many potential domestic terrorists actually use the flag in their profile photos. Even worse is the so-called Gadsden Flag, which features a coiled rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread on Me" on yellow background. If you see this symbol on an individual's social media posts, please contact us immediately.

Insistence on "rights." The surest sign that you might be engaging with a domestic terrorist is that they habitually use words like "freedom," "liberty," and "rights." Specifically, they often reference the First Amendment, which they believe confers "freedom of speech" and thus gives them the right to say anything they want, even if it constitutes hate speech (like "men cannot have babies" and "marriage is between a man and a woman").

They also insist that the Second Amendment gives them the right to keep and bear arms. Thus, they often post photos of themselves with their firearms and use phrases like "molon labe" ("come and take them").

The most important thing to keep in mind is that middle-aged white men represent the most serious danger to our democracy today, except for systemic racism, climate change, the delta variant, and Britney Spears's conservatorship. That is why we must remain vigilant. It will take all of us to defeat this threat.

The above list of attributes and behaviors, though incomplete, should serve as a good "pocket guide" for identifying potential terrorists. Since this is a developing situation, please keep an eye out for updates. As the current administration continues to implement its policies, legislative priorities, and executive orders, online activity among potential domestic terrorists may increase.

Meanwhile, if you observe any of these indicators during your online interactions, please go to WTFLOL's website and click on "Tools," then "Re-education" to file a report. Your government thanks you.

Image: Gadsden flag.

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The New York Times is making absurd assertions about the occurrence at the Capitol on January 6  assertions worthy of Soviet propaganda in Pravda under Stalin and his Soviet Union successors. The article, co-authored by Lisa Lerer and Nick (Fanciful) Fandos, was the second lead, August 1 front page: "G.O.P. Strives to Turn a Riot Upside Down." I had to stop in mid-article on reading this phrase: "the most violent attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812."

What about the shooting in the House on March 1, 1954, by Puerto Rican "nationalists," wounding five congressmen  an incident that perhaps the Times now wishes to cover up? What about the bombing of the Capitol, carried out by a former Harvard professor, no less?

There was no arson committed at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The same cannot be said of the fires, and looting, and pillaging in urban areas throughout the country  acts of violence for which the leftist response was "defund the police."

The propagandizing duo from The New York Times wrote that Jan. 6 resulted in "gruesome scenes of violence that left five people dead." Wrong. The violence, caused by a Capitol police officer, left one person dead, the unarmed Ashli Babbitt, egregiously termed "a rioter who was shot trying to break into the House chamber[.]" It is unlikely that the 34-year old Ms. Babbitt was "a rioter." More likely, she was permitted into the Capitol by accommodating Capitol police who have yet to testify before the partisan Pelosi panel  and are unlikely to be called. The Biden administration continues to keep the circumstances of the killing of Ms. Babbitt, including the identity of her Capitol policeman assailant, under wraps.

Here is a video of one case of rioting in the summer of 2020, in Chicago. This is what real rioting and looting look like.

Co-authors Lerner and Fandos indicated, via a second "fact" worth noting, that some 500 people are being held on Jan. 6 (minor) charges. If 100,000 patriots attended President Trump's rally that day, that would make the Capitol demonstrators one half of one percent of the Trumpists who participated in the occurrence at the Capitol. (And they were not even armed with fire extinguishers.)

The co-authors seized on Russian president Putin's use of the term "assassination" in reference to the killing of Ms. Babbitt, claiming that it is now an excuse to deflect questions about political prisoners in Russia today. And yet, isn't the jailing of people for months on end, without trial, the stuff of tyrannical regimes? Why have the 1/6 500 been held so long on minor charges? Isn't this a matter for writs of habeas corpus  in democracies? Or is it the Biden administration that intends to put America on the slippery slope to tyranny? See Federalist No. 1, in which Hamilton warns that leaders who seem to pander to the people end up as tyrants.

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Only if Americans are too fearful to leave their homes to vote can the left count on winning. Only the necessity of mail-in ballots can guarantee their wins. The new mask mandates, the fearmongering over this or that variant, are all of a piece: the left must cheat to win and they know cheating is their only way to victory.

As evidence mounts that the vaccines do not work, that the antibodies do not last, that they are creating the variants as the virus seeks survival around the vaccines (that's what viruses do) the left is doubling down on the failed restrictions it implemented to destroy a booming economy and steal an election. Said restrictions did little to curb the Wuhu virus  not the lockdowns, not masks, and it is now clear that the vaccines are failing.

The breakthrough cases are mostly among the fully vaccinated. This is true around the world. The vaccines have not succeeded as planned, or maybe they have. Maybe failure is part of the plan. The jabs cause a myriad of horrific adverse consequences, and while they may reduce the severity of symptoms, they do not prevent one from getting COVID.

And as it was in the beginning, unless one suffers from one or more of the known co-morbidities, most of us are not at risk of dying of COVID, nor are our kids or grandkids. It's all a grand scheme to wrest control over a population of 330M. What is shocking is how many of those 330M fell for this globalist scheme. They stayed home; kept their kids captive to Zoom classes, which are a poor excuse for actual teaching; and submitted to the experimental vaccines and to the mindless flip-flops of those calling the shots like Fauci, the CDC's Walinsky, and a host of other un-elected little bullies.

What has become of the American people? They've been anesthetized by a disreputable media establishment comprising lackeys of the left. The mainstream media have no scruples; they slavishly do the left's bidding without a shred of self-awareness. The hapless Chuck Todd denies that there is a liberal bias in the media! How's that for living in denial?

Some incontrovertible facts about COVID have been revealed. The virus was a gain-of-function creation in the Wuhan lab; Fauci did fund that research; it is lethal largely to the elderly and otherwise vulnerable due to one or more other life-threatening conditions.

The leftists who depended upon it to successfully sabotage the Trump presidency, steal the election, and panic the population into fear of leaving their homes were ecstatic for a while. But things have not gone precisely according to plan. The breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated discredit the effectiveness of the vaccines.

But the old never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste habit has kicked in, and the administration has reverted to type  fear-mongering. "It's a pandemic of the unvaccinated," they say, and the mindless media repeat the scare. But it's not. Their obvious distress at this turn of events is making people less likely to go for the jab. Why should they? If one still has to mask up and can still get COVID, what's the point?

Sadly, the many scientists who warned about using mRNA on humans without more testing have been suppressed if not silenced. Some have had their careers destroyed. Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of mRNA, is one of them. Check out this interview. Those who, from the beginning, recognized the usefulness of HCQ and/or ivermectin as both prophylactic and treatment were mocked mercilessly, even though they were correct. One of them, Dr. Stella Immanuel, is suing CNN and Anderson Cooper for $100M. Big Pharma was not about to let drugs so old they were out of patent interfere with the billions in profit they have netted. They cannot be fettered by the financial consequences of telling the truth. Those doctors and scientists would have to be buried, and for the most part, they have been.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have seen to that, and the administration has acknowledged that the suppression of any information that veers from their narrative is on their orders. So much for the First Amendment. It's hanging by a thread. The aggressive coercion tactics of Biden Inc. are shredding the Nuremberg Code as if it never existed.

Alex Berenson, the former New York Times science writerturnedsocial media truth-teller, has repeatedly been suspended from Twitter, this last time for citing, word for word, information from Pfizer's own website. That is how paranoid the administration is, how terrified that we the people might learn something not approved by the regime.

Those who do not have the time, inclination, or wherewithal to do their own research are left to the devices of this deviant administration that is importing nearly a million migrants from the Third World who are unmasked; unvaxxed; and, among them, thousands who are ill and not just with COVID. Nice plan, and it is a plan  the plan to give these invaders amnesty and the right to vote and ensure a one-party nation in perpetuity, just like the CCP. That's their plan, and they're sticking to it.

How long will the American people stand for this? The people of France are not taking it lying down, nor are the people of Greece, Italy, Australia, or the U.K.

As law-abiding Americans watch several of our major cities dissolve into urban ganglands fraught with shoplifting, random street crimes, and senseless homicides, the left continues to defund and disparage the police. Every one of the district attorneys Soros got elected has refused to prosecute crimes; each is decidedly pro-criminal, anti-victim. They are actively promoting crime, like the riots across the country last summer that did billions of dollars in damage.

We are fast becoming a totalitarian state run by an oligarchic ruling class that fancies itself "elite," thus superior to the rest of us. But they are afflicted with a tragic lack of common sense. Soon most Americans will discern the road on which we now find ourselves thanks to a corrupt Democrat party and a gutless Republican Party. We must rely upon the few fighters who actually care about their constituents. We all know who they are. We must support them. In the meantime, watch the world around you.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Motorists driving along Highway 5, about 30 km north of the small town of Suomussalmi, in north-eastern Finland, are greeted by a peculiar sight. A crowd of almost a thousand figures stand silently on a field near the road. In the morning with light behind them, this motionless army appears morose, even menacing. But when a light breeze picks up their colorful dresses and blows them around their still bodies, they appear to have sprung into life.

This army of scarecrow-like figures called the Silent People or Hiljainen kansa in Finnish, were the creation of local artist Reijo Kela. They were first displayed in 1988 in a field in Lassila, a neighbourhood of Helsinki. Later in 1994 these were on display in the Market Place of Helsinki's Senate Square, then on the banks of the river Jalonuoma, Ammansaari and finally moved to this location in 1994 itself.

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The peat-headed, wooden-framed effigies are maintained by the Suomussalmi Youth Workshop who change their clothing twice a year using clothes collected through donations.

Passing motorists always wonder what precisely is the artist's idea behind the Silent People. But Reijo Kela refuses to provide any explanation, forcing people to form their own interpretation. Some view it as a state of psychological withdrawal, others believe it represents some forgotten people. A popular theory is that they represent those lost during a brutal battle that took place nearby during the Winter War of 1939-1940 between the Finns and Soviet Russia.

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Sources: Atlas Obscura / Travelogue of an Armchair Traveller / www.suomussalmi.fi

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Perhaps the strangest thing to be ever moved by rail was a housemore precisely, the courthouse at Hemingford, which was at the time the county seat of Box Butte County, Nebraska. The courthouse was relocated to Alliance which had seized the position of the county seat from Hemingford.

Until 1899, residents of Box Butte County couldnt really decide where to place their county seat. After breaking away from southern Dawes County (residents were tired of traversing nearly 60 miles to the courthouse in Chadron) in 1886 to form their own little county, Box Butte, the seceders voted to name Nonpareil as their county seat. Nonpareil was the first community to pop up in the new Box Butte County, a small town of 50 residents. But when the Burlington Railroad cut through Box Butte County missing Nonpareil by 5 miles, the county had no other option but to choose a new county seat.

In 1890, another election was held to decide Box Butte Countys new county seat. The two contenders were Alliance and Hemingford. Through some questionable voting and with the backing of the Lincoln Land Company which wished to promote the communitys growth, Hemingford managed to secure the seat and a new courthouse was erected there. Nine years later, the issue was still unresolved and residents of Alliance did everything in their power to hold another election. This time Alliance won, and the county commissioners were faced with the quandary of what to do with the courthouse.

Because the courthouse in Hemingford was less than 10 years old and still held structural value, it was decided that the current courthouse would be moved 20 miles to the southeast to be relocated in Alliance. The first attempt to move it was done by two teams of horses pulling the structure that had been put on large rollers. The horses would pull it a couple feet and then the back rollers would have to be moved to the front again. After ten days, the house had moved only 15 feet, and the method was abandoned as it was too slow and impractical.

J. R. Phelan, the superintendent of the Wyoming division of the Burlington, proposed to move the building on the railroad. Accordingly, the 45 feet by 54 feet by 40 feet high structure weighing 95 tons, was mounted and secured on nine pairs of railroad cars. Accompanied by a train crew of 75, which facilitated the train's progress by widening cuts where necessary, the train proceeded at 10 miles per hour. The entire move took only 6 hours.

The move elicited considerable attention, and the event was publicized with commemorative plates and silver spoons with the picture and the date of the move, July 3, 1899.

References:

# John Obed Curtis, Moving Historic Buildings

# Blake Hensen, How To Get Away With Stealing A Courthouse, Building a Home on the Range

# Nonpareil (Box Butte County), The Lincoln Journal Star

# Aaron Wade, Happy Birthday Hemingford, Star Herald




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Men in white robes burned a large cross on a hill on the west side of Anniston on Aug. 1, 1932, but the front-page article taking note of the event the next day offered no distinct reason for the occurrence.
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President Joe Biden walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House June 29, 2021, in Washington D.C. The Senate is poised to pass an infrastructure package, a key part of Biden's agenda. (Ken Cedeno/Pool/ABACAPRESS.COM/TNS)
ROME - Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday told Libyan Premier, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, that "Italy is by your side" and "will continue to support you", during his fifth trip to Libya since the start of the year, ancd met also with general Khalifa Haftar. In Tripoli, Di Maio also met with the chairman of the Presidential Council Mohamed Yunis Al-Menfi, the deputies Abdullah Al-Lafi and Musa Al-Kuni, the president of the High Council of State Khaled Al-Meshrii and Foreign Affairs Minister, Najla Mohammed El-Mangush, and is scheduled to visit Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk.

The main objectives of the mission, according to a note issued by the foreign ministry, are pursuing dialogue with the main Libyan interlocutors on the process of stabilization and institutional transition led by the UN, which Italy supports with determination; a call for renewed engagement of all Libyan sides to favor concrete progress towards key objectives, including elections to be held on December 24; the implementation of a ceasefire, the adoption of a unified budget and national reconciliation. In addition, the follow-up of "numerous ongoing initiatives to strengthen the wide-ranging bilateral partnership" will be on the agenda.



Di Maio's fifth visit to Tripoli proves the "dedication of Italy's engagement for the stabilization of Libya, which marked an important step forward with the reopening of the coastal road Sirte-Misrata announced on the eve of the visit".



The mission comes in the wake of the strengtheneing of Italy's institutional presence on the ground, following the recent reactivation of the Consulate General in Benghazi.
(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUG 2 - Italy is still savouring its golden Sunday at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with Marcell Jacobs winning the 100 metres final to take over from Usain Bolt as the world's fastest man just minutes after Gianmarco Tamberi took a share of gold in the high jump along with Qatar's Mutaz Barshim.



Today gymnast Vanessa Ferrari won the silver medal in the floor exercise. It is the 30-year-old's first Olympic medal. The 2006 all-around world champion is taking part in her fourth Summer Games. "I went out aiming for gold," Ferrari said. "I wanted to make them play the anthem".



"My American rival started with a higher score. I focused on the execution but I had some problems with my feet".



Italy is now certain of beating the 28 medals it won at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2012 London Games.



Ferrari's silver was Italy's 28th at Toyko 2020 and the team is set to land either a gold or a silver in the final of the Nacra-17 sailing on Tuesday. At the moment Italy has four golds, nine silvers and 15 bronzes.



Premier Mario Draghi contacted the athletes and told them that "Italy is proud of you".



President Sergio Mattarella expressed "great appreciation and satisfaction".



Giovanni Malago, the president of the Italian Olympics Committee (CONI), hailed it as "Italian sport's most beautiful day". "They have made history," he added. "Our grandchildren's grandchildren will talk about it".



Jacobs said that "It was my dream since I was a child" after triumphing with a time of 9.80 seconds and becoming the first Italian to make the final, never mind win the event.



A convert to sprinting from the long jump, he was clearly moved as he sang the Italian national anthem during the medal ceremony on Monday.



"I'm starting to realise now what happened," Jacobs told RAI television after getting his medal. "I didn't even try to sleep last night. It was impossible.



"But I didn't think it would be so good to be on the highest step of the Olympic podium. "I am the most emotional person in the world," he said, adding that he will keep his promise to marry his parter Nicole, with whom he has two small children.



Jacobs, 26, was born in El Paso, Texas, to an American father and an Italian mother.



He grew up in Italy though after coming to live in Italy when he was a small child after his parents split up.



"Marcell did not have an easy life," said Jacob's mother Viviana. "On the contrary, he has had a life of great sacrifice".



Tamberi remained on cloud nine after clinching high-jump glory with a leap of 2.37m.



"The moment with the anthem and the Italian flag was thrilling," the 29-year-old, who missed out on Rio 2016 due to a career-threatening ankle injury, told RAI.



"I chased this so hard. "The last five years have been tough because I never made do with small achievements. "I wanted a day like yesterday to be the happiest person in the world. "That was yesterday, it is today and it will be forever because it remains forever".
Spain: '374 million euros to complete the Sagrada Familia' End of work not determined yet

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, AUG 2 - The latest available estimate of the overall cost to complete the construction of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is slighly over 374 million euros, the newspaper El Pais reported on Monday. Antonio Gaudi's masterpiece was started in 1882 and never completed.



The newspaper reported that it gained access to a document approved by the municipal government of Barcelona in 2019, establishing the necessary budget to conclude construction work.



The plan was presented to obtain a construction permit of the Sacrada Familia to the private foundation responsible for the work, which was never officially granted over the previous 137 years. At the time, the project was expected to be completed in 2026 but the objective was declared unattainable in September 2020 after the start of the Covid pandemic.



According to a recent article published by La Vanguardia, the majority of the work will not start until 2024, due to the drastic reduction in revenues caused by a drop in visits since March 2020. The current forecast is for the number of tourists visiting the Sagrada Familia next year to reach 50% of the total recorded in 2019 (a daily average of 12,000).



Currently, work is ongoing only on the construction of one of the towers planned by Gaudi and never completed, the tower of Maria. The objective is to complete it by the end of this year: its height will be 138 meters. (ANSAmed).




FM Di Maio in Libya for fifth time since start of the year Aim to pursue dialogue ahead of Dec. 24 vote, foreign ministry

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUG 2 - Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday travelled to Libya for his fifth mission to the country since the start of the year. Di Maio on Monday is scheduled to visit Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk.



The main objectives of the mission, according to a note issued by the foreign ministry, are pursuing dialogue with the main Libyan interlocutors on the process of stabilization and institutional transition led by the UN, which Italy supports with determination; a call for renewed engagement of all Libyan sides to favor concrete progress towards key objectives, including elections to be held on December 24; the implementation of a ceasefire, the adoption of a unified budget and national reconciliation. In addition, the follow-up of "numerous ongoing initiatives to strengthen the wide-ranging bilateral partnership" will be on the agenda.



Di Maio's fifth visit to Tripoli proves the "dedication of Italy's engagement for the stabilization of Libya, which marked an important step forward with the reopening of the coastal road Sirte-Misrata announced on the eve of the visit".



The mission, which includes a stopover in Cyrenaica, comes in the wake of the strengtheneing of Italy's institutional presence on the ground, following the recent reactivation of the Consulate General in Benghazi. (ANSAmed).




The huge container ship that blocked the Suez Canal is preparing to dock in the UK for the first time since causing disruption to global shipping.

The Ever Given blocked the major shipping lane in Egypt for nearly a week earlier this year.

Under original plans the 400m-long ship was due to arrive at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk in early April.

But instead it is expected to arrive on Tuesday and can be spotted at sea from the coastal town.

The Ever Given can be seen from Felixstowe waiting to berth in the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk (Nigel Pickover/PA)

The ship was heading for Rotterdam when it ploughed into the sandy bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal on March 23.

It was stuck for nearly a week causing one of the biggest traffic jams in shipping history.

Hundreds of ships were delayed as they waited for the canal to be unblocked and some vessels were forced to take the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

A digger being used to free the Ever Given from the Suez Canal (Suez Canal Authority/PA)

The ship, which carries cargo between Asia and Europe, was held for more than three months amid a financial dispute over compensation.

After an agreement was met between the ships Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, and canal authorities it was freed to continue its voyage in July.

It unloaded cargo in Rotterdam before heading toward Felixstowe, where it is expected to berth at around 0900 on Tuesday.
Irans ambassador to the UK has been summoned to the Foreign Office following an attack on an oil tanker in which a Briton was killed.

The UK has said it is highly likely that Iran was behind the drone strike on the MV Mercer Street off the coast of Oman.

Middle East minister James Cleverly told Iranian diplomat Mohsen Baharvand that Tehran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security.

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The strike on the vessel last Thursday night was the first known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions between Israel and Iran.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said the attack, which saw a hole blasted through the vessels bridge, killed one of its employees on board.

The Mercer Street is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofers Zodiac Group.

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The Foreign Office said the drone assault followed similar attacks on three other Israeli-linked ships in the region since February.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was summoned today to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office by the minister for the Middle East, James Cleverly, in response to the unlawful attack committed on MV Mercer Street on 29 July.

Minister Cleverly reiterated that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security, and reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has promised to work with allies on a concerted response to Iran following the attack, which also killed a Romanian.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is confident that Iran carried out the attack using explosive drones  a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region.

Tehran has denied responsibility, accusing Israel of making baseless accusations against Iran.
Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! is to be filmed in Wales for the second series in a row, according to a report.

The Mirror said the reality show will return to Gwrych Castle in November.

The last series of the ITV programme was filmed in the UK for the first time after the coronavirus pandemic forced producers to abandon plans to make the programme in its usual base in Australia.

Gwrych Castle (Im A CelebrityGet Me Out Of Here!/PA)

Filming the next series in Australia presented too many logistical problems for ITV amid ongoing travel restrictions, The Mirror reported.

In March ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the show would return to the country for the next series if possible, adding it is meant to be in Australia.

Host Ant McPartlin previously said he would be very happy for the programme to return to Wales.

He told Digital Spy they were welcomed in the country, adding: There were cardboard cutouts of me and Dec [Donnelly] in the butchers, and the local school did a tribute.

Wed happily go back there. Wed miss the sunshine, mind.

The last series of the programme was won by podcast host Giovanna Fletcher.
Rapper Dizzee Rascal has been charged with assault.

The alleged incident took place at a residential address in Streatham, south London, on June 8, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force said a woman reported minor injuries.

Dizzee Rascal arriving at the 2020 Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London (Ian West/PA)

Dizzee, real name Dylan Kwabena Mills, is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on Friday September 3.

In a statement, the Met said: Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on June 8.

Officers attended and a woman reported minor injuries. She did not require hospital treatment.

Mills is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on Friday, September 3.

According to his website, Dizzee is performing at South Facing Festival 2021, Crystal Palace Park and Lydiard Park on dates in August.
TOKYO  There are any number of people who are excited that Simone Biles has decided to compete Tuesday in the womens balance beam final, the last gymnastics event here.

Family. Fans. Sponsors. NBC executives.

After attempting just one ill-fated vault in the team competition, Biles withdrew from the all-around competition, plus the finals of the vault, floor and uneven bars, citing a need to concentrate on her mental health and find the focus to perform complex aerial moves.

Her presence has been missed. Including by groups that promote adoption and foster care and are near to Biles' heart.

Beginning at the age of 3, Biles spent time in the Ohio foster care system. Child services determined her mother, Sandra, was unfit to care for Simone, her two older siblings and a then-infant sister.

Simone had been discovered playing unsupervised with her only slightly older siblings in the middle of a Columbus, Ohio street. Neighbors already suspected that the four Biles children, including four-month-old Aria, were being left alone for long periods of time.

Their clothes were frayed and often dirty. Meals appeared to be skipped regularly. There was no structure. Both their mother and father were battling substance abuse.

Out in the street, though, was too much, so a neighbor went to investigate, rounding everyone back to safety. Sharon wasnt home. No one was. Stuck without any other options, the neighbor reported the situation.

It began a multiyear process that ended with Simone and Aria moving in with and later being adopted by their grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, who lived outside Houston, Texas. Her two older siblings went to live with an aunt in the Cleveland area.

Every child in foster care and up for adoption deserves the chance to move in with a safe and stable family, from Simone Biles to non-gold medalists. (Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports)

My road to success began the day my grandfather and his wife officially adopted my sister and me, Simone wrote in a piece for CNN promoting adoption.

Although I was young when my foster care ordeal began, I remember how it felt to be passed off and over-looked. Like nobody knew me or wanted to know me. Like my talents didnt count, and my voice didnt matter. Finding a family made me feel like I mattered.

That Biles went from such an at-risk beginning to become a five-time world champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist is the kind of story that the foster care and adoption community love being told to the huge audiences that tune into the Olympics.

So too does Simone, who works closely with them and has always been open about her upbringing.

We are hopeful that with the spotlight on Simone during the Olympics, many more Americans will consider adoption, said Kristen Hamilton, the strategic director of the National Council for Adoption. Her story is one of many in which adoption into a nurturing and prepared family provided the security and love that a child was waiting for.

Unfortunately, much of the attention on Biles during these Games has centered on her mental health and questions about whether she would or wouldnt compete. Her inspiring life story hasnt been mentioned much.

The love that Ron and Nellie have for their adopted daughters, however, is powerful.

Simone is a sweet girl, Ron Biles said. Shes honest and caring. She thinks of everyone else first. Everyone knows her as a gymnast, but she is more than that. Id be just as proud of her today if she wasnt a gymnast. You know?

The last thing Ron and Nellie thought they would become is adoptive parents. They were focused on raising their two then-high school age sons, and looking forward to traveling more when the boys went to college.

Then they heard from social workers in Ohio. Simones mother, Sharon, was Rons daughter from a previous relationship.

With times getting desperate and the four children likely to be split up inside the foster care system, Ron and Nellie decided to take them all in for a brief time to see if Sharon could win her battle against substance abuse.

I knew something had to be done, Ron said. I knew I could let these kids get split up.

When it became apparent something more permanent was needed, they took the two youngest. The older two were hoping to return to Ohio and live with family there.

Rather than an obligation, Ron and Nellie said they were blessed with love and joy.

It is a wonderful thing, Ron Biles told USA Today of adoption. It gives you the opportunity to enrich the life of yourself and the child. And enrich everyone who is involved in your life. Raising kids is just a wonderful thing.

You get to see them grow and be a part of that and I cant think of anything more satisfying, he said.

Simone would go on to become a champion gymnast, of course, but while that is great for the sake of publicity, its not relevant, adoption advocates say. Given the proper structure and environment to grow, they say, children have immense potential in whatever they choose.

There is no bigger spotlight Simone can place on the issue than by starring at the Olympics.

Its certainly not why she is competing on Tuesday, but it is an added bonus.

[The story is of] the life-changing impact of adoption in her family and what it meant for her to move from a trauma-filled life as a child to a permanent, stable, and safe home with her parents, Kristen Hamilton said.

Every child deserves that opportunity.

They do. Future gold medalist or not.

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Medicare has been in existence since 1965 (fun fact: President Harry Truman was the first Medicare beneficiary), and the Medicare system has been changed or updated multiple times since. This is partially the reason for the confusion to Medicare consumers. Read more
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YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. The new 107-seat parliament is holding its first session where lawmakers will elect the new Speaker of Parliament and three Vice Speakers. The election of parliamentary committee chairs is also on the agenda.

The ruling "Civil Contract" party, headed by caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has 71 seats, while the two opposition blocs "Armenia" and "I Have The Honor" have 29 and 7 seats respectively.

The agenda of the sitting also includes the debate on a government-backed bill regarding proposed amendments into the Cabinets structure.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
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Under the scrapped Section a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years as also fined

The bench had on July 5 expressed shock after PUCL filed an application alleging misuse of the scrapped provision by authorities. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: As 'police' and 'public order' are state subjects under the Constitution, the primary responsibility for implementing the 2015 judgement which scrapped Section 66A of the IT Act lay with them and their law enforcement agencies, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.

The Centre has stated this in an affidavit to the apex court in response to a plea of an NGO, 'People's Union for Civil Liberties' (PUCL), alleging that the steps taken by the Central government for ensuring effective implementation of the verdict far from adequate.

Under the scrapped Section a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years as also fined.

In the affidavit filed before a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman, the Centre said that state law enforcement agencies are responsible for taking action against offenders related to cyber crime.

Police and public order are State Subjects as per Constitution of India and prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes, and capacity building of police personnel is primary responsibility of States.

The law enforcement agencies take legal action as per provisions of law against the cyber crime offenders and accordingly the law enforcement agencies share equal responsibility to comply with the said judgement, the Centre said.

The government also told the top court that it has directed the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of all states and UTs to direct all police stations not to register cases under Section 66A to ensure compliance with the top court's judgement in the Shreya Singhal case.

The Centre said it has also requested them for submission of reports to the IT ministry on the number of cases booked under Section 66A of the IT Act, and directing them to withdraw any prosecution invoking 66A.

Responding to the Centre's affidavit PUCL told the apex court that the steps taken by the Centre for ensuring effective implementation of the historic 2015 judgement, scrapping Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which has still been used for arresting persons for offensive social media posts, are far from adequate.

The bench, which scrapped the controversial provision from statute book by its verdict in the Shreya Singhal case, had on July 5 expressed shock after PUCL filed an application alleging misuse of the scrapped provision by authorities across the nation.

Don't you think this is amazing and shocking? Shreya Singhal judgement is of 2015. It's really shocking. What is going on is terrible, the bench, also comprising K M Joseph and B R Gava, had said while issuing notice to the Centre on the NGO's plea.

The NGO, in its rejoinder affidavit filed through National General Secretary V Suresh, dealt with the steps taken by the Centre to implement the verdict and gave a slew of suggestions for its effective implementation.

The steps taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY ) towards ensuring effective implementation of this Court's Judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India... are far from adequate, the affidavit said.

It has suggested that the authorities be asked to collect the details of the cases registered by the Police/Law Enforcement Agencies under Section 66A of the IT Act since the pronouncement of the Judgment in Shreya Singhal by co-ordinating with the Chief Secretaries/DGPs of the States and Union Territories.

Where the case is at the stage of investigation, direct the DGP in states and the Administrators/ Lieutenant Governors in the cases of UTs to forthwith drop further investigation under Section 66A, it said.

It has also sought a direction from all High Courts to all the District Courts and Magistrates that no cognisance of offence under the provision be taken.

The NGO said the Centre be directed to issue an advisory to all police stations not to register cases under the repealed Section 66A.

The top court was hearing a fresh application of PUCL saying, That, shockingly, despite the order dated February 15, 2019 and steps taken towards compliance thereof, the Applicant discovered that Section 66A of the IT Act has continued to be in use not only within police stations but also in cases before trial courts across India.

It had sought replies from the Centre.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had said that on perusal of the IT Act it can be seen that section 66A features in it, but in the footnote it is written that the provision has been scrapped.

On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

It also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial court to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people who posted offensive content online.

Terming liberty of thought and expression "cardinal", the top court had on March 24, 2015, scrapped the provision saying that "the public's right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
Earlier, Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati met Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing border dispute between Assam and Mizoram, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet Members of Parliament from Assam over the issue at 1 pm on Monday.

Earlier, Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, according to sources.

The current border situation and how to diffuse the tensions between two states were discussed in the meeting with PM Modi, said sources.

Kambhampati is also scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the evening today, they said.

On July 26, the border dispute between the two states escalated and a fierce gun battle between the forces of the two states resulted in the death of six Assam police personnel and one civilian. At least 50 people were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he has directed state police to withdraw FIR against Rajya Sabha MP K Vanlalvena as a "goodwill gesture" after a border clash with Mizoram on July 26 in which six police personnel died.

However, he further said that cases against the other police officers will be pursued.

"I have noted statements in media by Honble Mizoram CM Zoramthanga wherein he has expressed his desire to settle the border dispute amicably. Assam always wants to keep the spirit of North East alive. We are also committed to ensuring peace along our borders," said Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet.

"To take this goodwill gesture ahead, I have directed Assam Police to withdraw FIR against K Vanlalvena, Hon'ble MP, Rajya Sabha from Mizoram. However, cases against other accused police officers will be pursued," he added.

The MP was booked by Assam Police in connection with border violence.

Earlier on Sunday, Sarma said that the main focus is on keeping the spirit of the North-East alive.

"What happened along Assam-Mizoram border is unacceptable to people of both states. Mizoram Chief Minister had promised to call me to post his quarantine. Border disputes can only be resolved through discussion," tweeted Assam Chief Minister on Sunday which was then retweeted by his Mizoram counterpart.

With efforts continuing to defuse border tensions between Assam and Mizoram, the row and the violence earlier this week were likely to be raised in the Parliament by BJP MPs from Assam today.
The Taliban are pretending to throw a ginger fit should Turkey deploy troops to protect the airport

Telegenic air attacks like the one that killed Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani outside Baghdad airport in January 2020 may well be increasingly on show in theatres like Afghanistan, where the American boots on the ground are now being withdrawn, or Iraq, where the combat mission is supposedly coming to an end. Wait and watch what the US does next.

The United States has conflictual equations with China, Russia and Iran. Pakistan is not in conflict with the US but is clearly in Chinas embrace. All these countries have borders with Afghanistan. Did the US spend $2 trillion over 20 years with the benign intent to provide tranquility for these countries on their Afghan borders only to confront these powers elsewhere?

Turkey, or, to be more precise, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has now been roped in to supervise Kabul airport. The Taliban are pretending to throw a ginger fit should Turkey deploy troops to protect the airport. Since the Taliban have to be kept in good humour, Turkey has decided to deploy contractors, engineers, etc. But who will provide them armed protection? The Americans, of course, and clearly from the air. The Americans will obviously have plans to keep an eye on the Bagram airbase too. I have vivid recollections of the US bombing Serbia for 72 days, carving out the state of Kosovo and leave behind what in those days was globally the largest US base, Bondsteel, abutting Macedonia.

What great urge did the US have in carving out a Muslim state in what was the holiest real estate for the southern Slavs of Serbia, ethnic cousins of the Russians? Well, the first purpose was to hit the Russians where it hurt them. The second was to build bases which radiate power. This is not the pattern on display now.

Turkey is being given a toehold in Afghanistan, which has the potential of opening vistas across Central Asia, an expansive oil rich block of Turkik speaking people. As in the Balkans, here too the historical, entrenched interests of Russia will be posed in competition.

When a vision of the Ottoman Empire being revived was dangled before President Erdogan, he wasted no time in turning up for prayers in the main square of Tripoli in November 2011. The Ottoman dream which faded in the West Asian theatres may well be credible in Central Asia where there is Turkik continuity. Mr Erdogan is unlikely to leap for this elusive carrot, but he may begin to focus a little more time on this theatre. This will be welcome to Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The last two will welcome the extreme Islam of the Taliban blending with the Akhwan ul Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood), of which Mr Erdogan is now an unabashed leader. This will be expected to be a bulwark against Iran. Binoculars will also be fixed on Chinas Uighurs and Russias Caucasus.

So long as imperialism has a central role for Israel in West Asia, Iran will remain the target. Little wonder then that American ground forces are being relocated. Just the other day, the US announced the closure of its bases in Sayliyah, Qatar. The base being activated in the utmost secrecy now happens to be in Jordan, out of the range of Iranian missiles.

There is another very good reason to have Mr Erdogan ration some of his time away from West Asia, where the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood is causing anxiety to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt, whose suppression of the Brotherhood cannot last eternally. Riyadh is shaken in the south with the advances made by the Houthis from Yemen and has not forgotten the occupation of the Mecca masjid in November 1979 almost at the same time as the Iranian revolution toppled the Shah in Tehran. For two weeks the mosque was occupied by the anti-monarchy extreme Islamists.

Eventually, French troops had to help Saudi soldiers. Since then, the Saudi royal family have had nightmares about a secret anti-monarchy cult, not different from the Brotherhood. There is a tendency to exaggerate the external danger of Shia Islam. The truth is that the Akhwan, or the Brothers, with roots inside the kingdom are much more of a danger. In the latest turn in Tunisia, the Brothers may well be the main target.

The Brothers in Egypt will have a huge morale booster if Mr Erdogan without other distractions goes full throttle in his Muslim Brotherhood avatar. The revival of the Brothers in Egypt will be of considerable help to Hamas, which is another name for the Brothers. This will be a thorn in the side of Israel. Notice how many capitals have an interest in the Turkish role in Kabul.

It is not fanciful that one chapter of the Afghan saga may be coming to a close. But what has always puzzled me is the singular lack of interest in the origin of the catastrophe when the iconic Tajik leader Ahmad Shah Massouds exceptional intelligence gathering on Al Qaedas operations in Afghanistan hinted at the possibility of 9/11.

In August 2001, he alerted the European Union in the course of an address in Brussels that the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance had learnt that Al Qaeda were planning some action on the American mainland. On September 9, two days before the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, Massoud was assassinated in his hideout on the Tajik border. The two Tunisians, disguised as journalists, detonated their vests as soon as they began their interview with Massoud. The passports of the two assassins had been forged in Brussels at about the time Massoud alerted the European Union about the possible attack on the US mainland.

Since the Syrian theatre began to quieten down in 2018, there have been reports of militants being flown to northern Afghanistan, exactly the location from where the out-of-work Mujahideen had fanned out to Kashmir, Egypt, Algeria and Syria.

So, is Afghanistan headed for chaos or, as a Marxist analyst predicts: A Quad is taking shape -- Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan. If this is correct, has India opted for the wrong Quad?
Men & Women See Cheating Very Differently for This Particular Reason

Research Shows That How You View Infidelity Depends on Your Gender

Ready for a relationship revelation? Its now a proven fact that, when it comes to cheating (or infidelity, an affair, or whatever you may refer to it as), gender comes into play in how your partner might react to this kind of betrayal.

A new study from the Norweigan University of Science & Technology found that men were more likely to forgive emotional cheating (like having a flirty convo), and felt more threatened by physical cheating (like hooking up). As for women, well, they felt the complete opposite.

Due to this glaring discrepancy, researchers deduced: "This may potentially be a source of misunderstanding, conflict, and miscommunication in couples. And theyre not wrong.

RELATED: The Different Levels Of Cheating

Experts in areas such as biology, medicine, and social sciences, claim that there are evolutionary slight gender differences in the brain, says Dr. LeslieBeth Wish, nationally recognized psychotherapist and author of Training Your Love Intuition. Gender differences originate for both men and women in the hypothalamus, a structure deep in the brain where neurotransmitters differ for men and women. But do not fall into the trap of thinking that these differences are extreme or fixed. Both men and women can be affected by both emotional and physical cheating.

It's important to keep in mind that these are generalizations, meaning every individual and relationship is unique. There are plenty of guys who might be hurt by an emotional affair, just as there are plenty of women who might not be able to forgive a physical one. But where do these differing perspectives stem from? And how can I navigate them in order to maintain a happy, healthy, and respectful relationship?

Fret not  we asked experts for some insight.

Inside the Male Brain  How Men View Cheating

According to Wish, its believed that men may be more affected by physical cheating for evolutionary reasons.

One theory is that men are more visually  and often unknowingly  attracted at first to women whose body prompts their brain to view them as a good child-bearer, she says. Regardless of which features attracts him, he falls fast and hard. This experience stimulates his brain to produce the neurotransmitter oxytocin, which creates feelings of being attached and committed.

As men lead with the physical connection, its not all that surprising that a physical betrayal may feel more like a punch to the gut.

Men emphasize, on average, physical intimacy as the key defining factor in intimacy, notes clinical psychologist Joshua Klapow, Ph.D. There are indeed evolutionary reasons for this such as a males role in procreation. But there are also cultural determinants of this, with men being seen as initiators of sexual intimacy and women covering the nurturing and emotional bonding with children.

In a 2014 study conducted at Chapman University, 54% of heterosexual men and only 35% of women said sexual infidelity was more upsetting, while 65% of heterosexual women and just 46% of men agreed emotional infidelity was worse. The studys authors chalked these findings up to the evolutionary problem of paternal uncertainty. In other words, the prospect of sexual cheating is tougher for them to swallow since it threatens their ability to know if theyre really the biological father of the children their partner bears.

Inside the Female Brain  How Women View Cheating

In general, women tend to place more value on emotional connection than men, says Dr. Gary Brown, a prominent couples therapist in Los Angeles.

Not only are women often more emotionally dialed in, states Klapow, but they may be more in tune with the complexities of human emotion and even attracted to other people based on emotional characteristics.

RELATED: Is Your Relationship Cheat-Proof?

Many of Browns female clients have expressed being more fearful of their partner emotionally cheating on them. Why, you ask? Well, a random sexual encounter could be chalked up to alcohol-fueled impulsivity and poor judgment, but carrying on an emotional affair involves a whole different level of intimacy and effort.

They fear that emotional affairs are intentional and possibly reflect a lack of emotional closeness in their relationship, explains Brown. Emotional affairs often involve a real attachment  and can ultimately lead to a physical affair.

How Do You Define Cheating in a Relationship?

Given this major rift, it probably goes without saying that every couple is due to have an open, honest talk about what they consider to be cheating. Once its clear, you can set some boundaries.

All couples must do their emotional homework, explains Wish. Learn each other's triggers  and help your partner before trouble begins.

Its never too late to start these discussions, and while it may feel awkward to delve into, its crucial to the health of your relationship. Without a clear understanding of boundaries, someone might unintentionally get hurt. If youre not sure where to start, Wish recommends writing a list of what you need and expect in your relationship in order to feel safe and loved. Your next step is using these as jumping-off points for your conversation.

Its critical not just to understand how your partner defines infidelity, but also what actions make them uncomfortable even if they dont consider it cheating, adds Klapow.

But what if you disagree on what constitutes cheating? For example, one partner might only view intercourse with someone else as a true betrayal, while the other might think commenting on an exs Instagram post is crossing the line.

Listen to your partner to understand their view, says Klapow. Do not try to convince them of your view. They are allowed to define cheating in their own way, and you must decide if you want to/can live with that definition.

If your partners micro-betrayals are too triggering for you to handle, you have two choices to salvage your bond: seek out therapy or walk away knowing that your basic values are simply not aligned.

You may not see eye to eye, but you must be authentically willing to respect your partners wishes, explains Klapow. If you don't, wont, or cant then your relationship will forever be functioning on a foundation of mistrust. The key is not necessarily to have the same exact definitions and criteria for cheating  but to be able to honor and respect your partners preferences and wishes.

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One of many groups permitted to use the interdisciplinary Aspen Chapel, photographed in this file photo. The Aspen Jewish Congregation has called the Aspen Chapel home since 1989; now, that relationship is being called into question.
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Bronco6G member Berwolf highlights that his Broncos canvas top is rubbing on both sides, and the driver side has worn through after only four weeks of taking delivery. After some troubleshooting, the owner discovered that his soft top can fold under the frame and rub against a piece of plastic.Another forumite, Cousin Eddie , reports that his top has been down all the way a couple of times already, and hes already noticed two rub marks on the roll bar. He also mentions lateral play in the frame of the roof, which is why the frame can rub when closing if the top isnt lifted perfectly even.Steelbama writes that he saw a demo vehicle a few days ago, a soft-topped Wildtrak, and it showed rubbing in the same area. The question is, what can Bronco owners do in order to stop the premature wear and bar rubbing?Bbarnshaw had a chat with a dealership who gave him two solutions: black tape or clear protective tape on the roll bar. Unless the Ford Motor Company adds tape from the factory or completely redesigns the soft top (which is very unlikely), theyll have a lot of paint jobs on their hands under warranty.I can already imagine Stellantis North America executives laughing out loud while browsing the forums, and I cant blame them. The Wrangler is by no means the highest-quality 4x4 out there, especially if you glance over the number of recalls on thes website. But still, many people were expecting the Blue Oval to learn from Jeeps many mistakes and iron the kinks out before starting production.
The Apple Car has therefore become a trend-setter before it even came to be, but on the other hand, this is without a doubt good news especially because the competition is typically the biggest boost to innovation.Xiaomi is one of the tech behemoths that have already confirmed plans to expand in the automotive field, with the company previously revealing it wants to spend $1.5 billion to create its very own electric car.But in a recent post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, CEO Lei Jun confirms the company is trying to develop a level 4 self-driving car. The post comes as Xiaomi is looking for no less than 500 engineers to join its automotive team and therefore develop a vehicle which at one point would be supposed to compete directly against the Apple Car.Xiaomi building a level 4 car is certainly ambitious, especially for a company thats now making its first steps in the automotive world. Level 4 vehicles can operate independently and dont require human intervention, so in theory, they can drive all by themselves as long as you tell them where you want to go.Xiaomis plans align with the strategy of the rest of the tech giants considering an expansion in automotive as well. The Apple Car, for example, is also believed to be a self-driving electric vehicle, and given Apples proven experience in the tech world, its likely to feature advanced capabilities that would meet at least the level 4 standards.On the other hand, youd better not hold your breath for the Apple Car. Sources with knowledge of the project said the vehicle is projected to see the daylight in 2025 at the earliest, though theres no doubt Xiaomi wants to hit the shelves ahead of its American rival.
The British automaker has just announced its official (biggest ever) participation at the 2021 edition of the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours dElegance. On August 15th, the company will celebrate seven decades since it officially joined the U.S. automotive market. And of course, it has a few surprises planned. Two major Aston Martin product introductions planned; one global reveal and one North American debut.Well, given the substantial Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team presence, complete with the AMR21 being on display, it would be logical for the North American introduction to focus on something related, such as the recent Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition . But, actually, it's just the production version of the Valhalla. On the other hand, the main global reveal would be shrouded in mystery if not for the brands see-through way of keeping it a secret.After all, did they want to keep everything under wraps or just play with us  given the sole hero picture accompanying the press release (which is embedded below, as per tradition)? The darkened shot seems to depict a Valkyrie. Only that its not a usual example, given the fact that its doors have a scissor-style opening setup, instead of the usual gullwing model.So, that makes us suspect that Aston Martins new global introduction will be a roofless Valkyrie. Its hard to make out the details  it's a teaser, after all  but it seems theres no fixed roof beyond the windshield frame. As far as we can tell, the headrests for the lightweight bucket seats appear to protrude above the frame and finish just in line with the strategically placed rear floodlights.Well, since the Pebble Beach event is just around the corner its not going to be long before the mystery is uncovered. Plus, Aston Martin fans might also want to look up the companys way of honoring the long-standing relationship with James Bond franchise. Just saying, in case you dont care about a Valkyrie Roadster...
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The American Legend Truck was a conventional cab truck usually seen on highways, with a weight limit of more than 33,000 lbs (approximately 14,970 kg). It was highly customizable and the flagship of the Peterbilt model line. When it was launched, it was also the largest highway truck sold by the manufacturer.Unfortunately, though, it was discontinued in 2007 and replaced by the 389, a model with a longer hood. The 379 was the successor of the 359 model from Peterbilt and differed from it through its enlarged windshield that allowed for horizontally-mounted wipers. It also came with headlamp-mounted turn signals.Creator Ing-Manuel decided to do a LEGO model of the iconic American truck. It used the maximum number of LEGO pieces allowed by the LEGO Ideas website, which is 2,999.His LEGO Peterbilt 379 measures 25 (length) x 9 (width) x 11 (height) inches (630 x 230 x 280 mm). As explained on the platform, Ing-Manuels model has a big, 6-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine. The real Peterbilt truck has a power of 242(325) at 2,100 rpm. It came in several Caterpillar engine options such as C11, c12, C13, C15, C16, 3406C, 3406E, C156NZ.Because he is a LEGO maniac obsessed with details, the Peterbilt creator made the truck with an opening hood, opening doors, and steering.You can admire the LEGO Peterbilt 379 truck on the LEGO Ideas website, a platform where LEGO creators can let their inspiration materialize into projects of any kind, from cars, planes, space ships, to buildings, mini-figures, and anything else you can think of.Submitted ideas that get enough supporters (10,000) within LEGOs required timeframe have the chance to see their LEGO creations turned into commercially available sets. If that happens, theyll also get 1 percent of the royalties.
And another perspective: Tim Cook said he has never actually spoken to Elon Musk: You know, Ive never spoken to Elon, although I have great admiration and respect for the company hes built. https://t.co/Wtp8DiQ4OQ https://t.co/sl4AxgX22s  Mark Gurman (@markgurman) July 30, 2021

Higgins managed to make his book both false *and* boring ????????  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021

Indeed. Both Cook & I have been clear publicly that we have never spoken or otherwise communicated. I tried to speak to him & he declined.



Nor have I ever expressed any interest in running Apple to anyone. Cook is, all things considered, obviously doing an incredible job.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021

Higgins, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has a new book coming out, called Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century. Its been reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, which is how one particular anecdote involving a planned Apple merger got out in the media. The fact that, at its lowest, Musk considered selling Tesla to Apple is not a secret: Musk himself confirmed it a while back, saying he called Tim Cook in 2013 to discuss the possibility, but Cook wouldnt pick up the phone.Theres more to that story, Higgins writes in the book. In 2016, Musk and Cook were talking seriously about an Apple merger, but all came to an end when Musk named his condition for the deal to go through. He would be made Apple CEO in Cooks place. Cooks response to that, according to the book, was F**k you and a slammed phone. *Cue dramatic music.This isnt just false but downright boring, Musk says on Twitter. Yes, the scene plays out like a movie cliche, but its not true: Musk and Cook never met and never spoke, the Tesla CEO says, setting the record straight. There were talks of a possible merger, back when Teslas worth was 6% of what it is now, but they never amounted to much because Cook wouldnt speak to Musk.According to Bloomberg , Apple has also issued a denial of the new story, referring to a recent comment from Cook in which he clearly states never having spoken to Musk.This would sound like Higgins is lying or, at best, dramatizing real events to get more attention  like those based on a true story movies do, if youre down for the comparison. Perhaps anticipating denials from directly involved parties, Higgins included separate notes in the book saying that both Musk and Apple refused to comment on events described within. Musk only said that Most, but not all, of what you read in this book is nonsense, but he never got into specifics.
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Officially launched in the United Kingdom today (August 2), almost half a year after it was unveiled for Europe, and with deliveries set to kick off toward the end of 2021, the new Honda HR-V is offered in the e:HEV specification only.The hybrid powertrain consists of the 1.5-liter Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine, two electric motors, and a small lithium-ion battery pack. The total output is rated at 129(131 PS / 96) and the peak torque stands at 187 lb-ft (253 Nm).This configuration allows it to return 52 mpg UK (43.3 mpg US / 5.4 l/100 km) on thecombined cycle, and emit 122 g/km of CO2.Sporting a sleeker silhouette than its predecessor, the 2022 Honda HR-V kicks off from 26,960 ($37,470) in the Elegance trim level, which has LED headlamps, 18-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, and smartphone connectivity.The Advance follows it, from 29,210 ($40,595), adding a power tailgate, synthetic leather and fabric upholstery, and heated steering wheel.For the Advance Style trim level, customers are looking at a minimum of 31,660 ($44,000). This specification adds unique details such as the two-tone exterior paint finish and orange accents inside, as well as premium audio system.Those who would rather lease than buy will be able to get it from 269 ($375) per month, from Honda Finance Europe Plc.Depending on the chosen model, customers will also get a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a few other gizmos. Moreover, like Hondas entire modern lineup, the 2022 HR-V is equipped with the Honda Sensing suite of safety gear, which assists drivers on their daily journeys.
At the time, all NASA astronauts wore the Omega Speedmaster, a specifically manufactured watch by the space agency. Even though he had an Omega timepiece, he decided to take his own Bulova with him to the Moon as well. Whether it was a terrible feeling or just a coincidence, his decision might have saved the Apollo mission because the NASA watch's crystal actually popped off while he was out during his second expedition.At that point, Scott realized the watch's face was gone and took his Bulova chronograph and used it instead. This one didn't crack and functioned accordingly. It did not only keep track of time in space where every second is crucial, but the astronaut even used it to ensure that no one ran out of oxygen.The chronograph was even used to back up the onboard timers for the critical reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. From that moment, Bulova's engineering expertise was leveraged by NASA to assist with the U.S. space efforts. From the mid-1950s until the 1970s, the two collaborated on 46 missions, and Bulova's groundbreaking Accutron technology was employed in all instrument panel clocks and timekeeping devices.Later on, Scott auctioned off his watch. As expected, the original Bulova Lunar Pilot sold at an astronomical price of $1.625 million. Now, 50 years later, the watchmaker is reissuing a special commemorative edition.It's a replica of the original Lunar Pilot which features a 45 mm case with gold-tone stainless steel details that stand out against a gray dial. On the bezel, it has a tachymeter, just like the original watch, which one can use to measure speed based on time traveled over a fixed distance.Other features include hands and markers coated with Super-Luminova and an anti-reflective sapphire crystal. On the case back, a commemorative design relief with the date of the mission, 08.02.1971, celebrated the historic moment.The Bulova 50th Anniversary Lunar Pilot is limited to 5,000 pieces and comes with a special storybook and a commemorative NASA coin. This timepiece is set at $995.
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Corporate dealings aside, Holdens demise means the end of a long history of Australian-bred cars. From the Chevy or Daewoo-based models to the more original ones like the Brougham or Commodore, Holden had it all, and appealed to a large range of customers.One of the best models in their lineup at one point was the Torana, largely seen as an original model, but based on the Vauxhall Viva HB. The mid-size car was in production for 13 years, during which time it spawned three generations.There is one version of the Torana that was perhaps more appreciated than others. Were talking about the LX Torana SS, a model packing powerful hardware and aiming to be treated as a true muscle car.This particular car is long dead, but thankfully todays technology can bring it back, and then some. And here it is, revived by an unlikely group called Budget Direct as part of a larger effort to see how some long ago cars made by dead brands would look in todays world.For this exercise, a 1976 LX Torana SS was chosen as a base and given a complete makeover, turning its old muscle car look into something out of a science fiction movie, with a much more aggressive and lowered front end, big wheels hidden under pronounced arches, and a rear that, even if it cant be seen, hints to being completely different from the original one.As far as powertrain is concerned, everyone is free to imagine whatever they like, but given how, if this thing ever returns - it will probably do so in the very distant future - some electric motors instead of the mightycould be considered.
Toyota is aware of this issue, and has already carried out preliminary surveys with fan club representatives and dealers all over the world. Subsequently, they are now getting ready to reproduce and sell parts that will keep these vehicles in running condition.Set to be supplied as heritage parts starting early next year, they will revolve around the oily bits for now, including engines, drivelines, and exhaust systems for the 40 Series Land Cruise r. These will be marketed through a special collaboration with suppliers, and come in time to celebrate the models 70th anniversary, as it originally came to life in 1951.The parts will be expanded to include other components, as Toyota Gazoo Racing is conducting a questionnaire on its official website in Japan, where customers can submit their reproduction requests. The feedback received from owners will be used in the selection of the next parts to be reproduced, thus helping those with a classic Toyota 4x4 enjoy it for years to come.This isnt the first time the company based in Japan has supplied heritage parts for its classic models , but it does cover the 40 Series in a premiere. Later on, they might do the same for later generations of the popular model.In other related news, it has been reported that Toyota will continue upgrading the 70 Series Land Cruiser , which has been around since 1984, and is still being sold in the Middle East and Australia. The vehicle will allegedly get some updates in the coming year, possibly additional safety features and a stronger ladder-frame chassis.
Tesla policy is never to give in to false claims, even if we would lose, and never to fight true claims, even if we would win.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2021

EV

Weirdly, he said that almost two years after David Rasmussen filed his class-action against the company. If Tesla knew that what it did was wrong, why didnt it fix that right after limiting the range and the charging speed of these vehicles? But it gets even weirder.If Tesla decided to do what is right, why are 30 Model S owners still fighting Tesla in Norwegian courts for the same sort of compensation? They have asked the law firm CLP to sue Tesla due to the issues caused by the 2019.16.1 or 2019.16.2 updates. CLP went after Tesla at the conciliatory board on April 12, 2021. It is a legal requirement in Norway to start consumer disputes there, which is equivalent to small claims courts.So far, it paid off: these 30 customers received 136,000 Norwegian kroner each on May 17. If Tesla knew it was wrong, it could have paid them. Instead, Tesla appealed the decision claiming it did not receive notice of the lawsuit. This is why it would have been condemned in a default judgment.These 136,000 Norwegian kroner are equivalent to $15,487 at the current exchange rate. Thats way more than the $625 each the affected American Model S owners may receive if they accept what themaker is willing to offer them.Tesla may have made a deal with these American customers to hide the reasons for its updates. If that was the case, it needs to do the same with the Norwegian customers  the ones represented by CLP and those with the same issues that Bilklager is trying to gather. If the Norwegian courts obtain and reveal the documents that explain these updates, the language barrier should not be an issue to make them public in English as well.For Cristina Balan, secrecy is why Tesla chose to make a deal with the American customers instead of going to court against them. Balan is a Romanian engineer that helped Tesla solve multiple issues with the Model S. So much so that the first battery pack cases have her initials printed on them as a thank you message from the company. Things got sour when she took something Musk used to say for granted.The Tesla CEO once said people should go straight to him if they had anything to report. Balan discovered safety and quality issues with the Model S and sent Musk an email message. She said that she was then forced to resign. In an official response from Tesla to an article that interviewed her, the company said that she was a criminal. Balan was not hired ever again by any automotive company despite her qualifications.Tesla accused me of using companys money without approval on personal projects  which is the pure definition of embezzlement  and of going and finding suppliers out of Teslas purchasing team. Everyone who reads that understands kickbacks. Yet, Tesla cannot produce any evidence, not even a receipt of one of the crimes theyve accused me of.For a company that claims never to give in to false claims, taking Balans case to courts would help it expose the engineer. Yet, that was something Balan wanted, not Tesla. The company forced her into arbitration, which follows a non-disclosure procedure: what happens in arbitration remains in arbitration. Balan wanted to make the documents and emails that would prove that shes innocent public.She then fought to take Tesla to regular courts. The company managed to bring her case back to arbitration, but a federal court ruled that there is no more need for non-disclosure. Tesla now wants to dismiss the case. With all that, Musks tweet makes things seem even worse for her.Tesla made those agreements with the customers so everything will be hidden from public eyes. I couldnt believe that someone can be such a hypocrite, but I know first hand that one thing is what Musk says and another what Musk does When he said that Teslas policy is to never give in to false claims and Tesla keeps fighting my defamation case, he told the entire world that my claims are false.Balan sued Tesla to clear her name. She is a pro se, which means he is suing Tesla alone, with no legal assistance, after losing confidence in the first ones that represented her.Three months before I sued Tesla, I sent Musk a letter. I presented him all the evidence for which Teslas lawyers asked me what I wanted: I told them clearly that I wanted them to take the defamatory article down and issue an apology or retraction. Im still waiting.As unrelated as these three events may seem, they show that talk is cheap. Tesla did not act as if it stood for what is right for customers until very recently in the U.S. and keeps fighting them in Norway. It also failed to provide anything that proves that Balan did anything wrong. At this point, it should be evident that actions speak louder than words.
ABS

Aprilia already has two other models that use the 660cc parallel-twin powerplant. Its RS 660 and Tuono 660 are already in showrooms. Now the Italian motorcycle manufacturer gets back in the spotlight with its new ADV (adventure) motorcycle, a blend of red, white, and blue, with a 660cc engine that produces 80 horsepower and a peak torque of approximately 52 ft-lb (70 Nm).The new Tuareg 660 is lighter, weighing 412 pounds (187 kg), and has an 18-liter (4.7-gallon) fuel tank, which also contributes to its overall weight. It has a new tubular steel frame coupled with aluminum brackets and is connected to the engine at six points.Aprilias new adventure bike comes with a flat single-piece seat, a rally-like windscreen, and is equipped with a triple LED headlight.You get four riding modes with the Tuareg 660 and one of them is dedicated to off-road riding. Two of the modes are customizable. Everything is displayed on the 5-inch color TFT screen. The APRC (Aprilia Performance Ride Control) system comes with cruise and traction control, engine brake, and engine map. You can also choose to deactivatefor both wheels or just the rear one. Aprilia has equipped the new Tuareg with a 43 mm (1.7") fork and progressive linkage suspension.All in all, the Tuareg 660 is a light, off-road two-wheeler that keeps the traditional look of the 80s Tuareg, but brings to the table modern components and technology. Aprilia claims the model offers benchmark performance in all conditions.The Italian manufacturer only teased us with a first look so far, so we have no info regarding the bike's price, but we dont expect it to be cheap. We also know that the Tuareg 660 should be available at the end of this year, although it will be classified as a 2022 model.
EV

Thestartup  yet to deliver a single vehicle  is said to have discussed the matter with the British government, and Boris Johnson is apparently excited about it. Even the possible location is already defined. It would be in Gravity, a 616-acre terrain near Bristol. The German and the Dutch government are also willing to attract Rivian, though.Although the UK is an important market, establishing a car factory there may seem counterintuitive after Brexit. Rivian cars would start their careers as less competitive vehicles than those made on the continent, because of taxes. On the other hand, Rivian could export them to countries with right-hand drive, making the idea of a British factory more attractive.As for Germany, the issues Tesla is facing with the bureaucracy there  and with its own indecision about how it wants the factory to be  may be an issue for Rivian. The positive side is that it would also put the company in the heart of the largest car market in Europe. A plant in the Netherlands would have to focus on exporting most of its production.The talks would be at the very beginning, and the investment should be superior to $1 billion (thats what a regular car factory costs). What may make the difference is the government subsidy package the UK would be willing to offer to Rivian. If it is attractive enough, other short to midterm concerns such as taxes may be worth it.As for Rivians new factory in the U.S., the R1T and the R1S are not the best options for the European market. The new factory should give one of the multiple nameplates Rivian already trademarked the substance it needs to reach customers. The Amazon delivery van may be an option for the British factory, but it would have much lower volumes than other vehicles Rivian may manufacture there.
KW

While the American sedan has been praised by many for its handling, the Germans at Senner consider that the tailor-madeVariant 3 suspension kit can go the extra mile for this model. It comes with a lower ride height, and with compression and rebound adjustability.Naturally, as with any coil-over suspension, the ride height can be modified, and a simple hex key can change the stiffness of the shock absorbers. The required keys are included with the kit on delivery, and all you must do from there is understanding what you are changing, how to change settings, as well as when and why you should change them.In the photo gallery, you can also observe the new Senner Kharma wheels in a 20-inch configuration all-round, however, the front ones are nine inches wide, and those on the rear come in ten-inch width. The custom wheels can be had in various finishes, but Senner Tuning chose to unveil the ones finished in high gloss brushed bronze and brushed silver.According to Senner Tuning, their version of the Tesla Model 3 Performance comes with lower wind resistance, in the form of a seven-percent reduction from stock. Those interested in even more performance can opt for a set of wheel and tire combinations made in OEM dimensions that are meant to reduce unsprung mass by up to 40 percent.Thanks to the latter modification, Senner Tuning claims a ten-percent increase in range. Senner Tuning proposes a set of Bridgestone Potenza Sport tires with their Tesla Model 3 Performance kits. The tires on the front are 245/35/R20s, while the ones on the rear come in the 275/30/R20 size.If you tend to abuse tires and are committed to getting the most out of a car like this , you will wear them out faster than in a regular performance sedan, which means that you will know the best tires for your preferred driving style quicker than owners of other makes. Senner Tuning has yet to reveal the price on the KW Variant 3 suspension for the Tesla Model 3 Performance, but it is evident that it does not come cheap.
According to the Victoria CFA (Country Fire Authority), the fire spread to a nearby Megapack. The 9:30 AM update said that, although it has subsided significantly, it was still not under control. It took eight more hours for that to happen. CFA stated that the cause has not been revealed yet but that it will be investigated once it is safe to do so.The Victorian Big Battery is the largest Megapack structure in Australia nowadays. Another company called Transgrid is building one for 50 MWh up to 75 MWh. Neoen aims for 300 MWh up to 450 MWh with the Victorian Big Battery. Before that, Neoen already had energy storage with Tesla Powerpacks that have not had any issues reported so far.Soon after the fire started, local authorities warned about toxic smoke coming out of the blaze. The recommendations were that people avoided going out, closed all windows and doors, turned off heating and cooling systems, closed vents and fireplace flues, and did not exercise for prolonged periods. On its official website , the Victorian Big Battery states that EPAs air monitors have shown that there has been good air quality in the local community. That text brings a link to Victorians EPA page that stated the air quality on July 31 was good.Now that the fire has been considered under control, CFA will keep a reduced number of firefighters and trucks on the scene to make sure the fire doesnt reignite. They have opened all doors to the containers of the battery pack and found no signs of fire anymore, but they will monitor them every two hours for 24 hours as a precaution.
Amphibious vehicles are not that uncommon, and neither are amphibious caravans . Theres something about the possibility of traveling by both land and water that both travelers and companies find irresistible. Amphibious caravans, for instance, have been around for decades, and Sealander is also a fixture on this very narrow niche of the caravaning market: the German company introduced the first version of the recreational vehicle in 2014 and has since upgraded it to one complete vacation solution.We covered a Sealander upgrade in late 2019, but since August is Travel Month here on autoevolution, what better time than today to revisit this tiny but competent caravan?Sealander is designed and build exclusively in Germany, so you get the much prized German quality and reliability. With it, you also get the first serial-produced floating caravan in the world, a tiny recreational vehicle that can be towed by most regular passenger cars without a special permit, and then launched on water without any red tape and much fuss. Designer Daniel Straub aimed for ease of use in its creation: he wanted something every regular Joe and Jane could use on both land and water, store when not in use, and with minimal maintenance and headaches.On land, Sealander is an unbraked caravan under 750 kg (1,654 pounds). On water, its a category D motorboat with whatever choice of an outboard engine you want, as long as its not heavier than 30 kg (66 pounds) or more powerful than 9.87 hp. Sealander offers a choice of outboards, both gasoline and electric, so, if you want and, more importantly, if you can afford it, you can opt for the electric one and sail with minimal carbon footprint.Due to its size and its light weight (the caravan is made of fiberglass reinforced plastic), you can tow the Sealander even with a smaller vehicle, with the only limitation being of speed: a maximum of 100 kph (62 mph). Lowering it into water is a matter of a few minutes and some crafty maneuvering, especially if you dont have a rearview camera. You strap the outboard engine aft and then back the vehicle down the ramp until the caravan is in water; unhook the caravan and tie it down to a dock until youre ready to sail away, and youre done.Naturally, the camper is fully sealed and, as Caravan College established way back in 2017 (see the 8-minute mark in the video below), incredibly stable once out on the water. Two men leaning and pushing on the same side could not get it to topple over, so that means you have no reason to worry even if the weather turns bad unexpectedly.The space inside is small but comfortable, practical and, to a certain extent, quite posh . You have panoramic tinted windows on three sides, the opening on the fourth and a foldable roof up top. This means that, if you want, you can open it up completely to tan yourself or stargaze at night. You have two benches and a small table, with seating for up to six people. Or you can use this space as a bedroom as well, adding a topper on the table and creating a two-person bed.Near the entrance, you can add options that would make your trip even more pleasant : a cooking module on the right and a sink on the left, with a portable toilet hidden in one of those storage spaces and a cooler Dometic module on the opposite side. You can also throw in some extra cash for an outdoor shower on the aft deck, or even a grill that goes on the railing there. All these are tiny but theyre more than enough for an extended weekend for two.Further optimization includes an upgraded onboard battery, solar panels, a fly screen, an audio package (whats a vacation out on the water if you cant blast your favorite tunes, right?), a marine package, and a wide array of choices for interior materials and colors.The obvious advantage here is that you can combine two ways of traveling, designer Straub said a while back. It offers many more possibilities. When you have a boat and a caravan, you have to decide which one you want to use. What we offer here is the freedom to do what you want where you want.Yes, but this kind of freedom doesnt come cheap, and this is where the Sealander is similar to other amphibious vehicles, be they cars or caravans: its expensive. The basic vehicle is 24,950, which is roughly $30,000 at the current exchange rate, and thats without all that stuff youd need for a vacation. Throw in the topper slash bed extension, the toilet, the kitchenette, and the works, and youre looking at an additional 5,500 ($6,540). This doesnt include the battery upgrade or the outboard engine.
Instead, the car show held in the United Kingdom focuses on popularizing classic cars produced between the 1960s and 1990s that were considered less than ordinary when first introduced... but have since turned into quite rare appearances . And, of course, one can imagine that no Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, or Shelbys are featured here.Instead, the 2021 edition was all about Protons, Nissans, Peugeots, Volkswagens, Triumphs, or Fiats. Just to name a few. In case you want the big picture, weve embedded below a couple of videos from UK-based vloggers that attended the festival and reported at large. As far as the organizers (Hagerty Insurance Agency, LLC) are concerned, they were quite happy their endeavor is becoming ever more popular, with a record number of visitors in attendance.And that made a great venue for the immaculate true survivors present on the lawns of Grimsthorpe Castle this past weekend (Saturday, July 31st). Chief among them was a 1989 Proton 1.6 GL Black Knight that might be unknown to many car fans, save for the (few) diehard aficionados of the Malaysian automaker.It won the accolade of becoming the grand winner of the 2021 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional, followed by a 1991 Peugeot 106XN Graduate that allegedly cost a mere 500 (less than $700 at the current exchange rates). Naturally, these were not the only highlights Special mentions were awarded to a 1989 Nissan Bluebird, a 1986 Volkswagen Polo C Formel E, as well as a 1977 Fiat 128. Among the thousands, more unexceptional cars (that) were displayed with pride, the Best Dressed accolade went to a very colorful 1979 Ford Escort, whereas the Best Picnic award was given to a 1986 Volvo 340DL with a spread of period-correct fare.
AWD

Launched in March 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show, the FF was the latest iteration of the legendary Italian carmakers front-engine, full-size grand tourer lineup, succeeding the 612 Scaglietti . However, unlike its predecessor, this model took practicality to a new level and was the first Ferrari to feature all-wheel drive.Exclusively produced in Maranello until 2016 in more than 2,200 units, it stirred its fair share of controversy among Ferrari purists for its unconventional shooting-brake body style but was ultimately embraced by the vast majority of enthusiasts.So, if youre a die-heart Ferrari fan and are looking for a used one that you can drive as often as possible with your family on board, here are the main reasons why the FF is by far the best choice you can make.Those who are not familiar with this model expect the increase in practicality and addition ofto come at a price in terms of performance. The good news is that this cannot be farther from the truth as the FF comes with a huge 6.3-liter naturally-aspired V12 linked to a seven-speed dual-clutch. It makes 650 hp which translates into a 0 to 60 mph (0-97 kph) acceleration time of around 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 208 mph (335 kph).This means that the FF is in no way inferior to its twelve-cylinder-powered siblings and although it will drink a lot of gas, its going to transform any road trip into an unforgettable experience.Like I mentioned earlier, this is the first AWD vehicle Ferrari has ever built. Called 4RM, the innovative system engineered and patented by the Italian manufacturer was said to be around 50% lighter than the conventional AWD systems of the day.Able to electronically distribute torque to each wheel as needed, offering crisper handling and more grip in various weather conditions.In practical terms, you can drive it through rain or snow without fearing for your familys safety. The car even comes with a dedicated snow mode on its manettino dial but dont expect it to plow through a foot of powder. Nevertheless, its drivable on roads with a thin layer of snow or ice, so, as insane as it may sound, you can drive your family up to Aspen in a Ferrari this winter.One of the reasons why a supercar is normally the worse vehicle you can use for long-distance trips, especially if you want to travel with your family is the tiny or nonexistent rear passenger space.While the FF wont challenge minivans in this category, it reigns supreme over many supercars out there. It comes with two exquisite sport seats in the back that wont provide very much legroom for an adult but are more than adequate for your kids. Between them, theres a center console that hides a small storage compartment. Inside, youll find another 12-volt socket that the passengers can use to charge their devices. Further down the console, youll find a couple of small cupholders and two individual climate vents. The FF even comes with child seat latches so you can even install a front-facing seat.Moving on to the front of the cabin, youll get everything that you would expect from a Ferrari in terms of luxury, comfort, and convenience. The only awful part about it is the infotainment screen which is sourced from Chrysler (Ferrari is owned by FCA). It is in no way redesigned or adapted and looks exactly like the unit you will find in a Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep from the same era.Just like most premium SUVs or hatchbacks, the FF has a power tailgate that revealed a surprisingly ample cargo area. With 15.9 cubic feet (450 liters) of space, it provides enough room for the essential luggage you need for a week-long vacation. It even comes with a 12-volt socket so you can plug in a small cooler if you need to.When it came out a decade ago, this models starting price was somewhere in the $300,000 region but these days, an example in great shape can be brought for a little over $100,000. If youre looking for a low-mileage, near-perfect shape FF, you can have one for around $150,000. Its still a lot of money but far less than the initial price or that of a new GT4 Lusso, the FFs discontinued successor that you can still find in some Ferrari dealerships.This means that for the price of a new Acura NSX , you can buy a Ferrari grand tourer that might be less fuel-efficient but far more exquisite and practical.In conclusion, if youre a family-oriented Ferrari enthusiast that loves to travel by car as often as possible, a used FF is the best Prancing Horse you can buy, both in terms of value and practicality.
The rumors started in Japan after a journalist who claims to discuss with over 200 car dealers each month has told Best Car Web (Japanese) that the 2024 Land Cruiser Prado will get a 2.5-liter hybrid that is based on a diesel engine. The Prado model is not the sole recipient of a rumored diesel engine, as the Japanese brand would also offer the configuration for the HiLux , Land Cruiser, HiAce, and more. Toyota plans to have all of its models hybridized by 2030, and the Land Cruiser in all of its versions, along with the HiAce, HiLux, and many other off-roaders, commercial vehicles, and pick-up trucks have yet to have a hybrid variant lined up. Since those cars are offered in many markets with a diesel engine, it would make sense to offer a hybrid version to provide expected fuel economy values for target customers.In nine years, Toyota's offering in Japan, as well as any other domestic automaker in that country, will have to have hybrids instead of just internal combustion engines for the models that have yet to switch to hybrid propulsion systems or to electric drive.Japan will not be the only market to get Toyota's upcoming diesel-electric hybrid models. Recently, Toyota USA published a video on its YouTube that explains how diesels work. The Japanese brand does not sell any diesel-engined vehicles in the USA, so introducing a diesel-engined hybrid even in the U.S. would explain the video that was published without any further explanation.Therefore, if Toyota approves its diesel-electric hybrid powertrain, it should be available in the USA, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Africa, India, and several markets in Asia. In the case of the American market, the Tundra could get the described hybrid configuration, along with the Land Cruiser. The reports have yet to be confirmed by the Japanese automaker, so do not hold your breath for the new model.
kWh

kW

The biggest drawback of the MINI Cooper SE over the Nissan Leaf and pretty much every other electric vehicle available today in dealer showrooms is the range. With 114 miles (183 kilometers) worth of juice from a 32.6-battery, this fellow is no highway cruiser by any conceivable measure.Despite this niggle, the British hatchback is unusually hard to find on the lot according to Roman Mica. The Fast Lane s head honcho and Tommy Mica traveled from Colorado to New Mexico and back to Colorado for the blue-painted model in the following video, which is a lot of driving for an urban dweller that replaces the crews long-term Tesla Model Y Performance Bought for $35,500 or approximately $25,000 after federal- and state-level perks (Colorado currently offers a $3,500 tax credit for electric vehicles), the car is pretty much loaded. But nevertheless, the journey home can only be described as uneasy over the low average speed and the great distance between charging stations. On the upside, the Cooper SE can restore up to 80 percent of its EPA-rated driving range in a little over half an hour at a Level 3 direct-current station that juices up the battery pack at up to 50Roman estimates the journey to have taken almost four hours longer when compared to a combustion-engined car. Tommy is extremely pleased with how quiet the car is and how nice it drives, but all things considered, the MINI Cooper SE fares a lot better in the urban jungle than on the open road.
The guy who comes up with all these crazy ideas is Adam Parkins, a retired respiratory therapist who now gives people a humorous look into his daily life in rural South Carolina. Billy has come up with a variety of contraptions throughout the years, and it appears that every time he uploads a new video, he has something even wilder in store for his viewers.Weve seen him turn his Ford Festiva into a lawnmower, and he even equipped the old car for a fast and furious redneck race against Dom Toretto. This time, Billy went well above and beyond, outfitting a 2000 Honda Odyssey for space travel.The machine, dubbed the Redneck Space Shuttle, was inspired by NASA s Space Shuttle, a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system, which operated from 1981 until 2011.Billy showed us that you dont need to be a billionaire to build your own spaceship. Just spray some proper paint on it, slap a few pieces of plywood to give it wings and take care of the thrusters to make it look like its ready to take off to space.You can see that he put a lot of effort into this invention. He not only created a spacecraft, but he also made his own space program. He got everything down, even the so-called spacesuit, which is actually a disposable painting suit coverall that is completed with a fishbowl that replaces the astronaut helmet.Of course, he had to throw in some CGI to this whole mix to make his program look more realistic. From the looks of it, Billy actually reached Mars with his old Honda minivan. I bet Musk would be jealous if he saw what this redneck rocket could do.
Minnesota and federal health officials are urging universal masking in schools this fall, but not all local districts are following suit so far.

Driving the news: The Minnesota Department of Health issued new back-to-school guidance Wednesday, encouraging mask use indoors for students and teachers regardless of vaccination status.

Unlike last year, the state won't mandate mask use. Decisions will be up to local districts and school boards.

The big picture: States and school districts across the nation are grappling with how to handle the return to the classroom amid new concerns about the fast-spreading Delta variant.

Public health officials, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, say masking at school will protect kids under 12, who can't yet get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Yes, but: Masking policies have been met with backlash from some parents in Minnesota and beyond.

State of play: Many districts had been waiting for guidance from MDH to issue a decision for the fall, Gary Lee, deputy executive director of Minnesota School Board Association, told us. Here's a look at the range of approaches so far:

Required: Rochester's public school board approved a mandate for children ages 2 to 12 on Tuesday. Masks are recommended, but not required, for staff. Duluth, meanwhile, will mandate masks for grades five and below, as well as for staff working with those students.

Rochester's public school board approved a mandate for children ages 2 to 12 on Tuesday. Masks are recommended, but not required, for staff. Duluth, meanwhile, will mandate masks for grades five and below, as well as for staff working with those students. Optional: Anoka-Hennepin , the state's largest district, isn't mandating masks, but it does recommend use regardless of vaccination status. Masks will also be optional at South Washington County Schools.

Anoka-Hennepin the state's largest district, isn't mandating masks, but it does recommend use regardless of vaccination status. Masks will also be optional at South Washington County Schools. Still mulling: Minneapolis Public Schools and St. Paul School District haven't announced their policies. Decisions should be released in the coming weeks.

The bottom line: Officials say the current approach allows districts to craft rules based on the state of their virus in their area.

But it also creates a hodgepodge of policies across the state  and leaves local leaders and school board members to bear the brunt of any public backlash during an already turbulent time for education policy.

"At this point, it's going to be all over the board," Lee said.

Of note: Masks are still required on school buses under CDC rules on public transportation.
The National Assembly met for the first time since the June 20 parliamentary elections won by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians Civil Contract party. President Armen Sarkissian formally reappointed Pashinian as head of the government shortly after the start of the session.

According to the official election results, Civil Contract won about 54 percent of the vote, giving it 71 seats in the 107-member parliament.

Former President Robert Kocharians Hayastan alliance and the Pativ Unem bloc co-headed by former President Serzh Sarkisian and former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian control 29 and 7 parliament seats respectively.

Two Hayastan members elected to the parliament, Mkhitar Zakarian and Artur Sargsian, were arrested three weeks ago on separate criminal charges strongly denied by them. They ran major communities in Armenias southeastern Syunik province and openly challenged Pashinians administration in the months leading up to their arrests.

Two other elected Syunik mayors affiliated with Hayastan were also arrested in the wake of the snap parliamentary elections.

Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with pictures of the four Syunik figures, Hayastans deputies referred to Zakarian and Sargsian as political prisoners and hostages and demanded their release immediately after the start of the parliament session. Pativ Unems parliamentary group added its voice to those demands.

The opposition lawmakers insisted that their colleagues are held in detention in violation of Article 96 of the Armenian constitution which stipulates that a deputy may not be deprived of liberty without the consent of the National Assembly.

Mr. Zakarian and Mr. Sargsian are not absent [from the parliament] but held hostage. They want to attend the parliament session just like you do, but they are not allowed to, Hayastans Aram Vardevanian said, appealing to the parliaments pro-government majority.

Vladimir Vartanian, a senior lawmaker representing Civil Contract, dismissed the opposition demands, saying that Zakarian and Sargsian were arrested before formally becoming parliament deputies and therefore do not enjoy immunity prosecution.

Armenias Office of the Prosecutor-General echoed that claim in a statement issued shortly afterwards.

In a bid to step up the pressure on the authorities, Hayastan and Pativ Unem went on to nominate Zakarian and Sargsian respectively for the post of parliament speaker. They said both arrested men must at least be allowed to come to the parliament chamber and answer questions from fellow parliamentarians.

Our colleagues must be here and present their views on their nomination, said Hayastans Artsvik Minasian. Or else, he said, the opposition minority will regard the election of the new speaker as illegitimate and illegal.

Civil Contract nominated Alen Simonian, a close Pashinian associate and senior member of the ruling party, for the post.

The opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber in protest before Simonian took the floor to accept his partys nomination. They also boycotted a secret ballot that saw him elected parliament speaker later in the day.

Civil Contract will also install two of Simonians three deputies. Under Armenian law, the third vice-speaker must represent the opposition minority. Pativ Unem and Hayastan reportedly agreed last week to nominate a joint candidate for the post.
I have good news for you, Gagik Jahangirian told reporters. A member of our council, Davit Khachaturian, has drawn up a bill on a vetting mechanism mentioned by you  We will send it to the parliament or the government soon. Lets see who will take on the role of the bills locomotive, so to speak.

Those people who have committed crimes against justice must definitely be purged, he said. This is the most serious crime for judges and law-enforcement bodies.

Jahangirian gave no details of the bill.

Jahangirian himself was at odds with human rights activists when he served Armenias chief military prosecutor from 1997-2006. They accused him of covering up crimes and abetting other abuses in the Armenian armed forces throughout his tenure.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian demanded a mandatory vetting of all Armenian judges in May 2019 after a Yerevan judge released former President Robert Kocharian from custody and questioned the legality of coup charges brought against him.

Pashinians government subsequently agreed to refrain from such a purge of the judiciary at the urging of European legal experts. A government bill on judicial reforms enacted in March 2020 calls instead for a verification of the integrity of judges which is carried out by a state anti-corruption body.

The prime minister again publicly lambasted the judiciary last December after courts refused to allow the arrests of dozens of opposition members and supporters who challenged him following Armenias defeat in the war with Azerbaijan.

In January, the Armenian parliament installed Jahangirian as well as Khachatrian as members of the SJC, which is empowered to nominate, sanction and fire judges. Both men are regarded as figures loyal to the countrys leadership.

In April, the SJC chairman, Ruben Vartazarian, was controversially suspended and charged with obstruction of justice after Pashinians political allies accused him of encouraging courts to free the arrested government critics.

Vartazarian denies the accusations. He has said the authorities ordered the criminal proceedings to replace him with Jahangirian.

Jahangirian was named as acting head of the SJC pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

In recent weeks, Armenian judges have sanctioned the pre-trial arrests of several opposition-linked local government officials facing different criminal charges rejected by them as politically motivated.

Jahangirian denied on Monday trying to increase government influence on courts. He argued that he became the SJCs caretaker chairman only because of being the oldest member of the judicial watchdog.

A Yerevan court ruled last month that law-enforcement authorities breached Vartazarians legal immunity from prosecution and that he must therefore be reinstated as SJC chairman, saying that.

Most of the SJCs eight other members effectively refused to let him again run the body, however, saying that the ruling is addressed to the investigators, rather than the judicial watchdog. Vartazarian responded by asking Armenias Administrative Court to obligate the SJC to end his suspension.
President Armen Sarkissian formalized the controversial appointment of Lilit Makunts with a decree initiated by Pashinian.

Makunts, 37, taught English at Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan and did not engage in political activities before being appointed as Armenias culture minister in the wake of the 2018 velvet revolution that brought Pashinian to power.

She held that post until being elected to the Armenian parliament in December 2018 and becoming the nominal leader of the parliamentary group of Pashinians My Step bloc.

Makunts will replace Varuzhan Nersesyan, a career diplomat who handed his credentials to then President Donald Trump in January 2019. Nersesyan was appointed as Armenian ambassador to Britain last month.

Pashinians plans to replace Nersesyan with Makunts were first revealed by Armenian media outlets in January, prompting strong criticism from opposition lawmakers and other critics of his government. They pointed to her perceived lack of political and diplomatic experience.

She is not a diplomat. I dont know what she will be doing there [in Washington,] said Gevorg Gorgisian of the opposition Bright Armenia Party.

One of the two main Armenian-American lobby groups also criticized at the time Pashinians choice of Armenias ambassador in Washington.

With the stakes so high and the need for serious, seasoned professionals so very clear, we cannot afford on-the-job-training, political sinecures, or anything other than our very best in high level diplomatic postings, Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, wrote on Facebook.

Pashinian has still not publicly commented on the ambassadorial appointment.

In a January interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service, Makunts downplayed her lack of diplomatic experience and argued that political appointments of ambassadors is common practice around the world.

Experience is certainly very important, but in some cases it does not play a central role, she said.
The unprecedented restrictions were imposed at the start of the inaugural session of Armenias new parliament elected in June.

Journalists accredited to the National Assembly discovered that they can no longer interview lawmakers coming out of the parliament chamber or approach the offices of deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party located in a large section of the parliament compound.

A corridor leading to that section was tightly guarded by uniformed officers of the State Protection Service, an agency that provides bodyguards to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other senior state officials. They did not allow any reporter to walk through it.

Parliamentary correspondents managed to briefly talk to Alen Simonian, a close Pashinian associate elected parliament speaker later in the day. Simonian claimed that no restrictions have been imposed on their work.

Taguhi Tovmasian, an opposition lawmaker and a former reporter who warned of such restrictions last week, said the parliament administration likewise assured her in writing that the rules for press coverage of the National Assembly have not changed.

If there is no such decision then it cannot be enforced. But to my surprise, even after this published document we can see that you really have trouble moving around, Tovmasian told reporters.

Tovmasian, who edited a major newspaper before being first elected to the parliament in 2018, again argued that Armenias former, supposedly less democratic governments never dared to take such measures against the parliamentary press corps.

The restriction of journalists freedom of movement is yet another manifestation of [the current authorities] fear, impotence and weakness, charged Aghvan Vartanian, another opposition parliamentarian and former newspaper editor.

Keep fighting, dont cave in. Go to all places [in the parliament,] Vartanian told his former colleagues.

Artur Vanetsian, a former National Security Service director who now leads the opposition Pativ Unem bloc, said the parliamentary opposition will try to have the restrictions scrapped.

The restrictions seem to be part of a broader tightening of security in and outside the parliament building, which was also guarded by an unusually large number of riot police on Monday.

In particular, the authorities placed metal detectors at the entrances to the main parliament auditorium also guarded by security officers. This means that from now on deputies will be searched when entering not only the sprawling compound but also the chamber itself.

This is simply ridiculous, said Vanetsian. There are two possible explanations. Either these authorities want to get on the oppositions nerves in this way or they are just terrified of the opposition.
In this rural Missouri county, the vaccination rate is low and opposition high
PRINCETON [mdash] Shelby Jean Anthony, 84 of Princeton died Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Born February 9, 1937 in Rock she was the daughter of the late Roscoe Calfee and Roxie Tilley Calfee. She was an active member of First Assembly of God Church in Princeton and a former employee of Maidenfo
In this April 22, 2021, file photo, flags of some of the ASEAN member countries fly at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. Southeast Asias top diplomats were meeting Monday, Aug. 2, 2021, to appoint a special envoy to help deal with the political crisis and violence gripping Myanmar and finalize an emergency plan to help control a coronavirus outbreak that many fear is spiraling out of control in the military-ruled nation.
Four vaccinated adults and two unvaccinated minors tested positive for the coronavirus during routine end-of-trip screening Thursday on Royal Caribbean International's Adventure of the Seas.

All six passengers were quarantined right away, and their travel companions and close contacts tested negative. The passengers left the ship Friday with their travel groups in Freeport, Bahamas, and they were sent home on private flights, with transportation provided directly to their homes, according to the cruise line. USA Today's Morgan Hines, who was on the ship, was the first to report the news.

COVID SURGE: Abbott prohibits cities from requiring masks, vaccines

The two minors, both asymptomatic, were in the same travel party, but not with any of the adults who tested positive. The four vaccinated adults were not traveling together. Three were asymptomatic and one had mild symptoms, Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Lyan Sierra-Caro said.

Sierra-Caro said the cruise line was not able to determine on board whether the passengers were infected with the fast-spreading delta variant.

"We are going to be doing additional tests so we can look into this," she said in an email.

Health officials have been sounding alarms about the highly contagious variant, saying that vaccinated people who are infected might be able to transmit the virus as easily as the unvaccinated. The CDC recommended this week that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of high or substantial community transmission.

Adventure of the Seas, which left from Nassau on Saturday for a weeklong voyage, requires crew and passengers 16 and older to be fully vaccinated against the virus. That vaccine age requirement will change to 12 for cruises leaving Nassau starting Sunday.

According to Royal Caribbean's health protocols, all passengers 2 years of age and older must present a negative PCR test no more than five days before arriving in the Bahamas, though that requirement will change Sunday to either a PCR or antigen test three days before sailing. Passengers get tested again before the cruise ends to meet government health requirements.

About 1,100 guests are on board Adventure of the Seas - roughly 35% of capacity - along with around 900 crew members. Before arriving in Freeport on Friday, the ship stopped at the cruise line's private Bahamian island and in Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise will end Saturday in Nassau.

Adventure of the Seas started sailing from Nassau in early June, at a time when cruise ships were still banned from departing from U.S. ports. Royal Caribbean said later that month that two young unvaccinated passengers on the ship had tested positive for the virus.

RELATED: Biden to launch vaccine push for millions of federal workers

Other isolated cases on cruises have emerged, including in vaccinated passengers. Cruise line executives have acknowledged that infections are impossible to rule out but say the important thing is to keep them from becoming outbreaks. The industry shut down globally in March of 2020, and while cruises restarted earlier in some parts of the world, ships only started sailing again regularly from North America in recent months. A small number now are sailing from states including Florida, Texas and Washington, with more set to join in August.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking 64 ships that are sailing under its jurisdiction, either with passengers or with crew only. Of those, 21 have recently reported covid cases, according to the CDC, based on surveillance data from the past seven days.

The CDC recommended that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid cruise travel.

"Since the virus spreads more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships, the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high," the agency advised. "It is especially important that people who are not fully vaccinated and at an increased risk of severe illness avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises."

In response to skyrocketing covid cases, Royal Caribbean announced Thursday that all passengers older than 2 sailing out of the United States on trips of five nights or longer - regardless of vaccine status - will need to provide a negative test taken within three days of boarding. That rule applies to all cruises between Saturday and Aug. 31. Previously, only unvaccinated passengers needed proof of a negative test before boarding at U.S. ports.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said on his Facebook page Friday that the change in policy is due to the fast spread of the delta variant.

"Yes, even with the vast majority of our onboard population highly vaccinated we are seeing more covid positive cases with vaccinated guests," Bayley wrote.

LOCAL TRAVEL: Good luck getting around Houston's newest highway closure

The Miami-based cruise line described the new requirement as "an additional layer of precaution to ensure the safety of everyone onboard" and said the operator would continue to adjust its protocols as the public health situation evolves.

"We realize this will not make many guests happy just as it will comfort many guests," Bayley wrote. "We are trying our very best to provide a safe and healthy and fun vacation for all our guests our crew and the communities we visit during these challenging times."
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Anna Gross, a film executive and producer who worked on films such as The NeverEnding Story and Tootsie, died of cancer on July 23. She was 68.

Gross cousin, Mikie Heilbrun, confirmed her death to Variety. Everyones life she touched she enriched, Heilbrun wrote in an email. She made them better more full beings and forever changed them.

Gross began her career in film in the 1970s with an 8-year stint working for famed Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis, during which she worked on 14 films, including Death Wish (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976), King Kong (1976) and Ragtime (1981). Gross then became vice president of production for director Sydney Pollack, working to develop his films The Electric Horseman (1979), Tootsie (1982) and Out of Africa (1985).

Throughout the 1980s, Gross spent time in Germany working with producer Bernd Eichinger, where she oversaw the production on The NeverEnding Story (1984), The Name of the Rose (1986) and Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989). She then returned to Los Angeles, and established Constantin Films local operation.

In the 90s, Gross became VP of production for Italian producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori and was the key executive for Oscar winners and nominees, including Mediterraneo (1991), The Starmaker (1995) and Il Postino (1994). Gross handled U.S. distribution for these films and oversaw their Oscar campaigns, which led to Gross beginning her own business dedicated to running Oscar campaigns for foreign films. In total, Gross handled the campaigns for 11 Oscar-nominated films.

In addition, Gross was a founding board member of the nonprofit organization FilmAid International, and was the director and corporate secretary for Hypomania Content.

Gross is also survived by two nieces and three nephews.

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Rep. John Lewis was so determined to finish his final memoir as the pandemic began that he devised a safety system. Andrew Aydin, his co-author and neighbor on Capitol Hill, would deliver their latest working pages to the civil rights icon's home, hiding them behind planters on the front stoop. The Georgia congressman was 80 and receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer, so absolute social distancing was essential.

The hidden handoffs early last year brought Lewis joy in his final months. He died of cancer last summer, but not before telling his last impassioned story.

The creative result, "Run: Book One," which will be released Tuesday, chronicles Lewis's journey shortly after his pivotal "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Ala. - and immediately after the triumphant signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that concluded Lewis's previous graphic-novel project: his best-selling "March" trilogy. The illustrated sequel spotlights how Black activists evolved into political leaders against the national backdrop of racist violence, voter suppression and the Vietnam War - dramatic scenes and themes that feel timelessly relevant.

"He was very hopeful that leaving his legacy in a graphic novel would give a road map not just to this generation, but to generations to come," Aydin says by phone from North Carolina.

Lewis liked to recount how as a teenager, it was a comic book - 1957's widely distributed "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story" - that drew him into the movement of nonviolent protest: within six years, he was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington. The book's brightly tinted comic panels, featuring such figures as King and Rosa Parks, had the power to "make it plain" and "make it real," Lewis would say - especially appealing to a young person who couldn't get a library card in his Alabama town because of the color of his skin.

Lewis and Aydin began publishing the graphic-novel epic "March" eight years ago, working with artist Nate Powell. The series received widespread critical acclaim, including the first National Book Award for a comic book, and became a must-have in schools. Lewis led a kids' procession at Comic-Con International in San Diego in 2015, donning the same type of trench coat and backpack he had worn 50 years earlier while leading 600 protesters across Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. "March" was eventually displayed at the same library where he'd been denied a card more than a half-century before.

Lewis knew how to dramatize conflicts vividly, whether on the page or the national stage.

Several weeks before his death in July last year, he walked across the large yellow "Black Lives Matter" lettering along the plaza in front of the White House. Widely shared photos of his visit evoked one of the most striking images from his graphic novels: On the cover of 2016s "Book Three," Lewis leads Selma protesters into the maw of state troopers primed for violence; large lettering spelling out "March" stretches across the concrete.

Powell, who rendered that cover, returned to draw the opening sequence of its new sequel: a protest scene that serves as a direct narrative bridge from "March."

"Run" begins in Americus, Ga., in the summer of 1965, as Lewis is leading about a dozen local activists to try to desegregate a small church. Soon they are arrested and taken to jail, while outside the courthouse, the Ku Klux Klan is set to stage one of its largest hooded marches in years. "The ink was barely dry on the Voting Rights Act, but already forces were gathering to fight back using our own tactics, and America's cities were ready to explode," Lewis and Aydin write beneath images of far-right hate.

Speaking by phone from Indiana, Powell described the new book's themes. "We're not talking about victories," he said. "We're not talking about a war being won. We're talking about the everyday anonymous work of protest."

Because Powell was committed to other book projects when the work on "Run" began in 2016, the team turned to Texas-based illustrator L. Fury to create most of the art. It was her first graphic novel, as well as her first work of nonfiction. And to nail the audition, she needed to convince Lewis that she could draw him as a young man.

The congressman loved looking at art samples and was invested in how he was depicted, says Aydin, who also worked in Lewis's office as digital director and policy adviser. The politician looked at Fury's headshots of him. "He said, 'Now that's me!' " Aydin says. "He made up his mind, and that was it."

Fury discovered that a crucial challenge at times was to draw people and settings despite limited visual references. "I'm used to inventing a character from my head - there's no way to draw an imaginary character wrong," she says, noting that it's a hurdle "when you're trying to re-create a face and you only have two angles, from the 1950s or '60s - these people didn't have Instagram."

The book's narrative is often propelled by Lewis's perceptions of and reactions to interlocking events - including how his commitment to nonviolence and denunciation of the escalating Vietnam War put him at odds with other leaders of the movement.

Aydin likes to say that the new title reflects the idea that in a time of change, "First you march, then you run" - including for positions of power. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee founding member Julian Bond runs for Georgia office, while Lewis loses his SNCC chairmanship to Stokely Carmichael - a difficult and emotional pivot point for the future congressman.

"Run" doesn't shy from showing the brutality of white supremacy, such as when a wealthy Black businessman is murdered by the KKK in Mississippi. Elsewhere, Samuel Younge Jr. - a 21-year-old Black student activist and Navy veteran whom Lewis knew personally - is shot to death by a White gas-station attendant for trying to use a Whites-only restroom in Alabama; hundreds soon marched in Tuskegee to protest, and an all-White jury acquitted the attendant.

The artists say depicting such racist violence is emotional. "The level of rage and sadness was so tangible on the page - I hated drawing that [KKK march] sequence so much," says Powell, but "it's important to pay attention to those feelings and convey them to the reader." Fury adds that as effective storytellers, they need to "sit in those feelings for hours a day."

Many of the moments in "Run" speak to related struggles today. During Alabama's primary elections in 1966, polling places are moved or removed to try to suppress the Black vote. A voting site that has a "Whites only" sign is captioned starkly: "Jim Crow was alive and well in Lowndes County."

Lewis wanted the lessons of the movement to outlive him. A year after the congressman's death, the rest of the "Run" team feels the honor and obligation of that narrative legacy.

"It's hard to illustrate a person's words and their life without feeling close to them," Fury says. And Powell views "Run" as "very much a crystallized component of some of [Lewis's] last great work: to carry the urgency of the anti-racist movement and the pro-democracy movement out into the world further."

Aydin says that Lewis wanted "Run" to serve as a beacon not only of intellectual illumination, but also of political inspiration. "He looked around Congress and the country and saw we needed better," he says.

And what makes better leaders?

"The congressman," Aydin says, "wanted more people in office who had empathy."
The Jasper County Commissioners Court met for the regular session last Monday and the agenda was full of items for action. The meeting opened recognizing the founding and current members of the Beech Grove Volunteer Fire Department for their creation of Jasper Countys newest fire department. The Court acknowledged that the department was protecting the citizens of Beech Grove and passed a resolution recognizing the efforts and the Courts appreciation for assisting Jasper County during Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020 and recently with the severe winter weather and flooding. The Court also congratulated the Beach Grove VFD for their construction of a sub-station to serve the Dixie community.

Ronnie Beard of Evadale and his attorney, Blair Bisbey, provided proper application and order for closure of a portion of County Road 829 in Evadale. Property owners on both sides of the road agreed on the closure, which they believe will be in the areas best interest in helping to reduce vandalism, trespassing and other criminal activities. The Court approved the shortening of the county road also known as Jones Road.

Next was the County Clerks Technology Fund Plan renewal hearing presented by Debbie Newman. Newmans submitted plan included the scanning of historical records to preserve them for the future. The Court voted to approve the plan. Newman then presented to the Court the proposed early voting dates for the Nov. 2 proposition election. The dates recommended are Oct. 18 through Oct. 29. These dates, along with times and locations, will be published by the County Clerks office as the election draws near.

Jasper County Chief Deputy Scott Duncan followed with a report that the Sheriffs Office is still in discussions with Southern Health Partners, who currently provides the inmate medical services for the Jasper County Jail. He reported that an agreement should be completed in the next couple of weeks. In a related matter the Court voted to temporarily extend the existing services contract allowing time for the new agreement negotiations and it being approved. Duncan then addressed the compensatory overtime for Sheriffs Office employees which are paid out of the Prisoner Reimbursement Fund. The Court voted to payoff the overtime from the fund in the amount of $44,865.67. Duncan gave the monthly jail report that $32,860.00 was invoiced to Newton, Sabine and Tyler Counties and that currently additional inmates from Nacogdoches County are being housed in Jasper to assist with overflow from other facilities.

Emergency Management Coordinator Billy Ted Smith requested a renewal of Jasper Countys contract with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to allow the state agency access to work out of the Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) during disaster events like hurricanes and floods. The Court recognized that having a TCEQ representative present in the JCEOC assisting during events was advantageous to the protection of first responders and in the overall recovery from a disaster event. The Court voted to approve the renewal.

In other emergency management business, the Court approved the acceptance of a $10,000 donation from the WestRock Paper Mill in Evadale and a $1,000 donation from the Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative. Both donations are to improve agency operations when they are needed. The Court thanked both for being active in the community and their regular contributions to programs that improve the safety and quality of life for families in Jasper County. Commissioners approved the extension of Jasper Countys COVID-19 Declaration of Disaster allowing continued monitoring, contract tracing and vaccinations in the event of increases in the number of active positive cases.

Gulf Coast Construction of Jasper was awarded the contract for road and drainage improvements on County Roads 741, 742, 743, 788, 814 and 815 in Precinct 4 in south Jasper County. The contract amount is $238,958.87 and Precinct 4 commissioner Vance Moss advised that the projects would begin in the next few weeks. The Court authorized the engineering firm of Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong out of Lufkin to publish bids for a major water supply improvement project at the Harrisburg Water Supply Corporation. The project will involve a mew ground water storage tank and the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. This project will improve water quality for citizens from this system that was established in 1964. Funding for this project will come through the Texas Department of Agriculture Community Development Block Grants. The Court obtained this grant to assist water and sewer projects within Jasper County.

Approval was granted on an updated contract for Grantworks Inc., for the administration of the Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant program of the Texas General Land Office. This grant is for the floodplain buyout and acquisition grant. These funds can be used to purchase homes from individuals that live in homes that are in flood-prone areas. The Court authorized county auditor Mellisa Smith to initiate procurement by publishing requests for proposals and qualifications for professional services for the American Rescue Plan Act of 2020. This is a federal grant program that Jasper County expects to receive $6.89 million.

Commissioners reappointed Brent Meaux, Molly Thacker and Randal Daily to another term on the Jasper County Economic Development District No. 1 Board of Directors. Precinct 1 commissioner Seth Martindale advised that all three were willing to serve an additional term. The Court thanked the district for their efforts to promote tourism and improve the quality of life for citizens in their district.

Discussion then moved to a new Sub-Courthouse Annex in Precinct 3. Jasper County owns property that is suitable for construction of the proposed facility. The Court appointed county Judge Mark Allen Precinct 3 Commissioner, Willy Stark and Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace and Mike Smith to a project development committee. They are charged with determining the need for a new facility, possible additional offices and services and the possible sale or transfer of the current Sub-Courthouse Annex in Kirbyville after the completion of a new facility. This project will utilize grants and existing funds so that no debt is incurred by the county.

The Court voted to establish criteria for any proposed redistricting of political boundaries when the 2020 US census numbers are finalized and adopted. Voter approval rate must be calculated in a manner provided for a special taxing unit for any upcoming budget process. The Court then entered a budget workshop for the Fiscal Year 2022. No additional requests were made from any of the County departments. Allen closed the meeting presenting the monthly civil and criminal fee reports on behalf of District Clerk Rosa Norsworthy, who was assisting the District Court and the District Attorney with grand jury selection.
Back in the heady days of spring, we thought we were seeing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Vaccinations were being rolled out. Masks were being taken off. The summer sun was coming. All the hospitalization and fatality numbers from Covid were heading in the right direction  down.

It truly appeared that our long national nightmare would be over by the fall, or the winter of this year. Now? Well, no one knows, but the outlook is much less positive.

Right now we have a low-level plateau of cases  a disease that never goes away even if it doesnt disappear. Covid 19 probably wont become a raging epidemic again, although after what weve been through, no one can say that for sure. The latest variant, the delta, is more infectious than previous strains. But the smart people in white coats say that it will eventually be replaced by other variants that could be nastier.

But for now, the greater spread seems to be held in check in our country by the half of the adult population that has been vaccinated and another big chunk that caught Covid before and survived, thereby producing natural antibodies.

The natural resistance is said to be less strong than the vaccinated protection, so maybe those folks could start getting infected again by a later strain of the virus. The vaccine is believed to be effective for several years, maybe even a lifetime. But like almost everything else surrounding this menace, exact answers are not available.

The bad news is that it doesnt appear that this country will reach the mythical herd immunity, when about 75% of the population is immune to the virus and it slowly dies out because it cant find new victims. The good news is that we may get close enough.

Despite all the justified hand-wringing over vaccine resistance, our country is making slow but steady progress on this front. About 590,000 people are being vaccinated every day, and that number is far larger than many people would suspect. Vaccinations will also tick up with President Bidens recent order for all federal employees to get the jab or show proof of a recent negative Covid test. More and more employers are also requiring their workers to take the plunge, as are businesses that demand this of their customers.

All that momentum is chipping away at Covids toll. Whether it can outrace the variants or ongoing infections from people in other countries who have not been vaccinated is another matter.

But there wont be any help on the political side. A good portion of Republican Party officials and voters are dead-set (pun intended) to any more mask mandates, business closings or vaccine requirements. These dead-enders (sorry, another pun) wouldnt soften their resistance unless bodies were dropping in the street. A few of those diehards (I cant help myself!) wouldnt budge then.

Because of that, it looks like Covid is clearly going to linger throughout the rest of this year and still be a factor in early 2022.

Will it finally start to fade then? Or does it just stick around like it is now  sickening and killing some people but not enough to persuade the doubters to get vaccinated? Thats another mystery, just like the millions of Americans who, in effect, believe they should have the freedom not to grab a life preserver when it is thrown to them in raging seas.

I guess well all find out as the story unfolds. Just dont be impatient, because the closing chapter is still many pages away. I pray that you dont lose any family or friends to this preventable disease until then.

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom
Like it or not, our celebrities have the power to shape our culture. They are the mythological figures of our modern age, powerful and influential. And, like the mythological figures of old, many represent the darker sides of humanity.

But not all celebrities tread this darker path. Chris Pratt, action hero and rising Hollywood star, is unique among his peersamong all of us, in fact. He lives out his sincerely held Christian faith in his daily life, doing the best he can to represent and glorify God in all he does. He strives to be an example of what Christianity has the potential to be.

Pratt met with divine destiny about four weeks before he was discovered as an actor. In an interview with Esquire, Pratt describes a chance meeting outside a Safeway, where he came face to face with a man of faith. The man asked him, What are you doing tonightdrugs and drinking? Chris replied with, I hope so.

What followed was a small exchange that resulted in Pratts salvation. The man told Pratt that I stopped because Jesus told me to stop and talk to you. He said to tell you youre destined for great things. When Pratts friends emerged from the Safeway, alcohol in tow, Pratt decided to go with the man rather than with them, and ended up working for Jews for Jesus and, within two days, giving his life to God.

He was 19 years old, and a month later, while waiting tables, a director saw something special in him and cast him in his first role. Pratts career took off. He was a celebrity.

But there is a reason there are so few Christians in Hollywood, a reason which Pratt would have to overcome through sheer willpower. The fame and fortune that come with celebrity status, the unlimited money, the sycophants who refuse to say no, the heady sense of power over millions of viewersall of this can be a major obstacle to a life of faith.

Celebrities dont have the barriers that normal people do, such as limited funds or a peer group who will consistently hold them accountable for their actions. They can do, for the most part, whatever they want, have whatever they want. Theyre worshiped and adored and they know it.

They possess the powers of a god, yet the self-control of a mortala bad combination.

Some of the first Christians in Americathe Puritans of the 17th centuryhad some good ideas about what it means to be a Christian who interacts with the world in a Godly manner. Their concept of visible sainthood was central to their lifestyle. They believed in faith in action, that tangible evidence of their faith in every aspect of their lives, from business dealings to careers, was incredibly important.

As a result, whatever their occupation was, they tried to excel while yet remaining humble, rationalizing that, since a persons talents come from God, God must desire for them to use those talents for His divine purposes. As a result, their culture encouraged people to be walking ambassadors for God, showing His wondrous qualities to all who looked on even their most mundane dealings.

Chris Pratt is one of the few actors in Hollywood to truly use the platform of his celebrity power to promote the kind of love, kindness, and humility that truly represents what a servant of God looks like, representing God in his actions, great and small.

This is wonderfully encapsulated in his recent run-in with an aggressive autograph-seeker, caught on camera by TMZ. When the overzealous fan directed profanity at Pratt, the actor responded with You should be nicer. Youve got a cross on your chest and youre cussing me out? Come on man. Dont be a jerk.

Pratt didnt explode. He didnt return fire or shut down or badmouth the fan on social media. He simply pointed out the fact that the fan bore a crossthe symbol of Christianityon his chest, and that he needs to act in a way that better represents that cross. This candid moment speaks of Pratts worldview, giving us a window into the sincerity of his faith.

In what is another rarity, Pratt has gone public about his faith without being divisive or combative. In a time marked by constant warfare between popular culture and the religious world, Pratt has laid aside his sword in lieu of kindness. Hes positive, posting Facebook prayers for fans and openly discussing his faith on social media without resorting to demonizing those who feel differently about belief than he does.

It is in Pratts propensity to simply live out his faith rather than preaching or sermonizing that allows him to be both a successful, career celebrity and a Christian. In literature, the most powerful stories containing the most world-changing themes are those which teach through the example of their protagonists lives, showing what works and what doesnt. Readers tend to shy away from authors who tell them how to live, yet cling to the characters they love, who then teach them how to live via example.

The same is true of the celebrities we idolize. The ones who teach through the lives they live rather than by simply telling us how to live are those with the greatest effect on our culture. And so when Pratt takes the time to visit hospitalized children or shares wisdom and hope with his followers or loves on his family, he teaches us. And because everything he does filters through the lens of his Christian worldview, what he teaches us is inspired by God.

One of Pratts social media posts sums this up well with 1 John 2:10-11, which reads, Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

He cares. He cares about both about how he represents his God, and about how his power as a celebrity affects others. And thats what makes the difference in his life, and, even moreso, in the life of his fans.

Think on your own circle of influence. If youre an everyday Christian, even though you may not have millions of devotees, are you representing God in the best way possible? Are you using what influence you have to be the Lords ambassador, acting as a beacon of light and hope which draws people to the love of God?

If Chris Pratt can overcome the moral difficulties of fame and wealth to give us the example he does, then so can you.
The Apostle Peter promises to those who repent and are baptized that they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Bible tells us Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:6-8). Scripture explicitly states that we must first be born again. In order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we must be committed to new life in Christ. This is when the real transformation begins. Whats amazing about the Holy Spirit is how we are drawn to it. Before you even choose to become a Christian, the Holy Spirit is at work in you, communicating with you, showing you your sin, and drawing you to Christ. Here are three big ways to experience the Holy Spirit.

Through Understanding

We cant experience the Holy Spirit with limited understanding of the Holy Spirit. To truly understand the Holy Spirit as a gift, its important to understand what the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is God  not simply a force. It is the third entity of the Trinity, manifested as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each person itself being God. As a result of this, everyone who has repented and turned their life over to Christ has the power to receive the Holy Spirit. Another important thing to understand about the Holy Spirit is that we cannot see it; however, we can experience the Holy Spirit when we are filled with it. There are a number of verses throughout Scripture that speak on being filled with the Holy Spirit, including:

Ephesians 1:17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him

Acts 4:8: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit sais to them, Rulers of the people and elders

Acts 13:52: And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Understanding the Holy Spirit will not only improve your listening of God, but also give you better direction. The Holy Spirit enables us to do things in ways we could never imagine.

By Seeking God

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will be experienced by those who seek Him. In the Book of John we are told: Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, who those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost, when Jesus followers received the Holy Spirit. This is told in great detail in Acts 2. The account begins with the Holy Spirit descending upon a group of followers who upon receiving it began to speak in tongues. We are told in this account, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound of heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the houses where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, and the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). Because the Holy Spirit came down, the Apostles were enabled to spread the good news of Christ, just as Jesus had promised. With the decent of the Holy Spirit, a New Covenant was inaugurated. We know the Holy Spirit is working through us when we are drawn to Christ.

Through the Fruits of the Spirit

In Galatians 5:22-23 we learn about the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Bible says against such things, there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the result of the Holy Spirits presence our lives as Christians. We receive the Holy Spirit the moment we believe in Christ. When we receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, we have a new awareness of Christ, and can begin entering a relationship with Him. The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit coming into our life is change. The Holy Spirits role is to mold us into the image of Christ so that we may live in His likeness.

Another place we can turn to is Matthews Gospel which says, Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:17-20). This passage helps us understand the observable behaviors of people who have allowed the grace of the Holy Spirit to be active in their lives. Practicing these fruits can change your life tremendously as we are allowing the grace of the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives.

Experiencing the Holy Spirit is a privilege, given to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Once you accept Jesus Christ in your heart, you will receive it. With this privilege comes great responsibility. With the Holy Spirit guiding us, we must seek earnestly to remove ourselves from a context of sin, and obey the commands of God. Our thoughts and our actions should build up the Kingdom of God. Just as the disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we too as Christians can enjoy the fullness, greatness and power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. The Holy Spirit also enhances our relationship with God. Accept the Holy Spirit at work in your life today.
While the Bible is often quoted, Jesus is often misquoted. Too often, Christians and other readers of the Bible will hear particular verses and passages in the Bible the way they want to hear them. Believers must be clear on the things that Jesus said and didnt say, so they truly understand the Word of God. Here are seven times Christians misquoted Jesus.

You will be saved. All you need to do is believe.

Many Christians think that Jesus says this, but He didnt. There is more to salvation than just believing. Yes, faith is essential, and salvation comes through faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. This isnt the only passage that speaks to the necessity of faith to be saved. However, we must be careful when it comes to verses like Romans 10:13, which says, For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. This is one of the biggest mistakes that many who profess to be believers make. In Acts 22, Paul gives us the greatest example of what salvation looks like  to be baptized in water and immersed in new life with Christ. Read the entire New Testament to understand what Jesus really taught.

When you die as a good person, you will go to heaven.

Many believers think that their good works or simply doing the right thing will get them into heaven. Jesus never said this. The Bible tells us that getting into heaven isnt the result of our works. The Bible says, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  not by works so that one can boast. Yes, Jesus wants us to love our neighbors and do good deeds, but it doesnt mean all the good we do will get us in heaven. The truth is, not everyone will get into heaven. Its a reality many believers dont want to confront. Thankfully, we have the assurance that those who come into faith in Jesus Christ can receive the gift of eternal life.

The more you do great things, the richer you will become.

Some believe this is the gospel of Jesus, but this is more in line with the prosperity gospel. This distortion of the gospel traps Christians into believing that they will receive more if they give more to the church. It also teaches that if you are financially prosperous, you were a good Christian. If you arent, you didnt pray hard enough or do what you were called to do by God. Churches that preach the prosperity gospel usually equate church membership with service and tithing, with no formal commitment to God. This is not what Jesus preached. Jesus warned His disciples, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A mans life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). Jesus preached in great contrast to this belief system. Jesus also said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. We cant serve two masters and be believers.

Jesus went to Church every Sunday.

Some Christians dont realize that Jesus kept the Sabbath on the seventh day. The Sabbath day is Saturday. Luke 4:31 says, And [Jesus] went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath created great conflict with religious leaders of Jesus time, more than anything, apart from Jesus claiming to be the Messiah. Jesus critics wanted to kill Him because he broke the Sabbath by breaking one of their rules.

I love Christians more than unbelievers.

Many Christians believe that God doesnt love those who arent saved, the unbelievers. We must remember that God loves everyone, even those who are lost or havent found them yet. Titus 3:3-5 says, We also were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various desires and pleasures, living in evil and envy, filled with hatred and hating each other. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. While Gods desire is for all to know and accept Jesus into their hearts, He doesnt love anyone any less.

Church isnt that important.

Never once did Jesus say going to church isnt important. In fact, it was Jesus custom. Going to church was a regular part of Jesus practice. The Bible says, He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, He went into the synagogue, as was His custom (Luke 4:16). There is a reason why Jesus wants us to go to church. When we become believers, we go to church not only because its a place to worship our Heavenly Father but also to grow in spiritual maturity. God calls us to be members of His body. We can go to church to be inspired to live our lives after Jesus. We should make church attendance a priority.

You dont have to do everything commanded in the Bible.

Jesus calls believers to be radically committed. This includes radical commitment in the way that we live. This means were all-in, including what we are commanded in the Bible. Too often, we water down the gospel, picking out the things we want to do and avoiding the things we think are difficult to do. Jesus never once said we dont have to follow Gods commands. First John 5:3 says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. Second John 1:6 says, And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it. Only when we take Gods Word and commandments seriously, the world will also take Him seriously. If we dont follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we cant expect others to.

When we hear the words of Jesus the way God intended, we can fully experience their power. Dont be afraid to open your Bible and immerse yourself in the gospel. God is ready to reveal something amazing to you there.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (second from left), opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (fifth from left), and other lawmakers hold up a Malay banner calling on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet to resign, during a protest at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 2, 2021.

More than 100 Malaysian opposition lawmakers gathered at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on Monday to intensify calls for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassins resignation and protest his unelected governments decision to postpone the final day of a special parliamentary session.

The postponement was a ploy to prevent lawmakers from raising a no-confidence motion and discussing the kings reprimand of the government last week, opposition MPs said.

At the weekend, the health director-general announced the postponement after 11 staff in the parliament building had tested positive for COVID-19. The last day of the session had been scheduled for Monday, but it would be postponed for two weeks retroactive to July 29, officials said.

Mondays protest reunited the unlikely duo of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, his longtime rival and former deputy who leads the opposition in parliament.

The postponement of the Parliament sitting is uncalled for, Anwar told the media and others gathered at the site of the protest.

Mahathir said Muhyiddin would do anything to cling to the narrowest of parliamentary majorities.

This prime minister has no shame at all, the 96-year-old leader of the Pejuang party, who served as prime minister during two stints, the most recent of which ended when he resigned in February 2020, before the king appointed Muhyiddin as the next PM.

Not only was he appointed through the back door. When people showed him the door, still he refused to leave.

In the run-up to the 2018 general election, Mahathir and Anwar  who was imprisoned at the time for a sodomy conviction  agreed to form a political alliance to lead the Pakatan Harapan coalition to victory in the polls. Mahathir promised to transfer power to Anwar within two years time, but infighting in the blocs ranks caused Mahathirs government to collapse.

On Monday, opposition MPs and leaders chanted power to the people, Muhyiddin, resign, and long live the King as they walked from the historic square toward the parliament building, in a bid to enter it. Police prevented them from going near the building.

On Thursday, the last day that parliament was in session, lawmakers from the opposition as well as ruling coalition lawmakers demanded Muhyiddins resignation after the king reprimanded his government in a public statement. In it, the king criticized the government for allegedly misleading lawmakers about the status of ordinances issued during a national emergency, which ended Aug. 1.

On July 26, the law minister announced that the ordinances had been revoked days earlier, but the king said he had not signed off on them  nor had they been discussed in parliament like he had decreed.

In response to the kings reprimand, the Prime Ministers Office issued a lengthy statement saying the government had done nothing wrong and the king must accept and act according to the cabinets advice.

On Thursday, Anwar filed a no-confidence motion, which also called for Muhyiddin to be impeached for his alleged failure to abide by the rule of law and for stepping on the functions and power of the king as stipulated in the constitution.

Weekend protest

Meanwhile, hundreds of Malaysians took to the streets on Saturday to demand Muhyiddins resignation over his governments perceived failure to contain the pandemic. Some 400 people  mostly young protesters  defied a lockdown and carried effigies of dead bodies as they protest against COVID-19 deaths.

Public resentment has been growing against Muhyiddins unelected government, which has been blamed for a huge spike in new COVID-19 infections. Confusing lockdown protocols and the decision to keep several business sectors open are the reason, many believe, for the worsening pandemic.

Additionally, the PMs advice to the king to impose the emergency in January  purportedly to contain the pandemic  has also angered Malaysians. Many say it was a ruse by Muhyiddin to retain power.

COVID-19 cases in Malaysia have risen almost eight-fold since the emergency was imposed Jan. 12. The country is now in the throes of a huge surge, having surpassed 1 million cases earlier this month. On Monday, it reported a record 219 virus-related deaths.

Speakers role

Political analysts see the current crisis playing out in two ways.

Muhyiddin can hang on to power as long as he can avoid a vote of no confidence but as soon as the Speaker stop protecting him in parliament sitting, he will be in big trouble, James Chin, a professor at the University of Tasmania Asia Institute, told BenarNews.

He was referring to how the government retained the power to set the agenda for the sessions when it decided to hold the special five-day parliamentary session. Consequently, the speaker said, no votes or debate would be allowed.

In Malaysia, the speaker is not a lawmaker and is appointed by the PM. Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun has, time and again, supported the PMs various controversial decisions.

Andrew Khoo, chair of the Constitutional Committee at the Malaysian Bar Council, said the king could use his power to demand Muhyiddins resignation to resign if he thinks the PM has lost majority support.

[T]here is precedent for this from Australia, and also the states of Perak and Sabah, he told BenarNews, referring to the Westminster system of democracy.
Foreign workers hold up documents for inspection by the Immigration Department during a raid on a housing camp for construction workers in Cyberjaya, in Malaysias Selangor state, June 7, 2021.

Malaysia has repatriated nearly 90,000 undocumented migrants since last November and collected U.S. $12.3 million in penalties from them under amnesty programs to legalize or send foreign workers back home, the countrys immigration chief said Monday.

More than 100,000 undocumented migrants who overstayed and lacked the required papers have participated so far in the so-called recalibration programs, which the government has extended from the end of June 2021 until the end of the calendar year, officials said.

However, the government also lost 100 million to 130 million ringgit ($23.7 million to 30.8 million) in potential revenue through levies that employers of undocumented workers would have had to pay had the laborers been legal, Immigration Department Director-General Khairul Dzaimee Daud said.

Statistically, a total of 107,524 undocumented migrants have registered for this program up to Aug. 1, 2021. Of this number, 88,034 of them have already been repatriated, Daud told reporters during a visit to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

A total of 52,087,000 ringgit ($12.32 million) in compounds [penalties] have been collected through the program, he noted.

In July alone, more than 8,000 undocumented were repatriated via the international airport, Khairul said.

BenarNews contacted labor rights group Tenaganita for comment but did not immediately hear back. The Immigration Departments office also did not respond to a request for more details about the repatriations.

To speed up the repatriations process, more special counters have been opened at KLIA, Daud said, adding that some migrants had earlier complained they had missed their flights home due to delays caused by long queues and limited counters. The immigration department also plans to open more counters at sea ports and airports in other states.

Last November, Malaysia started two recalibration programs by which undocumented migrants could either apply to return to their home countries after paying a fine of 500 ringgit ($118), or stay and work legally in sectors deemed difficult, dangerous or dirty.

Under these programs, undocumented migrants can apply to the government through employers if they want to work in the country legally. Only employers from four sectors  manufacturing, construction, agricultural, and plantations  are allowed to offer jobs to these undocumented migrants.

Workers can stay in Malaysia while employers apply for their legalization, according a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs when it launched the programs in November 2020. The programs also apply to detained foreign workers.

Those undocumented workers deemed not fit or eligible for the legalization program are allowed to leave the country with minimal fines.

Labor shortage

The programs were created amid a manpower shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The home ministry, which oversees the police and Immigration Department, had said in November that the plan to legalize workers was important for the recovery of all sectors of the economy shaken by the negative impacts of COVID-19.

The World Bank estimated that between 1.23 million and 1.46 million undocumented migrants worked in Malaysia in 2017, while the Reuters news agency said that an additional 2 million people were registered foreign workers.

The countrys palm oil plantations, especially, rely on foreign labor. Documented foreigners make up 80 percent to 85 percent of the plantation workforce, or 265,000 people, according to data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

In June, Indonesian ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Hermono  who goes by a single name  told local media that 51,000 Indonesians had registered under the recalibration program, of whom 44,000 had been repatriated.

According to the embassys estimates, about 2.7 million Indonesian workers still work in Malaysia, but only 704,000 have the necessary papers.

Making a good life here

On Monday, Daud also warned all undocumented workers and employers who give them jobs, that those who did not take advantage of the recalibration opportunity by years end would be arrested.

Those arrested, be it workers or employers, will be taken to court, Daud said.

He also claimed that many of the undocumented migrants who returned to their home countries through the program had overstayed between three and five years on average and had done well for themselves financially.

Daud said many had returned home with electrical appliances, television sets, and two or three big suitcases. He also said that some owned e-wallets  a pre-paid digital account or one connected to an individuals bank account  and debit cards, which they used to pay their fines.

At the same time, the Malaysian government lost revenue it could have earned if these workers had been legal, Daud said.

Plantation and agriculture sector employers have to pay of 640 ringgit ($151) per legal foreign worker hired, compared with 1,850 ringgit ($437) paid per worker by employers in the service, manufacturing and construction sectors.

So, if we calculate, we estimated that the levies that the government failed to collect, because the undocumented migrants had worked without valid permits, was between 100 million and 130 million ringgit, Daud said.
A brother-in-law of Isnilon Hapilon, the late Islamic State regional leader in the southern Philippines, was arrested on terrorism-related charges while working as a civilian police employee in the region, authorities said Monday.

Masckur Adoh Patarasa was employed as a non-uniformed police staffer at the Banguingui Municipal Police Station in Sulu province. He was taken into custody on Friday, national police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said.

Patarasa turned out to be a finance and logistics liaison officer for the Abu Sayyaf Group, Eleazar said.

We will also find out how Patarasa got into the PNP with all the arrest warrants and cases he is facing in connection with his membership in the Abu Sayyaf, Eleazar said, using an acronym for the Philippine National Police.

He was included in the Martial Law Arrest Order No. 1 during the Marawi siege in 2017, said Eleazar who identified the suspect as Hapilons brother-in-law.

The suspect also has arrest warrants for seven cases of kidnapping as a member of the Abu Sayyaf, he said.

Patarasa, it was discovered, has been a member of the Abu Sayyaf since 2001, Eleazar said, adding that the police internal affairs service had been ordered to dismiss the suspect.

It was not immediately clear if Patarasa saw action in Marawi, or what his specific role was during the five-month siege of the southern Philippine city by pro-IS militants four years ago, Ear said.

We are continuing to investigate NUP Patarasa to determine if there are other PNP personnel involved with the Abu Sayyaf, the police chief said, referring to non-uniformed personnel.

The possibility is not far-fetched that he has other accomplices inside, that is why our investigation is continuing, Eleazar said.

Military officials confirmed the arrest but declined to comment on what they referred to as an ongoing police matter.

This was not the first time that Abu Sayyaf militants had infiltrated the police ranks. In 2017, a police colonel, Maria Cristina Nobleza, was arrested on charges that she helped Renierlo Dongon, an Abu Sayyaf militant, elude capture.

IS leader

Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf faction chief, led hundreds of local militants and others from Southeast Asia and the Middle East in laying siege to Marawi city in May 2017 in an effort to transform the lakeshore city into an IS wilayat, or administrative capital in the region.

The battle lasted for five months before the militants were defeated with help from American and Australian intelligence officers. Hapilon as well as siege key planners and leaders were killed during the fighting.

Eleazar said Patarasa also was associated with Amin Baco, a militant from Sabah, Malaysia, who fought in Marawi. Philippine authorities said Baco was among those killed, although intelligence officials in Sabah placed him on its list of wanted terrorists in 2018.

Patarasa was also found out to have received funds from Almaida Marani Salvin who is under the U.S. Treasury list of terrorist personalities, Eleazar said.

Salvin was arrested in Zamboanga City, also in the southern Philippines, in April 2019 for allegedly possessing explosives.
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Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
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PITTSFIELD  Residents may have noticed the flatbed truck carrying a unique wooden structure driving around the city on Tuesday. It was a traveling stage that, over the past few days, has 
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A federal jury last week voted to convict a white top Democratic donor on every charge in a nine-count indictment after two Black men died and one overdosed at his West Hollywood home.

CNN reports that Ed Buck, 66, was convicted Tuesday (July 27) on two counts of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death, distribution of methamphetamine (four counts), maintaining a drug-involved premises (one count), and enticement to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution (two counts). He faces no less than 20 years to life in prison.

A Los Angeles federal jury deliberated for more than four hours after a two-week trial. Buck's attorney, Ludlow Creary II, did not respond immediately to CNNs request for comment.

Activist and political strategist Jasmyne Cannick, who has been an advocate for the families, told the The Los Angeles Times, It was an uphill battle just because he was a white man who had money. Even if you take the Democratic donor part out of it, you have a white man who lives in West Hollywood, and you have these Black victims who are sex workers. The scale is immediately uneven.

Bucks West Hollywood apartment has been the scene of two overdose deaths since 2018.

RELATED: Ed Buck, Democratic Donor Accused Of Preying On Black Gay Men, Charged With Operating Drug Den

LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Gemmel Moore, who died of a lethal dose of crystal methamphetamine in 2017 at Bucks apartment, said outside of the courthouse, My son was more than an escort, more than a prostitute, as many of you guys said. This is my baby. My son. He was a human being, and he was loved by lots of people.

Moore was 26 when he died.

On Jan. 7, 2019, Timothy Dean, 55, also died of a meth overdose in Bucks home.

Additionally, a third man suffered an overdose after Buck injected him with methamphetamine on Sept. 11 2019, at Bucks residence. Thankfully, the 37-year-old man survived and testified in court.

In 2019, prosecutors said in court documents, according to BBC News, From his home, in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes. These fetishes include supplying and personally administering dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled as of yet.

CNN notes that Buck has donated to a number of Democratic candidates and PACs in recent years, according to information from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in US politics. Recipients rushed to return Buck's money after Dean's death.
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Letters are a dying art. But theres something powerful in writing down our communication and intentionally sending it across the miles to another person. Theres a sense of significance and timelessness about these words, many of which have been preserved for future generations. And such is the case with the personal letter written by Paul to Philemon which has become the book of Philemon in the New Testament.

Who Is Philemon and Why Did Paul Write Him a Letter?

Philemon was a believer who lived in the city of Colossae (in modern-day Turkey). We know he was well-to-do because his home was big enough that the Colossian church gathered there to worship God. Paul wrote him a letter from prison (likely in the year A.D. 62) that was supposed to be read to the whole church when they met together. Paul is grateful for Philemon and praises him, referencing his love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus and telling him that the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother (v. 8).

Paul has something weighty he wants to discuss with Philemon, but he does not want to be heavy-handed. Although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right, he says, I appeal to you, instead, on the basis of love. Philemon is growing in Christ, but Paul wants even more for him: I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ (v. 7).

We learn in the course of the letter that one of Philemons slaves named Onesimus had run away from Philemons house--perhaps stealing from him in the process--and that Onesimus had somehow connected with Paul in Rome. Through their interactions, Onesimus had become a believer and had helped Paul greatly in ministry. Paul clearly says that though he wanted Onesimus to continue in ministry with him in Rome, he decided that he would encourage Onesimus to first reconcile with Philemon, bearing a letter that calls Onesimus my son (v. 10) and my very own heart (v. 12).

With these heartfelt appeals, Paul exhorts Philemon to accept Onesimus, but no longer as a slave, but more than a slave--as a dearly loved brother since he is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord (v. 16). We also get the sense that Paul hopes Onesimus will be sent back to him to continue to work in ministry after that reconciliation, since he says: I wanted to keep him with me...but I didnt want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will (v. 14).

Paul's Appeal to Philemon

We see in this short letter Pauls persuasiveness and the strength of his personal relationships which are characterized by love. We also see how he loves people where they are, but loves them too much to let them stay complacently there. He writes about the power of the gospel to transform individual lives (v. 11) and human relationships (v. 16), through the love of God that leads to the love of others.

If Philemon hesitates to accept Onesimus as a brother, Paul essentially links arms with Onesimus and says, Were a package deal. At the end of his letter, he says: So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would me (v. 17). And Paul gently asserts his authority over but also faith in Philemons freedom to choose what is right, concluding that: Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say (v. 21).

3 Lessons We Can Learn from Philemon

1. Growth is a gradual process.

As we see in his letter, Paul has much to praise about Philemon. He was in many ways a generous, faithful believer who opened his home to the church and who encouraged the believers in Christ. But this is the very basis upon which Paul calls him to live out his faith in even deeper ways, though his appeal toward deeper discipleship is sandwiched between two genuine expressions of gratitude and thanks, perhaps so as not to discourage Philemon.

Because of the transformation God has worked in his life, Paul prays and believes forward in Philemons life, knowing that he who began a good work in [Philemon] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). Toward this end, he prays that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ (v. 6).

2. Love creates family ties between people.

Paul opens his letter by calling Philemon not only a dear friend and coworker (p. 1) but also a brother (v. 7) in the Lord. As the letter progresses, Paul calls Onesimus his son and refers to himself as Onesimus father (v. 10) and also implies that he thinks of Onesimus as a dearly loved brother (v. 16) and that Philemon should think of Onesimus in this way as well. In these expressions we see the result of the transformative power of Gods fatherly love which is echoed by John in another letter: How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God...Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:1, 18).

3. Persuasion can be powerful yet kind.

Paul is a master of persuasion, using several rhetorical strategies within this short letter to great effect: begin by building rapport and goodwill with an audience (vv. 410), then lay out the facts in a way that will convince the mind or intellect (vv. 1119), and finally appeal to the emotions of the audience (vv. 2021). But though he mentions that he could steamroll Philemon on the basis of his authority and what he had done for Philemon in the past, he would not use that authority harshly. Instead, he allows him free will (v. 14). Even this is a method of persuasion, modeling the very stance Paul is asking Philemon to take toward Onesimus: not using his legal authority to coerce Onesimus, but rather giving him the freedom of brotherhood.

Paul maintains rapport with Philemon while pulling out all the stops in convincing him to make the right choice that will benefit all of them. He speaks gratefully of the fact that the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through Philemon, he ends with: I, Paul, write this with my own hand: [If Onesimus owes you any money] I will repay it--not to mention to you that you owe me even your very self. Yes, bother, may I benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ (v. 20). Through Pauls example, we see that persuasion toward the right action can be powerful and effective without damaging relationships in the process.

Though letter writing is becoming a lost art, loving and effective communication will never go out of style. We can learn much from Pauls short letter to Philemon about gradual growth in Christ, about the reality of the fact that we are (and would behave as if we are) in family relationships with other believers, and about how to persuade others without breaking fellowship with them. The book of Philemon can be read in less than five minutes, but its impact is powerful and timeless.

Photo Credit: Sparrowstock
BOISE  When the Idaho House formally reprimanded then-Rep. Ray Infanger, R-Salmon, for an ethics violation in 1990, reports said it was the first time such a thing had occurred in the Idaho Legislature in at least a quarter-century.

When the House Ethics Committee on Monday convenes a public hearing into an ethics complaint against Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, for her conduct involving a young woman who accused another lawmaker of rape, itll be the second House ethics hearing this year.

Since Infangers public reprimand in 1990, the House and Senate have dealt with ethics charges involving nine lawmakers, which averages out to roughly one every three years.

I dont think theyve become more frequent, said former Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, who served in the Senate for 19 years before retiring, and now works with the National Institute for Civil Discourse. I like the fact that we address it.  You have to put the integrity of the body ahead of any one persons political career or their reputation. Its not an easy thing.

Infangers violation involved using his position on the Legislatures joint budget committee to pressure the state labor director to advance Infangers son toward a journeymans electrician license. I can now see it was very poor judgment on my part, the nine-term representative told the House in a formal apology, following his official reprimand.

Others have involved conflicts of interest in which the lawmaker didnt disclose that he or she would personally benefit from legislative actions.

Former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb said, Theres an easy out in the rules, and that is disclose. Right up front, disclose. But when you hide it, you dont divulge that you have a conflict of interest, thats almost an admission of guilt right there.

Other ethics issues, like both of this years matters, have revolved around conduct unbecoming a state lawmaker, which can include criminal conduct.

Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, resigned from the Senate in 2012 after his colleagues said theyd convene an ethics committee over allegations he sexually harassed a female Senate staffer. He later served jail time on a related charge.

Former Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, R-Lewiston, resigned from the House in April after the Ethics Committee voted unanimously to recommend suspending him from office without pay for the remainder of his term. He acknowledged having sexual contact with a 19-year-old House intern while denying wrongdoing, claiming it was consensual. The ethics panel noted a pattern of his attempting to pursue romantic liaisons with women in the Statehouse.

The two complaints against Giddings both involve her actions in regard to the young woman who accused von Ehlinger of rape, including Giddings testimony at von Ehlingers ethics hearing. Giddings posted a link to a Redoubt News post including the young womans name, photo and personal details both on her Facebook page and in an electronic newsletter she sent out to constituents, actions she defended to the Ethics Committee.

It is my understanding that Jane Does name was in that article, she said. I had not, you know, thoroughly examined all of that. I wanted both sides of the story to be accurately represented. Her newsletter called the ethics case a blatant liberal smear job.

It was my understanding there was no criminal proceeding going on at the time, therefore everything was in accordance with House Rule 45, Giddings said. And if Rep. von Ehlingers name was going to be made public, I believe that everybody should be innocent until proven guilty, and that both sides of the story should be equally represented.

Mondays hearing begins at 9 a.m. in room EW 42 of the state Capitol, though the agenda notes that the meeting room is subject to change. Itll be live-streamed online on the Legislatures InSession streaming service at idahoptv.org/insession.

The ethics committee, like previous House and Senate ethics committees, is evenly split between the two parties; it has three Democrats and three Republicans, and is chaired by Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay.

One of the two complaints against Giddings was filed by Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, the chairman of the House Judiciary, Rules & Administration Committee. The second was signed by 24 House members, including 16 Republicans and eight Democrats.

The hearing has no set ending time, and may run into the next day if needed. Heres a look at past ethics issues that have come up in the Idaho Legislature since 1990:

1990: As detailed above, the House formally reprimanded Rep. Ray Infanger, R-Salmon. The letter of reprimand in the House Journal from then-Speaker Tom Boyd said, The committee unanimously found that a serious lack of judgment on your part occurred which left the impression that you attempted to use your position as a member of the house for the benefit of a member of your family, all of which is contrary to the public interest.

1990: Later that same year, the Senate convened a bipartisan inquiry into allegations that Sen. John Peavey, D-Carey, went through outgoing mail left on the sergeant-at-arms desk by Sen. Larrey Anderson, R-Twin Falls. Peavey took the basket of envelopes and counted them to see if they exceeded a Senate mailing allowance, then returned them. The committee found no rule violations, but directed Peavey to apologize to Anderson.

2003: House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, requested an ethics committee to look into his own actions in a potential open meeting violation. The committee found no violation.

2005: The Senate convened an ethics committee to investigate charges that Sen. Jack Noble, R-Kuna, lied about the origins of a bill he introduced that would have allowed his own store to sell liquor despite being across the street from Melba Elementary School, a fact he didnt disclose. The bipartisan committee recommended Noble be censured and stripped of all leadership responsibilities; he resigned before the full Senate could vote on the recommendation.

2010-2011: Tax-protesting Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, was the subject of multiple ethics charges for repeatedly invoking legislative privilege to avoid court proceedings in his personal fight against paying his federal and state income taxes; for illegally cutting logs from state school endowment land that he used to build his North Idaho home and never fully paying an outstanding judgment for the timber theft; and for failure to disclose conflicts of interest regarding legislation. He was removed from the House Tax Committee and agreed to give up his vice chairmanship of the House Transportation Committee to avoid ethics sanctions; he apologized to the House. Later, he lost his home in his federal tax case.

2012: Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, resigned from the Senate after being told an ethics committee would be convened to investigate charges of sexual harassment against him unless he resigned. He later faced charges in court.

2012: The Senate convened an ethics committee to investigate charges that Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, failed to disclose his interest in oil and gas leases while hearing legislation in the committee he chaired involving oil and gas leases and backed by the company with whom he had leases. He disclosed the interest before the Senates final floor vote on the bill. The committee found no violation.

2014: The House convened an ethics committee after Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, requested that it do so after she admitted she failed to disclose that shed benefit financially from legislation she supported. The bipartisan committee imposed no sanction in light of her voluntary disclosure, urging her and all House members to note conflict of interest disclosure rules.

2021: This year saw ethics investigations into Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, who resigned before the full House could vote on a unanimous committee recommendation to suspend him from office without pay for the rest of his term; and Rep. Priscilla Giddings, for her actions toward von Ehlingers young accuser.

Hill, who chaired the 2005 Senate panel that investigated the charges against Noble, said, I sat as the chair of that ethics committee for Jack Noble. He was my seatmate. I knew his family. And you knew that whatever action you took was going to affect not only him, but his family and those that cared about him as well as his constituents.

That and the John McGee one were probably the two hardest things I ever did in the 19 years I was in the Legislature, Hill said. Its just grueling. You fret over them, you pray about them, you worry about the effect. But you always have to put the integrity and the reputation of the body over an individual legislator.

If we tarnish the reputation of the body or have people lose confidence in the legislative bodies themselves, or the office of governor or whatever it is, then I think theyre going to have less respect for the laws that are passed, Hill said, because they dont respect the people who passed the laws.

Hill said he doesnt believe Idaho has reached that point. We hear loud voices, and many of those voices are critical, he said. Theyre more crude in some ways than what they used to be. But I dont think there are more of them. The people I talk to, for the most part they love their country and they love their government, they love their state.

Newcomb said its not a matter of needing more ethics rules. I think theyre adequate if theyre enforced, he said. They only need to be enforced.

Said Hill, As elected officials, we need to be on a vigilant lookout, to make sure that we are not conducting ourselves in a manner that is going to reflect poorly upon the peoples government.
The study evaluated the efficacy of Vital 3.0 for parameters viz. heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure

GOQii Smart Healthcare recently conducted a clinical study in association with various pharma companies to evaluate the accuracy of its wearable devices for vital sign monitoring. The study evaluated the efficacy of Vital 3.0 for parameters viz. heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure. Being a CDSO and medically certified device, the study further cements the clinically acceptable accuracy for GOQiis wearable devices when it comes to its vital sign monitoring.

The study examined 50 patients aged 50 plus across zero hours, three hours and six hours. The vitals were measured against that of conventional digital devices and other leading wearables. A combination of Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Paired T-Test, Pearsons Correlation method and BlandAltman analysis were adopted for the study.

Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO, GOQii Smart Healthcare said, We are pleased to share that the results exhibited clinically stable accuracy for GOQiis wearable devices which can help in early diagnosis of various chronic diseases. Through the findings, we hope that it would aid doctors and patients make an informed decision.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh calls for Global Scientific Collaboration

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh called for Global Scientific Collaboration for bringing Ease of Living for common man, on 2 August.

A Swedish Delegation led by Ambassador KlasMolin called on the Union Minister to discuss and review bilateral cooperation in Science and Technology and Innovation.

The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Professor K. VijayRaghavan, Secretary, DST, Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary DBT, Smt. RenuSwarup, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR, Shri Shekhar Mande and other senior officers of the Ministry took part in the meeting.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, both the Governments proposed to launch a new joint call on Circular economy including the themes such as Health Science and Waste to Wealth by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Swedish VINNOVA soon.

In his address, Ambassador KlasMolin called for a Joint Action Plan for a sustainable future and creation of more employment opportunities in both the countries.
Is an individual's personal information only private until it is made public?

Well, lets put it this way  if this article was written at the onset of the 2000s where the openness in which private individuals started to share their most intimate whereabouts, thoughts, actions and photographs, you may have been forgiven for answering yes to my opening question.With technological advances at that time, sharing of personal information in public online spaces often seemed to take place without hesitation and much thought for the consequences that could follow this invasion of privacy.Some of the first social networks, MySpace and Facebook, seemed borderless and impersonal in their infancy stage. The (perceived) faceless interface gave individuals a voice. While individuals were encouraged to share their voice, communities of likeminded individuals were constructed over time. And individuals personal details along with their personalities were profiled. This practice circled out worldwide in a short two decades.Today, it has become acceptable for a new job candidates digital footprint to be considered as part of the hiring process. How they live their lives in the digital dimension and the profile they (choose to) share carries greater weight than a remarkable resume, at first glance. Also, digital data obtained can inform marketing strategies and alter business directions.This has made me question whether the evolution of social media and the Internet killed the concept of privacy? Or has privacy never truly existed until now, and the choice to give up privacy or not is up to individuals? Or is privacy perhaps a concept that has always been there, and have and will continue to evolve slowly alongside new social norms and technological uses, enough to warrant changes in regulations worldwide?So, I set out to investigate these three questions:In 1984 George Orwell wrote the dystopian novel 1984 . Inhabitants of the books fictitious super-state have no privacy in this imagined society, and as a result endured great suffering and injustice.Was it a warning at the time?Well, the book gave vision to what might transpire if nationalism, futurology, censorship and surveillance legally governed society. Even thought is controlled by undercover agents of the thought police.Is it probable for humankind to lose the right over their own personal information should the current state continue, just as it was possible to lose the right to ones own bodies and thoughts in a fictitious book?An article I recently came across on Medium argues that privacy is the absence of public, and that it is up to individuals to carefully choose what they share with public entities. Given that the article appeared in 2017 at perhaps the height of social sharing on technology platforms, perhaps the authors views may have been aligned to an earlier, and more elementary school of thought pertaining to how individuals are in charge of their sharing behaviour on digital platforms.We could argue that just a couple of decades ago malicious grand scale data breaches, such as the recent Transnet breach, was unthinkable. The threat of what could go wrong when hackers are able to exploit our personal information was not part of our frame of reference.As technology evolved, the potential for invasion became more revealing. Suddenly candidates had to be mindful that it was possible for potential employers to consider information about their private lives on social platforms. It became obvious that the data that you chose to share with the world on social media now have the potential to cost you that dream job later.But breaches may also lead to much larger scale injustices, such as identity theft, human or child trafficking, extortion, incitement of violence or interruption of business To answer the author mentioned before, we need to consider the individuals right to choose freedom of expression (or sharing) but the time has come to also protect the privacy of individuals and society.As technology evolve, our collective understanding of its usage and pitfalls must continually evolve.In fact, it took over 130 years for the now buzz word, privacy protection, to find a legal foothold in countries across the world. It all started with a scholarly article that appeared in the Harvard Law Review just before the turn of the century, which was written by Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren.The article published in 1890, The Right to Privacy , is recognised in Western cultures as one of the most influential essays to argue for an individuals right to privacy. The authors argued that the common law had nurtured a new right, known simply as privacy, which demanded lawful acceptance.Before, and after this publication, many commentators have stumbled over privacy and couldnt agree upon a definition as they tended to focus on defining privacy as a philosophical or moral concept."Political, social, and economic changes entail the recognition of new rights. The common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the demands of society," wrote Warren and Brandeis. In other words, the meaning of privacy is driven by historical events. Legal advances in other areas of the law were listed such as the right to be protected from slander and libel, the right to protection of private property, and the right to protect the publication of ones own labour, artistry and creativity. The law in these instances was designed to curtail suffering and anguish. Why should it not be the same outcome for the protection of privacy, or the right to be left alone?In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declarations of Human Rights , an international step to lawfully affording the private individual with the right to not be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.In 1995, the European Union adopted the Data Protection Directive, which regulated the processing of personal data within the EU. The Directive was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018  a breakthrough data protection regulation that has been hailed globally as a golden standard among data protection regulations.South Africas Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is no exception to the growing list of countries committed to upholding the right to protect information relating to an identifiable, living natural person and, where applicable, an identifiable company or other similar legal entity.Yes, over the last few decades, technology platforms for social engagement and organisational productivity have been new and exciting. We have celebrated the rise of freedom of expression and the right to navigate better ways of working and doing business. The trade-off of such freedoms may lead to digital data exploitation.On the road to safeguard privacy, the journey is far from over. Protection of privacy is experimental in nature due to the evolving advancements in technology and human interaction with said evolving technology.I cant help to think that Harvard Law Review authors Brandeis and Warren are proudly sitting back, looking down at humanity as we are now lawfully enforcing the right to privacy.I am encouraged that we are choosing the storyline where legal protection for the privacy of individuals will make it harder and harder for suffering and harm to remain a threat to our society.About Kriel & Co:Kriel & Co is an IMCSA-accredited management consulting practice specialising in change management, digital transformation and mentorship. The practice actively serves clients in a variety of sectors with a proven track-record of delivering innovative, cost-effective and sustainable strategies for digital change. Consultants are primarily retained on a long-term project basis by clients to oversee holistic digital transformation projects and initiatives.Contact for more information.
If like many Australian Muslims you have reported hate speech to Facebook and received an automated response saying it doesn't breach the platform's community standards, you are not alone.

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We and our team are the first Australian social scientists to receive funding through Facebooks content policy research awards, which we used to investigate hate speech on LGBTQI+ community pages in five Asian countries: India, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.We looked at three aspects of hate speech regulation in the Asia Pacific region over 18 months. First, we mapped hate speech law in our case study countries, to understand how this problem might be legally countered. We also looked at whether Facebooks definition of hate speech included all recognised forms and contexts for this troubling behaviour.In addition, we mapped Facebooks content regulation teams, speaking to staff about how the companys policies and procedures worked to identify emerging forms of hate.Even though Facebook funded our study, it said for privacy reasons it could not give us access to a dataset of the hate speech it removes. We were, therefore, unable to test how effectively its in-house moderators classify hate.Instead, we captured posts and comments from the top three LGBTQI+ public Facebook pages in each country, to look for hate speech that had either been missed by the platforms machine intelligence filters or human moderators.We interviewed the administrators of these pages about their experience of moderating hate, and what they thought Facebook could do to help them reduce abuse.They told us Facebook would often reject their reports of hate speech, even when the post clearly breached its Community Standards. In some cases, messages that were originally removed would be re-posted on appeal.Most page admins said the so-called flagging process rarely worked, and they found it disempowering. They wanted Facebook to consult with them more to get a better idea of the types of abuse they see posted and why they constitute hate speech in their cultural context.Facebook has long had a problem with the scale and scope of hate speech on its platform in Asia. For example, while it has banned some Hindu extremists, it has left its pages online.However, during our study, we were pleased to see that Facebook did broaden its definition of hate speech, which now captures a wider range of hateful behaviour. It also explicitly recognises that what happens online can trigger offline violence.Its worth noting in the countries we focused on, hate speech is seldom precisely legally prohibited. We found other regulations such as cybersecurity or religious tolerance laws could be used to act against hate speech but instead tended to be used to suppress political dissent.We concluded that Facebooks problem is not in defining hate, but being unable to identify certain types of hate, such as that posted in minority languages and regional dialects. It also often fails to respond appropriately to user reports of hate content.Media reports have shown Facebook struggles to automatically identify hate posted in minority languages. It has failed to provide training materials to its own moderators in local languages, even though many are from Asia Pacific countries where English is not the first language.In the Philippines and Indonesia in particular, we found LGBTQI+ groups are exposed to an unacceptable level of discrimination and intimidation. This includes death threats, targeting of Muslims, and threats of stoning or beheading.On Indian pages, Facebook filters failed to capture vomiting emojis posted in response to gay wedding photos and rejected some very clear reports of vilification.In Australia, on the other hand, we found no unmoderated hate speech - only other types of insensitive and inappropriate comments. This could indicate less abuse gets posted, or there is more effective English language moderation from either Facebook or page administrators.Similarly in Myanmar LGBTQI+ groups experienced very little hate speech. But we are aware Facebook is working hard to reduce hate speech on its platform there, in the wake of it being used to persecute the Rohingya Muslim minority.Also, its likely gender diversity isnt as volatile a subject in Myanmar as it is in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In these countries, LGBTQI+ rights are highly politicised.Facebook has taken some important steps towards tackling hate speech. However, were concerned Covid-19 has forced the platform to become more reliant on machine moderation. That too at a time when it can only automatically identify hate in around 50 languages - even though thousands are spoken every day across the region.Our report to Facebook outlines several key recommendations to help improve its approach to combating hate on its platform. Overall, we have urged the company to convene more regularly with persecuted groups in the region, so it can learn more about hate in their local contexts and languages.This needs to happen alongside a boost to the numbers of its country policy specialists and in-house moderators with minority language expertise.Mirroring efforts in Europe, Facebook also needs to develop and publicise its trusted partners' channel. This provides visible, official hate speech-reporting partner organisations through which people can directly report hate activities to Facebook during crises such as the Christchurch mosque attacks.More broadly, we would like to see governments and NGOs cooperate to set up an Asian regional hate speech monitoring trial, similar to one organised by the European Union.Following the EU example, such an initiative could help identify urgent trends in hate speech across the region, strengthen Facebooks local reporting partnerships, and reduce the overall incidence of hateful content on Facebook.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here
Havas is proud to announce that they have recently been appointed as the South African creative agency handling the world's largest e-hailing service, Didi. The brand had a successful pilot programme in Gqeberha in March 2021, and has since launched in Cape Town, planning a full national roll out.

Speaking of the win, Havas CEO, Lynn Madeley said, We could not be more excited about partnering with Didi. Their commitment to making a meaningful difference in the business and transport landscape is exactly the kind of vision we are passionate about. We look forward to this being a long, fruitful, and fun partnership.Didi marketing director for MEA region, Nwabisa Salela, said of the partnership, When the first project a new agency works on for you exceeds your target by 57%, you know you are with the right partner. Havas is that partner.Didi services over 550 million customers worldwide in countries that include Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Japan and China. Backed by Alibaba and Ten Cent, the brand is committed to ensuring fair compensation for drivers, better value for consumers, and prioritised passenger safety.
Migration is increasingly recognised as a determinant of health . Research shows that, in many cases, cross-border migrants arriving in new countries are healthier than the host population. But the advantage often falls away as non-nationals encounter discrimination and challenges in accessing documentation, support services and employment.

African countries must include all migrant populations in their vaccination plans. Thierry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Exclusion and violation of rights

The case of South Africa

The health and wellbeing of all individuals within a countrys borders must be addressed. But African states have failed to design and implement migration-aware health systems and responses. Many non-citizens, asylum-seekers and refugees are excluded from public health programmes.The impact of such exclusions is now playing out. Covid-19 illustrates how refugees , asylum seekers, internally displaced people and migrants are being left out of pandemic preparedness plans , including national vaccination programmes. Evidence shows that the vast majority of migrants are currently excluded from state-based Covid-19 vaccine rollout programmes. These forms of exclusion are likely to have far-reaching public health implications. To effectively reduce the spread of Covid-19, everyone must be vaccinated. Otherwise the virus will continue to spread while new variants emerge.The African continent has the lowest Covid-19 vaccination coverage globally. Just 2% of the population has received at least one vaccine dose. But beyond this is the issue of how countries implement their own COVID-19 vaccination programmes and who they leave behind.Some countries do include migrant populations. But the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported in May 2021 that 60% of countries receiving their vaccines through Covax had excluded refugees or internally displaced populations from their national plans.We have been conducting research exploring access to Covid-19 vaccines across the continent. Our findings and a case study of South Africa highlight the issues of vaccine nationalism, vaccine exclusion and hesitancy and their likely effect at the population level.Restricted access to vaccines is one clear example of discrimination against migrants. Not all migrants are undocumented and not all who are undocumented are vulnerable. But the exclusion of specific groups on the basis of citizenship, immigration or documentation status violates their human right to health , and affects the success of any vaccination programme.Our investigation highlighted how migrants and refugees are being excluded.First, migrant populations have simply not been included or have been ignored in vaccination rollout plans of many states. Few vaccine programmes across Africa make it explicit whether  and how  various migrant groups will fit into the rollout. For example, an internal WHO report in May 2021 noted that in Nigeria, there are concerns that over 2.7 million internally displaced people are at risk of being completely ignored in the current vaccine plans.Second, even where non-nationals are explicitly included in plans, such as in Kenya and Senegal , they may face barriers. For example, in Kenya, refugees are fearful of coming forward and accessing state services such as public healthcare. The same WHO report noted that Kenya might exclude hundreds of thousands of refugees through a disconnect between policy and practice.The risks of arrests, detention and deportation are significant in many states. If people dont feel safe, Covid-19 vaccination programmes will be less effective.There are nonetheless notable exceptions on the continent  Rwanda, Cameroon and Senegal being three. For example, Senegal and Cameroon are allowing refugees to register in designated health facilities and city councils . Rwanda was one of the first 20 countries worldwide to begin vaccinating refugees and asylum seekers alongside citizens . The national response plan prirotises asylum-seekers and refugees alongside healthcare workers and key civil society and community members.Exclusion, barriers to access and discrimination can be seen clearly in southern Africa, and specifically South Africa. The region has diverse historical and contemporary migration patterns. South Africa has the highest rates of cross-border migration . Only 7% of the South African population is estimated to have been born in another country.Due to an increasingly restrictive immigration regime and a seriously compromised Home Affairs Department, many migrants in South Africa struggle to regularise their stay. As a result, those who start off with work permits or asylum-seeker permits often find themselves  through no fault of their own  without valid documents For refugees and migrants in South Africa with no papers, the consequences of being undocumented are far-reaching. They are unable to access formal employment and bank accounts, and have challenges accessing basic healthcare . Undocumented migrants live with the enduring threat of arrest and deportation Where the vaccination rollout requires an identity number, passport number or refugee permit to register there is no option for those who do not have these. Furthermore there is no clear directive of how people who are undocumented  including South African citizens  can register for vaccination.

The South African government has included refugees and asylum-seekers with documentation in the countrys vaccination rollout.

Vaccine hesitancy

Looking ahead

Finally, a response to vaccine hesitancy within local communities and migrant groups on the continent demands collective action between states, international humanitarian organisations and civil society. In addition to a mistrust of vaccinations themselves, hesitancy can take the form of a fear of being treated badly due to anti-foreigner attitudes, or fear of arrest or deportation.For example, in the Central African Republic, rumours have been circulating about foreigners spreading the virus and even fears that international aid agencies are creating the virus as a way to make money . In Rwanda, rumours and the spread of misinformation have gained traction in certain areas More strategic thinking is needed to raise awareness, build trust and outline measures of protection for those who fear coming forward for the vaccine. As the International Organisation for Migration has emphasised, reaching out to migrant communities, in tailored languages and through relevant communication channels, is central to creating vaccine demand.One approach would be to include civil society organisations, community groups and religious leaders in vaccine rollout programmes.A clear way of improving the safety of everyone is through firewalls. These provide legal protection for undocumented people, ensuring they face no penalties when accessing state health services. Any information collected is used by the health system only.According to Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, thus far  the continent has received just 1.7% of the worlds 3.7-billion doses, and  only 1.5% of the population have been fully inoculated Not only does the continent need more vaccine doses, but countries must also include all migrant populations. Failure to ensure access for all undermines national responses to Covid-19. The consequences spread far beyond those nations.There is no place for hypocrisy. The international community cannot be called out on vaccine nationalism if states do not plan for an inclusive national response themselves. Without vaccinating everyone, nobody is safe.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article
Castle Lager launches SA's first double malt beer

South African pale lager, Castle Lager, is launching the first double malt beer from South Africa, Castle Double Malt, to mark the 126th anniversary of the beer's production.



The launch of Castle Double Malt is testament to the brand's pride in its local heritage, combining two carefully selected malts from Caledon and Alrode.



The double malt beer is available in 410ml cans in pearl, green and gold or in green 340ml premium bottles with 4.8% ABV. It will be available in all major retail outlets and online on Takealot and the Bottles app for R79,99 for a six-pack.
Mid/Senior Graphic Designer

Remuneration: negotiable negotiable depending on experience Location: Pretoria, Irene Education level: Degree Job level: Mid/Senior Own transport required: Yes Type: Permanent Reference: #MidSnrGD Company: LKDA Strategic Creative Advertising

Be able to produce a portfolio of work that is diverse, modern and relevant (non-negotiable)

Is confident, resourceful, decisive, and willing to take initiative

Out-the-box thinking and not scared to constructively interrogate a brief or push back in the best interest of the work

To be able to take direction from senior team members and to share knowledge and experience in a collaborative way

Able to respect client budget constraints, and to appreciate the need to log time spent on work

Work well with people and respect processes

A grasp of Digital and Social

Have a sense of humour

Three to five years graphic design experience (agency experience advantageous)

The ability to work alongside a Traffic Manager and/or Client Service

Experience in working off of structured briefs or under direction from Strategy

Similarly, able to distil project requirements in the absence of a formal brief from client - being outcomes and solutions focused

Able to demonstrate an expert understanding of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

Excellent knowledge of print design and large format printing.

Good layout principles and an eye for good aesthetic design.

The ability to be resourceful and multitask/prioritise work in a fast-paced environment.

Multimedia skills will be a huge plus.

Illustration skills always a bonus.

Company Description

We are an independent, fast-paced, small-to-medium sized TTL Strategic Creative Agency in Irene, Pretoria. Weve been around for 21 years and weve built our reputation on referrals from one man shows, to large international corporates.Despite COVID, weve recently won new business and are looking to appoint a full-time, onsite, Mid-Senior level Graphic Designer, to join our team of +/- 25 full time staff.Our studio comprises mid to heavy weight design talent, and were looking for similarly experienced individuals to join and work on our leading local and international brand portfolios.The successful candidate will be working on a large variety of projects from traditional print and layout jobs to large format printing, packaging, and even interior design work.The candidate will also be responsible for designing social and digital assets and must be comfortable to deliver front-end designs for web. You wont get bored as you will be doing a bit of everything, on various accounts across the agency, on clients of different size.Were unpretentious, have a flat hierarchy and prioritise doing good work over titles, drama and egos. The pace is fast and good time management is key. If you are a resourceful self-starter that can think for yourself, ask questions, and dont mind getting your hands dirty, you might be what we are looking for  and vice versa.If we like what we see, we'll set-up an interview, if you do not hear from us within two weeks of application, please consider your application unsuccessful.LKDA Strategic Creative Advertising is one of the leading and most established creative-based advertising agencies in Pretoria. Posted on 09 Jun 13:55
Digital Marketing Manager

Remuneration: R38000 - R50000 per month basic salary Location: Johannesburg, Sandton Education level: Diploma Job level: Mid Type: Permanent Reference: #BG#eCommerce&Digital Company: Cardilogix

Social media and digital campaign management

Google Ads: Display, search, shopping, mobile, video, AdWords and Analytics

Display, search, shopping, mobile, video, AdWords and Analytics Build a PPC strategy for a variety of client accounts

Paid media and social media advertising

eCommerce: Shopify & WooCommerce

Social media ad auctions and bid management

Campaign monitoring, analysis and strategy

Paid media (SEO & PPC) on the following platforms: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, WhatsApp, YouTube.

Facebook Business and Ads Manager

Facebook Ads: Lead generation, dynamic, collection, reach, offer claim, conversion, Messenger and event response ads

Lead generation, dynamic, collection, reach, offer claim, conversion, Messenger and event response ads Conduct A/B testing

Experience using Google Analytics

Digital marketing and social media analytics

Daily management of paid search plans

Conduct data analytics and metrics analysis to measure: Customer journey segmentation User engagement Campaign performance



Social media/digital marketing/SEO qualification

Facebook Blueprint

LinkedIn Learning

Twitter Flight School

Update CV

Portfolio (digital media campaigns you've implemented/analysed etc).

Our client a leading digital agency seeks to hire a midweightMust have at least three to four years of experience in a digital agency or similar company, with big brands expereince.AdWords certification is a pre-requisite and is not negotiable.Please only apply if you have the relevant experience as per our job ad. Our client does not have the capacity to train anyone  you need to hit the ground running.Your application will be passed to our team of recruitment consultants and should your skills and experience match the recruitment needs of our client, we will be in touch within a 96 hour turn-around time.Should you not hear from us, please treat your application for this job as unsuccessful. Posted on 02 Aug 12:00
Berlin witnessed chaotic scenes and violent brawls on Sunday as riot police sought to forcefully disperse anti-lockdown rallies that had been banned by authorities, after thousands took to the streets of the German capital.

Coronavirus skeptics once again gathered in the center of the German capital despite the fact that the German authorities had banned as many as 16 protests by opponents of Covid-19 restrictions.

Some 5,000 people on Sunday joined several "spontaneous" demonstrations in various parts of the city, according to police estimates. Earlier, the organizers of just one such demonstration, which was eventually banned, said that it might be attended by as many as 22,000 people.

The rally participants were beating drums and chanting slogans such as "Peace, freedom, no dictatorship!" and "We demand the unrestricted restoration of the right to demonstrate."

In many cases, the unauthorized processions quickly descended into violence as police in full riot gear attempted to block the crowds from marching along the city streets. Some 600 people have been arrested, according to a police spokesman citing preliminary data.

"The strategy is to wake up. The sleepers need to wake up. We are losing our freedom. We just run," one protester told the German Die Welt daily. Most participants were not wearing face masks and were ignoring the social-distancing rules that are still in place in Germany.

The marching crowds broke through the chains of police on several occasions, prompting a heavy-handed response, as officers were seen brutally grabbing some protesters and throwing them to the ground. On several occasions, the officers ran to chase people through the streets.

Videos published by RT's video agency Ruptly as well as footage that has surfaced on social media showed police officers sometimes engaging in brutal fist fights with demonstrators, as well as punching them in the gut and kicking them. On one such occasion, the officers clashed with a group of elderly women.

Another video allegedly showed a police officer hitting a teenage boy in the face as he was lying on the ground.

In the city's west, a group of protesters "tried to break the police chain and pull colleagues out," the Berlin police said on Twitter, adding that "irritants, batons and physical violence were used." The officers also made numerous arrests as the police tried to "filter out" suspected "ringleaders" of the protest. There have been no reports about any demonstrators or police officers seriously injured in the scuffles.

On many occasions, police appeared to be greatly outnumbered by the demonstrators. The officers were virtually unable to stop the dense crowds despite attempts to push people back. Sometimes, such attempts quickly spiraled into intense clashes between law-enforcement officers and protesters.

Was passiert, wenn man mit zu wenig Kraften @polizeiberlin in die Lage fahrt?  pic.twitter.com/U2P0gDIsP8  Axel Lier  (@Reporter_Flash) August 1, 2021

#Germany:Protest in Berlin, against coronavirus restrictions and urging to "restore people's fundamental rights". Counter-protests by opposing groups are also expected to be held in the city.Berlin court has already banned anti-lockdown demonstrations. pic.twitter.com/eivJKNHVKd  W U (@W0lverineupdate) August 1, 2021

Berlin's police spokeswoman, however, told German media that violence was used only in "individual" cases. Some 2,250 police officers were deployed to the city's streets as helicopters were hovering over the city. Water cannon were used in several places in Berlin, according to German media.

Die Bundespolizei luftverlastet. Hier uber Schoneberg. pic.twitter.com/q1CD8jm9dU  Axel Lier  (@Reporter_Flash) August 1, 2021

Various anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination movements, commonly referred to as 'lateral thinkers,' ('querdenken') in Germany have been active there throughout the pandemic. They demand an end to the restrictions imposed by the government to combat the virus, and are skeptical about vaccination.

Their protests are usually banned by authorities, who point to the fact that such demonstrators refuse to abide by the existing rules for demonstrations. The latest unauthorized protests sparked an angry reaction from Wolfgang Schaeuble, president of the German parliament's Lower House, the Bundestag.

Also on rt.com WATCH anti-lockdown protesters clash with police in Berlin at rally banned by authorities

"If almost all experts around the world say that [Covid-19] is dangerous and vaccination helps, then who actually has the right to say: But I am smarter? For me that is an almost unbearable degree of arrogance," Schaeuble told German newspaper NOZ.

"Please take a look at the scientific findings, don't let cheap slogans fool you!" he added.
Hawaii police are defending their use of pandemic relief funds for a robotic police dog made by Boston Dynamics which scans homeless peoples eyes to see if they have a fever.

If youre homeless and looking for temporary shelter in Hawaiis capital, expect a visit from a robotic police dog that will scan your eye to make sure you dont have a fever, says a new report from Associated Press. Thats just one of the ways public safety agencies are starting to use Spot, the best-known of a new commercial category of robots that trot around with animal-like agility.

Acting Lt. Joseph ONeal of the Honolulu Police Departments community outreach unit defended the robots use in a media demonstration earlier this year, AP reports. He said it has protected officers, shelter staff and residents by scanning body temperatures between meal times at a shelter where homeless people could quarantine and get tested for COVID-19. The robot is also used to remotely interview individuals who have tested positive.

This has understandably elicited criticism from civil rights advocates.

Because these people are houseless its considered OK to do that, Hawaii ACLU legal director Jongwook Kim told AP. At some point it will come out again for some different use after the pandemic is over.

This report comes just days after we learned that police in Winnipeg have also obtained a Spot robot which they intend to use in hostage situations.

Winnipeg Free Press reports:

The Winnipeg Police Service is set to acquire a pricey dog-shaped robot, to be used in hostage situations, thats already been ditched by police in New York City. Spot is made by Boston Dynamics, which sells the device for US$74,500. Winnipeg police are spending $257,000 to acquire and use Spot. The 32-kilogram robot has the ability to navigate obstacles, uneven terrain (and) situations where our traditional robot platforms cant go into, said Insp. Brian Miln at a news conference Wednesday.

Months earlier the New York Police Department cancelled its lease of the same type of robot they obtained last year following public outcry. More from AP:

The expensive machine arrived with little public notice or explanation, public officials said, and was deployed to already over-policed public housing. Use of the high-tech canine also clashed with Black Lives Matter calls to defund police operations and reinvest in other priorities. The company that makes the robots, Boston Dynamics, says its learned from the New York fiasco and is trying to do a better job of explaining to the public  and its customers  what Spot can and cannot do. Thats become increasingly important as Boston Dynamics becomes part of South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Company, which in June closed an $880 million deal for a controlling stake in the robotics firm.

To be absolutely clear, there is not actually any legitimate reason for any normal person to refer to these machines as a robotic dog, or a high-tech canine, or by a cutesy cliche name for a pet. These are robots. Robots that are being used by police forces on civilian populations. If the robots being used had two legs, or eight, they would not be able to apply such cuddly wuddly labels, and public alarm bells would be going off a lot louder.

Which is of course the idea. As AP noted above, Boston Dynamics is acutely aware that it has a PR situation on its hands and needs to manage public perception if it wants to mainstream the use of these machines and make a lot of money. Because its a known fact that westerners tend to be a lot more sympathetic to dogs than even to other humans, arbitrarily branding a quadrupedal enforcement robot a dog helps facilitate this agenda.

On-the-ground robot policing is becoming normalized today under the justification of Covid-19 precautions in the same way police around the world have normalized the use of drones to police coronavirus restrictions, at the same time police departments are rolling out dystopian systems for predicting future criminality using computer programs and databases.

This is all happening as the French army is testing these Spot robots for use in combat situations, years after the Pentagon requested the development of a Multi-Robot Pursuit System which can search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject like a pack of dogs. New Scientists Paul Marks reported on the latter development back in 2008:

Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University is an expert on police and military technologies, and last year correctly predicted this pack-hunting mode of operation would happen. The giveaway here is the phrase a non-cooperative human subject, he told me: What we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs. Once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed. We can also expect such systems to be equipped with human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat. These are technologies already developed.

These developments always elicit nervous jokes about Terminator movies and the idea of Skynet robots going rogue and enslaving humanity, but the far more realistic and immediate concern is this technology being used on humans by other humans.

For as long as there have been governments and rulers, there has been an acute awareness in elite circles that the public vastly outnumber those who rule over them and could easily overwhelm and oust them if they ever decided to. Many tools have been implemented to address this problem, from public displays of cruelty to keep the public cowed and obedient, to the circulation of propaganda and power-serving religious doctrines, but at no time has any power structure in history ever produced a guaranteed protection against the possibility of being overthrown by their subjects who vastly outnumber them.

The powerful have also long been aware that robot and drone technologies can offer such a protection.

Once the legal and technological infrastructure for robotic security systems has been rolled out, all revolutionary theory thats ever been written goes right out the window, because the proletariat cannot rise up and overthrow their oppressors if their oppressors control technologies which enable them to quash any revolution using a small security team of operators.

Or, better yet, fully automated technologies which can fire upon civilians without the risk of human sympathy taking the side of the people. According to a recent UN report, a Turkish-made drone may have been the first ever to attack humans with deadly force without being specifically ordered to.

Live Science reports:

At least one autonomous drone operated by artificial intelligence (AI) may have killed people for the first time last year in Libya, without any humans consulted prior to the attack, according to a U.N. report. According to a March report from the U.N. Panel of Experts on Libya, lethal autonomous aircraft may have hunted down and remotely engaged soldiers and convoys fighting for Libyan general Khalifa Haftar. Its not clear who exactly deployed these killer robots, though remnants of one such machine found in Libya came from the Kargu-2 drone, which is made by Turkish military contractor STM.

So at this point were essentially looking at a race to see if the oligarchic empire can manufacture the necessary environment to allow the use of robotic security forces to lock their power in place forever before the masses get fed up with the increasing inequalities and abuses of the status quo and decide to force a better system into existence.

What a time to be alive.

________________________

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The Sheriffs Office may have some lofty goals that involve stopping crime before it starts, but the supposedly forward-looking policing program does little more than subject past offenders (along with friends, families, and acquaintances) to sustained harassment by law enforcement officers. Whats supposed to keep crime down by directing resources to possible serious criminal activity has manifested as multiple visits from officers who do little more than try to coerce people into consenting to unlawful searches and write out nuisance citations for things like missing mailbox numbers or uncut grass.

The Sheriffs Office has since spun this off to include students at public schools, presumably to prep kids for a future of pointless harassment by law enforcement officers simply because they have the misfortune of living in Pasco County.

Thanks to some lawsuits and investigations, the Sheriffs Office is being a bit more proactive on the notification front. According to this ongoing investigation by the Tampa Bay Times, targets of the "intelligence" program are now being informed theyve been blacklisted by the Sheriffs Office.

It starts like an offer of admission from a prestigious university. We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected it says. But the four-page letter from the Pasco Sheriffs Office goes on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced police scrutiny under the agencys controversial intelligence program. You may wonder why you were enrolled in this program, the letter continues. You were selected as a result of an evaluation of your recent criminal behavior using an unbiased, evidence-based risk assessment designed to identify prolific offenders in our community. As a result of this designation, we will go to great efforts to encourage change in your life through enhanced support and increased accountability.

It all sounds so positive. While theres really no evidence this is actually "evidence-based" or "unbiased," at least the Sheriffs Office is willing to "encourage change in your life." It sounds nice but "encouragement" probably just means "constant harassment" and "enhanced support" is probably a euphemism for suspicionless searches. "Increased accountability" may be part of this program, but it wont be applied to the Pasco County Sheriffs Office. Nope, theres a really good chance "increased accountability" means more fines, more citations, more arrests, and more jail time.

Its definitely an attempt at a lighter touch.

The new letter to so-called prolific offenders says its purpose is to communicate the agencys sincere desire to help recipients begin a new path. We are committed to your success, it says.

But is it sincere? All evidence points to "no." The stated goal of the Sheriffs "pre-crime" program was, in the departments own words, to make targets so miserable they either moved or sued the Sheriffs Office. Now that some targets have done both, the Office appears to be trying to rein things in just a bit, or at least pretend the program is not solely about vindictive, unjustified harassment of certain Pasco County residents.

After all the sweet things about wanting to help people live their best lives, the letter [PDF] gets down to business. If program targets cant meet the standards the Office doesnt bother detailing in this letter, they can expect even more law enforcement interaction in the future.

Our desire to help you will not hinder us from holding you fully accountable for your choices and actions. It then says the Sheriffs Office will share recipients names and criminal histories with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure the highest level of accountability for any future crimes they commit.

External pressure may have forced the Sheriffs Office to reconsider its "intelligence-led policing" program. But this letter shows it didnt get much further than sanding down the edges of some of its sharper words. The changes appear to be limited to giving residents heads up on their impending misery.
OTTAWA - The federal government is expecting to receive more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, as public health officials brace for a potential fourth wave of infections.

A vial of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is pictured at an Alberta Health Services vaccination clinic in Didsbury, Alta., Tuesday, June 29, 2021. The federal government is expecting to receive more than 2.3 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines this week, as a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections looms driven by the spread of the highly-contagious Delta variant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

OTTAWA - The federal government is expecting to receive more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, as public health officials brace for a potential fourth wave of infections.

Ottawa has already received more than 66 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, enough to fully immunize all eligible Canadians.

As of Tuesday, the federal government had 6.7 million COVID-19 vaccines in its national reserve, an amount that provinces and territories can draw from if they need more doses.

The new COVID-19 vaccine shipments come as Canada's top doctor warns that the country could be headed towards a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases if public health restrictions are lifted before vaccination rates pick up.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Dr. Theresa Tam said an updated national modelling for the pandemic trajectory suggests that the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 could drive a fourth wave of infections.

"The trajectory will depend on ongoing increase in fully vaccinated coverage and the timing, pace and extent of reopening," Tam said.

"While some resurgence is expected as measures are eased, this updated model shows that if we maintain current levels of community-wide contacts, we would expect to see a modest increase in cases."

Tam said the country could see a high increase of COVID-19 infections if reopening continues quickly before enough people are fully immunized.

"We could expect to see a sharp resurgence by the end of the summer," she said.

She said the new forecast "reaffirms the need to take a cautious approach to relaxing public health measures to remain vigilant and responsive to signs of resurgence and to continue to increase first and second dose vaccine coverage."

Canada reported an average of 640 new cases over the past seven days, she said, which is still 93 per cent lower than the peak of the third wave.

As of Friday, 80.3 per cent of those eligible had received a first dose, while 63.7 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

Tam said the country has made "great progress" on vaccinating those who are eligible over the last month, but there is a need to increase numbers of vaccinated even more.

"This means increasing fully vaccinated coverage above 80 per cent across all age groups and particularly in younger age groups where most of the transmission is occurring."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.



This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
REPENTIGNY, Que. - The family of a Black man shot and killed by police in a Montreal suburb on Sunday wants to know why officers opened fire.

Kayshawn Olivier, son of Jean-Rene Junior Olivier who was shot dead by police officers, pauses next to the mother of the victim, Marie-Mireille Bence, during a news conference in Repentigny, Que., on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

REPENTIGNY, Que. - The family of a Black man shot and killed by police in a Montreal suburb on Sunday wants to know why officers opened fire.

Jean Rene Junior Olivier's family told reporters gathered outside his mother's home on Monday they had called police because they were concerned for his well-being and wanted him to get help. Instead, they said, he received three bullets in the stomach just a few houses over from his mother's home on a leafy residential street in Repentigny, Que., just north of Montreal.

"I'm very angry about what happened, I called for help and they killed my son," Marie-Mireille Bence, the victim's mother, said. "A 37-year-old man, they gunned him down, he was not dangerous," she added. "He didn't have a gun on him, he just had a knife on him."

The family says Olivier had discarded the knife on the ground before police shot him. If police had to shoot, they say, officers should have aimed for another part of his body.

"He threw the knife on the ground and that's when they shot him, they shot him three times," Bence said. "I called for help and I lost my son, I find it absurd because there were other ways of dealing with this, of bringing him under control."

The death has Olivier's mother thinking twice about calling police. "If tomorrow I have another problem, will I call 911? Not at all, because I do not have confidence in the police," Bence said.

Quebec's police watchdog began investigating the death on Sunday. It said in a statement that officers responded to a 911 call just after 7:30 a.m. that morning regarding an allegedly confused and unstable man armed with a knife.

They said police found the man outside and tried to speak to him but he fled on foot and allegedly became threatening toward officers. The watchdog said police used pepper spray to try and subdue the man but failed and then shot him multiple times.

Montreal-based civil rights group Center for Research-Action on Race Relations is assisting the family. Executive director Fo Niemi told reporters the Repentigny police force has been criticized for the way it has treated Black residents. City police have been hit with at least four complaints for racial profiling before the province's human rights commission and Niemi said several other complaints are forthcoming.

Dolmine Laguerre, Olivier's cousin, said she's outraged. The mother of three, also a Repentigny resident, said she feels unsafe in the community. During the news conference, she showed the small kitchen knife Olivier allegedly had in his possession and questioned why six officers and three bullets were necessary to bring Olivier under control.

"The family wants answers, the family wants justice and the family wants to know what happened," Laguerre said. "If you come to Repentigny, do you feel that we're safe? Do you feel that we have to hide? Our skin colour speaks for us."

Repentigny police held a news conference Monday and said Olivier's death was the first police-involved shooting in the force's history.

"We understand this event has shaken our community  our police officers as well as the family of the victim to whom we offer our sincere and profound condolences," police Chief Helen Dion told reporters.

Dion declined to go into specifics but said "despite all the training or experience a police officer has, believe me, no one gets up in the morning wanting to discharge a firearm." She said the watchdog investigation and a coroner's probe will shed light on the incident, adding that she and the mayor will meet with Bence as soon as possible.

Kayshawn Olivier, one of the victim's sons, said he has only one question for authorities.

"All we want is answers," he said. "The question is why three bullets?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.
OTTAWA - Former Afghan interpreters now living in Canada are pleading for the federal government to help extended family members stuck in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues its march across the country.

A Canadian soldier walks in a poppy field south of Bazar-e Panjwaii, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, April 20, 2011. Former Afghan interpreters now living in Canada are pleading for the federal government to help extended family members still stuck in Afghanistan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

OTTAWA - Former Afghan interpreters now living in Canada are pleading for the federal government to help extended family members stuck in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues its march across the country.

The former interpreters are among about 800 Afghans resettled under two different programs between 2008 and 2012 who say their previous work with Canada has left parents and siblings back home at risk of Taliban reprisals.

If they cannot get their hands on you, they will get your brother, they will get your sister, they will get your parents to punish you wherever you are because they cannot get their hands on you, said Khan, who arrived in Canada in 2012. His full name is not being disclosed to protect his familys safety.

The Liberal government announced two weeks ago that it would expedite the resettlement of possibly thousands of Afghans who worked with Canada as interpreters, cultural advisers and support staff since 2001, as well as their families.

But the effort has been plagued by questions and controversy, including whether the extended families of those like Khan's who previously came to Canada are eligible for assistance.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino acknowledged during a news conference last month the threat the Taliban poses to the families of interpreters already resettled in Canada, and invited anyone who believed their relatives could be eligible for help to contact his office.

Khan said he did reach out to Mendicinos office to see about helping his parents and siblings but was directed to a bureaucrat at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

I called the IRCC, Khan said. They were like: We don't have any details regarding this. So, if we don't have anything, we cant give you anything. This is how far I went.

There are also concerns that the government is taking a case-by-case approach to applications rather than laying out specific criteria to ensure everyone knows who is eligible for resettlement, and why.

We dont want to be individual cases, said Noori, another former interpreter who fled for Canada under a previous program and is now trying to get his parents and nine siblings out of Afghanistan. We want a collective policy for all of us.

Mendicino's office said Sunday the government is taking "an inclusive approach" to deciding who will be allowed to come to Canada.

"We have also broadened the definition of family to be more inclusive and compassionate to include de facto dependents (who may or may not be related) and who do not otherwise meet the definition of family under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act," spokeswoman Emilie Savard said in an email.

"Lives hang in the balance, which is why were taking action to support the Afghans who supported Canada, and offer them a future in this country. Canada will do the right thing for those who did so much for us."

Several former interpreters are nonetheless planning a rally on Parliament Hill on Tuesday to draw attention to their cause and pressure the government into helping their extended family members.

A similar rally was held in Vancouver last week, which organizers said drew dozens of former interpreters, Canadian military veterans and family members who are worried about friends and loved ones back in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, if you are employed by someone like the Canadian Forces, then your whole family is in danger because of you, Noori said. If the terrorists cannot reach you to harm you, they can harm you in another way by killing your father, your brother.

Those concerns have only grown in intensity as the Taliban has continued to capture large swaths of territory following the sudden withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in recent weeks.

The fact the U.S. over the weekend welcomed its first planeload of former interpreters onto American soil has also ratcheted up the frustration and confusion surrounding Canadas own efforts.

That confusion was exacerbated last week by word anyone wanting to apply had only 72 hours. That narrow window was later retracted following an outcry from former interpreters and veterans.

Retired corporal Tim Laidler, who is now executive director of the Institute for Veterans Education and Transition at the University of British Columbia, said the lack of information and clarity has left people in Canada and Afghanistan unsure what to do.

This is a crisis, there's people's lives at risk and there's no time for half-baked plans, said Laidler, who ran for the Conservatives in the 2015 federal election.

If you're going to say Contact my office, you need to have a plan and the staff in place to actually follow through on that. This confusion is causing people to lose faith in the process and the system, and ultimately I think it's going to cost lives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.
MONTREAL - Newly elected Kanesatake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille says he wants to bring positive change in the Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) community, west of Montreal.

MONTREAL - Newly elected Kanesatake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille says he wants to bring positive change in the Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) community, west of Montreal.

Bonspille was elected as the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake early Sunday.

The election was held Saturday, more than a month after being delayed due to COVID-19, and the results came in early Sunday morning.

"I will be celebrating with a cup of coffee and then by going to bed," Bonspille said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Bonspille defeated Serge Otsi Simon who held the title for 10 years, by an official count of 368 votes to 283.

"In some ways, its a big weight off my back," Simon said. "Ten years of this, all of this sudden, its over. Its a bit liberating."

Simon was first elected grand chief in 2011. Kanesatake has since seen a rise in cannabis dispensaries and criminal activities on its territory, which had raised concerns and prompted calls for the creation of a local police force.

More recently, on July 1, Arsene Mompoint, 47, with alleged links to street gangs and organized crime, was shot in broad daylight outside The Green Room, a cannabis dispensary in Kanesatake.

Bonspille's electoral campaign denounced the lack of consultation and transparency from the outgoing grand chief  a criticism which Simon said he wished he could have handled better.

"I could have consulted better during those years, I always held my community meetings but with COVID-19 we couldn't have them, and people got frustrated," Simon said.

Bonspille said he intends to do things differently.

"Its going to be a group and community effort," he said. "We have a lot of work to do, a lot of repairs, then we will take it from there and work on positive change for Kanesatake."

Fourteen candidates were also running for a position on the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake.

Amy Beauvais, Jeremy Teiawenniserahte Tomlinson, Denise David, John Canatonquin, Brant Etienne and Valerie Bonspille were also elected as the new chiefs of the Mohawk council.

"I look forward to working toward bringing the people back to the political table and facilitating some important dialogue that needs to happen for our people to move forward," newly elected Council Chief Tomlinson said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 1, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Bonspille defeated Serge Otsi Simon who withheld the title for 10 years.
BEIRUT (AP)  Emmanuelle Khnaisser had been in labor all day, and now it was in the last stages. Her baby  her first  was crowning.

Emmanuelle Khnaisser, kisses her son, one-year-old Georges Khnaisser, at her house in the town of Jal el-Dib, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 10, 2021. Khnaisser was about to give birth to her first son and was in the last stages of labor when the massive blast tore through the hospital, smashing windows, doors and machines in the operations room and riddling her lower body with tiny pieces of flying glass. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT (AP)  Emmanuelle Khnaisser had been in labor all day, and now it was in the last stages. Her baby  her first  was crowning.

Five floors below, Jessica Bezdjian was just coming in through the entrance of Beiruts St. George Hospital. She was an hour early for her 12-hour shift as a nurse in the psychiatric ward.

Everything exploded.

Edmond Khnaisser holds up his son, one-year-old Georges, at his house in the town of Jal el-Dib, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 10, 2021. Khnaisser's wife, Emmanuelle, was about to give birth to her first son and was in the last stages of labor when the massive blast tore through the hospital, smashing windows, doors and machines in the operations room and riddling her lower body with tiny pieces of flying glass. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

In every room on every floor in a single instant, windows burst. Doors flew off their hinges, ceilings collapsed, and equipment toppled. A wave of dust and pulverized glass surged through the wards and halls. In the darkness and chaos came the screams of bloodied patients, doctors and nurses.

One of Lebanons most prestigious and oldest medical centers, St. George stands overlooking the Mediterranean coast about 900 meters (yards) from Beiruts port. On that day a year ago, hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at a port warehouse blew up in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

The Aug. 4, 2020 blast tore through the Lebanese capital at 6:07 p.m., destroying entire neighborhoods and killing at least 214 people, including 22 at St. George Hospital.

A year later, every moment of that day remains engrained in the minds of those who lived through it. Many still struggle with the physical and psychological trauma. Some wrestle with the inexplicable loss of a loved one, some try to grasp what it means to have survived.

Chouchan Yeghiyan prays in front of pictures of her daughter, Jessica Bezdjian, who was killed in last year's massive blast at Beirut's seaport, in Antelias, Lebanon, Monday, July 12, 2021. Bezdjian was one of four female nurses who lost their lives at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center that day, including her close friend Jessica Kahwaji who was instantly killed. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

It was the happiest moment in my life and the ugliest one at the same time, said Edmond Khnaisser, Emmanuelles husband.

Emmanuelles water broke around 5 that morning. She was going into labor two weeks early. She and Edmond rushed to the hospital and were admitted to a room on the 5th floor.

Emmanuelle, a 29-year-old lawyer, was soon joined by her parents and sister, as well as her husbands mother and sister.

Together, they waited for baby George  as they already knew they would name him  to come into the world.

George Bezdjian and Chouchan Yeghiyan, the parents of Jessica Bezdjian, who was killed in last year's massive blast at Beirut's seaport, speak as they sit next to her pet dog Foxy and pictures of her, in Antelias, Lebanon, Monday, July 12, 2021. Bezdjian was one of four female nurses who lost their lives at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center that day, including her close friend Jessica Kahwaji who was instantly killed. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

On the northern outskirts of Beirut, Chouchan Yeghiyan woke up her youngest daughter, Jessica, at 4 p.m. to get ready. Jessica usually slept for much of the day since she was working overnight shifts at St. George. The 22-year-old loved her work and was saving money to pursue a masters degree.

She had a meal and a shower. Once her older sister Rosaline got home around 5:30 p.m., Jessica went downstairs and took the car.

She waved goodbye to her father, George Bezdjian, who was standing on the balcony as she drove off.

I wish I didnt wake her up that day, her mother said, tears running down her face.

A doctor walks past the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 19, 2021. Its been a year since one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history erupted at a port warehouse in Beirut. The blast destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed scores of people, including over 20 at the nearby St. George Hospital. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Around 5:45 p.m., the baby's head could be seen. Emmanuelle was wheeled into the operating room. Just as Edmond was asking if he could step in, the blast hit.

Ceiling tiles and window frames collapsed onto Emmanuelle, and glass showered her from the waist down. Her entire bed was jolted nearly a meter (yard) out of place. One doctor was thrown under the bed, another was hit by debris. Their blue and white uniforms were splattered with blood. The machine registering Georges heartbeat broke.

I was in a state of shock. We had no idea what had happened, Emmanuelle said.

Videos from Edmonds cellphone document the panic. In one video, he can be heard screaming, Where is my wife? Stay where you are. Oh, Virgin Mary.

In this two photo combination picture, top photo shows a bloody door of one of the rooms at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center that was damaged by the Aug. 4 massive blast at Beirut's seaport, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, and bottom photo shows the same room at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 19, 2021. The hospital is located about 900 meters (yards) from a warehouse in Beirut port, where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer, blew up a year ago, triggering one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, Bilal Hussein)

Bleeding from a mean gash on his leg, he cleared the debris off Emmanuelle and started picking the glass from her body.

The baby had pushed back inside her, and the delivery had to start from scratch. The doctors moved her bed into the emergency exit corridor, where there was less damage.

She was disoriented and didnt know if her baby was alive. A doctor brought out a monitor and placed it on her stomach. After a few, tense moments, they heard his heartbeat.

I felt that there is a reason I should live for. I have to do all I can because I have a big responsibility for George to come to this life, Emmanuelle recalled. She thought about her parents, her husbands parents, and I gathered all my strength and removed all negative ideas and concentrated.

In this two photo combination picture, top photo shows people standing at the main entrance of Saint George Hospital University Medical Center that was damaged by the Aug. 4 massive blast at Beirut's seaport, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, and bottom photo shows people stand at the main entrance of Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Monday, July 19, 2021. The hospital is located about 900 meters (yards) from a warehouse in Beirut port, where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer, blew up a year ago, triggering one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, Bilal Hussein)

As she pushed, Emmanuelle could hear people weeping and ambulance sirens blaring. Distraught people rushed by her in and out of the emergency exit, searching for loved ones. As the evening grew dark, the doctors continued the delivery by the lights of their cellphones.

Edmond ran out briefly to look after his mother, who had suffered broken ribs, and Emmanuelles father, who had a head injury.

When he returned, the doctor used forceps to pull George out. At 7:18 p.m., the little boy with dark brown hair emerged, 71 minutes after the blast.

When George was born, I did not believe that he was crying. I did not believe that my son was born, Emmanuelle said, holding back her tears.

FILE - In this Aug 5, 2020 file photo, a drone camera captures the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. The Aug. 4 blast at Beirut's port tore through the city at 6:07 p.m., destroying entire neighbourhoods and killing scores of people. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

When they put him on my chest, I was feeling very guilty and told him ... Im sorry, my life, that you had to be born this way.

In one of Edmonds videos, a nurse can be heard showing a crying baby George to Emmanuelle. He is so beautiful, the nurse tells her.

Usually when Jessica arrives at work, she sends her mother emojis of kisses or hearts. On this day, at 6:05 p.m., she sent an emoji of an angel. Two minutes later came the horrific boom, earsplitting even at their home 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the port.

When they saw the news about the blasts extent, Yeghiyan started screaming: I feel something in my heart. Maybe the girl died.

A room is seen at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 19, 2021. The hospital, one of Lebanon's most prestigious and oldest medical centers, is located about 900 meters (yards) from a warehouse in Beirut port, where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer, blew up a year ago, triggering one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Her husband and their eldest daughter rushed out of the house and drove toward St. George, while Yeghiyan stayed behind and frantically tried to call Jessica. She then knocked on the neighbors door and asked him to take her to the hospital. When they hit traffic, Yeghiyan jumped out of the car and stopped a man on a motorcycle. She climbed on the back, and he weaved his way through the jammed vehicles toward St. George.

The father and daughter got there first. They were told Jessica was in the emergency ward. They assumed she was there helping the wounded.

They recognized her from her shoes. She was lying on the emergency ward floor, doctors giving her artificial ventilation and pressing on her chest.

Bezdjian saw the gaping wound on his daughters neck and her bag, soaked in blood, on the floor next to her.

People stand at the main entrance of the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Monday, July 19, 2021. The hospital, one of Lebanon's most prestigious and oldest medical centers, is located about 900 meters (yards) from a warehouse in Beirut port, where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer, blew up a year ago, triggering one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

I took off my daughters shoes and started kissing her feet, he recalled, his voice shaking. I asked God, In nine days I will be 60. Take my breath and give it to her.

Yeghiyan arrived and saw her daughters body. She fainted.

Jessica succumbed to her wounds around the same time George was born.

St. George Hospital was in crisis condition. The damage, from top to bottom, was too much. It had to shut down  for the first time since it was founded in 1878. The stunned staff evacuated patients, carrying them down the stairs on plastic chairs or bedsheets. Patients were lined on the pavement outside while medical staff treated urgently injured people in the open air of a main yard.

At the same time, ambulances were rushing in with wounded from around the city. Dr. Alexandre Nehme, the hospitals chief medical officer, recalls how he had to tell them: We dont exist anymore.

Back on the 5th floor, Edmond held his son tightly, scared of losing him amid the chaos. Doctors told the couple they needed to get George to another hospital within four hours.

Emmanuelle was carried down the stairs on a chair, while Edmond messaged every WhatsApp group on his phone asking whoever was closest to pick them up. They walked for a block through debris and broken glass, to where his brother-in-law was waiting in his badly damaged car.

They drove about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Beiruts city center and reached a hospital. Only after they were admitted did they discover that the needle of the IV drip had broken off in Emmanuelles arm, and the epidural was still stuck in her back.

They spent a week at the hospital as Emmanuelle was treated for an infection. Then finally they brought their baby home.

Jessicas family headed home shortly before midnight on Aug. 4. The next day, the hospital called. They asked Bezdjian to come collect his daughters body because there was no electricity in the morgue.

They waited for four days until relatives came from abroad to hold the funeral. It had the trappings of a wedding, as sometimes customary in Lebanon for those who die young. The mourners dressed in white. The Armenian Catholic priest gave a prayer used at weddings.

I thank God that our daughter died in one piece and we were able to bury her, Bezdjian said in their apartment, where several photos of Jessica hang, in a north Beirut suburb. Other people had to bury pieces of their loved ones bodies.

Three days after the funeral, the family took Jessicas dog, Foxy, a Pomeranian, to the cemetery where she was buried. They released the dog and watched from a distance as he ran from one grave to another, then jumped on Jessicas and started yowling.

Then in November, on what would have been Jessicas 23rd birthday, the family went to the cemetery and marked the occasion next to her grave.

In their Beirut apartment on a recent day, Emmanuelle and Edmond sat watching George as he played in his room.

They will celebrate his first birthday a few days after Aug. 4, out of respect for the many people who lost their lives or were hurt on that day a year ago.

Edmond, a dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen who was born in Edmonton, Alberta, said that despite the extreme hardship in Lebanon right now, the couple have no intention of leaving. They hope to give George a brother or sister at some point.

Emmanuelle said she was told that babies are aware of everything that happens around them. One day, she said, she will tell George about his birth in the blast.

I will tell him how his birth was a ray of light amid all the darkness.
Ellie Zeiler, 17, a TikTok creator with over 10 million followers, received an email in June from Village Marketing, an influencer marketing agency. It said it was reaching out on behalf of another party: the White House.

Would Zeiler, a high school senior who usually posts short fashion and lifestyle videos, be willing, the agency wondered, to participate in a White House-backed campaign encouraging her audience to get vaccinated against the coronavirus?

Ellie Zeiler, 17, is a TikTok creator with over 10 million followers. She signed onto a White House-backed vaccination campaign. Credit:Maggie Shannon/The New York Times

There is a massive need to grow awareness within the 12-18 age range, Village Marketing wrote to Zeilers business email. Were moving fast and have only a few available slots to fill, so please let us know ASAP.

Zeiler quickly agreed, joining a broad, personality-driven campaign to confront an increasingly urgent challenge in the fight against the pandemic: vaccinating the youthful masses, who have the lowest inoculation rates of any eligible age group in the United States.
Squares $39 billion bid for local buy now, pay later (BNPL) juggernaut Afterpay has been hailed as the clearest sign of the Australian technology sector firing on all cylinders.

The deal, if approved by regulators and shareholders, will be the biggest takeover in Australian history despite Afterpay only being founded seven years ago by Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen.

Seek co-founder and Square Peg Capitals Paul Bassat said the heavyweight offer for Afterpay represents a changing of the guard in Australias economy.

We are just seeing this incredibly rapid transformation of the Australian economy before our eyes, he said.
About nine years ago, when one of Lauren LaRouges friends painted nautical-themed designs on her nails  a flurry of wavy white and navy shapes  she couldnt stop laughing.

I said Its very authentic, it looks like it was done on the high seas, says LaRouge, who was then working as a burlesque dancer and preparing for a gig on a boat. They looked a little bit jacked.

Lauren LaRouge, a former burlesque dancer, now a creative nail artist at Love LaRouge, her salon in Sydneys Stanmore. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Fast-forward to today, and LaRouge has become a popular nail artist with a salon in Stanmore in Sydneys inner west offering designs that venture into similar terrain: wavy rainbow stripes, ombre hearts, the Louis Vuitton logo, and cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Bugs Bunny. (She started doing nail art about eight years ago when she realised it just made me smile.)

Such wildly-colourful nails used to be the preserve of musicians like Billie Eilish and Cardi B, with lower-key iterations spotted at Zimmermann, Simone Rocha and Schiaparelli. Now, theyve become a welcome graduation for those looking to freshen up their regular mani.
War veteran Ben Roberts-Smiths defamation trial against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald will take a three-month break owing to COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, and is not expected to reach its conclusion until next year.

On Monday, Justice Anthony Besanko made an order adjourning the trial until November 1 because the Federal Court cannot sit safely in Sydney. Lawyers for the Commonwealth, which is represented at the trial for national security reasons, had said there were significant obstacles to moving the trial interstate or conducting it via video link.

Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court for his defamation trial last week. Credit:Nick Moir

Stay-at-home orders [in Greater Sydney] are in place until the end of August, Justice Besanko said. There is at least a reasonable possibility that they will be extended for a period thereafter.

He had resumed the trial last week for the limited purpose of hearing from three Afghan witnesses who gave evidence via video link from Kabul. The newspapers had told the court the evidence of the witnesses was urgent in light of the risk of a Taliban-led terrorist attack in the city.
Anthony Eisen, Nick Molnar and Jack Dorsey. Credit:Illustration: John Shakespeare Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisens Afterpay success story went stratospheric on Monday with a $39 billion takeover bid from US billionaire Jack Dorseys payments giant Square. The offer means big pay days for founders Molnar and Eisen who first met as neighbours living in Sydneys eastern suburbs and now hold stakes worth as much as $2.7 billion. But before that can happen, the real work has to begin behind closed doors as Afterpays hard-working government affairs team and lobbyists ensure the deals smooth passage over a series of regulatory hurdles including a likely probe by the Foreign Investment Review Board. Other Canberra-based sources believe the Rod Sims-led Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could also be keen to look at the deals implications for the local payment universe. That job of preparing the ground for the regulatory checks falls to former Kevin Rudd-adviser Damian Kassabgi who is Afterpays public policy boss and former ASIC employee Michael Saadat. Then there are the lobbyists including Prime Minister Scott Morrisons mate David Gazard and his colleagues Scott Briggs and Sasha Grebe at DPG Advisory who have represented the company in Canberra since 2017. Chris Fry from Public Policy Solutions is listed as the companys lobbyist in Victoria. Its well known Afterpay makes the gig worthwhile. As revealed in the AFR, Kassabgi has already exercised some 155,000 Afterpay options now valued just under $18 million. And hes got more options awaiting liquidation. Gazard has exercised 60,000 options - now valued at $6.9 million. In late 2019, Fry was granted 40,000 options in an employee scheme. Exercised, the shares would be worth a touch under $4.6 million today.

Is Health Minister Greg Hunt going to quit politics sooner, rather than later? Credit:Scott McNaughton Square, for its part, has been represented by Newgate Communications since January. Lets hope for managing partner Brian Tysons sake, Dorseys outfit is just as generous. OPTIONS TO HUNT Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is adamant hes staying put and has no intentions of bowing out of politics ahead of the next election. But that hasnt stopped a shopping list of candidates from cropping up amid persistent chatter the minister has had enough. Hunt will soon clock up 20 years representing the Mornington Peninsula seat of Flinders and is entitled to a generous pension under the old parliamentary super scheme. The keen runner who turns 56 this year used to say the parliamentary phase of his life would end at 60, but party insiders say the frantic pace of the pandemic may have brought forward the next adventure. Others say Hunts brief stint in hospital in March with an infection may have concentrated his mind.

Hunt himself is doing nothing to feed the speculation with those close to him telling CBD that he was preselected and is running. Its just too bad then a list of well-connected candidates believed to be in contention for the seat continues to grow. Zoe McKenzie, a former NBN non-executive director who once advised Andrew Robb during his time as trade minister, has been regarded by some as Hunts preferred successor. Also on her side? Heavy hitting support from Financial Services Minister Jane Hume. Others point to Mark Brudenell, who served as a senior staffer for Turnbull both as communications minister and PM, as a potential candidate. The veteran adviser is chief of staff to Latitude Financial chief executive Ahmed Fahour and is regarded in party circles as someone with the connections to pull off a pre-selection coup. McKenzie told CBD that she did not expect a vacancy in Flinders. Brudenell declined to comment. LOCKED AND LOADED
The dominant religion in Australia is Christianity and central to Christianity is the Lords Prayer. This explains why both the national and the Victorian parliamentary sessions begin with the words Our Father, which art in heaven: Hallowed be Thy Name.

Largely ignored in the current debate about the place of the Lords Prayer is that both parliaments also include a Welcome to Country in acknowledgement that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived on this land for thousands of years long before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.

Current debate has centred on the place of the Lords Prayer in State Parliament. Credit:Getty Images

Given the Victorian Parliament respects Aboriginal history, culture and spirituality, its only fair and reasonable the same privilege is granted to citizens whose ancestry can be traced to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe who have settled this land.

In relation to ancestry the 2016 census notes 89.9 per cent of those surveyed identified as Australian, English, Irish and Scottish with Europeans representing six of the top 10 ancestries. The equivalent figure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is 2.8 per cent.
National cabinet has agreed to a review of the COVID-19 protocols for truck drivers, as the Victorian government considers new options to ensure freight workers do not reintroduce the virus into the state.

The Prime Minister and state premiers last week sanctioned federal and state transport ministers to determine improvements to the permit and testing requirements for cross-border truck drivers that vary for each state.

A Victoria Police checkpoint at Chiltern on the Hume Highway in July. Credit:Jason Robins

The ministers will consider a proposal from state transport associations to allow drivers to use rapid antigen test home kits and a national QR code check-in system that would allow truckies to scan into states instead of applying for permits.

The review comes after new measures were announced on Monday preventing NSW residents within the border bubble from entering Victoria other than for essential reasons like care-giving and exercise.
Every Australian would receive $300 if they are fully vaccinated by December 1 in a Labor call for urgent federal spending to achieve a vaccination target that reduces the need for sweeping lockdowns.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese proposed the new payment on Monday night with a claim the cash incentive would help prevent restrictions that are costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars each day.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese received his first COVID-19 vaccination in February. Hes suggested offering a cash incentive to reach vaccination targets by December. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The policy would cost $6 billion to convince almost 20 million adult Australians to sign up for the COVID-19 inoculations on the assumption the government can deliver the AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna doses it has promised.

Vaccinations are a race Australians can no longer afford to lose, Mr Albanese said.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has played down concerns over the personal and business relationships between Perth Casino Royal Commission lead commissioner Neville Owen and local billionaire Kerry Stokes as a media war.

Mr Owen, a former senior Supreme Court of WA appeals judge, declared he had a close personal relationship with Mr Stokes as hearings opened on Monday last week.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes and Perth Casino Royal Commission lead commissioner Neville Owen. Credit:Philip Gostelow/Nic Ellis (The West Australian)

After media questions late on Friday, Mr Owen declared his relationship also included a business interest: being a director of a Stokes investment vehicle  Claybon  since 2012.

Mr Stokes, as chairman of Seven West Media, also has strong business ties to two witnesses involved in the inquiry.
Singapore: Henny Sengkey Kawilarang knew her husband was badly ill with COVID-19 but when he lay on the couch at their house in Cisauk, about two hours drive south west of Jakarta, she had no idea he was about to die.

It happened so fast, just like a dream, she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Health workers remove a casket containing the body of a suspected victim of COVID-19 who died at home in Jakarta. Credit:Getty Images

Known as Grandma Henny in her neighbourhood, the 68-year-old had been caring for her 72-year-old husband Sinyo Kawilarang last month even as she was sick with the virus herself.

In the week after he first registered a fever, they spent every morning soaking up sun rays in their garden, as many in Indonesia have been doing as they tackle the virus, trying to take in as much vitamin D as possible.
Andrei Lozovik, the countrys representative to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said on Thursday that the increased numbers were due to relaxed pandemic restrictions, seasonality and tensions in migrants home countries, state news agency BelTA reported. Loading He also blamed the lack of genuine cooperation from Europe and accused Lithuania of politicising the issue. This burgeoning conflict is far from the scale of the international emergency in 2015 and 2016, when 1.4 million migrants arrived in Europe irregularly. Nevertheless, it represents a pressing challenge at the EUs external border with an increasingly aggressive neighbour, who just two months ago forced down a civilian jet and pulled off a dissident journalist.

And it highlights the blocs lack of a coherent migration and asylum policy, which even its own officials acknowledge as a weakness. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it is an issue of concern not only for one member State but for the entire EU. And the European Commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, said protecting the border with Belarus is the EUs most important task. This is an act of strong aggression from Lukashenko and Belarus, Johansson said in a July 28 interview with Lithuanian public television. He is using people in an act of aggression towards Lithuania, and this is totally unacceptable and this calls for strong solidarity among all the EU member states and the commission. A spokesperson for the EUs office of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said that the bloc would add new restrictive measures against the Lukashenko regime and those that support it or benefit from it if the situation does not improve. The spokesperson declined to say what those measures would include.

EU leaders have deployed border patrol agents and pledged more assistance for one of the 27-member blocs smallest countries. Lithuania, which has virtually no experience with large numbers of immigrants, has scrambled to construct a barbed wire fence along the border. Its Parliament also passed a new law that fast-tracks the asylum process and allows authorities to detain migrants for as long as six months without a court order. Migrants from Cameroon rest at the refugee camp in the village of Vydeniai, Lithuania. Credit:AP Advocates said the new legislation could violate human rights law and the countrys constitution, but Lithuanian policymakers said it was the only way to deal with such a large influx of people, and they have defended their treatment of migrants as humane. Lithuanian authorities are housing, feeding and caring for the migrants in hastily-constructed camps that a senior official described as absolutely adequate but not comfortable.

They are tents, Lithuanias vice minister for foreign affairs, Mantas Adomenas, said in an interview. They are not five-star hotel conditions. Johansson, the EU commissioner, has sought to frame the situation as an example of Belaruss geopolitical hostility, not primarily a migrant crisis, and she said she doubts that most of the people applying for asylum have a legitimate case. Protesters wearing traditional Lithuanian outfits attend an anti-migrant protest rally at the Vinco Kudirkos Square, in front of the government palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. Credit:AP However, reports have surfaced that Lithuania is the latest stop on a harrowing journey for a number of the immigrants, several of whom have identified themselves as members of Iraqs Yazidi minority, who survived genocide by the Islamic State and battled displacement in the years since. Of the 230 asylum applications processed so far, zero have been approved, Adomenas said. In a Facebook post addressed to the border crossers, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote that because you were involved in a cunning crime, virtually no-one of you will receive an asylum.

You will have to live in the tent camp until we find a way to send you home, he wrote. A migrant detention centre in an old school in Lithuania. Credit:Getty In mid-July, Landsbergis travelled to Baghdad to meet with his Iraqi counterpart, part of a diplomatic effort that has also included top EU officials seeking to curb the migration. Publicly, the negotiators say talks are going well. But the flights from Iraq to Belarus continue. Lithuanian leaders are advocating a new round of EU sanctions against Belarus to deter Lukashenko, or any other leader, from using such tactics.

We should make an example so that no state actors should use the plight of migrants for political aims, Adomenas said. The EU has to realise that otherwise it remains vulnerable to rogue regimes such as that of Alexander Lukashenko. Relations between the EU and Belarus have deteriorated dramatically over the past year, reaching a nadir in May, when a Belarusian fighter jet forced the landing of a Ryanair flight to arrest journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega. In an unusually fast response, the blocs member states agreed to impose tough sanctions on key sectors of the Belarus economy. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 37-year-old former teacher and stay-at-home mother turned politician, has asylum in Lithuania. Credit:Getty The United States, Britain and Canada announced similar moves. The measures followed earlier sanctions over Lukashenkos repression of opposition figures and activists after presidential elections last summer rejected by the opposition and Western leaders as a sham. In late June, Lukashenko announced that Belarus would no longer prevent asylum seekers, drugs and even nuclear materials from entering the European Union.

They demand that we protect them from smuggling and drug trafficking. Even across the Atlantic we hear the calls for help to detain nuclear materials so that they do not get to Europe, he said then. You are waging a hybrid war against us and demand that we help you as we did before? Loading On Friday, Lukashenko said the sanctions were the toughest his country has faced. The main goal is to leave the people without pensions, salaries, benefits, education, medical services and cause discontent among Belarusians, said Lukashenko, according to the state news agency. Belarus is also angry that Lithuania has granted visas for hundreds of Belarusian journalists, students and activists, including opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who have fled the regimes crackdown.

Lithuanian officials said they have documents, firsthand accounts, intelligence gathered from social media and other proof that points to the involvement of the Belarusian government and state-owned businesses in the transportation of migrants to the border. Analysts have agreed, characterising the move as brazen and dangerous. These are 3000 people who were flown from a country very far away and were just left on the border of the EU and thats an entirely new phenomenon, said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. Flying people in is a complete other level of aggression and retaliation. It should further test the mettle of the EU, she said, and force the bloc to respond with force or allow itself to appear weak. As a foreign policy power, you are going to have to face situations like this, Mortera-Martinez said. You are going to have to decide if you want to deal with it. Former British ambassador to Belarus Nigel Gould-Davies said Belaruss actions on the Lithuanian border should be seen as an extension of actions like the downing of the Ryanair flight.
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
DOYLESTOWN >> The Central Bucks Board of School Directors will formally name Dr. Abram M. Lucabaugh as the districts next superintendent of schools at its next meeting on Tuesday, August 31 beginning at 7:30 p.m. subject to the execution of a mutually agreed upon contract.
Indias is postponing the Auto ExpoThe Motor Show 2022, in view of the pandemic and the uncertainty ahead, body Society of Indian Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a statement. Scheduled to be held from February 2-9, 2022 at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, the show is being postponed keeping in mind the safety of exhibitors, visitors and all stakeholders involved.

This is the first time that the industry body is postponing the bi-annual annual auto show since it started organising it in 1986. Indias is not the only; several marquee international auto shows have been postponed in view of the global pandemic.

The Indian Industry and SIAM recognises the inherent risks in organizing the due to the on-going Covid-19 Pandemic and the apprehensions of a possible 3rd Wave. There is uncertainty around how Covid-19 would develop in the coming months and at the same time organizing would need a lead time of preferably a year, said Siam.

The last edition of Asias biggest motor show in February 2020 too was shadowed by the outbreak of Covid 19. Though it was smaller in terms of participation, it was one of the biggest in terms of partaking by new entrants including MG Motors, Kia Motors, Great Wall Motors and FAW. Amid the disruptions, while Kia and MG as newcomers have made a place for themselves. But the geo-political tension between India and China stymied the India entry plans of FAW and Great Wall Motors.



A lot more has changed since the past 18 months in Indias auto market. The changes were precipitated by Covid-19 which transformed into a pandemic in the months that followed the expo. Passenger Vehicles sales dropped to a multi-year low in FY20 to 2,773,519 units, plunging further to 2,711,458 units in FY21.

The first wave followed by the second wave and now a lurking fear of a third one has made companies skeptical of demand sustenance. It has prompted them to conserve resources and tightened the purse strings in terms of marketing and advertising spend.

Auto Expo, said Siam, is like a festival of celebration, for the industry and the hosts look forward to receiving maximum people with no fear of spread of infection. The magnitude of the risk of spread of infection is extremely high in a business to consumer show like an which is visited by large crowds and maintaining social distancing would be difficult. It has therefore been decided to postpone the Auto Expo  The Motor Show for now, it said.

The exact date for the next edition of Auto ExpoThe Motor Show would be finalised later this year keeping in view the Covid situation and in alignment with the OICA Calendar of global Auto shows.
For the second round of bidding under the commercial coal auction, won one mine from the three offered on the first day. The company quoted 9.5 per cent premium on the reserve price of the Gondkhari coal mine in Maharashtra.

In the first round of commercial held last year, Adani Enterprises has bid for the highest number of coal mines through its various

For the other two mines, Raipur based CG Natural Resources Pvt Ltd and Gurugram headquartered South West Pinnacle Exploration Ltd quoted bids at 24 per cent and 6 per cent premium respectively. CG won Jogeshwar & KhasJogeshwar mine in Jharkhand and Jhigador mine in Chhattisgarh.

The total geological reserves of the mines put up for auction on Day-1 are 432 million tonnes. Of the three mines on auction, Gondkhari coal mine is explored while the other two coal mines, Jhigador and Jogeshwar and KhasJogeshwar are partially explored.

Coal ministry has put 19 mines for auction in the second round of the auction. Out of the total mines, 10 are fully explored, nine are partially explored mines. There are four coking coal mines and the balance 15 mines are non-coking coal mines. Two or more bids have been received for eight coal mines, the coal ministry said in its statement.

The Centre in 2020 opened the sector with private entering the arena of commercial mining and sale of coal 47 years after mining of the fossil fuel was nationalised in India. It amended the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in May to open the for non-mining, MSMEs and foreign The two-part auction concluded in November when companies submitted bids for 19 out of the total 38 coal blocks on offer.
Industrialist has expressed willingness to offer his groups 27 per cent stake in Limited (VIL) to any government or domestic financial entity in order to keep the stressed telecom company alive.

The Aditya Birla Group chairman and promoter of VIL made the suggestion in a letter to Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7. The VIL debt has more than trebled in the last four years to Rs 1.6 trillion as of end of March 2021, from around Rs 37,000 crore in FY16. This includes deferred spectrum obligations and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities.

Birla made the suggestion to give up his control of the company more than a month before the Supreme Court dismissed the company's application for recalculation of the AGR dues, highlighting the need for urgent measures from the government.

It is with a sense of duty towards 27 crore (270 million) Indians connected by VIL, I am more than willing to hand over my stake in the company to any entity-public sector/government/domestic financial entity or any other that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern, Birla said in his letter.

The VIL board had last September announced a plan to raise Rs 25,000 crore but investors have not been forthcoming in the absence of government support.

The fundraising is, however, tough given VILs negative net worth and consistent losses. The company has cumulatively lost Rs 1.37 trillion in the last five years. As a result, its net worth declined from around Rs 24,000 crore in FY16 to negative Rs 38,000 crore in FY21.

While Vodafone Plc has refused to throw good money after bad or make additional equity investment in VIL, AB Birla Groups hands are also tied given the mismatch between the capital requirement and group finances.

In FY21, the group listed (ex-VIL) reported net profit of Rs 7,132 crore against VILs net loss of around Rs 44,200 crore. In the last five years, AV Birla group cumulatively earned net profits of Rs 37,600 crore--a fraction of VILs cumulative loss of Rs 1.37 trillion since FY16.





ALSO READ: India should nationalise Vodafone Idea, head off Jio-dominated duopoly

On the balance sheet side, VIL's cumulative reserves & surplus of negative Rs 67,000 crore are equivalent to nearly half of the combined net worth of the groups other listed

Analysts say that VIL losses could potentially swamp the group finances making Birla wary of making additional investments in the company. They say its better for the group to cut its losses in VIL and redirect group capital and resources to profitable businesses such as cement, metals, financial services, fashion and retail.

VIL had last raised Rs 25,000 crore worth of equity from its shareholders including promoters through a rights issue in April 2019. The company was left with cash & bank balance of only around Rs 2,200 crore at the end of March this year.

Birlas foray into telecom dates back to 1995--incidentally the same year when Kumar Mangalam took the reins of the company following his fathers death. Idea Cellular was introduced in 2002 and in 2017 it merged with Vodafone in a $23-billion deal. The merger was completed in August 2018.



The Birlas own over 27 per cent stake in VIL while Vodafone Plc holds more than 44 per cent in the company. At the time of the merger, the company stock was trading at Rs 34, it closed at Rs 8.25 on the BSE on Monday. The current market capitalisation of VIL is at more than Rs 23,000 crore.

ALSO READ: Eye on revenue growth, Vodafone Idea revises plans for corporate customers

While the two promoters have decided against infusing fresh funds in the company, Vodafone Plc has already written off all its investment in VIL following continuous losses.

To actively participate in the fund raising, the potential foreign investors want to see clear government intent to have a three-player telecom market (consistent with its public stance) through positive actions on long-standing requests such as clarity on AGR liability, adequate moratorium on spectrum payments and most importantly, a floor pricing regime above the cost of service. In the absence of definitive steps in this regard, the potential investors have understandable hesitation to invest, Birla wrote in his June communication.

Birla further said that VILs financial situation would drive its operations to an irretrievable point of collapse without immediate active support from the government on these three issues.

On June 25, VIL had approached the Department of Telecommunications to seek a one-year moratorium on Rs 8,200-crore spectrum instalment which is due in April 2022. In its letter, the company said it would be unable to pay the spectrum dues because of inadequate cash generation and payment of AGR liabilities.

On July 23, the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions of VIL and Bharti Airtel seeking correction in claimed errors in calculating the AGR. VIL had calculated its remaining AGR dues at around Rs 21,500 crore after making a payment of Rs 7,800 crore. However, DoT concluded the companys total AGR liability was around Rs 58,000 crore.
promoted power distribution company Ltd, which operates in some areas of Delhi, is in the process of tying 3.3 Gw of green energy for supply in the national capital. When the deal is concluded, the company would become the discom with the highest green energy tie-ups, claimed company executives.

Executives said will sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with projects tendered by central agency SECI Ltd. The projects that will sign up are of Adani Green Energy, Amp Energy, Avikaran Surya among others, said sources.

By FY 23-24, about 3.3 Gw of green power will be operationalised by BSES. Out of this, 2.3 Gw will be pure-play renewable, consisting of solar, wind and waste to energy and around 1 Gw would be hydro, said an executive.



He said the green power portfolio would be led by solar and in coming two years, 50 per cent of the discoms capacity would be of renewable energy.



The move to sign up more green energy is in line with the companys plan to exit costly and older PPAs with thermal power.

BSES was recently allowed to end its PPA with Dadri thermal power unit of NTPC by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It is also in the process of cancelling six more thermal power PPAs. The company is planning to replace this capacity with green energy.

At present, around 22 per cent of long-term arrangements of led BSES comprises green power, which includes pure play renewable power of over 9 percent and 13 per cent is hydro power.

BSES recently signed a purchase agreement for 510 Mw of solar and bundled hybrid power. Of the total quantum of 510 Mw, 300 Mw is solar power and 210 Mw, hybrid power. BSES is the first discom in the country to sign for hybrid power.

Hybrid power is a bundled mix of solar and wind power, wherein one component is at least 33 per cent of the contracted capacity.

The company in a public statement said the solar and hybrid power is expected to be available to BSES discoms in 18 months after signing of the agreement. The discom will purchase solar power at Rs 2.44 per unit and hybrid at Rs 2.48 per unit.

BSES operates two discoms in Delhi--BRPL and BYPL--which are joint ventures between Limited and GoNCTD.




Indias biggest mortgage lender on Monday reported a 1.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decrease in standalone net profit at Rs 3,000.67 crore for April-June quarter of FY22 (Q1FY22) on the back of lower other income and higher tax and employee expenses. In the year-ago period, the profit stood at Rs 3,051.5 crore.



The number missed Street expectation, which had estimated up to 9 per cent YoY rise in PAT. Analysts at Nomura, for instance, had pegged HDFCs net profit at Rs 3,318.5 crore while those at HSBC projected the same at Rs 3,253.6 crore, suggesting a rise between 7-9 per cent YoY.



Sequentially, the profit declined 5.6 per cent from Rs 3,179.83 crore.



On a consolidated basis, profit after tax stood at Rs 5,311 crore as compared to Rs 4,059 crore in the previous year, representing a growth of 31 per cent.

The profit before tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 stood at Rs 3,905 crore compared to Rs 3,607 crore in the previous year.



On the revenue front, the lenders net interest income (NII) came in at Rs 4,147 crore for the quarter under review, up 22.2 per cent compared with previous years NII of Rs 3,392 crore. On a quarterly basis, the income increased marginally by 2 per cent from Rs 4,064.8 crore reported in Q4FY21.



Inclusive of income from assigned loans, the NII for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 stood at Rs 4,414 crore compared to Rs 3,576 crore in the previous year, representing a growth of 23 per cent, the NBFC said in a statement.



Net interest margin, meanwhile, was at 3.7 per cent.



At the end of the June quarter, HDFCs assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 5.74 trillion, relative to Rs 5.31 trillion at the end of June, 2020 quarter.



As at June 30, 2021, individual loans comprise 78 per cent of the total AUM. On an AUM basis, the growth in the individual loan book was 14 per cent and growth in the total loan book was 8 per cent, it said.



It added: The demand for home loans continues to remain strong and disbursements have picked up with the unlocking of respective locations. While disbursements during April and May of the current financial year were somewhat impacted, business has reverted to normalised trends in the months of June and July. July 2021 disbursements were the highest ever in a non-quarter end month.



NPA and provisioning

said its gross non-performing loans as at June 30, 2021 stood at Rs 11,120 crore, equivalent to 2.24 per cent of the loan portfolio. The GNPA ratio in Q4FY21 stood at 1.98 per cent.



Besides, it carries provisions worth Rs 5,778 crore. Of this, Rs 2,443 crore is towards provisioning for standard assets and Rs 3,335 crore is towards non-performing assets. The provisions as at June 30, 2021 stood at Rs 13,189 crore.

Meanwhile, the collection efficiency for individual loans on a cumulative basis in June 2021 stood at 98.3 per cent compared to 98 per cent in March 2021.



Individual NPAs increased due to slippages on account of the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Collection efforts were hindered due to the recovery teams being unable to do field visits during the lockdown period. Further, various court orders temporarily curbing recovery efforts of financial institutions, including refraining possession activities under SARFAESI hampered the collection efforts, said in a statement.



The scrip of HDFC rose over 1 per cent at Rs 2,472 apiece on the BSE post result announcement as compared to a 0.68 per cent rally in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Instrucko, an established one-to-one language learning platform recently raised $1 million in a recently concluded seed-funding round led by MVK Group, a London-based venture capital firm that manages some of the major business groups across Dubai, Singapore, London and Switzerland. This is a follow on from the December round, the company said in a press release.

The release said the amount raised will be used for expanding the firm's business in India and West Asia, with a core focus on providing children in the 3-15 age group with premium content, supported by training by leading educationists from across the world.

Instrucko's B2B segment is seeing growing demand from schools across India and the Gulf, which are using its content and leading teacher training courses to specialised courses such as EtonX, the online subsidiary of the famed Eton College in England.

Devvaki Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Instrucko, was quoted in the release as stating that the company's focus has always been on great content and great teaching, while technology has only been an aggregator.

"This funding will help us expand, create more content and focus on technology and AI powered analytics, she said, adding that the firm has over 15 institutes, including the MS Dhoni Global School and Literacy India, currently using its live classes, or teacher training. Some schools have also opted to access content created by former linguists from the University of Oxford.

Aggarwal stated further that Instrucko is looking to partner with over 100 schools over the next 12 months both in India and West Asia, which it identifies as a strong market.

CEO of MVK Group Venture Capital Firm, Manish Karani said, The EdTech market has seen a lot of noise since Covid, with many brands purely launching services just to capitalise on the sudden move to online education. Instrucko has been unique in this regard by focusing on bringing content and its delivery which is more suitable for the global marketplace versus the local marketplace, and thus giving each one of their customers an edge over their peers."

Founded in July 2020, Instrucko specialises in teaching English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, German, Hindi, public speaking and creative writing to children aged 3-15 years. Its live classes are conducted by teachers from India as well as by native speakers. Established in the UK, with offices in London, Mumbai and Delhi, Instruckos courses have been created by educationists from University of Oxford.

Instrucko has also tied up with EtonX for its self-study and live-tutor group courses catering to learners aged 13 upwards. EtonXs courses, designed to help teenagers to get into the top universities, focus on interview skills, entrepreneurship, college applications, public speaking, communication, critical thinking and creative problem solving to prepare them for success at university and at the workplace.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) circular to banks for the need for discipline led to closure of a large number of current accounts when the deadline for compliance ended July 31.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are the worst hit due to the account freeze, bankers and industry officials said about the circular issued on August 6 last year.

Interestingly, the move has created a rift between the public and private sector banks: the first lot welcomed the move and the second said they would lose customers.

The circular said that a bank cannot open a current account if their exposure is less than 10 per cent of the borrowers total exposure to the banking system.

No bank shall open current accounts for customers who have availed credit facilities in the form of cash credit (CC)/ overdraft (OD) from the banking system and all transactions shall be routed through the CC/OD account, it said.

While the initial deadline to comply with the norms was three months, it was extended to July 31 this year.

The circular essentially meant, according to bankers, to stop the practice of borrowers drawing credit facilities from and then transferring the funds to private lenders, for which accounts are opened.

It [the RBI norms] is good for the system. welcome the norms which were aimed at bringing more discipline, said a top official from a large public sector bank.

Four and a foreign bank are hurt due the norms, bankers said.

 have technology based customized products and systems. They were able to provide better services to the customer in areas like trade finance. Though the limits may have been sanctioned by the public sector, in view of the better technological convenience they give, many of the customers try to do their trade finance business with private and foreign banks, the official added.

MSMEs hit

The Federation of Indian Micro & Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) has said that are facing problems and plan to write to the RBI requesting relaxations.

MSMEs are facing huge problems. This is not a very well thought out decision. There are practical problems. Sometimes it is necessary for them [MSME] to keep accounts in another bank, else the borrower is at the mercy of one bank, FISME Secretary General Anil Bhardwaj told Business Standard.

FISME is coming out with a detailed note on what problems that are faced by MSMEs due to the norms which will be shared with the banking regulator.

According to the industry body one of the reasons why many borrowers prefer to have current accounts with banks over and above their cash credit accounts is due to cyber frauds, as they do not want to make any online transaction from their limit account as large amounts of funds are maintained in that account.

Private sector banks are not authorised for some government payments like custom duty etc, therefore, if a borrower is banking with a private bank, they need to have a current account in a public sector bank. As a result of this new circular, need to change their banks and it will take time, apart from involving costs for MSME, FISME said.




Aluminium today said it procured 354 million units of solar and non-solar renewable energy primarily from Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) at for its aluminium production facility at Jharsuguda, in Odisha.

is a premiere energy marketplace and is the largest power exchange in the country.

GTAM, introduced last year by IEX, supports buyers in procuring green energy in the most competitive and flexible manner. The purchase of green power from the exchange has enabled organisations like and the industry at large to achieve their carbon-mitigation targets while producing green value-added products.

The market segment has been operational for over a year now and has received splendid response from industries, especially the energy intensive ones as well as the distribution utilities, Rohit Bajaj, senior vice president and head-business development at was quoted as saying.

Aluminiums purchase of green power units is more than 35 percent of the green power traded on IEX in Q1 FY22, said the company in its release today.

Our long-term strategy focuses on migrating to low carbon energy mix, with gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, to produce green aluminium, Rahul Sharma, chief executive officer at Vedanta Aluminium was quoted as saying.
Facing a payout of USD 1.2 billion-plus interest after an award went against it, the government on Monday said it has not received any formal proposal from Britain's plc to resolve the issue within the country's legal framework.

A three-member international tribunal that consisted of one judge appointed by India, had in December last year unanimously overturned the levy of taxes on Cairn retrospectively and ordered refund of shares sold, dividend confiscated and tax refunds withheld to recover such demand.

Since then, Cairn has been pressing India to pay while the government has looked for possible solutions within the existing framework.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the arbitral tribunal, which had its seat in the Hague, on December 31, 2020, ruled in favour of Cairn.

"It has asked India to pay Cairn an award amount of USD 1.2328 billion-plus interest and USD 22.38 million towards and legal costs," he said.

With New Delhi refusing to pay and instead challenged the award before a court in The Netherlands, Cairn has got the order registered in several jurisdictions and has begun recovering the money by seizing Indian assets overseas.

"An order has been passed by a French court freezing certain Indian Government properties" in Paris, he said. "The same has been communicated through diplomatic channels." Asked if Cairn has offered any kind of amicable solution to the dispute, Chaudhary said, "No formal proposal for a solution within the country's legal framework has been received." He did not elaborate.

In the initial months after the award, the government wanted the dispute to be settled under the 'Vivad se Vishwas' Scheme.

The now-closed scheme provided for settling of a tax dispute if the taxpayer pays 50 per cent of the tax demand upfront in return for waiving of penalty and interest as well as the closing of the case.

For Cairn, this would have meant getting about a third of USD 1.2 billion claim.

This because the original tax demand that the government sought from it was Rs 10,247 crore - half of this would be Rs 5,123.5 crore.

The government had recovered about Rs 7,600 crore by selling shares belonging to Cairn, seizing its dividends and withholding tax refunds. Netting it too, the due amount to be paid to Cairn would have been Rs 2,477 crore or less than USD 400 million.

As of present, there is no tax dispute resolution scheme in vogue.

Cairn has identified USD 70 billion of Indian assets overseas for the potential seizure to collect the award, which now totals to USD 1.72 billion after including interest and penalty.

In June, Cairn brought a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York pleading that Air India is controlled by the Indian government so much that they are 'alter egos' and the airline should be held liable for the arbitration award.

Similar lawsuits are likely to be brought in other countries, primarily with high-value assets.

(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.)
It will become difficult for cybercriminals to dupe gullible victims in

The Police, with the help of the (RBI) and banks, have made it easy for victims of cyber crime to lodge a formal complaint without needing to come to a police station to file a First Information Report (FIR).

A complaint lodged with the police will immediately be alerted to banks and payment gateways who can stop the transaction mid-way.

Talking to Business Standard, Police commissioner Kamal Pant said this will drastically cut down the cybercrime incidents plaguing the country. While the system will shortly be launched in Bengaluru to start with and will be scaled up in Karnataka, a few other states have also expressed interest in the project.

This is how the whole system will work:

A fraud victim can call 112 or 100 to lodge a cyber crime incident report (CIR) with the police. A dedicated team of police officials will be on duty round the clock to receive such complaints. The banks back offices can work on these complaints, while a dedicated nodal officer can also get into the act during office timings. For example, the State Bank of India has dedicated a nodal office to respond to such frauds from morning 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at night.

Once a CIR has been lodged, the police personnel will alert the concerned bank and payment gateway provider about the fraud. In each bank, there will be a team under a nodal officer to work on such information. The moment such a complaint is received by the bank from the police, they will get into the act and try to stop the transaction mid-way.

For example, if a credit card has been fraudulently used in an e-commerce site and the customer gets a transaction alert on her phone, she can quickly file a CIR that will stop the payment clearance midway. Even if it has been cleared, the e-commerce firm can deny sending the parcel and return the money to the customer.

ALSO READ: In pandemic year, bank frauds down 25% by value: RBI annual report

This system benefits everyone in the chain. The customer gets her money back, the bank doesnt have to compensate for fraud, and the seller is also protected from shipping goods to a dubious person, which can be challenged in future. The Police also save a lot of time and effort in fighting these high-volume, low-value transactions that occur so frequently, said Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pant.

According to Pant, while the fraudsters are located in certain pockets in some other states, it is not always possible to raid these outfits.

Sometimes an entire village is engaged in this work. It is difficult to send a big police force to arrest one or two persons involved in a particular fraud incident. The entire village often gets in the way to prevent such arrests. A CIR, on the other hand, is a much easier process and can be done by a few dedicated personnel, Pant said.





ALSO READ: RBI strengthening institutional mechanism to prevent bank frauds: FM

As per the (RBI) rule, a bank is liable to refund the customer full money if the fraud is reported within 72 hours. However, for that, the person will have to alert the bank, and also file an FIR to submit to the bank. The bank, after going through its own due diligence, returns the money after 45 days.

A CIR, on the other hand, is hassle-free. Since the customer comes through the police channel, she doesnt have to go through the FIR routine. An intimation from the police also works as a formal complaint with the bank, Pant said.

In pilots, the police have successfully resolved many such cases and now it can be formally launched to the wider public, he said.

However, not all banks and payment gateways were initially forthcoming in the process. That is where the stepped in to bring all the banks into a common agreement.

It is a question of mindset really. If everyone wants to come together it can be done easily. At the same time, it is also a responsibility on everybodys part, including individuals who should be careful about the use of technology in banking, said Pant.
Chief Minister on Monday favoured a thorough inquiry into allegations of phone tapping with the help of Pegasus spyware which has led to a logjam in Parliament.

Kumar, whose JD(U) is an ally of the BJP at the Centre as well as in the state, however, qualified his statement with the remark "I know of this controversy only from whatever I have read about it in the newspapers".

"It is a known fact that modern technology can be put to sinister uses. If there have been any attempts to intercept people's telephonic conversations, it would be better to get the matter probed for suitable action", he told reporters here on the sidelines of his weekly public interaction programme.

Asked about the opposition's demand that the matter be probed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee, Kumar, who has been a former Union minister himself, said "I cannot comment on what is taking place on the floor of the Parliament".

"But those who have any concrete information with regard to such alleged snooping, must share the same with the government. I am sure the issue will be squarely addressed", he added.

Opposition parties have been aggressively protesting over Pegasus snooping case in Lok Sabha as well as in Rajya Sabha, crippling functioning of both houses of Parliament.

Responding bashfully to his party colleague Upendra Kushwaha's statement that the Chief Minister was a "Prime Minister material", Kumar who was at one point seen as a "secular alternative" to the Narendra Modi juggernaut said "I have no such aspirations. I wish to serve for as long as I can".

Kumar expressed surprise when his attention was drawn towards a remark by his cabinet colleague and BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary who had complained about "compulsions of coalition politics" and "our voice is not being heard".

"He never expressed such sentiments at meetings or even during the recent assembly session. In any case, our coalition has been running smoothly for decades. He may enquire from his seniors in his own party", said the JD(U) leader, who has been a BJP ally since the mid 1990s except for a 2013-17 hiatus.

He also rejected the possibility of his recent meeting, at New Delhi, with former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala leading to apprehensions in the BJP camp.

"We share a very old relationship which goes beyond the political. We were in the same party at one point of time", Kumar said referring to Chautala's Indian Lok Dal having been a splinter group of the erstwhile Janata Dal.

A splinter group of the INLD headed by Chautala's estranged grandson Dushyant Chautala is currently sharing power with the BJP in Haryana.

(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 Monday issued notices to all states, Union Territories and high courts on an NGO's plea that people are still being booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that was scrapped by an apex court verdict in 2015.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai said that since police is a state subject, it will be better that all states and UTs are made party to the case and "we can pass a comprehensive order so that the matter is settled for once and for all".

The bench ordered, As this matter pertains to police and judiciary, in the fitness of things, we issue notice to all states, Union Territories and registrar general of all High Courts.

It said all should respond to the notices within four weeks and directed that details of pleading be also sent with notices to all the parties.

During the hearing, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the NGO, 'People's Union for Civil Liberties' (PUCL), said that there are two aspects in this matter, one is police and the other is judiciary where such cases are still being tried.

The bench said it can take care of the judiciary and will issue notice to all the high courts, and listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said he received the PUCL rejoinder to the government's affidavit on Sunday only and he would like to go through it.

On July 5, the top court had said it was "amazing" and "shocking" that people were still being booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that was scrapped by an apex court verdict in 2015.

Under the scrapped section, a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined.

The top court had issued notice to the Centre on PUCL's application and told the NGO's counsel, Don't you think this is amazing and shocking? Shreya Singhal judgement is of 2015. It's really shocking. What is going on is terrible.

The NGO claimed that despite express directions of the court in 2019 that all state governments should sensitise police personnel about the March 24, 2015 judgement, thousands of cases have been registered under the section.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had earlier said that on perusal of the it can be seen that section 66A features in it, but in the footnote it is written that the provision has been scrapped.

The top court was hearing a fresh application of PUCL saying, That, shockingly, despite the order dated February 15, 2019 and steps taken towards compliance thereof, the Applicant discovered that Section 66A of the has continued to be in use not only within police stations but also in cases before trial courts across India.

The NGO said, That in spite of the order passed by this Court on February 15, 2019, directing that copies of the judgment of this Court in Shreya Singhal should remain available with every High Court as well as all the District Courts and that the police departments in the entire country i.e. all States and UTs be sensitized about the said judgment, the facts mentioned above show that not only the investigations under Section 66A by the police are continuing but even in the trial courts.

It sought direction to the Centre to collect all data/ information regarding FIRs/ investigations where Section 66A has been invoked as well as pendency of cases in the courts throughout the country where proceedings under the provision are continuing in violation of the 2015 judgment.

On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A of Information Technology Act, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

It also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial court to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people who posted offensive content online.

On January 7, 2019, while hearing the application of PUCL, the bench had observed that it is shocking that people are still being prosecuted under Section 66A of the even after it has been scrapped by the apex court in 2015.

It had sought response from the Centre and warned the concerned officials from sending them to jail for violating its orders.

Terming liberty of thought and expression "cardinal", the top court had on March 24, 2015, scrapped the provision saying that "the public's right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal who sought an amendment in Section 66A of the Act after two girls - Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan - were arrested in Palghar in Maharashtra's Thane district.

While one had posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's death, the other had 'liked' it. PUCL was also one of the petitioners in the earlier case and has challenged the Constitutional validity of section 66A of IT Act.

(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 Manoj Kumar and Alasdair Pal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Savitri Devi has been searching for work since she lost her job at a garment factory in New Delhi, along with half her co-workers, when sales plummeted at the start of the pandemic last year.

The 44-year-old has tried her luck repeatedly - and unsuccessfully - near her home in Okhla, an industrial hub with thousands of small factories and workshops, where there was previously plenty of unskilled jobs for women.

"I am ready to take a salary cut, but there is no work," Devi said outside her one-room home in a slum of about 100 families, just a few miles away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office.

Devi is one of around 15 million Indians who have been made redundant in an economic slowdown that has hit women disproportionately, trade union and industry leaders said.

Most employed women in India are in low-skilled work, such as farm and factory labour and domestic help, sectors that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Worse, an anticipated slow economic recovery, the closure of thousands of factories and a sluggish vaccination rate, especially among women, is expected to undermine their attempts to return to the workforce.

"Whatever social and economic gains Indian women had made in the last decade, it has been largely wiped out during the COVID period," said Amarjeet Kaur, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, one of the largest trade unions in India.

The second wave of the pandemic is expected to deepen economic stress in India, which was already in its worst recession for seven decades.

With the vast majority of Indians working in the informal sector, precise estimates of job losses are difficult.

But in a country without a comprehensive welfare system or pandemic-related support for small businesses, several industry bodies have reported widespread redundancies over the past year.

The Consortium of Indian Industries (CIA), which represents over one million small firms, said women make up 60% of the job losses.

A report by the Centre for Sustainable at Azim Premji University found that 47% of women workers who lost their job between March and December - before the second wave of the virus hit in April - were made permanently redundant.

That compared with around 7% of male workers, many of whom were able to either return to their old jobs or take up independent work like selling vegetables.

WOMEN'S WORK

Reuters spoke with more than 50 women in Delhi, the industrial state of Gujarat and, by phone, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. All had lost their jobs in small garment factories, food processing units, travel agencies and schools, leading them to scrimp and save.

"We have cut down spending on milk, vegetables, clothes everything," said Devi, who, along with her day-labourer husband supports an unemployed son and an aged mother.

In Okhla, home to makers of garments, auto parts and food packaging, employers say they have almost halved their workforce following a dip in orders and a rise in input costs like transport and steel.

Chetan Singh Kohli, a printing material manufacturer and an official of Okhla's factory owners' association, said the auxiliary nature of a typical woman's role meant they were not priorities for reemployment.

"The majority of female workers who work in low-skilled categories like packaging, and on assembly lines at lower wages would be the last ones to get employed, as first we want to restart operations," he said.

India's informal service sector, including on-demand services like transportation and food delivery, has been one of the few bright spots during the pandemic, said Manisha Kapoor, researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness think tank, but were dominated by men.

"Those informal sector jobs are not something that women will be taking up," Kapoor said.

Kaur warned it could take two or three years for women to return to the workforce - if at all - and urged the government to offer incentives to lure them back.

"Migrant women workers, who have left for their villages with families after job losses, are unlikely to come back," she said.

CHILDCARE CONUNDRUM

Traditional household roles in India are further expected to impede women's return to the workforce.

India's female-to-male share of housework is among the highest in the world, and women are bearing the majority of childcare with schools still closed due to the pandemic.

"The work is available in faraway factories but I can't go as there is no one at home to take care of my children," said Chineya Devi, 32, who lost her job in an Okhla packaging firm earlier this year.

Many of the women Reuters spoke to stressed the damage from job loss to their self-esteem, leading to mental and physical health issues.

"Our men at home or government officials could never understand the impact of job losses on women," said Ritu Gupta, who owns a playschool in Najafgarh, on the outskirts of Delhi, that has been closed for over a year.

"I am feeling worthless sitting idle at home. This is not just a monetary loss but the whole meaning of my life."

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Alasdair Pal in New Delhi and Sumit Khana in Ahmedabad; editing by Jane Wardell)

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The domestically developed Covaxin is effective against the Delta plus variant of Covid-19, claims Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in its study released on Monday.

Covaxin is developed by the Bharat Biotech in collaboration with and National Institute of Pune.

The study states: "The sera of individuals who were fully immunized (with 2 doses) didn't show significant fold-reduction in the NAb titer against Delta, Delta AY.1 and B.1.617.3."

Delta Plus is a mutated form of the Delta variant and was first discovered in India. It is characterised by increased transmissibility and spike protein mutations.

The study points that Delta variant with its characteristic spike protein mutations has mutated further into four sub-lineages with an additional mutations which are associated with higher transmission and probable immune escape.

Last week, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh informed parliament last week that 70 cases of the Delta Plus variant were found by INSACOG, a group of 28 laboratories involved in genome sequencing.

Covaxin along with other two vaccines -- Covishield and Russia's Sputnik -- has formed the trio for India's massive vaccination drive against the virus.

The research further states, "A significant increase in the NAb titer against B.1 variant in recovered cases with vaccination and breakthrough cases was observed compared to the Covid-19 native vaccines. Similarly, a significant increase in NAb titer was also observed among these two groups against Delta, Delta AY.1 and B.1.617.3 variants."

"This demonstrates the possible role of memory cells in immune boosting with post-infection or infection after immunization. The comparative analysis of all the groups revealed that the B.1.617.3 variant seems to be less susceptible to neutralization followed by Delta AY.1 and Delta variants."

The study on efficacy analysis further establishes Covaxin to be 93.4 per cent effective against severe symptomatic Covid-19 cases and 63.6 per cent protection against asymptomatic Covid-19.

--IANS

avinash/sk/in

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is confronting its broadest Covid-19 outbreak since the pathogen first emerged there in late 2019, with the delta variant spreading to places that had been declared virus-free for many months, including original epicenter Wuhan.

Delta has broken through the countrys virus defenses, which are some of the strictest in the world, and reached nearly half of Chinas 32 provinces in a number of weeks. While the overall number of infections -- more than 300 so far -- is still lower than Covid resurgences elsewhere, the wide spread indicates that the variant is moving quickly.

Its the biggest challenge to Chinas strategy since the virus was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that saw the worlds first lethal outbreak. The countrys strict anti-virus measures, which include mass testing as soon as a case appears, aggressive contact tracing, widespread use of quarantines and targeted lockdowns, have crushed more than 30 previous flareups over the past year.

The arrival of the more infectious delta variant, however, is testing even that approach. The new strain may be exploiting an easing off in masking and social distancing in some places, since much of the country has been Covid-free for months. That, along with increased travel for summer vacation, created a viable environment for delta to gain a foothold.

reported 99 infections on Monday, including 44 who tested positive but have no symptoms. By number of cases, its the biggest outbreak since a flareup in Hebei province in northern in January, when 2,000 people were infected.

The broad spread is more concerning, with infections having reached the highly protected capital, Beijing, and Wuhan, whose virus-free status has been a source of pride in China. The city said Monday that seven migrant workers tested positive, the first cases in Wuhan since China brought its original wave under control by locking down the city of some 11 million and the surrounding Hubei province.





ALSO READ: China sounds Covid-19 alarm as Delta variant spreads to 18 provinces

The initial delta infection arrived via an overseas flight from Moscow into the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing in mid-July, and spread on to a group of airport cleaning staff. Within weeks, cases have also popped up as far away as Hainan island in Chinas south, 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) from Nanjing.

Chinas vaccination rate is close to 60% and among the highest in the world, but it remains to be seen whether the countrys locally-developed shots can slow deltas spread.

Delta Challenge

Most of those infected in Nanjing were immunized, and the vaccines -- which have been found less effective than Messenger RNA shots in clinical trials -- do appear to be providing protection, with only 4% of those infected in this current wave battling severe disease so far. Many of those have pre-existing conditions such as asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure, Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission, said at a briefing in Beijing on Saturday.

While all Covid vaccines are proving less effective against delta, concerns are high that non-mRNA vaccines like the Chinese ones and AstraZeneca Plcs shot will be less able to slow transmission.

State-owned Sinopharm said its inactivated Covid-19 shot, given widely in China, is 68% effective against delta, citing a study in Sri Lanka. Sinovac Biotech Ltd., the other major Chinese supplier, said the antibodies induced by its inactivated Covid vaccine can still neutralize the delta strain in laboratory studies, the state-run Global Times reported, without providing more detail.

Delta is providing a reality check for the world, especially countries that thought they were emerging from the pandemic through virus containment or high vaccination levels. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its earlier position and said fully vaccinated people should go back to wearing masks indoors in places where infections are rising. Australia, which like China had managed to snuff out Covid with strict border curbs, is battling its own delta-driven resurgence, with major cities back in lockdown.

Flooded City

Delta accounts for 80% of cases in the U.S., and they re-instituted a requirement for masks, said Wang Huaqing, chief immunization expert at the Chinese CDC, at the Saturday briefing. That means deltas spread is severe and personal protection can not be slackened even with vaccination.

Adding to the concern is a separate delta cluster in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, where hospital and cleaning staff have been infected. Cases were reported in the surrounding Henan province as well, where the ability to curb the viruss spread may be weakened due to the fallout from torrential rain and flooding that has killed nearly a hundred people and destroyed infrastructure.

Residents in Nanjing, where the recent outbreak began, have been placed under lockdown. Also affected are those living in Zhangjiajie, a scenic area famous for its verdant mountain ridges, where a live outdoor performance a week ago with more than 3,000 spectators fueled the viruss spread.

Sale of railway tickets from Nanjing and Zhangjiajie have been suspended on Monday, Beijing Daily reported.

Officials in Beijing -- which has detected five delta cases so far -- vowed to cut off the virus transmission with fastest pace, strictest measures and the most decisive actions. The capital will tighten entry restrictions for those traveling from places currently battling outbreaks, and government and state company employees have been barred from leaving the city.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday congratulated badminton ace P V Sindhu for winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, saying that she has scripted history by becoming the country's first woman to win two individual Olympics medals.

When the House met for the day, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu congratulated Sindhu for her gritty performance on behalf of the House and himself.

The members responded by thumping tables when references were made to Sindhu and her family.

"With her spectacular performance, Sindhu has scripted history by becoming the first Indian women to win two Olympic Medals and that too in successive editions," Naidu said. "This feat of Sindhu highlights the consistency at international levels that are expected of our sportspersons in the international arenas."



Born in a family of sportspersons, Sindhu took to badminton when she was just 12. She along with her father used to travel 120-km daily for training, he said.

"Personally known to me, I have been witness to her hard work, perseverance and sheer dedication towards her passion," Naidu said. "It is appropriate to take note of the role of Sindhu's parents and family in her spectacular rise and achievements in badminton that brought her laurels for our country," he added.

He wished Sindhu all success in her future endeavours and hoped that she continues to bring many more laurels to the country.

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RJD supremo and Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch met here on Monday.

SP president and Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav was also present in the meeting.

In a tweet in Hindi, Lalu said, "Met the country's senior most socialist friend Shri Mulayam Singhji and enquired about his wellbeing. We have common concerns and fight about farmers, inequality, the poor and the unemployed."



He also tweeted pictures of the meeting, and said, "Today, the country is in dire need of equality and socialism, not capitalism and communalism."



Akhilesh Yadav also tweeted pictures of the meeting.

Sources in both parties said the meeting took place in the capital.

Earlier in the day, Akhilesh Yadav attended Lok Sabha proceedings.

(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.)
When India failed to show up at climate talks in London last week, the meetings British hosts took it as a snub. It was also a stark reminder of how hard its going to be for diplomats to pull the global climate back from the brink of disaster, with less than three months to go before the next round of high-stakes negotiations.



The climate meeting in London wasnt the only recent example of underlying problems. Just two days earlier, an all-night meeting of Group of 20 ministers in Naples, Italy, had failed to produce an agreement on phasing out coal power, the most polluting source of energy. Indiathe worlds third-largest emitter, which depends heavily on coalhad been a key holdout.

When asked why they didnt attend, Indian officials said they were needed at home and had technical problems which meant they couldnt login online. But they also said they had already made their views clear in Naples.

Getting Indias support will be key to the success of the United Nations-backed COP26 climate talks scheduled to occur in Glasgow, Scotland in November. Alok Sharma, president of COP26 and a minister in Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government, has set an ambitious goal to consign coal to history at the summit. That will keep alive the hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius from pre-industrial levels. But temperatures have already shot up by 1.2C, with impacts being felt in extreme weather events sweeping the globe from Canada to China.

Current pledges put the world on track for 2.4C warming by 2100, according to the nonprofit Climate Action Tracker. The UNs 2018 special report on global warming says that even 1.5C of temperature rise would have enormous consequences for the planet, including a multi-meter rise in sea levels over hundreds to thousands of years and a mass extinction of plants and animals.

Halting planetary warming there would require coals share of power generation to be cut to less than 2% by 2050  but the G-20 cant agree on how to do it. An earlier Group of Seven leaders meeting failed to agree the need to phase out domestic coal use, promising only to stop financing it overseas. These are relatively small gatherings of nations. The diplomats at COP26 will represent virtually every nation in the world, making the push for consensus all the more daunting.

Unless we get all countries to sign up to a coal phase out, keeping 1.5C within reach will be really difficult, Sharma said after the London meeting.

Much of the work to make a successful COP26 must be done before the summit even begins. Thats because of two key deadlines: countries need to submit more ambitious climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions, and rich countries are supposed to deliver on a pledge to spend a combined $100 billion each year to help poor countries adapt. Even after a years extension to the deadline to take account of the pandemic, the goal for climate spending hasnt yet been reached and some key countries havent set climate plans.

The fractures in the discussions go well beyond Modis government. While 197 countries signed on to the 2015 Paris international climate agreement, deep divisions remain on how to reach its goals  and on who bears the brunt of responsibility. The outlook for COP26 isnt very promising, said Li Shuo, a climate analyst at Greenpeace Asia. Many key issues need to be addressed before the meeting starts, such as climate finance and coal use.





The climate finance question has been another source of tension in the events leading up to COP, including the international climate summit hosted by the U.S. in April. The worlds poorest countries have contributed the least to global but are the most vulnerable to its effects and cant afford the high cost of adaptation. Based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, the worlds richest countries agreed in conjunction with the Paris Agreement to pay a combined $100 billion a year to help, but theyve consistently fallen short of that goal.

As the summit has gotten closer, debate has focused on a handful of countries in the middle of that scale with emerging economies, which argue that they have the same right to industrialize as their peers have enjoyed over the last two centuries. That means burning fossil fuels. Like India, China, the worlds largest emitter, is also under pressure to announce plans for how it will make deep emissions cuts over the next decade. Neither country has yet submitted an updated NDC.

G-20 countries that havent submitted a more ambitious NDC represent 47% of global emissions, according to the World Resources Institute. That list also includes Saudi Arabia and Australia. But in Naples, they promised they would do so by COP26.

Even if China, India, South Africa and Saudi Arabia all announce tough new 2030 plans this year, it wont to close the gap between where emissions are and where they should be, said Alden Meyer, senior associate at climate advocacy group E3G . For that reason, he said, the Glasgow deal will need to contain a new mandate that countries revise and enhance their NDCs on a continual basis, as opposed to the five year cycle set out in the Paris Agreement.

Some of these discussions are frozenlike they were in the 1990sin this zero-sum finger-pointing dynamic, said Meyer. The reality is were all in a lifeboat together, and the lifeboat is in danger of sinking. The politics have not yet shifted to reflect that reality.

Chinas coal consumption, meanwhile, is poised to hit a record this year, according to the International Energy Agency. Shuo said China needs to announce plans to limit coal use either domestically or overseas. The next opportunity for Chinas President Xi Jinping to announce a new goal on the world stage could be the United Nations General Assembly in September. If they dont announce it by COP26, the 1.5C goal may move out of reach.

Once in Glasgow, all eyes will be on the U.S. to put up its share of the financing for developing nations. Partly as a result of former President Donald Trumps decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord, the country has fallen well behind its commitments. The $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill making its painstaking way through Congress contains only $600 billion in new spending. Meyer worried that the legislation may not be on President Joe Bidens desk for sign off in time for COP26. In that case, the U.S. again wont be able to deliver on its promise.

Thats a problem because many developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, say they cant come up with more ambitious targets until rich countries deliver on their promised funding. With the $100 billion goal missed for 2020, rich countries are now coming up with a plan to show how they will catch up, delivering on agreed financing over the years 2002 to 2024 on average. Sharma has appointed ministers from Canada and Germany to pull together a delivery plan for that in response to a demand this month from those vulnerable countries.

Many of the issues under discussion at Novembers summit havent been touched since the last COP in 2019. That includes completing the Paris Rulebook on carbon trading, which comes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The 2019 talks failed to reach an agreement on that key issue because the European Union and Brazil couldnt agree on accounting rules around the trading of emissions permits.

Sharma and the other U.K. hosts are hoping for a compromise agreement that could allow at least something to come out of this years meeting. But some climate campaigners warn that too many concessions would be worse than no deal at all, said Eddy Perez, International Climate Diplomacy Manager at Climate Action Network Canada.

Theres a risk that too much compromise leads to an Article 6 proposal that could impact the environmental integrity of the Paris Agreement, he said.
Olympics bubble holds up even as Tokyo sets records

The Tokyo summer Olympic Games have reported over 250 cases among athletes and related personnel, even as Tokyo is setting new infection records day after day. Experts say the bubble system created to separate the sporting event from the Japanese capital appears to be working--so far. Outside the Olympic venues, the city of Tokyo reported a record 4,058 new cases on Saturday. Yet, among athletes and stakeholders of the Olympics, the test positivity rate (TPR) has been only 0.02 per cent, with over 400,000 tests conducted so far, organisers said on Sunday. Of the over 40,000 tests performed at the airport for games participants, only 35 have tested positive. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics Global infections: 198,335,925 Global deaths: 4,224,492 Vaccine doses administered: 4,115,286,234 Nations with most cases: US (35,003,523), India (31,695,958), Brazil (19,938,358), France (6,209,934), Russia (6,207,513). Source: John Hopkins Research Center

France expects 50 million foreign tourists this summer

Tourism in France is rebounding over last year, when the pandemic shut borders, though US and Asian visitors remain limited, said the country's Tourism Minister. France expects 50 million foreign tourists this summer, up from 35 million in the comparable period last year, but down from 90 million in 2019. A so-called health pass--proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid-19 test--is required to enter museums and theme parks, and that will be extended to bars, restaurants and long-distance trains starting August 9. Read here

Israel: Protests against renewed restrictions as cases hit highest in months

Several hundred Israelis have demonstrated in Tel Aviv against new restrictions and vaccination as positive cases and hospitalisations rise to levels not seen in months. The health ministry reported on Saturday that 2,435 new Covid cases had been recorded the day before  the highest number since March  driven by the more contagious Delta variant. There were 326 hospitalisations, the highest since April, although well below the January peak when more than 2,000 people were being hospitalised daily. Read here

Leaders tackle global question of how to persuade people to get Covid jab

Amid a global resurgence of Covid-19 driven by the Delta variant, governments, corporations, leisure operators and universities around the world have begun insisting on vaccination. The moves across the world run the full spectrum from adding more testing hurdles for workers who refuse, or blocking full social participation. Experts say the global efforts to push vaccination have been driven by the convergence of a number of factors, not least surges of infections but also the experiences of a number of countries, including the US, whose vaccination campaigns have faltered in the face of resistance to the vaccines. Read here
The Union Health Ministry has rushed a multidisciplinary team to to monitor the situation and support the state government in the management of cases.

A case of has been reported in Pune district recently, the health ministry said in a statement.

The three-member central team consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune; a gynecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; and an entomologist from Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), ICMR, New Delhi.

The team shall work closely with the state health department, take stock of the situation on the ground and assess whether the Union Health Ministry's action plan for Zika management is being implemented.

It will also recommend necessary public health interventions for the management of cases in the state, 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.)
As become ubiquitous in India, with the Unified Payments Interface or UPI seeing record volumes each month, the government seems to have devised a plan to leverage the digital infrastructure for ensuring leak-proof delivery of its welfare schemes.

The idea is simple and is being used in the US, Hong Kong and several other countries -- prepaid vouchers meant for specific purposes. As a leader in fintech, and given its penchant for techno-solutionism, India is attempting something similar.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the e-RUPI, a person-specific and purpose-specific payments system.

In essence, e-RUPI will be like the gift vouchers one gets after making a payment through Google Pay. These vouchers are redeemable at a specific store, with certain terms and conditions. e-RUPI will operate in a similar fashion. To put it simply, these are prepaid gift vouchers that will be delivered to the mobile phones of the beneficiaries of welfare schemes in an SMS string or a QR code. These vouchers will be redeemable at specific accepting centres.

It is expected that since these vouchers can be delivered through SMS, even those with feature phones will be able to access their benefits under a welfare scheme. e-RUPI vouchers wont require the beneficiary to either download a specific mobile app or even have an internet connection. These vouchers will not require the beneficiary to have a bank account, thus ensuring access to welfare benefits for the unbanked population.

In a statement, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) said e-RUPI is expected to be a revolutionary initiative in the direction of ensuring a leak-proof delivery of welfare services. It also ensures that the payment to the service provider is made only after the transaction is completed.

Being prepaid in nature, it assures timely payment to the service provider without the involvement of any intermediary, the statement said.

e-RUPI has been built by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on the UPI platform. NPCI has onboarded banks as issuing entities. According to a Bloomberg report, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also approve payment service providers and entities which hold licenses for prepaid instruments to issue e-RUPI vouchers.

Any corporate or government agency will have to approach the partner banks, which include both private and public sector banks, to issue e-RUPI vouchers to an identified set of beneficiaries. The beneficiaries will be identified using their mobile numbers. At the time of making the payment through the voucher, there might be a one-time password delivered to the beneficiary for two-factor authentication. The merchant will only require an application to scan and accept the e-RUPI voucher and OTP.

These vouchers can be used for a single transaction and are non-transferable. The Bloomberg report mentions that there might be a maximum payment limit of Rs 10,000 for one voucher.

e-RUPI comes when the government is facing increased scrutiny over the efficacy of its welfare measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid the migrant exodus from Indias cities during the countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 last year, the government had talked up its direct benefit transfers (DBT) to bank accounts of beneficiaries. However, subsequent studies had found that the DBT transfers had left out a substantial portion of the poor who were eligible for the governments welfare schemes but lacked a Jan Dhan bank account. These included vulnerable sections of the population such as transgenders. This year, these same questions arose over the reach of the governments fiscal support to the needy, as the second wave of Covid-19 ravaged the country between April-June. With e-RUPI, DBTs have been further simplified as the beneficiary will not need a bank account to receive cash assistance from the government.

e-RUPI can be used for providing drugs and nutritional support under Mother and Child welfare schemes, TB eradication programmes, drugs & diagnostics under schemes like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, fertiliser subsidies, etc. Even the private sector can use e-RUPI for its employee welfare initiatives or corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations.

e-RUPI also comes when the RBI has talked about piloting its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). CBDCs are a digital form of the countrys fiat currency, in this case, the rupee. Experts had imagined cash subsidies as one of the possible use-cases of CBDC in India. Now with e-RUPI, that requirement appears to have been addressed, even before more details about Indias CBDC are out in the public domain.

Notably, like e-RUPI, Chinas version of CBDC or the Digital Yuan doesnt require an internet connection.

As mentioned above, prepaid vouchers for welfare assistance arent a new concept. The US helps the homeless with food stamps and also has education and school vouchers. Indian government agencies could now use e-RUPI to target the poor, those without a bank account, with subsidies on LPG and ration.
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The government has set the loans disbursement target under the PM Mudra Yojana (PMMY) at Rs 3 trillion for the current financial year as compared to Rs 3.21 trillion sanctioned in FY21. Experts attribute the lower target to increased allocation under the credit guarantee scheme for small businesses.

Out of the Rs 3.21 trillion worth loans sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in the last financial year, Rs 3.12 trillion were disbursed to entrepreneurs, according to official data. The figure was even higher in the financial year 2019-20 with total loans sanctioned at Rs 3.37 trillion, out of which loans worth Rs 3.29 trillion were disbursed.

Under PMMY, credit up to Rs 10 lakh is provided by banks and non-banking financial companies for entrepreneurial activities to small business units, including for new enterprises in sectors such as manufacturing, trading, services and activities allied to agriculture. The central government allocates annual targets for sanctioning of loans under the scheme. In FY22, loans worth Rs 3,804 crore have been sanctioned by 13 (PSBs) as on June 25.

Mudra loans are given to small businesses which is part of the priority sector lending of banks, said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at ICRA. Last year, the government's intervention through the Rs 3 trillion ECLGS scheme pushed up the credit disbursals, Sabnavis said.

This year the target for Mudra has been set at Rs 3 trillion which is lower than last year, but this year the guarantees provided under ECLGS scheme have been increased by an additional Rs 1.5 trillion. Therefore, the target is not really low as it goes along with a smaller quantum of support from the government, Sabnavis said.

In FY21, loans worth Rs 9.5 trillion were disbursed to MSMEs, which was significantly higher than FY20 when Rs 6.8 trillion in loans were disbursed, according to SIDBI - TransUnion CIBIL MSME Pulse Report. Government interventions like ECLGS scheme was the major factor in driving this significant surge in credit disbursement to MSMEs, the report said.

The government has also informed the Parliament that Rs 167 crore has been sanctioned by under the Stand Up India scheme in the current financial year as on June 28. Stand Up India scheme provides credit of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore for setting up greenfield enterprises in manufacturing trading or services sector and activities allied to agriculture. In financial year 2020-21, about Rs 2,155 crore was sanctioned under the scheme by 12 PSBs, which was about 38 per cent lower than the amount sanctioned by such banks in the year ago period.

Minister for State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in response to a separate query in Lok Sabha, has said that loans worth Rs 3,918 crore have been guaranteed to hospitality, sports, leisure, travels and tourism industry under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) as on July 2, 2021. The loans have been guaranteed after the ECLGS scheme was extended to the Covid-19 affected sectors in March 2021 which involved extension of credit of up to 40 per cent of total credit outstanding across all lenders as on Feb 29, 2020 with the tenor being 6 years, including a two-year moratorium.

No PSB Merger Proposal

The government is not considering any new proposal to amalgamate more MoS Finance Bhagwat Karad said.

The government had amalgamated Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into Bank of Baroda from April 1, 2019 and Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India into Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India, Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank, and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank from April 1, 2020.

No Formal Proposal from Cairn to Settle Dispute

The Centre has not received any formal proposal under the countrys legal framework from Cairn Energy to settle the tax dispute, MoS Chaudhary informed lawmakers.

An order has been passed by a French court freezing certain properties of the Indian government in the case pertaining to Cairn Energy, Chaudhary said. Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague had pronounced its award on December 21, 2020 in favour of Cairn Energy Plc. It has asked India to pay Cairn an award amount of $1.2 billion plus interest and $22.38 million towards arbitration and legal costs.
The total borrowing of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) increased to Rs 3,06,704 crore in March 2021 from Rs 74,742 crore in March 2017, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said Since 2017, has availed external borrowing to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore.

The minister informed that the amount of interest paid by in 2020-21 was Rs 18,840 crore.

He also said that as of date, there are 140 arbitration cases pending before various arbitral tribunals, wherein an amount of Rs 91,875.70 crore of the contractors/ concessionaires claims and Rs 44,600 crore of NHAI's counterclaims is involved for adjudication.

Further, there are 240 cases pending before the courts wherein Rs 21,601 crore is involved, he added.

Replying to a separate question, Gadkari said the Centre has not notified green tax on older vehicles.

However, state/UT governments of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand etc. have imposed higher rates of tax on older vehicles, he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a digital (DBT) platform called e-RUPI, which aims at making sure that the money transferred by the user, in this case, the government, is used exactly for the same purpose as it is intended to be.

Prime Minister Modi termed the e-RUPI as a big reform, in line with the launch of BHIM-UPI payment system in December 2016. The UPI system has indeed changed the payment landscape in India and has become the preferred mode of payment in many cases. In July alone, UPI registered 3 billion transactions, worth Rs 6 trillion-plus.

What is e-RUPI?

It is a one-time digital voucher developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that will be transferred directly to the mobile phone as an SMS string or QR code which can be redeemed at particular merchant points that are specifically focused on delivering services related to the benefit scheme for which the money has been transferred. To start with, e-RUPI has been launched to transfer benefits schemes of the Ministry of Health.

Instead of crediting the amount directly to the beneficiary bank account, through the e-RUPI, an equivalent amount voucher will be sent directly to the beneficiarys mobile phone in the form of an SMS string, or a QR code.

The beneficiary will have to show the SMS or QR code to specific centres where it can be redeemed with a code delivered to the mobile number where the SMS or QR code had come.

It will be targeted for a specific purpose and cannot be used for any other thing. For example, if the e-RUPI has been sent to the beneficiary to avail vaccination, it can be used at the vaccination centre only to get the vaccine.

This would ensure that the money is utilised for the same purpose it is given for, PM Modi said while inaugurating the facility.

Earlier, as the benefit amount used to get directly credited to the account of the beneficiary, it was possible to withdraw and use it for, say, consumption purposes. With the new transfer scheme, that can be plugged.

However, it is not clear yet what happens to those beneficiaries who do not have even a basic mobile phone. In such cases, scheme would likely continue for some more time, said a banker.





PM Modi said going forward, e-RUPI will be used for other schemes of the government as well. Currently, there are 315 DBT schemes run by 54 ministries of the government. However, not all schemes are for everyone. Data from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) show till date, 7.32 trillion transactions have been done, transferring about Rs 1.42 trillion to the beneficiaries.

While banks and payments systems have a huge role to play in this ecosystem, hospitals, and corporate entities have also shown interest in adopting this technology, the Prime Minister said.

"State governments must also use the platform for their welfare schemes in order to develop an honest eco-system, he said.

However, the e-RUPI can be used by even private corporate entities as part of their corporate social responsibility. The Prime Minister gave an example of a corporate sponsoring vaccination of 100 people in a private hospital. In that case, the beneficiary will get the vaccine free from the hospital, but only after showing the e-RUPI SMS or QR code.

The DBT ensures that money reach the intended beneficiary and doesnt end up in the wrong hands, PM Modi said, which so far may have saved at least Rs 1.75 trillion.

With DBT, more than 90 crore citizens have benefitted, including through schemes such as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, public distribution services, LPG gas subsidy etc.

India has shown the world that in adopting technology and leverage it for connecting lives, the country is not behind anyone. In digital innovation, service delivery using technology, India is providing global leadership, PM Modi said.

Indias digital adoption has been acknowledged by the world. So much of technology solutions are not present even in large developed countries, PM Modi said.

He highlighted fastags for vehicles in tolls, digilocker facility for carrying certificates and documents digitally, 59 minutes loans for entrepreneurs in micro, small and medium enterprises as what has been made possible through technology adoption in the country. BHIM UPI not only made it easy for businesses to transact money but also empowered the poor in carrying out their businesses and transactions easily, he said.

Rupay card is Indias pride, he said, adding other countries have shown interest in Indias payment ecosystem, and actively seeking help.

In a bid to internationalise Indias homegrown payment system, Rupay card has been launched in Singapore, and Bhutan to start with. In total, 66 crore Rupay cards have been issued so far, outgrowing traditional cards providers in India.
The country's output took a hit during the April-June period of 2021 due to the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Parliament was informed on Monday.

During the second wave of pandemic, the public and private sector plants together supplied 2,30,262 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) between April 1 to July 25, 2021, Union Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

As against 538 tonne of LMO supplied on April 1, 2021, the single day supply of LMO peaked to 4,749 MT on May 13, 2021, he said.

"The enhanced production of LMO (by steel players) by reducing usage of gaseous oxygen led to reduced production of steel by about 5,00,000 tonnes during the period April-June, 2021," the minister said.

According to information shared by Singh, Karnataka was supplied 44,107.79 tonne of LMO, Maharashtra received 30,310.85 tonne followed by Andhra Pradesh at 30,016.79 tonne and Telangana 17,178.21 tonne.

While West Bengal got 15,224.03 tonne LMO supply, Uttar Pradesh received 15080.2 tonne, Madhya Pradesh 11477.19 tonne, Tamil Nadu 10725.33 tonne, Haryana 8419.707 tonne, Gujarat 7,563.24 tonne and Jharkhand was supplied 6,137.571 tonne LMO.

States which received less than 5,000 tonne LMO are Bihar, Delhi, Assam, Kerala, Goa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand.

(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 ministry of finance has expressed surprise that no financial sector regulator has offered any agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). The sub-committee of the FSDC, which is chaired by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is scheduled to meet in August. We are not able to get any regulator to offer any agenda for discussion at the FSDC.

It has become a forum for each of them to only make a presentation about their sector, an official at the ministry said. For every FSDC meeting, the ministry sends a ...
The Afghan president on Monday blamed the American troops' speedy pullout for the worsening violence in his country and said that his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the rapidly advancing

Ashraf Ghani also urged lawmakers to back a national mobilisation drive against the amid an intensifying war between the and Afghan government forces over the past few months as U.S. and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-torn country.

An imported, hasty peace process a reference to Washington's push for negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban not only failed to bring peace but created doubt and ambiguity" among Afghans, Ghani said in his address to Parliament.

The Afghan president arrived by helicopter for the extraordinary session of the house, called because of the dire situation on the ground. Ghani touched down at the Darul Aman Palace in Kabul and inspected an honor guard before heading inside.

The Taliban are now trying to seize provincial capitals after already taking large swaths of land and scores of districts in more rural areas, as well as several key border crossings with neighboring countries.

The Taliban do not believe in lasting or just peace," Ghani said. He predicted a sea change on the battlefield in the next six months" that would push the Taliban back, without elaborating.

He claimed that Afghan forces are up to the task and have the capacity" to defeat the insurgents. But in past weeks, Afghan forces have struggled against the Taliban onslaught, and have often been left without reinforcements and resupplies.

On Sunday, the Afghan armed forces spokesman, Gen. Ajmal Omar Shinwari, told reporters that three provinces in southern and western face critical security situations.

Southern Kandahar the birthplace of the Taliban as well as Helmand and Herat provinces have witnessed several attacks.

Helmand provincial council chief Attaullah Afghan said the Taliban are also advancing in the provincial capital of Lashar Gah, and now have control of the city's seventh district. On Monday, elite Afghan commando units were dispatched to Lashar Gah to help defend the city.

There has been relentless gunfire, air strikes and mortars in densely populated areas. Houses are being bombed, and many people are suffering severe injuries, said Sarah Leahy, Helmand coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.

The group, also known as Mdecins Sans Frontires or MSF, said in a statement Monday that life in Lashkar Gah was at a standstill as residents hunker down inside their homes, afraid to venture out.

Some of our colleagues are staying overnight in the hospital as it's safer, but also so they can keep on treating patients," the organization said. The situation has been dire for months but now it is even worse.

Faizullah, who like many other Afghans goes by one name, told The Associated Press over the phone that he fled Lashkar Gah with his family and was now following the Helmand River to safety.

Clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have intensified, he said, and Afghan security forces are out of supplies and food in the city.

Back in Kabul, Ghani claimed his government has the financial and political support of the United States and the community to turn the tide even as he urged the insurgents to rejoin peace talks.

We either sit knee to knee at the real negotiating table or break their (Taliban) knees on the battleground Ghani 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.)
resumption activities declined for the second consecutive week after a multi-week increase since the ebbing of the second wave of the pandemic, Japanese brokerage said on Monday.

The India Resumption Index fell to 95 for the week ended August 1, from 95.9 in the previous week, a statement from the brokerage said, adding that the level of activity is now 5 percentage points (pp) below the pre-pandemic levels.

It said over the week, Google workplace mobility and the Apple driving index rose by 2.6 pp and 0.2 pp, respectively, while Google retail and recreation mobility fell by 0.4 pp.

Power demand declined for the third consecutive week, contracting by 3.6 per cent, and the labour participation rate also fell to 39.8 per cent from 41.1 per cent previously.

This is similar to the post-first wave situation, when resumption reached the near-normal peak, before consolidating.

"The key question is whether this softness will persist," the brokerage said.

The imminent risk to near-term growth is a third wave, with the recent uptick in pandemic cases, and the 'R count' crossing 1 for the first time since the decline of the second wave, it warned.

The recent pickup in the pace of vaccination -- 47 lakh doses a day in the past seven days as against 37 lakh for the rest of July -- and high seroprevalence in some states, could offer some buffer, it 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.)
on Monday reimposed restrictions in major cities to contain the spread of the as the fourth wave of the pandemic grips the country with rising cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the nerve centre of the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, revised its guidelines for a number of cities after 4,858 new cases were reported, taking the national tally to 1,039,695.

Announcing the revised guidelines, NCOC chief and Minister for Planning Asad Umar said that the government is taking "targeted and staggered" decisions to curb the spread of the pandemic - now mostly fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant of

Umar after a meeting of the NCOC said the new cases and positivity ratio has increased across the country, necessitating fresh measures.

According to the new guidelines, markets will now be closed at 8 pm instead of 10 pm and the government has also decided to resume the 50 per cent work from home policy and 50 per cent occupancy for public transport.

The government has once again banned indoor dining while outdoor dining will now be allowed only till 10pm, with delivery and takeaway permitted.

The new restrictions will be applicable from August 3 to Aug 31 in the cities of



Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Faisalabad, Multan, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Karachi, Hyderabad, Gilgit and Skardu.

Umar said that all those who work in the service sector, including transport workers, shop keepers, bankers, NADRA employees - or any job which requires dealing with a large number of people - must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 before August 31.

Students above 18 years of age have also been asked to be vaccinated by August 31, he said.

Earlier, the restrictions were eased in July but it led to a spike in new cases.

(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 administration on Monday expanded its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from as violence increases ahead there of the US military pullout at the end of the month.

The State Department said it is widening the scope of Afghans eligible for refugee status in to include current and former employees of US-based news organizations, US-based aid and development agencies and other relief groups that receive US funding. Current and former employees of the US government and the Nato military operation who don't meet the criteria for a dedicated programme for such workers are also covered.

However, the move comes with a major caveat: Applicants must leave to begin the adjudication process that may take 12-14 months in a third country, and the US does not intend to support their departures or stays there.

Nevertheless, the State Department said the move will mean that many thousands of Afghans and their immediate families will now have the opportunity to be permanently resettled in the US as refugees.

Afghan president hits out at US



The Afghan president blamed the American troops speedy pullout for the worsening violence in his country and said that his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the rapidly advancing

also urged lawmakers to back a national mobilisation drive against the amid an intensifying war between the Taliban and Afghan government forces over the past few months.

An imported, hasty peace process  a reference to Washingtons push for negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban  not only failed to bring peace but created doubt and ambiguity among Afghans, Ghani said in his address to Parliament.
By Byron Kaye and Paulina Duran

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Square Inc, the payments firm of Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey, will purchase buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, creating a global transactions giant through its biggest-ever acquisition.

The takeover, also the biggest buyout of an Australian firm, underscores the popularity of a business model that has upended consumer credit by charging merchants a fee to offer small point-of-sale which their shoppers repay in interest-free instalments, bypassing credit checks.

The pandemic has also fueled the boom in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector as tech-savvy consumers, stuck at home, spend money online to buy everything from coats to expensive phones.

Over the past year, Melbourne-based Afterpay signed up millions of users in the United States, which is now among the fastest-growing markets for the sector.

The deal also locks in a remarkable share-price run for Afterpay, whose stock has surged from A$10 in early 2020 to over A$100 in less than two years.

"Acquiring Afterpay is a 'proof of concept' moment for buy now, pay later, at once validating the industry and creating a formidable new competitor for Affirm Holdings Inc, PayPal Holdings Inc and Klarna Inc," Truist Securities analysts said.

"We expect Square will invest heavily to integrate Afterpay and accelerate organic revenue growth."

The all-stock buyout resulted in a payday of A$2.46 billion ($1.81 billion) each for Afterpay's founders, Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar. China's Tencent Holdings Ltd, which paid A$300 million for 5% of Afterpay in 2020, would pocket A$1.7 billion.

Afterpay's shares jumped slightly higher than Square's indicative purchase price before closing at A$114.80, up 19%. Shares of Square were up 6% in early trading.

"We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles," Dorsey said in a statement.

The Afterpay founders said the deal marked "an important recognition of the Australian technology sector as homegrown innovation continues to be shared more broadly throughout the world".

STOCK SURGE

The deal, which eclipses the previous record for a completed Australian buyout - the $16 billion sale of Westfield's global shopping mall empire to Unibail-Rodamco in 2018 - also pushed up shares of rival BNPL player Zip Co Ltd by 7.53%.

Afterpay also competes with unlisted Sweden-based Klarna Inc as well as new offerings from U.S. veteran online payments provider PayPal Holdings Inc.

"Few other suitors are as well-suited as Square," said Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking analysts in a research note.

"With ... PayPal already achieving early success in their native BNPL, other than major U.S. tech-titans (Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc) lobbying an 11-th hour bid, we expect a competing proposal from a new party to be low-risk."

Credit Suisse analysts said the tie-up seemed to be an "obvious fit" with "strategic merit" based on cross-selling payment products, and agreed a competing bid was unlikely.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which would need to approve the transaction, said it had just been notified of the plan and "will consider it carefully once we see the details".

POPULARITY

Created in 2014, Afterpay has been the bellwether of the niche no-credit-checks online payments sector that burst into the mainstream last year as more people, especially youngsters, chose to pay in instalments for everyday items during the pandemic.

BNPL firms lend shoppers instant funds, typically up to a few thousand dollars, which can be paid off interest-free.

As they generally make money from merchant commission and late fees - and not interest payments - they sidestep the legal definition of credit and therefore credit laws.

That means BNPL providers are not required to run background checks on new accounts, unlike credit card companies, and normally request just an applicant's name, address and birth date. Critics say that makes the system an easier fraud target.

The loose regulation, burgeoning popularity and quick uptake among users has led to rapid growth in the sector, and has reportedly even driven Apple to launch a service.

For Afterpay, the deal with Square delivers a large customer base in its main target market, the United States, where its fiscal 2021 sales nearly tripled to A$11.1 billion in constant currency terms.

The deal "looks close to a done deal, in the absence of a superior proposal," said Ord Minnett analyst Phillip Chippindale, adding that it "brings significant scale advantages, including to Square's Seller and Cash app products."

Talks between the two began more than a year ago and Square was confident there was no rival offer, said a person with direct knowledge of the deal.

Afterpay shareholders will get 0.375 of Square class A stock for every Afterpay share they own, implying a price of about A$126.21 per share based on Square's Friday close, the said. The deal includes a break clause worth A$385 million triggered by certain circumstances such as if Square investors do not approve the takeover.

Square said it will undertake a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange to allow Afterpay shareholders to trade in shares via CHESS depositary interests (CDIs).

Morgan Stanley advised Square on the deal, while Goldman Sachs and Highbury Partnership consulted for Afterpay and its board.

($1 = 1.3622 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye and Paulina Duran in Sydney, Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; additional reporting by Niket Nishant and Sohini Podder in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Chris Reese; Christopher Cushing and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

(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.)
Shares of Privi Speciality Chemicals hit a new high of Rs 1,799, up 13 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Monday, having rallied 36 per cent in the past two trading days, after the company and Givaudan SA signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for manufacturing highly specialized aroma chemicals for Givaudan.

Privi Speciality Chemicals (PSCL) is lndia's largest manufacturer and exporter of aroma chemicals. Meanwhile, Givaudan, a Company incorporated in Switzerland, is the global leader in fragrance creation.

"A new greenfield production facility will be built in Mahad, where Privi's main manufacturing plants are located. Privi will hold 51 per cent of the equity capital of the JV Company. A subsidiary company with proposed name 'Prigiv Specialties Private Limited' (subject to availability) shall be incorporated," the company said in a release.

In the segment of aroma chemicals based on Pinene chemistry, Privi is amongst the largest manufacturing capacities globally. Privi's growth is fulcrumed on attaining and maintaining long term sustainability.

Givaudan is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of Flavours, Fragrances (F&F), and Active Cosmetic lngredients. lt is the number one F&F company of the world, having worldwide operations across multiple countries. Givaudan is engaged in the business of development, manufacture and marketing of flavours, fragrances, active cosmetic ingredients, and natural extracts used by customers in their finished products in the food and beverages and household and personal care industries.

With the past two days' rally, the stock of PSCL has more-than-doubled (up 101 per cent) in the past three months, as compared to a 8.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

In May 2021, the rating agency Crisil Ratings had reaffirmed its CRISIL A+/Stable/CRISIL A1 ratings on the bank facilities of PSCL. "The ratings continue to reflect PSCL's strong business risk profile, driven by an established market position in the bulk aroma chemicals industry, long-standing customer relationships, strong relationship with suppliers, and improving profitability and asset utilization," CRISIL had said in its rating rationale.

The ratings also factor in an above-average financial risk profile because of a comfortable capital structure and adequate debt protection metrics. These strengths are partially offset by exposure to any sudden and sharp fluctuation in foreign exchange (forex) rates, volatility in prices of raw material, particularly crude derivatives, and large working capital requirement, it had added.
The Australian share market finished session higher on Monday, 02 August 2021, recouping the losses of the previous session, as investors chased for bottom fishing after release of better than expected manufacturing data. However, the market upside was limited amid continued concerns about the rapid spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants in New South Wales.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 98.77 points, or 1.34%, to 7,491.40. The broader All Ordinaries increased 96.31 points, or 1.26%, to 7,760.50.

All 11 sectors ended higher along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Information Technology was the best performing sector, gaining +6.54%, followed by healthcare (up 1.58%), consumer staples (up 1.56%), energy (up 1.49%), and consumer discretionary (up 1.34%) sectors.

Shares of Afterpay in Australia soared more than 20% after U.

S. fintech firm Square announced it had agreed to buy the buy now, pay later giantin an all-stock deal worth about $29 billion.

Shares of Oil Search and Santos gained after a merger between ASX energy giants is back on the cards, with Santos returning to the bargaining table with an improved offer.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia AiG Manufacturing Sector Continues To Expand In July - Australia manufacturing sector continued to expand in July with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 60.8, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group showed on Monday. That's down from 63.2 in June, although it remains well above the boom-or-but line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. This indicated strong but decelerating growth for manufacturing activity in June, despite widespread lockdowns. This was the tenth consecutive month of recovery for the Australian PMI following the severe disruptions of COVID-19 in 2020.

The latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 56.9, down from 58.6

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7342, having slipped from levels above $0.738 late last week.

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Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) reported 1.7% fall in standalone net profit to Rs 3,000.67 crore on a 10.4% fall in total income to Rs 11,663.14 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

The net interest income (NII) for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 stood at Rs 4,147 crore compared to Rs 3,392 crore in the previous year, representing a growth of 22%. The reported Net Interest Margin (NIM) was 3.7%.

The spread on loans over the cost of borrowings for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 was 2.29%. The spread on the individual loan book was 1.93% and on the non-individual book was 3.32%.

For the quarter ended 30 June 2021, cost to income ratio stood at 8% compared to 9% in the previous year.

Profit on sale of investments was Rs 263 crore in the first quarter as compared with Rs 1,241 crore in the same period last year.

Total expenses during the quarter declined by 17.6% YoY to Rs 7,758.57 crore, primarily due to lower finance cost (down 16.6% YoY) and lower impairment on financial instruments (down 42.8% YoY).

Profit before tax in Q1 FY22 stood at Rs 3,904.57 crore, up by 8.3% from Rs 3,606.83 crore in Q1 FY21. Total tax expense rose 62.8% YoY to Rs 903.90 crore during the period under review.

HDFC said that the quarter ended 30 June 2021 witnessed the eruption of a second wave of COVID-19 in India. There was a sharp increase in infections and morbidities during the second wave compared to the first wave of the pandemic. A significant part of the quarter ended 30 June 2021 entailed localized lockdowns and restrictions.

The second wave, however, was less disruptive compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year where there was a national lockdown. In addition, there now is a significant increase in the usage of digital platforms to conduct business. During the quarter ended 30 June 2021, 88% of new loan applications were received through digital channels.

During the quarter ended 30 June 2021, individual loan disbursements grew 181% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Growth in home loans was seen in both, the affordable housing segment and high-end properties. There was a preference for ready to move in properties compared to under construction properties.

The demand for home loans continues to remain strong and disbursements have picked up with the unlocking of respective locations. While disbursements during April and May of the current financial year were somewhat impacted, business has reverted to normalized trends in the months of June and July. July 2021 disbursements were the highest ever in a non-quarter end month.

Disbursements between April to July 2021 i.e. four months were 108% of the disbursement levels achieved during the first six months of the previous year.

The average size of individual loans stood at Rs 30.9 lakh, as compared to Rs 29.5 lakh in FY21.

As at 30 June 2021, the assets under management stood at Rs 5,74,136 crore as against Rs 5,31,186 crore in the previous year. Individual loans comprise 78% of the assets under management (AUM) as on 30 June 2021. On an AUM basis, the growth in the individual loan book was 14% and growth in the total loan book was 8%.

During the quarter ended 30 June 2021, the corporation assigned loans amounting to Rs 5,489 crore (previous year: Rs 1,376 crore) to HDFC Bank. As at 30 June 2021, the outstanding amount in respect of individual loans sold was Rs 73,471 crore. HDFC continues to service these loans.

The overall collection efficiency ratio for individual loans has improved during the month of June'21 to pre-COVID levels. The collection efficiency for individual loans on a cumulative basis in June 2021 stood at 98.3% compared to 98% in March 2021.

Individual NPAs increased due to slippages on account of the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Collection efforts were hindered due to the recovery teams being unable to do field visits during the lockdown period.

Further, various court orders temporarily curbing recovery efforts of financial institutions, including refraining possession activities under SARFAESI hampered the collection efforts.

As per regulatory norms, the gross non-performing loans as at 30 June 2021 stood at Rs 11,120 crore. This is equivalent to 2.24% of the loan portfolio.

As per regulatory norms, the corporation is required to carry a total provision of Rs 5,778 crore. Of this, Rs 2,443 crore is towards provisioning for standard assets and Rs 3,335 crore is towards non-performing assets.

The provisions as at 30 June 2021 stood at Rs 13,189 crore. The provisions carried as a percentage of the exposure at default (EAD) is equivalent to 2.64%.

As at 30 June 2021, Rs 4,482 crore has been restructured under the RBI's Resolution Framework for COVID-19 Related Stress (OTR 1& 2.0). This is equivalent to 0.9% of the loan book. Of the loans restructured, 38% are individual loans and 62% non-individual loans. Of the total restructured loans, 62% is in respect of just one account.

Cumulative COVID-19 provision as at 30 June 2021 was Rs 1,017 crore.

As of date, the corporation's capital adequacy ratio stood at 22%, of which Tier-I capital was 21.3% and Tier II capital was 0.7%. As per the regulatory norms, the minimum requirement for the capital adequacy ratio and Tier I capital is 15% and 10% respectively.

For the quarter ended 30 June 2021, the consolidated profit after tax attributable to the corporation stood at Rs 5,041 crore as compared to Rs 3,614 crore in the previous year, representing a growth of 39%. Total income during the quarter rose 3.5% YoY to Rs 30,997.13 crore.

The corporation stands comfortable on liquidity. The average daily balance in liquid funds during the quarter ended 30 June 2021 was Rs 15,200 crore, lower than Rs 32,000 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, thus reducing the negative carry.

The corporation has continued to raise resources from a diversified base. Outstanding deposits as at 30 June 2021 stood at Rs 1,53,704 crore and continued to form a major source of funding during the year. The online deposits platform has been very well received by both, customers and deposit agents.

HDFC is engaged in financing by way of loans for the purchase or construction of residential houses, commercial real estate and certain other purposes, in India. HDFC's distribution network spans 603 outlets which include 202 offices of HDFC's distribution company, HDFC Sales (HSPL). To cater to non-resident Indians, HDFC has offices in London, Dubai and Singapore and service associates in the Middle East.

The scrip rose 0.43% to currently trade at Rs 2451.15 on the BSE.

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Tata Motors Ltd is quoting at Rs 297.9, up 1.34% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 163.51% in last one year as compared to a 45.75% spurt in NIFTY and a 40.3% spurt in the Nifty Auto index.

Tata Motors Ltd gained for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 297.9, up 1.34% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.71% on the day, quoting at 15874.7. The Sensex is at 52931.83, up 0.66%. Tata Motors Ltd has slipped around 13.93% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Tata Motors Ltd is a constituent, has slipped around 5.47% in last one month and is currently quoting at 10048.5, up 1.09% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 118.1 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 458.09 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark August futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 298.9, up 1.27% on the day. Tata Motors Ltd is up 163.51% in last one year as compared to a 45.75% spurt in NIFTY and a 40.3% spurt in the Nifty Auto index.

The PE of the stock is 0 based on TTM earnings ending June 21.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indeed, many observers feel that Chinas recent aggression to assert sovereignty over Taiwan is guided partially by its need to secure cutting edge chip fabrication facilities. The ripples of this war are being felt in Europe, Japan and South Korea. The Indian government, unfortunately, has largely ignored what is going on, though it affects every country that hopes to be a strong manufacturing and ...

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Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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As the Congress looked inwards and embarked on housekeeping to avert dissidence, party general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Ajay Maken, was in Jaipur over the weekend to meet around 100 MLAs, out of the Congresss 115, amid heavy hints by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot  who rebelled and nearly walked out of the Congress last year with 18 supporters  that he would erupt again if his concerns were not addressed. A Cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthans Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot is due in the first ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
Young divers of China made their presence felt at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, with 14-year-old Quan Hongchan, the country youngest athlete at the Games, winning gold, and 16-year-old Chen Yuxi claiming silver in the womens 10-meter platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Quan won with an overall score of 466.20 points, including three dives that received the highest score. It was the diving teams sixth gold of the Games

Aug 06, 2021 05:03 PM
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Heritage Christian Academy, a new school in Carteret County, will open their doors to area students
At her children's store, Playdate, in West Asheville, Francesca Santi speaks about her soon-to-be second child. Santi delivered her first child at WNC Birth Center two years ago and was planning on delivering her newest child there until she learned they would be closing before her due date. Christian Green / Carolina Public Press.
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Green hydrogen at Hanson

Published 26 July 2021

Hanson is collaborating with researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University, UK, looking at innovative technologies to reduce industrial carbon emissions. A new hydrogen demonstration unit, which generates green hydrogen through renewable energy, has been developed and installed at the cement producers Regen GGBS works in Port Talbot, UK, to replace some of the natural gas used to power the plant. By Dr Charlie Dunnill, Energy Safety Research Institute, UK.

Global decarbonisation of the cement industry has to be one of the biggest challenges of modern-day cement production. The industry accounts for approximately six per cent of global emissions (1.5 per cent of UK carbon emissions) and is in many respects impossible to decarbonise as the release of CO 2 is central to the chemistry occurring. However, fuel switching has the potential to make significant inroads into carbon reduction targets, with added benefits beyond simply decarbonising the industry. The search for greener and more environmentally friendly fuels is key to the future of all heavy industry.

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Brazil: striking the right balance

Published 02 August 2021

The Brazilian cement industry has contributed greatly to the countrys development, providing high-quality products in line with demanding sustainability requirements. As the industry adjusts to the impact of COVID-19, producers continue to seek the balance between higher production, maintaining quality and reducing emissions even further. By Sindicato Nacional da Industria do Cimento (SNIC), Brazil.

In 2020 Brazils cement sector achieved a gross revenue of US$4bn (based on an annual average exchange rate), with an impact of about 10 per cent on the gross value added (GVA) of the construction industry (ie, material, machines and equipment industry to construction). Besides that, the sector employed ~75m people directly and indirectly, being a large contributor to employment over the industrys network. In other words, the Brazilian cement sector is a high economic inductor, leveraging services, trades and industries.

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Cemex set to reach its 2021 EBITDA guidance of US$3.1bn

02 August 2021

After Cemex reported strong 2Q21 results and reiterating US$3.1bn EBITDA guidance for 2021, market analysts UBS state that it has confidence that the company will reach its 2021 EBITDA guidance of US$3.1bn. This was the company's strongest financial performance in the last decade.

In Mexico Cemex recorded positive results in the 2Q21 mainly on the back of strong volumes and prices. Net sales in Mexico increased 65 per cent YoY and EBITDA expanded 82 per cent YoY, driven by bagged cement double-digits increase and operating leverage.

Cemex also achieved good 2Q21 results in the US market where plants are running at full capacity, and volumes are also arriving from Cemex plants in Mexico, Central America and Europe. In the US, residential remains the main driver of demand with sales was up 13 per cent YoY, while higher imports, logistics and maintenance costs impacted EBITDA, which increase by seven per cent YoY.

However, cement prices in the US were lower than expected. Cemex said it is expecting another increase in prices in the US market for the summer.

Looking forward, Cemex has given double-digits growth guidance for 2022 EBITDA while UBS has estimated a figure about mid-single growth for the company in 2022.

Published under
Swedish cement shortage could impact climate transition

ICR Newsroom By 02 August 2021

Malin Lofsjogard, CEO of Swedish trade association Svensk Betong, says that the potential cement shortage starting in autumn 2021 could be detrimental to the planned climate transition.



A considerable volume of cement will be required for infrastructure and new housing construction and supply could be significantly reduced following the discontinuation of Cementas limestone mining on Gotland. While the limestone in cement could be replaced partly with other materials, it is not sufficient to alleviate the current shortage and further imports from the rest of Europe are unlikely, according to Ms Lofsjogard.



Cementas Sustainability Manger, Karin Comstedt Web, says there is no cement available in Europe currently, but that imports from Algeria, China and Turkey are an option.

Published under
Every time I go to the beach, its like a spiritual experience: Observing the waves crashing on the shore. Enjoying a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Seeing footprints someone has left in the sand. Watching a sailboat harness the breeze to skim across the water. These all are wondrous sights, giving me a renewed appreciation for the wonders and variety of Gods creation.

Probably my favorite is the sight of pelicans soaring in the wind, diving to catch a fish, or bobbing peacefully in the ebbs and flows of the ocean. Pelicans are a paradox of sorts, rather ugly birds up close, with long, slender beaks, beady eyes, and mouths that sag under the weight of a just inhaled meal. Not nearly as majestic as a bald eagle or captivating as a cardinal. And yet, when flying together, riding the air currents in perfect unison, they transform into visions of unquestionable grandeur.

Id imagine these winged creatures experience a sense of joy and fulfillment as they soar in tandem, doing what they were uniquely designed to do. Id never expect anyone to adopt the slogan, pretty as a pelican. But seeing these seabirds frolicking so effortlessly through the air, especially with a blazing sky at sunset as a backdrop, is exhilarating.

This is kind of a metaphor for the Church. Not all of us are beautiful blue jays, proud peacocks or songbirds festooned in feathery splendor. Some of us are more like the peculiar pelican or comical penguins; a few among us bear a suspicious resemblance to vultures. But when we come together in unity and harmony, blending our distinctive talents, skills and gifts, we can become a wondrous spiritual body that powerfully reflects the divine traits of our Creator.

The psalmist writes, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). While we typically ascribe this to humanity, I dont see any reason for not applying this description to all of His works. Because in Romans 1:20 were told, For since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualities  his eternal power and divine nature  have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

But getting back to the Church  the body of Christ  and the crazy, quirky folks that comprise it, even though individually many of us arent all that much to look at, when we merge to perform a spiritual symphony for the Lord, the melody that results is unforgettable.

We find the apostle Paul describing this, but using another metaphor  the human body: The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. The eye cannot say to the hand, I dont need you! and the head cannot say to the feet, I dont need you! On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

When the odd-looking pelicans align in formation as they catch the wind, they are doing so in silent praise to God. Working together in symmetry to fulfill His purpose and design for them. We can do the same when we too come together to convey  verbally and non-verbally  Jesus eternal, lifechanging message of forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation. Psalm 133:1 declares, How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

Unity seems to be a much-neglected quality in our society these days, and the spirit of disunity has trickled down into the Church. If only we could become more like pelicans, casting aside our differences and idiosyncrasies to form a vision of oneness for all the world to see.

As Paul wrote, May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:5-6).

* * *

Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor and magazine editor. Bob has written, co-authored and edited more than 15 books. These include the newly published, Marketplace Ambassadors; Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Todays Workplace; Tufting Legacies, The Heart of Mentoring, and Pursuing Life With a Shepherds Heart. A weekly business meditation he edits, Monday Manna, is translated into more than 20 languages and sent via email around the world by CBMC International. The address for his blog is www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com. His email address is btamasy@comcast.net.
Several years ago, Liza McGee Vannoy and her 12-year-old son, Kamp, were attacked by a dog in their own yard. They werent merely bitten  they could have been killed. Kamp told the following story at a public input session on animal control ordinances for Walker County.

My baby goat died and I was attacked and badly wounded by a pit bull mix. Watching my mom be attacked and dragged was very hard. It was painful to my heart. I dont want that to happen to anyone else.

"This type of dog has a lot of power in its jaws. People who own dogs with this kind of jaw pressure need to:

Have secure fencing so neighbors are safe.

Ask themselves the reason for owning these dogs

Have a chip in the dog for identification, rabies shot verification and records for the animal control officer to verify they are following the law.

"Pit bulls and other dogs with this kind of jaw power are not bad dogs, but people who treat dogs poorly should not have a dog with this kind of strength.

"My mom and I survived this attack, but many people have not survived, so thats why we want to see changes in Walker County.

by Kamp Vannoy, age 12

Kamps mother also spoke at the meeting, saying she heard her sons screams and jumped into a pen on her property where a strange pit bull mix was tearing into his leg. Adrenaline coursing through her body, Liza somehow pulled the dog off of her son, and he managed to climb over the fence. The dog immediately attacked Liza, nicking an artery in her arm and yanking her off of a structure in the pasture that she was trying to climb onto for safety. She had 10 wounds on her body ranging from puncture wounds to torn flesh.

Jamie Frierson and Lane Brown heard their screams from the stables at Long Branch and rescued them, performing first aid and calling an ambulance. And their healing began.

Undaunted by the chances of locating the owners of the dog after Walker County Animal Control said they were slim, Lizas sister, Tallulah McGee, then director of Beaufort County Animal Services in South Carolina, immediately posted a plea on social media. She then contacted the postal carrier, FedEx and UPS carriers and water meter reader, and, based on a tip, she located the dog at a property a few miles away.

Liza and her husband didnt press charges against the family, assuming the county would prosecute to the full extent of the law. When Liza learned the family was simply warned to keep their other pit bull mix inside, after the attacking dog was euthanized, she was confused, and at a loss as to how this could be. Surely there were laws in place to govern things like maulings by dogs on ones own property?

She learned that there are laws in place in Walker County and the state of Georgia. But Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said he believed the county animal control ordinances needed updating since they havent been addressed in many years, and Liza was and is appreciative of his efforts.

Liza, Kamp and their family are asking for two things  education and accountability. They want: full awareness of the capacity of certain breeds that can maul or kill; awareness of how crucial it is to have secure systems in place to keep domestic animals on their owners property; awareness of the importance of training and nurturing to create an environment of kindness, yet realizing the natural instinct of some animals may be to protect at all costs. Regarding accountability, they are lobbying for licensing to own certain breeds with enormous power, microchips for identification, neutering and spaying, up-to-date rabies, vigilance of animal control officers to enforce and involve police force if necessary.

Both Lizas and Camps scars are healing, but, years later, there are traces of the thick and swollen and jagged wounds. Liza is adamant about changing the law in her county. If nothing changes [about the animal control laws], then these scars are wasted, she said of the remnants of the life-threatening wounds that will remain with them the rest of their lives. And although she is on a mission, she chooses not to harbor any bitterness about the event. Her son helps her with that.

Mama, Ive been thinking. When I think back on the attack, I think we only need to be thankful, Kamp told her.

Shortly after their attack, Emily Colvin, a beautiful young woman on Sand Mountain, Ala., went to her mailbox to get the packages shed ordered for Christmas presents. A pack of five pit bulls attacked her, mauling her horrifically and killing her.

So not only does Liza work for her boy and for her neighbors and anyone in her county, she particularly works for Emily Colvin, thinking of this beautiful young woman as she fills out forms and petitions and speaks in public, not giving up until a better law and its proper enforcement is in place.

* * *

Ferris Robinson is the author of three childrens books, The Queen Who Banished Bugs, The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds, and Call Me Arthropod in her pollinator series. Making Arrangements is her first novel. Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity is a collection of true tales about mans best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.
Boyd Patterson of the Public Defender's Office said Monday he plans to run for the open Division III Criminal Court judge seat.

"After nearly 20 years of public service, Boyd Patterson is ready to bring his dual-sided experience to the bench," his campaign said.

The prosecutor-turned-public defender will seek the seat being vacated by Judge Don W. Poole who has announced his retirement.

Republican primary voting is set for May 3, 2022.

The campaign said, "Today, Boyd Patterson works in the Hamilton County Public Defenders Office providing legal counsel for those who cannot afford representation. He defends court-appointed criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to murder, advocating for Hamilton Countys poorest citizens.

"Early in his career, Boyd Patterson worked as a prosecutor for 15 years. During his 50+ jury trials, he secured convictions against murderers, child abusers, rapists, drug dealers and more. As Gang Task Force Coordinator, Patterson developed a proven track record of working with community partners to reduce gang violence.

"Pattersons undergraduate and masters degrees in psychology, plus two years counseling delinquent youth, bring an additional advantage to presiding over Hamilton Countys Mental Health Court (MHC). In fact, Patterson helped establish the MHC, then later joined as the Public Defender representative. When elected, Patterson intends to add a separate component of the MHC to exclusively serve military veterans.

"Boyd Patterson, supported by his wife Nancy and their two children, will bring years of qualified experience to the Division III Criminal Court. Once elected Criminal Court Judge, Boyd Patterson pledges to fairly follow the laws that he has litigated as both a prosecutor and public defender.

"Boyd Patterson built his career around protecting our youth, defending those less fortunate, and combating gang crime from every angle. He is more than qualified and ready to serve as Hamilton Countys next Criminal Court judge."

The candidate said, Judge Poole set a standard of professionalism and dedication that I will work with diligence to continue. The incredible support Ive received to date, from so many sectors of our community, keeps me both humble and encouraged. I look forward to our campaign with the same enthusiasm I will bring to the role itself.

Serving as treasurer for the Committee to Elect Boyd Patterson is Tom Decosimo.


North Georgia Healthcare Center, Inc., a Ringgold-based nonprofit corporation and healthcare provider, as well as its CEO, Delaine Hunter, have agreed to pay $130,000 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act.

It was alleged that the firm caused the submission - between Jan. 1, 2012 and Sept. 10, 2018 - of medically unnecessary claims for Schedule II controlled substances to the United States and the state of Georgia.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that Dr. Gary Smith, a former NGHC physician, improperly prescribed opioids without appropriate medical review and judgment of medical necessity.

The government alleges that physician assistants - and not Dr. Smith - saw most of the patients at NGHC. Dr. Smith only visited NGHC one afternoon per week, and rarely saw patients or reviewed their charts. The government further alleges that Dr. Smith routinely signed stacks of prescriptions (which included, but were not limited to, prescriptions for Schedule II drugs) for patients that he had neither seen nor otherwise evaluated. Finally, the government alleges that NGHCs CEO failed to promptly address this behavior once alerted to it by several NGHC employees.

Dr. Smith, in a separate settlement agreement with the United States Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, has agreed to a voluntary 10-year exclusion from participation in all federal healthcare programs. As result, both Dr. Smith and any provider using Dr. Smiths services will be unable to obtain reimbursement for care provided to any patients insured under a government healthcare program, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

North Georgia Healthcare President and CEO Delaine Hunter said, When this situation came to light, swift action was taken to terminate the employee and make sure there was no additional access or continued relationship with the facility. Our first and highest priority is the care of our patients and we do not tolerate this type of behavior.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by a former NGHC employee under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permits private citizens to bring lawsuits on behalf of the United States and obtain a portion of the governments recovery. The case is captioned United States and Georgia ex rel. Krysta Mangrum v. LabCorp, et al. (Civil Action No. 1-18-cv-312). The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Medical professionals are trusted to prescribe controlled substances in compliance with the law and in a manner that protects the health and safety of their patients, said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. We will continue to vigorously pursue those who breach that trust using every tool at our disposal.

Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime, with fraudsters often preying on beneficiaries across the country. Especially insidious is the fraud committed by heath care practitioners who are trusted to prescribe only medically necessary, quality services to patients, said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Working closely with our law enforcement partners, our agency will continue to protect the public by holding those responsible for such schemes responsible for their actions.

We are fighting the opioid epidemic on many fronts, including holding those accountable who improperly prescribe without appropriate medical review and judgment, said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. These types of allegations will receive our full attention because of the potential harm to Georgians and the improper use of taxpayer dollars.

The opioid addiction crisis in this country affects everyone to include the military and their families, stated Special Agent in Charge Cynthia A. Bruce, Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Southeast Field Office. This settlement is another step forward in striking at the heart of physician assisted addiction and holding those medical professionals accountable for unethical service.

To be reimbursable under Government insurance programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare, drugs prescribed by a physician must be (1) rendered pursuant to the prescribers medical judgment, and (2) reasonable and medically necessary. Additionally, under Georgia law, only physicians  and not mid-level practitioners such as physician assistants  can write prescriptions for Schedule II drugs, which includes, but is not limited to, opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone. Where a physician assistant interacts with a patient and concludes that the patient requires a Schedule II drug, the doctor that supervises the physician assistant must concur that the pertinent Schedule II drug is medically necessary and must sign the associated prescription.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the U.S. Department of Defense  Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paris A. Wynn and Assistant Attorney General Sara Vann handled this matter.
The Chattanooga Area Food Bank welcomes six new members to its 2021-2022 Board of Directors: Rob Reagan, CTO, Text Request; Tracey Smith, account representative, Mutual of America; Maeghan Jones, president, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga; Jennifer McIntyre, financial advisor, Raymond James & Associates; Martha Leiper, executive vice president, chief investment officer, Unum; and Murphy Sauceman, principal consultant, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. The board is led by James L. Catanzaro, Jr., shareholder and chair of the healthcare and nonprofit sections at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

Other board officers include Vice-Chair Jennifer Cookston, controller, Baylor School; Treasurer Phil Harris, chief financial officer, Intersign; and Secretary Mercedes Bartow, advancement, The McCallie School.

Were so grateful and extremely fortunate to have a Board comprised of some of our areas most dedicated, strategic leaders to join us in our mission to end hunger, especially as the need for food assistance continues to surge, says Melissa Blevins, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. We welcome their expertise, passion, and insights to move the Chattanooga Area Food Bank forward into 2022.

The Board of Directors is very proud of the Food Bank and the staffs dedication to serving our neighbors facing hunger- especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Catanzaro said. The work of the staff and volunteers throughout our region has been nothing short of inspiring. And it wouldnt be possible without the tremendous outpouring of support from the community. The Board of Directors is excited to advance the work of providing food to our neighbors facing hunger and deepening the work of helping families escape the cycle of food insecurity.

The 2021-22 terms are effective July 1 through June 30, 2022.

Chattanooga Area Food Bank 2021-22 Board of Directors

Celeste Bandy Weaver, Vice President of Finance and Regulatory Affairs, Ringgold Telephone Company

Mercedes Bartow, Advancement, The McCallie School (Secretary)

James L. Catanzaro, Jr., Shareholder and Chair, Healthcare and Nonprofit Sections at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. (Board Chairman)

Jennifer Cookston, Controller, Baylor School (Vice-Chair)

Megan Flynn, Vice President, Talent & Culture, Tennessee Valley Authority

Phil Harris, Chief Financial Officer, Intersign (Treasurer)

Peterson Hostetler, Financial Advisor, UBS Financial Services

Frank Hughes, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations, SmartBank

Maeghan Jones, President, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga

Martha Leiper, Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, Unum

Betsey Kirk McCall, President and CEO, Seven States Power

Jennifer McIntyre, Financial Advisor, Raymond James & Associates

Rob Reagan, Chief Technology Officer, Text Request

Murphy Sauceman, Principal Consultant, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (Associate Board Chair)

Tracey Smith, Account Representative, Mutual of America

Daniel Yim, President, Kobayashi Consumer Products, LLC
The Tennessee Medical Association issued a statement Monday encouraging Tennesseans who have not received a COVID vaccination to do so. This is vital, as Tennessees vaccination rate is below the national average and 96 percent of all new cases in Tennessee are among unvaccinated individuals, said officials.

Here is the statement:

"The Tennessee Medical Association fully supports the vaccination of Tennesseans against the COVID-19 virus. These vaccines are a means to protect our citizenry and greatly enhance one's ability to fend off potentially grave health implications from the Delta variant.

"We implore those Tennesseans who have not received a COVID vaccination to do so immediately. This simple task may be the difference between a few days of fever and fatigue versus a few weeks in the hospital, permanent disability, or even death. And to those responsible for taking care of patients, it is your duty to protect yourself as well as your patients.

"Tennessee remains below the national trend with only 39.1 percent of Tennesseans fully vaccinated. Most recent data available show that 96 percent of all new cases in Tennessee are among unvaccinated individuals and 96.9 percent of all COVID-19 deaths were unvaccinated individuals.

"Last year, we did not have a vaccine to offer our patients to combat the viral spread and lessen the effects of COVID. Now we do. Becoming fully immunized cuts a person's risk of COVID-19 by sevenfold. The risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 is lessened twentyfold while potential for negative side effects of the vaccines is minimal."


During the shocking conclusion of Outer Banks Season 1, one of the Netflix series main characters is killed off. In Outer Banks Season 2, John B. (Chase Stokes) is charged with that murder and threatened with the death penalty.

Outer Banks is a fictional series set in a very real locale. As such, many fans cant help but wonder  would John B. be sentenced to capital punishment in the state of North Carolina in reality?

[Spoilers ahead for Outer Banks Season 1 and 2.]

CHASE STOKES | JACKSON LEE DAVIS/NETFLIX  2021

Outer Banks Season 1: Sheriff Peterkin is murdered, but not by John B.

At the end of Outer Banks Season 1, John B. is on the run because most  if not all  of Kildare County thinks hes responsible for Sheriff Peterkins (Adina Porter) death. In reality, it was Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey) who shot and killed the sheriff.

In one fateful moment, Rafe, the ever-erratic Cameron, takes matters into his own hands. To protect his father, Ward (Charles Esten), from being arrested by Peterkin, Rafe shoots and kills her. When Deputy Shoupe (Cullen Moss) arrives, Ward blames John B. for shooting Peterkin to clean up his sons mess.

Chase Stokes | Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

In season 2 of Outer Banks, Ward and Rafe join forces to cover up their evil-doings. All the while, John B. works to prove his innocence.

John B. is at risk of the death penalty in The Darkest Hour

In Outer Banks Season 2, John B. and Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline) make their way back to the Outer Banks. By episode 5  The Darkest Hour  John B. is charged with Peterkins murder. If hes found guilty, John B. will be sentenced to the death penalty.

With John B.s life on the line, the Pogues go into overdrive. Each of them comes up with a plan to prove his innocence and free their friend.

Pope (Jonathan Daviss) seeks out Denmark Tanneys key because doing so will give him access to a tape exonerating John B. Meanwhile, Kiara (Madison Bailey) wants to get a lawyer involved. Sarah Cameron plans to testify against her father and tries to connect with Wheezie (Julia Antonelli) to corroborate her story. And of course, J.J. (Rudy Pankow) comes up with the most reckless plan of all.

Outer Banks Season 2 is based on actual law in North Carolina

While many fans watched John B. sit in a jail cell and await his sentence, some wondered if he would really face the death penalty in North Carolina for his charges. It turns out the death penalty is still in effect in North Carolina. The method of execution is lethal injection.

RUN. DON'T WALK. OBX S2 IS NOW STREAMING. pic.twitter.com/c44Qns2Krc  obxnetflix (@obxnetflix) July 30, 2021

RELATED: Outer Banks Season 2 Spoiler-Free Review

However, according to an article from 2010 published by a local news outlet, capital punishment is on its last legs [in North Carolina.] The last person executed for murder in North Carolina was Samuel Flippen, who was put to death on Aug. 18, 2006.

John B. is accused of one of the many crimes that can lead to a capital punishment sentence  capital felony committed against a law enforcement officer. Fans will have to tune in to see how John B.s sentencing plays out. Steam all 10 episodes of Outer Banks Season 2 on Netflix now.
Laura Ann Spangler Howard, 77 of Laramie, WY was called home to be with her family in Heaven on Wednesday July 21, 2021. She was born on June 3, 1944 in Chickasha,OK to Orby and Mabel Spangler. Ann graduated from Chickasha High School. She married her husband Michel Don Howard on September 2
For Layla de la Garza, worship music has been a way to draw nearer to Jesus and the Word.

Having grown up in a conservative traditional church, Layla was transformed by listening to Passions worship music as a teenager. Many years later, in 2015, she met CCM musician Christy Nockels, who became her mentor and invited her to participate in IF:Gathering. De la Garza has used her talents in this ministry to serve as a worship and teaching leader, multiplying IFs reach among the international Spanish-speaking community.

Back in her hometown of Monterrey, a city of more than a million in northeastern Mexico, some still remain suspicious of contemporary worship, with its bright lights and big stages. But at VIDAIN church, where de la Garza and her husband, Diego, serve as part of the pastoral team, theyve set out to show that high production value does not mean compromising on the truth of the gospel. Shes also the host of Notas con Dios, a podcast where she discusses finding God and hope in everyday life.

CT spoke with Layla about her vision for the church, the role of women in the church in Mexico, and her call to worship, ministry, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. (This interview was originally conducted in Spanish.)

How would you describe the evangelical church in Mexico to people from other countries?

Latin Americans in general are very passionate. Relationships and building community are very important to us. Our relationships are very warm: We hug each other and create intimacy easily, even with people we have just met. These characteristics of Latin culture are very present in the evangelical church in Mexico.

It is beautiful because I believe we have the potential to be like the first church we see in the Book of Acts. We must see this potential and ask ourselves, How far can our Latin heart lead us to fight for the other, to love the other? How can we channel that passion and that desire to be together and to create community in the church? Because God himself is a communityGod the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one in perfect community.

How can we take that need for community and convert it, for example, into daring to ask for help from other brothers and sisters? We see our Lord Jesus asking his disciples for help: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me (Matt. 26:38). We see that humility and that authenticity in Jesus, and I think it is something that the church in Mexico should look for.

As a woman, did you face difficulties in reaching a leadership position? How is womens leadership perceived in the evangelical churches in Mexico?

I have been fortunate to be part of churches that value, honor, and uplift women. I have had the opportunity to learn, to ask questions, to teach, to create. When you surround yourself with people who have the same heart that Jesus has for women, you will inevitably experience respect and honor in a very special way. Sadly, this does not happen in many churches, and Mexico is no exception.

There is much room for growth in this area in Latin America. The church needs to see women, and we need to see ourselves, the way God sees us. I wish that as women we would believe and trust in that special and unique design that God created us with and [begin] investing our lives doing and being what we were called to do. I wish there were more men willing to see women the way Jesus sees them.

How did you feel Gods call to the ministry of praise and worship?

I am the youngest of five siblings, and I was born after my family had just gone through a major crisis and an encounter with the Lord that led them to decide to change and really follow Jesus. During my childhood my family was very much in love with Jesus. We prayed together around the bed every night. I also had a great example watching my parents reading and studying the Word together, and I grew up watching my siblings serving Jesus and seeking to really know Him.

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My mom would always sing songs to God to me. I remember that I always connected with God through music and used to lock myself in my bedroom to sing to God because I didnt want anyone to hear me. From the age of six, I was in the childrens choir and sang solos. As I grew older, I discovered the great power of praise and worship. And not only did I grow in my relationship with Jesus through music, but I learned that I can serve others through this ministry where I can declare Gods truths over the lives of the people who listen to me. I know I dont have the best voice, but by positioning myself under Gods authority, even my weakness can serve his purposes.

How did you transition from the traditional worship style of your childhood church to the kind of worship you lead today?

In the Presbyterian church that I grew up in, I had a group of friends who felt a desire to praise and worship God in a different way. We wanted to be able to raise and clap our hands, to sing to God with a different kind of music, but that was not allowed in that church. There was a big gap between what our hearts desired and what we were able to experience. Eventually, the time came when a group of young people and our worship leader left that church and started another one. It was then that we began to experience on our own what it was like to sing to God freely. We would spend hours and hours praising God. If it was a morning meeting, we would stay up until the afternoon worshiping God. I was 21 at the time, and it was a period that transformed me deeply.

It is important to clarify that I am very grateful to that Presbyterian church, because I had the opportunity to be taught in the Word of God and to sing hymns that were very close to the Word of God. Hymns are sung theology. But I am also grateful for the freedom we have now to experience these intimate moments with God where I can really connect my spirit with his Spirit. It is very difficult to accomplish this when there is no freedom.

I love the idea that hymns are sung theology. Do you think there is a need today for Christian music that is better anchored in Scripture?

I think so. It is very important that we understand basic biblical concepts about who God is and who we are in him. Truths dont depend on our moods or our feelings. I have heard songs that say God, please dont let me go, when as believers we should know that he never lets us go. Jesus said, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:20). Praise has a unique power. The moment our lips begin to speak aloud or sing, something happens in our spirits. That is why it is important to sing the Word, because it declares the truth and reminds us of the Truth. The Enemy bombards us with lies, and we need to replace those lies with the truth. Gods Word is the truth.

One thing I love about leading worship is being able to stand behind the Cross and minister through the authority God gives us. First Peter 2:910 says, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. So when I lead worship, I like to remember that we are priests of God and that we can sing over the people the truth about God. I position myself in an attitude of service to the people and simply let the Spirit of God do what music cant do. When we understand our identity as priests of God, we no longer desire to sing anything that is not according to the Scriptures. The only thing we long for is to exalt Jesus.

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The church that was formed by the youth group you were talking aboutis it the same church where you currently serve?

No. But it was in that process that the Lord began to work in a very special way in my life. I remember the question constantly running through my head: This passion I feel for Jesushow can I share it with other people? Then I met the man who is now my husband. He invited me to lead worship at a new church, and I loved his vision. He was dreaming of a church for the unchurched, for those who dont like church: a church for outsiders.

He explained something to me that I hadnt seen before. Churches naturally gravitate toward doing things for insiders, for those who already know Jesus or are active members of the church. Many times, we forget the people who dont yet know Jesus. He challenged me not to live with an annual evangelism event but to live our lives taking the gospel to the unbelievers and to form a church with its eyes open to see that one who is coming for the first time. What about the one who is considering for the first time believing in God? What about the one who doesnt know the Word and is wondering if God really exists or whether he should take his life tonight? My now husband and I started talking about that a lot, putting ourselves in the shoes of people who are not yet part of the church. And when God gave me that vision, I couldnt turn back.

It can almost seem like our vision is crazy. There are those who go to our church and say, Its a crazy church. They probably dont preach the Word because they have lights; they have screens. If someone goes to our church for the first time, it may seem very superficial. Now, in churches in the United States, it is more common to have a good audio system, screens, lights, and so on. However, many churches in Mexico still dont have that. So, the use of the most modern technology can confuse many and lead them to say that we are watering down the Word of God.

It is true that in certain circles some have a preconceived idea that a modern church that uses lights in the worship service does not have a solid biblical foundation. What would you say about this? What does your church do to balance both sides?

Look, we believe that nothing has to make people uncomfortable when they come to church except the gospel: that we are sinners who need to repent and need a Savior; that this Savior is Jesus, who is God himself and became a man to give his life for us; and that he is alive today. Anything else is peripheral; in everything else that surrounds that foundation of our faith, our goal is to remove as many obstacles as possible for people to come to Christ.

And those obstacles can be small or large. We pay attention to even the smallest details: the way we greet people at the door of the church, the temperature of the air conditioning, the lights. We even understand that in Sunday services we cannot sing for hours, because that is something for mature believers. Someone who doesnt believe in God cant be on his feet for a long time singing songs he has never heard before, to a God he possibly doesnt even believe in yet. We want to get out of our comfort zone so that others can feel comfortable.

Church can be enjoyable, and many people have never had that experience. My dad used to tell me, It was unimaginable that we could laugh or clap in church! At our church there was a plaque on the altar that said, Let all the earth keep silence before Him. So, we didnt even talk! Now that my dad is with us, he tells me that he enjoys this freedom very much. So, we think there are definitely things that can add up to create irresistible environments where people can really connect with God. We try to remove as many obstacles as possible so that people can come closer with confidence.

We want to put ourselves in the place of others and offer a church that paves the way for many to come to Jesus. We want to think more about others and not just those at home. Can you imagine how much it is worth it if a soul is being saved?

[ This article is also available in espanol. ]
Back in April, when armed men began attacking his village in the middle of the night, a pastor of a local church in northern Mozambique woke his family to flee. He took his two older sons and his wife took their two younger sons. In the midst of chaos and confusion, shouting and shooting, they escaped in two different directions.

The pastor and his sons hid in the surrounding bush all night before returning to the village, near the town of Palma, to look for the rest of their family. The next morning, he found their hut caved in and the remains of his four-year-old son, who had been beheaded by the attackers. All he and his sons could do was dig a hole in the ground to bury the young boys body and weep together. To this day, his wife and second-youngest son are still missing.

This pastor shared his story with CT through English-speaking ministry partners in Mozambique. He asked that he and his village remain unnamed for security reasons, but his story is not unique as conflict escalates in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Countless innocent civilians are fleeing the area where insurgents have been burning entire villages to the ground and brutalizing their inhabitantsincluding beheading, recruiting, capturing, enslaving, and committing sexual crimes against them. The violence has killed thousands of people and displaced upward of 800,000, a number that is growing rapidly and may soon reach one million, United Nations officials warn.

The north of Mozambique, especially Cabo Delgado province  is being affected by Islamic insurgents, who at some stage claim to be linked with Islamic State, said Mauricio Magunhe, faith and development coordinator for World Vision Mozambique.

For the Christians living in that area, its very important to have the word of God so that it can renew their faith and hope in such a time of turbulence. The word of God can be used in efforts for peacebuilding in that area, as well as in the country as a whole, he said. If we work together as Mozambican citizens and as leaders from different religions, it is possible to educate our people not to adapt that kind of situations that bring a lot of destruction and pain for our people.

The atrocities of the past four years hearken to the 80s and 90s, a tumultuous period in which a series of sociopolitical conflicts shook the African continent, including the Rwandan genocide and Mozambiques own 16-year civil war from 1977 to 1992. Over the last two and a half decades, however, Mozambique enjoyed relative peace and stability apart from suffering natural disasters in recent years, such as Cyclone Idai in 2019.

Christians make up more than half the population in the country as a whole but are less prevalent in the northern provinces where the insurgency has gained a foothold. Instead of leaving the area and prioritizing their own safety, many local pastors and national believers are staying in the province to serve among their fellow survivors.

In nearby villages and makeshift camps set up throughout the region, these faith leaders are partnering with a handful of ministries, missionaries, and Christian humanitarian organizations to distribute food, supplies, and farming kits, as well as pray with people, preach the gospel, and hand out thousands of solar-powered audio Bibles to all who ask. And in the midst of an unthinkable crisis, they report that thousands are coming to faith in Christ.

When we first arrived, our arms were crossedwe were sad and angry, said another pastor whose family is still missing. He also asked that CT not print his name out of fear of further attacks. But because we serve, were strong. Because we serve, were happy. In a time of difficulty or in a time of ease, we will serve the Lord.

Image: Courtesy photo

From within these camps and villages, pastor after pastor shared their testimonies. One quoted Psalm 23, saying as he and his family walked past dead bodies on either side of them, they found comfort in the line, Even though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil (ESV). Yet another pastor, who has lost everything, said, They can burn our houses, they can burn our foodbut they cannot burn Jesus out of me.

Antonio Matimbe, a native of the country who has worked for World Vision Mozambique for over ten years, recently visited a camp for people displaced by the violence. He said that at first he thought everyone seemed to be doing fine. But when I started to hear the stories, thats when I had a real sense of the dimension of the disaster and the situation that people have been through in Cabo Delgado, he told CT. It was kind of eye-opening to the real things they have been through, especially when we talk about the childrenthey have witnessed things that they should not witness as children.

Matimbe, who manages communications at World Vision Mozambiques national office, still has vivid memories from the civil war when he lived in a rural village with his grandmother. As a child, he was awakened in the middle of the night, alerted to the approach of military men nearbyand recalls running in the dark to hide and sleep in the bush until morning.

But all of this is nothing, he says, to what the children in Cabo Delgado are facing. Kids as young as four will forever carry the memories of family members, neighbors, and friends killed in front of them, or of the physical or sexual violence they have experienced.

A particular emphasis in World Visions effort is to provide counseling in the camps, since the majority of survivors have endured unimaginable trauma. The organization is partnering with the religious council of Mozambique and working with local officials to train and equip camp workers to recognize and respond to trauma-related symptoms.

In these cases, Matimbe says, Psychological support is as important as providing them with food and water, because these traumasif they are not well managed, if the children cannot recover from thatwe dont know what kind of adults you can expect.

Mozambique recently jumped to 45 on the World Watch List of nations with persecuted Christiansafter at least 300 believers have been killed for their faith and 100 attacks on local churches, ministry bases and other Christian establishments such as medical missions clinics. These statistics were validated in the latest reporting period and gathered directly by survey teams from multiple sources on the ground.

This isnt one or two different attacksthis is a series of attacks, and its all around. ISIS is trying to get a foothold in this northern region of Mozambique, says David Curry of Open Doors USA. Its complicated, of course, by all of the different political stuff but the gist of it is that Christians are really in the danger zone because the Islamic State group there has an ideology which justifies these attacks.

The insurgency in Mozambique is targeting not only believers but countless innocent civilians of all ages and religions. Despite the population being divided between Muslims and Christians, the country has enjoyed a long history of religious harmony due to the uniquely influential role of its faith leaders in society.

World Vision, an evangelical humanitarian organization that has established a strong presence in Mozambique since 1983, began facilitating interfaith gatherings a year ago to pray for peace and political stability. The latest event was held in person last month at Peace Square in the capital city of Maputoa couple miles away from World Visions national headquartersand was recorded live and broadcast online.

Among the high-profile figures in attendance at the event were the former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, and retired Anglican bishop Dinis Sengulane.

The latter is a well-known national faith figure who made first contact with the Renamo rebel group back in 1989an act that began peace negotiations and eventually led to the official treaty signed by both parties in 1992, thus ending communism, declaring religious freedom for all, and initiating twenty-some years of peace in the nation. These same leaders also played a role in stemming the return of targeted armed conflict in 2013 by the opposition party, Renamo toward the current party, Frelimo.

Today, the Christian Council of Mozambiquewhich includes Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant leadersare once again banding together on a national level to lead the country in a renewed fight for peace and political stability. Beyond holding prayer events throughout the region, many are also serving on the front lines of the conflict to minister among those fleeing and forcibly displaced.

These Christian leaders are partnering with other religious and government officials to set up peace clubs in the northern regions to counter potential radicalisation of youth and promote dialogue and alternative pathways to protest, according to Alex Vines, who heads up the Africa program at the London-based think tank Chatham House.

What is unique about the interfaith relationships in Mozambique is we understand that in order for us together to grow as a nation, we need to collaborate with one another, said World Reliefs Magunhe, who is also an ordained member of the Anglican clergy and the key facilitator behind these national prayer meetings.

In some regions, like in the north, half of the population are Muslims. If that conflict grows, then that will become a very serious issue for our people So I believe church leaders have an important role to play in the current situation.

Image: Courtesy photo

However, experts warn that such efforts may be putting these religious leaders and faith groups in danger. Recent intelligence reports point to a growing security threat for high-profile figures engaged in faith-based ministries and nonprofits as well as foreigners and expats. And there are fears of a rising threat for hostage and ransom situations.

Last September, when two nuns were captured by the extremists, Catholic bishop Luis Fernando Lisboa of the diocese in Pemba, the city center nearest to the conflict, successfully negotiated their release. After Bishop Lisboa became more outspoken about the conflict in the following months, he was suddenly reassigned to Brazil in Februarylikely for security reasonsafter serving in the Pemba region for almost 20 years.

The risk is escalating. Its not getting better for NGOsand the insurgents know it, said Jasmine Opperman, a private risk analyst who is based in neighboring South Africa and specializes in terrorism in the continent.

The fledgling insurgency launched its first attack on three police stations back in October 2017, and in the first year, it looked like something small that could be crushed by the government, said Angelo Pontes, a veteran leader in disaster response for World Vision Mozambique, as well as a native Mozambican. But that wasnt the casebecause three years on, things have escalated and are probably very far from ending.

The group appears to be well-funded, with more advanced training and weaponry, and its attack tactics seem to be increasing in both their strategy and sophistication. Their method of killing is primarily by beheading, and there are rumors of far worse forms of mutilation being used.

The groups often announce their presence by calling out the battle cry of Islamic extremism, Allahu Akbar, and there are reports of Muslims killed because they could not recite the Quran in Arabic. Starting in 2019, the global Islamic State announced its involvement in the insurrection in their propaganda, explicitly claiming credit for the attack in Palma, which attracted worldwide notice.

According to Vines, however, it is a misconception to say a firm connection exists between the two. In fact, he says it was a surprise to many international observers, especially those in the diplomatic community, when the US State Department designated ISIS-Mozambique a Foreign Terrorist Organization back in March.

Because while there is indeed a small hard core of radicalized individuals, some of them foreign fighters (mostly from Tanzania) leading the charge, Vines says most regional experts and analysts would agree that the conflict in Cabo Delgado remains more a rejection of mainstream elite politics than a deeply radicalized religious one.

Though a number of churches and missions have also been targeted, Vines says, the insurgencys primary focus is on attacking organs and facilities of the state, since their chief grievances lie with Frelimo, the political party of the incumbent government. He says that a core driver was a purist Muslim cult that regarded mainstream Islam as compromised due to its connections with the government and its affiliation with outsiders and interreligious relationshipsespecially with Christians, who they call Crusaders.

The anti-government sentiment is linked to religious extremism in Cabo Delgadothey do cross to a certain extent, says Opperman. But as to the insurgencys ultimate goal or plans, there is much speculation and very little that is known for certain.

Mozambique, which lies on the southeastern coast of Africa, between Tanzania and South Africa, is currently the eighth poorest country in the continent. The nations highest poverty rates are in the rural northern provinceswhere the population has yet to reap any economic benefit from the natural resources being mined in their region, which are funnelling instead towards a wealthy elite in government and corporations.

Thus, apart from deploying targeted military strategy to weaken the insurgencys core, Vines maintains that the violence can be curbed in other ways. He believes that the majority of the uprisings local supporters, some of whom have been offered a daily sum to join the insurgency and their campaigns, would peel away if there were alternatives offeredwhich, in the long run, would include sustainable solutions for economic development to improve the overall livelihood of the regions population.

The official name of Mozambiques insurgency is Ansar al-Sunna, but its known locally as al-Shabab, meaning the youth, which is their most targeted demographic. In many villages, boys as young as 10 are made to enlist as child soldiers and girls as young as 12 are forced into marriage as child bridesand anyone who does not comply is killed. There are also reports of sexual assault incidents involving women as old as 60.

These bands of militants often arrive in the middle of the night, causing heightened panic in the darkness, and then issue a warning to those they spare that they will come back and kill anyone who tries to return to the village. Those who manage to escape will hide in the outlying bush until daylight, with only the clothes on their backs, until they begin their perilous journey.

Often walking for days with no food or water, survivors will first make their way to the homes of their extended families who live in Pemba and nearby villages. From there, a number of them will make their way to makeshift camps that have been set up throughout the province. Only then do some of them make it to camps for internally displaced people (IDP), which are officially run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Unlike its contemporary equivalents in other parts of Africasuch as al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, or the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congothe Ansar al-Sunna insurgency in Mozambique has garnered little media attention since it began.

Not many people out there know whats happening in Mozambique, says Pontes, who has worked in crisis response for years. On a daily basis, we see the news about issues in some corners of the world, and from time to time I keep asking, Why arent they also bringing stories about Mozambique? The issue in Cabo Delgado is a serious onewhy arent they doing something?

Many Mozambicans do not have access to reliable reporting, and often the news outlets outside the country include more accurate information and updates than those within.

Internally, the pro-government news outlets do not actually share much about what's happening in Cabo Delgado, Pontes says. Most of us actually end up learning a lot about whats happening there through other news media groups, as well as through social media posts and updates from analysts and regional experts.

After more than 15 years of field work, Pontes leads the Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs team at World Vision, which is partnering with UNICEF and a handful of other Christian humanitarian organizations to implement basic necessities in local villages and IDP campssuch as clean water, waste management, and safe sanitation. As new families are being resettled by the thousands every day, the number of public-health concerns are further compounded by COVID-19, which continues to ravage the country.

Pontes was on site back in November 2020 when one of the first official camps opened in the neighboring Nampula province. As of May, the Corrane camp has become home to nearly 65,000 peoplearound 85 percent of whom are women and children, according to World Vision. And although the needs of survivors seeking refuge in the camps have increased exponentially, donor support for World Vision and other nonprofit organizations has steadily decreased.

Since 2020, its been challenging, Pontes says. But we keep trying and knocking on the doors. Their current goal is to raise $5 million to meet the rising demands.

Pontes lived in the city as a child, but he can still remember praying for God to protect his parents when they left home to work in the rural provinces for days at a time. Now 46 and with two young children of his own, Pontes wishes they wouldnt have to go through the same experience.

Its terrible that kids today need to hear about this. And sometimes its something so bad happening that everyone is talking about itand even if you want to protect them, they end up hearing about these things, he says.

But my kids are small, Pontes said, and I just hope and pray that this will end one day, and they wont have to hear about itor they will end up hearing something written in books or the sort, not in news that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Another major Christian NGO in northern Mozambique, whose name is withheld for security reasons, has been working closest to the conflict. They are caring for and ministering to the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who have yet to reach the safety of camps. Most of them are lodging in Pemba and surrounding villages, often with extended family and friends and many are hosted in homes of believers.

This organization is facilitating widespread, prayer-led trauma counselinga ministry conducted by national believers who are fluent in four of the regions primary dialects. And in the past few months, the organization reports that thousands of people are not only coming to faith in Christ but also receiving deep spiritual and emotional healing.

It is a tremendous privilege to be partnering in Mozambique for such a time as this, said one of the organizations founders, whose name is also withheld. The body of Christ in northern Mozambique is not discouraged. No matter how dark things get, were called to shine in the midst of it.

Love wins, and it always triumphs over hate, the leader said. And everybodyabsolutely everybodyis saying yes to Jesus.
Bangladesh church attacked twice by Buddhist radicals after weeks of threats: report

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A small Christian church in southeastern Bangladesh was attacked and destroyed twice amid weeks of threats from radical Buddhists against Christians who refused to re-convert to Buddhism. Many believers in the community are reportedly displaced from their homes.

Local reports say two attacks on the church in the village of Suandrapara in the hilly district of Rangamati came after weeks of threats.

Buddhist radicals reportedly told the Christians they would destroy the church if the church members did not tear it down themselves. The converted believers, however, refused to renounce their faith in Jesus.

The radicals told us to destroy the church, but we will not, Tubel Chakma Poran Adetion, the church's assistant pastor, told Asia News, the official press agency of the Roman Catholic Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

If we have to sacrifice our lives, we will. They threatened us to return to our old religion, but we will not return. Jesus Christ is our savior. We will die for him.

The pastor told the news outlet that believers at the church were previously Buddhists who met Jesus Christ in 2005.

The Christian residents of Suandrapara built the small brick-and-tin church in January through funding provided by the Bangladesh Bawm Tribal Baptist Church.

The pastor said they gathered and prayed daily despite threats and opposition from the Buddhist majority. The Christians were given a seven-day deadline to stop all church activities and re-convert to Buddhism.

The believers refused to comply.

Buddhist radicals led by Joan Chakma, the leader of the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), a local political group, are accused of attacking the church on July 15. In doing so, the perpetrators broke the church gate, the cross and other parts of the church, Asia News reported.

The Buddhist radicals attacked the church again on July 22, damaging a wall, the door and the tin roof.

The attackers threatened more consequences if the Christians reported the indecent to the media or the police.

Adetion said the church did not report the destruction to the police station for security reasons and the Christians desire to live in peace.

We are a minority and Buddhists can do anything to us. We want peace by talking to them, he told Asia News.

Rev. Leor P. Sarker, general secretary of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship (BBCF), a Protestant church organization in Bangladesh, explained to the press agency how church leaders are worried for the church in Ranfamati.

We are concerned about our members, Sarker was quoted as saying. There are about 50 of them. They live in fear. Most of them are staying away from their homes to protect their life after the attack.

We are praying for the attackers, that they may change their way of thinking and let our people live there in peace, he continued.

Persecuted church watchdog organization Open Doors USA ranks Bangladesh at No. 31 on its 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution.

In Bangladesh, many believers must gather to worship in secret house churches for fear of attack.

Christians primarily face persecution from Islamic extremism, as the majority of the country is Muslim. However, Open Doors warns that Bangladeshi Christians also face persecution from the Buddhist minority.

Christians also faced discrimination from the government during the pandemic when many Christians suffered starvation or severe health issues after being left out of government relief, Open Doors reported.

Bangladeshs population is nearly 170 million, and less than 1% identifies as Christian.

Bangladesh also has the eighth-largest population in the world and is one of the most densely populated countries.

Bangladesh is also home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The country struggles to care for them despite help from the international community.
Praise God': Billy Graham's grandson released from hospital after battle with COVID, pneumonia

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A grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham has been released from the hospital after battling what is reported to be the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Jonathan Lotz, son of Anne Graham Lotz, was admitted to the intensive care unit last month in critical condition as he battled COVID-19 and pneumonia, according to his mother.

In an announcement Sunday evening, Graham Lotz posted to Facebook that her son was discharged from the hospital and home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Praise God! she declared in her update. By Monday morning, the post had around 28,000 "likes" and 25,000 "loves."

God has heard and answered your prayers for my son! she added.

Please, please continue to pray for his swift recovery and restoration to full health with no setbacks or complications. And that I can take good care of him. Blessing upon blessing to each of you who have helped carry him in prayer.

On July 24, Graham Lotz posted to social media that her son was admitted to the hospital in critical condition as he suffered from COVID-19.

Fifty years ago I could hold my son in my arms. Now I have placed him in the arms of Jesus, she stated at the time. I am asking you to please pray for Jonathans swift healing and recovery. For the glory of Gods great name. Thank you.

Last Wednesday, Graham Lotz shared that her son had been moved out of the ICU and was undergoing rehab for COVID-19, giving praise to our prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God!

As she thanked everyone for carrying Jonathan on your knees, the 73-year-old evangelist and author shared lines from a poem that her mother, Jonathans grandmother, Ruth, had told her growing up.

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when they strength is small. Trust Him when to simply trust Him is the hardest thing of all. Trust Him He is ever faithful. Trust Him for His will is best," wrote Graham Lotz last week.

"Trust Him for the heart of Jesus is the only place to rest. Trust Him then through tears and sunshine, All thy cares upon Him cast. Till the storms of life are over and the trusting days are past.

Jonathan Lotz continues his grandfathers legacy by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ worldwide through Jonathan Lotz Ministries.
Ex-Planned Parenthood director says abortion giant seduces immigrants with threat of deportation

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A former Planned Parenthood director warned over the weekend that the nations largest abortion provider exploits American immigration law and economic anxiety to encourage abortion in the Latino community in the United States and abroad.

Mayra Rodriguez, who worked with Planned Parenthood for over a decade and a half and at one point oversaw three clinics in Arizona before being fired after she reported unsafe medical practices, spoke at the Democrats for Life of Americas annual conference in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday.

For 16 years, I devoted my life to Planned Parenthood, she said. As an undocumented immigrant, Planned Parenthood opened the doors to the American dream.  They hired me knowing I was undocumented.

She said Planned Parenthoods decision to hire her despite her immigration status at the time was the greatest and the most kind action that an organization could take.

Rodriguez spent most of her career at Planned Parenthood providing women with birth control and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

She reported that she was hired to attract the undocumented immigrant community. While she did not deal with abortion during most of her time at Planned Parenthood, she held the belief that it's a woman's choice to have an abortion even though she wouldn't have one herself.

According to Rodriguez, the undocumented immigrant community knows nothing about Planned Parenthood, just like I didnt. Rodriguez said her friends told her, they care for women.  They dont care if you dont have papers, just come work.

After 16 years with the company, Rodriguez was promoted to abortion director at the biggest [Planned Parenthood] clinic in the state of Arizona. Rodriguezs promotion made her aware of what she said is the deception of Planned Parenthood on the abortion issue.

Rodriguez, who now resides in the U.S. legally, noted that many illegal immigrant women who work in fields are raped by their foremen and then taken to Planned Parenthood.

She said Planned Parenthood officials tell immigrants that theyre welcome there: 'we wont deport you, we wont call ICE on you. But if you carry your baby and go to the hospital and you live, for example, in Arizona or Ohio or other states where they have very strict anti-undocumented people laws, you may get deported.'"

So when you have that, what do women think? she asked. 'Oh, I cannot have a child because I might get deported, and I could get separated from my other three kids.'  As an immigrant, I can tell you it is the worst feeling ever to know that you may have to leave this country.

Rodriguez argued that Planned Parenthood is lobbying to legalize abortion internationally.

"We are down to six Latin American countries that are still pro-life because the rest of them, they have managed to get inside and affiliate with organizations in those countries and finance them to promote abortion," she said.

While referencing an earlier panel discussion at the DFLA conference on the death penalty, Rodriguez likened herself to a warden who oversaw the administration of lethal injections to criminals on death row, calling abortion the death penalty of the unborn.

It takes about 15 to 26 minutes for an abortion. They suffocate them and they also inject a saline solution into their heart until their heart stops for 24 hours before they pull them out piece by piece," she explained. "So, it is a death penalty to the unborn.

Not long after her promotion, Rodriguez began to have a change of heart.

I noticed all the atrocities. I noticed the irregularities. I noticed the malpractice. I noticed all the stuff the abortionists at Planned Parenthood hide from people. And I complained about it," she told the audience. "That got me fired and got me set up. Yeah, I was accused falsely of having narcotics in my office while I was out of my office.

Following her firing in 2017, Rodriguez took her former employer to court and won a lawsuit in 2019 against Planned Parenthood for wrongful termination under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Now, she characterizes herself as a dedicated pro-life activist committed to speaking out against Planned Parenthood and the dangers of abortion, not only nationally but across the globe.

Rodriguez works with the pro-life group And Then There Were None, which seeks to help abortion clinic workers leave the industry.

We need to stop the business of Planned Parenthood," she said. "We need to stop the business of other abortionists attacking our women and going after our immigrant communities and minority communities.

When asked by an attendee about the issue of teachers encouraging pregnant high school girls to get an abortion, Rodriguez declared that part of her training at Planned Parenthood taught her how to sow the seeds of doubt in the mind of your girls facing unplanned pregnancies.

They train you to tell them  and portray the horrible life if they have a child," she said. "'What are you to going to do?' 'Your moms going to kick you [out],' 'the schools going to kick you [out],'  'youre not going to finish your schooling.' 'Your boyfriends going to leave you. ...' 'Your parents are not going to be with you. Theyre going to be tired of babysitting for you and youre going to have to drop out of school.'

After hearing that pessimistic outlook for their future, Rodriguez said that many girls see abortion as the most logical option.

And then, if that doesnt work, then [they] give them the guilt trip that 'that child deserves a good life that you cannot give right now. So, out of love of your child, you should kill him.'

Rodriguez stressed the importance of countering the message by telling girls that having a child is a blessing.

"[There are] obstacles. Im not saying that being a mother has been easy and pink and all unicorns, she said. It is also the biggest blessing of my life.

We have to change our society, the way we face teen pregnancy, she added. She slammed the culture for showering teens who get pregnant with negative comments about maternity, about parenthood  [or] complaining about how horrible it is to have children or how tiring.
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We are inundated with stories proclaiming, and often celebrating, the decline of Christianity and Christian morality. Headlines announce the rise of the nones, the redefinition (and reimagination) of marriage and family, the cultural triumph of the LGBTQ+ movement, and a million other ways Christianity is losing its cultural privilege and influence. On and on it goes.

An important factor to remember is that although America has been the leader of the Christian world for much of the last century, Christianity does not stand or fall with America. When we look at the wider global picture, Christianity is more than alive and well. In fact, it is growing at an unprecedented rate.

Consider the continent of Africa, which is poised to become the leader of world Christianity. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, the number of Christians in Africa is increasing at a rate of 2.81 percent per year. That may not sound like much, but the compounding effect is huge. In 1900, there were about 9.5 million Christians in Africa; by 1970, that had risen to over 140 million. Today, the number is nearly 685 million, over twice the population of the United States.

In Asia, Christianity is growing at 1.5 percent per year, with over 100 million more Christians there than in North America. By 2030, it is estimated that there will be more Christians in China than in the United States, though with the current wave of persecutions, precise tracking of these numbers is impossible.

We are also seeing disciple making movements throughout the Muslim world for the first time in history. As David Garrison has documented, we are seeing large scale movements to Christianity in all the major segments of the Islamic world. In fact, the fastest growing branch of the Church in the world is in Iran. As one Iranian Christian described the situation in his country:

What if I told you Islam is dead? What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? Would you believe me? This is exactly what is happening inside of Iran. God is moving powerfully inside of Iran.

Of course, this growth in numbers comes with a corresponding increase in persecution. Where God is at work, Satan resists. The death toll is probably highest in Nigeria, with nearly 2,000 killed in 2021 alone. Theres also heavy persecution in other African countries, along with North Korea, China, across the Muslim world, South Asia, and too many other places to name.

The global Church also faces challenges that come from the rapid growth itself. Syncretism, the combining of Christianity with other beliefs, has been a problem in the Church from the first centuries, and has continued whenever and wherever the Gospel enters a new area. Bad theological ideas from the West like Word of Faith and the prosperity gospel often make inroads into Christian communities around the world, particularly poorer areas. Drawing the line between the prosperity gospel and a reliance on expectant prayer is a tricky task for leaders in these regions.

This is where we can help. One strength of the Western church is its long history of theological and exegetical thought. Training Global South leaders in these areas can help keep new believers from going off the rails.

At the same time, there is plenty that Western Christians should learn from our brothers and sisters around the world. As Glenn Sunshine and Jerry Trousdale outline in their book, The Kingdom Unleashed, we need to recover the kind of supernatural worldview that they have retained, but we have lost. Lacking other resources, they rely on God for their needs and the guidance of Scripture for their practices. Their prayer lives put ours to shame. They follow Jesus model for making disciples rather than following the habits that have developed in American traditions. They understand evangelism as making disciples and discipleship in terms of loving Jesus enough to obey Him.

Still, be encouraged. The True Aslan is on the move and amazing things are happening around the world as His Kingdom advances. And know this: God has the same power here as in Africa. Christ is as much on the throne here as He is anywhere else. He can do here what He is doing in so many other parts of the world.

Originally published at BreakPoint.
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The plight of an Orthodox Jewish child, whose life physicians in the U.K. are campaigning to end, appears to pose no threat to us here in the U.S. But appearances are deceiving.

Odious as it sounds, one ocean may not be enough to prevent the European model of placing the dictates of the super-state ahead of the wishes of parents. Oddly, our refusal so far to ratify a U.N. treaty on the rights of children might be critical to the lives of all future children in the U.S.

Alta Fixsler is a Jewish Israeli citizen residing in the U.K. who was sadly born with a severe brain condition. Her parents have tried every remedy available for her, and so far, they have had no success. The doctors at the Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital have petitioned the government to cease treating her, remove her from life support, and let her die. They have started this petition process against the wishes of her mother and father and against the wishes of the nation she is a citizen of, Israel, which has offered to provide for her free care in two different Israeli hospitals.

At a trial in London in May, physicians argued that it was visually obvious that Alta was suffering. Altas father insisted that having raised her with his wife from birth, he knew that she was not reacting in pain. Medical experts in the U.S. who reviewed Altas brain scans agreed that she was suffering no pain at all.

Ultimately the judge said while that he was not fully convinced that the child was suffering, he nevertheless felt that he should go with the U.K. medical professionals. Alta, having no quality of life, should not have to suffer. Ending her life would be in her best interest.

As far as moving her to Israel, Justice MacDonald bizarrely said he would have to assess the safety risk because of the recent exchange between Hamas and Israel! Why take the risk when we could just end her life?

Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer obtained a U.S. visa for Alta (whose father is a U.S. citizen), as well as appealed to the U.K. Health Minister, opening a second treatment option. So far, to no avail.

It is impossible to view this as a battle about the life of an individual little girl. Justice MacDonald rejected the argument that the parents religious rights automatically gave them the right to make vital decisions for their daughter, stating that while her parents might espouse certain positions, it could not be assumed that their daughter concurred. In other words, first, even absent conditions of negligence or incompetence, the States determination of the best interests of a child are superior to those of parents, even to decide that a person should die.

Second, while parents have a right (at the moment?) to pass along values and religious beliefs to their children, those cannot be assumed a priori to be important to the real person who will later emerge into adulthood. Parental instruction, according to the judge, contributes a tolerable, if quaint, add-on to the core personality, but does not shape the essence of the child.

In the U.S., the law is different. Where there is no showing of unfitness  and there was certainly none in this case  parents wishes should be controlling. Long ago this became the law in the United States. Going back a century to Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925 the law in the U.S. is clear  parents get to make all reasonable decisions and the states should help parents decide.

Secondly, the danger of governmental regulation designed to generally help children, can deeply impede the religious freedom of parents and children. Parents ought to have more rights in the area of the faith of their children than in other areas, even when it might impact other long-term issues. Yoder v. Wisconsin made this the law in America in 1973.

Does this mean that we in the U.S. are all beyond the reach of the uber-state? Hardly. That vast ocean that separates us from Europe can be reduced to a small puddle when the mood of the public or the Supreme Court changes.

The central idea that the American Founders had  that the family is a central unit and is deserving of important protection, and even more so when it is part of a religious tradition  is a valuable idea that is easily eroded. If not defended, family relationships will become mere friendships  a quaint idea, but with no legal significance. Indeed, that is exactly what has happened in Europe.

Dont look to the U.N. to provide a universal standard to which all can subscribe, even where it appears that this was precisely what it had in mind.

In 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was offered for signatures. The treaty meticulously spelled out the way children ought to be helped by society, and which practices (e.g. child slavery) had to be banned. It has since been signed and ratified by 196 nations. The U.S. contributed to its drafting and signed it, but then never ratified it. Then-Senator Barack Obama called this an embarrassment, but as president, never submitted it to the Senate for approval as required by the Constitution.

Perhaps with good reason. It has since been used to create a new social order. A Russian attempt to include language on parental rights was shot down. The U.K. has been targeted for not doing enough to decrease child poverty (read: to bring about wealth redistribution) and for providing insufficient outlets for youth to express their opinions. Israel, always a favorite U.N. target, was upbraided for defensive actions against Hamas, because children were impacted by military bombardment.

What might concern us most are two sections towards the beginning. Article 3.1 states that in all actions by social service agencies, public and private, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. Article 3.2 stipulates that States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary  taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents.

Well intended, the language nonetheless makes the government the final arbiters of the best interests of the child, while only giving parents a vote, but never a veto. Alta Fixsler is but the latest victim. The U.S. should not sign because the U.S. believes in the rights of the parents and also the rights of the state and also the rights of the child. This triangle of values is unique to the U.S. and should remain in place.

Meanwhile, those of us who pray for Alta Fixsler need also pray for the next generations of children, to ensure that they do not become the vassals of state tyranny. We should do so with thanks to G-d that we recognize that their best interests are secured not by U.N. treaties, but by the rights found in the great Judeo-Christian legacy.
Chinese communist officials forcibly remove crosses from Christian fishermens boats

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Communist officials in Chinas Zhejiang province forcibly removed crosses and other Christian symbols from Christians' fishing boats and threatened to cancel their fishing permits, according to a report.

Officials from Qushan County, an island, did not show any legal documents when they forced Christian fishermen to remove crosses and Emmanuel slogans painted on their boats last Wednesday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog China Aid reported.

The officials, who appeared to target only Christians, and not individuals from other beliefs, threatened the fishermen that if they refused to allow them to remove the Christian symbols, they would not grant them fishing permits and nor would they allow them to purchase gasoline or drive their boats.

The government is completely unreasonable, a fisherman wrote online, according to China Aid. Fishing boats are our personal property. We have the right to put crosses on our boats. Religious freedom is written in the Constitution. However, it is just empty talk. The government never enforces the Constitution.

Another fisherman wrote: The county government is destroying personal property when they forcibly remove crosses, isnt it? Why do they only remove crosses, but not signs and slogans from other religions? Why do crosses bother them? If they dont like a cross, why cant they simply regard it as the logo of The Red Cross?

About a third of the 70,000 residents in Qushan island are Christians. People in Qushan first heard the Gospel more than 100 years ago and Christianity is a vital part of the life and culture there, according to China Aid.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be illegal and unregistered underground house churches.

According to recently-released reports, religious persecution in China intensified in 2020, with thousands of Christians affected by church closures and other human rights abuses.

Under the direction of President Xi Jinping, CCP officials are enforcing strict controls on religion, according to a report released in March by China Aid.

Christians in both official, state-run churches and house churches were ordered to fly the Chinese flag and sing patriotic songs in services.

Authorities in China are also cracking down on Christianity by removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts as new highly restrictive administrative measures on religious staff went into effect this year.

Last October, internet censorship targeting Christians in China became so severe that even official government-sanctioned Christian groups started using the Chinese Pinyin initials JD to replace Chinese characters for Christ, China Aid reported at the time.

China is ranked on Open Doors USAs World Watch List as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians.

The U.S. State Department has also labeled China as a country of particular concern for continuing to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
From late-term abortions to NICU: Nurse shares her pro-life conversion story

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A Christian nurse recently spoke about the guilt she has felt for over three decades after working for well-known late-term abortionist Warren Hern, a founding member of the National Abortion Federation who has written a book on how to perform abortions.

Julie Wilkinson, who worked for Hern for a couple of years during the 1980s before going on to other nursing opportunities, recounted her experiences in Tuesdays episode of the 40 Days for Life podcast.

The podcast is hosted by 40 Days for Life founder Shawn Carney and former Planned Parenthood manager Sue Thayer.

Wilkinson recalled that Hern  now 81 years old  seemed driven by a mission at a time when many abortion doctors seemed to be in the industry for the money.

He feels passionate about doing abortions. That was clear to me even in the mid-80s, she explained. This was something that he sort of feels is a noble cause.

Hern operates a clinic in Colorado, which is among the eight states that have no limits on abortion, and, along with New Mexico, has clinics that will perform abortions up to 32 weeks and later on a "case by case basis."

While there has been a push in Colorado to ban abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy, Hern has been written about in the media as a champion for women told late into their pregnancies that their baby might have abnormalities.

Last year, it was reported that Hern helped a mother from New York abort her baby at 32 weeks after the mother was told by a doctor that the unborn child was not viable.

But Wilkinson, who assisted Hern in the abortion of children as late as 24 weeks of pregnancy, told the podcast that Hern aborts healthy babies as well.

She recalled one time when a yuppie couple wanting to give birth to just one child aborted twins after consulting with Hern. The reason, Wilkinson said, was because twins didnt fit their lifestyle.

She said the pregnancy was 16 weeks old when the twins were aborted.

[Hern] sort of catered to them because anyone who had a higher level of education was something that appealed to him, she said.

He put on the kid gloves, showing them everything. Sadly, they did return and decided that twins werent going to fit their lifestyle. They had perfectly healthy twins aborted. We [nurses] were all pretty shocked. Even the counselors, you could tell, we were kind of shaking our heads because [the couple are] fine and they can afford this. But they decided not to.

Wilkinson said she was a bit naive when she took the job at Herns family planning clinic. She also considered herself to be a Christian at the time.

According to Wilkinson, she got along with the staff, nurses, and counselors that she worked with. But she remembered Hern not being a people person. She added that Hern didnt seem to express much empathy after conducting abortions.

He was very emotionally distant from the aspect of what he was actually doing, she remembered. He was much more interested in the outcome. That he was reducing pregnancy.

Wilkinson said there wasnt a single moment when the scales fell from [her] eyes to help her to see the immorality of abortion. But eventually, she stopped working at Herns office because she felt the job wasnt fulfilling her career desires as a nurse.

Wilkinson said that working in a place where no one is being healed and lives are being lost every day was an emotional drain.

At that time, she said she was still not opposed to abortion being legal. But her thoughts on the subject shifted over time as she began working in a neonatal intensive care unit caring for premature babies. After working in the NICU, Wilkinson moved to Wyoming with her husband and got a job working in labor and delivery.

After I had been there a couple of years, I believe God was working on my heart and I wasnt even aware of it, she explained.

I considered myself a Christian. Dont ask why I thought that was an OK place to work. The next place I worked was at a NICU  level three intensive care nursery. Thats got to be Gods sense of humor: Here, let me put you in a place where you can see babies the same size. I loved [working there].

Although she loved working in the NICU and labor and delivery, Wilkinson said it only gave her more reason to bury and hide what she experienced while working at Herns office.

I thought of myself as a compassionate person. To know that I had willingly taken a check for the things I had done in Boulder is just horrible, Wilkinson explained. I know I am forgiven by God but it's still hard to take that burden off your back. I dont know if it will ever go away.

Wilkinson said that for a long time she didn't talk openly about her experiences at Herns office.

I saw lots of things in the clinic but I put those things in the box, she said. It was bad enough that I knew I never wanted to talk to people about it. Thats why I kept it such a secret.

Wilkinson attended a retreat hosted by And Then There Were None, an organization founded by pro-life activist Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic manager. The organization provides support and counseling to former abortion workers.

The retreat connected Wilkinson with others whove left the abortion industry and are going through similar emotional conflicts. She said the retreat gave her someone else to talk to.

There are lots of bad things that we can do in this life. We are sinners. But being a person who willingly helps end the life of the most innocent, whats worse than that? she asked.

Thats how I felt. So to finally get to talk to somebody who wouldnt have that flicker in their eyes that made me feel even worse about myself was a big deal. Because then I could start building the foundation with connections and relationships.

Since Wilkinson recently began speaking publicly about her experiences working at Herns office, she said God has blessed her with some of her finest friends.

God just unloads blessings when we follow His way, she said. Its too bad it took me so many years to figure out.

Wilkinson played an abortion nurse in the popular 2019 pro-life film Unplanned. She also spoke about her experiences at the 2020 March for Life in Washington, D.C.
New Mexico late-term abortion clinic accused of experimenting on over 500 women without consent: report

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Keisha Atkins died while undergoing a late-term abortion in 2017. During a multi-day abortion procedure at Southwestern Womens Options in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she was heavily drugged for three days before going into respiratory distress and subsequently dying from a septic infection, according to a report.

Documents released by Abortion on Trial detail some of the events that led to Atkins' death, including information about an experiment carried out by abortionists Carmen Landau and Shelley Sella involving 501 women who did not content to participate in the experiment.

The Albuquerque clinic is known for performing late-term abortions up to 32 weeks and later in some cases. Since the clinic is renowned for performing late-term abortions on viable babies in a state that has no limits on abortion, the city is frequently referred to by pro-life activists as the "abortion capital."

According to documents released by Abortion on Trial, an organization that helps post-abortive women who've suffered injuries from the procedure, Landau, Sella and staff of UCSF discussed testing the effectiveness of adding Mifepristone on late-term induction abortions.

Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, blocks the effects of the natural pregnancy hormone progesterone.

In the experiment, some 250 women, all of whom were at least 24 weeks into their pregnancy, including Atkins, were given Mifepristone. Forty-eight of the patients were minors at the time.

During the experiment that was conducted from 2016-2017, the abortionists tested whether " ... Mifepristone would make the induction abortion occur quicker and after a year of 'no perceived benefit,'" they ceased using the drug, documents show.

Some of the women who were part of the experiment suffered such things as Hemorrhage, cervical laceration, retained placenta, and extramural delivery, and at least seven patients were admitted to the hospital, according to the report.

Atkins, who was six months pregnant when she underwent the multiday late-term abortion procedure, was not only part of that experiment, but was also given Oxycodone, Fentanyl and Versed several times over three days. Each day she went back and forth from the clinic to a hotel room where she stayed during the evenings and wasn't monitored by medical staff during those hours.

An induction abortion takes several days and the process begins with the abortionist injecting the babys heart with digoxin, causing cardiac arrest. The abortionist then begins the process of cervical dilation over a period of days, and the woman leaves the clinic to stay off-site and returns days later to deliver the dead baby, according to LiveAction.

On the third day of the procedure, she returned to the clinic and was again prescribed Fentanyl, Versed, and Oxycodone. She reportedly began to suffer from labored breathing and was transported by paramedics to a nearby hospital due to respiratory distress. Atkins died at the hospital from a septic infection.

Fentanyl, one of the medications prescribed to Atkins, is a narcotic painkiller the CDC describes as "50-100 times more powerful than Morphine. It's highly addictive and an overdose can be fatal. Versed is a medication that prevents a patient from having any memory of a traumatic procedure.

Induction abortions are performed in the third trimester of pregnancy when the baby is fully developed and viable. Sometimes women go into labor early and deliver at home or in their hotel rooms.

During a 2019 deposition in the case of Atkins' death, Landau said that during an emergency, the abortion clinic advises patients not to go to the hospital in an emergency, but to contact the abortion clinic staff. She insisted that emergency room doctors are "not the best qualified" to treat patients undergoing an abortion.

Jamie Jeffries, executive director of Abortion On Trial, told CP in an interview that she believes women are often manipulated by abortionists into having a late-term abortion or are coerced to believe that it's the safest medical choice for them.

So ... we see how the women are really heavily manipulated, coerced, made to fear and the results of that is a high profit for the abortionist, Jeffries said.

Even though the women know they are pregnant, they are still being extremely manipulated by the person in power, she continued. The abortionist is the powerful one and the woman is the underdog in the situation and the abortionist really abuses their power over women who are in a position of fear and crisis.

She further contended that abortion providers give women high levels of narcotics and will often lie to patients and tell them abortion is medically necessary for the life of the mother.

So physically, theres a high level of danger in these procedures, but also emotionally and spiritually the wounds that come out of late-term abortion are even greater than that of the early-stage abortion, she said.

These babies are survivable, and they could just as easily have been born alive. ... We have some women that were told by SWO and Dr. Landau and Dr. Boyd that if you dont get this abortion, youre going to die. It broke their heart, and they ultimately decided to save their own life, so they thought, she continued.

Jeffries said the experimentation done on women having abortion procedures is for profit and medical recognition for the provider, which leads to physical, emotional and spiritual wounds for the women.

Atkins sister, Nicole Atkins, also suffered from a botched abortion at SWO that led to cervical lacerations, causing her to require a hysterectomy. Documents indicate that her babys organs, aborted at 17 weeks, were donated for research at the University of New Mexico without her consent, LiveAction reported.

Its really, really damaging for these girls, Jeffries said. Of course a baby dies and thats awful, but these women are also dying. Keisha Atkins died. They experimented on her that week  and she died.

Jeffries said the public doesn't realize how damaging a late-term abortion is since the women still undergo vaginal labor and delivery to a still-born child.

The women really are being emotionally damaged from allowing themselves to make that choice, Jeffries added. The feelings that we hear from them a lot is, 'Why didnt I stop them from convincing me to do that?' It was never, Why did I want that? Why did I choose that? It was, Why didnt I realize what I was letting happen? And so thats an important mentality, I think, for people to understand.

Dr. Christina Francis, chair of the Board of American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told CP in an emailed statement that the abortion industry often places profits over the value of patients lives.

"AAPLOG believes that all women deserve the best available healthcare, and the best possible information about their care, Francis wrote in the statement. Unfortunately, we have repeatedly seen cases of the abortion industry putting its profit and political goals ahead of our patients' lives.

The evidence is clear  abortions always end the life of an innocent preborn human being and they lead to significant health risks for the mother, especially when done in the second and third trimesters, she continued. Using Mifepristone in the second trimester has been associated with a nearly 40% rate of surgical intervention required due to the severe hemorrhage or retained tissue.

Women who need this type of surgical intervention are at a much higher risk of complications such as uterine perforation, cervical lacerations, and preterm births in future pregnancies. Women and their children deserve better than this. They deserve fully informed consent, compassionate support in caring for their children, and to receive the best healthcare possible from qualified physicians."
Planned Parenthood to pay whistleblower $3M for wrongful termination after reporting violations

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Planned Parenthood has been ordered to pay a former employee $3 million in damages after firing her for reporting illegal activities and unsafe medical practices at their clinics.

A Maricopa County jury decided Friday that Mayra Rodriguez, who worked for Planned Parenthood for 17 years and at one point oversaw three clinics, was wrongfully fired for reporting that several violations had been committed. These included not reporting the rape of a minor, the falsification of patient records, and incomplete abortions being performed, leaving women at risk of death.

In a statement released Monday by the pro-life group And Then There Were None, Rodriguez said she hopes her lawsuit, Rodriguez v. Planned Parenthood Arizona, is a lesson to other workers that shows them that the truth will prevail.

I also hope my case is a lesson to employers who abuse their power: sometimes the underdog wins and justice will be done, Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez is now involved in And Then There Were None, which focuses on encouraging abortion clinic workers to leave the industry. It was founded and led by Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director whose story was depicted in the movie Unplanned.

When Mayra came to And Then There Were None with her incredible story, I felt solidarity with her, having gone through a similar situation when I worked for Planned Parenthood, Johnson said.

Standing with her through the trial and rejoicing in the ultimate victory has been amazing.

Planned Parenthood Arizona President Bryan Howard said he disapproved of the jurys decision in a statement published by the Arizona Republic on Monday.

We believe the evidence was compelling that it was our former employees failure to follow organization rules and procedures, which are designed to protect both patients and the public, that led to her dismissal, Howard said.

Howard added that although we disagree with the verdict and the damages awarded, we will not allow this event to distract from Planned Parenthoods 100% focus on protecting access to health care for those Arizonans who need it most.

In 2017, Rodriguez was fired after making several complaints about practices and conditions in the Planned Parenthood clinics she helped oversee.

The complaints included high complication rates for one of the doctors, among other issues.

Ms. Rodriguez was concerned about the substantial health, welfare, and safety risks to these patients, as well as the substantial risk to the health, safety, and welfare of the inevitable future of PPA patients, read Rodriguezs lawsuit in part, as reported by the Arizona Republic.

Planned Parenthood claimed that the accusations of health and safety problems were unfounded, saying that state inspections had uncovered none of the problems Rodriguez brought up.
SpaceX and Starlink: How they're involved in latest breakthrough in Bible translation

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The people in Simas tiny village on the side of the mountain in South Asia work hard to provide for themselves, and for each other. They are a small community that lives on little. As a Bible translator in her spare time, Sima makes the 2-hour trek through the jungle with her baby and her laptop to reach a small town that has an internet cafe. There, she has just enough bandwidth to send a text with updates.

Sima knows something that few in her village know: that God is going to meet them through His Word. What she may not yet know is that this may happen sooner rather than later thanks to the latest technology of low-earth satellites.

Nearly 600 years ago the Bible went to press with less than 200 copies in distribution but something big had happenedthe Gutenberg Printing Press was born. Today, over 100 million copies of the Bible are printed every single year. Thirteen years ago, the most popular Bible reading app, YouVersion, brought Gods Word to even more peoplethis time in digital form. Last year, the app saw a record 600 million searches.

Simas neighbors are among the 1.5 billion who dont have a full Bible in their language. In fact, 167 million people have no Scripture in their language.

Bible translation has always been integral to Gods mission. Because of those who translated, most of us in the United States have access to Gods Word in our heart language. But many of us forgetor maybe arent awarethat others have been left behind.

For hundreds of years up until now, the translation process has been slow and tedious, sometimes taking more than ten years to get Gods Word translated into a heart language. Today, that is changing. God is on the move through terms like high speed and low latency.

And because of that, Sima and millions of others will have access to Gods Word in their heart language at an exponential pace. Bible poverty will finally be eradicated.

No, this is not the Jetsonsthat fictitious and magical animated sitcom where George Jetson and his family experienced travel in whimsical ways. We cant teleport across the world in person. But we can still instantly be therea reality that will allow Scripture to finally be translated more efficiently and quickly into every language which still does not have it.

Enter Starlink satellites by SpaceXlow-earth satellites about the size of a refrigerator that are rapidly allowing those in every nook and cranny of this world to be connected to high-speed internet. For many in rural, remote contexts, this means access to education and healthcare and family resources. And it means access to the only hope that transcends the harsh realities of our worldGods Word.

For decades, countless Bible translators have labored tirelessly to translate Scripture into languages all over the globe. They knew what God meant when they read that God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Like Sima, they would travel by foot for miles just to connect to the internet.

Many still do, because unlike those in more developed countries, many in remote areas have no access to the internet. The biggest hurdle to Bible translation is not a lack of desire. Its a lack of internet connectivity. Without this, the translation process is long and laborious; consultants and Bible software are critical to the process, and without either easily accessible, translation projects languish, and hope is deferred.

Five years ago, I couldnt have dreamed that we would have in our sights the possibility to get Gods Word into every heart language within just a few years. But God is on the move through low-earth satellites and other technologies that speed the process.

God used the Gutenberg Press. And radio. And television. And computers and smartphones and apps. How long, O Lord? many of us have asked as we have longed for the day when all would have access to Gods Word. Today, in the near distance, if you listen long enough, you may just hear a rumbling that sounds something like, Soon

In the latest technological marvel, Wycliffe Bible Translators has designed a unique network device called Nomad that allows our Bible translation databases to utilize the newly-launched SpaceX low-earth satellites. Developed by Wycliffe missionaries, Nomad is an entire network including server, storage, firewall, and a commercial access point that allows up to 150 people to use the wireless network at the same time. It also fits in a durable, compact travel case that can be carried easily on the back of a motorcycle or bicycle. It can connect to any internet service and the equipment is designed to withstand the high temperatures, humidity, and dusty environments often found in the remote parts of the world where Bible translation projects need to happen.

Now, rather than making a difficult and lengthy trek every few months transporting translation documents and hard drives from a remote area to the nearest city with WiFi, translators can simply upload their translation progress digitally from rural locations. Consultants can check translation work daily instead of making long and sometimes dangerous flights into remote villages once or twice per year.

God, through His Word, is coming to every darkened part of this world, and He is using space satellites. Communities will be changed for the better as those like Simas finally have equal access to the wonders of Scripture just as many have had for hundreds of years.

It is time. May the whole earth be filled with Gods glory (Psalm 72:19)!
'Unplanned' Movie: Planned Parenthood Ex-Director Has 1 Message for Cecile Richards

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STILLWATER, Oklahoma  Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson has a message for the abortion giant's ex-president, Cecile Richards: "I genuinely care about you" and "I pray for you, fervently, every single day."

In May, The Christian Post visited the set of the upcoming motion picture "Unplanned," which chronicles how Johnson departed her job in the abortion industry following conversations with 40 Days for Life intercessors who were praying outside her clinic. She spent eight years working at Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas, and the film is based on Johnson's book of the same name. The movie is scheduled to be released in the spring of next year.

In a CP interview outside a coffee shop near the film set alongside actress Ashley Bratcher, who portrays Johnson in "Unplanned," the former Planned Parenthood director opened up about how she sees her past and how she regards the former head honcho of her previous employer.

"I think I would just want to embrace her," Johnson said, when asked if she could say anything what would she like to tell Richards, who at the time had just resigned as president of Planned Parenthood.

Johnson joked that she wishes Richards would respond to her text messages; she has known her for many years.

"But I'd just say, I so desperately want you to find the joy that I have found. And I would tell her: 'I pray for you, fervently, every single day.'"

Richards is involved with the industry she is because she earnestly believes she is doing the best thing for women, Johnson said.

"I know that her heart is there, that she believes she is being compassionate. Because she's hearing it from all these other women saying things like Planned Parenthood 'saved my life,' and 'if I wouldn't have had this abortion where would I be today?'" she added, noting how such a unified chorus of praise fuels confusion.

When Johnson worked at Planned Parenthood, she never once heard a story of a woman who regretted having an abortion because even the women who came back in for repeat procedures would tell them how thankful they were. She knew nothing of any contingency of women who were speaking out about how their abortions harmed them.

"So I would just want [Richards] to know, my desperate prayer for her, is that I want her to be lavished in God's mercy and to know Him," she continued.

"And not just to know just the idea of Him, like I think she does now, but to really know Him and to be in relationship with Him."

Johnson doesn't think Richards realizes the joy that exists on the other side of that proverbial fence, and it's scary to walk away, but she would be with her: "I will be with you every step of the way."

"I will be there to hold your hand. I will be there to talk to you until 2 o' clock in the morning. I will be there. Because I do genuinely care about you."

Johnson is now an articulate pro-life advocate who leads And Then There Were None, a nonprofit organization that assists other Planned Parenthood employees and abortion clinic staffers who've decided to leave the world of abortion as she once did.

"Unplanned" is written and directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, the same men who co-wrote the movie "God's Not Dead." It's one of several movies coming out over the next few months where abortion issues are central to the plot.

"Gosnell," which will be in theaters Oct. 12, recounts the grisly operations of and the criminal prosecution of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell.
California won't force nonprofits to disclose donor names after Supreme Court ruling

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California has amended its policies to comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state's requirement that charities and nonprofits disclose their donors to the state, a Christian conservative legal group that challenged the state in court has announced.

In a statement published Wednesday, the Thomas More Law Center announced that the California Attorney General's Office has "quietly" submitted to the decision from the nation's high court in the case of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, Attorney General of California.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 this month that California's attempt to require nonprofit organizations to share personal information about their donors with the state is unconstitutional.

The California Attorney Generals Charities homepage has been amended to read, Effective July 1, 2021, the Registry of Charitable Trusts will no longer require the filing of Schedule B to the IRS Form 990 as part of the registration and annual reporting requirements.

The Schedule B form asks organizations to list the name, addresses and ZIP codes of every individual who donated more than $5,000 and specify how much they donated.

While nonprofit organizations must submit Schedule B forms to the Internal Revenue Service, the information is usually kept confidential and not shared with states.

Before the Supreme Courts July 1 ruling, Californias Registry of Charitable Trusts required nonprofit organizations to share that information with the state.

According to Bloomberg, California was one of four states with such a law on the books. The others were Hawaii, New Jersey and New York.

The litigation against the California law dates back six years when the Thomas More Law Center received a letter from then-Attorney General Kamala Harris stating that failure to turn over information about its donors within the next 30 days would lead to the organization losing its right to solicit donations in California.

In addition, the letter warned that the organizations officers and tax preparers could be held personally liable for any penalties.

Rather than comply, the Michigan-based religious liberty law firm filed a lawsuit alleging that the policy violated the First Amendment rights of its donors and the company itself by infringing on the parties constitutionally protected free speech, freedom of association and free exercise of religion.

While a federal judge sided with the law firm in 2016, the attorney generals office appealed that ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court decision. The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case earlier this year.

The Thomas More Law Center argued that the Supreme Court ruling eliminating the requirement for nonprofit organizations to fill out Schedule B forms means that Americans are free to support nonprofit organizations without fear of harassment.

In the Internet Age, where doxing ones opponents has led to job loss, boycotts, ostracization, and violence, the fear of such repercussions should ones charitable contributions become public could be enough to stymy giving, leaving the personal beliefs of many Americans to go unrepresented in the public square, a Thomas More Law Center statement reads.
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Imagine a world where basic historical facts are contested daily, individuals who challenge the status quo are erased or canceled from society, and challenging viewpoints are crimes punishable by death. In George Orwells novel 1984, Winston Smiths world of Oceania is a bleak, totalitarian dystopia demanding uniformity of thought, societal conformity, and most of all, allegiance and love for Big Brother. Every day, Winston clocks into his job at the Ministry of Truth in the Records Department and sets about his one task  to rewrite history to fit the narrative of the day.

Reality, it seems, is often stranger than fiction. The term Orwellian has become a commonly used cliche, and yet the themes in 1984 are hitting increasingly close to home. In 2021, massive tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Amazon have become bullies that can promote, campaign for, rewrite the facts, or silence whomever they please. In the name of curbing misinformation, Silicon Valley has exercised unchecked power over a social media-steeped society, assuming a position of authority for which Americans never cast their ballots in favor of.

1984s Big Brother and 2021s Big Tech have a lot in common  silencing dissenting voices and viewpoints through censorship. Orwells dystopian government implemented principles such as doublethink (rewriting facts, even if contradictory) and crimestop(halting dissenting views in their tracks) to curb those who questioned Big Brothers authority. Notably, Big Tech monopolies have been on a run recently of suppressing conservative voices and ideas as their executive leadership, philanthropy records and policies conveniently favor the mainstream, progressive narrative. Increasingly, viewpoints deemed not politically correct are purged from social media platforms and dissenting opinions are removed  or given a glaring Fact-checkers deem this information false tag.

Since the start of 2020, Big Techs efforts to control political and cultural narratives have been startlingly dystopian. Non-partisan fact checkers label posts about COVID-19, elections, debates, speeches and vaccines as false, partially false or simply misinformation, despite the fact that many of these issues are currently under debate and discussion from a variety of angles and between experts. For example, in the most publicized story, several social media platforms ousted the sitting president of the United States from his accounts for content they disagreed with. Amazon intercepted the marketing of Irreversible Damage, a book by investigative reporter Abigail Shrier that criticized the transgender movement. They even went so far as to entirely remove a similarly critical book by Ryan T. Anderson, When Harry Became Sally. Conservative pundits and outlets such as Live Action, The Babylon Bee and LifeSiteNews have seen their accounts, viewership and content suspended or attacked by the fact-checking bots. These represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attacks on free speech.

In tandem with Big Techs influence and moderation power, social media users have watched a destructive trend emerge as angry internet mobs target and cancel individuals for expressing ideas that push against progressivism and political correctness. Armed with pitchforks in hand and ready for a witch hunt, cancel culture has led to many unpersons (to use 1984 Newspeak lingo referring to erasing a deviant individuals existence) finding themselves on the receiving end of collective internet hatred in the form of doxxing, threats and reports for removal by the Tech platforms. In Orwells novel, Winston and his colleagues participated in a daily "Two Minutes Hate," a short propaganda video intended to rile up the audience against their political opponents and their ideologies, with the purpose of solidifying their love and allegiance to Big Brother. The destructive power of cancel culture has been in its ability to maliciously turn people against one another and create fear of public dialogue or debate, stirring hatred against politically and ideologically deviant friends, followers and public figures.

Over the last two years, the actions of Big Tech have generated a lot of controversy controversy that is sure to escalate as censorship affects more and more Americans. Thankfully, there are members of Congress, governors of states and other leaders who are willing to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. Conservatives must ensure that government protects our fundamental right to free speech, and that society cultivates our ability to dialogue, disagree and hold varying opinions. The First Amendment protects the rights of all Americans to speak their mind free of government coercion, regardless of which side of the aisle they fall on. This freedom is worth protecting.

As modern-day Orwellian doublethink and crimestop threaten our basic freedoms, we must take a stand. Unlike the grim totalitarian world of Oceania and Big Brother, Americans ought to be able to express a diversity of opinions, thoughts and stances, political or otherwise, without fear of erasure by Big Tech.

Originally published at Family Research Council.
'Jesus is worth it': Ontario church fined additional $85K for worship service, violating lockdown orders

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A Canadian pastor whose church has been fined over $80,000 a second time for holding a worship service during Ontario's ongoing restrictions on church gatherings said: "Jesus is worth it."

Trinity Bible Chapel, a Waterloo-based church, was sentenced Tuesday for a worship service it held in April that violated provincial restrictions on in-person gatherings in response to COVID-19.

Justice John Krakchenko ordered the church and its leaders to pay $85,000 in fines after finding the church in contempt of court, according to Kitchener Today.

This includes a $35,000 fine for the church itself, $10,000 fines for Pastors Jacob Reaume and Will Schuurman, and other leaders of the congregation each being fined $7,500.

Reaume posted a statement to the church's website Tuesday, explaining that while an appeal for the contempt charges is unlikely and they will likely have to pay the fine, Jesus is worth it.

 worship services are not ours to give up. They belong to Jesus. He purchased His worship with the price of His own blood, wrote Reaume.

Not only do we rejoice that our extravagant worship services have given us the opportunity to lead many people to Jesus, as it seems we learn of new people every week who have been saved during this time of persecution, but also now our extravagant worship services have furnished the opportunity to bear witness to the worthiness of Christ before the Superior Court of Ontario.

Reaume added that his church intends no disrespect to our courts or civil magistrates, but rather they only wish to assert in word and deed that Christ is King of kings, Lord of lords, and Judge of judges.

Those who are in authority have a derived authority, and that derived authority comes from God. It has been and will continue to be the detriment of our nation to fail to recognize as much, he continued.

The congregation continues to hold outdoor worship services as the government locked them out of their church building in April due to their refusal to adhere to provincial lockdown orders.

Trinity Bible Chapel was previously fined $83,000 in February for violating Section 10.1 of the Reopening Ontario Act, which limited in-person services to 10 people, either indoors or outdoors.

According to its website, accessed Thursday morning, the Ontario government is reporting that the province is on Step 3 of their reopening plan, known as Roadmap to Reopen.

This means that at least 70% of the adult population has had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while at least 25% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated.

As part of Step 3, outdoor social gatherings and events can have up to 100 people, indoor social gatherings and events can have up to 25 people, and indoor religious services are permitted with physical distancing.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG) on Monday reported a key measure of profitability in its second quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $29 million, or 34 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 32 cents per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had a loss of $242,000, or less than 1 cent on a per-share basis.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $69.5 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $67.6 million.

Kite Realty Group expects full-year funds from operations to be $1.29 to $1.35 per share.

The company's shares have increased 33% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Monday, shares hit $19.87, more than doubling in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KRG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KRG
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Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he would support subpoenas for anyone who has information regarding the January 6th attack on the Capitol, including Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Trump sycophant Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

The congressman, one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, said he wants to know who spoke to former president Donald Trump that day and what was said.

I would support subpoenas to anybody that can shed light on that. If thats the leader, thats the leader. If its anybody that talked to the president that can provide us that information, I want to know what the president was doing every moment of that day, Kinzinger told ABC News on Sunday.

Both McCarthy and Jordan have publicly admitted to speaking with Trump on January 6th.

In May, Liz Cheney, (R-Wyo.), who is also on the House select committee, said McCarthy should absolutely testify, saying, I wouldnt be surprised if he were subpoenaed.

And in February, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) said that McCarthy told her that he spoke to Trump on January 6th and asked him to call off the riot.

During her opening statement of the House select committees query last week, Cheney said every conversation the former president had that day was relevant to the investigation.

We cannot leave the violence of January 6thand its causesuninvestigated. The American people deserve the full and open testimony of every person with knowledge of the planning and preparation for January 6th, Cheney said. We must know what happened here at the Capitol. We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White Houseevery phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during, and after the attack.

Kinzinger also had a question for some of his Republican colleagues who oppose the select committees investigation and who claim the attack wasnt a big deal: What are you afraid of?

If anybody is scared of this investigation, I ask you one question, What are you afraid of?  Kinzinger said. I mean, either youre afraid of being discovered of having some culpability in it or, you know, what? If you think it wasnt a big deal, then you should allow this to go forward.

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Maybe it's the Texas in us that would assume everyone outside of statelines would be excited to have a Whataburger.

That wasn't entirely the case in Colorado Springs, where Whataburger announced it is planning on opening a location.

News broke Wednesday and to say not everyone was enthusiastic would be an undercooked statement.

RELATED: Simone Biles' Houston home is swamped with sausage pizza

One person threatened to call the police, another called it "crap." We are equally confused and maybe just a little hurt.

Whataburger confirmed the news to Colorado Springs news outlets in a statement on Tuesday saying the company is "excited" to expand.

MORE FOOD: Houston's most in-demand dessert is hidden behind riddles

While some of the reception was met with negativity, there were some fans who reciprocated the energy, especially from transplants who can't wait to get a taste of home in Colorado.

Whataburger did not release an opening date for the Colorado Springs location. The Texas favorite also recently announced a four-restaurant expansion into Kansas City. Those locations are expected to open by this fall.

If you want to feel like you're in an alternate universe where Whataburger does not reign supreme, keep scrolling.
Imagine this: A brash, rich, overly ambitious guy from Connecticut feels so slighted about getting snubbed for a promotion that he decides to double cross his boss  whos also one of this unlikeable fellows few friends  and almost gets away with it except his message falls into the wrong hands.

No, its not a plotline from the upcoming season of Billions involving hedge funds, millions of dollars and a misdirected email.

Were talking American history and Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, whose infamous fall from American hero to turncoat played out in the Hudson Valley 241 years ago this summer. Hes the guy we all love to hate, who we know to be a traitor for trying to give West Point to the British. But hes a more layered villain than that.

An upcoming documentary produced, written, and directed by a trio from the Capital Region to be released this fall seeks to peel back some of those layers to get at the heart of one of historys most complicated characters.

Were trying to let people understand that his contributions to the independence movement far outweigh the consequences of his later change of allegiance, said filmmaker Tom Mercer, who grew up in Saratoga Springs and lives in Colonie.

Hes such a go-getter

To really understand Arnold, who was regarded as a fierce warrior and skilled leader of the Continental Army, its best to start at the beginning.

The son of a Connecticut businessman whose alcoholism left his wife and children destitute, Arnold was obsessed with restoring his family name. Intelligent, driven and brash, Arnolds sense of honor was offended easily and often. He was a successful maritime merchant before the war, and his forceful demeanor and drive often ticked off his peers.

Hes a no-nonsense guy, said James Kirby Martin, whose 1997 book, Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Hero Reconsidered, serves as the primary source for the documentary film. If hes going to do something, he does it. George Washington liked him. Others didnt. Some were jealous of him because hes such a go-getter. Some people just dont like that.

Yes, Arnold had baggage. But he was also pretty brilliant, a quality that some historians say gets overlooked in favor of the traitorous stuff.

This guy was kind of a natural at military tactics without having any formal military training, said Patrick K. ODonnell, author of a dozen books on American military history. Arnold had the right sense of when to attack and when to defend.

That innate ability to envision a battle plan, coupled with his logistical skills and lead-from-the-front mentality, made Arnold a formidable opponent. The British discovered this between May 1775 and October 1777 when Arnold, among other accomplishments, co-commanded the force that captured Fort Ticonderoga without firing a single shot, and when he charged enemy lines at Saratoga  an act of bravery that changed the course of the second battle there and ultimately led to the British surrender.

His triumphs were many, but Arnold felt he never received enough credit, especially at Saratoga, where the American commander, Gen. Horatio Gates, glommed most of the glory despite staying away from the actual fighting.

Was Gates spotlight the last straw for Arnold? No, but it was one of many slights that led to his turning traitor, Martin said.

He had given his all short of being killed, and he thought: is it worth it? said Martin, emeritus professor of history, University of Houston.

Peggy Shippen and West Point enter stage left

A widower with three young sons being raised by his sister in Connecticut, Arnold was nearly crippled by leg wounds suffered at Quebec City and Saratoga. In 1778, he accepted Washingtons appointment as military governor of Philadelphia.

By then, Arnolds devotion to the American cause was already wobbly. His disillusionment intensified in Philadelphia, where he became the target of local radical patriot leaders who loathed him, especially after he married Margaret Peggy Shippen, whose loyalist leanings were no secret in a city recently occupied by the British. One of her previous acquaintances was John Andre, a handsome British officer who would emerge as a key player in Arnolds downfall.

Vivacious and beautiful, Shippen was 18 to Arnolds 37 when they met. They married in April 1779. Soon after, Arnold wrote to the British commander in New York City offering his services to the Crown. Did Shippen push him to become a traitor? Some historians, including Martin, dismiss scenarios depicting Shippen as Eve to Arnolds Adam.

The story goes that he was [a] puppy dog in love with this beautiful teenager and would do anything she wanted, he said. I think thats a nice story, and I think its part of the myth that surrounds Arnold.

The historian argues that Arnolds abandonment of the American cause for independence from Great Britain was the result of years of abuse from two main sources: the Continental Congress and a cabal of his fellow American officers.

The revolutions political leaders controlling military promotions and spending stiffed Arnold, despite his crippling wounds suffered in battle. And several fellow officers he served with in various campaigns perpetuated enough backstabbing, rumors and outright lies against Arnold to fill up several seasons of Survivor.

In 1780, Arnold asked Washington for an appointment as commander of the American defenses at West Point, on the Hudson River 45 miles north of Manhattan. West Point, bristling with artillery and manned by thousands of Continental troops, was considered the Gibraltar of the Hudson because it prevented the British from venturing upriver to Albany and thereby blocking off New England from the other colonies. Washington was eager to reward Arnold with such a key posting.

Washington thought he was giving Arnold a prize when he gave Arnold command of the Hudson Highlands Department, which included West Point, said Army Col. James M. Johnson (Retired), executive director and military historian for the Hudson River Valley Institute, based at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

But Arnold had every intention of turning over that prize to the British, Johnson said. Just weeks after arriving at West Point in early August 1780, Arnold gave Andre, the officer he met through his wife, a signed pass that allowed the British spy  traveling as John Anderson  to move through American lines. Arnold also handed over plans of West Points extensive defenses.

The West Point plan goes awry

The British, armed with information and access from Arnold, couldve launched a renewed effort to capture West Point at a time when the focus of the war had shifted to the southern colonies, where the Continental Army was barely hanging on.

Instead, Arnolds scheme to hand West Point over to the redcoats for 20,000 English pounds was derailed on Sept. 25, 1780, when Andre, making his way south to British positions, was stopped on the Albany Post Road, now Route 9W, near Tarrytown by three New York militiamen. The trio searched Andre and found several papers stuffed into his boot, including the pass signed by Arnold.

Busted.

The militiamen took Andre to their superior officers, setting in motion a flurry of activity that resulted in Arnold bolting from his breakfast table once he realized his treachery had been discovered. After a hasty conversation with his wife, who was with him and their 6-month-old son at their home in Garrison across from West Point, Arnold told his aides he had to head over to West Point and made his escape to a waiting British warship anchored on the Hudson.

When Washington and his entourage arrived for a planned meeting with Arnold, Shippen feigned a meltdown, giving her husband time to make his getaway. When Washington learned what had transpired, he was stunned. Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, the true hero of Saratoga, had gone over to the other side.

In a dispatch Washingtons headquarters sent out to nearby American outposts, Arnolds treachery was deemed Treason of the Blackest dye.

Andre was tried as a spy, convicted and hung in Tappan in Rockland County on Oct. 2, 1780.

Arnold, reunited with Shippen and their son, led British troops in attacks against American positions in Virginia and his home state of Connecticut, but they had no impact on the outcome of the war.

He and his family left for London in late 1781. They later moved to Canada for a time before returning to England. Benedict Arnold died in London on June 14, 1801.

Telling the story of a hero-turned-traitor

John Carl D'Annibale

A shared love of New Yorks Revolutionary War history led filmmaker Mercer to partner with Anthony Vertucci, the films other co-producer and writer, and director Chris Stearns on the Arnold film starting in 2002.

Stearns said he, Mercer and Vertucci were hanging out at Mercers camp one day when they first started talking about Arnold, and how each felt he hadnt been given his due as far as his early heroics for America were concerned.

We compared notes and said, Gee, theres something to this, Stearns said. When you really look at the totality of what he did in that early period, its hard to deny what he did for this nation.

Filming of Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed, which is targeting a November 2021 release on cable and streaming platforms, has occurred on and off since then, with more scenes added when money became available.

Narrated by actor Martin Sheen and starring Peter OMeara (Band of Brothers) as Arnold in re-enactments, the two-hour documentary includes commentary by prominent historians and combines live-action footage of battle re-enactments with computer-generated special effects to depict actions fought on land and water.

The film seeks to balance what is widely known about Arnold  his scheming treason  with what is less known, chiefly his military service on behalf of the Continental Army.

I feel Benedict Arnold's life deserves a fresh look because his story is so much more interesting than the public perception of him, Mercer said. His story is an exciting action-adventure wrapped in heroic tragedy. What more could a filmmaker ask for?

--

Mechanicville-born Chris Carola is a freelance writer living in Saratoga Springs. He worked 37 years in daily journalism, the last 31 as an Albany-based reporter for The Associated Press.
Looking to put a fresh spin on things as kids head back to class after last year's patchwork of remote and in-person learning?

Start with a perfectly them lunch container and other on-the-go eating and drinking gear. There are lots of stylish and sustainable options, given the creative ways that lunch foods (and the way we tote them) have changed in recent years.

Back in the day, a typical lunch being unpacked in the cafeteria might have consisted of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, some cookies, maybe a few carrot sticks or a bag of chips. These days, the food in packed lunches is much more diverse, as are the containers.

Bento boxes, lidded bowls, insulated totes  its easy to find the right vessel for your food.

One focus now is on Earth-friendly products: Single-use plastics are being subbed out for reusable versions. It's up to us, parents, to train the next generation to remember to bring everything home to wash and reuse!

You can find portioned boxes in all kinds of styles and all kinds of price points. Rubbermaid makes a no-frills version with a reliably tight lid. OXO has a leakproof Prep & Go divided container in their well-loved Good Grips collection.

The world of bento boxes continues to grow. Bentgo's assortment included brightly hued, BPA-Free bentos in various sizes and configurations, as well as leak-proof, stain-resistant glass bento boxes.

Mepal offers minimalist, lightweight bento boxes in a flurry of cheerful colors. Bright, insulated OmieBoxes are geared for younger kids, with a small thermos tucked inside. You can choose if you want to keep foods hot, cold or a combination.

Some of these boxes have movable compartments or mix-and-match containers which can be filled with anything from pasta salad to dal to edamame.

But these days, many people are thinking outside the (lunch)box. Porter makes modern, sleek, reusable lunch bowls in plastic, ceramic and silicone-wrapped glass. Mepal also makes a variety of insulated lunch vessels, as does Cheeki  perfect for keeping soups and stews and what-have-you warm until lunch.

Onyx makes stainless-steel ice packs filled with water and safe to be packed next to food, so lunch can stay cold but not get soggy.

And staying hydrated has never been so stylish  your water bottle is practically an accessory at this point!

Klean Kanteen has a crazy variety of durable drink containers  did you know all the ways you can sip a drink? Pick from the chug cap, twist cap, cafe cap, sippy cap and more, and each style comes in up to 11 colors.

Porters smart-looking water bottle comes in silicone-wrapped glass with a host of pattern choices, such as the singular, speckly Limited edition Terrazzo Collection. Takeya also makes a wide range of options in a rainbow of colors.

As for lunch totes, choose anything from cute to urban chic. For older kids (or adults), consider the cool, waxed-canvas options, especially those made by family makers. Vermont-based Red House makes handmade and sturdy, lined, waxed-canvas totes in muted colors like Ash Grey and Forest Green. Or seek out Peg & Awl, based out of Philadelphia; their satisfying, waxed-canvas Marlow Lunchbags have a little pocket so the lunch packer can leave a note for the lunch eater.

Sets of stainless-steel cutlery in little carry boxes are available from companies such as OXO, Porter and Mepal. Reusable chopsticks in sleek little containers of their own can be found online, or at Asian housewares stores.

Metal and silicone straws abound for those who cant give up the straw. ( Zoku makes reusable straws that telescope out for easy packing, including a jumbo pocket straw specifically for bubble tea.)

Ditch the plastic wrap for multi-use, washable, beeswax food-safe wrappers, such as the ones made by Prepara or Bees Wrap. They come in different sizes, patterns and styles. Bees Wrap also makes a vegan, plant-based food wrap.

The warmth of your hands allows the wrap to mold around your food and seal; when the food is eaten, just wash and reuse the wrap (which is also great for storing things in the fridge).

Skip plastic bags in favor of more durable, reusable bags. Stasher makes platinum silicone storage bags that are safe for the dishwasher, microwave, freezer and even the oven. They come in many shapes, sizes, patterns, and colors, easy to toss in a tote bag or lunch box.

Zip Top also makes endlessly reusable platinum silicone containers that stand upright in different shapes, like bags, cups and dishes.

Whatever's for lunch, there is clearly a great way to transport it to school.

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Katie Workman writes frequently about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, Dinner Solved! and The Mom 100 Cookbook. She blogs at http://www.themom100.com/about-katie-workman. She can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.
CLEVELAND (AP)  Documents released Monday show that FirstEnergy Corp. paid Sam Randazzo tens of millions for years, including $4.3 million he received to help the utility shortly before he was nominated as Ohios top utility regulator.

The office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel released consulting contracts between FirstEnergy Corp. and the future chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Sam Randazzo, listing around $11 million in payments made to his company between 2013 and 2019.

As part of a deferred prosecution agreement made public a week ago, FirstEnergy said it paid Randazzo $22 million over the years, including the $4.3 million for his future work on FirstEnergy's behalf.

Randazzo would perform official action in his capacity as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to include passage of a nuclear bailout bill known as House Bill 6 and other FirstEnergy "legislative and regulatory priorities, as requested and as opportunities arose, according to the statement of facts signed by current CEO and President Steven Strah.

The statement said FirstEnergy had no legal obligation to make the payment.

To avoid criminal prosecution on a federal conspiracy charge, FirstEnergy has agreed to pay $230 million in penalties and abide by a lengthy list of provisions for the next three years.

The office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel sought copies of the consulting contracts as part of information requests and subpoenas submitted to FirstEnergy after then-U.S. Attorney David DeVillers announced the company had secretly funded a $60 million bribery scheme to get the tainted energy bill approved.

Our consumer protection investigation continues into any harms electric consumers suffered from the House Bill 6 scandal involving FirstEnergy," J.P. Blackwood, a spokesperson for Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bruce Weston said. "Unfortunately, progress has been slow.

FirstEnergy spokesperson Jennifer Young on Monday said: While were unable to comment on the contract in light of pending proceedings, we are carefully reviewing and revising our political activity and lobbying/consulting practices, including requiring robust disclosures about lobbying activities.

Randazzo denied wrongdoing in a statement released by his attorney last week. He has not been criminally charged.

I executed my duties as PUCO chair conscientiously, lawfully, and mindful of striking the right balance between competing interests," Randazzo said. "At no time prior to or after my appointment to the PUCO was I asked or did I agree to exercise authority as a public official or perform any official action in my capacity as chair to further FirstEnergys legislative, regulatory or other interests.

FirstEnergy made the payments to Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio Inc., of which Randazzo was the owner and sole employee.

The $4.3 million payment paid in January 2019 was for years 2019 through 2024 listed in the consulting contract. The consulting contract showed Randazzo was to be paid nearly $7 million from 2013 through 2018. It's unclear when and why the remaining $11 million was paid.

Randazzo resigned as utilities commission chair in November after FBI agents searched his Columbus townhome and FirstEnergy made public the $4.3 million payment in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Randazzo met with FirstEnergy Executive 1 and Executive 2 on Dec. 18, 2018, at his Columbus townhome, the day after he emailed Executive 2 and others an announcement that the utilities commission was seeking applications for an open seat.

It has not been disputed that Executive 1 is Chuck Jones, who was fired in October as CEO for violating company policies and its code of conduct. Executive 2 is one of two senior vice presidents who was fired with Jones, according to the statement of facts.

During the meeting, the three men discussed the remaining payments under the consulting agreement and Randazzo's utilities commission candidacy, according to the statement of facts.

The Dayton Daily News has reported that Jones and the other executive also met that night with DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who had been elected in November, for dinner in Columbus.

FirstEnergy executives then pushed for Randazzo's candidacy as commission chair, a position which would give Randazzo broad powers in regulating Ohio utilities. DeWine nominated him for the role in February 2019.

I knew he worked for FirstEnergy. What I knew was the relationship was over with, that would have been the important thing to me," DeWine told reporters a week ago, the day the deferred prosecution agreement was announced.

The statement of facts said Randazzo, along with FirstEnergy officials, helped write the 2019 bill that provided two Ohio nuclear power plants operated by a wholly owned FirstEnergy subsidiary with a $1 billion subsidy over six years.

The company had announced in March 2018 that it intended to close the plants. The subsidiary, FirstEnergy Solutions, filed for bankruptcy that same month.

Meanwhile, FirstEnergy was looking to avoid having to file a case to reset its rates in 2024 with the utilities commission, something Wall Street rating agencies said would hurt the companys bottom line.

In November 2019, Jones texted another company executive that the FE rescue project is not over.

Later that month, the utilities commission came through, concluding in an order that we find that is no longer necessary or appropriate for FirstEnergy's three Ohio electric companies to file a rate case in 2024.

In January, with Randazzo no longer at the commission, FirstEnergy was ordered to file a rate case in 2024.

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This story was first published Aug. 2, 2021. It was updated Aug. 4, 2021, to correct details of an email sent by former Ohio pubic utilities chair Sam Randazzo. Randazzo emailed a FirstEnergy Corp. executive and others an announcement that the commission was seeking applications for an open seat, not that he would apply for the seat.
Matias Delacroix/AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Gang violence that has left more than 19,000 people homeless in Haitis capital has now forced a Doctors Without Borders clinic to close, officials said Monday.

The emergency clinic in the Martissant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince had been operating for 15 years and served a community of some 300,000 people, the aid group said in a statement.
Astros legend J.R. Richard dead at 71 Richard was one of the most dominant pitchers before his career was cut short.

These refreshing Houston mango creations are perfect for summer When Houston is hot and steamy, cool off with a refreshing mango dish (or drink).
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Once a protege of Iran's supreme leader is sworn in as president this week, hard-liners will control all parts of the Islamic Republic's civilian government.

Given the brinkmanship over its accelerating nuclear program and the West alleging that Tehran launched a fatal drone attack targeting an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire last week, one might think that had already happened.

Iran's inauguration of President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday represents the last stop in a slow slide from the hopes that the 2015 nuclear deal would open the Islamic Republic to the West.

Instead, the country that Raisi takes over is now enriching small quantities of uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, interferes with international inspections of its nuclear sites and allegedly plotted to kidnap an exiled critic from the streets of Brooklyn. And Iran's own version of a maximum pressure" campaign may grow more intense in the short term.

Relations between Iran and the U.S. always remain anchored to the weight of their bitter recent history. For America, it began with the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and subsequent hostage crisis that transfixed a nation and doomed the presidency of Jimmy Carter. In Iran, the original sin remains the 1953 CIA-backed coup that toppled the country's prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi  lighting the long fuse for the Islamic Revolution.

There have been, however, brief moments when that tether eased. Then-President George H.W. Bush's outreach to Tehran  with his famous phrase goodwill begets goodwill in his 1989 inauguration  largely went unanswered. Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami tried to open a door to the U.S., only to find it quickly shut after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and as Bush's son put Tehran in his Axis of Evil.

The nuclear deal sought to end another escalatory cycle between Iran and the United States.

Under the accord, Tehran agreed to drastically limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions crushing its long-ailing economy. That cut off Iran from having enough nuclear material to make an atomic weapon if to chose to pursue one. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency would verify Tehran's compliance under its most-stringent inspection protocols.

The deal came under the administration of now-outgoing President Hassan Rouhani, a relatively moderate cleric within the theocracy. It showed that Iran's civilian government, though operating on a narrow bandwidth under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can affect how the rest of the world interacts with Iran.

The deal can and should herald a new era and lead to positive outcomes regarding the establishment of sustainable peace and stability in the region, Rouhani proudly told the U.N. General Assembly in 2015. From our point of view, the agreed-upon deal is not the final objective but a development which can and should be the basis of further achievements to come.

That wasn't to be the case. President Donald Trump in May 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the deal, citing the fact it dealt only with the nuclear program and not Iran's ballistic missile program nor its support of regional militias.

And by last week, Khamenei lectured Rouhani's outgoing administration on the deal's failings, saying: "In this government, it was shown that trust in the West does not work.

Iran began dialing up pressure in the region since the summer of 2019, when ships came under mysterious attacks that the U.S. Navy blamed on mines planted by Tehran. Iran also shot down an American drone and responded to the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad by launching a ballistic missile strike targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.

After a lull amid the coronavirus pandemic, Iran now appears to be going up-tempo yet again to challenge President Joe Biden, who has said he's willing to re-enter the atomic accord. Talks in Vienna, however, broke down in the waning days of the Rouhani administration.

We could have implemented the (deal) and lifted the sanctions, but we were stopped somewhere else, the outgoing Iranian president cryptically said Sunday.

During his campaign, Raisi said he wanted to re-enter the deal with his incoming strong government where the presidency, the judiciary and the parliament all are held by hard-liners like himself. What that would look like remains unclear, but Iranian hard-line newspapers such as Vatanemrooz printed a black-and-white funeral-style image of Rouhani on Monday, offering this take on his presidency: We neither forgive nor forget.

The push for a confrontational approach to the West is not likely to make Raisi blink. As a prosecutor early in his career, Raisi served on a so-called death panel deciding who would live or be executed in a purge that activists say saw as many as 5,000 people killed in 1988. He has loyally followed Khamenei and was rewarded at one point with the task of running a religious foundation in Iran with assets believed to be in the tens of billions of dollars. The Astan Quds Razavi Foundation owns almost half the land in Mashhad, Irans second-largest city.

The country's other branches of government already have signaled they will follow along if Raisi, once in office, decides to up the ante.

Iran's judiciary, which Raisi led in recent years, remains internationally criticized for its closed-door trials and executions. The parliament demands Iran's nuclear program move closer to weapons-grade levels while pursuing further censorship of the internet.

Whatever path he pursues on foreign policy, there is a danger lurking at home for Raisi. With all the levers of government at his fingertips, he will inherit the myriad of problems facing Iran that have sparked nationwide protests over recent years.

His response to that may prove just as important to how he handles the West.

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EDITORS NOTE  Jon Gambrell, the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press, has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
John Raoux/AP

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Twitter has signed a deal with The Associated Press and Reuters to help elevate accurate information on its platform. Twitter said Monday that the program will expand its existing work to help explain why certain subjects are trending on the site, to show information and news from trusted resources and to debunk misinformation.

Twitter said the news agencies will help ensure that credible information is available in real time around key conversations as they come up. That will be especially important where "facts are in dispute or when the company's own curation team doesnt have the necessary expertise or access to enough reputable reporting on the subject, Twitter said.
TOKYO (AP)  Japan's government said a Belarus track sprinter was safe Monday after she alleged her Olympic team tried to remove her from Japan in a dispute that led to a standoff at Tokyos main airport.

An activist group supporting Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she believed her life was in danger in Belarus and she would seek asylum with the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo.

Japanese government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters that Japan was cooperating with other organizations to take appropriate measures, and confirmed that Tsimanouskaya was safe. The Foreign Ministry said Japan was working with the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympics organizers.

Tsimanouskaya said in a filmed message distributed on social media that she was pressured by Belarus team officials and asked the IOC for help.

I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent, the 24-year-old runner said.

Tsimanouskaya, who is due to run in the Olympic 200-meter heats Monday, criticized Belarus team officials on her Instagram account. She said shed been put in the 4x400 relay despite never racing the event.

The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation said government supporters targeted the athlete, and Tsimanouskaya contacted the group for help to avoid what she feared was a forced deportation to Minsk.

The campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in Belarus, Alexander Opeikin, a spokesman for the BSSF, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Tsimanouskaya summoned Japanese police at Haneda Airport and did not board a flight departing for Istanbul. Foreign ministry officials arrived later at the airport, Opeikin said.

In a statement released by the BSSF, Tsimanouskaya said she was in a police station early Monday morning.

"I explained the situation to a police officer of how I was taken from the Olympic Village," she said. Now I am in a secure situation and am figuring out the question of where I will spend the night.

The IOC, which has been in dispute with the Belarus National Olympic Committee ahead of the Tokyo Games, said it had intervened.

The IOC  is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC for clarification, it said in a statement.

Belarus' neighbor, Poland, where many critics of the Minsk regime have come to live, offered help to Tsimanouskaya. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter that Tsimanouskaya has been offered a humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses.

The Belarus National Olympic Committee has been led for more than 25 years by authoritarian state president Alexander Lukashenko and his son, Viktor.

Both Lukashenkos are banned from the Tokyo Olympics by the IOC, which investigated complaints from athletes that they faced reprisals and intimidation in fallout from protests since last August after the country's disputed presidential election.

A spokeswoman for the Belarus Olympic team did not respond to a request for comment.

Tsimanouskaya was taken to a safe place and would ask for asylum from the Austrian embassy, Opeikin said.

Tsimanouskaya already competed for Belarus on the first day of track events Friday at the National Stadium in Tokyo. She placed fourth in her first-round heat in the 100 meters, timing 11.47 seconds, and did not advance.

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Kozin reported from Moscow.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (AP)  The body of a California man who apparently drowned in Bullhead City was recovered Monday, authorities said.

Mohave County Sheriffs officials said a citizen spotted the body in shallow water near an apartment building and notified Bullhead City police.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee state trooper testified Monday that he saw his former colleague on the force yank the mask off a protester last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic, refuting the former officer's denial before a judge advanced the misdemeanor assault charge against him.

Nashville General Sessions Judge William Higgins sent the case against former Trooper Harvey Briggs to a grand jury after Monday's preliminary hearing, which included testimony from the protester whom Briggs is accused of assaulting, Andrew Golden, and Trooper Brian Carmouche, who said he watched Briggs pull the mask off Golden's face.

Prosecutors also played Golden's widely circulated recording of the August 2020 incident, which shows Goldens mask on the ground but didnt capture Briggs removing it, and when Golden said the trooper ripped off his mask Briggs denied doing so on camera.

I just saw (Briggs) pull (Golden's) mask off, and throw it in the grass, said Carmouche, who said he saw the incident from 75 or 100 feet (23 to 30 meters) away. Carmouche has previously told department investigators he was 110% sure of what he observed, records show.

Briggs' attorney, Dana McLendon, focused on derogatory comments about the police on social media made by Golden, saying if he had those views about police then "he might lie about this one particular police officer. Golden responded that he didn't see how it wasn't relevant to him telling the truth or not.

The encounter between Briggs and Golden happened last summer as lawmakers reconvened inside the state Capitol for a session in which they passed legislation threatening felony charges for protesters who camp out on state property amid the sustained outcry for racial justice nationwide.

Carmouche said he and another trooper were addressing a traffic stop before he saw Briggs take the mask off Golden.

Golden was recording the traffic stop when Briggs, who was nearby but not involved, scolded Golden for cursing and told him not to impede the scene.

The video shows Briggs, unmasked, getting up close to Goldens face. Golden then says on camera that Briggs ripped off his mask, and shows the mask on the ground nearby. I did not, Briggs responds. Im tired of you people making stuff up.

After Briggs encounter with the protester, he was fired and charged criminally. He sued the state this spring over his firing.

Briggs' notice of termination as a trooper also says security footage of the incident from the nearby Tennessee State Library & Archives supports the claim that Briggs took off Golden's mask.

In the lawsuit challenging Briggs' firing, his attorney repeats Briggs' claim that he didn't pull the mask off Golden, saying it did not appear in the video nor on videos from cameras situated on various structures in the Capitol parking area.

Surveillance footage of the incident provided by the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security is grainy, but appears to show Briggs' arm reach toward Golden's face, prompting Golden to stumble backward.

Additionally, Briggs' personnel file shows that over his 22-year career with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, he had been suspended for 17 days without pay for several infractions before the mask incident.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP)  A Rhode Island woman charged with striking and killing a dog walker and then driving away from the scene was sentenced Monday to serve four years in prison.

Shannon Holden, 27, of Coventry, was charged with failure to stop at an accident, death resulting, in the July 3, 2017, death of Sarah Balmforth in Exeter, The Providence Journal reported.
BLY, Ore. (AP)  Firefighters in Oregon reported good progress in the battle against the nation's largest wildfire, while authorities canceled evacuation orders near a major blaze in Northern California and another on Hawaii's Big Island.

Containment of the Bootleg Fire in remote southern Oregon was up to 84% late Sunday. It was 56% contained a day earlier.

That reflects several good days of work on the ground where crews have been able to reinforce and build additional containment lines, fire spokesman Al Nash said.

The blaze has scorched over 646 square miles (1,673 square kilometers) since being sparked by lightning July 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

California's Dixie Fire covered nearly 388 square miles (1,005 square kilometers) in mountains where 42 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

The fire was 33% contained Sunday evening, and evacuation orders and warnings had earlier been lifted for several areas of Butte and Plumas counties.

The cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Authorities warned that with unpredictable winds and extremely dry fuels, the risk of flare-ups remained high.

In recent days, lightning sparked two wildfires that threatened remote homes in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Evacuation warnings remained in place Sunday for communities along the Trinity River.

In Montana, a wind-driven wildfire destroyed more than a dozen homes, outbuildings and other structures, authorities said Sunday. Evacuations were ordered after flames jumped a highway and moved toward communities near Flathead Lake in the northwestern part of the state.

Crews also battled major blazes in northeast Washington and northern Idaho.

Nearly 22,000 firefighters and support personnel were battling 91 large, active wildfires covering 2,813 square miles (7,285 square kilometers) in mostly western states, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported last week that while a robust monsoon has delivered drought-easing rainfall to the Southwest, critically dry conditions persist across Northern California and the Northwest, where there has been an expansion of exceptional drought, the worst category.

Dry conditions and powerful winds made for dangerous fire conditions in Hawaii. A wind advisory was issued Sunday for portions of Lanai, Maui and the Big Island.

A fast-moving wildfire on Hawaiis Big Island grew to 62.5 square miles (101 square kilometers), prompting mandatory evacuation orders. Those orders  which forced thousands of residents out of their homes  were lifted Sunday evening. However, authorities told residents to remain alert.

County officials ask all residents of the affected areas to only return home if absolutely necessary, Hawaii County spokesperson Cyrus Johnasen said in a statement. Smoke and other conditions may make returns unsafe for those with prior and underlying respiratory conditions.

Local media reported at least two homes had been destroyed. Two community shelters were open for residents who weren't able to return home, the Hawaii Red Cross said.
ONEIDA, Tenn. (AP)  Visitors to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area can enjoy some free camping this week to celebrate the first anniversary of the signing of the Great American Outdoors Act.

The park will offer free backcountry camping permits as well as free camping at Alum Ford Campground on Wednesday. Alum Ford Campground is in the Kentucky portion of the park, 7 miles west of Whitley City.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin's largest physicians organization is urging all health care organizations to require that their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Despite the pleas for voluntary vaccinations, Wisconsin and the nation continue to see dramatic increases in coronavirus infections, primary due to the spread of the delta variant among those who are unvaccinated.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's Cabinet advanced a national budget on Monday for the first time since 2018 in a sign of stability for the country's fragile new government.

The 120-member Knesset must still approve the two-year spending plan by November to avoid dissolving the government and new elections.

A failure to agree on a budget was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the previous government, led by Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu. That resulted in new elections early this year that ultimately put Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in charge of an eight-party coalition spanning the political spectrum.

Israel is returning to work, Bennett said after an all-night session. He said the 2021-2022 spending plan reflects concern for all citizens of Israel and does not serve any narrow sectorial interest.

The Cabinet's approval of the spending plan is no guarantee the parliament will approve the budget, but it is another step toward avoiding new elections.

The coalition government is delicately balanced, including far-right and far-left parties as well as an Arab party. With a narrow 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament, a host of issues, ranging from economic policies to dealing with the Palestinians, could threaten the fragile alliance at any time.

Under the agreement, Bennett, a leader of Israel's settlement movement, would remain prime minister for two years while centrist Yair Lapid serves as foreign minister. Lapid would then ascend to the top post.

Bennett said the agreement is a sign that this government would deal with the public and not itself. And in a nod to talks between now and the November deadline for passage, he added: Good luck to us all.

Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute and a former member of the Knesset, said his think tank's research shows people of all religious and political stripes are judging the new coalition primarily on its management of the economy and the coronavirus pandemic.

Advancing the budget, Plesner said, shows the new coalition lines up with those pragmatic goals. The move also makes it harder for Netanyahu to sustain the narrative that the Bennett-Lapid coalition is temporary and destined to fail.

His hand is limited, and that means that its more likely that the budget will indeed pass, Plesner said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) 

Louisville officials are requiring masks in government buildings, prompted by a rise in COVID-19 cases.

The new Metro Government policy takes effect Monday. It also extends to city-owned vehicles when another person is present. The city said the policy applies to everyone, regardless of their vaccinated status.

Kentucky's largest city has seen a tripling of cases over the last three weeks, the city said in a release.

This is an urgent step to halt this pandemic of the unvaccinated, Mayor Greg Fischer said. "Our community must once again work together so that we can we move forward  not backward  against this dastardly virus.

The mayor also urged other Louisville employers to recommend masking.

The mayor's office said about 47% of Louisville residents are fully vaccinated and 55% have received at least one shot.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday downplayed the abysmal turnout for a national referendum on pursuing ex-presidents for alleged wrongdoing during their administrations.

Only 7% of Mexicos eligible voters participated Sunday, but the president preferred to focus on the fact that more than 6 million voted, declaring it a triumph. Nine out of 10 voted yes on the question.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Mississippi's department of health reported Monday that the state saw almost 5,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend as the virus surges statewide.

That's an increase of more than six times the number of new cases  796  reported three weeks ago on July 12.

Delta surge accelerating quickly  please be safe and protect your family, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted.

The state of around 3 million people has seen almost 350,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. The increase in new cases, predominately the highly contagious delta variant, comes as schools across the state prepare to return to the classroom for the start of classes.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says he won't require students or teachers in K-12 schools to wear masks. Many schools have chosen to do so anyway.

Around a week after the board of trustees for the Oxford School District decided to make masks optional for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff, Oxford School District superintendent Bradley Roberson announced in a letter sent out to families Saturday that masks will now be required in school.

The Oxford Eagle reports that masks for all students and staff will be required at least between Aug. 2 and Aug. 20. The district will continue to assess the situation as the school year progresses. Teachers returned to their classrooms on Monday. Students start school on Friday.

As education leaders, we have all seen the negative impact last school year has had on student learning which is why an overwhelming majority of districts across our state have been determined to open schools with as much normal school operations as possible, Roberson wrote in his letter. Unfortunately, in recent days we have learned from some of our district friends from around the state who have already started school that a normal return may not provide us with the best opportunity to keep kids in school.

Districts like Gulfport School District and Jackson Public School District are requiring masks. The issue is more contentious in other districts, however.

A Lowndes County School District board meeting last week was attended by protestors holding signs that read, Mask Choice, Masks Optional or Our Bodies, Our Choice.

The board voted 4-1 during that meeting to make masks optional. Superintendent Sam Allison said the district will require mask-wearing on buses and will strongly encourage and have masks available for unvaccinated students and staff in school buildings.

We can debate mask wearing, but I dont want to do that, said Allison, according to the Commercial Dispatch. "Were going to start the year with no requirement. Hopefully, well continue to be safe and healthy.

At the meeting, board members dictated a requirement of a 10-day quarantine at home if unvaccinated members of the school community are exposed to the virus. They also have the option of remaining at school, but they must take a negative rapid test every two days for 10 days.

Vaccinated students who come in close contact with someone who tests positive do not have to quarantine, unless they have symptoms.

The rule angered some parents in the crowd, who said unvaccinated and vaccinated children shouldn't be treated differently. Some also expressed concerns about finding child care if their children was forced to quarantine.

Valerie Riley, who held the Our Bodies, Our Choice sign, said her children would not be vaccinated or tested for the virus.

I refuse to get something stuck up my childs nose just so they can come back and be educated, Riley said, according to the Dispatch. My kids should not pay the price for not being vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. released a statement Monday that he would be quarantining for the next five days while sick with the virus.

After being administered two COVID-19 tests, the first of which was negative, my physician has confirmed that the second test was positive, he said.

Flaggs said he is looking forward to a quick recovery and that he plans to return to work in a week. Vicksburg is a city of around 22,000.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  A state senator in Montana pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer after a late-night traffic stop in May during which he threatened to call the attorney general and argued he couldnt be arrested because he was on his way to legislative business.

Republican Sen. Jason Ellsworth of Hamilton, the Senate president pro tempore for the 2021 session, entered the plea during his initial appearance in Broadwater County Justice Court, the Montana State News Bureau reported.

Ellsworth will receive a one-year deferred sentence for the charge, meaning it will be wiped from his record if he remains law-abiding for the next year. He was also ordered to pay a $350 fine and an $85 surcharge.

Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson said Monday he had agreed to dismiss two other charges following the traffic stop  reckless driving and speeding.

Swanson told the Montana State News Bureau after the hearing that the plea agreement was similar to what he would have offered any other defendant in his district.

I dont want to treat anyone any better or anyone any worse because of their position, he said.

Ellsworth was stopped May 23 at about 10:20 p.m. while traveling to Helena. According to charging documents, a trooper recorded Ellsworth driving 88 mph (142 kph) in a 55 mph zone (88 kph).

After stopping the car, the trooper was printing out a warning when she saw Ellsworth get out of his car, court records said.

He had pulled up the state Constitution on his phone to show the officer where it states that members of the Legislature cannot be arrested while attending a legislative session or traveling to or returning from one, unless they are committing a felony or a breach of peace, the complaint said.

The session had concluded the month prior. Ellsworth attended a Legislative Council meeting at the state Capitol the morning after his traffic stop.

The trooper asked Ellsworth six times to go back to his car, during an exchange in which he said: If you want me to call the attorney general ... and the trooper replied, Go ahead and call him. Back to your car now.

Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who oversees the Department of Justice, which includes the highway patrol, called Ellsworth's actions inappropriate.

During Mondays court appearance, Ellsworth did not mention invoking the attorney general or legislative privilege, but offered an apology to the trooper for getting out of his car, saying it was "completely inappropriate.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  Gunmen on Monday shot and killed a police officer assigned to protect a polio vaccination team in northwestern Pakistan, an official said. It was the third attack in two days on Pakistani policemen assigned to protect polio workers.

The deadly attack took place in the town of Kolachi in the Dera Ismail Khan district. Officer Dilawar Khan was on his motorcycle, heading to escort polio workers taking part in a nationwide campaign aimed at making Pakistan a polio-free state.

The gunmen fled the scene and a police search is underway, according to Mohammad Aslam, a local police official.

Pakistani militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Two attacks targeted police working with polio teams on Sunday. In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, gunmen killed a policeman returning home after security duty with polio workers. And a roadside bomb went off near a police van escorting a polio vaccination team in the district of South Waziristan, wounding an officer.

None of the medics on the polio teams were hurt in these attacks. No one immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio is endemic, after Nigeria was last year declared free of the virus.

Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan's government launched another polio vaccination drive in an effort to eradicate the crippling disease by the end of the year. According to authorities, as many as 23.6 million children are to be vaccinated in this latest anti-polio drive.

On Sunday, Aimal Khan, a spokesman for the anti-polio program in northwestern Pakistan, said the vaccination effort would continue despite the challenges with some 17,000 trained workers going home to home to administer the vaccines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to Shahzad Baig, who leads the anti-polio effort, there has only been one reported case of polio so far in 2021 in Pakistan, compared to 66 during the same time last year. On Monday, Baig appealed on the parents to get their children vaccinated to protect them from the crippling disease.
LANDOVER, Md. (AP)  Two women are dead after a shooting in Landover over the weekend, Prince Georges County police said Monday.

Officers responding to a report of a shooting on Village Green Drive on Friday night found three women outside suffering from gunshot wounds, police said in a news release. One woman died on the scene a second died a short time later at a hospital, and a third womans injuries dont appear to be life-threatening, police said.
ELYRIA, Ohio (AP)  A man armed with a gun was shot and wounded early Monday by a police officer in a Cleveland suburb, authorities said.

The shooting in Elyria occurred around 3 a.m., shortly after a 911 caller reported that Darnell Delaney, 37, was causing a disturbance and threatening people on a city street.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Authorities in Las Vegas are searching for the suspect in a fatal stabbing outside a hookah lunge.

Police say they receive reports about a stabbing Sunday night in the parking lot of Sultan's Palace, which is inside a shopping complex.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday establishing a Permanent Forum of People of African Descent to provide expert advice on addressing the challenges of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.

The resolution adopted by consensus by the 193-member world body also calls for the forum to serve as a platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent and their full inclusion in the societies where they live.

The forums establishment comes during the International Decade for People of African Descent, established by the General Assembly, which began on Jan. 1, 2015, and ends on Dec. 31, 2024. It is focusing on the themes of recognition, justice and development.

The new body's creation comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of the controversial September 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The U.S. and Israel walked out during the meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism to racism.

That language was dropped in the final documents, which condemned and called for the eradication of the scourges of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. The documents also expressed deep regret at the human suffering caused by slavery, and acknowledged that slavery and the slave trade are crimes against humanity and should always have been so.

The resolution approved Monday by the General Assembly says that despite efforts to combat racism, instances and various forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance remain widespread and should be condemned.

The assembly said that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and have the potential to contribute constructively to the development and well-being of their societies.

Any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous and must be rejected, together with theories that attempt to determine the existence of separate human races, it said.

The assembly called the global fight against racism a matter of priority for the international community.

The Permanent Forum of People of African Descent was given a series of mandates. They include helping to ensure the full political, economic and social inclusion of people of African descent, and providing expert advice and recommendations on addressing racism to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the General Assemblys main committees and U.N. agencies.

The resolution said the forum will consist of 10 members  five elected by the General Assembly from all regions and five appointed by the Human Rights Council following consultations with regional groups and organizations of people of African descent.

It calls for the forums first session to take place in 2022. It also calls for annual reports to the assembly and the council on the forums activities, and an evaluation of its operation by the General Assembly after four sessions, based on an evaluation by the Human Rights Council.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  The entire Virginia General Assembly returned to the state Capitol for the first time in over a year Monday, kicking off a short special session to elect judges and adjust the state budget to account for billions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief money.

Some lawmakers wore masks and plexiglass shields were placed between each member of the House and Senate as a precaution against COVID-19, but Monday marked something of a return to business as usual. Legislators had not met indoors and in person since the 2020 regular session ended, with meetings in the meantime taking place virtually or in special event centers because of the pandemic.

I would like to start with two words: Welcome back, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn told her chamber to applause.

Over the course of about two weeks, legislators will be taking up a wide-ranging budget proposal crafted by Gov. Ralph Northam and fellow Democratic leaders. It calls for spending most of Virginia's $4.3 billion share of American Rescue Plan funding on initiatives such as increasing broadband access, supporting small businesses and tourism, improving air quality in public schools, boosting mental health and substance-abuse treatment, and backfilling the states unemployment trust fund.

The proposed budget also contains provisions that would offer some protections against evictions and utility disconnections, and it would help fund state agencies ongoing pandemic response efforts. Some funding would remain unallocated for later use.

Republicans, in the minority in both chambers, have complained that they were shut out of the budget-writing process.

Were not allowing all Virginians to be heard," Del. Bobby Orrock said in a speech on the House floor.

Del. Luke Torian, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, shot back that if Republicans wanted to weigh in, they needed only to reach out.

I have never shut the door," he said.

A meeting of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee proceeded with less divisiveness. The panel advanced the budget bill on a bipartisan 14-2 vote.

Theres a lot of good in this," said Sen. Emmett Hanger, a Republican from Augusta County.

The House Appropriations Committee approved the budget bill a short time later, also on a bipartisan vote, 19-2. The legislation now advances to the respective chambers, where members were expected to debate floor amendments.

Lawmakers will also be filling eight spots on the Court of Appeals this session, after legislation passed earlier this year expanded the intermediate court substantially. Democratic lawmakers involved in narrowing the pool of applicants to a short list had not made the candidates' names public as of Monday.

Sen. Scott Surovell said lawmakers are aiming for a diverse court, both demographically and professionally, with judges who have experience in various areas of the law.

Surovell said a committee hearing will be held once eight finalists have been certified, but no date has been set yet. At that hearing, lawmakers can question the candidates and members of the public will be allowed to testify.

We're making progress, Surovell said.

Last year, lawmakers approved a bill to expand the court from 11 to 17 judges. With one vacancy and a second judge announcing his retirement, lawmakers have a total of eight openings to fill.

The three-sided plexiglass enclosures placed between senators caused a bit of a stir, but Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant tried to lighten the mood by handing out colorful butterfly stickers for senators to decorate the shields.

I was not thrilled about being put in a box, so I decided to make the best of it, Dunnavant said. A little silliness, just trying to make fun of this situation a little bit, even though its serious.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP)  A Bellingham woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to a terrorist attack and violence against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway in northwestern Washington that investigators have suggested was motivated by opposition to the construction of a natural gas pipeline across British Columbia.

Samantha Frances Brooks and Ellen Brennan Reiche were each indicted with one count of terrorist attacks and other violence against a railroad carrier Dec. 9, 2020, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.

Theyre accused of putting a shunt on tracks near Bellingham in late November. Such devices consist of a wire strung across the tracks, mimicking the electrical signal of a train. The devices can cause trains to automatically brake and can disable railroad crossing guards, investigators have said.

Brooks pleaded guilty July 9, and a federal judge accepted her plea last week, The Bellingham Herald reported. In her plea agreement, Brooks admitted to helping another person install a shunt on the railroad tracks and that they acted with the intent to cause BNSF trains to delay operating, according to federal court records.

She faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years, a fine of $250,000 and up to three years probation, according to the court records. The government agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the sentencing range as part of her plea agreement, according to federal court records.

Reiche pleaded not guilty in December and is scheduled to go to trial later this month, according to federal court records.

In late November, BNSF police received a motion alert from a game camera just north of Bellingham and saw a person trespassing along the tracks. BNSF police contacted the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office to investigate.

Deputies found Brooks and Reiche in the area and they were detained for trespassing, according to court records. Deputies later found a wire shunt between the tracks. A bag Reiche allegedly was carrying was also found containing rubber gloves, a piece of insulated copper wire and a drill, according to court records.

Reiche has filed a motion to suppress evidence found in the bag, as well as statements she made before she was read her Miranda rights, according to federal court records.

Since Jan. 19, 2020, there have been at least 41 similar attacks along BNSF track in Whatcom and Skagit counties north of Seattle in which shunts have been placed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The FBIs Terrorism Task Force has been investigating the incidents.

Investigators believe some of the attacks were in protest of the construction of a natural gas pipeline across British Columbia through Indigenous land, and to keep supplies from reaching Canada.

Opponents say the 416-mile (670-kilometer) Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project will worsen environmental damage and infringe on the rights of First Nations people in British Columbia.

TC Energy, the Alberta company behind the pipeline proposal, has said it's committed to partnering with the 20 First Nations that have executed agreements related to the project and has provided them an opportunity to invest in it.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  The resurgence of COVID-19 in Texas has put some cities' health systems in dire circumstances, as intensive care unit beds fill up, officials say.

In Austin, the health department said there were only nine ICU beds available on Friday in the 11-county trauma service region that includes the city and serves 2.3 million people.

We are running out of time and our community must act now, said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin's medical director/health authority. Our ICU capacity is reaching a critical point where the level of risk to the entire community has significantly increased, and not just to those who are needing treatment for COVID. If we fail to come together as a community now, we jeopardize the lives of loved ones who might need critical care.

In a joint statement, three hospital systems that serve the Austin area  Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White and St. Davids Healthcare  said the latest COVID-19 spike is putting extraordinary pressure on our hospitals, emergency departments and healthcare professionals, and it has further challenged hospital staffing due to a longstanding nursing shortage.

Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio is also facing a nursing shortage caused by an increase of coronavirus patients. City leaders had hoped the state would help fill the shortage, but in a letter sent Thursday to city and county leaders across Texas, the state directed local governments to instead make their own plans to increase hospital staffs before asking the state for help, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

The state previously hired staffing companies to send traveling nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists to help hospitals cope with COVID-19 surges.

In San Antonio, COVID-19 hospitalizations on Saturday were up by 430% since the start of July, the newspaper reported.

We have patients waiting in the lobby; we have patients in the hallway, said Tommye Austin, the chief nurse executive for University Health, one of the largest hospitals in San Antonio. Every nook and cranny in this organization has a patient.

On Sunday, there were 6,594 people in Texas hospitals with COVID-19, which was the most since Feb. 24. State health officials reported 21 new COVID-19 deaths on Sunday. Texas has had 53,248 COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic began, the third most in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the rise in hospitalizations and new cases, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly stood by his order banning mask state, county and local mask mandates.

As of Saturday, only 43.8% of Texas' total population had been fully vaccinated. That trailed the national rate of 49.5% and was far behind Vermont, which had the highest rate of any state, at 67.5%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
John Elk III/Getty Images

The San Antonio Business Journal has a new leader. Sam Boykin, the current managing editor of the Sacramento Business Journal, will take over as editor in chief beginning August 16.

SABJ announced the news on Monday, August 2, in an article. Boykin will be the paper's first new editor in nearly a decade.
CORONA, Calif. (AP)  A young TikTok star who had been on life support after he and a friend were shot inside a Southern California movie theater has died, police and his family said Saturday.

Anthony Barajas, 19, was watching The Forever Purge at a theater in Corona with Rylee Goodrich, 18, on Monday when they were each shot in the head. They were found by an employee after the last showing of the night.

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Goodrich died at the scene. Barajas was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was placed on life support.

Barajas, known online as itsanthonymichael, had nearly a million followers on TikTok and more on other platforms.

The suspect acted alone, and theres no indication he knew the victims or that Barajas role as a TikTok influencer played a role in the crime, Corona police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis told reporters last week.

It was completely unprovoked, and the victims were shot without any kind of prior contact, Kouroubacalis said during a news conference Wednesday.

Police were working with Riverside County prosecutors to add a second murder count against the suspected shooter, Joseph Jimenez.

Jimenez, 20, appeared in Riverside County Superior Court on Friday after being charged with murder in the death of Goodrich and attempted murder of Barajas. But he didnt enter a plea, and his arraignment was postponed.

Prosecutors also had charged Jimenez with a special circumstance of lying in wait that makes him eligible for the death penalty if convicted as charged.

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Jimenez has been jailed since his arrest. Its not clear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak for him.

Barajas had been a high school honor student, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

From his quick smile to his compassionate heart, Anthonys presence was a gift to all who knew him, his family said in a statement.
WASHINGTON (AP)  After much delay, senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, wrapping up days of painstaking work on the inches-thick bill and launching what is certain to be a lengthy debate over President Joe Bidens big priority.

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act clocked in at some 2,700 pages, and senators could begin amending it soon. Despite the hurry-up-and-wait during a rare weekend session, emotions bubbled over once the bill was produced Sunday night. The final product was not intended to stray from the broad outline senators had negotiated for weeks with the White House.

We havent done a large, bipartisan bill of this nature in a long time, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. He said a final vote could be held in a matter of days.

A key part of Bidens agenda, the bipartisan bill is the first phase of the president's infrastructure plan. It calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years above projected federal levels, what could be one of the more substantial expenditures on the nations roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and the electric grid in years.

Senators and staff labored behind the scenes for days to write the massive bill. It was supposed to be ready Friday, but by Sunday, even more glitches were caught and changes made.

Late Sunday, most of the 10 senators involved in the bipartisan effort rose on the Senate floor to mark the moment.

We know that this has been a long and sometimes difficult process, but we are proud this evening to announce this legislation, said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a lead negotiator. The bill showed we can put aside our own political differences for the good of the country, she said.

Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a Republican negotiator, said the final product will be great for the American people.

Over the long weekend of starts and stops, Schumer repeatedly warned that he was prepared to keep lawmakers in Washington for as long as it took to complete votes on both the bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget blueprint that would allow the Senate to begin work later this year on a massive, $3.5 trillion social, health and environmental bill.

Among the major new investments, the bipartisan package is expected to provide $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit and $66 billion for rail. Theres also set to be $55 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.

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The spending is broadly popular among lawmakers, bringing long-delayed capital for big-ticket items that cities and states can rarely afford on their own.

Paying for the package has been a challenge after senators rejected ideas to raise revenue from a new gas tax or other streams. Instead, it is being financed from funding sources that might not pass muster with deficit hawks, including repurposing some $205 billion in untapped COVID-19 relief aid, as well as unemployment assistance that was turned back by some states and relying on projected future economic growth.

"Ive got real concerns with this bill, said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic senators pushed the process along, and Schumer wanted the voting to be wrapped up before senators left for the August recess.

Last week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start work on the bipartisan bill. That support largely held, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voting yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster and advance legislation.

Whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass the bill grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the presidents signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he expects Schumer to allow all senators to have a chance to shape the bipartisan bill and allow for amendments from members of both parties.

I hope we can now pump the brakes a little bit and take the time and care to evaluate the benefits and the cost of this legislation," Cornyn said.

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The bipartisan bill still faces a rough road in the House, where progressive lawmakers want a more robust package but may have to settle for this one to keep Bidens infrastructure plans on track.

The outcome with the bipartisan effort will set the stage for the next debate over Bidens much more ambitious $3.5 trillion package, a strictly partisan pursuit of far-reaching programs and services including child care, tax breaks and health care that touch almost every corner of American life. Republicans strongly oppose that bill, which would require a simple majority for passage. Final votes on that measure are not expected until fall.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill could be held in a matter of days, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday, as negotiators scrambled to finish writing the legislation.

Schumer opened the rare Sunday session by saying that the text of the bill would be released imminently.

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Senators and staff have been laboring behind the scenes for days to write what is certain to be a massive piece of legislation. An early draft swelled beyond 2,500 pages. To prod the work along, Schumer is keeping senators in over the weekend, encouraging the authors of the bipartisan infrastructure plan to finish drafting the bill so that senators can begin offering amendments.

Two of the negotiators said Sunday morning that action could come soon. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on CNN, We really are just about finished. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said on CNN that there will likely be "text today and by this evening, hopefully we can start the process. Like Schumer, both said the bill could be finished this week.

The predictions were a familiar refrain after days of delays. Several senators had said the text of the bill would be ready for review late Friday or early Saturday, but it wasn't ready to be filed by the time Schumer closed the floor Saturday night.

"They need a little more time," Schumer said. I'm prepared to give it to them."

Schumer, the majority leader, said he understood that completing the writing of such a large bill is a difficult project, but he warned Saturday that he was prepared to keep lawmakers in Washington for as long as it took to complete votes on both the bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget blueprint that would allow the Senate to begin work later this year on a massive, $3.5 trillion social, health and environmental bill.

The longer it takes to finish, the longer we will be here, but were going to get the job done," he said.

The bipartisan plan  a key part of President Joe Biden's agenda  calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years above projected federal levels. Its being financed from funding sources that might not pass muster with deficit hawks, including repurposing untapped COVID-19 relief aid and relying on projected future economic growth.

Among the major investments are $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit and $66 billion for rail. Theres also $55 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.

A bipartisan group of senators helped it clear one more hurdle Friday and braced to see if support could hold during the next few days of debate and efforts to amend it.

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Schumer wants the voting to be wrapped up before senators break for their August recess. He said that once the legislative text is finalized, he'll review it and offer it up as a substitute to the shell bill currently before the chamber. Then, senators can begin voting on amendments.

We may need the weekend, we may vote on several amendments, but with the cooperation of our Republican colleagues, I believe we can finish the bipartisan infrastructure bill in a matter of days, Schumer said Friday night.

The outcome with the bipartisan effort will set the stage for the next debate over Bidens much more ambitious $3.5 trillion spending package, a strictly partisan pursuit of far-reaching programs and services including child care, tax breaks and health care that touch almost every corner of American life. Republicans strongly oppose that bill, which would require a simple majority, and may try to stop both.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, predicted: It's going to be a grind."

Earlier this week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start the debate, launching what will be a dayslong process to consider the bipartisan bill. That support largely held Friday during another procedural vote, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., again voting yes to nudge the process along.

Whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass the bill grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the presidents signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Cornyn said he expects Schumer to allow all senators to have a chance to shape the bill and allow for amendments from members of both parties.

I've been disappointed that Sen. Schumer has seen fit to try to force us to vote on a bill that does not exist in its entirety, but I hope we can now pump the brakes a little bit and take the time and care to evaluate the benefits and the cost of this legislation," Cornyn said.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Saturday that negotiators were finalizing the last few pieces, but he had no predictions when it would be ready for senators to have amendments and debate.

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There's been some of the sense of, well, infrastructure, that shouldn't be hard to do. If it wasn't hard to do, why has it taken 30 years to get to this moment?" Warner said.

___

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  A group of Texas Republicans wants to audit the 2020 election results in just the large, mostly Democratic counties across the state. If they get their way, they'll miss many of the real  but minor  errors in the state's vote count.

That's according to a team of researchers that conducted a statewide analysis of the results across both Democratic and Republican counties. The group found a series of errors that would not come close to changing Republican Donald Trump's victory in the state or any other statewide race. But the errors stretch across both Republican and Democratic counties.

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The research adds to a pile of evidence that contradicts the belief, widespread among Republicans, that elections in Democratic areas are rife with errors, irregularities and mismanagement. While errors in the tally do occur, research shows they tend to be random and small scale and do not benefit one party or the other.

In Texas, the mistakes, detected by election researchers from the University of Florida, were scattered across 37 of Texas' 254 counties. They added or subtracted a handful of votes from various candidates with no skew toward one party or the other. Trump apparently received 223 more votes than the 5,890,347 that the Texas secretary of state lists as the Republican's total. Democrat Joe Biden appears to have received 155 more votes than his listed 5,259,126, according to the research.

Minor mistakes like the Texas ones are relatively common, say election experts. In Texas, the errors are likely due to the state's use of an older computer system that requires counties to enter their tallies by hand, increasing the risk of errors when the wrong digit is typed.

But they take on greater significance at a time when Trump supporters are calling for increased scrutiny of Democratic election offices, such as in Texas, where Attorney General Ken Paxton is among the Republicans supporting legislation that would audit the state's largest counties  most of which were carried by Biden last year.

If Texas is going to focus on the blue counties, that's probably the wrong thing to do, said Michael McDonald, the political scientist who led the team that found the Texas discrepancies. He also operates the U.S. Elections Project, which has tallies of all national elections since the nations founding. They should look at all the counties because there's something broken with this system.

Texas' elections director, Keith Ingram, said the state is working to upgrade its computer system to one that will automatically transmit counties' final tally to the state, eliminating the need for local election directors to type it in. But that may not be ready for testing until next year's primary.

It's not a huge number, Ingram said of the discrepancies, which he had not heard of until contacted by The Associated Press. Obviously, we want everything to be precisely spot on, and we're going to give counties the ability to do that.

Election experts say the Texas example shows the need for regular oversight of the system  as opposed to the so-called forensic audits that Trump supporters have backed that don't follow established procedures and chase wild theories of voting fraud. An audit authorized by the Republican-controlled state Senate in Arizona's largest county, for example, conducted a search for bamboo fibers on the ballots after a conspiracy theory circulated that fraudulent ballots for Biden were shipped in from Asia.

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The Arizona audit has become a rallying cry for Trump backers who are convinced the election was stolen, although repeated professional audits and recounts have shown no mass voter fraud. They are pushing for new audits in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In Wisconsin, the Republican head of the assembly's elections committee has promised an audit. In Texas, nearly three dozen Republicans signed onto a bill that would audit 13 counties with populations of more than 415,000 people. The bill has been in limbo, along with other GOP priorities, since Democrats bolted to Washington to block new voting laws.

The Republican lawmaker who proposed the Texas audit, state Rep. Steve Toth, expressed bafflement to The Washington Post about expanding it to smaller counties. Whats the point?" Toth said. "I mean, all the small counties are red.

Toth's office did not respond to emails seeking comment from The Associated Press.

The Texas discrepancies are why having real election audits and reconciliation audits is important  to make sure any transcription error like that is caught, said Tammy Patrick, a former Maricopa County election official who works with The Democracy Fund and is a critic of the partisan audits. It's important that we don't look at those kind of errors as cavalier or that they don't matter, because they do, but they're not indicative necessarily of fraud.

The mistakes range from Travis County, which includes Austin, reporting 100 too-few votes for a state Supreme Court candidate to small, conservative counties like Gillespie in Texas' Hill Country, where the totals were a single vote off in a handful of races.

If its different, then thats going to be an input error, and its probably on the secretary of state, said Terry Hamilton, a clerk in the Gillespie County elections office.

The discrepancies don't all stem from transcription errors. In Kleberg County, near the southern Texas coast  a 30,000-population county won by Trump  Election Director Stephanie Garza had long-delayed knee replacement surgery three days after the election.

That meant she wasn't able to personally ensure that ballots judged to be legal days after the election  known as provisional ballots and, in Texas, also limited ballots  were included in the final numbers sent to the secretary of state.

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Because they were omitted, Trumps winning total was understated by 71 votes, and Bidens total was missing 67.

Garza said she was mortified to find out about the omission, even though it represents only a minuscule fraction of ballots cast in the presidential race.

As an election director, you don't want to be off whatsoever, Garza said.
A. The once-a-week designation was only supposed to be temporary. It's ok to return to twice-a-week.

B. Watering allowances should be more fluid and seasonal depending on rain amounts and droughts.

C. Only those going over their watering limits should have to water less.

D. Florida has a major overconsumption problem, and people need to get used to watering less. Once-a-week needs to stay put.

E. Whatever is done, all citizens need to have equal rules.

Vote

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Here are the answers to some of your questions about coming to Canada as the border begins to open.

FAQ: Travel to Canada as a tourist in 2021 Here are the answers to some of your questions about coming to Canada as the border begins to open.

FAQ: Travel to Canada as a tourist in 2021 Here are the answers to some of your questions about coming to Canada as the border begins to open.

FAQ: Travel to Canada as a tourist in 2021 Here are the answers to some of your questions about coming to Canada as the border begins to open. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canada is finally opening up to tourists after keeping the border tightly-zipped for the past 17 months, but things are still not totally back to normal.

In early July, the gradual reopening of the Canadian border began with fully vaccinated exempt travellers. Then on July 19, Health Canada announced that restrictions would be even less strict come August 9.

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By September 7, we are expecting the border to reopen to fully vaccinated tourists from all countries. Of course, we are still in a pandemic, and these measures are subject to change.

But with what we do know for now, we answered some of the internets most popular questions on coming to Canada this summer and fall.

When will travel to Canada resume?

The border is opening to fully vaccinated tourists from the U.S. one minute after midnight on August 9. They have to be U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Temporary U.S. residents like international students will have to wait until September 7 when Canada is scheduled to open to fully vaccinated tourists from the rest of the world.

Travel will resume to fully vaccinated travellers from all countries on September 7. Of course, this date is subject to the ever-changing nature of the pandemic. The government is always monitoring the coronavirus situation in Canada and abroad.

As for unvaccinated tourists, the prime minister of Canada has said it will be quite a while before these travellers can come.

How does Canada define fully vaccinated travellers?

Currently, Canada only considers you fully vaccinated if you have received the full recommended dose of a vaccine from a manufacturer approved by Health Canada. There are four: Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen (Johnston & Johnson).

Also, two weeks need to have elapsed between your final injection and your attempt to cross the border. Otherwise you risk being deemed not fully vaccinated, which could result in being turned away at the border or having to quarantine.

What if I want to travel to Canada from India?

Canada extended the direct flight ban between Canada and India until August 21. For now, travellers from India will need to take an indirect route and supply a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of their departure in a third country.

Do I need to quarantine?

It depends. Everyone who comes to Canada still needs to arrive with a quarantine plan in case the officer determines they must isolate for 14 days. The final decision on who has to quarantine rests with the officers at the border.

Since July 5, fully vaccinated travellers who are exempt from travel restrictions do not need to quarantine. Exempt travellers include Canadians, family members, workers, and international students. Provided they produce a negative COVID-19 test at the border, they also are exempt from day-eight testing, which is normally required of people in quarantine.

The rules will change again starting August 9. Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to take the COVID-19 test at the border, unless they are subject to random testing.

Also starting August 9, the mandatory hotel quarantine will no longer be in effect. Until then, however, unvaccinated travellers will still have to stay in a government-approved hotel to wait on the results of their on-arrival test.

Will travel to Canada require COVID-19 vaccine?

It depends on the purpose of your travel and whether or not your are exempt from travel restrictions. If you are coming for an essential reason, but you are not fully vaccinated in the governments eyes, you will probably have to undergo quarantine and testing measures.

If you are coming for a non-essential reason  like tourism or shopping  you will need to be fully vaccinated, for now.

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What if I am partially vaccinated, or fully vaccinated with a vaccine not approved in Canada?

At this time, you will still be subject to the same measures as unvaccinated travellers. In order to come to Canada, you will have to be exempt from travel restrictions, and undergo all testing and quarantine requirements.

What if I am not vaccinated?

Exempt travellers, such as Canadian citizens, permanent residents, family members, workers, most international students, and other essential travellers may still cross the border if they are not vaccinated.

They will have to do pre-arrival testing, on arrival testing, and day-eight testing while in quarantine. However, after August 9, they no longer have to stay in a government-approved hotel at their own expense while waiting on the results of their on-arrival test.

Until further notice, unvaccinated tourists are not allowed to come to Canada.

What if I cant get vaccinated because of a health condition?

Health Canada said if you have a condition that, according to the vaccines label, makes it unsafe for you to be vaccinated, you may also qualify for eased quarantine.

Instead, you may have to follow a modified quarantine. More details on this are forthcoming.

What is essential travel to Canada?

Essential travel covers people who are travelling to Canada for work, emergency services, family reunification, or if you are a Canadian citizens or permanent resident. International students going to approved institutions also fall under this umbrella.

These people have generally been exempt from travel restrictions throughout the pandemic, starting at different times for some. In the fall of 2020, Canada expanded the definition to include international students, extended family members, and those travelling for compassionate reasons such as a funeral.

What is acceptable proof of vaccination status?

Whatever official proof of vaccination your healthcare providers gave you will likely do, as long as it is in English or French. If it is in any other language, you have to upload a certified translation to ArriveCAN, but not the original. However, you will have to keep both the original proof of vaccination and certified translation with you while you travel.

Before arriving at the border, you will need to upload your documents using ArriveCAN. You will have to provide the documents listed on the government webpage, which include:

details of your first dose such as the date, country, and vaccine manufacturer;

details of your second dose if it was required; and

a photo or PDF file of the record of each dose, such as receipts, cards, or confirmations.

More specific details are available on Canadas travel website. For example, it will tell you they generally want the PDF version if it is available, since it is clearer. There is also a section on troubleshooting proof of vaccination in ArriveCAN.

Also, the government asks you bring the original proof of vaccination with you while you travel.

If your proof of vaccinated does not meet all of the governments requirements, officials may consider it invalid and ask you to complete the regular quarantine and testing requirements for unvaccinated travellers.

Im travelling with my kids who cannot be vaccinated. Do they have to quarantine?

For now, unvaccinated kids will have to quarantine and complete testing requirements, even though their fully vaccinated parents or guardians do not.

But starting August 9, kids coming with fully vaccinated adults do not have to quarantine. Instead, they are asked to avoid group settings for 14 days.

What do I need to do before travelling to Canada?

For now, the requirements are different depending on your vaccination status and mode of transportation. For example, until August 9, non-vaccinated travellers will still have to do the hotel quarantine requirement if they are coming by air. However, land border-crossers do not.

The official checklist for travellers is on the government website. But in a nutshell:

All travellers age five and older need a pre-arrival test taken within 72 hours of your planned entry. In the case of air travellers, within 72 hours before the departure of your last direct flight to Canada.

You also need to use ArriveCAN to submit your documents within 72 hours before arriving to Canada. It is available as a mobile app, or online. All of the information is available on the government website. Generally speaking, you need your contact information, purpose of travel, date of arrival, port of entry, travel history, quarantine plan, and others. You will get a receipt once you have submitted all your information that you will show to the border officer when you arrive. If any of your travel details change after you submit your information, you will have to start over.

These COVID measures are in addition to the regular measures on incoming travellers to Canada. Unless you are from a visa-exempt country, you will need a Temporary Resident Visa in order to come to Canada. Those who are from visa-exempt countries will need an Electronic Travel Authorization. U.S. travellers do not need either.

Get help with visitor visas from the Law firm of Campbell Cohen

What if I test positive after recovering from COVID-19?

Some people who have recovered from COVID-19 continue to test positive even though they are no longer infectious. These travellers must provide proof of a positive COVID-19 molecular test conducted between 14 and 90 days prior to scheduled departure. Starting August 9, they will accept positive tests as old as 180 days.

Can I come to Canada with a criminal record?

It depends a lot on how Canada assesses your crime against Canadian law. It can also depend on when the crime was committed, and what you have done to overcome inadmissibility.

Generally speaking, there are three options to coming to Canada with a criminal history:

Temporary Resident Permit allows you to stay in Canada despite your criminal history. It signals to officials that your entry is justified.

Criminal rehabilitation is basically when officials determine you are not a threat to public safety. Some people are deemed rehabilitated after 10 years, and allowed to come to Canada. If that is not an option, others may go for individual rehabilitation where they can demonstrate the are not a risk to Canadians.

Legal Opinion Letter is written by a lawyer an is supposed to be an analysis of the individuals situation, and explain why they should be deemed admissible to Canada.

Contact a criminality expert at the Law Firm of Campbell Cohen

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Statistics Canada's newly-published job vacancies report says job vacancies were high in health care and accommodation and food services.

High job vacancies in health care and food services in Canada Statistics Canada's newly-published job vacancies report says job vacancies were high in health care and accommodation and food services.

High job vacancies in health care and food services in Canada Statistics Canada's newly-published job vacancies report says job vacancies were high in health care and accommodation and food services.

High job vacancies in health care and food services in Canada Statistics Canada's newly-published job vacancies report says job vacancies were high in health care and accommodation and food services. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Amid increased public health measures in May, Canadas accommodation and food services sector had the highest rate of employers looking for workers, and the health sector had the highest number of open positions.

Canadian employers were actively recruiting for an estimated 671,100 positions in May. For the seventh consecutive month, the health sector had the highest number of job openings in Canada. There were about 107,300 open positions in health care in May, nearly one sixth of all job vacancies. Accommodation and food services had the second-highest number of openings at some 78,000, followed by retail trade which had 73,800 job vacancies.

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The number of vacancies is the estimated number of open positions. A slight distinction from the vacancy rate, which refers to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of all positions.

Quebec, for example, had the highest job vacancy rates among all the provinces in May at 5.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canadas payroll, employment, and job vacancies report. B.C. followed closely behind at 5 per cent, and New Brunswick came next at 4.9 per cent. Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest job vacancy rate at 2.8 per cent.

The accommodation and food services sector had a vacancy rate of 7.8 per cent. This high rate could reflect seasonal hiring, as well as recruitment challenges.

While restaurants were shuttered, and employees forced to take up social assistance, recruiters reported having a difficult time calling back their staff. CBC reports people are re-evaluating their careers and lifestyles, and concerned about their health during the pandemic. The lack of international students who often work in this sector, has also played a part in vacancy rates.

Restrictions became less strict in June. The Labour Force Survey suggests employment in accommodation and food services grew nearly 12 per cent from May to June. Employment here refers to the number of people working. Job vacancy rates for June are not currently available.

Immigrants needed to support worsening labour shortages

A recent RBC report suggests Canada will need to rely even more on immigration as retirements and job quitting levels increase.

Economist Andrew Agopsowicz wrote that, during the pandemic, the number of retirements and people quitting their jobs due to dissatisfaction dropped significantly. Now that the economy is starting to recover, the number of job quitters is returning to pre-pandemic levels. Retirements delayed by the pandemic could also pick up in the second half of 2021. These factors could exacerbate labour shortages throughout the summer and fall.

Canada will increasingly need to rely on immigration and other sources for labour force growth, the RBC report says.

Despite record-breaking immigration targets, Canada has been admitting newcomers at a slower rate in the first few months of the year. Although, intake picked up in June when Canada welcomed about 35,000 new permanent residents. While July figures are not yet released, the opening of the Canada border to approved permanent residents could help increase these numbers.

Although the federal governments immigration target is 401,000 this year, they will need to admit about 43,000 new immigrants per month from July onward in order to achieve this goal.

Discover if Youre Eligible for Canadian Immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
The post-covid, work from home era poses new challenges for IT security. Changed working practices are opening up new vulnerabilities, made worse by fragmented technology ecosystems and overstretched IT teams. In the home, lines are blurring between business and personal endpoint devices. A recent report for HP Wolf Security, titled Blurred Lines and Blindspots, found that 63% of UK office workers working from home during the pandemic had used business devices for personal use, or vice versa. 12% had let someone else within their household use their work device.

In response, cybercriminals are growing ever more relentless, hunting down opportunities to exploit these new weaknesses to attack employees, the enterprise and its data. 54% of ITDMs from around the globe who responded to the HP Wolf Security survey had seen evidence that phishing attacks were on the rise, while 85% feared that employee behaviour was increasing their organisations risk of a security breach. 45% had seen evidence of compromised printers being used as an attack point in the past year.

Organisations cant shy away from these challenges. They need to meet them head on through a security approach that transforms potential weaknesses into points of strength. They must combine the power of AI with the latest, hardware-based security technology and a zero-trust model that takes nothing for granted.

This is the approach HP outlined at a recent Security Masterclass event. A more digital world doesnt have to mean a more vulnerable world said Dave Prezzano, Managing Director, HP UK and Ireland. It does mean that we must be constantly flexible, proactive and reactive to ensure resilience in continually evolving digital environments. For HP, the key to doing so lies in HP Wolf Security; a new breed of endpoint security[I] rooted in zero trust principles and designed to aid organisations in protecting themselves, their customers and their employees from attack.

HP Wolf Security works through defence in depth, covering endpoints with layers of protection that, together, both guard against attacks and minimise their impact. Starting at the hardware level and extending across software and services. HP Wolf Security helps organisations to defend themselves against both known and unknown threats  combining hardware-enforced software and security features with industry-leading endpoint security services[ii]. HP Sure Click Pro and HP Sure Click Enterprise[iii], key parts of the HP Wolf Pro Security and Wolf Enterprise Security[iv] platforms, open files, applications and webpages inside micro Virtual Machine containers, so that any malware that attempts to execute can only affect and access whats in the container, not the operating system, applications or data beyond. Email is neutralised as an attack vector, while it becomes more difficult to steal credentials through phishing attacks.

HP Sure Sense and Sure Sense Pro[v] provide another layer of protection, leveraging cloud-based, deep learning technologies to guard endpoints against evolving threats, even extending to the zero-day exploits which conventional anti-virus solutions cant detect. And where internal IT teams find themselves stretched, HPs Wolf Pro Security service can step in to help, providing endpoint security and specialist expertise to monitor and manage the whole fleet.

Yet HP Wolf Security goes further, securing endpoint devices at and below the operating system level. With HP Sure Start[vi], the BIOS recovers automatically from firmware attacks, restarting from a known safe copy and self-healing, while HPs in-memory breach detection capabilities spot signs of intrusion and provide automatic remediation. HP Sure Run[vii] keeps vital security processes up and running even if malware attempts to shut them down, while HP Sure Recover[viii] allows a compromised PC to restore its OS automatically over a network connection, with no IT support required.

And when IT needs control, HP Wolf Security technology delivers it through technologies like HP SureAdmin[ix], which creates a digital signature that allows IT admins to securely manage BIOS configurations over the network. Meanwhile, the HP Endpoint Security Controller puts an embedded security processor into corporate laptops, where it operates as an isolated control centre through which IT can monitor vulnerabilities and quickly recover a compromised PC.

Beyond this, HP understands that PCs are not the only attack surface. Printers, whether in the home or accessible across a network, can also be repurposed by cybercriminals as a beachhead for further assaults on local or office-based systems. Thats why HP developed not only the worlds most secure PCs[x], but the worlds most secure printers[xi]. Here, HP Wolf Security delivers continuous hardware-based protection and firmware updates, while also ensuring the privacy of documents during scanning, printing and sending, with dynamic passwords to safeguard against unauthorised access.

Were in an era of change, where employees and organisations across different industries are still adjusting to different styles of working, and attackers are ready to exploit any weakness. Yet with the right approach and HP Wolf Security technology and services, organisations of every size have the means to fight back. Where lines get blurred, HP Wolf Security puts endpoint security back in focus  and IT back in control. Endpoint security is more vital than ever before as the first line of defence says Dave Prezzano and HP Wolf Security unifies all of HP's endpoint security into one formidable force.'

To find out more about the new security landscape and how HP Wolf Security can help you navigate it, watch the HP Masterclass on-demand at HP Security Masterclass.
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Kris Infotech's strategic expansion roadmap includes this purchase, capitalizing on the dynamic US market's vast opportunities and potential.

FREMONT, CA: Kris Infotech, a leading Singapore-based IT consulting and advisory services firm, has acquired a 60 percent share in AGS Tek Partners, a Colorado-based IT consultation and staffing firm. Kris Infotech's strategic expansion roadmap includes this purchase, capitalizing on the dynamic US market's vast opportunities and potential.

"We are thrilled to add AGS Tek Partners into our fold. Their expertise and experience in delivering IT resourcing and training services in the US over many years is immensely valuable and will serve as a launchpad for our own growth plans. Together, we look forward to delivering our suite of IT services to a lot more companies across the US and North America and enabling them to get maximum value from their investments in Information Technology and digitalization/digital transformation," said Reem D'Souza, Head of Business Strategy and Investor Relations, Kris Infotech. "I am confident that Kumaresan's extensive experience in the IT services sector and his presence in the US to run our operation are critical to fast track our plans for this important market."

Kris Infotech is deputizing IT industry veteran Barani Kumaresan from Singapore to help drive its ambitious expansion goals in the US and across North America. Kumaresan will be responsible for all operational decisions for AGS Tek Partners and implementing the company's strategy, and growing up the company's operations as Senior Vice President.

Rajeev Srivastava, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Basil Technology Partners, which raised a 171 million dollars institutional fund in 2018, seeded Kris Infotech in 2006. Srivastava has over 30 years of successful investing and operating experience in the technology services sector, having invested in 14 specialist global technology firms across Asia, the United States, and Europe.
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Background

Mayors for Economic Growth Facility (M4EG)

The EU in partnership with UNDP, promotes inclusive economic growth and innovation in the municipalities of the EaP countries. To that end, on January 1, 2021 the new phase of Mayors for Economic Growth Facility commenced. The project will run for 48 months. The project will support local authorities in Eastern Partnership countries to use innovative methods towards just and green development.

The proposed action is to enhance economic inclusive growth and job creation in the region by supporting local authorities in the EaP countries to design and implement Local Economic Development Plans (LEDP) 12. The action complies with the overall strategy and outcomes outlined in the Action Document - by strengthening capacities of local governments, creating inclusive innovation processes for design of investable projects that correspond to the developed LEDPs, and investing in portfolios of projects, in a way that bring tangible benefits to citizens.

During project implementation the M4EG network will increase to 350 local authorities, and 12 local authorities will go through a process of portfolio development. Three funding facilities will be available to the local authorities in the network: the EU Project Fund (2021), Annual Portfolio Call (2021-2023) and M4EG Innovation Project Call (2021-2023).

Transnistrian Dialogues II

The goal of the project is to foster a constructive engagement between experts, young activists, civil society and opinion leaders from Moldova and its Transnistrian region and the autonomous region of Gagauzia, to reduce tensions, increase mutual trust and understanding by setting up a permanent platform, thus laying the ground for a more consensus-based settlement process of the conflict and exercising upward influence.

To achieve its objectives, by combining the Track 2 and Track 3 conflict resolution platform for regular engagement, the project will create a mentorship platform to build capacity of younger generation of leaders from both banks in conflict resolution and cooperative problem solving, by equipping, training and exchanging experience and knowledge. This group of current and future Insider Mediators will deliver innovative solutions to conflict-generated issues by establishing a young and sustainable community of trained Insider Mediators.



Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Associate in close cooperation with the project team, under the direct guidance and supervision of the Project Coordinator, and overall supervision of the Portfolio Manager will ensure the provision of administrative and financial services of the highest quality and standards to the project team, UNDP Country office, as well as national counterparts and clients. More specifically:

Administrative management:

Pro-actively contribute to day-to-day project implementation and ensure conformity to expected results and project work-plans;

Monitor compliance with both UNDP and EU standards and ensure quality control of programme filing systems and files;

Assume overall responsibility for the coordination of administrative matters;

Provide advice to the team on financial and administrative issues;

Provide support to international consultants in the implementation of their tasks for the achievement of project results (communication, contracts, agenda, visas, hotel reservations, etc) and coordinate short-term consultants;

Maintain records on all project personnel/national consultants and their respective status (contracts, ToRs, time and attendance  if appropriate, etc.) in accordance with accepted policies and procedures;

Prepare and issue contracts;

Make pertinent logistical arrangements for the prompt and effective implementation of the programme activities;

Draft minutes of Project Board and other project related meetings;

Assume responsibility for administrative matters of a more general nature, such as registry and maintenance of project files and records;

Arrange and coordinate translation services/projects;

Arrange external and internal meetings (including the meetings of the Project Board, pre-bidding conferences, launching events, workshops, interviews, as well as other relevant meetings etc.).

Financial management:

Prepare requests for advance of funds and/or direct payments;

Monitor budget expenditures for the above-mentioned projects and maintain a proper record of approved project budgets and their revisions;

Prepare proposals for budget revisions for the above mentioned projects;

Upon request, prepare and submit expenditure and programme budget status reports;

Prepare other recurring reports as scheduled and special reports as required for budget preparations and audit;

Maintain accurate budget reporting in both UNDP and EU standard templates;

Respond to queries from the UNDP and EU Delegation with respect to financial aspects of the programme, liaise with UNDP-appointed and external auditors wherever required;

Prepare finance reports for donors for the above mentioned projects;

Verify vendors information in Atlas and submit requests for vendor updates;

Advise and assist international advisors and national consultants on all aspects of allowances, travel claims and other financial matters and calculate payments due for claims and services;

Undertake other financial and administrative tasks on an ad hoc basis.

Procurement:

In accordance with the Work Plan support the procurement of equipment, supplies and services ensuring full compliance with UNDP rules and procedures;

Elaborate the procurement plan for the above mentioned Projects and monitor their implementation;

Organize procurement processes for the above mentioned Projects in full compliance with UNDP rules and regulations;

Create and mange e-requisitions in ATLAS;

Arrange for equipment maintenance and insurance as required;

Ensure that contractual processes follow the stipulated UNDP procedures;

Clear and ensure delivery of equipment and supplies procured for the various programme sites;

Maintain an equipment and spare inventory including verification and transfer when required.

Other duties as assigned.

Key Results:

The key results have a direct impact on the overall successful achievement of the projects. Accurate analysis and presentation of information enhances UNDPs position as a strong development partner. The information provided facilitates decision-making of the Project Board, the Beneficiary and UNDP management.

Summary of Key Functions:

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Project Coordinator and the Programme Associate incumbent contributes to an effective and efficient implementation of projects through a range of actions contributing to the design, planning, management and monitoring of project activities. The Project Associate applies and promotes the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

The Project Associate works in close collaboration with the Project team as well as the team in the Country Office (CO) for effective achievement of results, anticipating and contributing to resolving complex project-related issues and information delivery. The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.



Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates commitment to UNDPs mission, vision and values.

Exerts strict adherence to corporate rules, regulations and procedures. Familiarity with the internal control framework and results-based management tools is a must.

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience.

Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Proven ability to problem-solve, and think creatively to develop and implement smart business solutions in a challenging socio-economic environment.

Ability to establish and maintain contacts with senior-level officials of the host government required. Excellent interpersonal skills are essential part of the job.

Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, is required to obtain, evaluate and interpret factual data and to prepare accurate and complete reports and other documents.

Leadership and Self-Management

Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback.

Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.

Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Additional skills and competencies

Previous experience with EC/UNDP is a strong advantage.



Required Skills and Experience

Academic Education

University Degree in economics, finance, accounting, public administration or other related field.

Work experience

At least five years of experience in administrative work, accounting/finance, economics, or other substantive area is required.

At least two years of previous experience in development assistance or related work for a donor organization, consulting company, or NGO is compulsory.

Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling web-based management systems.

Required languages (at working level)

Fluency in oral and written English, Romanian and Russian.

Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language would be an asset.



Disclaimer



Important applicant information



All posts in the N-PSA categories are subject to local recruitment.



This is a local position, therefore only citizens of the Republic of Moldova or others legally authorized to work in the country are eligible to apply.



UNDP is an employer committed to gender equity and to providing equal opportunities to both male and female.



UNDP is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.



Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.



Applicant information about UNDP rosters



Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience, and educational requirements.



Scam warning



The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names, and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.



Online applications can be submitted by registered users only. Self-registration link is available at the next page and requires candidates to provide a valid email address.



Please note that the person selected for this position will be offered a contract with UNDP under its National Personnel Services Agreement (N-PSA) modality. The UNDP Service Contract modality is phasing out over the coming year. More information about the N-PSA is available here https://bit.ly/341OFXC

Vacancy End Date: 16 August 2021

To apply please address the link: https://bit.ly/3xj2kpq
Late Thursday, the Washington Post landed what looked like a big scoop: the paper obtained an unpublished slide presentation from inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting that the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads as easily as chickenpox, and that fully vaccinated people who become infected with the variant may be able to pass it on in a way similar to unvaccinated people who become infected. (The slides were based in part on data about a COVID outbreak linked to Provincetown, Massachusetts; on Friday, the CDC published that data.) Although breakthrough infections in vaccinated people are rare, and its even rarer that they result in hospitalization or death, major news organizations sometimes missed this crucial context as they rushed to confirm the Posts story and spit it out via headlines and push alerts. A tweet from the New York TimesThe Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal CDC report saidcame in for particularly sharp criticism. VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE, Ben Wakana, a communications staffer for the White Houses coronavirus response team, shot back. IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOURE DOING IT WRONG.

The White House wasnt done with its media criticism. Two senior officials told CNNs Oliver Darcy that the Biden administration had been frustrated not only by coverage of the CDC slides, but also by the broader media focus on breakthroughs; per Darcy, the White House has even reached out to major outlets to urge a course correction. The medias coverage doesnt match the moment, one of the officials said. It has been hyperbolic and frankly irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy. Such criticism wasnt limited to the administration: Justin Amash, a former Republican (and Libertarian) lawmaker, echoed it (blaming the White House for good measure), as did Peter Meijer, a Republican who succeeded Amash in Congress. Meijer took aim, in particular, at an NBC headline declaring that at least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for COVID; the fact that this figure represents less than 0.08 percent of fully vaccinated Americans was relegated to a subheading. Other journalists also tore into NBC. Nate Silver, of the data-journalism site FiveThirtyEight, shared a tweet in which NBCs Ken Dilanian touted his networks exclusive, adding the zinger: EXCLUSIVE (must credit @NateSilver538) *At least 35,000,000 unvaccinated Americans have tested positive for Covid. *Ken should take a course in statistics.

Related: Getting the vaccine mandates story right

Those readers who made it through a full story on the CDC data often found a greater degree of nuance. But critics noted that the problems with the coverage ran much deeper than its toplines. Silver, for one, expressed skepticism about the methodology and representativeness of the Provincetown study, and took news outlets to task for failing to emphasize its several major caveats. David Wallace-Wells, of New York, argued that coverage of the CDCs slides not only elided key context but also the most hopeful and encouraging facts about the Delta surge, such as its decreased mortality risk and (so far, at least) quick peak and decline in countries with high levels of vaccination. James Hamblin, a writer and medical doctor, took issue with the way the slides became public in the first place. News outlets generally framed them as a set of leaked revelations from unpublished internal documents about just how dangerous the delta variant really is, Hamblin wrotewhich is true, but also misleading. I hesitate to even call this a leak because that implies a trove of classified secrets; its more of a document thats not written for an audience other than public-health officials, nor finalized enough to warrant publication.

According to Mediaite, White House officials believe that major outlets have been hyping stories like the CDC slides for eyeballspart of a bid to rectify a post-Trump ratings slump. You neednt be quite as cynical as the officials to recognize a basic truth here; the hype may simply have reflected the diverse incentives that are baked into the modern news pipeline, from reporting stories to advertising them in a crowded online marketplace. In terms of reporting incentives, the appearance of a new narrative around vaccine efficacy may have driven some of the hypethough as several critics noted, the slides didnt really contain much in the way of confirmed new information. Basic innumeracy could also have played its part. As Matt Gertz, of Media Matters for America, put it, journalists, like most people, often including myself, do not have a firm handle on statistical reasoning.

My hunch is that all of the above factors likely contributed to the botched coverage to some extent. Perhaps the biggest problem, though, was less innumeracy than uncertainty. As I wrote last week, when it comes to contextualizing the breakthrough-infection problem, there isnt a centralized repository of data documenting its scale, since the CDC moved, in May, to stop monitoring all such cases and focus only on the small subset that preceded hospitalization and death. The NBC tally mentioned above, and others like it, draw on patchworks of state-level data; nonetheless, the lack of a central source has created a void that anecdotesand small-ish studies, like the one out of Provincetownhave filled. (Even a rigorous central repository, of course, would face limitations, such as low testing rates among vaccinated people with no COVID symptoms; thanks to its narrower focus, the CDC has better data establishing the rareness of severe outcomes in breakthrough cases, and outlets like CNN have done a good job of putting it into perspective.) And, as critics of the medias slides coverage acknowledged, the CDC helped in other ways to create a vacuum around them. The agency could have published its data beforenot three days afterchanging its mask guidance for vaccinated people, and before the data appeared in partial form in the pages of a national newspaper. Ironically, the slides obtained by the Post were titled: Improving communications around vaccine breakthrough and vaccine effectiveness.

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Last week wouldnt be the first time that the CDC has allowed confusion to pool at a key point of the pandemic. The agencys failures, however, do not absolve the journalists who have channeled this confusion into their copy. As I wrote last week, the pandemic has always been a devilishly hard story to cover, and this moment might be the most complicated yet. But weve long understood the vital stakes of clarity around the vaccines, and on those terms, some of last weeks coverage was shockingly reckless. It was also, at least to me, a little surprisingUS media coverage of vaccines has not been perfect, by any means, but mainstream sources have generally been very bullish about their effectiveness and the importance of getting vaccinated, especially compared to outlets in some other countries with comparable rates of vaccination. Thats not to say that journalists should be salespeoplethere are complex nuances around vaccine efficacy; indeed, media bullishness may have exacerbated the problems were seeing in coverage now, by making breakthrough infections seem like a scary new development rather than a statistical inevitability. Still, it is our job to situate clear public goods as such. Some of the coverage of the CDC data fell a very long way short of that standard.

Below, more on the pandemic:



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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
ISTANBUL (AP)  More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials Sunday, as firefighters worked to battle blazes that continued in popular seaside destinations.

The Minister of Forestry and Agriculture, Bekir Pakdemirli, tweeted that five fires were continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla, while 107 fires were under control.

The fires in Antalya were continuing in two districts. In Mugla, they continued in the tourist destination of Marmaris, as well as other areas.

Police water cannons, usually used to control riots, assisted helicopters and fire trucks in a village of Muglas popular district of Bodrum to fight fires. Turkish television showed fires had reignited after being extinguished earlier, with blazes and smoke approaching a village. Civilians were trying to help, hoping to protect homes and olive groves, but some houses were already damaged. Coast guard and private boats were helping residents evacuate by sea.

Fires were also encroaching on a village near the town of Manavgat, where helicopters were trying to extinguish blazes.

Panic-struck tourists were evacuated Saturday from some hotels in Bodrum as a fire rolled down the hill toward the seashore.

Pakdemirlis list showed fires began in 32 provinces from Wednesday onward. Six people have died.

While Turkish authorities are investigating whether the fires may have started as an act of sabotage by outlawed Kurdish militants, experts mostly point to the climate crisis, as seen by the drastic increases in temperatures along with accidents caused by people.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece.

Temperatures in Turkey and nearby countries in southeast Europe are expected to climb to 42 degrees Celsius (more than 107 Fahrenheit) Monday in many cities and towns. Antalya was already registering 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Turkeys eastern Van province, floods destroyed at least six village houses after a small river overflowed ammid heavy rains. Floods in northern Turkey last month killed at least six people.

About the photo: Tourists wait to be evacuated from smoke-engulfed Mazi area as wildfires rolled down the hill toward the seashore, in Bodrum, Mugla, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo/Emre Tazegul)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ARMADA, Mich. (AP)  Two Michigan counties are asking the state to help make funds available for residents and businesses affected by recent tornados that damaged buildings, knocked down trees and caused power outages.

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel on Friday declared a state of emergency in response to damage last week in the Armada area, north of Detroit.

A state of emergency declaration is a step needed to seek cost reimbursement through the emergency management process.

Earlier, Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter asked the state to support a request for a state of disaster declaration in White Lake Township.

About 116 structures in Armada Township, the Village of Armada and surrounding areas in Macomb were damaged and two were destroyed as storms swept through parts of southeastern Michigan Saturday evening, according to Hackels office.

The tornado was severe and caused major damage in our communities, Hackel said. We are extremely thankful that no deaths or injuries occurred, but the ongoing recovery costs will be significant.

Macomb County also wants Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency exists within those areas so that other funding can be made available.

About 425 homes in the White Lake Township area, northwest of Detroit, were affected by the storm, including 31 that suffered major damage, Coulter said.

That tornados path was nearly 2 miles long and 400 yards wide.

Coulter sent a letter Thursday to Whitmer that supports a request Sunday by White Lake Township officials for a disaster declaration.

These natural disasters put tremendous strains, not only on families and businesses in communities, but also on local budgets, Coulter said. So, any assistance we can get from our partners in the state and federal government is especially helpful.

An EF1 tornado also touched down in Genesee Countys Clayton Township, according to the National Weather Service.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Dr. Douglas Martin practices occupational medicine in Sioux City, Iowa. To evaluate the level of impairment for workers compensation claimants from his home state, he must use the fifth edition of the American Medical Associations Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.

But he also sees patients from across the Missouri River in Nebraska, which uses the sixth edition of the AMA Guides; and nearby South Dakota, which uses the fourth edition.

Martin is co-chairman of the AMA Guides editorial panel. Hed like to see all of the states on the same page to ensure that injured workers with the same level of disability arent rated differently depending on where they live.

Its difficult to explain to the patient and difficult to explain to an attorney, he said. That doesnt make sense.

The AMA has revamped the way it revises its impairment rating guides in an effort to persuade all of the parties involved in workers compensation  doctors, attorneys and regulators  to agree on a common methodology for rating the degree of impairment according to the best scientific evidence available. Revisions included in an update that took effect July 1 were the first changes to the guides since 2008.

For the first time, the AMA is allowing non-physicians to serve as advisors to the editorial panel. The panel is also holding regular public meetings to hear comments from interested parties about proposed revisions to the guides, much like the rulemaking process used by government regulatory agencies.

In previous editions of the guides, it was left up to a bunch of physician editors to do the work, Martin said. It was published, and that was that. We felt there needed to be much more robust stakeholder involvement.

Martin said a 2017 decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that barred use of the AMA Guides Sixth edition to evaluate injured workers was part of the impetus to create a more open process. In Protz v. WCAB, the court ruled that state lawmakers had inappropriately delegated a legislative function to a private organization.

Martin said the AMA is also mindful of criticism by claimants attorneys that the sixth edition slashed benefits for injured workers by reducing impairment ratings for numerous types of injuries. He said the new update process gives attorneys an opportunity to point out deficiencies and propose changes.

The AMA adopted the more transparent update process in 2019 and used it while drafting the most recent updates.

The editorial panel made significant changes to the Mental and Behavioral Health chapter. Some of the more notable changes were elimination of the use of the Global Assessment of Functioning as an impairment rating method and adoption of the 5th edition of the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

Dr. Steven Feinberg, an editorial panel member who practices pain medicine in Palo Alto, California, said the latest revisions were made during a rigorous two-year process. He said the panel held monthly video meetings to discuss proposed changes and hear input from interested stakeholders.

It was a lot of hard work, he said.

Feinberg said the most controversial change was elimination of the GAF scale for rating psychiatric injuries, not because the methodology had many proponents but because it is relatively simple to use. The new psychiatric impairment rating method in the AME Guides Sixth 2021 uses an average of scores using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale.

Feinberg said the editorial panel had hoped to make many other changes, but ran of time. He said a deliberative process that entails making proposals, hearing public input and then revising those proposals to reflect a consensus of opinion is time consuming.

Martin said the editorial panel had 13 years of new medical knowledge to evaluate since the last revision. He said further updates will take some time.

The process is very deliberative, he said. Some people say it may be slow. We want to make sure we do it right.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  The key to making hurricane forecasts suddenly clearer and more accurate might have floated out to sea from Jacksonville last week on something looking like orange surfboards with wings.

Maybe.

It will take time for federal government researchers to work with data from sensors on the drone boats, looking for insights to help coastal communities stay safe.

But for the next three months, the autonomous unmanned vessels will be relaying measurements of heat exchanges between the ocean and atmosphere  the fuel that strengthens hurricanes  that before now had to be collected in person.

We have so few, said Greg Foltz, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Foltz, who normally works in South Florida, was at Fort George Island Marina with employees of Saildrone, a California drone boat company that calls itself the worlds leading collector of in situ data via uncrewed vehicle.

Saildrone launched two 23-foot Explorer drones that will travel corridors of the Atlantic Ocean through October. Their paths are meant to complement the routes of three other Explorers released this month in the U.S. Virgin Islands, creating a web of coverage in heart of hurricane territory.

Explorers are slow, moving no more than a few miles per hour on their wind-powered propulsion systems.

But the idea is for the drones to work continuously, collecting data about normal ocean conditions in categories ranging from currents, temperatures, wind speeds and barometric pressure to dissolved oxygen, carbon levels and wave heights.

When a hurricane develops, the drones are designed to be able to steer straight into it, recording the storm with high-resolution cameras mounted on wings built to withstand punishing winds and waves that can weigh hundreds of tons.

Vessels with crews regularly leave the paths of hurricanes to avoid disasters like the 2015 sinking of the cargo ship El Faro, which killed 33 mariners sailing from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico.

Between the Explorers everyday readings and data collected in the storm, boosters expect the drones to give hurricane researchers new insights that cant be gathered from hurricane-hunting surveillance planes.

All we can measure from planes is pressure, said Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins, a British-born engineer who was dockside Friday, untying lines that moored the Explorers until they were ready to be towed out to sea.

The drones will work in tandem with underwater gliders that NOAA uses to track water conditions as deep as 1,000 feet below the surface, Foltz said. By gathering information at surface level and far beneath, scientists are hoping to have a fuller picture of what happens in the water column during hurricane season.

Explorers have been used before in harsh settings including winter seas off the Pacific Northwest and a trip measuring more than 13,500 miles to circumnavigate Antarctica.

The drones have operated at sea for longer than a year before, but NOAA officials said the three-month window was chosen to get the best results within their $1.1 million contract with Saildrone.

The drones are part of a fleet of unmanned vessels the company is promoting for work including mapping the ocean floor and maintaining quiet surveillance in areas vulnerable to foreign fishing fleets.

That vessels could be useful to Northeast Florida on other ways, too, said U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., joined the Explorer launch and noted the craft can also carry equipment for measuring fish biomass, a way to track the condition of offshore fisheries.

About the photo: Richard Jenkins, the founder and CEO of Saildrone drives the tow boat as he pulls two of his companys hurricane hunter to the mouth of the Saint Johns River on their way to being launched into the Atlantic Ocean Friday, July 23, 2021 in Jacksonville, Fla. (Bob Self/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  When the giant cargo ship began to tip over off the Georgia coast, harbor pilot Jonathan Tennant found himself on his side, screaming orders in the darkness while flying debris that felt like gravel pelted him.

After much of the Golden Ray slipped into the sea, crew members feared they would perish if they stayed on the ship _ but they also could die if they attempted perilous climbs and dangerous leaps to reach the ocean.

Their accounts are contained in interviews included among more than 1,700 pages of documents made public Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The Golden Ray, carrying more than 1,400 vehicles, overturned after leaving the Port of Brunswick along the Georgia coast on Sept. 8, 2019. Tennant and about two dozen crew members on board were rescued and survived.

The shipwreck was like nothing I have ever experienced in 21 years here before with a car ship, Tennant told investigators two days after the accident, according to the transcript of his interview.

The trouble began during a turn near St. Simons Island, when the ship began to list to one side. It happened so rapidly that I was absolutely in disbelief, Tennant said.

And the ship  at some point in that turn, I realized that I didnt have a ship anymore, he added.

You know, I instinctively am giving commands that a pilot would give, under crazy circumstances, he said. But at the exact moment I was doing that, Im not sure that I had the context that the rudder and propeller are already out of the water. Because its like that. And all areas theres darkness, and alarms. The only thing that worked on that ship after the capsizing were alarms.

U.S. Coast Guard members told investigators they were simultaneously rescuing crew members covered in blood and oil while also trying to learn how to save the others. As they tried to stop the bleeding on their rescue boats, they said, they asked the wounded seamen where the remaining crewmembers were on the Golden Ray so they could mount more rescues for them.

The documents released this week are not the final report into the cause of the wreck, which is still under investigation.

But at public hearings last year, experts testified that the way its cargo was being carried was a key factor. A U.S. Coast Guard analysis found that unstable loading had left its center of gravity too high, making the vessel susceptible to rolling over, an expert told officials during the hearings last year. Investigators from the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board will use evidence from the hearings to publish a report of their findings, with recommendations aimed at improving safety.

About one-third of the hulking ship still remains in the ocean after many months of hauling chunks of it onto barges and then carrying them to shore, but its full removal is finally nearing completion. This month, crews began cutting through steel to remove another large chunk of the vessel.

In the interview transcripts released Thursday, Tennant gives one of the most complete accounts of the wreck but also of the massive effort to rescue crew members, some of whom were trapped inside the wreckage for several hours.

Tennant, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, was praised by the Georgia Legislature and others for getting help to the ship and coordinating rescue efforts while still onboard.

At one point, the capsized Golden Ray was in danger of sliding from near the shore into the deep shipping channel _ raising the specter that the entire crew could drown. But Tennants distress calls reached a tugboat that raced over and pushed the hull back into sand to keep it out of the deep water.

Eventually, Tennant was able to escape the wheelhouse of the overturned ship by sliding down a fire hose. He was then rescued by a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, describing it in his interview: Some big dude just picked me up like a toy and set me on the deck.

About the photo: In this April 26, 2021 file photo, interior decks of the capsized cargo ship Golden Ray are exposed after the engine room section was cut away and separated from the rest of the shipwreck by a towering crane, offshore of St. Simons Island, Ga. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum, File)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Portland, Oregon, has banned homeless people from camping in forested parks to both protect them from potential wildfires and prevent them from accidentally starting blazes during a summer of drought and record-breaking heat.

The City Council adopted the rule Wednesday for high-risk hazard zones, including in and around Portlands famous Forest Park and in heavily forested wetlands and natural areas around the city. The ban will apply during wildfire season or whenever a county burn ban is in effect. The 8-square-mile (21-square-kilometer) Forest Park in the heart of Portland is one of the largest urban forests in the U.S.

There have been frequent reports of fires at unsanctioned campsites and at clusters of RVs around the city from illegal burning, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The city stressed that the rule was to prevent fires from starting in the city but also to protect homeless people from blazes started near encampments by others.

Nonprofit groups working with the city will visit the camps, provide information about fire risk and help residents relocate voluntarily before any aggressive sweeps take place, the newspaper said.

I do not like sweeps, and I do not like that we have a shortage of housing that people can afford to live in, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said. But I cannot stand by and do nothing as people are at risk of dying by fire.

Detailed maps of high-risk areas prepared by the citys fire marshal will help campers know where they cant live, said Kaia Sand, director of Street Roots, an advocacy group for people experiencing homelessness and weekly alternative newspaper. But she said the solution is half baked unless the city also provides safe places for displaced residents to go.

The fact that our city removes people without good alternatives for them to live has always been a problem and continues to be a problem, she said.

A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP)  More than 100 people had to spend the night on a highway, including nearly 30 who took refuge in a tunnel, after rain over an area burned by a wildfire once again triggered mudslides in western Colorado, authorities said Friday.

The people were caught with their vehicles on Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon on Thursday night. Those in the tunnel were stuck for about nine hours until crews could carve out a path through the mud to reach them at about 6:30 a.m. Friday, Garfield County Sheriffs Office spokesman Walt Stowe said.

The tunnel serves as a 24-hour operations center for the Colorado Department of Transportation, so it is relatively well-lit and has telephones, Stowe said. No injuries were reported.

The transportation department has accounted for 108 people, including 29 in the tunnel, who were stuck on the highway overnight. Between 65 and 70 people remained stranded at a rest stop Friday afternoon as crews worked to punch a safe passage through the debris.

Mike Goolsby, a regional director for the transportation department, said the area was affected by about 10 slides, some 12 feet (4 meters) deep and up to 150 feet (46 meters) wide.

Im very grateful that no one was hurt.  Weve tried our hardest not to have people in the canyon when these flash flood warnings hit, but it was the best case scenario for all of us based on the outcome this morning, he said.

Glenwood Canyon has cliffs towering up to 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the Colorado River, making it prone to rockslides and mudslides. In recent weeks, rain over the area burned by a wildfire last summer has triggered frequent slides, resulting in closures of I-70, Colorados main east-west highway. Those closures have mostly occurred before the storm moves in, to prevent people from being trapped.

On Thursday, the canyon had temporarily closed earlier in the day as one storm cell approached but had reopened by the time a second storm cell moved in, which led to the vehicles and their passengers getting trapped.

Transportation officials say the section of interstate is expected to be closed at least through the weekend because of the significant cleanup underway and because of heavy rain in the forecast. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the area.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Ohio has had 1,138,600 total cases of COVID-19, an increase of 1,666 cases from Aug. 5, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard on Aug. 6.
Former Israeli minister and Knesset member Itzik Shmuli, left, has been tapped as the new director-general of UJA-Federation of New Yorks Israel office. He is pictured with UJAs CEO Eric S. Goldstein, Aug. 1, 2021.
We are in very close contact, in coordination with the United Kingdom, Israel, Romania and other countries, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The post Blinken assures collective response to Irans attack on Israeli-tied oil tanker appeared first on JNS.org.
The Akron Jewish Family Festival will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 8 in the parking lot of Anshe Sfard Synagogue-Revere Road Synagogue.
COLUMBUS  After discontinuing his weekly coronavirus briefings, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine returned Friday to the lectern to deliver a dire message of how the state has been split into "two Ohios," the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, as it battles the surging delta variant.
Clinton, IA (52732)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 83F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  The fresh round of hard lockdowns has fueled calls for the Commission on Elections to extend the voter registration period for the 2022 elections. The registration is set to end on Sept. 30.

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday said it is only logical to move the deadline by at least two more weeks, considering the impact of the enhanced community quarantine on the application process.

COMELEC earlier announced voter registration in Metro Manila for next years elections will be suspended from Aug. 6 to 20, coinciding with the capital region's return to ECQ in a bid to reverse an upward trend in COVID-19 cases.

Sayang 'yung period from Aug. 6 to 20 [The suspension from Aug. 6 to 20 would mean a waste of opportunity]...It's two more weeks that may prove critical for our country's future, Hontiveros said in a statement. She added extraordinary circumstances brought on by the pandemic should be enough reason to relax COMELEC rules.

However, COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez said in a statement the poll body has not discussed the possibility of an extension.

In joining the call for a revised registration deadline, the Kabataan Partylist also said there continues to be an extremely slow pace of voter registration.

We must allow for as much time as possible for people to get registered since circumstances have rendered us extremely crippled in terms of expediently handling voter's registration, it said.

As election laws are to be interpreted in favor of the voters, then election registration rules should be applied in favor of the people to register to vote, the partylist added.

Youth organization College Editors Guild of the Philippines meanwhile said not adjusting the deadline would put thousands, if not millions of Filipinos unable to exercise the right to vote just because they prioritized health and safety over registering within an inconvenient, constrained time.

Free Legal Assistance Group chairman Chel Diokno also earlier urged COMELEC to extend the registration period in light of Metro Manila's return to ECQ.

As of last week, over 60 million Filipinos nationwide have registered to vote in the 2022 elections, Jimenez said. The target is more than 61 million by end-September.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson and Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III, the first confirmed tandem in the 2022 elections, put off their candidacys official launch originally set for this week due to the dreaded Delta variant.

In separate statements on Monday, Lacson and Sotto announced the postponement of their August 4 event, after taking into consideration the countrys fight against the highly transmissible Delta variant which is believed to cause more serious disease as well.

While we are grappling with an evident surge in the infection rate, we thought we should focus more on attending to our peoples health concerns and priorities than any other non-health related activities, Lacson said.

It is a purely sensitivity issue, even considering that the event will be virtually presented, he and Sotto added.

Metro Manila will be back under the strictest enhanced community quarantine from Aug. 6 to 20 due to yet another surge in infections. The Senate will suspend sessions at least from Aug. 9 to 11  the first working days with the capital region under ECQ.

Sotto said they are considering holding the event once ECQ is lifted or on Sept. 8  a month before the filing of certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections on Oct. 1 to 8.

READ: No online filing of certificates of candidacy

First confirmed tandem

Both Lacson and Sotto are in their third term as senators. Lacson, former Philippine National Police chief, is taking another shot at the presidency after running in the 2004 national elections as an independent candidate. He recently took oath as chairman of the recently revived Partido Reporma.

Sotto, an actor-turned-politician, is seeking higher office for the first time after nearly two decades as lawmaker. He is chairman of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition, one of the major political parties in the country.

In early July, the tandem held consultative meetings in different parts of Luzon. On July 20, Sotto first announced on CNN Philippines that he and Lacson have decided to vie for the top posts in 2022 and that they would make a formal launch on August 4. It is now the first campaign-related activity to be disrupted by the pandemic.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  A red flag is usually something to avoid, but groups behind the Matimyas Workers Community Pantry will be using this as a marker for families in need of help.

Flag Brigade PH, a movement led by Defend Jobs Philippines and the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, said it will be converting the operations of the community pantry serving residents of Sampaloc, Manila, into a mobile service during the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) which starts on Friday, Aug. 6.

"Dahil ECQ, bawal na rin ang social gatherings, bawal na rin ang mga community pantry. Pero alam naman natin na ang epekto ng lockdown ay matinding kahirapan na naman sa mga kababayan natin [Because it's ECQ, social gatherings and community pantries are not allowed. But we all know that the lockdown will cause extreme poverty again to our fellow Filipinos]," Defend Jobs Philippines spokesperson Christian Lloyd Magsoy told CNN Philippines.

He said the movement was inspired by Malaysia's White Flag Campaign, where low-income families waved white flags to seek help during their July lockdown.

Flag Brigade said they are forging on with the new community pantry setup knowing that job displacements would leave many Filipino families with fewer to no income. Even if the national government committed a 1,000 cash aid per individual or a limit of 4,000 per family, Magsoy said this was not enough to get them through this ECQ.

"Sa loob ng two weeks ang sasahurin ng isang minimum wage earner ay aabot sa average ng 7,000. 'Yun ngang 7,000 ay kulang pa 'yun sa kanilang pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan, what more pa itong 1,000 lang?," he added.

"Layunin nito, kahit sa gitna ng ECQ ay makapagbigay pa rin ng tulong o ayudang pagkain para sa ating mga kababayan na maapektuhan nitong lockdown na ito."

[Translation: In a span of two weeks, a minimum wage earner will receive an average of 7,000. Even that 7,000 is not enough for their daily needs, what more if it's just 1,000? Our goal is that even in the middle of ECQ, we can still provide help or food supply to our fellowmen who are affected by this lockdown.]

As of Monday, community pantry operations are similar to how the aid scheme started in April  residents in need of supplies can line up and get their share, while donors can drop off their donations.

READ: What the community pantry movement means for Filipinos

Over the weekend, pantry staff started distributing red and green flaglets to visitors  red for those who will need food supply during the lockdown period, and green for those with excess goods to share. Families can also improvise and use any piece of red and green cloth to be hung on their gates.

The flags are meant to be displayed by the door or gates, which would limit exposure amid the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Magsoy said pantry volunteers will make the rounds using bicycles or cars to collect the donations and redistribute to households in need.

RELATED: Community pantries a desperate call for help amid pandemic  Lacson
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Those scheduled for COVID-19 vaccination are considered authorized persons outside of residence or APOR, so they can travel to inoculation centers during the enhanced community quarantine period, an official said on Monday.

"Authorized po sila as long as merong maipakita po o masabi na sila po ay pupunta sa mga centers o vaccination centers," Joint Task Force COVID Shield Commander PLtGen. Israel Dickson told CNN Philippines.

[Translation: They are authorized to go out as long as they can show or say they are going to vaccination centers.]

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said vaccinees will be asked to show their vaccination card or a text from their local government that they are scheduled to get vaccinated that day. He added the government is discouraging walk-in vaccinations to avoid crowding.

The Joint Task Force COVID Shield said frontline workers, such as those working in the health sector or companies providing essential goods, can go out in Metro Manila during the ECQ period as long as they present their identification cards.

More uniformed personnel have been deployed to enforce strict border control in Metro Manila ahead of the ECQ from August 6 to 20. Dickson said they will be "flexible" in fining or arresting violators.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Malacanang says it is leaving it to US President Joe Biden to decide how to respond to the call of some American senators urging his administration to condemn alleged human rights abuses in the Philippines.

"Amerikano po 'yan. In the same way na ayaw nating may maghihimasok sa gawain ng Kongreso ng Pilipinas, hindi po namin sila paghihimasukan," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a televised briefing on Monday.

[Translation: They are Americans. In the same way we don't want anybody interfering with the Philippine Congress's actions, we will not interfere with theirs.]

In a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dated July 26, ten American senators urged the Biden administration to condemn "at the highest levels" the "continuing pattern of human rights violations" under President Rodrigo Duterte's government.

Among the instances they cited were the chief executive's bloody war on drugs and attacks on the press, political opponents and human rights advocates mentioning in particular the detainment of Sen. Leila De Lima, the targeting of journalist Maria Ressa, and the closure of ABS-CBN broadcast network after the denial of a new franchise.

"'Yan naman po ay personal na mga pananaw ng sampung senador na Amerikano. Bahala na po sila ano gagawin nila," said Roque.

[Translation: Those are personal views of the ten American senators. It's up to them what they will do.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  President Rodrigo Duterte has approved granting cash aid to nearly 11 million individuals in Metro Manila during the hard lockdown starting Friday, officials confirmed on Monday.

Around 80% of the 13 million residents in Metro Manila are set to receive 1,000 financial assistance  or a maximum of 4,000 per household  during the strictest enhanced community quarantine period from Aug. 6 to 20.

Senator Bong Go, who attended the televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, confirmed this was approved by the chief executive.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the financial assistance to 10.8 million Metro Manila residents is assured, but the source of funds remains a question.

"Ang hindi lang sigurado, saan kukunin. Pero ang mandato ng Presidente, humanap kayo ng pera," said Roque, adding that budget officials will be meeting with concerned agencies this afternoon regarding sources of funding.

[Translation: What is not sure is where this (cash aid) will come from. But the President's mandate is clear, look for funding.]

The National Capital Region, currently under general community quarantine with heightened and additional restrictions, will return to a two-week ECQ starting Aug. 6 after mayors sought tighter quarantine measures as COVID-19 cases continue to rise amid the threat of the Delta variant.

The government is aiming to distribute the cash assistance to affected households before the ECQ takes effect, Roque added.

Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda, office-in-charge of the Department of Budget and Management, said the cash aid funds will be coursed through local governments, adding that the DBM is looking for ways to ensure LGUs will receive them directly.

Canda said approximately 19 million people in areas under ECQ will benefit from the latest round of assistance.

Meanwhile, Chairman Benhur Abalos Jr. of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said the distribution of cash aid will still be done in queue system, noting that it may not finish on time if done house-to-house.

The MMDA chief assured that a better procedure will be implemented during this round of cash aid distribution to ensure social distancing.

CNN Philippines correspondent Melissa Lopez contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2) -- Malacanang on Monday advised Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu against implementing its no vaccine, no entry policy, as many people have yet to receive their COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Presidential Harry Roque made the remark after Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Ahong Chan issued an executive order prohibiting unvaccinated individuals to enter several establishments in the city starting Aug. 25.

I commend Mayor Ahong of Lapu-Lapu for this innovation. Pero siguro po ay hindi pa napapanahon (But I think its not yet time for that), said Roque in a press briefing.

He noted that France and some areas in the United States are implementing a similar policy as more than half of their population are already vaccinated against COVID-19.

Siguro hintayin muna natin na at least 50% ng ating population ay mabakunahan. I hope you understand po, Roque said. Kasi kung karamihan naman ay hindi bakunado at hindi makapunta ng pamilihan, eh paano sila kukuha ng kanilang kakainin?

[Translation: Maybe we should wait until at least 50% of our population are vaccinated. I hope you understand. Because if most of the people are not vaccinated yet and they cannot go to stores, how can they get their necessities?]

Roque also warned Chan about the possible consequences of imposing a stricter restriction in the city.

Kapag kayo nag-impose ng mas strict na restriction, eh baka hindi kayo makakatanggap na ayuda dahil kayo ay nag-impose ng stricter restrictions, he said.

[Translation: If you impose a stricter restriction, you might not receive any cash assistance because of it.]

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier directed local authorities to escort unvaccinated people, whom he described as spreaders, back to their homes.

Lapu-Lapu City is under modified enhanced community quarantine until Aug. 14. As of Aug. 1, the city tallied a total of 8,680 COVID-19 cases.

Roque said a total of 20,863,544 doses have already been administered so far. Around 11.7 million people have received their first dose while more than 9.1 million are now fully vaccinated, he added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Why did President Rodrigo Duterte eventually keep the Visiting Forces Agreement? The United States COVID-19 vaccine donations could have played a role, says his spokesperson Harry Roque.

During his briefing on Monday, Roque said the totality of recent developments along with a thorough assessment of what constitutes national interest prompted the chief executive to revoke the decades-old military pacts termination.

I said, consider the totality of circumstances. There's a good possibility that was also part of the equation, explained the official further when asked whether the U.S. governments donated doses contributed to the Presidents decision.

Last July 30, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced that Duterte recalled the abrogation of the agreement between Manila and Washington after his meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III.

Duterte will also be welcoming personally the arrival of over 3 million vaccine doses of the American brand Moderna this Tuesday, officials confirmed.

The Philippines likewise received its first 1.6 million doses of the single-shot Janssen vaccine by American manufacturer Johnson & Johnson earlier this month.

Kung talagang gugustuhin ni Presidente, talagang pinatuloy na niya yung termination ng VFA. Pero nakailang beses siya ng extension ng termination, the spokesman recalled.

[Translation: If the President really wanted to, he could have pushed through with the termination of the VFA. But he extended its termination several times.]

Duterte terminated the agreement in February 2020 but suspended its abrogation in June in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and emerging threats in the South China Sea. The government once again put off its revocation in November, then in June once more this year.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  The proposed national budget for 2022 is right on track despite the countrys Budget Department chief being on medical leave, assured Malacanang on Monday.

Bagama't Secretary (Wendel) Avisado is on sick leave, naisumite po niya ang pinal na proposed budget natin at pini-print na po ang ating national expenditure plan for submission to Congress. So, natapos po 'yun, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque during a televised briefing.

[Translation: While Secretary Wendel Avisado is on sick leave, he was able to submit our final proposed budget and our national expenditure plan is already being printed for submission to Congress. So that was finished.]

Avisado is on medical leave beginning Monday after getting infected with COVID-19, confirmed the Budget Department in a post over the weekend, amid speculations he has resigned or was fired from his post.

Roque dismissed the rumors, noting he has no basis to question the agencys press release. He also assured the Cabinet officials leave will not affect funding sources for the cash aid that will be distributed to Metro Manila residents as the region enters lockdown in a few days.

The spokesman emphasized that the proposed national budget for next year will serve as the countrys stimulus package, amid calls to include more relief measures in the 2022 general appropriations plan. He also appealed to the public to wait and see first what its provisions are.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2)  Hundreds of thousands of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the United Kingdom arrived in the country Monday, nearly a week after the British Embassy announced the donation.

The donation of 415,000 doses arrived past 4 p.m.

In the embassy's statement last week, the vaccines are part of the nine million coronavirus shots the UK will deliver to poor countries around the world.

"This is part of the first batch of the 100 million doses we've pledged to get the poorest parts of the world vaccinated as a matter of urgency. We're doing this to help the most vulnerable, but also because we know we won't be safe until everyone is safe," UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in the statement.

As of July 29, the Philippines has received over 32 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, of which more than 18 million have been administered.

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte is set to welcome on Aug. 3 more donated vaccines, this time from the COVAX facility co-led by World Health Organization.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said in an interview on CNN Philippines' the Source that 3 million Moderna vaccines are expected to arrive on Tuesday.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3)  A furious President Rodrigo Duterte emphasized that the public benefited from the government's drug war, the centerpiece program of his administration.

"Sino ang nakinabang? Kayo, ang mga anak ninyo. Ang bayan natin, ang nakinabang," said Duterte during his weekly public address on Monday.

[Translation: Who benefited from it? You. Your children and our country benefited from it.]

Duterte's remarks were an apparent response to the latest call of ten American senators urging the administration of United States President Joe Biden to condemn the alleged human rights abuses in the country caused by the drug war.

The ten American lawmakers also cited Duterte's attacks on the press, political opponents, and human rights advocates. They particularly mentioned the continued detention of Sen. Leila De Lima, the targeting of journalist Maria Ressa, and the closure of ABS-CBN broadcast network after the denial of a new franchise.

Duterte also issued a warning to the U.S. State Department on its possible response to the political pressure from the American senators.

"Be careful. Be careful of what you are planning or doing there because your country is guilty also of so many violations of human rights," the President said.

In the meeting supposed to primarily tackle the country's pandemic response, Duterte devoted many minutes in flaunting the recent buy-bust operations made by the national police, the military, and anti-drug operatives. He commended them for confiscating billions worth of illegal drugs.

"Ang tingin ko sa tao na pumasok ng droga, ang IQ mo katorse lang Bakit papasok ka sa bagay na sisirain ang ulo mo? Huwag ka na lang maghintay na yung utak mo wala na, parang isang munggo na lang," said Duterte.

[Translation: I think those who are engaging in illegal drugs have an IQ of 14 Why will you engage in a thing that will make you crazy? Don't wait for your brain to be gone and become bean-sized.]

Based on available government data, 293,841 drug suspects were arrested while 6,147 were killed in the 203,715 anti-illegal drug operations conducted from July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2021.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3)  President Rodrigo Duterte revealed on Monday that COVID-19 vaccine donations from the United States played a role in his decision to recall the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Give and take lang tayo, so pasalamat tayo sa kanila at may naibigay naman ako sa kanila na (we thank them, and I also gave them a) concession," he said during his televised weekly address.

"I conceded the continuance of the Visiting Forces Agreement in gratitude, he said.

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque stated that there is a good possibility that the vaccine donations contributed to the decision of Duterte to keep the VFA.

Last month, the Philippines received 3.2 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine donated by Washington through the COVAX Facility.

Last week, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced that Duterte canceled the termination of the agreement between Manila and Washington after his meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III.

This Tuesday, the country will also receive over 3 million vaccine doses of the American brand Moderna, which will be personally welcomed by Duterte.

During his address, the President also thanked US President Joe Biden and the American people for not forgetting the Philippines with its vaccine donations.

Id like to thank the President of the United States, si Biden, the government and the people of America for not forgetting us, he said.

Do not forget us because we share the same outlook sa (in) geopolitics, especially in Southeast Asia, he also said.

Currently, the country has received some 34 million coronavirus shots, most of which are Sinovac's CoronaVac of China.

Almost 21 million of these were already administered, with around 9.1 million Filipinos receiving two doses.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3)  President Rodrigo Duterte again revealed what he thought of efforts to get him to face the International Criminal Court: I will never go there alive.

"Alam niyo kung gusto niyo talaga akong...it's over my dead body. Makuha niyo ako, dalhin niyo ako sa Netherlands, patay. You will have a carcass. Hindi ako pupunta doon ng buhay," Duterte said during his address to the nation on Monday.

[Translation: You know if you really want me...its over my dead body. If you take me to the Netherlands, it will happen only because I'd be dead. You will have a carcass. I will never go there alive.]

Duterte was presenting information on recent anti-drug operations when he shifted the topic to human rights activists who, he said, focused only on the killings.

READ: Duterte claims public benefited from state-sponsored drug war

"Anong problema nitong human rights?... At yung mga listahan sa mga pinatay, bakit listahan lang sa mga pinatay na kriminal? Sagutin nga ninyo ako diyan," he said.

[Translation: What is the problem of these human rights activists?... And the list of those who were killed, why do they only list the criminals? Answer me.]

He also warned the United States to be careful, adding that authorities there are guilty of human rights violations as well.

READ: Palace: Up to Biden to heed US senators' call to condemn PH drug war, attacks vs. critics

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the country cannot be compelled to cooperate with an ICC probe into the Duterte administration's war on drugs, despite a Supreme Court ruling.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 3)  A hospital association said the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation has only paid 15% of the total claims for COVID-19 cases worth tens of billions of pesos since March 2020.

The assertion comes as health facilities prepare for another possible surge in COVID-19 cases believed driven by the more transmissible Delta variant.

RELATED: PH healthcare capacity approaching 'moderate risk'  DOH

Philippine Hospital Association President Dr. Jaime Almora even told CNN Philippines The Final Word that some member hospitals have yet to receive any amount from the state health insurer.

Ngayon nga na kailangang kailangan ng financial lifeblood ng mga hospital, ngayon pa na hindi sila nagbayad, so its a big mystery. Sana itong mystery na ito magkaroon naman ng miracle para mabayaran na, he said.

[Translation: At a time when hospitals very much need a financial lifeblood, they decided not to pay, so its a big mystery. I hope this mystery will have a miracle so that it will all be settled.]

The unpaid claims are essential in ensuring unhampered hospital operations. They are used to cover health workers salaries, medical equipment and supplies, and to expand bed capacity if needed to accommodate more COVID-19 patients.

In May 19, Almora already sounded the alarm on the alleged failure of PhilHealth to pay hospitals their COVID-19 claims since the start of the health crisis, causing severe financial distress for both public and private hospitals.
The Coastal Point is a local newspaper published each Friday and distributed in the Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Fenwick Island, Ocean View, Millville, Dagsboro, Frankford, Selbyville, Millsboro, Long Neck and Georgetown, Delaware areas.
Penn State announced Monday a virtual town hall focusing on updates for the upcoming fall semester will be led by Penn State President Eric Barron and various university leaders at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a release.

The town hall, which will be available via livestream, will feature a panel including Penn States Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones, Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims, Vice President for Human Resources Lorraine Goffe and Director of the Penn State COVID-19 Operations Control Center Kelly Wolgast.

The panel is expected to discuss implications of the Delta variant, changes in safety measures and protocols for the fall semester, Penn State's approach to the next academic year and various student, faculty and staff related questions, the release said.

Penn State's virtual town hall comes after leaders of the University Park Undergraduate Association and Graduate and Professional Student Association signed an open letter Saturday addressed to President Eric Barron and the Board of Trustees urging a university-wide vaccine mandate.

Presenting statistics on student population and the Delta variant, the letter urged university action and called for an emergency session of the Board of Trustees to address the matter.

Penn State is not currently requiring masking or social distancing for vaccinated individuals aside from on public transportation, but those who are unvaccinated will be required to wear masks while indoors this fall.

The university does not presently have a vaccine mandate for the fall semester either, contrary to other Big Ten schools like Indiana, Rutgers, Northwestern, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan and Michigan State.

Tuesday's livestream will be archived and available for the Penn State community to watch at a later time, the release said.

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As uncertainty, fear and anxiety practically plagued humanity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many searched for meaningful ways to connect with others virtually. With this in mind, Penn States Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project was created.

The project intends to serve as an online community for current and former Pennsylvanians of all ages to submit visual art or creative writing expressing their first-person, pandemic-related experiences.

Launched during Pennsylvanias stay-at-home order in April 2020, Penn State faculty and staff have been able to collect about 300 creative works, which will be preserved and archived after the end of 2021.

Even with the widespread availability of vaccinations in the United States, Viral Imaginations will continue accepting submissions to capture the experiences of individuals throughout all phases of the pandemic.

Michele Mekel, interim director of Penn States Bioethics Program and co-founder and co-principal investigator of Viral Imaginations, said she became part of the project because she wanted to provide an outlet for those facing difficult emotions.

I need this right now, so other people probably need this right now too, she said as she recalled starting the project.

She said it seeks to provide an avenue to create community, build empathy and increase understanding of the importance of the arts and humanities in times of crisis.

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Penn State sophomores give advice for freshmens first week on campus With Arrival week less than a month away, many of Penn States students are preparing to mov

Mekel said  even during such a dark time  many of the submissions continue to express hope, resilience and empathy.

The gallery, which is where all of the submissions are kept categorically on the website, reminds people that everybody is going through the same exact crisis, and no one is alone, Mekel said.

Similar to Mekel, Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and womens, gender and sexuality studies, core project contributor, and one of the projects founding team members, said she became inspired to participate in the project because she recognized the benefits of artistic expression throughout the pandemic.

Keifer-Boyd helped create lesson plans for teachers to use to engage their students with the collection.

The project will be useful for doctors, scientists and educators, Keifer-Boyd said. Studying the submissions on the page will lead to a better understanding of problems people had during the pandemic and how to help moving forward, she said.

There is so much that can be conveyed in art that words cannot convey, Keifer-Boyd said. She went on to say art is a powerful language that anyone can use to communicate, regardless of age or talent.

More specifically, Keifer-Boyd said she realized many of the creative work submissions expressed speculations about what may happen in the future regarding the pandemic.

Now there is a new kind of fear, Mekel said. A lot of the artwork expresses concerns about what could happen if people do not get the vaccine.

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Also working closely with Mekel and Keifer-Boyd is team lead and research intern Hannasy Rodgers.

Rodgers (sophomore-science BS/MBA) said she wanted to get involved in Viral Imaginations to be part of something purposeful and bigger than herself.

She said she wants to encourage people to be involved in the project and explore the projects website to see if anything speaks to them.

The website also promotes related initiatives in its resources tab, she said.

The main thing is for people to have an outlet during the pandemic, Rodgers said.

Viral Imaginations is holding an online Ekphrastic Expression Workshop from 7:30-9 p.m. on Aug. 18 for all Pennsylvanians, according to Mekel.

Ekphrastic expression involves choosing either a creative writing or visual art piece from the Viral Imaginations website to reflect on and respond to, Mekel said. If people choose a creative writing piece, they will respond with their own visual artwork creation and vice versa.

Advanced registration is required at this link.

We are in a pandemic right now, Rodgers said, but that doesnt mean you have to limit your ability to learn and express yourself in different ways.

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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!
Danville, IL (61832)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Google Cloud launches Melbourne region

Google Cloud has opened a cloud region in Melbourne after flagging plans of a cloud region for the city in March 2020. The Melbourne region comes four years after the launch of its first region in Australia, located in Sydney.

The region opens with three availability zonesa deployment area for cloud platform resources within a regionto protect against service disruptions.

[ Keep up on the latest thought leadership, insights, how-to, and analysis on IT through Computerworlds newsletters. ]

The cloud provider is also in expanding connectivity across the Australia and New Zealand by supporting subsea cables, including Indigoand JGA South (Japan-Guam-Australia South), and points of presence in major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, and Auckland.

Google said that the new Melbourne region comes with new technologies and tools, but the Sydney region still offers at least 14 more products than Melbourne, with all those offered in Melbourne also available in Sydney.

Networking infrastructure market bounces back

The Australian networking infrastructure market has seen a 16.9% growth in revenue during the first quarter of 2021, generating $314 million, according to research firm IDC. This revenue is still lower than pre COVID-19 level of $344 million.

IDCs networking infrastructure market includes ethernet switch, router, and wireless LAN hardware. 5G was the big driver behind this growth, with the router market having a yearly increase of 28.6% due to telecommunications services providers increasing their spending on 5G core networks.

Revenue from the deployment of routers within enterprise has decreased, which IDC attributes to an increase in SD-WAN deployments. IDC forecasts the SD-WAN market grow at an annual rate of 28.8% by 2024 in Australia.

IDC expects the networking infrastructure market to grow 6.2% annually by 2025 as a result of ongoing projects such as 5G mobile network upgrades, NBN network upgrades, and the trend of adoption of technology by enterprises.

AustCyber launches cybersecurity traineeship program

AustCyber has launched a new cybersecurity traineeship program in partnership with Microsoft Australia. Both organisations will offer a boot camp to prepare students for the Certificate IV in cybersecurity, with boot camps offered by various training providers to provide flexibility of training locations.

Upon completion of Certificate IV, students are deemed ready for the paid traineeship, which will be offered by partner companies, with Microsoft in charge of managing the trainees. These partners will also be involved in the boot camps and provide hands-on experience while students undertake the Certificate IV.

Additional support will be offered for those undertaking the studies through the offer of microcredential courses.

The program will focus on underrepresented groups, including women, veterans, First Nations people, neurologically diverse people, displaced workers, and other minority groups.

A total of 200 participants are expected to go through the program from 2021 to 2024.

The program has secured $320,000 from the governments Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund (CSSPIF), matched by another $320,000 from AustCyber and Microsoft.

TAFE NSW launches 9 online tech courses for HSC students

In response to skills shortage across the country, the New South Wales government has approved the launch of 20 new courses through TAFE for local high school students.

The TAFE NSW Schools Launchpad will deliver the courses virtually in a combination of teacher-led virtual classrooms with workshops also offering work placements.

Of the 20 courses, nine cover digital skills: automotive technology, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity; digital supply chain, game design, robotics, social media, and web design and development.

Independent review of regional telecommunications accepting submissions

The Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee is now taking submissions as part of a triennial review into telecommunications services in regional, rural, and remote parts of Australia.

The committee will consider the impact of government policies and programs to improve regional connectivity and digital inclusion; insights from the COVID-19 pandemic on the changing digital needs of regional, rural, and remote areas; service reliability issues which impact regional communities and options for mitigating them; the role of emerging technologies in delivering telecommunications services in regional Australia; ways of encouraging further investment in regional telecommunications; the role of telecommunications in supporting broader regional development goals; ways to improve coordination between government and industry in telecommunications investment; and consumer awareness and education regarding telecommunications options in regional areas.

Submissions will be accepted until 30 September 2021, with the committee set to report to the minister for regionalisation, regional communications, and regional education by 31 December 2021.
Comunidades.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 30 Apr 2019, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

The total number of people who shared the comunidades homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the comunidades homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the comunidades homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the comunidades homepage on Twitter + the total number of comunidades followers (if comunidades has a Twitter account). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the comunidades homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if comunidades has a Facebook fan page).

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE Comunidades | El web de las comunidades de propietarios DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS comunidades, de la, comunidades de, las comunidades, de propietarios, propietarios, las comunidades de



The title found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE HTML 5.0 CHARSET AND LANGUAGE Spanish UTF-8Spanish DETECTED LANGUAGE Spanish Spanish SERVER nginx (PHP/7.0.33,PleskLin) OPERATIVE SYSTEM

Character set and language of the site. Type of server and offered services. The language of comunidades.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Operative System running on the server. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0)

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for comunidades.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The URL of the found Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who like website Facebook page.

Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
Finalend.ca scored 46 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2.5/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 24 Mar 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the finalend homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if finalend has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the finalend homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. The total number of people who shared the finalend homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the finalend homepage on StumbleUpon. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the finalend homepage on Twitter + the total number of finalend followers (if finalend has a Twitter account).

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE Final End Challenge DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS mm meat shops, mm meat, meat shops, shops, secret, secret word, enter



The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE UTF-8 DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Microsoft-IIS/6.0 (ASP.NET) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003

Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) The language of finalend.ca as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Type of server and offered services. Character set and language of the site. Operative System running on the server.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for finalend.ca by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The URL of the found Facebook page. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The total number of people who like website Facebook page.

Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
65%

Website iasj.net uses latest and advanced technologies. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 51486 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 94482 bytes (92.27 kb uncompressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-08-02, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
Services for Leroy Manning, 79, of Austin, formerly Oakwood passed away Tuesday, July 27, 2021 in Austin. Viewing will be held on Friday, August 6, 2021 at Emanuel Funeral Home of Palestine from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Funeral will be held on Saturday, August 7, 2021 at Brown Chapel AME in Oakwood
We talked to Tyler, a 13F-9 Fire Support Specialist deployed in January 2013, and Matt, a combat medic attached to an Army infantry regiment and deployed in July 2009. They told us ...

America's War in Afghanistan is set to officially end this month, after 20 years. It's the longest war in American history, by a wide margin. The war lasted so long that children of the original soldiers ended up taking up their parents' patrol routes -- a fact reported on first jokingly by The Onion and then seriously not long after. And it lasted so long that we spoke a few years ago to a couple soldiers there, and their experiences are just as relevant today.

6 The Enemy Aim At Us With Motorcycles And Mountains

So, how did the technologically outclassed Taliban fighters attack an American military base? For starters, with two pieces of wood.

"They shoot rockets off of a rail built out of two-by-fours fastened together in a long V shape," explains Tyler. One of the attackers, who has some working knowledge of physics and ballistics, calculates the best angle and position for the rail, and he aims it at the targeted forward operating base (FOB). Sometime afterward come the firing team, two to five men with rockets. They set up fuses to launch the missiles and then slip away long before the missiles fire.

National Archives Only rarely do they trip on the fuse and hilariously blow themselves up.

"I can't say that they were ever particularly accurate," says Tyler, "but an FOB is a large placeyou don't have to be that accurate to hit it. We'd get some sort of attack at least once a day, but it would land inside the FOB walls every third or fourth shot. The closest one ever landed to me was about 50 to 75 meters away."

For another weaponthe mortar cannon, with a shorter range and less direct attackthe attackers try something a little different. If you were in the scouts, you might have learned how to signal with a mirror over long distances, using your hand to guide you like in this video. The mortarmen do something similar, but instead of their hand, they use a mountain.

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"Put the mountain between you and the FOB so that the FOB is just visible beyond the edge of the mountain," says Tyler. "It gives you something closer to aim at, and if you're firing some improvised hunk of crap, you'll need all the help you can get." And right after sending a mortar shell a couple thousand meters at the base, you hop on your motorcycle and zoom away across the desert.

Piero/Wiki Commons Then "Born To Be Wild" starts playing spontaneously.

The best of those mortars, incidentally, are American-made. "We give them to the Afghan National Army," says Tyler, "and they give them to the Mujahidin." And with these attacks, we guess that's just the Mujahidin's way of giving them right back.
David Elton Hale was born on Dec. 4, 1979, in Crossville, to Donald and Andrea Davis Hale. He passed away on July 24, 2021. He is survived by his father, Donald Hale; children, Tanner Hale and Titan Hale; and brother, Allen Hale (Toni). He is preceded in death by his mother, Andrea Hale. A p
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CompTIA Security+ is a security certification offered by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a U.S.-based trade and industry nonprofit. Security+ is one of a suite of certifications that CompTIA offers across multiple IT disciplines; it's focused on entry-level security professionals and is one of the most popular.

Like any well-regarded certification, CompTIA Security+ can help boost your career and your earning power. We'll dig into the details of this cert's potential impact for you later in this article; first, let's look at who should aim for this certification and get some practical information on the CompTIA Security+ exam, the test that anyone seeking this cert needs to pass.

Is CompTIA Security+ for beginners?

In a word, yes, CompTIA Security+ is meant for people relatively new to the field who are planning to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

CompTIA describes the Security+ certification as "the first security certification a candidate should earn. It establishes the core knowledge required of any cybersecurity role and provides a springboard to intermediate-level cybersecurity jobs." The specific big-picture skills candidates need to be certified are the ability to:

Assess the security posture of an enterprise environment and recommend and implement appropriate security solutions

Monitor and secure hybrid environments, including cloud, mobile, and IoT

Operate with an awareness of applicable laws and policies, including principles of governance, risk, and compliance

Identify, analyze, and respond to security events and incidents

CompTIA Security+ prerequisites

Unlike other certifications like the CISSP, which require a number of years of industry work experience, the only formal requirement for Security+ is that you pass the exam.

That said, the exam is not something you can go into blind: CompTIA recommends it for people who already have at least two years of industry experience. And even if you have that background, you probably are better versed in some areas that the exam covers than others. So, while there aren't any formal prerequisites for taking the exam, you'll want to prepare and study before taking it.

CompTIA Security+ 501 vs. 601 If you're currently looking for information on the CompTIA Security+ exam, you may find somewhat confusing references to not one but two exams, labelled 501 and 601. In order to keep up with tech trends, CompTIA refreshes the structure and content of the Security+ exam every three years, but because they know that many certification candidates might have invested time and energy preparing for an older exam version, they allow for a transition period where both exams are available to take. 601 is the newest version of the exam, and 501 is the version before that. However, the current transition period ended on July 31, 2021, and the 601 version of the exam is now the only available version. Everything we discuss over the course of the article that pertains to the exam will be about 601.

How long is the CompTIA Security+ exam?

The Security+ exam is, in the words of CompTIA, "no longer than 90 questions," and you'll be answering them on a computer.

There are three types of questions on the exam: multiple choice questions, where some questions have more than one correct response; drag-and-drop questions, which involve dragging labels onto the correct components on a diagram; and performance-based questions, in which you must solve problems in a simulated environment. Here's a non-interactive look at what the drag-and-drop questions are like, and here's an interactive example of a performance-based question. (Both examples are actually from one of CompTIA's networking cert exams, but they give you a sense of what the format is like.)

The maximum amount of time you have to take the exam is 90 minutes. You'll need to take some time after you arrive at the test center to check in, so make sure you get there well before your scheduled appointment. CompTIA says that most of the multiple-choice questions, which should take less time to answer than the other types, will be towards the end of the test.

CompTIA Security+ exam cost and location

Taking the CompTIA Security+ exam costs $370 in the United States, and is priced comparably in other countries; see this table for more details. For those living in lower income "emerging market" countries, a special rate of $207 U.S. dollars is available.

The test is administered by Pearson VUE. You can take the test at one of Pearson VUE's worldwide test centers, or can also do so on your home computer, although in the latter scenario you will be monitored by a proctor via your webcam to ensure that you're not cheating.

CompTIA Security+ objectives

In CompTIA lingo, objectives are things that someone seeking certification should be able to dotasks they should be able to perform, or knowledge they should be able to demonstrate. For CompTIA Security+, objectives include things like "Compare and contrast different types of social engineering techniques" and "Given a scenario, implement host or application security solutions." Exam questions are tailored to make you prove you can meet one or more of these objectives.

CompTIA organizes certification objectives into topic areas called domains. For the CompTIA Security+ 601 exam, these are the domains, along with the percentage of the exam that will be spent on each:

Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities: 24% Architecture and Design: 21% Implementation: 25% Operations and Incident Response: 16% Governance, Risk, and Compliance: 14%

Each objective is slotted under one of those domains (e.g., "Compare and contrast different types of social engineering techniques" is in the "Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities" domain.)

CompTIA makes a comprehensive list of all the objectives and their corresponding domains for the Security+ 601 exam public for anyone who's interested. This document includes a list of example elements that might factor into each objective. For instance, for "Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators to determine the type of attack," it lists malware, password attacks, physical attacks, adversarial AI, supply-chain attacks, cloud-based vs. on-premises attacks, and cryptographic attacks, but it also notes that "these content examples are meant to clarify the test objectives and should not be construed as a comprehensive listing of all the content of this examination."

CompTIA Security+ jobs and salary

CompTIA Security+ is, as mentioned, aimed at security pros in the early stages of their careers. CompTIA lists a number of specific job titles whose duties are covered by the domains tested for on the Security+ exam (Note: salary data from Glassdoor reflects the national average):

Systems administrator  $75,000

Security administrator $86,000

Security specialist $64,000

Security engineer $110,000

Network administrator $69,000

Junior IT auditor/penetration tester $84,000

Security consultant $121,000

Of course, keep in mind that a CompTIA Security+ certification alone isn't enough to snag one of these jobs, and plenty of people get jobs with those titles aren't Security+ certified. And, since CompTIA Security+ is meant for people at the start of their security careers, salaries may be on the lower end of the range for each role.

Is CompTIA Security+ worth it?

The truth is that no certification is a guarantee of a particular job or a particular salary. It would be great if we could point at some guaranteed bump in income that comes with a cert, but that's simply not possible. The question is usually approached the way the Newtrix blog breaks it down: a look at the typical salaries earned by job titles that the certification qualifies for (ranging from $55,0000 to $148,000 for Security+) and noting that, in many surveys, hiring managers for jobs like these say that certifications definitely fall on the list of things they look for in a candidate. This isn't an absolute rule that tells you that if you invest the time and money to get a CompTIA Security+ certification, you'll definitely make a salary in that band; but there's definitely a strong correlation, particularly if you're looking to stand out on a list of potential hires.

One specific employer for whom a Security+ certification is very helpful? The U.S. Department of Defense. DoD directive 8570 lists a number of specific certifications that are required for certain roles within the department, and Security+ is on the list.

CompTIA Security+ study guides and training

CompTIA offers a number of training courses and study guides, many available in "bundles" with the test itself for less money than buying each individual component separately.

If you're interested in third-party training and study resources, Career Karma has a good roundup. In particular, they point to training courses from PluralSight, Learning Tree, and Knowledge Hut as highly rated and well-respected. When it comes to study guides, two of the best are the CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide, and Sybex's CompTIA Security+ Certification Kit.

CompTIA Security+ practice test

If you want to buckle down and run through some practice tests yourself, you can get some direct from CompTIA itself, as well as a set offered through Udemy.

Please note, though, that while these tests are meant to show you what the real exam is like, you won't see questions here taken verbatim from real tests. Without too much Googling, you'll probably stumble on what are labelled "brain dumps": crowdsourced documents where people who have just taken the exam list as many questions as they can remember. CompTIA considers using these to be cheating, and moreover points out that simply memorizing rote answers to questions defeats the purpose of certification; you should be expanding your skillset so that you'll know the answers and can perform well on the job, not merely memorizing what word to reply to a prompt with.

Renewing your CompTIA Security+ certification

Remember how we said above that the Security+ exam is refreshed every three years? Well, your certification is on the same cycle. You can recertify by taking continuing education courses, acquiring a higher-level certification, or taking a recertification exam. CompTIA has more details.
After announcing an expansion to Stamford in June, Sallys Apizza has confirmed plans to bring its renowned pies to Hartford County.



Sallys is currently in development for a site in Wethersfield, with others potentially following, said marketing director Krystina Nataloni in an email Thursday.



I can confirm that we are in active development in Wethersfield, and in discussions with several leading developers in the greater Hartford area, Nataloni wrote. Subsequent to our Stamford opening, we will be sharing more information about future locations at the end of the summer.

Nataloni didnt provide an address in Wethersfield, but Peter Gillespie, the towns director of planning and economic development, confirmed a permit had been filed for the project at 1178 Silas Deane Highway, the site of The Borden, a luxury apartment building. The Borden opened in town in September 2020.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A Black man who said a group of white men assaulted him and threatened to get a noose at a southern Indiana lake is facing criminal charges more than a year after the confrontation that earlier led to charges against two of the alleged attackers.

Vauhxx Booker, a local civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, was charged with misdemeanor trespass and felony battery for his involvement in last years Fourth of July incident at Lake Monroe, according to court documents filed Friday by a special prosecutor in the case.

Booker condemned the decision, calling it an outrageous act of punitive retaliation and prosecutorial vindictiveness. The Monroe County Branch of the NAACP demanded that the charges against Booker be dropped immediately and called for the special prosecutor, Sonia Leerkamp, to resign.

This incident has been a continual case of a victim being re-victimized by the system, Bookers legal team said in statement Monday. It is the victim in this assault  Vauhxx Booker  who is being made to pay for having stood his ground against malicious racist name-calling, physical assault, and threats against his life.

The alleged assault gained national attention last summer when Booker said he called 911 after five men assaulted him and pinned him to a tree at the lake just south of Bloomington. He said the men accused him of trespassing on private property and, after he tried to apologize, the situation got physical.

Booker said the men threatened to break his arms and said, get a noose, while telling his friends to leave the area. He said one of the men wore a hat decorated with a Confederate flag and that the men made statements about white power.

Witnesses who were with Booker that day said they heard racial slurs being shouted and that someone said get a noose and leave the boy here, we will take care of him. Cellphone video posted on Facebook that showed part of the altercation was viewed millions of times online.

The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a possible hate crime, although no further updates have been provided about the investigation.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which responded to the reported assault, recommended charges against everyone involved.

Monroe County prosecutors only charged two white men, however. Sean Purdy faces charges of felony criminal confinement, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and intimidation. Jerry Cox II was charged with felony criminal confinement and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, as well as two misdemeanors.

Cox and Purdy claimed Booker was trespassing and denied the allegations regarding a noose. Both maintain that Booker threatened them first, and their lawyers have said the two men are victims of a smear campaign. The case against Cox and Purdy is still pending, awaiting a trial date.

Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant recused herself from the case in response to public concern about whether she was impartial.

The charges against Booker, filed in Monroe Circuit Court, are the same recommended by IDNR investigators last summer. An initial hearing is set for Sept. 14.

___

Casey Smith 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.
MILFORD  September is just a few weeks away, and with the month getting closer, students, parents and school officials are finalizing their back-to-school plans.

Milford Superintendent Anna Cutaia recently stated that students will be back in school full-time and for the full school hours when school starts on Sept. 1. Cutaia said there would be a multi-point strategy to make the schools safe for students and staff to return.

Cutaia said school officials are keeping an eye on five factors to make sure students and staff are safe. They are health and safety of students and staff, social and emotional needs of students and staff, academic factors, resource availability and staff availability.

When I enumerate this list, please know that they all work together to keep us safe, Cutaia said. Masks, social distancing, hand washing, cleaning of facilities, ventilation, use of plexiglass, the layout of our learning spaces, how we transport students, how we serve food, and use of technology. All of those pieces are in our plan. How they work together is what keeps us safe.

Mask-wearing continues to be a topic of discussion, and school spokesperson Kathy Bonetti said the schools would take their guidance from state health and education officials.

Administrators continue to receive information from the State Department of Education, the governors office and the Milford Health Department, said Bonetti.

The last day of school is scheduled for June 14 however, if additional days are required for emergency/snow closures, they will be added to June but will not go beyond June 24.

During the 2021-22 school year, Milford Public Schools has scheduled a total of 106 days of instruction.

There are a number of early dismissal days for students that will allow for staff to have professional learning days. Those dates are Sept. 15, Oct. 17, Nov. 24 (early dismissal for both students and staff), Dec. 8, Jan. 26, Feb. 23, March 16, April 13, May 18 and June 14 (the scheduled last day of school).

There also will be full professional staff development days, which means no school for students, on Nov. 2 and on March 9.

Cutaia, in a letter to school officials, stressed that the plans could change as the situation regarding COVID-19 changes and health protocols are revised.

This plan is a work in progress. We will continue to work with the Milford Health Department to develop the necessary protocols to ensure the safety of all in our schools, Cutaia said. Milford Public Schools will continue to monitor community transmission rates and confirmed positive COVID cases in further creating plans for students and staff. If these indicators rise to a level deemed necessary for adjustment by the Milford Health Department, we will re-evaluate our plans.

But remote learning is not on the table as an option at the current time, she said.

Remote learning will not be an option for the 2021-22 school year as a choice for attendance unless the school district moves to a different instructional model based on public health conditions, she said.

Regardless of how the state guidelines change, Cutaia said the Milford schools would continue to place the health of staff and students first.

Our commitment to you will not waiver despite the challenges we may face in the coming months, she said. We will keep an eye on keeping our students and staff safe while continuing to move our district forward in educational innovation and improvement.
Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  City police are asking for the publics help to gather information about a street fight that led to a person shot last week, officials said.

Around 11:40 p.m. on July 26, officers responded to a call about a fight on Atwater Street involving 15 to 20 people, according to Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management.
Encouraged by the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney launches this new fantasy/adventure, based on the popular theme park attraction Jungle Cruise.

It begins in 1916 London, where intrepid botanist/explorer Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) sneaks into a snobbish science society to steal an arrowhead thought to be the key to finding the Tears of the Moon, a sacred tree hidden in the Amazon jungle whose petals have miraculous healing powers.

Spanish Conquistadors under armor-clad Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez), once sought after it, betraying its indigenous guardians who saved them from the menacing jungle. Now Germanys evil Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons) covets the mythic arrowhead totem thats in Lilys possession.

When feisty, feminist Lily and her fussbudget brother McGregor (Jack Whitehall) arrive in Brazil, they hire huckster Capt. Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to transport them upriver on his beat-up steamboat. Frank wears a hat like Humphrey Bogarts in The African Queen, while Lily wears Katharine Hepburn-like trousers.

She calls him Skippy and he calls her Pants, cueing the effervescent romantic comedy aspect. Like Indiana Jones, shes the swashbuckler; hes often the comic relief. Their charismatic, odd-couple chemistry is somewhat reminiscent of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone.

This film also marks the emergence of Disneys first openly gay character. As McGregor, British comedian Jack Whitehall is hilarious.

Working from a sprawling, overly complicated script by Glen Ficcara, John Requa and Michael Green, its helmed by Spanish director Jaume Collet-Sera (The Shallows), along with VFX supervisors Jim Berney and Jake Morrison, who make Franks pet jaguar, Proxima, uncannily real.

Disneys Imagineers have already incorporated playful new scenes and culturally diverse characters into its Adventureland ride at Disneyland and Disney World, while removing racially insensitive tropes. Gone are the tribal headhunters, shrunken-head salesman and negative depictions of natives. Remaining is an abundance of corny jokes/bad puns about elephant trunks and hippo ears, related by various skippers.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, Jungle Cruise is an escapist, slapstick 7, viewable either in theaters or on Disney+ with Premier Access.

Susan Granger has been an on-air television and radio commentator and entertainment critic for more than 25 years. Raised in Hollywood, Granger appeared as a child actress in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Lassie. She currently resides in Westport.
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP)  At least one of the people who were at a boisterous St. Louis County Council meeting last week where many people spoke out against the county's new mask requirement has COVID-19, an official said Monday, noting that contact tracers were trying to determine if other attendees were infected.

Many of those who were at last Tuesday's meeting ignored the county's requirement that masks be worn inside public spaces, Democratic County Executive Sam Page said.

A St. Louis resident who was at the meeting began showing symptoms the next day and tested positive for COVID-19. Health officials issued an advisory asking anyone who attended the meeting, including those who were fully vaccinated, to quarantine through Aug. 10.

Yes, its unfortunate that many of those Tuesday night ignored the law, but thats what happened, Page said Monday during a live-streamed video from his home. As a result, this is where we are, wondering how many people were exposed to the virus and how many will become sick from the virus.

The countys health director, Faisal Khan, was among those quarantining. He spoke in support of the mask mandate and claimed he was assaulted and bombarded with racial slurs afterward. County Councilman Tim Fitch, a Republican, questioned whether Khan, a U.S. citizen who is originally from Pakistan, was really assaulted.

On Monday, Khan repeated his contention about being bumped after videos surfaced that did not show him making physical contact with anyone as he left, although the videos do not show the entire sequence of him leaving and do not provide audio, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

I completely stand by my assertions, Khan said on St. Louis public radio KWMU. One segment of one video or whatever it may be does not capture my experience that evening.

Pages office and the council are investigating.

This was not St. Louis Countys finest moment, Page said. The community I love was thrust into the national spotlight for bad behavior, xenophobia, racism and resistance to recommendations from scientists and doctors.

State and local public health officials across the county have reported being threatened with violence, have been fired, or have retired in the face of public hostility and criticism over masking mandates and other public health initiatives.

Page said that two months ago, St. Louis County was experiencing about 40 new COVID-19 cases per day. Now, its seeing 274 cases per day, and the infection rate has risen from 2.9% to 11.4%.

The new mask mandates, including one that began Monday in Kansas City, come as the fast-moving delta variant spreads throughout the state.

On Sunday, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit seeking to overturn the St. Louis-area mask requirements should be returned to state courts. Missouris Republican attorney general, Eric Schmitt, last week filed a lawsuit in state court to block the mandates, but lawyers for St. Louis city and county sought to have it moved to federal court.

Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern Missouri U.S. District Court ruled that state courts should consider the lawsuit because it primarily deals with state laws.

The new Kansas City mandate requires everyone age 5 or older to wear masks in public indoor places such as bars, restaurants, grocery stores and other places. The order will remain in effect until at least Aug. 28.
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  Three individuals allegedly stole a safe with thousands of dollars in it and a Mercedes Benz during a home invasion over the weekend.

Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management, said there was a reported home invasion Saturday on Palmer Street.
Credit unions, by nature, are focused on the human connection with their membership, and that philosophy extends into a credit unions products and services. As more banking services shift to digital, credit unions must apply human-centered design to their digital experiences to continue evolving and addressing members ever-changing demands. I recently talked with the President of AdvantEdge Digital Micheal Herman, who focuses on helping credit unions unlock their digital potential through consumer-centric digital experiences. We spoke at length about how credit unions can adapt their products to a digital landscape without losing that human connection.

Credit unions are facing a changing digital market, and this is especially true in the post-pandemic world. Micheal shared four emerging market realities credit unions are facing and will continue to face going forward:

Fintechs and nontraditional financial institutions: These organizations with a focus on digital banking services are grabbing the attention of members and becoming an increasingly popular option. Digital-first experiences: Having digital banking services and products is now the expectation among all living generations, especially post-pandemic. Financial technology ecosystem: The ecosystem through which credit unions serve their members is not meeting consumer expectations. Some credit unions are even seeing a loan application abandonment rate as high as 75%! Loan volume, membership, and engagement: Credit unions are looking to increase all of this while decreasing operational expenses.

Contending with these new market realities and the pace of change in the modern world can sometimes be paralyzing. As Micheal suggested, A lot of organizations, theyre actually so afraid of being late to the party that they end up just staying home.

As daunting as it might seem to create and deliver digital products and services, human-centered design can give credit unions permission to launch a service or product without being perfect; fintechs do this all the time. In fact, their products are launched imperfectly  that doesnt mean that the security and compliance checklist is ignored  and feedback is used in further iterations. After launch, product designers watch, listen, and learn from the real-life experiences of consumers to continuously improve the product.

Micheal emphasized that human-centered design applies across all industries and product lines, and credit unions should adopt its principles without needing a lot of resources to kick off the process. Consider: Is your credit union communicating with your members across all levels for the insights you need?

Another key point to remember, according to Micheal, is you dont always have to be creating something new. Its about meeting members where they are, and routinely checking in and improving your core and strongest products to ensure they continue meeting members needs. The moment your credit union forgets to listen to the membership, you will be at a disadvantage, he advised, so keep on listening. Even in the virtual world, consumers will respond on a digital platform or service as long as theres a sense of human connection, community, and belongingall hallmarks of the credit union mission.

Access my full conversation with Micheal for more insights here.
Gary Hill Cobb, 67, died suddenly at his home in Cullman on July 31, 2021. He was born in Cullman on May 29, 1954. He had been beset by a number of chronic physical problems over the years. A graduate of the University of North Alabama, Gary had graduate degrees from UAB and UAH. He was prec
Kankakee, IL (60901)

Today

Partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms possible. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Kankakee, IL (60901)

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Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 83F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

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Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

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Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 83F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

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Overcast with showers at times. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Mr. Roger Lee Westmoreland, age 69 of Chatsworth, passed away Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at his residence. He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren, restoring old cars and gardening. He was preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Sarah Simonds Westmoreland; brother, Ronni
Burnadean Allen Fryer, 91, of Ashland, Ky died Thursday, August 5, 2021 at her home. She was born June 14, 1930 in Ross County, Ohio a daughter of the late Marion and Emma Annon Allen. She was a homemaker. She is preceded in death in addition to her parents by 4 brothers James Allen, Johnny 
Peggy, 93 years old, of Ashland, Kentucky, passed away Wednesday, August 4th, at Kingsbrook Lifecare Center. She was born June 17, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, a daughter of the late Ollie and Goldie Smith Adams. She was a lifelong resident of Ashland and the historian of the W.T. Smith and Joel
A man prosecutors said baked and took cookies to the home of a 97-year-old bedridden woman before killing her and her adult son and setting fire to their eastern Pennsylvania home has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole
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Britains gold rush at the Tokyo Olympics continues apace and no doubt former prime minister Sir John Major feels entitled to bask in reflected glory.

After all, it was his government that set up the National Lottery in 1994, which has since poured hundreds of millions of pounds into Team GB.

But the Lottery almost never happened, as Sir Ivan Lawrence, QC, reminds us.

In January 1992, Lawrence, then the Tory MP for Burton, in Staffordshire, introduced a Private Members Bill to establish a national lottery.

The National Lottery in 1994, has poured hundreds of millions of pounds into Team GB. (Pictured, Gold medalist Max Whitlock of Team Great Britain)

Majors government opposed it, banned ministers from voting for it, and Lawrences Bill was lost by 16 votes.

Journalists were then briefed that the idea of any such lottery was dead and buried because of its impact on existing charity lotteries and because the government did not want to be seen to be encouraging gambling.

But Major had not reckoned on the public backlash this rejection would provoke. Sir Ivan recalls: When it became obvious through every media channel that the people were massively behind a national lottery  and the PM desperately needed a turnaround in support to win the 1992 general election  Major changed his mind.

Hey presto, the National Lottery White Paper was published in March 1992, one month before the general election.

John Major won the election with the largest vote any prime minister in this country had ever received, Lawrence says, with some satisfaction.

No wonder Major knighted his saviour that same year.

Oh no, foiled again

Tory MP Gyles Brandreth, pictured, recalls how, 25 years ago, he took double Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe to a school in Chester to show the pupils his medals

More Olympic reminiscences, this time from former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth.

He recalls how, 25 years ago, he took double Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe to a school in Chester to show the pupils his medals.

While Seb was giving his talk, one seven-year-old sneaked a medal off the table and spent a frantic few minutes trying to tear off the gold foil to get at the chocolate, Gyles chirps.

SNP MP Margaret Ferrier is advertising for a chief of staff who is a horizon-scanning candidate and can pro-actively identify problems and resolve them. Ferrier certainly faces one problem. Later this year, shell appear in court charged with culpable and reckless conduct for travelling from London to Glasgow in 2020 after testing positive for Covid.

Sacked as Attorney General by the PM, Geoffrey Cox is now paid 468,000 a year as consultant global counsel to Withers solicitors and also received 156,916 from them relating to a recent case, plus 280,000 from other law firms in the past year. He also trousers his 82,000 MPs salary. But how does he find time to serve the good folk of Torridge and West Devon?

Jasset Ormsby-Gore, also known as the 7th Baron Harlech, was sworn in last week as the youngest member of the House of Lords after winning an hereditary peers by-election.

Young Lord Harlech, 35, should be a colourful addition to the House if he is anything like his late grandfather.

David Ormsby-Gore was not only the founder of Harlech Television (HTV), a former Tory minister and British Ambassador to Washington, but once proposed marriage to Jackie Kennedy.

When a fellow pupil at Eton killed himself, young Davids housemaster asked whether any of the boys knew why this tragedy might have happened.

Please, sir, said the future diplomat, could it have been the food?

Could Rory return to the Tories

Stewart, who stood down as an MP in 2019, now admits to a reluctant admiration for the PM

After rebelling on Brexit, former Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart had the party whip removed by Boris Johnson.

Stewart, who stood down as an MP in 2019, now admits to a reluctant admiration for the PM: I find him infuriating, but there is something mesmerising about him. With all the things that appal me about his moral character, he is much more interesting than David Cameron or Theresa May.

Praise indeed from the arch- Remainer. Anyone would think Stewart wants to get back into the Tory party.
The wheels of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse grind exceeding slow.

A few days ago  six years after it began its work  the IICSA disgorged the text of its first significant report.

This was an investigation into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the care of Lambeth Council, starting in the 1970s and lasting for well over a decade.

The value of this report lies, in part, in its setting of the political context. The head of Lambeth Council from 1978 to 1986 was Ted Knight  universally known as 'Red Ted'.

A few days ago  six years after it began its work  the IICSA disgorged the text of its first significant report. The value of this report lies, in part, in its setting of the political context. The head of Lambeth Council from 1978 to 1986 was Ted Knight (pictured)  universally known as 'Red Ted'

As the report pointed out, he and his colleagues were so focused on their political opposition to the Thatcher government (which led them to refuse to set a council tax rate) that 'children in care became pawns in a toxic power game' within the council.

Although 33 Lambeth councillors were removed from their positions for refusing to set a rate, the real losers were the children under their statutory care (705 of them from three children's homes are described as 'known victims').

The IICSA concluded that Lambeth council 'treated children in their care as if they were worthless' and showed 'callous disregard' by 'putting vulnerable children in the path of sex offenders' who infiltrated those institutions.

Brazen

As the report noted: 'Many councillors and staff purported to hold principled beliefs about tackling racism and promoting equality, but in reality they failed to apply these principles to children in their care.'

The former leader of Islington Council, Margaret Hodge, who dismissed the claims of one of those abused as coming from 'an extremely disturbed person' and who pressured the BBC not to report his accusations, was subsequently, with no sense of irony, made Minister for Children by Tony Blair. She is pictured in 2003, while holding that position

This was not unique within London councils dominated by the hard Left. There was also Islington, where in 1983 Jeremy Corbyn became the local MP.

A whistle-blowing social worker, Liz Davies, had unavailingly attempted to persuade Corbyn and Labour councillors of the urgency of investigating the way in which children as young as 12 in Islington's care had been targeted by what she described as paedophile gangs.

'These children would be queuing up outside our offices at 9am for help,' she told the Mail's Guy Adams in 2015. 'Most of them had obviously been out all night. We discovered that they were being driven around the country in vans.'

Guy Adams' report for the Mail, based on decades of investigation by Eileen Fairweather, starting in the Evening Standard in 1992, described how 'paedophiles had been able to systematically rape scores of vulnerable boys and girls in the borough in the 1970s and 1980s, infiltrating all 12 of its children's homes.

One Labour MP did 'weaponise' the issue of child sex abuse: this was the then deputy leader of the party, Tom Watson (pictured)

'The Labour-run council,' he wrote, 'had both facilitated the abuse by employing known paedophiles and brazenly attempted to cover it up, shredding crucial documents and dismissing subsequent media reports about the scandal as 'gutter journalism'.'

The former leader of Islington Council, Margaret Hodge, who dismissed the claims of one of those abused as coming from 'an extremely disturbed person' and who pressured the BBC not to report his accusations, was subsequently, with no sense of irony, made Minister for Children by Tony Blair.

Hodge, by then, was no longer a Left-wing firebrand: and more recently has been forthright in accusing her then party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, of a form of ideologically-based anti-Semitism.

But what was Corbyn's performance over the Islington child abuse scandal?

As Liz Davies told Adams, despite the fact that she had given Corbyn a thorough briefing (backed up by other social workers) 'after that meeting we never heard another thing . . . whenever I saw Jeremy afterwards, sometimes years later at Stop The War marches and events like that, I'd always go up to him and say: 'This scandal is still going on, Jeremy.'

'He'd be very polite, but never seemed to do anything.'

This might have had something to do with the fact that the Trade Unions, NALGO and UNISON, were ferocious in defending their members working in the children's care homes.

This comes out in the IICSA report on Lambeth: there is a chapter entitled Trade Union Influence, which reports 'the Trade Unions had too great a grip on Lambeth Council staff and councillors'.

Watson, in particular, swallowed whole the lies of Carl Beech (pictured left)  aka 'Nick'  whose fictitious claims to have been abused as a child by a whole gamut of then Conservative MPs, including Ted Heath, Leon Brittan and Harvey Proctor, eventually led to his jailing for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

Victim

Also, as one disillusioned party member noted in the publication Labour Uncut, while Corbyn had always been assiduous in protesting for the rights of Palestinians, or of convicted IRA members, 'It's not about whether you're a victim, but about who you are a victim of. The problem with child abuse, for someone like Corbyn, is that it doesn't slot neatly into a hard-Left paradigm.'

Yet one Labour MP did 'weaponise' the issue of child sex abuse: this was the then deputy leader of the party, Tom Watson. He was tireless in linking it to the Conservatives, at the highest level.

In 2012, he told the House of Commons that there had been 'a powerful paedophile network linked to Number 10'.

Two years later, the then Labour MP Jim Hood, a former member of the National Union of Mineworkers, using parliamentary privilege in a disgraceful fashion, followed up: 'The rumours that Leon Brittan was involved with misconduct with children does not come as a surprise to miners who were striking in 1984.'

Brittan, as Home Secretary during the strike, was the NUM's main foe after Thatcher herself. This was nothing less than the use of wicked false claims of child abuse as an act of political score-settling.

Watson, in particular, swallowed whole the lies of Carl Beech  aka 'Nick'  whose fictitious claims to have been abused as a child by a whole gamut of then Conservative MPs, including Ted Heath, Leon Brittan and Harvey Proctor, eventually led to his jailing for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

But that was not before the Metropolitan Police's grotesquely mishandled Operation Midland investigation had put the late Lord Brittan and his widow Diana through something like Hell.

The Metropolitan Police's grotesquely mishandled Operation Midland investigation put the late Lord Brittan (pictured) and his widow Diana through something like Hell

It is no exaggeration to say that the IICSA was set up partly in response to Watson's campaign. And it has a 'Westminster strand', which will again bring up the allegations, to the further distress of Lady Brittan.

But what was the origin of the spurious claims against the blameless Brittan? It turns out to have been a concoction of a former London Labour councillor called Chris Fay, who also invented the hoax that child abuse by leading Tories took place at the Elm Guest House in South-West London.

Evil

This was as much of a hoax as the persistent claim that the late former treasurer of the Conservative Party, Alistair McAlpine, had been a child sex abuser. Lord McAlpine successfully sued the Labour-supporting wife of the then Commons Speaker, Sally Bercow, for libel, after she referred to it in a tweet.

Fay, who in 2011 was jailed for fraud after conning pensioners out of almost 300,000, admitted in 2015 that he had passed his allegations about Leon Brittan to Tom Watson. He also confessed he had been 'a very Left-wing Labour councillor' who enjoyed 'on a political level' the accusations of child abuse made against prominent Conservatives.

A Labour supporter whose career was built on smearing Tory politicians, the late Max Clifford, was convicted in 2014 of eight counts of sexual assault on girls between the ages of 15 and 19

One of Brittan's subsequent accusers told the BBC's Panorama that Fay had encouraged him to name Lord Brittan: 'The surname came out of Chris Fay's mouth and I just went along with it.'

We can trace a direct line from this politically-motivated smear to Watson's unforgivable statement, in the week that Brittan died of cancer in 2015 (still under suspicion), that the former Tory Home Secretary was 'as close to evil as any human being could get'.

It is at least a blessing that Jeremy Corbyn's resignation honours list proposal that his erstwhile deputy get a peerage has been blocked because of Watson's appalling behaviour.

But, as I say, the IICSA's 'Westminster Strand', and perhaps the inquiry as a whole, owe much to Watson's highly political 'child sex abuse' campaign.

We have already witnessed the irony that another Labour supporter whose career was built on smearing Tory politicians, the late Max Clifford, was convicted in 2014 of eight counts of sexual assault on girls between the ages of 15 and 19.

It is a further twist that an inquiry partially inspired by Watson's claims has now demonstrated that if any political party had indulged such behaviour on an institutional scale, it was Labour.
From the Ancient Egyptians who draped themselves in statement necklaces, cuff bracelets and amulets, to the Kings and Queens throughout Europe who donned bejeweled crowns, the adornment of precious metals has been an expression of power associated with for centuries.

Today, jewelry is typically worn as a fashion statement, but it has a wealth of benefits that extend far beyond accessorizing an outfit.

Jewelry designer Logan Hollowell chats with the Daily Mail about the vibrational energy of baubles, the healing properties of stones and the gems that can help manifest your dreams.

The adornment of precious metals has been an expression of power associated with status that dates back centuries. From the Ancient Egyptians who draped themselves in statement necklaces, cuff bracelets and amulets, to the Kings and Queens throughout Europe who donned bejeweled crowns

'Everything in the universe gives off a vibrational energy,' says the founder of Logan Hollowell Jewelry'

'Everything in the universe gives off a vibrational energy,' says the founder of Logan Hollowell Jewelry, Logan Hollowell.

'Every piece of jewelry has an energy, and its level of vibration is felt by its wearer and those who come in contact with it.

According to Logan, it starts with the intention behind the piece.

'It begins in the mind, and while conceptualizing & designing, I imagine how one would feel while wearing the piece.

'Alone, gold represents purification. The alchemical process of creating jewelry from gold is something that I believe to be sacred.

'It mirrors the process of human transformation towards attaining a higher state of consciousness and access to our true self.'

'Every piece of jewelry has an energy, and its level of vibration is felt by its wearer and those who come in contact with it'

Precious stones and semi-precious gemstones and crystals have healing properties, powers, and spiritual meaning.

Logan's favorite to design with are Emerald, Moonstone and Diamond, but says that the wearer is usually drawn to a stone that can help align their imbalances.

'Emerald is a stone for manifestation in the form of prosperity and abundance. Its also the stone of the heart, activating the heart chakra (which is green) and opening the heart to growth, like a lush green thriving forest.

'Moonstone is the stone of the feminine. I wear it almost daily for its ability to balance, promote growth and emotional strength as well as activate and enhance our intuition.

'Each Moonstone becomes a reflection of the person who owns it  it is a mood stone.'

Logan believes that everyone should listen to their intuition when choosing a stone.

'Moonstone is the stone of the feminine. I wear it almost daily for its ability to balance, promote growth and emotional strength as well as activate and enhance our intuition'

'Each Moonstone becomes a reflection of the person who owns it  it is a mood stone'

'The physical makeup of the Diamond is only one of the reasons why I love it  its contrast of beauty and invincibility mirrors a woman and her strength'

'Through her own spiritual purification process, she, like a diamond, becomes unbreakable. I include diamonds in many of my designs to help with purification, emotional strength and mental clarity'

Logan admits that the Diamond is her favorite gemstone.

'The physical makeup of the Diamond is only one of the reasons why I love it  its contrast of beauty and invincibility mirrors a woman and her strength.

'Through her own spiritual purification process, she, like a diamond, becomes unbreakable. I include diamonds in many of my designs to help with purification, emotional strength and mental clarity.'

While rose quartz is purported to help with all matters of the heart, Logan reveals that there are many stones that attract and enhance love.

'I use Emeralds, Rubies, and Morganites most often for their powerful connection to the heart chakra and healing properties that attract lasting love, but most importantly self-love, which sets the stage for all other love in one's life.'

'I use Emeralds, Rubies, and Morganites most often for their powerful connection to the heart chakra and healing properties that attract lasting love'

According to the jeweler, Blue Sapphires are known to bring protection, good fortune and spiritual insight/wisdom.

'Think true blue. They activate the throat chakra, which aids in balanced communication with the self, others and the world.

'For thousands of years it has been a symbol of power and strength, but also of kindness and wise judgment.

'There are also many sword pieces in my collection which symbolize protection  both emotional and physical.

'Black Onyx and Black Diamond also help act as a shield for the spirit, protecting against harsh energies.'

'There are also many sword pieces in my collection which symbolize protection  both emotional and physical'

Logan reveals that Emeralds and Moonstones are excellent for manifestation. Emerald Triple Twinkle Chain Earrings, $1,650; loganhollowell.com

'Emerald is a stone for manifestation in the form of prosperity and abundance' Left: Baby Queen Water Drop Emerald Necklace with Full Pave Diamond Halo, $3,950; loganhollowell.com. Right: 18k Emerald Eye of Protection Coin Pendant, $2,475; loganhollowell.com

From manifesting love to manifesting wealth, there are many techniques to attract positive change in our lives.

Positive thinking, getting clear on what you want and trusting that the law of attraction will deliver are all ways to manifest.

Logan reveals that Emeralds and Moonstones are excellent for manifestation, but her Midas Star designs are the most popular in her collection for this purpose.

'The Midas Star is a Reiki symbol for prosperity and abundance.

'It symbolizes not just money but also success in personal relations, harmony and good luck.

'Embedded within it, it holds a code which activates the Midas touch within its wearer. An activation of your own power to create magic in every area of your life.'

'The Midas Star is a Reiki symbol for prosperity and abundance'. Midas Star Ring, $1,575; loganhollowell.com

Left: French Pave Diamond Tusk Ring, $2,995; loganhollowerr.com. Right: French Pave Diamond Dagger Hoops, $1,250; loganhollowell.com

Meditation helps with visualization and it's one of the best ways to raise your vibration.

Mala Beads are tools to keep the mind focused during meditation.

'When not used as a meditation tool, Mala Beads offer protection and healing benefits to its wearer, helping you adjust to your optimal energetic flow,' shared Logan.

The Los Angeles-based brand recently collaborated with energy practitioner, Dr. John Amaral, on the Akasha capsule collection.

Handmade from 100% recycled 18k gold, each gemstone was intentionally selected.

'When not used as a meditation tool, Mala Beads offer protection and healing benefits to its wearer, helping you adjust to your optimal energetic flow,' shared Logan

The Los Angeles-based brand recently collaborated with energy practitioner, Dr. John Amaral, on the Akasha capsule collection

'The Mala Beads in the Akasha Collection feature Onyx, Blue Tigers Eye and Labradorite specifically chosen by John and I for their unique healing and meditative properties.

'John and I designed the collection around the Shri Yantra symbol because we wanted the capsule to be centered around the idea of realizing your infinite potential.

'Each design element of the Shri Yantra symbol has special philosophical significance. The dot in the center is representative of the Source of the universe.

'The Shri Yantra in its central portion contains nine triangles  Four of them point upward and represent the unmanifest power of the universe and all that is beyond.

'They are thought of as being masculine and represent the masculine aspect of divinity. The five downward-pointing triangles represent the divine feminine and the manifest aspects of the world.'

Handmade from 100% recycled 18k gold, each gemstone was intentionally selected. LH x JA Ananda Sanskrit Ring, $775; loganhollowell.com

Beyond it's many benefits, Logan advises using your jewelry to tell your unique story.

'One of the many magical things about fine jewelry is that its forever.

'Choose pieces that you resonate with, innately feel drawn to and that you want to become an instant heirloom - to celebrate your own divinity, and to lift you up to greater heights.'
The Queen and I are alike in so many ways. Discretion surrounds her grooming rituals, but I am reliably informed that we used to favour the same foundation.

It was even imported for us both from France when it was discontinued in Blighty, though I am sworn to secrecy as to exactly which one it is, as the brand doesnt want to ruin its royal relationship.

But one way in which we do differ is in the matter of travel. Her Majesty is not known for travelling light. An entourage of 34 will take responsibility for Globe-Trotter suitcases filled with up to 30 outfits, framed family photographs, barley sugar, gin, a hot water bottle, pine-scented soap, Harrods sausages, a kettle, Dundee cake, and a supply of her own blood (not, we assume, for vampire facials).

Im happy so long as I have my make-up bag and a pair of clean pants. But, should I be going on actual hols abroad, as is increasingly possible, having the right lotions and potions is essential. (Who wants to be living it up in a fancy hotel  or worse, an unfancy one  without bath oil?)

Hannah Betts shared advice for packing cosmetics when travelling this summer (file image)

At 50, Ive got this down to a tee. Im not quite at the level of beauty supremo Bobbi Brown, who once showed me a small travel palette in which she had decanted all her slap and cream needs, but Im getting there.

Ginny ROBERTS has created The Karry (49.99, thekarry.london), a ritzy, transparent wallet featuring six glass containers, including blue and amber ones to protect retinol and vitamin C from damaging sunlight.

Its slightly heavier than plastic versions, but far less damaging to the planet.

Otherwise, I live for Bootss portable pots (from 1, boots.com), often picking them up to store final scraps of lipstick and cream  yes, Im that woman.

Boots also stocks the Kitsch 11-Piece Travel Bottle Set in black or blush (10), which meets all carry-on requirements. Its a bit too kitsch for me, but the containers are dishwasher-safe, which Bootss frequently arent.

Trinny Woodall favours Mujis minimalist receptacles, which inspired her brand Trinny Londons cosmetic stacks. Mujis pill-pot towers (2.95, muji.eu) are seriously good.

Or, if Im stuck, Ill repurpose contact lens cases to store liquid foundation. Some people choose not to wear a base on holiday. Im not one of them. The Vital Skin Foundation Stick (62, cultbeauty.co.uk) by Gucci Westman, Jennifer Anistons go-to make-up guru, has a lovely dewy finish. Or try Chantecailles matte Real Skin+ Eye And Face Stick (57, cultbeauty.co.uk).

Something I always make room for  not that it needs it  is Aromatherapy Associatess Face Oil Collection (53, net-a-porter.com). Each of these six minuscule 3ml flacons contains enough oil for seven treatments. They smell divine and leave skin plushly plumped.

Make this a real holiday by investing in the brands sandalwood and vetiver Relax And Sleep Edit, too (33). Aromatherapy Associatess products are one of lifes entirely necessary luxuries. Once experienced, youll never be without them.

Finally, chuck in a tube of Philip Kingsleys Swimcap (19.50, philipkingsley.co.uk), a hair mask originally created for an Olympic synchro squad, which protects against chlorine, sun and salt water damage.

Hannah Betts (pictured) said she can't travel without perfume and usually carries an 8ml spray of Ormonde Jayne Montabaco

Everything else can be bought on the other side of security. Head to Boots to snap up a mini deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, micellar water, body lotion and sunscreen.

Youll also need eye drops, insect repellent, antihistamines, and Clean & Clear Advantage Gel (4.49, boots.com) for spots, infected hair follicles, and those boils that tend to emerge whenever one relaxes.

Then I treat myself to some slap: a Clarins travel palette, say, or a punchy Rimmel lipstick.

Everything gets thrown into two holdalls  one for wet bobs (bathroom), the other for dry bobs (bedroom). Within these, everything is stored in transparent cases, so Im never left fumbling while jet-lagged.

Ill always pack a mini WetBrush (7.49, amazon.co.uk) plus plenty of grips and bobbles, as hair in the heat is a fuss. I cant travel without perfume, either  never have, never will. Why go somewhere incredible if you dont smell incredible, too? I carry an 8ml spray of my beloved Ormonde Jayne Montabaco (105 for five, ormondejayne.com), all cigar smoke on sun-warmed skin.

Happy holidays, sisters.

RACE YOU TO IT!

Lip colour has staged a comeback now we can go about unmasked. Armanis first new lipstick in three years, Lip Power, has just hit the shelves. Thanks to two oils blended in a patented technology, its both long-lasting and highly pigmented. armanibeauty.co.uk Shop

MY ICON OF THE WEEK

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Jennifer Lopez (pictured) puts her lustre down to SPF; avoiding alcohol, smoking or caffeine; and exfoliating with glycolic acid

All hail the Bennifer revival! Is it the tender kissing, or the fact that J. Lo looks unchanged, that makes us feel warm inside? Ben Affleck had to grow a beard so as not to look haggard next to her. She puts her lustre down to SPF; avoiding alcohol, smoking or caffeine; and exfoliating with glycolic acid.

COSMETIC CRAVING

Unlike posh bath oils one can luxuriate in, I typically couldnt care less about posh shower washes  youre shooting it down the drain, after all. But those of us who arent heading off on holiday are tired, oh so tired. Neom usually makes stuff to send you to sleep, yet its new Super Shower Power Body Cleanser, with spearmint, rosemary and eucalyptus, will jolt you awake. Fans compare it to an espresso, and there is a shot of coffee in it, plus oak milk. Its generous 500ml size means you wont punch your other half when they steal it, either. If anything can drag us through August, it is this. neomorganics.com Shop

MY TRAVEL MUST-HAVES
A mum has divided the internet after sharing her unusual way of keeping her stovetop clean for a week without having to scrub it.

The Australian woman, called Patricia, puts a sheet of aluminium foil underneath the burner caps and grate of her stovetop, so she can cook on the hob without having to wipe up any mess from her cooking.

'This is how I keep it for one week. So I don't have to clean every day,' Patricia posted on Facebook.

A mum has divided the internet after sharing her unusual way of keeping her stovetop clean for a week without having to scrub it (her method pictured)

While some praised her ingenuity, others were far from impressed with the unusual technique and slammed the woman as 'lazy'.

'Yeah great, so it always looks ugly. It's the same deal when people keep plastic covers on their sofas,' one woman posted.

Another added: 'Why not just wash it after every use? Do you lay sheets on the floors as to avoid vacuuming and mopping?'

Some said looking at that 'seven days a week would kill my soul', while others argued that the al foil would be going 'straight to landfill'.

'Imagine being that lazy, do you Gladwrap your plates too so you don't have to wash them?' one person added.

The Australian woman, called Patricia, puts a sheet of al foil underneath the burner caps, so she can cook on the hob without having to wipe up any mess from her cooking (pictured)

While many slammed Patricia's idea, there were others who were inspired by her to do the same thing.

'I do the same! Don't listen to captain planets. Do whatever you need to do to get through,' one woman posted.

'If it works for you, don't worry about what everyone else thinks,' added another.

Previously, a cleaning enthusiast outlined the importance of deep cleaning your kitchen stove top regularly to remove unwanted food stains and grease (Carolina's method pictured)

Perth mum-of-two Carolina revealed she cleans her stove top by soaking the burners in hot water and makes a chemical-free cleaning spray (pictured in action)

Previously, a cleaning enthusiast outlined the importance of deep cleaning your kitchen stove top regularly to remove unwanted food stains and grease.

Perth mum-of-two Carolina revealed she cleans her stove top by soaking the burners in hot water and makes a chemical-free cleaning spray.

To make the homemade concoction she combined water, vinegar and dish soap in a spray bottle to apply onto the surface of the appliance.

She then made the cleaning spray, applied it onto the stove top then left it to sit for 30 minutes.

Once half an hour had passed, she scrubbed the stainless-steel surface with a soft sponge followed by a microfibre cloth to polish.

The burners and stove were both left looking sparkling clean as if the stovetop was brand new.
The backless dress has long been off limits to women endowed with bigger busts.

But thanks to a single mum from a council estate, they will no longer have to worry about straps spoiling their look.

Amanda Smyth has created an adhesive strapless bra for women with larger breasts.

The newly separated mother of two was sick of having to wear dowdy outfits on nights out and decided to design the support for her 40G bust.

The 41-year-old spent eight years on research to create the Butterfly Bra, which can hold breasts in place for 12 hours and lasts for 25 uses.

Amanda Smyth, 41, (pictured) created the adhesive strapless Butterfly Bra for women with larger breasts

The newly separated mother of two was sick of having to wear dowdy outfits on nights out and decided to design the support for her 40G bust

Miss Smyth, who lives in a council house in Bradford, said: Trying to find a stick-on bra was so impossible and made me feel down about my body.

She added: Its hard to keep them in place, no matter how much tape you use.

An adhesive bra is different to a strapless bra as it has no straps or back.

Miss Smyths balconette design is supported by a fabric band under the bust.

It sticks underneath the breasts and is taped at the side  but is not painful to remove.

It has been patented in the UK and Miss Smyth is awaiting approval in Europe and the US.

Miss Smyth explained: It all started when I was going to a christening in 2012 when I saw a beautiful backless dress that I wanted to wear.

I was newly single and I wanted to look good, so I bought an adhesive bra from the internet.

The 41-year-old spent eight years on research to create the Butterfly Bra (pictured), which can hold breasts in place for 12 hours and lasts for 25 uses

This was when I realised they are not made for big boobed ladies. I even tried the duct tape trick used by Kim Kardashian but I had no chance.

Miss Smyth had to wear a second-rate dress that she made do with.

While working part-time at the Co-Op and looking after her young children, Alex, 10, and Bryony, nine, she decided to create her own.

Miss Smyth said: Women should not be able to wear what they want just because they have big boobs.

'Big boobs are a blessing, not something to be ashamed off and hidden under shapeless tops.

All women of all sizes need to love our bodies.
An animated TV series which lampoons members of the Royal Family has been criticised for mocking the Duke of Edinburgh following his death at the age of 99.

The Prince, created by Family Guy co-executive producer Gary Janetti and starring Orlando Bloom as Prince Harry, centres around a fictional version of Prince George as a child tyrant with expensive taste, a withering sense of humour and a dim view of his family.

Among the targets are Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who is confused about the idea of an 'apartment' after moving to Los Angeles, and the Queen, who is shown as a tantrum-throwing mafia boss.

The Duke of Edinburgh, voiced by Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens, is portrayed as drooling and vacant, and at one point collapses onto the floor while the family continues to talk around him.

In another scene he is seen gasping at the dinner table, pointing Prince George to ask an aide to 'get the defibrillators ready'.

The Duke of Edinburgh, voiced by Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens, is portrayed as drooling and vacant, and at one point collapses onto the floor while the family continues to talk around him

The 12-episode series - which is available to stream in the US on HBO Max but is not yet airing in the UK - was originally due to premiere in the Spring but was delayed following the Duke of Edinburgh's death on April 9. It has now been released but still features Prince Philip

The Prince has sparked heated debate amongst viewers over its brutal depiction of the Royal Family, particularly children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Some have also seen it in bad taste to include the Duke of Edinburgh

The 12-episode series - which is available to stream in the US on HBO Max but is not yet airing in the UK - was originally due to premiere in the Spring but was delayed following the Duke of Edinburgh's death on April 9.

In a statement at the time, the network said: 'We were saddened to learn of Prince Philip's passing and will adjust plans for the series debut. A new date will be announced at a later time.'

There was speculation over whether the character would be removed from the series altogether.

However he still appears in scenes, including one showing him gazing gormlessly at Prince William and Kate Middleton, and another in which he eats pureed mush at the dinner table.

The Prince has sparked heated debate amongst viewers over its brutal depiction of the Royal Family, particularly children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

One tweeted: 'Parody of adults is one thing, of children, no matter how protected, it feels uncomfortable and potentially damaging to them.'

The Duke of Edinburgh eats pureed, mushy food while the rest of the family sits down to a hearty meal in one scene from The Prince

The Prince, created by Family Guy producer Gary Janetti, centres around a fictional version of Prince George as a child tyrant with expensive taste, a withering sense of humour and a dim view of his family - particularly his thuggish brother Louis. It premieres in the US today. Pictured l-r: Camilla, Prince Charles, the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince William and Kate

Another added: 'I agree with 100% @SholaMos1 l imagine Prince William and Kate will be upset and angry... the trailer looks dreadful. Yes children are off limits it is cruel.'

Others were unimpressed at the decision to ridicule the Duke of Edinburgh, with one writing: 'I'm no royal family fan or anything, but seeing as Prince Philip has passed away the way hes portrayed on #ThePrince on HBO is a little upsetting.'

However others argued comedians should be free to make jokes and defended the right to free speech.

'Some people will find it funny, some wont. Why do we always seem to cater for the ones that wont? Humour isnt a one size fits all,' one Twitter user countered.

Speaking at the time the series was delayed journalist and royal commentator Robert Jobson, the author of Prince Philips Century: The Extraordinary Life of the Duke of Edinburgh, said the series was tasteless but that Prince Philip would have taken it with a 'pinch of salt'.

Prince Harry is shown coming to terms with his post-royal life as he and Meghan arrive in an LA apartment. Looking around, he says: 'This might be the smallest palace I have ever been in'

He said: 'The depiction of the Duke of Edinburgh as an old buffoon is a little cheap and unnecessary, and at this moment in time it may be out of place, but satire has been going on for centuries.

'He had a sense of humour about his time, and he obviously wouldve taken this with a pinch of salt.'

A two-minute long trailer shared on Twitter last week offered a taste of what viewers can expect from the irreverent TV series.

Prince Harry is shown coming to terms with his post-royal life as he and Meghan arrive in an LA apartment. Looking around, he says to his wife: 'This might be the smallest palace I have ever been in.'

TV series The Prince, created by Family Guy producer Gary Janetti, depicts Prince George as a child tyrant with expensive taste, a withering sense of humour and a dim view of his family

Meghan corrects him: 'Well, it's an apartment,' to which Harry replies: 'Yes, an apartment palace, I know that. Lots of tiny palaces inside one big palace.'

Elsewhere Charles is seen telling Camilla: 'I want to be King, she's had her go, now it's my turn,' before running out of the door when the Queen calls his name.

Prince William is carried out of bed and to the toilet by an attendant when he declares he is ready for a s***.

In the final moments of the trailer, the Queen tells great-grandson Prince George: 'Sweetheart, you have no idea how much hard work it is to be head of a state family and syndicate,' before shooting dead an attendant who 'startles' her.

An admiring George says: 'She's such a bad b***h.'
A woman who fell pregnant with her best friend's uncle, who is 16 years her senior, says it was 'love at first sight'  despite the pair meeting when she was aged just 12.

Jami Bouwer, 27, from Mossel Bay, South Africa, met her future partner Nolte Lourens, 43, when visiting her pal Nikita back in 2007 when she was a pre-teen.

She became infatuated with the older man but it wasn't until December 2020 that their paths crossed once more and the couple enjoyed a vineyard date - arranged by Nikita.

The pair, who have officially been together for seven months, have been inseparable ever since and are now expecting their first child together in September.

Jami Bouwer, 27, from Mossel Bay, South Africa, met her future partner Nolte Lourens (pictured together), 43, when visiting her pal Nikita back in 2007 when she was a pre-teen

She became infatuated with the older man (pictured together) but it wasn't until December 2020 that their paths crossed once more and the couple enjoyed a vineyard date - arranged by Nikita

The pair (pictured), who have officially been together for seven months, have been inseparable ever since and are now expecting their first child together in September

'I laid eyes on him for the very first time in 2007, I was only 12 years old and he was about 27 years old,' Jami, who is currently unemployed, said.

'Sounds crazy, obviously no moves were made, but that is the first time I met him. I became friends with his niece around that time and since then I've always had a crush on her cute uncle.

'For me, it definitely was love at first sight, since the first day I laid eyes on him I just knew he was going to be the one.

'I made the first move back in 2017, just before I had left South Africa to go au pair in America for two years, by telling him that one day I am going to marry him.

'I was 23 at the time and he thought it was a joke and laughed, and that was that. Little did he know how serious I was and I just knew that one day it was going to happen. He was also in a relationship at that time.'

'I laid eyes on him for the very first time in 2007, I was only 12 years old and he was about 27 years old,' Jami (pictured with her partner), who is currently unemployed, said

'Sounds crazy, obviously no moves were made, but that is the first time I met him. I became friends with his niece around that time and since then I've always had a crush on her cute uncle', said Jami (pictured with her partner)

'For me, it definitely was love at first sight, since the first day I laid eyes on him I just knew he was going to be the one,' the mother-to-be (pictured with her partner) added

Jami returned to her hometown in 2019, after her stint abroad, at which time Nolte, who works as a beekeeper, had been checking out her social media pages  but their age gap meant that he was too apprehensive to get in contact at first.

'At the beginning of 2020 he went to America for farming, he finally got the guts to send me a message and ask when I will be returning to the US, as he was there,' she revealed.

'After casually chatting to him on and off for a couple of months via WhatsApp while he was overseas, he finally returned home from the US.

'He came by the bar where I worked the same day he landed and walked in behind the bar and gave me a hug.

Jami (pictured with Nolte) admitted: 'I made the first move back in 2017, just before I had left South Africa to go au pair in America for two years, by telling him that one day I am going to marry him'

Jami returned to her hometown in 2019, after her stint abroad, at which time Nolte, who works as a beekeeper, had been checking out her social media pages  but their age gap meant that he was too apprehensive to get in contact at first

'At the beginning of 2020 he went to America for farming, he finally got the guts to send me a message and ask when I will be returning to the US, as he was there,' Jami revealed. Pictured, the couple together

'The very next day we went on a sort of a date arranged by his niece to a wine farm just out of town for a wine tasting and a light meal. We got together and basically just started dating right away.

'After our first date, that night he had leaned in to kiss me and that's how it all started. We have officially been together for seven months now.

'We have a connection like no other. We understand each other, we are honest with each other and the sex is amazing.'

The couple has been open about their relationship from the start, despite Nolte's parents initially being flabbergasted that he was dating their granddaughter's best friend.

The couple (pictured) has been open about their relationship from the start, despite Nolte's parents initially being flabbergasted that he was dating their granddaughter's best friend

Jami (pictured with her partner) added: 'Everyone always knew I had a huge crush on Nolte, but no one thought it would ever become anything serious. When it did, some people were surprised and others not, but we have been open about it since day one'

'My parents were a bit shocked because they only found out on Facebook once we made it public,' admitted Jami, pictured with Nolte

Jami added: 'Everyone always knew I had a huge crush on Nolte, but no one thought it would ever become anything serious. When it did, some people were surprised and others not, but we have been open about it since day one.

'My parents were a bit shocked because they only found out on Facebook once we made it public  they accepted it pretty easy though as they have known him for years and loved him as a person.

'Nolte's parents also accepted it quite easy too. Nikita was the most excited. She was rooting for us since the beginning. She also is the one that pushed and helped us to get together.

'Fortunately for us, we have never received any negative comments. We are lucky that way.'

Nolte is currently working on a farm in North Dakota, US, but will be back with his partner (pictured together) for the birth of their child in September

Jami (pictured) was previously in a 'secret' relationship with a man 30 years her senior, who sadly passed away

Jami was previously in a 'secret' relationship with a man 30 years her senior, who sadly passed away.

Meanwhile Nolte was married for five years while in his twenties, before getting divorced six years ago.

Jami revealed exactly what makes the age gap relationship work so well.

'Nolte knows what he wants and is done with the "messing around" stage in his life,' she explained. 'He is more committed when it comes to love and starting a family.

'We both want the same thing when it comes to starting a family. We are so excited to be having a baby together and to start our life together as a little family of three.

Meanwhile Nolte was married for five years while in his twenties, before getting divorced six years ago. Jami, pictured in her baby's nursery

Jami (pictured) revealed exactly what makes the age gap relationship work so well. 'Nolte knows what he wants and is done with the "messing around" stage in his life,' she explained. 'He is more committed when it comes to love and starting a family'

'We love each other unconditionally and appreciate each other in every way possible. We each have our past stories and we are able to open up and accept each other as we are.

'I think that's what makes our relationship so special  we are so different yet so alike.'

Nolte is currently working on a farm in North Dakota, US, but will be back with his partner for the birth of their child in September.

'Jami is young, energetic, enthusiastic, lustful, and naughty,' Nolte said. 'Sure there are women out there that meet those same criteria at my age, but they are very scarce and most likely have children of their own  something I can't see myself getting involved with.'

The loved-up couple had some advice for those who also found themselves in an age gap relationship.

'Don't let anyone tell you what's right or what's wrong when it comes to love and age,' said Jami. 'Never focus on age, it's literally just a number. If it feels right, then it is right. Focus on yourself  it's your life and you have to live it.

'Someone will always have something to say, but only you know your story, so who are they to judge? Love who you want to love and you will live a happy life.'
Not being able to hug the Queen was the hardest part of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, Peter Phillips has said.

The Queen's eldest grandchild, 43, added that poignant images of The Queen sitting alone in St. George's Chapel 'would be relatable for many families during the pandemic'.

Peter, the son of Anne, Princess Royal and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, said that his grandfather was a 'hugely influential' in the lives of him and his cousins and that he'll be 'sorely missed'.

The father-of-two, who does not hold a royal title and divorced from his wife Autumn Phillips earlier this year, was speaking ahead of Gatcombe Park Food and Drink Festival which is his held on his mother's Gloucestershire estate where he also lives.

Not being able to hug the Queen was the hardest part of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, Peter Phillips has said. The Queen is pictured alone at St George's Chapel during the funeral. The Queen's eldest grandchild, 43, added that poignant images of The Queen sitting alone in St. George's Chapel 'would be relatable for many families during the pandemic'.

The 17th-in-line to the throne, who has worked as corporate hospitality manager since graduating from University of Exeter, told the BBC: 'He lived a remarkable life and if any of us can even live half the life that he did, we would all be extraordinarily happy,'

'Our thoughts immediately went to my grandmother. We've been trying to support her as much as we can.'

In photos that were seen around the world, the Queen, 95, was pictured sitting alone at her husband's funeral as social distancing laws meant her family couldn't sit with her.

Prince Philip, who died on 9th April, aged 99, at Windsor Castle, was married to the Queen for 74 years.

Peter, the son of Anne, Princess Royal and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, said that his grandfather was a 'hugely influential' in the lives of him and his cousins and that he'll be 'sorely missed'.

'Everybody saw the image of Her Majesty sitting alone. It would have been the same for any other family, the hardest part is not being able to hug those closest to the person who's been lost,' Peter added.

'It's the same for a lot of families. There have been some great sadnesses but at the same time you've got to try to take the positives out of these situations, whether that be new life, or happy memories, that's what you've got to focus on,' he went on.

Peter also said that the lockdown has allowed the Queen to spend more time with his family, including his daughters Savannah, 10, and Isla, nine.

'They're exceptionally lucky to have had two great-grandparents who have lived as long as they have. My children certainly appreciate that and know that it's something special,' he said.

Prince Philip, who died on 9th April, aged 99, at Windsor Castle, was married to the Queen for 74 years

Peter, who is often seen at countryside events alongside his sister Zara, added that his passion for the countryside comes from his grandfather.

'He was such a fixture of all of our lives. He is sorely missed,' he said.

Peter recently finalised with divorce with ex-wife Autumn, 42, after telling their families of their 'amicable' decision to end their marriage two years ago.

Montreal-born Autumn Kelly was a management consultant when she met Phillips at the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix.

At the time, he was working for the Williams Formula 1 team. She is said not to have known until six weeks later, when she saw him on television, that he was the Queens grandson.

She then moved to Britain and married Phillips in 2008 in a ceremony at St Georges Chapel, Windsor, that caused controversy because the couple sold the photographic rights to Hello! magazine for a reported 500,000.
Jessica Mulroney has said that her life is 'happy again' after finding 'hope' through 'sobriety and therapy.'

The Canadian stylist, 41, from Toronto, took to Instagram to share a poignant post which read: 'I've struggled with anxiety and social anxiety my whole life.

'I've masked it many times and this year has been heavy for all of us. Know there is hope. I've found it through sobriety and therapy. My life is happy again. I wish this for you all. Thank you for your love this year.'

In a caption which she shared to her 415, 000 followers which accompanied the post, Jessica explained that despite speaking about mental illness for years, she 'never thought' she'd have to endure 'intense treatment' the way she did this year.

Jessica Mulroney, 41, from Toronto, has said that her life is 'happy again' after finding 'hope' through 'sobriety and therapy.' Pictured, with Meghan Markle on May 31 2016

The Canadian stylist, 41, from Toronto, took to Instagram to share a poignant post which read: 'I've struggled with anxiety and social anxiety my whole life

She went on to say how she doesn't 'blame anyone' and is just concentrating of working on herself.

'All the pain is now in the past,' she continued. 'Sending all of my followers who have loved and supported me through this journey. It can be lonely having the world, friends distance from you and not even ask how you are. But, thankfully, you find the things that truly matter'

It comes shortly after Jessica shared a cryptic post about 'losing friends and finding better ones' - months after her friendship with Meghan Markle was said to be on the rocks following the stylist's racism row.

The stylist posted a lengthy quote on Instagram at the end of June, which read: 'Life changes. You lose love. You lose friends. You lose pieces of yourself that you never imagined would be gone.'

She went on to say how she doesn't 'blame anyone' and is just concentrating of working on herself

The quote continued: 'And then, without even realizing it, these pieces come back. New love enters. Better friends come along. And a stronger, wiser you, is staring back in the mirror.'

It comes after Meghan stayed silent as Jessica found herself at the centre of a Black Lives Matter race row last year when she was accused of using her white privilege against a black social media influencer.

It was reported last year that the Duchess had cut ties with Mulroney after influencer Sasha Exeter accused the stylist of 'threatening her livelihood' when she posted a Black Lives Matter call-to-action on Instagram.

Meghan remained silent when the Canadian fashion stylist was accused of racist bullying and abusing her white privilege to threaten the career of a black social media influencer.

Sasha alleged that Jessica took personal offence when she asked bloggers to use their platform to advance the Black Lives Matter movement and that private messages between the pair had left her paralysed with fear.

Mulroney later faced accusations that she had used Meghan as her 'superpower,' though denied this was the case and refused to speak about the Duchess in interviews.

A source had claimed their friendship is no longer 'what it once was,' adding this was not due to the fall-out with Exeter, but because they have 'just grown apart.'

The insider added: 'Of course, Meghan has been worried about Jess. Shell always have love for her.'

However, Mulroney told Page Six in November that she and Meghan are 'constantly' in touch via FaceTime.

The stylist assisted Meghan in choosing a wedding dress for the actress' Suits character, Rachel Zane, in 2015.

Jessica Mulroney recently shared a cryptic post about 'losing friends and finding better ones' - after her friendship with Meghan Markle, 39, was said to be on the rocks following the stylist's racism row last summer

A source had claimed Meghan and Jessica's friendship is no longer 'what it once was,' adding this was not due to the fall-out with Exeter, but because they have 'just grown apart'

Jessica's friendship with Meghan was not the only aspect of her life that suffered as a result of the controversy.

Having quickly shot to fame thanks to her close friendship with the Duchess of Sussex, Jessica's fall from grace was even swifter.

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that ABC had quickly severed ties with her, confirming that Jessica would not be returning to her occasional role as a fashion contributor on Good Morning America.

Canadian TV network CTV also distanced themselves from the stylist, revealing that it was pulling all episodes of her wedding-focused reality show I Do Redo from its platforms ahead of its expected US premiere on Netflix.

It was claimed last August that the Duchess of Sussex was reported to have cut ties with Jessica after black influencer Sasha Exeter (left) accused her of 'threatening her livelihood' after 'taking offence' at a Black Lives Matter video posted by the online star

She then stepped down from the board of directors of The Shoebox Project, a charity that she founded with her sisters-in-law, Caroline, Vanessa, and Katy Mulroney.

In a statement shared on Instagram, the charity said: 'Jessica Mulroney is a founding member of The Shoebox Project and she has dedicated herself to its growth and success over the years, for which we are very grateful.

'In light of recent events, the charity supports Jessicas decision to step away from the Board of Directors.'

Jessica's husband Ben - the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney - then stepped down from his role as the host of CTV's celebrity news show 'etalk', a position that he had held for 18 years.
Princess Charlene of Monaco's 'excuses' about her health are 'wearing thin' and she has no intention of ending her six-month exile in South Africa any time soon, according to sources.

An official portrait of Prince Albert, 63, and his 43-year-old wife staring out across the Mediterranean from their resplendent Palace was meant to mark the couple's 10th wedding anniversary last month.

Monegasques living in the tiny but fabulously wealthy city-state and tax haven on France's southern coast are hugely loyal to their Royals, and expect a traditional family photograph whenever there is a historic date to celebrate.

Sadly, the society lensman normally hired to produce such pictures  not just for local subjects but also for the international media  was told his services were not required this time around.

Instead, even normally reverential outlets such as the highly respected Madame Figaro in Paris used long dated images of the couple, asking: 'Are Charlene and Albert II of Monaco on the verge of divorce?'

Princess Charlene of Monaco's 'excuses' about her health are 'wearing thin' and she has no intention of ending her six-month exile in South Africa any time soon, according to sources (pictured in July)

Prince Albert II of Monaco, HSH Prince Jacques, HSH Princess Gabriela and Kaia Rose Wittstock at the ABB FIA Formula E Monaco E-Prix in May

Those responsible for such devastating headlines note that the couple are geographically some 8,500 miles apart.

Charlene is in her native South Africa, and the emotional gap from her husband, who is currently supporting the Monaco team at the Olympics in Japan, appears even wider.

So much so that Stephane Bearn, easily the most high-profile and trusted Royal commentator in France, uses an impeccably sourced piece in the latest Paris Match to discuss the torturous separation.

He describes subjects in Monaco becoming increasingly angry about their runaway Princess, as they criticise everything from Charlene's mood swings to her appearance.

'In Monaco, since the departure of Charlene, tongues have loosened,' Mr Bearn writes.

'In the whirlwind of a hard-nosed court, her fine shine is rubbing off. Her sad looks are regarded as haggard.

Charlene is in her native South Africa, and the emotional gap from her husband, who is currently supporting the Monaco team at the Olympics in Japan, appears even wider. She infamously shaved her head in the style of a punk rocker last December (pictured in May)

'Disappointed Monegasques talk about her anger, her whimsical moods, which are as changeable as her hair.'

Charlene infamously shaved her head in the style of a punk rocker last December  an act which many saw as the first public sign of a worsening crisis that could end in a multi-million pound divorce.

Referring to the couple's six-year-old twins, who remain in Monaco with their nannies, Mr Bearn writes: 'The Palace had to invoke a suffering Princess so often that the Monegasques today find it hard to believe.

'By crying wolf, the mother of Jacques and Gabriella would have discredited and isolated herself.'

Even now, the official reason given for Charlene's interminable stay in South Africa is a personal medical condition.

The former Olympic swimmer is suffering with chronic ear problems  a complaint that is common among former elite athletes who spent long periods dunking their heads underwater.

Charlene has been notable by her absence from every single flagship event in the tax haven principality this year. Prince Albert has looked a forlorn solo figure, just as he did at the Tokyo Olympics last week (pictured on July 27)

Discussing minor surgery that has apparently prevented her taking a private jet back to France from Johannesburg, Charlene said earlier this month: 'I was instructed by the doctors that I can't fly yet because I'm unable to equalise my ears and therefore cannot fly about 20,000 feet.'

She added: 'I miss my husband, my babies  Jacqui and Bella  and my doggies terribly, but I can't force a recovery of bone and membrane, it takes time.'

A Monaco source who knows the couple well meanwhile suggested the excuse was 'sounding very thin, especially considering how many times it has been reeled out'.

She added: 'Patients with very serious problems are flown to other parts of the world all the time.

'The Princess has the finest medics in the world looking after her  making a flight home extremely safe and comfortable would not be that difficult.'

Another Palace source was even more forthright, telling Paris Match: 'The Princess has, for the time being, in reality, no intention of returning.'

Charlene has been keeping at her public profile through social media  supporting animal welfare charities, especially ones connected to rhinos, while also paying tribute to her family back in Monaco

Instead, she has been seen house-hunting near Johannesburg, close to where she was brought up in a modest suburban family as Charlene Wittstock, the daughter of Mike Wittstock, a photocopy machine salesman.

Charlene has been in South Africa almost constantly since it emerged last December that Albert was facing yet another paternity suit.

A Brazilian woman who cannot be named for legal reasons said her now 17-year-old daughter was the result of a passionate affair with the Prince in 2004.

Albert and Charlene were not yet engaged at this time, but they had known each over for four years after meeting at a swimming gala in Monaco in 2000.

Lawyers for the claimant were scheduled to demand a DNA test from Albert at a court in Milan earlier this year, while his own counsel branded the action 'a hoax'.

Neither party is now commenting, suggesting some kind of generous settlement may have been reached, as happened with Albert's earlier love children.

Albert and the twins paid a brief visit to South Africa in early June, the Palace has confirmed, but they otherwise keep in touch via video link

Those that are known about are Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who is now 29 and the result of Albert's affair with an American estate agent, and Alexandre Coste, 17, whose mother is a former Togolese air hostess.

Both children were struck off Monaco's line of succession in return for vast financial settlements.

Charlene, however, has produced the heirs who will be expected to keep the House of Grimaldi, the ancient dynasty that has ruled over Monaco for centuries, flourishing.

Her relationship with Albert, son of the late Rainier of Monaco and Hollywood film star Grace Kelly, is naturally considered vital.

Those who attended their glittering wedding at the start of July 2011 certainly expected it to be for life.

They included Prince Edward and his wife, the Countess of Wessex, along with heads of state and showbiz stars such as Shirley Bassey and Andrea Bocelli.

Those who attended Prince Albert and Princess Charlene's glittering wedding at the start of July 2011 in Monaco certainly expected it to be for life

Now, however, Charlene has been notable by her absence from every single flagship event in the tax haven principality this year.

They have included the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23, and the Fashion Awards hosted by the Princess's own charitable foundation on May 18.

Instead, Albert has looked a forlorn solo figure, just as he did at the Tokyo Olympics this week.

The sporting extravaganza has played a prominent role in the couple's past  both have competed (Albert in the four-man bobsleigh) and they first went public with their romance at the 2004 Winter Games in Italy.

Rather than being at her husband's side today, Charlene has been keeping at her public profile through social media  supporting animal welfare charities, especially ones connected to rhinos, while also paying tribute to her family back in Monaco.

Albert and the twins paid a brief visit to South Africa in early June, the Palace has confirmed, but they otherwise keep in touch via video link.

Royal commentator Stephane Bearn concurs, writing in reference to Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella: 'By causing the break-up, Charlene would lose what she always said was most dear to her.' (Pictured: Prince Albert and Charlene with their children in September last year, after the Crossing Calvi Monaco Water Bike Challenge)

In an oddly formal-sounding social media post, Charlene wrote: 'My daily conversations with Albert and my children help me a lot to keep my spirits up, but I miss being with them.

'It was important to me that my family visited me in South Africa. It was wonderful to see them. I can't wait to return to them.'

Another Monaco-based source said: 'It was assumed that Charlene would travel back to Monaco with the Princes and Princess but when that didn't happen, alarm bells started ringing particularly loudly.

'Yes, Charlene is saying all the right things about Albert on social media, but it all sounds a bit hollow and distant  almost like she does not want to be depicted as the bad guy in all this.'

Royal commentator Stephane Bearn concurs, writing in reference to Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella: 'By causing the break-up, Charlene would lose what she always said was most dear to her.'
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Sarah Ferguson's steamy debut Mills & Boon novel focuses on the forbidden, passionate romance of a flame-haired heroine who is eager to wed her Scottish lover Donald Cameron - despite her father's disapproval.

The book - Her Heart for a Compass - is a fictional account of the life of the Duchess of York's great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.

Set in the heart of the Victorian era, it sees 18-year-old Lady Margaret evoke the ire of her parents - the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, close friends of Queen Victoria - by rejecting the suitor they chose for her, Lord Rufus Ponsonby, the Earl of Killin, resulting in her being banished from polite society.

Lady Margaret, who hails from Dalkeith in Scotland and loves horses, then falls madly in love with a priest and, later, an older diplomat - an acquaintance of her father's - before making a career for herself as a writer.

And the hotly-anticipated novel is filled with racy details, such as the moment when the protagonist first sets eyes on her old friend Donald 'astride a strapping grey' and they find themselves in a passionate embrace.

In an extract provided exclusively to FEAMAIL, the novelist tells of the moment Lady Margaret 'read his intention clearly in his eyes as he reached for her, and she made no attempt to evade him as he pulled her into his arms.'

Sarah Ferguson's hotly anticipated debut Mills & Boon novel hits the shelves today - and its flame-haired heroine is more than just a little familiar

The book - Her Heart for a Compass, left - is a fictional account of the life of the Duchess of York's great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott (right)

And in a second passage: 'She lifted her hand to his cheek and felt his sharp intake of breath at her touch. 'Margaret,' he said, his voice both rough and gentle at the same time.'

It goes on to say how 'the roaring of the waterfall became a roaring in her ears as their lips met.'

In real life, Lady Margaret married Donald Cameron of Lochiel - who was an MP and 24th chief of Clan Cameron, in 1875. They went on to have four sons, who have believed to have fought in WWII.

Grounded in extensive historical research, the novel is a story of duty, family, love, and a woman's yearning for freedom and independence in a strict, controlling society.

The Duchess joined forces with her 'collaborator and mentor' Marguerite Kaye - who has written more than 50 novels for Mills & Boon set across the ages and her books and novellas have sold more than 1.5 million copies in over 20 countries.

Throughout Her Heart for a Compass, Lady Margaret's growing confidence leads her to pursue a new life outside of the confines of her aristocratic family seat, and eventually follow her heart.

Fergie, 61, who has penned many bestselling children's books and several works of non-fiction, said it's a 'dream come true' to be a first-time novelist at the age of 61.

'Lockdown gave me the time and space to tell a story that I have wanted to write for 15 years,' she explained. 'When like everyone else I was locked down with my family, it gave me the time to buckle down and write the book.

Sarah Ferguson was spotted leaving the BBC after appearing on The One Show last night to promote her book

The Duchess of York looked radiant following her TV appearance last night

'I think people will see the parallels between me and my heroine Lady Margaret  she's a redhead, she's strong willed and she's led by her heart. She attracts the attention of the press and she makes a career in writing. But ultimately, this is a work of fiction and not an autobiography.

EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM 'HER HEART FOR A COMPASS' Donald, astride a strapping grey, slowed from a gallop to a canter as they entered the woodland. He rode well, handling the stallion with a quiet mastery without being showy about it. Beside him, Margarets surprised delight at his sudden appearance out of the blue had given way to a definite apprehension. This was Donald, her friend, she reminded herself, but he didnt look like the man she imagined when she read his letters. It wasnt only the loss of the beard; it was his smile, she decided, which had not been the chaste smile of an old friend. And the way he had kissed her hand. More perturbingly the effect that kiss had had on her senses. As they neared the waterfall she slanted him another glance, only to find that he was doing the same. Their gazes met and the world tilted and realigned itself, for in that brief moment there was no mistaking what had passed between them. Donald dismounted. Nervously, Margaret slid off Pennygael, who led the way to the pool, the grey following her. The fresh fallen leaves were gold, chestnut, and burnished amber underfoot. The sun glinted down on the cascade, making diamonds of the curtain of water as it crashed into the pool. 'Isnt it entrancing?' she asked, joining him. 'Breathtaking,' he agreed, turning towards her. 'But I personally prefer this view.' She read his intention clearly in his eyes as he reached for her, and she made no attempt to evade him as he pulled her into his arms. He was going to kiss her, and she wanted him to. Alarm bells were clanging, but only faintly as she tilted her face to his. He smelled of shaving soap and wet wool, and his coat was damp with the spray from the waterfall. She lifted her hand to his cheek and felt his sharp intake of breath at her touch. 'Margaret,' he said, his voice both rough and gentle at the same time. The roaring of the waterfall became a roaring in her ears as their lips met. Advertisement

'It's a coming of age story charting the journey of a strong woman who strains against the confines of 1860s society, when women were so controlled. I think the challenges Margaret faces will resonate with todays readers.'

Speaking on The One Show last night, the Duchess explained: 'My middle name is Margaret and there are certain parallels between my life and this extraordinary, resilient, courageous, strong, red-headed Lady Margaret.

'When I looked into the DNA of my own family, I found this lady that didn't have a voice, a real life lady, Lady Margaret.

'No one knew what she'd achieved, so I made it fiction, and of course it is fiction, but it is my grandmother and my family and it's Scotland, London, Ireland, and then of course she did charity work in America.

'And so of course there's many experiences and experimenting with experiences that Lady Margaret does that I can speak of from my own experiences.'

Sarah added that the idea for the novel came to her when I was asked to do the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are?.

'I didn't end up going ahead with that, but it started me off on a quest to look into the strong, creative Scottish and Irish women in my lineage,' she explained. 'I became particularly fascinated with my great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, and the story grew from there.

'What struck me was how small a mark Margaret had made on the history of such an influential family  I could find out almost nothing about her. What kind of person was she? Why had she married so relatively late? She was more or less a blank canvas.

'With real historical events and facts to hand, my imagination took over. I invented a history for her that incorporated real people and events. I was determined to bring her to life and to show that researching and telling the stories of strong women in history of vital importance.'

The parallels between the writer and her protagonist are indeed striking; in the book her heroine speaks of her loathing for endless formal occasions, and her wish to be able to let her rebellious red mop of hair 'tumble wild and loose down her back'.

There are also numerous references to the press, with the character developing a dislike for the Illustrated London News - not dissimilar in its style to Lady Whistledown's gossip-fuelled column in the Netflix drama Bridgerton.

'Honestly, you would think they would have more important topics to write about than what gown I wore to what ball, who I danced with, and whether or not my dance card was full,' Lady Margaret moans to her best friend Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's sixth child.

She later laments: 'I am heartily sick of being the subject of press speculation.'

The Duchess previously told People magazine that 'the world's press has written about my mistakes' when discussing how she advises her daughters to behave.

The parallels between the writer and her protagonist are indeed striking; in the book her heroine speaks of her loathing for endless formal occasions, and her wish to be able to let her rebellious' red mop of hair 'tumble wild and loose down her back'

EXTRACT FROM 'HER HEART FOR A COMPASS' BY SARAH FERGUSON AND, DUCHESS OF YORK, AND MARGUERITE KEY: Setting the Heather on Fire 'The sun struggled to penetrate the smog that hung over the city, but the crowd which had gathered outside the brand new extension to the Edinburgh Childrens Sanctuary seemed oblivious of the cold. Though there were some men present, and a clutch of reporters stood huddled together, pencils behind their ears, most of the expectant faces belonged to women and children. The nurse stood at the back of the crowd, her tummy fluttering with butterflies. The door of the second Edinburgh Childrens Sanctuary was freshly painted sunshine yellow, with a brass door knocker at child height in the shape of a cat. A Christmas tree stood to the side of the front step, bedecked with baubles, wooden toys and barley sugars, to be distributed to the waiting bairns after the opening ceremony. The door opened and the Lord Provost stepped out accompanied by a tall, elegantly-dressed woman. It was her smile that brought back a flood of memories for the waiting nurse. I will keep this brief, since you have waited so patiently, Lady Margaret Cameron said. Im delighted to declare the second Edinburgh Childrens Sanctuary open. Later, inside the sanctuary after refreshments, the nurse bided her time, waiting until Lady Margaret had finished telling a story to a circle of children before approaching her. Excuse me, my lady, she said. I wont take up much of your time, only my father would never forgive me if I neglected to introduce myself, and say thank you in person. Im Heather, Fraser Scotts daughter. Oh my goodness! Lady Margaret got up from the stool, looking quite stunned. The last time I saw you, back in the days when I did charity work in Lambeth, you were ten years old. Youre the image of your father. I was terribly sorry to hear that the dear man had passed on. He was so very proud of you. Pa was a man in a million, Heather agreed with a watery smile, taking the seat she was ushered towards. It was his horror stories of the hospital conditions in the Crimea that inspired me to become a nurse. Fergie, 61, who has penned many bestselling children's books and several works of non-fiction, said it's a 'dream come true' to be a first-time novelist at the age of 61 Lady Margaret smiled fondly. Dear Mr Scott, he was determined to give you the education you deserved so that you could make something of yourself. Such a contrast to my own father, who had no ambition for me, save to marry me off. Then the Duke certainly under-estimated you, if I may be so bold. Pa said he was proud to call you his friend. He was very kind to me when I most needed it. Her ladyship chuckled. I wish my own father felt similar pride. I am still confounding his expectations at every opportunity. Tell me, dear Miss Scott, are you working here in Edinburgh? At the Royal Infirmary. I trained as a Nightingale Nurse at St Thomass Hospital in London, but Scotland was always the land of my fathers heart. And are you happy here, do you enjoy your work? Its very rewarding, and I love Scotland but  oh, I dont know, never mind. Whats wrong? No, Lady Margaret said when Heather shook her head dismissively. I can see theres something bothering you. Wont you tell me? Heather wavered, but the big blue eyes fixed on her were filled with sympathy, and if anyone could understand her feelings, surely it was this woman? I just feel I could do so much more, given the opportunity, she confessed. Ive years of experience, far more than some of those doctors doing their rounds, but if you ever dare to speak up, other than to offer them a cup of tea, theyre sore affronted. If it was simply my pride at stake  but its not. There was a patient only the other day She hadnt meant to talk so much, but Lady Margaret listened so intently, and Heather had so much pent up frustration that it was a relief to blurt it all out. Im sorry, she said, finally coming to a halt. I didnt mean to commandeer your time like this. Have you ever thought of training as a doctor? Me! Sarah added that the idea for the novel came to her when I was asked to do the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are? which set her off on a quest to look into the strong, creative Scottish and Irish women in her lineage Why not? Oh, I know its a novel idea here, for a woman, but in America theyve been teaching medicine to women for years. And I have heard that a Miss Blake has lately set up a dispensary right here in Edinburgh. Ive heard of Miss Blake, Heather said. A formidable woman, by all accounts. Then shes precisely the person we should speak to about setting you on the right path. I cant. Aside from the money Well find a way to resolve that. If you were to work for our Sanctuaries in your spare time, for example  yes, I think that might work. But Im a working-class woman, Lady Margaret. My education is sound but its not fancy. Do you want to be a doctor, Miss Scott? More than anything, Heather admitted, dazed and excited. But Ive never imagined it could be anything other than a dream. If you follow your heart then nothing is impossible. I know that better than most. I shall write to Miss Blake. Or perhaps it would be best if we simply paid her a visit. Are you free just now? Im not on duty for another four hours, but  do you mean it? Of course I do. What are you laughing at? Pa once called you a force of nature. I see what he meant. Lady Margaret smiled. Irrepressible is what my husband calls me. Dr Heather Scott. It has a nice ring to it. Do you really think I can do it? More importantly, do you think you can? Heather thought for a moment, then nodded. I have no idea if Ill succeed, but Im ready to take the first step. Lady Margaret took her by the hand. Lets take it together. ********** Heather sneaked a glance as the small gathering took their seats. Lady Margaret had brought her two eldest boys, Donnie and Ewen. Heather smiled to see her lean over and check on Ma, who had travelled to Edinburgh for the first time in her life for the occasion. Neither of her brothers were in attendance, both claiming work demands, but the truth was they thought she had ideas above her station. Nursing was a suitable career for a woman, but medicine was a male preserve. They had been genuinely shocked at the idea of their sister attending anatomy lessons, never mind putting what shed learned into practice. It had been hard work, these past seven years. There had been times when it would have been easier to give up. Those were the days when she recalled Lady Margarets words: Doctor Heather Scott. It has a nice ring to it. It did, it had a very nice ring to it, and answering to it never failed to give her a thrill, but today Heather was giving it up, willingly. She was taking the first step on a new journey, at the side of the man who was taking his place in front of the altar. The organ struck up, and she pulled her veil over her face, steadying herself to take the short, life-changing walk down the aisle. Doctor Heather McInroy, she mouthed to herself. That had a nice ring to it too.' Advertisement

Lady Margaret also appears to share the novelist's trademark deep curtsies - performing one to the Prince of Wales during a social engagement - and her passion for telling children's stories, which eventually leads to her writing her own.

Sarah has been reading children's books throughout the pandemic on her YouTube channel, Storytime with Fergie and Friends.

The Duchess has dedicated her new book to her 'beautiful girls' Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, whom she said have 'all the strength and courage of Lady Margaret'.

She wrote in the book's foreword: 'They too have followed their hearts and live life on their own terms. This book is for you, Beatrice and Eugenie, with all my love.'

The novel is not short of historical references; its opening scene is set at Montagu House, a late 17th-century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London, which became the first home of the British Museum.

The Duchess has dedicated the book to her 'beautiful girls' Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, whom she said have 'all the strength and courage of Lady Margaret', her heroine

It also features real historical figures and events, offering a compelling look at Victorian England in the wake of Prince Albert's death.

The novel sweeps the reader from the drawing rooms of Queen Victoria's court and the grand country houses of Scotland and Ireland to the slums of London and the mercantile bustle of 1870s New York.

'I have long held a passion for historical research and telling the stories of strong women in history through film and television,' Sarah said. 'I am proud to bring my personal brand of historical fiction to the publishing world.'

Sir Julian Fellowes, screenwriter of Gosford Park and creator of Downton Abbey, described Sarah's book as a 'tale of daring and determination, set against the glamorous heights, and the harsh restrictions of aristocratic society in the middle years of the British nineteenth century'.

Meanwhile Rosie Nixon, author of Just Between Friends and Editor-in-Chief of HELLO! Magazine, branded it a 'deliciously evocative romp through high society life'.

Sarah has already secured a second book with Mills & Boon and publisher Harper Collins.

'I'm so excited to be diving into this new story, once again with Marguerite Kaye as my co-author,' she said. 'I really feel this book marks a new phase of my life and a whole new chapter for me.

'I'm ready to embrace the opportunities and challenges of writing adult fiction, and to build on what I have learned when writing Her Heart for a Compass.

To promote her work, Sarah was pictured in a Victorian-style floor-length outfit, complete with high-necked blouse, jacket and gloves, sat on a stone bench gazing at a compass she held out in front of her

'I can't reveal too much about the new book at this point, but it will be another period drama, and will build on the world which I have created for this first book.'

To promote her work, Sarah was pictured in a Victorian-style floor-length outfit, complete with high-necked blouse, jacket and gloves, sat on a stone bench gazing at a compass she held out in front of her. Another shot showed her riding a horse wearing a top hat and matching period garb.

She also posed for a series of studio photos, donning a crisp white shirt with her red hair flowing in a style her heroine would have approved.

Mills & Boon - the UK's number one publisher of romantic fiction - was established in 1908. Its books - which are written by women for women - range from historical romance to rom-com and erotica, and one is sold every 10 seconds in the UK.

Executive Publisher for Mills & Boon Lisa Milton commented: 'Across TV, film and books, history continues to grow in popularity.

'This brilliant sweeping story is perfect for our existing readers as well as reaching fans of bestselling novelists such as Philippa Gregory and Anne O'Brien.

'Mills & Boon are honoured to publish the Duchess of York's debut novel as we move into our next century of publishing brilliant books by women for women.'

Her Heart for a Compass, by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (published by Mills & Boon, HarperCollins Publishers) is out on August 3 priced at 14.99 hardback, 6.99 on eBook and 14.49 on audiobook. To buy now click here.

Fergie's first bodice-ripper leaves critics turned off! Her Heart for a Compass is branded a 'boring slog' with no sex

Sarah Ferguson's hotly anticipated debut Mills & Boon novel hits the shelves today.

But any readers hoping for a heaving bodice-ripper will be left disappointed, according to critics, who have been left turned off by the 'interminable doorstopper'.

Her Heart For A Compass (Mills & Boon) is a 540-page Victorian melodrama set over an 11-year period featuring the life and loves of one Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, who bears more than a passing similarity to her flame-haired creator.

Teenage Lady Margaret evokes the ire of her parents - the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, close friends of Queen Victoria - by rejecting the suitor they chose for her, Lord Rufus Ponsonby, the Earl of Killin, resulting in her being banished from polite society. She then falls madly in love with a priest and, later, an older diplomat - an acquaintance of her father's - before making a career for herself as a writer.

Reviews have branded the book 'boring' and a 'slog' with an 'insipid' main character and a tone that jumps between 'archaic and contemporary'. Almost all commented on the lack of sex and said it was at the 'PG end' of Mills & Boon.

Here, FEMAIL reveals what Britain's reviewers had to say...

Sarah Ferguson's hotly anticipated debut Mills & Boon novel hits the shelves today - and its flame-haired heroine is more than just a little familiar

The book - Her Heart for a Compass, left - is a fictional account of the life of the Duchess of York's great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott (right)

The Daily Telegraph: 'The couple of hours it took to slog through it still felt interminable'

'Nothing really happens - a lot': The Daily Telegraph's Hannah Betts said the book was a slog

'As befits Oprahs first duchess confidante, La Ferguson has declared her message to be: You keep going and fight for what you believe is your truth. And how. For, yesterday, I had the opportunity to plough through this 540-page doorstopper and can tell you that it certainly does keep going  on and on and on...

'Fergies tome arrived from her publishers after some error of the blank document/missing bike variety. A delaying tactic? Who can say? Yet, the couple of hours it took to slog through it still felt interminable. For my own truth is that I was bored by Fergies book.

'Margaret is insipid, while its not entirely clear who the book is for. Romantics will be unimpressed by a total of three-ish snogs.

'History buffs will be unimpressed by a passing reference to the Second Reform Act, while feminists will not feel particularly enlightened to learn that life for wimmin was wont to be a bit rum.'

The Times: 'It is very silly but would be enjoyable if the novel were more fun'

Rating:

The PG end of the Mills & Boon spectrum: The Times' Sarah Ditum warns about the lack of sex

'Her Heart for a Compass, however, stays resolutely at the PG end of the Mills & Boon spectrum. Margarets exploits amount to nothing more knee-trembling than a few kisses with tongues. For all Fergusons insistence on her heroines adventurous mind and restless spirit, precious little of it is directed towards sex and love seems like a sideshow...

'[It] is very silly but would be enjoyable if the novel were more fun. Sadly  and despite the involvement of Kaye, a Mills & Boon veteran  it is a slog. There is never any sense of Margaret being in actual peril, or needing to overcome an obstacle...

'"So what?" you might say, isnt this supposed to be a fantasy? But it seems to be a fantasy of a specific kind. Margaret faces down brutal press coverage, achieves self-sufficiency, and is eventually returned to the bosom of the family.

'It is understandable that this is what Ferguson  bullied by the tabloids and kept at a distance by the royals  might dream of. It is less obvious why this chaste wish fulfilment should be the stuff of other peoples fantasies.'

Evening Standard: 'Its tosh, of course, but amiable tosh'

Outisder looking in: Melanie McDonagh feels like Fergie doesn't use her insider knowledge

'Its tosh, of course, but amiable tosh. Yet whats baffling is that for someone who presumably knows her way around the aristocracy, our author sounds so very much like an outsider with her nose pressed against the glass, who doesnt know how grandees actually talk but tries to make up for it by the lavish use of titles and refined diction; theres a pinkie held aloft in every sentence.

'The language is a kind of parody of genteel Victorian when its not weirdly contemporary  Lady Margaret never puts on clothes when she can don attire and her friends are never helpful so much as inordinately accommodating - and absolutely none of it reads as if its written by someone who knows actual dukes to the point of being formerly married to one.

'Actually if you bear in mind that Her Heart for a Compass is published for Mills and Boon, you could say its a perfect example of the genre.'

Guardian: 'Bridgerton this is not'

Redeemable features: The Guardian's Alison Flood praises the historical research

'Margaret is given some clinches, including with an Anglican priest who inspires her work with the poor (time seemed to stop, along with her breath, until he gave a soft sigh, and she lifted her face and surrendered her lips to his), and with the man who eventually wins her heart (deep, starving kisses, adult kisses, their tongues tangling, hands clutching and clinging). But Bridgerton this is not.

'Instead, running to 500-plus pages, Her Heart for a Compass sees Margaret realising that she doesnt need to conform to the rules set down by society, that a Buccleuch woman doesnt need a strategic marriage, and that her despairing cry, no one seems to care that underneath Im an actual person, isnt altogether true.

'The novel veers around somewhat in tone, from archaic  Margarets priest informs her that you cannot have imagined I would have kissed you in such a manner unless my intentions were honourable  to the entirely contemporary  Ha! Thats nothing, says our heroine  but Her Heart for a Compass is nonetheless well-researched, and a glimpse into the strictures of life as a pampered, rich, upper-class woman.'

i: 'This book cackles with female energy and a whisper of Georgette Heyer'

Rating:

Perfect holiday read: The i's Kat Brown says it's the ideal book to bring on holiday

'Despite the best efforts of the stuffy title and cover to put you off, Sarah Fergusons first novel for adults is a delightful and surprisingly funny period romp that deserves a place on every sun lounger...

'In other hands, Magarets life could have threatened to become a multi-volume saga in the Catherine Cookson vein. Instead, this is a jolly addition to the current vogue for Bridgerton lit  uplifting, inspiring and with enough sadly anachronistic plotlines about social change and freedom.

'By the end, youve had as much fun as Fergie and team clearly had creating it. This book cackles with female energy and a whisper of Georgette Heyer. Lets hope Fergie has more interesting relatives to inspire her back to the page.'

And what the Daily Mail's Jan Moir had to say...

Between the covers of Fergie's bodice ripper: A passionate red-headed aristocrat, the beastly Press out to get her... and saucy moments with a hunk in a kilt  JAN MOIR braves the blizzard of cliches in the Duchesss first Mills & Boon

O mistress Molly, apple-cheeked maid of mine, cease thy nanty narking and fetch my reading glasses, if you will. Such excitement! For Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has written her first adult novel.

Her Heart For A Compass (Mills & Boon) is a mighty doorstop of a book; a 540-page Victorian melodrama set over an 11-year period featuring the life and loves of one Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott. Who she, I hear you cry! My dear, clues abound, if you care to look for them.

Variously described as Titian-haired, red-haired, possessor of naturally auburn eyelashes and a rebellious red mop that goes frizzy when damp, this paragon of high-spirited virtue and ginge-tinged beauty has a fondness for chocolate cake, a corset laced tighter than a cut-throats purse and a heart of pure, molten gold.

Ring any bells? Consider that Lady Margaret writes childrens books in her spare time and simply cannot stop doing Good Works, nor gently drawing everyones attention to her endless, exquisite kindness. Yes, even after she brings shame and disgrace upon her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, by refusing to marry dry stick Lord Rufus Ponsonby, the Earl of Killin.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has written her first adult novel. Her Heart For A Compass (Mills & Boon) is a mighty doorstop of a book; a 540-page Victorian melodrama set over an 11-year period featuring the life and loves of one Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott

The very notion of being embraced by him was repellent, shudders poor Lady Margaret in the first chapter.

So no toe-sucking for doofus Rufus, methinks. Even if Killin the villain was willin.

Lady Margaret dusts herself with pearl powder to disguise her freckles, but of course we all know who really lurks beneath the pretty camouflage of that grey silk crinoline. In a recent interview to promote her new book, Sarah, Duchess of York, said: People will spot the parallels between me and my heroine, Lady Margaret. Shes a redhead, shes strong-willed, shes led by her heart. But I hope people wont read too much into it.

WHAT, NO TOE-SUCKING! As he pulled her closer, she twined her arms around his neck, and he fastened his lips to hers again, coaxing her mouth open into a very different kiss. The intimacy shocked her; her reaction shocked her even more. His tongue touched hers and she broke away, breathless and utterly confused. Was this what passion felt like? Advertisement

But how can we not, darling Fergs? After all, it is exactly what readers are encouraged to do, stiffened by the knowledge that not only did the rebellious Lady Margaret (which is the authors own middle name) actually exist, she is a long-lost, real-life ancestor of Sarahs to boot.

Her Heart For A Compass is packed with real people given the impertinence of fictitious lives. For example, there is an interesting relationship between Lady Margaret and her childhood friend, the thinner and more beautiful Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria.

When Margaret gets into scrapes and disgrace, her royal friend is depicted as selfish and disloyal, cools the friendship and berates poor Margaret. Should we presume this was the true nature of the relationship between Fergie and Princess Diana?

Meanwhile, centuries may separate the Duchess and her historical alter ego, but the two women have much in common, including an apparent weakness for men with golden glints in their chestnut hair, horses (ditto) and a loathing of newspapers.

From page 68 onwards, Lady Margaret whines about her difficult relationship with the Press, those inky rapscallions who build her up only to knock me down  yea verily, even in ye olde Victorian England. The lurid London Illustrated Press determines to do its worst by publishing vile innuendo about Margaret, while the Morning Post wonders if she can ever be redeemed in the eyes of society.

Some things never change. Still, how smart of the Duchess of York to join with Mills & Boon, the UKs No 1 publisher of romantic fiction. Her co-author in this venture is Marguerite Kaye, one of Mills & Boons most proficient and professional historical romance authors. Together, they make a good team.

It must be said however, that the usual briskness of Kayes novels has been larded with pages of Ferg-dialogue, epistolary passages of Ferg-correspondence between main characters, Ferg-type scurrilous newspaper reports and an absolute shower of cliches; one gets the impression Fergie has yet to meet a cliche she does not love.

In the fictional world she has created, excuses are always lily- livered, cobblestones are treacherous, docksides are a seething mass of humanity, women are prone to having fits of the vapours, while a pincushion of stars punctures the ink black sky without so much as a by your leave.

Mills & Boon readers will find a great deal of what they adore betwixt the pages of Compass, and if you like this sort of thing, then this is the thing you will sort of like.

Yes, there are a few glutinous moments, for it seems that every handsome, full-bodied man we meet  and even one with no legs, sorry no time to explain  falls hopelessly in love with Lady Margaret. They all yearn to rain ardent kisses upon her soft and yielding lips or crush her to their manly chests.

I spent much of the book absolutely melting with terror, gripped by a fear that any minute now, Fergie was going to dive right in and write a panting sex scene, complete with peeling britches, horsey noises and God knows what but, phew! You have to know that no bodices are ripped in the making of this book, and thank heaven for that.

There is a tendresse with a vicar called Sebastian, whom Sarah, sorry, Margaret snogs straight away because he believes that even fallen angels are still angels.

However, the closest we get to actual rumpy is a knee-trembling moment down by a lake with Cameron of Lochiel, a rugged Scotsman with a cultured Highland lilt.

SAVE ALL YOUR KISSES FOR ME . . . At last their lips met and clung and then opened into a kiss that was tentative and just a little strange . . . he murmured her name, and this set her body alight, urging her to close any gap there was between them, wanting and caring for nothing save more kisses, and more of him. Advertisement

He and Lady Margaret kiss under a waterfall when our heroine is exiled to Ireland halfway through the book (dont ask). Later the romantic action moves to Scotland, where the couple fall into an amorous clinch in a boat on a loch.

Cameron is so affected by this that he has to rearrange his kilt afterwards and truly, it is difficult to resist the poetry and beauty of the scene.

For the man with the lilt has a tilt in his kilt. That will not wilt. Im not saying its a stilt. Its just the way he is built. And Lady Margaret feels no guilt because she is suddenly wanting and caring for nothing save more kisses, and more of him.

The question is, how much more can we take?

This is the Duchess of Yorks 77th book, if you add up all the Budgie The Helicopter titles, the childrens books, the lifestyle books, the diet books, the self-help books, the autobiographies and the books that are a torrid mixture of all of the above.

Over the decades we have been on quite a journey with Fergie, from the innocence of Budgie Goes To Sea (aquatic adventures) to the darker days of Budgie Goes To Seed (affairs, binge-eating, bribes).

It never ends. Faced with the horror of an empty page, Sarah the author becomes a human geyser of gush, an unstoppable tornado of words.

Her various autobiographies are a kind of publishing miracle in themselves, because every time you think the Duchess has emptied her emotional tank and can admit to no more, she comes roaring back a few years later, engines ablaze with a fresh confession and a renewed plea for atonement, redemption and forgiveness.

Sarah Ferguson was spotted leaving the BBC after appearing on The One Show last night to promote her book

The Duchess of York looked radiant following her TV appearance last night

In 1996 came autobiography My Story, informing readers that as a single mother with few assets and less income than most presumed, I was in deep financial trouble.

Then there was 2001s Reinventing Yourself With The Duchess of York (I have come to think of life as a fast-flowing river); 2003s What I Know Now (I do not merely rise above old wrongs; I deny them their reality); and 2011s Finding Sarah. (I was broken and lost, not even sure where I was, but out of this emotional barrenness I knew I had to find me.)

The question is, has she found herself at last? In a lifestyle article published at the weekend, the Duchess reveals that her staff call her The General, that she gets uptight if she misses her soft-boiled eggs at breakfast and every other day commits to doing 30 press-ups and 50 sit-ups.

More revealingly, she still considers herself the luckiest girl ever because she married Prince Andrew, even though she feels like a lodger in his Windsor home.

Of her ex-husbands ongoing difficulties and Prince Philips lifelong ban on her presence at royal events? Not a whisper.

Perhaps such stoicism is one of the things the Duchess has been taught in therapy, for she has had a great deal of counselling over the years, and it shows. Yet despite all the soul-searching, a surprising innocence still persists. She was recently astounded to be turned down after offering the producers of The Crown her expertise in creating her own character for the next series of the hit Netflix show.

I said: Why cant I help? she told one magazine.

I think I know why. The Duchess of York is not without her strengths, but it is true that she cannot resist the impulse to self-iconise at every opportunity.

In Her Heart For A Compass, we are invited to admire, nay adore, the irresistible and feisty Lady Margaret on every page; a character who is written up as though she were Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, Jessica Rabbit and Rita Hayworth, all rolled into one gorgeous, powdered package. Fergies need to be loved and admired beats just as strongly in the pages of her 77th book as it did in her first  absolutely nothing has changed.

Yet it is hard not to warm to this Titian-haired lifter of spirits and inadvertently of kilts. Her message seems to be that manners and breeding can ease your passage, but a desire that can drag you off course is no bad thing.

Follow your heart, chorus Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott and Sarah, Duchess of York, and everything else will be all right.

Is that really true? Sometimes, as she surveys the wreckage of her life and her temporary lodgings, I wonder whether even Fergie truly believes that to be the case.

Her Heart For A Compass, by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, is published today by Mills & Boon, Harper Collins, at 14.99.
This is the emblem which has been chosen to define the Queen's Platinum Jubilee next year.

Created by student Edward Roberts, 19, it has a stylised crown incorporating the number 70 on a round, purple background similar to a royal seal.

The 19-year-old from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, said he was 'over the moon' at winning the competition to design a logo run by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Mr Roberts, a graphic and communication design student at Leeds University, described it as 'elegant'.

A judging panel of artists and experts praised the way the emblem captures the 'continuous thread' of the Queen's 70-year reign.

Created by student Edward Roberts, 19, (pictured), the Queen's Jubilee emblem has a stylised crown incorporating the number 70 on a round, purple background similar to a royal seal

Young creatives were set the challenge of summing-up the Queen's 70-year reign with their artistic skills and Mr Roberts' simple logo was chosen.

It will be used to publicise the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, which will be marked by a special, four-day, bank holiday weekend next June.

Celebrations will range from a live concert staged outside Buckingham Palace with some of the world's biggest stars, to a day at the races for the royal family.

Mr Roberts, from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, said: 'It's just an amazing feeling to win it, I couldn't believe I'd won it really.

'I thought I had achieved something by getting to the top 100 so to even win it - I was over the moon.'

The competition was run by the Victoria & Albert (V&A) museum in conjunction with Buckingham Palace and the Lord Chamberlain, Baron Parker, the most senior official in the Queen's royal household, contacted the student on Thursday to tell him he had won.

Mr Roberts added: 'I was thinking of ways I could re-create the continuity of the Queen's reign in the design and I had a eureka moment.

A judging panel of artists and experts praised the way the emblem captures the 'continuous thread' of the Queen's 70-year reign

'I thought if I could create a continuous line that incorporates the key features of St Edward's crown that would be a really good way of representing the continuing reign of the Queen.'

He added: 'I wanted the design to also symbolise a royal seal and put it within a circle to give the impression of a royal wax seal and I think that's come across really effectively in the design.'

Paul Thompson, vice-chancellor of the Royal College of Art and a member of the judging panel, said: 'This clean graphic design takes us on a simple line journey to create the crown and the number 70, beautifully capturing the continuous thread of Her Majesty The Queen's 70-year reign.

'Drawn on a computer, the ingenious emblem works across all scales and the flow of the line gives us a sense of a human touch behind the digital design process.'

Mr Roberts will be invited to attend next year's Jubilee celebrations, including the live concert.
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COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise rapidly throughout the United States as the country enters its fourth wave of the pandemic.

On Sunday, America recorded 25,141 new cases of coronavirus with a seven-day rolling average of 79,951, which is the highest average recorded since February 16.

It also marks a 312 percent increase from the 19,400 average recorded three weeks ago.

Additionally, 71 COVID-19 deaths were recorded on Sunday with a seven-day rolling average of 341, the second day in a row that the 300-threshold has been passed.

The figure is a 45 percent increase from three weeks prior and the largest seen since June 12.

Health officials say deaths have not risen as dramatically because people now are protected by vaccines, but the spread of the Indian 'Delta' variant is causing hospitalizations to spike in several states.

States such as Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri are reporting that hospitals are reaching capacity with Florida even breaking its previous record for Covid hospitalizations.

However, there are also bright spots. After weeks of lagging COVID-19 vaccinations, the pace is picking up with U.S. recording more than 700,000 shots five days in a row.

On Sunday, the U.S. recorded 25,141 new cases of coronavirus with a seven-day rolling average of 79,951, a 312% increase from the 19,400 recorded three weeks ago

Additionally, 71 COVID-19 deaths were recorded on Sunday with a seven-day rolling average of 341, up 45% from the average of 234 deaths recorded 21 days ago

Hotspots such as Florida, Louisiana and Missouri are not just seeing COVID-19 infections rise but hospitalizations as well, with some centers reaching capacity

It comes as the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations is picking up with U.S. recording more than 700,000 shots administered five days in a row

Florida continues to leads the nation in COVID-19 cases with an average of 27,681 cases per day, data from Johns Hopkins University show.

That is a record figure, surpassing the previous high of 17,991 set on January 5, and represents a 342 percent increase from the 6,492 average cases reported two weeks ago, a DailyMail.com analysis shows.

Hospitalizations also reached a record high with 10,207 hospitalized with COVID-19, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

This shatters the previous record of 10,170 recorded on July 23, 2020.

Meanwhile, hospitals are overflowing. The Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville announced on Sunday it has exceeded its capacity of 304 licensed COVID-19 beds.

It has asked the Agency for Health Care Administration to approve a plan for patients to occupy unlicensed beds until the surge ends, reported First Coast News.

Meanwhile at UF North in Jacksonville, the number of COVID-19 patients is once again so high that some are occupying in beds in the hallways of the hospital's emergency department

'We're taking more patients than we normally would take,' Marsha Tittle, a nurse at UF North told the Florida Times-Union.

'My staff is wonderful. You walk out there, they're going to have smiles on their faces and they're doing a great job. But there's a sense of defeat, like they're just defeated.'

As of Monday, 58 percent of Floridians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 49 are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Florida is averaging 27,681 cases per day, a 342% increase from the 6,492 average cases reported two weeks ago (left). COVID-19 hospitalizations also reached a record high with 10,207, breaking the previous record of 10,170 set last year (right)

Average cases in Missouri have risen by 36% from 2,141 per day to 2,926 per day in the last two weeks (left). Hospitalizations have also increased in the past 14 days to 1,921, 41% up from 1,357 (right)

In Louisiana, average COVID-19 cases have risen 21% from 2,006 to 2,431 per day (left). Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized has risen from 563 to 1,740 in the last two weeks (right)

Missouri continues to be another COVID-19 epicenters with average cases rising by 36 percent from 2,141 per day to 2,926 per day in the last two weeks, according to DailyMail.com's analysis.

Across the state, hospitalizations have risen in the past 14 days to 1,921, 41 percent up from 1,357.

The state's vaccination rate is behind the national average with 49.1 percent of residents having received at least one dose and 41.5 percent fully vaccinated.

The outbreak has mainly been contained to the southwestern part of the state, where Branson and Springfield are located, and where vaccination rates are lowest, with only about one-third fully vaccinated.

CoxHealth Springfield recorded 187 new coronavirus patients on Sunday, a record high and a startling increased from the 28 patient seen eight weeks ago.

Meanwhile Mercy Springfield ha also reached a record high 147 patients, of whom 93 percent were unvaccinated.

'I can't understand the motivations of people disparaging healthcare providers and diminishing the reality of this pandemic,' CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards wrote on Twitter.

In Louisiana, cases have risen 21 percent from 2,006 to 2,431 per day, Johns Hopkins data show.

Meanwhile, several hospitals say they are running out of ICU beds as the number of patients has risen from 563 to 1,740 in the last two weeks, according to department of health data.

At least two hospitals - Our Lady of Lourdes and Oschner Lafayette General - have run out of ICU beds, reported KATC ABC 3.

Administrators at Our Lady of Lourdes are converting regular beds outside of the ICU to deal with the surge in patients.

'Part of that reason and why it's such a high percentage of our 70 patients is we're seeing enhanced severity of this illness in these individuals who, many of whom, are otherwise completely healthy,' Dr Henry Kaufman, interim chief medical officer at Our Lady of Lourdes, said at a press conference.

Dr Amanda Logue, Chief Medical Officer at Ochsner Lafayette General, Oschner Lafayette General told KATC ABC 3 that the hospital currently has 97 COVID-19 patients, up from 10 just four weeks ago.

Amid the spike in cases and hospitalizations, there is some good news: the U.S. is finally starting to see the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations increase.

On Saturday, more than 816,000 shots were administered, marking the fifth day in a row that the country had given out more than 700,000 shots.

What's more, the seven-day rolling average is now above 662,000, which is the highest figure seen since early July.

As of Monday morning, 69.9 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose, meaning the nation is close to reaching President Joe Biden's goal of 70 percent, albeit nearly a month after his July 4 deadline.

In appearance on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said vaccination rates have risen 56 percent across America in the last two weeks.

He told host Jake Tapper that he hopes the threat of the Delta variant has helped convince vaccine hesitant Americans to get the vaccine.

'This may be a tipping point for those who have been hesitant to say: 'OK, it's time,'' Collins said.

'I hope that's what's happening. That's what desperately needs to happen if we're going to get this Delta variant put back in its place.'
A very small percentage of fully vaccinated Americans who contract COVID-19 end up hospitalized or die from the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of July 26, the latest date for which data is available, there were at least 6,587 so-called 'breakthrough' cases reported among 163 million fully vaccinated individuals.

Of those cases, 6,239 resulted in hospitalization and 1,263 peopled died.

This means less than 0.004 percent of people who have completed their vaccine series are hospitalized and less than 0.01 percent of fully vaccinated people die from the virus.

What's more, almost three-fourths - 74 percent - of the breakthrough cases are among people 65 or older.

The data show that the vaccines are as effective as advertised despite recent worries that they could not prevent illness caused by the Indian 'Delta' variant.

CDC data shows that only one out of every 25,000 fully vaccinated Americans has tested positive for COVID-19. The data comes a week after Dr Rochelle Walensky (pictured), director of the agency, announced that fully vaccinated individuals should wear masks in indoors public spaces in areas of high or substantial transmission

A vast majority of breakthrough infections recorded by the CDC are among people 65 years of age or older

Health officials have been urging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect themselves from the virus.

The U.S. has experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases over the past month, with many like President Joe Biden now referring to the situation as a 'pandemic of the unvaccinated'.

On Sunday, America recorded 25,141 new cases of coronavirus with a seven-day rolling average of 79,951, which is the highest average recorded since February 16.

It also marks a 312 percent increase from the 19,400 average recorded three weeks ago.

A vast majority of these cases have been among unvaccinated Americans.

The CDC has added some confusion to the mix, however.

Last week, the agency revised its guidelines, asking for fully vaccinated people to wear their masks indoors in areas of high or substantial transmission.

Initially, mask guidelines for fully vaccinated people were lifted in mid-May.

The decision was based on data from Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 74 percent people who contracted COVID in a 469-case outbreak in early July were vaccinated.

Four fully vaccinated people were hospitalized, and there were no deaths.

The agency also revealed data that showed vaccinated people have the same levels of viral load in their noses as unvaccinated people when infected with the virus.

Vaccinated people are less likely to be carrying the viral load in the first place, though, and those who have received the shots are less likely to be infected when they interact with the viral loads.

Fully vaccinated people who do contract the virus are most likely to be over the age of 65, as 74 percent of case reported by the CDC are among the elderly.

Research shows that older people often develop weaker antibody responses to the vaccine, which could potentially leave them more vulnerable to breakthrough infections.

Older people are also more likely to get hospitalized for COVID-19 than younger people in general, - vaccinated or not - so the disproportionate counting of hospitalized cases in the CDC data could cause the elderly to be overcounted as well.

In total, just under 50 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, per CDC data.

This places the United States still a long way from herd immunity - which could be reached when around 80 percent of the population is fully vaxxed.

The country's vaccine rollout has slowed over the past few months after reaching a peak in early April.

As the Indian 'Delta' variant causes nationwide outbreaks, suddenly some who put off receiving the vaccine are coming in for their shots.

According to data from the CDC, between Tuesday and Saturday last week, around 700,000 vaccine doses were distributed every day across the country.

That is a near 50 percent increase over previous weeks, where less than 500,000 doses were being used every day.

Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Health Institute, told CNN that the recent outbreak could be a tipping point for many to receive the shots.

'This may be a tipping point for those who have been hesitant to say: OK, it's time,"' Collins said.

'I hope that's what's happening. That's what desperately needs to happen if we're going to get this Delta variant put back in its place.'
Arriving at A&E in the middle of the night in January, Marion Herron feared shed be stuck in hospital for days.

The 54-year-old had started feeling unwell  with slurred speech, a headache, ringing ears and loss of balance  just an hour or so earlier, while watching TV with her husband Alan. Realising something was seriously wrong, he called an ambulance.

With coronavirus restrictions in place, Alan, 57, a retired policeman, couldnt go with Marion to hospital and she feared shed be stranded there, alone.

I remember thinking, Will I ever come back?, says Marion, a mobile hairdresser from Ashington, Northumberland.

But the hospital where she was taken had a new approach to scans, which meant that Marion was diagnosed, treated and home again within a matter of hours.

Arriving at A&E in the middle of the night in January, Marion Herron feared shed be stuck in hospital for days

The scheme at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust sounds simple enough: emergency patients get their own dedicated imaging equipment to ensure fast access to ultrasound, CT and MRI scans.

Since the schemes introduction six years ago, waiting times for scans have halved and the length of hospital stays has dropped by a third among emergency patients, freeing up beds to treat others.

Scans are the gateway to NHS medical care, and are pivotal to its smooth running.

They range from simple X-rays and ultrasound, to high-tech computerised tomography (CT, where multiple X-rays are used to produce a more detailed image) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, where magnetic fields and radiowaves generate images of organs in the body), and play a key part across the whole care process.

Without scans, a patient has symptoms, not a diagnosis. But as well as diagnosing conditions ranging from cancer and stroke to heart disease, infections and broken bones, scans are needed to plan and carry out treatments, and to monitor patients to see if those treatments are working.

Scans are also vital for discharging patients from hospital or from their treatment.

Now, as the NHS faces a watershed moment  with waiting lists at a record 5.3 million in England alone as a result of delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic  ramping up access to scans is being hailed by experts as key to getting the NHS back on its feet.

However, there are very real concerns that the patchy and sometimes woeful lack of scanning provision will undermine attempts to clear the backlog.

Marions experience highlights what a difference improved access to scans can make, benefiting both the patient and the NHS.

Without scans, a patient has symptoms, not a diagnosis. But as well as diagnosing conditions ranging from cancer and stroke to heart disease, infections and broken bones, scans are needed to plan and carry out treatments, and to monitor patients to see if those treatments are working

Within two hours of arriving at A&E, with its dedicated scanning unit, Marion had undergone a CT scan of her brain.

These results were inconclusive and doctors thought the problems may be related to multiple sclerosis, which Marion was diagnosed with 12 years ago.

So at 10.30am the next day, she underwent a more detailed MRI scan, which revealed a clot on both sides of her brain  a haemorrhagic stroke  for which she received blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering tablets.

With the right diagnosis and treatment, she was sent home just 16 hours after being admitted.

In other hospitals this process can take days.

Its a shock to have a stroke at my age, when I am generally fit and healthy, but the care I received couldnt have been better, says Marion.

I was home the next day having had a full MoT. It was a relief what with everything that was going on with the virus.

Number of scans plummeted

Like all aspects of routine medical care, access to scans has fallen dramatically during the pandemic, as NHS hospitals have been focusing on Covid patients.

Between March and December last year, 11 million fewer scans were carried out in England compared with the same period in 2019, a drop of 28 per cent, according to an analysis by the Royal College of Radiologists.

An estimated one in three people missed out on a scan they should have had.

This meant, at the end of May, 854,868 patients were waiting for a CT, MRI or ultrasound scan, with one in six waiting longer than six weeks, the national target from referral to scan. Thats a six-fold increase compared with 2019.

Increasing the use of scanning machines through schemes such as the one at the Northumbria Trust would not only clear the backlog but could be key to reducing NHS waiting lists for routine hospital treatments such as joint replacements and hernia repairs, say doctors.

Improving patient access to imaging by increasing capacity has the potential to bring about real improvements to patient care and cut waiting times, which have increased dramatically during the pandemic, Dr Jeanette Dickson, president of the Royal College of Radiologists, told Good Health.

Imaging is critical to modern healthcare  quick, accurate scans mean patients get the right diagnoses and care pathways, meaning faster, better treatment, quicker discharge from hospital and efficiency savings for the NHS.

Pre-pandemic, some hospitals, such as Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, had identified early on how crucial it is to improve scanning access  with impressive results.

In 2015, it introduced its separate scanning service for emergency patients, available 24/7  halving the time emergency patients had to wait for scans from three days to less than 1.5 days, and reducing hospital stays for these patients from 5.1 days to 3.5 days in 2019/2020, freeing up beds for other patients.

In addition, the scheme has led to a more reliable service for outpatients and routine patients in the hospital, because they no longer face delays if an emergency comes in.

Previously, like most hospitals, all emergency and routine patients shared the same imaging machines, says Dr Rahul Dharmadhikari, a consultant radiologist and unit director at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Outpatients would have planned appointments and we would fit emergency patients in between them, but this would lead to delays for both groups.

We have made huge, huge gains by separating the scanning of emergency and routine patients in terms of cost, by reducing hospital stays, and treating more patients.

We are also providing faster treatment to patients and, in many cases, better treatment because it is given earlier. Most urgent patients now have their scans and results on the same day, which means doctors can take immediate action.

This approach has helped to improve the flow of emergency patients during the pandemic, which in turn has a positive impact on services across the hospital.

As the NHS faces a watershed moment  with waiting lists at a record 5.3 million in England alone as a result of delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic  ramping up access to scans is being hailed by experts as key to getting the NHS back on its feet

Why seven day access helps

While the Northumbria Trust started offering the scanning service when it opened a new emergency hospital with a purpose-built scanning building, Dr Dharmadhikari says other hospitals could introduce similar systems into their current sites.

It can be done with planning and understanding of the processes, he says. If these measures can be rolled out nationally it would make a huge difference to the quality of care offered by the NHS. With the challenges facing the NHS, improving access to scanning services is a no-brainer.

Other hospitals are finding different ways to boost scanning capacity. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has increased the number of patients treated by streamlining the number of images taken during each scan.

It had already extended scanning times from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, but in late 2019 it was still struggling to meet the Governments six-week target from referral to scan.

With MRI referrals and waiting times increasing, we decided to look at neighbouring trusts to see how they got through so many more scans, explains Sara Elliott, head of radiology services.

We discovered that they took fewer images for certain procedures such as shoulder, wrist and elbow MRIs, while maintaining the same imaging quality.

By adopting this approach, we were able to reduce the time it takes to carry out a scan by ten minutes, which saved us a total of 97 hours of scanning time a month, allowing us to treat hundreds more patients.

Following a similar review for strokes, the hospital has reduced this scan time by ten minutes, too, without altering the patient outcome, their research shows.

This has allowed the hospital to double the number of patients scanned in dedicated stroke slots, so now more patients are seen more quickly, adds Sara.

Another solution to boost scanning availability is to train more junior clinical staff, such as radiology department assistants (RDAs), to check that patients are having the right scan when they need it. Typically this vetting is done by sonographers and radiologists, taking up a significant amount of their time.

RDAs now carry out 39 per cent of these checks at the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in West Sussex, freeing up doctors to do more complex procedures, Dr Ian Francis, a consultant radiologist and associate medical director at the Trust, told Good Health.

These assistants can also help with biopsies, rather than doctors grabbing a colleague to help them out on an ad-hoc basis as used to happen, says Dr Francis.

For 80 per cent of patients we now offer a one-stop shop, where, for example, they might have an MRI to make a diagnosis and then the same day an ultrasound and a biopsy  and RDAs are critical for that.

Waits for scans and results

These hospitals are among only a handful to have taken such actions to improve scanning capacity. Yet, even before Covid and the long NHS waiting lists it has created, there was a pressing need to increase the number of scans taken.

The NHS in England normally performs around 45 million scans a year  including around 23 million X-rays, six million CT scans, 3.8 million MRI scans and around ten million ultrasound scans.

This in an increase of more than 25 per cent in the past five years as patient numbers have risen and technological advances mean that sophisticated MRI and CT scans can perform an increasing number of tasks, such as image-guided surgery (for example, to place stents to keep narrowed arteries open).

Yet two new NHS reports, published in October and November last year, found huge variations in the services offered by hospitals.

Even pre-pandemic, more than half of routine patients referred for an MRI or ultrasound waited more than 14 days for the scan, while one in six waited six weeks or longer.

Many patients then have to wait again for weeks or even months to get their results (and diagnoses), even though ideally theyd receive their scan results before they leave hospital. Around one in five patients has to wait two weeks for MRI results, and one in 20 patients waits more than a month. Both reports blamed this on a range of factors, including lack of equipment and staffing shortages.

Earlier this year, the Royal College of Radiologists estimated that theres a shortfall of nearly 2,000 radiologists (the doctors who analyse scans) in England, along with shortages in sonographers (who specialise in ultrasounds) and radiographers (who operate the scanning equipment).

Indeed, in some hospitals, scanning machines are sitting idle simply because there arent enough staff to operate them.

There are also substantial variations in the distribution of machines among the 152 trusts in England that provide radiology services, according to one of the reports, by the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme.

For example, while one trust has 70 X-ray machines, more than 20 trusts have fewer than ten each. Some trusts have just one CT scanner while another has 26, and more than 25 trusts have only one MRI scanner, and others have nine.

Radiology is a way into almost every speciality in the NHS; patients dont present with cancer, they come with symptoms that need to be diagnosed, and that is done by performing a scan and interpreting the results so that doctors can come up with a treatment plan, says Dr Kath Halliday, a consultant radiologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, who spent more than two years reviewing the 152 radiology departments for this report.

The shortcomings we uncovered mean diagnoses are not delivered as quickly as they could be and that prevents the NHS from working as efficiently as it can. Earlier diagnoses increase the chance of successful treatment and save the NHS money.

The GIRFT report found another problem is outdated IT. While hospitals rely on computer systems to function, fewer than 30 per cent of trusts have 24/7 technical support for radiology departments and many struggle to meet minimum IT requirements.

The report made 20 recommendations, including having dedicated urgent and non-urgent machines for emergency and routine patients, training junior staff to take on new roles such as triaging, as the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust in West Sussex has done, and extended hours for outpatient appointments, including weekends and longer days.

We also need specialist hubs

It also called for a new national target to be phased in  from the scan time to when the patient receives their results  to reduce the time some patients have to wait for a diagnosis.

If hospitals take all these recommendations on board, it will unlock substantial improvement even with the resources we have, said the GIRFT report.

Another longer-term step is to create community hubs, away from hospitals, to perform scans and tests on non-urgent patients, preferably on the same day  according to the second NHS report, written by the former cancer tsar Professor Sir Mike Richards.

Ideally, these should operate 14 hours a day, seven days a week, he says, although staff shortages mean this is unachievable in the short term.

His report called for CT scanning capacity to be doubled over the next five years to keep up with demand and bring the UK in line with other countries (see box, left). In total, the NHS in England has around 3,000 X-ray machines, 516 CT scanners and 425 MRI scanners.

Just to bring the UK up to the average number of MRI and CT scanners among the G7 and EU countries would cost around 1.5 billion, the Health Foundation, an independent healthcare charity, calculated in 2019.

Before the pandemic, the need for radical improvement in diagnostic services was already clear cut, Sir Mike Richards said in his report. Diagnostic services in the NHS were reaching a tipping point. Major expansion must start as soon as possible.

Dr Jeanette Dickson adds: We have been warning for years that radiology is a chronically under-resourced service in the NHS. Demand for services has increased at a higher-than-expected rate owing to technological advances.

While this makes imaging more accurate and useful for diagnosing and treating all sorts of injuries and conditions, it has not been matched with enough staff, scanners and updated ways of working. This has to change.
A doctor has shared X-rays showing the difference between the lungs of a fully vaccinated who contracts COViD-19 and an vaccinated person.

Dr Ghassan Kamel, director of the Medical ICU at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in Missouri, has been treating thousands of people ill with the disease since the pandemic exploded in March 2020., reported KSDK.

The X-ray of the unvaccinated patient's lungs are almost completely white - showing they are filled with the virus, have intense scarring and there is a lack of air entering the organs.

But the scan of the vaccinated patient's lung show plenty of air flowing through and mostly free of the virus.

The X-ray of a vaccinated patient has a great deal of black space, showing they were able to inhale mostly amounts of oxygen (left). The unvaccinated COVID-19 patient's X-ray (right) looks almost completely white, indicating large amounts of the virus and intense scarring

Dr Ghassan Kamel (above), of St Louis, said the lungs of the unvaccinated patient likely show someone who needs intensive care such as mechanical ventilation

Coronavirus often leads to complications such as pneumonia, which occurs when the lungs fill with fluid and become inflamed.

As the air sacs fill with fluid, they are unable to take in as much oxygen, which leads to symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath.

Studies have also found damage to the epithelial cells, which line respiratory passages from the nose to the lungs, of coronavirus patients.

Missouri has recently been hit with a wave of COVID-19 case, with average infections rising by 36 percent from 2,141 per day to 2,926 per day in the last two weeks, according to DailyMail.com's analysis.

Across the state, hospitalizations have risen in the past 14 days to 1,921, 41 percent up from 1,357, data from the department of health show.

Kamel told KDSK the patients he is seeing are younger than they were during the winter surge of 2020-21 and mostly unvaccinated.

'We are seeing very sick patients,' he said.

To show the difference the vaccine can make, Kamel shared with KDSK two lung X-rays: one of vaccinated patient with COVID-19 and another of unvaccinated COVID-19 patient.

The X-ray of the vaccinated patient shows large amount of black space, which means the person is able to inhale a great deal of air.

By comparison, the X-ray of the unvaccinated COVID-19 patient's lungs is almost completely white, which are known as lung opacities.

Lung opacities are hazy clouds of white that contrast against the darkness of the lungs, which usually indicates the lungs are full of things such as fluid, bacteria, or immune system cells.

It also means the patient is not able to intake as much oxygen as they normally would be able to with a healthy lung.

Kamel said the X-ray of the unvaccinated patient show clearly that he or she needs medication attention.

He said by looking at an unvaccinated x-ray, a patient most likely needs assistance.

'They definitely at least would require oxygen and sometimes they would require more than just oxygen,' he told KSDK.

'They might require the ventilator or get intubated on mechanical ventilation, sedated, and basically on life support.'

By comparison if vaccinated people do get hospitalized with COVID-19, they likely don't need intensive care.

He told KSDK that he hopes the scans help convince those who haven't received their shots yet to get vaccinated.

'If you don't like the mask, you definitely won't like the ventilator,' Kamel said.
As a child, Alexandra Kays party trick was showing her friends the incredibly stretchy skin on her stomach. She was also prone to stretchmarks and bruised easily.

These were actually signs of a serious genetic disorder that would eventually leave her in constant pain.

When younger, she thought it was normal for joints and muscles to ache, as hers often did.

Id assumed everyone is in pain when they wake up  that its hard to get out of bed and to move, says Alexandra, 28, an artist from West Sussex.

But, as the pain in her neck and lower back became more severe when she entered her teenage years, Alexandra and her mother, Charlotte Vohtz, began to search for answers.

Alexandra saw specialist after specialist. At first, for the pain, and then for other  apparently unconnected  issues, such as a strange pressure she felt behind her eyes and curvature of the spine.

As a child, Alexandra Kays party trick was showing her friends the incredibly stretchy skin on her stomach. She was also prone to stretchmarks and bruised easily

When her periods started, they also caused her extreme pain, which was put down to polycystic ovary syndrome (a condition where the ovaries dont release eggs regularly and can cause them to become enlarged).

Then, while taking her A-levels, things took a turn for the worse. Alexandra had always had a sensitive stomach, but now she was struggling to keep any food down at all and her weight plummeted.

From then its as if I can feel everything going through me, even liquid, she explains. Its like every nerve ending in my body is firing up.

Despite seeing several gastroenterologists, no explanation or effective treatment was found.

It was a nightmare, says Alexandra. The doctors were all saying it was in my head. One even called me an anorexic alcoholic.

It was only when an osteopath Alexandra had been seeing for joint pain mentioned something called Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) that the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

EDS are a group of 14 connective tissue disorders. What they tend to have in common is joint hypermobility, that is, very flexible joints, very stretchy or very fragile skin that bruises or injures easily.

Connective tissue is like the glue of our body, explains Dr Fransiska Malfait, a rheumatologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium, who is president of the International Consortium on EDS.

Its essentially a collagen disorder. Collagen is an important protein in our connective tissue, as it forms fibres that give it structure and elasticity. If there is a collagen problem  where you have less of it or it is abnormal in structure  the tissues can be more fragile.

A few days after this interview took place, in June, Alexandra passed away. Its not yet clear whether her death was linked to complications of EDS. (The condition is not usually regarded as life threatening.) She had been very unwell in the weeks beforehand

As connective tissue is found all over the body, it can cause problems everywhere. Some types can lead to dangerously fragile blood vessels, for example, while others affect the eyes or gums.

In Alexandras case, the primary issue was her digestive system.

Alexandras gastroenterologist agreed with the osteopaths suspicion and referred her to an EDS expert. In April 2018, she was diagnosed with hypermobile EDS  the most common type, affecting around one in 5,000 people. (Although, these figures are likely to be an underestimate, according to the charity Ehlers-Danlos Support UK.)

It had been more than 12 years since Alexandra and her mother, Charlotte, the founder of skincare brand Green People, first sought help. This is not unusual, says Dr Anand Saggar, a consultant clinical geneticist at St Georges NHS Trust in London.

Hypermobile EDS is so poorly recognised, these patients can wait years before they get a diagnosis, he says.

This is partly because the problems people with hypermobile EDS have can be quite diverse, adds Dr Fleur van Dijk, clinical lead of the NHSs London national diagnostic EDS service, aimed at rare types of EDS.

As well as joint pain, clicking joints and frequent dislocations, those affected can also have gastric problems such as extreme constipation, heartburn, or irritable bowel-type symptoms, because connective tissue is found throughout the digestive tract.

Another complication is a painful bladder condition, interstitial cystitis, which may be mistaken for recurrent urinary tract infections.

Others have trouble regulating their blood pressure, leading to dizziness and a racing pulse.

However, its only recently that such problems have been linked to hypermobile EDS, says Dr Saggar. We also know that theres a higher incidence of lactose and glucose intolerance, he says.

Its not clear why this should be. One theory is that the changes to collagen alter the lining of the gut, making it more inflamed, leaky, and therefore susceptible to intolerance-like reactions.

A major complicating factor is that although hypermobile EDS, like all Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, is thought to be a genetic condition and runs in families, no specific gene mutation has been found. This means the diagnosis of hypermobile EDS cannot be confirmed with a gene test.

This lack of a known gene variant also contributes to widespread scepticism about the condition, says Dr Saggar: Some doctors still refuse to accept it as a genetic condition.

Not being believed was, for Alexandra, almost the worst part of her illness.

I was not always treated kindly, she says. It makes you believe that there must be something wrong with you, mentally.

After doctors insisted her problem was really an eating disorder, she doubted herself so much she admitted herself to a rehab facility. But they called my mum after two days and said: Theres something else wrong with her.  When Alexandra was finally diagnosed, it was like I could breathe again.

According to Dr Malfait, scepticism surrounding EDS will remain a problem, until we have more objective markers for the disease.

Experts are still learning about the causes of EDS  the most recent type was identified only in 2018, says Dr van Dijk. In the 1990s, we knew only about six types, whereas now we have 14.

However, Dr Malfait says it is unlikely that a single gene variant will be found for hypermobile EDS. If it was simply down to one mutation we would have found the genetic defect by now, she explains. The underlying genetic causes of hypermobile EDS are probably more complex than what we see in the other types.

Maybe there is an interaction between several genes, plus factors such as ethnicity or gender. For example, whereas for the other types its 50-50, 90 per cent of people we see with hypermobile EDS are women, says Dr Malfait. Its overwhelming. Thats another reason its not taken seriously.

Currently, there is no treatment that can correct the cause of EDS  abnormal connective tissue. Instead, treatment focuses on managing the symptoms, and varies depending on the type.

For hypermobile EDS, physiotherapy with someone familiar with it is important, says Dr Saggar. As is pain medication.

Where there are problems with the gut or bladder, seeing an EDS specialist is key, as symptoms dont often respond to standard treatments. It can take months, even years, to see an improvement, says Dr Saggar.

Tragically, a few days after this interview took place, in June, Alexandra passed away.

Its not yet clear whether her death was linked to complications of EDS. (The condition is not usually regarded as life threatening.) She had been very unwell in the weeks beforehand.

Her gut was still not functioning properly, despite taking medication to help, she was unable to eat much, and was in constant pain.

She had been told that part of her intestine had become trapped between two main arteries  again, it is unclear whether this was related to the EDS.

Before she died, Alexandra was passionate about raising awareness of EDS  especially as she so often struggled to get people to take her invisible illness seriously.

As she put it: A lot of people would look at me and think: Oh shes not really ill. Alexandra had been about to launch a range of wellbeing products, including essential oils  something she found therapeutic  with 10 per cent of the profits going to Ehlers-Danlos Support UK.

Its my mission to shout about it as much as I can and reach as many people as possible, she said, in what would be her first and last interview. It gives me purpose.

The Alexandra Kay range is available at greenpeople.co.uk
A Florida woman is devastated after losing three family members to COVID-19 within a week.

Tiffany Devereaux of Nassau County in northeast Florida told News4Jax that her fiance, Britt McCall, 35; her mother, Darlene Glass, 65; and grandmother Ruth Dean Griffis Devereaux, 85; all died within five days of each other.

Devereaux's grandmother died on July 24, her fiance died on July 26 and her mother passed away on July 28.

Her fiance and mother were both unvaccinated.

She now is asking for others in her community to get their COVID-19 shots so they do not have to go through the tragedy that struck her family.

Tiffany Deveraux (left) lost her fiance, Britt McCall (right), 35, mother and grandmother all to COVID-19 in a five day span. She is encouraging others to get vaccinated to avoid similar tragedies

Darlene Glass (pictured), 65, died from COVID-19. She was unvaccinated, and asked her daughter to get vaccinated to protect her from the virus

Ruth Dean Griffis Devereaux (left), 85, died of COVID-19, one of three of her family members to succumb to the virus within five days. She was vaccinated before her death

'I feel lost. I feel so lost,' Devereaux told News 4 Jax.

'I don't know what to think or what to feel right now. I want my loved ones back. They're the ones that always got me through the hard times in my life and now they're all gone.'

She even had to miss her grandmother's funeral to say her final goodbye to her mother.

Deveraux, who is also unvaccinated, suffered from a mild case of COVID-19 herself.

She says her mother and fiance's final wishes for her were to get the vaccine as soon as possible.

She now plans to get the shots herself, and is pushing for others to do the same.

'My mom and fiance, their last wish was for me to get vaccinated. They told me how painful this virus was,' Devereaux told News 4 Jax.

'I just want everyone to know how important this is.'

Payten McCall, Britt's younger sister, told The Florida Times-Union that her brother became sick around July 4.

Britt McCall became ill around July 4. He improved before he was put on a ventilator and ultimately passed awy.

'He could not breathe and could not eat,' she said.

Britt improved but then became worse again, according to his sister.

'They put him on a ventilator. He didn't know he was going to die and didn't get a chance to say goodbye to any of us,' she said.

Payten said none of her family members were vaccinated but now she is hoping her brother's death convinces those who are vaccine hesitant to get their shots.

'I was told something that I should've listened to before: "Stop being selfish. Think of those around you and the ones you'd lay your life down for,"' she told The Times-Union.

'I don't want this to happen to any more people. It's not fair. My brother was too young. And my poor parents shouldn't have to worry about fighting this and bills and my brother. It all just isn't fair. I'd give anything to get my brother back.'

Nassau County, which has a population of around 88,000, has recorded more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases and 127 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Just over 46 percent of the county's population is fully vaccinated against the virus, according to official data.

Florida continues to leads the nation in COVID-19 cases with an average of 27,681 cases per day, data from Johns Hopkins University show.

That is a record figure, surpassing the previous high of 17,991 set on January 5, and represents a 342 percent increase from the 6,492 average cases reported two weeks ago, a DailyMail.com analysis shows.

There are also more than 10,200 Floridians currently hospitalized with the virus, also a record during the pandemic.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help Deveraux with expenses related to the passing of her family members.

It has already raised $6,300, exceeding the initial goal of $1,000.
Shares in Morrisons hit their highest level since 2013 yesterday as investors prepared for a bidding war between two private equity groups.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice are believed to be putting together a fresh offer ahead of the deadline at 5pm on Monday, after the grocers board backed a 254p bid from a rival consortium led by Fortress.

Shares jumped 2 per cent, or 5.4p, to 273p, as investors anticipated another jump, but the rising price has sparked fears that a break-up of Morrisons is inevitable if the price rises any higher.

Shares in Morrisons hit their highest level since 2013 yesterday as investors prepared for a bidding war between two private equity groups

Analysts at Bernstein said it struggled to see the returns of the current offer without significant asset sales, while further increases will only pump up the pressure to sell its food factories, warehouses, supermarkets and petrol stations.

Last week shareholder dissent against the Fortress bid grew as investors pooh-poohed the bid as too low, and asked what expertise or strategy the consortium will bring to the table. CD&R will mirror the Issa brothers strategy at Asda by expanding Morrisons convenience network at its 900 petrol stations, which are owned by its Motor Fuel Group.

The tense bidding war also led to suggestions over the weekend that Amazon, which has a delivery agreement with Morrisons, could be waiting in the wings to pounce  a move that would electrify the race and indeed the entire UK grocery market. The rise reflected a strong day on the London markets, with the FTSE 100 blue-chip index increasing 0.7 per cent, or 49.42 points, to 7081.72 and the FTSE 250 rising 1.1 per cent, or 259.84 points, to 23,208.67.

The session was dominated by merger and acquisition activity after defence giant Meggitt received a 6.3 billion bid from US rival Parker-Hannifin. Meggitt shares gained 56.7 per cent, or 265.9p, to 735p, which spurred other defence firms, or those linked to the defence industry, higher. Engine maker Rolls-Royce added 3.8 per cent, or 3.77p, to 103.48p, BAE Systems increased by 1.1 per cent, or 6.6p, to 582.6p and Melrose finished up 5.2 per cent, or 8.3p, at 168.4p.

STOCK WATCH: ESCAPE HUNT Shares in Escape Hunt fled early gains that were encouraged by a trading update. The shares leapt in the day, but ended up down 4.3 per cent, or 1.5p, at 33.5p, after the update from the operator of escape rooms, a kind of Crystal Maze experience for paying punters. Trading in the ten weeks to the end of July was encouraging, the company said, with levels of occupancy returning faster than expected after lockdown. As a result, revenue and earnings during the period was ahead of managements expectations. Chief executive Richard Harpham said they were optimistic looking forward.

In the utility market energy giant SSE sold its 33.3 per cent stake in Scotia Gas Networks for 1.22 billion. The company saw its shares lift 1.3 per cent, or 18.5p, to 1464p. The deal will see SSE sell its stake in the business to a consortium comprising of existing SGN shareholder Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board and Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners.

It is the final sale in SSEs major disposals programme, which it launched last June. The company has now secured proceeds of more than 2.7 billion from its non-core assets and which has allowed it to increase investment elsewhere in the business.

Merger Monday was in full swing and showed no signs of abating with Cambridge antibody firm Abcam snapping up a Californian drug discovery biotech for 245 million. Biovision has been supplying Abcam with life science research tools for the past 18 years. Biovision makes biochemical and cellbased tests for biological research, as well as providing companies with antibodies and enzymes. It has made Covid-19 tests.

Abcam shot up 4.9 per cent, or 67p, to 1425p. But weaker than expected economic data from around the globe saw oil prices slip. Data showed Chinas factory activity growth slipped sharply in July. While in the UK, manufacturing in last month grew at a slower pace than May and June, due to the large numbers of staff in self-isolation.

The IHS Markit PMI fell to 60.4 from record highs of 65.6 in May, with any figure over 50 representing growth. As a result Brent Crude was off 4 per cent at $72.83 per barrel although BP (up 0.2 per cent, or 0.55p, to 289.75p) and Shell (up 1 per cent, or 14p, to 1433.8p) managed to stand firm and squeeze out gains.
City grandee Sir Nigel Rudd is leading the sale of yet another prized British company to a foreign firm.

Rudd is chairman of aerospace and defence group Meggitt, which has been swooped on by American industrials giant ParkerHannifin in a 6.3 billion deal.

The deal has thrust Rudd, 74, into the spotlight once again. He splits opinion in the City, with many hailing him as a deal-maker extraordinaire.

Track record: City grandee Sir Nigel Rudd is leading the sale of yet another prized British company to a foreign firm

But for years he has been dubbed by his detractors as 'The Man Who Sold Britain' because of his appetite for a deal. During his 50-year career he has overseen of a slew of foreign takeovers, most notably Boots in 2006.

He grew up in Derby and qualified as Britain's youngest chartered accountant when he was just 20. He received a knighthood for services to the manufacturing industry in 1996.

But should the Meggitt merger go through, it will be the seventh mega-deal Rudd has overseen with an overseas buyer and the second in the space of a year. The serial chairman's major selling spree took place between 2006 and 2012. During this time he sold glass maker Pilkington to Japan's Nippon Sheet Glass for 2 billion in 2006.

And he steered two deals with the celebrated industrial group Invensys, which sold a key division to Siemens in 2012 and the rest to a French group, Schneider Electric, for 4.3 billion in 2013. He combined high street staple Boots with Alliance Unichem in 2006 and then sold the newly formed company to a private equity group just a year later.

Rudd is chairman of aerospace and defence group Meggitt, which has been swooped on by American industrials giant ParkerHannifin in a 6.3 billion deal

Another selling spell began last year when he gave his blessing to the takeover of private jet services provider Signature Aviation  previously known as BBA  to American private equity behemoth Blackstone. Rudd was meant to step down as Meggitt's chairman last year but when Covid broke out the company said he was postponing his retirement for continuity.

Rudd and the rest of the board have already backed the 800p per-share offer and he will walk away with 2 million when he sells his shares in the group. He has already earned more than 2.1 million in chairman fees from his time at Meggitt.

He said of the deal: 'Whilst Meggitt is currently pursuing a strong, standalone strategy, which will deliver value to shareholders over the long term, Parker's offer provides the opportunity to significantly accelerate and de-risk those plans, while continuing to deliver for shareholders.'

Whilst Meggitt is currently pursuing a strong, standalone strategy, Parker's offer provides the opportunity to significantly accelerate and de-risk those plans, while continuing to deliver for shareholders

The sale is a blow for Meggitt, which traces its origins back to the 1850s when it made instruments such as the altimeter for the world's first hot air balloons. It now has a 9,000-strong global workforce, including 2,000 in the UK, and makes parts for planes and military aircraft such as the Royal Air Force's Typhoon jets.

Parker has made the rare move of including a number of pledges upfront, which include keeping Meggitt's UK headquarters and investing in the company's research and development arm.

But in a surprise move Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is already understood to be plotting to intervene in the takeover. Whitehall sources last night said he was taking an 'active interest' and wanted much firmer pledges from Parker-Hannifin to protect jobs and Meggitt's business in the UK.

The tie-up talks were announced alongside half-year results that showed Meggitt had made profits of 49 million in the first six months of the year  up from a loss in the same period of 2020  on revenues of 680 million.
Founder of Cazoo, Alex Chesterman (pictured)

Cazoo has turned a profit, preparing it for a US listing which will value it at 5 billion.

The online car dealer said it posted an 8 million gross profit in the three months to June 30, compared to a 1 million loss last year, thanks to a seven-fold increase in sales to 141 million.

It sold a total of 10,692 vehicles, five times more than the same period in 2020, although still a tiny proportion of the 6.8 million used cars sold every year in the UK.

The results put it on track to hit revenues approaching $1 billion (720 million) in 2021. Cazoo is expected to go public in New York as soon as this month. DMGT, the owner of the Daily Mail, has a 16 per cent stake and will be one of the major beneficiaries.
For thousands of entrepreneurs across the country, challenges caused by lockdown restrictions created an ideal opportunity to launch new business ideas.

When commuters started to work from home and use public transport less, Ian Steed believed it would be the perfect time to realise his dream to sell his self-designed bicycles.

The 43-year-old, from Islington, north London, first fell in love with bikes when he was a child, when his first set of two wheels meant freedom to explore and enjoy countryside adventures.

It was with this in mind that Ian started Steed Bikes, offering stylish fixed gear and single speed bikes for urban travel, in April this year.

Ian Steed, 43, from north London, wanted to make affordable but stylish fixed gear bikes

And although lockdown had caused a surge in demand for bicycles, launching a new product during the pandemic brought its own challenges.

Ian said: 'Lockdown was a good thing for the bike-riding world as people were just jumping on their bikes - they didn't want to get on public transport anymore.

'But it also presented a problem as we couldn't get hold of the parts we needed to make the bikes, so we had to wait. In the end, the business launch was delayed by six months.

'Basically, the bike components couldn't be made quickly enough to meet the demand for the bikes, which was caused by lockdown.'

Ian then spent the next few months marketing his new business on social media, raising awareness of his brand, and the two styles of bikes he offers.

His message included how not only did riding a bike to and from work mean avoiding public transport, and not having to wear a mask, but how it could improve fitness levels, too.

'We have the Stallion at 350 and the Thoroughbred at 425. Other bikes that look like ours and ride like ours are more like 800, but we wanted this to be much more affordable,' he said.

'It's been amazing to be a part of such a huge platform as MailOnline, with such a broad reach'

'We also offer a lifetime guarantee and we use quality components, which was part of why we were delayed due to Covid, as we didn't want to settle for cheaper options.

'So for a bike that has a lifetime guarantee, is available UK-wide with free delivery, it's a good price.

THE RESULTS: Cost: 3878.05 Ad impressions (how many times the ads were viewed): 455,570 in less than a week Clicks: 804 Huge surge in web traffic 'For small start ups, this is hugely positive'

'I designed the bikes too. The thinking was always that I wanted them to be swift, smooth and stylish, so I had to meet those three criteria - as well as the bikes being affordable and reliable.'

Ian said that as a small start-up, brand awareness has been a priority, and as such he was one of the first entrepreneurs to take advantage of MailOnline's new advertising platform, Ad Manager.

The innovative service puts the control firmly with the business owner, and means people can advertise their brand to MailOnline's huge audience of 25 million, without a hefty price tag.

As well as being able to target more potential customers in a specific area than local titles, you can also target customers by postcode, interests and life stage.

What's more, the campaign is very easy to set up, and can be live within just 24 hours.

Ian said: 'It's been amazing to be a part of such a huge platform such as MailOnline. I really like that it has such a broad reach, and that you can tailor your ads to specific demographics, and how you can drill down to specific criteria such as location and age groups.

'We had a video made earlier in the year to give people an idea of who we are, and that video formed part of the Ad Manager campaign.

'We had static ads too, including a picture of one of the bikes, and we had a few different versions of those, which were great for brand awareness.

'The campaign has been hugely positive.

'There's been a really, really big surge in web traffic. The goal was click throughs, and we had 800 extra clicks thanks to the campaign - and the hits to our social media pages have risen as well.

'Eight hundred extra people looking at the website in just seven days is great, especially as we're still so small and have just started.'

HOW AD MANAGER WORKS

MailOnline's new, easy-to-use Ad Manager platform is ideal for SMEs looking to reach a large, but targeted audience of thousands of potential customers.

Ad Manager enables small businesses to reach more adults across all UK regions than ever before, with hyper-local advertising for relevant, affluent customers.

You can also target customers by postcode, interests and life stage, ensuring you reach as many of our 25 million consumers as you choose.

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Jacinda Ardern has formally apologised to a tearful Pacific Island community for New Zealand's 'racist' 1970s Dawn Raids which saw islanders targeted for deportation in a series of aggressive police crackdowns.

The prime minister was draped with a large white mat and embraced during the emotional ceremony in Auckland in the traditional ritual known as an ifoga.

It sees the subject seeking forgiveness by exposing themselves to public humiliation.

The Dawn Raids saw Pacific Island people captured from 1974 to 1976 in aggressive home raids by authorities to find, convict and deport overstayers, often very early in the morning or late at night.

The apology did not come with any legal changes but many Pacific people say it represented an important first step.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is covered during a ceremony in Auckland as she asked for forgiveness from Pasifka people for the 1970s Dawn Raids

The prime minister was draped with a large white mat and embraced during the emotional ceremony in Auckland today in the traditional ritual known as an ifoga

Ministers and members of parliament draped a mat over Ardern, which was then removed by members of the Pacific community

The dawn raids began in 1974 when the government of the time clamped down on people overstaying their working visas

Ardern speaks at a service to make a formal apology to the Pacifika people affected by the dawn raids of the 1970's at Auckland Town Hall

The Dawn Raids saw Pacific Island people targeted for deportation from 1974 to 1976 in aggressive home raids by authorities to find, convict and deport overstayers, often very early in the morning or late at night

The apology did not come with any legal changes but many Pacific people say it represented an important first step

Ardern said her government will provide NZ$2.1million (1million) in academic and vocational scholarships for Pacific communities and 500,000 in leadership scholarships for young people from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Tuvalu, among others.

She told a crowd of several hundred that the government was offering a formal and unreserved apology.

'The government expresses its sorrow, remorse, and regret that the Dawn Raids and random police checks occurred and that these actions were ever considered appropriate,' she said.

At the time of the raids, many Pacific people had come to New Zealand on temporary visas to help fill a need for workers in the nation's factories and fields.

Wellington encouraged migration from Pacific islands such as Samoa, Tonga and Fiji after World War II to fill worker shortages as the economy expanded.

But the government appeared to turn on the community by deciding those workers were no longer needed.

Ardern said her government will provide NZ$2.1million (1million) in academic and vocational scholarships for Pacific communities

She told a crowd of several hundred that the government was offering a formal and unreserved apology for the racially charged events

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, center right, is hugged during the ceremony in Auckland where she offered a formal apology to islanders

At the time of the raids, many Pacific people had come to New Zealand on temporary visas to help fill a need for workers in the nation's factories and fields

Even though many overstayers at the time were British or American, mainly Pacific people were targeted for deportation

People who did not look like white New Zealanders were told they should carry identification to prove they were not overstayers, and were often randomly stopped in the street, or even at schools or churches.

Even though many overstayers at the time were British or American, mainly Pacific people were targeted for deportation.

Pacific people comprised a third of overstayers but represented 86 percent of prosecutions, while Britons and Americans in New Zealand - who also comprised a third of overstayers - saw just five percent of prosecutions in the same period.

Minister for Pacific Peoples William Sio, who emigrated with his family from Samoa to New Zealand in 1969, described the raids as 'racism of the worst kind'.

Ms Ardern said that while the raids took place almost 50 years ago, their legacy continued.

'It remains vividly etched in the memory of those who were directly impacted. It lives on in the disruption of trust and faith in authorities.

Pacific people comprised a third of overstayers but represented 86 percent of prosecutions for overstaying their working visas

Minister for Pacific Peoples William Sio, who emigrated with his family from Samoa to New Zealand in 1969, described the raids as 'racism of the worst kind'

People who did not look like white New Zealanders were told they should carry identification to prove they were not overstayers

'And it lives on in the unresolved grievances of Pacific communities that these events happened and that to this day they have gone unaddressed.

'There were no reported raids on any homes of people who were not Pacific; no raids or random stops were exacted towards European people.'

Ms Ardern said that as a gesture of goodwill, the government would fund new education and training scholarships for Pacific communities and would help compile an official account of the raids from written records and oral history.

'As part of this, the community will have the opportunity to come forward and share their experiences,' Ms Ardern said.

Tongan Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili said the impact of the Dawn Raids had haunted her community for generations.

'We are grateful to your government for making the right decision to apologise,' she said to Ms Ardern. 'To right the extreme, inhumane, racist and unjust treatment, specifically against my community, in the Dawn Raids era.'

Tongan Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili (pictured) said the impact of the Dawn Raids had haunted her community for generations

When Ardern first announced she would issue an apology, Sio fought back tears as he recalled the terrifying experience of being targeted

The princess said that while some members of her Tongan community might have been on the wrong side of the law at the time, it did not warrant the extreme measures taken against them

The princess said that while some members of her Tongan community might have been on the wrong side of the law at the time, it did not warrant the extreme measures taken against them.

But the princess said the government could do a better job of responding to current immigration needs, a comment which drew sustained applause.

She said petitions had been submitted to find pathways and residency for overstayers and visa-holders.

'This is a new dawn for my community and the Pacific community at large,' she said.

When Ardern first announced she would issue an apology, Sio fought back tears as he recalled the terrifying experience of being targeted.

'The memories are etched in of my father being helpless... someone knocking at your door in the early hours of the morning with a flashlight in your face, disrespecting the owner of our home,' he said.

'An Alsatian dog frothing at the mouth, wanting to come in without any respect for the people who live there. It was quite traumatising.'
After much delay, senators finally unveiled a $1trillion infrastructure package Sunday night that includes historic funding for railways, clean water and electric car charging stations.

Of the $1trillion package, $66billion is earmarked for railways - the largest spending since the creation of Amtrak in the 1970s - $55billion will fund the replacement of every lead pipe in the country and $7.5billion will go towards building the first-ever network of charging stations for electric vehicles.

The bill also includes an additional $65billion to expand broadband Internet access across the country, and senators are pursuing for upwards of $25billion to repair major airports.

Those are a few of the highlights in The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is about 2,700 pages, which the senators could begin amending.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he expects a vote on the proposal this week

'It takes our aging and outdated infrastructure in this country and modernizes it, and thats good for everybody,' Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the bill's chief architects, said Sunday night.

Among the fiercest debates has been how to fund the massive bill, which calls for $550billion in new spending over five years. The rest of the bill comes from existing, planned investments in the countrys roads, highways and bridges.

'We haven't done a large, bipartisan bill of this nature in a long time,' Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Democrats, led by the president, wanted to use new tax revenues such as a new gas tax, which was rejected by Republican senators.

Republicans wanted to raise money through fees from those who use the infrastructure, which Democrats rejected.

The bipartisan compromise did away with both but the result is sure to spark intense debate.

The compromise includes funds from repurposing some $205billion in untapped COVID-19 relief aid, as well as unemployment assistance that was turned back by some states and relying on projected future economic growth.

'I've got real concerns with this bill,' Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said afterwards.

Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, echoed the sentiments on Friday saying the revenue estimates, which is being counted on to fund the bill, are 'lofty and unrealistic.'

Statements like these ensure this will be fiery week - or longer - of debate over President Joe Biden's priority agenda.

Still, Schumer and other Senators remained optimistic that they could get the bill passed this week. Schumer said the vote could be held 'in a matter of days.'

To get the bill passed in a 50-50 Senate, the fragile bipartisan coalition of 10 Senators that authored the bill has to stick together and be open to compromise.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, center, speaks with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., left, while Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., walks by at right, as the Senate votes to formally begin debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan, a process that could take several days

As a note, the Democrats hold the slightest edge because Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tiebreaking vote.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and one of the chief negotiators, said on CNN's 'State of the Union' that it's 'my expectation and my hope' that the proposal passes the Senate this week.

Senators and staff have labored behind the scenes for days to write the massive bill. It was supposed to be ready Friday, but by Sunday even more glitches were caught and changes made. To prod the work, Schumer kept senators in session over the weekend, encouraging the authors to finish up work.

Late Sunday night, most of the 10 senators involved in the bipartisan effort rose on the Senate floor to mark the moment.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., updates reporters on the infrastructure negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, at the Capitol in Washington on July 28

'We know that this has been a long and sometimes difficult process, but we are proud this evening to announce this legislation,' said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat and lead negotiator.

The bill showed 'we can put aside our own political differences for the good of the country,' she said.

Republican negotiator Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said the final product will be 'great for the American people.'

Throughout the weekend, Schumer repeatedly warned that he was prepared to keep lawmakers in Washington for as long as it took to complete votes on both the bipartisan infrastructure plan as well as a budget blueprint that would allow the Senate to begin work later this year on a massive, $3.5trillion social, health and environmental bill.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, predicted: 'It's going to be a grind.'

The spending is broadly popular among lawmakers, bringing long-delayed capital for big-ticket items that cites and states can rarely afford on their own.

Bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic senators pushed the process along, and Schumer wanted the voting to be wrapped up before senators left for the August recess.

Last week week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start work on the bipartisan bill.

The support largely held, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voting yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel voted yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key negotiator in the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, stands outside the chamber as the Senate advances the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan at the Capitol on July 30

Whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass the bill grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the president's signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Cornyn said he expects Schumer to allow all senators to have a chance to shape the bipartisan bill and allow for amendments from members of both parties.

'I hope we can now pump the brakes a little bit and take the time and care to evaluate the benefits and the cost of this legislation,' Cornyn said.

The bipartisan bill still faces a rough road in the House, where progressive lawmakers want a more robust package but may have to settle for this one to keep Bidens infrastructure plans on track.

The outcome with the bipartisan effort will set the stage for the next debate over Biden's much more ambitious $3.5trillion package, a strictly partisan pursuit of far-reaching programs and services including child care, tax breaks and health care that touch almost every corner of American life.

Republicans strongly oppose that bill, which would require a simple majority for passage. Final votes on that measure are not expected until fall.
A day after it recorded the highest number of new daily cases across the state, Florida on Sunday broke its record for the number of people hospitalized with COVID.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Despite the rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements.

The move has led to Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber to label DeSantis as the 'pied piper' of Covid-19 who is 'leading everybody off a cliff'.

Gelber said that by not making masks or vaccines mandatory in the state, the governor has made it difficult for local leaders to keep people safe from the virus.

He told CNN: 'He's like the pied piper leading everybody off a cliff right now by letting them know that they don't have to like the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], they don't have to wear masks, that they can do whatever they want when we're in the midst of an enormous pandemic.'

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

Gov DeSantis continues to resist mask mandates despite the spiraling cases

Raquel Heres gets a COVID-19 rapid test to be able to travel overseas, Saturday, July 31, 20211

Despite the rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements. The move has led to Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (pictured) to label DeSantis as the 'pied piper' of Covid-19 who is 'leading everybody off a cliff'

In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida.

The hospitalizations and increasing cases have come as the new, more transmittable delta variant has spread throughout Florida, and residents have returned to pre-pandemic activities.

'The recent rise is both striking and not-at-all surprising,' Salemi said in an email late Saturday.

Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the states highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.

Florida's Democratic agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who is seeking to run against DeSantis for governor, on Sunday urged unvaccinated Floridians to get the shots. She said she was heartened by a recent uptick in vaccinations in the state.

'We are already behind the curve and in a worse spot every time the numbers come out,' Fried said at a news conference in Tallahassee. 'This surge is and will impact every single one of us.'

In Miami Beach, Mayor Gelber said: 'We're not allowed to have mask mandates now, we were one of the first cities to require it and we charged a fine just to get people to do it.

'The governor stopped allowing us to do it and then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state when he did that.'

Gelber added that city officials are 'trying to do everything we can to get around the governor's very wrong-headed desires.'

Throughout Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa, hospitals have become overwhelmed.

People attend a mobile COVID-19 vaccination event at the downtown Orlando campus of the University of Central Florida and Valencia College, on July 24

Barry Burton, the Pinellas County administrator, told the Tampa Bay Times that some local hospitals are already having to divert ambulances to different locations because of capacity concerns.

There has been a startling rise in the number of children with the virus at hospitals in Miami, many of them requiring intensive care.

Memorial Healths Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital in Hollywood had seven patients with COVID-19. At Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami, there were 17 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, including six in the ICU and one who needed a ventilator, Dr. Marcos Mestre, vice president and chief medical officer, told the Miami Herald.

About half of the patients were under 12, Mestre said, and the rest were older and eligible for the vaccine. But none of the patients with COVID-19 at Nicklaus Childrens on Friday were vaccinated. Most children who get COVID-19 do not need hospitalization, Mestre said.

In the state capital, COVID-19 hospitalizations reached 70 patients on Sunday at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a jump of 11 people in two days.

'This is the most weve ever had,' Stephanie Derzypolski, a hospital spokeswoman, told the Tallahassee Democrat.

The Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville said it had exceeded its capacity of 304 licensed beds due to COVID-19 cases and asked the Agency for Health Care Administration for permission to operate overcapacity until the current surge ends, First Coast News in Jacksonville reported Sunday.

At the UF Health North hospital emergency room in Jacksonville, COVID-19 patients once again were being put in beds in hallways due to a surge in visits.

For many hospital workers, up until a month ago, it looked like there was light at the end of the tunnel, as people got vaccinated and hospitalizations decreased. But then the summer surge, powered by the new delta variant, hit Florida in July.

'That light did turn out to be a train in this case,' Marsha Tittle, a nursing manager at UF Health North, told The Florida Times Union. 'Were taking more patients than we normally would take. ... My staff is wonderful. You walk out there, theyre going to have smiles on their faces and theyre doing a great job. But theres a sense of defeat, like theyre just defeated.'
Southampton Village Police Chief Thomas Cummings (left) will receive a payout of $774,193 for 686 unused vacation and sick days

An outgoing police chief for a village with a population of around 3,200 in New York's Hamptons is set to receive a nearly $775,000 payout for unused sick leave upon his retirement.

The Southampton village board voted 5 to 0 to approve an agreement that ends the contract of Chief Thomas Cummings on Sept. 10, and allows him to collect $774,193 for 686 unused vacation and sick days at $1,095 per day as well as $23,000 in retroactive per diem pay.

Additionally, Cummings will receive free dental and medical benefits for both himself and his spouse and their dependents for the rest of their lives, unless his wife dies or remarries.

The retirement deal comes on top of his annual salary, which was $248,342 in 2020, according to SeeThroughNY, a public salary database.

For comparison, Demot Shea, the police chief for New York City, with a population of 18.8 million, made $243,171 in 2020.

Details of Cumming's retirement package were made public through a Freedom of Information Law request by Newsday.

Southampton Mayor Jesse Warren criticized the retirement deal, which was made by a previous administration when it approved Cummings' current contract in 2016.

'Moving forward, our board will work to reduce long-term debt and liabilities as we diligently search for the next Chief of Police,' Warren told the outlet in a statement. 'I wish Chief Cummings nothing but the best and thank him for his service.'

Southampton Mayor Jesse Warren (pictured) blasted the pricy retirement deal, which he said was made under a previous administration.

Cummings oversees a department for a village with a population of 3,200 and made more in his annual salary last year than the chief of the New York City Police Department

The vote to end Cummings' contract came after disputes between Warren, who won reelection in June, and local law enforcement agencies.

In August, 2020, the Southampton police union held a vote of no confidence calling for Warren's removal after his public support for the Black Lives Matter movement last summer.

'The PBA respectfully requests Commissioner Warren be immediately replaced with someone that provides leadership and a willingness to work and communicate with the Department and the PBA,' read a letter signed by police union president Michael Horstman, Newsday reported.

Cummings' contract expired on May 31, but contained language that allowed him to extend it indefinitely unless the village board held a formal vote to not renew it.

On April 8, Warren and trustee Gina Arresta tried to terminate Cummings' contract, but were unsuccessful after former trustees Mark Parash and Andrew Pilaro voted against the measure, and trustee Joesph McLouhglin abstained.

Mark Epley, who served as mayor when Cummings' current contract was negotiated, defended the deal and said it was being mischaracterized

Parah and Pilaro, who were backed by the Southhampton PBA lost their reelection bids last month, clearing the way for the board to end Cummings' contract in a vote on June 20, Newsday also reported.

Cummings had been with the department since 1987, and became chief in 2011, according to his Linkedin.

He did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mark Epley, who was mayor when Cummings' contract was approved criticized the current administration for its discussions around Cummings' pay deal.

'The mayor and that board should be ashamed of themselves for treating Chief Cummings the way they have,' he told Newsday. 'For his contract, his benefit program to be misrepresented the way they have done, it is a travesty.'

Other recent high-dollar retirement payouts for village police chiefs on Long Island include Michael McGowan, who received $646,393 upon his retirement as Hempstead Police chief in 2018, and Daniel Duggan, who got a more than $1million payout upon his retirement from the Westbury Police Department in 2015, according to Newsday.

'The full cost of public employees' pay and benefits is largely hidden from public view, including items such as unpaid leave,' Peter Warren, director of research for the Empire Center for Public Policy, which operates SeeThrough New York, told Newsday.

He noted that Cummings' retirement package was likely one of the largest in the area. 'We often see large, mysterious lump-sum payments within the public employee payroll data we FOIL and post on our SeeThrough New York website,' he said. 'A three-quarter of a million [dollar] payout would certainly be among the largest such lumps we've encountered.'
The Project host Lisa Wilkinson urged Queenslanders to follow lockdown rules as she said the ongoing Covid outbreak Sydney should serve as a 'warning'.

Queensland entered a snap three-day lockdown on Saturday, imposing strict conditions on 11 LGAs in south-east Queensland.

More than three-quarters of Queensland's population are covered by the lockdown, which restricts movement except for essential work, groceries, medical care, caregiving or exercise within 10km of home.

'Please take the example of what has happened in Sydney,' Wilkinson said on The Project last night.

'Just follow all the rules, because thats the only way to get through this thing

The Project host Lisa Wilkinson pleaded with Queenslanders to follow lockdown rules to avoid the situation Greater Sydney now found itself in

NSW Police are seen at Coogee Beach on Sunday during Greater Sydney's ongoing lockdown

Wilkinson said it would be harder for Queenslanders because they had 'never been through one of these full lockdowns before.'

Queensland announced six cases of community transmission of the Delta variant on Saturday and nine on Sunday, it's largest number of cases since August 2020.

The announcement followed the closure of Indooroopilly State High School on Friday after a 17-year-old schoolgirl tested positive for the virus.

It's believed she acquired Covid from a tutor, a university medical student, who had visited many sites across Brisbane.

At Sunday's Queensland Covid update, health minister Yvette D'Ath echoed Wilkinson's comments by noting how quickly the outbreak had grown in Sydney.

'New South Wales had one case on 16 June,' she said. 'Thirty-eight days later, they are at 3,000 cases.'

'From that one person  38 days, 3,000 cases. Sadly, 13 people have died just from that one cluster.'

President of AMA Queensland, Chris Perry, told ABC on Monday that the three-day lockdown would likely not be long enough to deal with the Queensland outbreak.

'I'd be surprised if we're back by the end of this week,' he said. 'I think two weeks is probably what we are looking at.'

Queensland has gone into a snap three-day lockdown after six locally-acquired cases of COVID-19, reported on Saturday

Health workers process members of the public at a pop-up COVID-19 testing station at Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane, Queensland,

Brisbane's Riverside Expressway was deserted, pictured on Sunday night during the first day of south-east Queensland's three-day lockdown

Local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim are covered by the restrictions.

Residents in these areas can only leave home for essential work, study or child care, to exercise, buy food and supplies, and receive health care, including being tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated.

Non-essential travel must be within 10 kilometres of residences and everyone must wear a mask when outside their home.

All schools in these LGAs are closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Queenslands chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said lifting the lockdown would depend on containment of those infectious with the virus.

'The threshold is that I'm confident that all the cases that potentially have been exposed are safely in quarantine and are unlikely to end up having been infectious out in the community so unlikely to have been out there spreading,' she said on Sunday.
A single mother has clashed with a security guard outside a Woolworths who refused to let her and her two young children into the store because of lockdown rules.

The security guard at Imperial Centre shopping centre in Gosford on the New South Wales Central Coast was filmed telling the mother she would have to leave her children at home if she wanted to shop at the store.

'If you haven't got people who can look after your children that's unfortunate,' he told the mother during the tense exchange as her kids stood nearby.

'It is unfortunate and that's why I have to bring them with me,' she told the security guard, who worked for the shopping centre as a contractor.

Only one person per household in Greater Sydney - which includes the Central Coast - is allowed to leave their home each day to shop for essential items.

Residents though are allowed to bring a dependent person with them such as a child if they cannot be left at home on their own.

But despite the mum's protests, the security guard told her there was 'nothing you can do' if she did not have anyone who could look after her children while she went shopping.

'Obviously [I don't have any friends who can look after them] so that's why they're with me,' she said.

'Tell the police that,' the security guard responded.

'You're making my children uncomfortable,' the mother said before she eventually gave up trying to enter the supermarket.

'You're ridiculous.'

A single mother has clashed with a security guard outside a Woolworths who refused to let her into the store because of lockdown rules

Many commenters on TikTok sided with the mother after she shared video of the exchange on the social media platform under the handle @inkedmumma91.

'On the NSW Health website it says you can take dependents with you if they can't stay at home on their own,' one person wrote.

'You can bring dependents if you can't leave them at home to go shopping,' another said.

Many commenters on TikTok sided with the mother after she shared video of the exchange on the social media platform, but others defended the security guard - who they said was only doing his job

Others meanwhile sided with the security guard, saying he was doing his job and following the orders given to him.

'I can see he felt uncomfortable,' one said. 'He's just doing what he was told to do.'

'Maybe order online,' another said.

A spokesman for Imperial Gosford told Daily Mail Australia the security contractor had not followed NSW Health guidelines and would not be hired to work in the shopping centre again.

'The contractor has since been removed from site and will not be returning to Imperial Gosford,' the spokesman said.

'Our staff and contractors are expected to observe the NSW Health guidelines, while ensuring that customers feel safe and welcome in our centre.

'We apologise that this was not reflected during her visit.'
A group of about 40 housing and homeless advocates marched to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco mansion on Saturday to hang an 'eviction notice' on her door, demanding she reconvene Congress to pass legislation extending the eviction moratorium.

The moratorium expired at midnight on Saturday, and the House Speaker was unable to garner enough support to pass a resolution extending it before Congress adjourned for summer break.

She has instead demanded that the Centers for Disease Control, which initially started the moratorium extend it, despite a Supreme Court ruling requiring Congressional authorization.

'Dear Speaker Pelosi, you are hereby given notice that millions of Americans will face eviction tonight when the eviction moratorium expires,' the 'eviction notice' read.

'We call upon you to immediately call Congress to session to vote to extend the eviction moratorium and keep people in their homes. We're in the midst of the second-worse COVID surge to date, and this is not the time to allow evictions to begin.'

'Housing is a human right,' the letter concluded.

It is unclear whether the House Speaker was home at the time of the protest, but the following day, she passed the blame onto the CDC.

'The CDC has the power to extend the eviction moratorium,' she tweeted. 'As they double down on masks, why wouldn't they extend the moratorium in light of [the] delta variant?'

'It's a moral imperative to keep people from being put out in the street, which also contributes to the public health emergency,' she added.

'The virus is still a threat, the moratorium must be extended and the funds Congress allocated to assist renters and landlords must be spent.'

Her spokesperson also told FOX News that Rep. Patrick McHenry's move on Friday to block a resolution that would have extended the moratorium until October 18 was 'an act of pure cruelty.'

'Ensuring every American has a roof overhead is a fundamental value that unites the Democratic Party and that personally drives the Speaker,' the spokesperson said in a statement.

'Speaker Pelosi led a relentless campaign to extend the CDC eviction moratorium,' the statement continued. 'Republicans blocked this measure - callously leaving children and families out on the streets.'

The protesters hung an 'eviction notice' on the speaker's front door

It is unclear whether Pelosi (pictured) was home at the time of the protest

The speaker lives in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco

The next day she seemed to pass the blame on the Centers for Disease Control, which originally created the eviction moratorium and has been extending it for nearly a year

The protest came one day after the House adjourned for summer recess without passing a resolution to extend the nationwide ban on evictions, which the Centers for Disease Control first instated in September 2020 - in part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus through crowded shelters.

It expired at midnight on Sunday, after the Supreme Court ruled that the Centers for Disease Control could not unilaterally renew the moratorium as it had been doing for nearly a year.

Instead, the Supreme Court said, Congress would have to pass a resolution to extend it, leaving House Democrats scrambling Friday to pass the resolution by unanimous consent.

They were unsuccessful, however, without support from both sides, and left for a seven-week summer vacation without a resolution.

If they want to extend the moratorium now, the House would have to do a roll-call vote.

'The reason that we're at her house is that she has a beautiful mansion in Pacific Heights in San Francisco, and it shows how out of touch she is with the people that are facing a situation [of eviction],' Christian Evans, one of the protesters, told FOX News.

It called upon Pelosi to reconvene Congress to pass legislation extending the moratorium that has been in place since September 2020

A group of about 40 housing and homeless advocates marched to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house on Saturday as the eviction moratorium was set to expire

In solidarity with all people behind on rent and @CoriBush, were out at @SpeakerPelosi s mansion delivering an eviction notice.



Our Congresswoman needs to convene Congress to extend the eviction moratorium. pic.twitter.com/4Hrpb0OMnZ  Jackie Fielder (@JackieFielder_) July 31, 2021

He said the issue of housing and homelessness was already a problem in the city, but the pandemic made the situation worse with people losing their jobs and facing medical emergencies.

In 2018, a United Nations official visited the city on a world tour examining housing conditions and concluded that San Francisco's treatment of the homeless 'constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment and is a violation of multiple human rights, including rights to life, housing, health, water and sanitation.'

The number of homeless people has since grown to more than 8,000 people in the city, NPR reported in June, and as of January 2020, California had about 151,000 people experience homelessness.

'We wanted to essentially send her a message that we want her to reconvene Congress to take a vote [to extend] the eviction moratorium,' Evans said.

But this wasn't the first time protesters came to Pelosi's San Francisco mansion - in January, her home was vandalized with a pig's head surrounded in a pool of red paint, with her garage door defaced with graffiti reading: '$2k cancel RENT! We want everything,' an apparent reference to the stimulus check negotiations at the time.

The eviction moratorium was first started on September 4, 2020 as part of a COVID package passed under then-President Donald Trump. It was originally set to expire on December 31, 2020, but has been extended four times.

The last time it was extended was on June 24, and it was set to expire on July 31.

On Thursday, the Biden administration pressured Congress to extend the moratorium, and made clear that his administration would not extend it again without Congressional approval.

'Given the recent spread of the Delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,' the White House said in a statement.

Nancy Pelosi 's San Francisco home had previously been vandalized with red paint, a pigs head and a spray painted message about $2,000 checks, according to TMZ

'Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.'

The Court had voted 5-4 last month to allow the eviction ban to continue through the end of July, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh made clear he would not support any additional extensions unless there was 'clear and specific Congressional authorization.'

When Congress failed to do so, several far-left members decided to stage a protest on Capitol Hill.

Representative Cori Bush, who was evicted three times and lived in her car with her two children before her career in politics, spent a sleepless night on the steps of the Capitol; to protest the end of a pandemic freeze on evictions.

Bush, a progressive Democrat who won her Missouri seat last year, managed to get about an hour of sleep sitting upright on a camp chair.

Three others supported Bush  Representatives Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez  by joining her at the Capitol on Saturday night.

Representative Cori Bush staged a protest outside Congress on Saturday after House Democrats failed to pass a resolution extending the moratorium

Bush spoke to reporters about the upcoming expiration of the pandemic-related federal moratorium on residential evictions. The lawmaker was evicted three times in her life and lived in her car with her two children before her career in politics

Bush remained outside the Capitol on Saturday afternoon urging an Instagram audience to join her in demanding Congress, President Biden or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stop the moratorium from expiring.

'We slept at the Capitol last night to ask them to come back and do their jobs. Today's their last chance,' Bush tweeted.

'Today, by midnight, if nothing happens, if no other action is taken from the House, or the Senate or the administration, 7 million people will be at risk for evictions,' the black congresswoman said. 'I've been there myself.'

'This pandemic is not behind us, and our federal housing policies should reflect that stark reality. With the United States facing the most severe eviction crisis in its history, our local and state governments still need more time to distribute critical rental assistance to help keep a roof over the heads of our constituents,' Democratic U.S. Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Jimmy Gomez of California and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said in a joint statement.

People are at risk of eviction because of unpaid rent that accrued during the pandemic, when many lost jobs due to the economic fallout.

More than 15 million people are behind on their rental payments and could face eviction, according to the Aspen Institute, collectively owing an estimated $21 billion in rent as many of these households are low-income and suffered financially during the pandemic.

They each owe approximately $3,300, according to the National Equity Atlas.

As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey.

The number of renters with debt has slowly been trending downward, though, the National Equity Atlas reports, as landlords struggle to pay taxes, maintenance expenses and other bills.

According to the National Equity, about 6.4 million households owe a total of $21 billion in debt, with each owing approximately $3,300

'As of midnight tonight the CDC National Eviction Moratorium is set to expire. Yesterday, instead of the House convening and taking a vote to extend it they moved to a vote to extend it they moved to adjourn on a seven-week recess. It's simply unacceptable,' said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside the Capitol steps on Saturday.

'We cannot be abandoning 11 million Americans that are in need, particularly when the $46 billion emergency rental assistance that we authorized to pay people's back rent has not gotten out. Governors and municipalities have not released the emergency rental assistance funds so we are asking to extending the moratorium until the funds come because this is simple not folks' fault that those resources have not gone out.'

Congress has allocated nearly $47 billion in rental assistance that is supposed to go to help tenants pay off months of back rent.

But so far, only about $3 billion of the first tranche of $25 billion has been distributed through June by states and localities. Some states like New York have distributed almost nothing, while several have only approved a few million dollars.

Pelosi's spokesperson now said she and the president are urging state and local governments to immediately disburse the money so that millions of families could avoid eviction.

Eventually, Bush was joined by fellow progressive lawmakers, like Ilhan Omar
Queenslanders who lose work during the state's coronavirus lockdown can apply for up to $750 cash relief and businesses can get $5,000 grants.

Eleven local government areas in the state's southeast are in an extended lockdown until Saturday amid an outbreak of the Delta strain that has grown to 31 cases.

From Saturday August 7 anyone who loses more than 20 hours of work can apply for a $750 payment from Services Australia and anyone who loses 8-20 hours can get $450.

Queenslanders who lose work during the state's coronavirus lockdown can apply for up to $750 cash relief and businesses can get $5,000 grants. Pictured: Brisbane cafe workers

Residents are seen walking near the Brisbane CBD on Saturday during the city's lockdown

Sole traders can get a payment of $1,000, with the money paid directly into bank accounts within hours or days.

Meanwhile, the state government is rolling out one-off $5,000 business grants to small and medium companies across the state which have an annual turnover of $75,000 or more and a payroll of $10million a year or less.

'Today I'm announcing a $260 million package to support Queensland businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises,' Treasurer Cameron Dick said on Monday.

Deputy Premier Steven Milles said Queensland's lockdown would be extended until 4pm next Sunday as a result of the new cases.

Brisbane's Ekka agricultural show would also be cancelled for a second consecutive year.

Seven of the new cases are students from Ironside State School. Another five are related to the school being household members or family contacts.

One case is linked to a confirmed case from the karate school that trains at the school.

'For us to come out of this at the weekend, we need absolutely everyone in those LGAs to stay at home if they can,' Mr Miles said of the extended lockdown.

'It is absolutely critical that people only leave their homes for the four reasons. There's too many cars on the road in Brisbane at the moment. Too many people out and about.'

Pictured: Passengers from a Qantas flight arriving into Sydney Airport from Brisbane, Queensland on July 29

Queensland's nine new cases on Sunday represented the highest daily number in almost a year.

On Sunday Rockhampton was on Covid-19 alert after an infected contractor made a return trip on a Qantas flight.

The woman was working on the Rookwood Weir when she flew to the regional town for work at 8.30am Wednesday and returned to Brisbane at 6.40pm on Friday.

She tested positive on July 31, but it is believed she was infectious from July 28 and was included among the Sunshine State's nine local cases announced on Sunday.

'Work on site has stopped and workers have been isolated to their rooms for 14 days of quarantine,' Queensland Health said in a statement.

'Other workers from the Rookwood project who have left the site have also been contacted and told to isolate for 14 days.'

Other workers who have been at the site have been contacted and told to isolate.

Authorities are also contacting people who were on QF2362 at 8.30am on July 28 and QF2365 at 6.40pm on 30 July.

Rockhampton's Central Queensland University fever clinic has extended its testing hours.

Pictured: People at a Covid testing centre at Covid Testing Centre at Indooroopilly High School Brisbane

How to claim the $750 lockdown payment if you lose work Australians who lose more than 20 hours of work a week can claim a $750 disaster payment from the federal government, and those who lose less than 20 hours can claim $450. To claim the cash you'll need a Centrelink online account linked to your myGov. It's easy to set these up. Once you're logged in, you will be asked a few questions about your situation to see if you're eligible. Officials need to know if you lived or worked in a Covid-19 hotspot that's under lockdown or restricted movement. Once you've completed your claim, hit submit and officials will process it for you. You don't need to call them, they'll send you an SMS when you successfully submit your claim. If you are eligible, officials will make a payment into your bank account and send you a letter with the details. For more information click here Advertisement

There are more than 80 exposure sites linked to the outbreak, with about 20 new sites of concern listed on Sunday.

On Sunday, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said implored more Queenslanders to seek virus testing, with fewer than 12,000 tests conducted on Saturday.

Authorities hope to see at least 40,000 daily tests.

The local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim entered the lockdown on Saturday afternoon - which has harshest virus restrictions the Sunshine State has seen.

Residents in affected areas can only leave home for essential work, study or child care, to exercise, buy food and supplies, and receive health care, including being tested for Covid-19 or vaccinated.

Non-essential travel must be within 10 kilometres of residences and everyone must wear a mask when outside their home.

All schools in the lockdown zone will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, while all staff and students of Indooroopilly High School and Ironside State School are in quarantine for two weeks.

Other schools affected by the outbreak include St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Brisbane Boys Grammar School.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said: 'The purpose of the lockdown is to stop the virus spreading.'

'So it is to have everyone in their homes, as we find people, we find them in their homes, and they will have minimal exposure out in the community.'

The lockdown is set to end on Tuesday though experts believe it will almost certainly be extended after six cases on Saturday and nine on Sunday.

Dr Young admitted restrictions would only be rolled back when case numbers were down and all of the cases were not out in the community while infectious.

'The threshold is that I'm confident that all the cases that potentially have been exposed are safely in quarantine and are unlikely to end up having been infectious out in the community so unlikely to have been out there spreading,' she said.
Anti-vaxxers have found themselves at the centre of a hilarious meme, which compares the risk of getting the Covid jab to drugs, fillers and almond milk.

The photo, titled 'The "I just don't trust the vaccine" starter pack', was posted to the 'Sydneygirlz' Instagram page.

It shows various images, including a salt lamp, an energy drink, bum-hugging active wear and cocaine, and claims to stereotype a female anti-vaxxer.

The viral post (pictured) shared to 'sydneygirlz' Instagram page satirises the stereotypical female anti-vaxxers in Sydney

The caption details the life of this 'salt lamp Sarah', saying she claims her body is a temple but will drink Red Bulls, call her ex while driving down his street, vapes more than she drinks water.

It goes onto to say 'she drinks almond lattes after a hectic ketamine session the night before and spends her Sunday morning at Bay Run cafe in Gymshark crop tops after a drunken night out.

The post has amassed nearly 6000 likes and over 300 comments, many remarking on the hilarity and truth behind the post.

'The 'what happens if I do coke before surgery' text took me out', said one follower.

'I can't these memes, what about the toxic face fillers, boob jobs, butt lifts', wrote another.

One commented on the unfortunate truth behind the post writing: 'Oh this is just perfect! We all know one at least'.

The post caption details the life of 'salt lamp Sarah' a fictional character that puts harmful toxins in their body such as drugs and alcohol but doesn't trust the Covid-19 vaccine (stock image)

This follows the announcement on Sunday from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian stating that the state is gearing up to have 70 per cent of the population vaccinated by September.

'Once you get to 50 per cent vaccination, 60 per cent, 70 per cent, that triggers more freedoms. We can turn this around in four weeks,' she said.

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.

But with 82,000 doses distributed in 24 hours and 4.5 million more Pfizer jabs to be delivered to Australia in August, federal health officials are confident NSW could carry out about 650,000 vaccinations a week.

This follows the federal government's bungled Covid jab rollout that saw plans for the AstraZeneca to carry out the bulk of the vaccination program.

While Australia has been lacking a viable alternative jab after the federal government failed to secure enough Pfizer doses, those problems will soon be solved.

Those plans were thrown into disarray in April when the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised that only over 50s should receive the shot due to the extremely remote risk of developing blood clots.

Now with the highly contagious Indian Delta variant sweeping through Sydney, ATAGI advises that those aged over 18 speak to their GP about getting AstraZeneca.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is urging Sydneysiders to get vaccinated, saying that increasing vaccination rates could be the answer to lifting lockdowns (stock image)

Ms Berejiklian stated that increased vaccination rates could be the answer to lifting the lockdowns.

'There is no place in the world that has been able to live with the Delta virus and not have higher rates of vaccination. We have to be very clear about that,' she said.

'We want this to be the last lockdown we have and we can make that happen if we get vaccinated.'
She was left with burns to 70 per cent of her body and lost her dad and sister

A young woman who survived the White Island volcano disaster has revealed how 12 strangers gave her a life-changing gift for which she will be forever grateful.

Stephanie Browitt, 25, was exploring the island with sister Krystal, 21, and their father Paul when a volcano erupted off the coast of Whakatane in New Zealand in December 2019.

She suffered third-degree burns to 70 per cent of her body and was in a coma for three weeks, but her father and sister were among the 22 killed.

Ms Browitt's mother Marie was the only member of the family to stay on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship and watched in horror as the volcano erupted.

Stephanie Browitt, 25, (pictured) was with her sister Krystal, 21, and their father Paul when a volcano erupted off the coast of Whakatane in New Zealand in December 2019

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Ms Browitt explained how 12 perfect strangers saved her life by generously donating their skin.

'I was very severely injured, very severely burnt and I knew that because I could tell my body was shutting down on me,' she said.

'That gift means everything to me, they gave me my life.

'Every day I think of that and how my life was dependent on that donation being available.'

The donations allowed Ms Browitt to have numerous excruciating but life-saving skin graft surgeries at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

However, a shortage of skin donors when the young woman arrived at the hospital meant doctors were forced to rely on tissue from the other side of the world.

In an interview with 60 Minutes Ms Browitt revealed how 12 perfect strangers saved her life by generously donating their skin

Skin donations from 12 perfect strangers allowed Ms Browitt to undergo multiple life-saving skin graft surgeries at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne

Ms Browitt explained the majority of the tissue came from the US, a similar story for the victims of the Black Saturday bushfires and the Bali bombings.

She said donor skin needed to be readily available in Australia to ensure those affected by such catastrophic events have another shot at life.

DonateLife chief executive Lucinda Barry said the number of people requiring skin donations skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Barry explained border closures and crowded intensive care units made the already difficult process of donation almost logistically impossible.

'We've seen a 16 per cent decrease in the number of organ donors which has meant a 12 per cent decrease in the number of people receiving a transplant,' she said.

Ms Barry said around 150 fewer people received a kidney transplant in 2020.

A shortage of skin donors when the young woman arrived at the hospital, meant doctors were forced to rely on tissue from the other side of the world, namely from the United States

Ms Browitt has candidly shared her lengthy recovery process with the world by posting updates for her followers on her social media accounts

Ms Browitt candidly shared her lengthy recovery process with the world by posting regular updates on her social media accounts.

The 25-year-old recently promoted DonateLife Week on her Instagram and encouraged her 58,000 followers to become organ donors.

'I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the organ and tissue donors of others,' she wrote.

'Thanks to multiple people who donated their skin, they saved my life. I never predicted that my life would be in the hands of strangers, yet it happened.

'My body and my life is a testament to the kind decision of several strangers. Without those compassionate people I wouldn't be alive today.'

When asked what she would say to the families of those who donated their life-saving tissue, Ms Browitt was lost for words.

The 25-year-old recently raised awareness of DonateLife Week on her Instagram and encouraged her 58,000 followers to become organ donors

'I don't think anything I could say could express my gratitude enough, there are no words. I couldn't be more grateful, more thankful,' she said.

Ms Browitt described registering as an organ donor as one of the most 'rewarding' and 'beautiful' decisions a person could make.

'You're giving someone the gift of life and that's one of the most precious things you could ever do, how could it get better than that?' she said.

The Whakaari volcanic eruption claimed the lives of 22 people including 14 Australians in December 2019.

The blast happened as tours to White Island were taking place and despite warnings of a risk of eruption.
A $1 million reward has been offered in a desperate effort to find a missing man who disappeared 20 years ago and is presumed murdered.

Ian Charles Draper, 37, was last seen leaving work at Mount Pritchard Community Club in Sydney's south-west in his 1992 white Ford Falcon on August 3, 2001.

His car was found locked and undamaged in the nearby suburb of Leppington on September 17, 2001, but containing no evidence.

Ian Charles Draper, 37, was last seen leaving work at Mount Pritchard Community Club in Sydney's south-west on August 3, 2001

Mr Draper is presumed to have been murdered with the reward aimed to uncover how he was killed and bring those responsible to justice.

Checks of Mr Draper's phone and bank records found they were not used or accessed since his disappearance.

Police pleaded for help from the public and insisted any assistance would be treated as confidential. A $100,000 reward in 2005 failed to crack the case.

A year earlier, a coronial inquest could not determine how he died.

NSW Police on Monday renewed the appeal at the start of Australia's Missing Persons Week.

'After two decades of unanswered questions, Ian's family deserve to know what happened to their son and to lay him to rest,' Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said.

Mr Draper's mother Janet implored the public to come forward.

'Last week was Ian's birthday and we have now spent 20 years without him, missing out on celebrating these milestones,' she said.

'Ian was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend and taken far too soon.'

There are 239 NSW Government rewards on offer with two more increased rewards of $1 million each being announced this week.

The annual Missing Persons Week campaign raises awareness of the issues and impacts surrounding missing persons.

Mr Draper's white 1992 Ford Falcon was found locked and undamaged in the nearby suburb of Leppington on September 17, 2001, but containing no evidence.

Police Minister David Elliot said a targeted SMS text system was being rolled out to help the NSW Police Force find vulnerable missing people.

'The system sends an SMS alert to mobile phones within a specific geographic area describing the missing person and including a link to their image,' he said.

'It enables people within the key area to help police by being their eyes and ears in the community, and we know it works.

'Since the system began in March this year, many have been found within hours, sometimes minutes, of an SMS being sent.'

State crime command director Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett called the geo-targeting system an invaluable tool for helping find missing people in real-time.

'While the vast majority of people reported missing are found by police within the first 24 hours, there are long-term cases that remain open and under investigation and regularly reviewed,' he said.

Missing Persons Week will run until next Saturday.
The owner of $1.2BILLION Scholastic Corp. - which publishes books like 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' and 'Magic Schoolbus' - died suddenly in early June and shockingly left the company to a past flame who works in the company.

M. Richard Robinson Jr., who died suddenly on June 5 during a walk in Martha's Vineyard, left the the company to Iole Lucchese, the company's strategy officer; not either of his sons, siblings or ex-wife, The Wall Street Journal reported

She also inherited all his personal possessions, according to the The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the 2018 will that outlined the succession plan, which family members are reportedly unhappy about.

Family members and former colleagues said Robinson, 84, and Luccesse, 54, it was an open secret that they were in a longtime romantic relationship, but said they believed the couple broke up years ago.

Robison said in his 2018 will that Lucchese, who has been with the company for more than three decades, is 'my partner and closest friend.'

Scholastic Corp. publishes some of most-well known titles like 'Harry Potter,' 'Clifford,' 'Magic Schoolbus', 'Captain Underpants,' among others.

Family members told the paper that they're reviewing their legal options.

Richard 'Dick' Robinson (left) gave the $1.2billion Scholastic publishing company to longtime flame and colleague Iole Lucchese (right)

Richard Robinson, chairman, president and CEO of Scholastic, rear, holds the first signed US edition of the book 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' during its unveiling in New York, Friday, July 15,2005

Maurice Robinson, 86, founder and chairman of Scholastic Magazines Inc. (left) pictured with his son M.Richard Robinson Jr., the firm's president and chief executive officer

Robinson's death stunned everyone. Although he was 84, he was said to be in good shape.

The company issued this statement afterward: 'We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Dick Robinson.'

'Dick was a true visionary in the world of children's books and an unrelenting advocate for children's literacy and education with a remarkable passion his entire life. The Company's directors and employees, as well as the many educators, parents and students whose lives he touched, mourn his loss.'

He left behind two sons - Maurice 'Reece' Robinson, 25, and John Benham 'Ben' Robinson, 34 - his ex-wife and mother of his boys Helen Benham, and siblings: Sue Robinson Morrill, Barbara Robinson Buckland, Florence (Dover) Robinson Ford and William (Bill) Robinson.

Reece Robinson, who's done documentary work, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that it was 'unexpected and shocking.'

'What I want most is an amicable outcome,' Ben Robinson, who operates a sawmill and workshop that produces lumber, flooring and furniture from trees in Marthas Vineyard and lives off the land work, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

He told the paper that he never met Lucchese until they spoke about his dad's estate last week and said this was 'like salt in an open wound.'

'We expect to have a collaborative approach with the estate,' he said without elaborating.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Robinson and his ex-wife Benham became good friends again during the pandemic.

Robinson and Benham met at the company after she started worked in the art department in 1974, but they didn't date until the 1980s, the Wall Street Journal reported.

They married in 1986, had their two sons together and finally split in 2003. That's the year she also left the company.

Before that she told the Wall Street Journal that she 'lived and breathed Scholastic while also raising our two children.

'Dick told me on more than one occasion, "You care more about Scholastic than I do.,"' she said.

They rekindled their friendship during pandemic, when she said her ex-husband had been worked 12-hour days by himself in the company's NYC headquarters.

'His only breaks were weekends on the Island (Martha's Vineyard), which he called paradise,' according to his obituary.

He seemed to be reconnecting with his ex-wife and his kids.

He was 'was spending all of his time not working with us. Not only weekends but regular nights with us in Manhattan. He was coming back to the family,' his obituary reads.

'While he had no plans to leave Scholastic, he expressed a strong desire to work less and spend more time with his family on the Vineyard, where he was most at ease and happiest.'

While she declined to talk about Lucchese, she told the Wall Street Journal, 'I was shocked and we were not expecting this.'

J.K. Rowling (L) and Richard Robinson attend HBO's 'Finding The Way Home' World Premiere at Hudson Yards on December 11, 2019

Scholastic president and CEO Richard Robinson speaks onstage during the 2016 Eagle Academy Foundation Fundraising Breakfast at Gotham Hall on April 29, 2016 in New York City

Mary Sue Robinson Morrill, one of Mr. Robinsons sisters, said in a written statement that she and her siblings agree 'that our first goal is the continuation of the mission and legacy of Scholastic, the vision and brilliant lifework of both our father and our brother Dick, and we are confident that the new management of the company is fully committed to this goal.'

William Robinson, Richard Robinson's younger brother, said in an interview that his brother and father wanted to keep Scholastic independent.

'Our family value was we'd rather not have the financial benefit that we might get from a sale if it means the company won't be in the future what it was,' he told The Wall Street Journal .

'Everybody knows Scholastic and has a good feeling about it and it does good things for teachers. It's more than just a business for us.'

Meanwhile, the woman who's heading the company now has been there since 1991, when she became an associate editor in book clubs and moved up the ranks until se was named chief strategy officer in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Two years later she became sole president of Scholastic Canada and in 2018 she added the title of president of Scholastic Entertainment.

She's a Canadian with a home in Ontario and a permanent US resident, according to an affidavit filed in New York Surrogates Court.

Former staffers told the Wall Street Journal that she and Robinson had 'sweet' and 'contentious' moments, where the battled in meetings about the direction of the company.

Former staffers said she wanted to expand the company.

Despite the public bouts, people who knew them say Robinson relied on her and she remained part of his inner circle, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company declined comment.
Wall Street financier, Howard Rubin, 66, was billionaire George Soros' right-hand man and is now accused of BDSM crimes in a Manhattan apartment

Howard Rubin, a former money manager for George Soros, is being accused by six women of beating them during sadomasochistic sex sessions at a specially constructed 'sex dungeon' in his Manhattan apartment.

Rubin, 66, a married, notorious Wall Street trader who is blamed for incurring $377million of losses at Merrill Lynch in 1987, is accused of paying women up to $5,000 in order to take part in BDSM sex.

Now several of the women who took part in the kinky sex sessions are suing the financier, claiming he abused them; ignoring safe words, going beyond the BDSM boundaries and agreements they set before sex, and physically hurt them.

The first accusations were made in November 2017, but a total of six women are now suing Rubin in a civil trial, scheduled for November, for $18 million.

Lurid details set out by the New York Post say that one woman was so badly beaten. her plastic surgeon was not willing to operate on her after her right breast implant flipped.

Another woman said she and Rubin had sex against her will claiming that while bound in his chamber he told her: 'I'm going to rape you like I rape my daughter' before forcing her to have intercourse.

Emma Hopper, a model from Atlanta and student is one of the women who is alleged to have received payment for participating in the S&M sessions

Playboy playmate Mia Raquel Lytell is one of the women accusing Rubin of beating her on the back of the head, 'in and out of consciousness, not knowing if Rubin penetrated her with an object or if it was Rubin himself.'

Last month, Rubin's longstanding wife of 36 years, Mary Henry, right, with whom he shares three children, and is herself another Wall Street banker, filed for divorce

Last month, Rubin's longstanding wife of 36 years, Mary Henry, with whom he shares three children, and is herself another Wall Street banker, filed for divorce.

The financier, who has homes in the Hamptons and on New York's Upper East Side, was known in Wall Street circles as something of a high roller as he earned millions for the billionaire investor until this scandal threatened to overshadow his reputation.

The original allegations were brought by Mia Lytell, Amy Moore and Stephanie Caldwell in 2017.

Lytell and Moore are former Playboy Playmates, while Caldwell is a model who worked at a Miami strip club.

All accuse Rubin of assault, battery and human trafficking.

'In short, they are each alleging that they were brought to New York and taken advantage of. The allegations come down to the women saying they were physically and sexually abused,' said John Balestriere, a lawyer acting on behalf of the women.

'Nobody is saying a gun was put to their heads to come to New York. Our clients are alleging that they were misled and lied to and were victims of physical and sexual violence.

'None of these women came to New York knowing that they would be physically and sexually abused. They did not consent to what did end up happening. The key factor is that Mr. Rubin said these individuals consented to the physical and sexual violence perpetrated against them. Our six clients say they did not consent  '

An initial lawsuit said while Lytell and Moore believed that Rubin intended to play 'some mild fetish games and perhaps take photos, neither expected to be bound with rope and tape and gagged or to be actually beaten'.

Lytell claims 'she was restrained' and 'in and out of consciousness' unaware if Rubin penetrated her or used an object to do so.

A motion for summary judgment, filed by Rubin's lawyer, Edward McDonald, the women signed non-disclosure agreements with a penalty of at least $500,000 if broken.

McDonald says the women even acknowledged that they could be injured during sex games.

The women say that they had little time to read the agreements and 'did not have lawyers present' when signing.

Furthermore, they claim that when they 'screamed or protested [during a session], Rubin would simply become more violent.

The lawsuit states that Amy Nicole Moore believed Rubin intended to play 'some mild fetish games and perhaps take photos, but did not expect to be restrained in this manner [bound with rope and tape and gagged] or to be actually beaten.'

McDonald said that his client denies the women's claims adding: 'Mr Rubin has not been charged with any crimes. It is entirely a civil matter.'

He notes that on one occasion Rubin texted Lytell to make sure she was aware of what she was getting into.

'Do u [know] what you are in for?' a text contained in court papers reads.

'It's total BDSM. Most girls love it and come back for more. But I just like to be up front about everything.'

Rubin also denies any allegations of drugging. 'He was not supplying drugs to the girls  except possibly painkillers during the encounters [which were painful].'

Attorney John Balestriere, pictured, claims Howard Rubin abused three women during BDSM play

The Manhattan apartment on Madison Avenue that Rubin rented for trists is said to be full of bondage and sadomasochistic equipment, In the center of the main room was said to be an X-cross where people could lie spreadeagled while being tied up at the wrists and ankles.

One former colleague who worked with Rubin at Soros Fund Management told the Post 'I thought he was a nice guy. He was a nebbishy Jewish guy and totally normal. I was surprised to hear about him having that apartment [with a sex dungeon].'

Another described Rubin as 'high-strung, aggressive and does not hold back his feelings. He was a trader whose ego was tied up in being the biggest swinging d**k on Wall Street.'

Rubin began his career in mortgaged-backed securities at Salomon Brothers in 1982.

He joined the Mortgage Department at Bear Stearns, becoming a Senior Managing Director and head of the CMO Trading Desk before retiring in 1999 as one of the most-respected men on Wall Street.

In 2008, Rubin came out of retirement to manage a Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund for billionaire financier George Soros (pictured). He left in 2015, before the alleged sex attacks

In 1987, Rubin caused historic losses at Merrill Lynch through a series of unauthorized trades which cost the company $250million. The figure was later reported by The New York Times to be as high as $377million.

At the time, Wall Street insiders told how he bought billions of dollars worth of mortgage bonds without receiving approval from his seniors.

When the market plummeted, he was unable to sell them off and incurred astronomical losses for the company.

He was fired and the matter was turned over to Wall Street watchdogs but Rubin was never criminally prosecuted.

Despite the loss, he was appointed Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns, where he ran the Collateralized Mortgage Obligations desk from 1987 to 1999.

In 2008 he came out of retirement to manage a Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund for financier George Soros, run by Soros Fund Management, LLC. He quit the firm in 2015.

Until last month, Rubin had been married to philanthropist and fellow Harvard Business School graduate Mary Henry since 1985.

Before attending Harvard Business School, he attended Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

The couple raised their three children, two daughters and then a son, in New York on the Upper East Side.
Controversial planning reforms may be watered down by the Government after whips warned that almost 100 Tory MPs could rebel and vote against them.

Boris Johnson has championed sweeping changes intended to enable 300,000 homes a year to be built.

But the plans have sparked a ferocious backlash among Conservatives, with former Prime Minister Theresa May warning they will create 'the wrong homes in the wrong places'.

Until now, the PM has refused to give in, saying last month that much of the criticism resulted from a 'misunderstanding' of the proposals.

Boris Johnson has championed sweeping changes intended to enable 300,000 homes a year to be built

But with opposition growing against what critics fear will lead to the electoral suicide of a 'developers' free-for-all' in Tory constituencies, No 10 is paving the way for a tactical retreat.

Whips are said to have warned Mr Johnson that more than 90 of his MPs, including several ministers, have raised serious concerns.

The reforms were thrown into sharp relief by the Tories' shock defeat at the Chesham and Amersham by-election in June, in which the Lib Dems campaigned aggressively on planning.

A Government source said ministers would be in 'listening mode' on the issue when Parliament returns in September, adding: 'We'll listen and we'll move.

'We can take some of the edges off that are upsetting people and still get some important changes through.

'The bottom line is we have got to get more houses built. The average age of a first-time buyer is 34. We have to get that down and give younger people a chance to get a stake in society.'

Former Cabinet minister Damian Green said some local control had to be retained, adding: 'The key issues are building homes where levelling-up is needed, such as the North, and a proper level of local control about individual decisions'

Tory rebels welcomed the softening of tone, but warned major changes would be needed to guarantee the passage of the Planning Bill this autumn.

One leading rebel said: 'If this ends up being a developers' free-for-all, it will be utterly toxic for Tory MPs everywhere  not just in the South East.

'If ministers get this wrong we can kiss goodbye to our new electoral success.

'We will be doing the Lib Dems' job for them across the Midlands, the South and the suburbs where we've had massive growth in recent years.

'People are fed up. Being seen as the party concreting over our countryside or ramming housing estates into suburban green spaces will be electoral suicide. Boris needs to get a grip on this.' Rebels want the idea of mandatory house-building targets replaced with voluntary ones.

Johnson approval rating plummets The Prime Minister's approval ratings among Tory activists have plummeted since he tried to dodge self-isolation, a survey found yesterday. The poll by the Conservative Home website found Boris Johnson's rating had dropped from 39.2 per cent last month to just 3.4 per cent, taking him into the bottom five members of the Cabinet. The fall follows controversy over Mr Johnson's attempt to avoid self- isolation after he was identified as a close contact of Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive last month. The PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak initially joined a Cabinet Office 'pilot scheme' that would have allowed them to avoid quarantine. But hours later, the two men agreed to isolate after a public backlash. In the survey, only Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson are rated below Mr Johnson. The slump also follows controversy over vaccine passports. Two months ago, the PM had a net approval rating of 55.6. In contrast, Mr Sunak's reputation appears to be almost unaffected. He remains the second most popular member of the Cabinet with Tory activists, with a net approval rating of 74.1. Advertisement

They also want ministers to drop 'growth zones' in which planning applications would be automatically approved.

Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely said the scale of the revolt reflected the fact MPs were 'listening to their residents', adding: 'Many people who care about their communities and their environment are very concerned. The system needs reform, but the result must be to empower communities, not silence them.'

He highlighted the issue of landbanking, in which developers acquire planning permission for a plot, but instead of building homes wait for its value to rise and sell it for a profit.

Mr Seely said: 'The system is already stacked in favour of developers, who too often simply landbank permissions and build in opposition to communities. I fear that any Bill that results in mass loss of greenfield and intense development in suburbs will run into significant opposition.'

Former Cabinet minister Damian Green said some local control had to be retained, adding: 'The key issues are building homes where levelling-up is needed, such as the North, and a proper level of local control about individual decisions.

'We have to drop centrally planned development zones, and we have to get a grip on developers' landbanking.'

MPs fear the new system of nationally imposed targets could lead to overheating in the South, while earmarking too little construction in the North.

The reforms would require councils to divide areas into three categories  protected, renewal and growth. Protected areas such as the Green Belt would get limited development.

In renewal areas, councils would be told to look favourably on development. Applications that meet agreed local plans in growth zones would be approved automatically.

Labour, which favours development of housing on former industrial 'brownfield' sites, has indicated it will oppose the legislation, describing it as a 'developers' charter'.
A man was killed and five others were injured after a swarm of bees attacked them in an Arizona neighborhood.

The fatal victim, who has not been identified, along with two other local residents, were stung 'hundreds of times' after they disturbed a 100-pound hive in a tree in the backyard of a Marana County home, at around noon on Thursday.

'Three patients, believed to have been stung hundreds of times, were transported for or received medical evaluation,' the Northwest Fire District said in a statement on social media.

Emergencies crews soon arrived on the scene but several firefighters were also stung. Three of them were stung, 'multiple times,' and one was hospitalized, but did not suffer life threatening injuries.

'One firefighter, believed to have been stung approximately 60 times, was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. He has since been released,' the Northwest Fire District said.

One man was killed the five others injured in Arizona Thursday after they came near a 100-pound hive in a tree (pictured) in a neighborhood just north of Tuscon, local fire officials reported

The hive was removed and most of the bees were killed by a handler later in the day, the Marana Police Department reported.

'A majority of the bees were exterminated,' Marana Police Sgt. Abel Samano told ABC 7. 'We had a beekeeper respond and assist us with that.'

'Although the area is much safer, there are still some lingering bees,' The department said in a statement posted to social media that afternoon. 'Please continue to use caution while in the area.'

Bee swarms are a relatively common occurrence in Arizona as well as encounters with humans, according to the Southern Arizona Beekeepers Association.

Marana Police Sgt. Abel Samano (pictured) said most of the bees in the swarm were killed by a beekeeper later that day

'A persons chance of running into wild honey bee colonies in the desert southwest is higher than other parts of the country,' it said, but noted that the chance of dying from honey bee stings was several times less than getting struck by lightning.

The association said that the most common honey bee in the area is an Africanized hybrid, which can attack people who wander into their territory.

'The Africanized hybrid strain thrives best in our particular climate with low rainfall, and mild winter temperatures.' it said. 'Even more so around urban areas where people have provided water, numerous man-made cavities, and flowers that are not indigenous to the Sonoran Desert.'

In 2017 a horse was killed by a swarm of bees in Prescott, in central Arizona, the city's fire department reported.

In the same incident, two women were found nearby with hundreds of bees covering their faces, along with three other horses.

'The women and the animals were all being stung aggressively,' Prescott Chief Fire Marshal Don Devendorf said.

Bee swarms are more common in Arizona than elsewhere in the country

In 2017 a horse was killed after being stung by a swarm of bees in Prescott, Arizona. Firefighters were able to move other nearby horses (pictured) out of the area before they suffered more stings

On average around 62 people a year are killed by bee, wasp and hornet stings in the US, according to the CDC, with a total of 1,109 deaths from stings recorded from 2000 to 2017.

The women were taken to an emergency room, and survived, and firefighters were able to move the other horses out of the area before they suffered more stings.

Other attacks in Arizona include one in 2015 in which a man survived being stung 500 to 1,000 times, and another later that year in which six people were injured by a another swarm, the Guardian reported.

On average around 62 people a year are killed by bee, wasp and hornet stings in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a total of 1,109 deaths from stings recorded from 2000 to 2017.
The Prime Minister's approval ratings among Tory activists have plummeted since he tried to dodge self-isolation, a survey found yesterday.

The poll by the Conservative Home website found Boris Johnson's rating had dropped from 39.2 per cent last month to just 3.4 per cent, taking him into the bottom five members of the Cabinet.

The fall follows controversy over Mr Johnson's attempt to avoid self- isolation after he was identified as a close contact of Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive last month.

The PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak initially joined a Cabinet Office 'pilot scheme' that would have allowed them to avoid quarantine. But hours later, the two men agreed to isolate after a public backlash.

The poll by the Conservative Home website found Boris Johnson's rating had dropped from 39.2 per cent last month to just 3.4 per cent, taking him into the bottom five members of the Cabinet

Only Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson are rated below Mr Johnson

In the survey, only Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson are rated below Mr Johnson.

The slump also follows controversy over vaccine passports. Two months ago, the PM had a net approval rating of 55.6.

In contrast, Mr Sunak's reputation appears to be almost unaffected. He remains the second most popular member of the Cabinet with Tory activists, with a net approval rating of 74.1.

The most recent survey also found that a narrow majority of Tory activists now believe the PM is dealing with the pandemic badly.

While 44.4 per cent of activists said the PM was handling the crisis well, 48 per cent said he was dealing with it badly.
Scott Morrison has revealed his 'wonderful family' and 'strong personal faith' keep him from getting too stressed while running the country.

The Prime Minister, 53, is a devout Pentecostal who started dating his wife Jenny in year 12 after they met at the Waverley Gospel Chapel youth group in eastern Sydney.

In an interview on KIIS FM radio on Monday morning, Mr Morrison said his faith allowed him to cope with the stress of managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pictured: The Prime Minister and his wife Jenny sing during an Easter Sunday service at the Horizon Church in Sutherland in 2019

While discussing the nation's vaccine rollout, host Kyle Sandilands asked: 'You know that it's all on your shoulders. You seem to be coping pretty well, have you got a good stress level? You must have an amazing stress level?'

Mr Morrison replied: 'Well, that's the same whether it's Covid or anything else, that's the job of the Prime Minister, that's what you sign up for.

'I've got a wonderful family and, people probably know, I've got a very strong personal faith.

'It's a personal thing but we all have the things that drive us forward each day and I get a lot of encouragement from people around the country, some people are very kind, Kyle,' he said.

Sandliands asked Mr Morrison if his busy work schedule meant his wife was 'in charge' of the household.

'Jenny keeps me very real, can I just say that,' the Prime Minister replied.

'She holds our family together and when you have a life in politics, there are a lot of stresses and strains on the family.

'Keeping your family together, that is very important... my first job is a dad and a husband and of course, prime minister,' he said.

The Prime Minister, 53, is a devout Pentecostal who started dating his wife Jenny (pictured with daughters Lily and Abbey) in year 12 after they met at the Waverley Gospel Chapel youth group

Jenny Morrison is pictured with daughters Lily and Abbey in official photos taken at Kirribilli House

In an interview with the Weekend Australian, the prime minister said he prays almost every day - on his knees when possible - and reads the bible from his phone, lately perusing through the Old Testament.

Although his religious journey started in childhood, it was not until his adult years that he would become a member of the Pentecostal faith - which has controversial customs, such as speaking in tongues and claims to heal by the laying of hands.

Growing up Christian, Mr Morrison attended the Presbyterian church at Waverley, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, with his family as a child.

But it wasn't until Year 7 that he would make the decision to commit himself to becoming an active Christian for the rest of his life.

While attending a Christian youth organisation camp in Melbourne, Mr Morrison felt compelled to make a promise to forever serve Jesus.

'On that camp I gave my life to the Lord, on January 11, 1981. I was 12. I massively felt it that day,' he told The Australian.

'It is a confession of repentance. I felt that movement, to get to my feet. I spent the rest of the day sitting with the chaplain.'

Mr Morrison said his choice was entirely personal, with his religious parents urging him to wait until he was ready to take the step.

A few years later, his brother, Alan, who had also dedicated himself to God, baptised him at their family church.

Mr Morrison (pictured around age five) grew up religious, regularly attending a Presbyterian church in Waverley with his parents

Mr Morrison (pictured alongside his wife Jenny, daughters Lily and Abbey, and mother Marion) has been a member of the Horizon Church, in Sydney's south, for more than a decade

Mr Morrison went on to meet his wife Jenny through the Christian Brethren Assembly youth group at Waverley Gospel, and the pair began dating in Year 12, later marrying in 1990.

A decade later, the Morrisons' faith would evolve from their Presbyterian roots into Pentecostalism.

During a work trip to New Zealand, the couple attended a service at the Christchurch Brethren Assembly and developed a taste for the church's dynamic style of worship, which includes shouting, clapping, singing and dancing.

'When we came back to Australia in July 2000 we really appreciated that style of church and we started going to Hillsong church in Waterloo [in inner Sydney]. Its a bit different from the one in the Hills,' he said.

'It suited us, it was big, we made a lot of friends. Later we went to ShireLive. Its now called Horizon Church. Ive never been that fussed about denominations. I just like a community, Bible-based church.'

Mr Morrison and his family have been members of the Sutherland Shire's Horizon Church, in Sydney's south, for more than a decade.

He said he doesn't participate in the church's custom of 'speaking in tongues', a practice that involves uttering speech-like sounds, which is thought to be the Holy Spirit enabling them to pray - but he insists it isn't as strange as it sounds.

Mr Morrison has previously said he and wife Jenny (pictured together) were called upon to do 'God's work' by leading the country

However, the prime minister says his private relationship with God includes 'trying to pray every day', an gesture he describes as an 'important act of submission', and he regularly reads from a bible on his phone.

Although religion is central to his life and he 'couldn't function without his faith', Mr Morrison also insists it does not dictate his policies and he thinks it is unfair that people suggest his faith is linked to his decisions in office.

The disclosure comes just months after Mr Morrison revealed he has engaged in the Pentecostal act of offering 'spiritual healings' during his time in office.

In April, the prime minister attended the Australian Christian Churches conference in the Gold Coast where he told cheering fellow parishioners he and Jenny were 'called to do God's work' by leading the country.

He and said he often prayed at work and engaged in the evangelical tradition of 'laying on of hands', which is used to confer a spiritual blessing, having done so during a visit to the cyclone hit Pilbara region in Western Australia earlier this year.

'I've been in evacuation centres where people thought I was just giving someone a hug and I was praying, and putting my hands on people laying hands on them and praying in various situations,' he said.

'God has, I believe, been using us in those moments to be able to provide some relief and comfort and just some reassurance.'
Australians who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 are 'likely' to be banned from many workplaces and venues like pubs and cafes, experts warn.

No broad vaccine mandates exist in Australia yet with only 19 per cent fully vaccinated, but are already in place for some high-risk workers.

Aged care staff and anyone in the quarantine system were ordered to get the jab by September after multiple outbreaks began with unvaccinated workers.

Australians who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 are 'likely' to be banned from their workplaces and public life following moves in the United States

Despite there being no broad vaccine mandate for the general public in Australia, experts say specific high-risk workplaces may require vaccination in the future

This is likely to be expanded to other high-risk industries and eventually many other companies as a condition of employment, experts told the ABC.

Google and Facebook already require staff to get vaccinated to work in their US offices, and will likely make the same demand in Australia before long.

President Joe Biden on Friday announced US federal employees in law enforcement to the postal service will be required to sign a declaration they were vaccinated.

The administration declared those who were not inoculated would have to wear a mask and would be subject to regular testing and strict social-distancing rules.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce recommended a similar mandate in Australia, by calling for compulsory jabs for all airline employees for the safety of passengers and staff.

'We believe Covid vaccination should be a requirement for all aviation workers,' he told Radio National Breakfast on Friday.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce also argued businesses should have the power to reject unvaccinated patrons.

Mr Joyce told Sky News vaccines would provide business owners more freedom when it came to protecting themselves against Covid-19.

'People in private enterprise are going to say look I've got rights here too,' he said.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (pictured) has also argued that businesses should have the power to reject unvaccinated patrons

The deputy prime minister said vaccines gave businesses more powers when it came to protecting themselves, staff and customers against Covid-19

'If you want to come into my barbershop, or my childcare facility then I have a right to say, maybe, "have you been inoculated?"

'And if you say you haven't, I have got a right as the owner of the shop to say I can't have you sitting in a seat next to someone who has.'

The Fair Work Ombudsman said most employers not in high-risk industries would not at present be able to demand vaccination - but this could change with government regulations.

'In the current circumstances, the overwhelming majority of employers should assume that they can't require their employees to be vaccinated against coronavirus,' it said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison changed his stance on mandatory jabs on June 28 when it was made compulsory for aged care workers to get vaccinated.

The National Cabinet is also considering the same policy for disability care workers.

'Imposing on a person the requirement to have a vaccine or not be able to work in a particular sector is something that no government would do lightly,' Mr Morrison said at the time.

'As a result, we have been considering this matter for some time now based on the best possible medical advice.'

Before then, the prime minister said a requirement for people in high-risk workplaces to get jabbed was unlikely, with the focus instead on encouraging the majority of the population to roll up their sleeves.

Maria O'Sullivan, an expert in public and human rights law, told the ABC staff would not have much luck challenging their employer's demands.

Appearing on the Today show on Monday, 2GB Radio breakfast host Ben Fordham said conversations about 'vaccine passports' were starting in NSW.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce (pictured) has called for compulsory jabs for all airline employees for the safety of passengers and staff

It is currently compulsory for aged-care workers to get vaccinated, with the National Cabinet considering the same mandate for disability care workers

The radio host said the document would be required to attend major sporting events from 2022, adding the decision would 'upset a lot of people'.

'But at the moment we need some blunt instruments and some extreme measures because this thing moves at an extreme pace,' he said.

When asked why the federal government hadn't already mandated the vaccine to fight recent outbreaks, Fordham said not everyone had access to a jab.

'We can't do it now because not everyone has had the opportunity of being vaccinated, you would hope 2022 would be a bit of a turning point,' he said.

'The prime minister has already said life will look a lot different at Christmas time, and once enough of us are vaccinated we can kiss goodbye the lockdowns.

'2022 sounds like a reasonable time to do it.'

Mr Fordham said in a conversation with Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd he was told the same requirement would likely apply to children.

Meanwhile NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said incentivising vaccines to allow workers to leave eight local councils in Sydney's west and south-west wouldn't work until everybody had access to a jab.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the incentivising of vaccines would be a policy she would consider further down the track when everybody had been granted access to a jab

NSW has recorded another 207 cases of Covid-19 on Monday as it emerged the state was on track to reach 70 per cent of vaccination in just five weeks

Ms Berejiklian said she would consider those policies further down the track when the vaccine was available to everybody.

'If you're vaccinated and you're walking around the community, you can still give it to other people who aren't vaccinated and that's not fair on them,' she said on WSFM radio.

'Until we give a chance to everybody to get vaccinated, we have to stay safe and stay in this lockdown situation.'

NSW recorded another 207 cases of coronavirus on Monday, with 50 of the locally acquired infections out in the community while infectious.

The announcement comes after it emerged Sydney's lockdown could be lifted as soon as September - with the state on track to reach 70 per cent vaccination in just five weeks.
The traditional working week is over with firms adopting a three-and-two approach  with fewer days in the office.

Having three days at home and two in the office is set to become the new normal as a result of the pandemic.

Many big firms have already agreed the changes, while the Institute of Directors said two thirds of business leaders will allow remote working.

YouGovs head of data journalism, Matt Smith, said hybrid working will become the norm for many'

Roger Barker, the institutes director of policy, said the pandemic had driven a revolution greater than radical reform or regulation ever could have.

And YouGov found just one in five bosses will require all staff to come in five days a week after the pandemic.

NatWest expects almost nine in ten staff to work at home while Asda said its employees could work from any location suited to their job.

YouGovs head of data journalism, Matt Smith, said hybrid working will become the norm for many.

John Lewis has introduced the option of flexible working for all head office staff, unless they cannot do their job from home, saying the pandemic had made everyone rethink the norm of five days in an office.

The department store chains People Director, Nikki Humphrey, said: Being forced to work from home made us all realise very quickly that we could do what we had previously thought was impossible.

Now that we can go back to our offices, the seismic change has made us question why we would expect people to do long commutes up to five days per week when they could use that time to improve their lives by spending more time with their families, pursuing interests or other personal commitments.

The outsourcer Capita said 35,000 of its 55,000 staff can work from home most of the time, while Asda said staff could work from any location suited to their job.

The Very Group, which owns online retailers Very and Littlewoods, said staff could do a combination of office and home-working.

YouGov found just one in five bosses will require all staff to come in five days a week after the pandemic

The oil company BP, which sold its London headquarters last year, said staff would work from the office three days a week.

The accountancy firm PwC said it expects workers to be in the office or with clients between two and three days a week from September, adding that flexible working would be the norm rather than the exception.

Chairman and senior partner at PwC, Kevin Ellis, said office life is particularly important for those starting out in their careers.

This group will be in the office two to three days a week in order to learn, network and socialise.
The high upfront cost of buying electric cars risks putting motorists off switching to zero-emission vehicles, Which? is warning.

Around two in five people are open to switching to electric cars  but a third have been put off by the initial costs, found the consumer champion.

This is despite battery-powered vehicles being a lot cheaper to run and service, and the tax benefits for workers if they choose one as their company car.

The Government will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030.

But due to their upfront costs, Which? found electric cars are more expensive to own over a three-year period.

The total cost after buying and three years of owning a Peugeot e-2008 is 32,733 but this figure for its petrol version  the 2008 PureTech 130 Active EAT8  is 28,291, a difference of 4,442.

Around two in five people are open to switching to electric cars  but a third have been put off by the initial costs, found Which? (Pictured: Car charging ports in Hounslow, south west London)

The Government will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030. But due to their upfront costs, Which? found electric cars are more expensive to own over a three-year period (Pictured: Electric car being charged)

The electric vehicles initial price is 6,000 higher. Peugeot said only a minority of its customers buys an electric car outright.

Lisa Barber of Which? said: Consumers want to make more sustainable choices and are open to switching but more support is needed to ensure they can feasibly make the decision to buy an electric car.

She added: Millions of people are expected to switch to electric cars over the next few years to reduce emissions, however our research shows that affordability is a significant barrier and the upfront cost of purchasing an electric vehicle is putting people off.

Peugeot said only a minority of people buy an electric car outright.

It said: The majority of Peugeot customers in the UK who buy a new e-208 or e-2008 finance it through a Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) over three or four years where their vehicle is changed at the end of the agreement.
Facebook blocked the Illinois Association of Chiefs' request to promote its Officer of the Year post that honored a cop who was stabbed multiple times in the head and neck during a domestic incident before fatally shooting the suspect.

The stab wounds damaged East Peoria Police Officer Jeffrey Bieber's nerves and hit an artery, 'causing the officer to bleed profusely' and fall to his back during the February 2 incident, police said.

He tried to use his Taser but it was unsuccessful, and the suspect - identified as Joshua Crites, 19 - was on top of him. Bieber shot Crites and ultimately killed him.

Officer Bieber was praised by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police for 'not only for his sacrifice during and after the incident, but for being an outstanding officer serving and protecting the citizens of East Peoria every day.'

East Peoria Police Officer Jeffrey Bieber was awarded a prestigious state honor but Facebook refused to promote police group's post about it because it contained 'sensitive issue'

This is the Facebook post that Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police wanted Facebook to promote

But Facebook said the post was about a 'sensitive social issue' and denied the state police group's request to promote the post, which can be done for a fee.

In a statement to the Journal Star, Facebook said:

'This ad content has been correctly disapproved for violation of Facebook Advertising Policies and Guidelines. As per policy: Your ad may have been rejected because it mentions politicians or is about sensitive social issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.'

Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Ed Wojcicki called Facebook's decision to refuse to promote the group's Facebook post honoring Officer Bieber 'ridiculous'

The social media giant's response riled up Illinois police groups, including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP), which started an online petition on change.org to overturn Facebook's decision.

'That seemed ridiculous to us,' ILACP Executive Director Ed Wojcicki said in a statement.

'The way we see it,' Wojcicki said, 'is Facebook thinks it's wrong to honor a brave police officer who suffered serious wounds while protecting his central Illinois city.

'How is that remotely political? Facebook must not realize that many police officers endure severe physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis.

'Our recognition of Officer Bieber is designed to honor an officer who made a great personal sacrifice and to help Americans understand and appreciate the sacrifices that many officers make. We'd like Facebook to understand that by hearing from supporters of this officer and the thousands of good officers in our ranks.'

The Illinois Sheriff's Association said in a comment on the ILACP's Facebook post about social media giant's decision, 'FB did the same thing to us with our Deputy, Correctional Officer and Telecommunicators of the year back in February. It's maddening!!''

ILACP started an online petition to overturn Facebook's decision

Illinois Sheriff's Association responding to ILACP's Facebook post

In response to the Journal Star's inquiry, a Facebook statement suggested the police group may have applied for the ad 'boost' incorrectly, so the company has 'reached out directly to the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police to explain how to run this type of ad.'

Officer Bieber began his career working with the Tazewell County Sheriffs Office working as a correctional officer full time in 2007 and then become a part-time police officer for the small, rural community of Hopedale in August of 2008.

In May 2011, he was hired full time by the city of North Pekin, attended the police academy and worked for North Pekin until he was hired by East Peoria on November 16, 2012.

'Officer Bieber exemplifies honor, courage, dedication, and humbleness,' East Peoria Chief Rich Chief Brodrick said. He always has a kind smile and a great sense of humor.'

Wojcicki said of this incident that 'this is one of those scenarios that can happen to any officer in any part of Illinois on any day.

'In fact, officers in Illinois face levels of noncompliance on a daily basis and are victims of physical and verbal violence,' he said. 'Bieber used his training to attempt less-than-lethal responses such as creating distance and deploying his Taser, but ultimately the situation put Biebers life in grave danger.'
A Michigan Burger King employee is facing felony firearm charges after he took out a handgun and pointed it at a trio of drive-thru customers in a fight over how they would pay for their food, police said.

Dustin Rocheleau, 24, was charged this week for an incident on April 28, when he was working the drive-thru at a Burger King on Seven Mile Road in Livonia.

Police said he allegedly pointed a gun at three customers sitting in their car after what cops said was a disagreement over payment method.

The customers then sped off and called 911.

Dustin Rocheleau (pictured) was charged this week for an incident in which while working the drive-thru at a Burger King in Michigan, he allegedly pointed a gun at a trio of customers. Surveillance footage of the incident shows him at first appearing to hand the customers change

After handing the customers the change, he then quickly pulls a handgun out of his pocket

Within moments, another Burger King employee then appears behind him and asks him to leave

On Saturday, the Livonia Police Department released surveillance footage of the incident, which shows Rocheleau handing the customers what appears to be change, and then quickly pulling a gun from his pants.

Another employee then steps up behind him and tells him to leave.

Police said they found and arrested Rocheleau nearby the Burger King shortly after, and found the handgun in his backpack.

Body camera footage of the arrest shows them handcuffing Rocheleau, who can be heard telling the officers: 'You guys got yourself a nice bust today, I'll tell you that.'

As they search his backpack and come across the gun he says, 'You guys are about to have a field day with this one. You guys are about to love these bags.'

Police said they found and arrested Rochleau nearby the Burger King shortly after the incident

The handgun was found in Rochleau's backpack as he tells the officers, 'You guys are about to have a field day with this one.'

Police confiscated the gun (pictured) and Rochleau was charged with a count of felony firearm possession

The incident took place at the Burger King on Seven Mile Road in Livonia

He faces eight counts, including for felony firearm possession, and will be back in court on August 5 for an arraignment.

Burger King did not immediately return a request for comment.

In a separate incident, a Memphis, Tennessee, Burger King customer opened fire on staff through the drive-thru window after police say she became annoyed about the long wait time.

In stills from security footage, the woman can be seen leaning in through the window with her gun drawn.

Police posted to Facebook about the incident on April 2. They said the shooting happened the previous Tuesday at the Burger King on Winchester Road.

The workers are said to have fled the gunfire through the back door of the business and were uninjured.

Police would later arrest Keona Jackson, 32, for the incident.

She was charged with attempted murder.
Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean claims she is being trolled by political commentator Matthew Dowd after she called for an investigation into COVID-19 nursing home deaths in New York State - which include the deaths of her in-laws.

Dean also posted a quote from herself that read: 'Every one of Cuomo's victims deserves to be heard. But thousands of them aren't with us anymore.'

It led to political analyst Dowd to respond: 'Now that Texas has surpassed New York in COVID deaths I am awaiting for Ms Dean to hold GOP governor Abbott accountable.'

Texas has suffered 53,420 deaths from the coronavirus while New York has had 53,274 deaths as of Sunday night.

Dean, who is grieving the loss of her mother-in-law and father-in-law, tweeted in response: 'This 'journalist' has trolled me from the beginning of my quest for accountability from the governor of New York who ordered COVID positive patients into nursing homes that helped kill thousands of elderly. I'd call this harassment.'

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean says she is being 'trolled' by political commentator Matthew Dowd

She demanded accountability from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo whose policy of allowing covid positive patients into nursing homes lead to deaths of her in-laws

Dean tweeted symbolically, a photograph comparing the January 6 Capitol Riots investigation, with one into nursing home deaths, which depicted an empty debating chamber

Dean's own mother-and father-in law, Dolores and Michael Newman (above), are among the patients who died of coronavirus in nursing homes and assisted living facilities

Dowd defended himself in a follow-up tweet: 'So weird. Been many months since I commented. And I think I have only ever tweeted a couple things over more than a year. Always factual. And hypocrisy should always be called out.'

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Dean said that the issue of nursing home deaths 'is personal' for her after the deaths of her in-laws in state nursing homes.

Dean's in-laws , Michael and Dolores Newman, both died from the virus.

The Newmans were married for 59 years and lived in Brooklyn for the majority of their lives.

Matthew Dowd was a political commentator for ABC News until the start of this year

Her father-in-law was the first of the two to become sick, in late March, and he passed away not long after. Two weeks later, her mother-in-law caught coronavirus at an assisted living facility and died at a hospital.

'The reason I am vocal is because I'm trying to seek some kind of justice for my husbands' parents and the thousands of other families out there,' she said.

'My response is we care because they're our are family members an we are not going to give up on this.'

She added that she feels as though she is now being 'trolled' by Dowd.

'Matthew Dowd has come after me, trolling me, asking me why I am not taking on Trump or the governors in Republican states. I've never been a political person. I've taken on this role because I've been personally affected and feel that our New York Governor hasn't been held accountable.'

Dean has long called for Cuomo's resignation and for him to face consequences for his actions.

'There has to be some accountability in the form of an investigation,' she said.

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean claims she is being trolled by political commentator Matthew Dowd

Dowd defended himself in a follow-up tweet saying he was 'always factual' and that 'hypocrisy should always be called out'

In January, a shocking report from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office detailed how the state had undercounted the number of nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent.

It forced New York State's Department of Health to reveal the true death toll among nursing home residents was 12,743, rather than the previously acknowledged figure of 8,711.

Among those deaths are Dean's own father- and mother-in-law, who died from COVID-19 in March and April 2020, respectively.

Last week, the Feds dropped their Cuomo nursing home investigation leading to Dean to tweet symbolically, a photograph comparing the January 6 Capitol Riots investigation, with one into nursing home deaths, which depicted an empty debating chamber.

It was March 25, 2020 when Governor Cuomo ordered nursing homes to readmit patients who were positive for COVID-19 patients due to concerns about hospital capacity .

He later reversed the ruling, on May 10, 2020 barring nursing homes from accepting COVID-19 patients without a negative test first.

Dean has said she feels that personal attacks by Dowd are unwarranted and believes she is likely being targeted because she works for Fox News.

It was March 25, 2020 when Governor Cuomo ordered nursing homes to readmit patients who were positive for COVID-19 patients due to concerns about hospital capacity. He reversed the decision 46 days later following thousands of deaths

Michael and Dolores 'Dee' Newman died from COVID-19 in spring last year

The Newmans were married for 59 years and lived in Brooklyn for the majority of their lives. They are pictured above in an undated family photo

'Dowd has chimed in several times when I post about the loss of my in-laws and he will say 'Now do Trump'. I respond by saying its personal with the loss of family members. He knows this but he continues to troll,' Dean explained.

'I think we all have to have investigations into our leaders when it comes to Covid and we may not know that for months or years down the road. Gov. Cuomo put Covid positive patients into nursing homes and that's why there was a DOJ investigation. For me, it is personal and I feel like had I not raised red flags I wonder if he would have gotten away with it. This is not something I am comfortable with so I keep it to New York state because that's what I've been experiencing. If other Governors in other sates have done something wrong, then they should also be held accountable.

'[Dowd] asks me why I haven't commented on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Other than this, I have never commented on political matters at all. It is personal and it is in New York. I said that I was trying to get accountability for the deaths of by husband's parents.'

The governor and his office had been accused of intentionally misreporting the number of COVID-19 deaths linked to nursing homes by not listing patients who were transferred to hospital and died there.

Cuomo has claimed that his office was always honest about the figures but that it simply came down to differences in categorization.

Matthew Dowd did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Prince Charles was dragged into a 'cash for access' row yesterday after the Tory party's co-chairman was accused of arranging a private dinner between the heir to the throne and a wealthy businessman.

The Prince of Wales is said to have had an 'intimate dinner' with telecoms tycoon Mohamed Amersi at Dumfries House in Scotland  allegedly arranged by Ben Elliot, the nephew of Charles's wife Camilla.

The meeting was said to have been organised via Quintessentially, Mr Elliot's 'luxury lifestyle management service', to which Mr Amersi had paid an annual 15,000 fee as an 'elite' member.

Ben Elliot (right), 45, introduced super-rich clients from his company Quintessentially to the Prince of Wales (left)

In the wake of the dinner, the 61-year-old businessman provided more than 1.2million to the prince's charities and was given access to him.

Yesterday Mr Elliot, 45, was accused by Mr Amersi of facilitating 'access capitalism' and of providing access to a senior royal.

But the Tory co-chairman insisted there was no conflict of interest and the meeting between Charles and Mr Amersi had been 'entirely about helping to raise money for charity'.

Sources at the royal household expressed disappointment that the Prince of Wales had been dragged into a 'political' row when all his efforts were 'focussed on fundraising for charity'.

Telecoms millionaire Mohamed Amersi, 61, paid 15,000 a year to be an elite member of the luxury concierge business

A Clarence House source insisted the prince was grateful for all the support Mr Elliot had provided and made clear there was no personal financial benefit.

It was claimed at the weekend that Mr Elliot had set up an exclusive club for the biggest Tory donors to meet the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Labour said the allegations exposed a 'cash for access' culture at the heart of the Conservative Party.

A No 10 source insisted no special access had been given other than was normal for party donors.

A friend of the Prime Minister praised how Mr Elliot had modernised the party structure and its finances which had record donations thanks to his efforts.

A friend of Mr Elliot said: 'Ben is a buccaneer but no one ever doubts he is a straight player. He makes no apologies for raising money for charities he believes in, which includes the Prince of Wales's, and is adamant that there is no conflict of interest with his charity and political work which he keeps separate.'

Emails revealed by the Sunday Times yesterday revealed the access Mr Elliot obtained to his uncle for Mr Amersi.

Elliot appealed for donations for friend and Tory minister Zac Goldsmith (pictured) using his royal conections

In 2013 the firm arranged for him to fly to meet the heir to the throne over dinner at Dumfries House, a stately home in Ayrshire that the prince helped save.

He offered a chauffeur and private jet and sent a timetable for a guided tour of the mansion before his intimate meal with 'HRH'. Mr Amersi has since donated more than 1.2million to the prince's charities and has become a trustee of the Prince's Trust International and a board member of Charles's Mosaic Network initiative.

A message obtained by the newspaper showed that Mr Elliot told Mr Amersi 'well done' when he heard about his first donation.

In a leaked email from 2015, he allegedly told the British businessman that the prince 'spoke highly of you' before asking for a donation to the mayoral campaign of his friend Zac Goldsmith.

Mr Amersi told the Sunday Times he would never have met the heir to the throne if he had not signed up to the 'very top tier' of Mr Elliot's luxury service. He said his membership had opened doors to the Establishment, including 'Clarence House, St James's Palace, Buckingham Palace, Dumfries House'.

Mr Amersi described this arrangement as 'access capitalism'. He added: 'You get access, you get invitations, you get privileged relationships if you are part of the set-up, and where you are financially making a contribution to be a part of that set-up. Absolutely.' Charles has attended several events hosted by the Quintessentially Foundation, the firm's charitable arm, including one at Clarence House.

Labour chairman Anneliese Dodds said: 'It cannot be right that Ben Elliot is offering a select group of elite donors privileged access to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

'And if the inducements to donate to the Conservative Party or become a client of Quintessentially include professing to offer access to the Royal Family then that is totally unacceptable.'

But a spokesman for Mr Elliot said: 'Mr Elliot assisted Mr Amersi in meeting the Prince of Wales because he wanted to support the prince's charitable work, and Mr Elliot is proud that led to large donations from Mr Amersi to good causes.'
Overcoming Covid-19 vaccination hurdles will be the ticket to Australia's international borders finally reopening and bringing an end to ongoing lockdowns.

Some coronavirus restrictions could be eased before Christmas under an amended national cabinet road map released by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week.

Lockdowns will be less likely and jabbed Aussies will enjoy freedoms once of a 70 per cent vaccination rate of Australians over the age of 16 is reached, which an aim later this year.

No timeframe has been set for the target of 80 per cent vaccinated Aussies, which would see Australia's borders reopen for the first time since early 2020.

Australia's ticket to freedom also relies on more men aged under-40s rolling up their sleeves and states ramping out their vaccine rollout.

New federal government research based on current vaccination rates and attitudes, suggests that while 70 per cent is a feasible target, getting that extra 10 per cent will be tougher.

Some coronavirus restrictions could be eased before Christmas under an amended national cabinet road map released by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week (stock picture)

Around 15.1 per cent of the population, or 3.8million Australians are fully vaccinated, five months after the national rollout began.

'Everything over that we will have to work hard for,' a source told the Australian Financial Review.

Of the 7.2 million Australians aged 20-40, just 10 per cent are fully vaccinated so far due to restricted access to jabs up until recently.

There's also a widening gap between the willingness of men and women aged under-40s to roll up their sleeves.

According to federal government figures, 18.2 per cent of Australians aged 30-34 have had their first jab while 10.7 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Women in this age group are almost 50 per cent more likely than men to be fully vaccinated, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

If current rates of more than 100,000 jabs a day continue, Australia will reach its 70 cent cent vaccination goal by late November.

Australia's international borders will likely remained closed until a 80 vaccination rate is reached. Pictured are domestic passengers at Sydney Airport last week

But health experts are divided over the vaccination targets set by the national cabinet.

University of Sydney vaccine distribution expert Professor Julie Leask believes a 70 per cent vaccination target by the end of this year too is too optimistic.

'I reckon we'll be lucky to get to 60 per cent fully vaccinated by the end of the year, based on previous experience with new vaccine rollouts, how other countries with an unhindered by supply like Israel and the UK have gone, and how there are certain groups falling through the gaps,' she told Australian Financial Review.

However Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett believes Australia's target of the 80 per cent target is achievable by the end of the year 'at our current rate'.

She also described the national cabinet's 70 and 80 per cent targets as 'quite conservative.

'We're saying we have to get to 70 per cent before we can really do much at all, so I think that is conservative, she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Overcoming Covid-19 vaccination hurdles will be ticket to Australians enjoying more freedoms. Pictured is a Melbourne health worker with a Pfizer jab

Grattan Institute health program director Dr Stephen Duckett believes the phased targets are too low to end lockdowns.

'It's a very puzzling plan, which is vague, risky, and the other point about it is there's no clear strategy to actually get there. What is the strategy to actually achieve the targets they've specified?' he said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has previously said she wants 80 per cent of adults - or 62 per cent of state's population - to be jabbed before opening up.

She's hinted in recent days that vaccination rates will decide whether Sydney and surrounding regions will finally be released on lockdown as planned on August 29.

NSW recorded more than 200 cases for a third consecutive day on Monday.

'Can I stress that August is the month where we all should come forward and get vaccinated,' Ms Berejiklian said on Monday.

'It will be a combination of seeing where the case numbers are in a month's time as well as the rate of vaccination that determines what August 29 looks like.'

NSW needs to get 9.2 million jabs in arms across the state to reach a vaccination target of 70 per cent, which the Premier has repeatedly said would trigger an easing of lockdown restrictions.

'Vaccines are working extremely effectively,' she said. 'We still don't know of anybody in intensive care [in NSW] who has received both doses of the vaccine.'

'We are at 3.9 million jabs already. Five million jabs means we're halfway to the 80 per cent target and 9.2 million jabs gets us to 70 per cent.'

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.

At that rate, NSW could hit its target of 70 per cent coverage by early September.

About 75 per cent of the population doesn't have an objection to getting vaccinated, according to the Prime Minister

'There are some hardcore against any sort of vaccination and there are others we have encourage to do this for themselves, their families, our community and the country,' he told constituents from his Sydney electorate last week.

'We've just got to keep providing those opportunities for people to go and get it.

'They're both great vaccines, Please take the opportunity to get them.'

Around 75 per cent of Australia have no objection against the Covid vaccine, according to the Prime Minister (pictured, a woman being jabbed at Westmead Hospital)
The mayor of Fairfield in Sydney's Covid-hit southwest encouraged a constituent to leave her 5km bubble to buy KFC, telling critics the woman is at 'no greater risk' than if she chose to buy take out closer to home.

Frank Carbone has been an outspoken critic of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's approach to lockdown, claiming that there are clear double standards between the treatment of residents in the southwest and those in Sydney's east.

Residents in eight local government areas in Sydney's west and southwest are under particularly strict lockdown orders preventing them from travelling more than 5km from home or leaving their suburbs for non-essential purposes.

But when a woman queried about travelling further than that distance to buy KFC chicken, Mr Carbone was quick to tell her it was okay to bend the rules.

The mayor of Fairfield in Sydney's Covid-hit southwest has encouraged a constituent to leave her 5km bubble to buy KFC, telling critics the woman is at 'no greater risk' than if she chose to buy take out closer to home

Frank Carbone has been an outspoken critic of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's approach to lockdown, claiming that there are clear double standards

New South Wales recorded another 207 cases of Covid-19 on Monday as Sydney continues to grapple with an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant

Poll Are residents in southwest Sydney being treated differently to those in the East? YES NO Are residents in southwest Sydney being treated differently to those in the East? YES 380 votes

NO 202 votes Now share your opinion





He shut down any complaints or responses designed to make the woman feel guilty, urging his community to stick together instead of criticising one another.

'We are doing it hard enough and going without, without turning on each other,' he said.

'We can't go out, we can't do anything... if she wants KFC, let her have her chicken.

'Its not the most important thing in life and certainly not the healthiest, but we dont need to stop living if that is what makes us happy and its safe.'

Mr Carbone urged constituents 'not to be politicians and lawyers,' and instead to 'be people with common sense'.

He later clarified that if the woman deemed a trip to KFC essential, she would not be breaking any orders by driving to the restaurant and using the drive-thru facility.

Government guidelines state a person can travel outside of the 5km bubble if an essential service - like groceries - is not available within the radius. Pictured: Police conducting compliance checks

Mr Carbone, who has been Fairfield mayor since 2016, went on to remind locals that they are displaying greater compliance than in other areas of Sydney. Pictured: ADF members in the community on August 2

Government guidelines state a person can travel outside of the 5km bubble if an essential service - like groceries - is not available within the radius.

There is no specification as to whether take out food is considered essential.

'Driving 5.3km in her own car to a drive through KFC has no greater risk than driving 4.5km to a McDonalds store or a supermarket,' Mr Carbone said.

He argued that the woman is posing no greater risk than if she'd entered a supermarket to buy chicken off the shelf.

Mr Carbone, who has been Fairfield mayor since 2016, went on to remind locals that they are displaying greater compliance than in other areas of Sydney.

'Thousands of people on the other side of the City pretend they are Covid free and breach every rule,' he said.

Pictured: Australian Defence Force personnel and NSW police deliver emergency food parcels for people in lockdown in Fairfield

'Thousands of people on the other side of the City pretend they are Covid free and breach every rule,' Mr Carbone said

Pictured: Mr Carbone

'99 percent of people are making a big sacrifice in our city, which I can tell you is a lot higher compliance of what is happening anywhere else.'

Mr Carbone was applauded for his measured response to the question, with many taking the opportunity to thank him for 'standing up for the community' to state leaders.

But others argued he was setting a bad example.

'This is your advice? We are in the middle of a health disaster and youre suggesting travelling outside the lockdown to get kfc because it might be essential... This is most unhelpful,' one man wrote.

'You just gave a green light to anyone who listens to you that fried chicken might be essential and a reason to get out of lockdown. Its been 34 days of Sydney lockdown. And the hardest hit LGA is ours. You need to be better.'

Since stricter measures were imposed on Sydney's southwest, Mr Carbone has repeatedly highlighted the essential work performed by his constituents.

'If you don't allow people from Fairfield, Liverpool and Bankstown to go to work then supermarkets all around Sydney will be closing down,' he previously explained.

'You need drivers, you need logistics. A lot of these people come from Western Sydney. We are the engine room.'

Since stricter measures were imposed on regions in Sydney's southwest, Mr Carbone has repeatedly highlighted the essential work performed by many people who hail from his area

A masked pedestrian is pictured walking during lockdown in Leichardt in Sydney's inner-west on Monday

Sydneysiders stop to pat a dog at Bondi Beach on Sunday despite strict lockdown rules

On Monday, New South Wales recorded a further 207 community cases of coronavirus, and 83 of the new infections were found in the southwest.

A further 53 cases were from the west and 48 were identified in the central Sydney local health district.

NSW Health also announced a man in his 90s from south-west Sydney had died from Covid-19 at Liverpool Hospital. His death is the fifteenth fatality in the state linked to an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta strain that began on June 16.

There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals - including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation.

Greater Sydney is now entering its sixth gruelling week of a hard stay-at-home lockdown - which was last week extended until at least August 29 - to slow the outbreak's spread.
Hopes of Australia fast-tracking its struggling vaccine rollout have been thrown into doubt by Queensland's stubborn chief medical officer Dr Jeanette Young, who is refusing to endorse the AstraZeneca jab for young people.

Dr Young was steadfast in her refusal on Monday to endorse the vaccine for Queenslanders under the age of 60, placing her firmly at odds with her counterpart in NSW Kerry Chant who is urging Sydneysiders to get jabbed regardless of age.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that high vaccination rates are Australia's ticket to freedom, and the solution to ending the vicious cycle of lockdowns.

It is a position backed by state leaders.

Dr Young maintains the AZ vaccine should only be available to people over the age of 60, even though Australia's regulatory body has changed their advice to encourage all Australians to come forward.

Queensland's CHO Jeanette Young remained steadfast in her refusal to endorse the jab for young people on Monday

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation's latest advice states that increased transmissibility of the Delta variant outweighs any minor risks associated with the AstraZeneca jab.

'In a large outbreak, the benefits of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca are greater than the risk of rare side effects for all age groups,' the advice states.

'ATAGI reiterates that all adults in greater Sydney should strongly consider the benefits of earlier protection with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca rather than waiting for alternative vaccines.'

But Dr Young is standing by the advice she gave to Queenslanders in mid June after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian - on the advice of her own chief health officer, Kerry Chant - made a public plea for Sydneysiders to get jabbed, regardless of their age.

'I don't want an 18-year-old in Queensland dying from a clotting illness who, if they got COVID, probably wouldn't die,' Dr Young said at the time.

Many felt Dr Young had the luxury of holding that opinion because her state had remained relatively Covid-free and contained outbreaks with short, sharp lockdowns.

Dr Chant appeared on our screens just one hour after Dr Young this morning, appealing for young people to get vaccinated in droves

But Queensland has now recorded 31 cases of the highly-infectious Delta variant in just three days, prompting a resurgence in questions about the use of AstraZeneca.

On Monday, Dr Young confirmed her opinion had not changed.

'I said I didn't want 18-year-olds to have AstraZeneca. And I still don't. Even now,' she said, adding that nobody under the age of 60 should consider AstraZeneca.

The mixed messaging is no doubt putting further strain on the federal government's push to have as many people vaccinated as possible by year's end.

Meanwhile Dr Chant appeared on our screens just one hour after Dr Young this morning, appealing for young people to get vaccinated in droves.

New South Wales recorded a further 207 community Covid cases overnight, and Ms Berejiklian - following Dr Chant's advice - was adamant that higher vaccination rates would be the key to seeing cases drop and lockdown lifted.

Pictured: People queuing to receive their vaccine at the hub in Homebush

Poll Whose health advice are YOU following? Dr Kerry Chant - NSW Dr Jeanette Young - QLD Whose health advice are YOU following? Dr Kerry Chant - NSW 559 votes

Dr Jeanette Young - QLD 375 votes Now share your opinion





When asked about Dr Young's comments, Dr Chant said: 'My view is that we follow the ATAGI advice and ATAGI has looked at risk benefits. The advice is for people to have the discussion about the risks and benefits.

'Everyone has got their personal considerations. They live in different parts of the city. Their risk is different and so for me, it is around informed consent,' she said.

Dr Chant said anyone who has waited more than four weeks since getting their first dose of AstraZeneca should book in for their second jab immediately.

Australians living in areas with coronavirus outbreaks were urged to shorten the time between their first and second AstraZeneca jabs to four to eight weeks instead of the usual 12 on July 24 by ATAGI.

'Can I stress that August is the month where we all should come forward and get vaccinated,' Ms Berejiklian said.

New South Wales recorded another 207 cases of Covid-19 on Monday as Sydney continues to grapple with an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant

'It will be a combination of seeing where the case numbers are in a month's time as well as the rate of vaccination that determines what August 29 looks like.'

The NSW premier said the priority was vaccinating the state's 'mobile' residents aged between 20 and 40 - particularly in the eight local government areas in Sydney's west and south-west where the virus is spreading the most rapidly.

She said on Monday health officials would have to get 9.2 million jabs in arms across the state to reach a vaccination target of 70 per cent, which she has repeatedly said would trigger an easing of lockdown restrictions.

'Vaccines are working extremely effectively,' she said. 'We still don't know of anybody in intensive care [in NSW] who has received both doses of the vaccine.

Australian Defence Force personnel are pictured enforcing the city's lockdown in Fairfield in Sydney's south-west on Monday morning

'We are at 3.9 million jabs already. Five million jabs means we're halfway to the 80 per cent target and 9.2 million jabs gets us to 70 per cent.'

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.

But with 82,000 doses distributed in 24 hours and 4.5 million more Pfizer jabs to be delivered to Australia in August, federal health officials are confident NSW could carry out about 650,000 vaccinations a week.

At that rate, NSW could hit its target of 70 per cent coverage by early September.

Meanwhile in Queensland, 921,750 vaccine doses have been administered in total.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews supported Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement that vaccines would be the key to ending lockdown, urging young people to consider the AstraZeneca shot.

'AstraZeneca is safe, but it is really important to have a conversation about your individual circumstances,' he said.
Australian adults can book an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine within days as thousands make appointments to help end lockdowns.

The federal government's eligibility checker shows Australians which venues are offering vaccinations in their local area.

Users can sort the venues by 'nearest' or 'earliest available', an option which shows the first open appointment.

Australian adults can book an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine within days. Pictured: Residents exercise in Sydney's inner west on Monday

How to book a jab within days Visit the eligibility checker Answer the questions and say 'yes' to the AstraZeneca vaccine Type in your postcode to the box above the map to see venues in your area Select 'earliest available' to see soonest appointments Advertisement

Appointment times are regularly updated, allowing an eagle-eyed user to book one within days or even on the same day.

On Friday Scott Morrison announced a roadmap to freedom which makes lockdowns much 'less likely' when 70 per cent of over 16s are vaccinated and allows overseas holidays when 80 per cent are double-jabbed.

The Prime Minister is hopeful the 70 per cent rate will be achieved before the end of the year as thousands of young people come forward to get AstraZeneca.

'What we're seeing in New South Wales now is AstraZeneca dosage rates amongst 16 to 39 year olds just rapidly escalate,' he said on Monday.

Some 19.23 per cent of Australian adults have been double-vaccinated, up from just 7.92 per cent on July 1.

'We've seen our vaccination rates on double dose now more than double in the last month. I mean, in July we were up some 4.5 million vaccines in the month,' Mr Morrison said.

In April the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said the AstraZeneca jab was only recommended for over 50s because of a low risk of blood clots in younger people.

The Prime Minister is hopeful the 70 per cent rab ate will be achieved before the end of the year as thousands of young people come forward to get AstraZeneca

In June the body increased the minimum recommend age to 60, denting confidence and delaying the jab rollout by two months as the government scrambled to get more Pfizer into the country.

Then in July as Sydney's outbreak worsened, ATAGI said all over 18s should consider getting the vaccine because the risk of catching Covid had increased, a move which has allowed the rollout to rapidly ramp up.

Children aged 12 to 17 can only get the Pfizer vaccine.

Mr Morrison said: 'We had those early problems, we've got on top of them, we've turned it around and we've got our gold medal run till the end of the year to get this done.'

Sydney recorded another 209 cases on Monday as Premier Gladys Berejiklian said officials would take into account case numbers and vaccination rates when deciding to end lockdown.

South-east Queensland recorded another 13 cases and lockdown was extended until Saturday.

Government experts did modelling (above) to show the risk of getting a blood clot from the Astrazeneca vaccine for each age group, compared with the benefits of getting the jab
Confronting footage has captured the moment an elderly man was pepper-sprayed by police as he tried to force an officer to leave his home after a bizarre confrontation.

The incident which was captured on video was triggered after two men aged 28 and 29 were allegedly discovered by patrolling police officers sitting in an illegally parked car in McLean Street Auburn, Western Sydney, at about about 11pm on Saturday night.

Police allege the duo had $10,000 cash in the car and fled on foot when the officers approached their Nissan R50.

The footage taken in nearby Mary Street shows a masked officer asking to speak to a 28-year-old man he alleged had run from police.

The constable was seen being ordered to leave the property by the man and two of the home's occupants - aged 31 and 60 - one of whom could be heard telling the officer 'I'll knock your teeth out' as others shouted in Arabic.

The officer then pepper-sprayed the men from the street as they closed the gate behind him, only for police to moments later force their way back into the home.

'Don't even step in here with a warrant,' one of the men told the officers standing on the pavement, who told the group he didn't need one to enter the property.

Officers were then seen entering the home and arresting the 31-year-old occupant.

'I'm recording you, you dogs,' a female voice behind the camera could be heard telling the officers. 'What the f**k are you doing - leave him alone.'

Police allege the 28-year-old fled the property during the altercation, before being arrested the following day at Auburn Police Station and charged with resisting an officer and not complying with Covid health orders.

He appeared at Burwood Local Court on Monday and was granted conditional bail.

A masked officer was seen in footage shared online asking to speak a 28-year-old man he alleged had fled from police before the altercation escalated and he used pepper spray on the men

The man is set to reappear in court on September 1.

'Following further inquiries, including a search of the Nissan, police located $10,000 cash, which has been seized for further examination,' police said.

The 31-year-old man was charged with intimidating police and hindering a police officer in the execution of duty.

He was also granted conditional bail to will appear at Burwood Local Court on Thursday August 26.

The 29-year-old man was issued two $1000 Penalty Infringement Notices for Covid health orders.

Investigations into the bizarre incident are continuing.
Peter Dutton has been forced into home quarantine in Brisbane and will not attend Parliament for the next two weeks.

The Defence Minister was told to quarantine because his teenage sons attend a Brisbane school which suffered an infectious case.

The school has asked any pupils who attended between Wednesday and Friday to isolate after a student tested positive.

Mr Dutton, who recovered from Covid-19 in March 2020 and is fully vaccinated, has tested negative for the virus.

Peter Dutton (pictured with his family in 2018) has been forced into home quarantine in Brisbane and will not attend Parliament for the next two weeks

Mr Dutton, 50, will quarantine at home with his family for two weeks and attend cabinet meetings virtually.

Christian Porter will take over as Leader of the House for the next fortnight while Mr Dutton is in quarantine.

Mr Porter held the role until March when he was removed after denying allegations he raped a female debating teammate in 1988.

Queensland's Covid-19 outbreak has continued to spread with 13 cases of community transmission announced at the state's Monday morning Covid update.

Deputy Premier Steven Milles said Queensland's lockdown would be extended until 4pm next Sunday as a result of the new cases.

Brisbane's agriculture fair Ekka has been cancelled for a second consecutive year.

Seven of the new cases are students from Ironside State School. Another five are related to the school being household members or family contacts.

One case is linked to a confirmed case from the karate club that trains at the school.

'For us to come out of this at the weekend, we need absolutely everyone in those LGAs to stay at home if they can,' Mr Miles said of the extended lockdown.

'It is absolutely critical that people only leave their homes for the four reasons. There's too many cars on the road in Brisbane at the moment. Too many people out and about.'

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said she still did not know how the virus had been transmitted from two overseas travellers to the family of the schoolgirl from Indooroopilly State High School who tested positive last Friday.
A Sydney nurse says she was sacked for giving leftover doses of Pfizer vaccine to her daughter and two nephews instead of 'squirting them in the bin'.

Grandmother Kirstin Peterson, 67, was working for Healthcare Australia at an aged care facility and had three doses of the prized jab left over at the end of the day.

Each vial contains five doses of the vaccine, but if remaining doses are left over after it has been opened, they cannot be kept and must be thrown away.

Rather than dispose of the coveted vaccine, she gave them to her family members.

Each family member was eligible to receive Pfizer, she said, but her bosses sacked the 40 year veteran nurse on the spot.

Sydney nurse Kirstin Peterson (pictured) says she was sacked for giving leftover doses of Pfizer vaccine to her daughter and two nephews instead of 'squirting them in the bin'

'It breaks your heart to see these doses as a nurse,' she told A Current Affair. 'It's terrible. You squirt it into the bin.

'You feel terrible, it could be used for someone, but they go into the bin.'

The nurse has been working at various aged care and disability homes in the Greater Sydney area and has been careful to minimise wastage.

Pfizer has to be kept in very specific, demanding conditions and expires quickly, but Ms Peterson says she's only ever had to dump three doses in total prior to the incident with her family.

'I've usually had zero to toss,' she said. 'I've been very lucky. And on the day my family members came in, none were squirted out. They were used.'

Grandmother Kirstin Peterson, 67, (pictured) was working for Healthcare Australia at an aged care facility and says she had three doses of the prized jab left over

Rather than dispose of three soon-to-be expired Pfizer doses, Kirstin Peterson gave them to her family (stock image)

She insisted she would never have opened a vial of vaccine simply to vaccinate her own family.

'These were spares that were going to be ditched,' she said. 'There is no gain for me, I don't get any financial incentive.'

Ms Peterson begged her bosses not to sack her but the pleas fell on deaf ears.

'I said, "Can I please have another chance?" and he said no, and I said, "It's my only job at the moment" and he said, "Well, you've squandered it",' she said.

She added: 'I believe I did the right thing. Part of the code of conduct is to be smart and cost-effective.'

The decision to sack her flies in the face of the official advice from NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant who was questioned about the case on Monday.

The nurse believes she did the right thing as part of the conduct is to be smart and cost-effective

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant declined to comment on whether the nurse should be reinstated but stressed she does not want any Pfizer doses going to waste

I do not want to see one dose of Pfizer going to waste at this current time,' she said. 'We need to have as many jabs as possible. I do not want any wastage.

Her employer, a not-for-profit, has been contacted for comment.

About 460,000 shots were administered in NSW last week.

The proportion of the state's population aged over 15 with at least one dose - the group used for federal government targets - rose last week from 37 per cent to 41 per cent.

The Pfizer vaccine has become highly-prized in Australia after reports gained traction of ultra-rare blood clots occurring after getting the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Pfizer was initially billed as the vaccine of choice for those under the age of 60 due to the slightly higher risk of the extremely rare AstraZeneca side effects.

But with Sydney facing even higher case numbers and Queensland now also suffering an outbreak of the Indian Delta strain, all adult Australians are being urged to get the jab.

The Prime Minister has even hinted lockdowns could soon be a thing of the past when enough Australians are properly vaccinated.
One in ten hospitality businesses in Britain had to close over the last month as the 'pingdemic' had a major impact on staffing levels, an industry expert said today.

The chief executive of UKHospitality highlighted how huge numbers of workers were being told to self-isolate at the same time as the reopening of the hospitality sector.

Kate Nicholls added that one in five firms have had to 'significantly adjust their offer or services' to cope with the pandemic as their revenues plunged.

The 'pingdemic' has seen record numbers of people being alerted by the NHS Covid-19 app to self-isolate in recent weeks, including 700,000 for the week to July 21.

The Government rolled out exemptions for workers it deems to be employed in critical industries, such as those in the food sector, transport and waste collection.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, highlighted how huge numbers of workers were being told to self-isolate at the same time as the reopening of the hospitality sector

Daily negative test results can enable such workers who have been alerted by the app or called by NHS Test and Trace as coronavirus contacts to continue working.

Ms Nicholls told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'In the last month one in 10 of our businesses have had to close their sites and more importantly one in five have had to significantly adjust their offer or services in order to cope with the pandemic.'

She added: 'The pingdemic has hit at the same time as the reopening, they haven't had time to rebuild cash reserves and so they are in quite a fragile state and the hit to revenues as a result of the pingdemic is running at about 15 to 20 per cent of revenues for those businesses that are affected.

'So it is a significant suppression just at the point in time when these businesses needed to start recovering from about 16 months worth of closure and restrictions.'

Diners enjoy a meal or drink outside in London's Soho over the weekend on Saturday evening

She went on: 'We are recommending that workers have daily and regular tests and that's an important part of it for those who are a younger workforce who are through no fault of their own unable to be fully vaccinated by August 16.

'We are urging the Government to develop a more workable, pragmatic self-isolation policy for those workers that continue to be affected.'

It comes as desperate councils are offering lorry drivers bonuses of 3,000 in a bid to clear the backlog of bin collections caused by the pingdemic.

Rubbish has piled up in many areas in recent weeks  with up to 40 per cent of some local authority workforces having to isolate.

Some residents have been told to cut down on the amount of food that they throw out as piles of uncollected waste grow.

Others have been asked not to put their bins out unless they are full, with collection services in dozens of areas running significantly behind schedule.

Separately, a new report has warned more than 1.1 million jobs remain unfilled as the pingdemic crisis worsens the shortage of workers.

Vacancies have topped one million for almost three months, according to research by jobs site Adzuna.

There are almost 31,000 retail vacancies, up by 14 per cent in the last month, 10,000 in supermarkets, 77,000 in hospitality and catering, 90,000 in trade and construction, and 84,000 in logistics and warehousing, it said.
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Have you returned to the UK thanks to today's rule change on double-vaccinated travellers? Tell us your story. Email tips@dailymail.com or martin.robinson@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

A couple separated by Covid got engaged at Gatwick as the airport marked the first day of relaxed quarantine measures.

Ben Gilkes and Cristina Paiva had been apart for two months after Ben was unable to go on their joint trip to Portugal after catching Covid-19 between his first and second jabs.

Cristina, a nurse, returned from Porto on the first day of relaxed quarantine rules for EU arrivals.

Ben heralded her homecoming by popping the question alongside a bouquet of flowers - with his mother, Rosie Nightingale, also present.

The heart-warming scene mirrored both the beginning and end of the 2003 romantic comedy film Love Actually, which showcased footage of people reuniting at arrival gates with their loved ones, with Hugh Grant providing commentary over the top.

The proposal was one of many emotional reunions marking the relaxation of restrictions for double-jabbed EU and US travellers.

Those who have had both jabs of a Covid vaccine were allowed to enter the UK from 4am this morning after the Government announced they would be exempt from quarantine on July 27.

John Gurney, a British ex-pat who lives in Amsterdam with his family, brought his young children to see their grandmother who lives in the UK for the first time since Christmas 2019.

Ben Gilkes and Cristina Paiva, a couple who were separated by Covid, got engaged today at Gatwick as the airport marked the first day of relaxed quarantine measures. Pictured: Ben on one knee as he proposed to Cristina

The couple had been apart for two months after Ben was unable to go on their joint trip to Portugal after catching Covid-19 between his first and second jabs

Mr Gurney said: 'It's just a relief because of the tension of the [vaccine] passport thing and you wonder 'are all of these QR codes going to work?'

'My mum just said to the grandkids 'you're real, you're not just on a screen'.

'We normally come every Christmas and then last Christmas we sort of presumed you will and then haven't and then they were like. 'oh, it's happening and then oh it's not'.'

Jack, Sam and Dan are brothers who have reunited with their brother Ryan for the first time in two years after he spent time working in Russia and Ukraine.

On arrival at Gatwick, the brothers and their gathered family cheered Ryan through the arrival gate.

Jack, who had not seen Ryan for a year longer than his brothers, said: 'It's a bit surreal to finally be all together again after so long.'

Ben and Cristina were reunited earlier today at Gatwick airport after quarantine restrictions were eased

Cristina, who works as a nurse, returned from Porto on the first day of relaxed quarantine rules for EU arrivals. Ben heralded her homecoming by popping the question and presenting her with a bouquet of flowers

The US is working with the Government on a plan to allow Brits to enter America after this latest change to the rules.

The UK recorded 24,139 new cases of Covid yesterday.

It comes as families separated by Covid-19 have been reunited following a heartbreaking near-two years apart after the Government finally allowed double-jabbed people from the US and EU to jet in to the UK and avoid quarantine.

Passengers returning from the US today told MailOnline how they were 'very emotional' after not seeing family for nearly two years.

Sue Hasyniec, 66, from Devon, was at Heathrow Terminal 5 today welcoming her newly wedded son Joshua back from Dallas after nearly two years with his wife Hannah. The couple were forced to marry without their parents, who watched on Zoom.

Cristina arrived back in the country today to find Ben waiting for her with flowers and to propose on one knee

The proposal was one of many emotional reunions marking the relaxation of restrictions for double-jabbed EU and US travellers

She said: 'I was last over there in October 2019, so I haven't been able to see my son for nearly two years.

'He got married on Saturday and I was absolutely gutted because I couldn't go to the wedding. I kept calling up the American Embassy saying, 'it's my only son, I had him at 40 and I want to see him get married.

'But they kept saying it wasn't a good enough reason to be exempt. It was heart-breaking watching Joshua get married without either of their parents.

'I'm really excited when I found out he wasn't going to have to quarantine. So I'm taking them straight down to Portsmouth for some nice surprises, which I cannot reveal.

'Initially he was going to have to quarantine for five days. And it was such a lucky coincidence because his in-laws bought the flight three weeks ago as a wedding present. I thought I was blessed.'

Those who have had both jabs of a Covid vaccine were allowed to enter the UK from 4am this morning after the Government announced they would be exempt from quarantine on July 27. Pictured: Ben and Cristina embrace one another after reuniting at Gatwick airport today

Joshua Hasyniec, 27, said: 'It's been so long, so seeing my mum is fantastic. I never imagined this sort of thing happening would stop me from seeing her. We're going to go outside and enjoy ourselves. My wife is really excited about Jaffa cakes, it's her favourite English confectionery.'

Michael and Su Blake were among those who embraced their grandchildren and their parents for the first time since 2020 as their fully-vaccinated family flew into London Heathrow from New York this morning.

Susan Handfield also met her baby granddaughter Charlotta for the first time as she and her mother Eva arrive from Berlin because many families have not able to see each other for approaching two years because of strict curbs on travel to and from the UK.

And it also means that British citizens double-vaccinated abroad can also travel back home more easily.

Non-UK residents arriving from amber list countries have previously been forced to self-isolate when arriving in the UK - even if they have been double jabbed.

An emotional Lucinda Tooze (left) from Plymouth meets her sister Sophie and her two sons in arrivals after they jetted in from the USA

Joshua and Hannah Hasyniec landed in London from Houston, Texas as quarantine rules were relaxed

A grandfather hugs his granddaughter today as flights into the UK from the EU and US carried double jabbed passengers now able to avoid quarantine on arrival

Susan Handfield, left, meets her baby granddaughter Charlotta for the first time, held by her mother Eva as they arrive from Berlin

People fully vaccinated in the United States and European Union, except France will now be allowed to travel to England without having to quarantine on arrival

There were tears and hugs in Heathrow terminal 5's arrivals as the first flights came in this morning

Many of those people seeing family for the first time had jetted in from the US, including this young woman from Houston

A mother embraces her son as he arrives from the United States at Heathrow's Terminal 5

Aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents hugged children they hadn't seen since Covid-19 shut down the globe

Lucinda meets her nephews and sister Sophie Lockard after they flew into the UK from Miami with British Airways today

Mother Sandra Clark embraces her daughter Shiona, who has not seen her mother since last September. Sandra flew in from Washington this morning

Battle to save summer: Rishi Sunak leads cabinet rebellion demanding u-turn on plans for ruinous amber-plus list The creation of an extra travel alert level hangs in the balance today amid a mounting Tory revolt and a warning by Rishi Sunak that the industry faced devastation - while travel experts push for 17 destinations to be added to the quarantine-free green list. Ministers signed off proposals last week to create an 'amber watch list' that could plunge the plans of hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers into turmoil. Travellers would be warned that destinations  possibly including hotspots such as Spain and Italy  face being placed on the red list while they are away, forcing them to quarantine on return in a state-selected hotel at huge expense. But Whitehall sources last night told the Mail that the plans could now be scrapped - amid a growing backlash from Tory MPs. It comes as yesterday it emerged that Mr Sunak had written to Boris Johnson to warn the Government risked damaging the travel sector by imposing more 'draconian' measures than EU rivals. And today fully vaccinated arrivals to the UK who have been double jabbed in the US or the EU will no longer have to quarantine when arriving from amber list countries after a rule change. The Chancellor said UK border policy was 'out of step with our international competitors' in a way that threatened to damage jobs. Tory backbenchers also took aim at the Government's 'amber watch list' plans, which they dubbed 'inexplicably complicated'. And industry bosses last night issued a warning that it was the 'last chance saloon' to 'save the summer' unless ministers moved more countries on to the green list. Travel expert Paul Charles has said it would be a 'disaster' if the Government introduced a new travel traffic light category. Advertisement

Lucinda Tooze, 31, from Plymouth said: 'I've been waiting two years to see my sister Sophie and two nephews who live in Miami.

'I'm very emotional and can't even believe it really. When I saw the picture of them boarding, I couldn't even believe it.'

After walking through the arrival gates, Sophie said: 'I haven't slept because I've two little terrors on the flight with me.

'But it's fantastic to see my sister and very surreal. I don't have to quarantine because it literally changed today.'

Shiona Seaman, 27, a housewife from Suffolk who is waiting for her mum at Heathrow Terminal 5 said: 'We're very, very close, so it's very nerve racking and exciting.

'I woke up this morning feeling very nervous for the two-hour drive. She's flying in from DC, and I haven't seen her in a year.

'The first thing we're going to do is visit her aunt and cousins - because she's originally Scottish.

'I'm very excited about the rules changing because otherwise my dad wouldn't have been able to visit because of his work.

'He only gets two weeks off, so if he had to do a 10-day quarantine it wouldn't have been worth it.'

Her mother Sandra Clark, 60, said: 'I was coming whether or not I had to isolate but not having to make it all the better. It's nice to be here because I haven't been for three years.'

Hannah Harper, from DC who is working in Bristol as an environmental consultant and was waiting at Heathrow Airport for her husband to arrive from Washington DC today.

The 30-year-old said: 'I'm thrilled because we were both fully vaccinated months ago but didn't want to risk it.

'We were really worried about having to spend a lot of money on tests and quarantining so we could see each other.

'It was such a relief when I heard they were changing the rules.'

Her husband Ryan Lutz, 30, who is starting for a PhD at the University of Bristol in September, added: 'I've been waiting for about three months for my visa and for quarantine rules to relax.

'When I heard the rules were relaxing late last week, I was super relieved because I hadn't seen my wife in many months and I've already had to rebook my flights three times.'

Pippa Smith, 52, from the New Forest, was also waiting at Terminal 5 for her son to come back from the States today after he got married across the pond.

She said: 'My son went to the United States three weeks ago to get married.

'He had to quarantine for two weeks in Mexico before flying to Pennsylvania. He went without anybody, without family or his friends.

'It was all done with technology and a few hiccups. It's been a very big mix of emotions because of covid

'This is the first time that I've absolutely resented Covid. When I heard about the change in rules, I felt great but it was too late.

'It's bitter-sweet because they can come here but we can't go there without having to isolate. We've given America more than they've given us.'

Families apart for approaching two years were reunited for the first time since the pandemic began

Families embraced for the first time since 2020 after being kept apart by Covid

The new travel rules meaning fully vaccinated travellers from the US, the EU and a handful of other European countries has led to a '300% increase' in bookings to the US.

But Airlines UK chief executive Tim Alderslade said as he welcomed the change said that adding more tiers to the travel system, as Cabinet ministers are currently considering, would over-complicate international travel, describing the amber list as a 'red flag for travellers'.

Mr Alderslade told Times Radio: 'I think the announcement this morning is very welcome - there will be an uptick in bookings.

'We've seen from the US around a 300% increase in bookings to the US - but we've got to somehow try to find a way to get more countries on the green list and we absolutely should not be going down the road of adding more tiers to an already very complicated international travel system.'

'I think the problem with the US is that we can't travel there, so the Biden administration still will not allow Brits and Europeans to enter the US, so it will be slightly curtailed because of that,' he added.

'I think the big issue for us as an industry is the green list... amber at the moment is a red flag for travellers, it's a glaring warning sign because of the worry that people have that they will either be stranded overseas or they will have to quarantine either in a hotel or a home for 10 days.'

Non-UK residents arriving from amber list countries have previously been forced to self-isolate when arriving in the UK - even if they have been double jabbed.

But from 4am today, the rules will change to allow them to enter the country providing they have been double vaccinated in either the US or an EU country.

The rule change will be a big boost for families abroad who have faced strict restrictions when planning visits to the UK since March last year.

The UK government has said the change, which was announced last week, will help to reunite family and friends whose loved ones live abroad.

Airline bosses have welcomed the move, although travellers will still need to take either a lateral flow or PCR test pre-departure and a PCR test on the second day after they arrive.

Under-18s will be exempt from isolation, and some will not have to test, depending on their age.

But air travel will not fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic for up to another three years, industry bosses have warned.

The International Air Travel Association (IATA) sounded the warning as new quarantine rules come into force today.

Ministers are being implored not to create a new travel traffic light category that could put thousands of holidaymakers at risk of having to endure an enforced stay in hotel quarantine.

Reports have suggested there is a fallout among Cabinet ministers over proposals to introduce an amber watchlist, designed to warn travellers of the possibility that countries with concerning coronavirus data - which could potentially include Italy and Spain - could be put onto the red list at short notice.

A mother holds a sign for her son as she waits for his arrival at Heathrow's Terminal 5

A passenger is greeted by a child after arriving on a flight from the US at Heathrow this morning

A happy British Airways cabin crew (Stuart Brumby, Graeme Donaghy, Samantha Hannah, Charlotte Harvey and Sophie Lewis) who were on one of the first flights into Heathrow from New York this morning safely carrying many people being reunited with their families in the UK today

There were hugs at arrivals in Heathrow in scenes repeated all over the country today as the rules changed

Michael and Su Blake hug their children and grandchildren as they flew into Heathrow this morning after quarantine was lifted for the double-jabbed from the US and EU

Those returning from a red list country must enter a quarantine hotel at a cost of 1,750 for solo travellers.

In a ray of hope for millions of British holidaymakers, industry experts last night released optimistic data which they say shows how 17 countries (pictured) could be added to the quarantine-free green list or green watch list.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, is one of those to have railed against the idea of an amber watchlist.

'There's no need for an amber watchlist, which would complicate the traffic light system even more,' he tweeted.

'Just create a simple go and no-go list, as Americans have, enabling the fully-jabbed to travel at will. It's not rocket science.'

There is already a green watchlist to alert holidaymakers that certain destinations could be relegated to the amber list, where anyone not fully vaccinated has to self-isolate for 10 days on their return.

All travellers entering the UK from green list locations do not have to self-isolate, while there is also an amber-plus list, containing only France at present, which scraps the quarantine exemption for the double-jabbed.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, according to the Telegraph, is against the idea of an amber watchlist and would instead like to see travel opened up further.

It comes as Labour accused the Government of being 'in chaos over their border policy' following reports the Chancellor has written to Boris Johnson to call for travel restrictions to be eased.

Rishi Sunak has reportedly told the Prime Minister that the UK's entry and exit rules are 'out of step with our international competitors' and are hurting the economy.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said it showed the two most senior figures in Government were 'in open disagreement' over the travel regulations, which are in place to keep Covid-19 variants of concern from taking hold in the UK.

'Rather than brief the Sunday newspapers against each other, the Tories need to get a grip and bring this summer of chaos to an end,' said the senior Opposition figure.

Travellers would be warned that destinations  possibly including hotspots such as Spain and Italy  face being placed on the red list while they are away, forcing them to quarantine on return in a state-selected hotel at huge expense

Ministers are due to meet on Thursday to decide the travel rules that will be in place for most of August.

Analysts have predicted that Spain could be the next country to go on the amber-plus list, in what would be a blow to British tourists given the country is the UK's most popular tourist destination, while France could be promoted to amber once again.

No 10 sources said it was too early to speculate on what changes might be made next week, and pointed to the decision to allow into Britain those fully vaccinated coming from the US and European Union as an example of Mr Johnson's own desire to see looser restrictions.

Under the rule, which came into effect at 4am on Monday, double-jabbed US and EU travellers do not need to quarantine on arrival into England.

The Department for Transport said it would not comment on 'speculation' when asked about whether an amber watchlist was being considered.

A spokesman for the Whitehall department said the traffic light system was 'kept under regular review' and 'based on the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre', which assesses the public health risk of international travel.

The debate over border controls comes as the UK turns its attention towards an autumn booster shot programme, with the NHS planning for third jabs to be administered as early as September 6 to help top-up immunity levels.

The Telegraph said vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi had briefed MPs on the plans, which include the aim of delivering an average of almost 2.5 million third doses a week and carving out an increased role for pharmacies.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: 'The Government is preparing for a booster programme and JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) have published interim advice on who to prioritise for a possible third vaccine from September 2021.

'The booster programme - which would ensure millions of people most vulnerable to Covid-19 will have the protection they have from first and second doses maintained ahead of the winter and against new variants - will be informed by the JCVI's final advice.'

The department said more details would be announced in 'due course', with ministers understood to be waiting for further results from the Cov-Boost trial to see which vaccines should be used in the autumn programme.

The 19.3 million UK clinical trial is examining key questions such as whether people who have had two doses of AstraZeneca may get more benefit from a third dose of Pfizer.

Government data released on Sunday showed that a further 65 people had died in the UK within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, while a further 24,470 lab-confirmed Covid cases were also recorded.

And more than 85 million Covid-19 vaccines, including first and second doses, have been administered in the UK - with more than 88% of adults having now had a first dose and more 72% getting both doses.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a 'phenomenal achievement' to have delivered so many doses in under eight months, adding: 'It has shown Britain at its best.'
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Police are believed to have removed video footage from a doorbell camera as neighbours said they heard a mother screaming 'the back door was open' before a five-year-old boy was found dead in a river.

The child was was named today as 'funny and polite' Logan Williamson as South Wales Police said they were still questioning a 39-year-old man, a 30-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of the boy's murder after after his body was found in the River Ogmore close to his home in the village of Sarn near Bridgend.

Pictures showed the doorbell camera missing from the exterior of his house, while friends revealed Logan and his family had been self-isolating for two weeks while recovering from Covid-19.

The fun-loving boy was reported missing at 5.45am on Saturday and there were fears he had walked out of his home to the nearby river, but police became suspicious after interviewing relatives.

After saying specially trained officers were supporting the family, the force said three people were being held at separate police stations.

Social services have been called in because of the age of the youngest suspect, who is only three years within the age of criminal responsibility in the UK, which is ten. Officers are not looking for anyone else over the incident.

Neighbours said they were woken by screams from outside the family's home on a terraced row of flats. One said: 'I could hear the mum screaming for her son. She was shouting 'the back door was open' and calling for him.'

One mother described Logan, who was also known as Logan Mwangi, as 'very smart' and 'happy' - and told of the boy having a 'smile that would light up the world'.

Logan Williamson, five, is pictured at the Ogmore River in Sarn near Bridgend where he was found dead on Saturday

Logan is pictured with his mother Angharad Williamson and stepfather Jay Cole, who is Ms Williamson's partner

'Funny and polite' Logan was found dead in the River Ogmore with South Wales Police now having arrested three people

Police became suspicious after interviewing Logan's family at their home in Bridgend following the discovery of his body

Logan's mother Angharad Williamson and stepfather Jay Cole, who live in the village of Sarn near Bridgend

A police diver surfaces in the bank of the River Ogmore in Sarn today as the investigation continues

Officers are thought to have removed video footage from a doorbell camera on the exterior of the family home, seen today

Logan was found dead in the river near Pandy Park where he loved to play with his friends. Police and forensic officers have been searching the scene after the boy was discovered in the water.

The day before the tragedy, Logan was said to have been seen kicking a football around with his stepfather on the patch of grass that separates their flat from the shallow river where he was found.

Scenes of crime officers were taking photographs both outside and in the property, which is a pebbledash former council house, and some material has been removed for forensic analysis.

Neighbours said the family had lived in the home for three years with Logan's mother as the main occupier. But her fiance also lived there and the couple had a baby daughter together in January last year.

There are eight posters in the downstairs widow of the property supporting the NHS and urging people to wash their hands and stay safe during the pandemic.

Logan's best friend from school, a five-year-old girl, arrived at the scene with her tearful mother to lay a card saying 'I love you' on the heap of cuddly toys and flowers.

A five-year-old girl - who is said to have been Logan's best friend - looks at the tributes with her mother in South Wales today

Tributes left in Pandy Park in Bridgend, south Wales, near to where the five-year-old boy was found dead

A woman leaves a Bart Simpson doll today at Pandy Park in Bridgend, South Wales, following the discovery

Tributes left in Pandy Park in Bridgend, south Wales, which have been placed there today in memory of Logan

Tributes left in Pandy Park in Bridgend, south Wales, today with one saying 'fly high Logan'

Mourners are pictured next to the tributes left in Sarn near Bridgend this morning following the discovery over the weekend

Police forensics officers are pictured this morning outside a pebbledash former council house in Sarn near Bridgend

A police diver comes out of the River Ogmore in Sarn near Bridgend today as officers continue their investigation

A police diver searches through the River Ogmore in Sarn today as South Wales Police officers remain at the scene

Her mother, who didn't want to be named, said: 'Logan was very smart, intelligent, happy and polite. He was in the same school as my daughter and for the last few weeks he had Covid and was self isolating. He was lovely - he had a smile that would light up the world.'

Logan was in a nursery class at Brynmenyn Primary School in Bridgend where he was loved by pupils and staff.

Mother Lois Shepherd, 25, left a cuddly toy baby shark chosen by daughter Maisie-Rae, four. She said: 'I'm just shocked and gobsmacked - the is such a small community everyone is feeling the pain of what happened.'

Messages left at the river bank include: 'Fly high Logan, sending love and kisses,' 'RIP angel' and 'Thinking of you.'

A mother of two who drove two miles to the scene said through tears: 'I didn't know the little boy and his family but I felt I had to come. It's so sad, I can't comprehend what the family is going through.'

The murder investigation has shocked the community and police say they understand locals want answers about how Logan died.

Police forensics officers walk along a footpath in Sarn near Bridgend in South Wales today

Local people pay their respects in Sarn near Bridgend today following the death of five-year-old Logan on Saturday

local woman lays flowers and a soft toy in Sarn near Bridgend, South Wales, this morning

Forensic officers at the scene in the Sarn area of Bridgend today, near to where the five-year-old boy was found dead

Floral tributes and teddy bears have been left in Sarn today following the incident on Saturday

A police officer outside a house in Sarn today where posters supporting the NHS are seen

They have appealed for information from anyone who has information about the hours leading up to his tragic death.

Tributes have been made to the youngster, who loved Teletubbies and the Lion King, with flowers, teddy bears and other cuddly toys laid at the riverside park.

Family friend Rhiannon Hales said on Facebook: 'He was a beautiful boy. He was kind, funny, polite, handsome and clever. He is loved unconditionally and has unfortunately lost his life.'

Another friend in Sarn, Bridgend, said: 'Logan was the cutest kid, always smiling and a real bundle of energy. Everyone is in a complete state of shock, we just can't make sense of what has happened.'

Local school mothers asked people to pay their respects by placing teddy bears at a lamp post and footbridge in the park close to where Logan was found.

Police forensics officers at a house in Sarn near Bridgend today as the investigation continues

A police car is pictured at a footpath leading to the River Ogmore in Sarn near Bridgend today

Police are seen after Logan was found dead in the Ogmore River, near Pandy Park in Bridgend

Officers were called at 5.45am on Saturday and the boy's body was found in the River Ogmore

A South Wales Police spokesman said: 'We can confirm that following reports of concerns for a missing five-year-old boy in Sarn, Bridgend, and the subsequent finding of the body in the Ogmore River near Pandy Park, three people have been arrested.

'A 39-year-old male, 30-year-old female and 13-year-old male, all from the Bridgend area, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and are currently in police custody. We are not looking for anyone else in relation to this incident.'

Chief Inspector Geraint White said: 'This is a tragic incident in which a young child has sadly lost their life. We are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed this incident, or who has any information, to get in touch.

'We would ask the public not to speculate about this incident on social media as this is an active investigation. If you have any information that can help, please report this to us. Our thoughts are with the family and we are supporting them in every way we can.'

Mr White said 'regular contact' has been made with the boy's family, who are being supported by specialist trained officers.

Tributes and teddy bears left near the scene following the boy's death in South Wales

Large parts of Pandy Park in Sarn were sealed off as police forensics teams carried out a serch

Police are appealing for anyone with information about the incident to come forward

He added: 'The local neighbourhood police team will continue to support and speak to residents in the area, and I encourage people to talk to them if they have any concerns.

'We recognise there are a lot of people in the local community who would like answers about what happened to him. We are keeping an open mind and are working hard to establish the full circumstances of his death so that we can provide answers to his family.

'This is an extensive and sensitive investigation and many people have been affected by this death.'

He thanked members of the local community for their 'understanding and support'.

Officers asked anyone with any information to contact them, quoting reference number 2100268674
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Sudesh Amman was under 24-hour surveillance by armed police when he stole a eight-inch knife from a shop in South London and stabbed two people while wearing a fake suicide belt before he was shot dead, an inquest heard today

A convicted terrorist who stabbed two people in a street attack 10 days after his release from prison has been spotted on CCTV moments before the knifing.

Streatham attacker Sudesh Amman, 20, is seen in CCTV images setting out from his bail hostel on his way to carry out the horrendous attack.

Amman - from Harrow - was automatically released from prison on January 23, 2020, and placed under 24-hour surveillance by police and security services.

Just 10 days later, the terrorist ran into a shop on Streatham High Road, stole an eight-inch carving knife, and stabbed two people on a 62-second rampage while wearing a fake suicide belt.

He stabbed Monika Luftner, a 52-year-old nursery school teacher, in the back.

He then knifed a male passer-by in the torso before being confronted by two armed surveillance officers.

Police fired six bullets and Amman was pronounced dead 90 minutes later, once explosives experts had established that the belt wrapped around his body was harmless.

Amman was said to have been a prefect and mentor at his school before developing 'behavioural issues' and showing signs of 'anger', according to counter-terrorism police.

An inquest heard how Amman's mother had told officers from the Met Police's counter-terrorism unit how her son used to become angry with her, his brothers and other people while he was at school.

He also became more religious from around 2014, when he began praying in his bedroom, according to his mother.

As his behaviour worsened, Amman was later suspended three times from school, including for being under the influence of alcohol and a 'serious weapons offence'.

Amman's background was today revealed at an inquest into his death.

The convicted terrorist was shot by armed police as he carried out a knife attack in Streatham in January last year - 10 days after being release from prison.

It was also revealed how police were so concerned about pleaded with a prison governor not to release him because he still held 'extremist views' and had told an inmate he was 'not finished with non-believers', his inquest heard today.

However, the request to extend Amman's custody was turned down because the earlier offence that he had committed could not justify an extension of his sentence, a senior Met officer told jurors.

Instead, Amman - from Harrow - was automatically released on January 23, 2020 and placed under 24-hour surveillance by police and security services.

Just 10 days later, the terrorist ran into a shop on Streatham High Road, stole an eight-inch carving knife, and stabbed two people on a 62-second rampage while wearing a fake suicide belt.

Opening the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice, the coroner said Amman was shot dead by armed police, while both of his victims survived.

CCTV images were released of Amman setting out from his bail hostel on the way to carry out his terror attack last year

Amman was seen walking the streets of Streatham moments before his terror attack, in these CCTV images released by the Metropolitan Police today

Armed police shot dead Amman after he grabbed a knife from a shop and stabbed a man and a woman in Streatham

Amman lies dead on the pavement on Streatham High Road after being shot dead

Speaking at the inquest today, Detective chief inspector Luke Williams, from the Met's counter terrorism unit, detailed Amman's background.

He said Amman had done well at school, and had been a 'prefect and mentor' before developing 'behavioural issues' and 'showing anger'.

Mr Williams said concern had been raised over Amman's school attendance in 2011. He said Amman's mother had described how he used to become angry with her, his brothers and other people at the school.

She had reportedly followed him one evening and 'found him fighting with other boys in the park'.

'He was showing anger more often and was described as having a temper and would throw things,' he said.

Mr Williams added that Amman had become more religious from around 2014, when he began praying in his bedroom, according to his mother.

Mr Williams described how Amman was suspended from school on three occasions, including for being under the influence of alcohol in 2015, for being in possession of tobacco and smoking at school in 2016, and for a 'serious incident involving weapons' later that year.

The inquest heard this incident, in April 2016, took place in Harrow when he allegedly attacked someone he knew from school.

It was alleged that Amman produced a samurai sword and a black revolver from his waistband, and was subsequently arrested.

The alleged victim did not provide a statement and there was a lack of forensic evidence, so no further action was taken against Amman, Mr Williams said.

Amman attained B and C grades at GCSE, Mr Williams said. He then went to Barnet College but was excluded after trying to hit a classmate with broken glass before punching him in the head.

Mr Williams said Amman's mother described her son as becoming 'more religious', praying five times a day, growing a beard and wearing traditional Islamic dress.

He added that social workers described Amman as having 'an influence over his mother and (she) had fear of him'.

A report by social workers on Amman read: 'He appears to be very stubborn, aggressive and challenging to engage.

'(Amman) doesn't have many friends and his friends in the past have cheated him.'

He later accused social workers of calling him 'a terrorist' and said that Great Britain 'wasn't so great', when being spoken to by the home offending team.

Mr Justice Hilliard said Amman had been serving a 40-month sentence for 13 terror offences at Belmarsh after pleading guilty to six counts of possessing material useful for terrorism and seven counts of disseminating terrorist material online.

Jonathan Hough QC, for the coroner, told the hearing: 'While in prison he appeared to retain an extremist mindset and appeared still intent on carrying out acts of violence on his release. He also seemed to feel he had celebrity status as a result of being convicted of terrorist offences.'

A police search of Amman's prison cell unearthed handwritten notes in Arabic which appeared to show loyalty to ISIS, which subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack. However, police giving evidence today said there was no evidence of any link between Amman and the terror group.

Detective Superintendent Dominic Murphy, senior investigating officer at the Metropolitan Police, also told jurors that Amman had been referred to children's services during his time at school between 2012 and 2016 following 'concerns over his mental health'.

Amman was suspended from school on three occasions, including for being under the influence of alcohol in 2015, for being in possession of tobacco and smoking at school in 2016, and for a 'serious incident involving weapons' later that year, the inquest heard.

In 2017, the Streatham terrorist was convicted of possession of cannabis and threatening a person with a weapon, and a year later was arrested on suspicion of terror offences.

The inquest, which is listed to last up to three weeks, is expected to examine Amman's background, his time in prison, his movements in the days between release and the atrocity, and police surveillance.

Timeline: Streatham 2020 terror attack January 23, 2020 Sudesh Amman, a 20-year-old from Harrow in north-west London, is automatically released from prison having been handed a 40-month sentence for 13 counts of obtaining and distributing material used for terrorist purposes. He is released to a probation hostel in Streatham, south London. January 24 Amman, who is originally from Coventry, is under day-time surveillance by plain clothes officers. January 29 A decision is made to allow those surveillance officers to carry firearms. January 30 Amman's covert surveillance is relaxed slightly, meaning there would be no coverage between 6am and 10am due to intelligence about Amman's lack of movement at this time of the day. January 31 Amman is seen looking at knives in a shop and buying items that could be used to create a hoax suicide belt. These items include a roll of tape, aluminium foil and four bottles of Irn Bru soft drink. It is then decided to put Amman under 24-hour surveillance. February 1 Amman is placed on 'round-the-clock' - i.e. 24-hour - surveillance. This includes armed covert police, as well as uniformed officers nearby. February 2 1.22pm - Amman leaves his approved premises, the probation hostel, at Leigham Court Road. 1.50pm - Amman is seen on Streatham High Road. He is said to be walking 'very slowly'. 1.57pm - The 20-year-old enters a shop called Low Price Store. He is inside for barely a minute, and emerges with a knife which he has stolen. He is pursued by undercover police. Amman stabs two people - a man and a woman - before being shot at by an armed officer. 1.58pm - Amman, reaching the Boots shop, turns to face the police. Police shoot at him five times, with two shots hitting him. A total of 62 seconds after running from the shop, Amman falls to the ground. 2.40pm - A police explosives expert arrives on the scene to check the device around Amman's waist, which was identified as a hoax. 3.24pm - Sudesh Amman is pronounced dead by a paramedic. Advertisement

Police 'asked Belmarsh prison governor to extend Amman's custody amid fears he could commit another offence in the community'

The inquest heard that on January 3, Amman was involved in a protest about the death of another prisoner in custody and jumped on the netting between floors at Belmarsh. He was moved into the segregation unit and while there, there were 'significant reports' that he had told another prisoner he was 'not finished with these non-believers yet.'

Detective Chief Superintendent Alexis Boon wrote to the prison governor Bob Davis expressing concerns about Amman's release. However, Mr Davis wrote back that Amman was entitled to release on January 23 and it would not be possible to arrange independent adjudication before his release date.

Mr Hough told the court: 'It would have to be through an independent adjudicator, and that would not be able to take place before that early release date came up.'

The Prison Service maintains that the offence Amman had committed 'would not have justified an extension of the sentence,' Mr Hough added.

Instead, Amman was placed under day-time surveillance by plain clothes officers between January 24 and 28, and on January 29 a decision was made to allow those officers to carry firearms, the inquest heard today.

Two days later, the jihadist was seen looking at knives in a shop and purchasing items that could be used to create a hoax suicide belt, the coroner told jurors, after which it was decided to put him under 24-hour surveillance.

On his release, Amman was required to live at a probation hostel in Streatham, with conditions such as a tag and curfew, and immediately became the subject of a 'priority investigation' by MI5 and Scotland Yard.

Amman's final moments: Convicted terrorist stole a carving knife and stabbed two passersby before he was shot dead by armed police

The coroner described how Amman was seen leaving his hostel on the afternoon he struck, walking towards Streatham High Road at around 1.25pm.

The coroner said: 'By 1.50pm, he (Amman) was walking very slowly, he had a white bag across his chest. He was under surveillance by four officers on foot, and other officers were in vehicles on a surrounding road.

'At 1.57, Mr Amman entered a general shop... which sold, amongst other things, knives.'

He said an anonymous surveillance officer went towards the shop's entrance, just as Amman grabbed a 20cm kitchen knife from a display and ran with it from the shop. The officer, known only as BX87, then ran after Amman.

The coroner said Amman then began stabbing members of the public. He said: 'As he ran and within a few seconds, Amman stabbed a lady in the back outside the White Lion public house. A few seconds later while still running, he stabbed a man by Cash Converters, in the right side of his torso.'

The coroner said a second officer, known only as BX75, also joined the pursuit of Amman and shot at him. The shot shattered a shop window, and Amman turned to face the two officers while still holding the knife, during which both officers then opened fire.

The inquest jury heard Amman suffered wounds in the neck and abdomen, and was pronounced dead at 3.24pm.

There was a gap of 62 seconds between when Amman fled the shop with the knife, and being fatally shot. A suicide belt he was wearing was later found to be a hoax.

Mr Murphy added that Amman had been pursued down Streatham High Street by armed police after he exited the shop. 'Surveillance officers saw he was carrying a carving knife and gave foot chase and shouted 'armed police' and for him to stop,' he said.

Mr Murphy said surveillance operations had been stepped up after Amman was observed entering a number of shops and making suspicious purchases in Poundland. Amman was reported to have bought a roll of brown tape, a roll of aluminium foil and three bottles of Irn Bru at the shop.

Convicted terrorist Amman used cannabis and attacked fellow pupil with weapon, jurors told Amman was born on December 27, 1999 in Coventry, to parents who had arrived from Sri Lanka earlier that year. His parents went on to have five further children, all boys, and they lived in Coventry for five years before moving to Handsworth In Birmingham. At the end of 2006, the family paid a three-week trip back to Sri Lanka and shortly after their return to Britain, his father decided to move back to Sri Lanka, the inquest was told. In August 2007 Amman's mother and all the children moved to London. His father continued to visit the family on a number of occasions over the years, the last in 2013 and Amman last saw him the following year. Amman attended Park High School in Stanmore between 2012 and 2016, during which time, in 2014, he was seen by child services over concerns for his mental health. In late 2015, Amman moved to the Jubilee Academy in Harrow which offered additional support for pupils with challenging behaviour. He was arrested in 2016 for attacking another pupil with a weapon but the victim refused to support a prosecution. He took his GCSEs in the summer of 2016 and that September, moved to Barnet Southgate College but was excluded in 2017 due to fighting in school. In May and June 2017, Amman was convicted of possession of cannabis and threatening a person with a weapon in a public place. A year later, in May 2018, Amman was identified as the user of a Telegram chat account using the name StrangerToThisWorld which had been posting extremist material. Advertisement

'We have, through experience on previous incidents, (found) that people have made fake suicide vests with similar purchases,' Mr Murphy told the inquest.

He added a further review had been undertaken, and from Saturday February 1 the armed officers would carry out 'round the clock' surveillance with additional support from uniformed armed police and an arrest team from the Met's SO15 team.

Inquest jurors were shown images of Amman on the afternoon he struck, taken under covert surveillance. He was seen wearing a camouflage jacket and a red hood and a beanie hat, with grey traditional dress underneath his jacket. He was carrying a white JD Sports bag across his torso.

Mr Murphy told the inquest Amman was under surveillance from nine officers - one on a motorcycle, some in cars, and some on foot. He told the inquest: 'The officers reported he was walking very slowly, apparently aimlessly.'

Mr Murphy said Amman had been inside the Low Price Store for 'less than a minute' but had snatched a kitchen knife from a display before running outside.

'He was only inside for less than a minute,' he told the inquest. 'While he was inside he then took a kitchen knife from the display in the shop and then ran from the shop. As he left the shop he was tearing the knife out of the packaging.'

Jurors were shown a picture of the knife stolen by Amman, which was covered in bloodstains.

Resuming after the lunch interval, Mr Murphy told the inquest that Amman stabbed two people shortly after leaving Low Price Store with the stolen knife.

Mr Murphy said: 'He (Amman) stabbed the first victim, the female victim, striking her in the back with the knife. Shortly after that, he strikes a second victim, a male pedestrian. This male is stabbed in the torso.'

He said both incidents happened 'within seconds' of leaving Low Price Store.

Mr Murphy said a surveillance officer, known only as BX75 to protect his identity, then challenged Amman and fired a shot at him. However, the shot 'did not seem to have an impact' on Amman and instead struck a shop window, which shattered and hit a woman stood nearby.

Mr Murphy said that after exiting the shop, Amman ran north up Streatham High Road past Argos, Peacock and Holland and Barrett, pursued by officers BX87 and BX75.

Jurors were shown still images, taken from CCTV footage, of both officers with their arms raised 'in firing position'. Mr Murphy added that Amman had stopped outside Boots and turned to face both officers before moving towards them.

'Both were shouting at him to drop the knife and, having received no response, both officers opened fire on him,' he said. 'One officer fired three shots and one officer fired two shots.'

He said that officer BX87 had fired three shots and officer BX75 had fired two shots. 'He fell to the floor as a result of the shots being fired and the knife was then kicked out of his reach by surveillance officer BX87,' said Mr Murphy.

Mr Murphy said it appeared that Amman was carrying 'canisters' around his waist at the time. He told the inquest: 'The officers at that time feared that might be an improvised explosive device (IED) of some kind, so they withdrew from the scene.'

The scene in Streatham High Road, south London after Amman was shot dead by police

Streatham terrorist Amman 'was chased down South London high street and stabbed two bystanders in 62 seconds' A police officer has described the final moments of Sudesh Amman's life, during which the convicted terrorist bolted down a south London high street and stabbed two members of the public in just over a minute. Detective Superintendent Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan Police said before the attack Amman had wandered from his probation hostel to Streatham High Road 'apparently aimlessly.' The 20-year-old was seen wearing a camouflage jacket, red hood and beanie hat, with grey traditional dress underneath and a white JD Sports bag slung across his torso. Jurors at the Royal Courts of Justice, where an inquest into Amman's death is being held, heard on Monday that the 20-year-old had left his hostel at around 1.25pm on February 2 2020. The coroner, Mr Justice Hilliard, said: 'By 1.50pm, he (Amman) was walking very slowly, he had a white bag across his chest. 'He was under surveillance by four officers on foot, and other officers were in vehicles on a surrounding road. 'At 1.57, Mr Amman entered a general shop... which sold, amongst other things, knives.' Mr Murphy said Amman had been inside the Low Price Store for 'less than a minute' but had snatched a kitchen knife from a display before running outside. Amman ran north up Streatham High Road pursued by two surveillance officers, referred to as BX87 and BX75. The inquest heard that 'within seconds' he had stabbed a female pedestrian in the back outside the White Lion public house. Amman then stabbed a man by Cash Converters, striking him in the right side of his torso. Mr Murphy said both officers had shouted at Amman to stop and declared themselves as armed police. Officer BX75 fired a shot which 'did not seem to have an impact' on Amman and instead struck a shop window, which shattered and hit a woman standing nearby. Mr Murphy added that Amman had eventually stopped outside a Boots store and turned to face both officers before moving towards them. 'Both were shouting at him to drop the knife and, having received no response, both officers opened fire on him,' he said. 'One officer fired three shots and one officer fired two shots.' He said that officer BX87 had fired three shots and officer BX75 had fired two shots. The inquest jury heard Amman suffered wounds in the neck and abdomen, but was feared to be wearing an improvised explosive device (IED) round his waist. A police explosives expert arrived on the scene at 2.40pm to check the device, which was identified as a hoax. Amman was pronounced dead by a paramedic at 3.24pm, once the scene had been declared safe. There was a gap of 62 seconds between when Amman fled the shop with the knife, and being fatally shot. Advertisement



A police explosives expert arrived on the scene at 2.40pm to check the device, which was identified as a hoax. He was pronounced dead by a paramedic at 3.24pm, once the scene had been declared safe.

Streatham terrorist 'was a lone wolf and there is no evidence to show a link between Amman and so-called Islamic State terror group'

An examination of Amman's phone and hostel room after his death revealed no indication of involvement 'by anyone else in anything he had planned' and no evidence he had breached his licence conditions, the inquest heard.

Mr Hough asked if police had found any evidence that anyone Amman knew was aware he was planning an attack at the time.

'None whatsoever,' Mr Murphy said. ISIS claimed responsibility but there was no information to suggest a link between Amman and the organisation.

'It is not unusual for them to identify incidents around the world and claim responsibility, whether or not they were involved,' Mr Murphy said.

Mr Hough asked: 'They have claimed responsibility for lone wolf attacks around the world with no basis?'

'Yes and that was the case here,' Mr Murphy. 'This was in essence a terrorist attack that Sudesh Amman carried out on his own as a result of him obtaining an extremist mindset and we found no evidence that any else was involved in it.'

Amman 'was reported to children's services over concerns over mental health while at school, used cannabis and attacked fellow pupils'

Amman attended Park High School in Stanmore between 2012 and 2016, during which time, in 2014, he was seen by child services over concerns for his mental health.

In late 2015, Amman moved to the Jubilee Academy in Harrow which offered additional support for pupils with challenging behaviour. He was arrested in 2016 for attacking another pupil with a weapon but the victim refused to support a prosecution.

He took his GCSEs in the summer of 2016 and that September, moved to Barnet Southgate College but was excluded in 2017 due to fighting in school.

In May and June 2017, Amman was convicted of possession of cannabis and threatening a person with a weapon in a public place.

Detective chief inspector Luke Williams, from the Met's counter terrorism unit, said Amman had done well at school before developing 'behavioural issues'.

An inquest into Amman's death heard he had been a 'prefect and a mentor' but had later started 'showing anger more often' and getting into trouble.

Mr Williams said concern had been raised over Amman's school attendance in 2011. He said Amman's mother had described how he used to become angry with her, his brothers and other people at the school.

She had reportedly followed him one evening and 'found him fighting with other boys in the park'.

'He was showing anger more often and was described as having a temper and would throw things,' he said. Mr Williams added that Amman had become more religious from around 2014, when he began praying in his bedroom, according to his mother.

Mr Williams described how Amman was suspended from school on three occasions, including for being under the influence of alcohol in 2015, for being in possession of tobacco and smoking at school in 2016, and for a 'serious incident involving weapons' later that year.

The inquest heard this incident, in April 2016, took place in Harrow when he allegedly attacked someone he knew from school. It was alleged that Amman produced a samurai sword and a black revolver from his waistband, and was subsequently arrested.

The alleged victim did not provide a statement and there was a lack of forensic evidence, so no further action was taken against Amman, Mr Williams said.

MI5 and police 'began monitoring Amman days after convicted terrorist's early prison release' MI5 launched an investigation after Sudesh Amman's prison release in January 2020 amid concerns that he 'retained extremist views' while in prison, the inquest into his death heard. Mr Justice Hilliard told the jury that Amman was first arrested in May 2018 and charged obtaining and distributing material for terrorist purposes. 'There were reports to the prison authorities that he retained extremist views throughout that time and there were concerns about release into the community,' Mr Hilliard said. On his release, he was housed in a probation hostel in Leigham Court Road, Streatham required wear and electronic GPS tag and subject to overnight curfew. MI5 opened a 'priority' investigation aided by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command. A surveillance operation was launched amid concerns that he might commit another offence and on January 31 was seen looking at knives in a shop and purchasing domestic items which could possibly be used to make a hoax suicide belt. 'As result he was put under 24 hours armed surveillance with armed police as back up,' Mr Hilliard said. The coroner described how Amman ran from the Low Price Store pursued by two officers, BX87 and BX75, and within seconds stabbed a woman in the back outside the White Lion public house. A few seconds later he stabbed a man near the Cash Converters shop, injuring him in the right side of his torso. The hearing was told that a woman, the third to be injured, was hit in the leg by flying glass. Two of the five shots struck Amman and he suffered wounds in the neck and abdomen, falling to the ground at 1.58 pm and 50 seconds, 62 seconds after he had run out of the Low Price Store. Advertisement

Amman attained B and C grades at GCSE, Mr Williams said. He then went to Barnet College but was excluded after trying to hit a classmate with broken glass before punching him in the head.

Amman's mother described how her son 'became more religious, prayed five times a day, growing a beard and wearing traditional Islamic dress'

Mr Williams said Amman's mother described her son as becoming 'more religious', praying five times a day, growing a beard and wearing traditional Islamic dress.

He added that social workers described Amman as having 'an influence over his mother and (she) had fear of him'.

A report by social workers on Amman read: 'He appears to be very stubborn, aggressive and challenging to engage. (Amman) doesn't have many friends and his friends in the past have cheated him.'

He later accused social workers of calling him 'a terrorist' and said that Great Britain 'wasn't so great', when being spoken to by the home offending team.

Amman 'set up Telegram chat account which posted extremist material including incitement to violence by urging attack on gay-rights speaker'

A year later, in May 2018, Amman was identified as the user of a Telegram chat account using the name StrangerToThisWorld which had been posting extremist material.

The user of the account also appeared to incite violence by urging an attack on a gay rights speaker, the inquest was told. Amman was arrested and his computer seized which revealed extremist Islamist material, including a recipe for making explosives.

His friend and girlfriend, with whom he had shared material, were also arrested and later released without charge.

Amman pleaded guilty in November 2018 to 13 offences of obtaining and distributing material which could be used for terrorist purposes and was jailed for 40 months.

Mr Murphy said: 'In September 2016 he moved to Barnet Southgate College. He was excluded in 2017 due to fighting in school. In June 2017 he was convicted of possession of cannabis and threatening a person with a weapon.

'[In May 2018] he was arrested on suspicion of engaging in and preparing for acts of terrorism. He was identified as the user of a Telegram Account. He had urged an attack on a Gay rights speaker.'
Covid booster vaccines will be offered to 32million Britons from next month, it was claimed today.

Over 50s and immunosuppressed people, along with NHS and care home staff will be offered third doses from as soon as September 6.

The vaccines will be administered at up to 2,000 pharmacies, with the goal of 2.5m per week. And they will be dished out at the same time as flu jabs, ministers hope.

The Telegraph reports No10 is aiming to get the most vulnerable groups jabbed by mid-December, so the vaccine has at least fortnight to kick in before Christmas.

All eligible adults are expected to get a dose of Pfizer, regardless of which vaccine they received for their first two injections.

Latest data from Public Health England suggests the Pfizer injection is slightly more effective against the Indian 'Delta' stain, which could encourage the Government to adopt the mix-and-match strategy.

But Department of Health bosses have yet to confirm any official details of the UK's booster scheme, with ministers waiting on final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Over 90 per cent of over-60s in England have been jabbed, with the Government hoping a third booster jab will give even more protection

Prizes for having the jab: As No10 plans to hand out Uber rides and takeaways, insiders reveal free coffee and cinema tickets could be new incentives to beat Covid vaccine hesitancy in youngsters Young people could be offered a free latte or cinema ticket in return for having the Covid jab under plans being discussed by ministers. The Government yesterday announced commercial tie-ups that will see firms like Deliveroo and Uber offer discounted takeaways and taxi rides to people who sign up for vaccination. A Government source said that further deals were expected in the coming days with cinema chains, coffee franchises and high street restaurants potentially involved. However ministers have ruled out offering cash bribes as seen in the United States where newly-vaccinated citizens are to be offered $100 in cash, equal to 72. There is a lot of work going on into broadening this out into other areas, the source said. We will not be offering cash payments but we hope there will be a range of attractive high street incentives that will encourage more people to come forward and have the jab. Boris Johnson is said to be frustrated that 30 per cent of people aged under 30 have still not come forward for their first jab, more than six weeks after vaccinations were opened up to all adults. A Government source said vaccinations in the age group were currently running at 40-50,000 a day, but added: Wed like to be doing a lot more.' Advertisement

The JCVI set out interim advice on the booster programme in June, advising that, if needed, the booster programme should begin in September.

Third jabs should first be offered to over-70s, over-16s who are immunosuppressed or extremely vulnerable, those living in care homes and frontline health and social care workers, they said.

In a second stage, the boosters should be given to remaining over-50s, over-16s who are at risk from the flu or Covid and those living with immunosuppressed individuals, the JCVI recommended.

The scientists said their final advice 'may change substantially' and will depend on emerging data, including on how long immunity lasts from two jabs.

The final recommendation from the experts is expected in the coming weeks.

But a Government source told the Telegraph the plan is to give flu and Covid boosters at the same time in different arms but it 'depends on final JCVI advice and coronavirus vaccine booster trials'.

Ministers are hoping to increase the record number of jabs given in a single day through the programme  which stands at 873,784 given on March 20, the source added.

Immunity gained from Covid jabs last for at least six months in the 'majority' of cases.

But there are fears this could fade later in the year, which could trigger a spike in hospitalisations and deaths.

An Oxford University trial looking at booster doses suggested a third shot six months after the second could restore peak immunity against Covid.

Ministers are expected to set out plans for the Pfizer jab to be used in the booster programme.

A senior government source told the Times that those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine would 'be getting an mRNA booster'.

MRNA used in the Pfizer and Moderna jabs is essentially a DNA instruction to tell your cells how to produce the harmless spike proteins from the virus - allowing your body to create an immune response without being exposed to the virus itself.

Oxford AstraZeneca is not an mRNA jab - instead using a weakened version of a common cold virus from chimpanzees that has been modified to contain genetic material shared by the coronavirus.

Scientists at Oxford University found in June that mixing and matching Covid jabs can give more protection, with those who got one AstraZeneca dose followed by a Pfizer jab having nine times more antibodies than those who stuck with the UK-made vaccine.

Experts who led the trial said the findings could have a 'major impact' on a booster regime and those who got two AstraZeneca jabs 'should probably be offered the Pfizer vaccine'.

Additionally, two doses of the Pfizer jab are 96 per cent effective against hospitalisation, but this dropped to 92 per cent after the AstraZeneca jab.

Ten-year age drop in Covid patients: Vaccine rollout has led to slump in number of older people in intensive care as average age of the seriously-ill falls to 49 The average age of Covid patients in intensive care has plummeted by ten years because of the vaccine rollout. Over the past three months, the critically-ill have been 49 on average, compared with 59 in the second wave of the pandemic. Around half of those admitted to intensive care units are under 50, and nearly one third under 40. The NHS figures illustrate the dramatic success of vaccines in protecting older adults, almost all of whom have been double-jabbed. Wards are instead filling up with those most likely to be unvaccinated, including young adults, pregnant women and people from black or deprived communities. Coronavirus is still in retreat across Britain, boosting hopes that the third wave is ebbing. Weekly infections are down by 30 per cent and yesterday 24,470 cases were reported, down from a summer peak of 54,674 on July 17. Advertisement

A study published this week also showed that a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine could offer strong protection against the Delta variant.

Research showed that antibody levels increased five-fold among people ages 18 to 55 who were given the booster shot.

The third dose was especially effecting for the elderly, with antibody levels spiking 11-fold among people aged 65 to 85 who had already received the standard two doses.

The roll-out could also see a move away from GPs and mass vaccination sites, with more reliance on pharmacies.

The number of pharmacies offering the jabs are expected to triple from 650 to nearly 2,000, but this is a fraction of the 9,500 that offer flu vaccines, according to the Telegraph.

This would take pressure off other parts of the health service, which are attempting to tackle the record high NHS waiting list and increasing A&E admissions.

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced plans to get more pharmacies involved in the rollout in June.

Andrew Lane, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, told the Telegraph increasing the number of pharmacies offering the jab would let GPs focus on tackling the NHS backlog.

He had met with vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi, who acknowledged people trust their local pharmacies, which are in all communities, including the most deprived areas of the country.

He said: 'After the mass vaccination centres are wound down, pharmacies will still be there for the long haul out of this nightmare.'

But it is not yet proven that booster doses are needed, so it is unclear who needs them, when and how often.

Some scientists and the World Health Organization said getting first jabs into unvaccinated adults in other countries should be the priority, because they are the most vulnerable.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'The government is preparing for a booster programme and JCVI have published interim advice on who to prioritise for a possible third vaccine from September 2021.

'The booster programme  which would ensure millions of people most vulnerable to Covid will have the protection they have from first and second doses maintained ahead of the winter and against new variants  will be informed by the JCVI's final advice.

'We are working with the NHS as they draw up detailed plans to deliver this booster vaccination programme, alongside the annual flu vaccination programme, and more details about rollout will be set out in due course.'

It comes as 85.1million vaccines have been administered across the UK, with 88.6 per cent of adults having one dose and 72.5 per cent being fully immunised.

The latest data from Public Health England and Cambridge University suggests that about 60,000 deaths, 22 million infections and 52,600 hospitalisations have been prevented by vaccines.

The Government plans to lure young people in for their vaccinations with the promise of cut-price taxis and takeaways, as Boris Johnson tries to tackle the relatively low take-up among the under-30s.

Uber, Deliveroo and Pizza Pilgrims are among the companies in discussion with the Government about offering incentives as part of the 'Jab 18-30' drive.

So far, only two-thirds of people in that age bracket in England have received a first dose since they became eligible in June, compared with 88.4 per cent across all age groups, meaning more than three million 18-to-30-year-olds remain unjabbed.
Have YOU stayed at Cloud Nine or had another disappointing glamping experience? Let us know: danny.hussain@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

Furious holidaymakers paying up to 2,000 for a three-night glamping holiday have slammed their experience as 'more Chernobyl than Champneys'.

Cloud Nine, a holiday company with three sites in Dorset, Norfolk and the Cotswolds that are running over the summer holidays, claims to offer the 'ultimate family escape' with five-star luxury.

However, visitors have slammed the company, with NHS worker Rob Knights, 42, saying he was left feeling 'totally misled' after he paid nearly 1,000 to stay at the Norfolk site for four nights with his wife and three kids.

He said: 'They sold you a dream and it just didn't come true. There are no bespoke cocktails.

'The food offerings consisted of a fish and chip van and overpriced mac and cheese stand.

'It was 6.50 for a pint of beer  you wouldn't pay that in a five-star hotel let alone a field.

'There was no zip wire or fairground. And there was one sink for people to do their washing.'

Maddie Hill, who visited with her daughters aged two and eight, told MailOnline: 'We visited last week - worst experience of my life.

'We ended up leaving after two days and booking into a hotel. The site was ridiculously overpriced. We were promised free activities for the kids, entertainment and much more but nothing apart from a pop up climbing frame and trampolines that we could of bought ourselves from Costco.

Visitors have hit out at glamping company Cloud Nine, which runs three sites in the Cotswolds (pictured), Dorset and Norfolk

The communal toilets at the Cloud Nine glamping site at the Cotswolds. One visitor slammed the facilities on offer

 Slide me  Picture one: How the campsite is supposed to look according to the Cloud Nine website. Picture two: How it actually looks in reality

One visitor shared this photo of the splash zone available to children at Cloud Nine Cotswolds

The communal kitchen area at Cloud Nine Cotswolds - a far cry from the five-star luxury promised

The communal kitchen area at the Cotswolds site of Cloud Nine glamping - one of three available for the summer

'Check in time being delayed by weather when the site was fine, finding fridges to store my daughters bottles but finding left over food containers and dog food.

'A tent pitched outside a grave yard with lighting which made the kids not be able to sleep as it was so bright throughout the night.

'Live entertainment? A bingo session and a man singing for an hour. Cocktail bus? Fish and chip van more like and overpriced food stalls.

'Plus, 6.50 for a pint of beer. I wouldn't of even paid that in a pub or a posh hotel so to pay it in a pop up tent is disgusting.

'The bedding was wet in the morning from how damp it is in the tents and the showers were horrendous.. to the point I wouldn't even put my kids in them. They were dirty and I didn't see one person cleaning for the time I was there.

'There were golf buggies zooming past your tents at ridiculous times of the night when your kids are trying to sleep.'

Simon Wilson, who owns a catering firm at the Cotswolds site, told the Sun: 'We were told it would be a festival-type event. Five-star luxury with cocktails and champagne.

'But the site is more like Chernobyl than Champneys. Some families are taking one look and seeing it isn't anything like the website.'

Another visitor told MailOnline: 'We are campers so not precious, however, you are selling the ultimate glamping experience which this is absolutely not.

'We paid 2000 for the weekend plus probably another 2000 on food, activities and drink. We feel cheated and oversold a concept that wasn't the reality.'

On its website, Cloud Nine promises: 'We've created the perfect balance of outdoor family adventures, and proper, spoil-yourself relaxation.

'Curated for families by families, you'll find endless activities and escapades designed with you and yours in mind.

Maddie Hill said her young daughters were horrified by their tent being next to a graveyard

One visitor who visited with his family said: 'They sold you a dream and it just didn't come true'

The firm promises luxury on its website - though customers were quick to hit out at the 'dream' they were sold

Cloud Nine writes on its website: 'Curated for families by families, you'll find endless activities and escapades designed with you and yours in mind'

On its website, Cloud Nine promises: 'We've created the perfect balance of outdoor family adventures, and proper, spoil-yourself relaxation'

'From Paddle boarding, wild swimming, kayaking, rowing and more  to arts and crafts, horse riding to yoga, storytelling to wild runs and more  we cover all bases (via gin tasting and a silent disco).'

However, visitor Lauren Nicholls said: 'We have just come back from there days there. We actually left a day early, we felt that disappointed by most aspects of the experience.

'Even trying to get the buggy to collect our stuff to leave turned up 30 minutes late. The onsite 'shop' which appeared in the reception tent on the Sunday afternoon, consisted of a picnic bench with nappies, toothpaste, some baby food pouches and sanitary products.

'One parent said her children were 'hangry' all they had eaten was chips and she just wanted a banana or something to take the edge of, as she also believed there was a shop she could use and therefor packed lightly.

'We wrote a complaint as soon as we returned home and was told we'd expect a response over the weekend, we are yet to hear anything.'

Other visitors left scathing reviews on social media.

One said: 'Checked in today. It's 9:30pm. I'm waiting in a tent with a dirty floor left by previous tenants.

The firm promises visitors 'the ultimate family escape' at its three sites which are running through the summer

How the site looks online. Maddie Hill, who visited with her daughters aged two and eight, told MailOnline: 'We visited last week - worst experience of my life'

The company promises visitors five-star luxury with a slew of impressive promotional shots

Another visitor told MailOnline: 'We are campers so not precious, however, you are selling the ultimate glamping experience which this is absolutely not'

One vendor said: The site is more like Chernobyl than Champneys. Some families are taking one look and seeing it isn't anything like the website'

'Asked housekeeping more than an hour ago to clean the sweets and crisps lying all over on the floor but no one has come yet - been to reception three times already.

'Children have to go to sleep soon. Seems like other tents have all types of issues too.'

Another wrote: 'Think about hygiene, showers not cleaned all week.

'Reception staff clueless. Wouldn't hurt to have at least 1 buggy for families who have small children (we struggled on a really hot day).

'Not having hot water for washing up is not cool.

'Overall I enjoyed the camping my kids loved it but felt a bit like Fyre Festival. A bit of a money pit. I think personally the phone charging should be free.

'Did raise this with the site manger but now I'm gone doesn't seem interested.'

In a statement amid customer anger, Cloud Nine said: 'Cloud Nine Glamping acknowledges that there have been a number of challenges in opening weeks which may have impacted some guests and their holidays; this is not the level of service Cloud Nine expects for its customers.

'Cloud Nine is working to resolve these issues as a priority, and is in the process of contacting guests who have been affected. Guests can contact hello@cloudnineglamping.com regarding compensation.'
Almost 700,000 people were 'pinged' last week over close contact some someone who had tested positive for coronavirus

Almost half of Britons have cut back on their socialising over fears they could fall victim to the 'pingdemic', a survey has found.

Some 46 per cent of people said they reduced their contact with others because of the risk of being 'pinged' by the NHS' Covid app and being forced into self-isolation.

The YouGov poll for The Times also found that 39 per cent had not reduced their contact.

The figures show that the government's self-isolation policy for people coming into contact with anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus is having the 'designed' effect of minimising the spread of the virus.

The policy has been incredibly disruptive, with almost 700,000 people being 'pinged' in the last week alone. Current rules mean they will all have to self-isolate for 10 days even with a negative test.

A YouGov poll found 46 per cent of people said they had reduced their contact with others because of the risk of being 'pinged' by the NHS' Covid app and being forced into self-isolation

However, from August 16 those who are double-vaccinated will not have to stay at home. Boris Johnson confirmed the change last week, saying it was 'nailed on'.

The survey of 1,722 people, conducted on July 29 and 30, also suggested the vast majority were sticking to rules, although 10 per cent said they had deleted the NHS Covid app from their phones and 13 per cent had turned off contact tracing.

Some 7 per cent of people said they had even avoided taking a Covid test because of the rules which say the 10-day period starts again if you test positive.

YouGov has separately found that the half of Britons also still avoid crowded spaces (down from 80 per cent in April 2020) and over 70 per cent still wear masks in public, a figure that has barely moved since the start of the pandemic.

Almost 700,000 people being 'pinged' in the last week alone after coming into close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus

A government spokeswoman told the publication: 'The self-isolation rules are doing exactly what they are designed to do  minimising the contacts of people who have been exposed to Covid-19, so we can protect the population while we continue to roll out the vaccine.

'By sticking to the rules, the public are playing a vital role in reducing the spread of the virus and preventing cases from becoming outbreaks.

'This enables the NHS to vaccinate as many people as possible ahead of August 16th, and we continue to encourage everyone to come forward to get their jab.'

Business leaders have however urged Boris Johnson to end self-isolation rules as soon as possible the avoid crippling businesses and other vital services because of staff absence.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said one in ten hospitality businesses in Britain had to close over the last month because the 'pingdemic' had had a major impact on staffing levels.

She added that one in five firms have had to 'significantly adjust their offer or services' to cope with the pandemic as their revenues plunged.

YouGov has separately found that the half of Britons also still avoid crowded spaces (down from 80 per cent in April 2020) and over 70 per cent still wear masks in public, a figure that has barely moved since the start of the pandemic

The Government rolled out exemptions for workers it deems to be employed in critical industries, such as those in the food sector, transport and waste collection.

Tony Danker, head of the Confederation of British Industry, demanded a change in the government's timetable for freeing double-jabbed workers, urging the PM to shift from 'mass isolation' to 'mass testing'.

He told the Telegraph: 'There is a high degree of confusion about how the Government's going to approach September reentry, in a world where one, people are coming back from holidays from different parts of the world; two, people are going back to school; three, most employers are implementing the beginning of their new hybrid or back-to-work strategy; and four, we're told there might be another wave.

'We think August needs to be a time where we genuinely bang heads together and talk about an integrated plan and a philosophy for managing the next six to 12 months.'

Separately, a new report has warned more than 1.1 million jobs remain unfilled as the pingdemic crisis worsens the shortage of workers.

There are almost 31,000 retail vacancies, up by 14 per cent in the last month, 10,000 in supermarkets, 77,000 in hospitality and catering, 90,000 in trade and construction, and 84,000 in logistics and warehousing, it said.

The backlash over the continuing 'pingdemic' comes as Covid cases fell for the eleventh day in a row with a further 24,470 recorded in the UK yesterday.

Last Sunday saw 29,173 cases recorded, meaning today's figures represent a fall of 16% from the July 25 figure.

The most recent data for vaccinations, which goes up to July 31, shows 88.6 per cent of the adult population have had one dose of the Covid jab, while 72.5% have had two.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, described it as 'a phenomenal achievement' and thanked the NHS, armed forces officials and volunteers for their 'tireless efforts' in getting the country to this point.
Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure from MPs to intervene and examine a 6.3billion takeover of UK defence giant Meggitt by US firm Parker-Hannifin.

The deal for Meggitt, a key defence supplier to the UK Government, was announced this morning.

Parker-Hannifin, which already has operations in the UK employing around 2,000 people, has committed to maintaining the firm's headquarters in Coventry.

It also agreed to continue to meet Meggitt's contractual obligations with the Ministry of Defence.

Meggitt is the latest large British company subject to a foreign takeover and MPs on the Defence Select Committee believe ministers must step in to see if the deal is acceptable amid national security concerns.

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the committee, told MailOnline that there has been a 'one way ticket' in recent years of important UK firms being bought by foreign entities.

He said the Government should 'absolutely' intervene as he argued the UK cannot continue to 'haemorrhage' ownership of nationally significant companies.

Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure from MPs to intervene and examine a 6.3billion takeover of UK defence giant Meggitt by US firm Parker-Hannifin

Aerospace technology firm Meggitt has agreed to be acquired by US firm Parker-Hannifin in a 6.3bn deal (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Meggitt, a FTSE 250 company, has confirmed an offer from the US engineering technology giant Parker-Hannifin valuing it at 800p per share. Shares soared by 60 per cent in early trading following the announcement.

The move represents a 70 per cent premium on the share value of the company at the end of trading on Friday July 30, when it was at 469.1p per share.

There have been repeated controversies in recent months and years over attempted foreign takeovers of British firms.

The potential sale of Welsh microchip manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab to Chinese-owned Nexperia is currently being looked at by ministers with the Government also intervening in the proposed takeover of UK computer chip design firm Arm by US tech giant Nvidia.

Responding to the Meggitt announcement, Mr Ellwood said there is a 'worrying trend' of key UK firms being bought by foreign entities.

He said: 'On the one side of things, it is going to an American company, therefore many people will simply say let's be relaxed about this, we are open to international business, we attract businesses here, we can't be upset when other businesses come and attract British entities.

'But there is more to it than that in it has been very much a one way ticket, with so many companies even being pursued and subsumed by American entities or indeed going towards China as well.

'It then begs the question of what are we left with? What is our resilience? What is our ability to defend our own supply chain?'

Asked if the Government should intervene, Mr Ellwood said: 'I think that in the case with Meggitt, absolutely, because it is just such an enormous company.'

He added: 'With the world getting more dangerous, not less, we have to ask ourselves, is it in our security interest to see so many companies, see us haemorrhaging so many companies to interests abroad, not just the United States but right across the world?

'We used to pride ourselves on our defence, security, aerospace capabilities and in an ever tougher economic climate we should be holding onto these strengths, not ceding them, even to our allies.'

Labour MP Kevan Jones, a member of the committee, added: 'The Government should intervene and should do what the French are doing, looking at their entire defence sector and supply chain to ensure that national security is not compromised by takeovers.'

Parker-Hannifin has said it will at least maintain Meggitt's investment in UK research and development, with plans to increase this by 20 per cent over the next five years, subject to normal activity in the sector.

It comes after a period of turbulence during the pandemic, with Meggitt cutting 1,800 jobs last year across its global business after Covid-19 hit the travel sector.

On Monday, the company also revealed that it has swung to a profit for the first half of 2021 as it continued its post-pandemic recovery.

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, told MailOnline that there has been a 'one way ticket' in recent years of important UK firms being bought by foreign entities

Parker-Hannifin chairman and chief executive Tom Williams said: 'We are committed to being a responsible steward of Meggitt and are pleased our acquisition has the full support of Meggitt's board.

'We fully understand these responsibilities and are making a number of strong commitments that reflect them.

'During our longstanding presence in the UK we have built great respect for Meggitt, its heritage, and its place in British industry.'

Meggitt chairman Sir Nigel Rudd said: 'Meggitt is one of the world's foremost aerospace, defence and energy businesses, leading the market with a strong portfolio of technology and manufacturing capabilities, and holding a significant amount of intellectual property.

'Whilst Meggitt is currently pursuing a strong, standalone strategy which will deliver value to shareholders over the long term, Parker's offer provides the opportunity to significantly accelerate and de-risk those plans, while continuing to deliver for shareholders.'
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The U.S. has blamed Iran for a deadly 'drone-style' attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two people including a British Army veteran off the coast of Oman and vowed an 'appropriate response' to the strike.

The unidentified British serviceman, as well as a Romanian crew member, died late on Thursday night after the MV Mercer Street oil tanker was attacked by a so-called kamikaze drone, which is laden with explosives and detonates on impact with its target.

Israel was quick to accuse Iran of being behind the attack, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claiming to have 'evidence' of Iranian complicity and vowing to 'send a message' to the ayatollahs.

The U.S. joined their Israeli allies in blaming Iran and said they were 'confident' the regime in Tehran had conducted the attack on the oil tanker, which is managed by London-based company Zodiac Maritime which is owned by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.

'Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region,' U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

'There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior,' Blinken said, adding that the commercial ship was 'peacefully transiting through the north Arabian Sea in international waters' at the time of the strike.

He continued: 'These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved.

'We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming. We once again offer our condolences to the families of the victims.'

Since February, at least three other Israeli-linked ships have been attacked in the same region - including MV Helios Ray on February 25, off the coast of Oman, MV Hyperion Ray on April 13 off the coast of UAE, and CSAV Tyndall on July 2 in the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MailOnline that 'Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done', while adding that it was 'clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping'.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also blamed Iran for the 'suicide drone strike' which he described as a 'callous attack'.

Iran's ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was summoned to the Foreign Office today by UK Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly and told that Tehran must 'immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security', following the attack on the Mercer Street tanker.

Cleverly also 'reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law,' the UK Foreign Office said.

In response to Israel, the U.S. and the UK blaming Iran for the attack, Tehran said it will respond promptly to any threat against its security.

'Although the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the threats of Western officials and those of the Zionist regime [Israel] as propaganda, any move against the interests and national security of Iran will face a tough and firm response, and Washington and London will be directly responsible for its consequences,' an unnamed Iranian official told the country Nournews news agency.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is 'confident' that Iran conducted attack on the Israeli oil tanker

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has blamed Iran for a 'suicide' drone strike on an oil tanker that killed two people including a British Army veteran off the coast of Oman after he came under fire for ignoring pleas from Israel to retaliate against the Islamist regime. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quickly accused Iran - the country's regional arch-rival - of being behind the attack and urged Britain to take action against Tehran

This January 2, 2016 photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa

It comes after the British Government came under criticism for initially refusing to apportion blame, with Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, accusing 'naive' and 'stupid' British officials of 'ignoring Iran's malfeasances for too long' and allowing the regime to 'get away with murder'.

Mr Johnson told MailOnline: 'I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done. I accept the attribution that the foreign secretary has made.

'This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping - a UK national died.

'It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world and the UK will continue to insist on that.'

Mr Raab has since swung out against Iran, claiming the assault was a 'deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law' and vowed to work with British allies 'on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack'.

He said: 'The UK condemns the unlawful and callous attack committed on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman, which killed a British and a Romanian National. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of those killed in the incident.

'We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran. UK assessments have concluded that it is highly likely that Iran attacked the MV MERCER STREET in international waters off Oman on 29 July using one or more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

'Iran must end such attacks, and vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law. The UK is working with our international partners on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack.'

Mr Bennett blamed Iran for the drone attack at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem and claimed to have 'evidence' that the Islamist regime was behind the deadly tanker assault, warning his country could 'send a message' in retaliation.

'The intelligence evidence for this exists and we expect the international community will make it clear to the Iranian regime that they have made a serious mistake,' the Israeli premier said at the weekly cabinet meeting in remarks conveyed by his office.

'In any case, we know how to send a message to Iran in our own way.'

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said: '[I] noted to [Mr Raab] the need to respond severely to the attack. Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terror, destruction and instability that hurt us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terror.'

The U.S. joined their Israeli allies in blaming Iran and said they were 'confident' the regime in Tehran had conducted the attack on the oil tanker, which is managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer (pictured)

The oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denied the regime's involvement in the assault and called Israel's allegation 'baseless' during a news conference.

'Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure,' Iranian state television quoted Khatibzadeh as saying.

Khatibzadeh 'strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the British foreign secretary against Iran, which were repeated by the U.S. secretary of state in the same context and contained contradictory, false and provocative accusations', state TV reported.

US Secretary of State Blinken had earlier spoken with his Israeli counterpart and both men agreed to work with other allies 'to investigate the facts, provide support, and consider the appropriate next steps,' according to a State Department statement.

'Based on [the] available info, Romania strongly condemns [the] Iranian drone attack against Mercer Street, during which a [Romanian] citizen was killed,' Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said. 'There is no justification whatsoever for deliberately attacking civilians.'

Earlier on Monday, Sam Armstrong, director of communications at the Henry Jackson Society, said: 'The UK has ignored Iran's malfeasances for too long. From the kidnapping of Nazanin Zatgari-Ratcliffe, to the attacks on Saudi oilfields, to the hijacking of British flagged boats, we have let Iran get away with murder.

The unidentified Briton, as well as a Romanian crew member, died late on Thursday night after the MV Mercer Street oil tanker was attacked by a so-called kamikaze drone, which is laden with explosives and detonates on impact with its target

'Now that the Government has seen the deadly consequences of this outrageous negligence it must finally act. Placating Iran's Ayatollahs while ignoring our allies in Israel is not just naive, it's plain stupid.'

On Saturday, an Israeli military official told the Ynet newspaper they would launch their own response to the attack on the Mercer Street vessel. 'The only question is how and when we'll respond,' the Israeli official added.

Mr Bennett said at the start of Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting: 'The Iranians who attacked with unmanned aircraft the Mercer Street intended to harm an Israeli target. Instead, their piratical act caused the deaths of a British citizen and a Romanian citizen.'

He warned: 'We know, at any rate, know how to convey the message to Iran in our own way.'

Iranian state media has claimed the incident was in retaliation for an airstrike on a Syrian military airport, which it accused Israel of being behind, according to CNN. The Syrian regime is backed by Iranian forces.

Analysts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of tit-for-tat exchanges in the 'shadow war' between Israel and Iran, in which vessels linked to each nation have been targeted in waters around the Gulf. The Israeli official warned that 'our campaign against them (Iran) will continue'.

The tanker was in the northern Indian Ocean, travelling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident which involved the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime confirmed the incident on board the tanker left one Romanian and a UK national dead.

'We are not aware of harm to any other personnel,' it said in a statement, adding that the Japanese-owned tanker was back under the control of its crew and was steaming to an undisclosed 'safe location' under US naval escort.

The British victim worked as a guard for UK maritime security firm Ambrey, the company said.

A security official claimed the crew reported hearing drone noises and eruptions in the water before the vessel went radio silent, CNN reported. The boat's driver and a security detail reportedly remained to pilot the vessel and were both hit in the attack.

Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa. The oil tanker owned by an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea. Two people - including a British man - are reported to have been killed in the attack

Speaking of Friday, Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid (pictured earlier this week) blamed 'Iranian terrorism' for the attack

Deadly standoff: How tit-for-tat exchanges between Iran and Israel have threatened to send the Middle East into a major conflict In recent months, there have been several reported attacks on Iranian ships that Tehran has linked to Israel. In March, Iran's foreign ministry said it was 'considering all options' in response to an attack on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean it blamed on Israel. And in April, Tehran said its freighter Saviz was hit by an 'explosion' in the Red Sea, after media reports said Israel had struck the ship. The New York Times reported at the time that the Saviz had been targeted in an Israeli 'retaliatory' attack after 'Iran's earlier strikes on Israeli ships'. It came at a time of heightened tensions between the foes, with reports of a series of tit-for-tat strikes on shipping since early March. In a report published in March that cited US and Middle East officials, the Wall Street Journal said Israel has targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria, mostly carrying Iranian oil, since late 2019. 'The occupier regime knows that such (accusations) will not fix its problems. Whoever sows the wind reaps the whirlwind,' Khatibzadeh said. Iran has also accused Israel of being behind sabotage attacks against its nuclear sites, and killing a number of its scientists. The tanker strike comes as Tehran and world powers are engaged in talks in Vienna in an effort to return Washington to a 2015 nuclear deal and lift sanctions, and bring Iran back in compliance with nuclear commitments it waived in retaliation for sanctions. The accord was strained when in 2018 former president Donald Trump withdrew the US unilaterally and reimposed sanctions. Advertisement

The Briton was said to be a member of the security team. The tanker, called MV Mercer Street, is operated by London-based company Zodiac Maritime which is owned by Israeli shipping billionaire Eyal Ofer.

The company said it was working to establish what happened in the attack, which saw the vessel targeted north-east of the Omani island of Masirah, 185 miles south-east of the capital Muscat, on Thursday. The United States, a key ally of Israel and arch-rival of Iran, expressed concern and said it was monitoring the situation.

'We are urgently working with our partners, our international partners, to establish the facts,' a State Department spokeswoman said.

Meir Javedanfar, an expert on Iranian diplomacy and security at Israel's IDC Herzliya university, told AFP news agency the attack was 'most probably Iran'.

Al-Alam, Iran's state TV channel in Arabic, citing 'informed regional sources' said the attack was a 'response to a recent Israeli attack' targeting an airport in central Syria. It did not provide further details.

Oman's state news agency said the country's navy dispatched a ship and confirmed the attack took place outside the sultanate's territorial waters. Exact details of how the attack occurred have yet to be confirmed.

Javedanfar said Iranians 'feel badly disadvantaged when it comes to responding to attacks inside Iran which have been associated to Israel', including an April strike on the Natanz uranium enrichment site reportedly executed by Israel.

The Arabian Sea and surrounding Indian Ocean were plagued by piracy around a decade ago, but incidents have waned in recent years after foreign navies stepped up patrols. Zodiac initially called the attack on the MT Mercer Street 'a suspected piracy incident'.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) - an anti-piracy taskforce run by the Royal Navy - also issued a report of 'a vessel being attacked' around 152 nautical miles (280 kilometres) off the coast of Oman. It classed the incident as 'non-piracy'.

Maritime industry analysts Dryad Global said the attack was similar to previous incidents against vessels associated with Israel and Iran. Two ships operated by Israeli firm Ray Shipping were attacked earlier this year.

'The attack on the MT Mercer Street is now assessed to be the fifth attack against a vessel connected to Israel,' Dryad said in an email note on the incident.

But it said before the deaths were confirmed that the loss of two personnel 'would represent a significant escalation in events that... would likely lead to significant international condemnation and would require diplomatic redress'.

It advised clients that the risk to commercial vessels associated with Israel and Iran in the Gulf waterway was 'heightened', pointing to lingering tensions between the two powers over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran and Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthi rebels have employed 'suicide' drones in the past. These are unmanned aircraft loaded with explosives that detonate on impact with a target.

The deaths mark the first fatalities after years of assaults targeting shipping in the region. Other Israeli-linked ships have been targeted in recent months amid a shadow war with Iran, with Israeli officials blaming the Islamic Republic for the assaults.
Sydney's spiralling coronavirus crisis could see nearly 600 new daily cases by Friday if lockdown isn't tightened across the city, worrying new modelling suggests.

Infections could even hit an astonishing 7,700 cases a day in a worst case scenario by the end of August, experts predicted, similar to the thousands of daily cases seen overseas with the Indian Delta variant.

The Harbour City's latest outbreak began in the eastern suburbs and spread its tentacles to a range of local government areas in the south-west, but scientists say those hotspot areas are 'stabilising' and infection rates remain consistent.

But infections look to be doubling every 4-5 days in the rest of Sydney, with the scientists calling for equally tough rules to be put in place across every corner of the city.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian initially announced a week-long lockdown for Greater Sydney on June 26 when it became apparent the Indian Delta variant showed no signs of slowing, but the stay-home orders were quickly extended.

Sydneysiders are now in their sixth gruelling week of restrictions, but people in eight hard-hit LGAs, including Fairfield, Canterbury-Blacktown and Liverpool, are under a set of stricter rules to try and reduce case numbers.

Researchers have predicted Sydney's lockdown could get much worse. Pictured: A woman walking in Sydney's inner-west on Monday morning

Pictured: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks to the media during a press conference on August 2, after announcing 207 new cases in the state

Evidence collated by Professors Allan Saul, Brendan Crabb AC, Margaret Hellard AM and Dr Campbell Aitken of the Burnet Institute on Monday suggests the measures may be working - but the rest of Sydney is teetering on a knife's edge.

This was clear in a late night drop of exposure sites released on Monday, including a Coles and Aldi on the city's Lower North Shore, as well as an auto parts store in Rockdale.

Using analysis of what restrictions did and didn't work during Melbourne's outbreak last year, the team of scientists found NSW's effective contact tracing, use of QR codes and record testing rates had helped stop the outbreak spiralling into thousands of daily cases.

Without such measures, and a lockdown, Sydney could already be looking at 1,000 daily cases - but infections are still doubling on average every nine days.

The Aldi supermarket at Lane Cove on Sydney's Lower North Shore (pictured) has been flagged as a Covid exposure site - with experts fearing an explosion in cases outside the eight hotspot LGAs

A further 53 cases were recorded in the west and 48 were in the central Sydney local health district. Pictured: A woman walking in Bondi in Monday

But the modelling, based on how infections have spread to date, still predicted the city would see 570 cases per day by Friday.

This is despite south-west Sydney's outbreak slowly coming under control, with infections still increasing rapidly in other areas of the city.

The upward trend of daily cases in south-west Sydney's Fairfield reversed on July 15, six days after the three initial LGAs restrictions were tightened.

Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown were added to the list of LGAs under stricter lockdowns on Friday and experts are hoping the numbers drop in those areas, but they say the restrictions should be broadened.

'Although the number of cases is still lower outside south west Sydney, daily cases in the rest of Sydney are now increasing at about the same rate as happened initially in Fairfield  doubling every four to five days,' the research body said.

Of the 207 new infections New South Wales recorded on Monday, 83 were found in the city's south-west. Pictured: health workers at Hardi Aged Care Nursing Home Facility at Summer Hill on August 2

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'Unless new controls introduced on July 28 or 30 or in the future have a major impact, our model projects that Sydney will have about 7,700 cases per day four weeks from now.'

The experts recommended bringing in 'consistent stringent restrictions', like those seen in the hotspot LGAs, all across the city.

'Not only is this the equitable approach, but epidemiologically sound,' the report concluded.

According to their modelling, it will take until the end of September to get below five new cases per day over a seven-day period.

Some areas not included in the tightened restrictions, such as Burwood, Strathfield and Bayside are seeing higher case numbers per capita than those under the stricter lockdown.

Australian Defence Force troops have joined NSW police patrolling streets in Sydney's west and southwest during lockdown (pictured, personnel in the city on Monday)

Of the 207 new infections New South Wales recorded on Monday, 83 were found in the city's south-west - but contact tracers say those infections are contained to the area.

Worryingly, a further 53 were recorded in the west and 48 were in the central Sydney local health district.

To combat a potential explosion of cases, researchers suggested a tighter lockdown for the whole of Sydney.

'The reality is that no one is safe until everyone is safe,' the experts warned.

'Every positive case, no matter in which LGA, takes testing and contact tracing resources and has the potential to trigger new outbreaks.

The experts recommended bringing in 'consistent stringent restrictions', like those seen in the hotspot LGAs, all across the city (pictured, a runner in Bondi on Monday)

Ms Berejiklian said on Monday that at least 50 of those newly-acquired infections were out in the community while infectious. Pictured: Cleaners in personal protective equipment at Strathfield South Public School on Monday

'A highly mobile population means new outbreaks could occur anywhere in Sydney or NSW or across Australia.'

But on a positive note, researchers found that a potential 1,000 new cases per day were avoided because movement in the city was largely curtailed near the start of the outbreak.

'We calculate that the restrictions implemented so far have avoided 4,000 cases, over and above the many prevented by contract tracing and subsequent isolation,' they said.

Ms Berejiklian said on Monday that at least 50 of those newly-acquired infections were out in the community while infectious.

NSW Health also announced a man in his 90s from south-west Sydney had died from Covid-19 at Liverpool Hospital. His death is the fifteenth fatality in the state linked to an outbreak of the highly-contagious Indian Delta strain that began on June 16.

There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals - including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation.

Worrying modelling shows the virus is likely to spread even further in Sydney (pictured on Sunday) and could reach nearly 600 cases a week by Friday

Health workers take out stretchers from an ambulance at the Hardi Aged Care Nursing Home Facility in Summers Hill suburb of Sydney on August 2. There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals - including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation

HOW SYDNEY'S TOUGHER LOCKDOWN RULES WILL AFFECT YOU In the eight hotspot LGAs from 12am on Saturday, July 31 (Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta): Residents must wear a mask whenever leaving the home, including when they are outdoors. The travel limit for essential exercise and shopping has been reduced to 5km from 10km. Those in a 'singles bubble' with another person must follow the same travel restriction. Across NSW: The penalty for breaking mask restrictions will increase from $200 to $500 Police will be given the power to shut down public premises, worksites, and businesses that are caught breaching public health orders. Advertisement

In worrying evidence that the virus is spreading throughout the city, several venues in the Lower North Shore - so far largely unaffected by the spiralling number of cases - have been put on alert.

Both Aldi and Coles supermarkets in Lane Cove have been flagged for July 24, with shoppers warned they are casual contacts and must immediately get tested and self isolate until they receive a negative result.

Two alerts were also issued for St Marys in Sydney's west, with Easy Script Pharmacy shoppers issued an alert for July 31 and Liquor Stax flagged for July 29.

Anyone who visited automotive shop Repco in Rockdale, Sydney's south, on Wednesday July 28 from 10:15am to 5pm or on Thursday July 29 between 10am to 1pm, is also considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and self isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

It is the same story for those who attended The Oaks Hotel in Wollondilly, Sydney's southwest, on Friday July 30 from 12:20pm to 3pm.

Coles supermarket in Lane Cove on Sydney's Lower North Shore (pictured) was flagged as a Covid exposure site

Repco automotive store at Rochdale in Sydney's south (pictured) was issued a Covid exposure alert for two days

A close contact alert has also been issued for anyone who visited Cabramatta Hai Ha Money Transfer, in Sydney's west on July 25 between 7am to 8:20am.

The NSW premier said the priority now was vaccinating the state's 'mobile' residents aged between 20 and 40 - particularly in the eight local government areas.

She said on Monday health officials would have to get 9.2 million jabs in arms across the state to reach a vaccination target of 70 per cent, which she has repeatedly said would trigger an easing of lockdown restrictions.

'Vaccines are working extremely effectively,' she said. 'We still don't know of anybody in intensive care [in NSW] who has received both doses of the vaccine.

'We are at 3.9 million jabs already. Five million jabs means we're halfway to the 80 per cent target and 9.2 million jabs gets us to 70 per cent.'

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.
Sophie Kasaei fans have been left heartbroken after fearing they have been conned out of more than 1,000 in a scam that the former Geordie Shore star promoted on Instagram.

Friends Clare Radford, 32, and Jade Swift, 27, shelled out the money after the TV personality publicized the suspected rogue foreign exchange trader called Bethany on social media.

But the pair, who live in Nottingham, claim they never saw a penny of their promised returns and have since said they are 'absolutely infuriated' that celebrities would fail to properly verify who they were promoting.

A spokesperson for Sophie Kasaei's management team said that the post did go through the 'usual company checks without any cause for concern'.

This included 'company registration check, director background, credit rating, Instagram account review, relevant director and business searches and who else they have worked with'.

But the spokesperson did not address how these checks were completed against somebody using a false name and pictures.

The suspected scam is almost identical to the one plugged earlier this year by glamour model Katie Price who encouraged her 2.6million followers to invest in a 'friend' of hers called Josh Chandler.

Friends Clare Radford, 32, (left) and Jade Swift, 27, (right) shelled out the money after the TV personality publicized the suspected rogue foreign exchange trader called Bethany on social media

The pair said they originally saw Sophie Kasaei, 31, (left and right) plugging it and were enticed by the promise of turning hundreds of pounds into thousands

Clare and Jade fell prey to the con in June after believing the fake account that had thousands of followers and was posing as a foreign exchange trader.

The pair said they originally saw Sophie Kasaei, 31, plugging it and were enticed by the promise of turning hundreds of pounds into thousands.

The scam involves tricksters posing as Foreign Exchange traders on Instagram and contacting celebrities to plug them online.

The scammers are then contacted by followers of the celebs who think they are above board and willingly hand over hundreds - and in some cases thousands of pounds.

Clare and Jade said they trusted the now-deleted 'trader's' account - appearing to belong to a woman called Bethany - after Sophie Kasaei touted her.

In a video posted to her Instagram story, tagging the woman, Geordie influencer Sophie said: 'You might have heard of a girl called Bethany who is helping so many people right now. She is well-known in the industry, she can help you earn money from home no matter what you need to do.

'She can give you all the tips, all the tricks to earn money from the comfort of your own home. So if you want to find out more she's actually opening spaces for you to get involved. She is really well-known in the industry.'

But Jade - who put up the majority of the cash - said she has been left unable to sleep, sick with worry and living off savings after the scammer took 1,026 - almost her entire month's pay cheque.

The girls contacted Bethany on Instagram who explained how it worked and sent them a chart showing how much they could 'earn' (above)

She said: 'I just kept thinking I've worked a whole month and I've literally got nothing to show for it.

'I thought it was legit because a well-known celebrity was promoting it, but Sophie got me into this mess.

'Now I've got probably half a week's worth of wages to live on.'

Clare explained how she and Jade, who met three years ago working at an energy company, were happy to cough up 100 each when they were promised they could get back 2,250.

The girls contacted Bethany on Instagram who explained how it worked and sent them a chart showing how much they could 'earn'.

It showed you could get a 12,950 return from a 1,000 investment.

Clare said they transferred the initial 200 putting up half each and sending it from Jade's online banking account.

Bethany then replied a few hours later and told them that they had turned their investments into a whopping 2,450 - but to pocket the cash the girls would need to transfer over a 'release fee' of 926 this time to a different bank account.

Clare (left) explained how she and Jade (right), who met three years ago working at an energy company, were happy to cough up 100 each when they were promised they could get back 2,250

But when Clare confronted Bethany in an Instagram message, the scammer replied: 'Oooh shiver mi timbers'

Jade stumped up the cash and Clare transferred it through her banking app again.

But then Bethany came back and said the girls' money had somehow doubled and they now had more than 7,000 waiting for them - they would just have to provide another release fee of more than 1,000.

The trickster even pressured Clare to borrow the cash from family and friends if she could not afford it, she said.

Clare said: 'I was just like absolutely no chance, no chance in hell am I going to send anything more. I said to the person "This is a scam".'

Growing suspicious, the girls asked a pal to contact another account that appeared to belong to a Foreign Exchange trader called Josh.

They had noticed him on Bethany's profile along with several other accounts. The accounts all claimed to trade in ForEx and had similar bios and pictures, the girls said.

The conversation their friend had with Josh was 'word-for-word' what Bethany had said to them.

Clare said she was also sent a screenshot of Josh claiming to be Bethany's 'colleague' by somebody else fearing they were falling victim to the scam.

Fearing the worst, Clare immediately demanded the money back - but had no luck.

She scoured through Bethany's page and began to suspect she was using fake pictures.

A snap of a boarding pass to Turkey showed a different name and the selfies on her profile actually appeared to be of several different people on closer inspection.

When Clare confronted her on an Instagram message, Bethany replied: 'Oooh shiver mi timbers.'

The girls are still yet to get their money back but have reported the incident to Action Fraud as well as Clare's bank.

Clare now faces a gruelling wait as her bank assesses whether she will get Jade's 926 back as well as the extra 200 the girls originally put up.

They are also both furious with Sophie Kasaei as Clare said: 'You just don't think to doubt when someone says someone is a genuine person. It doesn't cross your mind.

A spokesperson for Sophie Kasaei's management team said in a statement the post went through the 'usual company checks without any cause for concern,' which include: 'Company registration check, director background, credit rating, Instagram account review, relevant director and business searches and who else they have worked with.'

The spokesperson did not address how these checks were completed against somebody using a false name and pictures.

The spokesperson added: 'The account in question had worked with Sophie's Social Media Management before across different clients, as well as other influencers and celebrities across social media.

'After Sophie had posted she received a direct message from a follower relating to the account in question which raised concern, and immediately deleted her post.

'The post was live for less than 2 hours between 10pm and midnight. Sophie is upset to hear of any alleged scam and does not wish to be associated with anything of this nature.'

It comes just weeks after Katie Price said she was 'absolutely devastated' that at least five of her followers had lost hundreds of pounds after she too unknowingly promoting a conman's business on Instagram.

The 43-year-old had later tried to set the record straight by posting a lengthy statement on her Instagram stories.

Katie Price, 43, had later tried to set the record straight by posting a lengthy statement on her Instagram stories

She lamented: 'I am absolutely devastated to receive the news about this rogue trader Josh Chandler, if that's even his real name

'He has conned not only me but my family, friends, loyal fans and supporters.'

'I want to thank Action Fraud for reaching out, for working with me in investigating this awful situation.'

Katie continued: 'This is precisely why Harvey's Law is yet again so relevant, if we had the much needed support channels in place and required by law to provide ID's to be set up on social Media accounts then people like this so called Josh Chandler would not be able to hide themselves, target venerable people [sic].

'My heart goes out to all those that this conman's deceit has affected. I pledge to you all I will seek justice,' Katie signed off as she hopped on her flight abroad.

The model's representatives told MailOnline at the time: 'This has hit Katie hard, mentally, she needs some down time before embarking on setting out in putting a stop to these parasites that poach on vulnerable and honest souls.'

Katie Price's team said the star was also conned and had no idea it was a scam.

Online users have been warned about rogue Forex traders who promise huge profits for small investments as many do not have the necessary accreditation or qualifications to offer these services - which makes them illegal and means aspiring customers risk seeing their profits flop.

Forex trading allows you to speculate on the changes in the strengths of different currencies over time and buy and sell them against each other.
A former US commander has said America is leaving Afghanistan to face a 'bloody, brutal civil war'.

General David Petraeus, 68, said that America has abandoned its duty to protect democracy and civil rights in the country.

America will completely vacate Afghanistan by the end of this month and western commanders are voicing concerns of a Taliban takeover.

General David Petraeus (pictured), 68, said that America has abandoned its duty to protect democracy and civil rights in the country

General Petraeus told The Times: 'The rest of the world will see that we are not supporting democracy or maintaining the values that we promote around the world  human rights, particularly women's rights, the right to education and freedom of speech and press  all very imperfect in Afghanistan, but vastly better than if the Taliban reinstates a medieval Islamist regime.

'The worst-case scenario is we could see a bloody, brutal civil war similar to that of the 1990s when the Taliban prevailed.'

He added that there would likely be a return of an al-Qaeda sanctuary if that were to happen, causing millions of refugees to flood in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and a reduction in freedoms for citizens, particularly women.

General Petraeus, who spent 37 years in the US army, said he is 'a little bit unclear' why they didn't maintain 3,500 troops to prevent Taliban sieges, noting that up to 2,500 US troops are remaining in Iran in a non-combat role to help Iraqi security forces keep an eye on 'insurgent and terrorist cell remnants'.

America will completely vacate Afghanistan by the end of this month and western commanders are voicing concerns of a Taliban takeover

Kandahar and Herat are currently under siege by the Taliban and tens of thousands of Afghans are fleeing.

It comes as Afghan forces battled to stop the first major city from falling to the Taliban following weekend offensives by the terror group in a sharp escalation of conflict.

Taliban fighters assaulted at least three provincial capitals overnight - Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat - after a weekend of heavy fighting that saw thousands of civilians flee the advancing militants.

Fighting raged in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched coordinated attacks on the city centre and its prison - just hours after the government announced the deployment of hundreds of commandos to the area.

General Petraeus's warning comes as the Biden administration on Monday expanded its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from the country as Taliban violence increased.

The State Department said it is widening the scope of Afghans eligible for refugee status in the United States to include current and former employees of US-based news organisations, US-based aid and development agencies and other relief groups that receive US funding.

Current and former employees of the US government and the NATO military operation who don't meet the criteria for a dedicated program for such workers are also covered.

The State Department said the move will mean that 'many thousands' of Afghans and their immediate families will now have the opportunity to be permanently resettled in the US as refugees.

It said in a statement: 'In light of increased levels of Taliban violence, the US government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the United States, the opportunity for refugee resettlement to the United States.'

It did not offer a more specific number of those who might be eligible for the program.

General Petraeus added that there would likely be a return of an al-Qaeda sanctuary if that were to happen, causing millions of refugees to flood in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and a reduction in freedoms for citizens, particularly women (Pictured: Afghan security personnel and Afghan militia fighting against Taliban)

In a statement, it said: 'The US objective remains a peaceful, secure Afghanistan. However, in light of increased levels of Taliban violence, the US government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the United States, the opportunity for refugee resettlement to the United States.'

General Petraeus's comments come after the Taliban stepped up a nationwide offensive and targeted three major cities and a key airport as the Afghan government struggle to fight back.

Fighting surged across the country since early May when US-led foreign forces began to withdraw.

Hundreds of commandos have now been deployed to the western city of Herat while authorities in the southern city of Kashkar Gah called for more troops to rein in the assaults.

Rockets struck the airport in Kandahar before dawn on Sunday and flights out of Afghanistan's second-largest city and the former stronghold for the insurgents were halted.

Airport chief Massoud Pashtun said two rockets had hit the runway and repairs were underway.

Kandahar and Herat are currently under siege by the Taliban and tens of thousands of Afghans are fleeing (Pictured: Afghan security personnel and Afghan militia fighting against Taliban

The facility is vital to maintaining the logistics and air support needed to keep the Taliban from overrunning the city, while also providing aerial cover for large tracts of southern Afghanistan.

The attack came as the Taliban inched closer to overwhelming at least two other provincial capitals, including nearby Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

The creation of a 'Priority 2' category for Afghans within the US Refugee Admissions Program is intended for Afghans and their immediate families who 'may be at risk due to their US affiliation' but aren't able to get a Special Immigrant Visa because they did not work directly for the US government or didn't hold their government jobs for long enough.

To qualify for the Priority 2 category, Afghans. must be nominated by a US government agency or by the most senior civilian US citizen employee of a US-based media outlet or nongovernment organisation.

The first group of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants - most of whom served as translators or did other work for US troops or diploments - who have already cleared security vetting arrived in the US on Friday.

That group of 221 people are among 2,500 who will be brought to the US in the coming days.

Another 4,000 SIV applicants, plus their families, who have not yet cleared the security screening are expected to be relocated to third countries ahead of the completion of the US withdrawal.

Roughly 20,000 Afghans have expressed interest in the program.
Millions of people have been placed back into lockdown in China as the country tries to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months with mass testing and travel curbs.

The country reported 55 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases today as an outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta variant reached over 20 cities and more than a dozen provinces.

The latest surge, which state media has labelled the 'most extensive outbreak of Covid since Wuhan', began when airport workers in Nanjing who had cleaned a plane that arrived from Russia later tested positive for the virus.

Local governments in major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents, while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.

While the number of cases is relatively small they are spread out across the country, prompting state media to compare it to the initial outbreak in Wuhan in 2019.

The central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province ordered over 1.2 million residents on Monday to stay home under strict lockdown for the next three days as it rolls out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement.

'The situation is still grim and complicated,' the Zhuzhou government said.

Beijing has previously boasted of its success in bringing domestic cases down to virtually zero after the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, allowing the economy to rebound.

But the latest outbreak, linked to a cluster in Nanjing where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive on July 20, is threatening that success with more than 360 domestic cases reported in the past two weeks.

In the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, near Zhuzhou, an outbreak spread last month among theatre patrons who then brought the virus back to their homes around the country.

China has been hit by what state media are calling the 'most extensive Covid outbreak since Wuhan' after cases of the Delta variant escaped border quarantine

Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.

Officials are urgently seeking people who have recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.

Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season.

Only 'essential travellers' with negative nucleic acid tests will be allowed to enter after the discovery of a handful of cases among residents who had returned from Zhangjiajie.

Top city officials on Sunday called for residents 'not to leave Beijing unless necessary'.

The capital's Changping district locked down 41,000 people in nine housing communities last week.

People queue to be tested at a hospital in Beijing amid the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months

Fresh cases were also reported on Monday in the popular tourist destination of Hainan as well as in flood-ravaged Henan province, national health authorities said.

The Delta variant, which first emerged in India and is much more transmissible than the original version of Covid, has proved particularly hard to control for many countries which until now had relied on border closures to keep cases low.

Coupled with low vaccination rates, such countries - most of which are in Asia - are now seeing cases rise to record or near-record levels with leaders rushing to impose lockdowns.

Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have all seen cases skyrocket in recent weeks, having previously been hailed virus success stories.

Cases are also at or near all-time highs in Japan and South Korea, though strict domestic lockdown measures there have slowed the kind of exponential growth that is being seen elsewhere.

Australia is also struggling to bring and outbreak of the Delta variant under control, with the city in Sydney currently in the midst of its longest lockdown since the initial wave of the virus hit back in 2020.

The Delta variant is more transmissible than the pathogens that cause SARS, Ebola and smallpox, and as easily spread as chickenpox, according to an internal US Centers for Disease Control presentation reported by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Parliamentary authorities have written off more than 70million of taxpayers money spent on a temporary House of Commons amid 'increased uncertainty' over whether it would ever be used.

The money had been spent on creating a stand-in chamber in Whitehall's Richmond House ahead of major rebuilding work on the crumbling Palace of Westminster.

But the plans to decant MPs into the facility, with the House of Lords moving to the nearby Queen Elizabeth II centre have been thrown into doubt amid concerns at the astronomical cost.

Some estimates have reached 20billion, including 1.5billion for the temporary Commons alone, leading to demands for a rethink amid pandemic-induced economic strife.

In its annual report, published last month, the House of Commons said that the uncertainty over how to proceed meant it had written off 70.2million because 'we could no longer be sure that the work undertaken so far has an economic value'.

The money had been spent on creating a stand-in chamber in Whitehall's Richmond House ahead of major rebuilding work on the crumbling Palace of Westminster.

A review overseen by the Restoration Sponsor Body backed a plan for peers to relocate to the nearby QEII centre during the works, while MPs would have a temporary chamber in Richmond House.

Some estimates have reached 20billion, including 1.5billion for the temporary Commons alone, leading to demands for a rethink amid pandemic-induced economic strife.

The report noted: 'This is the consequence of the change in use of Richmond House and uncertainty as to the long term plans for its use during the Restoration and Renewal programme.'

Parliament will be asked to approve the final plan with work expected to begin in the mid-2020s.

MPs agreed to proposals to decant to Richmond House in 2018, at an estimated cost of 4billion.

It would be the first time they had left the chamber since the Luftwaffe bombed the historic chamber in 1941.

But there has been deep anxiety that the timetable - initially forecast to start in 2025 and end between five and eight years later - will stretch even further.

Opposition members of the ruling Commons commission have been accused of trying to add 'all sorts' of upgrades into the proposals.

The original scoping report produced by consultants in 2015 laid out a range of possible upgrades to the estate including creating underground meeting space below the current New Palace Yard, with 'natural light from a landscaped courtyard above'.

Minutes of a cross-party Lords committee meeting in the spring of 2020 showed they discussed options for QEII including 'the provision of a staircase through the centre of the whole building to bring in natural light and improve access options between floors'.

MPs are due to sit in a temporary chamber being created in Richmond House, which borders the existing Parliamentary estate (artist's impression)

Earlier this year, MailOnline revealed that Commons chiefs were threatening to 'pull the plug' on the Parliamentary restoration body amid warnings its plans could cost 20billion.

It is understood that the ruling Commons commission refused to sign off on two years of funding for the programme at a March meeting - instead merely approving 155million for this year.

Senior sources told MailOnline tensions with the Restoration & Renewal Sponsor Body - set up in 2019 to oversee an Olympics-style delivery authority for the project - had reached a crisis point after a strategic review said vacating the crumbling Houses of Parliament for years and moving MPs and peers into temporary chambers remains the best option.

'It is a potential pull the plug situation,' one source said, pointing out that MPs will need to approve the final plan. 'They have got to get real.'

The Sponsor Body has a board including MPs, peers, historians and infrastructure experts.

But last week Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg slammed its approach to the overhaul, warning taxpayers will not tolerate spending 20billion turning Westminster into 'Disneyland'.

The strategic review suggested a focus on 'essential' works and measures to accelerate the pace, such as installing a dry dock along the length of the estate on the Thames

Mr Rees-Mogg - who sits on the commission along with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and has been hunting for ways to slash the bill - said creating the temporary chambers alone could cost 1.5billion.

He told MPs that the idea was 'for the birds' after coronavirus hammered the public finances, suggesting that if the estate does need to be shut down for works it should switch to virtual proceedings instead.

That would entail a minimal physical chamber, perhaps just for frontbenchers, with other MPs participating remotely.

It its annual report, first documented by the Times, the Commons authorities said: 'Work to reconfigure parts of Richmond House has started, with moves expected during summer 2021.

'Given the increased uncertainty over the scope and timing of the longer term plans for the Northern Estate, we have reviewed the accounting treatment of the expenditure incurred so far in developing plans for Richmond House to be used as a temporary Commons chamber...

'At the balance sheet date of 31 March 2021 we could no longer be sure that the work undertaken so far has an economic value, so for accounting purposes we have written it off.

'A constructive loss of 70.2 million has therefore been recognised in the accounts.'
Scotland's health minister has accused a nursery of discrimination after his daughter was refused a place because it was full - only for a white friend to be accepted days later.

SNP high-flier Humza Yousaf said he had complained to watchdogs and was seeking legal advice after Little Scholars Nursery in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, said there was no room for his two-year-old daughter Amal.

The Daily Record newspaper reported that his wife Nadia El-Nakla had emailed nursery bosses in May, asking if there were any available places.

The couple alleged they were told there were 'no available spaces in the nursery'  the second time they said they had been turned down.

But when his wife then asked a white friend to apply for her two-year-old son, just two days later the nursery told her places were available on three afternoons a week.

Mr Yousaf said: 'We are fooling ourselves if we believe discrimination doesn't exist in Scotland. I believe evidence we have proves our case beyond doubt.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said he and his wife had contacted the Care Inspectorate and were seeking legal advice.

'As well as reporting the nursery to the Care Inspectorate we are also seeking legal advice.'

A spokesman for the nursery owners insisted they were 'extremely proud of being open and inclusive to all' insisting that 'any claim to the contrary is demonstrably false and an accusation that we would refute in the strongest possible terms'.

The spokesman told The Daily Record: 'In addition to our owners being of Asian heritage, across more than a decade we have regularly welcomed both children and staff from a range of different religious, cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds, including two Muslim families currently.

'We have also regularly made arrangements to accommodate different lifestyles by, for example, providing a halal menu for those children who come from Muslim families.'

Mr Yousaf said that contacting the Care Inspectorate with their concerns was 'not a step my wife and I have taken lightly'.

He tweeted: 'After our nursery application for our daughter was refused a 2nd time, my wife asked her White Scottish friend to put in an application for a Child the same age. Within 24hrs of refusing our application my wife's friend's was accepted.'

Mr Yousaf went on to claim that 'three White-Scottish applicants offered tours of nursery and spaces, often within less than 24hrs', while at the same time that applicants with Muslim names were 'being rejected, including application for my daughter'.

The Health Secretary hit out: 'It doesn't matter what my position or how senior in Govt I may be, some will always see me, my wife and children by our ethnicity or religion first.

'We have given Little Scholars nursery every opportunity for an explanation for the disparity in treatment, none has been forthcoming.'

Mr Yousaf went on to allege that they had 'uncovered what I believe to be a private nursery discriminating applicants on basis of their ethnicity/religion'.

And he added: 'With no explanation from Little Scholars, we will pursue the truth and get answers we deserve.'
The RNLI is having to delay other rescue work because of the number of migrants it is now picking up in the Channel, it was claimed today.

It came as some supporters stopped giving cash because lifeboats are heading into French waters to pick up migrants and the charity has been spending millions of pounds abroad including buying burkinis for children in Africa and funding nursery places in Bangladesh.

Some withdrawing their support even compared it to the left-leaning National Trust, where irate members campaigned to oust its worthless wokes leadership team after a series of controversial policies.

Britain's lifeboat service has been accused of becoming a 'taxi service for people traffickers after it was revealed teams were going into French waters to pick up refugees in dinghies.

One lifeboat expert working regularly in the Channel told MailOnline today: 'Ive had a few RNLI crew tell me about them refusing to help boaters as they are too busy carrying people ashore'. The RNLI has been asked to comment.

It came at a time when the number of lives lost in British water during the recent heatwave hit 13, including several children.

A group of people thought to be migrants crossing from France come ashore from the local lifeboat at Dungeness in Kent (pictured last month), after being picked up from a small boat in the Channel

Dramatic bodyworn footage of a dinghy full of migrants being rescued by the RNLI in the English Channel has been released by the charity this month

The Mail on Sunday reported in 2019 how the RNLI is spending millions on projects abroad, including buying burkinis for Muslim women in Tanzania

Mark Dowie (left), RNLI chief executive, said he felt compelled to comment after volunteers reported being heckled for bringing migrants to safety. The RNLI brought in Dr Philip Goodwin (right), a green charity boss, to drive the British charity's work abroad

The RNLI, founded in 1824, has been accused of becoming obsessed with political correctness in recent years, leading to resignations among volunteers. Parallels have also been drawn with the National Trust, where members plotted to oust the charity's chairman over his 'woke' agenda.

War veteran Antony Kelly, who was a coxswain on the RNLIs Skegness lifeboat, quit and claimed that the charity is in a downward spiral

A RNLI spokesman suggested that it was the coastguard that was sending them into French waters.

She said: 'Across the UK and Ireland, the RNLI ensures that assets are in place for maximum resilience along our coasts. HM Coastguard coordinate maritime search and rescue activity around the UK coastline and are responsible for tasking the most appropriate assets to respond to incidents at sea'.

Britain's lifeboat service sends around two per cent of all donations outside of the UK on a wide number of projects in Africa and Asia including buying burkinis for Muslim women in Africa and setting up creches in south Asia.

In 2019 the RNLI brought in Dr Philip Goodwin, a green charity boss, to drive the British charity's work abroad saying their initiatives and money will target the world's poorest countries because they account for 90% of drowning deaths.

The RNLI declined to comment on accusations they were acting as a 'taxi service', and denied that their recent Twitter campaign defending their migrants policy was to raise cash.

Jayne George, RNLI Fundraising Marketing and Media Director: We are overwhelmed with the huge level of support we have received from our amazing supporters in the last couple of days.

'Our supporters kindness means so much to us, without them we could not save lives at sea, every one is a lifesaver.

We know that this is a polarising issue and people have strong opinions on the subject. Sadly, a small number of supporters have contacted us to withdraw their support.

Previously it emerged donations were being spent on swimsuits for devout Muslim women in Tanzania and on funding creches in Bangladesh which the RNLI claims helps to prevent drownings overseas.

One expert told MailOnline that he had been told that some RNLI volunteers have been unable to help boaters 'as they are too busy carrying people ashore'.

RNLI supporters say they have stopped donating over ther RNLI's 'woke' policies in recent years

But the charity's 189,000-a-year chief executive Mark Dowie warned just before the pandemic that it was 'facing some major challenges' after making a loss of 6.3 million, and announcing 135 job cuts.

The entire crew at St Helier, Jersey, resigned after the coxswain was sacked following a dispute over a launch.

The coxswain at Arbroath was sacked after failing to prevent a prank in which a crewman bared his buttocks. And two crewmen from Whitby, North Yorkshire, were dismissed last summer after tea mugs were found decorated with 'inappropriate material of a sexual nature'.

The charity also came under fire after advertising for a 42,000-a-year 'safeguarding officer' to promote 'health, safety and wellbeing'.

The RNLI has talked about trying to 'influence policy-makers and partners' and lobbying the United Nations to reduce deaths at sea.

It has a 'national team of health, safety and environment advisers', and a 'diversity leadership group' tasked with promoting the 'International Day Against Homophobia'.

The entire crew of an RNLI station in Jersey quit after coxswain Andy Hibbs, 50, was allegedly 'bullied into resignation'

The RNLI used to limit its operations to the UK and Ireland but its Charity Commission registration now lists areas covered as the British Isles, Tanzania and Bangladesh.

The charity said two per cent of its income went on overseas projects and this did not have an impact on its domestic rescue services. Its Panje Project in Tanzania sends trainers to teach swimming in areas where drowning rates are high.

Its work includes giving out burkinis  costumes with a head covering, long-sleeved tunic and trousers to protect the modesty of Muslim women.

Providing free creche places in Bangladesh stops children playing by rivers and reduces a child's risk of drowning by 82 per cent, the charity added.

And the Isle of Man Government is giving 57,855 to support the RNLI's work in Bangladesh where it has a project teaching children to swim.

In 2016, the charity announced it was providing training to Greek, German, Dutch and Swedish organisations to help save migrants crossing from Turkey to Greece.

A spokesman claimed the RNLI's founder, Sir William Hillary, had said its work on drowning prevention should be extended to 'the most remote quarters of the globe'.

Britain's lifeboat service has been inundated with donations after it emerged that crews were facing abuse for saving migrants.

The RNLI received more than 200,000 in 24 hours online, up from about 7,000 on a typical day, as the public showed its appreciation for the Channel rescue operations.

Nigel Farage has said: Sadly the wonderful RNLI in Kent has become a taxi service for illegal immigration, to the dismay of all involved.

And there was a surge in people looking at volunteering opportunities on the charitys website.

The outpouring in support was backed by senior politicians with Downing Street praising the RNLIs vital work to protect peoples lives at sea.

The story of the RNLI saving lives at sea: The Lifeboat Day Centenary in Trafalgar Square, London, in 1924 (pictured) The charitys philosophy is to provide a lifesaving service using volunteers wherever possible. 1824 - Sir William Hillarys idea of a service dedicated to saving lives at sea begins 1838 - Grace Darling became a national heroine risking her life to save stranded survivors of the Forfarshire 1880 - The Zetland, built in 1802, was retired. The oldest surviving lifeboat in the world saved more than 500 lives and has been preserved at Redcar, North Yorkshire 1905 - First motor lifeboat entered service at Tynemouth 1936 - Last horse-powered launch 1940 - Two lifeboats join the fleet of little ships rescuing soldiers from the beach at Dunkirk during World War Two 1969 - Elizabeth Hostvedt became first trained female RNLI crew member 2002 - A hovercraft joins the RNLI fleet. Advertisement

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: Theyve got this great heart and soul to them and they do an amazing job and I think they operate obviously within the legal rules and thats part of this country. Were a big-hearted country. However he added that the UK wanted to come down as hard as is humanly possible on the criminal gangs launching small boats from France to the UK, with a record 9,000 making the perilous journey already this year.

Controversy over the RNLIs role in rescuing migrants began when former UKIP leader Nigel Farage wrote online earlier this month: Sadly the wonderful RNLI in Kent has become a taxi service for illegal immigration, to the dismay of all involved.

Then at the weekend the RNLIs Tower lifeboat crew tweeted: We are shocked and saddened to report some of our volunteer crew were verbally assaulted due to their role when reporting for duty tonight.

One volunteer told the BBC how his team had once been confronted by an angry mob shouting go back to France as they brought rescued migrants ashore, while another said they had seen a drunken yob throw a beer can at women and children.

On Wednesday, the charitys chief executive Mark Dowie spoke out in defence of the operations, sparking the surge in donations.

He said: All decent people will see this as humanitarian work of the highest order.

Our crews should not have to put up with some of the abuse they received. He went on: Our volunteers get out of bed in the middle of the night, leave their employment, leave their families, and go out and do this because they believe in doing the right thing. RNLI fundraising director Jayne George said yesterday [thurs] that the charity, founded in 1824, had been overwhelmed by the huge level of support it had received.

However she admitted: We know that this is a polarising issue and people have strong opinions on the subject.

Sadly, a small number of supporters have contacted us to withdraw their support. Mr Farage insisted he did not want to pick a fight with the RNLI but had spoken to lifeboat crew and local residents who were unhappy at the situation.

He said on GB News: All I can tell you is a very, very large number of people in our coastal communities are deeply disquieted by whats going on.
Apple has removed a dating app for people who haven't had the vaccine for violating its policies for Covid-19 content.

Unjected is a dating-and-community app for unvaccinated people. It was removed from the App Store this weekend and its Instagram was also disabled by the social media platform, in a move its owners likened its removal to censorship.

The app was founded by two mothers from Hawaii Shelby Thomson, 27, and Heather Pyle, 37.

In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Ms Thomson said: 'Apparently, we're considered "too much" for sharing our medical autonomy and freedom of choice. So, of course, Apple removed us.'

Apple removed Unjected, a dating-and-community app for people who haven't had the vaccine for violating policies for Covid-19 content (Pictured: Founder Shelby Thomson)

The app was previously rejected from the App Store, but Apple reinstated it after updates where it deleted several features including a social feed and a 'blood bank'.

A spokesperson for Apple told Insider that the app violated Apple's policies for Covid-19 content, citing published interviews where founders said their app was for 'likeminded unvaccinated individuals'.

Posting a screenshot of a Bloomberg News story which said the app was removed after being contacted by a reporter, Unjected said: 'We must use our voices. We are fighting the censorship of our freedoms and we won't stop.'

After founders asked users to avoid anti-vaccination buzzwords such as 'jabbed' and 'microchip', but the spokesperson said this again violated App Store policies as it was trying to trick Apple's reviewers.

In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Ms Thomson said: 'Apparently, we're considered "too much" for sharing our medical autonomy and freedom of choice. So, of course, Apple removed us'

Apple's message read: 'Specifically, your social networking app inapprorpiately refers to the Covid-19 pandemic in its concept or theme.'

It's policies only allow information on Covid-19 to come from recognised sources, which includes governments, 'deeply credentialed' companies as well as non-government organisations focused on health.

Unjected's Instagram page, which had 25,000, was deleted following the reports.

Ms Thomson said that their page was disabled by the social media platform after a journalist from Insider contacted Instagram for comment following the reports.

In a caption alongside a video on a new Instagram page, she said: 'Insta deleted us at 25k. This morning our page @the.unjected was removed without any notice or warning.

'We have never been fact checked, or had any post removed for misinformation.

'We were simply deleted because the recent publicity would draw people to our page and they didn't want that.'

The company said it might be easier for them to make the website 'as great as possible', which can't be shut down like the app can.

In an email to Insider yesterday, Thomson said the app had been downloaded 18,000 times and have sent an appeal to Apple, but don't expect the request to be returned.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss his department's announcement Monday afternoon (pictured in Kuwait on July 29)

The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens as Taliban violence increases ahead of the withdrawal of all foreign forces by September, the State Department announced Monday.

Afghans who worked with certain US-based organizations and relief groups that receive US funding but did not meet the requirements for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) will now be eligible to apply to the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP)

'The US objective remains a peaceful, secure Afghanistan. However, in light of increased levels of Taliban violence, the US government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the United States, the opportunity for refugee resettlement to the United States,' a State Department statement read.

The State Department said the move will mean that 'many thousands' of Afghans and their immediate families will now have the opportunity to be permanently resettled in the US as refugees. It did not offer a more specific number of those who might be eligible for the program.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make remarks on the expansion Monday afternoon.

The SIV program for Afghan translators is open to Afghanistan nationals who worked with the US military for at least one year and obtained written recommendation from a US Armed Forces or embassy official.

Applying to the SIV program could potentially take years. The State Department said recently that of 20,000 people in the visa pipeline, about 10,000 have only just started.

But under the recent announcement, Afghans who did not meet those requirements but 'may be at risk due to their US affiliation' are now eligible for the USRAP's P-2 designation, referring to 'groups of special concern' to whom the Biden administration is granting 'access to the program by virtue of their circumstances and apparent need for resettlement.'

The Biden administration on Monday expanded its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from Afghanistan as Taliban violence increases ahead of the U.S. military pullout at the end of the month. An empty Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan is pictured in this file image

Former workers who had been employed with U.S. troops at the Bagram airbase hold placards during a demonstration against the U.S. government in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, July, 9, 2021

Those include people who are current and former employees of US-based news organizations, US-based aid and development agencies and other US-funded groups.

Current and former employees of the US government and the NATO military operation who dont meet the criteria for a dedicated program for such workers are also covered.

To qualify for the Priority 2 category, Afghans must be nominated by a US government agency or by the most senior civilian US citizen employee of a US-based media outlet or nongovernmental organization.

The first group of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants - most of whom served as translators or did other work for US troops or diplomats - who have cleared security vetting arrived in the US on Friday in Joe Biden's Operation Allies Refuge.

That group of 221 people are among 2,500 who will be brought to the US in the coming days.

Another 4,000 SIV applicants, plus their families, who have not yet cleared the security screening are expected to be relocated to third countries ahead of the completion of the US withdrawal.

The Biden administration's expansion for Afghan refugees comes amid increased Taliban violence in the country (pictured: Humvees that belong to Afghan Special Forces are seen destroyed during heavy clashes with Taliban during the rescue mission of a police officer besieged at a check post, in Kandahar province, July 13)

The Taliban now controls 223 districts across Afghanistan while the government controls 68, according to nonprofit Long War Journal (pictured: Members of the Afghan Special Forces tend to an Afghan National Army soldier injured during a firefight with Taliban in Kandahar province on July 12)

Roughly 20,000 Afghans have expressed interest in the program.

As of Sunday the Taliban now controls several districts of Lashkar Gah, the capital city of Afghanistan's Helmand province which the Taliban has not occupied since 2001, CNN reports.

If successfully taken by the extremist group Lashkar Gah would be the first capital lost by the Afghan government, with concerns Kabul could fall in the near future.

The Taliban now controls 223 districts across the conflict-ridden country. The government only controls 68 and 116 are contested, according to nonprofit Long War Journal.
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The mayor of Chicago is facing criticism for attending the 'super-spreader' four-day Lollapalooza music festival, despite threatening to introduce a new lockdown if Covid-19 cases rise following the event.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot was also slammed for going ahead with the festival after an infectious disease expert warned 'lots of people' would contract the virus.

Lollapalooza saw an estimated 100,000 attending the four-day event daily for the 30th anniversary celebrations in Chicago's Grant Park.

Concert-goers had to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from 72 hours prior, and on the opening day - Thursday - Lollapalooza officials said that over 90 percent of attendees presented proof of a vaccination.

Around 600 people were not allowed to enter the festival due to lack of paperwork, organizers said.

Lightfoot appeared on the music stage and told the huge - largely maskless - crowd: 'Thank you for masking up and vaxing up.'

Many criticised the Chicago mayor for not only approving the 'super-spreader event' but also for attending the festival and appearing backstage without a face mask on while taking pictures with celebrities.

But Kate Le Furgy, the Director of Communications for the Chicago Mayor's office, defended Lightfoot and said she was outside while not wearing a face mask and was fully vaccinated.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is facing criticism for attending the 'super-spreader' four-day Lollapalooza music festival, despite threatening to introduce a new lockdown if Covid-19 cases rise following the event

Lollapalooza saw an estimated 100,000 attending the four-day event daily for the 30th anniversary celebrations in Chicago's Grant Park

The Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, pictured on Saturday, has drawn crowds of 100,000 people every day. Attendees are asked to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at the entrance, but health officials still fear a surge in cases in the coming weeks as a result of the gathering

Tripple Redd performs on stage on Saturday. The third day of the festival was headlined by Megan Thee Stallion, Journey and Limp Bizkit

'Will @chicagosmayor Lightfoot be blamed for approving a #COVID19 super-spreader event this weekend -- @lollapalooza, three days of music euphoria with a huge, mask-less crowd?' journalist Laurie Garrett tweeted.

Retired Department of Defense operative Tony Shaffer said: 'Wow - COVID is the most intelligent virus ever in history - it will wait for @LoriLightfoot to get the City of Chicago all sorts of tax revenue before it becomes super dangerous and transmissible!'

Reporter Julio Rausseo commented on Lightfoot's apparent hypocrisy tweeting 'According to @klefurgy, it's not a big deal since @chicagosmayor is backstage @lollapalooza. What's odd is, the mayor is masked outdoors with the general public but not with the boujie celebrities.'

It comes after Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told NBC Chicago: 'I think a lot of people are going to get COVID at Lollapalooza.

'The real problem is not so much that a bunch of young people who come into Chicago getting COVID at this event. The real problem is them taking it back to places that have very low vaccination rates.'

Lightfoot has previously threatened to introduce strict lockdown measures if the daily case rate rises above 200.

She told The New York Times: 'Well, look, if we get back into an area where we feel like we're in a red zone, which we are working very hard to make sure that our daily case rate is below 200, if we start to see consistently going over that, we're not only going to look at a mask mandate, but we're going to look back at other tools that we've been compelled to use. I hope we don't get there.

'What we're going to keep focusing on is pushing the vaccine. But my number one priority is to keep people safe.'

The FBI has been warning that faking a vaccine crime is a federal crime, punishable by a $5,000 fine or five years in prison.

Only 51.7 per cent of Chicago's residents are fully vaccinated - although on Thursday, organizers said, 90 per cent of those attending provided their vaccination certificates. The other 10 per cent showed negative COVID tests

Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit is seen on stage on Saturday - one of the headliners for the third day

A sign outside the entrance reads: 'We have taken enhanced health and safety measures for you, our artists and employees.

'You must follow all posted instructions while attending Lollapalooza.

'An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public space where people are present. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior citizens and guests with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable.

'By attending Lollapalooza, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.

'Please help keep each other healthy!'

The number of new cases reported daily in Chicago had dropped to as low as 34 in late June, but is now back up to 192 - although hospitalizations remain drastically lower than their peak this spring.

The Illinois state health department reports that 58.6 percent of residents over 18 are fully vaccinated, and 74.3 percent have had their first shot.

Chicago is slightly lower than the state average, with 51.7 percent of their 2.7 million people fully vaccinated.

Of the six million fully-vaccinated people in the state, 644 have been hospitalized with 'breakthrough' infections, and 169 have died.

The festival kicked off on Thursday, with Miley Cyrus headlining and a surprise guest appearance from Billy Idol.

Friday saw Tyler, The Creator take top billing, while Saturday belonged to Post Malone, Journey, Megan Thee Stallion and Limp Bizkit.

Sunday will close with Foo Fighters.

Cook County was added on Thursday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list of areas experiencing 'substantial' COVID-19 transmission, bringing with it advisories for masks indoors.

The festival announced late Friday that masks will be required in any indoor spaces on the grounds beginning Saturday.

'We encourage all fans attending the festival to bring a mask as they attend the final two days of the festival,' according to an announcement from festival producer C3 Presents.

Health officials said they did expect there to be an increase in COVID cases.

'When you're having this many folks who are coming through almost certainly there will be some cases,' said Dr Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

She told CNBC: 'But I'm confident that the combination of what we know about limiting risk in outdoor settings, pairing that with vaccination and or testing and ideally mostly vaccination, which is what we expect, as well as all the other mitigation factors.'

Megan Thee Stallion performs in concert during day three of the 30th anniversary of Lollapalooza

The concert in Grant Park is one of the biggest since the pandemic began, with 100,000 people every day

Some felt the event was a bad idea, pointing out that recent music festivals, including the Verknipt festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, and Rolling Loud in Miami, have been connected to outbreaks among their attendees and surrounding communities.

Dr Emily Landon, the executive medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medicine, said last Monday in an interview with NBC-5 Chicago that she thought the festival should have been cancelled.

'I think continuing to have Lolla at that level of capacity was a bad idea even before there was a pandemic, and I'm shocked that we've agreed to go back to that same level of capacity, ' she said.
Pictured: 71-year-old Louise Kam was last seen by her family on July 26

Two murder suspects have been remanded in custody over the alleged killing a 71-year-old woman who went missing seven days ago.

Mohammed El-Abboud, 26, and Kusai Al-Jundi, 23, are accused of murdering Louise Kam, a pensioner who was last seen by a relative near Spires Shopping Centre in Barnet, north west London.

Both men indicated a plea of not guilty through their solicitors, Willesden Magistrates' Court was told today.

Police issued a missing person's appeal last week before charging two men with her murder.

The mother-of-two is believed to have driven a black BMW 3 Series convertible around six miles from Borehamwood in Hertfordshire to Barnet last Monday.

It is thought she then made her way to the Willesden High Road area of north west London, in the afternoon of that day before her vehicle was found by police two days later on Wednesday.

Her disappearance was described by her family as 'entirely out of character'.

El-Abboud, from East Barnet, appeared in the dock today wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit and a silver stud in his left ear and was helped by an Arabic interpreter.

Al-Jundi, from Harrow, north west London, appeared separately from the co-defendant, and also wore a grey prison-issue tracksuit in the dock.

Mohammed El-Abboud, 26, and Kusai Al-Jundi, 23, appeared at Willesden Magistrates Court (pictured) today where they were accused of murdering missing 71-year-old Louise Kam

District Judge Denis Brennan said: 'That is the matter that, as you know, it can only be tried at the Central Criminal Court. I can't deal with bail at all.

'You [the defendants] will be remanded in custody to appear at the Central Criminal Court on August 4 where that court will consider the ball position.

'The plea and trial preparation hearing will be on the 27 August.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said before the hearing: 'Detectives investigating the disappearance of a 71-year-old woman from Hertfordshire have charged two men with her murder.

Met Police said Louise Kam, from Hertfordshire, was last seen by a family member near the Spires Shopping Centre in Barnet, north-west London, at around 12.30pm last Monday

'Mohamed El Abboud, 26, of Gallants Farm Road, Barnet, and Kusai Al-Jundi, 23, of Wood End Road, Harrow, have both been charged with the murder of Louise Kam.

'Louise Kam was last seen by a family member near the Spires Shopping Centre in Barnet at around 12.30hrs on Monday, July 26.'

The force said enquiries are ongoing.
Brits should holiday within the UK this summer and only travel abroad for essential reasons, a Government adviser said today.

Professor Stephen Reicher, a social psychologist who sits on a subgroup of SAGE, urged people to be 'sensible and cautious' when making getaway plans.

But he accepted that some may need to travel abroad for essential reasons, such as work, or to attend weddings and funerals.

In a plea for people to consider staycations, he argued it's 'pretty hot at the moment and there's lots of good places to go'.

As it stands, Britons can travel to green list countries as long as they take Covid tests before departure and two days after arriving back in the country.

Fully-vaccinated holidaymakers can follow the same rules for all amber list countries, while those who are unvaccinated must self-isolate for 10 days on return.

It comes as the Government is considering making an 'amber watchlist', to identify countries at-risk of turning red. Spain, Greece and Italy are thought to be contenders for the list.

Any sudden move to No10's red list would force hundreds of thousands of Britons to scramble for a to return to the UK, or face having to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days at a cost of 1,750.

Professor Reicher told Times Radio today that now, 'is the time to be sensible and be cautious' and holiday in the UK instead of abroad

Apart from the UK, Spain, France and Greece have some of the highest infection rates in Europe

What are the current travel traffic light rules and how would an 'amber watchlist' work? There are currently three main categories in the Government's international travel traffic light scheme: Red, amber and green. But there is also an 'amber plus' list and ministers are considering introducing an 'amber watchlist'. Below is a breakdown of the rules for each category: Red: Travel to the UK from a red list country is banned for non-UK nationals. Brits returning must take a pre-departure test and book a 10 day stay in hotel quarantine at a cost of 1,750. Amber: A pre-departure test is required while non-vaccinated people have to quarantine for 10 days at home and book tests on day two and day 8. The fully-vaccinated do not have to quarantine but they do have to book a day two test. Amber Plus: A new category which currently only includes France. It means everyone returning from the country, including the fully-vaccinated, must quarantine at home for 10 days and take tests on day two and day eight. Amber Watchlist: Ministers are considering introducing the category to highlight countries which are amber but at imminent risk of turning red. Green: Returning travellers must take a pre-departure test and book a day two test as well. Quarantine is not required for anyone unless the test is positive. Advertisement

Professor Reicher, from the University of St Andrews, told Times Radio: 'There are reasons why people need to travel and I can recognise that.

'They need to travel sometimes for work, people need to travel for family reasons. If there is a marriage, or much worse of course, if there is a funeral, people do need to travel, so there's reasons for travel.

'But I think, by and large, I think the message should be, unless you need to travel, this year, it's far more sensible, both for public health but also so you yourself don't get disrupted.

'Because things change very quickly, one of the things we know about this pandemic is while a week might be a long time in politics, it's a huge time in the pandemic and you can find the situation in a country changing.'

He added: 'I would say by and large, holiday in the UK.

'It's pretty hot at the moment and there's lots of good places to go, so I think we should be clear in saying look, just right now, for now, with one in 65 people in the UK being infected, with the pandemic raging around the world, now is the time to be sensible and be cautious.

'But as I say, most people understand that.

'Things are going well because of personal responsibility, they would be going still better if there was a partnership and the Government showed the same level of responsibility in helping us to do the right thing.'

Meanwhile, the Government is considering adding a new tier to the travel traffic light system.

Ministers are under mounting pressure not to go ahead with the move with Tory MPs warning it could cause a massive collapse in bookings, further decimating the beleaguered aviation sector.

Many Conservative MPs believe the red, amber and green system is now far too complicated and are demanding it be simplified.

But Digital Minister Matt Warman dismissed the concerns this morning as he said the system works fine as long as people 'apply their common sense'.

He did not rule out introducing the new amber watchlist category, with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps due to provide an update on travel rules on Thursday this week.

Moving a country from amber to red at a moment's notice would force returning travellers to undertake a costly stay in mandatory hotel quarantine. A beach in Tarragona, Spain, is pictured last month
Two men who ran a rat-infested car wash in Cumbria where they paid exploited workers trafficked from Romania just 20-a-week have been jailed for a total of seven years for running a modern slavery ring.

Defrim Paci, 42, and Sitar Ali, 33, preyed on the desperation of trafficked Romanians to earn money before making them work 11 hours a day for six days a week at Shiny Carwash in Carlisle, a court heard.

Their victims travelled to the UK knowing they would be paid 30 a day but when they arrived in the country their IDs were removed and charges were taken from their wages, police said.

Carlisle Crown Court heard some staff were left with 20 to their name following a 66-hour work week, while others were burned from chemicals due to substandard working practices.

It was heard the workers paid to live in squalid conditions in multi-occupancy, rat-infested accommodation. One person even told the court: 'They treated me the same, like they would do with a slave.'

Defrim Paci (left) and Sitar Ali (right) preyed on the desperation of trafficked Romanians to earn money before making them work 11 hours a day for six days a week at Shiny Carwash in Carlisle, a court heard

It was heard the workers paid to live in squalid conditions in multi-occupancy, rat-infested accommodation. Pictured: the kitchen in the victims' accommodation

Ali, of Carlisle, and Paci, of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottingham, were arrested following a police investigation launched in January 2017 when one of the victims told immigration officers what was happening.

A police inquiry was launched which led to searches of premises linked to the suspects and ultimately the identification of other victims.

Ali and Paci were charged with conspiracy to require others to perform forced or compulsory labour and conspiracy to facilitate travel with a view to exploitation.

Both men, who denied the allegations, were found guilty last week following a seven-week trial at Carlisle Crown Court. Ali was also convicted of possessing criminal property after 16,000 was found in a BMW when he was arrested.

Appearing in the dock on Friday, Ali was jailed for 39 months while Paci was handed a 45 months sentence.

Detective Chief Inspector James Yallop, who led the investigation, said: 'This was a highly organised crime group with a clear purpose to exploit vulnerable people from Romania for their own profit and gain.

Carlisle Crown Court heard some staff were left with 20 to their name following a 66-hour work week, while others were burned from chemicals due to substandard working practices. Pictured: Shiny Carwash in Carlisle

'The victims in this case were provided with substandard accommodation and were left with burns due to the conditions they were working in.

'The conditions created by the organised crime group meant the victims were unable to leave; they had their ID cards removed, money was taken from them - they had no freedom or choice. They worked long hours for very little pay.

'This all happened at a car wash used by many people, with customers unaware of the criminal enterprise they were paying out to.

'Cumbria is a safe and beautiful county to live in - but what this shows is modern slavery can happen anywhere. This is not just an issue for big cities.'

Alan Richardson of CPS North West said: 'The defendants targeted vulnerable Romanian nationals from poverty-stricken communities and took advantage of those vulnerabilities in order to maximise their profits and increase their own wealth.

'The CPS worked closely with the police to build a strong case, but we couldn't have succeeded in bringing these men to justice without the help and support of the victims.

'I hope this case will give other victims of exploitation the confidence to come forward.'

To get help or report modern slavery, call the independent Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700 or visit www.modernslaveryhelpline.org.
Afghan forces have battled to stop the first major city from falling to the Taliban following weekend offensives by the terror group in a sharp escalation of conflict.

Taliban fighters assaulted at least three provincial capitals overnight - Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat - after a weekend of heavy fighting that saw thousands of civilians flee the advancing militants.

Fighting raged in Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched coordinated attacks on the city centre and its prison - just hours after the government announced the deployment of hundreds of commandos to the area.

An Afghan Air Force's helicopter rovers near the Afghan Parliament house in Kabul today as conflict escalates with the Taliban

Afghan security officials arrive as part of a reinforcement to fight against Taliban militants as they push to gain access to the city in Herat

Clashes have intensified since early May, with the insurgents capitalising on the final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after almost 20 years.

As the country's security forces struggled to keep the Taliban at bay, President Ashraf Ghani blamed Washington on Monday for Afghanistan's deteriorating security.

'The reason for our current situation is that the decision was taken abruptly,' Ghani told parliament, referring to the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Ghani said he had warned Washington that the withdrawal would have 'consequences'.

A market is closed over security fears as Taliban attacked parts of the city in Lashkar Gah on Monday

A sniper keeps a watch from the roof of the parliament building before Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrives at parliament

Security officials and pro-government private militia arrive as part of a reinforcement to fight against Taliban militants

In southern Afghanistan, fighting continued in Lashkar Gah overnight as Afghan forces beat back a fresh assault from the Taliban.

'Afghan forces on the ground and by air strikes repelled the attack,' the military in Helmand said.

Resident Hawa Malalai warned of a growing crisis in the city: 'There is fighting, power cuts, sick people in hospital, the telecommunication networks are down. There are no medicines and pharmacies are closed.'

Helmand for years was the centrepiece of the US and British military campaign in Afghanistan - only for it to slip deeper into instability.

The vast poppy fields in the province provide the lion's share of the opium for the international heroin trade - making it a lucrative source of tax and cash for the Taliban.

Security officials check people on a roadside checkpoint in Kandahar after thousands were evacuated from their homes

America has abandoned its duty to democracy, says former US commander General Petraeus A former US commander has said America is leaving Afghanistan to face a 'bloody, brutal civil war'. General David Petraeus, 68, said that America has abandoned its duty to protect democracy and civil rights in the country. He told The Times: 'The rest of the world will see that we are not supporting democracy or maintaining the values that we promote around the world  human rights, particularly women's rights, the right to education and freedom of speech and press  all very imperfect in Afghanistan, but vastly better than if the Taliban reinstates a medieval Islamist regime. 'The worst-case scenario is we could see a bloody, brutal civil war similar to that of the 1990s when the Taliban prevailed.' He added that there would likely be a return of an al-Qaeda sanctuary if that were to happen, causing millions of refugees to flood in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and a reduction in freedoms for citizens, particularly women. General Petraeus, who spent 37 years in the US army, said he is 'a little bit unclear' why they didn't maintain 3,500 troops to prevent Taliban sieges, noting that up to 2,500 US troops are remaining in Iran in a non-combat role to help Iraqi security forces keep an eye on 'insurgent and terrorist cell remnants'. Advertisement

The loss of Lashkar Gah would be a massive strategic and psychological blow for the government, which has pledged to defend provincial capitals at all costs after losing much of the rural countryside to the Taliban over the summer.

Fighting also surged in some districts of Kandahar province, the former bastion of the insurgents, and on the outskirts of its capital.

Kandahar airport came under attack overnight Sunday, with the Taliban firing rockets that damaged the runway, leading to the suspension of flights for several hours.

The facility is vital to maintaining the logistics and air support needed to keep the Taliban from overrunning the city, while also providing air support over large tracts of southern Afghanistan - including nearby Lashkar Gah.

In the west, hundreds of commandos were also defending Herat after days of fierce fighting.

'The threat is high in these three provinces... but we are determined to repel their attacks,' Afghan security forces spokesman Ajmal Omar Shinwari told reporters on Sunday.

Kabul has repeatedly dismissed the militants' steady gains over the summer as lacking strategic value, but has largely failed to reverse their momentum.

President Ghani said authorities had worked out a six-month plan to thwart the Taliban, but acknowledged the insurgents were no longer a 'scattered and inexperience movement'.

'We are faced with an organised command and leadership, backed by an unholy coalition of international terrorism and its supporting circles.'

The capture of any major city by the Taliban would take their current offensive to another level and fuel concerns about the ability of the Afghan military.

'If Afghan cities fall... the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan will be remembered as one of the most notable strategic blunders in American foreign policy,' Australia-based Afghanistan expert Nishank Motwani told AFP.

The Taliban have seized Afghan cities in the past but have retained them only briefly.
The minister in charge of the UK's digital infrastructure admitted today that he did not know when the whole UK would have access to an ultra-high-speed connection.

Matt Warman made the admission as a new plan to connect almost two million more premises across rural parts of England to gigabit internet was launched.

It is part of the Government's 5 billion gigabit upgrade plan, which hopes to connect 85 per cent of the nation by the middle of the decade.

But critics have attacked the plan, which comes after Boris Johnson last year shelved a Tory 2019 election manifesto pledge to connect 100 per cent of the UK by 2025.

Mr Warman, the Digital Infrastructure Minister, was asked when that might now be achieved, in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'There's an element of how long is a piece of string on that, but what we have said is that we will get to that 85 per cent by 2025, we will go as fast as we possibly can,' he replied.

He added that the Government was 'technology neutral', meaning that not all homes will get fibre broadband if similar speeds can be achieved more efficiently by another means, including 5G and satellite internet.

Matt Warman made the admission as a plan to connect almost two million more premises across rural parts of England to gigabit internet was launched.

Critics have attacked the plan, which comes after Boris Johnson last year shelved a Tory 2019 election manifesto pledge to connect 100 per cent of the UK by 2025.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden today announced that a further 1.85 million premises across 26 English counties will get access to gigabit speed internet, equivalent to 1,000 megabits per second.

It comes after the first areas to benefit from the multibillion-pound broadband upgrade - a key part of the Prime Minister's so-called levelling up agenda - were revealed in March, including Cornwall, Cumbria, Essex and Northumberland.

As part of this second announcement, almost half a million premises in Shropshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Worcestershire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will be among those to benefit, with work due to start in 2022.

Work will then be undertaken in counties including Derbyshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Surrey, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

The speeds will allow users to download a HD movie in less than 30 seconds and lay the foundations for next-generation tech such as 8K-quality video streaming, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Project Gigabit has allocated 24 million to roll out gigabit broadband in 10 local authority areas in Northern Ireland, while 234,000 homes and businesses in Wales have been confirmed as in scope to receive upgrades through the programme, DCMS said.

A further 4.5 million will go towards helping thousands of people in central Scotland get next-generation connections.

The investment is part of Boris Johnson's target of achieving at least 85 per cent gigabit-capable UK coverage by 2025, with officials stating that the Government is 'on track' to meet the commitment.

But critics have questioned this assessment. The target for 100 per cent coverage was downgraded to 85 per cent last November.

In January MPs the Public Accounts Committee report warned that 'those in rural areas may have to pay more and may reach gigabit broadband speeds late'.

The MPs also pointed to the Government's decision not to allocate three-quarters of the 5 billion programme, to subsidise gigabit rollout to the hardest to reach, until after 2024-25.

The committee said it was concerned that event the 85 per cent target will be challenging to meet.

It warned many consumers, particularly in rural and remote areas, may have to wait 'well beyond 2025 for gigabit broadband speeds and may not even get superfast speeds before then'.

MPs pointed out that 1.6 million UK premises, mostly in rural areas, 'cannot yet access superfast speeds' as the Government focuses on 'upgrading' the connectivity again.

Monday's announcement takes the total number of houses, businesses and public facilities set to benefit to 2.2 million, the department said, with more areas expected to be announced.

Labour's shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said: 'The Conservatives are keeping the UK in the digital slow lane with their broken promises on the gigabit rollout, shifting their targets again and again'

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: 'Project Gigabit is our national mission to level up rural areas by giving them the fastest internet speeds on the market.

'Millions more rural homes and businesses will now be lifted out of the digital slow lane thanks to our mammoth 5 billion investment and one of the quickest rollouts in Europe.

'This broadband revolution will create jobs, power up businesses and allow everyone to access vital services at lightning fast speed, helping us build back better from the pandemic.'

But Labour's shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said: 'The Conservatives are keeping the UK in the digital slow lane with their broken promises on the gigabit rollout, shifting their targets again and again.

'Conservative dither and delay is harming our digital infrastructure and our economy.'

Rocio Concha, policy and advocacy director at consumer choice group Which?, said: 'The coronavirus crisis has highlighted how vital fast and reliable broadband is, so it's good to see the Government prioritise more rural areas which have suffered for too long with poor internet connections.

'The Government should clarify when these communities will actually be able to benefit from these connections, as consumers are relying on the internet more than ever and improving connectivity will play an important role as we recover from the pandemic.'
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is refusing to bring back the indoor mask mandate amid a spike in new COVID-19 cases and instead is focusing on getting more of the city vaccinated.

The CDC issued new guidance last week saying vaccinated people should wear masks indoors to stop the spread of the Indian 'Delta' variant. It was based off a spike in cases in Provincetown, Massachusetts, over one of the busiest weekends of the year - July 4.

Vaccinated people are far less likely to become ill with or die from COVID-19 than unvaccinated people are, but half of the country remains unvaccinated and the variant is three times as contagious as previous strains.

There is now a debate over whether or not local governments should adopt it the mask advice because it would force vaccinated people to adopt restrictions for the benefit of those who choose not to get the shot.

Republican governors are standing against it, while Democratic leaders are rushing to enforce it.

On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who issued some of the strictest COVID rules last year before being stripped of his powers in anger over how his administration tallied nursing home deaths, urged de Blasio to make it a law.

'I don't have any legal authority to mandate. The best I can do is strongly recommend that they do that,' he said.

But de Blasio - who took repeated insults from Cuomo during the pandemic about his lack of authority - is standing firm.

At his own press conference 30 minutes later, he said: 'The overwhelming strategic thrust is vaccination.

'We think the right mix is to heavily focus on vaccination and continue to climb that leader and also give a very clear message, strongly recommending mask usage.

'Mask wearing is not a substitute for vaccination,' he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday he would not bring back NYC's indoor mask mandate because he wants to focus instead on getting more people vaccinated

New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday urged NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local leaders to adopt the CDC's new mask guidance because he no longer has the authority to instate a mask mandate

In order for Cuomo to create a mask mandate, he'd have to make it a law and he can't do that now without the approval of the state legislature, which stripped him of his powers in March because of his handling of nursing home COVID deaths.

He was forced to acknowledge the change at his press conference on Monday.

'We had extensive authority under the previous law that overrode local governments.

'That law has lapsed. So now, the law is as set by the local government and we are just recommending.

'If we get to a situation where local governments don't step up, then you'd need the state to pass a law.

'Local governments should follow CDC mask guidance... the state has strongly recommended that local governments do it. It's up to the local governments,' Cuomo said.

Some New York City institutions, like Broadway, have already announced that they will make guests wear masks. Broadway is also only allowing vaccinated people in to shows.

'We want to strongly recommend that people wear masks in indoor settings even if you are vaccinated,' de Blasio said at his press conference.

He added that masks are already mandatory in public settings like public transport, schools, hospitals and doctor's offices, and they are mandatory for unvaccinated people in others.

Cuomo has previously encouraged private businesses to require proof of vaccine status before allowing people indoors.

On Monday he was asked by a reporter why he hadn't asked reporters at his press conference to wear masks, if it's what he is recommending.

He was also asked why he wasn't asking reporters to show their vaccine passes.

'Who here isn't vaccinated?' he yelled out in response.

One of the reporters replied: 'No one is going to admit to that.'

Cuomo then laughed off the exchange and said he would follow the New York City rules.

Right now, masks are not required indoors in New York City unless the business enforces it as a rule. People are pictured dining at a restaurant on the Upper West Side recently

This CDC map shows how Delta is spreading across the country. Southern states and states on the West Coast are seeing the highest number of cases

This map shows how hospitals are faring across the country. Dark blue shaded areas have the lowest number of available beds and those being hospitalized are mostly unvaccinated

The trend is the same in New York City. Cases are on the rise thanks to Delta but deaths and hospitalizations are low

It comes amid research that shows while vaccinated people are far less likely to become gravely ill with COVID-19, they still can contract and transmit it.

With half of the country still unvaccinated, it is causing a spike in hospitalizations and deaths in some parts of the country where vaccination rates are low.

In Austin, Texas, there are now just 7 ICU beds left across the city because others have been filled by unvaccinated COVID patients.

New York City has not, however, seen an uptick in hospitalizations or deaths, despite cases being on the rise in Delta variant cases.

New York state and city workers have until Labor Day to get vaccinated or they face rigorous testing requirements.

The same rule has been adopted by other states.

In New York City, de Blasio is also offering $100 to people who get their first shot at a city-run site.

Florida has broken its record for COVID hospitalizations with more than 10,200 hospitalized with the virus.

On Monday, the Director of the National Institute for Health said on Monday masks may be necessary to avoid future lockdowns.

'We want to avoid lockdowns at all costs, but that means were going to have to do some other things that wont necessarily be welcomed by people,' Dr. Francis Collins told Good Morning America.
A lawyer, 31, who filed 42 discrimination and harassment complaints to an employment tribunal has lost her case, with the judge warning against 'A culture of hyper-sensitivity'.

Nirosha Sithirapathy, a 100,000-a-year lawyer at science and engineering company PSI CRO UK Ltd, was told at the hearing her case had failed despite the allegations.

Employment judge Emma Jane Hawksworth told her comments made to her by her boss did not amount to harassment.

The tribunal heard manager Martin Schmidt asked Ms Sithirapathy why she was reluctant to move to work in another country by stating 'you are not married, you don't have children and you do not have a boyfriend'.

The panel was told the executive then went on to tell her staff in the overseas office he was suggesting she relocate to were 'tolerant' of lesbians.

But it acknowledged the comments were 'clumsily put', it dismissed Miss Sithirapathy's harassment claim. Her sexuality was not disclosed at the hearing but she is understood to be married to a man.

Judge Hawksworth said: 'The comments were unfortunate and awkward. However, we bear in mind the importance of not encouraging a culture of hyper-sensitivity or of imposing legal liability to every unfortunate phrase.'

Nirosha Sithirapathy was a lawyer at science and engineering company PSI CRO UK Ltd

The hearing in Reading, Berks, was told Miss Sithirapathy began working for local science and engineering company PSI CRO UK Ltd in 2014, aged 25.

In November 2016, Mr Schmidt, the country manager and chief financial officer for the PSI group, offered her a position with the company's Swiss head office where she would have a yearly salary of almost 100,000.

The tribunal heard she told him she was 'not interested' in the opportunity for 'personal reasons'.

Mr Schmidt then retorted - in what Judge Hawksworth said were 'very blunt' and 'clumsily put' remarks - by saying 'you are not married, you don't have children and you do not have a boyfriend'.

He went on to tell her an anecdote about the Swiss office's 'tolerance' of lesbian staff members, the panel heard.

The tribunal was told Miss Sithirapathy was 'shocked' and the discussion made her 'uncomfortable'.

The following year during an appraisal meeting, Miss Sithirapathy was denied a promotion as she was at the 'beginning of her career', 'young' and was told she 'needed to be patient with herself', the tribunal heard.

She then complained about this - as well as Mr Schmidt's comments.

Employment tribunal in Reading ruled against her and spoke of danger of 'hyper-sensitivity'

Miss Sithirapthy's tribunal claims - Unfair dismissal - Wrongful dismissal in relation to notice period - Unauthorised deduction from wages/breach of contract in respect of the period from 1 to 3 September 2017 - Direct discrimination because of age and/or sex - Harassment related to age - Sexual harassment/harassment related to sex; - Harassment related to sexual orientation by perception - Victimisation Advertisement

However, in May of that year, after a change of heart she signed a contract, accepting a role as manager of the real estate portfolio in Zug, Switzerland which she was 'very excited' about, the tribunal heard.

Miss Sithirapathy left the British arm of the company and started with PSI CRO AG in the Swiss town in September 2017 but she was sacked a month later because of a 'reorganisation of the department', the panel heard.

She then brought proceedings against this decision in Switzerland but the Cantonal Court ruled her sacking was not abusive and dismissed her complaint - a decision the UK tribunal agreed with.

Miss Sithirapathy - who attended the School of Oriental and African Studies in London - had tried to get her old job back but she was told that this was not possible as the position had been filled.

At the tribunal she claimed she had been forced out of the job but it ruled her employment had ended by 'mutual agreement'.

Miss Sithirapathy later filed 42 discrimination allegations, sexual harassment, harassment relating to age and/or sexual orientation and victimisation claims to an employment tribunal.

But the panel dismissed them, concluding: 'The comments were unfortunate and awkward.

'However, we bear in mind the importance of not encouraging a culture of hyper-sensitivity or of imposing legal liability to every unfortunate phrase.

'We have concluded that, in this case, taking into account the context of the discussion, these comments did not cross the line such that they amounted to unlawful harassment.

'Miss Sithirapathy was shocked and the discussion made her uncomfortable, as she did not know how Mr Schmidt knew personal information about her.

'However, Mr Schmidt said, and we accept, that he would have made the same comments to a male employee.

'Mr Schmidt was not commenting on Miss Sithirapathy's relationship status or sexual orientation, he was seeking to convey his understanding about the claimant's family commitments in the UK.

'Mr Schmidt in particular spoke very bluntly to the claimant. We have considered the allegations of harassment carefully.

'Some of the comments made to Miss Sithirapathy were very unfortunate and clumsy. However, we have concluded that they did not cross the line such as to amount to unlawful harassment.

'We have therefore concluded that the claimant was not subjected to discrimination, harassment or victimisation. Those complaints fail and are dismissed.'
Wild video captured the moment two men were shoved through a hotel's plate glass window during an apparent brawl over counterfeit tickets to Chicago's Lollapalooza music festival.

Footage posted by a local reporter shows the two men crashing through the window of the Congress Hotel across the street from Lollapalooza's entrance in Grant Park at around 5.45pm on Sunday.

One victim, a 29-year-old man, quickly drags himself away from the hotel with his leg bloodied from shattered glass.

A 26-year-old man who allegedly pushed the victims is seen in a white t-shirt fleeing the scene. He was taken into custody late Sunday.

The suspect was accused of selling fake Lollapalooza wristbands to the two victims who then confronted him when the fight broke out.

The incident came as this year's music festival - which drew about 100,000 each day from Thursday to Sunday - was already facing fierce scrutiny over the decision to let it take place despite coronavirus concerns.

Wild video captured the moment two men were shoved through a hotel's plate glass window during an apparent brawl over counterfeit tickets to Chicago's Lollapalooza music festival

One of four victims, a 29-year-old man, quickly dragged himself away from the hotel with his leg bloodied from shattered glass. Both male victims and the offender were taken to Northwestern Hospital with cuts on their legs and the back of their heads

The 26-year-old offender is seen in a white t-shirt fleeing the scene. He was taken into custody late Sunday after selling counterfeit Lollapalooza tickets to a 38-year-old man, a 29-year-old man, a 27-year old woman and a 23-year-old woman

At 5.45pm police came to the hotel for a call of deceptive practice where a man was accused of selling counterfeit Lollapalooza tickets to a 38-year-old man, a 29-year-old man, a 27-year old woman and 23-year-old woman.

When the two men realized their tickets were fake they confronted the seller on the sidewalk and got into the fight that sent them crashing through the hotel window.

Emergency responders had to put tourniquets on the victims to stop the bleeding.

Both men and the offender were taken to Northwestern Hospital with cuts on their legs and the back of their heads. They're all in stable condition.

Chicago reporter Steven Graves tweeted updates about the brawl, which took place Sunday afternoon at 5.45pm at 520 S. Michigan Ave. Two people were seen bleeding, police had the street closed off for hours and local detectives are now investigating

This isn't the first time Lollapalooza turned bloody. One death, 31 arrests and 116 emergency transports took place at the 2019 festival.

With crime and the COVID-19 Delta variant surging, many were shocked Mayor Lori Lightfoot even gave the green light for 400,000 festival goers to enter the park.

Festival-goers had to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test from 72 hours prior, and on the opening day - Thursday.

Lollapalooza officials said that over 90 percent of attendees presented proof of a vaccination but around 600 people were turned away due to lack of paperwork.

Twitter users referred to the festival as a 'human petri dish' and 'super-spreader' of the virus.

The four-day festival drew a total of about 400,000 fans. Festival-goers had to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test from 72 hours prior, and on the opening day but Twitter users still slammed the event as a 'human petri dish'

Despite Lightfoot thanking the crowd 'for masking up and vaxing up', the headlining Foo Fighters performed for a largely maskless crowd of 100,000

Lollapalooza's 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19 and this past weekend marked the first major cross-genre festival to return to the US since the pandemic's start. The festival has been a Windy City staple since its debut as a touring event in 1991.

Performances feature alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic music. This year's headliners were Miley Cyrus, Tyler The Creator, Post Malone and the Foo Fighters.

Next year's Lollapalooza has already been scheduled to take place July 28-31 and it will be the festival's 16th year in Chicago's Grant Park.
Journalist Zaid Jilani (pictured) argued that progressive leaders are downplaying the nationwide crime surge in a recent essay for The Atlantic

A liberal journalist has accused progressive lawmakers who support defunding the police of downplaying America's recent spike in violent crime and ignoring their own constituents' please for practical solutions in order to protect their political agendas.

In an essay published last Tuesday in The Atlantic, freelance journalist Zaid Jilani, a self-proclaimed progressive, argued that Americans should not be forced to accept this rise in 'violence and suffering', noting that many believe police are 'vital' in anti-crime response.

While many progressives are outraged about police brutality, Jilani stated that most Americans in major cities are more worried about the surge in violence than defunding the police.

However, he asserted that left-leaning leaders are downplaying the nation's crime rates because they fear 'rising anxiety about crime' would 'fuel support' for policies they oppose.

Jilani cited a recent comment by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D - New York) as evidence for his argument, saying she told citizens that they shouldn't let reports of violent crime evoke fear.

'We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn't drive a hysteria, and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.'

He went on to argue that lawmakers like Ocasio-Cortez are blatantly ignoring the public's plea for more police protection.

Jilani's claims echoed a number of recent polls which showed that the majority of residents in America's biggest cities do not want to defund the police and in fact would like to see more officers on the ground.

He argues that left-leaning leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York (pictured: NYPD investigating shooting on August 1, 2021) are downplaying the nation's crime rates because they fear 'rising anxiety about crime' would 'fuel support' for policies they oppose

Jilani cites the April 2021 death of Mahmood Ansari (pictured) who was robbed and stabbed to death while working at his souvenir store in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He claims area residents requested more police protection ahead of Ansari's death but did not receive it

Jilani referenced the death of Mahmood Ansari, who was robbed and stabbed to death while working at his souvenir store in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in early April, as an example of political downplaying.

Rizwan Malik, a friend of Ansari, told Ansari that he and several other business owners begged city leaders for more police protection in the weeks ahead of Ansari's death due to a flood of robberies in the area, however that request was reportedly unfulfilled.

'If they were doing something about it, [Ansari] would maybe be alive,' Malik said.

'I'm sure that many progressives don't buy the argument that quality policing is essential to controlling violent crime, but many voters do,' Jilani wrote in his essay, resounding Malik's claim.

'Progressive politicians who do want to address this rise in violence sometimes worry about their ideological credentials being called into question if they embrace additional policing.'

According to Democratic politician Sal Albanese, who formerly represented Southern Brooklyn in the New York City Council, the current political climate makes it hard to address policing.

'I think it's a litmus test. You can't talk about policing, otherwise you're considered, I guess, non-progressive,' Albanese told Jilani.

Former Senator Vincent Fort (D-Ga.) echoed Albanese's claim saying: 'Progressives have to be full-throated and have to be very  outspoken on these issues.

'We cannot allow the right wing, the police unions, and others to intimidate us into being either quiet on this issue or not pushing on the policy changes that are needed.'

Democratic politician Sal Albanese told Jilani that the current political climate makes it hard to address policing: I think it's a litmus test. You can't talk about policing, otherwise you're considered, I guess, non-progressive' (photographed: Homicide in Atlantic City, NJ)

Fort believes addressing the nation's crime surge is 'both a strategic and moral imperative for progressives'.

This is evidenced by progressive leaders' quick response to downplay crime rates, Jilani argued, citing an article by The Guardian asserting that 'police and politicians routinely share misleading, out-of-context crime statistics to advance their agendas'.

According to The Guardian piece: 'Americans overall are much less likely to be killed today than they were in the 1990s'.

Jilani said that while that may be true, 'its just as true that violent crime is a real crisis in certain placesharming certain communitiesright now'.

Chicago recorded 774 murders in 2020, according to the Chicago Sun Times, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year. The overall number of shootings in the city also skyrocketed, rising from 2,120 in 2019 to 3,237 in 2020.

University of Chicago Crime Analyst John Roman told Jilani that last year the city saw 'the largest increase in violence weve seen since 1960, when we started collecting formal crime statistics'.

Los Angeles reported a 36 percent increase in homicides per capita from 2019 to 2020, with rates rising from 258 to 350. The city also saw an increased number of shootings reporting 946 in 2019 and 1,138 in 2020. However, overall, city-wide crimes decreased.

New York City reported a record-low for overall crime in 2020, however still saw a 44.8 percent rise in murder, a 41.7 percent rise in burglary and a 66.7 percent rise in grand larceny autos.

Unlike NYC, Atlanta, which has already released some crime statistics for this year, is seeing an overall increase in all citywide crime. As of May 2021, the city has already reported more murders and shootings than in 2020 and 2019.

University of Chicago crime analysts report that in 2020 the city saw 'the largest increase in violence weve seen since 1960, when we started collecting formal crime statistics'

While citywide crime decreased overall in Los Angeles in 2020, the city reported an increase in homicides and shootings

New York City reported a record-low for overall crime in 2020, however still saw a 44.8 percent rise in murder, a 41.7 percent rise in burglary and a 66.7 percent rise in grand larceny autos

Atlanta, which has already released some crime statistics for this year, is seeing an overall increase in all citywide crime. As of May 2021, the city has already reported more murders and shootings than in 2020 and 2019

Similarly, according to the FBI's preliminary uniform crime report for 2020, which includes data from the first half of the year, the United States saw an overall decline in the number of violent crimes and property crimes reported for the first six months of 2020 when compared to data from the first six months of 2019.

The report indicates that violent crime decreased in three of the four regions of the nation. It in the Northeast, Midwest and the West by 4.8 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.1 percent respectively. Violent crime increased in the South by 2.5 percent.

Property crime decreased in all four regions of the country, decreasing by 10.3 percent in the Midwest, 9.3 percent in the South, 5.7 percent in the Northeast and 5.3 percent in the West.

On the contrary, the US saw a rise in murders in 2020. According to NPR, the final nationwide murder update indicted an increase in murder by 36.7 percent.

With the number of homicides spiking in several communities, analysts predict the final crime statistics for 2020 will reveal a 'startlingly grim story,' New Orleans-based data consultant Jeff Asher told the news outlet.

With the number of homicides spiking in several communities, analysts predict the final overall crime report for 2020 will reveal a 'startlingly grim story'

The US saw a rise in murders in 2020 with the final nationwide murder update indicting an increase of 36.7 percent

Nationally, the U.S. has seen a decline in violent and property crimes over the last 30 years

Nationally, the US has seen a decline in violent and property crimes over the last 30 years. The most recent full-year crime report, revealing statistics for 2019, showed that fell by 1 percent and property crime by 4.5 percent from 2018.

However, the murder rate continued to rise with a 0.3 percent increase. The FBI estimates the number of murders in the U.S. in 2019 to be 16,452. This was a 3.4 percent increase from 2015 and an 11.6 percent increase from 2010.

'Even if the levels of violence return to pre-2020 levels, that would hardly be an accomplishment,' Jilani concluded. 'Weve simply come to accept a level of violence in this country that much of the rest of the world  from poor, developing countries such as Vietnam to wealthy nations such as the United Kingdom  cant even imagine.'

'Ignoring that level of human suffering is hardly progressive, and it isnt hysterical to say so.'

He also notes that residents of America's most violent cities, value the role that police play in making their community safer.

Jilani's statement echoed the results of a USA Today and the Detroit Free Press poll published earlier this month revealing that about 90 percent of residents of Detroit, where crime rates are typically high, actually want more cops.

While the 'defund the police' movement has gained popularity in the past year, Jilani argues that most Americans, value the role that police play in making their community safer

The Detroit poll, conducted by phone from July 13 to July 17, included responses from 500 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

According to the poll, about 75 percent of respondents rejected the progressive slogan 'defund the police' and only 33 percent of respondents said Motor City cops use force when it's unnecessary.

Most Detroit residents, 58 percent, rated local cops as 'mediocre or worse' - but 80 percent also said they would still ask them for help if they needed it.

Both the poll and Jilani's article come as President Joe Biden met at the White House on July 12 with urban leaders about increased shootings

While trying to balance his strong backing for law enforcement with the police reform movement championed by many of his supporters, Biden announced new efforts to stem the tide of violence.

His plan focuses on providing funding to cities that need more police, offering community support and cracking down on gun violence and illegal firearms.

'We know when we utilize trusted community members and encourage more community policing, we can intervene before the violence erupts,' Biden said.

Biden has been clear that he is opposed to the 'defund the police' movement, which has been effectively used against Democrats to paint them as anti-law enforcement.
The Senate will start debate on Monday on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer looking to get the massive package passed by the end of the week.

The behemoth bill, coming in at 2,702 pages when it was unveiled Sunday evening, includes funding for real infrastructure like road, bridge, public transportation and broadband access, as well as clean water initiatives and electric car charging stations.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is just the first version of the bill, and is about to start the amendment process as senators debate the legislation this week.

The plan was primarily put together by Senator Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, and Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, after weeks of haggling among a bipartisan group of lawmakers aimed at getting the legislation to the floor.

'It takes our aging and outdated infrastructure in this country and modernizes it, and that's good for everybody,' Portman, one of the bill's chief architects, said Sunday night.

All eyes are now turning to the Senate as Schumer is eager to finish consideration of the bill this week, but many lawmakers want to make it to the funeral for late Senator Mike Enzi on Friday in Wyoming. With this in mind, it's likely Schumer will have to wait at least another week to get the bill passed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives at the US Capitol in Washington on Monday

The Senate finally unveiled its massive $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package on Sunday evening, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushing to get it passed this week

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, told CNN Sunday that 'a very large amount' of the 92-member Progressive Caucus is prepared to kill the bill due to lack of reconciliation spending

BREAK DOWN OF THE $1.2T BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL $110 billion for roads and bridges $39 billion for public transit $66 billion for railways $65 billion for expanding broadband internet $25 billion to repair major airports $7.5 billion for the first-ever network of charging stations for electric vehicles $21 billion to respond to environmental concerns like pollution $73 billion to modernize America's energy grid FUNDING $650 billion in funding for the bill comes from existing, planned investments in the countrys roads, highways and bridges The remaining $550 billion over the next five years requires new spending Democrats wanted to fund the rest through tax revenues like a new gas tax Republicans wanted to raise money through fees issues on those who use the new infrastructure The bipartisan compromise, sure to raise heated debate, proposed using $205 billion in untapped COVID-19 relief aid and unemployment assistance that was turned away by some states Advertisement

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both centrist who worked on the infrastructure legislation, said Sunday they expect the bill to pass this week.

Another obstacle the massive proposal faces is garnering enough support when it eventually goes to the House for passage.

Progressive representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have already voiced opposition to passing the bill if the Senate doesn't also reconcile the $3.5 trillion social and welfare spending package.

Schumer has vowed that when the Senate finishes infrastructure, he will immediately take up the 2022 budget resolution with reconciliation instructions.

'I've set out two very ambitious goals for the Senate this summer, and we're now on the way to achieving both,' Schumer said Sunday as he took procedural steps to bring the infrastructure deal to the floor.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday that 'a very large amount' of the 92-member House Progressive Caucus is prepared to tank the bill over lack of reconciliation spending.

'If there is not a reconciliation bill in the House and if the Senate does not pass a reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in,' the progressive New York congresswoman told CNN's State of the Union.

She said Sunday that she is banking on moderate Democrats, like Manchin and Sinema, to support reconciliation.

Included in the $1 trillion infrastructure package is $66 billion earmarked for railways  which the White House says is the largest spending since the creation of Amtrak in the 1970s  $55 billion to replace every lead pipe in the country and $7.5 billion to build the first-ever network of charging stations for electric vehicles.

The bill also includes an additional $65 billion to expand broadband Internet access across the country, and senators are pursuing upwards of $25 billion to repair major airports.

Among the fiercest debates has been how to fund the pricey bill, which calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years. The rest of the bill comes from existing, planned investments in the country's roads, highways and bridges.

The 2,702-page legislation was brought to the floor of the Senate on Sunday evening

A Senate staffer was seen carrying a stack of thousands of papers in the Capitol with the text of the bipartisan infrastructure bill on it before a deal was officially announced Sunday

'We haven't done a large, bipartisan bill of this nature in a long time,' said Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, wanted to use new tax revenues such as a new gas tax, which was rejected by Republican senators, to pay for the legislation.

Republicans, however, wanted to raise money through fees from those who use the infrastructure, which Democrats rejected.

The bipartisan compromise did away with both but the result is sure to spark intense debate.

The compromise includes funds from repurposing some $205 billion in untapped COVID-19 relief aid, as well as unemployment assistance that was turned back by some states and relying on projected future economic growth.

'I've got real concerns with this bill,' Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said afterwards.

Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, echoed the sentiments on Friday saying the revenue estimates, which is being counted on to fund the bill, are 'lofty and unrealistic.'

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn told Fox News on Sunday she is 'not inclined to vote for this' legislation if it includes provisions that spend taxpayer money on programs that won't come to fruition for years.

She also said that a 'real' infrastructure bill should include money for the border wall and restarting the Keystone Pipeline, both of which are not part of the $1 trillion compromise.

'Tennesseans want infrastructurenot tax & spend policies our grandkids will have to pay for,' Blackburn tweeted along with a clip of her interview with Fox.

Statements like these ensure this will be a fiery week - or longer - of debate over Biden's priority legislative agenda.

Still, Schumer and other Senators remained optimistic that they could get the bill passed this week. Schumer said the vote could be held 'in a matter of days.'

To get the bill passed in a 50-50 Senate, the fragile bipartisan coalition of 10 Senators that authored the bill has to stick together and be open to compromise.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, center, speaks with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., left, while Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., walks by at right, as the Senate votes to formally begin debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan, a process that could take several days

As a note, the Democrats hold the slightest edge because Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and one of the chief negotiators, said on CNN's 'State of the Union' that it's 'my expectation and my hope' that the proposal passes the Senate this week.

Senators and staff have labored behind the scenes for days to write the massive bill. It was supposed to be ready Friday, but by Sunday even more glitches were caught and changes made. To prod the work, Schumer kept senators in session over the weekend, encouraging the authors to finish up work.

Late Sunday night, most of the 10 senators involved in the bipartisan effort rose on the Senate floor to mark the moment.

Schumer updates reporters on the infrastructure negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, at the Capitol in Washington on July 28

'We know that this has been a long and sometimes difficult process, but we are proud this evening to announce this legislation,' said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat and lead negotiator.

The bill showed 'we can put aside our own political differences for the good of the country,' she said.

Republican negotiator Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said the final product will be 'great for the American people.'

Throughout the weekend, Schumer repeatedly warned that he was prepared to keep lawmakers in Washington for as long as it took to complete votes on both the bipartisan infrastructure plan as well as a budget blueprint that would allow the Senate to begin work later this year on a massive, $3.5trillion social, health and environmental bill.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, predicted: 'It's going to be a grind.'

The spending is broadly popular among lawmakers, bringing long-delayed capital for big-ticket items that cites and states can rarely afford on their own.

Bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic senators pushed the process along, and Schumer wanted the voting to be wrapped up before senators left for the August recess.

Last week week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start work on the bipartisan bill.

The support largely held, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voting yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key negotiator in the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, stands outside the chamber as the Senate advances the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan at the Capitol on July 30

Whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass the bill grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the president's signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Cornyn said he expects Schumer to allow all senators to have a chance to shape the bipartisan bill and allow for amendments from members of both parties.

'I hope we can now pump the brakes a little bit and take the time and care to evaluate the benefits and the cost of this legislation,' Cornyn said.

The bipartisan bill still faces a rough road in the House, where progressive lawmakers want a more robust package but may have to settle for this one to keep Bidens infrastructure plans on track.

The outcome with the bipartisan effort will set the stage for the next debate over Biden's much more ambitious $3.5trillion package, a strictly partisan pursuit of far-reaching programs and services including child care, tax breaks and health care that touch almost every corner of American life.

Republicans strongly oppose that bill, which would require a simple majority for passage. Final votes on that measure are not expected until fall.
The Tories are facing more questions over a 'cash for access' row today as a major donor was accused of receiving $4million from a firm he knew was controlled by one of Vladimir Putin's ministers.

Telecoms tycoon Mohamed Amersi, who has given the Conservatives 750,000 in the past four years, received the seven-figure payment in 2005 for work carried out for Luxembourg company First National Holding when it took over a Russian firm.

The following year a Swiss tribunal ruled that First National Holding was one of a number of firms controlled by Leonid Reiman, who at the time was Russian telecoms minister.

Mr Amersi has said that he did not know Reiman ran the Luxembourg budsiness at the time, believing it to be owned by a Danish lawyer. But a British expert in telecoms today told the Financial Times that this is incorrect.

James Hatt told the paper he met Amersi in 2000 in New York, saying: 'Mohamed understood a lot about Russian telecom. If we're going to discuss British politics, we're not going to spend a lot of time discussing who the prime minister is. We know who the prime minister is.

'And in the same way, that meeting with Mohamed to discuss telecoms in St Petersburg  you're not going to spend a lot of time talking about whether or not Leonid owns First National Holding. Because you know he does.'

Kenyan-born businessman Mr Amersi is embroiled in a row over accss to senior ministers - and the Prince of Wales - via Quintessentially, a 'luxury lifestyle management service' run by Tory co-chairman Ben Elliot.

It was claimed at the weekend that Mr Elliot had set up an exclusive club for the biggest Tory donors to meet the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds last night wrote to Tory counterpart Amanda Milling demanding the party 'come clean' about the level of access afforded to financial backers as part of the so-called 'advisory group'.

It has also been revealed that Mr Amersi donated 10,000 each to four hopefuls in the 2019 Tory leadership election: Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Rory Stewart. Stewart says he immediately returned the money.

Telecoms tycoon Mohamed Amersi, who has given the Conservatives 750,000 in the past four years, received the seven-figure payment in 2005 for work carried out on a Luxembourg company's takeover of a Russian firm.

The following year a Swiss tribunal ruled that First National Holding, which paid him, was one of a number of firms controlled by Leonid Reiman (left), who at the time was Russian telecoms minister.

It has also been revealed that Mr Amersi donated 10,000 each to four hopefuls in the 2019 Tory leadership election: Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Rory Stewart. Stewart says he immediately returned the money.

Mr Amersi denied Mr Hutt's claim today, telling the FT: 'I cannot speculate on what Mr Hatt may have known at the time but, for my part, it is untrue that I was aware of Mr Reiman's concealed ownership of First National Holding, so I could not have possibly engaged in discussions about this.'

Mr Amersi was quoted by the paper as saying the Tory access club was 'like the very elite Quintessentially clients membership: one needs to cough up 250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben'.

The name was a reference to Conservative Party co-chairman Mr Elliot.

Following the report, the Tories said an advisory board meets occasionally and receives political updates.

But in her letter last night, Ms Dodds demanded information be made available about its purpose and who it has benefitted.

'It is in the public interest for you to clarify the workings of this so-called 'advisory board' and Mr Elliot's role in offering a powerful elite exclusive access to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor - purely because of their status as Tory party donors,' she wrote.

She called for a full list of all donors who have paid to be members of the board to be published, alongside the full complement of Government ministers who have attended any meetings or engagements with members of the board, including dates and times.

Ms Dodds added: 'The Conservative Party needs to come clean on what access this group had, what they used that access to lobby for, and why it appears that there is one rule for high-ranking Conservatives and another rule for everyone else.

'The way that Boris Johnson and his friends operate seems to be not about what is right but what they can get away with, blurring the boundaries between public and private life.

'There are now serious questions for the Conservative Party to answer about their fundraising techniques.'

Prince Charles was dragged into the 'cash for access' row yesterday after Mr Elliot was accused of arranging a private dinner between the heir to the throne - his uncle by marriage - and Mr Amersi.

The men are said to have had an 'intimate dinner' at Dumfries House in Scotland organised via Quintessentially, to which Mr Amersi had paid an annual 15,000 fee as an 'elite' member.

Ben Elliot (right), 45, introduced super-rich clients from his company Quintessentially to the Prince of Wales (left)

In the wake of the dinner, the 61-year-old businessman provided more than 1.2million to the prince's charities and was given access to him.

Yesterday Mr Elliot, 45, was accused by Mr Amersi of facilitating 'access capitalism' and of providing access to a senior royal.

But the Tory co-chairman insisted there was no conflict of interest and the meeting between Charles and Mr Amersi had been 'entirely about helping to raise money for charity'.

Sources at the royal household expressed disappointment that the Prince of Wales had been dragged into a 'political' row when all his efforts were 'focussed on fundraising for charity'.

Telecoms millionaire Mohamed Amersi, 61, paid 15,000 a year to be an elite member of the luxury concierge business

A Clarence House source insisted the prince was grateful for all the support Mr Elliot had provided and made clear there was no personal financial benefit.

A No 10 source insisted no special access had been given other than was normal for party donors.

A friend of the Prime Minister praised how Mr Elliot had modernised the party structure and its finances which had record donations thanks to his efforts.

A friend of Mr Elliot said: 'Ben is a buccaneer but no one ever doubts he is a straight player. He makes no apologies for raising money for charities he believes in, which includes the Prince of Wales's, and is adamant that there is no conflict of interest with his charity and political work which he keeps separate.'

Emails revealed by the Sunday Times yesterday revealed the access Mr Elliot obtained to his uncle for Mr Amersi.

Elliot appealed for donations for friend and Tory minister Zac Goldsmith (pictured) using his royal conections

In 2013 the firm arranged for him to fly to meet the heir to the throne over dinner at Dumfries House, a stately home in Ayrshire that the prince helped save.

He offered a chauffeur and private jet and sent a timetable for a guided tour of the mansion before his intimate meal with 'HRH'. Mr Amersi has since donated more than 1.2million to the prince's charities and has become a trustee of the Prince's Trust International and a board member of Charles's Mosaic Network initiative.

A message obtained by the newspaper showed that Mr Elliot told Mr Amersi 'well done' when he heard about his first donation.

In a leaked email from 2015, he allegedly told the British businessman that the prince 'spoke highly of you' before asking for a donation to the mayoral campaign of his friend Zac Goldsmith.

Mr Amersi told the Sunday Times he would never have met the heir to the throne if he had not signed up to the 'very top tier' of Mr Elliot's luxury service. He said his membership had opened doors to the Establishment, including 'Clarence House, St James's Palace, Buckingham Palace, Dumfries House'.

Mr Amersi described this arrangement as 'access capitalism'. He added: 'You get access, you get invitations, you get privileged relationships if you are part of the set-up, and where you are financially making a contribution to be a part of that set-up. Absolutely.' Charles has attended several events hosted by the Quintessentially Foundation, the firm's charitable arm, including one at Clarence House.

Labour chairman Anneliese Dodds said: 'It cannot be right that Ben Elliot is offering a select group of elite donors privileged access to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

'And if the inducements to donate to the Conservative Party or become a client of Quintessentially include professing to offer access to the Royal Family then that is totally unacceptable.'

But a spokesman for Mr Elliot said: 'Mr Elliot assisted Mr Amersi in meeting the Prince of Wales because he wanted to support the prince's charitable work, and Mr Elliot is proud that led to large donations from Mr Amersi to good causes.'
Four members of the same family were killed after a father crashed his car into a utility pole when they were returning from a birthday party in New Jersey on Saturday night.

George Ritter, 33, his five and nine-year-old daughters Alivia and Elsie, and niece Kenzie Mammoccio, eight, died after Ritter crashed in Westville, Gloucester County.

Ritter and the children were returning from a child's birthday party at the Westville Power Boat Association.

They were just minutes away from home when the crashed happened around 9pm.

George Ritter, 33 ( upper left), his five and nine-year-old daughters Elsie and Alivia, and his niece Kenzie Mammoccio ( lower right) died after Ritter crashed into a utility pole

Kenzie's father, Brian Mammoccio (right), said to ABC6 'Cherish every moment you have with your children because you never know when that moment can be taken away. I only got eight years with mine'. Pictured with Kenzie (left)

A car crash in Gloucester County, New Jersey, has claimed the lives of four members of the same family

Kenzie's father, Brian Mammoccio, said to ABC6: 'Cherish every moment you have with your children because you never know when that moment can be taken away. I only got eight years with mine.

'I wish I could have her here next to me, give her one last hug because I never got to say goodbye to her.

'She was caring and honest and full of life and spark.'

The crash happened on the 1000 block of Gateway Boulevard in Westville.

Mourners have payed their respects to the victims by leaving teddy bears and flowers at the place of the crash.

'She was caring and honest and full of life and spark,' said Mammoccio about her daughter, Kenzie

Ritter, Alivia, Elsie and Kenzie were returning from a birthday party at the Westville Power Boat Association

Mourners have left teddy bears and flowers on the place of the crash to pay respect for the victims

The Westville Power Boat Association has organized a fundraiser to cover the funerals cost

Brian Mammocio (right) pictured with his daughter Kenzie (left). 'I wish I could have her here next to me, give her one last hug because I never got to say goodbye to her,' said Mammocio

The reasons behind the crash have not yet been released to the public.

'Investigators are working on determining the exact cause of the accident,' said Westville Chief of Police William Whinna.

The Westville Power Boat Association is organizing a fundraiser to cover the cost of the funerals.

The GoFundMe page description read: 'They have touched the lives of so many and it's our turn to show our appreciation for George and the girls one last time.'

More than 300 people have donated around $20,000 from the $50,000 goal.
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill donors accused the Board of Trustees of 'allowing Marxism to take root on campus' amid the contentious debate over granting 1619 Project writer Nikole Hannah-Jones a tenured professorship, new emails reveal.

Donors criticized the school throughout the course of the months-long debate, as detailed in a trove of hundreds of emails released by UNC this week.

The university began considering hiring Hannah-Jones to its journalism faculty last September, four months after she earned the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her introductory essay to the New York Times' controversial 1619 Project.

That month, two 'long time' donors wrote to Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Stevens that they already withdrew planned gifts to the school and were considering ending their relationship with the university because of its offer.

The donors accused UNC officials of aligning the school with the 'Marxist' Black Lives Matter movement for its promotion of the 1619 Project, which has been criticized as portraying American history as fundamentally racist and also containing historical inaccuracies and generalizations.

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill donors accused the Board of Trustees of 'allowing Marxism to take root on campus' amid the contentious debate over granting 1619 Project writer Nikole Hannah-Jones (pictured) a tenured professorship, new emails reveal

Timeline of UNC's tumultuous efforts to hire Nikole Hannah-Jones with tenure despite criticism over the 1619 Project August 2019 - The New York Times begins its 1619 project which aims to 'reframe the country's history' on slavery, but faces criticism over historical inaccuracies and generalizations May 2020 - Nikole Hannah-Jones is awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her introductory essay to the project Summer 2020 - UNC start considering hiring Hannah-Jones to its journalism faculty. December 2020 - In an email, Arkansas newspaper publisher Walter Hussman - a top donor to UNC - expresses his fears that Hannah-Jones was, 'trying to push an agenda,' through the 1619 Project, and that, 'they will assume she is manipulating historical facts to support it.' April 2021 - UNC announces that Hannah-Jones would be joining the journalism school's faculty as Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism, traditionally a tenured professorship. May 2021 - Following criticism of the appointment, UNC u-turns and instead says she would take up the position on a five-year contract. This sparks a torrent of criticism, including from black students who claimed they had been neglected. June 30, 2021 - The trustees ultimately approved tenure last week, voting 9-4 to accept her application at a special meeting with a closed-door session that was invaded by her supporters, sparking an ugly brawl. July 6, 2021 - Hannah-Jones announces she has turned down the tenure offer and will go to Howard University instead. Advertisement

The donors, whose names were not disclosed, wrote in one email obtained by Fox News: 'How has the Board allowed Marxism to take root at UNC? Is that the answer to alleviating structural racism and white supremacy? What do we make of the pursuit of equality through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion?

'Social, racial and economic equality outcomes, as informed by the Office, can only be achieved through totalitarian initiatives. And that is exactly how the Office of Diversity and Inclusion is structured; to exercise control over thought and actions, and to marginalize disfavored groups.

'The University has chosen indoctrination over independent thought. Individual liberty has been suppressed to the benefit of collectivism.'

In another set of emails, unnamed donors criticized the accuracy of Hannah-Jones' 1619 Project.

One email to Susan King, dean of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, came from a donor who simply went by 'proud Tar Heel,' a reference to the school's mascot, and said that Hannah-Jones' award-winning work 'is not considered objective and accurate by many experts'.

The donor cited a letter from a group of historians, which was published in the New York Times in 2019, that said the project portrayed 'a displacement of historical understanding by ideology.'

'Proud Tar Heel' also accused the school of becoming 'extremely liberal' since he graduated several decades ago, which he said is reflected in its constant airing of CNN at the Hussman school.

He wrote, 'Each time I've visited the Journalism School's lobby only CNN has been on the large screen. I have not viewed Bloomberg News, MSNBC, CNBC, HLN or Fox. A few years ago, Brooke Baldwin (a highly touted UNC Grad and commencement speaker) has on many occasions shown a lack of objectivity in her presentations on CNN. I realize that CNN is really the broadcast arm of the Democrat Party.'

The Fox story lists another unnamed alumna who wrote an email to the chancellor's office explaining that she and her peers were 'not pleased' with the university's consideration of Hannah-Jones.

'Debate and discussion of controversial issues is fine. Large-scale promotion and endorsement of a debunked, revisionist 'history'/opinion piece by a major university is not,' she wrote. 'By its actions, UNC insulted patriotic Americans of all races and political affiliations. This was just one of many examples of far-left ideology indicative of UNC's lack of intellectual diversity on campus, the real diversity missing in Chapel Hill.'

Two 'long time' donors wrote to Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Stevens (pictured) that they already withdrew planned gifts to the school and were considering ending their relationship with the university because of its offer to Hannah-Jones

Meanwhile, tensions have flared between the Board of Trustees and dean of the journalism school over media portrayal of the debate.

Susan King (left), the dean of the journalism school at North Carolina at Chapel Hill agreed to offer Hannah-Jones a non-tenured position but later blamed trustees when media reports suggested that The 1619 Project creator was denied a permanent professorship over politics, the new emails showed

Dean Susan King agreed to offer Hannah-Jones a non-tenured position, but later blamed trustees when news reports suggested that The 1619 Project creator was denied a permanent professorship over politics, another set of emails suggest.

King, who helms the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC's flagship campus, was accused of casting blame on the Board of Trustees for the public relations firestorm over the Hannah-Jones tenure controversy.

But new emails now show that in February, Hannah-Jones accepted an offer of a non-tenured position with the school that would pay her $180,000 per year over the course of a five-year contract.

The school says the emails prove that it was bureaucratic delays with the tenure application process rather than a top donor's opposition to the 1619 Project and critical race theory that prevented the matter from being resolved earlier.

King made Hannah-Jones the offer of a non-tenured position after she was told by that the Board of Trustees would be 'reluctant' to offer tenure to someone who 'had not worked at university,' according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

In late June, the Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill voted 9-4 to offer Hannah-Jones a tenured position as Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. But Hannah-Jones spurned the offer and took up the same position with Howard University

Behind the New York Times' hotly-contested 1619 Project: Critics claim the series was riddled with inaccuracies because authors ignored fact-checker's notes In August 2019 the New York Times Magazine published the 1619 project, a collection of essays, photo essays, short fiction pieces and poems aimed to 'reframe' American history based on the impact of slaves brought to the US. It was published to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies. It argues that the nation's birth was not 1776 with independence from the British crown, but in August 1619 with the arrival of a cargo ship of 20 to 30 enslaved Africans at Point Comfort in the colony of Virginia, which inaugurated the system of slavery. The 1619 Project won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019. It was praised by some as shining a light on untold history, but lambasted by others, including former President Donald Trump, for what he said was a jaundiced view of the US The project argues that slavery was the country's origin and out of it 'grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional.' That includes economic might, industry, the electoral system, music, public health and education inequities, violence, income inequality, slang, and racial hatred. However, the project is debated among historians for its factual accuracy. In March 2020 historian Leslie M. Harris who served as a fact checker for the project said authors ignored her corrections, but believed the project was needed to correct prevailing historical narratives. One aspect up for debate is the timeline. Time Magazine said the first slaves arrived in 1526 in a Spanish colony in what is now South Carolina, 93 years prior to the landing in Jamestown. Some experts say slaves first arrived at present-day Fort Monroe in Hampton, instead of Jamestown. Others argue the first Africans in Virginia were indentured servants as laws on lifetime slavery didn't appear till 17th century and early 18th century, but worked essentially as slaves. Princeton historian Sean Wilentz criticized the 1619 Project's 'cynicism,' according to the Atlantic magazine. He distributed a letter signed by historians that asked the newspaper to correct what it said were factual errors. The letter said the series was ' displacement of historical understanding by ideology.' Newt Gingrich in a 2019 USA Today article said the project was a lie and that 'there were several hundred thousand white Americans who died in the Civil War in order to free the slaves.' In March 2020, the New York Times wrote a seemingly half-hearted 'clarification' to part of the 1619 project on a part of the series that said one of the primary reasons the colonists fought in the American Revolution was to protect slavery. The clarification read: 'We recognize that our original language could be read to suggest that protecting slavery was a primary motivation for all of the colonists. The passage has been changed to make clear that this was a primary motivation for some of the colonists. A note has been appended to the story as well' Also that month, a professor, Leslie M. Harris, who helped fact-check the project wrote in Politico, said that she'd repeatedly argued against Hannah-Jones against the idea that the people who fought in the American Revolution to preserve slavery. 'I vigorously disputed the claim,' she wrote in the Politico op-ed. 'Although slavery was certainly an issue in the American Revolution, the protection of slavery was not one of the main reasons the 13 Colonies went to war.' Despite the expert's advice, the Times published the story without changing the inaccuracy, something that 'stunned' Harris, she wrote. 'In addition, the paper's characterizations of slavery in early America reflected laws and practices more common in the antebellum era than in Colonial times, and did not accurately illustrate the varied experiences of the first generation of enslaved people that arrived in Virginia in 1619,' Harris said, listing another inaccuracy. Harris did contend that slavery was 'central to' the United States' story, but that it was 'not, in fact, founded to protect slavery.' Advertisement

The dean made the decision to tender an offer of a non-tenured position after a possible tenured position was brought up for discussion back in November.

But when one of the trustees, Chuck Duckett, expressed reservations about granting tenure to someone without a proper academic background and experience, King was deterred from pursuing it and instead tried a quicker 'workaround.'

Even though she signed a contract for a non-tenured position with the school back in February, Hannah-Jones publicly spurned UNC-Chapel Hill on July 11 and accepted a tenured Knight Chair professorship at Howard University.

Hannah-Jones rejected UNC's offer even though the Board of Trustees voted to grant her a tenured position in late June.

It appears that only once she threatened to leave the school entirely did the board then vote to grant the journalist tenure.

The decision was portrayed in media reports as Hannah-Jones defiantly standing up to a board that was resisting granting her tenure due to the controversial nature of the 1619 Project, which has been accused of historical inaccuracies.

Five days after Hannah-Jones announced she would be going to Howard, one of the trustees, Ralph Meekins, wrote a sternly worded email to King resentful of the fact that the media reports portrayed the board as bowing to pressure over the issue.

Meekins writes that the board would have voted to grant tenure earlier this year if the issue was brought up, but since King had already tendered an offer of a non-tenured position that Hannah-Jones accepted, the matter was put off.

'Your continued failure to come forth with the truth on these issues and your continued use of your blog account and letters to others to blame me and the Board of Trustees for what has happened in this instance is disturbing,' Meekins wrote.

'You know, and we all know now, that you, the Knight Foundation, and Ms. Hannah-Jones entered into a contract in February, and never came back to the Board of Trustees to consider the tenure issue until this 'uproar' that you helped to orchestrate.

'Why are you continuing to blame the Board of Trustees for this delay? Why didn't you bring it back to the Board of Trustees in March?'

Meekins accuses King of allowing the board to take the blame and making it appear that Hannah-Jones was the victim of censorship even though the dean signed off on the offer of the non-tenured position.

In the email correspondence, King acknowledges her error.

'I was informed that no tenure packages would be reviewed in November and that they were postponed until January,' King wrote in an email to Meekins.

King decided to offer Hannah-Jones a fixed contract in order to expedite her hiring since it would not require board approval - unlike the offer of a tenured position.

She said that because she wanted Hannah-Jones to begin teaching in January that she was moving on an expedited timeline.

That was a problem since she had planned for Hannah-Jones to be teaching classes the next semester.

Controversy erupted, however, when it became clear that Hannah-Jones' position, which she accepted, would not be tenured while others who also bore the title of Knight Chair were tenured.

'I realize now that agreeing to the fixed term contract was a mistake - that it was a 'workaround' that meant the board did not have to vote,' King wrote to Meekins dated July 17.

'Once it was discovered that such an agreement was a breach of university norms, questions and concerns were raised.'

The Board of Trustees was first asked to consider a tenured position for Hannah-Jones back in January.

But Duckett asked the other board members to postpone the issue. Emails revealed by the News & Observer indicate that Hannah-Jones' lack of a background in academia was at the core of the problem.

'I and others on the committee have serious concerns over granting tenure to a person that has not taught before,' Duckett wrote in an email dated January 23.

'We take granting tenure very seriously.'

Duckett proposed taking up the matter in March.

'Maybe another accommodation makes more sense for the university and the taxpayer?' he wrote in an email.

That other 'accommodation' was King's offer of a non-tenured position.

King admits she made a mistake by going forward with the offer.

'I take full blame for moving forward a contract that made the Knight Chair a lesser position within the school,' she writes.

'Like others, I wanted her to join our faculty and this agreement, presented by the leadership, seemed a bold move of support for her and the school.

'I now can say it was not.'

Duckett eventually voted in late June to give Hannah-Jones tenure. The decision passed by a 9-4 vote.

'Most of the findings offered in the public records released today, July 30, related to Nikole Hannah-Jones' tenure candidacy have been previously disclosed in news reports,' UNC-Chapel Hill's vice chancellor for communications, Joel Curran, said in a statement.

'The records correct the incorrect assertions suggesting the Board of Trustees chose not to take up her tenure decision in November.'

Ralph Meekins, a trustee, angrily wrote to King in an email that the board was being portrayed as having denied Hannah-Jones tenure even though this was not so

Curran added: 'The tenure application was not presented to the Board of Trustees in November 2020 because Provost [Bob] Blouin was in the process of completing his review of the application at that time.

'The timing of Provost Blouin's review was conveyed to Dean King at that time.

'He completed his review before the end of 2020, and he submitted the application for inclusion on the agenda of the Board's University Affairs Committee prior to its January 2021 meeting and was prepared to present it.

'Shortly before the meeting, the Chair of the University Affairs Committee (Duckett) elected not to include the application on the committee's agenda because he wanted more time to request and consider additional information.

'Upon learning of the postponement, Dean King expressed concern to Provost Blouin and Chancellor Guskiewicz that the University risked losing Ms. Hannah-Jones to another university where she reportedly had other pending opportunities.

'To alleviate that risk, the University negotiated a variable track appointment with Ms. Hannah-Jones to assure that Ms. Hannah-Jones would join the faculty of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media in July 2021 and that the school would be able to submit her application for tenure at a later date.

'Ms. Hannah-Jones accepted that appointment in February 2021.

'Neither the Chancellor nor the Provost stated or speculated how they believed the Board may or may not have voted had the Board been presented with and considered the tenure application in November 2020 or in January 2021.

'The Board ultimately called a special meeting on June 30, 2021, to consider Ms. Hannah-Jones' tenure application, and it voted to extend her an unconditional offer of tenure.'

Private emails reveal that UNC Chapel Hill megadonor Walter Hussman (right) had objected to the university's hiring of New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones as a Knight Chair professor at the school last summer

After a $25 million donation to the college, UNC named its journalism school after Hussman

Hundreds of emails have been released by the university over the decision. The emails show the extent to which there was a behind-the-scenes battle among the Board of Trustees over whether Hannah-Jones should be given the role.

Central to their concerns was the fact Walter Hussman, who is a major donor to the journalism school, had raised flags about the university being associated with the the 1619 Project, which had been described by some historians as 'inaccurate' and was derided by critics

Hannah-Jones noted the influence of a 'powerful donor' to UNC, a reference to Hussman, who revealed that he had emailed university leaders calling The 1619 Project about the legacy of American slavery 'highly contentious and highly controversial' before the process was halted.

The New York Times reporter won the Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project which essentially 'reframed' American history to focus on when the first Africans arrived to Virginia as slaves.

The project presented American history through a racial equity lens and helped mainstream the idea of critical race theory - a topic that has become a core Republican talking point.

But the 2019 series of essays has come under withering criticism for portraying American history as fundamentally racist and also containing historical inaccuracies and generalizations.

Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on the 1619 Project, named for the year that the first African slaves were brought to the English colony of Virginia (pictured: speaking at a tribute to MLK in New York in January 2020)

Author Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks on stage during the 137th Commencement at Morehouse College on May 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia

One set of emails sees a discussion between Ralph W. Meekins Sr., a Trustee at University of North Carolina and Susan Robinson King, Dean of UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media

The emails detail a host of discussions throughout the saga with officials at one stage considering contacting Oprah Winfrey to get a quote in response to Hannah-Jones' joining the school.

Some of the emails see members of the board sharing their unease with being associated with the 1619 Project and Hannah-Jones' personal support for reparations.

Other correspondences see debates over giving tenure to someone who was not already teaching at the university nor had any experience doing so.

A board meeting had tabled a discussion of Hannah-Jones' tenure in January but at least one member wanted the subject delayed until later in the year.

'Can we remove this for now and take it up at [the board of trustees] meeting in March?' Chuck Duckett asked. 'Maybe another accommodation makes more sense for the university and the taxpayer?' adding that the request for tenure brought 'a lot of questions and feedback.'

Other emails, seen by Fox News, saw messages both of support and in opposition to Hannah-Jones' appointment.

'I am very proud of UNC today following the news that Hannah-Jones will not be awarded tenure,' wrote Erich Jacobs. 'I think the decision was courageousThe 1619 Project, for me, fails on every point of academic rigor, and its author should in no way represent the university.'

Mark and Connie Meares wrote in support of Hannah-Jones noting her denial for tenure had left them 'distressed' and listed her various qualifications.

'Ms. Hannah-Jones is not only a UNC alumna, a Pulitzer winner, a MacArthur Genius recipient, she is also one of the founders of the Ida B. Wells Society of Investigative Reporting, which is now housed within the Hussman School of Journalism,' they added.

The student body president who who also sits on the board of trustees, Lamar Richards, wrote to the board chair, Richard Stevens, with a plea for Hannah-Jones to be given tenure.

'The tenure process here at Carolina, similar to most universities across the country, is led by faculty leaders. They determine who they believe is worthy of having tenure; in this instance, they determined that Nikole was in fact worthy of such a distinction,' Richards wrote.

But the decision not to give Hannah-Jones a tenured position sparked further outrage from the left, leading to the school to make another U-turn.

One email notes how January's board meeting had tabled a discussion of Hannah-Jones' tenure in but at least one member wanted the subject delayed until later in the year

Another email sees UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Bob Blouin question Nikole Hannah-Jones' suitability for a tenured role given she had not yet taught at the university full time and listed 15 other points to be considered

She rejected the University of North Carolina's tenure offer after a months-long controversy over her appointment

Protesters and interested parties gather outside the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill in June when the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees voted on tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones

Police were seen confronting protesters who descended on the closed-door meeting

Officials had reportedly not communicated the process with the public - which frustrated the demonstrated who were asked to leave the room before the confirmation vote took place

The board voted 9-4 to accept her application at a special meeting in a closed-door session that was invaded by her supporters, sparking an ugly brawl.

When board finally granted Hannah-Jones a tenured position, she turned it down opting instead to accept the position of Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at Howard, a historically black school in Washington, D.C.

'I wanted to send a powerful message, or what I hope to be a powerful message, that we're often treated like we should be lucky that these institutions let us in, but we don't have to go to those institutions if we don't want to,' she wrote at the time.

Speaking to CBS This Morning earlier in July about rejecting the UNC, she called it 'a very difficult decision, not a decision I wanted to make.'

She said: 'This was a position that since the 1980s came with tenure. The Knight Chairs are designed for professional journalists who are working in the field to come into academia.

'Every other Chair before me, who also happened to be white, received that position with tenure. I was denied that.

Trustees at UNC-Chapel Hill approved Hannah-Jones' tenure, capping weeks of tension that began when a board member halted the process over concerns about her teaching credentials because she did not come from a 'traditional academic-type background'. She turned it down

Hannah-Jones then announced she will become a member of the historically black Howard University's (pictured) Cathy Hughes School of Communication

'To be denied it to only have that vote occur on the last possible day, at the last possible moment, after threat of legal action, after weeks of protest, after it became a national scandal, it's just not something that I want anymore.'

She added: 'It's pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoints, and I believe my race and my gender.'

Hannah-Jones cited political interference by conservatives because of her work on The 1619 Project.

'I went through the official tenure process. My peers in academia said that I was deserving of tenure. These board members are political appointees who decided that I wasn't.'

She noted that UNC-Chapel Hill is her alma mater.

'I love the university. The university has given me a lot and I wanted to give back. It was embarrassing to be the first person to be denied tenure. It was embarrassing and I didn't want this to become a public scandal. I didn't want to drag my university through the pages of newspapers because I was the first and the only black person in that position to be denied tenure.'

Faculties of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media said they were 'disappointed, but not surprised' at Hannah Jones's decision to turn down the school's offer.
A young mother died three days after she was shot in the head while sitting in a parked car with her six-year-old daughter, and police suspect the killing may have been a case of 'mistaken identity'.

Jacqueline Flores, 25, died on Friday at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, California, from a gunshot wound that police said left her 'fighting for her life'.

Flores was parked near Kearney Boulevard and Thorne Avenue, close to the Fresno Chandler Executive Airport, on Tuesday at 10.45pm when bullets ripped through her car, narrowly missing her daughter who was in the back seat.

Jacqueline Flores, 25, died Friday from a gunshot wound to the head while sitting in her car

Officers performed lifesaving efforts and Flores was taken to the hospital.

'Fortunately the child was not injured, but a bullet did enter the rear window where the child was sitting,' police said at the time.

The city's ShotSpotter detection system reported a seven-round activation at the intersection, according to the Fresno Bee.

Flores was said to be in 'grave condition' on Thursday, and she died the next day.

'Investigators do not believe that she was the intended target,' police said. 'This senseless act of violence may have been a case of mistaken identity.'

Fresno's homicide rate of 4.2 per 100,000 residents is more than four times the rates of larger cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, according to an analysis of five years of crime data by KFSN in March.

As of June 1, murders in Fresno, California had shot up by 108 percent compared to last year

The only city faring worse is Oakland, with a rate of 7.38 per 100,00.

'I can tell you when I left as a police chief of this city, we were averaging about seven shootings per week,' said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, who was previously the city's chief of police during a 40-year career at the agency.

'Those numbers more than doubled and in some cases, tripled.'

There were 34 murders in Fresno by June 1, a 108 percent increase from last year, according to KSEE.

The Fresno Police Department does not have monthly crime statistics for 2021 on its website.

'To me, she was like a big sister. Every time I needed someone to talk to, she was always there,' Flores's cousin, Odalis Tepec, told KSEE.

'It was hard to believe  It felt like it could have been a dream, like, we just had to wake up. But it wasn't.'

The family set up a GoFundMe for Flores after her death, and it has met its goal of raising $10,000.

'She didn't deserve this,' the description reads. 'If you also know anything about what happen contact the police to help catch the person that did this.'
Outraged Democrats demanded Kevin McCarthy apologize or resign for a comment he made where he threated to hit Nancy Pelosi with the speaker's gavel should he replace her in the House's top job.

'Dear @GOPLeader McCarthy: Dont you think America has had enough political violence? You should never be encouraging or threatening or joking about causing violence to anyone, including the Speaker of the House. You need to apologize for your statement, or resign,' wrote Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California.

Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Jim McGovern also called on McCarthy to resign.

Several other Democratic lawmakers took to Twitter to defend Pelosi and accused McCarthy of inciting violence against women. Several women noted McCarthy voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. McCarthy was one of 157 Republicans who voted against it in April 2019 although it did garner enough support to pass the House.

'Shocked to hear this language coming from the Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Not shocked to hear it coming from someone who voted NO on the Violence Against Women Act. Violence is never a joke. Kevin McCarthy should be ashamed,' wrote Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire.

McCarthy's office shrugged off the criticism.

'There is no fallout  it was a joke,' a McCarthy spokesman told DailyMail.com.

Democratic lawmaker are defending Speaker Nancy Pelosi after GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to hit her with the speaker's gavel

McCarthy's office told reporters the GOP leader was 'obviously joking' when he told a Republican fundraising dinner in Tennessee it would 'hard not to hit' Pelosi with the speaker's gavel should he take over the job.

But lawmakers and Pelosi's office noted she was a target for assassination on January 6th by the pro-Donald Trump crowded that stormed the Capitol and invaded her office as her staff hide from the rioters.

'A threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting,' wrote Drew Hamill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff and longtime aide, on Twitter.

Not shocking to see @GOPLeader invoke violence against @SpeakerPelosi while he continues to deny the danger she and so many others, on both sides of the aisle, were in on January 6th. He owes the Speaker an apology, wrote Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois on Twitter.

Even Chef Jose Andres weighed in, criticizing McCarthy's comments: '.@GOPLeader People like me will be there front and center protecting women and women rightsThat what you should be doing everyday.To protect every American women and girl, and also around the worldyou may think is funny.but its is not! Women are the future'

Threats to lawmakers have more than doubled this year, U.S. Capitol Police said earlier this summer.

The fallout began almost immediately after McCarthy's remarks on Saturday became public. The GOP Leader was invited to speak to the 1,400 people attending the Statesmen's Dinner in Nashville, Tennessee - a big fundraising event for the state party.

At the dinner, McCarthy was presented with an oversized gavel. If Republicans win control of the House in the 2022 midterm election, Pelosi would hand McCarthy a large gavel to symbolize his party taking over the chamber when the new House session begins in January 2023. McCarthy gave Pelosi the gavel in January 2019 after Democrats won control of the House in the 2018 election.

McCarthy said he'd invite everyone at the dinner to attend.

'I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel,' he added, before adding: 'It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down.'

The audience roared and applauded his comment.

Audio of the remarks from McCarthy were captured by Main Street Nashville.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was presented with a comically large gavel at a Statesmen's dinner in Nashville on Saturday where he said: 'I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down'

McCarthy invited all 1,400 attendees on Saturday in the instance Pelosi has to hand over the real gavel after the 2022 election

Richard Barnett, a supporter of Donald Trump, sits inside the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on January 6th

One of the rioters on January 6th is seen threatening Pelosi

Tensions have been on the rise between Pelosi and McCarthy for weeks with neither holding back: Pelosi called McCarthy a 'moron' and McCarthy has referred to her as a 'lame duck speaker.'

The points of contention include the committee investigating January 6th and a new mandate to wear face masks in the Capitol.

At the January 6th hearing last week, committee members played never-before-seen footage from that day, including a rioter threatening the speaker.

A man is seen picking up a phone in the Capitol and saying: 'Can I speak to Pelosi? We're coming b***h.'

The rioters broke into Pelosi's office and sat at her desk that day. Pelosi's staff hid under a conference room table with the door locked.

Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy's picks  Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks  for her the committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot.

The GOP leader ended up pulling all five of his nominees in response.

Instead, Pelosi chose Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Trump critic, to join the group. She had already appointed Rep. Liz Cheney.

Here McCarthy hands over the Speaker's gavel to Pelosi on January 3, 2019 after Democrats took back the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections

McCarthy and Pelosi are also publicly at odds after the Centers for Disease and Prevention released updated guidance last week saying even fully vaccinated Americans should return to wearing masks indoors in high transmission areas.

The Attending Physician of the Capitol then reimplemented mask mandates for House lawmakers and their staff last week. The Senate has not taken such measures but has a higher rate of vaccination.

Pelosi on Wednesday called McCarthy a 'moron' for opposing new mask guidelines, which he said he objected too because there was no 'science' behind the decision.

Getting into her SUV, Pelosi was heard muttering of McCarthy: 'He's such a moron.'

McCarthy claimed the new guidelines from CDC on face masks were not 'based on science' but from 'liberal government officials.'

'Make no mistake - the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,' McCarthy wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

Asked later to clarify her remark, Pelosi didn't deny it.

'To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think it's is not wise, and that was my comment and that's all I'm gonna say about that,' she clarified.

McCarthy snapped back sarcastically by telling reporters on Capitol Hill: 'Well, if she's so brilliant, can she tell me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate? Can she explain to me when the CDC says only vaccinated people need to wear a mask in hotspots?'
Images from the EU's Copernicus Sentinel-2 used infrared bands to reveal burn scars across southern Turkey

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Shocking satellite images have revealed the scale of the devastation caused by wildfires still raging in Turkey, showing a ten-mile-long burn scar across the country's south.

The images, taken by the European Union's Copernicus Sentinel-2, used infrared bands to reveal several burn scars across the south of the country.

The wildfires are now raging into their sixth day in Turkey, where at least eight people have been killed by the blazes.

Thousands have been driven from their homes and as large patches of forest, mostly in the south.

More than a dozen people have also been injured in neighbouring Greece, where fires in the Pelopponese region and on Rhodes Island - both in the country's south - have destroyed homes and forced locals to evacuate.

High temperatures, which are set to climb further this week, have dried out forests and left them vulnerable to fires with hot winds whipping up flames and causing them to rip through vast swathes of countryside.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek Prime Minister, has warned that his country is facing its worst heatwave since 1987 this week with temperatures set to top 113F (45C) - with similar temperatures also hitting Turkey.

Italy's fire service was also battling blazes on Monday in the southern town of Gravina in Puglia and San Giacomo degli Schiavoni, further to the north, after infernos in Sicily and Pescara at the weekend.

Warnings were also issued in southern France, where forecasters warned of a 'very severe risk' of fires thanks to the combination of dry and windy weather.

Shocking satellite images have revealed the scale of the devastation caused by wildfires still raging in Turkey, as Greece and Italy also grapple with blazes and France issues a severe warning

The images, taken by the European Union's Copernicus Sentinel-2, used infrared bands to reveal two enormous burn scars across the south of the country

TURKEY: The wildfires are now raging into their sixth day in Turkey, where at least eight people have been killed by the blazes. Pictured: People help firefighters in Mugla, Marmaris

TURKEY: Thousands have been driven from their homes and as large patches of forest, mostly in the south. Pictured: Men gather sheep to save them from advancing fire in Mugla, Marmaris

ITALY: Fires are seen burning in Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, on Sunday - with more blazes breaking out across the country on Monday and warnings of further hot weather on the way

TURKEY: People battle flames burning in the Mugla region of southern Turkey on Monday, the sixth straight day of fires in the region with the national death toll now standing at eight

GREECE: A plane drops water on the charred remains of a village near Patras, in the Peloponnese region of Greece which has been badly burned in wildfires that have raged since the weekend

TURKEY: Thousands of acres of pine forests have been torched in southern Turkey's fires which have also destroyed homes and farmlands, with water-carrying planes from across Europe drafted in to help

A bulldozer opens the way to firefighters to help them to extinguish a wildfire near Marmaris, Turkey, on Monday

Firefighters battle the forest fire broke out Mugla, Turkey, driven by hot and dry winds sweeping up from the equator

A firefighter has his face doused in water to help deal with burns he sustained while fighting fires in southern Turkey

Red warnings were issued for some wooded areas near Cannes, Toulon and Marseilles meaning entry is restricted, with fires also banned across the whole of the Alpes-Maritimes department.

It comes amid increasingly severe warnings from climate scientists that global warming is increasing the intensity and frequency of otherwise rare weather events, following floods in western parts of Europe just a few weeks ago.

Wildfires tearing through the resort regions of Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts have destroyed huge swathes of pristine forest and forced the evacuation of panicked tourists from their hotels.

They have also exposed Erdogan - facing an election in two years that could extend his rule into a third decade - to a new round of criticism over his seemingly sluggish and out-of-touch response.

The Turkish leader came under especially strong criticism over the weekend for tossing bags of tea to locals while touring one of the most badly-affected regions under heavy police escort.

The government has also disclosed that it had no firefighting planes in its inventory and had to rely on foreign help to battle the flames. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked Brussels on Monday for sending a plane from Croatia and two from Spain.

Firefighters on Monday also battled local blazes on the Greek island of Rhodes in the Aegean, and in the Peloponnese region to the west of Athens.

More than 7,400 acres of pine and olive groves have been torched by a fire that broke out on Saturday in Greece's Achaia, near Patras in the Peloponnese, according to the National Observatory of Athens .

Officials have evacuated five villages and a seaside town, and eight people have been hospitalised with burns and respiratory problems.

The fire was not fully under control on Monday morning, the country's weather service told the ANA news agency.

People try in vain to extinguish flames threatening homes in the Antalya region of Turkey, which has been badly hit

A firefighter battles flames in the Antalya region of Turkey, as the government calls in firefighting planes from across Europe after admitting it has none in its own arsenal

Firefighters battle against flames in Turkey's Antalya region which have now been burning since last week

Fires burn close to a home on a hillside in Turkey's Mugla region, where hot conditions will continue this week

A helicopter waterbombs a wildfire burning at the Cokertme village of Milas district of Mugla, Turkey

However authorities were optimistic that the fire on the island of Rhodes, near the Turkish coast, was on the back foot after more firefighters and resources were deployed overnight.

'Dawn finds Rhodes much better than the day before,' South Aegean Governor George Hatzimarkos said in a statement.

He added that the fronts of the fire were receding and 'almost under control'.

'The first objective, the protection of human life, has been achieved,' he said, adding that 'the damage to the power grid has been repaired'.

Firefighters evacuated a central area on the island known as 'the Valley of the Butterflies' popular with hikers and tourists on Sunday.

In Turkey, Erdogan's office at first blamed the fires on arsonists that pro-government media linked to outlawed Kurdish militants waging a deadly insurgency against the state.

But that theory appeared to vanish as the number of fires grew, the toll mounted and the days wore on.

Turkey's forestry directorate said 105 fires had been recorded in 35 towns and cities across the country since Wednesday.

It said seven - most of them not far from the southern resort cities of Antalya and Marmaris - continued to burn on Monday.

An AFP team in Marmaris on the Aegean Sea saw flames simmer across the crests of forest-covered hills.

The night sky glowed amber and the smoke-filled air was heavy and hard to breathe in stifling heat of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

A firefighting helicopter douses a wildfire in the Peloponnese region of Greece, near the village of Zeria

Flames destroyed areas in the Pineta Dannunziana nature reserve in Pescara, Italy

A view of the aftermath of the wildfires that hit southern Italy, in the city of Catania, and were still burning on Monday

Areas of grassland on the outskirts of the city of Catania, Sicily, are pictured after being destroyed by wildfires

A burnt car after a wildfire swept through at the Cokertme village of Milas in the district of Mugla, Turkey

Weather services warned locals of poor air quality and volunteers spent sleepless nights helping fatigued firefighters save lush forests from devastation that experts say may take generations to restore.

'This is a disaster,' resident Evran Ozkan said at a makeshift assistance centre set up by the sides of a road leading to the burning hills.

'Like me, many inhabitants of Marmaris cannot put their heads on their pillow to sleep peacefully while these fires burn.'

Firefighters with flashlights wrapped around their foreheads sat eating simple meals from containers and drinking bottled water that locals gathered from neighbouring towns.

Emergency rescue boats stood on standby by the Marmaris shoreline to evacuate anyone should the fires spread and the town be cut off.

'We must be responsible for our land to prevent our future from burning,' said Ozkan, 'But the situation is really bad now.'

A fire in Mazikoy, in Mugla, reignited in strong winds on Monday, several hours after fire crews had made gains in containing the blaze, Haberturk broadcaster reported.

On Sunday, residents were forced to evacuate the nearby Cokertme village as flames neared.

Some got on boats and others left by cars as the fire got closer and closer - scenes which Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the nearby resort of Bodrum, described as 'hell.'

Firefighters continue to tackle a wildfire near the village of Ziria in southern Greece

Residents inspect damage homes as firefighters continue to tackle a wildfire near the village of Lambiri, Greece

A man walks close to a destroyed home in Lambiri, Greece, after wildfires swept through the area

The charred remains of a house are seen in Mugla, Turkey, after it was destroyed by wildfires hitting the area

A firefighting aircraft douses a wildfire in the area of Kalamonas, Rhodes island, Greece

Precautions were taken to protect two nearby thermic power plants in the vicinity, though they were not in immediate danger.

An evacuation order was also issued for the town of Turunc, near the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla. People boarded small boats carrying suitcases. Others waited anxiously to see if the fire would come down to the shore.

High temperatures and strong winds were hampering containment efforts. Antalya registered 42 degrees Celsius (over 107 degrees Fahrenheit), about 5 to 6 degrees C higher than seasonal averages.

The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said at least 27 people affected by the fires were still receiving treatment in hospitals while hundreds of others had been released.

While Turkish authorities were investigating whether the fires may have have been the result of arson by outlawed Kurdish militants, experts mostly point to climate change along with accidents caused by people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said one of the fires was started by children.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including on the Italian island of Sicily and in western Greece, where some residents had to be evacuated by boat to escape the flames.
Police ascertain that Scott Sterffy, 56, perpetrated the grizzly killing of his retired oral surgeon father, 82-year-old Thomas Aye, whose mutilated body was found by his daughter at 7 p.m. on July 25 in the Portage home on the 5000 block of Glencove Court.

A Michigan man who allegedly killed and dismembered his elderly father was arrested Sunday just 15 minutes away from the crime scene after a nationwide manhunt.

Scott Sterffy, 56, has been charged with open murder and mutilation of a dead body in the killing of his retired oral surgeon father Thomas Aye, 82, who was found dead at his home in Portage by his daughter at 7pm on July 25.

He denied the charges at a court hearing Monday.

He told the judge: 'I refused to answer all questions, your Honor. These are terrible lies - I've never mutilated a body in my entire life. Ive never killed anybody.'

Aye's daughter told police that she had gone to check on her father when he missed a medical appointment, and found his mutilated body on the floor.

A multi-state manhunt was kicked off for son Sterffy after he allegedly fled the state just days after the killing and was caught on security cameras at airports in Chicago and Seattle.

But on July 31, he was found in Portage's neighboring city of Kalamazoo - 15 minutes from the murder scene - and arrested, MLive reports.

The now-deceased orthodontist practiced dentistry for over 30 years, most recently at Building Functional Esthetics in Kalamazoo.

Sterffy was caught on security cameras at airports in Chicago and Seattle, police said

Aye's mutilated body was found by his daughter at 7 p.m. on July 25 in the Portage home on the 5000 block of Glencove Court (pictured)

'Some severe injuries to the doctor that not only led us to seek... not only murder charges but... dismemberment and mutilation charges as well,' Nicholas Armold, the director of Portage Public Safety, told WOOD-TV.

'We were able to determine that Scott was actually staying at the house during the time we believe the murder took place.'

Sterffy's motive for allegedly killing his father is presently unclear.

Aye practiced dentistry for over 30 years, most recently at Building Functional Esthetics in Kalamazoo.

Sterffy was denied bond at his arraignment on Monday

He was president of the Kalamazoo Valley District Dental Society, according to the practice's website and was certified as a Diplomat by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

He was also a Fellow of the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and a member of the Michigan Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

Sterffy was denied bond at his arraignment on Monday, according to News Channel 3 WWMT.

The Portage Public Safety office could not be reached for comment.
Catherine Wood, aka 'Cathie,' (pictured) is shaking up Wall Street with her 'disruption-focused' investment firm. ARK Investment Management, which she founded seven years ago, has more than $53billion under management

Wall Street's newest investment guru doesn't fit the financial industry's usual alpha male mold. Instead, she's a 65-year-old, Trump-supporting, devout Christian mother-of-three who reads the Bible religiously and also happens to have an appreciation for technology stocks.

Catherine 'Cathie' Wood is shaking up Wall Street with her 'disruption-focused' firm ARK Investment Management which she founded seven years ago and has more than $53billion under management.

The once-divorced, once-widowed evangelical mom has a net worth of $250million, and has become an enigma to those who don't quite comprehend the realm of stocks, and to many who understand it all too well.

Her investment firm, which markets itself as an 'untraditional investment manager,' focuses solely on offering investment solutions to capture disruptive innovation in the public equity markets.'

'Most people thought I was nuts, because active management was dead,' she told Forbes. 'A close friend of mine called it a vanity project. That threw me, but it also made me even more determined to prove him wrong.'

Wood, (pictured) is a once-divorced, once-widowed evangelical mother-of-three with a net worth of $250million. She has become an enigma to those who don't quite comprehend the realm of stocks, and to many who understand it all too well

Since it's inception in October 2014, ARK's flagship fund, Ark Innovation, is up an annualized 34 percenttranslating to an increase of 34 percent every year for the past six-plus years.

ARK seeks to identify companies leading and benefiting from cross-sector innovations including artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, DNA sequencing, and blockchain technology.

'We're all about finding the next big thing. Those hewing to the benchmarks, which are backwards looking, are not about the future,' Wood commented in a statement on ARK's website. 'They are about what has worked. We're all about what is going to work.'

While her trajectory into the kingdom of Wall Street is impressive to say the least, her background tells a more humble story.

Born in 1955, as the oldest daughter of Irish immigrants, Wood grew up in Los Angeles, California.

She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in finance and economics, before getting a job at Capital Group, which managed $2trillion in assets.

Wood graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in finance and economics, before getting a job at Capital Group, which managed $2trillion in assets. she is pictured with her three adult children

Wood's investment firm, which markets itself as an 'untraditional investment manager,' focuses solely on offering investment solutions to capture disruptive innovation in the public equity markets

Wood spent three years at Capital Group, before moving to New York to join Jennison Associates, another large asset-management firm.

Wood is an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump. She is also a devout Christian woman, who reads the Bible religiously and has an appreciation for technology stocks

She remained there for 18 years, navigating through positions such as chief economist and managing director, before leaving to help establish Tupelo Capital Management in 1998.

Three years later, Wood joined AllianceBernstein, as chief investment officer and the manager of a $5 billion portfolio.

Wood even caught the attention of Anthony Scaramucci, the hedge-fund manager best known for his 11-day stretch as the communications director in the Trump White House.

'She's a national treasure, because she's broken every boundary on Wall Street,' he said. 'Wall Street doesn't have a glass ceiling. Wall Street has a diamond ceiling.'

But not everyone is a fan of Wood, and many 'alpha dogs' within the world Wall Street have thoroughly criticized her.

Born in 1955, as the oldest daughter of Irish immigrants, Wood (pictured) grew up in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in finance and economics before getting a job at Capital Group, which managed $2 trillion in assets

Wood (pictured) spent three years at Capital Group, before moving to New York to join Jennison Associates, another large asset-management firm

CNBC's Jim Cramer believes Wood's success is potentially coming to an end.

Cramer criticized her profile saying, 'the era of Cathie Wood propping these stocks up with her own buying bazooka, I think, appears to be over.'

In early March, Edwin Dorsey, a recent Stanford grad and an aspiring short seller, tweeted: 'ARK's illiquid holdings are problematic because as ARK faces redemptions, hedge funds could take predatory short positions in ARK's illiquid holdings and create a performance death spiral.'

Marc Cohodes, an opinionated California-based short seller, wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to step up and do its job and ask Wood, 'What are we doing here? How can this go on? Where are the limits?'

A short seller is an investor who borrows a stock, sells the stock, then repurchases the stock back to return it to the lender.

Short sellers hope the stock they sell will lower in price. If the stock drops after selling, the short seller will then buy back the stock at a lower price and return it to the lender.

'We're at the point right now where Archegos meets Bill Hwang, which meets Bible study, which meets Cathie Wood, which meets easy money, which meets mass speculation, which meets an S.E.C. that doesn't care, which meets a government that wants to put down people who expose the truth,' Cohodes added.

Cohodes if referring to Bill Hwang, the Tiger Management analyst who founded Archegos Capital Management.

In March, Archegos Capital's leveraged bets in ViacomCBS went south, igniting a $20 billion wave of forced liquidations at numerous Wall Street banks. According to Bloomberg, Hwang would hold Bible study sessions before the pandemic hit.

Regardless if she's right or wrong, Wood doesn't appear to be bothered by skeptics and is already setting her sights on in the future of DNA sequencing.

Wood already has a nearly $2.5billion bet riding on four stocks within that realm, including: CRISPR Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, and Editas Medicine.

In May, Wood told a group of investors she believes the world of DNA sequencing 'is going to transform health care completely.'

'For every cumulative doubling, the costs associated with short-read sequencing go down 40 percent. Think about that,' Wood said.

'And the costs associated with long-read sequencing go down about 20 percent. The cost associated with battery technology, battery-pack systems, again, 28 percent. With industrial robots, in the north of 20 percent range.'
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A stylish new superyacht boasting a beach club and six bedrooms for a family to 'live at sea' has been launched in Turkey.

The 180ft long Al Waab II is the longest steel and aluminium yacht below 500 gross tonnes ever built, according to its builders Alia Yachts.

Vessels above a volume of 500GT are subject to additional regulations, and many owners and designers want as long a yacht as possible while staying under the limit.

The yacht, which can sleep 12 people, benefits from its minimalist design which makes the most of its outside space and emphasises the hull, keeping its gross tonnage low while maximising its size.

It is also decked out with floor-to-ceiling windows, a split-level master bedroom on the upper deck and a sprawling beach club with direct access to the water.

A stylish new superyacht boasting a beach club and six bedrooms for a family to 'live at sea' has been launched in Turkey

The 180ft long Al Waab II is the longest steel and aluminium yacht below 500 gross tonnes ever built, according to its builders Alia Yachts

Vessels above a volume of 500GT are subject to additional regulations, and many owners and designers want as long a yacht as possible while staying under the limit

The yacht, which can sleep 12 people, benefits from its minimalist design which makes the most of its outside space and emphasises the hull, keeping its gross tonnage low while maximising its size

Al Waab II, designed by Vripack, is also the first superyacht to be launched from Alia Yachts' 2,000-tonne capacity ship lift in Antalya, Turkey.

The company's president Gokhan Celik told Forbes: 'We're very proud of Al Waab II. We believe it is the longest steel and aluminum yacht below 500GT in the world, setting a new standard in external & internal volumes offered to a client in this category.

'Yachts are getting longer and wider, but owners still want to stay below the 500 Gross Ton benchmark. We've seen increasing interest in this kind of yacht and so to be one of the first with such an impressive project is an important milestone for Alia.'

It is decked out with floor-to-ceiling windows, a split-level master bedroom on the upper deck and a sprawling beach club with direct access to the water

Al Waab II, designed by Vripack, is also the first superyacht to be launched from Alia Yachts' 2,000-tonne capacity ship lift in Antalya, Turkey

The sleek design was requested specifically by the yacht's prospective owner who wants a 'floating family home', according to Bart Bouwhuis, co-creative director at Vripack

The interior and exterior of the stylish yacht has been designed by Dutch studio Vripack which has been creating bespoke vessels since 1961

The yacht will undergo sea trials before it is delivered to its owner and its World Debut is scheduled to take placein September, coinciding with the Monaco Yacht Show

The sleek design was requested specifically by the yacht's prospective owner who wants a 'floating family home', according to Bart Bouwhuis, co-creative director at Vripack.

He said: 'For many owners, the concept of enjoying a "home at sea" is what drives their passion for yachting.

'The owner of Al Waab II had the explicit desire to use his boat as a family apartment. That desire became the founding principle of the entire design. The result is the very essence of living on the water.'

The yacht will undergo sea trials before it is delivered to its owner and its World Debut is scheduled to take placein September, coinciding with the Monaco Yacht Show.

The designer said: 'The owner of Al Waab II had the explicit desire to use his boat as a family apartment. That desire became the founding principle of the entire design. The result is the very essence of living on the water'
Rudy Giuliani is nearly 'broke' as he confronts a potentially long legal following an FBI raid on his home and office  and his aides are astonished that his longtime client former President Trump isn't contributing despite Trump's own massive fundraising haul.

The grousing comes as Trump puts the election overturn effort that Giuliani helped fuel with his ultimately fruitless legal battles continues to help Trump bank donations from around the country.

He raised $82 million in the first half of 2021  and is now sitting on a $102 million war chest as he seeks to topple Republicans he deems 'RINOs' and position himself for a potential presidential run in 2024.

Allies of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani want former President Donald Trump to help out with his legal fees now that he is nearly 'broke,' after Trump padded his campaign warchest to $100 million

With Giuliani facing legal troubles that the former New York mayor says could land him in jail, his allies are eyeing Trump's haul as a potential lifeline.

He is also named in a massive lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems over his claims as part of his efforts to claim fraud in states that Joe Biden won over President Trump.

He is 'close to broke,' the New York Times reported, and the allies are 'aghast' that Trump isn't at least helping out with Giuliani's mounting legal expenses.

Giuliani made no doubt that he is at least contemplating bad outcomes on the legal front, despite denying all the charges against him.

'I mean, I'm more than willing to go to jail if they want to put me in jail. And if they do, they're going to suffer the consequences in heaven, I'm not,' Giuliani said. 'I didn't do anything wrong,' he added.

According to WinRed, the GOP's main contribution site, Trump has raised far more money than any other Republican. He has also surpassed each of the party's main three fundraising arms in donations.

Giuliani is named in a $1 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems

Rudy Giuliani told NBC he's 'more than willing to go to jail' but prosecutors would 'suffer the consequences in heaven'

The FBI is probing Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine. Former associated Lev Parnas is accused of avoiding campaing contribution limits

It could be problematic for Trump to bankroll Giuliani's legal efforts while Giuliani is facing a legal battle

Trump's statement on his latest funding haul referenced many of the claims of a 'stolen' election that Giuliani forwarded on the legal front, although a series of courts rejected 'Kraken' lawsuits with similar claims, and Congress counted the electoral votes certified by states that made Joe Biden president.

'Bringing the truth about the Rigged and Stolen 2020 election to light is critical to restoring faith in our election process and our country itself,' Trump said his statement on the massive fundraising. 'On behalf of the millions of men and women who share my outrage and want me to continue to fight for the truth, I am grateful for your support.'

He has repeatedly hit up his extensive mailing list with fundraising appeals linked to the election overturn effort, and blasting Democrats who want to probe it as part of the 'witch hunt.'

The issue confronting Trump is more than a matter of generosity, according to aides. His aides say there isn't an a way to pay Giuliani's bills that isn't 'problematic' for Trump, according to the Times. Such an arrangement could be brought up in any potential prosecution that could be harmful to either man, and were Giuliani convicted it would further tie him to the actions of his longtime personal lawyer.

Giuliani can argue that his actions were essentially on behalf of Trump.

FBI agents raided Giuliani's home and office in April, seizing numerous electronic devices as part of their investigation into his dealings in Ukraine. One of the FBI warrants reportedly stated agents were seeking information on Giuliani's communications with former Ukrainian prosecutors  which were part of his effort to dig up dirt on the Bidens. That effort was part of Giuliani's push to help Trump in his reelection. He has said he wasn't paid for his representation of Trump.

Giuliani's own legal defense fund has struggled to bring in cash.
A farm owner was left in tears when she was greeted with the horrific sight of her flock of four-month-old lambs which had been ripped apart by a dog.

Louise Dace, 46, of Billingshurst, West Sussex, who owns and runs Coppedhall Farm and Stud, said she found body parts strewn around the field where ten sheep lived.

Seven of them died in the attack which Ms Dace has reported to police, and she warned that she will shoot any dogs who are found on the loose on her land.

Louise Dace, 46, was left in tears when she was greeted with the horrific sight of her flock of four-month-old lambs which had been ripped apart by a dog

She said: 'I was devastated to find that my flock of lambs have been destroyed by a vicious dog attack. I am absolutely heartbroken.

Ms Dace described 'heads, bodies, legs everywhere' and hit out at irresponsible dog owners, urging them to control their pets. She said: 'It just makes me angry.

Louise Dace, of Billingshurst, West Sussex, owns and runs Coppedhall Farm and Stud

'They just don't give any consideration to people with land and what we do for our animals. I have had people just walk through here and leave gates open.

'They just don't realise these simple mistakes can be easily avoided but they cost us money. All the blood, sweat and tears has gone to waste in a flash.'

She has reported the gruesome attack to police, and issued a stern warning to dog owners, saying: 'Any dog found to be trespassing will be shot'

NFU Mutual, the farming industry's insurers, said there had been a rise in dog attacks since lockdown began and owners sought exercise in the fields near their homes.

In the North East of England alone, attacks rose by 113.5 per cent to over 240,000 in 2020, and the trend has continued this year.

A survey commissioned by NFU Mutual in January this year revealed that more than six in ten owners are letting their dogs roam free in the countryside.

This is despite numerous warnings that farmers will shoot to kill. Half of owners admitted their dog doesn't always come back when called.
Australians could be offered 'freedom incentives' to convince them to get the Covid vaccine, after evidence giving away free cash wouldn't convince Aussies to roll up their sleeves.

The federal government has been looking at a range of options to launch the second and third phases of its reopening plan, which aims to vaccinate between 70 and 80 per cent of the population.

Easing restrictions for fully vaccinated people was floated as a potential idea ahead of cash incentives, which research commissioned by the government found was 'unlikely to drive up vaccine uptake'.

Instead, officials will prioritise non-cash incentives, such as handing out bonus frequent flyer points and partnering with businesses to give discounts to convince people to book in at one of the nation's many vaccine clinics.

As it stands, only 17 per cent of people over the age of 16 has had both jabs.

In Australia, only 17 per cent of people over the age of 16 have had both jabs. Pictured: A woman in Sydney on Monday

Scott Morrison (pictured) said 'the time will come' when people who have not been vaccinated should not be allowed into some public places

Similar tactics have been successful in places such as France, where Emmanuel Macron threatened to restrict access to public places for non-vaccinated people.

To convince the unwilling to take part and get vaccinated, which has been touted as our key out of lockdown, the Australian advisors suggested similar 'freedom incentives' for the double-jabbed, including access to music festivals and large sporting events.

'"Returning to normal" and the ability to travel are strong motivators for many,' the report said, according to The Australian.

'Providing vaccinated people with personal freedoms, and restricting the freedoms of those who aren't, is likely to drive vaccine uptake.

'Examples could include attending large public events (sporting events and music festivals) and expanded travel options.'

The report explained that financial incentives to get the vaccine would set an 'expensive precedent', and would likely have little effect unless offering around $4,800 per person.

But Labor leader Anthony Albanese disagrees, and is set to announce his own $6billion vaccination plane which would see all Australians get $300 for being jabbed by the start of December.

Australia recorded 220 new Covid cases on Monday, including 207 in Sydney and 13 in Queensland where there is a lockdown in place across the southeast until Sunday.

The Australian government will try and use non-cash incentives to convince people to get vaccinated - with the double-jabbed able to attend festivals and large sporting events (pictured, cafes in Melbourne after a recent lockdown)

Greater Sydney is in week six of lockdown, with eight government areas in tighter lockdowns. Pictured: People drinking at a Melbourne bar, which unvaccinated people could be prevented from doing

Greater Sydney is in week six of lockdown, with eight local government areas including Parramatta, Blacktown, Campbelltown and Fairfield under tighter restrictions to contain a disproportionate number of cases in those areas.

On Monday, Mr Morrison said exemptions from health restrictions would likely be provided for fully-vaccinated residents during phase two of the four-phase reopening plan.

In audio obtained by Daily Mail Australia last week, the Prime Minister hinted at bringing in restrictions for Australians who refuse to get the vaccine - keeping them out of venues such as pubs and restaurants during a conference call with constituents from the Sutherland Shire on Thursday.

He was speaking with voters from the Cook electorate in Sydney's south when 'Steve' from Cronulla suggested support should be given to businesses such as cafes, restaurants, pubs and clubs by allowing them to open to fully-vaccinated patrons only.

Police talk to a woman who is not wearing a mask in central Brisbane on Monday (pictured) with the city back in lockdown after 13 new cases were found

Mr Morrison agreed and said the proposal would likely be considered once a higher percentage of the population had the vaccine.

'If you're vaccinated, you're less of a public health risk than you are to someone who's unvaccinated,' he said.

'I think the time will come when exactly what you're suggesting should be able to be achieved.

Mr Morrison reminded everyone that Sydneysiders aren't the only ones impacted by an outbreak of the Indian Delta variant of Covid, with Singapore also in lockdown until September.

He added Australia had avoided the loss of '30,000 lives and more', based on looking at the fatality rates throughout Europe, UK and the US.

'As bad as this lockdown is, and it's bad, this is not just happening in Australia, it's happening all around the world,' he said.

A huge number of anti-vaxxers joined Sydney's 3,000-strong anti-lockdown protest on July 24 (pictured) - with fears a stubborn few may always refuse the jab

New South Wales recorded another 207 cases of Covid-19 on Monday as Sydney continues to grapple with an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant

'If we'd experienced and not been able to suppress the virus as we have been, we shut the borders and made sure we kept the virus out, there would be 30,000 more Australians dead today because of Covid.

'Australians have done an amazing job to ensure that hasn't happened and that's everyone who's achieved that together by doing the right thing.

The job for the federal government now is to get everyone vaccinated with Pfizer or AstraZeneca so Australia's borders can finally be reopened.

'About 75 per cent of the population doesn't have an objection to getting vaccinated,' Mr Morrison said, referring to government polling.

'There are some hardcore against any sort of vaccination and there are others we have encourage to do this for themselves, their families, our community and the country.

'We've just got to keep providing those opportunities for people to go and get it.

'They're both great vaccines, Please take the opportunity to get them.'

Earlier in the conference call, Mr Morrison urged aged care workers to get vaccinated and said the country's state and territory leaders and chief health officers do work together, despite their public spats with one another.

He also provided advice after hearing first hand from families of small business operators affected by the lockdown and the difficulties experienced in getting government support.

Daily vaccinations in Australia reached more than 200,000 doses for the first time this week, while almost 11.8 million jabs have been administered since the rollout began in February.
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A young bald eagle is chased by a little eastern king bird.

As the female fledgling was learning how to fly and getting to know the surrounding area, she mistakenly landed on a tree close to the king birds' nest in Massachusetts.

The small birds then grouped together to shout at the young eagle to get her to leave and as she did so, she was chased by one brave little king bird.

Its red crown, which is usually concealed, becomes visible when threatened by a predator.

The young eagle was chased by a little eastern king bird after she mistakenly landed on a tree close to the king birds' nest in Massachusetts

The female fledgling was learning how to fly and getting to know the surrounding area when she landed on the nearby tree

Small birds grouped together to shout at the larger bird to leave and as she did so, she was chased by one brave little king bird

Guilong Charles Cheng, a 43 year old amateur photographer who has a passion for wildlife, explained: 'It is not typical for a king bird to stay with the bald eagle, let alone flying right on top of her head.

'That king bird was threaded by the eagle, and was literally bullying her. The red crown on the king bird's head shows how threatened it was.

'I have been watching the adult bald eagles building the nest since January, hatching the eggs, raising the two baby eagles, and finally the two baby bald eagles fledging.

'It was a crazy couple of seconds but I managed to catch a couple shots.'

The little eastern king bird's red crown, which is usually concealed, becomes visible when threatened by a predator and can be seen in the photos

Guilong Charles Cheng, a 43 year old amateur photographer who has a passion for wildlife, explained: 'It is not typical for a king bird to stay with the bald eagle, let alone flying right on top of her head'

Cheng said the king bird was 'literally bullying' the eagle, as shown by the red crown on the king bird's head, demonstrating how threatened it was

The brave little king bird flies close to the eagle's head as she flies away after she mistakenly landed in a tree close to their nest

The young bald eagle spreads its wings as the little king bird flies close about her head after she landed in a tree near the king bird's nest

Cheng has been watching the adult bald eagles building the nest since January, hatching the eggs and raising the two baby eagles before finally seeing the two baby eagles fledging
A 15 year-old girl from Sao Paolo died of a heart attack while having sex with a 26 year-old man in his car, police say.

Gabrielly Dickson died Thursday night after she was admitted to the UPA Jardim Casquiero medical facility in Cubatao, Sao Paulo.

The man told the police that he and Dickson were having sexual intercourse in his car when she fainted, according to online news site G1.

The age of consent in Brazil is 14, and the man who was having sex with Dickson at the time of her death has not been charged with any crime.

Gabrielly Dickson went into cardiac arrest and died Thursday at a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The 15-year-old was having sex with a 26-year-old man in his car when she suddenly fainted. Police said he took her to a nearby hospital, where doctors attempted to revive her. Authorities are awaiting a medical examiner's report

Brazilian digital news site G1 reported that Gabrielly Dickson's family was unaware of the 15-year-old's relationship with the 26-year-old man

Dickson's lips and skin turned pale and her hands twisted back.

The man rushed the unconscious teen to the hospital, where doctors attempted to revive her.

Dickson was declared dead at 1:20am local time.

According to the State Department of Public Security, nurses who treated Dickson found blood in her vagina.

The Military Police visited the hospital after learning that the teenage girl had been beaten, but the nurses rules out signs of violence.

G1 reported that Dickson's family said it was not aware of her relationship with the the man and was not sure if she was suffering of any illnesses.

A local medical examiner is expected to reveal Dickson's cause of death Monday.

'Forensic examinations were requested and the case registered as a suspicious death by the Cubatao Police Station,' the Cubatao Ministry said in a statement.
Nicola Sturgeon has challenged Boris Johnson to attend face-to-face talks in Edinburgh later this week.

The Prime Minister will reportedly head to Scotland for an official visit and Ms Sturgeon today extended an invitation to meet at Bute House.

The Scottish First Minister said the talks would focus on the recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

She said that while she and Mr Johnson 'differ politically' the UK and Scottish governments 'must work together where we can'.

The pandemic has been punctuated by repeated disagreements between Mr Johnson and Ms Sturgeon over how best to prevent infections and reopen society.

The invitation, made public by Ms Sturgeon in a post on Twitter, will inevitably spark speculation over whether she would use the meeting to challenge Mr Johnson on the issue of Scottish independence.

Nicola Sturgeon has challenged Boris Johnson to attend face-to-face talks in Edinburgh later this week

The Prime Minister will reportedly head to Scotland for an official visit and Ms Sturgeon today extended an invitation to meet at Bute House

Ms Sturgeon tweeted: 'I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week.

'Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, Ive invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery.

'We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can.'

The SNP leader posted a picture of a formal letter sent to Mr Johnson which read: I understand you will be in Scotland later this week and thought this might offer us an opportunity to meet in person in Edinburgh for a discussion on the current Covid situation and our respective plans for recovery  focussing, obviously, on the areas where it is important that our governments work together.

I would be happy to welcome you to Bute House and thereby extend an invitation.

If you are agreeable, perhaps your Private Office could contact mine to discuss suitable arrangements.

Ms Sturgeons Scottish Government has taken a different approach to that adopted by the UK Government in England with respect to how coronavirus has been handled.

While all restrictions have been lifted in England, the Scottish First Minister is still to confirm if this can happen north of the border from August 9  with a statement to be made tomorrow.

She has also warned people in Scotland that the use of face coverings in places such as shops and public transport will most likely remain in place for some time.

It is unclear whether Mr Johnson will accept the invitation. Downing Street is likely to be wary of being ambushed over Scottish independence.

Ms Sturgeon said that while she and Mr Johnson 'differ politically' the UK and Scottish governments 'must work together where we can'

Ms Sturgeon wants a re-run of the 2014 referendum to be held in the coming years but Mr Johnson has repeatedly made clear he is not prepared to grant permission for another ballot, arguing the first was supposed to be a once in a generation event.

However, Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, recently suggested the PM could eventually soften his stance.

He suggested Westminster would not stand in the way of a second Scottish independence referendum if wanting to hold one was clearly the 'settled will' of voters.
This is the moment a heroic dad ditched his cosy night in with a takeaway to rescue a drowning fawn - diving topless into a murky canal to save the young deer's life.

Julie and Denver Kendall had just sat down for their Sunday treat when their son Chris, 24, called in a panic after spotting the startled deer had fallen into the water and was struggling to swim.

The couple, both 54, ran the 400 yards from their home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, to Kirkless Local Nature Reserve, where they found the small creature battling to stay above water and unable to escape due to the high walls.

Denver Kendall, 54, jumped into a canal in Wigan topless to join efforts to save a fawn which had fallen in the water on Sunday night

It took several attempts to save the young deer who was terrified and kept trying to escape Denver as he tried to help it

Footage shows father-of-three Denver topless in the algae-filled water wrestling to get his dog's lead around the fawn's neck so it can be dragged to safety.

With the help of two onlookers, Denver and Chris manage to haul the frightened animal out of the lock to safety before it runs off, apparently unscathed.

Julie said: 'It's not something you expect on a Sunday night. My son Chris was out for a walk - that's when we got the phone call. He attracts nature. It always happens, no matter where he goes.

'Our tea had just been delivered. We were being lazy and having a Chinese takeaway.

'Just as we were running out the door the takeaway was arriving. I thought, "Oh flipping heck, I don't believe this."'

The group of four people, Denver and his son Chris as well as two onlookers, all worked together to secure a dog lead around the deer's neck and hoist it out the water

Julie watched from the sidelines as her husband Denver (pictured together) wrestled the young deer to try and save it

As the couple raced out of their home to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, they grabbed a dog lead and towel.

Julie believes her son, his fiancee and their two dogs, who were walking in the nature reserve, have startled the fawn which then misjudged the jump over the canal.

Chip shop owner Julie stood on the sidelines shouting encouragement as Denver and Chris swam around trying to loop the dog lead around the deer's neck - before pulling it to the side where it was hoisted out.

After the group were able to pull the deer out with the dog lead (pictured) they pacified it for a few minutes before it leapt away and into the bushes again

Julie said: 'They had the deer a couple of times prior to them getting it - it just kept escaping.

'It was luckily in the lock rather than the whole of the canal. If it'd gone in the whole canal it'd be swimming forever.

'My husband took our dog's lead because my son couldn't let his dogs off the lead.

'I took a towel knowing they would need it and by the time I'd got there, my son and Denver were already in the water.

'There were a couple of other gentleman also on site trying to assist and reassure them.

'The entire rescue mission took about 25 minutes.'

Julie believes the fawn was startled when her son and his partner and their two dogs walked past and as a result it misjudged the jump over the canal

After finding itself on solid ground, the deer then jumped up on its legs and dashed off, briefly looking over at its rescuers before running into the distance.

As Denver hauled himself out of the water, his face had blood pouring from two wounds as he had been scratched by the deer's antlers.

Julie said: 'The deer was approximately one-year-old. It did a little look around as if to [say] thank you then off it popped.

'I saw the blood coming from Denver's face. He must have been caught by the antler. He said his eye was a bit bruised this morning but he's fine.'

After the deer panicked and fell in the water the couple's son Chris (pictured) ran to their house for help and the father-son duo acted quickly to save the animal

After Julie posted the clip on social media, Denver and Chris were praised - with one Facebook user branding them heroes.

Christine Clayton said: 'Bloody heroes the lot of you. Now get in a nice hot disinfected shower.'

Natalie Gallagher said: 'Awwww this is brilliant! Well done Denver, Chris and everyone involved, I love this.'

Rita Wallace said: 'This is brilliant! Well done.'
Pro-Trump social media network GETTR is being flooded by terrorist propaganda from Islamic State jihadist just weeks after its launch.

Ex- Trump adviser Jason Miller led the platform's launch July 4, as those in the former president's circle have looked for alternatives to Twitter and Facebook after Trump was banned.

But GETTR's promise of unrestricted speech has drawn jihadi material that includes videos of beheadings and gruesome viral memes promoting violence against Western nations.

One even depicted a militant 'executing' Trump in an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn at Guantanamo Bay, according to a review of online activity shared with Politico.

ISIS members have predicted GETTR will be successful and moved in to exploit its free speech promises (file image)

'Is Daesh here?' one account whose profile photo was the flag of the Islamic State. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group. Replies suggested it was well-represented  and some users praised the network for being willing to host such content.

'We will come at you with slaying and explosions you worshippers of the cross,' wrote one account whose name reference the Islamic State. 'How great is freedom of expression.'

GETTR so far has the highest profile of any conservative alternatives to mainstream social media, though Trump himself was not directly involved in its launch and does not have a verified account on the platform.

Miles Guo, business partner to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is partially funding the site and former Sec. Mike Pompeo and Fox News host Sean Hannity regularly post content.

On the Apple app store, GETTR advertises itself as a 'non-bias social network' that will 'allow anyone to express their opinion freely.'

On the Apple store, GETTR advertises itself as a 'non-bias social network' that will 'allow anyone to express their opinion freely'

GETTR so far has the highest profile of any conservative alternatives to mainstream social media

ISIS members have predicted the network will be successful.

'If this app reaches the expected success, which is mostly probable, it should be adopted by followers and occupied in order to regain the glory of Twitter, may God prevail,' one Islamic State account wrote of GETTR on Facebook in early July.

Miller, GETTR's CEO, said that ISIS was targeting the MAGA movement in retaliation to Trump's policy toward them.

'ISIS is trying to attack the MAGA movement because President Trump wiped them off the face of the earth, destroying the Caliphate in less than 18 months, and the only ISIS members still alive are keyboard warriors hiding in caves and eating dirt cookies,' he said in a statement. 'GETTR has a robust and proactive moderation system that removes prohibited content, maximizing both cutting-edge A.I. technology and human moderation.'

After news broke of GETTR's struggles with ISIS content, Miller tweeted an NPR article from 2019 that detailed Twitter having a similar problem.

Twitter Struggling To Shut Down Bot And Impersonation Accounts Created By ISIS : NPR https://t.co/xBNvF6F73J  Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) August 2, 2021

Some jihadi posts on GETTR from early July have been removed, and the platform's terms of service state that offensive content, including that related to terrorism, could be removed. Politico found at least 250 Islamic State-related accounts had been regularly posting content since July.

Trump declared ISIS '100% defeated' in 2019. The Islamic State no longer has a caliphate and its influence has largely diminished in the Middle East, though it maintains a presence in Iraq and Syria.

Ex- Trump adviser Jason Miller led GETTR's launch on July 4

GETTR in its early days was also reportedly flooded with pornographic content, though Miller has instituted a strict policy against doxxing, or sharing people's addresses and personal information with malicious intent.

After the former president was banned permanently from Twitter and for at least two years from Facebook and Instagram following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, some of supporters fled mainstream social media for smaller networks.

Parler, an early favorite among conservatives, took a major hit when it was banned from Apple, Amazon and Google. It temporarily went offline as a result, but it has since been allowed back onto Apple's app store after changing its content moderation policy to detect violent posts.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to express an interest in launching his own social media network. He launched his own blog, 'From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,' though it was taken down weeks later amid a poor following.
Officials have hauled the Australian men's rowing and rugby teams over the coals after a wild weekend of partying at the end of their Tokyo Olympics campaign.

Horrified Olympic Village cleaners reportedly found wrecked rooms covered in vomit after the two nights of drink-fuelled celebrations, sparking complaints from other athletes.

The party came as the rowing and rugby teams completed their Tokyo competitions and prepared to fly home the following day.

But the traditional celebrations on Friday and Saturday nights are said to have gone beyond acceptable limits while the Olympic Village is in Covid lockdown.

Officials have hauled the Australian men's rowing and rugby teams over the coals after a wild weekend of partying at the end of their Tokyo Olympics campaign. Seen here is a general shot of the Australian Olympic team at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics

Under the strict restrictions, drinking is only allowed in athletes' rooms and no socialising is permitted.

But the Australian Olympic Commitee admitted the men's teams went too far.

'A few individuals did leave their rooms in a messy and unacceptable state prior to departing back to Australia,' an AOC spokesman told the Daily Telegraph.

'Two apartments had minor damage, one each involving athletes from the men's rowing and rugby teams.

'The CEOs of both organisations have apologised to the AOC and have made their own enquiries into the athletes' behaviour.'

Horrified Olympic Village cleaners reportedly found wrecked with vomit after the two nights of drunken celebrations, sparking complaints from other athletes

Athletes have been rushed out the country following the end of all their events at Tokyo 2020 under Covid restrictions in a bid to minimise any possible outbreaks.

As a result, there have been many athletes trying to fit in their celebrations at the end of years of training and dedication throughout the two weeks of the Olympics.

On Monday, Australian sprinter Rohan Browning, 23, vowed to drink every bottle of Asahi Japanese beer he could find after his 100m campaign came to an end.

'I'm looking forward to celebrating and I don't think there is an Asahi that is safe in Tokyo city tonight,' Browning joked in a TV interview.

Under strict Covid restrictions, drinking is only allowed in athletes' rooms and no socialising is permitted. Seen here is a general view of the Olympic Village where athletes are living

Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman defended the overall conduct of the Aussie stars in Japan.

'Let's be clear, the vast majority of athletes have absolutely done the right thing through their stay and been model citizens both on and off the field of play,' he said.

'A few have let themselves down and, as we have high standards, the matters were reported to the national federations and they will deal with those athletes involved.

'It has all been appropriately dealt with and we have put the matter behind us here. I continue to be happy impressed by the behaviour and spirit of this team.'
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A Malibu mansion built with sustainable timber and recycled concrete has gone up for sale for a whopping $32million and aims to become California's first 'zero-carbon' home by using 'carbon-sequestering' techniques in its construction and design.

The 14,000-square-foot house was completed in July by Crown Pointe Estates and features six bedrooms, a home theater and a wine cellar - all constructed from recycled and sustainable materials and featuring no on-site fossil fuel burning, such as gas for the stove.

Appliances were specifically chosen to lower the home's carbon emissions, and developers purposely used materials that would make up for the carbon let off during construction.

Developers will need to submit 12 months of utility bills to the International Living Future Institute in Seattle, Washington, in order to be granted California's first official 'zero-carbon' certification.

The 14,000-square-foot home sits in an exclusive 80-acre development in Malibu, California

Developers at Crown Pointe Estates deliberately chose materials to offset CO2 emissions

It's not a given that it'll clear that hurdle.

Of the institute's 41 applications, only four have been fully certified zero carbon.

The modern ranch-style house sits on 2.48 acres in the luxury community of MariSol Malibu, which only hosts nine completed homes across 80 acres.

It features six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a home theater, a wine cellar, an electric car-charging station, a putting green, a bocce court and a saltwater pool.

Instead of 80,000 pounds of steel, developers turned to sustainable timber. Instead of concrete, they used a crawl-space foundation. And instead of a concrete subfloor under the wood and stone floors, they used a rubber underlay made from recycled tires.

About 25 percent of the concrete used was recycled, and the crawl-space foundation reduced the total use of concrete by 14 percent.

Developers switched up the design, using sustainable timber instead of 80,000 pounds of steel to lower the carbon footprint

Crown Pointe cut its concrete by 14 percent with a crawl-space foundation. About 25 percent of all concrete was recycled

More developers are looking to offset the carbon emissions produced during construction of their homes

Manufacturing, transportation and disposal of building materials are all taken into account when considering emissions

If Crown Point gets its zero-carbon certification, it would be 'a very impressive achievement,' an expert said

More and more developers are looking to cut the greenhouse gases emitted during the manufacturing, transportation and disposal of building materials, Institute for Market Transformation advisor Cliff Majersik told the Wall Street Journal.

If Crown Pointe manages to offset the carbon emitted during construction, it would be a 'very impressive achievement,' Majersik said.

Zero-carbon homes are five to 15 percent more expensive than regular homes, according to Rise, a website focused on sustainable home-building.

The home sits on a lot of 2.48 acres and boasts six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, along with a saltwater pool

A rubber underlay under the stone and wooden floor is made from recycled car tires

Among the home's amenities: a theater, a wine cellar and a water vapor fireplace creating the 'illusion' of flames

Zero-carbon homes are typically well-insulated and rely on electricity rather than gas. The Malibu home is connected to Ventura County's renewable power grid

These homes are generally built to be well-insulated, with windows 'deliberately located on the north and south sides of the home to maximize the home's ability to absorb the sun's heat in the winter and minimize it in the summer'.

Ideally, the energy consumption is purely electric with no attached gas lines.

The Malibu home's electricity comes from Ventura County's renewable grid, with backup from the home's own solar panels and Tesla battery walls.

Developers will submit 12 months of bills to a third-party to get 'zero-carbon' certification

Residential and commercial buildings account for 40 percent of the country's total energy consumption

The home has solar panels and Tesla battery walls to back up its use of Ventura County's renewable energy grid

Selecting eco-friendly appliances like an induction cooktop was the easy part, according to developer Scott Morris

The property is on an exclusive 80-acre community with 17 other lots and only nine other completed homes

The eco-friendly appliances were the easy part, said Crown Pointe's Scott Morris.

The home features an induction cooktop, an electric barbecue and a water vapor fireplace that uses water and compressed air to create the illusion of flames.

'You can put your hand through it,' Morris said.

In 2020, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that residential and commercial buildings accounted for 22 and 18 percent, respectively, of total U.S. energy consumption, for a total of 40 percent.
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Republicans have slammed President Joe Biden's handling of the border crisis after incredible drone images revealed up to 1,000 migrants being held by the Border Patrol in Mission, Texas, after they crossed into the U.S.

The footage shows hundreds of migrants stopped by Border Patrol agents sitting in a long queue under Anzalduas Bridge on the southern border between Mexico and the U.S.

'An absolute catastrophe from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and House & Senate Democrats,' said Republican and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik in response to the video.

The drone footage, which showed hundreds of migrants sat in large groups in the shade of the bridge, was posted by Fox news correspondent Bill Melugin.

NEW: This is the largest group of migrants weve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX. Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. Theres a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/AsAygsO966  Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 1, 2021

The footage shows scores of migrants stopped by Border Patrol agents standing in a long queue under Anzalduas Bridge on the southern border between Mexico and the U.S.

The drone footage, which showed hundreds of migrants sat in large groups in the shade of the bridge, was posted by Fox news correspondent Bill Melugin

He tweeted: 'This is the largest group of migrants weve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX.

'Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. Theres a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby.'

Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, from Texas, said that agents from the United States Department of Homeland Security as well as local communities living near the southern border are 'overwhelmed' by the influx of migrants at the southern border.

Cueller, who has written to Biden asking him to appoint a new 'czar' to tackle the surge of unaccompanied migrants, shared images of scores of migrants sat underneath Anzalduas Bridge at the weekend.

The president had named VP Harris as border czar in March - but it took her until last week to launch a five-point plan of policies that she claims will tackle causes of migration from Central America.

Cueller tweeted: 'Our DHS agents, & border communities, are overwhelmed & must be prioritized. DHS will again encounter over 180,000 immigrants at the southern border during Julyadding to the more than 1M immigrants that have arrived at the southern border in FY21. Something has to change!'

Meanwhile, Republican Representative Chip Roy shared similar pictures and tweeted that Border Patrol agents are 'overwhelmed' as they running out of space to process the migrants.

Roy tweeted: '[U.S. Customs and Border Protection] overwhelmed. No room to process illegals inside, so have to wait outside under bridge. Just in 24 hrs in 2 stations, encountered over 3,400. Currently holding over 7,000 illegals with some 5,000 waiting.'

DailyMail.com has contacted Border Patrol for a comment on the video footage.

Cueller, who has written to Biden asking him to appoint a new 'czar' to tackle the surge of unaccompanied migrants, shared images of scores of migrants sat underneath Anzalduas Bridge at the weekend

The footage comes as Republican Governor Greg Abbot on Saturday claimed the Biden administration has caused a 'constitutional crisis' after the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas to prevent troopers from stopping cars carrying migrants.

Abbott issued the statement after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department had filed a lawsuit over an executive order the governor signed on Wednesday.

The Executive Order GA-37 tasked the Texas Department of Public Safety with stopping any vehicle suspected of carrying migrants and reroute them to their origin or impound them, claiming that they pose a risk of spreading the COVID-19.

Abbott's order came even after he ended many the Lone Star State's protective measures amid the pandemic, even going so far as to prevent local governments from enforcing mask mandates and vaccine requirements.

'The Biden Administration has created a constitutional crisis between the federal government and the State of Texas,' Abbott said on Friday.

'This stems from the Biden Administration's refusal to enforce immigration laws and allow illegal immigrants with COVID-19 to enter our country.'

U.S. officials reported this month that they had encountered 55,805 members of families with children in June, an increase of 25 per cent compared to the previous month. That figure still remains far below the high of 88,587 in May 2019.

Gov. Greg Abbott claims the Biden administration has caused a 'constitutional crisis'

Kamala Harris's five-pillar plan for tackling the root causes of immigration mixes short-term and long-term measures As she unveiled her plan, Kamala Harris wrote: 'In Central America, the root causes of migration run deepand migration from the region has a direct impact on the United States. For that reason, our nation must consistently engage with the region to address the hardships that cause people to leave Central America and come to our border.' Addressing economic insecurity and inequality - investments in creating business-friendly environment and strengthening work force skills, as well as building in measures to protect from the economic damage of climate change Combatting corruption - through sanctions on corrupt figures and strengthening watchdogs, while offering protection to vulnerable young people, victims of violence and other marginalized populations. Promoting respect for human rights - as well labor rights and a free press by working with governments to strengthen legal protections, hold perpetrators responsible and ensure people have access to information from independent sources, Countering and preventing violence - and extortion and other crimes by strengthening law enforcement and encouraging cooperation between regional governments Combatting sexual violence - by working with governments and civil society to prevent and prosecute violence and support victims Advertisement

Abbott said that Texas is being 'overrun and overwhelmed' by a record-high influx of migrants - and alleged that 'cartels and smugglers profit off the chaos.'

'Not only that, but this crisis also extends beyond the border as deadly drugs like fentanyl infiltrate our communities,' Abbott said.

'This already dangerous situation continues to deteriorate as the Biden Administration knowingly imports COVID-19 into Texas from across the borderwillfully exposing Texans and Americans alike.'

He added: 'President Biden has a duty and a responsibility to protect and uphold our nation's sovereignty, yet he has long-since abdicated his authority to do so.'

Vice President Harris admitted on Thursday that her latest strategy to tackle causes of migration from Central America will not deliver rapid results as she launched a five-point plan of policies that promised action on human rights and climate change but avoided detailed targets or deadlines.

She said the U.S. alone cannot combat the factors that force people to leave Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - such as corruption and violence - but claimed the United Nations, Japan and Mexico had all agreed to back the push.

The plans involve working with the private sector to try to accelerate change in Central America.

Officials said it amounted to a 'hard nosed' approach.

But even Harris admitted its limitations.

'We will build on what works, and we will pivot away from what does not work,' she wrote in a two-page letter to launch the strategy.

'It will not be easy, and progress will not be instantaneous, but we are committed to getting it right.'

The administration has faced pressure for months as the number of people arriving at the southern border hits historic highs.

Harris was tapped in March to take on one of the president's most daunting portfolios when she put in charge of tackling the factors behind surging illegal immigration.

Part one involves tackling economic insecurity and insecurity in the region. Part two takes aim at corruption by promoting the rule of law.

Pillar three covers human rights, labor rights and a free press, while pillar four aims to combat violence, extortion and other forms of organized crime, such as trafficking networks.

The fifth pillar deals with 'combating sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence,' according the fact sheet.

The White House also published what it called a 'Collaborative Migration Management Strategy,' which Biden ordered in February to map out how the U.S. will work with other counties.

Again, it summarizes previously announced initiatives.
Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman revealed on Sunday that he went 'straight upstairs' to his twin brother's White House office after Donald Trump crossed 'the brightest of bright lines' in his infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky where he asked for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.

'I go straight upstairs into the legal suite, and my twin brother's office is almost as soon as you walk in. I go in, close the door and I tell him "Eugene, If what I'm about to tell you becomes public, the President will be impeached,"' Vindman told CBS Sunday Morning.

Yevgeny Vindman was serving as chief ethics officer on the White House National Security Council when his brother led the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Russia office of the NSC.

Alexander Vindman told CBS Sunday Morning he was the 'driving force' behind Trump's impeachment

He (right) sat down for an interview with his twin brother Yevgeny Vindman (left) and father Semyon (center). All three had immigrated from Ukraine along with their older brother when the twins were children

Following Trump's request that Zelensky 'look into' the Bidens Vindman said he immediately told his twin brother Yevgeny, who was an ethics lawyer for the National Security Council (pictured: Military veterans Alexander (left) and Yevgeny Vindman (right) at the Pentagon in 2016)

He told CBS the pair's minds were 'quickly made up about what actions we would take and what our duty was' after a conversation that lasted five minutes.

Vindman also said he was the 'driving force' behind Donald Trump's first impeachment proceedings in an interview ahead of the Tuesday release of his memoir, Here, Right Matters.

Vindman made his bombshell statements on a media tour promoting his memoir Here, Right Matters, which goes on sale August 3

'I was the driving force behind this whole thing,' the former national security official and star hearing witness said. 'I'm getting some chills thinking about it right now.'

However he maintained he 'had no thoughts about this ever becoming public.'

In a Sunday op-ed Vindman revealed he sensed something was wrong when Trump's phone call with Zelensky, which was expected to be a routine call to congratulate a fellow head of state on the previous day's parliamentary election, 'was abruptly rescheduled for the morning of July 25 with no explanation.'

It came weeks after Trump placed an 'unexplained' hold on military aid to Ukraine amid the country's ever-going threat from Russia.

'The national-security apparatus had gotten used to the president's inattention to any policy, let alone foreign policy, so this sudden White House interest in Ukraine was something new, and deeply unsettling,' Vindman wrote in The Atlantic.

He recalled Trump had a 'detached, unfriendly' tone through most of the call even as Zelensky attempted to build a rapport with the then-president.

After asking the comedian-turned-Ukrainian leader to investigate a 'bizarre conspiracy' that Ukrainian actors were involved in Robert Mueller's investigation and behind the 2016 DNC hack, Vindman said Trump broached the topic of Hunter Biden.

Vindman accused Trump of crossing the 'brightest of bright lines' when he realized the president was reportedly holding up military aid to Ukraine in exchange for Zelensky (right) opening an investigation into Trump's then-presidential opponent Joe Biden

Vindman said the call grew worse when Trump asked Zelensky to work with then-Attorney General Barr to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden over allegations the former VP stopped an investigation into his son's dealings with a Ukrainian energy company

'My head snapped up. I looked quickly around the table. Were others tracking this?' Vindman wrote.

Trump claimed Joe Biden was responsible for stopping an investigation into Hunter Biden's activities on the board of Ukraine energy company Burisma - which Vindman called baseless.

'Even if there had been anything to this Biden story, the presidents bringing up such an allegation against a political rival, or any American citizen at all, and demanding an investigation on a call with a foreign head of state was crossing the brightest of bright lines,' the retired Army officer claimed.

Alexander Vindman arrives to testify during the House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on November 19 2019

He said Trump's request that Zelensky look into his then-opponent and his adult son amounted to 'extorting Ukraine to damage a political challenger at home and boost his own political fortunes.'

He added that he had 'no choice but to report' Trump's 'misconduct.'

His brother Yevgeny was the first person he went to because he was 'uniquely positioned' to advise him, Vindman claimed.

'He would protect, at all costs, my telling the truth.'

Yevgeny Vindman compared the days between his brother's bombshell testimony and when both twins were let go from the White House to 'being in the middle of an enemy camp.'

'I was surprised that it took 'til Friday before we were both marched out,' he said.
An Indian Pornhub star has been arrested for allegedly luring other young women into pornography by falsely promising them Bollywood acting roles.

Nandita Dutta, 30, who often performs under the name Nancy Bhabbi, has been accused of forcing two female models into getting naked on camera in Kolkata, India.

One of the accusers says she was made to appear in an explicit video at a New Town hotel while the other says she was made to take part in a naked photo shoot at a Ballygunge studio.

Indian Pornhub star Nandita Dutta has been arrested for allegedly luring other young women into pornography by falsely promising them Bollywood acting roles

Dutta, 30, who often performs under the name Nancy Bhabbi, has been accused of forcing two female models into getting naked on camera in Kolkata, India

The pair were told that if they took part their Bollywood acting careers would take off, according to The Times of India.

Dutta was arrested at her home in Dum Dum along with her associate Mainak Ghosh, 39.

The model, who boasts 119,000 followers on Instagram, was charged with Ghosh under seven Indian Penal Code sections.

They include charges relating to voyeurism, defamation, forgery and molestation.

Dutta was arrested at her home in Dum Dum along with her associate Mainak Ghosh, 39.

The pair appeared before a court last week and were remanded in custody.

A spokesman for the Bidhannagar Commissionerate said: 'We are going to interrogate them for their accomplices and also to know other places where they conducted the shoots.

'We will also question them whether they used to sell videos and if they were a part of a larger porn racket.'

Police in India are currently investigating a similar case involving the husband of Shilpa Shetty, who has been accused of being a 'key conspirator' in a porn production ring. He has denied the allegations.

Publishing or transmitting 'obscene' material including porn is illegal in India under a 2015 law and punishable by up to seven years in jail.
Anthony Alexander, 44, from Preston, charmed women and stole from them

A 'charming' criminal who stole from women he met on dating sites after gaining their trust and moving into their homes has been jailed.

Anthony Alexander, 44, from Preston, convinced the besotted women he met online to let him move into their homes a short time after starting the relationship, police said.

Dyfed-Powys Police said it was a 'very unusual case' as Alexander charmed his way into his victim's homes through a series of lies before taking the first opportunity he could to steal from them.

Alexander, who was discovered to have a number of aliases, was jailed on July 22 just days after the offences were first reported to the police.

Officers were made aware of the crimes on July 17 when a woman reported a theft from her home.

The unnamed victim explained that she had met Alexander online and after letting him stay over for a week he left with a TV, and a gold wedding ring and suit which belonged to her late father.

Later that day, a second woman arrived at Ystradgynlais police station, reporting that she too had allowed Alexander to move into her home but had become suspicious of his behaviour.

She asked officers to attend and help get him to leave.

When his car was searched, they found the stolen TV and suit, as well as numerous contact details for women and love letters.

Alexander, from Preston, Lancashire, admitted to two counts of theft at Merthyr Magistrates' Court, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

He was also handed restraining orders against the two victims lasting two years.

Enquiries established that Alexander had changed his name by deed poll from Oliver Alexander Davenport to Oliver Anthony Alexander, and his original name was Joshua Jamie McKenna.

He was discovered to have a vast offending history, including a conviction for a sexually aggravated assault.

Sergeant Craig Morgan said: 'This was a very unusual case, and one unlike typical reports of romance fraud where victims never actually meet offenders in person.

Alexander, from Preston, Lancashire, admitted to two counts of theft at Merthyr Magistrates' Court, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison

'Rather than asking his victims to send money to a bank account, Alexander was actually charming his way into their homes through a series of lies, and taking the first opportunity he could to steal from them.

Sgt Morgan said: 'Alexander, as he is now known, is clearly a prolific offender who preys on vulnerable women by telling them a series of lies to make out he is someone he's not.

'He has crossed police borders to commit offences and charmed his victims who trusted that they were in genuine relationships with him.

'I would like to thank the victims for their honestly and strength in reporting these offences, and hope the sentence offers some comfort.'
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A brand new 430m superyacht belonging to Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has been spotted for the first time at sea, off the billionaire's playground of Antibes on the French Riviera.

The 460ft vessel, Solaris, is the most costly custom-made superyacht ever built, with 48 cabins across eight decks, a crew of 60 and space for 36 guests.

This exclusive series of photographs shows for the first time the full majestic grandeur of the boat as it awaits its secretive oligarch owner and his friends.

A brand new 430m superyacht belonging to Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has been spotted for the first time at sea, off the billionaire's playground of Antibes on the French Riviera

The 460ft vessel, Solaris, is the most costly custom-made superyacht ever built, with 48 cabins across eight decks, a crew of 60 and space for 36 guests

This exclusive series of photographs and videos shows for the first time the full majestic grandeur of the boat as it awaits its secretive oligarch owner and his friends

Abramovich, who owns Chelsea FC, has two yachts - one is the 460ft new Solaris and the other is Eclipse, which is 500ft long. He previously owned Sussurro which was just under 200ft

Built in Bremerhaven, Germany, Solaris recently completed sea trials and was briefly berthed in Barcelona before moving across to Cape D'Ail near Monaco, and then Antibes.

Yachting photographer Julien Hubert, who captured these images on a drone, said it was one of the biggest yachts he'd ever seen.

'It is definitely among the 15 biggest yachts in the world,' he said, 'and it was creating a lot of interest in the yachting community around the port.'

Abramovich, 54, himself is believed to be on his other, slightly longer, 500m yacht Eclipse, off Croatia at the moment, but it's thought likely he'll want to try out his new toy before long, as it is arguably, the most technologically advanced private boat afloat.

Built in Bremerhaven, Germany, Solaris recently completed sea trials and was briefly berthed in Barcelona before moving across to Cape D'Ail near Monaco, and then Antibes

Yachting photographer Julien Hubert, who captured these images on a drone, said it was one of the biggest yachts he'd ever seen, standing at 460ft

Abramovich, 54, himself is believed to be on his other, slightly longer than Solaris (pictured), 500m yacht Eclipse, off Croatia at the moment, but it's thought likely he'll want to try out his new toy before long, as it is arguably, the most technologically advanced private boat afloat

All his guests will be accommodated in luxurious state rooms and travel between the boat's eight decks by lift.

As well as a gym, sauna, Jacuzzi and at least one swimming pool come as standard on boats such as these and, if it's anything like the 530ft Eclipse, it will also have a beauty salon, complete with beautician and hairdresser.

Eclipse has a night club with dance floor but Solaris instead has an outdoor 'beach club' at the aft section of the upper deck.

Solaris has a flotilla of 20 high-speed jet-skis and at least one helicopter to ferry guests from ship to shore. And it's expected that Abramovich will also invest in a personal submarine.

Superyacht submersibles are housed in a bay in the main hull accessed from the passenger accommodation by a system of secret, pirate-proof passageways.

As well as a gym, sauna, Jacuzzi and at least one swimming pool come as standard on boats such as these and, if it's anything like the 530ft Eclipse, it will also have a beauty salon, complete with beautician and hairdresser

Solaris has a flotilla of 20 high-speed jet-skis and at least one helicopter to ferry guests from ship to shore. And it's expected that Abramovich will also invest in a personal submarine

It is believed Solaris may be one of the new 'Explorer' class of superyachts that  as their name implies  are built for much more intrepid cruising than merely bobbing around the French Riviera

The 'Explorer' class are built to cross oceans, showing off their yachts to their friends in the summer or travelling to the Caribbean in winter

An entry-level model will set you back around $2 million and a top-end sub with all the optional extras could cost as much as $6 million.

It is believed Solaris may be one of the new 'Explorer' class of superyachts that  as their name implies  are built for much more intrepid cruising than merely bobbing around the French Riviera.

Such vessels are built to cross oceans, showing off their yachts to their friends in the summer or travelling to the Caribbean in winter.

As a luxury mariner of many years' standing, Abramovich may venture much further afield, perhaps even as far as the Arctic Circle, with the aid of ice-breaking capability concealed in the bow.

An entry-level model will set you back around $2 million and a top-end sub with all the optional extras could cost as much as $6 million

As a luxury mariner of many years' standing, Abramovich may venture much further afield, perhaps even as far as the Arctic Circle, with the aid of ice-breaking capability concealed in the bow

Stewart Campbell Editor-in-Chief of Boat International told the Mail that many oligarchs like Abramovich are investing in superyachts which can also be used for scientific research. 'Now, presumably with Solaris, the owner is thinking, 'Right, I want to be able to rub up against ice in Antarctic and see the Kamchatka Peninsula [in eastern Russia], or Patagonia'. All that kind of stuff that Eclipse just isn't the right boat for. It could do it, but Solaris is obviously tailormade for that kind of expedition.'

The boats are not the only things that are changing in this market, the owners are getting younger too, says Jim Dixon of superyacht design company Winch.

'We've designed yachts with speaker systems situated on the sundeck, which pump out enough volume in such a way that the owner could ride round on their jet ski and still listen to the music,' he says.

The boats are not the only things that are changing in this market, the owners are getting younger too, says Jim Dixon of superyacht design company Winch

Solaris will also be protected by high-tech security apparatus. On Eclipse he installed a special shield system which had the capacity to target the photosensitive elements on digital cameras, and disable them with a laser

Pirates, kidnappers or special forces of hostile states are classed as real dangers for the super-rich and a ring of security measures are in place

Solaris is believed to be fitted with a radar-controlled missile detection system, bulletproof windows and armoured protection around the wheelhouse and main cabin

The 430m superyacht is pictured anchored off the coast of Antibes off the French Riviera, known for being a 'playground' for billionaires

The helipads on the superyacht can be converted into an outdoor cinema, with hidden speakers and screens

The Solaris will be Abramovich's second superyacht and not as large as the Eclipse, a 533ft vessel. He has previously owned at least four other colossal yachts, the 162ft Sussurro the most recent to change hands in around 2017.

'We also have designed helipads which can be converted into an outdoor cinema through hidden speakers and screens.

'When you've got a ship full of demanding plutocrats, you need an A team when it comes to the crew. All will be hand-picked for experience and discretion. A level of discretion that will be reinforced by strict 'gagging' agreements forbidding them from gossiping about what goes on aboard on pain of ruinous legal consequences.

Solaris will also be protected by high-tech security apparatus. On Eclipse he installed a special shield system which had the capacity to target the photosensitive elements on digital cameras, and disable them with a laser.

Pirates, kidnappers or special forces of hostile states are classed as real dangers for the super-rich and a ring of security measures are in place. Solaris is believed to be fitted with a radar-controlled missile detection system, bulletproof windows and armoured protection around the wheelhouse and main cabin.
More than 100 state legislators started flying into Washington, D.C. on Monday to join the runaway Texas Democrats in their pressure campaign on the federal government to address voting rights issues across the country.

The 'week of action', they are calling it, attempts to urge senators to forgo their August recess to instead pass the sweeping Democratic voting and election bill shot down by Senate Republicans earlier this year.

'They shouldn't take a recess,' Florida State Democratic Senator Annette Taddeo told CNN the night before her flight from Miami to Washington. 'Democracy comes first. My request is, recess can wait. Democracy can't.'

Taddeo plans to spend three days in D.C. this week to lobby U.S. senators to postpone their recess until the For the People Act is passed. She said the Senate doesn't have time 'to play the long game' when it comes to voting rights.

At least 18 states have enacted 30 new laws related to voter rights, according to a mid-July tally by progressive policy institute Brennan Center for Justice, which has been tracking state activity since January 1, 2021.

More than 100 state lawmakers will start arriving in Washington D.C. on Monday to join the group of runaway Texas Democrats (pictured on July 30) in their bid to lobby the Senate not to recess until they pass the For the People voting rights act

Two of the Democratic state legislators heading to D.C. are Florida Senator Annette Taddeo (left) and Arizona Representative Daniel Hernandez (right)

Arizona State Representative Daniel Hernandez told CNN he will be one of around a dozen state lawmakers flying in this week from his state.

Republicans in Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, have been conducting yet another audit and recount of the 2020 presidential election ballots in the swing state Donald Trump lost by a close margin in November.

Since then, laws related to elections have been passed.

'We made, I think, a really valiant effort to try to stop these really awful bills at the legislative level here in Arizona and in Texas and in Georgia,' Hernandez said. 'Now that we weren't able to stop these bills at the legislative level in our different states, lawmakers across the country are flying to DC because there is nothing more important than protecting people's right to vote.'

The Tucson Democrat explained voting rights is what got him into state politics more than a decade ago.

Georgia, Arizona and Florida are notably some of the states that are controlled by Republican legislatures and have local Democratic politicians traveling to D.C. to break with what their state is doing.

A group of around 60 Democratic lawmakers from Texas paved the way for this spectacle in the nation's capital after they fled the Lone Star State last month to hide out in Washington, D.C. to stop the legislature from passing two voting reform bills.

The group boarded two private jets, chartered at $100,000, and flew from Austin to D.C.

Since then, they have been staying at the Washington Plaza Hotel in the northwest quadrant of the city since then, where each room goes for $200 per night, at least.

According to estimates, to stay through the whole session, which ends August 7, will cost the Texas Democrats around $1.5 million. But the group insists they are not using any taxpayer money for the trip.

A group of around 60 Texas Democrats boarded two private jets chartered at $100,000 last month to flee to Washington, D.C. in order to break quorum and block two Republican voting rights bills from passing

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he will continue to call special sessions until enough Democrats are present to reach a quorum and the voting rights legislation is passed.

'I will keep calling Special Sessions until we address every emergency itemincluding funding for foster care, property tax relief & bail reform,' Abbott tweeted last Monday.

He added: 'The Democrats' decision to break quorum inflicts harm on the very Texans who elected them to serve.'

Republicans in the Texas House of Representative voted shortly after the stunt last month to have the sergeant at arms arrest Democrats and compel them to appear for the legislative session once they step foot back in Texas.

Governor Abbott's press secretary Renae Eze said the issue is bigger than just voting legislation now that the Texas Democrats have been gone for nearly a full month.

'By leaving the state, Democrats walked out on Texans and critical issues in the special session agenda to provide property tax relief, fund our retired teachers, protect our foster children, and secure our southern border,' Eze told DailyMail.com.

'Texans deserve better than Democrats walking out on them and abandoning their duties to those who elected them,' the statement continued. 'If they didn't want to do their job to debate and vote on the issues, they shouldn't have run for office.'

'Governor Abbott will continue working with the members in Austin and fighting for the future of our state, calling special session after special session to ensure this critical legislation is passed.'
A landlord who ploughed his life savings into a community pub to keep the doors open has been told he can stay in the UK just months after facing deportation because he did not make enough money to be given visa.

Russ Young, 62, moved from Australia to Failsworth in 2016 to be with his 56-year-old partner Tracie.

The couple married a few months later and Russ had recently applied for a five-year visa after his two-year marriage visa expired in 2019.

But instead of continuing to enjoy married life, Russ and Tracie's future together was thrown into doubt when the application was denied.

The authorities said Russ did not make more than 18,600 in a direct salary - largely because he had invested much of the profits back into the pub whilst business grew.

He was given two weeks to leave the country after an appeal against the decision to send him back to Australia was refused at the end of May.

The couple feared their lives would be torn apart, putting the The Sun Inn in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, at risk of closure.

Regulars were left outraged by the news - with one even vowing to go with Russ if he was made to leave.

But after entering a new application, Russ has been given a five-year visa to remain in the UK.

Landlord Russ Young, 62, (pictured) moved from Australia to Failsworth in 2016 to be with his 56-year-old partner Tracie

Tracie said: 'I never want to go through anything like these last few months ever again.

'It's been the worst time ever, the pressure has been unbelievable. I can't tell you what a relief it is to hear that news.

'My phone's not stopped, it's been going mental. Everybody's posting things on Facebook, all the customers have been ringing asking if it's true, I can't even put into words how much it means.

'The community have been amazing, even people we don't know that have been in similar situations have been in touch - I don't know them from Adam but everybody sort of really jumped behind it, it's been really overwhelming.

'Honestly it's been incredible, it's been an emotional journey. We didn't realise how loved we were.'

The authorities said Russ did not make more than 18,600 in a direct salary - largely because he had invested much of the profits back into the pub whilst business grew.

The uncertainty turned to heartbreak in May this year, when an appeal against this refusal was also rejected, giving Russ just 14 days to leave the country - and his adoring wife - behind.

The pair feared their hard work saving the pub from closure in 2018 - when they scrimped and saved to afford the 250,000 purchase price to stop it being turned into flats - would be undone.

The couple feared their lives would be torn apart, putting the The Sun Inn (pictured) in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, at risk of closure

Alongside running the pub, they have also been caring for Tracie's 81-year-old bed-bound mother during the pandemic, meaning it would have been impossible for Tracie to run the pub without Russ.

The pair were waiting in line at the local post office when Tracie received a call from Sacha Lord, the Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, to tell Russ's new visa had been approved.

Tracie said: 'We were in the queue at the post office waiting for change for the pub and my phone went off and it was Sacha.

'He started congratulating us and when I asked what he meant he said the application had been approved and read the email out.

'Sacha's been so good, he's been in constant contact with us at least once a week.

'If it wasn't for him we would have never gotten in with the legal team at JMW. Words can't express how thankful I am to him.

'Angela Rayner [Labour MP for for Ashton-under-Lyne] and Mark and Kath [Wilkinson] from Failsworth Independent Party have been amazing and so helpful too.'

The pair are hoping to host a celebration of Russ's new visa at the pub for their regulars and those who helped them with their fight, but have not yet made any arrangements.

Mr Lord has been backing the pair's fight, recruiting a legal team to help the couple secure Russ's future.

Tweeting about the victory, Mr Lord said: 'Great ending to the week.

'I've just taken a call from the lawyers. We've saved Russell from being deported, and rightly so!

'Massive congrats to Russell, Tracie and everyone at The Sun Inn.'

Mr Lord declined to comment on the matter any further.

More than 20,000 people signed the couple's petition urging the Home Office urgently reconsiders the decision to remove Russell from the UK.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: '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.

'Mr Young's current application has now been granted.'
A Texas man allegedly shot his wife dead and wounded two of her children while she was on the phone with her mother during an argument after she threatened to leave him.

Lawrence Reed, 53, opened fire on Valerie Junius, 36, at the family's home in Katy, west of Houston, on Thursday evening police say.

Junius fled the house with gunshot wounds to the stomach and arm, a neighbor told ABC13.

Reed then allegedly killed her with a shot to the head in a neighbors driveway before opening fire on her 16-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter.

Junius' 12 and 8-year-old children were also present, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Junius' cousin, Stacey Terry, wrote on a GoFundMe that the mom-of-six was intending to leave her husband, and that she was on the phone to her mother Gloria when the shooting happened.

She wrote: 'My Auntie, Gloria, was on the phone with her daughter, Valerie, while she could overhear her husband, Lawrence Reed, telling Valerie that he was going to kill her and her kids.

'Gloria then had the horrific experience of having to hear Lawrence shoot her daughter Valerie a total of 7 times, ultimately taking her life.'

Police have not confirmed all of the details alleged by Terry.

Lawrence Reed (pictured left in his mug shot) opened fire on Valerie Junius (right) at the family's home in Katy, west of Houston, on Thursday evening police say

Reed was arrested and charged with murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon

Junius' family posted pictures of her on a GoFundMe which is intended to raise money for her six children

Reed was charged on August 1 with the murder of Junius, and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

Next-door neighbor Ivory Jackson told how he saw Junius fleeing her home while wounded.

He told ABC13: 'She had gunshots in her stomach [and her] arm.

'He came back out and said "dont help her, shes dead - I shot her in the head." I looked in her head and, of course'

Jackson said that his sister heard four or five shots fired from within the house, while another five were fired outside at Junius, and her children.

Reed then barricaded himself in his home, threatening to end his own life.

SWAT vehicles prevented neighbors from parking in their driveways as hostage negotiators coaxed Reed out of the home for about 30 minutes, according to the department.

'The motive for the shooting appeared to be an ongoing domestic disturbance between Reed and Junius,' wrote police in an incident report.

SWAT vehicles prevented neighbors from parking in their driveways as hostage negotiators coaxed Reed out of the home for about 30 minutes, according to the department.

Next-door neighbor Ivory Jackson told how he saw Junius fleeing her home while wounded.

'They barbecue we come over, they barbecue they come over - Its never any bad times around here, its always peaceful, sunny," said Jackson. 'You wouldnt think that anything like that would happen around here.'

Junius' family told news outlets that the deceased mother was intending to separate from Reed.

'There were periods of times when my cousin was happy with this man, but there were a lot of times my cousin was not happy with this man,' Junius' cousin, Treshawnda Junius, told Click 2 Houston.

'I urge you if you have family in unhappy relationships, if you have friends that are in unhappy relationships, to stand by them and to talk to them to check on them.'

Neighbors told ABC 13 that there wasn't any indication or warning signs from the outside that the tragedy might occur.

'They barbecue we come over, they barbecue they come over - Its never any bad times around here, its always peaceful, sunny," said Jackson.

'You wouldnt think that anything like that would happen around here.'

Area police could not be reached for comment, or to confirm whether previous calls had been made to the department for domestic incidents.

Both of Junius' wounded children are in stable condition and expected to recover.

ABC 13 spotted the 16-year-old returning to the house in a medical gown, walking and talking.

Junius' children range between 20 and 4 years in age, according to her family.

'My cousin was a very good mother to the best of her abilities. She loved her kids. Everything she did was for her kids,' said Treshawnda.

Reed is being held in Harris County Jail in lieu of a $1.7 million bail bond.
A Reddit thread discussing a post on former New York Times editor Bari Weiss's blog which accused pro-trans students of bullying medical school professors into teaching that biological sex is a social construct has been flagged with an 'unreliable source' warning by a woke moderator.

The moderator of the /r/medicine thread penned the warning after the blog post written by renowned lesbian writer Katie Herzog and published to Weiss's Substack on July 27 went viral.

Herzog's piece asserted that professors at some of America's most prestigious medical schools are being pressured to apologize for using terms such as 'breastfeeding' and 'pregnant women' by students who deem those terms transphobic.

The warning on the /r/medicine thread, however, sought to undermine Herzog's claims by stating that Substack is not a reliable source for medical news and further posts from the site will not be permitted.

'This post has generated a large amount of discussion,' moderator 'am_i_wrong_dude' wrote.

'Some of it is useful, but much of the commentary is airing of political grievances that have little to do with medicine, and includes many infrequent or first time commenters coming to r/medicine to attempt to score political points. This has been the typical experience here with posts from the highly political and dubiously sourced Bari Weiss Substack.'

A Reddit thread discussing a post on former New York Times editor Bari Weiss's blog which accused pro-trans students of bullying medical school professors has been flagged with an 'unreliable source' warning by a woke moderator (pictured)

The blog post written by renowned lesbian writer Katie Herzog (pictured) and published to Weiss's Substack on July 27 asserted that professors at some of America's most prestigious medical schools are being pressured to apologize for using terms such as 'breastfeeding' and 'pregnant women' by students who deem those terms transphobic

The warning adds: 'In general, we prefer mainstream and unbiased sources for news about medicine, and peer-reviewed original sources for claims about medical science. Posts copied from other social media sites and blogs are not allowed. Substack is a platform for paid newsletters, but the content of those newsletters do not go through any formal editorial review as an actual newspaper or mainstream internet news site. If the news about medicine is verifiable and impactful, it will be picked up in mainstream news, and that is the article that should be posted here, not a link to a personal blog or newsletter.'

Going forward, the moderator said that Substack links 'will be considered to be equivalent to a personal blog or non-reddit social media post and are disallowed for a top-line post about medical news.'

Author and podcaster Jesse Singal condemned the moderator's decision in a tweet, writing, 'Katie's article on med-school insanity reached the top of /r/medicine, so a mod there had to step in to add a sticky warning readers against believing it -- after all, it didn't go through the famously rigorous "editorial review" all "mainstream" articles enjoy.'

In a follow up tweet, he added, 'The mods hurriedly introduced a new policy -- no Substack posts allowed anymore. This is how internet communities shut themselves off from threats to their beliefs and become cult like. Very familiar w/this dynamic on the right but it's increasingly taking hold in my backyard.'

Author and podcaster Jesse Singal condemned the moderator's decision in a series of tweets

In her piece Herzog cited an interview with a University of California medical student who claimed that professors at esteemed schools are apologizing for using terms like 'male and female' and 'mother and father'.

The student - identified only as Lauren - said instructors are too scared to acknowledge the existence of two different sexes because it 'can be considered transphobic.'

Singal noted in a another tweet that many of the comments replying to the article on r/medicine were from people sharing similar experiences to Herzog.

He wrote, 'Meanwhile, many of the people replying to the post agree with Herzog that this is a problem and are giving first- and second-hand examples. There's obviously a desire on the part of some to aggressively pretend this isn't happening. Common tactic.'

Reddit user 'TotallyNotMichele', expressed dismay at the kind of language Herzog says professors are forced into using. She wrote, 'As a first time pregnant woman, the idea of potentially ever being referred to as 'birthing person' and not 'mother' really saddens me.'

Another Reddit user, named 'pteradactylitis', said that language sometimes needs to be broad, as much as people want to be inclusive, commenting, 'I'm a non-binary physician who teaches genetics in a highly ranked medical school in a large, liberal coastal city and we were just asked to make these changes. I thought about it and came to the same conclusion you do: overly scientific language often dehumanizes the concepts and separates us from the patients and thereby the work.'

The user continued, 'I give a short disclaimer about how not all XX individuals are women and not all XY individuals are men, but most are and therefore most of my examples will be and this is not done to de-emphasizes the socially constructed gender, which may be different, but for ease of teaching biology and then I move on.'

Meanwhile, another Reddit user said that most trans activists have more on their plate to worry about than language wars like replacing 'mother' with 'birthing person.'

User 'Dr_steven' commented: 'We want good insurance coverage, laws preventing discrimination, and whatnot. The language used in textbooks is, at the very least, a distant concern at the moment . . . Since I know that most of the complaint letters were written by cis people on our behalf. Let me be clear- if you want to devote your time and energy to helping us, thank you! Please do so by advocating for the causes that we indicate as significant, largely access to affordable care, and protection from discrimination. If this is really about helping us and not about your image, this should not offend your sensibilities.'

The user's comments refer to a number of petitions Herzog's interviewee Lauren said students have circulated to 'name and shame' instructors for 'wrongspeak,' or language deemed non-inclusive.

'I think there's a small percentage of instructors who are true believers [in woke ideology], but most of them are probably just scared of their students,' Lauren told Herzog.

Professors at America's top medical schools are being bullied into teaching students that biological sex is a construct and are apologizing for using the terms 'male' and 'female', renowned writer Katie Herzog claimed in a recent blogpost

Herzog interviewed a student - identified only as Lauren - who said there are real world implications for trying to erase the differences between biological sex, as medical conditions often affect biological males and females differently

In one of Lauren's classes, which was recorded and posted online, a professor profusely apologized for using the term 'pregnant woman'.

Lauren says the unnamed professor told their class: 'I said 'when a woman is pregnant,' which implies that only women can get pregnant and I most sincerely apologize to all of you.

'I don't want you to think that I am in any way trying to imply anything, and if you can summon some generosity to forgive me, I would really appreciate it,' the professor states in the recording, which Herzog obtained access to.

'It was certainly not my intention to offend anyone. The worst thing that I can do as a human being is be offensive.'

'Since recent petitions were sent out, instructors have been far more proactive about 'correcting' their slides in advance or sending out emails to the school listserv if any upcoming material has 'outdated' terminology,' Lauren told Herzog.

'At first, compliance is demanded from outside, and eventually the instructors become trained to police their own language proactively.'

In another recording obtained by Herzog, one instructor can be heard stating: 'Biological sex, sexual orientation, and gender are all constructs. These are all constructs that we have created.'

Lauren says her college also uses an 'online forum' which sees students correct teachers who use language they find offensive.

Examples she shared with Herzog included professors being told not to use the terms 'male', and 'female,' and warned to use the term 'chestfeeding' instead of breastfeeding, to avoid offending transgender men who have given birth.

That forum can see students share their 'suggestions,' in real time, with one professor reportedly driven to tears after being upbraided for using 'male' and 'female' during one of their lectures.

Lauren also told of how students circulated petitions to try and pressure professors into complying with their linguistic demands.

On one occasion, they were angered by a staff member's decision to use the pronouns 'she' and 'her', as well as the terms 'father' and 'son,' during a lesson on chromosomal disorders, with those words blasted as 'cisnormative.'

'Cis' - short for cisgender - is a term used to describe someone who identifies as the gender they were born as, as opposed to a transgender person.

That petition is said to have yielded fast results, with the instructor quickly apologizing for using 'binary' language.

The same member of staff was also condemned for describing a transgender person as a 'man changing into a woman'.

Students were angry that their teacher was suggesting the person wasn't always a woman.

But Lauren was left mystified by the complaint, telling Herzog: 'If trans women were born women, why would they need to transition?'

Meanwhile, a recent graduate from the Mount Sinai Medical School in New York also told Herzog that there was a preoccupation with sex and gender at that institution.

'Everything was about pronouns,' the student stated. '[But] it was impossible to push back without worrying about getting expelled.'

That graduate said many of their peers introduced themselves to patients with their pronouns, and asked for them in return.

Lauren says that there are real world implications for trying to erase the differences between the two sexes, as medical conditions often affect biological males and females differently.

The article was published Tuesday on Bari Weiss's Substack page

She cites aortic aneurysms - which can be deadly - as one example. Males are four times as likely as females to experience an aortic aneurysm, but Lauren says 'this very significant difference wasn't emphasized' during classes.

The trainee highlighted how crucial time is for her and her fellow medics, and said vital seconds could be wasted by trying to establish a patient's sex.

Meanwhile, many medical experts similarly say that erasure of biological sex will have an adverse affect on patients.

Herzog and Weiss also cited the example of a transgender man

'How male and female members of our species develop, how they differ genetically, anatomically, physiologically, and with respect to diseases and their treatment are foundational to clinical medicine and research,' one anonymous former dean of a top medical school told Herzog.

'Efforts to erase or diminish these foundations should be unacceptable to responsible professional leaders.'

Harvard professor Carole Hooven agrees, stating: 'Today's students will go on to hold professional positions that give them a great deal of power over others' bodies and minds.

'These young people are our future doctors, educators, researchers, statisticians, psychologists. To ignore or downplay the reality of sex and sex-based differences is to perversely handicap our understanding and our ability to increase human health and thriving.'
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Incredible images appear to show a huge crater on an Israeli-linked oil tanker after it was struck in a deadly drone attack which killed two people including a British Army veteran off the coast of Oman.

Photographs allegedly of MV Mercer Street oil tanker show the damage inflicted on the vessel during the strike which the U.S., UK and Israel have blamed on Iran.

One image shows a huge gaping hole in the top deck of the vessel while another shows the main mast which appears to be blackened from a blast. Neither images could be independently verified.

An unidentified British serviceman, as well as a Romanian crew member, died late on Thursday night after the MV Mercer Street oil tanker was attacked by a so-called kamikaze drone, which is laden with explosives and detonates on impact with its target.

The US. blamed Iran for the attack and vowed an 'appropriate response' to the strike while the UK summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office and warned Tehran to 'cease' their actions which risk international stability.

Israel was quick to accuse Iran of being behind the attack, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claiming to have 'evidence' of Iranian complicity and vowing to 'send a message' to the ayatollahs.

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was 'confident' the regime in Tehran had conducted the attack on the oil tanker, which is managed by London-based company Zodiac Maritime which is owned by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MailOnline that 'Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done', while adding that it was 'clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping'.

In response, Tehran said any move against the national security of Iran will 'face a tough and firm response', while adding that Washington and London will be 'directly responsible for its consequences'.

Photographs allegedly of MV Mercer Street oil tanker show the damage inflicted on the vessel during the strike which the U.S., UK and Israel have blamed on Iran

One image shows a huge gaping hole in the top deck of the vessel while another shows the main mast (pictured) which appears to be blackened from a blast. Neither images could be independently verified

This January 2, 2016 photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is 'confident' that Iran conducted attack on the Israeli oil tanker

'Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region,' Blinken said in a statement.

'There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior,' Blinken said, adding that the commercial ship was 'peacefully transiting through the north Arabian Sea in international waters' at the time of the strike.

He continued: 'These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved.

'We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming. We once again offer our condolences to the families of the victims.'

Since February, at least three other Israeli-linked ships have been attacked in the same region - including MV Helios Ray on February 25, off the coast of Oman, MV Hyperion Ray on April 13 off the coast of UAE, and CSAV Tyndall on July 2 in the Persian Gulf.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also blamed Iran for the 'suicide drone strike' which he described as a 'callous attack'.

Iran's ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was summoned to the Foreign Office today by UK Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly and told that Tehran must 'immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security', following the attack on the Mercer Street tanker.

Cleverly also 'reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law,' the UK Foreign Office said.

In response to Israel, the U.S. and the UK blaming Iran for the attack, Tehran said it will respond promptly to any threat against its security.

'Although the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the threats of Western officials and those of the Zionist regime [Israel] as propaganda, any move against the interests and national security of Iran will face a tough and firm response, and Washington and London will be directly responsible for its consequences,' an unnamed Iranian official told the country Nournews news agency.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has blamed Iran for a 'suicide' drone strike on an oil tanker that killed two people including a British Army veteran off the coast of Oman after he came under fire for ignoring pleas from Israel to retaliate against the Islamist regime. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quickly accused Iran - the country's regional arch-rival - of being behind the attack and urged Britain to take action against Tehran

It comes after the British Government came under criticism for initially refusing to apportion blame, with Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, accusing 'naive' and 'stupid' British officials of 'ignoring Iran's malfeasances for too long' and allowing the regime to 'get away with murder'.

Mr Johnson told MailOnline: 'I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done. I accept the attribution that the foreign secretary has made.

'This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping - a UK national died.

'It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world and the UK will continue to insist on that.'

Mr Raab has since swung out against Iran, claiming the assault was a 'deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law' and vowed to work with British allies 'on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack'.

He said: 'The UK condemns the unlawful and callous attack committed on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman, which killed a British and a Romanian National. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of those killed in the incident.

'We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran. UK assessments have concluded that it is highly likely that Iran attacked the MV MERCER STREET in international waters off Oman on 29 July using one or more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

'Iran must end such attacks, and vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law. The UK is working with our international partners on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack.'

Mr Bennett blamed Iran for the drone attack at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem and claimed to have 'evidence' that the Islamist regime was behind the deadly tanker assault, warning his country could 'send a message' in retaliation.

'The intelligence evidence for this exists and we expect the international community will make it clear to the Iranian regime that they have made a serious mistake,' the Israeli premier said at the weekly cabinet meeting in remarks conveyed by his office.

'In any case, we know how to send a message to Iran in our own way.'

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said: '[I] noted to [Mr Raab] the need to respond severely to the attack. Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terror, destruction and instability that hurt us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terror.'

The U.S. joined their Israeli allies in blaming Iran and said they were 'confident' the regime in Tehran had conducted the attack on the oil tanker, which is managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer (pictured)

The oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denied the regime's involvement in the assault and called Israel's allegation 'baseless' during a news conference.

'Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure,' Iranian state television quoted Khatibzadeh as saying.

Khatibzadeh 'strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the British foreign secretary against Iran, which were repeated by the U.S. secretary of state in the same context and contained contradictory, false and provocative accusations', state TV reported.

US Secretary of State Blinken had earlier spoken with his Israeli counterpart and both men agreed to work with other allies 'to investigate the facts, provide support, and consider the appropriate next steps,' according to a State Department statement.

'Based on [the] available info, Romania strongly condemns [the] Iranian drone attack against Mercer Street, during which a [Romanian] citizen was killed,' Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said. 'There is no justification whatsoever for deliberately attacking civilians.'

Earlier on Monday, Sam Armstrong, director of communications at the Henry Jackson Society, said: 'The UK has ignored Iran's malfeasances for too long. From the kidnapping of Nazanin Zatgari-Ratcliffe, to the attacks on Saudi oilfields, to the hijacking of British flagged boats, we have let Iran get away with murder.

The unidentified Briton, as well as a Romanian crew member, died late on Thursday night after the MV Mercer Street oil tanker was attacked by a so-called kamikaze drone, which is laden with explosives and detonates on impact with its target

'Now that the Government has seen the deadly consequences of this outrageous negligence it must finally act. Placating Iran's Ayatollahs while ignoring our allies in Israel is not just naive, it's plain stupid.'

On Saturday, an Israeli military official told the Ynet newspaper they would launch their own response to the attack on the Mercer Street vessel. 'The only question is how and when we'll respond,' the Israeli official added.

Mr Bennett said at the start of Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting: 'The Iranians who attacked with unmanned aircraft the Mercer Street intended to harm an Israeli target. Instead, their piratical act caused the deaths of a British citizen and a Romanian citizen.'

He warned: 'We know, at any rate, know how to convey the message to Iran in our own way.'

Iranian state media has claimed the incident was in retaliation for an airstrike on a Syrian military airport, which it accused Israel of being behind, according to CNN. The Syrian regime is backed by Iranian forces.

Analysts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of tit-for-tat exchanges in the 'shadow war' between Israel and Iran, in which vessels linked to each nation have been targeted in waters around the Gulf. The Israeli official warned that 'our campaign against them (Iran) will continue'.

The tanker was in the northern Indian Ocean, travelling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident which involved the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime confirmed the incident on board the tanker left one Romanian and a UK national dead.

'We are not aware of harm to any other personnel,' it said in a statement, adding that the Japanese-owned tanker was back under the control of its crew and was steaming to an undisclosed 'safe location' under US naval escort.

The British victim worked as a guard for UK maritime security firm Ambrey, the company said.

A security official claimed the crew reported hearing drone noises and eruptions in the water before the vessel went radio silent, CNN reported. The boat's driver and a security detail reportedly remained to pilot the vessel and were both hit in the attack.

Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa. The oil tanker owned by an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea. Two people - including a British man - are reported to have been killed in the attack

Speaking of Friday, Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid (pictured earlier this week) blamed 'Iranian terrorism' for the attack

Deadly standoff: How tit-for-tat exchanges between Iran and Israel have threatened to send the Middle East into a major conflict In recent months, there have been several reported attacks on Iranian ships that Tehran has linked to Israel. In March, Iran's foreign ministry said it was 'considering all options' in response to an attack on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean it blamed on Israel. And in April, Tehran said its freighter Saviz was hit by an 'explosion' in the Red Sea, after media reports said Israel had struck the ship. The New York Times reported at the time that the Saviz had been targeted in an Israeli 'retaliatory' attack after 'Iran's earlier strikes on Israeli ships'. It came at a time of heightened tensions between the foes, with reports of a series of tit-for-tat strikes on shipping since early March. In a report published in March that cited US and Middle East officials, the Wall Street Journal said Israel has targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria, mostly carrying Iranian oil, since late 2019. 'The occupier regime knows that such (accusations) will not fix its problems. Whoever sows the wind reaps the whirlwind,' Khatibzadeh said. Iran has also accused Israel of being behind sabotage attacks against its nuclear sites, and killing a number of its scientists. The tanker strike comes as Tehran and world powers are engaged in talks in Vienna in an effort to return Washington to a 2015 nuclear deal and lift sanctions, and bring Iran back in compliance with nuclear commitments it waived in retaliation for sanctions. The accord was strained when in 2018 former president Donald Trump withdrew the US unilaterally and reimposed sanctions. Advertisement

The Briton was said to be a member of the security team. The tanker, called MV Mercer Street, is operated by London-based company Zodiac Maritime which is owned by Israeli shipping billionaire Eyal Ofer.

The company said it was working to establish what happened in the attack, which saw the vessel targeted north-east of the Omani island of Masirah, 185 miles south-east of the capital Muscat, on Thursday. The United States, a key ally of Israel and arch-rival of Iran, expressed concern and said it was monitoring the situation.

'We are urgently working with our partners, our international partners, to establish the facts,' a State Department spokeswoman said.

Meir Javedanfar, an expert on Iranian diplomacy and security at Israel's IDC Herzliya university, told AFP news agency the attack was 'most probably Iran'.

Al-Alam, Iran's state TV channel in Arabic, citing 'informed regional sources' said the attack was a 'response to a recent Israeli attack' targeting an airport in central Syria. It did not provide further details.

Oman's state news agency said the country's navy dispatched a ship and confirmed the attack took place outside the sultanate's territorial waters. Exact details of how the attack occurred have yet to be confirmed.

Javedanfar said Iranians 'feel badly disadvantaged when it comes to responding to attacks inside Iran which have been associated to Israel', including an April strike on the Natanz uranium enrichment site reportedly executed by Israel.

The Arabian Sea and surrounding Indian Ocean were plagued by piracy around a decade ago, but incidents have waned in recent years after foreign navies stepped up patrols. Zodiac initially called the attack on the MT Mercer Street 'a suspected piracy incident'.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) - an anti-piracy taskforce run by the Royal Navy - also issued a report of 'a vessel being attacked' around 152 nautical miles (280 kilometres) off the coast of Oman. It classed the incident as 'non-piracy'.

Maritime industry analysts Dryad Global said the attack was similar to previous incidents against vessels associated with Israel and Iran. Two ships operated by Israeli firm Ray Shipping were attacked earlier this year.

'The attack on the MT Mercer Street is now assessed to be the fifth attack against a vessel connected to Israel,' Dryad said in an email note on the incident.

But it said before the deaths were confirmed that the loss of two personnel 'would represent a significant escalation in events that... would likely lead to significant international condemnation and would require diplomatic redress'.

It advised clients that the risk to commercial vessels associated with Israel and Iran in the Gulf waterway was 'heightened', pointing to lingering tensions between the two powers over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran and Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthi rebels have employed 'suicide' drones in the past. These are unmanned aircraft loaded with explosives that detonate on impact with a target.

The deaths mark the first fatalities after years of assaults targeting shipping in the region. Other Israeli-linked ships have been targeted in recent months amid a shadow war with Iran, with Israeli officials blaming the Islamic Republic for the assaults.
Police Scotland was forced to retitle a plan to protect the Prime Minister after it was named after a 'fat, posh English public schoolboy', it was revealed today.

The force drew up Operation Bunter to outline security plans for Boris Johnson when he goes north of the border.

But the moniker was scrapped because of fears it would upset the PM and lead to a diplomatic incident because of the name's origins, the Sun reported.

Billy Bunter is a greedy, overweight and obnoxious public schoolboy created by writer Frank Richards, the pen name of Charles Hamilton, in 1908.

He appeared in books, comics and even a BBC television series over almost 60 years.

The character is an overweight teenager at Greyfriars School, and a habitual liar who is full of his own self-importance.

But his character flaws are offset by cheery optimism and occasional courage.

Mr Johnson holidayed in Scotland with his now wife Carrie last summer, and visited again in January. He is expected to visit the country for a break again, perhaps as early as this week.

A police source told the Sun: 'The name ''Operation Bunter'' was given to the preparations.

'But several people pointed out the foolishness of calling it after a fat, posh English public schoolboy - not least given the PM is known for being a bit portly.'

The force drew up Operation Bunter to outline security plans for Boris Johnson when he goes north of the border.

Billy Bunter is a greedy, overweight and obnoxious public schoolboy created by writer Frank Richards, the pen name of Charles Hamilton, in 1908.

The operation was later renamed 'Aeration' instead, they added.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: 'Operational names are auto-generated by computer and can be changed if they are deemed to be inappropriate.'

It came as Nicola Sturgeon challenged Boris Johnson to attend face-to-face talks in Edinburgh later during his next visit.

Ms Sturgeon today extended an invitation to meet at Bute House if he does go to Scotland this week.

The Scottish First Minister said the talks would focus on the recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

She said that while she and Mr Johnson 'differ politically' the UK and Scottish governments 'must work together where we can'.

The pandemic has been punctuated by repeated disagreements between Mr Johnson and Ms Sturgeon over how best to prevent infections and reopen society.

The invitation, made public by Ms Sturgeon in a post on Twitter, will inevitably spark speculation over whether she would use the meeting to challenge Mr Johnson on the issue of Scottish independence.
A millionaire British businessman has been mugged by thieves who stole his 350,000 watch off his wrist as he left a restaurant on the French Riviera.

Richard Skelhorn said two men snatched his limited-edition Richard Millie Lotus F1 watch by grabbing his arm and slipping it off.

The 41-year-old chased after the robbers but was unable to catch them as they fled into the back streets of the exclusive resort of St Tropez in the south of France.

Millionaire British businessman Richard Skelhorn (pictured) has told how he was mugged by thieves who stole his 350,000 watch off his wrist as he left a restaurant on the French Riviera

The entrepreneur said two men snatched his limited-edition Richard Millie Lotus F1 watch by grabbing his arm and slipping it off

The online gaming entrepreneur has now offered a 30,000 cash reward in the hope of getting his watch returned.

He told MailOnline: 'The watch was gone in a split second, no more than two seconds.

'Two men approached me from behind, one pulled my arm and the other clipped the watch strap. It happened so fast but I realised what had happened straight away.

'I chased after them. One of them dropped his mobile phone as he ran. He stopped and I picked it up. As I'm 6ft 6in and about 300lbs he must have thought twice about coming back and carried on running.

'I decided not to continue chasing as it was very dark and I didn't know if they had knives.'

Richard, who sold his last company specialising in online bingo and gaming for more than 40million, handed the thief's phone to police.

They told him they should be able to identify those responsible from the phone, but he has not been told if there have been arrests.

The online gaming entrepreneur has now offered a 30,000 cash reward in the hope of getting his watch returned

The mugging took place after he left the Noto restaurant where he had been dining with friends around 2am.

The restaurant is close to the Opera restaurant where on the same day as the theft Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez had been photographed by paparazzi as they rekindled their romance.

Richard had been staying at the 500 a night Chateau Messardiere Hotel which offers to pick up guests from local restaurants in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce.

As he waited alone at the designated pick-up location he was approached from behind by the thieves.

He said he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and the distinctive watch would have been clearly visible and he believes he had been followed as he left the exclusive restaurant

'The two thieves approached me quietly from behind while I was calling the hotel,' he said.

'I'd walked to the hotel's specific 24-hour pickup location but was surprised to find the office was closed when I arrived there.

'It's in an off-the-beaten path area of Saint-Tropez which isn't the best area after dark. I was there about 2am and I was on my own.

The businessman had paid 100,000 for the watch, made from carbon and features 18k rose gold, eight years ago as a gift to himself after selling his first company

'The robbery happened very fast, I must have been followed for some time. I believe one thief held my arm while the other popped my watch off and they both ran away.'

The businessman had paid 100,000 for the watch, made from carbon and features 18k rose gold, eight years ago as a gift to himself after selling his first company.

As so few of the watches have been made it has appreciated in value.

Richard put a reward up for its return on his Instagram account with an email address for anyone to get in touch anonymously with information.

He has been contacted by another businessman who said he had his Richard Millie watch stolen in St Tropez by two men.

He said: 'What angers me is that some warning could have been put up that there is a gang of thieves looking to steal expensive watches in the area.

'To have two of these watches stolen in such a short space of time is like a bank being robbed twice. It should not have happened.'

Richard, who divides his time between homes in Monaco and Miami, said the theft had put him off wearing expensive jewellery.

'I've become a target for thieves, I guess. But I've worn this watch every day of my life, I even swim in it without really thinking about it.

'I had no concept at all I'd get robbed, especially in Saint-Tropez but it's getting worse and this is happening a lot now it seems.

'There will be people who say I can afford to lost it, but that is not the point.

'They will probably sell the watch for a fraction of what it is worth, but they will not care.'

Last month racing driver Lando Norris had his Richard Mille stolen outside Wembley Stadium as he left the England v Germany Euro 2020 final against Italy.

And Los Angeles jeweller Shay Belhassen also had his 400,000 Richard Mille stolen at gunpoint earlier this year.

A spokesman for St Tropez police said they are investigating the theft.
Former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul apologized on Monday for his 'arrogant' reply to an anonymous Twitter user boasting about his 'giant house,' adoring fans and large salary.

'I wrote that message in a private channel,' the Obama-era ambassador wrote on Twitter. 'I did not expect it to be published. But it was still a mistake. I apologize. It was arrogant and idiotic.

'A swarm of Russian trolls was accusing me of failure, and I responded in a most unprofessional way. Explanation, not excuse.'

Former Russia ambassador Michel McFaul said he did not expect his 'arrogant' brag to an anonymous Twitter user to be posted publicly

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who was at odds with the ambassador over Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election, first posted the private message between McFaul and another user on Twitter.

'I have a job for life at the best university in the world,' McFaul bragged. 'I live in a giant house in paradise. I make close to a million dollars a year.

'I have adoring fans on tv and a half million followers on twitter, 99% who also admire me. Im doing just fine without a damn visa from Russia. And Im not afraid to tweet under my own name. I feel sorry for people like you who aren't brave enough to do so.'

Former Obama Ambassador to Russia, fanatical Russiagater, and current Stanford Professor @McFaul responds to an anonymous critic in DMs by boasting what a lavish and wealthy life he leads and how he has adoring fans around the world: pic.twitter.com/QFduDDgjgJ  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 1, 2021

The Twitter user, who goes by the name 'Anonym Lurkovsky,' tweeted a screenshot showing that McFaul had blocked him after the exchange, seemingly about his visa refusal and subsequent ban from Russia.

McFaul, who served as Russia ambassador from 2012-2014, now works as the director of Stanfords Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

He also serves as an international affairs analyst for NBC News and a columnist for the Washington Post.

McFaul, pictured above with his family and President Joe Biden, said he made the boast about his salary and home size because 'a swarm of Russian trolls was accusing me of failure'

McFaul served as Russia ambassador under President Obama. He now says he makes 'nearly a million' as director of Stanfords Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, an NBC foreign affairs analyst and a columnist for the Washington Post

He said the user he was in an exchange with could be a 'bot' who Russian President Vladimir Putin had 'paid' to say 'stupid s**t' about him.

The former ambassador, who confirmed in 2016 he'd been banned from entering Russia, frequently vocalized his concerns about Russian interference into the 2016 election. McFaul said he'd been banned due to his 'close affiliation with Obama.'

McFaul said at the time he was 'extremely disappointed' by the ban and hoped it would not be permanent, though he took it as a compliment.

He added that he has traveled to Russia hundreds of times, has many friends there and has spent most of his career focused on Russia.

McFaul has found himself a target of the Kremlin. In 2018, Putin floated the idea of allowing U.S. special counsel investigators to come to Russia to question intelligence officials indicted as part of the special counsel's investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, in exchange for Russian authorities being allowed to question US officials, specifically McFaul, for alleged illicit activities.

The proposal drew scorn from lawmakers across the aisle, and the Senate issued a formal rebuke of it.
A 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will face trial in October accused of being an accessory to the murder of 3,518 people.

The accused, who has not been named in accordance with German law, is said to have worked at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin from 1942 to 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing.

Around 200,000 people were imprisoned in the camp, tens of thousands of whom were killed.

The man's trial is slated to start in October after the prosecutor's office in Neuruppin, which first brought the charges in February, received a medical assessment which confirmed the man is 'fit to stand trial' despite his advanced age.

A spokesman from the Neuruppin district court told German weekly Welt am Sonntag that the defendant should be able to stand trial for two to two-and-a-half hours a day.

The suspect is accused of 'knowingly and willingly' assisting in the murder of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945.

He is accused notably of complicity in the 'execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942' and the murder of prisoners 'using the poisonous gas Zyklon B'.

An 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will face trial in October accused of being an accessory to the murder of 3,518 people. Pictured: An undated photo of a roll call in front of Sachsenhausen camp, where the defendant is said to have worked [File photo]

The accused, who has not been named in accordance with German law, is said to have worked at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (pictured in 2020) near Berlin from 1942 to 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing

Thomas Walther, a lawyer representing a number of the victims in the case, told Welt am Sonntag: 'Several of the co-complainants are just as old as the accused and expect justice to be done.'

The Neuruppin office was handed the case in 2019 by the special federal prosecutors' office in Ludwigsburg tasked with investigating Nazi-era war crimes.

The court in Neuruppin is based northwest of the town of Oranienburg, where Sachsenhausen was located.

The defendant is said to live in the state of Brandenburg outside of Berlin, local media reported.

While the number of suspects in Nazi war crimes is dwindling, prosecutors are still working to bring individuals to justice.

The landmark conviction of John Demjanjuk in 2011 cleared the way for more prosecutions as working in a concentration camp was for the first time found to be grounds for culpability with no proof of a specific crime.

In July, German authorities confirmed they were investigating a 95-year-old man for his role as a Nazi guard at a prisoner of war camp where many Soviet soldiers died during World War II.

At the end of March, prosecutors announced they had dropped a case against a 95-year-old former Nazi death camp guard recently deported by the United States, due to a 'lack of sufficient suspicion'.

Thomas Walther, a lawyer representing a number of the victims in the case, told a German newspaper: 'Several of the co-complainants are just as old as the accused and expect justice to be done.' Pictured: A man walks through the gate of the former Sachsenhausen Nazi camp in 2019. The camp is now a museum

A 96-year-old woman is due to go on trial in late September in the northern German town of Itzehoe.

The woman, who allegedly worked during the war as the secretary for the SS commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp, has been charged with over 10,000 counts of accessory to murder earlier this year.

Sachsenhausen was established in 1936 just north of Berlin as the first new camp after Adolf Hitler gave the SS full control of the concentration camp system.

It was intended to be a model facility and training camp for the labyrinthine network that the Nazis built across Germany, Austria and occupied territories.

Tens of thousands of inmates died of starvation, disease, forced labour, as well as through medical experiments and systematic extermination operations including shootings, hangings and gassings.

Exact numbers on those killed vary, with upper estimates of some 100,000, though scholars suggest figures of 40,000 to 50,000 are likely more accurate.

The man's trial is slated to start in October after the prosecutor's office in Neuruppin, which first brought the charges in February, received a medical assessment which confirmed the man is 'fit to stand trial' despite his advanced age. Pictured: An empty square at Sachsenhausen in April 2020

In its early years, most prisoners were either political prisoners or criminal prisoners, but also included some Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals.

The first large group of Jewish prisoners was brought to the camp in 1938 after the Night of Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht, an antisemitic pogrom.

During the war, Sachsenhausen was expanded to include Soviet prisoners of war - who were shot by the thousands - as well as others.

As in other camps, Jewish prisoners were singled out at Sachsenhausen for particularly harsh treatment, and most who remained alive by 1942 were sent to the Auschwitz death camp.

Sachsenhausen was liberated in April 1945 by the Soviets, who turned it into a brutal camp of their own.

The camp is now a museum.
Glenn Allen Brooks, 61, was arrested Thursday morning for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol

A California contractor has been arrested after a member of his church group sent texts and photos of him at the January 6 Capitol riots to the FBI.

Agents arrived at the home of Glenn Allen Brooks, 61, in Huntington Beach just before 6 am Thursday.

At least five of the agents carried assault weapons and shields as they marched toward Brooks' house, according to surveillance footage obtained by KCAL.

A member of Brooks' prayer group tipped agents off on January 30.

The person said Brooks 'boasted' about his participation in the riot, and provided agents with photos of him and others at the scene.

The FBI surveilled the home in March and matched his appearance, particularly his 'white beard', to surveillance footage from the Capitol riots, according to a complaint filed July 27 in US District Court in Washington, DC.

Brooks sent a selfie of himself (left) to his church prayer group. FBI agents later matched it to surveillance footage from inside the US Capitol on Jan. 6

On January 6, Brooks entered the Capitol building through a broken window near the Senate wing door at 3.13pm, the complaint states.

His went inside about an hour after members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence were ordered to evacuate the building in the midst of certifying the November election results in favor of then President-elect Joe Biden.

Brooks wore a red jacket, a plaid scarf and a red, white and blue knit hat with 'TRUMP' on the front.

The complaint does not allege any behavior from Brooks once inside the building aside from recording and taking pictures.

A bipartisan congressional committee is investigating the riot along with the events leading up to it, including President Donald Trump's call for his supporters to march to the Capitol, which houses the US House of Representatives and the Senate, and 'fight like hell'.

Brooks, seen in a red jacket, entered the Capitol through a broken window near the Senate wing, according to a complaint filed July 27 in US District Court

Brooks, left, is charged with unlawful entering, engaging in conduct disruptive to the government and uttering loud, threatening or abusive language

FBI agents surveilled Brooks's home in Huntington Beach, California, in March after getting a tip in January

Five people died during the chaos, including US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

Brooks is the owner of Brooks Works Corps, a contracting firm that advertises kitchen remodeling and room additions on its website.

He was charged with entering a restricted building without lawful authority, engaging in disruptive conduct with the intent to impede the orderly conduct of government and uttering loud, threatening or abusive language with the intent to disrupt a session of Congress.

Brooks is the second person from Huntington Beach to be charged in connection with the Capitol riot, according to the Mercury News.

Mark Simon, a vocal conservative figure described as a known activist by police, was arrested January 28.

According to a statement by an FBI agent filed with a federal criminal complaint, Simon took video of himself saying, 'In the Capitol, baby, yeah!' as well as '2021 Donald Trump!' as he allegedly joined others who pushed their way into the building.

More than two dozen of the 599 people charged in connection with the Capitol riot are from California.
The White House announced on Monday it had finally hit its target of delivering at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of the adult population - almost a month after its original deadline.

President Biden had set a July 4 target, promising Americans a major step towards returning to normal in time for the holiday.

But reaching the milestone - albeit a month late - will come as a relief to health officials as they battle a surge in coronavirus cases, fueled by the highly infectious Delta variant and vaccine resistance among some sections of society.

A day earlier, Florida broke its record for coronavirus hospitalizations.

White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar made the announcement on Twitter.

'Milestone Monday just in: Today we hit 70% of adults w/ at least one dose! +468K doses reported administered, incl. 320K newly vaccinated (vs. 257K last Monday),' he wrote.

'7-day average of newly vaccinated highest since July 4. Let's continue working to get more eligible vaccinated!'

President Biden initially set July 4 as a target to reach 70 percent of the population with at least one vaccine dose in May. At the time the country was on course to hit the milestone but vaccination rates dropped off

Cyrus Shahpar, White House COVID-19 data director, used Twitter to announce that the White House had reached its goal of getting at least one dose to 70 percent of Americans

Officials say the Delta variant and the reluctance of young people to get vaccinated has triggered a surge in coronavirus cases

Cases are rising around the U.S. driven by the highly infectious Delta variant, prompting fresh warnings and mask mandates as officials try to reduce the risk

Biden announced the July 4 target in May.

'If we succeed in this effort, as we did with the last, then Americans will have taken a serious step towards a return to normal: That's July 4th,' he said.

But officials stopped mentioning the goal when it was clear it would not be met.

That did not stop Biden using the date to claim the country had moved on from the crisis.

'Today, while the virus hasn't been vanquished, we know this - it no longer controls our lives, it no longer paralyzes a nation,' he said in a holiday speech.

'We have the power to make sure it never happens again.'

In the weeks after it became clear that the Delta variant was responsible for some 'breakthrough' infections in vaccinated people.

Officials feared apocalyptic headlines about such cases had deterred some people from getting the vaccine.

But as the cases kept ticking up, the rate of vaccinations also grew.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said he believed the recent surge in cases may have changed minds and driven more vaccinations.

In the past two weeks, he said rates had increased by 56 percent.

'This may be a tipping point for those who have been hesitant to say, 'OK, it's time,'' he told CNN on Sunday.

'I hope that's what's happening. That's what desperately needs to happen if we're going to get this Delta variant put back in its place.'

In Maryland, officials said the state's $2 million VaxCash lottery helped it reach its own goal of inoculation 70 percent of its adult population with at least one shot by Memorial Day (May 31).

Officials hailed the inventive as an 'unqualified success', and also led to the state starting another scheme - the VaxU scholarship - which offers 20 vaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds a chance at winning a $50,000 scholarship.

But while state officials hailed the lottery as a success, others have questioned whether the state - which is now one of the most vaccinated in the country - would not have reached the goal on its own without the cash incentive.

'Money can be a powerful motivator, but the key word there is 'can,' ' Joshua Liao, a doctor and behavioral scientist at the University of Washington, told The Washington Post. 'But people get vaccinated for a variety of different reasons.'

Officials say the rate of vaccination has picked up in the past two weeks, driven by concerns about the Delta variant and an increase in cases

The increase in cases has federal officials, mayors and governors grappling once again with mask mandates and other measures to halt the spread.

On Sunday Florida reported 10,207 people hospitalized with COVID-19. That topped the previous record of 10,170 in July last year - long before a vaccine was available.

The head of Florida's hospital association said that although death rates remained below the previous high there were worrying numbers of young people in hospital.

'It is a much younger population that is being hospitalized today,' Mary Mayhew told MSNBC, adding that it was vital to get the vaccination message out to younger people.

'We have 25-year-olds in the hospital in intensive care on ventilators.'

Meanwhile, Arkansas saw its highest increase in hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic, with another 81 Covid-19 patients being admitted in the state on Monday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted.

The state now has 1,220 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, with 250 on ventilators.

'We continue to see nearly all hospitalizations among the unvaccinated,' the governor wrote. 'Hospitals are full & the only remedy is for more Arkansans to be vaccinated.'

At the weekend, the country's most senior infectious disease expert warned that things would get worse before they get better.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci said he did not think lockdowns would return.

'I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country  not enough to crush the outbreak  but I believe enough to allow us to not get into the situation we were in last winter,' he told Jonathan Karl of ABC's This Week on Sunday.

In a sign of the concern, last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its guidance on masks for fully vaccinated people.

It said everyone in areas of high or substantial disease transmission should now wear face coverings indoors, citing new evidence on how vaccinated people could spread the disease.
Campaigners have condemned the imprisonment of a 21 year-old Mexican mom who faces 60 years behind bars for strangling a man she says raped her.

Roxana Ruiz has been in prison since May 8 when police arrested her for the murder of Sinai Cruz at her home in Nezahualcoyotl, State of Mexico.

She was charged with homicide and is expected to appear before a judge in a second court hearing Tuesday. If convicted, Ruiz could spend a 30 to 60 years behind bars.

In a letter penned to the feminist collective Nos Queremo Vivas Neza, Ruiz recalled leaving the potato stand she worked on the evening of the murder and accepting an invite for a beer from a woman who worked a nearby bar.

Ruiz said she was leaving the bar when Cruz - whom she knew from visiting the business - offered to walk her to her home where she lived with her four-year-old son.

Roxana Ruiz (pictured) is facing 30 to 60 years in prison for the May 8 murder of Sinai Cruz, who reportedly raped her at her home in Mexico

Roxana Ruiz claims that authorities in Nezahualcoyotl, State of Mexico, did not request a medical exam after he told authorities she killed Sinai Cruz because he had allegedly raped her

Upon reaching the residence, Cruz insisted that she allow him to stay the night there because he lived far away.

'He was being stubborn when we arrived. He obligated me to allow him in,' Ruiz wrote. 'He insisted that he lived too far, to allow him to sleep in my room, he insisted so much that he scared me, as an idiot I accepted.'

Ruiz said she placed a blanket on the floor for Cruz to sleep on. Moments later, Cruz got on top of Ruiz's bed.

'He started to remove the clothes (,) he beat me, he raped me, I was in shock, I just wanted to defend myself,' she wrote.

Roxana Ruiz penned a letter after killing Sinai Cruz in which she says, 'Maybe I should have let my attacker get away with it, go away and maybe leave me dead or injured so as not to have to live what I'm living'

At one point Ruiz said she struck Cruz on the nose. As he bled, Cruz told Ruiz, 'now you are really going to die.'

Ruiz was beaten but when Cruz became distracted, she used a t-shirt and placed it around his neck before choking him to death.

'I strangled him, I felt fear, terror, I didn't want him to hurt anyone else, I felt lonely, denigrated, I felt worthless, I felt it was all my fault for having trusted those people.'

Ruiz later stuffed Cruz's lifeless body into a sack and was seen abandoning it outside her home.

A neighbor who saw her dumping the sack on a street corner before a police patrol unit stopped and inspected the large bag and placed her under arrest.

Ruiz alleges that authorities did not perform a medical exam to support her claim that she had been raped.

'They did not take my statement into account so that I could defend myself. My only crime was defending myself from the man who raped me,' Ruiz wrote. 'Maybe I should have let my attacker get away with it, go away and maybe leave me dead or injured so as not to have to live what I'm living.'

Ruiz is currently being held at prison in Xochiaca, State of Mexico.

Meanwhile, Elsa Arista and other members of Nos Queremo Vivas Neza have taken charge in spreading her story in hopes of get her acquittal. The group held a protest Monday and was planning to hold another demonstration during Tuesday's trial.

'At no time have authorities investigated this process with a gender perspective. We are surprised that the authority continues to work in this way even though we have an alert,' Arista told El Pais. 'We are concerned that those who are judging do not take into account the context in which women are living in the State of Mexico.'

At least 11 women are killed by men in Mexico, according to government data.

Murders of women, labeled in Mexico as femicides, increased by 7.1 percent during the first five months of 2021 compared to the same period last year.

'We have not advanced because there is no political will from the governments. We are not a priority for them , Arisa said. 'Defending life is a right that we exercise because the (government) is not guaranteeing to us.'
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Thousands of Spirit Airlines passengers have been stranded in airports for hours after the budget carrier canceled 30 percent of its scheduled flights nationwide.

On Monday, the Florida-based airline canceled over 200 flights throughout the US, in addition to 165 canceled flights on Sunday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.

Travelers took to social media to share vent their frustrations from airports in cities such as San Juan, Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale while they waited for updates from the airline.

Photos and videos showed the travelers seated on the ground as they complained of being hot and hungry in packed terminals.

Rumors of a pilot strike began circulating online before a Spirit spokesperson quashed that speculation and said the cancellations were due to weather and 'other operational challenges'.

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Thousands of Spirit Airlines passengers have been stranded in airports for hours after the budget-friendly carrier canceled 30 percent of its scheduled flights nationwide. Photos and videos posted by travelers venting their frustrations on social media showed them seated on dirty airport floors as they complained of being hot and hungry in packed terminals

While rumors began circulating of a strike, a spokesperson for Spirit quickly denied those rumors, citing weather and 'other operational challenges' as the culprit for the delays

Following the cancellations, many passengers began voicing their frustration online, commenting on long waits for refunds, missing luggage, and other customer service challenges

'We're working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges,' Sprit spokesperson Erik Hofmeyer told the Sun Sentinel in an email.

'We needed to make proactive cancellations to some flights across the network, but the majority of flights are still scheduled as planned,' he added.

Passengers flying on Spirit Airlines were stranded for hours after the budget-friendly carrier canceled 30% of its scheduled flights nationwide, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com

Following the cancellations, many passengers began sharing their woes on Twitter, describing long waits for refunds, missing luggage, and other customer service challenges.

One passenger even complained about waiting in line for almost seven hours.

'Update, been here in line almost 7 hrs. I'm tired, hungry, hot and I'm finally close to the front. @SpiritAirlines No comment on what's going' they wrote.

'This is absolutely ridiculous. First fight was delayed. Twice. Then canceled. Got my flight changed to a different airport. Then THAT flight got canceled. Then went to the desks and all the spirit employees left and refused to come back to help us!' another user tweeted.

A third passenger commented on agents refusing to assist guests after waiting in line four hours.

'What's worse is the fact only two people are actually assisting guests when the other agent assist line are refusing people. Been on the phone for almost 2 hours waiting on an agent to fix this mess as well,' they wrote.

One passenger said he and his family were stranded overnight in Puerto Rico, without any clothes or essentials for his one and three-year-olds.

'When #spiritairlines leaves you stranded in Puerto Rico with no employees in sight and holds your luggage and money hostage. We were stuck overnight with no clothes or essentials for our 3 or 1 year olds and are still without answers and searching for flights,' he wrote on Twitter.

Carolyn Fennell, an Orlando airport spokeswoman, speculated that COVID-19 also played a factor in the cancellations.

'I think the question of why it's happening is a combination of weather with afternoon storms and lightning; airline staffs are reduced by COVID not just here but across the nation and you've got a huge spike in travel,' she told the Sun Sentinel.

'It's all of that, a perfect storm.'

Spirit did not immediately return DailyMail.com's request for comment.
The huge container ship that blocked the Suez Canal is preparing to dock in the UK for the first time since causing disruption to global shipping.

The Ever Given blocked the major shipping lane in Egypt for nearly a week earlier this year.

Under original plans the 400m-long ship was due to arrive at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk in early April.

The Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal, is preparing to dock in the UK for the first time since causing disruption to global shipping

But instead it is expected to arrive on Tuesday and can be spotted at sea from the coastal town.

The ship was heading for Rotterdam when it ploughed into the sandy bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal on March 23.

It was stuck for nearly a week causing one of the biggest traffic jams in shipping history.

Hundreds of ships were delayed as they waited for the canal to be unblocked and some vessels were forced to take the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

The Ever Given blocked the major shipping lane in Egypt for nearly a week earlier this year. Under original plans the 400m-long ship was due to arrive at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk in early April. Pictured: The Ever Given when it was stuck in the Suez Canal on March 28, 2021

The ship, which carries cargo between Asia and Europe, was held for more than three months amid a financial dispute over compensation.

After an agreement was met between the ship's Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, and canal authorities it was freed to continue its voyage in July.

It unloaded cargo in Rotterdam before heading toward Felixstowe, where it is expected to berth at around 0900 on Tuesday.

It comes after the container ship finally arrived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, last week to begin unloading its cargo, four months after blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week and stopping 42billion worth of world trade.

The ship was heading for Rotterdam when it ploughed into the sandy bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal on March 23

As dawn broke over the sprawling port, the Ever Given eased into the Amazonehaven container terminal months later than originally planned.

The Panama-flagged vessel was heading for Rotterdam when it ploughed into the sandy bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal about 3.7 miles north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez on March 23.

A massive salvage effort freed the skyscraper-sized vessel six days later, allowing a traffic jam of hundreds of waiting ships to pass through the canal.

'It was a great relief to see her and a special moment,' said Hans Nagtegaal, the Rotterdam port's director of containers, of Ever Given's arrival.

'Finally we can get the job done offloading and hopefully get her back to a normal sailing routine,' he said.
A County Lines gang which trafficked a 15-year-old autistic schoolboy from London to Wales to work as their drugs runner has been jailed for more than 40 years.

The five dealers employed the starving teen as their courier and repeatedly ignored his requests for food, Kingston Crown Court heard.

Meanwhile one of the leaders enjoyed a trip to Dubai with his girlfriend and was found with stacks of cash in his house when he was arrested.

The gang ran two drugs lines, called Gino and Gino 2, selling cocaine and heroin between January 23 and October 1 last year.

They were tracked down after the boy they hired as a courier went missing from his north London home for two weeks and was found at an address in Swansea.

Kenneth Langrish, who drove the young victim to Swindon for the first leg of his journey to Wales, was first arrested on October 6.

Investigators discovered how the desperate teenager had sent a text messages asking for food - only to be cruelly ifnored.

Jemy Capitao (pictured), of Llanelli, south Wales, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing criminal property at an earlier hearing. Part-way through the trial Capitao also admitted one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit. He was jailed for 12 years.

Basky Capitao (pictured), 27, of Waltham Cross, Herts, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment while (right) Ayyub Elaouzi, 22, of Waltham Cross, was sentenced to eight years and four months imprisonment

He said cant lie Im hungry and in another text, he wrote: Im broke bro I havent eaten since yesterday.

Langrish, 36, was found to have the 125 packages of crack cocaine in his bulging underpants when he was arrested.

One of the gang members, Ayyub Elaouzi, 22, was arrested on September 16 last year.

The Gino line, which had been active five minutes before he was arrested, then ceased, the court heard.

The next day Jemy Capitao, described as a line runner bought two mobile phone top up vouchers from a newsagent in Swansea and bulk messages were sent out from the Gino 2 line.

Police found magazines and bullets for firearms during raids on gang members' homes

A Gucci box containing a 22-calibre pistol (pictured) was found at Harvey Kimpton's address in Harlow, Essex

One message read: The real Gino is back on bang bang.

Several of the gang went on the run after the teenager was found in squalor in Swansea on September 25.

Capitao, 28, was found in bed with his girlfriend in a hotel in Milton Keynes, Bucks, on October 1 last year.

Jurors had heard how Capitao and his girlfriend enjoyed a summer holiday in Dubai with the money they made.

Also in the hotel room officers found 2,910 in cash which was wedged into the handle of a kettle.

Harvey Kimpton, 21, was arrested outside his home after a Gucci box containing a 22-calibre pistol was found at his address in Harlow, Essex.

Text messages uncovered on the victims phone by officers from Operation Orochi - the Mets specialist crime team dedicated to tackling county lines drugs supply - revealed the extent of the operation as well as those involved.

Harvey Kimpton (pictured), of Harlow, Essex, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing a prohibited firearm, as well as two counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. He was jailed for 11 years.

Harry King (left) was jailed for two years while Kenneth Langrish (right) will be sentenced at a later date

What are County Lines gangs? County Lines is a term used for organised illegal drug-dealing networks, usually controlled by a person using a single telephone number or deal line. They operate out of major UK cities such as London, Liverpool and Birmingham, and they distribute illegal drugs across rural and suburban counties via runners. Vulnerable children and adults are recruited as runners to transport drugs and cash all over the country, so that the criminals behind it can remain detached and less likely to be detected. This crime is often associated with other serious crimes such as sexual exploitation, violence, money laundering and human trafficking. Criminal gangs establish a base in a particular location, sometimes by taking over the homes of local vulnerable adults by force or coercion in a practice referred to as cuckooing (see below). They then target vulnerable local children and adults to become involved in selling drugs through a process of grooming. Once someone is involved with a criminal gang, it becomes difficult for them to escape. Source: Crimestoppers Advertisement

The victim was in regular contact with Jemy Capitao and the Gino and Gino 2 lines.

Capitao of Llanelli, south Wales, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing criminal property at an earlier hearing.

Part-way through the trial Capitao also admitted one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit.

Capitao was jailed for 12 years.

His brother Basky Capitao, 27, of Waltham Cross, Herts, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit.

He was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.

Kimpton, of Harlow, Essex, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing a prohibited firearm, as well as two counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. He was also jailed for 11 years.

Elaouzi, of Waltham Cross, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit. He was sentenced to eight years and four months imprisonment.

Harry King, 20, of Hertford, Herts, was found guilty of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Langrish admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploit. He had previously pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

He will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

Thea Viney, from the CPS, said: These drug dealers worked hand in hand and trafficked a vulnerable teenager from London to Wales.

They intended to exploit him as a drugs runner and had no consideration for his welfare as was evident from the poor condition of the address he was found at.

To this day the young victim has never supplied a statement to support the investigation which, unfortunately, is a common feature of cases of this nature.

The prosecution was able to present evidence of the close association between these defendants through clear phone analysis despite the use of Nokia burner phones.

Some of this included incriminating messages found on the phones.

County Lines gang (top row from left): Jemy Capitao, Kenneth Langrish andHarvey Kimpton and (bottom row from left) Harry King, Basky Capitao and Ayyub Elaouzi

She added: We were also able to show the jury that while Jemy Capitao and his girlfriend enjoyed a summer holiday in Dubai - his younger brother Basky Capitao took complete charge of the drugs line sending out numerous adverts for Class A drugs to punters.

Detective Constable Ben Baker, the investigating officer from Operation Orochi, said: County lines drug dealers exploit young and vulnerable people to facilitate their drug supply.

'They hope that by using vulnerable children as drugs runners they will shield themselves from identification and prosecution by law enforcement.

'This is because frequently, these exploited persons are too scared to assist the police.

The additional recovery of a loaded firearm associated with these perpetrators reflects the intractable association between drug supply and violence.

This investigation has shown that the police are able to pursue those involved with exploiting children for drug supply, irrespective of whether a victim assists the police or not.

'We hope this case will discourage future gangs from using children as drugs runners by showing that it isnt any barrier to their prosecution.
This is the moment a fight broke out between passengers apparently over a stuck seat just moments after an American Airlines flight landed in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.

The video shows three men get into the melee almost immediately after the flight from New Orleans touched down, as other passengers and crew tried desperately to stop the brawl.

A man in a beige shirt starts the fight by throwing a punch at a man in a white shirt in the row behind him, the video shows.

Another man in a red-striped shirt comes to his aisle-mate's defense and the two of them proceed to pummel the apparent instigator as they fall on top of passengers.

'Do not hit me!' one woman is heard yelling in the clip obtained by KXAN.

A fight broke out after an American Airlines flight landed in Austin from New Orleans. At least three men threw punches at each other over a seat that was stuck

After the brawl appeared to be over, the man in the red-striped shirt again charged the man in the beige shirt before they were once again separated.

One passenger is heard screaming: 'Stop! Stop!'

While another passenger pleaded for the men to get off him.

A woman in a black top intervened and tried to separate the feuding fliers, as somebody frantically yelled at the men to end the fight.

American has comfirmed law enforcement was called and two men were detained but it is not clear if any arrests were made

American released a statement confirming that law enforcement had been requested 'due to an altercation between passengers.'

Two men were removed from the airplane and detained by Austin Police after the flight arrived around 4.30pm at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It is unclear if any arrests were made.

A passenger said that the fight began 'over a seat that couldn't unrecline.' Another witnesses said the men argued throughout the hour-and-a-half flight over a seat that was put in the recline position.

'When the plane finally landed in Austin and the seatbelt sign was turned off, both men jumped up and physically started fighting each other,' a passenger told CBS.
The US Treasury is being forced into 'extraordinary measures' on Monday after Congress failed to meet a key deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

The department is taking special cash-preservation measures to prevent the federal government from defaulting on its debts and running out of cash.

Currently the US debt ceiling is roughly $28.5 trillion, which is the legal limit on the amount of debt the government can accrue. It applies to almost all federal debt including more than $22 trillion held by the public and over $6 trillion the government owes itself as a result of borrowing from accounts like the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Congress, which is responsible for setting the federal debt limits for the Treasury to act on, voted in 2019 to suspend the $22 trillion debt ceiling until 2021.

The Treasury Department is being forced to invoke 'emergency measures' after Congress missed the deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (pictured: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on July 11)

It was reinstated automatically at the beginning of August to include the last two years' debts.

'Increasing or suspending the debt limit does not increase government spending, nor does it authorize spending for future budget proposals; it simply allows Treasury to pay for previously enacted expenditures,' Secretary Janet Yellen wrote in identical letters sent to the four top lawmakers in Congress and heads of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees.

She warned in the late July letters that not meeting the deadline could bring on a financial crisis.

'Failure to meet those obligations would cause irreparable harm to the US economy and the livelihoods of all Americans.'

Yellen also warned that 'cash and extraordinary measures' could be depleted as early as September when Congress returns from recess, forcing the government to miss payments to veterans, bond holders and Social Security recipients among others.

Yellen sent letters to the four top lawmakers in Congress in late July warning them of 'irreparable harm' to the economy if the deadline was not met

The last time Congress almost missed the debt ceiling deadline, one agency downgraded the US's credit standing for the first time (pictured: US Treasury Department in DC)

The first graph shows the US debt ceiling increase over the years until it was suspended in 2019 for two years while the second shows US GDP over the same time period

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed no Republicans would vote to raise the debt ceiling in an interview with Punchbowl News, instead warning Democrats they would need to put it in their multi-trillion dollar reconciliation package.

'I can't imagine a single Republican in this environment that we're in now - this free-for-all for taxes and spending - to vote to raise the debt limit,' McConnell told the outlet.

However the Treasury can't give an exact timeline for when the extraordinary cash preservation measures run out, citing the economic uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The last time Congress nearly missed the debt ceiling deadline in 2011, the country's credit rating was downgraded for the first time by credit rating and research agency Standard & Poor's.
Dizzee Rascal has been charged with assaulting a woman after a 'domestic argument' at her south London home.

The British rapper, 36, whose real name is Dylan Mills, was arrested by police on June 8 on suspicion of common assault.

He is due to appear in court next month after the woman reportedly suffered an injury that did not require hospital treatment, according to The Sun.

Mills was released on bail after his arrest but was officially charged today and will appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on September 3.

The British rapper, 36, whose real name is Dylan Mills, was arrested by police on June 8 on suspicion of common assault

He is due to appear in court next month after the woman reportedly suffered an injury that did not require hospital treatment

The Metropolitan Police said: 'Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on 8 June.

'Officers attended and a woman reported minor injuries. She did not require hospital treatment. Mills is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Friday, 3 September.'

The rapper, who was awarded an MBE last year for services to music, won the Mercury Award for album of the year in 2003 with his first solo album, Boy in da Corner.

The rapper, who was awarded an MBE last year for services to music, won the Mercury Award for album of the year in 2003 with his first solo album, Boy in da Corner

He has had a litany of UK number one hits including Fix Up, Look Sharp and Bonkers.

His private life is little reported on as the musician prefers to keep press coverage to a minimum but it is believed that he has previously dated model Kaya Bousquet, who died in a high-speed car crash in 2008.

Mills has his own record label called Dirtee Stank and was able to win over new fans in March this year when he appeared on the Great British Bake-Off.
Disgraced actor Noel Clarke has quit his TV production company following accusations of sexual misconduct from more than 20 women.

Clarke, 45, stood down as director of Unstoppable Film and Television Limited and also as a person of 'significant control' in charge of the company this week in the wake of the scandal.

He also quit his posts with another company called Crongton Knights, which had been set up to manage production of a BBC drama of the same name, and a company called Something in the Air, which he set up in November last year before his problems began to mount.

Clarke's career was rocked in April when 20 women who knew him in a professional capacity made sexual harassment and bullying allegations in The Guardian newspaper.

He apologised 'deeply' for his actions and said he will be seeking professional help, but has 'vehemently' denied sexual misconduct or criminal behaviour.

Unstoppable Film and Television was set up by Clarke and Jason Maza in 2015 and had won backing from major TV production company ALL3 Media to fund their ideas for shows.

Noel Clarke, 45, stood down as director of Unstoppable Film and Television Limited and also as a person of 'significant control' in charge of the company this week

After the scandal broke Sky bosses cancelled the fourth season of Clarke's hit drama series Bulletproof while ITV crime drama Viewpoint saw its last episode pulled (Pictured: Clarke in Viewpoint)

Clarke pictured with his wife, former make-up artist Iris Da Silva, at the 70th EE British Academy Film Awards at Royal Albert Hall in February 2017

But in April the pair were suspended and the Companies House records show that they stepped down as directors and as 'persons of significant control' at the end of last week.

In July the BBC confirmed it was ditching the Crongton Knights TV drama which was based on a book by Alex Wheatle about life on a council estate in South London.

TV experts said any productions on the company's books would be transferred to other labels in the ALL3 Group.

A spokesperson for All3 Media told Broadcast magazine: 'Noel Clarke has left Unstoppable Film and TV. Jason Maza has also left the company.'

After the scandal broke Sky bosses cancelled the fourth season of Clarke's hit drama series Bulletproof.

An ITV crime drama Viewpoint, which was on air when the scandal broke, also saw its final episode ditched.

Clarke had played Mickey Smith in Doctor Who, and Sam in the films Kidulthood, Adulthood, and Brotherhood, which he wrote and directed.
As the trail for Theranos ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes (pictured) s slated to begin, the court could hear from multiple potential witnesses who claim they received false test results

Prosecutors are gearing up to tell Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial how Theranos blood tests gave patients alarming false positives indicating that they had serious ailments including prostate cancer, HIV and were suffering miscarriages - all while the founder knew the technology was defective.

Among those on the potential witness list for the trial - which is slated to start later this month - is Brittany Gould, of Mesa, Arizona.

In a Wall Street Journal article published Monday, Gould told how Theranos' trademark finger-prick test indicated she was losing her unborn child, after she'd already suffered three back-to-back miscarriages.

Similar to many other patients, Gould's test was inaccurate.

Two other former patients claim they received false HIV-positive results, while another received a test that should have detected a dangerous extrauterine pregnancy - but missed it.

Mehrl Ellsworth, a retired dentist, said he received a test result that inaccurately revealed he could have aggressive prostate cancer.

In the trial expected to begin August 31, in San Jose, California, prosecutors have accused Holmes of defrauding patients and investors, allowing them to believe her invention can accurately perform lab tests from a few drops of blood.

Jason Mehta, a Florida attorney, told the Wall Street Journal that he believes 'the most powerful evidence often comes from patients themselves.'

Their stories are 'a way to make it real to jurors. It's not just about dollars and cents,' he said.

In a trail expected to begin August 31. in San Jose, California, prosecutors have accused Ms. Holmes (pictured) of defrauding patients and investors, allowing them to believe her invention can accurately perform lab tests from a few drops of blood.

Holmes's legal team (pictured) argues patient stories are merely anecdotal and shouldn't be presented to the jury.

Mehta has prosecuted and defended dozens of federal fraud cases in the health industry and isn't involved in the Holmes case.

However, Holmes' legal team argues patient stories are merely anecdotal and shouldn't be presented to the jury.

If a judge rules to eliminate patients testimonies, it would be considered a big win for Holmes, and could drastically change the outcome of the trial.

Holmes' defense team argued that Holmes had intended to create a device that worked, and that government regulators and investigators were unfairly harsh because of intense media scrutiny of Theranos.

If a judge rules to eliminate patients testimonies, it would be considered a big win for Holmes, and could drastically change the outcome of the trial

Holmes' defense team argued Holmes had intended to create a device that worked, and that government regulators and investigators were unfairly harsh because of intense media scrutiny of Theranos.

However, prosecutors allege that Theranos executives knew their product was only half-reliable, as the failure rate for the tests was 51.3 percent.

Holmes, who started Theranos at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford, was widely celebrated in tech circles until it became clear many of the claims about the company's supposedly revolutionary blood test were bogus.

It was revealed Theranos had been completing blood analysis on regular testing machines, rather than using the revolutionary new technology she continuously praised.

Holmes was indicted in 2018 and her federal trial in San Jose, California, was originally scheduled for July 28, 2020.

The trail was postponed three times as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to Holmes being pregnant.

In January, prosecutors submitted a filing claiming that Theranos executives destroyed data that proved their blood-testing product was inaccurate. Knowingly misleading investors by providing false data is a federal crime.

The company knew about its inaccurate testing data that was collected over a period of three years, according to The Register.

The data 'was stored on a specially-developed SQL database called the Laboratory Information Systems (LIS),' according to the court filing.

The database 'even flagged blood test results that might require immediate medical attention, and communicated this to the patient's physician'.

Before allegations of fraud surfaced, Holmes was celebrated as a young visionary and success story.

She became known for her baritone voice and black turtlenecks, once boasting that she owned more than 150 of the items in an effort to emulate Apple's Steve Jobs.
Sarah Romine, 31, (pictured) was charged with murder after she allegedly opened fire during a drunken brawl at a Tennessee water park, killing one woman and injuring another

A paramedic has been charged with murder after she allegedly opened fire during a drunken brawl at a Tennessee water park, killing one woman and injuring another.

Sarah Romine, 31, of Knoxville, shot Kelsy Cook, 24, and Angie Russell, 23, both of Loudon, following a confrontation in the parking lot of the Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville shortly before 8pm Saturday, police said.

Cook was airlifted from the parking lot to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where she was pronounced dead hours later.

Russell was transported to LeConte Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Police said Romine got in an altercation with Kelsy Cook, 24, and Angie Russell, 23, shortly before 8pm on Saturday in the parking lot of the Soaky Mountain Waterpark (file photo)

Witnesses told officers that possible suspects were in a car leaving the parking lot, according to police.

Officers stopped the vehicle and detained three suspects. After a subsequent investigation, police said they believe Romine was the shooter and charged her with second-degree murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault and possessing a firearm while intoxicated.

Joshua Dannels, 30, of Crossville, Tennessee, was also charged with possession of a firearm while intoxicated. The third detainee, whose name was not released, is not facing any charges.

Romine and Dannels were sent to the Sevier County Jail for booking.

Mike Cohen, a spokesman for American Medical Response (AMR) Knox County, confirmed to WATE, a local affiliate of ABC, on Monday that Romine works as an EMT for the company and was off-duty during the shooting.

Cohen added that she is currently on administrative leave without pay, which will 'remain in effect until the resolution of the investigation by local authorities'.

After the shots were fired, the park was on lockdown until 9.30 until witnesses led police to Romine, who was trying to flee the park in a car

Management at Soaky Mountain Waterpark said in a statement on Sunday morning that it is committed to our guests safety and we are deeply saddened by the events that occurred in our parking lot on Saturday evening after our waterpark closed

A local woman, who declined to be identified, was at the waterpark with her family during the shooting and told WATE that the park was on lockdown until 9.30pm while police searched for the shooter.

'We were loading up our car getting ready to leave and we heard something that kind of sounded like, to me, it sounded kind of like the helicopters that fly over,' the witness said.

'But then it just stopped and then there were a bunch of people running out saying "shooter, shooter, shooter". We basically locked our car back up and ran back into the park and stayed there for an hour and a half trying to figure out what was going on.

She said she was with her children, who were pretty shaken up by the entire situation.

'Weve actually been keeping an eye on them today to make sure that theyre alright,' she said. 'Weve spent the past two summers here and I try not to be scared of something that was just kind of a freak accident. It just makes you a little bit more aware of your surroundings and pays a little bit more attention than you usually do. But I mean, well definitely be back. We love Soaky.'

Cooks family sent a statement to WATE on Monday morning, which read: The events that transpired are tragic for all those involved. As you know events like these impact several people and our thoughts and prayers go out to them. This is an ongoing investigation and I will refrain from any further comments.

Management at Soaky Mountain Waterpark said in a statement on Sunday morning that it is committed to our guests safety and we are deeply saddened by the events that occurred in our parking lot on Saturday evening after our waterpark closed.

'The Sevierville Police Department is overseeing this investigation and we are fully cooperating with them. Because this is an active investigation we cannot comment on it any further.'
An $87,000 helicopter whose registered owner is a Brazilian police officer was found crashed with 660 pounds of cocaine on board - but the cop denies having anything to do with it.

According to Brazilian online news portal G1, the Mato Grosso Federal Police was conducting a flight mission over the region as part of its international drug trafficking surveillance operation when agents aboard a helicopter discovered the crash.

The Federal Police searched the area but were unable to locate any of the suspects that may have been aboard the helicopter, whose illicit cargo has a street value of $1.3 million.

A police officer in Mato Grosso, Brazil, searches a helicopter after it crashed Sunday. The chopper, which was listed as being owned by Ronney Barbosa, a cop assigned to the Federal District Civil Police

Barbosa said he sold the chopper on May 25, and that the aircraft's new owner had yet to add their name to public ownership records

The aircraft interior's did not provide any clues that would have confirmed if any injuries may have been suffered by those onboard.

It is unclear how many people were inside it when it crashed, and what happened to them. No arrests have been made.

Authorities recovered at least five plastic wrapped packages with the cocaine inside.

The massive shipment had a street value of $1.3 million and was transferred to the Federal Police headquarter in Cuiaba.

G1 reported that the helicopter, a Robinson R-44 model, was purchased was previously owned by Ronney Barbosa, who is assigned to the Civil Police in the Federal District.

The helicopter, valued approximately $87,000, was equipped to carry up to three people with a payload capacity of 340 kilos (749 pounds). Authorities discovered 300 kilos of cocaine at the crash site

The massive shipment had a street value of $1.3 million and was transferred to the Federal Police headquarter in Cuiaba

The cop, who makes an average of $2,300 a month, or a salary of $27,000 USD annually, said he purchased the helicopter over a year ago, but was unable to cover its registration cost.

He sold the helicopter to a man in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on May 25. That man's name has not been shared, and a phone number given to contact him connected to a device that had been turned off.

According to Barbosa, the helicopter had not been cleared for flights.

'I have all the documents for the sale of the helicopter, I made the transfer on my part. But this process is the same when selling a car,' he explained. 'If the buyer doesn't go there and make the transfer for him, too, it remains in my name.'

The helicopter, valued approximately $87,000, was equipped to carry up to three people with a payload capacity of 749 pounds (340 kilos).
The officers were relieved of their duties and surrendered to officials on Monday

They are also accused of tackling and punching a bystander who attempted to record the incident

of repeatedly kicking a handcuffed suspect and slamming his head into the ground

Five Miami Beach police officers have been charged with misdemeanor battery for use of force after a rough arrest last week

Disturbing video captured the moment a Miami Beach police officer tackled man to stop him from filming colleagues violently arrested a handcuffed black suspect.

Surveillance footage released Monday shows a suspect, 24-year-old Dalonta Crudup, being kicked repeatedly and having his head slammed into the ground.

It also shows officers tackle and punch a bystander who was filming the incident from several feet away.

Five officers involved in the incident have been charged with assault: Sgt. Jose Perez, and officers Kevin Perez, Robert Sabater, Steven Serrano and David Rivas.

They have been relieved of duty while an internal investigation is underway, WPLG reported.

Surveillance footage shows officers repeatedly kicking Dalonta Crudup, 24, and slamming his head into the ground during an arrest last week, although he was already handcuffed

Officers said they were trying to stop Crudup for illegally parking when he struck an officer with his motor scooter while attempting to flee the scene.

Police caught up with Crudup at the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach where they arrested him and reportedly turned physical.

Sgt. Jose Perez is accused of kicking the suspect, who was handcuffed, three times and slamming his head into the ground.

Officer Kevin Perez allegedly kicked Crudup at least four times.

'I got beat up, I got stitches, went to the hospital,' Crudup told the TV station.

Crudup was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding police, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence, the Miami Herald reported.

Meanwhile, video shows Officer Sabater charging at Khalid Vaughn, 28, who was recording the altercation from about 12 feet away, and tackling him to the ground. The officer is also accused of punching the bystander repeatedly.

Vaughan was then cornered and struck multiple times by both officers Rivas and Serrano.

'I started recording it. They already got him in handcuffs. They beat him, turned around, charged me down, beat me ... punched me, elbowed me in the face,' Vaughn said. 'I literally got jumped by officers.'

The bystander was arrested for impeding, provoking and harassing officers.

Sharif Cobb, 27, who began recording the incident alongside Vaughn, told WPLG that Vaughn backed up when he was asked and that 'the cops came out of nowhere for no reason'.

The news outlet said Cobb was also arrested but did not indicated under what charges.

Crudup (inset) says he was 'beat up, got stitches, went to the hospital' after the alterCATION

The video shows an officer charge at bystander Khalid Vaughn, who was recording the altercation from about 12 feet away, and tackle him to the ground

All five officers involved in the incident have been relieved from duty and face battery charges

Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements, who reviewed the surveillance footage last week, has initiated an internal investigation into the incident. He also requested the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office to conduct a further review.

'I have serious concerns about the force utilized after Mr. Crudup was in custody, including the level of force utilized in the subsequent arrest of Mr. Vaughn,' Clements said. 'This is not indicative of the hard-working men and women of the Miami Beach Police Department and will not be tolerated.'

Clements stated that the department 'would learn from this incident and do better in the future'.

All five officers have been charged with misdemeanor battery for use of force. Officials say they turned themselves in at the Miami Beach Police department on Monday morning.

At this time, it remains unclear if the charges filed against Crudup, Vaughan and Cobb remain. DailyMail.com inquired about the charges, however Miami Beach police did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
After up to two years apart because of coronavirus travel restrictions, families were overcome with emotion as they were finally able to reunite yesterday.

In heart-warming scenes at the countrys airports, long-separated relatives embraced as quarantine rules were dropped for double-vaccinated US and EU citizens.

Those arriving were greeted with handwritten welcome home signs as they dashed towards their waiting relatives in arrivals halls.

While some families cried tears of joy after hugging relatives for the first time in months, others told how in the darkest days of the pandemic they worried about never seeing their loved ones again.

After a year separated from her mother, Shiona Seaman stood in the arrivals hall at Heathrow yesterday with a sign reading: Hi mom! Welcome back to the UK. I missed you so much!

The housewife, 27, said she was racked with nerves as she made the two-hour drive from her home in Suffolk to the airport

Hi Mom, I missed you so much

After a year separated from her mother, Shiona Seaman stood in the arrivals hall at Heathrow yesterday with a sign reading: Hi mom! Welcome back to the UK. I missed you so much!

The housewife, 27, said she was racked with nerves as she made the two-hour drive from her home in Suffolk to the airport.

But she beamed with joy as she was finally able to embrace her mother Sandra Clark, 60, who had flown in from Washington DC.

She said: Im very excited about the rules changing because otherwise my dad, who is coming in a few weeks, wouldnt have been able to visit because of his work.

He gets only two weeks off, so if he had to do a ten-day quarantine it wouldnt have been worth it.

Lucinda Tooze, 31, from Plymouth, wrapped her arms around her sister Sophie Lockard at Heathrow airport after being separated for almost two years

Sisters embrace after 2 years apart

Lucinda Tooze, 31, from Plymouth, wrapped her arms around her sister Sophie Lockard at Heathrow airport after being separated for almost two years.

Lucinda was waiting for her sister and her two young sons, who live in Miami, with a sign emblazoned with both countries flags reading The Lockards  we missed you!

She said: Im very emotional and cant even believe it really.

After walking through the arrival gates, Mrs Lockard said: Its fantastic to see my sister and very surreal.

Sue Hasyniec was ecstatic after embracing her only son Joshua for the first time since October 2019 at Heathrow

Wedding blues... then joy

Sue Hasyniec was ecstatic after embracing her only son Joshua for the first time since October 2019 at Heathrow.

The emotional reunion came two days after the 66-year-old from Devon had to watch her sons wedding online after being blocked from travelling to the US.

She greeted Joshua and his wife Hannah, from Dallas, with a Union Jack balloon emblazoned with their names.

She added: I was really excited when I found out he wasnt going to have to quarantine. Initially he was going to have to quarantine for five days. Her son, 27, said: Seeing my mum is fantastic.

Among the first to benefit from the new rules were David and Susan Handfield, who were delighted to meet their granddaughter Charlotta for the first time

Grand to meet our new addition

Among the first to benefit from the new rules were David and Susan Handfield, who were delighted to meet their granddaughter Charlotta for the first time.

She arrived at Heathrow airport with her parents on a flight from Berlin.

Charlotta was born in February but virus concerns and travel restrictions prevented her parents from taking her to London until now. Mrs Handfield, 70, said: Weve been waiting for this for quite a long time.

Debbie Greaves waited anxiously at Terminal Five at Heathrow yesterday with a homemade sign reading Hello Josh

Mums delight as son flies in

Debbie Greaves waited anxiously at Terminal Five at Heathrow yesterday with a homemade sign reading Hello Josh.

She embraced her son, who she has not seen for nine months, as he arrived on a flight from Sweden.

There were similar emotional scenes at Gatwick, where Ben Gilkes greeted his girlfriend Cristina Paiva with a bouquet  and a marriage proposal.

Mr Gilkes was supposed to travel to Portugal with her earlier this year but was struck down with Covid. The illness, which fell between his first and second vaccinations, meant the couple had not seen each other for two months.

Watched by Mr Gilkess mother, Rosie Nightingale, the ecstatic couple shared a loving embrace inside the arrivals hall.
A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder after his 15-year-old sister was allegedly stabbed to death in a domestic disturbance at a Welsh holiday park.

Matthew Selby, 19, from the Greater Manchester area, was charged with murder on Monday, after officers were called to a 'domestic disturbance and Ty Mawr Holiday Park in Towyn, near Abergele, on Saturday afternoon.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear before magistrates tomorrow.

The Sun, citing an unnamed source, reported that the 19-year-old is suspected of killing his younger sister, attacking and seriously injuring their father, and then allegedly taking their grandfather hostage.

An air ambulance rushed to the scene on Saturday afternoon, as parts of the Parkdean resort and a caravan were cordoned off while police carried out an investigation in the 100acre park.

An air ambulance was rushed to the scene at Ty Mawr park in Towyn, north Wales on Saturday afternoon

Eyewitnesses reported the air ambulance landed on the A548, which was shut in both directions, at around 3.30pm, with two ambulances and three rapid response vehicles in tow.

Mother of two Carly Hargreaves, 44, who arrived on holiday from Manchester on Friday, said about eight police cars, three ambulances and the air ambulance arrived to the park.

She said from outside the vast caravan and campsite: 'We are staying two rows behind where it happened and didn't hear a single thing.

'I can't stop thinking about it because my son is 16. To come away on holiday and not go home with that special person is tragic. It's a normal family-orientated site.'

On Sunday, police cars were seen entering the site as investigations continued.

Ty Mawr, close to the sea and part of the Parkdean Resorts chain, is one of the more upmarket holiday venues, with a heated indoor pool among other amenities, a far cry from the rough and ready image of camps of old.

Tens of thousands of holidaymakers are staying in camps along a strip of coastline on what is traditionally one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Police were called to a 'serious incident' at a Welsh holiday park and warned people to 'stay away' after the 'tragic incident'

The force said: 'We would ask the public not to speculate about this incident on social media as this is an active investigation.'

Images posted from the scene on Saturday showed dozens of people waiting in a car park while an air ambulance and police cars were parked nearby.

Another image showed a caravan which had been taped off by detectives.

Kay Redhead, mayor of Towyn and KInmel Bay said: 'It's knocked us to the core. This is a fantastic place where we welcome everyone. This time of year we have 45,000 to 50,000 extra people in the area and with staycation it's ready bustling. Ty Mawr is a well organised and managed family camp and when something like this happens it affects everybody..'

Mrs Redhead added: 'I would like to express condolences to the family. It's a tragic situation.'

A spokesman for Ty Mawr holiday park, which is part of the Parkdean Resorts brand, said at the weekend it was 'shocked and saddened' by the incident which it described as 'isolated and unprecedented'.
When the dust settles, one wonders how much will be heaped upon the usually immaculate head of Mohamed Amersi  and how much will stick elsewhere.

The dealmaker, venture capitalist, political donor and philanthropist is among the most influential people in Britain.

The great and the good clear their diaries whenever one of his gilded invitations drops onto their mat.

Hallowed academic institutions seek his aid if a new library or a refurbishment is needed.

But this week the silver-tongued outsider  he was born and raised in Kenya  has caused consternation at Westminster and in the Royal Household by setting out his grave disappointment at the manner in which he has been treated by those upon whose organisations he had showered largesse.

Few will be surprised to learn that money was the key to his entry into the British Establishment. A lot of money.

And few of those name-checked by the furious Amersi will be enjoying the experience.

Not least among them are the Prince of Wales and his entrepreneurial nephew, Ben Elliot.

Businessman Mohamed Amersi and his wife Nadejda Roditcheva at the National Osteoporosis Society fundraising fashion show in 2016

Prince Charles and Conservative Party Chairman and Quintessentially co-founder Ben Elliot, his nephew through marriage to Camilla, pictured together in June 2015

Elliot, the son of the Duchess of Cornwalls sister Annabel, is the founder of concierge firm to the A-list, Quintessentially.

If you have the wherewithal, Quintessentially will take care of your every lifestyle need, from a restaurant reservation to securing you a seat on a spaceship to Mars should you desire it.

But Elliot is also the co-chairman of the Conservative Party. As such he is both impeccably connected and anxious to monetise those connections in the form of business deals and political or charitable donations.

Under Elliots auspices Amersi was granted a tete-a-tete dinner with his uncle, Prince Charles.

He was then allowed, most graciously, to underwrite some of HRHs favourite charitable causes to the tune of 1.2million.

He has also been persuaded to pay a total of 524,000 into Conservative Party coffers.

His glamorous Russian-born partner Nadedza Rodicheva has donated a further 268,000.

Some of these donations  all declared and above board  have been given to the private offices of Conservative big beasts such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt (10,000 each).

Amersi no doubt felt his feet were well under the table at both Clarence House and Tory HQ. He was almost one of the family.

Mohamed Amersi with Prince Charles. His membership of Quintessentially led to a meeting with the prince over an intimate dinner at Dumfries House in Scotland

But these twin compacts now appear to be in ruins. As a result of an internal row over Amersis plans to reshape Tory relations with the Middle East, some within the party asked questions about his past business practises.

Where did his fortune come from exactly, and how? What were his links to Russia and the hostile Iranian regime?

Amersi was outraged. First he began legal action against former MP Charlotte Leslie over memos she allegedly wrote and circulated, containing the allegations.

He says he is seeking full disclosure of relevant documents before he decides whether or not to sue her for libel.

Now his ire is also being directed at Elliot and other senior figures at Tory HQ.

They have not supported him in his hour of need, he claims. The hand that fed them 750,000 has been bitten hard in return.

I am so disappointed with them, he told the Daily Mail last night.

Sometimes I wonder if I was white, my name was John Smith and I had been to Eton and Oxford, I might have been treated differently. I think there is some truth in that.

As someone who has given so much money and even advised on election strategy, I am horrified that when something like this happened they did not even have the courtesy and decency to say, Mohamed, what can we do to help you. Can we issue a statement supporting you?

I still love the party, but it cannot be right that when difficulties arise they run for the hills. I certainly did not expect this blue on blue treatment.

Amersi, 61, comes from a wealthy old merchant family based in the Kenyan port city of Mombassa.

At the age of 16 he came to the UK and attended Merchant Taylors, a public school in Hertfordshire.

He then studied medicine and law at Sheffield and Cambridge before attending the Oxford Universitys Said Business School.

Amersi, 61, comes from a wealthy old merchant family based in the Kenyan port city of Mombassa. At the age of 16 he came to the UK and attended Merchant Taylors (pictured), a public school in Hertfordshire.

He began his career as a corporate lawyer before striking out on his own into the world of international finance.

For much of the last 40 years he has been based in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, New York and the United Arab Emirates, describing himself as a renowned global communications entrepreneur, philanthropist and thought leader.

Amersi met his long-term partner Nadedza in New York and has one child with his wife, from whom he is separated.

He lives in central London and also owns a Grade II-listed Georgian-style manor house in rural Devon.

He told the Mail: I have been fully resident here and a UK taxpayer for the last three to four years.

Amersi says he first became a client of Quintessentially shortly after it was founded in 2000. He paid 15,000 a year to have elite level membership

'More or less since the time I started donating to the [Tory] Party. Along the way he set up the Amersi Foundation, a vehicle for his global philanthropy which is registered in the Bahamas.

He says he first became a client of Quintessentially shortly after it was founded in 2000.

He paid 15,000 a year to have elite level membership. There was nothing oversold about the access this offered.

This very top tier was fascinating because we were invited to be exposed to the establishment here, whether it is the royal establishment, Clarence House, St Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, Dumfries House, Amersi told the Sunday Times at the weekend.

Elliot understood what I was trying to do and what my foundation was trying to do.

And then he introduced us to the Prince of Wales, because he saw that there was a role that we could play not only in enhancing some of his work, but also providing some thought leadership.

In 2013 Quintessentially arranged for him to fly to Scotland to have dinner with Charles at Dumfries House, the Ayrshire stately home which the heir to the throne had saved from dereliction.

Amersi subsequently provided 130,000 towards its restoration.

The tycoon said he calls this arrangement access capitalism. You get access, you get invitations, you get privileged relationships, if you are part of the set-up, and where you are financially making a contribution to be a part of that set up. Absolutely.

In 2013 Quintessentially arranged for him to fly to Scotland to have dinner with Charles at Dumfries House (pictured), the Ayrshire stately home which the heir to the throne had saved from dereliction. Amersi subsequently provided 130,000 towards its restoration

Amersi has hosted and been hosted by Prince Charles at a number of events since and given more than 1million to his charities. In 2015, he also hosted a polo match in which Prince Harry played.

Elliot saw other opportunities for Amersis money, too.

He was seeking donations from me and Nadia for the Conservative party even before he became chair, said the tycoon.

The register shows that the first large donation  215,000  was made by Ms Rodicheva in June 2017, during Theresa Mays embattled premiership.

The politician did not forget her benefactor. In 2019 she paid tribute to him at the opening of the Oxford University lecture theatre named in his honour after he paid for its refurbishment.

In his own address Amersi said: You begin by learning how to make money. Then how to hang on to it. And then finally how to give it away.

But where did the money come from? This question began to be asked in certain Tory circles after a new initiative was announced.

This time, rather than simply give money Amersi would head up a new body called the Conservative Friends of the Middle East and North Africa (Comena).

It would exist to oversee the partys relations with the influential regions powerbrokers.

Amersi told the Mail that he had been approached by Central Office to set up such an affiliate in February 2020.

He said he had done business in 21 of the 22 countries in the region and had lived in two of them.

So far Amersi has registered Comena as a private company, with himself as sole shareholder.

He is seeking official affiliation to the Conservative Party and says he will jointly meet the 500,000 per annum costs, along with another major Tory donor.

But there is another Tory group which has occupied this role since 1980: The Conservative-Middle East Council (CMEC).

This has been run since 2017 by Charlotte Leslie. Sir Nicholas Soames, the former MP, is CMECs honorary chairman.

The Conservative-Middle East Council (CMEC) has been run since 2017 by Charlotte Leslie (pictured left). Sir Nicholas Soames (pictured right), the former MP, is CMECs honorary chairman.

In 2019, CMEC ceased to be formally affiliated with the Tory party, allowing it to accept non-Conservatives as members and seek wider funding.

At least two memos questioning Amersis business dealings and loyalties were reportedly sent by Leslie to Soames. They were also seen by Elliot and eventually by the subject himself.

One of the transactions questioned in the memo was the sale in 2005 of the Russian communications company, PeterStar, to a Luxembourg-based conglomerate. Amersi was paid $4million for working on the deal.

It later emerged that Leonid Reiman, then Putins telecoms minister, secretly controlled the Luxembourg company.

It was alleged in the memo  and has been repeated in the financial press  that Amersi knew of Reimans ownership at the time.

Last night he absolutely denied this and said all due diligences had been carried out. None had revealed Reimans hidden connections.

Amersi told the Mail: They say (in the memos) that I have made my money in Russia in dodgy circumstances and on behalf of the Russian state I am taking over an important asset of British Middle Eastern diplomacy. They have also questioned my connections with Iran, a hostile state.

If I have done anything wrong in life I am very happy to accept it. But I have done nothing wrong. All of the transactions mentioned were carried out in a legitimate manner and with regulatory approval. Nothing hidden, nothing sinister, nothing I am ashamed of.

Amersi told the Mail he wanted to apologise to the Prince of Wales for him being drawn into the row

This is just a vicious attempt by Nicholas Soames and Charlotte Leslie, supported by some Arab states lobbying behind the scenes to make me appear not fit for purpose for this position.

I find myself wasting my time and my money over this. I have retired from business. I do not need any (political) favours or permissions to build.

'There is nothing in it for me. The party approached me and asked me to set up an affiliate which had widespread support from senior figures.

But when (CMEC) found out they thought woah, our franchise is going to be hit hard. They took umbrage and Leslie decided she would stop this from happening and so composed an anonymous memo and sent it to 16 parliamentarians, the security services and four members of the Arab diplomatic corps.

(Comena) is not my initiative, but a joint initiative, Amersi adds. I was told (by Central office) that they wanted me to form Comena because the previous Mid East friendship group had disaffiliated. That is why Im involved.

He said he had not sued Soames only because of his distinguished ancestry (his grandfather was Winston Churchill).

Amersi told the Mail he wanted to apologise to the Prince of Wales for him being drawn into the row.

My intention was never to embarrass the Royal Family and particularly the Prince of Wales, he said.

I have had the privilege of meeting him and serving him on a number of bodies. I have the greatest respect for him and have witnessed his work first hand round the world. I am sorry he has been dragged into this inadvertently.

He said of his current relationship with Quintessentially: I used to pay 15,000 a year to be an elite member. But it simply became a very expensive way to order flowers or book a car.

'So In January I downgraded it to become just a lifestyle member. That only costs 5,000 per annum.

Which presents value for money in the high-rolling world of the enigmatic Mohamed Amersi.
Police Chief Chuck Lovell has said filling the new team would 'greatly' impact his officers' ability to do other things

The city has seen increased levels of overall violence since last year's Black Lives Matter protests sparked by police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor

There have been 53 homicides so far this year, on track to beat last year's 55

Since then, homicides have risen to levels last seen in the early 1990s

A previous anti-gun violence team was dismantled last year after City Council voted to slash the police budget by $15million and eliminate 84 positions

A gun violence unit in Portland, Oregon is having trouble recruiting new officers after it was dismantled during last year's calls to defund the police and brought back when gun violence shot up this year.

Since May, only four people have applied to 14 spots on the Portland Police Department's new Focused Intervention Team.

The original Gun Violence Reduction Team was shut down after the Portland City Council voted to cut $15million from the police budget and eliminate 84 sworn positions last June.

The Portland Police Department had its budget cut by $15M last year

The city has seen increased levels of violence since last year's Black Lives Matters protests. Above, police march through tear gas during the 100th night of protests in September 2020

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell told KPTV that he's not sure how he's going to fill the remaining positions on the new anti-gun violence team.

'I'm not 100 percent sure yet where those officers will come from,' Lovell said. 'We're to the point now, staffing-wise, where being able to do this means greatly impacting our ability to do something else.'

Last year's cuts included the gun violence team, which was singled out because 52 percent of its stops in 2019 were of Black people, who make up just 5.8 percent of the city's population, according to the Wall Street Journal.

More than 662,000 people live in Portland.

Homicides in Portland have reached near-record numbers last seen in the early 1990s. Above, a protester waves an American flag in July 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest

Homicides in Portland have risen steadily over the couple of years. There have been 53 homicides so far this year, on track to beat last year's 55, the highest number in 26 years

Homicides in the city shot up from five to 15 in the next month.

Fifty-five people were killed in Portland last year, the highest number since 1994 and just 15 short of a peak of 70 in 1987, according to The Oregonian.

As of Tuesday, there have been 53 homicides this year, according to Portland PD.

Portland saw longer and more intense protests than other cities following the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, which sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests calling for the redirection of funds from police departments and into social services.

After months of daily unrest, including violence against officers, some argue that police have tired out.

'I have never seen the police bureau so stressed, personal-strength-wise, never,' said Oregon Association Chiefs of Police President Jim Ferraris told the Wall Street Journal.

Lionel Irving, a Portland nonprofit leader who is on the oversight committee for the new Focused Intervention Team, told the Journal that safety suffered as police were redirected from neighborhoods and into Black Lives Matter protest areas.

'It created a sense of lawlessness,' he said.

The Washington, DC, think tank Police Executive Research Forum recorded an 18 percent increase in police resignations and a 45 percent increase in retirements from April 2020 to March 2021.

In August 2020, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best resigned hours after the city council voted to strip the police department of some resources, including cutting around 100 jobs, NPR reported.
Former President Trump paid lawyers who defended him in his second impeachment trial nearly $700,000, filings with the Federal Election Commission show.

For the four-day Senate trial that ended in his acquittal, Trumps campaign committee, which has since been renamed the Make America Great Again PAC, paid $580,000 to the Philadelphia law firm of Bruce Castor and Michael van der Veen and another $100,000 to Alabama-based lawyer David Schoen, according to filings released Saturday.

The attorneys defense didnt receive high marks, with even some Republicans deeming it disorganized and chaotic.

Trump announced the trio would represent him only a week before the trial

Former President Trump paid lawyers who defended him in his second impeachment trial nearly $700,000, filings with the Federal Election Commission show

Trump announced the trio would represent him only a week before the trial.

After the House voted in favor of impeachment, the defense lawyers first filed a 78-page brief that denounced the impeachment case as partisan political theater, and then moved to debate the constitutionality of whether the former president could be tried by the Senate, which the Senate agreed he could.

Trumps defense lawyers and House impeachment managers then presented their case over three days. The defense used only three hours to present its case, where managers used 10.

The Senate ultimately rejected the article of impeachment for incitement of an insurrection on Feb. 13 as it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict.

The attorneys defense didnt receive high marks, with even some Republicans deeming it disorganized and chaotic

Before the impeachment, Schoen, also a former district attorney in Pennsylvania, represented Trump's longtime ally and adviser Roger Stone

Trumps campaign spent only $8.6 million challenging election results, drawing speculation as to whether hes saving the cash to bolster his favorite candidates in 2022 or for another potential shot at the presidency in 2024

Anyone who listened to President Trumps legal team saw they were unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue, and they talked about everything but the issue at hand, Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said on Feb. 8, after the first day of arguments.

Trumps political groups have over $100 million cash on hand, and raised $82 million in the first six months of 2021 alone. The former president had also raised a little more than $31 million last year as he told donors he needed money to challenge the 2020 election, which he falsely said had been stolen from him.

Trumps campaign spent only $8.6 million challenging election results, drawing speculation as to whether hes saving the cash to bolster his favorite candidates in 2022 or for another potential shot at the presidency in 2024.

'These things cost money,' Trump spokesman Jason Miller said of the second impeachment trial. He argued that the impeachment had been aimed at preventing Trump from mounting another run in the future.

'While this partisan charade was soundly defeated, and President Trump was completely exonerated, these things cost money,' Miller told Bloomberg.

Before the impeachment, Schoen, also a former district attorney in Pennsylvania, represented Trump's longtime ally and adviser Roger Stone.
A new computer system at the UK border is 'crashing repeatedly' leading to massive queues at Heathrow, it can be revealed.

The Home Office's 372million security database  known as Border Crossing  was rushed into use at the end of June when it was already more than three years overdue.

The latest breakdown on Sunday meant all passengers were rejected by e-gates in Heathrow arrivals halls and had to be checked manually by immigration officers, sources said. This left queues stretching for more than a quarter-of-a-mile.

Last night insiders predicted 'total chaos' at major airports later this week when the number of Britons returning from holiday reaches levels unseen since the start of the pandemic.

Major problems with the security database come just months after MPs criticised the way the project had been handled and warned that the Home Office had 'no proof' it could cope with higher numbers of passengers.

This Friday marks two weeks since most schools broke up, meaning large numbers of families will be returning after a fortnight away.

'The peak hasn't even started yet. It's going to be total chaos by the end of the week,' said one source.

'Border Crossing is falling down all the time, and when it goes down, it stays broken for days. It's particularly vulnerable when there are higher numbers of travellers.

A new computer system at the UK border is 'crashing repeatedly' leading to massive queues at Heathrow. The latest breakdown on Sunday meant all passengers were rejected by e-gates in Heathrow arrivals halls and had to be checked manually by immigration officers, sources said. This left queues stretching for more than a quarter-of-a-mile. Pictured: The arrival queue at Heathrow's Terminal 5 on Sunday

'I can't see any scenario where there isn't going to be chaos when those larger numbers of passengers who went away as soon as schools broke up begin to return to the UK in the next few days.'

The Border Crossing system checks travellers' names against terrorism records, the Police National Computer and immigration records. MPs on the Commons public accounts committee, which published a report on the system in March, said the Home Office had 'no proof that it can cope with passenger volumes that existed prior to Covid-19'.

The MPs also criticised the 'staggering' cost of government IT schemes and blamed a 'lack of effective leadership, management and oversight'.

Their report said: 'Due to low passenger numbers resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, Border Crossing has not been operationally tested at the scale it is expected to require based on passenger number expectations outside of the unique circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.'

The Home Office's 372million security database  known as Border Crossing  was rushed into use at the end of June when it was already more than three years overdue. Pictured: Heathrow's Terminal 5 on Monday

Border Crossing had to be rushed in by the end of June because the database it replaced, known as the Warnings Index, could not handle EU travellers who must now be checked in the same way as other international passengers.

Development of the IT system, which is part of a larger scheme, began in 2014 and was supposed to be in place by 2017.

A previous IT project launched in 2003, eBorders, was ditched after eight years and cost at least 340million. A later contractual row cost the taxpayer another 185million.

It is understood that more than a quarter of UK Border Force staff at Heathrow are currently away from work after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid. It means there are fewer staff available to carry out manual checks if the IT system crashes.

A change in rules which came into force yesterday meaning double-vaccinated passengers from the EU and America no longer face quarantine is also expected to lead to more traffic through airports.

A Heathrow spokesman said: 'Waiting times at the border have on occasion been unacceptable and we have called on the UK Government to address the problem as a matter of urgency.'
A former Afghan interpreter who worked with David Cameron may have suffered a significant miscarriage of justice that is preventing him from being rescued from the Taliban, a retired senior British officer has warned.

The interpreter, known as Shaffy, 32, worked for six years with the British  three of them on the frontline and three with senior officers and visiting politicians such as Mr Cameron.

But he has been repeatedly denied sanctuary in the UK because of how he was dismissed from his job, which he calls an injustice that could cost me my life.

Now retired Major General Charlie Herbert, a former commander of British Forces in Helmand and a Nato adviser, who worked with Shaffy, has taken up his case and is looking into the allegations against someone he describes as an awesome guy.

A former Afghan interpreter who worked with David Cameron may have suffered a significant miscarriage of justice that is preventing him from being rescued from the Taliban, a retired senior British officer has warned

Mr Herbert said: Of all the interpreters I know of still left in Afghanistan, this case stands out as perhaps the most significant miscarriage of justice. I believe he was badly wronged when dismissed without right to appeal in 2013, and to abandon him now to the hands of the Taliban is to multiply that injustice a thousandfold.

Given the questionable circumstances of his dismissal after six years of exemplary service, his application should be reconsidered and he should be allowed to put forward representation.

Those involved in his dismissal should also be consulted. I suspect they may themselves argue that rejection from relocation is disproportionate to anything he was accused of.

It is extremely rare for an ex-commander of Mr Herberts standing to become directly involved in investigating the background to a case which Ministry of Defence officials insist involves serious offences.

Yesterday Afghanistans president blamed Americas swift withdrawal of troops for sweeping gains by the Taliban. Pictured: File image of a US flag being lowered as American and Afghan soldiers attend the handover ceremony at Camp Anthonic on May 2, 2021

Defence sources have twice said Shaffys employment was terminated for sexually threatening a woman officer. He categorically denies the allegations.

Mr Herbert was one of 40 senior officers who last week signed a hard-hitting letter to Boris Johnson calling for a faster, more generous policy towards Afghan interpreters, who they argued should be allowed to relocate here unless they posed a threat to national security.

More than 1,000  35 per cent of the total who worked for the UK  had their employment terminated by Britain without the right of appeal or challenge, ruling the majority out of the right to relocate. Many dispute their cases, fearing they will be abandoned to the Taliban now international forces have left.

Shaffy was once considered one of the UK militarys most senior translators, which made him a Taliban target.

He was branded an infidel spy and told he would die like a dog days after he was shown on British and Afghan TV standing beside the then-prime minister Mr Cameron during a visit to Helmand in 2011.

Shaffy, a father-of-five, who worked for the military until January 2013, was twice blown up in armoured vehicles. His was one of the first cases highlighted by the this newspapers Betrayal of the Brave campaign.

Soldiers 4m claim for tank injury A young soldier whose Army career was ended after his leg was mangled by a tank gun is suing the Ministry of Defence for 4million compensation. Lance Corporal Michael Milner says he was hurt when his limb got caught in the mechanics of a Warriors weapon during training in Canada in 2017. It is claimed there were too many soldiers in the vehicle, meaning its protective gun cage had to be removed and Mr Milner was caught up when the gunner moved it. This left the Yorkshire Regiment soldiers leg grossly swollen and deformed and, despite years of treatment and rehabilitation, he was discharged from the Army last month. Mr Milner, 30, of Halifax, West Yorkshire, said his injuries have left him struggling to play with his children as well as ruining his career. He claimed too many soldiers had been crammed in due to another Warrior breaking down. The MoD denies liability for his injuries. The case will be held before a High Court judge next year. Advertisement

Mr Herbert has spoken to key figures in the case. They are said to deny he was involved in any sexual threats and now regret the termination.

Mr Herbert said: It appears that he and other interpreters may have clashed with a recently arrived female interpreter manager on what was her first operational tour.

He was subsequently dismissed without any apparent due process or right to appeal.

Shaffy worked in Helmand for the best part of six years for a dozen different British Army units and during that time received numerous commendations. When I met him in 2010 he was the interpreter for the battlegroup Chief of Staff. He was an outstanding interpreter  held in the highest regard by all who worked with him.

Shaffy said: I have six weeks to save my family, six weeks before the official pull out of Western forces that will give the Taliban the freedom to hunt us down as they have told us they will. Speaking from Kabul, he added: I am in danger, my wife and children are in danger as a direct consequence of working loyally for [the British]. I am entirely innocent of any allegations against me of any sexual threat.
A major Tory donor involved in a cash-for-access row claimed last night he would have been treated better by the party if he had been white.

Mohamed Amersi said the Conservatives would have treated him better if he had a traditional English name and had been to Eton and Oxford.

The Kenya-born businessman and his Russian partner Nadezhda Rodicheva have between them given 793,000 to the party and senior MPs in recent years.

Mohamed Amersi (left) said the Conservatives would have treated him better if he had a traditional English name and had been to Eton and Oxford. (Pictured right, former Prime Minister Theresa May)

He has also set up a new foreign affairs network called the Conservative Friends of the Middle East and North Africa (Comena), which he hoped would become an affiliate group of the party.

But he has become embroiled in a dispute with ex-MPs who run the Conservative Middle East Council, even threatening legal action over memos written about his background that claimed he had business ties to Russia.

And at the weekend he made the explosive allegation that party chairman Ben Elliot, whose aunt is the Duchess of Cornwall, had sold him access to Prince Charles.

Mr Amersi revealed that he had been an elite client of Mr Elliots lifestyle management firm Quintessentially, and as a result had enjoyed a private dinner with the heir to the throne  later becoming a trustee of one of his charities.

He also told how the Conservatives operate a secretive club called the Advisory Board for top donors and that one needs to cough up 250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben to gain admission.

Last night Mr Amersi told the Daily Mail he believed he had been treated badly by the Tories because of his background.

I sometimes wonder if I was white and my surname was John Smith and I had been to Eton and Oxford I might have been treated differently. And I think there is some truth in that, he said.

However he insisted that he loves the party and will continue to donate to it.

He also apologised to Prince Charles. My intention was never to embarrass the Royal Family and particularly the Prince of Wales, he said.

I have the greatest respect for him and have witnessed his work first-hand round the world.

There are now calls for the Tories to stop taking money from him. One senior figure said: Donor money is being used to buy a position of influence.

A party spokesman said: The Conservative Party is the party of aspiration and opportunity for all, no matter your gender, your ethnicity or where you come from.

Last night Mr Amersi told the Daily Mail he believed he had been treated badly by the Tories because of his background. (Pictured, current Tory leader and Prime Minister Boris Johnson)

The party board is expected to consider Comenas application for affiliation next month.

Labour chairman Anneliese Dodds said: Ministers ... must be beyond reproach, but instead it seems like a six-figure sum can buy you access to their offices.

However Tory co-chairman Amanda Milling pointed out that Labour had taken 1.2million from the Unite union in the past year and is seeking cash from billionaires.

She wrote to Miss Dodds: The Labour Party runs its own Chair Circle Membership group and the Rose Network whose members can pay a fee to get access to Sir Keir Starmer, yourself, and other senior Shadow Cabinet members.
A judge on Monday rejected a request for a new trial in the 2018 killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, after defense attorneys tried to link her death to a sex trafficking ring.

Judge Joel Yates' ruling cleared the way for sentencing to proceed on August 30 in the trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 27, who was convicted in May of first-degree murder in Tibbetts' death.

He reportedly stabbed Tibbetts to death in Powesheik County, Iowa, in July 2018. She vanished while out for a jog in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.

He was convicted after surveillance photo captured his Chevy pass by Tibbetts during her final jog.

Bahena Rivera was further implicated in the killing after the student's blood was found in his car - and he later agreed to lead cops to Tibbetts' body in a corn field, around a month after she vanished.

The former farmhand, who came to the U.S. illegally as a teenager, now faces a sentence of life in prison.

He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, but earlier that month, Yates had agreed to hear arguments for a new trial.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera was convicted in May of first-degree murder in Mollie Tibbets' death

She was first reported missing after she did not return home from a run

The defense sought a new trial, claiming Tibbett's death was related to another woman's report of being kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the summer of 2018, and the recent disappearance of 11-year-old boy Xavior Harrelson who went missing in the same county.

They claim Tibbetts may have been abducted as part of an Iowa sex trafficking ring headed up by 50-year-old James Lowe - the former live-in boyfriend of Harrelson's mom.

Prosecutors noted Lowe, a suspected methamphetamine dealer, had been investigated in both abduction cases but hasn't been charged in either, and say he has no tie to Tibbetts at all.



Bahena Rivera was arrested in 2018, after reportedly telling investigators where her body was buried

Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Trent Vileta claimed they had the right man in custody, and rejected claims Tibbetts was caught up in a sex-trafficking ring =

Lawyers also presented testimony from two new witnesses who claim Gavin Jones, a 21-year-old local man, had confessed to being Tibbetts's true killer.

One of those witnesses, inmate Arne Maki, testified las week that Jones told him of his involvement last year when they were both held at the Keokuk County Jail.

The defense say Arne Maki, who is currently an inmate, told investigators that a 21-year-old fellow inmate with a history of violence against women claimed responsibility for killing Tibbetts

Jones said he and another man stabbed Tibbetts after she was held at a sex trafficking 'trap house' where they were staying and framed Bahena Rivera for the death, Maki testified.

An older man in charge of the house had ordered her killed, Maki said.

Maki said he came forward after seeing news clips about Bahena Rivera's testimony in which he said two other men were responsible for the crime.

Maki, 46, said he was getting no benefit for his testimony, saying he wanted to 'do the right thing.'

'I just want to say one thing, my thoughts and prayers go out to the Tibbetts family,' Maki said, after his testimony concluded.

Defense lawyers requested a new trial based on that and other newly discovered information, and Yates agreed to postpone sentencing while he considered their request.

Jones, though, has denied any involvement and Prosecutor Bart Klaver noted that Jones was in a rehabilitation facility in the summer of 2018 and then in an assisted living facility under state supervision.

They also noted that Tibbetts was not cut up and wrapped in plastic, as Maki testified that Jones had told him.

Prosecutors told jurors that an autopsy found that she had been stabbed seven to 12 times in the chest, ribs, neck, and skull, and that she died from sharp force injuries

Bahena Rivera, a dairy farm worker, claimed in his testimony that two masked men were responsible for the killing and had forced him to drive them around and dispose of Tibbetts' body at gunpoint. Tibbetts' partially naked and decomposing body was found dumped in this cornfield in 2018

In court, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Trent Vileta further noted that Bahena Rivera partially confessed to stalking Tibbetts while she was out for a run, killing her and dumping her body in a cornfield, where he led investigators after a lengthy interrogation in August 2018.

During the trial, Bahena Rivera claimed two masked men kidnapped him at gunpoint from his trailer, forced him to drive to where Tibbetts was running on a rural road, killed her, put her body in his trunk and made him dispose of it.

He didnt tell investigators about the two men earlier, he claimed, because they had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and young daughter.

Bahena Rivera's arrest in 2018 inflamed the debate over illegal immigration with then-President Donald Trump calling him a killer who exploited lax immigration laws and Iowa's governor calling him a predator.

The trial was moved roughly 100 miles from Poweshiek County to Scott County after defense lawyers said residents around Brooklyn, which has a population of 1,700, had strong opinions about their client's guilt.
Gyms, schools and hospitality venues will be among the first to reopen when Sydney finally emerges from weeks of coronavirus lockdown.

Details leaked about the NSW Government's highly-anticipated roadmap out of lockdown once cases fall and at least half of residents are vaccinated.

Pubs and clubs with outdoor dining and gyms will reopen when lockdown restrictions are lifted, which could be as early as August 28.

Students will also be able to return to school for face-to-face learning, government sources told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Gyms would also be able to operate under strict Covid-19 measures under the government's roadmap, which is yet to be formally released.

The lifting of restrictions will depend on vaccination rates and the number of daily cases, which were above 200 for a second consecutive day on Monday.

Hospitality venues with outdoor dining will be among the first to reopen under a NSW road map under lockdown. Pictured are Sydneysiders in Bondi

While NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants to see at least 80 per cent of the state's adult population vaccinated, she has indicated more freedoms will be considered when rates hit 50 to 60 per cent.

'Once you get to 50 per cent vaccination rates or 60 per cent vaccination rates, you can look to provide easing of restrictions, but that also depends on where the case numbers are at,' she told reporters on Monday.

'It will be a combination of seeing where the case numbers are in a month's time as well as the rate of vaccination that determines what August 29 looks like.'

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has been working on the roadmap which was originally due to be released last week before lockdown was extended for another month.

'The deputy premier was tasked to work on a road map that would lead the state out of this lockdown and that work continues, a spokeswoman said.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said it was too early to say whether students will be able to return to school next month.

'I don't want to even think about what the situation will be at the end of August,' she said on Monday.

'It's too premature. We've got four weeks, we need to give it our all,' she said. 'We need to drive the numbers down. These are too high.'

Gyms would also reopen under strict Covid-19 rules. Pictured are gym goers in Sydney before the current restrictions hit

Students will return to school for face to face learning under the proposed road map (stock image)

Dr Chant is also concerned about high levels of transmission in essential work places.

The glimmer of hope about what post-lockdown looks like comes amid fears the state could see nearly 600 new daily cases by Friday if lockdown isn't tightened across the city, worrying new modelling suggests.

Infections could even hit an astonishing 7,700 cases a day in a worst case scenario by the end of August, experts predicted, similar to the thousands of daily cases seen overseas with the Indian Delta variant.

Epidemiologist Mary Louise McLaws believes it is 'far too early' to think about lifting restrictions.

'We are still seeing, of those cases outside of the home, most of the cases are occurring in the workplace,' she told the Today show on Tuesday.

'Yet, we are not really doing enough to prevent that. And a simple measure to prevent that is to identify people at work before they go on to the work floor to find out whether they are positive and not every third day.

'So it is far too early to start even thinking about lifting restrictions. Because we are interconnected by work and, of course, there is delivery truck drivers. They haven't had their vaccine yet.

'And they are really an essential service who could inadvertently spread it way across the Greater Sydney area.'

Sydneysiders are flocking to outdoor facilities to exercise with gyms currently closed. Pictured are Sydneysiders in Bondi

The Harbour City's latest outbreak began in the eastern suburbs and spread its tentacles to a range of local government areas in the south-west, but scientists say those hotspot areas are 'stabilising' and infection rates remain consistent.

But infections look to be doubling every 4-5 days in the rest of Sydney, with the scientists calling for equally tough rules to be put in place across every corner of the city.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian initially announced a week-long lockdown for Sydney on June 26 when it became apparent the Indian Delta variant showed no signs of slowing, but the stay-home orders were quickly extended.

Sydneysiders are now in their sixth gruelling week of restrictions, but people in eight hard-hit LGAs, including Fairfield, Canterbury-Blacktown and Liverpool, are under a set of stricter rules to try and reduce case numbers.

Evidence collated by Professors Allan Saul, Brendan Crabb AC, Margaret Hellard AM and Dr Campbell Aitken of the Burnet Institute on Monday suggests the measures may be working - but the rest of Sydney is teetering on a knife's edge.

This was clear in a late night drop of exposure sites released on Monday, including a Coles and Aldi on the city's Lower North Shore, as well as an auto parts store in Rockdale.

Using analysis of what restrictions did and didn't work during Melbourne's outbreak last year, the team of scientists found NSW's effective contact tracing, use of QR codes and record testing rates helped stop the outbreak spiralling into thousands of daily cases.

Without such measures, and a lockdown, they claimed Sydney could already be looking at 1,000 daily cases - but infections are still doubling on average every nine days.

The Aldi supermarket at Lane Cove on Sydney's Lower North Shore (pictured) has been flagged as a Covid exposure site - with experts fearing an explosion in cases outside the eight hotspot LGAs

A further 53 cases were recorded in the west and 48 were in the central Sydney local health district. Pictured: A woman walking in Bondi in Monday

But the modelling, based on how infections have spread to date, still predicted the city would see 570 cases per day by Friday. There is no present sign this will happen.

This is despite south-west Sydney's outbreak slowly coming under control, with infections still increasing rapidly in other areas of the city.

The upward trend of daily cases in south-west Sydney's Fairfield reversed on July 15, six days after the three initial LGAs restrictions were tightened.

Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown were added to the list of LGAs under stricter lockdowns on Friday and experts are hoping the numbers drop in those areas, but they say the restrictions should be broadened.

'Although the number of cases is still lower outside south west Sydney, daily cases in the rest of Sydney are now increasing at about the same rate as happened initially in Fairfield  doubling every four to five days,' the research body said.

Researchers have predicted Sydney's lockdown could get much worse. Pictured: A woman walking in Sydney's inner-west on Monday morning

Of the 207 new infections New South Wales recorded on Monday, 83 were found in the city's south-west. Pictured: health workers at Hardi Aged Care Nursing Home Facility at Summer Hill on August 2

FIND THE LATEST EXPOSURE SITES NEAR YOU

'Unless new controls introduced on July 28 or 30 or in the future have a major impact, our model projects that Sydney will have about 7,700 cases per day four weeks from now.'

The experts recommended bringing in 'consistent stringent restrictions', like those seen in the hotspot LGAs, all across the city.

'Not only is this the equitable approach, but epidemiologically sound,' the report concluded.

According to their modelling, it will take until the end of September to get below five new cases per day over seven days.

Some areas not included in the tightened restrictions, such as Burwood, Strathfield, and Bayside are seeing higher case numbers per capita than those under the stricter lockdown.

Australian Defence Force troops have joined NSW police patrolling streets in Sydney's west and southwest during lockdown (pictured, personnel in the city on Monday)

Of the 207 new infections NSW recorded on Monday, 83 were found in the city's south-west - but contact tracers say those infections are contained to the area.

Worryingly, a further 53 were recorded in the west and 48 were in the central Sydney local health district.

To combat a potential explosion of cases, researchers suggested a tighter lockdown for the whole of Sydney.

'The reality is that no one is safe until everyone is safe,' the experts warned.

'Every positive case, no matter in which LGA, takes testing and contact tracing resources and has the potential to trigger new outbreaks.

The experts recommended bringing in 'consistent stringent restrictions', like those seen in the hotspot LGAs, all across the city (pictured, a runner in Bondi on Monday)

Ms Berejiklian said on Monday that at least 50 of those newly-acquired infections were out in the community while infectious. Pictured: Cleaners in personal protective equipment at Strathfield South Public School on Monday

'A highly mobile population means new outbreaks could occur anywhere in Sydney or NSW or across Australia.'

But on a positive note, researchers found that a potential 1,000 new cases per day were avoided because movement in the city was largely curtailed near the start of the outbreak.

'We calculate that the restrictions implemented so far have avoided 4,000 cases, over and above the many prevented by contract tracing and subsequent isolation,' they said.

Ms Berejiklian said on Monday that at least 50 of those newly-acquired infections were out in the community while infectious.

NSW Health also announced a man in his 90s from south-west Sydney had died from Covid-19 at Liverpool Hospital. His death is the fifteenth fatality in the state linked to an outbreak of the highly-contagious Indian Delta strain that began on June 16.

There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals - including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation.

Worrying modelling shows the virus is likely to spread even further in Sydney (pictured on Sunday) and could reach nearly 600 cases a week by Friday

Health workers take out stretchers from an ambulance at the Hardi Aged Care Nursing Home Facility in Summers Hill suburb of Sydney on August 2. There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals - including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation

HOW SYDNEY'S TOUGHER LOCKDOWN RULES WILL AFFECT YOU In the eight hotspot LGAs from 12am on Saturday, July 31 (Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta): Residents must wear a mask whenever leaving the home, including when they are outdoors. The travel limit for essential exercise and shopping has been reduced to 5km from 10km. Those in a 'singles bubble' with another person must follow the same travel restriction. Across NSW: The penalty for breaking mask restrictions will increase from $200 to $500 Police will be given the power to shut down public premises, worksites, and businesses that are caught breaching public health orders. Advertisement

In worrying evidence that the virus is spreading throughout the city, several venues in the Lower North Shore - so far largely unaffected by the spiralling number of cases - have been put on alert.

Both Aldi and Coles supermarkets in Lane Cove have been flagged for July 24, with shoppers warned they are casual contacts and must immediately get tested and self isolate until they receive a negative result.

Two alerts were also issued for St Marys in Sydney's west, with Easy Script Pharmacy shoppers issued an alert for July 31 and Liquor Stax flagged for July 29.

Anyone who visited automotive shop Repco in Rockdale, Sydney's south, on Wednesday July 28 from 10:15am to 5pm or on Thursday July 29 between 10am to 1pm, is also considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and self isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

It is the same story for those who attended The Oaks Hotel in Wollondilly, Sydney's southwest, on Friday July 30 from 12:20pm to 3pm.

Coles supermarket in Lane Cove on Sydney's Lower North Shore (pictured) was flagged as a Covid exposure site

Repco automotive store at Rochdale in Sydney's south (pictured) was issued a Covid exposure alert for two days

A close contact alert has also been issued for anyone who visited Cabramatta Hai Ha Money Transfer, in Sydney's west on July 25 between 7am to 8:20am.

The NSW premier said the priority now was vaccinating the state's 'mobile' residents aged between 20 and 40 - particularly in the eight local government areas.

She said on Monday health officials would have to get 9.2 million jabs in arms across the state to reach a vaccination target of 70 per cent, which she has repeatedly said would trigger an easing of lockdown restrictions.

'Vaccines are working extremely effectively,' she said. 'We still don't know of anybody in intensive care [in NSW] who has received both doses of the vaccine.

'We are at 3.9 million jabs already. Five million jabs means we're halfway to the 80 per cent target and 9.2 million jabs gets us to 70 per cent.'

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.
Ministers stepped in yesterday to protect jobs and expertise after a major defence firm became the latest UK company to fall prey to a foreign takeover.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is seeking guarantees from the American would-be buyer of Meggitt that it will keep the firm's operations in Britain under the proposed 6.3billion deal.

Coventry-based Meggitt traces its history to the 1850s and the invention of the world's first altitude meter for hot air balloons. It makes vital components for planes and military jets with a 2,000-strong UK workforce and is listed on London's FTSE 250 index.

The US firm behind the take-over, Parker-Hannifin, has put forward a range of pledges in an effort to get the Government's support, saying they would be legally binding.

These include taking on apprentices, keeping Meggitt's UK headquarters open and promising to invest more in the company's research arm.

Parker-Hannifin boss Tom Williams insisted his firm has 'a great deal of respect' for Meggitt and will be a 'responsible' owner. But Mr Kwarteng is said to be taking an 'active interest' in the swoop.

As well as asking for more detail, he wants Parker-Hannifin to lay out its long-term plans for the workforce as so far the Ohio-based group has only said jobs in certain divisions will be safe.

Ministers stepped in yesterday to protect jobs and expertise after a major defence firm became the latest UK company to fall prey to a foreign takeover. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is seeking guarantees from the American would-be buyer of Meggitt that it will keep the firm's operations in Britain under the proposed 6.3billion deal [Stock image]

The US company has also said it would cut down on the number of suppliers the combined group would use, potentially putting jobs at risk in the supply chain.

It is the second time in days that Mr Kwarteng has signalled he is closely monitoring the sale of a strategic firm. Another FTSE 250 group, Ultra Electronics, has been approached by American private equity company Advent International over a 2.6billion takeover.

It comes as British companies which have seen their share prices knocked by the Covid crisis  including the AA and supermarket Morrisons  have been buy-up targets for private equity groups and foreign firms.

There are added fears that deals targeting the UK's world-leading aerospace and defence industry could affect national security.

Mr Kwarteng has the power to launch a formal 'intervention' so the Government can assess if a sale would pose a threat.

The City has become more sceptical after Advent bought Cobham, another key defence group, for 4billion last year. It promised to be a long-term investor but sold the majority of the company within 18 months of the tie-up.

Parker-Hannifin boss Tom Williams insisted his firm has 'a great deal of respect' for Meggitt and will be a 'responsible' owner. But Mr Kwarteng is said to be taking an 'active interest' in the swoop [Stock image]

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, defence committee chairman, said the Government must intervene and launch a full investigation into the Meggitt deal. He added there has been a 'one-way ticket' of important UK firms being snapped up by overseas groups.

Tory former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth added: 'Parker-Hannifin has been established in the UK for a long time and they have been prepared to give some commitments.

'I'd like to see some of them be slightly stronger  a number are phrased by 'plans to', 'intends to'  and we all know that intentions can change overnight.'

Meggitt, with 9,000 staff globally, makes parts for the RAF's Typhoon fighter jets, American F-35 aircraft and Hercules military planes. Parker-Hannifin, valued at 29billion, has 2,000 workers in the UK and 55,000 worldwide.

ALEX BRUMMER: As ministers go into battle for UK defence company, are we finally fighting off the foreign sharks?

After a long silence during which great swathes of Britain's aerospace and defence industries have disappeared into private equity and overseas hands, ministers look at last to have decided that enough is enough.

Following a dramatic 6.3billion bid for aerospace and engineering firm Meggitt  vital suppliers to the UK's big two defence contractors BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce  the Government has said it is minded to intervene.

The proposed takeover by US competitor Parker-Hannifin at least comes from a trade buyer and one of Britain's Nato allies. This can only be preferable to a private equity group only interested in a quick deal, an easy profit and with no loyalty to anyone.

But, as with a series of recent takeover attempts for companies in Britain's leading aerospace, defence and satellite sectors, the present deal will be paid for largely by debt and could lead to the loss of UK intellectual property and skills overseas.

No wonder Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who in the past has welcomed overseas deals as showing global confidence in Britain, has indicated he wants to draw a line against the foreign marauders.

Meggitt has been a key player in UK aerospace since 1850. It joins a long list of British firms  including satellite company Inmarsat, flight refuelling group Cobham, antennae maker Laird and GKN Aerospace  to fall into the hands of owners with short-term horizons in an industry where it can take decades to create expertise and an innovative culture.

Following a dramatic 6.3billion bid for aerospace and engineering firm Meggitt  vital suppliers to the UK's big two defence contractors BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce  the Government has said it is minded to intervene [Stock image]

More distressingly still, aerospace and hi-tech are seen as areas in which the UK is most competitive in global markets.

Many believe they have a great part to play in powering the British economy, exports and jobs markets forward after Brexit and Covid. City advisers backing the Parker-Hannifin bid point out that just 10 per cent of Meggitt's income comes from the UK. What is seldom mentioned when it comes to foreign takeovers are the longer-term impacts.

The companies effectively become branches for the foreign buyer. During an economic downturn it is the overseas interests which first lose jobs and investment.

Moreover, with each foreign takeover the corporation tax base, that is the levy on company profits, moves abroad.

When the deal is done by adding debt to the balance sheet, cuts in jobs and investment eventually have to be made. The latest deal comes at a time when other UK defence firms including Ultra Electronics, which makes detector equipment that monitors Russian submarines, and Senior Engineering, which makes parts for fighter jets, are also under siege.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured), who in the past has welcomed overseas deals as showing global confidence in Britain, has indicated he wants to draw a line against the foreign marauders seeking to buy up companies in the UK's aerospace, defence and satellite sectors [File photo]

Many UK companies have become easy prey for overseas buyers because share prices on the London Stock Exchange are at big discounts to their overseas counterparts as a result of the 'Brexit discount'.

This is writ large in the proposed takeover of Meggitt where Parker-Hannifin is offering to pay 70 per cent more for the shares than they were worth before the bid.

A price premium on this scale makes it hard for the board of the company being attacked to defend because they have to get the best deal for investors.

Defence firms are different because they go through a national security and public interest test. In the recent past many pledges made at the time of a takeover, to keep jobs, headquarters and R&D spending, have proved unenforceable because of fast-changing economic conditions.

If the Government indeed stops the Meggitt sale, it would be a rare setback for veteran Meggitt chairman Nigel Rudd, who has earned the sobriquet the 'man who sold Britain' for his role in selling major enterprises including railway signalling firm Invensys and Boots the Chemists.

Many UK corporate horses already have bolted  but finally there is a chance to slam the stable door firmly shut.
Former President Donald Trump will fight any move the Treasury Department makes to turn his tax returns over to Congress, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

'There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States,' Trump's lawyer Ronald Fischetti told the paper.

On Friday the Justice Department ordered Treasury to turn over Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which first requested them more than two years ago.

Former President Donald Trump's lawyer said Monday he will continue to fight to keep his tax returns secret after the Justice Department told the Treasury Department to release his financial records to the Democratic-controlled Congress

President Biden's Justice Department ruled there was a 'sufficient' reasons for Congress to request and receive Trump's tax returns

'The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former President's tax information,' read the opinion from the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.

Trump has long fought requests by the Democratically-controlled congressional committee to gain access to his financial information.

The opinion noted the request for Trump's taxes 'would further the Committee's principal stated objective of assessing the IRS's presidential audit programa plainly legitimate area for congressional inquiry.'

'Treasury must furnish the information to the Committee,' it read.

Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, the chairman of the committee, first sent a request for six years of Trump's personal business tax returns Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig in April 2019.

The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.

In his request, Neal said his committee had the responsibility of ensuring elected officials complied with the nation's tax laws.

The Ways and Means committee is the tax-writing body in Congress.

Then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wouldn't turn over the tax returns because he concluded they were being sought by Democrats who control the House of Representatives for partisan reasons.

Trump also defeated congressional attempts in court.

Trump, unlike previous presidential nominees, declined to release his tax returns during the election, saying he was the subject of an IRS audit.

The decision comes more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court said that Trump's tax returns and other financial records had to be turned over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who is conducting a separate investigation into Trump's business practices.
Its enough to make Captain Birdseye fall overboard.

Fish fingers grown in test tubes could hit supermarket shelves in two years  and threaten the dominance of Birdseye and other traditional fish giants.

The new fingers are made by taking cells from an adult fish which are then multiplied in a laboratory and grown in huge numbers in a bioreactor.

German firm Bluu Biosciences said lab-grown fish will be initially used to make products such as fingers  with fillets possible later.

Company boss Dr Sebastian Rakers said of the technology: There is no need to slaughter fish.

Around 2.7 trillion wild fish are caught for food each year  and billions more are farmed.

German firm Bluu Biosciences said lab-grown fish will be initially used to make products such as fingers  with fillets possible later (file photo)

The firm said the next step is expanding the reactor to an industrial scale.

Dr Rakers said that fish balls, fish fingers and fish tartar would be the first products.

Around 30 per cent of all wild fish stocks are over-fished, while 60 per cent are exploited to the maximum.

However fish farms on land have drawbacks, in particular pollution and parasites proliferating on the fish in their pens due to them being held close together.

There are animal welfare considerations too - in the wild a salmon would swim freely for many hundreds of miles, but in a fish farm swims around in a confined space.

Dr Rakers said work is ongoing to ensure fish cells are produced in a cost-effective manner and refining flavour, texture and nutrient content.
A two-bedroom flat built in the grounds that were once home to Lipton Tea founder Sir Thomas Lipton is for sale for 1.3million.

The luxury home in Southgate, North London, is part of a new development that sits in five acres where the Lipton Tea founder lived for more than 50 years.

The property includes a private roof terrace and is surrounded by large green open spaces, while at the same time being only a five-minute walk from Southgate underground station.

New flats have built in the grounds of the former home of Lipton Tea founder Sir Thomas Lipton

The penthouse in Southgate, North London, is for sale for 1.3million via estate agents Connect Property

Sir Thomas was born in Glasgow in 1848, and often helped his parents run their small shop in the Gorbals.

He eventually opened his own called Lipton's Market in 1871, and it soon became a chain of more than 200 grocery shops across Britain by the 1880s.

In 1890, Sir Thomas bought a tea estate in Ceylon - now Sri Lanka. A change in processes meant that he could sell tea in his stores and globally more cheaply.

He began packaging loose tea in multiple weight options rather than in large crates, which reduced the cost of shipping.

Lipton was the first brand to sell tea leaves in tea bags, and the company is today owned by Unilever.

Historic site: Sir Thomas Lipton lived in a separate building on the grounds for fifty years

The exterior of the building where Sir Thomas Lipton lived is marked with a blue plaque

Pictured: Sir Thomas was born in Glasgow in 1848, and opened his own called Lipton's Market in 1871

In 1892, Sir Thomas Lipton settled at Southgate's Osidge Mansion, which has since been converted into flats.

In addition, eight separate new flats have built in the grounds, including the one that is currently for sale via estate agents Connect Property.

The living area has porcelain floor tiles, recessed ceilings with LED lighting, and a bespoke Italian kitchen. Double doors open out to the terrace that runs along the length of the flat.

There is underfloor heating throughout the property, and both bedrooms have ensuites, with the main bedroom also having a study space.

The living area in the penthouse has porcelain floor tiles, recessed ceilings, and a bespoke Italian kitchen

The property includes a private roof terrace and is surrounded by large green open spaces

Glamour: The luxury property has two bedrooms and underfloor heating throughout

Helen Whiteley, of OnTheMarket.com, said: 'This penthouse is undeniably impressive, from it's luxurious interior to its special location which carries historic significance.'

Andrew Philippou, of estate agents Connect Property, said: 'This penthouse is fitted with high-tech features, from the Sonos multi-room music system to the Lutron mood lighting system.

'The video entry phone system alongside the on-site security who are present at the grounds on a daily basis also make this an incredibly private place to live despite being in the capital.'

There are good transport links nearby, including Southgate station with links into central London. Brent Cross shopping centre is a short drive away and there is easy access to the M25.
The mystery of a Finnish warrior buried in women's clothing 1,000 years ago may have been solved after DNA tests revealed it could have been an intersex person with an extra X chromosome.

The grave in Suontaka Vesitorninmaki, Hattula was first discovered in 1968 during a digging project for a water pipe, and has baffled experts ever since.

It had been thought the Middle Ages grave was the final resting place of either a high-ranking female or a double burial of a man and woman.

But scientists now believe it was just one person, buried with weapons and jewellery, who had an abnormal number of sex chromosomes.

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Discovery: The mystery of a Finnish warrior buried in women's clothing 1,000 years ago may have been solved by new DNA tests. The grave is depicted in this artist's impression above

The warrior was buried on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs, trinkets and brooches (pictured), pointing to high social status. There were also two swords in the Middle Ages grave

The grave in Suontaka Vesitorninmaki, Hattula (pictured) dates back to between AD1050 and AD1300

WHAT IS KLINEFELTER SYNDROME? Klinefelter syndrome is a non-hereditary genetic condition where a person is born with an extra X chromosome. Usually, a female is born with 2 X chromosomes (XX) and a male has 1 X and 1 Y (XY). But in Klinefelter syndrome, a person has an extra copy of the X chromosome (XXY). They are still genetically male, and often will not realise they have this extra chromosome, but it can cause enlarged breast growth, infertility, diminished muscle mass, and reduced body and facial hair. Klinefelter syndrome affects around 1 in every 660 males. Advertisement

Tests of DNA and soil samples suggest the individual had a genetic condition where males are born with an extra X chromosome, known as Klinefelter syndrome.

A person with XXY chromosomes is still genetically male, and often will not realise they have this extra chromosome, but it can cause enlarged breast growth, infertility, diminished muscle mass, and reduced body and facial hair.

Today the condition affects around 1 in every 660 males.

The study by archaeologists from the University of Turku suggests the fighter could have been non-binary.

However, people who identify as non-binary are usually born with bodies that fit typical definitions of male and female, meaning the term intersex is a better description for the Finnish warrior.

Intersex people have anatomy or genes that don't fit typical definitions of male and female, as can be the case with Klinefelter syndrome.

Elina Salmela, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Helsinki, said: 'According to current data, it is likely that the individual found in Suontaka had the chromosomes XXY, although the DNA results are based on a very small set of data.'

The warrior was wearing typical feminine clothes of the Middle Ages and buried on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs, trinkets and brooches, researchers said, pointing to high social status.

Two swords were also found, including a hiltless sword on the skeleton's left hip.

The grave in Suontaka Vesitorninmaki, Hattula dates back to between AD1050 and AD1300 and was first discovered in 1968 during a digging project for a water pipe.

'The buried individual seems to have been a highly respected member of their community,' said Ulla Moilanen from the University of Turku in southwestern Finland.

Archaeologist also discovered that only one of the two swords found in the grave belonged to the original burial setting. They suspect the second (pictured) was hidden in the grave later

This image shows how the skeleton, swords and other objects were found and a reconstruction

The grave in Suontaka Vesitorninmakim was first discovered in 1968 during a digging project

'They had been laid in the grave on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs and objects.'

She added: 'If the characteristics of the Klinefelter syndrome were evident on the person, they might not have been considered strictly a female or a male in the Early Middle Ages community.

'The abundant collection of objects buried in the grave is a proof that the person was not only accepted but also valued and respected. However, biology does not directly dictate a person's self-identity.'

Researchers also discovered that only one of the two swords found in the grave belonged to the original burial setting.

They suspect the second, which had a bronze handle, was hidden in the grave at a later date.

'This also emphasises the importance of the person and their memory for their community,' Moilanen said.

The study has been published in the European Journal of Archaeology.
A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to two female twin cubs early Monday, which, according to the French zoo, 'are very lively, pink and plump.'

The twins, weighing 5.3 and 4.6 ounces respectively, were born shortly after 1 am local time at the Beauval Zoo in south Paris.

Their mother, Huan Huan, and father, Yuan Zi, were sent to France in 2012 and are on a 10-year loan from China - a move that aims at highlighting good ties between the countries.

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The twins are their second and third panda cubs born in France, after Yuan Meng was born in 2017.

'Huan Huan is taking care of them very well. She took them in her mouth to lick them and clean them. We can hear little cries,' the zoo said in a statement.

A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to two female twin cubs early Monday, which, according to the French zoo 'are very lively, pink and plump.' The mother, Huan Huan, is putting them in her mouth to lick them and clean them

The twins, weighing 5.3 and 4.6 ounces, were born shortly after 1am local time at the Beauval Zoo in south Paris

The zoo said the sex of the cubs were determined by the Chinese experts in charge of taking care of them but will need to be definitively confirmed since external genitalia does not appear until they are several months old.

The cubs will not be named before 100 days. They will spend a few years in France before being sent to China, the zoo said.

Other nations in Europe also have giant pandas, including Austria, Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Finland.

There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and about 500 in captivity worldwide.

The zoo said the sex of the cubs were determined by the Chinese experts in charge of taking care of them but will need to be definitively confirmed since external genitalia does not appear until they are several months old

For decades, China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial national mascot in what was known as 'panda diplomacy.' More recently, the country has loaned pandas to zoos on commercial terms.

Panda reproduction, in captivity or in the wild, is notoriously difficult as experts say few pandas get in the mood or even know what to do when they do.

Further complicating matters, the window for conception is small since female pandas are in heat only once a year for about 24-48 hours.

Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi -the star attractions at Beauval - thrilled zoo officials in March when they managed to make 'contact', as they put it, eight times in a weekend.

The cubs will not be named before 100 days. They will spend a few years in France before being sent to China, the zoo said

Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi -the star attractions at Beauval - thrilled zoo officials in March when they managed to make 'contact', as they put it, eight times in a weekend

Veterinarians also carried out an artificial insemination, just to be sure. Pictured is one of the cubs hanging out of its mother's mouth

Veterinarians also carried out an artificial insemination, just to be sure.

'We just lived a moment of rare intensity. These births are always very exceptional but they also bring some surprises,' said Delphine Delord, director of the Beauval Zoo.

Huan Huan's first cub, Yuan Meng, now weighs more than 220 pounds and is to be sent this year to China, where there are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild and another 500 in captivity.

Huan Huan's newborns will not be named for 100 days, with Peng Liyuan - the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping - set to chose what they will be called, the zoo said.

Last December, Taiwan welcomed its own panda cub named Yuan Boa, which means 'round baby' in Chinese.

Pictured is one of the cubs being cared for by zoo staff

Last December, Taiwan welcomed its own panda cub named Yuan Boa, which means 'round baby' in Chinese. The cub was unveiled to some 150 guests and reporters for the first time since her birth on June 28 to Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan

The cub was unveiled to some 150 guests and reporters for the first time since her birth on June 28 to Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan.

The parents were gifted to the Taiwan zoo by China to mark then warming relations between to two rivalling countries.

Yuan Bao was seen clambering over a wooden fame and playing in sawdust as the audience watched from outside the cage.

This cub was much older than the recent twins when it was first shown to the public,

In December, Yuan Boa weighed over 30 pounds, which was a major increase of its 6.5-ounce birth weight.

China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day bring the self-ruled democratic island back into the fold, by force if necessary.
Twitter is offering a cash reward to users who can help it weed out bias in its automated photo-cropping algorithm.

The social-media platform announced 'bounties' as high as $3,500 as part of this week's DEF CON hacker convention in Las Vegas.

The San Francisco-based social network has faced criticism that its 'saliency' algorithm, which uses artificial intelligence to decide which portion of a larger image is the most relevant or important to preview, was discriminatory - objectifying women and selecting white subjects over people of color.

'Finding bias in machine learning models is difficult, and sometimes, companies find out about unintended ethical harms once they've already reached the public,' Rumman Chowdhury and Jutta Williams of Twitter's Machine-Learning, Ethics, Transparency and Accountability (META) project said in a blog post.

'We want to change that.'

The challenge was inspired by how researchers and hackers often point out security vulnerabilities to companies, Chowdhury and Williams explained.

'We want to cultivate a similar community, focused on (machine learning) ethics, to help us identify a broader range of issues than we would be able to on our own,' the post added.

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Twitter has launched a contest offering up to $3,500 to users who find bias in its photo preview tool, which uses algorithms to determine the saliency, or importance, of a part of a larger picture

In a May post, Chowdhury said Twitter's internal testing only found a 4 percent preference for white individuals over black people, and an 8 percent preference for women over men.

'For every 100 images per group, about three cropped at a location other than the head,' she added.

But Chowdhury, whose background is in algorithmic auditing, said Twitter was still concerned about possible bias in the automated algorithm because 'people aren't allowed to represent themselves as they wish on the platform.'

'Saliency also holds other potential harms beyond the scope of this analysis, including insensitivities to cultural nuances,' she wrote.

In September, a Twitter user showed that pictures of Sen. Mitch McConnell and President Barack Obama were almost always cropped to show McConnell, regardless of where the two men's images were placed

Entries will be scored on a variety of weighted criteria, including whether there is denigration, stereotyping, underrepresentation or misrepresentationand whether the harm was intentional or unintentional

According to instructions on the HackerOne site, submitters don't have to be at DEF CON to enter this week's contest.

Entries will be scored on a variety of weighted criteria, including whether there is denigration, stereotyping, underrepresentation or misrepresentation, erasure, or reputational, economic or psychological harm to the subject - and whether the harm was intentional or unintentional.

'Point allocation is also meant to incentivize participants to explore representational harms, since they have historically received less attention,' the guidelines read.

Running through Friday, Aug. 6, at 11:59pm, the challenge also includes $1,000 second-place and $500 third-place prizes, with $1,000 each for most innovative submission and the one that applies to the most types of algorithms.

Winners will be announced at the DEF CON AI Village workshop hosted by Twitter on Aug. 9.

Calling it an industry 'first,' Williams and Chowdhury said they hope the contest sets a standard 'for proactive and collective identification of algorithmic harms.'

Another Twitter user indicated the photo algorithm favored Simpsons character Carl, who is yellow, over Lenny, who is Black

In September 2020, Twitter acknowledged it was investigating reports that its saliency algorithm prefers to preview lighter-skinned people.

Tests of the algorithm done by Twitter users reportedly showed several examples of a preference for white faces.

One individual posted two stretched out images, both with head shots of Sen. Mitch McConnell and ex-President Barack Obama, in the same tweet.

AI EXPERT WARNS AGAINST 'RACIST AND MISOGYNIST ALGORITHMS' A leading expert in artificial intelligence has issued a stark warning against the use of race- and gender-biased algorithms for making critical decisions. Across the globe, algorithms are beginning to oversee various processes from job applications and immigration requests to bail terms and welfare applications. Military researchers are even exploring whether facial-recognition technology could enable autonomous drones to identify targets. University of Sheffield computer expert Noel Sharkey told The Guardian, however, that such algorithms are 'infected with biases' and cannot be trusted. 'There are so many biases happening now, from job interviews to welfare to determining who should get bail and who should go to jail. It is quite clear that we really have to stop using decision algorithms, and I am someone who has always been very light on regulation and always believed that it stifles innovation,' Sharkey told the paper in 2019. 'But then I realized eventually that some innovations are well worth stifling, or at least holding back a bit. So I have come down on the side of strict regulation of all decision algorithms, which should stop immediately.' Calling for a halt on all AI with the potential to change people's lives, Sharkey advocated for vigorous testing before they are used in public. 'There should be a moratorium on all algorithms that impact on people's lives. Why? Because they are not working and have been shown to be biased across the board.' Advertisement

In the first image, McConnell, a white man, was at the top of the photo, and in the second, Obama, who is black, was at the top.

For both photos, however, the preview image algorithm selected McConnell.

Other users then delved into more comprehensive tests to tackle variables and further solidify the case against the algorithm.

One user even used cartoon characters Carl and Lenny from The Simpsons, with the algorithm regularly selecting Lenny, who is yellow, over Carl, who is black.

Another issue which could be hindering the Twitter algorithm is its preference for high-contrast levels, which the company confirmed in a 2018 blog post.

Although not intentionally discriminatory, the algorithm may result in racially biased results.

Introduced in 2018, Twitter's picture-preview tool uses a neural network, a complex system which makes its own decisions using machine learning, to determine which section of a larger photo should appear in a preview.

'Our team did test for bias before shipping the model and did not find evidence of racial or gender bias in our testing,' a Twitter spokesperson told DailyMail.com last fall.

'But it's clear from these examples that we've got more analysis to do.

'We'll continue to share what we learn, what actions we take, and will open source our analysis so others can review and replicate.'

In a September tweet, Twitter Chief Development Officer Parag Agrawal called the racial bias allegations an 'important question.'

'[I] love this public, open, and rigorous test  and [am] eager to learn from this.' he added.

In the wake of the allegations, Twitter tweaked its algorithm so previews show the entire image, wherever possible, instead of defaulting to a closeup.

Biased algorithms are an issue that plagues many fields: A 2018 MIT study found the way AI systems collect data often makes them racist and sexist.

One income-prediction system, for example, was twice as likely to automatically classify female employees as low-income and male employees as high earners.
Greenland's ice sheet lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass in a single day last week, enough ice to cover Florida in two inches of water, officials said.

The extreme melting, which occurred July 27 was due to heatwaves in northern Greenland that raised temperatures to more than 68 degrees Fahrenheit - double the average summer temperature, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute.

While that volume was less than the record single-day ice melt in 2019, which was 12.5 billion tons, last week's event covered a larger area.

Scientists have estimated that melting from Greenland's ice sheet has caused around 25 percent of global sea level rise seen over the last few decades.

If all of Greenland's ice were to melt, the global sea level would increase by another 20 feet - but this is not expected to happen anytime soon.

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Greenland's ice sheet lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass in a single day, which is enough ice to cover Florida in two inches of water

Melting events can create feedback loops that drive further warming and melting in Greenland, according to Marco Tedesco, a climate scientist at Columbia University.

As snow melts, it exposes darker ice or ground beneath, which absorbs more sunlight rather than reflecting it back out of the atmosphere.

'It really positions Greenland to be more vulnerable to the rest of the melting season,' Tedesco, research professor at Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told Reuters.

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet, with nearly 1.8 million square kilometers (695,000 square miles), second only to Antarctica.

While that volume was less than the record single-day ice melt in 2019, which was 12.5 billion tons, last week's (pictured) event covered a larger area

The melting of the ice sheets started in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000.

The mass loss in recent years is approximately four times greater than it was before 2000, say the researchers at Polar Portal.

Greenland's melting typically starts in June and lasts until August, but data shows the island has lost more than 100 billion tons of ice since June.

Brad Lipovsky, a glaciologist at the University of Washington, told The Guardian: 'It's hard to say if it will be a record year for melting this year but there is a ton of warm and moist air over the ice sheet that's causing an amazing amount of melt.

'The alarming thing to me is the political response, or lack of it. Sea-level rise is like a slow-moving train, but once it gets rolling you can't stop it. It's not great news.'

Tedesco and other scientists have warned that models used to project future ice loss do not capture the impact of changing atmospheric circulation patterns - meaning they may be underestimating the future melting of Greenland, which is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

Greenland's melting typically starts in June and lasts until August, but data shows the island has lost more than 100 billion tons of ice since the start. Pictured is a satellite image of Greenland's ice sheet snapped Wednesday

Meanwhile, the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, due to factors including vanishing ice in the Arctic Ocean, which exposes darker water that absorbs solar radiation.

On Wednesday, July 28, air temperatures over Greenland were 'worrisome,' the EU said, with temperatures in Constable Pynt on the east of the island hitting 73.8 Fahrenheit.

Greenland's ice sheet has made headlines recently, as scientists fear it is nearing that the tipping point of no return with 'accelerated melting.'

The stark warning was released this past May by scientists at the University of Copenhagen and the Arctic University of Norway, who analyzed the Jakobshavn basin, located in the Central-Western part, one of the five largest in Greenland.

If this area were to experience extreme melting like the rest of the massive ice sheet, it could disappear completely - an event that would see global sea levels increase by 23 feet.

Dr Niklas Boers, a University of Copenhagen professor, said in a statement: 'We might be seeing the beginning of a large-scale destabilization, but at the moment, we cannot tell, unfortunately.

'So far, the signals we see are only regional, but that might simply be due to the scarcity of accurate and long-term data for other parts of the ice sheet.'
Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman shipwreck dating back nearly 2,200 years stocked with jars used to transport wine and olive oil off the coast of Palermo, Sicily.

According to a translated statement from the Sicilian Region, the shipwreck, dated to the 2nd century B.C., was found in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 92 meters (302ft), near the Isola delle Femmine.

An ancient Roman shipwreck dating back nearly 2,200 years has been discovered off the coast of Palermo, Sicily. The wreck was full of amphorae, jars that were used to transport wine and olive oil

The wreck was found in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Isola delle Femmine, off the coast of Palermo, Sicily

The researchers were able to document 'the presence of a conspicuous load of amphorae, most likely of the wine type,' the statement added.

The discovery is also considered 'one of the most important findings of recent months,' officials added.

An amphorae is an ancient jar with two vertical handles that were used for transporting wine and olive oil and used throughout ancient history, from the Phoenicians to the Romans, according to World History.

According to Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Sicilian wine trade was 'one of the most profitable and widespread activities for entrepreneurs of the time.'

A type of wine, known as Mamertino, 'became so renowned as to attract the attention of [Julius] Caesar, who offered it to his diners in occasion of the celebratory banquet of his third consulate (46 BC),' the newspaper added.

The wreck was full of amphorae, jars that were used to transport wine and olive oil. It's believed these amphorae were mostly used for wine

The Superintendence of the Sea of the Sicilian Region is responsible for safeguarding historical and natural objects found in the waters off the Italian island, according to Italian newspaper PalermoToday.

'The Mediterranean continually gives us precious elements for the reconstruction of our history linked to maritime trade, the types of boats, the transports carried out, the thalassocracies, but also data relating to life on board and the relationships between coastal populations,' Valeria Li Vigni, expedition leader and superintendent of the sea for Sicily, said in the statement.

Li Vigni continued: 'The discovery confirms the presence of numerous archaeological remains in the bathymetric bands over 50/80 meters, which stimulate us to continue our research in the deep sea in synergy with the skills of the ARPA technicians, who will continue to produce excellent results.'

The Calypso South oceanographic vessel investigated the wreck and its remotely operated vehicle was used to photograph it

The scientists used the Calypso South oceanographic vessel to investigate the wreck, using the vessel's remotely operated vehicle to photograph it.

'The study and monitoring of the marine environment, constantly operated by Arpa Sicilia continue to enrich the picture of the precious beauties present in the Sicilian sea in many respects, not only in terms of species and environmental resources,' director Vincenzo Infantino added in the statement.

'[Their] protection is an essential imperative for our community, but also of the recovery of essential elements for the reconstruction of the history of our sea from the point of view of commercial movements.'

The discovery of the wreck and the wine amphorae may also signal a time of peace in the region, known to ancient Romands as Mare Nostrum, La Stampa added.

This shipwreck is the latest one unearthed by archaeologists near Italy in recent memory.

In 2012, divers found a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the town on Varazze in the province of Liguria, that is believed to be a Roman-era commercial vessel.
Researchers may have discovered a nursery of hammerhead sharks off the coast of Florida, which if confirmed, would be the first ever identified in that part of the planet.

Experts have found that a small section of Biscayne Bay, a lagoon on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, may be a region where the endangered sharks give birth and where they spend many of their formative years.

Researchers may have discovered a nursery of hammerhead sharks off the coast of Florida

Experts have found that a small section of Biscayne Bay (inset), a lagoon on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, may be a region where the endangered sharks give birth and where they spend many of their formative years

'We report the first identification of a probable nursery area for young-of-the-year and juvenile great hammerheads off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Notably, these animals were all encountered within highly human-impacted marine habitats near Miami, Florida,' the authors wrote in the study.

'The capture of nine individuals under 200 cm (79 inches) total length in a 10-month period supports the hypothesis that this area represents a primary or secondary nursery habitat for great hammerheads.'

In June 2018, researchers caught the first juvenile great hammerhead near the lagoon. Until January 2020, nine great hammerheads were caught, tagged and released in total, one every few months over a span of 80 total fishing days.

'We were doing research on another species in Biscayne Bay, and just happened to catch a juvenile hammerhead,' the study's lead author, Catherine Macdonald, said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

'Then another. And then another. And after the third or fourth we realized, this isnt a coincidence."

Nine great hammerheads were caught, tagged and released in total, all under 200 cm, between June 2018 and January 2020

Biscayne Bay is a 'large, shallow' area with seagrass beds and coral reefs that support 'considerable biodiversity,' the researchers wrote in the study, adding that it's likely the habitat could provide them with protection and considerable amounts of prey.

Three components are needed to call the area a nursery: more juveniles there than other areas; if the juveniles were there for a lengthy period of time; and if they were still present after a year

The researchers needed three components to call the area a nursery: more juveniles there than other areas; if the juveniles were there for a lengthy period of time, and if they were still present after a year.

According to Oceana.org, hammerheads breed once every two years, doing so via internal fertilization.

Great hammerheads have a faster growth rate than other hammerheads and reach maturity between 5 and 9 years of age.

They can live up to 44 years and possibly longer, the organization added.

Great hammerheads, which can reach slightly more than 13 feet in length and weigh up to 500 pounds, are listed as 'critically endangered,' according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Hammerheads prey on rays, which are somewhat prevalent in Biscayne Bay. They also prey on other sharks, such as black-tips.

Hammerheads breed once every two years and can live up to 44 years of age

Little is known about nursery areas for great hammerheads, although some have been tentatively identified on the Gulf Coast of Florida based on reported catches of juveniles, and larger juvenile individuals have been captured around the Florida Keys.

The study was published last month in Conservation Science and Practice.

A separate, recently published study found that sharks that occupy the same waters hunt in different shifts.

Hammerheads, including scalloped and great hammerheads, were found to be most active during the night, peaking around 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., respectively.
Hundreds of sharks in West Florida have headed inland to escape the deadly red tide that's killed more than 600 tons of marine life in the region.

Different shark species, including bonnethead, blacktip, nurse and lemon sharks have been spotted darting through Longboat Key and into the canals of Buttonwood Harbor, far from their usual habitat.

'You saw fins at first, just popping up,' resident John Wagman told WFLA 8. 'Just something I'd never seen in the canal before.'

Reports of marine predators in the bay started surfacing last week.

'You could literally walk across the canal on the backs of the sharks in the water,' resident Janelle Branowner told FOX 13 Tampa Bay. 'We don't have healthy water in the bay right now.'

The sharks are invading the area because their usual habitats in Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay and along the coast from Pasco to Sarasota Counties, have been infested with red tide, which is caused by unusually high blooms of the algae Karenia brevis.

The algae kills marine life by producing a potent toxin that affects their central nervous system.

It can also cause respiratory problems for humans, and has polluted the water, lowered oxygen levels and filled waterways with fish carcasses.

An usually rampant 'red tide' in west Florida caused by an algae bloom is forcing sharks to look for safe haven in a inland canal near Longboat Key

A red tide appears on Florida's Gulf Coast about once a year, but these natural events are becoming more rampant, experts say, with climate change warming waters and allowing the microscopic algae population to flourish.

The red tide has been 'patchy and persistent since December 2020,' according to Mote Marine Labs, but the bloom has recently increased in severity.

Last week, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FFWC) reported massive fish kills in nine West Florida counties.

Five counties reported complaints by humans of respiratory distress related to red tide.

In the first half of 2021, officials have cleaned up more than 600 tons of dead fish caused by the red tide

Water samples from Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, show concentrations of red tide up to 17 times greater than the level considered high.

While scientists have yet to find a 'smoking gun' for the unusual blooms, Longboat Key is only a few miles from the abandoned Piney Point fertilizer plant, where a breach in April saw millions of gallons of toxic discharge dumped into Tampa Bay, according to The Guardian.

Bonnethead (pictured), blacktip, nurse and lemon sharks have all been spotted in Longboat Key, far from their usual habitats in Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay and along the coast from Pasco to Sarasota Counties

Water samples from Pinellas county show concentrations of red tide up to 17 times greater than the level considered 'high'

Hiding out in the canals is a stopgap measure, experts warn.

'If it goes on long enough, they're gonna run out of food and they're gonna run out of energy,' Jack Morris, senior biologist at Mote Marine Labs and Aquarium, told WFLA. 'And unfortunately some of them, if not all of them, will die.'

The name 'red tide' comes from the fact that overgrowth of algae can cause the color of the water to turn red, as well as green or brown.

City officials say this summer is the worst red tide they have seen since 2018, when a bloom spread nearly 145 miles and killed larger animals like manatees and dolphins.

Since the 1990s, there have only been four summertime blooms in the area: one in 1995, another in 2005 and, most recently, in 2018.

Hundreds of manatees have already died this year due to algae blooms destroying the seagrass beds they eat to survive.

A red tide is a large 'bloom' of toxic algae that appears on Florida's Gulf Coast about once a year. These natural events are becoming more rampant with climate change warming surrounding waters and allowing the microscopic alga population to flourish. Pictured: The region of West Florida affected by red tide blooms in summer 2021

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 841 manatee deaths were recorded between January 1 and July 2, breaking the previous record of 830 in 2013 after an outbreak of toxic red tide.

Earlier in July, marine biologists with Mote attempted a novel approach to tackling red tide: Partnering with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the University of Central Florida, they sprayed wet clay to kill algae cells and toxins, a strategy used around the world to combat toxic similar blooms.

According to a statement from Mote, dry clay is mixed with seawater to create a 'slurry' that is hosed over the infected water.

As the dense clay particles sink, they combine with red tide cellshopefully killing them as they bury them in the sediment on the seafloor.

'This is just the first of what we hope will be several upcoming trials of clay flocculation on active blooms in the wild,' WHOI scientist Don Anderson said in a statement.

'What we learn here will help us better understand how conditions in Florida affect its success and how clay flocculation might be tailored to blooms of Karenia brevis, as well as other species of algae, here and elsewhere in the world.'
The combined lifestyle of just three typical Americans is enough to kill another human being, according to a new study.

Assuming that emissions continue to increase on their current high path, the study, found that there are 2.2610-4, or 0.000226 premature deaths per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted above and beyond 2020 rates.

Essentially, that means for every 4,434 metric tons of CO2 produced beyond current rates, one person is killed.

The average American churns out about 20 metric tons a year, so to hit that 4,434 threshold would take about 225 yearsor three additional 75-year lifespans.

'Based on the decisions made by individuals, businesses or governments, this tells you how many lives will be lost, or saved,' R. Daniel Bressler, a researcher in sustainable development at Columbia University's Earth Institute, said in a statement.

A new study from Columbia University suggests the lifelong lifestyle of three typical Americans creates enough carbon emissions to kill someone.

Coining the phrase 'the mortality cost of carbon,' Bressler quantified 'the mortality impact of those decisions,' he said. 'It brings this question down to a more personal, understandable level.'

The research was published last month in the journal Nature Communications.

That's quite deadly compared to the global average of killing just .08 people per capita.

In the UK, it would take the current emissions of nearly 10 people (9.4 to be precise) to produce the same amount of 'excess mortality,' according to the statement, as compared to 25.8 Brazilians and 146.2 Nigerians.

Americans aren't alone with their deadly carbon footprint, though: According to Bressler's analysis (top): Saudi Arabians could kill 0.33 people per capita. It would take the lifetime CO2 emissions of 146.2 Nigerians, however, to do someone in

Americans aren't alone with their deadly carbon footprint, though: According to Bressler's analysis, Saudi Arabians could kill 0.33 people per capita, with Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Australia hitting similar numbers.

Researchers have been decrying the long-term effects of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses, in both economic and health terms.

But those estimates tend to be on the macro level - how many millions of lives or acres of trees will be lost.

Economist William Nordhaus won a Nobel prize in 2018 for examining the 'social cost of carbon,' which looks at the financial burden of reducing emissions as compared to the cost climate change effects will inflict.

Bressler praises Nordhaus's research but says it misses the impact on mortality rates, which has seen an 'explosion of research' lately, he told The Guardian.

Factoring those mortality figures in, Bressler bumped up the cost of carbon more than 600 percent, from $37 per metric ton to $258.

Bressler admits his numbers are only based on direct temperature-related deaths, such as by heatstrokeignoring fatalities from starvation, drowning, wars or infectious diseases. 'The number could be lower but it could also be a lot higher,' he told The Guardian.

Adding 1 million metric tons to the 2020 baseline emissionsequal to the annual output of an additional 216,000 passenger vehicles, 115,000 homes, or 35 commercial airlinerswould kill 226 people.

Bressler based his formula on the assumption that, based on rising emission trends, by the year 2050 average temperatures will surpass 3.8 Fahrenheit above what they were before the Industrial Revolution, 'the largely agreed-upon limit after which the worst consequences of climate change will kick in.'

The study predicts that by 2100, temperatures would reach 7.4 F higher, resulting in some 83 million additional deaths.

Bressler admits his numbers aren't exact, and there's always the chance world governments could make a major U-turn in the coming years.

The study predicts that by 2100, temperatures will reach 7.4 F higher than pre-industrial rates, resulting in some 83 million additional deaths

But he only factored direct temperature-related deaths, such as by heatstrokeignoring fatalities from starvation, drowning, wars, infectious diseases and numerous other indirect results of rising temperatures.

'I was surprised at how large the number of deaths are,' Bressler told The Guardian. There is some uncertainty over thisthe number could be lower but it could also be a lot higher.'

In April 2021, the International Energy Agency predicted carbon dioxide emissions would swell by the second-highest increase in history, as manufacturing and shipping resume in the wake of the pandemic.
The two endangered snow leopards that tested positive for COVID-19 at the San Diego Zoo a week and a half ago are recovering, officials said in an update.

'The male and female snow leopards, suspected to have contracted the virus that causes COVID-19, are not showing any concerning signs of illness other than coughs that are diminishing,' a San Diego Zoo spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Monday. 'They are eating and moving about normally.'

Three-year-old Naphisa and 9-year-old Ramil tested positive late in July after experts at the zoo tested stool samples for both mammals, according to the San Diego Tribune.

Naphisa first showed symptoms the week of July 23, according to the zoo's Twitter account. A few days later, Ramil also began to show symptoms.

The two snow leopards that tested positive for COVID-19 at the San Diego Zoo last month are recovering. The leopards' coughs are diminishing and they don't show other signs, officials told DailyMail.com

Three-year-old Naphisa and 9-year-old Ramil tested positive late in July. It's unclear how the two big cats contracted the virus

The two Amur leopards that share the enclosure with the snow leopards have not shown any sign of illness.

'Our dedicated team of specialists will continue to provide all four leopards the best care available - monitoring them closely and treating symptoms as they may arise,' the spokesperson added.

It's unclear at this time how the two big cats contracted the virus, but the Tribune noted that other animals at the zoo have been infected.

In January, a gorilla troop became infected after they were exposed to a keeper who was also infected, but did not show symptoms. The gorillas have since recovered, the outlet added.

The snow leopards are the only two at the zoo, which has had the animals in its care since the first arrived in 1949. Thirteen cubs have been born at the park since then

The snow leopards are the only two at the zoo.

The zoo has kept snow leopards since 1949, and thirteen cubs have been born at the park since then.

There are an estimated 4,080-6,590 snow leopards - and 90 Amur leopards- in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, but exact numbers are hard to come by because of the cats remote habitat and natural shyness.

Snow leopards are listed as 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with poachers hunting them for their fur and mining in high mountain ranges meaning increased competition for space and food.

Scent sprays are added to boulders, logs, and ground cover in their rocky enclosure, and bones and other food items are placed in challenging areas, to encourage exercise and mental stimulation.
Tyson Fury's positive Covid test has drawn more scepticism with one of his own sparring partners Michael Hunter claiming the situation seems 'fishy' because the Gypsy King 'wasn't doing too well' in his preparations for Deontay Wilder.

The British world champion was due to fight Wilder in Las Vegas on July 24 but their trilogy clash had to be postponed until October 9 after Fury contracted Covid.

Heavyweight contender Hunter was brought in for sparring sessions to help get Fury ready to face Wilder for a third time and revealed he was struggling in his camp.

Tyson Fury's positive Covid test seemed 'fishy,' according to one of his own sparring partners

Michael Hunter (R) was brought in for sparring and claimed Fury's camp wasn't going to plan

The American suggested something underhanded could be at play as he cast doubts over Fury's withdrawal just days after Wilder claimed he was 'lying' to buy more time.

Speaking to FightHype, Hunter said: 'We do know that he wasn't doing too well in the gym, but not enough to call the fight off.

'To me, it was kind of funny because, on the first day, they said, "Somebody on this team got Covid".

'And then the next thing we heard was Tyson got Covid. So I thought that was a little fishy.'

Wilder accused Fury of 'lying' about testing positive for Covid alongside a picture and video of himself hitting the pads with trainer Malik Scott

Fury has since hit back at his rival on Twitter, labelling him a 'real piece of work' and a 'p****'

A furious Fury hit back at Wilder last week after the Bronze Bomber said he is 'going to hell' for lying about having Covid.

In response, Fury wrote on Twitter: 'This man is a real piece of work. A real bully excuse maker. Not a warrior or a man at all.

'Beat the mug 2 times. Ive battered him and his trainer. But still talking s***. Real p******.'

Speaking exclusively to Sportsmail last month, Fury insisted that he was 'the last person to blame' for the situation, and was adamant that he had kept his inner circle small as he doesn't favour a 'large entourage'.

But his promoter Bob Arum - who was under the impression that Fury was fully vaccinated - took no prisoners as he ripped into Fury and his camp for the 'f*** up'.

Fury's positive test meant his fight with Wilder subsequently had to be pushed back to October

Fury's promoter Bob Arum was furious with him and his camp, calling the situation a 'f*** up'

Arum said: 'He said that he got the first shot when he was in Miami and then he had to wait the two weeks.

'He didn't want to get the second shot because he heard that people had a reaction from a second shot and he didn't want to lose any training time.

'They told me he was vaccinated. I assumed it was two shots. Who gets vaccinated and doesn't (get the second shot)? He only had one shot. I never knew that he hadn't (gotten the second one) until he got sick.

'I really screamed at all of them. It was a complete f*** up. The people in the gym, I mean, we had no controls. It was like every sparring partner brought his friend. SugarHill (Steward) had these Russians (he trains) running around.

'There was absolutely no precaution taken, which a lot of it was our fault. We should have been the adult in the room.'
Barca still need to reduce their wage bill so they can register him with LaLiga

The 34-year-old has agreed to slash his astronomical wages by 50 per cent

The new contract will see him stay at the Nou Camp for another five years

Lionel Messi has reportedly concluded contract talks with Barcelona and will stay at the club by penning a new deal until 2026 - meaning he will remain at the Nou Camp until he's nearly 40.

The 34-year-old, whose deal expired at the end of June, has finally agreed to new terms with SPORT claiming negotiations are now finalised.

Barcelona, however, still need to reduce their wage bill so Messi's new contract can be registered with LaLiga.

Lionel Messi has agreed to sign a new contract with Barcelona to keep him there until 2026

An announcement is expected to be made in the coming days after a breakthrough was made in talks on Monday with Messi's father Jorge.

Messi has been in direct dialogue with the club over extending his stay for months now and news that he has decided to stay will come as welcome relief to Barcelona supporters.

Due to Barcelona's dire financial position, Messi has had to take a 50 per cent pay deduction from his previous deal, which was worth in excess of 425million over four years.

That means Messi's earnings will be slashed by 250,000 every week on his new five-year contract.

The Barcelona star has had to take a 50 per cent pay deduction on his new contract

Messi's new deal ends months of uncertainty and will go some way to helping the club with their cost cutting following warnings from LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who says their spending must continue to be reduced drastically before Messi can be registered.

Barcelona have continued to invest this summer despite their finances, brining in Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia on free transfers as well as signing Emerson Royal for close to 8m.

The LaLiga giants still have to negotiate wage deferrals with some of their highest earners, with plans to ask Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto to delay 40 per cent of their salaries.

Barcelona chief Joan Laporta still needs to reduce his wage bill so he can register Messi

They are also looking to offload some of their fringe players, including Samuel Umtiti, Miralem Pjanic and Martin Braithwaite, with the club still unable to register some of their new signings just under two weeks before the new season gets underway.

Expensive flops Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho have also been linked with exits, but reports in Spain over the weekend claimed Barcelona will only sell them if they receive an 'irresistible' offer.

Messi, who is currently on holiday in Ibiza and spent the weekend there with his family and the families of Luis Suarez and Cesc Fabregas, is still waiting for the finer details to be finalised and will not return for pre-season until the contract is signed.

The 34-year old has been with Barcelonas academy since 2000, amassing 778 games and scoring 672 goals.
British athlete Tom Bosworth has lashed out at the International Olympic Committee over the 'prison' conditions at the race walking venue in Sapporo.

In a series of angry tweets that he has since deleted, Bosworth criticised the 'slop' being served up in a 'sweaty school dining hall' at Sapporo Odai Park.

Ahead of his challenge in the 20km walk on Thursday, the 31-year-old from Sevenoaks wrote: 'Hey @iocmedia you know the millions of (dollars emoji) you make off the Olympics. Any chance, in the week of our race we could get some food?

Team GB athlete Tom Bosworth blasted the food selection in Sapporo in a now-deleted tweet

The 31-year-old posted a video walking through the cafeteria at the Sapporo accommodation

'Like meals? Not cold slop, steamed onions or partly cooked pasta? This is the "pinnacle of sport." Sapporo feels like a prison.'

An accompanying video showed the food being served.

Bosworth, who begins his Tokyo campaign this week and won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, clearly feels the current selection of meals is not adequate for a professional sportsperson.

He later added: 'Welcome to the sweaty school dining hall that a lifetime of hard work gets you. @iocmedia any chance you could be a little athlete focused? Any chance we could have somewhere to get some fresh air aside from the 900m training lap we have? A cup of coffee wouldn't go amiss.'

The 31-year-old asked for food other than 'cold slop, steamed onions or partly cooked pasta'

Some of those who initially replied to his tweet expressed sympathy for Bosworth's plight

Some on Twitter expressed sympathy, with one saying: 'Looks like the options available at a budget all inclusive holiday.

Another added: '#Japan, such great cuisine, #Tokyo the culinary capital of the world. Disappointed to see/hear that!'

However, others disagreed and felt the complaints betrayed a bad attitude on Bosworth's part.

One social media user responded: 'To describe the accommodation as "like a prison" is insulting. Japan is doing its best to hold an Olympics during the most difficult circumstances. If you have a problem with the food, why not say something to the local staff rather than posting offensive comments on social media?'

However, several others felt Bosworth's complaints about the food betrayed a bad attitude

A second asked: 'Have you tried prison food? Bit of a spoilt brat attitude, you are aware people are starving around the world and would love a meal like this. Get a grip.'

Another said: 'Any chance you could stop whinging? You're only going for a walk. It's not like you're an elite athlete!' while a fourth added: 'Food might (be) crap but feels like a prison? Come on.'

Bosworth finished sixth at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Great Britain's Tom McEwen won the silver medal in the eventing individual competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

McEwen took silver in the individual competition on Toledo De Kerser after a faultless clear round.

German Julia Krajewski took gold, while Team GB's Oliver Townend had two fences down to finish fifth having begun the final showjumping round in second.

Tom McEwen took silver after a faultless clear round as German Julia Krajewski came first

Krajewski won gold to spoil what could have been a perfect day for Team GB and McEwen

Laura Collett, meanwhile, had eight faults when the final two fences in her round dropped, finishing ninth.

The day began on a high note as McEwen, Townend and Collett won the team eventing gold, Britain's first in the event since Munich 1972.

Reflecting on his team round, McEwen said: 'He is a class horse and a great jumper, so it was just up to me on top.

'My nerves were fine. They (Townend and Collett) are both brilliant riders, and I had no doubt they would pull it straight out of the bag quite easily and comfortably.'

And Collett, who dropped places individually after having one fence down, added: 'He (London 52) was his normal self at the start, then I think there was a reflection off the water and he just spooked, basically.

'He got it back together. It's a shame, but it could have been a whole lot worse in that situation. It was a very clever course.'
The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson checks into our travel Q&A

The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson checks into our travel Q&A.

He talks about his earliest travel memory, the times he has been most afraid, his worst setback - and more.

YOUR EARLIEST TRAVEL MEMORY?

I travelled only between London and Suffolk until I was 19. Then, in 1962, my father said he would take me to Casablanca  he was a film buff and wanted to see the real place. Since then I've visited at least 154 countries.

WHAT GAVE YOU THE TRAVEL BUG?

My father's stories about the Suez Canal, India and Australia. He had been around the world several times because he ran away to sea at 15 and became a steward on a P&O liner.

EVER BEEN AFRAID?

Lots of times. On an internal flight in Colombia I fell asleep and a huge thug in front of me jammed his seat back into my face. I was so cross I pushed it forward and my cameraman said: 'I really don't think that is a good move.' I think the thug worked for a cartel.

ESSENTIAL ITEM?

Music on my phone. I listen to everything from Shostakovich to Ed Sheeran.

WORST SETBACK?

I was trying to cross a bridge in Angola during the war there, and a drunken soldier threw my passport in the river. I had to stay for another two months.

Simpson says Iran is his favourite destination - but he is banned 'for now'. Pictured, a sunrise shot of the city of Kashan

TOP RESTAURANT?

La Fontaine de Mars, in Paris.

BEST HOTEL?

The Negresco, in Nice.

YOUR FAVOURITE DESTINATION?

Iran. It's delightful  but I'm banned for now.

WHERE NEXT?

I'd like to visit Chad to see its brilliant mud-brick buildings. And my new novel is set in China, which I've been going to since the Tiananmen Square demos [in 1989].

I don't like the way the government works, but the people and culture of China, I love.
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Summer is made for messing about on the water.

And while accommodation on British shores is filling up fast, there are still berths on boats up for grabs  whether you hire your own canal boat or opt for a cabin on board a yacht.

ON TOP OF THE WORLD IN THE STREAM IN THE SKY

On a canal boating holiday with Drifters you can float across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in North Wales, pictured

Float across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in North Wales and the 11 miles of the Llangollen Canal that were given Unesco World Heritage status for being a 'pioneering masterpiece of engineering' by Thomas Telford. Dubbed the 'Stream in the Sky', the aqueduct has 18 metal and masonry arches. A three-night weekend in August for four costs from 1,399, excluding fuel (drifters.co.uk).

For picturesque scenery, try the Mid-Worcestershire Ring, a 21-mile loop that can easily be completed on a short break. There are 33 locks to navigate, and take time to explore Worcester, the final resting place of King John. Three-night breaks in the summer cost from 1,499 for six or 1,599 for eight (abcboathire.com).

CATCH A KETCH AROUND POLDARK COUNTRY

If you prefer to charter a whole boat, Venture Sail Holidays has skippered ships available, including the Westcountry cutter Unity (left, with one of its bedrooms pictured right)

A week for four on Venture Sail's Unity costs from 4,800, including all meals. Pictured, the boat's dining room

Think Cornwall will be too crowded this summer? See it from the sea instead, channelling your inner Poldark and starting out from the pretty St Austell Bay harbour of Charlestown on the south coast on a Cornish ketch or schooner. A three-night voyage of the Cornish coast, taking in Fowey, Falmouth and the Helford River, among other places, costs from 375pp, including meals, while a five-night voyage around the Isles of Scilly costs from 725pp (charlestown-harbour.myshopwired.co.uk).

If you prefer to charter the whole boat, Venture Sail Holidays has skippered ships available, including the Westcountry cutter Unity. A week for four costs from 4,800, including all meals (venturesailholidays.com). The company also features trips with single berths.

ROYAL LINKS ON THE COAST WITH THE MOST

Make a splash: Sail the Solent with yacht charter company Fairview Sailing, which is based in Hamble

The interior of an Oceanis 45 yacht, available to rent via Fairview Sailing. A skipper can be hired for 250 a day for those who prefer a more relaxed voyage

Sail the waters made famous by the annual Cowes yachting regatta on the Isle of Wight, taking in Queen Victoria's Osborne House, the circular forts surrounded by water, and the Needles rock formations off the coast. Or sail along the Dorset coast, taking in the natural archway of Durdle Door and dropping anchor in lovely Lulworth Cove. Yacht charter company Fairview Sailing, which is based in Hamble, has availability in the summer, with seven nights from 2,789 for six to eight people in three cabins. A skipper can be hired for 250 a day (fairviewsailing.co.uk).

Click&Boat, the Airbnb of the nautical world, has weekend or week-long availability. A six-berth boat with two cabins, based in Poole Harbour, can be rented for five days in the summer from 1,228, plus 200 a day for a skipper. At the other end of the scale, a skippered 54ft 12-berth vessel, with four en suite cabins, costs from 4,259 for five days in summer (clickandboat.com).

HAVE A WHALE OF A TIME IN SCOTLAND

Explore some of Scotland's more remote gems aboard a Venture Sail Holidays tall ship (pictured), departing from Mallaig on the north-west coast

The luxurious saloon on the Venture Sail Holidays ship that will be sailing around the Scottish coast this summer

A week in August on Venture Sail Holiday's tall ship costs from 1,533pp, including meals

Learn to sea kayak in Scotland on a new five-day trip that's been added in August, in the beautiful surroundings of Loch Torridon and ending with a trip to Kinghorn Island, with its resident seal colony. Five days, starting on August 13, with accommodation in a bunkhouse and including breakfast, lunch and some dinners, costs from 875pp (responsibletravel.com).

Alternatively, take in the same area on a less active break aboard a tall ship, departing from Mallaig on the north-west coast. Explore Kinloch Castle on the island of Rum, the Singing Sands on Eigg, and try to spot basking sharks, minke whales, porpoises and even orca in the waters off Muck. You'll also see Barra and Kisimul Castle, scenically set in the bay surrounded by sea, and North and South Uist, with their white powder beaches. A week in August costs from 1,533pp, including meals (venturesailholidays.com).

Take a canal boating holiday to another level on a Falkirk to Edinburgh return trip, starting in the world's only rotating boat lift, which raises vessels 115ft from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal. The route includes the 690-yard-long Falkirk Tunnel, which was blasted through the hillside so that the canal didn't flow through the land of Callendar House, and Scotland's largest aqueduct at Avon. A week for five people on a two-bedroom boat, with space for a dog, costs from 1,899 in July  diesel is extra and costs about 10 a day (black-prince.com).

CRUISE TO THE CITY OF DREAMING SPIRES

With Le Boat, you can captain your own motor cruiser along the western section of the River Thames

The homely interior of a Le Boat motor cruiser. Seven nights costs from 1,459 in a boat for three, or up to 3,109 in a boat sleeping eight

Captain your own motor cruiser along the western section of the River Thames, where moorings are easy to find. Starting and ending at Benson in Oxfordshire, it's a six-hour putter to the dreaming spires of Oxford. Head in the other direction for the same distance and you'll reach Henley-on Thames, home of British rowing. Seven nights costs from 1,459 in a boat for three, or up to 3,109 in a boat sleeping eight (leboat.com).

Landlubbers who prefer to return after a day on the river to a comfortable hotel room should take a look at The Runnymede on Thames, which is just ten minutes from Windsor.

You can head out on one of the hotel's fleet of boats and take a picnic for fun on the water before returning to soak in the outdoor hot tub, where you can carry on watching life on the river float past.

B&B doubles this summer cost from 190 a night, with boat hire from 45 an hour for electric boats, or 100 an hour for diesel-powered craft that take up to 12 guests (runnymedehotel.com).
Listening to the sound of waves, eating fish and chips and watching the world go by are Britons' favourite things to do beside the seaside, according to a recent survey.

In total, 66 per cent of UK adults polled named listening to the sound of waves as their top coastal pastime.

A further 62 per cent said they enjoy tucking into fish and chips and 61 per cent said they like watching the world go by best.

Two youngsters enjoy fish and chips from Giacopazzis in Eyemouth

Meanwhile, 57 per cent of those quizzed in the YouGov poll, commissioned by VisitScotland, can't resist a seashore ice cream, and a further 57 per cent like strolling the boardwalk.

The survey, with a sample size of 2,103, also revealed that 98 per cent of UK adults have been to the seaside and, despite the UK's unpredictable weather, 38 per cent like to sunbathe on the beach.

Other recent findings by VisitScotland show that almost two-thirds of people are keen to revisit places in Scotland they haven't been to for years. Some are doing so in a different way, either by trying new activities such as paddle-boarding and canoeing, or by staying in different accommodation, such as a glampsite or a luxury hotel.

Eating ice cream is one of the nation's favourite seaside pleasures, according to a new survey

VisitScotland is encouraging people to take a holiday at the seaside this year to help the tourism industry recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Suggested trip locations include Nairn, 'a relaxing and friendly seaside resort' in the Scottish Highlands; Arbroath in Angus, with its historic harbour; Irvine, with its award-winning beach; Eyemouth, with its 'fine coastal scenery', and Burntisland, which sits on the Fife Coastal Path.

Chris Greenwood, VisitScotland's senior tourism insight manager, said: 'As we celebrate the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21 there's never been a better time to visit the seaside. Scotland's coastline is stunning, full of golden sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs, spectacular marine life and lots of history and heritage.

Hotspot: Irvine boasts an award-winning sandy beach (pictured) and a bustling town centre

'It is where families have holidayed for generations and with so many holidaying at home this year, we're increasingly seeing people seeking out experiences that they maybe haven't enjoyed since childhood, coupling nostalgia with a desire to recreate new memories with loved ones.

'The seaside is the perfect spot to embrace water wellness and enjoy a break away from it all while being mindful of water safety.

'In the wake of Covid-19, it is important that Scots support local businesses, and Scotland's seaside locations are ready to welcome visitors on a staycation, serving stunning scenery, mouth-watering food and drink or a totally new experience.'
Holiday-starved Britons have rushed to book breaks to Croatia since it was added to the 'green list'.

Skyscanner recorded an immediate daily surge in bookings of up to 50 per cent for 2021 holidays there following the change in status by the government.

The travel site has also charted a 199 per cent increase in searches week on week for the holiday hotspot in the wake of the announcement.

There has been a recent spike in bookings for travel to Croatia. Pictured is Dubrovnik

The top-booked Croatian airports are Split, Dubrovnik and Zagreb.

The average return airfares for these destinations, booked since the announcement, are 165 for Split, 174 for Dubrovnik and 132 for Zagreb.

Croatia was moved to the green list on Wednesday, July 14, meaning Britons don't have to quarantine following a visit. It was then added to the 'green watchlist', indicating a risk of going amber.

Looking ahead to the October half-term, Skycanner also released early flight search data that reveals travellers are showing interest in long-haul trips to winter sun destinations.

The most popular searches have been for Bangkok, followed by Bali and New York.

Las Vegas is the fourth most-searched destination for an October getaway and Tokyo is fifth in the ranking.

Jon Thorne, Skyscanner's traveller expert, said: 'In a pre-pandemic "normal year" October and half term, in particular, is a very popular time for a family getaway abroad, and we would usually see British travellers searching on Skyscanner for destinations such as Canary Islands and Dubai for some short-haul winter sun.

Skyscanner's data shows Bali is the second-most-searched destination for an October getaway

'With an ever-changing travel situation, interestingly we're seeing a highly responsive travel community start to dream of bucket list trips again with attention instead turning to destinations further afield such as Bali and Bangkok.

'Historically travel bookings - and flights in particular - have often been notoriously inflexible. However, the events of the past year have forced airlines and hotels to take a more flexible approach, coupling amendable bookings with extremely attractive pricing.

'This seems to be fuelling a new mindset among British travellers and we have seen a noticeable increase in interest around flexible bookings. Bookings which fall under these policies are highlighted on our site, clearly showing travellers how to book travel that can be adjusted easily if needed, without incurring extra costs.'
The Holiday Guru is always on hand to answer your questions.

This week he turns his attention to the extremely confusing world of Covid travel tests...

Q. My 18-year-old daughter has had one jab and has proof of recent recovery from Covid on her NHS app. Greece will accept this, but can she also re-enter the UK without quarantine?

Catherine, via email.

NHS tests cannot be used for foreign travel purposes. You will have to pay for one

A. No. Exemption from quarantine on return from amber countries such as Greece is dependent on having two jabs if you are over 18.

See the Greek entry requirements page and latest Government travel traffic light system rules, both at gov.uk  for Scotland (gov.scot), for Wales (gov.wales).

Q. My wife and I are going to Tenerife and are fully jabbed. Please could you advise on the standard of lateral flow/antigen tests needed prior to returning?

Lee Darrah, via email.

A. Exact standards are complicated and explained at Coronavirus testing before you travel on gov.uk. To keep things simple, two options are available: either book a lateral flow test to take with you from an officially recognised UK supplier such as Qured.com (39) or ask your hotel, rep or a local pharmacy for a trusted test centre that meets fit to fly standards. Such tests are usually about 26.

Q. On return from Spain, can I take a free NHS PCR test?

Stephen Macqueen, via email.

A. No. NHS tests cannot be used for foreign travel purposes. You will have to pay for one.

Q. I am travelling to Northern Ireland soon. Do double-jabbed visitors from England require tests?

Paul Donald, Essex

A. You are advised to take a lateral flow test (NHS tests are OK here) before travel, then on day two and day eight of being in Northern Ireland. On return, the same procedure is advised. Note that this is merely a recommendation not a rule. See Coronavirus: travelling within the Common Travel Area at nidirect.gov.uk.

If you have two jabs you can travel to any green, green watchlist or amber country

Q. Its hard to navigate government websites about what tests I need to travel. Im double jabbed. Help!

Delia Worth, via email.

A. If you have two jabs you can travel to any green, green watchlist or amber country  with the UK government requiring that you take a lateral flow/antigen test 72 hours before returning home, and a PCR test on return by day two. However, some countries may have test requirements and this varies country by country. You must check entry requirements for your destination at gov.uk.

Q. I have booked a holiday in Crete. Can I complete my return Passenger Locator Form before I go?

Jenny Pritchard, via email.

A. Unfortunately not. Forms must be submitted in the 48 hours before arrival in the UK. Best to find somewhere to arrange a print-out in Crete.

WERE HERE TO HELP

If you need advice, the Holiday Guru is here. Email holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk.
Tiger Lily Hutchence sparked rumours she's set to marry to her rocker boyfriend Nick Allbrook after she was spotted wearing a ring on her engagement finger.

And while the daughter of late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence has yet to confirm the whispers, reports claim she's already in the thick of planning her dream wedding.

Perth-based Tiger Lily, 25, is 'waiting for international border restrictions to ease' so her older half-sisters and stepfather Sir Bob Geldof can attend the nuptials, reports Woman's Day.

Wedding bells? Tiger Lily Hutchence is secretly planning a low-key wedding to boyfriend Nick Allbrook, reports Woman's Day. The couple are pictured in Perth on December 20, 2020

'Bob thinks of Tiger as his own daughter and has offered anything she wants, but Tiger wants to keep it simple,' a source told the magazine.

'She'll be happy with vows at sunset on South Beach [in Fremantle, Western Australia] and then a few beers with friends and family,' they added.

The insider said Tiger Lily can't wait to exchange vows with Nick, 33, as she knew 'pretty much straight away he was The One'.

Understated: 'She'll be happy with vows at sunset on South Beach [in Fremantle, Western Australia] and then a few beers with friends and family,' a source told the magazine

'They're so good together and she feels very spiritually connected to their new home in WA. She is truly happy,' said the insider.

Tiger moved to Fremantle to be with Nick, the frontman of psychedelic rock band Pond and a former member of Tame Impala, after they began dating in 2017.

In 1997, when Tiger Lily was just 16 months old, her father, Michael Hutchence, killed himself in a Sydney hotel room.

Moving for love: Tiger (L) moved to Fremantle to be with Nick (R), the frontman of psychedelic rock band Pond and a former member of Tame Impala, after they began dating in 2017

Ring-a-ding-ding! Tiger (R) was recently spotted wearing an engagement ring on Instagram

Never forgotten: Tiger's late father, Michael Hutchence (pictured), was the frontman of Australian rock band INXS. Pictured in June 1988 in London

Her mother, Paula Yates, was found dead at her home in London less than three years later.

Tiger Lily was raised by her mother's ex-husband, Sir Bob Geldof, alongside her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.

Tragically, Peaches died of a heroin overdose in 2014.

Tragic: In 1997, when Tiger Lily was just 16 months old, her father killed himself in a Sydney hotel room. Pictured with her father as a baby
She's one of the world's most famous models.

But Kendall Jenner went for a decidedly casual look while out running errands in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The 24-year-old social media personality appeared to be taking it easy while making her way through a parking garage during her low-key solo trip.

Stepping out: Kendall Jenner was seen cutting a very casual figure while running errands in Los Angeles on Sunday

Jenner was dressed in a graphic-printed white tank top that placed her sculpted arms on full display during her errand run.

She contrasted her shirt with a pair of form-hugging black shorts that clung tightly to her curvy hips.

The reality television figure notably sported a set of cream-colored Yeezy slides, which were designed by her estranged brother-in-law, Kanye West.

She accessorized with a single bracelet and wore a stylish pair of black sunglasses while keeping a tote bag slung over her right shoulder.

Comfortable clothing: The social media personality was dressed in a graphic-printed tank top and a pair of form-hugging black shorts

Staying safe: The Instagram powerhouse was seen wearing a brown facial covering to keep herself protected from COVID-19 while spending time in public

Jenner's luscious brunette locks remained tied back in a long ponytail for the duration of her outing.

The influencer also wore a light brown facial covering to keep herself protected from COVID-19 while she spent time in public.

Last week, the social media personality shared a trio of photos to her Instagram account where she was pictured standing in the back of a pickup truck full of cases of her tequila, 818.

The model kept it simple in the shots, as she was dressed in a tank top and a pair of white jeans.

Showing off: Last week, Jenner was seen in a trio of promotional shots for her tequila brand, 818, that were shared to her Instagram account

Jenner initially launched 818 last month, and the liquor brand proved to be an immediate hit with consumers following its release.

An insider recently spoke to Page Six and commented that the Instagram powerhouse 'became an overnight tequila mogul' following the spirit's debut.

The source also noted that the company itself 'could barely meet the consumer demand' after its launch.

The insider pointed out that many distributors had commented that 818 experienced 'the best spirits brand launch they've ever seen in this price range.'

Major success: An insider spoke to Page Six and expressed that the reality television figure 'became an overnight tequila mogul' after the launch of her brand

However, Jenner was confronted with various claims of cultural appropriation following the line's launch.

The influencer was specifically called out for her appearance in several of the brand's promotional shots, where she dressed similarly to Mexican agricultural workers.

Others pointed to the fact that the social media powerhouse had no obvious connection to the country's culture other than her interest in tequila.

She notably disabled the comments on several Instagram posts where the discussion over her actions was being held.
Minnie Driver looked effortlessly stylish as she donned an elegant cherry red maxi dress on Sunday.

The 51-year-old looked chic in the bold ensemble as she stepped out for a shopping spree in New York City.

Carrying a collection of bags, the English-American star was pictured smiling as she headed out of the Westerlind store in Soho.

Lady in red: Minnie Driver, 51, looked a lady in red as she donned an elegant cherry maxi dress on Sunday in New York City

Her bright number featured a high-neck and pleats along the bust as it cinched in along her tiny waist.

The Good Will Hunting actress stepped out in the Big Apple in a pair of clean white Nike trainers with a burgundy stripe.

Minnie accessorised with a pair of oversized geometric-shaped sunglasses and wore a black Chanel purse over her shoulder.

The Academy Award nominee looked fresh-faced as she smiled in the city centre, showcasing her natural glow.

Fresh: The star looked chic in the bold ensemble as she stepped out for a shopping spree

Shop 'til you drop: Carrying a collection of bags, the English-American star was pictured smiling as she headed out of the Westerlind store in Soho

Minnie is engaged to Addison O'Dea and has an 11-year-old son Henry Story from a brief fling with her former The Riches writer, Timothy J. Lea.

In January, Minnie revealed how she found out as a child how her father was married to someone other than her mother.

The actress learned at 12-years-old that her father Ronnie Driver was married to a different woman throughout his relationship with her model mother Gaynor Churchward.

Talking to The Sunday Times Magazine alongside her mother, Minnie explained her parents separated when she was six, but she later discovered they'd never been married.

Wow! Her bright number featured a high-neck and pleats along the bust as it cinched in along her tiny waistline

Oops! The Minnie Questions podcast host she revealed her black bra straps on her shoulders

The actress said: 'My parents separated when I was six, but at the age of 12 I discovered they had never been married, and that throughout their relationship my father was married to somebody else and had another family.'

Minnie said that it was her mother who helped her process the news about her parents relationship.

Former model and designer Gaynor told the publication she had been with Minnie's father for five years when she fell pregnant with their second child.

Although she called him a 'complicated man' she added: 'He was loyal to me, to his wife and loyal to the children.'
Queen Letizia of Spain delivered the Masters of Cinema award to Judi Dench on Sunday during the closing ceremony of Atlantida Mallorca Film Festival.

The Queen of Spain, 47, looked sensational in a navy blue asymmetrical dress, adding to her frame with an impressive pair of gold heels.

Dame Judi, 86, cut an elegant figure in a flowy beige ensemble, donning a long blazer over a smart top and trousers.

Film festival: Queen Letizia of Spain delivered the Masters of Cinema award to Judi Dench, 86, during the closing ceremony of Atlantida Mallorca Film Festival on Saturday

The wife of King Felipe VI coiffed her brunette locks into a low bun and colour matched her clutch with her gorgeous dress.

The James Bond actress, who was also accompanied by her partner David Mills, wore a stunning statement necklace, also opting for comfort in flat sandals.

They both put safety first by wearing face masks throughout the duration of the 11th Mallorca Film Fest.

Elegant: The Queen of Spain, 47, looked sensational in a navy blue asymmetrical dress

Award-winner: Dame Judi, 86, cut an elegant figure in a flowy beige ensemble

Smart: The James Bond actress donned a long blazer over a smart top and trousers for the event

Proud: Judi was also accompanied by her partner David Mills as the closing ceremony got underway

The Spanish royal looked delighted to be able to give the actress the well-earned award, as Judi stood proudly with the thin blue trophy.

Letizia married King Felipe VI, who was then Prince of Asturias, back in May 2004.

In June 2014, she became the Queen of Spain and she has two daughters with her husband, Leonor, Princess of Asturias, 15 and Infanta Sofia, 14.

Special moment: The Spanish royalty looked delighted to be able to give the actress the well-earned award

Grateful: The 86-year-old stood proudly with the thin blue trophy

Successful: The Masters of Cinema award is among many of Judi's acting achievements, as she has also won an Academy Award, a Tony and four television BAFTA Awards just to name a few

The Masters of Cinema award is among many of Judi's acting achievements, as she has also won an Academy Award, a Tony and four television BAFTA Awards just to name a few.

She made her professional debut in 1957 with the 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre, Old Vic Company.

The successful star has appeared in numerous films and is well-known for her portrayal as M in the James Bond films, her first appearance in GoldenEye (1995) and her last in Spectre (2015).

Years of experience: Judi made her professional debut in 1957 with the 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre, Old Vic Company

Talented: The successful star has appeared in numerous films and is well-known for her portrayal as M in the James Bond films, her first appearance in GoldenEye (1995) and her last in Spectre (2015)

Congratulations: British director Stephen Frears, 80, also won the Masters of Cinema award at the closing ceremony

British director Stephen Frears, 80, also won the Masters of Cinema award at the closing ceremony.

He is known for his work on films such as Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Philomena (2013) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002).

The director-come-producer sported a black suit for his big night.
He may have found his fairytale ending after meeting girlfriend Kerry Knight on this year's season of Married At First Sight.

But Johnny Balbuziente is on a quest to find love again.

The 30-year-old actor will star in upcoming theatre show Fourth Coming, a romantic comedy which ironically is all about finding a soulmate.

New gig: Actor Johnny Balbuziente will star in upcoming theatre show Fourth Coming, a romantic comedy which ironically is all about finding a soulmate. Pictured with his girlfriend Kerry Knight, whom he met on this year's season of Married At First Sight

'When we first started discussing this project I was single, but am now clearly very much in love, so it feels funny to be playing a bachelor,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I love acting and this play really is just a bit of tongue in cheek,' he added.

Laughing off her boyfriend's unexpected role, Kerry said she couldn't wait to see him try to keep a straight face playing a singleton on stage.

New project: 'When we first started discussing this project I was single, but am now clearly very much in love, so it feels funny to be playing a bachelor,' Johnny told Daily Mail Australia

'It's just a play,' the 31-year-old laughed. 'I'm super proud of Johnny, as he has worked really hard on the play and I know that acting is his passion.'

And while Johnny has been busy rehearsing his play, Kerry said she has also returned to work full time as an occupational therapist.

But she has put things on pause for the time being due to Covid restrictions.

'I'm under the same restrictions as everyone else in the country, but using the time at home wisely. I'm collaborating with Kate Ivey Fitness [an online workout program] to keep physically and mentally healthy,' she said.

'It's just a play!' Laughing off her boyfriend's unexpected role, Kerry said she couldn't wait to see him try to keep a straight face playing a singleton on stage

Kerry and Johnny met on this year's season of MAFS, and proved to be one of the show's most popular and least problematic couples.

After deciding to stay together during the final commitment ceremony, their relationship has gone from strength to strength.

They announced in June they were moving in together.
Ashley Graham glowed as she gave fans a look at her baby belly in a new Instagram on Sunday.

The 33-year-old model flashed a smile while looking out towards a gorgeous waterfront and showing off her bare stomach.

Making a silly reference to an early 2000s R&B hit, Ashley captioned the shot: 'alexa, play "bump, bump, bump" by b2k.'

Bumping along: Ashley Graham glowed as she gave fans a look at her baby belly in a new Instagram on Sunday, which she captioned with a cute reference to the 2002 song Bump, Bump, Bump by B2K

Graham sported a black undershirt that was rolled up to show off her stomach in the snap. She also wore a maxi skirt that matched.

The beauty accessorized with numerous articles of gold jewelry that added a bit of glow to her monotone clothing ensemble.

The television host kept her typically free-flowing brunette hair tied up in a tight bun while she spent time by the ocean.

Graham initially announced that she was expecting to welcome a second child into her life through a post made to her Instagram account last month.

In the shot, she was pictured holding her growing baby bump while posing in a majestic greenery-filled landscape.

She also wrote a message in the post's caption to let her nearly 14 million followers know that she was looking forward to the arrival of her coming child.

The statement read: 'the past year has been full of tiny surprises, big griefs, familiar beginnings and new stories. i'm just beginning to process and celebrate what this next chapter means for us.'

Making the news public: Graham announced that she would be welcoming a second child into her life earlier this year

Getting deep: In a short message that was written in the announcement post's caption,m she noted that she was just 'beginning to process and celebrate what this next chapter means for us'

Graham currently shares a son named Isaac Menelik Giovanni with her longtime husband, John Ervin.

The two initially met in 2009 and moved very quickly with their relationship, as they decided to tie the knot the following year.

After ten years of marriage, she announced that the two would be adding a child to their lives during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

She later confirmed that she had given birth to her son through a post made to her Instagram Story in January of last year.

Second time around: The television presenter previously welcomed a son named Isaac Menelik Giovanni in January of last year

Graham spoke about her status as a parent during an interview with Glamour, where she noted that her entire worldview had been adjusted following the birth of her son.

'When you become a mother, everything changes for you and you think differently about the future for your child,' she noted.

The model also spoke about how she is learning how to manage a balance between her parenthood and professional interests in fashion and beauty.

'I'm always thinking of creative ways to be better for my son and sustainability has been so important in this industry,' she said.
Sofia Vergara shared a stunning selfie with a new Reformation dress while vacationing in Montecito with husband Joe Manganiello.

The 49-year-old Colombian-born beauty was wearing a gorgeous light-blue and white dress from Reformation in the pic, where her 44-year-old husband was seen in the background.

'Hasta pronto Montecito!!!' she said in the caption, along with two heart emojis and two sun emojis.

Selfie: Sofia Vergara shared a stunning selfie with a new Reformation dress while vacationing in Montecito with husband Joe Manganiello

She had her hair down with two necklaces dangling from her neck in the snap, with some earrings.

She wore white platform heels while holding a stylish Chanel bag for her outing in Montecito.

The actress made headlines in April when she got vaccinated from the COVID-19 virus before appearing on NBC's vaccination special.

Sofia's look: She had her hair down with two necklaces dangling from her neck in the snap, with some earrings.=

'I did it for my family ,I did it for my friends that cant do it because of the harsh medical treatments they r reseiving, I did it so that we can all get our lives back,' Vergara began.

'I did it because to me its the right thing to do! Who are you doing it for??' Vergara concluded.

The actress was applauded in the comments by America's Got Talent host Terry Crews, Mexican filmmaker Manolo Caro, makeup artist Quinn Murphy and Jasmine Tosh.

Family: 'I did it for my family ,I did it for my friends that cant do it because of the harsh medical treatments they r reseiving, I did it so that we can all get our lives back,' Vergara began

Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel also took to her Instagram story, sharing a snap with nurses Catherine Joyce and Denise Kazaklaris.

The actress wrapped up her 11-season run on ABC's Modern Family last year, and she transitioned immediately to NBC's America's Got Talent, where she serves as one of the judges with Simon Cowell, Howie Mandell and Heidi Klum.

She also made headlines in December for signing on to produce a female-driven gender-swapped Zorro series for NBC.

AGT: The actress wrapped up her 11-season run on ABC's Modern Family last year, and she transitioned immediately to NBC's America's Got Talent, where she serves as one of the judges with Simon Cowell, Howie Mandell and Heidi Klum

Vergara will serve as a producer through her LatinWe production company, alongside Ben Siverman and Howard T. Owens Propagate.

The show will center on Sola Dominguez, described as, 'an underground artist who fights for social justice as a contemporary version of the mythical Zorro.'

Not only does she fight injustice, she must also defend herself against several criminal organizations after she exposes the truth about them.
Carey Mulligan put aside her Hollywood on glamour on Sunday when she got into character to film her upcoming She Said, about the investigations that led to Harvey Weinstein's downfall.

The 36-year-old Oscar-nominated actress was spotted on set in two different business casual costumes to play the New York Times investigative journalist Megan Twohey.

She was joined by Patricia Clarkson, whose role in the ripped-from-the-headlines drama hasn't been announced yet.

Down to business: Carey Mulligan, 36, cast aside her Hollywood glamour on Sunday while on the set of She Said in New York. She's playing journalist Megan Twohey, who exposed Harvey Weinstein's crimes

Among Carey's low-key looks was a sleeveless white blouse that she tucked into a loose-fitting wet of high-waisted black jeans.

She showed off shoulder-length blonde tresses back in April while competing for an Academy Award for her critically acclaimed revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, but she switched to a darker shade to more accurately portray Twohey.

The Drive actress looked as if she was ready for a busy day of work with a thick black backpack strapped on over one arm.

Casual chic: Among Carey's low-key looks was a sleeveless white blouse that she tucked into a loose-fitting wet of high-waisted black jeans

New 'do: She showed off shoulder-length blonde tresses back in April while competing for an Academy Award for her critically acclaimed revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, but she switched to a darker shade to more accurately portray Twohey.

Carey was also spotted filming a classic 'walk and talk' scene, a staple of films centered on journalist.

She had on a dark blue dress that reached down to her knees, along with a matching blazer and the same black backpack.

She elevated her 5ft7in height with a pair of low-cut black boots.

Despite the early August heat, she appeared to be shooting a scene set in colder months, as she wore a gray scarf around her throat while filming one scene.

On the go: Carey was also spotted filming a classic 'walk and talk' scene, a staple of films centered on journalist

Standing tall: She elevated her 5ft7in height with a pair of low-cut black boots

Fake chill: Despite the early August heat, she appeared to be shooting a scene set in colder months, as she wore a gray scarf around her throat while filming one scene

The film crew was also seen filming with Patricia Clarkson, 61, who wore a severe silver bob with thick strings of pearls around her neck.

She covered up in a black coat with wide lapels and wore matching black slacks.

The All The Real Girls actress had on a flowing white top and wore an black lizard print handbag over one shoulder.

Patricia's participation in the film hasn't been previously announced, nor has her character been listed on She Said's IMDb page.

However, her distinctive hairdo bears a striking resemblance to political strategist Anita Dunn, who informally advised Weinstein before Twohey and her collaborator Jodi Cantor broke the news of his many sexual crimes.

Star power: The film crew was also seen filming with Patricia Clarkson, 61, who wore a severe silver bob with thick strings of pearls around her neck

Mystery part: Her role hasn't been revealed, but her distinctive silver bob resembled political strategist Anita Dunn's recognizable hair. She informally advised Weinstein before Twohey's New York Times investigation was published

Carey was previously seen on Saturday in the same navy blazer as work commenced on the film.

While playing Megan she shaded her eyes with dark sunglasses, carrying a takeaway coffee as she headed onto the sidewalk.

Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor were the authors of the New York Times report that blew open the story of Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation.

Ruby Sparks star Zoe Kazan  whose grandfather was On The Waterfront director Elia Kazan  plays her coauthor Jodi in the upcoming film.

The movie is based on Jodi and Megan's book She Said: Breaking The Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite A Movement.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz, whose previous scripts include a biopic of the French writer Colette starring Keira Knightley, wrote the screenplay for She Said.

Who's who: Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor were the authors of the New York Times report that blew open the story of Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation; Megan is pictured in 2019

Meanwhile the director on the project is German filmmaker Maria Schrader who previously helmed the acclaimed Yiddish-language Netflix miniseries Unorthodox.

Carey drew rapturous critical acclaim last year for her leading role in the feminist revenge film Promising Young Woman directed by Emerald Fennell.

She received an Oscar nomination for best actress for her work in the film but lost out to Frances McDormand for the Chloe Zhao movie Nomadland.

Who's who: Ruby Sparks star Zoe Kazan  whose grandfather was On The Waterfront director Elia Kazan  plays Jodi Kantor in the upcoming film; seen in January 2020 in Pasadena
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Nine News reporter Brett McLeod has listed his corner-store conversion in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

Brett and his wife, Louise, are looking for between $2.7million and $2.9million for their four-bedroom home, reports realestate.com.au.

The property is a converted general store which the McLeod family purchased for $880,000 in 2005, after Brett returned to Australia following his first stint as Nine's Europe correspondent.

On the market: Nine News reporter Brett McLeod has listed his corner-store conversion in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. Brett and his wife, Louise, are looking for between $2.7million and $2.9million for their four-bedroom home (pictured)

Moving overseas: The McLeods purchased the home for $880,000 in 2005, after Brett returned to Australia following his first stint as Nine's Europe correspondent. They are now selling as the journalist, 58, prepares to return to Nine's London bureau

They are now selling as the veteran journalist, 58, prepares to return to Nine's London bureau.

The house has four bedrooms as well as a number of large living areas which used to serve as shop floor space.

A unique feature of the exterior is a large rainbow 'Yes' artwork on the side, which was painted by the McLeods' daughter during the marriage equality postal survey in 2017.

Brett said it was his daughter's idea to paint the mural, which has since become a 'tourist attraction' in the area.

Stylish interiors: The former general store has a number of large living areas which are beautifully decorated

'When the marriage equality vote was coming up, she asked if she and friend could paint a "Yes" on the wall  and we said, "Yes,"' he told realestate.com.au.

'It has become something of a tourist attraction. Most weekends there's someone taking a photo out the front of it.

'Sometimes bridal parties turn up to get their photos done.'

Cosy! The house features a galley-style kitchen which appears to be unrenovated

The facade of the building still bears the original shop's name, Shamrock Store, complete with blue tiling.

The dwelling was also previously an art gallery before becoming a home.

The McLeods, who have three grown-up children, Jackson, Alexander and Olivia, will now move to London after their Fitzroy home is auctioned off on August 14.
Amelia Hamlin flaunted her incredible figure in lacy black bra and matching underwear as she sat behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle on Saturday.

While posing up a storm in the driver's seat of a sports car with red interior, the 20-year-old model placed one hand on the steering wheel and looked off in the distance.

The second image featured the youngest daughter of actors Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin laying on the hood of the black controvertible.

Hot wheels: Amelia Hamlin flaunted her incredible figure in lacy black bra and matching underwear as she sat behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle on Saturday

'Your Uber has arrived,' she cheekily captioned her Instagram slideshow, which put her incredibly toned midriff on full display.

For the photo shoot, she wore her brown hair down and straight as well as a pretty nude lipstick on her plump pout and a diamond necklace.

She also made sure to showcase her envy-inducing tan after enjoying a fun trip to The Hamptons last week with her boyfriend Scott Disick, 38.

Model: The second image featured the youngest daughter of actors Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin laying on the hood of the black controvertible

Amelia documented their getaway on her Instagram Story, including posting a picture of them cuddling under a Hermes blanket on a boat ride.

The duo were accompanied by Scott's nine-year-old daughter Penelope whom he shares with ex Kourtney Kardashian.

The social media star, who was 19 when she started dating the father-of-three, has previously defended their 18-year age gap back.

Heating up: She also made sure to showcase her envy-inducing tan after enjoying a fun trip to The Hamptons last week with her boyfriend Scott Disick, 38

'People can embrace themselves however they feel fit for them at that moment in time. People grow. People learn to love themselves more and more,' she said in December.

Last year Scott broke up with Sofia Richie, whom he began dating when she was 19, and before that he was linked to Bella Thorne when she was also 19.

On the Keeping Up With The Kardashians finale in June, he said he was 'coming to terms' with the idea that he and Kourtney may never get back together.

Working hard: Their excursion came after Amelia posted a string of modeling shots to her Instagram page in which she was decked out in lingerie

'The fact that we have what we have is amazing, and I am grateful for that,' he said, pointing out: 'Our kids are happy.'

Kourtney and Scott began their whirlwind on-off romance after they met in 2006 at the Mexican home of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis.

Their turbulent relationship was documented on the show and was beset by problems including his past alcohol abuse and rumors he was unfaithful.

The two welcomed three children into the world - Mason, 11, Penelope and Reign, six - but ended their romance for the last time in 2015.
The Beatles are the most famous band of all time, having sold more than 600 million albums worldwide after forming in Liverpool, England, in 1960.

But one Aussie tradie could do with a history lesson about the Fab Four, as he was left stumped by a very simple question about the group on Monday's Today show.

Leigh Collins, a furniture maker from Victoria, was asked during weatherman Tim Davies' quiz segment to name the city the band famously originated from.

Help! Aussie tradie Leigh Collins (right) could do with a history lesson about the Fab Four, as he was left stumped by a very simple question about The Beatles on Monday's Today show. Left: Today's weatherman Tim Davies

'UK city... England?' Leigh blankly said, as newsreader Alex Cullen mouthed the word 'Liverpool' repeatedly in disbelief.

When the round was over, Tim told his guest: 'The Beatles hail from Liverpool!'

Despite the presenter's excitement, Leigh stared at the camera blankly.

Leigh didn't seem fazed by the gaffe, and in fact appeared more annoyed that he'd answered another question wrong about dolphins sleeping with one eye open.

Let it be: Leigh, a furniture maker from Victoria, was asked during Tim's quiz segment to name the city the band famously originated from. Instead of answering Liverpool, he said: 'England?'

While he didn't win the top prize, Leigh received a conciliatory $100 gift card for his appearance on Nine's breakfast show.

The Beatles - made up of Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison - sold an incredible 1.6 billion singles in the U.S. alone.

They won the hearts of millions with their popular anthems Help!, Let It Be, Here Comes the Sun and Hey Jude.

Legends: The Beatles - made up of Ringo Starr (left), John Lennon (centre right), Paul McCartney (centre left) and George Harrison (right) - formed in Liverpool, England, in 1960

Lead songwriters Paul McCartney and John Lennon have each written a total of 32 and 26 number-one hits respectively.

The band is set to soar to the limelight once again later this year, as director Peter Jackson will release his long-awaited three-part docuseries The Beatles: Get Back.

It will take audiences back in time to The Beatles' intimate recording sessions and performances during a pivotal moment in music history, when the band recorded their final album, 1970's Let It Be.

It's set for release in Australia on September 2, 2021.
Radio presenter Kyle Sandilands left his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson horrified with his new bald look.

The shock jock, 50, used a Snapchat filter to see what he'd looked like without any hair on his face and head - and the results shocked Jackie, 46.

'Oh, that's so bad,' she gasped upon seeing Kyle's fleshy dome on Monday.

Chilling: Radio presenter Kyle Sandilands left his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) horrified with his new bald look on Monday

'You look a little bit like Bert Newton,' said producer Pete Deppeler, which prompted Kyle to respond proudly: 'I look exactly like Bert Newton.'

As Kyle admired his new look, Jackie said: 'Okay, enough with the posing.'

Kyle then delivered his best influencer impression, telling Jackie: 'Darl, I'm doing a Snapchat filter. Give me a minute.'

The skit was a welcome moment of levity after the pair conducted a car-crash interview with Pauline Hanson on Thursday's Kyle and Jackie O Show.

Hair one day: The shock jock, 50, used a Snapchat filter to see what he'd looked like without any hair on his face and head - and the results shocked Jackie, 46

Her turn: As Kyle admired his new look, Jackie said, 'Okay, enough with the posing'

The interview saw tensions erupt between host Kyle and his own senior producers.

He scolded his in-studio censor and executive producer Sonia 'Palestine' Jahshan after learning the far-right One Nation politician was being censored during her live telephone interview.

Several statements Hanson, 67, made about Covid-19 and vaccines were bleeped out because they were false and risked causing harm to the community.

She made debunked claims about how Covid deaths are counted and the supposed 'risks' of the vaccines - even though the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots are safe and highly effective in preventing people from becoming seriously ill with coronavirus.

Chaotic: A car-crash interview with Pauline Hanson (pictured) on Thursday's Kyle and Jackie O Show saw tensions erupt between host Sandilands and his own senior producers

When Sandilands was alerted by callers to the bleeping, he furiously asked the censor and Jahshan why Hanson's comments weren't going to air.

'Can somebody tell me what's being beeped out and why it's being beeped out?' he said.

'Our censor is saying some of what Pauline is saying is not government approved [health advice],' Jahshan replied, which prompted Sandilands to scoff: 'Bulls**t.'

'We're not a government show,' he added. 'This is not the ABC.'

Bleeped: Sandilands scolded his in-studio censor and executive producer Sonia Jahshan after learning the politician was being censored during her live telephone interview

Jahshan reminded Sandilands and his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson that KIIS FM was obliged to 'be mindful of what we're telling listeners' about coronavirus.

But he wasn't satisfied with this explanation and said Hanson had a right to express her views - even if they are demonstrably false and detrimental to the public health.

This was surprising given that Sandilands is pro-vaccine and even produced a music video encouraging Australians to get the jab earlier this month.

Lies: Several statements Hanson, 67, made about Covid-19 and vaccines were bleeped out because they were false and risked causing harm to the community. Pictured on June 17

Henderson also agreed 'both sides' of the discussion should be aired, and newsreader Brooklyn Ross suggested Hanson should be allowed to express her views so she could be properly challenged on them.

After the interview, which was ostensibly to promote Hanson's Facebook page, there seemed to be fevered discussion behind the scenes of The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

Sandilands seemed to change his tune by the end of the broadcast, however.

He endorsed the Covid vaccine - which he has received himself - and blasted conspiracy theorists like Hanson who spread dangerous misinformation online.

He said: 'When in doubt, are you going to believe your mental mate who's running around in a tinfoil hat, or are you going to believe the government?'

Messaging: Jahshan (right) reminded Sandilands (left) and his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson that KIIS FM was obliged to 'be mindful of what we're telling listeners' about coronavirus

Hanson's segment comes weeks after Sky News commentator Alan Jones was censored live on KIIS when he made inflammatory claims about the NSW lockdown.

The Kyle and Jackie O Show has a 30-second broadcast delay and in-studio censor to prevent obscene, defamatory or potentially harmful content going to air.

An ARN spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia: 'The Kyle and Jackie O Show has a live-to-air censor that monitors all content and makes a decision on what is appropriate to be broadcast on air and be published in accordance with the stations regulatory obligations.

Outspoken: Hanson's segment comes weeks after Sky News commentator Alan Jones was censored live on KIIS when he made inflammatory claims about the NSW lockdown

'Kyle & Jackie O dont shy away from talking about the hot topics that matter to their audience nor do they miss an opportunity to spread some much-needed light and fun as Kyles "Get Vaxxed Baby" jingle shows.

'KIIS 106.5 makes every effort to fairly represent the views of its guests but has an obligation to balance freedom of expression against the expression of views that may be out of step with government health advice. We take our responsibilities very seriously, and appreciate that some views expressed by guests on the station may not always be shared by the wider community.'

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Henderson told Daily Mail Australia: 'I am pro-vaccine and always have been.

'Im all for vaccination and for everyone to be safe and healthy, and I hope we can get back to some form of normality soon.'
The Bachelor star Holly Kingston has spoken out after being sensationally called the C-word by her co-star Stephanie Lynch on Thursday's episode.

The 27-year-old said on Monday she didn't think she had 'any issues' with Steph, who called her a 'c**t' twice behind her back but later denied it.

Holly told New Idea: 'I knew I hadn't done anything to Steph. It was confronting to hear, because I honestly didn't think we had any issues.'

Having her say: The Bachelor star Holly Kingston (pictured) has spoken out after being sensationally called the C-word by her co-star Stephanie Lynch on Thursday's episode

She said she tried to distance herself from the negativity in the mansion, and instead focused all of her attention on pilot Jimmy Nicholson, 32.

But that proved to be difficult, with a trailer for Wednesday's episode showing him choosing Steph for a single date - without knowing about the name-calling.

'Jimmy prided himself on being a good judge of character, so I think one-on-one time is vital for him with all the girls - Stephanie included,' Holly added.

'Would I have picked her? After what transpired, probably not.'

Shocked: The Bachelor viewers were left outraged on Thursday as Stephanie Lynch (centre) called Holly the C-word - but denied it at the cocktail party when confronted

During Thursday's tense episode, Stephanie insulted Holly behind her back while she was on a date with Jimmy, branding her a 'c**t' and saying spending time with her would 'be like eating nails'.

Steph later called her the C-word a second time at the cocktail party in front of her friends - but left viewers spewing by denying it when confronted by Holly.

'Stephanie knows what she said,' one viewer tweeted, while another added: 'Other people heard it why aren't they piping up? She also said it earlier in the day no?'

'People are honestly this jealous and toxic? Babe why?' a third fan raged, while another chimed in: 'How are these women so cruel on camera when they know it'll be on national TV?

'If I was the Bachelor I want to know about this kind of toxic behaviour so I could send them home!'

Fuming: Viewers were left outraged at her comments and denial, and flocked to social media to condemn Stephanie's behaviour

During the shocking insult session, Stephanie told some of the contestants: 'So Holly's a c**t.

'I can barely tolerate 10 minutes with her, so having to spend an entire day with her would be like eating nails.

'I still can't believe she was touching his a**e in front of everyone for us all to see, just all over him. It was just gross.'

She went on to cackle at the prospect of Jimmy sending his dog back to the house instead of Holly, saying: 'That would be a much happier addition to the house.

'I actually think she might be the first person to come back from one-on-one time without a rose and without a kiss.

'That would just be a bucket of cold water on her stupid head.'

C**tgate: During the shocking insult session, Stephanie said, 'I can barely tolerate 10 minutes with her, so having to spend an entire day with her would be like eating nails'

When she was later confronted by Holly, Steph lied: 'I didn't call you a c**t.'

'I did hear it,' Brooke Cleal responded. 'And I did think it was really mean.'

'When did I call her a c**t?' Steph snapped back angrily.

The Bachelor continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10
Angela Bassett once again showed off her age-defying beauty while supporting the work of legendary dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey Jr. on Sunday.

The 62-year-old Black Panther star look stylish in a striking tan suit as she arrived at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

Joining the film star were other acting luminaries including Debbie Allen and English actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Leading the way: Angela Bassett, 62, looked chic in a tan suit as she arrived at The Music Center in Los Angeles on Sunday for an advance screening of Ailey, a documentary about choreographer Alvin Ailey

Angela looked sleek in her low-key suit, with a casual zip-up jacket with wide lapels.

She dressed the outfit down with a simple white top, and her pants looked relaxed thanked to elastic around the waist and hems.

The Oscar nominee elevated her 5ft4in stature with silver-toed white Gucci wedges.

She added some sparkle to her look with large hoop earrings, which were mostly concealed behind her lustrous dark hair, which was styled in delicate waves over her her shoulders.

Eye-catching: Angela looked sleek in her low-key suit, with a casual zip-up jacket with wide lapels. She dressed the outfit down with a simple white top, and she stood tall in silver-and-white Gucci wedges

Mix and match: She was joined by English actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who wore a black dress with a white striped shawl and gray-and-black Nike trainers

She paused at the screening to catch up with fellow actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

The In Fabric star rocked a simple black dress, which she brightened up with a white shawl decorated with gray, red and yellow stripes.

She stayed comfortable with gray-and-black Nike trainers, and she wore her colorful patterned mask around her neck for easy access.

Joining Marianne was her husband Evan Williams, a dancer.

He dressed down with a black graphic T-shirt, and he kept his black mask on while outside to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and the more-contagious Delta variant.

The longtime couple were spotted with Fame star Debbie Allen.

She looked glamorous in a plunging black dress with a frilled neckline, and she spiced up her mask with sparkling studs.

Back in black: Accompanying Marianne was her dancer husband Evan Williams (L) and legendary actress Debbie Allen, who looked glamorous in a plunging black dress

The director: Angela also showed her support by joining Jamila Wignot, who directed and produced the documentary they were about to see, on the red carpet

Blue mood: Jamila wore a dark blue blazer with a black jumpsuit and a grayblue top

Family: Jamila brought her mother, who matched her in blue, to celebrate her accomplishment

Angela also showed her support by joining Jamila Wignot, who directed and produced the documentary they were about to see, on the red carpet.

The filmmaker looked relaxed in a lovely blue blazer, which she wore over a black jumpsuit and a grayblue blouse.

Jamila brought her mother, who matched her in blue, to celebrate her accomplishment.

Wignot's documentary Ailey, which premiered to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, charts the life and career of the iconoclastic Black dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey

Among his many creations is the dance piece Revelations, which charts the African American experience through spirituals and gospel music and is one of the most widely performed modern dance pieces in the world.

Ailey died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989, but the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has continued to perform his choreography and new works.
Suranne Jones has discussed undergoing therapy for 18 years and her father's tragic death from COVID-19 in an emotional new interview.

The actress, 42, initially began seeing a therapist when she started on Coronation Street in 2003 and credits therapy with helping her 'keep her head' when 'pressure builds up' in her life.

While filming Gentleman Jack, Suranne took time off to 'deal with demons' in her life with the help of a doctor - during a heartbreaking year in which her father Chris died from COVID-19 in January.

Brave: Suranne Jones has discussed undergoing therapy for 18 years and her father's tragic death from COVID-19 in an emotional new interview (pictured 2018)

She told The Telegraph: Looking after your mental health is everything. Its like going to the gym, its about looking after yourself, recognising changes before what happened to me during Frozen...'

In May 2018, Suranne collapsed during a matinee performce of play Frozen in London's West End, and had to pull out of the final four performances.

This came two years after the birth of her son and the death of her mother from vascular dementia.

Suranne believes the breakdown happened because she had not dealt with her grief and was finding it hard to cope with the play's harrowing subject matter - playing the mother of a child kidnapped and murdered by a paedophile.

Tragedy: Suranne's engineer father Chris died from COVID-19 in January. Her mother Jenny died in 2016

The star took time off recently from filming Gentleman Jack, recognising that she needed to see a doctor.

She said: 'I had another moment during the filming of Gentleman Jack when I needed to take some time off and see a doctor, to really deal with some demons in my life.'

Suranne also discussed the devastating loss of her father Chris at the beginning of the year, with Chris having spent three months in ICU with family unable to visit him.

She said: 'We would FaceTime him and the nurse would answer in all the PPE, put the phone towards Dad and he wasnt awake, but we would all talk to him anyway. Its difficult to understand how awful Covid is unless it has touched you.'

Candid: The actress, 42, initially began seeing a therapist when she started on Coronation Street in 2003 and credits therapy with helping her 'keep her head' when 'pressure builds up' in her life (above as Karen Phillips with Simon Gregson)

Suranne took to Instagram in May to tell fans of her father's death for the first time, while sharing a snap of her late parents to mark her mum's birthday and added: 'I know they are together.'

Alongside a throwback photograph of her parents together on a beach, Suranne revealed her secret heartache as she penned: 'My father sadly passed away this January after fighting Covid. We are still coming to terms with it'.

Suranne penned: 'Happy birthday mum. Forever on a beach in Cornwall with dad.

'Mum passed away 4 and a half years ago and my father sadly passed away this January after fighting Covid and the affect it had on his body [sic].

Support: While filming Gentleman Jack, Suranne took time off to 'deal with demons' in her life with the help of a doctor (pictured with Sophie Rundle on the show)

'We are still coming to terms with it all but I know they are together and today I want to celebrate them both.

'My thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones. Today and always

In 2016, Suranne lost her mum, Jenny, after she passed away from vascular dementia, a common type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain.

Years later, the actress opened up about her mother's experience of the condition, explaining: 'Sometimes when you talk about dementia, people imagine it's a term that only refers to old people.

Message: Suranne announced the news of her father's death via a heartbreaking Instagram post in May

'My mum was diagnosed at quite a young age, in her late fifties, and her dementia accelerated quite fast.'

Suranne has previously spoken about the affects her mother's death had on her, telling The Mirror in 2018: 'At the time, it didn't occur to me that I might lose her. Now I can really appreciate how brave she was.

'Mum's illness brought our family closer and made us realise what an amazing person she is.'

Suranne was born Sarah Jones, and it was in fact her late father, Chris, who suggested she take her great-grandmother's name as she pursued her acting career.

Looking back: In 2019, Suranne has previously reflected on her childhood, describing it as 'a happy, working-class background' (Pictured: Her parents on their wedding day)

The Doctor Foster star had to search for an alternative to her birth name, since it had already been registered with the actors' union Equity.

In 2019, Suranne reflected on her childhood, describing it as 'a happy, working-class background,' during an interview with the Guardian.

She said: 'Friday nights, me and my brother got a Fry's Peppermint Cream, picked a video from the video shop. My brother was older, very bright. He went to university.

I wasn't academically bright  maybe at first, when I was little, but it was lost. I started doing a drama workshop and got really into it, then I did a BTec in performing arts and started to work.

'I left home at 16, toured [with regional musicals], did some theatre education in schools. I would get home for little moments, to drop in, get my clothes washed, then go again.'

Suranne has since gone on to achieve great success in the acting world, becoming one of the most sought after TV stars in the country.

For help call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org
Isla Fisher has become the latest celebrity to get her Covid-19 vaccination.

The Hollywood actress, 45, shared a photo to Instagram on Monday of herself getting the jab in Sydney, as the locked-down city struggles with an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Showing how easy the process is, the Wedding Crashers star smiled underneath her mask and simply captioned her post: 'Vax and relax.'

'Vax and relax': Isla Fisher has become the latest celebrity to get her Covid-19 vaccination

She joins the likes of Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, comedian Andy Lee and radio host Kyle Sandilands, who have all been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Sydneysiders, including Isla and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen, are entering their sixth gruelling week of lockdown after New South Wales recorded 239 locally acquired cases on Sunday.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who extended stay-at-home orders to at least August 28 as the latest outbreak rose to 3,427 infections, said her government had a plan to 'break records' as it ramped up its immunisation campaign.

Vaxxed: Sydneysiders, including Isla and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen (left), are entering their sixth week of Covid lockdown after NSW recorded 239 locally acquired cases on Sunday

'Once you get to 50 per cent vaccination, 60 per cent, 70 per cent, that triggers more freedoms. We can turn this around in four weeks,' she said on Sunday.

'We have the month of August to get the vaccination rates as high as possible. Let August be the month where we break records with the vaccination.'

NSW's vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.

But with 82,000 doses distributed in 24 hours and 4.5 million more Pfizer jabs to be delivered to Australia in August, federal health officials are confident NSW could carry out about 650,000 vaccinations a week.

At that rate, NSW could hit its target of 70 per cent coverage by early September.

Australian adults are also able to book an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine within days, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying he his hopeful the 70 per cent rate will be achieved before the end of the year as thousands of young people come forward to get AZ.

'What we're seeing in New South Wales now is AstraZeneca dosage rates amongst 16 to 39 year olds just rapidly escalate,' he said on Monday.

Moving forward: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who extended stay-at-home orders to at least August 28 as the latest outbreak rose to 3,427 infections, said her government had a plan to 'break records' as it ramped up its immunisation campaign

'We've seen our vaccination rates on double dose now more than double in the last month. I mean, in July we were up some 4.5 million vaccines in the month,' Mr Morrison said.

In April the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said the AstraZeneca jab was only recommended for over 50s because of a low risk of blood clots in younger people.

In June the body increased the minimum recommend age to 60, denting confidence and delaying the jab rollout by two months as the government scrambled to get more Pfizer into the country.

Then in July as Sydney's outbreak worsened, ATAGI said all over 18s should consider getting the vaccine because the risk of catching Covid had increased, a move which has allowed the rollout to rapidly ramp up.

Children aged 12 to 17 can only get the Pfizer vaccine.

Mr Morrison said: 'We had those early problems, we've got on top of them, we've turned it around and we've got our gold medal run till the end of the year to get this done.'
The stars were out in force for the annual UNICEF gala in Capri on Sunday.

And in her trademark sizzling style, Emily Ratajkowski oozed sexy style as she hit the red carpet in a perilously slashed dress which showed off her staggering legs.

The model and actress, 30, looked jaw-dropping as she posed up a storm, with her tanned and toned leg peeking out from beyond the split which extended to her hip.

Oh my! Emily Ratajkowski oozed sexy style as she hit the red carpet in a perilously slashed dress which showed off her staggering legs at the annual UNICEF gala in Capri on Sunday

Emily made sure she was the belle of the ball at the bash, as she strutted along the red carpet in the dress which featured an off-the-shoulder neck.

The plunging cut showed her cleavage while adding a touch of drama thanks to the puffball sleeves falling off each shoulder.

The skirt of the gown fell to the floor while she posed with her hip jutted to best show off her leg with the slash extending the entire bottom of the dress.

Her beauty regimen was kept simple to allow the gown to speak for itself, with her brunette locks straight and falling from a centre parting and her make-up simple.

Hot stuff: The model and actress, 30, looked jaw-dropping as she posed up a storm, with her tanned and toned leg peeking out from beyond the split which extended to her hip

Wow: Her beauty regimen was kept simple to allow the gown to speak for itself, with her brunette locks straight and falling from a centre parting and her make-up simple

Luxury retailer LuisaViaRoma proudly hosts an annual gala for Unicef and in honour of the third anniversary of their partnership, the 2021 gala will focus on supporting all children in need.

The swanky and star-studded event is hosted by celebrities, followed by a special appearance by a famous musical act.

Each of the 66 tables' guests were treated to a bottle of Casamigos Blanco and Casamigos Anejo whilst also having the option to order a range of Casamigos Tequila Cocktails from the bar.

Leggy display: The plunging cut showed her cleavage while adding a touch of drama thanks to the puffball sleeves falling off each shoulder

Out and a pout: Her beauty regimen was kept simple to allow the gown to speak for itself, with her brunette locks straight and falling from a centre parting and her make-up simple

She was in good company at the gala, which was also attended by stars such as Heidi Klum, 48, and Brooklyn Beckham's ex Hana Cross, 23.

Luxury retailer LuisaViaRoma proudly hosts an annual gala for Unicef and in honour of the third anniversary of their partnership, the 2021 gala will focus on supporting all children in need.

The swanky and star-studded event is hosted by celebrities, followed by a special appearance by a famous musical act.

Cute couple: Katy Perry hit up the UNICEF fundraiser event with her handsome beau, Orlando Bloom, 44
Nicole Kidman was one of the many Aussies celebrating Logan Martin's historic win at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

In a post on Instagram on Monday, the 54-year-old actress paid tribute to the BMX rider, sharing a photo of herself in a vintage T-shirt from her 1983 film, BMX Bandits.

'Congratulations from this BMX Bandit to @LoganMartinBMX for winning the first ever Olympic Gold Medal for #FreestyleBMX!' she captioned the post.

Proud fan: Nicole Kidman was one of the many Aussies celebrating Logan Martin's historic win at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday

Nicole flashed a thumbs-up sign while wearing a white T-shirt with the BMX Bandits artwork printed on the front.

Despite tagging Logan, 27, in the post, the Olympian is yet to respond to his famous fan.

Nicole made her film debut in BMX Bandits when she was just 16, before going on to find global fame in Hollywood.

'Congratulations from this BMX Bandit to @LoganMartinBMX for winning the first ever Olympic Gold Medal for #FreestyleBMX!' she wrote. Pictured, Logan Martin competing at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday

The film tells the story of a group of teens who in addition to performing tricks on their BMX bikes, find themselves embroiled with a gang of criminals.

Meanwhile, Logan became Australia's first BMX freestyle gold medallist.

The excitable athlete took to Instagram shortly after his historic Olympic win on Sunday.

Breakthrough role: Nicole made her film debut in BMX Bandits when she was just 16, before going on to find global fame in Hollywood

'I WON THE FIRST EVER OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL FOR FREESTYLE BMX,' he captioned a photo of himself with his gold medal.

'So grateful! The amount of support I've received this past week has been amazing! I honestly appreciate all the messages and comments, you guys are the best!!

'This is by far the biggest win in my career and I can't believe I can say I have an Olympic gold medal! I LOVE YOU GUYS'.
Her social media accounts are a hot bed of sizzling snaps.

And Carol Vorderman, 60, was up to her old tricks once more as she showed off her latest sexy look while filming Beat The Chasers on Sunday.

The former Countdown star left very little to the imagination in an eye-wateringly tight red lace midi dress as she shot the fun-filled show.

Hot stuff: Carol Vorderman , 60, was up to her old tricks once more as she showed off her latest sexy look while filming Beat The Chasers on Sunday

Carol shared a slew of snaps with her 123k followers including a full length shot of the outfit and a picture with TV doctor Zoe Williams.

She added a caption reading: 'Had a blast recording Beat The Chasers today. Can't tell you what happened OBVS....but was a delight to meet @drzoewilliams.'

Beat The Chasers is a spin-off of The Chase and sees contestants face head-to-head challenges with all of the Chasers. In the Cash Builder round, contestants answer five multiple choice questions for the chance to bank up to 5k.

Prior to her latest job, she was hotting things up on Saturday morning when she took to Instagram to share a provocative bikini snap.

Stunning: The former Countdown star left very little to the imagination in an eye-wateringly tight red lace midi dress as she shot the fun-filled show

Someone call a doctor! Carol shared a slew of snaps with her 123k followers including a full length shot of the outfit and a picture with TV doctor Zoe Williams

The Welsh star showed off her ample assets in a skimpy black bikini - which she wore back-to-front - as she posed for a selfie looking away from the camera.

Carol looked relaxed as she took the snap, her brown tresses wet after spending time by the Welsh coast.

In the same post, the former Countdown presenter also shared an image of her wearing an anorak in Bristol - and she penned a post how someone should have a word with 'Mr RainCloud' 'Last week.....#sunbatheing....#Wales'.



Hard at work: Beat The Chasers is a spin-off of The Chase and sees contestants face head-to-head challenges with all of the Chasers. In the Cash Builder round, contestants answer five multiple choice questions for the chance to bank up to 5k

Bikini clad: Prior to her latest job, she was hotting things up on Saturday morning when she took to Instagram to share a provocative bikini snap

Rainy day: In the same post, the former Countdown presenter also shared an image of her wearing an anorak in Bristol

Happy scruff! The former Countdown presented revealed she was wearing the bikini back-to-front

'Can someone have a word with Mr RainCloud, in need of more summer. And yes I'm a #happyscruff.....#bikini top inside out (with huge apologies to @elizabethhurley1... Queen of the bikinis),' she penned.

Carol continued: '....one day I'll learn to posh up a bit....but probably not going to happen anytime soon. Happy Saturday every Saturday from 1130-2pm on BBC RADIO WALES @taylormorrisofficial'.

The mother-of-two also revealed her 'best news this week' to her Twitter followers on Saturday.

Beat The Chasers: The mother-of-two also revealed her 'best news this week' to her Twitter followers on Saturday

Prior to her BBC Radio Wales show, she asked listeners to tell her their best news for a shoutout and explained that she had been watching lots of Beat The Chasers and answering the questions.

'Reason...I'm filming with them on Sunday and not been revising [laughing emoji and thinking emoji]', she admitted.

Carol looked chic for her radio show on Saturday morning, stunning in a wrap-around beige dress and a matching shade of heeled boots.
New mum Lauren Goodger has revealed her natural drug-free home birth with daughter Larose left her 'screaming for help' as the contractions took hold.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, Lauren, 34, who welcomed 8lb 9oz Larose on July 20 with beau Charles Drury, 24, said she had endured her labour with only gas and air for relief.

She said: 'I had a natural home birth with no drugs and the midwife said shed never seen someone give birth so textbook the way I did. I had a bit of gas and air, which we ran out of and they had to go to hospital to get some more, but I was in my zone and I did it.

Labour story: New mum Lauren Goodger has revealed her natural drug-free home birth with daughter Larose left her 'screaming for help' as the contractions took hold

Lauren said the magnitude of the labour pains made her feel like 'I was about to die', with the star already 8cm dilated when she was checked by a midwife. Contractions then followed every 30 seconds.

The former TOWIE star said: 'Oh my Lord! I was in my front room screaming, Please, someone help me!... It was the hardest thing Ive ever done in all my life.'

Revealing that she received a burst of energy when she got to the final stages of her labour, Lauren detailed how Larose was delivered as she was standing up.

Lauren's partner Charles was supporting her throughout the labour, saying: 'I was getting my hair pulled and every time she had a contraction she was grabbing my face and gouging my eyes out. But you just go through it, comfort her and reassure her shes doing well.'

Just before: Speaking to OK! Magazine , Lauren, 34, who welcomed 8lb 9oz Larose on July 20 with beau Charles Drury, 24, said she had endured her labour with only gas and air for relief

Lauren said she felt 'really proud' of getting through the birth and felt like she'd achieved 'something amazing'.

The star told fans her 'life is complete' as she gushed over her newborn daughter's arrival in an Instagram post last month, in which she also thanked her fans for their well-wishes.

Lauren wrote on her stories that she was 'so happy' and told how she and her partner are enjoying spending special time with their 'precious baby girl'.

Contractions: The former TOWIE star said: 'Oh my Lord! I was in my front room screaming, Please, someone help me!... It was the hardest thing Ive ever done in all my life'(pictured in June)

Explaining how she's not been on social media much since giving birth, Lauren wrote: 'Sorry I've been quiet guys I haven't been on my phone much, enjoying this special time with my little family baby girl and Charlie.'

Sharing her appreciation of her fans, she went on: 'I just want to say thank you for all your likes comments and DMs I have seen them just haven't been on my phone much as baby girl getting all mummy's time love and attention.

'The most amazing precious baby girl I've ever seen felt smelt loved in all my life'.

The TV personality concluded her update, writing: 'My life is complete... I'm so happy. I know everyone is dying to see her.'

Happy: Lauren revealed her 'life is complete' as she gushed over her newborn daughter in an Instagram post last Thursday, in which she also thanked her fans for their well-wishes

A representative for the TOWIE star shared the news of her daughter's arrival with OK! last Tuesday and said: 'Mother and baby are doing really well. Lauren and her partner Charlie are really looking forward to spending some quality time with their new arrival.'

Lauren announced she was expecting her first child with Charles on January 19, three months after confirming their relationship.

At the beginning of the year Lauren confirmed she was three months pregnant in her new magazine column, and revealed that she would welcome the baby in July.

Lauren found fame on The Only Way Is Essex while in a relationship with ex-fiance Mark Wright, with whom she was in a relationship for over 10 years, before going on to date jailbirds Jake McLean and Joey Morrison.
Actress Tara Reid, 45, cut a casual figure when she arrived in Los Angeles' LAX Airport on Sunday.

She looked effortlessly chic as she wore ripped blue jeans with a cream suede biker style jacket while accompanied by friends.

The Big Lebowski star donned a pale pink T-shirt, and sported beige slip on trainers, for maximum comfort as she travelled.

Relaxed: Actress Tara Reid, 45, cut a casual figure as she arrived in Los Angeles' LAX Airport on Sunday

Tara slung a black leather hand bag across her body as she made her walk through the airport.

The former teen movie actress wore a pink, blue and purple bandana mask across her face, which came down to below her chin.

The mask still showed off her statement dark eye make up, which highlighted her blue eyes.

Stylish: The American Pie star looked effortlessly chic as she wore ripped blue jeans with a cream suede biker style jacket and let her blonde locks flow around her shoulders

Her bright blonde locks were in a side parting, and had a messy, natural style to them.

It is unclear where Tara had been and she doesn't mention her recent travels on her social media.

She looked in good spirits as she headed through the airport with her entourage.

Tara has been working on the thriller film Supersonic, which she stars opposite Michael Pare.

The New Jersey native is best known to most fans for her roles in Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions , as well as three of the four American Pie comedy films.

More recently, she has played April Wexler in all six of the Sharknado films that aired on the Syfy channel (2013-2018).
Jock Zonfrillo has revealed that he began using drugs when he was just 11-years-old - and purchased them from ice cream vans.

The MasterChef Australia judge divulged the details about his wild childhood in Glasgow, Scotland, in a candid interview on The Project on Monday.

The 44-year-old said: 'Maybe 11 or 12, smoking pot, that was the first time I ever did drugs but that leads to other stuff, whether it's speed, you know, or you are drinking.

Past: Jock Zonfrillo (pictured) has revealed that he began using drugs when he was just 11-years-old - and purchased them from ice cream vans

'If you go to an ice cream van in Glasgow and if you say the right thing you get the right thing.

'There is a thing that plays children's music to attract kids towards it and everyone knows that there's drugs being sold out of it, do you know what I mean? It's not a secret,' he added.

Jock lost a childhood friend during an altercation, and it inspired him to get off the streets and pursue his dream of becoming a chef in his mid teens.

Candid: The MasterChef Australia judge divulged the details about his wild childhood in Glasgow, Scotland, in a candid interview on The Project on Monday. The 44-year-old said: 'Maybe 11 or 12, smoking pot, that was the first time I ever did drugs but that leads to other stuff, whether it's speed, you know, or you are drinking'

He explained: 'If you go to an ice cream van in Glasgow and if you say the right thing you get the right thing. There is a thing that plays children's music to attract kids towards it and everyone knows that there's drugs being sold out of it, do you know what I mean? It's not a secret'. Pictured as a pre-teen

'A car rolled up past us and wound the window down and said 'give us your jacket' to my mate. He looked and them and he was like - you know, he told them to eff off. They started piling into him and there was five of them.

'It was bad news. He passed away. And for what? A jacket? And that was Glasgow.'

In the past, the cooking show judge has revealed his teenage heroin addiction almost ended his culinary career before it even started.

Recovery: In the past, the cooking show judge has revealed his teenage heroin addiction almost ended his culinary career before it even started

The star, who moved from the UK to Australia in the year 2000, began using smack at the age of 15, just as he was starting out at restaurants.

He told The Australian Women's Weekly he used to be a high-functioning addict who was 'always in the kitchen on time, ready to work' - but everything changed when he didn't show up one day and was fired from his job.

'I was high functioning. I was always in the kitchen on time, ready to work. Except this one time during my apprenticeship... when I turned up for work four days late. In hindsight, I was lucky to be alive,' the Scotsman said.

After being sacked at the age of 17, Jock was given a second chance when he packed his bags, headed to London and knocked on the door of the Hyde Park Hotel.

Struggles: The 44-year-old, who moved from the UK to Australia in 2000, began using smack at the age of 15, just as he was starting out at restaurants

Second change: After being sacked from a restaurant at the age of 17, Jock got a second chance in London when Marco Pierre White (pictured) gave him a job at the Hyde Park Hotel

World-famous chef Marco Pierre White was running the place, and Jock said he was the 'last person' he expected to give him a job - but that's exactly what happened.

'Marco was amazing because he understood what was going on with me as a young man,' Jock said.

'People were very quick to judge a drug addict. He didn't. I was on my last chance, there's no doubt about it, but he treated me exactly the same as everybody else.'

Jock is joined on the MasterChef panel by celebrity chef Andy Allen and respected food critic Melissa Leong.
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She has been living it up with her nearest and dearest on her father Phillip's 100million superyacht, Lionheart.

And Chloe Green was enjoying the spoils of luxury on Sunday as she took a dip in the Mediterranean sea during an Italian jaunt, where she was joined on deck by her yacht broker boyfriend Manuele Thiella and her mum Tina.

The heiress, 30, looked simply sensational in a purple bikini as she frolicked in the water while Manuele looked on and chatted to crew members while larking around in the idyllic setting.

Lavish living: Chloe Green was enjoying the spoils of luxury on Sunday as she took a dip in the Mediterranean sea during an Italian jaunt, where she was joined on deck by her yacht broker boyfriend Manuele Thiella and her mum Tina

Chloe was making the most of her phenomenal figure in the two-piece as she enjoyed her lavish setting.

She scraped her hair into a high bun and went make-up free to get fully stuck into the fun and frolics of the day while hitting the water and entering relaxation mode.

Last month, she celebrated her son Jayden, who she shares with ex Jeremy Meeks, turning three and has been joined by her family in partying through the summer.

Last summer, it emerged that Chloe had embarked on a romance with Italian yacht broker Manuele, 35.

Stunning: Chloe was making the most of her phenomenal figure in the two-piece as she enjoyed her lavish setting

Me and you! Chloe and Manuele were gazing out to sea during the trip across the water

Relaxed: Her mum Tina reclined on the boat following her daughter's lead

Stunning: She scraped her hair into a high bun and went make-up free to get fully stuck into the fun and frolics of the day while hitting the water and entering relaxation mode

Stunner: Last month, she celebrated her son Jayden, who she shares with ex Jeremy Meeks , turning three and has been joined by her family in partying through the summer

Living it up: Chloe was joined by her boyfriend for the day of relaxation

A source said: 'Chloe has known Manuele for months and they have always been very close friends. They have a lot in common; they're both parents and are from similar worlds, Chloe is very happy with him. He's very much been accepted into her family.'

The couple celebrated Chloe's birthday together in March of last year, with Manuele pictured smiling alongside the heiress and her brother Brandon, 28.

Chloe split from ex-fiance Jeremy, 37, nicknamed the Hot Felon, in June 2019, following a two-year romance.

Stunning: She was beaming as she kicked back on a board to unwind

Time of her life! Chloe was guffawing and giggling as she lived it up on the boat

Relaxing: She took some time to reflect while closer to the shore

Proud mama: Tina watched on as Chloe took the plunge into the water

Happy days: Chloe's boyfriend Manuele has a daughter from a previous relationship with a former partner. In a Facebook post that shows Manuele with his young daughter, he comments: 'The only woman I will love forever'

Daddy dearest: Phillip was on board also and chatting to the family

Chloe's boyfriend Manuele has a daughter from a previous relationship with a former partner. In a Facebook post that shows Manuele with his young daughter, he comments: 'The only woman I will love forever.'

After her split from 'hot felon' Jeremy, Chloe briefly dated Italian polo captain Rommy Gianni, who she was also spotted kissing on board her dad's super yacht.

Chloe was photographed in Sardina with Rommy back in August 2019  just two months after reports of her split from Jeremy. Her dad Philip's Arcadia Group went into administration late last year, after unsuccessfully seeking a 30 million cash injection to help it survive lockdown.

Like mother, like daughter! The duo kicked back together in style

Dwelling: She pulled on a white tee to cover up later on in the trip

In and out: She went from sporting her scanty bikini to her stylish floral shorts during the sun-soaked day out

Ooh! She pulled up the board, which was adorned with a lion's face in a nod to the name of the yacht

The former owner of brands including Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Burton asked lenders for support after lockdown restrictions hammered sales, disrupting crucial trading up to Christmas.

Arcadia, which employed 15,000 people, was in trouble even before the coronavirus crisis. It recorded an operating loss of 138 million on turnover of 1.8 billion in 2018.

Back in 2019, Arcadia carried out an insolvency procedure known as a company voluntary arrangement to cut rents and close some shops. Philip enjoyed almost two decades of ruling the high street after lucrative takeovers of BHS in 2000 and Arcadia in 2002.

You're doing great sweetie! Tina pulled her best Kris Jenner impression and was filming Chloe as she went down the slide

Glad of the rest? She looked happy to chill out as she kicked back on the boat

Under my umbrella! She was keeping the family sun safe by erecting an umbrella
Isla Fisher shared a beautiful smiling shot of herself wearing a white one-shoulder maxi dress on Instagram on Monday.

The age-defying beauty flashed her pearly whites for the camera as she lifted the dress at the waist with her left hand to create a stunning silhouette.

Her auburn locks had been tied into a tousled ponytail and the Oman-born star allowed for a selection of hair strands to fall loose over her visage.

Beaming: Isla Fisher, 45, was a vision in white as she went braless to model a figure-hugging one-shoulder maxi dress on Instagram on Monday

The MTV Movie Award winner opted for the less-is-more approach, sporting no visible accessories.

The Hollywood actress shared a photo to Instagram earlier in the day of herself getting the COVID-19 jab in Sydney.

It comes as the locked-down city struggles with an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Showing how easy the process is, the Wedding Crashers star smiled underneath her mask and simply captioned her post: 'Vax and relax.'

'Vax and relax': Isla has become the latest celebrity to get her Covid-19 vaccination, sharing a picture of herself getting the jab earlier on in the day

She joins the likes of Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, comedian Andy Lee and radio host Kyle Sandilands, who have all been vaccinated down-under.

Sydneysiders, including Isla and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen, are entering their sixth gruelling week of lockdown after New South Wales recorded 239 locally acquired cases on Sunday.

There are only four reasons residents of the city should leave their home, being to exercise, conduct essential work or education, shop for food or essential goods or head out for medical care or compassionate needs.

Meanwhile, Perth-raised Isla and her family moved from the US towards the end of last year.

Vaxxed: Sydneysiders, including Isla and her husband Sacha Baron Cohen (left), are entering their sixth week of Covid lockdown after NSW recorded 239 locally acquired cases on Sunday (pictured in 2021)

In an interview with Marie Claire Australia magazine recently, Isla spoke fondly about returning to her home country.

'I feel like I can be myself in Australia,' she said at the time.

'I love the people. I love the colours and the sights and the taste and the smells. And there's something about being home which is just it feels very magical.

'I miss it so much when I'm away and I have a very Australian sensibility. Whenever I meet another Aussie, I always think, 'Oh my gosh, we're twins!''
She's busy filming new ITV drama No Return in Manchester in preparation for its release next year.

And putting on an animated display while on set, Sheridan Smith was seen joking around with crew members in between takes on Monday.

The actress, 40, covered up in a black quilted coat and shades when she wasn't filming new scenes for the series and at one point was seen throwing her head back laughing while surrounded by crew.

Care to share the joke? Sheridan Smith was seen joking around with crew members as she put on an animated display in between filming for ITV drama No Return in Manchester on Monday

Sheridan was in good spirits as she quenched her thirst with a cold drink while the cameras momentarily stopped rolling.

She was dressed in character and stepped out wearing a loose-fitted orange top and floral patterned maxi skirt, as production continued.

Theatre star Sheridan wore light blue mules and her short blonde hair was styled into a sleek and straight bob for scenes that took place at a bar in Manchester's city centre.

In the four-part series, recently announced by ITV, Sheridan plays the role of a woman named Kathy, who jets off to Turkey with her husband (played by Quiz star Michael Jibson) and their 16-year-old son Noah (Louis Ashbourne Serkis - son of Andy Serkis), only to realise they are on the holiday from hell.

Something funny: The actress, 40, was seen throwing her head back laughing while crew members surrounded her as she stepped out on set

Back in business: The theatre star is currently filming for the four-part series which is set to hit screens in 2022 and covered up on set in a quilted jacket and shades

Filming began earlier this month, with Sheridan telling fans she is 'so grateful' to be starring in the drama penned by Danny Brocklehurst, who previously wrote Netflix series The Stranger.

No Return, which is due to hit screens in 2022, also stars Sherlock actress Sian Brooke, who plays Megan - the sister of Sheridan's character Kathy.

Setting the scene in a press release, ITV has shared: '[The family's] holiday is a chance to unwind and for Kathy and Martin to spend some much-needed time together.

Doing her thing; Sheridan gave a big smile and a thumbs up as she got into character

Styled: She wore blue mules and cropped floral trousers for the outing

'Until unsuspecting Noah accepts a seemingly innocent invitation to a beach party from a fellow holidaymaker who is staying at the same hotel.

'Suddenly Kathy and Martins world spectacularly falls apart when they are left desperately fighting for their sons freedom against extremely challenging circumstances.

'An arrest, an expensive and alien legal system, looming media coverage and resistance from fellow holidaymakers to come to their aid leaves the distraught parents fighting for Noahs freedom when ironically he should be at school sitting his latest exams.'

Eye for bling: Sheridan's appearance on set comes after she was seen still wearing her engagement ring a month after her split from ex-fiance Jamie Horn

Sheridan's latest appearance on set comes after she was recently spotted still wearing her engagement ring, a month after her split from ex-fiance Jamie Horn.

The diamond ring, reportedly worth 10,000, was sitting pretty on her finger as she took to her Instagram story to tell fans she was tuning into this year's series of Love Island.

Sheridan confirmed her split from long-term partner Jamie just weeks ago - a year after they welcomed their son Billy together.

The couple shared a statement addressing their break up to The Sun, earlier this month, which read: 'It is with great sadness that we have decided to have some time apart.'

'We both remain completely committed to raising our beautiful boy Billy together. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time. Thank you.'

A source told OK! magazine at the time: 'Sheridan is struggling to get through the split. She put him out there for everyone to see and she really thought he was The One.'

All over: The mum-of-one and Jamie confirmed their split earlier this month - nearly a year after welcoming their son Billy in May last year

The insider also claimed that splitting from Jamie brought back pain Sheridan felt after losing her father Colin, who died from cancer, in 2016.

'She's devastated. This has brought back all the feelings of missing her dad because he was her tower of strength,' the source added.

'In her heart she's hoping they can make it right, but it doesn't look like there's any way back. They have a baby together and it's tough. She's heartbroken.'

Sheridan and Jamie first began dating in 2018 after meeting on Tinder and reportedly got engaged after just three months together.

Jamie is said to have proposed to Sheridan in May 2018 and the couple were living together in a rented property in North London.

Sheridan's ex Jamie had appeared onscreen alongside her in a one-off documentary, titled Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum, she filmed for ITV. It was released in 2020 and followed her pregnancy as a first time mum.
Kylie Jenner shared some makeup news on Monday.

The 23-year-old mogul revealed that she will be doing another birthday collection for her brand Kylie Cosmetics. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star will turned 24-years-old on August 10.

The billionaire beauty shared a topless photo where she was spray painted in gold to announce the theme: 24k gold.

Golden touch: Kylie Jenner is doing another birthday collection for her brand Kylie Cosmetics. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, who turns 24-years-old on August 10, shared a topless photo where she was spray painted in gold to announce the theme: 24k gold

'Ahhh!!! my birthday is in 8 days!!!' began the Calabasas, California native.

'And of course i had to celebrate with another bday collection! 24K gold theme for my 24th birthday launching on August 10th.'

The sister of Kendall Jenner added, 'I cant wait to reveal this collection tomorrow on my stories!!! STAY TUNED @kyliecosmetics.'

She was seen with no shirt on as she cradled her chest while wearing neck down gold spray paint.

Jenner had on gold brief undies with gold hoop earrings that matched her gold eyeshadow.

Golden idea: She was seen with no shirt on as she cradled her chest while wearing neck down gold spray paint. Jenner added gold hoop earrings that matched her gold eyeshadow

Time to shine: 'Ahhh!!! my birthday is in 8 days!!!' began the Calabasas, California native. 'And of course i had to celebrate with another bday collection! 24K gold theme for my 24th birthday launching on August 10th'

Before the announcement the mother to Stormi Webster posted several older images from her makeup page which has since been deleted.

She took to her Instagram Stories to share that she has a new birthday collection and will announce what the look is soon: 'I can't wait to reveal the theme of my 2021 bday collection!'

In the past she has done a Billionaire collection where the packaging had money on it.

As good as gold: A look at the new Kylie Cosmetics packaging was also shared

The gold standard: Jenner wore a gold triangle bikini top and matching mini skirt

On her Kylie Cosmetics Instagram page it said: 'Birthday collection throwback! Who can guess the theme of this years birthday collection? Reveal coming soon!'

Also on Sunday where she made another announcement.

The star revealed that her new reworked Kylie Cosmetics products are now on sale at Ulta after already launching online.

Birthday time: The mother to Stormi Webster posted the news on her Kylie Cosmetics Instagram page as she posted several older images from her makeup page which has since been deleted

Money mama: In the past she has done a Billionaire collection where the packaging had money on it

'My new clean and vegan @kyliecosmetics products are officially available at @ultabeauty stores across the country and online at Ulta.com today!' said the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star.

The star wore a pale lilac cut-out dress that flashed her cleavage. There were also cut outs over her arms.

Impressively, her makeup had the same lilac tones as she was seen with her long raven hair down in soft curls over her chest.

It seems as if the sister of Vogue model Kendall Jenner used a filter to smooth out her face.
Mum-of-two Alesha Dixon has candidly discussed her struggles with 'mental warfare' during her second pregnancy.

The songstress, 42, who shares daughters Azura, six, and Anaya, 22 months, with husband Azuka Ononye, explained she was 'over the moon' with happiness when she fell pregnant again in 2019 yet soon found herself weeping and emotional.

Despite this, she couldn't understand why she spent so much time isolating herself from her family. The Britain's Got Talent judge told The Mirror that she felt 'down and sad' but couldn't explain why, which was confusing for her.

'I would lock myself away in a bathroom and cry': Alesha Dixon, 42, opened up on Sunday about her mental health struggle during her second pregnancy (pictured in Australia last year)

Alesha said: 'It's supposed to be the most joyful time of your life, but I would have so many moments where I would lock myself away in a bathroom and cry...

'We can all relate to that mental warfare we have to go through where we have to navigate our way to a positive space in our mind to make life a little bit easier.'

The former Mis-Teeq bandmember's struggles inspired her new single 'War' and she admitted the coronavirus pandemic made her want to return to music.

She added: 'Life is too short and unpredictable. You don't know what's round the corner.'

Little ones: She is a mum to two daughters and regularly takes to social media to share family snaps with the tots

The Drummer Boy hitmaker recently admitted she felt having children had made her a better person because now she's always mindful of her behaviour.

That is despite being 'young at heart' and having an inner-rebellious side.

'My children keep me grounded. Everything I'm doing now is to make sure they have a great future and to protect them.'

Even though parenting can have its difficulties, Alesha forgets them all when she gets a hug from her children, which she sometimes finds herself begging for.

Happy couple: Alesha has Azura, six, and Anaya, 22 months, with husband Azuka Ononye (pictured in Australia last month)

It comes after the couple jetted Down Under for Alesha to star on Australia's Got Talent but was left devastated when COVID put a stop to the show last month.

'Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, we have decided to postpone production of the new season of AGT to a date to be determined,' a Seven Network spokesperson said.

'A studio audience is a vitally important part of this much-loved show, so we have made the responsible but tough call to not go ahead for now.'

AGT was due to begin shooting in Sydney, but filming was postponed due to the escalating Covid-19 situation and was then called off entirely.

Pucker up: The couple shared a sweet kiss as they posed in front of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

Alesha wasn't the only star to fly in overseas the gig, with American actor Neil Patrick Harris jetting in from New York.

In order to follow Australia's strict Covid rules, the international judges had to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine after landing in Sydney - and had only been released for a few days before the show was called off.

The show's celebrity judges are all 'expected to be paid in full' for their time.
Rebel Wilson is 'on the hunt for love.'

The Isn't It Romantic star, 41, has revealed she has recently bought a home in London and is planning to spend 'a lot more' time in the UK capital, increasing her chances of finding a British boyfriend.

The actress and comedienne is quoted by The Sun newspaper's Bizzare column as saying: 'I love England. I've bought a place in London so I'm sure I'll be spending a lot more time there in the future.'

'On the hunt for love': Rebel Wilson revealed to The Sun that she's interested in making a love connection with someone new

'I am someone who is established in my career so is definitely on the hunt for love  but it has to be the right person,' said the beauty.

'I've definitely found some amazing people, it just hasn't been totally right. I'm still on the hunt.'

The Australian actress - who is ready to move on following her split from billionaire Jacob Busch in February - has insisted she is not willing to interact with guys who slide into her DMs.

Social media hookups not happening: Wilson posted this photo to her Instagram, but it shouldn't encourage guys to reach out to her via the platform because the star has made it clear that she won't open direct messages from people she doesn't follow

She said: 'Don't ever DM me, guys, if you're not someone I follow, because I won't read it.

'It's just like opening a gate to things that you don't know. There could be d*** pics, there could be anything in those DMs,' she said.

'I tend to just not look at it because as a human being you get a bit sad if someone writes something mean about you.

Ignoring the randoms: Wilson said she doesn't let 'randoms' on the internet get to her. She posted this photo of her on the set of her upcoming film, Senior Year, to Instagram August 1

'Randoms on the internet don't really know you so you shouldn't get offended about what they might say.'

Meanwhile, the comedienne recently revealed she lost weight to boost her chances of getting pregnant.

The Pitch Perfect actress has shed more than 65lbs over the last year and although she was initially 'offended' that her doctors suggested her fertility would improve if she was slimmer and 'healthier', the comments gave her the motivation to tackle her eating habits.

Losing weight to gain a baby: The comedienne, showing off her new physique in a photo taken earlier this year, recently admitted she was motivated to lose weight after a doctor told her it would increase her chances of getting pregnant

Speaking on Instagram Live, she said: 'When I was going through and looking into fertility stuff, the doctor was like, 'Well, you'd have a much better chance if you were healthier'.

'I was actually a bit offended. I thought that even though I was bigger, I was pretty healthy.

'So that's what started it  that if I lost some excess weight, it would give me a better chance of freezing eggs and having better quality eggs.

Even the best laid plans: Despite her astounding weight loss, showcased here on the set of Senior Year, Wilson revealed to fans via Instagram that she received bad news about her fertility saying 'The universe works in mysterious ways and sometimes it all doesn't make sense'

'At first it wasn't even for myself, it was thinking of a future mini-me and their quality. That's what kick-started it.'

However, in May, Rebel told her Instagram followers she'd been given some 'bad news' about her fertility.

She wrote: 'I got some bad news today and didn't have anyone to share it with ... but I guess I gotta tell someone. To all the women out there struggling with fertility, I feel ya. The universe works in mysterious ways and sometimes it all doesn't make sense ... but I hope there's light about to shine through all the dark clouds.'
Private-equity giant Blackstone Group Inc is set to purchase Reese Witherspoon's media company Hello Sunshine for $900million as part of a larger plan to build an independent entertainment firm.

The new media company, which has yet to be named, was formed by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer and is backed by Blackstone, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Hello Sunshine, which was founded by Witherspoon, 45, five years ago, will be the company's first acquisition.

Witherspoon, along with Hello Sunshine Chief Executive Sarah Harden, will continue to operate the brand, as well as serve on the new media company's board.

The pair will also be significant equity holders in the new venture. It is unclear exactly how much Witherspoon and Harden will make from the deal.

Private-equity giant Blackstone Group Inc. is set to purchase Reese Witherspoon 's company, Hello Sunshine, for $900million as part of their plan to build an independent media company

Witherspoon said the deal is a 'major endorsement' of her commitment to sharing stories told by women.

'I'm going to double down on that mission to hire more female creators from all walks of life and showcase their experiences,' she said. 'This is a meaningful move in the world because it really means that women's stories matter.'

Hello Sunshine, which is responsible for several projects including include Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere and Apple Inc's The Morning Show, was founded with the mission of putting women at the center of all content it creates.

The actress and entrepreneur said, in a statement to Variety, partnering with Blackstone was a 'huge step' in achieving that mission, noting that the deal will enable Hollywood creators to tell 'even more entertaining, impactful and illuminating stories about women's lives globally'.

Mayer and Staggs are looking to acquire other content companies, as well as roll several smaller media companies together.

They have reportedly considered a deal with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith's media company, Westbrook Inc.

Mayer and Staggs said they are 'thrilled' to be partnering with Witherspoon, Harden and the entire Hello Sunshine team.

'Hello Sunshine is a perfect fit for our vision of a new, next generation entertainment, technology, and commerce company. We seek to empower creators with innovation, capital, and scale to inspire, entertain, and delight global audiences with engaging content, experiences, and products,' they told Variety.

'Our platform will foster a uniquely creator-friendly culture that gives elite talent the resources they need to create and capitalize on their best, most inventive work. We look forward to backing Reese, Sarah, and their world-class team as they continue to produce and identify dynamic, engaging content for years to come.'

The deal comes as the major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max are fighting over content in an effort to provide their platforms with as many films and television sows as possible, forcing the companies to spend billions of dollars on content.

'The rapidly growing demand for high-quality content is one of our firm's highest-conviction investment themes,' Joe Baratta, the global head of private equity at Blackstone, said in a statement.

However, unlike its competitors, Staggs and Mayer's media company will allow be free to license its content to any studio or network, something that Hello Sunshine also did.

'The big guys aren't licensing their content outside of their own closed walled gardens,' Mayer explained. 'And that's where a scaled, independent entity like ours can really have an advantage in the marketplace.'

Witherspoon took to Instagram Monday applauding the deal and calling it a 'meaningful move' to further Hello Sunshine's mission and 'hire more female creators from all walks of life and showcase their experiences'

Mayer and Staggs said they are 'thrilled' to be partnering with Witherspoon (pictured) and note that 'Hello Sunshine is a perfect fit for [their] vision of a new, next generation entertainment, technology, and commerce company'

In an Instagram post Monday applauding the sale, Witherspoon shared a snap of The Wall Street Journal's article with a caption reading: 'What a tremendous day!'

'I couldn't be more excited about what this means for our future. I am committed to continuing to create opportunity for filmmakers, authors and creators of all backgrounds and experiences to tell their stories in their own way, and reach more audiences who will see that their stories matter,' she continued.

'This is a unique time in our world where the intersection of art, commerce and media makes it possible for these creators to tell their stories and Hello sunshine is here to put a spotlight on their amazing creations.

'I am deeply proud of the team that us to this incredible moment, and I'm thrilled to be working with Blackstone, Kevin and Tom to grow a next generation media company. They are committed to helping our mission to empower women and the people who celebrate them. One story at a time.'

Blackstone is executing the Hello Sunshine deal through its private equity arm, allegedly spending $500million in cash to purchase shares from the current investors, which consist of Emerson Collective and also AT&T Inc.

In 2019, the private-equity giant bought a majority stake in Bumble, the dating app founded by American entrepreneur by Whitney Wolfe Herd.

In her Instagram stories, Herd congratulated Witherspoon and Blackstone on the deal, saying '[I] can't wait to see what magic you create on this next adventure together.'

Blackstone also owns music-rights organization Sesac Performing Rights LLC. The company indicated in March that they intend to invest in royalty-free music platform Epidemic Sound.
She's currently enjoying time with her husband Ty Comfort and their eight-year-old sons Jett and Jax in Spain.

And Caprice Bourret, 49, looked sensational when she enjoyed a beach day in Ibiza on Monday, slipping into a bright purple bikini top and pink bottoms to lap up the sunshine.

Jogging down a jetty, the model wore her bright blonde hair loose and kept the sunshine at bay behind a stylish pair of sunglasses.

Wow: Caprice Bourret, 49, looked sensational when she enjoyed a beach day in Ibiza on Monday, slipping into a bright purple bikini top and pink bottoms to lap up the sunshine

Accessorising with layers of gold necklaces, Caprice was in her element while making the most of the balmy weather.

Fellow beachgoers were visible behind the star, proving that life on the Balearic island is getting back to normal as pandemic restrictions are eased.

The mother-of-two was also sporting an immaculate, dusty pink manicure when she stepped out in the sunshine at the beginning of the week.

It comes after Caprice hit back at Ulrika Jonsson after being accused of 'blurring the line of consent'.

Quick jog: Jogging down a jetty, the model wore her bright blonde hair loose and kept the sunshine at bay behind a stylish pair of sunglasses

The model had advised married women 'not to say no' to sex with their husbands in a recent interview, with Ulrika, 53, slamming Caprice's comments and saying she was 'embarrassed' for women like her who still hold 'antiquated' viewers of 'gender-typical roles' in a relationship.

Ulrika remarked that Caprice's comments were 'dangerous' and questioned whether she would be sharing the same advice if she had a daughter - with Caprice now firing back at Ulrika and encouraging her to 'empower and support' other women.

Posting to Instagram, Caprice shared a photo with her husband, Ty, and told her followers that the temptation 'was too dear' not to respond to Ulrika's column in The Sun targeting her.

She shared a video telling fans that normally she 'would ignore' Ulrika's article about her, but she couldn't resist 'having some fun with it'.

In her element: Accessorising with layers of gold necklaces, Caprice was in her element while making the most of the balmy weather

'I just had to,' she teased, as she then shared a lengthy post wishing Ulrika 'a healthy, awesome relationship' and hitting back at claims she has been 'doing nothing' for the last few years.

The Dancing On Ice star wrote: 'I know this is a bit random but the temptation was to dear. Dear Ulrika Jonsson @ulrikajonssonofficial .. Don't get your knickers in a twist love.

'I am so glad I have inspired you with content for your column in @thesun today I am so sorry you have had a hard time with past relationships  I am not having a go but you have been very public about this I wish for u2 also have 10 years of amazing intimacy and blessed with a healthy ,awesome relationship as I have had with my hubby #soblessed (sic).'

Caprice continued: 'u have to work at it but the rewards are empowering for us as women and mommas and it's sooooo much fun ohhhhh I haven't been doing anything For the past few years, I have been working my tushie off growing @bycapricehome into the successful biz it is today #sograteful.

Hitting back: Caprice hit back at Ulrika Jonsson's criticism of her advising women 'not to say no' to having sex with their husbands in a recent interview

'I would love to gift you a bedding set maybe it will give you tons of luck in between the sheets anyways let's empower and support each other and have a bit of fun too  we all deserve it after this very challenging time we have had with Covid and how it has affected everyone  sending so much love and happiness.'

In Caprice's interview with OK! magazine, she suggested women should still have sex with their spouses even if they are tired as it's 'just 10 minutes of your life', noting that she and Ty, who she shares two sons with, were 'at it like rabbits'.

'It's just 10 minutes of your life,' the mother-of-two insisted, adding: 'You can't say ''I'm tired'' or ''I have a headache''  no!'

Not impressed: Ulrika accused Caprice of 'blurring the line of consent' and branded her comments to 'dangerous' to other women (pictured in 2020)

She said: 'Girls, my advice - even if you aren't in the mood because it's been a long day  it's just ten minute of your life. Or 15!'

The blonde beauty had been asked whether or not it's true that her sex life has improved since tying the knot, and the runway star certainly didn't hold back.

'If the sex goes in the relationship, it's done and dusted,' Caprice said frankly, adding: 'You have to keep it alive.

'And if you can settle down from your day and enjoy it, it's fricking awesome. It's the best stress reliever.'

Ulrika, however, took issue with Caprice's comments and wrote in her column in response: 'There I was thinking women had forged a way forward over these past, equality-inducing decades, where they no longer had a sense of obligation to perform sexual favours for their partners but were quite at liberty to have sex only if they wanted to.'

She went on to say that she was of the belief that the days of men demanding sex from their wife was 'well and truly over'.

She added that while she herself has a 'high sex drive' and would mostly welcome sex, if she didn't feel like making love, 'it ain't happening'.

Ulrika continued: 'I feel embarrassed for women like Caprice who still have such an antiquated view of gender-typical roles in a relationship. It's almost as cringe-inducing as when ex-PM Theresa May claimed when talking about domestic bliss with husband Philip that 'there are boy jobs and girl jobs'.'

Firing back: Caprice told fans she wanted to 'have some fun' with Ulrika's column about her and encouraged the TV star to 'empower and support women' instead

Amid her scathing criticism, the former weather presenter accused the model's remarks of being 'dangerous' as it could almost muddle the line of consent.

She added: 'But Caprice's comments are considerably more dangerous.

'She's blurring a very precarious line of consent. If she had a daughter, would she be urging her to lie back and think of England as she heads off into life to build healthy, respectful, egalitarian relationships?'

Caprice's candid new interview echoes November reports that she had been 'passing time in lockdown by getting busy between the sheets with her husband'.

A source told MailOnline at the time: 'Caprice is passing the time during lockdown by getting busy between the sheets with her husband Ty.

'She loved spending time with her hubby during the last lockdown and they plan to have a date night a minimum three times a week! If they can fit in more they will!'

Caprice reportedly told friends last year: 'Thank goodness he had his tubes tied otherwise there would definitely be a bundle of joy on the way by now'.
It's Tom Hardy versus Woody Harrelson in the action-packed second trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was unveiled on Monday.

The 43-year-old Englishman is back a Daily Bugle investigative journalist Eddie Brock, who's learned to co-exist with his vicious alter-ego alien symbiote, Venom.

'Eddie, we should be out there snacking on bad guys. I am a predator. I need to be free,' Venom growled.

Natural born killers: It's Tom Hardy (L) versus Woody Harrelson (R) in the action-packed second trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was unveiled on Monday

Brock replied: 'You live in my body, you live by my rules. [No eating people].'

Eddie lands an exclusive interview in prison with convicted serial killer Cletus Kasady, who's menacingly played by the 60-year-old Texan.

Kasady bit Brock's hand between the bars and remarked: 'I have tasted blood before and that is not it.'

When the death row prisoner is given a lethal injection, he transforms into Carnage and break out of the facility.

'We should be out there snacking on bad guys!' The 43-year-old Englishman is back a Daily Bugle investigative journalist Eddie Brock, who's learned to co-exist with his vicious alter-ego alien symbiote, Venom

Brock replied: 'You live in my body, you live by my rules. [No eating people]'

'Why me?' Eddie lands an exclusive interview in prison with convicted serial killer Cletus Kasady, who's menacingly played by the 60-year-old Texan (R)

Kasady bit Brock's hand between the bars and remarked: 'I have tasted blood before and that is not it'

Metamorphosis: When the death row prisoner is given a lethal injection, he transforms into Carnage and break out of the facility

When the two men meet again it's in a church for a battle, and Venom hesitates with fear because Carnage is a 'red one.'

'You need to come out right now. I will let you eat everybody!' Eddie ordered Venom, who obliged.

The new preview also features Brock's district attorney ex-fiancee Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), who's now engaged to Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott).

And there's only quick glimpses of Naomie Harris as the Ravencroft-imprisoned Frances Barrison/Shriek, who serves as love interest to Cletus.

Deadlier than black ones? When the two men meet again it's in a church for a battle, and Venom hesitates with fear because Carnage is a 'red one'

'You need to come out right now. I will let you eat everybody!' Eddie ordered Venom, who obliged

'You could just say, "I'm happy for you"': The new preview also features Brock's district attorney ex-fiancee Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), who's now engaged to Dr. Dan Lewis

Powerful scream: And there's only quick glimpses of Naomie Harris as the Ravencroft-imprisoned Frances Barrison/Shriek, who serves as love interest to Cletus

Impressively, all four of the leading actors have received Oscar nominations.

The Odd Couple-inspired Spidey villain sequel marks motion capture icon Andy Serkis' fourth directorial effort.

Tom received his first-ever 'story by' credit alongside screenwriter Kelly Marcel.

'This is new for him, to get credit, but it's not new for him to be this involved. He's absolutely 100% committed to everything that he does,' Marcel told Empire Magazine in June.

At the helm: The Odd Couple-inspired Spidey villain sequel marks motion capture icon Andy Serkis' fourth directorial effort

'We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime': Tom received his first-ever 'story by' credit alongside screenwriter Kelly Marcel

'He's married to Venom. He loves this character': The long-delayed, Marvel Comics-based flick finally hits UK theaters September 15 and US theaters September 24

'He's married to Venom. He loves this character. He's very involved in what he thinks should happen. He doesn't get a pen and write. We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime, riffing on ideas, seeing what worked, seeing what didn't.

'Then I took everything we spoke about and holed up somewhere for three months quietly, knocking out a script.'

The long-delayed, Marvel Comics-based flick finally hits UK theaters September 15 and US theaters September 24.
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Penny Lancaster was seen on patrol in the early hours of Monday morning, walking the streets of London alongside fellow officers while in uniform.

The model, 50 - who has been working with the City of London police as a Special Constable since obtaining her badge in April - worked until 4am after spending the day on the 100k yacht her husband Rod Stewart bought her for her birthday.

Out on the beat with Divisional Commander Ian Miller MBE, Penny made sure to keep her energy levels up and was seen tucking into a Tesco meal deal shortly before dawn.

On the beat: Penny Lancaster, 50, was seen on patrol in the early hours of Monday morning, walking the streets of London alongside fellow officers while in uniform

Looking fresh-faced without so much as a dash of make-up on, Penny was sporting a stylish pair of glasses while patrolling the capital's streets and clutched a bottle of water in her left hand in a bid to stay hydrated.

Chatting away to her fellow officers as she stepped out of a police van, the star seemed at ease in her new role and her overnight shift appeared to be incident free.

Penny rocked a black outfit, chunky boots and a tactical vest which featured an array of pockets and handcuffs for potential arrests alongside the iconic police constable hat.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain in June, Penny said that she hadn't made any arrests during her duties to date, but had helped a suicidal woman, who was in 'desperate' need.

All the gear: Penny rocked a black outfit, chunky boots and a tactical vest which featured an array of pockets and handcuffs for potential arrests alongside the iconic police constable hat

Night shift: Penny worked until 4am after spending the day on the 100k yacht her husband Rod Stewart bought her for her birthday

Fresh-faced: Looking fresh-faced without so much as a dash of make-up on, Penny was sporting a stylish pair of glasses while patrolling the capital's streets and clutched a bottle of water in her left hand in a bid to stay hydrated

Dedicated: The model has been working as a Special Constable with the City Of London Police force after officially obtaining her badge in April

No arrests: During an appearance on Good Morning Britain in June, Penny said that she hadn't made any arrests during her duties to date, but had helped a suicidal woman, who was in 'desperate' need

Candid: Penny told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: 'When you think of policing, you think of the most violent crimes but we're out there to help the most vulnerable'

She added: 'At this particular time there's a lot of incidents on the bridges and I did help someone who was very desperate on the bridge the other night. It can be rewarding in so many ways'

Penny told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: 'When you think of policing, you think of the most violent crimes but we're out there to help the most vulnerable.

'At this particular time there's a lot of incidents on the bridges and I did help someone who was very desperate on the bridge the other night. It can be rewarding in so many ways.'

Penny added that she's drawing on her life experience and role as a mother for her police work, insisting she has the full support of her rocker husband Rod, 76.

When asked if he tried to dissuade her from taking the job, she said: 'Not at all. It is dangerous, but the police are the public, the public are the police.

Supportive husband: When asked if he tried to dissuade her from taking the job, she said: 'Not at all. It is dangerous, but the police are the public, the public are the police'

Life experience: Penny added that she's drawing on her life experience and role as a mother for her police work, insisting she has the full support of her rocker husband Rod, 76

Supportive husband: The TV personality and her musician husband Rod are pictured on holiday together last year

Reasons why: On why she joined the force, she concluded: 'The campaigning and charity work I do, this is just an extension of working for the community and for the good of people. It's free of charge'

Shifts: Penny revealed in April that she had become a qualified police officer after training for City Of London Police on one weeknight every week and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday every other weekend

'There's women and men alike - brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, we're just regular people but we put that uniform on to help protect.'

Penny added that she has so far managed to go under the radar while on patrol, saying no one has recognised her thanks to the uniform, despite her public profile.

She insists the 'stab vest, armour, baton, cuffs' ensure she's 'dressed as a regular'.

And on why she joined the force, she concluded: 'The campaigning and charity work I do, this is just an extension of working for the community and for the good of people. It's free of charge.

Confession: Speaking about the experience in an Instagram Live last year, she confessed: 'It was terrifying but I never felt more comfortable in a position and I felt like this is where I was supposed to be. I have signed up to be an officer'

Mingling: Penny was surrounded by members of the public as she went about her shift

Fresh-faced: Looking fresh-faced without so much as a dash of make-up on, Penny was sporting a stylish pair of glasses while patrolling the capital's streets and clutched a bottle of water in her left hand in a bid to stay hydrated

Dinner: Out on the beat with Divisional Commander Ian Miller MBE, Penny made sure to keep her energy levels up and was seen tucking into a Tesco meal deal shortly before dawn

'I'm giving up my time to help the community and that's why I wanted to become a police officer, to be out there. We've got to look after the police and make sure when their lives are taken, punishment is given.'

Penny revealed in April that she had become a qualified police officer after training for City Of London Police on one weeknight every week and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday every other weekend.

She was inspired to undergo training after taking part in Channel 4's 2019 series, Famous and Fighting Crime, in which celebrities shadowed police officers on the beat.

Penny told her followers: 'I had to sit exams, English and maths type of exams, and go for an interview with two officers. And then I did a fitness test which was the bleep test which was pretty tricky so I had to get fit for that and I passed'

Who she is: The former lingerie model previously described her police training as being part of 'who she is'

Taking the plunge: Speaking to The Mail On Sunday in December, Penny said: 'This is who I am. I could be walking the red carpet with Rod, or I could be in our stable with my goats'

Speaking about the experience in an Instagram Live last year, she confessed: 'It was terrifying but I never felt more comfortable in a position and I felt like this is where I was supposed to be. I have signed up to be an officer.

'I had to sit exams, English and maths type of exams, and go for an interview with two officers. And then I did a fitness test which was the bleep test which was pretty tricky so I had to get fit for that and I passed.'

The former lingerie model previously described her police training as being part of 'who she is'.

Speaking to The Mail On Sunday in December, Penny said: 'This is who I am. I could be walking the red carpet with Rod, or I could be in our stable with my goats.

'But there comes a time when everyone questions themselves and asks, 'Who am I? Who am I at my core?' This is what I feel I should always have been doing. It's about identity.'
Sir Paul McCartney encouraged others to get vaccinated as he shared a throwback image getting his own dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Beatles' star, 79, wore a face mask and beanie hat in the shot as he rolled up his sleeve for the jab.

Sir Paul took to Twitter on Monday to share the throwback snap as he tweeted: 'BE COOL. GET VAX'D - Paul.'

Be cool, get vaxxed! Sir Paul McCartney, 79, encouraged others to get the vaccine as he took to Twitter on Monday to post a throwback snap of himself receiving his second jab

Although Sir Paul did not state when or where he received the vaccine, those aged 70 and over and the clinically extremely vulnerable began receiving invitations for vaccinations in the UK on January 18.

Back in December, the Liverpudlian rock star insisted that he would get vaccinated 'as soon as I'm allowed.'

He told The Sun at the time. 'The vaccine will get us out of this. I think we'll come through it, I know we'll come through, and it's great news about the vaccine.

'I'll have it as soon as I'm allowed. 'The vaccine will get us out of this.'

Keen for the vaccine! In December, the Liverpudlian rock star insisted that he would get vaccinated 'as soon as I'm allowed' (Pictured in December 2020)

The Covid-19 vaccine is the biggest breakthrough since the pandemic began, potentially saving tens of thousands of lives.

Just like other routine vaccines, this works by teaching the immune system how to defend itself against attack.

A slew of stars have been taking to social media to document getting the jab in a bid to encourage their fans to follow suit.

Mr. Lordi, aka Tomi Petteri Putaansuu, of the Finnish hard rock band Lordi, took a novel approach when he received the second jab in Rovaniemi, Finland - visiting the vaccination centre in full costume.

Jabbed: On Sunday, Mr Lordi AKA Tomi Petteri Putaansuu of Finnish hard rock band Lordi had his second Covid-19 vaccine jab from nurse Paula Ylitalo (R) in Rovaniemi, Finland

Sir Paul's post comes after it was revealed that nearly eight months since the first Covid-19 vaccine was given in the UK, more than three million 18 to 29-year-olds have yet to take up the offer of a first jab.

Vaccination rates vary across the four nations of the UK, but take-up among younger age groups remains consistently lower than the equivalent figures for older groups.

The vaccine was released in stages, with everyone aged 18 and over invited to receive the jab as of last month.

The UK's largest ever vaccination programme began on December 8 and a host stars, such as Sir Ian McKellen CBE, 82, Lionel Blair, 92, and Prue Leith, 81, encouraged others to follow suit when they received their first jab in December.

After getting the vaccine at the Arts Research Centre, Queen Mary University Hospital in December, Sir Ian McKellen said: 'It's a very special day, I feel euphoric!

'Anyone who has lived as long as I have is alive because they have had previous vaccinations.

'The take-up amongst the older generation will be 100 per cent - it ought to be  because you're having it not just for yourself but for people who you are close to  you're doing your bit for society.

'Of course, it's painless it's convenient, and getting in touch and meeting NHS staff and saying thank you to them for how hard they've been working is a bonus.

'I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I feel very lucky to have had the vaccine.'

Vaccinated: After getting the vaccine at the Arts Research Centre, Queen Mary University Hospital in December, Sir Ian McKellen said, 'It's a very special day, I feel euphoric!'

Veteran star Lionel Blair, 92, also received his first Jab at the end of 2020, attending the NHS vaccine centre in the grounds of the horse racing course at Epsom, Surrey.

After being filmed beaming while getting the jab, he later said: 'I couldn't believe it when they called me. It's next week and then the next one is in January and here I am. I'm just thinking, thank God I live here.'

Lionel looked delighted in the video as he was tended to by a nurse, who pulled his sleeve up and administered the jab, which he admitted was 'fine'.

Leading the way: Lionel Blair, 92 (left) and Prue Leith, 81, encouraged others to follow suit when they received their first jab in December

Meanwhile, Paul and wife Nancy Shevell, 61, have been spending quality time together in the Hamptons, America, amid the pandemic.

The couple have been together since 2007 and married in a ceremony held in Marylebone four years later in 2011.

It's thought Paul and Nancy, who is 18 years his junior, first met thanks to both owning homes in the Hamptons.

Cute couple: Meanwhile, Paul and wife Nancy Shevell, 61, have been spending time in America, amid the pandemic. The couple have been together since 2007 (pictured in 2019)

Paul was previously married twice before - he wed first wife Linda in 1969 and the pair were married until Linda died, aged 56, in 1998, following a battle with breast cancer.

Paul and Linda share four children; daughters Heather, Mary and Stella, and son James.

He later wed second wife Heather Mills, who he shares daughter Beatrice with, in 2002 - they split four years later in 2006 and their divorce, costing the star 24.3 million, was finalised in 2008.
Larsa Pippen's long legs and toned tummy were on display in a photo she posted on Monday.

The ex friend of Kim Kardashian was soaking up the Florida sun during a break from shooting The Real Housewives of Miami reboot.

The 47-year-old wore a white, skimpy Chanel bikini and matching bucket hat covered in the brand's iconic logo. She captioned the photo, 'Faith, work, and life are really good. How are u feeling?'

Pinup: Larsa Pippen, 47, showed off her flat stomach during a break in shooting The Real Housewives of Miami reboot

Scottie Pippen's ex has frequently showed off her beach body in recent months.

The reality television star has posted photos of herself in a wide array of bikinis including one where she stood in front of lavish mansion in a blue set.

She captioned the photo, 'What's your Saturday looking like?'

The Real Housewife is definitely showing her other ex, Malik Beasley, what he's missing after the couple cut ties in February of this year.

Bikinis pic after bikini pic: The reality tv star has posted a number of selfies showing off her body recently including this one she put out in mid-July

An insider told E! News: 'Things got hard with travel, etc. It was more of a timing thing. They're still in communication but not together.'

Malik, 24, is based in Minnesota, where he plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Larsa is currently focused on her business interests.

Romance between the two celebrities is also reportedly the reason Beasley split with his wife, Montana Yao.

'It was more of a timing thing': Shooting guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves Malik Beasley, pictured here in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies in December, split with Pippen in February though the two reportedly maintained contact

'Toxic energy': Pictured here in another bikini, Larsa Pippen is reportedly on the outs with former friend Kim Kardashian who, one person claims, views Pippen as toxic

A source previously said that Yao filed for divorce the day she saw photos of Beasley and Pippen holding hands.

The source said, 'Montana never cheated, and it's not in her character. She's not dating anybody. She's a family person. She's focusing on taking care of her son with her parents.'

Things are reportedly rocky between Pippen and one of her former close friends, Kim Kardashian.

Ex pals: Things are reportedly rocky between Pippen and one of her former close friends, Kim Kardashian. Kim seen on Monday

A source previously suggested that Kardashian thinks Larsa is 'toxic energy'.

The suggestion came after Larsa gave a tell-all interview to the 'Hollywood Raw' podcast and hinted that Kanye West was one reason she now has a different relationship with Kim.

As a result, the brunette beauty and her family are said to have lost trust in Larsa.

A source explained: 'They all think Larsa is toxic energy.'
Kim Kardashian was seen in a black string bikini while on a white sand beach in two new Instagram photos shared on Monday.

The mother-of-four was in top shape as she was photographed from the front and the back as the crystal blue waters could be seen behind her.

The makeup mogul, 40, had a bit of fun with her caption as she wrote: 'Resting beach face.'

Stunning in the sun: Kim Kardashian was seen in a black string bikini while on a white sand beach in two new Instagram photos shared on Monday

Nailed it: The Vogue cover girl's nails were short and a pale pink color, which she has said is her favorite look

The suit left little to the imagination as it gave a good view of the reality TV star's cleavage and her flat tummy.

The briefs rode high on her hips and tied on the sides as they had a thong back.

The Selfish author pulled her black hair back in a low bun and went with little makeup on and no jewelry; she wears very little bling since her Paris robbery.

The Vogue cover girl's nails were short and a pale pink color, which she has said is her favorite look.

Now for another view: The mother-of-four was in top shape as she was photographed from the front and the back as the crystal blue waters could be seen on the horizon

Natural wonder: The Selfish author pulled her black hair back in a low bun and went with little makeup on and no jewelry; she wears very little bling since her Paris robbery

It is not known if the images are older or if she is on a new tropical vacation.

Kim also shared some behind the scenes images from when she voiced the new animated movie Paw Patrol.

The TV vet will voice the character of 'posh pooch' Delores - a blue-eyed white dog with a pink collar - in the Paw Patrol film which comes out on August 20 from Paramount.

Her costars are Jimmy Kimmel and Dax Shepard as well as Randall Park.

An actress too: Kim also shared some behind the scenes images from when she voiced the new animated movie Paw Patrol. The TV vet will voice the character of Delores - a white dog with a pink collar - in the Paw Patrol film which comes out on August 20 from Paramount

For the West tykes: Earlier this year Kim told People she took the role to please her four kids: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm

Too cute! The synopsis: When their biggest rival, Humdinger, starts wreaking havoc as the mayor of Adventure City, Ryder and everyone's favorite heroic pups kick into high gear to face the challenge. Armed with exciting new gadgets and gear, the PAW Patrol joins forces with a savvy dachshund to save the citizens of Adventure City

The synopsis: When their biggest rival, Humdinger, starts wreaking havoc as the mayor of Adventure City, Ryder and everyone's favorite heroic pups kick into high gear to face the challenge. Armed with exciting new gadgets and gear, the PAW Patrol joins forces with a savvy dachshund to save the citizens of Adventure City.

Earlier this year Kim told People she took the role to please her four kids: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm.

This post comes after the billionaire posed in a black SKIMS lingerie set from the large walk-in closet inside her home on Sunday.

The Dash Dolls star looked slender in the triangle bra and small briefs with her black hair worn up in a half fountain spout.

Back at it: Kardashian posed in a black SKIMS lingerie set from the large walk-in closet inside her home on Sunday

Also on Sunday the estranged wife of Kanye West wiped her KKW Beauty Instagram page and left only one note.

'We're currently away working on a new, more modern, elevated, and sustainable brand and customer experience - the way Kim has always envisioned,' it said.

'Thank you for being on this incredible journey with us. We promise we won't be gone for too long.'

And the note, on a nude background, added that fans could contact a general email for questions.

Back later: This comes just after the estranged wife of Kanye West wiped her KKW Beauty Instagram page and left only one note

Now a very dark green: The SKIMS founder sat down to shoot a selfie in hunter green

The diva has been retooling KKW Beauty.

The TV star has told fans to bid farewell to her cosmetics range - which she founded in 2017 - as she's planning to relaunch the line as a 'completely new brand' over the coming months.

She announced in a statement shared to her social media accounts: 'To our loyal customers, It all started with a contour kit and expanded to eyes, lips, body, and many incredible collections over the past four years.

'On August 1st at midnight we will be shutting down the KKWBeauty.com site so that we can come back to you under a completely new brand with new formulas that are more modern, innovative, and packaged in an elevated and sustainable new look.'

The 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star teased she's got planned to 'develop and expand' on her product range and will also improve her online shopping experience.

She added: 'I'm excited to continue to develop and expand my product range and for you to finally be able to experience it the way that I have always envisioned.

'In addition, my team is hard at work to improve the customer shopping experience where you will be able to purchase my beauty and cosmetic offerings in all categories from one single website.'

Kim promised fans won't have to wait too long to see what she's got planned.

She concluded: 'Thank you so much for being on this incredible journey with me, and I promise we won't be gone for too long.'

Despite speculation the change is because Kim is dropping the West from her name after splitting from husband Kanye West - the father of her four children - earlier this year, sources told TMZ that isn't the case and she currently has no plans to alter her moniker.

In June 2020, Coty paid $200 million for a 20% stake in KKW Beauty, valuing the business at $1 billion.
Liam Gallagher and his fiancee Debbie Gwyther enjoyed dinner at Scott's in Mayfair on Sunday.

Oasis star Liam, 48, was sporting his staple shaggy haircut and sunglasses, teaming his black trousers with a coat while Debbie, 38, opted for a partially unbuttoned black jumpsuit.

Their outing comes just over two weeks since Liam's youngest son Gene, 20, was ordered to stand trial in March alongside Ringo Starr's grandson Sonny Starkey, 19, and IMG model Noah Ponte, 20, who are accused of fighting in a Tesco Express in Hampstead, north London on May 17, 2019.

Dinner: Liam Gallagher, 48, and his fiancee Debbie Gwyther, 38, enjoyed dinner at Scott's in Mayfair on Sunday, two weeks after Liam's youngest son Gene, 20, was ordered to stand trial

Stylish: Author Debbie opted for a partially unbuttoned black jumpsuit when she stepped out in the capital with her rocker partner

Liam - who shares Gene with ex Nicole Appleton - added a pop of colour to his all-black look with a pair of white shoes.

Author Debbie wore her glossy black hair loose and added height to her frame in a pair of towering wedge heels.

She kept her belongings safe in a chain detail handbag and accentuated her trim waist with a belt.

After exiting the venue Liam and his wife-to-be settled into a waiting car and were whisked home.

Sunglasses on: Liam was sporting his staple shaggy haircut and sunglasses, teaming his black trousers with a coat

Pop of colour: Liam - who shares Gene with ex Nicole Appleton - added a pop of colour to his all-black look with a pair of white shoes

Trim: Debbie kept her belongings safe in a chain detail handbag and accentuated her trim waist with a belt

High spirits: Liam appeared in high spirits at the end of the weekend and made sure to interact with restaurant staff

Fist bump: Liam was seen giving door staff a fist bump as he left the up-market venue

Liam's youngest son Gene and Ringo Starr's grandson Sonny will stand trial in March next year for allegedly attacking and racially abusing Tesco workers as they tried to buy drink in a shop near their Hampstead homes.

Meanwhile, model Ponte is accused of stealing a can of beer at midnight after the shop had stopped selling alcohol, an earlier hearing was told.

The 20-year-old is also said to have told a South Asian worker: 'You bloody Indians. Go back to where you came from. You're not wanted here.'

Home time: Liam and Debbie hopped into a waiting car and were whisked home after calling it a night

Hair down: Author Debbie wore her glossy black hair loose and added height to her frame in a pair of towering wedge heels

Gallagher, Starkey, and Ponte are charged with affray, while Gallagher and Ponte are also accused of racially aggravated assault.

Ponte is also charged with theft and assault by beating, Wood Green Crown Court was told today. Starkey is facing two charges of assault by beating two Tesco workers.

On July 16, a judge at Wood Green Crown Court set a trial date for the trio for March 28 next year. None of the defendants were present in court for the brief hearing.

Alexander Agbamu, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing: 'Factually it's a very straightforward case, much of the incident was captured on CCTV, that which isn't is described by eyewitnesses, by those who are described as the alleged victims.'

Trial: Liam Gallagher's youngest son Gene Gallagher (left) and Ringo Starr's grandson Sonny Starkey (right) will stand trial in March next year for allegedly attacking and racially abusing Tesco workers
They recently went public with their relationship after working together for years selling luxury properties in Los Angeles.

And Chrishell Stause worked up a sweat during a steamy bikini workout as she climbed on top of her boss and beau, Jason Oppenheim, in clips shared to Instagram on Monday morning.

The 40-year-old realtor turned reality star looked svelte in a tiny pink bikini as her Selling Sunset co-stars hit the beach in Mykonos, Greece.

Impressive routine: Chrishell Stause worked up a sweat during a steamy bikini workout as she climbed on top of her boss and beau, Jason Oppenheim, in clips shared to Instagram on Monday morning

After showing off a few of her own pushups, Chrishell climbed onto her boyfriend's back as he worked out poolside.

'Being tough on the boss,' she jokingly wrote across the video while Jason flexed his muscles with every move.

Chrishell and Jason revealed their blossoming romance just last week while traveling abroad with the cast of their popular Netflix series.

After topping up their tans by the pool, the group ventured out for a day of fun at the Principote luxury beach club.

He must work out: After showing off a few of her own pushups, Chrishell climbed onto her boyfriend's back as he worked out poolside

Sweethearts: Chrishell and Jason revealed their blossoming romance just last week while traveling abroad with the cast of their popular Netflix series

Beach babes: His twin brother, Brett, showed off his muscular physique while combing the beach with girlfriend Tina Louise

The former Dancing with the Stars contestant changed into a sparkling mesh minidress and danced the afternoon away with Jason, 44.

His twin brother, Brett, showed off his muscular physique while combing the beach with girlfriend Tina Louise.

Louise, 39, soaked up the sun in a tiny triangle top with a matching pair of cheeky bottoms resting high atop her hips.

Toned and tanned: Louise, 39, soaked up the sun in a tiny triangle top with a matching pair of cheeky bottoms resting high atop her hips

Sandy toes: Mary Fitzgerald's husband, Romain Bonnet, wore a pair of Fendi trunks and flaunted his chiseled torso while walking on the beach

Mary Fitzgerald's husband, Romain Bonnet, wore a pair of Fendi trunks and flaunted his chiseled torso while walking on the beach.

Amanza Smith, 43, sported a white bandeau top with a thick strap across one shoulder to match a pair of drawstring bottoms.

It's unclear if Stause and Oppenheim's blossoming romance will be covered in the upcoming season, but during the explosive third season of Selling Sunset, Chrishell claimed her ex, Justin Hartley, informed her of his intent to divorce via text message, just 45 minutes before the heartbreaking news was made public.

The TV star also referred to Justin's divorce filing as an 'impulsive' decision and that he would often use the same 'I'm out' approach during fights they had in the past.

A source told People at the time of their split that the pair had been having trouble for a while' and were 'fundamentally incompatible' as a couple.
She has starred on the hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy for 16 years, and will be returning for an 18th season.

But Ellen Pompeo no longer desires to continue acting following her run on the hit program.

During an interview on InStyle's Ladies First with Laura Brown podcast, Ellen, 51, revealed her heart was no longer in the occupation as she has now set her sights on new business opportunities.

'I'm not super excited about continuing my acting career': Ellen Pompeo no longer desires to continue acting following her run on the hit program (pictured November 2020)

'I'm not saying I'll never act again, I very well may, but I'm not super excited about continuing my acting career,' she explained.

'I'm more entrepreneurial at this stage. I'm excited about investing in businesses, and starting business. That's an area of growth that I'm excited about, using my brain in a different way.'

With all the traveling and long days spent on set waiting for their cue, Ellen said acting was a job for the young.

'The acting I feel like, even though I haven't done a million different roles, I feel like I've done it,' she said. 'Sitting around in trailers, traveling around, shooting this in Atlanta, shooting that in Vancouver. I have no desire to go sit in trailers at 11 o'clock at night and wait to shoot scenes and have ADs knock on my door and tell me when I can eat lunch. You know, it's for the young at heart. It's for the youth!'

The doctor is in: Pompeo has been starring on Grey's Anatomy for 16 years, playing Dr. Meredith Grey

Ellen, who has been playing Dr. Meredith Grey since 2005, recalled her early concerns of being typecast and her ability to land roles after the age of 40.

But, after hitting the age of 50, she no longer sees that as being the case.

'When I was in my 30s, I absolutely saw myself as in a box. That's why I stayed on the show, because I said, "Holy s**t. By the time I can negotiate my contract again and get out of this I'm going to be almost 40 years old. I am super typecast in this role. I am 40, so I'm never going to work again."

'Even 15 years ago, the thought of being 40 was, like, you're over as an actress.

'Now that I'm 50, I don't see myself that way at all. I think of myself that I can do whatever I want, or I can do nothing at all, quite honestly.'

'I am super typecast in this role': Ellen, who has been playing Dr. Meredith Gray since 2015, recalled her early concerns of being typecast and no longer being able to work after the age of 40

Now, the actress has her eye on the world of podcasting.

Speaking of her new podcast Tell Me, she said, '[I thought], "Let me go out there and do something I've never done before and try something completely different for absolutely no other reason than to try something different because I haven't for so long." If it fails, it fails, but at least I'm trying something new.'

Ellen can certainly afford not to appear on television should she wish.

The actress has a net worth of $80 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

She is also one of the highest paid women in Hollywood, earning $20 million a year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She can afford not to act! The actress has a net worth of $80 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth (pictured 2019)

Ellen will be returning to Grey's Anatomy for it's upcoming 18th season, signing a new one-year contract alongside Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr., according to Deadline.

The star, who also serves as a producer on the show, closed the one-year deal after 'lengthy negotiations.'

During an interview last year on the Jemele Hill is Unbothered podcast, Pompeo admitted she 'made a decision to make money' when taking on the role of Meredith Grey.

'For me, personally, a healthy home life was more important than career,' she told Hill. 'I didn't grow up with a particularly happy childhood. So the idea that I have this great husband and these three beautiful children [and] a happy home life was really something I needed to complete.'
Hugh Jackman underwent a biopsy on his nose Monday at the order of his doctors, as he informed his fans of his health status less than eight years after he revealed a past skin cancer battle.

The Sydney, Australia native, 52, captioned the shot in a Twitter post, 'A couple of notes: please get skin checks often, please don't think it can't happen to you and, above all, please wear sunscreen.'

In a clip accompanying the post, Jackman pulled down a protective face mask to reveal a small bandage on his nose in the wake of the procedure, explaining the course of events leading up to it.

The latest: Hugh Jackman, 52, underwent a biopsy on his nose Monday at the order of his doctors, as he informed his fans of his health status less than eight years after he revealed a past skin cancer battle

'I just went to see Lisa and Trevor, my amazing dermatologist and doctors,' the Oscar-nominated actor said in the clip. 'They saw something that was a little irregular so they took a biopsy, getting it checked.

'So if you see a shot of me with this on, do not freak out. Thank you for your concern, I'll let you know what's going on but they think it's probably fine.'

The dapper actor urged his fans to stay on top of their health situations, ending the clip in saying, 'Remember, go and get a check and wear sunscreen - don't be like me as a kid - just wear sunscreen.'

The Greatest Showman actor has past publicly spoken about his skin cancer battle, as he was treated for basal-cell carcinoma in November 2013.

The Sydney, Australia native advised fans, 'A couple of notes: please get skin checks often, please don't think it can't happen to you and, above all, please wear sunscreen'

Jackman pulled down a protective face mask to reveal a small bandage on his nose in the wake of the procedure, explaining the course of events that leading up to it

Jackman said that his dermatologists 'think it's probably fine'

He opened up to People about the ordeal in 2015, telling the outlet that he underwent check-ups 'every three months' in the wake of his initial diagnosis.

'It's the new normal for me,' he said. 'My doctor says I'll likely have more, and if that's your cross to bear in life, you should be so lucky.'

Jackman added, 'It's always a bit of a shock just hearing the word cancer. Being an Australian it's a very common thing. I never wore sunscreen growing up so I was a prime candidate for it.'

The dapper actor urged his fans to stay on top of their health situations, ending the clip in saying, 'Remember, go and get a check and wear sunscreen - don't be like me as a kid - just wear sunscreen'

Looking ahead: Jackman is currently in preparation for the Broadway musical The Music Man, which is slated to open later this year. He was snapped in NYC last month

He told ABC News in 2015 that his childhood 'was all outdoors' and that protective ointments such as sunscreen were not a priority in his family.

'I don't think my dad or mom ever bought it or made us put it on,' he said. 'The thing I remember most, the rule about being outdoors was you weren't allowed to swim within half an hour of eating ... and it's not true.'

Jackman is currently in preparation for the Broadway musical The Music Man, which is slated to open later this year.
They are gearing up for their next nationwide concert tour later this month.

And the Jonas Brothers were out in full force on Monday, wearing fun and contrasting patterns as they made their way from within the Greenwich Hotel in downtown New York City.

Kevin, 33, led the way in a leopard print shirt worn over a crisp black T-shirt and gray suit pants.

Patterned outing: The Jonas Brothers were out in full force on Monday, wearing fun and contrasting patterns as they made their way from within the Greenwich Hotel in New York City

On his feet, he kept the eccentric vibe going by wearing green alligator skin loafers.

His brother Nick, 28, was next in line, wearing a wild black jumpsuit covered in a pattern of what appeared to be tacos.

The handsome piano player had the jumpsuit open in front, revealing a tan color T-shirt and gold chains around his neck.

He walked along in black sneakers with white laces and yellow stripes on the side.

What a pair: Kevin, 33, led the way in a leopard print shirt, while Nick, 28, was next in line, wearing a wild black jumpsuit covered in a pattern of what appeared to be tacos

Rounding out the fab trio was Joe, 31, who looked spiffy in beige pinstripe slacks and a black John Lennon T-shirt featuring an image of him playing his hit song Happy Xmas (War Is Over).

The Sucker guitarist also had chains around his neck, in silver.

All three brothers shielded their eyes with sunglasses in various shades.

Spiffy: The handsome piano player had the jumpsuit open in front, revealing a tan color T-shirt and gold chains around his neck

The sighting came one day after brothers Kevin and Nick were seen heading out of the latters wife Priyanka Chopras trendy Indian restaurant Sona, also in downtown Manhattan.

For that outing, Kevin kept it simple in all black, with a T-shirt that had a slight shine to it.

He wore a beaded brown necklace over his shirt, and made his way in black sneakers.

On Sunday: The sighting came one day after brothers Kevin and Nick were seen heading out of the latters wife Priyanka Chopras trendy Indian restaurant Sona, also in downtown Manhattan

Priyankas husband Nick, meanwhile, continued his love affair with patterns, this time donning a bright red Hawaiian style floral shirt.

He paired this with shredded cream shorts with a drawstring.

He wore black sneakers with white soles.

Flashy: Priyankas husband Nick continued his love affair with patterns, this time donning a bright red Hawaiian-style floral shirt

On their respective Instagram accounts: The Jonas boys each shared wildly different hairstyle images on Monday

On their respective Instagram accounts, meanwhile, the Jonas boys each shared wildly different hairstyle images on Monday.

While Nick took to his Stories to show off his spiffy new short haircut, his brothers Kevin and Joe each appeared wearing crazy and grown out wigs, most certainly for a new video or concert promo.

Joe posted a selfie video set to the bands 2007 song SOS, wearing an extra long and straight wig that covered one of his eyes, manga-style.

What a look: Joe posted a selfie video set to the bands 2007 song SOS, wearing an extra long and straight wig that covered one of his eyes, manga-style

Kevin, on the other hand, posed in the car for his selfie, in which he wore a crazy curly wig with pork chop sideburns, which he paired with a fancy blue ascot and silver vest worn over a white dress shirt.

His cheeky caption read, 'Ascot a question for you!'

The fraternal band is getting ready to launch their Remember This tour on August 20th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
When Annette Shun Wah signed up as OzAsia Festival's new artistic director, she was looking forward to the travel opportunities that would ensue from curating the Adelaide Festival Centre's marquee spring event.

'Finally, a job where I had to travel internationally, and to Asia,' says the actor, writer, broadcaster and producer by Zoom from her home on Sydney's lower north shore.

'The whole point of the festival is to foster cultural engagement between Australia and Asia, so you have to be able to go there and see what people are thinking, making and talking about.'

That was March 2020 and she had three months to lock in that year's program.

'That was pretty stressful. But then lockdown happened, and it became obvious that I wasn't going to be able to travel.'

As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, Shun Wah and the festival team pivoted to digital, reformulating OzAsia 2020 as a fortnight of online talks, panel discussions and performances. Presented by Shun Wah herself, OzAsia Talks Live attracted more than 170,000 views.

OzAsia Festival 2021 showcases the work of 300 artists across 30 ticketed and free events from October 21 to November 7. The program, released on Tuesday, spans theatre, music, dance, comedy, film, visual art and literature.

There's a comedy special, a Filipino street party, a mini film festival exploring Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai, and - new to OzAsia - a writing and ideas program, In Other Words.

Notable among the festival's 11 world premieres is The Demon, written by award-winning author Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Boys, The Lebs) and billed as a 'neo-noir investigation into the history of white Australia'.

'It's set in modern-day Sydney, where a couple of cops are on the trail of a suspected killer,' Shun Wah explains.

'She leads them to Burrangong in NSW, site of the anti-Chinese Lambing Flat riots of 1860-61. She thinks there is a demon there who is at the root of the problems we face today and who needs to be appeased.'

Melding live theatre with choreography and special effects, the show promises to be tense, immersive and action-packed.

'There's everything from kung-fu and high-wire acts through to drama and great music. It's very provocative and there's humour in it too,' Shun Wah says.

Speaking of kung-fu, another world premiere is Action Star, a punchy one-woman show performed by martial arts supremo Maria Tran.

'Maria comes from western Sydney and is the daughter of Vietnamese boat people,' Shun Wah says.

'She's also Australia's biggest action star - she's won awards in LA and across Asia - but no one knows who she is in Australia and she struggles to get gigs here.'

Indonesian-Australian contemporary artist Jumaadi will share with audiences his quirky and idiosyncratic world view in the global premiere of Perahu-Perahu, a contemporary take on wayang kulit, or Indonesian shadow puppetry.

Meaning 'boats', Perahu-Perahu explores sea travel between Indonesia and Australia over hundreds of years, encompassing themes of trade and migration as well as human trafficking and disease.

Co-directed by Jumaadi and musical director Michael Toisuta, the piece is performed onstage by two shadow makers who have at their disposal 300 hand-cut shapes and two overhead projectors, all to the accompaniment of an ensemble of musicians.

Also onstage, Jumaadi 'conducts' the performance and lends his shadow makers an extra pair of hands when required.

Meanwhile, the way to hearts and minds is through the stomach. That could be the principle underpinning Double Delicious, a theatre piece that sees five 'storyteller-cooks' each recount a personal story informed by a cherished dish before sharing said dish with the audience.

'Everyone will be seated at round tables of 10, Covid allowing, because round tables are very popular in Asian cultures,' says Shun Wah. 'It's about coming together in equal measure and enjoying the food.'

'At the end of each story, the dish will appear in front of you, and you complete your experience by eating it.'

The much-loved Moon Lantern Parade has been reimagined as a COVID-safe, self-guided Moon Lantern Trail on the opening weekend, running from Thursday, October 21 to Sunday, October 24.

'Moon Lantern has always been at the heart of the festival, but instead of the lanterns coming to us, we go to the lanterns,' Shun Wah says.

'There will be storytelling, pop-up performances, workshops, and sound and light installations. You can go at a time that suits you and at your own pace. It will be a more intimate experience.'

A fourth-generation Chinese-Australian, Shun Wah was born in Cairns and grew up on a chook farm north of Brisbane.

She rose to prominence on SBS TV in the 1980s and '90s, presenting shows such as The Noise and Eat Carpet.

'I started in radio and I loved radio because of the anonymity, but I came to TV because of a few racist incidents,' she recalls.

'I thought, maybe by being an Asian face on TV, doing a reasonably competent job, it might change some people's ideas about what Asian people are.'

'But once I ended up on national TV, I found myself becoming the poster child for representation, which I hadn't set out to be.'

In 1996 she appeared in Clara Law's feature film Floating Life, about an elderly Chinese couple who leave Hong Kong to go and live with one of their children in Australia.

Since 2013 Shun Wah has been executive producer of Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, the company behind several OzAsia shows including Double Delicious, The Demon and Perahu-Perahu.

Now she is artistic director.

'The company develops and produces its own work, mostly multi-disciplinary, intercultural theatre,' Shun Wah says.

'We also build capacity within the Asian-Australian performance community to have sector-wide impact on greater representation and more opportunity and professional development for artists of Asian background.'

'It's important that our cultural landscape reflects who we are, and it still doesn't.'
Russian Ambassador to US Anatoly Antonov said the diplomats would be forced to leave by September 3

Russia's ambassador to the United States said Washington had asked two dozen Russian diplomats to leave the country by September 3 after their visas expire, heightening tensions between the two countries.

Ambassador Anatoly Antonov didn't say whether the US action was prompted by a particular dispute in an interview with National Interest on Sunday.

He said nearly all would be leaving without replacements 'because Washington has abruptly tightened visa issuing procedures.'

State Department spokesperson Ned Price responding to the comments during a press briefing Monday.

Price said Washington was not using Russian diplomats' visas to retaliate against Moscow. He said the ambassador's characterization was 'not accurate.'

'The three year limit on visa validity for Russians is nothing new. When visas expire, as you might expect, these individuals are expected to leave the country or apply for an extension. That is what is at play here,' he told reporters.

State Department Spokesman Ned Price said Russians being asked to leave after their three-year visas expire is 'nothing new' in a department briefing on Monday

The departure of Russian diplomats over tightening visa restrictions threatens to exacerbate tensions between the two nations

Chilly relations between Putin (right) and Biden thawed somewhat when the two leaders met for talks in June

Those applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Moscow and Washington have long differed over a range of issues, and ties worsened after President Joe Biden said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was a killer.

Tensions somewhat eased after Biden met Putin for talks on June 16th, which even led to the return of some foreign investors' money into Russian government bonds.

But starting in August Russia banned the US embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except for guards, forcing the mission to let go of 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said on Friday.

The US previously announced sanctions against Russia in April as well as the expulsion of 10 diplomats over the Kremlin's alleged election interference (pictured: Embassy of Russia in Washington, DC)

The news over the 24 Russian diplomats' departure comes after Russia set new rules forcing the US to let go of 182 employees (pictured: US embassy in Moscow)

On Monday Price called the move 'unfortunate' and added that actions like it have a 'negative impact' on US-Russia diplomacy and potentially US personnel safety.

'We reserve the right to take appropriate response measures to Russia's actions,' Price said, adding that the US would 'strongly object' if the country took similar action against US allies.

Washington imposed sanctions on Russia in March and April for interfering in last years US election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other alleged malign actions, but Price said those moves were 'a response' rather than an escalation.

In his interview Russian Ambassador Antonov said 'We hope that common sense will prevail and we will be able to normalize the life of Russian and American diplomats in the United States and Russia on the principle of reciprocity.'
MILFORD  Chilling and poignant text messages from peers recently were recovered from the cellphone of Maren Sanchez, received in the moments, hours and days after she was stabbed to death at Jonathan Law High School in 2014.

The phone was activated again after seven years following the slaying  one spent with the FBI and six in her mothers drawer.

The text messages from peers are drenched in grief, denial and worry, some asking Maren to Please, text me back.

Most of the texts were sent as Jonathan Law High School students were in lockdown, not knowing what was happening, but knowing it was bad and involved the popular junior.

I keep hearing these horrible things. Im so sorry I wasnt there Maren, one student texted.

There were words of encouragement she would never read because she would die before ever leaving the stairwell after having her throat slit in the early morning hours by a male student who had asked her to the prom and was turned down.

Other texts expressing unbearable teenage grief poured in later that day on April 25, 2014.

Maren I love you so much. Stay strong you got this okay, a friend texted.

One friend kept sending Maren texts and photos on the day of her death and in following days as if to keep Maren up on developments related to her killing. She congratulated Maren on being named Prom Queen. The honor was bestowed posthumously.

Lots of people are leaving corsages for you. Its so pretty, the friend texted Maren.

Four days after the killing, Marens boyfriend, who was to be her prom date, texted a simple, I love you.

Maren was killed by fellow student Christopher Plaskon, also a junior, who is serving 25 years in prison for her death.

Maren had befriended Plaskon because she was a non-judgmental type of person who embraced those who werent always as popular, friends have said.

The iPhone 4S, as well as an iPod, were turned over by the FBI to Marens mother, Donna Cimarelli, a year after her daughters slaying, with a sticky note bearing a new password.

Cimarelli moved it around in a drawer for six years  emotionally hesitant to see the private contents of her teen daughters phone and also afraid to open the floodgates of grief.

I didnt want to do it alone  I was afraid of what I was going to see, Cimarelli said.

But recently she finally agreed to have someone else examine the phone contents when they were looking for a high-resolution photo of Maren to put on an upcoming billboard.

Maren would have been 24 on Aug. 26 and the billboard, not yet complete, is to let the world know the Maren Sanchez Home Foundation  a nonprofit founded by Cimarelli in her daughters memory  was going to pass the torch to the Boys and Girls Club of Milford, which is going to create a scholarship program in Marens name.

Renee Shallis, communications consultant for Maren Sanchez Home Foundation, unlocked the secrets of the phone to find Marens photographs and texts, and said it was emotional.

Cimarelli still hasnt looked through the device because its so emotional, but Shallis has showed her photographs and told Cimarelli about contents  and also confirmed Maren didnt have anything on her phone a mom couldnt see.

Shallis said the phone paints a picture of a girl who lived her short life to its fullest. Maren was into art, drama, photography, playing guitar and singing and managed the school softball team, the practice schedule right on the phone.

Shallis said she can tell by the phone that Maren had a rich, full life with lots of friends and positive interactions.

It was sad, Shallis said. You got a sense of who she was through the phone, Shallis said.

What really got to me, Shallis said, were the texts from the morning and day Maren was killed, many sent while students were in lockdown and didnt know what was happening.

Some of the concerned texts that Maren would never see read:

Maren I miss you and this is so unbelievable to me.

Maren I love you, Please get better soon.

Hey I miss you

Hey Beautiful, were all praying for you. Youre a fighter 

Hey just found out what happens hope youre okay let me know how you are doing.

All of Milford is praying for you.

Maren I love you so much please make it out of this okay, stay strong.

Im terrified beyond belief. They let us all out of school and everything.

Luv yah boo

O my God I just heard. Are you okay?

When you are okay Maren please call me. I need you to be okay.

Im so sorry to hear what happened Maren. Youre in my prayers right now.

Please be okay answer me

The text message history also showed a heartbreaking series of texts from a friend the day of the stabbing and in the days after that addressed Maren as if she was reading them. Many included photos.

I hope that communicating with Maren in this way brought her some comfort, Shallis said.

The texts read:

We love you so so so so much, Were all wearing purple on Monday for you, Was purple even your favorite color. I thought it was blue.

Anyway purple suits you because you are royalty and stuff. Prom royalty ha hah

Come by Walnut Beach at 6.

Theyre passing out purple ribbons in the new gym. If you want any, I got 3.

I dont want to be sad anymore.

So many people and so many flowers. I hope you arent allergic to pollen.

She tells Maren in many texts that shes famous because shes in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Time magazine, Good Morning America and is trending ahead of Mariah Carey on social media.

Then at some point a text from the girl reads:

But I didnt want you to become famous this way.

Shallis discovered a video on Marens iPad of her singing Freefalling, which a delighted Cimarelli had never seen.

Some of the never-before seen photos of Maren with relatives and friends are like a gold mine, Cimarelli said, as I think they will give people comfort.

Cimarelli sees the opening of the phone, the passing of the torch to the Boys & Girls Club of Milford and Marens birthday as synchronistic.

Its like everything is swirling around together to create the transition with the Boys & Girls Club, Cimarelli said. Its just like Maren was saying, OK, guys, time to get into my phone. As always, she said, Maren had a direct influence on it, as her daughter gives her pep talks all the time.

I think her energy is always in the mix, Cimarelli said.

Megan Altomare, executive director of Boys and Girls Club of Milford, said they will offer scholarships for after school care and camp in Marens name.

Theres always a need for the youth in our community, she said. Its really an honor and were taking it as a huge responsibility. Maren will be honored at their annual gala.

The foundations goal was educate and empower girls and young women to defend themselves against emotional, psychological and verbal manipulation and physical violence.

Cimarelli said she chose the Milford club because she has heard of the great work of the organization and wanted to target one that was part of Milford because, Maren is and is always going to be a part of Milford history.

Its bittersweet, but it feels like the right time, Cimarelli said of giving up the global foundation. We were able to establish who Maren was and influence thousands of lives.

Cimarelli, meanwhile, is going to start a Facebook Live show, Speak you Mind, Value your Voice, beginning Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. She will hold conversations with positive influences  authors, artists, and others following their passion to change the world for the better.

I think Im doing well, Cimarelli said. Ive come through some really hard times. I continually journey in and out of grief, but I have the tools to handle it.
Four years ago, Luis Vega was arrested with marijuana.

They pulled 28 full plants out of my little makeshift grow in my basement, he said.

Vega said those marijuana plants were for his own personal, medical use. Vega, originally from the Bronx, N.Y., but is now a New Haven resident, suffers from Crohn's disease, he said.

I was operated on, I had lost my large intestine when I was 13 years old, I had an ostomy bag, he said, though he also admits that growing marijuana, even for personal, medical use was illegal.

Vega is one of many Connecticut residents who will see low-level marijuana convictions disappear from their records, from the passage of both the clean-slate bill and the legalization of recreational cannabis.

When they grabbed me, all they were able to do was pull the same amount that would be legal if it was dried, he said. There was no cash. There was no packaging. I just grew good cannabis for myself.

Despite a masters degree, Vega found it difficult to bounce back. You can't get a job with a criminal record. You got to start a business. Do what you know, he said.

Vega now has 10,000 marijuana plants  and its legal. Vega owns and operates Wepa! Farms, which grows and processes marijuana for CBD products. He said hes subject to more scrutiny due to his conviction.

I'm dotting my i's crossing my t's, he said, making sure he doesnt slip up, do something wrong, because everything I do is 100 percent under the scrutiny of so much more than anybody else in the program, because I have a history.

Vega is taking advantage of two newly passed laws. As an established marijuana cultivator, hes applying to grow, process and sell THC-heavy weed for recreational sales.

But hes also hoping the states new clean slate law will wipe his record.

If Id had an expunged record, or if I had not been arrested, or if I hadn't been convicted or if I opted to take a plea deal, that wouldn't have been on my record, and I wouldn't be going through the scrutiny that I do go through, he said.

Decriminalization

Connecticuts move toward legalization began a decade ago, when the state decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Years later, the state legalized marijuana for medical purposes, but there were still arrests being made.

State Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, a lawyer and one of the primary legislative drivers of the bill to legalize recreational marijuana, said there are not many people in prison on a pure possession charge.

Possession of small amounts of marijuana might result in a ticket or a fine, but larger amounts or growing your own, could land you in prison.

There are lots of different elements of cannabis use and possession that were not decriminalized, said Jason Ortiz, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the immediate past president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association. When we talk about legalization, we're legalizing sales and cultivation. And when we think about what decriminalization did, it was a small part of cannabis that got decriminalized.

In fact, between 2011  when the state decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana  and 2018, there were 27,977 convictions for possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana, according to the most recent state Judicial Branch data provided by the Office of Legislative Research.

The clean slate bill will wipe many of those convictions away, even for people who have been charged with marijuana possession because they were caught while on parole.

Under this bill, you could see an erasure of that charge, which led to the violation of probation or parole, Stafstrom said, though repeat drug offenders will not see their convictions expunged.

Where you're going to see people benefit the most from this, maybe you did plead to a possession of cannabis charge 15 years ago, he said. You may not have served jail time, but that conviction is still on your record.

Not all convictions will be wiped away at once. Convictions prior to 2000 have not been entered into an electronic database. Those will require a petition process, which Stafrstom said is a function of how the system is set up.

Those low-level convictions from decades ago can make finding a job or a home difficult, Vega said. He had an $80,000-a-year job, but lost it when he was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison.

I lost my job. From there, as I start looking for work, I now have a fresh conviction. On top of that, it's just for cannabis, so everybody says It's just for cannabis, that doesn't matter, but it completely matters, he said. Fresh out of the conviction, I can't get a job now. Master's degree and I still can't get a job.

Vega is now applying to be one of Connecticuts first recreational marijuana growers, a business investment he said nears $10 million that would not be possible with a cannabis conviction on his record.

I don't necessarily have to have that follow me as I go into a $10 million endeavor, he said. It's a lot different from having this scarlet letter, one might say, on your record for a small-scale cannabis offense.

Selective enforcement

Ortiz, like Vega, is now a cannabis-related business owner and advocate. Vega was also charged with a cannabis offense, though his was when he was 16 years old.

I was somebody that went directly into the politics of it all, and was very angry about the policies, he said. So it actually pushed me into the political sphere.

Walking to high school at Norwich Free Academy, Ortiz and two friends were caught smoking a joint. He had two more joints on him. He was handcuffed and charged with, among other crimes, intent to sell to a minor.

I was a junior in high school. It was November, my 16th birthday was that September. So I had been 16, like a month-and-a-half, he said.

Security detained the trio as soon as they arrived at school. The police were called and Ortiz and his friends were handcuffed, which is when he first realized the penalties might be serious.

I didn't really know any of the legal things that they were saying at the time. It wasn't until after we had to get a lawyer and there were two tracks I had to handle, he said. One was the school systems penalties, and one was the criminal justice system. For the school side, we had a hearing, I was immediately expelled or I couldn't go back to school at all, like, immediately, you're not going to school.

Vega served a year in prison after being convicted, but Ortiz never did time. We spent tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers to avoid me going to prison, Ortiz said.

Both Vega and Ortiz are Latino, and data shows that people of color are disproportionately charged with low-level marijuana offenses in Connecticut.

According to state data, Black people accounted for 24 percent of the 27,977 convictions for possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana between 2011 and 2018. Statewide, Black people comprise 10 percent of the total population, according to census data.

In the states largest cities, those inequities are even more pronounced. In New Haven, Black people comprised 52 percent of all convictions for possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana, even though Black people comprise 32 percent of the citys population.

Similarly, Black people make up 52 percent of all convictions for possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana in Bridgeport, but comprise 32 percent of the city.

In Stamford, Black people accounted for 36 percent of all convictions for possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana, but make up 13 percent of the city.

That has had a cyclical effect on communities of color, Ortiz said, making school more difficult to attend, jobs and housing more difficult to find, and poverty more difficult to overcome.

Immediately, I was pulled out of school. It jeopardized me being able to graduate high school, I actually just barely graduated high school after an extra summer class because of it, he said. Immediately, I was forced out of society. It wasn't even like I withdrew. And so putting young people in that space, where they feel alone, is exactly how we end up with folks that end up turning to crime and then turn to other things in order to heal.

Ortiz said he considered himself lucky to have such a supportive family, his experience turning him toward activism.

I got suspended for the rest of the school year, but I had internet at that time, and so I was able to look up all kinds of things, he said. That's where I found out about drug policy, the war on drugs, and my favorite term, selective enforcement. When I learned about that term, it radically changed how I looked at law.

That, Stafstrom said, was the ultimate point of passing both the clean slate bill and recreational legalization.

Because of what we did in the cannabis legislation and because of what we did in the clean slate, those two acts together have given probably hundreds of thousands of residents of Connecticut who have a criminal conviction an opportunity to get a clean record, he said.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana on Monday reinstated a mask mandate in all indoor locations, including schools and colleges, as the state experiences the highest per capita COVID-19 growth in the nation, driven by the delta variant and one of the country's lowest vaccination rates.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said the mandate will go into effect on Wednesday and will apply to both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents. Less than three months ago, Edwards lifted a previous face covering requirement amid hopes that the virus was abating. But the state's fourth coronavirus surge since the pandemic began 17 months ago shows no sign of flattening, Edwards said.

This is bad. And it's not this bad anywhere else in the country today," the governor said at a news conference flanked by hospital leaders backing his mandate. This is having an adverse impact on peoples lives today. And the least we can do is put a mask on. It is not an onerous burden.

Hospital leaders described grim conditions around Louisiana: facilities filled with COVID-19 patients, including children, and hospital hallways lined with stretchers because there aren't enough beds.

Weve all been dreading the opening of schools because we just feel that that will be a catalyst for more and more cases, more and more suffering and, potentially, more deaths, said Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Childrens Hospital in New Orleans.

Louisianas education leaders had declined to enact any masking orders across all districts, leaving it to individual school systems to determine their plans. The governors executive order will end the district-by-district negotiations.

Kline called the mask mandate a lifeline to help children and their parents stay safe as they begin returning to some K-12 schools this week. The requirement will apply to anyone age 5 and older and will cover any kindergartners if they are under the age of 5.

The governor's announcement came as Louisianas largest standalone hospital  Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge  brought in a disaster medical assistance team of nearly three dozen health care workers Monday to help the facility cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients.

Chief medical officer Dr. Catherine ONeal said the hospital is caring for 155 COVID-19 patients, occupying one-quarter of the facility, while people with chest pains and other medical conditions are forced to sit in the emergency room waiting for an ICU bed.

These are the darkest days of this pandemic. We are no longer giving adequate care to patients, she said.

Edwards warned things would only get worse, at least in the short term, saying he expects the state on Tuesday to report the largest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at any point in the pandemic. His mask order will last until Sept. 1, but could be extended beyond that.

Louisiana reported 11,109 new cases since Friday, with 27 more deaths. The number of hospitalized climbed to 1,984  seven times the number of COVID-19 patients a month ago.

The state has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, although the number of people who had received at least one dose rose by more than 46,000 between Thursday and Monday, to nearly 43%. More than 1.72 million, or just under 37%, are fully vaccinated.

If youre not going to trust the science and get the vaccine, respect the virus and wear a mask, said Dr. Phyllis Mason, chief medical officer at Natchitoches Regional Medal Center.

Business organizations  including the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Louisiana Restaurant Association  urged people to comply with the mask mandate before the state risks further economic damage.

Edwards  whose office announced earlier Monday that a third vaccinated staff member had contracted COVID-19  expressed frustration with those who have refused to get vaccinated or wear masks.

Do you give a damn? I hope you do. I do, he said. Ive heard it said often: Louisianas the most pro-life state in the nation. I want to believe that. It ought to mean something."

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Associated Press reporters Stacey Plaisance in Baton Rouge and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor public settings as COVID-19 infections surge because of the highly contagious delta variant.

The new mandate applies to everyone, regardless of their vaccination status, and takes effect on Tuesday in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Berkeley.

In a news conference announcing the new orders, Bay Areafor health officers also recommended that people gather outdoors if they have that option.

It is unfortunate we have to do this at this point in the pandemic. None of us wanted to be here, said Dr. George Han, deputy health officer for Santa Clara County. But the virus has changed.

The delta variant accounts for 95% of new coronavirus cases in the region, said Sundari Mase, the interim health officer for Sonoma County, which is north of San Francisco.

We are facing a much more aggressive and contagious opponent right now, she said.

The vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations are among unvaccinated people, but the Bay Area mandate affects all people because there has been an increase in the number of vaccinated people testing positive and evidence that vaccinated people can transmit the virus.

Mase and the other health officials said the relatively low number of vaccinated people who are hospitalized now are primarily elderly or those with significant underlying health conditions.

In line with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, California last week recommended that everyone wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, but officials stopped short of requiring it.

Indoor mask mandates are already in effect in Los Angeles, Yolo and Sacramento counties. In a major retreat in the Deep South, Louisiana, with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, also reinstated a mask mandate Monday, going a step further to include schools and colleges.

The San Francisco Bay Areas health officers were the first in the nation to announce a shutdown at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The region collectively leads the state in vaccination rates, with over 60% of residents fully vaccinated. Marin County, north of San Francisco, has the highest rate, with about 73% of its residents vaccinated.

California has experienced a steady rise in virus cases since the state fully reopened its economy on June 15 and did away with indoor and outdoor capacity limits and social distancing.

The Bay Area health officers said they took action Monday because of troubling numbers of hospitalizations and that they will consider easing the new restrictions when those rates go down.

We are alarmed at the rate at which COVID patients are filling our community hospital beds, said Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, where the number of hospitalized patients has doubled in the past 10 days and increased by more than 400% in July.

He urged unvaccinated people to get the shots and said indoor gatherings presents the highest virus spread risk.

If you are unvaccinated I would strongly advise against higher-risk indoor activities  like eating in an indoor restaurant, going to exercise in a gym, going to a movie theater, Farnitano said.

Indoor restaurant dining will still be allowed, although people will have to keep masks on when they are not eating or drinking.

In other public settings like gyms and movie theaters, face coverings must be worn, though enforcement will vary depending on location.

In Santa Clara County, businesses will be required to enforce the mask mandate and residents can submit complaints on the health departments website, Han said.

In the city of Berkeley, which is in Alameda County but has its own public health department, businesses will be required under the new order to have signs indicating that masks are required indoors, said Lisa Hernandez, the citys health officer.

San Francisco does not plan to enforce its new order but will rely on the tendency of residents to follow the science and the data," said Naveena Bobba, the city's deputy director of health.

The Kaiser Permanente health care business joined other U.S. employers and public health departments Monday in making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for an estimated 239,000 employees and physicians.

The Oakland-based health care and health plan provider said nearly 78% of its employees and more than 95% of physicians are fully vaccinated.

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Associated Press writer Janie Har contributed to this report.
BRISBANE, Australia  A lockdown of Australias third-largest city Brisbane was extended until Sunday because of a growing COVID-19 outbreak.

Brisbane and several surrounding municipalities in Queensland state were due to end a three-day lockdown on Tuesday. But the Queensland government on Monday announced the extension after 13 locally acquired infections of the highly contagious delta variant were detected in the latest 24-hour period.

Australias largest city, Sydney, and surrounding cities in New South Wales state are in their sixth week of lockdown. The New South Wales government on Monday reported 207 new locally acquired infections.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Peter Dutton said he was quarantining at home in Brisbane and would attend Parliament remotely. He said in a statement he has tested negative but must quarantine because of a virus cluster at his sons' school.

Dutton was infected with the coronavirus in March 2020 during a trip to Washington, D.C. He has since been fully vaccinated.

Lawmakers who attend Parliament in person face daily saliva tests for COVID-19, must wear masks and must practice social distancing.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 World's refugees have been pushed to back of the line amid vaccine shortages

 End of US eviction moratorium will bring more cases to housing courts and lock more tenants out of homes

 Florida broke its record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available

 Thousands protest Germanys anti-virus measures, leading to clashes and detention of some 600 protesters

 Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand  New Zealands government plans to slightly ease its strict coronavirus border controls to allow migrant workers from the Pacific to harvest crops and wine grapes.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday it plans to allow some workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to enter without them going through the usual requirement to spend two weeks in quarantine.

Ardern said details of the plan are still being worked through and she cant yet say how many workers might be eligible.

She added that the number of such workers currently in New Zealand was about 3,000 short of the 10,000 typically needed for the harvest.

There are no current outbreaks in Samoa, Tonga or Vanuatu, which have reported a total of just seven COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

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PHOENIX  Health officials in Arizona on Sunday reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day.

They say the 2,306 new cases and five additional deaths pushed the states totals to 929,541 cases and 18,251 known deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Arizona had reported 2,066 new cases and 22 deaths on Saturday, the highest daily total since early March. The numbers have been quickly climbing with 1,759 cases and 15 deaths reported Thursday and 1,965 cases and 24 deaths reported Saturday. Public health officials in the state and elsewhere attribute the worsening spread to the very contagious delta variant and low vaccination rates.

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COLUMBIA, S.C.  The University of South Carolina is requiring students to wear masks indoors this fall as the spread of COVID-19 has sped up across the state.

School officials said that masks are again required inside campus buildings given Richland Countys high coronavirus transmission rate.

The announcement follows recently updated federal guidance that calls for mask-wearing indoors regardless of vaccination status in areas where the delta variant is rapidly spreading.

Young adults have the lowest vaccination rate across age groups in South Carolina. But public colleges and universities in South Carolina cant require students to get inoculated after lawmakers banned schools from making the vaccine a condition of enrollment.

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ORLANDO, Fla.  A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke its previous record for current hospitalizations, set more than a year ago.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread. Florida then had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  It wasn't long after Iliana Diaz began her first day in person at Legal Aid's Raleigh office that she and others were hit by a tsunami of phone calls.

Seated and masked in a small room on Monday, Diaz was among the five call center workers frantically trying to do the unachievable: respond to all the messages that had come in from low-income North Carolinians facing the threat of eviction after the federal eviction moratorium expired over the weekend.

The bilingual intake specialist who joined Legal Aid of North Carolina has seen a sharp rise in recent call volume and is motivated to help as many people as she can.

If I don't answer that phone call, then potentially that person may not have the chance to call back or they may just never have the chance to get any assistance whatsoever, Diaz said.

For many struggling renters who have received eviction notices, Legal Aid can be the last line of defense. Depending on how much money they make, the law firm will connect them with a free attorney, another agency or share information on rental assistance programs.

North Carolinas Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions (HOPE) program offers rent and utility assistance to low-income renters in 88 of the smallest counties in the state. Twelve larger counties are managing their own programs.

The state has set aside roughly $1.3 billion to help tenants cover their housing and utility costs, with nearly $1 billion going to the HOPE program and $300 million to the 12 larger counties.

North Carolina estimates it has awarded a total of more than $305 million to 81,039 different households that qualify for the HOPE program. The 12 counties overseeing their own programs have expended approximately $64 million, according to state officials.

On a typical Monday, the Legal Aid intake staff of a dozen, including five people working in person at the firm's Raleigh office, will receive about 1,500 calls. Of those, the office will put about 500 in its system. The workers will be lucky if they can respond to half of that.

Im not sure we do meet the need. We just do what we can," said James Tackett, the intake supervisor for Legal Aid who assigns cases to attorneys and ensures the phone lines are active.

Pandemic-induced job loss, a COVID-19 surge fueled by the delta variant and a lack of awareness of state and local rental assistance programs are creating extra cause for concern.

What's been different is people that have called for the first time, people that have never really had to speak to a lawyer, Tackett said. They're 45 years old. They've never not paid rent, they've never gotten a notice to go to court, so that's the surprise.

But fears of mass evictions after the moratorium's lapse have gone unrealized thus far in some North Carolina communities.

Sgt. David Ruppe hardly noticed the end of the federal eviction moratorium as he knocked on a weathered mobile home door in Cleveland County, a rural community an hour west of Charlotte.

We havent seen much of a difference at all, Ruppe said. We would still have evictions issued from the court and we would still serve them as if it happened pre-COVID.

He said the sheriff's office previously served two to three evictions a day, but that number has dropped to two to three a week. He attributes the decline to landlords reluctance to file eviction paperwork amid the pandemic, though he expects it will eventually pick up.

On Monday morning, he explained to one woman three months behind on rent that her landlord had started the eviction process. When the woman told Ruppe that she had paid the back rent, he responded that she would need to bring proof of payment to her upcoming Aug. 9 court date.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, about 1 in 13 North Carolina tenants have no confidence theyll be able to make next months rent. Survey data shows 30% of respondents believe it is at least somewhat likely that they will be evicted within two months.

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AP journalist Sarah Blake Morgan in Cleveland County, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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Follow Anderson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson.

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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.
Cars wait in line for COVID-19 testing at Barnett Park, in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, July 29, 2021. The line stretched through the park for more than a mile as coronavirus infections skyrocket in Central Florida. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
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At a time when the audience is looking for different content and dissing films like the Coolie No.1 remake and Hungama 2 for regressive content from the 70s, Bollywood filmmakers are latching on to another tried-and-tested formula  the doppelganger story. Its the basis of not one but seven upcoming movies!

Cirkus, directed by Rohit Shetty, stars Ranveer Singh and Varun Sharma in double roles in a comedy of errors. Shraddha Kapoor will essay a similar part in Chaalbaaz in London, the Pankuj Parashar remake of his own film Chaalbaaz inspired by films like Ram Aur Shyam and Seeta Aur Geeta.

The film trade likes the idea

It is a superhit formula if applied well. A Judwaa 2 and a Dhoom 3 did well despite being double role films. Dhoom 3 was made in 2013 and Ram Aur Shyam in 1967. If the film is made in an entertaining way, it will still work, as Judwaa 2 showed in 2017, says Atul Mohan of Complete Cinema.

Aditya Roy Kapur recently announced that he was part of the remake of the Arun Vijay starrer Thadam. Shah Rukh Khan, who has played multiple roles in English Babu Desi Mem (triple role), Karan Arjun, Duplicate, Paheli, Om Shanti Om and Don and Fan earlier, will be seen yet again in a double role in Atlees new film. And Ranbir plays both father and son in Shamshera. John Abraham too will be seen in a double role in Satyamev Jayate 2.

Interestingly, another film that has a double role  the remake of Satte Pe Satta  to be directed by Farah Khan and produced by Rohit Shetty, has not gone on the floors because Hrithik Roshan did not see merit in it.

Film historians point out that double role films have failed too

It is not necessary that the audience has to like all double- and triple role movies. Some Amitabh Bachchan double role films were just average grossers. Recently, Baahubali also had a double role. But then there was logic applied and there was no faceoff between the two characters played by Prabhas. As long as these films have logic they may work, says Imtiaz Baghdadi.

Actors look at such films as a challenge. Arjun Kapoor, who played double roles in films like Aurangazeb and Mubarakan, says It may sound exciting, but it is not an easy task at all. It is a challenge for any actor and it makes you nervous because you have to play two different people.

The film that drops next will be Shershaah which has Sidharth Malhotra mainly playing the role of Vikram Batra, but also essaying the role of his twin Vishal.
Hyderabad: Telangana state was given 17178.21 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen during the second wave of the Covid, between April 1 and July 25, making it the fourth-highest recipient, according to a report submitted in the Lok Sabha.

This meant that there were more cases than what was reported from the state, both from hospitals and homes. It also meant there were more severe cases than what was officially acknowledged here.

Dr Mustufa Afzal, senior infection control specialist at Care Hospitals explains, "Some 80 out of 100 cases admitted in the hospital, 80 required oxygen. The oxygen requirement in the second wave was high. Those who suffered from severe Covid infection were on oxygen therapy for longer periods of time. The number of severe diseases was high during the second wave."

Non-government organisations, social clubs, techies and youth organisations who were active in supplying medical oxygen have said the demand was all-time-high in April and May. They say the ground reality was different from what was released by the government on a daily basis.

A senior government doctor said, "Telangana has missed 39 cases for each reported case, as per the seroprevalence survey carried out by epidemiologists. The estimated cases till June 25 from the first case reported in the state were of 243 lakhs. The population of the state is 34,183,000. This makes the state 8th in line in terms of missing cases."

Under-reporting of cases has been viewed cynically by the healthcare fraternity. They say that in the second wave, the cases from the private sector were not listed. Hence, there is lack of clarity in this respect. With the oxygen supply details now coming to the fore, it is clear that the total cases are much more than were reported.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday dismissed the plea of a rape survivor from Kottiyoor, Kerala, who moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to marry her assaulter - a defrocked priest who is now undergoing 20 years imprisonment.

The top court also dismissed a separate plea of the defrocked priest seeking bail on the ground that he wanted to marry the survivor, who was a minor at the time of rape had given birth to a child.

A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari told the former priest, The high court has taken a decision consciously and we would not like to interfere with its finding.

It told the victim that she may knock on the door of trial court with her plea to marry the former priest.

Advocate Amit George, appearing for the former priest, said the high court had passed sweeping directions in the case with regard to the marriage, which is a fundamental right.

The bench asked George what is the age of the victim and the former priest to which he replied that he is 49, while the rape survivor is around 25.

The top court told George, you yourself have invited sweeping directions from the high court and it would not like to interfere.
HYDERABAD: TRS MLAs are facing a piquant situation due to the 'election strategies' of the party leadership to win bypolls.

TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is laying special focus on constituencies going for bypolls by sanctioning thousands of crores of rupees for development works, rolling out schemes like Dalit Bandhu to transfer Rs 10 lakh cash to each beneficiary, which is bringing pressure on TRS MLAs of other constituencies to tender their resignation and ensure a bypoll to get similar benefits.

Opposition MLAs are going to the extent of offering to resign to force a bypoll if the Chief Minister sanctions Rs 2,000 crore to their constituency, as he did it in Huzurabad.

Social media is flooded with posts demanding the resignation of TRS MLAs to get funds.

In some constituencies, hoardings were set up demanding the resignation of TRS MLAs saying that only bypolls will bring funds, development and schemes, They highlight the windfall secured by the Dubbak and Nagarjunasagar constituencies, and now Huzurabad.

The campaign was initiated by BJP senior leader Gudur Narayana Reddy in Bhongir, who set up a hoarding saying Bhongir constituency will get funds and Dalit Bandhu only if TRS MLA Pailla Shekar Reddy resigns and a bypoll is held.

This campaign spread to constituencies represented by the TRS, forcing the MLAs to pacify voters saying that the Chief Minister treats all constituencies equally and every constituency will get Dalit Bandhu and funds.

"The bypolls at Dubbak and Nagarjunasagar have benefited the constituencies a lot. The voters got new Aasara pensions, ration cards, roads, bridges, community halls, residential schools, colleges, integrated markets etc. Now Huzurabad is getting Rs 3,000 crore funds, Dalit Bandhu and sheep distribution scheme, Narayana Reddy said.

TRS MLAs in other constituencies have failed to secure such funds and schemes for their constituencies during the past seven years. This clearly proves that development and schemes come only if TRS MLAs resign and bring bypoll, Narayana Reddy said.

A social media post demanding resignation of TRS MLAs read, "A sincere request to all those who want development of our constituency. The resignation from TRS by Etala Rajendar fetched Rs 2,000 crore Dalit Bandhu, 11,000 new Aasara pensions, 12,000 sheep to Huzurabad and four lakh new ration cards to the entire state. This was possible because of the bypoll. Let us demand that all our TRS MLAs resign and force a bypoll with an assurance that we will reelect them if they bring funds and schemes to our constituencies too."
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to ensure strict compliance with Covid-19 protocol by limiting the number of people at weddings to 150 with no gathering of people in processions and religious programmes.

Chairing a high-level review meeting with minister for health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas and senior officials at his camp office on Monday, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to release fresh guidelines to ensure that people comply with Covid appropriate behaviour by wearing face mask and maintaining social distance strictly in public places and said that such steps should be followed scrupulously until the vaccination drive taken up at a brisk manner and asked the officials to be alert for the next two months.

As schools are scheduled to be reopened from August 16 in the state, the Chief Minister directed the officials to give priority to administering Covid jab to people aged above 45 years including pregnant women and teachers expeditiously to cover them all.

With regard to Covid-19 tests, Reddy insisted on carrying out only RT-PCR tests as they were more accurate and also felt the need to carry out door-to-door fever survey and take up steps to make 104 call centre to serve in an efficient manner.

With regard to maintenance of village clinics, the Chief Minister was informed by the officials that those who were qualified in BSc Nursing and also CPCH courses would be deputed in the village clinics besides an ANM. They said the village clinics would provide 12 types of primary medical services, 14 medical tests and 66 types of medicines in addition to providing telemedicine services with 24-hour service facility.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to link village clinics with PHCs through video conference and also the labs and called for carrying out mapping of people's health in the villages and felt the need to set up village clinics by December.

The officials informed Reddy about the progress of Nadu-Nedu works in hospitals and also on upcoming 16 new medical colleges at several places in the state. The Chief Minister laid stress to ensure corporate amenities at the government hospitals. He called for better health care and amenities at the upcoming medical colleges similar on lines of corporate hospitals and directed the officials to come up with better SOPs for management of new medical colleges so that they would be useful for both the present and future generations also. He asked the officials to submit a report on it.
BOSTON (AP)  The eviction system, which saw a dramatic drop in cases before a federal moratorium expired over the weekend, rumbled back into 
At the weekend a short commemorative event was held at the Claudy bomb memorial site in the village, where on July 31, 1972, the IRA carried out a bomb attack which killed nine people and left over 100 injured.

Three car bombs exploded on that date, no paramilitary group claimed responsibility and nobody has been held to account for the atrocity in the forty-nine years later.

Both Protestants and Catholics were killed in the blasts.

It took place six months after Bloody Sunday.

That year, 1972, was one of the bloodiest years of the Troubles when 496 people lost their lives.

At the weekend, representatives of families attended as did the Mayor of Londonderry & Strabane Graham Warke and local representatives Gregory Campbell MP and Gary Middleton MLA.

Speaking after the event Gregory Campbell said: "Any amnesty being introduced by the UK Government would mean that even if evidence were to emerge against those responsible for this, one of the worst atrocities of the troubles, no one would ever face a court of law for their crimes against innocent adults and children.

"This is yet another reason why Secretary of State Brandon Lewis needs to think again."
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the death of John Hume.

The former SDLP leader and long-time Foyle MP died on August 3, 2020, at Owen Mor care home in Culmore.

Mr Hume, one of the key architects of the Northern Ireland peace process, was 83.

He had been suffering from dementia for a number of years.

Mr Hume's death led to a huge outpouring of sadness and many tributes were paid to him from political leaders throughout the world.

Due to the Covid pandemic, his funeral was on a much smaller scale than would have been expected for such a hugely influential figure.

Mr Hume, who was named as the 'Greatest Ever Irish Person' in an RTE poll several years ago, was laid to rest in the City Cemetery, following a service in St Eugene's Cathedral which was attended by his family and a small number of invited guests.

St Eugene's will tomorrow also be the setting for an anniversary Mass in memory of Mr Hume.

Similar to his funeral last August, Mr Hume's family will keep events to mark his first anniversary very low key.

Following the former SDLP leader's death, a foundation was set up in his honour.

The John and Pat Hume Foundation, which also recognises the key role played by Pat Hume in supporting her husband's work, aims to support and inspire peace initiatives throughout the world.

Since its creation last year, the foundation has hosted a number of events.

Meanwhile, the Derry News has been nominated for a prestigious award for its coverage of Mr Hume's passing last year.

The paper has been shortlisted for the Front Page of the Year in the UK Regional Press Awards for the wraparound front page which it published in the edition of Thursday, August 6, which carried extensive coverage of Mr Hume's funeral.

The front page was made up of a poignant image of Mr Hume together with a touching quote from Father Paul Farren who officiated at the funeral.

The awards are seen as the 'Oscars' of the UK newspaper industry, recognising the best coverage provided by regional and local papers.

The winners will be revealed in a virtual announcement on September 16, awards organiser, the Society of Editors, (SoE) has announced.

SoE executive director, Dawn Alford, congratulated all the shortlisted publications.

The coronavirus crisis has shown more than ever the vital importance of the regional press as the beating heart of communities across the UK. It is clear from these shortlists that the local and regional media has risen to the challenge, she said.
By Vincent Thibaut, Arteris IP

Europe is an interesting place to observe complex systems development activity. It may not have hyperscalers or smartphone leaders, but on the world stage, it has one of the two dominant commercial aircraft manufacturers, an active space agency, several premium car brands and leading Tier 1s with supporting automotive semiconductor companies. Also, it has two of the biggest players in wireless infrastructure. As Israel is generally counted as a part of Europe in business terms, it adds much of the leading technology in automotive autonomy and active military engineering. This experience level gives Europe a uniquely rich perspective on the end goal for semiconductors and how interdependencies are growing closer between components and the systems served.

In addition, Europe is also known for its fondness for standards and regulations. This requires a significant amount of paperwork and cross-checks so engineers can build successful complex systems and subsystems from a diverse range of suppliers. Similar requirements are now standard around the world  DO-254, ISO 26262 and others. As component builders, teams tend to think of these standards as a list of additional things needed to be done in their specialized domain. But there is one very important aspect that ties across domains from the top-level system down to the lowest level components: requirements traceability. Systems engineers want to know that the requirements defined are being honored, even as hardware and software evolve through development across all the many parts in the system. Anywhere this is not true, they want immediate notification of a problem.

The Default Approach to Traceability

At the beginning of a project, the customer provides a pile of documents detailing their requirements. One way or another, engineers will have a spreadsheet of conditions, which perhaps is built by extracting key paragraphs from that pile of PDFs. Columns are added documenting who is responsible for a check and supplemented with details on how the check should be made (design review, verification assertion), current status and anything that might block approval for this item.

This is not something designers can just check once. As the design evolves, teams will make tradeoffs, fix bugs and address late-stage changes. Some of those changes may break existing requirements that can only be detected by tedious checking. Teams continue reviewing the traceability matrix and rechecking the design multiple times to ensure all components are correct. There may be some automation to support this activity, but it is still largely manual. If the team finds a problem, the reason for it must be determined. Was that a design mistake, or did a requirement change break the connection?

From Default to Automation

This tracing can get tedious pretty quickly and much more complicated if the system-on-chip (SoC) is sufficiently complex that the top-level requirements must be broken down into sub-spreadsheets. One major integrator shares that their engineering teams were screaming for a better solution. The teams were spending more time checking and updating spreadsheets than actually building and checking the design! The engineers wanted something that would automate most of the bookkeeping and let them get back to their real jobs.

A good starting point is getting requirements in platforms designed for that purpose  DOORS or Jama, for example. The next is to automate building links from those platforms to the SoC design flow, but that presents an apparent challenge. Requirements are generally written in natural language, even in these modern tools. How do architects connect from that to implementation or verification definitions in highly structured SoC design languages?

There is a two-part answer. First, the requirements care about relatively high-level characteristics: memory maps, bus widths, and intellectual property (IP) configurations. From an implementation point of view, there is no need to dive down into register-transfer level (RTL) behavior. Or perhaps more precisely, there should not be such a need. The IP-XACT standard captures most/all these characteristics, so it is the perfect representation to connect specifications to implementation. Requirements tools have a procedural interface; IP-XACT tools also have a procedural interface. Teams just need to connect them and figure out connections between the specifications and the implementation  the second part of the solution.

Automating the Tracing Step

How do engineers create links between natural language requirements and objects in the IP-XACT representation? In the software world, there are scores of papers on this topic. In the SoC world, the scope of objects to be considered is substantially more finite: things like bus widths, configuration parameters and register characteristics. Labeling is generally consistent for these objects from requirements to implementation, though not entirely, so teams must allow for some inconsistencies. Similar names are used in different contexts, where some natural language processing can help discriminate. There may still be a handful of cases demanding a designer to intervene, but it is very possible to reduce the bookkeeping load significantly.

Arteris IP already has active production-ready IP-XACT tooling and has built a great deal of experience learning the characteristics of viable traceability solutions over the years. Give us a call. We would be happy to discuss your goals.

About the Author:

Vincent Thibaut, Director, Product Strategy

Vincent, one of Magillem founders, has spent the last 13 years working with Magillem most advanced customers to build the most complete and comprehensive solution for IP Reuse around IP-XACT IEEE1685. As Chief Strategy Officer at Magillem Vincent is working on bringing the future of SoC integration tools and is an active member of IP-XACT standardization group at Accellera. His last focus has been around documentation, traceability and certification, as well as integration into system engineering.

Vincent has a master diploma in Software Engineering with a specialization in embedded systems and AI from EISTI , France






Hungama 2 star Meezaan Jafri signs a thriller with Priyadarshan; film to go on floors this month

After making his Bollywood debut with romantic drama Malaal in 2019, Meezaan Jafri joined hands with filmmaker Priyadarshan for his next. Their comedy Hungama 2 became one of the most awaited films of the year as it was the filmmakers first Hindi film in 8 years and also marked Shilpa Shettys comeback to films after 14 long years. While the comedy did not do as well as the audience had expected, one good thing did come out of the project-- Meezaan signed another film with Priyadarshan.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Meezaan (@meezaanj)

According to a report shared by Bollywood Hungama, Meezaan and Priyadarshans second collaboration will be a thriller. A source was quoted saying, Meezaan has been signed on as one of the leads in Priyan's next movie which is a taut thriller. Unlike Hungama 2, this won't have comedy but an underlying suspense. There were recent reports that he is beginning the film in August and this is the project that was being talked about. Meezaan had signed the film, while he was wrapping up Hungama 2.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Meezaan (@meezaanj)

The report further stated that the cast is not locked yet, but another actor will soon be signed along with Meezaan. The film is a cop thriller and a murder mystery. The source went on to add that this will be a quick film and as soon as it completes, the filmmaker will take his comedy with Akshay Kumar on floors.
Khatron Ke Khiladi 11: Netizens slam makers after Sourabh Raaj Jains elimination; actors wife asks if it was justified

Back in May this year, Sourabh Raaj Jain jetted off to Cape Town, South Africa to participate in the 11th season of Rohit Shettys Khatron Ke Khiladi. The actor, who is known and adored for his work in shows like Mahakali and Mahabharat, began his own little series called Fear Factor Diaries on social media where he told his fans all about the stunts he participated in. When the show finally premiered on television, Sourabh won hearts with his dedication. He didnt abort any stunt, nor did he fail at any task. So it was a surprise when he was eliminated from the stunt reality show last night.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sourabh Raaj Jain (@sourabhraaj.jain)

For the uninitiated, Mahekk Chahal and Anushka Sen were already in the bottom two. Sourabh, on the other hand, was chosen by Arjun Bijlani for the elimination stunt because of a special power that the latter possessed. While Rahul Vaidya felt it was a good technique to get rid of competition, Abhinav Shukla and Shweta Tiwari called it unfair. Well, fans couldnt have agreed more. Social media is currently flooding with tweets slamming the makers as well as Arjun for Sourabhs unfair elimination. The actors wife Ridhima also took to her official handle to ask the audience if they felt the elimination was justified. Take a look:

#AbhinavShukla and #ShwetaTiwari all the respect to u guys for calling this unfair#SourabhRaajJain u played extremely well and yes giving u a stunt which is difficult for tall people is a straight strategy

But u won  today pic.twitter.com/IscBNEHCrt  Homosapien (@a_smallpart) August 1, 2021

Very well said #AbhinavShukla! It was highly unfair to select #SourabhRaajJain for the elimination stunt. Not expected from #ArjunBijlani  Princess Rubi #Rubiholic (@ShiviAg54402308) August 1, 2021

This is so so unfair to put #SourabhRaajJain in the elimination stunt.. Even if he will be saved from this.. This so unfair decision of @ColorsTV#ArjunBijlani..

Itne log jo undeserving hai.. Ek bhi stunt nhi jeete wo log show mai hai..

Colors is being unfair to sourabh sir from   (@Mahiii0707) August 1, 2021

#SourabhRaajJain left the show just because #Arjunbijlani choose him for elimination stunt. He could have choose weak contestants. Not liking Arjun



And Rahul was happy BB mn to game khaili ni gae idr khailni hai.#KhatronKeKhiladi     (@AishaKathia) August 1, 2021

and come back to the show again with makers wish. and there is also a point of mental preparation. The person who gets fear fanda prepares her/himself mentally for elimination task. But in this case sourabh was totally unaware and had to do this.#SourabhRaajJain#KKK11  Akhi- Matter of sometimes (@akhi_akhi677) August 2, 2021

@Thearjunbijlani - Why? Why did you mke a choice wch ws wrng at all levels. Snding #SourabhRaajJain when he didn't deserve to go. He is so tall, he hs nvr aborted his stunts, why snd him? N he got eliminated. Wat thinking led to this decision? Bring back Sourabh #KKK11@ColorsTV  archana (@archie123_00) August 2, 2021

A while ago, Arjun took to his social media handle to respond to a tweet calling his decision wrong. He wrote: I won the k medal to be saved from the elimination stunt .. later the twist was I have to choose someone. So I did that . When Souraub was eliminated I knew a lot of people will find it unfair . I truly wished he hadnt .But yes u have a right to have an opinion.

In your opinion, was Sourabhs elimination fair?
Vijay Sethupathi joins the shoot of Raj and DK's upcoming web-series, to share screen with Shahid Kapoor and Raashii Khanna

South star Vijay Sethupathi has joined Shahid Kapoor on the upcoming thriller drama series directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the filmmaker duo confirmed on Sunday. Earlier in the day, Kapoor on social media teased that he is set to collaborate with Sethupathi, star of Tamil films "Super Deluxe" and "Master".

Raj and DK later shared a picture with Sethupathi from the set of the Amazon Prime Video show, also starring Raashii Khanna. "Makkal Selvan in da house," the directors captioned the post on Instagram, calling Sethupathi by his Tamil sobriquet meaning "people's treasure".

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Raj & DK (@rajanddk)

Khanna, who has worked with the National Award-winning actor in "Sangathamizhan" and the upcoming "Tughlaq Darbar", welcomed Sethupathi to the set. "Collaborating with my favourite human/actor for the third time, this time in Hindi! Welcome to our set @VijaySethuOffl sir," she tweeted with a selfie.

Collaborating with my favourite human/actor for the third time, this time in Hindi..! Welcome to our set @VijaySethuOffl sir @rajndk@shahidkapoorpic.twitter.com/WytvsVWkNY  Raashii Khanna (@RaashiiKhanna_) August 1, 2021

Kapoor, who will make his digital debut with the yet-untitled series, posted a short video on Instagram, tagging Sethupathi and Khanna. "Waiting on set call me soon @rajanddk... Can't wait to share the frame with @actorvijaysethupathi sorry @raashiikhanna I've got too used to having you around on set," he had written.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor)

Billed as a quirky drama thriller, the show has been created and written by Raj and DK, best known for "The Family Man", also an Amazon series. It is co-written by Sita R Menon, Suman Kumar and Hussain Dalal. The confirmation from the directors comes after reports that Sethupathi is set to star in the upcoming show.
Ireland to provide 500,000 in response to extreme food shortages in Madagascar

Announcement

Minister for International Development and Diaspora Colm Brophy T.D. has announced that Ireland will provide 500,000 to the World Food Programme to provide life-saving food for people in Madagascar, where over 1.1 million people face severe food shortages.

Making the announcement today in response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the country, Minister Brophy said:

Families in Madagascar are on the brink of starvation. Over 14,000 people are already experiencing famine conditions and that number is expected to double over the coming weeks. In some areas of the country, almost one in three children are malnourished. Malnutrition rates among children under the age of five have doubled since April.

The World Food Programme has described this as an invisible crisis. The world is focused on the Covid-19 pandemic but we must not allow millions of people around the world to slip into a hunger pandemic. The next few weeks are critical to avoid an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe in Madagascar.

Irelands support will deliver food to people who urgently need it. We will particularly focus our efforts on children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.

This crisis in Madagascar is yet another reminder to the world about the terrible damage being inflicted by climate change. Madagascar has experienced three consecutive years of drought. Farmers who rely on the rain to grow crops simply cannot provide for their families under these conditions.

ENDS

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Statement by Ambassador Flynn at UNSC Meeting on the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question

Statement

Thank you Mr. President,

I would like to welcome the participation of Deputy Special Coordinator Hastings and Ms. Oppenheimer, Executive Director of Ir Amim, for your very comprehensive briefings morning. I would also like to welcome the participation Ambassador Erdan and Ambassador Mansour.

Mr. President,

While the ceasefire agreed in May broadly continues to hold broadly, it remains fragile.

Ireland reiterates that the all unilateral actions which threaten the ceasefire and which undermine prospects for a two-State solution must be avoided. The root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be addressed.

We emphasize that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by the conflict, not least during the recent escalation in May, and must be an intrinsic part of efforts to secure a sustainable peace.

We continue to be concerned by worrying trends on the ground.

Ireland condemns the demolitions and seizures in the communities of Humsa al- Baqaia and Ras al Tin in Area C of the occupied West Bank earlier this month. The increased rate of demolitions, including of donor-funded structures, across the West Bank so far in 2021 is deeply concerning. We have seen an increase in the total number of structures targeted and people displaced in the first 6 months of 2021 when compared with the same period in 2020.

The most recent mass demolition in Humsa al- Baqaia constitutes the sixth incident of demolitions or confiscations the community has faced this year. This disturbing cycle has serious implications for affected communities. There is a particular risk of long-term effects on children, whose sense of safety is fundamental to their development. Ireland calls on the Israeli authorities to end further unnecessary demolitions of Palestinian homes and property, and to ensure humanitarian access is granted to communities in need and in compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Ireland is also deeply concerned by the possible evictions of families from their homes in East Jerusalem, including in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, a source of tension, which seriously undermines the prospects for peace. It is imperative that these evictions do not go ahead; that families are allowed to remain in their homes, living in dignity and in safety. Recent events once again underscore the importance of maintaining the status quo at the Holy Sites.

I repeat Irelands call on Israel to halt all settlement activity in occupied territory including in East Jerusalem. Such actions are illegal under international law and continue at an alarming rate despite repeated calls from this Council for their immediate and complete end.

Furthermore, Ireland underscores that individuals exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, must be protected and these rights upheld.

We note the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry by the President of the Human Rights Council, to be chaired by Navi Pillay and express support for the Commission in undertaking its mandate.

Mr. President,

In the Gaza Strip, our immediate priority must be on the recovery from the latest cycle of conflict. The World Bank, UN, and EU Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment identified a need for almost half a billion dollars for immediate and short-term recovery. An integrated, robust package is essential for sustainable reconstruction and recovery that supports the Palestinian people and strengthens their institutions. Ultimately, however, only a political solution will address the challenges in Gaza and throughout the occupied territory. We must redouble efforts to this end.

UNRWA, as the largest international organisation operating in Gaza, has a critical role to play. In the face of an increasingly complex operating environment, we urge international donors to support UNRWAs emergency appeals and increase support. Ireland renews its call on Israel to end the blockade of Gaza.

Mr. President,

I would like to touch briefly on the situation in Syria. Ireland supports the efforts of Special Envoy Pedersen and underlines that a negotiated political solution, with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and the inclusion of youth is the only solution to the Syrian conflict. We urge the Syrian government to engage constructively with the Special Envoy so that a meaningful sixth session of the Constitutional Committee can commence.

Mr. President,

Turning finally to Lebanon, we are following the political and socio-economic crisis with growing concern. We welcome the nomination of Najib Mikati as Prime Minister-designate and call on all Lebanese political leaders to put the people of Lebanon first, and form an inclusive government so that reform and recovery, so badly needed, can begin.

Thank you Mr. President.

 Previous Item | Next Item 
Samsung has reportedly started working on its next-generation Galaxy S-series flagship smartphones. Expected to launch early next year, information about these phones has already started to surface online thanks to leaks. Now, a new leak claims that the Galaxy S22 series from Samsung will come with a new 50-megapixel RGBW sensor.

This information comes courtesy of popular tipster, Ice Universe, who has claimed that Samsung will soon be launching a new 200-megapixel camera sensor and a 50-megapixel RGBW sensor as soon as next month. Interestingly, Samsung has already confirmed that it is working on a 200-megapixel camera sensor in the past. So it appears the leakster is talking about the same lens. Along with the 50-megapixel RGBW sensor, Samsung is looking likely to equip this 200-megapixel lens on the Galaxy S22 Ultra as well.

Apart from this, the tipster doesn't reveal any detail about the Galaxy S22 series phones. However, we already have a fair idea of what we can expect courtesy of leaks. Reports have suggested that the upcoming Galaxy S-series smartphones will support 65W fast charging. The alleged model numbers of the three phones expected in the series - Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra - have also been leaked.

This information was received after the 65W charger from Samsung was certified by TUV SUD in February this year. This charger comes with model number EP-TA865 and was certified by South Koreas NRRA certification in September last year. Another report by SamMobile claims to have revealed the model numbers of the Galaxy S22 series phones. As per the report, the vanilla Galaxy S22 will get SM-S901x, the Galaxy S22+ will come with the number SM-S906x, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra will bring model number SM-S908x. The report also adds the series will be launched in January 2022.
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The Design-Build Institute of America recently honored two projects at the University of Washington with 2021 national merit awards.

Hans Rosling Center for Population Health won in the Educational Facilities category and the Parrington Hall renovation won in the Rehabilitation/Renovation/Restoration category. Both projects will go on to compete for National Awards of Excellence and Project of the Year, which will be announced Nov. 2 at DBIA's Design-Build Conference & Expo awards ceremony in Denver. They will be up against 28 other projects from across the country.





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In a story published on Aug. 2, 2021, about vaccine access for refugees, The Associated Press erroneously reported the number of vaccines Bangladesh received through an international initiative
ANTI social behaviour warnings have been issued to a number of households in Cork city in the past two weeks as a result of house parties.

The warnings have been issued to residences in the broader area around UCC.

All of the properties are rented.

A garda spokesman said the warnings have been issued as a result of parties 'and preventing their neighbours enjoying the use of their own property'.

Warnings a first step

The warning directs the householders to cease or stop such behaviour.

If the warnings are breached, gardai can then go to court and apply for anti social behaviour orders.

The spokesman said a warning is the first formal step taken against the residents of the households.

Parties in rented houses in the area have been a major issue in recent years, with long-term local residents holding high profile protest to highlight the problem.
A top social media influencer is urging the public to join her for a 10,000-steps-a-day challenge next month for charity Debra Ireland.

Cork chef Trisha Lewis, whose Instagram account has more than 200,000 followers, has teamed up with Debras patient ambassador Emma Fogarty to launch the inaugural StepTember Challenge  set to be a vital fundraiser for the organisation.

Participants are asked to sign up to complete 10,000 steps a day for the month of September.

Trisha Lewis (rear), who is urging the public to join her for the 10,000-steps-a-day StepTember Challenge next month for charity Debra Ireland. She is pictured here with Debra's patient ambassador Emma Fogarty (centre) Emma's PA Georgina Herlihy (left) and Georgina Herlihy (Emma's PA) (left) and Michelle Reynolds, head of fundraising and marketing for Debra.

Emma, 37, from Abbeyleix, Co Laois, was born with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), also known as butterfly skin  a genetic disease that causes the skin, both inside and out, to blister at the slightest touch.

Around 80% of her body is covered in open wounds and must be bandaged every single day, which could last two to five hours.

Following a recent health setback, she now uses a wheelchair.

Trisha Lewis is pictured here with Debra's patient ambassador Emma Fogarty in Abbeyleix.

Debra Ireland provides patient support services and drives research into treatments and cures for those with the condition.

Debra ambassador Trisha said: 10,000 steps a day is a challenge but we hope it will be manageable for most people and we would like as many as possible to sign up  wherever they want to do it  in September for 20.

Instagram star

The 33-year-olds Instagram account, Trishas Transformation, has become a major hit, offering advice on weight loss, healthy eating and lifestyle.

If you complete the 10,000 steps a day for the month, it translates as 300,000 steps over the month. Thats 1,000 steps for each of the 300 patients living with EB in Ireland, she said.

Walking 10,000 steps roughly translates into a distance of eight kilometres, so over the course of the month, participants will cover 240km, the distance from Dublin to Ennis.

Thanks to volunteers

Emma paid tribute to the volunteers set to take on StepTember.

It honestly means the world to see people signing up to take on this challenge and fundraise for Debra Ireland  and I want to thank them more sincerely, she added.

Debra Ireland is an amazing charity. I am so lucky to have them, because without them, and our amazing supporters, we wouldnt be able to get nurses or research funding and they deserve all the help they can get.

The pain I endure, all the time, whether Im sitting in a chair or lying in bed, is almost unbearable and I am on a huge amount of medication, which really only takes the edge off the pain.

So any funding we can raise will go to making sure that every patient and family gets the support they need through our medical grants, respite support and our amazing frontline team of patient support workers, so they dont feel so alone.

Each day of the challenge, participants will receive an email giving them access to Debras interactive virtual map, to see how they are making a difference.

You can sign up for 20 at debraireland.org to get your specially designed StepTember T-shirt. Individuals and teams are also welcome.
Olivia Kelleher

A professor has urged business owners to invest in inexpensive CO2 detection devices in order to monitor ventilation levels in their workplaces, as efforts continue to contain Covid-19 levels in Ireland.

Professor John Wenger, of UCCs School of Chemistry and Environmental Research Institute, said CO2 monitors can be used as a warning system for businesses such as indoor hospitality venues.

We are not saying this is a measure of your risk of infection. But this tells you [that] you have enough fresh air. You need a combination of masks, distancing and good fresh air to reduce the risks [of transmitting Covid], he said.

Prof Wenger recently carried out an experiment with a hair salon in Cork city, placing a CO2 monitor in an unused station about one or two metres from the chairs being used by customers.

Owner Nora Cronin of Head to Toe salon on Princes Street was instructed to open a window and door and get some airflow through the room if the CO2 level exceeded 800 parts per million (ppm).

Hair salon experiment

When customers came in on day one of the experiment, the CO2 particle level rose to 800ppm even with the window open. Ms Cronin opened the door at that point and the particle levels dropped very quickly.

Prof Wenger said the CO2 devices are readily available and cost just 150 to 200, advising businesses to buy them as detection systems are already mandatory in some indoor spaces in Belgium.

Some businesses will find that their ventilation is absolutely fine and you can confirm that with a readily available instrument that is online. It is as easy to use as the phone. You just turn it on and away you go, he said.

It can be used as a traffic light system. A kind of warning system. If your level goes high you have to open the door. Its as simple as that.

For Nora she wanted to do as much as she could to create a safe environment. It is natural for people to want to do that. It is reassuring for staff and for customers.

Indoor hospitality

Prof Wenger said there should be a big take up in the devices, particularly with the reopening of indoor hospitality.

I would recommend this as you can easily identify poorly ventilated areas and you can act on that. You can open a combination of windows and doors, he said.

Without the detector you open a window or a door and people say 'what good is that doing?' And you cannot tell. But with the CO2 measurement you will open windows and a door and see levels dropping quickly.

People feel much safer because I have this

Meanwhile, Ms Cronin said her customers have been greatly comforted by the presence of the monitor  and the device has even gained her some new business.

People feel much safer because I have this. One woman who was after major surgery heard of it [the CO2 monitor] and came in because she felt reassured by it, she said.

I open the window in the front and the back room and that works because it is the cross-ventilation that works.

You only have to have the window ajar. You don't have to open it that much. You won't be freezing!
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If you missed the all-time low deal for Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 ANC headphones, you're in luck. The wireless over-ears are back down to the $278 we saw in the Spring, a solid $72 saving on their typical price of $350.

Buy Sony WH-1000XM4 at Amazon - $278

While that may still be a bit steep for some, we reckon they're worth it. The WH-1000XM4s have been sitting pretty at the top of our list of best wireless headphones since they landed last fall. Not only are they more comfy than their predecessors, Sony's cans also boast improved software to back up the dedicated QN1 noise-canceling and Bluetooth Audio chips inside.

You'll notice the results in the punchy bass, added detail and boomy low-end tones when listening to music. At the same time, the headphones do a great job of blocking out background commotion. Sony also updated its audio-upscaling tech, known as the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE), by adding Edge-AI that analyzes music in real time.

Elsewhere, it bolstered the companion app  which already offered plenty of audio customization  with the addition of multi-device connectivity. The handy feature basically lets you switch between different devices seamlessly. There's also automatic pause that stops what you're listening to when you start talking.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Marbled Murrelets dive rapidly, appearing to fly underwater using both feet and wings as rudders. The larger small fish are fed to the young, while the adults consume the tiniest of fish, zooplankton, and shrimp.
Edai, also known as Edai 600, reportedly was murdered on July 31 or very early morning on Sunday, August 1.

SayCheeseTV reported that the drill rapper was shot multiple times in the back and was killed in the incident.

The Chicago-based rapper was then taken to the nearby University of Chicago Hospital but later died at the hospital while being treated for his injuries.

Chicago rapper Edai was reportedly shot and killed last night. He was hit multiple times in the back. RIP  pic.twitter.com/HuOHPShqzZ  Saycheese TV  (@SaycheeseDGTL) August 1, 2021

A recording of the scanner report revealed that Edai, whose real name was Cordai Ealy, had been shot.

Edai was 42 years old at the time of his death.

Tributes continue to flood on social media, and His close friends and affiliates confirmed edai's death.

Young Dre Money posted comments on Edai's Instagram with a series of broken heart emojis.

He also shared a story, captioning the post, "I hate these calls," along with more broken heart emojis and crying faces emojis.

King Hittz also paid tribute to his co-Chicago native's passing, as well as 600Breezy, writing, "I felt untouchable.... Until today."

600Breezy and Edai collaborated on several songs together, such as "Lotta Gang S###," "Dreams," and "Aggressive."

FBG Duck's mother, whose son was also killed, took her outrage to social media shortly after learning of Edai's death.

She wrote in all caps, "EVERYBODY GOTTA DIEEEEEE DAMNN NORMALIZE GROWIN UP N BEING A GRANDDADDY TO YALL KIDS CHILDREN."

"TELL THEM HOW U SURVIVED THE TRENCHES SO THEY CAN WANT BETTER @koopa600 U GOOD NO MORE WORRIES NOR PAIN FOR GOD WAS READY FOR HIS CHILD BACK.."

Edai represented O Block like the late King Von, and he also recorded songs with Keep, Lil Durk, and many more.

His death adds to the fast-growing list of rappers who passed away due to gun violence in 2020 and 2021.

The first death was Pop Smoke's murder in Feb. 2020. There have been at least several dozen more killings over the last few months.

READ ALSO: Kanye West Has THIS Person To Thank As To Why Kim Kardashian Attended 'Donda' Listening Party

Edai Dead, More Chicago Shootings

Around 44 people were shot in Chicago this past weekend, with four of them dead, including the drill rapper.

Last weekend, 70 people were shot, while 12 were fatally injured.

Two men, a 30-year-old and a 36-year-old were outside just before 3 AM when they heard gunshots and felt pain in West Jackson Boulevard.

According to police, both men brought themselves to the hospital, Mount Sinai.

At least 31 others were wounded in citywide gun violence since 5 PM last Friday, according to the ABC Chicago.

READ MORE: R. Kelly's Biggest Worry Revealed As New Victims Come Forward With Sexual Assault Allegations
2021-07-30

Maeci

Italy warmly welcomes the news of the reopening of the coastal road between Sirte and Misurata. Minister Di Maio said: "This is a step that the Libyan people and the international community have long been waiting for, an important development towards the reunification of the country, which can now foster further decisive steps in the full implementation of the ceasefire".

Also in its capacity as co-chair of the Working Group on Security of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Berlin Conference, Italy reiterates its strong appreciation for the commitment of the members of the Joint Military Commission (JMC 5+5) in achieving this goal, which must now be followed by the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, starting with the withdrawal of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country.

Minister Di Maio then added: "Italy confirms its commitment to supporting Libya on the path towards full stabilisation and institutional consolidation.
2021-08-02

Maeci

On Monday, 2 August, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, will visit Libya, where he will meet a wide range of interlocutors to discuss key topics, such as furthering the dialogue on the UN-led stabilisation and institutional transition process, which Italy supports with determination, to encourage the renewed commitment of all Libyan parties and concrete progress towards achieving several key objectives, including the holding of elections on 24 December, the implementation of the ceasefire, the adoption of the unified budget and national reconciliation and, last but not least, promoting the many initiatives underway for the broad-based strengthening of the bilateral partnership.

This is the fifth time, since the beginning of the year, that the Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs will visit the country, testifying to Italy's steadfast commitment to stabilising Libya, which has taken an important step forward with the reopening of the Sirte-Misurata coastal road announced on the eve of the visit.

The visit, which also includes a stop in Cyrenaica, comes in the wake of the strengthening of the Italian institutional presence on the ground, following the recent reopening of the Consulate General in Benghazi.

The meetings will also focus on the joint efforts under way to revive economic cooperation between the two countries in various sectors (infrastructure, energy, transport), also in light of the positive results of the Business Forum hosted at the Foreign Ministry, on 31 May, in the presence of PM Dabaiba.

The agenda also includes initiatives and prospects for cooperation in the fields of migration, health and culture.
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The Pound New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD) exchange rate had been muted since markets opened on Friday as a lack of economic data from both the UK and New Zealand limits the appeal of GBP and NZD exchange rates.

Heading into the weekend, the Pound New Zealand Dollar pairing were trading at around NZ$1.9938 as the risk-sensitive New Zealand Dollar found slight support from a broad weakness in the US Dollar (USD).

Pound (GBP) Exchange Rates Muted on Absence of UK Economic Data

Although the Pound (GBP) has been steadily rising against the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) for much of the week, a lack of economic data from the UK has capped any major gains for Sterling heading into the weekend.

Positive developments from the UK surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have been the main driver for movement in GBP exchange rates for much of the week.

On Wednesday afternoon the announcement from the UK government that a travel corridor would open for fully vaccinated citizens from the EU and UK was well met by investors.

On Friday, transport secretary Grant Shapps spoke to UK television surrounding the proposed change in self-isolation rules due to come into force in mid-August:

So we are being, if you like, slightly cautious about it, but we have got systems in place now where testing can take place at 2,000 different locations we'll have for key workers to be tested so they don't have to self-isolate in advance of the 16 August when we will then not require people to self-isolate but instead be tested if they are pinged or asked to self-isolate.

The Pound ended the week muted against the New Zealand Dollar as all eyes turn to the start of next week and the release of a slew of economic data from the UK.

New Zealand Dollar (NZD) Exchange Rates Supported by Risk-on Mood

The New Zealand Dollar had stumbled at the start of the week as a sour market mood did nothing to support the risk-correlated Kiwi.

More so a lack of economic data from New Zealand left NZD exchange open to further losses throughout the week.

However, a more dovish stance from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday evening saw the New Zealand Dollar regain traction against many of the majors.

Whilst most of the New Zealand Dollars gains have been capped on the back of an ongoing surge in global coronavirus cases, the Kiwi has capitalised on the US Dollars weakness heading into the weekend.

It comes as New Zealand closed its travel corridor with neighbour Australia earlier in the week for at least two months, owing to the surge in cases in the country.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern commented on the decision to close the travel corridor, saying:

Covid has changed and so must we. My strong message to every New Zealander who is in Australia right now, who has no intention of staying there long-term is: come home.

GBP/NZD Exchange Rate Outlook: UK PMI Data in Focus

Heading into next week, the latest PMI figures from the UK are expected to be the main driver of movement in Sterling exchange rates.

New Zealand Dollar traders will themselves be focusing on unemployment figures from New Zealand for Q2.

The GBP/NZD pairing will continue to be driven by any domestic coronavirus developments from the UK and New Zealand alongside the strength of the global market mood.
GBP/USD Exchange Rate Rises, UK Manufacturing PMI Shows Continuation of 14-Month Expansion

The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate rose this morning following the release of the latest UK factory data for July, grew at one of its fastest rates since the survey was begin. The pairing is fluctuating around AU$1.39 at the time of writing.

Sterling has benefited from the continuation of a 14-month expansion in the UKs manufacturing sector.

Todays data has provided some uplift to the nations market mood, with the outlook or the UK economy improving following the lifting of lockdown restrictions on July 19.

IHS Markit however highlighted some of the problems facing UK manufacturers:

Scarcities, shortages and price rises remained prominent challenges faced by UK manufacturers during July.

Raw material, staff and skill shortages were all major factors stymieing output growth and contributing to a further marked increase in input purchasing.

Confidence in the UK has continued to grow, however, despite a rising infection rate throughout the UK.

Nevertheless, infection rates have fallen below more dire predictions, with hopes growing that the peak of infections could already have been passed.

US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates Dip Despite Souring Risk-Sentiment

The US Dollar (USD) has benefited from cautious trade today with China  the worlds second-largest economy  show signs of slowing down, with the latest Chinese factory data falling below forecasts.

As a result, demand for the safe-haven US Dollar has risen, with concerns growing about the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and slowing economic recovery throughout Asia-Pacific sparking worries about the strength of the global economy.

John-Paul Rojas, a business reporter at Sky News, expressed confidence in the US economy, saying:

The US economy has recovered to surpass its pre-pandemic peak according to official figures - though growth was slower than expected in the latest quarter.

Robust consumer spending fuelled by vaccinations and government stimulus helped gross domestic product (GDP) grow at an annualised rate of 6.5% in the April-June period, according to the bureau of economic analysis.

In US economic news, today will see the release of the latest ISM manufacturing PMI for July. Could an uptick in the US factory sector see the USD/GBP exchange rate edge higher?

GBP/USD Exchange Rate Forecast: US Factory Orders Data in Focus

US Dollar (USD) investors will await tomorrows release of the latest June US factory orders data.

Any improvement could see the Greenback rise on growing confidence in the nations economic recovery.

Risk sentiment will also continue to drive the USD/GBP exchange rate.

If the Chinese economy looks to be threatened by the growing Delta coronavirus epidemic, then we could see demand rise for the safe-haven US Dollar.

Pound traders will continue to monitor the UKs Covid-19 developments.

If daily infection rates continue to fall, however, the Pound to US Dollar exchange rate would rise on growing confidence in the UK economy.
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Monday, August 2, 2021

Layton Martens was questioned before the grand jury on March 29. 1967. He told Garrison that he never saw Clay Shaw and David Ferrie together. A future blog post will examine his testimony. Garrison also asked Martens if he had sexual relations with David Ferrie.

Yesterday we posted a memo regarding discussions that Layton Martens had with Perry Russo . Martens was also interviewed by Shaw's lawyers:

Russo tells Martens that "he could have been hypnotized and misled into the whole thing. He doesn't really know for sure."

Russo says he'd like to sit down and have an opportunity to talk to Clay Shaw.

Martens asks Russo why he didn't go the Warren Commission, and he replied, "Well, it's a good question but there doesn't seem to be any answer for it."

Russo probably realizes it was a mistake to tell Martens about the $25,000 promise.

Russo now thinks they might have been talking about Castro at the so-called assassination gathering.

Layton Martens never heard of Russo until the Garrison probe and he was quite close to Ferrie. Now Russo admits that he didn't know Ferrie all that well. But perhaps Russo met with Ferrie when Martens was out of town.

Russo denies telling Sheridan that he wants out, but then tells Martens that he wants out. The Shaw and Ruby connection relate to a story told by the Reverend Clyde Johnson.

Russo tells Martens that Garrison wanted a preliminary hearing "to alleviate Garrison from any responsibility or kickback if it goes against him." That is similar to what Clay Shaw wrote in his journal.

The 'air line people' refers to the V.I.P. Room incident . I am not sure what incidents they are talking about in regards to North Louisiana, or the West Coast. Baton Rouge is the Clyde Johnson story mentioned above. It's interesting that Russo says they know the date of the assassination party but don't want to say -- quite possibly because Oswald might not have been in New Orleans. Russo also won't say exactly who was at the party, but does say that Lefty Peterson and Sandra Moffett were there.

Russo is one of the last people left at the party and is then involved in a discussion about the assassination of a President. Ridiculous on its face. But Russo is convinced he is not a key witness, but "he realizes he's in a tight spot."

I find it hard to believe Russo was still selling insurance. I suspect he was getting money from Garrison, but just didn't want to say.

You can read more about Emilio Santana here . He is mentioned in Garrison's first memo on propinquity.

Previous Relevant Posts on Perry Russo
NEW BRAUNFELS  When NASA astronaut Charles Duke walked on the moon in 1972 during the Apollo 16 mission, he became the youngest person ever to do so at 36. Today, at 85, he still holds that title.

I hope to give that up to somebody else before I die, Duke said one morning recently, sitting in the NASA memorabilia-filled den in the home overlooking Landa Park in New Braunfels, where he and his wife, Dorothy, live. Thats because Im pretty sure the next person to land on the moon will be younger than me.

If Duke appeared confident hell have to surrender the honor eventually, its because hed spent the morning watching Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin crew launch into space, rising 65 miles into the West Texas skies during the 10-minute flight.

Duke has no objections to Bezos or other billionaires efforts to jump-start the return to manned space exploration.

Im excited about what Bezos is doing, he said. And what Elon Musk and Richard Branson are doing, too. I hope it will inspire the kind of interest in space travel we havent had since Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle.

He does, however, object to calling Bezos and the other Blue Origin passengers astronauts.

On ExpressNews.com: Feet on the ground, former astronaut Eileen Collins thoughts remain in space

They did pass the Karman line, he said, referring to the generally accepted boundary, about 100 kilometers above sea level, between Earths atmosphere and space. But they werent trained to maneuver the capsule or respond in case of an emergency. Everything was automated. They were just riding along.

He suggested spaceperson as a more suitable description.

Billy Calzada /Staff photographer

One of only four surviving astronauts to have walked on the moon, Duke looks at least a decade and a half younger than his age. And he recounted the journey that led him to the dusty surface of the moon with all the specificity and exactitude required of someone who passed NASAs rigorous training programs.

Three days on the moon

Duke talks about the three days he and crew members John W. Young and Thomas K. Mattingly II spent on the moon in April 1972 as if it happened only days ago. His voice was full of awe as he spoke about the moons velvet blackness and quoted Buzz Aldrins description of its magnificent desolation.

You keep having these thoughts that, Nobodys ever been here before, he said. Its untouched, unspoiled, with rough, rolling terrain of hills and craters and rocks everywhere.

Young was the first on the mission to walk on the moon, followed by Duke  the 10th man to walk on the lunar surface. The mission was the first scientific exploration of the mountains of the moon. Duke likes to note there was 8,000 feet of elevation difference between the lunar highlands where they landed and the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 touched down three years earlier.

Apollo 16 was the second moon mission to use the lunar rover, and during their three days on the surface, Duke and Young drove a total of about 17 miles, although they never ventured more than 5 miles from the lunar module.

NASA figured that was about as far as we could safely walk if the rover broke down, he said.

They also collected 211 pounds of lunar rocks, including a sample taken from a hole they drilled 10 feet into the surface and the largest rock sample ever brought back from the moon, a 26-pounder dubbed Big Muley.

Duke, who served as the lunar module pilot, also left behind what is one of the most famous photos of the Space Age: a simple snapshot of him and his family  wife Dorothy and sons Charles III, 7 at the time, and Thomas, 5  on the moons surface.

Between the heat and solar radiation on the moons surface, Duke said, he suspects the image has faded to nothing over time. But the boys were pretty excited about it at the time, he said.

Becoming an astronaut

Duke, who grew up in South Carolina, was in 10th grade when he decided he wanted to enlist in the Navy like his father, whod served during World War II.

He learned to fly at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., falling in love with the freedom, thrill and excitement of flight. After graduating in 1957, he volunteered for the Air Force, which didnt have a separate academy at the time.

I also didnt particularly like sea duty, he said.

The day after his first solo flight, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the planet. To me that was the beginning of the Space Age, he said.

Two years later, NASA introduced the Mercury Seven, the first group of astronauts selected to go into space. Duke said he was impressed by the seven, who exuded what later became known as the right stuff, and wished he could have applied to the program. But he was neither old enough nor experienced enough.

Later, when he met several astronauts, he asked how he could get that kind of a job. They suggested he go to test pilot school. So he headed out to Edwards AFB in California, where he met and later worked with legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager.

In 1965 he read a newspaper story that said NASA was going to select its fifth group of astronauts. He decided to apply and was eventually accepted.

Training to be an astronaut was exciting, he said. The program had such potential. And if you were fortunate enough, you were going to get a chance to go to the moon. That anticipation carried you forward, so you wanted to do a good job.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio native Edward White was a pioneer in space exploration

Not just a moonwalker

Beyond his moonwalk, Duke played several roles at NASA that have given him a permanent place in space history.

First, he served as spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, for Apollo 11, the first moon landing flight. As the only member of Mission Control allowed to communicate directly with the crew, his is the voice heard during the final descent, as pilot Neil Armstrong overshot the initial landing site and had to fly the lunar module over the moons surface looking for somewhere he could safely land.

The video from the module is available on YouTube, and even half a century later, the tension is still thick as Duke is heard marking the time in seconds until the landers tanks ran dry. Sixty, he says dryly. Thirty.

Once theyd safely touched down, the normally stoic Duke stumbles a bit, replying, Roger, Twank  Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. Were breathing again. Thanks a lot!

A year later he was assigned to the backup crew for the ill-fated flight immortalized in the film Apollo 13. Dukes real-life role in almost getting the mission scrapped was a dramatic plot point in the movie.

Seven days before launch, Duke caught the measles from his young sons friend. All six members of the main and backup crews had trained together, but only one of the remaining five, Ken Mattingly, played by Gary Sinise in the film, hadnt had the disease before, so he wasnt immune. Out of an abundance of caution, NASA replaced him with Jack Swigert, played by Kevin Bacon.

Despite not being portrayed by name in the film, Duke still gives the film two thumbs-up, calling it one of the best space movies ever made.

More recently, he served as inspiration for the 2018 song Charlie Duke Took Country to the Moon by Robert Earl Keen and Randy Rogers under the name The Stryker Brothers. The song refers to how, prior to the Apollo 16 mission, Duke had asked a Houston disc jockey to put together a country mixtape that he took with him to the moon.

Shuttle astronaut Eileen Collins worked with Duke in 2011 when she was on the NASA Advisory Council, consulting with him on developing a next-generation spacesuit.

Charlie talked about how moon dust would get everywhere, and how you can still see it on Neil Armstrongs spacesuit, which is in the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, said Collins, who was the first female space shuttle commander. Hes one of the most logical, commonsense people Ive ever met.

After returning to Earth in 1972, Duke never went back to space. He retired from NASA in 1975 but didnt lose his interest in space exploration.

Hes long been involved with the Orlando-based Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which awards more than 50 scholarships annually to college students studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics. His son Thomas followed his dad into the military, serving with the Air National Guard before retiring to become an airline pilot. Charles III is a partner in a South Carolina-based CPA consulting firm.

Astronaut Scholarship Foundation President and CEO Caroline Schumacher said Duke is a kind and surprisingly humble man, often deflecting praise from himself to others.

On, like, my fourth day on the job, I was at an event in Washington, D.C., she said. And I was a little stunned to find myself seated at his table. So after I was introduced, Charlie said he hadnt realized hed get to sit at the same table with the foundations new CEO.

On ExpressNews.com: Brownsville activists say Elon Musk's SpaceX spaceport damaging wildlife habitat

From space to Jesus

Duke would finish his military career at Brooks and Lackland AFBs. So in 1976, he and his wife moved to New Braunfels, picking it over San Antonio because wed floated the river and loved the small-town feel of New Braunfels, he said.

Things werent going well at home, however. His marriage was in trouble, and Dorothy, suffering depression, began having thoughts of suicide. Duke holds himself responsible for much of what they were going through.

My focus was always on the mission, he said. During the three years I trained, I was traveling constantly and was rarely home. Meanwhile, Dotty was home raising our boys. It was very stressful for her, and my lack of attention to my marriage played a part in our problems.

After friends shared their faith with the couple, Dorothy turned her life over to Jesus. Over the next two months, as she began forgiving me, her sadness and despair turned to joy and love, and our marriage started improving. I came to the Lord about 2 years later. Forgiveness was what I needed.

In 1979 the couple formed the nondenominational Duke Ministry for Christ based in New Braunfels and have since traveled the world sharing their faith. Hes also a motivational speaker, commanding a fee of $20,000 to $30,000. He does anywhere from 25 to 50 talks a year, he estimated, and adjusts his theme based on the group.

Some just want the gee-whiz story of going to the moon, he said. Others want to hear about the NASA management system  how thorough planning and preparation lead to good performance. For Christian groups, Ill often talk about my walk with Jesus.

Duke has done about 10 talks for the group Back to Space, which advocates for the values of science and the importance of space exploration, according to chairman Michael Gorton. Every speech has been a hit.

Charlie talks with this country twang, but he went to the moon, Gorton said. People love that, especially since, as a speaker, he tells stories in a way that enthralls kids and seniors alike.

As much of the world begins revving up manned space exploration efforts, Duke says hed consider taking a ride on one of the billionaires flights.

From youngest moonwalker to oldest man in space? Thats one helluva ride.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
Support has poured in for a pregnant Houston woman and her friends after the group said they were asked to leave a restaurant because the clothing they were wearing was "inappropriate."

Laurin Hughes said she and her friends were excited for a girls' night out Tuesday at the Rouxpour restaurant located in Baybrook Mall. But they barely made it through the door before an employee asked the group to cover up with sweaters.

"I looked at her and said 'No, its 100 degrees outside,'" Hughes, 29, said.

Hughes said the employee responded by saying covering up would be "the only way" the women could dine there, and that the outfits they were wearing were inappropriate for a family restaurant.

On HoustonChronicle.com: 'We are not a club': Houston's Turkey Leg Hut draws 'anti-Black' criticism over dress code

"We were all just dumbfounded," Hughes, who is 25 weeks pregnant, said. "How are you going to turn away a pregnant woman? I'm hungry. I would wear this outfit with my family."

Hughes said she and her friends left shortly thereafter and decided to dine at a nearby restaurant. Still upset over the experience, she posted about the ordeal on Facebook so others could see how they were dressed.

"Im still trying to see what is so inappropriate about what we are wearing and why we werent allowed inside," Hughes' post read.

"I could go on and on about how wrong 'slut-shaming' is, or how because men choose to objectify women and cant control their own impulses, women have been conditioned to think its our fault and we should be more aware and change our appearance to make them feel 'comfortable' around us. All that to say, we werent too happy."

The post quickly caught the attention of other industry workers and earned responses from social media users who largely came to her defense.

"Ninety-nine percent of the people have completely agreed, supported, and had similar experiences with this company or others," Hughes said. "The whole thing just wasnt expected, just all of the support and messages."

Hughes said others have reached out to her and said they were also asked to leave the restaurant over dress code concerns. She added other restaurants in the area reached out to her as well, offering support.

Eric Dicesare, general manager for the Rouxpour, said it was a "bad judgement call" and that he and other employees have reached out to the women to apologize directly. He added he would like to remedy the situation, and have Hughes and her friends come back.

Hughes said she is a bartender in the Clear Lake area and understands the stress of the industry, but argued the incident should never have occurred in the first place.



A request for comment from the Rouxpour's regional manager was not met.



rebecca.hennes@chron.com
Joe Raedle, Staff / Getty Images

A fist fight over a reclined seat on a plane erupted on an American Airlines flight at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Sunday afternoon, according to a report by CBS Austin.

Video of the fight posted by the TV station show two men start brawling in the aisle after the plane landed in Austin from New Orleans around 4:20 p.m.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Shi Yan, Arizona State University; David M. Zimmerman, Missouri State University; Kelly T. Sutherland, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Miko M. Wilford, University of Massachusetts Lowell

(THE CONVERSATION) Despite a constitutional right to a jury trial, more than 94% of criminal convictions in the United States result from guilty pleas, not jury verdicts. Even innocent people, those who did not commit the crimes of which they are accused, can plead guilty  and they do.

Given the lack of reliable data, it is extremely difficult to estimate what proportion of pleas are from innocent defendants. However, many researchers believe the proportion is significant. So far, the National Registry of Exonerations, a database that records all known exonerations of innocent defendants in the United States after 1989, has identified more than 580 cases in which innocent people chose to plead guilty.

Guilty pleas are a necessity because America simply lacks the attorneys, judges and courtrooms required to try every criminal case. So prosecutors and defense attorneys attempt to negotiate charges and sentences acceptable to both sides  though prosecutors often have much more bargaining power than defense attorneys.

Factors encouraging guilty pleas

Even though prosecutors largely base their charging and bargaining decisions on the assessed strength of available evidence, such assessments are not perfect. While guilty people are more receptive to plea offers, innocent defendants are not immune to the potentially coercive factors that make pleading guilty attractive such as pretrial detention and differences in duration of sentences.

Prosecutors often offer plea deals with dramatically lower sentences than those likely to be imposed if a jury finds the defendant guilty. In some cases, defendants who opted for a trial instead of pleading guilty have received tenfold sentence increases from the original plea offer, or even life sentences, upon conviction.

This possibility can make a plea offer very attractive, and even create what some have called a trial penalty for defendants who refuse to plead guilty.

Even innocent defendants may feel it would be too risky to go to trial. Studies have confirmed that the larger the sentence gap between the plea offer and the likely trial sentence, the higher the likelihood for defendants  both guilty and innocent  to plead guilty.

When defendants are held in jail before trial, they may be more likely to accept a plea deal as well  even if they are innocent. The promise of immediate release, usually through probation or a sentence for time already served behind bars, has been found to increase both true and false guilty plea rates.

With tools like these, the justice system was already skilled at encouraging defendants to plead guilty  even if they were innocent. Then, the coronavirus hit.

Pleading during a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the nations criminal justice system in two major ways.

First, prisons and jails, as places where diverse populations came into very close physical contact, became outbreak hot spots.

And then courts closed or limited their operations, seeking to follow workplace safety rules and social distancing guidelines. Many courts stopped hosting jury trials for months.

These facts further increased the risks of going to trial: Defendants had to wait longer for their day in court, and each day they spent in jail increased their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus. The research on pleas has clearly indicated that when the cost of going to trial increases, guilty pleas increase too.

Sure enough, a survey of 93 defense attorneys found that plea bargaining practices have indeed changed during the pandemic. More than 60% of the lawyers surveyed said they thought prosecutors were offering more lenient deals than they would have before the pandemic. At the same time, more than 30% of the attorneys had a client who claimed innocence, but nevertheless accepted a plea offer because of concerns related to COVID-19.

To examine whether COVID-19 exacerbated the innocence problem in guilty pleas among a larger sample of potential defendants, we used a computerized simulation platform of legal procedures funded by the National Science Foundation and developed at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. More than 700 U.S. adults agreed to participate in our study, and we randomly assigned them to be either innocent or guilty of stealing a pair of sunglasses. In the simulation, all participants were detained before trial, then offered a plea deal to be immediately released.

Among both guilty and innocent conditions, we further randomly informed half of the participants about the complications related to COVID-19  that the jail was currently having an outbreak of coronavirus and court dates had been pushed back because of the pandemic.

The results confirmed that both guilty and innocent participants were more likely to plead guilty when warned of the increased complications posed by COVID-19. Further, innocent participants ranked the pandemic as a more important factor in shaping their decision to plead than guilty participants.

As the pandemic wanes, courts and the legal system as a whole are resuming more normal operations. But the fundamental problems with the plea process  excessive trial penalties and pretrial detention  will remain.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/pandemic-pushed-defendants-to-plead-guilty-more-often-including-innocent-people-pleading-to-crimes-they-didnt-commit-165056.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  A man has died after being shot several blocks north of Ivanhoe Park in Kansas City, police there said.

The shooting happened just before 10 p.m. Saturday, when reports of the shooting came in, police said in a news release. Arriving officers found a man with gunshot wounds unresponsive on the ground, and he was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he died. Police have not released the mans name.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Abbey Stemler, Indiana University

(THE CONVERSATION) Almost any article you read about Section 230 reminds you that it contains the most important 26 words in tech and that it is the law that made the modern internet. This is all true, but Section 230 is also the most significant obstacle to stopping misinformation online.

Section 230 is part of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law passed while the internet was still embryonic and downright terrifying to some lawmakers for what it could unleash, particularly with regard to pornography.

Section 230 states that internet platforms  dubbed interactive computer services in the statute  cannot be treated as publishers or speakers of content provided by their users. This means that just about anything a user posts on a platforms website will not create legal liability for the platform, even if the post is defamatory, dangerous, abhorrent or otherwise unlawful. This includes encouraging terrorism, promoting dangerous medical misinformation and engaging in revenge porn.

Platforms, including todays social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google, therefore have complete control over what information Americans see.

How Section 230 came to be

The Communications Decency Act was the brainchild of Sen. James Exon, Democrat of Nebraska, who wanted to remove and prevent filth on the internet. Because of its overreaching nature, much of the law was struck down on First Amendment grounds shortly after the acts passage. Ironically, what remains is the provision that allowed filth and other truly damaging content to metastasize on the internet.

Section 230s inclusion in the CDA was a last-ditch effort by then Rep. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Rep. Chris Cox, Republican of California, to save the nascent internet and its economic potential. They were deeply concerned by a 1995 case that found Prodigy, an online bulletin board operator, liable for a defamatory post by one of its users because Prodigy lightly moderated user content. Wyden and Cox wanted to preempt the courts decision with Section 230. Without it, platforms would face a Hobsons choice: If they did anything to moderate user content, they would be held liable for that content, and if they did nothing, who knew what unchecked horrors would be released.

What lies ahead for social media reform

When Section 230 was enacted, less than 8% of Americans had access to the internet, and those who did went online for an average of just 30 minutes a month. The laws anachronistic nature and brevity left it wide open for interpretation. Case by case, courts have used its words to give platforms broad rather than narrow immunity.

As a result, Section 230 is disliked on both sides of the aisle. Democrats argue that Section 230 allows platforms to get away with too much, particularly with regard to misinformation that threatens public health and democracy. Republicans, by contrast, argue that platforms censor user content to Republicans political disadvantage. Former President Trump even attempted to pressure Congress into repealing Section 230 completely by threatening to veto the unrelated annual defense spending bill.

[Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

As criticisms of Section 230 and technology platforms mount, it is possible Congress could reform Section 230 in the near future. Already, Democrats and Republicans have proposed over 20 reforms  from piecemeal changes to complete repeal. However, free speech and innovation advocates are worried that any of the proposed changes could be harmful.

Facebook has suggested changes, and Google similarly advocates for some Section 230 reform. It remains to be seen how much influence the tech giants will be able to exert on the reform process. It also remains to be seen what if any reform can emerge from a sharply divided Congress.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/what-is-section-230-an-expert-on-internet-law-and-regulation-explains-the-legislation-that-paved-the-way-for-facebook-google-and-twitter-164993.
The San Antonio Police released 911 call audio and body-worn camera footage showing a June 3 officer-involved shooting at a West Side Family Dollar store.

18-year-old Kolton Chavez was killed by police at a Family Dollar in the 2300 block of Castroville after he charged at officers with a knife, police said.

Officers responded to the scene after they received two 911 calls from an unknown person saying there was a man standing outside a Family Dollar that threatened them with a gun and a long knife.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio police shoot, kill man allegedly threatening officers with 10-inch knife

When officers arrived, they identified Chavez as the person the 911 caller described. Police said Chavez dropped a backpack on the ground before pulling out a large knife from his waistband and turning it toward officers.

Police said they later determined that Chavez was the person that made the two 911 calls and was describing himself.

The audio and footage was uploaded to YouTube in both narrated and raw versions in compliance with a policy that requires the San Antonio Police Department to make its critical incident videos public within 60 days or provide an explanation as to why not.

The video is introduced by SAPD Public Affair Manager Mariah Medina and is narrated by Lt. Michelle Ramos.

The video begins with the audio from the first 911 call at 12 a.m. Chavez is heard describing to the 911 operator the man he said was standing outside the Family Dollar store.

Hes Hispanic, he has like a windbreaker and camo pants. Hes right out there. Hes screaming, hes drinking, and hes got a big knife, Chavez said.

Chavez later says the knife is on the mans hip and that he pointed a gun at him.

The video then moves on to the second 911 call from Chavez at 12:09 a.m. He tells the operator that he called earlier and that the man is still outside the Family Dollar. The operator asks if he wants to speak with officers and he says, No, I do not. He has a really big knife though.

Ramos said officers arrived on the scene shortly after the second 911 call disconnected.

The video moves on to body-worn camera footage of an officer pulling up to the Family Dollar. Officers immediately locate Chavez at the front of the store and begin shouting commands at him.

Chavez can be seen dropping his backpack and retrieving a knife from his waistband. He then begins to walk toward officers with the knife despite being repeatedly asked to drop his weapon.

At one point, Chavez charges toward three officers, prompting them to discharge their weapons on Chavez. The video blurs out Chavezs body.

Another second view from body-worn camera footage shows the same incident occur.

Chavez was taken to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Ramos said police did not locate a firearm.

The shooting remains under investigation, Medina said.

gabriella.ybarra@express-news.net
Texas Department of Transportation

A man died after crashing into a guardrail on Interstate 10 during a rainstorm in the city of Boerne on Monday morning.

Boerne police have identified the man as 63-year-old Christopher Ullman. A preliminary investigation suggests Ullman lost control of his Subaru because of heavy rain and standing water on the interstate and ran into a guardrail on the bridge, police said.
A rooster crowing on Quail Hill Drive signaled the start of a new day in Camelot II, yet the garbage bins were still full.

Thats how the transition from a long-running pilot program provided by the city of San Antonio to a new, privately contracted service orchestrated by Bexar County got off to a start on a rainy Monday morning. A Tiger Sanitation truck arrived a few hours late, but it emptied the brown rolling bins that recently replaced similar black containers the city had provided since 2015.

Amanda Hodde soothed her skepticism about the late arrival with the hope that the new service will offer something the citys always on-time trash pickup never did: regular bulk and brush pickup that will help the subdivisions 600 houses and town houses rid itself of mounds of debris, old mattresses and other eyesores. But she said the city pickup service has helped with the day-to-day cleanliness of the neighborhood.

The smell has gotten better. The fact that they were picking up trash twice a week on a regular basis and that they actually showed up was great, Hodde said.

On ExpressNews.com: Forget the Alamo authors get chance to discuss controversial book

The new garbage service began Monday in Camelot II and Candlewood, with a similar service provided by C-6 Disposal Systems set to start Tuesday in the Glen North, Glen South and Crownwood subdivisions.

It follows years of complaints dating to the 1990s about increased illegal dumping, rodents and stray animals in those under-served unincorporated areas. The neighborhoods have about 3,700 homes and will be served under three-year county contracts by the two haulers.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert has lobbied the Legislature for relief to help the neighborhoods. A 2017 bill authored by two San Antonio Democrats, state Sen. Jose Menendez and state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, authorized the county to start the service as part of a potential long-term solution. Residents who contract with other private haulers can keep their existing service.

Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

The citys pilot program, limited to Camelot II, was scheduled to expire in 2018, but it was extended to give the county time to secure a legislative fix. The state law gave the county power to require landlords with multiple properties to include trash services in leases but does not include a mandate for owners of single rental properties.

Hodde also is concerned about illegal dumping and billing for the service.

CPS Energy tacked on a solid waste fee to its monthly utility bills for the city garbage pickup but has refused to administer billing for the countys pilot program. County officials said customers can pay bills online or arrange to have them paid automatically.

Im definitely willing to give the county a chance. But they need to have someone on this all the time. They need to make sure Tiger is out here every day that theyre supposed to be picking up. When bulk happens, they need to make sure that they are out here, Hodde said.

The county service includes twice-weekly trash pickup and costs $27 per month, less than what many residents have been paying, officials said. The city charged $28.50 for the service. The new contract also includes quarterly brush and bulk pickup of up to 4 cubic yards per customer  a service Hodde said had been inconsistent with the city.

On ExpressNews.com: Bexar County wants to ensure Alamo history includes good and bad

The county also needs to enforce laws regarding illegal dumping, junked vehicles and cars parked in alleys, where much of the garbage is picked up, Hodde said.

Guadalupe Jaime, a resident of Camelot II for more than three years, created an automatic payment plan for the service and hoped it would beautify and restore pride to the subdivision.

If they do the bulk pickup like theyre supposed to do, everything will be looking nice, said Guadalupe, 60.

Residents can call 210-335-6644 or visit the Bexar County Solid Waste Program website, bexar.org/3374/Solid-Waste, for more information. The county is negotiating with a third-party collector for residents to pay bills in person at the local H-E-B store.

shuddleston@express-news.net
Morrelia Villarreal survived a traumatic childhood marked by repeated interventions from state protective officials. Today, she has a promising future.

The 25-year-old single mother just graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a bachelors degree in criminal justice, becoming the first in her family to get a college education. Shell begin pursuing a masters degree in social work this month. She delights in providing a stable home life for her 3-year-old son.

I want to be a better person today for my child and for myself so that I dont have to hurt or repeat the cycle, she said. I dont want my son to live the life I lived.

Villarreal was intrigued when she learned the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services received more than $25 million in federal funds this year to help current or former foster care youths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But she was shocked when the agency sent her an email in May reporting that she didnt qualify for any of that financial assistance. The reason: She didnt age out or remain in the foster care system until she was 18 years old. Villarreal was last in foster care when she was 16.

The San Antonio woman had hoped to install Wi-Fi at home for her educational pursuits.

Im not asking for this money so I can go on a shopping spree, Villarreal said. Im a full-time college student. I dont have a job. ... I dont have parents that financially support me.

Two attorneys who represent current and former Texas foster care youths are frustrated with the states slow progress in disbursing the federal funds and expressed disappointment in what they see as haphazard and arbitrary rules on who qualifies to receive such help.

It just seems very scattered about who has gotten access to this money  some people have been able to get a lot of support, and other people arent getting any support, said Austin attorney Mary Christine Reed, director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aids Texas Foster Youth Justice Project. Its just sort of luck of the draw, where youre at and who youre interacting with and how theyre interpreting it.

On ExpressNews.com: Federal judge blasts San Antonio-based nonprofits as dangerous, unsafe for foster children

Nearly $400 million in funds were awarded to states and tribes across the country this year to help current and former foster care youths during the pandemic.

Ronald Cortes / Contributor

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services received more than $25.3 million of that money and began disbursing it to qualified recipients May 1. The agency said its doled out funds to 1,362 youths and young adults so far, providing support such as computers, car repairs, drivers education, tutoring, cell phones, mobile phone plans, housing payments and utilities payments.

The money was awarded through the Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act  part of the federal appropriations act that became law Dec. 27. The funds came from the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood.

The federal Childrens Bureau has heard from many young people who are in or were in foster care that they have not benefited from other COVID-19 relief assistance, such as stimulus payments or unemployment insurance, said guidelines issued by that agency in March.

It urged all child welfare agencies receiving the money to consider using at least some of those funds to facilitate quick and streamlined access to direct financial support for youth who were or are in foster care.

But Reed and San Antonio attorney Sarah Worthington, also with the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project, said the state has been slow to roll out payments to the current and former foster care population. Some flexibility regarding how those funds can be used will expire Sept. 30.

Reed and Worthington also said the state hasnt adequately publicized the funds availability.

The attorneys believe many former foster care youths no longer in touch with their caseworkers likely have little to no awareness they may qualify for financial assistance.

On ExpressNews.com: Family Tapestry ending state contract to provide foster care services in San Antonio

It seems very much that (DFPS is) just kind of expending the least amount of effort reaching youth that they already have access to rather than prioritizing youth who are more likely to not have needs met and more likely to have a greater need, Worthington said.

State officials said theyve been using the Chafee funds to provide a wide range of support to those currently in foster care and those who aged out of the foster care program when they turned 18. The agency said its been working as hard as possible to relay accurate, updated information about the financial assistance.

The $25.3 million that Texas received has benefited three groups of people so far: young people 14 to 21 still in foster care or extended foster care; recipients 18 to 21 who left foster care as adults; and those 21 to 26 who aged out of the foster care system and are facing eviction or their utilities being shut off.

Now the Department of Family and Protective Services is preparing to relax those qualifications somewhat for the eldest group.

The agency executed contracts July 20 with the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services and Monarch Family Services to provide $9 million to help those 18 to 26 who left the foster system as adults and arent facing emergency needs.

People fitting that criteria can apply for a share of the money starting Aug. 10 once community funding distribution partners have been selected. Current and former foster care youths and young adults will have until mid-September to apply.

But that wont help people like Villarreal who didnt stay in foster care until they were 18.

Villarreal recalled that Child Protective Services was a constant presence in her life while she was growing up in Victoria. She eventually went into foster care when she was 13. So she was taken aback when she learned in May that she doesnt qualify for a share of the money.

On ExpressNews.com: Childrens Shelter to lay off 93 workers in San Antonio

When these Chafee funds came up, I was like, that is my perfect opportunity to get Wi-Fi at home so I can stop sitting in the McDonalds parking lot for Wi-Fi or stop using peoples hot spots, Villarreal said. Thats what I was hoping for  that I could receive these funds that will allow me to stay at home and continue my education online.

She was insulted by the states decision to deny her any funds.

When they did say, You dont qualify, I was pretty shocked, Villarreal said. I may have not aged out of the program, but I was in the program. I was traumatized by the program. The program has failed me.

You only see it as, I dont meet your criteria because I did not age out. ... And I just think thats not fair.

Reed and Worthington question why Texas established stricter, more narrow requirements than the federal guidelines for how the pandemic funds can be used. The states rules reduced the number of people who could benefit, the attorneys said.

Federal guidance issued in March by the Childrens Bureau  part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Departments Administration on Children, Youth and Families  dont disqualify people who left foster care before 18 from receiving the money. The federal guidance says the money may be used to provide services and assistance to any otherwise eligible youth or young adult who experienced foster care at age 14 or older and has not yet attained age 27.

It is up to the state to decide how theyre actually going to implement that guidance and whether theyre going to narrow their focus, Worthington said. Which is what weve seen happen with DFPS  theyve made their priorities much, much more narrow.

Texas excluded those who didnt remain in foster care until 18 and initially turned away those 21 to 26 who didnt have emergency needs. Without those restrictions, Texas $25 million would have been quickly depleted, DFPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio Area Foundation distributes $13.4 million in coronavirus aid to local nonprofits

The agency said it publicized the funds availability on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website, the Texas Youth Connection website and the Youth Take Flight Instagram page. It also sent alerts about the funding to its community partners, such as CASA, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Network of Youth Services and the Supreme Court of Texas Childrens Commission, as well as to 18 transition centers across the state and to education and aftercare providers.

We have tried extremely hard to make outreach successful, state officials said in a statement. But we always want to improve.

Fort Worth resident Zoe Jones-Walton, 23, who was in foster care as a teen until she turned 18 and now advocates for foster care youths, has been asking the state about the pandemic funds since April.

She hasnt received any money yet because she wasnt facing eviction and wasnt at risk of her utilities being shut off. But she was recently told of an internship opportunity to assist others with the funding application process.

Its been frustrating how hush-hush everything has been, said Jones-Walton, who graduated last year from Sam Houston State University and is planning to go to law school. Its just been kind of a waiting game.

I would like to see some type of better social media campaign publicizing the pandemic funds in Texas, she said. I would like to see some type of direct cash assistance. ... Try to give vouchers for food and things like that.

As for Villarreal, she is looking forward. Once she obtains her masters degree, she wants to work in the nonprofit sector helping young adults who were once in child protective custody learn life skills and achieve success.

Just because you went through that doesnt make you not worthy enough  that you cant have a family, you cant have a job and you cant go to school, she said. I just really want to help people.

pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: Peggy_OHare
Growing up in Calallen, one of Jaci Finchs favorite pastimes was fishing out on the Gulf of Mexico.

She loved boat outings with her family, particularly her grandfather Bill Bode, whom loved ones affectionately called Daddy Bill. When he died, Finch, then 14, was asked to write a poem, which she read at his funeral.

Five years later, on the anniversary of her grandfathers passing, Finch wrote a tribute to his life titled The Adventures of Big Bill. It told the story of a little fish no one liked until he saved everyone by breaking a fishing lure cast deep in the water. Finch wrote the story in a day and drew the illustrations in a week.

Drawing is a relaxing and creative way to feel productive, said Finch, 20. I wanted to make books to help fill the educational gap and life skills.

A marketing major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Finch is using her talents and skills to create books that promote financial literacy to children. She is also minoring in civic engagement and public administration.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio airport ambassador pens childrens book inspired by wifes Alzheimers diagnosis

The books, available in print and digital formats, include A Day Without Screens and her latest, A Helping Hand: Sophies Financial Adventure.

Finch, a junior in UTSAs Honors College, paid for part of her last book with a scholarship from the program. According to a recent UTSA article, the Honors College awards $20,000 each year to honors students for projects that support their passion and educational goals.

Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

The Honors Colleges Citymester program has also helped Finch expand on her work and sharpen her marketing skills.

Elisa Cuellar, associate director for special programs at the Honors College, said the Citymesters mission is to invest in students so they will want to stay in San Antonio after graduation.

We want to make sure our students are well networked here, Cuellar said. We want to think beyond and how can they give back to the community that serves them. We want San Antonio to be the textbook and the classroom.

The program offered Finch a free membership with Geekdom. There, she created Watering Sprouts Education, through which she sells her books and promotes her work on social media.

Finch also is the founder and former president of the Global Business Brigades at UTSA. During the pandemic, she and her team partnered with Catholic Charities to teach 40 refugees about financial literacy. The group taught 16 classes that included lessons on bank cards, budgeting and financial transactions. One class focused on workplace etiquette with lessons on workers rights, sexual harassment and unions.

More Information About the author A 22-year veteran of the Air Force, Vincent T. Davis embarked on a second career as a journalist and found his calling. Observing and listening across San Antonio, he finds intriguing tales to tell about everyday people. He shares his stories with Express-News subscribers every Monday morning. See More Collapse

On ExpressNews.com: Photographers portraits display San Antonios diverse population

This summer, through the Citymester program, Finch interned with the marketing department of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp.

During her internship, she created a childrens activity book that featured her illustrations, a word search, a scavenger hunt, science activities and an inspirational poem based on Hemisfairs history. She also designed new stickers to share with guests.

Families and teachers can download a free copy at Hemisfair.org.

Thea Setterbo, director of communications at Hemisfair, said the department was fortunate to host an intern with Finchs enthusiasm and creativity.

I knew it would be a great experience and opportunity for Hemisfair to further our mission, Setterbo said. Shes just created so much for our organization that weve been able to share with the community.

Setterbo said that when Hemisfair hosted its three-millionth-visitor celebration July 17, the guest author was Finch, who read her books to the children.

When the coronavirus spread last year, Finch followed the citys stay-at-home protocols and used her time to work on her books. Her second storybook, Joli Goes to Gymnastics, honors her mother, Joli Finch. The two volumes about family members arent published but kept as family keepsakes.

Finch created her financial literacy books for children on her couch, beside roommates in their Northwest Side apartment, 131 miles away from her family home.

She uses Procreate, a digital illustration app, on her iPad and an Apple pencil to draw her characters, along with Photoshop for the text.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio entrepreneur worked on software team that paved way for WiFi

Finchs body of creative work will live on at Hemisfair long after she departs  Thursday is the last day of Finchs internship. At the end of August, shes headed to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Archer Fellowship program for the fall.

Policy affects everybody, Cuellar said. Im really excited to see how she uses whats shes learned through Citymester and her internship and see how it translates into the world of policy.

After graduating from UTSA, Finch plans to study for a graduate degree in public policy. She wants to continue writing childrens books and be involved with educational policies that champion the rights of young students.

At my core, Im really passionate to change the educational system to include these values, she said. I want to work in research, help go into schools and share what Im creating.

vtdavis@express-news.net
Texas needs to take money and politics out of its legal system.

The confluence of partisan elections, campaign contributions and outside spending undermines faith in the legal system and casts a cloud over judicial decisions. Conflicts of interest routinely arise, but just as damaging is the appearance of a conflict of interest, raising questions about whether an outcome was fair and impartial.

Cue a $250,000 contribution from Apache Corp., a Houston oil company, to a political action committee supporting the re-election of Texas Supreme Court justices last fall. At the same time, as Hearst Newspapers Eric Dexheimer recently reported, Apache had requested the Texas Supreme Court reconsider its decision not to hear Apaches appeal of a gender and age discrimination case. The case had resulted in a $900,000 judgment against the company.

Such rehearings are rejected 98 percent of the time, but in this case, the request was granted and the Supreme Court ultimately sided with Apache.

Was the reversal a reflection of big spending, via the Judicial Fairness PAC, in support of incumbent justices? After all, Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht and Justice Jeff Boyd were seeking re-election while hearing the case (two other justices running for re-election recused themselves).

That very question is exactly why Texas needs to reform how it elects judges, and we must note that Hecht has been a leading voice for reform. The presence of political spending and partisanship undermines faith in our judicial system.

Thats not just our view  it is also the view of the Texas Commission on Judicial Selection, which stated in a December report that the majority of commissioners supported ending partisan elections. A majority of commissioners also opposed nonpartisan elections, and they overwhelmingly support increasing minimum qualifications to serve on a bench and further regulation of political spending for judicial races.

We would like to see judicial appointments, steered by an outside apolitical entity such as the American Bar Association, followed by nonpartisan retention elections. This would take money and politics out of the judicial system and help avoid partisan sweeps that often remove talented and experienced jurists.

Texas has more than 1,000 elected judges. We should all aspire for a justice system free from even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
WASHINGTON  Texas and Florida accounted for a third of the new COVID cases reported in the U.S. over the last week, the White House said on Monday as it continues to urge Americans to get vaccinated.

We remain concerned about the continued rise in cases driven by the delta variant, White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said. These cases are concentrated in communities with lower vaccination rates.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas reported an average of 8,851 cases per day over the last week. Florida reported an average of 12,168. The national average was 66,606 new cases per day. The two states account for about a sixth of the nations population.

RELATED: Over 65% of Texans support vaccine mandates, poll says

Just more than 55 percent of Texans 18 and older are fully vaccinated, according to to CDC data published Monday. That was 38th in the nation. Roughly 59 percent of Florida residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated, 31st in the nation.

Zients said that 3 million Americans got vaccine shots over the last week, the highest weekly total since July 4, which he touted as a significant milestone and a sign that more Americans are getting vaccinated as the delta variant spreads.

Still, he said, the White House is looking for ways to encourage more people to get vaccinated. President Joe Biden has urged states to offer $100 to residents who get vaccinated and last week he announced that federal workers will have to sign forms attesting theyve been vaccinated or else be required to wear masks, take weekly tests and more.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, issued an executive order last week barring local governments from limiting the capacity of restaurants and other businesses or requiring facial coverings, even if they are located in a hospital region with a high level of COVID-19 patients.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Sterling, VA (20165)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 92F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
DENVER (AP)  Denver will mandate all city employees and private sector workers in high-risk settings to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30, Mayor Michael Hancock announced Monday.

Denver's public health measure applies to more than 10,000 municipal employees like police officers, firefighters, and sheriffs deputies, the city said in a statement.

The public health order includes congregate care settings such as nursing homes, homeless shelters, hospitals, correctional facilities, Hancock said. It also applies to employees of public and private schools and higher education institutions in Denver County, officials said.

After Sept. 30, workers who do not get vaccinated but are required to do so under the mandate will not be allowed to work onsite, city officials said in a statement.

On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that state employees who do not show proof of vaccination will have to get tested twice a week and wear masks at the office.

Amid the rise in coronavirus cases due to the delta variant, Polis said Monday that hes monitoring Israels decision to give COVID-19 booster shots to vaccinated people over 60 years old. The Democratic governor also said that hes urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review the viability of Pfizers third vaccine dose as a booster shot.

Polis said that that some Colorado residents have already gotten third doses of the vaccine despite the lack of federal guidance or approval by using fake names to get around health providers who won't administer third shots to fully inoculated patients.

Other than anecdotally, we dont have any information about that," Polis said But we certainly are aware that many Coloradans  particularly most vulnerable Coloradans  are perhaps a little bit ahead of the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and want to get that booster shot immediately.

Because of the contagious nature of the delta variant which has led to increased coronavirus cases across many U.S. states, McDonald said the city's original goal of 70% of fully vaccinated residents is not gonna get us where we need to be.

The decision came as Denver's average daily infection rates have increased from 15 to almost 70, average daily positivity rates have risen from 1.0% to above 3% and amid more COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, officials said in a statement.

City officials said they expect supervisors to be responsible for employee compliance and to maintain records of their vaccinated staff. If the city receives a complaint of someone working onsite without being vaccinated, officials said they will work with employers before imposing penalties.

Many cities across the country are moving in this very direction, Hancock said of mandating vaccines for municipal workers.

At his Monday press conference, Polis said that the state's hospitalizations have increased over the last few weeks to 358 people.

He also praised the states $100 Walmart gift card vaccination giveaway, adding that theres been a 25-person per day increase in vaccinations since the campaign's announcement compared to the rest of July.

___

Nieberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Treasury Department has unveiled plans to borrow $673 billion in the current quarter while employing emergency measures to keep the government from an unprecedented default on the national debt.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday announced a new round of measures to keep the government under the newly established debt limit, including halting investments in some pension funds for government workers.

The department said that its plans for borrowing in the July-September period assume Congress will pass either a suspension of the current debt limit or an increase in the limit.

The debt limit had been suspended for two years. That allowed the government to borrow as much as needed to pay bills and service its outstanding debt. But under legislation passed two years ago, the limit has gone back into effect at the level where the debt stood on Sunday  $28.4 trillion.

Yellen has said a failure to increase the debt limit would be catastrophic. She has said the emergency measures to keep the government from breaching the limit are expected to only last until this fall.

I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible, Yellen said in her letter Monday to congressional leaders.

She explained that she would stop investing funds into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund that are not immediately needed to pay benefits. She said that she would take similar actions with a Postal Service fund and the Government Securities Investment Fund.

All of these actions have been taken by previous Treasury secretaries in debt-service standoffs with Congress. The law requires all funds not invested or removed from the pension funds be restored with interest once the debt limit has been raised or suspended.

Congress has always dealt with the debt limit before the government exhausted all of its maneuvering room. However, a 2011 standoff between Republicans in Congress and the Obama administration triggered the first-ever reduction in a portion of the government's credit rating by the Standard & Poor's rating agency.

The $673 billion that the government plans to borrow this quarter is down from an estimate of $821 billion it made for the quarter back on May 3. The government borrowed $319 billion in the April-June quarter.

The Treasury Department said it plans to borrow $703 billion in the October-December quarter, assuming that Congress has passed a new debt limit or suspension in coming weeks.
LONDON (AP)  Britain opened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S. and the European Union on Monday as travel industry leaders urged the government to further ease restrictions and allow people to enjoy the benefits of a successful COVID-19 inoculation program.

The new rules came into effect amid reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government may add a new category to Britains traffic light system of travel restrictions, a move industry officials say would make many people decide to stay home.

As of Monday, fully vaccinated travelers from destinations on Britains amber list are allowed to enter the country without self-isolating for up to 10 days. The government is considering creating an amber watchlist to warn people about destinations that may be downgraded because of rising infection rates or the emergence of new variants.

An amber watchlist will be viewed as a massive red flag, which is likely to cause bookings to those countries on that watchlist to collapse, Huw Merriman, chairman of the House of Commons Transport Committee, told the BBC. In my view, we dont need any more uncertainty, complexity or anxiety for passengers or this beleaguered sector. It just needs clarity.

British airlines and holiday companies are hoping for a late summer travel boom after the pandemic halted most international travel, slashing profits and threatening thousands of jobs. The number of passengers traveling through London's Heathrow Airport, the U.K.s busiest airport, fell 75% in the first half of this year.

David and Susan Handfield were among the first beneficiaries of the new travel rules Monday, seeing their granddaughter Charlotta for the first time after she and her parents stepped off a flight from Berlin.

Charlotta was born in February but virus concerns and travel restrictions prevented her parents from bringing her to London until now. Her grandmother greeted her with a delicate kiss to the forehead at Heathrow Airport.

Weve been waiting for this moment for quite a long time,'' said Susan Handfield, 70. We only heard a week ago that they booked the flights.

While the Handfields benefited from the rules change, other restrictions still prevent many people from flying. Travelers are required to take expensive PCR tests to prove they are virus-free and countries including the U.S. still bar foreign travelers from crossing their borders.

Some in the hospitality industry say they are not optimistic that American travelers will return to the U.K. any time soon despite Monday's rule change, because the U.S. government said in a travel advisory last month not to fly to the U.K. due to a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.

It's all fine us saying no quarantine, that's great, but we need America to say people can go to the U.K., said Stuart Procter, chief operating officer at The Stafford, a luxury London hotel. The hotel relies heavily on U.S. business and leisure travellers, and Procter said so far enquiries and bookings have been almost non-existent.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrows chief executive, said the British government should allow most travelers to use cheaper lateral flow tests and work with countries like the U.S. to ease remaining travel restrictions. This is warranted by the U.K.s successful vaccination program, he said.

Almost 89% of adults in Britain have received at least one dose of vaccine and 73% have been fully vaccinated.

This is a good start, we are showing that the vaccine is our passport to freedom, Holland-Kaye said. Lets be confident in the vaccines. Tests show they work against delta and beta variants. So lets start to show the vaccination will get us back to our lives as they used to be.

Meanwhile, health authorities said Monday they were tweaking the government's COVID-19 contact tracing phone app so that fewer people will be instructed to self-isolate following close contact with those who are infected.

The app sent hundreds of thousands of alerts to people in England and Wales last week, triggering staffing shortages and serious disruption for many businesses.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the app update, which will now check contacts for the past two days instead of five, will reduce disruption to people and businesses.

___

Jo Kearney and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this story.

____

Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic: https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 87F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

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Mostly clear. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low 61F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Defra will significantly increase the number of inspectors visiting farmers to reduce diffuse water pollution, the government has announced today.

The Environment Agency will be allocated 1.2m to increase the number of inspectors, with 50 additional full time employees expected to be recruited.

The move is part of a wider announcement unveiled on Monday (2 August) which will see the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) programme receive more funding.

Funding will now be almost doubled, with an additional 17 million over the next three years.

The new annual budget will be 30 million, up from 16.6 million in 2020 - 2021.

The CSF programme provides advice to farmers to help them reduce water and air pollution through management of farmyard manure and soils, among other measures.

The government said every farmer in the country would be able to access pollution advice and support by March 2023.

Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, welcomed the increase in the number of inspections farmers will face in the future.

"We have said before that additional investment in our monitoring and inspection capability is fundamental to delivering the governments priorities on the environment," he said.

The announcements made today will help us continue to engage with farmers to reduce the risk of pollution incidents and work towards cleaner and healthier rivers for all."

Defra Secretary George Eustice added that the CSF programme had been 'hugely successful' in tackling water pollution.

Today we are doubling the funding available and we aim to have every farmer in the country taking part by 2023.
With slug pellet applications imminent, farming businesses are being reminded that metaldehyde stewardship guidelines apply this autumn.

The reminder comes as outdoor use of metaldehyde is set to be banned in Britain from the end of March 2022, the government announced last year.

The pesticide, used to control slugs on farms, will be phased in order to 'better protect wildlife and the environment', Defra explained.

Although no further supplies of the active are available from manufacturers, distributors can still sell stocks and use can continue until 31 March 2022.

David Cameron, chairman of the Metaldehyde Stewardship Group, said responsible use until the end of the use up period was 'essential' to help stop metaldehyde reaching watercourses.

He noted key stewardship steps to follow: With the view of helping to minimise slug infestations and reduce the need for treatment, metaldehyde slug pellets must only be used as part of a wider Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programme.

Factors such as soil and stubble management, planting methods, weather, trapping and monitoring should all be considered as part of slug control programmes.

Growers should also take a field-by-field approach to assess the risk of metaldehyde reaching watercourses, Mr Cameron explained.

Think Soil, Slope and Stream. Your fields soil type, topography and proximity to a water course are all key to understanding whether applications could impact drinking water quality.

If treatment is necessary, its imperative to refer to the full set of MSG guidelines. These state that metaldehyde-based slug pellets should not be applied if drains are flowing or heavy rain is forecast.

"And no pellets should be allowed to fall within a minimum of 10 metres of any field boundary or watercourse.

Dr Cameron concluded by thanking the entire farming industry for their support over the last decade.

Although we are now seeing the loss of metaldehyde from the market, the stewardship initiative played an enormously important role," he said.

"It wouldnt have been possible without the ongoing support of various organisations and stakeholders.
The Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) has heavily criticised Unite the Union for making a 'number of inaccuracies' after it called on farm workers to defend the Agriculture Wages Board.

A public consultation was launched earlier this year on proposals to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) in Northern Ireland.

Farming minister Edwin Poots announced the plans, saying there was 'little justification' for the industry to have 'special considerations of a wage board'.

The AWB, established 80 years ago, sets minimum rates of pay and conditions for farm workers.

However, various pieces of legislation had been introduced that 'greatly improved' the level of protection afforded to workers, Mr Poots said.

Unite the Union has since launched a paper Stormont Hands off our Farm Workers  Defend and Expand the AWB in response to the move.

Unite, the second largest trade union in the UK, said agricultural field workers were 'often subject to the most oppressive conditions of employment'.

In the paper, it claimed the UFU, which favours abolishing the board, 'don't seem to care that abolishing the AWB threatens to remove protections for many small farmers and their family members'.

Unite added that these small farmers were 'forced by economic necessity, to work on other farms or elsewhere in the industry'.

But the UFU said the paper was 'misleading' and called for Unite to withdraw a 'number of inaccuracies which skew the debate' on the abolition of the AWB.

UFU-lead AWB representative Robert McCloy said: The misleading tone of the paper is an attempt to discredit farmers in the eyes of the public.

"The fact that its introduction incorrectly states that the UFU colluded with Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots because he is a member of the UFU, which he is not.

The biggest issue is that Unite are questioning the integrity and thereby the reputation of our members who employ labour when they say that by abolishing the AWB, this will leave farm workers at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, he said.

The UFU said Unite's claim that the abolition of the AWB would give rise to criminal practices including people trafficking and modern slavery was 'preposterous and false'.

Proponents of abolishing the AWB say workers will be protected under the National Minimum Wage Regulation, as is every other sector in the local economy.

DAERA also has a separate sponsorship branch for the Gangmaster and Labour Authority (GLAA) in Northern Ireland and in terms of enforcement, the GLAA has two Enforcement Officers based in NI.

In its paper, Unite also alleged that the UFU champions the interests of big ranchers and the agri-food bosses.

Mr McCloy said the UFU 'refutes this openly' as the farmers' union 'represents the best interests of all sized farms in Northern Ireland.'

"The comment is laughable when you consider our track record in challenging processors to pay the best price for our members, the primary producers, he said.

The document states that the UFU has urged for the abolition of the AWB since 1909, something Mr McCloy said was 'not true nor possible because it was only established in 1918'.

In conclusion, the language and the tone of this paper has damaged relations between the UFU and Unite," he added.

"We will continue to call for the abolition of the outdated AWB and would urge MLAs to consider the facts rather than the inaccurate statements littered throughout the Unite paper.
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We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.
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In these tough times we can surely use a good laugh, cant we? As we think of ways to spend our time in this lockdown, why not watch some comedy movies? They'll surely uplift our moods and will be worth our time. And as the saying goes laughter is the best medicine we all can use it, in these gloomy days. So trust Hollywood when it comes to the comedy genre, they have always made sure that your jaw hurts from laughing and you forget all your problems just for a while but you do. Weve selected some cult Best Comedy Movies Hollywood from down the ages which still have the power to have you rolling down the aisles laughing So go ahead and binge-watch and laugh your blues away.

1. Knocked Up (2007)



As the name suggests the film talks about unplanned pregnancies. When we think about this topic we think that the film might be filled with melodrama but it is quite the opposite actually. Starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen, the film revolves around Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) who meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) at a bar, where they get drunk and have a one night stand, after which they part ways. After a few weeks, Alison discovers she's pregnant with Bens child. Knocked Up is a well made movie, from the screenplay to the realistic acting and clever and witty dialogues, the film is fun to watch.

2. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)



Starring Steve Carell, the film revolves around Andy (Steve Carell) a forty year old virgin, who while socializing with his co-workers accidentally reveals that he is a virgin. His co-workers, David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco), and Cal (Seth Rogen) initially tease him about his situation. But the three have respect for Andy being a decent human, and they then decide to help him out in ending his virginity. The film is full of charm and Steve Carell played the role of Andy brilliantly. Trust us when we say this you will have a hard time trying not to laugh in the entire film.

3. The Dictator (2012)



If you decide to watch this film, youre in for a treat. Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, the film revolves around Hafez Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) an eccentric ruler of the Republic of Wadiya and how his trip to New York goes awry. The film is packed with laughter and if youre a person who gets easily offended then this film is not for you. But if you enjoy dark comedy then add this film to your watch list.

4. We're the Millers (2013)



When we think of Were the Millers the first thing that comes to our mind is the famous dialogue You guys are getting paid yes the dialogue is from this film. Starring Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Jason Sudeikis and Will Poulter, the film revolves around David (Jason Sudeikis) a drug dealer who is forced by his boss to go to Mexico to pick up a load of marijuana. In order to improve his odds of making it past the border, David asks the broke stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and two local teenagers to join him and pretend they're on a family holiday. The movie is quite enjoyable and makes you laugh harder by the minute.

5. Deadpool (2016)



Starring Ryan Reynolds, this film is a complete entertainer. Some may call it an action movie but you cant ignore the plethora of jokes and funny situations that the film abounds with. Ryan Reynolds is the perfect fit as the foul mouthed, witty anti-hero. Apart from comedy the film is also full of action scenes. Comedy and action it's a perfect match, aren't they? The film revolves around Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) a former Special Forces operative who gets trapped in the experiment of an evil scientist Ajax (Ed Skrein) who tortures, disfigures and transforms him into Deadpool. Deadpool then uses his new skills to hunt down the scientist who destroyed his life. Ryan Reynolds completely owned the screen with his fantastic performance.

6. The Hangover (2009)



Weve all done stupid things when drunk, right? One of our top favourites, starring the charming Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms, the film revolves around Doug and his three best men Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper), Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis) and Stu Price (Ed Helms) who go to Las Vegas to celebrate his bachelor party. However, the next day the three best men wake up to find out that the groom Doug is missing. The film is a comedy riot and the timing of each character is to the point. Everytime we watch this film we just laugh a little harder.

7. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)



Crazy, Stupid, Love is one of the best romantic comedies ever made. Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Julianne Moore the story revolves around Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) who have the perfect marriage until Emily asks for a divorce. To deal with his sorrows, now single Cal is drinking at a bar and makes a bachelor friend Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who helps him deal with his new single life. Apart from the brilliant star cast the film is fresh and full of surprises.

8. Palm Springs (2020)



If youre in for something new and charming Palm Springs is the one for you. Featuring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, the film is a time loop comedy where two wedding guests Nyles (Andy Samberg) a happy go lucky guy and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) a simple girl, who get in an infinite time loop and live the same day over and over again. The film is heart-felt, smart, funny and wholesome.

9. There's Something About Mary (1998)



This film is an absolute classic and is something we can watch on loop 24/7. The film is funny with gags coming one after the other which makes it so loved. Starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, the film revolves around Ted (Ben Stiller) who was a geek in high school, who was going out to the prom with the most popular girl in school Mary (Cameron Diaz), but due to an unusual accident the prom date never happens. Thirteen years later Ted realizes he is still in love with Mary, so he hires an investigator to track down his lady love. But soon he realizes that he has to compete with others to impress her. Even though the film is a typical romantic comedy its the scenes that make us laugh out loud.

10. Bridesmaids (2011)



Bridesmaids, isnt just an eighty minutes quick film but a character-driven comedy that takes time to develop its characters and establish the various relationships and resultant conflicts between them. Starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper the story revolves around Annie (Kristen Wiig) who is the maid of honor for her best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding. Annie's life is a mess as she doesnt have a stable job and her business doesn't work but she works her way through the expensive and bizarre wedding rituals just to keep up with the rich bridesmaids. But she proves just how far a person can go for the people you love and care about the most. What we love about the film is heartwarming as well as its not afraid to pull any punches just because the film is centered around women.

Read More - Best Hollywood Action Movies Dubbed In Hindi
Action films are Hollywoods staple dont you agree? And they surely know how to deliver films in this genre, some of the best action films come from Hollywood. And who doesnt love some thrill and suspense which will keep you hooked to your seats and screens. From jaw dropping stunts to amazing car chases and explosions thats exactly why action films work so well. And in the past few years Hollywood movies are being dubbed in Hindi to cater to the Indian audience as well. And the dubbing has been top notch to say the least, with the translation getting the crux of the original dialogue and the Hindi voice artistes making sure they are in character. So as we sit at home and find some films to binge watch, we have curated a list of some of the best Hollywood action movie in hindi to binge watch. Take a look.

1. Safe House



Safe House is a 2012 thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, Denzel Washington and Vera Farmiga. It revolves around a CIA agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) who is operating a Safehouse in Cape Town, South Africa. Then he gets a chance to interrogate Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), CIA's most wanted rogue. But soon after Tobins arrival Safehouse is attacked by mercenaries who want Tobin. Matt and Tobin then have to work as a team in order to stay alive to figure out who wants Tobin dead. The two actors proved to be a strong duo in the entire film and fit perfectly in their respective roles. And trust us when we say this, you will not be disappointed with the action and the acting.

2. Inception



Inception released in 2010, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, the film is an incredible action/sci-fic. The story revolves around Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) a skilled thief, who is the best at extraction, he steals valuable secrets from peoples subconscious during the dream state. This rare talent of his has made him a great player in the corporate world but it has cost him everything he ever loved. Cobb is offered a chance at redemption only if he is able to do an impossible task. Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull a reverse task, they dont have to steal an idea but have to plant one. If he and his team are able to succeed this will be the perfect crime but the enemy is able to predict their every move. This film will surely keep you hooked to the screen as it is such an interesting film. And the storyline and casting is perfect.

3. Edge Of Tomorrow



Edge Of Tomorrow is the perfect action/sci-fi release in 2014. Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton, the story revolves around how the earth is hit by aliens who are unbeatable by any military force in the world. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer who has always fought the battles like going into a suicide mission, but he gets killed within minutes. He then finds himself stuck in a time loop forcing him to live the same combat, fight and die over and over again. But with each battle, William is able to increase his skills along with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). With each repeated encounter Cage and Rita get one step closer to defeating the enemy. The film flows in an interesting way and from the storyline to the screenplay we loved this film.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road, released in 2015, is an action masterpiece. Directed by George Miller, starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, the film is set in an apocalyptic era on a planet which is out of our reach. A planet where humanity doesnt exist and everyone is fighting for the basic necessities of life. Here live two rebels who can restore some order to survive. On one side there is Max (Tom Hardy) who is a man of few words and is seeking mental peace following the loss of his wife and child. On the other side there is Furiosa (Charlize Theron) a woman who believes her survival can be achieved only if she is able to make it to her childhood homeland. The action sequences in this film are jaw-dropping, George Miller has definitely put together a memorable action film.

5. Minority Report

Minority Report released in 2002 is a perfect blend of action, thrill and suspense. Starring the charming Tom Cruise, the story is set in the year 2054, in Washington D.C. where the crime is virtually eliminated by a law enforcing squad Precrime. The team has three gifted humans called Pre-Cogs who have special powers to see the future and predict crimes before they are even committed. However the Pre-Cogs predict that John Anderton (Tom Cruise) who heads Precrime will commit a murder in the next thirty six hours. And John doesnt even know the victim. The story continues as he decides to solve the mystery by finding out the minority report which means the prediction of the female Precog which can predict a different story and prove that John is innocent. What the audience loved about this film was the concept and story was so fresh.

6. Contraband

Contraband released in 2012, starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi revolves around Chris Faraday (Mark Wahlberg) who used to smuggle illegal items into the country on freighters. He then starts a fresh life once he gets married and has a family. But when his brother-in-law blows off a deal with Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi) a drug dealer, Briggs demands a reinstitution which he is not able to deliver. Chris decides to find a way to pay Briggs back, so he gets on a freighter to go to Panama and sets out to bring back some counterfeit currency. Briggs then goes on to threaten Chriss family and tells him to get drugs instead of the cash.

Read More - Best Action Bollywood Movies Of The Decade
Sara Ali Khan is super popular on Instagram and why not, after all the actress is always out there on social media to stay connected with her fans. Right from her knock-knock jokes with her brother Ibrahim Ali Khan to her Insta-reels to express her mood and mark special occasions, the actress is a social-media addict.



On Sunday, Sara Ali Khan took to her Instagram to share a post on Friendship Day. She shared a reel where she introduced us to her squad. In this short reel she gave taglines to her friends and also showed us some unseen videos and pictures from her gallery. She goes down the memory lane with every friend of hers  sharing clicks from her college days in New York to vacationing together at beautiful locales. Sara Ali Khan captioned the video and said, Peas in a pod... Meet my Squad #SaraKaSaraReels #FamilyWalaFeels @ishroff @sara_vaisoha @jehanhanda @asif_nawazshah @kamiyaah @tasheen13 @ahilyamehta @milisanwalka. Check out the video and catch a glimpse of her fun life with friends around.





Sara Ali Khan will be next seen in Aanand L Rais Atrangi Re starring Dhanush and Akshay Kumar. She then has Vicky Kaushal starrer The Immortal Ashwatthama and later Baaghi 4. Reports are rife she will even star in Aanand L Rais next production Nakhrewali.



View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) Sara Ali Khan will be next seen in Aanand L Raisstarring Dhanush and Akshay Kumar. She then has Vicky Kaushal starrer The Immortal Ashwatthama and later. Reports are rife she will even star in Aanand L Rais next production Nakhrewali.

Read More - Janhvi Kapoor Has Her Wedding Plan Sorted Out
Company introduces LUMINT - a complimentary offering that provides real-time dark web intelligence insights

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KELA , the global leader in actionable threat intelligence, today announced the launch of brand new research along with LUMINT , a new offering providing users with a glimpse into KELA's latest intelligence insights from the dark web including newly listed ransomware attacks, compromised network accesses for sale in cybercrime forums, leaked databases and data dumps, and updates on trending cybercrime threats. KELA's newly released research report, "All Access Pass: Five Trends with Initial Access Brokers," includes an in-depth analysis of Initial Access Brokers (IAB) and their activity for a full year from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

Some of KELA's key findings include:

The largest percentages of victims are located in the U.S. with others in France , UK, Australia , Canada , Italy , Brazil , Spain , Germany and UAE

, UK, , , , , , and UAE Pricing is often determined by company size and level of privileges within the compromised network, with $5,400 as the average price for network access, AND $1,000 as the median price.

as the average price for network access, AND as the median price. Some of the highest sale prices identified were 12 Bitcoin for access to a $500 million company and $100 thousand for access to a national government organization

company and for access to a national government organization These IABs have recently begun using the access to steal from the victims before posting the access for sale

A proven link between initial access listings and ransomware attacks that were executed and publicly announced.

As business models have matured, KELA observed some successful IABs changing their sales methods, moving away from public forums to private channels with trusted buyers. Now, as the economy continues to grow, there are not only new trends emerging amongst existing IABs, but many new sellers entering the zone.

"While remote work became mandatory in 2020, ransomware and associated criminal businesses also saw significant growth. In the last year, IABs have become key components of the ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem, making malicious network access easy and lucrative for many of today's leading attacks. Our researchers were particularly interested in exploring our extensive dark web data to understand how the shift in the real world gave way to the cybercrime underground," said Aviad Gal, Head of Product at KELA. "Now with LUMINT, our complimentary offering, customers can also gain direct access to a window of the information our analysts uncover and synthesize every day. We are excited to empower all organizations - from small businesses to the largest enterprises - with the information they need to defend against the continual mounting cyber threats."

KELA provides unrivaled visibility into adversary behaviors and relevant threats, illuminating and deciphering hidden events, activities and actors that would typically go undetected and unanalyzed. KELA delivers the contextual intelligence for its customers to proactively neutralize threats before it impacts their business.

LUMINT, KELA's new offering, sheds light on unknown, undetected dark web activity and provides users with a glimpse into some of the latest intelligence insights from the dark web including newly listed ransomware attacks, trending threats and the latest data, services and compromises for sale on criminal forums. Armed with this information, security teams will have unique insights to help enrich their knowledge and understanding of the dark web with top highlights curated by KELA's intelligence experts.

For more information or to subscribe, please visit https://lumint.ke-la.com/signup

About KELA

KELA takes away fear of the unknown cyber threats all organizations face. Trusted worldwide, KELA's industry-leading threat intelligence technology automatically penetrates the hardest-to-reach corners of the cybercrime underground to provide organizations with unique, contextualized and actionable insights at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. KELA analysts' deep expertise and customer focus provide customers with tailored intelligence on strategic and tactical threats gathered through automated cybercrime monitoring and analysis. For more information, visit www.ke-la.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1094213/KELA_Logo.jpg

Contact Information

Efrat David

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Marketing@ke-la.com
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
A British-Australian research team has assessed the potential of liquid air energy storage (LAES) for large scale application. The scientists estimate that these systems may currently be built at a cost between 300 and 600 per megawatt-hour and that a positive business case could be favored by certain conditions, including a determined price structure in the energy market and the presence of a grid unable to support high levels of renewable energy penetration.A group of scientists from the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, and the University of Melbourne, in Australia, has investigated, ...

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, NY and TAIPEI, TAIWAN / ACCESSWIRE / August 2, 2021 / Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd. (OTC PINK:SUIC). SUIC Midas USA, Inc. is setting up a trust fund to handle the payback fund receipts from overseas merchants and partner banks generated from the MT Flash Pay and MT Free Pay transactions. SUIC Midas is expecting over $1 billion revenues from its 10 partner PSP's.

"This exciting development will maximize the value proposition for the SUIC Midas-Suntech ecosystems and their partners and participants, while leveraging their unique products and services and exceptional DeFi technology capabilities. The much-needed funding will positively drive efficiency in their working capital and provide more opportunities for our investors and partners," affirms Yanru Zhou, CEO of SUIC Midas USA, Inc.

SUIC Midas Touch is going to replicate their exclusive business model in 40 countries, with over 20 payment service companies to join the company this year and into 2022. The company is in the final stages of identifying their partners in various countries, targeting one million merchants and a $10 billion dollars turnover rate by 2022. With over $100 million monthly turnover from each PSP's, SUIC Midas expects to generate over $2 billion turnover from 20 participating partner PSP's.

SUIC Midas Touch is confident that its traditional and DeFi supply chain financing solutions will be sustainable long-term for a wide cross section of personal and business users worldwide, enabling transactions that are automated, settlements are virtually instantaneous, eliminating main traditional counterparty risks.

About Midas Touch, United Kingdom

Midas Touch was established in the United Kingdom in 2010, is a duly registered company with a business license to operate. Midas Touch offers safeguards against fraud in the digital currency domain, e.g. counterfeit transfer of digital cash in wallets. Focus on digital asset management and provides enterprises with a decentralized finance (DeFi) and other comprehensive supply chain innovative financial services. Thereby, solve the capital turnover problems in both supply and demand sites. It has launched MT Flash Pay Same Day Swipe-Funding, and MT CQ Pay Emergency Loan with Double Revenues, MT Free Pay Services - Delay Appropriation to Offset Transaction Cost and MT Unified Procurement Combined Purchasing Powers Economies of Scale and several other financial solutions. To know more about Midas Touch, visit their website at www.midas-touch.io.

To learn more about Midas Touch product and services please review our information by clicking:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17GLXWv5T3d39Jrx2v0GvqKIBcSzxpOMy/view?usp=drivesdk

About SUIC Midas USA Inc., USA.

Established in the New York in 2021, SUIC Midas USA, Inc. is the U.S. branch of Midas Touch Technology Co. Ltd. registered in London, U.K., and is a digital asset management firm offering blockchain-based services for capital markets, including innovative DeFi (decentralized finance) and other supply chain financial services and solutions for capital turnover problems in the global supply and demand.

About Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd., USA.

The Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd. provides research and development, venture financing for and investing in private enterprises and the public sector that develop products and services adopting core capabilities of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, mobile payment, Big Data, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence, to enhance and streamline existing processes, and establish new and exciting business models that will create revolutionary products and services. Shareholders of SUIC will be exposed to the diverse application of advanced services in various parts of the economy. Additionally, existing and potential customers can benefit from this company's diversified portfolio of technologies. As one of the pioneering publicly traded technology companies, SUIC will help build tech-enabled businesses of the future. To learn more, please visit www.sinounitedco.com. Find us on:

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sinounitedltd/?modal=admin_todo_tour

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/OTCSUIC

On Telegram: https://t.me/Sinounited

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain the information set forth herein contains 'forward-looking information', including 'future-oriented financial information'; and 'financial outlook' under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company's business, projects, and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company's projects; (vi) completion of the Company's projects that are currently underway, in development, or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company's current agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management's beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment.

These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although forward-looking statements contained herein are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, 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. The Company 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.

Contacts

Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd.

New Release Department

929-391-2550

SOURCE: Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/657944/SUIC-Midas-Is-Setting-up-a-Trust-Fund-to-Handle-the-Payback-Fund-Receipts-From-Overseas-Merchants-and-Partner-Banks-for-the-MT-Flash-PayTM-And-MT-Free-PayTM-Transactions-Expecting-a-Monthly-Turnover-of-Over-1-Billion-From-10-Partner-PSPs
MOSCOW, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PhosAgro Group and the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) have announced the launch of a project to create a carbon farm in the Vologda region. The announcement was made during the conference 'Carbon Neutrality: A New Trend in the Global Economy'.

Mineral fertilizer producers, agribusiness players and leading representatives of the scientific community discussed national and regional issues related to the low-carbon development of Russian agriculture and related industries in the context of the European Green Deal.

The conference was attended by Alexander Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Andrey Guryev, PhosAgro CEO and President of the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association; Yelena Zlenko, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Agriculture and Food Policy and Environmental Management; Andrei Sulin, a partner at Ernst & Young; Oleg Kobyakov, Director of the Liaison Office with the Russian Federation at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and the heads of RAS institutes and research centres as well as experts on agribusiness.

"In connection with the introduction of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the issue of monitoring and sequestering emissions not only of our individual enterprises and companies but also of entire regions is a burning issue on today's agenda. Interesting alliances are being formed where the interests of business, science and local authorities intersect. This is precisely the sort of alliance that has been created in the Vologda region, where PhosAgro's main production facilities are located," said RAS President Sergeev during his presentation.

He recalled that, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June of this year, the RAS, PhosAgro and the Vologda region signed a cooperation agreement on monitoring climate change and minimising environmental impact.

"We are starting to work together on low-carbon issues, having launched a joint project to create a system to monitor greenhouse gas dynamics at the regional level. The project to create a carbon farm in the Vologda region will be not only a pilot in terms of solving the problems of a low-carbon economy but also an example of properly aligned cooperation between Russian business and science," said the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev noted that the pilot portion of the first carbon-neutrality project in Russia would be implemented by 2025 and that the farm would start full-fledged operations in 2028.

"New forest and field terrain will be prepared in the immediate vicinity of PhosAgro's Cherepovets site, in the Vologda region, the purpose of which will be to sequester carbon. It will have a design capacity of 0.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The scientific and methodological expertise of the Russian Academy of Sciences will help us achieve success in this project. I am confident that our joint work on carbon-farm projects will contribute to the efficient use of our country's natural resources and the successful search for new approaches to minimising the impact of industry on the environment," said Mr Guryev.

He stressed that PhosAgro had begun making serious investments to modernise its capacities and to introduce technologies that meet the most stringent environmental standards from the moment of the Company's founding 20 years ago (PhosAgro is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year).

"Last year, we adopted a comprehensive climate strategy that includes a low-carbon transition plan with a target of a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2028 from our 2018 baseline. We are implementing a programme to improve energy efficiency. We are constantly investing in equipment that allows us to generate electricity using waste heat generated during production. We are increasing the share of green energy from hydroelectric power plants and renewable sources in our energy consumption. This year, it will already account for over 20% of the energy consumption of our mining and processing site in Khibiny, above the Article Circle. Projects related to the creation of a carbon farm will be an integral part of our environmental strategy," said Mr Guryev.

The Deputy Governor of the Vologda region, Vitaly Tushinov, said that the sustained socio-economic development of the region was impossible without the implementation of environmental programmes.

"The Vologda region is one of the few regions that, in the context of the rapid development of industry and the forestry sector, has increased the volume of replanted forest more than fivefold. We are taking part in the 'Clean Volga' federal programme and in the 'Clean Air' programme, which is also being carried out in the city of Cherepovets thanks to PhosAgro and Severstal. Vologda aims to become one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the Russian Federation. We are implementing a programme for the transition to electric vehicles in Vologda and to natural-gas vehicles in Cherepovets. This is also helping reduce emissions," said Deputy Governor Tushinov.

According to the Deputy Governor, the new project to create carbon farms, undertaken by PhosAgro and the RAS, is a clear example of business responsibility.

"I'm confident that the joint efforts of big business, science and regional authorities will help make it a success and will make it possible to expand the project in the future to regions throughout Russia," added Mr Tushinov.

Yelena Zlenko, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Agriculture and Food Policy and Environmental Management, noted that experiments related to assessing the absorptive capacity of ecosystems were of exceptional importance in light of Russia's international commitments.

"The proactive position of science and business is very important in order to develop the necessary methodologies. Today, the forestry sector covers every constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We have an opportunity not only to preserve forests but to start trading carbon credits on the basis of our forestry sector. To do this, it is important for us to provide in the near future a full and objective account of greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, and to stimulate support for reducing emissions by improving industrial energy efficiency," said Ms. Zlenko.

Ernst & Young's Andrei Sulin stressed that, in the context of the discussion on the CBAM and the European Green Deal, forestry-based climate projects (carbon farms) were of strategic importance, adding, however, that it was already time for them to be systematically worked out in terms of regulation and possible areas of monetisation.

"Russia has colossal forest reserves; the potential for carbon sequestration is enormous, but this opportunity has to be properly managed in order to make it attractive for investments. Right now, unfortunately, carbon sequestration by carbon farms isn't taken into account for the purposes of the CBAM, but the question of the advantages of counting such offsets can be raised once again through the EU's open public consultations. The current price for carbon credits in voluntary markets is negligible - at such prices, carbon farms won't be able to recoup their investments. In addition to expectations of increased demand, initiatives to regulate voluntary markets to reduce their uncertainty (risks) could also boost the price of carbon in voluntary markets. Also, prior to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the discussion of Russia's position on the market mechanisms of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which could become an additional channel for monetising carbon credits, is gathering steam. And, of course, we must not forget about the need to develop regulations for the methodologies used for absorption calculations and for their verification, as well as other regulatory issues concerning carbon farms. They shouldn't be isolated from the rest of the world; on the contrary, they should be built into global/European regulations to ensure comparability and opportunities for offsets and monetisation in international markets," said Mr Sulin.

According to the FAO's Oleg Kobyakov, there is no alternative to a transition to a low-emission economy and achieving carbon neutrality.

"Russia's attention to climate issues, and the entire world's attention to Russia as an active participant in the UN climate agenda, has significantly increased since the country's President, Vladimir Putin, took part in the Leaders Summit on Climate in April of this year. It must be said that Russia, which is one of the five largest emitters of greenhouse gases, also has huge resources for neutralising the greenhouse effect," said Mr. Kobyakov.

"Today's discussion has shown that [Russian] science is at the forefront of work on the climate agenda and on carbon neutrality; science is supported by business, by PhosAgro in particular, and government authorities and administrative bodies are taking forward-looking decisions," added the Head of the FAO Office for Liaison with Russia.

The conference also noted that changes in biomass accumulation, the speed at which carbon is transported through soil and the absorption of stored carbon by plants play an important role in achieving carbon neutrality. Since these are the functions of soil-based microorganisms, the issue of achieving carbon neutrality is directly related to the issue of the biologisation of agriculture, the recarbonisation of soils and the development of eco-efficient fertilizers, crop protection products and growth stimulants. All these aspects are already under development. In the fields of Nemchinovka, PhosAgro demonstrated its progress in 50 agronomic tests of promising grades of biomineral fertilizers on spring crops.

About PhosAgro

PhosAgro (www.phosagro.com) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, more than 50 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 102 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.
Excellerant Inc. (EXCL:OTC US), a technology focused investment holding company, today announced the appointment of Mr. Mirsad Devic as CEO as the company ramps up its investment activities in Europe and the US markets.

Mr. Devic brings to the role more than 20 years of management experience having worked at the crossroads of technology, marketing and media. He is a recognised leader in digital transformation and will drive Excellerant's efforts to identify and invest into high-growth potential businesses operating in the Fintech and Healthtech spaces through the provision of seed and Series A funding.

Excellerant targets companies that build and own proprietary assets, technology and intellectual property that are unique and solve business challenges by enabling customers to radically improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness through digitalisation, automatisation and technology-enabled scaling. It seeks out solutions-driven businesses that have ambitious management teams and large demonstrable markets where they enjoy proven traction.

Excellerant works closely with founders to optimize business models, unit economics and overall financial leverage in order to quickly scale company performance and multiply asset value. This includes leveraging Excellerant's own expertise and that of its global network of strategic partners to help create synergies and drive growth.

Mr. Devic is supported by a team of senior industry leaders, who are also entrepreneurs in their own right, as well as a group of external advisors with deep expertise in the technology sectors across Europe and US.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Devic, said, "I'm delighted to be leading Excellerant's efforts to capture the significant opportunities that exist for investment in the ongoing digital transformation of the financial services and healthcare sectors. We see tremendous promise for companies whose technologies are solutions-focused and future-driven and which can help customers in these industries pivot seamlessly away from legacy business models through digitalisation. We are moving closer to announcing our first investments and look forward to partnering with some extraordinary businesses and founders to help them maximise potential, unlock value and generate solid returns for our investors."

Ends

About Excellerant Inc

Excellerant Inc. is an investment holding company that invests into businesses with significant growth potential across the financial and health technology sectors. It contributes capital, expertise and its global network of strategic partners to investee companies with the objective of driving growth, performance and a significant increase in asset value for investors and shareholders. Excellerant is based in Brussels, Belgium and trades on the US Stock Exchange OTC Markets (EXCL:OTC). For more information, please visit www.excellerant.vc

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005306/en/

Contacts:

Media contact:

Laila Danesh

+447703330024

press@excellerant.vc
Award-winning, multi-technology recruitment firm Frank Recruitment Group is expanding its North American footprint and opening a brand-new office in Toronto.

The move will bring additional jobs to the area and broaden the candidate pool for firms looking for high-quality tech talent.

UK tech staffing specialist Frank Recruitment Group today announced that it will be opening a new office in Toronto, Ontario.

Opening in October, the new office will take the company's number of global hubs to 22, showing consistent growth and demand for its cloud staffing firms around the world. The Toronto base will initially be home to both the firm's Nigel Frank and Mason Frank brands, specializing in sourcing candidates for Microsoft Azure and Dynamics, and Salesforce roles, respectively.

Frank Recruitment Group started in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK with just three members of staff. Today, it has since grown to become the leader in global cloud IT recruitment, with an ever-growing team of over 1,900 members of staff. The addition of the Toronto location means there will be an extra 14 jobs created in the area initially, with goals to grow these opportunities even further within the Canadian territory.

The firm's expansion into Canada was fueled by the burgeoning tech scene in Toronto, which just last year was regarded as the fastest growing tech market in North America. Over the past three years, the city was reported to have enjoyed more growth than the New York, Seattle, and Boston markets combined. The Toronto office will help the cloud recruitment firm to further expand its reach within the Americas and will assist in satisfying the demand for IT professionals who can complete digital transformations and cloud migrations.

"The pandemic has applied global pressure for cloud architecture to be not only implemented, but properly understood," said Vice President of Talent Acquisition Matt Woodford who will oversee the new office. "The work-from-home message meant offices around the world had to rely on the cloud to transmit and hold important data that could be shared with employees and partners, no matter where in the world they were working from."

He added: "By bringing our expertise and knowledge to clients and partners in a city where IT professionals are already in demand, and where the market is thriving, we hope to be able to prove our world-leading cloud recruitment status and help many businesses go the extra mile particularly where the pandemic might otherwise have set them back."

On the expansion, Rowan O'Grady, President of Americas said: "I am thrilled to be able to share our company's latest plans with the market. Last year was difficult for so many businesses, and it really highlighted the importance of the digital infrastructure companies need to have in place to be able to operate in today's increasingly online world."

He continued: "Opening another office in an area where the tech market is booming will mean we can work to connect even more talented IT professionals with businesses and help them land their dream roles. It's what we're most passionate about, and being world-leaders in IT staffing recruitment, it's certainly something we pride ourselves on doing, so we hope that Toronto is as excited as we are for the new venture."

The Toronto office will be located at 70 The Esplanade #200, Toronto, ON, and will open its doors for business on the 1st of October 2021.

Note to editors:

ABOUT FRANK RECRUITMENT GROUP

Frank Recruitment Group is a division of Tenth Revolution Group, the world's leading experts in cloud talent solutions. Founded in Newcastle upon Tyne, in 2006, Frank Recruitment Group creates and delivers highly sought-after professionals in some of the industry's most skills-scarce ecosystems.

The company employs nearly 1,900 people across 21 offices, including Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa, Denver, Scottsdale, Charlotte, and Irvine in the US. EMEA and APAC are served by nine offices across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, with further locations in Singapore, Japan, and Australia.

The group operates seven trading brands that each focus on a specific technology product: Jefferson Frank (AWS), Nigel Frank International (Microsoft Dynamics and Azure), Mason Frank International (Salesforce), Washington Frank (enterprise ERP), Anderson Frank (NetSuite), Nelson Frank (ServiceNow), and FRG Technology Consulting (Marketing Automation and emerging technologies).

Frank Recruitment Group was named one of Europe's fastest-growing companies and received recognition as one of the UK's top 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits. The group plans to expand its outreach globally and attract more trainee recruiters in strategic hubs to meet demand for its services.

For more information, visit: www.frankgroup.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005453/en/

Contacts:

Media Enquiries:

Josie Middleton

T: +44 (0)191 338 7553

E: j.middleton@frankgroup.com

W: www.frankgroup.com
TORONTO, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenland Resources Inc. ("Greenland Resources" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Malmbjerg molybdenum summer field program commenced as planned on August 1, 2021. The objective of the program is to produce a new NI 43-101 Feasibility Study Technical Report for the Malmbjerg molybdenum project and conduct environmental work required to obtain a new exploitation license. The planning of the field program started five months ago, and the logistics highlights and scope of work is described below.



Greenland Chairman Dr. Ruben Shiffman noted: "Despite the many logistical challenges and supply disruptions caused by COVID-19, we are on time and on budget in our ambitious summer field program. Molybdenum prices are now at ten year high, which supports our goal of building a world class pure molybdenum mine in and for the European Union Green Deal. We continue to work close with our colleagues from the European Raw Material Alliance (ERMA), an entity created last year by the European Union as part of an action plan to secure access to critical and strategic raw materials, advanced materials, and processing know-how for the European Industrial Ecosystems".

Logistics Highlights

The Company received three proposals for each core area from world class engineering firms and after a thorough review, awarded contracts to eight engineering firms most of whom were part of the 2008 Malmbjerg Feasibility Study.

Tetra Tech, a leading global engineering firm and owner of the former author of the 2008 Malmbjerg Feasibility study will be the lead consultant. The new Feasibility Study will include review and update of the work done in 2008 and will incorporate the Company's capex optimization work (DRA, 2019) and the glacier ablation forecast study on Malmbjerg from the Danish Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS, 2020), aiming to improve project economics.

The onsite team, including the management of the Company, is comprised of 35 people arriving July 31 and August 16, given logistical efficiencies. The program will run from August 1-31, 2021 with the possibility of extension to the first week of September.

The team flew from Denmark, Canada and the United States to Reykjavik airport in Iceland two days before departing to east Greenland to be able to comply with COVID-19 rules. As per current requirements, all the Company consultants are fully vaccinated with a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate 72 hrs before entering into Iceland and a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate from a Scandinavian country 48 hrs before entering into Greenland.

Two roundtrip charter flights and one cargo flight with Norlandair were hired to transport people and cargo from Reykjavik airport to Mestersvig military airport in Greenland and back. In addition, an application was submitted to the military Joint Arctic Command for authorization to land at Mestersvig military airport and was granted on July 22, 2021.

A thorough field application to conduct environmental baseline studies; geotechnical studies; hydrological and marine inspections; and ice radar surveys, was approved by the Mineral Licence and Safety Authority (MLSA). The permit was granted in June 25, 2021 after a hearing process from the Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities and the Defense Command in Denmark.

The Company hired a vessel that will act as the project's hotel ship and operations / communications centre. The vessel departed from Qaqortoq in South Greenland on July 21 st and arrived as planned in Mestersvig Inlet of King Oscar Fjord on July 30, 2021.

and arrived as planned in Mestersvig Inlet of King Oscar Fjord on July 30, 2021. A dedicated AS-350 helicopter complete with pilot and mechanic is now stationed at Mestersvig for the entire field program.

A thorough audit of historical core stored at Kangerlussuaq in west Greenland was conducted during the month of July and a core audit will be conducted in the three Malmbjerg deposit adits in east Greenland during this field season. A site visit by a QP will include sampling and testing of selected core intervals during the month of August as part of the Malmbjerg QA/QC program.

Cargo was sent form Vancouver, Canada and Copenhagen, Denmark to Akureyri, Iceland and was subsequently sent by air cargo with Norlandair to Constable Point and Mestersvig in Greenland for helicopter transport to the accommodation vessel.

A permit for use, storage and transport of explosives was granted by the MLSA on July 14, 2021.

600 Dynadet VA-MS detonators and 75 kg of Eurodyn paper-wrapped sticks of dynamite were acquired in Qaqortoq and transported to the custody of the Master of the hotel vessel.

The Company secured 80 drums of Jet-A1 fuel coming from Denmark that were shipped to Mestersvig military airport on a Royal Artic cargo vessel for the helicopter. There are 16 drums from the military Joint Arctic Command already located at Mestersvig, and eight drums are coming in the hotel vessel.

An application to conduct a multi beam bathymetry survey in Mestersvig Inlet as well as acoustical seismic was granted by the MLSA.

The Company hired professional glacier guides and bear hunters to provide consultants safety in the field program.

The Company has prepared a Health and Safety Manual and has obtained an insurance policy in addition to the insurance required by the various consultants.

Scope of Work

During the field program, the consultants will send their NI 43-101 Qualified Person(s) on a site visit to conduct work in their areas of expertise. On infrastructure, a validation of the mine site and port site infrastructure locations for the Malmbjerg molybdenum project will be conducted and will include mine support buildings (administration, power house, fuel tank farms maintenance shop, warehouse, and security buildings), primary crusher, coarse ore stockpile, and grinding building locations. The port site will include the power hose, fuel tank farms, the rest of the processing plant, including flotation, regrind, dewatering, and concentrate storage locations in conjunction to the marine items and barge facilities as well as potential areas for the airstrip landing.

The geophysics program will consist of a new ice radar surveying on the glaciers to assess ice thicknesses along the planned mine access/ore transport tunnel. The ice-penetrating radar system will use a dipole transmitter that generates high frequency pulses that are reflected from the rock at the base of the glacier ice. The elevation of the ice radar stations will be determined by concurrent GPS/GNS RTK surveying, providing cross sections for the tunnel elevation planning. In addition, a seismic refraction survey to determine overburden layering and bedrock information will be carried out to support the design of port facilities, borrow material locations, mine infrastructure foundations, and water supply dam foundations.

On port facilities, field reconnaissance work will include data collection for the purpose of establishing design environmental conditions and optimizing the site layout. Climatological measurements will be collected at a weather station installed adjacent to the port site. Field observations of coastal landforms influenced by marine processes including tidal, wave, currents and storm surge as well as beach sediment supply from river deposits and longshore drift will provide valuable information related to the suitability of the site for a major port facility and identify any mitigation measures required to reduce impacts. Upland field geology, permafrost regime, topography and nearby material sources for armour rock supply will be investigated to further refine the design of the port facilities and to optimize the general arrangement of infrastructure.

With regards to the tunnel planning and design, the field work will provide design, costing, and construction scheduling for the tunnel, based on tunnel alignment, profile, and specification received from the transportation consultants in order to determine the tunnel cross section suitable for the slurry pipeline and transportation requirements for personnel and supplies between the Mestersvig port and the mine area. The tunneling method, ground support, ventilation requirements, equipment and manpower requirements will be used to determine the capital cost of the tunnel and schedule the construction. The potential of multiple construction portals will be considered to reduce construction times.

The environmental field program will encompass biological sampling of marine, freshwater and terrestrial sampling. The survey will complement the extensive existing historical environmental data in the area of interest and will focus on collecting information on aquatic macro invertebrates, water quality parameters, marine environment, wildlife and birds. The collected data will be part of the Environmental Impact Assessment report. In addition, the environmental team will prepare a Navigational Safety Investigation report, a document also required to obtain an exploitation license in Greenland. The document will address navigational safety issues, navigation routes, vessels to be used for shipping, study of sea and navigational conditions, among others.

Additional mineral resource work will involve the selection of core samples that will be re-assayed, verification of drillhole collars from underground and geology review. The site inspection will also entail inspecting the mine area for pre-production access, life of mine pit and rock storage areas, siting of mine area infrastructure and facilities, inspection of the alternative tunnel portals, as well as general inspection of the whole project site to coordinate the mining plan to other project facilities. In addition, verification of the adjustments estimated by glaciologist from remote sensing will be conducted, to account for glacial ablation since the previous 2005 to 2008 studies and to project ice boundaries into the future estimated by GEUS study on projected glacier change at Malmbjerg 2028-2048.

The geotechnical engineering onsite program will assist to update the design of the project's infrastructure, waste and water management facilities. The design will include a pipeline corridor geohazards assessment; tunnel geotechnical assessment support; tailings management facilities in Noret Inlet; concrete aggregate sources review; mine site water supply; mine site infrastructure geotechnical support for crusher and SAG mill and grinding foundations, truck shop, waste dump design support, mine site administration, maintenance and warehousing infrastructure; and open pit geotechnical update support.

Ore transportation system work will complete the design of a slurry pipeline corridor that will run from the mine site crushing and grinding facility to the concentrator and another pipeline will be designed for the transportation of tailings from the concentrator to the tailings facility located at Noret Inlet. The site visit will assist to validate a preferred tunnel and pipeline surface route corridor for the ore transport slurry pipeline from the mine site to the concentrator and will help determine environmental or local constraints which may impact the route.

Qualified Person Statement

Mr. Jim Steel BSc, MBA, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release.

About Greenland Resources Inc.

Greenland Resources is a Canadian reporting issuer regulated by the Ontario Securities Commission, focused on the development of its world class Climax type pure molybdenum deposit located in central east Greenland. The Malmbjerg molybdenum deposit has pit-constrained Measured and Indicated Resources of 247.1 million tonnes at 0.180% MoS 2 , for 587 million pounds of contained molybdenum metal.

For further information please contact:

Ruben Shiffman, PhD Executive Chairman, President Keith Minty, P.Eng, MBA Engineering and Project Management Jim Steel, P.Geo, MBA Exploration and Mining Geology Nauja Bianco, M.Pol.Sci. Public and Community Relations Gary Anstey Investor Relations Corporate office Suite 1410, 181 University Av. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 3M7 Telephone +1 647 273 9913 Web www.greenlandresources.ca (http://www.greenlandresources.ca)

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of the phrase 'forward-looking information' in the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations. Forward-looking statements are not comprised of historical facts. 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. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated size of the Offering, the Offering price, the anticipated closing date and the completion of the Offering, the anticipated use of the net proceeds from the Offering, the receipt of all necessary approvals, and the Company's intentions regarding its objectives, goals or future plans and statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: an inability to complete the Offering on the terms or on the timeline as announced or at all; and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.
COSTA MEAS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 2, 2021 / Charlie's Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:CHUC) ("Charlie's" or the "Company"), an industry leader in both the premium, nicotine-based, e-cigarette space and the hemp-derived CBD wellness space, today announced its successful uplisting from the OTC Pink Market to the OTCQB Venture Market (the "OTCQB") effective Tuesday, August 3, 2021. Charlie's will continue to trade under the ticker symbol "CHUC".

The OTCQB, operated by OTC Markets Group Inc., is designed for developing and entrepreneurial companies. The OTCQB is recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as an established public market providing public information for analysis and valuation of securities. OTCQB companies must be current in their financial reporting and must undergo an annual verification and management certification process, including meeting a minimum bid price and other financial conditions. With more compliance and quality standards, the OTCQB provides investors improved visibility to enhance trading decisions.

"Uplisting to the OTCQB is another important milestone for Charlie's. We believe this achievement will significantly improve our capital markets appeal to a broader range of investors and meeting all of the heightened requirements and criteria of the OTCQB will bring us one step closer to our longer term objective of uplisting to a national exchange," explained Matt Montesano, Charlie's Chief Financial Officer.

"With a Premarket Tobacco Application ("PMTA") in Substantive Review with the FDA, revenues that are projected to grow through the rest of 2021, and a significantly improved balance sheet, Charlie's has made great progress this year. Now, we are thrilled to be able to trade on a higher-tier market," explained Charlie's Chief Operating Officer Ryan Stump. "As our momentum builds, the additional capital markets exposure afforded by our OTCQB listing will be invaluable. We believe that Charlie's is well on its way to emerging as America's #1 premium, nicotine-based e-cigarette company!"

About Charlie's Holdings, Inc.

Charlie's Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: CHUC) is an industry leader in the premium, nicotine-based, vapor products space and the hemp-derived CBD wellness market. The Company's products are sold around the world to select distributors, specialty retailers, and third-party online resellers through subsidiary companies Charlie's Chalk Dust, LLC and Don Polly, LLC. Charlie's Chalk Dust, LLC has developed an extensive portfolio of brand styles, flavor profiles, and innovative product formats. Don Polly, LLC creates innovative wellness products and brands in the hemp-derived CBD marketplace.

For additional information, please visit our corporate website at: CharliesHoldings.com and our branded online websites: CharliesChalkDust.com and PachamamaCBD.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company's overall business, existing and anticipated markets and expectations regarding future sales and expenses. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "should," "believe," "target," "project," "goals," "estimate," "potential," "predict," "may," "will," "could," "intend," variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond the Company's control. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: the Company's ongoing ability to quote its shares on the OTCQB; whether the Company will meet the requirements to uplist onto a national exchange in the future; the Company's ability to successful increase sales and enter new markets; whether the Company's PMTA will be approved by the FDA, and the FDA's decisions with respect to the Company's future PMTAs; the Company's ability to manufacture and produce product for its customers; the Company's ability to formulate new products; the acceptance of existing and future products; the complexity, expense and time associated with compliance with government rules and regulations affecting nicotine and products containing cannabidiol; litigation risks from the use of the Company's products; risks of government regulations; the impact of competitive products; and the Company's ability to maintain and enhance its brand, as well as other risk factors included in the Company's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, annual report on Form 10-K, and other SEC filings. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and were based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or changes in its expectations.

Investors Contact:

IR@charliesholdings.com

Phone: 949-570-0691

SOURCE: Charlie's Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/658016/Charlies-Holdings-Announces-Uplisting-to-the-OTCQB


Security concerned: GROUPE GORGe (ISIN: FR0000062671)

Market: Euronext Paris



Groupe Gorge has signed a liquidity contract with EXANE BNP Paribas covering its ordinary shares listed on Euronext Paris. This complies with AMF Decision no. 2021-01 dated June 22, 2021, which renews the AMF's earlier decision to establish liquidity contracts related to equity instruments as an authorized market practice.

The new liquidity contract - which has an initial period ending on 31/12/2021 and is automatically renewable for successive 12-month periods - takes effect as from today, August 2, 2021. EXANE BNP Paribas is therefore taking over from Gilbert Dupont, which has managed Groupe Gorge's liquidity contract 18 May 18, 2005. Groupe Gorge's termination of its liquidity contract with Gilbert Dupont is the result of its decision to change its investment services provider for market-making and managing its liquidity contract.

Report at the end of the liquidity contract with Gilbert Dupont:

As of the evening of 30 July 2021, the following assets were dedicated in the liquidity account:

4,299 shares

40,967.31 euros in cash.

As a reminder, at the time of the half-year report on 30 June 2021, the following resources were dedicated in the liquidity account:

5,010 shares

44,990.55 euros in cash

For the implementation of the new contract concluded with EXANE BNP PARIBAS, the following resources were allocated to the liquidity account

4,299 shares

240,967.31 euros in cash

Under the liquidity contract entered into with Exane BNP Paribas, the situations or conditions resulting in the suspension or termination of the contract are as follows:

Suspension of the contract:

in the conditions set out in Article 5 of the above-mentioned AMF decision;

at the initiative of the Issuer for the period specified by the Issuer; and

in the following situations: (i) if the number of its own shares held by the Issuer corresponds to the ceiling set by the Issuer's shareholders, taking into account any shares already held by the Issuer in accordance with Article L. 225-210 of the French Commercial Code, (ii) if the shares' listed price is higher than the purchase price authorized by the Issuer's shareholders for the share buyback program, or (iii) if the share buyback authorization given by the Issuer's shareholders expires or is suspended.

- Termination of the contract:

by the Issuer, at any time, with no notice required;

by the investment services provider, subject to one month notice period.





About Groupe Gorge

Groupe Gorge is a high-tech industrial group driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture. The Group is present in 3D printing, drones, engineering and protection systems and employs nearly 1,850 people. The Group generated revenue of 231 million in 2020.

More information on www.groupe-gorge.com



Groupe Gorge is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B (GOE).





Contact:

Investor relations

Hugo Soussan

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 77 94 86

h.soussan@groupe-gorge.com





Anne-Pauline Petureaux

Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 72

apetureaux@actus.fr





Media relations

Manon Clairet

Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr





Follow Groupe Gorge on: www.groupe-gorge.com







Disclaimer

Groupe Gorge press releases may contain forward-looking statements regarding Groupe Gorge's targets. These forward-looking statements reflect Groupe Gorge's current expectations. Such forward-looking statements and targets depend on known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. Some of these risk factors are set forth and detailed in our Universal registration document, available on our website www.groupe-gorge.com. This list of risks, uncertainties and other factors is not limitative. This press release and the information it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or to subscribe, or a solicitation to purchase or subscribe shares or securities in Groupe Gorge or in its listed subsidiaries in any country whatsoever.

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-70617-cp_transfert-du-contrat-de-liquidite_uk.pdf
Finalto S.P.V. Ltd, the consortium led by Barinboim Group and backed by Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Group, together with key members of the Finalto Business' management team (together the "Consortium"), welcomes the announcement by Playtech plc ("Playtech") confirming its recommendation that shareholders vote in favour of the Consortium's binding agreement for Finalto Group ("Finalto) (the "Binding Agreement").

Playtech announced today that following its engagement with Gopher Investments ("Gopher") over the past three weeks, it has not received responses from Gopher to a number of its questions and therefore "Playtech has not yet been able to achieve the necessary clarity on Gopher's ultimate ownership and funding structure, source of funds or ability to obtain the required regulatory clearances

Shareholders should ask why Gopher continues to hide and should also be suspicious of Gopher's credibility, particularly given that disclosure is crucial when buying a highly regulated business. Furthermore, the firm associated with Gopher, TT Bond Partners, is a small boutique brokerage that raises money from Chinese investors. Gopher's behaviour has not been well received by the market; since it first announced its interest, Playtech's share price has fallen by nearly 17%1

The Consortium's Binding Agreement for Finalto offers considerable value and certainty and puts an end to the arduous 18-month sale process

Voting in favour of the Consortium's Binding Agreement, which has been unanimously supported by Playtech's board of directors, ensures Playtech receipt of the considerable sale proceeds soon allowing it to focus on its core gambling business. The Binding Agreement was agreed after beating other rival bidders in a lengthy, arduous and transparent sale process that was run by UBS and offers far greater certainty that the transaction will complete and pass the stringent regulatory approvals.

The level of volatility and risk that the Finalto business is subject to and the performance headwinds that it faces, led to the ultimate price that was agreed and Playtech recommending the Consortium's Binding Agreement to acquire Finalto. Indeed, in the original circular to shareholders, Playtech itself comments on Finalto's tumultuous performance in 2021, underlining the businesses underperformance relative to prior years.

If shareholders vote against the Binding Agreement the Consortium will fall apart. Should this happen, shareholders need to reflect on the likelihood that Gopher would follow through on its indicative interest at the level they purport to offer for Finalto.

Voting in favour of the Consortium removes the considerable risk, delay and additional costs associated with yet another sale process, which would not be concluded until late 2022 at the earliest. Such a delay would be considerably destabilising to the Finalto business, which has already been subject to a lengthy sale process and significant market speculation.

From the outset of the transaction, the Consortium's Binding Agreement was and remains fully financed by the three blue chip multinationals comprising the Consortium and a reputable senior lender. Completion is subject to Playtech's shareholders' approval and final regulatory approvals only, which the Consortium is already six months into and has submitted the required arduous change of control paperwork to each of the regulators in multiple jurisdictions.

The Consortium welcomes shareholders and proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis to engage with it in order to answer any questions regarding its Binding Agreement, which it believe provides the best value to Playtech.

The Consortium urges shareholders to follow Playtech's Board recommendation and vote in favour of its Binding Agreement to acquire Finalto at the General Meeting due to take place on 18 August 2021.

The Original Circular, the Supplementary Circular and the Notice of Adjourned General Meeting are available on Playtech's website at www.investors.playtech.com/shareholder-information/general-meeting.aspx. Shareholders who have already submitted their proxy electronically at www.investorcentre.co.uk/eproxy and wish to change their voting instruction, may do so by submitting a revised Form of Proxy electronically at www.investorcentre.co.uk/eproxy.

The Consortium's previous announcements are available here (7 July 2021) and here (9 July 2021).

-ENDS-

About the Consortium

The Consortium is a company incorporated in Israel, established for the purpose of acquiring the Finalto Business. The Consortium is being funded by a group consisting of Barinboim Group, Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Group and by senior secured debt financing from The Phoenix Insurance Company Limited and certain of its affiliates. The Consortium will be supported by key members of the Finalto Business' management team that will transfer with the Finalto Business, including Ron Hoffman (Chief Executive Officer of the Finalto Business) and Liron Greenbaum (Chief Operations Officer of the Finalto Business).

Barinboim Group is a private equity and venture capital firm based in Tel Aviv. Barinboim Group invests in companies operating in the media sectors.

Leumi Partners Limited is the merchant and investment banking arm of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), one of the two largest banking groups in Israel. Leumi Partners Limited is based in Tel Aviv and offers direct equity investment in sectors such as technology media and telecom, consumer retail, and healthcare. Leumi Partners Limited's line of business includes conducting investments and providing services such as underwriting, financial analysis and research, strategic advice, mergers acquisitions, and raising equity and debt.

Menora Mivtachim Group is one of Israel's five largest insurance finance groups. The group specializes in asset management, manages the largest pension fund in Israel and is the largest General Insurer in Israel and the market leader in Motor Insurance sector. The group operates through its subsidiaries, in all sectors of Life Insurance, Long/Mid/Short -Term Savings, General Insurance and Health Insurance. In addition, the group is active in the capital markets and finance sectors, including, Financial Portfolio Management, Underwriting and worldwide real estate investments.

1 Source: Capital IQ. July 30 close price over July 2 close price

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005628/en/

Contacts:

For further information:

Investors:

Investor Update

Tony Quinn

+44 (0)7790 485 935

tquinn@investor-update.com



Patrick Mitchell

+44 (0)7974 079 785

pmitchell@investor-update.com



Media:

Kepler Communications

Charlotte Balbirnie

+44 (0)7989 528421

cbalbirnie@keplercomms.com



Caroline Villiers

+44 (0)7808 585184

cvilliers@keplercomms.com



The Consortium:

Ishai Drori

finalto@bgroup.co.il
Boca Raton, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - August 2, 2021) - Puget Technologies, Inc. (OTC Pink: PUGE) ("Puget"), a Nevada corporation subject to reporting pursuant to Sections 13 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, announces today that its negotiations for the acquisition of Behavioral Centers of South Florida LLC ("BCSF") are progressing in full force.

"We are currently ironing out the final details of the contract and are looking forward to becoming a part of the Puget family," said Yipsi Martin, Managing Partner and Owner of BCSF. "Because of an unforeseen family medical emergency, our team has requested a brief extension for the final execution of the definitive agreement. We are looking forward to proceeding with our joint plans."

Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected, for regulatory purposes, to be concluded in two stages, BCSF would become the first company to enter Puget's Pre-IPO Incubator program, which prepares companies for entering the public markets. "At Puget, we have been seeking candidates for our program that have high potential for market leadership, and BCSF fits the bill," says Hermann Burckhardt, CEO of Puget Technologies. "We're confident that by combining Puget's network and resources with BCSF's established operations and deep domain expertise, we will enable BCSF to position itself for significant growth over the coming years."

Javier Raimbeau, COO of BCSF, explains, "Given Puget's contacts, knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship and corporate development, we believe that Puget is the perfect partner to help us realize our growth goals."

Puget and BCSF anticipate expansion by establishing additional clinics throughout the state of Florida, and through the acquisition of compatible and complementary businesses. BCSF is represented by the Florida firm of Kravitz Talamo & Leyton PLLC, and it is anticipated that following the proposed closing, this law firm will represent Puget in healthcare-related matters, including additional acquisitions.

For additional information, please contact Puget at 1-561-210-8535, by email at info@pugettechnologies.com or visit our website for continuing updates at https://pugettechnologies.com.

About Puget Technologies, Inc.

Puget Technologies, Inc. (pugettechnologies.com) aspires to evolve into an innovation-focused holding company operating through a group of subsidiaries and business units that work together to empower ground-breaking companies to reach their next stage of growth. With a strategy that combines acquisitions, strategic investment strategies, and operational support, Puget intends to provide a one-stop shop for growing companies who need access to both capital and growth resources, while enabling Puget and its stockholders to generate synergies and derive profit through pooled resources and shared goals. Puget's current investment focus ranges from traditional industries like health care that are ripe for business model innovation to new markets that strive to solve big societal problems such as climate change. Publicly traded on the Pink Open Market under the ticker symbol "PUGE", Puget is committed to delivering a competitive return to investors.

About Behavioral Centers of South Florida LLC

Behavioral Centers of South Florida ("BCSF") is a centralized community behavioral health center providing its clients/patients with mental health services ranging from psychiatry, individual therapy, psycho-social rehabilitation services, and case management in clinics located in the Florida Counties of Dade and Broward. It currently operates a multi-location clinic and has provided services to approximately 2,150 patient/clients since commencing operations in 2016. The clinic's activities are licensed by the State of Florida through the Agency for Health Care Administration and are subject to conditions imposed by major insurance carriers as well as government insurance programs such as Medicaid with which it coordinates its activities. BCSF's major areas of concentration involve group therapy, psycho-social rehabilitation, and comprehensive behavioral assessment, but it is also highly involved in individual therapy, development of management skills, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, targeted case management, mental health treatment plans, and medication management. Visit http://www.behavioral-centers.com to learn more.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about Puget's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, and should be evaluated as such. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "potential," "predict," "projection," "should," "will" or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. Puget bases these forward-looking statements or projections on its current expectations, plans and assumptions that it has made in light of its experience in the industry, as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate under the circumstances and at such time. As you read and consider this press release, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of future performance or results. The forward-looking statements and projections are subject to and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements or projections. Although Puget believes that these forward-looking statements and projections are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, you should be aware that many factors could affect Puget's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and projections. Puget undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. If Puget does update one or more forward-looking statements, there should be no inference that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/91877
inVia Robotics, a Westlake Village CA-based provider of next-generation warehouse automation solutions, raised $30M in Series C funding.

Backers included M12, Microsofts venture fund, and Qualcomm Ventures, LLC, joined by Hitachi Ventures (the strategic corporate venture arm of Hitachi, Ltd.) and existing investors (Point 72, Upfront, and Embark). To date, inVia has raised $59 million from strategic funders committed to the companys growth.

The company intends to use the funds to extend its reach and operational support in North America, to drive market expansion to APAC and EMEA, as well as align with strategic supply chain partners to open new channels and deliver end-to-end logistics solutions.

Led by Lior Elazary, CEO and Co-Founder, inVia Robotics is an automation company that provides warehouse optimization solutions. Its system leverages autonomous mobile robots and AI-driven warehouse orchestration software to help e-commerce businesses and 3PLs automate and optimize material flow across fulfillment centers.

The company also anticipates using the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 Platforma 5G and AI-enabled robotics platform facilitating accelerated development of high computing robots and drones.

The complete solution can be integrated into existing operations or new facilities. It delivers to customers a flexible and scalable system with an unprecedented return on investment (ROI).

FinSMEs

02/08/2021
Merqueo, a Mexico City-based full-stack delivery scale-up, raised $50m in series C funding.

The round was led by IDC Ventures, Digital Bridge and IDB Invest supported by MGM Innova Group, Celtic House Venture Partners, Palm Drive Capital and previous shareholders.

The company plans to use this capital to grow in Latin America, hire and scale its team across Mexico, after launching its operations in Brazil this month.

Led by Miguel Mc Allister, CEO, Merqueo is a full-stack grocery delivery company owning and controlling the entire vertical supply chain  using its proprietary technology. Its catalog encompasses up to 10,000 products including fresh fruits and vegetables, imported products, liquors, household items, personal care goods, and more. Currently, the company operates in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

Mc Allister, an industry expert, also co-founded Domicilios.com, one of Latin Americas most successful food delivery companies, bought by Delivery Hero in 2017.

FinSMEs

02/08/2021
Venari Security, a London, UK based defender of encrypted networks, raised 4.2m in Series A funding at a post money valuation of 14.2m.

Backers included:

Paddy McGuinness, the UKs former Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence, Security and Resilience;

Lane Bess, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Palo Alto Networks; and

Cris Conde, former Chief Executive Officer of Sungard.

The company will use the funds to grow its Research & Development, data science and cyber teams, and complete its Go-To-Market plan.

Led by CEO Tom Millar, Chief Revenue Officer Hiten Mistry, and Chief Technology Officer Simon Mullis, Venari provides a SaaS cybersecurity platform uses a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and behavioural analytics to accurately detect threats on the network in near real-time, without the need for decryption. This reduces the response time of security teams and enables them to proactive respond to threats rather than react to events, while delivering internal and regulatory compliance for organisations.

FinSMEs

02/08/2021
Vnlife, a Hanoi, Vietnam-based payments provider, raised $250m in funding.

The round was led by General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment Group, with participation from PayPal Ventures, EDBI, GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund 1.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the growth of its existing businesses and support development of new platforms and technologies.



Led by Niraan De Silva, Managing Director, Vnlife provides technology solutions being offered by its core financial technology subsidiary, Vietnam Payment Solution JSC, to over 40 banks across the country. The company also operates VNPAY-QR, an interoperable cashless payment network, with 22 million users and over 150,000 merchants.

Since 2019, VNLIFE has also scaled its subsidiary VNTravel Tourism JSC into a domestic Online Travel Agency, operating across several brands as well as its New Retail division, Teko Vietnam Technology JSC. TEKO has developed a portfolio of complementary software solutions that enable large and small enterprises throughout the country to digitize their analogue businesses.

FinSMEs

02/08/2021
Geneva, NY (14456)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 86F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
Back in 2019, YouTube launched its Premium and Music Premium subscription for ad-free videos and music in India and the company has been making changes to the plans like new non-recurring prepaid plans for India, etc. Following that now, the company is testing a new YouTube Premium Lite subscription.

YouTube Premium Lite, as the name suggests that it is cheaper than YouTube Premium and this one offers only an ad-free viewing experience across the web, Android app, iOS app, Kids app, consoles, etc. Unlike YouTube Premium, the Premium Lite will not offer background playback, ad-free music listening, offline downloads.

The subscription will cost 6.99 Euro/month (USD $8.30 approx. / Rs. 617 approx.) and is currently being tested in Nordics and Benelux. The company is also said to be testing other plans, and we can expect a global rollout soon.

Commenting on this, a YouTube spokesperson said:

In Nordics and Benelux (except for Iceland), were testing a new offering to give users even more choice: Premium Lite costs 6.99/month (or local equivalent per month) and it includes ad-free videos on YouTube.

Source | Via
Motorists are driving too fast and too recklessly

Motorists are driving while drunk

Motorists are not stopping for stop signs

All of the above

Vote

View Results
Paxton, IL (60957)

Today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 81F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
President Joe Biden on Thursday urged states to use their federal COVID-19 relief funds to pay people to get vaccinated  $100 per person  but Alabama health officials said they legally cannot do that.

Im calling on all states and local governments to use funding they have received, including from the American Rescue Plan, to give $100 to anyone who gets fully vaccinated, the president said. I know that paying people to get vaccinated might sound unfair to folks whove gotten vaccinated already, but heres the deal: If incentives help us beat this virus, I believe we should use them. We all benefit if we can get more people vaccinated.

The call for incentives was part of a comprehensive plan Biden laid out to boost Americas lagging vaccination participation. That plan also includes mandatory vaccinations  or frequent COVID-19 testing  for federal employees.

Officials at the Alabama Department of Public Health have said in the past that their hands are tied when it comes to using federal COVID funds for incentives.

Were OK with incentives, Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said on Tuesday when a reporter asked about the issue. Weve had a number of discussions, however, with our legal folks and the Attorney Generals Office over what we actually are able to do. And theres limitations there. Its not an excuse. Its just a statement of the truth.

State health officials on Thursday responded to questions from FOX10 News by citing a law passed by the Legislature requiring any unspent COVID relief funds to be used for the same purposes the money was originally intended for.

Therefore, the American Rescue Plan Funds provided to the State are not available for discretionary use in Alabama, the department said in a statement. The Alabama Department of Public Health is still researching available options for the use of other federal funding to provide vaccination incentives.

It is possible municipal governments in Alabama may be able answer Bidens call. The city of Gadsden earlier this month, in fact, rolled out a similar program  $100 to any resident who gets fully vaccinated by October. And the city is using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

In his briefing this week, though, Harris expressed doubt about whether financial incentives are effective at overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

Its hard to find an incentive that reaches everyone, he said.

Harris said the experience of other states that have tried incentives has been underwhelming. He pointed to Ohio, which earlier this year held million-dollar drawings of the names of people who got the vaccine. He said the state saw an initial uptick in participation only to fall back down to pre-lottery figures after a few weeks.

Were certainly not opposed to any incentives at all, he said. However, I dont know of any incentive program thats been wildly successful anywhere.
COLUMBIA, SC (FOX Carolina)- A new state law will require drivers to move into the right lane except when they are passing other vehicles, according to the South Carolina of Public Safety.
Ariana Grande God Is A Woman

New Fragrances





Named after the song GOD IS A WOMAN, Ariana Grande launched her new fragrance in late July 2021. The newest celebrity fragrance will bring a lot of joy to her fans and also fans of creamy and fruity-musky fragrances.

Empowered. Breathtaking. Natural. A breath of fresh air for the senses. Introducing God Is A Woman Eau de Parfum, the fragrance by Ariana Grande.

In the opening of the newt composition, juicy pear dominates, combined with an ambrette accord that offers a sweet musky smell. The powdery warmth and elegance of orris root support the beauty of Turkish rose petals, layered on a warm and comfort blend of madagascar vanilla and creamy sandalwood. The perfumer of the new Ariana Grande fragrance is Jerome Epinette (Robertet).

"God is a Woman presents an unprecedented duality in fragrance  an incredibly simple perfume structure built around some of the most coveted and exquisite natural materials available to me as a perfumer  specifically ambrette and orris," Epinette explained. "The way we crafted the scent represents what I feel is the future of perfumes: simplicity and luxury anchored to nature."

ARIANA GRANDE GOD IS A WOMAN

Edition 2021 Top notes: ambrette, pear

Middle notes: orris, Turkish rose petals

Base notes: Madagascar vanilla, creamy sandalwood





Features:

Cruelty Free

100% Vegan

Clean Ingredients

91% Naturally Derived

Recyclable Carton



Holder Icon: This reusable base is made from 60% plant-based/sustainable materials

Support Our Oceans: The Ariana Grande Fragrance Brand will make a donation of $5 towards ocean clean up initiatives with every GOD IS A WOMAN fragrance purchase of the 1.7 and 3.4 oz spray. The Ariana Grande Fragrance Brand is committed to donating a minimum of $75,000 USD. Valid 7/29 - 8/11/21. (Information taken from Ulta.com)





The fragrance God Is A Woman arrives as a 50ml and 100ml Eau de Parfum, and as a travel spray in the size of 10ml Eau de Parfum at Ulta.com.
Mandom: The Smell of Freedom

Fragrances and Cultures

There was a time when movie stars knew their place: They acted in films. Western stars knew how to make a serious face, fight beautifully, and ride horses. Great cinema lovers were out of reach of mere mortals, and their kisses were cut out during the editing of films. There were no 3D effects or clip thinking and editing; there were no computer graphics, and some actors did everything without stuntmen. Without PR and the Internet, movie stars mostly worked in films.

Nowadays, a Lithuanian Tatar from Pennsylvania, Karolis Buchinskis, would have dozens of offers like sell us your nickname, and we will make the best goods under your name. Which brand is it? Charlie Bronson is the brand! The Italians called him Il Brutto; the French: Monstre Sacre. He was the perfect man to advertise any product from western movies: cigarettes and lighters, whiskey and beer, jeans and cowboy hats, revolvers and knives.

The Japanese came up with the idea of using Charles Bronson to advertise inexpensive men's aftershave. In 1970, Tancho Corporation (formerly Kintsuru Perfume Corp., founded in 1927) launched a new brand called Mandom (Human + Freedom), and for the first time in Japanese history, they used a Hollywood star to advertise the brand. Ten Mandom products for men  with one fragrance  were launched. In just a few weeks of advertising on the air, the brand became #1 among all men's perfumery and cosmetic products in Japan. It became so megapopular that Tancho was renamed to Mandom Corporation the very next year.

Before becoming a Hollywood cowboy in John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven, Charlie Buchinski worked in a coal mine for a dollar a week, survived the Great Depression, fought against the Japanese on the Pacific War Front in the US Air Force, and played small roles of soldiers and bandits. For his participation in the Mandom commercial, Bronson received $ 50,000  more than for his participation in The Magnificent Seven (an American remake of Akiro Kurosawa's film).

The video features a Jerry Wallace song "Lovers of The World,"

written specifically for the advertising campaign.



Today, Mandom is still producing three of its ten products for men  after shave lotion, hair tonic, and hair styling fluid  under the same name. The last two products are from the category of those that Charlie Bronson himself would hardly have used. Why, if the hair is almost constantly hidden by a hat? And after shave lotion is designed more to disinfect and heal cuts on the skin than to attract the fairer sex.

More antiseptic than aroma, it speaks of reliability, silence, and simple human skills: to make a fire, get food, find water, and make shelter in bad weather. Better to have this among your friends than among your enemies, and on posters Bronson suggested "becoming his best friend with Mandom."

Wondering how the perfumer's brief was formulated? Did it contain words like ...helps to endure the hardships and deprivations of military service? In one of the Mandom aftershave ads, Bronson has time to drink, listen to music, drive to a hotel room, undress, choose a pipe, shoot a revolver, and literally pour himself in cologne.



In other videos of the series, he catches fish in a stream with his bare hands, works in an office, escapes thirst in an oasis, plays the Morricone theme on a harmonica, plays cards against four Mandom bottles, chops wood with an ax, jumps from a horse into a helicopter, fights on his hands on the hood of a Rolls-Royce, and shares a bottle of scent with his young losing rival (son?)...

There's something touching about these plain old Nobuiko Obayashi commercials. Of course, in the 21st century, other brands are leading among Mandom products. (For example, Gatsby and Lucido products are better known and more popular than others, as they are aimed at a younger audience, but the brand did not change its name.)



I haven't tried the vintage version of Mandom (they say it was a chypre with leather animalic base), but the modern one is a light, fresh scent (or nautical flanker?) that starts out softly and gently, with vague citruses and menthol, and continues in the spirit of the aquatic '90s. Actually, expecting more from aftershave is strange. This is a simple and light cheerful citrus, a little spicy, on a whitish woody-musky, slightly aquatic base. It reminds me not of the life of a cowboy with its bonfires, and shootings in a crowded bar, but of the air of freedom from all sorts of worries, which does not appear in the frame of a spaghetti western. It's the freedom of the man on the shore of the endless ocean. Quite a far cry from Bronson's brutal lone cowboy look, in my opinion. The vintage scent was probably a spicier citrus cologne without aquatics.

If you want to try it to compare with Bronson's image, Mandom Lotion is available on Amazon.com (there are also cheaper options). I especially recommend it to lovers of old westerns and proper wet shaving.

Mandom Mandom

Top notes: Bergamot, Grapefruit;

Middle notes: Sea salt, Sand, Clary sage;

Base notes: Seaweed, Blonde woods, Musk.
Yes, its leading by example

Yes, but I wish hed mandate all state employees get the shot

No, it should be up to the individual

Im undecided

Vote

View Results
FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2018, file photo, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and North Korea's nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, wait for the start of the preliminary round of the women's hockey game between Switzerland and the combined Koreas at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong Un, made the first-ever visit to the South by a member of the ruling Kim dynasty since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - In this June 23, 2021, file photo, Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his speech at the IX Moscow conference on international security in Moscow, Russia. Six months after seizing power from the elected government, Myanmars military leader on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, repeated his pledge to hold fresh elections in two years and cooperate with Southeast Asian nations on finding a political solution for his country. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Fort Wayne, IN (46808)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 82F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

With the Olympics in full swing, we thought it would be the perfect time to reveal Tinytopia's Tokyo level.



Head over to Steam right now to take a virtual tour of an ultra-kawaii tiny toy version of Tokyo, and let us know in the comments whether or not you've ever been to Japan, or if there's somewhere else you'd like to travel to.



 Click the button below to be whisked away to Tokyo!



The More Wishlists, The More Giveaways!



Don't forget to add Tinytopia to your Steam Wishlist by clicking the image below!



We just wrapped up our 10,000 Wishlist Milestone Giveaway and we're looking to hold an even bigger giveaway when we surpass 15,000 Wishlist adds on Steam! And speaking of giveaways...



Discord Exclusive Giveaway! We've got another giveaway going down right now, and it's exclusive to our Discord server members: the illustrious "Mastiff Pack"! You too can become a part of the Mastiff Pack and enter for chance to win physical copies of Home Sweet Home and Heavy Fire: Red Shadow on the PS4 by clicking the button below and joining the Mastiff Discord server. We'll see you there.



Reports from The Tinytopia Times



Missed the latest news?



Our social media has been chocked full of new Tinytopia content recently, and we don't want you to miss any of it! To that end, we've curated a short list that highlights some of the fun and awesome features found in Tinytopia:

Want to receive this information before anyone else? Please consider joining us on Discord and following us on social media; we post new content like this regularly. Thanks again for subscribing and taking the time to read the Mastiff Newsletter! We're excited to announce Tinytopia's release date in the coming weeks, and we also have an awesome new game that we will be announcing in the coming months. We can't wait to share it with you all, so please keep an eye out, and we look forward to chatting with you on Discord, Steam, and across our social channels.




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

LOS ANGELES, CA - August 2, 2021 - GRIME, the highly anticipated Action-RPG Metroidvania, is now available on Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, Humble Store, and Stadia Pro. Smash through a legion of rock-formed enemies with aberrant living weapons and absorb their life essence with your head - an infinite black hole. GRIME will retail for $24.99 USD with a 10% discount across all stores for a limited time, while Stadia Pro subscribers can dive in immediately as part of their subscription. Watch the Trailer Now: https://youtu.be/D0u__DXn9iU Features Eye-Popping Surrealism - Uncover mysterious secrets in weeping caves and face-covered deserts. Meet otherworldly characters in distinct civilizations across an organic, interconnected world - all rendered in unearthly 3D. Face foes born of the world itself, and swallow them whole.

Death-Defying Combat - Punish enemies by parrying their attacks, smash them from the ground or even airborne, and absorb them to grow your strength as you wage war on a living world.

Living Weapons - Seamlessly swap weapons made of living creatures that mutate form during combat, from clawing swords to centipede whips.

Unique Skill Progression - Hunt down and absorb challenging monsters to improve your skills and bring true customization to your playstyle.

Challenge Astonishing Bosses - Defeat creatures dozens of times your size. Adapt to their strategies, withstand their assault, and consume them to gain game-changing abilities that affect both combat and traversal. With a brutal combat style, a unique risk/reward system to implement upgrades, and an expansive world to explore, GRIME will be sure to give players a worthy challenge. Discover the source of the madness that plagues the broken land and uproot it from the earth! Get GRIME Now: Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123050/GRIME/

Epic Games Store: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/grime

GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/grime

Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/grime

Stadia: https://bit.ly/2VhB51o

About Clover Bite Clover Bite is the internal studio of Tiltan School of Design, based in Haifa, Israel, allowing students to get industry and studio experience while still in school. GRIME was developed by the founding team of Clover Bite - a group of five extremely talented alumni, Dark Souls enthusiasts, and Hollow Knight fanboys that set out to design their blend of the two. For more information, visit: GrimeGame.com About Akupara Games Akupara Games is an indie game studio based in Los Angeles, California. Composed of games industry veterans, Akupara Games focuses its energy and resources as an indie for indies studio by providing premier support to other indie studios through development, publishing, porting, and advising. Their mission statement ensures that each project receives a unique experience and personalized support. For more information, visit: AkuparaGames.com Media & Additional Information: Press Kit for GRIME: http://bit.ly/GRIMEPRESSKIT

Press Contact: For press or media inquiries and interview requests, please contact Richard Suchit at [email protected] ###




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Skillz Accelerates Expansion into Racing, Fighting, and First-Person Shooter Genres with $50M Investment

Exit Games is the Leader in Synchronous Gaming Technology, Powering Publishers Such as EA, Square Enix and Ubisoft

Alliance Provides Skillz with Platform Exclusivity for Skill-Based Competitions, Making Skillz a Preferred Partner for Publishers and Developers SAN FRANCISCO  August 2, 2021  Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), the leading mobile games platform bringing fair and fun competition to players worldwide, today announced it has formed a strategic partnership with Exit Games, global developer of Photon, the worlds most advanced synchronous multiplayer gaming technology. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Exit Games allows developers to create and host real-time, synchronous multiplayer games. Its nearly 600,000 trusted partners include some of the most well-respected game publishers and developers in the world, such as Square Enix, EA, and Ubisoft, among others, powering gameplay in over 700,000 applications. Skillzs investment in Exit Games will give the Company permanent access to Exits technology to power its esports tournaments and platform exclusivity. The partnership will dramatically accelerate Skillzs timeline to support multiplayer synchronous content on the platform, while also enabling Skillz to build unrivaled features in tandem with Exits gaming technology. Publishers and developers worldwide will now have the ability to build games on the Skillz platform in entirely new genres, such as battle royale, while continuing to provide gamers with the confidence that their contests will always live up to the Skillz promise of fairness. Bringing the worlds best synchronous, multiplayer gaming technology to Skillz unlocks tremendous opportunity, greatly accelerating our entry into popular genres like fighting, first-person shooter and racing, said Andrew Paradise, Founder and CEO of Skillz. Expanding into these new areas will grow our total universe of players and allow us to capture an even greater share of their leisure time and spend, while also introducing the technology and infrastructure necessary to attract more of the hottest, most creative developers, publishers, brands and iconic franchises to our platform. Under the terms of the deal, Skillz has invested $50 million for a minority stake in Exit Games. In addition, Paradise will join the Board of Exit Games as a board observer. We are big admirers of Skillz and how they are innovating in the field of competitive gaming, said Christof Wegmann, the Founder and CTO of Exit Games. This investment is a natural fit. Were pleased to have Skillz as a long-term partner in bringing synchronous play to our developers and their gaming fans around the world. LionTree Advisors served as financial advisor and Orrick served as legal advisor to Skillz in the transaction. GP Bullhound served as financial advisor and Taylor Wessing served as legal advisor to Exit Games. ---- ENDS ---- About Skillz Inc. Skillz is the leading mobile games platform that connects players in fair, fun, and meaningful competition. The Skillz platform helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling social competition in their games. Leveraging its patented technology, Skillz hosts billions of casual esports tournaments for millions of mobile players worldwide, and distributes millions in prizes each month. Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies, CNBCs Disruptor 50, Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000. www.skillz.com About Exit Games Founded in 2004, Exit Games is the provider of Photon, the worlds leading realtime multiplayer technology and cloud service for mobile, PC, Mac, Web, Console, VR, AR & MR. Developers are using Photon to create games and applications that offer true synchronous realtime experiences that scale to millions of users. Photon powers thousands of games and applications enjoyed by over 500 million users a month. About 600,000 developers including some of the worlds leading companies trust in Photon to fuel their realtime experiences, such as Disney, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Garmin, Oculus, Atari, RecRoom, BandaiNamco or Volkswagen.

www.photonengine.com

Press Kit: Media Kit

Media Contact: [email protected]




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]







MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021||PHILADELPHIA, PA

Screenwave Media Games is pumped to join forces with developer Programancer to bring you Dumpy & Bumpy! Dumpy & Bumpy is a retro-style puzzle adventure, complete with 80 charming but challenging levels to bite, blow up, and break your way through. Play solo as Dumpy, or have a friend join you as Bumpy to crack each levels code and crush the evil Ghostlord! But dont take too long, or the Ghosts will take you!



Features:



8 colorfully themed worlds, each containing 10 levels of varying objectives and hazards

Slide, lift, and throw blocks, dodge past danger, blow-up bombs, or breathe fire

Play 2P cooperatively, or mess with the other player

Separate VS Battle Mode

Replay levels to improve your high score or beat the Pro time

12 Steam Achievements to Unlock

Dumpy & Bumpy is already available for download on Steam for $4.99. Screenwave Media Games and Programancer will be working together on future console port(s) of the Dragon Penguins journey through 8 themed worlds of mind-bending action!







Follow us for updates!

Screenwave Media Games: @ScreenwaveGames

Programancer: @Programancer



Tara To maino

Gaming PR Coordinator

tel:1-855-908-8823 ext.715

discord: taraa#3079

twitter||website||linkedin
Its not as though the Jamboree took no precautions, however. It made the switch to RFID wristbands instead of physical tickets, a way to reduce the amount of money and vouchers changing hands between attendees and staffers. The wristbands, connected to concertgoers debit or credit cards, also acted as a cashless way to purchase food, drinks and souvenirs while inside the venue.

Vendors that would normally be set up inside the venue proper were instead moved to a lot off of Main Street called Artisans Alley, and along other nearby street, as a way of reducing bunches of people from gathering. Many attendees said that they weren't concerned about the COVID precautions.

Foglio, the cancer patient, said that the contactless mail delivery of the wristbands was beautifully done, though she mentions that the water refilling stations  where members of the public could put the mouthpieces of their water bottles right up to the spout  seemed less than COVID-conscious to her.

Both her and her husband stated, however, that they understand how much the Jamboree, which is a major source of fundraising for local groups and high school sports teams, must have been hurt by the cancellation last year.

In the Jamborees defense, financially, it was probably not an option to cut attendance, said Gary Foglio. This is a nonprofit festival, so they had to have been hit hard by the cancellation last year. Hats off to them for really putting it together this year despite the short notice.

Troy Shinn covers healthcare, natural resources and the Linn County government. He can be reached at 541-812-6114 or troy.shinn@lee.net. He can be found on Twitter at @troydshinn.

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Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 86F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
HONG KONG, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EmergeVest, the Hong Kong-based growth-oriented private equity investment group, has invested in Lucy, the worlds first neobank focused on women entrepreneurs, through seed funding. In addition, Dr. Jessica Bruser of EmergeVest has joined Lucys board of directors.

Lucy will use the proceeds of this funding round to invest in its tech platform, expand its Singapore-based team and prepare for an imminent launch of its inaugural product, before expanding regionally through strategic partnerships.

Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of the culture and long-term strategy at EmergeVest. This investment, which allows Lucy to further support female entrepreneurs, is aligned with EmergeVests goals and values.

Jessica Bruser, Director of EmergeVest, says, We are delighted to partner with Debbie and the Lucy team on their journey to provide financial services and opportunities for women entrepreneurs. EmergeVest is passionate about making a positive impact through our investments and we are excited to be a part of Lucys story.

We immediately connected with Jessica and the EmergeVest team and are pleased that they share our vision for supporting women entrepreneurs, says Debbie Watkins, Founder and CEO of Lucy. We are looking forward to Jessica joining our board and helping us to expand Lucy across Asia and worldwide.

Previously, Lucy secured funding in an all-women pre-seed funding round in September 2020. Initial founder funding came from Debbie Watkins (ex MD of Fern Software APMEA), Hal Bosher (ex CEO of Yoma Bank, and Chairman of Wave Money), Luke Janssen (ex-CEO and Chairman of Tigerspike), as well as the Savearth fund.

Notes for editors

About EmergeVest:

Formed in 2013, EmergeVest is a global investment firm that seeks to build great businesses, provide innovative capital solutions and generate sustainable value for all stakeholders. With $500 million in assets under management and working in partnership with excellent management teams, EmergeVest invests across the capital structure at the intersection of supply chain, technology and financial services. EmergeVest provides ambitious management teams and founders with access to global institutional capital and expertise through a personal relationship with its team. EmergeVest is passionate about responsible investment in the secure and sustainable movement of goods, data and funds across the globe.

Acting as founders and hands-on operators, EmergeVest created EV Cargo in 2018, facilitating a step-change in value creation via a sizeable, scalable and diversified logistics-technology company, well-positioned for future growth. Now a global leader, EV Cargo is driving the transformation of logistics into a technology industry, underpinned by its values of growth, innovation and sustainability.

About Lucy

Analysis conducted just before the pandemic by Boston Consulting Group showed that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, the global economy would get between a $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion boost. Post-COVID, the need to support women entrepreneurs is even greater. Through her 20+ years working with underserved communities, Debbie saw firsthand that women were a financially excluded group, and Hals experience with his customers at Yoma proved that women were great customers. So the founders, realising that their first hand experiences and the research all pointed to the same thing, decided to set up Lucy, a neobank and community focused on women entrepreneurs.

The Lucy app helps women entrepreneurs set up, run and grow their businesses, with affordable financial services including fee-free accounts with Mastercard, no-interest salary advances, savings accounts, loan management, and low-cost remittances. Lucy also will be offering a community-based platform for women to connect with their peers and mentors for inspiration and support, as well as e-training modules and a networking marketplace.

Singapore is a city built on entrepreneurship, and Lucy will focus on two underserved groups of women entrepreneurs for their pilot launch there:

Home based entrepreneurs or women with a side hustle, and

Domestic helpers, many of whom are running small businesses in their home countries.

This second group will help drive expansion to nearby markets of Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar (Lucy has recently won a UNCDF grant to help support low-cost remittances to these countries).

Media contact:

For further information please contact:

Christen Thomson, Senior Director, Citigate Dewe Rogerson: christen.thomson@citigatedewerogerson.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/862b73df-9565-4c6e-8241-ef650146a767
English Lithuanian

The retail turnover (including VAT) of Apranga Group amounted to EUR 22.4 million in July 2021 and increased by 15.1% compared to July 2020.



In July 2021, the retail turnover of Apranga Group in Lithuania increased by 18.4% year-to-year, in Latvia increased by 14.7% and in Estonia increased by 4.6%.

Due to epidemic coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, from 16 December 2020, all the Groups stores in Lithuania were temporarily closed. Stores in Lithuania with a separate entrance from outside and a sales area not exceeding 300 square meters had been open since 15 February 2021. All stores with a separate entrance from outside had been open since 15 March 2021. All Groups stores have been reopened in Lithuania from 19 April 2021, however, stores operating in shopping malls were not allowed to work on weekends, unless they had separate entrance from outside. Eventually, all Groups stores have been open in Lithuania as of 29 May 2021. In Latvia, stores were temporarily closed from 19 December 2020. Stores with a separate entrance from outside and an area not exceeding 7,000 square meters have been open in Latvia from 7 April 2021. Groups stores that operate in shopping malls and have separate entrance from outside were reopened as of 22 May 2021. Eventually, all Groups stores have been open in Latvia as of 3 June 2021. In Estonia, all Groups stores were temporarily closed from 11 March 2021, and from 6 March 2021 to 11 March 2021 stores were not allowed to work on weekends. All Groups stores have been reopened in Estonia from 3 May 2021. These temporary closures had a significant impact on the Group's generated turnover in January-July 2021.

In January through July 2021, the retail turnover of Apranga Group (including VAT) totalled EUR 103.6 million and decreased by 2.4% year-to-year.

In January-July 2021, the retail turnover of Apranga Group in Lithuania increased by 7.0% year-to-year, in Latvia decreased by 25.6% and in Estonia decreased by 0.4%.

Currently Apranga Group operates the chain of 172 stores (100 in Lithuania, 47 in Latvia and 25 in Estonia) covering the gross area of 91.8 thousand sq. m., or by 1.7% less than a year ago.

Rimantas Perveneckas

Apranga Group General Manager

+370 5 2390801
The Botanist is coming to Montville, South Windsor and Danbury, CT:



Thames Valley Relief to transition into The Botanist Montville (July 2021)

Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut to transition into The Botanist Danbury (August 2021)

Prime Wellness of Connecticut to transition into The Botanist South Windsor (September 2021)



NEW YORK, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acreage Holdings, Inc. (Acreage) (CSE:ACRG.A.U, ACRG.B.U), (OTCQX: ACRHF, ACRDF) a vertically integrated, multi-state operator of cannabis cultivation and retailing facilities in the U.S., today announced the rebranding of the companys three medical cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut of Thames Valley Relief, Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut and Prime Wellness of Connecticut to The Botanist.

As we recently disclosed in our 2021 first quarter release, our New England operations exhibited strong overall performance, stated Peter Caldini, Chief Executive Officer of Acreage. The rebranding of our Connecticut retail locations to The Botanist aligns with our refocused strategy of accelerating growth in our core markets. The rebranding will allow our Connecticut operations to tap into The Botanists strong brand awareness and to streamline resources and best practices across states, ultimately facilitating operational cost efficiencies and allowing us to offer Connecticut patients an optimal experience.

The Botanist dispensaries in Connecticut will offer a full suite of cannabis-derived products, including flower, vapes, concentrates, tablets, edibles, tinctures and more; a standardized Loyalty Program (points equal cash reward off purchases); private consultation rooms; an enhanced, branded shopping experience; and, additional educational cannabis events and community engagement. Once fully transitioned, each of The Botanist dispensaries in Connecticut will migrate to ShopBotanist.com.

Acreage began operating in Connecticut with the acquisition of Prime Wellness of Connecticut and Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut in 2018 followed by Thames Valley Relief in 2019. Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut (soon-to-be The Botanist Danbury) will relocate from 4 Garella Rd, Bethel, CT, to 105 Mill Plain Rd, Danbury, CT, in August 2021, to optimize store experience and provide a more convenient location for guests.

Developed by Acreage, The Botanist is both a retail and product brand, focused on using the holistic power of cannabis to help wellness seekers. The Botanist dispensaries aim to help guide guests as they discover cannabis through cannabis expertise and education. With the addition of the three cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut, The Botanist is now available in 6 states with 18 dispensaries in total. For more information on The Botanist or to learn about the cannabis plant and potential uses, visit ShopBotanist.com, follow The Botanist on Instagram (@IAmTheBotanist) and Facebook (@IAmTheBotanist), or sign up to receive updates via The Botanist newsletter by clicking here.

The Botanist CBD  located at 887 Norwich-New London Turnpike, Uncasville, CT, and next door to The Botanist Montville  marks the first The Botanist CBD branded CBD shop in the United States. The Botanist CBD offers a wide variety of hemp-derived products, and following The Botanist brand DNA, focuses on health & wellness, education and community.

ABOUT ACREAGE

With its principal address in New York City, Acreage is a multi-state operator of cannabis cultivation and retailing facilities in the U.S., including the companys national retail store brand, The Botanist. Acreages wide range of national and regionally available cannabis products include the award-winning The Botanist brand, the highly recognizable Tweed brand, the Prime medical brand in Pennsylvania, the Innocent edibles brand in Illinois and others. Acreage also owns Universal Hemp, LLC, a hemp subsidiary dedicated to the distribution, marketing and sale of CBD products throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 2011, Acreage has focused on building and scaling operations to create a seamless, consumer-focused, branded experience. More information is available at www.acreageholdings.com .

On June 27, 2019, Acreage implemented an arrangement under section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) with Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy Growth), which was subsequently amended on September 23, 2020 (the Amended Arrangement). Pursuant to the Amended Arrangement, upon the occurrence (or waiver by Canopy Growth) of changes in federal laws in the United States to permit the general cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana (as defined in the relevant legislation) or to remove the regulation of such activities from the federal laws of the United States (the Triggering Event), Canopy Growth will, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions, acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class E subordinate voting shares (the Fixed Shares) on the basis of 0.3048 of a Canopy Growth share per Fixed Share (following the automatic conversion of the Class F multiple voting shares and subject to adjustment in accordance with the terms of the arrangement agreement entered into between Acreage and Canopy Growth on April 18, 2019, as amended on May 15, 2019 and on September 23, 2020).

In addition, Canopy Growth holds an option, exercisable at the discretion of Canopy Growth, to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class D subordinate voting shares (the Floating Shares) at the time that Canopy Growth acquires the Fixed Shares, for cash or Canopy Growth shares, as Canopy Growth may determine, at a price per Floating Share based upon the 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of the Floating Shares on the CSE relative to the trading price of the Canopy Growth shares at the time of the occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, subject to a minimum price of US$6.41 per Floating Share.

For more information about the Amended Arrangement please see the Acreage proxy statement and management information circular dated August 17, 2020 (the Circular) and the respective information circulars of each of Acreage and Canopy Growth dated May 17, 2019, which are available on Acreages and Canopy Growths respective profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov . For additional information regarding Canopy Growth, please see Canopy Growths profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release and each of the documents referred to herein contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, respectively. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information, including, for greater certainty, statements regarding the Amended Arrangement, including the likelihood of completion thereof, the occurrence or waiver of the Triggering Event, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement and other statements with respect to the proposed transactions with Canopy Growth. 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 Acreage or its 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. 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, but not limited to financing and liquidity risks, and the risks disclosed in the Circular, Acreages management information circular dated May 17, 2019 filed on May 23, 2019, Acreages annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 dated March 25, 2021 and Acreages other public filings, in each case filed with the SEC on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov and with Canadian securities regulators and available on the issuer profile of Acreage on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Although Acreage has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. 

Although Acreage 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. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Acreage does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider has reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

For more information contact:

Steve Goertz

Chief Financial Officer

Investors@acreageholdings.com



Patricia Rosi

Vice President Marketing

Communications@acreageholdings.com



Source: Acreage Holdings, Inc.






NEW YORK, NY, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Green Stream Holdings Inc. (OTC PINK: GSFI) ("the Company") ( https://greensolarutility.com ), announces today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Chuck's Vintage ( https://chucksvintage.com ), an iconic retail specialty brand in Los Angeles and New York City, has secured fashion up-and-comer Luke Lampsona to helm the iconic brand for expansion and exponential growth.

Most recently the brain and the creative energy behind the emerging One on One brand, Lampasona has cut his fashion chops at some of the most iconic brands in the world including Barney's. He's also well-known among the trendy New York City flea scene, where people have been scrambling to see what he has to offer.

"I know Luke is the exact right person to advance Chuck's, and I have so much confidence in both his business acumen and his well-trained eye for the hottest trends," GSFI CEO James DiPrima. "Keep an eye on him, because he is destined for big things."

Lampsona recently repped Chucks Vintage at the distinguished Polo Hamptons 2021 which featured Christie Brinkley and BMW as well as internationally known hosts such as BMW North America, Turks and Caicos Tourism and Sothebys Realty. He intends to take Chucks into the vintage fashion stratosphere with strategic direction supported by an army of influencers and brand ambassadors.

About Chucks Vintage:

Chucks Vintage provides its clients an all access pass to historical fashion. Accessories, garments and complete ensembles from a bygone era, lest we forget its beauty. It seems only fitting that Chucks Vintage would open its doors during a pandemic that is most closely associated with the plague that befell Los Angeles in 1924. In these times of uncertainty, and ever-changing business regulations and restrictions, Chucks Vintage is doing its best to provide clients with a white glove experience.

Established in 2006, Chuck's Vintage is a store unlike any other; a true American original. The moment you step over the threshold at 16618 Marquez Ave, Pacific Palisades 90272, you find yourself amid abundant treasure. The selection of vintage denim has to be seen to be believed. The blue jeans in her store range from Strongholds found in the California Gold Rush mines to World War II-Era Levi's, Lees, and Wranglers, as well as 1960's ladies high-waisted and groovy deadstock Levi's bells. Come to Chuck's for the denim, but stick around and complete your look with the founder's sampling of vintage American workwear: rugged military and work boots, buttery leather bomber jackets, and soft, perfectly worn-in vintage 70's rock tees. Classic American Cool.

Chuck's Vintage was founded by GSFI former CEO Madeline Cammarata (fka Madeline Harmon), who hailed from an illustrious background in fashion. Her career began as a fashion model, where she was soon discovered by the iconic and provocative fashion photographer Helmet Newton, launching Cammarata to the runways of Europe. Returning to the US, Madeline found a powerful niche in the high fashion world of denim, where she was instrumental in providing fabric development for powerful brands like 7 For All Mankind and provided thousands of pieces to celebrity and business elites from Steve Jobs to Morrisey and everywhere in between. Please visit: https://chucksvintage.com

About Green Stream Finance, Inc.

Green Stream Finance, Inc., a solar utility and finance company with satellite offices in Malibu, CA and New York, NY, is focused on exploiting currently unmet markets in the solar energy space, and is currently licensed in California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Hawaii, and Canada. The Company's next-generation solar greenhouses constructed and managed by Green Rain Solar, LLC, a Nevada-based division, utilize proprietary greenhouse technology and trademarked design developed by world-renowned architect Mr. Antony Morali. The Company is currently targeting high-growth solar market segments for its advanced solar greenhouse and advanced solar battery products. The Company has a growing footprint in the significantly underserved solar market in New York City where it is targeting 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of rooftop space for the installation of its solar panels. Green Stream is looking to forge key partnership with major investment groups, brokers, and private investors in order to capitalize on a variety of unique investment opportunities in the commercial solar energy markets. The Company is dedicated to becoming a major player in this critical space. Through its innovative solar product offerings and industry partnerships, the Company is well-positioned to become a significant player in the solar space. Please visit: https://greensolarutility.com

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. That includes the possibility that the business outlined in this press release cannot be concluded for some reason. That could be as a result of technical, installation, permitting or other problems that were not anticipated. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Green Stream Finance, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. Except for any obligation under the U.S. federal securities laws, Green Stream Finance, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

All Inquiries Contact:

+1 (424) 280-4096

president@greenstreamfinance.com

SOURCE: Green Stream Holdings Inc.

Websites: https://chucksvintage.com and https://greensolarutility.com

Instagram: chucksvintage original

Phone number: +1 (646) 669-7007

Attachments
SINGAPORE, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALR Technologies SG Pte. Ltd. (ALRT or the Company) (OTCQB: ALRT), the diabetes management company, announces today the advancement in partnership talks on the GluCurve Pet CGM with two key pharmaceutical companies in animal health. Subject to further due diligence and financial negotiations, one of the two will be selected as a strategic partner through purchasing a stake in the GluCurve Pet CGM.



Joe Stern, Head of Animal Health at ALRT commented: After receiving a great deal of interest, we have put other partnering opportunities for the GluCurve on hold because we believe the expertise, relationships, and global market reach these two pharmaceutical companies have will provide the most value to the veterinarians and pet owners who care for diabetic pets, along with our shareholders.

The GluCurve Pet CGM addresses an unmet need in diabetes care for veterinary clinics, pet owners, and the pets by making glucose monitoring effortless and financially favorable. It also addresses an unmet need for insulin manufacturers by creating and capturing data on how each pet is responding to therapy, along with providing insulin dose calculations and best practice guidelines for different types of insulin directly to the veterinarians in an all-inclusive patient management platform.

The GluCurve Pet CGM combines the hardware technology to effortlessly record glucose levels, with the software technology to effectively manage patients in one holistic solution that saves veterinarians and pet owners time and money. One interested pharmaceutical company stated they believe the GluCurve Pet CGM will revolutionize diabetes management for pets.

Sidney Chan, Chairman and CEO of ALR Technologies concludes: As we continue through the diligence process and discuss the financial terms for an interest in the GluCurve Pet CGM, we want to thank our shareholders for their patience and support while we work diligently to bring value to them and to the animal health industry.

About ALR Technologies SG Pte. Ltd

ALR Technologies SG Pte. Ltd. is a medical device company that developed the ALRT Diabetes Solution, a comprehensive approach to diabetes care that includes: an FDA-cleared and HIPAA compliant diabetes management system that collects data directly from blood glucose meters and continuous glucose monitoring devices; a patent pending Predictive A1C algorithm to track treatment success between lab reports and an FDA-cleared Insulin Dosing Adjustment program. ALRT also offers an algorithm to provide prescribers support for timely non-insulin medication advancements. The overall goal is to optimize diabetes drug therapies to drive improved patient outcomes. The program tracks performance of all clinical activities to ensure best practices are followed. The ALRT Diabetes Solution gives providers a platform for remote diabetes care, helping to minimize patient exposure to potential infections in clinical settings. Currently, the Company is focused on diabetes and will expand its services to cover other chronic diseases anchored on verifiable data.

In addition, the ALRT Animal Health Division is dedicated to ethically improving the quality of life for animals by utilizing technology to solve gaps in medical care for veterinarians worldwide. The Company has identified an unmet need in diabetes care and has developed a solution to assist veterinarians in determining the effectiveness of insulin and helping to identify the appropriate dose and frequency of administration for companion animals. Thus, delivering the same optimization of diabetic drug therapies to pets as to humans.

ALR Technologies SG Pte. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ALR Technologies Inc. On June 1, 2021, ALR Technologies Inc. announced its intention to migrate to Singapore. More information about ALR Technologies Inc. can be found at www.alrt.com. Regarding ALR Technologies SG Pte. Ltd. Information too can be found at https://sg.alrt.com.

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to ALR Technologies' business, and these statements reflect the current views of ALR Technologies with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. When used, the words "estimate", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", will and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. There are many factors that could cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of ALR Technologies and its products to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Further management discussions of risks and uncertainties can be found in the Company's quarterly filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.
HOUSTON, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just Energy Group Inc. (Just Energy) (OTC: JENGQ), a retail energy provider specializing in electricity and natural gas commodities, energy efficient solutions, carbon offsets and renewable energy options, is excited to be named Best Electricity Company in Houston. The title follows a competition presented by the Houston Chronicle in search of the best businesses that the city has to offer.



As a community choice awards initiative launched in the Spring, the Houston Chronicles second annual campaign invited the community to honor and vote for their favorite businesses as 2021s Best of the Best. The competition was open to companies and businesses from across a wide range of categories.

After making the Chronicles top five list of the Best Electricity Companies (along with affiliate brands Amigo Energy and Tara Energy), Just Energy made it to the next and final round, ultimately finishing in the top spot.

We could not be more excited to earn this title, says Scott Gahn, Just Energys President and Chief Executive Officer. As part of the Houston community for over 20 years, we are honored to be awarded this recognition and are deeply proud to be considered among Houstons Best of the Best companies. A focus on personal experience and customer satisfaction has always been at the heart of what we do. This win acknowledges the care and dedication of our team members committed to delivering exceptional service to our customers at every single touch point. We are grateful for the recognition which only strengthens our resolve to put the customer experience first in all that we do.

Just Energy and the full list of winners can be viewed here on the Houston Chronicle site.

About Just Energy Group Inc.

Just Energy is a retail energy provider specializing in electricity and natural gas commodities and bringing energy efficient solutions, carbon offsets and renewable energy options to customers. Currently operating in the United States and Canada, Just Energy serves residential and commercial customers. Just Energy is the parent company of Amigo Energy, Filter Group Inc., Hudson Energy, Interactive Energy Group, Tara Energy, and terrapass. Visit https://investors.justenergy.com/ to learn more.

Media Contacts:

Media

Boyd Erman

Longview Communications and Public Affairs

Phone: 416-523-5885

berman@longviewcomms.ca

Source: Just Energy Group Inc.
SINGAPORE, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- [SINGAPORE] -- FINXFLO, the worlds first hybrid DeFi/CeFi liquidity aggregator, launched its platform today. FINXFLO is a one-stop solution to global cryptocurrency markets and is designed to offer the most competitive aggregated rates and prices from the worlds leading CeFi and DeFi protocols through one easy-to-use interface.

Digital asset price-tracking website, CoinMarketCap, tracks 384 of an estimated 504 cryptocurrency exchanges, with 18,998 different trade pairs. Navigating the sheer number of exchange options across blockchains can be overwhelming -- especially for those making their entry into the space. Cryptocurrency veterans and newcomers share in the sentiment that navigating across exchanges can prove challenging, intimidating, and inconvenient.

With this in mind, FINXFLO set out to lower the barriers to entry, simplifying the most challenging aspects of cryptocurrency trading, providing a one-stop solution. FINXFLO has built a powerful interface that allows users to aggregate prices sourced from multiple exchanges seamlessly with one account, one wallet and one KYC with 1-2-4 trading views, low latency and data-rich analytics. This enables intelligent investment decisions across some of the most competitive aggregated global prices. Users security is the utmost priority; FINXFLO works with world leading security protocols and custody providers to ensure all digital assets are secure.

This is an incredible milestone for FINXFLO and our users, were excited to welcome newcomers and veteran traders, from across the world into the platform. Whether youre investing $100 or $100 million, we want everyone to come into the market in a safe and secure manner, said James Gillingham, CEO of FINXFLO. 

The launch of FINXFLO will be a monumental checkpoint for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem, setting a new standard, bringing fairness and leveling the playing field, continued Gillingham. With more mainstream interest in the space, it is critical that we are primed to deliver an experience that can match their expectations. FINXFLO offers powerful analytics and a user-friendly interface that will not only attract new users, but also retain them.

Early customers have been delighted with the UX. I used to have many accounts on different exchanges just to find the best crypto prices, not anymore. Ever since I started trading on FINXFLO, I've never looked back. I love that I need to only complete one KYC, and have one account. The platform aggregates the prices for me and their 1-2-4 trading view helps me make quick trades easily. Absolutely no regrets signing up. confirmed one early trader.

As institutional interest in cryptocurrency grows, FINXFLO represents one of the first institution-ready platforms with deep liquidity from blending 25+ CeFi and DeFi platforms, low-latency trades, low fees and institutional-grade security and compliance. High frequency traders and market makers from many reputable institutions plan to participate at launch, including hedge fund, BKCoin Capital. With the deepest in-market liquidity and supported by world-leading custodians, we look forward to trading on FINXFLO with confidence and peace of mind, BKCoin founding principal Kevin Kang shares.

Currently, users can trade BTC, ETH, USDC and USDT but they will have access to 14 new trading pairs in the next few days. Users can also look forward to new trading pairs added on a weekly basis.

FINXFLO has also built ETH-TRX and ETH-BSC bridges, enabling trading of FXF tokens across three blockchains - Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and TRON.

In their mission to offer deepest in-market liquidity, FINXFLO recently added the liquidity providers: Kucoin, Blockfills, AscendEx, Huobi and LMAX, as well as the listing of the FXF token on PancakeSwap and JustSwap.

Besides offering competitive pricing and deep liquidity, FINXFLO has committed to adhere to the strictest global DeFi/CeFi regulatory standards. FINXFLO has invested heavily in a world-class Compliance team placing consumer protection and good conduct at the heart of their business, ensuring a safe and secure trading environment for all our users.

To reach its first-year goal of $1 billion spot trading volume, FINXFLO has a slew of roadmap features in the works. The future roadmap includes upgrading its feature sets, advanced trading view integration, mobile app, adding strategic partners and liquidity providers, cross-chain trading, and institutional expansion.

With the launch of the platform, users are encouraged to register and start trading.

To register on FINXFLO and begin trading within the platform, sign up here.

Follow them on Twitter, and join the conversation on Telegram. Visit their website here.

About FINXFLO

Co-founded by leaders in their respective niches, FINXFLO is a platform that focuses on changing the cryptocurrency market through innovation. As the world's first hybrid DeFi/CeFi liquidity and protocol aggregator, Fearless Legends Pte. Ltd (trading as FINXFLO) brings a one-stop solution for all cryptocurrency traders and investors. Using only one account with one KYC, our users are now able to utilize liquidity from 25+ CeFi and DeFi platforms through a single user interface. In simple terms, FINXFLO blends all the upsides of DeFi and CeFi ecosystems to produce the ultimate product.

Attachment
London, England, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Net Savings Link, Inc. (OTC Pink: NSAV), a cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital asset technology company, today announced, in conjunction with the support of SBC Investor Relations, Inc., its dynamic blockchain strategy and outlook for the coming year. In May, the Company announced its entrance into the massive multi-billion-dollar Chinese blockchain market. NSAV and its team of blockchain pioneers, will now commence operations in North America, the worlds largest blockchain market. Businesses in North America have recognized the potential of blockchain technology in delivering enhanced customer experiences and therefore have started adopting the technology to develop business applications. Silverbear Capital Inc. https://www.sbcfinancialgroup.com.hk/ will navigate with NSAVs management and partners to enter the North American blockchain market. SBC Investor Relationss research team believes the market outlook for blockchain is extremely strong and believes NSAVs business direction will be benefit from this dynamic momentum.

Additionally, recent research indicates that the global blockchain market size is expected to grow from USD 3.0 billion in 2020 to USD 39.7 billion by 2025, at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 67.3% during 20202025. The increasing need for simplifying the business processes and need for supply chain management applications integrated with the blockchain technology will drive the overall blockchain market. Based on these indicators, NSAVs management believes the Companys future in the blockchain sector looks very promising.

The managements of SBC Investor Relations, Inc. and NSAV would like to thank all NSAV shareholders for their continued support, loyalty and trust. It is truly appreciated.

NSAV also announced that its Director and Bitmart Exchange Managing Partner, Mr. Yuen Wongs video update to shareholders has just been released. The video can be accessed at the link below.

https://youtu.be/2cFAA1D_wVA

As one of the founders of Bitmart Cryptocurrency Exchange https://www.bitmart.com , Mr. Wong helped guide BitMart in becoming a premier global digital asset trading platform, with over 2 million users worldwide and ranked among the top crypto exchanges on CoinMarketCap. Bitmarts platform supports over 220 cryptocurrencies and has a 24 hour trading volume of approximately $2 Billion.

NSAV further announced that the Company is on schedule for the August 9, 2021 launch of its wholly-owned Cryptocurrency Exchange, which will carry the NSAV brand name.

The launch will officially mark the Companys entrance into the $2 trillion global cryptocurrency market and make NSAV only the second U.S. publicly traded company to own a Cryptocurrency Exchange, following the Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/ IPO in April, which valued Coinbase at over $85 billion.

SBC Investor Relations, Inc. is a pioneer provider of investor relations and strategic corporate communications. They have been working with companies to build their profiles within the investment community.

https://www.sbcfinancialgroup.com.hk/case/investor-relations

In addition, SBC Investor Relations, Inc. is a specific sub-discipline of SBC's public relations division that revolves around how we assist a company to communicate with investors, shareholders, government authorities and the financial community.

Mr. Dato Sri Desmond Lim, on behalf of SBC Investor Relations, Inc. and partner at Silverbear Capital Inc. stated, We continue to research and monitor the blockchain market on a daily basis to ensure we are up to date with the ongoing development of the industry. We use this data to formulate a modern strategy to hedge against risks in the marketplace, in order to ensure we are building shareholder value.

Mr. Lim is also Senior Vice President of Cryptocurrency Operations for NSAV and Co-Founder of the world-renowned World Glove City Project in Malaysia https://worldglovescity.com .

The management of NSAV released the following statement, We continue to drive value into our business model by preparing for the future of the blockchain and crypto sectors. We monitor closely which territories have more demand and also the ongoing changing rules from regulators, in order to make sure we are prepared to take on opportunities from this industry.

NSAV's vision is the establishment of a fully integrated technology company that provides turnkey technological solutions to the cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital asset industries. Over time, the Company plans to provide a wide range of services such as software solutions, e-commerce, advisory services, financial services and information technology.

For further information, please contact NSAV at info@nsavholdinginc.com

The NSAV Twitter account can be accessed at https://twitter.com/nsavtech

The NSAV corporate website can be accessed at http://nsavholdinginc.com

This press release contains certain 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the ability of Net Savings Link, Inc. to accomplish its stated plan of business. Net Savings Link, Inc. believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward- looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Net Savings Link, Inc. or any other person.
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Simeio, the cybersecurity industrys leading provider of Managed Identity Services today announced that it has been named a Winner for the Top 10 MSSPs for 2021 at the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 which take place each year during the Black Hat USA conference. Simeio competed against many of the industrys leading managed security service providers (MSSPs) for this prestigious award.



Were pleased to name Simeio as a Winner for the Top 10 MSSPs for 2021 among a small, elite group of managed security service providers in our third annual Black Unicorn awards, said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of www.allegiscyber.com, David DeWalt of www.nightdragon.com, Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com.

Simeio is on a tremendous growth trajectory enabled by its exceptionally skilled identity experts who are delivering reliable IAM services to secure and protect identities for our clients, said Chris Schueler, CEO, Simeio. Our services are developed and delivered using a combination of people and technology, technology that is the most advanced identity orchestration platform in the industry and highly rated worldwide to ensure our clients receive nothing but the best.

The need to streamline and manage IAM tools and platforms across enterprises led Simeio to develop its Identity Orchestrator platform to integrate and deliver identity services seamlessly irrespective of the technical environment. This not only provides clients with a centralized view but also have access to one single platform to manage all the tools, saving resources cost, and improved security. This award reflects Simeios focus on finding simplified and cost-effective ways to implement successful IAM programs for its clients.

About Simeio

Founded in 2007, Simeio is an award winning global managed services provider offering Identity and Access Management solutions delivered as a service and interoperable with leading IAM tools. The company has 700+ employees worldwide including identity experts dedicated to securing and protecting over 150 million identities globally for enterprises, institutions, and government entities of all sizes. Services and solutions from Simeio include Customer Identity & Access Management, Privileged Access Management, Identity Proofing, Access Management & Federation, Identity Governance & Administration, Application Onboarding, and a platform to manage multiple IAM tools for a seamless experience  Simeio Identity Orchestrator.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, and with 4 Security Operations Centers worldwide, Simeio provides services to many Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies across all industries, and government entities. The company has been recognized and awarded for its business and technical leadership by publications like Inc, Cyber Defense, and CRN multiple times, has been highly rated by Gartner, Forrester and Kuppinger Cole, and was recently ranked by Great Places to Work.

For more information 

Visit www.simeio.com

For latest developments follow Simeio on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

About Cyber Defense Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazines 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers, and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 please visit https://cyberdefenseawards.com/black-unicorn-awards-for-2021-the-winners/

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products, and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA, BlackHat and IPEXPO conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group (CDMG).

For Media Inquiries:

Mike Bradshaw

Connect Marketing (For Simeio)

mikeb@connectmarketing.com

Office: 801-373-7888
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V., (NYSE: PAC; BMV: GAP) (the Company or GAP) announced the following:



Pursuant to a resolution adopted by our Board of Directors on July 28, 2021, and in accordance with Articles 180, 181, 182 and other applicable articles of Mexicos General Commercial Corporations Law and Article 35 of the Companys by-laws, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V., invites its shareholders to the General Ordinary and General Extraordinary Shareholders Meetings to be held on September 14, 2021 at 12:00 and 12:30 pm, respectively, in Salon Midtown Ballroom 3, of the Hilton Hotel, located at Av. Lopez Mateos 2405-300, Col. Italia Providencia, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, to discuss the following:

GENERAL ORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

MEETING AGENDA

Proposal to increase the maximum amount allocated for the repurchase of the Company's shares or credit instruments that represent such shares by an additional Ps. 2,000,000,000.00 (TWO BILLION PESOS 00/100 M.N.) in addition to the Ps. 3,000,000,000.00 (THREE BILLION PESOS 00/100 M.N.) repurchase amount that was previously approved at the Annual General Ordinary Shareholders Meeting that took place on April 27, 2021. Such amount is to be exercised within the 12-month period following April 27, 2021, in accordance with Article 56, section IV of the Mexican Securities Market Law.



Appointment and designation of special delegates to appear before a notary public to formalize the resolutions adopted at the meeting. Adoption of resolutions deemed necessary or convenient, to fulfill the decisions adopted in relation to the preceding agenda items.



EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

MEETING AGENDA

Proposal to reduce the Companys shareholders equity by Ps. 7.80 (SEVEN PESOS 80/100 M.N.) per share outstanding and to be paid within the 12 (TWELVE) months following its approval, and, as a consequence of this reduction, the necessary amendment to Article Six of the Companys by-laws.



Proposal to modify the Companys by-laws in relation with the operating rules of the Acquisitions Committee, specifically Article 29, as follows:



To allow the Board of Directors to appoint an alternate member to the proprietary member appointed by the Series B shareholders to this Committee.



To update the threshold amount that must be approved by the Acquisitions Committee in order to be contracted, related to fractions 2), 3) and 6), from U.S. $400,000.00 dollars (FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S. DOLLARS) to U.S. $600,000.00 dollars (SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S. DOLLARS).



Proposal to add to Article 21 of the Companys by-laws, the option to hold Board of Directors sessions by electronic or virtual means, in addition to in-person meetings.



Appointment and designation of special delegates to appear before a notary public to formalize the resolutions adopted at the meeting. Adoption of the resolutions deemed necessary or convenient, to fulfill the decisions adopted in relation to the preceding agenda items.



Shareholders are reminded that in accordance with Article 36 of the Companys by-laws, only those shareholders registered in the Companys share registry as holders of one or more of the Companys shares will be admitted into the Companys shareholders meetings, and they will be admitted only if they have obtained an admission card. The share registry will close three (3) business days prior to the date of the meeting.

In order to attend the meeting, at least one (1) business day prior to the meeting: (i) shareholders must deposit with the Company their stock certificates, shares or a receipt of deposit of shares from S.D. Indeval Institucion para el Deposito de Valores, S.A. de C.V. (Indeval) or from a local or foreign financial institution, and (ii) brokerage firms and other depositors at Indeval should present a listing containing the name, address, nationality and number of shares of the shareholders they will represent at the meeting. In exchange for these documents, the Company will issue, in accordance with the Companys bylaws, an admission card and/or the forms required under Article 49, Section III of the Mexican Securities Market Law to be represented. In order to attend the meeting, shareholders must present the admission card and/or the corresponding form.

Shares deposited for admittance to these meetings will only be returned after the meetings, via a voucher that will be given to the shareholder or his/her representative.

Shareholders may be represented by proxy at the meetings by any person designated by a power of attorney signed before two witnesses or as otherwise authorized by law. However, with respect to the Companys capital stock traded on a stock exchange, the proxy or proxies may only verify their identities via Company forms. These will be made available to all shareholders, including any stockbrokers, during the period specified in Article 173 of the Mexicos General Commercial Corporations Law.

Following the publication of this announcement, all shareholders and their legal representatives will have free and immediate access to all information and documents related to each of the topics included in the meeting agendas, as well as all proxy forms that must be presented by persons representing shareholders. These documents will be available at the Companys offices located at Av. Mariano Otero #1249-B, 6th Floor, Col. Rinconada del Bosque, Guadalajara, Jalisco 44530 or at Arquimedes #19, 4th Floor, Col. Bosque de Chapultepec, 11580, Alcaldia Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, Mexico 11580. Shareholders are invited to contact the Company should they have need for any additional information.

Company Description

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (GAP) operates 12 airports throughout Mexicos Pacific region, including the major cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana, the four tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz and Manzanillo, and six other mid-sized cities: Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali and Los Mochis. In February 2006, GAPs shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PAC and on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GAP. In April 2015, GAP acquired 100% of Desarrollo de Concesiones Aeroportuarias, S.L., which owns a majority stake in MBJ Airports Limited, a company operating Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In October 2018, GAP entered into a concession agreement for the operation of the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica and took control of the operation in October 2019.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are statements that are not historical facts, and are based on managements current view and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results. The words anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, plans and similar expressions, as they relate to the company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the declaration or payment of dividends, the implementation of principal operating and financing strategies and capital expenditure plans, the direction of future operations and the factors or trends affecting financial condition, liquidity or results of operations are examples of forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operating factors. Any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

In accordance with Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and article 42 of the Ley del Mercado de Valores, GAP has implemented a whistleblower program, which allows complainants to anonymously and confidentially report suspected activities that may involve criminal conduct or violations. The telephone number in Mexico, facilitated by a third party that is in charge of collecting these complaints, is 01 800 563 00 47. The web site is www.lineadedenuncia.com/gap . GAPs Audit Committee will be notified of all complaints for immediate investigation.


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National investor fraud law firm, KlaymanToskes (KT), has commenced an investigation of potential FINRA arbitration claims on behalf of investors who sustained losses exceeding $250,000 in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) (Northstar) purchased through Unionbanc Investment Services, which is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.s (NYSE: MUFG) American holding company. Northstar was a Segregated Accounts Company regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and touted its fixed and variable annuity products as offering segregated account protection, generous liquidity terms and a variety of commitment periods, as well as benefits of a Bermuda trust structure.



Investors are suing their investment firms after Northstars bankruptcy and liquidation in which investors allege that their financial advisors misrepresented the investment as a safe, low risk product like a CD that had guaranteed monthly income with principal protection. According to securities attorney, Lawrence L. Klayman, broker-dealers not only have a duty to conduct proper due diligence on their recommended investments, but also must not misrepresent or fail to disclose materials facts during the course of a sale or recommendation.

In 2019, Northstar owner Greg Lindberg was indicted on federal wire fraud and bribery charges, and he is currently serving in prison after his conviction last year. On October 1, 2020, the Bermuda Monetary Authority issued proceedings against Northstar, and, on March 26, 2021, the Supreme Court of Bermuda issued a winding up order against the company.

The sole purpose of this release is to investigate potential FINRA arbitration claims relating to Unionbanc Investment Servicess sales practices concerning Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda). Current and former clients of Unionbanc Investment Services who suffered losses exceeding $250,000 from Northstar investments, and who have information related to the handling of their investments, are encouraged to contact Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq., at (561) 542-5131.

About KlaymanToskes

KT is a leading national securities law firm which practices exclusively in the field of securities arbitration on behalf of retail and institutional investors throughout the world in large and complex securities matters. KT has recovered more than $220 million for investors in FINRA arbitrations. KT has office locations in California, Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico.

Destination: https://klaymantoskes.com/northstar-financial-services-bermuda-ltd-klaymantoskes-investigates-investor-losses/

Contact:

KlaymanToskes

Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq.

(561) 542-5131

lklayman@klaymantoskes.com

www.klaymantoskes.com
MILLERSBURG [mdash] Ervin A. Bontrager, 78, of Millersburg, died at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 5 at his residence. He was born on April 16, 1943, in LaGrange, to Amos D. and Esther (Eash) Bontrager. On Dec. 18, 1962, in Topeka, he married Irene M. Lambright. She died June 5, 2019. Surviving a
Charles Leclerc's race was soon over in Hungary at the hands of Lance Stroll. The Aston Martin driver was a bit too optimistic at the start which meant an early exit for the 23-year-old driver. Leclerc cannot understand what Stroll was trying to do in Budapest.

"It's hugely frustrating," Leclerc said to the camera of Ziggo Sport. When Jack Plooij asks him if he understands what Stroll did on the wet grass, he replies: "I don't know, he'll probably answer what he has done wrong, but obviously it was a pretty big mistake from a long long way back. It's very frustrating. We knew it was going to be a tricky start, everyone knew that. Then when you're trying to make a move for P4 when you're coming from P15 or so, it's a bit exaggerating."

In the review at his employer Ferrari, the young Monegasque is still grieving. "I had a strong start and was in a good position, fighting for second or third. I knew that I had an opportunity today, so I took it easy and moved with caution. I was taking the first corner and no way was I expecting anyone to make that kind of move on me. Getting caught out like this is just a shame."

Early end Leclerc

Leclerc tried to continue his way after the big touch, but he soon saw the futility of his mission. "The damage was so big that once I arrived at the braking point for the next corner, I spun straight away. Not the way we wanted to head into the summer break, but that's how it is," Leclerc, along with five other dropouts, accounted for no fewer than six DNFs at the Hungaroring.
George Russell finally managed to score his first points during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The British driver crossed the finish line in ninth place and rewarded himself for his hard work. On Tuesday Russell will get behind the wheel of the Mercedes car.

The German racing team asked Russell to take care of the tyre test at the Hungaroring. On Tuesday Pirelli will test new tyres with 18 inch rims that might be seen under the cars of the Formula 1 teams next year. The driver of Williams decided to accept the request, so on Tuesday he can be admired for a short time in a Mercedes.

Possibly Russell will drive for Mercedes next season. The Englishman is making an excellent impression in his team this year and therefore attracts the interest of the German formation. Mercedes is not entirely satisfied with the performance of Valtteri Bottas and seems to want to trade the Finn in for Russell. The coming weeks should show whether this actually happens.

Hungarian Grand Prix

Russell was not the only driver to score his first points in Hungary. Nicholas Latifi was also able to celebrate for the first time this season. The Canadian crossed the finish line in eighth place and therefore has four points to his name.
Max Verstappen says he will not be leaping aboard the trend of buying and driving an electric road car.

"They have no sound," the Red Bull driver and Dutchman told Bild am Sonntag newspaper prior to Sunday's Hungarian GP.

"No, that's not my style," Verstappen, 23, added when asked if he will add one to his garage. "I don't own one, and I'm not planning to own one."

Politically, Formula 1 is in a period of transition, with Lewis Hamilton spearheading the promotion of a range of social issues last year such as Black Lives Matter and anti-racism.

On Sunday, Vettel - ultimately disqualified for an Aston Martin fuel breach - said he would happily accept exclusion from the race and his podium result after being summoned by the stewards to explain his LGBT-themed t-shirt worn on the grid.

Having criticised Hungary's supposedly 'anti-LGBT' laws, the rainbow-coloured t-shirt declared 'Same Love' but should have been removed by the German prior to the national anthem.

"I'm happy if they disqualify me," said Vettel. "I don't care. I'd do it again."

Verstappen, though, seems totally removed from F1's political moment - including rubbishing environmentally-friendlier electric cars.

"They're also so heavy because of the batteries," he said. "The acceleration is impressive but it comes from a battery, which doesn't excite me at all."

(GMM)
Several Greenwich residents were awarded their high school diplomas at The Harvey Schools 2021 commencement exercises on June 10.

Included among the 71 members of Harveys Class of 2021 are Greenwich residents James Avery, Samantha Fern, Charlotte Grady, Ryan Marder, Sarah Radzin and Alexandra Simon.

The Harvey School, located in Katonah, N.Y., is an independent coeducational college-preparatory school for students in Grades 6 through 12.

Alexandra Simon won the Drama Award. Samantha Fern was awarded the Spanish Prize. Sarah Radzin was the winner of the Latin Prize.

Local students receive degrees from Quinnipiac

Yury Fomin of Cos Cob, who earned a doctor of medicine degree, was among the local students who earned degrees from Quinnipiac University in Hamden during commencement ceremonies held in May.

Other local students who earned degrees at Quinnipiac are:

Kristian Cunningham of Greenwich received a master of arts in teaching.

Sara Grossman of Cos Cob earned a bachelor of arts in graphic and interactive design.

Alyssa Biondo of Greenwich earned a bachelor of arts in advertising and integrated communications.

Jillian Bottge of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in finance.

Andrew D'Autilio of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in management.

Julia Dinota of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in management.

Sarah Dunn of Greenwich earned a bachelor of arts in criminal justice.

Katharine Haines of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in marketing.

Alissa Manos of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in marketing.

Taylor Ruiz of Greenwich earned a bachelor of science in health science studies.

Katherine Gannon of Old Greenwich earned a bachelor of arts in advertising and integrated communications.

Local students excel at Endicott College

James Loughran of Cos Cob earned a bachelor of science in business management from Endicott College in Beverly, Mass.

Endicott held its 81st annual Commencement exercises on May 22 at Hempstead Stadium on the Endicott campus.

Karoline Sucic of Old Greenwich was named to the Dean's List at Endicott College for the spring 2021 semester. Sucic is majoring in environmental science. To qualify for the Dean's List, a student must obtain a minimum grade point average of 3.5.

Fairfield U. congratulates students on Deans List

Six local students received Deans List Honors for the Spring 2021 semester at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

In order to be placed on the Dean's List, students must attain a semester grade point average of 3.50 or better.

The honored students are Joseph Lenihan of Cos Cob, Daniel Basar of Greenwich, Samantha Boardman of Greenwich, Mariah Brown of Greenwich, Julia Conforti of Greenwich and Alana Elliott of Old Greenwich.

Students make Dean's List at Conn College

Two local students were named to the Dean's List at Connecticut College in New London for the 2021 spring semester.

The honored students are Graham Plewniak of Greenwich, a member of the Class of 2022 majoring in psychology who earned Dean's High Honors; and Ted Brown of Old Greenwich, a member of the Class of 2023, majoring in environmental studies and architectural studies who earned Dean's Honors.

Local residents honored at William & Mary

Four local residents were named to the Dean's List at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., for the spring 2021 semester.

The honored students are Blair Holey of Greenwich, Kevin McGuire of Greenwich, Paulina Swigart of Greenwich, and Charles Ariyibi of Old Greenwich.

In order to achieve Dean's List status, a full-time degree seeking undergraduate student must earn a 3.6 Quality Point Average.
GREENWICH  Since Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones was hired by the Greenwich Board of Education in January 2019, nine prominent Central Office staff members have left the school district. Five in the past year alone have departed.

Here is a list of who the former district administrators were, when they left and where they went:

Kim Eves

The former director of communications had been with the district for 19 years before taking a job in the communications department at Greenwich Country Day School, where she still works, in May 2019. She was replaced by Sasha Houlihan.

Robert Stacy

He led the districts Human Resources Department until August 2019, when he took on the same role at Stamford Public Schools. Stacy had worked in Greenwich for four years before his departure and was replaced by Shamain Johnson.

Lori ODonnell

She was the districts chief operating officer (COO) for two years before her October 2019 departure. ODonnell took an operations position at the Greenwich-based nonprofit Abilis. Sean OKeefe replaced ODonnell as the districts COO.

Irene Parisi

The districts former chief academic officer left in April 2020 to take the role as chief academic officer with the state, working for then-Connecticut Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona. He was tapped earlier this year by President Joseph R. Biden to serve as U.S. secretary of education. Parisi was with the district for eight years before joining the state Department of Education. The position was not filled by the district.

Bob Hibson

The head of library media services left Greenwich in November 2020 with no announcement from the district. Hibson, who had held his title in Greenwich since August 2017, took a job at Seymour Middle School as integration technology instructor.

Mary Forde

Forde had led the long-embattled Pupil Personnel Services Department since 1997. She announced her resignation on April 7, 2021, just a little more than two months before the results of a comprehensive audit of the department were presented to the public. An interim director of the department, Stacey Heiligenthaler, has been named in her place.

Lori Elliott

A few weeks after Fordes announcement, the districts K-12 coordinator of humanities also announced her departure. Elliott is headed to Trumbull-based Cooperative Educational Services and will serve as director of professional development services at one of the states six Regional Educational Service Centers. Benjamin Markus was named as Elliotts interim replacement in mid-July.

Sheila Civale

The districts STEM coordinator retired at the end of the 2020-21 school year after 13 years with the district. Greenwich Public Schools didnt formally announce Civales retirement, but sent out a press release when her position was filled by Tara ONeill and Michael Reid, in May

Sasha Houlihan

Kim Eves replacement in the communications department finished a two-year stint with the district in July 2021. Houlhan is leaving for another, unnamed school district. Her replacement has not yet been named.
GREENWICH  With COVID-19 cases increasing due to the highly contagious delta variant, the towns top officials are recommending that residents wear masks and pushing anyone who has not yet been vaccinated to do so.

It makes a lot of sense for people to mask up indoors, town Director of Health Caroline Baisley said Monday.

We have breakthrough cases all over  and Greenwich is no exception. Youre going to be more at risk indoors than you are outdoors, she said of cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in people who have been fully vaccinated.

The state Department of Public Health is strongly recommending that all Connecticut residents over age 2, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, return to wearing masks in indoor public spaces. But the advisory stops short of reinstating a statewide mandate.

Baisley said she is recommending masks because things have changed since Delta came on the scene and because they are proven to be effective.

We know its coming. Its here, and its obviously demonstrated by all these vaccinated people getting sick, Baisley said. Thats a Delta virus variant marker. Why are we waiting? We should take a proactive step and mask up whether were vaccinate or unvaccinated indoors and we should keep a 6-foot distancing. Thats the message I have for residents at large.

On Friday, the town of Greenwich said 43 new cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the past week, with the town Department of Health tracking 48 active cases.

According to Greenwich Hospital, it had admitted five COVID positive patients as of Monday. That is down from eight COVID patients on July 26 but up from zero patients on July 19.

This is nothing to be fooled with, Baisley said. This is a nasty variant.

In breakthrough cases, vaccinated people usually get only a very mild case of COVID-19. But they can pass it to others, and even a mild case of COVID-19 causes damage, she said.

Do it now, dont wait, Baisley said of getting vaccines and wearing masks.

First Selectman Fred Camillo is also urging residents to be cautious but has not joined other town in issuing masks mandates for town buildings.

This Delta variant is serious and we may have to adjust policies a little bit just to get us through this period, Camillo said.

As of Monday in Darien, all town employees and visitors to Town Hall are required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. Norwalk, Norwich, New London and Hartford have also announced the return of mask mandates in municipal buildings.

Camillo also said he is not requiring town employees to be vaccinated.

But he said he will reconvene his emergency operations task force for COVID on Wednesday and temporarily resume weekly media briefings with Greenwich Hospital. Camillo said he planned to look over his options and review data before making any decisions.

We will be making some adjustments like everyone else, he said. We love the new reality of walking around without the masks, but if we have to take some extra precautions we will. We will continue to encourage people to get the vaccine, but also remind them because the variant is running a little rampant that we all now have to dial it back a little bit.

Despite the uptick in cases, Camillo said, Were still open and nothing is going to be shut down.

Greenwich Hospital operates a drive-through COVID-19 testing center behind the hospital via the Emergency Department ramp, said Magaly Olivero, Greenwich Hospitals coordinator of public relations.

Family Centers Inc. is also offering COVID tests through its health clinic at Wilbur Peck Court. William Brucker, senior vice president for the nonprofit, said that it is by appointment only and for existing patients.

Vaccines can be obtained at local pharmacies. For more information, visit www.greenwichct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/23654/CONVENIENT-VACCINATION-SITES?bidId=

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Realme will start exporting phones to Nepal, aims to be a Top 2 brand in the country by next year

Realme will start exporting its phones to Nepal this quarter and it has high hopes for success in this new market  it aims to become a Top 2 brand in the country by 2022. These phones will be manufactured in India (as part of the Make in India program).

Its not just phones either, realme will also bring a selection of its AIoT products (ear buds, smart watches, etc.). You can check out the Nepalese sub-site for a look at the first phones and gadgets to arrive and their prices.

For example, the realme 8 will be available soon for NPR 36,000, the older realme 7 is already in the country with an NPR 33,000 price tag. The Realme C-series is coming too with more affordable prices in the NPR 19,000-15,00 range.

It looks like the company has partnered with retailer Daraz, which will be handling the sales. The retailer also carries mobile accessories like the realme Buds Air 2 Neo (NPR 5,500) and realme Watch S (NPR 10,000).

Madhav Sheth, who is currently the CEO of realme India and Europe, will be leading the move into Nepal. We have received great success in India and will look forward to receiving a similar achievement in Nepal where we are providing our latest and innovative products at democratized prices. Our aim is to be among the TOP 2 smartphone brands in Nepal by 2022. As I embark on this newly added role to lead realme's Nepal operations, I am really thrilled and looking forward to bringing fantastic realme products to Nepal users, writes Sheth.
Fortune magazine published its Global 500 ranking for last year and noted that 135 companies on the list hail from mainland China  this is more than any other country. Among those companies is Xiaomi, which made the list for the third consecutive year.



Xiaomi moved up 84 places in Fortune's Global 500 list

The company celebrated its 338th position  this is 84 places higher than it was a year ago. According to a report by Canalys, Xiaomi surpassed Apple to become the second largest smartphone maker in the second quarter of this year in terms of sales. Samsung is still ahead in first place, but the margin is shrinking.

Of course, Xiaomi is involved in just about every gadget category, from smart bands to smart TVs, from electric scooters to electric kettles. Fortunes ranking is for the company overall, not just its mobile business. Having a closer look at Xiaomis score card, the company saw profits double and a 19.6% increase in revenue.

Retail giants like Walmart (#1) and Amazon (#3) are in the Top 10, naturally. The higher positions of the list feature many car makers and companies dealing with petroleum and financial services. But well focus on phones  you can look at the full Global 500 list if youre curious about any particular brand.

Apple has had ups and downs over the years

Apple is the top smartphone maker at #6. A bit further down are rivals Samsung (#15) and Googles parent company, Alphabet (#21). Hon Hai Precision Industry (aka Foxconn) is #22. US carriers are pretty high on the list too, including AT&T (#26) and Verizon (#47), Deutsche Telekom (owner of T-Mobile) is #53, China Mobile is #56. Sony is in the #88 spot, though not necessarily for its smartphone business.

Source
Department of Public Health and Social Services personnel and other health professionals conduct a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at the Farmers Cooperative Market in Dededo July 14.
Junior Achievement Guam and Title Guaranty of Guam hosted the pilot workshop of the new JA Economics for Success program on July 29 at Guam Community College.
Tiyan senior Kristian Catts internship at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport this summer brings her one step closer to achieving her professional goals.

My dream career is to become a pilot. This internship allows me to see the behind-the-scenes work of the different people at the airport, Catt said. It gives me slight insights into my path toward becoming a pilot. I can also meet the people that allow flights to happen by keeping the airport running.

The Guam Department of Education Internship Program offers paid summer internships at different workplaces around the island, where interns get first-hand experience and are expected to act as professionals.

Catt, who interned at the airports engineering division, attended meetings and learned about airport developments. The 17-year-old from Maite was also tasked with exploring AutoCAD software with two other engineers at the airport who handle it.

Catt advises incoming interns not to be scared. You just have to remember that no one is ever fully comfortable doing something new the first time, so be brave.

Rudy Cruz, an incoming senior at Okkodo High School, was placed in the human resources department for her airport internship. As an intern in personnel, she helped manage, organize and distribute information to different departments.

The Dededo resident started her six-week internship at the airport on June 23. The 17-year-old said she wanted to pursue the training to build her resume when applying to college and future jobs.

I should have started last year, but since that opportunity wasnt available at the time, I needed to do what I can at the moment, Cruz said. Partially, I was motivated by my friends joining internships, but the stipend was hard to ignore.

It took a while for Cruz to get used to the working environment, but she affirmed that her skills and experiences learned as an intern will apply to future jobs.

Cruz plans to work in aerospace engineering, and being stationed at an airport was an opportunity to explore this career path.

Being placed in HR may be a different direction, but it is still very beneficial to me, she said. I can explore other career paths while simultaneously adding to my resume and gaining work experience. I was also able to make friends with other interns from different schools and ages, and the supervisors of each department are so hospitable and understanding.

Jim Pamplona from Yigo also worked at the engineering division at the airport. He decided to pursue this internship because he wanted to use the money for his college expenses while also gaining the technical knowledge he would need for future jobs. His dream career is to become an aerospace engineer.

The paid internship gives the students an incentive and motivation to work, but its not only about the money, Pamplona said. Its also what we gain afterward. We learn many things about our future careers and ourselves. It helps build our character and prepares us for the real world.

Pamplona encourages students to apply for the GDOE program if it is available again next year.

Make the most out of your time. If youre bored at home, dont waste it sleeping in or doing things that wont help you become a better individual. Whats essential in an internship is the knowledge, skills and experience we gain from investing our time to learn.
The recent military exercises Forager, Pacific Defender and Pacific Iron, were discussed between military branches by U.S. Army Pacific Commander Gen. Charles Flynn and Pacific Air Forces Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Jon Thomas on Sunday.

It was announced last week by Andersen Air Force Base that training exercises were conducted at their facility. These exercises continue not to be in response to any threat but are scheduled training.

Multi-domain operations is a method the Army is using to train for combating and defeating an enemy of near equal strength in all domains: land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace.

This is achieved by collaborating with the other branches of the military as a joint force.

Exercise Forager on Guam is a series of experiments within Pacific Defender and Pacific Iron, said Flynn.

Those experiments are about the innovation of pulling together the Air Forces agile combat employment concept and the Armys future operating concept of multi-domain operations, Flynn said.

Pacific Iron is the largest and most comprehensive exercise to date for the Air Force in agile combat deployment, said Thomas.

This demonstrated an ability to disperse a large force over multiple locations in the Marianas at a rapid pace over a two-week period.

An important aspect that Thomas and Flynn emphasized was that these exercises on Guam and throughout the Indo-Pacific region are to scale should the military need to deploy troops, equipment and supplies to combat adversaries of similar might in the region.

I think that this environment and the conditions that we are operating in out here is exactly where we want to be. Its exactly the kind of laboratory we need to be operating in to bring these two concepts together, said Flynn.

Thomas said that while the U.S. military has a history of operations that showed agility and speed in the central Pacific, specifically island-hopping during World War II, what upgraded is the necessity of fighting on multiple domains such as cyber warfare.

The exercises will continue until Aug. 6.
Legislators discussed the economic potential of underwater cables during a hearing for a substituted version of Bill 36, which proposes new submarine cables to be laid by GTA in the Alupang area.

The author of Bill 36, Sen. Joe San Agustin, explained the new cables would help Guam stay connected to the rest of the world. He further said there are currently 11 cables supporting the island, most of which are at the end of their shelf life.

Out of the 11 submarine cables presently on island, five of them are at their shelf life, of those five, three of them are nearing ending of life and will be retired and decommissioned in the next few years, San Agustin said. The submarine cable system which GTA is seeking to construct and install are to replace those aging systems.

San Agustin then went on to say the new cables will create new revenue for the government.

Its a win-win for the community, San Agustin said.

Senators Telo Taitague and Christopher Duenas were recognized and both stood in support of the bill and agreed with San Agustin about the opportunity for increased revenue.

Speaker: GTA should pay $100,000 per year for new subsea cables If GTA wants to land more subsea telecommunications cables on Guam, it needs to pay the gove

New undersea telecom cables and revised limits for commercial trucks on legislative agenda Bills to increase the size and weight limitations of commercial trucks on Guam roads and to 

Taitague discussed how Guam is an ideal location for landing cables and is optimal for increasing revenues because it is a United States territory. She further explained its an opportunity because no other U.S. territory has benefitted much from having submarine cables in the form of tax revenue.

Madam speaker, we have the opportunity now, which I think should have been done when we put into a contract with the CHamoru Land Trust and Piti submarine cable landing station, Taitague said. If you look at that contract, it states that its only about $5,000 a month, $60,000 a year. Thats it.

The substituted version of Bill 36 sets the price of each cable for $100,000 a year.

Duenas he thought Guam should follow Singapores lead in becoming a hub for telecommunications in Asia.

Singapore has emerged as the third-most robust data center market worldwide, Duenas said. He compared Guam with Singapore because it is an island that is relatively similar in size.

Duenas thought especially after the pandemic devastated Guams tourism industry, the cables would help create more economic diversity for the island.

GTA is working with Google and Facebook and others who are aware of the new cable coming into Guam, Duenas said. Once again the economic diversity, the high-tech jobs, I would even say because of the regulatory process to make sure this is an eco-friendly arrival, I would say even the jobs it will create are eco-friendly.

Duenas then proposed a couple of amendments to the bill, including one concerning the fees that would come along with the establishment of the cables on island.

After a recess where senators discussed the proposed amendments, San Agustin motioned to continue the discussion at 10 a.m. Tuesday to give everyone more time to do research.
Evan Montvel-Cohen, former president of digital marketing agency, C2 Social, was charged with aggravated identity theft for attempting to rent real estate under the identity of a former associate he intended to hire for his agency.

He is scheduled to take a plea agreement at the District Court of Guam Tuesday, August 3.

In March of 2021 a complaint was filed against Montvel-Cohen after an investigation by the FBI found he assumed the identity of the former associate to acquire a rental unit from Island Realty, according to court documents.

An interview with Island Realty President Martin Wayne Howard revealed he was first contacted by Montvel-Cohen in November 11, 2019 for the acquisition and communicated with him via email and telephone before showing him a unit in person at Guam Beachfront Residences. Montvel-Cohen then submitted a Guam drivers license under a different name and date of birth and electronically signed a lease, court documents state.

It wasnt until January 2020 when Howard found out Montvel-Cohen was posing as a different person and told the victim he believed his identity was stolen, according to the complaint.

When PDN reached out to Howard to comment about his experiences with Montvel-Cohen he declined to comment until the case was officially wrapped up.

Evan Montvel-Cohen, facing federal identity theft charge, released A man facing a federal identity theft charge was released on Wednesday and allowed to live a

Evan Daniel Montvel-Cohen arrested, accused of stealing friend's identity A man faces a federal identity theft charge after a real estate agent noticed the man didn't

Stranded in New York

The FBI interviewed the victim where he revealed Montvel-Cohen was in the process of hiring for C2 Social. The terms of employment included Montvel-Cohen paying for the victim and his family to travel and live in Guam as well as pay off some of the victims debt. Montvel-Cohen agreed and asked for the victims banking information and copies of the victims passport and credit card statements to satisfy the requests, court documents state.

The victim also began the hiring process of C2 Social by making an email with the company to take training courses. Montvel-Cohen is accused of using the victims email to communicate with Island Realty when assuming his identity, court documents state.

Then just as the victim and his family were ready to move to Guam for the new job, they ran into a problem in New York where they were waiting to catch a flight to Guam. A check used with the money Montvel-Cohen said he would give the victim bounced, leaving them stranded in New York. When contacted, Montvel-Cohen explained the check bounced because his bank account had been robbed meaning he couldnt pay for the flight, court documents state.

The victim and Montvel-Cohen have known each other since 2011 when he was stationed in Guam with the military. They stayed in touch after he left, according to court documents.

Court complications

During the course of court proceedings Montvel-Cohen has a had series of complications which have prolonged process of adjudicating him.

Immediately after his first hearing at the District Court, Monvel-Cohen suffered a heart attack which followed with him being put on conditional release, court documents state.

Not long after his attorney at the time, Curtis Van de veld, withdrew as Montvel-Cohens attorney because it was discovered he could not afford to pay him for his representation. In the motion Van de veld said Montvel-Cohen was penniless and destitute for all practical purposes.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Brianna Kottke was then appointed as his attorney.

A series of violations followed as Montvel-Cohen was on release that included not telling probation he changed residences and testing positive for methamphetamine in a drug test, court documents state.

Montvel-Cohen also needed to leave island to undergo a medical procedure for his heart-related problems.

Past crimes

Prior to his identity theft charge, Montvel-Cohen had been part of controversies and past crimes while living in the United States.

According to a 2006 story from the New York Times, Montvel-Cohen was instrumental in illegally receiving an $875,000 loan from a Bronx charity for his radio show, Air America. The loan sparked an investigation into non-profit, Gloria Wise Boys and Girls club, which found widespread fraud and corruption going on from within the charity.

Montvel-Cohen held executive positions for both Gloria Wise and Air America causing the conflict of interest, according to another story from New York newspaper, the New York Sun.

Then in 2008, Montvel-Cohen was indicted for charges of money laundering and theft of more than $60,000 from a Honolulu landscaping firm. Montvel-Cohen used the firms credit cards to pay for $30,000 of hotel and travel expenses and pocketed $30,000 for himself, according to the New York Post.

He took a plea deal following the charges and was sentenced to five years of probation in 2009.

Montvel-Cohen is set to enter a plea of guilty to the identity theft charge at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday at the District Court of Guam.
Bills to increase the size and weight limitations of commercial trucks on Guam roads and to authorize a lease between the government of Guam and GTA to land subsea telecommunication cables will be discussed during the 36th Guam Legislatures session on Monday.

Sen. Tina Muna Barnes introduced Bill 83 to adjust the weight, size and load requirements for shipping vehicles and to designate Routes 1, 8, 11 and 16 as designated haul-road highways with higher load carrying standards for certain trucks, in order to transport goods from the Port Authority of Guam to distribution centers in areas like Harmon.

The measure comes in anticipation of the military build-up, with the Department of Defense hardening the outside lanes on Route 1 to increase their strength.

Proponents of the bill say that increased load capacity on roads, if implemented with better weight distribution technology on trucks, could make trasporting goods more efficient and drive down consumer costs.

Bill 36, introduced by Sen. Joe San Agustin, would allow for the governor to negotiate with GTA for a land license for submerged land at the Alupang Reef Flat in Tamuning.

The property would be used to land an undersea telecom cable, with a lease period of 21 years and an option to renew for additional 20 years.

San Agustin introduced the bill after GTAs efforts to get a lease from the CHamoru Land Trust Commission, which owns submerged public lands, stalled last year.

Part of the intent of the bill is to ensure redundancies in telecommunications on Guam in the event of a natural disaster or emergency. Revenue from the lease will be divided between the Guam Ancestral Lands Commissions Home Loan Fund and the Chamorro Land Trust Operations Fund.

The following items will also be on the agenda:

Bill 7, to exempt medical equipment and telemedicine technology from the Business Privilege Tax and the Use tax.

Bill 95, to include all peace officers in the enforcement of alcohol free zones.

Potential items

Several items are also attached to the Legislatures agenda that will potentially be going up for discussion at the next session:

Bill 153, relative to the finance, design, and construction of a new facility for the Guam Department of Corrections.

Bill 121, to finance the design and construction of medical campus which would include facilities for the Guam Memorial Hospital, Department of Public Health and Social Services, and the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center.

Bill 75, to increase the payments of the RISE Act from $800 to $1,000 and $1,600 to $2,000 for joint tax filers.

Bill 164, aimed at streamlining the payouts of the RISE Act, removing the cap on funding, and extending the payout period.

Bill 111 , to require HIV testing of those charged with criminal sexual conduct at the request of the victim.

Bill 117, 118, and 119 to officially change the names of the village of Agat to Hagat, the village of Umatac to Humatak, and the village of Merizo to Malesso.

Bill 125 and 126, which would change the names of the village Santa Rita to Santa Rita-Sumai and the village of Talofofo to Talofofo.

Bill 70, to create tax rebates for individuals who purchased personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bill 130, which would establish a process to compensate survivors of World War II who may not have been able to file for war claims.

Bill 137, to fund a study of an enhanced retirement plan for uniformed peace officers.
David Panuelo, president of the Federated States of Micronesia, receives the COVID-19 vaccine in this undated file photo. All eligible residents of the Federated States of Micronesia must be vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the nations government.
Because of the changes made by Speaker Therese Terlajes land committee, Bill 36 no longer is simply for a submerged land lease to GTA, which 




Haiti - Justice : Marjorie Alexandre Brunache denounces an arbitrary judgment of the CSC/CA





Following the audit on the management of Me Marjorie Alexandre Brunache, former Minister Counselor at the Embassy of Haiti in Washington (2011-2015) and former head of the Consulate of Haiti in Boston (2016-2017), the Financial Chamber of the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSC/CA), issued a judgment condemning Me Brunache to return to the Public Treasury the sum of 15,940 US dollars "The court put on 'debet' the lady Marjorie Alexandre Brunache for irregularities having tainted her management, condemns her to the restitution of $15,940 for the benefit of the public treasury, orders the maintenance of the legal mortgage on its movable and immovable property for the benefit of the State until the clearance of its management account, one can reads on this judgment of debet.



In a press note, Marjorie Alexandre Brunache reacted strongly to this condemnation, which she describes as "unfair, incorrect, biased and malicious".



Press note from Me Marjorie Alexandre Brunache :

"I hereby want to denounce with indignation and the greatest vehemence an arbitrary and unjust judgment, taken by the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation against me on July 29, 2021. To my surprise and to the detriment of all common sense and in flagrant violation of my rights to have access to healthy and fair justice, the CSC/CA published on its Twitter account an unfair, incorrect, biased and malicious decision, a judgment of 'debet' and a condemnation to reimburse the Haitian state the sum of $15,940 US dollars.



In a dubious amalgamation, my name is sullied and associated with predators of the Republic. Until that moment, I have not yet received the meaning of the judgment which would have allowed me to defend myself and refute point by point the facts which would be reproached to me.



I am already announcing to you that I will defend my honor and my reputation to the end and that I will exercise all the remedies made available to me by the laws of the Republic.



I must admit that I am hurt to the depths of my soul. I have always served my country with honesty, dignity and competence. My only fault is to have put my knowledge at the service of the Fatherland. As a reward, my reputation and honor hang in the mud. I am disgusted but I will bring out the truth in the eyes of my compatriots around the world."



HL / HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Justice : The Vice-President of Colombia worries about the fate of Colombians detained in Haiti





Marta Lucia Ramirez, the Vice-President of the Republic of Colombia also Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed concern in a correspondence about the situation of her fellow citizens after the visit carried out by the Colombian Consular Mission in Haiti, which revealed irregularities in the detention and assistance of the 18 Colombian detainees suspected of being linked to the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.



In a correspondence addressed to the Ambassador of Haiti in Colombia Jean Mary Exil, Marta Lucia Ramirez, while reiterating the desire of the Colombian Government to clarify this assassination and to punish those responsible, underlines that according to the report submitted by the honorary consul of Colombia in Haiti, Julio Santa, the Colombians, "have not received any form of legal assistance, because the Haitian authorities have not assigned public lawyers to protect the right of defense and respect for judicial guarantees at a due process," recalling "The international treaties on consular protection and human rights guarantee without delay the obligation to designate a defender once the capture has taken place, in particular article 8 of the American Convention on Human Rights."



In addition, she underlines that some compatriots, who suffered injuries at the time of their arrest, did not receive adequate medical care and did not benefit from guaranteed humanitarian conditions, stressing that it is "a violation of Article 5 of the 1963 Vienna Convention, which requires respect for the physical, mental and moral integrity of detained persons" adding "I remind your Government that it has a moral and legal obligation to protect detainees under its jurisdiction. The duty to protect persons who come under the jurisdiction of a Government cannot be ignored, whatever their legal status [...]"



Likewise, on behalf of the Colombian Government, she called for "the perpetrators of harmful behavior against Colombian detainees to be investigated and punished" recalling that "Colombia and Haiti have a common history of friendship and fraternity, which in such difficult times demand the greatest collaboration and cooperation based on respect for fundamental rights."



Finally, she informs the Ambassador of Haiti Jean Mary Exil, that the Colombian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Daniel Cabrales, has received instructions from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to visit Colombian detainees at least twice a week and asks for this purpose, that the Haitian Government receive the credentials of the diplomat in order to formalize its activities in Haiti.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34351-haiti-flash-all-the-arrested-colombian-ex-soldiers-were-aware-of-a-plan-to-kill-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34283-haiti-flash-follow-up-of-investigations-into-the-assassination-of-president-moise-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34238-haiti-flash-monitoring-of-investigations-into-the-assassination-of-president-jovenel-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34218-haiti-flash-wanted-notice-for-a-very-dangerous-colombian-mercenary.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34205-haiti-flash-statements-and-testimony-from-colombia-about-the-commando.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34199-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-names-of-the-20-members-of-the-commando-arrested-5-others-still-on-the-run.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34183-haiti-flash-the-commando-that-killed-the-president-included-26-colombians-and-2-haitian-americans-official-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















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Editor: Most of us are concerned about our water resources. Here are simple steps 
Masking policy to be discussed at Aug. 17 board meeting

As COVID-19 cases rise in the U.S., Havre Public Schools Superintendent Craig Mueller said proposed COVID-19 protocols for the 2021-22 school year are still being discussed and the issue of mask requirements will be discussed at a special meeting of the Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees Aug. 17.

The issue will not be covered at the Aug. 10 board meeting.

The U.S.s most recent spike is being driven primarily by the Delta variant, a more contagious strain of the virus that affects younger people The Delta variant severely than the normal strain. which now accounts for the majority of new cases in the country as vaccination efforts stagnate.

In the wake of this spike the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance on school safety protocols including the recommendation that unvaccinated students wear masks in school.

Mueller said hes been speaking with the Hill County Health Department about COVID-19 safety protocols for HPS and hes hoping to update the schools website with a rundown of the districts plans at the end of this week.

He said the recent spike in cases, driven by the Delta variant, is very concerning to him, especially given recent numbers in Hill County.

If youd asked me two weeks ago I would have told you Im not really that concerned at all, he said. But now our positivity rate in Hill County is over 10 percent again.

He said the fact that the CDC is putting out more and more guidance having to do specifically with positivity rate, Hill Countys recent trends are scary, especially given the areas relatively low vaccination rate.

Am I fearful of where the numbers are? Most definitely, Mueller said. I really wish we were in a different place.

He said Montana schools have all received recommended language to add to their masking policies which would shift based on this metric and that language will be discussed at future board meetings.

Mueller said he understands people in the community have strong opinions about masks and he asked that people concerned about the issue consider taking those concerns directly to him or board members instead of talking about them at board meetings.

He said the rules of the board prevent members and himself from directly addressing or responding to concerns brought before them and it would be more effective if community members would engage them in a setting where conversations can be a two-way-street.

He said community input on the issue is vital, but he would like the opportunity to discuss peoples concerns with them.

Mueller said he understands why community members feel the way, they do, especially when the schools rules differ from that of the rest of the county, but he appreciates those who understand that a school environment is unique among these settings, and having different rules is often merited.

He said a student may have conditions that make COVID-19 especially dangerous to them and because that condition may not be obvious its especially important for the schools to be careful.

Mueller said the issue of masks will not be addressed at the Aug. 10 board meeting because board members have a deluge of policy changes that need to be individually discussed and implemented and they feel they wouldnt be giving the issue its due attention if they just tacked it onto the back of a meeting that is already poised to be extremely long.

He said the special meeting of the board Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m. will specifically be devoted to the issue of mask policy where members of the board can discuss the matter at length.

Until then, he said, he will continue to monitor the situation and speak with the health department to provide the most well-informed policy recommendations he can.

First and foremost, we want students and staff to be safe, he said.

In the meantime, he said, hes working to put together a rundown of the districts safety plans for this coming year, which he hopes will be ready around the end of this week.
Daniel Radcliffe says people are always surprised he hasnt been messed up by childhood fame.

The 32-year-old actor shot to stardom as a child when he landed the lead role in the Harry Potter film franchise, and has said the people who meet him now that hes an adult always have very low expectations of him and expect him to have been negatively impacted by his fame.

He explained: I was very aware early on people have very low expectations of what Ill be like. Which is great because hopefully you always exceed them.

"Once I was having dinner with the Director of Photography on a film and I told some weird story about a thing that happened to me in a kind of light, amused way.

When I got to the end, the DP looked at me and went, How are you not more messed up? Its a reaction that does happen and I dont really have a satisfying answer for people.

Daniel credits his parents  literary agent dad Alan Radcliffe and casting director mum Marcia Gresha  with keeping him grounded, as they made sure he was comfortable with his acting roles as a child and were never pushy.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror newspaper, he said: I have parents supportive of me but who also asked me between every film: Are you still having fun? You do know you dont have to do this?

And I was like: I really want to do this, I hate school so much. I was conscious of the stereotype of child actors, and they didnt want to be pushy parents.

Meanwhile, Daniel recently ruled himself out of any major celebrations for the upcoming 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

There are rumours the cast  including Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Tom Felton  will be reuniting to mark the anniversary on November 4, but Daniel said he is busy working on bits and pieces for the rest of the year.

He said earlier this month: Im in the Dominican Republic at the moment, filming, and then Im going to be busy, kind of working on bits and pieces until the end of the year.

"So, yeah, I dont know. Im sure there will be some sort of celebration but I dont know if we will be getting together or anything. Im sorry if thats a bit of a disappointment to anyone.
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St. Joseph, MI (49085)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
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The Thunder have tendered a qualifying offer to swingman Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, a league source tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). As a result of the move, Mykhailiuk will be a restricted free agent.

Mykhailiuk, a second-round pick in 2018, began his career with the Lakers before being traded to Detroit. After two years with the Pistons, he was flipped to the Thunder along with a second-round pick for Hamidou Diallo in a pre-deadline deal this March.

Playing a career-high 23.0 minutes per game in 30 appearances for the Thunder, Mykhailiuk averaged 10.3 PPG and 3.0 RPG on .438/.336/.700 shooting.

The 24-year-olds qualifying offer will be worth about $2.08MM. If he accepts that offer, hed reach unrestricted free agency next summer, but he may try to work out a more lucrative  and possibly multiyear  deal with the Thunder or another team. Oklahoma City will have the ability to match any offer sheet Mykhailiuk signs with a rival club as long as that QO remains on the table.
Now Open

2 August 2021

More than a decade after making its debut, Smyth Tribeca opens its doors as a newly independent neighborhood hotel coinciding with New York City's revitalization. Located on the corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street in the heart of TriBeCa, the reintroduction of a downtown classic will welcome guests and locals with the same contemporary style and elegance that have become synonymous with the hotel. Nestled in one of the most charming residential neighborhoods in Manhattan, Smyth sits steps from the best dining, art galleries, boutique shopping, parks and cultural attractions, providing the perfect backdrop to rediscover New York City.

Managed by Highgate, the 100-room hotel emerges as a top destination for business, leisure and family travel, with versatile quarters suited to guests of all kinds. Smyth Tribeca's distinctly residential vibe combines simplicity and style with timeless modern touches, exuding warmth that is emblematic of a home-away-from-home. The collection of nooks and cozy corners in the lobby and bar offer respite from the outside world and a much-needed recharge after a long day in the bustling city.

All of Smyth's well-appointed guest rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows, spacious marble bathrooms and views of lower Manhattan. For those seeking ample room, guests can indulge in one of Smyth Tribeca's expansive 16 suites. The Penthouse offers 1,200 square feet of indoor space equipped with a full kitchen, living and dining room, two bathrooms, master bedroom and a show-stopping 800-square-foot terrace. Equally striking, the 1,000-square-foot Smyth Suite includes a living area and dining table with seating for eight, a workstation, two bathrooms and a 300-square-foot private terrace boasting expansive views of the city skyline.

Scheduled for late 2021, the food and beverage program will undergo a robust transformation including a new restaurant, lobby bar and private event space, placing Smyth Tribeca at the center of TriBeCa's culinary scene. A gym refresh with new equipment and technology will complete the hotel's offerings.
Now Open

2 August 2021

St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, part of Marriott International's portfolio of 30 extraordinary brands, today announced the debut of The St. Regis Qingdao. The highly anticipated opening marks the first Marriott International luxury brand hotel in the northeastern Shandong region. Strategically located in the landmark Haitian Center in the heart of historic Qingdao, the hotel is set to delight the city's luminaries and tastemakers with its elegant design, refined craftsmanship and time-honored signature rituals.

Occupying the 58th to 78th floors of the 369-meter-tall Haitian Center, The St. Regis Qingdao is the tallest hotel in the region, enthralling guests with panoramic vistas of the Yellow Sea and picturesque coastal scenes. Within an hour's drive from Qingdao Liuting International Airport, the hotel is adjacent to scenic Fushan Bay, the venue for the sailing competitions during the Beijing Olympics, and with views of iconic local landmarks such as Badaguan Cultural Architecture Centre and Qingdao International Sailing Centre.

Drawing inspiration from the brand's rich heritage, the renowned Singapore based interior design firm, LTW Designworks, subtly infused local Qingdao influences with St. Regis' avant-garde aesthetic. This includes a crystal chandelier inspired by a legendary dress of golden thorns that Caroline Astor, mother of St. Regis founder John Jacob Astor IV and doyenne of New York high society in the Gilded Age, wore to one of her famed Midnight Suppers. A brilliantly-lit grand staircase offers the perfect venue for the celebrated St. Regis tradition of sabering a bottle of champagne to mark the transition from day to night. The backdrop of the grand staircase is a 74-meter-high atrium art wall that reflects the delicate traces left on the beach by the ebb and flow of the Yellow Sea.

The hotel features 233 guest rooms, including 30 luxury suites with spectacular ocean views. In each guest room, the bedside backplate features camellia motifs as an homage to the official flower of Qingdao, representing inspiration, integrity and romance. The bespoke amenities, design narratives and spectacular views combine to transport guests into a world of exquisite luxury and service. Guests will also enjoy the brand's signature Butler Service, offering around-the-clock anticipatory service and ensuring that each guest's stay is customized according to their tastes and preferences.

The St. Regis Qingdao also invites guests to embark on multi-sensory culinary journeys with exceptional presentations, memorable flavors and spectacular views at its five distinctive dining outlets. The Drawing Room, located on 59th floor, offers an indulgent Afternoon Tea along with panoramic seascapes. In spaces that combine contemporary chic with traditional charm, YAN TING serves authentic Cantonese cuisine featuring the freshest locally-sourced seafood. Social is an exciting all-day dining experience, featuring international delights at breakfast, along with fresh local seafood and western grill items on the lunch and dinner menus. The Carvery celebrates convivial dining in a classic New York steakhouse setting. In the evenings, guests are invited to The St. Regis Bar overlooking Qingdao city and its charming nightscapes to enjoy handcrafted cocktails. The signature St. Regis cocktail, the Bloody Mary, is given an intriguing new twist using essences of sparkling Qingdao beer, fresh local clams and fine sea-salt and aptly reintroduced as the "GaLa Mary".

With a total of more than 2,000 square meters of dedicated event space, the hotel offers venues and facilities for iconic gatherings and meetings. The Astor Ballroom, covering an area of more than 900 square meters, is the perfect setting for celebrations, events, galas and talk-of-the-town wedding banquets. The St. Regis Qingdao also offers a bespoke wedding planner service to assist couples in planning their once-in-a-lifetime dream wedding.
Pipeline

2 August 2021

Hyatt today announced that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a management agreement with an affiliate of Millat Properties for Hyatt House Johannesburg Sandton. The planned opening of the property will mark the introduction of Hyatt's select service and extended stay brand, Hyatt House, to the continent and the third Hyatt-branded hotel in South Africa.

The Hyatt House brand offers a flexible, elevated approach to extended stay and helps guests enjoy the comforts of home when they are away from theirs. Built on guest insights, Hyatt House hotels drive satisfaction and loyalty by allowing guests to maintain familiar routines, with spacious suites and studios featuring full kitchens, comfortable living rooms, large bedrooms and stylish bathrooms.
Appointment

2 August 2021

Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C. proudly announces the appointment of Sherian Boyd Patterson as director of business travel and luxury sales for the 335-room iconic hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Boyd-Patterson will lead local corporate account negotiations and business development with corporate business travelers.

As a long-time DC-area resident, Sherian brings over twenty years of sales experience within the luxury and lifestyle hospitality segment and will oversee corporate business travel and wholesale for the world-class Willard InterContinental hotel. In addition to working closely with our luxury consortia partners targeting our luxury leisure customers, Boyd-Patterson will also focus on the consortia segment and work closely with the high-end travel managers and leisure and corporate travel advisors.

Sherian joins Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C. after managing business travel, industry, and diplomatic sales for several prominent luxury hotels in DC. Boyd-Patterson's travel industry career began in 2003 at Amtrak in Washington, D.C., where she held a marketing manager position. Later, Sherian became an area sales manager for a newly renovated luxury hotel in Washington, D.C.

Sherian holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, University College. Sherian enjoys cooking for her family, performing arts, and being a dance mom in her free time.
Appointment

2 August 2021

Starwood Capital Group, a leading global private investment firm focused on real estate and energy infrastructure, today announced the appointment of Raul Leal as Chief Executive Officer of SH Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary company that oversees brands such as 1 Hotels, Treehouse Hotels and Baccarat. Mr. Leal will begin his new role on August 19, 2021.

Mr. Leal joins SH Hotels & Resorts as it is positioned for explosive growth, following the award-winning launches of its three global brands, 1 Hotels and Homes, Treehouse Hotels, and Baccarat Hotels and Resorts. Today, 1 Hotels is founded on the mission of teaching people they can still enjoy a luxury experience while living a more sustainable life, and has hotels operating in South Beach, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Haitang Bay, China, and will open in Toronto this August. 1 Hotels also has projects under development in London, Paris, San Francisco, Nashville, Kauai, Cabo San Lucas, Melbourne and another 15 in its active pipeline. The group's fun, focused and playfully bohemian Treehouse brand debuted in London and is under development in Sunnyvale, Copenhagen, Manchester, UK and Miami. The group's ultra-luxury bespoke Baccarat Hotels and Residences are open in New York City with projects under development in Bordeaux, Miami, Florence and Macau.

Mr. Leal is a longtime veteran of the hotel industry with extensive experience building brands, having most recently served as the President and CEO of Virgin Hotels for 10 years, where he oversaw the launch of five Virgin-branded hotels and the development of another 10 in its pipeline. Previously. Mr. Leal was President and Partner at Tecton Hospitality, an independent management company, which owned and operated a diverse portfolio of 35 branded hotels and boutique hotels. In 2002, anticipating the growth of boutique hotels, he launched Desires Hotels, a division of Tecton Hospitality and one of the first management companies focused on the growing lifestyle hotel segment and one of the first to use CRM technology to understand consumer preferences. Under his leadership, Desires Hotels had 20 award-winning boutique hotels located in U.S. and global urban and resort locations and it was named "Best Management Company of the Year" by Lodging Hospitality at that time. Prior to those positions, he held General Management positions for Interstate Hotels, Lane Hotels and The Continental Companies.

SH Brands expects to establish its headquarters office in Miami, while maintaining New York and Los Angeles satellite venues. Mr. Leal will succeed Arash Azarbarzin, who will be leaving SH Hotels & Resorts to pursue a new opportunity.
Press Release

2 August 2021

There are few better ways to deepen a friendship than to travel together, no matter if you live in the same city or connect from afar. Just in time for International Friendship Day on July 30, Hilton conducted a friend trip survey that found many want their next vacation to be with their buddies to relax and unwind.

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As many consider booking their next friend trip, the big question is: where to? According to the new survey, 63 percent said an easy beach trip is the best type of getaway to take with friends. If youre ready to get back out there and plan an epic friendtrip with your bestie, these five gorgeous beach destinations offer sun, surf and plenty of opportunities to make lasting memories.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Located along Mexicos vibrant Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen is known for its fabulous beach resorts, delicious cuisine and stunning wildlife. If you feel like nature-driven activities, explore the areas underwater caverns or zipline through the lush jungle. Get to know the flavors of Yucatan by tasting the regions specialties like succulent cochinita pibil and papadzules, an enchilada-like dish of hard-boiled egg-filled tortillas in a creamy pumpkin seed sauce. If relaxing in the sun is your number one priority, Playa del Carmens crystal waters and white sand beaches will not disappoint. The Yucatan Playa del Carmen All-Inclusive Resort, Tapestry Collection by Hilton is an upscale boutique option with a rooftop pool and delicious dining options.

Tybee Island, GA

If you want a relaxing beach destination thats near a vibrant city, Tybee Island is your best bet. Located 20 minutes from historic downtown Savannah, this southern gem features three miles of palm tree-lined beaches. North Beach is an excellent place to go bird watching and shopping; South Beach is home to Tybee Island Pier and the bustling restaurants and bars along Tybrisa Street, and Back River Beach is perfect to escape the crowds and catch the sunset. Mouthwatering low country cuisine and seafood is the specialty, so get your fill of oysters, crab boils and crispy fried chicken.

Miami

There are few cities that know how to party like Miami. Head to South Beach for booming pool parties, all-night clubs and one of the most beautiful shorelines in the country. Wynwood and Downtown have grown immensely in the last few years and have become go-to neighborhoods for dining, shopping, galleries and bar hopping. If youre interested in exploring Miamis up-and-coming neighborhoods, head to Little Haiti and Little River or North Beach to immerse yourself in their cool, laidback scenes. Of course, you cant visit Miami without trying its lineup of signature dishesthink Cuban sandwiches, Peruvian ceviche and fresh seafood like the infamous stone crab. Hilton Aventura Miami is close to all the action and features a gorgeous pool deck and globally inspired cuisine.

Delray Beach, FL

If you love Miami for its beautiful beaches and global cuisine but prefer a quieter locale, travel north to charming Delray Beach. Get your fill of coastal life by renting a stand-up paddleboard or jet ski, or simply relax with your bestie, icy drinks in hand. The area has no shortage of delicious cuisines to explore, from Cuban and Peruvian to Caribbean fare and top-notch barbecue. Delray has a vibrant cultural scene with plenty of galleries, museums and performing arts centers. If you want to be at the center of it all, book a stay at The Ray Hotel Delray Beach, Curio Collection by Hilton (opening September 2021) in the Pineapple Groves Arts District.

Cascais, Portugal

This friendly historical town is only 30 kilometers west of Lisbon and easily accessible by train, bus or car. Stroll through the historical center to see intricate calcada Portuguesa (pavement art) and holiday architecture, a collection of vacation cottages and palaces that date back to the 1870s. Cascais is full of art, whether you browse the many murals of the Torre district or spend a day exhibition hopping in the Museum Quarter. This fishing town is known for its seafood, but you can find everything from gourmet hot dogs to Portuguese petiscar, which are sharable small plates like grilled padron peppers and sausage croquettes. There is a beautiful beach for everyone to enjoy, from the sandy shores of Praia de S. Pedro do Estoril to surfer favorite Praia de Carcavelos.

Whether youre in the mood for a relaxing beach trip or prefer to keep the party going, these destinations are sure to give you both something to reminisce about for years to come.
Press Release

2 August 2021

Partners Group, GIC and Salter Brothers Acquire Australias Travelodge Hotels for AUD620 Million

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Switzerland-based global private markets firm, Partners Group and Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC have joined hands together with Australia-based hospitality operator, Salter Brothers, to acquire a portfolio of eleven Travelodge hotels in Australia in an AUD620 million deal. The firms will purchase the portfolio from Australia-based property group, Mirvac, and NRMA, a travel company in Australia and New Zealand. This deal marks the largest hotel portfolio transaction in Australia. According to Rahul Ghai, managing director of Partners Group, the portfolio will allow the firm to gain immediate scale in the sector at a discount to pre-pandemic prices. Travelodges hotels include over 2,000 rooms across key metropolitan centres in Australia such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Partners Group believes that this acquisition will provide an opportunity to capitalise on the long-term relative value of Australias hospitality sector. The joint venture amongst three firms will see them improve the utilisation of hotels through initiatives like rebranding, select upscaling, and widening visibility through the expansion of loyalty and rewards programmes. This deal marks the third direct real estate investment in Asia this year for Partners Group and their real estate business currently stands at USD17 billion in assets under management.

Thailand-based Minor International Sold Two Hotels in Algarve, Portugal

Thailand-based hotel operator Minor International (Minor) has announced the sale of two properties, Tivoli Marina Vilamoura and Tivoli Carvoeiro in Algarve, Portugal to Spain-based real estate investment manager, Azora European Hotel & Lodging (Azora) for EUR148 million. Situated 30 minutes drive from Faro Airport, the 383-key Tivoli Marina Vilamoura features four restaurants, three bars, an indoor swimming pool and two outdoor swimming pools, a spa, a gymnasium, a kids playground and over 12,000-square-metre indoor and outdoor event space. The 248-key Tivoli Carvoeiro is 50 minutes drive from Faro Airportand features three restaurants, three bars, a swimming pool, a kids playground, a spa, and a 1,300-square-metre event space. Minor will continue to operate both hotels under the name Tivoli for 20 years with options to extend an additional 10 years. The completion of the sale brings a net gain of EUR26 million for Minor and will further improve the overall return of the Tivoli portfolio. Earlier this month, Minor has signed another sale-and-leaseback agreement over the 255-key NH Collection Barcelona Gran Hotel Calderon with US-based LaSalle Investment Management for EUR125.5 million, part of Minors planned asset rotation decision made in 2020.

Clark International Airports New Passenger Terminal Completes Construction

Clark International Airports (CIA) new passenger terminal building has been completed and slated to open soon. Located 1.5-kilometre from the existing Clark passenger terminal, the new passenger terminal will cater to both domestic and international passengers. It has four levels, 18 aerobridges, a floor area of 110,000 square metres and a capacity for eight million passengers annually. The operations and management of CIA will be overseen by the consortium, Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corporation (LIPAD). CIA is also expected to create 150,000 new jobs, about 0.4% of the total employed persons in the Philippines. During the inspection of the new building on 17 July 2021, the Department of Tourism expressed continued support for the governments infrastructure programme. Department of Transportation Secretary, Arthur Tugade, stated that this new terminal will provide a modern travel experience and help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst equipping Northern and Central Luzon with transportation infrastructure for future development. Through production links, multiple supporting industries such as tourism, services and infrastructure industries are expected to benefit from these improvements. LIPAD has also mentioned that the new terminal building was designed with the global pandemic in mind to provide a safe experience for travelers; it is thus equipped with advanced technologies and vital contactless solutions.

Samui Plus Model Expected to Generate THB180 Million in the First Month

On 15 July 2021, the Thailand government has launched the Samui Plus Model project, where vaccinated international tourists could visit the island of Koh Samui, Koh Tao, and Koh Pha Ngan. This project is similar to the Phuket Sandbox, where visitors are required to stay in Alternative Local Quarantine (ALQ) hotels upon arrival and have to undergo a COVID-19 test. The visitors can leave their rooms and enjoy the hotels facilities upon a negative COVID-19 result. Visitors can travel in designated routes on the island from day four to day seven and could move out of the ALQ hotels from day eight onwards. Visitors could travel freely in Thailand after 14 days. To facilitate this project, Bangkok Airways have resumed its first international service between Samui and Singapore, with a flight frequency of three flights per week. Officials expect this project to generate TBH180 million in its first month and are discussing plans to reopen several islands in Krabi and Phangnga in August and September, respectively.
Press Release

2 August 2021

Rotana has signed new management agreements with Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon. The agreement includes the management of two new properties  Lake Residence, serviced apartments in New Cairo which will also mark Rotanas debut in the capital city and Marina Bay, Hotel Apartments in Alamein, North Coast.

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Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon partnered with Rotana to manage and operate the hotel projects, capitalizing the brands legacy and its experience in operating an extensive portfolio hospitality brands in the region. With Rotanas superior level of expertise and deep-rooted knowledge in property management, this partnership aims to achieve the highest return on investment and provision of luxurious services with attractive competitive advantages.

Commenting on the announcement, Nasser Al Nowais, Chairman of Rotana said: We are delighted to partner with Al Marasem Development and Marina Way Lagoon, one of the largest players in Egypts real estate sector. We are honoured and grateful to His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Laden for entrusting Rotana with the exclusive management of these outstanding hospitality projects in the Republic of Egypt.

Al Nowais added: "Egypt has always been a strategic market for Rotana as it is one of the worlds leading tourism destinations with a great vision for the future of leisure and business travel. These incredible projects allow us to bring the world-class services and amenities of the Rotana brand to Egypt and provide us with a prime opportunity to strengthen our presence in the market. Through this partnership, we not only aim to showcase the vitality of our brand but also contribute to the thriving tourism sector of the country.

Firmly aligned with its long-term growth strategy, Rotana continues to expand its global footprint in a strategic market that offers seamless opportunities for business growth. The two new projects are a testament to Rotanas continued commitment to reinforcing the hospitality sector with diverse offerings and immersive experiences, which is in line with the countrys vision. Egypt is witnessing unprecedented progress in various economic and development sectors, with the Egyptian government adopting a clear vision to stimulate economic growth and attract Arab and foreign investments, especially within the real estate development sector.

The first contracted project, Lake Residence under Al Marasem development is located within the Fifth Square project in New Cairo. The second project is Marina Way Lagoons Marina Bay which extends over an area of 14,120 meters in a distinguished location within the Marina El Alamein tourism hub on the North Coast. Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the hotel rooms and units offer breathtaking views and boast their own private beach.

Offering guests the perfect combination of comfort and luxury for a pleasant and memorable stay experience, both properties are fully furnished with a wide array of modern amenities meticulously designed to provide the ultimate in comfort and convenience.

These projects strengthen Rotana's strategy of centrally locating its properties in prime city areas in order for guests to enjoy greater convenience, easy accessibility and a memorable stay.
Press Release

2 August 2021

Although international travel has yet to return to its peak glory days, that hasnt hindered our wanderlust and many of us have instead turned to searching online for our next long-awaited vacation. As pent up demand coincides with borders reopening and restrictions lifting, dreams of holidays can now transpire to tangible experiences. Its time to tick off those bucket list dreams with Anantara.

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Reach New Heights with Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort

The iconic Burj Khalifa which towers over the metropolitan buzzing city of Dubai is the most searched for bucket list destination in the world, according to a recently announced poll by CNBC. Looming at over 828 metres and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the title of tallest building in the world, tallest free-standing structure in the world and highest number of stories in the world. Even those with a phobia of heights can admire this feat of engineering from the vantage of the sandy beaches and overwater villas of Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort. With signature Thai design, dining and hospitality a stay with Anantara The Palm combines the best of an exotic beach holiday with all the trappings of one of the most fabulous and ostentatious cities in the world.

Bungee Jump to the Falls with Royal Livingstone Zambia Hotel by Anantara

A bungee jump is at the top of every self-respecting adrenaline junkies bucket list for good reason and soaring off the Victoria Falls bridge is a leap of faith like no other. At 111-metres this jump is an impressive freefall, and with the added dopamine hit of incredible scenic views of Victoria Falls, one of the worlds Seven Natural Wonders and the thunderous roar of the mighty Zambezi River, this is a truly once in a lifetime experience. The Royal Livingstone is located on the Zambian side of the Zambezi River in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, overlooking the Zambezi River and with direct access to the Victoria Falls it is the ultimate destination for wildlife loving thrill seekers.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat with Anantara Angkor Resort

The jewel in Cambodias crown, Angor Wat is a stunning testament to the dedication and ingenuity of the ancient Khmer empire. No trip to Cambodia is complete without a tranquil morning spent watching the sun rise above this majestic structure and admiring its splendour reflected in the mirror like lake. Situated a mere 15 minutes drive from the temples, Anantara Angkor Resort offers the perfect base to explore the temples by tuk-tuk, Vespa or helicopter and a relaxing retreat to return to after an early morning start exploring the remote ruins with your Anantara Temple Guru.

Desert Dreaming with Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara

Taking in the vast magnitude of the worlds largest sand desert, the Empty Quarter, is an arresting moment for even the most well-traveled explorers. Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara rises from the flame-coloured dunes like a mirage, inviting adventure in the most luxurious of settings. From dune bashing, guided camel and desert walks through the Rub Al Khali led by experts on the nature and fauna or connecting to the heart of the desert with a romantic Dining By Design al fresco private dining experience, the desert just became the hottest place to be for all the right reasons with Qasr Al Sarab by Anantara.

Maldivian Bliss with Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas

With periwinkle skies and impossibly white sandy beaches, the Maldives tops the bucket list for many honeymooners and families alike as the ultimate dream destination. Apart from relaxation and sandy days in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of the Baa atoll, plenty of adventure can be found above and below the water of this archipelago country. From snorkelling with manta rays and scuba diving, dining undersea and gazing the night sky with the only over water observatory in the Maldives. Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas has an abundance of activities to satiate the most active of guests alongside one of the Maldives leading spas to occupy holiday makers who prefer the horizontal life.

Climb the Pride of Sri Lanka with Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort

Nestled deep in the heart of Sri Lanka, Sirigiya is known as the Lion Rock and holds a special place in the cultural history of the nation. Surrounded by verdant jungle and jutting an impressive 660 feet high, Sirigiya is a UNESCO listed heritage site and an ancient palace atop a rock fortress. Hikers of the rock undertake a scenic ascent and will be rewarded not only with spectacular panoramic views, but also a journey through the footsteps of time, as the walk is studded with a historians treasure trove of artefacts and painted storytelling murals and frescoes hailing from the 8th century. With a sweeping golden bay and palm fringed beach, Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle is a tropical sanctuary overlooking the Indian Ocean and a great base to explore the multitude of historical and wildlife sites across the teardrop island.

Walk with Giants at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort

Getting up close and personal with elephants is a dream come true for visitors to Thailand of all ages. Ensuring that the experience is fulfilling for both the pachyderms and humans is a top priority for all eco-conscious travellers. The elephant camp at Anantara Golden Triangle is operated in partnership with the award-winning Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, which rescues ex-street elephants and does not promote breeding or riding. Joining the daily Walking With Giants experience with the resident vet is the ultimate way to marvel at these gracious creatures in their natural environment. Setting a benchmark for welfare, guests can learn a myriad of facts about these gentle giants while accompanying them on their daily walk and bathing as they graze, play and socialise with each other.
Opinion Article

2 August 2021

While 2020 was a year for the record books for all the wrong reasons, there were a few noteworthy changes for hoteliers stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. For the first time in decades, hoteliers' direct channel was the most frequently booked channel. According to Amadeus Demand360 data, direct bookings made up around 51% of all hotel bookings in June 2020, far more than is typical and driven predominantly by leisure travelers. In comparison, looking at historical data from 2019, direct bookings only accounted for 43% of worldwide bookings.

With the impact of global vaccination rollouts and the subsequent emerging demand, leisure travelers are reverting to their traditional shopping and booking processes  scouring the internet for the best deal. They feel less compelled to reach out to hotels to inquire directly about sanitization and cleanliness, availability of services, local restrictions, or other major pandemic-driven concerns. Now, more than ever before, its critical that hoteliers have a clear understanding of what is happening in their market and current traveler booking behavior. With shifts in focus across all booking channels on a week to week basis, forward-looking insight is more important than ever to stay ahead of these changing trends.

Based on the market data seen in Amadeus business intelligence solutions, OTAs, with their powerful search engine algorithms and positioning strategies, are once again heading towards a leadership position in the channel mix. When comparing Demand360 data, the OTA share of bookings for June 2021 is 18% which surpasses 2020 and 2019 performance for the same month. And these numbers confirm hotelier feedback as they ranked OTAs as their most important distribution channel in 2021 in a new global survey:

However, as the above research indicates, direct and Brand.com bookings are also ranked highly in importance for hoteliers in 2021. While OTAs have been and will continue to be crucial business partners for properties of all shapes and sizes, they are often a less profitable booking channel for the hotel. And while the channel mix continues to evolve and will most likely revert back towards pre-pandemic levels as demand continues to emerge globally, hoteliers now have the opportunity to optimize the number of direct bookings and potentially grow its percentage of the overall channel mix in comparison to 2019 numbers.

Simplifying Direct Bookings Strategy

While there is no shortage of information, techniques, and tools available to help hoteliers optimize their direct bookings, if you strip away all of the noise, there are really only three elements involved:

1. Understand the marketplace

Data is king. It reigns supreme as the undisputed MVP of any business strategy. And the hospitality industry generates massive amounts of data that can arm savvy hoteliers with the right insights to make informed business decisions that generate predictable outcomes. From demand and booking windows to rate assessment and competitive positioning, there is a wealth of data generated on a daily basis that can help hoteliers better understand their current and future marketplace.

And while the value of market data is clear, it's important to remember that not all data is created equal. Many hoteliers continue to rely on historical data and corresponding forecasts. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that things can change in an instant, making historical data and forecast models built on that data completely irrelevant in the blink of an eye.

DID YOU KNOW? 45% of hoteliers in the Americas say that lack of visibility regarding forward-looking occupancy data is the biggest problem they are dealing with right now.

Source: Amadeus Rebuilding Hospitality Survey

To create an effective direct booking strategy (especially when the marketplace is unpredictable) you need forward-looking, on-the-books data. This is not a forecasted view of what to expect based on historical data  it is true occupancy data for the next 12 months so you can track whos booked, for when, at what rate, in what booking window, etc.

Armed with knowledge of what the marketplace is in the coming months, not what it might be, hoteliers can more effectively assess the right targets and timing for demand generation programs even in the face of rapid and dramatic change.

2. Target demand from a standpoint of knowledge

With the right set of forward-looking data in hand, hoteliers can pivot towards the second tactic in an effective direct booking strategy. Taking the insights gleaned from on-the-books data, you can execute highly informed and targeted media campaigns by putting the right offer in front of the right guest at the right time and in the right channel.

In fact, 60% of hoteliers we surveyed say they deployed successful new marketing strategies to drive demand to their properties over the past year:

Take Welk Resorts for instance, a resort, timeshare and rental property hybrid operation with locations in California, Missouri, Colorado and Mexico. The company used data to support a digital media campaign that targeted a leisure audience within driving distance of key properties across social media, search and display. The messaging stressed discounted rates for advanced bookings and the social distancing potential at Welks private villas with fully equipped kitchens. The result? A 200%+ increase in revenue month-over-month and a 31% increase compared to the prior year.

3. Convert demand and drive profitability

Understanding the marketplace and applying those insights to your media strategy is only part of an effective direct booking strategy. The final (and most crucial) component is the ability to "seal the deal and turn the shopper from a looker to a booker on Brand.com.

This is where the hotelier's website experience and booking engine come into play, but due to frequently poor website design, disconnected web to booking engine experiences, and lack of enticing value along the booking path, the hospitality industry as a whole has rather lackluster conversion numbers.

DID YOU KNOW? In hospitality, less than 2% of Brand.com visitors and less than 7% of Booking Engine visitors will convert into a booking.

[Source: h2c Global IBE and Metasearch Study]

Guests have been trained by eCommerce giants to expect a seamless, intuitive, and personalized shopping experience. In hospitality, however, hoteliers are challenged by disconnected web and booking engine dynamics, lack of eCommerce best practices, frustrating booking processes, and more.

What's needed is a seamless and frictionless experience across the booking flow  from web, to booking engine and confirmation. Ideally this flow also leverages upsell and enhancement opportunities at every step to deliver a more experiential stay for the guest and increased revenue opportunities for the hotelier.

The Way Forward

Luckily for hoteliers there is a path forward that delivers on all the above criteria for direct bookings success. Amadeus Demand Generation is specifically designed to deliver the data, media execution, and conversion optimization tools needed to increase direct booking profitability.

Photo: Amadeus

With this connected platform, hoteliers can trust one single partner for everything from business intelligence and media strategy, to distribution, web, booking engine, and loyalty. Just as OTAs are equipped with new technology and techniques, hoteliers too should arm themselves with the right partner, technique and tools. With Amadeus Demand Generation you get all this and more.

Visit our Rebuild Travel library to learn more about the insights highlighted here, find our COVID-19 recovery guides, and browse market performance data refreshed weekly.
A longtime Montrose staple has now closed.

Neighborhood car repair shop Montrose Car Care permanently shut its doors at 3807 Montrose Blvd after the landlord sold the property.

The local gem located in Houston's historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood has served the community since the 1980s, specializing in everything from vehicle inspections to body and mechanical work, and more.

Shop manager Mark Swai said employees found out July 5 that the landlord wasn't going to renew the lease. Their last day was July 24.

"Kind of got stuck like Chuck," he said. "Not enough time in my opinion."

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The business will partner with Montrose Automotive until they can find another property. Swai said it is their desire to stay in the Montrose area to retain their customers.

"Were a family and it kind of broke the family up," he said. "Some of the guys will go there and some will go in a different location. Thank God we all have jobs but (its) still surreal."

Many customers shared this sentiment, shocked and saddened by the news. The phone wouldn't stop ringing in their last week, Swai said, with longtime, loyal customers offering their condolences.

And the feeling is mutual.

Montrose Car Care built its brand on quality, timely customer service and was also known for going above and beyond for its customers.

Annie Nemmer said they are amazing people who took care of her as if she was one of their own. She had just moved to Houston in 2011 to attend the neighboring University of St. Thomas, and as an 18 year-old newbie to town living on her own for the first time, the shop made for an easy transition.

"On days where I had to work and couldnt walk across the street to get my car, they would pick me (up) and drive me so I didnt have to figure out a ride alone," she said.

"It definitely helped ease my mom's mind from another town, and helped me feel like I wasnt going to get scammed by a mechanic shop!"

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Nicholas Layman said they are by far the best repair shop he's ever been to.

"They are kind and honest," he said.

"They couldve upsold me on some work/parts but advised against it, even though it lost them money."

Isha Rana was saddened after hearing the news and credits Montrose Car Care for practically saving her life.

She stopped by after hearing her car make "weird clunking sounds" after every wheel rotation and contemplated coming back the next day since it would take some time. But an employee insisted they'd take a look.

"The gentleman there said he wanted to do a quick check to make sure it wasnt a safety issue, and found that the lug nuts on my front tires were loose and very close to the tires coming off entirely," she said.

"I am so appreciative of his very conscious decision to not just let me drive away and come back later. (They're) just good people and I feel like I can trust them."

The Montrose area has seen a fair share of beloved businesses close over the years.

In 2019, the area said goodbye to Tex-Mex restaurant El Real, Pax Americana, which formerly hailed as one of Houston's best restaurants and ranked on Chronicle food critic Alison Cook's annual Top 100 Restaurants list every year, Theo's Greek Restaurant, a favorite late-night eatery, longtime favorite pizzeria, Dolce Vita, and early this year marked the end of an area for Montrose's iconic "disco" Kroger.

Laz Enterprises Inc. owns the property, according to public records, but declined to confirm the new tenant. Swai said he heard a new restaurant is coming, something he said Montrose doesn't need.

"Montrose is full of restaurants," he said, "its not full of automobile shops or at least good ones in my opinion."
Vincent Yu/AP

Oil fell after two weekly increases as the spread of the delta coronavirus variant continued to challenge demand, while data signaled a slowdown in China.

West Texas Intermediate shed 1.2 percent after rising 2.6 percent last week. The virus is clouding the outlook for consumption across the Asia Pacific. China faces a fresh outbreak, Thailand is set to expand its quasi-lockdown measures, and infections in Sydney matched a record. Data showed Chinas economic activity eased in July, implying a more steady recovery as risks mount.
Big Oil is back, earning gigantic profits as coronavirus vaccines, reopening economies and rising crude demand lift the fortunes of the nations largest oil companies.

Yet even as crude prices have rebounded to near $74 a barrel  higher than before the pandemic  the once swashbuckling oil giants remain humbled by the pandemic-driven oil bust. Instead of planning further drilling, more hiring and increased production, Exxon Mobil and Chevron promised skittish shareholders that they will focus on holding down expenses, reducing debt and raising dividends.

The organization remains very focused on continuing to leverage the changes weve implemented over the last several years, Exxon CEO Darren Woods told analysts in a conference call Friday. As the market improves, weve maintained a disciplined approach, doing more with less.

Thats bad news for the 81,500 workers in Texas oil exploration, drilling and production sectors who were laid off during the worst of the oil bust last year. As long as oil giants remain restrained in their capital spending, new drilling projects  and jobs  will be slow to return, analysts said.

Indeed, only about 14,200 of the sectors jobs have come back so far, according to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, a trade group.

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While Exxon said it plans to spend more money during the second half of the year on key projects, including new wells in Guyana, Brazil and the Permian Basin of West Texas, its full-year spending will remain near the lower end of its $16 billion to $19 billion target. The company has paid down $7 billion of its debt this year.

Chevron said its year-to-date spending on new projects is one-third less compared with a year ago. Instead of raising its capital budget, the company on Friday said it will resume its stock repurchase program, committing $2 billion to $3 billion a year to buy back shares from investors.

Capital discipline remains the focus of the oil industry, said Peter McNally, an energy leader at New York investment firm Third Bridge Group. Like their peers, Chevron is committing to repurchasing shares instead of immediately investing their cash flow in more energy projects.

Calls for austerity came even as Exxon and Chevron on Friday reported their largest profits in a year and better-than-expected results for the second-straight quarter.

Exxon, the Irving oil major, made $4.7 billion during the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of $1.1 billion during the same period a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $67.7 billion from $32.6 billion a year earlier.

Chevron, the California oil major, made $3 billion in the second quarter compared with a loss of $8.3 billion during the same period last year. Revenue nearly tripled to $37.6 billion from $13.5 billion a year earlier.

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Their European counterparts Royal Dutch Shell and TotalEnergies similarly posted profits of $5.5 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively. BP is set to release second-quarter results next week.

These banner results are yet another sign of the slow but steady recovery underway in the oil patch.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, settled Friday in New York at $73.95 a barrel, up from $48 a barrel in January.

U.S. drillers added 137 rigs so far this year, raising the nations count to 488, according to Baker Hughes and energy research firm Enverus. A year ago, 251 rigs were operating.

In Texas, the rig count has more than doubled in a year to 230. More drilling permits were issued in Texas last month than in the first six months of 2020, according to data from the states Railroad Commission, which oversees the industry.

Still, the number of operating rigs and drilling activity is rising at a snails pace, considering that oil is priced higher than $70, at which most producers can turn a healthy profit. U.S. shale drilling is expected to grow more slowly in the second half of the year as oil majors continue to hold the reins on spending to increase profits, satisfy shareholders and woo back investors.

Karr Ingham, a petroleum economist with the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said he would be surprised if oil majors remain on the sidelines for long, however, especially if crude continues to climb.

Texas oil and gas producers understand the message behind higher prices for crude oil and natural gas, and that is to provide additional product to the marketplace if possible, Ingham said. If prices continue to climb and operators do not respond by drilling more wells and pushing the rig count upward, it would be the first time ever that that would be the case.

paul.takahashi@chron.com

twitter.com/paultakahashi
Vinson & Elkins, one of the oldest, largest and most profitable corporate law firms in Texas, is changing leadership for the first time in a decade.

The 104-year-old Houston-based law firm, known for its deep roots in the oil patch, has been guided by Chair Mark Kelly for the past 10 years, is stepping down at the end of December. It has been a decade that has seen the firm hit record revenues and profits.

Taking the helm as chair will be Keith Fullenweider, head of V&Es corporate transactional and private equity practice for a dozen years, who was recently elected by the partners at the 660-lawyer firm. The firm also elected three vice-chairs - one each from offices in Austin, Dallas and New York.

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The shift in leadership at V&E comes at a time of incredible turbulence in the Texas legal market, which has witnessed an invasion of out-of-state competitors who have hired away hundreds of top ranked partners from the states largest corporate law firms, including V&E.

Over the past decade, V&E lost more than 150 lawyers to national law firms, according to data compiled by The Texas Lawbook. In fact, the managing or lead partners of the Houston offices of Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin, Simpson Thacher and Willkie Farr - all widely recognized as global elite corporate law firms - are all V&E alums.

Despite the loss of those lawyers  and the clients those lawyers took with them  Kelly led V&E year after year to record revenues and profits.

In 2011, the firm reported $550 million in total revenues and profits-per-partner of $1.3 million. Last year, V&E had $782 million in revenues - down 1.3 percent from record highs in 2019 - and $2.94 million in profits-per-partner, which was up 5 percent.

I love this law firm and I have loved this job, Kelly said. The Texas legal market is incredibly competitive and despite COVID-19 and the recession, we had a tremendous year. Record profits. The firm is well positioned for the future.

Kelly and Fullenweider follow a long line of legal giants who had led V&E, including legendary Houston lawyer Harry Reasoner, who is now 80, is still an active V&E partner and is still widely regarded as one of the best trial attorneys in Texas.

V&E is the largest corporate law firm in Texas by lawyer headcount and had been the largest by revenue until 2020, when Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-founded law firm, became the first out-of-state firm to make more money in Texas than any of the local firms.

Kelly actually hired Fullenweider, whose father is a legendary Houston family lawyer and mother an educator, in 1988 when the latter graduated from the University of Texas School of Law.

The best career decision of my life, Fullenweider said.

In a series of interviews, Fullenweider and Kelly said V&E is well situated to handle the competition and to expand its reach beyond Texas and beyond oil and gas.

Some of the most successful law firms in the world have come crashing into Texas the past few years, said Fullenweider, whose clients include private equity firms such as TPG, Blackstone, KKR, Crestview and EnCap. We have hundreds and hundreds of incredibly talented lawyers and those outside law firms are obviously going to look at V&E for possible hires.

Fullenweider and Kelly said V&E possesses three critical ingredients in attracting and retaining talent in such a competitive market: a century-old team culture; sophisticated and challenging legal work; and deep relationships with executives and general counsel at its corporate clients.

Our clients know the dedication and experience our firm and our lawyers offer them, Kelly said. Many of our clients are former V&E lawyers. Weve been with them across the boardroom table and with them when their children graduate from college or get married.

Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Cultivating roots

Legal industry analysts said V&E is the role model for embedding firms lawyers into the Houston business community.

I dont know of another law firm that has done a better job of placing its lawyers in-house with its clients, said Chicago law firm consultant Kent Zimmermann. Those lawyers remain loyal to V&E, and that means business for V&E lawyers.

Fullenweider said V&E plans to be active and aggressive in the lateral hiring market, but he said the firm prefers to grow organically.

V&E has about 90 newbie lawyers fresh out of law school starting in September and October, Kelly said.

Last month, the firm gave its associates big raises, which were quickly matched by other firms operating in Texas. First-year lawyers at V&E are now paid $202,500 annually. With bonuses, eighth-year associates now make about $500,000.

Legal industry analysts said V&E also benefited in some ways from the national firms moving into Texas. They point out that Texas lawyers hourly rates were about 20 percent less than their New York, Chicago and Los Angeles competitors in 2012.

Many Texas law firms chose to keep their rates lower hoping to be a cheaper alternative to the elite national practices, but V&E made the tough decision for competitive reasons to increase their hourly rates to maintain the firms place at the top of the market, according to Kelly.

Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

As a result, nearly all V&E partners and even a handful of associates now charge clients $1,000 an hour or more. A handful of partners have hourly billing rates of nearly $1,500.

Those hefty rates, along with tough choices on expenses - including closing revenue-losing offices in Beijing and Hong Kong last year, led to significantly increased profits, which in turn have allowed V&E to be competitive in the lateral talent market.

We want to grow beyond our current markets, but we have to be smart and strategic, Kelly said.

Known for decades as The Big Three in Houston, V&E, Baker Botts and Fulbright & Jaworski entered the year 2000 with roughly the same number of lawyers and same amount of revenues and profits. But the three firms took significantly divergent paths during the past decade.

Fulbright, which was litigation heavy, merged with London-based Norton Rose to create a global law firm with more than 3,600 attorneys. Baker Botts focused heavily on intellectual property and technology law and grew dramatically outside of Texas, especially in California.

V&E, which faced and survived the Enron scandal in the early 2000s, doubled down on its focus on energy, especially as private equity invested billions of dollars in the Permian Basin. During the past decade, the firm has represented some of the most prominent names in the oil patch, including Pioneer Natural Resources, Shell Oil, Energy Transfer Partners and TC Energy Corp.

The firm also has several long-term institutional non-oil and gas clients, including Southwest Airlines and Dell Corp.

The Texas Lawbooks Corporate Deal Tracker, which documents M&A and capital markets activity handled by lawyers in Texas, shows that V&E has ranked first or second in deal count for each of the past six years.

Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Remaining independent

Legal industry insiders said the firms new leaders may face increased pressure to merge with either a larger global firm or a similar sized U.S. firm as clients demand scale from their outside legal counsel. As V&E increases its profits-per-partner numbers, it is well positioned to merge with either a so-called Magic Circle law firm out of London or even a Chinese-based firm seeking to increase its energy practice.

We are not in talks with any firms about a merger and dont have plans to have talks, Kelly said. We are always open to listening to offers, but I dont see it happening any time soon.

Fullenweider said he believes V&E will reach new heights in the years to come.

Thats because we believe in our story, we believe in the quality of our lawyers, and we believe, when we get in front of people, our ability to close is exceptional - and thats often in competition with some of the most successful firms in the country, he added.

For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net.
You may not be able to find your favorite Topo Chico product in stores nationwide.

A representative said the company is experiencing a shortage of raw materials making it difficult for it to keep up with customer demand.

"Due to the strong demand of this product and the shortage of raw materials, there's a shortage of Topo Chico products," the representative said.

PIG RULES: Bacon may disappear in California as new law takes effect

The kind of raw materials were not specified by the company, but a supply chain expert from the University of Texas told KXAN-TV that there's currently a glass shortage as bars and restaurants reopen.

Topo Chico sells a variety of sparkling mineral water drinks that are bottled in both glass and plastic, according to its website. It also sells alcoholic seltzers in aluminum cans. The company did not provide a timetable as to when they believe the shortage will end.

Topo Chico is especially popular in Texas.

"We are trying to do everything we can to have this product back up and available as soon as possible," the company said.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
BERLIN (AP)  Germany will start offering coronavirus vaccinations for all children and teenagers aged 12 and older, top health officials said Monday.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said after a meeting with the 16 German state health ministers that we keep our promise: everybody who wants can get vaccinated in the summer  we have enough vaccines for all age groups.

Therefore, children and teenagers ... can decide to get vaccinated after a medical consultation and thus protect themselves and others, he added.

The government's push to get Germany's youth vaccinated comes two months after the European Medicines Agency recommended that the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech be expanded to children 12 to 15. Last week, the EU drug regulator also cleared the vaccine made by Moderna for the same age group.

So far, however, the countrys standing committee on vaccination, the Stiko, has been reluctant to give the go-ahead for all youngsters and only explicitly recommended the vaccination for the age group between 12 and 16 if they suffer from certain chronic illnesses. The committee says that not enough study results are yet available on possible long-term effects of the vaccine on the younger ones, but has also said it may update its recommendation as more data becomes available.

But as schools across the country are starting to open again after the summer vacations, and given the vulnerability of young unvaccinated people to the quickly spreading delta variant, pressure has been mounting to get more children 12 and older vaccinated. Politicians have been lobbying to get the younger ones immunized against COVID-19 quickly to prevent renewed school closures in the fall.

Therefore, the 16 state top health officials on Monday decided that healthy children and teenagers should now also be able get the jab at vaccination centers or their pediatricians' practices. As for all age groups, the vaccinations remain voluntary.

So far, 20% of those between 12 and 17 have received at least one shot in Germany and nearly 10% are fully vaccinated.

The country's family minister said the decision is an important step so that children and teenagers can be protected from a coronavirus infection in the best possible way.

Many parents have been insecure about whether they should vaccinate their children because so far there was no clear recommendation, Christine Lambrecht added. The decision for a broad vaccination offer for those aged between 12 to 17 can now help them.

There are large disparities in the access to vaccination for youths across Europe. While countries like Estonia, Denmark and France are actively encouraging families to vaccinate their children before the new school year begins, others such as Sweden and the United Kingdom have yet to begin mass vaccinations for those under 18.

Also Monday, state health ministers decided to start offering booster shots for especially vulnerable groups in September. They said all people who got vaccinated with the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson shots could get a refresher shot with an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna from September on.
ATLANTA (AP)  A top federal health official said Monday that he understood frustration with new mask requirements, but the country could overcome them if people accepted responsibility for combatting the coronavirus.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was in Georgia as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in the state continued to rise amid a low vaccination rate.

I cant tell you the depth of frustration that Americans are feeling who've done everything they can, they've done it right, to know that now weve got to go back to wearing masks," he said. I dont blame folks for asking why again on masks.

But he added, "We have to hope that all Americans recognize its on us. We are responsible for not just our mothers and our families.

He said the country could beat the mask requirement and spread of the delta variant of the virus, but it had to "do it together.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course last week and recommended that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant of the coronavirus is fueling infection surges. It also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status.

At least 24 school districts in Georgia covering nearly a third of the public school population now say they will require everyone to wear a mask. Some others are trying to split the difference. Fulton County said Monday that it might require masks at some schools when class begins next Monday depending on case rates. Talbot County has ordered teachers, but not students to wear masks.

Some parents are protesting mask mandates. Dozens of opponents gathered outside the Gwinnett County school district administration building on Friday. Holly Terei, who helps run a Facebook group that coordinated the protesters, said she would withdraw her three children from Georgias largest school district if administrators dont reverse the move.

We want to choose for our children, whether it be the vaccine, whether it be a mask, Terei said in advance of the protest. These are my kids. I do not co-parent with the school board and I do not co-parent with the CDC.

The number of hospitalized patients statewide crossed above 2,400 on Monday, the highest since late February. Intensive care unit occupancy has also been trending up and was at 83% of capacity on Monday, according to state officials.

Georgia is averaging more than 3,000 positive tests a day, a steady upward climb in cases since late June. The vast majority of the new infections are among those who are unvaccinated.

The share of positive molecular tests on Monday shot above 21%, a level that experts say indicates many infections are going undetected because of a lack of testing. Monday's level is equal to the worst days for positivity in early January, just before Georgia hit its peaks for cases and hospitalizations, and could indicate a further rapid run-up in cases is on the way.

The state said in the last two weeks, infections have tripled and hospitalizations have increased by 50%. Deaths have risen by 18%, but usually lag behind when people get infected or enter the hospital.

Only 40% of Georgians are fully vaccinated, a rate that ranks in the bottom 10 of states.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who met with Becerra on Monday, said city officials are stressing to people that the worst does not have to happen if they are vaccinated."

Its very tough when we are trying to get back to business as usual, and people are still vaccine hesitant, she said.

Bottoms said the city was not at the point of mandating that workers get vaccinated, saying she didn't think that would be appropriate or even effective.

Becerra and Bottoms were joined by Democratic members of Congress and health leaders to discuss access to health care, including covering more Georgia residents under Medicaid.

Georgia has proposed a more limited expansion of Medicaid than other states and included a requirement that recipients work or perform a related activity. That plan was approved by the Trump administration, but the Biden White House has put it on hold.

The Biden administration is also reviewing a separate plan by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to change how state residents buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Becerra did not provide a date for the completion of those reviews.

___

Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
Beginning Monday, those who receive the second shot of their COVID-19 vaccine at a Houston Health Department site will receive a $25 gift card.

All told, the city plans to distribute 1,900 gift cards for Walmart, Amazon, Target, Old Navy and Shell, among others. The incentive program, announced Sunday, was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a press release, the department noted 99.5 percent of Texans who have died from COVID since February have been unvaccinated, as are about 90 percent of those currently hospitalized across the state.

Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that the hospitalization rate across the state has increased by 38 percent in the past week, up to 6,853 on Monday.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas records largest one-day count since February in COVID cases, hospitalizations

We are at a pivotal point in the fight against this deadly virus. Positive cases and hospitalizations are increasing, primarily among the unvaccinated, despite vaccines being free and readily available, said Mayor Sylvester Turner. It is our hope the new incentive offered by the Houston Health Department will encourage people to take their best shot and help save lives in the process.

Its the latest incentive program aimed at bolstering vaccinations in Texas. In April, Harris County approved $250,000 in incentives for those who are vaccinated at county sites.

As of Monday, 52 percent of Texans older than 12 have been fully vaccinated, and 62 percent have received at least one dose, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The rate of vaccinations has been rising as the fourth wave of the virus crashes into Texas.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston-area hospitals roll back visitor policies, mull other changes amid fourth COVID wave

About 54 percent of Harris County residents who are eligible have received one dose, and 64 percent are fully inoculated.

Vaccines are free and do not require identification, proof of residency, citizenship or insurance.

Here are the participating sites:

Acres Home Multi-Service Center, 6719 W. Montgomery; Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center, 3810 W. Fuqua; Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

La Nueva Casa de Amigos Health Center, 1809 North Main; Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Magnolia Multi-Service Center, 7037 Capitol; Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Northside Health Center, 8504 Schuller; Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sharpstown Health Services, 6201 Bonhomme; Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Southwest Multi-Service Center, 6400 High Star; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunnyside Health Center, 4605 Wilmington; Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m

robert.downen@chron.com
Some days, Daniel Sledge drives around so much in his Chevy Tahoe he feels like a trucker. But hes a paramedic with Williamson County Mobile Outreach, and hes been seeing a spike in opioid-fueled overdoses.

The team works to identify people at risk of overdose and guide them toward treatment. It also provides users and their loved ones with naloxone, which can reverse overdoses.

Before his job on the outreach team, he worked on an ambulance, rushing from call to call across the county, just north of Austin. A few years ago, he saw many calls caused by heroin, he said. But over the last year, theres been a switch, to counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.

Those on the front lines of the opioid epidemic say fentanyl has made a public health crisis even more acute. Their efforts at harm reduction  trying to keep those using drugs safe  are not well funded and are sometimes illegal in Texas. Fentanyl, used in medical settings to treat patients with severe pain, is about 50 times stronger than heroin. As access to prescription opioids has grown scarce, drug dealers have turned to fentanyl instead, importing increasing quantities of the substance, or the chemicals used to make it, from China or Mexico.

Theres no sense of urgency, no we need to do something about it, Sledge said. In Texas, theyd just like to sweep some dirt on it and call it a day.

In 2015, lawmakers tried to pass Good Samaritan laws that would protect people who call 911 during drug overdoses, even if they are in possession of illegal substances.

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the legislation, saying he was concerned it did not have adequate protections to prevent misuse by habitual drug abusers and drug dealers.

Outreach workers and public health experts say such a law is particularly important because of fentanyls potency  drugs-laced with the substance were blamed for half of all fatal overdoses in 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This past session, lawmakers passed a narrowly tailored Good Samaritan law, but it doesnt protect users with past drug convictions or who have called 911 after witnessing an overdose in the past 18 months. Experts say the watered down protections make it all but useless.

This bill is one of the weakest in the country, and even other Southern states have stronger Good Samaritan laws, said Cate Graziani, with Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, an outreach and advocacy group that promotes policies that help reduce risk and harm for drug users.

Three hours west of Sledge and Williamson County, social worker Mike Prado has never been so busy. His organization, West Texas Harm Reduction, hands out life-saving naloxone inhalers, clean cotton, alcohol wipes and other supplies to keep drug users safe across a swath of the Lone Star State that stretches from Abilene to Odessa.

Theres so much stigma about it here, man, said Prado, who is in recovery. Its part of the Bible Belt and people think it cant happen here, but it is happening here.

In Harris County, data shows a rise in overdose deaths since 2017, with deaths attributed to fentanyl jumping from 56 in 2017 to almost 300 last year. In Houston, firefighters responded to more than 22,000 overdose calls last year  5,000 more than in 2019.

As a result, the burden of combating the problem has fallen onto firefighters and paramedics in cities, suburbs and towns across the state.

Our firefighters and paramedics see the ravages of addiction every day, said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

The trend is alarming and shows no sign of reversal. It strains the emergency response system, but more importantly, it is robbing our youth of their futures.

The situation has unnerved local drug users and their dealers.

It puts the fear of God in you, said Jacqueline Garza, who lives in southeast Houston and uses drugs. All it does is make you more anxious, afraid, but you still do it because its what you do.

Douglas Thornton, director of the Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research Center at the University of Houston, came to Texas in 2017 from West Virginia, a state that accepted Medicaid expansion to reduce overdose deaths. The Medicaid expansion would allow health officials to use billions of government dollars to expand health care coverage across Texas, insuring residents who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cant afford their own health insurance. Abbott and his predecessor, Rick Perry, both opposed Medicaid expansion in Texas, with Abbott arguing the deal would bankrupt Texas.

In Texas, Thornton found a state with a severely underfunded public health system. There are large gaps in access to treatment, he said. Finding a provider and pharmacy able to provide treatment can be extremely difficult.

Why is that? Because were not treating and not preventing it, said Andrew Giannotti, president of the Texas chapter of the Society of Addiction Medicine.

Texas also continues to ban needle exchanges almost everywhere in the state.

Its expansive drug paraphernalia law also bans tools that experts say could help save lives, such as fentanyl test strips, which can detect fentanyl in unregulated drugs and can be used to test injectable drugs, powders, and pills. The dilemma forces outreach workers and health care providers into the shadows, though state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said at a recent news conference that the distribution of fentanyl test strips sounded like a great idea and certainly should be something thats considered.

Huffman and other lawmakers point to a variety of bills passed in recent years allocating millions of dollars for programs that prevent and treat opioid use disorder, increase naloxone distribution, provide training on opioid addiction treatment and provide treatment for youth and adults.

Reversals

On a recent Monday, Casey Malish loaded several boxes of syringes, alcohol wipes, Narcan (brand name for naloxone) and other supplies into his Mazda sedan, then drove to a hotel in north Houston to meet a drug user whod asked for some new needles.

Do you need any of the test strips? he asked.

What about cotton? Narcan, the inhalers that reverse overdoses?

Malish, a 30-year-old former drug user, began smoking heroin a decade ago. Six months after that, he injected for the first time. At the end of 2012, however, he finally realized he had to quit.

He began doing street outreach a few years ago. When he drops off supplies, it becomes an opportunity to check in, to assess. How much are you injecting? Are you testing your drugs? Do you want to check into rehab? He offers tools to try to lessen their risk: clean needles to prevent infection. Alcohol wipes.

Reusing needles can cause abscesses and infections, which can lead to amputations, endocarditis, sepsis and death.

Data shows that syringe exchanges not only reduce the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C, but for people who use drugs, enrolling in these programs also improves their odds of recovery  they are five times more likely to enter treatment and three times more likely to stop using drugs altogether.

Malish passes out fentanyl test strips (illegal under the states drug paraphernalia law, which bans the use of certain items to cultivate, manufacture, process and test illicit drugs) not only to people who use drugs but also to some drug dealers. Killing off customers is bad for business.

He drives to Conroe, to Clear Lake and back to Third Ward, meeting people in parking garages, on corners, at their homes or in hotels. Some are homeless. Others are sex workers. Like Houston, they are a diverse group: Black, white, transgender, married.

What was once a small group of former and current drug users, nurses and social justice advocates has grown into an underground mutual aid network. A sex worker in South Houston makes sure her friends use clean needles and always have naloxone and condoms. A woman in the East End, who works in a vape shop frequented by homeless customers, has revived three people behind her store.

Malish remembers what it was like in the throes of addiction, and it spurs him forward.

Its a very desperate place to be in, he said. If you have to resort to reusing a syringe, you will.

Since he started passing out naloxone in 2018, he said hes recorded 100 overdose reversals  100 deaths prevented. But he still wrestles with worry every time he drops supplies off.

Theres no guarantee someone is not going to OD, he said. You hope and pray that they wont. Its so hard, theres no perfect answer.

st.john.smith@chron.com

twitter.com/stjbs
Empty seats and dry eyes were hard to spot at Saturdays sacred White Coat Ceremony for UH College of Medicines first in-person celebration to welcome the Class of 2025.

A captivated audience listened as Dr. Stephen Spann, the founding dean of the College of Medicine, and Dr. Brian C. Reed, chair of clinical science, shared their wisdom with UH College of students.

All people deserve access to healthcare, Spann said inside the Conrad N. Hilton Grand Ballroom on UH campus. Commit to serving historically disadvantaged communities serve them with cultural humility.

He cautioned the medical students about the dangers of fatigue and burnout. And to recognize the importance of self-care.

You cant take care of others if you dont take care of yourselves, he said in closing. Competence and compassion go hand-in-hand.

Since 1993, when the Arnold P. Gold Foundation initiated the tradition for the entering class of Columbia Universitys College of Physicians and Surgeons, cloaking new medical students in their first white coats has remained a hallowed rite of passage for all new medical students.

Last year, due to COVID-19, University of Houston College of Medicines inaugural class members put on their own white coats. Only the students and university leadership were in attendance. The historic ceremony was celebratory, if not a little remote. Friends and family cheered on via livestream.

It just wasnt the same. This year feels more symbolic, said Rashda Khan, a UH staffer.

UHs inaugural class had 1,728 applications, That jumped to 6,000 applications this year. Thirty students were chosen both years. At least half of this years class received a $100,000, four-year scholarship to cover tuition and fees.

More than 60% are considered low socioeconomic status, as defined by Texas Medical Dental Schools Application Services, and 60% represent minorities in medicine: Black and Hispanic/Latino.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Inside Louis Vuitton's Houston Galleria men's store, the first in Texas

UHs College of Medicine was founded to address a leading contributor to poor health: a shortage of primary care doctors. The schools educational programming prioritizes food insecurity, housing and environment to eliminate health disparities in under-served urban and rural communities.

With this white coat comes a responsibility that is unmatched in many other professions in the world, said Reed, the ceremonys keynote speaker. Seek balance. This is a profession that can take a toll on your soul.

He assured the students that becoming a physician is worth the years of study and time away from friends and family, because the payoff is a life filled with purpose.

When I practice medicine, Im doing what I love and what some divine being designed me to do, he said before sharing a bit of parting wisdom. Stay connected. Thats my one regret  I missed a lot of weddings, anniversaries and birthdays.

Its a lesson the class of 2025 appeared to have already learned.

Onyeomachi Iheanacho, a Houston-native, guessed around 20 of her family members attended Saturdays White Coat Ceremony. Were Nigerian, you cant tell one of us about an event and not expect everyone to come, she explained with a wide smile.

College of Medicine leadership urged the crowd to hold applause until ceremonys end. Request, denied. Clapping and cheering erupted for all 30 class members.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Enchanted, first of its kind Menil Collection exhibit, explores visual history of the Andes

Alex Garcia, director of student affairs, read aloud brief statements written by each medical student as they crossed the stage to be cloaked. Many thanked their God, family, friends and spouses. Elliot John Flint, from Texarkana, thanked his partner and fanned away tears as he walked. Adriana Gil, from Cypress, requested her remarks read in Spanish.

Iheanacho paid tribute to her parents. I would not be here without your sacrifice, Garcia read. This white coat is as much a symbol of your hard work as it is mine.

After the ceremony, the class of 2025 stood together to recite their jointly-written oath, led by Isaiah Carter, also a Houston-native. Above all, they said in unison. I commit to do no harm and act as a servant of humanity. I will always strive to be a competent and compassionate physician.

Later, during the reception, Iheanachos brother pinched her ear. I whispered that we all knew this day would be possible, he said. It was such a journey to get here.

Cookies made by Three Brothers Bakery were served as cameras flashed.

While his family discussed brunch options, Flint stepped away to reflect on what it meant to receive his white coat.

Looking out at my family and my partner, I just got emotional, he said. Id been thinking about applying to med school for 10 years. The day I dreamed of finally arrived.

amber.elliott@chron.com
Boeing is preparing to launch an uncrewed spacecraft to the International Space Station, bringing it one step closer to launching astronauts  a feat SpaceX pulled off last year.

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner is scheduled to launch Tuesday at 12:20 p.m. CDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It would launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

It will be the Starliners second uncrewed launch. The first launch in December 2019 encountered a software issue that prevented the spacecraft from docking with the International Space Station.

MORE: Boeing to redo its Starliner spacecraft test that failed to dock with the space station

Its extremely important to us that were successful on this flight, John Vollmer, vice president and program manager for Boeings Commercial Crew program, said during a news conference. All that weve done over the past 18 months, we are very confident that we are going to have a good flight. Will there be some learning? There will absolutely be some learning during this flight. It is a test flight.

Boeing is developing a spacecraft as part of NASAs Commercial Crew program, where companies (not NASA) own and operate the capsules trusted to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA provided funding and expertise, and it buys seats as a customer, but the companies ultimately designed the spacecraft.

SpaceX is also part of this program and launched its crewed test flight on May 30, 2020. It received NASA certification and then launched its first non-test flight with four people on Nov. 15, 2020.

Boeings progress was set back after its December 2019 test flight, called OFT-1. That flight was uncrewed with Rosie the Rocketeer, a 180-pound mannequin that Boeing calls an anthropometric test device, as its only occupant.

OFT-1 failed to reach the International Space Station because a software error caused Starliners mission timer, which is supposed to start at the time of launch and end when the vehicle lands, to be off by nearly 11 hours.

After separating from the Atlas V rocket, Starliner was supposed to fire four powerful thrusters that would get the spacecraft into the proper orbit. Right before firing these powerful thrusters, a myriad of smaller thrusters turn on to point the spacecraft in the proper direction.

These smaller thrusters were firing and pointing Starliner, but the larger thrusters didnt ignite. Due to the timing error, the larger thrusters thought the spacecraft was in a different part of its flight and didnt ignite. This caused the smaller thrusters to fire longer than expected and to use more fuel than they were supposed to.

Starliner did ultimately reach a stable orbit. But Boeing and NASA officials determined it didnt have enough fuel to reach the space station along the pre-determined flight profile. They began working to bring it home.

The team went looking for other software errors. They detected one that could have caused an issue right before the spacecraft returned to Earth, when the crew module separates from the service module (the latter powers and propels the spacecraft). The software error could have led to the modules bumping together after separation, but Boeing corrected the error before the Starliner returned to safely land at the U.S. Armys White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

TECHNOLOGY: Boeing's astronaut training goes virtual

Another issue detected during the first flight was a communications-related hardware issue that impeded the ability to command and control the spacecraft.

Following OFT-1, NASA and Boeing created an Independent Review Team to investigate the flight and recommend fixes. Vollmer said the biggest software changes were ultimately related to communications.

We found that the communications was not as robust as we would have desired on our first flight, he said, so we spent some effort modifying that code.

Most of Starliners software coding is completed in Houston. And as part of the rigorous testing conducted in the past 18 months, Boeing and NASA completed a 5-day, 110-hour end-to-end simulation with final flight software and high-fidelity hardware, which is identical to flight hardware but only used for testing.

This end-to-end simulation was conducted largely inside Boeings Houston-based Avionics and Software Integration Lab. But this facility worked closely with United Launch Alliance and NASAs mission control centers in Houston and Florida.

Prior to this upcoming mission, OFT-2, Boeing and NASA closed out all 80 recommendations provided by the independent review team.

OFT-2 is important, obviously, because its the first end-to-end checkout from pre-launch to docking to undocking to post landing, Norm Knight, director of NASAs Flight Operations Directorate, said during a news conference. Thats what buys down the risk and makes it safe for putting crew on the vehicle after a successful test flight.

According to a Monday update from the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron, there's a 60 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for Tuesdays launch.

This launch is instantaneous, meaning it launches precisely on time or not at all. The Atlas V rocket must launch as soon as its aligned to hit the space stations orbit. It cannot wait for weather to clear because it does not have the steering capabilities to launch a little later and then adjust its course to meet the stations orbit. Some other rockets can be launched five or 10 minutes after their launch time and still steer toward the space station.

The Starliner capsule will carry more than 400 pounds of cargo, such as food and clothes, to the International Space Station and then return with more than 550 pounds of cargo, including science hardware.

ASTRONAUT CHANGE: Why an astronaut bowed out of Boeing space flight

After this flight, Boeing could launch a crewed test flight later this year. Then it could receive NASA certification to begin operational missions ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

I am so incredibly proud of this team that they have not hurried. They have taken their time, said Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Theyve made sure that they went through and checked the progress and decided when to go fly. And nows the right time.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder
During their last week in the nations capital, Texas Democrats will join forces with more than 100 state legislators from across the country to continue a push for federal voting rights legislation.

The lawmakers represent nearly 30 states and include Democratic representatives from Georgia and Arizona, two hot spots in the national conversation on voting access and election security. They plan to gather outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon to speak in support of the For the People Act, a stalled congressional elections bill that Democrats hope will supersede any voting restrictions adopted by states.

The Big Lie has infected nearly every state legislature in the country, giving rise to a calculated and brazen assault on the freedom to vote, said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, referring to former President Donald Trumps false claims that widespread voter fraud cost him a second term.

The rally is one of the final pushes in Washington for more than 50 Texas House Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., last month to deny Republicans in Austin a quorum and stall their voting legislation. Supporters say the measure would weed out fraud and make elections administration consistent statewide. Opponents say the bills provisions would make it harder for all Texans  but especially Black and Latino voters  to cast ballots.

The House Democrats plan to stay in Washington long enough to run out the clock on the current 30-day special legislative session, which ends Saturday. Its unclear what they plan to do afterward, as Congress approaches its August recess and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to call special session after special session until an elections measure passes.

TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

Rally organizers did not immediately provide a list of state legislators who would attend Tuesdays event, but all are Democrats. A news release touting the rally includes commentary from lawmakers representing Arizona, Georgia and Florida  states that have seen GOP-led efforts to restrict ballot access or overturn results in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Every issue we care about depends on voters ability to freely and fairly cast a ballot on Election Day  whether its health care, jobs or education, said Georgia state Rep. Billy Mitchell, the president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Right now, our democracy is at stake.

Republican leaders in Georgia, a purple state that narrowly chose President Joe Biden last fall and elected two Democratic U.S. senators, recently approved legislation that would limit absentee voting and likely cut early voting hours in populous areas, among other restrictions.

The For the People Act  currently held up in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans say the measure amounts to an assault on states rights  would override several of those provisions by expanding voter registration and widening access to mail-in ballots.

OVER THE WEEKEND: Thousands protest voting bill in Austin with Willie Nelson, Beto ORourke, the Rev. William J. Barber II

State Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican who authored the Texas elections bill, said in a Friday interview that the legislation has been unfairly lumped in with more far-reaching measures elsewhere.

This is an ongoing process for us, but theyre trying to drag us into this national debate about other states, what theyre doing, Hughes said. And so, yes, its frustrating. When were able to focus on what is in Senate Bill 1, people are fine.

The bill would outlaw voting methods piloted in Harris County last fall, including drive-thru and 24-hour voting, and introduce new ID requirements for absentee ballots. The legislation also removes some restrictions on partisan poll watchers, which Democrats say could lead to voter intimidation.

But the measure also expands the number of counties that need to keep polls open for at least 12 hours during the last week of early voting, and it introduces a new process for voters to correct absentee ballot signatures so their votes are not discarded.

The legislation would standardize voting hours across the state, opening a voting window starting at 6 a.m. and ending at either 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. (The Senate version of the legislation dictates 9 p.m.; the House bill, 10 p.m.)

The reality is that this legislation will expand voting hours where the vast majority of Texas voters are located and ensure uniformity in our elections, while at the same time making it harder to ballot harvest and cheat, state Rep. Jim Murphy, R-Houston and head of the Texas House Republican Caucus, said last month.

cayla.harris@express-news.net
There are times when the difference in rhetoric between Democrats and Republicans on immigration couldnt be more stark. Donald Trump frequently painted Latin American migrants as rapists and criminals, and infamously referred to developing nations as shole countries. While on the campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden embraced legal and undocumented immigrants as key contributors to society, saying that the idea the country can accommodate more immigrants is not a burden, but rather a gift.

But words arent actions, and through both Democratic and Republican administrations, the guiding U.S. immigration policy since at least 1994 has largely been one of prevention through deterrence. The theory goes that discouraging undocumented migrants from crossing the border at traditional entry points, arresting and deporting them in droves, would be a strong enough signal that the perilous journey across brutal deserts and mountainous regions is not worthwhile.

Yet every month, hundreds of thousands of migrants come anyone. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has logged more than 450,000 people apprehended, many caught more than once, so far this year alone. The destinies of these men, women, and children fleeing persecution or violence, or simply coming to this country to start a more sustainable life, are determined by the nuances of U.S. border policy. They are desperate, and in many cases, have legitimate claims for asylum that are falling through the cracks of a broken immigration processing system.

One policy  known as expedited removal  has been a pillar of our countrys border deterrence strategy when it comes to asylum seekers. Under this process, migrants are subjected to a brief interview with a border patrol officer and asked to prove a reasonable and credible fear of returning to their home countries. Those screenings are designed to ensure that no one risks torture or serious harm after being expelled. If they cannot prove credible fear, they may be deported in a matter of hours.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Jul. 26 that the expedited removal process will now apply to families who fail to qualify for asylum after these initial screenings, rather than be detained potentially for months awaiting their fate. The Biden administrations announcement was rolled out as part of a larger blueprint for overhauling the immigration system, with the goal of allowing asylum seekers to bypass immigration courts, which now have a backlog of more than 1.2 million cases.

But using expedited removal as a tool to speed up the asylum claims prioritizes expediency over fairness in an already flawed screening process rife with abuse and corruption.

In order to even be considered for asylum, migrants must know to ask for it when they are apprehended at the border. Many migrants are unlikely to have lawyers to walk them through this process, subjecting them to border patrol agents who are often poorly trained for these encounters. Without access to counsel or stronger accountability mechanisms baked into the asylum screening process, we fear that many migrants with legitimate asylum claims will end up flown back to Central America to the same nations where they face life-threatening danger.

Advocacy organizations such as Human Rights Watch have obtained records of Border Patrol agents failing to ask the appropriate screening questions, failing to record expressions of fear, and even pressuring asylum seekers to not express credible fear by verbally or physically abusing them.

Such cases include a woman who was subjected to an invasive and painful vaginal search in the process of border patrol agents taking her sworn statement. Another asylum seeker was threatened by agents with detention in a cold cell for several days if the person didnt sign deportation papers.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found in 2016 that in 86.5 percent of the cases where a fear question was not asked, the record inaccurately indicated that it had been asked, and answered.

Rather than figure out a more humane, efficient way to process asylum claims, the Trump administration used the pretense of the COVID-19 pandemic to make it nearly impossible for migrant asylum seekers to find safe haven. For years, Trump adviser Stephen Miller had been trying to use an obscure public health law designed to protect the nation from deadly diseases overseas as a means to close the border to asylum seekers. The arrival of COVID-19 granted Miller and Trump the opportunity to pressure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to close the border entirely to migrants entering from Mexico, effectively circumventing federal law that gives migrants the right to seek asylum upon arrival in the United States. This policy, called Title 42, has led to more than 640,000 expulsions since March 2020, and is still being used by the Biden administration to prevent asylum seekers from applying for humanitarian protection.

Bidens inaction on Title 42 has had dire consequences. Human Rights First, an independent advocacy organization, has tracked 3,250 kidnappings and other attacks, including rape, human trafficking and violent armed assaults against asylum seekers and migrants expelled to or blocked at the U.S.-Mexico border since Biden took office. Every day this policy remains in place, asylum seekers risk being targets of discrimination and violence.

This is the fractured immigration system Biden inherited, the same one he committed during his presidential campaign to make more fair and humane, a noble goal that he has quickly realized is enormously difficult to achieve. With massive numbers of migrants surging to the border and Republican critics painting Biden as an open borders socialist, the president has an impossible needle to thread: unwinding the inhumane policies of his predecessor while projecting an image politically as a border hawk maintaining a status quo deterrence strategy.

There are positive aspects of Bidens immigration blueprint that could begin to reform the asylum process. The administration is setting up a special immigration court docket to consider the asylum claims of some recent arrivals. Asylum officers  who are trained specifically to process asylum seekers  are now authorized to adjudicate asylum claims at the southern border. The presidents budget proposal also includes $15 million to provide legal representation to families and requests an additional 100 immigration judges to reduce the backlog in the immigration court system.

Still, there are glaring gaps in Bidens plan. Trump-era asylum rules remain in place that bar seekers from protection and delay their receiving work authorization to support themselves while their cases are pending. Nowhere does Bidens blueprint address the adult asylum seekers currently held in facilities facing delays in credible fear processing. While following COVID protocols, people seeking protection at the border should be released to stay with family and community in the United States while asylum cases are processed, not jailed in dangerous and traumatizing detention centers or deported summarily.

Its time this administration stand up and offer a full-throated defense of humane immigration policy. On his very first day in office, Biden sent a comprehensive immigration bill to Congress to fulfill one of his major campaign promises, a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, invest in technology and infrastructure at ports of entry on the border, remove obstacles to asylum, and shore up protections for immigrant workers. This is the vision we expect the president to uphold, not a continuation of status quo policies harmful to people seeking a better way of life.
WASHINGTON  Most Texans support measures requiring all eligible people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a recent survey.

More than 65 percent of Texans said they would support vaccine mandates issued by federal, state or local governments; the national average was 64 percent. More than 70 percent of Texans would support vaccine requirements to board an airplane; more than 62 percent would support vaccine mandates for children returning to schools; and 67 percent would support them for students returning to universities.

The findings come as some private businesses begin requiring vaccines, but government leaders have resisted such mandates as theyve struggled to convince large numbers of Americans to get vaccinated, even as the more contagious delta variant spreads. Less than 53 percent of Texans are fully vaccinated, according to state data.

COVID HELP DESK: What you need to know about the delta variant

President Joe Biden last week announced that federal workers will have to sign forms attesting theyve been vaccinated or else be required to wear masks, take weekly tests and more.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, issued an executive order last week barring local governments from limiting the capacity of restaurants and other businesses or requiring facial coverings, even if they are located in a hospital region with a high level of COVID-19 patients.

Abbott and other Texas Republicans have vocally opposed the idea of mandating vaccines.

The government has no business forcing you to take this vaccine, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said in a video he tweeted on Monday. Vaccines work  Ive been vaccinated, my familys been vaccinated. But thats a personal choice.

The national poll was conducted in June and July by the COVID States Project, a group of researchers at Northeastern University, Harvard University, Rutgers University and Northwestern University. It included a survey of 707 Texans and findings in the state carried a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.

The survey found Americans strongly support vaccine mandates, but there big gaps between Democrats and Republicans, and urban and rural residents.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to support mandates  84 percent to 45 percent  though support among both groups has ticked upward since a previous survey this spring.

Rural Americans, meanwhile, were 20 percentage points less supportive than urban residents, 53 percent to 73 percent, and white Americans were 18 points less likely to support requiring vaccines than Asian Americans, who were most supportive of mandates.

The poll also found women are nearly 10 percentage points less likely to support mandates than men, though both groups are highly supportive overall, at 60 percent and 69 percent.

ben.wermund@chron.com
The claim: Seventy four thousand ... Thats how many mail-in ballots were recently found in Arizona that have NO clear record of being sent in. Thats exactly why we are fighting so hard for election integrity in Texas.  fundraising mailer sent by the Republican Party of Texas.

The claim stems from a recent audit of the November election in Maricopa County, which includes Arizonas largest city, Phoenix.

PolitiFact rating: Pants on Fire. The claim, which has been repeated by Trump and others, has been roundly debunked, both by past and present Maricopa County election officials.

Discussion

The Texas GOP sent the mailer in mid-July in an attempt to attract donations for upcoming congressional races.

Arizonas preliminary audit results also caught the attention of former President Donald Trump, who issued a statement repeating the same finding: it seems that 74,243 Mail-In Ballots were counted with no clear record of them being sent.

The Arizona audit chief is Doug Logan, the chief executive officer of Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm hired by Arizona Senate Republicans. Cyber Ninjas had no prior experience in election auditing before it was hired, and Logan was an advocate of stop the steal conspiracy theories.

The Arizona state Senate held a hearing on the ongoing audit July 15. in which they announced preliminary results. In a Twitter thread that Maricopa County election officials published during the Senate hearing, they said that the audit results are not based in fact.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

During the Arizona Senate hearing, Logan said that a clerical error could explain the 74,243 figure.

We have 74,243 mail-in ballots where there is no clear record of their being sent. ... That could be something where documentation wasnt done right  there was a clerical issue, theres not proper things there  but I think when weve got 74,000, it merits, you know, knocking on a door and validating some of this information, he said, referring his suggestion to visit voters door to door as part of the audit.

During the hearing, Logan said he based the 74,000 number on two types of early voting reports issued by Maricopa County. But his understanding of what the two files represent was contradicted by Maricopa County officials.

Logan said that the EV32 file shows when mail-in ballots are sent, and the EV33 file shows when mail-in ballots are received by the county. The discrepancy between the two files accounts for Logans 74,243 figure.

However, Maricopa County election officials tweeted that the EV33 and EV32 files are not the proper files to refer to for a complete accounting of all mail-in ballots sent and received.

A former Maricopa County election official said the two files are created for political parties to aid them in their get-out-the-vote efforts during early voting, according to the Associated Press. The county is required to provide this data to political parties per Arizona law.

Furthermore, the county data shows both mail-in ballots and early in-person ballots as early votes, and both are included in the EV32 and EV33 totals.

Lastly, the two files capture votes submitted during different time periods. While the EV32 file includes all requests that voters made for early ballots up to 11 days before Election Day, the EV33 file includes returned early ballots up to the Monday before Election Day, according to the AP.

County officials said that the auditors suffered a lack of election knowledge & a wealth of political bias.

In a statement sent to PolitiFact Texas, a Texas GOP spokesperson blamed Democrats for attempting to overturn election code nationwide.

If the press and Democrats dont like the fact that 74,000 ballots have either major clerical errors or potential fraudulent backgrounds, they should be asking the Arizona Audit Chief for more information, spokesperson Luke Twombly said. The Texas GOP has always been committed to election integrity and full transparency. It has only been Democrats who have attempted to overturn election code nationwide and muddy the waters of an election that raised red flags across multiple states.

An audit performed by the election officials earlier this month found 182 clear cases of voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last years presidential election, according to the Associated Press. Each of the 182 cases were referred to investigators and so far four cases have led to charges.

President Joe Biden won the state by about 10,000 votes during the general election.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

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Tonight

Thunderstorms early, overcast overnight with occasional rain. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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Cloud computing already has a comparatively chequered history. We have moved from public cloud to now also understand how clouds can be built to deliver private, hybrid, multi and (just occasionally) poly-cloud instances, the latter being a separating-out of different parts of an application or data service workload across different cloud service providers.

But despite its rapid growth and current diversity of shapes and sizes - and despite the drive to adopt more virtualised work tools and platforms during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic - the widespread proliferation of cloud-native technologies are still somewhat stifled.

From FOMO to FOCN

Its not so much a case of FOMO (fear of missing out), its more of a case of FOCN (fear of cloud-native). Most companies are cloud-adoptive rather than cloud-native. A Rackspace survey carried out in 2020 suggested that while 9 in 10 businesses described themselves as cloud-native, they couldnt quite agree on what the term meant.

This is the view of Pini Reznik in his role as co-founder and chief revenue officer at Container Solutions, an Amsterdam headquartered company known for its cloud-native software engineering work. Reznik suggests that the fear of cloud-native adoption may be a factor of firms perceiving that this is the sole preserve of bigger blue-chip companies.
The arrival of the pandemic in early 2020 brought a wave of hardship for most Filipinos. But for a security guard at a Mandalupa City radio station, it brought a career-changing opportunity, as well as a new direction for a long-running local news show.

In March 2020, Al-Nasser Nash Joaquino, 23, had been working as the night-shift security guard at Bictor Arnas Dy Broadcasting Center in Barangay Silaway for about two years when the host of the radio stations morning news show Tito Mike Reyes, delivered some bad news. Reyes, 52, informed the station that he would be going into isolation indefinitely to protect himself against a possible coronavirus infection and would not be able to continue his show-hosting duties until the pandemic is resolved.

Real-life former security guard Nash Olayra at the station where he worked night shift before becoming a host.

Unsure of how to proceed, the shows producer and co-owner of the station, Marivic Arnas, looked around for a replacement host in a last-ditch effort to save the show, Flash Patrol, from being pulled off the air. Everybody was too scared to risk going to work, Ms. Arnas recalls. So I was about to give up when Nash, the night guard at the station, jokingly said he would do it. For Arnas, Nash's off-the-cuff remark got sparked an idea. At first I thought there is no way Nash could replace Tito Mike since he mostly just snacks, plays games on his phone and doesnt follow current events at all. But (Nash) is quite funny. He's always cracking jokes and making people around the station chuckle. Maybe he could pull it off."

It wasn't long before Ms. Arnas realized that Nashs lack of knowledge about the news (and the world in general) might be the perfect twist to give the show a new lease on life. The only other option would be to cancel the show. "So I asked him if hed seriously like to try. He thought I was kidding! After some test recordings to see how well Nash could handle reading headlines and giving improvised commentary, the result was clear to Arnas. "The show worked. I was quite relieved. And a little excited. It's not every day that a security guard gets to host a radio news show."

Nash after his transformation to full-time host of Flash Patrol

Flash Patrol is now airing in Tagalog on seven provincial Magik FM stations around the country. Listeners have so far responded favorably to the shows lighthearted new direction and folksy, authentic host. Audiences like how Nash often says what they are thinking. I think he connects with them in a way that they arent used to hearing on a regular news show , says Arnas. And Nash is entertaining. He's got a knack for comedy. Apparently Nash has taken on his new role with enthusiasm. Hes just happy to be sitting inside with the aircon, Arnas quips. When asked what will happen to the Flash Patrol should Tito Mike Reyes ever decide to return, she chooses her words carefully. Well cross that bridge when we come to it.

You can listen to Flash Patrol Monday-Thursdays mornings on Magik FM stations in Vigan, Laoag, Tacloban, Dipolog, Mandalupa, Lucena and Tuguegarao and or as a podcast for free on Spotify and other podcast apps.
Bumble, the 700-person global dating-app company founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, recently came up with a creative solution to pandemic-related employee burnout. It let everyone unplug--all at once.

"Our teams were expressing Zoom fatigue, as well as actual burnout," says Tariq Shaukat, the president of Bumble. The company had put in place measures to help employees concentrate, including "Focus Fridays," one workday a month with no meetings, no planning emails, and no Slack messages. Employees loved them, spurring the company's leaders to discuss how to further the stress-reduction effort.

Initially, they considered allocating extra days off but realized that wasn't the issue. Even on their days off, employees weren't completely disconnecting, Shaukat says: "The stress comes from always being connected--but when working from home, or vacationing, there's always a feeling of, 'What am I missing?'"

To eliminate the FOMO, Shaukat says management eventually decided to shut down most operations the week of June 21. "We wanted to help them actually unplug from the business," he says. "That only gets accomplished when everyone does it at the same time." In late April, Bumble tweeted its plan to give employees a week off, with the hashtag indicating the start of a movement in corporate mental health: #APaidWeekOff.

With the exceptions of cybersecurity employees and a core customer-service team, nearly 700 Bumble employees unplugged. Feedback from employees was a revelation, Shaukat says: "A number of people said, 'I had no idea how badly I was vacationing. Because I didn't have to constantly worry about what I was missing, I could actually disconnect.'"

The initiative went so well that Bumble in its July 29 all-staff meeting announced it was doubling down on collective time off. In the next year, it will provide two full weeks of companywide reset time, and also offer employees unlimited vacation.

Bumble wasn't the only company that had the idea. When LinkedIn found that pandemic-induced burnout had increased in the second quarter of 2021, the company gave many employees a week off in April. "This global week off was a gift for our employees to express our gratitude," Nina McQueen, the company's vice president of global talent benefits and employee experience, said in a statement.

Other businesses have followed suit. Hootsuite, the company behind a social media management platform, introduced a companywide wellness week off in July to help employee mental health. Momentive, a 1,500-person company formerly known as SurveyMonkey, also closed shop for a week in July to let employees recharge. And it's not just large tech companies jumping on the trend: Three bars in Philadelphia recently announced they would close for a week, giving employees paid time to de-stress after 16 months of shifting restrictions and responsibilities.

Shaukat says other businesses that are meeting- and teamwork-heavy could easily take a page from Bumble's new playbook. He advises planning well in advance of a companywide week off, in order to help employees plan travel or family time. (Bumble announced the week off six weeks in advance; he advises giving even more notice.)

Also, consider how to give comparable off-time to employees whose jobs are so core to operations that they cannot all simultaneously check out. How can teams plan so that executives--and, for example, cybersecurity professionals--can also experience the feeling of not needing to check in on their Slack or email?
Hugh Jackman has revealed he has undergone a skin biopsy for a possible cancer scare.

The star of stage and screen has previously been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on his nose, which is a malignant form of cancer, six times.

In a video posted on social media, where the actor can be seen wearing a bandage over his nose, he says: The doctors saw something that was a little irregular, so they took a biopsy and theyre getting it checked.

He also stressed the importance of wearing sunscreen when outdoors and in warm weather.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, this type of cancer is "usually caused by a combination of cumulative and intense, occasional sun exposure.

The Greatest Showman actor has previously said that he expects frequent recurrences of the cancer throughout his life and had his first diagnosis in 2013.

Best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men series of films, the Australian has used his social media to advocate for sunscreen use.

He frequently adds wear sunscreen to his posts.

Jackman is currently preparing for the Broadway revival of The Music Man which is opening later this year.
Billy Eichner has hit out at Matt Damon after the actor said he recently stopped using a homophobic slur once his daughter told him not to.

The actor faced criticised for revealing that he used the f-slur for a homosexual just months ago while at home, which then caused his daughter to write a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous.

I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter, he told The Sunday Times in a new interview. I said, I retire the f-slur! I understood.

The actor also suggested he thought it was OK to use the offensive term as it had featured in the Farrelly brothers 2003 comedy Stuck on You, which he starred in, as well as the fact it was commonly used when he was a child, but with a different application.

Damons admission has been received with shock on social media, with actor, comedian and TV presenter Eichner being one of many to comment on his words.

I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced f****t with, the Billy on the Street star wrote.

Damons admission came after the actor acknowledged that his quotes are picked up by news outlets more regularly now than they were when his career launched in the mid-1990s.

Twenty years ago, the best way I can put it is that the journalist listened to the music more than the lyrics [of an interview], he said. Now your lyrics are getting parsed, to pull them out of context and get the best headline possible.

Before it didnt really matter what I said, because it didnt make the news. But maybe this shift is a good thing. So I shut the f*** up more.

He then proceeded to share the anecdote about saying the homophobic slur.

Matt Damon is being criticised for saying he used f-slur for homosexual until recently (VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)

The Independent has contacted Damons representative for comment. The actor was promoting his new drama Stillwater, which is in cinemas on 6 August.
Dizzee Rascal has been charged with assaulting a woman following an incident in south London.

The rapper, 36, is due to appear in court next month over the alleged disturbance, which took place at a flat in Streatham, the Metropolitan Police said.

Officers were called to the address on 8 June and arrested the artist, real name Dylan Mills, at the scene on suspicion of common assault.

The force said a woman reported minor injuries.

The Metropolitan Police told The Independent: Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on 8 June.

Officers attended and a woman reported minor injuries. She did not require hospital treatment. Mills is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court on Friday, 3 September.

Last month, Mills marked the 18th anniversary of his debut album, Boy In Da Corner, which included hits such as I Luv U and Fix Up, Look Sharp.

The rapper, who was awarded an MBE in the Queens birthday honours in 2020 for his services to music, is due to play a run of shows this August in London and Swindon.
It is hard to tell if the latest chapter in the rehabilitation of Paris Hilton, a Netflix cooking series called Cooking with Paris, is surprising or not. On the one hand, Hilton is about the last person who comes to mind when you imagine someone slaving over a bourguignon below stairs, let alone eating one. On the other hand, cooking is an easy fit for her brand, and the thinnest of premises on which to hang half-hour chunks of Paris being Paris, in ever-more absurd costumes and antiseptic luxurious interiors. As the first episode opens, we see her in the supermarket in a hot pink diamante Covid mask and hot pink ballgown. Hilton turned 40 this year, and by now were all in on the joke, a point reinforced by the camera cutting to show the crew hard at work filming the illusion. Were no longer watching Paris, but the construction of the idea of Paris. Its best not to think about it.

The inspiration for the series appears to be a YouTube video Hilton made last year, which was watched by more than five million people, most of them presumably startled at the evidence Hilton could make a passable lasagne. Sadly her expertise does not reach to the first meal of the day. Cereal is my favourite food group and my number one: Lucky Charms, she says, introducing a breakfast menu inspired by marshmallows. She will enjoy this meal surrounded by dogs, balloons and shades of pink and white. Her first guest is Kim Kardashian, a childhood pal and fellow heiress-turned-sex-tape-veteran-turned-globe-straddling tycoon. Kardashian assumes the role of culinary guide, like Jack Grealish becoming a philosophy lecturer. Theres something endearing in watching the two women make pretend small talk about cooking, as though either has gone a day without a private chef.

The opening dish is sliving blue marshmallows, sliving being an elision of slaying and living your best life. The recipe calls for lashings of blue food colouring and glitter. Even Ottolenghi rarely calls for glitter. Next up is frosted flakes French Toast; less one night in Paris, more one night in the diabetes ward. How did you learn to do all this? Paris asks, observing Kim frying bacon. Whats a tong? Paris asks, marvelling at this alien utensil. Its good fun, as far as it goes. Hiltons persona is entertainingly wry. Its just pointless. Theres no serious cooking advice  which is fine, nobody is tuning in for Rick Stein  but nor is there insight into either woman. Watching Cooking with Paris is almost indistinguishable from not watching it.

You come away with the sense of a wasted opportunity. For all their desire to play the fool, Kardashian and Hilton are two of the internet ages most compelling figures: savvy and brilliant women who had rigged a full spread of sail before the rest of us knew which way the wind was blowing. There is a frisson to their personal lives, too. Hilton talks about wanting to settle down at last, having spent her whole life as a gilded 21-year-old. Kardashian, we know, recently got divorced. But these things hardly get a look-in amid all the meaningless gliding about. For Cooking with Paris to endure, it has to offer more than cooking with Paris.
China is taking a novel approach to biosecurity, with 13-story high hog hotels, constructed to keep pigs disease-free.

One such hotel in southern China is home to over 10,000 pigs which live in a condominium-style complex with security cameras, carefully prepared meals, veterinary services and restricted access.

Pork is the main type of meat in China and the hotels aim to protect the pigs from viruses, including African swine fever, which had devastating effects when it wiped out half the nations hogs in the two years pre-pandemic.

African swine fever affects pigs in a similar way to how Ebola affects humans. The last outbreak in China in 2018, saw 400 million pigs die which is more than entire annual output of pigs the United States and Brazil combined.

In response to this, giant vertical farms known as hog hotels are being built by companies, including Muyuan Foods and New Hope Group, copying the more rigorous controls used by other countries to prevent disease among pigs.

Mr Rupert Claxton, the UK-based meat director at consultant Gira said that the biosecurity gap between China and the US and Europe was closing.

He explained: In 20 years, its done what the Americans took probably 100 years to do,

Following the African swine fever outbreak, new agriculture policies were introduced in an attempt to move pig farming away from backyard farms to larger-scale, industrial operations.

As a result, hog numbers have rapidly accelerated which has in turn led to a drop in pork prices. The authorities have even begun to purchase pork for state reserves, to help shore up the market.

In fact, as of 2020, 57 per cent of the countrys pig production has come from farms supplying more than 500 hogs a year. Prior to the outbreak only around one per cent came from larger suppliers.

The threat of African swine fever is still ongoing, however, with 11 incidents reported so far in 2021. Chinas farm ministry said in July that this has resulted in the culling of more than 2,000 pigs.

Novel strains of the virus have begun to emerge in the pig population, meaning that it is becoming more complicated to respond to outbreaks. Hog hotels have systems in place to try and prevent outbreaks from occurring. These include robots which monitor the animals for fever, filter the air and automatically feed and disinfect.

Strict protocols are also enforced to minimise risks of an outbreak which could spread rapidly within a hog hotel due to the high number of pigs living there.

Staff members are made to shower and change their clothes when entering and exiting the facility. Wristwatches must also be left outside.

Some mega farms have even constructed dormitories for staff in an attempt to try and limit workers contact with the outside world.

Mr Claxton explained that China has avoided many of the restrictions which would affect creation of such large pig farms in other parts of the world.

He said: In Europe and US, there are restrictions on how big we can make a pig farm because people just object - they dont want to live next to these huge sites,

Adding: In China, that doesnt seem to be the case. If its decided that a pig farm is needed, then the space is available.

Additional reporting from Bloomberg
At least 300 street dogs were allegedly poisoned and killed, after which the carcasses were dumped in a pit near a lake in southern Indias Andhra Pradesh state, according to an animals rights activist.

Srilatha Challapalli, a treasurer of the Challapalli charitable trust which fights for animal issues, has claimed local village authorities to be responsible for the act.

Ms Challapalli told Indian media outlets that authorities in Lingapalem village hired animal killers to poison the stray animals as part of their resolve to reduce the population of street dogs, instead of sterilising them. The incident, she said, took place on 24 July in Andhra Pradeshs West Godavari district.

Ms Challapalli has filed a complaint with the local police in neighbouring Dharmajigudem village, after which a case was registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act against the secretary and the head of the village council.

She said she received information of the carcasses in the area and visited the location, where she saw the bodies of 300 dogs buried in the pits, most of which were in a semi-decomposed state.

After receiving the information, I visited the spot and found many dog carcasses. They were in a semi-decomposed state. In my inquiry I found that the Lingapalem local village officials hired some animal killers and injected the dogs with poison and killed them, she was quoted by news website The News Minute as saying.

Police have carried out a postmortem on the dog carcasses to determine if they were killed using poisonous substances. No further details have been given by the police yet.

The activist alleges that these dogs were killed by the local village authorities office. Based on the complaint, we have registered a case and also conducted an inquest. The investigation on the incident is underway, and we are yet to ascertain the facts, a police official from Dharmajigudem told TNM.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in India prohibits the killing or mutilation of any animal, including stray dogs and any other kind of cruelty towards animals. Critics of the law point to it not being tough enough to prevent a large number of incidents of animal cruelty that occur in the country.
As the US and the west retreat from Afghanistan, new players are being drawn into the countrys violent conflict and its bitterly divisive politics in the latest version of the Great Game, with unforeseen and potentially highly dangerous consequences for the region and beyond.

New alliances are being formed and old enmities revived between states and armed groups hovering for a division of the spoils amid continued strife in the country. The Afghan government is struggling to counter a Taliban offensive, following the pull-out of US-led forces.

One example of the new reality is what is happening at the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Tajik government has reacted to the Tajik Taliban being handed a strategic strip inside Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban, by rushing 20,000 troops to the border between the two countries.

Another is the effect on Pakistani militants. The Pakistani Taliban has declared that the victory of its allies, the Afghan Taliban  which has long had the support of Pakistans military and intelligence services  has inspired it to escalate its own jihad against the Pakistani state.

Then there is the increasingly important China factor. While the Afghan Taliban met the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, as part of its diplomatic offensive to prove that it is a responsible government in waiting, the Islamist group was also hosting fighters from Xinjiang, the region in China where Beijing is carrying out a brutal crackdown on what it terms Islamist extremism.

The complex, and at times conflicting, scenario is unfolding as the Taliban makes swift gains following US president Joe Bidens decision to pull out American forces at speed. Large swathes of the countryside are now under the control of the insurgents, who have launched assaults on cities including Herat, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah.

Islamic State (IS), the TTP and their affiliates are using their bases in Afghanistan to plan and initiate attacks on Pakistans armed forces Moeed Yusuf, Pakistans national security adviser

Afghanistans land borders are now effectively under Taliban control. The Taliban have also now begun to systematically hit airports, making it difficult for the government to move troops, and further cutting off the Afghan people from the outside world.

The Tajik confrontation began when the Taliban seized the border areas and placed control of five districts in Afghanistans Badakhsan province  Kuf Ab, Khwalan, Maimay, Nusay and Shekay  into the hands of Jamaat Ansarullah, aka the Tajik Taliban, which is banned as a terrorist organisation in Tajikistan.

Jamaat Ansarullah has been accused by Tajik and Afghan authorities of working alongside the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP), the regional affiliate of Isis. Footage had appeared recently on social media of insurgent fighters, speaking with Tajik accents, executing Afghan soldiers.

With Ansarullahs presence growing, the Dushanbe government sent the 20,000-strong contingent of troops to the frontier. It had already carried out military drills with 230,000 members of its armed forces as the Afghan Taliban gathered in the area.

Tajikistan has asked for help from Vladimir Putins government. Russias defence minister Sergei Shoigu, during a visit to Dushanbe, blamed the deteriorating security situation on the hasty withdrawal of US-led international forces. This week the Kremlin announced that around a thousand troops would be sent to take part in a joint exercise with the armed forces of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan starting on Thursday, and urgent military supplies would be sent to Tajikistan.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu blames the current security situation in Afghanistan on the hasty US troop withdrawal (Reuters)

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed to replicate the success its jihadist allies have enjoyed across the frontier in Afghanistan. The head of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Noor Wali Mehsud, vowed a holy war against Imran Khans government, and said he hoped to get support from the Afghan Taliban his group had backed in their armed struggle.

The victory of Afghan Taliban is the victory of entire Muslim people, and relations with them are based on brotherhood, sympathy and Islamic Principle, he told the broadcaster CNN . Our fight is with Pakistan as we are at war with the Pakistani armed forces.

Mehsud, who recently took over as the leader of the TTP  an organisation that has carried out a series of lethal attacks in Pakistan, and is banned in the country  said that the first stage of the campaign would be to wrest control of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tribal areas.

With military momentum seemingly on their side, the Afghan Taliban have been meeting ministers and officials of other states, including China, Russia, Iran, and even India, arch-rivals of their Pakistani sponsors.

The Taliban claim to be great champions of Muslims, but they never complain about what is being done to the Uyghur population in Xinjiang Senior Afghan security official

A Taliban delegation met the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Tianjin, with the US secretary of state Antony Blinken holding that Beijings involvement in Afghanistan could be a  positive thing if it led to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and paved the way for a truly representative and inclusive government for the country.

The presence of foreign fighters in the country will impede the chances of the peaceful resolution to the conflict. And it is not just Tajiks who have been present alongside the Afghan Taliban in Badakhshan, but also fighters from Chechnya and Uyghurs from Xinjiang, according to a number of officials including Akhtar Mohammad Khairzada, the deputy governor of the province.

A senior Afghan security official said: The Taliban claim to be great champions of Muslims, but they never complain about what is being done to the Uyghur population in Xinjiang. Their double game, in the meantime, continues with hosting Uyghur extremists.

The fact that they are allowing Tajik extremists to control areas in Afghanistan reveals that their real aim is to create an Islamic emirate across many countries. There are other extremist groups that have the same aim, which is the reason that countries that are actively interfering in Afghanistan, like Pakistan, may regret what they are doing.

The Pakistani Taliban has carried out 32 attacks inside Pakistan since the start of the year.

Moeed Yusuf, Pakistans national security adviser, acknowledged that the security situation in Afghanistan was extremely bad and claimed that it was out of Pakistans control. Major General Babar Iftikhar, speaking for the countrys army, said an Afghan civil war was bound to spill over the border. We are aware of the situation and have taken several measures to deal with it. Islamic State (IS), the TTP and their affiliates are using their bases in Afghanistan to plan and initiate attacks on Pakistans armed forces, he said.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China (AP)

The Chinese government has recently repeated its criticism of the US for delisting the East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement, with its predominantly Uyghur membership, as a group. A Beijing official stressed that as recently as July 2020, the UN identified thousands of Uygur Islamic State fighters in Syria and Afghanistan.

Last weekend, Chinas president Xi Jinping called on his countrys military command to strengthen its solidarity with the Communist Party, as he warned of potential armed conflict along with security concerns at the countrys border with Afghanistan.

The twists, turns and fall-outs from Afghanistans long civil wars will continue as the west leaves a divided and shattered land. It is, of course, something the west has done before, walking away after using the mujahideen against the Russians. The result, as we know, was the creation of ungoverned space, the setting up of terrorist training camps  including those of al-Qaeda  and the 9/11 attacks on America.
 Close Turkey's wildfires rage-on for the 9th day in a row

Thousands of people in Greece have fled to safety from a wildfire burning for a fourth day north of Athens, amid the worst heatwave in the country for decades.

Greek authorities have warned of more fires, with emergency services forecasting strong winds and searing temperatures.

Fire crews, water-dropping planes, helicopters and vehicles from France, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland are due to arrive today and throughout the weekend.

There are 56 active fronts across Greece, from the Peloponnese to the island of Evia near the capital, where hundreds of people had to leave by boat as flames burned through forestland to the shore.

In neighbouring Turkey, hundreds of volunteers have joined efforts to contain fires that swept through the countrys southern and southwestern coasts. At least eight people have been killed in the fires, described as the countrys worst in living memory.
Floridas coronavirus cases jumped 50% this week, the state Health Department reported Friday, continuing a six-week surge that has seen it responsible for 1 in 5 new infections nationally, becoming the outbreak's epicenter.

The release came shortly after Gov. Ron DeSantis barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month, saying there is no evidence they prevent outbreaks among students or staff.

More than 110,000 new coronavirus cases were reported statewide over the past week, up from 73,000 last week and 11 times the 10,000 reported the week of June 11, six weeks ago. Case numbers are now back to where they in January, just before vaccinations became widely available.

The Florida Hospital Association also said Friday that statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations are nearing last years peak. More than 9,300 patients are hospitalized, up from 1,845 a month ago and nearing the record 10,179 set on July 23, 2020. On a per capita basis, Florida now has more people hospitalized than any other state.

The state reported 409 deaths this week, bringing the total to more than 39,000 since its first in March 2020. The states peak happened in mid-August 2020, when 1,266 people died over a seven-day period. Deaths usually follow increases in hospitalizations by a few weeks.

DeSantis has blamed the surge on a seasonal increase  more Floridians are indoors because of the hot weather with air conditioning circulating the virus. About 60% of Floridians 12 and older are vaccinated, ranking it about midway among the states. DeSantis said barring mask mandates at schools will improve students' experience and make it easier for them to focus on learning.

I have (three) young kids. My wife and I are not going to do the mask with the kids. We never have, we wont. I want to see my kids smiling. I want them having fun, DeSantis said at a news conference in southwest Florida a few hours before he signed the executive order. DeSantis is seeking reelection next year and has been positioning himself nationally for a possible 2024 presidential bid. But his critics are blaming his unwillingness to mandate mask wearing, such as his executive order barring mask requirements at public schools.

We know that masks are a simple and effective way to help prevent virus spread, and from a medical perspective it makes absolutely zero sense to discourage their use, said Dr. Bernard Ashby, head of Florida's progressive Committee to Protect Health Care. "DeSantis power grab will put the health of kids and teachers alike at risk.

DeSantis' decision came after the Broward County school board voted to require masks and other districts and colleges around the state were considering it.

We will have to change our policy, Broward board member Debbi Hixon told the South Florida SunSentinel. I am not looking to defy the governor. I believe it is an irresponsible decision but if it is the law, I will agree to follow it.

The Florida Education Association, the state's teachers union, said DeSantis should leave the decision to local officials rather than impose a statewide edict  a position he once held. When the pandemic began in March 2020, DeSantis said local officials should control the response, that the business closures and mask mandates imposed in Miami Tampa and other big cities wouldn't work in small, rural counties.

Gov. DeSantis continues to think that Tallahassee knows best what all Floridians need, union President Andrew Spar said in a statement. We reject that kind of thinking. Instead, we ask Gov. DeSantis to allow all Floridas citizens to have a voice by empowering the elected leaders of cities, counties and school districts to make health and safety decisions locally.

Meanwhile, Publix the state's largest supermarket chain, announced Friday that employees will again be required to wear masks and several hospitals said they are postponing elective surgeries and limiting visitors.

At Tampa General Hospital, the 90-plus patients hospitalized with COVID already exceeds the previous high of 86, said Dr. Seetha Lakshmi, medical director of its Global Emerging Diseases Institute. She said the hospital, like many, can't hire enough staff and it is leaving those working exhausted.

It feels like we are getting hit by a train, the pace is so fast and uncontrolled, Laskshmi said. I just dont have any words anymore. This is awful, just awful and it is going to be awful."

She said last year, her patients' median age was in the 70s. Now, it is just over 50, with the younger patients getting sicker than in the past.

She pointed to a patient in his early 30s whose lungs sound like Velcro being pulled apart. A father of young children, he will likely have permanent damage and might need a transplant eventually, she said.

She said 83% of Tampa General's COVID patients are unvaccinated while the others have immune-deficiency issues that prevented the vaccine from working.

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Gomez Licon reported from Miami.

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Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, has been living in the Indian capital of New Delhi since 2013 when he fled violence in Myanmar Stateless, and now homeless after a fire razed his camp, the 35-year-old lives in a tent with as many as 10 other people at a time.

Before the pandemic, he ran a small business selling groceries from a shack. But that was closed during India's harsh, months-long lockdown, and his savings are gone. He and his family have been surviving on donated food, but he has to return to work soon, despite the risk of getting COVID-19 and infecting others.

Although some refugees in India have begun getting vaccines, no one in his camp has received shots. Just over 7% of India's population is fully vaccinated and vaccine shortages have plagued the nation of almost 1.4 billion.

The disease doesnt discriminate. If we get infected, locals will also, Salimullah said.

It wasnt supposed to be like this.

For months the World Health Organization urged countries to prioritize immunizing refugees, placing them in the second priority group for at-risk people, alongside those with serious health conditions.

That's because refugees inevitably live in crowded conditions where the virus can spread more easily, with little access to the most basic health care or even clean water, said Sajjad Malik director of the U.N. refugee agencys division of resilience and solutions.

They are really living in difficult situations, he said.

Over 160 countries included refugees in their plans, but these have been upended by supply shortages. According to the WHO, some 85% of vaccines have been administered by rich countries. In contrast, 85% of the world's 26 million refugees live in developing countries struggling to vaccinate even the most vulnerable, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Some countries, like Bangladesh, pinned their hopes on COVAX, the global initiative aimed at vaccine equity. In February, it altered its original vaccination plan to include nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps on the countrys border with Myanmar. But so far, its received only 100,620 doses less than 1% of its allocated shots  from COVAX, leaving Rohingya refugees without.

COVAX hasnt only faltered in Bangladesh. Globally the initiative has delivered less than 8% of the 2 billion vaccine doses it had promised by the end this year.

Even in countries where refugee vaccination has started, supplies remain an issue. In Ugandas Bidi Bidi camp less than 2% of the 200,000 refugees have received a single shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with second doses in short supply after India stopped exporting them after its own cases exploded.

Other obstacles ranging from language barriers to misinformation about vaccines are exacerbating the problem. Thomas Maliamungu, a South Sudanese refugee and teacher in Bidi Bidi, said he overcame his fears to get his first shot only after it was made mandatory for teachers.

Based on the rumors on the ground, I never wanted it," he said.

Some countries, like India, initially required documents like passports or other government identification, that many refugees lack to register for vaccines. Online registration was also a barrier for many without internet access.

India started vaccinating people in January. Four months later documentation requirements were eased. The Chin community in New Delhi, a Christian minority who fled the violence in Myanmar, started getting shots in June. By then, Indias monstrous surge had already ripped through their crowded settlement, with entire families falling sick and dying.

With the citys health system collapsing, refugees struggled to get a hospital bed and private hospitals were charging around $4,000 for a few days, said James Fanai, president of the Chin Refugee Committee in Delhi. Getting oxygen was almost impossible, he said.

Registration initiatives, like volunteers going to camps to help refugees sign up for vaccines, have sometimes fallen flat, said Miriam Alia Prieto, the vaccination and outbreak response adviser for Doctors Without Borders.

Many arent in camps but living with relatives, she said, noting refugee populations in Jordan and Lebanon.

Due to the transient nature of some refugee populations, some countries in Europe are gravitating towards using the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine for refugees. Prieto said that Spain is waiting for these vaccines to arrive. Greece began a drive for those living in migrant camps and shelters in early June using Johnson & Johnson shots.

Refugees are getting shots in EU countries, but the situation is worse in other parts of the continent, said Frido Herinckx, COVID-19 Operations Manager at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescents Regional Office for Europe. For example, only some 1.5% of people in Armenia and 4.2% in Ukraine are fully vaccinated.

In some countries, like Montenegro, the fear of arrest or deportation remains an obstacle and, he said, Red Cross volunteers are accompanying migrants, including refugees, to help them get shots while ensuring they weren't arrested afterwards.

"So (its) keeping that firewall between ... the border guards and the health service, he said.

But even if vaccine supply increases theres the issue of liability  the question of whos responsible in rare cases of serious side effects from the vaccine.

Humanitarian organizations can apply to distribute vaccines under the humanitarian buffer  a contingency mechanism set up by COVAX as a last resort. But doing so also means accepting liability for any serious side effects.

Prieto said Doctors Without Borders wants to try to get vaccines from the manufacturers but doesn't want to assume liability. Many vaccine makers have refused to ink deals for vaccines or ship them without that stipulation.

Another obstacle, she said, is that sometimes a vaccine greenlit by WHO is not yet authorized by the host country, creating a mismatch between what vaccines are available and what can be used.

Were in this weird phase where theres a drug being approved, but no one wants to take liability, she said.

As the virus continues to spread, the difficulties facing vaccinating refugee populations around the globe could spell disaster for host communities.

The virus doesnt distinguish between a national and a refugee. So, if you dont protect and save your refugee population it becomes a public health issue, Malik said.

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Milko reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. AP journalists Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

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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 minister has defended the government's pandemic travel rules amid suggestions a new amber watchlist could be created for countries  possibly including Italy and Spain  which would signal they were close to going red.

Matt Warman, minister for digital infrastructure, denied claims the guidelines were complicated  and defended the idea of moving away from three cut-and-dried categories for travel.

Saying to people if a country is on a watch list there is a risk that it could, for instance, move from green to amber or amber to red seems to me to be providing people with really important information when theyre making significant financial decisions, he said.

Asked if a list including green, green watch, amber, amber plus, amber watch and amber red categories would confuse people, the minister said: Youre going to be hearing more from the transport secretary later this week about the details of that.

But what youre describing is a spectrum of countries ranging from green to red. And I think providing people with some indication of the fact that it is not simply three cut-and-dried categories is giving people more information.

It comes as industry experts warned the government that introducing a new travel traffic light category would be a disaster.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, tweeted: There's no need for an amber watchlist, which would complicate the traffic light system even more.

Just create a simple go and no-go list, as Americans have, enabling the fully-jabbed to travel at will. It's not rocket science.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Charles added: At the moment the system in the UK is choking off recovery, and it's not helping the sector because there's no confidence to book because people are worried about places changing at short notice anyway.

It would be a disaster to bring in an amber watchlist on top of the amber list, the green list, the red list.

There is already a green watchlist to alert holidaymakers that certain destinations could be relegated to the amber list, where anyone not fully vaccinated has to self-isolate for 10 days on their return.

All travellers entering the UK from green list locations do not have to self-isolate, while there is also an amber-plus list, containing only France at present, which scraps the quarantine exemption for the double-jabbed.

Ministers are due to meet on Thursday to decide the travel rules that will be in place for most of August.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is said to be against the idea of an amber watchlist and would instead like to see travel opened up further.

Analysts have predicted that Spain could be the next country to go on the amber-plus list, in what would be a blow to British tourists given the country is the UK's most popular tourist destination, while France could be promoted to amber once again.

As many as 17 countries could also be added to the green list, including Germany, Canada and Romania after more encouraging Covid infection and vaccination rates were recorded, Mr Charles said.

No 10 sources said it was too early to speculate on what changes might be made, and pointed to the decision to allow into Britain those fully vaccinated coming from the US and European Union as an example of the governments willingness to see looser restrictions.

From Monday, travel rules are being eased for travellers from Europe and the United States, with fully vaccinated travellers able to avoid having to quarantine.

Additional reporting by PA
A terrorist who launched an attack after being released from prison declared that he was not finished with non-believers days before he was freed.

Sudesh Amman, a 20-year-old Isis supporter, stabbed two people before being shot dead in the London district of Streatham on 2 February 2020.

It came 10 days after he was released from prison after serving a sentence for terror offences, having encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents and declared his own wish to carry out an attack.

Detective Superintendent Dominic Murphy, of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said Amman appeared to retain his extremist mindset and wish to carry out an attack while in prison.

He had originally been arrested in May 2018 on suspicion of planning a terror attack, but was charged with lesser offences relating to Isis propaganda.

In December 2019, handwritten notes were found in his cell that appeared to show a pledge of allegiance to the leader of Isis, Det Supt Murphy said.

Amman was put in segregation after joining a protest at HMP Belmarsh in January 2020, and police received a report that he told a fellow inmate he was not finished with these non-believers yet.

The inquest heard that a senior Metropolitan Police officer expressed concerns about Ammans release to prison officials and asked if his sentence could be extended, but was told it could not.

He was released automatically on 23 January, placed in a probation service hostel in Streatham and subjected to a curfew, electronic tag and several licence conditions.

He immediately became the subject of a priority investigation by MI5 and the Metropolitan Police, the inquest heard.

They initially put Amman under daytime surveillance by undercover officers because of concerns he might commit another offence, and on 29 January the officers were authorised to carry guns.

Two days later, Amman was seen looking at knives in a shop and purchasing items that could be used to make a hoax explosive belt, and the operation was upgraded to 24-hour armed surveillance.

A CCTV still showing Sudesh Amman on his way to commit the Streatham terror attack on 2 February 2020 (Metropolitan Police)

Opening the inquest into his death on Monday, coroner Justice Nicholas Hilliard told jurors that Amman was being followed by four undercover armed police officers on foot when he launched the attack, while others were in vehicles on surrounding roads.

The Royal Courts of Justice heard that the officers were watching as Amman entered a shop on Streatham High Road called Low Price Store and one moved close to the entrance.

Inside the shop, Amman grabbed a 20cm kitchen knife from a display and ran with it from the shop, removing the packaging quickly, Justice Hilliard said.

He ran north on Streatham High Road with [undercover officer] BX87 running behind at 15-20 metres and shouting for him to stop.

Within seconds, Amman stabbed a woman in the back outside a pub and shortly afterwards, struck a man in his torso. Both victims survived.

As he ran past a Lidl supermarket a second police officer chasing Amman opened fire but missed him and shattered a shop window.

Amman ran on until stopping outside a Boots chemist and turning to officers while holding the knife, at which point he was shot twice.

A CCTV still showing undercover armed police officers chasing Sudesh Amman, right, with their guns drawn after he stabbed two people in the Streatham attack (Metropolitan Police)

He was pronounced dead at the scene, following an attack that lasted 62 seconds in total.

Like other terror attacks that happened previously at HMP Whitemoor and Fishmongers Hall, he was wearing a homemade fake suicide belt.

The inquest heard that Amman was born in Coventry to parents who had come to the UK as refugees from Sri Lanka, and moved to London as a child.

He was referred to childrens services over mental health concerns in 2014 and moved to a school that offered additional support for challenging behaviour the following year.

Amman was arrested in 2016 for attacking another pupil with a weapon, but not charged because the victim refused to support a prosecution, and was excluded from school for fighting in 2017. That year, he was also arrested for assault, making threats with a weapon and making threats to kill.

A friend later told police that Amman said he had spent most of the time in his cell reading the Quran and had changed from that time, starting to pray regularly, grow a beard and wear a religious hat.

A bullet hole in the front of a Lidl supermarket in Streatham High Road after police opened fire at terrorist Sudesh Amman (Metropolitan Police)

School and social work records included incidents of cannabis use and violence, and concerns around Ammans anger issues.

The inquest heard that he was referred to the government Prevent counter-extremism programme in June 2017 but the information didnt meet the threshold for ideological intervention.

Records showed Amman starting to express fears of police labelling him as a terrorist and express anger about the Syrian civil war and treatment of Muslims around the world.

In May 2018, he was arrested by counter-terror police after being identified as the user of a Telegram account that had posted Isis propaganda and urged attacks on a pro-gay rights speaker.

Police who investigated the Streatham attack said they did not find evidence that anyone else was involved or informed of Ammans intentions.

Isis claimed responsibility for the stabbing the following day, but Det Supt Murphy said there was no information to suggest any connection between Amman and Isis and that it was not unusual for the terrorist group to claim responsibility for incidents without any involvement. The inquest continues.
More voters blame the EU for post-Brexit trade problems in Northern Ireland than the UK government, a new poll has found.

Almost half of British voters aware of the difficulties in implementing Northern Ireland Protocol rules blame Brussels for those frictions  while less than one-third blames Boris Johnsons government.

Some 45 per cent think the EU is mostly responsible for the trade problems in the province, compared with just 31 percent who believe the UK is mostly responsible, according to the latest Redfield and Wilton Strategies survey.

The EU and UK remain completely at odds over the implementation of new checks and processes on goods being shipped into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

The dispute remains at an impasse, after the EU Commission said it would pause legal action against the UK over alleged breaches of the deal agreed last year in the hope solutions could still be found.

The Redfield and Wilton poll for Politico revealed that a significant chunk of the British electorate is completely unaware of the post-Brexit quarrel between the UK and EU.

It found that almost one in four voters  23 per cent  said they were not aware of any problems implementing the protocol in Northern Ireland.

Among those who had followed the dispute, 17 percent said they were very aware of protocol problems, 25 per cent say they were somewhat aware and 35 per cent of people were moderately aware.

The poll comes as a new ConservativeHome survey of Tory members found that international trade secretary Liz Truss was the single most popular cabinet minister.

Ms Truss  who has forged a series of post-Brexit roll-over deals with other countries which largely replicate arrangements the UK had when in the EU  has a net approval rating off 88.6, ahead of chancellor Rishi Sunak on a rating of 74.1.

The summer impasse over the protocol emerged after Brussels rejected the a command paper put forward by the UK government suggested the protocol is radically reworked to limit the checks on goods.

Downing Street has rejected Brussels proposal for a Swiss-style veterinary agreement with Brussels to reduce checks since it would mean aligning with EU standards.

Northern Irelands newly-appointed first minister Paul Givan has said the EUs decision to pause legal action has allowed both sides a window of opportunity to resolve post-Brexit trading issues.

The senior DUP figure said the UK government recognises the harm caused by protocol  and urged the Irish government to make clear to Brussels that changes would have to be made.

Peers warned last week that the protocol risks becoming a constant irritant in future EU-UK relations unless both sides change their fundamentally flawed approaches to resolving the dispute.

A House of Lords committee warned that Northern Ireland could become a permanent casualty of Brexit unless compromise is found urgently.
The UK government has said all the evidence points to Iran being responsible for a drone attack on a ship in the Middle East which left a British citizen dead.

The Foreign Office has said that it believes the strike on the oil tanker off the coast of Oman was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran.

The UKs minister for digital infrastructure Matt Warman said on Monday that all the evidence that we see points to the fact that it was Iranian action.

Irans ambassador to the UK was also summoned to the Foreign Office, where Middle East minister James Cleverly told the diplomat that Tehran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security.

The Iranian government has denied responsibility  but the British government warned Tehran that it was working with allies on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack.

Asked on Sky News what the retaliatory response might be, Mr Warman said: It means working with those international partners. Its right that this is a multi-lateral response.

The strike on the MV Mercer Street tanker on Thursday night was the first known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal.

UK maritime security firm Ambrey said the attack  which saw a hole blasted through the vessels bridge  killed one of its British employees aboard. A Romanian national was also killed, the Foreign Office said.

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a statement on Sunday afternoon condemning the unlawful and callous attack committed on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman, which killed a British and a Romanian national.

The cabinet minister also said it was highly likely Iran had carried out a deliberate drone attack on the oil tanker. Mr Raab added: Iran must end such attacks, and vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.

Mr Warman told Sky News that the UK government had consulted with international partners on who was behind the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) attack.

All the evidence that we see points to the fact that it was Iranian action, that is I think an important thing to say publicly. Now the issue is working with those international partners to see what action can be taken, the minister said.

So its a very serious situation and one that wed like to see the end of as quickly as possible, so Iran really does need to do better, I think, on this situation.

The UKs stance was supported by the US, with secretary of state Antony Blinken stating he was confident that Iran conducted this attack.

Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett accused Tehran of trying to shirk responsibility for the attack  calling its denial cowardly.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference on Sunday that the Zionist regime [Israel] has created insecurity, terror and violence ... These accusations about Irans involvement are condemned by Tehran.

Labour Partys shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has urged Boris Johnsons government to make it clear to the incoming Iran president Ebrahim Raisi  a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  that the killing of a British national will carry costs.

The MV Mercer Street tanker is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofers Zodiac Group. The vessel had been on its way from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates at the time of the attack.

The American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the guided missile destroyer USS Mitscher were escorting the MV Mercer Street as it headed to a safe port, the US navys Middle East-based 5th Fleet said in a statement on Saturday.

It said navy explosive experts believed a drone attacked the vessel. The drone attack blasted a hole through the top of the oil tankers bridge, where the captain and crew command the vessel, a US official said.
White House medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci has warned things are going to get worse in the US, amid a surge in the Delta variant of coronavirus.

Were looking not, I believe, to lockdown but were looking to some pain and suffering in the future because were seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again: The solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening, he told ABC News on Sunday.

There are some breakthrough infections among vaccinated  we expect that because no vaccine is 100 per cent effective  but in the breakthrough infections they are mostly mild or without symptoms, he added. Whereas the unvaccinated, who have a much, much, much greater chance of getting infected in the first place, are the ones that are vulnerable to getting severe illness that may lead to hospitalisation, and in some cases death.

The number of average new weekly cases has risen by more than six times between June and July, from 11,473 to 72,493 as of this Sunday, according to the CDC.

And nowhere is worse off than Florida, now the national epicentre of the epidemic .

On Sunday, it broke its previous record for coronavirus hospitalisations, which it set last summer well before vaccines had been developed, with 10,207 hospitalisations confirmed.

The state is also leading the nation in per capita hospitalisations, and averaging 1,525 people in Covid beds per day.

Florida doctors said this week theyre angry and ashamed over state governor Ron DeSantiss response to the resurgent coronavirus.

The high profile Republican has repeatedly criticised federal public health guidance and vowed not to institute new lockdowns or mask mandates, even as the state becomes the national epicentre of the virus, with the Delta variant ravaging the unvaccinated segments of its population.

While hospitals in our state were filling up, DeSantis was shouting about Freedom over Faucism, Bernard Ashby, a Miami cardiologist who leads the states Committee to Protect Health Care, told WLRN .

If DeSantis were as concerned about stopping Covid-19 spread as he was about coming up with these clever jabs about Dr. Fauci, we might not be in this position.

The governors office insists the state is in good shape under Mr DeSantiss Covid leadership, with the recent spike just a seasonal jump, but Floridas Covid data tells another, far more grim story.

The governor has made countless public appearances all over the state to encourage vaccination, and he has spoken positively of the vaccines in public remarks nearly 100 times this year, Mr DeSantiss office said in a statement to The News Service of Florida.

Hes proud of the successful rollout and the Seniors First strategy, which means 85 percent of our most vulnerable population is vaccinated, and thousands of lives saved. COVID cases, hospitalisations and especially deaths are down significantly compared to this time last year.

Florida is now the national centre of the Delta-fuelled Covid resurgence. Cases are up 50 per cent week over week, with 110,000 new ones this week alone, levels not seen since January when the vaccine wasnt widely available. The state has a positivity rate of 18.1 per cent, and more people hospitalised than any other state in America.

Whats more, the people caring for those in hospital are at risk too: Florida health care workers have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation. An AARP report found that as of last month, just 42 per cent of the states nursing home workers were fully vaccinated, well behind the national average of 56 per cent.

There is no higher risk area in the United States than were seeing here, Dr. Aileen Marty, a Florida International University infectious disease expert, told the Miami CBS affiliate . The numbers that were seeing are unbelievable, just unbelievably frightening.

Despite the growing threat, Mr DeSantis has held fast to a stance against lockdowns, mandates, and other measures shown to stop the spread.

It is very important that we say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates, Mr DeSantis said Wednesday night in Salt Lake City at a conservative conference.
Bacon could be set to disappear from California supermarket shelves or become significantly more expensive as the state begins enforcing animal welfare propositions.

The regulations, which were approved by voters in 2018, demand more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves in captivity.

Currently, only four per cent of hog providers adhere to the new rules, which will come into force next year, meaning California could run the risk of losing most of its pork supply.

To keep the industry running, the courts would need to intervene or the state would need to temporarily allow non-compliant meat to bypass the regulations.

Jeannie Kim, who has run the SAMS American Eatery in San Francisco for 15 years and through the pandemic, said the new rules could be devastating for her business.

Our number one seller is bacon, eggs and hash browns, she said.

According to the Humane Society, the proposition will make sure pork, eggs and veal products produced or sold in the California marketplace come from facilities that do not confine animals in tiny cages for their entire lives.

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, said in 2018: "California voters have sent a loud and clear message that they reject cruel cage confinement in the meat and egg industries."

However, Matt Sutton, the public policy director for the California Restaurant Association said it was very concerned about the potential supply impacts and therefore cost increases.

The pork industry has so far filed lawsuits but so far courts have supported the California law.

Hog farmers say the measures will be expensive and have criticised the state for not issuing formal regulations on how the new standards will be administered and enforced.

The National Pork Producers Council has also requested that the US Department of Agriculture pay for the renovation of facilities with federal aid to meet the requirements.

Californias restaurants and groceries use about 255 million pounds of pork a month. If half its pork supply was lost, bacon prices could jump 60 per cent.

Reporting by the Associated Press
Health experts have reported seeing an increased number of young children and babies contracting a respiratory illness, as they warn the uptick could be due to coronavirus restrictions lifting.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a health advisory last month warning about the increase of children contracting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

RSV, which typically spikes during the winter months, can cause severe illness in children five years and younger and older adults.

Dr Claudette Poole, a paediatric infectious diseases physician at Childrens of Alabama, told NBC News that the virus was likely making up from the winter season, which was when most of the country was under stricter coronavirus restrictions.

My speculation is that because we suppressed its normal circulation time during the winter, its sort of making up for lost time now, Dr Poole said.

In most cases with RSV, the virus just causes mild symptoms similar to the common cold. But it can develop into severe bronchitis and pneumonia in young children and the elderly. Typically it kills about 500 children under the age of five each year.

RSV activity remained low between May 2020 and March 2021, but the CDC has reported that there has since been an uptick in cases since late March, according to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), a laboratory-based surveillance network.

Health experts said reduced circulation of RSV during the winter season might mean that infants and toddlers could have an increased risk of severe RSV symptoms since they did not experience normal levels of exposure to the virus compared to past seasons  referring to it as an immunity debt.

An immunity debt can happen when people who have not been exposed to normal levels of viruses and bacterias experience a surge in infections when coming in contact with a virus.

There werent as many children in daycare because many parents were out of work or working from home, Dr Sean McTigue, interim chief of the division of paediatric infectious diseases at University of Kentucky HealthCare, told NBC News.

The respiratory illness, like Covid-19, can spread through droplets in the air when someone coughs or sneezes.

The United States is not the only country experiencing a spike in RSV cases. New Zealand has also reported an increase in children falling ill with the respiratory virus.

The country has reported nearly 1,000 RSV cases in the past five weeks, according to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

In infants younger than six months, RSV can cause symptoms like irritability, poor feeding, and apnea. Older infants and young children can experience a decreased appetite before having a cough, fever, and wheezing.

In the health advisory, the CDC said the RSV spike deviated from a typical circulation pattern for the virus, so it was not possible for the agency to anticipate the spread, peak, or duration of viral activity.

Health experts have advised parents to closely monitor their children if they have an underlying health conditions given the current RSV spike.

Parents could also choose for their children to wear masks once school starts in the fall as an added barrier to protect against viruses like RSV.
A Florida mayor has slammed governor Ron DeSantis as the pied piper of coronavirus for opposing pandemic health measures as cases across the state surge.

Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, appeared on CNN on Sunday and was asked by host Ryan Nobles where the city falls on the mandate of masks to prevent virus spread.

"Were not allowed to have mask mandates right now," Mr Gelber replied. The governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state when he did that. So were in a very tough position."

The mayor went on to criticise moves by the governor, who has taken a hard-line stance on pandemic mitigation efforts like lockdowns and face mask mandates.

"We are trying to do everything we can to get around the governors very wrong-headed desires," Mr Gelber said. "The governor has made it as difficult as possible to make people safe."

Well do everything we can. The problem is hes really hamstrung us, Mr Gelber insisted. Hes like the pied piper leading everybody off a cliff right now by letting them know that they dont have to like the CDC.

In May, the governor issued an executive order ending all local Covid-19 restrictions, mandates and emergency orders implemented amid the health crisis.

He has also previously signed executive orders banning the use of vaccine passports and has made his rejection of federal coronavirus measures a focal point of his re-election campaign.

A spokesperson for the executive office of the governor told The Independent that the data does not support Mr Gelbers assertion that mask mandates make people safe from Covid-19.

Press Secretary, Christina Pushaw, said: Governor DeSantis position is clear: Mandates do not work to stop Covid-19. The empirical evidence supports his position on this.

With that being said, the Governor and Florida Department of Health have always encouraged Floridians to protect themselves and their communities.

Ms Pushaw stipulated that the best way to protect communities in Florida was to get vaccinated, signposting the almost 100 times Mr DeSantis had mentioned the vaccines positively in public remarks since November.

Mr DeSantis has maintained his resistance as cases in the state surge, with the Sunshine State having surpassed its previous record for current hospitalisations set over a year ago on Sunday.

Ms Pushaw said that counties in Florida that imposed mask mandates last year did not demonstrate significantly better Covid-19 outcomes, in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, than counties that had no mask mandates.

Jeff Zients, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, revealed earlier this month that one in five of all cases in the country is occurring in Florida alone.

The surge comes amid the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant in states with lower rates of vaccination. Health officials have Americans take up their shots as soon as possible.

On Sunday, Florida had 10,207 people hospitalised with confirmed Covid-19 cases, averaging 1,525 adult hospitalisations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalisations.

The increase in cases marked a 50 per cent jump this week, with more than 110,000 new coronavirus cases reported statewide, up from 73,000 the week before.

Around 60 per cent of Floridians aged 12 and older have received a coronavirus vaccination, and in line with health guidance Mr DeSantis has advised residents to continue getting their shots.

"If you are vaccinated, fully vaccinated, the chance of you getting seriously ill or dying from Covid is effectively zero ... These vaccines are saving lives," he said last week.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press
Multinational book publisher Scholastic Corporation has been pushed into a succession crisis, after the sudden death of its owner Richard Robinson, who left his company to an lover instead of his family.

In a 2018 succession plan, Robinson named Scholastics chief strategy officer Iole Lucchese as his heir, according to a report published on Monday by the Wall Street Journal.

Robinson died on 5 June, leaving two sons, an ex-wife and a century-old company that has published some of the most well-known book series such as Harry Potter, The Magic School Bus and The Hunger Games among others.

Ms Lucchese, whose relationship with Robinson was an open secret according to the newspaper, was described as my partner and closest friend in the will.

However, Robinsons decision to overlook his sons and other family members and bequeath all his personal belongings to Ms Lucchese has triggered a succession crisis. Several family members unhappy with the will are reportedly reviewing legal options.

Maurice Reece Robinson, 25, Richard Robinsons youngest son, told WSJ that his fathers decision to give control of his personal effects to Ms Lucchese was unexpected and shocking.

What I want most is an amicable outcome, he told the newspaper.

His eldest son, John Benham Ben Robinson, 34, said the succession plans served as salt in an open wound. Helen Benham, who was married to Robinson between 1986 and 2003 and worked for Scholastic for three decades, said they had became good friends again during the coronavirus pandemic.

She told the newspaper that while she worked with the publishing company, she lived and breathed Scholastic while also raising our two children.

Dick told me on more than one occasion, You care more about Scholastic than I do, she said.

Robinson died suddenly on 5 June during a walk in Marthas Vineyard, Dukes county, Massachusetts at the age of 84. He was believed to be healthy and without any serious illness.
Two travellers who falsified their proof-of-vaccination documents have been fined $20,000 each for entering Canada with the fraudulent credentials.

The Canadian Public Health Agency reported that the travellers provided falsified proof-of-vaccination and pre-departure test screens, and did not comply with on-arrival testing protocols or a requirement that they stay in a government-approved accommodation.

The travellers were visiting Toronto from the US and incurred fines equalling $19,720 each.

The Washington Post reported that both of the travellers were Canadian citizens, but their identities were not revealed by the health agency.

All travellers arriving in Canada are obligated by Canadian law to respond truthfully to all questions, the agency said in a press release.

The government said that providing false information and/or documents to a Government of Canada official upon entry to Canada or making false statements or presenting fraudulent documents, such as vaccination credentials, is a serious offence and may result in fines and/or criminal charges.

People that provide fraudulent documents to the Canadian government can incur fines of up to $750,000, six months in prison, or both.

The Government of Canada will continue to investigate incidents reported and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where it is warranted to protect the health of Canadians from the further spread of Covid-19 and its variants of concern, the agency said in a statement.

Health policies regulating international travellers were eased on 5 July, and on 9 August fully vaccinated Americans will be allowed to enter the country for non-essential travel if they follow the government's requirements.

Those requirements include a pre-entry Covid-19 test currently, though that condition will be lifted for vaccinated travellers after 9 August.

The current requirement that travellers arriving by air undergo a three-day quarantine in government-approved housing will also be lifted on 9 August.

The Canadian government plans to fully re-open to vaccinated travellers so long as they have taken a vaccine approved by the country's health officials, and who meet the additional entry requirements.

On 30 July, Canada reported 907 new cases of the coronavirus, significantly fewer than the US, where 102,975 cases were reported.

The incident is yet another example of travel confrontations brought on by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Flights have been grounded when passengers have refused to wear masks on flights, and in some cases individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus have knowingly boarded planes to avoid having to change their vacation plans.
A Tennessee lawmaker who became badly sick with Covid has had a change of heart since his earlier views on the coronavirus pandemic, and has now begun urging people to take it seriously.

David Byrd faced an eight-month-long battle with Covid-19 that included symptoms of long Covid, making him change his stance about the pandemic in a statement shared on Friday.

Mr Byrd participated last year in an overnight retreat in Nashville with 70 Republicans from the House of Representatives at a time when the pandemic was raging through the country, yet many at the event were shown not wearing masks.

And just months before being hospitalised, Mr Byrd had joined his Republican colleagues in passing a resolution that chastised the news media, saying it sensationalised the reporting on Covid-19 in the service of political agendas. Mr Byrd was seen without a mask on the House floor at the time, the Nashville Tennessean reported.

He subsequently tested positive for coronavirus a week and a half later, shortly before Thanksgiving, and was admitted to hospital on 5 December when he developed pneumonia.

For 55 days, I was in an intensive care unit on a ventilator. Although ventilators save lives, the sobering reality is that the overwhelming majority of intubated Covid-19 patients do not survive, he said in the statement.

The 63-year-old conservative politician said he had no memories of the time, but added that his family will certainly never forget it, sharing that they had begun plans to give him a funeral.

They were traumatised daily by the distressing updates on my status. Everything that can go wrong with Covid did, he added.

Mr Byrds health declined rapidly to the point that he needed a liver transplant. He said he developed jaundice and was later diagnosed with Covid cholangiopathy.

I was told I would need a liver transplant or else I would die. Again, my family prepared for the worst, he said. Mr Byrd received a new liver on 12 June.

Even though Mr Byrds change of heart resulted in him telling his constituents to take the pandemic seriously, he did add that he understands the concerns of those who are hesitant, without offering further explanation or details.

I have never been against taking the Covid-19 vaccine, but I understand the concerns of those who are hesitant, he said in the statement. To them, I would say Covid is real and it is very dangerous. It is a disease that wants to kill us. Please take it seriously. Please consider getting vaccinated. This is an issue that should not divide us.
Iranian-Americans including members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a rally on Capitol Hill, where speakers including members of Congress condemned Irans incoming president, Ebrahim Raisi.

At a gathering in Union Square on Monday, Iranian-Americans who had seen family members killed by Irans government for various alleged crimes erected a memorial showing the faces of hundreds of those killed.

In fiery statements to the crowd, speakers including both Iranian-Americans and prominent figures from Congress and the US political sphere condemned Mr Raisi and called for him to face international human rights charges.

Of the current and former members of Congress and other US dignitaries who attended, most hailed from the establishment wing of US foreign policy  speakers included former Sen Joe Lieberman as well as former Rep Eliot Engel, who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee until his ouster in a Justice Democrats-backed primary challenge.

The UN Security Council should take immediate action to arrange for the international trial of the leaders of the regime, especially [Ayatollah] Khamenei, Raisi, and its Judiciary Chief [Gholamhossein] Ejeii, for committing genocide and crimes against humanity, said Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the NCRI, addressing the crowd via video message.

I urge the U.S. Congress to continue its bipartisan firm policy against the Iranian regime and underscore human rights and democracy as a central element of policy regarding Iran, she added.

Mr Lieberman called for Irans incoming president to go before the Hague and face charges of crimes against humanity, and rejected the legitimacy of his election, which other attendees stressed to The Independent was the target of widespread boycotts.

We cannot remain silent on these crimes against humanity, Mr Lieberman said of killings of dissidents linked to Mr Raisi and other figures in Irans government.

Mr Raisis election, he added, was a sham and should not be viewed as a legitimate expression of the Iranian peoples will.

Others, such as former Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln Bloomfield, urged a UN human rights investigation backed by the US into Mr Raisi and allegations that dissidents were massacred in the country as recently as 2019.

Many at the rally urged President Joe Biden, who during his campaign pledged to steer the US towards rejoining the Iran nuclear accord that the US exited during the Trump administration, to keep up the pressure on top officials and Irans economy resulting from US sanctions.

Some, such as Texas Sen Ted Cruz, even called for those sanctions to be increased, the opposite of what Irans government has said would be necessary for it to return to compliance.

We will stand with the families of those massacred and strenuously urge the Biden administration to hold Raisi and [Ayatollah] Khamenei accountable through sanctions and pressing for Raisis prosecution for crimes against humanity, said Mr Cruz in a prepared statement.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Engel echoed calls for the pressure on Irans government to be maintained, noting that he was not a fan of the 2015 agreement signed under the Obama administration, and urged his friend Mr Biden to pursue a new deal, a better deal, one that brings Iran closer to democracy.
An influential scholar has sounded the alarm about the vulnerable state of Americas democracy.

Thomas Mann, who has long been critical of the Republican Partys more extreme elements, has slammed the GOP for endangering the countrys system of government.

Were on a precipice, Mr Mann told the LA Times. Were actually potentially so close to losing our democracy.

Mr Mann is a widely respected voice in US politics, regarded by members of both major parties as an expert on Congress and democracy. His work has been praised across the divide, including by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Weve always had extremist groups on the left as well as the right, but theyve always been marginalized or co-opted to become more moderate, said Mr Mann. This is the first time an extreme set of forces like this has actually won the White House and tried to steal it a second time.

Mann told an LA Times reporter that a complete repudiation of Trumpism, in the 2022 midterms and then in the 2024 elections, is necessary to sideline the Republican Partys extreme fringes and put the GOP in a position to rebuild the party.

America needs two strong governing parties, Mr Mann added, to keep each other in check. One-party rule is autocratic rule, he said.

Among other measures, Mann also told the reporter he would like to see the electoral college abolished, so the president was chosen based on the popular vote, and voting made a mandatory requirement of citizenship.

Most voters, he said, want [government] to work well for everyone, are not attracted to conspiracy theories and dont want an autocrat, demagogue or fascist or whatever you call it running things.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who was fully vaccinated against Covid-19, has announced he tested positive for the coronavirus.

In a tweet, Mr Graham, said he was experiencing flu-like symptoms but felt they wouldve been worse had he contracted Covid-19 prior to getting vaccinated.

I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse, Mr Graham, 66, wrote on Monday.

His symptoms first started on Saturday, the South Carolina senator said, which encouraged him to visit a doctor on Monday morning.

I feel like I have a sinus infection and at present time I have mild symptoms, the Republican added. I will be quarantining for ten days.

Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against preventing severe disease, hospitalisations, and deaths from the novel virus, but a small share of vaccinated individuals have become infected.

These breakthrough cases, as they are called, have occurred in an estimated 0.08 per cent of the more than 164.2 million people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine, according to an analysis by NBC News.

Mr Graham, like other senators, has not been wearing a mask around the US Capitol for some time, according to congressional pool reporters.

CNNs Manu Raju reports that Democratic Senator Joe Manchin had a small group of lawmakers on his houseboat this weekend and Mr Graham was among them. The Independent has not independently confirmed this detail.

Mr Manchins office declined to comment on the report.

Senator Manchin is fully vaccinated and following the CDC guidelines for those exposed to a Covid-positive individual, said his spokeswoman Sam Runyon when speaking to CNN.

The Untied States is currently battling a surge in Covid-19 infections due to the highly contagious Delta variant, with the country recording close to 80,000 new daily cases per day.

Health officials have said that while vaccines might be less effective at preventing infection, they were still about 90 per cent effective in preventing severe disease. About 99.9 per cent of vaccinated individuals who contracted Covid-19 survived.
Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, suggested conservative commentator Meghan McCain was a coward when The View host seemed to dodge her appearance on the show.

Ms Trump was appearing on The View to promote her new book, Reckoning, in which she explains the national trauma caused by the former president.

Ms McCain, the show's resident conservative voice, skipped the segments in which Ms Trump appeared.

Before she took her shot as Ms McCain, Ms Trump was asked about a recent poll suggesting Donald Trump Jr was a favourite potential presidential candidate among Republicans.

Ms Trump said: I think that says a lot more about the Republican party than it says about anything else, adding that she did not know whether or not the former president's son was seriously considering running for office.

What I do know is that one thing Donald proved is that using racism as a platform was successful, and I think thats why we see so much strife in this country, and we need to continue having the kinds of conversations about race and gender that you have, she said.

She also laid the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans at the feet of Mr Trump, accusing him of mismanagement during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Trump noted that The View was an incredibly powerful platform, before taking a shot as Ms McCain for skipping out on the segment.

I think the more we talk openly about these things  it's a shame that your colleague didn't have the courage to come on and have this conversation with me  but I appreciate that you were all willing to take up these very difficult subjects because racism in my view is at the heart of everything that's wrong in 21st century America, she said.

Before Ms Trump's appearance, Ms McCain spent an earlier segment complaining about comedian Kathy Griffin, who recently announced she has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ms Griffin was likely in surgery while Ms McCain was making her comments.

The conservative commentator said she did not like Ms Griffin and that she was never going to like her for joking about the sexuality of her friend Clay Aiken before he came out as gay more than a decade ago.

The women have clashed on The View in the past. On a previous appearance, Ms Trump and Ms McCain  whose father is the late Senator John McCain  clashed when the conservative accused the former president's niece of cashing in on her family name.

Well, you're entirely entitled to your opinion, Ms Trump replied.
As a US-wide moratorium on evictions put in place by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) expired over the weekend, putting millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes, protesters gathered at the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and issued her with a notice of their own. The programme saw a sharp drop in participation as the Covid-19 pandemic kicked in.

Dear Speaker Pelosi, it read, you are hereby given immediate notice that millions of Americans will face eviction tonight when the eviction moratorium expires.

We call upon you to immediately call Congress to session to vote to extend the eviction moratorium and keep people in their homes. Were in the midst of the second-worst Covid surge to date and this is not the time to allow evictions to begin.

The expiration of the ban could affect more than 7 million Americans  a number that according to census data includes a disproportionate share of people of colour, poorer households and women.

Ms Pelosi on Sunday called on the CDC to unilaterally extend the eviction ban. It is a moral imperative to keep people from being put out in the street, she tweeted, which also contributes to the public health emergency.

The virus is still a threat, the moratorium must be extended and the funds Congress allocated to assist renters and landlords must be spent.

Along with the protesters at her home, Ms Pelosi has come under heavy pressure from members of her own Democratic caucus, some of whom joined an overnight protest on the steps of the Capitol. Among them was Congresswoman Cori Bush, who has experienced homelessness herself. She told CNN of her outrage at Congresss failure to act before members returned to their districts.

The House is at recess, she said. People are on vacations. How are we on vacation when we have millions of people who could start to be evicted tonight?

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she had been warning leaders for weeks that the deadline to renew the moratorium was coming up, but that a handful of conservative Democrats ultimately threatened to fly out of Washington rather than vote on an extension.

We have to really just call a spade a spade, she said in an interview. We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority.

She also called out the Biden administration for waiting weeks to inform the House that it did not believe it had the unilateral authority to extend the ban, ultimately asking members of Congress to act just one day before the House adjourned.

A White House spokesperson disputed Ms Ocasio-Cortez and others claims that the administration had waited too long to warn them, claiming that officials had been having conversations with Congress for some time.

The Biden administration has previously sought to protect the ban from legal action, appealing a decision by a federal judge that would have overturned it earlier this year on the basis that the CDC supposedly overstepped its authority by putting the ban in place.

Ms Pelosis congressional district, Californias 12th, encompasses most of the city of San Francisco, which has long faced one of the USs worst homelessness crises. Housing and living costs are among the highest in the country, and the conditions that unhoused people face are so bad that a United Nations special rapporteur wrote in 2018 that the Bay Areas treatment of them is cruel and inhuman.

Among the citys various strategies to tackle the problem is Homeward Bound, which it says is designed to help reunite people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco with family and friends willing and able to offer ongoing support to end the cycle of homelessness. It provides unhoused people in San Francisco with free bus tickets to return to their home cities or places where they can stay with others.
Former US president Barack Obama is gearing up to celebrate his 60th birthday in style, with hundreds of guests reportedly invited to a mansion he owns on an island in Massachusetts, despite ongoing concerns over large events during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Obama has confirmed 475 guests, including friends, family, former aides and several celebrities, according to a source cited by news website Axios.

This does not include the 200-plus staff who will be working to manage the party on Marthas Vineyard island, the source said.

Mr Obama purchased the 7,000-foot mansion set on nearly 30 acres for approximately $11.75 million in 2019.

Guests will have to be tested for Covid-19, although there were no specific details on how this would be carried out in US media reports.

Its going to be big, one source told The Hill.

News of the party comes as there is rising concern  both nationally and locally  over the rising number of Delta variant coronavirus cases in the country.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revised its mask-wearing guidelines and pointed to new data in an internal document last week that said the Delta variant spreads as quickly as chickenpox, even among those vaccinated.

Several breakthrough cases in Provincetown, Massachusetts  near Marthas Vineyard  had been reported after the 4 July holidays, pointing to the risk of the virus spreading through vaccinated people.

If youre talking about a small party like I might have at my house for six or eight people who are all fully vaccinated, I do not believe, at this point, we need to put masks on to be next to each other, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN on Sunday.

But if there were 100 people... and of course, how are you really going to be sure about peoples vaccination status? he added.

Mr Obama is not a stranger to larger-than-life celebrations for landmark events, including birthdays. He invited rapper-tycoon Jay-Z, musician Stevie Wonder and veteran Hollywood actor Tom Hanks when he turned 50 at the White House in 2011.

Mr Obama will turn 60 on 4 August. Several A-listers will reportedly be attending his birthday celebration this time as well.

Guests including two-time Oscar winning actor George Clooney and celebrity talk show host Oprah Winfrey have received invites, according to several reports, while rock band Pearl Jam has reportedly been hired to perform at the event.

Current president Joe Biden will not be among those attending the celebration, however, a White House spokesperson told Axios. The spokesperson said he would otherwise catch up with the Obamas soon.
Paul Gosar, a right-wing Republican representative from the state of Arizona, has been denounced in a biting opinion piece penned by three of his siblings who accuse him of repeatedly lying about the 2020 presidential election results.

So, have you no sense of decency, Paul? asked siblings Dave, Jennifer and Tim Gosar, in the opinion piece that was published by NBC News on Sunday.

The siblings, in their op-ed, laid out a bullet-pointed list of Mr Gosars actions and comments that they described as shameful and destructive.

It seems, in fact, that you are immune to shame. In addition to betraying your family and causing irreparable damage to the relationships within it, you decided to betray your country by helping incite the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, they said.

The siblings also said Mr Gosars lies helped delay police action and claimed it was this delay that led to an officer shooting one of the protesters, 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt.

In fact, your lies helped delay the Capitol Police from clearing the chamber, and this delay led at least in part to the officers decision to shoot Babbitt to protect you. And now you have the gall to blame those men and women who protected you for her death, said the siblings.

Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and a supporter of former president Donald Trump, was shot by police when she tried to climb through a broken window next to a door close to the speakers lobby of the Capitol building during the 6 January riots.

Disgracefully, you even voted against awarding commendations to those who risked their lives to protect yours? You, one of the key Big Lie proponents and key instigators of the insurrection? Have you left no sense of decency? they questioned.

Maybe your lifelong, insecure need for the approval of others caused you to sacrifice your common decency and integrity to satisfy Trump and his followers in order to keep your seat, they said in the article.

The siblings also accused their brother of promoting false information on Covid-19 and expressed their shock at Mr Gosar doing so, even as his home state Arizona has faced mounting cases.

Wasnt it shameful and destructive enough when you... Claimed that Covid-19 was overblown and would miraculously disappear after the election, thereby misleading and harming those who believed you, despite the fact that Arizona had the highest infection rate in the world both before and after the November election? they wrote.

Mr Gosar, who is serving his sixth term in the US Congress, was first elected in 2010 before which he owned a dental practice and was a small businessman in Arizonas Flagstaff city for 25 years.

He has nine siblings and this was not the first time they have attacked him publicly. In 2018, six of them appeared in an advertisement endorsing his opponent for a mid-term election.

The siblings said that the extremism of Mr Gosars beliefs is finally getting the media attention it deserves.

What should happen now is that you resign. Sadly, this seems unlikely.

The siblings end their op-ed saying Mr Gosar was likely doomed to go down in history as a cautionary tale: a person who betrayed his family, his country and even himself, unless his colleagues intervene.

Ultimately, the first victim of the big lies  the lies you have always told yourself to justify anything you do, always for your benefit and at the expense of others  is really you, they said.

Mr Gosar has yet to comment on the op-ed from his siblings.
Rudy Giuliani, who is being investigated for his work as a personal attorney for former US president Donald Trump, told an American news channel that he is willing to go to jail.

I committed no crime, Mr Giuliani said in an interview to NBC New York, when speaking about an investigation he faces by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into allegations he broke foreign-lobbying laws in dealing with Ukraine and for failing to register as an agent for pro-Russian Ukrainians.

Mr Giuliani said he was frustrated after the FBI conducted searches at his home and office and said they were misguided and politically motivated.

And if you think I did commit a crime, youre probably really stupid because you dont know who I am, he said and added that he was working for then-President Trump as his lawyer at the time.

Is the guy who put the mafia in jail, terrorists in jail, Ed Kochs commissioners in jail, and the worst people on Wall Street  Im not going to file [a form]? I mean, thats just crazy, he said.

I am more than willing to go to jail if they want to put me in jail. And if they do, theyre going to suffer the consequences in heaven, he said.

When asked why he would be willing to go to jail if he is not guilty, Mr Giuliani replied: Because they lie, they cheat.

Mr Giuliani said, in comparison to him, Democrats accused of serious wrongdoing, including New York governor Andrew Cuomo, had been tried with leniency.

When you see the differences between the way Cuomo was treated and the way Im treated, and you dont realise theres a very, very terrible distortion of justice. Because thats not the only example, he said.

He also answered questions about the Capitol riots, saying the protesters did some destruction.

I believe 6 January was a crime. I believe they committed the crime of trespass. I believe they did some destruction, he said.

Mr Giuliani subsequently had his law licenses suspended in New York and Washington DC for his involvement in propagating Mr Trumps allegations about electoral fraud.

The two have reportedly had a fallout, according to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, who claimed Mr Giuliani is close to broke.

On his legacy  which several feel has been tainted, especially after his involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 US election results  he believes he will be vindicated.
A 49-year-old man died in police custody on Sunday after being arrested at a protest against the German governments anti-coronavirus measures.

An investigation has been launched into the mans death, who was arrested by Berlin Police along with some 600 other protesters.

Police said the man had complained of tingling in his arm and chest while officers checked his ID in the capitals Mitte district. The officers proceeded to provide first aid until an ambulance arrived.

The man unfortunately died in hospital later that day.

Hundreds of people were detained at the protests this weekend, many of which had been banned by local authorities, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement - the largest and most visible anti-lockdown movement in Germany - which expected 22,500 attendees.

Some 2,000 police were deployed around the city in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

The protests were widespread around Berlin and saw violent outbursts as protesters defied orders to disperse and tried to break through police lines.

A police spokeswoman said authorities were still trying to determine how many protesters and officers were injured during Sundays events, which were spread out across a large area.

Germany has relaxed many of the measures imposed during the height of the pandemic, but some requirements to wear masks indoors and present negative COVID-19 tests or certificates of vaccination are still in place.

Additional reporting by AP
The Iranian ambassador to the UK has been summoned to the Foreign Office following a drone strike on an oil tanker, which killed a British citizen  as Tehran warned of a strong response if the countrys security or interests are threatened.

The attack on the Israeli-linked vessel Mercer Street took place off the coast of Oman on Thursday night and saw a hole blasted through the vessels bridge, according to the British maritime security firm Ambrey. Two crew members were killed, one British and one Romanian.

The UK, US and Israel have said it is highly likely that Iran was behind the strike, which was the first known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region, linked to tensions between Israel and Iran.

Middle East minister James Cleverly told the Iranian diplomat Mohsen Baharvand that Tehran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security.

Tehran has denied any involvement, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh telling state TV: Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure.

He added that he strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the British foreign secretary against Iran, which were repeated by the US secretary of state in the same context and contained contradictory, false and provocative accusations.

Later on Monday, Iran summoned the British charge daffaires  a substitute for an absent ambassador  in Tehran over the UKs accusations against the Islamic Republic, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The US and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their partners to respond to the attack on the Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker, managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

According to vessel trackers at Refinitiv, the merchant vessel had been travelling from the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the vessel was about 152 nautical miles northeast of the Omani port of Duqm when it was attacked.

The drone assault followed similar attacks on three other Israeli-linked ships in the region since February, the UKs Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was summoned today to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office by the minister for the Middle East, James Cleverly, in response to the unlawful attack committed on MV Mercer Street on 29 July.

Minister Cleverly reiterated that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security, and reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.

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Rojas took gold and broke the Olympic and World Record in the process AFP/Getty World news in pictures 31 July 2021 Elaine Thompson-Herah celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the gold medal ahead of Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women's 100m final at the Tokyo Olympic Games Reuters World news in pictures 30 July 2021 Athletes compete during the mens 3000m Steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics Reuters World news in pictures 29 July 2021 Athletes compete in the BMX mens Olympic quarter-finals run at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo AFP/Getty World news in pictures 28 July 2021 A picture taken with a drone shows researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University investigating a dead fin whale found in the harbor of Terneuzen, The Netherlands EPA World news in pictures 27 July 2021 People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk past extra papers reporting on Japanese gold medalists at Tokyo Olympics AP World news in pictures 26 July 2021 The ball hits Thailand's Orawan Paranang's face as she competes against Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa during her women's singles round 3 table tennis match at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games AFP via Getty Images World news in pictures 25 July 2021 A woman walks in the rubble after flooding due to heavy rains in Dinant, Belgium, a week after more than 30 people were killed in floods in the country EPA World news in pictures 24 July 2021 A firefighter uses a drip torch to light a backfire in an effort to stop the spread of the Dixie fire in Prattville, California AFP/Getty World news in pictures 23 July 2021 An overview shows Japan's tennis player Naomi Osaka lighting the flame of hope in the Olympic Cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, at the Olympic Stadium, in Tokyo AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 July 2021 People wade through a flooded street following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in Chinas Henan province AFP/Getty World news in pictures 21 July 2021 People celebrate in Brisbane, Australia, following an announcement by the International Olympic Committee that the city was picked to host the 2032 Olympics AAP Image via AP World news in pictures 20 July 2021 Muslims attending the Eid Al-Adha prayer at Skenderbej Square in Tirana AFP/Getty World news in pictures 19 July 2021 Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Haj pilgrimage outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia Reuters World news in pictures 18 July 2021 People protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan Reuters World news in pictures 17 July 2021 A long exposure photograph shows Muslim pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand mosque in the holy Saudi city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage AFP/Getty World news in pictures 16 July 2021 A van crushed by the torrents is pressed against a 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court standoff over compensation for it blocking the crucial east-west waterway for nearly a week earlier this year Getty World news in pictures 6 July 2021 Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrives to be greeted by German Chancellor at the Chancellery in Berlin AFP/Getty World news in pictures 5 July 2021 Firefighters work at the site of an explosion and fire at a plastics factory on the outskirts of Bangkok AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 July 2021 In this photo released by authorities, rescuers search for bodies from the site where a Philippine military C-130 plane crashed in Patikul town, Sulu province, Philippines AP World news in pictures 3 July 2021 A fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico erupted after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a blaze, according to Mexicos state-owned Pemex petrol company Twitter/Manuel Lopez San Martin World news in pictures 2 July 2021 A human chain is formed by workers from the civil society, humanitarian aid, and medical and 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crawl on the ground while holding wooden mock rifles during a military summer training camp organised by the Islamic Jihad group, in Gaza City AP World news in pictures 27 June 2021 Juventudes Matheus Jesus in action with Flamengos Rene in the Brasileiro Championship Reuters World news in pictures 26 June 2021 A boat passes off shore as members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building Getty World news in pictures 25 June 2021 The last super moon of 2021 behind the 66-metre tall Millennium cross in Skopje, North Macedonia Reuters World news in pictures 24 June 2021 Nikhil Sachania steers his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with co-driver Deep Patel ahead of the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya during a side-by-side super special at Kasarani near Nairobi AFP/Getty World news in pictures 23 June 2021 A football fan sits in the stands before the UEFA EURO 2020 Group E football match between Sweden and Poland at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg AFP/Getty World news in pictures 22 June 2021 A child holds a Chinese flag near the museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party during a media tour organised by the local government in Shanghai on June 22, 2021 AFP/Getty World news in pictures 21 June 2021 Jun 21, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores outfielder Cooper Davis (3) leaps over pitcher Nick Maldonado (29) in between inning action against the NC State Wolfpack at TD Ameritrade Park USA TODAY Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 19 June 2021 A Palestinian girl with a national flag painted on her face, plays amidst the rubble of buildings destroyed by last months Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in Beit Lahia AFP/Getty World news in pictures 18 June 2021 A TV broadcasts Chinese astronauts in Shenzhou spacecraft, at a restaurant in Beijing AFP/Getty World news in pictures 17 June 2021 A giant jersey of Denmarks midfielder Christian Eriksen is put on display on the pitch before the Euro 2020 Group B match between Denmark and Belgium at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen AFP/Getty World news in pictures 16 June 2021 Several hundred brightly coloured umbrellas decorate the Bankowa Street walkway in Pszczyna, southern Poland EPA World news in pictures 15 June 2021 Parcel delivery workers scuffle with police officers as they try to bring loudspeakers, an unauthorised protest item, during a rally calling for improvement of working conditions in Seoul AFP/Getty

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said he is confident that Iran carried out the attack using explosive drones  a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region. The US navys Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was called in to escort the tanker to a safe port following the attack.

Israels prime minister, Naftali Bennett, accused Tehran of trying to shirk responsibility for the attack in a cowardly fashion.

And Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid warned that the threat posed by Iran will only increase when the Butcher of Tehran [Ebrahim] Raisi becomes president, saying he had told Mr Raab that Thursdays attack  which he called a terrorist act  deserved a severe response.

However, an unnamed Iranian official told the country's Nournews news agency earlier that Tehran considered the threats of western officials and the Zionist regime [Israel] to be more of a propaganda gesture.

And Washington and London will be directly responsible for the consequences, added the official, believed to be close to Irans Supreme National Security Council.

Additional reporting by agencies
Israels top court has proposed that Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah facing expulsion in occupied East Jerusalem be allowed to stay in their homes under a protected tenant status, meaning they would have to accept Israeli ownership of the land and pay rent to a settler association.

The Supreme Court was expected on Monday to reach a decision on the high-profile controversial case, in which four Palestinians families are facing imminent forced eviction from their homes to make way for Jewish settlers. It is an action that Rupert Colville of the United Nations has said may amount to a war crime.

But the long-awaited session ended with the court putting forward a compromise resulting in a deadlock, as the attorney general requested more time to consider the cases.

Lower Israeli courts have approved the forced evictions of the four families in the past, ruling that their houses were built on land owned by Jews before Israel was established in 1948, despite worldwide concerns about violations of international law.

The threatened expulsion was the volcanic heart of a surge in tensions in Jerusalem which saw protests by Palestinians and crackdowns by Israelis, including the storming of al-Aqsa mosque, escalate into an 11-day war between Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israeli military.

A ceasefire took effect on 21 May, but the long-running campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families has continued.

The settlers have been waging a decades-long campaign to evict the families from densely populated Palestinian neighbourhoods just outside the walls of the Old City, in one of the most sensitive parts of east Jerusalem that Palestinians hope will become their future capital.

The settlers say the homes are built on land that was owned by Jews prior to the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim such property, a right denied to Palestinians who lost lands and homes in the same conflict.

It is a point that Human Rights Watch believes underscores the reality of apartheid that Palestinians in East Jerusalem face and a point UN has said is inherently discriminatory.

Jordan controlled east Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.

The Jordanian authorities agreed with the United Nations to build 28 homes for some of the families made refugees in 1948, on land in Sheikh Jarrah previously held by the Jewish associations but taken over by the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property.

These families were promised legal land titles but apparently never received them. The families say Jordanian authorities offered them their homes in exchange for giving up their refugee status.
A fire at one of Teslas Megapack battery farm projects in Australia burned for almost four days.

It took about 150 firefighters and 30 fire trucks to control the blaze in at least two of the 13-tonne lithium batteries housed inside shipping containers at the Victoria Big Battery project, according to the Country Fire Authority.

Each Megapack holds 3 MWh of max energy at the battery bank near Geelong, about 46 miles southwest of Melbourne, owned by Neoen and designed to store 300 megawatts of energy from solar panels or wind turbines.

While Tesla and Neoen did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the managing director for Neoen Australia, Louis de Sambucy, told Australian Associated Press that its own "physical inspections and investigations are now underway" into the cause of the fire.

It was not clear whether the fire would impact the scheduled date operations are expected to begin at the plant, which is made up of 210 Megapacks, by the end of next year.

Tesla battery fire (Country Fire Authority)

Country Fire Authority incident controller Ian Beswicke said in a statement the fire was a "challenging situation" given the complexity of the site and the Megapacks themselves. While the fire began in one Megapack on Friday, 30 July, it spread to a second before the fire was controlled the following Monday.

"This is the first Megapack fire thats ever happened in the world, is our understanding," he said.

"They are difficult to fight because you cant put water on the Megapacks ... all that does is extend the length of time that the fire burns for."

He said Tesla recommended how to approach the fire, by cooling everything around the burn so it couldnt spread, and letting it burn itself out.

A scientific officer and specialist drones were deployed to conduct atmospheric monitoring and a warning was issued in neighbouring areas of Bell Post Hill, Lovely Banks and Moorabool after the batteries burned over the weekend.

Mr Beswicke said fire crews will remain on the scene for the next 24 hours in case the batteries reignite in the damaged units.
Bulgaria may be moved onto the UK governments green watchlist, warns a top data analyst.

Tim White, an independent data and Covid expert, believes that Bulgaria could soon be moved onto the green watchlist, which signals destinations are at risk of having their green status removed.

The move is anticipated in response to a combination of rising Covid-19 infections and a low vaccination rate in the eastern European nation, said White.

In Bulgaria right now we are seeing dramatic increases in the infection rate with Covid-19 cases more than doubling every week right now. So although numbers seem low, things could escalate rapidly.

Additionally, in recent weeks Sofia has reported a few instances of the Beta variant. Only three cases, but if they multiply too it will be a concern for [transport secretary] Grant Shapps.

Bulgaria was added to the green list on 19 July. Green countries currently have the lightest restrictions for returning passengers: arrivals to the UK have no need to quarantine and must take two Covid tests, one pre-departure and one post-arrival, regardless of their vaccination status.

Britons have been unable to visit Bulgaria, however, since the Balkan state added the UK to its own red zone list, along with Cyprus, Spain, Fiji and Kuwait.

People from red zone countries are not allowed into Bulgaria barring a handful of exemptions, such as medical professionals and seasonal workers. Only Bulgarian citizens, long-term residents and their immediate family members are currently eligible to enter the country from the UK.

Bulgaria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union, with only around 15 per cent of the population having received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Reuters Covid-19 Tracker.

Travel and tourism made up 11.6 per cent of Bulgarias GDP in 2019, according to data analytics firm Knoema.

Most Balkan nations are also experiencing sharp rises in infections, said White, flagging Montenegro and Kosovo as countries of particular concern. Elsewhere in the region however, its a different story, with cases stabilising in Greece.

The 16 countries or territories currently on the green watchlist are:

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

British Antarctic Territory

Barbados

Bermuda

British Indian Ocean Territory

Cayman Islands

Croatia

Dominica

Grenada

Israel and Jerusalem

Madeira

Montserrat

Pitcairn Islands

Taiwan

Turks and Caicos Islands

It would probably be prudent of the government to move Bulgaria to the green watchlist category in the coming review, White concluded. In the past the committee has been far too slow to react, adding countries to the red list when cases have already starting decreasing.
The next tri-weekly review of the UKs traffic light system for travel is fast approaching.

An update is expected on or around 4 August, with the potential for more countries to be added to the governments green list of safe holiday destinations.

There are 29 destinations rated green at present. But what are the top contenders for upgrading from amber this time around? Heres what we know so far.

Which countries are on the green list right now?

There are 29 territories on the green list, many of which do not currently let in British travellers or are impossible to reach directly, thereby necessitating travel through an amber country.

On 14 July, four destinations were added - Bulgaria, Croatia, Hong Kong and Taiwan - while the Balearic and British Virgin Islands were both removed.

Green list in full

Anguilla

Antigua & Barbuda

Australia

Barbados

Bermuda

British Antarctic Territory

British Indian Ocean Territory

Brunei

Bulgaria

Cayman Islands

Croatia

Dominica

Falkland Islands

Faroe Islands

Gibraltar

Grenada

Hong Kong

Iceland

Israel

Madeira

Malta

Montserrat

New Zealand

Pitcairn Islands

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Singapore

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Taiwan

Turks and Caicos Islands

However, 16 of these destinations are on the green list, meaning they are at risk of moving from green to amber:

Green watchlist destinations

Anguilla

Antigua & Barbuda

Barbados

Bermuda

British Antarctic Territory

British Indian Ocean Territory

Cayman Islands

Croatia

Dominica

Grenada

Israel

Madeira

Montserrat

Pitcairn Islands

Taiwan

Turks and Caicos Islands

When will the green list be updated?

The lists are being updated every three weeks. That timeframe indicates that the next list review will be on or around Wednesday 4 August, with changes coming into effect within the week after that date.

Amends to the lists will be informed by public health advice, including the Joint Biosecurity Centres assessment of the latest data.

These regular review points will allow the government to balance helping the public to understand Covid requirements when travelling to England while allowing us to constantly evaluate the risk for different countries, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).

Which countries might be added to the green list?

As always, this comes with the caveat that anything can happen on traffic-light day  no forecaster has so far been anywhere near completely accurate when making predictions on this score.

But some analysts and experts have thrown out suggestions based on current infection rates.

Some 77 countries are reportedly under consideration for the UKs green list for international travel.

However, although a broad selection of countries is being considered for a promotion to green, many of these wont make the grade, warned government sources.

New research by the PC Agency, a travel consultancy, suggests that 12 countries have low enough infection rates and high enough vaccination rates to go on the green list. These countries, which boast Covid rates below 30 cases per 100,000 residents and close to half of the adult population vaccinated, are Austria, Bosnia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Which countries might be added to the green watchlist?

Independent data and Covid-19 analyst Tim White has warned that Bulgaria may be moved to the green watchlist, which identifies countries that are green but at risk of turning amber.

The PC Agency has also has said that Bhutan, French Polynesia, North Macedonia, Norway and Saudi Arabia should be strong candidates for the green watchlist.

What about holidaymakers who are fully vaccinated?

The green list restrictions will not be affected by a persons vaccination status. However, British travellers entering England from amber list countries no longer have to quarantine and can follow green list rules instead, as long as they have received theyre second vaccine dose in the UK at least 14 days prior, or are an an accompanying minor (under 18 years old).

What are the restrictions for travellers returning from green countries?

Green list countries currently have the lightest restrictions for inbound travellers to the UK, with no quarantine imposed and just one PCR test required within two days of arrival.

All travellers must also show proof of a negative Covid test  PCR, rapid antigen or lateral flow  before departure to the UK.
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MAM | Marketing Digital marketing really worked for us during the pandemic: Super Plastronics's Avneet Singh Marwah When the second-generation entrepreneur, Avneet Singh Marwah took over the reins of the company, it was still known for manufacturing plastic injection moulds which it started in the 1970s and 80's. He slowly steered it into what it is today - one of the country's largest TV manufacturing firms and the exclusive India licensee of global brands such as Kodak, Thomson televisions. Read More...

Mam | Media and Advertising Dentsu Webchutney wins digital & social media mandate for ACKO Dentsu Webchutney, the digital creative agency from the house of dentsu India, has won the social media mandate for digital insurance policy provider, ACKO General Insurance. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch. In four years, the insurance brand, with its entire operations offered through the digital platform ACKO has set new benchmarks for customer experience in an otherwise slow-moving category. Read More...

Mam | Media and Advertising Manish Sharma becomes chairman and president at Panasonic India Japanese electronics major Panasonic Corp on Monday announced the promotion of Manish Sharma to chairman and president of Panasonic India. In his new role, Sharma will assume responsibility for leading the Panasonic operational excellence India, and Panasonic India appliances company, lifestyle updates business division. Read More...

Mam | Marketing Shree Cements to honour India's Olympic winners with special gesture With Mirabai Chanu opening the medal tally at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the nation waits anxiously for India to bag more medals at the world's biggest sports event. In a bid to celebrate India's medal winners at the ongoing Games, Shree Cements today announced a special reward for the sportspersons. The company will offer free cement to the medalists in order to help them build their dream homes. Read More...

Mam | Marketing Genero onboards Subbaraju Alluri as MD for Asia Global creative platform Genero has announced the appointment of Subbaraju Alluri as managing director (MD) - Asia, based in Singapore. Alluri joins Genero less than a year after joining communications firm Redhill Communications after spending more than 19 years with Grey Group. Read More...

Mam | Media and Advertising Luminous Power Technologies elevates Ruchika Gupta to CMO Luminous Power Technologies has announced the elevation of Ruchika Gupta to chief marketing officer (CMO). She earlier held the position of assistant vice president, marketing communications at the company. According to Luminous, Gupta will now be at the helm of the marketing function and report to the managing director, Vipul Sabharwal. Read More...
What comes to your mind when you read the words, 'most expensive fiber'? Well, it definitely won't be this duck from Iceland.

The Eider polar duck's feathers are in huge demand since it is considered to be the best-quality fiber in the world. In fact, it is used to manufacture many luxury products by big brands.

Canadian Geographic

The feathers are extremely lightweight and also provide warmth to a person's body.

Feather-hunters head out for the Eider polar duck in summer season in the Breiafjorur Bay of West Iceland. The fiber is removed from the lower neck of the duck. The fiber matures when the duck begins to hatch its eggs by sitting on them.

Hakai

However, the amount of fiber per duck is very little which makes it very difficult for it to be available in abundance. In the international market 800 grams of the fiber costs around $5000 (Rs 3.71 lakh).

So, gathering the feathers of the Eider polar duck is also a source of employments for locals in Iceland. According to the locals, if they come across only eggs in a duck's nest, they pick up any feather that might be close by, and if the Eider duck is also there, they would collect all the feathers.

Hakai

The process of finding and stripping ducks happens roughly thrice a year. The workers find as many as 60 ducks for one kilogram of feather. Bonus fact is that no ducks are harmed in this process hence making it a cruelty-free hunting.
Eating traditional food from our country is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. It keeps you close to your roots and history in the most authentic way. Indian food is one such cuisine that is so diverse in nature, it is almost impossible to believe that everything we eat today originated here.

Did you know some of the most commonly eaten food in India is actually not even Indian or did not originate here? Since the Indian subcontinent was frequently under attack from surrounding nations, foreign delicacies came in and settled here. Now, they are so deep-rooted in India's traditions that even others think the food is Indian.

Here is a list of dishes that we have always thought were Indian but turns out, they aren't!

1. Gulab Jamun

No other Indian dessert can dethrone gulab jamun as the king of sweets but it is commonly known now that it is not Indian but actually Persian.

It comes from the Persian words: 'gol' (flower) and 'ab' (water). The actual Persian dish was known as 'luqmat al qadi' which was prepared by soaking the khoya balls in honey syrup and then having them drizzled with sugar.

Fun Food Frolic

2. Samosa

India's favourite street food and it's not Indian? That's insane! Chai-samosa is almost every other Indian's favourite snack but it turns out, samosas actually originated in the Middle East before the 10th century. It was originally called as a 'sambosa', and was introduced to Indians by traders from Central Asia circa 14th century.

TOI

3. Daal Bhat

One of the most common dishes on any Indian dining table and yet, it is not Indian. Daal bhaat originated from Nepal and even though, the dish is cooked in almost all Indian states, we have to thank our neighbours for introducing it to us.

Adobe Stock

4. Rajma

Every Punjabi household has Rajma-chawal on Sundays but the truth is that the dish is not even India, leave aside Punjabi! It was actually introduced to India from Portugal and then the Mexicans introduced the concept of soaking and boiling it. However, we definitely created our version with thick rajma gravy prepared with chopped onions, garlic, tomatoes and other spices.

Reddit

5. Chicken Tikka Masala

A popular Punjabi dish, this one has its roots going all the way back to Glasgow, Scotland. It was an improvisation of the dry chicken prepared on the request of a customer by the chef Ali Ahmed in Glasgow in the year 1971.

TOI

6. Filter Coffee

South India's popular 'kaaphi' is actually not even Indian and how! This hot beverage actually originated in the Yemen region. Filter Coffee is said to have been introduced to India by Sufi saint Baba Budan who discovered it while on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The saint had carried along seven coffee beans from Mocha, Yemen to India.

TOI

7. Vindaloo

This one will not come as a surprise since Vindaloo is part of Goan cuisine and the coastal Indian state was colonised by the Portuguese. The name Vindaloo comes from Portuguese origins from 'carne de vinha d'alhos', a Portuguese meat dish of pork marinated in wine and garlic.

TOI

8. Jalebi

Jalebi bai, you too? This popular street dessert is actually anything but Indian. It actually originated in the Middle East. It was originally named 'zalabiya' (Arabic) or 'zalibiya' (Persian). Now, we have different versions of this dessert combined with other Indian sweets. Rabdi jalebi, anyone?

TOI

9. Naan

Naa(n) way! Everyone's favourite tandoor item is not Indian? That is a shock, isn't it? Turns out, naan's roots lie with Persians who colonised India. Despite us devouring butter naan, garlic naan, stuffed naan, etc with a plethora of curries and gravies, the dish is actually not even Indian.

TOI

10. Biryani

No way! This rice-based dish is a favourite among people all over the country. From the streets of Kolkata to the Nawabi lanes of Lucknow, Biryani is a dish that leaves your stomach as well as your soul completely satisfied. However, despite being a popular dish in almost every state of the country, Biryani is actually not Indian. It has its origin in Persia and not India. The dish has its roots in the Persian word birian which means fried before cooking.

TOI

Were there any dishes we missed out? Let us know in the comments.
The collaborative MoU between Allahabad University (above) and the IndUS Setu Global Foundation was signed by AU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sangita Srivastava on behalf of the university, and Indian Americans Priya Tandon and Nandini Tandon on behalf of the Foundation. (photo via IANS)
People protest the Muslim travel ban outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 26, 2018. President Trumps sweeping decree quickly rippled down to affect health outcomes for Muslim-Americans, say researchers, including Indian American Pooja Agrawal from Yale. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
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Docker is a software platform for building applications based on containerssmall and lightweight execution environments that make shared use of the operating system kernel but otherwise run in isolation from one another. While containers have been used in Linux and Unix systems for some time, Docker, an open source project launched in 2013, helped popularize the technology by making it easier than ever for developers to package their software to build once and run anywhere.

A brief history of Docker

Founded as DotCloud in 2008 by Solomon Hykes in Paris, what we now know as Docker started out as a platform as a service (PaaS) before pivoting in 2013 to focus on democratizing the underlying software containers its platform was running on.

Hykes first demoed Docker at PyCon in March 2013, where he explained that Docker was created because developers kept asking for the underlying technology powering the DotCloud platform. We did always think it would be cool to be able to say, Yes, here is our low-level piece. Now you can do Linux containers with us and go do whatever you want, go build your platform. So thats what we are doing.

And so Docker was born, with the open source project quickly picking up traction with developers and attracting the attention of high-profile technology providers like Microsoft, IBM, and Red Hat, as well as venture capitalists willing to pump millions of dollars into the innovative startup. The container revolution had begun.

What are containers?

As Hykes described it in his PyCon talk, containers are self-contained units of software you can deliver from a server over there to a server over there, from your laptop to EC2 to a bare-metal giant server, and it will run in the same way because it is isolated at the process level and has its own file system.

By simplifying this process, Docker quickly became close to a de facto industry standard for containers. Docker let developers deploy, replicate, move, and back up a workload in one streamlined way, using a set of reusable images to make workloads more portable and flexible than previous methods allowed.

In the virtual machine (VM) world, this could be done by keeping applications separate while running on the same hardware, but in that world each VM requires its own operating system, meaning they are typically large, slow to start up, difficult to move around, and cumbersome to maintain and upgrade. Where containers marked a defined shift from the VM era was by isolating execution environments while sharing the underlying OS kernel, providing a lightweight and speedy option for developers.

Docker How the virtualization and container infrastructure stacks stack up.

Docker: the component parts

Docker took off with software developers because it found a novel way to package the tools required to build and launch a container in a more streamlined and simplified way than was previously possible. Broken down into its component parts, Docker comprises Dockerfile, container images, the Docker run utility, Docker Hub, Docker Engine, Docker Compose, and Docker Desktop.

Dockerfile. Each Docker container starts with a Dockerfile. This text file provides a set of instructions to build a Docker image, including the operating system, languages, environmental variables, file locations, network ports, and any other components it needs to run.

Docker image. Similar to a snapshot in the VM world, a Docker image is a portable, read-only, executable file containing the instructions for creating a container and the specifications for which software components the container will run and how.

Docker run utility. Dockers run utility is the command that launches a container. Each container is an instance of an image, and multiple instances of the same image can be run simultaneously.

Docker Hub. Docker Hub is a repository where container images can be stored, shared, and managed. Think of it as Dockers own version of GitHub, but specifically for containers.

Docker Engine. Docker Engine is the core of Docker. It is the underlying client-server technology that creates and runs the containers. The Docker Engine includes a long-running daemon process called dockerd for managing containers, APIs that allow programs to communicate with the Docker daemon, and a command-line interface.

Docker Compose. Docker Compose is a command-line tool that uses YAML files to define and run multicontainer Docker applications. It allows you to create, start, stop, and rebuild all the services from your configuration and view the status and log output of all running services.

Docker Desktop. All of these component parts are wrapped in Dockers Desktop application, providing a user-friendly way to build and share containerized applications and microservices.

Docker advantages

Docker containers provide a way to build applications that are easier to assemble, maintain, and move around than previous methods allowed. That provides several advantages to software developers.

Docker containers are minimalistic and enable portability. Docker lets applications and their environments be kept clean and minimal by isolating them, which allows for more granular control and greater portability.

Docker containers enable composability. Containers make it easier for developers to compose the building blocks of an application into a modular unit with easily interchangeable parts, which can speed up development cycles, feature releases, and bug fixes.

Docker containers ease orchestration and scaling. Because containers are lightweight, developers can launch lots of them for better scaling of services. These clusters of containers do then need to be orchestrated, which is where Kubernetes typically comes in.

Docker drawbacks

Containers solve a great many problems, but they dont solve all developer ills.

Docker containers are not virtual machines. Unlike virtual machines, containers use controlled portions of the host operating systems resources, which means elements arent as strictly isolated as they would be on a VM.

Docker containers dont provide bare-metal speed. Containers are significantly more lightweight and closer to the metal than virtual machines, but they do incur some performance overhead. If your workload requires bare-metal speed, a container will get you close but not all the way there.

Docker containers are stateless and immutable. Containers boot and run from an image that describes their contents. That image is immutable by defaultonce created, it doesnt change. But a container instance is transient. When it is removed from system memory its gone forever. If you want your containers to persist state across sessions, like a virtual machine, you need to design for that persistence.

What is Docker today?

Container usage continues to grow as cloud-native development techniques become the mainstream model for building and running software, but Docker is now only a part of that puzzle.

Docker became mainstream by making it easy to move the code for an application and all of its dependencies from the developers laptop to a server. But the rise of containers led to a shift in the way applications are builtfrom monolithic stacks to networks of microservices. Soon many users needed a way to orchestrate and manage groups of containers at scale.

Born out of Google, the Kubernetes open source project quickly emerged as the best way to do this, superseding Dockers own attempts to solve this problem with its Swarm orchestrator (RIP). Amidst increasing funding trouble, Docker eventually sold its enterprise business to Mirantis in 2019, which has since absorbed Docker Enterprise into the Mirantis Kubernetes Engine.

The remains of Dockerwhich includes the original open source Docker Engine container runtime, Docker Hub image repository, and Docker Desktop applicationlive on under the leadership of seven-year company veteran Scott Johnston, who is looking to reorient the business around its core customer base of software developers.
GitHub Copilot, a Visual Studio Code extension that uses artificial intelligence to help developers write code, has drawn the ire of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which is calling for white papers that address legal and philosophical questions raised by the technology.

GitHub Copilot is unacceptable and unjust, from our perspective, the FSF wrote in a blog post calling for white papers on the implications of Copilot for the free software community. The reason is that Copilot requires running software that is not free, such as Microsofts Visual Studio IDE or Visual Studio Code editor, the FSF contends, and constitutes a service as a software substitute meaning its a way to gain power over other peoples computing.

Built by GitHub in collaboration with OpenAI, Copilot is a Visual Studio Code extension that uses machine learning trained on freely licensed open source software to suggest lines of code or functions to developers as they write software. Copilot is currently available in a limited technical preview.

The FSF said there are legal questions pertaining to Copilot that may not have been previously tested in court. Thus, the organization is funding a call for white papers to examine both legal and ethical issues surrounding Copilot, copyright, machine learning, and free software. The FSF said that Copilots use of freely licensed software has many implications for the free software community and that it has received many inquiries about its position on these questions.

Developers want to know if training a neural network on their software can be considered fair use. Others who might want to use Copilot wonder if the code snippets and other elements copied from GitHub-hosted repositories could result in copyright infringement. And even if everything might be legally copacetic, activists wonder if there isnt something fundamentally unfair about a proprietary software company building a service off their work, the FSF wrote.

The FSF cited the following questions as being of interest:

Is Copilots training on public repositories copyright infringement? Fair use?

How likely is the output of Copilot to generate actionable claims of violations of GPL-licensed works?

Can developers using Copilot comply with free software licenses like the GPL?

How can developers ensure that code to which they hold the copyright is protected against violations generated by Copilot?

If Copilot generates code that gives rise to a violation of a free software licensed work, how can this violation be discovered by the copyright holder?

Is a trained AI/ML model copyrighted? Who holds the copyright?

Should organizations like the FSF argue for change in copyright law relevant to these questions?

GitHub, responding to the FSF protest, expressed a willingness to be open about any issues. This is a new space, and we are keen to engage in a discussion with developers on these topics and lead the industry in setting appropriate standards for training AI models, GitHub said.

The FSF will pay $500 for white papers it publishes and also will consider requests for funding to do further research leading to a later paper. Submissions are being accepted until Monday, August 21, at the following email address: licensing@fsf.org. Guidelines for the papers can be found at fsf.org.
In both Northern Virginia and the state as a whole, the COVID-19 pandemic is now worse than it was on the same date in 2020, based on the number of new cases reported.

Data from the Virginia Department of Health updated Monday morning show that in Northern Virginia, the seven-day average of new daily cases reported has climbed to 224. That's 8.9% above the seven-day average on Aug. 2, 2020, of 205.7. It's also the highest the average has been since May 1 of this year.

Statewide, the seven-day average as of Monday stood at 1,108, which is 7.5% above the average on the same day last year and the highest since April 26 of this year. The state has reported over 1,000 new cases each of the past six days, the first time that's happened since April 13-18 of this year.

The higher numbers in 2021 come even though vaccines are now available for everyone over the age of 12 and over 70% of Virginia adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Data compiled by the health department show that only about 3% of all new cases since June 1 have been among fully vaccinated Virginians.

Health officials have attributed the recent rise in cases to the Delta variant, which is significantly more contagious than earlier forms of the virus and appears to be causing more cases in vaccinated individuals.

Hospitalizations for treatment of COVID-19 have also been on the rise in recent weeks, although they remain significantly below prior-year levels. As of Monday, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported 534 patients confirmed or suspected of having coronavirus, compared with 1,172 on Aug. 2, 2020. The number of hospitalizations has doubled since mid-July, however.

Deaths from COVID-19 likewise are running well below prior-year numbers, with the state reported fewer than four a day, compared with an average of 18.6 per day this time last year.

However, throughout the pandemic, both the number of hospitalizations and reports of deaths have lagged behind reports of new cases, sometimes by several weeks.

In response to the recent surge in cases, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week recommended that all Virginians -- regardless of vaccination status -- wear masks indoors. And on Monday, the Prince William County Public Schools joined other school systems across the region in announcing that masks will be required this fall for all students, teachers and staff in school buildings.
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Its the day over which hop fans like myself swoon. By the time this newspaper hits the streets, well be about a week away from National IPA Day on August 5.
Insured losses from natural disasters hit a 10-year high of $42 billion in the first half of 2021, with the biggest loss related to extreme cold in the United States in February, insurance broker Aon said on July 21.

Overall economic losses came in below their 10-year average, however, at $93 billion, Aon said in a report.

Disasters which hit developed countries typically lead to greater insured losses. Seventy-two percent of global insured losses occurred in the United States in the first half of 2021, Aon said.

The Polar Vortex-induced period of extreme cold there led to an insured loss of at least $15 billion.

Major storms in western and central Europe in June caused at least $4.5 billion in insured losses, Aon said.

Floods in Europe in mid-July have likely caused $2-3 billion in reinsurance losses, analysts say. Natural disasters were responsible for around 3,000 deaths globally in the first half, with 800 fatalities from the heatwave which hit parts of Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest in late June.

The juxtaposition of observed record heat and cold around the globe highlighted the humanitarian and structural stresses from temperature extremes, said Steve Bowen, managing director and head of catastrophe insight on the Impact Forecasting team at Aon.

Bowen added that as a result of climate change, it becomes more imperative to explore ways to better manage the physical and non-physical risks that are more urgently requiring actionable solutions.

On July 21, British insurer Aviva called for urgent action from policymakers, developers and insurers to protect homes and businesses from the impact of climate change, saying most were ill-prepared to handle extreme weather.

Topics Natural Disasters Profit Loss
A Lynchburg judge has upheld most of a lawsuit Liberty University filed against its former leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., after an acrimonious parting last year. The lawsuit survived its first round of legal challenges Friday as Falwells attorneys argued motions seeking its dismissal before Lynchburg Circuit Judge Fred Watson, The News & Advance reported.

Falwells departure from the evangelical school in Virginia founded by his father came after Giancarlo Granda, a younger business partner of the Falwell family, said he had a yearslong sexual relationship with Falwells wife, Becki Falwell, and that Jerry Falwell participated in some of the liaisons as a voyeur. Falwell denied the report. Falwell has alleged Granda extorted the family, which Granda denied.

Liberty claims Falwell crafted a well-resourced exit strategy from his role as president and chancellor at the school in the form of a lucrative 2019 employment agreement while withholding damaging information about the personal scandal that exploded into public view the following year. The agreement included a raise, which Falwell has said amounted to $250,000, and a $2.5 million severance package.

The lawsuit demanding at least $10 million alleged that Falwell breached fiduciary duties to the school and entered into a business conspiracy against it. Fiduciary duties dont include disclosures of personal issues, even embarrassing ones, Vernon Inge, a lawyer representing Falwell, argued Friday. Falwell couldnt be engaged in a business conspiracy with Granda against the university when the men were at odds, he argued.

Inge asked the court to order the university to cut out many pictures and statements in the lawsuit that arent relevant and are rife with, frankly, personal attacks.

The question of whether Falwell had a duty to disclose the alleged extortion attempts is for a jury to decide, said Scott Oostdyk, the attorney representing the university.

Falwells 2019 contract will remain under seal while attorneys file arguments over whether to keep it protected in the next two weeks. Liberty will be able to alter sections of the lawsuit regarding digital and computer property the university alleges Falwell kept unlawfully after his resignation. Attorneys said Friday he kept a computer containing more than 100,000 universitys files on it.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation Education Virginia Universities
Heavy, continuous rain in parts of northern New England led to flash flooding, washed out roads and a few home rescues, authorities said.

Police in Marlow, in southwestern New Hampshire, said four people and two animals were rescued Thursday night from a home off of Route 10 that had water rushing into the basement, WMUR-TV reported. About 15 miles north, a fire department ladder truck helped with a home rescue in Goshen.

Ive never seen it rain that hard in that short of time before, said Kevin Bevilacqua, a road agent in Goshen. Weve got about five roads washed out and a bunch of people out of their houses.

New Hampshire State Police responded to a number of flash-flooding calls in Goshen and Newport about five miles away.

Flood warnings were in effect for some areas of the state through Saturday morning.

In Bellows, Falls, Vermont, there was waste-deep water in some neighborhoods. Firefighters pumped water from the basements of half a dozen homes. In Putney, a number of local roads were closed by flooding.

Highway workers will be out Friday assessing the damage.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood
Allianz SE warned of a potentially material hit to its earnings after the U.S. Justice Department opened a probe into its Structured Alpha Funds, which are at the center of lawsuits in the wake of steep losses during the pandemic.

Europes largest insurer slumped in Frankfurt trading after disclosing late Sunday that it received a voluntary request for documents and information from the DoJ and is cooperating with the probe, as well as with an investigation launched last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It has also started its own review of the matter.

The company now sees a relevant risk that the matters relating to the Structured Alpha Funds could materially impact future financial results of Allianz Group, it said in the statement. However, its not feasible to estimate the amount of any possible resolution including potential fines. Therefore, no provision has been recognized at the current stage.

Allianz fell the most since March of last year, when the pandemice first hit, as the new probe blindsided investors. The companys asset manager Allianz Global Investors has been defending itself from lawsuits by large pension funds and other investors challenging how it invested client money during the COVID-19 market downturn. Allianz told a Manhattan federal judge in February that the plaintiffs are sophisticated investors that chose high-risk private funds with their eyes open.

The Florida-based hedge funds were buying and selling equity options to beat the S&P 500 Index. Two funds have already been liquidated, and Allianz is in the process of winding down the rest.

The potential hit from the lawsuits adds to headwinds as the insurer is recovering from its first annual drop in profits in nine years. Last week, the Munich-based company said potential claims from the deadly German summer floods will likely amount to more than 500 million euros.

What Bloomberg Intelligence says:

Allianzs warning that matters relating to its Structured Alpha Funds could significantly hit financial results comes as a surprise, given the confidence previously expressed by the company that litigation against Allianz Global Investors, which managed the unprofitable funds, was baseless. It follows the start of a DOJ investigation that will likely embarrass Allianz and leaves it unable to estimate what any possible resolution, including potential fines, could cost.  Charles Graham, senior insurance analyst.

The news will have a longer-term impact on the stock as legal disputes with U.S. authorities can be uncomfortable, NordLB analyst Volker Sack said in a note, downgrading his recommendation to hold from buy.

Allianz fell 7.9% as of 12:02 p.m. in Frankfurt trading, the worst performer among the large European insurers. The stock is down 3.6% for the year.

In its 2020 annual report, Allianz said plaintiffs in the pending actions have alleged losses of several billion dollars. Allianz intends to defend vigorously against the allegations contained in the complaints, it added.

The investors that sued Allianz include a Milwaukee municipal pension fund, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, a Chicago Teamsters pension, New York Citys Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Lehigh University.

AllianzGI last year rejected claims by the Arkansas pension fund that a reckless strategy led to $774 million in losses in a matter of weeks. The funds in the Structured Alpha portfolio did not diverge from their investment strategy, AllianzGI said in July 2020.

AllianzGI is the sister unit of Pacific Investment Management Co. Both firms are owned by Allianz. The parent company is due to report earnings for the latest period on Aug. 6.

With assistance from Patrick McHale.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Profit Loss Allianz
AXA posted a 180% surge in first-half net income on Monday as the French insurer rebounded from a spike in pandemic-related claims that led to a 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) charge last year.

Europes second-largest insurer after Allianz said it made nearly 4 billion euros [$4.8 billion] of net profit in the first half, more than double the 1.43 billion euros [$1.7 billion] a year earlier.

AXA said its company-focused AXA XL unit, hit last year by business interruption and event cancellation claims, recorded 619 million euros [$734.5 million] in underlying income from an 843 million euros [$1.0 billion] loss a year ago.

AXA Chief Executive Thomas Buberl told reporters a turnaround at the unit was showing its first results.

Taking advantage of the continued favorable pricing momentum, AXA XL is well positioned to deliver its euro 1.2 billion earnings target in 2021, Buberl also said in a statement.

AXAs underlying profit rose 93% in the first half to 3.64 billion euros. Excluding last years COVID-19 related claims, underlying earnings rose by 12%, AXA added.

Shares in AXA were up 3.29% at 0845 GMT, topping Frances CAC 40 index.

AXAs results are a clear beat to consensus expectations, with AXA XLs underlying earnings up +40% (ex-COVID) being a particularly pleasing source of strength, analysts at Jefferies said in a note.

However, AXA warned that Julys devastating floods in Germany and Belgium will cost it around 400 million euros before tax and net of reinsurance in a preliminary estimate.

The company in June reached a 300 million euro settlement with restaurant owners in France over pandemic-related insurance claims.

Chief Financial Officer Alban de Mailly Nesle said nearly half of the restaurant owners involved had expressed interest in the settlement.

The campaign is going very well on the ground, de Mailly told reporters.

In a separate statement, AXA said its board of directors had proposed renewing Buberls mandate as CEO and board member.

The proposal will be put to shareholders in April 2022 at the annual general meeting.

($1 = 0.8427 euros) (Reporting by Matthieu Protard; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Mark Potter)

Topics Profit Loss AXA XL France
BMS Re, the London-based independent reinsurance broker, announced the launch of BMS Re in Bermuda. Once necessary visa and regulatory requirements are met, Adam Mullan will be appointed as executive director.

BMS Res launch in Bermuda is the latest step in expanding its global footprint. Having established a major hub in the U.S. under Pete Chandler, BMS Re also has operations in London and Europe headed by Hannah Watkins and Andrew Wheeler and more recently has expanded into the Latin American market, led by Aidan Pope.

Mullan will be responsible for building out BMS Res Bermuda operations and will be the driving force behind the initiative.

Mullan joins BMS Re from his most recent role as a re/insurance consultant at Attestor Capital, working on non-executive consulting assignments for re/insurance acquisitions, business planning and strategy. He has held a number of senior roles, including as CEO of Alterra Global Reinsurance and Alterra at Lloyds Ltd. where he led a team of approximately 180 staff in the management and operations of Alterras Lloyds and global reinsurance business.

At Alterra, he leveraged his extensive knowledge of property and casualty underwriting classes to expand the companys geographic footprint, leading the acquisition team in targeting and acquiring its Lloyds managing agency and establishing its Latin American operation across three countries. Mullan also led the team in setting up Alterras Zurich business in 2011.

BMS Res launch in Bermuda builds on the already strong presence we have on the island as a specialty broker and BMS Res expanding global footprint demonstrates our commitment to the reinsurance broking business, commented Nick Cook, CEO of BMS. We only expect this growth to accelerate as we continue to invest significantly into the business and into our actuarial and analytics capabilities through BMS Res Pathlight Analytics platform.

Source: BMS

Topics Bermuda
This edition of International People Moves covers appointments at three London-based brokers: Oneglobal, McGill and Partners, and Gallagher

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Oneglobal Broking, the London-based broker, announced the appointment of Jose Miguel Gonzalez as chief commercial officer, Oneglobal Latin America, with responsibility for all countries in the region excluding Peru. He will join on completion of his existing contractual obligations.

Oneglobals Latin American operation will be headed by recently announced Nicolau Daudt as CEO, with support from Alvaro Gabaldon, CEO of Oneglobal Miami; Diana Rios, senior operations assistant Oneglobal Miami; and Ricardo Retana, head of Oneglobal Central America. They are now joined by Gonzalez as chief commercial officer.

Gonzalez is a highly experienced insurance and reinsurance executive who was latterly CEO of JLT Re Colombia and Peru. He has outstanding relationships with senior business leaders throughout Latin America and will be instrumental in driving the growth of Oneglobal across the continent.

***

McGill and Partners, the boutique specialist re/insurance broker, announced that David Cousar will be joining its Facultative Reinsurance team in 2022, to bolster the companys presence in Asia Pacific.

Cousar has spent 26 years in the insurance industry, with the last 21 years as a facultative reinsurance broker across a number of broking firms in senior roles. He began his career as a property underwriter at Legal & General before moving to direct writing reinsurers National Re and General Re.

Cousar was part of the team responsible for establishing Willis Re Fac and also led teams at Lockton and Howden. In 2014, he moved to Singapore to lead the Aon Reinsurance Asia Facultative business where he has been responsible for all lines of business in the region.

In his new role, Cousar will be working closely with Paul Summers, head of Facultative Reinsurance, providing on-the-ground expertise and experience to support the expansion of the facultative reinsurance business in the Asia Pacific region.

Paul Summers, head of Facultative Reinsurance commented: We are incredibly excited that David is joining the firm which will bolster our expertise in the region. David has significant experience working in the Asia Pacific market and will provide valuable support to our growing Facultative Reinsurance capability.

Since its inception in May 2019, McGill and Partners has undergone significant growth with revenues to date in excess of US$100 million and hired headcount now surpassing 340 colleagues.

***

Gallagher announced last month it has appointed Erik Alsegard to oversee a new intellectual property (IP) insurance practice.

Alsegard joins Gallagher in London following seven years at CFC Underwriting, where he was the IP Practice Lead. He has also held specialist IP insurance positions at Munich Re and Miller.

As IP Director, Alsegard will report to Executive Director Tom Draper, who runs Gallaghers cyber practice, and his first priority will be to offer the services to existing Gallagher clients that have a demand in this growing area of specialist insurance.

IP insurance typically covers legal defense costs and damages or settlement awards for policyholders accused of IP infringement, among other things. A common reason for purchasing the insurance is also to cover contractual obligations to indemnify customers or licensees in relation to IP infringement claims. The costs involved in IP claims can be very significant and, in some cases, prevent businesses from trading. The insurance may also cover the legal costs associated with pursuing parties infringing on the policyholders IP.

Coming to Gallagher to lead the development of this practice is a fantastic opportunity  due to its intangible nature IP risk is a very real but often uninsured exposure that can significantly impact firms, and its important that businesses have access to specialist advice on this complex area. I look forward to working with the team to develop our offering, commented Alsegard.

Topics Mergers Aon A.J. Gallagher
Two Michigan counties are asking the state to help make funds available for residents and businesses affected by recent tornados that damaged buildings, knocked down trees and caused power outages.

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel declared a state of emergency in response to damage last week in the Armada area, north of Detroit.

A state of emergency declaration is a step needed to seek cost reimbursement through the emergency management process.

Earlier, Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter asked the state to support a request for a state of disaster declaration in White Lake Township.

About 116 structures in Armada Township, the Village of Armada and surrounding areas in Macomb were damaged and two were destroyed as storms swept through parts of southeastern Michigan Saturday evening, according to Hackels office.

The tornado was severe and caused major damage in our communities, Hackel said. We are extremely thankful that no deaths or injuries occurred, but the ongoing recovery costs will be significant.

Macomb County also wants Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency exists within those areas so that other funding can be made available.

About 425 homes in the White Lake Township area, northwest of Detroit, were affected by the storm, including 31 that suffered major damage, Coulter said.

That tornados path was nearly 2 miles long and 400 yards wide.

Coulter sent a letter to Whitmer that supports a request by White Lake Township officials for a disaster declaration.

These natural disasters put tremendous strains, not only on families and businesses in communities, but also on local budgets, Coulter said. So, any assistance we can get from our partners in the state and federal government is especially helpful.

An EF1 tornado also touched down in Genesee Countys Clayton Township, according to the National Weather Service.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Michigan
An Illinois jury on Friday refused to hold Johnson & Johnson liable for a womans death from ovarian cancer, which her family blamed on decades of using its talc-based powders.

Relatives of the late Elizabeth Driscoll had sought up to $50 million in damages, saying J&J knew its baby powder and Shower to Shower products were dangerous.

Driscoll died in September 2016 at age 69, eighteen months after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The lawsuit was brought by her niece Colleen Cadagin, who oversees her estate.

Jurors in St. Clair County, Illinois ruled for J&J after a three-week trial.

In a statement, J&J said the verdict reflected the jurys careful consideration of the science and facts presented, while adding that we deeply sympathize with anyone suffering from cancer and know they are seeking answers.

Leigh ODell, who represented Driscolls family, said the evidence linking genital talc to ovarian cancers remains overwhelming.

This decision will not dissuade us from seeking justice for the thousands of women who have become victims of this disease through the corporate negligence and greed of Johnson & Johnson, she said.

The verdict came after the trial judge on Monday held the company in contempt because a defense witness failed to show up for cross examination, the familys lawyers have said.

J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said this week it faces about 34,600 lawsuits over talc-based powders, up from 20,600 a year earlier.

In June the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its bid to overturn a $2.12 billion damages award in Missouri to 22 women who blamed their ovarian cancer on its talc products.

J&J in 2020 set aside $3.9 billion for legal expenses, primarily for talc-related liabilities.

The company is exploring whether to move talc liabilities into a new company that would then seek bankruptcy protection, seven people familiar with the matter have said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by David Gregorio)
Zoom Video Communications Inc. agreed to pay $85 million and bolster its security practices to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated users privacy rights by sharing personal data with Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, and letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called Zoombombing.

A preliminary settlement filed on Saturday afternoon requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.

Subscribers in the proposed class action would be eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger, while others could receive up to $15.

Zoom agreed to security measures including alerting users when meeting hosts or other participants use third-party apps in meetings, and to provide specialized training to employees on privacy and data handling.

The San Jose-based company denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

In a statement on Sunday, Zoom said: The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us.

Saturdays settlement came after Koh on March 11 let the plaintiffs pursue some contract-based claims.

Though Zoom collected about $1.3 billion in Zoom Meetings subscriptions from class members, the plaintiffs lawyers called the $85 million settlement reasonable given the litigation risks. They intend to seek up to $21.25 million for legal fees.

Zoombombing is where outsiders hijack Zoom meetings and display pornography, use racist language or post other disturbing content.

Koh said Zoom was mostly immune for Zoombombing under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability over user content.

Zooms customer base has grown sixfold since the COVID-19 pandemic forced more people to work from home.

The company had 497,000 customers with more than 10 employees in April 2021, up from 81,900 in January 2020. It has said user growth could slow or decline as more people get vaccines and return to work or school in-person.

The case is In re: Zoom Video Communications Inc. Privacy Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-02155.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Lisa Shumaker)

Topics Privacy
Insurance and benefits broker Arthur J. Gallagher is the target of a proposed class action lawsuit over a ransomware attack it suffered in 2020.

The plaintiffs allege that Gallagher failed to follow federal and state government and industry standards to protect their personal information from hackers and failed to adequately notify or help individuals whose information was stolen.

The plaintiffs claim that they, customers and other employees of Gallagher have suffered injuries, incurred costs and face the prospect of present and imminent lifetime risk of identity theft. The plaintiffs claim that criminals have already used the stolen personal data to attempt to steal certain identities.

The lead plaintiffs are two former employees of Gallagher: Jason Myers of California and John Parsons of Louisiana.

They seek unspecified damages and implementation by Gallagher of a host of compensatory and security measures.

Arthur J. Gallagher, a large Illinois-based insurance and benefits broker, declined to comment on the lawsuit. The suit also names Gallagher third party administrator, Gallagher Bassett Services.

The suit claims that hackers obtained personally identifiable information of thousands of Gallaghers customers, potential customers, employees and other consumers, including Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers, drivers licenses, passports, dates of birth, usernames and passwords, employee identification numbers, financial account information, credit card information, electronic signatures and medical records.

The alleged injuries include out- of-pocket expenses associated with the identity theft, tax fraud, or unauthorized use of their information and increased risk because their information remains available on the dark web for individuals to access and abuse.

Gallagher detected the ransomware attack on or about Sept. 26, 2020. It took its global systems offline and launched an investigation.

According to the complaint, Gallagher informed certain media outlets of the ransomware attack as early as Sept. 29, 2020 but did not take any measures to notify affected individuals until on or about June 30, 2021.

The plaintiffs contend that those who saw the September 2020 media reports on the subject but who did not receive any notice of a data breach likely concluded that their data was not impacted and therefore would not have known of the need to take action to protect themselves. 

According to the suit, Gallagher has offered 24 months of identity monitoring services, which the plaintiffs claim is wholly inadequate.

In addition to seeking compensatory, statutory, nominal and punitive damages, legal costs and credit monitoring, the suit asks the court to order Gallagher to have regular third-party tests of its network security, improve training of its security personnel, and purchase or provide funds for credit monitoring services for its customers.

The suit is Myers v. Arthur J. Gallagher. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Topics Lawsuits Agencies Cyber A.J. Gallagher
Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the states highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to federal health data released Saturday, as its theme park resorts again started asking visitors to wear masks indoors.

The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.

The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases. The previous peak in Florida had been 19,334 cases reported on Jan. 7, before the availability of vaccinations became widespread.

The state reported 409 deaths this week, bringing the total to more than 39,000 since its first in March 2020. The states peak happened in mid-August 2020, when 1,266 people died over a seven-day period. Deaths usually follow increases in hospitalizations by a few weeks.

DeSantis has blamed the surge on a seasonal increase _ more Floridians are indoors because of the hot weather with air conditioning circulating the virus. About 60% of Floridians 12 and older are vaccinated, ranking it about midway among the states.

The Florida Hospital Association said Friday that statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations are nearing last years peak, and one of the states largest health care systems, AdventHealths Central Florida Division, this week advised it would no longer be conducting nonemergency surgeries in order to free up resources for COVID-19 patients.

Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld on Saturday became the latest theme park resorts in Florida to again ask visitors to wear masks indoors, with Universal also ordering its employees to wear face coverings to protect against COVID-19, which has been surging across the state.

All workers at Universals Florida park on Saturday started being required to wear masks while indoors as the employees returned to practicing social distancing. The home to Harry Potter and Despicable Me rides also asked visitors to follow federal and local health guidelines by voluntarily wearing face coverings indoors.

The health and safety of our guests and team members is always our top priority, Universal said in a statement.

Health officials on Friday announced that coronavirus cases in Florida had jumped 50% over the past week with COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state nearing last years peak.

SeaWorld on Saturday posted on its website that it was recommending that visitors follow recently updated federal recommendations and wear face coverings while indoors.

The change in policy this week at the theme park resorts came after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

Crosstown rival Walt Disney World started requiring employees and guests older than 2 to wear masks on Friday, but it also went a step further. The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement that it will be requiring all salaried and non-union hourly employees in the U.S. who work on site to be fully vaccinated.

Disney employees who arent already vaccinated will have 60 days to do so and those still working from home will need to show proof of vaccination before returning. Disney said it was discussing the vaccine requirements with the union, and added that all new hires will be required to be fully vaccinated before starting work at the company.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics COVID-19 Florida
The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers has named Steve Wolfenberger vice president.

He has 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, including developing his specialty in employee benefits. He was most recently with McGriff Insurance Services as a senior consultant and team lead. He was also a senior vice president at Alliant.

The brokerage has also named Stuart Ganis executive vice president.

He has 31 years of experience as an independent agent, 10 of those years consulting and training. He also has experience as an agency owner.

The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers is a privately held brokerage firm in Woodland Hills, Calif., with offices throughout the country.

Topics Agencies
The families of eight Marines and one sailor who died when their amphibious assault vehicle sank off the Southern California coast last summer plan to sue the manufacturer of the vehicle that resembles an armored seafaring tank, their lawyers announced a day before the anniversary of the accident.

BAE Systems knew for a decade or more about a design defect that makes it nearly impossible for troops to open the cargo hatches and escape the 26-ton amphibious vehicles when they sink, attorney Eric Dubin said at a news conference in Oceanside, the city bordering Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, where most of the troops were based.

They were kids, and they were put in a death trap, said Dubin, who was accompanied by relatives of five of the service members who died on July 30, 2020, and ranged from 18 to 22.

Dubin added that the troops were trapped inside for 45 minutes before the vehicle, known as an AAV, sank. Four Marines tried to use their body weight to force the hatch open, the lawyers said, adding that if the doors went inward and locked instead of to the outside, they could have gotten out in under two minutes.

He said the lawsuit would be filed within two days in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

The families cried as he spoke; three of the mothers embraced. Among them was Aleta Bath of East Troy, Wisconsin, who lost her only child.

She and her son would talk almost daily. Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, often forgot about the time difference between California and Wisconsin, calling her in the middle of the night.

I still dont sleep because Im waiting for a call that doesnt come, she said, crying. I just want to make things safer so this doesnt happen to anybody else.

Military leaders agreed the tragedy could have been prevented. An investigation by the maritime branch found the accident off San Clemente Island was caused by inadequate training, shabby maintenance of the 35-year-old amphibious assault vehicles and poor judgment by commanders.

About a dozen Marine officers have been forced out of their jobs or disciplined in another way. The Marine Corps also relieved a two-star general in June who had overseen the exercise.

BAE Systems declined to comment on the expected lawsuit and directed questions to the Marine Corps.

We offer our deepest sympathies to the families impacted by this tragedy and we mourn the loss of the nine service members, company spokesman Tim Paynter wrote in an email.

Lawyers for the families said they also would have considered suing the military but were prevented by the Feres doctrine, a 1950 decision that says service members cannot sue the federal government for injuries sustained while serving.

Instead, they are asking the military to support the lawsuit and pull its amphibious assault vehicles out of the water until the problem is resolved by the manufacturer. The Marine Corps did that for months while the accident was investigated, but recently troops have been back inside them in the water.

The troops who died were inside a decades-old amphibious vehicle, but lawyers said the newer ones, including a line now in production, have the same issue, which is why they are suing.

BAE Systems has a $366 million contract with the Marine Corps to produce 72 amphibious combat vehicles, which will replace the AAVs.

The Marine Corps said in a statement that a comprehensive review of amphibious operations is being conducted by senior Marine Corps and Navy personnel and that it is taking numerous actions to improve safety standards, including training troops to escape amphibious vehicles and ensuring the units using them are proficient in their skills. But it stopped short of saying it would stop using the AAVs.

It said it continues to mourn the loss of troops and is making safety a priority.

Christiana Sweetwood of Danville, Virginia, said she never wants another mother to experience what she has over the past year.

When they took my son, they kind of took my life, she said through tears. Theres a hole in my family I cant fix. And I dont want another mother standing at a door at 7 a.m. and two casualty officers telling her that her son is missing.

The accident occurred a day before Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwoods 19th birthday. He left behind seven siblings.

His mother said she and the other families who lost loved ones plan to spend the anniversary of the accident together, sharing memories. She may put flowers in the ocean.

On Saturday, Sweetwood plans to visit her sons grave at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego and eat his favorite dish  peach pie  to honor him on what would have been his 20th birthday.

The vehicles have been at the heart of the Marine Corps amphibious operations, carrying troops from ship to shore for both combat and humanitarian operations since the early 1980s. It can traverse both land and sea.

The investigation found the troops had not received appropriate instruction on how to escape a sinking amphibious vehicle and that the unit had not completed a required evaluation meant to address any issues, including their swimming qualifications.

Marine officers in charge that day also failed to have safety boats nearby.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits California Auto
An Idaho man is suing the Boy Scouts of America for failing to warn children that took part in the youth program that they could be exposed to sex abusers.

The man, who uses the name Mark Doe 14 in the federal lawsuit because he was a victim of child sex abuse, said an assistant troop leader raped and sexually abused him when he was 11 or 12 years old and threatened to kill his family if he reported the abuse.

Doe was a member of the Mountain West Council of the Boy Scouts for a troop in Gooding, Idaho, in the 1970s and 1980s, the lawsuit said. A spokesperson for the Mountain West Council was out of the office and couldnt be immediately reached for comment.

The trauma of the abuse left Doe with permanent and progressive pain, suffering and disability, he said. A phone number for the assistant scout leader could not be located and it wasnt clear if he was still living or in Idaho.

Doe said in the lawsuit that by the time he joined, the BSA was well aware of the danger boys faced because there was a longstanding and internally documented problem with volunteers sexually abusing them. Still, Doe said, BSA kept that knowledge from parents and children who participated in the organization and failed to take effective steps to root out abusers and keep the children safe.

The Boy Scouts of America has faced hundreds of lawsuits across the country from adults who said they were molested as children by scout leaders and other volunteers. Last year the BSA filed for bankruptcy, hoping to halt the lawsuits and create a compensation fund for victims.

Earlier this month, the BSA reached an $850 million agreement with attorneys representing some 60,000 victims of child sex abuse as part of the organizations bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy filing includes the BSA, abuse victims, local Boy Scouts councils and lawyers appointed to represent victims who might file future claims.

It wasnt immediately clear how the new lawsuit from Doe would be affected by the agreement.

At least 13 other people have brought similar lawsuits against the BSA and Mountain West Council in Idahos federal courts in recent years. The BSA has filed a motion in asking that those claims be put on hold until the bankruptcy proceedings are finalized.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Abuse Molestation
The rapid spread of the Delta variant has forced some countries to reverse plans to reopen their economies, denting the hopes of Irish exporters for continued expansion.

In particular, falling exports to countries outside of Europe are beginning to spook Ireland's exporters, who managed last year to throw off the impact of the many burdens of the covid pandemic and grow sales both within the EU but also across global markets.

Not so this year, according to the latest Eurostat release which shows all EU member states registering large increases in exports outside Europe with the exception of Ireland and Cyprus.

Double-digit export growth to Asia and the Americas was recorded by Germany, France, Italy and Spain, while Ireland fell back by four per cent year on year for the first five months of 2021. Much of the 2.4bn in lost sales emanated from falling exports to Japan, Canada and the US.

The fall in sales to Japan is particularly worrying as it was Irelands third-largest trade partner outside the EU and the second largest in Asia back in February 2019, when the EU-Japan free trade deal was signed off.

Since then, exports to the market have fallen each year and looks likely to fall by a further third this year.

The free trade agreement was supposed to be good news for Irish exporters of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and agri-foods.

Food exports to Japan such as pork and beef were due a dramatic reduction in tariffs. Beef duties were scheduled to be reduced from 38.5% to 9% and cheddar cheese tariffs (currently 29.8%) to be scrapped. And the lucrative Irish whiskey brand to be protected.

The 41 per cent fall in sales to Canada in the period clouds a trend of strong growth in exports since the EU-Canada free trade talks were concluded in 2014. The agreement was finally signed in 2016 and entered into force provisionally on the 21st of September 2017.

The agreement is being applied only provisionally because it needs to be ratified by all national parliaments, with Ireland one of the few countries still outstanding, as some members of the Green Party are opposed to ratification, mainly due to concerns over the system of investment protection.

The fall in exports to the US is of the much smaller two per cent range and well within the normal monthly variations.

Insights

There are a number of insights into the fall in exports to these markets.

Business consultancy Copenhagen Economics, commissioned by the Irish Government to review the benefits of the Canadian, the Japanese, and other free trade agreements to Ireland's exporters, reported earlier in June that whereas there were general benefits for Irish business and the economy, they also pointed to the downside of Free Trade Agreements.

In particular, the opening up the Irish and EU markets to competition from the foreign companies associated with the free trade agreements can create problems for some sectors.

As a consequence, they say, not every sector in Ireland will be impacted positively, thereby presenting a competitiveness challenge for Irish producers in their home market as well as within the wider EU marketplace.

Avoiding business closures and job losses within these sectors may involve looking for new export markets and product innovation, the consultants concluded.

The analysis of lost export sales is further complicated by the aggressive post-Brexit free trade deals being rapidly negotiated by the British government, which has the effect of flooding the UK market with goods and services from outside the EU and at the same time enabling UK exporters greater freedom to compete in these markets.

The more extensive Covid travel restrictions applied in Ireland will also have played their part in the downward cycle of Ireland's exports in the more far-flung markets.

This will have impacted smaller firms who have been responding to the Government agencies urging to expand sales away from the Brexit hit UK market and who, unlike multinationals, dont have offices in these markets.

The IMF in their July Economic Outlook 2021, also offer some insight. whereas they present a bullish growth picture for the rest of the year, they also point to Fault Lines Widening in the Global Recovery as a result of unusual pandemic-related developments and transitory supply-demand mismatches.

Irish exporters may be falling into one of these fault lines.
For three decades, Phil Mather has harvested olives from feral trees around South Australia. Mather, a landscape gardener, began hand-picking the fruit and pressing it into oil in his early 20s.

Its a seasonal pastime that has turned into a business in the past eight years. This year I have produced over 1,500 litres, which entails nearly nine tonnes of wild fruit and [olives from] relinquished groves, he says. Now 51, he sells most of his oil locally, at the Willunga farmers market and through retailers in Adelaide.

Priority one is to make a high-end oil. The second is to stop the spread of the olives throughout the environment. Theyre the two major things that really drive me to keep going, because its a very labour-intensive endeavour.

Usually a wild tree produces a lower percentage of oil per kilo. He gets about 70 litres of oil from one tonne of picked wild olives  less than a third of the oil that fruit from a cultivated olive tree might yield.

Many of the feral olives around Adelaide originate from trees planted in the mid-19th century. Drought-tolerant and well adapted to the local climate, European olives grow well in Australia, where there is a thriving commercial industry. But birds and other animals that disperse their seeds have contributed to uncontrolled spread, and wild-growing European olive trees are considered a major plant pest and a significant bushfire hazard.

Phil Mather gets about 70 litres of oil from one tonne of picked wild olives.

Mathers Wild Harvest Olive Oil is one of a growing number of businesses that have turned invasive species into commercial products. In Melbourne, Edible Weeds runs foraging walks and cooking events for introduced weeds including mallow, clover and wild radish.

Wild boar  feral pigs , as they are less palatably known  have been culled and exported for many years, but are now also a staple of some local restaurants, served braised or in lasagne. Uni Boom Boom, a restaurant in Melbournes south-east, specialises in sea urchin . Although the spiny sea urchin is native to Australian waters, it has become a marine pest, causing extensive destruction to kelp forests.

These enterprises serve up some food for thought: one way to manage invasive species could be to eat the problem.

Invasivorism: environmentally friendly diet or feel-good distraction?

The idea of eating invasive species  invasivorism  as a means of controlling pests has become popular in the past decade.

The rationale is that in the same way humans eat certain native animal species to extinction, perhaps they could do the same for pests.

Dr Jennifer Atchison, a senior lecturer at the University of Wollongongs school of geography and sustainable communities, says: The move to enterprise-based thinking about invasive species is part of a recognition that management of invasive species involves killing, and therefore that killing has both moral and ethical dilemmas.

Gabrielle Chan on the challenges and opportunities in Australian food production Part of the rationale behind using invasive species in some way, either as food or for other kinds of things like fertiliser, acknowledges that people reject this idea of kill to waste.

But Atchison says that despite good intentions, commercialising invasive species may also distract from broader issues such as land clearing or lack funding for environmental programs.

Wild boar are just one of the species that have been culled and exported for years. Picture: Getty

These [invasive] species are far too numerous and far too widespread for any kinds of enterprises to have significant environmental benefits over the landscape, she says. If there are any benefits  for the environment theyre likely to be quite localised. Australias pest animal strategy recognises that pest management requires a variety of control techniques, including commercial use where appropriate. Some animals, such as rabbits and foxes, are so well established there is virtually no prospect of eradication.

Ken Lang of Yarra Valley Game Meats, who has been farming deer for 35 years, increasingly sources wild-shot venison and other game meats including rabbit, camel and wild boar.

The animals shouldnt be here [in Australia] for a start  they never should have been released, he says.

The venison comes from processing facilities in South Australia and Victoria, where shooters can bring feral deer carcasses to be processed according to regulated standards.

Business has been steady even throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but even so Lang concedes the demand for invasive animal meats for human consumption is nowhere near enough to reduce their populations.

Tim Low, co-founder of the Invasive Species Council, says one risk of edible pests is that they can create economic incentives for the survival of invasive species.

In the US, for example, bounty programs that reward people for killing feral pigs have not helped eradicate the animals: one study even found that wild pig populations increased while a bounty was in place.

You dont want a situation where a company becomes reliant on a supply of feral animals, Low says.

Once you kill [some of that] group of animals, the rest of them are sneakier, theyre harder to get, so its economically less appealing. You get a less of return on your efforts going after them.

I dont have to look after the carp  the Murray-Darling basin looks after the carp all by itself Tracy Hill Dr Ben Hoffmann, an invasive species ecologist at the CSIRO, says: The science has shown that we dont embark on ventures like this in the anticipation that youre going to reduce the species.

Getting rid of invasive species from the environment takes really targeted strategic actions  if thats even possible at all. But that doesnt necessarily make edible pests problematic, he says.

Carp mince: Ive got converts all the time

Tracy Hill and her husband own Coorong Wild Seafood in Meningie, South Australia, and turned to fishing common carp when populations of other fish, such as golden perch and yellow-eye mullet, became more difficult to catch.

They produce carp mince and fillets, the texture of which Hill describes as between soft chicken thigh and tofu.

The mince itself behaves like chicken meat  you can brown it, Hill says. People  equate invasive or pest species with bad-tasting. Ive got converts all the time who come and taste it and then they start buying it on a regular basis. The company operates at a scale of several tonnes of carp a month, supplying a few South Australian restaurants, and hopes to double or triple the volume.

Theres no reason why we couldnt have carp being sold in Woolworths as fillets, says Hoffmann.

There are plans to release a herpes virus to kill carp in the Murray-Darling. Picture: Getty

Do we want to see a sustainable carp industry? No, we want to get rid of them. [But] weve never heard of carp being fished to extinction in the Murray River  its just not going to happen.

Hanging over Hills business is the controversial plan to release a herpes virus to kill carp in the Murray-Darling.

No one wants to look at [carp] harvesting as an option because of a perceived possibility that the fishermen may look after them, she says.

Financially that argument doesnt hold water, because native fish species are far more commercially profitable.

I dont have to look after the carp  the Murray-Darling basin looks after the carp all by itself, she says. Were just offering a potential part solution to the problem.

-Guardian
New sex-education resources for Catholic primary schools could form and shape negative views among children towards some sexualities and identities, and in some cases towards themselves, academics have warned.

A group of university staff from across the country have called for a halt to the introduction of Flourish, relationships and sexuality education (RSE) resources developed by the Irish Bishops' Conference for Catholic primary schools.

Introductory documents published earlier this year set out that while RSE in Catholic schools should affirm that every human being is loved by God as they are, the Churchs teaching in relation to marriage between a man and a woman cannot be omitted".

Religious perspective

In a letter to Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Education Minister Norma Foley, the group of university staff argue that Flourish "conflates" education on relationships and sexuality with a religious perspective on the topics.

It will form and shape negative views among children in relation to some sexualities/identities and in some cases, it will serve to form and shape negative views of themselves.

Research on RSE indicates that effective programmes should be scientifically based, provide young people with body autonomy and have an emphasis on human rights and gender equality, the letter adds.

'Flourish' includes lessons on topics like safe internet usage, friendship, and puberty. Each lesson ends with a prayer reflection. File picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The letter includes signatures from staff at University College Cork, Munster Technological University, the national College of Art and Design and NUI Galway, as well as the Committee of the LGBT+ Staff Network at UCC, University College Dublin and NUI Galway.

'Flourish' includes lessons on topics like safe internet usage, friendship, and puberty. Each lesson ends with a prayer reflection. Strands and themes for the senior classes include: Sex is a gift from God. It belongs in committed relationships" and Puberty is a gift from God".

The Education Act 1998 gives school patrons a legal right to design their programmes in accordance with the ethos of their schools. A major review of the RSE curriculum is underway.

When contacted for a statement, a spokesman for the Irish Bishops' Conference directed the Irish Examiner towards comments made by Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin in May. He described Flourish as a series of resources designed to assist teachers in following the curriculum while being respectful of a Catholic ethos.

The resource material clearly states that any young person grappling with questions around their own gender identity or sexual orientation is be treated with the utmost care and respect. Flourish addresses the issue of family type and acknowledges that love is at the heart of family life, no matter what type of family it is.
Burma Civilian Killed by Myanmar Military Artillery Strike

KIA fighters. / Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy

A civilian was killed by a Myanmar military artillery strike last Thursday, after ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) clashed with junta soldiers in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State.

The KIA attacked Infantry Battalion 58 of Myanmars military on the outskirts of Waingmaw Township around 10.30pm on Thursday last week.

The fighting took place after KIA Battalion 3 attacked Battalion 58. The military responded with artillery fire. I heard two villagers were injured as artillery shells landed on a village, said KIA information officer Colonel Naw Bu.

Locals said a regime artillery shell landed in Tanbawng village-tract, killing a 30-year-old man and wounding another.

The dead man was from an urban ward in Waingmaw. He was inside a workshop when it took a direct hit from the artillery shell, said a local resident.

In late June, the KIA attacked a military checkpoint near Balaminhtin Bridge linking the Kachin State capital Myitkyina with Waingmaw Township. Two junta police were injured in the attack.

The only reason to attack the military and their outposts is to resist the military regime. The regime has increased its presence in Kachin lately, stockpiling weapons and food. It appears that they will be conducting military operations. So we have to make pre-emptive strikes, said Col. Naw Bu.

The two sides were in the process of negotiating a ceasefire before the militarys Feb. 1 coup. Renewed clashes broke out in early March after junta forces shot dead two anti-regime protesters in Myitkyina, despite the KIA warning them not to harm pro-democracy protesters in Kachin State.

Since then, clashes have intensified with the KIA attacking military and police outposts in Injangyang, Shwegu, Bhamo, Momauk, Hpakant, Tanai, Namti, Mogaung and Waingmaw townships, as well as military boats on the Ayeyarwady River. Tensions are also running high between the KIA and the Myanmar military in northern Shan State.

The KIA has also allied with civilian resistance fighters operating as Peoples Defense Forces from Katha and Kawlin townships in Sagaing Region to fight the military regime.



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Burma Fears of Another Long Dictatorship as Myanmar Coup Maker Appoints Himself PM

Myanmar coup leader Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing

Fears are growing in Myanmar that the country is facing another decades-long dictatorship, as coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has taken on the role of prime minister in his newly formed caretaker government, following in the footsteps of former dictator Ne Win, who ruled the country for 26 years.

Min Aung Hlaings self-appointment to the position and the formation of the new government were announced on Sunday as the Southeast Asian country marked sixth months under military rule imposed by his State Administration Council (SAC). On the same day, he said elections would be held by 2023.

Since the military seized power from the democratically elected government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in February, Myanmar has been in turmoil economically, socially and politically. The regime has been struggling to rule the country in the face of popular protest and civil armed resistance. Currently, highly contagious new variants of the coronavirus are battering the country.

The caretaker government is nothing new to Myanmar. In 1958 when the then ruling Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League (AFPFL) was divided by faction and intrigue, then Prime Minister U Nu handed state power to then military chief General Ne Win after securing a promise from the general that an election would be held in six months. Ne Win agreed and formed a caretaker government, in which he was the prime minister.

However, the election was not held until 1960. Ne Win handed power back to U Nus party after its victory at the polls. Two years later, however, the general seized power back through a coup, claiming that the Union of Burma (Myanmars former name) was in danger of disintegration under the U Nu government.

After the takeover in 1962, Ne Win held power for 26 years as the supreme leader of the country. He turned what had been Southeast Asias most prosperous nation into a poor socialist state, isolating the country from the outside world and pushing it into the ranks of the poorest nations, with Burma earning the UNs Least Developed Country (LCD) designation in 1987. Ne Wins dictatorship was toppled by a nationwide popular uprising in 1988, but the protests were brutally cracked down on by the army, paving the way for another period of direct military rule until early 2011.

Given this historical context, the regimes announcement on Sunday of the caretaker government and its promise to hold elections in two years were met with skepticism.

The military is back in absolute power for the long haul, said Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who has been covering Asia for decades.

He said if anyone had any doubts about Min Aung Hlaings intentions when he ousted the democratically elected government in Feb. 1, it should now be clear to all that the military grabbed absolute power in order to crush any attempts to establish genuine civilian rule, which was the aim of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis ousted National League for Democracy government.

A Yangon-based political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue said the regime appeared set on holding power for as long as it can. He said that by forming the caretaker government the junta was merely playing another card in its game of misleading the international community into believing that it is not a regime, but rather a government that is holding power temporarily.

They wont give it back and it will be really bad for the country, he said.

Min Aung Hlaing earlier promised he would hand over power to whichever party won the next election. On Sunday, he said the polls would be held in 2023 after the state of emergency period was over.

Last week, the regime officially annulled the 2020 election results, which saw the NLD win a landslide victory, claiming the NLD violated the constitution and election laws. The regime has also been working on disbanding the NLD over the alleged violations.

Given the existing situation, its doubtful the NLD will survive to see the election Min Aung Hlaing has promised.

Myanmars recent history also shows that the generals rarely keep their promises and are not reliable when it comes to polls.

When the NLD won the general election in 1990, the then military regime didnt honor the results. They organized an election in 2010 that saw its proxy party win but the polls were internationally dismissed as a sham.

For the 2023 electionif it happensone possible scenario is that a regime-backed party will have the upper hand with the demise of the NLD.

Lintner said its criminally naive to believe that the military will hand over power to a democratically elected, civilian government.

Echoing Lintner, the Yangon-based analyst said parties backed by the regime will contest the vote, with one of them eventually forming a government.

The regime will make sure that one of them will win, he said.



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Commentary COVID-19 Unmasks Myanmar Regimes Callousness and Incompetence

A trishaw driver carries an empty coffin prepared for a COVID-19 victim in Yangon's Yeway Cemetery in July. / The Irrawaddy

Thanks to coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, thousands of Myanmar people have died and many more are dying of COVID-19 each day as the country marks six months of military rule; the grim milestone was reached on Sunday.

The coupmakers activities over the past five months have borne all the hallmarks of a regime leader clinging to power, whatever the cost to the country and its people. The first four months of the takeover saw bloody crackdowns and mass detentions of protesters that resulted in 840 deaths and 5,554 arrests by May 31. At the same time, a deadly civilian armed resistance emerged upcountry and in some ethnic areas, and guerrilla-style attacks erupted in urban areas. Both have inflicted serious casualties on the regime, forcing Min Aung Hlaing to admit that he has yet to bring the country fully under his control, after his coup left it shattered across all sectors. Then came the third wave of COVID-19, which has fully unmasked the regimes incompetence, mismanagement and lack of vision.

The latest wave of COVID-19 has brought Myanmar to its knees. By the time the new, more contagious variants of the virus started to hit the country in late June, Myanmars health system had already collapsed due to the regimes crackdowns on striking health workers. Officially, in July alone 6,000 people died, making it the deadliest month so far. On Saturday, Myanmars official data showed another 392 deaths and 4,725 new infections. According to Our World In Data, a project based at Oxford University, the countrys seven-day rolling average of deaths per 1 million people rose to 6.77 on that day, surpassing those of Indonesia and Malaysia to become the highest in the region. The July death toll is widely believed to exclude the many people who died gasping for breath in their homes, without oxygen. Congratulations, senior general!

Better days

When Myanmar experienced the first and second waves of COVID-19 under the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy government prior to February this year, cooperation between the government and the people in response to the disease was excellent.

In government hospitals, beds were reserved, oxygen cylinders were ready and ICUs were upgraded to treat critical COVID patients. Doctors and nurses declined to return to their homes, working long shifts as patients with COVID-19 symptoms streamed into emergency departments. As the number of infections grew, well-wishers rushed in and improvised COVID-19 centers, and field hospitals mushroomed. On national TV, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi soothed her fellow citizens with assurances that the government would take absolute care of peoples health. Unsurprisingly, no one was turned away from hospitals.

Witnessing all this before the coup, many in the country at the time couldnt help wondering, How would the previous military regime or their proxy governments have handled the crisis if they were still in power?

They unanimously came to the conclusion that it would be a nightmare and the whole country would be suffering a serious public health disaster with mounting deaths. Their lifelong experience of living under military rule and the quasi-civilian government until early 2016 had enlightened them that the men in uniform and their associates are an entirely self-centered breed devoid of benevolence. Seeing the democratically elected governments relentless effort to fight against the deadly disease, the people heaved a collective sigh of relief.

Nightmare scenario

However, this sense of reassurance was shattered on a February morning by the coup. Five months after the takeover, the publics COVID nightmare scenario became a reality in July. The whole country was shocked to see images of coronavirus victims bodies lined up head to toe at crematoriums in Yangon, the countrys COVID hotspot. Even the citys oldest residents said the scenes were unprecedented. True to form as a breed of soldiers who know nothing about how to run a country properlyor perhaps because they were unwilling to helprather than trying to prevent deaths from COVID-19, the regime ordered that more crematoriums be built. Unsurprisingly, the people are showering Min Aung Hlaing with the curses he deserves.

Across the country, people frantically hunt for oxygen, a lifeline for their family members with COVID-19, as the regime has restricted the supply, claiming the measure is needed to prevent hoarding. On Myanmars most popular social media platform, Facebook, people desperately beg for oxygen cylinders for their loved ones who have resorted to home treatment after being turned away by overwhelmed and understaffed hospitals. Heartbreaking posts appear, such as, I no longer need it Mom has just passed away. Thank you all who helped.

The blame for every life lost during the third wave of COVID-19 lies squarely with Min Aung Hlaing, as he simply failed to take serious measures to prevent such an outbreak, or to prepare for its arrival.

Undaunted by the daily increase in confirmed cases and deaths in May, Min Aung Hlaing ordered schools across the country to open on June 1. It was widely seen as a desperate attempt by the regime to show the world that normalcy had returned to Myanmar. Two weeks later, hundreds of teachers and students at private and public schools tested positive. All hell started to break loose. Despite the soaring numbers of new cases and deaths, he flew to Russia. During his one-week stay there, he extolled the Kremlins ties with Naypyitaw and visited military hardware factories, while the COVID positivity rate in Myanmar increased from 11.86 percent to 17.37.

When 144 people had died by the end of June, the regime woke up. Min Aung Hlaing held his first meeting on COVID-19 on July 9. At that time, 431 people had already died since June. He said he had ordered battalions and military units across the country to house quarantined people. At subsequent meetings, he said Myanmar had enough oxygen, but his troops on the ground stole cylinders from charity groups. He also shamelessly appealed to striking healthcare workers who had been in hiding from his arrest warrants to go back to work, as the hospitals were understaffed. Out in the streets, his rifle-wielding soldiers barked orders to Disperse immediately! at people queuing outside medical stores, because the regime doesnt want crowds gathering. No wonder he has been accused of weaponizing COVID-19.

Rather than taking responsibility for not acting early, the coup leader on Sunday blamed the new variants for the high infection and death tolls, as they are more contagious than those in the first and second waves.

In fact, the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi government had planned to begin its nationwide inoculation rollout on Feb. 5. But Min Aung Hlaings coup on Feb. 1 completely disrupted the plan. Shipment of 27 million vaccine doses from COVAX, a United Nations-backed initiative to vaccinate the worlds most vulnerable, stalled. Were it not for the takeover, Myanmars vaccine drive would have moved forward as planned in February and in the following months. It would have covered the countrys population to some extent by now, which would have reduced the fatality rate from the third wave. (Since the takeover, the regime has intermittently inoculated 1.77 million of the countrys more than 54 million people with 3.5 million jabs from India secured by the previous government. Its own vaccination drive started in late July when jabs donated by and bought from China arrived.)

Min Aung Hlaings belated, badly managed efforts have made little headway against the virus. This can be attributed directly to the fact that, unlike Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he doesnt have popular support and the people dont trust him, due to the coup. Most Myanmar people, especially young people, feel he has robbed them of their dreams and their future. They detest him so much that they refuse to call him by his name. Thats why his repeated calls for public collaboration have simply been rejected by the majority of the people.

The reality is that people are now caring for each other rather than relying on the regime in their fight against COVID-19, as the junta leader has failed them. So, they share their oxygen with each other. When they have extra medicine, they give them to whomever is in need. They encourage each other by saying, You have to survive this in order to see his ouster. When a whole family is too sick to go out, all they have to do is hang a yellow cloth outside their home. People near and far will rush to drop anything from Vitamin C to foods to cold tablets at the familys doorstep. Nothing more truly reflects the spirit of for the people, by the people than Myanmars situation today.

So, what can Min Aung Hlaing claim to have achieved for Myanmar as his rule turns six months old?

Growing public misery. Growing numbers of deaths, and. (please feel free to add anything you think is suitable)



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Editorial Myanmars Military Regime Lacks Legitimacy and Capacity to Govern

A flash mob protest against the regime on July 29 in Yangon. / The Irrawaddy

The military regime that suppressed the nationwide 1988 pro-democracy uprising and staged a bloody coup in September of that year was able to consolidate its power and run the country.

Now in 2021  six months after staging its coup  the junta known as the State Administration Council is still unable to control Myanmar. Opposition to the regime remains steadfast and strong, no matter that the junta formed a caretaker government on the weekend.

In 1988, then coup leader General Saw Maung along with General Than Shwe, General Tin Oo and General Khin Nyunt, the feared intelligence chief, were in firm control weeks after snatching power, ruling under the name the State Law and Order Restoration Council.

Just like current coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, they were brutal and murderous men, but they managed to consolidate their power and authority over the country.

Within months of the 1988 takeover, civil servants were back at work and street demonstrations had ceased, with pro-democracy activists in hiding, on the run or imprisoned by the military.

Moreover, regional commanders effectively controlled the administration and kept the country in order. Subsequently, the regime even introduced an open market economy and economic liberalization policy that attracted a flurry of foreign investors in the early 1990s.

Today, in 2021, Myanmar is teetering on the brink of becoming a failed state. The people are clear that they dont want the return of military rule and the junta doesnt have the power and influence to govern the country. The military behaves like barbarians, a foreign occupying force that can only deploy violence.

The junta appears to have been taken aback not just by the scale of protests, but by the ways they are organized  loose networks of young people, especially the young, tech-savvy Generation Z.

Civil servants are refusing to work for the regime. Private banks are still struggling to reopen, while several foreign companies including Telenor have left the country altogether.

A recent World Bank report said that Myanmars economy is forecast to shrink by 18% in the last quarter of 2021, as it grapples with the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic and the political turmoil unleashed by the coup. The contracting economy threatens millions with poverty, joblessness and hunger. Within a year or so, millions of Myanmar citizens are likely to migrate to neighboring countries.

Looking at Myanmar today, the countrys trajectory is alarming. The country is going through a severe economic, social and political crisis, the worst since independence in 1948. The coup has had a catastrophic effect, including prompting a boom in illicit trade and drug production in eastern Myanmars Shan State.

At the same time, armed uprisings are spreading in both the countryside and cities. Targeted assassinations, bombings and the killing of regime officials and informants continue. The military is unable to crush this rebellion.

In the ethnic areas of the country, some of the heaviest fighting has raged in Chin and Kayah states, which have not seen any widespread insurgencies for decades. New armed rebellions have spread to Sagaing and Magwe regions, just as they did in the British colonial era, with frequent attacks on military outposts in recent months.

Unlike the ethnic armed organizations that have been fighting for self-determination and autonomy for decades, these civilian resistance fighters are not equipped with automatic rifles but with hunting guns, homemade weapons and bombs. Nevertheless, this new type of rebellion poses a serious threat to the regime

The promise of the caretaker government to hold elections in two years from now is not realistic. Just like in the past, the military will only hold elections and re-open the country when they feel that, as in 2010, they can control a military-guided transition to a new government.

It is doubtful that coup leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing believes he will be able to hold a general election in 2023. Why? The junta have burned all their bridges. They have grabbed the tigers tail and now they cannot let go.

Even if there is an election in the future, the regime is determined to prevent the National League for Democracy, which won the 2015 and 2020 elections, and ousted civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part.

For now, the coup is still incomplete and facing strong opposition from the people, while most of the international community do not recognize the regime as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

The struggle for the future of the country will be long and protracted and requires both regional and international intervention.



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Company News: Murdoch University is undergoing a major business transformation focused on providing a world-class service for its employees covering finance, human resources, and planning systems with the implementation of Workday's enterprise cloud applications for HCM, finance and planning.

The implementation of Workday commenced this month and is supported by global services partner, Collaborative Solutions, a Cognizant Company. It will create a future-focused, sustainable digital experience.

The transformation will replace a variety of legacy systems with Workdays modern enterprise cloud applications for HCM, finance and planning  with Workday Financial Management, Workday Human Capital Management and Workday Adaptive Planning.

Murdoch University has five campuses and more than 1,800 staff and 23,000 students from across 90 different countries. It is recognised globally for the impact that its free-thinking graduates, life-changing research, and innovative campus and industry developments have made, locally and internationally.

Michael Grant - Deputy COO and Director, IT Services, Murdoch University, said Workday will enable better decision-making by providing leaders with direct, real-time access to people and finance data, streamline business processes and enhance the employee experience through increased self-service capabilities.

Importantly, this will provide a best-in-class platform and enable Murdoch people to focus more on value-add activities. By reducing the time our people spend on time-consuming, manual processes, the more time they will have to improve the student experience at Murdoch University.

Stephen Jack, Managing Director and Vice President, Workday Australia and New Zealand, said: The past 18 months have shown us the importance of digital agility in business and having the right technology backbone in place to make strategic and informed decisions. Murdoch University has embraced this need for agility. We look forward to helping them enhance processes and deliver a truly transformational finance and HR experience for their employees.

Duane Goff, APAC Regional Vice President of Collaborative Solutions said, We are looking forward to working in partnership with Murdoch University on its transformative deployment of Workday. Implementing Workday will help Murdoch minimise manual activities and enhance key business processes."
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THE MOST SEARCHED FOR BUCKET LIST EXPERIENCES WITH ANANTARA HOTELS Although international travel has yet to return to its peak glory days, that hasnt hindered our wanderlust and many of us have instead turned to searching online for our next long-awaited vacation. THE MOST SEARCHED FOR BUCKET LIST EXPERIENCES WITH ANANTARA HOTELS Although international travel has yet to return to its peak glory days, that hasnt hindered our wanderlust and many of us have instead turned to searching online for our next long-awaited vacation. Events - Communication/Marketing

This is a press release Category: Worldwide This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2021-08-02







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Chris Powell has worked for the Journal Inquirer since 1967, first as a reporter, then as an editor, and now as a columnist. He was managing editor from 1974 until retiring from that position in 2018.
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Partly cloudy. High 86F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.

Tomorrow

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High near 85F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Afghan forces battled to stop a first major city from falling to the Taliban Monday as the United States and Britain accused the insurgents of massacring civilians in a town they recently captured near the Pakistan border.

Taliban fighters assaulted at least three provincial capitals overnight  Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat  after a weekend of heavy fighting that saw thousands of civilians flee the advancing militants.

Fighting raged in Helmands provincial capital Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched coordinated attacks on the city centre and its prison  just hours after the government announced the deployment of hundreds of commandos to the area.

The war has intensified since early May, with the insurgents capitalising on the final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after almost 20 years.

As the countrys security forces struggled to keep the Taliban at bay, President Ashraf Ghani blamed Washington for the deteriorating security.

The reason for our current situation is that the decision was taken abruptly, Ghani told parliament, referring to the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Ghani said he had warned Washington that the withdrawal would have consequences.

His comments came as the United States said it will take in thousands more Afghan refugees as violence surged across the country.

In light of increased levels of Taliban violence, the US government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the United States, the opportunity for refugee resettlement, the State Department said in a statement.

Washington has already started evacuating thousands of interpreters and their families who worked with the military and embassy over the past two decades.

 Life is at a standstill 

The United States and Britain on Monday accused the Taliban of atrocities that may amount to war crimes in the town of Spin Boldak, which the insurgents captured last month along the border with Pakistan.

The Taliban massacred dozens of civilians in revenge killings. These murders could constitute war crimes, the embassies of Washington and London said in separate tweets.

The Talibans leadership must be held responsible for the crimes of their fighters. If you cannot control your fighters now, you have no business in governance later.

The diplomatic lashing comes after Afghanistans Independent Human Rights Commission said the insurgents had indulged in revenge killings in Spin Boldak.

After taking over Sping Boldak district, the Taliban chased and identified past and present government officials and killed these people who had no combat role in the conflict, the group said, adding at least 40 people had been killed by the Taliban.

Fighting meanwhile continued in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah overnight as Afghan forces beat back a fresh assault from the Taliban.

Afghan forces on the ground and by air strikes repelled the attack, the military in Helmand said.

Resident Hawa Malalai warned of a growing crisis in the city: There is fighting, power cuts, sick people in hospital, the telecommunication networks are down. There are no medicines and pharmacies are closed.

Medical charity Doctors Without Border said casualties were mounting in Lashkar Gah.

There has been relentless gunfire, air strikes and mortars in densely populated areas. Houses are being bombed, and many people are suffering severe injuries, said Sarah Leahy, the aid groups coordinator for Helmand, in a statement.

Helmand for years was the centrepiece of the US and British military campaign in Afghanistan  only for it to slip deeper into instability.

The vast poppy fields in the province provide the lions share of the opium for the international heroin trade  making it a lucrative source of tax and cash for the Taliban.

The loss of Lashkar Gah would be a massive strategic and psychological blow for the government, which has pledged to defend provincial capitals at all costs after losing much of the rural countryside to the Taliban over the summer.

 Strategic blunders 

Fighting also surged in some districts of Kandahar province, the former bastion of the insurgents, and on the outskirts of its capital.

In the west, hundreds of commandos were also defending Herat after days of fierce fighting.

Kabul has repeatedly dismissed the insurgents steady gains over the summer as lacking strategic value, but has largely failed to reverse their momentum.

The capture of any major city by the Taliban would take their current offensive to another level and fuel concerns about the ability of the Afghan military.

If Afghan cities fall the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan will be remembered as one of the most notable strategic blunders in American foreign policy, Australia-based Afghanistan expert Nishank Motwani told AFP.

The Taliban have seized Afghan cities in the past but have retained them only briefly.
On Sunday, a man in Repentigny, Quebec, died after being shot three times in the abdomen by police. His family attributed his death to the anti-black racism of the citys police force and demanded justice.

The victims mother, Marie-Mireille Bence, called the police on Sunday morning and asked them to take their 37-year-old son Jean Rene Junior Olivier to the hospital because he had mental health problems.

He told me he saw people around him and someone wanted to hurt him, Bens told reporters with her family at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

Bens said the six police officers did not help him, but came to her door and shot him in the abdomen. When the police arrived, he was holding a table knife in his hand, but his family said he dropped it.

He threw the knife on the ground and just then they shot him. They shot him three times, Bens said.

They are criminals. They killed my son, she said. I called them for help, they showed up and killed him. I think this is ridiculous, because there are other ways to solve this problem and control him.

The victims son, Kaishaun Olivier, questioned why the police shot his father three times in the abdomen instead of using other non-lethal measures. (Sarah Levitt/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

Quebec Police Supervision Agency, Independent Investigation Office (BEI), is investigating the shooting. It said that the Repentigny police received a 911 call shortly after 7:30 in the morning, and that a confused and disoriented person was allegedly holding a knife in the residential area.

According to Bens, she and her brother asked Olivier to give them the knife. When he refused, she called the police and explained that she needed help to take him to the hospital.

I dont want him to hurt myself, but see what this leaves me, she said.

Black people have no justice

Bens said that when the police arrived, they let her and her brother go in and lock the door. She said that she did as she ordered, only to hear gunshots.

She said, then, a police officer came to the door and asked if Olivier had a mental health problem. The officer offered to accompany her to the Royal Victoria Hospital for shock treatment, but she refused.

The victims cousin, Dolmine Laguerre (Dolmine Laguerre) said that her family is now seeking answers and responsibility for the shooting.

There is no justice for black people today, Laguerre said. We are not safe in Repentigny Our skin color represents us.

Watch | The victims cousin says black people are not safe in Repentigny: The victims cousin, Dolmine Laguerre (Dolmine Laguerre) said that black people are not safe in Repentigny and called for responsibility for the shooting. 0:51

Bens questioned why the police shot her son in the abdomen instead of aiming at his leg or using a taser to subdue him.

He is not violent. He did not put anyones life in danger, she said.

Bens said that after the incident with her son, she completely lost faith in the police.

Tomorrow, if I have something, do you think I will call 911? Never, she said. I would rather die in my corner than call them again.

Confessional police, they dont want to see black people, Bens said. 911 is not for black people.

CBC News has solicited comments from Repentigny and the Quebec government. Last year, the Repentigny police hired a consulting company to help solve the long-standing issue of racial profiling.

In a statement released on Sunday, the city said: We know that this situation can be particularly difficult for blacks who already have a lot of concerns about our services.

Quebecs Minister of Anti-Racism Benoit Charette and Minister of Public Safety Genevieve Guilbault declined to comment on the incident during the BEI investigation.

Dissecting history

The incident occurred after a series of racial profiling complaints against Repentigny police.

In July of this year, the Quebec Human Rights Commission discovered that the police had racially discriminated against Leslie Blot. Leslie Blot was a black man. He was stopped, handcuffed and issued a fine when he was blowing balloons for children in the passenger seat of a car outside his home in 2017. .

The committee stated in its decision that the Repentigny police designated Blot as a victim of discrimination based on the intersection of race, color, and gender motives in the form of profiling.

His case is the fourth time that the Human Rights Commission has ruled against Repentigny.

At a brief press conference on Monday afternoon, the Repentigny Police Department expressed its hope to rebuild the bridge with the black community.

Police Chief Helen Dion said: This sensitivity may not exist as we hope. She said that racial profiling is a widespread problem, and the force is working with organizations and developing strategies to Ensure that there is no prejudice or discrimination in police intervention.

Dion said that Oliviers fatal shooting was the first such incident in the services history, and the hearts of its members were with his family.

Following its decision on Repentigny in the Blot case in July, the city said in a statement that it is developing an action plan dedicated to the process of organizational transformation and will announce a series of specific measures in the summer.

The Repentigny Police Department stated that it wanted to rebuild the bridge with the black community. (Matthew Wagner/Radio Canada)

But Fer Niemi, executive director of the Montreal Race Relations Research and Action Center, said Oliviers death would deepen the rift between Repentigny residents and the police.

He said: This situation could have been resolved in different ways, but it will eventually escalate into a very tragic thing.

The question is can we really rely on the BEI monitoring agency to conduct investigations? Because the agency is not very successful in terms of transparency and providing the results many people expect.

For more stories about the experience of black Canadiansfrom anti-black racism to success stories in the black communitycheck out Becoming Black in Canada, a CBC project that Canadian blacks can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
A 120-year-old castle on a remote island is on the market-it only costs 1 pound to become your castle.

The crumbling Kinloch castle on the island of Rum in Scotland is looking for a new owner to take over this incredible property.

6 The crumbling property is looking for a new owner Credit: SWNS

6 It may be yours for only 1-but it needs to be overhauled Credit: SWNS

Currently, it is owned by NatureScot, a national heritage public institution, and requires repairs worth 20 million pounds.

This dilapidated 19th century retreat castle was once the best place for gatherings, stalking deer, hunting and fishing.

This red sandstone mansion with towers was built by a Victorian millionaire and still has the worlds last functioning orchestra-according to reports, it itself needs a 50,000 renovation.

Complex instrument, belonging to Queen VictoriaAnd simulate a 40-person orchestra.

This castle is located in the Inner Hebrides and is said to be the favorite of the locals Prince Charles It is believed that he supports the plan to save the castle in the past.

NatureScot is now looking for private individuals, charities, foundations or private companies to propose to take over this impressive house.

Any promising new owner must prove that they have the resources to save a Class A landmark-and plan to improve the future of the island on which it is located.

6 The charming property is decorated for the royal family Credit: SWNS

6 This 120-year-old manor was once a prime location for gatherings and hunting Credit: SWNS

The prospectus stated: This is a unique opportunity to obtain ownership of Kinlock Castle on the island of Rum on the west coast of Scotland.

This is a rare opportunity to create a lasting legacy from this majestic hunting lodge; to bring it back to life so that it can once again play its role in supporting the island and its communities; and to ensure the future of future generations.

Kinloch Castle was built between 1897 and 1900 by the Lancaster millionaire dandy Sir George Blow.

The majestic hunting lodge provides guests with the opportunity to enjoy highland sports.

The layout of the room is the same as in its heyday-full of sculptures, artworks and Steinway grand pianos.

There is a four-poster bed and a bouncy floor ballroom with golden brocade walls.

A NatureScot spokesperson said: Our priority is to protect and protect Scotlands nature, so we must concentrate our resources.

But we think this castle will support the community through suitable owners, and we have been working towards this goal for the past few years.

Kinlock Castle is currently not for sale on the open market. We are working hard to determine the beneficial owners of the castle and venue.

Any future owner needs to contribute to three key goals: ensuring the protection and protection of the castle, promoting the sustainable development of the rum community and improving the natural environment of rum, including promoting its enjoyment and minimizing The impact of the castle on the natural environment.

6 New owners will be asked to help protect the amazing property Credit: SWNS
The Afghan President blamed the deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan on the U.S. decision to withdraw troops before August 31.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the deterioration of the countrys security on the sudden decision to withdraw troops from the United States.

When Ghani submitted his security plan to Parliament on Monday, he said that the situation in the war-torn country would be controlled within six months, adding that the United States had pledged its full support.

The reason for our current situation is that the decision was made suddenly, he told Parliament, adding that he had warned Washington that withdrawing would have consequences.

The president added that protecting the people is his duty.

After his speech, the two houses of parliament issued a joint statement expressing their full support for Ghanis security plan.

In a statement, the legislator declared that he resolutely supports human rights and womens rights and freedom of speech, and stated that they stand with the Afghan National Army who sacrificed their lives for the country.

His time is over, and God will

In response, the Taliban issued a statement to the media, calling Ghanis remarks nonsense and saying that his era is over.

He tried to control his own bad [mental] Status and errors, the statement said.

The state has decided to prosecute national traitors and bring them to justice. Declaring war, accusing them and providing false information cannot prolong Ganis life, it said.

His time is over, God bless.

A source in Helmand province said that since Monday morning, there have been fierce clashes in the first district of Rashkaga city. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/CPJbGrzfhG  TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 2, 2021

Over the past few months, the Taliban quickly gained territory in the final stages of the U.S. withdrawal, mainly in sparsely populated rural areas.

But in recent weeks, it has put increasing pressure on provincial capitals and occupied key border crossings.

Occupying any major urban center will take their current offensive to the next level and heighten fears that the army will not be able to resist Taliban attacks.

The government has repeatedly denied that the groups steady growth in the summer lacks strategic value, but has largely failed to reverse their momentum on the battlefield.

The Taliban have occupied Afghan cities in the past, but only retained them briefly.

Ali M Latifi contributed to this report in Kabul, Afghanistan
The police said at least three people were killed in the countrys capital after violent clashes between the Afar and Iser people.

The prosecutor said that after the rare outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in Djibouti, at least three people died, during which the police intervened.

Fighting broke out in several places in the capital Djibouti on Sunday, between the Afar ethnic group that crosses the border between Djibouti and Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Isa ethnic group, another major ethnic group in Djibouti.

There have been several extremely serious crimes. The house was deliberately set on fire, Ramis Mohamed Said told public television on Monday, but did not give any possible reasons for the violence.

Innocent people are being attacked for no reason, she said.

She added that three people died, but did not specify whether they did so during the inter-ethnic fighting or after police intervention.

Said Nouh Hassan, the Minister of the Interior, referred to a new scale incident in a nightly broadcast television speech, which he called intolerable.

Agence France-Presse reported that local residents said more than a dozen people had been killed, and one of the bakers was lynched by Afar youth.

Witnesses told AFP that the violence started in the Warabaley area, where the Issa house was set on fire and then spread to other areas.

The local entrepreneur Dakher said that he saw his Afar neighbors fleeing their home and feared that they would be set ablaze.

On Monday, calm was restored in most areas. There were still a large number of police stationed in some areas of the capital, but the Internet connection was unstable and Facebook could not be accessed.

Following similar violence in neighboring Ethiopia in late July, Djiboutis social media platforms have been extremely busy for several days.

The prosecutor said that several people were detained after the violence in Djibouti.

She said: We are taking firm measures against those who spread these troubles and crimes in our country.

On both sides of Somalia and across from Yemen, Djibouti remained stable in a turbulent area. The stability of Djibouti has attracted foreign military powers such as former colonial rulers France, the United States, and China to establish bases there.

But the country has also seen the erosion of press freedom and has suppressed dissidents for foreign interests.

According to data from the World Bank, Djiboutis per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is about US$3,500, which is higher than most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, but about 20% of the population lives in extreme poverty and 26% are unemployed .
Newest:

business travel It is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels soon.

According to the Times report, the United Kingdom may tighten summer travel regulations for Spain.

In the face of the COVID-19 surge, the Philippines will extend the curfew in Manila.

Have a coronavirus question or news tip about CBC News?e-mail [email protected] .

The federal government expects to receive more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, as public health officials are preparing for a potential fourth wave of infections.

Ottawa has received more than 66 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, enough to completely immunize all eligible Canadians.

As of last Tuesday, the federal government has 6.7 million COVID-19 vaccines in its national reserve. If provinces and territories require more doses, they can draw from that number.

As the new COVID-19 vaccine is being shipped, Canadas top doctors warned that if public health restrictions are lifted before the vaccination rate rises, the country may see a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Theresa Tan told reporters on Friday that the latest national model for the trajectory of the pandemic suggests that the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 may trigger the fourth wave of infections.

Tan said: The trajectory will depend on the continued increase in the coverage of fully vaccinated and the time, speed and extent of reopening.

Although some recovery is expected as measures are relaxed, this updated model shows that if we maintain the current level of community-wide exposure, we expect cases to increase slightly.

Tan said that the countrys COVID-19 infection rate could increase significantly if it reopens quickly before enough people are fully immunized.

She said: We expect a sharp recovery by the end of the summer.

She said Canada has reported an average of 640 new cases in the past 7 days, which is still 93% below the peak of the third wave.

As of Friday, 80.3% of eligible people have received the first dose of the vaccine, and now 63.7% have been fully vaccinated.

What happened in canada

$86,000 fine Since the pandemic began, it has been issued to NB COVID-19 rule breakers.

What is happening around the world

According to reports, as of Monday morning, more than 198.3 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide. Johns Hopkins University. According to reports, more than 4.2 million people have died.

exist EuropeAccording to a report by The Times on Monday, the British government plans to warn holidaymakers not to travel to popular tourist destinations such as Spain due to fears of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This move may trigger the outflow of about 1 million British tourists who have already gone abroad, causing further damage to the tourism industry and a new blow to the summer tourist season in Southern Europe.

The Times did not specify any particular concerns that Britain has about Spain. Madrid has been hit by a more contagious variant of the Delta coronavirus, but its infection rate for seven consecutive days has declined last week.

A spokesperson for the UK Department of Transport declined to comment on the Times report, which was released on the day when the regulations were relaxed for fully vaccinated travelers from most parts of the United States and Europe.Canada is still Amber list Countries/regions where citizens still need to be quarantined for 10 days after arriving in the UK

Tourists visited the town of Ronda, Spain on July 29. The outlook for tourism in Spain is getting bleak, and bookings in Europe have slowed due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. (Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

inside middle EastThe UAE government said on Twitter on Monday that the UAE will begin to provide Chinas national medicine COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 3 to 17.

The Gulf Arab countries, which have the highest immunization rates in the world, are already providing Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to children between 12 and 15 years of age.

exist AsiaA government official said on Monday that the Philippines will extend the night curfew in the capital Manila in response to a potential surge in cases of the COVID-19 delta variant.

Metro Manila has implemented a six-hour curfew from 10:00 pm, and will advance the curfew time by two hours to 8:00 pm

We only ask for two weeks The important thing is that our hospital will not be full, Benjamin Abalos, the chairman of the regional governing body, said at a briefing.

From Friday to Monday, there are more than 8,000 new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines every day. The 8,735 infections recorded on Sunday were the highest level since May 28.

inside America, The United States will not lock down again to contain COVID-19, but things will get worse because the delta variant has contributed to a surge in cases, most of which are unvaccinated top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci Zhou Day representation.

Watch | The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida hit a record high: As the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread, Florida has become the center of COVID-19 in the United States. 1:59

Fauci said on the ABC program that a sufficient percentage of Americans are now vaccinated to avoid lockdown this week.

He said: It is not enough to suppress the epidemic, but I believe it is enough to prevent us from falling into the situation of last winter.

According to Reuters analysis, the average number of reported cases of the new coronavirus in the United States has almost doubled in the past 10 days.
Police said the fuel truck collided with a crowded bus near the village of Kibuba, about 80 kilometers from the capital Kinshasa.

The police said 33 people were killed in a terrible collision between a fuel truck and a crowded bus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the weekend.

The local police chief Antoine Pululu told AFP on Monday that the victim was engulfed by a huge fire caused by a collision in the western part of the country on Saturday night.

Another police source said the body was destroyed by the fire and added that the body found was buried on Monday.

The fire broke out near the village of Kibuba along National Highway 1 about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the capital Kinshasa.

Fatal road traffic accidents often occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The roads are full of old vehicles that do not comply with safety regulations and road maintenance is in poor condition.

An oil tanker accident in October 2018 caused 53 deaths on another main road to Kinshasa in October 2018.

In 2010, an oil tanker overturned and at least 230 people were burned to death.
An investigation by Al Jazeera revealed the details behind a Hollywood film co-produced by an UAE film company that was ridiculed as immoral and ridiculous for portraying Qatar as a terrorist country.

The Misfits, co-produced, filmed and funded by UAE-based FilmGate Production, Paramount Pictures and Highland Film Group, tells the story of the savvy thief Richard Pace, played by Pierce Brosnan, who escaped from the heavily guarded US prison. Continue to steal millions of dollars from the safest facilities in the world.

Tamer al-Mishals latest episode aired on Sunday reported on Al Jazeeras investigation, revealing how the original script of the film was transformed into a promotion for Qatar.

According to the investigation, Qatar was mentioned more than 15 times in Uncommunity released in the United States in June, and real people and institutions in Qatar were mentioned, including Emadi Hospital, the countrys Lekhwiya police force and Al Jazeera.

The film also referred to Qatar as the Peninsula and accused its citizens of supporting terrorist organizations, while the mercenaries in Abu Dhabi were portrayed as heroes.

The script of the film portrays Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian Muslim scholar living in Qatar as the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and a supporter of global terrorism.

Doha News Report An article published in June quoted Egyptian journalist Mohamed Nasser as saying that in a video posted online, The Misfits was nothing more than an attempt by the UAE to destroy Qatars reputation.

A Twitter user who watched a leaked copy of the movie at the time described it as ridiculous and not worthy of feedback.

Although the film was shot in the UAE, it was reportedly edited to appear to be shot in Qatar [File: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Modify script

In the leaked exchange, it was reported that the UAE producer asked the American production company to modify the script to include more political topics and propaganda aimed at Qatar.

According to al-Mishal of Al Jazeera, a message sent to a US producer requested that the name of Qatari human rights advocate Abd al-Rahman al-Nuaimi be mentioned in the film, and that Qaradawi also received a performance scene.

Although the film was shot in the UAE, it was reportedly edited to appear to be shot in Qatar.

According to reports, the films financial support was also provided by a company owned by the UAE National Security Advisor. The son of UAE founder Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan revealed the investigation.

According to the investigation, the executive producer and co-star Rami Jaber of Untimely has filed a lawsuit against the UAE partner in the U.S. court for disagreements over the content of the film.

Leaked audio clips obtained by Al Jazeera show that Mansoor al-Dhaheri, the UAE producer and founder and CEO of FilmGate Productions and Al Kalema Productions, provided Jaber with large sums of money in exchange for him to abandon the lawsuit.

Ill give you more. Everything is normal on my side and I have no problems. About $100 million is not a problem for me, Dhaheri said in the recording.

Dhaheri initially agreed to al-Meshals request to be interviewed by the show, but then did not answer al-Meshals call.

In a letter seen by Al Jazeera, the Al Kalema company of al-Daheri also requested that the original script of the film be modified to include a reference to the September 11, 2001 attack.

According to the investigation, it is reported that the American actor Wesley Snipes (Wesley Snipes) rejected the UAEs offer to appear in the film because the film will target Qatars politicized content.

The film was released in Qatar and its neighboring countries a few months later Re-establish relationship Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates imposed a blockade of Doha for more than three years in 2017.

Qatar and UAE officials met in February this year for the first time since the easing. In January, the UAE resumed its air and sea entry points into Qatar.
Maximilian Schmidt has a shaved baby face and is unlikely to be a drug dealer

But by the age of 19, the German teenager ran a drug empire worth 3.8 million pounds in his childhood bedroom.

5 Maximilian Schmidt sells drugs on the dark web

5 The police found multiple bags of drugs in Schmidts bedroom Image source: THERESA locker/main board-German police

Schmidt sold hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana through his website Shiny Flakes-using the national postal service to ship them.

In the new Netflix documentary Shining flakes: juvenile drug lord, He first talked about Amazonian business This led to his arrest in 2015.

Now serving seven years in prison, Schmidt is suspected of concealing millions of dollars from the police in a secret Bitcoin wallet.

In the trailer for this documentary, he explained his simple business model for making millions-and inspired the Netflix hit How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast).

You pay in advance, and then it is processed and shipped, he said. What you get is not shoes, but drugs.

Dark web sales 914 kg

When most teenagers hide in the room to play FIFA or call-of-duty, Max Schmidt established a lucrative drug delivery service in the Leipzig home he shared with his mother.

This entrepreneurial young man-described as emotionally immature and unpopular at school-before starting his business on the dark web in December 2013, he quit a chefs During his apprenticeship, he used an innocent-sounding name Shiny Flakes.

Over the next 14 months, he shipped 914 kilograms of ecstasy, marijuana, psychedelics, methamphetamine and cocaine through the local post office.

The punter pays in Bitcoin, and he disguises his income as income from the web design business.

Schmidt admitted that at first he was afraid that his criminal activities would put him in trouble.

In the beginning, I was scared and thought,Like in the movie? You do it, and then the police come?' he said.

The slip and the police came to the door

Due to a series of mistakes, Schmidt finally attracted the attention of the police.

In 2014, he was very conceited and accepted an interview with the popular online magazine Vice, which confirmed that he lives in Germany.

He boasted that his online store sold exclusively selected pills, but stated that he used statistical analysis of customers and buying habits to maximize sales.

Soon after, he posted the wrong postage on a package, and when it returned to the post office, it was opened and drugs were found inside.

When the same thing happened multiple times, the police began to monitor the post office to see if it was the same sender.

He has always used the same post office and took the taxi he ordered on his mobile phone, which he only used for this purpose.

In some of his transactions, he also did not use software that hides his identity.

After observing for a period of time, the police placed an order through the Shiny Flakes website and intercepted 40 kilograms of Class A drugs.

They also witnessed Max handing drugs to a courier in a parking lot, and then stormed into his home to arrest him in February 2015.

A dozen mobile phones and more than two dozen SIM cards were found in his room. All kinds of drugs are neatly stacked on the shelves in the room.

Grumpy, stubborn and lazy

At the age of 20, Schmidt admitted to mass drug trafficking in September 2015, but the German court decided to try him as a minor.

During the trial, his mother described him as not discerning, grumpy, stubborn, and lazy. According to reports, he has been taking drugs for 10 years and has received treatment for an unknown disease, presumably related to autism.

For this reason, experts say that he does not understand the emotional impact of his actions and lacks an emotional compass.

They added that he did not interact well socially and delayed emotional development.

Schmidt was sentenced to seven years in prison.

These computer things may make a lot of things easier, but it [online sale] Its as bad as trading on the street, Judge Norbert Gobel said.

Incredibly, although the police were able to confiscate some of his ill-gotten wealth, some suspect that he might still hide millions of dollars in two unopened Bitcoin wallets.

Schmidts lawyer, Stefan Constable, claimed that the wallet was empty, but Judge Gobert did not believe it. He said: There must be something in the wallet that cannot be cracked.

As it will be released next year, Schmidt may still have some secrets.

Shiny Flakes: The Teenage Drug Years will be broadcast on Netflix starting on Tuesday, August 3

5 Relaxing on the boat, Schmidt said the police did not find his money

5 Teenage drug dealers talking to Netflix in prison
As demand shrank for the first time in more than a year, Chinas factory activity growth in July fell sharply.

Oil prices fell on Monday due to concerns about the Chinese economy. A previous survey showed that the growth of factory activity in the worlds second-largest oil consumer has fallen sharply, and the increase in oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC producers has exacerbated this. Worry.

As of 04:55 GMT, Brent crude oil futures fell 76 cents, or 1%, to $74.65 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures fell to an intraday low It fell 69 cents, or 0.9%, to US$73.26 per barrel and US$72.87 per barrel.

China has been leading the recovery of the Asian economy, and if the correction intensifies, concerns about a sharp decline in the global outlook will intensify, said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA.

The outlook for crude oil demand is unstable, and this situation may not improve until the global vaccination situation improves.

A business survey on Monday showed that Chinas factory activity growth fell sharply in July due to demand contracting for the first time in more than a year, partly due to high product prices, highlighting the challenges facing the worlds manufacturing center.

The results of the private survey were weak, mainly involving export-oriented and small manufacturers, and were broadly consistent with the official survey results released on Saturday, which showed that activity grew at the slowest rate in 17 months.

An investigation by Reuters found that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)s oil production in July also rose to its highest level since April 2020, which also suppressed prices because the organization further relaxed restrictions based on agreements with allies. Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter, has phased out voluntary production cuts.

Throughout the Asia-Pacific region, the highly contagious Delta variant that was first discovered in India continued to cause repercussions and cast a shadow over the future. Cases in China have increased slightly, Thailand will expand quasi-blockade measures, and the number of infections in the hot spot Sydney hit a record high.

Although global coronavirus cases continue to climb, analysts say that higher vaccination rates will limit the need to severely lock down demand during the peak of the pandemic last year.

The United States will not lock down again to contain COVID-19, but things will get worse because the Delta variant has contributed to a surge in cases, most of which are unvaccinated top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday .

Indias daily gasoline consumption exceeded pre-pandemic levels last month as states eased COVID-19 lockdowns, while gas and oil sales were lower, indicating weak industrial activity in July.

The United States and the United Kingdom said on Sunday that they believed that Iran launched an attack on an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday, causing the deaths of a British and a Romanian, and pledged to work with partners to respond. The deadlock comes as the two countries are seeking to revive the nuclear agreement, which, if successful, may pave the way for the United States to end sanctions on Irans official oil flow.
The Afghan army struggled to prevent the first major city from falling into the hands of the Taliban because the United States and Britain accused the organization of slaughtering civilians in the town of Kandahar, which was recently occupied near the Pakistani border.

The Taliban massacred dozens of civilians in retaliatory killings. These murders may constitute war crimes, the Washington and London embassies said in a separate tweet on Monday regarding the atrocities committed at Spin Boldak.

The Taliban leaders must be held responsible for the crimes of their fighters. If you cannot control your fighters now, you will have no room for governance in the future.

Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban negotiating team based in Doha, told Reuters that the tweets containing these allegations were baseless reports.

The diplomatic condemnation of the United States and the United Kingdom came after the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission also stated that Taliban fighters were addicted to the retaliatory killings in Spin Boldak.

The organization stated: After taking over the Spin Boldak area, the Taliban hunted down and identified past and current government officials, and killed those who had no combat role in the conflict, adding that at least 40 people were killed by the Taliban. .

Afghan security forces began to attack the Taliban near the Tolkham border point between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan [Anadolu Agency/Getty Images]

At the same time, after a weekend of fierce fighting, thousands of civilians fled, and Taliban fighters continued to attack at least three provincial capital cities-Rashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat.

Since the beginning of May, the war has intensified and the Taliban used the U.S.-led foreign forces to withdraw from the country in the final stage of nearly 20 years.

Relentless fighting

Fighting continued overnight in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, and the Afghan army repelled a new offensive by the Taliban.

Afghan ground forces and air attacks retreated from this attack, the Helmand province military said.

Resident Hawa Malalai told AFP that the citys crisis is getting worse: Fighting, power outages, hospitalization of patients, telecommunications network interruption. There are no medicines, and pharmacies are closed.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said the number of casualties in Lashkaga is increasing.

In densely populated areas, there were relentless gunfire, air strikes, and mortars. Houses were bombed and many people were seriously injured, Sarah Leahy, the coordinator of the aid organization Helmand Province. ) Said in a statement.

Helmand has been at the core of American and British military operations in Afghanistan for many years-only because it has fallen into deeper instability.

The loss of Lashkar Gah will be a huge strategic and psychological blow for the government, which has pledged to defend the provincial capital at all costs, as most of the rural areas are handed over to the Taliban in the summer.

Fierce fighting has also taken place in some areas of Kandahar Province and the suburbs of the capital, the former fortress of the Taliban.

In the west, after several days of fierce fighting, hundreds of commandos are also defending Herat.

Kabul has repeatedly denied that the steady growth of the Taliban in the summer lacks strategic value, but has largely failed to reverse its momentum.

The Talibans occupation of any major city will take their current offensive to the next level and heighten concerns about the capabilities of the Afghan army.

The Taliban have occupied Afghan cities in the past, but only retained them briefly.

Ghani blames the U.S.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Blaming the countrys deteriorating security The United States suddenly decided to withdraw its troops.

When Ghani submitted his security plan to Parliament on Monday, he said that the situation in the war-torn country would be controlled within six months, adding that the United States had pledged its full support.

The reason for our current situation is that this decision was made suddenly, he told Parliament, adding that he had warned Washington that withdrawing troops would have consequences.

The president added that protecting the people is his duty.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani delivers a speech at the Kabul Parliament, Afghanistan on August 2, 2021 [Reuters]

Al Jazeera reporter James Beth from Kabul said that although Ghani is solving the countrys security issues, he is not really talking about solutions, which has caused concerns among members of the international community.

We have not heard of the detailed plan I have talked with many members of the international community and diplomats here. [Kabul], Who is worried, Beth said.

They think the president really needs to make a plan-not only to implement it and to solve military problems on the ground, but also because they say the Afghan people need to hear that he has a plan because morale is low, he said.

At the same time, the United States said it would Accept more Afghans Refugees, because of the surge in violence across the country.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday: In view of the escalating Taliban violence, the U.S. government is working hard to provide resettlement opportunities for certain Afghans, including those who have worked with the United States.

These include current and former employees of U.S. news organizations, U.S. aid and development agencies, and other relief groups that receive U.S. funding.

Current and former employees of the U.S. government and NATO military operations who do not meet the criteria for developing special plans for such workers are also included.

Washington has Start to evacuate Thousands of interpreters and their families have worked with the military and embassies for the past 20 years.
On Monday, firefighters used planes and helicopters, as well as locals carrying buckets to fight the raging wildfires near the resorts on the southern coast of Turkey, which was hit by a drought. The government faced new criticism of its disaster handling methods. .

Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said that the seven fires are still burning due to temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, strong winds and low humidity.

Weather maps show that areas affected by the fire have suffered severe droughts in recent months.

Drone footage taken by Reuters showed that on the gray hillside near the Marmaris resort, the fire made the buildings smoke and the tree trunks turned black.

On Sunday, wildfires swept through an area near Bodrum in the Mugla province of Turkeys southern coast, and people fled. (Ismail Coskun/Ihlas News Agency/Associated Press)

Although 16 planes and 51 helicopters extinguished the fire in large areas of southwestern Turkey, villagers carried water tanks on the mountains near Marmaris to put out the fire. They said the government did not take sufficient measures to help them.

Our whole village is here, from locals to others. We didnt run away or anything, so the government must see this and cant run away. It must send some planes here, a person named Gulhan S lady told Reuters.

On Monday, firefighters were working to extinguish a wildfire in the Maz area near Bodrum. (Kenang Gulbutz/Reuters)

Engin Ozkoc, a senior figure in the main opposition party CHP, called on Pakdemirli to resign because he was not fully prepared.

You dont deserve that department. You didnt foresee this and bought a firefighting aircraft, he said, criticizing the amount of air resources available.

The European Union said it helped mobilize three firefighting aircraft on Sunday. A Croatian and two Spaniards joined teams from Russia, Iran, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Fahrettin Altun, the communications director of President Tayyip Erdogan, rejected criticism of the governments handling of the fire and condemned social media activities calling for foreign help.

Our Turkey is very strong. Our country stands tall, Alton said on Twitter, describing most of the information about the fire on social media as fake news. All our losses will be compensated.

Eight people were killed in the wildfire, but no more casualties were reported on Monday.

Since Wednesday, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and some tourists have left the hotel, although Tourism Minister Mohamed Esoy said holidaymakers returned within a few hours.

On Sunday, tourists left the smoky Mazi area as wildfires moved from the mountains to the waterfront of Bodrum. (Emre Tazegur/Associated Press)

After the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires are another blow to Turkish tourism.

Bulent Bulbuloglu, head of the South Aegean Hoteliers Association, stated that 10% of bookings in Bodrum and Marmaris have been cancelled. Others shortened the visit time.
MBC gears for the upcoming drama "The Veil," starring Namgoong Min as they continue to entice fans with intriguing teasers featuring the award-winning actor.

The broadcast network released a series of new still cuts showcasing the 43-year-old actor's transformation as National Intelligence Service's top elite agent.

In one teaser, the "Doctor Prisoner" star appears to be on his secret mission while calmly looking at his watch and holding a pistol in his left hand.

Moreover, the second still cut shows the wounded Namgoong Min, but his expression hints that he is in a heated confrontation.

"What's the story behind Han Ji-hyuk, the top spy who lost his memory?" the caption reads.

Namgoong Min is Elite Agent Han Ji Hyuk

In the forthcoming MBC drama, the versatile actor will take on the role of an elite field agent named Han Ji Hyuk.

Because of his successful missions, perfect record, and skills, he is tasked to infiltrate an organized crime syndicate.

Unfortunately, this prompted him to vanish in the face of the watch.

After a year of his mysterious disappearance, Han Ji Hyuk is set to make a bold comeback to trace the traitor responsible for his downfall.

His return would also shake the syndicate down to its core.

'The Veil' Teasers Features Namgoong Min's Shocking Transformation

After announcing the complete lineup of the cast, the broadcasting network has been releasing intriguing still cuts that would set the viewers' curiosity.

In addition, the actor also shared a jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes snap where it featured his surprising transformation.

In Namgoong Min's Instagram post, the actor looked unrecognizable as he was covered with blood and sported a long hairstyle.

Namgoong Min Praised for His Preparation in 'The Veil'

Interestingly, it is noticeable that the "Hot Stove League" star bulked up for the role.

With this, the producers of "The Veil" lauded the actor and his dedication to his role as Han Ji Hyuk.

"From bulking up to constantly analyzing how to deliver each line of dialogue and even each breath, Namgoong Min is portraying Han Ji Hyuk perfectly through his acting," a representative explained as obtained by an outlet.

In addition, the drama producers also pointed out that he managed to deliver the scenes despite difficult stunts flawlessly and its nature being an action blockbuster genre.

'The Veil' Cast, Crew and Release Date

Aside from the actor, "The Veil" cast also includes Park Ha Sun, Kim Ji Eun, Yoon Oh Sung, "Hospital Playlist" actor Jung Moon Sung and more.

Following the star-studded cast, the soon-to-be-released MBC drama also boasts a top-notch director through Kim Sung Yong, who helmed the 2018 drama "My healing Love" and will be working alongside screenwriter Park Seok Ho.

Interestingly, "The Veil" is set to be released this September 3 and will be the newest Friday and Saturday that would surely get all the action crime drama enthusiasts glued to their seats.

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
Gymnast and Bronze medalist Yeo Seo Jeong did not just receive a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but also the honor to be recognized by her favorite idol.

On August 1, gymnast Yeo Seo Jeong won the Bronze medal in the women's vault at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a total of 14.722 points for the final round. She is the first South Korean female gymnast to ever win a medal at the Olympics.

But her talent and skills are honed not only with practice but it was also in their blood. Her father, Yeo Hong Chul, won silver in the men's vault at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making them the first South Korean father-daughter duo to bring medals home.

Park Ji Hoon Congratulates Gymnast Yeo Seo Jeong in Winning Bronze

"At A Distance, Spring Is Green" actor and former Wanna One congratulated the 20-year-old athlete Yeo Seo Jeong through Instagram, "Yeo Seo Jeong won bronze today. I want to congratulate you and I'm really proud of you. I'm rooting for all the athletes in the Olympics. You are all so cool, I'm a fan. Congratulations!"

Gymnast Yeo Seo Jeong reposted actor Park Ji Hoon's congratulatory message on her Instagram account, revealing that she is a fan, with a caption, "I'm crying."

Truly, winning a Bronze medal at the Olympics and getting noticed by your idol will send you to cloud nine. Yeo Seo Jeong indeed won twice this year.

Park Ji Hoon on His Wanna One Journey, Solo Career, and Acting Debut

Park Ji Hoon first gained popularity and fame for participating in the second season of the survival show "Produce 101" where he ranked second place overall and became a member of the internationally known and chart-topping boy group Wanna One.

The group achieved both local and international success. After Wanna One's disbandment, he ventured more on his solo debut and acting career.

Park Ji Hoon established himself as an a musical actor through participating in the musicals "Peter Pan," "The Harmonium in My Memory," "Radio Star," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

He also starred in many television and web dramas such as "Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency" and "Love Revolution."

Actor Park Ji Hoon landed his first major acting role in the 2021 KBS coming-of-age drama series "At A Distance, Spring Is Green" with CLC's Eunbin, "True Beauty" actress Kang Min Ah, and "My Roommate Is A Gumiho" actor Bae In Hyuk.

Park Ji Hoon's drama series "At A Distance, Sprint Is Green" recently concluded, where gained praise and attention for portraying business student Yeo Jun.



What are your thoughts about Yeo Seo Jeong's vault performance?

Which among Park Ji Hoon's musical plays or television series is your favorite? Share it with us in the comments below!





Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates!

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
GRANTS PASS, Ore.  The Josephine County Sheriff's Office reports that a man is dead after a single-vehicle crash between Grants Pass and Merlin on Sunday evening.

Deputies from the Sheriff's Office responded at 7:10 p.m. to calls for a single-vehicle crash in the 1100 block of Plumtree Lane. Staff from Rural Metro Fire and American Medial Response also responded to the scene.

Arriving in the area, deputies found a "heavily damaged vehicle" that had crashed into a tree and power pole. The only occupant of the vehicle was the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver was identified as 49-year old Rodney Paul Jones of Grants Pass. The Sheriff's Office says that his next of kin has been notified.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

CORRECTION: The Sheriff's Office previously misidentified the driver as 26-year-old Hayden Jones. This story has been corrected to reflect the updated information.
MEDFORD, Ore.  Public health officials in Jackson County continue to sound the alarm about unprecedented spread of coronavirus, largely attributed to the highly-contagious Delta variant that is now believed to account for the vast majority of infections in Oregon.

Jackson County Public Health reported last Friday the highest daily count of new cases since the pandemic began  beating even the winter peaks. On Monday, the agency added that last week produced the highest weekly case count since the beginning of the pandemic, with 626 new cases.

"Jackson County Public Health is continuing to see a sharp increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 outbreaks, and people hospitalized for COVID-19 at an alarming rate," the agency said in a statement. "Jackson County has a high level of transmission per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 data tracker."

The agency reported 132 new cases as of Monday morning, with includes cases from over the weekend. There were 83 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between Jackson and Josephine counties, with 23 in intensive care. JCPH also reported the death of an 81-year-old woman.

The CDC's new mask guidance, released last week, urged people in areas of high or substantial transmission to wear masks in indoor public spaces regardless of vaccination status. The Oregon Health Authority and JCPH quickly followed suit, reiterating those recommendations as the state began rapidly seeing the effects of Delta variant transmission.

By the CDC's critera, Jackson County has a "high" level of transmission.

Across the U.S., COVID-19 cases increased about 300 percent between June 19 and July 23, driven by the Delta variant. JCPH noted that the three vaccines still offer high levels of protection against severe illness and death from the Delta and other variants. The difference with Delta, based on current CDC data, is that it can result in high viral loads in both unvaccinated and vaccinated people who become infected, resulting in increased risk of transmission.

"Unlike with other variants, this raises the concern that vaccinated people who become infected with the Delta virus can transmit the virus," JCPH said.

Local public health officials continue to highly recommend that everyone 12 and older get a COVID-19 vaccination, as it still represents the best way to stop the spread of Delta. Due to the spike in cases, low local vaccination rate, and the prevalence of the Delta variant, JCPH is also still recommending that everyone age 5 and older wear face coverings indoors when in public.
FORKS OF SALMON, Calif. 

UPDATE: Another evacuation order is now in place for Siskiyou County due to wildfires in the area. This one applies to Antelope Creek near Tennant, California. People are asked to leave the area immediately.

The Klamath National Forest clarified that the fires in this area, on the Goosenest and Happy Camp/Oak Knoll Ranger Districts, are not part of the River Complex.

The Antelope Fire, which prompted the evacuation in the Tennant area, was last estimated at 105 acres. Resources at the scene include three dozers, five engines, a water tender, a hand crew, and aircraft.

"All other fires on the Goosenest have been contained. All previously reported fires are contained on the Happy Camp/Oak Knoll District as well," KNF said in a statement.

(Updated 8/2/21 at 5:24 p.m.)

UPDATE: The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office has now issued an evacuation order for Taylor Creek Road and surrounding areas due to one of the River Complex fires in the area. People are asked to leave the area immediately.

Forest Service officials said that fire activity has increased on Monday with the arrival of a dry airmass.

An evacuation warning remains in place for the the Forks of Salmon and Sawyers Bar areas due to the multiple fires in the Klamath National Forest.

There are about 13 active fires within the complex. The Haypress Fire is the largest, at roughly 600 acres with reports of active fire behavior. The Summer Fire is about 75 acres, the Cronan Fire at 165 acres, and the Packers Fire is 50 acres staffed with smokejumpers.

(Updated 8/2/21 at 12:47 p.m.)

INITIAL REPORT: More areas of Siskiyou County are under evacuation warnings Monday morning after thunderstorms sparked a series of fires within the Klamath National Forest over the weekend.

The areas of Forks of Salmon and Sawyers Bar were placed under an evacuation warning on Sunday. On Monday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office issued an additional warning from Taylor Creek Road to Caribou Road along Cecilville Road, continuing to areas of Summerville following the South Fork of the Salmon River "due to the unpredicted fire behavior in the Klamath National Forest."

"This is a WARNING only at this time. Be alert and be ready to go in case an order is issued," the Sheriff's Office said.

Forestry officials have dubbed these lightning fires the River Complex. Some remain quite small, but others have grown to cover hundreds of acres.

"There has been significant support from outside the Klamath National Forest for these fires, including Smokejumpers, heli-rappel modules, and contracted fire engines and hand crews as well as CAL FIREs Siskiyou Unit," the U.S. Forest Service said in a Monday update.

Officials have requested more resources to help suppress these fires, but demand for suppression help is high in Northern California due to the number of ongoing incidents. A Type 2 Incident Management Team has been activated for the River Complex.

Thus far, officials have provided the following information about each of these fires:

Haypress Fire - 400 acres, increased activity.

Packers Fire  This incident was reported today and is approximately 5 acres. 16 Smokejumpers are assigned to this fire, which is on Packers Peak in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, 1.5 miles northwest of Big Flat.

Cronan Fire - estimated to be 150 acres. This fire is 3.5 miles northwest of Sawyers Bar. It is burning to the north. Being monitored by air.

Summer - 30 acres and located near the China Gulch Trailhead in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Being monitored by air. Evacuation of hikers are in progress between China Gulch Trailhead and Grizzly Lake due to fire on both sides of the trail.

Trailhead - north of Etna Summit. Approximately 2 acres. Firefighters are improving line and being supported by helicopter bucket drops.

Graham  remains at 5 acres. 3 miles north of Matthews Creek Campground. Firefighters are improving line and mopping up.

Fish  4 acres. 1.5 miles southeast of Trail Creek Campground. Being monitored by air.

Ruffey - .5 acres. Heli-rappeller squad on scene securing fireline and mopping up. In the Etna Mountain area.

Island  approximately 3 acres with no growth. Smokejumpers on scene mopping up. Near Lake of the Island in the Marble Mountain Wilderness.

Kelly  3 miles NNW of Sawyers Bar. Remains at .25 acres. Firefighters are securing line and mopping up.

Shadow  This fire was located today and is approximately 1 acre. Located 2.5 miles southeast of Eddie Gulch Lookout.

Additional small fires have been reported but have not yet been verified by ground forces. Seven fires on the River Complex have been contained.
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A little more than 24 hours after violence took the life of a Kenosha man, gunfire marred a memorial gathering for the victim outside homes in the 1000 block of 58th Street.

The gunfire was reported at 10:16 p.m. Friday in the area where friends and family of 30-year-old Hector Rodriguez-Rojas of Kenosha had apparently been holding a vigil, according to Captain James Beller of the Kenosha Police Department.

Rodriguez-Rojas had been shot and killed Thursday just before 5 p.m. and police discovered his body inside a neighborhood grocery store at 19th Avenue and 52nd Street. According to police radio reports, the victim had been shot in the chest.

A 19-year-old Kenosha man has been taken into custody in connection with the homicide.

Beller said while the memorial was taking place officers heard at least five gunshots and, as police units arrived, the crowd dispersed. Investigators later located a semiautomatic handgun lying in the ground. The weapon still had rounds in it and at least one casing was located in the driveway between two of the homes near where the gathering took place, he said.

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No injuries or property damage was reported, according to police.

Unrelated gunfire incident
TOWN OF PARIS  Plans to expand a battery storage system for a proposed solar energy farm in western Kenosha County are pending before state regulators, and the public has until Friday to submit comments on the project.

In May, officials with Paris Solar Energy Center LLC asked the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to reopen its 2020 decision authorizing the solar power farm so that approved plans for the battery storage system could be more than doubled.

The solar energy farm is to be located on a large section of land about 1.5 miles west of I-94, bordering Highway KR on the north, Highway 45 on the west and partly adjacent to Highway 142 (Burlington Road) on the south.

The project, from Chicago-based power generation development company Invenergy, was originally approved in December garnering widespread public support from local community members.

The original plan, a 200-megawatt facility that would produce enough power for about 60,000 homes, included a 50-megawatt battery storage system, which would be the largest in Wisconsin.

The proposed expansion would add an additional 60 megawatts to the battery system, bringing it to a total of 110 megawatts for up to four hours, allowing the plant to provide power even when the sun is not shining.

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Ketchikan, AK (99901)

Today

Cloudy with light rain this morning. High around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers this evening becoming less numerous overnight. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
ALBANY, Ore.--- The executive director of operations for the Greater Albany Public School District, Russell Buttram, announced on Facebook Sunday that he submitted his resignation earlier this week.

RELATED: GAPS HIRES ROB SAXTON AS INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT

Buttram said he submitted the letter to interim Superintendent Rob Saxton last Wednesday. He said this decision was not an easy one but he felt he "could not support the actions of the new Board."

He writes in his letter to Saxton, "Bottom line, you deserve an Executive Director of Operations who trusts you, and ideally, this Board, and unfortunately, I do not."

Buttram said his resignation does not pertain to the Board's firing of Melissa Goff but rather the Board's process in selection of Saxton as the interim superintendent in which he calls a "tainted process."

MORE: ALBANY SCHOOL BOARD FIRES SUPERINTENDENT

Buttram also said he recommends to replace the board chair, Eric Aguinaga.

The letter said the resignation is effective September 22, 2021 but at Saxton's discretion, the date may be extended to September 24th, 2021 to provide turnover with the successor.
By Ritah Kemigisa

Traders have protested the new terms set by the Kampala minister for the reopening of businesses including; arcades, malls and bus and Taxi parks among others.

Much as the President in his latest address on Friday allowed the reopening of businesses, over the weekend, Minister Minsa Kabanda however said businesses in Kampala will remain closed until they are inspected and cleared with certificates of compliance.

The executive director Kampala traders advocacy forum Dr Nicholas Mukasa, says many of the traders have been desperate for long and as such want to resume work.

He further assures authorities that they will follow all covid19 measures in place.

Meanwhile, Nkuyege Tetyassabo the spokesperson of the Kampala Kampala New Generation Traders Association is accusing government
Neal Browning receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Monday, March 16, 2020, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Browning is the second patient to receive the shot in the study. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
GREAT FALLS- Veterans in the Electric City and up to 100 minutes away now have access to a new state of the art facility for the best possible care.
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Ifac, Irelands farming, food and agribusiness specialist professional services firm, is reminding Kilkenny farmers to protect their farm data.

Almost 80% of farmers surveyed by Ifac for its 2021 Irish Farm Report now use technology in their business every day.

While this brings advantages in terms of streamlining processes, saving time and boosting productivity, it also introduces digital and cyber risks that farmers need to understand and manage, with financial losses and the leaking of confidential data being two of the major worries.

Below are some of these suggested measures including keeping systems updated, using strong passwords, maintaining regular backups, controlling access to accounts and devices, avoiding malware and being vigilant about scams.

Keep devices up to date - The easiest way to keep devices, software and apps up to date is to install updates automatically.

Replace outdated computers - Old computers are more vulnerable to attack, as well as being more likely to develop faults that could result in the loss of data.

Back-up your data - Making regular backups of your important data and keeping them off-premises will save you from the worst effects of a malware or ransomware attack.

Keep your devices safe - Keep all of your devices safe, particularly if you use the same devices for business and personal work.

Switch on password protection - Activate authentication such as screen lock, PIN, fingerprint, or FaceID for your computer, mobile phone, and other devices.

Use an encryption product - Encrypt your data to prevent unauthorised access. Use BitLocker for Windows, or FileVault for macOS. These are built into the operating system. All you need to do is turn them on.

Track lost and stolen devices - Most devices have free, web-based tools that you can enable to track the location of the device, lock it remotely, erase data remotely, and retrieve a backup of data stored on the device.

Beware of malware and ransomware - The Garda National Cybercrime Bureau has seen a significant increase in the number of ransomware attacks in 2021. Malware is usually designed to steal or extort money from you, often by holding your data to ransom. It can lock your device or make it unusable, immobilise farm vehicles, steal, delete or encrypt data, interfere with any automated systems that you use, divert confidential data into the public domain and use services such as premium rate phone lines that cost you money.

Malware can attack your laptop and mobile phone, but it can also target anything which connects to the internet. To protect against malware, keep an up-to-date backup separate from your computer and consider using cloud services to back up your files.

Antivirus software - Make sure your antivirus protection is turned on and up to date. Antivirus software should be used on all computers, laptops, and mobile phones if possible. Only use official sources to update your software and systems.

Attachments and links - Dont open attachments or links unless you know and trust the source.

Passwords - Criminals rely on the fact that a lot of people use simple passwords and/or use the same password for all of their accounts. Make sure that you use separate passwords for each of your devices and online accounts, especially email accounts. Wherever possible, make the password strong and for your most important accounts, make it unique. Consider using a password manager. Change all default passwords. For every new device, you start using, including your Wi-Fi network, change the manufacturer's default password to a new one of your own. If you write down your passwords, store them securely, away from your device.

Turn on two-factor authentication - Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a free security feature that provides an extra layer of protection to your online accounts. It checks that its you trying to log into your account. It means that even if a criminal knows your password, they wont be able to access your accounts.

Social media and online presence - Dont allow the information you and your employees share online to increase the vulnerability of your business. When using social media think about what you are posting, and who has access to it. Use privacy options to control who can see your information. Control who can access your accounts and make sure all accounts have unique passwords and use 2FA. Check that your website host is a legitimate company with the correct security settings and also think about the protection you might need if you have an online shop or booking system.

Be vigilant about scam emails, text messages, and phone calls - A typical scam will try to convince you to click a link, sending you to a website that could download viruses onto your computer, or steal your passwords and personal information. Some scams promote bogus investment opportunities or advertise fake machinery for sale through what may appear to be a legitimate dealership. Others claim to be from official agencies such as Revenue.

The aim is to trick you into giving away information that can enable the fraudsters to take money from you or access your business accounts. If you think you have been the victim of a scam or fraud you should report it to your local Garda Station and use the online reporting service of the website or forum on which you were scammed.

Remember, the Department of Agriculture, your bank, and other official sources will never ask you to supply personal information in an email or text.
Here is a look at the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which serves to protect and enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments. It was enacted in response to voter suppression in the 1960s by state governments, local governments and law enforcement.

Original jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. Also, subdivisions, mostly counties, in Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho and North Carolina.

Jurisdictions are made based on a formula containing two elements: If less than 50% of the voting age population is registered to vote by November 1, 1964, or if less than 50% voted in the 1964 presidential election. It also guarantees the right to register and vote to citizens with "limited English proficiency."

Section 2: States the right to vote cannot be denied on the basis of race or color.

Section 3: Upholds the ability to enforce the 15th Amendment.

Section 4: Says citizen cannot be denied the right to vote for failed compliance with devices such as literacy tests. It also designates the formulated jurisdictions outlined in Section 5. The requirement for preclearance of voting changes was ruled unconstitutional in a 2013 US Supreme Court decision. "The effect of the Shelby County decision is that the jurisdictions identified by the coverage formula in Section 4(b) no longer need to seek preclearance for the new voting changes, unless they are covered by a separate court order entered under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act."

Section 5: This section freezes "changes in election practices or procedures in covered jurisdictions" until the new procedures have been subjected to review. Review can only be done by the US Attorney General or by filing a lawsuit before the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Yet Section 5 is basically unenforceable as there is no longer a preclearance requirement in Section 4.

Timeline

March 7, 1965 - Bloody Sunday - About 600 non-violent voting rights marchers heading to Montgomery, Alabama's state capital, are attacked by state troopers in Selma.

March 15, 1965 - President Lyndon Johnson, in a speech before a joint session of Congress says: "There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It is wrong, deadly wrong, to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country."

August 6, 1965 - Is signed into law by President Johnson to protect and enforce the 15th Amendment.

1970 - Congress extends provisions for five years, changing the formula in Section 4 to reflect 1968 (instead of 1964). Coverage is added in jurisdictions within 10 more states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Wyoming. Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts and Wyoming win "bailout" lawsuits.

1975 - Congress extends provisions for seven years, changes the formula to 1972 and broadens the discrimination description as also encompassing American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives or people of Spanish heritage. This addition to the formula essentially covers Alaska, Arizona and Texas, and includes parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota.

1982 - Congress extends the special provisions in Section 4 for 25 years, but makes no changes.

2006 - Congress renews special provisions and extends the act until 2031.

June 25, 2013 - The US Supreme Court decides (5-4) that formulated jurisdictions under Section 5 no longer have to have new voting laws pre-cleared by the attorney general or the federal district court in the District of Columbia. Chief Justice John Roberts explains that "our country has changed" and the formula "no longer characterize(s) voting in the covered jurisdictions."

February 11, 2015 - An amendment to the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1964 is introduced to the House of Representatives. The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015 is focused on updating a portion of the law after the US Supreme Court struck down an "outdated" portion of VRA that protected racial discrimination in voting.

March 7, 2015 - President Barack Obama signs legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal "to the Foot Soldiers who participated in the Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in March of 1965, which served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act."

September 12, 2018 - The report, "An Assessment of Minority Voting Rights Access in the United States," is released by the US Commission on Civil Rights. The bipartisan agency concludes that new state laws are making it more difficult for minorities to vote. It also notes that the Justice Department has done less to challenge those discriminatory laws since the Supreme Court struck down a core element of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013.

December 6, 2019 - The House of Representatives votes to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 (introduced February 26). The bill "establishes new criteria for determining which states and political subdivisions must obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices in these areas may take effect."

July 22, 2020 - The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 is introduced in the Senate. It is renamed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act after the July 17 death of the congressman and civil rights leader.

July 1, 2021 - The US Supreme Court decides (6-3) that two provisions of an Arizona voting law that restrict how ballots can be cast do not violate the Voting Rights Act that bars regulations that result in racial discrimination. The ruling by the conservative-majority court will limit the ability of minorities to challenge state laws in the future that they say are discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act.

The-CNN-Wire

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CHARLES CITY, Iowa  A man has been arrested for stealing from his grandmother.

Casey Lee Olson, 33 of Charles City, is charged with first-degree theft and dependent adult abuse.

A criminal complaint filed on June 8 accused Olson of using ATMs and banks to withdraw about $15,000 from his grandmothers accounts. He also allegedly cashed in around $17,000 in CDs and wrote checks and used a debit card for numerous personal purchases. Investigators say this happened between October 2020 and March 2021.

Authorities say Olsons grandmother is a resident of a local nursing home and Olson was her caretaker, but he only had permission to pay her bills and taxes.

Olson made his initial court appearance Monday in Floyd County.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa  A man accused of a hatchet-wielding assault is pleading not guilty.

Kelly Randall Caster, 41 of Charles City, is charged with first-degree burglary.

Hes accused of attacking someone at a Charles City home on April 27. Authorities say a hatchet was displayed during the attack and Caster intended to injure his victim.

A trial is set to start on September 28 in Floyd County District Court.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  Mayo Clinic is again requiring all staff members to wear masks in all Mayo buildings, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.

Facemasks were already mandatory for patients and visitors.

The delta variant is more contagious than the previous strains that we've had in the U.S. But it's also causing more severe illness that is causing hospitalizations to increase and ICU admissions to increase. And we're looking at another wave of the pandemic. It's more contagious, and that's concerning. It's more serious, and that's concerning," says Dr. Melanie Swift, co-chair of Mayo Clinic's COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation and Distribution Work Group.

Mayo Clinic says it is seeing areas of high COVID transmission in Dodge and Waseca counties in Minnesota, as well as Arizona, Florida, and northwest Wisconsin.
ALGONA, Iowa  A not guilty plea is entered in the death of a Kossuth County man.

Robert Dwaine Laverty, 51 of Swea City, is charged with voluntary manslaughter for the death of Casey Tobin. Authorities say there was a physical altercation between the two men on April 3 in Swea City. Court documents state that Tobin punched Laverty, who responded by punching Tobin in the face.

Authorities say Tobin fell and hit his head on the pavement and eventually died from his injuries.

Laverty is scheduled to stand trial beginning October 5.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A Stewartville man is pleading not guilty to serious drug charges.

Keith Allen Butler, 38, is accused of second-degree sale of drugs and third-degree drug possession.

Butler was pulled over on March 18 for a broken license plate light. Rochester police say they learned there was an outstanding warrant for Butler out of Fillmore County for violating a protection order, so they arrested him and placed him in a squad car.

Thats when Butler allegedly asked an officer to retrieve Butlers wallet and phone from his vehicle. Police say when he did, the officer noticed drug paraphernalia in Butlers vehicle and a search found 17 grams of methamphetamine, five THC gummies, and two digital scales.

No trial date has been set.
AUSTIN, Minn.  Austin authorities issue a warrant for the arrest of Me'Darian Ledake McGruder, 27 of Austin.

Police say the warrant for 2nd degree murder charges is in connected to a homicide that happened Saturday. Anyone with information regarding McGruder's whereabouts is urged to contact the Austin Police Department.

Earlier police identified the woman who died after a reported shooting Saturday morning.

The Austin Police Department says Tyesha Tahne Gills was 20 years old. She was found injured in the 100 block of 10th Street NW after a 911 call around 2 am Saturday. Gills was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, where she later died.

Austin police said they do not think this was a random incident and there's no ongoing danger to the public.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assisting in the investigation.
OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP)  Police say the remains of a missing Iowa woman have been found near the Des Moines River, and investigators are treating her death as suspicious.

The Ottumwa Police Department says in a news release that a person hiking near the river Sunday afternoon found the remains of 60-year-old Helen Elizabeth Showalter, of Ottumwa. Showalter had been reported missing a day earlier by her family members. Police have not said Showalter died, but say an autopsy has been scheduled for Monday and that the death is being investigated as suspicious.

No arrests have been reported in Showalter's death.
OLMSTED COUNTY, Minn.  Deputies are investigating the apparent theft of more catalytic converters.

A burglary call came in around 1:25 pm on July 29. A property owner in the 3000 block of 60th Street SW said he saw three unknown suspects on his trail camera. Olmsted County sheriffs deputies say as they were searching the property, a silver car came by to pick up two males. Deputies say there was a grinding wheel in plain sight inside the car.

Deputies say two males were found walking on 48th Street SW. One identified himself but deputies say the other would not, so he was taken to the Adult Detention Center to be identified. He was then held on an outstanding warrant from another county.

Deputies then returned to talk to the property owner, who said two catalytic converters worth about $1,500 were cut off two of his vehicles.
Jasper, TX (75951)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
PARK HILLS, Mo. (AP)  A Black man who died during a party at the Missouri home of a man with a history of bigoted social media posts was killed by violence, not suicide, a jury found after a coroner's inquest.

Friday's inquest into the death of 19-year-old Derontae Martin came after his family and racial injustice activists questioned the initial finding that Martin shot himself in the head during a party at a rural house on April 25.

Martin was found in the attic of a home near Fredericktown, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) south of Park Hills, where Martin and his family had lived until shortly before his death. Some of the people at the party initially told police he had shot himself.

The six-person jury that heard testimony from about 20 people Friday had to decide whether Martins death was the result of violence, suicide, accident or natural causes.

It is unclear how the case will go forward now and Madison County Prosecutor M. Dwight Robbins declined to comment after the hearing, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Dr. Russell Deidiker, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Martin, testified that Martin died from a gunshot wound fired at close contact to his head.

A second autopsy, which was commissioned by Martins family, indicated the gun had been fired from a different range. Deidiker said that autopsy was done after Martins body was cleaned and didn't change his opinion.

Toxicology results also found drugs in Martins system, Deidiker testified.

Other witnesses testified that Martin was acting paranoid at the party, that various people might have been involved in his death, or that the homeowner had killed Martin.

The homeowner testified that he had used racial slurs in the past and on social media but said he did not kill Martin.

Because the man is not charged with a crime, The Associated Press is not naming him.

Martins mother, Ericka Lotts, danced in the courthouse hall after the decision was announced, shouting praise to God before briefly collapsing in a chair and crying heavily.

Kimberly Lotts, Martins grandmother, said she was thankful for the outcome but said more work needs to be done to determine how her grandson died.

I am happy that somebody else saw," Lotts said. "Glory to God. I could just shout. But we got a long way to go, so well just keep on praying and keep on trusting in the Lord.
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- Sometime in the early 1990s, I was standing on a street corner in north St. Louis. It was dark, cold, and rainy. Yellow crime scene tape was up. Another night, another homicide in the city.

"I'm freezing," I said to another media person standing next to me. "I wonder how long we will be out here?"

Then a dark blue Plymouth Volare pulled up.

"Won't be long now," the person next to me said. "Burgoon is here."

"You mean we might get out of the rain?" I said.

"No," the person said. "It means this case is about to be closed."

It soon was.

The legendary detective is 83 now, not that anyone would ever know it. We met to talk about cold cases in the St. Louis area, a topic nobody knows better than Joe Burgoon, having spent 44 years on the streets of St. Louis, 27 of them in homicide.

'She was the best of us': The murder of Laura 'Michele' Dinwiddie and the anatomy of a cold case To her friends, she was known by her middle name, Michele. And life did not begin easy, as she had life saving surgery just three days after birth. But then what a child she became.

"I wrote a story a while back," I told him. "It was about a social worker who was murdered."

"Laura," Burgoon said after about two seconds. "Laura Dinwiddie. She was from Greenwich, Connecticut."

At first glance, that revelation might not seem like much. Until you realize that Dinwiddie was murdered in 1975.

They had two names for Burgoon at the police department. The Blue Knight, and the Godfather of Homicide. It was almost as if he was born for the role. His father was a police officer.

He grew up on the northside, and it wasn't easy. His mother died when he was four. Burgoon would graduate from the old McBride High school for boys on Kingshighway, which closed 50 years ago. Then it was off to the Air Force for four years, then a return home to follow his father's footsteps. Those would be big shoes to fill. Charles Burgoon was a patrolman for 33 years.

Joseph Burgoon was sworn in at the city police department when Eisenhower was president, proudly wearing badge number 4022. That would be Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, and Eisenhower for those keeping score. Joe Burgoon has been hunting bad guys while America has had 13 Presidents.

He would start as a relief sergeant, working the beat near Vashon High School.

3 decades of silence: The disappearance of Gina Dawn Brooks You drive into Fredericktown from the north and you are struck by its beauty. Nestled in the northeastern foothills of the St. Francois mountains, the first sight you see is God's Country Cowboy Church. With just over 3,000 residents, this was Norman Rockwell's small town America. Until it was ripped apart.

By the time Burgoon was 30, homicide was calling. And for the next 27 years, if a white body sheet was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape in St. Louis, Joe Burgoon would pull up in that blue Volare.

And like that person told me years ago, it often meant the case was about to be closed.

Life still wasn't easy for Burgoon. His wife died when he was just 33, leaving him with four small children. He would work days, play "Mr. Mom" at night, and wait for the inevitable phone call that could come 24/7. He would re-marry, and stay on the force for 44 years. He would raise seven children, one of them a police officer.

He presided over thousands of homicide cases in the city. I asked him which was the biggest. There was no pause from Burgoon: The 1987 National Supermarket mass killing that left five dead and two injured, stunning the city.

Boulder killings bring back dark memories for survivor of National Supermarkets massacre, St. Louis' deadliest shooting There were two gunmen. The employees, six men and one woman, were ordered to lie down next to each other, faces down. Harold Meyer remembers whispering to the female employee next to him, "This isn't good." She whispered back "it will be okay." Meyer knew better. "No, it won't," he said.

Burgoon closed the case, as he had so many others. Of course, not all were solved. While they all still live in his mind, one haunts him to this day.

Her name is now Precious Hope. Then, it was Jane Doe. Her headless remains were found on Clemons Avenue on the city's northside in 1983. She was a small child, and like the National Supermarket killings, her story shocked and horrified the city. Police checked every school to find a missing child. Nothing. They waited for someone to come forward looking for a missing child. Nothing. It was as if the little girl's body appeared out of nowhere, wanted by no one.

Despite tireless efforts, she was never identified, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery under the pseudonym.

By 2004, at 65, it was time for Joe Burgoon to hang up his pen and notebook, but that didn't last long. A few years later he was roaming the halls at the St. Louis County Police Department as a cold case investigator, reviewing homicides and sexual assaults, still on the hunt today for justice.

[READ: Stagger Lee: The story of St. Louis' most-infamous Christmas murder]

Burgoon spent a career not just coming after them and locking them up, but doing it with a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.

Where do you begin to tell the story of a man who has accomplished so much, a man who has had an impact on hundreds of others lives, a man so humble and decent and kind and devout in his faith...

Chris Pappas worked as a St. Louis police officer for 26 years, 18 of them in homicide under Burgoon.

"I can't say enough about Joe. He's one of the the finest men I know. I learned so much from him. I asked him so many questions, I figured he would get tired of answering them. But he never did. I worked side by side with him for nearly a dozen years. He was an excellent investigator who had a keen eye for detail, and the best memory of anyone I know. For any measure of success I might have had as an investigator, I owe to Joe's mentoring. It was my honor and privilege to work with Joe. I'm proud to call him my friend."

Scott Ecker has been with city police for 30 years. When he moved into homicide, Burgoon was his supervisor.

"When I first met Joe, he was part supervisor, teacher, mentor, and father figure. His patience and understanding when dealing with a young detective those many years ago certainly left a lasting mark with me. In my humble opinion Joe has no equal when it comes to investigations, especially homicide incidents."

You might wonder how a man running a homicide department for three decades while he was raising seven children had any free time. But Burgoon found it in a strange place.

"Joe was a big wrestling fan," Pappas said. "We had countless conversations about Nature Boy Rick Flair, Rowdy Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan. Joe would always roll his eyes and say, 'it's all real, you know!"'

I asked Joe how he wanted to be remembered.

"It's not about me, it's about the families. If you can help people," he said. "We have helped a lot of people get over things. And we've put people away, where they thought they were home free and then here we come."

Burgoon and I shook hands to say goodbye. I told him what a remarkable life he has led, a race well run, and how many lives he had touched and comforted along the way. But no matter what I could say, Scott Ecker said it better

"In the case of Joe, God just does not make people like him anymore."
For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.
Director Ryan White talks to journalists via video chat during a media conference for the documentary, "Assassins," in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of THE COOP



The film traces two-year trial of two female "assassins"



By Lee Gyu-lee





Poster for the documentary, "Assassins," directed by Ryan White / Courtesy of THE COOP

The murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia, shocked the world in February 2017, especially with the crime occurring in broad daylight inside a crowded Kuala Lumpur International Airport.



Two women  Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam  were arrested shortly after they smeared the lethal chemical agent, VX, on Kim's face, which killed him within an hour.



As the case made headlines around the world, many people became aware of Kim's death and the arrests of the two young women who carried out the assassination.



But director Ryan White's latest documentary, "Assassins," brings to light what really happened to these women and what prompted the two economic migrants to get involved in the murder, facing possible execution following their two-year trial.



"They were admitting that they assassinated Kim Jong-nam, but were saying they didn't know they were about to assassinate someone. The story seemed too strange to be true," White said via video chat during a media conference for the documentary in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul, Wednesday.



"And that's what drew us to make this film and to follow the women's trial. It was the mystery of who the women are  and delving into their past to figure out what form their lives led them up to this moment.





CCTV footage showing Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13, 2017, on the day of his murder / Courtesy of THE COOP



The film starts by highlighting the day of the murder, Feb. 13, 2017, showing CCTV footage of 29-year-old Huong and 25-year-old Aisyah in action. The footage also showed them running off to wash their hands, making their claim that they thought they were on a prank show unconvincing.



But, as the story develops, tracing the evidence and interviewing their defense attorneys, undercover sources, and journalists who covered the case, the documentary questions whether the women were really trained assassins working for North Korea or unwitting pawns of a political murder plot.



"We were very much more interested (in the women's story) than the political parts of this film  At the beginning of the media aftermath, these women looked guilty. They were portrayed as guilty," White said, adding that he also was not sure of their innocence when he first got his hands on the case.



With the suggestion of a journalist covering the aftermath of the assassination, White first flew over to Malaysia to learn the background himself and interviewed a related source before deciding to make the film.



"It was while I was there, when I met both legal defense teams and they were opening up to me. And I met a lot of undercover sources. And I just knew it would be a compelling story," he said. "I didn't know whether I believed the women at that time when I began. But I knew either way, whether they were telling the truth or lying, that this would be an interesting trial to follow and an interesting hook for a documentary."





Footage showing Doan Thi Huong walking away after rubbing deadly chemical agent on Kim's face / Courtesy of THE COOP



The director spent a substantial amount of his time over the two years of the trial and in going through hours of the airport's CCTV footage, from the day of the murder and from the days leading up to it.



The more White went through the sizeable amount of evidence, the more he started to believe that the two women merely thought they had been recruited to make a hidden camera show and prank strangers.



"At the beginning of making the film, I assumed that the women were guilty. The longer I made the film, the more my eyes started to open that maybe these women are telling the truth," he said.



"It was less about a moment that (evidence) proves that they are innocent, but was more about the lack of evidence, absence of anything that showed they were aware of what they were doing and that they were about to harm someone. The only piece of evidence that was ever used by the prosecution and the judge pointed to was that the women washed their hands after the assassination and that Doan looked aggressive the way she touched his face."





Huong, front center, and Aisyah, in maroon, walk out of the court after their trial. Courtesy of THE COOP
By Trudy Rubin





President Joe Biden declared July 26 that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq would cease by the end of this year. But he also made clear that U.S. forces  probably most of the 2,500 now in the country  would be rebranded to "train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS."



Unlike his abrupt end to the "forever war" in Afghanistan, Biden wants to deepen a strategic partnership with Iraq.



Moreover, the White House wants to help Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, an unusual Iraqi leader and former human rights crusader. He is trying to pull together a country fragmented by sectarianism, corruption  and Iranian meddling, including aid to Shiite militias that challenge the government.



Aiding Iraq makes strategic sense, given Baghdad's geography at the center of the Middle East, where it borders Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Jordan. Al-Kadhimi's government has enhanced frayed Iraqi relationships with its Arab and Turkish neighbors.



A stabilized Iraq could provide an anchor in an increasingly chaotic region. But that goal often seems as distant as a desert mirage.



So I interviewed the Iraqi leader at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., (after his lengthy one-on-one session with Biden at the White House July 26) about what he hopes to achieve and why he welcomes further U.S. help.



To understand al-Kadhimi's goals  and why he deserves U.S. backing  pay attention to his background. His surprise ascendance to the prime minister post in May 2020 came after months of demonstrations by frustrated Iraqi youths demanding an end to massive government corruption and militia violence. Hundreds of demonstrators, many of them poor Shiite Muslims, were assassinated by snipers, presumably by Iran-backed forces.



Al-Kadhimi came to office promising justice for the dead youths, and reform of a government in which parties based on ethnicity (Kurdish, Arab, etc.) and religious sect (Shiite and Sunni) divide the spoils. He also agreed to accelerated elections, to be held in October, that may push forward new local leaders.



But pro-Iran militias have responded with more targeted killings, including journalists and intellectuals. And they may threaten the security of the elections.



Yet, the Iraqi leader insists he has made progress in curbing those pro-Iranian militias and can make more if the United States stays engaged.



"Definitely the circumstances of Afghanistan are different from Iraq," the prime minister told me. "Iraqi troops have reached the stage, via U.S. training and capacity building, where they can play a full role."



His focus, and the White House's, he said, was on "a long-term strategic partnership," including "training, intelligence assistance, and cooperation on science, the economy, education and issues related to the environment. These are signs of countries building a relationship."



But would Iran accept the continued presence of American troops  for whatever purpose  on Iraqi soil? Or would pro-Iranian forces, who demand the exit of all U.S. troops, increasingly target U.S. personnel? Biden's declared end to the "U.S. combat mission" may provide Iraqi politicians of all political stripes with cover for supporting a U.S.-Iraqi partnership. Will the militias  and Tehran  pay heed?



"This is an Iraqi affair," al-Kadhimi insisted. "We will be clear to friends and neighbors that we pursue Iraqi interests."



"I am an independent prime minister. Non-state actors don't represent Iraqi policy," he said, presumably referring to pro-Iranian militias.



Al-Kadhimi stressed that "the killers of Hisham al-Hashimi have been arrested," referring to the notorious murder a year ago in Baghdad of a noted expert on armed groups. He added that "death squads responsible for the killing of numerous protesters are in custody, including more than 150 individuals." In his previous post as chief of the national intelligence service, he says he "fought sectarian affiliations in the security service."



But he rejects critics who demand that he take on the pro-Iran militias directly with military action. "I don't want to get the Iraqis and myself into further bloodshed," he insists. "I don't want the Yemeni [civil war] model. I need patience to build the nation."



I asked whether the U.S. wants him to strike back at militias militarily, or act as a buffer versus Tehran. "I won't accept," he replies, "and I am not being asked."



For al-Kadhimi, the route to stability lies in strengthening Iraq's economy and state institutions, with help and investment from the U.S. and the West. But Iraqi youth, deprived of electricity, jobs and hope for the future, are impatient. Protesters are calling for boycotting the upcoming election.



Meantime, Iran, which shares a lengthy border with Iraq, and the Shiite Muslim faith with a majority of Iraqis continue to meddle, all the more when relations between Washington and Tehran grow increasingly tense.



Al-Kadhimi, however, perseveres, calling on Iraqi youth "to avoid the boycott. The solution will come through participation and change. Lack of turnout will bring the same old names.



"I understand young peoples' frustration," he says. "Reform takes time."



Would he accept a second term, if a new parliament chose him again after elections? "I accepted this role to serve my country. If there is an Iraqi consensus, we will see."



Meanwhile, it's worth the U.S. effort to buy al-Kadhimi more time.





Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com.) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.


Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards changes his mask before a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Ochsner Center for Nursing and Allied Health at the Delgado City Park Campus on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
CORONAVIRUS

Governor considering mask mandate as hospitals beg for help in latest COVID surge
A line including Matthew Perschall, an LSU freshman from new Orleans, wait outside LSU's Tiger Stadium to get a shot of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, during a mass vaccination event held in a partnership with the La. Dept. of Health, the La. National Guard and LSU, Sunday, March 14, 2021. It was expected that 800 doses would be administered by appointment, said La. National Guard Lt. Col. Dorrie Staal, Deputy Commander of Task Force Vaccine. (Photo by Travis Spradling, The Advocate)
MISSOULA, Mont. - The Lolo National Forest is remembering a firefighter who was killed while battling the Lolo Peak Fire in the forest Aug. 2, 2017.

According to a Facebook post from LNF, Brent Witham was a member of the Vista Grande Hotshots. He grew up in California and came to Montana to help fight fires in 2017. A memorial sign in Witham's honor is posted on Highway 12 west of Lolo.

LNF said Witham "is remembered as a skillful, courageous, and compassionate firefighter who came from a lineage of firefighters and was willing to do whatever it took to help others."

LNF continued, "Brent lives on in our memories and the Lolo National Forest and greater Forest Service family will never forget his sacrifice."
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 2, 2021--

At Black Hat USA 2021, VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) released its seventh annual Global Incident Response Threat Report, which analyzes how attackers are manipulating reality to reshape the modern threat landscape. The report found a drastic rise in destructive attacks, where adversaries deploy advanced techniques to deliver more targeted, sophisticated attacks that distort digital reality, be it via business communications compromise (BCC) or the manipulation of time.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005148/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

Today, were seeing a nexus between nation-states and cybercriminals continue to rapidly advance the development of increasingly sophisticated and destructive cyberattacks, combined with the broadening of the attack surface as a result of COVID-19, says Tom Kellermann, head of cybersecurity strategy, VMware. The digital and physical worlds have converged, and everything can be manipulated by modern-day attackers. The reality is that first adopters of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, are often cybercriminals on the dark web and in nation-states intelligence communities.

Defenders are struggling to counter these complex attacks and gain visibility into new environments, such as the cloud, containers, and business communication applications. The report found that defenders are also grappling with mental health concerns and heightened job expectations, with 51% experiencing extreme stress or burnout over the past year.

Burnout is a huge issue with incident response teams, who are handling a spike in engagements in what is still a largely remote environment, says Rick McElroy, principal cybersecurity strategist at VMware. It only further underscores the need for leaders to build resilient teams, whether that means considering rotations of work, empowering individuals to take mental health days, or any number of other initiatives aimed at nurturing personal growth and development.

Additional key findings from the 2021 Global Incident Response Threat Report include:

The nexus between nation-states and e-crime heightens the threat landscape and exploit vulnerabilities: Among those who have encountered ransomware attacks in the past year, 64% witnessed affiliate programs and/or partnerships between ransomware groups. Defenders are also looking for new ways to fight back: 81% said they are willing to leverage active defense in the next 12 months.

Advanced techniques are being used to make attacks more destructive and targeted: Respondents indicate that targeted victims now experience destructive/integrity attacks more than 50% of the time. Cybercriminals are achieving this through emerging techniques, like the manipulation of time stamps, or Chronos attacks, which nearly 60% of respondents have observed. Catalyzed by the shift to remote work, 32% of respondents also experienced adversaries leveraging business communication platforms to move around a given environment and launch sophisticated attacks.

With cloud-jacking on the rise, cloud security remains a top priority: Following the rush to cloud technology amid the pandemic, cybercriminals have continued to exploit these environments. Nearly half (43%) of respondents said more than a third of attacks were targeted at cloud workloads, with almost a quarter (22%) saying more than half were. For this reason, 6 in 10 respondents said cloud security tools are their top priority to implement.

For more information on the evolving threat landscape as well as actionable guidance and recommendations for incident responders and security teams, download the full report here.

Methodology

VMware conducted an online survey about trends in the incident response landscape in May and June 2021, with 123 cybersecurity and incident response professionals from around the world participating in the study. Percentages in certain questions exceed 100% because respondents were asked to check all that apply. Due to rounding, percentages used in all questions may not add up to 100%.

VMware at Black Hat USA 2021

VMware will discuss the findings from this report and other key security topics in the virtual sessions listed below. Visit our virtual Black Hat USA 2021 booth, and follow along with us on social @VMwareNews and in the VMware Newsroom.

Exposing Vulnerabilities in Kubernetes

Wednesday, August 4 at 8:00 am PT

Daniel Shapira, senior staff researcher

Enemy Inside the Gates: 2020 Threat Landscape Key Findings

Wednesday, August 4 at 10:50 AM PT

Chad Skipper, global security technologist

Giovanni Vigna, senior director of threat intelligence

Disrupting Ransomware and Dismantling the Cybercrime Ecosystem

Wednesday, August 4 at 1:10 pm PT

Tom Kellermann, head of cybersecurity strategy

Rick McElroy, principal cybersecurity strategist

Symbexcel: Bringing the Power of Symbolic Execution to the Fight Against Malicious Excel 4 Macros

Wednesday, August 4 at 1:30 pm PT

Giovanni Vigna, senior director of threat intelligence

Stafano Ortolani, threat researcher

Security Hygiene for DevOps

Thursday, August 5 at 10:50 am PT

Ram Akuka, product manager, Security Business Unit

David Zendzian, global field CISO, VMware Tanzu

Exposing Vulnerabilities in Kubernetes

On-demand

Daniel Shapira, senior staff researcher

About VMware

VMware software powers the worlds complex digital infrastructure. The companys cloud, app modernization, networking, security, and digital workspace offerings help customers deliver any application on any cloud across any device. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to being a force for good, from its breakthrough technology innovations to its global impact. For more information, please visit https://www.vmware.com/company.html

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005148/en/

CONTACT: Kerry Tuttle

VMware Global Communications

ktuttle@vmware.com

(470) 247-1987Jessica Bettencourt

Inkhouse

jbettencourt@inkhouse.com

(774) 451-5142

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY INTERNET SECURITY

SOURCE: VMware, Inc.

Copyright Business Wire 2021.

PUB: 08/02/2021 06:00 AM/DISC: 08/02/2021 06:02 AM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005148/en
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire Saturday, after the Biden administration extended the original date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their homes. Many of them lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and had fallen months behind on their rent.

Landlords successfully challenged the order in court, arguing they also had bills to pay. They pointed out that tenants could access nearly $47 billion in federal money set aside to help pay rents and related expenses.

Advocates for tenants said the distribution of the money had been slow and that more time was needed to distribute it and repay landlords. Without an extension, they feared a spike in evictions and lawsuits seeking to boot out tenants who were behind on their rents.

Even with the delay, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. as of July 5 said they face eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey. The survey measures the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic every two weeks through online responses from a representative sample of U.S. households.

Heres the situation in Montana:

WHATS THE STATUS OF EVICTION MORATORIUMS IN THE STATE?

Montana renters are protected by the CDC order halting evictions until it expires. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates just over 400 Montana residents are somewhat likely to be evicted from their homes in the next two months.

WHATS BEING DONE TO HELP PEOPLE FACING EVICTION?

Montana has received more than $350 million in federal funding to help tenants with outstanding rent, utility payments and other expenses. Last year, it allocated $50 million from the federal CARES Act for rental assistance and ended up providing $8.4 million to 2,500 tenants. The $600 per week in supplemental unemployment payments last year appeared to be a factor in lower-than-expected application numbers early in the pandemic, the Department of Commerce said.

Late last year and this year, the state received another $352 million in federal emergency rental assistance, the minimum amount allocated to small states. Renters can receive up to $2,200 per month for past-due and future rent payments, up to $300 for utility payments and $50 per month for internet. Households are eligible for that assistance for a maximum of 15 months, dating back to April 1, 2020, if they earn less than 80% of the median income in their area and can show the pandemic affected their income.

So far under the new rental assistance program, the state has distributed $13.6 million to over 2,400 households. The Department of Commerce is currently reviewing 830 additional applications. Landlords can apply for the assistance on behalf of their renters.

However, tenants are also losing housing when rental units are sold to take advantage of the booming real estate market, when landlords stop accepting federal housing vouchers or raise rents out of the reach of some workers  situations that aren't protected under the federal moratorium. Even with the federal assistance, renters are having a difficult time finding places to live.

There just arent enough affordable housing options for Montana renters  even if theyve been good tenants in the same place for years. If the landlord decides to sell their building or raise their rent, theres nowhere for the renters to go, said Amy Hall, an attorney with the Montana Legal Services Association. Under Montana law, tenants with month-to-month leases can be given a 30-day notice of a rent increase.

HOW ARE THE COURTS HANDLING EVICTION HEARINGS?

Beginning last October, the state created the Montana Eviction Intervention Project, in partnership with the Montana Legal Services Association, to provide legal help to low-income renters facing eviction. Between then and June 22, attorneys have helped with 264 evictions statewide, helping 608 clients and their family members.

We have throughout this entire moratorium been receiving calls, said Rachel Turnbow, coordinator for the project. We are anticipating that evictions will be increasing after the end of the moratorium.

Of the attorneys who report data on their cases, 80% say tenants were behind on their rent directly because of COVID-19. Of the court cases filed, 73% resulted in an agreement to move out without an eviction on the tenant's record, which could otherwise make finding another rental very difficult.

HOW AFFORDABLE IS HOUSING IN THE STATES MAJOR RENTAL MARKETS?

The National Low Income Housing Coalition says there are 46 affordable and available rentals in Montana for each 100 extremely low income household, defined as those whose income is at or below the poverty level, or 30% of the area median income, whichever is higher.

ARE EVICTIONS EXPECTED TO CREATE A SURGE IN HOMELESSNESS?

No clients assisted under the Montana Eviction Intervention Project have moved to a shelter or became homeless, the Montana Legal Services Association said.

However, Hall said a lack of available rental housing in the state's major cities has people moving to other towns, sharing housing with family or friends or possibly leaving the state.

In Montana since COVID, rental prices have increased, and the number of vacancies has decreased, Hall said. Thats a terrible combination, especially for renters with limited incomes or who lost work due to COVID. 
ROME, AUG 2 - Premier Mario Draghi's government's reform of Italy's criminal justice system is set to be put to two confidence votes in the Lower House later on Monday. The reform aimed at speeding up the system caused considerable tension within Draghi's coalition before a compromise was reached at a cabinet meeting last week. The reform, drafted by Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, sets limits on the time it can takes to rule on first appeals and on cases at the supreme court. It effectively waters down a reform passed by Alfonso Bonafede, a 5-Star Movement (M5S) lawmaker who was the justice minister in ex-premier Giuseppe Conte's two coalition governments from June 2018 until the start of this year. Bonafede's reform puts the statue of limitations on hold after the first-instance ruling in order to stop criminals getting off because their cases get timed out due to the slowness of the legal system. The judiciary's self-governing body, the CSM, said a huge number of cases would end up being shelved if the reform Cartabia had been is approved in its original form. The M5S demanded changes to the reform to stop this happening, which led to a compromise in which crimes regarding the mafia, terrorism, sexual violence and criminal association are handled under a different regime. Speeding up Italy's notoriously slow judicial system is necessary, among other things, because the granting of EU COVID Recovery Plan funds is conditional upon it. In an interview in Monday's edition of La Stampa, M5S leader Conte said the movement's lawmakers would be united in voting in favour in the confidence votes. (ANSA).
ROME, AUG 2 - Lazio Governor Nicola Zingaretti said Monday that the region that Rome belongs to was the victim of a "terrorist" hacker attack on its IT systems. "At the moment we are defending our community from these attacks of a terrorist nature," Zingaretti told a press conference. "Lazio is the victim of a criminal offensive, the most serious that has ever occurred on the (Italian) national territory. "The attacks are still taking place. The situation is very serious". Among other things, the region's COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been hit by the attack, which was launched on Sunday from abroad, sources said. The attack has stopped bookings for jabs. At the time of writing it was not possible to access the region's website. The hackers managed to enter the system with the profile of an administrator and activate a malware that encrypted the data on the system, sources said. Zingaretti said a fresh attack had been repelled during the night. (ANSA).
ROME, AUG 2 - After Sardinia and Sicily in recent weeks, Abruzzo has become the latest Italian region to be hit by devastating wildfires. "We still have dozens of people out of their homes, including 33 nuns from a convent," said Carlo Masci, the mayor of Pescara. "There is a great deal of anxiety and it hurts even more today to see the skeletons of the trees. "The damage suffered yesterday is immeasurable". Civil Protection Department Chief Fabrizio Curcio said that Sunday had been "dramatic" with over 50 requests for interventions to tackle wildfires in central and southern Italy. Speaking to Mediaset television, Curcio said wildfire-prevention measures should be a priority all year, not just n the summer. His department is set to request that the EU mechanism for aircraft assistance from other countries to combat the fires be activated. The are also forest fires in Molise and Marche. (ANSA).
A Walworth County sheriffs deputy was seriously injured in a crash Sunday, Aug. 1 and a Racine man faces charges in connection, according to a news release from the Walworth County Sheriffs Office.

A gofundme account has been set up to help. It can be found by searching gofundme for Walworth County Sheriffs Deputy Recovery Fund.

As of Monday, Aug. 2, the deputy was in critical, but stable, condition and has undergone two surgeries in the first twenty  four hours following the incident, according to the gofundme page.

Given the extent of his injuries, he is expected to undergo multiple medical procedures in the coming days and the road to rehabilitation will be long and arduous, the page states.

Tony Perales, 25, of Racine faces charges for flee and eluding, operating while intoxicated causing great bodily harm, injury by intoxicated use of motor vehicle and operating without a drivers license causing great bodily harm as a result of the accident that occurred about 1:11 a.m., Aug. 1.

Police said a Walworth County sheriffs deputy attempted to stop a vehicle that was traveling about 62 mph in a 25 mph zone in the City of Lake Geneva. The driver exhibited signs of impairment, according to police.
At least 23 school districts in Georgia covering nearly a third of the public school population now say they will require everyone to wear a mask.

Some parents are protesting mask mandates. Dozens of opponents gathered outside the Gwinnett County school district administration building on Friday. Holly Terei, who helps run a Facebook group that coordinated the protesters, said she would withdraw her three children from Georgias largest school district if administrators dont reverse the move.

We want to choose for our children, whether it be the vaccine, whether it be a mask, Terei said in advance of the protest. These are my kids. I do not co-parent with the school board and I do not co-parent with the CDC.

The number of hospitalized patients statewide crossed 2,000 on Friday, the highest since late February, and stood at just over 2,400 on Monday. Intensive care unit occupancy has also been trending up and was 82.9% of capacity on Monday, according to state officials.

Georgia recorded more than 2,500 new positive tests for the virus Friday, part of a generally steady upward climb in cases since late June. The vast majority of the new infections are among those who are unvaccinated.
Milk is one of the most requested items at food banks, but one of the least commonly donated. Virginia farmers are looking to change that.
ASMARA, Eritrea  This struggling, low-profile nation is doing something virtually unheard of in Africa. Its turning down foreign aid.

With a president who vows not to lead another spoon-fed African country enslaved by international donors, Eritrea, a small, secretive nation on the Horn of Africa, has walked away from more than $200 million in aid in the last year alone, including food from the United Nations, development loans from the World Bank and grants from international charities to build roads and deliver healthcare.

Eritrea can scarcely afford to say no. As one of the worlds poorest nations, it has struggled to feed its people.

But President Isaias Afwerki, a former Marxist rebel who has led Eritrea since its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, defends the nations exercise in self-reliance, even if it results in short-term hardships. He says it is crucial not only to the long-term survival of his country, but also to that of his continent.

We need this country to stand on its two feet, Isaias said in an interview. Fifty years and billions of dollars in post-colonial international aid have done little to lift Africa from chronic poverty, he said.

These are crippled societies, Isaias said of neighbors whom he described as relying on donors rather than developing their economies. You cant keep these people living on handouts because that doesnt change their lives.

But can Eritreas government fill the void without an increase in hunger and disease?

The self-reliance program began a decade ago but accelerated sharply in 2005. Relying on its meager budget and the conscription of about 800,000 of the countrys citizens, the program so far has shown promising results. Measured on a variety of U.N. health indicators, including life expectancy, immunizations and malaria prevention, Eritrea scores as high, and often higher, than its neighbors, including Ethiopia and Kenya.

It might be one of the most ambitious social and economic experiments underway in Africa.But Eritrea isnt getting much credit. Instead, the government increasingly finds itself in the international doghouse, largely because of its poor human rights record, isolationism and belligerent stance toward its neighbors and the West.

In a world moving toward globalization, Eritrea is turning inward. The government has sealed its borders and halted most imports, expelled several diplomats and aid groups, and withdrawn from the leading East African intergovernmental alliance.

Its like they have self-imposed sanctions, said one diplomat, who like many interviewed feared government retribution if identified. Theyre turning into an Albania or North Korea.

Tensions are particularly high with Ethiopia, with which Eritrea fought a bitter border war from 1998 to 2000. In recent months, both nations have beefed up troops along their border in a disputed region, threatening to resume hostilities.

Now the U.S. is threatening to make Eritrea even more of a pariah by adding it to its list of state sponsors of terrorism, alleging that Eritrea is supporting Somalias Islamic Courts Union, an insurgent alliance that U.S. officials say has links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

A recent United Nations report accused Eritrea of sending arms shipments to the Islamist fighters last year.

Theyre creating a lot of problems in Africa, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said recently, criticizing the governments support for rebel groups in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. In a diplomatic tit-for-tat, the U.S. recently closed Eritreas consulate in Oakland.

Isaias was once heralded in the United States as the George Washington of Eritrea. Now, many in Washington portray him as a budding Fidel Castro or Kim Jong Il. Foreign diplomats worry that the escalating tensions may only further alienate the country.

Eritrea shouldnt be the bad boy in the corner, said Carl Lostelius, charge daffaires for the European Union here. Its not good for Eritrea and its not good for the region.

Isaias said he was being punished for opposing Ethiopias troop deployment to Somalia last year, which helped oust the Islamic Courts group from Mogadishu. The U.S. government supported the overthrow of the Islamists.

The Eritrean leader insisted he was not trying to isolate his country but was attempting to protect it from foreign influences that he said hurt developing countries. He said Eritrea would rejoin regional and global markets once it developed a manufacturing and production capacity and could compete on an equal footing. Until then, he added, we say, leave us alone. Let us do our work.

As part of the self-reliance campaign, the government last year abruptly stopped the World Food Programs free distributions to 1 million people. This year, government officials refused a proposed $100-million development loan from the World Bank.

It would seem that this government is less concerned and careful about protecting its own people than the international community, said one aid official in Asmara, the nations capital.

Since 2005, the number of foreign aid agencies here has fallen to nine from 37 and many aid officials have complained they have little to do.

Theyve cut off our limbs, one said.

Isaias insisted his country was doing fine without the aid. Education and healthcare are free, he said. Measles and polio have been nearly eradicated in the last two years and the childhood mortality rate has dropped by nearly two-thirds since 1995. Evaluating food production has been more difficult. Eritrea, with its hostile climate and rugged terrain, has a history of famine. But Isaias said his cold-turkey approach to halting food aid was making farmers work harder, without increasing hunger or malnutrition.

Its provoked people to do more to feed themselves, he said, predicting Eritrea would produce an agricultural surplus in three years. We are fed better than anyone.

Aid officials say they cant verify the progress or measure malnutrition rates because the government wont permit independent assessments. The last survey, in 2006, found 20% of children malnourished in some rural areas.

Most agreed that food levels during the last two years have been stable, thanks largely to adequate rainfall.

Theyre surviving on favorable weather right now, said one aid worker, but there is no guarantee that will last.

Critics accuse Isaias of autocratic rule. He canceled presidential elections in 1997 and 2001 and wont say when he plans to step down. A draft constitution was never ratified.

A September 2001 crackdown against opposition groups led to the dismantling of a free press and arrests of several dozen politicians, journalists and others. Some are feared to have died in custody.

Isaias rejects criticisms, calling the constitution only a paper, dismissing those in jail as crooks, and bristling at the suggestion that hes worried about holding a free vote.

Do you think Im scared of elections in this country? he said. What have I done wrong to be scared of elections? Im moving in the right direction.

On the streets of Asmara, some citizens are less sure. Though many still view Isaias as a national hero, some of those who fought for independence say they had hoped to enjoy more prosperity by now.

He has lost his vision, said one former fighter who is unemployed. These days, we feel that every door is shut for us.

With little production and few exports, the government and citizens rely heavily on remittances from Eritreans abroad, including a 2% income tax on expatriates collected through the nations consulates. Although the tax is voluntary, not paying jeopardizes rights and property in Eritrea, so compliance is fairly good.

The governments economic program is an odd mix of socialism and capitalism. Commodities such as bread and milk are subsidized and rationed, but gasoline sells for $11 a gallon. Closed borders mean frequent shortages. The local Coca-Cola factory, for example, recently closed because it didnt have enough foreign currency to buy syrup.

Asmara is one of Africas cleanest and safest cities, with Art Deco architecture, palm-lined avenues and bustling street cafes, all remnants of Italian colonial rule.

But beggars and the homeless are beginning to appear on the streets for the first time in recent years. The government strictly controls access to cellphones and citizens cant leave the country without exit visas.

We feel trapped, said a 22-year-old student in Asmara.

By far the most unpopular government program is national service, in which every able-bodied person between the ages of 20 and 40 is drafted into a standby military force in case border clashes resume. The service is supposed to end after 18 months, but in practice can last a decade or longer. Most participants are deployed in public-service jobs, working in government ministries, building roads and irrigation systems, or teaching in schools. Salaries are $1 a day.

Whats the point of school? the student asked. There wont be any job for me. This is a time in my life when I should be working for my future. Instead, I feel hopeless. He said he was trying to raise $2,300 to pay an underground smuggler to help him out of the country.

Isaias offered no apologies. He said this generations sacrifices would pave the way for Eritreas future. People will either learn the easy way or the hard way, he said. If you aspire to become someone in this society with a good quality of life, you work for it. You dont get it for free. Its as simple as that.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com
Mental health issues in America, particularly among teens, are on the rise. Many young Ohioans had difficulty during the lockdown, unable to experience life as normal. In addition to a major financial setback, the pandemic also contributed to a rise in mental health related issues.

Out-of-the-Norm

The virus caused most of the country to lock down. Teens who thrive on interaction with their peers suffered from separation anxiety and the effects of isolation. They had to remain apart, unable to hang out and simply be free-spirited kids.

Unfortunately, it's a year they can't get back. Those with a pre-existing social anxiety disorder also had difficulty, further enhancing their fears of social settings, seriously affecting achieved progress. Whether COVID-19 related or signs revealed prior to the lockdown, if you have concerns over your child and social anxiety, a social anxiety test is available.

Teen Depression

The teen years are very important to the development of social skills. Teens often spend weekends at a sporting event, the mall or their friends' home. The pandemic prevented an entire year of these types of interactions. Schools, a social hub for young adolescents, were closed. Malls, sporting venues, and just about anything else where you can gather socially. Basically, the only places that remained open were grocery and convenience stores and gas stations.

Just think for a minute about what teens missed. They didn't play sports, put on their school play, have their junior or senior prom, and missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, their graduation. As a result, many teens suffered from depression. They remained in their room, instead of hanging out with other family members. They stopped talking to friends on social media and slept more often than necessary. Since teens are typically moody, it can be difficult for parents to see the warning signs. If you feel your teen is depressed, seek professional help.

Loss of Income

Many adults who previously enjoyed a good quality of life, now find themselves without income. They lost their business, something that took years to develop or lost a good-paying job. Even though Ohio is now open for business, it can take a few years to regain financial stability. That could lead to drug or alcohol use as a way to cope. Unfortunately, escaping reality isn't going to solve the problem. If you developed a drinking problem or now use drugs as a result of the lockdown, there are resources at your disposal.

Returning to Living

The good news for many currently with mental-health issues is that post-pandemic you can return to your normal way of life. The anxiety and depression symptoms will subside once you return to school or work. However, others who lost everything or had signs of depression pre-pandemic, are likely to manifest these feelings for much longer. Keep in mind, unresolved issues will make it difficult to get on with your life.

A New World

Those with an anxiety disorder prior to the pandemic might still be afraid to leave their home for fear they will catch the virus. If you have not received a firm diagnosis from a mental health professional and are waiting to be seen, you should consider taking a panic disorder test to see if you could possibly be suffering from generalized panic disorder or anxiety. With half the country vaccinated and millions of Americans previously having COVID-19, the odds of getting the virus are lessening. If you are vaccinated, you can find comfort that you are protected. Take daily precautions such as washing your hands after venturing out to stores and other public places that draw crowds.

The pandemic of 2020 affected the mental health of millions of Americans. Fortunately, for most, a return to life as normal will restore their mental health. However, for those with a previous diagnosis or undiagnosed mental health problems, the journey can be much longer.
An eviction moratorium has lapsed after President Joe Biden's administration, and Congress failed to win an extension, placing hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter.

When the Supreme Court allowed a one-month extension of the eviction moratorium last month, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh warned that any further extensions would have to go through Congress, The New York Times reported.

The nationwide moratorium on residential evictions has expired on July 31. Last Thursday, the White House said it could not extend the eviction ban and urged Congress to do it.

But the House Democrats failed to collect the votes to prevent its lapse this weekend. Several lawmakers were claiming that Joe Biden's inaction blindsided them on the matter. Some were infuriated that he called on Congress to give a last-minute solution.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats were with Rep. Cori Bush in camping outside the Capitol over the weekend. Bush said they don't plan to leave until some type of change is applied.

In a statement, the House Democratic leaders said it was now up to the Biden administration to act and extend the eviction moratorium until Oct. 18.

READ NEXT: CDC: Passenger With Human Monkeypox From Nigeria Enters U.S. Through Atlanta Airport

American Renters

Over 3.6 million Americans are at risk of facing eviction in a matter of days, Associated Press reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had implemented the eviction moratorium as part of the COVID-19 crisis response when employment changed, and many workers had lost their income.

The moratorium is needed as evictions make it difficult for people to socially distance, according to advocates. Rep. Maxine Waters said they thought the White House was in charge. She is the current chair of the Financial Services Committee.

Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project noted that more than 15 million people are currently behind rental payments, out of the 6.5 million households in the U.S., Reuters reported.

They owe as much as $20 billion to their landlords. Landlord groups have been against the moratorium, with some struggling to keep up with the mortgage, tax, and insurance payments on properties without rental income.

Eviction Moratorium

The moratorium took effect in September 2020 to prevent homelessness during the pandemic. It has faced extensions multiple times.

The CDC said in June that it would not impose further extensions. But a CDC spokeswoman has affirmed that the moratorium has already expired and did not comment on the matter.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that out of $46.5 billion in rental relief earlier approved by Congress, only $3 billion had been distributed to renters.

Pelosi said on Saturday that lawmakers were demanding the $46.5 billion approved by Congress to be handed out to renters and landlords.

Meanwhile, other states have taken the initiative to extend the eviction moratorium, such as California and New York. Federal agencies that finance rental housing had urged owners of those properties to take advantage of assistance programs and avoid evicting tenants.

Homelessness Amid the Pandemic

Many U.S. cities had seen a significant increase in homeless populations, with an estimated peak of three percent between 2008 and 2009.

A report provided to Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that 580,466 Americans experienced homelessness on a single night in 2020. The current figure was an increase of 2.2 percent from 2019, The Guardian reported.

The number of unsheltered individuals increased by seven percent, while chronic homelessness had risen by 15 percent.

READ MORE: American Airlines Cancels Almost 400 Flights Over Staff, Maintenance Issues

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Millions Face Threat of Homelessness as US Pandemic Protections Over Evictions Expire - From Global News






Mexico held a national referendum to decide whether to investigate the country's five former presidents over corruption. Al Jazeera reported that current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, promoted the said referendum that experts criticized.

According to New York Post, the voting on the national referendum began on Sunday. However, critics noted that the move of the current president was a "political stunt," and turnout of the voting could be low.

READ NEXT: Mexico: Thousands of Elderly, Tortured, Unsentenced Inmates to Be Released From Federal Prisons

Mexico Holds Referendum Promoted by AMLO

The polls opened at around 8 a.m. on Sunday local time and were due to close at about 6 p.m. The result was expected to come out within two or three days.

Lopez Obrador noted that the public consultation would strengthen participatory democracy, WION reported. AMLO blamed the former presidents, namely Carlos Salinas, Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderon, and Enrique Pena Nieto, for aggravating or worsening many of Mexico's miseries from poverty to insecurity.

Lopez Obrador accused them of leading "excessive concentration of wealth, monumental losses to the treasury, privatization of public property and widespread corruption."

Their administrations, which spanned between 1988 and 2018, allegedly presided over "excessive concentration of wealth, monumental losses to the treasury, privatization of public property and widespread corruption."

"You have to have faith in the people, you have to have confidence in the people, and their free choice, not be afraid of people," AMLO underscored.

Initially, Lopez Obrador wanted the referendum to ask the public if they want the ex-presidents to be prosecuted. However, Mexico's Supreme Court ordered a looser formulation to safeguard due process and the presumption of innocence.

Meanwhile, the voters also had different views on the said national referendum. According to Reuters, some of the voters praised the current president's efforts, while some were skeptical about it.

"It's a way of expressing my anger against the presidents who plundered the country, but I doubt they will really be prosecuted," said a voter from Tlaxcala, Mexico.

In a recent survey of the newspaper El Financiero, 77 percent of respondents answered that they will support the proposal to put the ex-presidents under probe. However, only 31 percent of people emphasized that they would vote.

At least 40 percent of registered Mexican voters, equivalent to 37.4 million voters, must participate to be binding. Despite their plans to consult the voters on the probe of the former presidents, the administration of Lopez Obrador did not discussed what that process would entail.

Critics of Mexico's National Referendum

Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst from Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Training called the referendum "an exercise in politics and media exposure," but noted that the result of the ballot question is not in doubt.

Crespo said the challenge would be rooted in how many people will go out to vote, contending that the number of voters would determine how many people still support AMLO.

Furthermore, Reuters reported that other analysts said that the referendum is done to distract the people from current problems such as record murders, the coronavirus pandemic, and economic malaise.

Meanwhile, Mexico's ex-President Vicente Fox urged the voters to stay home.

"Let's not indulge in this farce," Fox tweeted.

READ NEXT: Mexico's New Vigilante Group Blames Supporters for Setting Fire to Offices, Businesses

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Mexico's President Pursues Former Presidents- From CGTN America
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been criticized for continuing to hold the Lollapalooza music festival despite the reestablishment of COVID restrictions.

The mayor even made an appearance at Lollapalooza, thanking attendees for wearing masks and completing their COVID vaccine doses, Fox News reported.

The Chicago mayor had defended her decision, saying that the event was outdoors. Lori Lightfoot also said that Chicago had been doing massive events across the city since June. She said that there had been no major problems or issues when they held events like that.

Lori Lightfoot also said that the music event team had hired their own public health experts, working hand in glove with the local authorities since they started these discussions. But many people have expressed concerns about the holding of the event due to the Delta variant.

Journalist Laurie Garrett asked on Twitter if the Chicago mayor would be blamed for giving it a go signal and dubbed Lollapalooza as a COVID super-spreader event.

Lori Lightfoot had told those planning to attend Lollapalooza to wear a mask when riding public transportation. But Chicago's public transit was reportedly filled with riders not wearing masks.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators reportedly went to Grant Park for the four-day music festival that started on Thursday.

READ NEXT: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Limits Interviews to Journalists of Color for Her 2nd Year Anniversary

Lollapalooza in Chicago

Chicago Tribune had earlier reported that the Lollapalooza had quietly loosened the safety standards for unvaccinated guests.

The Chicago mayor had previously said the music festival attendees should have a negative COVID test result within 24 hours of attending Lollapalooza each day. This requirement was for those who were not fully vaccinated.

Then eventually, the city has allowed Lollapalooza attendees to go forward with negative tests up to 72 hours before entering. According to a review of the festival's public communications, it was unclear when the testing window change happened. However, it seemed that it was between June 18 and July 8.

Some have cited what happened at a Dutch music festival as a warning for Chicago. More than 1,000 people had tested positive for COVID in early July after attending a music festival in the Netherlands.

A representative of that city's health board said that it was a mistake to allow unvaccinated attendees to get in with a negative test within 40 hours of entering.

Meanwhile, Lollapalooza had pulled out DaBaby on the final day headliners after the artist had made a homophobic statement.

Organizers said that Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love, ABC 7 Chicago reported. Instead of DaBaby, Young Thug will perform in his place.

The massive music event was canceled in 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic. The said cancellation has reportedly cost at least $35 million in sales and almost $9 million in lost earnings.

Chicago Amid the COVID Pandemic

Dr. Michael Lin, the infectious disease specialist at Rush University Medical Center, said the virus "needs to be respected," and it was something that people should take precautions against.

Dr. Allison Arwady, the Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner, said they have no plans to close Chicago again. However, the department urged people to get vaccinated and wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status.

Associated Press reported that the state has lifted most of its pandemic-related restrictions in June during the drop of infection rates.

The health department noted that Chicago's average number of daily cases is 208, a 58 percent increase from last week when it was 131.

READ MORE: Chicago Deputy Police Chief Commits Suicide Weeks After Promotion

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Lollapalooza 2021: Day 3 of Fest Includes New Mask Requirements - From ABC 7 Chicago






A grandson was arrested after he had stabbed his grandmother to death while also seriously injuring his mother and shooting three people while trying to steal their vehicles in Louisiana.

The 28-year-old suspect, Aaron Morgan, was shot twice when he tried to flee on foot. He had abandoned the vehicle he stole, Crime Online reported.

According to East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputies, the Louisiana man has suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was set to be charged with his 78-year-old grandmother's murder.

The suspect's grandmother was identified as Dianne Gafford. Aaron Morgan will also face other charges aside from the murder once he is released from the hospital.

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The Louisiana Crime Spree Involving the Grandson

Aaron Morgan was accused of stabbing his grandmother and unnamed mother inside a home in Baton Rouge on Sunday. The mother survived.

After the stabbing, he fled using his grandmother's car. The grandson reportedly shot three people outside an upscale shopping center off Highland Road as he tried to steal multiple vehicles, WAFB reported.

He dumped his grandmother's car after he found a vehicle running with the keys inside. He then led police on a chase near the corner of Jefferson Highway. The Louisiana man had also attempted to carjack someone else after he exited the vehicle.

Aaron Morgan then jumped to a nearby fence and pointed a gun at police, according to authorities. Police then shot him twice. The Louisiana man was wounded and transported to a nearby hospital.

Aaron Morgan had prior traffic infractions based on his criminal record in East Baton Rouge parish. In 2012, the Louisiana man was in a motorcycle wreck that had broken every bone in his face, WBRZ reported. The accident had changed his appearance as a result.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said in a statement that there's no longer an active threat to their community and thanked the first responders and public safety agencies.

Broome had also encouraged everyone to pray for those recovering from their injuries. She also thanked the good Samaritans who rushed in moments after the incident to provide aid. Dianne Gafford was about to celebrate her 79th birthday on Thursday.

Louisiana Murder Rate

Louisiana has been reported to have the highest murder rate across the nation for 31 years, The New York Times reported.

Many factors that could provide insight into the state's ranking include disproportionate racial segregation, poverty, and job discrimination. The said factors had turned minorities toward the underground community and economy.

Louisiana and Mississippi had also tended to rank among the poorest states in the United States. The former ranked in the bottom five in the poverty rate in 37 of the last 40 years.

Mississippi had a higher share of its population below the poverty line in 2019. The Bureau of Justice Statistics noted that Louisiana has the highest or second-highest incarceration rate in each of the last 19 years.

Louisiana was even dubbed the "world prison capital" in a 2012 article in the Times-Picayune. Chief executive of the Foundation for Louisiana, Flozell Daniels, noted that when people are exposed to violent environments, it is much more likely they will adopt violent practices to survive.

The use of guns was also a factor, with 84 percent of murders in Louisiana, used a firearm as a weapon.

READ MORE: 13-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Shooting Younger Sister to Death

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Why Does Louisiana Consistently Lead the Nation in Murders - From News Leader






A fuel tanker truck driver died after the vehicle he was driving fell off a ramp on Florida's Interstate 595 in Davie and exploded, officials stated.

According to Local10 News, Florida Highway Patrol said the driver of a large fuel tanker lost control of the vehicle, which caused the accident. The loss of control of the fuel tanker truck resulted in the vehicle's falling off of the ramp.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol and Davie Fire Rescue units, they responded to the crash scene near the Florida Turnpike at around 3:45 p.m., Sunday.

Investigators said the driver was heading westbound when he struck the concrete wall on the right shoulder and flipped over. Officials further noted that the truck went over the wall. During the initial investigation, officials found that the truck was loaded with 8,000 gallons of gasoline ignited by the accident that caused the explosion.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Yanko Reyes noted that the truck driver rolled over onto the vehicle's roof, but he was caught on fire at that time.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden's Administration, Congress Fail to Extend Eviction Moratorium

Accident and Explosion at Florida's I-595

Several videos were shared with 7News from individuals who captured dense black smoke and flames from the tanker truck. The thick plume of smoke could be seen even from miles away when drivers headed to the interstate.

Officials noted that the driver was a 53-year-old man and a resident of Homestead in Florida. The fuel tanker truck driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials who responded at the scene noted that the overturned truck caused a fuel spill. The spill prompted troopers to shut down I-595 in both directions.

The shutdown affected the eastbound lanes of Davie Boulevard and the southbound entrance to I-595 from the Turnpike while response crews fought the flames and cleaned up the spill.

Firefighters who responded at the scene were able to extinguish the fire. Chief Robert Diferdinando of the Davie Fire Rescue Battalion noted that the firefighters helped prevent what could be a bigger tragedy in the area.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue unit also responded in the blaze to assist. Diferdinando said there was a big concern initially, but luckily, a lot of the drivers in the area were able to avoid it.

Hazmat crews worked Sunday evening around smoldered debris and charred concrete, making sure that everything was safe while investigators were determining what led up to the explosion.

The eastbound and westbound ramps from I-595 to the Turnpike remained closed for several hours. After 10 p.m., crews could be seen in the area working to remove the charred truck from the scene. About an hour later, all lanes in the area were back open.

READ MORE: Florida Man Clawed by Jaguar After Crossing Zoo Barrier

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Tanker Falls Off Highway Ramp, Causing Massive Fire After Crashing - From WPLG Local 10
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A sweeping historical drama has been penned by an author with Laois and Kildare ncestors.

The Dunnes of Brittas: An Irish Familys Saga of Endurance by Kevin Lee Akers could be the story of so many Famine-ravaged families who left Ireland for the shores of America.

Author Mr Akers, who lives in California, is descended from his great, great grandfather Patrick Lawler from Blackford, Athy and his wife Bridget Dunne from nearby Stradbally over the Laois border.

The novel is a fictionalised account of his familys fascinating history using letters handed down from great, grand aunt Lucy Lawler Rogers who was Patrick and Bridgets daughter.

Patrick and Bridget left Ireland in the autumn of 1853 while the effects of the Great Family still ravaged the country, and arrived in San Francisco on New Years Day 1854. The epic story features over 50 characters including 17 members of the Dunne family led by General Edward Dunne, the clan chieftain.

A two-page genealogical chart in the introduction to the book helps the reader navigate through the clan.

In the book, the family lived in the manor house known as Brittas. His estate agent and cousin Peter Dunne raised his brood in the servants wing.

As Ireland is crumbling under the ravages of the Great Famine and besieged by emigration, the American West is being rejuvenated by millions of people chasing the Californian gold rush.

The novel follows the Dunnes to Antebellum New Orleans, South America and finally to San Francisco where they struggle to create their own family dynasties.

Author Kevin Lee Akers pictured in front of the ruins of Brittas Castle in Co Laois

Rich with historical detail and memorable characters, the novel is loosely narrated by Aunt Lucy.

Author Mr Akers has thoroughly researched his material and has also meticulously re-imagined the lives his ancestors would have led both in Ireland and in the prosperous American West.

He paints vivid pictures with his prose and effortlessly transports the reader through the lives of characters through different times and places.

This book deserves as big a readership as possible in order to understand the struggles and occasional good fortune of the families of our forefathers.

It is also a universal story about family and emigration and making a new life in a strange land.

Mr Akers multi-faceted story, with its fascinating cast of characters and multiple locations in Ireland and in the US would surely make a great Hollywood epic or even an enduring series on Netflix.

Reflection

Fittingly, the book ends with the final handwritten letter from a reflective Lucy Rogers to Sarafrances Welsh which says:

My life has been spent rearing my children and caring for my home  and never much out of it.

Someone said we are all actors on the stage of life. We must play our part as it is given us and make the final bow.

The Dunnes of Brittas is available through Amazon and select bookstores or from www.dunnesofbrittas.com.
Creating new woodlands as a way to remember loved ones lost to Covid, and mark the great contribution made by health workers and frontline workers, has been suggested by Laois County Council.

The suggestion is in reponse to a request by a Portlaoise councillor to erect a memorial in Laois to people who died with the virus.

Cllr Noel Touhy tabled his motion to the July meeting of Laois County Council, "that the council erect a monument or designate an area in remembrance of those who lost their lives from the Covid-19 pandemic"

"When we are reminiscing about those we lost, we go to a cemetery, and there you can talk to other people. We have a great tradition in the Irish wake, where people can say their goodbyes and show support. Unfortunately many lost loved ones, and the restrictions on funerals added another layer to their grief.

"I suggest we designate an area dedicated to those we lost, to say we remember, we do not forget, and we care. Not just piecemeal but something worthy of the occasion," Cllr Tuohy said.

Cllr John Joe Fennelly seconded.

"The council will not be found wanting if there is funding from national Government," he said.

Cllr Aisling Moran agrees.

"I can see what Noel says, something like the plaza or Fitzmaurice place, a monument, a pond, a stone. They didn't get to grieve with others, it would be lovely to have something in each county," she said.

Cllr John King described the sadness of families forced to see their elderly relatives through the window of a nursing home, possibly for the last time.

"You could only see them through a window, that was a window of darkness," he said.

Cllr James Kelly likened the pandemic to the famine, or the struggles in 1916.

"It would be a fitting tribute if we did it, we could be a leading county on this," he said.

Laois County Council in reply suggests planting woodlands.

They said that there is not enough information yet from central Government on Covid memorials.

They noted the Nurse a Tree initiative, an Irish Not for Profit organisation that is planting 80,000 trees for nurses in Ireland to give thanks and recognition to frontline healthcare workers.

"Creating woodlands is one possibility, to dedicate an area of such planting to those who died and those who cared for them," the council said in reply.
Nearly half of those vaccinated against Covid-19 in Laois on at a free August Bank Holiday Monday clinic in Portlaoise availed of the the walk-in option as queues formed outside the Laois facility, according to the HSE.

Figures provided to the Leinster Express by the HSE on August 2 showed that more than 400 people were vaccinated at HSE Centre in the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise by 1pm today.

This included 170 walk-ins who had availed of the walk-in option at the centre which was due to open between 9 am and 1pm on Monday.

The HSE also reported that people were still queueing outside at 1pm with just 60 minutes to go before the centre closed. There have been previous queues at the centre but that was before the walk-in vaccination was possible.

The hub was just one of three centres to facilitate walk-ins last Thursday. Several centres around Ireland have subsequently welcomed people without appointments.

The next HSE Covid vaccination walk-in clinic in Portlaoise takes place on Thursday, August 5 from 9am to 5pm.

July was the busiest month for the Laois vaccination centre which passed the 50,000 milestone on Friday July 23. The HSE reported that 18,737 doses were given in Portlaoise between July 1 and 26.

In June 18,673 jabs were given while 11,064 were vaccines were administered in May. The centre opened on April 21. The HSE says 3,226 shots were given in April.

In the early months of the centre's operation, most jabs were being administered by GPs in their own surgeries to the at risk older groups.

Vaccination in Laois has surged alongside a slide back down the Covid-19 containment table for Laois. Infections in the county spiking again on the back of the Delta wave in July.
Gardai in Laois have issued a traffic alert and shut motorways after a crash at the junction of the M7 and M8 motorways which has killed one man and injured a number of others including a child .

The Laois Offaly Divison issued a warning to other motors that the roads were closed on Bank Holiday Monday after the collision .

Garda HQ said the collision took place around 7.15pm on the on the M7 southbound motorway at the junction of the M7 and M8 motorways.

A garda statement said the three vehicle collision occurred when a man in his 80s was fatally injured when his car collided with two other vehicles. He was removed to University Hospital Limerick in a serious condition and later passed away. He was the sole occupant of the car.

The second vehicle, the driver (male 40s) was seriously injured and has also been removed to University Hospital Limerick along with the female passenger (40s). Her injuries are described as non-life threatening.

The third vehicle, a male driver and female passenger were removed to Cork University Hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. One child in the car was taken to hospital for treatment.

The road remains closed as Garda Forensic Collision Investigators are at scene. Local diversions are in place.

Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to come forward. Any road users who were travelling on the M7 this evening between 7p.m. and 7.30p.m. and who may have camera footage (including dash cam) is asked to make it available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Portlaoise Garda Station on (057) 8674100, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

Laois Offaly Gardai said the road was closed and local diversions are in place from junction 17 in Portlaoise.

The M7 is the main road to Limerick from Dublin. The M8 to Cork begins at the scene of the crash.

It is likely that the roads could be shut overnight.
Ulster Bank has released details of changes for personal and business customers as part of its phased withdrawal from Ireland.

Back in February, the company announced a phased withdrawal from the market in February.

This latest announcement includes details of a number of changes to new business products over the coming months.

A spokesperson said: Our customers existing products and services are not impacted by (this) announcement.

Personal Customers

"For personal customers, Ulster Bank is commencing the process of phasing out the new products and services we offer customers, said the spokesperson.

We will continue to accept new applications from new and existing personal banking customers until close of business October 29, with the main exception of mortgages, which will remain available for existing customers only after that date.

Some other exceptions* apply, most notably relating to overdrafts for existing customers, and applications which are in progress prior to October 30.

Ulster Bank is writing to our existing customers to give them 60 days notice of this change. Details on this change will also be available on our website and through our normal support channels. For customers who have an application underway, we will continue to support them throughout the process of their application.

Business Customers

The spokesperson said: For business customers, availability of all of our products and services for existing customers, including new-to-Bank customers who are in the process of being onboarded, is unchanged.

Ulster Bank will no longer offer our products to non-Ulster Bank customers from July 30. The exception to this is Lombard Asset Finance, which remains open for new and existing customers.

If business customers have already applied for a product, or started the onboarding process as a new customer, we will continue to process that for customers.

Mortgage Customers

In addition and separately, as part of its regular management of compliance with the Central Bank of Irelands macro prudential lending rules, Ulster Bank will close to mortgage customers seeking exceptions to these rules, from August 4.

Ulster Bank Chief Executive Jane Howard said: Today is another significant milestone and an expected step in the progress of our phased withdrawal.

Our colleagues will continue to serve our customers throughout this phase and beyond, including those customers who need more support due to the nature of the product eg self-build mortgage customers who draw down in stages according to their build.

A comprehensive customer Q&A is available at www.ulsterbank.ie

Additional support

Anyone who needs additional support, is in financial difficulty, or is in a vulnerable situation is invited to call the Ulster Bank team on 1850 211 461. Lines are open 24 hours a day including Bank Holidays. Call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free.

Exceptions to the changes:

Mortgages: Ulster Bank will continue to accept applications from all existing customers for new mortgage lending after close of business on October 29.

Should a mortgage be fully approved and offer letter issued, it will transfer to a new provider in the future. The mortgage team can be contacted at 1890 252 270 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm (except bank holidays).

Overdrafts: The bank will accept existing current account customers applications for new overdrafts or increased overdraft limits, in limited circumstances to provide customers access to short term emergency funds.

Credit Card limit: Ulster Bank will continue to accept applications for limit increases on Credit Cards in limited circumstances, to provide customers access to short term emergency funds.

Home and Car Insurance: Existing customers policies will remain in force up until renewal date. On renewal, the bank will write to customers as normal with a renewal quotation.

Financial Planning Advice: Ulster Bank will continue to provide ongoing financial planning advice to our existing customers through Irish Life. This includes supporting existing customers as their financial circumstances change and supporting existing Ulster Bank Ireland DAC customers with new financial planning advice covering the full range of needs (Mortgage Protection, Life protection, Investment and Pension).
Two projects in North Leitrim have received funding announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.

Tullaghan Development Association have been allocated 1,489 towards the development of marine tourism in Co Leitrim, while Leitrim County Council are set to receive a further 3,075 towards the cost of a scoping document exploring sea access for Leitrim on the Wild Atlantic Way.

In Sligo the following projects are set to benefit:

- Sligo Rowing Club who receive funding of 7,348 for the purchase of a safety launch boat costing 9,185

- The Lost Valley, Rosses Point Development Association CLG and Sligo Co Council will receive 48,465 towards the cost of a feasibility study for Sligo Boat Park.

The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., announced the award of 62 grants worth 915,295 by the seven Fisheries Local Action Groups established under Irelands European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme. The grants are awarded to 62 mostly local coastal community groups and micro enterprises. The grants are co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.

Minister McConalogue said: The FLAG Scheme has been operating since just 2017, following a short pilot in the previous programme and has gone from strength to strength. This is testament not just to the demand for such local development funding in our coastal communities but very much to the hard work of the local volunteers, many drawn from our seafood and wider marine sectors, who make up the boards of each of our seven FLAGs.

Local TD and Minister of State, Frank Feighan also welcomed funding under this programme for Sligo and Leitrim.
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A FAMILY holiday would have turned to tragedy only for an off-duty lifeguard walking his dog.

Julie Peters, from Castletroy, was visiting the Quilty area in Co Clare for a few days with her three children last week. On Wednesday, they headed for Seafield pier.

"My daughter Leah, aged 7, slipped into the water and unable to reach the bottom, she started to panic fast.

"My worst nightmare was unfolding in front of my very eyes as my daughter struggled for what seemed like forever," wrote Julie in an emotional Facebook post.

A young man out walking his dog on the pier heard her screams for help.

"Without hesitation, he came running towards me and entered the water immediately even with his iPhone and car keys still in his pocket. It all happened so fast.

"He reached Leah and brought her back to safety. She cried and clinged to him for dear life as he lifted her from the water and back on to dry land.

"I will never forget the fright to see my 7-year-old daughter so helpless and scared. It could have been a different outcome had this man not been there to help Leah," wrote Julie.

She shared her story on Facebook to publicly thank him.

"Patrick Mungovan - the name of a true hero. To Patrick I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for rescuing my baby girl. I can't even describe how grateful and thankful we are," Julie told the Limerick Leader.

Leah was examined by a doctor who said she was "very lucky". Patrick has modestly played down his heroism, simply saying on Facebook: "Thank you for all the lovely messages! Lucky to be at the right place at the right time."

Julie will replace the lifeguard's iPhone as "it is the least I can do".

"It is thanks to your bravery and life saving skills that I still have my daughter alive with me tonight," wrote Julie, who also warns other parents on holidays before school resumes how quick this can happen.

"To parents out there, keep both your eyes on your kids at all times. Even a split second can mean the difference between life and death," wrote Julie.
A LIMERICK teenager used all the right ingredients - and especially kindness - to raise over 1,000 for two children's hospitals.

Frankie Franklin said her daughter Lauren, aged 14, spotted Donal Skehan supporting the Great Irish Bake for Temple Street and Crumlin Children's Hospital on social media. It struck a chord with the Dromkeen girl so the Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh pupil put her apron on.

With the help of mum and dad, Frankie and Peter, and younger brother Benjamin, who designed posters and flyers, Lauren held her own bake sale. Thanks to the permission of Furniture Man in Dromkeen she had the perfect location to sell her wares.

Lauren made an array of goodies - scones, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, apple tarts, brown bread, brownies. She was helped at the bake sale on Friday by first cousins Katie Mullaney, aged 14, from Mayo, and Gillian Greene, aged 15, from Roscommon.

They saw a brisk trade for the homemade goodies ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend. By 5pm there was barely a crumb left.

When all the money was counted up Lauren, Katie, and Gillian had made 1,096 which will go to help girls and boys their own age in hospital.
Indian women are increasingly going for low-value indulgences, such as buying makeup and personal care products, even as they postpone expensive purchases amid the pandemic, a pattern of consumer behaviour that business executives and economists have termed the lipstick effect.

Companies such as Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the owner of the Lakme brand, and Nykaa have reported a surge in cosmetics and personal care sales amid weak economic activity.

Former Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder coined the lipstick effect term following the dot-com bubble burst that sent the US economy into recession in 2000. Lauder noticed that his firm managed to sell more than usual quantities of lipstick despite the recession. Since then, the lipstick effect is referred to as the phenomenon of consumers spending money on small indulgences during times of financial crisis.

Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), told analysts on 22 July that the companys premium personal care products grew at twice the pace of the rest of the portfolio in the quarter ended 30 June.

During this entire second wave of the pandemic, we continued to drive a lot of linear portfolios extremely well where the premium part of the business has grown at twice the speed, compared with the rest of the portfolio," Mehta said.

HULs beauty and personal care revenue grew by 13% from a year earlier in the quarter ended 30 June.

Beauty and personal care website Nykaa, which retails premium personal care brands, reported a surge in sales across categories.

In an interview, Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar said that the companys sales have steadily risen during the months following the pandemic outbreak.

We attribute the rise in demand to the lipstick effect, which is distinctly visible across cities and towns," Nayar said.

Beauty brand MyGlamm, too, said it saw an increase in demand for luxury and premium products during the pandemic.

Sales of lipsticks of the Manish Malhotra Beauty range, exclusively sold by MyGlamm, doubled this past year; even MyGlamms premium range of lipsticks has seen an increase in demand.

While the company has seen demand in the personal care category surge by 50% since last year, demand has gone up between 20-75% across product categories.

MyGlamms target audience is females from 16-35 years. However, the age profile that purchases our premium range lies between 25 and 32 years. The 16-22 years bracket is also appearing on the radar of the premium or luxury market. The older cohorts of this group are just entering the workforce," said Darpan Sanghvi, founder and chief executive officer, MyGlamm.

The company last week raised 355 crore as part of its Series C financing round led by Accel Partners, along with participation from existing investors, including Amazon.

Just as the purchase of a new lipstick gives women a feel-good factor, in that sense, any indulgence by a consumer during an economic crisis can be termed as the lipstick effect, said Yuvika Singhal, an economist at QuantEco Research.

The first lockdown heavily curtailed consumption in both non-essential goods and services as India imposed the most stringent lockdown globally. The impact of this was a rise in spending on products related to health and personal care, home improvement, electronics, apparel, among othersin a reflection of the classic lipstick effect taking hold. As the economy began to unlock, consumers were, however, quick to spend the accumulated forced savings on discretionary goods such as automobiles, white goods, etc., to satiate their pent-up demand. Services, too, saw a gradual but incomplete recovery as infections remained low over the third and fourth quarter of FY21," Singhal said.

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The Maharashtra government has decided to continue with the Level 3 Covid restrictions in 11 districts of the state. The districts include Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Beed, Raigad and Palghar.

In addition to this, the government has given the Disaster Management Authority of Mumbai, Mumbai suburban and Thane districts the discretion to decide on the restrictions that are currently in place in the areas.

Apart from these 14 districts, all the other areas will see strict restrictions easing from tomorrow. As per the government notification, all non-essential shops will now be able to stay open till 8 pm instead of 4 pm on all weekdays.

Check other relaxations:

All essential and non-essential shops (including shopping malls) to remain open on all weekdays till 8 PM and till 3 PM on Saturday. All shops and malls except essential shops to remain closed on Sundays.

All Public Gardens and playgrounds can be kept open for the purpose of exercising, walking, jogging and cycling.

All government and private offices can be operational with full capacity. Staggering of work hours to be done to avoid crowds while travelling.

The offices that can function through work from home should continue to do so.

All agricultural activity, civil works, industrial activity, transport of goods can remain functional at full capacity.

Gymnasiums, yoga centres, hair cutting salons, beauty parlours, spas can remain open without the use of air-conditioners and with 50% capacity till 8 pm on weekdays and till 3 pm on Saturdays. The establishments will remain closed on Sundays.

All restaurants will remain open with 50% seating capacity till 4 pm on weekdays, in adherence with all Covid-19 protocols. Parcel and takeaway services to continue as usual.

All cinema theatres, drama theatres and multiplexes (independent and inside malls) to remain closed till further orders.

All places of worship in the state to remain closed till further orders.

In order to avoid crowding, restrictions imposed on birthday celebrations, political, social and cultural events, elections, election campaigning, rallies, protest marches to be continued.

Restrictions on movement will be applicable from 9 pm to 5 am.

Covid situation in state

The new guidelines come in the backdrop of Maharashtra reporting 4,869 fresh Covid-19 cases and 90 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 63,15,063 and the toll to 1,33,038 on Monday.

As many as 8,429 patients recovered, leaving the state with 75,303 active cases with a recovery rate of 96.65%. The case fatality rate is 2.1%, it said.

Mumbai reported 259 new cases and nine deaths, which raised the overall case-load to 7,35,366 and the count of fatalities to 15,908.

Nashik division saw 829 new cases, including 739 cases in the Ahmednagar district. Pune division reported 1,574 cases during the day, including 621 in Satara, 413 in Solapur and 260 in Pune districts. Kolhapur division added 1,399 fresh cases, including 359 from the Kolhapur district.

Aurangabad division reported 49 cases, Latur division 255, including 166 in the Beed district, 26 in the Akola division and seven in the Nagpur division.

Akola, Hingoli, Nandurbar, Wardha, Bhandara, and Gondia districts did not report a single Covid-19 case on Monday.

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A fizzled example of a gamma-ray burst , the most powerful kind of explosion known in the universe, suggests these outbursts may not always work the way that scientists thought, and that versions of these flares can be surprisingly brief, researchers say.

A typical gamma-ray burst unleashes more energy in a few milliseconds to minutes than the sun is expected to emit during its entire 10-billion-year lifetime. Astronomers classify gamma-ray bursts as long or short based on whether the outbursts lasts for more or less than two seconds. Previous research suggested that short gamma-ray bursts result from the mergers of two neutron stars , which are the extraordinarily dense stellar corpses formed by the collapse of massive stars. In contrast, astronomers thought that long gamma-ray bursts are linked to a catastrophic explosion known as a supernova , one resulting from the implosion of a giant star.

Now scientists have discovered a short gamma-ray burst that formed the same way that long gamma-ray bursts are normally thought to, from a single giant star's demise. "Dying stars also produce extremely short gamma-ray bursts," Tomas Ahumada, an astrophysics doctoral student at the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and lead author of a study on the newfound gamma-ray burst's afterglow, told Space.com.

Related: Supernova photos: Great images of star explosions

An artist's depiction of a collapsing star producing a short gamma-ray burst. (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab))

Scientists focused on a gamma-ray burst dubbed GRB 200826A, which originated in a galaxy about 6.6 billion light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. The blast lasted just 0.65 seconds, although after traveling for eons through the expanding universe, this signal had stretched out to about 1 second long when it was detected on Aug. 26, 2020, by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope .

Other spacecraft also spotted the burst: NASA's Wind mission, which orbits a point between Earth and the sun located about 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) away; NASA's Mars Odyssey , which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2001; and the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL satellite that launched in 2002.

When astronomers saw the gamma-ray burst and decided to follow up on the event, they expected to find signatures of a collision between two neutron stars. But that's not what scientists saw at all.

Using the 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, scientists analyzed the gamma-ray burst's host galaxy 28, 45 and 80 days after the explosion was first detected last summer. These observations revealed that after the burst's afterglow faded away, it brightened again. This rise in energy came from the supernova that happened after the implosion that caused the gamma-ray burst itself.

"The data and image analysis was very challenging, as we needed to separate the light of the supernova from the light of its host galaxy," Ahumada said.

This discovery "was particularly surprising as this was actually not what we were looking for," Ahumada explained. He and his colleagues are analyzing data from the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory in California "to look for binary neutron star mergers that are thought to produce a short gamma-ray burst."

Instead, the scientists found the kind of aftermath one would expect from the explosion following a collapse of a massive star. "We found a star that died," Ahumada said.

Scientists had previously known that some gamma-ray bursts from imploding stars could appear as short gamma-ray bursts, but astronomers had thought this was due to the limitations of the instruments used to detect such events, according to Bin-bin Zhang at Nanjing University in China and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, lead author of a study on the gamma-ray data. "This burst is special because it is definitely a short-duration gamma-ray bursts, but its other properties point to its origin from a collapsing star," Zhang said in a NASA statement .

Last year's detection is the shortest-known gamma-ray burst powered by the death of an imploding star. The researchers suggest that it and other supernova-driven gamma-ray bursts appear short because the jets of gamma rays that blast out from the collapsing star's poles are not strong enough to completely break through the star's outer envelope. Most other collapsing stars have such weak jets, they do not produce a detectable gamma-ray burst at all.

"We think this event was effectively a fizzle, one that was close to not happening at all," Ahumada said in a statement. "Even so, the burst emitted 14 million times the energy released by the entire Milky Way galaxy over the same amount of time, making it one of the most energetic short-duration gamma-ray bursts ever seen."

This discovery may help solve a longstanding mystery. Although previous research connected long gamma-ray bursts with supernovas, astronomers have detected far more supernovas than long gamma-ray bursts. The discovery of a short gamma-ray burst linked with a supernova suggests that some supernova-driven gamma-ray bursts may be masquerading as the short gamma-ray bursts previously thought to be created by neutron-star mergers, and therefore not getting counted as the supernova kind.

In the future, finding more short gamma-ray bursts like this one could help explore different progenitors of these explosions, "as we are not entirely sure how this event could have been generated," Ahumada said.

The scientists detailed their findings in two studies published online on July 26 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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Earth is the sixth planet from the edge of the solar system, meaning we're none too near this cold and inhospitable frontier. But we've sent out various spacecraft over the years, so do we have any idea what the edge of the solar system looks like?

The answer is yes, but it's a work in progress. One of the latest developments, a 3D map of the solar system's edge that took 13 years to create, revealed a few more secrets about this mysterious boundary, called the outer heliosphere.

The outer heliosphere marks the region of space where the solar wind, or the stream of charged particles emitted from the sun, is "deflected and draped back" by the interstellar radiation that permeates the empty space beyond the solar system, said Dan Reisenfeld, a space science researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and head of the team that conducted the research on the 3D map. In other words, solar wind and interstellar particles meet and form a boundary at the far reaches of the solar system.

Related: What happens in intergalactic space?

Earthlings first got a glimpse of the solar system's outer edge in 2012, when Voyager I, a NASA spacecraft that launched in 1977, crossed into interstellar space, according to NASA. Voyager 2 was not far behind, repeating the feat in 2018. Equipped with golden records full of Bach, Louis Armstrong and humpback whale songs, in addition to their scientific instruments, Voyagers 1 and 2 reported a sudden dropoff in solar particles and a substantial increase in galactic radiation when they left the solar system, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology .

The new 3D map reveals even more about the heliosphere. The inner layer  where the sun and its planets are nestled  is roughly spherical and is thought to extend roughly 90 astronomical units (AU) in all directions. (One AU is the average distance between Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.) The outer layer is much less symmetrical. In one direction  that in which the ever-moving sun plows through the space in front of it, encountering cosmic radiation  the outer heliosphere extends about 110 AU, but in the opposite direction, it's much longer, at least 350 AU, according to Reisenfeld.

The outer heliosphere marks the region of space where the solar wind, or the stream of charged particles emitted from the sun, is "deflected and draped back" by interstellar radiation. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

That lack of symmetry comes from the sun's movement through the Milky Way, as it experiences friction with the galactic radiation in front of it and clears out a space in its wake. "There's a lot of plasma [charged particles] in the interstellar medium, and the inner heliosphere, which is pretty round, is an obstacle in this stream of plasma which is flowing past it," Reisenfeld told Live Science. "It has the same effect as water going around a rock in a stream," with a rush of water crashing into the rock in front and a sheltered calm behind it.

Measurements for the 3D map were gathered using the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), which was launched in 2008 and is "the size of a bus tire," according to NASA . It's pronounced "like the animal," Reisenfeld said, referring to the ibex mountain goats known for their gravity -defying treks up alpine cliffs. But the animal that IBEX really takes after is the bat.

Many bats hunt insects, such as mosquitoes , by emitting a pulse of sound and using the time delay of the echo to figure out the distance to their prey. Likewise, IBEX detects solar-wind particles that have bounced back from the edges of the solar system, allowing Reisenfeld and his colleagues to determine the distances involved by measuring how long their round trip took. "The sun will send out a pulse  and then we passively wait for a return signal from the outer heliosphere, and we use that time delay to determine where the outer heliosphere must be," Reisenfeld explained.

As the sun circles the outer rim of the Milky Way , the solar wind keeps cosmic radiation at bay, forming a protective bubble. This is good for us, since "that radiation can damage spacecraft and it can be a health hazard for astronauts," Reisenfeld said.

However, the boundaries may not stay this way in the long term. Reisenfeld noted that there is a correlation between the strength of the solar wind and the number of spots on the sun. A sunspot is a relatively dark patch that temporarily appears on the surface of the sun as a result of intense magnetic disturbances within. From 1645 to 1715, a period known to sun watchers as the Maunder minimum, there were very few sunspots, and thus there may have been only weak solar winds.

"The sunspots disappeared for almost a century, and if that happens, the shape of the heliosphere could have also changed significantly," Reisenfeld said. "We do see variations in solar activity, and at any time, another Maunder minimum could happen. It's not a pie-in-the-sky concern to be worried that the [heliospheres] effectiveness at shielding could change over time."

To learn more about the heliosphere, NASA plans to launch a new mission called the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) in 2025. If all goes according to plan, IMAP will reveal further details about interactions between solar winds and cosmic radiation at the solar system's edge.

Originally published on Live Science.
By Anthony Veasna So

Ecco. 272 pp. $27.99

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After publishing stories in a constellation of outlets, such as the New Yorker and N+1, Anthony Veasna So was poised to be a new literary star. When he died, at age 28 in 2020, the tributes to his talents poured in. In one, critic Jane Hu asked, "How does one write an immigrant story when the story's very premise was designed to be distorted?"

The answer can be found in "Afterparties," So's posthumously published short story collection with a deceptively simple narrative structure scaffolded by social commentary and humor. Equal parts absurd and empathetic, "Afterparties" probes the complex lives of California Cambodian Americans in a style So once described as "post-khmer genocide queer stoner fiction." The stories are slightly linked, the reverb of kin apparent through pieces like "Maly, Maly, Maly," about a friendship between a queer teen and his beautiful best friend Maly, and "Somaly Serey, Serey Somaly," which follows a young nurse believed to be the reincarnation of Maly's mother. Others focus on the nexus of identity and contemporary life. In "Human Development," a recent Stanford grad grapples with the cultural responsibility of dating another Khmer man against the backdrop of Bay Area tech's dubious conflation with social progress.

So's own parents escaped Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge genocide and eventually settled in Stockton, California, where So was born and raised. So explained his impetus for writing while a Soros Fellow:

"During the Khmer Rouge Regime, Pol Pot wanted to restart the country at year zero, so he incinerated entire libraries, and killed the teachers, artists, writers, and intellectuals first. Writers and artists have the power to cement history into our cultural fabric. ... I pursued the arts because I want to never forget my own history, and I want to do my part in making sure this history is never lost for others. I want to pave new futures for my people."

So's writing insists that ancestral haunting and millennial snark can exist simultaneously. Parts of "Afterparties" read like critical race theory (In "Human Development," a young queer teacher muses about the preoccupation with ethnicity on the dating app Grindr: "Guys never read my profile anyway, and still dragged me into ethnicity guessing games all the time, as though our Grindr messages were a trivia night hosted at a previously hip bar.") Others, like a text chain between friends. At a broey tech party in San Francisco, the main character of "Human Development" texts his twin sister, "this party's in the gay capital of the world and straight incels are playing video games."

He later expands upon his ambivalence about the internet, describing an in-development equity app created by his older lover, Ben, as "something masquerading as objectively good, a solution to all our problems. ... Ben wanted technology to offer people a sense of fulfillment, to rush them to shore, secure everyone to land, and I wanted to be indefinite, free to ... be lost." Wise to the familiar 21st century tropes of technological skepticism and potential, it is hard not to label So a voice of his generation. His humor feels straight out of millennial media darlings like "Broad City," "Insecure" or "Atlanta," but his themes are decidedly deep, such as the impact of inherited trauma, how it gets lodged into the corners of how we love and work. And his subjects are often overlooked: Cambodian Americans in the Central Valley, glossed over for the metallic sparkle of San Francisco.

Unlike authors of most contemporary cultural trauma narratives, So doesn't linger in a diasporic longing, the need to excavate one's family's past, mining it for meaning in the present. Instead, he blends this second-generation need-to-know with insight and, as So's former agent Rob McQuilkin put it, "survivor's wit." Of his use of humor, So once said, "As a kid, I heard traumatic stories of my family's experience surviving the war/Pol Pot's regime that somehow always landed on a joke, on some irreverent yet hopeful gesture to claim ownership over our brutal history." It is this ability to make pain shape-shift into the hopeful and the hilarious that makes So's work so compelling.

In "Generational Differences," So flips the prevalent second-generation narrative, one often situated in lack, and writes from the perspective of what it feels like to receive that morbid curiosity. So's character, a mother who survived the 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting, as So's own mother did, states:

"When you think about my history, I don't need you to see everything at once. ... But for me, your mother, just remember that, for better or worse, we can be described as survivors. Okay? Know that we've always kept on living. What else could we have done?"

So's stories allow the past to well up into the present without force or preciousness. "Afterparties" insists on a prismatic understanding of Cambodian American diaspora through stories that burst with as much compassion as comedy, making us laugh just when we're on the verge of crying.

- - -

Rosa Boshier is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, the Guardian and Vice, among other publications.
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Last year, Paris Hilton appeared in the documentary This Is Paris, in which she made the argument that she isnt the person we see on TV. Her somewhat vapid persona, she said, purposefully obscures her real self. Her new Netflix series, the lushly overproduced series Cooking With Paris, seems like a first attempt at testing that case, moving beyond Hilton explaining herself and deepening what she says is her game of image management.

I have no reason to disbelieve Hilton that when she is on-camera, exhibiting an incuriosity thats breathtaking in its extremity, shes putting on a performance. But does it matter? Paris Hilton may not actually float in a sea of assured entitlement, the way Paris does on Netflix. But she is, if nothing else, the one who thinks this act is funny, rather than bone-tired.

The premise here resembles that of The Simple Life, the Fox series that launched Hiltons career as a reality star. Now, as then, Hilton is placed in an unfamiliar situation and forced to cope. The difference is in degree of difficulty: On The Simple Life, Hilton, with costar Nicole Richie, traveled America. Here, she leaves her kitchen only to visit food shops and stock up; well-known guests come to her, and together they prepare a meal. This sort of social-distancing seems purposeful. At home, interacting with a curated guest list, Hilton has a secure handle on how she wants to present.

And her default tends to be a pose of proud ignorance. What might once have read as her familiar unbotheredness  the Paris weve known since the early 2000s is iconic because shes laconic  rankles now. In an episode about Hiltons taco dinner with the rapper Saweetie, Hilton mispronounces the names of Mexican food items past the point of amusement; she repeatedly talks over producers trying to explain what cotija cheese is, finally announcing, Its corrita. Her chief of staff, a woman who does much of the actual work of hospitality on the show, arranges for a pinata shaped like a taco to decorate the dinner scene, which Hilton greets with Yo quiero Taco Bell! And reflecting on Mexico, Hilton tells Saweetie that the resort town of Tulum is like Ibiza mixed with sexy island.

A show about an unskilled home cook trying to make fun meals is not necessarily the ground on which to stage a debate about authenticity and representation in food media. But Hilton has been given a massive megaphone by Netflix, and has only the imagination to use it to say, for instance, that Mexico is the place that reminds her of Taco Bell and Tulum; provided the opportunity to learn a single word, Hilton decides its cooler to live in a reality where shes the boss.

It can be easy to forget just how big Hilton was in her moment, and Cooking With Paris, perpetually, seems to be reaching for something in the past. Hiltons constantly repeated catchphrase, sliving (a clumsy portmanteau of slaying and living) is transparently an attempt to recapture the magic of Thats hot, if magic it was. Having Kim Kardashian West as a guest on the first episode, too, is a meta nod to Hiltons own personal history. Kardashian West, like Hilton, emerged as a reality star after enduring having been the subject of a leaked sex tape; unlike Hilton, who reached fame first, Kardashian West has always had an easy fluency in making the stuff of her high-flying life seem tied, if only barely, to earth.

Preparing food together, Hilton makes a show of her own ineptitude, and Kardashian West barely plays along. (Why does this keep turning brown? Hilton asks, of French toast on the stovetop. Because its just cooking, Kardashian West replies.) While the Kardashian family raise plenty of their own questions, Kims attitude of benign competence has lasted her through a decade-plus of cultural shifts. Hiltons affected confusion at what normal people do is tougher to take.

The mere fact of Cooking With Paris existing suggests that things for Hilton are on an upswing, one thats conveniently timed: The revelations around the maltreatment of Britney Spears, a figure whose time as an object of paparazzi lust coincided with Hiltons, have only intensified a season of reappraisal. Our culture is looking back in time to see what interpretation that worked a decade ago doesnt fit todays mood. This happens in big ways and small: Big-time movie producers who abused people have, for now, been exiled from the industry. Talk-show interviews with starlets like Lindsay Lohan that seemed to some like ribald fun now look to be committing the sin of punching down. Monica Lewinskys public image as the White House seductress has been punctured, at quite some length, by Lewinsky herself, in essays, speeches, and on social media. And Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, a couple perceived in their 2003 heyday as fame-hungry and distasteful for flaunting their passion and their wealth, have, upon reuniting, been celebrated as the love story we need right now.

Hilton has asked for the same reevaluation, but its hard to know how, exactly, to grant it. Her past treatment (by the media as well as in an adolescence she has described as marked by abuse) was genuinely troubling on a human level. She deserves our kindness. But the second ask  our continued attention  is a more complicated one. Based on Cooking With Paris, she hasnt earned it: There simply arent two decades worth of interest in the character of a terminally bored person. And the Hilton image coexists uncomfortably with heightened awareness of inequality throughout our society: Who is going to root for a person, even a fictional one overlaying the real Hilton, who quite literally makes a show of her lack of interest in reaching beyond the protection of wealth?

Paris Hiltons mother currently appears on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, a show that ruthlessly undermines its casts pretensions; on Cooking With Paris, the pretensions are the star. By the end of the series, what weve learned about Hilton is that she sort of likes to cook, sometimes; that she has a staff willing and able to transform a room of her house into a theme restaurant at her command; that she likes compliments; and that she doesnt like learning new things. None of this is hurting anyone. But if Hilton wants to keep us watching, at some point it might help to actually create something greater and more lasting than a pose.

Cooking With Paris debuts Aug. 4 on Netflix.

Netflix. Six episodes (all screened for review).

Production

Executive Producers: Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Rebecca Hertz, Paris Hilton

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Grasshopper Film has acquired U.S. rights to Omar El Zohairys Feathers, which won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festivals Critics Week, Variety can reveal.

The Egyptian writer-directors feature debut, which is being repped by the boutique Athens-based production company and sales agent Heretic, has also sold to China (Huanxi Media), Italy (Wanted) and Greece (Cinobo). As previously announced, the film will also be distributed in France by Dulac Distribution.

Set in contemporary Egypt, Feathers follows the journey of a woman with three children whose idealist husband is turned into a chicken by a magician in a magic-trick gone awry. An absurd series of coincidences ensues, and a mother whose mundane life has been dedicated to her family must move heaven and earth to bring back her husband and ensure their survival.



Feathers started from a very simple idea I had six years ago. It is the story of a man who turns into a chicken and theres serious evidence of it; it is neither a joke nor a conspiracy, El Zohairy said in a directors statement. Through this parable, I wanted to capture a part of the difficult life an ordinary Egyptian family leads.

He continued: Having to face this absurd situation, the members of this family react without really thinking. But theyre actually stuck, exactly because they are antiheroes, nobody cares about them or their issues. I feel very close to that situation and therefore, from the moment the idea of making the film came to me, I became completely obsessed.

Feathers was produced by Juliette Lepoutre from Still Moving (France), in co-production with Mohamed Hefzy from Film Clinic (Egypt), Shahinaz Al Akkad from Lagoonie Film (Egypt), Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen from Kepler Film (The Netherlands), Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis from Heretic (Greece), and Verona Meier.

Feathers takes a clever, absurdist conceit and spins it into a revealing, poignant and wonderfully told story. Its a daringly original work and we are thrilled to be releasing it in the U.S., said Grasshoppers Ryan Krivoshey.

Wanteds Anastasia Plazzotta commented: Were excited to distribute the astonishing debut of an author with a luminous career.

El Zohairy has worked as an A.D. alongside acclaimed Egyptian directors such as Yousry Nasrallah. His short film The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometer 365 was the first Egyptian film to be selected for Cannes Cinefondation.

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San Antonio is haunted as it is historic and full of folklore. Every week, we explore a different Texas ghost story or venture into the unknown. This week, we tackle el chupacabra. Have a story to share? Email me at camille.sauers@mysa.com.

The year 2004 was big for low-rise denim, the song "Yeah!" by Usher and DreamWork's second foray into ogre cinema, Shrek 2. In southern Bexar County, it was also a big year for the proliferation of the legend of the chupacabra.

At the time, I was an impressionable young child living in the area, and vividly remember seeing an image of what is now popularly considered to be "The Elmendorf Beast." My dad placed the crisply folded newspaper onto the kitchen table to display the section immortalizing an inky, grey-blue, hairless creature in print.

"Looks like they caught the chupacabra" he told me, my eyes growing saucer-like at the prospect.

Occasionally, I think back to that fuzzy memory and try to recollect what exactly the San Antonio Express-News was reporting on. Recently, after talking shop with a local cryptozoologist about alleged pterodactyl-like birds flapping around Texas, I was reminded of the incident yet again.

Sifting through memories will present you with nothing but a sea of unknown, so I went back to rehash what exactly happened here in 2004, as reported by local news.

Turns out, there were two main incidents involving frightful dog creatures that left citizens unsure.

The Elmendorf Beast

In July 2004, a farmer named Devin Mcanally living in the small town of Elmendorf, in southern Bexar County, encountered something strange. He looked outside to discover a startling creature lurking on his property in broad daylight, munching on a mulberry tree outside of his mobile home. Mcanally, rightfully thinking he was dealing with something that could cause some harm, shot the unknown animal.

"The story of the Elmendorf beast immediately stirred the south Bexar County community, which wrestled with the animal's identity. Speculation ran rampant, with some claiming it was the chupacabra  a fabled goat-blood-sucking beast said to have also terrorized the Mexican countryside," wrote the Express-News in an article connecting back to the incident on May 8, 2005.

According to the same news article, the Bexar County frenzy struck such a chord that people even began selling T-shirts inspired by the local legend, appearing to add a significant star in the muddied constellation of chupacabra folklore. The piece also notes that a "UFO investigator" dug up the carcass to test the creatures DNA, later stating the results were "inconclusive."

Pollock's creepy creature

Several months after the Elmendorf incident, an animal strikingly similar to a chupacabra was killed in the East Texas town of Pollock.

"It was so much like it, it's unreal. It's just such a creepy creature when you see it," says Stacy Womack in a 2004 Express-News article entitled: "Mystery animal in Elmendorf may have an East Texas cousin; Could creatures killed 250 miles apart be chupacabras?"

The creature, pictured above, was killed underneath her mother's home. Previously a veterinary technician, Womack claims she had never encountered something so hairless with long fangs and claws.

Frightening the family's dogs, the beast allegedly scurried underneath the house in broad daylight. Seemingly due to the potential threat, her brother killed it.

"Everybody asked me why I didn't freeze it, but I wouldn't put something like that in my freezer," she said.

Iconic.

Conclusion

The intrigue behind the slain "chupacabras" still carries on to this day. Evidently, seeing one of these things encourages a sort of torch and pitchfork mentality, like the villagers at the end of Frankenstein. It's the same tale: when something is unknown, people tend to want nothing to do with it. Some lash out, while others turn to the folklore, which in many ways is empathetic.

For the majority however, it's my guess that the howling rumors were all in good fun.

In May 2005, after the dust began to settle from these two incidents, the paper circled back to the topic with opinions from animal experts.

The diagnosis? A couple of coyotes caught with a horrible case of sarcoptic mange.

At least that's the verdict from a Lubbock professor, who at the time had 20 years of studying similar conditions under his belt.

"We looked at it, and of course it's a mangey coyote,'' said Danny Pence, a professor of parasitology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock to Jorge Zarazua of the Express-News.

"There's no doubt in our minds whatsoever.''

Pence first learned about the Elmendorf Beast from a colleague involved in a study centered on coyotes surrounding Webb County, which was printed in a 1983 issue of the Journal of Parasitology.

Pence mentioned that the disease is a rare but gruesome one, and legend or no legend, inflicts a great deal of pain and torture on the animal suffering from it. He alleges it can also cause them to behave uncharacteristically  like encroaching on private property in the middle of the day.

I wonder if it's ever seduced any sarcoptic mange mutts to suck the blood of a goat?

In popular culture, the chupacabra myth is a fun reference in Texas music. Often, you'll also see it in the names of food and drink menu items referring to something quintessentially Texan or Mexican, regions where this story is popular. In beast form, the chupacabra is the perfect boogeyman.

It's a chaotic natural force when it comes trotting toward you  reeking of sickness, danger, and instability. Who knows, maybe the real thing is still out there.

In my opinion, the scientific assessment does nothing more than add a little more clarity to the tale, while engulfing the chupacabra in a somehow more sinister sense of tragedy, painting a picture of a persecuted creature turned deviant through suffering, which I guess is vaguely biblical.

All I can say  after revisiting these early memories  is rest in peace to the Elmendorf Beast.
Veterans of the Korean War were recognized in an event Tuesday in downtown Laredo at the Jarvis Plaza as the 67th anniversary of the truce between North Korea and South Korea was commemorated.

The veterans also allowed the moment to celebrate Afghanistan War veterans for their service and to commemorate the end of the conflict.

"The importance of honoring any veteran whether that veteran went to war or not is that they served their country during war and peacetime to uphold the freedom that we hold so dearly," Veterans of Foreign Wars 9194 post adjutant Ricardo Quijano said. "Some paid the ultimate price for their country so their families and Americans can enjoy the freedoms we have."

Quijano said honoring the veterans of the Korean War is essential because the war was fought between two of the largest conflicts ever in American history, and most people overlooked it. However, he said veteran associations should not do that.

"With the United States just winning WWII in the 40s and Vietnam starting in the 60s with the Cold War in between, it seems that the Korean War veterans fell through the cracks," Quijano said.

Although the event recognized veterans from the Afghanistan War and the end of the conflict as decreed by President Joe Biden, Quijano said it is important to honor all kinds of veterans.

"It is important to honor all veterans from every war, not just Korean War veterans or Afghanistan War veterans but all as we hold a brotherhood and sisterhood with those that have deployed," Quijano said.

As an Afghanistan War veteran, Quijano said the war was never about just one goal but rather various objectives. He said the biggest objective was achieved.

"In my opinion, it was won as Al-Qaeda was the target, and they were eliminated," Quijano said.

He believes the current issues facing the country are different from the original strategic goals. However, he is mad that there is constant news of people from the war-torn country stating that they are being left to die at the hands of the Taliban which has won some ground since American forces began withdrawing.

"The Taliban is different, Quijano said. I just did not like that we were there all the years trying to win the hearts and minds of the people to leave them to fend off for themselves. I feel we betrayed them, but at the same time they need to step up to the plate and protect themselves from the Taliban."

Quijano said for those who were unable to attend the event, more opportunities are upcoming to honor local veterans. In September the organization is holding an unveiling of the Gold Star Mothers and Families monument set to be placed at Jarvis Plaza. They are also working with the Webb County Veterans Service Office and Texas Veterans Network to hold a veterans resource event in October.

They continue to hold many events for veterans such as the Veterans Night on July 4 with the Tecolotes Dos Laredos as over 350 tickets were given out to veterans and National Guard members stationed in Laredo.

For the future of veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars is leading the way and wants the community to know that the organization is here for them, Quijano said.

More information about upcoming events from the Veterans of Foreign Wars can be found on their social media channels.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Southeast Asias top diplomats were meeting Monday to appoint a special envoy to help deal with the political crisis and violence gripping Myanmar and finalize an emergency plan to help control a coronavirus outbreak that many fear is spiraling out of control in the military-ruled nation.

The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were also expected to announce after their video meeting some progress in four years of painstakingly slow negotiations with China to craft a nonaggression pact aimed at preventing conflict in the disputed South China Sea.

The 10-nation bloc, frequently dismissed by critics as an ineffective talk shop, has been under increasing international pressure to act on the troubles unfolding in Myanmar, an ASEAN member where the military in February toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The grouping, however, is hamstrung by its policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of member nations as well as its requirement to reach a consensus among members.

In Monday's online meeting the ministers were to decide who among at least three nominees from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia should be designated as the blocs special envoy to try to broker a settlement between the country's ruling generals and rival parties led by Suu Kyi, a Southeast Asian diplomat told the Associated Press.

Myanmar prefers the candidate from Thailand, former Thai ambassador to Yangon Virasakdi Futrakul, but it remains uncertain when its military leaders would decide to accept the envoy and if access to Suu Kyi, who has been detained with other political leaders and put on trial for a slew of charges, would be granted, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly.

More than 900 people have been killed by Myanmar authorities since the February takeover, according to a tally kept by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Casualties are also rising among the military and police as armed resistance grows in both urban and rural areas.

ASEAN leaders met in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in April and called for an end to the violence and the start of a dialogue among contending parties to be mediated by an ASEAN envoy.

On Sunday, Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing repeated his pledge to hold fresh elections in two years and cooperate with ASEAN on finding a political solution. He said without elaborating that Myanmar is ready to work on ASEAN cooperation within the ASEAN framework, including the dialogue with the ASEAN special envoy in Myanmar.

Myanmar's troubles have deepened with its worst surge of the pandemic, which has overwhelmed its crippled health care system. Limits on oxygen sales have led to widespread allegations that the military is directing supplies to government supporters and military-run hospitals.

In Mondays meeting, the ASEAN ministers were to looking to finalize a plan to bring in medicine and medical equipment to Myanmar through the regional blocs disaster-response center with the military leaders approval.

Greg Poling, an analyst on Southeast Asia for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said its critical for ASEAN to gain humanitarian access in Myanmar but added that the aid would not automatically mean the military leaders would accede to the blocs political demands.

ASEAN has no leverage with the junta, Poling said.

In addition to Myanmar, the other ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ministerial meetings this week include the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security conference where North Korea attends along with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

On the South China Sea disputes, ASEAN ministers are expected to announce the completion of the preamble of a code of conduct that the bloc has been negotiating with China since 2017, according to two other Southeast Asian diplomats who also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The preamble calls for adherence to international law, said the diplomats, who expect the next round of talks to be stormy as rival claimants China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam tackle the most contentious issues.

___

Associated Press journalist Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
BEIJING (AP)  More than 300 people died in recent flooding in central China, authorities said Monday, three times the previously announced toll.

The Henan provincial government said 302 people died and 50 remain missing. The vast majority of the victims were in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, where 292 died and 47 are missing. Ten others died in three other cities, officials said at a news conference in Zhengzhou.

Record rainfall inundated the city on July 20, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line. Video posted online showed vehicles being washed away and desperate people trapped in subway cars as the waters rose. Fourteen people died in the subway flooding.

The previous death toll, announced Friday, was 99.

Authorities said 189 people were killed by floods and mudslides, 54 in house collapses and 39 in underground areas such as basements and garages and including those on subway Line 5. The death toll remained at six in an expressway tunnel from which 247 vehicles were removed as it was drained.

Wang Kai, the governor of Henan province, expressed deep condolences to the victims and sympathies to the families on behalf of the Henan Communist Party committee.

The worst came after Zhengzhou was hit by 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain in one hour starting at 4 p.m. on July 20, overwhelming the already drenched city. Children were trapped in schools, and stranded people stayed in their workplaces overnight.

The rains headed north in the following days, hitting the Henan cities of Hebi, Anyang and Xinxiang. Seven people died and three are missing in Xinxiang, where record rains dropped more than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of water in a 19-hour period. Henan is an inland county about 620 kilometers (380 miles) southwest of Beijing.

Authorities said that about 250,000 hectares (625,000 acres) of crops were destroyed and have estimated losses at more than 90 billion yuan ($14 billion). About 1.5 million people were evacuated because of the rains and flooding.

The central government has set up an investigation team to evaluate the disaster response, summarize the lessons from it and hold accountable anyone guilty of dereliction of duty, Chinese media said.
Recognized by the Webb County Commissioners Court, 2nd Lt. Joshua Tinajero, 22, attended the Monday meeting via video call in Columbus, Georgia after graduating from the U.S. Army Ranger School.

According to Tinajero, the course is a total of 62 days spread through three different stages across the state. He graduated on June 26 after 119 days of the course; this is due to not meeting certain criteria amid the original 62 days, resulting in days being added.

The courses sound grueling as Tinajero said that the phases are split between the Benning, Mountain and Florida phases.

The Benning phase is designed to assess a soldier's physical stamina and mental toughness and establishes the tactical fundamentals required for follow-on phases of Ranger School, states the U.S. Army.

The Mountain Phase focuses on military mountaineering tasks, mobility training and techniques for employing a platoon in a mountainous environment. This included him carrying 100 pounds on his back, which while not fun was an overall good experience Tinajero said.

Lastly, the Florida phase continued the development of his combat arms functional skills that included waterborne operations, small boat movements and stream crossings.

He said the overall challenge, with the added days, made for an interesting process.

Ranger School is one of the toughest training courses for which a soldier can volunteer, the U.S. Army stated. Army Rangers are experts in leading soldiers on difficult missions, and to do this they need rigorous training. For more than two months, Ranger students train to exhaustion, pushing the limits of their minds and bodies.

The purpose of the Armys Ranger course is to prepare these Army volunteers  both officers and enlisted soldiers  in combat arms-related functional skills. The Rangers primary mission is to engage in close combat and direct-fire battles.

The commissioners congratulated him for his efforts and accomplishments, and also in attendance at the meeting was Tinajeros father who showed off his pride in his son during the meeting.

This means a lot to my family, and this guy has made me proud to no end, you have no idea, Lt. Luis Tinajero said.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
FARGO, N.D. (AP)  It was one of the most gruesome mass killings in North Dakota history; four workers at a business who gathered early one morning for coffee club were slain in a matter of minutes. Three were shot and stabbed. The alleged killer shot nine times and flailed away with a knife, cutting one victims throat.

The ghastly 2019 scene that gripped Mandan, a community of 22,000 just outside the state capital of Bismarck, is set to be rehashed this week at the trial of Chad Isaak, a Navy veteran and chiropractor whose trailer home is managed by the business police say he targeted. Investigators say the evidence against Isaak is overwhelming, including clothing, handgun parts, a knife and used shell casings, surveillance footage, bank records, and Facebook and phone data.

Isaak, 47, is charged with four counts of murder as well as lesser counts. He faces life in prison if convicted. The jury selection that starts Monday is expected to take up to two days, with the trial lasting roughly three weeks.

Killed in the attack were RJR Maintenance & Management co-owner Robert Fakler, 52, and co-workers Adam Fuehrer, 42, and spouses Bill and Lois Cobb, 50 and 45. The four were known as the coffee club for frequently arriving early to grab coffee and chat.

Isaak's attorneys declined to discuss the case ahead of the trial, but court documents and public comments suggest they will argue that police did a shoddy job in their rush to gather evidence and that Isaak had no reason to commit the killings. No motive has been offered by police or anyone at the company.

Juries want to know why something happened, said Alex Reichert, a criminal defense lawyer from Grand Forks who has handled numerous homicide cases but who has no connection to the Isaak case.

It sounds like they dont know why, Reichert said. Can they get a conviction without a motive? Yes. There is no requirement for a motive. On the other hand, it gets very difficult in a circumstantial case without a motive. I havent handled a case with no motive before.

The defense attorneys will have two hurdles to overcome before testimony is heard. One is that Isaak has clashed with his lawyers, at one point saying he wanted to represent himself. The judge removed his primary attorney and essentially told Isaak he needed to be represented by a well-known criminal defense team.

The second obstacle is the brutality of the slayings, Reichert said.

Absolutely that can sway a jury, Reichert said. Because they become incensed. They become angered and concerned and it stirs up a lot of emotion. Emotion can cloud logic sometimes.

Few of the players are talking. Prosecutor Gabrielle Goter said she wants to preserve the defendant's rights and limit potential juror taint. The defense team, from the Vogel Law Firm in Fargo, isn't commenting. Jackie Fakler, Robert's widow and a co-owner of the company, was advised by Goter not to comment. Family members of the other victims could not be reached.

Jackie Fakler told the Bismarck Tribune for a story published in April that company workers had had few interactions with Isaak.

We have not received any insight on a motive, nor have we been able to find any insight internally, she said. Our thoughts on the motive  finding a motive is not going to bring back the precious lives we lost. Nor will any reason be justified.

Surveillance video shows the assailant entering RJR wearing brightly colored clothing, then leaving in dark clothing about 15 minutes later, according to court documents. An employee at a nearby McDonalds told police that she saw a man wearing a camouflage ski mask, dark pants and dark shoes get into a white Ford F-150 that morning.

Police later linked the vehicle to Isaak. At his home in Washburn, they found clothing matching what they had seen on video, nine spent shell casings, a knife with a bent tip, and gun parts in a kitchen freezer. The clothing, knife and gun parts all smelled of chlorine bleach, court documents say.

Rolf Eggers, of Bismarck, said he bought the mobile home park in Washburn in 2018 and that Isaak came with the park. He said he didnt know Isaak, but that Isaak's neighbors never complained about him.

The previous owner, Mike Nelson, described Isaak as a model tenant.

Paid his rent on time. Took care of his property, Nelson said.

Navy records show that Isaak enlisted in the service in 1992 and left in 1997 as a hospital corpsman 3rd Class, with a Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The United Nations on Monday called the Myanmar militarys election delay and extension of the state of emergency a move in the wrong direction from international calls for the restoration of democracy.

Six months after seizing power from the elected government, Myanmars military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, declared himself prime minister Sunday and said he would lead the country during the extended emergency until elections are held in about two years.

Its not taking us in the right direction, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said when asked about the militarys announcement.

Its moving us further away from what we have been calling for, member states have been calling for, which is a return to democratic rule, a release of all  political prisoners, a halt on the violence and the crackdown, he said.

The state of emergency was declared when troops moved against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, an action the generals said was permitted under the military-authored 2008 constitution. The military takeover was met with big public protests that has resulted in a lethal crackdown by security forces who routinely fire live ammunition into crowds.

The military government officially annulled the November 2020 election results on July 27 and appointed a new election commission to take charge of the polls. It claimed Suu Kyis landslide election victory was achieved through extensive voter fraud but offered no credible evidence.

A roadmap published by the military after the takeover had called for holding new elections in a year.

Hlaing said Sunday the state of emergency will achieve its objectives by August 2023 and pledged to hold the multiparty general election without fail.

Armed resistance to the military is growing in both urban and rural areas. As of Sunday, 939 people have been killed by the authorities since Feb. 1, according to a tally kept by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, while casualties are also rising among the military and police.

The U.N. spokesman called the situation six months after the takeover precarious and worsening as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, with wider implications threatening regional stability.

The protracted crisis has impacted humanitarian access to people in need, as well as education, health, and the fight against COVID-19, Dujarric said. It has also, of course, affected the basic rights of the people of Myanmar to express themselves and have a government that represents them.

For us, a unified international response remains paramount, he said.

Moves by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to broker talks between the military government and its opponents have stalled after an agreement at an April summit in Jakarta. At the ASEAN summit, leaders issued a plan calling for a halt to violence, constructive dialogue, appointment of an ASEAN special envoy as mediator, humanitarian aid and the mediators visit to Myanmar.

ASEAN foreign ministers were expected to discuss Myanmar in virtual meetings this week hosted by Brunei, the current chair of the 10-nation bloc.

Indias U.N. ambassador, T.S. Tirumurti, the current Security Council president, told reporters Monday that the ministers are expected to discuss the selection of an ASEAN envoy. I think we will have to give the ASEAN initiative a fair chance, he said, adding that India hopes it will be expedited.

Tirumurti said the council will definitely take stock of the situation in maybe a week or two to see where we go.
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.

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A teenager accused of allegedly carrying out a vicious attack on a man while out walking his dog in Longford town has been remanded in custody.

Nineteen-year-old Paddy Rodgers with addresses at 43 Farnagh, Longford and West House Cafe, Lisanurlan, Longford appeared at a district court sitting on Monday charged with a Section 3 assault.

That incident, it is alleged, took place on July 25, 2021 at The Demesne, Longford and which left a man in his late 50s in hospital.

The accused is also charged with arson, attempted arson and criminal damage.

Those charges stem from an alleged incident on February 6, 2021 along Longford town's Park Road.

The accused is alleged to have set fire to a green Renault van while also attempting to commit arson at the same location.

He is further charged with allegedly damaging the front windows of a house along the Park Road, resulting in 100 worth of damage.

Mr Rodgers appearance on Monday was his second time to come before the judiciary following a sitting of Athlone District Court last Wednesday.

Defence solicitor Fiona Baxter said a psychiatric report was currently awaited on her client and, as such, said there would be no bail application made on this occasion.

Ms Baxter said she would be endeavouring over the coming days to make contact with relevant personnel within the Irish Prison Service to establish a timeline as to when such a report would be ready for the court's consideration.

She said should an outline be made available , a bail application may be made at Mr Rodgers' next court appearance.

Mr Rodgers, who was wearing a grey tracksuit top and bottoms, did not speak during the course of Monday's hearing, keeping his head bowed for much of it.

Judge Deirdre Gearty remanded Mr Rodgers in custody for a further two weeks ahead of a scheduled next court sitting on Monday August 16.
A serial sex attacker has lost his appeal against his 18-and-a-half-year jail term for three premeditated, random attacks on women over a five-year period in south Dublin.

The father-of-two was jailed in 2018 for the violent attacks, which the judge described as primal and brutal. Slawomir Gierlowski (37) had already lost an appeal against his convictions.

One of the attacks was carried out in broad daylight, with Gierlowski putting a hunting knife to his victims throat as she made her way to work.

The other two attacks involved a sexual assault and took place late at night as the women walked home after a night out.

The roofer, who is originally from Poland, attacked all three women at locations in the Clondalkin area in 2011, 2015 and 2016.

Gierlowski of Galtymore Drive, Drimnagh in Dublin had pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including false imprisonment, sexual assault, assault and possession of a hunting knife with intent to intimidate.

Following the final attack, witnesses identified a suspect van which Gardai linked to Gierlowski. His DNA was subsequently matched to DNA found under the nails of one of his victims and on semen found on the clothes of another. Inside his van, Gardai found duct tape and cable ties. Similar items were used on his second victim and were found near to where the third assault occurred.

After a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts.

Judge Pauline Codd labelled him as clearly a dangerous man. She said that the involvement of a leather belt, a hunting knife, duct tape and cable ties were aggravating factors.

She imposed consecutive sentences of eight years, nine and a half years and five years. She suspended the final four years on condition that he successfully complete sex offender programmes in custody. Following his release he will be subject to a nine-year supervision period and will have to obey a curfew.

He appealed against his conviction to the Court of Appeal last year, but lost that appeal in January.

His barrister, Desmond Dockery SC, returned to the court last month to appeal against his sentence.

Mr Dockery first acknowledged that his client did not accept his guilt. His not guilty plea and trial always meant that any sentence would be severe, he noted.

However, he said that the headline sentence imposed for the false imprisonment in the third attack was unduly severe, so the overall sentence was somewhat excessive. He explained that this was a headline sentence of 11 years, which was eventually reduced to eight years after mitigation and other legal factors were considered.

However, Counsel said that this offence was ancillary to the very serious assault he carried out with a knife on that occasion, but was double the sentence handed down for that crime.

She wasnt entitled to do that, he said of the judge.

She had to start with a headline sentence for false imprisonment, which bore some proportionality to the sentence available to her for assault, he said.

He noted that the available sentence for assault was not as high as that available for false imprisonment, but said that should have been considered before deciding which charges he should face.

She seems to have treated this offence as the main offence and in my submission it was not, he said.

Roisin Lacey SC responded on behalf of the DPP. She said that this was the first case of a serial attacker to come before the circuit court here and perhaps before any Irish court.

However, she said there was a precedent for giving a larger sentence to the false imprisonment aspect of an attack than to the actual assault. She drew the courts attention to the case where the precedent was set.

Justice Patrick McCarthy, who sat with Court President Justice George Birmingham and Justice Aileen Donnelly, dismissed the appeal on Tuesday.

He added that the court may vary the terms of suspension, but would not interfere with the sentence length. He said that reasons would be given in a full judgment at a later date.

Gierlowski is to be sentenced for other crimes by separate courts in the coming months.
A member of the Reserve Defence Forces has brought a High Court challenge against the decision to dismiss him on the grounds that he is a risk to national security.

The action has been brought by marketing executive Kealan Harrington, who strongly denies being a risk to national security.

He believes that his dismissal is linked to his role as public spokesperson for the family of Aaron Brady, the man convicted and jailed last year for the murder of Garda Adrian Donoghue.

The High Court heard on Monday that Mr Harrington joined the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) in 2014. A year later he joined the Permanent Defence Forces, but left shortly afterwards.

In 2019 he re-enlisted in the RDF, and was subject to security vetting and security analysis.

He claims that last April following a meeting with three officers he was told he was being discharged as his services were no longer required and that he was a security risk to the State

He claims that despite making a request to be furnished with information concerning the reasons for his discharge, nothing has been provided to him.

He claims that his discharge is unlawful and was made in breach of natural and constitutional justice.

Mr Harrington from Ballintemple, Co Cork also claims the manner of his discharge contravenes Defence Force Regulations. He claims he was given no notice of the fact he was being discharged.

At the meeting with his superiors in April he claims that was denied the chance to make his case, and has been denied a fair hearing, and he has been dismissed without any proper agreed process whatsoever.

His appeal against the decision was also dismissed.

In judicial review proceedings against the Minister for Defence, Ireland and the Attorney General Mr Harrington seeks an order quashing the decision, made effective on May 17th last, to discharge him from the Reserve Defence Forces.

Represented by David Geoghegan Bl, Mr Harrington also seeks an order remitting the purported discharge to the Minister to be determined in law and in accordance with regulations applicable to members of the Reserve Defence Forces.

Counsel said Mr Harrington was never been told in advance what the April meeting was about, nor has he ever been presented with the reasons or grounds for asserting that he is a security risk to the state.

Counsel said that following an exchange of correspondence between Mr Harrington's solicitors and the Defence Forces his client was informed that the decision to dismiss him arose out of an incident at the gate of Collins Barracks, Cork last October.

He said that when passing the gate, he asked the guard on duty when the gym and training sessions, halted due to Covid-19 restrictions would re-start.

He said he was asked for his military ID, but did not have any. He was kept there until an Officer attended and asked him why he was attempting to gain access.

Counsel said his client believes that incident arose due to 'a misunderstanding.'

Counsel said Mr Harrington was subsequently brought in for a meeting with the Military Police over the incident.

Mr Harrington said he was not initially told why the meeting was called, but claims he was eventually told that it was part of a disciplinary process.

Counsel said that arising out the incident at the gate his client was wrongly accused of trying to impersonate an officer.

Mr Harrington filed a complaint over that incident, which he says was dismissed by a superior officer.

Counsel said his client believes that Mr Harrington's decision to act as a spokesperson for the family of convicted murderer Aaron Brady is the reason for his discharge from the RDF.

Mr Harrington said that following an approach by a friend he is developing an online campaign to help the Brady family. They claim that Brady, who is appealing his conviction, is innocent of Garda Donohoe's murder.

His involvement in this campaign was never mentioned to him by the Defence Forces. Mr Harrington feels it may have influenced the decision to dismiss him as a security risk.

The matter came before Mr Justice Charles Meenan, who on an ex-parte basis, directed that the application for permission to bring the challenge be made on notice to the respondents.

The matter will return before the Court in November.
Music, Movies & Entertainment, Travel & Local Attractions, Politics

By Chris Boyle Published: August 02 2021

Daniel Dumile, best known by his stage name MF DOOM, was a rapper and record producer who grew up in Long Beach, NY.

East Hudson Street, running between Long Beach Boulevard and Riverside Boulevard, has been renamed "KMD - MF DOOM Way" in honor of the late rapper.

A street-naming ceremony was held in Long Beach, NY this past Saturday, July 31, in honor of the late Daniel Dumile, AKA MF DOOM, a pioneering British-American rapper and record producer who was born in London, England, but moved to and was raised in Long Beach, NY at a young age.

East Hudson Street - the street where the home that the rapper grew up in is located - is now renamed "KMD  MF DOOM Way," acknowledging both MF DOOM himself and the popular rap group KMD that he formed with his late brother Dingilizwe in the early 1990's. The street runs between Long Beach Boulevard and Riverside Boulevard.

Dumile was born in London on July 13, 1971, but spent his formative years in Long Beach and other parts of Long Island, eventually forming KMD with his brother and band mate Dingilizwe, AKA DJ Subroc. After the untimely passing of his brother in 1993, Dumile took a hiatus from music, eventually returning in 1997 under the masked persona of MF DOOM, inspired by the Marvel Comics villain Dr. Doom.

Dumile would release three independent albums under the MF DOOM name: 1999's "Operation Doomsday," 2004's "Mm...Food," and 2009's "Born this Way," all of which were considered unique and inspirational classics in the rap field.



The naming ceremony was attending by many friends, family, and supporters of DOOMs career. Photo Credit: Chris Boyle

MF DOOM would continue performing under this name - as well as other monikers, such as "King Geedorah" and "Viktor Vaughn" - throughout multiple releases, and put out what is considered his masterpiece - "Madvillainy," created with producer Madlib under the group name "Madvillain" - in 2004.

News of Dumile's untimely death broke on December 31, 2020, after his wife announced on social media that he had died on October 31. Shortly afterwards, friends and supporters petitioned the city of Long Beach - where the rapper grew up - to rename the street he grew up on after him, which the city council eventually agreed to do.

The naming ceremony on Saturday was attended by many friends, family, fans and supporters of MF DOOMs career.
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Tertiary Minerals PLC - mineral exploration and development in the US state of Nevada and in northern Europe - Says it has entered into an option agreement with Mwashia Resources Ltd to acquire up to a 90% interest in five copper exploration licenses in Zambia.

Tertiary said its 96%-owned subsidiary Luangwa Minerals Ltd may earn an initial 51% stake in the 27069-HQ-LEL copper license by spending USD50,000 on exploration in the year after environmental permits are approved, and will pay USD30,000 to the license owner Mwashia on signing of the joint venture agreement.

Further, Luangwa may earn a total 90% interest by spending a further USD100,000 over 18 months from signing the joint venture agreement. Luangwa will initially pay USD1,500 towards the costs of the environmental project brief, and USD10,000 to Mwashia on approval of the permit.

Chair Patrick Cheetham said: "We are delighted to have secured this option agreement with Mwashia over five large exploration licences covering over 1,500 square km. This agreement is primarily aimed at the Jack's Licence but gives us an exclusive six-month investigation period and the right to enter into option agreements on the same fixed terms over a further four licences that were selected by Mwashia on the basis of their prospective geology and historical exploration results.

"The results of historic exploration and drilling on the Jack's Licence Copper Prospect suggest a multi-kilometre copper mineralised trend that warrants further exploration".

Current stock price: 0.29 pence

Year-to-date change: up 6.7%

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Ireland has administered more than two million Covid-19 jabs in six weeks, health officials have said.

In excess of 1.5 million of those 2.1 million jabs were given out in July.

The latest update on the country's rollout comes after 18,000 people attended temporary walk-in centres over the weekend.

Twenty-six of the centres remained open on bank holiday Monday, with people able to turn up to get a vaccine without having booked an appointment.

The vast majority of those attending the centre have been young people.

Almost two thirds of the 18,000 were aged 19 and under and 50% were aged 16 or 17.

HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid hailed the response.

"An inspiring weekend for the vaccination programme," he tweeted.

Ireland also reached a landmark in the vaccine rollout at the weekend when the country overtook the UK in terms of percentage of adults fully vaccinated.

It represented a significant turnaround after the early stages of the vaccine programme were hit by delays associated with EU supply issues.

In the spring, there was speculation the UK might even move to donate surplus vaccines to Ireland later in the year to help it address the shortfall in jabs.

Since then, Ireland's rollout has accelerated significantly.

Around 73% of adults in Ireland are now fully vaccinated, while 87% have received a first dose.

Almost 5.9 million jabs have been administered in total.

There was also another Covid-19 milestone at the weekend as the number of cases reported in Ireland since the pandemic began passed 300,000.

There were a further 1,098 new confirmed cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday.

There were 163 Covid-19 patients in hospital on Sunday morning, 26 of whom were in ICU.

The walk-in centres run by the HSE are open to anyone aged 16 and over who has yet to receive a first dose.

Those attending will receive a Pfizer Inc jab of the vaccine.

No appointment is necessary, but people wishing to get vaccinated will need to produce photo ID and their Personal Public Service number.

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Photo-Me International PLC on Monday increased its annual revenue and profit guidance after a "promising" recovery in the first half has continued.

Photo-Me is a Surrey, England-based operator of instant-service equipment, such as photobooths and self-service laundry.

Following a "promising" recovery in the first half financial year 2021, the group's trading performance in May, June and July was better than expected, driven by stronger-than-anticipated recovery of photobooth activity, mainly in Continental Europe, Photo-Me said.

Consequently, the board has revised its expectations for the financial year ending October 31 and now expects to report revenue of around GBP210 million, which would be up 13% from GBP186.3 million in financial 2020 but down 9.6% from the pre-pandemic level of GBP232.2 million in financial 2019. Previous guidance for financial 2021 revenue was GBP200 million.

Pretax profit is now expected to be between GBP25 million to GBP30 million before exceptional items, up from the previously expected GBP21 million to GBP24 million. Photo-Me suffered a GBP26.0 million adjusted pretax loss in financial 2020, swinging from adjusted pretax profit of GBP44.1 million in financial 2019.

Photo-Me warned that Covid-19 continues to cause economic uncertainty across many of its operating markets.

Photo-Me shares were up 4.9% to 78.68 pence early Monday in London.

By Amrit Sahota; newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Meggitt PLC on Monday said it has accepted a GBP6.3 billion takeover offer from Parker-Hannifin Corp.

Parker will pay 800 pence per share in cash for the FTSE 250 company, a 71% premium to Meggitt's closing price of 469.10p in London on Friday.

Shares in Meggitt jumped 59% to 746.80p in London on Monday morning, valuing the company at GBP5.85 billion.

Cleveland, Ohio-based Parker makes engineered products for the aerospace, automotive and manufacturing industries. Meggitt, based in Coventry, provides aerospace and defence components. A US takeover of a UK company in a sensitive industry threatens to be controversial.

Aerospace and defence firm Cobham exited the London Stock Exchange in January 2020, following a contentious acquisition by US private equity company Advent, which raised national security risks. In addition, Nadine Cobham a daughter-in-law of the firm's founder Alan Cobham - at the time hit out at the deal.

Meggitt and Parker-Hannifin have agreed to offer legally binding commitments to the UK government as part of the deal. Those include ensuring that a majority of board members are UK nationals and maintaining Meggitt's UK head office and divisions under the name "Parker-Meggitt". They also plan on maintaining headcount levels in the UK, as well as research and development spending.

Meggitt also will continue to comply with and enforce UK government security protocols and allow officials to inspect its premises.

Parker added that it has operated in the UK for over 50 years and has 2,100 employees in the country.

Meggitt shares dropped after the pandemic grounded the aerospace industry, although it has since recovered from its April 2020 low of 217.00p.

Separately on Monday, Meggitt reported a 26% year-on-year decline in revenue in the first half of 2021, to GBP680.0 million from GBP916.8 million. It swung to a pretax profit of GBP33.6 million from a loss of GBP368.4 million a year ago, however.

The company maintained its full-year guidance for organic revenue "broadly in line" with 2020, an underlying profit increase, and positive free cash flow.

Meggitt decided not to pay an interim dividend in light of "ongoing market conditions". The company is yet to resume payouts since cancelling the 2019 final dividend, worth 11.95p per share, in March 2020

Nigel Rudd, chair of Meggitt, said: "Whilst Meggitt is currently pursuing a strong, standalone strategy which will deliver value to shareholders over the long-term, Parker's offer provides the opportunity to significantly accelerate and de-risk those plans, while continuing to deliver for shareholders.

"Parker's offer also includes far-reaching commitments that will ensure that Meggitt remains a significant presence in the UK, increasing investment in research and development, and increasing the number of apprenticeship opportunities."

Parker Chair and Chief Executive Tom Williams added: "We strongly believe Parker is the right home for Meggitt. Together, we can better serve our customers through innovation, accelerated R&D and a complementary portfolio of aerospace and defense technologies."

By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - SSE PLC on Monday said it has wrapped up its disposal programme, selling its 33% stake in a UK gas distributor for GBP1.23 billion.

It means the Perth, Scotland-based energy company has netted GBP2.7 billion from its disposal scheme.

"The programme has realised significant value from non-core assets while intensifying SSE's strategic focus on its core low-carbon electricity businesses and the transition to net zero," SSE said.

"The disposal proceeds will reduce net debt in the short term and will help support the delivery of SSE's capital investment plans."

SSE explained the GBP1.23 billion sale of its 33% interest in gas distribution firm Scotia Gas Networks Ltd will be completed during the current financial year. SSE's financial year ends in March.

Scotia Gas Networks includes Scotland Gas Networks PLC and Southern Gas Networks PLC, two gas distributors in England, Wales and Scotland. SGN Natural Gas Ltd, a provider of gas in western Northern Ireland, is also part of SGN.

The stake was sold to a consortium which includes Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners, part of Brookfield Asset Management Inc, and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. The pension plan is already an existing shareholder in SGN.

SSE bought a 50% stake in the asset back in 2005, forking out GBP505 million. In 2016, it sold just shy of a 17% interest to a unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The consortium also has agreed to acquire the 16.7% stake in SGN owned by ADIA.

SSE shares were 1.8% higher at 1,471.00 pence each in London on Monday morning.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - UK Oil & Gas PLC on Monday said appraisal of the Basur oil discovery in Turkey has been delayed after a directional drilling assembly got stuck in a hole.

London-based UK Oil & Gas is an exploration company focused on the UK and Turkey. It owns 50% of the licence which includes Basur.

Shares were down 13% to 0.14 pence in London on Monday morning.

The operator of the Basur-3 appraisal well, Aladdin Middle East, recovered the assembly and returned it safely to the surface. The well had drilled to a depth immediately above the target objectives before the incident. However, the hole is now unsuitable for onward drilling.

Aladdin Middle East will now have to drill a new hole after completing seismic tests, which are due to start this month. Sufficient funds are available for the tests and drilling, UK Oil & Gas said.

"Clearly the unforeseen delay in delivering the Basur appraisal objective is disappointing, but we remain pleased by AME's exemplary performance in resolving the stuck drilling assembly situation," UK Oil & Gas Chief Executive Stephen Sanderson said.

Separately, UK Oil & Gas announced the Oil & Gas Authority granted two-year extensions to two licence deadlines at the Horse Hill project near Gatwick Airport. The company now has until September 2022 to start drilling an appraisal well at PEDL137, and until June 2025 to start drilling an exploration well at PEDL246.

Fulfilling those deadlines will allow UK Oil & Gas to keep all of the licenced area rather than relinquish part of it, the company said.

By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Mary Brown teaches Latin at Saint Josephs University and is Executive Director of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States and President of the Philadelphia Classical Society.
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Age 56, of Mankato, passed away 7-31-2021. Memorial service will be 2pm, Saturday, 8-7-2021 at Hosanna Lutheran Church with visitation one hour prior. Gathering will follow at The Circle Inn, North Mankato. Complete obituary online at www.mankatomortuary.com
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have been devastating, so any help that the government can provide, such as stimulus checks, is most welcome. Across the USA, low-income and medium-income families have already received three stimulus checks and now a fourth stimulus check has just been approved.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a state budget proposal that includes a fourth stimulus check for residents of the Sunshine State. Here, we explain what exactly this means and who is eligible.

Who is eligible for California's fourth stimulus checks?

It is expected that two-thirds of Californians will qualify for these latest payments. That's because individuals earning up to 75,000 dollars and families earning up to 150,000 dollars per year will qualify to receive the stimulus. Those people must, though, must have lived in California for more than half of the 2020 tax year and still reside in California when the check is sent out.

The main stimulus check will be for 600 dollars, but people with ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers) can also receive an extra 600 dollars, while taxpayers with dependents can receive an extra 500 dollars.

To work out exactly how much your stimulus check will be, you can check this official estimator tool.

The fourth stimulus checks are approved, so when will they be sent out?

According to the State of California Franchise Tax Board, the payments will start in September of 2021. It's not happening straight away, then, but this is something for residents of California to look forward to.

Knowing that these extra stimulus checks are coming can help Californians to plan ahead for the rest of 2021, with so many families having had their income cut because of the pandemic.

"Direct stimulus checks going into people's pockets and direct relief is meaningful," Newsom said of these payments. "We recognize the acuity of stress associated with back rent and we recognize the acuity of stress as it relates to gas, electric and water bills. We can keep people housed. We can keep people warm and safe, and make sure that they are getting the kind of resources that they deserve during this very challenging period of time."
Lionel Messi is quite frankly having the summer of his life, finally free of the burden of needing to deliver an international trophy to Argentina, and on Sunday he participated in a dance with Argentina's Olympic team.

The dance itself was greeted with near hysteria by the commentators on Argentine television, who explained the significance of the event to viewers.

"What Leo is doing is priceless, he's from another dimension. What a phenomenon you are, Leo. Only one sportsman can have an exact notion of what this means and that is Leo Messi," the commentator stated.

"It's a gesture... It's not a come and dance for a while. No, no. After Diego [Maradona], he's the guy that many of us wanted to push for to win that title [the Copa America]. He's a genius."
Weve got something a little unusual this week: a gin from Hungary which is flavoured with grapes normally used to make one of the worlds great sweet wines. Its Seven Hills Tokaj Gin!

Central Europe has a long and proud tradition of small-scale distillation. All over the old Austro-Hungarian empire, farmers turn the bounty of autumn into brandies and liqueurs, just as we do with jams and chutneys.

The skills are there so it was only a matter of time before someone applied their distillation knowledge to a drink thats still the spirit du jour: gin. Which is exactly what they have done at the Seven Hills distillery.

Tradition and innovation

It was founded in 2020 by Denes Meszaros-Komaromy and its fair to say that their inaugural release, Seven Hill Tokaj Gin, has been a triumph. This year it won best contemporary gin at the World Gin Awards, a gold medal at the London Spirit Competition and a master gong at the Spirits Business Gin Masters awards in 2020.

The distillery is located in Tokaj by the Bodrog river. This region might traditionally be a spirits heartland but the set up at Seven Hills (not to be confused with Italian distillery VII Hills) mixes the traditional with the ultra-modern.

At the centre of the distillery is an Istill, a fully-automated distillation robot designed by Dutchman Dr Edwin van Eijk aka Odin. Fittingly, the idea for it came to him following a visit to Hungary, his wife is Hungarian. He tried numerous domestic brandies, most were pretty rough but one was sublime. The problem was the distiller could not explain how he made his so well. It was all anecdotal, no science.

So, Odin set about creating a still from scratch where every aspect of the process would be controlled and measured by computer.The result was the Istill  you can read the full story about it here.

Tokaji, Hungarys legendary wine

As well as fruit brandies, this part of Hungary is also famous for its sweet wine: Tokaji. This is made from grapes that have been affected with botrytis aka noble rot, a fungus that dries grapes out and concentrates the sugar. Its used to make the famous sweet wines of Sauternes in Bordeaux but for centuries Hungarys wines were considered as fine, if not finer.

Tokaji was one of many wines known as vinum regnum, rex Vinorum, the king of wines, the wine of kings. But in this case, it was true. The Czar of Russia kept detachments of soldiers in Hungary purely to bring the latest vintage safely back to St Petersburg.

Its made using a unique technique where the ultra-sweet grapes are made into a sugary paste known as aszu which is then added to a fully-fermented dry (ie. not sweet) wine which causes it to re-ferment. Wines are graded by puttonyos  buckets of aszu added.

The reputation of Tokaji collapsed after the Second World War. A wine made using painstaking techniques and requiring only the finest grapes, didnt take well to collectivisation. But since the end of communism, producers both domestic and with foreign investment have reinvigorated the region. Tokaji is once again one of the worlds finest wines. As with most sweet wines, its underpriced considering the quality and the amount of work that goes into making it. Try this example if you want to know what all the fuss is about.

A gin with a sense of place

The two principal grape varieties used are Furmint and Harslevelu, which is translated as Linden Leaf. The latter is used by Seven Hills Distillery to flavour its gin. Other botanicals used include a mixture of the native and the more far-flung such as juniper, coriander seed, forest pine bud, cubeb, elderflower, orris root, pink grapefruit, blackcurrant, and local honey.

Truly this is a gin with a strong sense of place. Meszaros-Komaromy said: We put together modern technology, traditions and the special microclimate of the Tokaj wine region, resulting in spirits that are unique and unrepeatable anywhere in the world.

Theres also a Tokaji barrel-aged gin in the pipeline. Exciting. But thats not all. The team has been quietly laying down both malt and rye whiskies which should be coming on to the market in 2023. Very exciting!

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Softly earthy with piney juniper and leafy herbs, before a bright flash of elderflower and lemon develop, shortly followed by a hint of blackcurrant leaf and peppercorn.

Seven Hills Tokaj Gin is available from Master of Malt. Click here to buy.
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Jul. 23A man was killed in a multi-car wreck that blocked all lanes of Interstate 285 northbound for hours Friday morning. According to Cobb County police investigators, at around 4:36 a.m., Atlanta's Vivek Iyer, 29, was driving a black 2021 Tesla Model 3 east on I-285. As he approached the Cobb Parkway exit near Cumberland, Iyer lost control and collided with the median retaining barrier. ...
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Exploration Incentive Scheme to offer $5.25 million in co-funding to WA projects

A third of previous successful applicants are searching for battery minerals

The State Government today announced applications for Round 24 of the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) co-funded drilling program and Series 2 of the co-funded Energy Analysis Project (EAP) program have opened.

The competitive grants program offers refunds up to 50 per cent for innovative exploration drilling and EAP projects, capped at specific amounts.

At the completion of Round 21 drilling across the 2020-21 financial year, 69 per cent of projects with EIS funding completed drilling, exceeding the historical average of 59 per cent.

The EAP program encourages exploration of petroleum and geothermal resources using existing State resources: including drill core, sidewall core and cuttings, and existing data.

For Round 23, $6.3 million was offered in co-funding drilling grants, this includes an additional $1.3 million from the McGowan Government's WA Recovery Plan, and $261,000 for EAP projects throughout Western Australia.

Applications for Round 24 close at 4pm Friday 27 August 2021. For more information, visit: http://dmp.wa.gov.au/Geological-Survey/EIS-Government-co-funded-1433.aspx

Comments attributed to Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston:

"Despite COVID-19, the mining industry has demonstrated its resilience in maintaining its role as the major contributor to Western Australia's economy.

"Exploring for these minerals and commodities ensures Western Australia stays at the forefront of mineral exploration.

"Western Australia is a major employer of people in the mining industry, with more than 140,000 workers. It's integral the McGowan Government continues to support exploration."

Minister's office - 6552 6700
COVID wreaked global havoc starting from the beginning of 2020 and is caused by SARS-CoV-2 .

COVID in children is similar to that in the adults and caused by the same factors as those seen in the general population.

This disease is communicable and can spread from one person to another through respiratory droplets. COVID is caused in children due to the same factors as those seen in the general population. The causes include:

Person to person transmission - being in close proximity to an infected person increases the risk of inhaling respiratory droplets that are emitted when breathing, talking, coughing, sneezing and singing. The virus can also enter through the eyes. The risk increases significantly when both individuals are not wearing a mask.

Airborne transmission - COVID-19 can continue to stay in an environment in the form of tiny droplets or aerosols. These may enter a persons nose, mouth or eyes. This is another possible mode of getting infected but more research is needed to ascertain to what extent this plays a role.

Surface transmission - an infected person may have coughed or sneezed and the respiratory droplets may have landed on surfaces around him/her. Touching these surfaces and then subsequently touching ones mouth, eyes or nose can be a pathway for the virus to enter the body

The World Health Organization suggests that the first outbreak of cases was in China, in December, 2019. After two waves of COVID-19, a third wave is being expected as the virus is constantly mutating.

Recently, the Delta variant has swept the many countries leading to severe losses, and the possibility of a worse wave looms ahead.

The symptoms of COVID in children are similar to those in adults. The signs and symptoms of COVID in children include:

Respiratory related symptoms - Sore throat, fever, continuous cough, congestion, difficulty breathing and pneumonia

Nervous system related symptoms - Loss of taste or smell

Digestive system related symptoms  Diarrhea, nausea and vomiting

Aches and pains - Body ache and headache

Fatigue

Certain symptoms require hospitalization. These include difficulty breathing, inability to retain liquids leading to vomiting, bluish coloured lips, sudden new confusion, stomach pain, chest pain and inability to waken.

As a result of COVID, other conditions such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Shock and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) may develop and need medical attention. MIS-C involves rashes, gastrointestinal distress, coagulopathy and cardiac issues.

In order to diagnose COVID in children, different types of molecular tests can be conducted. An RT-PCR test can be conducted. This involves taking a nasopharyngeal swab. The test checks for the presence of viral RNA in the sample. This test is generally accurate 70% of the time.

A matter of caution is the occurrence of false negatives. A child who has been in contact with a known COVID infected individual may immediately get tested. The test results can be negative. This could be because the virus has not been detected by the test, but the child may actually have COVID, symptomatic or asymptomatic. A retest could show a positive result.

False positives can also occur as the test may detect the presence of deactivated virus in the body from a person who previously had COVID. The other molecular tests include LAMP and NEAR tests, but RT-PCR is considered to be the best option.

Another test used for diagnosis is the antigen test in which a nasal and throat sample are collected. This test is conducted by detecting protein markers found around the SARS- CoV-2 virus. It is not as accurate as the RT-PCR.

Antibody tests study the blood to check for presence of antibodies developed in response to the virus. This test is more useful to check if one has had COVID in the past rather than diagnosing a current infection.

CT scans are also being used to test the presence of COVID. CT abnormalities are found in 75% of children with confirmed COVID. However it is important to rule out other illnesses such as influenza B.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoFHW) has provided comprehensive guidelines for the management of COVID in children. This is according to the severity of the case. For asymptomatic cases, home isolation with telephonic consultation and nutritious food and fluids are recommended.

For mild cases, paracetamol, throat soothing agents and daily monitoring of symptoms is required. This includes breathing rate, cold fingers and toes, oxygen levels and fluid intake.

For moderate cases, the child may need to be admitted in a hospital. Oxygen support is required when the level is below 94%. Blood tests and a chest x-ray may be needed. Fluids and electrolytes need to be kept in balance.

For severe cases, the child will need to be admitted in an intensive care or high dependency unit.

Oxygen therapy, anticoagulants, corticosteroids, organ support and antimicrobials may be required. Blood tests, CT scan of chest would be required till the patient stabilises.

Preventing COVID in children involves ensuring that they stay at home as much as possible, avoid crowded spaces, wear masks while outside (above 5 years of age), wash or sanitize hands frequently, and maintain social distance (6 feet). As children may not be as careful as adults, it is important to spend time teaching them in a way that is interesting and possibly adding a reward for following the safety precautions of COVID-19.

Vaccines for children are in the third stage of trial for children aged 12-18 years. The main frontrunners are Covaxin and Zycov-D. Trials for younger children will start soon.
Netflix's Money Heist, which enjoys a crazy fan following all over the world has left fans gaping in excitement after the makers announced that the heist will meet its end in season 5. While the show will be concluded in this final saga, the good part is that it has been divided into two parts which are releasing in September and December. The fourth season ended on a cliff hanger and even though so many guesses and theories have been doing the rounds for what happens in the finale, the trailer for the fifth season only adds more fuel to that fire of excitement.







As we know that Sierra finds out the hiding spot of the Professor and a face-to-face interaction is due, one can only hope that like every other time, our beloved Professor has a back up plan for the heist to continue. We see a lot of blood baths happening, Berlin hugging a mysterious human, Tokyo snuggling up to another lover and more little pieces of puzzle are scattered around in the trailer. While the trailer is in Spanish, it leaves you with enough scope for guess work to begin. As per the official synopsis, 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, doesnt 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 theyve faced: the army. The end of the greatest heist in history is approaching, and what began as a robbery will turn into a war.

The visuals are aesthetic like always and as the clock has been ticked off, we simply cannot wait for 3rd September to come sooner so we finally get to witness this epic heist one more time. What are your favourite theories and guess work? Share with us in the comment section below!
Sooraj Pancholi, who has only been seen in a few Bollywood movies, so far, recently said that he is somehow satisfied after his trial in the Jiah Khan death case has been moved to a special CBI court.

Jiah Khan was found dead in her Mumbai apartment in 2013 and her then-boyfriend, Sooraj was charged with abetment to suicide.

In a recent interview, Sooraj said that the last eight years have been extremely tough for him and that his image has been completely ruined.

He added that he should be penalized only if convicted, but if he was acquitted, he deserve(s) to be set free from these charges.

Sooraj said, I am a little satisfied with this because my case should have been in the special CBI Court from the beginning. Now that the matter is in the CBI Court, I am hopeful that we will see closure to this. If the court finds me guilty, I should be penalized, but if it doesnt, I deserve to be set free from these charges.

He further added, This period has been tough for me. I trust that there will be light at the end of this tunnel. It has been tough on me because the industry and everything around it works on perception and the perception about me has not been what I would have liked it to be. It was ruined years ago. I dont know how I survived the last eight years; my familys support has seen me through it all.

He also expressed how he wants to forget everything that he has gone through in the last couple of years and just wants to move forward.

Jiah Khan gained fame after her notable works in films like Nishabd, Ghajini, and Housefull.

She was found dead on June 3, 2013, in her Mumbai apartment and her death was ruled as a suicide, however, her mother, Rabiya has maintained that she was murdered.

Sooraj Pancholi made his Bollywood debut alongside Athiya Shetty in 2015 in Hero.


Maniesh Paul is a fashion aficionado, and he knows how to keep us hooked to his sense of style. Most often than not, he is seen wearing his oversized hoodie paired with joggers, but his sneakers usually make our heads turn from time to time. There's plausibly no trend that he hasn't tried. Be it extra-wide sneakers or overly playful pairs, the shoes are loud and out there. Consider his Zoom LeBron 3 QS sneakers or Air Jordan 1 Mid Multicolour sneakers. So, this time when he saw him wear yet another weird, vibrant pair of shoes, we were nothing but stunned.

 Viral Bhayani

 Viral Bhayani

Maniesh has often managed to make us gaze at his shoes. This time too, we couldn't help but notice the pair. He can be seen in Air Jordan 1 J Balvin. These shoes use an eclectic mix of colours with textures and graphics. There are rough-sewn overlays with crisp design lines. It also has neon hues with an aggressive burst of energy. The customisable emojis add a distinctive touch to the pair. This colourful collectible seems like the best way to stand out.



 Nike

 Nike

This pair is plausibly more famous than any other shoes we have seen in a while. Apart from that, the overall design looks artistic and with textures and emojis, it appears a tad bit kiddish as well. And, as for the cost, these aren't very expensive. The official website of Nike has it for Rs 16,595. If you ask us, we think it's a good pair, even if you are not minting as much money as Maniesh is. They are definitely more affordable than the pairs we have seen Ranveer or Ranbir wear.



 Nike

 Viral Bhayani

Coming to his outfit, Maniesh wore a hoodie from Splash with Adidas jogger pants. That's typical 'Maniesh' for the airport for us. We also like Maniesh's Louis Vuitton backpack here. That and his elegant Omega watch are some interesting choices of accessories for the outfit.



 Viral Bhayani

If you notice, it's the Louis Vuitton backpack that's super expensive as most of the styles from the luxury brand cost almost a lakh. But, the sneakers here garner all the attention. They are impressive and tie well with his overall look.

In a nutshell, Maniesh knows how to give other hypebeasts a run for their money, even if he is wearing a 'kiddish' pair of shoes. Kudos, Maniesh!
On-site labor restrictions in Thailand and the related closure of several extruder facilities in both Thailand and Vietnam due to Covid-19 restrictions have caused orders to temporarily stall followed by stock inventories inching up, sources said.Facing uncertainty on when normal operations can resume, most sources are not in a hurry to secure spot volumes.I think the current [Covid-19] situation is not good. I was offered some volumes from my supplier last week, he had several thousand tonnes available now and was looking for someone to absorb [them]. This is quite unusual because supplies have been short for a long time, a Thailand-based buyer said.However, orders for extrusions have slowed and now some of my customers are requesting to delay orders, adding to my inventories. I did not bother checking for billet prices, the buyer added.Even as market supplies return, buyers have temporarily curbed spot inquiries. Fewer bids have emerged, worsening spot liquidity. Price indications from some consumers drifted down by $400 per tonne in July, with stalled extruder orders.Fastmarkets assessment of the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, cif Thailand was flat at $360-400 per tonne on July 30, after inching up from $330-360 per tonne on June 4. The billet premium remains at an all-time high since Fastmarkets began assessing the market in February 2017.Still, aluminium premiums lag behind markets in Europe and the United States, where prices have surged to all-time highs, competing already scarce aluminium units out of Asia. This can provide support for Thai billet prices, despite a softening in demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Capped premiums for Thai billets will likely make southeast Asian markets increasingly less attractive compared with the global markets. With firm demand in Europe and the US still providing support for premiums, more market supplies may be exported to these markets instead.Even if I had volumes [to offer] I would likely move them to Europe or even the US, considering how high premiums are there. But I am sold out, a Singapore-based trader said.With high global premiums, even if freight was at $100-per-tonne, selling units outside of Asia will still be profitable, the trader added.Tight global supplies and firm demand in the past months have resulted into a virtual absence of spot deals in Asia being reported to Fastmarkets. Most traders have repeatedly mentioned through the months that they only have enough to meet termed demand.At least two traders continued to maintain firm price indications despite the softer market.
AG Nessel, Coalition Call on Congress to Urgently Pass Legislation to Safeguard Democracy

AG Nessel, Coalition Call on Congress to Urgently Pass Legislation to Safeguard Democracy

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, along with 21 other attorneys general, today sent a letter to Congress urging immediate action to safeguard democracy. In the letter, the attorneys general ask Congress to pass legislation protecting against both voter suppression and election subversion.

The coalition - led by Attorney General Nessel, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein - share their concerns about what may come in future elections if action is not taken quickly.

"We have seen attempts across the country to create barriers to voting and even make it easier to overturn election results," Nessel said. "For the benefit of our democracy and to protect the will of the voters, I am urging Congress to act now."

In the letter, the attorneys general describe how their offices worked to ensure that the 2020 general election was conducted freely, fairly, and with integrity. The letter notes that several factors contributed to the failure of former President Trump and his allies to overturn a democratic outcome: "The legal arguments made by those seeking to overturn election results were generally so extraordinarily weak that they did not have even the veneer of legitimacy. Certain election officials-both Republican and Democratic-refused to buckle under pressure at critical points, placing election integrity and our democracy ahead of partisanship. And the attack on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, while dangerous, was inept."

Without new federal legislation strengthening protections for voting rights and preventing election subversion, attorneys general are concerned that the nation cannot confidently rely on the incompetence of subverters to protect the will of the voters in future elections.

Several states have passed laws that create new barriers to voting or make it easier to overturn election results. In a statement issued on June 1 of this year, more than 100 democracy scholars explain, "[W]e have watched with deep concern as Republican-led state legislatures across the country have in recent months proposed or implemented what we consider radical changes to core electoral procedures in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election." They observe that "[s]tatutory changes in large key electoral battleground states are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration" and "seeking to restrict access to the ballot." And they warn, "[T]hese laws politicizing the administration and certification of elections could enable some state legislators or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do in 2020: reverse the outcome of a free and fair election."

The attorneys general state, "The truths upon which this nation was founded are self-evident. They are not self-executing, however. The profound challenges confronting our democracy demand that Congress act to prevent voter suppression and election subversion. Irrespective of one's views on the value of the filibuster in general, it must not be allowed to stop Congress from addressing these issues so fundamental to our Constitution and democracy. "

Joining Attorney General Nessel in sending this letter are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin

###

Lynsey Mukomel 517-335-7666 Attorney General
16 COVID-19 cases connected with Muskegon Bike Time event; attendees urged to get tested

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aug. 2, 2021

Contact: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112

LANSING, Mich. - LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is working with local public health departments on an investigation of cases of COVID-19 associated with the Muskegon Bike Time event held July 15-18.

Muskegon Bike Time is a four-day motorcycle event held in West Michigan. At least 16 cases of COVID-19 have been identified among this year's attendees and their contacts, including individuals who were at the event while they were infectious. If you attended Muskegon Bike Time you may have been exposed to the virus.

"We continue to see outbreaks of COVID-19 in Michigan, including outbreaks involving the more transmissible Delta variant," said. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS. "Attendees at Bike Time may have been exposed and are urged to get tested based on CDC's latest guidelines. Our best protection against the virus is the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. I urge all eligible Michiganders to get vaccinated as soon as possible."

Attendees of Bike Time are encouraged to get tested for COVID-19. Testing sites are available across the state, many of them offering free COVID-19 testing. Please visit Michigan.gov/coronavirustest to find a testing site near you.

According to recent CDC guidance, fully vaccinated individuals who have been around someone who has COVID-19 should get tested 3 to 5 days after exposure, even if they don't have symptoms. They should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until receiving a negative test result. Those who test positive should isolate for 10 days.

People with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic or have a wide range of symptoms - from mild to severe illness. Symptoms generally appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus and may include:

Fever or chills

Cough

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Muscle or body aches

Headache

New loss of taste or smell

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

Individuals experiencing severe symptoms such as trouble breathing, chest pain, inability to wake or stay awake, or pale or blue-colored skin, lips or nail beds, should seek emergency care immediately.

More than 5.1 million Michiganders 16 and older have received at least their first dose of the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. To locate a vaccine, visit VaccineFinder.org.

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine, visit: Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine

For more information about COVID-19 in Michigan, visit Michigan.gov/coronavirus.

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Aug. 2, 2021

Victim's 7-year-old sister rescued

An autopsy is scheduled in Standish today for an 8-year-old Saginaw girl whose body was recovered from Lake Huron Saturday evening at Tawas Point in Iosco County.

About 30 members of the girl's family had gathered at Tawas Point State Park for a get-together Saturday afternoon. The park's day-use area features a popular swimming beach, a picnic area and a nature trail along the picturesque Lake Huron coastline.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers investigating the incident said many family members were in the park pavilion, others were swimming at the beach.

Witnesses reported that at about 5 p.m. some girls who were swimming in a group started yelling for help. At first, the witnesses thought the girls were playing, but two were struggling in distress.

Witnesses from shore went into the water to try to help the two girls, who were 7-year-old and 8-year-old sisters from Saginaw. Their names are not being released because they are juveniles.

A woman grabbed the 7-year-old girl and was assisted by another woman in getting her safely to shore. The 8-year-old girl did not resurface.

Beachgoers and police officers were searching the water. At that location, the water drops off to a depth of about 20 feet before shallowing to 2-3 feet, about 75 yards offshore. The girls were in the deeper area.

The Iosco Fire and Rescue dive team arrived and searched the area. The team found the girl's body near the lake bottom at a depth of about 20 feet, approximately 50 yards from shore.

Her body was taken by ambulance to Tawas St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Tawas City. She was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. by an emergency room physician there. The county medical examiner requested the autopsy.

Additional entities responding to the incident included staffers from the DNR's Parks and Recreation Division, Michigan State Police, East Tawas Police Department, Tawas City Police Department, East Tawas Fire Department, Iosco County Water Rescue, Iosco County EMS.

Review DNR beach safety tips for Great Lakes beaches.

Michigan conservation officers are fully commissioned state peace officers who provide natural resources protection, ensure recreational safety and protect citizens by providing general law enforcement duties and lifesaving operations in the communities they serve.

Learn more about Michigan conservation officers at Michigan.gov/ConservationOfficers.
Polling places open until 8 p.m. tomorrow

Polling places open until 8 p.m. tomorrow

AUGUST 2, 2021

Voters have options for participating in Aug. 3 election

In jurisdictions with elections, polling locations will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 3, for those wishing to vote in person. Voters with absentee ballots in these communities are encouraged to return their ballots as soon as possible, either in person at their local clerk's office or secure ballot drop box. Ballots must be received by 8 p.m. tomorrow to be counted.

Residents may request an absentee ballot until 4 p.m. today in person at their local clerk's office - and they can vote and return the ballot immediately if they so choose - or they can vote at their designated polling location tomorrow.

"Our democracy is at its strongest when everyone participates," said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. "No matter how you choose to do so, the most important thing is to participate, and to exercise your rights in the way that works best for you. Those with elections tomorrow can be confident that no matter how they choose to cast their ballot, the process will be safe, secure and accessible to all."

Voters can check the status of their absentee ballot, find the location of area drop boxes or clerk office information, and learn more about the election at Michigan.gov/Vote.

If a voter has been sent an absentee ballot that has not yet arrived, they can either go to their clerk's office by 4 p.m. today or vote at their polling location tomorrow. They will be required to sign an affidavit that will spoil the original ballot.

Those who have not returned their absentee ballot and would prefer to vote in person can bring the ballot to their polling location on Election Day and surrender it to poll workers to receive a new ballot, allowing them to vote in person.

Clerk offices are open Election Day until 8 p.m. for those who need to register to vote, or absentee voters who wish to return their ballot in person. Voters may also allow an immediate family member or a member of their household to drop off their sealed and signed ballot for them.

Those who are already registered and do not request an absentee ballot by 4 p.m. today must vote in person at their polling location tomorrow.

For additional information, visit Michigan.gov/Vote.





# # #

For media questions, contact

Tracy Wimmer at 517-281-1876.

We welcome questions and comments at the Contact the Secretary of State page.

Customers may call the Department of State Information Center to

speak to a customer-service representative at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424).
ELBERTA  Blues and jazz and zydeco could be heard across the bay as Grow Benzie held its Benzie Bayou on Friday at Elberta's Waterfront Park.

Starting in the late afternoon and continuing into the night, four performances were held on the outdoor stage, including Luke Winslow-King, K Jones and the Benzie Playboys, Airey B and Jazz North.
MANISTEE  The Manistee City Council will meet on Wednesday to discuss various items such the appointment of a candidate for the vacant third district seat and removing a road resurfacing agreement for renovations of the Rietz Park Apartments.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in council chambers at Manistee City Hall rather than the usual Tuesday, because of the citywide election.

In consideration of the candidate to fill the council vacancy in the third district, the council has three candidates to choose from: Bruce Allen, Robert Hornkohl and Cindy Lundberg.

Allen, in an application for the vacant seat, said he has a master's degree in Public Affairs from Indiana University, was the vice president of Westat, an employee-owned research company that had $500 million in revenue yearly, and has 35 years of organizational management and social science research experience.

Hornkohl said that he previously served on the council for 14 years, was on the Manistee Police Department for 34 years, served on the planning commission for two years, and was director of budgets for both the city of Manistee Police and Fire Departments.

Lundberg said she has a master's degree in Educational Leadership and is a teacher at Manistee Area Public Schools.

With the Reitz Park Apartment renovations, Joe Hollander of Hollander development, proposed three items at a June 8 council work session: First the update of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT or PILOT) ordinance from a 10% ordinance to a 2% ordinance.

The second item would be Municipal Service Agreement, which include a $200 fee per apartment until, with a 3% increase every year. A memo included in the agenda packet said that the combination of the 2% PILOT and the service agreement making $9,600 in revenue for the city as compared to $8,500 from a 10% PILOT ordinance.

The third item would be a new road resurfacing agreement. The memo said that Hollander Development would pay $200,000 toward resurfacing of 14th Street from 12th Street to Maywood Street, Maywood Street from 14th Street to 15th Street, and portion of Care Center Drive.

The renovations at Rietz Park Apartments would call for a $2 million investment to renovate 48 apartments, create a community room and add a backup generator. It would also allow for an increase in the maximum area median income of 80% from 60% so more community members could qualify for the apartments.

Also on council's agenda, a temporary homeless shelter would be located at the main campus of ECHO His Love, located at 525 Michael St. It would serve the homeless population in Manistee from Nov. 6 until April 2. ECHO His Love is requesting a temporary activity permit for the shelter, according to a council memo.

Also on the council agenda are:

 The consideration of local revenue sharing board appointment to fill a vacancy.

 The consideration of applications for County Boards and Commissions. The council has received an application for an at-large member of the Downtown Development Association(DDA) to replace former city manager Thad Taylor.

RELATED:

City council looking for applicants for 3rd District seat

Manistee mayor to depart, leaving vacancy on city council
MECOSTA, OSCEOLA COUNTIES  Harvest season is in full swing, and for those looking for that fresh-from-the-farm taste, there's no better place than the local farmers market.

Almost 250 farmers markets sell more than 300 types of produce and agricultural goods to communities across Michigan, according to the Michigan Farmers Market Association. The annual National Farmers Market Week celebrates their economic and community impacts.

Farmers markets are a critical component of Michigans agricultural economy, Gary McDowell, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said in a news release. Demand for Michigans food and agricultural products has never been greater, and markets provide an opportunity for consumers to connect directly with those products, while supporting our states small businesses.

This year, National Farmers Market Week, held Aug. 1-7, focuses on the essential role farmers markets play in the local food system.

"2020 was not an easy year, but we know farmers, market managers, and MIFMA staff and board members are no strangers to hard work and overcoming challenges," said Amanda Shreve, executive director of MIFMA. "As we celebrate 2021's National Farmers Market Week, we've already seen the strength, resiliency and hope we share as a farmers market community, and know our markets will continue to positively impact their communities long beyond this week."

One of the ways farmers markets support the community is by participating in the SNAP Bridge program. According to MIFMA, more than 150 of the nearly 250 farmers markets accept SNAP Bridge Cards.

In addition, Michigan's Senior Project FRESH/Market FRESH program provides coupons to low-income residents age 60 and older. Coupons may be redeemed at any farmers market or roadside stands displaying a sign that reads: "Senior Project FRESH/Market FRESH Welcome Here."

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, participating farmers markets in Mecosta and Osceola counties include: Downtown Big Rapids Farmers Market, Grant Family Farm, Hearty Harvest, Paris Farmer's Market and Yard Sale, The Purple Pepper, Barryton Farmers Market, Evart Farmer's Market and Reed City Farmers Market.

MIFMA expects many farmers markets will host special events, activities and more during National Farmers Market Week. Most markets use Facebook pages to keep the public updated.

MECOSTA COUNTY

Fast facts

 Number of farms: 694

 Total farmland: 115,188 acres

 Key products: hay, corn, soybeans, vegetables, potatoes, hogs/pigs, dairy

 Source: USDA Census of Agriculture, 2017

Farmers markets, roadside stands:

 Big Rapids Farmers Market: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays at the Big Rapids City Hall parking lot, 226 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Online: facebook.com/bigrapidsfarmersmarket

 LeeAnns Flowers and Vegetables: 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. daily at 1205 N. State St., Big Rapids. Online: facebook.com/LeeAnnsFlowers

 Paris Farmers Market and Yard Sale: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, May 27, June 17, July 1, July 22, Aug. 12, Sept. 2 and Sept. 23, at Stone Hatchery Park, 21331 Northland Drive, Paris.

 Todds Produce: Open from dusk to dawn daily, 24-hour self serve, at 21739 230th Ave., Paris. Everything grown locally and in season.

 Grants Family Farm: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays, at 10636 14 Mile Road, Rodney. Online: facebook.com/Grants-Family-Farm-193887213976624

 The Hearty Harvest: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, at 5356 9 Mile Road in Remus. Online: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063082819311

 The Purple Pepper: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Oct. 30, at 18700 20th Ave., Barryton. Online: facebook.com/The-Purple-Pepper-143476575692727

 Barryton Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays beginning May 29, at Central (M-66) Park, 195 Rose Ave., Barryton, behind Williams Cafe. Online: facebook.com/Barryton-Farmers-Market-598338030212882

OSCEOLA COUNTY

 Number of farms: 625

 Total farmland: 103,633 acres

 Key products: hay/silage, corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle, dairy, sheep/goats, Christmas trees

 Source: USDA Census of Agriculture, 2017

Farmers markets, roadside stands:

 Reed City Farmers Market: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, July 25-Oct. 3, at Reed City Depot, Pere Marquette Trail, in Reed City. Online: facebook.com/ReedCityAreaChamberOfCommerce

 Evart Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, June 12-Oct. 9, at the Evart Depot, 200 South Main St., Evart. Online: facebook.com/EvartFarmersMarket
Alfredo Zuniga/AP

BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Union on Monday slapped sanctions on Nicaraguan first lady and Vice-President Rosario Murillo and seven other senior officials accused of serious human rights violations or undermining democracy, amid a crackdown on opposition politicians in the Central American country.

EU headquarters said in a statement that the sanctions, which include asset freezes and bans on travel in Europe, are targeted at individuals and are designed in this way not to harm the Nicaraguan population or the Nicaraguan economy.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa panel voted Monday to settle a lawsuit and pay five protesters who supported the Black Lives Matter movement and alleged constitutional rights violations when they were banned from the state Capitol grounds.

The State Appeal Board approved a recommendation by state lawyers to pay Jalesha Johnson, Louise Bequeaith, Haley Jo Dikkers, Brad Penna and Brandi Ramus $5,000 each and their attorney $45,000.

The five were arrested July 1, 2020, when a scuffle broke out with police officers at the Capitol. After the arrests, the Iowa State Patrol, which provides security at the Capitol, told the five protesters that legislative leaders ordered them banned from the grounds.

The patrol told them that if they returned to the state property around the building, they would be charged with trespassing. Some were banned for six months and others for a year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a lawsuit, saying the ban blocks the individuals' fundamental constitutional rights of free speech, assembly, right to petition their government, their fundamental freedom of movement and due process.

U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger issued an order in December that prevented enforcement of the ban, concluding it likely violated the protesters' rights.

The settlement resolves the lawsuit, which named Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens and Iowa State Patrol Lt. Steven Lawrence, Sgt. Tyson Underwood and trooper Durk Pearston.

In addition to the payment, the state agrees to withdraw all verbal and written bans to the protesters. The settlement specifies that the individuals may continue to enter and use the Iowa Capitol Complex on the same basis and under the same terms as any other law-abiding member of the public.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety also agreed to continue training its officers assigned to the Capitol on areas relating to the First Amendment.

The judges preliminary injunction remains in place until the court considers whether to approve the settlement agreement.

Of the five people arrested, four had charges of interference with official acts or disorderly conduct dismissed. Penna pleaded guilty to simple misdemeanor interference with official acts and was ordered to pay a $250 fine.

ACLU of Iowa declined to comment until after the agreement is approved by the court.

The attorney general's office believes this is a fair settlement for the state, Assistant State Attorney General Anne Updegraff told board members.

The State Appeal Board, which has responsibility under Iowa law to consider legal claims against the state, includes Iowa Department of Management Director Michael Bousselot, Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and Auditor Rob Sand.

All voted to approve the settlement agreement.
As the COVID-19 numbers continued to tick upward, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he is contemplating a vaccine mandate for state employees, the latest sign the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant might force a return to some pandemic-related restrictions.

Lamont favors voluntary measures as some governors order new restrictions. He has not ordered any new mask requirements for state residents but he said Monday the vaccination rule in state agencies is a very real possibility.

There are no plans for that as yet, but we are looking into it, Lamont said after a news conference in Groton where he was asked whether state workers would be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The governors comments came hours before the state reported 148 total patients hospitalized due to COVID-19  an increase of 32 people over Friday and the largest number since mid-May. It was also the largest change in hospitalizations over a weekend period since late March.

The state also reported that 2.86 percent of all tests have come back positive over the last seven days  the highest level in more than three months.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is now strongly recommending residents wear masks indoors in public places regardless of vaccination status. The new guidance follows updated recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that masks should be worn indoors in places of substantial or high community transmission  including most of Connecticut.

In recent weeks, reporters have repeatedly asked Lamont whether the state will change course amid rising cases and hospitalizations and a waning vaccine campaign. While the governor has expressed concern over the delta variant, he has not yet called for new measures to limit the spread but has indicated thats a possibility.

The governor reiterated Monday that he would consider a broad mask mandate for residents, as he has said almost every day he was in the state over the last two weeks. But he continues to say restaurants and other businesses are free to impose any distancing and mask requirements that they choose.

I think were going to keep going with that process a little longer unless the world changes under our feet, the governor said.

No union talks yet

Connecticut and the other New England states are generally the lowest in the nation in the rate of positive tests. The nation is at about 8 percent and rising, with some states spiking much higher.

What youre seeing around the state of Connecticut is people generally using really good common sense, doing the right thing, Lamont said.

The governor said in informal discussions with state employee union leaders about a statewide vaccine policy, theres been broad agreement between the two sides about the need to keep workers and the people they come into contact with safe.

Certain groups of state employees still have low vaccination rates, including some who are very forward facing such as those who care for people with special needs and correction department staff, the governor said. That could lead to masking or vaccine requirements or routine testing for state workers, though Lamont did not say directly whether the unions seemed amenable to any specific rules.

There are different variables that were going to figure out in the next week or two, Lamont said.

Asked whether the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, which represents about 46,000 state employees, would support a mask mandate for state workers, Lamont said I think theyd certainly be open to the discussion.

In a written statement Monday, SEBAC said, while not in direct discussions with the Lamont administration, we look forward to carefully considering any proposal that is designed to enhance the safety of both state workers and the public they serve while ensuring a fair and effective system.

Later Monday, Lamont announced his administration had reached an agreement with SEBAC on a revised telework policy. Last spring, during the height of the pandemic, the governor ordered all state employees whose job enabled them to work from home to do so. On May 13, he emailed state workers to say most had to return to work in-person.

The revised policy enables state employees who were working from home prior to Lamonts May 13 email to continue to do so until Oct. 2. After that, they can request to work from home for part or all of their scheduled hours.

Hazardous duty employees, or those whose consistent presence at the work site or in the field is now required because of the reopening of in-person operations do not have the option of working from home, per the agreement.

Masks in schools?

The governor is also soon expected to put out guidance for public schools on the upcoming school year, including whether students will be required to wear masks. Lamont pointed to strong guidance from the CDC and the state DPH that everybody in those schools are better off wearing a mask.

From there, how that is enforced, well figure that out over a period of time, the governor said, adding he hopes to provide a couple of weeks notice.

As for travel restrictions, Lamont reiterated that residents should use common sense.

Its better if people stay closer to home, the governor said. Skip Florida for now.

Lamont continues to push higher vaccination rates, particularly among younger demographics, as the best way to defeat the delta variant.

Public health officials say the majority of those currently getting sick, going to the hospital and dying have not been vaccinated.

This still remains, in terms of severity, a pandemic of the unvaccinated, Dr. Ulysses Wu, system director of infectious disease at Hartford HealthCare, said Monday during a virtual press briefing.

The vaccine is doing its job. We all thought that the purpose of the vaccine was to completely stamp out and prevent disease but its main goal was to take a deadly disease and turn it into the common cold, and it seems to be doing a good job for those who are vaccinated.

While Lamont continues to mull whether mandates are necessary here, officials in other places are moving forward with masking, testing and vaccine requirements for government workers and others.

On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced all public transit and airport employees will be required to get immunized or submit to weekly testing. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio previously announced that requirement for city workers, which is expected to go into effect in mid-September.

Some Connecticut municipalities have also instituted their own precautions. New London and Norwalk, for example, have reinstated mask mandates at city owned properties. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker is reportedly exploring the idea of requiring city workers to be inoculated.

The Joint Committee on Legislative Management announced in an email Monday that anyone entering the Capitol must wear masks or other appropriate face coverings when in common areas, including fully vaccinated individuals. The new mask protocol is based on the increased Covid positivity rates, the email said.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
CLINTON  As the topic of how race is taught in schools has become hotly debated in some neighboring communities, Clinton has established a panel to address these types of issues.

Last December, the Democratic Town Committee and its supporters launched the Clinton Human Rights Initiative with a goal of establishing a human rights commission.

The town council voted last month to approve the formation of an advisory committee, which aims to establish mutual respect, tolerance and acceptance of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, economic conditions, or health status, according to a statement from the Clinton Democrats.

During the approval process, the initial proposal to form a commission was changed to a committee to allow for the proper appointment structure, officials said.

Speaking on behalf of the human rights initiative during a town council meeting last month, Laurie Jaffe argued for the panel to be approved as a commission.

We have solid reasons for requesting that it be a commission, not a committee, Jaffe said. We believe that it gives this proposed group more autonomy to carry out projects and pursue education.

However, Town Manager Karl Kilduff explained how the committee format will allow for the proper structure to be established.

The advisory committee structure allows for appointment of anybody regardless of political affiliation, which is what was stated in the draft that was provided, Kilduff said. An ordinance requires minority representation so then were down to Republican, Democrat, green, unaffiliated, to fill the spots.

Kilduff pointed to the Guilford Human Rights Commission, which he said operates under that towns Board of Selectmen. He said the Clinton committee will work under the town council.

Officials said the towns director of human services will be appointed as a non-voting member to provide his expertise to the committee.

The council voted to adopt the five-member advisory committee, with only Eric Bergman and Tim Guerra opposing it.

We think this is a moment to be proud and an important step in fostering an even better, inclusive community, Tom Shultz, chairman of the Clinton Human Rights Initiative, said in a statement.

Clinton joins towns like Guilford, West Hartford and Hamden that have established human rights panels.

The main goal of these groups is to educate and raise awareness around prejudice, bigotry and discrimination. They also promote understanding and respect among various racial, religious and ethnic groups and individuals.

In Guilford, the human rights group is working to educate the community amid an ongoing debate on how race is taught in schools.

In West Hartford, commission members learned about pride and queer rights in June. The group is also planning to hold the Town of Compassion Awards.

Hamden has also focused on the LGBTQ+ community and gender rights and is considering bringing in a speaker on those topics in September. The commission is also seeking to speak with those involved with legislative proposals regarding the use of Native American mascots and team names.

Applications for the Clinton advisory committee can be found on the towns website.

christine.derosa@hearstmediact.com
Venice, FL (34285)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 91F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 77F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  Police blocked opposition lawmakers from marching Monday to protest a two-week lockdown of Malaysia's Parliament, which they consider another ploy for the embattled prime minister to dodge a no-confidence vote.

With a crucial parliamentary session due, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin instead postponed it and Parliament will be shut for two weeks. The health ministry said Parliament was deemed a high-risk venue because four of 11 COVID-19 cases detected among staff and others were suspected to be the fast-spreading delta variant.

Lawmakers and activists questioned the timing of the announcement of Parliament's closure, which came after the king rebuked Muhyiddin's government on Thursday for misleading Parliament on the status of ordinances it issued during the seven-month coronavirus state of emergency. The opposition immediately filed a motion of no-confidence against Muhyiddin that was expected to have been raised Monday.

Dozens of lawmakers gathered near Parliament held a banner calling for the resignation of Muhyiddin and his Cabinet. They slammed the government for cowardice and said they must eventually face the people.

Muhyiddin has led an unstable, unelected governing alliance since March 2020 after he initiated the downfall of the reformist government that won the 2018 elections. Parliament has been shut down for several months just after he took office and since January this year, after the king approved his plan for an emergency that has failed to tackle the pandemic.

This government has failed to carry out its duties but is continuing to cling to power," said opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Apart from mismanaging the pandemic, he said Muhyiddin has also abused his power to bypass Parliament and the king in withdrawing the emergency ordinances.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called for the resignation of the entire Cabinet. Only through this way, this prolonged political turmoil can end and focus can be fully given to efforts to resolve the health, economic and social crises that has plagued the country for more than 17 months, Mahathir said in a statement.

The lawmakers dispersed peacefully, as a water-cannon truck and riot police armed with shields and batons shut off the road heading to Parliament.

Last week's sitting of Parliament was the first of the year and was held after Muhyiddin caved to pressure from the king, but debates were banned in the session held only to brief lawmakers on the pandemic and related issues.

King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Abdullah said on Thursday he did not give his consent to annul emergency ordinances but told the government to debate them in Parliament. Muhyiddin said that the king has to act on the Cabinets advice and insisted his administration didnt violate the constitution.

Any debate in Parliament could test Muhyiddin's support with his alliance holding a razor-thin majority.

Public anger has built up against the government as Malaysia's COVID-19 cases this year jumped eightfold to more than 1.1 million. New daily infections breached 10,000 on July 13 for the first time and have stayed there since. Total deaths have risen to above 9,000.

Nearly 20% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
After a summer of loosened pandemic restrictions, military bases in communities where the contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is exploding among unvaccinated Americans are requiring masks again -- even for inoculated troops.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina, one of the Army's largest bases and home of the 82nd Airborne Division, implemented a strict mask policy Friday for all civilians and service members, regardless of vaccination status, in all the installation's buildings, including gyms and child care centers.

"Effective immediately all personnel; soldiers, civilians and beneficiaries; must wear a mask indoors on Fort Bragg regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, unvaccinated personnel must wear masks in outdoor public spaces," a base-wide memo from the XVIII Airborne Corps said. "Vaccination is safe and remains the most effective prevention against COVID-19, to include the Delta variant."

Read Next: DoD Put Troops and Families at Risk with Slow Response to 'Forever Chemicals,' Report Finds

The new mandates come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week recommended that Americans return to wearing masks indoors, especially in settings where the virus can spread more easily.

"Getting vaccinated and wearing a mask are our only pathways for bases to return to normalcy," Brig. Gen. Jason Woodworth, commander of Camp Pendleton, California, said in a video to the force Friday.

Unvaccinated troops have had to wear masks during most of the pandemic, and commanders have the authority to order an unmasked service member to provide their vaccination status. However, it's unclear how many commanders have been enforcing mask mandates or how well they can protect troops from the virus in training. During the Arkansas National Guard's recent rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, at least 115 soldiers were infected.

Most U.S. bases are reverting back to mask mandates, including Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort Carson, Colorado; and Fort Hood and Fort Bliss in Texas. All of those installations are in parts of the country the CDC has identified as having high risk of COVID-19 transmissions and death, which includes all states where the rate of vaccination is below the national average.

In Texas, which is home to Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, at least 239 people have died from COVID-19 in the past week, according to CDC data. Fort Hood is mostly in Coryell County, where only 37% of the population has received one dose of the vaccine, far below the national average. As of Monday, 57% of the U.S. has received at least one dose.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, said Fort Drum, New York, will not implement a mask mandate yet since the infection rate in that area is relatively low.

"As a community, we have done a great job getting vaccinated and following established protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19," Beagle wrote in a memo. "At Fort Drum, no additional safety measures will be implemented at this time since we are not currently in an area of substantial or high community transmission. However, we can't afford to jeopardize or lose the hard fought gains not only on the installation, but in our community as well."

Fort Drum is located in Jefferson County, New York, where 65% of the population has received at least one shot.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Many Soldiers Still Aren't Vaccinated; What's the Army's Plan?
The Navy's highest-ranking officer acknowledged on Monday that the branch's elite warfighting unit, the SEALs, had a problem with character and ethics.

Speaking at the annual Sea Air Space conference at a convention center just outside of Washington, D.C., Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday noted that the special warfare community underwent "a comprehensive review" that he likened to the review the surface warfare community conducted after the collisions of the Fitzgerald and the McCain. That review looked at the collisions the two destroyers had with merchant ships in 2017 that claimed the lives of 17 sailors.

The evaluation of special forces was conducted by the U.S. Special Operations Command and found that unrelenting demand -- along with the command's willingness to take on the missions when overtasked -- has taken a toll across special warfare units.

According to Gilday, the issue "with the SEALs -- it wasn't professional competency like it was in the surface community; it was character and ethics."

The military-wide review was directed by Army Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, in 2019. Clarke's directive followed several prominent and embarrassing events within the command - many of which included Navy SEALs, which he said threatened the trust Americans place in their special operators.

"I ordered this review to keep faith with the American people and our policy leaders regarding the good order and accountability of SOF," Clarke said in a statement in August 2019.

The most notable black eye for the SEALs was the trial of now-retired SEAL Eddie Gallagher, whom former colleagues accused of war crimes during a tumultuous deployment to Iraq in 2017. Gallagher ultimately was acquitted at court-martial on most charges but found guilty of posing for a photo with a prisoner's corpse. Gallagher was demoted, but then-President Donald Trump restored his rank and he was allowed to retire honorably.

In 2019 the three top leaders of SEAL Team 7 were fired after the unit was booted from Iraq mid-deployment. Rear Adm. Collin Green relieved the men "due to a loss of confidence that resulted from leadership failures that caused a breakdown of good order and discipline within two subordinate units while deployed to combat zones," according to a Navy statement.

That same year, Green also sent a four-page memo to his senior leaders, ordering a host of changes within the Navy SEAL community, after allegations of sexual assault, high-profile legal battles and drug use in the ranks.

Gilday said the Navy Special Warfare community has now "placed great emphasis on [character and ethics] in terms of their mentoring and their training."

"I just spoke with the Naval Special Warfare commander and he had just finished interviewing a number of chief petty officers to go overseas in a ... high-risk operation," Gilday said.

Gilday explained that the chiefs that didn't make the cut are "now ... going through remedial training to get them back to a level where future missions they will compete."

When asked for more details on the mission or the remedial training, Naval Special Warfare spokeswoman Lt. Kara Handley said that "for the security of our service members, we do not disclose operational details of missions."

"We do not have anything further to add to [the] CNO's comments," she said.

Editors Note: After this article was published a spokesman for Adm. Gilday, Cmdr. Nate Christensen, reached out and requested that Military.com add an additional comment to the article. That comment is reproduced in its entirety below:

CNO is in full support of the approach that Naval Special Warfare has taken to identify individuals with the cognitive, character, and leadership attributes necessary to succeed in todays Force. The NSW Leadership Assessment Program (NLAP) not only screens for these attributes but also provides candidates with the feedback they need so they can improve and succeed going forward. Providing our Sailors mentorship and training at every level will help ensure a ready force for our Navy tomorrow.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Spec Ops Culture Sets Conditions 'Favorable for Inappropriate Behavior,' 4-Star Says
How to use the mindat.org media viewer

Click/touch this help panel to close it.

Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. Different controls are available depending on the type of media being shown (photo, video, animation, 3d image)

Controls - all media types

Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device.

Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen.

< and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys.

< and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys.

> in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys.

? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key.

Other keyboard shortcuts:

1 Fit image to screen 2 Fill screen with image 5 Display at full resolution < Make background darker > Make background lighter space Hide/dim titles and buttons

Scalebar

If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular.

Controls - Video

Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.

Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)

Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.

The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.

The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.

Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images

If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:

- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method

- with stereoscope

- with anaglyph glasses.

- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)

For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D

To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.

Controls - photo comparison mode

If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.

Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.

Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
The Astros activated reliever Josh James from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Sugar Land last night. A 40-man roster spot was opened earlier in the day when right-hander Ralph Garza was designated for assignment.

James underwent left hip surgery last October, a procedure that originally called for a six-to-eight month recovery timeline. His rehab process was delayed a bit further by a hamstring issue, but the 28-year-old is now healthy enough to serve as a potential bullpen option in Houston down the stretch.

Between 2018-20, James made 68 appearances (including six starts) and tossed 101 2/3 frames, showing the ability to work multiple innings. James broke in with a 2.35 ERA over 23 innings as a rookie but hasnt replicated that success over the past couple years. The hard-throwing righty has never had issues missing bats, striking out 34.1% of opponents on the strength of a huge 14.7% swinging strike rate over his big league career. James has struggled with control, though, walking an elevated 13.4% of batters faced. Between strike-throwing and health issues, hes yet to cement himself as a consistent high-leverage reliever to this point, but hes certainly flashed the upside to potentially do so moving forward.

In other Astros health news, star third baseman Alex Bregman was pulled from his rehab game with Sugar Land after experiencing some hamstring tightness last night, writes Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The team called the early removal a precautionary measure, so its not clear whether itll have a substantial impact on the two-time All-Stars return timetable. Bregman has been out since June 16 with a quad strain.
The D-backs announced Monday that theyve claimed righty Sean Poppen off waivers from the Rays. Right-hander Stefan Crichton, whod been with the club as a Covid-19 replacement player, was returned to Triple-A Reno in a corresponding roster move. Because Crichton had been selected to the roster as a replacement player, he didnt need to be put through outright waivers to be sent back to Reno.

Poppen, 27, has seen brief big league action in each of the past three seasons, totaling 21 1/3 innings between the Twins, Pirates and Rays. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning for Tampa Bay this season and another 4 2/3 frames with the Pirates early in the year. The rest of his MLB experience has come in Minnesota. Overall, he carries a 6.33 ERA but a much more palatable 3.85 FIP and 4.12 SIERA in that small sample of work.

Poppen has spent parts of two seasons in Triple-A and pitched quite well  particularly with the Rays top affiliate so far in 2021. Hes thrown 28 1/3 frames of 1.59 ERA with Durham while also notching strong strikeout, walk and ground-ball percentages (26.8, 9.8 and 64.3, respectively). Poppen is in his final option year, so he can be shuttled between Reno and Phoenix as the D-backs see fit for the remainder of the 2021 campaign. Hell be out of options at seasons end, however, so the D-backs wont be able to send him down next spring unless they first pass him through outright waivers.
Manjiri Kamath (name changed), a senior executive working with Rothschild India, received an income-tax (I-T) notice in the last week of April 2021. The notice referred to assessment year (AY)2014-15 and alleged that ...we have reason to believe your income has escaped assessment while asking her to file a revised tax return and pay the amount before 30th April.

She reached out to her chartered accountant (CA) who asked her to quietly file the revised return because there is no point in arguing with the tax department. With barely three days for the deadline, a panic-stricken Manjiri (who knew that she was not at fault) filed a revised tax return and paid the entire amount of a little over Rs19,000.

Thousands of companies and individuals (including retired senior citizens) have received reopening of old assessment notices from the I-T department between March and June this year. CAs say this is routine and happens every year in March.

While there is no debate on the notices which were received in March this year, it is the reassessment notices that were received between 1st April and 30th June this year, which have led several corporates and individuals to challenge the validity of the notices in courts through writ petitions.

They are questioning the legality of these notices issued by the tax department under old rules, and contending that the I-T departments move was void and arbitrary as action cannot be taken under the old provisions of the Income Tax Act.

The old tax law, amended with the passage of Finance Bill 2021 and in effect till 31 March 2021, allowed reopening of assessments for the last six years. The new rules, which came into effect from 1st April, lowered the time limit for issuing notices of reassessment to three years from six years from the end of the relevant assessment year. As per the amendment, serious cases of fraud involving tax evasion of Rs50 lakh or more can still be opened till 10 years.

The rule was supposed to come into effect on 1 April 2021, meaning that notices were to be issued by 31 March 2021, for assessment years prior to 2017-18.

Tax experts hoped that reassessment notices would focus on high value transactions or big mismatches rather than going after smaller taxpayers because one naively expected that the intent of the department was to reduce tax litigation. Their hopes soon crashed to the ground.

The tax department had, however, extended its validity till 30th June and accordingly issued notices to thousands of assessees between 1st April and 30 June 2021.

Some assessees have even challenged the validity of CBDTs notification extending time allowed to issue Section 148 notice after 31 March 2021 in the Bombay High Court.

According to a report from Taxmann, Tata Communications has filed a similar writ petition in the Bombay HC last week challenging the constitutional validity of issuing I-T reassessment notice under old provisions.

However, not everyone has the wherewithal to challenge the notices in high courts. A CA pointed out that only the corporates and high net worth individuals (HNIs) would have the money to pursue such legal battles.

He cited the case of an 85-year-old senior citizen from Mumbai, who received a similar notice for reopening her assessment for AY2014-15 from the tax department. Court cases tend to be expensive and time consuming. She would, in all probability, have no choice but to bow to the notice, which calls for reopening of old assessments. This is akin to tax bullying.

The CA further says, The notices are completely wrong because the amendment in the law cannot be retrospective. If they have opened very old assessments -say AY2013-14 or AY2014-15those are time-barred and cannot be reopened under the new law. Hopefully the court will strike down the date-extension provision itself and thereby all the invalid reassessment notices will be struck down.

However, the problem is that government bureaucrats have blinkers on their eyes and are only focussed on increasing revenues and may look at other legal options to get around this.

The tax department doggedly believes that taxpayers cannot challenge any specific move of the department as various deadlines related to tax compliance have been extended in the wake of a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) claims that it had informed about the extension because of the second wave of coronavirus infections.

The government of India extended deadline for date of issue of notice under section 148 of Income-tax Act,1961, passing of consequential order for direction issued by the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) & processing of equalisation levy statements.  Prakash W. Kamat (@PrakashWKamatPK) May 25, 2021

Due to the local lock-downs and the deadly second wave, the Union government had extended the date of issue of reopening of cases till 30th June, and this was in line with various tax compliance-related relief provided to assesses.

If additional time has been given to the taxpayers, then according to the tax department, government machinery should also be given additional time to scrutinise the cases is the tax departments argument. The CBDT contends that assessees cannot pick and choose, which extension of the deadline they want to oppose.

It appears that the I-T department does not want such suspected cases to become time-barred so it has slapped notices (during April to June 2021) to initiate action.

It is however extremely bizarre that on one hand the government amendment says that the new tax law comes into effect from 1st April while the tax department claims that the old law continues to exist till 30 June 2021.

How can both laws co-exist during the period from 1st April to 30 June 2021?

Extending departmental deadlines, which is well within the powers of the government, is completely different from extending the deadlines of a law that has been overwritten by a new law, points out Moneylife editor Debashis Basu in his column in Business Standard.

Narendra Goyal, president of Direct Tax Professionals Association, also expressed concern on the rampant issue of notices under Section 148 of the old provisions of the Income Tax Act. Last month, the Direct Taxes Professionals Association made a representation to the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, highlighting the issue.

Two sets of legal provisions cannot be used for the same purpose of initiating proceedings for reopening of assessments during the period from 1st April to 30 June 2021 as the new provisions have come into effect from April 2021. Naturally earlier provisions have become redundant and any notice issued under the old provisions is bad by law, explained CA Ameet Patel.

At least one court order has already pointed out, the impugned notification is contrary to the settled principles of statutory interpretation, namely, that any action is taken post the amendment of a procedural section would have to abide by the new procedures stipules in the amended Act. Further, it is of (the) view that by virtue of a notification, which is delegated legislation, the date for implementation of a statutory provision cannot be varied or changed.

The government is said to be awaiting the final verdict by the courts, and exploring all legal options available to it. The matter is now to come up for hearing in August and September.

Ignoring all logic and rationale, the union government is reportedly said to be considering the possibility of bringing an ordinance to deal with the problem of income tax cases on reassessment notices under old, time-barred norms.

Delhi High Court (HC) has stayed operation of I-T reassessment notices issued after 31st March. Many assessees have received interim stay orders on such reassessment notices from the high courts in Mumbai and Kolkata.

As if this is not enough, there is also a gigantic chaos created by the utter failure of the new income tax portal, which has frustrated chartered accountants and the common man alike. Twitter is full of complaints against the non-functional new portal.

Filed returns disappear. More than 8 lakh grievances registered in less than 2 months. Only God can save us professionals and the tax payers, reads one such complaint.

Meanwhile, Infosys has been routinely seeking for more time to set the portal in order and has been doling out empty reassurances almost every week that the portal will be fully operational soon.

While tax scrutiny may have marginally decreased, the faceless assessments, being algorithm-driven, reject many tax computations. This has led to the number of appeals. I have filed more appeals in the last two years than in the past seven, says Nikhil Vadia, a Mumbai-based tax consultant.

Got a notice from income tax on 1st of June with a due date to reply till 7th of June. Don't these income tax people know site is in maintenance till 6 th of June. Are they drunk before issuing notice or they do it purposely to harass the income tax payers.  VINAMRA JAISWAL (@VINAMRAJAISWAL2) June 2, 2021

The government has been largely vociferous about its so-called efforts to bring in transparent taxation, to do away with taxtortion and to honour the honest tax payers. It introduced a tax charter, which commits the department to provide a fair & just system.

However, as is seen from the ground reality, very little has changed.

Two months back, Earlyguard, British subsidiary of Japanese behemoth Mitsui initiated arbitration proceedings after income tax notice of Rs2,400 crore. Mitsui has challenged the retrospective taxation after Vodafone, Cairn Energy and Antrix-Devas.

As international and domestic tax holders continue to be hounded by the draconian taxation measures, there is now an urgent need for the government to somehow get its act together and deliver on its promise. Time is also running out for the looming tax filing deadlines.
In the securities market investors are likely to be victims of the system again and again because that is flawed. In laws such as the SEBI Act, they have no rights to fight a suit against him, they cannot go to a district court. They can file an appeal in the SAT against a SEBI order, which is located only at Mumbai, which in itself is very wrong. And the SAT orders are appealable in the Supreme Court only. So in effect what we have done in securities market by and large is bar investors from taking judicial recourse at all, says Virendra Jain, founder of Midas Touch Investors Association. On 31st July, his 75th birthday, Moneylife Foundation had organised a webinar to felicitate him for over 30 years of selfless contribution to the cause of savers and investors.

Another huge thing is, that there is no accountability of any regulator or anyone for that matter in the securities market. I think what we need is a holistic view of the entire thing, individual problems are just manifestations of a bigger problem. Unless the bigger problems are tackled and solved, this will keep happening. Moneylife, and people like me will make a lifelong effort and make a dent somewhere, in a sea of misery floating away," Mr Jain says.

Talking about what drove him to take up investor issues through the legal route, he says, I will do this with whatever I have, not what I should. That was my thought throughout, that I will do this with my resources. Otherwise, I realised, that your focus and energy would be spent only in trying to secure resources.

The event began with an introduction by Debashis Basu, founder trustee of Moneylife Foundation, of Mr Jain and his stupendous work for investors. This was then followed by an hour-long conversation between Sucheta Dalal, founder trustee of Moneylife Foundation and Mr Jain, on his work, achievements and struggle to get justice for investors. The event began with an introduction by Debashis Basu, founder trustee of Moneylife Foundation, of Mr Jain and his stupendous work for investors. This was then followed by an hour-long conversation between Sucheta Dalal, founder trustee of Moneylife Foundation and Mr Jain, on his work, achievements and struggle to get justice for investors.

One of the most memorable fights that Mr Jain and Midas Touch successfully fought for investors was that against Canstar, as a highly aggressive and popular mutual fund scheme floated by Canbank Mutual Fund in the 1990s.

Around this time, many public sector banks (PSBs) and insurance companies were allowed to float the first set of mutual fund schemes outside the Unit Trust of India (UTI). All of them made a debut as subsidiaries of public sector entities and attracted investors due to their pedigree and by offering 'assured returns' that were higher than bank fixed deposits. Canstar had raised around Rs800 crore but lost over Rs100 crore in the 1992 scam and several of its officials were accused of colluding with the scamsters and it seemed set to ditch investors.

Then, a path-breaking litigation by Midas Touch not only helped Canstar investors get their money back, but the judgement from this case also prevented all other mutual funds from ditching investors as well.

The case "had wide implications for the mutual fund industry, which was crooked, dominated by public sector banks and insurance companies, and was trying to wriggle out of the 'assured returns' on the basis of which all schemes had raised money," says Ms Dalal, while starting her hour long discussion with Mr Jain.

It was very interesting. This was Midas first public interest litigation (PIL) and in those days PILs were very rare. There were no PILs on the securities market before then. On the first day of our PIL, after the first hour of hearing, the Court issued a notice to Canara Bank. That was very disappointing, as we had made eight other entities party to the case and the Court jumping to the conclusion that Canara Bank was solely responsible was very disappointing. Eventually, I think Canara Bank consulted with the then finance minister, PC Chidambaram and realised that they had no option but to pay," Mr Jain says when explaining his fight for the investors of Canstar.

Ms Dalal remarked that was this a "landmark case that eventually made SEBI realise that dubious practice of assured return schemes should be stopped, and soon there was a decline of public sector mutual funds as a concept after that."

"Although the industry was small then, the money you (Mr Jain) won back for them was huge, and it is important for people to remember that it needs just one man or organisation to put up a fight," she added.

Mr Jain is perhaps most well-known for his effort to have SEBI and the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), recognise the concept of vanishing companies  those that raised public money in cahoots with investment bankers, banks and brokers and vanished with the loot.

When Ms Dalal brought up the topic of 'vanishing companies' and asked Mr Jain to explain the whole process of his long-fought battle, he says, We very meticulously followed up this issue with SEBI, MCA and even ministers in the government. They were all very aware of vanishing companies and I was very surprised that nothing was happening. What was the reason that I had to fight them? Why were all of them so resistant to change, and to do anything at all about the vanishing companies? Where was this vested interest coming from? Frankly, even today I dont know. With all their powers, why couldnt SEBI attach the assets of such companies when they disappeared, to pay investors who were left in the lurch? Its very difficult to comprehend."

Ms Dalal also went on to point out that the result of Mr Jain's another battle culminated in an extraordinary order from the Allahabad High Court. "The Allahabad High Court orders were pathbreaking...there was this coordination and monitoring committee (CMC) set up and there were seven task forces. I mean, it was an unbelievable achievement. But I also feel a little disappointed that every regulator seems to have worked hard, to not make it happen," she says.

The order was fantastic, but they simply did not follow that order at all. When you see the order, even if it was implemented todaythere are so many things in it, other than vanishing companies, it could have been great but nothing was done. It was simply washed away, Mr Jain says while commenting on the lack of action on the part of regulators and the court appointed committee.

Ms Dalal went to ask Mr Jain about the unusual choice of name for his investors association, "Why the unusual name, Midas Touch? If anything, you are helping people recover money that they have lost, not to earn money!"

To which, Mr Jain responded, I started a company as Midas Finance, which did not take off. So, when we were thinking of starting an association, I thought this is a good name, probably a catchy name. So that was that, nothing more to it, honestly!

Talking about the Midas Touch Investor Helpline, Ms Dalal says, "I remember the effort we put in, to ensure Midas Touch met SEBI's accreditation criteria. The Kanpur seminar that we did, which was ironically supported by NSE, helped. So, eventually this accreditation helped you interact with the regulator and helped you get initial funding from Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) of the MCA to set up the Midas Touch Investor Helpline. That was so important. Even Moneylife Foundation is unable to do what you did, because it is too late. Yet you handled so many investor grievances successfully."

According to Mr Jain when Midas Touch started the Helpline, everyone has said it would be a non-starter and was bound to fail. That gave me the courage, he says, adding, From day one, it was my objective for that project that we have zero tolerance policy. So, we started with that high ambition, and almost made a significant impact. It was amazing to see that companies were responding, realising that these people were serious.

Before it was terminated, the Helpline successfully helped resolve 10,578 investor grievances at absolutely no cost to the investor.

"Isn't it such a tragedy that in India, good work is punished? Now we have the IEPF which is controlled by bureaucrats, who have not been able to replicate one fitth of the work that Mr Jain has done," remarked Ms Dalal.

The event was attended by many well-known journalists such as Andy Mukherjee and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, and others such as Kaza Sudhakar, former chief general manager at RBI, R Balakrishnan, and activists Abhay Datar and Subhash Agrawal, who had all joined to honor Mr Jain and also wish him a happy 75th birthday.

In her closing comments, Ms Dalal expressed hope saying, "Let's not end on a pessimistic note. The reason that we had Mr Jain here was to let people understand the challenges. We hope that when they do understand the challenges, they will probably be more supportive and understand the need to put up the kind of fight that Mr Jain has. Hopefully, he has inspired a few others to go to court, take a chance and study any issue that they feel strongly about. Because you never know, there may be a tremendous victory at the end of it."

The session saw attendance of over 80 people on Zoom and many others watched it live on YouTube.

A video recording of the session can be viewed here:
BizGurukul, as it describes itself, is an online e-learning platform that sells skill development courses related to entrepreneurship, career and business development and additionally provides training to earn money with the help of social media. However, even though BizGurukul has its own website where these courses have been advertised, one cannot buy them directly from the website, without putting in the sponsor ID.

One must go via what they call their affiliate program, which incidentally, is being projected as spectacularly lucrative. More important, this opportunity to make big money has nothing to do with either the course content, or the qualifications, age or work experience of the affiliate. It manifests through the commission that BizGurukul pays to the affiliate for every person who buys the course material.

This is unlike other sales program that allows consumers to purchase directly from the websites without using an affiliate link. BizGurukul by contrast sells its course material through affiliate links ONLY, and such a link is provided to the potential buyer.

It is also unlike other affiliate programs wherein a potential affiliate is not required to purchase the parent companys product. But to become a BizGurukul affiliate, one must compulsorily buy one of the courses on offer. There is no compulsion, however, to become an affiliate after making the purchase. The affiliate then proceeds to sell the course to others, earning a hefty commission from the company for each closure of a sale.

Upon enrolment, students get their own dashboard where courses are pre-recorded and only training and webinars for how to earn as affiliate are live as well as pre-recorded. Training is provided to new affiliates so that they know how to promote the product and start earning. This training is provided free of cost.

Thus, after making the purchase, the buyer stands at a forked path, one going towards utilising the knowledge gained from the course for seeking a job or setting up ones own business, and the other, leading to the affiliate program, which entails selling the course in the market and earning a commission through each sale.

Most prefer the latter due to the dazzling display of the phenomenal wealth earned by affiliates, prominently displayed in the BizGurukul advertisements.

(This is a screenshot of the BizGurukul website https://BizGurukul.com / )

Affiliates who have been asked if this business model resembles the multi-level marketing (MLM) model, usually respond by claiming that BizGurukul is a private company under the Companies Act 2013 and is registered in New Delhi, with the registrar of companies under the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA). However, their legal status does not justify their business practices.

Hence BizGurukul appears to be neither fish nor fowl but an effective red herring indeed, as in the garb of a marketing company, they are actually an affiliate program behind the facade.

Why have they done that?

LinkedIn Post

I first became aware of BizGurukul after reading a post on LinkedIn ( see here ). I did not reply to the person in the comments section and instead reached out to her via direct message (DM), at which point she gave me her mobile number.

Currently, one can become an affiliate marketer for any business by promoting the products of the company on any social media handle or a website. People can create their own blog pages, and obviously, they will need to purchase domain names, and SSL certificates but they do not have to pay for affiliate marketing itself. To become an affiliate marketer, BizGurukul requires people to enrol for their course. The course is thus a camouflage for the affiliate program.

The analogy provided by the affiliate in this screenshot is thus flawed, because it does not show the amount paid by the affiliate to purchase the course.

BizGurukul Courses: Are they worth it?

BizGurukul course packages are divided into three categories: Gold, Sapphire and Platinum, with sub courses, in different price brackets. Buying any one of the packages requires the customer to provide sponsor details, that is, information about the affiliate, who closed the sale.

You can check out their course content ( here ). These courses are pre-recorded, and most of the content covered can be found on YouTube, Google, and in several other free online courses.

BizGurukul also offers live webinars and pre-recorded or live training sessions for increasing sales. In these training sessions, BizGurukul affiliates are provided training on how to increase the sale of their courses.

However, we do not know, who is teaching these courses.

(A screenshot of Copywriting course content offered by BizGurukul)

(A screenshot of copywriting courses available for free on other platforms)

(A screenshot of courses offered by BizGurukul in their Sapphire package)

(A screenshot of similar marketing courses available for free on other platforms)

As an institute that focuses on imparting and training students with the necessary digital marketing skills, BizGurukul has never advertised the success stories of its students. Unlike other institutes that bring their research to the table, BizGurukul does not offer industry insights, instead it actively only seeks to expand the affiliate programs, while the course is just for namesake to prevent it from looking like a pure MLM.

In typical MLM, the sponsor gets commission for recruiting new person below his level without any limit and can also help his downline to recruit new persons below their levels. There are two structures, one the sponsor goes on increased number of downlines below his level horizontally (1: n or many) and two, he increases his downline in binary mode vertically (1:2).

Most MLMs pay commission on recruiting new persons and then the so-called royalty income on number of new recruits in binary mode. BizGurukul does not have royalty payments since its entire business model is based on selling its education package to as many people as possible in 1: n module. For this, it pays commission directly to the sponsor based on the package bought by the sponsor and the recruit. (See image below)

Furthermore, the LinkedIn profile of BizGurukul founders has no mention of digital marketing skills. As an institute that focuses on imparting and training students with the necessary digital marketing skills, BizGurukul has never advertised the success stories of its students.

Let us go through the LinkedIn profile of BizGurukul Founders.

Ritwiz Tiwari- co-founder and chief executive (CEO), Graduated from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (Batch 2019) https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritwiz-tiwari-519a84185/ . Ritwiz has over 3000 followers and hardly 2 likes to his posts.

Rohit Kumar Sharma- co-founder, business head. Graduated in 2014 from Northern India Engineering College. Although BizGurukul was incorporated in 2020, Rohit mentions in his profile that he has been chief operating officer at BizGurukul since 2011. Rohit has 6,348 followers on LinkedIn, but only has two or three likes on his posts, indicating a very low engagement rate (perhaps his courses are not helping him anymore!) and many of his followers are repeating themselves frequently.

Existing Digital Marketing institutes

In this section, I am including links to some websites of digital marketing institutes that offer different types of courses with live classes (online or offline), where you can purchase the courses directly from the websites without any affiliates, and that have strong placement opportunities as well.

and there are many more.

(Note- I am not affiliated with these institutes. I performed a simple Google search to find additional institutes offering programs in digital marketing. I intend to draw a comparison between these websites, their manner of operations and BizGurukuls manner of operations and its website)

Is BizGurukul misleading young people?

BizGurukul affiliates post lucrative job openings on LinkedIn, with no eligibility requirements. Well, they say that their affiliate program is open only for people, who are 18 plus. See the screenshot below. Yet, the same affiliate in my contact has posted a WhatsApp status showing earnings made by another affiliate by selling BizGurukul courses. This other affiliate is a student in the 10th standard! Well, she may be 18+ and still in 10th standard! Hard to believe.

As a next step, the affiliates post extremely enticing content and screenshots of their earnings, sometimes even describing what they purchased with the money earned as commissions.

Lack of Regulations

An increasing number of online skill-based programs are available that offer certificates, diplomas, training, and tutoring. Moreover, these courses enable students to develop skills that make them more employable, since curricula offered by universities do not reflect the skills demanded by industries.

Though these institutes offer certificate programs, they fall under unregulated education sectors and are registered as private companies. When designing courses, they set their own course structure, fees, quality, methods of evaluation, and trainings. In absence of any regulations that provides minimal benchmarks for the course content offered by such private companies, there is a proliferation of companies advertising lucrative incomes for graduates once they join their courses.

Currently, online regulations by the University Grants Commission (UGC) govern only universities or institutes deemed to be universities, whereas All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulations govern institutes that provide technical courses.

Even if such unregulated e-learning platforms are classified as e-commerce entities, but there are no specified quality standards for such courses. Hence, it is difficult to dispute the quality of services.

Why must action against BizGurukul be taken?

We are staring history in the face. Like BizGurukul, there was a company by the name E-Biz, which offered various IT-related courses through its affiliate marketing program.

E-biz courses had little or no value, but young people were attracted to the prospect of more money, easier and quicker. Over Rs5,000 crore of funds had been siphoned off by this illegal operation. In a posh area of Noida, the office space of E-biz was spread across a multi-storeyed construction of 500 sq. yards.

In March this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a prosecution complaint against Ebiz.com Pvt Ltd and its managing director Pawan Malhan in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court.

According to the ED, the accused ran an MLM scheme for sale of worthless products like computer education packages which were downloaded freely from the Internet. It says, Ebiz products were only for names sake. Primary purpose of the members joining the scheme was to get commission from enrolments and not for the products. They extensively advertised their commission model in which very high commissions were paid to sponsoring members for enrolment of new members.

BizGurukul affiliates often mislead young people by showing how they earn money in lakhs in a month, as well as by purchasing expensive accessories like iPhones, laptops, and cars. By doing so, they encourage people to take up BizGurukul courses and register quickly.

It is pertinent here to quote the cautionary note issued by the Reserve Bank of India on 1 January 2015: The Reserve Bank of India has cautioned the public against Multi-level Marketing (MLM) activities so that investors do not fall prey to unscrupulous entities.

Explaining the functioning of these entities, the Reserve Bank stated that MLM, chain marketing or pyramid structure schemes promise easy or quick money upon enrolment of members. Income under such schemes majorly comes from enrolling more and more members from whom hefty subscription fees are taken rather than from the sale of products they offer.

It is incumbent upon all members to enrol more members, as a portion of the subscription amounts so collected is distributed among the members at the top of the pyramid. Any break in the chain leads to the collapse of the pyramid, and the members lower down in the pyramid are the ones that are affected the most.

The Reserve Bank has advised that members of public should not to be tempted by promises of high returns offered by entities running multi-level marketing, chain marketing and pyramid structure schemes. The Reserve Bank has reiterated that falling prey to such offers can result in direct financial losses and they, in their own interest, should refrain from responding to such offers in any manner.

The Reserve Bank has also said that acceptance of money under multi-level marketing, chain marketing and pyramid structure schemes is a cognizable offence under the Prize Chit and Money Circulation (Banning) Act 1978. Members of public coming across such offers should immediately lodge a complaint with the State Police.

NOTE: Moneylife sent emails to BizGurukuls available emails on its websites seeking answers to some specific questions. However, till writing this article, there was no response from BizGurukul. We will publish their response as and when we receive it.

(Harshita Shah is a student of law and is strongly convinced that there is no easy money.)
We had mentioned in previous weeks closing report that Nifty, Sensex were trendless. On Monday, the indices opened higher and closed with decent gains. On the NSE, there were 1,331 advances, 713 declines and 9 unchanged.

The trend of the major indices on Mondays trading are given in the table below:

Kumar Manglam Birla, the chairman of Aditya Birla Group, has written to the Cabinet Secretary saying that he is ready to hand over his stake in Vodafone-Idea to any government entity to save the troubled firm.

Online insurance marketplace Policybazaar has filed a draft red herring prospectus with SEBI for an initial public offering to raise Rs 6,017.50 crore from the market.

HDFC reported consolidated net profit during the April-June 2021 quarter came in at Rs 5,041 crore compared to Rs 3,614 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year (YoY).

Britannia Industries consolidated net profit declined by 29% to Rs 390 crore from Rs 546 crore YoY. Revenue remained flat at Rs 3,403 crore compared to Rs 3,421 crore YoY.

IRCTC board has announced plans for sub-division of the company's equity shares.

UPL consolidated net profit for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 rose 23% to Rs 678 crore versus Rs 551 crore YoY (year-on-year). Revenue grew 8.7% to Rs 8,515 crore, compared to Rs 7,833 crore YoY.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals signed a long-term partnership with Canadian company SaNOtize Research & Development Corp., to manufacture, market and distribute nasal spray for Covid-19 treatment.

Patel Engineering bagged Rs 976.50 crore project from Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited, a joint venture between the Government of India and Himachal Pradesh government for the Luhri Hydro Electric Project Stage 1.

Bandhan Bank reported 32% increase in net profit at Rs 373.10 crore compared to Rs 549.80 crore YoY. Net interest income grew 17% to Rs 2,114 crore compared to Rs 1,811.52 crore YoY.

Varun Beverages consolidated net profit more than doubled to Rs 308.2 crore from Rs 140.8 crore YoY. Revenue jumped 49.1% at Rs 2,483 crore versus Rs 1,665.7 crore YoY.

Ramkrishna Forgings received a domestic order worth Rs 51 crore from a foreign multinational tier 1 OEM.

Emami consolidated net profit nearly doubled to 78 crore from Rs 40 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue went up 37.3% to Rs 661 crore against Rs 481.3 crore YoY.

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:
In the second consecutive year, monsoon landslides and flash floods across Raigad, Kolhapur, and Sangli districts, amongst others, have created havoc in terms of human deaths and destruction of property and land. While the cloudburst and climate are definitely part of the problem, activists have been crying hoarse over issues such as mindless sand mining permissions, excavation of soil by cutting hills, massive tree felling, to the tune of over a lakh of them, for the purpose of four-laning of the 438-km long Panvel-Zarap section of the Mumbai-Goa highway and, giving building permissions within the flood lines of the rivers. These are the larger part of the horrendous problem that is killing people, deluging, and flattening villagesfactors that are responsible for climate change, they assert.

While political leaders, including Maharashtras chief minister, leader of the opposition, and a host of others are making a dash to the tragedy-struck areas, it is just an eye-wash to keep the voters happy and show them carrots through measly financial compensations and promise of building retaining walls along with water bodies!

A Right to Information (RTI) query revealed that Kolhapur floods were caused due to 1,250 acres of red and blue flood-line area, a no-development zone, being used for construction activity along the banks of the Panchganga River.

This was followed by a letter by Kolhapur activist Balkrishna Shelar to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Delhi, which suo motu converted it into a petition and ordered the irrigation department of the Maharashtra government to carry out a fresh survey to demarcate new red and blue flood-lines due to the changing behaviour of rains as the 2005 flood-line demarcation was no more relevant. The NGT gave the third reminder in 2020 as the task was not done. Finally, it has now completed 70% of the work.

Says Mr Shelar, The irrigation department has finished redrawing only 70% of the flood lines so far. What is shocking is that, in the 70% revised flood line that they have marked, the flood water in last weeks torrential rains, has gone much beyond that line, thus showing that their markings are incorrect. They have yet to draw the line for the remaining 30% of the riverbank, which has seen even worse flooding in those areas, than the 70%.

The increased threat of flooding during monsoon for Kolhapur citizens is mainly due to permission given on the low-lying areas of the Panchganga River.

Mr Shelar says, During the 2019 floods, the release of water from the Almatti Dam was blamed. Strangely this year, the water from that dam saw a steady, regular release so there was no sudden opening of the floodgates. The Radhanagari dam is still not filled to its capacity so there was no question of releasing water from it. Then why did the floods become so catastrophic? Its obvious that giving permissions to build in low-lying areas of the river is responsible for it.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who visited Kolhapur, has directed the officials not to allow anymore construction in the river catchment area but Mr Shelar doubts, ``how far it is going to be implemented.

As for the present modern constructions that not only stand out like sore thumbs but have become a threat of life and limbs of the citizens, the CMs solution is to build a retaining wall!

For the Raigad district, Naseer Jalal, who has championed the cause of the environment in this region, has been fighting relentlessly for 25 years to halt indiscriminate mechanised sand mining, which also leads to small and big mangroves on river banks being eroded, amongst other ecological fallouts.

He has used RTI over the years to procure information on tenders and proposals for sanctioning sand mining in ecologically sensitive river bodies but has finally knocked at the doors of the judiciary as a fresh tender just last month has been floated for the mechanised sand mining work predominantly in the Savitri river and Waghotan river on the border of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts for facilitating boating in these regions. This, he says, is violative of the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) notification of 2011.

The horrendous floods in Raigad district are more severe because of man-made destruction than natures fury. Sand mining, indiscriminate soil excavation from the tops of the hills to widen the Mumbai-Goa highway, felling of treesover one lakh of themto build this highway and construction atop the hills are the reasons why rainwater gushes in a fury as all-natural stoppages for the erosion of soil and containing water along the slopes have been tampered with.

Sumaira Abdulali, a Mumbai-based environmental activist and founder of Awaaz Foundation, has been consistently sending letters to the divisional commissioner and collector of Raigad district. One of her recent letters states, In spite of sand being carted away in large volumes and consequent drop of the level of the beach by almost 10 feet, land erosion and felling of trees, there appears to be no will to implement long term action against illegal beach sand mining in Raigad District.

While Jaleel and a team of activists propelled the state government in 2010 to bring in stringent laws for sand mining, a resolution of the Maharashtra government in 2013 made it easier to get mining clearances. Ms Abdulali had stated then in an interview to Down to Earth magazine that, this new criterion is a blow to sustainable sand mining. The amount of sand generated by waterway clearing will never be sufficient for the construction industry, and additional mining permits will have to be given, which will simply continue to damage the environment.

Sunita Narain, an internationally acclaimed environmentalist has been consistently warning about wrong developmental policies in urban areas as well. She has stated that on the one hand, we are getting our water management wrongwe are building in floodplains, destroying our water-bodies and filling up our water channels. Mumbai or Chandigarh or Bengaluru did not drown only because of extreme rain. They drowned also because all drainage systems have been wilfully destroyed. Our city developers only see land for building; not land for water. Now, the changing climate will make this mismanagement even more deadly.
When prime minister Narendra Modi described the COVID management of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as 'commendable', or even 'unprecedented', it made even the most neutral of economy watchers squirm uncomfortably. The same feeling overwhelmed many when the government stated in Parliament that there were no 'oxygen' deaths. When prime minister Narendra Modi described the COVID management of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as 'commendable', or even 'unprecedented', it made even the most neutral of economy watchers squirm uncomfortably. The same feeling overwhelmed many when the government stated in Parliament that there were no 'oxygen' deaths.

Something bizarre is happening, and nowhere does it become more evident than in UP. It is the largest of Indias states. This is the state from which most prime ministers of India have stood for elections.

It is the most populous. The most poverty-stricken. And one of the most illiterate. More on this a bit later.

But more importantly, it has adopted the stance of dishing out numbers which have little to do with reality.

Take the COVID management first. The reason why UP has managed so few COVID deaths is because it just did not bother to register them, just in the same way as it did not even bother to register COVID infection. If the register is not there, the record does not exist, right?

Executives working at collection centres of prominent diagnostic chains Dr Lal Path-Labs and SRL Diagnostics said they have not been collecting samples for Covid-19 testing for close to 10 days now .. they have orders from the administration to not test. https://t.co/gMyGWNLCyX  Andy Mukherjee (@andymukherjee70) April 17, 2021

And it appears that the Union government has learnt this lesson from UP. It claimed that there were no deaths on account of oxygen shortage. There were no oxygen deaths because no medical certificate recorded the death as oxygen deaths.

In fact, no doctor in his right senses would ever issue a medical certificate stating that non-availability of oxygen was the cause of death. He would rather describe it as respiratory failure.

And when it comes to non-availability of ICU beds, the same story. The same story again when it comes to malnutrition deaths. The last is classified as death on account of natural causes.

Doctors know that if the truth is told, the administration could pile on them like a tonne of bricks. They might even lose their certificates of practice.

But UP does not even worry about that. According to the governments own report , only 6.5% of the deaths that are registered in UP are certified medically. The rest of them are merely recorded as deaths. The cause of death is not given.

The person could have died on account of lack of oxygen, or were victims of murder. You will not get details. In fact, the entire Hindi-belt is notorious for this. And it happens because of many reasons. There are very few doctors.

Local collectors and their nominees refuse to give the cause of death. The police are collusive. And there is little to say about the elected representatives.

What is more frightening is that across the country too, only 20% of the registered deaths are medically certified. The remaining 80% do not have the cause of death noted. Absence of forensic laboratories provides a good excuse. And the diversion of forensic capability to determine whether meat confiscated belongs to cows makes forensics for humans even more scarce.

But the most frightening thing about death is that almost 2.3 million deaths each year, in pre-COVID times, go unregistered . They are the missing dead. Nobody knows about them. It is quite possible that their Aadhaar cards, the ration cards and their pension drawals are still alive.

Just imagine the havoc this would cause to the electoral system. In five years, you could have one crore bogus voters, impersonating the dead. This number does not include fraudulent voters using bogus Aadhaar (and election) cards.

So, when you hear of bodies floating down the Ganges, you know that the numbers of unregistered deaths will be higher this year. Of course, the state did try to justify this discovery of bodies in the river or along riverbanks by saying that people consider the river sacred and hence throw the bodies in it.

But wasnt that the kind of thing Namami Gange was supposed to stop? So where were the Rs8,000 crore spent

Honestly, the stories UP can come up with!

What is also extremely important is the role the Election Commission (EC) should be playing. It must send across teams to actually account for the dead and missing and cross them out of the electoral rolls. Else you will have more bogus voting in the coming elections.

UPs contribution to this number will be significant, if anecdotal evidence is considered and the brilliant tabulations of Dainik Bhaskar are considered. It will be the death of democracy if the EC does not move quickly.

But take other numbers that appear to have been churned out by the ubiquitous bureaucrats flight of fancy.

Take the first chart. Look at population growth. True, UP has a population growth that is higher than the national population growth. But watch the way it has declined from 26% in 2001 to 20% in 2011. And this was without any birth control law. Clearly the law just is not needed.

Just improve incomes of families. Give them social security. Improve education. Birth rates will automatically decline.

If birth rates are high, it is because (as the first chart shows, towards the bottom), mortality rates for children under five years stand at a whopping 47 per 1,000 people, compared to 36 or the entire country. Poverty rates are extremely high compared to the national average, even though unemployment rates look lower.

That is because UP is a highly exploitative state where farmers are seldom given fair market prices for their produce. So, they can work and toil. But they will remain poor. That is because UP is a highly exploitative state where farmers are seldom given fair market prices for their produce. So, they can work and toil. But they will remain poor.

That is why, when UP boasts low dropout rates or higher enrolment rates, they are out of sync with low literacy rates.

In any case, India has an absurd way of measuring literacy. It still uses the definition anyone who can read or write his or her nameto be classified as literate.

So, if my name is Ram (appropriate for the current season), and I know the three letters, I am literate. Very charming!

No wonder then, the life expectancy of people in UP is lower than that for the entire country. And the death rate is higher. It is a state that is crying out to be liberated, but the prime minister and NITI Aayog are blind to these cries. They call the states performance commendable and exemplary!

Then there are other numbers that baffle. Take the first chart again. Rural share of food expenditure is almost at the same level as the rest of the country. How is that possible? Food expenditure as a percentage of total income goes up when people are poor, and comes down only when there is money for other things. And also do bear in mind that 77.73% of UPs population is rural. So, this number does matter immensely.

Thus, you have abject poverty, and the state claiming that its rural share of food expenditure is at the same level as the entire country. Just unbelievable!

Finally, for the sake of brevity, take one more number. UPs gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth is 5.3%lower than 7% for the countrys GDP growth. But look at the next line. Per capita income growth is shown at 13%, higher than the national growth at 10%.

So, how did the per capita number increase to levels higher than for the entire country. Did someone reduce the states population to arrive at this number? Fanciful, indeed.

If UPs systems are not brought under check, the contagion will spread. It has already spread to Niti Aayog. Even the PM appears to have been affected by this. The country definitely needs to be saved.

(The author is a senior journalist)
Weather Alert

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. MISSOULA POLICE DEPT IS REQUESTING A MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY FOR KAYLEE JANE BARBER SHE IS A 14 YEAR OLD FEMALE, WHO IS 5 FEET, 7 INCHES TALL, WEIGHS 140 POUNDS AND HAS GREEN EYES AND RED HAIR. SHE WAS LAST SEEN YESTERDAY AT HELLGATE HIGH SCHOOL IN MISSOULA, MONTANA. KAYLEE WAS LAST SEEN WEARING BLACK TANK TOP AND BLACK RIPPED JEANS. SHE IS MISSING HER MEDICINE AND IS SUICIDAL. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON KAYLEE BARBER PLEASE CONTACT MISSOULA POLICE DEPARTMENT AT 406-552-6300 OR 911.
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SOUTHAMPTON -- Show off your Southampton Free Library pride and help celebrate our 100th anniversary by participating in our Virtual 5K. Everyone who registers before August 16 will be guaranteed either a t-shirt or a gaiter with our 100th anniversary logo and be entered into a raffle for a 
COLUMN: Critical Race Theory  What is it and is it taught in Montrose County School District?
August 02, 2021

Why Hypersonic Missiles Are Real Game Changers - by Gordog

A Technical Look at the Science Behind the Headlines

by Gordog

The Americans are now crying uncle about Russias hypersonic weapons. After the most recent flight test of the scramjet-powered Zircon cruise missile, the Washington Post on July 11 carried a Nato statement of complaint:

"Russias new hypersonic missiles are highly destabilizing and pose significant risks to security and stability across the Euro-Atlantic area," the statement said.

At the same time, talks have begun on the strategic dialog between the US and Russia, as agreed at the June 16 Geneva Summit of the two presidents. The two sides had already agreed to extend the START treaty on strategic weapons that has been in effect for a decade, but, notably, it was the US side that initiated the summitperhaps spurred by the deployment of the hypersonic, intercontinental-range Avangard missile back in 2019, when US weapons inspectors were present, as per START, to inspect the Avangard as it was lowered into its missile silos.

But what exactly is a hypersonic missileand why is it suddenly such a big deal?

We all remember when Vladimir Putin announced these wonder weapons in his March 2018 address to his nation [and the world]. The response from the US media was loud guffaws about CGI cartoons and Russian wishcasting. Well, neither Nato nor the Biden team are guffawing now. Like the five stages of grief, the initial denial phase has slowly given way to acceptance of realityas Russia continues deploying already operational missiles, like the Avangard and the air-launched Kinzhal, now in Syria, as well as finishing up successful state trials of the Zircon, which is to be operationally deployed aboard surface ships and submarines, starting in early 2022. And in fact, there are a whole slew of new Russian hypersonic missiles in the pipeline, some of them much smaller and able to be carried by ordinary fighter jets, like the Gremlin aka GZUR.

The word hypersonic itself means a flight regime above the speed of Mach 5. That is simple enough, but it is not only about speed. More important is the ability to MANEUVER at those high speeds, in order to avoid being shot down by the opponents air defenses. A ballistic missile can go much fasteran ICBM flies at about 6 to 7 km/s, which is about 15,000 mph, about M 25 high in the atmosphere. [Mach number varies with temperature, so it is not an absolute measure of speed. The same 15,000 mph would only equal M 20 at sea level, where the temperature is higher and the speed of sound is also higher.]

But a ballistic missile flies on a straightforward trajectory, just like a bullet fired from a barrel of a gunit cannot change direction at all, hence the word ballistic.

This means that ballistic missiles can, in theory, be tracked by radar and shot down with an interceptor missile. It should be noted here that even this is a very tough task, despite the straight-line ballistic trajectory. Such an interception has never been demonstrated in combat, not even with intermediate-range ballistic missiles [IRBMs], of the kind that the DPRK fired off numerous times, sailing above the heads of the US Pacific Fleet in the Sea of Japan, consisting of over a dozen Aegis-class Ballistic Missile Defense ships, designed specifically for the very purpose of shooting down IRBMs.

Such an interception would have been a historic demonstration of military technologyon the level of the shock and awe of Hiroshima! But no interception was ever attempted by those ballistic missile defense ships, spectating as they were, right under the flight paths of the North Korean rockets!

The bottom line is that hitting even a straight-line ballistic missile has never been successfully demonstrated in actual practice. It is a very hard thing to do.

Consider that a modern combat rifle with a high-velocity cartridge can fire a bullet at a speed of about 1,200 meters per second [1.2 km/s]. That is barely one fifth the speed of an ICBM warhead, and only about half the speed of a short or intermediate-range ballistic missile. Clearly, intercepting anything that flies double or even five times the speed of a rifle bullet is going to be a daunting task. [Note from our previous discussion on the space race and the technicalities of orbital flight, that the ICBM does not reach orbital velocity, but flies on a suborbital trajectoryalthough it does exit the atmosphere].

Between the two, speed and maneuvering, the latter is much more effective in evading defensive interception.

We know this from many actual battlefield results. When the US launched large salvoes of subsonic Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria in 2017 and again in 2018, a number of them were intercepted by Syrian air defenses. But not nearly all. Many did get through despite the T-Hawks relatively slow speed of about 500 mph, which is only about M 0.7. But the cruise missiles ability to fly low to the ground and maneuver in flight, changing direction constantly, make it a tough target to hit. Likewise in the Falklands War, the Argentines used subsonic and fairly short-range, French-made Exocet sea-skimming cruise missiles to sink several large British warships, including a then-state-of-the-art Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Sheffield.

Even bird hunters know this, and will use a shotgun that scatters many pellets over a wide area rather than a bullet-firing rifle to take down slow-flying, but maneuvering, land and waterfowl! Obviously, if you combine high speed WITH maneuvering, you will have a missile that is going to be very difficult to stop. [If not impossible, with something like the Avangard, which reaches ICBM speeds of up to M 25!].

But lets lower our sights a little from ICBMs and IRBMs [and even subsonic cruise missiles] to a quite ancient missile technology, the Soviet-era Scud, first introduced into service in 1957! A recent case with a Houthi Scud missile fired at Saudi Arabia in December 2017 shows just how difficult missile interception really is:

At around 9 p.ma loud bang shook the domestic terminal at Riyadhs King Khalid International Airport. There was an explosion at the airport, a man said in a video taken moments after the bang. He and others rushed to the windows as emergency vehicles streamed onto the runway. Another video, taken from the tarmac, shows the emergency vehicles at the end of the runway. Just beyond them is a plume of smoke, confirming the blast and indicating a likely point of impact.

The Houthi missile, identified as an Iranian-made Burqan-2 [a copy of a North Korean Scud, itself a copy of a Chinese copy of the original Russian Scud from the 1960s], flew over 600 miles before hitting the Riyadh international airport. The US-made Patriot missile defense system fired FIVE interceptor shots at the missileall of them missed!

Laura Grego, a missile expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, expressed alarm that Saudi defense batteries had fired five times at the incoming missile. You shoot five times at this missile and they all miss? That's shocking, she said. That's shocking because this system is supposed to work.

Ms Grego knows what shes talking aboutshe holds a physics doctorate from Caltech and has worked in missile technology for many years. Not surprisingly, American officials first claimed the Patriot missiles had done their job and shot the Scud down. This was convincingly debunked in the extensive expert analysis that ran in the NYT: Did American Missile Defense Fail in Saudi Arabia?

This was not the first time that Patriot missile defense against this supposedly obsolete missile failed spectacularly:

On February 25, 1991, an Iraqi Scud hit the barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 14th Quartermaster Detachment. A government investigation revealed that the failed intercept at Dhahran had been caused by a software error in the system's handling of timestamps. The Patriot missile battery at Dhahran had been in operation for 100 hours, by which time the system's internal clock had drifted by one-third of a second. Due to the missile's speed this was equivalent to a miss distance of 600 meters.

Whether this explanation is factual or not, the Americans initial claims of wild success in downing nearly all of the 80 Iraqi Scuds launched, was debunked by MIT physicist Theodore Postol, who concluded that no missiles were in fact intercepted!

As the missile experts in the NYT point out:

Shooting down Scud missiles is difficult, and governments have wrongly claimed success against them in the past. Governments have overstated the effectiveness of missile defenses in the past, including against Scuds. During the first Gulf War, the United States claimed a near-perfect record in shooting down Iraqi variants of the Scud. Subsequent analyses found that nearly all the interceptions had failed.

Why is shooting down Scuds so difficult? Because this was arguably the worlds first hypersonic missile [it flies at M 5 and does MANEUVER]!

If we take a closer look at this missile, we see that it is propelled nearly throughout its entire flight. This is the key. The warhead only separates from the missile body a few miles [mere seconds], before reaching its target. That missile body contains a means for maneuvering the missile, by means of thrust vectorusing graphite paddles that move into and out of the rocket engine exhaust stream, as seen here. So it will be jinking and jibing as it enters the terminal phase of flightmaking it a very hard target to radar track and shoot down!

Once the warhead separates, the spent missile body falls harmlessly to the ground, as it did just outside the Riyadh airport, landing on a nearby street. It is this now uselessly falling body that could be locked onto by air defense radars and hit by interceptor missileswhile the warhead itself sails unobstructed overhead.

The only real problem with those ancient Scuds was their accuracy. They could be off by hundreds of meters. But of course, accuracy and missile guidance systems have come a long way since then. The modern successor to the Scud, the Russian truck-launched Iskander, has an accuracy of about 5 meters! It too, is really a hypersonic missile that reaches M 7, but has a range of only 500 kmwhich was dictated by the now-defunct INF treaty, from which the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew.

The Russian Iskander-M cruises at hypersonic speed of 2,1002,600 m/s [Mach 67] at a height of 50 km. The Iskander-M weighs 4,615 kg carries a warhead of 710800 kg, has a range of 480 km and achieves a CEP [circular error probable] of 57 meters. During flight it can maneuver at different altitudes and trajectories to evade anti-ballistic missiles.

Iskander is generally described, at least in the west, as a quasi-ballistic missile. But quasi or not, the US considers the Iskander a very dangerous weapon, and a type of weapon which it does not yet possess. In fact, the US attempts to develop its very first hypersonic missile have been rather slow out of the blocks. Its first flight test attempt with the proposed Lockheed-Martin AGM183 [aka ARRW] in April of this year, did not even manage to release the rocket from the wing of the B52 carrier! The second attempt, on July 29, managed to get the rocket to release, but the engine failed to fire!

Clearly the US is many years away from fielding a working hypersonic missile. These early tests were only supposed to test the rocket, and carried a dummy glide vehicle which is supposed to separate from the rocket once it reaches a speed of about M 6 or so, and then glide to its target while maneuvering.

The prototype missile would carry a frangible surrogate for that [glide] vehicle that would disintegrate after release.

However, it is unclear how an unpowered gliding body is going to accomplish aerodynamic maneuvering INSIDE the atmosphere. The concept of boost-glide, which is used by Avangard, works by hoisting the glide vehicle up above the atmosphere, at ICBM speed, where the glider can then skip off the upper layers of the atmosphere like a flat pebble skipping over the surface of a still pond.

The overall flight range of AGM183 is a claimed 1,000 miles [1,600 km]. Clearly such a short-range missile, and reaching a speed of only about M 8 at most [based on statements of reaching its target in a flight time of 10 to 12 minutes] is not going to be able to use the boost-glide means of maneuvering, which requires exiting the atmosphere.

The Technical Deep Dive (If you are not inclined to follow technical details jump to the conclusions.)



So lets look at Russian hypersonic technology in a little more detail, so that we may understand more than just what the technically-challenged media are telling us. From what the Russian military has already fielded, we can see that hypersonic missiles come in all shapes and sizes. Some, like Avangard, are launched by powerful ICBM rockets and have ICBM-like striking range. Others, like Zircon, are more like a Tomahawk or Kalibr cruise missile, powered by an air-breathing engine, and able to aerodynamically maneuver throughout their flight to the targetbut flying about ten times faster.

Others, like Kinzhal, which appears to be an evolution of the Iskander [itself an evolution of the Scud] are powered by relatively small rockets and are designed to maneuver gas-dynamically [thrust vectoring], again, during all phases of flight, right up to the target.

These are the three primary types for purposes of basic classification. They all fly very fast [up to M 25 for Avangard], but they use different propulsion systems, and different means of maneuvering. Lets begin with the Kinzhal, since we already understand the basics of how a Scud or Iskander works. In the case of Kinzhal, it is launched from a very high speed and height by a MiG31 interceptor aircraft, which is designed to fly up to 1,500 km at a cruising speed of M 2.4, at a height of about 20 km.

By carrying even an unmodified Iskander up to this speed and height, its range could easily double, to about 1,000 kmsince the rocket chemical energy required to reach that height and speed would be saved, and could be expended on increasing its flight range.

The range given for Kinzhal is 2,000 km, but it is not clear if that includes the flight range of the MiG31 carrier aircraft. My guess would be that it does. The MiG has a combat radius of over 700 km at its M 2.4 cruise speed. That means that after release, the Kinzhal would need to fly for about 1,300 km before hitting its targetfor an overall system range of 2,000 km. In fact, the MiG could fly a significant portion of its flight subsonically, saving fuel, and accelerate up to supersonic cruise speed, or even its top speed of M 2.8, only in the last couple of hundred km, before launching Kinzhal. It would then circle back and return to base subsonically again. This would increase range even more.

Either way, it is a safe bet that the overall range to a target, say a US aircraft carrier, from the takeoff point of the MiG [now deployed in Syria], is realistically going to be no less than the stated 2,000 km, if not more. This is certainly a game-changer for US naval dominance! Carrier-based aircraft would have no chance to fly far enough from their floating airfield to intercept a MiG31 launching a Kinzhal at 1,000 km or more distance from the ship. The F/A-18 has a combat radius for air-to-air missions of only 740 km. Obviously, it is not going to be able to reach the MiG launching from outside of 1,000 km.

Now let us look at the Zircon cruise missile that Nato is complaining about. So far, this missile has been successfully test-flown at target distances of up to about 450 km. The Russian MoD says its range is actually in excess of 1,000 km, and that flight tests to maximum range will be forthcoming.

This too is a game-changer. The Zircon will be carried by Russias new class of surface warships in the frigate or small destroyer size, as well as on the new Yasen-class cruise missile nuclear subs that are now coming into service. These state-of-the-art subs will also carry subsonic Kalibr cruise missiles with a maximum range of 4,500 km! Combined with the air-launched Kinzhal, the US Navy will face some very stiff challengesfrom the air, from the sea, and even from under the sea. It should be noted that both the Zircon and Kinzhal are not exclusively anti-ship missiles. They can just as readily target land objects, including Nato command and control centerswhich Putin has said Russia will do, in the event of any kind of western aggression!

But Zircon is also a technological tour de force. The unique feature of the Zircon is its scramjet engine. This is the first time that the world has a production engine of this typesomething which has long been a goal for both the US and Russia.

Not surprisingly, the Russians flew the worlds first scramjet prototype back in 1991the Kholod, which means cold in Russian. Remarkably, in the Yeltsin detente atmosphere of the early nineties, the Russian developers of the worlds first functional scramjet engine, the Central Institute of Aviation Motors [CIAM] invited Nasa to participate in the flight tests at the Sary Shagan test range in Kazakhstan. The results were published in the US professional literature, here, and here.

But despite this technology boost from Russia, the US has not been able to keep up. Its experiments with scramjet engines, although wildly hyped in the media, have been dormant for several years. It appears that the US has given up on the idea of building a working scramjet engine for the time beingmuch as they gave up, decades ago, on the idea of building a closed-cycle rocket engine, having deemed the technology impossible.

So what is a scramjet engine anyway? To fully understand this, lets first look at how a turbojet engine works. Here is a picture that is worth a thousand words. Air enters the front of the engine and is then compressed by a number of rotating blades on a series of wheels, similar to a fan or propeller. The compressed air is then passed into the burner, or combustion chamber, where fuel is squirted in and the result is a high temperature and high-pressure gas that then drives the turbine wheelswhich are bladed in a way similar to the compressor wheels up front.

The turbine wheels and compressor are on a single shaft and rotate at the same speedso it is the energy of the gas driving the turbines, that drives the compressors. The remaining energy in the gas is squeezed out through a nozzle, which accelerates the gas flow, which, in turn, creates thruston the principle of Newtons Third Law, action-reaction. The force of the fast-moving mass flow of gas out the nozzle, must be compensated by a REACTION force in the opposite direction [forward thrust], as per the conservation of momentum principle. Hence all jet engines, whether air-breathing or rocket, are called reaction engines.

[Incidentally, the heart of any liquid-fuel rocket engine is a turbopump, which is basically a gas turbine engine. It has a burner, where some amount of the fuel and oxidizer are burned, supplying gas to drive a turbine wheel or wheels, which then drive two compressor pumps [also wheels], that pressurize the oxidizer and fuel, which is then delivered to the main combustion chamber under great pressure.]

Now what happens when you want to go very fast with a turbojet engine? Well, you basically hit a wall, due to the physics of airflow]. The faster you go, the greater the ram pressure on the front of the engine. This ram pressure [technically called dynamic pressure, or Q] is like kinetic energyit increases by the square of speed. [KE = M x V^2 / 2; Q = rho x V^2 / 2; they are the same except mass is replaced by density, rho, since we are dealing with a flowing fluid instead of a solid particle!]

In simple terms, dynamic pressure [aka ram pressure] is what you feel on your hand when you stick your hand out the window of your car while driving on the highway.

The results of this quadratic pressure rise with speed are profound! At a typical passenger jet cruise speed of 450 knots, or M 0.8, the pressure increase from ram effect, at the front of the engine fan, is about 1.5. Also, the engine inlet must SLOW the airflow down to about M 0.5, so that the rotating blades can work efficiently.

If you increase flight speed to M 2, the pressure rise at the engine face due to ram effect is seven-fold! At this speed, you dont even need a compressor or turbines.

This is the idea of the ramjet engineyou need no moving parts, just an air inlet that is designed to slow down the airflow to below sonic velocity, turning kinetic energy into pressure energy. The combustion chamber is simply a pipe with fuel squirters, where that compressed air is burned with fuel, and then expelled through a nozzle, exactly as on the turbojet. In fact the afterburner on supersonic fighter jets works exactly like a ramjet enginefuel is squirted in and combusts with air that was used for cooling the combustion chamber walls upstream [only a small amount of air is burned in a turbojet engine, with air to fuel ratios of over 50, compared to about 15 for a car engine.] An illustration of an afterburner shows the simple basic geometry.

But the ramjet hits a speed limit too, just like the turbojet. In both cases it has to do with the falling efficiency of the engine inlet at higher speeds: more of the kinetic energy of the high-speed airflow is converted into heat, rather than usable pressure. In a turbojet, the heat limit is reached by about Mach 3, when the heat of that incoming air exceeds the materials limit of the compressor blades. In the ramjet, eliminating those unneeded blades and all the other moving parts raises the temperature limit to a much higher valueso flight up to about Mach 5 is possible.

Above those speeds, the Ramjet faces a different kind of problem. As flight speeds continue to increase, the efficiency of turning that kinetic energy into pressure continues to decrease steeply. This pressure loss is due to a series of shockwaves generated by slowing down the airflow in the engine inlet passage, upstream of the combustion chamber. The biggest shockwave and biggest pressure loss happens when the flow finally transitions to below sonic velocity. This is called the normal shockwave, because it is perpendicular [normal] to the inlet wall, as seen in this illustration of a supersonic inlet and its shockwaves.

So the speed limit comes because most of that ram pressure is not recoverableit is simply dissipated into heat by the inlet shockwaves.

Enter the scramjet. Here, the flow is never actually slowed to below sonic velocity. Thats why its called a SCramjet, for supersonic combustionthe airflow through the combustion chamber is well above Mach 1, perhaps closer to Mach 2. By comparison, the flow in a turbojet enters the burner at just M 0.2, ten times slowerand in the afterburner and ramjet, it is about M 0.5.

This solves the speed limit issue of not having any more pressure energy available. But it comes with HUGE challenges. At a flight speed of M 6 or 7, the craft is moving at a speed of about 2,000 m/s. The main challenge is the flame front speed of combustion. Even if it took only one hundredth of a second to combust the air-fuel mixture, it would require a combustion chamber 20 meters long! That is hardly practical of course, but is in line with the flame propagation speed of aviation kerosene. That is why the afterburner jetpipes on supersonic aircraft are several meters long.

So we see that each type of airbreathing engine, turbojet, ramjet and scramjet, has its own speed limit, as shown graphically here. Even the scramjet will run into a wall at some point. The vertical measure is specific impulse [ISP], which is engine efficiency, per mass of fuel burned. We see that ISP decreases the faster we go, in any type of engineit simply means that fuel use rises much faster than flight speed!

But back to the main challenge of the scramjet, which is flame speed. This is strictly a limit of the chemical physics of fuel combustion. Hydrogen burns ten times as fast as kerosene, but is not a practical fuelit must be cooled to near absolute zero to be liquid, and so is not storable, and cannot be launched at will without time-consuming fueling. All of the previous scramjet experimental prototypes, both US and Russian, used cryogenic liquid hydrogen fuel. But the Zircon uses a kerosene-based fuel innovation that the Russians call Detsilin-M.

The exact means by which the Russians have achieved this fuel chemistry is of course a tightly held secret, but it is clearly a remarkable breakthrough in chemical engineeringcomparable to the breakthrough in materials science that led to the closed-cycle, oxygen-rich staged combustion rocket engine in the 1960s [which the US still has not demonstrated].

In a previous discussion here, the technically-inclined commenter and longtime gyroplane pilot PeterAU1, dug up some interesting material about doping kerosene with certain additives to enhance flame front speed. But the technicalities of that subject are beyond the scope of this relatively brief introductory discussion. [Although Im sure we may hear more in the comments section!]

Conclusions:

The bottom line is that the Zircon represents not only a formidable and very deadly weaponbut it is indicative of the engineering capabilities of the Russian aerospace industry. It is an impressive achievement that is in fact groundbreaking. As mentioned already, Zircon is only the beginning of scramjet engine use by the Russian military. The next generation of such missiles, like the already mentioned Gremlin, will be even smaller and more capable in range and speed. At some point in the future, we may even see scramjet engines on superfast civil aircraftbut that is probably a long way off yet.

An even bigger engineering accomplishment is the astonishing Avangard boost-glide vehicle. But I will leave that remarkable story for another discussion.

The bottom line is that these new Russian technologies are in fact tilting the global military balance going forward. They are game-changing because they are UNSTOPPABLE with todays air defense technology. Just like the Plains Indians couldnt hope to stop, with their bows and arrows, the US cavalry with their repeating rifles.

Even more profound may be the psychological effect that Russias engineering accomplishments must be exerting on the American psyche, which is used to assuming that they have the smartest engineers and make the best military hardware.

That is demonstrably NOT the case anymore.

And that may be the biggest game-changer of all!

Posted by b on August 2, 2021 at 10:15 UTC | Permalink

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Moultrie, GA (31768)

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MOULTRIE - Mr. David Ford, 60, was born April 14, 1961, in Colquitt County, Georgia. He departed this life on Sunday, August 1, 2021, at Colquitt Regional Medical Center. Graveside services will be held 11:00 AM, Saturday, August 7, 2021, at Strong Memorial Gardens in Moultrie, Georgia. Publ
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Saturday Night Live head writer and comedian Michael Che wiped his Instagram account of all posts Thursday night after receiving backlash for posting jokes about Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

Biles, a four-time gold medalist, was expected to be a frontrunner in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, but she withdrew from the gymnastics team finals and all-around individual finals due to concerns about her mental well-being. Her decision has sparked an outpouring of support from athletes and Hollywood for being vocal about her mental health and prioritizing it.

On Thursday, Che posted to his since-deleted Instagram story man, i wanna make fun of simone biles, followed by i got like 3 mins of simone biles jokes in my head. im going to the cellar tonight to say them into a microphone. as the dorky kids say, im choosing violence.

Che then shared two jokes from Instagram users to his story and rated the jokes out of 10, seen below in screenshot captured by a Twitter account. Larry Nassar understands Simone Biles better than anyone. He too had to quit doing what he loved at the pinnacle of his career because of mounting pressure, wrote one follower. To which Che wrote, goddamn, thats rough. absolutely tasteless. 9/10.

Another Instagram user wrote to Che, Who said black dont crack?, and Che responded with now thats a good joke. economical. referential. balanced. good job. 8/10.

He later claimed on his Instagram story that his account was hacked.

maaannnn, i got hacked today. cant believe they got me. yall kno i only do jokes about whites and cops. sall good now, i changed my password and everything..anyway, yall hear about dababy tho..? thats crazy..iight. see yall at church. imma get there early, he wrote, referencing the homophobic comments that rapper DaBaby made at the Rolling Loud music festival last week.

Che is known for his controversial jokes on social media and as co-anchor of Weekend Update on SNL alongside Colin Jost. Hes used his Instagram account several times in the past to respond to critics, and the Biles jokes are the latest to spur backlash from fans and people in Hollywood.

Michael Che is trash. https://t.co/q4XQmcX4AV  Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 30, 2021

Yes @nbcsnl @nbc is on hiatus, but doesn't Michael Che have an @HBO deal too? It'd be a great time to act on all the big talk of listening to Black women, and drop that talent-free wastrel who constantly maligns us. We have receipts for years but this latest stunt is inexcusable.  @PiaGlenn (@PiaGlenn) July 30, 2021
I wish I had better news for you, but this one is a doozy for Houston.

An analysis on the number of homes with Federal Housing Authority loans shows that the Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land housing market is the second worst in the country for homes in danger of foreclosure.

MEANWHILE: Houstons only Frank Lloyd Wright house is on the market

The American Enterprise Institute analyzed Federal Housing Authority data and claims that 40,147 Houston families are delinquent on their mortgages as of May. Of those, nearly 30,000 are 90 days past due.

The rate of delinquent mortgages in Houston fell from 19.3 to 18.8 percent from 2019 to 2020, a positive sign among the fray.

The only metro area with a higher number of delinquent mortgages is the Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Alpharetta area in Georgia, with 42,268 families delinquent. However, Houston's rate of delinquency is higher  including the rate of those 90 days past due.

Borrowers in delinquency are at risk of wracking up fees and penalties, or even worse: Foreclosure. But there are ways to avoid it if you're struggling to make payments.

Sometimes, lenders will work out a short refinancing period and then throw the rest of the mortgage into a new loan, according to Investopedia. If there's an emergency that causes you to miss a payment, lenders can also work out a forbearance period for homeowners.

Across the country, 1.13 million families are behind on payments, or about 14.7 percent.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Country music legend Willie Nelson led more than a thousand spectators in singing vote them out Saturday from the steps of the Texas Capitol during a rally wrapping up a four-day march in support of Democratic state legislators who bolted for Washington two weeks ago to block GOP-backed voting restrictions.

Families with lawn chairs spread out across the sprawling Capitol greens in Austin. Clergy, politicians, constituents and musicians all spoke out about the proposals to impose voter ID requirements, limit ballot drop boxes and mail voting, and strip local officials of their election authority.

RELATED: TX Rep. Jackson-Lee arrested at voting rights protests at Capitol

The special session that the exodus by Texas Democrats halted is set to expire next week, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to schedule a new one as soon as the lawmakers return to the state.

If you dont like who's in there, vote them out, Nelson sang, inviting he crowd to join him in singing lyrics he'd previously written about taking a stand at the ballot box.

I felt like I needed to be here. It is a history-making event that is so necessary right now, said Brenda Hanson, 75, of Austin. I am a descendant of slavery and I am not interested in moving back, I want to see this country go forward. I have lived well over three quarters of a century and I have never seen us go backwards like this before.

Hanson said she is disabled but otherwise would have participated in the nearly 30-mile walk. Instead, she hoped to make a statement with her presence as she sat chanting in support on a bench under a tree.

The march began Wednesday and ended Saturday when participants walked up to the doors of the Texas Capitol building. It led, in part, by Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate who has not ruled out a run for Texas governor in 2022. Earlier this week, ORourke and marchers shut down the frontage road of Interstate 35 during the morning rush hour, funneled between restaurants and cut a path from Republican-controlled statehouse districts to Democratic ones.

Marchers compared what the GOP says are measures meant to protect against fraud and restore confidence in American elections to Jim Crow-style restrictions. There has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

I ask you to think about every man and every woman who had the courage in their convictions and did what they needed to do in their own moment of truth in this country's history," ORourke told the crowd.

More than a dozen people in favor of the voting legislation proposed in Texas gathered at the Capitol building's front gate behind the rally, waving signs in support of the proposed changes. Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes, who authored the Senate's version of the voting bill, told The Associated Press that when he heard about the rally, he decided to visit with people around the Capitol grounds to listen to their views and encourage them to read his piece of legislation.

The right to vote is fundamental and so it has to be accessible and secure, both are important, Hughes said. This is America. This free speech we love this. Whether folks agree with me or disagree with me, I am glad to be here.

Hughes said many people have heard generalizations, and his goal is to discuss with constituents the details of the bill's language.

Caught in the political crossfire are nearly 2,000 legislative workers who risk losing their paychecks after Abbott slashed funding for their salaries from the state budget in a punitive line item veto after Democratic lawmakers walked out in May. Lawmakers could restore the funding during ongoing special session, if it weren't at a standstill with more than 50 Democratic House members in D.C.

A lawsuit filed by Democrats on behalf of the legislative staffers is pending before the Texas Supreme Court. Its not clear when the court might make a decision.

MORE POLITICS: New DOJ memos show there's more to learn about Trump and Jan. 6

Renee Conley, 52, said she attended the rally with her daughter, for whom she is fighting against the Texas voting bill. When she goes to vote, Conley said she brings her daughter to the polls so she can learn the process in anticipation of the day she can cast her own ballot. Now, Conley said she fears by the time her daughter goes to college, she won't be allowed to vote if she only has a university identification card.

I am here for her rights, Conley said. There is no reason she should ever have any threat of not being able to vote.

___

Acacia Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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The city of Conways planning commission is set to make a recommendation Thursday evening about whether city leaders should rezone 17 acres to allow homes on a portion of a parcel that was heavily flooded during Hurricane Florence.

The citys planning and zoning staff recommended that officials reject the rezoning request, noting that 86% of the property is located within a special flood hazard area, according to public records. The request was previously deferred and is now on the agenda for Thursdays planning commission meeting.

Kingston Land Inc. wants the city to rezone a 17-acre parcel on Mill Pond Road close to Main Street from highway commercial to medium density residential. Preliminary plans show 10 lots on the northern part of the property, which is furthest away from Crabtree Creek, a channel that runs diagonally across the property. Each lot is about a quarter of an acre.

The property's developer Shawn Becker said plans include preserving about 15 acres of the property and the 10 lots would be on the highest point of the parcel. Becker said the homes would be built up three feet above the base-level elevation.

The citys future land use map calls for the tract to remain conservation land.

Allison Hardin, the citys director of planning and zoning, said that's because the property is low-lying and wet.

It concerns me a good bit because when were looking at a map, 86% of that property is in a flood zone, Hardin said. And of that 86%, a good chunk of it is in whats called the floodway.

A floodway is a channel that allows water to flow through and carries floodwaters from one place to another, Hardin said.

Those channels and those creeks are a big part of our stormwater system as well because thats what nature gives us, she said.

Becker said he would be willing to donate the remaining part of the property to the city that will be undeveloped. He said the ten lots could be divided, which would be about two and a half acres, and the remaining 15 acres could be used to improve drainage.
Are you hearing what matters most to you?
BERLIN (AP)  German prosecutors are considering opening a formal investigation into possible failures by officials to properly warn the population about the devastating floods that occurred in the west of the country last month.

More than 180 people were killed in Germany and dozens remain missing after heavy rain caused flash floods in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia on July 14-15. The economic cost is expected to run into the billions of euros (dollars).

Prosecutors in the city of Koblenz  close to the Ahr valley where 138 people died  said in a statement Monday that the investigation concerns possible negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm as a result of late warnings or evacuation orders.

Residents of two flood-hit towns told The Associated Press that they were only warned shortly before the floods hit, and that the information they received from authorities was vague.

Koblenz prosecutors said they were reviewing media reports and official police investigations into recorded deaths, including those of 12 residents at an assisted-living facility in the town of Sinzig, to determine whether there was sufficient evidence that crimes had been committed.

Prosecutors plan to announce within the coming days whether they will launch a formal investigation, they said.

Anger toward German officials was palpable Monday during a visit by North Rhine-Westphalia Gov. Armin Laschet to the village of Swisttal, where residents accused local and regional authorities of failing to sound sirens or issuing other warnings on the night of the floods.

You're going to see it in the elections! one man shouted at Laschet, who is running to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in Germany's national election on Sept. 26.

Laschet's personal approval ratings have suffered in recent opinion polls, though his center-right Union bloc remains ahead of the center-left Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens.

-

Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed several bills into law Monday to protect immigrant communities, and issued an executive order creating a Welcoming Illinois Office to attract people to the state.

House Bills 121 and 667, and Senate Bills 1596 and 2665, were signed into law. They offer protections for immigrant and refugee communities. The laws strengthen the TRUST Act  a measure that limits state and local law enforcement participation in federal immigration enforcement. The laws also make Illinois the second state in the nation to require local officials to end partnerships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expand workplace protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, and create the Illinois Immigration Impact Task Force to ensure state programs and policies serve immigrant residents.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Tyrone McKinley Freeman, IUPUI

(THE CONVERSATION) Novelist and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has so far given at least US$560 million to 23 historically Black colleges and universities. These donations are part of a bid she announced in 2019 to quickly dedicate most of her fortune to charity.

Scotts gifts, including the $6 million she donated to Tougaloo College in Mississippi and the $45 million she gave North Carolina A&T University, vary in size but nearly all of the colleges and universities describe this funding as historic. For many, it was the largest single donation they had ever received from an individual donor.

Scott, previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is not making a splash just because of the size of her donations. She has an unusually unrestrictive get-out-of-the-way approach.

I gave each a contribution and encouraged them to spend it on whatever they believe best serves their efforts, Scott wrote in a July 2020 blog post.

She sees the standard requirements that universities and other organizations report to funders on their progress as burdensome distractions. Instead of negotiating detailed agreements before making a gift, she works with a team of advisers to stealthily vet a wide array of nonprofits, colleges and universities from afar before surprising them with her unprecedented multimillion-dollar gifts that come without any strings attached.

Scott is also supporting students of color through donations to the United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which give HBCU students scholarships, and by supporting many other colleges and universities that enroll large numbers of minority students.

Her approach sharply contrasts with how many wealthy white donors have interacted with Black-serving nonprofits, including HBCUs, in the past. As a historian of philanthropy, I have studied the paternalism of white funders, including those who helped many of these schools open their doors.

HBCU origins

The first HBCUs were founded in Northern states before the Civil War, including Cheyney and Lincoln universities in Pennsylvania and Wilberforce University in Ohio. After the war, most HBCUs were established in Southern states. These institutions were lifelines for Black Americans seeking higher education during decades of Jim Crow segregation that locked them out of other colleges and universities. (Disclosure: I earned my bachelors degree at Lincoln University.)

Although many white philanthropists made large gifts to these schools, their support was fraught with prejudice. Initially, white funders pushed for HBCUs to emphasize vocational training, then called industrial education, such as blacksmithing, printing and shoemaking, over more intellectual pursuits.

White philanthropists including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller had poured millions from their fortunes into the proliferation of Black industrial schools by the early 20th century. The HBCUs Hampton University in Virginia and Tuskegee University in Alabama, which received donations from Scott, were leading models of industrial education for decades.

The vocational curriculum at these schools was promoted as preparing Black students to be skilled laborers and academic teachers. During this era, however, most graduates worked as unskilled laborers or vocational teachers.

White Southerners overwhelmingly approved of this arrangement, which left many HBCU grads on the bottom rung of society rather than making them educated citizens. Emphasizing industrial education at HBCUs preserved the superior economic status of white Americans and the racist system of segregation. But African Americans educational aspirations required much more.

W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent Black intellectual, was a leading critic of the funding HBCUs got from wealthy whites. He said: Education is not and should not be a private philanthropy; it is a public service and whenever it merely becomes a gift of the rich it is in danger.

In 1904, the HBCU leader Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Floridas Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls  now Bethune Cookman University  felt this pressure. She placed industrial in her schools name to attract white funding. But she sought to give Black students a liberal arts education that she believed would support their full citizenship.

Decades later, the sociologist Charles S. Johnson served as Fisk Universitys first Black president, starting in 1946. He sought to turn that Tennessee HBCU, founded in 1866, into a powerhouse of Black liberal arts education in partnership with white philanthropists and foundations rather than covertly.

HBCU leaders have, in short, faced a predicament for generations: When rich white donors offer big donations, can the money truly be used to support Black educational interests and goals?

Prejudiced backlash

When HBCUs secured funding early on, that money was often jeopardized because of bigotry.

In 1887, for example, the Georgia state Legislature withdrew $8,000, worth approximately $220,000 today, in critical annual funding from Atlanta University. The HBCU, founded in 1865, had flouted Southern norms by allowing whites and Blacks to share campus facilities, which white politicians did not appreciate.

Later, the school embraced a liberal arts curriculum, bucking the more vocational emphasis white segregationists preferred.

In response, many white philanthropists withdrew their donations.

Despite that challenge, Atlanta University persevered, eventually merging with Clark College. And so it is historically significant that Scott gave Clark Atlanta University $15 million in 2020 to use as it sees fit. The school is using the money for academic innovation, infrastructure and scholarships, and to build up its endowment.

Undercutting Black medical schools

In 1908 there were seven Black medical schools in the U.S. By 1921, following a sustained attack on those institutions, only two remained: Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Howard University in Washington, D.C.

The loss of those schools began in 1910, when Andrew Carnegies foundation funded a report by educator Abraham Flexner. Part of a larger reform movement to standardize medical training, Flexners study recommended the closure of five Black medical schools. It led white funders to sever their support.

At the time, there were extensive problems with medical education across the board in the U.S. There were no standards for curriculum or instruction. But Black medical schools particular problems  poor funding, insufficient faculty and inadequate facilities  were exacerbated by Jim Crow segregation and condescension from the establishment.

Flexners site visits were incredibly short. He castigated Black doctors as a group without interviewing them. He recommended support for Meharry and Howard to ensure that at least some Black doctors would be able to care for Black patients in segregated hospitals and prevent the spread of disease to the white population.

Carnegies and Rockefellers foundations were initially reluctant to support the two surviving medical schools in implementing Flexners suggested reforms. Their subsequent funding ebbed and flowed irregularly. Scholars have estimated that the Black medical schools closed after Flexners damning report would have produced 35,000 Black doctors over the past century.

For decades HBCUs such as Xavier University in Louisiana, which received $20 million from Scott in 2020, have been top producers of Black graduates who become doctors.

A continuing problem

A long-term shortage of Black doctors remains a critical public health issue today, reflecting the sustained underfunding of HBCUs.

For example, Marylands HBCUs won a settlement against the state in 2021 totaling $577 million intended to remedy decades of underfunding compared with the states predominantly white colleges and universities.

Scott funded three of those public institutions: Bowie State, Morgan State and University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2020.

A review completed in 2021 of Tennessee State University, another HBCU, found the state underfunded it by an estimated $544 million compared with the schools white counterparts, dating back to 1950.

HBCUs today

Today there are about 100 HBCUs, half of which are public institutions. They enroll roughly 300,000 students and award nearly 50,000 degrees annually.

Seventy percent of HBCU students are eligible for Pell grants, making the schools critical for first-generation and low-income students. Although they represent only 3% of all degree-granting institutions, HBCUs confer 13% of all bachelors degrees earned by Black Americans.

Today, a disproportionate share of HBCU grads become doctors  making these schools a vital on-ramp into the middle class for students of color.

And yet HBCUs are financially fragile. The 10 largest HBCU endowments total $2 billion, just 1% of the $200 billion held collectively by the 10 predominantly white colleges and universities with the largest endowments.

Despite the financial challenges these schools have faced, HBCU graduates include some of Americas most prominent figures, including Martin Luther King Jr., Vice President Kamala Harris, multimedia mogul Oprah Winfrey, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, filmmaker Spike Lee and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.

Theres no way to know the full toll endured by HBCUs and the Black community as a whole from long-term underfunding and donor hostility. In my view, it will take decades of Scott-style giving for HBCUs to recover what has been lost in time, compound interest and impact over generations.

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-scotts-hbcu-giving-starkly-contrasts-with-the-approach-of-early-white-funders-of-historically-black-colleges-and-universities-159039.
Darren Iozia | Journal-Courier

South Jacksonville Mayor Tyson Manker said Monday afternoon that he has appointed police officer Brian Wilson as acting interim police chief.

There were no details about the status of former Chief Eric Hansell, but the city said it is advertising for the position. Hansell joined the South Jacksonville department in September after 20 years with the Jacksonville Police Department.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea said Monday itll keep pushing to improve ties and resume talks with rival North Korea, despite the North's threat to rekindle animosities if Seoul holds its summertime military drills with the United States.

On Sunday night, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the drills would seriously undermine efforts to restore mutual trust between the Koreas and becloud prospects for better ties if the training is launched as scheduled this month. Her statement raised a question about the sincerity of North Koreas recent decision to reopen long-stalled communication channels with South Korea.

South Koreas Defense Ministry said Monday the exact timing, size and other details of the drills havent been fixed and that they were the issues that must be determined by South Korean and U.S. authorities. Spokesman Boo Seung-Chan repeated his previous statement that Seoul and Washington are examining factors like the pandemics current status, diplomat efforts to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions and South Korea-U.S. military readiness.

Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman at the Unification Ministry, said Seoul views the communication channels restoration as a starting point for restoring long-suspended ties between the Koreas. She said Seoul will steadily seek to resume talks with North Korea, but without haste.

North Korea sees regular military drills between South Korea and the United States as an invasion rehearsal and often responds them with its own weapons tests. In the past few years, however, South Korea and the U.S. have canceled or downsized some of their training to support the now-dormant diplomacy on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis or because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inter-Korean ties flourished after North Korea reached out to South Korea and the United States in 2018 for talks on its nuclear program. North Korea later cut off ties with South Korea after its larger nuclear diplomacy with the United States stalled in 2019.

Last Tuesday, the two Koreas restored their phone and fax lines after a 13-month hiatus, raising hopes of improved ties between the divided Koreas. But some experts say North Korea merely aims to use South Korea to let it convince the United States to make concessions before and when the stalled North Korea-U.S. nuclear diplomacy resumes eventually.
Getty Images

A Jacksonville initiative to make broadband internet access available to all homes and businesses in the city is receiving major boost from a Morgan County wind energy project.

Lincoln Land Wind on Monday announced a $250,000 contribution to the city for the initiative.
Maybe its just a professional preoccupation, but Ive always been intrigued by why voters cast their ballots as they do. Ive never made a formal study of it, but have talked with plenty of them over the years, and one thing sticks with me from those conversations: Theres no one thing. People find myriad interesting  and sometimes idiosyncratic  reasons for voting this way or that.

Some care mostly about a single issue  abortion, say, or climate change  and if a politician doesnt meet muster on it, they dont even give her or him a second glance. Or they care about a candidates ideology or party  conservative or liberal, Republican or Democratand dont feel much need to look beyond the label. For some decades, split-ticket voting was fairly common: that is, voters chose a Republican presidential candidate and a House Democrat or, less commonly, a Democrat for the White House and a GOP House member. This has grown much less common  in both federal and state elections. As ideological camps have hardened, party affiliation is part and parcel of who many people are.

Sometimes, its not so much ideology as what a partys leaders stand for. I remember asking one man in my district how he voted and why. He responded, I always vote for FDR. This was years after Roosevelt had died. FDRs not on the ticket any more, I told him. He laughed and said he knew that, but he always voted for whoever he believed would vote in accord with Roosevelts principles. This was not as whimsical as it sounds: he was saying, essentially, that the New Deal values Roosevelt pursued in office were still relevant to him, and he wanted candidates whod uphold them.

What has always struck me, though, is that voters also find plenty of more particular reasons to cast a ballot one way or another. Sometimes, they care a lot about a particular project  a road, a new school, or some other piece of infrastructure. Or they worry about the taxpayer dollars required for that project, and so vote against anyone who supports it.

Sometimes, public policy actually has nothing to do with how they vote. Over the years, for instance, Ive noticed repeatedly that likability matters a great deal, and may in fact override everything else. We tend, for instance, to like people who are positive, constructive, and forward-looking, and who make us feel hopeful. Or we like how they behave in public. I still remember an intriguing conversation with a group of Democratic women who told me they planned to vote for Ronald Reagan that election. Given their party affiliation, this surprised me. One of them explained, Well, I like the way he treats his wife, which drew nods from others in the room  they saw in Reagans graciousness toward Nancy a sign of character that drew them, and Im confident they werent the only ones.

Of course, there are always the highly personal reasons. I ran into a fellow once who told me he always voted for a certain politician. I dont agree with anything he stands for, the man said, but he helped get my son out of Vietnam. Another one told me I had his vote because he liked my short haircut. I refrained from saying I hoped there was more to it than that  but I certainly thought it.

In general, though, Americans seem to like candidates who display a basic sense of decency, know right from wrong, and show compassion for people who are struggling in their lives. We dont always vote for them  sometimes, other issues rise to the fore in a given election. But Im reminded of a conversation I had early one frosty morning, standing at a plant gate. An election was coming up, and I asked a man striding past me how he planned to vote. He was supporting the same ticket I was running on, he told me, adding, I vote for the candidate I think will help the ordinary guy. Thats a very American sentiment: We back candidates we think will bear our interests in mind and reflect our concerns. However we define them.

Lee Hamilton is a senior adviser for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.
Watertown, SD (57201)

Today

Partly cloudy. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 84F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.
Tunisian leader: Young are paid to migrate, harm Europe ties View Photo

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Tunisias leader claimed Sunday that some desperate youths are being paid to try to leave Tunisia illegally for Europe, saying the goal is to damage the country from within and hurt its ties with Europe.

President Kais Saied made the remarks during a stroll down the iconic Avenue Bourguiba, the main axis in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, a week after firing the prime minister and other top officials and freezing parliament. He listened to passersby calling out his name and shouting Tunisia! but said nothing about his much-awaited next steps.

Many fear Tunisias fragile democracy is in danger without a clear map of how the president plans to restore democracy. It is the only nation to develop a democracy after the Arab Spring uprisings.

Instead, Saied denounced those who exploit migrants, as hundreds of youths leave Tunisia in the warm season to try to make their way by smugglers boats to Europe. He claimed that some of his countrymen with political motives are paying desperate youth to make the trip, saying their intention is to repeat the mass illegal migration that began after the Tunisian revolution a decade ago.

There are people who hurt Tunisia. I ask myself how they could make 1,500 youths leave, he was heard saying in a video released by his office.

They give them money so that they leave. Those people exploit misery and want a remake of what happened in 2011, Saied said. They are hurting Tunisias relations with Italy, Europe and other countries.

Saied made the same assertion earlier Sunday when he formally accepted 1.5 million doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines from Italy, warning against any political exploitation of the countrys youths.

The president did not make clear who were using youths to allegedly harm the North African country.

The Tunisian Coast Guard picked up 31 Tunisian youths on Sunday, a day after stopping three attempted crossings and seizing five small boats and a large sum of money. A total of 188 migrants, 56 of whom were Tunisian, were saved, while 11 other attempts to embark on the journey to Europe were stopped, according to the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, dozens of migrants, most of them from Tunisia, reached the Italian island of Sardinia over the weekend, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

___

Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA

Associated Press
South Korea seeks to improve ties despite Norths threat View Photo

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea said Monday itll keep pushing to improve ties and resume talks with rival North Korea, despite the Norths threat to rekindle animosities if Seoul holds its summertime military drills with the United States.

On Sunday night, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the drills would seriously undermine efforts to restore mutual trust between the Koreas and becloud prospects for better ties if the training is launched as scheduled this month. Her statement raised a question about the sincerity of North Koreas recent decision to reopen long-stalled communication channels with South Korea.

South Koreas Defense Ministry said Monday the exact timing, size and other details of the drills havent been fixed and that they were the issues that must be determined by South Korean and U.S. authorities. Spokesman Boo Seung-Chan repeated his previous statement that Seoul and Washington are examining factors like the pandemics current status, diplomat efforts to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions and South Korea-U.S. military readiness.

Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman at the Unification Ministry, said Seoul views the communication channels restoration as a starting point for restoring long-suspended ties between the Koreas. She said Seoul will steadily seek to resume talks with North Korea, but without haste.

North Korea sees regular military drills between South Korea and the United States as an invasion rehearsal and often responds them with its own weapons tests. In the past few years, however, South Korea and the U.S. have canceled or downsized some of their training to support the now-dormant diplomacy on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis or because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inter-Korean ties flourished after North Korea reached out to South Korea and the United States in 2018 for talks on its nuclear program. North Korea later cut off ties with South Korea after its larger nuclear diplomacy with the United States stalled in 2019.

Last Tuesday, the two Koreas restored their phone and fax lines after a 13-month hiatus, raising hopes of improved ties between the divided Koreas. But some experts say North Korea merely aims to use South Korea to let it convince the United States to make concessions before and when the stalled North Korea-U.S. nuclear diplomacy resumes eventually.

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

Associated Press
Turkey battles wildfires for 6th day; 10,000 are evacuated View Photo

BOZALAN, Turkey (AP)  Selcuk Sanli set his two cows loose, put his familys most treasured belongings in a car and fled his home as a wildfire approached his village near Turkeys beach resort of Bodrum, one of thousands fleeing flames that have coated the skies with a thick yellow haze.

For the sixth straight day, Turkish firefighters battled Monday to control the blazes that are tearing through forests near Turkeys beach destinations. Fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures, the fires that began Wednesday have left eight people dead. Residents and tourists have fled vacation resorts in flotillas of small boats or convoys of cars and trucks. Many villagers have lost their homes and farm animals and have had trouble breathing amid the heavy smoke.

Overall, some 10,000 people have been evacuated in Mugla province alone, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday.

Sanli returned to check on his house Monday in Bozalan only to find that the fire had flared.

Property is an important part of life but life itself comes first, he said as he prepared to leave once again.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Twitter that crews were still tackling nine fires in the coastal provinces of Antalya and Mugla that are popular tourist areas. Other active fires were in the provinces of Isparta, Denizli, Izmir and Adana.

Another fire in Tunceli, in southeast Turkey, was contained on Monday, the minister said earlier. In all, 137 fires that broke out in over 30 provinces since Wednesday have been extinguished.

We are going through days when the heat is above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), where the winds are strong and humidity is extremely low, Pakdemirli said. We are struggling under such difficult conditions.

In Bozalan, Esra Sanli sobbed as she pointed at a fire raging near the village.

Theres no plane, theres no helicopter, theres no roads. How is this going to be extinguished? How? she said.

Firetrucks, with their sirens on, drove toward Bozalan, while villagers were seen herding cows away from the area.

On Sunday, residents were forced to evacuate the nearby village of Cokertme as flames neared. Some got on small boats and others left by cars as the fire got closer and closer  scenes that Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the nearby resort of Bodrum, described as hell. Precautions were taken to protect two nearby thermal power plants.

An evacuation order was also issued for the town of Turunc, near the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla province. People carrying suitcases fled on small boats.

Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday that some tourists were able to return to their hotels after the threat dissipated.

The EU said it helped mobilize firefighting planes from Croatia and Spain to help Turkey. Planes from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have also been fighting the blazes. Spain said it was sending two water-dumping aircraft and one transport plane as well as 27 soldiers to help.

The EU announcement followed allegations that the Turkish government was compromising firefighting efforts by refusing help from Western nations. Pakdemirli refuted that, saying that the government had only refused offers for planes whose water-dumping capacities were less than five tons. A total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were tackling the fires, he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government has also been widely criticized for failing to purchase state-of-the-art firefighting planes.

In Marmaris, Mayor Mehmet Oktay said fires were still burning in two locations and estimated that 11,000 hectares (28,000 acres) of forest had been incinerated. On Monday, a fire reached the edge of the village of Hisaronu, burning a number of homes and descending down a mountainside toward a road as police evacuated ambulance crews and journalists.

Our lungs have been burning for the past five days, Oktay told Haberturk television.

The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said at least 27 people affected by the fires were still being treated in hospitals while hundreds of others had been treated and released.

Soylu, the interior minister, said authorities were investigating the cause of the fires, including human carelessness and possible sabotage by outlawed Kurdish militants. He said one person was detained over allegations that he may have been paid by the group to start a fire.

Experts, however, mostly point to climate change as being behind the fires, along with accidents caused by people. Erdogan has said one of the fires was started by children.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece, where people had to be evacuated by sea to escape the flames.

__

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Ayse Wieting in Istanbul and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed.

___

Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.

By MEHMET GUZEL and SUZAN FRASER

Associated Press
MERIDEN  Without a formal mask mandate, infectious disease control experts are hoping people vaccinated or not would use good judgment about wearing masks in public.

With the highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant spreading across the country and in the state, public health experts have strongly advised both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to wear masks in indoor public space.

The state Department of Public Health on Sunday issued an alert that strongly recommends all Connecticut residents over 2 years old wear face masks in indoor public spaces, whether theyre vaccinated or not, given the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks because of the delta variant.

The warning came as all but one of the states eight counties were classified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having substantial transmission of COVID-19.

DPH on Sunday also urged both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents at high risk for complications of COVID-19, such as individuals with diabetes, compromised immune systems, pregnancy, obesity and asthma, to avoid large indoor gatherings that could include a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Risk assessment

But mandating mask-wearing again after vaccines have been in place and the infection rate dropped significantly can be difficult, said Dr. James Cardon, chief clinical integration officer for Hartford HealthCare.

You have to do a risk assessment, Cardon told reporters during a Zoom meeting Monday. You could be a vector. If Im walking into a crowded environment, Im wearing a mask. If Im around good friends and you know theyve been vaccinated, its different. This is something we have to factor into our thinking.

Many of the lunchtime customers at Toms Place in South Meriden Monday said they would wear a mask again if mandated, but feel it should be a personal choice.

If I have to, Ill do it, said Lenny Scenti. The sickness comes left and right. Its protecting the people, thats all theyre doing.

Most of the people who visit the small eatery are over 65, they said, and vaccinated, so they feel relatively safe not wearing a mask. But several customers expressed anger over people who refuse the vaccine because it leads to more infections and variants.

These people (not getting vaccinated) are putting us behind, said Peter Novicelli. Its not just about them, its about other people.

Novicelli recalls his childhood days when children were told to get a shot, they lined up in the gymnasium. He doesnt understand the current vaccine hesitancy. As for wearing a mask, hell do so if he goes somewhere and its required, he said.

I got lucky

Julian Garcia said he knows most of the people at the places he visits, but will wear a mask if he goes somewhere unfamiliar and isnt comfortable.

Bill Beedoe caught COVID-19 in April 2020 and spent 54 days at Hartford Hospital with 19 of them on a ventilator.

I got lucky, Beedoe said. They told my wife they didnt think I would make it. Ill wear one if they ask for a mask. Six or seven people died on the floor I was on. When it was my turn, I got the shot.

Beedoe called those who dont get the shot foolish, selfish, and said they risk spreading and getting COVID themselves without the shot.

Jim Brown of Cheshire is on dialysis and vaccinated. After wearing a mask 12 hours a week for his treatments, hes done with masks.

No more masks, Brown said. This is America, land of the free, home of the brave. I got my shots, I aint wearing any masks. Ill eat outside if I have to. I got my shot, but people should have a choice. I got the vaccine after my friend died. He got sick, two weeks later, he was gone.

John Pierlioni has lost friends to the coronavirus, is vaccinated and will wear a mask to protect others, he said. But he still has suspicions about the medical and pharmaceutical communities.

Sometimes, I think the rich want to get richer, Pierlioni said.

Owner April Ouelette agrees mask-wearing should be a personal choice.

It should be optional, Ouelette said. Most people in here have gotten the vaccine.

Highly contagious

Studies have shown that vaccinated people can transmit the delta variant but at a lower rate than the unvaccinated, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that vaccinated people mask up in public.

At Hartford HealthCare, doctors are seeing some asymptomatic cases among vaccinated patients who are tested before procedures. In those instances, they counsel the patients family members to get tested, get vaccinated and advise the patient they are contagious. The infection rates are much lower than before the vaccines were readily available, but the delta variant is 40 to 60 percent more contagious.

Doctors see the vaccines as the best way out of the pandemic and point to data to prove the vaccines success Less than .001% of those fully vaccinated have experienced a fatal breakthrough case. Less than .004% of those fully vaccinated had to be hospitalized.

This thing is infectious, it is more infectious, said Dr. Ulysses Wu. But if we dont get this under control, there is another Greek letter coming down the pike.

mgodin@record-journal.com203-317-2255Twitter: @Cconnbiz
Israel Troop Hinojosa

The Tejano industry is taking a beat to remember musician and graphic artist Ruben Cubillos. According to multiple sources, Cubillos death comes after a long cancer battle. He was 65.

The El Paso native who eventually made his way to San Antonio was a member of The Latin Breed and created hundreds of album covers and graphics for Spanish music artists including Selenas iconic signature logo.
Back-to-school season is back in session and local businesses are pampering teachers with deals on everything from massages to car washes.

Read below for a list of deals local educators can cash in on before school starts. Students also have a list of perks to round up, see that list here.

Free and half-off tickets to the San Antonio Zoo

The zoo is honoring teachers with free tickets and half-off admission for up to four guests throughout Teacher Appreciation Month sponsored by H-E-B. To qualify, a teacher will need to bring a valid driver's license and on of the following items to the ticket window: a district ID badge, a copy of their teacher's certificate or a district pay stub.

15 percent off school, household and office supplies at H-E-B

H-E-B is giving teachers a "Texas-sized thank you" with this offer valid until August 27. The registration form is available here.

Free car washes at The Wash Tub

The Wash Tub is offering free car washes for teachers, faculty and staff until August 8. All you need to show is a valid employee ID for a free premier shine.

TD Nail and Spa's 15 percent off deal for teachers

The Leon Springs spa has a special offer for teachers on Wednesdays.

$10 week passes for physical training

The PIT is giving teachers a chance to try out their "intense" physical training with discounted week passes.

Half-off monthly dance classes

La Rumba Dance Studio is extending their teacher deal through August to give them discounted access for the month.

Discounted massages

Mother Nature's Massage Therapy is offering 30 percent off massages for all educators and administrators through August.

Discounted waxes, facials and lash extensions

The Beauty Vault's August promotion is helping teachers get school ready with a list of discounted services such as $50 facials.
Montinique Monroe/Getty Images

With the infectious delta variant driving a rise in cases nationwide, we decided to bring back a live blog showing the coronavirus spread in Bexar County and surrounding counties.

More for you News N95 and KN95 masks are best for Delta variant, says...

San Antonio officials have repeatedly urged residents to get vaccinated as hospitalizations climb in the county. As of late last week, there are 695 people battling COVID-19 in the hospital. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said in a coronavirus briefing on July 28 that 95 percent of those people in the hospital aren't vaccinated.
San Antonians might make a 180 after they learn of the newest Cali import the city is gaining. A California transplant and San Antonio native are teaming up to bring the West Coast's skate culture to the Alamo City.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is the best video game of the...

Raymond Hernandez and Daniel Ortiz will open Skates on Deck in Alamo Ranch at 11841 Alamo Ranch Parkway on September 17, a few-and-far-between, mom-and-pop shop that will bring a "Cali flavor, but make it Texas."

Skates on Deck will be a full services skate shop that offers boards, wheels, clothing and shoes from brands that most skaters are familiar with, but Hernandez says that the shop is also bringing brands that really kicked off the skateboard scene in California, like Madrid Skateboards.

Madrid Skateboards has been around since 1976, and was the brand that created the skateboard used by the character Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II.

The clothing, picked with the help of their wives Melanie Ortiz and Theresa Hernandez, will include brands like Pink Dolphin, Fallen, and Merge 4 Socks.

Hernandez said the Skates on Deck will also allow customers to build their own custom skateboard  from the board to the wheels and trucks.

Skates of Deck will also have custom artists on hand, most of which are tattoo artists from his tattoo shops Ink Masters Tattoo Studio, to help those who want to create a custom design for their board.

Eventually, Hernandez also hopes to build an indoor skate park under the Skates on Deck brand.

"We want to create an experience," Ortiz says. "A place where kids can come in and just feel accepted. We want to create an environment where they feel welcomed."

Hernandez grew up in Compton, a neighborhood that's predominantly Black and Latino. He started skating when he was 13, fitting right into the scene and taking part in small competitions here and there. Now 46, he stopped skating 20 years ago.

Growing up in California, Hernandez was exposed to homegrown brands like Black Label Skateboards, Scum Skateboards and Destruction Skateboards.

Last time he tried skating, he broke a finger.

He and his family moved to San Antonio seven years ago. He met Ortiz, 34, in the sales office of the neighborhood where they were buying homes for their families.

Ortiz grew up on the Westside and hung out with the skaters in school and dabbled a bit with skating for fun, but never really went beyond that. Instead he went on to graduate college and created a professional services firm.

Almost serendipitously, Ortiz and Hernandez became neighbors. Now they're business partners, but Hernandez, who lost his brother in 2001, says Ortiz is like his little brother.

Courtesy of Skates on Deck

Skates on Deck is just the first piece in a Hernandez and Ortiz's bigger plan  to build on the skater community on the Far Westside to the point where Skates on Deck eventually becomes a platform to help sponsor and launch pro-skaters.

"Hopefully we can make a good team and a good name here in Texas that could, who knows, get kids to the Olympics," Hernandez says.

Hernandez, who owns Ink Masters Tattoo Studio with locations in Laredo, Arlington, Waxahachie, Miami and Pensacola and is the founder of the Ink Masters Tattoo Show, already has that marketing and sponsor support, especially from brands like Monster Energy, which told him that they would be on board to help kick things off.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers, it was a busy week in Politics, too, but I must move along and finish up a post. I hope to catch up tomorrow. lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Holy moley, the insect background! (More on the mysterious Potoo.)

* * *

#COVID19

At reader request, Ive added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel Im engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching.

Vaccination by region:

South rising.

Case count by United States regions:

Well, we blew past peaks #1, #2, and #4 with ease, and its only the beginning of August. But Everest, #3, still lies before us. Now, as far as reaching the peak of January 8, 2020, 295,257 Im not that pessimistic (modulo a new variant brought into the country by our ridiculously lax policies on international quarantines). Still, when you look at those rising counties, youve got to think this rise has a way to run. (Note that these numbers are if anything understated, since the CDC does not collect breakthrough infections unless they involve hospitalization, and encourages health administrators in the states and localities to suppress that data as well).

Covid cases top ten states: for the last four weeks (hat tip, alert reader Lou Anton):

California back on form. Musical interlude for Florida data.

NEW From CDC: Community Profile Report July 29 2021 (PDF), Rapid Riser counties, this release:

More red: Especially in Nevada (tourists), Update New York (!), and the Upper Midwest. This map blows the Blame Bubba narrative out of the water. Not a banjo to be heard. Last release:

Test positivity:

South running away with the field. But other regions now playing catch-up.

Hospitalization (CDC):

A little dip in 65+. But

Deaths (Our World in Data):

A rise in deaths is now obviously visible, though nothing like the peak.

Covid cases worldwide:

Every region is trending up. US sphere of influence under the Monroe Doctrine not doing so well.

* * *

Politics

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51

They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune

They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

Biden Administration

Tensions rise within Biden team over mask reversal [Politico]. The brewing anxiety in Chicago this past week underscored the extent to which the emergence of the Delta variant has disrupted the White Houses plans for the late summer and fall. A season meant to mark the great reopening of society has, instead, been darkened by the next chapter of the disease. And it has left the Biden administration at a crossroads: eager to tout a country making strides but divided internally over how to handle the threats posed by the new strand of virus and what steps Americans should take to protect themselves from it. Top Biden officials note that breakthrough infections among the vaccinated are exceedingly rare, unlikely to be severe, and more likely to occur in crowded indoor settings. Theyve been openly frustrated by what they see as overly alarmed coverage of these cases.  So how come Walensky was allowed to deliver the extremely inflammatory message that the war has changed? (Never mind that the war metaphor is highly overused, and also a bad sign: America is good at forever wars  living with it, as we say  but not good at winning wars.) Cant anyone here play this game? NIH director: We want to avoid lockdowns at all costs' [Politico]. One of the nations top public health officials said Monday that the Biden administration was seeking to avoid lockdowns at all costs amid a precipitous rise in cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant that has prompted a reversal of federal masking guidance and resulted in more stringent coronavirus-related orders across the country. Urging greater numbers of people to get vaccinated, Francis Collins  director of the National Institutes of Health  reported that most of the projections say were in for a really tough August, September, October, and warned Americans would be forced to adopt unpopular mitigation measures to stave off the widespread lockdown directives that the country endured earlier in the pandemic. We want to avoid lockdowns at all costs, Collins told ABCs Good Morning America in an interview. But that means were going to have to do some other things that wont necessarily be welcomed by people, such as the new recommendation of wearing masks in indoor gatherings, even if youre vaccinated. Skirting new shutdowns will also mean schools really need to have kids masked, so that theyre protected from being the source of spreading, as well, Collins said, adding: But if we want to avoid a more severe outcome that might lead to more extreme measures like lockdowns, we know what to do. We just need to do it.' To Fight Vaccine Lies, Authorities Recruit an Influencer Army [New York Times]. Fewer than half of all Americans age 18 to 39 are fully vaccinated, compared with more than two-thirds of those over 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 58 percent of those age 12 through 17 have yet to receive a shot at all. To reach these young people, the White House has enlisted an eclectic army of more than 50 Twitch streamers, YouTubers, TikTokers and the 18-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo, all of them with enormous online audiences. State and local governments have begun similar campaigns, in some cases paying local micro influencers  those with 5,000 to 100,000 followers  up to $1,000 a month to promote Covid-19 vaccines to their fans.  18 to 29 is an enormous range for a few celebrities to appeal across. And Im not sure whether the celebrity approach will reach marginalized rural areas, working class people who cant afford to take a day off, or Blacks. Frankly, it looks to me like a test run for 2024 and anything else (as is the offer of door-knocking). Ocasio-Cortez: More than enough votes to prevent infrastructure from passing without reconciliation bill [The Hill]. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) said on Sunday that there would be more than enough votes to prevent a bipartisan infrastructure bill from passing the House without a massive companion spending bill that Democrats hope to pass through reconciliation. During an appearance on CNNs State of the Union, Ocasio-Cortez told host Jake Tapper that if the Senate doesnt pass the reconciliation bill, the House will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in. So, we really need to see that language and see whats put in there  when it reaches the House, Ocasio-Cortez told Tapper. Bipartisan doesnt always mean that its in the interests of the public good, frankly. Sometimes, theres a lot of corporate lobbyist giveaways in some of these bills.'  FWIW, and this may be a minority view, I think that AOC has taken the measure of the mediocrities who comprise the House gerontocracy, and is planning to shiv Pelosi. As for example: .@RepAOC on end of eviction moratorium: "We have to really just call a spade a spade. We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority." https://t.co/97ZscU1eH5 pic.twitter.com/Wfmio2gFmF  The Hill (@thehill) August 2, 2021 What Joe Bidens 1988 White House Rivals Think of Him Now [New York Magazine]. Over recent weeks, New York checked in with Dukakis, Hart, and former Missouri representative Dick Gephardt. Dukakis, 87, and Hart, 84, are both retired. Gephardt, who became the House majority leader after running, is now 80 and remains a prominent lobbyist in D.C. As far as the other Democratic candidates go, the Reverend Jesse Jackson did not respond to a request for comment, and Al Gore, who was a first-term senator in 1988, declined a request to participate. Former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt couldnt be reached, and former Illinois senator Paul Simon died in 2003.  Entirely banal,

Obama Legacy

Obamas mask-less ball: Ex-president risks super-spreader event by inviting 500 people to his 60th at $12m Marthas Vineyard mansion: Pearl Jam will perform and guests including Spielberg will be served by 200 staff [Daily Mail]. Obamas party will take place next weekend at the $11.57 million seven-bedroom home he and Michelle bought in 2019, which includes an in-ground pool and plenty of space to relax on warm summer days. President Joe Biden will not be attending the soiree, the White House announced, with a spokesperson telling Axios in a statement: While President Biden is unable to attend this weekend, he looks forward to catching up with former President Obama soon ad properly welcoming him into the over 60 club. There will also be a COVID coordinator to ensure all proper protocols are being followed, but it remains unclear what proof of a negative COVID test or a vaccine will be required, and whether guests will be required to wear masks.  Nature is healing. 1 big thing: Obama plans birthday bash amid COVID concerns [Axios]. The party already is the talk of Uber drivers, hotel maids and check-in clerks.  Best employment program Obama ever ran?

Realignment and Legitimacy

Let the trickeration begin! .@ninaturner-Shontel Brown UPDATE: Polling place changes being announced days b4 election. Typically, majority of voters barely know that there is a primary election/when it is. Now the added monkey wrench of polling places changing. @StatusCoup is ON-THE-GROUND in Cleveland pic.twitter.com/CViWyjWmxj  Jordan (@JordanChariton) August 1, 2021 Well see if Turners ground game can counter this. The last few days have looked like Old Home Week at the Sanders campaign, and Im not sure thats entirely a positive.

Stats Watch

Manufacturing PMI: United States Manufacturing PMI [Trading Economics]. The IHS Markit US Manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 63.4 in July of 2021 from a preliminary of 63.1, hitting a fresh record high. Overall growth was supported by stronger expansions in output and new orders, with the latter increasing at the second-fastest pace ever. Unprecedented supplier shortages and delays continued to exert upward pressure on input costs and stymie firms ability to process incoming new work.

Manufacturing: United States ISM Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) [Trading Economics]. The ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 59.5 in July of 2021, the weakest in 6 months, compared to 60.6 in June and below forecasts of 60.9. The reading pointed to the second consecutive month of slowing factory growth as new orders (64.9 vs 66 in June), production (58.4 vs 60.8) and supplier deliveries (72.5 vs 75.1) increased less while inventories contracted (48.9 vs 51.1). On the other hand, employment rebounded (52.9 vs 49.9) and prices pressures eased (85.7 vs 92.1).

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Banking: With Goldman Sachs in the Rear-View Mirror, Morgan Stanley Chases Down Schwab [Institutional Investor]. Back in 2008, at the depth of the global financial crisis, Morgan Stanley was on sale for a symbolic dollar. There were no takers. Today the Wall Street firm long derisively known as the smallest big bank has roared past archrival investment bank Goldman Sachs in market valuation. It has built a fee-gobbling, active asset management business as a viable alternative to the no-fee, exchange-traded fund managers that largely dominate the field. And now Morgan Stanley  a white-shoe firm traditionally linked to super-wealthy clients  has set its sights on overtaking Charles Schwab Corp., the discount brokerage and wealth management giant, as money manager for the mass affluent.  Fee-gobbling as a viable alternative. Thats where we are.

Retail: Heres Why Amazon Doesnt Sell These Things [Family Handyman].  Guns, pets, lottery tickets, tobacco, contact lenses, wine, gas, cars, fireworks, Confederate flags, real estate (at least not yet).

The Bezzle: Hundreds of AI tools have been built to catch covid. None of them helped. [MIT Technology Review]. Wowsers, thats a shocker. The AI community, in particular, rushed to develop software that many believed would allow hospitals to diagnose or triage patients faster, bringing much-needed support to the front linesin theory. In the end, many hundreds of predictive tools were developed. None of them made a real difference, and some were potentially harmful. Thats the damning conclusion of multiple studies published in the last few months. In June, the Turing Institute, the UKs national center for data science and AI, put out a report summing up discussions at a series of workshops it held in late 2020. The clear consensus was that AI tools had made little, if any, impact in the fight against covid.  Bad products in a bad field. Idea: An AI mandate!

The Bezzle:

pantone should do nfts of all the colors.  Steve Randy Waldman (@interfluidity) July 30, 2021

Tech: The Metaverse Has Always Been a Dystopian Idea [Vice]. The company that operates the worlds largest and most profitable social media network will not, according to its CEO, be a social media company much longer. In an announcement that inspired a fervid wave of speculation, analysis, and mockery, Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that Facebook is going to become a metaverse company instead. Elsewhere in the big tech landscape, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoftat the time of writing the second largest company in the world in terms of market capitalizationhas been promoting his aim to build an Enterprise Metaverse.' The term metaverse comes from Neal Stephensons Snow Crash, which is a great read. More: In the book from which the current metaverse craze originates, not only is our world in ruins and most people are eking out precarious lives in dire poverty, but the metaverse itself is a place that is addictive, violent, and an enabler of our worst impulses. Its an exceedingly dark vision, if a satiric and somewhat cartoonish one So its a little remarkable that precisely none of this is acknowledged in the paeans to the metaverse that have emerged from founders and cheerleaders over the last few weeks and years, even as the vision of computing advancing as the world falls apart becomes all the more salient. In the world of Snow Crash, the metaverse is not viewed as particularly coolit is necessary, because the real world has become so unbearable.  I had never thought of Snow Crash as predicting the precariat, but it does.

Tech: Jack Dorseys side hustle  payments outfit Square  acquires buy now pay later darling Afterpay for $29bn [The Register]. Square, the credit card processing company run by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has announced plans to acquire Australian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) outfit Afterpay for $29 billion. Afterpay offers shoppers the chance to acquire goods and services with four fortnightly payments. Merchants pay a commission for each Afterpay sale, often at higher rates than those charged by credit card companies. But consumers can use Afterpay free of charge if they pay on time. Even if punters miss a payment, the initial $10 late fee can be less than credit card interest on the same purchase.

Tech: RIAA kills youtube-dl [Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic]. But the real ticking time-bomb in the DMCA is Section 1201, the anti-circumvention rule, which makes it a felony (punishing by a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine) to help people tamper with access controls that restrict copyrighted works. This rule means that if a company designs its products so that you have to remove DRM to use them in legal ways, those uses become felonies. DMCA 1201 is how Apple and John Deere make it a felony for anyone except them to fix their products. Its felony contempt of business model and you can go to prison for it.  I was sure felony contempt of business model was snarky parody. Its not.

Tech: Is the Cookie Web Tracker Dying? [The Markup]. Google, which brought the business model of tracking users for ad targeting to massive scale, has been slower to adopt similar changes. After initially pledging in 2020 to block third-party tracking for users of its Chrome browser by 2022, Google pushed the date for the change back to 2023. For now, however, cookies are still nearly ubiquitous. When The Markup scanned more than 80,000 popular websites using our web privacy inspection tool Blacklight, we found that 87 percent loaded cookies from third parties or from tracking network requests.  Good round-up.

Manufacturing: Fire at Tesla Big Battery Under Control After Weekend Blaze [Bloomberg]. There was one battery pack on fire to start with, but it did spread to a second pack that was very close to it, CFA [Country Fire Authority] Incident Controller and District 7 Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Ian Beswicke said in an earlier statement. The cause is undetermined and will be investigated once it is safe to do so, according to the CFA.

Manufacturing: Electric vehicles: recycled batteries and the search for a circular economy [Financial Times]. [T]he most glaring problem for electric vehicles [is that w]hile they are zero emission when being driven, the mining, manufacturing and disposal process for batteries could become an environmental disaster for the industry as the technology goes mainstream The metals used in batteries typically originate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and Chile, dug out of open-pit mines or evaporated from desert ponds. But [former Tesla engineer JF] Straubel believes there is another massive, untapped source: the garages of the average American. He estimates there are about 1bn used batteries in US homes, sitting in old laptops and mobile phones  all containing valuable metals. The process of breaking down these batteries and repurposing them is known as urban mining. To do this at scale is a gargantuan task: the amount of battery material in a high-end electric vehicle is roughly 10,000 times that of a smartphone, according to Gene Berdichevsky, chief executive of battery materials start-up Sila Nano. But, he adds, the amount of cobalt used in a car battery is about 30 times less than in a phone battery, per kilowatt hour. So for every 300 smartphones you collect, you have enough cobalt for an EV battery.'

Mr. Market: Investors Lose $1 Trillion in Chinas Wild Week of Market Shocks [Bloomberg]. The nearly $1 trillion selloff ignited by Beijings shock ban on profits at tutoring companies has triggered a new round of soul searching about the investment case for Chinese assets in the Xi Jinping era. After a week of wild market swings and tense calls with clients, some investors have decided China just isnt worth the trouble. Others spot buying opportunities after valuations sank to the lowest level in decades. As Xis Communist Party attempts one of its biggest economic policy shifts since the 1980s, almost everyone agrees the regulatory onslaught has further to run.  Looks like Xi has the stones to reign in big tech and pop a bubble. Too bad we cant do that.

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Todays Fear & Greed Index: 27 Fear (previous close: 24 Extreme Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 32 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Aug 2 at 12:17pm.

Rapture Index: Closes up 1 on earthquakes. A massive 8.2 quake strikes the state of Alaska [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 187 (Remember that bringing on the rapture is a good thing, so higher is better.)

Our Famously Free Press

Keith Olbermann Wants Jimmy Dore Banned From All Platforms [Caitlin Johnstone]. Proving once again he doesnt care who he has to step on to claw his way to rock bottom, fallen liberal media hero Keith Olbermann has called for the complete removal of left wing comedian and podcaster Jimmy Dore from all internet platforms. Time to ban this feral succubus Jimmy Dore from Twitter and other platforms, Olbermann told his one million Twitter followers on Friday. Olbermanns wrath was incurred by a short video clip bizarrely described as misogynistic in which Dore portrayed out of touch liberal elitist Emma Vigeland as an out of touch liberal elitist, saying that if people like her ever tried to bring their esoteric university Marxist wankery around actual working class people theyd get punched in the face and told to go back to their cul-de-sac. It probably also didnt help that Dore has done multiple segments on Olbermanns slide into flag-draped gibbering lunacy following the election of Donald Trump, including his public apology to war criminals George W Bush and John McCain, his demented Russia hysteria, and his support for NSA surveillance of US media figures. Someone got their feels feels hurt and now they wanna censor their critics like a regular authoritarian fascist, Dore responded to Olbermanns post.  Theres such a thing as a non-authoritarian fascist? Anyhow, its like we need a Rogues Gallery of liberal Democrats who have lost their minds. Just because somebody has a voice like nails on a chalkboard is no reason to cancel them!

Department of Feline Felicity

Indoor vs. outdoor cats:

Im not at all sure this is real, but that goes for a lot.

Naked Capitalism Cooking Community

Here is a ginger beer recipe:

Here for you who asking how/recipe and whats in it. pic.twitter.com/PI7nBFO29N  pink peppercorn (@ricis_angel) July 27, 2021

Reading the ingredients, ginger beer sounds healthy and delicious. Making it sounds like work, though.

The Agony Column

I Went To The Beach And All I Got Was This Petty Existential Rage [Defector]. Its a reader-mail advice column:

Carl: Now that beach season is upon us, I have to do my old man rant and complain about people blaring music at the beach. I like to read or relax or hear the ocean, not listen to crappy yacht rock or, even worse, flag bandana wearing bros playing obnoxious country music. Am I right for wanting to ban all music from being played on the beach or am I officially an old man? Thats old-man shit. To illustrate, Im gonna tell you a story. It was 2019 and I was still recovering from my brain injury, but I had yet to start going to therapy to deal with the anger management issues I had resulting from that injury. Anyway, I take my family to a public space and theres country music blasting over the PA. Real loud. Now, I fucking hate country music. Because I have good taste. But back in 2019, I didnt have the ability to just deal with it. Instead, I went looking for the person in charge of the PAa real Can I talk to the manager? momentand asked that they stop playing country music. When they didnt immediately stop playing it, I went back again. The twangs continued unabated. I fucking FUMED about to my wife. Theyve ruined our afternoon! No Drew, she said, you have. We just wanted to have a nice time, and youre acting like a complete dick. Now my brain was too clouded at that time for me to understand that she was right.

Fun format, but a little bit of a highwire act. Maybe I should try it.

Zeitgeist Watch

Fetish object:

96 Minutes [Texas Monthly]. On the morning of August 1, 1966, not long before summer classes at the University of Texas at Austin were about to let out for lunch, an architectural engineering major named Charles Whitman arrived at the Tower dressed as a maintenance man. He would be described the following day in the Austin American as a good son, a top Boy Scout, an excellent Marine, an honor student, a hard worker, a loving husband, a fine scout master, a handsome man, a wonderful friend to all who knew himand an expert sniper. Whitman rode the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor, dragged his footlocker up the stairs to the observation deck, and introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space. Before 9/ 11, before Columbine, before the Oklahoma City bombing, before going postal was a turn of phrase, the 25-year-old ushered in the notion that any group of people, anywhereeven walking around a university campus on a summer daycould be killed at random by a stranger.  Saddening.

Sports Desk

This gives me hope for humanity:

Best Olympic moment Ive ever seen pic.twitter.com/vZP8XNegVq  Ana Breton (@missbreton) August 2, 2021

Class Warfare

How The Bobos Broke America [David Brooks, The Atlantic]. Atop the Democratic-leaning class ladder sits the blue oligarchy: tech and media executives, university presidents, foundation heads, banking CEOs, highly successful doctors and lawyers. The blue oligarchy leads the key Information Age institutions, and its members live in the biggest cities. One step down from the blue oligarchy is the creative class itself, a broader leadership class of tenured faculty, established members of the mainstream media, urban and suburban lawyers, senior nonprofit and cultural-institution employees, and corporate managers, whose attitudes largely mirror the blue oligarchs above them, notwithstanding the petty resentments of the former toward the latter. One economic rung below are the younger versions of the educated elite, many of whom live in the newly gentrifying areas of urban America, such as Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York or Shaw in Washington, D.C. More diverse than the elites of earlier generations, they work in the lower rungs of media, education, technology, and the nonprofit sector. Disgusted with how their elders have screwed up the world, they are leading a revolution in moral sentiments. On the lowest rung of the blue ladder is the caring class, the largest in America (nearly half of all workers, by some measures), and one that in most respects sits quite far from the three above it. It consists of low-paid members of the service sector: manicurists, home health-care workers, restaurant servers, sales clerks, hotel employees. Members of this class are disadvantaged in every way.  Brain splode that Brooks is doing class analysis. There is a similar red hierarchy, so, false dichotomy. This is one of a number of recent pieces on this topic; my gut take is that class in America is recomposing, dynamically, because of the enormous gains made by the oligarchs during the pandemic, but we dont know the outcome yet. (In other words, Brooks is at the end of the Last Age, not at the beginning of the Age to Come.) Worth a read, no matter how much one might, quite justifiably, mock Brooks (and his Irish Setter, Moral Hazard).

News of the Wired

Why arent trick captchas a thing?

Okay this is getting out of hand pic.twitter.com/DQGnPMqZ3n  Dr. Jacqueline Nolis (@skyetetra) July 31, 2021

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Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (PM):

PM took this picture in Basket Flat, WA.

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If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!2:00PM Water Cooler 6/8/2021
Yves here. Uber is serving to demonstrate how long misguided financial backing can keep a fundamentally and hopelessly unprofitable, cash flow negative business going. Another example has been most US shale gas plays, but their money spigot is finally running dry.

By Hubert Horan, who has 40 years of experience in the management and regulation of transportation companies (primarily airlines). Horan has no financial links with any urban car service industry competitors, investors or regulators, or any firms that work on behalf of industry participants

Programming Note: On August 4th Uber plans to announce its second quarter 2021 earnings, and the forthcoming Part 26 of this series will summarize those results and the current state of Ubers economics.

One of the central arguments in this series is that Ubers business model and the economics of ridesharing were always completely hopeless. There was no way to produce the ongoing, sustainable profits from urban car services needed to justify tens of billions in investments from capital markets. None of the massive corporate valuations Uber or any of the other ridesharing companies have achieved have anything to do with technological or efficiency breakthroughs or powerful network/scale economies that created major marketplace competitive advantages or sustainable consumer benefits.

On June 30th, Didi Chuxing, the Uber of China went public for the first time (as Didi Global), issuing 316 million American Depositary Shares that are now traded on the New York Stock Exchange, but these shares quickly lost over half their original value after the Chinese government announced moves to rein in its tech industry.

This Part 25 post will focus on how the financial results reported in Didis IPO prospectus. They confirm our previous findings about the terrible economics of ridesharing. This post will also discuss how the growth and survival of the ridesharing industry has been the direct result of national economic policies towards the tech industry. Beijings recent announcements represent an explicit rejection of a move to a US policy approach that the Chinese tech industry had been aggressively pushing for.

The Didi and Uber Business Models Are Virtually Identical

Didi Chuxing illustrates an ideal execution of the Uber business model. That model started with raising a massive cash war chest from investors and using it to subsidize extremely rapid growth in customer volume and market share. Uber had long claimed that it would inevitably achieve global dominance because its ridesharing business model was so powerful that it could easily overwhelm competitors in any market it entered. But Didi adopted an extremely aggressive version of Ubers massively funded subsidies approach and forced Uber to abandon China in humiliating fashion. [1]

Didi thus achieved the impregnable home market position that Uber had hoped for but never achieved and has had a market share over 92% for the last five years. Like Uber, Didis believed the combination of home market dominance and the network power of its platform would allow it to easily enter a wide range of other markets beyond ridesharing.

Didi also enjoyed several other advantages. Chinese cities are much more attractive to car service operators because of their much higher density of demand and low car ownership rates. This supports higher revenue and utilization rates than US operators can achieve.

The impacts of Covid-19 were also much smaller in China. Didis ridesharing revenue only declined 8% in 2020, while Ubers declined 43%. Unlike Uber, Didi did not have to deal with the long-established local regulatory regimes and did not suffer from any major, self-inflicted governance or cultural crises. [2]

Didis IPO Prospectus Claims Cannot Hide That a Business That Cannot Make Money With a Market Share of 90+% Is Not a Viable Business

But despite enjoying much more favorable conditions than Uber, Didi remains unable to generate operating profits.

The prospectus for its June IPO reported GAAP net losses of $2.3 billion in 2018, $1.5 billion in 2019 and $1.6 billion in 2020. [3] Thanks to those favorable conditions Didis operating margins have not been as bad as Uber or Lyfts, but it has clearly is not demonstrating any of the steady margin improvements needed to eventually grow into profitability. Prior market growth depended on massive subsidies. Even with the complete absence of competition it cannot charge customers the full cost of its service, and core market growth was plateauing prior to the pandemic.

Didis IPO prospectus emphasized how international and non-ridesharing markets would drive long term growth, just as Ubers IPO prospectus had. But the data in the prospectus shows Didi has not been able to use its powerful home market position as a springboard to international growthonly 2% of its revenue is earned outside China. Nor has its ubiquitous app platform led to profitable expansion into other businesses. [4]. Didi was unable to expand from ridesharing into food delivery because the Chinese market was already controlled by companies owned by Alibaba and Tencent.

Didis IPO prospectus, like Uber, did not hesitate to use indefensible accounting data. It emphasized adjusted EBITDA over GAAP profitability, allowing it to hide a half-billion in compensation expense. [5] It claimed a 2020 profit by including equity received after the disposal of unwanted assets as operating income. Its future total addressable market potential included all the maximum worldwide potential of all the food delivery and foreign ridesharing markets it had never penetrated.

It claimed profits would increase as it introduced driverless taxis even though it has not developed any AV technology and there are no prospects that driverless vehicles will be allowed to roam Chinese cities in the foreseeable future. It used a flywheel graphic cribbed from Ubers prospectus (that Uber had cribbed from Amazon) to infer powerful scale and network economies that cant be seen in any of the operating or financial results.

Beijings Open Displeasure Collapses Didis Valuation

Didis US IPO raised $4.4 billion, valuing the company at $67 billion. Because of strong demand, Didi increased the number of shares available by 10% and sold them at the top of its expected price range. Didis US-traded stock reached a high of $16.40 the day after the IPO but has fallen over 50 percent in the four weeks since.

Over the last year, Beijing had been openly working to rein in the growing power of its big tech companies and the plutocrats who run them. Ant Group (Alibaba) was forced to scrap an October 2020 IPO that was expected to raise $37 billion and value the company at over $300 billion, reportedly on the direct instructions of Xi Jinping. Major investigations of antitrust and governance rules were initiated and Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who had openly criticized Beijings efforts to regulate Alipay, his financial services company, has largely disappeared from public view. [6]

Beijing announced a major antitrust investigation of Didi and openly expressed concerns about upcoming Didis IPO but Didi ignored these signals. [7]

In the week after the IPO, new cybersecurity tax avoidance and other investigations were announced and Didis app was removed from Chinese app stores. Beijings policy offensive rapidly expanded and investigations have begun at a wide range of tech companies. US investors suddenly realized that it could not value Chinese companies the same way it valued US firms and over $400 billion has been wiped off the valuations of Chinese tech companies traded in the US. [8]

Softbank, which owned 22% of Didi, needed the proceeds of the IPO to cover major recent losses from investments such as WeWork. The collapse of Didis stock price cost Softbank roughly $4 billion and shrank the value of Ubers 13% shareholding in Didi by about $2 billion. Uber took a second hit when Softbank began selling one-third of its stake in Uber in order to replace some of the cash its Didi stock was supposed to generate. [9]

What Should National Policies Towards the Tech Industry Be?

One interpretation widely publicized in the western business press is that the Chinese Communist Party was so obsessively concerned with anything that might ever pose any threat to its absolute political authority that it was willing to terrify foreign investors and impose huge costs on the Chinese entrepreneurs whose huge innovations had made the Chinese people much richer. But without discounting the CCPs desire to protect its hegemony, it may be useful to look at Beijings actions from a different angle.

Beijings attitude towards its rapidly growing tech industry reflects its understanding of the longer history of tech industry growth in the US, and the impacts of US policies toward the tech industry. US policies have three major componentsdirect industry oversight, the links to national macroeconomic policy, and the influence of the industry over the Federal Government.

With one major exception, direct government oversight of the tech industry is essentially non-existent. Laissez-faire is the guiding principle and once tech companies reach a certain size they are largely free to ignore any laws and regulations they find inconvenient. Governmental bodies designed to protect broader public interests (antitrust/competition, labor and consumer protections, etc.) may nominally still exist but have been largely gutted. The major exception is national security, where the government can ensure that tech companies support its data collection and surveillance programs.

US macroeconomic policy prioritizes the ongoing appreciation of equity values and a number of other similar asset classes. This has crippled the ability of capital markets to evaluate and price risk and has broken the link between corporate values and the creation of economic welfare benefits. No one cares what causes stock prices to go up as long as stocks go up, and the higher up they go the better.

Since it is far easier to boost stock prices by eliminating competition and exploiting workers and consumers than by developing new technologies or management processes that improve efficiency and quality, innovation declines while predatory value extraction increases. The financial world becomes dominated by artificially manufactured narratives, a far easier way to pump stock prices than complicated analysis of economic fundamentals.

This focus on equity appreciation is also largely divorced from any industrial policy considerations. As long as the stock market keeps rising it does not matter if massive investment has been funneled into the production of cat videos or if an excessive focus on short-term stock prices have crippled the semiconductor and aircraft manufacturing industries.

Years of non-enforcement of routine laws and regulations under laissez-faire, and the ability of a handful of tech companies to achieve unprecedented sizes produced an outcome where both political parties strongly support the interests of the tech industry. This effectively blocks policies (e.g. tax rules, labor laws) that could materially hurt the tech industry. It also means that it is virtually impossible to address externalities created by these policies. These include things like the rapid growth of inequality, the destruction of traditional channels of political discourse and the rights of individuals to privacy and to control their personal data. It also includes the awful, widespread fallout that would result if (when?) the Everything Bubble created by these policies bursts.

Beijing may have come to believe that a system where the Jeff Bezos Mark Zuckerbergs and Travis Kalanicks of the world were given unfettered freedom to flaunt any rules they didnt like may not have been producing efficient outcomes for the rest of society. It is one thing to allow investors who have developed major product and efficiencies to become rich, but a quite different thing if those investors suddenly capture previously unimaginable levels of wealth without actually improving overall economic welfare.

Jack Ma demanded that Beijings regulators back off so that Alibaba would have Amazons freedom of action and so he could pursue Bezos level of wealth. Beijing seems to have decided that this was the point where it needed to start sending signals, and when Didi blew off its concerns about the IPO it realized those signals needed to be stronger and clearer.

The tech industry plays a much different role in the economy in China than in America. When US tech companies were boosting their wealth and power into the stratosphere they were following a path that finance and other industry had already laid out. In China the Communist Party retained strong control over banks and most other major industries. The tech industry represents the breakthrough case where private capital accumulators could achieve enough power to circumvent or thwart central government policies they didnt like, and industry leaders clearly wanted to entrench a US-type approach. This was the point where Beijing had to decide whether to reestablish some type of meaningful control, or allow the tech industry to pursue increasing US-style laissez faire freedom,

For better or worse, the CCP sees itself as the manager of the Chinese economy, and the political survival of the CCP depends on the perception that it has done a good job and dealt effectively with problems. Beijing is fully aware that inequality in China has been skyrocketing while productivity growth has been stagnating. [10] A growing perception that the benefits of economic growth are no longer being widely shared could do much more to undermine that authority of the CCP than any criticisms from tech titans ever could. If Chinas IPO bubble bursts, the CCP would need to move rapidly to ensure damages did not spread throughout the economy.

As the manager of the Chinese economy, the CCP appears concerned that giving greater control of the tech industry to more independent, less accountable people could undermine its ability to manage other parts of the economy. Much of the power and growth of the tech industry stems from the Alibaba and Tencent financial payments companies. Beijing may be fearful that increased power and independence could limit Beijings ability to control its currency and trade policies, or to fix problems with its fragile shadow banking system or to funnel capital to industries (such as semiconductors or Belt and Road investments) deemed to be major development priorities.

Beijings recent statements have noted the importance of developing and controlling big data [11] and have raised national security concerns about Chinese companies doing IPOs abroad. It is not clear why control of Didis information about ridesharing users or sending Didis financial reports to the SEC would be major policy/security issues, but it was also not clear why the Trump Administration saw the Tik Tok and WeChat apps as a major threat. In both countries economic policy issues can quickly become very murky once diplomatic and national security policies enter the mix.

Beijing clearly had no desire to go further down the US laissez faire path where private capital accumulators would steadily more powerful. It presumably believes that the benefits of reigning in its tech industry clearly outweigh costs and risks.

The situation will continue to evolve, and it is foolish to try and reduce it to a good-versus-evil narrative. The owners of Didi, Tencent and Alibaba are not heroically resisting encroaching Beijing bureaucrats who are fighting to stifle economic innovation. Beijings announced investigations directly focus on longstanding tech industry abuses but it is wildly premature to predict that Beijings new policies might turn out to be a major boost for competition and Chinese consumer welfare.

Uber and Didi are Direct Products of These National Policies

It is one thing to document the terrible economics and financial results of companies like Uber and Didi. The more important question is to explain how companies with years of staggering losses can continue to be seen as innovative and successful, and how they can continue to extract billions from investors despite the complete absence of evidence that they could ever become sustainably profitable.

To date this series has emphasized Ubers construction of artificial narratives and their ability to manipulate the mainstream media into enthusiastically promulgating them. [12] As noted, Didis IPO prospectus closely followed the narratives highlighted in Ubers prospectus. But the US policies toward the tech industry, described above, put that process into a broader context.

When Travis Kalanick blew off every inconvenient law and regulation, he was completely in line with the laissez faire policies that that national elites wanted. It represented a major break from how traditional taxi operators and local regulators worked, but the people who ran the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal believed that taxi service would be substantially improved if government oversight was completely eliminated. It did not matter that those laws and regulations had been established under legal and democratic processes. Uber was not manipulating the media into favoring something contrary to its interests or core beliefsthey were simply providing the narrative explanation as to why Uber fit the approach they already thought was best.

Ubers investors were not only single-mindedly focused on personal enrichment but were focused on achieving corporate valuations wildly beyond what anyone could have ever imagined for a taxi company. Instead of stopping and asking for evidence as to how this might be possible, those elites became fanatical supporters. The sole objective of business was to create massive equity values. No one cared whether some of those personal gains might come from suppressing driver wages or openly destroying competitive alternatives. No one cared whether capital has been misallocated from much better uses. Both political parties were in full agreement that Uber was a wonderful company.

Uber has continued to survive despite terrible economics because it was the poster child for the elite policies that demonized any government oversight of business and lionized the monomaniacal pursuit of capital accumulation. Membership in those elites required fully supporting those policies, just as membership in Chinese elites requires a full commitment to support the policies of the Communist Party. Despite $25 billion in losses, no one from those elites can admit that Uber might have massively reduced overall economic welfare, because that would require admitting that their overall worldview was badly flawed, and their status as elites might have been illegitimate.

Didi was following Ubers exact business model and exact IPO approach because it believed that the Communist Party would gradually reduce its control over the economy and would allow the Chinese tech industry to expand under the US policy approach. Given what happened to Alibaba last year, and the events of the past month, that seems to have been a serious miscalculation.

_______

[1] The Uber business model is documented in detail in Hubert Horan, Will the Growth of Uber Increase Economic Welfare? 44 Transp. L.J., 33-105 (2017) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2933177and in Hubert Horan, Ubers Path of Destruction American Affairs, vol 3, no 2, Summer 2019, pp.108-133. https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2019/05/ubers-path-of-destruction/. The TLJ article explains the importance of global dominance at p. 46 and the Uber China debacle (where Uber lost over $1 billion) at p. 99.

[2] For the story of the awful publicity in 2017 generated by Ubers cultural and governance problems see Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Ten: The Uber Death Watch Begins, June 15, 2017

[3] Didi prospectus filed June 29, 2021 with the SEC https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001764757/000104746921001227/a2243300z424b4.htm

[4] David Trainer, Didi Chuxing: Different Country, Same Bad Business Model, Forbes Jun 23 2021. This was the only article I found in the US business press focused on Didis dubious economics

[5] Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Nineteen: Ubers IPO Prospectus Overstates Its 2018 Profit Improvement by $5 Billion, April 15, 2019

[6] Jing Yang and Lingling Wei,Chinas President Xi Jinping Personally Scuttled Jack Mas Ant IPO, Wall Street Journal, Nov 12, 2020. Mas personal wealth was estimated as nearly $60 billion at the time.

[7] Julie Zhu, Pei Li, Chinas IPO-bound Didi probed for antitrust violations, Reuters Jun 17, 2021

[8] China Orders 25 Tech Giants to Fix Raft of Problems, Bloomberg News, July 30, 2021; Juliet Chung Justin Baer and Dawn Lim, Investors Lost Hundreds of Billions on China in July, Wall Street Journal, 30 July 2021

[9] Deirdre Bosa, Jordan Novet, Uber shares drop as Softbank plans to sell shares to cover Didi and other losses, CNBC Jul 28, 2021. Uber had acquired a 17% share in Didi in exchange for abandoning its failed Uber China venture. Its share fell to 12% after selling shares in order to cover losses.

[10] For a good discussion of how these inequality and productivity problems create a huge problem for the Chinese government see Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis, Trade Wars Are Class Wars , Yale University Press, 2020, pp 101-130.

[11] Chinas Didi Crackdown Is All About Controlling Big Data, Bloomberg News, July 8, 2021

[12] For the development and effectiveness of Ubers manufactured narratives see the TLJ article pp.76-90 and the AAJ article p. 115-117
By Ramin Skibba, is an astrophysicist turned science writer and freelance journalist who is based in San Diego. He has written for The Atlantic, Slate, Scientific American, and Nature, among other publications. Originally published at Undark.

Space is much busier than it used to be. Rockets are launching more and more satellites into orbit every year. SpaceX, the private company founded by Elon Musk, blasted more than 800 satellites into space in 2020 alone. Extraterrestrial tourism is about to take off, led by space barons Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, two of whom have already taken their first private space outings. The frenetic activity of space agencies and space companies around the world will extend beyond Earths atmosphere, too. Within a few years, the moon will see many more landers, rovers, and even boots on the lunar ground. So will Mars and eventually, perhaps even some asteroids.

Its an exciting time, but also a contentious one. An arena once dominated by the U.S. and Russia has seen the arrival of China and numerous other countries, with several nations establishing both a scientific and military presence in space. A burgeoning space industry, mostly led by U.S.-based companies, is angling for opportunities to monetize Earth-observing satellites, expensive visits to the edge of space, and trips to the moon with robotic and human passengers. Space junk clutters the atmosphere. Rival countries and companies hurtle satellites through the same orbits, and they eye the same key spots on the moon where water could be harvested from ice. Anti-satellite weapons tests by China and India that have flung debris into orbit illustrate just how precarious space is.

All that is to say, things have changed considerably in the more than half century since international space diplomats hammered out the Outer Space Treaty, the agreement that continues to serve as the worlds basic framework on international space law. Before space conflicts erupt or collisions in the atmosphere make space travel unsustainable  and before pollution irreversibly tarnishes our atmosphere or other worlds  we need a new international rulebook. Its time for the Biden administration to work with other space powers and negotiate an ambitious new space treaty for the new century.

The Outer Space Treaty was deliberately written ambiguously. It outlaws nukes and other weapons of mass destruction being deployed in space, but makes no mention of lasers, missiles, and cyber weapons. The accord appears to ban private property in space and states that no nation can claim a piece of space or lunar territory as their own, but it does not explicitly restrict the extraction of resources like water and minerals.

The Moon Agreement, which went into force in 1984, went further. It states that countries are required to inform others if they have spacecraft entering the same orbit. It declares that the exploration and use of the moon must be done for the benefit of everyone. Under the agreement, Moon explorers have to take care of the lunar environment as well. And importantly, it forbids the claiming of extraterrestrial resources as property. However, only 18 countries are party to the sweeping treaty, none of them space-faring nations.

In recent years, policies on space law have taken an industry-friendly turn, particularly in the U.S. The Obama administration signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015, also known as the Space Act, which, in theory, allows American companies to mine the moon and other celestial bodies however they wish and to keep the resources. Other countries, like Luxembourg, have followed suit. In 2020, the Trump administration went further, proposing the industry-friendly Artemis Accords, an attempt to further push the case for granting companies property rights in space. The accords comprised bilateral agreements with just 12 countries  notably without Russia and China, and without the involvement of the United Nations or any other international institution  putting them outside international space law. More than half a century after humans first set foot on the moon, there remains no clearly established, agreed-upon rules governing space activity.

In the absence of such a framework, the U.S. has embraced a de facto launch first and ask questions later strategy. The lack of international cooperation is one reason engineers were so caught off guard in 2019, when satellites launched by SpaceX and the European Space Agency nearly crashed into one another. Experts in space law cant even agree on major questions such as what kind of responsibility space actors have to keep space clean and uncontaminated with debris, as theres really no framework in place.

The Biden administration has so far focused its space policy not on treaties but on norms, non-legally binding principles that they hope will evolve into international agreements with teeth. But its hard to imagine that enforceable international space policies will be adopted unless Biden explicitly and enthusiastically calls for them, while urging Russian and Chinese leaders to do the same. More likely, whatever endeavors the space industry and military decide to pursue will retroactively become policy. This is already playing out in debates about the private harvesting of resources from the moon and asteroids, the types of spacecraft companies can put in orbit, and the kinds of space and anti-satellite weapons militaries can develop.

If we were to design a new space treaty that would preserve space primarily as a place for exploration and collaboration rather than for war and commercial gain, what would it look like? It would coordinate travel and limit traffic in busy orbits in the atmosphere while also taking steps to limit the creation of space debris. (Cleaning up the mess already clogging low-Earth orbit is another story entirely.) It would also build on the Moon Agreement, prohibiting the deployment and testing of weapons  including electronic weapons  in the atmosphere. And it would prohibit deploying and testing any weapons in space, not just on the moon or other celestial bodies. It would create an independent, international organization to review proposals for mining resources and establishing colonies on the moon, Mars, and beyond.

This sounds ambitious  and it is  but its achievable. The Antarctic Treaty of 1961 enshrines many of the same principles for activity on Antarctica, and it still works six decades later. Public opinion on space seems to be shifting, too, with growing calls to jettison colonialist views of space exploration in favor of more egalitarian approaches. If scientists, non-governmental groups, space environmentalists, and other stakeholders put pressure on the Biden administration, it could become politically feasible for the president to take a stand and jumpstart space diplomacy with the U.S.s rivals. To the extent that it would help make space exploration sustainable, peaceful, and beneficial to all humanity, it would be worth the cost in political capital. We only have one atmosphere, one moon, and one night sky to cherish.
Goose flying upside down is simply showing off, say experts WGME

Endangered Sumatran tigers recovering from COVID in Jakarta zoo Al Jazeera (Re Silc).

Proportionality in bank regulation and supervision  a joint global survey (PDF) Bank of International Settlements. Proportionality: [S]upervisory practices should be commensurate with the risk profile and systemic importance of the banks being supervised.

Pandemic fuels broadest global house price boom in two decades FT

From Rag to Label Vagabond

#COVID19

Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong NYT. On Covax, whose ambitions may have been vast, but whose performance has not been: 640 million doses projected, 163 million delivered. The Times buried the lead deep. Paragraph thirteen (!): Driven by a nonprofit funded by the Gates Foundation . Except no, there are in fact two non-profits. Paragraph eighteen (!!): Covax was the answer, bringing together two Gates-funded nonprofits , Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI; the World Health Organization; and UNICEF, which would lead delivery effort. The reporters seem not to know that Gates is a major funder of WHO, so thats really three NGOs. Ditto Unicef, so four , of the total of four mentioned. So a more accurate headline might read: How Bill Gates and Four NGOs He Funds Butchered Covax. Just saying.

* * *

Opinion: Require the vaccine. Its time to stop coddling the reckless. Ruth Marcus, WaPo

Say goodbye to persuasion: Vaccine mandates may be coming  but will they be legal? Jonathan Turley, The Hill. This post from October 2020 is looking pretty good. The topic was contact tracing, but the thinking applies with even more force to vaccination. Quoting Paul Romer:

Its very hard for me to believe that anyone would call for mandatory vaccination without regulatory approval, if only because that guts the credibility of the regulators for the next pandemic. Pressuring regulators to fast-track approval  as if the regulators didnt know the tastk was important!  does the same thing. But here we are.

* * *

Fluid Dynamics of Respiratory Infectious Diseases (PDF) Lydia Bourouiba, Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering. Long, but super-interesting. From Section 3:

Exhalations do not eject isolated [Mucosalivary fluid (MS)] droplets into the environment. Exhalationsranging from speaking to yelling, coughing, and sneezingare made up of a turbulent multiphase cloud whose physical properties have significant implications for the range and longevity of the ejected mucosalivary droplets and, hence, for their fate, their range of contamination in space and time, and associated risk-assessment and risk-mitigation strategies it is not the size of the droplets at emission that determines their range but rather the characteristics of the warm and moist gas cloud that is emitted and carries them forward. Only after the emitted cloud slows down sufficiently do droplet and residue sizes become important determinants of dispersal in background low-velocity indoor airflows (a few centimeters per second) and penetration of the respiratory system.

Well worth a read for aerosol stans, because it gets past sterile debates about particle size.

* * *

Fauci: I dont think were going to see lockdowns Politico. People think lots of things. Sometimes they change their minds.

Pair of travellers from U.S. fined $20K each for fake vaccination documents CBC
Adventurers and Slavers The Atlantic slave trade resulted in the enforced scattering of millions of Africans to the Caribbean, the Americas and elsewhere - including Britain. A significant early English figure was John Hawkins. His father, William Hawkins, made the first English expeditions to West Africa in the1530s. William Hawkins was an adventurous trader who set out to explore the Guinea coast. His voyages were made in search of commercial materials such as dyewoods. Exploration and trade were the most significant reasons for people to move around the world during the 15th and early 16th centuries. The French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch sent their merchant seamen to Asia, Africa and the Americas, where trade developed rapidly. The English, anxious not to miss out on this bounty, became experts in shipping, finance and insurance and thus major players in overseas commerce.

the common people' (119k)

Document | Transcript 'The King of this Country is adored ofthe common people' (119k)

From 1553, a group of London merchants began a series of ventures to develop English overseas trade. Two years later these adventurers returned carrying ivory, gold, Malaguetta pepper and, significantly, five Africans from Shama, in modern Ghana. These Africans were brought to England to learn English, and returned to Africa as interpreters for visiting English traders. Queen Elizabeth I assisted the early merchant adventurers in 1561 by supplying ships and provisions. When they returned to English ports they brought not only valuable cargoes of commodities, but also more Africans, some of whom had probably become sailors on these merchant ships. Queen Elizabeth soon realised the economic value of this overseas trade. She granted a patent to eight merchants from London and Exeter to trade exclusively with Senegambia, between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, for a 10-year period. European traders thus initially met Africans at a time long before colonial rule, when African societies possessed freedom of action and political power. As commercial trade and enslavement developed over the next 250 years, millions of Africans were transported from one continent to another. Some of those uprooted by the slave trade were also to end up in Britain - many as servants and labourers.

into Hawkins' Third Voyage

Document | Transcript Commission of Inquiryinto Hawkins' Third Voyage In 1562, John Hawkins set out on a voyage that would mark the beginning of the English slave trade. Documents reveal that he left Plymouth with the purpose of capturing Africans along the Guinea Coast. The travel writer Richard Hakluyt (c.1552-1616) says that Hawkins 'got into his possession partly by the sworde and partly by other meanes to the number of 300 negroes'. In Sierra Leone, he took a ship laden with ivory, wax and 500 Africans. Hawkins, commanding the ship Salomon, then made the voyage from the Guinea coast to the West Indies. He arrived at the port of Monte Christi, in what is now the Dominican Republic, where they 'did deposit 125 slaves at 100 ducats each' (about 25-30 in present-day terms). The Africans were offered for sale to estate owners in the Americas, who required a constant supply of cheap labour for their sugar and tobacco plantations.

Triangular Trade

Document | Transcript Pioneer of theTriangular Trade News of the slave merchants' success spread and they soon attracted wealthy, powerful backers, and additional support from Queen Elizabeth. In 1564 the queen sponsored Hawkins by lending him her very own 700-ton vessel, Jesus of Lubeck. Now John Hawkins, freeman of the city of Plymouth, left Plymouth specifically for the purpose of capturing Africans on the West African coast. Hawkins, in his own words, as noted by Hakluyt, 'profited by the sale of slaves' - so much so that he included a bound slave wearing a necklace and earrings on the crest of his coat of arms. His final voyage turned out to be a disaster for Hawkins, as he lost his ships and men to the Spanish. This event precipitated hostilities between England and Spain.

Document | Transcript John Hawkins' Coat of Arms

These early voyages proved to be early, tentative steps towards what was to become a highly organised trade in humans - and a major source of income for British merchants for some 300 years to come. References and Further Reading Churchill, W., History of the English Speaking Peoples, vol. 4, London, 1956-8



File, N. and Power, C., Black Settlers in Britain 1555-1958, London, 1981 Fryer, P., Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain, London, 1984 Williamson, J. A., Sir John Hawkins: The Time and the Man, Oxford, 1927

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(Natural News) If youve been paying any attention at all to Americas culture wars, then you already know the biggest battles are being waged against whites.

No, thats not a white supremacist statement, its just true, and anyone with two brain cells to rub together who is being honest with themselves knows its true.

Weve seen example after example over the past few years, but the instances are occurring more frequently now as black supremacy groups become more embolden by white liberal apologists.

For instance, one such black supremacy group, Dallas Justice Now, is demanding  demanding  that well-to-do white families refrain from sending their kids to Ivy League schools so that those slots will be available for (wait for it) blacks and other persons of color.

Got that? Its not like persons of color will have earned a slot at an Ivy League school, all of which are already extremely liberal and bending over backwards for students of color as it is. No; the Dallas organization is demanding that whites give up their slots so blacks and Hispanics can have them, even if they are not as intelligent or as qualified for the school (which will mean theyll eventually stop being Ivy League schools).

The UKs Daily Mail notes:

The group is specifically calling on white people to sign its college pledge not to send their children to Ivy League or US News & World Report Top 50 schools and instead leave those spots open for students from Black, LatinX, and other marginalized backgrounds who were denied access to these institutions for hundreds of years.

The left-wing outlet plays right into the propaganda:

Ethnic minorities have long been underrepresented in Ivy League schools. At Harvard and Princeton, only around 6 percent of the total student body are black, according to Data USA. At Columbia and Cornell this figure stood at around 5 percent, while Brown around 7 percent.

Translation: Because percentages of minority students at these top-rated schools are low, that is de facto evidence of systemic racism  never mind the many other elements that factor in as to why those figures are not higher. And never mind that these schools are uber-liberal to begin with, and that there are large numbers of white students who apply but dont get in or who never apply because theyve got no chance to get in. In fact, its very safe to say that the vast majority of young whites cant qualify for enrollment in an Ivy League school.

Nevertheless, this demand from Dallas Justice Now isnt aimed at those whites; its aimed at the few and privileged white kids who do qualify, the implicit reasoning behind said demand is that whether the student of color is Ivy League material or not they should get the slots anyway because equity or something like that.

We are writing to you because we understand you are white and live within the Highland Park Independent School District and thus benefit from enormous privileges taken at the expense of communities of color, says the demand letter, which then goes on to made wildly false, unsubstantiated claims.

You live in the whitest and wealthiest neighborhood in Dallas, whether you know it or not, you earned or inherited your money through oppressing people of color, it says, which is a blatant lie.

However, it is also our understanding that you are a Democrat and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, which makes you one of our white allies and puts you in a position to help correct these cruel injustices, the insufferable letter drones on.

We need you to step up and back up your words with action and truly sacrifice to make our segregated city more just.

The letter then asks recipients to check one of two boxes: I Agree to the pledge, or, I am a racist hypocrite.

These people are out to destroy America, period. They must be resisted at every step. This isnt a game anymore.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

EndGame.news
(Natural News) The city of Montclair in Southern California has decided to brand its city employees like cattle based on their Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination status.

According to reports, controversy arose after officials ruled that fully vaccinated city employees still need to wear a special sticker on their person showing that they got injected, should they opt out of wearing a face mask while at the office.

Beginning next week, City Manager Edward Starr is planning to enforce the new rule, which he says is designed to ensure that Montclair is in full compliance with Gov. Gavin Newsoms edicts concerning a safe return to the workplace.

Newsom is demanding that all public employees submit evidence or sign a pledge indicating that they received a Trump Vaccine if they want to stop covering their breathing holes with cloth or Chinese plastic. Montclair is taking things a step further by marking the vaccinated who choose to show their faces at work.

Starr says the yellow star concept is necessary to demonstrate they have been fully vaccinated, just like how political prisoners of the past were forced to wear arm bands so they could be easily identified by authorities.

Just say no to medical fascism

As eager as he might be to impose this new form of medical fascism, Starr could get the city in trouble with a possible lawsuit, warns city councilman Ben Lopez. who says the move clearly violates city employees privacy rights.

This policy is being rushed through and rammed down the throats of our employees with no legal counsel being sought and no discussion from our City Council, Lopez stated during a city council meeting earlier in the week.

I think we are on shaky legal ground.

Having to wear a sticker, like a cow wears an ear tag or a brand, could make some employees feel uncomfortable, Lopez warns, or even create a level of ostracism in the workplace. This is a surefire way to get sued, he says.

Lopez says that there have already been a number of complaints filed towards this end, though Starr disagrees. Because he personally likes the sticker idea, he is rigorously defending it and pushing for it to remain in place.

According to Lopez, numerous city employees have already come to him to express their opposition to the policy. He would rather maintain the citys previous policy, which did not involve stickers or any other identifying markers.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) actually put out a set of printable stickers for businesses across the country to use in this manner, though the agency stopped short of issuing an explicit guidance that they be used  probably because it does not want to be sued, either.

Starr is hellbent on keeping them, though, which is sure to drum up the legal complaints. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Montclair employees to win the lottery, so to speak, with a successful case against their fascist boss.

This is not Germany or Stalins USSR or even North Korea. This is Progressive USA. Much more evil. Much more devious. Much more vicious. wrote one commenter at Zero Hedge. Its just getting ramped up.

Do not contribute anything to these people, wrote another, referring to Americas government, Wall Street, and the phony American dream that only enriches the already rich at the expense of the poor.

Live simply and dont contribute. The USA isnt worth doing anything for. Look at how big of a joke it is now. Laughingstock of the planet.

Medical fascism is spreading like a virus across our once-great land. To keep up with the latest, visit Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Walk it back. Retract it. Memory hole it. Delete it. Thats what the freaks in control of the Covid plandemic do every day with their advice and rules for functioning in the midst of the not-so-deadly-after-all China Flu. It was all about getting 70 percent of America vaccinated for death-by-blood-clot preparation, but they only reached 50 percent. Now its time for all the vaccinated fools to mask back up, quarantine yourselves, and then line up for a booster shot or the Delta death jab that will finish everyone off, with trillions more blood-clotting proteins in the secret dirty vaccine biological war on Americans.

The vaccines are safe and effective, but wait, we have to put a warning indicator on them about deadly blood clots, and then inform you after vaccination that it doesnt work at all, and that you must keep your mask on forever, stay home in isolation where its safe, because you yourself could be a spreader!

Media puppets Dr. Walensky and Dr. Wen are the two biggest pharma doctor SHILLS the world has ever witnessed

Yes, Rochelle the Shill Paula Walensky is an American physician-scientist and the director of the Circus for Disease Cultivation (CDC) who piles lies on top of misinformation while contradicting her supposedly keen insight into Covid safety, time and time again.

They say the vaccines are safe, but what about the filthy, scummy labs and plants where they manufacture them, specifically the J&J Baltimore facility. Thats not safe at all, and sounds more like the alley by the dumpsters behind some fast food restaurant.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said recent studies had shown that those vaccinated individuals who do become infected with Covid have just as much viral load as the unvaccinated, making it possible for them to spread the virus to others.  NBC.

New data suggests that fully vaccinated individuals are not just contracting COVID, but could be carrying higher levels of virus than previously understood, facilitating spread.  Dr. Wen. This plandemic sponsor, Dr. Leana Wen, is the ring leader of the Covid circus, and the most fanatical advocate whos pushing the oxygen-depriving, bacteria-breeding mandatory mask mandates again.

Yet, MSM reported back in March, based off CDC director Walenskys advice, CDC data suggests vaccinated dont carry, cant spread virus. Please, can someone, anyone who actually knows anything about this virus take over and make some rational, science-based decisions?

And now, just this past week, Wacky Walensky takes it all back the other way, contradicting herself, the CDC, and everything they just told everyone, saying, CDC says vaccinated people may transmit virus, recommends masks indoors.

The vaccine manufacturers are just as bad, lying and saying the Pfizer and Moderna shots are highly effective at preventing real-world setting infections, yet, the vaccinated sheeple are the majority of the ones catching and spreading Covid now.

The 12 most blatant, obvious contradictions since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out

They (Fauci) said masks are useless for preventing transmission or contraction of Covid, later they made masks mandatory for everyone, everywhere. You cant spread Covid if you dont have symptoms, then they switched that too. There will be no forced vaccinations, now you get fired from your healthcare job without proof in California and New York. You can take your mask off once youre vaccinated, now you need to keep it on. The Covid-19 vaccines are just as effective for Delta variant, now they say they have no idea if the vaccines work at all for anything. Its the unvaccinated that are spreading Covid, but now theyre saying you can spread it after vaccination and without any symptoms. We can flatten the curve with herd immunity, but now the biggest Covid outbreaks are where the highest concentration of vaccinated people live, like Israel. Plus any Covid-19 immunity you might get from vaccines wanes quickly, will only work for a few weeks. The Covid vaccines are safe and effective, except 17,000 people have died from the vaccines, over 400,000 seriously injured, and even more have caught Covid after being jabbed. Children can catch and spread Covid, even if they never come down with it or show symptoms. Yet, there isnt a single recorded case of this happening in the world. Teens and college age youth need to be vaccinated, yet the only thing Covid-related thats killing kids is the Covid vaccine. (And astronomical rates of suicide from the social distancing.) The virus began in humans who were eating bats from a food market in China, and its a conspiracy theory to say it was engineered in a lab and released on purpose. Now all of MSM all but admits outright the lab leak theory  that it was made in a lab, and some even hint that it was released on purpose as a bio-weapon. So much for conspiracies. Fraudulent Fauci said he was fully vaccinated, then showed up at a Senate hearing wearing a mask, after saying Americans need a reward for being vaccinated, and if you cant even take off your mask, why bother getting vaccinated?

Theyre going after the children next. First it was the college kids. Now its the teens. Next its the preteens, then the children and babies. We already know that 4 out of 5 pregnant women who get a Covid shot lose the baby (during 1st or 2nd trimester) instantly by spontaneous vaccine-induced abortion shortly after inoculation.

The vaccine fanatics want all children shot up with life-decimating neurotoxins and virus-mimicking proteins that clog the blood and crash vital body systems, including circulation and motor skills. The vaccine shills, Dr. Wen and Dr. Walensky, are out in full force, all over fake news media, contradicting each other, the CDC, the FDA, Biden and even themselves almost daily.

Heres the psycho-communist doctor and CNN fake analyst Leana Wen mixing it all up, telling everyone whos vaccinated the vaccines dont work at all. Talk about massive contradictions from the freaks running the plandemic show. They just make this all up as they go along, forgetting what they just said  the exact opposite  just days or weeks earlier. The hypocrisy and idiocy is deafening. Even Anderson the huckster Cooper is dumbfounded by Wens garbage science. Watch:

Natural health advocates know better than to take toxic jabs from pharma goons, but if you know someone who already got pricked with the blood-clotting Covid inoculations, and theyre suffering from lethargy, pain, clouded thinking, thats called CoVax Syndrome, so tell them to report it to VAERS. Also, check out Pandemic.news for updates on these crimes against humanity and the upcoming Delta and Covid booster-vaccine Holocaust.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

NaturalNews.com

TruthWiki.org

CitzenFreePress.com

MSN.com

ZeroHedge.com
(Natural News) Increasingly more American farmland is being bought up by non-Americans, including the communist Chinese who are reportedly swiping up as much as they can as quickly as possible.

According to reports, congressional lawmakers are suddenly concerned about all this Chinese real estate activity, prompting members of both major political parties to pursue a legislative crackdown.

After decades of basically handing over America to China, politicians are all of a sudden concerned, we are told, about foreigners grabbing ownership of prime agriculture parcels throughout the Midwest.

Billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates is similarly buying up American farmland for purposes that remain shrouded in secrecy.

House lawmakers are pushing new legislation to supposedly oust Chinas presence from agricultural real estate, which puts the American food system at risk. Senate lawmakers say they, too, are supportive of the effort.

Both Congress and the Biden regime are pretending to care, some 30 or 40 years too late, about Americas near-total economic reliance on China, which makes the vast majority of consumer goods sold in the country.

China provides everything from food to semiconductors to minerals deemed crucial to the supply chain, even though many of these things used to be grown, manufactured, and mined right here in the United States.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are jointly pushing for more regulation on who gets to own American farmland.

America cannot allow China to control our food supply, Pence stated during a recent gathering of the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, adding that Biden and Congress need to end all farm subsidies for land owned by foreign nationals.

By 2020, China had already gobbled up nearly 200,000 agricultural acres in the U.S.

For years, Chinese corporations have been gobbling up American farmland to the tune of about 192,000 agricultural acres by the start of 2020. All that land is collectively worth about $1.9 billion, and it is being used for farming, ranching and forestry, according to the government.

Canadians and Europeans also own millions of acers in Americas heartland, which is being shamelessly sold out to the highest bidder for a quick profit.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is behind much of this foreign investment activity, having provisioned it via its One Belt One Road economic development scheme. The goal is to use American farmland to grow more food for export to communist China.

The current trend in the U.S. is leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly, warned Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) during a recent House Appropriations hearing.

That committee adopted an amendment that Newhouse proposed to the Agriculture-FDA spending bill (H.R. 4356 (117)) that blocks any new agricultural purchases by companies that are wholly or partially controlled by the Chinese government. It also prohibits Chinese-owned farms from receiving federal subsidies for the crops they grow.

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, expressed opposition to the legislation. An Asian woman, Meng believes that anything targeting China is an act of anti-Asian hate, proving that she would prefer to put China, rather than America, first.

As of the end of 2019, foreign investors held a whopping 35 million American acres in their portfolios. This is a land mass greater in size than the entire state of New York. According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, that total has grown by an average of 2.3 million acres per year since 2015.

Its all unfolding just as the oligarchs dreamed it would, bemoaned one commenter about the news.

The Chinese takeover of America would not have been possible were it not for a corrupt Congress and decades of corrupt presidents who greased the wheels to make it happen. To learn more, visit Corruption.news.

Sources for this article include:

Politico.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A new study has found that certain bacteria can turn into a material that can hold bricks together in the same manner as cement.

Concrete is the most used material on Earth after water, at a rate of three metric tons per year per person. Cement, which is the primary component of concrete, is the oldest artificial construction material that dates back to the Roman Empire.

Cement and concrete have changed little over the years. Now scientists looking to improve on them are seeking inspiration from natural processes such as how coral polyps build reefs.

Materials scientist Wil Srubar, heald of the Living Materials Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder said: We want to blur the boundaries between the natural world and the built environment, between what is nonliving and what is living, and create a material that displays both structural and biological functions.

The team of researchers started their experiment using sand, gelatin and photosynthetic bacteria that are widespread in ocean surface waters. The gelatin retained moisture and nutrients for the bacteria in a process that is similar to how seashells form.

The resulting material from the experiments was as strong as typical cement-based mortars. I have a small cube of the material on my desk that is 2 inches across that I can stand on, said Srubar.

Amazingly enough, not only is the material alive, but it can also reproduce. When researchers halve the bricks, bacteria can help grow them into two complete bricks when supplied with more sand and gelatin. So instead of manufacturing bricks one by one, researchers can grow them.

Srubar also previously worked with gelatin and suggested using it to strengthen the material built by the cyanobacteria. The researchers used off-the-shelf gelatin from their local supermarket and dissolved it in the solution with the bacteria.

They then poured the mixture into molds and then cooled it off. The resulting gelatin provided more structure for and worked with the bacteria to help the living concrete grow faster and stronger.

The team is currently exploring the idea of exponential manufacturing. A major advantage of this new material is that the process is oriented around the bacteria  they can build the concrete, and stay alive to make more later on.

Andrea Hamilton, a concrete expert at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, said that this new living concrete represents a new and exciting class of low-carbon, designer construction materials.

This is not the first time science incorporated living things in construction. Previous research used bacteria to repair cracks in concrete. One challenge that the scientists face is that fact the material needs completely dry out to reach maximum strength, but the dry environment stresses out the bacteria. To ensure that the microbes remain alive, the researchers have to control the humidity of the environment.

LBMs, the future of construction

The Department of Defense is interested in using the technology for these living building materials (LBMs) to help construction in remote areas. Out in the desert, you dont want to have to truck in lots of materials, Srubar said.

The blocks can be made from a variety of materials such as sand, waste materials, and even recycled concrete.

The research team is working to make the materials more practical by making sure that the concrete is stronger. They also have to make sure that the bacteria can resist dehydration and reconfigure materials so that they can be flat-packed and easily assembled.

Srubar said synthetic biology could expand the realm of possibilities such as building materials that can detect and respond to toxic chemicals, or reveal structural damage.

It may even help in even harsher environments, or other planets, such as Mars.

Theres no way were going to carry building materials to space, Srubar told the New York Times. Well bring biology with us.

Read more breakthroughs and experiments at FutureScienceNews.com

Sources include:

InsideScience.org

NYTimes.com
(Natural News) It seems like forever ago when Americans were first asked to shut down our businesses, close our schools, get off our streets, and stay inside for a couple of weeks to bend the curve of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

But really, it wasnt all that long ago, a year in March.

And for a brief time earlier this summer, it appeared as though we were all set to get our lives back  to return to normal and live with a waning viral outbreak that certainly took its toll on ours and the global population, thanks to the likely purposeful manufacturing of the virus by China and its accidental release.

However, just like Democrats weaponized and politicized the virus to cheat and steal Donald Trumps reelection last fall, the party is continuing to abuse us by attempting to reimplement the bad old early days of the pandemic because they are authoritarians and they like the control the virus affords them.

The Epoch Times reports:

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that it would recommend masks for high-transmission areas for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The reason why, according to the CDC, is due to the Delta COVID-19 variant.

While CDC Director Rochelle Walensky noted that Americans are tired and frustrated by the pandemic, mask-wearing is needed in some areas. Several federal agencies and the White House have since mandated face coverings among employees.

Only, several red-state governors have made it clear theyre not interested in what Bidens CDC has to say because nothing its health officials recommend is based on anything close to real science.

The CDCs new guidance suggesting that vaccinated people wear masks indoors flies in the face of the public health goals that should guide the agencys decision making, GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said in a statement after the CDC published its new recommendations. The State of Nebraska will not be adopting their mask guidance.

The CDC shifts their position AGAIN, GOP South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem noted on Twitter. South Dakotas cases remain low. If youre worried about the virus, youre free to get vaccinated, wear a mask, or stay home. But we wont be mandating anything. And the CDCs inconsistency doesnt help the American people.

The time for government mask mandates is overnow is the time for personal responsibility. In May, I signed an executive order prohibiting mask mandates by govt entities. Every Texan has the right to choose whether they will wear a mask or have their children wear masks, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas tweeted.

Meanwhile, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said the federal health agencys latest update is not grounded in reality or common sense.

Im concerned that this guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support, Reynolds noted.

And Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey noted in a statement that health officials in Arizona and across the country have made it clear that the best protection against COVID-19 is the vaccine.

Todays announcement by the CDC will unfortunately only diminish confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officialspeople who have worked tirelessly to increase vaccination rates, his statement noted further.

Mind you, the regime is working overtime, along with virtually every other Democrat (and many Republican governors as well), to convince Americans to get a COVID vaccine. For months we were told that if we did, we would free, finally, of the insane coronavirus mandates like mask-wearing and social distancing.

But now, as the country approaches a point where most are vaccinated, here comes the authoritarians in the Democrat Party once again to undermine that effort; because if we have to mask, then obviously the vaccines dont work, right?

Red states are the true bastions of freedom in America today. Blue states are little replicas of Communist China. Chose where you want to live accordingly.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com
(Natural News) The Department of Justice (DOJ) said public agencies and private businesses are allowed to require COVID-19 vaccines. It made this remark in an opinion paper published online on July 26, adding that federal law does not prohibit mandatory inoculation with COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use. The Justice Departments opinion came amid a number of public and private entities mandating employees to get vaccinated.

The DOJ paper originally penned on July 6 acknowledged that as access to COVID-19 vaccines becomes more commonplace, numerous entities across the U.S. have said they will require some individuals to be vaccinated  as a condition of employment, participation, benefit, service or relationship. It added that schools will require students to be vaccinated before they can attend in-person classes and certain employers will require inoculation before people can work with them.

It also acknowledged criticism of mandatory vaccine orders, but ultimately concluded that federal law does not prohibit public or private entities from imposing vaccination requirement for vaccines that are subject to emergency use authorization (EUA). The DOJ paper also examined the provision of information clause that granted vaccine recipients the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.

According to the Justice Department, the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) option to accept or refuse condition is not absolute. It added that the FDA has some discretion to modify or omit the option if it is not useful in the emergency circumstance. Furthermore, the FDA also had the power to modify the condition as necessary or appropriate to protect the public health. (Related: Biden expects FDA to quickly give final approval for experimental coronavirus vaccines, despite mounting injuries and deaths.)

On July 26, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it would require health care workers under it to get the COVID-19 vaccine. VAs announcement made it the first federal agency to mandate inoculations. State and local governments soon followed, with Los Angeles and New York City leading the way. In the case of LA, employees declining the COVID-19 vaccine were given weekly COVID-19 testing as an alternative.

Mandatory vaccination infringes on human rights

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to the DOJs July 26 opinion paper, calling it important and helpful. He also called on public sector entities to move as quickly as possible through the vaccine mandates. De Blasio told MSNBC: Its time for mandates because its the only way to protect our people.

De Blasio explained that the voluntary approach worked initially, it no longer did so in the current situation. He added: We think now saying you have got to get vaccinated  if you dont, then youre responsible for testing every single week  is going to move a lot of people to vaccination. But if thats not enough, I think we have to be ready to climb the ladder more. (Related: Bill de Blasio says all NYC government workers must get vaccinated with experimental covid jabs or lose their jobs.)

The DOJ statement and the VAs announcement, both issued on July 26, left the door open for other federal agencies to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their employees. However, these mandates were clearly illegal and unconstitutional and violated human rights.

Requiring COVID-19 vaccines granted EUA by the FDA violated the legal concept of informed consent as laid out in the Nuremberg Code. The code said: The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent  without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress,  constraint or coercion. Public and private entities mandating vaccines and punishing people who refuse to get them clearly went against the Nuremberg Codes stipulations.

Requiring the experimental COVID-19 vaccines also infringed on the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibited [depriving] any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The amendment also banned the enforcement of any law  [abridging] the privileges or immunities of citizens. Unvaccinated Americans would be deprived of services and have their movements limited, which went against the liberties guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

MedicalTyranny.com has more stories about mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations being a reality in the U.S.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Justice.gov

Breitbart.com

FHI360.org [PDF]

Law.Cornell.edu
(Natural News) Farmers in northern Mississippi said they lost a number of crops due to heavy flooding in the area. Torrential rains caused the heavy flooding that affected counties in the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta. While officials acknowledged that the inundated farmlands will affect the states economy, they assured that Mississippis food production will remain unaffected.

Andy Gipson, the states agriculture and commerce minister, went to northern Mississippi to observe the impacted farmlands. It was just torrential. It looked like a tropical storm, he said. Gipson added: [The flooded farmlands] look like lakes where there was cotton and soy beans. [There] are even cornfields that are totally underwater.

According to Gipson, he has not seen flooding that severe in the state throughout his tenure in the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. He said: This is really an unprecedented event as far north as it is in [northern] Mississippi. We are used to seeing the flooding in [the] south Delta, the Yazoo backwater and other parts of the state, but this event has dropped about 20 inches of rain in north Mississippi and the north Delta.

The commissioner added that Bolivar County is one of the hardest-hit areas  with farmers in the county losing corn, cotton, soybeans and other crops. Gipson said the farmers could possibly salvage their soybean crops to replant. However, they would have to wait for the fields to dry out before doing so.

Gipson ultimately remarked that the loss affects Mississippis economy, but not its food production. He noted that there is not much that the state can do to fix the problem. The devastation of a flood like this and an unexpected time frame  nobody could prepare for this. Theres nothing you could do to stop it, the agriculture commissioner said. (Related: Killer floods in Europe give the world a glimpse of chaotic future.)

The heavy rains also inundated homes in the area

The heavy rains in northern Mississippi did not only submerge farmlands. They also inundated homes in the areas different counties, the Clarion-Ledger reported. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) External Affairs Director Malary White described the flooding situation in different counties.

Right now, we do know in Bolivar County [that] they have seen some flooding. Charleston in Tallahatchie County is seeing extensive flooding, she said. White added that the Red Cross had rescued a number of displace individuals in Bolivar County. Meanwhile, MEMA released drone footage of flooded farmlands in Tallahatchie County.

Bolivar County Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Lamb confirmed the floods heavy impact on the county. He pointed out that three to four communities had been impacted by water, and that floodwater entered around 150 to 200 homes.

Weve had to use boats to rescue people and get them to safe ground. All the roads are under water, so well have to wait until the water goes down before we can see if we have some infrastructure damage. Im pretty sure we will, Lamb said.

National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Andy Sniezak said an observer measured slightly over 20 inches of rainfall in Tallahatchie County during a three day period. He added that more than 7 inches of rainfall were recorded for a period of two days. Over 7 inches of rain in one day should only happen once every 200 years. To have it happen twice in two days is just incredible, Sniezak said. (Related: Biblical flooding devastates mainland China.)

Thomas Winesett, another NWS meteorologist, also confirmed that other areas in Mississippi experienced record amounts of rainfall. We did have over 6 inches of rainfall in Greenwood. Generally, were seeing pretty hefty rainfall  [more than 6] inches overnight. Theres still rain moving through there in parts of the Delta that have already had quite a bit of rainfall, he said.

Winesett continued that there were many roads and houses under water. A lot of roads have been washed out. Theres water in homes as well, the meteorologist said.

Climate.news has more articles about the extreme weather conditions in Mississippi.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

MSN.com

ClarionLedger.com
(Natural News) Sales of newly built homes plunged to their lowest level in June 2021, data from the U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) revealed. A July 26 statement by the USCB said new home sales dropped to 676,000 in that month. This was the lowest number of home sales recorded by the USCB since the beginning of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020.

Analysts were expecting a 3.4 percent increase in new home sales in June 2021. But the July 26 USCB statement, drafted in partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, shattered their projections. The 676,000 home sales in June 2021 reflected a 6.6 percent drop from May 2021s 724,000 sales and a 19.4 percent drop from the 839,000 sales in June 2020.

Meanwhile, the inventory of new homes for sale climbed from a 5.5-month supply in May 2021 to a 6.3-month supply the following month. It sat at a low of 3.5 months last fall. The USCB report also revealed that the number of homes for sale that had not yet started construction also rose in June. All in all, these increases followed a year of frenzied buying and price gains in the double digits.

But in spite of the availability of new homes to address the demand, these became out of reach for most Americans. The median price of a newly-built home went up by 6 percent in June 2021 from its June 2020 price. Most purchases of new homes came from the higher end of the market, and builders claimed rising prices of construction materials prevent them from putting up affordable homes.

Bleakley Advisory Group Chief Investment Officer Peter Boockvar noted: We also know there are shortages of appliances, labor and affordable lots. The moderation in home sales is likely a combination of sticker shock and the slowdown in the ability of builders to finish homes because of a variety of delays.

An increase in mortgage rates amounting to about 0.25 percent also hit new home buyers in June. While the rise may not be substantial, it nevertheless worsened the situation for those wanting to buy a new house. Buyers already stretched by higher home prices would have less of a financial cushion to absorb higher mortgage rates.

New home buyers are in for a tough time

Buyers still exhibited strong demand for new homes, but supply issues and affordability have had a negative impact on this. Even homebuilders themselves have noticed the weakening sentiment in May and June 2021. Housing industry analyst Ivy Zelman noted: We are shifting our tone on the housing market based on our analysis of proprietary data showing early signs of a cool down. (Related: Housing market recovery: Pending home sales rose in May.)

A Reuters report also expressed the same sentiment. It noted that higher production costs are forcing builders to hold back new construction. This had the unfortunate consequence of keeping supply tight and home prices in the upper levels, essentially locking out new buyers from purchasing their own homes. (Reated: Pension funds are buying up entire neighborhoods of single family homes, contributing to Americas housing crisis.)

The price of softwood lumber used in home construction had a three-fold increase during the pandemic. While softwood lumber prices have dramatically fallen in June 2021, it was still 75 percent more expensive than its 2019 average price. The same trend was also observed in other lumber products.

However, wildfires in the U.S. and Canada threatened to push up lumber prices. Oxford Economics Lead U.S. Economist Nancy Vanden Houten told Reuters: Some of the recent decline in lumber prices has been reversed due to the impact of wildfires. It will probably take months for lower lumber prices to flow through to the price of new homes.

David Berson, chief economist at Ohio-based firm Nationwide, also put in his two cents on the matter. He said: Home builders continue to hold back on contracts for new homes given input cost and availability uncertainties, with significant uncertainty about what it will cost to build a house and when it can be delivered. Berson noted that new home sales will find it hard to pick up significantly in the near term until builder costs and supply chain problems are addressed.

DebtCollapse.com has more articles about the latest activity in the housing market.

Sources include:

CNBC.com

Census.gov [PDF]

Reuters.com
(Natural News) If you are one of a dwindling number of people who believe everything that the New York Times publishes, you might have gotten the impression from a recent lengthy piece by Jennifer Kahn that genetically modified foods are somehow desirable.

However, like many things the NYT publishes, Learning to Love GMOs was incredibly one-sided and completely failed to mention the volumes of evidence proving that GMO crops have not only failed to live up to their promise, but they are killing people and making people sick all around the world.

Kahn penned a 7,000-plus word promotional article in favor of genetically engineered foods in the New York Times Magazine. Among its many outrageous claims is that overblown fears have turned the public against genetically modified food although its potential benefits have never been greater.

It should come as little surprise that Kahn is listed as the Narrative Program Lead for the University of California Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. The article reads like a laundry list of talking points from the agrochemical industry, and its pretty easy to see right through it.

Article conveniently fails to mention the many problems with GMOs

U.S. Right to Know recently published a piece by Stacy Malkan that identifies some of the biggest problems with GMOs that Kahn conveniently failed to mention.

For example, Malkan point outs that Kahn left out the fact that a review of two decades of data on Bt cotton in India revealed that GMO cotton is not increasing yields. Although it may have reduced the need for pesticides at first, insects eventually became resistant, and farmers are now spending more money on pesticides than they did before Bt was introduced.

Moreover, while the Gates Foundation and Bayer continue to push drought-resistant genetically engineered maize as a solution for hunger, the African Center for Biodiversity reports that these crops have failed to deliver after being trialed for decades in Africa.

There is also the disaster of genetically engineered golden rice, which has long been hailed as a solution to vitamin A deficiency. This rice is nowhere near production, according to experts, and may even be shelved.

Meanwhile, 20 years of data has shown that genetic modification in North America has not led to increases in crop yields, nor has it resulted in a reduction in the use of chemical pesticides. Rather, it has ushered in a huge rise in the presence of chemicals in our food and water supplies.

Right to Know also notes that the journalism professor relied on a source that has been discredited. She quoted Mark Lynas, a writer who has been called out by scientists and food policy experts alike for his inaccurate claims about pesticides and GMOs.

She also completely neglected to mention the concerns about growing corporate control over seeds and the privatization of seed stock. Agrochemical companies have been pressuring countries across the global South to accept patented seeds, even though there has been significant resistance there and the practice has been linked to widespread bankruptcy and suicides among Indian farmers.

There is also the huge matter of off-target effects stemming from CRISPR gene editing techniques. A molecular geneticist at Kings College London, Michael Antoniou, has said that the outcomes of genome editing are unpredictable.

He stated: You basically need to conduct a long-term feeding trial in animals and see what happens  and thats just not going on anywhere in the world for regulatory purposes, at all.

And what about the fact that the use of toxic herbicides like glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer, has increased 15-fold since GMOs were introduced? Does she care that genetically modified crops have also led to the emergence of superbugs and superweeds that need even more toxic poisons like 2,4-D to kill?

When Kahn concludes that We should all just learn to love GMOs, its pretty clear that this entire piece is nothing but propaganda.

Sources for this article include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

NonGMOProject.org
(Natural News) If what happened to Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign, throughout his presidency, and having his 2020 election stolen doesnt prove that there is a deep state in America and it is completely rogue, maybe what just happened to Fox News host Tucker Carlson will.

In late June, Carlson shocked his millions of viewers by reporting during a segment of his nightly show that his emails were being spied on by the National Security Agency.

At first, the claim seemed extravagant and perhaps overblown; why would the NSA care about what a journalist is doing, even a conservative like Carlson? But he said an NSA whistleblower confirmed it by reciting information contained in the email that only a spying operation would have discovered.

It turns out that Carlson was exactly right: The NSA was reading his emails. A few days later, Carlson reported that he was attempting to land an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he defended by stating that, as an American journalist, he has a right to interview whomever he pleases. Thats true, of course, and for the record, the U.S. isnt at war with Russia so there is no harm in it at this point.

The NSA responded in rare fashion, claiming that Carlson himself was never a target of a spying operation. The agency essentially explained that as a matter of its normal operations analysts monitor communications involving foreign leaders and especially those who could become adversaries, and thus, Carlsons emails were detected.

But thats a lie: Subsequent reporting notes that Carlsons name was unmasked  that is, his identity was specifically revealed as being a party to monitored communications, which can only be done by request of the director of the NSA, which is U.S. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, whom Carlson mentioned during one of his segments explaining the spying.

The question is, why would Nakasone want Carlsons name unmasked? Because either he requested it, or Carlsons name was unmasked without his approval, which is against the law.

Whats more, why was Carlsons name leaked to certain members of the left-wing media? That, too, is felonious behavior.

For the NSA to unmask Tucker Carlson or any journalist attempting to secure a newsworthy interview is entirely unacceptable and raises serious questions about their activities as well as their original denial, which was wildly misleading, Fox News said in a statement after Carlson first reported being spied on.

The Washington Examiner noted further:

The identity of the official or officials who made the reported unmasking request remains unknown, but the report cites a former government official who speculated Carlson learned about the situation through an offer of a defensive briefing by the FBI against a potential foreign influence operation.

Republicans in Congress, including Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, have made information requests to the NSA as they investigate the matter.

They can request all the information they want; the NSA isnt going to tell Rubio and Nunes jack squat because the agency was never held to account for taking part in spying on the Trump campaign.

But that was the FBI, right? Yesand not completely.

Understand that the U.S. national security apparatus is global. Our spooks, like those of some of our allies, may be forbidden to directly spy on their own citizens, but they get around that by utilizing intelligence-sharing agreements and arrangements like Five Eyes  an intelligence-sharing collective consisting of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Also, the FBI reportedly accesses the NSAs databases all the time, and, no doubt, vice-versa. The information on anyone is available to these agencies at any time.

Finally, and this is key, there is no oversight from Congress.

There is such a wide partisan gulf between both parties that holding rogue agency officials to account is impossible. Plus, there is a genuine fear among those same lawmakers of our national security state.

You know what would take down the security state? Prosecuting just one of its top officials. That would do it.

But does anyone have the guts in D.C.? Tucker Carlson doesnt think so.

Sources include:

WashingtonExaminer.com

NewsTarget.com
You wouldn't think of Brazil as a location to make a snowman, but the country's streets have been overwhelmed by unusual winter phenomena for the first time in 64 years.

Snowfall was triggered by a severe cold snap in southern Brazil, with snow accumulating on the streets of places where the winter occurrence is uncommon. The last time a snowstorm hit Brazil was in 1957, when Santa Catarina received 4.3 feet of snow

According to data from Climatempo, a meteorological service, at least 43 places saw snow or freezing rain late Wednesday.

An unusually cold airmass impacted parts of South America over the last few days producing #snow in southern #Brazil. pic.twitter.com/5N7QIGVIdJ  Greg Dee (@GregDeeWeather) July 29, 2021

Decrease in Temperature

Temperatures are predicted to continue to decrease, with the possibility of additional snow. According to the Brazilian government's meteorological institute, low temperatures are expected to last until the beginning of August.

By Friday, frost may be present in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Goias.

Related Article: Greenland Ice Sheet Faces Major Tipping Point, Accelerated Melting Might be Inevitable





First Snow in 64 Years

Since Thursday, Brazil has received unusually heavy snowfall, damaging crops, and perplexing residents who aren't used to seeing snow. According to the meteorological firm Somar Meteorologia, more than 40 cities in the Rio Grande do Sul had ice conditions, and at least 33 municipalities got snow.

There were warnings of low temperatures on Friday as a polar air mass moved toward the agricultural powerhouse's center-south, threatening frost to coffee, sugarcane, and orange crops. Coffee costs have already risen due to the abnormally chilly weather in the country.

Related Article: Worsening Global Warming Will Kill 83 Million People by 2100, Warn Scientists

Covering Areas in Snow

Wild to see this level of snow in Brazilsometimes happens in the south but not so widespread like this. Big cold blast from Antarctica. Omen? pic.twitter.com/f60mAgjZDu  Dr. Benjamin Braddock (@GraduatedBen) July 29, 2021

This week, ice blanketed cars, streets, and roads, and people took advantage of the chance to take photographs and play in the snow, creating snowmen. According to a local television video, Brazilians in Bom Jesus, Rio Grande do Sul, built a snowman in a plaza and engaged in a snowball war.

Iodor Goncalves Marques, a 64-year-old motorist, told the TV Globo network, "I am 62 years old and had never seen the snow, you know?" Seeing the grandeur of nature is indescribable."

Snow blizzards and freezing temperatures are uncommon in Brazil, but they generally happen in June, July, and August when they do occur.

The last time snow blanketed sections of the nation like this were in 1957.

Also Read: Massive Ice Melt in Greenland in Single Day is Enough to Cover Florida With 2 Inches of Water

For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Wildfire smoke has covered B.C. communities in the Kootenays and Okanagan for days. This weekend, Metro Vancouver is bracing for the smoke to reach the shore.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special air quality statement for sections of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley on Saturday, warning that high ozone levels caused by the heatwave might be dangerous to people's health.

Special Air Quality Statement

Wildfire smoke is also expected to move west, according to the forecast. "Our Air Quality Health Index is at 10, which is a very high level, for a lot of the Interior right now, essentially all around the places with concentrated wildfires," Derek Lee, a government meteorologist, told CBC News.

"We're still keeping an eye on some wildfire smoke that'll be blowing into the coastal region in the coming days." "A shift in the weather on Monday is anticipated to bring onshore breezes to assistive remove the smoke," Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a statement Saturday.

It's unclear how bad it'll grow, but fine particle pollution has reached hazardous levels for human health in cities near the wildfire front lines. Seniors, small children, and individuals with pre-existing health problems are particularly vulnerable.

Pollution Levels

Smoke on Hwy 5 just north of the Coquihalla Summit right now. We literally cant see the towering mountains that are all around us. pic.twitter.com/GWlpFjiQRE  Adam van der Zwan (@Adamvanderzwan) July 31, 2021



Trail, B.C., saw pollution levels 43 times the maximum permissible limits on Saturday. Kelowna's levels were 27 times higher than the acceptable limit.

"We want to avoid really intense outdoor activities when we observe very high levels," Lee stated.

Climate Change and the Environment According to Canada, there is little hope for such cities. However, meteorologists informed CBC that a shift in the weather on Monday could help clear the smoke on the South Coast.

Related Article: Earth's Vital Signs are Worsening and Many are Not Paying Attention



Hundreds of Wildfires

More than 243 wildfires are presently burning throughout British Columbia, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, up from 60 fires last week. The majority of the fires are raging in the Kamloops area.

So far this year, 4,780 square kilometers of land have been burnt, a 38 percent increase above the 10-year average.

The majority of the current fires are thought to have been started by lightning, with more to come in the following days.

"We're anticipating lightning," Jean Strong of B.C.'s wildfire service said on Saturday, "but we're also expecting precipitation, and we're hoping it will balance some of the lightning starts."

Evacuation Orders

Meanwhile, about 60 evacuation orders have been issued around the province due to wildfires.

Officials issued an evacuation order for the Queest Village and Pete Martin Bay area, which is roughly 35 kilometers north of Sicamous in B.C.'s Shuswap province, on Saturday evening. The Crazy Creek Gorge fire, which has expanded to 17 square kilometers and is classed as out of control, poses a threat to the homes.

The Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District also issued an evacuation order for houses endangered by the Garrison Lake fire, burning 33 kilometers southwest of Princeton. The fire has grown to a size of 82 square kilometers and is now considered out of control.

Throughout the province, evacuation centers have been put up to help anyone fleeing a village threatened by a wildfire. Visit the Emergency Management B.C. website to discover a location near you.

Whether or whether they use services at an evacuation center, evacuees are advised to register with Emergency Support Services online.

Also Read: Raging Wildfires in Canada Impact Air Quality in US, Prompting Warnings

For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
More than half of white-tailed deer in Michigan have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Experts believe the data imply that wild animals in the United States might act as reservoirs for the virus even if it is eradicated from the human population.

Virus Found in Deers

From January 2020 to January 2021, APHIS collected 481 samples from deer in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania for the study.

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were identified in 33% of the total specimens, whereas 60% of deer in Michigan were determined to have been exposed.

Illinois had the lowest percentage, at only 7%, followed by New York (18%) and Pennsylvania (34%).

'There is no indication that animals, particularly deer, play a substantial role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission to humans.' Recent data show that the danger of animals transmitting COVID-19 to humans is negligible,' according to APHIS.

Continued Research

APHIS is researching a range of animals to "identify species that may serve as viral reservoirs or hosts," as well as "understand the virus's origins, anticipate its consequences on wildlife, and the dangers of cross-species transmission."

Last year, the agency confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 spread to wild mink, resulting in the eradication of millions of these animals globally - with Denmark alone eliminating 17 million.

Experts in the United States are now looking into specific animals around the country to determine if the epidemic has spread to the wild.

APHIS Animal Services collected samples opportunistically as part of wildlife damage management efforts in 32 counties across four states. APHIS' National Wildlife Research Center and National Veterinary Services Laboratories analyzed the samples.

Related Article: Scientists Double Effort to Find Possible Next Pandemic, Caused by Other Zoonotic Diseases



Antibodies

Despite the presence of antibodies, according to APHIS, "none of the deer populations tested displayed indications of clinical disease associated with SARS-CoV-2."

'Widespread human illnesses with SARS-CoV-2, along with human-wildlife contacts, provide the potential for human-animal spillover,' according to APHIS.

'Researching the vulnerability of specific animals, such as deer, to SARS-CoV-2 aids in identifying species that may serve as viral reservoirs or hosts, as well as understanding the virus's origins, predicting its effects on wildlife, and the dangers of cross-species transmission.'

Extensive Planning

Officials have yet to announce how they plan to address the issue of exposed wild animals, but Denmark wasted little time putting a stop to its exposed minks.

Twelve individuals were afflicted with a mutated coronavirus variant after catching it from minks in October 2020, prompting the massive slaughter.

Shortly after, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified coronavirus infections in the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, all connected to mink farms.

When SARS-CoV-2 spread from people to minks in fur farms, the virus's spike proteins changed, making it easier for the virus to infect the animals.

According to experts, when the virus was reintroduced into humans, it contained this mutation, making COVID-19 antibodies less effective.

Also Read: Scientists Double Effort to Find Possible Next Pandemic, Caused by Other Zoonotic Diseases

For more health and medicine related news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
This year is already the most life-threatening year on record for Florida manatees. Researchers and activists are scrambling to prevent a disastrous future for these marine mammals.

Arrival of the Juvenile Male Manatee

In July, a crowd assembled on a boat ramp in St Augustine, Florida on a bright morning, anticipating the arrival of a juvenile male manatee whose name is Gerard.

The marshy Matanzas River gradually moved all over oyster beds and sawgrass islands as biologists arrange their equipment. Around a dozen onlookers close by wandered by the shore, waiting to witness Gerard's return to the wild after weeks of captivity.

Beachgoers found Gerard stranded earlier in spring, and scorched in Palm Coast, around 25 miles south of St Augustine, on the Atlantic Ocean. Rescuers wrapped wet towels over the weak manatee, keeping the animal cool and away from the subtropical sun, as a rescue team hurried to the scene.

The emaciated animal was conveyed to Jacksonville Zoo, where Gerard stayed for about 10 weeks in critical care until he was healthy enough to go back to the wild. Gerard was among the fortunate ones.

Also Read: Experts Alarmed as Florida Manatees Face Highest Fatality Rate in Years

Death of Florida's Manatees

This year, hundreds of Florida manatees have lost their lives along the state's east coast in what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called an "unusual mortality event". Since January, not less than 881 manatees have lost their lives in Florida, surpassing the yearly average of 578 deaths between 2015 and 2020 by far.

Indian River Lagoon is the ground zero for the unexpected uptick in deaths, a 156-mile-long estuary that is a seasonal home to thousands of manatees. This ecosystem has been pushed to the brink because of decades of water pollution from farming and real estate development, making these animals perish from an almost entirely human-made disaster - famine.

Duane de Freese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon Estuary Program, an agency working to protect the waterway said the recent crisis the manatees are facing is "just a symptom of a system under extreme stress."

Now, researchers and activists are scrambling to prevent more disasters.

What Could Have Led to the Death of These Manatees?

Last December, Martine de Wit was perplexed over a worrying trend - manatees were losing their lives at a disturbing rate on the east coast of Florida. A veterinarian, De Wit, who carries out an autopsy on manatees for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said the deaths were caused by stress prompted by cold snaps that brought freezing temperatures to the Sunshine State.

In spite of their pudgy looks, manatees don't possess blubber and they are very sensitive to cold. When temperatures decrease below 68 degrees, they stop eating at times, begin to emaciate, and gather around in pockets of warm water.

But as temperatures increases in January, manatee deaths kept increasing. And by week 1 of February, de Wit made a new diagnosis. Tissue samples collected from the lean carcasses brought to her laboratory in St Petersburg revealed atrophy in vital organs - indicating signs of starvation.

Related Article: Florida Manatee Population Continues to Drop as Food Sources Dried Up

For more news, updates about Florida's manatees and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Edward R. Papa, 81, of West Pittsburg passed away the morning of Aug. 4, 2021, at UPMC Jameson. Born on Feb. 6, 1940, in New Castle, he was the son of the late Lewis and Theresa Tonsetic Papa. Ed was a member of Holy Spirit Parish. Ed enjoyed the outdoors going hunting and fishing. A loving 
The continued growth of cloud applications, wireless technology and the COVID-19-driven enterprise hybrid workplace is making flexible networking a must.

As a result the networking industry as a whole is set to experience the highest growth in years, according to Extreme Networks president and CEO Ed Meyercord.

Extreme Networks Extreme CEO Ed Meyercord

Such growth is represented in part by the companys record $1.009 billion in annual revenue for FY2021, which ended June 30. The $1 billion mark has been a long-term goal of ours, and its a key milestone that represents the significant growth and positioning of the company, Meyercord said.

Extremes core cloud-based wireless and wired network-management offering, ExtremeCloud IQ (XIQ) continues to drive the company and has now seen eight straight quarters of growth and currently manages 1.7 million devices, Meyercord said.

And customers can expect continued upgrades and new applications and services will be added to the platform. We are working on security services that will come with our cloud and other services that will be delivered as a SaaS, Meyercord said.

In June the company added its CoPilot AI-based management tool that delivers what Extreme calls explainable AI. CoPilot works by ascertaining a baseline of network performance and behavior, applying machine learning and AI to spot and resolve problems, then recommending remediation.

The idea with CoPilot is to reduce the alarm fatigue many AI-based tools produce, Meyercord said. CoPilot explains in simple terms what is causing odd traffic patterns or what threats it is detecting as well as offering predictive behavior analysis so that if an access point or switch is failing it will point that out before it goes down.

XIQ is also the hammer Extreme expects to use on the competition, namely Cisco and HPE. We believe our XIQ architecture is better equipped to provide a cohesive services edge platform than Cisco, for sure, and then all the other competitors, Meyercord said.

We give customers the ability to deploy services at edge, at cloud scale and speed, with a ton of features that our competition doesnt include or have, Meyercord said.

You want to have a centralized platform, where you have complete visibility to all of the devices that youre managing in the network, but also to have all the insights to the edge devices that are being supported. And thats what our cloud does better than any other cloud in the industry, Meyercord said in the companys recent financial analysts call.

XIQ and other Extreme products will help extend network services and management to the new flexible or hybrid work environment, Meyercord said.

Customers are rethinking their networks. The new edge of the network is wherever and whatever device the individual worker is, he said. We can extend access and security from the cloud with a constant user experience no matter where the worker is and stand that service up quickly.

Other Extreme technologies are making it easier to extend the enterprise. Just this week it rolled out an enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 6E access point, Extreme AP4000, which supports the new 6GHz frequency spectrum. 6GHz supports larger channels and higher data rates, as well as being a much less busy area of the spectrum compared to the heavily used 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands that are also supported by Wi-Fi 6E.

We see [it] as being a driver for dense networking requirementseverything from stadiums, and outdoor venues to healthcare and manufacturing, Meyercord said.

The company recently added a new universal switch as well. The enterprise edge and aggregation 5420 family includes fixed 24- and 48-port models with Gigabit and Multi-Gigabit ethernet support. The series expands Extremes existing 5520 universal switch family. He said the introduction of the switch was the companys most successful, even better than the introduction of the 5520 earlier this year which he also called the most successful.

We have upgraded approximately 40% of our portfolio to universal hardware, which is the latest generation of chipsets from Broadcom with embedded XIQ licenses, Meyercord said during the financial analysts call. This is on track with our plan we laid out at the beginning of the year.
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photoA fourth-order Fresnel lens is on display at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport. The lens, which has been on loan to the museum for more than 40 years, will soon be returned to its original location at Pomham Rocks Lighthouse in Rhode Island.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Actor Shilpa Shetty on Monday issued a statement in the ongoing porn films case involving husband Raj Kundra's arrest and requested people to respect their privacy, especially that of her children.

Kundra, 45, was arrested by the crime branch on July 19, in a case, which it said related to alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps.

Shetty took to Instagram and posted a note, writing that she has full faith in the Mumbai Police and the Indian judiciary.

"As a family, we are taking recourse to all our available legal remedies. But, till then I humbly request you - especially as a Mother - to respect our privacy for my children's sake and request you to refrain from commenting on half-baked information without verifying the veracity of the same," she wrote in a post.

The actor wrote she is a "proud law-abiding Indian citizen" and a hardworking professional for the last 29 years.

"People have put their faith in me and I've never let anyone down. So, most importantly, I request you to respect my family's and my right' to privacy in these times. We don't deserve a media trial. Please let the law take its course. Satyamev Jayate," she added.

Shetty, 46, said the past few days have been "challenging on every front" and the family has battled a lot of rumours and accusations.

"A lot of unwarranted aspersions on me cast by the media and (not so) well-wishers as well. A lot of trolling/questions posed not only to me but also to my family. My stand, I have not commented yet. and will continue to refrain from doing so on this case as it is subjudice, so please stop attributing false quotes on my behalf. Reiterating my philosophy of, as a celebrity 'Never complain, never explain.' All I will say is, as it's an ongoing investigation, I have full faith in the Mumbai Police and the Indian judiciary," she added.
Shantanu David By

Express News Service

It had been a long time coming. Since I was a kid, I have loved drawing and creating things. And I dont know, but I really like making people happy and trying to help out. I somehow thought those two things should go together but I was not sure how, recalls Shirin Batra.

It was last year, while back home in Delhi from college that the 19-year-old found clarity. I still remember the date. It was July 07, and I had found out that a friends younger brothers cancer had returned for the third time. I felt so bad and wanted to just help in any way that I could, and suddenly it clicked. I thought why not sell my artwork and whatever money it raised I could give towards his treatment.

And so Heart (Instagram: @heartbyshirinbatra), Batras one-woman passion project was born. After managing to sell off her work within a month and contributing the entire amount (Rs 22,000) to the boys treatment, Batra began looking for another worthy cause. I dont have an agenda when it comes to choosing organisations or people to help. And I dont set myself any limits. Like, if I cannot raise the amount I had hoped for within a month, I give myself another month. And even if the amounts I raise are not that large in the big picture, I am just glad to have helped in whatever little way I could.

Apart from donating amounts to a couple of other cancer patients, Batra turned to her own circle to find out how she can help. A friends father was in the armed forces, and I asked her if there were any worthy charities associated with the military whom I could raise money for. She suggested the Army Wives Welfare Association, which contributes towards the welfare of the next of kin of our armed forces and so I thought that would be a great cause to help towards, she explains.

She also contributed towards a food and nutrition drive for a city orphanage as well as a reusable sanitary napkin distribution and awareness drive in a West Delhi slum, which held classes of awareness on menstrual hygiene and distributed reusable sanitary napkins to the women and girls there. My college (Christ University, Bengaluru) has this society, Center for Social Action, whose Community Development Program I raised money for, she says

Speaking of college, I really hope I can go back there soon. We have been having online classes and all, but I miss my friends and the whole college experience. While the BBA student still is not sure about what career shes going to follow just yet (Human Resources is on my shortlist because I love working with people), one thing remains certain. Whatever career I pick, I will always do Heart on the side for the rest of my life, she signs off.
By PTI

SINGAPORE: Eleven foreigners working in Singapore's Infocomm Technology (ICT) industry were permanently barred from working in the city-state for submitting false educational qualifications in their work pass applications between 2018 and 2020, Parliament was told on Monday.

Answering questions in the House, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said his ministry also conducts additional checks by screening the qualifications submitted through its database of institutions and it will reject applications with fake or unaccredited qualifications.

Last month, two work pass holders were jailed for submitting false qualifications from a private university in Himachal Pradesh in India.

One more person has been charged while 19 others holding degrees from Manav Bharti University have been permanently barred from working in Singapore.

Elaborating, Tan said on Monday, "This database is regularly reviewed through our scan of open source reports and research from third-party screening organisations.

"For applications containing qualifications from institutions not in our database, we require employers to submit verification proof from third-party screening organisations to ensure the qualifications submitted are accredited.

" The ministry, he said, takes a "firm stance" against foreigners who submit false qualifications to fraudulently obtain work passes.

The ministry may also prosecute offenders for false declaration under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which carries a fine of up to SGD 20,000, up to two years' jail, or both.

According to a Channel News Asia report, the ministry had previously said that over the last five years, an average of 660 foreigners per year have been banned from working in Singapore for submitting fake education qualifications in their work pass applications.

Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon added that between 2016 and 2020, MOM issued warnings to an average of 160 work pass holders each year who were in illegal employment.

"All of them were debarred from working in Singapore," said Koh.

Work pass holders in illegal employment face a fine of up to SGD 20,000, two years' jail, or both.

MOM will also bar them from working in Singapore.

Employers who hire any foreigners without a valid work pass will face a fine of up to SGD 30,000, a jail term of up to 12 months, or both.

Their work pass privileges will also be suspended.

Koh said that there are also efforts to educate foreign workers in Singapore to help them understand what constitutes illegal employment or violation of their work permit conditions.

"If we do have enforcement actions being taken, especially against companies that were egregious, we do publicise them on mainstream media as well as on online social media platforms because this raises awareness and serve as a deterrence to other would-be offenders," the Channel quoted Koh as saying.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Assam Police will withdraw the FIR lodged against Mizoram MP K Vanlalvena.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma issued directions to the state police to withdraw the FIR.

I have noted statements in media by Honble CM @ZoramthangaCM wherein he has expressed his desire to settle the border dispute amicably. Assam always wants to keep the spirit of North East alive. We are also committed to ensuring peace along our borders

To take this goodwill gesture ahead, I have directed @assampolice to withdraw FIR against K Vanlalvena, Honble MP, Rajya Sabha from Mizoram. However, cases against other accused police officers will be pursued, the Assam CM tweeted.

The Mizoram CM retweeted the tweet.

The Assam Police had issued summons to six Mizoram officials, including Kolasib District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, in connection with the July 26 violence on the interstate border. Similar summons were issued to six Assam government officers, including Cachar DM and SP, by Mizoram Police.

The FIR against the MP was lodged after he had made an alleged incendiary statement that If they come again, we shall kill them all. The statement had reference to the border violence.


By PTI

MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday again in connection with its probe into a money laundering case, an ED official said.

Deshmukh sent a two-page letter to the ED through his advocate Inderpal Singh and mentioned that he is sending his representative.

The ED earlier also called Deshmukh three times for questioning in the money laundering case, but he had skipped the summons.

On Friday, the ED issued fresh summons to the NCP leader and his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh to appear before the probe agency's office in south Mumbai on Monday, but they skipped it.

The ED had summoned Anil Deshmukh under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as the agency wants to further record his statement in the case, sources earlier said.

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would hear on August 3 a plea filed by Anil Deshmukh seeking protection from any coercive action in the money laundering case lodged by the ED.

Anil Deshmukh had last month said he will appear before the ED to record his statement in the money laundering case after the Supreme Court's decision over his petition.

The ED's case against him and others was made out after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first carried out a preliminary enquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High Court.

The court had asked the CBI to look into the allegations of bribery made against Anil Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Anil Deshmukh, who resigned from his post in April following the allegations, has denied any wrongdoing.

The ED had earlier arrested Anil Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde after carrying out raids against them and the NCP leader in Mumbai and Nagpur.

The probe agency last month also attached assets worth Rs 4.20 crore of Anil Deshmukh and his family.
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: The 170-day Visakha Ukku agitation against privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) is all set to reach the national capital Delhi with the two-day Maha Dharna of employees union starting at Jantar Mantar Monday.

The Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee, which has been spearheading the agitation against privatisation of RINL, the corporate entity of VSP, has decided to intensify its stir with the dharna. Over 1,000 steel plant workers left for Delhi by different trains on Friday. All the workers will gather at Jantar Mantar at 10 am to stage Maha Dharna.

The union leaders have already met leaders of various national and regional political parties, which are not part of the NDA, to garner support for their stir against privatisation. Leaders of several parties have promised to join the dharna against the Centres move.

Ukku Porata Committee chairman Ch Narasinga Rao said the two-day dharna in Delhi will highlight their resolve to resist privatisation of the steel plant. It will be remembered for long in history. Leaders of almost all opposition parties will be joining the protest in Delhi, he said.

Narasinga Rao said despite stiff opposition from people and workers, the Centre has filed a counter affidavit in the High Court reaffirming its stand for 100 per cent strategic sale of RINL.Vizag Mayor and corporators of the GVMC will observe a days fast on Monday to express their solidarity with the workers dharna in Delhi.

A rally was taken out by Visakha all party workers and praja sanghala JAC in the city on Sunday as part of the stir against VSP privatisation. Addressing the rally, AITUC State president R Ravindranadh and JAC chairman M Jaggu Naidu said the Narendra Modi government should be taught a lesson for trying to sell the steel plant, which is the pride of people of Andhra.

The steel plant was set up after farmers of 64 villages gave 22,000 acres of land for it and 32 people sacrificed their lives during the famous Visakha Ukku Andhrula Hakku agitation in the late 1960s. People of AP are not ready to accept the proposal to sell a golden goose like the VSP, they said.

Protest at Jantar Mantar, AP Bhavan

Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee has got permission to hold Maha Dharna at Jantar Mantar only on Monday. Steel plant workers will stage a protest at AP Bhavan on Tuesday against privatisation
Chetana Belagere By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: There is a clear trend of increasing Covid effective reproductive number, which is around 0.85 now. The moment it touches 1, we will see an outbreak, similar or worse than the previous wave, warned Dr Giridhara Babu, renowned epidemiologist, and Member, Technical Advisory Committee, during an interview with The New Indian Express.

Karnataka is seeing an increase in the number of Covid cases. Does this warn of a third wave?

When you examine the trend of infection, there are several ways of assessing it. If you examine the effective reproduction number  which was at rock bottom around June 20  has started increasing. It is around 0.85 now. The moment it touches 1  which can happen very soon  an outbreak very similar to the second wave can occur. Whether this will be large enough and will have similar casualties will depend on the action we take. It is not so much about the virus, than about what we do now to contain it.

Does the outbreak occur only because of an increase in cases in neighbouring states or the spike within the State?

A combination of several factors leads to an outbreak: Seroprevalance, vaccination coverage and covid-appropriate behaviour. Kerala is not alone in the risk of spreading infection to Karnataka. It can come from anywhere and any part of the world. Once a virus travels to Karnataka, these three factors are important. Many areas in Karnataka have low seroprevalence, which can see a sudden spurt. Even in Bengaluru, there might be pockets with low seroprevalence. Most parts of northern, central and coastal Karnataka will see a high number of cases. Instead of tailor-made interventions, we can have uniform regulations.

Proportion of inoculated population is also an important determinant in terms of infections, hospitalisations and how many might face risk of death.

Third, instead of state-specific intervention policies, there should be uniform regulations, preventing congregation of crowds and ensuring compliance in CAB, especially masking and social distancing/

Also do more testing, identify clusters as soon as infections start spreading and contain the transmission.

What is the status of vaccination in Karnataka?

Many states, including Karnataka, do not have adequate supplies of vaccines. While waiting, we have to micro-plan. We should map all the eligible people, register them on CoWin, and plan when and where they will go to take the vaccine once its available. Karnataka has done this during elections, so why not for the vaccination?

There is a lot of discussion happening around vaccine hesitancy? What's your take on this.

Vacine hesitancy is a convenient term which is collectively used for several failures like lack of awareness, lack of micro planning, lack of mobilisation. Very small number of people exist who really do not want to get vaccinated because of fear or some other reason. It is a very western phenomenon and in India very few people arescared due to myths or fake news on vaccines. To overcome this UNICEF, government and WHO is holding mobilisation campaigns.

WATCH |

Seroprevalence survey report submitted to ICMR shows nearly 68 per cent of seropositivity in the State



I have been part of both national and state serosurveys. Taking 68 per cent as an average based on the results from two districts for the entire State may not be the appropriate thing to do. We have seen great heterogeneity in the way districts are getting infected. In the days to come, I am sure there will be areas with low seroprevalence of less than 30-40 per cent. These are the areas which will see the maximum number of cases.

What are the immediate measures the government needs to take?

The battle against Covid is not like an election where after one event, you get prepared for the next. Its a process and we need a perpetual state of preparedness. That comes from strong surveillance. Karnataka is among states with a good testing record, but still the numbers are not enough. More than 50 per cent testing occurs in Bengaluru and district headquarters. But the focus should be on rural areas which have low seroprevalence.

Political leaders and role models like movie actors, religious leaders should be socially conscious anf follow Covid appropriate behaviou. Crowding should be avoided at all costs while masking and maintaining social distancing is very important.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Guest lecturers in colleges have complained that they are getting a raw deal from the government amid the pandemic. Most of them have not been paid their wages for the past several months, despite a government order stipulating that there should be no laxity in payment of salary to teachers and non-teaching staff during the pandemic.

The remuneration of guest lecturers is paid by the Directorate of Collegiate Education. According to a circular issued by the directorate, the process of granting salary should begin on the month of joining of guest lecturers and they should be paid the salary from from the next month onwards.

However, the Deputy Director Offices of the Collegiate Education Directorate are violating the circular by not beginning the process and not paying guest lecturers on time. This is despite colleges sending files regarding payment to these offices months ago, said a guest lecturer, preferring anonymity. Meanwhile, officials in the Deputy Director office maintained that they are yet to receive any instruction from the Directorate of Collegiate Education on the exact date from which guest lecturers are to be paid in the 2020-21 academic year.

Other anomalies



The University Grants Commission (UGC) had enhanced the salary of guest lecturers with an honorarium of K1,500 per hour to a maximum of K50,000 per month. However, the state government issued an order stipulating a lesser amount of K1,750 per day with a monthly cap of K43,750 to the guest lecturers.

It is pointed out that while calculating the number of hours engaged by Science stream (BSc/MSc) guest lecturers, practical sessions are not included. Guest lecturers are asked to conduct practical sessions though the Directorate of Collegiate Education refuses to foot the bill for it, they alleged.

A RAW DEAL
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/CHENNAI: Close on the heels of Karnataka imposing strict restrictions on travellers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu also made it mandatory for those coming from the state to carry a negative RT-PCR test report or vaccination certificate of two doses from August 5.

The curbs imposed by the two neighbouring states in the wake of Covid surge in Kerala are likely to hit the travel plans of many ahead of the Onam festival. The guidelines are mandatory for people entering these states from Kerala through any mode of transport  road, rail and air.

In the light of the new developments, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation has stopped all services to Mangaluru from Kerala for the next one week, but it would operate limited services to Bengaluru for passengers with RT-PCR negative certificate.

On Sunday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the state government has made RT-PCR negative certificate mandatory for people coming from Kerala from August 5. However, those who have taken two doses of vaccine can enter Tamil Nadu without RT-PCR test report. They should have completed 14 days since taking the second dose of the vaccine, the minister said after inspecting the Covid screening facilities at the Chennai airport. TN will also set up a system to provide Covid test results for air passengers in 13 minutes at the airports.

KSRTC stops services from Kasaragod to Mangaluru

Karnataka had on Saturday made RT-PCR negative result, obtained within 72 hours prior to the journey, mandatory for people from Kerala, irrespective of the vaccination status. To enter Karnataka, airlines were told to issue boarding passes only to passengers carrying RTPCR negative certificates.

In the case of buses, the conductor should ensure that all passengers possess the Covid negative certificates. Railway authorities are responsible for ensuring that all passengers travelling by train have Covid negative report.

Similarly, drivers of vehicles transporting fruits and vegetables to and from the state must undergo Covid tests once every 15 days. Soon after the directive, the KSRTC stopped all its services to Mangaluru from Kasaragod. In the light of the order issued by the District Collector of Dakshina Kannada, the KSRTC has suspended all its services to Mangaluru, Sullia and Puttur from Kasaragod for next one week starting from Monday. But the KSRTC will operate services (one Scania and 14 deluxe express buses) to Bengaluru via Muthanga and Mananthavady and asked passengers to carry a Covid negative certificate taken within 72 hours before the journey, said the KSRTC chairmans office.

Rijas A J, general secretary of Inter-State Bus Operators Association, Kerala, said: There was only a skeletal inter-state service between Karnataka and Kerala. With the new restrictions, many people may drop their travel plans, especially during Onam. But, he said its also not easy to implement the order as there are a lot of inter-state buses passing through Karnataka to various other states.

So it will not be easy to keep a tab on a passenger if he gets down at various points from a bus that heads to Andhra Pradesh or Telangana or Maharashtra from Kerala, he said.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Reacting for the first time after the Jal Shakti Ministry issued a gazette notification on July 15 bringing 107 irrigation projects under the jurisdiction of river management boards, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday alleged that the central government adopted an "anti-Telangana stand" on sharing of river waters.

At a public meeting in Nagarjuna Sagar on Monday, the Chief Minister said: "You know that the Centre adopted an anti-Telangana stand. AP has been constructing irrigation projects illegally on the Krishna river." Rao termed AP's attitude as "Dadagiri". He said that he would divert Godavari waters from Palair to Pedda Devula Palli in Nagarjuna Sagar to meet the irrigation requirements of Nagarjuna Sagar ayacut, which is in the Krishna river basin.

The Chief Minister visited Nagarjuna Sagar to thank the people for electing the TRS candidate Nomula Bhagath in the recent bypoll. Rao showered several sops on the segment and informed that as many as 15 lift irrigation schemes would be constructed in the segment.

On the Dalit Bandhu scheme, the Chief Minister said there were 16 lakh to 17 lakh SC families in the state. Of these, around 12 lakh to 13 lakh SC families would get Rs 10 lakh each under the scheme in phases. He said that every year some amount would be allocated in the Budget for Dalit Bandhu.
By Express News Service

ADILABAD: A couple of Adivasi organisations, including the Adivasi Hakulla Porata Samithi, are opposed to the Congress partys Dalit Girijan Dandora on August 9, which is celebrated as World Adivasi Day. The community people celebrate the day every year like a festival with cultural programmes and are opposed to the idea of politicians hijacking the day, said the Samithi leaders. They demanded that the Congress leadership make their stand clear on the Lambada issue, because the Congress itself merged Lambadas into the ST category in 1976.

Adivasi Hakulla Porata Samithi district president Godam Ganesh said PCC president A Revanth Reddys claim that Lambadas also fought, along with the Adivasis, for their right, was wrong. He said that tribal leader Komrambheem fought for the Jal, Jungle and Jameen, and many sacrificed their lives in Indervelli and Jodeghat for the cause. The Lambadas never participated in the agitation, he added. He said that they were not opposed to any political party meetings but they were against any political gimmicks on the World Adivasi Day.

Mulugu MLA Seethakka who visited Indervelli to check the works going on for the upcoming Dalit and Girijan Dandora, said that the programme was not against the Adivasis. Farmers cultivating podu land are not being given pattadar passbooks. During the Congress regime, lands and pattas were given to Adivasis, however, the pink party is busy grabbing the lands under the guise of various programmes, the legislator added.
By PTI

KATHMANDU: The Chairman of Securities Board of Nepal and the Chief Executive Officer of its stock exchange are under investigation for alleged insider trading using unpublished price sensitive information, according to media reports on Monday.

Securities Board, Nepal (SEBON) Chairman Bhisma Raj Dhungana and Nepal Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Chandra Singh Saud are accused of buying shares for their family members of Sarbottam Cement at lower prices than what was to be listed at its initial public offer (IPO), the Nepali Times newspaper reported.

The alleged scandal came to light last week after the vernacular newspaper, Himal Khabar published its investigative report.

Taking cognisance of the news report, the Finance Ministry demanded an explanation from Dhungana and Saud.

However, the clarifications seem to be inadequate and the government has now tasked the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to carry out its probe, the report said.

Confirming the developments to The Kathmandu Post newspaper, CIAA Chief Commissioner Prem Kumar Rai said relevant documents have been sought from the finance ministry.

The alleged irregularities are believed to have taken place when the board of Sarbottam Cement sought SEBON's assistance in launching the company's IPO.

Sarbottam Cement has stated that its shares were to be priced at Rs 750 per unit at the IPO, even though it has been valued at Rs 100.

Dhungana and Saud are accused of buying the shares for their kin at around Rs 250 per share.

Global IME Capital, an investment bank, is also accused of profiting from similar dealings with Sarbottam Cement, though more clarity awaits on the probe's focus on their actions.

Netizens in Nepal have taken to social media to vent their ire over the alleged insider trading accusations.

Some said the public's faith in the stock exchange has been eroded, some drew comparisons between insider trading and plain fraud.

"Are board members allowing suspicious companies to release shares under the temptation of illicit rewards?" wrote a social media user.

Another similar post read: "Have finance bosses, chiefs and sales executives rigged the process (buying stocks) to earn favourable shares for themselves?" Speaking to Nepali Times, stock market expert Rabindra Bhattarai said: This is a clear case of an attempt by insiders to unethically influence the market price of a company offering premium shares.

The Employees Union of Securities Board of Nepal on Sunday called for legal action against Dhungana.

The union said Dhungana's actions amount to "utmost moral hazard".

Meanwhile, both Saud and Dhungana have defended themselves in the media, denying any foul play.

While admitting to buying the shares at Rs 250 before they were released to the public, Saud told Himal Khabar newspaper that he did no wrong as the purchase had been ordered after the company's book building process had started.

Book building is the process by which a stock's price is determined before it is listed in the share market.

Similarly, Dhungana has argued that the shares were purchased in his daughter's name, which is her independent choice.

"As my daughter is married and no longer belongs to my own family, her decision to buy shares does not fall under the category of insider trading," Dhungana told The Kathmandu Post.
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Having been immunized with any of the available Covid-19 vaccines has become a requirement to travel to certain regions . However, not all vaccines are well received around the world, so we tell you which ones are accepted in Europe, the United States and other countries .

At the end of May, the countries of the European Union (EU) agreed to allow the arrival of travelers from third countries who have received the necessary doses of Covid-19 vaccines accepted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) .

This month the block presented its Digital Certificate of Covid-19 Vaccination , which allows both European residents and visitors to travel through the 27 EU countries if they are vaccinated, present a recent negative test or show that they have recently recovered from the virus. .

For now, the EMA officially accepts Pfizer / BioNTech , Moderna , Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca vaccines for ages 18 and older. But there is an exception, since the EU does not recognize as a valid version of AstraZeneca manufactured in India (Covishield), as it considers that there are possible "differences" in its manufacture. The list also excludes vaccines produced in Russia and China : Sputnik V , Sinovac and Sinopharm , which are still under review.

It may interest you: AstraZeneca is still not sure if it needs a booster for its COVID-19 vaccine

Despite this, the forest countries can, but are not obliged to, admit people vaccinated with immunizers authorized in some EU countries (such as Sputnik V used in Hungary) or approved by the WHO, such as the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac.

"There is the possibility for people from third countries to obtain an EU vaccination certificate if they can verify that they have been vaccinated with a preparation that appears on the WHO list, which is relevant to the EU Member State to which they are traveling.  Said Christian Wigand of the European Commission, according to a DW report.

In addition, each EU country can apply its own rules for travelers, which vary widely and cause confusion. For example, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland allow entry to people who received vaccines not included in the EMA list, but France and Italy reject them.

The European Union delivers!



Our goal was to protect 70% of adults in the EU with at least one vaccination dose in July.



Today we reach that goal. https://t.co/eSmm10T6vc - European Union in Mexico (@UEenMexico) July 27, 2021

European countries with additional restrictions

Austria. People will have to submit a negative Covid-19 test result, a vaccination certificate, or proof of prior infection. They also accept a vaccination certificate, card or passport in German or English as proof of vaccination, as does the EU digital certificate.

People will have to submit a negative Covid-19 test result, a vaccination certificate, or proof of prior infection. They also accept a vaccination certificate, card or passport in German or English as proof of vaccination, as does the EU digital certificate. Denmark. He announced that he will implement a Covid passport baptized as 'coronapas' to reopen the borders to foreign travelers who have already been inoculated. It will be necessary to get a haircut, get a massage, attend the gym or indoor sports facilities, eat indoors in restaurants, bars, and cafes, as well as enter cultural venues such as museums, zoos, cinemas, and amusement parks.

He announced that he will implement a Covid passport baptized as 'coronapas' to reopen the borders to foreign travelers who have already been inoculated. It will be necessary to get a haircut, get a massage, attend the gym or indoor sports facilities, eat indoors in restaurants, bars, and cafes, as well as enter cultural venues such as museums, zoos, cinemas, and amusement parks. Slovenia. The country is requiring people to show proof of complete vaccination, recovery, or recent negative covid-19 test to enter the country, as well as to attend many venues and events. This can be the Covid Digital Certificate from the EU or from a third country.

The country is requiring people to show proof of complete vaccination, recovery, or recent negative covid-19 test to enter the country, as well as to attend many venues and events. This can be the Covid Digital Certificate from the EU or from a third country. Italy. The mandatory 'green pass' will enter into force from August 6, announced the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza. It is designed in digital or paper certificate format and will serve to prevent unvaccinated people from accessing closed or crowded places.

The mandatory 'green pass' will enter into force from August 6, announced the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza. It is designed in digital or paper certificate format and will serve to prevent unvaccinated people from accessing closed or crowded places. Luxembourg. In June, CovidCheck certificates began to be used, which appear as QR codes on users' phones to scan them in restaurants, bars and other venues with a government-approved application to allow access. If visitors do not have a valid certificate, they can undergo a rapid on-site antigen test.

In June, CovidCheck certificates began to be used, which appear as QR codes on users' phones to scan them in restaurants, bars and other venues with a government-approved application to allow access. If visitors do not have a valid certificate, they can undergo a rapid on-site antigen test. Netherlands. They are using their CoronaCheck system, part of the EU Covid Digital Certificate. Residents can get a QR code to prove they are fully vaccinated, have recovered from Covid-19, or have recently tested negative. Visitors without a Covid certificate can take a test maximum 40 hours before any event or tour.

Therefore, if you intend to travel to a member country of the European Union and do not have a vaccine approved by the bloc, it is best to consult the particular requirements of the country in question regarding the entry of tourists.

Covid-19 vaccines accepted in the United States

In the portal of the United States Embassy in Mexico it is stipulated that as of January 26, all passengers older than two years who enter that country by air must provide a negative COVID-19 viral test , performed no more than three calendar days before flight departure to the US. This should be an antigen test (PCR / NAAT for a current infection), since "antibody tests do not meet the requirement," they say.

"Alternatively, travelers to the United States can provide documentation from a licensed healthcare provider confirming that they have recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days prior to travel," the Embassy adds.

Regarding Covid-19 vaccines , the United States does not have any restrictions in this regard and receives vaccinated travelers or not .

The US government has clarified to us that neither the entry of travelers into its territory nor the eventual reopening of the common border is conditioned on the use of specific types of vaccine. - Foreign Relations (@SRE_mx) July 7, 2021

In fact, about 2 million Mexicans have benefited from this position, since it is the number of people who, it is calculated, have traveled to that country to get vaccinated.

A report from the National Council of Tourism Companies (CNET) and the Center for Tourism Research and Competitiveness of the Anahuac University (Cicotur) indicates that between March and May 2021 the trips of Mexicans to the United States tripled, a total of 905,487. In the previous three months, the number of travelers to the United States was 380,000.

"The only reason that explains this difference is vaccination tourism," said Francisco Madrid, director of Cicotur, to El Pais .

What vaccines are approved in the United States?

In the case of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , the approved vaccines are: Johnson & Johnson , Pfizer , Moderna and AstraZeneca . If you were vaccinated with any other, in the United States they will allow you access, as long as you are vaccinated and you verify with a test that you do not have Covid-19.

What about the Russian Sputnik V vaccine ?

The Russian Sputnik V vaccine has not been approved by the EMA or FDA, despite demonstrating 91.6% efficacy against the virus and preventing severe cases.

Covid-19 vaccines, certificates and passports in other countries

Some countries that have implemented some type of health passport are:

Israel. In February it adopted the 'green passport' to prove immunity, but the government did not extend it after it expired on June 1. However, due to the resurgence of cases, it will be reinstated as of July 29.

In February it adopted the 'green passport' to prove immunity, but the government did not extend it after it expired on June 1. However, due to the resurgence of cases, it will be reinstated as of July 29. Japan. It will begin issuing vaccination passports from the end of July, public broadcaster NHK reported . The document will show the traveler's name, nationality, passport number and vaccination date. There will also be digital versions.

It will begin issuing vaccination passports from the end of July, public broadcaster NHK reported . The document will show the traveler's name, nationality, passport number and vaccination date. There will also be digital versions. South Korea. As of July 1, it began to allow the entry of foreigners without the need for quarantine, as long as they proved to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The vaccine must be approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), and visitors must still undergo a Covid-19 test before traveling and after arriving in the country.

#FelizJueves These are the key points that the#CDMX government presented to reactivate the economy of the country's capital.

Do you think it's a good plan or should they reconsider closings? https://t.co/HsJkDExUT0 pic.twitter.com/ABvPBrjHj2 - Entrepreneur in Spanish (@SoyEntrepreneur) July 29, 2021

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) assured that without the recognition of all the vaccines against Covid-19 worldwide, the recovery of international travel will be seriously delayed.

The fact that countries have not agreed on a common list of all approved and recognized vaccines is of great concern to the WTTC, as we know that travel, travel and tourism companies with cash shortages are facing even greater pressure , stated Virginia Messina, senior vice president of the WTTC, as quoted by Forbes .

Therefore, the WTTC proposes to create a fully recognized list of all approved vaccines , which would be key to unlocking international travel.

"It will also give tourists and travelers the confidence they need to book trips, flights and cruises, confident in the knowledge that their full vaccination status will be recognized internationally ," Messina added.

See also: Study reveals that two doses of Pfizer or AstraZeneca protect you against the Delta variant

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) asked countries to recognize all the vaccines it has authorized, since those who do not do so are undermining confidence in vital vaccines that have already been shown to be safe and effective, affecting acceptance of vaccines and could be putting billions of people in danger, "the United Nations health agency said this month in a statement.

The WHO has licensed the vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech , AstraZeneca / Oxford , Janssen , Moderna , Sinopharm and Sinovac .

In conclusion, if you want to travel to any country in the world, the best thing to do when in doubt is to bring:

A negative PCR test for Covid19.

Proof of having recovered from Covid in the 90 days prior to the trip.

Your vaccination certificate regardless of the brand of inoculator you have received.

And remember that sanitary measures to prevent contagions are maintained practically all over the world: use of face masks, constant hand washing, application of alcohol gel and healthy distance.

It may interest you: Another blow to the economy: World stock markets fall due to an increase in Covid-19 infections and fear of Delta variant

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
WASHINGTON (AP)  Stinging from the disappointment of Bernie Sanders' loss in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, supporters pumped millions into the powerful advocacy group Our Revolution to keep the progressive fight alive and prepare for another swing at the White House.

But after another defeat in 2020, the 79-year-old Vermont senator is unlikely to run for president a third time. And the organization centered on his fiery brand of politics is undergoing a rebranding.

Rather than insisting on Medicare for All  Sanders' trademark universal, government-funded health care plan  or the climate-change-fighting Green New Deal, Our Revolution is focusing on the more modest alternatives endorsed by President Joe Biden. Those include expanding eligibility for the existing Medicare program and curtailing federal subsidies for fossil fuel companies. The group says it wants to make sure Biden keeps his promises on those and other top issues.

The shift reflects a progressive movement that is at a crossroads. Biden won the Democratic nomination last year by offering more centrist alternatives to much of Sanders' agenda. Since then, progressive candidates have faced a series of electoral disappointments and are contending with anxiety from moderate Democrats worried that the party's leftward shift could cost them control of Congress during next year's midterm elections.

And, for the first time since 2016, Sanders is no longer the undisputed leader of the left.

Coming out of Bernies 2016 campaign, in some ways the organization was probably more of a bridge organization between the two electoral cycles, Joseph Geevarghese, Our Revolutions executive director, said in an interview. What were trying to build is something that is longer term" and "part of the overall ecosystem of the progressive movement.

I think we are rooted in a bold, progressive vision, but were also pragmatic progressives, Geevarghese said.

Sanders, who now heads the powerful Senate budget committee, can't legally work with outside political groups like Our Revolution. But many of his top allies have been closely aligned with the group since its August 2016 founding.

The senator didn't comment for this story.

Despite the group's change in emphasis, it remains deeply engaged in progressive politics. Its Ohio chapter has contacted more than 190,000 voters ahead of next week's Democratic primary to replace Rep. Marcia Fudge, who left Congress to become Biden's housing chief.

Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, one of the top voices in Sanders' presidential campaigns and a former president of Our Revolution, is competing in a crowded Democratic field that has emerged as one of the final tests of the left's political strength this year. Her principal rival, county councilwoman Shontel Brown, has been endorsed by Hillary Clinton, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn and the Congressional Black Caucus' advocacy arm.

Turner recently interrupted an evening of canvassing to address Our Revolution's weekly conference call.

I need you, whether you live in this district or not, to help us turn out the vote, said Turner, joining a video chat from a grocery store parking lot. "Our Revolution family, please keep doing what you are doing.

Sanders himself will campaign for Turner this weekend, and Our Revolution's all-out effort for one of his key acolytes shows that the group is not yet ready to distance itself from the democratic socialist. But Geevarghese said Our Revolution has forged an identity beyond its highest profile ally.

Is our brand identified with Bernie? Yes. But its really not the individual more than what he stands for," he said, "and were still committed to that.

Turner's race also exemplifies Our Revolution's renewed emphasis on on-the-ground organizing. It depends on roughly 600 chapters around the country who train activists to more efficiently mobilize behind candidates or causes  like cities raising their minimum wages to $15 per hour, even as the federal proposal to do so languishes in Congress.

Geevarghese dismisses perceptions that moderate Democrats are on the rise as fuzzy math. He notes that, some higher profile races this year aside, progressive candidates endorsed by Our Revolution have made down-ballot gains nationwide.

Were building a bench," Geevarghese said, "and the establishment should take notice.

In Congress, in addition to its more modest health care and environmental goals, the group is prioritizing passage of a major bill to make voting easier. While the bill faces significant hurdles, it would counter voting restrictions passed by many Republican-controlled legislatures.

Were not getting Medicare for All, but we can get major pieces of it, Our Revolution Board Chair Larry Cohen said on the same call where Turner spoke. But weve got to fight with every one of the Democrats. No Republicans are going to vote for any of these things."

California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the House Progressive Caucus, said Our Revolution has mastered an understanding of the minutia of policy better than many activist groups. Recently, the group's focus has been "translating the ideals into practical wins, Khanna said.

That's a far cry from the group's founding, when some activists worried that it was the kind of outside fundraising organization that could make Sanders  and his denunciations of big-money politics  look hypocritical. Sanders also spent the 2020 presidential campaign saying he didn't want a super PAC, and even though it is a nonprofit that doesn't produce campaign advertising, Our Revolution effectively acted like one for him in other ways.

Now, though, some other progressive organizations salute Our Revolution as further mobilizing grassroots activists heartened by Sanders' strong presidential runs.

You can see a real change in the trajectory of where the Democratic Party is when it comes to the big investments, the use of government levers to improve people's livelihoods, the fight against climate change, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action. "That is Our Revolution and Sen. Sanders really energizing that progressive base out there  and that base has made itself known in the electoral context.

With the midterms approaching, Our Revolution doesn't plan to stop supporting progressives who challenge more moderate Democrats in primaries  even as the party clings to its narrow majority in both chambers.

We want to have a united party going in, and that means mainstream Democrats have to make progress on our policy priorities," Geevarghese said. They cant just talk the talk in the campaign and then get elected and then say, Oh, its not doable.
MINNEAPOLIS  The First Avenue music venue in Minneapolis that was made famous in Princes movie Purple Rain is requiring that all concertgoers provide proof of vaccination against the coronavirus or show a negative virus test.

The venue said Monday that the policy is effective immediately.

Patrons must have a completed vaccination card that shows a final dose was administered at least 14 days before an event. If a patron is unvaccinated, they must show proof of a negative coronavirus result from a test taken within 72 hours of an event.

First Avenue says on its website that it previously required all its employees to be vaccinated.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 Fauci says more suffering lies ahead as coronavirus cases surge again

 UK eases travel restrictions as industry lobbies for more

 Iran records highest number of daily COVID cases in pandemic

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 Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is recommending that students and staff wear masks in schools, but has stopped short of requiring them to do so.

The governor also ordered Monday that state workers must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status amid a rise in infections with the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Beshear warns that workers face a much higher likelihood that they get COVID and they get really sick if they dont use masks.

Sixty-two percent of Kentucky residents ages 18 and older have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. But only 37% of those 18 to 29 have received at least one dose, while 83% of residents 65 and older have.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Arkansas has reported 42 new deaths from COVID-19 and its biggest one-day spike in hospitalizations since the pandemic began.

The Department of Health reported 81 new hospitalizations Monday, bringing the states total to 1,220. The department says 451 of those patients are in intensive care and 250 are on ventilators. The states virus hospitalizations are nearing the high of 1,371 it set in January.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is pleading with residents to get vaccinated, noting that nearly all of the hospitalizations the state has seen are among the unvaccinated. In a tweet, the governor says: Do your part to help. Hospitals are full & the only remedy is for more Arkansans to be vaccinated.

Arkansas lawmakers are preparing this week to take up Hutchinsons proposal to allow public schools to require face masks.

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CHICAGO  McDonalds says it will require employees and customers to resume wearing masks inside some U.S. restaurants regardless of vaccination status.

The company said Monday that the mandate will apply in areas with high or substantial coronavirus transmission.

McDonalds said it was acting in response to the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. McDonalds began requiring masks for all employees and customers last summer; it dropped the rule for vaccinated employees and customers in May. McDonalds has more than 14,000 U.S. stores.

The company didnt say how many restaurants would be impacted by the new mask mandate.

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INDIANAPOLIS  A federal appeals court has ruled that Indiana University can proceed with its plan to require students and employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Mondays ruling is the highest court decision regarding college immunization mandates. The Chicago-based appeals court upheld a district court judges ruling that found that the university was acting reasonably in pursuing public health and safety for its campus communities.

Both courts rejected a request by eight IU students who sought to block the requirement while they challenge its legality, claiming it would violate their constitutional rights by forcing them to receive unwanted medical treatment.

The plaintiffs lawyer says he will ask the Supreme Court to consider the case.

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DOVER, Del.  As of midday Monday, Delaware was reporting 1,833 deaths, days after health officials announced the addition of 130 deaths since May 2020 to the states total.

The addition of these deaths between May 2020 and mid-June is the result of a review of death certificate records from the Delaware Vital Events Registration System, officials announced in a news release Friday.

As of Sunday, there were 40 hospitalized patients, including 10 in critical condition, according to the states coronavirus dashboard. That is an increase from 34 on July 25.

Routine surveillance of test specimens found that the delta variant was the predominant variant making up 51% of the variant strains as of Friday, officials reported.

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WASHINGTON  White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that a nationwide vaccination requirement is not on the table, but noted that employers have the right to take that step as they see fit.

Asked whether there was any consideration of a vaccine mandate to enter federal property, as Biden put in place for mask-wearing upon taking office in January, Psaki said, Not across the country, no.

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WASHINGTON  White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the federal government stands ready to assist Florida with the surge in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, but noted the state has tools at its disposal to slow the spread, including promoting vaccinations and mask-wearing.

Psaki chided the states Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who has aggressively pushed back on new mask-wearing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and worked to limit vaccine mandates in his state.

Psaki said: At a certain point leaders are going to have to choose whether theyre going to follow public health guidelines or whether theyre going to follow politics, and we certainly encourage all governors to follow the public health guidelines.

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BATON ROGUE, La.  Louisiana on Monday reinstated a mask mandate in all indoor locations, including schools and colleges, as the states struggles with surging COVID-19 cases because of the delta variant and one of the nations lowest vaccination rates.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the mandate less than three months after he lifted a previous face covering requirement amid hopes that the virus was abating. The mandate will apply to anyone age 5 and older  both vaccinated and unvaccinated  who enters a business, a school, a church or other inside location.

Just under 43% of the states residents have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine  one of the lowest rates in the nation. The state is seeing one of the countrys worst COVID-19 spikes per capita.

The mask requirement had particular urgency for Edwards as students start returning to some K-12 schools this week.

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BATON ROUGE, La.  Another of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards staffers has tested positive for COVID-19.

The governors office said in a statement Monday that the staffer and five others who may have been exposed are in isolation and awaiting more test results.

The governors office says all are doing well. Two other governors office staffers tested positive last week.

The Governors office has a high rate of fully vaccinated staff including these staffers who were vaccinated against COVID earlier this year, the statement said. While breakthrough cases such as these do happen, they typically do not result in serious illness.

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SAN FRANCISCO  Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties have announced that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor settings as COVID-19 infections surge.

Mondays order applies to everyone, regardless of vaccination status, and starts on Tuesday. California last week recommended that people wear masks indoors, but stopped short of issuing a mandate, following guidance from the U.S Centers for Disease Control.

Three other California counties have already adopted mandates as COVID rates rise because of the highly contagious delta variant.

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SANTA FE, N.M.  The state of New Mexico moved forward Monday with a carrot-and-stick approach to immunizations against COVID-19 with a renewed $100 payout to newly vaccinated residents.

That $100 offer remains in effect through the end of August. The strategy was pioneered by New Mexico for several days in June, with about 25,000 eligible participants. The states $5 million sweepstakes prize for one vaccinated resident is scheduled to be awarded on Saturday.

President Joe Biden recommends that more states use cash payments to increase the pace of vaccination, as health authorities grapple with the more-contagious delta variant.

Starting on Tuesday, New Mexico is requiring that vaccine-eligible state workers either get the shot or get tested each week for infection.

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ATLANTA  A top federal health official said Monday that he understood frustration with new mask requirements, but hoped Americans recognize their responsibility for combating the coronavirus.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was in Atlanta as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in Georgia continued to rise amid a low vaccination rate.

I cant tell you the depth of frustration that Americans are feeling whove done everything they can, theyve done it right, to know that now weve got to go back to wearing masks, he said.

The number of hospitalized patients statewide crossed 2,000 on Friday, the highest since late February, and stood at just over 2,400 on Monday. ICU occupancy has also been trending up and was 83% of capacity Monday. Only 40% of Georgians are fully vaccinated, a rate that ranks in the bottom 10 of states.

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WEST VIRGINIA  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says theres no plans for a mask mandate as the state sees an increasing number of coronavirus cases.

The delta variant is now present in 29 counties, Justice told news outlets Monday during a briefing.

The total number of active cases had dipped below 1,000 not long ago, but are now at 2,480 and hospitalizations have risen to 152, he said.

Virus outbreaks have been reported at five long-term care facilities and at 10 churches, Justice said.

The state will hold its final vaccine incentive drawing this week and winners will be announced on Thursday

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  The superintendent of Alaskas largest school district will recommend universal masking in schools this fall.

The plan would focus on allowing for full participation in activities, clubs and social learning opportunities, Deena Bishop, the superintendent of the Anchorage School District, said in a letter to parents over the weekend.

The school board will review Bishops plan Tuesday. Classes will begin Aug. 17.

Besides masking indoors, the Anchorage Daily News reports that the district will continue regular cleaning of classrooms, buses and offices.

Bishop also said upgrades have been made to HVAC systems for optimal air flow.

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BATON ROUGE, La.  Louisianas lieutenant governor, who oversees the states tourism marketing efforts, is worried the latest COVID-19 surge will create further havoc on a tourism industry that generated $1.9 billion in taxes for Louisiana at its height before the pandemic.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, a Republican, said Monday that hes praying the state wont have to start shutting down the festivals, live events and other businesses that have resumed operations in recent months.

I cant imagine if wed have to have another shutdown what it would do to these businesses -- so Im wearing my mask, I ask people to wear their mask and be safe and lets turn this thing around, Nungesser said in a Baton Rouge luncheon appearance speaking with reporters.

Still, Nungesser stopped short of suggesting proof of vaccination should be required for entry to events, saying hed leave that to Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards to decide.

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DENVER  Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says the city will mandate all city employees and private sector workers in high-risk settings to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30.

Denvers public health measure announced Monday applies to more than 10,000 municipal employees like police officers, firefighters, and sheriffs deputies.

Hancock says the order includes congregate care settings including nursing homes, homeless shelters, hospitals, correctional facilities. It also applies to employees of public and private schools and higher education institutions in the county.

Officials say after Sept. 30, workers who do not get vaccinated but are required to do so under the mandate will not be allowed to work onsite.

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ANNAPOLIS, Md.  Maryland has been seeing rising cases of COVID-19, but no deaths were reported on Monday morning for the latest 24-hour period.

The state reported 447 new confirmed cases on Monday, and hospitalizations increased by 25 to 281 in the state.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, the chief executive of the states fifth most populous jurisdiction that includes the state capital of Annapolis, announced Monday that masks will be required in all county buildings by everyone, regardless of vaccination status, starting on Thursday.

Pittman, a Democrat, also said that starting Sept. 13, the county will begin requiring county employees to show proof of vaccination or weekly evidence of a negative test for COVID-19, with suspension without pay possible for employees who do not comply.
Ashley Judd says it's with "quiet awe" that she is walking, nearly six months after shattering her leg in four places while on a trip in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The "Double Jeopardy" star and activist was hospitalized in February after sustaining severe injuries from a fall while journeying through rainforest.

On Sunday, Judd announced a major milestone on her road to recovery on Instagram, telling fans she managed to walk "up hill on uneven surfaces for an hour confidently."

"Today, five months and three weeks after the accident in the Congolese rainforest, I walked again, and in what fashion!" Judd wrote alongside a series of videos and pictures of her recent hike in Switzerland.

The 53-year-old actress went on to detail her experience, saying: "Stepping in, I felt in my ease, my natural garment of self, at home in my spirit. My leg and foot, worked beautifully."

Judd also revealed that she recently walked another alp in Ticino, Switzerland, and said she is working on rebuilding her stamina.

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"This is the road ahead. But I am up to the daily tasks, as I am even carrying firewood into our Alpine hut!" she added.

Judd had been traveling in the Congo when she tripped over a fallen tree. In an Instagram Live interview with New York Times columnist Nick Kristof in February, she recalled lying on the ground for five hours, with a "badly misshapen leg," biting a stick because of pain, and "howling like a wild animal."

It took an "incredibly harrowing 55 hours" to get her from the jungle to an operating table in South Africa, she said in the interview.

In her latest Instagram post, Judd acknowledged that while her leg "will never be the same," she has grown to love her "new leg," saying: "We are buddies. We have a come a long way and we have a fabulous life ahead."

The-CNN-Wire

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ATLANTA  Gov. Brian Kemp announced the availability of $47 million in the Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund, beginning Sunday. The Office of Planning and Budget will distribute the resources through an application process.

The purpose of the GEER II Fund is to provide local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other education related entities with emergency assistance needed as a result of COVID-19.

As we reflect on the past school year, Georgias education system has withstood many challenges and remained resilient, Kemp said. This second round of GEER dollars will help us make strategic investments in our education system to empower our school leadership, support staff, teachers and students.

The application period will open on Sunday and close on Aug. 31. Funds will be available for use through Sept. 30, 2023.

The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020. This act provides funding to supplement the Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund awarded to each state under the previous CARES Act, creating a second GEER funding stream, GEER II.
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly speaks at an event at the Aurora Police Department at which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a measure into law that will overhaul the states Firearm Owners Identification Card Act and other gun laws.
Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Researchers conducting a serosurveillance study of a North American deer species have provided evidence of exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among the animals across four U.S. states.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to pose a threat to global public health and the worldwide economy.

The team from the USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services in Fort Collins, Colorado and the USDA-APHIS Veterinary Services in Ames, Iowa, found that 40% of samples collected from white-tailed deer across Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York, in 2021 contained neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Susan Shriner and colleagues say the findings highlight the need for dedicated wildlife disease surveillance programs to monitor the potential for reverse zoonotic (human to animal) spread of SARS-CoV-2 into novel wildlife reservoirs.

This potential spillback into wildlife species that live in close association with humans could affect the adaptation, evolution and transmission of the virus, says the team.

A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the bioRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

Novel wild animal reservoirs could drive evolution of SARS-CoV-2

Since SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to infect multiple domestic and wild animal species, new animal reservoirs could emerge with the potential to disseminate and drive the evolution of the virus. Abundant wildlife species that live in close proximity to humans represent a particular concern.

The pathogen pressure produced by significant human infections combined with susceptible wildlife hosts at the wildlife-human interface has led multiple authors to signal an urgent call for pro-active wildlife surveillance for early detection of potential reverse zoonosis of SARS-CoV-2 into wildlife populations, says Shriner and colleagues.

Aside from the potential adverse health impacts on wildlife, persistent infections within a novel host reservoir could enable the virus to adapt and evolve into new strains with increased transmissibility, pathogenicity, and immune escape capabilities.

Evidence has previously shown that white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are permissive to infection with SARS-CoV-2, exhibit sustained viral shedding, and can transmit the virus to members of the same species.

The geographic distribution of this species encompasses most of North America and these animals are particularly abundant near urban population centers located in the eastern U.S., writes the team. Moreover, white-tailed deer can form social groups, a contact structure with the potential to support the intraspecies transmission of multiple pathogens.

What did the researchers do?

The USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services National Wildlife Disease Program (NDWP) surveils a variety of pathogens in wildlife species across the U.S. In January 2021, Shriner and colleagues leveraged this resource to begin a pilot serosurveillance program for SARS-CoV-2 exposure in white-tailed deer.

The team examined 624 pre- and post-pandemic serum samples from white-tailed wild deer across four U.S. states.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection in white-tailed deer sampled in 2021 in the United States. Circle size indicates the relative number of samples tested. Color represents the relative seroprevalence, and numbers are the specific prevalence in a county.

A total of 385 post-pandemic samples were collected between January and March 2021, including 113 from Michigan, 142 from Pennsylvania, 101 from Illinois and 29 from New York.

Since the NWDP maintains extensive wildlife sample archives across multiple species, the team used this repository to select 239 white-tailed deer samples collected between 2011 and 2020 across five states: Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. The majority (182) of archive samples were from 2018-2020 (pre-and early pandemic).

All samples were screened using a surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) that is species independent. However, since this sVNT has not been validated for deer, the researchers also tested a subset of samples using a highly specific SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralization test (VNT).

What did they find?

Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 152 (40%) of the 2021 samples, in three of the 2020 samples and one of the 2019 samples. No antibodies were detected in the samples collected between 2011 and 2018.

The sVNT results showed high concordance with the VNT results; all 24 positive and 24 negative test results from the 2021 samples were concordant between the sVNT and VNT screens.

The lowest seroprevalence was observed in Illinois (7%), and the highest was in Michigan (67%). Seroprevalence in New York and Pennsylvania was intermediate, at 31% and 44%, respectively.

Overall, these results indicate that the white-tailed deer populations examined in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, writes the team.

Expanded surveillance of free-ranging deer is needed

The researchers point out that multiple activities could bring wild deer into contact with humans, such as field research, conservation work, wildlife tourism, supplemental feeding, and hunting.

The findings reported here emphasize the need for continued and expanded wildlife surveillance to determine the significance of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging deer, they say.

The team also recommends SARS-CoV-2 surveillance of susceptible predators and scavengers with a high probability of interacting with the deer.

Future wildlife surveillance should incorporate methods specifically designed to detect, isolate, and genetically characterize SARS-CoV-2 and to identify potential variants, as well as other endemic coronaviruses, writes Shriner and colleagues. These methods, combined with dedicated wildlife disease surveillance programs, can shed light on how zoonotic pathogen spillback into novel wildlife reservoirs may affect pathogen adaptation, evolution, and transmission.

*Important Notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
It was a Sunday morning in late November when Bryan Keller hopped on a bike for a routine ride to pick up his groceries, cruising with ease in a relatively empty New York City.

The surprises came fast and hard: a fall that sent his head into the pavement and left him bleeding profusely and in shock, a trip to an urgent care clinic for five stitches and then a $1,039.50 bill.

Keller's health insurance covered much of the cost of his visit to the CityMD clinic on Manhattan's Lower East Side. But it didn't cover the physician who arrived to stitch his forehead - an out-of-network plastic surgeon with a Park Avenue office.

"The people at CityMD just said [this] sort of thing is covered as part of an emergency procedure," said Keller, a regular cyclist who's lived in New York City for three decades. Even in post-accident "delirium," he said, he asked several times whether the stitches would be covered by his health insurance because it struck him as unusual that a plastic surgeon would do them.

"It really irked me that, it's this classic thing you hear in this country all the time," Keller said. "When you do all the right things, ask all the right questions and you're still hit with a large bill because of some weird technicality that there's absolutely no way for you to understand when you're in the moment."

Under a law Congress passed last year, many surprise medical bills will be banned starting in January. Patients with private insurance will be protected against unexpected charges for emergency out-of-network care, for treatment by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities and for transport in an air ambulance. But one gray area: visits to urgent care clinics, which have proliferated in recent years as patients seek speed and convenience over waiting hours at an emergency room or weeks to get a regular doctor's appointment. There are roughly 10,500 urgent care centers in the U.S., according to the Urgent Care Association, which lobbies on their behalf.

Urgent care clinics were not explicitly addressed in the No Surprises Act, but Keller's experience underscores patients' predicament - insurers often try to steer patients to urgent care and away from costly emergency rooms, but individuals could still get hit with large bills in the process. The Biden administration has expressed an interest in prohibiting surprise bills in those clinics, which may treat serious conditions but not life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

In July, several federal agencies issued interim regulations that largely would not protect patients from surprise urgent care bills. Regulation varies significantly across states, and data is scarce on how common surprise bills are in those facilities. Before the surprise billing rules are finalized, the Department of Health and Human Services and three other federal agencies have asked for information on issues such as the frequency of such bills at urgent care facilities and how health insurers contract with the clinics.

The current regulatory gap, if left untouched before the new law takes effect in January, is one that health care experts say could leave patients at risk.

"There's a real interesting question about whether it should apply to the extent that people perceive these as places to go for an emergency," said Jack Hoadley, research professor emeritus for Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

CityMD, which was founded by doctors in 2010 and merged with the large medical practice Summit Medical Group in 2019, operates a massive chain of urgent care clinics in New York and New Jersey. Most of its physicians are emergency doctors. The combined enterprise created Summit Health, which is backed by private equity with investments from well-known firms Warburg Pincus - which acquired CityMD in 2017 - and Consonance Capital Partners.

Matt Gove, chief marketing officer of Summit Health, confirmed that the plastic surgeon who treated Keller - Dr. Michael Wolfeld - has an agreement with the company that allows him to see patients at certain CityMD clinics. Though he was unable to comment on the specifics of Keller's situation, he said, CityMD's "normal procedure" is to "make the patient aware that this is available to them and that they can then make the choice as to whether or not it's important to them to be seen by a plastic surgeon."

"This is a patient choice," Gove said. "We certainly don't require that a patient be seen by Dr. Wolfeld or any other provider."

But Keller said it was never put to him as an option. "It was framed to me as This is how we do things," he said. "In order to have a preference I would have to know that there is an alternative." Wolfeld did not respond to a request for comment.

Last month the Biden administration proposed prohibiting surprise bills at urgent care centers licensed to perform emergency procedures, essentially treating them as free-standing emergency rooms. Some states, like Arizona, allow urgent care centers to provide emergency services, but they then are considered free-standing ERs, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health Services said. But urgent care centers aren't licensed as health care facilities in most states, let alone encouraged to provide emergency services, according to health care advocates that have tracked the issue and have pushed for greater government oversight of the industry.

New York, where Keller lives, doesn't consistently regulate urgent care providers, requiring licenses for some companies but not for CityMD clinics.

Regardless of what's prescribed in state regulations, what's considered an "emergency" versus "urgent" can vary by patient. That potentially creates confusion about whether patients would be protected from certain kinds of out-of-network bills if they show up at an urgent care facility for an acute illness or injury.

KHN also found that the urgent care clinic where Keller was treated describes several of its services as emergency care even though many are not meant to treat emergency conditions as envisioned in federal law. For example, the clinic characterizes physical exams, flu shots and vaccinations as emergency medical services. Under federal law, an emergency medical condition is defined as one where the absence of immediate medical attention could seriously jeopardize a patient's health.

Summit Health spokesperson Gove said the use of the term "emergency" is meant to be "patient-facing and patient-centric, and not having to do with miscategorizing or misrepresenting the nature of the services we provide."

The provider is "just making it clear to people that when you have something you need done quickly, which you might call personally an emergency, we're here to do that." CityMD has never marketed itself as an emergency room designed to treat all emergency conditions, Gove said.

Lou Ellen Horwitz, CEO of the Urgent Care Association, said urgent care clinics are akin to private doctor practices rather than an emergency room or hospital facility that would be subject to broad bans on surprising billing. She said that, even as urgent care clinics grow more common, there's "no data" to suggest consumer confusion about what they treat.

The association would oppose any federal push to classify these clinics as something akin to independent emergency departments, Horwitz said. Indeed, she said, such a move "contradicts" their very purpose: to treat non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

"The standard practice of the industry as well is that we dont hold ourselves out to be emergency departments," she said. "The likelihood of this being misunderstood is very low."

Nationwide, under the Biden administration's interim regulations, patients needing care for nonemergencies will not be protected if treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network urgent care facility, according to health care experts. "You don't have protections if it turns out the doctor or the physician assistant was out of network," Hoadley said.

A March report from Community Catalyst, a Boston-based health care advocacy organization focused on consumer issues, and the National Health Law Program, a civil rights advocacy group, found that fewer than 10 states issue facility licenses for urgent care clinics. Those licenses give state officials greater leeway to set standards for care, staffing levels, inspections or price transparency, but could also make care more expensive by increasing providers' expenses.

Without being licensed as a health care facility - something that exists for hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and critical access hospitals - urgent care clinics are generally treated as private physician practices subject to less regulation. "They're really flying under the radar now in many cases," said Lois Uttley, director of the Women's Health Program at Community Catalyst.

Horwitz, however, said the clinics should not be lumped in with those providers because their operations are fundamentally different.

Unlike hospitals and other practices that include facility fees in their charges to patients, "we don't charge or receive payments as a facility," she said.

In the midst of an injury, however, making such distinctions can be difficult. Keller said his motivation in going to urgent care was to get his wounds treated quickly instead of waiting hours in an ER, amid a spike in covid-19 cases that would presage the country's deadly winter. He had also been to that particular CityMD clinic for a covid test, so he knew it accepted his insurance.

Keller hadn't been wearing a helmet the day of his accident, caused by trying to prevent a bag of groceries from falling off his bike. With a bleeding forehead and banged-up knees and wrists - Keller brushed a parked car and went off the bike himself - he was given a tetanus shot and had elevated blood pressure from the shock of the accident. Still, in that moment, he thought it was odd that a plastic surgeon was being called in to give him a handful of stitches, he said.

"It sounds expensive and it sounds like something optional," he said. "I said, OK, is this going to be covered? And they said, 'Oh, yeah, they should be covered. He does this, he comes here all the time.'"

In New York, CityMD is not subject to facility licensure requirements because it's considered a private physician practice, said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health. As a result, rather than more sweeping regulations that would govern the practices of urgent care clinics, state health officials oversee individual practitioners and investigate complaints related to misconduct.

On its website for the location Keller visited, CityMD advertised many of the services it provides as "emergency medical services." They include physical exams, vaccinations, pediatric care, lab tests, X-rays, and treatment for sore throats and ear infections.

"Just stop by the CityMD walk-in clinic located on 138 Delancey St. between Norfolk and Suffolk St, where quick, reliable, emergency care service is available 365 days a year," the website reads.

About six weeks after receiving his stitches, Keller said, he went to the same plastic surgeon to get them removed. His health insurer, Aetna, has denied an appeal to fully cover the cost.

"It's so clear that getting stitches for a wound, for an open bleeding wound, is an emergency procedure to the normal world," Keller said.

As for his forehead, eight months later, Keller still has a visible scar.
The combination of injured skin, specialized medical care and the need to continuously monitor critically ill patients with burn injuries can make alarm management a significant challenge for burn units.

A North Carolina burn intensive care unit (BICU) successfully addressed its unit-specific concerns, as part of an organization-wide initiative to reduce excess alarms and decrease the risk of alarm fatigue.

The efforts led to a sustained decrease in nonactionable alarms and an improved alarm management strategy in the 21-bed BICU at North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill. During each of the five data collection periods over a two-year period, the mean number of alarms per patient-day remained lower than the initial baseline.

"An Evidence-Based Initiative to Reduce Alarm Fatigue in a Burn Intensive Care Unit" details the alarm safety improvement initiative, including changes to skin preparation practices and caregiver education strategies. The study is published in the August issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN).

Co-author Rayna Gorisek, MSN, RN, CCRN, CNL, was primarily responsible for the education of all BICU nurses, nursing assistants and respiratory therapists. During the study period, she was a clinical nurse IV at the burn center. She is now clinical nurse leader in the surgical ICU at the Durham VA Medical Center in North Carolina.

We were able to build on institution-wide efforts and make changes to improve patient monitoring and alarm management strategies specific to the BICU environment. Even in a highly specialized BICU, the goal of reducing harm associated with clinical alarm systems is achievable and sustainable by using current evidence-based practice recommendations." Rayna Gorisek, Co-Author

The medical center established a multidisciplinary alarm safety task force in 2015 to address The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal that requires hospitals to make alarm management a patient safety priority, with defined processes to identify and manage the most important alarms. The task force undertook an ongoing improvement process, testing small changes in single units and applying the learnings to test again more widely.

The BICU benefited from this collective learning but faced unique challenges related to monitoring critically ill patients with damage to their skin.

During the four-week baseline data collection period in January 2016, a mean of 110 alarms per bed, per day occurred. The overwhelming majority of the alarms met the definition for alert alarms, indicating that parameters were moving toward thresholds that would require immediate response, or a critical alarm.

In addition, the analysis showed that nearly all of the inoperative alarms were caused when the leads for electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring were removed or lost contact with the patient.

A literature review revealed an absence of best practices to improve the adherence of ECG leads on burned tissue in an ICU setting and led to the BICU developing new skin preparation processes specific to patients with chest burns, diaphoresis or Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis.

The staff aligned its alarm management strategy and education with a practice alert from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), "Managing Alarms in Acute Care Across the Life Span: Electrocardiography and Pulse Oximetry." AACN Practice Alerts are directives based on published evidence and guidelines to guide evidence-based nursing practice within the context of a healthy work environment.

A greater than 50% decrease in alarm numbers occurred at the first four-week collection point after the initial education intervention, but rose at the second one. Renewed emphasis on education in staff meetings, safety huddles and new nurse orientations, along with other changes, led to a decline in alarm numbers during the next collection point.

The organization-wide task force also recommended changes to the default alarm settings to narrow alarm parameters to reduce nonactionable alarms while still ensuring patient safety. All ICUs, including the BICU, implemented the new default alarm values, which likely contributed to further improvements in the BICU's alarm numbers.

"The fluctuations in alarm numbers over a two-year period emphasize the importance of understanding other factors that may be affecting the staff, including unit-level culture, work stress and leadership changes," Gorisek said.

As AACN's bimonthly clinical practice journal for acute and critical care nurses, CCN is a trusted source of information related to the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients.
Thought Leaders Professor Dana Crawford Professor Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)

In this interview, News-Medical speaks to Professor Dana Crawford about her research efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and why in-depth sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 is crucial in controlling outbreaks.

Please could you introduce yourself and tell us what provoked your research into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic?

I am a Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and Associate Director of the Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. I also hold a secondary appointment in Genetics and Genome Sciences.

I am trained in human genetics and genomics and am a genetic epidemiologist. Like many in our field, early reports of the differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and COVID-19 disease course among those infected prompted questions about the role host-pathogen genetics and genomics have on host susceptibility and severity.

Now more than a year into the pandemic, we know that non-genetic factors such as socioeconomic status have a substantial impact on susceptibility when, for example, lower-income workers cannot work remotely or work socially distanced as recommended in the US. The severity of COVID-19 infection, including hospitalization and death, is associated with several demographic variables, most notably older age. While many non-genetic factors are now associated with infection rates and COVID-19 severity, the observed variability cannot be completely explained nor can be predicted by these variables alone.

In human genetics and genomics, the genome-wide association study (GWAS) is the workhorse study design used to identify common genetic changes associated with complex human outcomes like SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity. Early GWAS findings published by investigators based on samples from the early 2020 outbreak in Italy and Spain demonstrated significant associations between genetic changes on chromosome 3 and COVID-19 infection. The ABO blood group has also been associated, and both these findings join a rapidly growing list of genetic associations recently described by the ongoing COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative GWAS meta-analysis, which now includes human genetic samples from multiple countries.

I am one of many investigators involved in the Million Veteran Program (MVP)s GWAS for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 severity. Collectively, our field is interested in identifying common and rare genetic changes in the human genome associated with the response to this emerging infectious disease to better understand the biology of infection that may lead to novel therapeutics or prevention strategies.

A complete understanding of the pandemic requires both human and viral data. As already described, several studies are ongoing to describe how human genetic variation impacts responses to infection. On the viral side, most efforts have focused on genomic surveillance to identify and track variations in SARS-CoV-2 sequences that may be of interest or concern. At the time of writing this, the Delta variant is a more infectious version of the virus compared with its predecessors, and it is making its way across the world among the unvaccinated.

As the virus continues to circulate and replicate, it mutates. Most mutations are neutral whereas others like the Delta variant create increased fitness for the virus over other versions of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 sequencing for genomic surveillance helps public health investigators track how the virus, barcoded with each of its mutations, is spreading locally. Genomic surveillance also helps sound the alarm when the viral variant demonstrates differences in infection, severity, or worseevasion of the immune system even after the body is primed by vaccines.

While my own research has, to date, been limited to human genetic variation and the host reaction to SARS-CoV-2, I am interested in pathogen variability and host-pathogen interactions that may impact outcomes of interest. This data is very difficult to access in sufficient numbers for meaningful genetic and genomic studies. As we write in the PLoS Genetics viewpoint, variability in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing coupled with the lack of clinical data linkages to this sequencing data makes these studies nearly impossible.

SARS-CoV-2. Image Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock.com

How are SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks currently monitored?

COVID-19 outbreaks in the United States are, in part, currently monitored much like traditional infectious disease outbreaks from the early 20th century. That is, symptomatic individuals will present at the clinic and hospital where, if their signs and symptoms are consistent with COVID-19, they will be tested for SARS-CoV-2.

There are now a variety of tests available for SARS-CoV-2. Cleveland-area hospitals use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and the test is performed on biospecimens collected by nasal swabs. While the PCR test gives information as to whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus is present in the sample or not, it does not give the full sequence of the virus. To do this, the sample must be sequenced.

Whether or not the sample is sequenced depends on a variety of factors in the United States. As we describe in the PLoS Genetics viewpoint, factors such as funding and established relationships with genomics facilities can be major factors as to whether or not the samples are sequenced.

The traditional infectious disease outbreak response relies on symptomatic individuals presenting at clinics. We know now that many SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals can be asymptomatic as well as infectious, silently spreading the virus to others. Infected individuals may also present with mild symptoms that may not require clinical attention.

While individuals are encouraged to be tested for the virus if they know they have come into contact with infected individuals, this recommendation is not enforceable, and many individuals do not know they have been exposed as contact tracing in the United States has also been difficult to enforce (and modernize).

The large numbers of asymptomatic, but infectious, individuals and imperfect contact tracing make genomic surveillance ideal for SARS-CoV-2 tracking. Between spring 2020 and spring 2021, many large public and private groups in the United States established routine testing as a surveillance program, asking university students or employees, for example, to submit weekly nasal swabs or saliva samples regardless of symptoms. These efforts provided essential data for tracking the emergence of outbreaks or increases in case numbers which could then be used to justify and enact certain public health responses (e.g., closures) until the case numbers decreased.

Unfortunately, these biospecimens were not necessarily sequenced, again depending on the resources and the perceived importance of tracking variants as part of the surveillance program. Many of these surveillance programs have now been scaled back or discontinued with the decrease in US case counts and increase in vaccinations.

As of writing this, even with less routine testing, data demonstrates that case counts are on the rise again due to the Delta variant and stagnant vaccination rates. With the onset of colder weather and the fall school season, we might expect a resurgence in interest in routine SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the US.

What have traditional surveillance methods focused on in controlling disease outbreaks and what are some of the limitations of these methods?

As I mentioned above, the traditional surveillance method for emerging infectious diseases relies on sick individuals presenting at a clinic. Now that the virus has been identified and extensively characterized, regular sampling and testing at the population level is a better approach as the data can be used to predict local and national infection trajectories that inform expected hospitalizations and deaths.

The SARS-CoV-2 PCR-based methods are based on a technique first described in the mid-1980s that has since been developed and adapted for high-throughput population-scale research and diagnostics. There are several limitations associated with the PCR-based method of virus detection, including contamination (as demonstrated early by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions batch of contaminated testing kits) and variable lower limits of detection (e.g., the minimum number of viral copies in the sample required for test detection).

A major limitation for human genetics and genomics research is that the PCR-based test does not provide the sequence. Without this sequence, we will not be able to conduct host-pathogen studies effectively. From a public health standpoint, the sequence is important to identify mutations or variants of concern should the mutations make the virus more infectious or give it an ability to evade the immune system more efficiently.

There have been huge advances in genome sequencing techniques over the past ten years. How could genome sequencing be used to help us to monitor coronavirus outbreaks?

Genome sequencing is essential in this phase of the pandemic. We have large unvaccinated populations in the US and worldwide where the virus is circulating and dividing. Each division is the chance for mutation.

While most mutations are neutral changes, a fraction will be beneficial to the virus and the detriment of humans. PCR-based methods are based on known viral sequences whereas sequencing is independent of what is already known, making sequencing the ideal method for complete genomic surveillance of this evolving virus.

SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing. Image Credit: vchal/Shutterstock.com

What are the advantages of utilizing genome sequencing to monitor disease outbreaks and their evolution?

A major advantage of sequencing using todays technology is that it is a rapid, scalable, and relatively cost-effective approach to surveillance. For those of us interested in host-pathogen research, individual-level data is preferred. That is, as a researcher I would want the human genome-wide genotyped or sequenced and the genome of the virus that infected that same human sequenced. This granular data affords researchers more options for analysis that will be important in designing the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics, including new vaccines.

Instead of individual-level sequencing, another great option is bulk sequencing. Many communities have taken up sequencing sewage for SARS-CoV-2 to detect and predict outbreaks in their local areas.

You described the adoption of genomics in surveilling SARS-CoV-2 as slow, difficult and inconsistent. Why is this and what more can be done?

As we outline in the PLoS Genetics viewpoint, there are several factors likely to be associated with the slow and inconsistent response. Unlike the United Kingdom, a leader in SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance beginning early in the pandemic, the major public health agency in the US does not have a long, established relationship with the human genetics and genomics research community.

Also, public health in the US is underfunded. The confluence of these two factors alone left the US unprepared and unable to effectively respond to this new infectious disease associated with substantial asymptomatic airborne spread. These, however, are not the only factors related to the USs poor response to the pandemic, particularly in the early phases.

The US government and its administration at the time were not supportive of a strong and unified approach, leaving each state and each community struggling to cope. This decentralized approach really highlighted the differences in resources available at the local level, explaining in part why the Seattle area was able to pivot much more quickly to genomic surveillance compared with other locales with less genomic expertise and experience.

The attention now given to the importance of viral variants has prompted increases in funding for genomic surveillance in the US. Worldwide, the challenge now is to enable the same genome surveillance opportunities in countries, or areas without the resources or expertise.

Do you believe that with improved use of genomic sequencing, SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks can be monitored more effectively, which in turn will help us to further understand the real-time evolution of SARS-CoV-2?

Yes, improved use of genomic sequencing and public sharing of this data will improve the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, providing a better understanding of how the virus is evolving. A more complete understanding of the viruss impact on the human host, however, will require data linkages between genomic data and clinical and epidemiologic data.

In the US, this data is siloed and not easily linked for research purposes. However, this data is essential to better understand the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and its influence on COVID-19 disease severity.

Disease Outbreak. Image Credit: ETAJOE/Shutterstock.com

How do you think future disease outbreaks need to be surveilled? How can collaboration efforts be utilized to achieve this?

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 underscores the need to augment traditional surveillance based on individual clinical presentation with a more proactive approach leveraging genomic surveillance at the population scale.

The current sewage surveillance programs are an excellent example of efficient, population-scale genomic surveillance for infectious diseases, and these efforts can be scaled and mined bioinformatically to detect both known and unknown pathogens. Such efforts however will require consistent and constant support, not just support and interest at the height of a pandemic.

What are the next steps in your research?

My basic research interests are to understand how human genetic variation impacts human health. In the context of COVID-19, I am interested in understanding how human genetic variation impacts susceptibility to infection and severity of disease course.

I am a member of the Million Veteran Program (MVP) COVID-19 genome-wide association and phenome-wide association working groups, and as part of these groups, we are conducting studies in participating US Veterans to identify common genetic variation relevant to observed differences in susceptibility and severity of the disease.

Where can readers find more information?

PLoS Genetics viewpoint: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009620

NCBI SARS-CoV-2 Resources https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/

G lobal I nitiative on S haring A vian I nfluenza D ata (GISAID) Variant Tracker https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/

lobal nitiative on haring vian nfluenza ata (GISAID) Variant Tracker https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/ NextStrain https://nextstrain.org/

COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative https://www.covid19hg.org/

Million Veteran Program https://www.research.va.gov/mvp/

About Professor Dana Crawford

Dana Crawford, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and Associate Director for Population and Diversity Research in the Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She also has a secondary appointment in the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences.

Dr. Crawford received her Ph.D. at Emory University in genetics and molecular biology in 2000 and then trained as a post-doctoral fellow as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (20002002) and as a senior fellow at the University of Washingtons Department of Genome Sciences (20022006).

Prior to her most current position, Dr. Crawford spent eight years as tenure-track faculty in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research at Vanderbilt University. As a genetic epidemiologist at CWRU, Dr. Crawfords broad research interests include applying genetic variation data to large-scale epidemiologic and clinical cohorts to better understand human genotype-phenotype associations with an emphasis on diverse populations.

Dr. Crawford has authored >175 publications in peer-reviewed literature. She is currently a board member of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) and is an elected fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The views and opinions expressed here are Dr. Crawfords and not necessarily the views and opinions of CWRU, ASHG, AAAS, MVP, or any other organization with which she is a member.
Scientists in the Netherlands recently conducted an open-level, randomized-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of fractional intradermal doses of the mRNA-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine mRNA-1273 (Moderna).

The trial findings reveal that the fractional dose regimen of the Moderna vaccine is well tolerated and safe and is capable of inducing robust antibody responses in vaccine recipients. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

Background

Since its emergence in December 2019 in China, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative pathogen of COVID-19, has infected 195 million people and claimed 4.1 million lives globally. The continuous emergence of novel viral variants with higher infectivity, pathogenicity, and immune evasion ability have made the pandemic an enormous threat to mankind. To save the world from the major health and socioeconomic crisis, rapid and large-scale vaccination is highly required.

Although several COVID-19 vaccines with good efficacy are currently rolling out globally, a large proportion of the world population is still unvaccinated because of limited vaccine supply. One of the potential approaches to overcome vaccine shortage is a dose-sparing strategy that allows intradermal delivery of low-dose vaccines.

In the current study, the scientists have investigated the safety and immunogenicity of the Moderna-developed COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 following fractional-dose intradermal administration. Studies conducted in real-world pandemic settings have demonstrated that the two doses of 100 g vaccine provide more than 90% protection against COVID-19 when administered intramuscularly.

Study design

In the first part of the study, two doses of 10 g mRNA-1273 vaccine were administered intradermally to 10 individuals at an interval of 28 days. Similarly, in the second part, two doses of 20 g mRNA-1273 were intradermally administered to 30 individuals at the same interval. The vaccine recipients were healthy adults aged 18 to 30 years who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 in both serological and PCR-based testing.

To compare the immunogenicity of intradermal regimen, plasma samples collected from individuals who received the standard 100 g doses of the mRNA-1273 intramuscularly were also analyzed.

Safety profile

No acute adverse reaction was noticed among vaccine recipients within 30 minutes following vaccination.

Local reactions

About 70% of participants who received the 10 g-dose reported having pain at the injection site after 1st vaccination. After 2nd vaccination, the most commonly reported local reactions were mild erythema, pain, and itching at the injection site.

The most common local reactions related to the first vaccination with the 20 g-dose were itching and erythema at the injection site. One participant mentioned having a large erythema of more than 10 cm that lasted for 6 days. In general, recurrence of erythema and swelling was observed 8  10 after the 1st vaccination with 10/20 g dose. After the 2nd vaccination, the most commonly reported reactions were local pain and erythema. Overall, intradermal administration of 20 g of vaccine-induced more local adversities than intramuscular administration.

Systemic reactions

Among recipients of a 10 g vaccine dose, only one reported moderate headache after 1st vaccination. However, among the recipients of 20 g vaccine dose, the most common systemic adversities were headache and fatigue after the 1st and 2nd vaccination.

Immunogenicity

After the 1st vaccine dose, all participants became seropositive. None of the participants exhibited detectable anti-nucleoprotein antibodies, indicating that the antibody response is induced by vaccination and not by natural infection.

Among participants who received 10 g vaccine dose, the levels of IgG-specific anti-S1 and anti-RBD antibodies increased rapidly after both 1st and 2nd immunization. As expected, recipients of the 20g vaccine dose showed higher anti-S1, and anti-RBD titers post 2nd vaccination. However, the titers detected after intramuscular immunization with 20 g vaccine were significantly lower than that in intradermal immunization.

In intradermally immunized participants, the antibody titers were 14  20-fold higher than that in convalescent plasma. Moreover, antibody titers detected after intradermal administration of 10/20 g dose and intramuscular administration of 20 g dose were equivalent to those who received 100 g dose intramuscularly.

Study significance

The study demonstrates that intradermal administration of 10 g and 20 g mRNA-1273 vaccine is sufficient to induce robust antibody response with an acceptable safety profile in healthy adults aged 18  30 years. These observations highlight the significance of the intradermal route of vaccine delivery as a potential dose-sparing strategy to overcome vaccine shortage.

The main advantage of intradermal vaccine administration is that the papillary dermis contains high levels of antigen-presenting dendritic cells. Moreover, the presence of multiple plexus systems in the dermal lymphatic system enables effective transport of vaccine antigen and antigen-presenting cells to regional lymph nodes. Collectively, these processes lead to more efficient activation of B cells and T cells and induction of immune responses.

*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.
Older adults living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities are at high risk of becoming infected and spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to other residents. They are also at a higher risk of developing severe infections and dying from the virus. In Spain, the mortality rate was 67 per every 1,000 residents.

The study by researchers from the Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain, published in the Center of Disease Control and Preventions journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, suggests that long-term care facility residents with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection benefit from full vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2) vaccine. In clinical trials, the Pfizer vaccine elicited a 95% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 illness. But how the vaccine affects elderly residents remains poorly understood since the trials had low enrollment from this population.

The results showed the vaccine was 56.8% effective in residents with a history of COVID-19. Vaccinated residents with no prior SARS-CoV-2 exposure were protected against the virus by up to 81.8%. Non-vaccinated residents with no history of COVID-19 also appeared to indirectly benefit from the vaccines because they reduced transmissibility in the facility.

The researchers write:

Our findings endorse the policy of universal vaccination in this setting, including in persons with previous infection, and suggest that non-vaccinated persons benefit from indirect protection.

How they did it

The researchers gathered data on almost all residents 65 years or older in long-term care facilities in Spain using a nationwide registry of all vaccine doses given or rejected. They included residents who received their first dose from December 27, 2020, to March 10, 2021.

About 99% of residents received one or more vaccine doses, with 99.8% of doses coming from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. About 92.6% had a second dose within a median of 21 days. Approximately 1% of residents were unvaccinated.

Residents who were positive for SARS-CoV-2 again with 60 days of receiving a positive test result were excluded from the study. The researchers justified the exclusion because they are more likely to be the cause of prolonged PCR positivity than reinfection.

The data included COVID-19 tests for symptomatic and asymptomatic infections as residents underwent regular testing and periodic screenings.

About 12.7% of vaccinated residents and 27.7% of unvaccinated residents had previously recovered from a COVID-19 infection.

Cumulative incidence of documented severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in long-term care facilities estimated from adjusted hazards models, Spain, December 27, 2020March 10, 2021. A) Standardized risk in the vaccinated with no previous infection and its reference group; B) standardized risk in the vaccinated with previous infection and its reference group; C) standardized risk in nonvaccinated (indirectly protected) with no previous infection and its reference group; D) standardized risk in nonvaccinated (indirectly protected) with previous infection and its reference group. Solid lines indicate study group; dotted lines indicate reference group.

Vaccine effectiveness in vaccinated and unvaccinated with no history of SARS-CoV-2

Vaccinated residents with no prior COVID-19 infection were protected against the virus by up to 57.6% with one dose. Full vaccination increased effectiveness to 81.8%.

The estimated number of SARS-CoV-2 infections averted by vaccination (RD) was greatest in the intermediate periods, which coincided with the peak of the epidemic waves at 11.6 cases/10,000 vaccinated persons per day, wrote the team.

Non-vaccinated residents with no prior COVID-19 infection had indirect protection against the virus by up to 58.7%. The risk of getting COVID-19 infection increased progressively after 29 days, which coincides with the timeline of vaccinated residents becoming fully vaccinated. The researchers found the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections averted in unvaccinated residents was similar to vaccinated residents.

Vaccine effectiveness in vaccinated residents with a history of SARS-CoV-2

Vaccinated residents who recovered from a previous COVID-19 infection had lower vaccine effectiveness than those who were vaccinated and had never been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Their vaccine effectiveness was 36.3% with one dose and 56.8% with two doses.

Indirect protection in unvaccinated residents with a history of infection could not be measured because this was too small of a group to analyze.

Study limitations

Relaxing isolation guidelines during the Christmas season and allowing for more visitations may have contributed to a higher number of cases, affecting the results.

Their results only included residents who recovered from previous infection and lived long enough to become vaccinated. Before the study began, a second wave occurred, resulting in reinfections and deaths. Therefore, the group with previous infection in the study period had more recent infections compared with the group in the reference period; if this factor conferred greater protection, it could overestimate VE in this group, explained the researchers.

People who recovered or are in the process of recovering from COVID-19 illness may continue to exhibit viral shedding for more than 60 days. The researchers could not exclude the possibility that prolonged viral shedding could be misinterpreted as a new infection, decreasing vaccine effectiveness in the analysis.
New research in the July 2021 issue of JNCCN-Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network indicates a need to increase substance use and mental health support capabilities at cancer centers across the United States. Past studies have determined that people diagnosed with cancer within the past decade have a higher prevalence for substance use disorders than those with no recent cancer diagnosis. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic used the American Hospital Association, Area Health Resource File, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare databases to analyze the psychosocial support being offered by more than 1,000 cancer centers across America. They found that most centers offered mental health services (85.4%), but less than half offered chemical dependency services (45.5%), and even fewer offered both (44.1%).

Cancer patients commonly experience mental health and chemical dependency issues. If clinicians and patients do not identify and treat these conditions, they can lead to poorer quality-of-life, increasing complications, additional caregiver burden, and even reduced survival. The resulting increase in resource utilization can also lead to increased out-of-pocket expenses and costs to payers." Shehzad K. Niazi, MD, FRCPC, lead researcher, psychiatrist, Mayo Clinic, Florida

Dr. Niazi continued: "As one possible solution, cancer center clinicians could establish formal referral relations with community partners where available. The recent dramatic uptake in telehealth may provide new opportunities for providing these services to more patients as well."

According to the findings, centers located in more diverse areas were less likely to offer mental health and chemical dependency services.

"When you think about the context of a person's life, there are going to be factors that help and those that hinder how they go through cancer treatment. It is critical to screen, assess, and intervene for factors beyond the treatment-related side effects for patients in active treatment and in survivorship, as detailed in the NCCN Guidelines for Distress Management," commented Cheyenne Corbett, PhD, Supportive Care & Survivorship Center, Center for Onco-Primary Care, Duke Cancer Institute, who was not involved in this research. "While there is now a recognition that this care is critical, and there are accreditation standards to ensure psychosocial screening and intervention, there are still many barriers to providing mental health and chemical dependency care for patients facing the impact of cancer on their lives."

Dr. Corbett-;a member of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) Panel for Distress Management-;continued: "The investigators have described the need for psychosocial services at cancer centers across the country, and shone a light on the differences in their availability. It is our duty to address these differences with innovative and collaborative approaches within and beyond the walls of our individual cancer centers."
In today's newscast hear from a Floyd County parent who is upset over the recent mask mandate in the schools and we have a look at the events happening around Southern Indiana this weekend.
In this Jan. 10, 2021 file photo, Sarah Gonzalez of New York, a Nurse Practitioner, displays a COVID-19 vaccine card at a New York Health and Hospitals vaccine clinic in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

In this Jan. 10, 2021 file photo, Sarah Gonzalez of New York, a Nurse Practitioner, displays a COVID-19 vaccine card at a New York Health and Hospitals vaccine clinic in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
(Newser) 

An Indian photojournalist was kidnapped by the Taliban and executed, then his body was mutilated, Afghan officials say. Danish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer Prize-winner working for Reuters, was ambushed while covering fighting in the Spin Boldak region, near Afghanistans border with Pakistan, in mid-July, the Hindu reports. Siddiqui managed to tweet video of some of the attack. Photos taken of Siddiquis body shortly after he was killed clearly show wounds. But when his body was taken by the Red Cross to a city in Kandahar, Afghanistan, it was mutilated to the point of being unrecognizable, the New York Times reports.

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An Indian health official said Siddiqui had tire marks on his face and chest as well as bullet wounds. Zabihulla Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said insurgents were not responsible for any mutilation and said they were told to treat bodies with respect. The Taliban denied having any role in Siddiquis death, Indian news outlet News Laundry reports. Siddiqui won a Pulitzer in 2018 for his coverage of the Rohingya refugee crisis. (Read more Taliban stories.)
(Newser)  Last week, two of the four inmates who were placed in solitary confinement after Whitey Bulger was found beaten to death in his prison cell were transferred out of the West Virginia federal prison. As of Friday afternoon Paul DeCologero, 47, was at a federal prison in Atlanta and Sean McKinnon, 35, was at a federal facility in Oklahoma that serves as an inmate transfer point, reports NBC News, which spoke to family members and reviewed online records. A third prisoner, Fotios Freddy Geas, is still in solitary confinement at the West Virginia facility, while a fourth prisoner was released to state custody after more than five months in solitary. It's not clear why DeCologero and McKinnon were moved.

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No one has yet been charged in the October 2018 crime, and relatives of the prisoners placed in solitary have long protested the "inhumane" conditions. Geas and DeCologero are, like Bulger, Massachusetts gangsters, and it's still not clear how Bulger ended up in the same prison unit as them; he was dead within 12 hours of transferring to the general population of the notoriously violent facility from a Florida penitentiary. McKinnon, who insists he knows nothing about Bulger's death, was Geas' cellmate when Bulger was killed; the fourth inmate who was held in solitary more briefly was Bulger's cellmate. McKinnon is scheduled to be released July 2022, while DeCologero has five years left on his sentence. See NBC for the full story. (Read more Whitey Bulger stories.)
(Newser)  A decade ago, the world appeared to be rid of the Gadhafi clan of Libya. Longtime leader Moammar had been ousted and killed during the Arab Spring uprising, and three of his sons were dead as well. Another son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafihis father's presumed successorwas captured by rebel fighters and subsequently sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Tripoli. The rebels who captured him continued to hold him, however, and no proof of life had been evident since 2014. Until now. New York Times Magazine writer Robert F. Worth has tracked down and interviewed Seif, who is not only very much alive but plotting a return to power in Libya, perhaps in the next presidential election. And those rebels who captured him? They have become his allies as Libya has descended into a decade of chaos, corruption, and violence.

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"Can you imagine?" Seif tells Worth. "The men who used to be my guards are now my friends." The 49-year-old spoke to the journalist inside an "opulent" villa in Zintan, the region he was brought to after his capture. Gadhafi brushed off the abuses of his father and said his own legal troubles (in addition to the death sentence, he's wanted by the International Criminal Court) could be "negotiated away" if he were to be elected president, per Worth. "His campaign pitch is the kind that has worked in many countries, including our own: The politicians have brought you nothing but misery. It is time for a return to the past," writes Worth. As Gadhafi himself puts it: "They raped the countryits on its knees. ... Its more than a failure. Its a fiasco." Click to read the full story, which has much more on the background of Gadhafi and the current troubles of Libya. (Read more Moammar Gadhafi stories.)
(Newser)  The new head of Oklahoma's GOP is comparing vaccine mandates by private companies to the Holocaust, and he's not backing down against the outcry about his remarks. The Oklahoman reports that John Bennett, a former state congressman, first put up a post Friday on the Oklahoma Republican Party's Facebook page that included a photo of a yellow Star of David, which Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany, with the word "unvaccinated" written across the front, as well as an apparent identification number and chip. Jewish groups and top Republicans in the state condemned Bennett's comparison of the World War II emblem to vaccine mandates, with Oklahoman GOPers issuing a joint statement calling Bennett's post "irresponsible and wrong."

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"People should have the liberty to choose if they take the vaccine, but we should never compare the unvaccinated to the victims of the Holocaust," reads the statement, issued by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and US Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, among others. The criticism didn't seem to faze Bennett, howeverhe put up a nearly seven-minute Facebook video on Sunday in which he doubled down. "If we don't do something now, it's going to end in the same exact result as we saw when nobody stood up whenever the Jews were told that they had to wear that star," he noted. "Take away the star and add a vaccine passport." The Washington Post notes that Bennett isn't the first conservative to make such a comparison. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, and Washington state Rep. Jim Walsh have all made similar claims. (Read more John Bennett stories.)
(Newser)  Matt Damon is making the promotional rounds for his new film, Stillwater, but an anecdote he relayed in a recent interview is making its own headlines. Talking with the Sunday Times, the 50-year-old Harvard alum touched on the state of the movie industry before moving onto the topics of the Me Too movement and masculinitywhich is when he got candid about a fresh update to his vocabulary. "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application," Damon told the paper. He said he "made a joke, months ago," causing his daughter to get up from the table and leave. "She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous," he continued. "I said, 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood." The Times notes that, after the actor made that comment, "he smiles. He listened and he changed."

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The BBC notes the resulting pushback against Damon, who earned some flak in 2017 when he remarked that sexual misconduct needed to be viewed as being on a "spectrum." Some commented on how his epiphany on gay slurs appeared to have just happened in 2021, while others don't seem sure there's even been an epiphany. "I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced f----t with," comedian Billy Eichner tweeted. Vulture notes the controversy "stings especially bad coming from a straight actor who has taken on queer roles in films like Behind the Candelabra and ... The Talented Mr. Ripley." Hollywood Reporter movie critic Daniel Fienberg, meanwhile, wonders more about Damon's judgment in telling the story at all. "I like when celebrities talk to the press, but it's always illuminating to hear the stories that folks like ... Matt Damon think are humanizing and charming, but actually reveal insulation and isolation (among other unsavory stuff) instead," he mused. (Read more Matt Damon stories.)
(Newser)  There aren't many living Nazi war crimes suspects still wandering the Earth, but one more is about to face a reckoning. As Reuters reports, a 100-year-old man will go to trial in October, about 75 years after he's accused of having been a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. The suspect, who has remained anonymous under German media law, reportedly worked at the death camp, where 20,000 people were killed, from 1942 and 1945. The Washington Post notes the man was charged in February for being an accessory to the murder of more than 3,500 people. The paper reports that, until a decade ago it was difficult to go after suspects for World War II-era war crimes, as prosecutors had to tie the accused to specific acts and victims.

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That changed in 2011, when a court in Munich convicted John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to murder who played a role in 28,000 deaths at the Sobibor concentration camp, in what's now Poland. In this most recent case, a spokesman for the district court in Neuruppin told local media that, despite his advanced age, the suspect should be able to stand trial for up to two and a half hours day. Officials continue to seek justice for Nazi war crimes by going after remaining elderly suspects: Over the past two decades or so, at least 105 people have been found guilty of such crimes, per the Simon Wiesenthal Center. (Read more Nazis stories.)
(Newser)  Female surgeons may be among the most highly trained medical professionals in the land, but they tend to have difficult pregnancies more often than other women. Fixing the problem will require changing the culture of residency programs, say the authors of a new study in JAMA Surgery. The bleak stats:

The survey of nearly 700 female surgeons found that 42% suffered a pregnancy loss, more than twice the rate of the general population, reports the New York Times.

Nearly half had major complications, compared to 27% of the rest of women, per MedPage Today.

Female surgeons gave birth at a median age of 33, compared to 31. That may help explain why they were far more likely to use procedures such as IVF to get pregnant. About 25% did so, while less than 2% of babies born in the US are conceived with such technology.

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So what's going on? Grueling residencies and a culture that expects young surgeons to put in 60-hour weeks, including night shifts, pregnant or no. On top of that, the work itself requires surgeons to be on their feet for hours at a time, with limited food or water. Theres a lot of morbidity associated with women surgeons having children, Dr. Erika Rangel of Harvard Medical School and a study co-author tells USA Today. They work at full steam right up until delivery and its a very physical job. That culture must change if stats are to improve, the authors argue. In an accompanying essay at JAMA, doctors Emilia Diego and Sally Carty of the University of Pittsburgh write that "there is a rather high price for those whose aspirations for childbearing overlap with the time required for surgical training and career." (Read more pregnancy stories.)
(Newser)  Its the ultimate moment in game recognizing game. Mutaz Barshim of Qatar had been competing against, and making friends with, Italys Gianmarco Tamberi for years. Both had suffered ankle injuries that took a season away from them. Tamberi was in Barshims wedding, the Washington Post reports. Sunday, the two faced each other at the Tokyo Olympic Games, competing in the high jump. And they cleared bar after bar together, tied, until neither could break the world record of 2.39 meters. Barshim jumped with super cool shades; Tamberi symbolically placed the cast from the injury that ended his chances in the 2016 Games on the track. Exhausted and facing the prospect of a jump-off, Barshim asked, Can we have two golds?

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An official agreed it was possible, and in an instant, the friends were congratulating each other. Barshim offered a handshake and an embrace, and the more exuberant Tamberi leapt into his arms, then ran around the track blowing kisses in celebration, the Guardian reports. (Watch the celebration here.) If their long rivalry and friendship wasnt a lesson in sportsmanship, their moment of sharing the win was. For me, coming here, I know for a fact that for the performance I did, I deserve that gold, Barshim said. He did the same thing, so I know he deserved that gold. A post at Al Jazeera notes that social media loved the decision, which is described in the headline as the "best moment of Tokyo 2020." (Read more 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games stories.)
(Newser)  A man still dressed in a tuxedo was arrested shortly after his wedding for allegedly shooting his brides friend. Devin Jose Jones, 30, his wife, and her friend were driving on Interstate 10 in Louisiana after the wedding when they hit traffic Saturday night. Police say they arguedthe groom apparently accused the other two of having an affair, WAFB reports. The wife, still in her wedding dress, fled the car, flagged down an ambulance saying her husband was trying to kill her, and hid inside it while Jones tried to break in.

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Traffic was stopped on the highway for an accident on a nearby bridge. Police say Jones got out of the car and chased the friend, shooting him in the leg, LObservateur reports. St. Johns Parish deputies chased the groom and arrested himbut not before a stray shot wounded another person stuck in traffic. Jones was charged with attempted second degree murder and two other felonies. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser)  Poland granted a visa Monday to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said she feared for her safety and that her teams officials tried to force her to fly home, where the autocratic government was accused of diverting a flight to arrest a dissident journalist. An activist group that is helping athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya told the AP that it bought her a plane ticket to Warsaw for the coming days. The current standoff apparently began after Tsimanouskaya criticized how officials were managing her teamsetting off a massive backlash in state-run media back home, where authorities relentlessly crack down on government critics. The runner said on her Instagram account that she was put in the 4x400 relay even though she has never raced in the event.

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Tsimanouskaya was then apparently hustled to the airport but refused to board a flight for Istanbul and instead approached police for help. In a filmed message distributed on social media, she also asked the International Olympic Committee for assistance. "I was put under pressure, and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent, the 24-year-old said. Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, a Polish deputy foreign minister, said the runner asked for a humanitarian visa for now and can still seek refugee status once in Poland. She has also been offered asylum in the Czech Republic. Tsimanouskayas husband, Arseni Zdanevich, meanwhile, confirmed to the Russian Sport Express newspaper that he has left Belarus for Ukraine.

(Read more 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games stories.)
(Newser)  The nationwide moratorium on evictions expired over the weekendand the White House said Monday that the CDC hasn't been able to find the authority to extend it. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have the "legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium," the Hill reports. The CDC first issued the ban last September to stop the spread of COVID-19, but a Supreme Court ruling last month suggested that further extensions would require action from Congress. "Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections," Psaki said. Biden has challenged landlords to hold off on evictions for at least 30 days and Psaki said executive action is being considered despite potential legal problems, reports USA Today.

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An estimated 3.6 million Americans are now at risk of eviction, and the Biden administration has urged authorities to speed up the distribution of $47 billion intended to help families pay back rent and remain in their homes, the AP reports. "Too many states and cities have been too slow to act," Psaki said Monday. Only a few states, including New York and California, have their own eviction moratoriums in place, reports NPR. Biden has been under pressure from congressional Democrats to take action. On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was "unfathomable" that Americans will be evicted from their homes as the delta variant of the coronavirus surges. "We all agree that the eviction crisis is an enormous challenge to the conscience of our country," she wrote in a letter to colleagues. (Read more evictions stories.)
(Newser)  The nation has hit President Biden's goal of 70% of adults having at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, though not close to his target date. Biden wanted to reach that mark by July 4; the White House DOVID-19 data director, Cyrus Shahpar, announced on Twitter that the threshold had been met Monday, the Washington Post reports. When Biden picked July 4, in early May, he and health officials hoped the country would be turning the corner on the pandemic by then. "We're going to look different as a country than we do today," one official said. Instead, the delta variant is causing a jump in infections. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 100,000 new cases, the most since February. Biden again urged Americans to get vaccinated, tweeting that the nation is "prepared to deal with the surge in COVID-19 cases like never before."

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The 70% mark, considered significant in achieving herd immunity from the virus, now seems insufficient. "We need to have at least 80% of the population vaccinated to truly have some form of herd immunity," a doctor and FDA panel member said, per CNBC. A percentage in that neighborhood will still mean that the rate in many areas will be much lower, a family physician in Phoenix said. "Even if America reaches 70% or 75%, if we continue to have ZIP codes and neighborhoods at 40 or 50%, they will continue to be at risk of having outbreaks and being hot spots," she said. Vaccinations are up: Shahpar said the seven-day average of the newly vaccinated people is higher than it's been in more than a month, at 441,000. The high mark for vaccinations came in mid-April, when more than 3 million people a day were getting shots. (Read more coronavirus vaccine stories.)
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Coal Twp. business raises flag in support of police

Tim Zyla / TIM ZYLA/STAFF PHOTOs/ Sharon Styer sings the national anthem as law enforcement officers from numerous Northumberland County communities salute during a flag raising ceremony Sunday at Full Service 122 gas station in Coal Township. Tim Zyla / TIM ZYLA/STAFF PHOTO Police officers salute during a flag raising ceremony Sunday at Full Service 122 gas station in Coal Township.

COAL TOWNSHIP  Police officers, EMTs and firefighters from numerous Northumberland County municipalities attended a brief flag raising ceremony Sunday evening at Full Service 122 gas station.

The event, planned by owners Vinny Clausi and his daughter, Christina, featured several performances from the Shamokin Area High School band, prior to a group of about 10 law enforcement officers raising both the American flag and a Thin Blue Line flag bearing the phrase support the police.

Christina Clausi, who operates the business, said she decided to hold the event as a result of listening to detractors of police across the nation, some who have called for defunding departments in larger cities.

Its very difficult to hear those things, she said. We live in a great community that has wonderful police officers and overall people here support them. We wanted to show our support by doing this.

Clausi said she was pleased with the turnout and thanked the first responders who were able to attend the event.

Attending the flag raising were police officers from Shamokin, Coal Township, Kulpmont, Mount Carmel, Sunbury and state police at Stonington, the Northumberland County Sheriffs Office, Sunbury Mayor Kurt Karlovich, Shamokin Mayor John Brown, Mount Carmel Mayor Philip Bing Cimino, EMT personnel from AREA Services and numerous fire departments from the greater Shamokin area.
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Periodic medical checkups every two years are now mandatory for expatriate workers, starting today. According to Labour Market Regulatory Authority, the bi-yearly check-ups are for expatriates working in commercial and industrial premises related to public health. Workers in establishments handling food, cosmetics, health clubs and resorts come under this new decision.

A complete list of occupations that require medical examination is available on this link - https://bit.ly/3fcZsEh Employers should book an appointment for their expatriate employees through Bahrain eGovernment periodic Medical Checkup Appointment service. Click this link for making an appointment - https://bit.ly/3x8fuWg E-Government authority has developed the electronic system to support the Ministry of Health.

The new service allows booking appointments for expatriate employees in private hospitals, view, and reschedule the appointments. The service also allows employers to view their employees health check-up fitness reports.

The check-up, which repeats every two years, aims at preventing the spread of communicable diseases, said Dr Maryam Al Hajri, the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health at the Ministry of Health.

The move, Al Hajri said, is as per Ministerial Resolution No (15), Resolution (5) of 2021 and Resolution (71) of 2021, regulating periodic medical check-ups of expatriate employees in commercial and industrial premises.

The resolutions oblige employers to do period medical check-ups for workers every two years. The workers, Dr Najat Abu Al-Fateh, the Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Health, said, will get a certificate after completing the tests, which have a prescribed fee structure. If the certificate expires, workers are not allowed to continue their jobs, said Dr Al Fateh.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

During a special event at Huaweis corner at Sharaf DG Bahrain City Centre, Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled its new range of Super Device products. The innovative lin-up includes the HUAWEI WATCH 3|3 Pro, the new HUAWEI MatePad 11, HUAWEI FreeBuds 4, and HUAWEI MateView.

Today consumers have more smart devices than ever before, but they are often in siloed systems that make interconnection difficult and as a result, creates a fragmented user experience. Distributed technology is used to allow all types of different devices to connect under one system. This means previously independent products now form part of a cohesive and holistic Super Device. This integrates all hardware and resources and thereby effortlessly leverages the capabilities of its component devices based on a users needs.

Steven Li, President of HUAWEI CBG, Middle East Multi Countries (Oman, Qatar and Bahrain) commented: Huaweis Super Device experience enables our line-up of innovative devices to connect and collaborate in a convenient and secure manner for users. Our goal is to provide consumers in Oman/Qatar/Bahrain with access to a seamless user experience across multiple devices in all different types of scenarios. In todays well-connected age, we want to bring people together and create a world where everything works harmoniously, intelligently, and safely.

A new Smart Office experience brings a productivity hub that breaks through boundaries for maximum creativity and efficiency. Super device connectivity with and without wires, along with HUAWEI MateView, HUAWEI MatePad 11 and Huawei MateBook exemplifies full integration suitable for busy lifestyles. Supported by the distributed data management and task scheduling capabilities of HarmonyOS, the tablet, laptop and smart monitor can work together to double user productivity and creativity in different scenarios, whether they are in the office or working from home. This is done by HUAWEI MatePad 11 and HUAWEI MateViews wireless projection capability along with Mouse and keyboard control. The advantage of the new Smart Office experience is the easy swapping of wireless and wired connections sharing the screen, cross-device file dragging and dropping, delivering a more efficient and collaborative multi-device experience.

HUAWEI WATCH 3|3 Pro

Running on HarmonyOS, HUAWEI WATCH 3|3 Pro come with a polished stainless-steel watch body adorned with a pane of ultra-curved 3D glass and a large display, culminating an elegant design for the smart timepiece series. HUAWEI WATCH 3|3 Pro are the first Huawei smartwatch series to come with a 3D rotating crown that offers tactile feedback. HUAWEI WATCH 3|3 Pro support standalone connectivity and can receive and make calls. Users do not have to worry about the battery as it features ultra-long battery life, supporting five-day battery life in smart mode and provides 21 days in ultra-long battery life mode.

Huawei has worked closely with various partners in the region to leverage the Super Device capabilities. Talabat, one of the leading food delivery apps, are the first regional partners to see their app running on the flagship HUAWEI Watch 3|3 Pro smartwatch. The Super Device experience allows apps to connect seamlessly into the newly launched HUAWEI Watch 3|3 Pro smartwatch, providing users with a more convenient, smoother and secure experience.

HUAWEI MatePad 11

HUAWEI MatePad 11 is equipped with a 120 Hz FullView Display and an 86 per cent screen-to-body ratio, a million-to-one contrast ratio delivering a crisp colour-accurate picture. The brilliant display on HUAWEI MatePad 11 is complemented by a four-speaker sound system, which consists of large-amplitude tweeters and woofers, to provide immersive multimedia experiences for the consumers. The HUAWEI MatePad 11 also supports Multi-screen Collaboration with PCs.

The HUAWEI MateBook D15

Huawei also refreshed the HUAWEI MateBook D series with the launch of the HUAWEI MateBook D15, which comes with a thin and light metal body for easy portability. Eye Comfort HUAWEI FullView display for a protective and immersive viewing experience, Intel Core processor for power and reliability in addition to many features which make it one of the most sought after 15-inch laptops today.

HUAWEI MateView

HUAWEI MateView is a large 4K+ Ultra-HD pro-grade standalone monitor featuring a 28.2-inch 3:2 panel that supports a native resolution of 3840  2560, offering a 94 per cent screen-to-body ratio to provide users with a highly immersive viewing and premium viewing experience where even the most minute detail is faithfully reproduced on screen. HUAWEI MateView introduces a cleverly hidden HUAWEI Smart Bar that offers a user-friendly touch interface for users to easily adjust various display settings, such as input source and volume.

HUAWEI FreeBuds 4

Huawei today also announced the launch of its latest True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Bluetooth earbuds, the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4. This new addition to Huaweis numeric series of TWS earbuds inherits the worlds first open-fit active noise cancellation (ANC) technology from the previous generation. With open-fit ANC 2.0 technology, lightweight comfort, high-resolution sound quality and intelligent audio connectivity, HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 delivers not only audio quality but also takes the open-fit ANC listening experience to a whole new level.

Super Device Capabilities Offering a Smart Office Experience

The Super Device experience provides a common language for different kinds of devices to connect and collaborate, providing you with a more seamless, smooth, and secure experience. The HUAWEI Smart Office Bundle includes the all-new MateBook D15 and the MatePad 11 is now available for pre-order from the Huawei website https://bit.ly/3C43Cbl for the special price of Bhd 479.900. The two devices can also be pre-ordered separately, but customers who purchase the bundle will receive gifts including a mouse, backpack and a HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i.


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WASHINGTON (AP)  Hoping to set a model for employers nationwide, President Joe Biden will announce Thursday that millions of federal workers must show proof theyve received a coronavirus vaccine or submit to regular testing and stringent social distancing, masking and travel restrictions.

An individual familiar with the president's plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm details that had yet to be announced publicly, emphasized that the new guidance is not a vaccine mandate for federal employees and that those who decide not to get vaccinated arent at risk of being fired.

The new policy amounts to a recognition by the Biden administration that the government  the nations biggest employer  must do more to boost sluggish vaccination rates, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rebound, driven largely by the spread of the more infectious delta variant.

Biden has placed the blame for the resurgence of the virus squarely on the shoulders of those who aren't vaccinated.

The pandemic we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, Biden said during a visit Wednesday to a truck plant in Pennsylvania, where he urged the unvaccinated to please, please, please, please get a shot. A day earlier, he mused that if those other 100 million people got vaccinated, wed be in a very different world.

The administration on Wednesday was still reviewing details of the expected guidance, and significant questions about its implementation and scope remained. It was unclear whether the president would issue similar requirements for the military and how federal contractors would be affected. The administration is announcing the move now with the hope that it will give agencies enough time to craft their own guidelines and plans for implementation before workers return fully to the office.

The announcement is expected to come as part of broader remarks Thursday that Biden promised would outline the next steps in our effort to get more Americans vaccinated.

The individual said the conversation around the new vaccine guidance had been in the works for some time and was intended to provide an example for private companies to follow as they get ready for workers to return this fall. But its just the latest policy shift from the administration during a week of new coronavirus mitigation efforts, as the White House grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations nationwide driven by the delta variant and breakthrough infections among vaccinated Americans.

On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require vaccinations, for its health workers. And on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its masking guidelines and said that all Americans living in areas with substantial or high coronavirus transmission rates should wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status.

With the latest CDC data showing that Washington, D.C., is facing substantial rates of transmission, by Wednesday reporters and staff were again masking up at the White House.

The new guidance on vaccinations for federal employees reflects the reality that Bidens national vaccination drive has fallen short of his goals. Public opinion seems to have hardened around the vaccines, with a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finding that among American adults who have not yet received a vaccine, 35% say they probably will not, and 45% say they definitely will not.

"Doing more of the same just will not work, said Dr. Leana Wen, a former Baltimore health commissioner whos become a leading public health commentator on the pandemic.

This is the logical next step, Wen continued. If you want to be going in to work and interacting with other people, then you have to be sure you wouldnt have COVID, and you can do that either by getting vaccinated or by testing.

About 60% of American adults have been fully vaccinated. Biden missed his goal of having 70% of adults get at least one shot by July 4. The latest figure is 69.3%.

Federal workers and contractor employees are dispersed throughout the nation, including many in states where vaccine skepticism runs high. New York University public service professor Paul Light suggested the new guidance from the Biden administration could help boost vaccination rates in states where there's been significant resistance.

You cant throw a stick without hitting a fed in many parts of the country, he said.

Light noted that the governments influence goes well beyond the people it directly employs. Federal contractors and grant recipients will have to weigh how theyll adjust to vaccination requirements from Washington.

If the federal government were to say that everybody who works for the government directly or indirectly must be vaccinated, thats a massive footprint, Light said.

He estimated that the federal government directly employs 2.2 million full-time civil servants, plus 1.4 million active-duty military personnel and about 500,000 workers in the U.S. Postal Service. Private contractor employees working on federal jobs number about 5 million, and there are 1.8 million other people employed under federal grants.

While the administration hopes the new guidance will boost vaccination rates, having Biden wade squarely into the middle of the ongoing political debate surrounding vaccines could backfire if it further fuels GOP criticism and distrust of the vaccine among the president's detractors.

The AP-NORC poll found that views on vaccinations divide sharply along party lines, with Republicans far more likely than Democrats to say they have not been vaccinated and definitely or probably wont be, 43% to 10%.

Indeed, South Carolina GOP Rep. Ralph Norman, who has resisted the new mask requirements on Capitol Hill, hinted at the fight to come over the new guidelines.

To require individuals to provide proof of vaccination would be a massive intrusion on the doctor-patient relationship and the privacy of the individual, he said in a statement.

The Biden administration may also have to grapple with legal challenges to the latest guidelines.

The federal workplace is governed by layers of rules and regulations, so private employers as well as state and local governments will be looking at the White House vaccination policy to signal how far they can go without triggering resistance from employees or even lawsuits.

But while the Justice Department and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have both said no federal laws prevent businesses from requiring vaccinations as a condition of employment, litigation is certain to follow workplace mandates, said Sharon Perley Masling, an employment lawyer who leads the COVID-19 task force at Morgan Lewis.

Its a really challenging issue for employers, Masling said. We have seen employers explore a whole range of options, from encouraging vaccinations, to incentivizing vaccinations, to mandating vaccinations for new hires, or for everyone.

Among examples from major companies, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are requiring new employees to show proof of vaccination. Goldman Sachs is requiring its employees to disclose their vaccination status but is not mandating they be vaccinated.

If an employer does set a hard requirement, employees can ask for an exemption for medical or religious reasons under federal civil rights laws.

According to EEOC rules, the employer must provide reasonable accommodation that does not pose an undue hardship on the operation of the employers business. Some accommodations could include masking up at work, social distancing, working a modified shift, regular COVID-19 testing or the option to work remotely, or even offering a reassignment.
DANBURY  The City Council will return to in-person meetings on Tuesday following 16 months on Zoom and a renovation to its meeting chambers. The return, however, will come as city officials strengthen their COVID-19 restrictions in the public building.

Council members, city employees and the public will be required to wear masks  a step back to tougher restrictions in City Hall as the highly contagious delta variant drives up cases in the state and country.

Nearly all counties, including Fairfield County, are considered to have substantial COVID spread, per the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This led the state health department to urge vaccinated individuals to wear masks again in Fairfield County and most of Connecticut.

The city notified its employees on Sunday that new mask mandates would be implemented beginning Monday, Mayor Joe Cavo said. City Hall previously allowed vaccinated employees to be unmasked in the building, although the public has been required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

The state has followed the CDCs guidance, and theyre recommending we mask up indoors here in Fairfield County, Cavo said. We are doing that right now.

With places like restaurants, bars, theaters and grocery stores open, Cavo said its time for City Council to meet in-person again.

Between the hacking issues and the security issues on public meetings, I just feel as the presiding officer that its time to get back into the chambers and do the work of the people in-person, he said. Ive had a lot of people request that we do that.

City Councils meeting last month was interrupted by a cheeseburger-ordering hacker, forcing officials to temporarily shut down the meeting and move to a different stream.

Employees and council members are not required to inform the city of their vaccination status, but Cavo said the majority of municipal staffers have their shots. Many council members shared their vaccine cards with the city at Cavos suggestion, he said.

The city renovated the council chambers to give members more space on the dais. Members used to sit shoulder-to-shoulder. City officials had talked about renovating the chambers for years, but COVID gave them the time and made it more critical for social distancing purposes.

Im so impressed with how it came out, Cavo said.

Crews still need to put finishing touches on the audio-visual area. The lagging supply chain has delayed the arrival of some cables, but other cables will be used to make audio and visual system work on Tuesday, Cavo said. A livestream of the meeting will be available.

For the public, every other seat will be blocked off. Visitors must sign in with the security guard for contact tracing.

Vaccination effort

Cavo said hes not as concerned about the virus as he was before vaccinations were widely available. However, he worries a vaccinated person could unknowingly get the virus, have mild symptoms and pass it to an unvaccinated person.

Thats the real concern I have, he said.

Danburys infection rate was below the states last week. The city had a 0.7 percent positivity rate and a 14-day running average of 2.1 new daily cases per 100,000 people, according to the health departments July 26 report to City Council.

Comparatively, the states positivity rate was 2.27 percent on July 26 and 3.18 percent on Monday.

In Danbury, 57.18 percent of residents are fully vaccinated, while 64.09 percent have their first dose, according to state data.

The health department has been working with community partners to distribute vaccines to populations that otherwise may have faced challenges accessing them.

Theyre identifying neighborhoods and areas of the city where they notice vaccines seems to be lower, Cavo said. Theyre making it as easy as possible, as they can, for people to get vaccinated.

Over the last month, nearly 2,300 people were vaccinated through 60 mobile clinics hosted by various partners, in addition to 23 people getting their shots at home, according to the health department report. The team made about 2,000 calls, canvassed 300 houses and assisted 2,000 residents to get them to a clinic or find a vaccine site.

We are eager to continue these efforts throughout the remainder of the summer and get even more Danbury residents vaccinated, wrote Kara Prunty, acting health director, in the report. It is so important for individuals to receive their COVID-19 vaccine so we can keep infections low throughout the city and keep our community safe and healthy.

This work is especially important as the delta variant spreads, she said.
The state Department of Public Health now strongly recommends that all Connecticut residents, regardless of whether they are vaccinated, wear masks indoors in all eight counties amid an increase in COVID-19 cases.

The message Sunday from DPH follows adjusted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends indoor mask wearing in places of substantial or high community transmission.

Given the rapid increases in cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut over the last 14 days due to the spread of the Delta variant, the Connecticut Department of Public Health is strongly recommending that ALL CONNECTICUT residents over aged two years, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, return to wearing masks when in indoor public spaces, a news release from DPH read.

Since the CDC modified its mask guidance, seven of the eight counties in Connecticut saw jumps in infections moving them from a moderate to substantial spread of the virus, according to the CDC.

On Sunday, all but Litchfield County had been labeled as having substantial community spread, according to the CDC. Though Litchfield County had not yet hit the threshold of cases to get the designation, DPH officials believe theres a high likelihood it will happen soon.

[T]herefore universal masking indoors is an important precaution, DPH said.

The latest recommendation from DPH again falls short of mandating masks. Gov. Ned Lamonts office said they and DPH have been reviewing the latest guidance from the CDC.

The shifting stance on masks comes as the delta variant continues to spread throughout Connecticut and much of the country. As of the latest figures from the Yale School of Public Health and Jackson Laboratories, the delta variant remains the dominant strain in Connecticut.

Concern over the variant swelled in the past week when CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said there is evidence that with this variant the level of virus an infected person is indistinguishable regardless if they have been vaccinated or not.

As the delta variant has spread in Connecticut, the number of infections has increased. As of Friday, the seven-day average for the positivity rate of new COVID-19 tests was 2.56 percent, the highest since late April. Hospitalizations, which sharply declined in the spring, had risen to 116 statewide on Friday the highest number since late May.
GROTON, Conn. (AP)  With military spouses facing a double-digit unemployment rate even before the pandemic, the state of Connecticut is attempting to make it easier for them and other people relocating from out-of-state to obtain state occupational licenses for professions ranging from nurses to architects.

Both state and military officials said Monday, during a ceremonial signing of the bill at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, that lengthy delays in Connecticut to recognize an out-of-state license or certification can create hardships for the spouses  which are 90% women  and their families.

This was a huge problem for military spouses, who, while they were waiting for months, even years to get their certification, to get their licensure in this state, they were much more likely to be unemployed or employed in lower-paying jobs, said Democratic Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who chairs the Governor's Council on Women and Girls, which pushed for the legislation this year.

The secretaries of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force recently issued a memo highlighting a growing national problem associated with the spouses of military members who often face barriers to employment when they relocate to different bases. While Connecticut currently has legislation in place to accommodate military spouses, the process of recognizing their out-of-state licensing has been too lengthy, given their relatively short stays in the state, military advocates said.

That's why it's such a win for our military families to finally make this happen, said Bysiewicz, adding how toughly 35% of military spouses in the U.S. work in licensed professions and are 10 times more likely to have moved across state lines their civilian counterparts.

Under the new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, the Connecticut Departments of Public Health and Consumer Protection will issue the appropriate license or credential to a state resident or the spouse of an active duty service member stationed in Connecticut if he or she practiced safely under another states license for at least four years. They must also have met certain examination requirements and completed the necessary background checks. The agencies will have the discretion to deny requests if they determine it's in the state's best interest.

The new law also requires the Department of Public Health to convene a working group to review whether Connecticut should join any interstate licensure compacts in order to make the process easier. According to Gov. Ned Lamont's office, Connecticut is one of eight states that has not joined any interstate licensure compact. The group's recommendations are due by Jan. 15, 2022.

There are roughly 9,000 Navy personnel assigned to the submarine base in Groton. About 60% to 70% have spouses. That figure doesn't include the military spouses associated with the Coast Guard and National Guard and Reserve branches, said Bob Ross, executive director of the state's Office of Military Affairs.

Military families usually expect a transfer about every two or three years. Sometimes it works out and they can actually stay in the same location, a different job at the same location. But more often than not, they have to move to a different location and then they have to make those family choices about spousal employment and education and do you really want to move those kids in your family, Ross said. "And what we want to do is make sure that Connecticut is always really attractive to either stay here or come here."

Christopher Arnold, the Northeast regional liaison at the Department of Defense, said a 2015 survey of active duty spouses conducted by the DOD found most who do not work would like to provide a second income for their families but 23% remain unemployed due to licensure and other issues. He said other research has shown that figure could be as high as 28%.

Meanwhile, state officials hope that having such a law on the books will make Connecticut more attractive to the Department of Defense, which has made family-related issues, including spousal employment, health care, housing, and K-12 education opportunities, a priority. Ross noted it will become especially important the next time the Base Realignment and Closure Commission looks at which facilities around the country to possibly close.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP)  A conservative coalition registered a former leader of the 1980s Contra rebels Monday as a presidential candidate to challenge the re-election bid by President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua's Nov. 7 elections.

The Citizens for Liberty coalition registered Oscar Sobalvarro, a rancher and former commander in the U.S.-backed rebellion against Ortega's government during the 1980s. That came despite calls from some opposition parties to boycott the race after Ortega arrested most of his potential opponents.

The country has experienced too much harassment and repression, and Nicaraguans deserve to live in peace, Sobalvarro said.

The conservative coalition nominated Berenice Quezada, who was crowned Miss Nicaragua in 2017, for vice president.

As expected, the Sandinista party nominated Ortega for re-election as president and his wife, Rosarillo Murillo, for re-election as vice president. In a unanimous show-of-hands vote among 2,932 party delegates at 28 regional meetings hooked up by video link, all the delegates raised their hands for Ortega and Murillo.

In his acceptance speech, Ortega was unrepentant in the face of widespread international criticism of the arrests of opposition figures.

The dogs are barking, brother Nicaraguans, but they are barking because we are walking, Ortega said. Let no one be mistaken ... savage capitalism will never be reinstated in our country.

Monday was the deadline for registering candidates.

With at least seven opposition contenders jailed on vague treason charges, critics doubt the presence of long-shot candidates like Sobalvarro would do anything more than lend a thin veil of legitimacy to already discredited elections in which Ortega, 75, is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

Electoral authorities allied with Ortega previously barred two opposition parties from even running candidates.

The European Union on Monday placed sanctions on Murillo and seven other senior officials accused of serious human rights violations or undermining democracy. The first lady and dozens of other regime leaders already face U.S. sanctions.

EU headquarters said in a statement that its sanctions, which include asset freezes and bans on travel in Europe, are targeted at individuals and are designed in this way not to harm the Nicaraguan population or the Nicaraguan economy. The latest move brings the total number of Nicaraguan officials subject to EU sanctions to 14.

In the past two months, police in Nicaragua have arrested and detained about two dozen opposition figures. Most of those arrested in the crackdown are being held incommunicado, at undisclosed locations and with no access to lawyers.

Ortega alleges the countrys April 2018 street protests were part of an organized coup attempt with foreign backing.
HONOLULU (AP)  Firefighters gained more control over a wildfire in Hawaii that forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend and destroyed at least two homes on the Big Island, but officials warned that strong winds will return on Tuesday, raising the danger again.

Authorities have lifted evacuation orders but warned they could be reinstated at any time and that people should be ready to go.

Its the biggest (fire) weve ever had on this island, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of the more than 62-square-mile (160-square-kilometer) blaze. "With the drought conditions that weve had, it is of concern. You see something like this where youre putting thousands of homes in danger, its very concerning.

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

Even though Hawaii has a wet, tropical climate that isnt typically at risk from large fires, blazes could become more frequent as climate change-related weather patterns intensify.

The islands have seen a downward trend in overall rainfall in recent years. Drought conditions have reached the most severe level in some parts of Hawaii in recent years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought that is tied to climate change has made wildfires harder to fight.

Two homes were confirmed destroyed in the Hawaii fire. One homeowner said he tried to protect his property but lost the battle as the wind picked up.

I had a dozer on my lawn, my land, and I tried to make a fire break, Joshua Kihe of the community of Waimea told Hawaii News Now. He said the fire destroyed his home.

I definitely need to think of a plan because its a life-changer, he said.

Others scrambled to evacuate.

I just seen the flames coming," Waimea resident Kanani Malakaua said. I mainly got my important papers, made sure my kids were in the car, got my animals  but this is a very, very scary time for us.

Some nearby roads were closed, making certain neighborhoods inaccessible, but there was no imminent threat to those houses.

According to the National Weather Service, strong winds and generally dry conditions will continue throughout the islands on Tuesday, and ease only slightly on Wednesday.

Our current wind forecast is showing wind patterns between 18 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph," Hawaii County Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said Sunday night. and so while throughout the evening our crews will be working to build fire breaks with dozers and back burns, this temporary lift on the mandatory evacuation may have to be reinforced later on due to prevailing weather patterns.

The fire chief said nearby communities could be inundated with smoke and that anyone with health or breathing problems should find somewhere else to stay.

Roth, the Big Island mayor, said the way the wind comes through the area makes it difficult to fight the flames and that officials and residents must stay vigilant.

The winds kind of swirl, so theyll be coming at one direction for a couple of minutes and then all of a sudden, theyre blowing in a different direction; that makes it really very difficult to fight a fire when you have swirling winds, Roth said.

Several wildfires also were burning in drought-stricken California and Oregon.

Containment on Monday reached 35% for California's largest, the Dixie Fire, which covered about 388 square miles (1,005 square kilometers) in mountains where 45 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued Monday for Greenville, a town of about 1,000 people, as gusts pushed flames through Plumas and Butte counties in Northern California.

Other evacuation orders and warnings were lifted over the weekend for several areas in Northern California but an estimated 3,000 homes remained threatened by the Dixie Fire as winds pushed flames through dry fuels on remote hillsides.

Over the weekend, a lightning-sparked wildfire threatened remote homes along the Trinity River in Californias Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The 5-square-mile (13-square-mile) McFarland Fire was 5% contained Monday.

In southern Oregon, lightning struck parched forests hundreds of times in 24 hours, igniting some 50 new wildfires as the nations largest blaze burned less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) away, officials said Monday.

Firefighters and aircraft pounced on the new fires before they could spread out of control. No homes were immediately threatened.

The Bootleg Fire, the nations largest at 647 square miles (1,676 square kilometers), was 84% contained Monday, though it isnt expected to be fully under control until Oct. 1.
SHARON  State police are looking for a man who they say robbed a bank in Sharon Monday afternoon.

Connecticut State Police from Troop B in North Canaan responded to Salisbury Bank at 5 Gay St. in Sharon around 12:30 p.m. for a report of an active robbery.
Without further ado, let's explore Matthew Keezer's five best places to visit while on vacation in Kenya

The Diani Beach

Diani Beach, one of Africa's most beautiful beaches, lies about 30km (20mi) south of Mombasa. Its dazzling white sands are lapped by the spectacular Indian Ocean and surrounded by verdant forests, where you may go for nature walks when you're tired of sunbathing or kitesurfing.

"Head out for a snorkeling trip, swim with whale sharks, take a sunset dhow boat  or simply lie back in a hammock with a good book," says Matthew Keezer.

Mt. Kenya

At 5,199m (17,057ft), the highest mountain in Kenya is also the second-highest in Africa, behind Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Mount Kenya is one of the most picturesque sites to visit in Kenya, with its jagged snowy peaks and glaciers throughout the top slopes. Experienced climbers can hike to one of the three summits, Point Lenana, through the world's highest via-ferrata route, or climb to the highest point, Batian Peak.

As Matthew Keezer points out, Mount Kenya is not just for experienced climbers as it has many more exciting and breathtaking hiking trails.

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, and it is home to a diverse range of bird species, including large flocks of flamingos. Around the lake, you can see pelicans, cormorants, the African fish eagle, the Verreaux's eagle, the Goliath Heron, and hammerkops - a must-visit place for all twitchers.

As Matthew Keezer points out, other wildlife enthusiasts will not be disappointed since they can see black and white rhinos, Rothschild's giraffes, lions, and cheetahs throughout the national park

Town of Lamu

The Lamu archipelago is one of Kenya's most attractive destinations to visit. Lamu town, which was formed in 1370 as a Swahili port, is a cultural melting pot with a rich past.

"Aside from amazing religious and historical sites, all travelers should also experience surrounding tranquil and pristine beaches," says Matthew Keezer.

Aberdares

Aberdare National Park, located in the cold highlands of Kenya's Great Rift Valley, is one of Kenya's most intriguing destinations. The lush mountainous landscape of valleys, rivers, waterfalls, and forests is home to exceedingly rare species such as the black serval and black leopard.

However, Matthew Keezer points out that for an even more unique experience, visitors should keep an eye out for the country's most elusive antelope, the Eastern bongo.

SOURCE Shared Media

For further information: [email protected]
The project aims to create innovative solutions to decontaminate waters containing harmful chemical compounds, such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They are found in cosmetics, cleaning products, fire-fighting foams and flame retardants. Above certain concentrations, their presence can be harmful to health.

Nanomaterials to degrade chemicals

The originality of this project lies in the development of electrodes based on new nanostructured materials and their integration into an ECA process for the degradation of chemical compounds. "We will use our 25 years of experience and know-how in this field to develop a new class of electrodes based on metal oxides. These will offer unmatched specific surfaces while preserving excellent electrical conductivity and chemical stability," said Professor El Khakani of INRS's Energie Materiaux Telecommunications Research Centre.

"These ECA processes have great potential to decontaminate waters by removing persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as PFAS. These POPs have been targeted by various Canadian, American and European legislations as endocrine disruptors responsible for numerous consequences on aquatic fauna," says Professor Drogui of the INRS's Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre.

"The chemistry of PFAS compounds is complex. High-resolution mass spectrometry tools are needed to properly identify and measure the hundreds of chemical forms that this family of compounds can take and to properly evaluate the effectiveness of decontamination processes," adds Professor Sebastien Sauve, from the Department of Chemistry at the Universite de Montreal.

The new electrodes will be manufactured by the team in El Khakani's laboratory and then transferred to Professor Drogui's laboratory to be integrated into new generation ECA reactors in order to develop and optimize PFAS degradation processes. Finally, the analysis and monitoring of these contaminants and their degradation will be carried out under the direction of Professor Sebastien Sauve at the Universite de Montreal.

Promising partnerships for innovation and training

This research is being conducted in close collaboration with two industrial partners, SANEXEN and Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTIT). SANEXEN is a member of the LOGISTEC family, experts in site remediation and the management of contaminated soil and residual materials. "With this project, we will not only respond to societal needs regarding concerns about polluted water, but also to the more specific interests of our industrial partners. This is fully in line with the fundamental mission of INRS," says Professor Drogui.

"SANEXEN is at the forefront of innovation in the treatment of emerging contaminants in water, thanks in part to its proven ALTRA Solutions technology. INRS' work in water decontamination is in line with our strategic vision," said Martin Bureau, SANEXEN's Vice President of Innovation.

RTIT's contribution to this project is essential in terms of iron and titanium-based materials, since they will be used for the development of the electrodes. The partner will also provide the materials and expertise for monitoring the aging of the electrodes and their eventual scaling up. "We are pleased to contribute to this project, which will not only call upon our expertise in the field of iron and titanium materials, but which also aims to solve environmental problems of concern to society," adds Yves Pepin, Director-TiO2 at the RTIT Technology Centre in Sorel-Tracy.

Collaboration for training purposes

This project will also offer the doctoral and post-doctoral members of the research team, from INRS and the Universite de Montreal, an exceptional multidisciplinary training environment. Indeed, they will be able to acquire diversified scientific and technical knowledge in the field of nanomaterials, electrotechnology and analytical chemistry.

"This project illustrates the importance of establishing partnerships between industry and the research and higher education sectors to promote the growth of a green and sustainable economy in Quebec. Our government is proud to support this research and innovation project, which will contribute to the decontamination of water while stimulating the development of new green technologies," said Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change and Minister Responsible for the Fight Against Racism.

Cross-sectoral research is a priority at INRS, in part because the resulting work often leads to innovation. "For our professors, this is an opportunity to work in both the academic and industrial research environments, while addressing issues relevant to health and the environment," says INRS Director General Luc-Alain Giraldeau.

In this project, the complementary expertise of the three principal investigators and their respective teams is a major asset for achieving the research objectives. "The prospect of applying our results to the resolution of a real and worrying problem is very rewarding! Especially because of the collaboration with our industrial partners," concludes Professor El Khakani.

The research team has received a total of nearly $760,000 in funding, including $270,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, $338,688 from PRIMA Quebec, and $151,200 in contributions from its industrial partners. Professors Drogui and El Khakani are also pursuing research on water decontamination.

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.

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SOURCE Institut National de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

For further information: Audrey-Maude Vezina, Service des communications de l'INRS, 418 254-2156, [email protected]

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http://www.inrs.ca/


BEIRUT (AP)  Emmanuelle Khnaisser had been in labor all day, and now it was in the last stages. Her baby  her first  was crowning.

Five floors below, Jessica Bezdjian was just coming in through the entrance of Beiruts St. George Hospital. She was an hour early for her 12-hour shift as a nurse in the psychiatric ward.

Everything exploded.

In every room on every floor in a single instant, windows burst. Doors flew off their hinges, ceilings collapsed, and equipment toppled. A wave of dust and pulverized glass surged through the wards and halls. In the darkness and chaos came the screams of bloodied patients, doctors and nurses.

One of Lebanons most prestigious and oldest medical centers, St. George stands overlooking the Mediterranean coast about 900 meters (yards) from Beiruts port. On that day a year ago, hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at a port warehouse blew up in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

The Aug. 4, 2020 blast tore through the Lebanese capital at 6:07 p.m., destroying entire neighborhoods and killing at least 214 people, including 22 at St. George Hospital.

A year later, every moment of that day remains engrained in the minds of those who lived through it. Many still struggle with the physical and psychological trauma. Some wrestle with the inexplicable loss of a loved one, some try to grasp what it means to have survived.

It was the happiest moment in my life and the ugliest one at the same time, said Edmond Khnaisser, Emmanuelles husband.

___

Emmanuelles water broke around 5 that morning. She was going into labor two weeks early. She and Edmond rushed to the hospital and were admitted to a room on the 5th floor.

Emmanuelle, a 29-year-old lawyer, was soon joined by her parents and sister, as well as her husbands mother and sister.

Together, they waited for baby George  as they already knew they would name him  to come into the world.

On the northern outskirts of Beirut, Chouchan Yeghiyan woke up her youngest daughter, Jessica, at 4 p.m. to get ready. Jessica usually slept for much of the day since she was working overnight shifts at St. George. The 22-year-old loved her work and was saving money to pursue a masters degree.

She had a meal and a shower. Once her older sister Rosaline got home around 5:30 p.m., Jessica went downstairs and took the car.

She waved goodbye to her father, George Bezdjian, who was standing on the balcony as she drove off.

I wish I didnt wake her up that day, her mother said, tears running down her face.

___

Around 5:45 p.m., the baby's head could be seen. Emmanuelle was wheeled into the operating room. Just as Edmond was asking if he could step in, the blast hit.

Ceiling tiles and window frames collapsed onto Emmanuelle, and glass showered her from the waist down. Her entire bed was jolted nearly a meter (yard) out of place. One doctor was thrown under the bed, another was hit by debris. Their blue and white uniforms were splattered with blood. The machine registering Georges heartbeat broke.

I was in a state of shock. We had no idea what had happened, Emmanuelle said.

Videos from Edmonds cellphone document the panic. In one video, he can be heard screaming, Where is my wife? Stay where you are. Oh, Virgin Mary.

Bleeding from a mean gash on his leg, he cleared the debris off Emmanuelle and started picking the glass from her body.

The baby had pushed back inside her, and the delivery had to start from scratch. The doctors moved her bed into the emergency exit corridor, where there was less damage.

She was disoriented and didnt know if her baby was alive. A doctor brought out a monitor and placed it on her stomach. After a few, tense moments, they heard his heartbeat.

I felt that there is a reason I should live for. I have to do all I can because I have a big responsibility for George to come to this life, Emmanuelle recalled. She thought about her parents, her husbands parents, and I gathered all my strength and removed all negative ideas and concentrated.

As she pushed, Emmanuelle could hear people weeping and ambulance sirens blaring. Distraught people rushed by her in and out of the emergency exit, searching for loved ones. As the evening grew dark, the doctors continued the delivery by the lights of their cellphones.

Edmond ran out briefly to look after his mother, who had suffered broken ribs, and Emmanuelles father, who had a head injury.

When he returned, the doctor used forceps to pull George out. At 7:18 p.m., the little boy with dark brown hair emerged, 71 minutes after the blast.

When George was born, I did not believe that he was crying. I did not believe that my son was born, Emmanuelle said, holding back her tears.

When they put him on my chest, I was feeling very guilty and told him ... Im sorry, my life, that you had to be born this way.

In one of Edmonds videos, a nurse can be heard showing a crying baby George to Emmanuelle. He is so beautiful, the nurse tells her.

___

Usually when Jessica arrives at work, she sends her mother emojis of kisses or hearts. On this day, at 6:05 p.m., she sent an emoji of an angel. Two minutes later came the horrific boom, earsplitting even at their home 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the port.

When they saw the news about the blasts extent, Yeghiyan started screaming: I feel something in my heart. Maybe the girl died.

Her husband and their eldest daughter rushed out of the house and drove toward St. George, while Yeghiyan stayed behind and frantically tried to call Jessica. She then knocked on the neighbors door and asked him to take her to the hospital. When they hit traffic, Yeghiyan jumped out of the car and stopped a man on a motorcycle. She climbed on the back, and he weaved his way through the jammed vehicles toward St. George.

The father and daughter got there first. They were told Jessica was in the emergency ward. They assumed she was there helping the wounded.

They recognized her from her shoes. She was lying on the emergency ward floor, doctors giving her artificial ventilation and pressing on her chest.

Bezdjian saw the gaping wound on his daughters neck and her bag, soaked in blood, on the floor next to her.

I took off my daughters shoes and started kissing her feet, he recalled, his voice shaking. I asked God, In nine days I will be 60. Take my breath and give it to her.

Yeghiyan arrived and saw her daughters body. She fainted.

Jessica succumbed to her wounds around the same time George was born.

___

St. George Hospital was in crisis condition. The damage, from top to bottom, was too much. It had to shut down  for the first time since it was founded in 1878. The stunned staff evacuated patients, carrying them down the stairs on plastic chairs or bedsheets. Patients were lined on the pavement outside while medical staff treated urgently injured people in the open air of a main yard.

At the same time, ambulances were rushing in with wounded from around the city. Dr. Alexandre Nehme, the hospitals chief medical officer, recalls how he had to tell them: We dont exist anymore.

Back on the 5th floor, Edmond held his son tightly, scared of losing him amid the chaos. Doctors told the couple they needed to get George to another hospital within four hours.

Emmanuelle was carried down the stairs on a chair, while Edmond messaged every WhatsApp group on his phone asking whoever was closest to pick them up. They walked for a block through debris and broken glass, to where his brother-in-law was waiting in his badly damaged car.

They drove about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Beiruts city center and reached a hospital. Only after they were admitted did they discover that the needle of the IV drip had broken off in Emmanuelles arm, and the epidural was still stuck in her back.

They spent a week at the hospital as Emmanuelle was treated for an infection. Then finally they brought their baby home.

___

Jessicas family headed home shortly before midnight on Aug. 4. The next day, the hospital called. They asked Bezdjian to come collect his daughters body because there was no electricity in the morgue.

They waited for four days until relatives came from abroad to hold the funeral. It had the trappings of a wedding, as sometimes customary in Lebanon for those who die young. The mourners dressed in white. The Armenian Catholic priest gave a prayer used at weddings.

I thank God that our daughter died in one piece and we were able to bury her, Bezdjian said in their apartment, where several photos of Jessica hang, in a north Beirut suburb. Other people had to bury pieces of their loved ones bodies.

Three days after the funeral, the family took Jessicas dog, Foxy, a Pomeranian, to the cemetery where she was buried. They released the dog and watched from a distance as he ran from one grave to another, then jumped on Jessicas and started yowling.

Then in November, on what would have been Jessicas 23rd birthday, the family went to the cemetery and marked the occasion next to her grave.

___

In their Beirut apartment on a recent day, Emmanuelle and Edmond sat watching George as he played in his room.

They will celebrate his first birthday a few days after Aug. 4, out of respect for the many people who lost their lives or were hurt on that day a year ago.

Edmond, a dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen who was born in Edmonton, Alberta, said that despite the extreme hardship in Lebanon right now, the couple have no intention of leaving. They hope to give George a brother or sister at some point.

Emmanuelle said she was told that babies are aware of everything that happens around them. One day, she said, she will tell George about his birth in the blast.

I will tell him how his birth was a ray of light amid all the darkness.
HAMDEN - With some caveats, the Republican Town Committee will maintain support for a GOP candidate with ties to the Stop the Steal movement.

Those ties raised eyebrows recently after the New Haven Independent reported that Justin Piper, who is seeking Hamdens 4th District Legislative Council seat, attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C.

That event was held before an eventual riot at the Capitol, which occurred as lawmakers were certifying 2020 election results. Piper said he was at the rally but was not among the crowd that entered the Capitol.

Speaking about online comments following the New Haven Independent report, many of which criticized Pipers views, the candidate said he was disappointed to see people caught up with national matters, which he called a big distraction to whats really going on locally. He implored people to recognize that he cares about helping Hamden.

As for his participation on Jan. 6, Piper went to Washington because he liked many of the policies President Donald Trump forwarded, and felt the election threatened to undo them, he said.

Piper said he spent time outside the Capitol after hearing Trump speak, but claimed he did not see anyone trying to breach the building, telling the Register he may have arrived after the breach occurred.

In a Jan. 7 Instagram video, Piper says he is returning to Connecticut from a very long trip which was both exciting and stressful. He then speaks about why it was stressful.

There were people that posed as Trump supporters and ended up going out there to riot, he says in the video. And honestly when they did a facial recognition the Washington Times reports that they were masked Antifa members.

Piper told the Register he was not describing a riot he saw himself but referencing the news report.

A Jan. 6 Washington Times article includes a correction indicating the outlet had erroneously reported that facial recognition had identified Antifa members among the rioters.

Claims about voter fraud

The Stop the Steal movement centers around the claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Piper directly referenced the movement in a Jan. 3 Tweet, saying he would bring a tent to D.C. and have his own hotel. The STS Inn (Stop the Steal).

In December and January Piper also posted tweets suggesting President Joe Biden did not win last years election, citing foreign interference and fraudulent votes and contending the election was not honest nor fair.

Across the nation, local and state election officials and courts have found no credible evidence of significant fraud in the 2020 election.

Piper said the widespread use of mail-in ballots contributed to his skepticism. He also said Democratic pushback to an audit in Maricopa County, Ariz., fueled his concerns.

Piper said he has come to accept Biden as the winner but still feels a lack of transparency surrounded the election.

Local issues

Piper said his opinions around national politics should not matter in a local election.

Im not a national politician. Im just a local guy trying to make my town right, Piper said, later adding, I believe that its local issues that we must focus on in order to make our living great again especially if we love our town  because it is local politics that shape our lives indefinitely.

He said if elected, he would prioritize addressing Hamdens crime and the towns struggling finances, would like to explore tax incentives to bring businesses into town and would like to get churches more involved with addressing community need so that the town can start saving money.

I genuinely care about the highest debt per capita rate that we have here in Hamden, Piper continued. Im worried about where the future of our town is gonna be, and when elected want to work on issues that really mattered.

Frank LaDore, chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said he asked Piper about his visit to the Capitol, and the candidate told him he did not enter the building.

If I found out that  he was in the Capitol I would have to take action to disassociate him from the campaign, LaDore said.

The RTC chairman indicated he had known about Pipers social media posts but thought what (Piper) brought to the table outweighed what he said on his Twitter  in terms of what he wanted to do and what he wanted to accomplish.

I really wanna keep the national politics away from the campaign, LaDore said, adding that he had seen left-wing activists also post content he found outrageous.

LaDore indicated he had spoken to Piper about sticking to local issues going forward.

The party continues to support Pipers candidacy, LaDore said, but if (Piper) starts to bring up controversial things that may affect our campaign or our candidates, we will have to have a conversation about him moving forward.

Piper said he ceased tweeting about controversial issues when he started his campaign in March. These are things that have happened almost six months ago, he said. Thats the past.

Others respond

Legislative Council member Brad Macdowall, a Democrat, said Pipers tweets about voter fraud should have prevented the RTC from considering him for the endorsement.

Dont get me wrong, we have local issues that we need to focus on, and we can put national issues aside temporarily, but those national issues speak to ones values, Macdowall said.

Asked about Pipers visit to the Capitol on Jan. 6, Democratic Town Committee Chairman Sean Grace called it disappointing but not surprising news about a local Republican candidate.

This underscores that we cannot be complacent, Grace said in a written statement. We will knock on doors throughout this election season to make sure the Hamden voters know whats at stake. Extremist national politics have no place in our town.

Councilwoman Marjorie Bonadies, R-9, defended Piper in a written statement, calling him a hardworking young man who sought out the Republican Party  with an eye toward getting involved in politics locally.

He is a man who is not afraid to stand by his beliefs and his convictions. We are not all the same, we do not march in lock step as one, we embrace individuality, she said of local Republicans.

Republican mayoral candidate Ron Gambardella emphasized he was focused on Hamdens issues.

Asked whether he supported Pipers run, Gambardella said

Im supportive of those folks who believe the same things that I believe,referring to his goals for Hamden.

I support those folks. Thats who I support. And anyone who opposes those positions I dont support, he said.

In a release Wednesday, Gambardella stressed his administration would be based on facts and said he found the events that occurred after the Jan. 6 rally troubling. He also denounced extreme views on both sides of the political aisle.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
WASHINGTON (AP)  With no Supreme Court opening to slow them, President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are putting judges on federal trial and appellate courts at a much faster clip than any of Bidens recent predecessors, including former President Donald Trump.

Eight judges already have been confirmed, including potential Supreme Court pick Ketanji Brown Jackson to the federal appeals court in Washington. More than 30 other judicial nominations are pending for more than 100 openings.

By this time four years ago, the Senate, then under Republican control, had confirmed four Trump nominees, including Justice Neil Gorsuch.

But in 1993 and 2009, the start of the last two Democratic administrations, no judges had been confirmed by the end of July.

The last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, were slow to move judicial nominations. But they both had early, time-consuming Supreme Court vacancies to deal with.

Justice Byron White announced his retirement two months after Clintons inauguration in 1993. Justice David Souter told Obama he would step down just over three months after Obama took office in 2009.

Progressives pushed hard for Justice Stephen Breyer to retire this summer, but the 82-year-old leader of the courts diminished liberal wing has given every indication he will be on the bench when the court starts its new term in October.

Those encouraging Breyer to step down havent masked their disappointment, but they are happy with the nominees Biden has put forward so far  more diverse racially, by gender and legal experience than were Trumps picks, who were overwhelmingly white and male.

They include public defenders, civil rights lawyers and attorneys for organized labor, along with the more typical mix of prosecutors and big law firm members.

I don't see any silver lining to Breyer staying on the court," said Nan Aron, the outgoing president of the liberal Alliance for Justice. She worries that an illness or death could take away the Democrats' precarious majority in the Senate and that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell could reprise his refusal to confirm a Democratic nominee, just as he did when Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 and Obama nominated Merrick Garland, now the attorney general, to the Supreme Court.

But Aron said, "Were so pleased with both the pace and high quality of the Biden nominees, particularly that so many come from all corners of the legal profession ... Its a wonderful departure from previous Democratic administrations.

Among his appointments are Tiffany Cunningham, the first Black woman to serve on the court of appeals in Washington, D.C., that deals with patent and other specialized cases and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, only the second Black woman to be a judge on the federal appeals court based in Chicago.

Biden also has nominated civil rights attorney Myrna Perez for the federal appeals court based in New York. She would be the first Latina on that court since Justice Sonia Sotomayor moved up to the Supreme Court.

We have had a good selection of nominees come forward, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

One additional benefit of Biden's focus on diversity is it might tamp down the restiveness of progressives who also are advocating for court reforms, including expanding the Supreme Court by four justices to counterbalance the three Trump appointees.

It could mollify his progressive base, who realize he is not going to go in for expanding the size of the court or even term limits, said Russell Wheeler, a Brookings Institution expert on the judiciary.

Biden's nominees all have drawn at least some Republican support in the Senate. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have voted for all eight judges who have been confirmed.

Another 15 Republicans have not voted for any Biden judicial nominees.

Some of the opposition could be a form of payback for Democratic opposition to Trump nominees, said Carrie Severino, whose conservative Judicial Crisis Network has spent millions of dollars supporting Republican nominees and opposing Democrats.

Many Republican senators believe that returning to a universe where Democrat nominees are just reflexively confirmed would constitute unilateral disarmament in light of the unyielding opposition to President Trumps nominees for four years, Severino said, singling out Vice President Kamala Harris for her votes against Trump court picks when she served as a senator from California.

Trump may have started slowly, but his record of putting more than 230 judges on the federal bench is an undisputed success of his four years as president.

Trump's record and the slow starts by Clinton and Obama were not lost on Biden and his team. Even before Biden became president, incoming White House counsel Dana Remus urged Senate Democrats to submit names of judicial candidates. The Democrats' tenuous hold on the Senate has only added to their need to move quickly, no matter Breyer's plans.

To be clear, when we came into this, it was with no regard to anything that might happen on the Supreme Court. It was like, lets move, said Paige Herwig, a lawyer in the White House counsel's office who focuses on judicial nominations.

A veteran of the Obama White House, Herwig said that a lot of people learned the lesson that if you dont think about judges out of the gate, theres so much else going on at the beginning of an administration, it can be very easy to have things slip through the cracks.

Durbin said that if Breyer retires while he's the committee chairman, the pace of confirmations won't slow. Were prepared for it, he said.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Nearly half of Michigan residents live in counties where the federal government is urging everyone ages 2 and over, including the fully vaccinated, to wear masks in public indoor settings because transmission of the coronavirus is high or substantial.

The guidance affected 33 of 83 counties as of Monday  including large ones such as Oakland, Macomb and Ingham  up from 10 mostly small, rural counties when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations were revised nearly a week ago. The counties are home to more than 4.6 million residents, or 46% of the state's population.

Michigan's seven-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases was 678 on Saturday, an increase from 241 two weeks before. The case rate, 76.8 per 100,000 people, was lower than in all but four states, based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer does not plan to reinstate a mask requirement, but she has urged people to get vaccinated and wear a mask when inside and among groups. Nearly 57% of residents ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, which is slightly under the national average of 58%. Michigan's vaccine rate ranks around middle of the pack among states.

Six counties have high transmission rates, which means they had at least 100 new infections per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, a test positivity rate of at least 10% or both. Twenty-seven counties have substantial spread  a weekly case rate of between 50 and 99.9 per 100,000 people, a positivity rate between 8% to 9.99% or both.

The CDC guidance has prompted criticism from Republican leaders nationally. But at Beaumont Health, the state's largest system, a physician said individuals should probably return to universal masking when they are going to stores or gathering indoors in large groups.

If it helps prevent spread, then it helps prevent replication of the virus and would help prevent any further infections with delta variant or any future variant. That's why we need to get on top of this right now, said Dr. Joel Fishbain, medical director for infection prevention at Beaumont's hospital in Grosse Pointe.

He expressed concern that vaccinated people can spread the coronavirus' delta variant, but he said vaccination remains very, very good. Just 0.06% of Beaumont's vaccinated patients have tested positive, he said.

The vaccine works and prevents the vast majority of people from becoming severely ill, getting admitted and dying, Fishbain said.

He warned of the potential for a huge disaster," an explosion of cases particularly among the unvaccinated, including those who are ineligible  kids younger than 12. While infected children tend not to get sick or as sick as adults, he said, they could spread the virus to vulnerable people.

The state health department said Monday it was investigating an outbreak associated with Muskegon Bike Time, a July 15-18 motorcycle event that included concerts. At least 16 cases had been identified among attendees and their contacts. Attendees were urged to get tested.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
NEW HAVEN  Fighting violence in the city is all about working together in a bigger, broader, better-coordinated way then before, officials said Monday as Mayor Justin Elicker proposed a new Department of Community Resilience.

The all-new city department  a relatively rare occurrence  would be an umbrella to bring together the efforts of a host of agencies, from police to social services, to work to lessen violence in the city, Elicker said.

The same idea kept coming up as speaker after speaker got up to talk about the need for the new department.

We cant arrest our way out of social problems. ... This is a lesson we learn over and over again, said Community Services Administrator Dr. Mehul Dalal.

Dalal would oversee the new, $6 million-a-year department  assuming the Board of Alders agrees to shift $4 million from other departments and use $2 million in American Rescue Plan money to fund it.

We cant arrest our way out of it, said interim Chief of Police Renee Dominguez, echoing Dalals statement and that of Len Jahad, executive director of the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program, among others.

The unusual proposal to create an all-new city department to serve as a point to attack street violence was the result of a lot of work thats been put in by many different people and agencies, Elicker said.

Dominguez said it will be able do do beyond what we already do, and said it will include what might seem like a simple idea of asking people facing trauma, How can we help? and What do you need?  in addition to arresting perpetrators and getting victims medical care.

The new department would consolidate some existing services while adding new ones, including an office of violence prevention.

The Department of Community Resilience would incorporate work on violence prevention, prison reentry issues, housing and homelessness, and mental health and substance abuse  with much of the need officials currently see informed by problems and needs that have arisen throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Elicker said.

We have identified over the 18 months that our response can be dramatically improved if we house this all under one roof, Elicker said.

That roof would be the citys Community Services Administration.

Creating the new department and the shift in funding to accomplish it requires the alders approval. The board will hold hearings and could amend the proposal, Elicker said.

Elicker said he believes the change is necessary because we feel very strongly that violence is an epidemic.

He thanked Dalal for his leadership and U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, and her office for their work in support of the citys efforts.

In a release, DeLauro said she, Elicker, Dominguez, Dalal and others would celebrate funding for the New Haven Community Crisis Response Team clearing a critical hurdle in Congress in a press conference Tuesday.

DeLauro, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said she included $2 million for the New Haven Community Crisis Response Team in the committees passage of the fiscal year 2022 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies funding bill.

The mobile crisis team program will be integrated into the existing 911 and non-emergency dispatch system and the human services network within the region, DeLauros office said in a release. DeLauro, Elicker and other community leaders will urge the Senate to include the funding in the final 2022 government spending bills.

Creation of the Community Crisis Response Team was announced in May. The idea arose last August in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It would be one of the most consequential public safety changes for New Haven since community-based policing, Elicker has said.

The city will partner on the Community Crisis Response Team with the Connecticut Mental Health Center to roll out a mobile crisis team to answer calls that may not require police, Elicker has said.

Dalal said work on the new city department has been going on for a number of months, with many others besides himself working on it. He singled out Velma George, the citys homlessness coordinator, as one.

The pandemic has important lessons to teach us about community challenges and now we have a response, Dalal said.

Several of the components being brought together have been going on independently during the pandemic, he said, pointing out that at the heart of violence you often find trauma, lack of opportunity and unaddressed mental health challenges.

Jahad said that since the beginning of COVID, people have been depressed and traumatized. He congratulated Elicker on having the courage  I said courage to bring the proposal forward.

After the press conference, Jahad said hes done research and I have never heard of a Connecticut community combining resources from various departments into one to fight street violence.

Other speakers included the Rev. Bonita Grubbs, executive director of Christian Community Action, city Special Projects Director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, Project MORE Re-entry Welcome Center Director Keisha Gatison, Dr. Michael Rowe of the Connecticut Mental Health Center and Adriana Joseph of Clifford Beers.

Gatison said she was absolutely elated to hear about the establishment of the Department of Resiliency.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
3 1 of 3 Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





WEST HAVEN  The University of New Haven announced Monday that masks will be required inside university buildings regardless of vaccination status, effective Tuesday.

In a letter to the university community, UNH COVID Task Force co-chairmen Anthony Santella and Ron Quagliani said the decision was (b)ased on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and due to increases in COVID transmission rates and the prevalence of the highly transmissible (delta) variant.
WEST HAVEN  Republican officials say the ordeal created by the party missing a deadline to officially endorse a slate of candidates for political offices has been a blessing in disguise.

Republican Town Committee officials missed a deadline last week to turn in the necessary paperwork to endorse a slate of candidates. Although the RTC endorsed candidates for mayor, City Council and all other elected offices on July 22, leaders in the party missed a July 28 deadline to submit the paperwork to the city.

Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for the secretary of the states office, said municipal candidates have two means of getting on a ballot for Election Day: to receive a nomination from a political party with ballot access or to petition their way onto the ballot with signatures. Because of the missed deadline, none of the candidates preliminarily endorsed by the Republican Town Committee stand to receive their partys nomination without collecting and submitting signatures, he said.

But RTC Chairman Dave Riccio said there is a plus-side to the mistake.

The situation before us has really put this new group of Republicans closer together; they were thrown into it and have teamed up together to get this done, he said.

Although the candidates must collect signatures, they are allowed to petition as a slate by submitting 174 signatures to the registrars office. City Republican leaders claim the signature-gathering process has provided a silver lining to the situation.

This brought a lot of this proposed slate closer. A lot of them didnt know one another and theyre getting to know one another and theyre learning the political process and theyre all working extremely, extremely hard, Riccio said.

Contributed photo /

Barry Lee Cohen, a Republican city councilman who was set to receive his partys nomination for a mayoral run, said he believes the process of gathering signatures strengthened the resolve of the proposed slate.

What would have defeated the spirits of others, instead has created an unwavering commitment and strong bond by this extraordinary group of individuals. Each responded expeditiously while demonstrating grace and determination, he said in a statement.

I never considered the unfortunate error by others to be insurmountable, nor did it ever stop the extremely positive momentum of our One West Haven, campaign, he said.

Cohen said he holds no ill will towards those responsible for the filing error.

Cohen said the slate received 194 signatures over the weekend, more than the 174 required to gain ballot access. As of Monday afternoon, Republican Registrar Jo Ann Callegari said her office was still counting and verifying the signatures.

Riccio said that without a doubt the proposed slate of candidates will be properly registered as candidates despite the oversight last week.

As for the breakdown in process, Riccio confirmed that someone on the RTC executive board submitted a resignation following the missed deadline, but he declined to comment further.

Brian Zahn / Hearst Connecticut Media

People had duties to do and leaders have responsibilities and we take responsibility as a group. It was a misinterpretation of the process to register candidates, Riccio said.

It is a fairly new executive board. People were designated responsibilities and were learning, he said.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
While it has been 26 years since the death of Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead, his prescence among the jam band community is just as strong today as it was almost three decades ago.

For years, the Gathering of the Vibes music festival in Bridgeport's Seaside Park existed as a place for fans to celebrate the music of Garcia. However, after the festival ended in 2015, it was left to local venues to carry on the legacy of the musician.
Eileen "Beanie" Babicki, 66, passed away peacefully at home on August 3, with her loving family by her side. Eileen was born in Niagara Falls, NY, on January 11, 1955. After high school Eileen enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where she met the love of her life, Dave. Eileen's great
Ali Kachalla, one of the bandit leaders operating in the north-west has, reportedly, been identified as the mastermind of the downing of t...

Ali Kachalla, one of the bandit leaders operating in the north-west has, reportedly, been identified as the mastermind of the downing of the fighter jet of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in July.

The fighter jet was returning from an air interdiction mission between the boundaries of Zamfara and Kaduna states when it came under heavy fire from bandits and crashed in Zamfara.

Recall that Abayomi Dairo, a flight lieutenant and pilot of the jet, survived after he successfully ejected from the aircraft.

According to Daily Trust, Kachallas men who have their hideout in Kuyambana, brought down the jet near Kabaru village, located some 15 km west of Dansadau town.

The newspaper reported that shooting down the NAF jet might be Kachallas most daring exploit yet, but for residents in the troubled Dansadau district, his name has been on their lips, especially in recent times.

Kachalla, the newspaper said, has stepped up attacks on Dansadau town to protest the blocking of supplies to him from the town and the villagers help in the escape of the military pilot who he wanted to capture alive.

He is said to have carried out a series of brutal attacks on communities in the district and he is known to take special interest in ambushing military personnel.

Kachalla, who is in his thirties, is reported as a leader controlling over 200 armed men in Kuyambana forest.

His settlement consisting of several strings of thatched huts is on Birnin Gwari side of the river. But, his large herd of cattle being manned by his heavily armed boys is based in Zamfara State, the newspaper quoted a source in the area who craved anonymity.

As Im talking to you his boys can be found in Dandalla, Madada and Gobirawa Kwacha communities. The villages are all situated southeast of Dansadau town. They are all being controlled by the armed men.

Kachallas men are described as fearless fighters who have been laying ambush for security operatives for a long time. His boys are also said to outnumber most of those in other gangs in the area.

In one of the attacks, his men reportedly set an armoured personnel carrier ablaze, after chasing security forces deployed in the town.

Dansadau community has drawn the ire of Kachalla and his boys after local traders were blocked from selling food to him, one source told Daily Trust.

There are some unscrupulous elements among the local traders who still take bread, soft drinks and other groceries to the bandits in the forest.

The NAF is yet to provide any update on the attack.
Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has thanked his supporters. His comments were contained in a statement sign...





Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has thanked his supporters.

His comments were contained in a statement signed by his lead counsel, Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on Monday.

According to Ejiofor, they were able to see Kanu, following weeks of speculations and uncertainties.

He is firm and stable, less the burden of solitary confinement and concomitant mental torture arising therefrom.

Though the Detaining Authority is giving him medical attention but he still requires advanced medical care, which formed substantial part of the relief in our application before the Court.

He specifically requested that we should extend his heartfelt compliment to Millions of his supporters worldwide and all foreign Governments and institutions who are relentlessly following up. Media houses are indeed not left out of this classification.

We are winning but your prayers are doing wonders, dont relent, as you continue to remain law abiding, he said.

Ejiofor promised to give frequent updates, now that the visit will be more regular than before.

Kanu has been in custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, since he was rearrested and repatriated from an undisclosed African country.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has appointed DCP Tunji Disu as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response T...

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has appointed DCP Tunji Disu as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

Disu takes over from Abba Kyari, who was suspended following an indictment by the FBI.

Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, who was accused of being bribed by the suspected billionaire fraudster, Abbas Ramon, also known as Hushpuppi, was suspended on Sunday.

Frank Mba, Force spokesman, announced the appointment of Disu in a statement on Monday.

The statement read, The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc (+), NPM, fdc has today, 2nd August, 2021 approved the posting of DCP Tunji Disu as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

The posting of the officer is on the heels of Managements decision to fill the leadership gap within the IRT and refocus the Unit for better service delivery.

The IGP has charged the new Head of the IRT to demonstrate his professional competence in his leadership of the Unit. He also assured citizens that the IRT will remain focused in the discharge of its duties in line with national statutes and international best practices.

Prior to his appointment as the new Head of the IRT, DCP Tunji Disu, a former Commander of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Lagos State, was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Department of Operations, Force Headquarters, Abuja.

He had also previously served at the State CID, Rivers State as the Deputy Head of the Unit. He was also a former Commander of the Nigeria Police Contingent to the African Union (AU) Peace Keeping Mission in Dafur, Sudan.

Disu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the Lagos State University (LASU) and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State.

He has also attended several professional courses both at home and abroad: Small Arms Smuggling Training in Botswana, Internet Fraud Training at the Cambridge University, UK, Strategic Leadership Command Course at the Police Staff College, Jos, Forensic Investigations and Criminal Intelligence Course at the University of Lagos, amongst others.

He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations and Chattered Institute of Personnel management, amongst other professional bodies.
Precious Chikwendu, the estranged wife of Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation, has accused him of exposing their four children t...

Precious Chikwendu, the estranged wife of Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation, has accused him of exposing their four children to indecency and depriving them of proper care.

Fani-Kayode and Chikwendus marriage hit the rock in 2020 over her domestic violence claim and the ex-ministers counter-claim of infidelity.

They have been in a heated tussle for the custody of their children  Aragorn, Ragnar, Aiden, and Liam  since the marriage crashed.

In March, Chikwendu had approached a high court sitting in the federal capital territory (FCT) to seek custody of her children  with the court ruling in her favour.

But Fani-Kayode had faulted the ruling of the high court  delivered by Sylvanus Oriji, the judge.

The former minister had thereafter approached the Abuja judicial division of the federal court of appeal to challenge the judgement of the high court.

In his motion of appeal, he had argued that the high court lacked the jurisdiction and also denied him fair hearing in the case.

Reacting to the Fani-Kayodes appeal in a court document, Chikwendu argued that he is unfit to be in custody of the their children.

Buttressing her point, Chikwendu cited the former ministers penchant for traveling, adding that he is not always available to attend to their children.

She also alleged that she had received reports that her children are being subjected to alleged inhuman treatment by the women taking care of them.

That my children have been exposed to various women of all sorts as the appellant displays different women before my children in awkward and uncompromising positions thus exposing them to indecency, she said in her motion of appeal.

That within this period of my absence, I have received reports of severe, brutish and inhuman treatment meted to them by various women whom the appellant has allowed access to them.

That my children are of very tender age and need adequate attention from their mother and sound moral upbringing.

That I am worried about my childrens education status as my first son was stopped from going to school since August 2020 and the triplets who are due for school are not in school or given an education access.

That I am in the position to understand my four children and cater for them better as the appellant is always busy and does not have the adequate time required to nurture my four children.

She also prayed the court to grant her interim access to her children pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.

Chikwendu alleged that should there be further delay in granting her application, the former minister, may make good his threat of relocating my four children out of the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court and/or out of Nigeria to a location in which I will be denied a chance of ever seeing them again.
Lionel Messi will not be training with Barcelona until he signs a new contract at the Spanish club, according to reports. The Argentine ha...





Lionel Messi will not be training with Barcelona until he signs a new contract at the Spanish club, according to reports.

The Argentine has been a free agent since July 1 but is still likely sign a new deal at the Catalan giants.

Despite an announcement that Messi would sign a five-year deal the contract has yet to be signed.

Due to Barcelonas financial struggles, their captain has been forced to accept a pay cut in order to remain at the Nou Camp.

The deal which is yet to be signed will reportedly see him take a 50 per cent pay cut.

His previous contract expired on June 30 meaning that he has been a free agent since July 1 but he is unlikely to agree terms elsewhere.

However, Barcelona forward will not be training with his club until the new contract is signed, according to Spanish newspaper AS.

Messi posted a picture of himself sipping cocktails with Luis Suarez as reports emerged that he is banned from Barcelona training.

The Argentine has been a free agent since July 1 but is expected to sign fresh terms on a new deal before the start of the La Liga season.

Reports last month indicated that Messi was prepared to take a 50 percent pay cut and sign a new five-year deal with Barcelona.

But with less than two weeks until the Catalan club get their campaign underway, the 34-year-olds future is still up in the air  not that Messi seems particularly fazed by the whole affair.
The state Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Ekiti State, Mrs Mary Chikezie has advised corps members deployed to the...





The state Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Ekiti State, Mrs Mary Chikezie has advised corps members deployed to the state to shun all negative vices like drunkenness, gambling, cultism among others.

Chikezie also admonished the corps members to take advantage of all the schemes programmes and training to get themselves employed.

She made the disclosure at the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Ise-Orun/Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State during the official swearing-in ceremony of the 2021 batch B stream I corps members deployed to the state.

The NYSC boss said the camp court will soon be inaugurated to try erring corps members at camp and sanction them appropriately.

According to her, This Court will try erring corps members and appropriate sanctions will be meted on such corps members in accordance with our bye-laws.

Mrs Chikezie said the Orientation Course was designed to prepare the corps members for the service year, both physically and intellectually.

You will be equipped with the requisite knowledge, skills and ability to transit smoothly into the larger society.

To achieve this, the scheme has packaged several activities ranging from lectures, drills, Man O War Citizenship and Leadership Training, Skills Acquisition and entrepreneurship Development Training among others for you.

Your success in the service year will be determined by the way you lay the foundation now. Do not joke with the SAED Programme as white-collar jobs are no longer there. Choose to be an Employer today and not a job seeker.
Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau, has asked security agencies to be ruthless with criminals killing innocent citizens and destroying prop...

Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau, has asked security agencies to be ruthless with criminals killing innocent citizens and destroying properties in the state.





On Saturday, gunmen reportedly killed seven persons and razed over 250 houses in some communities in Miango chiefdom of Bassa LGA of the state.

The attack, which lasted for over four hours unhindered, left over 250 houses razed down in Zanwra, Nche-Tahu, Rikwe-Rishe A and B, Ri-Dogo, Nchu-Nzhwa, all in Jebbu-Miango communities of Miango chiefdom, the Iregwe development association (IDA) had said in a statement.

Speaking on Monday during the opening of the 2021 inter brigades warrant officers and senior non-commissioned officers competition in Jos, Lalong bemoaned the spate of killings and destruction of homes and farmlands in the state.





The Plateau governor, who was represented by Danladi Atu, secretary to the state government, described the destruction of farmlands as food terrorism.

The reported killings in Bassa, Barikin Ladi, Riyom and Jos North Local Government Areas have become worrisome and persistent, even up till yesterday where many houses were destroyed and some people killed, NAN quoted him as saying.

We have witnessed the willful and carefully-planned destruction of crops in some areas of the state by criminals. These acts of provocation are no doubt aimed at taking us back to the days of violence and bloodshed.

Also, the action of these criminals is nothing but food terrorism that wants to starve our people at all costs. This must stop and I have directed the security agencies to be ruthless with these criminals.

Let me assure the citizens that our administration will never fold its arms to see a few criminals take this state back to those dark days of pain and sorrow. We are working with the security agencies to fish out those responsible and ensure that they are punished.

No matter how long it takes and how far they run or hide, they will be identified, arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

Earlier, Williams Dangana, commander of the 3 division in Rukuba, who represented Ibrahim Ali, general officer commanding (GOC) of the division, said the competition was designed to foster esprit-de-corps, regimentation, as well as enhance leadership qualities and physical fitness of troops.

As you are all aware, competition is an aspect of training which is considered the best welfare that can be given to a soldier, because it speaks to his competence and ultimately keeps him alive in battle, he said.
The President of the Association of Resident Doctors at the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr Akanimo Ebong, on Monday said the Federal Governm...

The President of the Association of Resident Doctors at the National Hospital, Abuja, Dr Akanimo Ebong, on Monday said the Federal Government barely negotiates with health workers until an industrial action is introduced.

Ebong, who is also the Senior Registrar at the hospitals Department of Obstetrics And Gynaecology, made the remark while speaking on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily monitored by NigeranEye

NARD had on Monday resumed its industrial action over unpaid salaries and benefits.

The doctors are also demanding the immediate withdrawal of a circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service.

They had embarked on an earlier strike in April, leaving many patients unattended to across government-owned hospitals in the country.

The strike was suspended 10 days later after they met with Federal Government representatives.

Usually, there is no negotiation done, until we go on a strike, he said.

He added, We have resumed our strike today. We never called it off, we only suspended it to give time for negotiations.

But since we called off the strike on April 10, barely anything has been done.

When we are back at it, you know we have given a lot of time; we have tried to negotiate, we have tried to make the system work. But unfortunately, we are here again.
In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator.

When a modest watering can was introduced by multinational home goods store IKEA in 2003, likely no one imagined that it would become a contemporary design classic still available almost 20 years later for $1.99.

Monika Mulder, the Dutch designer of the Vallo Watering Can, was asked to solve a logistics issue. The challenge was that a standard watering cans handle, pouring spout and cavity take up a large volume of space. For IKEA, a company known for using thoughtful design to increase shipping efficiency, this volume was a big deal. The company requested a watering can that could be stacked, one within another, to save tremendously on transportation costs.

The design addresses the pragmatic concern, but Mulder didnt want efficiency to be the only consideration. Since transport isn't an issue once people have it at home ... I wanted to give the design an organic, fluid shape, in harmony with plants and running water. Mulder toyed with numerous templates, taking note of how easily Vallo performed its main function  to feed your thirsty plants  but also how it would look as a sculptural object within the home. She notes: The final design has an appearance that encourages you to have it out on display, instead of hidden away, suggesting it could also be used as a juice pitcher or a vase.

This idea brought Vallo Watering Can the award for best Swedish design 2002, but it is only one of Mulders sleek designs for a variety of companies.

From her studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, Mulder lectures about her work with advanced production companies like Pholc (lighting), Lundbergs Mobler (furniture), Tenzo (storage furniture), and, of course, IKEA. In correspondence with the New Orleans Museum of Art in June 2021, Monika Mulder noted that she personally collects Vallo: IKEA used to launch a new seasonal color for many years. I am glad I bought them all!

The New Orleans Museum of Art currently has three stacked Vallo Watering Cans  in teal, lime green and red  on view in the Lupin Foundation Decorative Art & Design Galleries.

+2 In the dawn of the age of air travel, aluminum service cart was striking in its simplicity In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator.

+2 'Work of art, that works in life': Little Sun LED light is a project to change the world In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator.
Remember White Linen Night, the elegant summertime art soiree in which scads of art lovers swarm the 300 to 600 blocks of Julia Street for an evening of gallery hopping? Remember the outdoor bars, the food tents and the happy hubbub as crowds perused the paintings? And remember the see-and-be-seen street scene, where everyone displayed their best white duds? Well, on Saturday, Aug. 7, its coming back  mostly.

Last year, the coronavirus caused organizers to curtail the usual crush by spreading out the gallery hop over several hours, from morning to night, to ensure that social distancing was possible. This year, White Linen Night takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as usual. But, according to Leslie-Claire Spillman, president of the Arts District of New Orleans, COVID-19-conscious modification make keep the crowds less dense.

These Arts District galleries will present shows for White Linen Night Galleries will host openings on Saturday night as art-lovers stroll the street during the annual White Linen Night, a kickoff to the arts seas

The 20 galleries and museums involved will control the number of visitors admitted at any one time, and those visitors will be required to wear masks. Stillman said that participants are encouraged to mask even when theyre outdoors. The number of food booths, bars and other amenities is lower than usual this year, Spillman said, as the event edges back toward normalcy.

On a non-COVID-19-related note, this year, partiers can skip the tedious ticket lines of the past and pay the bartenders and food vendors directly, streamlining the refreshment service. Look for everything from inventive vegan cuisine to old-school barbecue. The party is a benefit for the Arts District of New Orleans, which fosters the citys contemporary art community.

Entry to the galleries is free, and likewise at the Ogden Museum of Art and the Contemporary Arts Center, which are a short walk Uptown in the 900 block of Camp Street. The CAC will host its customary White Linen After Dark party from 9 p.m. to midnight. The party is free, though an online reservation is required because of limited capacity. Unfortunately, the event is sold out. Note: On Wednesday, the CAC announced that proof of vaccination or or proof of a recent negative COVID test will be required to attend the late-night party, but not to attend the exhibits from 6 to 9 p.m.

The surging coronavirus has slightly clouded White Linen Night 2021  and what hasnt the coronavirus clouded  but the virus cant quash great art. And based on preview images, there will be great art aplenty.

The venerable Arthur Roger gallery will be, as always, a not-to-miss stop on your trek. The exhibit Black Beauty features a selection of works by Black artists that spans generations, from mid-20th-century icon Romare Bearden, to New Orleans 21st-century street art hero Brandan B-Mike Odums. The exhibit was curated by Crescent City arts benefactor Tim Francis, who said that despite his familiarity with the individual works of art, he was stunned by the impact the exhibit has as a whole.

I knew the work was great, he said, but to see it up was, like, wow!

Asked to share his insights on some of the works in the show, he called attention to a mixed-media painting by Los Angeles artist Lezley Saar, titled "Nella Larson ... Passing," which depicts an alluring young woman veiled in a translucent sheet of white lace. Its so serene and mysterious, and hidden, Francis said. Theres something taboo about it.

Francis also invited gallerygoers to view Odums mural-scale, figural painting titled "Even If Your Voice Shakes," both from afar and closeup. From a distance, he said, it looks simple, like a big postcard. But you get up close and you notice how wonderfully detailed it is.

Finally, Francis pointed out the magnetic quality of the hip hop-influenced, full-length, pop portraits by Brooklyn-born Fahamu Pecou. These people are alive in the gallery, he said. I feel the life, I feel the spirit, I know where theyre from.

+15 Vietnamese-American artist's 'Nail Salon' exhibit at the Ogden celebrates a success story At first glance, the 108 bottles of yellow fingernail polish in artist Christian Anh Dai Viet Dinhs exhibit of ceramic sculpture at the Ogden

As usual, the Ogden will use the occasion of the White Linen Night celebration to debut the annual Louisiana Contemporary exhibit. This years show features 51 works by 39 Bayou State artists.

Like all such roundup exhibits, the Louisiana Contemporary can be a bit crowded and chaotic, as the guest judge  this year, Hallie Ringle, the Birmingham Museum of Arts contemporary art curator  attempts to highlight aspects of our hopelessly eclectic regional art scene. But the perennial importance of the show is that it is a one-stop primer on the prevailing styles and themes of the era.

Scrolling through photographs of the Louisiana Contemporary artworks, the glittering Mardi Gras bead mosaics such as Seafood Gumbo" and "Popeyes 3pc Combo, by Tama Distler, promise to be irresistible. And Andrew Buckner Lymans surrealistic depiction of a volcano erupting in a small town is both chilling and charming.

+17 New Orleans' own Andrew LaMar Hopkins makes a big splash on the New York art scene Artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins is blowing up. There arent a lot of paintings cluttering his French Quarter studio, because they sell too fast. A

Across the street from the Ogden, the Contemporary Arts Center offers another large-scale group show that may be the most timely, though most forbidding of the offerings. According to promotional materials, the 36 Gulf South artists in the exhibit titled "Behind Every Beautiful Thing: Encountering Bodies, Wrestling the Human Condition" set out to illustrate issues of health, healing, and what it means to be human. Which, in the era of the Delta variant, could be a touch triggering.

Among the artists selected by Dr. David Robinson-Morris, Founder and Chief Reimaginelutionary at The REImaginelution, LLC, look for these standouts:

Luis Cruz Azacetas four-part painting "COVID Mutation 444" is a busy tangle of pastel stick figures that serves as an emblem of the virus's tragic body count. Caroline Ryans torturous portraits titled "Dad," depicting an elderly, seemingly stricken man are an emotional gut punch. And Sue Ecenias painting "Divided Vacci-Nation," of a phalanx of ghostly, syringes hovering over a divided red and blue background is an eerie evocation of the situation that shapes White Linen Night 2021.
Find more New Orleans events coming up this week on Gambit's calendar at calendar.gambitweekly.com

Big Easy All-Stars

Burlesque performers Lola Van Ella and Jeez Loueez host an all-star lineup of local dancers as part of a benefit for the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. The live local show includes Trixie Minx, Kitten n Lou, Eddie Lockwood, Mz. Juno, Remy Dee and Ariana Amour at the AllWays Lounge on Friday, Aug. 6. Theres also an afterparty with gogo dancers featuring Darling Darla James, The Great Dane, Miss Angie Z and Mamie Dame. There will be two days of performances from across the burlesque world to support the Hall of Fame, which has exhibits on the history of exotic dance, costumes from famous performers from Gypsy Rose Lee to Dita Von Teese and more. Find links to Virtual Hall of Fame weekend shows from other cities on Aug. 6-8 at the event website. The Big Easy show begins at 10 p.m. and tickets are $15-$40 on Eventbrite.

Young Fellaz Brass Band

With a mix of brass band standards, hip-hop, rock and pop songs in its repertoire, the Young Fellaz Brass Band has been a New Orleans staple for close to 15 years. The group has been working on a new album, which is expected to be released this year. Catch the Young Fellaz in the courtyard of the New Orleans Jazz Museum at 5 p.m. Tuesday, August 3. Admission is free, and the show will be live-streamed on the museum's social media.

SLAAPD Drag Kickball

Teams of drag performers will go to head-to-head for a game of charity kickball. On Saturday, Aug. 7, The Androgynettes, named after performer Ariel Androgyny, will face off against The Lil Smokeys, named after performer Smokestack Lightning, at City Parks softball quad. Suggested donations are between $5 and $20 and will benefit LOUD: New Orleans Queer Youth Theatre. For more information on the program, visit the website.

Javier Olondo and AsheSon

Guitarist Javier Olondo plays all sorts of music, but with AsheSon he focuses on traditional Cuban songs and grooves. The band performs at Rock n Bowl at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3. Find tickets at Rock n' Bowl's website.

Naughty Professor

The funky six-piece ensemble was born a decade ago, not long after its members moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University. The line-up has changed since then, and the groups songs are mostly instrumental. Its past albums have featured guests such as David Shaw of the Revivalists, Ivan Neville and the Soul Rebels. The band takes the stage Friday, Aug. 6, for a free show at Tipitinas. The show starts at 10 p.m. For more information, visit Tipitina's website.

Royal Bing-Oh!

Comedian Geneva Joy is straight to the point: Its bingo for sex toys, people! The New Orleans comedian is celebrating her birthday with a round of bingo and other games for adult toys and weird prizes. The night also will feature appearances by comedians Lee Glass, Keeda with a Q, DC Paul, Michele Poole and Jeff D and burlesque performer Juno Juno. Tacos de Liberation will also be on site. Royal Bing-Oh! Takes place Tuesday, Aug. 3, at Hi-Ho Lounge. Free to play with the purchase of a drink. 21 and older. Find more information at the Hi-Ho Lounge's Facebook page.

48 Hour Film Project

Teams of local filmmakers hit the streets Friday to make a short film (less than seven minutes)  entirely written, filmed, edited and submitted  in 48 hours. Crews must use a character name, line of dialog and genre drawn out of a hat at the beginning of the event. The kickoff is at Buffalo Wild Wings at 3434 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Metairie at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6. Visit the local 48 Hour Film Project website for information on local teams or joining the action. Completed films will screen in August at the National World War II Museums Solomon Victory Theater.

Family Festival: Word Play

The New Orleans Museum of Art hosts a family day with art-making activities, storytelling and music by Kelly Love Jones. Programming is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7. Admission is free for families and advanced registration is encouraged. Visit NOMA's website for details.

Blue Cypress Books re-opening celebration

Oak Street bookstore Blue Cypress Books recently relocated almost directly across the street to a larger, two-story space, giving the business more room to expand its secondhand books section and add a dedicated space for author signings and readings. The shop just re-opened on Aug. 1 and is having a celebration on Saturday, Aug. 7. Blue Cypress will have drinks available for customers throughout the day, and author Jim Gabour will sign his new book Meow, Monsieur! The French Felines of New Orleans from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. More information can be found at the bookstore's website.

Mutzie

A veteran of BETs Comic View, cruise line shows and church gigs, Mutzie has built a following for his clean comedy, though the Chalmette native isnt shy about mobile home and Hee Haw jokes. He performs at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7. Find ticket information at Zeitgeist's website.
By early 2018, the apartment building at 447 Thurston Road was literally falling apart. Mold and rot, broken windows, electrical problems, rats and other unaddressed conditions plagued the Rochester, New York, building, making it unlivable by any reasonable measure.

Tenants all over the three-story, 48-unit brick building had reported terrible conditions. Water had been backing up in Mary Browns sinks, mold was in her bathroom and a large crack had formed in her kitchen ceiling. On the other side of the building, part of Barbara Riveras bathroom ceiling had collapsed into her tub. The door to the building itself didnt even have a working lock.

But those complaints had fallen on deaf ears, and complaints to the city hadnt gotten the tenants anywhere: Peter Hungerford, an absentee landlord living six hours away in Staten Island, simply ignored them  racking up more than 70 outstanding city code violations.

The only thing they had heard from management was that rents were going up.

"You raise our rent but then you don't want to fix anything," Brown said in the lobby of the building at the time. "We are all human beings, and we deserve to be treated right."

The tenants had enough, and in March 2018, they decided to do something about it, collectively.

With help from the City-Wide Tenant Union of Rochester, the residents of 447 Thurston Road organized. They called press conferences, let local media into their apartments to see the deplorable conditions, held protests and went on a rent strike. It got a lot of attention in western New York  and eventually paid off.

Within a year the building was sold to Rochester-based developer Home Leasing, which would ultimately undertake a multimillion dollar renovation of the building while not displacing the current tenants.

The Thurston Road renters arent alone. In New Orleans, Rochester and communities across the country, the lack of clean, safe and affordable housing has become a chronic problem. Slumlords and absentee owners leave properties to collapse before their tenants eyes, even as rent only seems to become a larger expense every month.

But renters are fighting back, particularly in a growing movement of tenant organizing in the South, using techniques honed over decades and influenced by the labor movement.

Having an organized tenant class can bring a lot of changes as far as housing  really for anything, says Ryan Acuff, an organizer with Rochesters City-Wide Tenant Union. I think most people ... believe they deserve better and they should live better, but there is a sense of hopelessness. Some of these poor conditions have gone on for a long time.

But organizing renters unions and other forms of collective bargaining are giving tenants ownership over their circumstances and showing other people whats possible. These examples of regular folks coming together are really important in our community, to keep going back to and (to) show this can happen, Acuff says.

A lot of people dont understand that they have tenants rights and they can speak up and they dont have to tolerate a landlords terrible behavior, Rivera recently told Gambit. If youre the tenant, you pay the rent, you deserve to live in good, healthy, safe housing.

Although there are some key differences between the two cities  there are fewer large apartment buildings in New Orleans, for instance, and Rochester has historically had regulations more favorable to renters than we do  Rochester and New Orleans are in similar boats when it comes to affordable housing.

More than half of their populations pay a landlord  with 64% percent of Rochester renting, compared to 54% of New Orleanians. Likewise, both cities have large groups of people that are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent: 55% in Rochester and 63% in New Orleans. In both cities, people of color are disproportionately rent burdened compared to white people.

Both cities also are in affordable housing crises, which are exacerbated by aging housing stock, rising rents, slumlords and increasing numbers of absentee owners. Traditionally, most communities have approached problems between landlords and tenants as largely individual issues. That can mean that if you have enough money to pay a lawyer or just get lucky that day, your place may get fixed, but everyone around you wont. Those sorts of one-off solutions mean the broader, systemic issues dont get addressed.

Which is where grassroots tenant organizers like the New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly or Rochesters City-Wide Tenant Union, come into play. Depending on the city, each group might have a slightly different mission, but across the country, and particularly increasingly in the South and Midwest in recent years, renters are working together for their housing rights.

Theres a long history of tenant organizing in the U.S., stretching back to when cities saw population booms tied to the industrial revolution of the late 1800s. In 1904, immigrant Jewish women held New York Citys first rent strike when they successfully withheld payment and marched against a rent increase. The early 20th century saw a further string of strikes there  often organized by socialists fighting back against capitalisms exploitation of housing needs  before the city adopted its Emergency Rent Laws in 1920. Even rural areas have a tradition of organizing around housing, notably the fight against company towns associated with the mining industry.

Likewise, the South has its own traditions of tenant organizing, notably the formation of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas in 1934. The group united both Black and white farmers in its mission to reform the system of tenant farming. Today there are dozens of tenants unions across the U.S. and countless other grassroots housing organizations focused on collective action.

Theres strength in numbers and youre not alone, says Shanti Singh, the communications and legislative director for Tenants Together in California. And the more of you that there are, the more youre working together, the more protected you will be.

Organizing  whether for housing, labor or justice  comes with risks, but theres strength in numbers. However isolated you must feel right now, going through this exploitation  the way youre going to reverse that is by teaming up with everybody else whos going through the same thing as you, Singh says. No matter how much you fear your landlord and you may feel like youre alone, youre not. There are more of us than there are of them.

Tenants Together works with and connects tenant organizations and other social justice groups across California. Working with about 50 member organizations, they offer direct services, counseling and volunteer training on tenant law and rights and focus on promoting legislation at the state level. Most of the member groups are tenants unions and legal aid organizations, but there are some community partners working on intersecting issues, like public health.

Housing is an issue that touches pretty much every other issue, Singh says. Tenants Together doesnt have a labor-focused member organization, but we do work with labor a lot. I think thats a natural alliance.

How protected you are is patchy based on where you live in California, Singh says, and each municipality is facing its unique issues  from opaque corporate landlords and predatory rent hikes to slumlords and dwindling affordability  so local coalition building is important.

A tenants union, especially a city-wide tenants union can be bigger than a rent strike, Singh says. Its not like everybody has the same landlord. Youre not always just coordinating action, like collective bargaining against your landlord, but youre actually advancing tenant issues, for example, at a city council level or with your legislators.

The City-Wide Tenants Union of Rochester came together in fall 2017, an offshoot of Take Back the Land Rochester, which focused on blocking foreclosure-related evictions. Within weeks CWTU was incredibly busy. Tenants of a literally freezing apartment tower  where icicles formed on the non-working heaters  became organizers in the union, as did tenants from 447 Thurston Road.

The union works by helping organize tenants into their own individual associations by building or by landlords. Those associations then work together as a collective to progress tenants rights across the city.

Even though the 447 building is taken care of now, I still make it my mission to go see [other tenants] and check on them and talk to them, Barbara Rivera says, who works as a tenant advocate to keep Home Leasing honest. Its like a family base.

In the past year, CWTU has organized against evictions amid the pandemic and is advocating for Rochester to adopt good cause eviction protections, which recently passed at the city level in Albany. That statute gives tenants the right to renew their lease and protects them from an annual rent hike of more than 5%, unless the landlord can find good cause  such as failure to pay rent or illegal use of the apartment  for the tenants eviction.

There is a feeling that maybe regular folks cant change things. I think we have to continually do our best to interrupt that through practice. Its not a theory, this is what regular people coming together can and are doing, says Acuff, the CWTU organizer.

There is a broad thought that grassroots tenant organizing is of the realm of the East and West Coasts, but people have always fought for their right to housing in the South and Midwest, and those regions have seen a recent upswell in organizing. In Texas, both Houston and Austin have tenants unions  the Austin Tenants Council started in 1973, in fact  as does Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona. Atlanta has the Housing Justice League, and similar groups can be found in Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Florida and North Carolina.

This year in Kansas City, organizers at KC Tenants declared a Zero Eviction January and prevented 919 eviction hearings from happening in Jackson and Clay counties, the Kansas City Pitch reported. KC Tenants tactics were straight out of the labor organizers playbook: They physically blocked courthouse entrances; made daily phone calls and sent emails to sway targeted lawmakers and influential citizens and groups; disrupted online proceedings; and protested outside of judges homes. Ninety percent of the eviction hearings scheduled for January were postponed, giving tenants more time to seek help.

Closer to home there are a number of groups working for housing access, including the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance and HousingNOLA and the community land trust and grassroots advocacy group Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative.

Several years ago, Jane Place started hosting monthly Renters Rights Assemblies to help educate and connect New Orleans renters, and today the New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly is an autonomous group. RRA focuses on tenant education and direct action, like protests and conducting a Slumlord Tour in summer 2020. The tour took the RRA to apartment complexes around New Orleans known to have abusive landlords, where the group set up a table to talk to renters about their rights and hand out PPE.

RRA hosts three sessions a month where tenants around the city can learn more about their rights and access pro bono legal advice, and the group will refer people to other organizations, like Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, LAFHC, New Orleans Family Justice Center and Disability Rights Louisiana.

So often people dont know where to look when theyre experiencing an issue around their housing, says organizer Y. Frank Southall. So we are that connecting force.

There have definitely been other movements in New Orleans around housing justice, Southall says. In 1984, the Marrero Tenants Organization led a march across the Crescent City Connection to protest for better public housing policies. Tenants at the Louisburg Square Apartments in Terrytown fought back against evictions post-Hurricane Katrina. More recently, low-income residents at the American Can Apartments held protests in 2016 to keep affordable units in the building, and the homeowners in Gordon Plaza have been fighting for years for a relocation away from the infamous, contaminated subdivision.

But RRA is unique in its goal to explicitly connect all New Orleans renters together. In terms of that encompassing tenant advocacy organizing piece, it didnt exist, Southall says. And thats a problem because Louisiana ranks at the bottom of most of the lists when it comes to tenant protections in the U.S.

Last year, RRA launched its first major campaign to extend the eviction moratorium and keep eviction courts closed during the pandemic. They held marches and rallies  and notably a large group of protesters took autonomous action, Southall says, and blocked the entrances to First City Court, halting evictions on July 30.

RRA now is turning its focus to campaign for rental assistance and a tenants right to counsel in eviction court.

The movement around housing justice in the South as it relates to tenants rights is something just really fully beginning, Southall says. Theres always been organizing around housing because of people not having autonomy, but ultimately, this current era of How do we challenge the laws and social practices of how landlords operate is something very new. Were very inspired by what were seeing happening across the South.

The hardest work is being done in the regions where all the laws are stacked against you and it's rooted in white supremacist Confederacy thinking, Southall adds.

Southall says organizing around housing in New Orleans looks like a big ass science lab. The make-up of our rental housing  largely single-family homes and landlords with small properties spread across the city  makes it difficult to connect people by proximity in the way you could with tenants in larger apartment blocks.

Part of the tenants union is predicated on labor organizing, Southall says, where you have people in a set place at a set time, they talk with each other and engage with each other. In New Orleans, so many of our tenants are small renters.

Things like poverty, transportation, work obligations and other stressors that come from living in New Orleans make it harder to consistently connect with people.

Eviction laws in Louisiana also are largely weighted toward landlords and good cause for eviction is defined broadly. Tenants who are under a year-long lease have the protections of that agreement. But tenants on month-to-month leases are more vulnerable, and landlords are only required to give a 10-day notice to vacate in those cases. Louisiana tenants also cant withhold rent in response to habitability issues.

Those laws make it incredibly difficult to hold a rent strike in Louisiana, an important bargaining chip for tenants unions in other states.

Because our laws are so shitty, because so many of our tenants are on month-to-month leases, and that impacts tenants who try to organize [a strike], theyll just be evicted, Southall says. So we have to really figure out what are the protections that people will organize around.

Louisiana is far behind other communities in what is considered a basic level of renters rights, but that also means activists in the state can learn from, and adapt, the tactics others have used successfully in their fights for suitable housing  and each victory makes the organizing process easier.

There is a budding movement in the state to press for right to counsel measures, ensuring renters have representation in eviction court, says Davida Finger, clinical professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans.

Its important for the public to understand what happens every day in housing court, Finger says. Think about going downtown and watching dozens and dozens of people who have done nothing wrong except the fact theyre unable to pay their rent right now, being evicted and having to move everything within 24 hours.

We can do a better system than that, and it takes public awareness and enough people in the community being uncomfortable for there to be enough pressure on lawmakers to change [the system]. Every story that comes out about this has a chance to spark understanding in 10 or 100 people and organizing efforts need that. It cant happen in a vacuum.

And thats where the New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly is directing its focus: on education and building the community of organized tenants in the city as well as encouraging Renters Rights Assemblies or similar groups in Baton Rouge, Shreveport and other parts of the state. A broad coalition of groups from across Louisiana will always be harder for state political leaders in Baton Rouge to ignore than a movement rooted solely in New Orleans.

The [Renters Rights Assembly] model that were using is the model that a lot of places in the South have talked to us about, Southall says.

When the tenants at 447 Thurston Road called their rent strike, it inspired tenants in other buildings to organize themselves. The groups and the City-Wide Tenant Union lobbied city government and kept up media attention on the problems in their building. Within a few months, the city of Rochester filed a suit with the tenants against owner Peter Hungerford, threatening to place the building into receivership if violations werent fixed.

A partner eventually forced Hungerford out of control of the company owning his buildings in Rochester. But the new landlord served 30-day eviction notices to 25 people at 447 Thurston Road. Again, the tenants protested, and the landlord reversed course, eventually resulting in the March 2019 sale.

Home Leasing, which is Rochester-based, decided to completely renovate the buildings. Residents were moved to temporary living situations while Home Leasing put $11 million  with another $10 million investment from a state agency and further support from the city  into fixing the two buildings.

In March 2020, the tenants returned to new apartments, and without much change in rent  Barbara Rivera, for instance, saw a $30 a month increase, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported.

It was a positive turnaround, Rivera said recently. Home Leasing is working with the tenants, and now that Im the tenant advocate, I harass Home Leasing often to make sure they keep up with what they need to do.

The City-Wide Tenant Union already has its next fight ahead of them: Cassandra Stone, a tenant in a building right up the street from 447 Thurston, is beginning to work with her neighbors to fight back against a lack of hot water, backed up plumbing, a roach infestation and other problems.

Tenants coming together with the goal of forming unions in buildings and across the city, I think that creates the conditions to change some of the policies and then make them more tenant friendly, Ryan Acuff says. Its really people coming together in some collective effort, whether its called a union or something else, thats going to bring about the policy changes.

Editor's note: This article is part of a series done in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network's Economic Mobility Initiative. The program uses solutions-focused journalism to examine ways in which governments, communities and individuals respond to economic challenges. To learn more, visit solutionsjournalism.org.
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The captain of a vessel that was near the Seacor Power when it capsized in the Gulf of Mexico in April, leaving 13 men dead, said Monday that he never heard an emergency radio call from the lift boat as it toppled in a ferocious storm.

I heard Mayday calls from some of the other boats, but I never heard any Mayday calls from the Seacor Power, said Ted Duthu, who helmed the Rockfish, a smaller lift boat. This happened quick.

Duthu was the first witness called to testify at the start of a two-week U.S. Coast Guard hearing into the circumstances surrounding the deadly April 13 wreck seven miles offshore.

The hearing of the Marine Board of Investigation is taking place inside the conference room of a hotel in Houma and includes participation from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is conducting a parallel probe and plans to issue findings on the causes of the tragedy.

Coast Guard Capt. Tracy Phillips, the presiding officer, said the investigation may produce recommendations on how to prevent similar accidents and could determine if anyone committed misconduct or failed to perform their duties. Criminal referrals also are possible, Phillips said.

The hearing, which is being live-streamed, is a way for the public to know what we know and to really understand what happened that day, Phillips said.

The 175-foot-long Seacor Power toppled hours after leaving Port Fourchon with 19 crewmen and contractors aboard, on its way to a Talos Energy drilling site about 40 miles east of Venice.

Six crewmen and passengers survived. The bodies of six others, including the captain, David Ledet, were recovered within a day. The Coast Guard ended its search-and-rescue operation after a week, while a private volunteer search led by the father of one missing crewman ended last month. The remains of seven men have not been found.

In emotional testimony Monday afternoon, independent contractor Dwayne Lewis described a harrowing escape through the window of his stateroom, as he trailed a Seacor Power crewman, James Gracien, into the water. Gracien also survived.

Lewis said the seas were 2 to 3 feet high when he went inside his stateroom, as the Seacor Power motored into the Gulf.

I laid down on the blanket, dozed off and the boat rolled. When I felt it roll, I jumped up and grabbed my life jacket. While I was going to put it on, the TV and the shelves flew off the wall, he said.

Lewis, who cant swim, said he bobbed for three hours in the Gulf before a shrimp boat rescued him.

Youre getting beat up, and youre just begging God to please calm the seas, he said.

Bryan Mires, the Seacor Powers first mate, is scheduled to testify for most of the day Tuesday. Mires is the highest-ranking survivor from the doomed boat's crew. Lewis and Mires are the only two survivors slated to testify at the hearing.

Company officials with Seacor Marine and Talos Energy are scheduled to testify next week. They are likely to face questions about just what they knew about the marine warnings issued before the Seacor Power left the Bollinger Shipyard docks about 1:30 p.m., and what they did about it.

More than a dozen survivors and family members of the deceased have filed lawsuits in federal or state court over the deadly capsizing. A few sat quietly Monday in the rear of the hotel conference room.

The lift boats owner has argued in court that the capsizing was a "force majeure event  an unforeseeable act of nature. Ledet, the captain, made a responsible and prudent decision to leave port that morning based on weather forecasts at the time, the company has argued.

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In a preliminary report, the NTSB said the vessel's crew received an emailed weather report about 7 a.m. that day predicting winds at 10 to 14 mph as well as 3-foot seas for its journey.

But shortly after noon, the National Weather Service began issuing a series of marine warnings for locations in southeast Louisiana, including Port Fourchon. Each message warned of tropical storm force winds - 39 mph or greater - accompanied by "suddenly higher waves."

The Seacor Power left dock about 1:30 p.m., and meteorologists say it ran into something rare and violent: a compact, circular low-pressure system known as a "wake low" that packed hurricane-force winds.

The ship was designed to plant its 265-foot legs into the sea floor, allowing the deck to rise above the water. Those legs are raised while lift boats travel, however, making them unstable in rough seas. The NTSB said that the crew made a last-ditch attempt to drop the boats three massive legs to the sea floor to stabilize it before it toppled.

More than two dozen witnesses are slated to testify at the hearing, with 227 exhibits included as evidence.

Walt Leger II, an attorney who represents the families of three of the dead from the Seacor Power, said attorneys for the families will be pressing to know what the boats owner did or didnt do to alert the crew to bad weather.

The question is: What did this company do to honor its obligation to keep this crew safe? he said.

Leger said such hearings, however, are not meant to assign blame over the wreck.

It will be helpful to us in litigation, but thats not the end-all, said Leger. This will be a very good start.

Duthu testified that he was in the wheelhouse of the Rockfish, having just reached his destination and jacked up the vessel a few feet above seas that were then about 3 to 5 feet. But before long, he said, the boat's wind gauge registered 95 mph and remained there. It topped out at 112 mph, Duthu said.

The sea was slamming the bottom of the Rockfish, but he he didnt want to risk raising it up any further.

"The boat was swaying back and forth. I felt like the boat was dancing," he said. Ive been on the Gulf 44 years. I used to shrimp for a living. I never stopped. I never got scared. But on this day, when this happened, I didnt know what to think about.

Duthu had watched the Seacor Power motoring out into the Gulf but lost sight of it when the rain started and he went inside.

And thats when all hell broke loose, he said.

When the winds calmed, a crewman pointed him to the horizon, where he saw the Seacor Power flipped over. The Rockfish joined the rescue effort.

Duthu said he was just fortunate to reach his destination when he did.

Fifteen minutes later and the Rockfish would have been laying on its side, right next to the Seacor Power, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard hearing can be viewed here.
With students headed back to classes this month, St. Tammany Parish residents will once again see yellow school buses filling the road.

But St. Tammany Health System is offering a new addition  a pink custom RV built to improve health care on the north shore.

The Be Well Bus is a 40-foot mobile unit containing a registration area and two private care rooms to provide preventative health care in the field, everything from state-of-the-art cancer screenings to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Mobile screening is becoming more common across the nation, St. Tammany Health System Community Health Coordinator Anne Pablovich said. We want to make it as convenient and as accessible for people to get their health care.

You can configure this bus in 1,000 different ways. We just took what we know about our community and what we thought the needs and demands would be here and custom created it to help our patients," she said.

Those needs are wide-ranging.

Already, the bus has visited Covingtons Juneteenth Celebration and Pelican Park's Celebrate St. Tammany family festival, serving as a mobile vaccination unit and helping from 25 to 250 individuals at each event.

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Since then, the bus has undergone a series of state and federal government inspections required for its ongoing use. Beginning Aug. 3, it will begin weekly use at local clinics, businesses and community events.

We will be able to perform screenings on the bus for a broad array of cancers, including breast, prostate, skin, head and neck, Pavlovich said, plus, well be able to provide the DNA fecal immunochemical test (FIT kit) for colon cancer screenings and do lung cancer assessments that may lead to follow up for those who need low-dose CT lung testing at the STHS Cordes Pavilion.

Clinical professionals from St. Tammany Health System and Ochsner Health will be aboard the bus as it travels to destinations throughout St. Tammany and Washington parishes. It will offer 3D digital screening mammography, education, outreach, vaccinations  including COVID-19, and multiple health screenings for blood pressure, arterial ultrasounds and cancer.

Pablovich said the state-of-the-art mammography equipment accounted for nearly half of the buss $800,000-plus price tag. The bus took almost a year to build, and everything was customized to fit the needs of St. Tammany Health System.

We taped out the dimensions of the bus and the dimensions of each space, and we walked through it to see if it was suitable, Pablovich said. We talked with many health systems in other parts of the country that have used these types of programs before to make sure this bus would meet our needs. We want to make these services more convenient and user-friendly, and this bus will allow us to do that.

Pablovich said the bus will visit health fairs, festivals and other community events while also being available for local businesses interested in maintaining a healthy, productive workforce.

In a state ranked 49th for overall health, in a region with higher cancer rates than Louisianas average and the states highest prostate cancer mortality rate, our communitys health directly impacts our success and quality of life, St. Tammany Health Systems CEO Joan Coffman said. St. Tammany Health Systems Be Well Bus and the Healthier Northshore initiative we launched with like-minded Northshore leaders will elevate the overall health of our population and improve the quality of life for those who live here."
St. Tammany Parish is now experiencing Louisianas fourth highest rate of COVID-19 infections, prompting some local decision-makers to begin the distressing task of reinstating protective measures aimed at helping curb the quickly worsening pandemic  including the closure of social centers where the elderly gather.

On July 29, there were 254 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in St. Tammany, representing the highest 24-hour number of new infections in the state that day, behind only Jefferson, Orleans and East Baton Rouge parishes. Cumulatively, St. Tammany Parish has experienced the fifth-highest number of confirmed cases, at 30,397, and fifth highest number of deaths, at 538, since the pandemic began in March 2020, state health department statistics show.

At the same time, medical centers are again reporting spiraling increases in hospital admissions and sick people are filling emergency rooms as the vaccination rate in St. Tammany and the state lag behind figures nationally. Some facilities are already canceling elective medical procedures as the delta variant of COVID-19 proves to be more contagious than the original.

In an effort to try and help slow the spread, Parish President Mike Cooper reinstated wearing masks and practicing social distancing in all government buildings, including all the library branches, effective July 27.

We are without a doubt in a fourth surge right now, Cooper said. We are strongly encouraging all parish employees and citizens to become vaccinated as we limit the spread of this pandemic," Cooper said. All visitors to government buildings will again be required to wear a mask and practice social distancing; unvaccinated employees will also be required to wear a mask indoors; and vaccinated employees are being "strongly encouraged" to do so.

Although local governments in St. Tammany did not issue new mitigation protocols during the week ended July 31, Covington officials advised that anyone attending the Aug. 3 council meeting should plan to mask.

Council on Aging St. Tammanys board of directors met online July 29 and closed each of its seven senior activity centers.

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The Coast centers only began a phased reopening to the public at the beginning of June, but six of the seven locations had been closed at one time or another since then after staff or clients were exposed to COVID-19.

We havent had any active spread, but we know people that have been exposed have been here, COAST Director Julie Agan said.

COAST locations were shuttered for more than a year because of the pandemic and recent operations had been limited to no more than 2 hours daily. Masks were required, social distancing was encouraged, and on-site food service was suspended. Still, the virus found its way into the centers.

If were open, it might give the idea that things are OK right now. And theyre not. We have to make a difference, Agan said.

A full range of services will remain available to COAST clients, including meal delivery, which goes to approximately 700 people weekly.

Vaccinations and vaccination sites in the parish are plentiful. To find the nearest, call the state's hotline at (855) 453-0774 or go online to vaccines.gov.
The number of coronavirus patients in Louisiana continued to increase at an astonishing speed over the weekend, with 244 more people hospitalized since Friday for a total of 1,984 patients across the state, the highest number since mid-January. Cases also continued to spike, with 8,705 more cases confirmed in the Louisiana Department of Health's noon update on Monday.

The state reported another 21 confirmed deaths and 46 more people on ventilators Monday, for a total of 213 patients needing mechanical ventilation.

Another 2,404 probable cases and 6 probable deaths were reported, for a total of 11,109 new cases and 27 new deaths since Friday's report.

In Louisiana, 46,169 new vaccinations have been initiated since Thursday, according to the update.

There are 1,727,605 people who are fully vaccinated and 1,994,371 people who have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

The total number of administered doses is now 3,587,231. Most of those shots are part of the two-dose regimen recommended for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which is why the total number of people who have received at least one dose is lower than the total number of doses.

Out of Louisiana's entire estimated population, 42.8% of people have received at least one dose and 37% of people are fully vaccinated.















Note: The Advocate and The Times-Picayune staff calculates daily case count and confirmed death increases based on the difference between today's total and yesterday's total of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. The Louisiana Department of Health releases a daily case count on its dashboard that includes probable cases as indicated by a positive antigen test. That case count can be different than the one listed here.

Children's Hospital reports spike in COVID hospitalizations, death of patient As the fourth wave of COVID-19 continues to inundate Louisiana hospitals, pediatric facilities have also seen a swift rise in the number of pa

Here are some of the parishes with the highest single-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, based on the Monday report:

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Jefferson: 1,336

East Baton Rouge: 651

Orleans: 859

St. Tammany: 738

Lafayette: 524

Caddo: 428

Ouachita: 301

Can't see chart below? Click here.

Can't see chart below? Click here.

This is a developing story. More details and analysis to come.
Last year, when it became clear that Black people were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, many experts, including then-Surgeon General Jerome Adams, pointed to Black communities higher rate of chronic ailments such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

Others pushed back, calling the explanation facile. And theyve been largely vindicated: A general consensus has emerged that higher rates of so-called co-morbidities among Black people is just one in a panoply of reasons for the viruss disproportionate death toll in Black communities.

Frankly, to just point to underlying health conditions is simplistic, willful ignorance and belies the weight of scientific evidence, said epidemiologist Greg Millett, who became a national leader in health-disparities research while working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Millett, now vice president of the Foundation for AIDS Research, authored one of the earliest studies on the matter, finding that employment status, lack of access to health insurance and overcrowded homes were better predictors of COVID-19 than any underlying factor. A raft of subsequent research has confirmed those findings.

When looking at COVIDs racial disparities, co-morbidities are a factor, but not the be-all, end-all once proposed, said New Orleans native Dr. Akilah Jefferson Shah, an immunologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and an expert in disparate health outcomes related to asthma.

Underlying conditions are a driver, she said. Just like which hospital you present to is a driver, especially if theyre short-staffed and dont have ventilators. The list of all potential drivers can get very long.

Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, has a similar take. LaVeist sees underlying conditions as a possible contributing factor in the viruss disparate toll, but not the main driver.

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From the early days of the pandemic, even as Black COVID patients were dying in high numbers, LaVeist was dubious that underlying conditions were the leading cause. If they were, he said, A lot more White people would have died, because there are lots of diabetic, hypertensive Whites in Louisiana.

So what else explains it? At the top of the list, experts say, are social factors.

Where were born, we live, we work and we die is much more important than co-morbidities, said Jefferson Shah. Whole households in New Orleans were devastated by this virus and the spread of it, not because they had hypertension but because they were in close quarters where the virus spread.

In the face of new variants, an accurate understanding of the correct dynamics is essential for policymakers, said Jefferson Shah. We should make sure people can take medical leave when they need to, she said. Otherwise, they may feel sick but have to stay at work to put food on the table.

Other fixes are tougher, because the causes of social disparities are complex. Millett notes in his work that the roots of the gap are generations old and tied to larger inequities such as historic divestment and segregation, citing a study linking greater COVID mortality to redlined Chicago neighborhoods where credit-worthy applicants were routinely denied loans.

Denise Danos, an assistant professor in behavioral and community health at LSU School of Medicine, has found similar longitudinal effects as she studies neighborhood-level effects on illness. Health disparities include many points on a timeline. Your whole life leads to your health, she said.

A growing number of researchers have found that co-morbidities are impossible to separate from a larger universe of risk factors including poverty, dense household occupancy, residential segregation, essential-worker employment and lack of insurance.

Those are the issues that we should be focusing upon, Millett said. Those are the issues that magnify risk for COVID transmission, hospitalizations and deaths, beyond the contributions of underlying health conditions.
Dozens of landlords streamed into 1st City Court in New Orleans on Monday to file eviction paperwork against tenants shielded for 11 months by a federal moratorium that expired over the weekend, while others took a more cautious approach as they waited to see if Congress would act or money would finally arrive from sluggish rental aid programs.

By the close of business, the citys busiest housing court had received 58 eviction filings, compared to one on a typical day this year, when landlords had been allowed to file only for lease violations or expired leases, Clerk of Court Austin Badons office said.

The action was slower in 2nd City Court, which covers the west bank of Orleans Parish. Clerk of Court Darren Lombard said Monday afternoon that hed seen only four filings.

It was also fairly sluggish at the 5th Justice Court in Jefferson Parish, Justice of the Peace Charles Cusimano said. He believes some landlords are waiting to see if a federally-funded rental assistance program finally kicks into high gear.

Analysis: Louisiana rental aid moves slowly as eviction ban ends BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal cash to assist renters struggling with job losses and sl

Despite the burst of activity on the east bank, it could be weeks or months before New Orleans landlords have their day in court. City court judges must now work through a large backlog of pending cases where landlords have claimed non-payment of rent.

Since early September, that category of evictions has been covered by a federal moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the start of a fall and winter COVID-19 surge that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Advocates say that tenants, many of them Black or Hispanic, are often forced to crowd into friends and families' homes when evicted.

Now Louisiana is grappling with another spike of COVID-19 cases driven by the more contagious delta variant. But President Joe Biden allowed the CDC moratorium to lapse on Saturday, and Congress failed to craft a last-minute legislative replacement.

A $47 billion federal rental assistance program is supposed to fill the gap by helping tenants catch up to back payments and fulfill future ones. But renters and landlords have received only about $3 billion nationally.

In New Orleans, a city-run program has helped 2,887 renters out of 16,774 applications, a spokeswoman said Monday. Most of the rest are waiting for the city to receive $23.2 million in additional funding it expects from the state and federal government.

Joe Biden to allow eviction moratorium to expire this weekend BOSTON (AP)  The Biden administration will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday, arguing that its hands are tied after the 

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Despite the uptick at 1st City Court, Chief Deputy Clerk Ambrose Pratt said there were fewer landlords filing evictions than earlier moments in the pandemic when moratoriums lapsed. He chalked that up to landlords fears that another moratorium might be imposed, even though the U.S. House of Representatives started a six-week recess on Friday and Gov. John Bel Edwards has shown no sign of handing down his own.

Maybe there is some caution among the property owners right now, he said.

Cusimano agreed. He believes that some landlords hope that rental assistance programs, run either by seven urban jurisdictions or the state, will finally start quickening their pace. Jefferson Parish's program gave out only $236,000 in the first three months, prompting the parish to fire its private contractor.

"I think some people are hesitant, hoping on the program. Which would be a win-win for everyone," he said.

One factor is the large number of tenants with many months of unpaid rent.

Landlords may be hesitant to file for eviction with tenants with particularly large past-due payments, knowing that they will never receive the money outside of the rental aid program, Cusimano said.

Others may be waiting until Thursday, the end of a monthly grace period where some tenants can hand over their rent without extra fees, Lombard said.

Meanwhile, the backlog of pending eviction cases on the east bank isn't as big as it once was, Pratt said. The clerk's office had about 400 cases on the books, but many landlords have told the court that they have already worked out agreements or renters have left on their own.

Badon said hes received numerous calls from frantic tenants worried about being evicted during the delta variant surge. He expressed frustration at the federal governments failure to act.

Its like all the work we did in the past is for naught, because now the pandemic is exploding, he said. You saw the train wreck coming, and you did nothing about it.
After he says he was molested by a religious brother at a Holy Cross School summer camp decades ago, John Losteau needed medication to control his anxiety and manage what he calls his Dumpster fire, train wreck of a life.

He thought for years that he had forever lost the chance to file a lawsuit seeking damages for his alleged abuse when he turned 28. But a new law went into effect Sunday opening a three-year "lookback window" in which survivors could come forward with child molestation claims no matter how old they were, and Lousteau was among the first in line.

Its due time, said Lousteau, 63, who went to New Orleans federal courthouse and sued Holy Cross school as the religious order that operates it. Justice will prevail and righteousness is coming.

Since 1993, Louisiana law barred anyone over age 28 from pursuing a civil suit seeking compensation for sexual abuse suffered as a child. But that changed during this years state legislative session, when lawmakers wiped away the age restriction for all future cases after hearing testimony that the average age an adult reports child sexual abuse was 52.

Additionally, lawmakers gave survivors with unresolved claims  no matter how old they are  until 2024 to pursue compensation through the civil court system.

The citys most prominent Catholic institution, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, is shielded from facing additional lawsuits for alleged misconduct occurring before May 1, 2020. Thats the date the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections after years of trying to manage the fallout of the decades-old church abuse crisis.

Survivors with unresolved claims seeking compensation from the archdiocese had until this past March 1 to file their requests with the federal bankruptcy court. Those who didnt file by that date forfeited the right to do so.

While the new law doesnt apply exclusively to victims of other Catholic religious orders or institutions, many of survivors of clerical abuse spoke out in favor of the laws passage. Lousteau said he felt like it gave him the best chance at securing a measure of justice for what he endured.

Lousteau was 10 or 11, in either 1968 or 1969, when he attended a summer camp at Holy Cross, according to his lawsuit, prepared by attorneys Frank Lamothe, Kristi Schubert and Julien Lamothe. Brother Stanley Repucci  who is now dead  took advantage of his position running a large dormitory at the campus to twice abuse Lousteau, the former camper said.

Once, Repucci allegedly invited Lousteau up to his room for pizza and to watch television. Repucci told the then-camper to get in bed to watch TV and rubbed his genitals on the boys leg, Lousteau alleged.

Another time, Repucci went to Lousteaus bunk, fondled the campers genitals and only left when the boy began to make noise in resistance, the suit alleged.

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Lousteaus suit said he has experienced depression, anxiety, insomnia, alcohol and drug abuse while struggling to cope with the abuse.

Life aint been a whole lot of fun, he said.

But Lousteau did not want to report the abuse while his mother was alive.

How could I have a child  and had that child told me that I sent them somewhere where a man hurt them real bad? Lousteau said. My mom didnt need to know that.

+2 Louisiana Legislature passes bill removing filing deadlines for child sex abuse lawsuits In the final hours of the state legislative session that ended Thursday, lawmakers unanimously approved a bill that removes deadlines for chil

Lousteaus mother passed away last year, and he reported Repucci to the Holy Cross religious order.

According to Lousteau, the order offered counseling, offered some sympathetic words and said, Well get back to you, you know, sorry this happened to you, it seems credible.

But the order didnt pay for his counseling and stopped returning his lawyers calls.

Its like they (gave) up  and (were) just going to try to push this one back under the rug, Lousteau said.

The lawsuit doesnt specify the amount of damages he seeks.

Holy Cross School Interim Headmaster Eric DesOrmeaux issued a statement saying no one in charge of the institution was around in the late 1960s. But now, school officials encourage students, parents and staff to report any signs of abuse immediately so that  leadership may take the appropriate actions, the statement said.

In a separate written statement issued through a spokesperson, order officials added: Since the complaints are under review, and because this is active litigation, there will be no comment at this time.
Six more New Orleans public school buildings were approved for new names Thursday night, wrapping up a year-long effort by the Orleans Parish School Board to revisit how its buildings memorialize the city's history.

In all, 30 school buildings  roughly a third of those owned by the School Board  have been renamed since the district started a renaming process in August 2019. That process began after a summer of protests over institutional racism, and it coincided with city government's reconsideration of the names of many New Orleans streets and parks.

Chief among the board's aims was to remove from its buildings the names of former slaveowners and White supremacists.

Among the six campuses the board voted to rename Thursday were buildings named after Martin Luther King Jr. and Arthur Ashe, though not because they clashed with the board's policy against Confederate sympathizers or supporters of segregation.

Instead, those school buildings came before the board after the community had shown "overwhelming support" for honoring certain figures in New Orleans history, officials said.

School officials also said it was due to a desire to bring back "pre-Katrina community legacy names" that had been in place before the proliferation of charter schools, which can have their own institutional names independent of the names on the buildings they lease from the School Board.

"We kept the community in mind throughout this," said Justin McCorkle, director of community relations for NOLA Public Schools. "But at the end of the day, this name change is nominal. What really matters is us affecting positive outcomes for our children."

The proposal to change the name of the Martin Luther King Jr. school building back to Alfred Lawless was of particular interest and received a number of public comments during a board meeting on Thursday.

The 9th Ward school building had been named for Lawless before the Friends of King charter organization renamed it in 2015 after the high school moved from trailers on Caffin Street. They urged School Board members to think about the community that established Friends of King charter in 2006 and lobbied to reopen schools flooded in 9th Ward neighborhoods after Hurricane Katrina.

But several Lawless alumni said Lawless, who had served as principal of the historic Fisk Colored School in New Orleans, was an integral component of local African-American history.

On Thursday, however, school officials said the two groups had come together and decided to rename the school program "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School at Alfred Lawless, Jr. Site" as the district renames the school building.

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"We're putting names together and two distinguished African-Americans together, and we need to bring the community together," said Willie Zanders, an attorney, civil rights advocate and public education activist. "There should be no fight about Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Alfred Lawless. There should be no fight about that. Theyd be turning over in their graves."

In addition to Lawless, here are the other school buildings the board attached new names to on Thursday. (School programs, run by charters, do not always have the same name as the buildings.)
Once the headquarters of Jean Lafitte and later the site of a U.S. military fort, West Grand Terre island now hosts a fleet of modern excavators and sand-pumping pipelines rather than smuggled treasure or cannon.

The $102 million restoration of West Grand Terre, adjacent to Grand Isle, marks a milestone in Louisianas effort to fortify its first line of defense against hurricanes. Its the final piece of work to protect the southern flank of the degrading Barataria Basin since the states Coastal Restoration and Protection Agency began restoring barrier islands in 2006.

That string of islands helps buffer storm surge from reaching more than 1 million residents in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Charles parishes.

Two earlier projects nourished the sediment-starved east end of West Grand Terre with more sand, and placed rocks against the eroding shoreline around the 19th century Fort Livingston. The current work has a contractor pumping sand onto the island to raise and widen it.

"It doesn't mean we won't have to come back and do work on these islands again, said Greg Grandy, the coastal authoritys deputy executive director. But it means that [for] the vision that was set out to do work in Barataria back in the early 2000s, we will have accomplished that piece."

West Grand Terres most notable history dates from the early 1800s, when Lafitte used it as headquarters for his band of Baratarian smugglers and privateers. The federal government chased them away in 1814, and about 30 years later began building its only fort directly on the Gulf of Mexico, according to National Register of Historic Places records.

Fort Livingston never saw combat, although it was taken and held by the Confederate Army during the Civil War. It was abandoned when federal troops seized New Orleans in 1862, and passed to state ownership in 1923.

In Lafitte's time, what's now East and West Grand Terre were a single island undivided by Pass Abel. The breach developed sometime between 1884 and 1932. In that same period, the gulf side of Fort Livingston was demolished by a 1915 hurricane.

Now in ruin, the fort's cemented shell walls still serve as "a reminder of what was here before us," Grandy said. Fort Livingston entered the National Register in 1974.

Louisiana added West Grand Terre to its coastal restoration list because the windward shoreline was retreating, rolling back over the island and disappearing on the lee side into the bay's open water.

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"It became a priority to protect it, so it didn't fall into the Gulf," Grandy said.

The island is used by thousands of terns and gulls for nesting, and it was heavily oiled during the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, while the state was restoring the eastern end.

A decade later on the opposite end, the BP settlement is funding the current $102 million restoration.

Weeks Marine Inc., a Cranford, N.J., company with outposts in Bourg, Covington and Houma, started construction in January and is aiming to finish in November, said Jonathan Crockett, a Weeks project manager. By then, about 2.5 million cubic yards of sand will have been dredged and pumped to the island from two borrow sources five miles away.

The sediment-rich water spews out of temporary pipelines at a rate of 2,700 cubic yards per hour, settling out to increase the island's elevation and width. It will help create and maintain 256 acres of beach and dunes, as well as 143 acres of marsh on the lee side.

Another mile of rock is being added to the lee shore to block waves from eroding the new marsh where Lafitte once prowled and a deteriorated Fort Livingston still stands.
It wasnt a surprise that a local group recently came out in opposition to the Mid-Barataria River Sediment Diversion. Nor was its reasoning: It believes the diversion would unnecessarily harm commercial interests, specifically oyster growers and shrimpers.

But the groups identity was a surprise: The local chapter of the Sierra Club  that greenest of environmental groups.

In a letter to the state, John Dale "Zach" Lea, chairman of the chapters board, claimed the financial damage to oystermen and shrimpers caused by the rivers fresh water is unacceptable and unnecessary. Rather than divert river water and its marsh-building sediment load into the basin, the group says the state should build levees around a 14,000-acre area of the basin (the expanse of wetlands the diversion would resurrect) as a freshwater impoundment and leave the rest of Barataria Bay open to nature for oystermen and shrimpers. He claims that option would provide more flood protection without hurting commercial industries.

Lea listed his professions in his signature: agricultural economist and Exclusive Shellevator Dealer for Louisiana Coastal Development Projects. The Shellevator is a machine that can help grow oysters, he said.

Hmmm, where to begin?

Lets start with impounding a huge area of the basin with 20-foot levees, as has Lea suggested: Experience shows that would be unaffordable and counterproductive.

Lea estimated the cost at about $28 million per mile. Well, as one forensic engineer famously said after Hurricane Katrina, building levees on the muddy sponge we live on is like putting bricks on Jell-O. They would begin sinking even before they were finished, requiring constant rebuilding to remain at design heights. Thats why the state and feds are spending tens of millions a year keeping our storm-surge levees in shape.

Further, wetlands inside impounded areas of the delta always begin sinking faster than those outside the levees.

Finally, impounding wetlands means shutting them off from migrations critical to the estuarine food chain, basically taking 14,000 acres out of production.

Lets move on to the idea of leaving the rest of the basin to nature so oystermen and shrimpers could continue to prosper: They already face a very limited future because of subsidence and sea level rise.

Yes, estuarine oysters die if the water gets too fresh, but they also decline if the water gets too salty. Indeed, the state has spent tens of millions over the years on diversions and siphons introducing river water to keep the oyster grounds from becoming too salty as the Gulf of Mexico intruded on the sinking basins.

The latest studies show if left unaddressed, the combination of subsidence and sea level rise will submerge the very wetlands that drive the system producing shrimp and oysters.

The Sierra Clubs ideas will not address subsidence or sea level rise long-term. Engineered sediment diversions will.

What about the dredge-and-fill programs already underway that dont alter salinity levels as much? They are not economically sustainable because steady subsidence means each project has to be repeated about every 20 years. Sediment diversions are more expensive to construct, but they can build wetlands as long as the river runs.

There is no doubt some fishers will be hurt by the diversion. The state is working on financial assistance and looking for ways to re-establish oystering in newer areas. Still, with their futures uncertain, I can understand their resistance.

But its hard to accept the local Sierra Club, which is supposed to be dedicated to protecting natural environments, putting the concerns of several thousand commercial users above millions of current and future human residents.

The state has spent billions searching for the best way to hold on to as much of our coastal estuary for as long as we can, and the same answer keeps coming up: sediment diversions combined with dredge-and-fill.

That currently is the states Coastal Master Plan.

I say currently because unless the world cuts greenhouse gas emissions, surging sea levels may well end even that hope in the next 20 to 30 years.

Bob Marshall, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Louisiana environmental journalist, can be reached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com, and followed on Twitter @BMarshallEnviro.
Editor's Note This article is brought to you by River Parishes Community College.

River Parishes Community College is now offering a new two-year program to prepare students for lucrative careers in information technology.

The Associate of Applied Science degree in Systems Administration will have a concentration in cloud computing. Upon graduation, students will have the necessary training and education to work as entry-level systems administrators, with the ability to earn more credentials and advance in the field.

This will help students prepare for entry-level employment in a variety of sectors, said RPCC Interim Chancellor, Dr. Jim Carlson. Cloud computing is the new way to save information, as opposed to only on servers. We see it in many areas, including hospitals and health care. Weve seen students from other colleges in our system with a similar program get hired at large technology companies and start-up companies as well.

The coursework will include time in the classroom, labs and work-based settings to ensure RPCC students learn all industry standards. Students will also be able to earn cloud certifications with Amazon Web Services and become eligible for industry-based certifications that are often required by employers.

Carlson said the new program came about after the Louisiana Community and Technical College System partnered with Amazon Web Services to create the first statewide cloud computing program for each college in the system. Each individual college was tasked with developing an academic program that would focus on cloud computing and address the specific needs of their student populations.

Weve been working on it for quite a while and now its time for us to hit the launch button for it at RPCC, Carlson said. I think it is good timing because after the last year, people have realized that you can have so many careers working from home, and IT is definitely work that can be done from anywhere.

Carlson said the program would be well-suited for both recent high school graduates who want to work in IT or those who have experience in the field but may not have much formal training or certifications. In fact, Carlson said that at a recent RPCC open house, the mother of a prospective student became interested in the program herself as a way to advance her own career.

You have a lot of students coming out of high school who want to work in technology, and then you also have a lot of people underemployed in IT who want formal training to move to that next level, Carlson said. This program is really designed to meet all of those needs.

The first classes for the new program begin in August. Carlson said he expects about 20 to 30 students to enroll in the first semester. Financial aid is available, including a free three-hour course for the first cohort of students who apply to RPCC, choose System Administration as their major, and sign up for six or more credit hours. The buy one class, get one free offer is only available to the first cohort of students.

For more information about the AAS degree in Systems Administration with a concentration in cloud computing, contact Dr. Emily Campbell at ecampbell@rpcc.edu.
Harrisburg, Pa. -Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding encouraged farmers to apply for funding to strengthen the long-term health and vitality of Pennsylvania's farms through the 2020-2021 Farm Vitality Grant Program. One of the largest programs in Governor Tom Wolf's Pennsylvania Farm Bill, the Farm Vitality Program helps fund professional services for on-farm business planning.

"Pennsylvania farmers ensure the vibrancy of both our food supply and our economy. Investing $1 million through the Farm Vitality Grant Program is investing in the future of our food system," said Redding. "Whether it's transitioning farms to the next generation or seeking expertise to facilitate farm growth and diversification, the Farm Vitality Program ensures farm families have the resources and business planning tools they need to be successful."

The Farm Vitality Program assists farmers through transitional seasons on the farm and in life. For the Brymesser family, owners of a fourth-generation farm in Cumberland County, the Farm Farm Vitality grant came at a critical time.

When Stanley Brymesser lost his battle to pancreatic cancer, his grandson Trever Gill stepped up to ensure the farm's continued success. After sitting down with AgChoice Farm Credit, Gill wanted to pursue next steps for farm succession planning, but it came at a cost. AgChoice Farm Credit connected Gill to the Farm Vitality Grant Program, where he received a $7,200 grant to seek succession and business planning services to help their family navigate the transition of their 95-acre Boiling Springs farm to Gill from his grandparents.

Gill is one of 133 grantees in 46 counties from the first round of Farm Vitality funding.

The Farm Vitality Grant Program funds professional services for those planning for the future of a farm. It aims to enhance the long-term health and vitality of Pennsylvania's farms through sound business planning, efficient transitions of farm ownership, strategic farm expansion, diversification of agricultural production, and financial and technical expertise.

Nearly $763,000 of the $1 million Farm Vitality Grant Program remains available. Through this program, farmers and prospective farmers are eligible for up to $7,500, which can cover no more than 75 percent of the project cost. Applications to the program opened April 19, 2021, and the program will remain open until all funds are exhausted.

For more information about the Farm Vitality Grant Program, contact Morgan Sheffield, msheffield@pa.gov, or visit agriculture.pa.gov.




Bloomsburg, Pa. When Bloomsburg Police confronted a man outside of an apartment complex, he allegedly pulled away from them an attempted to leave.

Officer Shawn Hill said he was able to detain Troy Lemar Athill, 19, of Philadelphia, who was asked several times to stay away from the apartment complex on July 23.

According to the report, Athill was warned after he sent a text message to a woman that read, F all that Im gonna shoot you.

Officers said as they spoke with a caller at the complex, Athill was observed leaving the property. He was later taken into custody where officers said they discovered a substance believed to be marijuana in his pocket.

Athill was charged with two first-degree misdemeanors in terroristic threats and stalking. He was also charged with third-degree misdemeanor defiant trespassing and misdemeanor intentional possession of a controlled substance.

Athill was given $50,000 monetary bail and confined for a day on July 24. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing with Judge Russell Lawton on Aug. 4.

Docket sheet
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But the year-over-year numbers in transportation  and any other industry that requires people to leave home and congregate with strangers  have largely lost the meaning they have in normal times. March 2020, and the months that followed, presented a break with the past.

While the benchmark year is now 2019, for transit month-to-month regrowth has been the key.

Metra has been adding trains to its schedule as its ridership has increased. While its June ridership was down about 82% from June 2019, its up 172% from June 2020. Perhaps more importantly, ridership is up 59% from January, and in the month of June, weekday ridership increased from 45,900 the first week of June to 54,400 the last week.

We expect ridership to continue to increase as the summer progresses and will continue to monitor conditions and make schedule adjustments that are responsive to our customers needs, Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski said in a news release announcing service increases at the beginning of July.

Metras June ridership report also noted a weekend rebound, with Saturday-Sunday ridership off 57% from 2019, significantly lower than the weekday 82% deficit.

Those trends are reflected in the January to April numbers South Shore officials discussed last week.
The author of a new book about Northwest Indiana's restaurants will appear at Miles Books in downtown Highland next month.

Author Jane Ammeson will sign copies of her latest book "Classic Restaurants of the Region" from 11:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 21. Ammeson, who writes for The Times of Northwest Indiana, has written a number of books such as "A Jazz Age Murder in Northwest Indiana," "Lincoln Road Trip," "Hauntings of the Underground Railroad," "Femme Fatale," "East Chicago," and "Brown County."

The History Press will publish "Classic Restaurants of the Region" on August 9.

"A wonderful diversity of flavors has defined Northwest Indiana as a dining destination from its earliest days to the present. The pan-fried fish of Teibel's, open for almost a century, carries on the tradition of perch palaces like the now lost Phil Smidt's," the publisher said in a news release. "Pierogis have been a staple at the Cavalier for decades. So great was the demand for frogs legs that the venerable Vogel's raised its own at a small lake nearby. The same dish has remained on the menu at the Town Club since opening in 1947. Serving Northwest Indiana-style, crisped-edge hamburgers, Miner-Dunn and Schoop's both survived the onslaught of fast-food chains and continue on today. Local author Jane Simon Ammeson leads a tasty tour of historic Region restaurants."
Between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, Green received a combined $42,184 in stipends, the district's release said. The stipends were not presented to the board for approval, it said, and entered into the system under Greene's authority "in a manner not consistent with internal control procedures."

"The actions of (Superintendent Scott) Miller and Hammond on May 28, 2021, were motivated by my race, Black, as the two (2) other stipend recipients are Caucasian, Mr. Miller is Caucasian, and I was the only one to suffer adverse employment action in the form of criminal malfeasance, fraud or theft," the discrimination charge document states.

The school district's release said the matter was referred to the Indiana State Board of Accounts to review the stipends and investigate "the degree to which internal controls procedures were not adhered."

When asked about the racial discrimination claim, the district said it will determine if further actions are required after the State Board of Accounts releases its findings. The investigation will take place before the regularly scheduled audit in the fall, the district said.
VALPARAISO  After the judge read the details of the first charge of attempted murder, Eric Martin looked confused and asked that it be read a second time.

Martin, 53, also repeatedly interrupted Porter Superior Court Judge Mike Fish and when he began repeating interest in a jury trial, Fish ordered a break in the initial hearing.

While intending to continue on later Monday morning after giving Martin a break, Fish announced he would try again Friday afternoon.

Martin is one of at least two men returned to the county recently after spending time at a state mental hospital and being found competent to stand trial.

"Frankly, I question that finding," defense attorney Bob Harper said during Martin's hearing.

Harper is claiming Martin was insane and not responsible for his actions during a lengthy standoff with police in August 2013 at his Jackson Township home. He is accused of shooting at police and injuring his father.

Martin is charged with six Class A felony counts of attempted murder, one Class B felony count of aggravated battery and seven Class C felony counts of criminal recklessness.
According to court records, DeCola did not materially respond or otherwise deny the allegations at the county council's Feb. 18, 2019, meeting, and DeCola repeatedly declined when asked if he wanted a separate hearing to address concerns about his conference behavior.

As a result, records show the Starke County Council voted 5-1 to remove DeCola from the council for violating the oath of office he signed Dec. 7, 2018, which contained a pledge to "impartially" serve the citizens of Starke County while supporting the U.S. and Indiana Constitutions  neither of which permit the government to expel individuals from a county based on their race or religion.

Under Indiana law, a county council can remove a member for violating an official duty if at least two-thirds of the council members agree.

DeCola unsuccessfully challenged his removal in a lawsuit decided by a Marshall County judge, according to court records.

In his appeal, where DeCola represented himself, DeCola seemingly attempted to argue the trial court erred by failing to fully consider his claim of wrongful expulsion by the county council.
INDIANAPOLIS  Indiana motorists caught using handheld cellphones while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle now face increased penalties for breaking state law.

A law banning cellphone use took effect in July 2020 to combat distracted driving. That law allowed tickets of up to $500 against violators but delayed by a year any Bureau of Motor Vehicles points toward a driver's license suspension.

Violations will now result in four points against a driver's license, BMV officials said. License suspensions start once a driver has accumulated 20 points within a two-year period.

Texting and other handheld cellphone use is a frequent cause of crashes, officials said. State law allows cellphone use by drivers only with hands-free or voice-operated technology, except in emergencies.

Drivers also face additional points for speeding in school or construction zones. Those violations will now result in four to eight points against a license, depending on how fast the driver was going.

"Traveling Indiana roads is a shared endeavor that is only made safer when we are aware of the law and making good decisions behind the wheel," Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Peter Lacy said during a Thursday news conference.
(The policy) has had a very positive effect, says Mayor Keith Pekau. The mall has always been very safe, but the youth supervision policy has improved the perception of the mall during those busy times and made the mall more family friendly during those hours.

Mitchell says his department has not needed to step in to enforce the youth requirements at Orland Square, given that the policy is the work and responsibility of the malls operator. However, he has noted that community support for the policy has remained consistent.

The community has expressed strong opinions that they like the program, and that support hasnt wavered, he says. The officers assigned to the mall are thanked repeatedly during their assigned shifts.

Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback and statistics, then, it appears as though the Youth Supervision Policy will remain in place at Orland Square mall for the foreseeable future. And while it wasnt a concept that was initiated by his department, Mitchell is pleased with the results hes seen thus far and what it means for his officers.
We got it less than 24 hours ago, and it is complicated information, Mr. de Blasio said of the guidance, issued this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So our health team is reviewing, and well have more to say on it in the next few days.

[Read more about the new vaccination mandates and incentives.]

Resisting another mask mandate

C.D.C. officials said Tuesday that both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans should wear masks indoors in parts of the country that have recorded more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents over the previous week, or where more than 8 percent of tests are positive for infection over that period. All five of New York Citys boroughs fall under those parameters. Staten Island has again become a virus hot spot.

What the vaccine mandate for state employees says

Mr. Cuomos mandate will take effect on Sept. 6.

The governor also announced a much stricter mandate for state-run hospitals, saying that vaccination would be required for all patient-facing health care workers at those facilities, without the option of regular testing.

The governor said the new policy was aimed at the 25 percent of adults, or 3.1 million people, in the state who remain unvaccinated. He also said the state would work with unions  which in New York City and elsewhere have pushed back against such mandates  to implement the requirement.

More about the virus in New York:

Rise in Covid Cases Alarms New Yorkers: It Never Went Away

As Delta Variant Spreads, N.Y.C. Parents Worry About Coming School Year

From The Times

Cuomos Counsel, a Key Figure in Sexual Harassment Inquiry, Will Resign

Star Sommelier Is Charged With Setting Outdoor Dining Sheds on Fire
PARIS  Pascale Collino, 64, is far more afraid of the Covid-19 vaccines than of the disease itself. So when the French government decided to implement a new health pass policy barring those without proof of vaccination or a recent negative test from many indoor venues, she took to the streets in protest.

We have to be on the front lines of this fight, Ms. Collino said on Saturday near the French health ministry in Paris, where a large crowd had converged, banging pots and cowbells.

For the third week in a row, thousands took to the streets around France to protest the governments health pass law, which was passed by Parliament recently but still needs a final greenlight from a top constitutional council, expected next week, before it can be fully enforced.
Zoom Video Communications, the videoconferencing company whose internet app became a mainstay of American life during the coronavirus pandemic, has agreed to pay $85 million and improve its security practices to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated the privacy of its users.

Filed in March 2020, not long after the pandemic reached the United States, the suit claimed that Zoom shared personal data with third-party internet services and allowed hackers to interrupt online meetings through so-called Zoombombing, a phenomenon in which internet trolls exploit a screen-sharing feature on the videoconferencing app to show offensive messages or images.

Under the settlement, which still requires the approval of a federal judge, Zoom subscribers would be eligible to receive a 15 percent refund on their primary subscriptions or $25  whichever is greater. Other users could receive a refund of up to $15.

The company also agreed to notify users when others use third-party apps during meetings and to provide training on privacy and data handling to its employees.
Lynn C. Franklin, a literary scout and agent whose clients included Archbishop Desmond Tutu and who made a mark with her own book, in which she shared her personal story about giving up her son for adoption in the 1960s, died on July 19 at her home in Manhattan. She was 74.

The cause was metastatic breast cancer, said her sister, Laurie Franklin Callahan.

Starting in the 1970s, Ms. Franklin, who had grown up around the world as an Army brat, established a career as a scout for international publishers, finding and procuring the rights for forthcoming titles in North America so that they could be translated and published in other countries.

She headed her own boutique literary agency in New York, Lynn C. Franklin Associates, which specialized in works of nonfiction, and she represented numerous authors who were outstanding in their fields. Most prominent among them was Archbishop Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate who helped lead the struggle against apartheid and with whom she developed a close friendship. She sold rights to many of his books, including No Future Without Forgiveness (1999), his memoir of the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, of which he was chairman.

But also close to her heart was her own book, May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey into the Heart of Adoption (1998, with Elizabeth Ferber), an account of her experience as a birth mother who relinquished her son for adoption in 1966 and reunited with him 27 years later. More than a memoir, the book serves as a guide as it considers multiple aspects of adoption from the perspective not only of the birth mother but also of the adopted child and the adoptive family.
Cancer mocks DAguiar by telling him hes just interested in getting his name on the front of a book. Cancer calls out that ridiculous stationary bike of yours. Im happy to report that Year of Plagues ends on a cautiously upbeat note. Cancers had to pipe down.

Grue is a Norwegian writer and academic who owns a shrewd, stern, pared-down prose style. His book details a life spent largely in a wheelchair, though he can walk a bit, while dreaming of freedom of motion and escape from reliance on, and the gazes of, others.

Grue, who is 40, is the child of well-known academics in Oslo. He had a privileged childhood in many ways. He was told when young that his disease was progressive, and that it would only get worse. Thankfully, this turned out not to be true. But he details a childhood spent sitting in cold doctors offices shivering in his underwear, wearing painful leg braces at night and trying to fit in.

He fell often, and could not catch himself. For a while, on the playground, he wore a padded blue helmet. He writes, excellently: There are worse things than hitting your head, one of which is to be a child who is always walking around with a helmet on.

Grue is married and has a child. His body is weak but he largely lives, as his title has it, a life like yours. He writes exceedingly well about his desire not to be too polite, not to be a pushover, while realizing that, as he puts it, you cannot live in an uninterrupted battle with the entire world. He is candid about his peppery feelings, his hostile impulses, discomfort, ill-will.

Grue is helplessly epigrammatic: Diagnosis is not fate; Even one who is weak may despise weakness; The gaze of others is disciplinary; and, brilliantly, The search for a higher purpose can also be an attempt to flee.

Image Jan Grue, the author of I Live a Life Like Yours. Credit... Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix, via Sipa

A Life Like Yours is a quietly brilliant book that warms slowly in the hands. A bonus is the authors writing about clothing. Grue learns to pay attention to style and cut. He becomes a bit of a dandy.
To understand work culture in China, start with a number: 996.

Its shorthand for the grueling schedule that has become the norm at many Chinese firms: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

The term originated in the technology sector around five years ago, when the countrys nascent internet companies were racing to compete with Silicon Valley. At first, workers were willing to trade their free time for overtime pay and the promise of helping China match the West.

Chinas economy has grown into the second-largest in the world. Tech behemoths like Alibaba, Huawei and ByteDance, which owns TikTok, are household names. But recently, more tech workers are resisting the at-all-costs culture.

Some in Chinas working class dismiss the complaints as elite griping; after all, tech workers are highly paid and educated. But the debate also offers a window into the countrys economy more broadly, and the expectations of its young people.
10. And finally, a spin (and a half) on that architectural masterpiece.

The International Space Station is not designed to do back flips.

But when a newly attached Russian module named Nauka unexpectedly fired its thrusters on Thursday, the I.S.S. suddenly began to spin, making one-and-a-half revolutions before coming to a stop upside down.

The NASA flight director Zebulon Scoville  who had come in to watch Nauka dock on his day off  declared the first spacecraft emergency of his career. Crew inside the I.S.S. and on the ground used various thrusters to counteract Nauka until the misfire petered out. Scoville tweeted: Yeehaw! That. Was. A. Day.

Have an exhilarating evening.

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The divorce between Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates is now final.

A judge for the King County Superior Court in Washington State signed the dissolution decree on Monday, ending the 27-year marriage between the co-founders of the influential Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while leaving the details of how the couple divided one of the largest fortunes in history shrouded in mystery.

Public filings showed that billions of dollars of shares were transferred into Ms. French Gatess name following the public announcement in May of their plan to divorce. Forbes now estimates Ms. French Gatess net worth at $3.2 billion, though it could be much higher. The magazine estimates Mr. Gatess net worth at $131 billion.

The separation agreement that determined the split of assets was not filed with the court, according to a notation scrawled in blue ink on one of the court documents. It remained unclear, for instance, who will receive their 66,000-square-foot lakefront estate in the Seattle suburbs.

The couples three children are all over 18, so there was no custody arrangement necessary. The court document said that neither party had asked to make a formal name change, though Ms. French Gates has been publicly using her family name together with her married name since they separated.
A class divide on vaccines

The tide has begun to turn on corporate vaccine mandates, with companies including Disney, Facebook, Google and Walmart recently introducing stricter requirements for employees returning to the workplace. But the policies come with some important caveats as executives juggle public health, labor relations and the bottom line.

Walmarts vaccination mandate doesnt cover the companys most vulnerable employees: workers at its stores and warehouses. The retailer, the biggest private employer in the U.S., announced mandatory inoculation for employees at its headquarters and for managers who travel domestically. For a sense of scale, about 17,000 of Walmarts 1.6 million employees work at its headquarters. For workers who fall outside the requirement, Walmart is doubling its cash incentive to get immunized, to $150.

Unions and labor shortages complicate the picture. One fear that companies have with broad vaccine mandates is that they could drive away employees at a time when workers are already in short supply, especially in industries like retail and restaurants. (At the same time, not requiring vaccines may make other groups of workers anxious and more likely to quit.) Negotiating mandates with unions, which are themselves mixed on the issue, adds complexity.

So far, with the exception of health care, corporate vaccine mandates tend to cover the white-collar workers who executives want back in the office, not the lower-income workers on the front lines who are less likely to be vaccinated.

Bridging the divide. If you look at the divide of who is not vaccinated, it is people of lower income, it is people who are less likely to be insured, it is people in the states that reflect the politicization of the pandemic, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, vice dean for population health and health equity at the University of California, San Francisco. Companies that adopt partial mandates that further widen that gap, she said, would only go so far in achieving what the vaccination drives are meant to accomplish.

Image

HERES WHATS HAPPENING

Senators put the finishing touches on an infrastructure bill. After working all weekend on the $1 trillion bipartisan legislation, which runs to more than 2,700 pages, they predict a vote in the chamber this week. Some progressive Democrats in the House could hold up passage of the bill by saying their support is linked to a $3.5 trillion budget package.
LONDON  A few years ago, Britain agreed to let China take an ownership stake in its newest nuclear power plants, figuring Beijing had the nuclear know-how and the construction smarts to help replace the countrys aging power stations.

It was a warm moment in British-Chinese relations, a deal signed in 2015 during a carefully choreographed visit to London by President Xi Jinping of China with the British prime minister at the time, David Cameron.

Six years later, Britain is having second thoughts. Financing for a planned power station facing the North Sea, estimated at 20 billion pounds ($28 billion) and necessary to ensure a steady stream of electricity for decades, is unexpectedly in doubt. Part of the problem: attracting investors to a project one-fifth owned by China.

Mr. Xis authoritarian ambitions and human rights record have chilled relations with Western nations, forcing a broad reconsideration of a range of economic dealings with the worlds second-largest economy.
The suits are returning to the office. In chinos. And sneakers. And ballet flats.

As Wall Street workers trickle back into their Manhattan offices this summer, they are noticeable for their casual attire. Men are reporting for duty in polo shirts. Women have stepped down from the high heels once considered de rigueur. Ties are nowhere to be found. Even the Lululemon logo has been spotted.

The changes are superficial, but they hint at a bigger cultural shift in an industry where well-cut suits and wingtips once symbolized swagger, memorialized in popular culture by Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street and Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Elliss novel American Psycho. Even as many corporate workplaces around the country relaxed their dress codes in recent years, Wall Street remained mostly buttoned up.
One fear that companies have with broad vaccine mandates is that they could drive away employees when workers are already in short supply, especially in industries like retail and restaurants. At the same time, not requiring vaccines may make other groups of workers anxious and more likely to quit.

For Walmart, they have to weigh, I think, which is a real concern about turnover, what the reputation would be to the frontline workers, against the value that they could parlay this into saying, Were a leader in public health now as a big employer, said Peter Berg, a professor of employment relations at Michigan State University.

From Walmarts calculus, they may say, Well, its really not going to benefit us that much as an organization to do this, he added.

For other companies, like airlines, negotiating mandates with unions, which are themselves mixed on the issue, adds complexity. As part of a deal reached in May between United Airlines and its union, the Air Line Pilots Association, for example, vaccinations will not be mandatory for pilots. But a deal agreed to among Hollywoods major unions will allow studios to require everyone on a production set to be vaccinated.

If you look at the divide of who is not vaccinated, it is people of lower income, it is people who are less likely to be insured, it is people in the states that reflect the politicization of the pandemic, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, vice dean for population health and health equity at the University of California, San Francisco.
The report is expected to shed light on the workplace culture  which many former staffers have described as toxic  and inner workings of the second floor, the location of the governors office in the Capitol.

Indeed, investigators have so far interviewed many of the governors most loyal aides as they scrutinize the details of the allegations and how they were handled  starting with the first accusation in December, when Lindsey Boylan, a former economic development official, said in a series of Twitter posts that Mr. Cuomo had sexually harassed her.

After Ms. Boylan went public with her allegation, people close to the governor circulated a letter that attacked her credibility and disclosed complaints in her personnel records, efforts that Ms. Boylans lawyer has described as a form of retaliation.

Top Cuomo aides, including Mr. Azzopardi, also called former employees to ask about Ms. Boylan and whether they had heard from her. Some said they felt the calls were meant to intimidate them. Mr. Azzopardi has previously said the calls were not coordinated and were not meant to silence anyone. Later in February, Ms. Boylan provided more details about her allegation, saying Mr. Cuomo kissed her on the lips after a meeting in his Manhattan office.

Investigators have interviewed Mr. Azzopardi, two people briefed on the matter said, as well as Beth Garvey, Mr. Cuomos acting counsel; Linda Lacewell, the superintendent of the states Department of Financial Services and Mr. Cuomos former chief of staff and counselor; and Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, a fixture in Mr. Cuomos Covid-19 briefings and the top-ranking unelected official in the state.

They have also taken testimony from Stephanie Benton, the governors office director. Charlotte Bennett, who in February became the second former aide to accuse Mr. Cuomo, has said that she once overheard Ms. Benton say that she completed a mandatory sexual harassment training on behalf of the governor in 2019. The governors office has said Ms. Benton categorically denies the exchange, adding that Mr. Cuomo completed the training himself.

Investigators also questioned Judith Mogul, a special counsel who is resigning this week. Ms. Mogul was one of the Cuomo aides who handled Ms. Bennetts complaint, which included allegations that Mr. Cuomo made inappropriate comments that she interpreted as sexual overtures while they were alone in his Albany office.
New York City has seen a rapid rise in coronavirus cases  more than 1,200 cases per day, roughly six times the number in June.

For weeks, city officials have been tracking the increase, and deliberating whether a broad mask mandate  similar to ones instituted in large urban areas like Los Angeles County and Washington  might be called for, to head off a more serious resurgence in New York, once the epicenter of the pandemic.

On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio decided against such a mandate, choosing instead to strongly encourage all New Yorkers, even those who have been vaccinated, to wear masks indoors.

Mr. de Blasio said he wanted to focus on increasing vaccination rates, and worried that requiring everyone to wear masks would remove an incentive for those who are considering getting vaccinated now.
Reviewing a Forss show the next year at the New York Public Library in Midtown, Richard F. Shepard of The New York Times called Mr. Forss a master of perceptions of the strength and beauty of the city in a way that few, if any, others have been able to achieve.

He appeared on the Today show and was the subject of a BBC documentary. An exhibition of his pictures was held at the Brooklyn Museum, and the International Center of Photography in Manhattan acquired his work. Mr. Forss started charging $20 for his photos, and he gradually stopped hustling on sidewalks entirely.

This is a whole new life for me, he told The Times in 1985. I was deteriorating on the streets.

Much of the attention he received focused on the adversity of his life. Raised in orphanages, he grew up in the Bronx with polio, which made him reclusive as a child, and found escape when he discovered photography in his 20s.

After his career took off, things sometimes got weird in interviews when he spoke of his belief in an ancient race of extraterrestrials who, as he told it, began telepathically communicating with him when he lived in the Bronx. He believed they had given him his photographic talents and helped lift him out of hard times.
The organization needs to do more. Though two U.N. envoys are currently assigned to Afghanistan, neither is sufficiently empowered to make a difference. The U.N.s humanitarian appeal to support the basic needs of Afghans  nearly half of whom urgently need material assistance  remains woefully underfunded. At the diplomatic level, the Security Council has looked on blankly as peace talks, held in Doha, Qatar, have failed to make any serious headway.

Fortunately, in contrast to times in the past when disagreements among members hobbled effective responses to global crises, the U.N. is in a good position to act. The United States, Russia and China  three of the five permanent members of the Security Council  all have a stake in Afghanistans stability. Along with Pakistan, they issued statements in recent months calling for a reduction in violence and a negotiated political settlement that protects the rights of women and minorities. They also encouraged the U.N. to play a positive and constructive role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. Taken together, the statements demonstrate a hopeful amount of political will.

But there has not been a unified effort to hold the peace process together. The Taliban, resisting talks with the government, have focused instead on taking as much territory as possible, spreading violence across the country. Faced with a fight for its survival, the Afghan government has encouraged local warlords and leaders to take up arms. In the absence of international mediation, the two sides are raging against each other on the battlefield rather than engaging at the negotiating table. Its a situation that revives dark memories of the 1990s, when the country descended into civil war.

Yet no single country involved in Afghanistan is well placed to help. For its part in the conflict, the United States is now viewed with suspicion. Russia and China, which have different allies among Afghanistans neighbors, arent seen as neutral, either. Pakistan, regarded with hostility by the Afghan government for its ties to the Taliban, doesnt want the involvement of India, which has opened its own channels of communication with the Taliban. Turkey, Iran and the Central Asian states are all important but cannot act alone.

The U.N. must step into this vacuum. In the first instance, the secretary general must immediately convene the Security Council and seek a clear mandate to empower the U.N., both in the country and at the negotiating table. That would mean the United States, Russia, China and other members of the council coming together to authorize a special representative to act as a mediator. With the pivotal support of member states, this would put pressure on both sides to halt the fighting and reach a settlement.
To the Editor:

Re Immunized People Can Spread Virus, the C.D.C. Reports (front page, July 31):

That vaccinated people with breakthrough infections of the Delta variant can spread the virus just as readily as the unvaccinated is truly upsetting news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like a lot of people, I naively thought of my vaccination status as carte blanche to return to life in the before Covid times. Id been showing up at public venues and gatherings proudly showing full face.

Then, a few fully vaccinated friends became infected in Provincetown, Mass., over the July 4 holiday, and that gave me pause. Now, the C.D.C. internal report, which details the unfortunate reality were now living through, struck me like a fast-moving train.

The data confirms that we will all have to renegotiate how we publicly navigate a world where the risk posed by Covid-19 is ever-present.
INTERNATIONAL

A picture caption with an article on Sunday about the admiration across Venezuelas political spectrum for Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez, a doctor recently beatified by the Vatican, referred incorrectly to his status in the church. While he has been beatified (putting him on the path to sainthood), he has not yet been canonized and is not yet a saint. The error was repeated in a front page summary.

BUSINESS

An article on Saturday about the Government Accountability Offices rejection of Jeff Bezoss challenge of NASAs decision to award a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX to build the next lunar lander for astronauts misstated the status of Bezoss bid. His rocket company will not be flying astronauts to the moon at this time; it is not the case that it will.

Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.

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In October, Ms. Lugrin posted a blog post announcing FYPM, which, she wrote, was birthed out of rage. Taking aim at influencer marketing platforms, she said most were really just another platform designed to help more business owners exploit influencer talent, but in a new innovative way!

After building a prototype of FYPM, she was accepted in March into a 10-week start-up incubator program in Taiwan led by Backend Capital, a venture capital firm. There she met her co-founder, Ms. Mehra, who was on the hunt for her next challenge.

I wanted to use technology for good, Ms. Mehra said. I saw FYPM as a perfect way to tackle pay inequality.

FYPM is already on the radar of brands. James Nord, chief executive and founder of Fohr, an influencer marketing company that has paid out over $65 million to creators in the past five years, said he supported Ms. Lugrins mission but hoped more nuance could be incorporated into the platform as it grew.

It can lead to some creators having false expectations of what their pay could be because they hear about one person who booked one job at one specific price, he said.

FYPM, which is still being tested, allows users to filter brand deals by platform such as Twitter, Clubhouse, Substack, Instagram and OnlyFans. Creators can also sort by location, niche and brand category, such as travel or food and drink.

So far, about 1,500 creators have posted more than 2,000 reviews of 1,300 brands on FYPM. Ms. Lugrin and Ms. Mehra have raised a small amount of funding and plan to do more fund-raising.
We watched in silence as the two orangutans, a mother and her child, prepared themselves for an encroaching rainstorm.

While the air grew thicker, the mother  whom the local guides had nicknamed Minah  led her child toward the canopy and into a nest she had built earlier that day. Then, collecting vines and leaves, she wove an umbrella out of the foliage and held it devotedly over her daughter.

Thunder shook the ground, spooking a pair of giant hornbills, who honked indignantly. The haunting call of gibbons echoed across the canopy.
The fire is nearly 30 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, and has consumed about 413,000 acres, the department said. More than 1,800 personnel were working to bring the fire under control.

Since the Bootleg Fire began on July 6, there has been significant damage to personal property but no fatalities, Al Nash, a spokesman working with fire officials, said in an interview on Sunday. Considering that the fire had been advancing 30,000 acres a day, for several days, thats a remarkable thing for us to be able to say, he said.

But the gains that have been made with the help of the weather could be tested soon. We are dependent on weather conditions to aid our success, he said.

By Tuesday or Wednesday, the department said, warmer temperatures, low humidity, and gusty winds are likely to create conditions for rapid fire spread.

There remains a vulnerability because we expect hot, dry and windy weather, Mr. Nash said. The threat remains but it is nowhere near as significant as it was, because of the work that has been accomplished.
Mr. Trump and his allied political groups are hoping to avoid another loss after the defeat last week of a Trump-backed House candidate in Texas. In that race, a state representative, Jake Ellzey, beat Susan Wright, the widow of Representative Ron Wright, who held the seat until he died in February after battling lung cancer and being hospitalized for Covid-19.

Last week, the pro-Trump group Make America Great Again Action made a last-minute purchase of nearly $350,000 in text messages, digital ads and television commercials in support of Mr. Carey. And Mr. Carey has pointed to the Trump seal of approval as his main selling point. When he filled out a candidate questionnaire for USA Todays Ohio bureau, for instance, the first thing he wrote as his answer to a question about why voters should pick him was First, I am honored to have President Trumps endorsement.

Despite Mr. Trumps dominance in the Republican Party, its voters are by no means a monolith. And some of Mr. Careys rivals have more established reputations in the district, the 15th Congressional, as well as the backing of prominent allies of the former president.

These rivals include Bob Peterson, a state senator who also operates a 2,700-acre grain farm and has the backing of Ohios leading anti-abortion group, Ohio Right to Life. There is also Ruth Edmonds, who has a following among Christian conservatives and the endorsements of Ken Blackwell, a prominent conservative activist and Trump ally, and Debbie Meadows, an activist and the wife of Mark Meadows, Mr. Trumps last White House chief of staff.

Both primaries on Tuesday will test the limits of outside influence and money, which have flooded the state all summer.

The presence of national groups and political boldface names is inescapable in the Democratic race in Cleveland and Akron, where Mr. Sanders paid a visit over the weekend, and television ads impugning the character of both women in the race are running on a continuous loop. They are competing to replace Marcia Fudge, who held the seat in the 11th Congressional District until she was confirmed as President Bidens secretary of housing and urban development.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  They examined the bodies of Haitis slain president and of the mercenaries who are accused of conspiring to kill him. Now they are in hiding, changing their location every few hours, with a backpack full of legal documents that could determine the fate of Haitis most important trial in decades.

A judge and two court clerks who collected evidence for the investigation into the killing of President Jovenel Moise said in interviews and in formal complaints to the prosecutors office that unknown callers and visitors had pressured them to modify witnesses sworn statements. If they failed to comply, they were told, they could expect a bullet in your head.

Their requests for help from the authorities were ignored, said the clerks, Marcelin Valentin and Waky Philostene; and the justice of the peace, Carl Henry Destin, leaving their lives at risk.

The threats also further jeopardized an investigation that experts claim had been marred from the start by irregularities  and which many Haitians fear will not reveal the truth about the killing, despite vows by the countrys current leaders to enact swift justice.
BERLIN  As concerns grow over the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, Germany on Monday became the biggest Western country yet to announce that it will offer vaccine booster shots to a wide range of people considered potentially vulnerable, adding to growing momentum in rich nations to give additional shots to fully vaccinated people.

The move by Germany came even as a top European Union official criticized the bloc as falling far short of its promises to donate vaccine doses to Africa and Latin America. And with a limited global vaccine supply, health experts say the top priorities should be distributing doses to poor countries that lag far behind in inoculations, and persuading vaccine-resistant people in wealthy countries to get their first shots.

There is also still no consensus among scientists on the need for booster shots, but as fears rise of more pandemic waves and more costly lockdowns, a growing number of countries are preparing to give their people booster doses  or have already started.

Starting in September, Germany, Europes largest economy, wants to administer a booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine to older people, residents of care homes, and people with compromised immune systems  and also to anyone who was already fully vaccinated with the two-dose AstraZeneca or single-dose Johnson & Johnson shots, which clinical trials have shown are not as highly protective.
Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chads health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.

Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the programs AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.

The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into peoples arms.

Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna both increased the price of their coronavirus vaccines in their latest contracts with the European Union, Frances minister for European affairs said on Monday.

Speaking in an interview with Radio France Internationale, the minister, Clement Beaune, did not specify the exact rises in price. But as the more contagious Delta variant continues to spread across the continent, he said that the increases were justified because the vaccines would be a more demanding product, adapted to the variant.

His comments followed an article in the Financial Times on Sunday that said the price for a Pfizer-BioNTech shot had risen to $23 from about $18.50 in the contracts, and that Modernas had risen to $25.50, up from $22.60.

Mr. Beaune said the vaccines would be a little more expensive not only for the European Union, but for all buyers.
Hoshizuna-no-Hama, which translates to Sand in the Shape of a Star, is a small but charming Japanese beach famous for its star-shaped tiny grains of sand.

Located on Irimote, the second-largest island in Okinawa prefecture, Hoshizuna-no-Hama doesnt look too different than the hundreds of other beaches in the Japanese archipelago, at least at first glance. Closer inspection reveals that many of the sand grains have a very recognizable shape  either a five or six-tipped star. Thats because Hoshizuna-no-Hama beach consists in part of billions of exoskeleton of foraminifers, marine protozoa that thrives on the ocean floor. Their calcium carbonate shells remain behind after their death and are constantly washed ashore by the ocean, creating this stunning natural wonder.

Measuring only a few millimeters in size, the star-shaped grains of sand are really tough to notice at first, but as these tiny stars stick to your fingers and toes, you start to see that they look different than regular specks of sand. Some people come to Hoshizuna-no-Hama specifically to hunt for star-shaped sand, which has prompted local authorities to forbid people from taking the peculiar sand home with them.

The internet, and social media in particular, have really boosted the popularity of Hoshizuna-no-Hama beach, which has proven both a blessing and a curse, as despite the obvious benefits to local businesses, the increase in tourists has accelerated the disappearance of star-shaped sand, as the ocean cant seem to wash up enough of it fast enough to compete with people taking the grains home with them as souvenirs.

Scientists see the star-shaped sand as merely the exoskeletons of billions of foraminifers, but some locals still believed in the local legend which claims that the sand grains are the tiny offspring of the Southern Cross and the North Star. They were born in the ocean just off Okinawa, but were killed by a giant serpent soon after. Their small skeletons are all that remains.

Hoshizuna-no-Hama is Okinawas most famous star sand beach, but it isnt the only one. Other such beaches can be found on the nearby islands of Taketomi, Tokashiki and Hatoma.

For more incredible beaches around the world, check out the amazing popcorn beach, and Icelands stunning diamond beach.
Racepoint Global is providing video and PR services to Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Chinas crackdown on its high-tech sector and the COVID-19 pandemic have hurt Alibabas shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They are down about 25 percent to $195.

Racepoint, which began representing Alibaba on March 22, has received a payment of $30K for its effort.

It has Allison DeLeo and Risha Tyagi working the business.

Racepoint also works for another Chinese giant, Huawei Technologies, which has been sanctioned by the US Government for alleged spying activity.

The firm collected $1.4M from Huawei during the six-month period ended April 30.
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The AUM of the asset management and fund advisory business conducted by licensed corporations and registered institutions increased 20% to $24,038 billion and the AUM of the private banking and private wealth management business grew 25% to $11,316 billion.

"Hong Kong experienced strong growth in asset management, fund advisory, private banking and private wealth management business which was supported by strong net fund inflows in 2020," said Ms Christina Choi, the SFC's Executive Director of Investment Products. "Strengthening Hong Kong's competitiveness as a leading asset and wealth management centre will remain one of the SFC's top priorities in the coming year."

Other highlights of the survey include:

- Net fund inflows of $2,035 billion (US$262 billion) were recorded for the asset and wealth management business during 2020, accounting for 33% of the year-on-year increase in AUM. Assets held under trusts increased 17% to $4,480 billion (US$578 billion).

- Non-Hong Kong investors remained a major source of funding for the asset and wealth management business, accounting for 64% of AUM.

- The total number of staff in the asset and wealth management business increased 6% to 48,006.

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Lille, France  02/08/2021: HCS Pharma, announced today that it has signed an agreement with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS ("GEM") a Luxemburg-based private alternative investment group for a EUR 20 million capital commitment. Under the agreement, GEM commits to provide HCS Pharma with a share subscription facility of up to EUR 20 million for a 36-month term following the public listing of the company shares on a European National Stock 
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
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An 8-year-old Saginaw girl died in a swimming accident in Lake Huron over the weekend after she began struggling while swimming with her sister near Tawas Point State Park, officials said. The victim's younger 7-year-old sister was rescued by a woman witness and was assisted by another woman in getting her safely to shore. The 8-year-old girl did not resurface.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers are investigating the incident in Iosco County and said that about 30 members of the girl's family were in the park pavilion, while others were swimming at the beach.
BERLIN (AP)  Thousands turned out in Berlin on Sunday to protest the German governments anti-coronavirus measures despite a ban on the gatherings, leading to clashes with police and the detention of some 600 protesters.

Local authorities had banned several different protests this weekend, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, but protesters in Berlin defied the ban.

Berlins police department deployed more than 2,000 officers to try and disperse the protests, but it said officers who sought to redirect protesters or disband larger groups were harassed and attacked."

They tried to break through the police cordon and pull out our colleagues," Berlin police said, adding that officers had to use irritants and batons.

As the crowds made their way from Berlins Charlottenburg neighborhood through Tiergarten park toward the Brandenburg Gate, police warned via loudspeaker that they would use water cannons if protesters did not disperse. By Sunday evening, police had detained about 600 people, according to German media, and protesters were still marching through the city.

Germany eased many of its coronavirus restrictions in May, including reopening restaurants and bars. Still, many activities, such as dining indoors at restaurants or staying in a hotel, require proof that an individual is either fully vaccinated, has recovered from the virus or can show proof of a recent negative coronavirus test.

Although the number of new coronavirus cases in Germany remains low compared with neighboring countries, the delta variant has sparked an increase in new infections in the last few weeks. On Sunday, Germany reported 2,097 new cases, an increase of more than 500 over the previous Sunday.

The Querdenker movement, the most visible anti-lockdown movement in Germany, has drawn thousands to its demonstrations in Berlin, uniting a disparate mix on both the right and the left, including those opposing vaccinations, coronavirus deniers, conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists.

Earlier this year, Germanys domestic intelligence service warned the movement was becoming increasingly radical and put some of its adherents under surveillance.

Wolfgang Schauble, president of Germany's parliament, sharply criticized the Querdenker movement Sunday, encouraging people not to be fooled by cheap slogans.

If practically all experts worldwide say the coronavirus is dangerous and vaccination helps, then who actually has the right to say, Actually, Im smarter than that?' he told the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung. To me, that is an almost unbearable level of arrogance.

The protests follow other demonstrations against coronavirus measures around Europe.

More than 200,000 people turned out Saturday in France to protest vaccination requirements for the third straight weekend, at times clashing with police. Some 80,000 others protested in cities across Italy last weekend.

___

Follow all AP stories on the global pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Sen. Lindsey Graham has become the first senator to disclose a breakthrough infection after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying Monday he is very glad he received the vaccine, without which his current symptoms would be far worse.

The news prompted several other lawmakers to get quick COVID-19 tests and report their status. A handful of Senate colleagues spent part of the weekend working and socializing with the South Carolina Republican, who attended a gathering on Sen. Joe Manchins houseboat the evening that he first developed symptoms.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Graham said he started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor Monday morning.

After being notified of his positive test, Graham said he would quarantine for 10 days.

I feel like I have a sinus infection, and at present time, I have mild symptoms, the 66-year-old Graham said. I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination, I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse.

According to spokesman Kevin Bishop, Graham was among senators who attended Manchin's event on Saturday. Sam Runyon, a spokeswoman for Manchin, said the West Virginia Democrat "is fully vaccinated and following the CDC guidelines for those exposed to a COVID positive individual.

In the Capitol Monday evening, senators who attended the gathering were present and voting. Manchin said he had since tested negative and said the outdoor event, which lasted several hours and featured hamburgers, was just trying to get people together.

We do everything in a bipartisan way, and thats what we do, Manchin said. I talked to Lindsey today, he's fine.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told reporters that he was also on the boat, named Almost Heaven, and was awaiting test results. Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., were also there and were getting tested.

More senators have donned masks in recent weeks as coronavirus case counts have risen, but they arent required in the chamber, and some still choose not to wear them. The House has returned to a mask requirement.

Senate Democrats will switch back to a virtual caucus lunch Tuesday at the Capitol amid the virus surge. Republicans had been quicker to resume in-person meetings last year, but there was no word if their lunch plans would now change.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican who is vaccinated, was not wearing a mask Monday and said he had not decided whether to put one back on. He said hes concerned that reports of Grahams illness will discourage some to get vaccinated.

On wearing a mask, Blunt said, I think it actually is one of the reasons that people are encouraged to get the vaccine is they dont have to.

Theres no way to know just how risky it was for the people who were near Graham  vaccinated or not. Vaccinated people are at a much lower risk of being infected at all and for contracting a serious case. But the level of risk depends on whether Graham was masked, whether they were masked, how much virus his body was producing when they met, how close they were and for how long.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people determined to have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they are asymptomatic but should be tested within five days and wear a mask indoors for 14 days or until testing negative.

Graham, who was vaccinated in December, has long been a proponent of vaccination, saying during a visit this spring to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston that the sooner we get everybody vaccinated, the quicker we can get back to normal.

Graham's infection comes on the heels of updated CDC guidance urging even fully vaccinated people to return to wearing masks indoors in areas of high coronavirus transmission, citing the surge of the highly contagious delta variant. Recent analysis has shown that breakthrough cases of COVID-19, with mild or no symptoms, still remain rare.

Both congressional chambers have been adopting stricter face covering regulations amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across the country.

Graham, who was wearing a mask, did not answer questions from reporters on Capitol Hill earlier Monday, prior to the statement being issued. Because of Senate votes, Graham was not in attendance at Friday nights Silver Elephant dinner, the South Carolina Republican Partys signature annual fundraiser and an event attended by hundreds, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a headlining speaker.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

___

Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report from Washington.
This summer, Teenage Musicals Inc. is presenting not one, not two, but three plays performed by teenagers and young adults.

The three plays in the summer outdoor theater festival encompass the overall theme of Diversity = Strength, taking a lens to different cultures, personalities and religions. Accordingly, directors tried to recruit young actors ages 13-23 from all over the region and from different backgrounds.

Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical is directed by Tracey Kempsell and was inspired by the true-life story of Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock Nine, who helped desegregate schools in the South. The one-act play tells the tale of a Polkadot girl attending a Squares only school. Over time, the characters realize that its what on the inside that matters.

Its just a delightful show. With our talk about Black Lives Matter and diversity, we just thought it was a good fit, Kempsell said.

Kempsell recalled how the young actors have furthered the discussion on diversity past the confines of rehearsals. During a weekly campfire at her home, she was surprised by how the conversation progressed to include heavy topics, including Japanese internment camps and Native American residential schools.

This cast of kids  the eldest is 20, the youngest is 13  talked about everything from Disney movies and anime to the Armenian genocide and racism and how that happened and we cant let those things happen again. I was no part of the conversation, Kempsell said. Theyre a really special group of kids.

The second play in the lineup is The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, co-directed by Jeanne Gilbert and Judy Harper. The play centers around six students who are vying for the coveted spelling contest trophy. Along the way, each will share hilarious and touching stories about their personal lives. Gilbert explained that the diversity element in Putnam County is how the play explores the characters eccentricities and the ways in they face their own challenges as they navigate their way to adulthood.

It is a bright, vivacious piece that brings back all the memories and insecurities that consumed and plagued all of our childhoods, Gilbert said.

The third production, Nathan the Wise, is co-directed by Larry and Cheryl Levy and will perform next week. The story centers around a Templar knight, the titular Jew, and Saladin, a Muslim, who meet during the Crusades, and their deep discussions about religion.

Although the play was written in the 18th century, many of its themes of religious tolerance, respect and friendship still ring true today.

We jumped at the chanceto bring this moving play to the Midland area, and to challenge and reward the talented and committed group that makes up our cast of nine actors, Larry said. All of us have grown wiser and richer by our work on producing Nathan the Wise. All who attend a performance of Nathan the Wise will be rewarded for having done so.

Nathan the Wise is the first play performed by TMIs the Hath Summer Players. This subsidiary, named after TMIs founders Gerry and Betty Hath, will focus on presenting non-musical shows.

It was a logical and necessary step for the TMI board to create the Hath Summer Players for our students who are not interested in a musical. It also creates more opportunities for our youth to get involved in theatre, said TMI President Kelli Cohen-Jolly.

Polkadots cast includes Priya Ghose, Mason Greenhoe, Abby Hahn, Arianna Haskett, Ava Mata, Carmen Mata, Camdyn Sabourin, Gretchen Shope, Danny Schulz, Sereah Skutt and Kate Sulfridge.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bees cast includes Nicholas Alfano III, Ethan Bach, Kennedy Danner, Lillian Deering, Daniel Hall, Zach Federer, Gloria Heye, Betsy Miller, James Miller, Kendra Lodewyk, Richard Olk, Claire Patterson and Davis Veith.

Nathan the Wises cast includes Zach Federer, Tim Hackbarth, George Hageage, Ashley Harvey, Abigail Hnizda, Emma Massey, Kyler Syring, Arlo Turpin and Aiden Weaver.

Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical will perform at 6 p.m. August 4-7 at Creative 360, 1517 Bayliss St., Midland.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will perform at 8 p.m. August 4-7 at Creative 360. This play contains adult themes and language and is rated PG-13.

Both Polkadots and Spelling Bee will be staged outside; audience members must bring their own lawn chair or blanket.

Nathan the Wise will perform at 7 p.m. August 11-14 inside Creative 360. Masks are required for all audience members indoors.

Admission is free for all three shows, but donations are appreciated at the door or at teenagemusicals.org/support.
LONDON (AP)  Britain and Iran issued warnings to each other's diplomats Monday as tensions escalated over a recent attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea.

Britain began the day by summoning Iran's ambassador, Mohsen Baharvand, to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in response to Thursday's drone strike on the MV Mercer Street, which killed a British national and a Romanian.

Britain insisted in a statement that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security.''

Prime Minister Boris Johnson later told reporters that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they have done.''

This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping, a U.K. national died,'' he said. It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world, and the U.K. will continue to insist on that.

The United States, Britain and Israel have blamed Iran for the fatal attack, though Iran denies involvement.

Calling it an unlawful and callous attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that the U.K. and its allies were planning a coordinated response.

Irans Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the British charge d'affaires in Tehran to protest Raab's comments. Iran rejected and strongly condemned these hasty, contradictory and unsubstantiated statements, the ministry said.

Iran will defend itself with a timely, appropriate and decisive response to any adventurous action,'' the ministry said.

The ministry added that this is not the first time that Britain has made accusations against Iran without providing evidence.

The attack on the Mercer Street is the first known fatal strike on commercial shipping in the region after years of tensions over the tattered nuclear deal between western nations and Iran.

___

Vahdat reported from Tehran.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The House of Representatives (Parliament) on Monday suspended debate on the articles of the draft law for the election of the Libyan president, indicating that the debate will continue on Tuesday, to complete the discussion
There are a lot of smiles in Illinois Wheat Belt this year.

Near-ideal conditions boosted yields and improved quality of the crop, most of which has been harvested.

There are a lot of happy guys this year, said Matt Wehmeyer of seed company AgriMAXX. Yields were excellent. Many customers have commented its either a record harvest or near it.

The company had a record number of members in its 100 Bushel Club, achieved by averaging at least 100 bushels per acre in an entire field.

Overall, I believe yields were average to above average, said Don Bergschneider of CHS elevator in Shipman.

Craig Finke, who grows a few hundred acres of wheat near Nashville in Washington County, said his crop was one of the best ever.

Yields have been good, but so has quality, which may be as important. Growers with loads coming in below 55 pounds per bushels are routinely docked. This year, test weights have been excellent in many areas, elevator operators say.

There were relatively few outbreaks of serious diseases such as scab.

The early harvested wheat has excellent quality, Wehmeyer said. A lot of the test weights were 60-plus. Some of the heavyweight varieties were up to 65 pounds. Sixty is the benchmark everyone wants to shoot for.

The tail end of harvest had more rain delays, but thats fairly typical. Test weights started so high, it didnt affect the later wheat much.

Joe Leidner, who farms near Mulberry Grove in Fayette County, hasnt planted wheat the past two years but plans to get back in the saddle this fall. He said he might have some minor regrets after seeing how well the crop did on neighboring farms this year.

Ive heard 90 (bushels per acre), he said. I have the seed bought and I intend to sow wheat this fall.

As is the case with many farmers, price is a driving factor, followed by quality issues.

When I see wheat trend at $5 or below, that probably makes the biggest difference, Leidner said. And crop insurance doesnt pay on quality issues, so if you have a wet spell during harvest you can have sprouting and low-quality grain, you can have an 80-bushel crop but have to sell it for nothing.

Bergschneider said his customers were generally pleased with the crop.

Quality was pretty good for the most part, he said. Test weights ranged from 56 to 61. Some of the earlier harvested wheat had probably the better test weights. We didnt have a lot of issues with vomitoxin. There was a touch of sprout damage of some crops that got too much rain on them, but I think it was minimal.

Wehmeyer believes many farmers  like Leidner  will either resume wheat production this fall or increase acreage.

I think its going to be steady to up, he said. New-crop prices on next June-to-July bids at St. Louis terminals are already north of $7 a bushel, which is higher where we started last year at this time.  If the weather treats us well we may plant a lot of wheat.

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CHICAGO (AP)  A judge on Monday granted lawyers for Jussie Smollett more time to prepare arguments on several issues, including whether they can introduce a key witnesss previous conviction for battery.

Cook County Judge James Linn scheduled the next hearing in the case for Aug. 26.

But Linn also urged lawyers for Smollett and the special prosecutors office to get prepared for a trial or other resolution to the charges that the actor staged a racist and homophobic attack in January 2019.

One of Smollett's attorneys said after the hearing that the legal team has evidence to prove Smollett is innocent of the charges that he lied to police about an attack prosecutors allege he staged himself.

Like many people in Chicago, when I first heard of the Smollett case  I was absolutely certain that he was guilty based on the media coverage, attorney Nenye Uche told reporters. But I can say now categorically, looking at the evidence, hundreds of pages so far, and there are many, many more to look at, so far its obvious to us hes absolutely innocent.

Uche and the other attorneys would not elaborate about the evidence, saying that it would be disclosed in court.

Uche was at the center of a legal dispute that slowed progress in the case, as Special Prosecutor Dan Webb argued that Uche had a conflict of interest because he had spoken to the two men who Smollett allegedly hired to help him carry out the attack.

But on Friday, Linn ordered that Uche could remain on the case but prohibited him from questioning the two brothers, Abinbola and Olabinjo Osudairo, should the case go to trial.

Uche told the judge on Monday that he needed more time to prepare arguments on several pre-trial motions, including the defense's hope to introduce evidence about the older brother's prior conviction.

Smollett, who was starring in the television show Empire at the time of the incident, has been charged with felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing false police reports about what happened. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.

Smollett attended Monday's virtual hearing and told the judge he was in New York City.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Heartland Community College honored for online course offering

NORMAL  Heartland Community College (HCC) was recognized for high-quality work in creating an innovative online course, Biology 191: Introductory Microbiology. The College recently earned the Quality Matters (QM) Certification Mark.

The QM Certification Mark is the internationally recognized symbol of online and blended course design quality and represents Heartlands ongoing commitment to creating learning environments that provide learners with a clear pathway to success.

The certification is the result of HCCs dedication to continuous improvement, including the work of Dr. Manju Kishore, Biology Instructor, and Mallory White, Adjunct Biology Instructor. Due to their foresight and dedication to student success, Heartlands BIOL 191 course is now listed on the QM directory of certified courses.

The Quality Matters Official Review provides an opportunity for faculty to reflect on their course through a learner perspective, said Anna Catterson, Executive Director of Online Learning and Instructional Technologies for HCC. From accessibility to learner engagement to assessments, the review used internationally-recognized Standards and best practices to examine critical course components related to the learner experience and ultimately learner success.

The QM Official Review provided independent validation of the quality, learner-focused course design that HCC has been committed to for the past several years. Reviews are conducted by QM-Certified Reviewers and use the Quality Matters Rubric and associated Standards, which are based on research and defined best practices. A course earns the QM Certification Mark once it meets QM Rubric Standards at the 85 percent threshold or better and meets all Essential Standards.

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CHICAGO (AP)  Rapper DaBaby was cut Sunday from Lollapalooza's closing lineup following crude and homophobic remarks he made last week at a Miami-area music festival.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose name is Jonathan Kirk, had been scheduled as a closing act on the final night of the four-day music festival in downtown Chicago. Lollapalooza organizers tweeted Sunday that rapper Young Thug would perform at 9 p.m. instead.

Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love," organizers wrote. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.

Festival organizers didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

In recent days, artists including Madonna, Questlove and Elton John have denounced remarks DaBaby made during a performance last Sunday at Miami's Rolling Loud Festival.

While on stage, the rapper called out members of the LGBTQ community and people with HIV and AIDS. Using crude language, he asked attendees who weren't gay men or people affected by HIV or AIDS to raise their cellphone flashlights, and he incorrectly said the disease would make you die in two or three weeks.

DaBabys representatives didn't immediately reply to emails seeking comment. A person who answered the phone Sunday at his label, South Coast Music Group, and did not give his name said, No comment."

The North Carolina rappers song Rockstar was one of the biggest hits of 2020 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for record of the year.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Twenty-two people were shot Saturday night into early Sunday, with three of those people dying from their injuries, according to Chicago police.

One of those homicides came on Saturday, which meant it counted in July month-end statistics released by Chicago police Sunday. It was the second year in a row with more than 100 homicides during the month. July 2021 saw 105 homicides, while July 2020 saw 107.

In contrast, there were 44 homicides in July 2019 and 64 in July 2018. The Police Department said more than 90% of this Julys homicides were the result of gun violence.

The Saturday homicide happened in the West Pullman neighborhood, during a shooting that also left two others injured. Police were called to the 11600 block of South Peoria Street about 10:15 p.m. and found the three shooting victims, who had been standing near a group of people having an argument when shots were fired, according to a police media notification.

A 28-year-old man was shot in the face and chest, and he was taken to Roseland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had not been identified by the Cook County medical examiners office as of Sunday.

Another man, 31, was shot in the chest, and he was listed in serious condition at Stroger Hospital. A woman, 33, was shot in the hand and she was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where her condition was stabilized.

Also Saturday night, two people were in critical condition after they were shot in the 2600 block of West Gladys Avenue around 9:15 p.m. by someone in a red sedan, police said. A man, 28, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition and a 28-year-old woman suffered similar wounds and was in the same condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.

At 9:23 p.m., in the 6400 block of South King Drive, two men were shot by someone who came up to them on foot and opened fire. A 35-year-old man was shot in the right shoulder and a 36-year-old man was shot in the buttocks. They were dropped off at St. Bernard Hospital and the University of Chicago Medical Center, respectively, and both had been listed in fair condition, police said.

The number of shootings and the number of victims are up so far this year, according to the month-end statistics.

Between Jan. 1 and July 31, Chicago saw nearly 200 more shootings than it had during the same period in 2020.

There have also been just over 250 more shooting victims this year than there had been at the same time last year, though homicides have held steady.

Shootings and shooting victims had already seen a significant bump between 2019 and 2020. By the end of July 2020, there had been 737 more shooting victims than there had been by the same date in 2019.

The department said it had recovered 7,289 guns so far in 2021, up 28% from this time last year.

In July, the city recorded a 20-year low in burglaries, the department said.

Two more people were fatally shot on Sunday, and there were three separate shootings with two or more victims.

Minutes before 3 a.m., in the 2700 block of West Jackson Boulevard on the Near West Side, two men were shot, one of them fatally, police said.

A 30-year-old and a 36-year-old had been standing outside when someone shot them. They were both taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where the 30-year-old was pronounced dead with gunshot wounds to the stomach and chest. The other man, 36, was shot once in the chest and he was listed in serious condition.

Around 12:20 a.m. a 32-year-old man was fatally shot in the South Shore neighborhood, according to police.

The man had been standing in the 7200 block of South Bennett Avenue when someone shot him multiple times in the chest. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition and later was pronounced dead.

The men who were killed Sunday had not been identified by the medical examiners office.

Since Friday afternoon, a total of 55 people had been shot, including four fatalities, according to records maintained by the Tribune.

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CHICAGO  Chicagos top doctor said Sunday that there are no current plans for again imposing pandemic-related closures, despite a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady urged people to get vaccinated and to wear masks indoors, no matter their vaccination status.

We have no goal or current plans to close down Chicago again, she said during a rare Sunday news conference. But we need people please once again to step up.

Chicago lifted most pandemic-related restrictions in June amid dropping infections. But things have changed. Chicago's average number of daily cases is 208, which is up 58% from last week when it was 131, according to the health department.

Arwady and Mayor Lori Lightfoot also defended holding Lollapalooza, a decision that's drawn criticism for packing hundreds of thousands of people in a lakefront park. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who'd planned to attend, skipped the event out of an abundance of caution, with cases on a sharply increasing trajectory," his spokeswoman told WMAQ-TV.

Lightfoot said 90% of attendees were vaccinated. She praised Lollapalooza's organizers for doing an incredible job working with health officials on safety protocols. The festival ends Sunday.

I feel very good about what weve done, Lightfoot said. Obviously well know a little more in a week to 10 days.

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TAYLORVILLE  A Taylorville man charged with aggravated driving under the influence after a wreck killed two in April pleaded not guilty and now has a jury trial date.

Robert M. Hodson, 46, appeared in Christian County court Thursday along with his attorney, John Sharp of Springfield.

Hodson waived his arraignment. A jury trial was scheduled for Oct. 4.

Hodson, a former Illinois Capitol Police investigator, faces six to 28 years in prison. The sentence would have to be served at 85%.

Haley Anne Shoot, 19, and Zaydin J. Dudra, 20, both of Taylorville, were killed in the wreck on Illinois 48 near East 1550 North Road between Taylorville and Stonington on April 8.

A passenger in the car driven by Shoot, Jade Thomas of Lafayette, Indiana, formerly of Bulpitt, was injured in the crash.

According to a GoFundMe page, Thomas had no medical insurance at the time of incident and has had "numerous surgeries" with more coming in the future.

According to Illinois State Police, Hodson was traveling north on Illinois 48 when he crossed into the left lane in his 2018 Jeep Wrangler to pass another vehicle and struck Shoot's car head-on.

Hodson is out on bond, though under the terms he is not allowed to consume alcohol or use cannabis or illegal drugs and is subject to random testing. Hodson is forbidden from operating a motor vehicle and not allowed into any bars.

Hodson was off without pay from his job as an investigator with the Capitol Police, but he was later terminated.

The Capitol Police fall under the Illinois Secretary of State's office.

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There is nothing new to be said about our police forces, what was said fifty years ago or seventy years ago will hold good even today.

Writing for The Indian Express two decades back I had said that The growing ineffectiveness of state police forces in the face of powerful offenders creates a demand for CBI investigation, even in cases which are well within the professional and logistic competence of the state police. The CBI itself becomes eminently vulnerable to charges of bias once the affairs of the Central Government become the subject matter of enquiry. The state police forces are well on way to being reduced to a level where they will be good for nothing but ceremonial parades and watch and ward duties and a day may come when the CBI too may face an erosion of credibility. Who shall we turn to then? The Interpol, the FBI, or Scotland Yard?

The moment of reckoning for the CBI seemed to have arrived. The family members of SSR sought the intervention of the Supreme Court to bring in the CBI. Then we are told members of SSR family seem to be distressed at the way CBI is investigating the case. What shall be done now?

The reiteration of the trite fact will help illuminate the dilemma of both police and the public. The popular mind has a very straightforward and simple expectation from the police. It is that police should make itself useful to them in all sorts of circumstances. It is a demanding task. You cannot be useful to the victim and the offender, to the complainant as well as the accused, to the party in power and the ones in perpetual quest of wresting it, to the underprivileged and the powerful, all at the same time.

The only way in which police can navigate this situation is by remaining strictly neutral and following the dictates of law. Therein lies the rub. Police never was, nor is, the agent of law; it is the handmaiden of those who control it. The word has gotten around that those who bring to bear the most pressure on police win the day.

The organizational culture of police puts too much premium on their blind obedience of orders. Stanley Milgram, a management expert conducted a series of obedience experiments in Connecticut in 1961 and advanced a hypothesis that human beings have a natural tendency to obey men in authority and they will even stoop to needless brutality and inhumane treatment of their fellow beings should they feel so commanded by an authority.

In the light of above findings, we can better understand the conduct of the police force in which obedience is drilled in day in and day out. The senior police leadership of the day, and in days to come, need to be put through a crash course in disobedience to refuse to make the organization available to the dictates of political expediency. But who will do it?

One must also now admit the sad but inescapable fact that increasingly it is the criminality of various echelons of governments that often require to be investigated. The fate of political leaders holding responsible positions in governments sometimes depends on the outcome of the investigation of a criminal case. The manifest centrality of impartial investigation for the functioning of democracy can no longer be ignored. The political control of police is leading to unheard of situations. Police officers acting as flag bearers of their respective governments find themselves pitted against each other. In West Bengal it was the CBI vs local police, in the instant case an IPS officer from Bihar was incarcerated by BMC. But the worst instance of police the mistaken direction that police has taken is the exchange of fire and tragic death of police men.

As above, so below was one of the central tenets of the ancient hermetic philosophies  the world in which humans lived was a reflection of the glories of Heaven, but at the same time, the heavens were affected by what happened on the mortal Earth. The eternal truth, as above so below, holds good even today.

India Today magazine once referred to Manoje Nath, a 1973-batch IPS officer, as being fiercely independent, honest, and upright. Besides his numerous official reports on various issues exposing corruption in the bureaucracy in Bihar, Nath is also a writer extraordinaire expressing his thoughts on subjects ranging from science fiction to the effects of globalization. His sense of humor was evident through his extremely popular series named "Gulliver in Pataliputra" and "Modest Proposals" that were published in the local newspapers.
The Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Herbert Krapa, has embarked on his first working visit to assess the work of exporting firms across the country.



The visit is intended to strengthen the relationship between the government of Ghana and industry stakeholders to boost foreign direct investment in Ghanas export sector.



Addressing journalists during a tour of Golden Exotics Limited (GEL) at Asutuare in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region, Mr. Krapa expressed satisfaction with the companys efforts to produce high-quality bananas in Ghana in strict conformity to European Union (EU) standards.



He said the Trade Ministry has commenced the rolling out of a series of programs and interventions to increase the volume of non-traditional exports from 2.5 billion USD to 25 billion USD by 2030 through the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) which is being spearheaded by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA).



Mr. Krapa added that engaging investors in the field also offers the government of Ghana the opportunity to get updated with information about recent developments at some of the countrys key industrial centres for non-traditional export products.



Employing over 3,000 Ghanaians and located on a surface area of over 8,600 hectares, GEL, which is Fair Trade certified, produces 50,000 tonnes of bananas and 10,000 tonnes of pineapples annually, making it the largest exporter of bananas and pineapples in Ghana.



The companys plantation in Ghana also hosts one of the largest organic banana farms in the world, exporting mainly to EU countries and some African countries including Mali and Burkina Faso.



Vice President of GEL, Olivier Chassang, said the company is confident in its products produced in Ghana after almost two decades of operations in the country.



He also expressed confidence in the commitment of the government of Ghana to ensure political and economic stability to create an enabling environment that will attract more investments to create employment and boost the nations economy.





















Source: Lord Kweku Sekyi









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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Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC has launched the latest addition to its product portfolio - Smirnoff Chocolate. To mark the occasion, media partners and key stakeholders were hosted by the company to a launch event in Accra.



Speaking at the launch, Benjamin Fenyi-Gyesi, Innovations Marketing Manager at Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC stated, I am proud to say that Smirnoff Chocolate is made right here in Ghana. Our crafters created the new Smirnoff Chocolate as a glocal symbol - blending the worlds number one vodka with local Ghanaian chocolate flavour.



This launch taps into Guinness Ghanas vision to celebrate the lives of its consumers every day, with innovative products that they love. Smirnoff Chocolate is available in a 750ml bottle and retails at GHC 25.00 only.



Madam Helene Wessie, Managing Director at Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC, re-iterated the companys commitment to touching lives and innovation.



As a business, we like to seize every opportunity to re-affirm our commitment to our consumers, our community of stakeholders, and our country as a whole. It is this driving force that has birthed several initiatives and innovative products that have touched and enriched the lives of many Ghanaian consumers.



Tapping into local alcohol consumption culture, the new Smirnoff Chocolate invites people to effortlessly step up and break from the norm. This isnt just a great spirit, its a spirit made specifically for Ghanaians. Enjoy Smirnoff Chocolate neat, on ice, or as a part of cocktails, and remember to drink responsibly. It is not recommended for people below 18 years or pregnant women.

Source: Peacefmonline









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The President of Angola, Mr Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, is in Ghana for a three-day official visit.

He arrived yesterday afternoon to a warm welcome by ministers of state, some government officials and Angolans in Ghana.



The Minister of Defence, Mr Dominic Nitiwul; the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and some government officials met President Lourenco and his entourage at the Kotoka International Airport.



The Angolan President is in Ghana at the invitation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was in Angola in August 2019 for a two-day official visit, at the request of Mr Lourenco.



Strengthening ties



President Lourencos visit is geared towards strengthening existing economic ties between the two countries, as well as exploring possible areas of co-operation for mutual benefit.



Day Two



President Lourenco will, today, visit the Jubilee House and confer with President Akufo-Addo, especially on issues of bilateral interest.



The two leaders will witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding on political consultations by the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two nations.



The Angolan leader will also tour, lay a wreath and plant a tree at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in Accra.



Later in the day, he will be hosted to a State Banquet at the Jubilee House by President Akufo-Addo.



Day Three



On Tuesday, President Lourenco is billed to visit the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), where he will interact with the Secretary General of the body, Wamkele Mene.



After the AfCFTA Secretariat visit, Mr Lourenco is billed to visit and address Members of Parliament.



He leaves for Angola on Wednesday.









Source: graphiconline.com









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A former Minister of State, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has observed that wrong attitudes, the lack of righteousness and integrity are the major causes of indiscipline and corruption which are affecting the socio-economic development of the country.



He said those issues appeared to persist in spite of the national call for attitudinal change, insisting that the situation had accounted for the loss of confidence in state institutions by the youth.





Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, who was speaking at the launch of the 70th anniversary of the Sekondi College in Accra yesterday, said: We are living in difficult times when a lot of Ghanaians have lost not only their orientation, but also confidence in state institutions and many young people do not seem to have any future in Ghana.



We are living in times when the best of our efforts do not seem to be good enough to stem the tide of the exodus of young people to foreign lands. Wrong attitudes breed the indiscipline and corruption that are now destroying the very fabric of our society, he added.



Management



Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, an old student of the school himself, noted that over the past decades, the criteria for choosing people to manage public institutions had changed from competence to individuals who were rather selfless and loyal to powerful people in the society.



We need individuals who will inspire us, not those who will insult one another and most of the time, without any provocation, he said. The heart surgeon, therefore, underscored the need for the youth to recognise the need for a change in their attitude.



There must be a change in the way we do things because the system cannot be any better than the individual members who constitute the society, he added.



Launch



Another old student of the school and a Bishop of Loyalty House International, Bishop Ishmael Fosu Sam, who launched the anniversary, said it was an opportunity for the old students association to establish fruitful and productive network among themselves and the current students.



The anniversary, which will begin on August 6, this year, will have activities such as radio talk shows about the schools history, challenges, success stories and the transitions along the way.



Also featured in the activities would be a quiz competition, a gospel musical concert, an exhibition and a bonfire to be spiced up by a brass band display. Bishop Sam encouraged the past students of the school to join hands in making the anniversary a memorable one.









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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The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed has lashed out at the government for the poor management of the economy, describing the government as confused.



He has also taken a swipe at the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Attah whom he described as incompetent.



His comment is coming on the back of the budget review presented by the Minister of Finance on Thursday in what the government touted its achievements and the progress of its Obaatampa budget



According to Murtala Mohammed, the agenda for any policy by any government is to alleviate the plight of Ghanaians and not to deepen their woes describing the budget as hollow.



People in Ghana are not interested in fiscal policies and micro finance. We are told there is free SHS but there is nothing. In a school in the north people are still lying on benches.



See the things the NDC did: The circle interchange and other uncompleted projects but the government abandoned it all together. The Wa legislator told 3FM Friday.



Mr. Murtala who is also a member of the Parliaments Committee on Trade and Industry said the problem of this country is arising as a result of the New Patriotic Party led administrations egoistic campaign for the One District  One Factory initiative (1D1F).I have filed a motion in parliament so the government can tell us where the factories are; which stages of completion?. Look, existing companies are taking advantage of the governments egoistic agenda. I will demand to know that the revenue that we ought to generate we are not getting it.









Source: 3news.com









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Mr Koku Anyidoho has said that he refuses to be provoked following his suspension from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



The former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC said exhibiting a high sense of tolerance in the face of envy-led extreme provocation, is a sign of divine maturity and wisdom.



In a tweet, the Director of the Atta Mills Memorial Institute said Exhibiting a high sense of tolerance in the face of envy-led extreme provocation, is a sign of divine maturity and wisdom.



I chose to be divinely wise and matured so shall refuse to be provoked. Blessed day and blessings galore over the weekend. Ghana Flag of GhanaShall not die. Shalom.



In pursuant to an earlier decision to suspend Mr Anyidoho, from the NDC, the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) has expelled him entirely.



By the decision taken on Tuesday, July 27, Mr Anyidoho is no longer to hold himself as a member of the NDC.



In a letter signed by General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia to communicate the decision of FEC to him, the former Presidential Spokesperson was found guilty of the allegations of misconduct and anti-party behaviour.



In January, FEC decided to act on two separate petitions brought before it by Oti Regions Communications Officer, Mobarak Abdul-Karim, and Bono Regions Deputy Communications Officer, Eric



The petitions were referred to the Disciplinary Committee for further action for which Mr Anyidoho was suspended.



The Functional Executive Committee (FEC) acting in compliance of Article 48(1) of the NDC Constitution unanimously adopted the report and accepts full responsibility for your expulsion from the party, the letter dated Tuesday, July 27, 2021 said.



You are, therefore, by the decision of FEC expelled from the National Democratic Congress and for that matter you are no more recognised as a member the party and cannot carry yourself as such.



Koku Anyidoho is expected to return any party property in his custody and shall forfeit any monies, dues or subscription fees he might have made to the party.







Exhibiting a high sense of tolerance in the face of envy-led extreme provocation, is a sign of divine maturity and wisdom. I chose to be divinely wise and matured so SHALL REFUSE to be provoked. Blessed day and blessings galore over the weekend. Ghana Shall not die. Shalom 

 Samuel Koku Anyidoho (@KokuAnyidoho) July 30, 2021

Source: twitter/3news.com









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The Electoral Commission (EC) says it is waiting for an official communication from Parliament regarding a by-election at Assin North Constituency.



Once it receives the communication, the EC will be ready to conduct a fresh election in the constituency as part of its constitutional mandate.



A Deputy Commissioner of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.



As we speak, we have not received any official correspondence from Parliament. We will act on any correspondence we receive as contained in the law, Dr Bossman stated.



Context



A by-election is likely at Assin North following a court order restraining Mr James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as Member of Parliament (MP) for the area.



The Cape Coast High Court last Wednesday annulled the December parliamentary election in the Assin North Constituency, stating that Mr Quayson did not qualify to contest the election and called for a rerun.



The court, in its ruling, said the election of the first respondent was illegal, void and in contravention of Article 94 (2) of the Constitution.



It said Mr Quayson held allegiance to Canada as of the time he filed his nomination to contest as a parliamentary candidate for the 2020 general election.



The Presiding Judge, Mr Justice Kwasi Boakye, said Mr Quayson was, therefore, not qualified to contest the election because the certificate denouncing his allegiance was issued in November 2020 while he filed to contest in October 2020.



The development has reduced the number of parliamentarians of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from 137 to 136, which gives the New Patriotic Party (NPP) a slim majority of 137 plus one Independent candidate.



Ready



Dr Asare said the EC as an institution was ready to conduct elections or undertake any official assignment anytime.



Constituency profile



The seat was firmly held by Mr Kennedy Agyapong from 2000 until Assin Central was carved out of the constituency in 2012, which went to Mr Agyapong.



Since then, the Assin North seat has become a swing seat.



The seat was first won by NDC's Samuel Amber with 14,338 votes, representing 51.64 percent in the 2012 parliamentary election.



The NPP's Ebenezer Appiah-Kubi polled 12,281 votes, representing 44.24 percent.



In 2016, the NPP's new entrant, Abena Durowaa, wrested the seat from the NDCs Amber with 15,553 votes, representing 56.77 percent, against Mr Ambers 10,751 votes, which represented 39.24 percent of the valid votes cast.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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A pro-NPP group named Federation of NPP Youth has called to question the role of Dr. Nsiah Asare at the Presidency.



The group alleged that they have suspicion that the former Director-General is engaged in a duplication of duty with the Health Minister.



A press statement signed by Ishmael Awuku, Spokesperson for the group, asserted ''they believe the role assigned to the former Director-General gives room for sabotage of the substantive Health Minister's work''.



The group is therefore calling on the President to prune the office of the Special Advisor on health issues from the Presidency.



The group also claimed they have ''information that some vital documentation regarding the Health Ministry and government business are coming out from the office of the President's health Advisor and passed on to media houses for publication; all in his attempts to undermine the work of the Health Minister, a position he has been yearning for''.



They further alleged that some details of the Sputnik V vaccine and the subsequent inquisition of the Minister were purportedly instigated by the office of the Special Advisor and his allies.



The statement said some of the issues raised during the public inquiry of the Health Minister and his role in the botched transaction with Sheikh Maktoum group, suppliers of the Sputnik V vaccines were leaked to the press and the Parliamentary Committee by that office.



The group has cautioned the Special Advisor to desist from sabotaging the Health Minister with the aim of replacing the Minister as he plots for the Health Ministers removal by the President.



How on earth can someone who after being removed from office as the Director-General for Ghana Health Services and later hopping from one radio station to the other claiming to be assured by the President to be appointed as Health Minister which later turned out to be false be trusted of his loyalty at the Presidency? How can the loyalty and integrity of a disgruntled advisor who was later fighting to be appointed as Deputy Health Minister and even nursing the idea of an appointment as Board Chairman of Ghana Health Service be trusted?, the group queried.



The group expressed its support for the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, for superintending over a smooth health system including making the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) robust.



They noted that many health infrastructure projects have been seen communities under the leadership of the Health Minister, hence he should be maintained.



Mr. Awuku noted that many in their communities who had completed nursing training colleges have had opportunity to get formal employment into the Health Ministry, adding that this is due to the effort of Hon. Agyeman Manu who has seen to the clearing of all backlog of trainees.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Former Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson has appealed the High Court ruling which nullified his election as the Member of Parliament for the area.



In a writ sighted by Peacefmonline, he noted that the Cape Coast High Court erred in its ruling.



"The High Court acted out of jurisdiction by not referring the interpretation of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution to the Supreme Court".



Assin North Polls Cancelled



The Cape Coast High Court last Wednesday ruled that at the time of filing his documents to contest the election in Assin North, Mr Quayeson still held allegiance to another country other than Ghana.



The Court thus cancelled the said election, ordering a re-run of the poll in Assin North, and, consequently, further asked Mr. James Quayson to desist from holding himself out as MP for the area.



But in a 6page document filed on Monday, August 2, 2021, at the Cape Coast Court of Appeal, Mr. Quayson said the ruling delivered by the High Court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye was characterized by a lack of due regard of the law.



He is thus asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the orders and costs awarded in the said High Court Judgment.



Reliefs Being Sought



1. A declaration that the judgment of the High Court, Cape Coast, Coram Kwasi Boakye Jj. dated 28th July 2021, is void for having been issued out of jurisdiction.



2. An order setting aside the judgment of High Court, Cape Coast, Coram Kwasi Boakye J., dated 28th July 2021.



3. An order setting aside the award of costs against the appellant and in favour of the petitioner/respondent and the 2nd Respondent/Respondent



4. Costs in favour of the appellant.



5. Any further or other order(s) the Court may deem fit.





Read Writ Below





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Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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Did I just hear that our government wants us to do susu for a cathedral THEY wanted and not us??!!



Not susu for hospitals oh

Not susu for roads killing people everyday

Not susu for students learning under trees oh



SUSU FOR A CATHERAL!!





 miss forson (@lydiaforson) July 29, 2021

Actress Lydia Forson has reacted to the appeal by government that Ghanaians contribute financially towards the building of a National Cathedral in the capital Accra.Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Thursday appealed to Ghanaians to help the government with fundraising eforts to help with the building of the proposed National Cathedral.He said, government had acquired a short code to which citizens can donate GH100 each month towards the project.But for Forson, it is worrying that the government will seek public support for such a project when it has yet to do so for hospital, for killer roads and for children studying under trees."Did I just hear that our government wants us to do susu for a cathedral THEY wanted and not us??!!"Not susu for hospitals oh"Not susu for roads killing people everyday"Not susu for students learning under trees oh"SUSU FOR A CATHERAL!!" she posted on Twitter.The post has attracted 80 retweets and 393 likes at the time of filing this report with most comments slamming the government for lacking in the area of priority.What Ofori-Atta said about the Cathedral in ParliamentMaking the appeal during his Mid-Year Budget Review reading on July 29, 2021, Ofori-Atta said on the floor of Parliament that the objective of the fund-raiser is to get about a million Ghanaians contributing towards the construction.The initiative, according to the Finance Minister has been dubbed Ketoa Biaa Nsua which translates into "no amount is too small."The building of the Cathedral is a subject that sharply divides opinion in Ghana but the Finance Minister said the Cathedral is expected to be commissioned on March 6, 2024.Work on the National Cathedral is progressing speedily and following the program of the contractor. The National Cathedral is expected to be officially commissioned on March 6, 2024. Upon completion, the National Cathedral will provide a space for formal religious activities of state and symbolize the enormous contribution of faith to nation-building, he said in his speech.He furthered that this state and church partnership envisaged by the president to develop the National Cathedral is on course. An initiative; the GH100 a month also dubbed Ketoa Biaa Nsua will be launched by the trustees of the National Cathedral on August 12, 2021, to give as many Ghanaians as possible the opportunity to be part of the history of the National Cathedral, he said.A special shortcode 979 has been developed for this purpose as we look forward to Mr speaker and all the members of this august house to join in the GH100/a month.











Source: utv/ghanaweb









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Several months ago, Aiken resident Kaitlyn Lawless didnt know what acai was.

After returning from a family trip to Destin, Florida, where she tried an acai bowl for the first time, a lightbulb went on. Lawless believed she could bring the healthy fruit bowl to Aiken.

Acai, pronounced "ah-sigh-e," is a delicate berry that originates from Brazil. The berry is shipped to the United States in frozen or powder form. Using the frozen berry as a base for the bowl, an assortment of fresh local fruits, honey, peanut butter and granola are added to the top.

Kaitlyn immediately got to work with the help of her mother, Debbie, and her family to make this a reality. The closest acai shops are in Columbia or Augusta.

They created Palmetto Bowls, after the states nickname, and they got to work crafting seasonal bowls with local ingredients and starting going through the process of creating the business from scratch.

Until you are in it, you dont realize how important it is to support local and small businesses, Kaitlyn said. And now that I am here, I try to look for all local and small businesses, people that I can support locally rather than huge stores.

Kaitlyn and her family took Palmetto Bowls to Amp the Alley in Aiken during the month of June. With a tent and 100 pre-made bowls in tow, they sold out.

I went into it thinking I was going to sell only to my friends. I was like, 'My friends will come, this will be great,'" she said. "I might sell 15 bowls, thats fine, because people dont know what acai is. Thats the No. 1 question: 'What is acai? What is this?' I was like, 'Whatever, its fine, like I wont be upset.'

We had a line and it was insane. And I think it is because it is so new and it's nothing like anything around here that people are so drawn to and then they have it.

The family is working every day and learning how to manage the business side. They worked with the SCORE program at the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, which is a mentorship program for new businesses. They also purchased a new trailer to set up shop on weekends at different events.

Debbie, who worked as a weekend nurse, recently decided to help her daughter pursue her business dreams full time.

I get emotional thinking about it because I want to help her and I want to be with her and I thought (it was) going to happen. I dont want to miss it, Debbie said.

Kaitlyn had always envisioned herself as a business owner. Within just four months, she achieved that status and posts her schedule weekly on social media.

I would tell my friends I would love to do something like that, and I just dont know what," she said. "So it was really cool whenever I had this, this was it, this was what I was doing. But I didnt go to school for this.

The two are enjoying seeing the community come together for their new small business.

Just seeing the support of people I dont even know, like complete strangers who are so positive and encouraging and just supportive, Kaitlyn said. ... I dont even know y'all and are just so supportive. And just watching people try it for the first time and love it  this is why I did this.
Three fledgling South Carolina firms have been selected with 164 other U.S. companies to advance in Walmart's annual competition for small businesses with American-made products to get on the retailer's shelves.

And one of them is from Charleston.

Holy Smoke, a vegan, hickory-smoked extra virgin olive oil, made the cut.

"I think it's amazing," said Max Blackman, who co-founded the product with Kyle Payne in 2012 after working together at a restaurant. "I'm grateful our product could be a good fit for their stores."

If selected to have the product placed on the shelves of the world's largest retailer, Blackman said, "I'd be over the moon. I guess I would exclaim, 'Holy smoke.'"

Blackman and Payne make up the workforce for the small Ravenel-based business. The pair started selling their product at the Charleston Farmers Market shortly after the startup, and they still have a booth at the weekly Saturday event.

Their items are available in about 200 gourmet shops and grocery stores across the country, including Whole Foods Market and Harris Teeter as well as about 20 Charleston area stores such as Lowcountry Olive Oil on Meeting Street, Coastal Cupboard in Mount Pleasant and Avondale Wine & Cheese in West Ashley.

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The other two finalists are from the Upstate: The Bandanna Co. of Greenville, with its Doggie Dannas pet bandanna items, and Pace LLC of Simpsonville, for its Super Potty Trainer and TidyHook Home products.

The potty item allows small children to sit on the toilet against a backrest and nonslip pad. It fits onto the bowl under the seat and is removable.

The TidyHook Home device is a hanger with two hooks on the end that allows trash bags to stay open while hanging from various spots such as door knobs, closet rods or inside campers. It can support other items as well, such as bookbags.

All businesses that took part in Walmart's "Open Call" competition are eligible to sell their shelf-stable products on the company's websites.

More than 900 businesses from across the U.S. pitched their products to Walmart earlier this summer. The items have to be made, grown or assembled in the U.S. to be considered.

The Arkansas-based retail giant's contest is part of its renewed commitment to invest $350 billion over the next 10 years in efforts to support home-grown businesses in the United States.
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COLUMBIA  Four of South Carolinas 10 rising coronavirus hotspots are counties across the Midlands region, where cases per 100,000 people are up to 50 percent higher than the state average, according to a Post and Courier analysis of state public health data.

But local governments have no plans to reinstate mask mandates or other rules to curb the latest spread of the deadly virus.

Kershaw County, one of the state's first hotspots when the pandemic started in March 2020, is leading South Carolina in new cases as a percentage of population over the past two weeks.

Lexington County ranks fourth in the state, Sumter County is fifth and Richland stands eighth in recent outbreaks through July 31, the latest state data available. No other region of South Carolina has as many counties ranking among the top 10.

The re-emergence of COVID cases across the Midlands is fueling a new round of worry and advisories by officials working to slow the new Delta variant of the virus.

Still, renewing mask mandates or shutting down businesses again arent being considered.

As far as mandates, thats just not a word thats used anymore. Certainly not around here, Kershaw County Administrator Vic Carpenter said Aug. 2.

Kershaw County, home to Camden, posted the highest two-week concentration of new COVID cases per 100,000 residents at 581.5, which is 50 percent more than the state average.

Lexington County is close behind at 559, while Sumter County is at 555 and Richland County has logged 449.

Clarendon County, which borders Sumter, is at 465, state public health figures show. The statewide average is 381 cases per 100,000 people.

Nearly 625,000 cases have been reported since early 2020, and the states death toll is approaching 10,000.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster rejected the possibility of a statewide mask mandate or extended business shutdown.

"I really think we have got to stay calm. We have put the fire out. It's smoldering in places and could come back up, but the house is not on fire again, and that's what a lot of epidemiologists and experts are telling people, and its frightening people, he told Fox News Sunday on Aug. 1. I believe a lot of our national experts are engaging in frightening hyperbole.

Columbia has no plans to mandate masks. City Councilman Howard Duvall said there are enough safety measures in place to avoid the kind of intrusive policies COVID brought in 2020, and that will help drive public health decisions.

Instead, Columbia will focus on getting more resident vaccinated.

City officials on Aug. 2 announced a new round of free COVID vaccination clinics through the month in a partnership with Prisma Health, the Lexington Medical Center and the state.

Its part of a vaccination initiative launched over the summer called Its YOUR Shot, Columbia, which has a marketing budget to produce print and online ads, radio spots, TV commercials, billboards, water bill inserts and other promotional materials.

"This has proven to be the one way to stop the virus and slow it down in its tracks," Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said. "I come from the school of public policy, the school of public service that we should do anything and everything we can to preserve human life, and that continues to be our focus at the city."

More than 2.1 million South Carolinians have gotten at least one vaccine, and 44 percent have completed the process, according to DHEC.

"This is a volunteer pandemic now. If you haven't had the shot, you're volunteering to be the next victim of COVID," Duvall said. "We now have something that will prevent you from dying from COVID, and the people that are questioning the efficacy of the vaccines are wrong."

Richland County has no immediate plans to reinstate its masking requirements.

I am not aware of any discussions among council members at this time regarding the re-implementation of masks, County Council Chairman Paul Livingston told The Post and Courier. However, that could possibly change contingent upon the local data.

Lexington Countys large rural area was never under a mask mandate per a decision by its council, who left it up to locally elected officials in towns like Cayce, Irmo, Lexington and West Columbia to decide what was best for their residents.

Its a position that county leaders will stick with, County Council Chairman Todd Cullum said.

Thats a personal choice that weve allowed them to make. I would just encourage people to take control of their own personal health.

After becoming sick with COVID for three weeks last September, Irmo Mayor Barry Walker still wears a mask when in public and urges others to act responsibly, but said there are no plans for officials in his town of 12,000 to force action.

"I don't think we have to go that drastic route again, because people know what the consequences are," he said. "There are consequences for not masking up and not taking precautions. If they don't do it, they won't be around next year."

Kershaw County, which was one of the states first coronavirus epicenters, is now a part of the MUSC system, after regulators approved its $75 million acquisition of KershawHealth and several other facilities around the Midlands.

Carpenter said the timing could help with on-the ground efforts to increase vaccination and testing sites, given MUSCs name recognition and local ties.

Theyve been very expressive in their intention of just putting a level of support that we havent seen in a long time there, he said.

Andy Shain reported from Columbia.
Hundreds of teen girls will give birth in South Carolina in a year.

And the state's leading organization dedicated to sheltering those young mothers is facing funding concerns.

"This resource is always going to be needed," State Sen. Sandy Senn said.

This summer, Senn attempted to secure $500,000 in state funding for Florence Crittenton. It's a home located on St. Margaret Street in Charleston that's dedicated to supporting pregnant teen girls by providing housing, parenting skills, medical care and education.

The organization will instead receive only $100,000 through local funding for special projects called "earmarks." This is after the nonprofit saw a major cut in state funding back in 2016 and a decline in donations during the pandemic.

The goal now, Senn said, is to secure additional funding in the fall or look to the community for support.

"They need help and this is a way to help them," she said.

Being the support system

Florence Crittenton's presence in the Charleston community dates back to more than 124 years ago. It started as a home for unwed mothers to give birth to their children and put them up for adoption.

It has since evolved into a space supporting teen mothers by providing resources like job training, education and parenting classes. The organization has supported women ranging in age from 10 to 20.

The home's executive director, Cheryl O'Donnell, said the organization has recently pushed even more to try to eliminate some of the barriers the young girls face.

That could range from struggles in health care to finishing their education. Helping to overcome those obstacles is also important for the girls' children, O'Donnell said.

So that the child doesnt experience these barriers 15 years down the road," she said.

Through the course of the pandemic, the organization faced new financial challenges. Around 30 percent of the organization's budget comes from an annual fundraiser it had to cancel earlier in the pandemic.

Though they were able to get some support through the PPP loan program, there are still some long-term impacts, O'Donnell said.

Additionally, Senn said one of her biggest motivators for pushing for the recent additional funding centered around debates on South Carolina's Fetal Heartbeat Bill.

The law prohibits abortion after a embryonic "heartbeat" is discovered. This is usually detected around six to eight weeks into a pregnancy.

The law was recently blocked by a federal judge. State officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster, filed an appeal to the ruling earlier in July.

If the law is successful, Senn said she imagines there would be an increase in teen mothers who need assistance.

Most would be lower-income," she said.

This is because many wouldn't have the resources to travel out of state for an abortion.

She would typically request around $140,000 to make up for the cut in funding back in 2016. She increased the requested amount to $500,000 this year because of the debates around the bill.

The $100,000 in funding versus $500,000 resulted from a miscommunication with a colleague in the state House of Representatives who requested the lower amount, Senn said.

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Now, with Florence Crittenton expecting to receive less money from the state, there's a $40,000 shortage, since the organization typically receives $140,000.

O'Donnell said that while any amount of money is needed, the $500,000 would've helped the group evolve services outside of the home, such as its rental assistance program.

It also would've helped with efforts such as providing transportation vouchers.

"We are the support system for them," she said, adding $500,000 wouldve made such a significant impact."

Those who want to support the nonprofit can do so by going to the organization's website at florencecrittentonsc.org and clicking "donate." The group is distributing tickets to its 2021 annual fundraiser in October.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the birth rate for mothers ages 15 to 17 was 8.5 per 1,000 women in South Carolina in 2019. In the U.S. overall, it was 6.7.

And though data hasn't been released yet, O'Donnell said, anecdotally, she's noticed more unplanned pregnancies throughout the course of the pandemic.

Getting through the pandemic

Many organizations had to briefly shut down when COVID-19 made its debut in South Carolina last year. Florence Crittenton did not.

Saronna Carter is the outreach and admissions coordinator for Florence Crittenton. So she typically is the one who screens the girls as they enter the program.

It's a job she said she is uniquely suited for since she was once a resident of the home when she was a teenager.

My heart has always been here at Florence Crittenton," she said.

Last year when COVID shut many spaces down, Carter said the admissions process had to be a little slower. Girls were tested before they entered the home.

They then had to quarantine for a time and get tested again. To help with social distancing, they organized small outdoor masked "stress walks" for the girls.

They've also tried to be even more mindful of the girls' mental health. This is especially important since many of them are foster children, Carter said.

And more funding means being able to do more for the girls and their road to independence and a sense of normalcy.

I see a lot of potential in those girls," Carter said. And they just really need an opportunity.

When she entered the home around 23 years ago, she said it was her only option to avoid skipping a year of school.

Her high school couldn't make accommodations for her. Today, her daughter, 23, is an educator in the state.

You still have a purpose; you still can succeed," Carter said.

In the future, organizers want to be able to offer more resources and opportunities for the girls. They also want to expand more services throughout the state since theirs is the only entity in South Carolina doing what they do.

The worst-case scenario, they said, is having to turn away girls due to not having enough funds to support them.
EDITORS NOTE: An earlier story about Hopsewee Plantation and Thomas Lynch, Sr. and Thomas Lynch, Jr. stressed their roles in the early days of South Carolina. Theres more to the story, however. A second article explored more of that history, including the various owners of the property over the past 288 years. This third article will go over Frank and Raejean Beatties upcoming five-year plan for this birthplace of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

GEORGETOWN  Thomas Lynch, Sr. and Thomas Lynch, Jr. were the only father and son to be involved together in the Second Continental Congress that approved the Declaration of independence.

They are both the namesake of Thomas Lynch I, who bought the property by 1733. The Hopsewee Plantation house was built around 1735-1740 on the North Santee River in Georgetown County.

While those connections to the Colonial and Revolutionary War era are quite important, much more has taken place on the land and with the people who were born there, lived, worked and died over almost three centuries.

Those stories and lifestyle experiences are among the things that Frank and Raejean Beattie want to add to the experiences for visitors to Hopsewee.

Currently, people come to the plantation about 12 miles south of Georgetown to see the grounds, take a house tour from attic to basement, a Gullah tour of the existing slave cabins, a sweetgrass basket workshop and perhaps enjoy an afternoon tea or a meal in the River Oak Cottage Tea Room.

All of those activities will remain.

Setting the stage

To help bring the five-year plan into being, the Beatties have brought in two assistant directors.

Augusta Couch and Jonah Stephens both have living history experience at other places. Theyve brought their skills to Hopsewee Plantation and are working towards making the vision into reality.

Telling about more than the Hopsewee Plantation site will be part of their efforts.

Along with this plantation, Thomas Lynch, Sr. owned six others. He sold Hopsewee in 1762 to Robert Hume. Along with Hopsewee, Hume also owned other properties, including land on Cat Island in what is today the Tom Yawkey Heritage Center Wildlife Preserve.

When Stephens toured the Yawkey Center he saw a rice mill chimney. Its one of only seven thats still standing in Georgetown County. He said, it was one at one point Hume property.

When we saw that we were like, can we just grab that and bring it back over?

While moving the chimney wont happen, telling the stories of the indigo and rice cultures, the overall plantation culture and Gullah culture, will be key to future programming.

Stephens also wants to relate other elements of the history of Georgetown County and South Carolina history.

Thousands of years of Indian history

The Indians were, of course, here long before European settlers came to America.

We're very fortunate that they've (the Beatties) chosen us to help them direct this site and they certainly want to branch this out. We're going to be progressing more towards a museum. And so we're going to be bringing in school groups as well as more senior bus tours, just because this is such a significant site with South Carolina history, Stephens said.

We can really teach from the Sewee Indians that were living here all the way until, I mean, my goodness, World War II. We had old Ben, a descendant of the slaves."

When they first came to Hopsewee Plantation and we went down in the basement, I saw those pieces of pottery by the Native Americans that were here. And, they've been pulling up artifacts since the 1960s. Children were still living here. They were pulling them up for fun. Now I'm like, put a flag down or tell us where that was. Where we both come from that Living History background.

Along with the Sewee Indians, Stephens would like to learn and share information on other Indian tribes in coastal South Carolina.

On his mothers side of his family, Stephens said, they have Seminole ancestry. His uncle still does Seminole reenactments in Florida.

Agriculture projects

The Beatties have expanded the property to about 80 acres now. Stephens said they plan to build some workshops and craft shops. They plan to have people on hand to show the way people lived over the time that Hopsewee has been in use.

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Its possible they may bring in a few animals from the early years, such as cattle and various birds. They plan to devote about 10 acres to agricultural purposes.

I've got good connections with our friends up at Historic Brattonsville who have been intentionally breeding cattle that would be appropriate for the 18th and 19th centuries, Stephens said.

As he and Couch have been doing more research and working with some archaeologists on site, theyve learned much more that theyll include in future programming.

Button, button

While he cant tell too much just yet about some discoveries, Stephens did tell about a button.

One thing I can tell you is that they found a Royal Provincial button on our property, which is interesting, because it's like, we think of the Lynches as Founding Fathers, signer of the Declaration, the Humes fought hand in hand with Francis Marion and the militia. So whats an RP button doing out here? he asked.

And so there's a lot of answers that are being solved. And then a lot of questions are being solved. And then it's also causing more questions. We want to incorporate a lot of the different history out here, and my job is to structure the living history on the site. And that's why I was brought on. Im a shoemaker, a historic carpenter, and I don't often profess it, but I'm a tailor as well. So I make a lot of clothing. Already, he said, costumed interpreters give site tours.

Trade shops

We're going to be focusing in especially around the home, we're going to be looking at the time period of about 1800. And that's just above the Regency era. And that makes sense with this plantation, specifically because it was founded with the Lynch family. But we do see that the Humes just turned it into a massive rice operation where they become rice royalties, as I'm sure you know. And this whole area over here (near the current River Oak Cottage Tea Room and some modern workshops) from what we have found, was developed into trade shops. Those are all in the works, Stephens said.

There will be tradespeople or craftspeople doing those kinds of work, to let people see what it was like more than two centuries ago.

Slave cabins

There are currently two slave cabins that Stephens said date from around 1740, which was about when the plantation house was built.

One of those two buildings is currently open for people to see. The other needs some maintenance work before it can be reopened to visitors.

More Information Hopsewee Plantation is about 12 miles south of Georgetown off U.S. Highway 17. Its address is: 494 Hopsewee Rd., Georgetown, SC Phone: (843) 546-7891. You may visit their Web site for more information or to book tours: https://hopsewee.com/

Both of the small white buildings were slave cabins, Stephens said. Indications are there was a kitchen between them.

On many plantations the kitchen was in a separate building. In part, it was done that way in case the kitchen caught on fire. If that happened, it wouldnt damage or destroy the main house.

Through my own efforts, he said, Ive been able to do some conservation and find out that the roof was repaired in the mid-19th century. We're doing a lot of work to better those exhibits. These two original buildings are really going to be where we're going to focus a lot of living history efforts. This one will be turned into a media center where people will be able to come and view original artifacts.

At the time the rice production was most successful, about 700 slaves lived and worked on the several plantations that the Hume-Lucas family owned. There were about 170 people who worked on Hopsewee. There was another village a few miles away on the Santee River, and some of the people would be taken by boat to the other plantations to do their work.

Teaching more about Gullah history

We just have so much information that we're really trying to uncover about this place. And, with the fact that we are recognized through the National Landmarks because of the Lynch family, I feel like not only do we have the opportunity that yes, we have that Revolutionary War history, but we also have the opportunity to teach more about the Gullah history here.

The fact that we had a man and a woman living here until I think it was 1947, still in an enslaved cabin, plowing with an oxen and working this land, that kind of makes me want to really turn the living history into something more, so I'm thinking the farm at this point, we discussed doing kind of a 20th century living history out there to talk about their story. At post-slavery, what happened here on this plantation?

We also are trying to reach out to the local community and ask for, especially with our living history efforts, any kind of cookware, actual agricultural tools that we can still use, if somebody has something that they would like to see other people have as an exhibit, we would love to take in artifacts, especially from the local Georgetown area.

Another chapter to unfold

Enthusiasm in his voice, Stephens continued, We just have such a broad history that we can teach, as much of Georgetown does. We're very fortunate to be in this area. Coming from a cotton planting background, you know, it's taken me for a whole step back learning. It's just so much different than growing cotton.

Georgetown's got so much. I mean, it's just, it seems like whenever you think you know the story of Georgetown, there's always another chapter to unfold about, Stephens said.

He first got involved in living history when he was 14 years old, and hes now 25 so he has more than a decade of experience in it.

His first exposure was at Kings Mountain battle site, on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina.

I saw these men dressed in funny outfits. And I said, I want to do that when I grow up. And at 18 years old, I was the youngest interpreter working at Colonial Williamsburg, Stephens said.
Close to 1,800 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus were reported on Aug. 2 in South Carolina.

This makes the highest daily count in the state since mid-February. More than 510,000 cases have been reported in South Carolina since the start of the pandemic.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control also reported one new death on Aug 2.

The agency said, as of July 27, it will only identify the county of residence for COVID-related deaths. In the past, DHEC has also included the age range for those people who have died in the daily data.

Weekly death totals by county will be published on Tuesdays and will include age ranges. The agency said this allows the latest weekend totals to be counted and compiled on Monday, so the public has access to the most accurate information.

COVID-19 hospitalization data will also be reported weekly on Tuesdays, moving forward.

Statewide numbers

New cases reported: 1,794 confirmed, 605 probable.

Total cases in S.C.: 510,769 confirmed, 113,178 probable.

Percent positive: 15.1 percent.

New deaths reported: 1 confirmed, 0 probable.

Total deaths in S.C.: 8,739 confirmed, 1,176 probable.

Percent of ICU beds filled: 70 percent.

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S.C. residents vaccinated

DHEC's vaccine dashboard shows that 51.5 percent of the state's residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 44.7 percent have completed vaccination.

Hardest-hit areas

In the total number of newly confirmed cases, Charleston County (153), Greenville County (151), Horry County (193) and Richland County (151) saw the highest totals.

What about tri-county?

Charleston County had 153 new cases on Aug. 2, while Berkeley County had 102 and Dorchester County had 80.

Hospitalizations

Of the 453 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Aug. 2, 133 were in the ICU and 49 were using ventilators.

What do experts say?

People who are vaccinated against COVID-19 have a lower risk of infection, becoming ill, being hospitalized and dying from the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said emerging science suggests some vaccinated people can be infected with the Delta variant and spread it to others.

The agency recommends people wear masks in public indoor settings to prevent further spread in places with substantial or high spread.
MYRTLE BEACH  On Aug. 7, Myrtle Beach native Chef Nicholas Huckabee will battle a dozen of his peers from across the country for the coveted title of King or Queen of American Seafood.

The culinary warriors will face off at the 17th annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans, which was founded by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board to promote the quality and variety of domestic, sustainable seafood found in the United States.

The chefs will prepare their dishes in front of a live audience and celebrity hosts, most notably Chef Cory Bahr, Food Network Star finalist and Food Network Chopped champion. A panel of judges will score on presentation, creativity, composition, craftsmanship and flavor.

But who will reign supreme?

Huckabee is a veteran of the local culinary field. He was executive chef at both the Dunes Club and Wachesaw Plantation, sous-chef at Pawleys Plantation and chef de cuisine at Bliss Restaurant in Murrells Inlet. He is currently part of the team at Myrtle Beach-based caterer/personal chef service A Difference in Dining.

Hes been working in the industry since he was 14 and attended the culinary program at Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Early on, it was family gatherings that piqued his interest in food.

I noticed the way it brought everybody together, the happiness of a good meal, he said. I wanted to be able to do that for people, and then once I got into the field, it felt right.

Huckabee has long focused on local and regional cuisine and operates under a mantra he calls simple is best.

What I mean by that is not to over-season or overpower a main component of your dish. You want to express the great flavor of your protein and simply want to complement it, he said.

He has battled it out with other chefs before, having competed several times in American Culinary Federation-sanctioned Mystery Box competitions (garnering two gold and six silver medals along the way) and taking first place in 2016 at the South Carolina Seafood Challenge, an event presented in conjunction with the Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Supply Show of The Southeast. He was runner-up in 2015 and again last year.

Huckabee was sous-chef for Chef Corbett Rourk at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in 2011 and competed as chef at the New Orleans event in 2016.

How to get in fight-ready shape is much like the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall. The answer is practice.

I practiced three times in the last two days: Get all of your ingredients, set up, get your sous-chef together, organize your menu  decide who is going to start doing what and how long its going to take for each item to complete  and its simply being organized.

Sous-chef Tim Rouse will be joining Huckabee for the event.

For Huckabee, winging it is not an option. He said he thinks its foolish to go into a venue like the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans without being fully prepared.

I really need to feel confident and know what Im doing without having to try to piece it together in the moment. Its just not smart, he said. If you are not practiced and you walk into that crowd with a microphone in your face, things could get a little anxious.

Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser had the following to say in a recent press release: Following a challenging year for all of us, the Great American Seafood Cook-Off is the perfect stage to celebrate Louisiana and Americas domestic seafood industry  the best in the world. This year, we are excited to welcome a very talented field of chefs from all over the country vying to be crowned the next King or Queen of American Seafood right here in New Orleans. Each chef will be showcasing their skills with domestic seafood to present the best seafood dishes.

For the Cook-Off, Huckabee will be preparing pecan encrusted black drum with smoked Gouda shrimp and grits, wilted spinach with clams and country ham along with a corn emulsion sauce and roasted red pepper sauce.

Looking back at his early motivation, Huckabee said it started with an itch for cooking.

I had a small talent for it to begin with, so I just worked on it and developed it. 20 years later, here I am.
LADSON  It was a familiar, if unwelcome scene last month in the College Park Estates neighborhood, a small subdivision of mostly one-level homes built in the 1970s off of Interstate 26.

An afternoon thunderstorm erupted on July 19, dropping more than 3 inches of water in 2 hours, according to a nearby rain gauge. Limehouse Branch, a canal that runs through the neighborhood, swelled out of its banks and, in a muddy rush, flowed over the two bridges in the neighborhood and onto nearby streets. Some people were cut off from their homes, or trapped inside them.

Tommy Maw, with a house next to the slightly higher bridge that drivers try to cross over in deluges, watched as wakes from passing cars flowed toward his yard like tides.

Ben Ramsey, down a nearby street, braced for the inevitable as 2 inches of water seeped into his ground floor through cracks in a garage door and back entrance he had blocked with bricks long ago.

And Jared Earnhardt, on higher ground at the edge of the subdivision, sent a drone into the air to document the mess that residents have complained about for decades.

Residents of the working-class neighborhood, comprised of retirees, medical workers, members of the construction industry and others, said they've felt ignored on the flooding issue for years and that Berkeley County needs to do more to address the problem. The events have gotten worse, especially in the past few years, they said, and all the while more land in the region, sandwiched between fast-growing Summerville and Goose Creek, is paved over for new development.

The county is working now on a watershed study, and has just begun discussions on how to mitigate the damage in the area, including potential home elevations or buyouts, said Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb. It's been a "significant expense" already to try and clear out more space in the creek for water to flow, he said.

The County Council representative for the neighborhood, Brandon Cox, also said he'd been working to find a solution since he was elected in 2019.

"I am doing, and the countys doing, just about everything they can to prevent flooding in that area," he said.

But College Park residents remain frustrated over what they call an inadequate response.

Longtime problem

The neighborhood has been flooding since Maw and his wife arrived in 1986. One of the worst floods on his property, next to the Oxford Street bridge, happened shortly after closing on the house. After a trip to the Upstate to pick up furniture from his in-laws, Maw said, he returned and opened the front door, and watched 8 inches of water rush out.

The worst came in 2015, when a sluggish storm system sat over South Carolina for days and unleashed torrents of water from the Midlands to the Pee Dee to the coast. It swamped the Maws' home, requiring them to cut out the interior walls a foot and a half off the ground, and replace all of their furniture and several personal keepsakes. In the same event, Maw said he lost a longtime file he'd been keeping that documented his many attempts to get somebody to fix the drainage.

"We'd been married over 50 years," Maw said. "We had to start, like newlyweds, all over again."

He leaves sandbags outside his home all the time now, in case a sudden downpour starts.

Ben Ramsey, who lives around the corner, has seen even more destruction. He purchased a two-level home in 2003, according to county records, the largest on a street of mostly ranch houses. But the bottom level has become largely unusable because of how often water rushes in. Around 2008, 4 feet of water gushed onto the ground floor; in all, water has entered the house at different levels around 10 times over roughly the past decade, he said.

He's attempted to keep it out by blocking off the garage door and entrances on the ground level in the back with fresh walls of brick. Selling the house doesn't seem like an option, so everything except the laundry room has simply been moved upstairs. Only concrete and tile is left on the bottom flooring now.

Earnhardt, who lives on the back edge of College Park, doesn't see the same flooding as some of his neighbors  but the waters covering the two bridges have also made it hard for him to access his house at times. So he has recently started using the drone to capture images of the flooding, to raise more attention.

All three men are are waiting for a fix. Most recently, Berkeley County installed a WaterGoat between the bridges, a floating device to trap debris. Then, the county started asking residents if they would volunteer to clean it out.

"We asked for help, but we didn't ask for that," Earnhardt said. "That was just a slap in the face."

Cribb said the WaterGoat isn't meant as a flood device; it's a beautification initiative to capture litter from flowing further downstream. But it's still a common topic of frustration in the flood-weary neighborhood.

Far-off fixes

Cox and Cribb said county staff have tried to clean out Limehouse Branch to improve the flow of water there and are looking for places to put retention ponds. New development near the canal that fills in wetlands adds to residents' consternation, though, and Cox said the county was limited in what it could do to stem the tide of coming businesses and homes.

"Who am I to say, 'Hey, I'm this new guy, I don't like that you want to build a lot of apartments right here,' even though it was zoned that way," Cox said. "Now you have the government telling you what you can do with your property, after they've already purchased it."

He argued that unless a developer wants a new zoning designation, the options were limited. Other places have passed stricter rules on how new developments handle rainfall, though, like the city of Charleston. But options like that are not without risk and have led to lawsuits from developers who argue their projects are being unfairly held up.

Then there's the problem of the bridges. Maw wants them to be lifted, so motorists don't send wake toward his house when they cross in a flood. Everyone in the neighborhood agrees it's unsafe to be cut off, especially if there's another emergency in the middle of a deluge. They also have pillars in the middle of the stream, which can create blockages, Cribb said. But the bridges are owned and maintained by the S.C. Department of Transportation.

SCDOT spokesman Pete Poore said the county asked the bridges be put on a replacement schedule, but that's not possible because they're structurally sound, and the program is meant for deficient or unsafe infrastructure.

He said SCDOT was waiting to see whether studies by the county recommend changes to the bridges to improve the situation. As to whether the agency might help with the cost if replacement is recommended, he said, "I'm not going to shut the door on anything."

After the flooding last month, some members of County Council and staff also met to discuss possible solutions. One option could be elevating homes above the floodwaters, Cribb said. Another may be buying and demolishing homes that are prone to going under water, which has happened several times in other communities around the state. "That is something that's on the table," Cox said.

Ramsey said he would take a buyout offer if it paid for the market value of a comparable home. But for Maw, the option was an unworkable one.

"I'm 70 years old. Who's going to give me a 30-year loan?" Maw said. "And I'm retired. I'm not going to be able to buy another house and make house payments."

Either way, the program is far from reality. The meeting was just the first step, and the county would need to hire a contractor for further study before applying for mitigation grants, Cribb said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on the campaign trail in the fall of 2013 when a drone landed on stage just a few feet from the podium where she was speaking.

A German security agent nonchalantly walked up and discarded the troublesome intruder. A few days later, it was discovered that a rival political party had been flying the drone as part of a publicity stunt.

When Threat Management Group CEO Brandon Cox and company Vice President Luke Ryker watched the video, they quickly realized the incident, which had been dismissed as a prank by Merkel and the media, had much larger ramifications.

Imagine if there had been an IED (improvised explosive device) or some other kind of payload on the drone, said Cox, who served as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist in the Air Force for 16 years. It just shows you how unprepared the agents were then; they didnt view the drone as a threat, just some kind of toy. That incident convinced me that drones were becoming a threat.

Cox and Ryker realized there could be an emerging market for military, law enforcement and private companies searching for ways to mitigate drone surveillance and threats.

Eight years after the incident involving Merkel, Threat Management Group, a local protection and integration company, landed a $7.6 million contract with the Air Force to help augment the training airmen receive to detect and locate drones and their pilots. The contract could be worth as much as $9.6 million.

We spend most of our day thinking like a bad guy would think and then coming up with strategies to defeat or mitigate that threat, said Cox, who is a Berkeley County Councilman.

Using software developed by Dedrone, a German technology company, TMG sets up passive sensors that can triangulate when and where a drone takes off and where the pilot is located.

Drones pose new challenges worldwide because traditional security measures are completely ineffective, said Dedrone CEO and co-founder Joerg Lamprecht. Drones are fast, small and discreet. We have developed a system for the detection and defense against civilian drones.

While the Federal Aviation Administration requires all drone pilots to obtain a remote pilot certificate, many do not. Basic drones can be purchased for as little as $500.

The number of drone sales has almost tripled since 2016 when 1.6 million were purchased in the U.S. That number swelled to over 4.3 million in 2020. Industry officials estimate that there are 7 million drones in operation in the U.S. with more than 750,000 pilots.

The average guy can go to a Best Buy and get a good drone off the shelf for around a thousand dollars, Ryker said. Thats what we specialize in. Those fixed-winged, multi-rotor drones that are a nuisance. The kind of drone a disgruntled person can use, attach some kind of payload, and do a lot of damage.

Cox founded TMG in 2004 in his garage. The company specialized in training military and law enforcement personnel against IEDs. As the military grew more proficient with IEDs, Cox began to expand his business model.

Combating drones seemed to be the next logical step for us, said Cox, who now has more than 30 full-time employees.

The Bridge Run and Darlington

In the spring of 2018, Robert Smith was working as a freelance photographer and videographer for the Cooper River Bridge Run.

Smith was in a helicopter circling about 300 feet above the Ravenel Bridge as the bulk of the 30,000-plus runners were making their way from Mount Pleasant to the finish line in downtown Charleston.

It was the shot hed been waiting for all morning, but just as he was ready to get the photograph, a small blip appeared just ahead of the helicopter.

The drone just kind of magically appeared in front us, just came out of nowhere, Smith said. Drones can look like a spec on the windshield or a bird or a dot in the air, depending on the lighting. There could be a drone right in front of you and you might not know it.

The drone was eventually forced down into the marsh by a nearby law enforcement helicopter. The drone pilot was later discovered to be on the Charleston peninsula and had no idea the area had been designated as a no-fly zone.

The incident could very easily have had a different, maybe even fatal, outcome.

If a drone gets caught up in the rotors, we would have crashed, Smith said.

The following year, law enforcement officials reached out to Cox and his TMG team to help with drone security.

Its really a safety issue, said Cooper River Bridge Run director Irv Batten. Imagine how many people could get hurt if a drone crashes on the bridge while the race is going on. Im glad we had the extra level of security.

When Smith went up in the helicopter in 2019, he was armed with an iPad and, using software and sensors that were provided by TMG, was able to easily identify any drones in the area.

It made a huge difference, Smith said. Knowing where the drones were  and there are some that have a right to be there  gave us peace of mind that we didnt have the year before.

In 2020, state law enforcement officials enlisted the help of TMG for NASCARs Southern 500 in Darlington. It was the first major sporting event after the COVID lockdowns had been lifted. Although no fans were allowed inside the track, about 10,000 gathered outside the track for the event. Several came armed with drones.

Darlington was more concerned about copyright infringement issues, Ryker said. They didnt want people flying the drones to get photos during the race. We had a couple of people try and get their drones in the air and we were immediately able to triangulate the drone and pilot and get them on the ground.

Weight in Gold

Drone security has become an issue for federal officials only in the past decade.

As access and popularity of drones has increased, the threats and near misses have become more frequent.

In 2016 when then-Vice President Joe Biden was traveling to Peru for the inauguration of former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a drone hovered over Bidens arrival area.

We had no idea who was flying the drone or what they were doing there, said Billy Davis, special agent in charge, U.S. Secret Service Vice Presidential Protective Division. It was a no-fly zone. Until we could figure out what was going on, we couldnt get to where we needed to be.

Davis said the U.S. Secret Service was acutely aware of drone threats, especially around the White House.

The White House complex has its own technology to mitigate drone threats, but it was always an issue, Davis said. When the president or vice president were outside on the grounds, we were very cognizant of drones. Its your basic domestic terrorist threat, so the technology that a company like Threat Management Group has is really worth its weight in gold.

Most law enforcement officials that met with TMG believed they could simply shoot the drones out of the sky. That proved to be easier said than done. Last December, TMG gathered several members of law enforcement and military personnel to try to shoot drones hovering just a few feet away.

These were high-end special forces guys and they couldnt do it, Ryker said. It really brought into focus what can and cannot be useful against a drone.

Threat Management was awarded a drone-detection contract with state law enforcement in June. The $250,000 contract is believed to be the first maritime-specific drone-detection program of its kind in the U.S.

When the software and sensor system was created, no one thought about putting it on a boat, Ryker said. When we got with the software engineers, they thought it could work, but were not sure. You can put the sensors on the shoreline and in the boat and even when the boat is moving itll work.

Its just another emerging threat for TMG.
The Lowcountry has a chance of heavy rain and flooding this evening and throughout the week, as a front lingers by coastal South Carolina and Georgia.

On Aug. 2, rain was forecast to arrive starting at 7 p.m. and persist through 2 a.m. the next day. The exact amount and timing are uncertain, meteorologists said; the flooding "could range from localized flooding of poor-drainage areas to more dangerous flash flooding," according to a forecast sent out by the National Weather Service office in Charleston.

It's also unclear whether the storms would pile up on certain areas without affecting the rest of the region. Recent events in the area have shown the feast-or-famine potential of a system of thunderstorms: At the end of July, one deluge swamped roads in outer West Ashley but left flood-prone downtown Charleston, just a few miles away, mostly unscathed, for example.

As of roughly 6 p.m., thunderstorms had started to spread across Coastal Georgia to the south, including 60-mph winds and hail under three-quarters of an inch.

As of 8:15 p.m., there were 474 Dominion Energy outages in Charleston County, according to Dominion's website. There were 483 outages in Dorchester County.

There is some flooding at Cosgrove and Rivers avenues in North Charleston, said Ron Morales, a Weather Service meteorologist, adding that more reports on flooding may come in later this evening.

"Our biggest concern right now is the heavy rainfall and some minor flooding," Morales said. "That is what we're watching for."

This system will linger for several days, with between 4 and 6 inches of rain total expected by the morning of Aug. 6, the Weather Service said. Emily McGraw, a Weather Service meteorologist, said the system was the result of a sluggish cold front typical of the summer, which had plenty of water to dump from a moist atmosphere.

The Weather Prediction Center, another arm of the Weather Service, was also forecasting a slight chance of excessive rainfall for the Lowcountry through the week.

The good news, however, is that last week's brutal heat has broken and forecasters aren't expecting to issue any more heat warnings or advisories in the next few days, McGraw said. That follows a few days over the weekend that were the hottest of the summer so far, McGraw said.

Combined heat and humidity led to temperatures that felt as if they soared above 100 degrees, even overnight. But the Weather Service doesn't track records for these "heat indices," and McGraw said no actual temperature records were broken.

Highs this week, however, were forecast to peak in the low 90s on Aug. 2 and fall into the low 80s in the days following that.

Olivia Diaz contributed to this report.
James French, who played a central role in the Lowcountry's African American community as founder and editor of The Charleston Chronicle, died on July 31. He was 94.

For decades, Frenchs Chronicle was both a gathering point for Black leaders and a means to distribute information about issues impacting African Americans in the Charleston area. It celebrated local accomplishments and tackled big concerns such as gentrification, racial injustice and economic problems.

French started the weekly paper in the summer of 1971, two years after he retired from the Navy. In 2016, French handed the reins to his grandchildren Tolbert and Damion Smalls.

State Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, recalled how French provided the safe space in which to discuss myriad issues.

The Chronicle actually paved the way for my political career, Gilliard said. Anyone who aspired to be anything in the community, in terms of serving the public, we would meet in Jims office and talk about community-related issues  jobs, crime, public housing. Those were the things on Jims mind.

They would talk for hours, identifying and investigating those issues and discussing strategies for addressing them, Gilliard said.

We had our hands on the pulse of the community, he said. We had an agenda when we left the room.

The Chronicle was one of many Black newspapers published during the 20th century. They first began to appear during the eras of slavery and segregation.

The first regular Black publication was Freedoms Journal, introduced in 1827 in Boston. Too long have others spoken for us, the publishers of Freedoms Journal argued.

Eventually, other Black newspapers emerged offering a variety of content, from news stories and commentary to religious instruction and cultural engagement. Many of these papers were produced in the North and surreptitiously distributed to people in the Deep South. They often were consumed collectively, in church or at the barbershop.

The Chronicle's predecessor in Charleston was called The Lighthouse, a newspaper started by John McCray in 1939. McCray soon took his operation to Columbia and, through the 1940s and early 1950s, produced many influential editorials and articles challenging Jim Crow laws and practices.

Frenchs Chronicle followed in this tradition. Its original office was at the intersection of King and Cannon streets, in the heart of Charlestons Black commercial district, Gilliard recalled.

French was born Oct. 7, 1926, in Kansas City and became interested in journalism while in the Navy, where he worked as a photographer and manager of radio and TV stations, according to a 2016 article in The Chronicle. While in the Navy, he relocated to Charleston in the late-1960s and soon after launched The Chronicle.

Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, has known French since the early 1970s.

Jim has always been in and around the civil rights movement, she said. And his paper, distributed to all the Black churches in the area each Wednesday, offered an important alternative, she noted. It allowed us to hear the other side.

Barney Blakeney, a longtime contributor to The Chronicle, said French was devoted to the credo of the Black Press, which upheld the idea that African American reporters, while obligated to produce good stories, needed to advocate for the community.

French, he said, always was eager to get to the crux of the matter.

"His greatest contribution was providing the vehicle that a lot of people used to wage (their) battles, he said.

Funeral arrangements are by Murrays Mortuary of North Charleston.
South Carolina U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn called on President Joe Biden to extend a federal moratorium on evictions until October, citing concerns about the growing Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus.

But the Democratic congressman also expressed annoyance that South Carolina has not done more to move federal financial assistance into the hands of renters who are behind on their bills.

Few South Carolinians have taken advantage of rental-assistance programs being offered at the federal level, and Clyburn said almost none of the $500 million in assistance has been allocated for the state.

The House majority whip said few residents have applied for the funds and that local governments haven't worked hard enough to help distribute it.

"I have been calling upon South Carolina for some time to get the money out," Clyburn told The Post and Courier. "We ought to be doing better. We received more than $500 million and people are about to have their furniture put out on the street. This is not a good look for any state, and certainly not a good look for my home state."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an eviction ban in September 2020 which has been extended several times. But the Biden administration said last week it would let the restriction lapse.

Congress failed to pass a bill extending the moratorium on July 30.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and her team have been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium, the Biden administration said Aug. 2.

Nationwide, as many as 11 million people are behind on their rent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The progressive Washington think tank estimates that South Carolina is one of the worst states to rack up past-due notices on rent, with more than 28 percent of renters behind as of the first week of July.

While some advocates have predicted a wave of evictions following the end of the moratorium, it's not clear that the CDC order was widely used. In order to be covered by the eviction moratorium, renters had to meet income criteria and certify they'd tried to get financial assistance, among other requirements. Then they had to give their landlords a form invoking the protections.

Throughout the moratorium's 11-month duration about 500 eviction cases in Charleston County were put on hold after tenants took those steps, according to a Post and Courier analysis of court data. Roughly 200 of them were resolved before the moratorium ended.

By comparison, landlords filed more than 5,000 eviction cases in Charleston County over the same period.

Clyburn said that as the Delta variant spreads, the White House should try to find a way to stop widespread evictions for the sake of public health.

"With the increase in cases caused by the Delta variant, the CDC should extend the eviction moratorium to protect public health," he said. "Congress has appropriated over $46 billion in rental assistance funds to keep people in their homes but many state and local governments say they need more to time to disburse those funds to landlords and renters."

Clyburn sympathized with landlords and understands the situation they've been put it. But he has also promised to take some of them to task.

Sadly, certain large corporate landlords have taken advantage of families during this time and the Select Subcommittee that I chair is investigating this," Clyburn said.

The congressman said he spoke with Biden staffers recently and suggested the administration ask states and local courts not to enforce evictions and offer support for the overwhelming backlog of rental bills.

On Aug. 2, the Biden administration issued a statement calling on "states and localities to extend or put in place evictions moratoria for at the least the next two months."

Clyburn said he was pleased to see that his advice was being taken by the administration, and said he plans to speak with more White House staffers about his concerns.

He also called on Gov. Henry McMaster to take notice of the crisis facing the state.

"Where there is a will, there is a way," Clyburn said. "And I'm weighing the extent that there is a will to do this."

Thad Moore contributed to this article.
Maria Douglas Reeve knew she wanted to be a reporter since she was a student at Gordon H. Garrett High School in the early 80s.

Reeve, who was just Maria Douglas at the time, called The Post and Couriers offices and asked if there were any opportunities for a budding journalist.

The receptionist who answered the phone promptly replied no. The newspaper didnt offer positions to people in high school.

It didnt stop Reeve. On July 20, the Houston Chronicle named the North Charleston native its new editor, replacing Steve Riley, who announced his retirement in March.

Reeve, who is Black, is the first person of color named editor in the papers 120-year history. She is also among a small but growing number of people of color to lead newsrooms across the country.

Reeve is coming into the role after serving as the Chronicles managing editor for nearly two years. Before that, she worked in various news management roles at the Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, both in the Twin Cities, and at The Bradenton Herald in Bradenton, Fla.

Her career and success are the result of an early education at Burns Elementary, now called Meeting Street Elementary @ Burns, and Garrett High School, which closed in 1994, both in North Charleston.

As she was growing up along Dorchester Road, Reeves childhood was littered with books and newspapers. Education was a foundation in her family, established by her parents Yvette and Hillery Douglas, a longtime Charleston County teacher and chair of the districts school board in the mid-'80s to early '90s and early 2000s.

Throughout her time at Burns and Garrett, teachers would notice that Reeve would take every opportunity to read  between activities, after she finished tests and while waiting for class to start.

I remember in seventh grade my teacher told my mom, Shes just so quiet. She finishes her work and she whips out a book to read, Reeve said.

She flourished in high school English classes, where she found writing was her passion and she wanted to have an impact on the world. When she told her father that she intended to major in English at Davidson College in North Carolina, an expensive school even in the mid-'80s, he was apprehensive to say the least.

Im just an old country boy, I figured majoring in English, the best you could do was being a teacher, Douglas said. But she said she was going to become a newspaper reporter. My goodness. From Davidson to a newspaper reporter, it was hard for me to really figure that out.

Douglas eventually came around to the idea and couldnt be prouder of his daughters accomplishments today.

When he found out Hearst Corp., the owner of the Chronicle, named Reeve as editor, he knew her years of dedication played a part.

I just thought to myself, This group recognized who she really is, a hard worker and a person who gets results, Douglas said.

Reeve is in the minority as a Black, female editor of a major newspaper. According to a survey by the News Leaders Association, just 19 percent of newsroom managers were minorities and 41.8 percent were women in 2018. Overall, minorities make up 22.6 percent of all newsrooms that responded to the survey.

Those numbers have grown in recent years and announcements of people of color being placed into management roles have increased in frequency. On July 21, the Dallas Morning News announced Katrice Hardy, a Black woman who previously worked as executive editor of the Greenville News, will take over as executive editor in August.

Hardy and Reeve are two of 12 women and people of color who now sit at the highest positions in the 20 largest newspapers in the country, according to a Neiman Lab report. In 2020, 13 of the top editor jobs at those 20 newspapers were held by White men.

The growing diversity doesnt mean newsrooms are where they should be or there isnt still work to be done, Reeve said.

When you look at communities and if you say that your goal is to cover those communities, it becomes necessary to have people that can relate, she said. There is some nuance and texture and background that people of different backgrounds bring to their reporting.

She said that newsroom diversity is especially important in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country and where minorities make up most of the population, adding it can only help with the business of the paper.

If we are attracting those audience members, they need to be able to see themselves in our pages, she said. You do that with a staff that has a variety of life experience and a variety of backgrounds.

Reeve has already started transitioning into her new role and looks forward to its possibilities while she maintains her connection to her Charleston roots.
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.
Fortunately, the Legislature didnt prohibit S.C. schools from requiring COVID-19 tests, or from requiring students to quarantine after theyve been exposed to the virus, or from requiring social distancing  although lawmakers made the latter a lot more difficult by limiting the number of students each district can teach remotely.

Fortunately, lawmakers didnt prohibit masks in school  just mask requirements.

For that matter, perhaps we should consider it fortunate that lawmakers didnt take Gov. Henry McMasters insistence that parents know best to its logical conclusion and allow parents to decide that their children can go to school even when they have COVID, or the flu, or a stomach virus, or chickenpox, or whatever other communicable disease they might have.

Of course, there would be less need for quarantines and tests if the Legislature hadnt prohibited schools from requiring masks in school this fall. Since it did, schools will have to work harder than they should have to in order to keep the under-12 crowd safe until the FDA allows them to be vaccinated.

So far, only a tiny number of children have died from COVID, and very few have gotten terribly sick. We certainly hope this remains the case, although we dont know what the long-term effect of COVID infections will be. We never know what the next variant will do. We also dont know how much of COVIDs light touch on children was the result of children being largely kept at home or masked for the first 15 months of the pandemic.

That means, as DHEC explained in guidelines released Thursday for the fall semester, schools will need to go as far as they can in creating layered prevention strategies to keep our schools from becoming the hot spots they never were last year precisely because of the mask mandates.

In fact, the one good thing to come out of the pandemic is the way the Department of Health and Environmental Control has found its public health voice, as a determined advocate for science over politics since the start of the pandemic and especially since Dr. Edward Simmer was named director in February. The new guidelines acknowledge the legal realities in South Carolina but dont give an inch on stressing the importance of the masks that some lawmakers believe are a threat to parental rights. It should be clear to schools that they have an ally in DHEC  for which we should all be grateful.

Congress has showered our public schools with federal funds, and they need to spend much of the money on proven education strategies (starting with after school, summer school and one-on-one instruction) that can catch up kids from COVID learning loss and start making up for pre-COVID inadequacies. But they also need to spend it on disease-prevention. And at the top of that list (before the hysterical surface disinfecting that might be useful but is not nearly as important as we thought a year ago) should be testing and contact tracing  because those are the best tools the Legislature hasn't taken away from them.

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Right behind that should be muscular campaigns to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated, and to make the vaccine available on campus for staff, students (with parental authorization, of course) and parents.

Schools also should continue to encourage parents to require their children to wear masks. And as DHEC notes, they should enforce the federal requirement that masks be worn on public transportation, which includes school buses.

DHEC advises against segregating vaccinated from unvaccinated children, and that makes sense, because the danger to vaccinated children who are exposed to unvaccinated children is low, and parents who want to lower their childrens risk of infection have the option of getting them vaccinated.

But depending on how things develop, were not convinced it would be a bad idea for schools to segregate unmasked children under age 12 from masked children  since those childrens parents dont have any way to reduce their risk of exposure as long as they're in our schools.

Wed also urge schools to reserve as many of their limited number of remote learning spots as possible to children younger than 12 whose parents dont want to send them to school with unmasked children. We have grave concerns about the shortcomings of remote learning, but the idea that the state of South Carolina would force parents to choose between exposing their children to infection from unmasked children and paying to send them to private school is appalling. Talk about a lack of respect for parental rights.

Of course, the Legislature could make all of this simpler by allowing mask requirements in classes where children are younger than 12, and we continue to urge lawmakers to do that. But as long as they don't, school officials must use every tool they have as effectively as they possibly can to limit the transmission of COVID-19 in our schools.
The investigation into harassment allegations against former Guam psychiatrist Dr. Abner Pasatiempo at the Guam Board of Medical Examiners remains on hold, as the board is essentially stuck procuring a specialist to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, the Superior Court of Guam issued a bench warrant in June for Pasatiempo. In addition to the allegations at the GBME, Pasatiempo faces criminal misdemeanor charges stemming from alleged harassment committed against clients while he was employed the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center.

The court has not been able to serve Pasatiempo.

After failing to appear for an arraignment hearing in mid-June, the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest with $2,000 cash bail.

Pasatiempo did join the July GBME meeting, albeit remotely.

The Office of the Attorney General has not yet commented on the apparent lull in the criminal matter, even as Pasatiempo appears for and has retained representation at the GBME.

Specialist requests anonymity

As the Guam Daily Post reported in May, an on-island specialist had agreed to review the medical board case without compensation but under the condition of anonymity. However, it was determined the review could not be done for free because that would violate law.

Moreover, the individual could not remain anonymous, according to discussions during the July meeting.

Even further, regulations require that the GBME obtain three quotes for the procurement.

While funding had been discussed in the past, Health Professional Licensing Office Administrator Zennia Pecina stated in July that financing isn't the only issue.

"My office has reached out to several ... specialists, and none of them, I think with the exception of one, has responded," Pecina said. "We have to have three, and it's just a government process, so it's not that easy. We can send 20 out but it depends on whether the doctors respond to our requests. So that's the biggest holdup, I think, here."

These concerns also affect other GBME cases.

Curtis Vandeveld, Pasatiempo's attorney at the GBME, appeared remotely along with the doctor during the July meeting to obtain an update, but also expressed frustrations with how long the investigation was taking.

Pasatiempo submitted a licensure reinstatement application late last year in an effort to resolve complaints against him as he sought employment in Alaska.

Seven complaints have been filed against Pasatiempo at the GBME.

Attempting to resolve some of the procurement issues, board attorney, Rob Weinberg drafted legislation, introduced as Bill 43-36, which would exempt health professional licensing boards from Guam procurement law when contracting for investigations.

Weinberg stated during the July meeting that the legislation was "sidelined" by lawyers "who have an interest in keeping the procurement law as complicated as possible."

He identified John Thomas Brown, whom he described as a "local self-styled expert in procurement law," as coming out in full force against Bill 43.

"A wrecking ball, with all sorts of counter proposals that made it seven times more complicated and unnecessarily hard," Weinberg said, before asking Vandeveld to view Bill 43 and provide whatever support he can for the measure.
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FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2020 file photo shown is a general view of the Pennsylvania Judicial Center, home to the Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, Pa. Pennsylvania voters will pick four new members of the statewide appeals courts this fall, including the contest to fill a spot on the state Supreme Court open because a veteran justice will soon reach 75, the state's mandatory judicial retirement age.
The biggest local crime story this year may be the beheading of America Thayer in broad daylight on the streets of Shakopee, Minnesota last week. America was murdered by one Alexis Saborit. Saborit was her abusive boyfriend.

In a 2017 Carver County proceeding against him for abusing America (Thayer, that is), Judge Kevin Eide indicated in the courts release order/bail hearing document that Defendant has ICE hold. At his initial appearance on the murder charge on Friday, Saborit asked to be deported to his own country rather than stand trial in Scott County.

Saborit was on his way to court with Thayer on a 2020 arson charge when he murdered her. In the arson case Saborit is described as a Puerto Rican male. If so, he would be an American citizen.

What is Saborits immigration status? So far as I can tell, Alpha News editor Anthony Gockowski is the only reporter pursuing an answer to the question. He reports: [N]either the Shakopee Police Department nor ICE responded when Alpha News asked for clarification. One way or another we intend to achieve clarity.

Another question raised by Americas murder: what was Saborit doing out on his own recognizance? He had first wielded the machete with which he beheaded America in the course of his standoff with police in the 2020 arson incident. We hope to achieve clarity on this question as well.

I went out to Shakopee yesterday afternoon to visit the scene of the crime. A makeshift memorial has been assembled at the southwest corner of the busy intersection where America was murdered (I snapped the photo at the bottom). I am afraid it will be washed away in the next rain.

This case may have something for everyone. It certainly has Mike Lindell. At the time of her death America was working at the MyPillow showroom in Shakopee, a block or so from the Amazon fulfillment center. I went over to check it out yesterday as well, but the showroom is closed on weekends.

According to the hysterical Anne Applebaum writing in the Atlantic, The MyPillow guy could really destroy democracy. Actually, it is more likely that Lindell will destroy Fox News (WSJ: MyPillow to Pull Ads From Fox News in Disagreement With Network), in which case Applebaum will salute Lindell in a future column, or that Anne Applebaum will melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.
As Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and other oil majors begin divestment of their investments in Nigeria following a growing appetite for cleaner and more environmentally-friendly energy, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday listed various issues that have to be exhaustively addressed before their exit to avoid fracturing the Nigerian economy in hurried exodus.

To this end, the national oil company said that special attention would be paid to abandonment and relinquishment costs; severance of operator staff; third party contract liabilities; competency of the buyer; post purchased technical, operational, and financial capabilities especially in the era of activist investors sentiments against funding of fossil fuel projects and alignment with Nigeria national strategic interest.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari made the disclosure in Lagos at the 2021 edition of the Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) organised by Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) with the theme: The Future of Energy: A Trilogy of Climate Change, Public Health & Global Oil Market.

He said the NNPC would soon unveil a Comprehensive Divestment Policy (CDP) that will guide the entire divestment process.

According to Mr Kyari, while the NNPC partners reserve the right to divest their interests, the national oil company also has a duty to provide clear-cut guidelines and criteria for such divestment to guarantee a win-win situation for all parties.

He said: We are seeing a wave of divestment by oil majors operating Nigeria. NNPC as a national oil company cannot stop partners from divesting their interest, even though it creates a challenge for us in ensuring that we get right and competent investors to take position and add value to the assets.

NNPC will ensure that Nigerias National strategic interest is safeguarded, by developing a Comprehensive Divestment Policy.

According to the Mr Kyari, the NNPC will, in subsequent deals, tweak its rules of engagement by making clear distinctions between divestment of shares and operatorship agreements under various joint operating agreements, while leveraging its rights of pre-emption as well as evaluating the operational competency and track records of new partners.

Mr Kyari reckoned that the imperatives of energy transition and the influence of activist investors on the global energy industry are making oil and gas companies diversify their portfolio to low-carbon investments by whetting the appetite for investment in cleaner energy sources like; wind, solar, hydrogen, natural gas and bio-fuels.

He added that the new energy sources have obvious wider business implications on the oil and gas industry.

The NNPC boss advised oil-dependent economies to brace up for the bumpy ride ahead, as the global transition to non-fossil sources of energy will mean declining revenue, foreign exchange and weaker funding of projects particularly in the context of green finance and activist investors action on the boards of major oil companies and global financial institutions.

He, however, asssured that the NNPC would play a key role in the global transition to low-carbon energy in the near future by latching on Nigerias huge natural gas reserves; which has become the greatest enabler in making the switch over.

We are deepening natural gas utilization under the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) to earn more carbon credit and create a net zero carbon environment in line with our drive of becoming energy company of global excellence.

NNPC is currently extending natural gas infrastructure backbone through the OB3 and AKK gas pipelines to deepen domestic gas utilization, support industrial growth and job creation.

Our goal is to take the right quantities of gas to every part of Nigeria at the right quality and the right price.

NNPC is leveraging technology to achieve better systems and processes optimization to support performance, accountability and value creation that exceeds the simple fulfilment of our business mandates, he said.

He explains further: However, looking at both climate and population change dynamics, anticipated economic growth and rising global population especially in Asia and Africa will obviously increase energy consumption beyond what renewable energy sources can meet by 2050.

Building on this convergence, Nigeria as a key player in global energy security is addressing its challenges mainly fiscal, security and cost competitiveness to stimulate investments in the oil and gas industry.

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NNPC as a National Oil company is leading multiple initiatives to address this and other issues.

As we celebrate the passage of the PIB, we have moved our focus to improving security architecture through collaboration with major stakeholders. NUCOP is working with operators and service contractors to challenge cost of operations and increase profitability and growth in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Industry conversations are dominated by the shift to renewable energy as a source of cleaner and climate-friendly fuel.

Mr Kyari also said that oil demand is rising and prices have gone up to pre-pandemic levels, averaging $74/bbl; as countries gradually overcome the pandemic shocks and economies re-open.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, who represents Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State, is often in the spotlight for the roles that he plays in the passage of bills.

The House Committee of the Whole, which Mr Wase statutorily chairs as the deputy speaker, is very important because every legislation  bill, motion and petition  has to pass through it.

Order 7 Rule 2(2) of the House states that the Deputy Speaker shall be the chairman of the whole House 

With a tendency to be dictatorial, Mr Wase has been able to deliver passage of bills that the Executive or the House leadership has interest in, often denying the minority their say before the majority have their way.

For journalists and observers of the green chamber, Mr Wases controversial action in the process of the passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and Petroleum Industry Bill is nothing new as he had routinely shown a low tolerance for dissenting voices.

Under the guise of guiding the House, Mr Wase is notorious for involving himself in debates which he should not do as a presiding officer, and swaying debates or foisting a position on the House.

Although he only became the deputy speaker in the current House of Representatives, Mr Wases rise to fame precedes the current legislature.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker house of Reps. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Twitter handle of the House of Reps]

The rise of Wase

In the 8th Assembly, the death of Umar Jibrin, who was the Deputy Leader of the House, created a vacuum. The House leadership and the caucus of the APC decided to appoint Mr Wase to fill the vacuum as the position was zoned to the North-central.

Prior to that appointment in October 2018, Mr Wase chaired the committee on Federal Character.

Mr Wase, who was first elected in 2007, served as Chairman House Committee on Federal Character from 2011 until his appointment as Deputy Leader.

In 2019, he joined the speakership race as part of the North-central agenda, but later opted to be running mate to the eventual winner, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Some actions Mr Wase has taken, while presiding over the Committee of the Whole, or presiding over the House in the absence of Mr Gbajabiamila, highlight his controversial personality.

Clash with Shina Peller

On October 20 last year, Shina Peller, the lawmaker from Oyo State representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola Federal Constituency, attempted to raise a point of order to discuss the EndSARS protest that was raging across the country.

Mr Wase, who was presiding over the plenary session after Mr Gbajabiamila left the floor, blatantly refused to recognise Mr Peller.

As a member of the House voted for by the people of Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola Federal Constituency, I deserve to be listened to by the House and I have a right to speak here. I have been raising my hand from the beginning of this session to this time, so you need to allow me speak here, Mr Peller said.

But the deputy speaker responded: I will not allow you to speak.

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The response angered Mr Peller who said: I will speak with the media, I will speak with the press and also charged towards the Speakers box but was held back by some lawmakers.

Following that event, Mr Peller tweeted: As a HOR member, I represent the people of my federal constituency. Any time I stand up to speak, I do not speak for myself but those that I represent. I am their messenger, and nobody, not even the Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Deputy Speaker, has the right to suppress their voices.

In an interview with Punch Newspaper, Mr Peller said he wanted to raise a point of order on privilege over the protest, but the deputy speaker asked him: what privilege?

This is contrary to the provision of the standing rules of the House. Order 6, Rule 1, Subsection 2 provides that, Whenever a matter of privilege arises, it shall be taken into consideration immediately.

Rule 2 further reads that Any member may rise at any time to speak upon a matter of privilege suddenly arising, and he shall be prepared to move without notice, a motion declaring that a contempt or breach of privilege has been committed.

It appears that Mr Wase anticipated that Mr Peller wanted to raise a point of order on the brutality against protesters by the security forces; something that would have embarrassed the executive arm of government.

Preventing presentation of petition by MUTA

Mr Wase, also early this year, refused to allow a petition by the Mutual Union of Tivs in America (MUTA) over the killings by suspected Fulani herders in Benue State.

A member of the House, Mark Gbillah (PDP, Benue), had attempted to submit the petition as is always done. However, Mr Wase, a Fulani, ruled that an association in America cannot present a petition in Nigeria.

If they are in America, could they be an interested party here? Do they really know what is really going on?

I dont want to make a blanket statement regarding those who are in the Diaspora. If this petition is coming from those within the country, I believe it has a block standard. But those living in America, then coming to lodge complaint?

He further argued that those presenting the petition probably have dual citizenships, hence, he was not convinced about the petition.

Mr Wase ignored all arguments, including the fact that such petitions from Nigerians in the diaspora had been heard by the House in the past. The Deputy Speaker was not ready to entertain any debate on the matter.

Following protests by Nigerians in the Diaspora, the petition was later laid by Mr Gbillah when Mr Gbajabiamila was presiding.

Deep Offshore and Inland Basin production sharing contract bill

Back in 2019, when the Executive needed the Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract bill passed, Mr Wase was on ground to lend a hand.

During consideration by the Committee of the Whole, several lawmakers like the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo) and others raised concerns on the legislation. However, Mr Wase was able to navigate the bill through.

The bill was so important to the government that the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Umar El-Yakub, was at the gallery to monitor its progress.

Also, the bill was taken through the second reading, the committee of the whole, and third reading on the same day.

Twitter ban report

Last month, the report of the joint committees that investigated the federal governments suspension of operations of Twitter in Nigeria was considered by the House.

Mr Wase, who presided over the House Committee of the Whole, vehemently opposed the report, but not on the grounds that many Nigerians were apparently hoping for. He opposed the report because the chairman of the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Shaaban Sharada (APC, Kano), was not involved in the investigation.

After a first glance at the report, Mr Wase asked that the report be stepped down because members of the committee did not sign.

Segun Odebunmi (APC, Oyo), the lead chairman of the joint committees, explained that all the committees signed the original copy.

The back and forth that ensued showed clearly the deputy speaker was out to protect the interest of Mr Sharada, who is a former aide to President Buhari.

In a loud grumbling voice, Mr Odebunmi could be heard saying the man you are talking about, where is he does he come around at all?

It took the intervention of Speaker Gbajabiamila, who was still on the floor as a member, for the report to be considered.

Mr Wase only moved on after a parting shot, We dont want a situation where you (Gbajabiamila) will give him cover today so that tomorrow he will not do the same thing. The decision was made based on security. It has affected the work.

Electronic transmission of results

PREMIUM TIMES reported the process of the passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill and how Mr Wase prevented minority members from having their say, including ignoring calls for the division of the House over the controversial clause 52(3).

Mr Wase played the role of an undertaker during the consideration of the report on electoral bill. His disregard for dissenting voices and ruling against the majority led to about four rowdy sessions, fists fight and a walkout by some members of the opposition.

When the deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) moved the amendment for mandatory use of electronic transmission of results, Mr Wase openly debated against it and did everything possible to have his way.

I want to believe that. I dont know the coverage of the broadband. Have we covered the entire country so that we can have electronic transmission?

I make bold to say it, you can go and verify it. We have not more than 20 per cent coverage in my constituency, except you want to disenfranchise some people, he said.

In the course of the bizarre process, even a member of his party, Nkirukah Onyejeocha (APC, Abia) could be heard in the background saying, this man (Mr Wase) has done it twice, this is not acceptable.

Through the fiasco, Mr Wase maintained a grin on his face and refused to yield even when members of his party tried to appeal to him.

The inability of Mr Gbajabiamila to ensure the full use of e-voting during lawmaking means that Mr Wase could continue to impose his will during consideration of reports.

What to expect on the constitution review exercise

Mr Wase is the Chairman of the Special Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution. The committee has conducted hearings across the six geopolitical zones, gathering recommendations from Nigerians on the constitution alteration bills.

Here is a poser: Will Mr Wase allow the process to run smoothly without imposing his will on it?
Last Wednesday, a Kaduna State High Court acquitted the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife Zeenat.

The couple were charged to court by the Kaduna State Government for their alleged roles in the death of a soldier in December 2015.

The court upheld the no-case submission filed by the counsel to Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife; indicating the state could not prove that the couple had committed any offence.

For the most part of the detention period, Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife were held at an undisclosed location by the State Security Service (SSS).

They were arrested in December 2015, after the Nigerian Army extra-judicially killed over 300 followers of the Shiite cleric.

The origin of the clampdown was a demonstration by members of the group, on a major road in Zaria, during which they blocked the convoy of the then chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai, and other road users.

The Nigerian Army accused Mr El-Zakzaky and his followers of attempting to assassinate Mr Buratai, but the Islamic movement said soldiers simply attacked defenceless people.

Sani Usman, the then army spokesperson, called the incident unfortunate, few days after it happened, adding that: It is important to note that over the years this group has subjected ordinary citizens using public roads to untold hardship, delays, threats and disruption simply because they insist on using public space irrespective of inconvenience and hardship on other law-abiding citizens and motorists. This cannot be tolerated and must stop.

Road blockades by the IMN during their processions had in the past resulted in clashes with local communities and travellers in many northern states.

A preliminary report by Human Rights Watch stated that Mr El-Zakzaky survived gunshot wounds following the army clampdown that killed over 300 members of the Shiite group.

The IMN, on its part, said over a thousand of its members were killed by the soldiers in the three days between December 12 and 14, 2015, mainly at its headquarters.

A judicial panel of enquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government confirmed 349 deaths  including a soldier. The 348 Shiites were secretly buried in mass graves by soldiers without family members permission, making it difficult to determine an accurate death toll.

At various times, members of the IMN marched on the streets of Abuja and other cities to protest the detention of Mr El-Zakzaky.

The men, women and sometimes children marched and chanted through the streets, calling for the release of Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife.

Below is the timeline of events that happened since the December 2015 incident.

TIMELINE

December 12, 2015: Nigerian Army attacked IMN members who had blocked a public road, killing many of the Shiites.

December 13, 2015: The IMN released a statement saying that Mr El-Zakzakys son and wife were among the hundreds of Shiites killed.

December 13, 2015: The IMN insisted that its members did not attack the convoy of the Chief of Army staff, as alleged by the Nigerian Army.

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December 14, 2015: The army continued the attacks on the Shiites, particularly at the IMN headquarters in Zaria.

December 15, 2015: The army said the Shiite leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife were safe and in protective custody.

December 18, 2015: President Buhari did not make any public statement on the killings but a presidential spokesperson said that the incident was a military affair.

December 23, 2015: Human Rights Watch published a report saying over 300 members of the Shiite group were killed.

January 14, 2016: The Islamic Movement released a statement saying its leader, Mr El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenah, were recuperating from gunshot wounds at an undisclosed location in Abuja.

April 5, 2016: Human rights lawyer and counsel to Mr El-Zakzaky, Femi Falana, revealed that Mr El-Zakzaky had become partially blind.

December 2, 2016: A high court ordered the release of El-Zakzaky noting the decision of the government to hold him for so long was dangerous.

Citing the death of former Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in custody, the judge said; If the applicant dies in custody, which I do not pray for, it could result in many needless deaths.

The judge ruled that the government should within 45 days release the applicant and his family to the police, who shall within 24 hours take them, guarded by escort, to a safe place.

December 14, 2016: A human rights group described the continued detention of Mr El-Zakzaky despite the court ruling as a hardening of dictatorship behaviour.

January 15, 2017: The 45 days deadline given by the judge elapsed with the Nigerian government failing to release the IMN leader.

January 16, 2017: Amnesty International told the Nigerian government to obey the court and release Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife.

March 9, 2017: The wife of Mr El-Zakzaky, Zeenat, wrote an open letter to President Buhari recalling the events of July 2014, the month that the Nigerian army under former president Goodluck Jonathan extra-judiciously killed three of my sons among 35 Muslims exercising their constitutional rights of assembly.

May 23, 2017: The federal government said Mr El-Zakzaky was still in detention because there are additional charges against him for which he has not been granted bail.

May 24, 2017: The presidency declared that Mr El-Zakzakys detention was in the public interest.

November 9, 2017: IMN made a fresh demand for his release on health grounds.

January 13, 2018: The IMN leader made his first public appearance more than two years after he was detained by the Nigerian government.

April 18, 2018: The Kaduna State Government filed an eight-count charge of homicide against Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife over the death of a soldier in the December 2015 incident.

June 21, 2018: The absence of a judge stalled the trial of Mr El-Zakzaky at a Kaduna high court.

October 29, 2018: Clashes erupted between security forces and IMN followers in Abuja.

November 7, 2018: The Kaduna court rejected the bail application filed by the Shiite leader and his wife.

November 8, 2018: Nigerias Information minister, Lai Mohammed, in a leaked video, claimed that the government spends about N3.5 million monthly to feed Mr El-Zakzaky.

August 5, 2019: The Kaduna State High Court granted the Shiite leader and his wife leave to travel to India for medical treatment.

August 5, 2021: Nigerias secret police, the SSS, pledged to obey the court order granting Mr El-Zakzaky bail.

August 13, 2019: Mr El-Zakzaky arrived in India for medical treatment.

August 14, 2019: Mr El-Zakzaky alleged that the condition at the Indian hospital he was taken to was worse than where he was detained in Nigeria.

August 16, 2019: He was returned to Nigeria and he alleged that the federal government working with the Indian government frustrated him from getting adequate treatment. Upon his return, he was placed under arrest.

August 28, 2019: The Nigerian government accused Mr El-Zakzaky of being sponsored by Iran to replicate the 1979 Iranian revolution in Nigeria.

February 6, 2020: The court granted Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife access to personal physicians.

February 6, 2020: The court fixed February 24 and 25 for the continuation of his trial.

February 24, 2020: The court ordered prison authorities to allow the couple full access to medical services before taking their plea on April 23.

November 19, 2020: The court adjourned Mr El-Zakzakys trial to January 25 and 26 for further hearing.

January 23, 2021: Authorities of the Nigerian correctional facility in Kaduna State said they were not aware that the IMN leader and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 as rumoured.

January 26, 2021: The trial of Mr El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat, was adjourned to March 8 and 9, 2021, for further hearing.

March 8, 2021: The court adjourned to March 31 for the continuation of trial.

Justice Gideon Kurada adjourned the case to allow the prosecution to close its case.

March 31, 2021: Prosecution closed its case, and asked the court to sentence Mr El-Zakzaky.

The judge adjourned the case till May 25, 2021.

July 1, 2021: Kaduna State High court set aside July 28 to rule on the no-case submission filed by the couple.

July 28, 2021: Court frees the couple in a ruling that lasted over eight hours.

The judge upheld the no-case submission filed by Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife.

July 28, 2021: The Shiite group said the judgment of the Kaduna State high court has vindicated its members and is a victory for them.

July 29, 2021: The Kaduna government said it would appeal the ruling, an indication that the cleric and his wife are not yet totally free.
Nigeria on Sunday confirmed 407 new cases of coronavirus infections across 16 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Though the figure is less than the 497 recorded 24 hours earlier, it is still high compared to the consistent steep reduction in the number of cases that were recorded before the highly transmissible Delta variant found its way to the country.

The increased figures of daily infections are, however, being recorded at a time Nigerian doctors are set for nationwide industrial action beginning on Monday.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has called out its members to resume an indefinite and total strike on Monday to press home its demand for better welfare packages said to be contained in a memorandum of action signed with the government in April.

There was, however, a sign of respite against COVID-19 on Sunday with the reported arrival of additional vaccines for continued inoculation of Nigerians against the rampaging virus.

The Nigerian government is scheduled to formally take delivery of a total of 4.08 million of Moderna vaccines donated by the government of the United States of America.

New infections

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in an update on its Facebook page late Sunday night, the 407 new cases have raised Nigerias total infection to 174,315.

The disease centre, however, said no new death was recorded from disease in the last 24 hours, keeping the fatality toll at 2,149.

The last fatality recorded was on Friday when eight persons were confirmed dead from COVID-19-related complications.

Breakdown

A breakdown of the NCDC data revealed that 16 states and the FCT contributed to the 407 new cases on Sunday.

Nigerias commercial centre and coronavirus epicentre once again took the lead with 160 cases out of the 407.

Akwa-Ibom followed with 75 infections while Ondo came third with 29 new cases.

Kaduna State came 4th on the log with 18 cases and neighbouring Katsina followed with seven infections.

Gombe and Ogun states recorded six cases each while Ekiti State reported five.

Delta and the FCT recorded four cases each while Ebonyi recorded three with Edo and Niger states recording two infections each.

Bayelsa, Nigerias oil-rich Southern state, and the North-central state of Nasarawa both recorded the lowest figure of one infection each on Sunday.

Meanwhile, according to the NCDC data, of the over 174,000 new cases, 165,005 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals across the country.

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However, with the recent increase in daily cases, active cases in Nigeria have jumped to 7, 151.

Nigeria has tested over 2.4 million samples out of its estimated 200 million population.

Vaccines

The Nigerian government on Sunday notified stakeholders that it would receive more than 4 million doses of Moderna vaccine from the U.S. government.

A notice issued by the executive director and chief executive officer of Nigerias National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, noted that the vaccines will be received at the countrys national strategic cold store near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the federal capital territory.

The vaccines have arrived Nigeria but will be formally handed over to the Nigerian government on Monday.

Nigeria had earlier in March received 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX, a vaccine alliance aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines globally.
Following the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to announce either his replacement or reappointment, the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Is-haq Oloyede, has handed over the baton of leadership to the agencys director of information technology services, Fabian Okoro.

Mr Okoro, who joined JAMB in 1993 as a programmer and was appointed a deputy director in 2018, is said to be the most senior director in the establishment.

Other directors, including those of quality assurance department, and test development department, Mabel Egberaku and David Akanbi respectively, who also joined the agency in 1993, were reportedly appointed directors after Mr Okoro.

But the JAMBs director of test administration, Yusuf Lawal, who was employed by the agency in 1989, and is senior to Mr Okoro in ranking, is currently away out of the examination body for training.

The former registrars decision to hand over to Mr Okoro, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively gathered, followed the directive by the ministry of education that all the concerned chief executives should hand over to the most senior directors in their agencies.

Mr Oloyede, who was appointed as the registrar of JAMB on August 1, 2016, and inaugurated a day after, replaced a professor of measurement, Dibu Ojerinde, now embattled.

Mr Ojerinde is currently facing trial for financial misappropriation allegedly perpetrated while he held sway as the JAMBs helmsman and during his reign at the National Examination Council (NECO).

Mr Oloyede, who completed his five-year term of office at the weekend, has been praised by many for reportedly turning around the examination body, especially in the areas of financial discipline, accountability and war against examination malpractices.

About Mr Okoro

A 1992 graduate of Computer Science at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Mr Okoro holds a Master of Science in Computer Science with option of internet computing from the University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom in 2007.

After working for JAMB as a programmer for three years, the new acting registrar was promoted as a senior programme in 1996 and became a chief system analyst in 2002 and an assistant director in 2006.

He is said to have contributed significantly to the reform in the information technology unit of the examination body having received nudge and support from Mr Oloyede who reportedly brought new innovations to the bodys operations since his appointment five years ago.

The memo

As of Monday morning, it is not clear whether Mr Buhari will reappoint the much-celebrated registrar as the education ministry has kept mute on the matter.

According to insiders at the ministry who do not want to be quoted, the ministrys permanent secretary, Sonny Echono, on Friday, had sent a memo to all chief executive officers, who have spent five years as executive officers, instructing them to hand over to the most senior directors in the affected agencies.

But the spokesperson for the ministry, Ben Goong, has said the minister will break his silence on the matter in the coming days.

Speaking on the telephone with our reporter, Mr Goong said the rule is clear about the tenure of executive officers of agencies of government and that the situation in the affected agencies under the education ministry, could not be different.

He said; If the procedure of appointment specifies the tenure of appointment of a chief executive, you should always expect that where there is room for reappointment it can be expected and where it is not expected, a replacement would be announced.

But the minister will make a statement on it in the coming days.

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There are, however, 13 other chief executive officers under the ministry of education who were sworn in alongside Mr Oloyede on August 2, 2016, and now share the same fate with the former registrar.

Other affected CEOs

The other appointees whose tenure also ended at the weekend, alongside that of Mr Oloyede, include those of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abubakar Rasheed; Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRC), Josiah Ajiboye; National Mathematical Centre, Steven Onuah; Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Hameed Boboyi; National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, and Garba Azare of the National Teachers Institute (NTI).

Also affected are Michael Afolabi of the Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN); Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche of the National Institute of Nigerian Languages; Lillian Salami of the Nigerian Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, Lanre Aina of National Library of Nigeria, Abba Haladu of the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education and Bashir Usman of Nomadic Education Commission.

NUC holds crucial meeting

As uncertainty pervades the atmosphere at the affected agencies, the outgoing executive secretary of NUC, Mr Rasheed, has summoned an emergency meeting with all the directors of the regulatory body.

The meeting is expected to hold Monday morning at the NUC headquarters in Abuja.

According to a highly placed source who does not want to be quoted for lacking the power to speak to the media, the decision by Mr Rasheed maybe to announce the acting executive secretary pending the decision by the President to either reappoint or replace him.

At a meeting with the directors last week, the executive secretary already indicated that it would be his last meeting with them. So it is surprising that he just made a U-turn to hold another meeting on Monday, the source said.

Another source, however, said Mr Rasheeds decision was due to the late arrival of the memo on Friday.

I am sure if the memo had arrived early on Friday, the ES would have handed over but since it came late, the best thing is to hold it today, Monday, another source who also craved anonymity, told our reporter.

Meanwhile, Mr Rasheed, a former vice-chancellor at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), is said to be very close to the education minister, Adamu Adamu, and so his reappointment is very certain.

The ES is really the de facto minister of education, based on his relationship with the minister, and his competence too. The minister entrusts him with very many responsibilities. So it will be very difficult for him not to come back, the source added.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for UBEC, David Apeh, neither picked calls to his phone nor replied to a short message sent to him on the matter.

It is, however, not clear if all the affected chief executive officers have also complied with the directive of the ministry as of the time of filing this report. Efforts to speak to the affected officials yielded no fruitful results as their telephone lines were either switched off or they did not pick their calls.

The spokespersons for the agencies also did not pick their calls.
The Nigerian government on Monday received four million and eighty doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Biden-Harris administration of the United States of America.

The vaccines, which were delivered through the COVAX facility, a vaccine alliance aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines globally, had earlier arrived in Abuja, Nigerias capital city, around 2:15 a.m. on Sunday.

The vaccines were received and stored at the countrys National Strategic Cold Store near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, had in May, pledged to share 80 million vaccines produced in the U.S with countries around the world to protect the most vulnerable and stem transmission of the coronavirus.

Of these 80 million, Africa is expected to receive 25 million, with the first shipments to Burkina Faso, Djibouti, and Ethiopia which had already been delivered.

While addressing the media on Monday morning in Abuja, the executive director and chief executive officer of Nigerias National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, had, ahead of the arrival of the vaccines, purchased 60 ultra-cold chain equipment and have since allocated one to each of the 36 states.

According to Gayle Smith, the State Departments coordinator for COVID-19 recovery and global health in the U.S, the 25 million vaccines were donated to 49 African countries in partnership with the African Union and COVAX.

He added that the Biden administration is committed to leading the global response to the pandemic by providing safe and effective vaccines to the world.

While responding to questions on whether those who took the first dose of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccines could take from the Moderna types just received, Mr Shuaib said; That is not the recommendation of the WHO and that is not what we are going to be doing in Nigeria. For those who have taken the first dose of Astrazeneca, we are expecting in a week or so additional consignment of Astrazeneca vaccines that we will give as second doses.

He added that the country is expecting about 700,000 doses in the coming week and another 3.9 million doses by mid August.

We now have a large menu that Nigerians can choose from, he said.

According to Mr Shuaib, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has to certify that the vaccines are good and safe for Nigerians.

NAFDAC has taken samples of the vaccine for testing and we expect that in the next 48 hours, they will give us feedback as to whether we are good to go, he added.

Mr Shuaib further revealed that his agency will work with the private sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) to deliver the vaccines at the state levels, adding that the vaccines received are valid until December 2021 and January 2022 and that the two doses will be given four weeks apart.

The U.S government was represented by the deputy director, health, population and nutrition office, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Melissa Freeman.

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The country representative for UNICEF, Peter Hawkins, in his opening remarks, implored Nigerians to get vaccinated and take responsibility to minimise the impact of the coronavirus on not only themselves but on their families and communities.

President Biden in June also announced plans to buy and donate additional 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries and the African Union which will be distributed through COVAX starting this month.

As the third wave continues to surge in Africa, experts worry that Africa might again be plunged into another health and economic crisis as seen in the previous year.

Be under no illusions, Africas third wave is absolutely not over. Many countries are still at peak risk and Africas third wave surged up faster and higher than ever before. The Eid celebrations which we marked this week may also result in a rise in cases. We must all double down on prevention measures to build on these fragile gains, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said at the regional media briefing recently.

According to WHO, nearly 70 per cent of African countries will not reach the 10 per cent vaccination target for all countries by the end of September at the current pace.

About 3.5 million to 4 million doses are administered weekly on the continent, in order to meet the September target, this figure must rise to at least 21 million doses weekly.

About Moderna Vaccine

Moderna vaccine was the second one authorised for emergency use in the U.S.it received FDA EUA on December 18, 2020, about a week after the Pfizer vaccine.

Moderna is an mRNA vaccine, using the same technology as the Pfizer-BioNTech one and with a similarly high efficacy at preventing symptomatic disease.

The Moderna vaccine can be shipped and kept in long-term storage in standard freezer temperatures, and stored for up to 30 days using normal refrigeration, making it easier to distribute and store. Also, the Moderna vaccine was slightly less effective in clinical trialsabout 86%in people who are 65 and older.

How it works

According to the manufacturers, the vaccines are designed to send the bodys cells instructions for making a spike protein that will train the immune system to recognise it. The immune system is then expected to attack the spike protein the next time it sees one (attached to a real SARS CoV-2 virus).

It is said to be 94.1 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infection in people with no evidence of previous COVID-19 infection.

The vaccine is said to have high efficacy in clinical trials among people of diverse age, sex, race, and ethnicity categories and among persons with underlying medical conditions (although, the efficacy rate drops to 86.4% for people ages 65 and older).

According to Yale Medicine, some research suggests that Modernas vaccine may provide protection against the Alpha and Beta variants. But this is still being studied.

However, while more research is needed on Modernas efficacy against Delta, some experts believe it may work similarly to Pfizer since both are mRNA vaccines.

Side Effects

The common side effects noticed so far according to experts could iinclude chills, headache, pain, tiredness, and/or redness and swelling at the injection site, all of which reportedly generally resolve within a day or two.

On rare occasions, mRNA vaccines have appeared to trigger anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that is treatable with epinephrine. For that reason, experts recommend monitoring everyone for 15 minutes after their COVID-19 shot, and for 30 minutes if they have a history of severe allergies.
Two Nigerians have been arrested in the United States for wire fraud and other offences involving $25,000 in unemployment benefits, PREMIUM TIMES reports.

Olushola Afolabi and Olugbeminiyi Aderibigbe were accused of conspiring with others to defraud the Illinois Department of Employment Security and the United States government through fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.

They and their alleged co-conspirators used stolen identities to file unemployment insurance claims and transferred millions of dollars in unemployment benefits into bank accounts controlled by them, the U.S. government said in the indictment filed against them.

Using the funds in those bank accounts, members of the conspiracy purchased money orders or withdrew cash at locations across the Northern District of Alabama and elsewhere, their indictment already approved by a grand jury and filed at a U.S. District Court in Northern Alabama, reads in part.

The alleged fraud was perpetrated from October 2020 to June 29, 2021 when the indictment was filed, the indictment, signed by an unnamed representative of the grand jury and an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Jonathan Harrington, also reads partly.

Of the millions of dollars allegedly transferred by the conspirators, about $25,000 was directly linked to Messrs Afolabi and Aderibigbe.

The transfers of about $18,000 between December 7, 2020, and February 24, 2021, were linked to Mr Afolabi, and the balance of about $7,000 was allegedly transferred by Mr Aderibigbe between December 29, 2020, and January 8, 2021.

How alleged fraud was perpetrated

The U.S. government said the two defendants entered into a conspiracy with many unknown others with the objective to steal unemployment insurance benefits.

As part of the conspiracy, unknown members of the conspiracy would and did file for state and federal unemployment insurance benefits through the Illinois Department of Employment Security website using stolen or otherwise fraudulent identities, the document said.

Unknown members of the conspiracy would and did establish several Green Dot bank accounts into which the fraudulently obtained state and federal unemployment benefits would be wired on a periodic basis.

The conspirators including, Messrs Afolabi and Aderibigbe, were then said to have travelled to Alabama and elsewhere for the purpose of using Green Dot access device cards to purchase money orders or withdraw cash at Walmart and other retail locations in the Northern District of Alabama and elsewhere.

It was part of the scheme and artifice that Defendants AFOLABI and ADERIBIGBE used fraudulently obtained Green Dot cards loaded with fraudulently obtained state and federal unemployment insurance funds to purchase money orders or withdraw cash at Walmart locations in the Northern District of Alabama and elsewhere, the document added.

Forfeiture

The grand jury said, in the indictment, that if the defendants are found guilty of the said offences, they stand to forfeit to the United States any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offences, according to the United States Code, Section 1029 (a) (2).

Indictment, the defendants, OLUSHOLA ADEWOLE AFOLABI and OLUGBEMINIYI ADERIBIGBE, shall forfeit to the United States any and all property constituting, or derived from, proceeds the defendants obtained directly or indirectly, as a result of the commission of said offences, including but not limited to a sum of money in United States currency representing the amount of proceeds traceable to the commission of said offenses.

Additionally, upon conviction of any offences information of Title18, United States Code, Section 1029 (a) (2) outlined in counts 13 through 18 of this Indictment, the defendants, OLUSHOLA ADEWOLE AFOLABI and OLUGBEMINIYI ADERIBIGBE, shall forfeit to the United States any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offences.

Arraignment, bail

A preliminary arraignment of the defendants had held before a magistrate judge, Gray Borden, on July 27.

They both pleaded guilty and would likely be tried before a district judge at a later time.

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At the July 27 proceedings, the magistrate judge granted a $5,000 bail to each of them.

Defence lawyers were also appointed for them.

Robin Robertson was appointed to defend Mr Afolabi, and Courteney Murtha was appointed to defend Mr Aderibigbe.

Nigerians caught for fraud in U.S., U.K.

The arrest of Messrs Afolabi and Aderibigbe comes as part of the latest episodes of many Nigerians being linked to internet fraud in the U.S.

In a similar case, a suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abidun of Ogun State, Abidemi Rufai, was arrested while trying to jet out of the U.S. on May 14 for allegedly using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

He is also facing charges in Washington.

Similarly, a former Nigerian Instagram celebrity Abbas Ramon popularly knowns as Hushpuppi has also agreed to plead guilty to multi-million-dollar money laundering involving proceeds of internet fraud.

In a separate case recently unveiled by the U.S. government, a celebrated Nigerian police officer, Abba Kyari was named as a conspirator in one of the fraudulent schemes allegedly spearheaded by Hushpuppi.

Mr Kyari, a deputy commissioner of police was named along with five others as conspirators in the scheme that was said to have defrauded a Qatari business person of $1.1 million.

He was said to have been recruited by Hushpuppi to arrest one of the ringleaders in order to prevent him from leaking information about the fraud to the victim businessperson.

Mr Kyari, who is the head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), a special tactical unit of the police force, has denied any wrongdoing.

He was however suspended by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to face a four-man investigating team set up by the Inspector-General of Police.

Earlier in March, two Nigerians, Timilehin Olasemo, 39, and Olufumi Akinneye, 33, were jailed in the United Kingdom (U.K.) for defrauding the government to the tune of 489,000 under the coronavirus relief Bounce Back loan scheme.

Also on February 16, Obinwanne Okeke, widely known as Invictus Obi, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for wire fraud by a court in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The 33-year-old Nigerian, formerly celebrated internationally as a successful young African entrepreneur, was arrested in the U.S. on August 6, 2019.

He subsequently pleaded guilty to the offence of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year June.

Mr Okeke was celebrated by Forbes African magazine as one of the 30 under-30 successful entrepreneurs on the continent in 2016, when he was only 28.

U.S. authorities said victims lost nearly $11million (about N4billion) to the large-scale fraud perpetrated through global business email and computer hacking schemes between 2015 and 2019.
The Nigerian government has officially confirmed that the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is already in the country.

Both the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the health minister, Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure at different events on Monday evening.

Mr Sanwo-Olu also announced that since last week, an average of six deaths have been recorded daily from the disease in the countrys commercial city and coronavirus epicentre.

In his address at the national briefing by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr Ehanire confirmed that like in many other parts of Africa, Nigeria has begun to record a sharp increase in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the month of July, as global anxiety over the Delta variant spreads.

He said; All data indicate that we are now no doubt in the third wave of resurgence of the SARS-COV-2 infection, which we saw coming long ago.

Corroborating the minister, Mr Sanwo-Olu in a statement personally signed by him, a copy of which PREMIUM TIMES obtained, noted that despite efforts to prevent the third wave from hitting Nigeria, the third wave has already arrived.

The third wave is already here with us, as much as we would have wished for a more positive outcome. We do not have a choice than to tackle it. We are no longer inexperienced, as a people, in dealing with the Coronavirus. Eighteen months into the pandemic, we have learnt a lot, we have seen progress and setbacks, we have been able to finetune our strategies and response, and we are now in a good place to ensure that this third wave is the final one. I believe that we can close this pandemic chapter very soon. But we must put in the work, the compliance, the regard for rules and restrictions, the governor wrote.

Giving the statistics, Mr Sanwo-Olu said since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, Lagos has recorded a total of 64,032 infections with 56,336 recovering in-community.

He, however, noted that currently, a total of 2,755 cases are being managed actively in-community while 5,029 cases have been admitted into the states coronavirus care centres.

On the fatality recorded, he said; We have, sadly, recorded 390 fatalities in Lagos State, 30 of which have taken place in this current 3rd wave of the pandemic. Essentially, we have recorded on average 6 deaths per day since last week.

Third wave versus doctors strike

The confirmation of the third wave comes on the same day doctors who are members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) commenced a nationwide industrial action.

The strike, which according to the doctors became inevitable over unpaid salaries and poor welfare, among other demands, has paralysed activities in many tertiary hospitals across the country, especially in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos State.

Thus, with the confirmation of the third wave, the strike will further compound the woes bedevilling the nations already overwhelmed healthcare sector.

But the health minister said talks are currently ongoing between the government and the striking doctors, saying the government was optimistic of an amicable resolution soon.

The Federal Ministry of Health is engaging resident doctors who have embarked on industrial action with a view to quickly resolving the issues. While this is ongoing, medical directors at federal and state hospitals are directed to ensure that service delivery is not disrupted in their centres, Mr Ehanire said.

Increased Delta variant cases

At the briefing, the chairman of the PSC, Boss Mustapha, said all countries in the West African region are beginning to see the 3rd Wave and that Nigeria already recorded about 500 cases daily in the last seven days.

Mr Mustapha, who doubles as the secretary to the government of the federation, explained that six states are experiencing a surge in the highly transmissible Delta variant, which he noted accounts for the rising cases in the country.

He added that Lagos State accounts for over 50 per cent of the cases.

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The PSC is concerned about the situation in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Rivers, FCT and Plateau States as the delta variant has made its way into these states and accounts for the rising cases in these states and across the nation, he said.

While Mr Mustapha noted that the countrys test positivity ratio has increased to about 6 per cent, Mr Sanwo-Olu noted that it is 8.9 per cent in Lagos as of August 2, 2021.

Some of the above listed states were earlier placed on red alert by the Nigerian government.

Lagos, the epicentre

In his statement, Mr Sanwo-Olu reeled out the strategies to combat the virus, insisting that the war against the pandemic is a familiar one and that the people should not panic.

He said; We have done it before and we can do it again. We dealt with the first and second waves and did our best to prevent a third wave.

Now that it is fully upon us, we must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary to bring down the numbers, on the way to eventually defeating the virus once and for all.

Speaking on vaccination, the governor lamented that only 1 per cent of the states residents have received two doses of vaccines.

He said his administration is working hard towards ensuring that at least 60 per cent of the residents are duly vaccinated, noting that experience from other regions of the world shows that majority of the confirmed cases that have resulted in death were in unvaccinated persons.

This is why we are seriously looking to scale up vaccination coverage for our people, he said.

On protocol defaulters

While the federal government said it is prepared to publish the names of about 500 travellers who defaulted the COVID-19 protocols within the last few days, the Lagos governor said the punitive measures taken against defaulters have informed increased compliance to the mandatory isolation protocols.

Mr Mustapha, while speaking on the matter, said some of the defaulters who have had their passports seized would only have them released after six months while the non-Nigerians are currently facing more serious punishments.

Both the governor and the federal government officials, however, pleaded with Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike to always observe the protocols, noting that everyone should be responsible in their conducts.

I would like to implore all primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions to cooperate with the officials from the state ministries of health and education to ensure the safety of all the people in their care. There is currently an influx of school students who are on summer vacation into Nigeria. If not properly handled, this could be an amplifying factor for the third wave we are already experiencing in Nigeria, Mr Sanwo-Olu advised.

On vaccination

The federal government explained that the newly donated four million doses of Moderna vaccines are currently being assessed by the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and would soon be distributed to states when approved for use.

On his part, the executive director and chief executive officer of Nigerias National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, had, ahead of the arrival of the vaccines, purchased 60 ultra-cold chain equipment and have since allocated one to each of the 36 states for safe storage of the vaccines.

And speaking on whether those who took the first dose of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccines could take from the Moderna types, Mr Shuaib said; That is not the recommendation of the WHO and that is not what we are going to be doing in Nigeria. For those who have taken the first dose of Astrazeneca, we are expecting in a week or so additional consignment of Astrazeneca vaccines that we will give as second doses.

On diplomatic issues

Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, acknowledged the recent issues with some diplomats arriving in the country and reeled out the conditions to be observed by diplomats from various countries.

He said those from the four restrictive countries of South Africa, Turkey, Brazil and India have specific conditions to meet while those from other countries are also expected to meet other conditions.

He, however, said some categories of diplomats from the two categorised countries are also entitled to waivers which he noted can only be granted by the PSC.

He emphasised the need for PSR test results and the need for mandatory seven-day isolation for those coming from other countries while those from the four restrictive countries or those who may have visited them 14 days prior to the visit to Nigeria should pass through stricter protocols.
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The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has appointed Tunji Disu, a deputy commissioner of police, to replace the suspended head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abba Kyari. Mr Kyari was suspended by the police authorities after his indictment by the U.S. for his alleged role in the $1.1million fraud by Ramon Abass, popularly called Hushipuppi.

Mr Kyari has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Kyari was suspended by the Police Service Commission on the recommendation of the inspector general. The police said Mr Kyaris suspension was to allow an independent investigation into the charges against him.

On Monday, the police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said in a statement that the police chief approved Mr Disus appointment on Monday, with a directive that he should resume work with immediate effect and refocus the unit for better service delivery

The Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba has today, 2nd August, 2021 approved the posting of DCP Tunji Disu as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT). The posting of the officer is on the heels of Managements decision to fill the leadership gap within the IRT and refocus the Unit for better service delivery, Mr Mba said.

The statement said the inspector general charged Mr Disu to demonstrate his professional competence in his leadership of the unit. He also assured citizens that the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) will remain focused in the discharge of its duties in line with national statutes and international best practices.

Prior to his appointment as the new Head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Mr Disu was a former commander of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Lagos State. He was also the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Department of Operations, Force Headquarters, Abuja.

He had also previously served at the State Criminal Investigation Department(CID), Rivers State, as the Deputy Head of the Unit, and was also a former Commander of the Nigeria Police Contingent to the African Union (AU) Peace Keeping Mission in Darfur, Sudan.

Mr Disu holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the Lagos State University (LASU) and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State.

He has also attended several professional courses both at home and abroad including Small Arms Smuggling Training in Botswana, Internet Fraud Training at the Cambridge University, United Kingdom, Strategic Leadership Command Course at the Police Staff College, Jos, Forensic Investigations and Criminal Intelligence Course at the University of Lagos, amongst others.

Mr Disu is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations and Chattered Institute of Personnel management, amongst other professional bodies.
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Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has filed a suit asking the Federal High Court in Lagos to declare that the failure of the federal government to take effective measures to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of attacks against journalists and other media practitioners is a breach of the governments duty under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights as domesticated in Nigeria. It wants the court to order the government to investigate all such attacks, punish the perpetrators and ensure that the victims have access to effective remedies.

In the suit initiated by Originating Summons, MRA is asking the court to hold that the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, developed and adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights pursuant to Article 45(1) of the African Charter, is a subsidiary legislation in Nigeria with binding legal effect by virtue of the fact that the Charter is a domestic law in Nigeria, that Nigeria is a State Party to the Charter, which is also an international treaty, and a Member State of the Africa Union (AU).

MRA noted in the suit filed on its behalf by its lawyer, Obioma Okonkwo, against the Attorney-General of the Federation that there have been many incidents and human rights violations against journalists and media practitioners in Nigeria, including unlawful detention, assault, disappearances, torture and killings, and that there has been no arrest or investigation conducted regarding these incidents.

According to the organization, although the Nigerian government has a statutory and treaty obligation to protect journalists and prevent attacks against them as well as a duty to punish perpetrators of these crimes by virtue of Principle 20 of the Declaration of Principles, which was developed and adopted pursuant to Article 45(1) of the Charter, the government has persistently failed to fulfill its obligations under the Charter.

MRA is, therefore, asking the court to affirm that the Declaration of Principles is binding as a subsidiary legislation in Nigeria which is applicable and enforceable; and that the failure of the government to fulfill its obligation to guarantee the safety of journalists and other media practitioners in accordance with Principle 20 of the Declaration of Principles amounts to a violation of the principle and a breach of the duty imposed by the Charter.

It is also seeking, among other things:

 A declaration that the Governments failure to guarantee the safety of Pelumi Onifade, Precious Owolabi, Uche Uzodinma, Tom Ogazi Uhia, Friday Otabor, Emannuel Ojo, Obidinma Aku, Charles Otu and other journalists who have been attacked as well as its failure to take measures to prevent various attacks on journalists, including murder, extra-judicial killings, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearances, kidnapping, intimidation, threats and unlawful surveillance amounts to a breach of its duty under the Declaration and the Charter.

 A declaration that the Governments failure to take effective legal and other measures to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of attacks against journalists and other media practitioners, and ensure that the victims of those attacks have access to effective remedies is a breach of its duty imposed by the Declaration and the Charter;

 A declaration that the Government, by failing to guarantee the safety of journalists and other media practitioners, has breached the duty imposed on it by the Declaration and the Charter and is liable for the actions and conduct of law enforcement, security, intelligence, military and other personnel which threaten, undermine or violate the safety of journalists and other media practitioners; and

 An order directing the Government to take measures to prevent future attacks on journalists and other media practitioners and to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of all such attacks and ensure that the victims of the attacks have access to effective remedies.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
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Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has said the state government has trained 5,504 constables to support community policing in the state.

Mr Ganduje said this on Sunday while inaugurating Rano Emirate community policing committees in Doguwa local government area, according to a statement issued on Monday by his spokesperson, Abba Anwar.

The governor said community policing is being woven into the fabric of Kano society as a political entity.

Our administration finds it necessary to support community participation in the security of our state.

We have gone further by recruiting police constabulary, who are assisting the security agencies. And also we are assisting the various community policing committees.

We trained in Kaduna 704 graduates of Police Constabulary. Also, for each of the 36 local governments, we are training 100 Police constabulary, making a total of 3,600 Police constabulary.

For the eight metropolitan local governments, we are training 150 each, giving rise to 1,200 police constabulary and having a total of 4,800 police constabulary in addition to 704 that have already been trained, which all stands at 5,504 Police Constabulary now at hand.

Community participation, apart from community policing, is necessary for us to achieve a desirable situation from all ramifications. As such, we are also inviting corporate social responsibility in the management of security situation in Kano state, the statement quoted Mr Ganduje as saying at the event.

Our security agencies have succeeded in building full synergy among themselves and we have extended coordination in order to get security information and action in Kano State.

We have to thank the Police, the Department for State Security (DSS), the Air Force, the Army, the Civil Defence (NSCDC), Immigration, Customs and Excise, Correctional Homes, traditional institutions, National Agency for the for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), the Vigilante Groups, representatives of various communities, we have to thank them all. They are all contributing to the security of Kano State.

There is no doubt security is an issue of topical nature in Nigeria. It is an issue that bothers almost everybody, all governments in Nigeria and is an issue that we must come together in order to solve.

We can see the effort of our security agencies that are working round the clock in order to keep Nigeria safe. In Kano State, we are also conscious of the security of our state. Therefore, we have developed various strategies in order to secure Kano State.

First of all, we examined the issue of the metropolis. Kano being a metropolitan city and a megacity, we have taken necessary steps in order to ensure the security of our own megacity.

We built what we call Security Dormitories on the major entrance of metropolitan Kano. Each of the dormitories houses 600 policemen.

Also, we have developed CCTV programme which is working very well. The control room is with our security agencies. We have other technology employed in order to check security issues, the governor said.

In his remarks, the Emir of Rano, Kabiru Muhammad, commended the efforts of the governor toward securing the state.

Today is a historic day that we cannot forget. All our people are happy with this special event taking place in our emirate, Rano Emirate. We are always ready to cooperate with the policies and programmes, especially this issue of community policing, the emir said.
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Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State says the caretaker arrangement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) is legitimate and constitutional.

Francis Nwaze, the governors special assistant on Media and Publicity in Abakaliki in a statement, said Mr Umahi made this known while assessing the just concluded APC ward congresses across the 171 electoral wards in the state.

Mr Umahi, who defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last year, noted that the caretaker arrangement put together by the party was in line with the partys constitution.

He pointed out that the arrangement did not either violate any section of the partys constitution nor the 1999 Constitution as amended.

When that opinion was expressed, I had to go through the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the constitution of the party, he said.

A section of the partys constitution empowers the National Executive Committee to set up a caretaker committee and this caretaker committee is to do the job of any of the organs of the party where there is vacancy or vacancies.

He described the ward congress held on 31 July as peaceful with a massive turnout of party faithful.

Mr Umahi monitored the congress at some centres in Afikpo South local government area while on inspection at the ongoing construction of a 30-span-flyover at Ugwu-Iyere, Ekoli-Edda in Afikpo South LGA of Ebonyi.

The governor further noted that the consensus arrangement was being demonstrated on the field through massive mobilisation and voting.

The congress yesterday was very wonderful, very peaceful.

The consensus arrangement was demonstrated on the field by way of massive mobilisation and election was very impressive, he said.

Speaking on the ongoing construction of the Iyere 30-span- flyover, he said, It will be inaugurated by December 2021 and it will become the fastest completed project in the state.

Admittedly, it is quite challenging but with determination, we decided to do this.

An average of 30 people die on this road every year, so, we are doing this to reduce a slope of 45 per cent to a slope of seven per cent through a flyover and I hope to save lives and thats what we are set to do in Ebonyi.

(NAN)
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Many communities in Jigawa, Kano and Bauchi states have, for many years during the rainy season, been ravaged by floods; causing the deaths of hundreds of residents and destroying farmlands.

At least 26 persons were killed and over 1,000 houses destroyed by flood in four local government areas of Kano State between April and July this year, according to the head of the Kano State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Saleh Jili. In Jigawa, over 40 persons died last year in one of the worst flood disasters in the state since 1988, according to official figures. PREMIUM TIMES reported last year how angry residents of Hadejia LGA in Jigawa mobbed state government officials who were on an assessment tour of the area after the flood.

Maamun Dau-Aliyu has been the Managing Director of Hadejia/Jamaare River Basin Development Authority (H.JRBDA) since January. In this interview with reporters, including Premium Times Ahmadu Maishanu, in Kano, he spoke about efforts to address the menace of flooding in Kano, Jigawa and Bauchi, three states being served by his agency.

Excerpt.

PT: Your agency has been accused of ineffectiveness against the annual flooding in areas under its responsibility. What are you doing to address that accusation?

Dau-Aliyu: The issue of desilting River Hadejia has been on year in and out due to the incessant flooding the area faces every rainy season. But it is a wrong assumption that Hadejia-Jamare River Basin Development Authority (H.JRBDA) opened the river canal which causes the flooding. That is not true. H.JRBDA does not release water. Continually, the water is always open because when you construct a dam on a major river like that of River Hadejia, you are mandated by international law to continually release the water so that people in the downstream sector would be able to get their own share of the water. But if you block the water, you are creating scarcity and other environmental hazards in the downstream sector.

We are by law not allowed to block the water.

The issue of Tiga Dam being released and causing flooding is baseless because it is normally in the rainy season around August to September, when there is adequate rainfall and the soil is supersaturated, that the rainwater finds its way to the river along the riverine areas. After it floods into the river, it gets into farmlands and surrounding vulnerable communities.

Because Tiga Dam has the capacity of 1.9 billion cubic litres of water, we continually release the water 24-hour. If the flooding is caused by releasing water from the Tiga Dam, that would also happen during the dry season because the water is continuously pouring out nonstop. But flooding only occurs in the middle of the rainy season when the soil is saturated.

Also what causes the flood is the germination of the Typha grass found in Hadejia valley area along the line to Lake Chad. The Typha grass has been, for years, bedevilling the river, blocking the waters access. And Typha grass either causes desiltation of the river base or desiltation causes the emergence of the Typha grass. Typha grass is the major issue causing flooding in the areas because it technically blocks the river canals and stops the water from running.

PT: What is the H.JRBDA doing to address the challenges?

Dau-Aliyu: For the past three years, H.JRBDA has been trying to control the Typha grass so that it would be either manually or mechanically removed from the river so that the water will be able to get enough space to pass through. In this 2021 financial budget, we have a provision to acquire equipment known as aquatic excavator that has the capacity to get into the river and uproot the Typha grass in the middle of the river. When that is done, I believe the water will have enough space to pass and flooding will be a thing of the past.

PT: When are you expecting to have the excavator?

Dau-Aliyu: We are planning to get the excavator machine by October. In that period, we would get fully into activities of removing the Typha grass and equally desilting the river base and probably dredge the river to expand it so that there would be adequate water routes for the water to pass through. We are also erecting an embarkment in Auyo Local Government Area in Jigawa State. The embarkment which is 3.8 kilometres in length and about 3 metres in height, will give the communities that were once submerged protection.
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Moreover, the government of Botswana maintains that the continued occupation of Palestine by the State of Israel goes against the letter and spirit of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

Botswana has rejected the African Unions decision to grant observer status to Israel.

The government of Botswana said on Monday the unilateral decision by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to receive credentials from the Ambassador of Israel is concerning.

In a statement, Botswanas Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation stated that the issue is a sensitive matter that should have been brought to the attention of all AU Member States before a decision was reached.

This is also because of the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine, the statement read.

Moreover, the government of Botswana maintains that the continued occupation of Palestine by the State of Israel goes against the letter and spirit of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, as well as its obligation to respect and implement the respective Resolutions of the United Nations.

The Southern African country reiterated its unwavering support and solidarity with the Palestinian Authority against Israeli occupation.

Israel attained observer status at the African Union (AU) on July 22, after nearly 20 diplomatic efforts.

It had previously held observer status at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) but was long thwarted in its attempts to get it back after the OAU was disbanded in 2002 and replaced by the AU.

The formal establishment of Israels observer status with the AU will enable stronger cooperation between the two parties on various aspects, including the fight against the coronavirus and the prevention of the spread of extremist terrorism on the African continent, Israels foreign ministry said.

Moussa Faki, leader of the African Union Commission, stressed the AUs position over the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reiterating the blocs stance that a two-state solution was necessary for a peaceful co-existence.

He emphasised that the path towards long-lasting peace and stability requires that the peace process and the solutions sought must not only be acceptable but must guarantee the rights of all parties.

Last Wednesday, South Africas government said it was appalled by the African Union Commissions decision last week to grant Israel observer status in the African bloc.

South Africa said the unjust and unwarranted move was taken unilaterally without consultations with its members.
Five detained Buhari-Must-Go activists have commenced a contempt suit against the director-general of the State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Bichi, for disobeying the court order for their release from custody.

The activists commenced the contempt suit with the filing of a Notice of Consequences of Order of Court, also known as Form 48, on July 30, to push for the jailing of the SSS boss.

Ben Manasseh, Anene Udoka, Henry Nwodo, Samuel Larry and Samuel Gabriel were arrested for wearing T-shirts with the inscription, Buhari-Must-Go at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre in Abuja, on July 4.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the release of the five detainees on July 26, and adjourned the applicants main suits each seeking N10million damages, for further hearing.

Instead of releasing the detainees, the SSS rushed to a chief magistrates court in Mpape, Abuja, on July 28, to arraign them on charges of disturbance of peace.

The defendants, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, were promptly granted bail by the chief magistrate, Mohammed Zubairu.

On Monday, the chief magistrate issued a notice for the release of the five defendants premised on the grounds that they had met their bail conditions.

Despite being served with the notice, according to Tope Temokun, the SSS has refused to release the detainees.

The defence lawyer, who said the agency was served with the Federal High Courts order on July 29, noted that as of Monday, his clients were still being held by the spy agency, a development he described as a sign of the country sliding to dictatorship.

Today is August 2, 2021, the Dunamis 5 are still held by the DSS (SSS) in flagrant flouting of the order of court.

When a nation is slipping into dictatorship, the first feature is that the organs of government will begin to flout court orders. That is exactly what the DSS is doing today by their refusals to respect and obey court orders, he said in a statement.

He described the situation of SSS disregard for a court order as our tragedy as a nation.

You may be jailed

With the SSS remaining adamant, the detainees lawyer, Mr Temokun, on July 30, resorted to filing a contempt suit against Mr Bichi for his continued disobedience of the court order for the release of the five young activists.

PREMIUM TIMES on Monday obtained a copy of Form 48, which essentially warns an alleged contemnor of a possibility of being jailed if he or she continues to disobey a court order.

Note that unless you obey the directions contained in the endorsed order (herewith endorsed), you shall be guilty of contempt of court and shall be liable to be committed to prison, the Form 48 reads in part.

Attached to the Form 48 is a copy of the July 26 order of Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering the unconditional release of the detainees.

If the alleged contemnor fails to comply with the warning, the contempt suit is then escalated by the filing of Form 49, which is initiating quasi-criminal proceedings against the alleged contemnor.

Fundamental rights enforcement suit

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PREMIUM TIMES reported how the five activists filed separate suits for the enforcement of their fundamental rights last month.

President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the pastor-in-charge of Dunamis church where the plaintiffs were arrested, Paul Enenche, are sued as the defendants in each of the suits.

The applicants sought N10million compensation in each of their suits.

The plaintiffs were arrested at the church for wearing shirts with the Buhari-Must-Go inscription, a sign associated with activists calling for President Buharis removal on the account of his alleged incompetence in the handling of the worsening security and economic situations in the country.

Their lawyer, Mr Temokun, argued in the separate suits, filed on July 8that his clients are entitled to fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression and the press, right to freedom from discrimination and right to personal liberty.

According to him, the rights are guaranteed under sections 35, 38, 39 and 42 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria constitution and under Articles 1, 2, 6, 8 and 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.

They are sacred rights which can only be curtailed in accordance with the law, Mr Temokun wrote in the court documents.

He also said the arrest and continued detention of his clients for wearing a clothing apparel with an inscription of BUHARI MUST GO! without a bail or arraignment, by men and officers under the command of the 1st, 2nd and 4th respondents (SSS, SSS boss, and Dunamis churchs pastor) constitute a very oppressive violation of the applicants fundamental rights.
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The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Salisu Garba, has resigned his appointment to resume as the administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja.

As part of its responsibilities, the NJI organises training for judges at all levels, magistrates, and court officials of various cadres.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, announced Mr Garbas transition from being the head of the FCT judiciary to NJI administrator in a statement on Monday.

The CJN, according to the statement signed by his spokesperson, Ahuraka Isah, appointed Mr Garba to take over as NJI administrator from Rosaline Bozimo, whose tenure expired on July 31.

Ms Bozimo, a retired Chief Judge of Delta State, served two terms as the administrator of the institute.

The National Judicial Institute Board of Governors, under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Honourable Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad (OFR), at its meeting held on July 15, 2021 appointed Honourable Justice Salisu Garba as the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI).

Justice Garba has taken over from the Honourable Justice Rosaline Patricia Irorefe Bozimo (Rtd), whose tenure as the Administrator of the Institute came to an end on the 31st July, 2021, the statement read in part.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that Mr Garba, who will clock the retirement age of 65 years before the end of 2021, was sworn-in as the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court on July 7.

Mr Garba took over from Ishaq Bello (the former CJ) who clocked the retirement age of 65 on January 6, 2021.

Garba serves two months as substantive Chief Judge

Mr Garba voluntarily retired to enable him to resume at the institute.

Although he stepped in as the acting Chief Judge of the FCT in January, he was only sworn in substantive capacity on June 7.

He would have been due to retire as the chief judge by October 10 when he will attain the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.

Born on October 10, 1956, Mr Garba hails from Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

He was called to the Nigerian bar in 1984 just as he completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1985.

The new administrator who went into legal practice for three years after his NYSC programme, was appointed magistrate in the FCT in 1989 and served as the Chief Registrar of the FCT High Court until he was appointed a judge of the FCT High Court in 1998.

The appointment which takes effect from August 1, 2021, is for three years, from the date of appointment.
There is no magic bullet for eliminating mis/disinformationThe solution must be multi-pronged and cross-cutting. As Julia Koller brilliantly puts it: Information is only as reliable as the people who are receiving it. If readers do not change or improve their ability to seek out and identify reliable information sources, the information environment will not improve. To improve the information ecosystem, we must adopt some healthy digital behaviours, and this includes keeping our biases in check.

Misinformation and disinformation are arguably as old as humanity. The popular myth that bats are blind is scientifically inaccurate, and thus a misinformation. Research has proven that bats are anything but blind. They see in black and white, and at night they have the potential to see even better than humans. The introduction of information technology, particularly social media, has undoubtedly magnified the impact of mis/disinformation. It has opened up the space for an exponential spread of unchecked information at lightning speed, thereby challenging truth and reality, stirring division and conflict, breeding a skeptical public, threatening democracies and contributing to human rights violations.

Mis/disinformation in Africa

The toxic polarisation of recent elections across the world and the rapid spread of false information about the COVID-19 virus have demonstrated the harmful potential of mis/disinformation. People have lost loved ones, experienced severe health complications, been excluded, ostracised, attacked, harassed and discriminated against as a result of the proliferation of mis/disinformation.

In Nigeria, there was the pervading belief that Nigerians were immune to the COVID-19 virus. This originated from the false information that blacks possess a natural protective response to SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, the hysteria around hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19, resulting from the unsubstantiated claim in the viral video by the Nigerian trained U.S. physician, Dr. Stella Emmanuel, led to the panic purchases and stockpiling of the drug. Despite extensive media coverage to debunk these claims, people still relied on this misleading information, resulting in chloroquine poisoning and the refusal to comply with COVID-19 protocols, thereby increasing the risk of exposure to the virus. Also, the conspiracy theory that 5G is linked to the virus led to widespread panic and attack on 5G infrastructures in countries like South Africa.

In the aftermath of the 2017 general elections in Kenya, mis/disinformation played a significant role in escalating the post-election violence in the country. The opposition coalition claimed that 100 people had been killed by police officers, while official reports from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights placed the death toll at 24. This contributed to the heightened political tension in the country.

Countries in Africa are actively pushing back against mis/disinformation. Individuals and groups across continents have launched campaigns to counter the myths around the COVID-19 virus and dispel misleading narratives. An interesting example is Sarah Dawns, a South African also known as Mistress of Science, who fights medical misinformation on social media. The Centres for Disease Control in most African countries provide frequent updates on the number of confirmed cases, successful treatments and deaths related to the virus in the respective countries. Fojo and Pax Press, along with AfricaCheck, are building the capacity of journalists in Rwanda on fact checking, verification and cyber security. These are timely and innovative efforts on the continent that help fight mis/disinformation. However, the growing number of mobile phone users in Africa, coupled with the declining trust in the mainstream media and the widespread use of encrypted messaging applications like WhatsApp, make these interventions grossly insufficient to surmount the evident challenge involved. Furthermore, research shows a high exposure to perceived misinformation in some African countries and a heightened propensity of citizens to intentionally share false information.

Layers of Bias

What motivates people to share misleading information? The spread of misinformation plays to the natural instinct of humans to gravitate towards information that is familiar and aligns with preexisting beliefs. This sometimes shows up in the form of bias, which is influenced by our experiences, education, values and preferences, among other factors that shape our world view.

A 2018 study on the spread of true and false news online found that false news spreads significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth by a substantial margin. Evidently, bots share the digital space with humans and are programmed to disseminate inaccurate news. In this particular study, when all bots were removed from the dataset, the differences between the spread of false and true news remained the same  lending credence to the hypothesis that humans, not bots, propel the spread of misinformation.

The Internet presents an endless web of information that could overwhelm users with irrelevant data. In a bid to create tailored content that meets the information needs of individual users, algorithms selectively guess what information a user would find useful or interesting, on the basis of their digital footprints. Consequently, users are consistently fed with personalised content that align with their beliefs, desires and motivations.

The Internet has presented a plethora of information sources projecting news stories in nanoseconds, all competing for the attention of the user. This creates information overload that makes it impossible for the user to effectively assimilate the multiplicity of online content. In order to make sense of it, the human brain develops heuristic techniques that help it make quick and effective analysis of information. Unfortunately, these techniques are laced with layers of bias that make the user vulnerable to mis/disinformation and provide fertile ground for its spread.

Cognitive Bias

Increasingly, content creators are becoming more adept at grabbing the attention of users by deploying a variety of tricks that makes it easier for users to respond more favourably to their content, having understood their cognitive biases. These cognitive biases include confirmation bias, conformity effect, overconfidence, availability bias, naive realism, etc. Users are more likely to resonate with information that confirms their prior beliefs and values and discard or challenge any information to the contrary. They would be more inclined to promote content that affirms their identity, status, and religious beliefs or ideology, even though the content might be misleading.

For example, the xenophobic attacks in South Africa were fueled by the claims that the influx of foreigners had created unemployment for citizens, overburdened sectors such as health care and caused insecurity in the country. This resulted in the violent assault of foreigners, as it resonated with the belief held by many South Africans that foreigners are a threat to their identity and safety, given their history of discrimination under the apartheid regime. A joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reveals that there is no significant effect of immigrant workers on the employment of the native-born at the national level. In fact, immigrants in South Africa have a positive net impact on the governments fiscal balance because they tend to pay more in taxes.

In Nigeria, the vicious conflict between the Fulani pastoralists and the predominantly Christian Indigenes that has long ravaged southern Kaduna, an area in northern Nigeria, has significantly been fuelled by emotionally charged narratives and exaggerated claims. This has led to human and material losses on both sides. Whereas, the underlying cause of this conflict is the scramble for limited land, and other resources exacerbated by climate change and the governments failure to protect the people.

Societal Bias

The need for validation is a major motivation to identify with a community, and feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. People tend to gravitate more towards communities that share their values and ideologies and as a result, the information flow within such circles is rarely challenged because of the common belief in each others credibility and the fear of ostracisation. This creates an echo-chamber, with limited room for divergent views, making it difficult for misinformation to be detected. This vicious circle sows division within the larger society because people are existing in silos and are uninformed about the nuance of other groups and communities. This is a slippery slope into an us versus them scenario, which tears communities apart.

Furthermore, there is the tendency to assume that trending or popular opinions are accurate. Oftentimes, we have seen tweets with massive engagements of influential figures being taken as fact because they have the approval of a community, thereby creating a false social consensus, or clout. These are societal conditionings and trappings that are ripe for manipulated content to percolate, tear down and fracture communities.

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Technology-Aided Bias

The Internet presents an endless web of information that could overwhelm users with irrelevant data. In a bid to create tailored content that meets the information needs of individual users, algorithms selectively guess what information a user would find useful or interesting, on the basis of their digital footprints. Consequently, users are consistently fed with personalised content that align with their beliefs, desires and motivations. This reinforces their existing biases and further isolates them from divergent views and ideologies, thereby creating a condition that Eli Pariser describes as a filter bubble.

Biases are a blind spot, and it is important we open ourselves up to information that may not necessarily align with our held beliefs and ideologies. The golden rule is to pause before sharing any content. Also, it is important to engage in preliminary, own investigation that would help you reach an objective conclusion, such as: Seeking out different opinions, hearing others out, questioning the source

This bias in machines makes users more vulnerable to conspiracy theories, hyper-partisan content and outright fabrication. The filter applied using algorithms leads to an inundated exposure of monolithic information that has negative effects on civic debates. Furthermore, on the basis of frequency algorithms alone, popular content, regardless of its quality or accuracy, is projected to users in an unsolicited manner, capturing their attention. This is particularly dangerous because the system can be manipulated or gamed by anyone with nefarious intent to spread mis/disinformation.

The WITNESS Approach to Combating Mis/Disinformation

Over the last three years, WITNESS, an international non-governmental organisation, has provided recommendations to technology platforms to help make users less vulnerable to mis/disinformation. Technology platforms must understand the responsibility they owe society as the primary gatekeepers of information flows, to ensure that information is not just relevant but important, challenging, and holds other viewpoints. The responses of technology platforms to the spread of mis/disinformation during the pandemic has shown the benefit in promoting accurate information in-platform and helping users find and recognise them. This has to be scaled up to include all kinds of information and not just COVID-19 specific information. This should be done in addition to other steps taken to increase their commitment to more resourcing in the global south, as well as using a human rights based approach in their policies.

WITNESS has also embarked on a series of workshops in the global south aimed at tackling the threats posed by artificial intelligence-enabled forms of media manipulation. We have identified media literacy as one of the effective ways of combating mis/disinformation. This was one of the findings from our deepfakes convention in Sub-Saharan Africa, organised in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. This is why we are currently embarking on a project for West Africa that seeks to identify the best ways for reducing the harm caused by mis/disinformation, especially to grassroots communities.

Other initiatives being embarked upon by WITNESS and our partners include: the drafting of an access protocol for deepfakes detection tools; contribution to the development of a responsible, human rights respecting authenticity infrastructure and the development of user-friendly verification and accountability tools. Also, WITNESS developed a set of criteria through which the wide range of possible responses that technology platforms adopted in fighting COVID-19-related mis/disinformation can be assessed, using a framework based on human rights, our experience working with marginalised communities, and human rights defenders globally.

Pause Before Sharing

Biases are a blind spot, and it is important we open ourselves up to information that may not necessarily align with our held beliefs and ideologies. The golden rule is to pause before sharing any content. Also, it is important to engage in preliminary, own investigation that would help you reach an objective conclusion, such as: Seeking out different opinions, hearing others out, questioning the source, and corroborating with other credible media sources. This is known as the SIFT method.

In navigating through the algorithmic biases of websites and social media platforms to ensure balanced information, there are some strategies, though limited, that can be helpful, such as: Clearing out your search entries regularly; using multiple search engines for your queries; concealing your IP address where possible, and more importantly, actively seeking out trustworthy materials that hold divergent viewpoints.

There is no magic bullet for eliminating mis/disinformation. Human rights movements will always have adversaries that infiltrate and sabotage futures free of deception. The solution must be multi-pronged and cross-cutting. As Julia Koller brilliantly puts it: Information is only as reliable as the people who are receiving it. If readers do not change or improve their ability to seek out and identify reliable information sources, the information environment will not improve. To improve the information ecosystem, we must adopt some healthy digital behaviours, and this includes keeping our biases in check.

Nkem Agunwa is the Project Coordinator Africa at WITNESS.
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Dadiyattas case is beyond the fight to identify the whereabouts and secure the safety of an individual, it is a fight to defend the right to freedom of expression in Nigeria. To keep quiet over the disappearance of Dadiyatta is to uphold the climate of fear currently pervading the Nigerian civic space.

On August 2, 2019, he arrived home in Kaduna, after a long day. He drove in and was about to lock the entrance gates when, like in a movie, gunmen appeared and in the words of his wife, those men accosted him and took him away in his car. His family waited, hoping he would return the same night. They waited and waited. The waiting dragged on from a day, a month, to months and now, two years.

It is now two years since Abubakar Idris abduction. His family, his friends and all Nigerians have been asking: Where is Dadiyata? The pain his abduction continues to cause his family and loved ones is better imagined.

Anyone who knew Dadiyata and how he was an open critic of government would agree that we ought to be asking all the hard questions about the circumstances that surrounded his disappearance. The past few years have been very unpalatable for critics of government and dissenting voices in Nigeria. A lot of them have endured illegal detention, harassments and vexatious litigations by state actors, amid a wider crack down on freedom of expression. These attempts have and continue to suffocate the shrinking civic space.

We have seen an unhealthy obsession on the part of the government to over-regulate, or in a more direct description, stifle freedom of expression. Examples of recent relics of these attempts are the banning of Twitter, as well as bills popularly known as the Social Media Bill and the Hate Speech Bill in the National Assembly. The attempts to make the Minister of Information the sole controller of the media have been frightening.

Even if the government played no active role in his disappearance, the government obviously failed in protecting his human rights. Human rights are state obligations. His right to freedom of movement, liberty and any other rights he may have been denied, are state duties to protect.

These and many more are the attacks launched at dissenting voices with brute aggression. In the middle of this war, a lot of sacrifices have been made, including those of freedom and liberty. The travails of individuals like Abiri Jones, who was forcefully disappeared in July 2016 and held in secret for over two years, without access to lawyers or family, is indicative of the sinister use of fear and intimidation by the state to silence critics.

In Dadiyatas case, the government has denied having anything to do with his disappearance and it may sound like wise judgement to say fingers should not be pointed at the government for his disappearance since the details around his disappearance are inconclusive. However rational this argument appears, those fingers would still have to remain in the direction of the government, and rightly so.

Even if the government played no active role in his disappearance, the government obviously failed in protecting his human rights. Human rights are state obligations. His right to freedom of movement, liberty and any other rights he may have been denied, are state duties to protect. Apart from the weak assurance of the Police to investigate his disappearance, two years down the line, there has been no progress. Nothing whatsoever!

Anyone who believes in the right to freedom of expression should be asking the question: Where is Dadiyata? There has to be an answer. We cannot pretend as if this never happened. The day the disappearance of critics and voices of dissents become normalised is the day we descend into the abyss of lawlessness.

This rain of unexplained arrests and disappearances of government critics is one we must discourage by asking all the hard questions in demanding accountability, transparency and justice from the government, before we all get drenched in it.

Dadiyatas case is beyond the fight to identify the whereabouts and secure the safety of an individual, it is a fight to defend the right to freedom of expression in Nigeria. It is a fight to protect critics from the intolerance of state and non-state actors. To keep quiet over the disappearance of Dadiyata, is to uphold the climate of fear currently pervading the Nigerian civic space.

It is important to be clear that if the roof leaks and the rains come pouring, we all would be within its reach. This rain of unexplained arrests and disappearances of government critics is one we must discourage by asking all the hard questions in demanding accountability, transparency and justice from the government, before we all get drenched in it.

Where is Dadiyata? We need to have a search party out looking for him. That search party is the government. His protection, and indeed that of all, is the duty of the government.

Seun Bakare is head of programmes at Amnesty International Nigeria.
I have thought of what I could do as my little contribution to the NUJ in Akwa Ibom State with regards to this matter (of investigative reporting). Anywhere that I have gone in this world when people talk about journalism, one individual comes to my mind first. It is in honour of this high priest of quality reporting that I hereby request (you) to accept the institution of an annual award to be called: Ray Ekpu Award for Investigative Journalism.

July 30 was, in several ways, a historic evening. The entire press centre of the Akwa Ibom Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists was filled up. More than half of the people in the hall sat outside, under canopies. My presence was based on an invitation by the State Council Chairman of the NUJ, Amos Etuk. He made me feel special. Amos disclosed that a respected technocrat, Udom Inoyo, would be the special guest. Udom retired recently from ExxonMobil as Executive Vice Chairman.

I knew it would be an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues I had not met in years. The event attracted almost every practitioner of journalism in the state. I listened and watched Udom deliver a well crafted and easily applauded paper. At the end, it was announced that only three questions or comments would be taken. I was one of the three people recognised to ask questions. I had three questions but I tried to melt them into one.

However, before then, in a conversation entitled: Your Pen, Our Future, Udom left no one in doubt as to how his past prepared him for what he has become in life. He talked about his late father with a sense of pride in what the man stood for. Here was a man whose life was ruled by the four pillars of hard work, contentment, integrity, and fear of God. Citing verifiable legacies, he said his father walked the talk on several fronts.

He recalled: I will never forget offering my father N300 in 1988, and he refused to accept it, querying the source. He had retired from service, and though I was an administrative officer on grade level 9, he thought the amount was too much for me to pull out of my savings. To date, I still visualise my hands stretched out and listening to his interrogations. He was always interested in the source of everything in our possession and even my friends, who would visit, especially in cars that seemed off their economic mark, did not escape such scrutiny. It did not matter if those cars belonged to their parents.

Udom challenged Akwa Ibom-based journalists not to abandon investigative journalism. He reminded them of the legendary professional exploits of two Washington Post investigative reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, backed by a determined editor, Ben Bradlee, who exposed a corrupt political system and forced a sitting American President, Richard Nixon, out of office. He noted that the action of the two investigative reporters also led to the jailing of more than 40 people including Americas chief law officer, the Attorney General of the United States.

Back in Nigeria, he called to remembrance the investigative prowess of Segun Osoba, who discovered the corpse of the first Prime Minister of Nigeria after the 1966 coup. His conclusion was that today, there is the Freedom of Information Law that could help reporters do more than what others did, in the past. You do not need to bring down a government or discover a missing corpse, but you can do a lot to help the government and society through truthful investigative reporting.

Suddenly, the hall exploded in endless applause as Udom said: I have thought of what I could do as my little contribution to the NUJ in Akwa Ibom State with regards to this matter (of investigative reporting). Anywhere that I have gone in this world when people talk about journalism, one individual comes to my mind first. He isan international award-winning journalist, who rose from a position of insignificance to that of global prominence. It is in honour of this high priest of quality reporting that I hereby request (you) to accept the institution of an annual award to be called: Ray Ekpu Award for Investigative Journalism.

The award is to be administered annually by a panel of five first-class media chiefs comprising: two celebrated veteran journalists; one national officer of the Nigerian Guild of Editors; a nominee of the award sponsor; and the State Chairman of the NUJ. It is aimed at encouraging quality, factual investigative reporting in Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria at large. The prize money for the overall winner each year is N500,000. But the journalist must operate from Akwa Ibom State.

Shortly after Udom announced the award, I put a call across to a delighted Ray Ekpu in Lagos to congratulate him. He was stunned after I revealed the detail of the award to him. He confessed: I know Udom Inoyo closely. But Sam, I have never done anything special for him to deserve this kind of honour. This is purely from a heart of love. Im glad to be so honoured by someone who has never placed a demand on me. I am greatly delighted.

Soon, it was time for questions and comments. So far, it was clear to me the combination of issues I needed to raise with Udom, whom I first met in 2005. I tried to make it a simple straight-forward inquiry, which required an equally straight shot of an answer, powered by facts. Both happened. Colleagues had thought nobody would have the intrepidity to raise such a contentious issue with Udom, who parades towering credentials in public service. He was also our guest. There was therefore the need not to embarrass him with any negative interrogation. It was even made clear at the beginning that no political questions should be asked. I considered that as self-censorship.

In journalism, every question is aimed at searching for and unearthing facts. It is these verifiable facts that would eventually open doors for truth to emerge. Only truth can heal doubts and end every speculation.

I cannot recall the exact words in which each section the harmonised question was captured. But it went this way: Having left ExxonMobil, are you going into politics; if you are eyeing the governorship of Akwa Ibom as being speculated, what is your view on the issue of cultism which has recently brought avoidable bloodshed and death to the state? Then I ventured into the hyper-sensitive, seemingly politically-motivated but widely-held conjecture that he had, during his university days, identified with the Pyrates Confraternity, also called Seadogs. I told him that no one has provided any evidence to prove that Seadogs is a cult. But I want you to be categorical in your response: Are you a member of any secret cult, or even the Pyrates Confraternity?

The silence that ruled the hall suddenly ended. Uneasiness set in. Within a split second, tension took over the hitherto relaxed atmosphere. It was a question nobody wanted to ask, but which everybody now waited for the answer. A senior journalist who sat next to me whispered: So you came all the way from Abuja to ask one long satanic question! My eyes were however focused on Udom. I needed to observe and decode his reaction. Was he harassed?

Quietly, he took hold of the microphone, stood up with a tantalising smile, and confidently responded to the inquiries without any hesitation. He looked first in my direction as though trying to tell me something important enough to demand eye-to-eye contact. At that point, I only hoped he was not taking it personal. Then the smile waned. Diplomacy left. Seriousness took hold of him as silence returned to the hall. Journalists were ready for the news and every word must be recorded. Udom understood the moment and declared in no uncertain terms: I am not a member of the Pyrates Confraternity. He said this three times. He did not stammer. It was for emphasise. The message sank in. Something snapped; and the tension ended.

After the absolute declaration, he went ahead to state his position on the menace of cultism in the state. He spoke as a father whose children could have been victims of the bothersome situation. You could sense the pain as each word dropped from his lips. He expressed serious concern over the threats and challenged parents and every person to rise to the occasion: We must not take the matter of cultism lightly. We must begin to find out what is driving cultism in our state and in Nigeria. We must take cultism out of the reach and the realms of politics. It was another way of saying that cultism must not be used as instrument for political gains.

Udom refused to accept or deny any interest in the governorship issue. His position was that Governor Udom Emmanuel does not deserve any distraction as he focuses on the serious business of governance in his final two years. He told the media professionals that every indigene of the State and indeed every Nigerian should be politically conscious and must develop a sense of involvement in governance, even without necessarily contesting for any office.

The position of the former ExxonMobil chief may have been a cautious demonstration of maturity in view of what a local newspaper did to his reputation earlier in the week. He woke up that morning to see a screaming headline in one of the State-based tabloids suggesting that he had a meeting two months ago in Calabar with a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke. The imaginary meeting was intended to lobby Donald to in turn arm-twist Governor Emmanuel to consider Udom as his successor.

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The reporter who created the deliberate falsehood sounded as though he was privy to Donalds conversation with Governor Udom Emmanuel. He cited the governor as telling Donald on telephone that Inoyo is a hard sale for the governorship. Udoms description of the story was: This is complete falsehood and a mischievous creation of a fiction writer. While I will never border to debunk such falsehood it would be better if all practitioners would uphold the basic tenets of journalism in their daily practice, which includes truth, accuracy, objectivity, social responsibility, etc.

The evening ended on the high. With five laptops as gift, an institution of excellence award in journalism worth N500,000; a promise to collaborate with the NUJ on several issues for the good of the profession; and of course, some other heavy but undisclosed packages. The weekend started well for my colleagues.

Sam Akpe is a journalist and editor.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, has called for increased impact investing in Africa for the continent to attain its full potential.

He made the call during his keynote address at the Africa Investment Risk & Compliance Summit 2021 organised by the Emerging Business Intelligence & Innovation (EBII) Group which held at the prestigious University of Oxford, United Kingdom, on Friday.

Mr Onyeagwu delivered his keynote address after the special keynote address by President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, who was the special guest of honour. Amani Abou-Zeid, the African Union commissioner in charge of Infrastructure and Energy, also delivered a keynote address at the summit.

Delivering the keynote address with the theme Leveraging Impact Investment Opportunities for Growth in Africa, Mr Onyeagwu described impact investing as an investment that yields optimal returns for investors, value for all stakeholders, and guarantees continued sustenance and existence of humanity.

He decried the shallowness of Africas financial market as depicted by the fact that no African exchange is among the Morgan Stanley developed markets index, only two African exchanges (Egypt and South Africa) are in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, and just six African exchanges are in the MSCI Frontier Market Index.

He noted that although the International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that the global investors appetite for impact investing could total as much as $26 trillion, only approximately 8% of the assets of impact intent funds are focused on Africa. According to him, this is not significant enough, and Africa appears to be in the room but not on the table, considering that Africa is in dire need of investment and the continents 1.3 billion people represent about 17% of the global population of about 7.8 billion.

Citing the immense opportunities in Africa that represent enormous investment proposition for discerning investors, including the huge population, large market and active labour force, and the rich natural endowment, Mr Onyeagwu described Africa as the new frontier for global growth.

He made a case for increased impact investment in Africa, noting that investment opportunities on the continent cut across agriculture, healthcare, housing, infrastructure, electricity, and the creative sectors.

Mr Onyeagwu exuded immense optimism on the coming into effect of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative, which would create a single, continent-wide market for goods and services, business and investment as being in one country on the continent grants investors access to the entire continent.

He also called investors attention to Africas rich natural endowment, which includes 60% of the worlds uncultivated arable land and 9% of the worlds freshwater bodies, noting that Africa holds enormous potential for organic food production.

He, therefore, implored investors in the agribusiness value chain to focus attention in Africa for organic food production instead of genetically modified food in other climes.

Mr Onyeagwu also noted that as a socially responsible organisation, Zenith Bank continues to promote impact investment in Africa. For example, the bank has maintained strong advocacy for investment in Africa through its flagship sponsorship of Inside Africa on CNN for 16 consecutive years, which is helping to highlight the immense creativity and talent that abound on the continent and the enormous investment opportunities on the continent of Africa.

He also said that the bank leverages its in-depth knowledge of the African market to guide investors and hedge their exposures. According to him, the bank has been on a steady Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investment journey, which started with ESG integration as a business strategy as well as being a signatory to the Nigerian Principles for Sustainable Banking and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Responsible Banking.

For its efforts, Mr Onyeagwu noted that Zenith Bank received recognition as the Best Company in Promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Africa at the 2020 Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards (SERAS).

In his call to action, Mr Onyeagwu called for a paradigm shift, noting that Africa is a work in progress, and leaders in the public and private sector should not despair. He encouraged leaders to champion the changes they want to see, pay close attention to responsibility and accountability in leadership.

He also called for the de-risking of Africa through reforms, improved ease of doing business, respect for the rule of law and sanctity of contract, and human capital development.

Mr Onyeagwu expressed satisfaction with the several reforms of the Federal Government of Nigeria, including the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (RITC), the establishment of the Rural Electrification Agencys (REA) Rural Electrification Fund (REF), Infraco Plc, and several other development finance initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He also noted that several African countries, including Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda, are recording massive improvements in the ease of doing business, leveraging digital technology to simplify government processes and deepen the financial system.

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He implored Africans to see themselves as brothers and sisters, say no to xenophobia, and speak with one voice and not with discordant tunes. Onyeagwu implored the rest of the world to look at Africa as an investment destination that guarantees optimal returns.

He noted that Africa has profound talent that abounds across the world and contributes to the development of these climes, and this should be reciprocated. He encouraged Africans to imbibe the spirit of UBUNTU  I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE since we are all connected in humanity.

Zenith Bank is Nigerias largest and one of Africas largest financial institutions by tier-1 capital, with shareholders funds in excess of NGN1.1 trillion ($2.64 billion) as at December 31, 2020. The bank is a clear leader in the Nigerian financial space, with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products and solutions that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions.

The Emerging Business Intelligence & Innovation (EBII) Group is an independent specialist compliance and global risk management consultancy firm offering education and expert consulting services to entities in the West seeking opportunities for diversification and growth in emerging markets and Africa.

The Group supports African entities and governments with their risk management and compliance requirements and delivers practical and genuine support to firms by providing a comprehensive and relevant assessment of risks, enabling them to successfully navigate their risks and ensure adherence to their compliance requirements.
A former Minister of State for Works, Dayo Adeyeye, has described Saturdays All Progressives Congress (APC) ward congresses in Ekiti as a sham and unacceptable.

Mr Adeyeye alleged the congresses were characterised by manipulations and irregularities which recorded one death.

The one-time spokesman of the Senate, who belongs to the Southwest Agenda for Bola Ahmed Tinubu 2023 (SWAGA), spoke with journalists on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti.

He alleged that the state government made several attempts to disenfranchise his group from partaking actively in the exercise.

We want to believe that the Caretaker and Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of our party meant well when it gave the go-ahead that ward congresses should hold across the country on Saturday.

The ward congresses purportedly took place in Ekiti but the manner of their conduct was nothing near all democratic norms, he said.

Mr Adeyeye alleged that prior to the congresses, the Tokan-Tokan, a group loyal to Governor Kayode Fayemi, had constituted a seven-member electoral committee with no input from many party stakeholders in the state.

This is even as the CECPC had earlier advised that effort should be geared towards peaceful resolution of conflicts so that the APC could birth consensus delegates across board.

You will recall that the Ekiti Chairman of SWAGA, Sen. Tony Adeniyi, had issued a statement that having consensus arrangement might not be possible in Ekiti because of the determination of the Tokan-Tokan Group to dominate and control the soul of the congresses.

Now the consequences of the selfishness of the Tokan-Tokan group to impose their favourites on members stirs us in the face.

As witnessed on Saturday, the presence of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials was not felt at the congresses.

In places such as Ijero, Ado- Ekiti and Oye Local Government Areas extreme violence was visited on the people, leading to one death in Ado-Ekiti Ward 10.

We are hereby telling the CECPC, our party members nationwide and indeed all Nigerians that there was no congress in Ekiti on Saturday, Adeyeye said.

In a swift reaction, the Ekiti APC said the outcome of the congress had come to stay, saying it was one of the best that was peacefully conducted without any colouration.

Sam Oluwalana, APCs Caretaker Director, Media and Communications Committee, who also doubles as Special Assistant to the Governor, said Mr Adeyeyes claims were frivolous.

The APC in Ekiti is obliged to respond to reports that there was violence in the state during the APC Ward congresses held on Saturday.

We will like to state categorically that the exercise was overwhelmingly peaceful across the state and was a demonstration of our commitment to the principles and practice of democracy.

Our members trooped out peacefully to elect executives of the party in the 177 wards in the state, Oluwalana said.

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He, however, said that the violence that occurred in Ado-Ekiti Ward 10, which sadly resulted in the death of one person, had no connection with the congress.

He explained the congress in the ward was peacefully concluded, followed by a celebration.

Afterwards, there was a disagreement between two individuals around the venue on a matter totally unconnected to the congresses and this led to a fight and the unfortunate death of one of them.

He urged any genuinely aggrieved party member to seek redress through the partys internal conflict resolution mechanisms.

He called on them to desist from sponsoring false media narratives that were injurious to partys collective interests. (NAN)
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The Police in Oyo State have said that perpetrators of the attack on Amuludun FM 99.1, Moniya, Ibadan, would be brought to justice.

The commands spokesman, Adewale Osifeso, stated this in a statement issued on Sunday in Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hoodlums had, on Saturday, attacked the radio station, vandalising the windscreens of the four vehicles parked within the premises as well as the stations glass entrance door.

Mr Osifeso quoted the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, as assuring all and sundry that the perpetrators of the dastardly act would be made to face full wrath of the law.

According to Mrs Onadeko, investigations into the incident are currently ongoing, adding that developments will be communicated to the public accordingly.

She called on the public to promptly inform the police any incident of this nature, for their quick intervention.

Cause of attack

Giving update on what led to the attack, the police commissioner said that it was occasioned by the face-off between a vigilante group and some criminal elements.

It was due to the face-off between members of Soludero, a local vigilante group, and some criminal elements around Sasa Area in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State while the latter was on routine patrol on Saturday, at about 4:00 pm, she said.

Mrs Onadeko added that a member of the criminal gang sustained gunshot injuries during the clash and was confirmed dead at the hospital.

Consequent upon this, the hoodlums, in their numbers, stormed Soluderos presumed office, located at the premises of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Amuludun 99.1 FM, Moniya, Ibadan, in a bid to launch a reprisal attack.

Preliminary investigation gathered from an on-the-spot assessment shows that upon the arrival of the hoodlums, they became agitated, as none of their targets was on sight.

Consequently, windscreens of the four vehicles parked within the premises were broken, along with the glass door at the entrance of the media outfit, inferring that the attack was not targeted directly at the media outfit but the vigilante group, Mrs Onadeko said.

(NAN)
The State Security Service (SSS), on Monday, produced in court, eight of the 12 persons it arrested at the residence of a Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho. They were arrested during a July raid of Mr Adeyemos house in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Four of the 12 detainees were not brought to court due to what was likely due to the mix-up in the names presented to the court by their lawyers.

Judge Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on July 23 ordered the SSS to produce the detainees in court on July 29.

The security agency flouted the order as they failed to produce the detainees.

At the July 29 proceedings when the SSS was expected to produce all the 12 detainees, the agencys lawyer, I. Awo, told the court that it only had three detainees who were apprehended at Mr Igbohos home in Ibadan on July 1.

The court adjourned till Monday and restated its order compelling the SSS to produce the detainees in court.

In partial obedience to the court order on Monday, the SSS produced eight of the 12 detainees.

At Mondays proceedings, the judge granted an application by the detainees counsel, Pelumi Olajengbesi, to amend the discrepancies in the names of the suspects being held by the Nigerian secret police.

The court granted our application to amend the processes bearing the names of our clients. Some of the names of the detainees in the court documents are nicknames. So, we have applied to the court to correct them.

Hopefully, the SSS will bring the remaining four detainees at the next sitting, Mr Olajengbesi told journalists.

The judge adjourned the case till August 4 after which the detainees produced in court were driven back to SSS custody.

The 12 detainees have not been charged with any offence since their arrest on July 1.

They include Abdullateef Ofeyagbe, Amoda Babatunde (Aka Lady K), Tajudeen Erinoyen, Diakola Ademola, Abideen Shittu, and Jamiu Noah.

The rest are: Ayobami Donald, Adelabe Usman, Oluwafelumi Kunle, Raji Kazeem, Taiwo Opeyemi and Bamidele Sunday.

Earlier order

The courts earlier order for the detainees to be produced in court followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by their lawyer, Mr Olajengbesi.

The suit was anchored on section 32(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, as well as sections 6(6), 35 and 36 of the Nigerian Constitution.

However, on Thursday, SSS lawyer, I. Awo, informed the court that the service procured an order to hold the detainees.

Mr Awo had based the absence of the 12 detainees on the grounds that investigation into the circumstances that led to their arrest at Mr Igbohos home were ongoing.

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Arrest

The SSS on July 1 confirmed that its operatives stormed Mr Igbohos home in Ibadan in a bid to effect his arrest.

Addressing journalists at the headquarters of the SSS in Abuja, Peter Afunanya, the services spokesperson, said 13 suspects, including a female and 12 males, were arrested.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how gunmen invaded Mr Igbohos house, located in Soka, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State around 1:00 a.m. on July 1.

His vehicles, including his G-wagon, Prado Jeep, and some valuable properties including furniture and windows were reportedly vandalised.

The attack occurred barely 72 hours to the planned rally in Lagos by Mr Igboho and others to further canvas an independent Yoruba nation.

Mr Igboho had, in April, raised a similar alarm that his building was under siege. He claimed then that soldiers invaded his residence at midnight. The army denied this at the time.

But confirming the early morning raid on MrIgbohos home, Mr Afunaya said a total of seven AK 47 rifles were recovered, alongside pump-action guns and 5,000 rounds of ammunition including other weapons.

He said security operatives recovered the weapons after a hot gun duel between them and Mr Igbohos guards.

Mr Afunaya said two of Mr Igbohos men were killed in the process while a security agent was shot on the right hand and had to be treated.

He added that aside from the rifles, other items recovered at Mr Igbohos residence include 30 AK 47 magazines, 5,000 rounds of ammunition, three locally made bulletproof jackets and a German resident permit, amongst others.
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A female student of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State, on Sunday, lost her life while her lover was rendered unconscious under mysterious circumstances.

Witnesses said the couple were engaged in a sex romp and, after the lady lost her life, her lover, a fellow student, ingested the insecticide, Sniper, and lost consciousness. They were suspected to had done drugs.

The deceased, a 200 level student identified as Awojeji Itunuoluwa, was from the Library and Information Science Department. Her partner, Zion Elisha, is also in 200 level in the Department of Mathematics.

Multiple sources in the university told PREMIUM TIMES that the incident occurred at a private hostel popularly known as Daniels Court.

A witness, who preferred not to be named because she does not want her name in print, said she was horrified when she saw her colleagues lifeless body on the floor while the male colleague was gasping for air.

Reacting to the incident, Acting Public Relations Officer of the university, Ayotunde Odubela, said the school authority became aware of the incident when the victims were brought to the school health centre.

Yes, we are aware of the incident, We just know that they were brought into the school health centre yesterday (Sunday).

Medical workers referred the two of them to the General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode. At the General Hospital, the girl was said to have been brought in dead while the guy was in a very critical condition.

Mr Odubela said the girl was transfered to the morgue while Mr Elisha was referred to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Hospital, OOUTH, Sagamu.

But, before getting to the OOUTH, we learnt that they branched at Babcock University Teaching Hospital where the male student was admitted at the Accident and Emergency ward. That is the much we know.

We have started our investigation to really find out what really happened.

The University has a security unit, they are already carrying out an independent investigation on the matter to find out what really happened.

We are in touch with the parents of the female student and we are aware that the parents of the male student are already in touch with their son.

A statement by the Students Union President of the University, Rabiu Sodiq, dismissed the claims of a sex romp. He, however, confirmed that traces of sniper were found in the male students lungs.
A graveside service for Jerry Roberts, 53, who passed away February 13, 2020 will be held Friday, August 13, 2021 at 1:30pm at St. Peter's Cemetery, Plattsburgh. A Celebration of Life will follow at the American Legion in Saranac.
Flames from the Boulder Fire along the east side of Flathead Lake cross Highway 35 and reach the shore on Saturday night. Finley Point residents were evacuated before dawn Sunday as the 1,100-acre fire blocked the highway east of Polson.
Currently operating a fleet of 1 x B737-300 and 7 x B737-400 full freighter aircraft, the new acquisition will see the fleet size grow to thirty-three aircraft, more than tripling its capacity in the process. The 25 new B737-800 aircraft will be a welcome addition to the existing fleet and will offer enormously increased capacity and overall efficiency in servicing its clients' demands.

The B737-800 model can carry an additional 4 tons more than the current in-service B737-400, while also offering increased cargo volume with 1 extra pallet position on the aircraft's main deck. Additionally, the aircraft's advanced fuel-burn ratio and better technical reliability will position the new aircraft as a more sustainable and environmentally sensitive option for the company's cargo customers.

This exciting and game-changing move  as part of the airline's existing expansion plan  will place the company ahead of the curve as a leading, highly competitive cargo operator across the entire freight transport sector. As part of the expansion plan, Bluebird Nordic is confident that the B737-800 will forge its place as a mainstay of the cargo operator's growing fleet of modern aircraft.

The first B737-800, which will be delivered by Avia Solutions Group sister company, AviaAM leasing  a global provider of tailored aircraft leasing and trading services  will join the fleet in September 2021, followed by a second in October 2021.

In the interim period while Bluebird Nordic await aircraft conversion and delivery, and as evidence of the existing synergy between companies, the aircraft will be utilised by Avion Express  the leading narrow-body ACMI charter operator and an integral part of the Avia Solutions Group of companies  for passenger flights during the busy summer season, offering extra capacity and highly competitive prices.

Bluebird Nordic's CEO, Siggi Agustsson, said, "The arrival of 25 new B737-800s to our fleet will firmly position Nordic Bluebird at the forefront of the cargo charter market and comes as part of our existing and comprehensive expansion plan. With the growth in demand for cargo transport we are proactively responding to our customer's increased freighter needs, and ensures that we are ready and able to meet all of their global cargo demands. Additionally, following this major expansion, Bluebird Nordic plans to develop back-offices in Lithuania and Bulgaria."

If you would like more information or would like to schedule an interview with one of our Bluebird Nordic representatives, please contact Vilma Vaitiekunaite at vilma.vaitiekunaite@aviasg.com or +37068616336

About Bluebird Nordic

Established in 1999 cargo charter service, Bluebird Nordic provides secure and reliable cargo services from its home base in Iceland to more than 100 locations worldwide. The company prides itself on running a highly efficient airline focusing on a fast, safe, and competitive customer-focused service. The airline is experienced in and licensed to carry a wide variety of cargo; fresh fruits, perishables, pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery, animals, dangerous goods, and more.

Bluebird Nordic is a family member of Avia Solutions Group, a leading global aerospace services group with almost 100 offices and production stations providing aviation services and solutions worldwide.

For more information, please visit https://bluebird.is/ https://aviasg.com/

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585745/Bluebird_Nordic_1.jpg

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SOURCE Avia Solutions Group; Bluebird Nordic
SELBYVILLE, Del., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to latest report "Femtech Market by Type (Products, Software, Services), Application (Reproductive Health, Pregnancy & Nursing Care, Pelvic & Uterine Healthcare, General Healthcare & Wellness), End-use (Direct-to-consumer, Hospitals, Fertility Clinics, Surgical Centers, Diagnostic Centers), Regional Outlook, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast 2027", by Global Market Insights Inc., the market valuation of femtech will cross $65 billion by 2027. Rising government initiatives to increase awareness regarding women's health coupled with favorable funding scenarios will boost the overall market growth.

Major femtech market players include Athena Feminine Technologies, Sustain Natural, Nuvo, iSono Health, Minerva, Sera Prognostics, BioWink and Elvie.

Awareness initiatives undertaken by government as well as non-government organizations to educate the female population about personal hygiene and health will create the market progression potential. Several developing nations are taking various efforts by providing medicines & pills, free check-ups and other services to protect maternal health and offer proper healthcare services. The expansion of digital health services to cater to such women's health issues and increase service accessibility will positively impact the market value.

Request a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/4442

The growing burden of chronic as well as infectious diseases among the female population has created demand for continuous health monitoring devices. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, breast cancer is considered the most commonly occurring cancer among women that has accounted for over 2 million new cases in 2018. Additionally, in 2019, around 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer were estimated in the U.S. Further, increasing prevalence of infectious diseases among females in underdeveloped economies due to unawareness regarding personal hygiene will allow penetration to new markets.

The services segment in the femtech market accounted for USD 6.5 billion revenue in 2020, led by the acceptance of digital health platforms and advanced devices to enhance service delivery and improve patient outcomes. Use of virtual platforms has advanced fertility treatment and pre- as well postnatal care services.

The femtech market for the Reproductive health segment is projected to witness a 16.6% growth rate through 2027 impelled by the increasing focus on innovation in the management of female reproductive health. Femtech products and services enable diagnosis, monitoring and care of several reproductive health conditions, including sexual healthcare, menstruation and fertility tracking and contraception among others. Various technology-driven companies are continuously developing novel products to cater to such conditions.

The fertility clinics segment was valued at USD 3 billion in 2020. The segment growth is attributable to the expansion of the fertility centers network to cater to increasing concerns associated with reproductive health resulting in infertility issues. The facility expansion will provide demand for advanced tools, enabling efficient service delivery and patient care. Thus, awareness regarding femtech products among providers will foster its usage in such clinics. Further, increased accessibility with business investments will augment the market expansion in the coming years.

The Asia Pacific femtech market is poised to attain a CAGR of 17% by 2027 owing to the government initiatives and support to increase acceptance of digital platforms in health management and to broaden accessibility to remote areas. Further, a number of new entrants, favorable funding, adoption of high-end technology products as well as growing spending power of females in some countries are some of the growth-impacting factors. Moreover, rising R&D by the companies to provide superior services and products will offer the industry growth opportunities.

Request customization of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/4442

Major players operating in the femtech market include Athena Feminine Technologies, Sustain Natural, Nuvo, iSono Health, Minerva, Sera Prognostics, BioWink and Elvie among others. Companies are implementing various strategies, such as collaborations, new product launches and partnerships, to gain a competitive advantage for business expansion. The service providers are constantly adopting new technologies to offer advanced treatments and solutions. Integration of advanced femtech technologies in products will help them to revolutionize offerings.

Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 3 Femtech Market Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Industry landscape, 2016 - 2027

3.3 Industry impact forces

3.3.1 Growth drivers

3.3.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges

3.4 Growth potential analysis

3.4.1 By type

3.4.2 By application

3.4.3 By end-use

3.5 COVID-19 impact analysis

3.6 Start-up scenario

3.7 Porter's analysis

3.8 Competitive landscape, 2020

3.9 PESTEL analysis

Browse the Complete Table of Contents (ToC) @ https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/femtech-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 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

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Femtech Market Growth Predicted at 16.2% Through 2027: GMI

Major femtech market players include Athena Feminine Technologies, Sustain Natural, Nuvo, iSono Health, Minerva, Sera Prognostics, BioWink and Elvie.

SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
OSHKOSH, Wis., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacur, LLC, a market leading supplier of specialty plastic packaging materials for the medical device industry, today announced a planned transition in the leadership of the company. John Carlson, a 30-year veteran of the healthcare and medical device industry, will take over the role of CEO effective today, succeeding Barry Johnson, who is retiring after leading the company for the past decade. Pacur is a portfolio company of middle market private equity firm Gryphon Investors.

Mr. Carlson is an accomplished executive with a track record of driving innovation and growing businesses in the healthcare and medical device industry. Prior to joining Pacur, he served as President of Flex Health Solutions, a $2.5B business focused on design, engineering services and contract manufacturing for the medical technology market. Before that, he held a variety of technology and innovation roles at Johnson & Johnson, both at the parent company and at its Ethicon Endo-Surgery division. He holds a B.S. in BioEngineering and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, both from the University of California, San Diego.

Under Mr. Johnson's leadership, Pacur has established itself as a first-class brand with a reputation for quality, excellent customer service, reliability, and strong financial performance. Mr. Johnson will continue to remain active in the business as a Board member.

"It is difficult to step down from my day-to-day work as CEO of Pacur," said Mr. Johnson. "I have had the privilege to lead a great team of people who have grown Pacur into a world class supplier to the medical device industry. But the time is right for me to focus on my future. I'm very confident that John is the right leader to guide Pacur through our next phase of growth, and I look forward to working with him through the transition and as a Partner on the Board. I'm very bullish about our company."

Craig Nikrant, Chairman of the Board for Pacur and Gryphon Operating Partner, said, "I am very pleased to partner with John as Pacur moves forward. His laser focus on customers, superior service, and quality, as well as his innovative mindset, gives me great confidence in his leadership and vision for the company." Wes Lucas and Leigh Abramson, Partners and co-Heads of the Industrial Growth Group at Gryphon Investors, added, "We cannot thank Barry enough for his invaluable leadership and significant contributions that helped make Pacur the market leader it is today. All of us at Gryphon wish him the best in his retirement and look forward to his continued involvement on the Board."

Mr. Carlson said, "I couldn't be more excited to join the Pacur team to help expand upon the great foundation they have built. I look forward to working with Barry on the transition as we augment Pacur's already strong technology, introduce new advanced products, and broaden the company's capacity to serve its customers."

About Pacur

Founded in 1979 and based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Pacur (www.pacur.com) is the leading supplier of extruded PETG sheet used principally to provide rigid, high-performance packaging for medical devices.

About Gryphon Investors

Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors ( www.gryphoninvestors.com ) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. The firm has managed over $5.0 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $50 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with enterprise values ranging from approximately $100 million to $600 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon's capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.

Contact

Lambert & Co.

Caroline Luz, 203-656-2829, [email protected]

or

Jennifer Hurson, 845-507-0571, [email protected]

SOURCE Pacur

Related Links

http://www.pacur.com


AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- /PRNewswire/ -- An affiliate of Peak Rock Capital ("Peak Rock"), a leading middle-market private investment firm, announced today the sale of Louisiana Fish Fry Products, Inc. ("LFF" or the "Company") to MidOcean Partners ("MidOcean").

Louisiana Fish Fry is a category-leading, Louisiana-inspired flavors and seasonings platform offering bold, authentic products across four attractive categories  coatings, sauces & marinades, spices & seasonings, and bases & mixes  to retail and foodservice customers nationwide.

An affiliate of Peak Rock acquired LFF in 2018 from the family of the founding shareholders. During Peak Rock's ownership, LFF undertook a highly successful transition from family to institutional ownership, including a series of transformational growth and operational initiatives which have contributed to the Company's success. LFF also meaningfully invested in the development and scale of its organization, opening new distribution facilities and organically increasing its employee base by more than 75%, enabling the business to support increasing demand.

Robert Strauss, Managing Director of Peak Rock, said, "It has been a great pleasure working with the LFF management team over the last three years. In partnership with Peak Rock, LFF has made significant investments across the organization, accelerated the Company's new product innovation efforts, achieved significant distribution gains, and continued to expand Louisiana Fish Fry's brand awareness, all of which have driven strong sales growth and positioned the Company for long-term success."

Michael Morse, President and Chief Executive Officer of LFF, added, "We are appreciative of the partnership that Peak Rock and our board have provided over the past few years. Peak Rock has been tremendously supportive and an invaluable partner to LFF, enabling the Company to emerge as the category leader it is today. We are excited to build on our accomplishments in this next stage of growth with MidOcean. I also want to thank the entire LFF team, as well as our valued customers and consumers, to whom we are extremely grateful."

Spencer Moore, Managing Director of Peak Rock, added, "We're very proud of the success LFF has achieved during our ownership. The Company has grown and solidified its position as an invaluable partner to its retail and foodservice customers nationwide. We're excited for Louisiana Fish Fry's future as it continues to execute its growth plan."

Anthony DiSimone, Chief Executive Officer of Peak Rock, said, "This transaction demonstrates Peak Rock's ability to drive transformative growth across branded food and beverage businesses as well as founder- and family-owned companies. We look forward to partnering with other branded businesses that can benefit from Peak Rock's strategic and operational expertise and collaboration."

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as the financial advisor and McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as the legal advisor to the Company on the transaction.

ABOUT LOUISIANA FISH FRY

Founded in 1982, Louisiana Fish Fry is a leading manufacturer of branded, Louisiana-inspired food products across four core categories  coatings, sauces & marinades, spices & seasonings, and bases & mixes. The Company distributes its products to a national customer base of leading grocers, mass market retailers, and foodservice distributors. For more information visit www.louisianafishfry.com.

ABOUT PEAK ROCK CAPITAL

Peak Rock Capital is a leading middle-market private investment firm that makes equity and debt investments in companies in North America and Europe. Peak Rock's equity investment platform focuses on opportunities where it can support senior management to drive rapid growth and performance improvement, with expertise in corporate carve-outs and partnering with families and founders seeking first-time institutional capital. Peak Rock's credit platform invests across capital structures, with a broad mandate to provide flexible, tailored capital solutions to middle-market and growth-oriented businesses. Peak Rock's real estate platform makes equity and debt investments in small to mid-sized real estate assets in attractive, growing geographies. For further information about Peak Rock Capital, please visit www.peakrockcapital.com.

Media Contact:

Daniel Yunger

Kekst CNC

(212) 521-4800

[email protected]

SOURCE Peak Rock Capital

Related Links

https://peakrockcapital.com


Shaw Pure Liquid (EPA reg.87507-3-98419) is a disinfectant, virucide, deodorizer, and fungicide that is easy to use, tough on germs, and is dye and fragrance free. Shaw Pure Liquid effectively disinfects and eliminates odors produced by odor-causing bacteria, fungi and other odor-causing organisms and leaves surfaces smelling clean and fresh. Shaw Pure Liquid also contains no carcinogens or poisonous residuals and naturally dissipates.

"Odor dominates first impressions of a facility and is a key indicator of facility hygiene," said Jim Mannes, Shaw Total Care national director. "Shaw Pure Gas (EPA reg.87507-2-98419) molecularly eliminates odor-causing bacteria, mold, mildew, and chemical odors at their source including foul odors caused by fire, smoke, tobacco, cooking odors, sewage smells and more. Shaw Pure Gas also works in as little as 4-6 hours, reducing downtime and leaving no visible residue. We are excited to pair the Shaw Pure suite of products with expert RD Weis treatment services to provide an effective, comprehensive solution for facility executives."

"We are excited by the performance and efficiency of Shaw Pure Liquid and Shaw Pure Gas products," said Randall Weis of RD Weis. "Integrating Shaw Pure products with the RD Weis industry-leading treatment process creates a powerful solution for facility health and hygiene, undeniably one of today's biggest challenges for facility executives."

Achieving and maintaining a high standard of health and hygiene for a commercial facility requires a customized prescriptive treatment plan delivered by an experienced, qualified provider. RD Weis, part of the national Diverzify network of commercial service providers, has been innovating commercial facility treatment programs for more than 10 years and is the provider-of-choice for many of the largest brands in retail, hospitality, food service, public transportation, corporate, government, medical, warehousing, and banking and financial industries.

About RD Weis

Founded in 1990, RD Weis is a full-service commercial flooring provider specializing in environmentally safe flooring solutions. As part of the Diverzify enterprise of brands, RD Weis brings industry-leading experience and service excellence to clients across the nation.

RD Weis offers commercial clients and design professionals a broad range of floor covering products and services at the industry's most competitive prices.

Headquartered in Elmsford, NY, RD Weis serves the needs of the corporate, healthcare, hospitality, retail, and educational markets both nationally and internationally from locations throughout the northeastern U.S.

Ask us about sustainable flooring products and services; maintenance; disinfection; specification; and A&D consulting.

ABOUT SHAW

Shaw Industries Group, Inc. is more than a flooring company  we are more than 20,000 people united in our vision of creating a better future for our customers, for our people, for our community and for our company. We provide carpet, resilient, hardwood, tile & stone, laminate, synthetic turf and other specialty items for residential and commercial markets worldwide. We meet diverse customer needs through an expansive portfolio of brands, including: Anderson Tuftex , COREtec , Floorigami , Patcraft , Philadelphia Commercial , Shaw Contract , Shaw Floors , Shaw Sports Turf , Southwest Greens and more.

Headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, Shaw is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway with $6 billion in annual revenue and representation throughout the U.S., as well as in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, India, Mexico, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. For more information about our company brands, operations and community involvement, or to join our industry-leading team, visit www.shawinc.com .

SOURCE RD Weis; Diverzify

Related Links

diverzify.com


YOKNEAM, Israel, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RealView Imaging Ltd. today announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its HOLOSCOPE-i holographic system. The system creates spatially accurate, three-dimensional interactive medical holograms, based on data received from standard CT scans and 3D ultrasound systems. The HOLOSCOPE-i is the first and only medical holography system which provides physicians with a natural 3D visualization experience, allowing direct and precise interaction with dynamic holograms of the patient's true anatomy, floating in free space at hand's reach, prior to and during interventional procedures.

HOLOSCOPE-i: Over-the-head Holographic system by RealView Imaging, Creating Digital 3D Holograms in the Physician's Hand (PRNewsfoto/RealView Imaging Ltd)

The HOLOSCOPE-i system has been designed and tailored to the specific needs of clinicians and interventionalists, with an "over-the-head" system configuration suspended above the physician, without the need for any head-mounted device, special eyewear or interaction tools. Based on the company's proprietary Digital Light Shaping technology, the HOLOSCOPE-i is the only commercial product which employs true interference-based volumetric holography (a Nobel Prize winning technology) to create holograms with high spatial resolution in all three dimensions. This unique technological advantage allows natural 3D/4D visualization and prolonged use of the system without provoking fatigue, nausea or headache, which are the major problems with all currently available 3D stereoscopic visualization solutions, including Augmented Reality headsets, Virtual Reality headsets and stereoscopic screens.

Earlier this year the company expanded its series C financing round to $15M. Participants in this round included notable investors Judith and Kobi Richter, the Lowy Medical Research Institute, Rami Ungar, OurCrowd VC and Club100Plus Investments Group. The majority of the company's existing shareholders also participated in this round, including serial technology and medical investors Dr. Shimon Eckhouse and Zohar Gilon.

The company was founded by Aviad Kaufman, Shaul Gelman and Prof. Carmel Rotschild, with a seed investment led by Dr. Shimon Eckhouse, the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Along with the development of the core holographic technology, RealView has generated a strong global IP portfolio (39 patents, 28 granted to date). The first-in-human clinical study to evaluate the feasibility of live 3D holographic imaging in a clinical setting was successfully performed a few years ago with a prototype holographic system at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel, in collaboration with Philips Healthcare. The company has recently completed the installation of the HOLOSCOPE-i commercial configuration at Schneider Children's and is continuing to perform collaborative clinical work at this important medical center.

"Having a real hologram of the heart in my hand, based on pre-operative CT and intra-procedure ultrasound, allows me to focus-in and fully understand the complexities of the patient's 3D anatomy" said Dr. Elchanan Bruckheimer, Cath Lab Director at Schneider Children's Medical Center and Medical Director for RealView Imaging. "Using the holographic system, I can intuitively comprehend the dynamic spatial anatomical relationships of the cardiac valve leaflets, for example. I can literally touch, mark, locate, slice or define a path for the intervention. This technology provides me with more confidence, potentially resulting in shorter procedures and better outcomes."

"There is a rapidly growing need for advanced visualization solutions in the world of Medical Imaging, driven by the huge trend to perform minimally-invasive procedures that exclusively rely on imaging technologies," says Shaul Gelman, CEO and Co-Founder of RealView Imaging. "The HOLOSCOPE-i delivers the next-generation of 3D interactive visualization tools that empower imaging-based medical interventions, allowing clinicians to intuitively understand the complex anatomy they are treating in a realistic and accessible way like never seen before."

"After years of developing this incredible deep-technology, we are excited to bring this science-fiction solution to support real-world clinical practice," said Dr. Shimon Eckhouse, RealView's Chairman of the Board. "Following this important FDA clearance, we are now focused on the commercialization of the HOLOSCOPE-i system in North America and are planning to expand our market reach to additional countries over the next year. I believe RealView can significantly impact the growing field of structural heart interventions, as well as additional clinical fields which rely on advanced imaging to deliver better and faster medical care."

RealView Imaging's vision is to leverage its pioneering position to globally lead the field of Medical Holography, scaling its proprietary technology to multiple clinical applications. The company's next product, the HOLOSCOPE-x, projects 3D holographic images inside the closed patient's body (in situ), making the patient literally transparent. This patented product, currently under development, is uniquely designed to enable in-body spatially-precise minimally-invasive procedures.

For further information, please contact:

Aviad Kaufman

RealView Imaging Ltd.

Tel.: +972-544-334-834

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE RealView Imaging Ltd.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ePallet, the nation's leading wholesale consumable online marketplace, is pleased to announce that Michael (Mike) Schall, a former Whole Foods Market Executive, has been tapped to join the company's Board of Directors. Schall, who has more than three decades of senior management experience with a number of leading food companies, will collaborate closely with ePallet's executive team.

ePallet provides wholesale customers with direct access to a more efficient and cost-effective way to buy and sell food and consumables in full-pallet increments by utilizing its proprietary, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, web-based platform. The company offers a wide selection of natural, organic, specialty, and conventional food, beverage, and other consumer products, with no hidden costs.

"We're looking forward to collaborating and partnering with Mike. By adding him to ePallet's Board, we will receive key insights from his successful career as a brand builder, merchant and operating executive. Our team is impressed with Schall's experience in negotiating strategic joint ventures with Fortune 500 companies," said James Kwon, ePallet Co-founder, and CEO.

Schall is Managing Director of FocalPoint Partners, a global middle-market investment banking firm, where he also serves as a co-leader for the firm's Food & Beverage practice. Before joining FocalPoint, Mike was an integral part of the global senior executive team at Whole Foods Market, where he first served as an advisor to the E-Team, specifically within Global Growth and Business Development. While at Whole Foods Market, Schall provided leadership on a wide range of business initiatives, including investments, acquisitions, new ventures, strategic partnerships, and product development for Whole Foods Market's Exclusive Brands business.

"It's an honor to be a part of ePallet and to partner with James and his team. Food companies looking to scale their brand should consider ePallet as an efficient resource to raise brand awareness and to move product. I believe that ePallet's business model will lead to new business insights, perspectives, and success stories for both established brands as well as emerging and growing companies in the natural products space," said Schall.

About Mike Schall

Mike Schall graduated from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business with a Master of Business Administration in marketing. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in marketing from California State University, Los Angeles. Currently Managing Director of Focal Point Partners, Mike most recently served as Senior Coordinator for the Global Growth & Business Development Team at Whole Foods Market. In addition, Mike is the former President and CEO of The B. Manischewitz Company and Guiltless Gourmet, and among other senior management positions, he served in Brand Management for Lawry's Foods, a division of Unilever. He is a frequent speaker at food and beverage industry events and has authored numerous food industry articles and blogs. Mike is an Advocate for Atlanta-based OnBoard, a non-profit whose mission is increasing the number of women in executive leadership and on corporate boards. He is plant-based, an avid runner, and enjoys cooking, reading, and studying history. He and Lisa, his wife of 40 years, have two daughters and three granddaughters.

About ePallet

Established in 2017 and based in Los Angeles, CA, ePallet is a technology and logistics company that makes it easy and efficient to buy and sell wholesale food, grocery, and related consumer products by the pallet. The company serves retailers, manufacturers, food service companies, institutions, and vendors in the lower 48 states and Canada. It is expanding into Mexico to help businesses and organizations secure their supply chain from a broader range of sources.

To learn more and to sign up for ePallet, visit www.ePallet.com.

Contact

Media Relations Office: 833.372.5538, [email protected]

Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, 303.807.1042, [email protected]

SOURCE ePallet
HARLINGEN, Texas, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Regional Bank announces the appointment of Brad Freudenberg as Chief Technology Officer and Rene Avila as Senior Operations Officer. "We are pleased to welcome these two gentlemen and look forward to benefiting from their expertise," said Michael Scaief, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Texas Regional Bank new hires.

After graduating from Texas A&M in 1994 with a degree in Management Information Systems, Brad Freudenberg worked as a software consultant for Texas Commerce Bank / Chase Bank in Houston for 12 years. During that time, he also worked on major projects for other notable clients such as Minute Maid Foods, American Express, and Continental Airlines. In 2006, Brad joined a small energy trading company to design and develop custom software, eventually becoming the Chief Information Officer. At the same time, he began volunteering as a firefighter on the west side of Houston, which he remained heavily involved in for 12 years. Brad co-founded his own software consultancy in 2013 and served as President and Senior Solutions Architect until joining Texas Regional Bank in early 2021. He has a 27-year history of creating, implementing, and supporting innovative software solutions to make businesses more efficient and successful. "I am looking forward to leveraging this experience as the Chief Technology Officer of Texas Regional Bank to drive increased productivity and to support the aggressive expansion of the bank," he said.

With over 35 years of banking experience, R. Rene Avila is an accomplished senior operations and technology leader and communicator. He graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American with a degree in Accounting in 1982 and earned his CPA designation in 1986. Rene worked with International Bank of Commerce (IBC) for over 25 years serving in different capacities, including Executive Vice President / Chief Information Officer and President for the IBC Service Center. Most recently, Rene was employed by Lone Star National Bank as Chief Revenue Officer where he oversaw several divisions and the sales activity of 35 branches. "I am very excited to join Texas Regional Bank as I look forward to utilizing my skills to meet the needs of our community, as well as assist the organization in its expansion." Rene is also involved in his community and is a member of numerous organizations as well as having a history of civic involvement.

About Texas Regional Bank

Established in 2010, Texas Regional Bank is headquartered in Harlingen, Texas, with 21 banking centers and 1 loan production office in the Rio Grande Valley and Texas Hill Country. As of June 30, 2021, Texas Regional Bank reported total assets of $1.7 billion, deposits of $1.5 billion and loans of $762 million. TRB offers core banking services, trust, wealth management, mortgage, international banking, foreign exchange, and public finance.

For more Texas Regional Bank information, visit www.texasregionalbank.com.

Michael Scaief

Chairman and CEO

[email protected]

Related Images

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Freudenberg / Avila

Texas Regional Bank new hires.

SOURCE Texas Regional Bank
"The delivery event in partnership with COSCO Shipping is of great significance for XCMG and our partners. We overcame the huge difficulty of supply chain maintenance during the COVID-19 pandemic situation, and enhanced global customer confidence," said Lu Chuan, President of XCMG.

XCMG and COSCO Shipping have formed a powerful alliance since XCMG won the bid for a major project in South America in early 2021 but then faced the enormous challenge of delivering all products within a short period of time during the pandemic as the global supply chain and sea freight logistics capacity was massively restricted. COSCO Shipping acted quickly to allocate resources and customized a solution plan for XCMG to solve the container transportation issues to ensure timely and orderly shipping.

By the end of the first half of 2021, XCMG's export volume increased by 70 percent YOY. Its products are now sold in 187 countries and regions worldwide, including 97 percent of Belt and Road Initiative countries, and XCMG now holds the highest export market share in 30 countries.

The XCMG-Venezuela V58 project in 2011 which totaled USD744.6 million has been the largest export order of Chinese construction machinery to date. The Venezuelan government issued a benefit plan of 2 million houses to solve living problems for residents, which required a large number of construction machinery equipment. With comprehensive product lineups, reliable quality and leading manufacturing and service capabilities, XCMG signed the largest export order of 6,025 units of equipment.

Forming strong alliances with relevant government departments, enterprises, financial institutions and organizations has enabled XCMG to build strategic collaboration platforms overseas and provide stronger product and service support, bringing more value and win-wins for all parties.

In the last two years, China Railway Transportation Logistics ("CRTL"), also one of XCMG's global partners, helped to deliver over 1,000 high cube shipping containers with XCMG's machinery products to European countries via the China-Europe Railway Express. Adapted with CargoBeamer's intermodal transport technology, CRTL helps to cut time costs on bogie changing while crossing borders all the way from China to Europe.

Through deepening cooperation, XCMG and its global allies can expand each other's product lines, value chains and global scope by opening up new markets and sharing advantageous resources to create an innovative and sustainable platform for the entire value chain.

SOURCE XCMG

Related Links

www.xcmg.com


PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 1Digital Agency specializes in all things e-commerce. They work with a wide variety of e-commerce businesses and are an all-in-one agency for e-commerce websites. Whether a business is looking for marketing services or to improve the look and feel of its website, the 1Digital team is the perfect choice to get the job done.

1Digital Agency

One of the most important parts of any website is its design. Even if a business has amazing products for sale, they will not be able to attract customers without an engaging e-commerce website design. Effective design elements will not only hold the attention of visitors to prevent bounces, but will also encourage those potential customers to explore the website further.

They say that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. This is also true in the world of e-commerce. Even with an amazing marketing campaign, businesses might see more traffic but that does not always mean more engagement. When it comes to e-commerce, engagement is everything. Longer engagement times also lead to repeat business and increased brand recognition.

Over the years, 1Digital's team of expert designers have worked with businesses on a wide range of e-commerce platforms. Whether a business wants to make a few changes to their existing design templates or they want a completely custom-built website, 1Digital's team can get it done.

For businesses who are interested in seeing what kind of design improvements their site could use, 1Digital's designers are always happy to offer a design audit. This not only provides businesses with a checklist of where their site could use a little improvement, but it will also give the 1Digital team a head start in planning a new e-commerce web design.

On top of their incredible custom web design, 1Digital Agency also offers a wide range of other services for e-commerce businesses. This includes world-class marketing campaigns, platform migration support, general support packages, and custom development services. Oftentimes custom development and design go hand in hand, meaning 1Digital is the only agency business will need to redesign the look and functionality of the websites. They also offer great retainer packages so businesses can continue to get support in the future when they need a small project or a bug to be fixed by the same team who built their site.

Businesses who are looking to improve the look and feel of their websites should check out 1Digital Agency. Their website contains a portfolio of design work that they have done in the past and their team of designers are always happy to work with businesses every step of the way to make sure that they can bring their vision to life. Anyone with an e-commerce website in need of some improvement should call 888-982-8269 or send an email to [email protected] to get in touch with one of their design experts.

Related Images

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SOURCE 1Digital Agency
FRANKFURT, Germany, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 2iQ Research has launched the online service Capitol Trades ( capitoltrades.com ), where investors can track stock market trades of Capitol Hill politicians in a convenient way.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 requires members of the US Congress to disclose their stock market trades, and since 2iQ has already built the largest and most sophisticated insider trading database globally, adding STOCK Act trade data to their offering was a logical step.

Capitol Trades features:

Fast delivery: New trades and analytics are published as close to real-time as possible, providing the most up-to-date STOCK Act information source available.

New trades and analytics are published as close to real-time as possible, providing the most up-to-date STOCK Act information source available. Enriched data: Capitol Trades leverages the vast 2iQ data factory to enrich every disclosed transaction with additional information and classifications.

Capitol Trades leverages the vast to enrich every disclosed transaction with additional information and classifications. Quality assurance: Capitol Trades does not rely on automated processing alone - 2iQ's data analysts take great care to ensure that the published data is always accurate.

Capitol Trades does not rely on automated processing alone - 2iQ's data analysts take great care to ensure that the published data is always accurate. Trade reporting: Curated trading data from the last three years can be searched and filtered by metrics like date, politician, stock, political party and more.

Curated trading data from the last three years can be searched and filtered by metrics like date, politician, stock, political party and more. Analytics: Capitol Trades allows users to find and visualize the most active politicians, most traded stocks and popular sectors, and to identify longer-term trends.

Capitol Trades allows users to find and visualize the most active politicians, most traded stocks and popular sectors, and to identify longer-term trends. Detail pages: Politician detail pages show their bio, committee memberships, tweets, trading activity and preferred sectors. Stock and committee detail pages complement the data with additional useful context.

Politician detail pages show their bio, committee memberships, tweets, trading activity and preferred sectors. Stock and committee detail pages complement the data with additional useful context. Twitter feed: 2iQ created a companion Twitter Profile where investors can get comprehensive information about new trades as soon as they are published.

Zabih Ullah, Managing Partner, 2iQ Research: "Tracking US Congress trading activity can help investors make more informed trading decisions. While US federal law requires Senators and Representatives to disclose their trades within 45 days of a transaction in a Periodic Transaction Report (PTR), the law is not as strict as it is for corporate insiders. Capitol Trades helps to solve this issue by increasing transparency in this important area of the stock market."

Nils Bolsen, Program Manager, 2iQ Research: "We were not satisfied with the existing offerings for STOCK Act data, so we decided to create our own. The project benefited from our ~15 years of experience in providing global insider trading data. Existing processes and the right people in the right places led to fast results. Today, we are proud to deliver complete and near real-time transactions of US senators and representatives on Capitol Trades - for free."

Muhammad Huzaifa Waseem, Team Lead, 2iQ Research: "While working on the data, I often stumbled upon trades where a politician bought the dip, buying at the perfect time, right before the price started rising. Or sold just before a stock started to go down. The data set undoubtedly has very valuable insights to help you make smart investment decisions."

About 2iQ

2iQ is the leading insider transaction data provider offering global coverage of 60,000+ stocks. The company's accurate, rapid insight is used by investors, hedge funds, asset managers, quantitative portfolio managers and analysts for modelling, analytics and research.

2iQ's award-winning financial applications include an unmatched data feed, API, bespoke services and advisory.

Founded in 2002 at the Frankfurt University business incubator, 2iQ's cloud-based data and analytics specialises in smart, efficient capturing and processing of company filings and data. Their proprietary technology, machine learning and smart scraping capabilities are underpinned by an international team of expert data analysts.

Follow the smart money with 2iQ's smart data at https://www.2iqresearch.com .

Contact Diona Denkovska, +351 93 730 2277

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1586146/Capitol_Trades_2iQ_Research_Logo.jpg

SOURCE 2iQ Research
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa Bay Business Journal revealed that A-LIGN, a leading security and compliance partner to more than 2,500 global clients, has ranked 28 on its 2021 Fast 50 list of Tampa Bay's fastest-growing private companies, posting a 85.21% increase in revenue over the last three years. The companies on the 2021 Fast 50 list had a combined revenue of $2.19 billion in 2020, and employ an impressive 7,561 people, including 4,308 residents located in the Tampa Bay Area.

"It's an honor to be recognized as one of the 2021 Fast 50 honorees for the fourth consecutive year," said Scott Price, Chief Executive Officer at A-LIGN. "This recognition further validates our commitment to providing opportunities and fueling growth in the Tampa Bay area. I'm so proud of what we continue to accomplish as a company and look forward to continuing to serve our local community and customers around the globe."

This award comes on the heels of a string of accolades A-LIGN has recently won including CEO, Scott Price, named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 Florida Award Finalist, and CFO, Michael Branca, recognized by Tampa Bay Business Journal as an honoree for the 2021 CFO of the Year. A-LIGN was also featured as one of Consulting Magazine's 2021 Best Small Firms to Work For. The rankings for this recognition are based on 12,000+ surveys representing more than 300 firms. The survey ranks employee satisfaction across culture, career development, work/life balance, client engagement, compensation & benefits, and firm leadership.

Are you interested in joining one of Tampa's fastest-growing companies? Check out A-LIGN's available career opportunities.

About A-LIGN

A-LIGN uniquely delivers a single-provider approach as a licensed SOC 1 and SOC 2 Assessor, accredited ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and ISO 22301 Certification Body, HITRUST CSF Assessor firm, accredited FedRAMP 3PAO, designated CMMC C3PAO, and Qualified Security Assessor Company. Working with small businesses to global enterprises, A-LIGN experts and its proprietary compliance management platform, A-SCEND, are transforming the compliance experience. For more information, visit www.A-LIGN.com.

Media Contact:

Angelique Faul

[email protected]

SOURCE A-LIGN

Related Links

www.a-lign.com


SMYRNA, Ga., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelerate360 Distribution, LLC, announced today that it has agreed to acquire assets of Dakota News, Inc. (Dakota), including its wholesale magazine, book distribution and general merchandise business. The addition of the Dakota assets further extends Accelerate360's distribution network adding eight additional states throughout the Mountain region to the company's national distribution business.

"Today's announcement underscores our commitment to the continued growth of our distribution business while ensuring consistent performance and confidence in the supply chain for all of our internal and external partners," said Accelerate360 President and CEO David Parry. "We look forward to working with the team at Dakota News, as well as the great customers in their footprint that they supply and service to ensure a smooth transition and continued success for all of our retail partners."

The parties have agreed to enter into a Transition Services Agreement (TSA) to ensure retailers and suppliers continue to receive the high level of service they have come to expect from both Dakota and Accelerate360.

Dakota Managing Director Kevin Mitchell added, "We have been proud to supply our great retail partners for many years. We are confident that this strategic investment by Accelerate is best for the long-term health of the magazine wholesale business for both our retail partners and publishers. Our dedicated employees have always been vital to the success of our business and will ensure that the exemplary service we have provided to our customers continues as we work with the Accelerate team and familiarize them with our operations."

The acquisition expands Accelerate360's already extensive network of distribution assets which delivers consumer products to more than 60,000 retail locations weekly.

About Accelerate360

Accelerate360 is a distribution, sales, marketing and media conglomerate that provides customized solutions for retailers and consumer product brands across each of our lines of business. With over 100 years of legacy experience, the company has a proven track record in Direct Store Delivery (DSD) and Direct to Consumer (DTC) fulfillment as well as sourcing, retail program development, marketing, sales, category management and media solutions. Accelerate360 is also the largest magazine wholesaler in the US and owns over 30 media brands, including Us Weekly and Men's Journal. The company's internal brand and marketing studio manages proprietary brand development and marketing services throughout the ecosystem. Located in Atlanta, Georgia and with offices and facilities across the U.S., Accelerate360 is proud to employ over 1,000 employees. For more information please visit the following:

www.accelerate360.com

About Dakota News, Inc.

Dakota News is a family owned distribution company supplying magazines, books and a number of other products. Wayland Mitchell started working for the company shortly after WWII and in 1954 purchased it along with his brother Laurel and friend Jerry Freese. His other brother George joined later. Based in Sioux Falls SD, Dakota News has grown to over 10 warehouse locations and 220 employees situated throughout several states. Since 2001 Dakota News has grown from servicing retailers with truck delivery in 4 states to now 12 along with adding a specialty division with retailers receiving supply in 34 states. Dakota News is the largest magazine wholesaler in the North Central U.S.

SOURCE Accelerate360

Related Links

http://www.accelerate360.com


"We're thrilled to welcome Chef Thomas Keller to our team, and know that together we will continue to raise the bar on culinary excellence for professional chefs and home cooks," says Pamela Stafford, Managing Director at Hestan Culinary. "It's an absolute honor for us that Chef Keller has chosen to partner with Hestan cookware."

Chef Keller's history with Napa, California-based Hestan began in 2015 with the company's launch of Hestan Commercial. The award-winning line of premium commercial kitchen appliances are manufactured at its 160,000 square foot headquarters in Anaheim, CA. Impressed by the extraordinary quality, functionality, and beauty of Hestan appliances, Keller joined the new division to provide culinary inspiration and guidance, and installed the commercial equipment in several of his restaurants. Keller also collaborated closely with Stanley Cheng, Hestan's visionary founder and Chief Executive Officer. Cheng, an engineer by training, created Hestan after achieving iconic stature in the housewares industry as founder and CEO of Meyer Corporation, one of the largest cookware companies in the world.

In 2017, with the launch of Hestan Culinary, Keller quickly recognized the extraordinarily high quality craftsmanship of Hestan NanoBond, the company's first and signature cookware collection with 14 global patents. Representing the first true innovation in stainless steel cookware in 100 years, NanoBond and other Hestan cookware, such as CopperBond and ProBond are all featured in Keller's restaurant kitchens where they are constantly put to the rigors and demands of his brigade de cuisine. Currently, Hestan cookware, meticulously crafted in Hestan's company-owned factory in Italy, is used in the following lauded Keller restaurants: The French Laundry, Bouchon, Per Se, Ad Hoc, La Calenda, and The Surf Club.

"In the past eight years, I've especially enjoyed working with Stanley Cheng, who is an extraordinary engineer, a visionary leader, and as fastidious with details as I am. Everything that Hestan introduces is designed with purpose and unmatched quality, including the cookware, which I have found to be the most innovative, responsive, durable, and beautiful line for both professional and home cooks."

In his role as Hestan Culinary Brand Ambassador, Chef Keller will provide culinary guidance and inspiration to the development of new cookware, and collaborate closely with Stanley Cheng and the Hestan Culinary team to elevate everyone's experience cooking, whether at a professional kitchen or at home.

"Our partnership with Chef Thomas Keller is extremely gratifying, and comes from many years of friendship and mutual respect," says Stanley Cheng, Founder and CEO of Hestan. "From the first time that Helen, my wife, and I had dinner at The French Laundry, we knew that we were experiencing the pinnacle of culinary perfection, and that has been a great source of inspiration to me in building Hestan. Our values are very closely aligned and we are both committed to excellence."

To learn more about Hestan Culinary, please visit www.HestanCulinary.com. Follow us @HestanCulinary on Facebook and Instagram. Hestan Culinary offers an exciting affiliate program for media members and influencers. For more information and to partner, please visit HestanCulinary.com/pages/affiliate-program or email [email protected].

About Hestan

Founded by cookware icon Stanley Cheng and made up of innovative chefs, vintners and engineers who are reinventing the way we cook, Hestan is a forward-thinking culinary company that stands for culinary innovation born in the Napa Valley. From the molecular structure of cookware to the technique of cooking itself, Hestan  which has been awarded 51 patents to date  is forging new culinary ground with thoughtful design and ceaseless passion.

In addition to Hestan Culinary for cookware, the growing portfolio of Hestan sub-brands includes: Hestan Vineyards - well-respected small-batch wines developed in Napa Valley; Hestan Smart Cooking - a guided cooking system that will forever change the cooking experience; and award-winning Hestan Commercial, Hestan Outdoor, and Hestan Residential. For more information, please visit www.Hestan.com.

About Chef Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller's name is synonymous with quality and high standards. The chef and proprietor has established a collection of restaurants that sets a new paradigm within the hospitality profession, including The French Laundry, in Napa Valley, and Per Se, in New York, among others. He is first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, as well as the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France. Chef Keller has earned countless accolades, including The Culinary Institute of America's "Chef of the Year" Award and the James Beard Foundation's "Outstanding Chef" and "Outstanding Restaurateur" Awards. Chef Keller led a team from the U.S. to its first-ever gold medal in the Bocuse d'Or, a prestigious biannual competition that is regarded as the Olympics of the culinary world. With more than 1.5 million copies in circulation, he is the author of six cookbooks, including the recently released The French Laundry, Per Se.

SOURCE Hestan Culinary
LAS VEGAS, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Adaptive Shield, the leading SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) company, today announced that is has been named a winner in the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 in the subcategory of Top 10 Baby Black Unicorns for 2021 at Black Hat USA 2021.

"We're excited to name Adaptive Shield as a winner among a small, elite group of cybersecurity industry leaders in our third annual Black Unicorn awards," said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of www.allegiscyber.com , David DeWalt of www.nightdragon.com , Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com .

Adaptive Shield competed against many of the industry's leading providers of cybersecurity products and services for this prestigious award. The term "Baby Black Unicorn" signifies a cybersecurity company that has the potential to reach a $1 billion dollar market value within 3-5 years as determined by private or public investment.

"We are thrilled and honored to be named a Top 10 Baby Black Unicorn for 2021," said Maor Bin, CEO of Adaptive Shield. "With accelerated adoption in the past few years, SaaS apps have now become the default system of record, and their safe implementation and use cannot be emphasized enough. It is our mission to provide the enterprise's security teams complete control of their organizations' SaaS apps with visibility, detailed insights and remediation across all SaaS apps."

The challenge of keeping up with every SaaS configuration is a known and top concern for CISOs today. The SaaS environment is dynamic and continually updating. As employees are added or removed and new apps onboarded, permissions and configurations must be reset, changed, and updated in addition to staying on top of the ever-evolving industry standards and best practices (NIST, MITRE, etc.). While SaaS providers build in security features, it is up to the company's security team to fix the potential vulnerabilities and configuration weaknesses.

Adaptive Shield has already been implemented in multiple Fortune 500 companies to spearhead their SaaS security efforts.

About Adaptive Shield

Adaptive Shield, the leading SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) company, enables security teams to locate and fix configuration weaknesses quickly in their SaaS environment, ensuring compliance with company and industry standards. Adaptive Shield works with many Fortune 500 enterprises to help them gain control over their SaaS threat landscape. Our management team has vast experience in cybersecurity leadership, delivering cybersecurity solutions and cloud enterprise software. For more information, visit us at www.adaptive-shield.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Cyber Defense Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazine's 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group.

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA, BlackHat and IPEXPO conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group (CDMG).

For Media Inquiries:

Eliana Vuijsje

[email protected]

SOURCE Adaptive Shield
ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The life sciences BPO market is witnessing transformation as a result of developments in the field of telemedicine, intelligent drug development, and gene therapies. Pharmaceutical businesses have been prompted to redesign their present operations due to the ever-changing market dynamics. The globalization of the drug development system has become the central focus. Medical writing, clinical data management, research &development, and manufacturing operations and other processes have all been streamlined due to the competitive atmosphere worldwide.

In the life sciences BPO market, blockchain and serialization technologies are facing the challenges of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. In addition to providing a clearer and better perspective of clinical findings, virtual trials and data management are speeding up the decision making process. Investments in personalized medications and specialist therapies are gaining popularity. These developments are likely to work in favor of the global life sciences BPO market during the forecast period, from 2019  2027.

Strong expertise with attention to detail makes our market research reports stand apart, Request a Report Sample here - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1782

The global life sciences BPO market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.9% during the forecast period. By the end of 2027, the market is anticipated to reach US$ 419.6 Bn.

Key Findings of Market Report

Adoption of RPA Technology to Offer New Growth Prospects

The robotic process automation (RPA) technology is revolutionizing the life sciences BPO sector. The use of this technology to outsource manual procedures and repetitive jobs is expected to become more prevalent in developing countries of the Asia Pacific region.

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The life sciences sector is in the midst of a transformational phase, where there is a rising need for personalized digital therapies and effective medications to better quality of life of patients. As a result, life sciences BPO businesses are focusing more on the RPA technology as well as other software robots to enable cognitive automation in the development of medical drugs. Intelligent RPA is assisting businesses in addressing patient-centricity and automating procedures. Furthermore, machine learning and artificial intelligence are helping in improving patient outcomes, reducing expenses, and optimizing processes.

Our reports provide industry players with crucial support for customer base expansion within specific market spaces, ask for custom research here - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=1782

Expanding Product Pipeline to Benefit Life Sciences BPO Market

There has been a rise in the number of therapeutic products in the pipeline in the previous decade attributed to increasing research and development activities, growing demand for novel therapies, and development of new medications for treating conditions such as immunological disorders and cancer. In the recent years, the introduction of immune biological products, cellular therapy, and biosimilars has aided in the expansion of the product pipeline. These products have also raised the necessity for rigorous clinical trials in the past few years. All these factors are likely to emerge favorable for the global life sciences BPO market.

Life Sciences BPO Market: Growth Drivers

Pharmacovigilance (PV) is influencing the expansion of the global life sciences BPO market. PV is moving from a regulatory-driven, transactional activity to a more intelligent and proactive approach.

The life sciences BPO market is driven by next-generation technologies such as machine learning and AI. Data-driven solutions provide relevant insights to medtech and biopharma companies while also assisting them in automating routine operations.

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Life Sciences BPO Market: Key Competitors

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.

Parexel International Corporation

Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings

Medpace Holdings, Inc.

PRA Health Sciences, Inc.

Life Sciences BPO Market: Segmentation

Service Type

Contract Manufacturing Organizations

Contract Research Organizations

Contract Sales Organizations

Modernization of healthcare in terms of both infrastructure and services have pushed the healthcare industry to new heights, Stay Updated with Latest Healthcare Industry Research Reports by Transparency Market Research - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-market-reports-42.html

About Us

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Press Release Source: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/life-sciences-bpo-market.htm

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Amwins, a global distributor of specialty insurance products and services, today announced the acquisition of National Truck Underwriting Managers, Inc. ("NTUM"), a truck insurance wholesaler offering access to primary liability, physical damage and motor truck cargo package policies.

"This partnership provides us with the opportunity to enhance and diversify our delegated underwriting capabilities and transportation offerings," said Scott M. Purviance, CEO of Amwins. "NTUM is the gold standard in service and expertise and we are proud to welcome Jim Jr., Justin, Jim III and the rest of their team to the firm."

NTUM will join Amwins' Underwriting Division, complementing the services of Amwins Transportation Underwriters and working in conjunction with trucking industry specialists within the firm's Brokerage division.

With an ability to write coverage in 46 of the continental United States, NTUM focuses on accounts of 1-300 power units with the additional capability and access to cover larger fleets. Additionally, NTUM's location in Minnesota further expands Amwins' geographic footprint.

"As part of the Amwins family, we have the opportunity to expand our resources for both our employees and our clients," says Jim Joyce, Jr President of NTUM. "We look forward to continuing to serve our agents, producers and markets while offering the best possible quotes on qualified accounts and delivering superior service."

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. To learn more about Amwins, visit www.amwins.com.

About Amwins

Amwins is the largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products in the United States, dedicated to serving retail insurance agents by providing property and casualty products, specialty group benefit products, and administrative services. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company operates through more than 155 offices globally and handles premium placements in excess of $23 billion annually. To learn more, visit www.amwins.com.

About National Truck Underwriting Managers, Inc.

National Truck Underwriting Managers, Inc. is a third-generation family business writing truck insurance since 1978. Based in Minnesota, NTUM focuses on accounts with 1-250 power units, but has the resources and market access to accommodate larger fleets as well. Their experienced team of specialty underwriters and unmatched service have made them the preferred truck market for over 40 years. To learn more, visit www.ntuminc.com.

For further information contact:



Amwins Group, Inc.

Lisa Kuszmar

Telephone: 704.749.2780

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Amwins

Related Links

http://www.amwins.com


HATBORO, Pa., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Azzur Labs , an Azzur Group company, today announces the establishment of its latest operation, based in Chicago under the leadership of Cecil Runyon , Senior Director. The microbiology and analytical lab specializing in GxP services for health and life sciences clients also announces the appointment of Jorge Marques Signes, PhD , as Senior Director of its Raleigh-based operation.

Azzur Labs, headquartered in Lehigh Valley, PA, will be opening its Chicago laboratory in Q3 2021 to meet the growing demand for professional analytical testing and consulting services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and healthcare industries in the Windy City.

Cecil Runyon brings to Azzur Labs more than 17 years of experience and will oversee all operations and client relations for the Chicago operation.

"I'm very excited to be joining the Azzur team during this time of growth for the company," said Cecil. "I look forward to expanding our capabilities in the Midwest to better serve our customers and collaborating with our numerous teams to build upon the One Azzur philosophy."

Prior to joining Azzur Labs, Cecil spent several years in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and cosmetic industries. He holds a master of business administration degree from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, a bachelor of arts degree in biological science from Eastern Illinois University, and an associates degree in business management from Lake Land College. He is an active member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Azzur Labs Raleigh, also announces today the appointment of Jorge Marques Signes as Senior Director.

Azzur Labs established its Raleigh operation in November 2018 to meet the growing demand for full-scale microbiology and GxP laboratory services in Research Triangle Park (RTP). In his new role, Jorge will oversee all operations for Azzur Labs Raleigh, as well as concentrating on consolidating Azzur's presence in the RTP area by keeping high quality customer-centric microbiology and environmental monitoring services and developing new offerings to support cell and gene therapy companies.

"Joining Azzur labs during this expansion moment is a great opportunity," said Jorge. "Our goal is to help our customers become game-changing partners by adding expert skills on all the necessary assays to characterize a gene therapy product. Azzur Labs, along with the other members of the Azzur family (consulting, Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand , and Azzur Training Center ), will be positioned as a strategic one-stop shop to develop, produce, and commercialize products in the exciting field of precision medicine."

Jorge brings to Azzur Labs Raleigh more than 15 years of experience in cell and molecular biology. He holds a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Valencia (Spain) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University where he specialized in genome stability and immune response. Prior to joining Azzur Labs, he helped develop cell and gene therapy products and molecular diagnostic methods using multi-omic approaches (genomics, metabolomics, NMR and bioinformatics). Jorge is an active member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT).

"Azzur Labs is excited to welcome both Cecil and Jorge as leaders on our team," said Kym Faylor , President of Azzur Labs. "They both play an integral role in our ability to grow alongside our valued clients and the rapid growth of the life science industry."

With full-scale operations in the Lehigh Valley, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Raleigh, and San Diego, Azzur Labs provides professional analytical compliance testing and consultative services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.

For more information about Azzur Labs, visit Azzurlabs.com .

About Azzur Group

From Discovery to Delivery, Azzur Group provides the life science community full life-cycle solutions for all their GxP needs. From Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand facilities, to our labs, training centers and consulting offices across the nation, Azzur Group helps organizations start, scale, and sustain their growing enterprises. With nearly four decades of service to the life science community, we have become a trusted partner to the world's leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and healthcare companies, as well as their supply chain.

SOURCE Azzur Group, LLC

Related Links

www.azzur.com


NEW YORK and ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BDT Capital Partners ("BDT"), Mubadala Investment Company and its asset management subsidiary, Mubadala Capital (together "Mubadala"), today announced the transaction close of the acquisition of Culligan International ("Culligan"), the global leader in sustainable water solutions and services.

BDT Capital Partners, LLC ("BDT"), affiliated with BDT & Co., LLC, a merchant bank that provides closely held businesses with long-term, differentiated capital, along with strategic co-investing families and institutions, acquired a majority interest in Culligan from Advent International and Centerbridge Partners in a transaction that was first announced in May 2021. Mubadala provided a significant capital commitment as an anchor partner in the transaction. Advent will also retain a minority stake in Culligan going forward. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to announce the closing of the acquisition of Culligan, a leader in the consumer water treatment and sustainable water solutions market led by CEO Scott Clawson and an exceptional management team," said San Orr, President of BDT Capital Partners. "We are also pleased to have Mubadala invest alongside us in this transaction given their global presence, long-term capital and our deep relationship with them since the founding of BDT."

Adib Mattar, Head of Private Equity at Mubadala Capital, added: "We have built our Private Equity business around identifying world class management teams that operate market leading businesses. Culligan is a prime example of adhering to this strategy and pairs well with our interest in profitably investing in businesses where ESG is at the core of their value proposition to the market, namely the delivery of clean drinking water on a global basis and reducing the use of single use plastic bottles through innovative water solutions, among others. We have been successfully partnering with BDT since their founding and look forward to continuing to build on that relationship with this latest investment."

Culligan was founded by Emmett Culligan in Illinois, USA in 1936 and sells products and services for water filtration and treatment around the globe. Today, Culligan is the largest player in the sector with over 35 brands in 90 countries. Culligan Middle East established a presence in Dubai over 20 years ago and has since grown to be one of the largest and most diverse water treatment companies in the Gulf region.

Today, Culligan Middle East operates through facilities in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Qatar. In 2014, Culligan Middle East opened a new Manufacturing facility in Dubai Techno Park. This 10,000m2 site is a purpose-built, integrated manufacturing, sales and service center, including facilities for equipment fabrication, chemical blending and water bottling.

About Mubadala Investment Company

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor managing a global portfolio, aimed at generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi.

Mubadala's $243.4 billion (AED 894 billion) portfolio spans six continents with interests in multiple sectors and asset classes. We leverage our deep sectoral expertise and long-standing partnerships to drive sustainable growth and profit, while supporting the continued diversification and global integration of the economy of the United Arab Emirates.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Mubadala has offices in London, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, New York, San Francisco and Beijing.

For more information about Mubadala Investment Company, please visit: www.mubadala.com

About Mubadala Capital

Mubadala Capital is the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, a leading global sovereign investor headquartered in Abu Dhabi. In addition to managing its own balance sheet investments, Mubadala Capital manages c. $9 billion in third-party capital vehicles on behalf of institutional investors in four of its businesses, including three private equity funds, two early stage venture funds, a public fund and a fund in Brazil focused on special situations. The various businesses invest across the capital structure in both public and private securities.

About BDT Capital Partners

BDT Capital Partners provides family- and founder-led businesses with long-term, differentiated capital. The firm has raised over $18 billion across its investment funds and its global investor base has invested an additional $10 billion of debt and equity in the funds' portfolio companies. The firm's affiliate, BDT & Company, is a merchant bank that works with family- and founder-led businesses to pursue their strategic and financial objectives. BDT & Company provides solutions-based advice and access to a world-class network of business owners and leaders.

Media Contacts:

Brunswick for Mubadala:

Alex Blake-Milton and Ailsa Martin

[email protected]

+971 (0) 2 234 4600

Amy Lester, BDT Capital Partners

[email protected]

+1 312 639 1968

SOURCE Mubadala Investment Company

Related Links

https://www.mubadala.com


PHOENIX, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCareSD, a leading specialty distributor of life-saving therapies, is pleased to announce a series of milestones as it celebrates its 40th year in business. The company was recently recognized as a 2021 Top Workplace in Arizona, as part of AZ Central's prestigious award program spotlighting the best employers and leading companies in the state. In addition, BioCareSD has seen continued growth, with sales having increased by nearly 1500 percent as a result of implementing key programs, initiatives, and innovations in customer service.

Over the last four decades, BioCareSD has built a trusted track record in supporting customers' unmet and urgent needs across ultra-rare, rare, and orphan diseases. As it delivers life-sustaining therapies all around the country, BioCareSD connects pharmaceutical manufacturers to healthcare providers from hospitals, ambulatory infusion centers, physician infusion suites, specialty pharmacies, and more. Most notably, the company has developed a network which can provide four to six hour delivery anywhere in the country when needed, from a customer's initial request, to the moment the treatment reaches the patient, with on-demand service and 24/7 support.

Led by President Linda Matthews, BioCareSD evolved from a regional division of Vitalant, the nation's largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider, to a national leader in specialty distribution. Matthews and her tenured team have transformed the company by implementing a high-touch service model. One of BioCareSD's signature programs and earliest examples of innovation focused on custom hemophilia consignment for some of the leading children's hospitals in the country. With this program, hospitals were able to have life-sustaining products available when needed, without the risk of expiration or the need to carry costly inventories. Patients could be treated immediately, which significantly improved care.

Today, BioCareSD competes with multi-billion-dollar corporations by leveraging its customer-centric, agile mindset, unique business model, and extremely fast and reliable distribution network. It also serves as one of the largest distributors of hemophilia therapies in the country and enjoys continued access to a range of new specialty drugs, as a pioneer in the space. In response to demand from its customers, the company has expanded into the non-acute segment and continues to diversify its offerings. In addition to BioCareSD, BioCare, Inc. encompasses CanyonCareRX, a full-service specialty pharmacy, and LogiCare3PL, a national provider of time and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical logistics services.

"For 40 years, BioCareSD has provided its customers with the peace of mind that the right specialty therapies will get into the right hands at the right time, no matter what it takes," said Matthews. "Being at our customers' service, 24/7, as they save lives, is at the heart of everything we do, because every minute matters when a patient needs therapy. I am incredibly proud of our team's commitment to serving as the industry's most trusted healthcare partner."

About BioCareSD

BioCareSD is a leading national specialty distributor of life-saving therapies. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, BioCareSD has been devoted to delivering specialty and therapeutic biological products since 1982. BioCareSD is part of BioCare, Inc., which encompasses CanyonCareRX, a full-service specialty pharmacy, and LogiCare3PL, a national provider of time and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical logistics services. BioCare, Inc.'s parent company is Vitalant. Founded in 1943, Vitalant is the nation's largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider exclusively focused on providing lifesaving blood and comprehensive transfusion medicine services for about 900 hospitals and their patients across the U.S. For more information about BioCareSD, please visit www.biocaresd.com.

SOURCE BioCare, Inc

Related Links

https://www.biocaresd.com/


As part of the Berg merger, Biomerics announced the purchase of six additional Willemin-Macodel machining centers and the acquisition of Knight Machining LLC, a metal component and laser processing business located in Plymouth, MN. The combined business unit will have over 100 laser processing centers and 45 machining centers, including 18 Willemin-Macodel micromachining centers.

"Berg Manufacturing and Knight Machining will join the Biomerics NLE team," stated Travis Sessions, CEO. "The Berg and Knight additions are part of our vision to build a leading vertically integrated micro-metals business unit. The BNLE division has expertise in laser processing, Swiss micromachining, Swiss turning, guidewire processing (coiling, grinding, and marking), metal finishing, and medical device assembly. In addition, we anticipate follow-on acquisitions and organic growth in the strategic areas of nitinol and thin wall tube processing, sharps manufacturing, and metal finishing."

"We are excited to join forces with Jason McCash and the entire Berg team," stated Rich Rosselli, President of Biomerics NLE. "We have enjoyed a long-standing vendor/customer relationship with Berg, and they have been an outstanding partner. They consistently produce exceptional results on challenging applications that few companies have even the capability to attempt. Their passion for developing strong customer partnerships, combined with micromachining excellence, makes Berg an ideal fit for our micro-metals strategy."

"Berg's philosophy from day one has been to become the leader in complex part metal micromachining," stated Jason McCash, Operations Manager, Berg Manufacturing. "We believe we have accomplished this by investing in the most sophisticated equipment on the market, developing world-class process engineering, and building quality procedures to meet our customers' needs. Most importantly, we achieved this via the hard work of our talented employees. We could not be happier with the merger and consider this the next step in significantly scaling the business. We look forward to being a part of the Biomerics team."

Biomerics NLE is a vertically integrated micro-metals processing business serving the medical robotics and interventional device markets. The company operates ISO 13485:2016 facilities in Connecticut, Minnesota, California, and Costa Rica. A.S. Freeman Advisors advised Biomerics NLE regarding the transaction.

About Biomerics

Founded in 1993, Biomerics is a mid-market medical device contract manufacturer serving the Interventional Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, and Advanced Surgical markets. As a vertically integrated partner, Biomerics supplies 20 of the top 30 medical device OEMs. Biomerics provides engineering development services, technical transfer manufacturing services, and contract manufacturing services for finished medical devices through various locations in the United States and Costa Rica. Biomerics is a leader in biomaterials, injection molding, extrusion, micro metals processing, medical balloons, catheter assembly, and finished packaging. Biomerics operates under certified ISO 13485:2016 quality system and is FDA registered.

SOURCE Biomerics, LLC

Related Links

http://www.biomerics.com


MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bona Fide Masks Corp. (www.bonafidemasks.com), part of the Ball Chain Manufacturing Co., Inc. (Ball Chain) family of companies out of Mount Vernon, New York, is proud to announce that it has been named the exclusive distributor for esteemed global mask producer Guangzhou Powecom Labor Insurance Supply Co., Ltd.'s (Powecom) new KN95-SM in the U.S. and Canada.

Smaller-Sized KN95-SM for Adults and Children

Powecom will produce the KN95-SM in the same shape and with the same high-level filtration materials as its standard KN95. Roughly 15% smaller in size, the KN95-SM is ideally suited for adults with smaller faces and children over age 4 who are medically able to wear masks. The KN95-SM also features an adjustable nose piece and earloops for maximum comfort.

According to company President Bill Taubner, "We are honored that trusted mask manufacturer Powecom has chosen to work with us exclusively to bring this superior, smaller-sized mask to the U.S. market. This exciting product development comes as the CDC has updated its guidance, recommending universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status."

"Bona Fide Masks will continue to supply authentic face masks and purchase directly from established manufacturers like Powecom to promote the highest level of supply chain integrity. Our company handles all warehousing and distribution for Powecom masks at our New York facility, so customers can purchase our masks with confidence. As always, please consult your child's healthcare professional for questions about the most appropriate mask for you and your family. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of excellence and our commitment to our customers, particularly in these challenging times," explains Mr. Taubner.

During the height of the pandemic, at the request of a local community leader, the owners of Ball Chain formed Bona Fide Masks to help address the shortage of PPE. Bona Fide Masks has grown to be one of the country's most trusted suppliers of genuine masks and related products. We are proud to offer a variety of masks for both adults and children, including Powecom KN95 Respirator Mask (sold in white and black), Powecom KN95 Respirator Mask - Headband Style (sold in white and black), and now KN95-SM.

Bona Fide Masks is currently accepting pre-orders for the KN95-SM and expects to have the product in stock to ship by August 26, 2021. For large orders and school purchases, please send inquiries to [email protected].

More about Ball Chain Manufacturing. Co., Inc.:

Family-owned and -operated since 1938, Ball Chain is the only major U.S. manufacturer of metal ball chain and attachments. The company's ball chain is featured in window roller shades, light fixtures, plumbing devices, keychains and jewelry items. Headquartered in Mount Vernon, New York. with global distribution, Ball Chain designs and fabricates innovative products while providing exemplary customer service. After entering the interior design market with ShimmerScreen decorative metal curtains, the company further diversified its offerings with the launch of LogoTags, a promotional products division. Ball Chain is proud of its commitment to the American workforce and the environment. The company has earned industry recognition for its responsible business practices, including "green business" certification from the Green Business Bureau (GBB) and certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Media Contact:

914.664.7500

Bill Taubner, President

Cristina Chianese, Director of Marketing

Ball Chain Mfg. Co., Inc. / Bona Fide Masks Corp.

[email protected]

Related Images

powecom-kn95-sm.jpg

Powecom KN95-SM

Smaller-Sized KN95-SM for Adults and Children

SOURCE Bona Fide Masks Corporation
CHARLESTON, S.C., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BOX Pure Air, the trusted distributor of industry-leading air purification solutions, has introduced a new way to manage and maintain quality air in schools.

Fleet Management when connected to BOX Pure Air units enables facility management control and insights from every part of their building. Receive notifications when filters need to be changed, schedule units to work harder after school hours and receive real-time feedback on air quality.

Indoor air quality is important as we spend the majority of our time (90%) indoors. Indoor air can be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Research shows that poor indoor air quality can be linked to difficulty concentrating and poor performance amongst students.

"Many schools have the added issues of age which has made air quality a difficult task to tackle.," says BOX Pure Air CEO Ryan Cowell. "COVID and schools taking extra precautions have brought added attention to the issue, and the government is providing funding to help drive IAQ improvement in schools. Fleet Management is so important because it allows schools to regularly check air quality and fix little problems before they become big problems. Studies show that using Portable HEPA air cleaners can reduce risk of exposure by more than half."

Parents are concerned as well; a study conducted by RAND, Inc. this past spring had parents rank items that would make them feel better about returning to in-person classes. The number one item? Ventilation. "I have kids in grade school and their school making a financial commitment to improving the air quality, especially nowadays, goes a long way. But them being able to show parents live updates on the environment our kids are learning in, just gives us peace of mind at the end of the day," says Cowell.

Schools accommodate up to 4x more occupants than a regular office building with the same floor space. Additional factors such as outdated furniture containing toxic chemicals and a concentration of diesel exhaust from school buses equals schools being labeled a point of concern by the EPA.

"Healthy environments for our kids and students to be able to receive the education they deserve, in an environment catered to their best interests is imperative," says Cowell. "We will work with schools to meet and exceed good indoor air quality and make a commitment to fixing it."

Talk to one of our Air Quality Professionals today and learn how you can utilize American Rescue Plan Funding to implement your Safe Air Zone plan.

About Box Pure Air

BOX Pure Air strives to help businesses and consumers create a safe and healthy clean air environment that is free of airborne pathogens. We exceed national standards of indoor air quality by following CDC requirements for air ventilation utilizing HEPA certified filters and incorporating proven antimicrobial technologies. Box Pure Air is a subsidiary of SinglePoint Inc. (OTC:SING)

Contact

[email protected]

www.boxpureair.com

SOURCE BOX Pure Air, LLC

Related Links

www.boxpureair.com


"Building a world-class healthcare practice and expanding our presence in Dallas have long been strategic priorities." Tweet this

"I am thrilled to welcome this outstanding team to the firm," said Bracewell Managing Partner Gregory M. Bopp. "This is a preeminent group in the healthcare space, and they will add tremendous depth to our healthcare and litigation practices."

"Building a world-class healthcare practice and expanding our presence in the Dallas market have long been strategic priorities for the firm," added K. Brock Bailey, managing partner of Bracewell's Dallas office and a member of the firm's management committee. "Our new colleagues bring extensive compliance, investigations and litigation experience that builds on the regulatory, finance and tax work we do for our current healthcare clients."

"We look forward to working with our new colleagues at Bracewell and collaborating with lawyers throughout the firm in continuing to meet the needs of our healthcare clients," said Jones.

Wilson Jones, Partner (Dallas)  Over his 28-year career, Jones has provided counsel on the full-range of legal issues faced by clients in the healthcare, pharma and life sciences industry, including representing and advising clients in compliance and regulatory matters, health industry transactions, and investigation and enforcement actions. Jones also has extensive experience with internal investigations, complex regulatory and reimbursement analyses, overpayment disputes and negotiations with various governmental agencies and enforcement bodies. In addition, Jones represents healthcare clients on M&A transactions involving medical group practices, assisted living facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, joint ventures, management services organizations, physician practice management companies and various other healthcare entities. Jones earned his B.A., with honors, from Texas Tech University, and his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law. Wilson is the former chair of the Health Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and is ranked Band 1 for Texas Healthcare in Chambers USA (2021).

Patrick Bredehoft, Partner (Dallas)  Bredehoft maintains an active trial and arbitration practice, with a focus on healthcare and commercial disputes and qui tam litigation defense. He has secured significant settlements, judgments and awards for plaintiffs and defendants nationwide. His clients include hospital systems, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, physicians and long-term care facilities. Bredehoft has significant experience litigating healthcare disputes involving managed care arrangements, billing and reimbursement, qui tam and False Claims Act enforcement, and healthcare fraud and malpractice allegations. Bredehoft earned his B.S., with honors, from Colorado State University and his J.D., with honors, from The University of Texas School of Law. He is ranked as a leading lawyer in Texas Healthcare in Chambers USA (2021).

Andrew Cookingham, Partner (Dallas)  Cookingham represents hospitals, physician groups, air ambulance companies and other healthcare providers in regulatory matters and insurance disputes. His experience includes claims involving medical necessity denials, readmission denials, DRG downgrades, line item/charge audits and disallowances, and pay policies. Cookingham also represents providers in investigations involving government program payments and out-of-network providers in disputes involving the alleged failure to pay the usual and customary rate. He earned his B.S., with honors, from the University of Virginia, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from SMU Dedman School of Law. Cookingham is ranked as a leading lawyer in Texas Healthcare in Chambers USA (2021).

Susan Murphy, Counsel (Houston)  Murphy, who has over 30 years of healthcare regulatory experience, focuses on healthcare operational and transactional matters, including joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, practice management arrangements and managed care organizations. She has extensive experience advising clients on federal and state healthcare regulatory and compliance matters, including arrangements implicating the Anti-kickback Statute, the Stark Law, civil monetary penalties, and other state and federal laws and regulations. Murphy also advises clients on licensure and certification matters, as well as antitrust, insurance and healthcare financing issues. She holds a B.A. from Stanford University and J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law.

Kim McCrea, Counsel (Dallas)  McCrea focuses her practice on fraud and abuse analysis, contractual disputes with compliance implications, and internal and external investigations in the healthcare industry. She also has experience with general business and complex commercial litigation, securities litigation, and banking and fiduciary litigation. Prior to entering into private practice, she tried several jury trials for the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. McCrea earned a B.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and a J.D., summa cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law.

Brett Rector, Associate (Dallas)  Rector represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation matters, including healthcare, insurance and general commercial disputes. He also represents healthcare providers and manufacturers in government investigations and enforcement actions. He earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from The College of William & Mary and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Michael F. Urbanski in the US District Court of the Western District of Virginia, and as a judicial intern for the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn in the US District Court of the Northern District of Texas.

Anna Wortham, Associate (Dallas)  Wortham represents healthcare providers of all types, including hospital systems and physician groups, on litigation, regulatory and enforcement matters. She has significant experience litigating disputes involving managed care, billing and reimbursement, and complex commercial matters, such as contract, tort, employment and business disputes. Wortham also assists clients with internal investigations and represents clients in response to government inquiries and enforcement actions. She earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University, M.B.A. from Sungkyunkwan Graduate School of Business, and J.D., cum laude, from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

About Bracewell LLP

Bracewell is a leading law and government relations firm primarily serving the energy, infrastructure, finance and technology industries throughout the world. Our industry focus results in comprehensive state-of-the-art knowledge of the commercial, legal and governmental challenges faced by our clients and enables us to provide innovative solutions to facilitate transactions and resolve disputes.

SOURCE Bracewell LLP

Related Links

http://www.bracewell.com


"Today, we celebrate the vitality and growth of this plant and this community, with new investment, new jobs and a physical expansion driven by growing demand for our products and, just as fundamentally, by this team's commitment to delivering innovation and superior quality for our customers here and around the world," said Emily Poladian, president, Firestone Industrial Products. "Our company and our Kentucky team have a vital role to play in the transformation of mobility brought forth by advanced electric vehicle systems and by key supporting technologies like our Firestone air springs and air suspensions."

FSIP is a leading global supplier of air suspensions for the EV industry. Firestone air suspensions not only help improve ride comfort and handling, but also can increase electric vehicle range and help protect batteries from road impact and overheating. This new chapter was born from a decades' long history of designing and supplying parts to the majority of commercial vehicle manufacturers in North America. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has supplied product to keep these essential services providers moving. Its products include Ride-Rite, Airide, Airide Pro, Airogear and Marsh Mellow air springs.

Williamsburg Plant employees and Bridgestone leadership were joined in the celebration by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers, State Senator Robert Stivers, State Representative Regina Huff, Whitley County Judge Executive Pat White, Jr. and Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison.

"As we continue to build a better Kentucky for all of our families, I want to thank Firestone Industrial Products for its partnership with Whitley County, the Eastern Kentucky region and the commonwealth as a whole," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said. "This company has been a dedicated corporate partner in the commonwealth for many years, and this investment shows Firestone's commitment to Kentucky as it creates 250 new jobs to meet increased demand for cutting-edge technology in electric vehicles. Kentucky's workforce remains a national leader in manufacturing and made our state the perfect place for this expansion."

FSIP designs, tests and manufactures components for air suspensions in Williamsburg, Kentucky, which is the only full U.S. manufacturer of this product category. FSIP operates a second plant, in Dyersburg, Tennessee, where air springs are assembled. FSIP's North America Advanced Technical Design Center, in Fishers, Indiana, enables the company to remain agile and focus on speed to market, a key requirement of start-up EV companies. The company also operates plants in Brazil, China, Costa Rica and Poland.

FSIP purchased the building and land located in Williamsburg in 1988. The Williamsburg Plant is currently 375,000 square feet. It is one of the largest employers in the area with more than 500 employees. Williamsburg Plant employees embody the company's global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve, with initiatives in community support, education and environmental conservation and preservation.

For more company news, visit www.BridgestoneAmericas.com.

About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.:

Nashville, Tennessee-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc. is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader providing sustainable mobility and advanced solutions. Bridgestone Americas develops, manufactures and markets a diverse portfolio of original equipment and replacement tires, tire-centric solutions, mobility solutions, and other rubber-associated and diversified products that deliver social value and customer value. Guided by its global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve, Bridgestone is dedicated to shaping a sustainable future of mobility and improving the way people move, live, work and play.

SOURCE Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bridgestoneamericas.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE: BRX) ("Brixmor" or the "Company") announced today its operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021. For the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, net income was $0.30 per diluted share and $0.03 per diluted share, respectively.

Key highlights for the three months ended June 30, 2021 include:

Executed 1.6 million square feet of new and renewal leases, with rent spreads on comparable space of 10.7%, including 0.7 million square feet of new leases, with rent spreads on comparable space of 19.8%

Sequentially increased total leased occupancy to 91.1%, anchor leased occupancy to 94.0% and small shop leased occupancy to 84.8%

Leased to billed occupancy spread totaled 300 basis points



Total signed but not commenced lease population represented 2.4 million square feet and $41.9 million of annualized base rent

of annualized base rent Reported an increase in same property NOI of 13.9%

Reported NAREIT FFO of $138.6 million , or $0.46 per diluted share, reflecting a $2.1 million favorable impact of revenues deemed uncollectible due primarily to recoveries of previously reserved amounts and a $0.7 million reversal of straight-line rental income, net primarily related to COVID-19

, or per diluted share, reflecting a favorable impact of revenues deemed uncollectible due primarily to recoveries of previously reserved amounts and a reversal of straight-line rental income, net primarily related to COVID-19 NAREIT FFO included items that impact FFO comparability, including litigation and other non-routine legal expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt, net and transaction expenses of ($0.5) million , or ($0.00) per diluted share

, or per diluted share Stabilized $20.3 million of reinvestment projects at an average incremental NOI yield of 18%, with the in process reinvestment pipeline now totaling $432.9 million at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%

of reinvestment projects at an average incremental NOI yield of 18%, with the in process reinvestment pipeline now totaling at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9% Completed $64.0 million of acquisitions and $69.4 million of dispositions

of acquisitions and of dispositions Published annual Corporate Responsibility Report (view the 2020 report at https://www.brixmor.com/why-brixmor/corporate-responsibility)

Guidance update:

Updated previously provided NAREIT FFO per diluted share expectations for 2021 to $1.70 - $1.76 from $1.60 - $1.70 and same property NOI growth expectations for 2021 to 4.5% - 6.0% from 1.0% - 3.0%

"I'm very pleased with yet another quarter of outstanding performance across all facets of our balanced business plan," commented James Taylor, Chief Executive Officer and President. "Our sector leading leasing productivity, reinvestment execution, and operational enhancements not only continue to drive our improved outlook for 2021 and beyond, they also move us towards our purpose of being the center of the communities we serve."

COVID-19 UPDATE (as of July 27, 2021)

Rent collections continued to improve with 96.5% of billed based rent for the three months ended June 30, 2021 collected and including rent deferral and abatement agreements, total addressed billed base rent was 97.5%.

collected and including rent deferral and abatement agreements, total addressed billed base rent was 97.5%. A summary of trends in billed base rent collected, rent deferrals and abatements and total addressed billed base rent follows:





Percent of 2Q20

Billed Base Rent

Collected Percent of 3Q20

Billed Base Rent

Collected Percent of 4Q20

Billed Base Rent

Collected Percent of 1Q21

Billed Base Rent

Collected Percent of 2Q21

Billed Base Rent

Collected Essential tenants

99.4% 99.2% 99.5% 99.4% 99.3% Hybrid tenants

90.7% 92.3% 93.5% 94.2% 95.4% Other retail / services

81.3% 89.9% 91.3% 92.0% 94.8% Total

89.8% 93.7% 94.6% 95.1% 96.5% Rent deferrals and abatements

6.2% 2.9% 2.7% 2.2% 1.0% Total addressed billed base rent

96.0% 96.6% 97.3% 97.3% 97.5%

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Net Income

For the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, net income was $90.4 million , or $0.30 per diluted share, and $9.0 million , or $0.03 per diluted share, respectively.

and 2020, net income was , or per diluted share, and , or per diluted share, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, net income was $142.8 million , or $0.48 per diluted share, and $68.8 million , or $0.23 per diluted share, respectively.

NAREIT FFO

For the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, NAREIT FFO was $138.6 million , or $0.46 per diluted share, and $94.1 million , or $0.32 per diluted share, respectively. Results for the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 include items that impact FFO comparability, including litigation and other non-routine legal expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt, net and transaction expenses of ($0.5) million , or ($0.00) per diluted share, and ($12.8) million , or ($0.04) per diluted share, respectively.

and 2020, NAREIT FFO was , or per diluted share, and , or per diluted share, respectively. Results for the three months ended and 2020 include items that impact FFO comparability, including litigation and other non-routine legal expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt, net and transaction expenses of , or per diluted share, and , or per diluted share, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, NAREIT FFO was $269.2 million , or $0.90 per diluted share, and $231.6 million , or $0.78 per diluted share, respectively. Results for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 include items that impact FFO comparability, including litigation and other non-routine legal expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt, net and transaction expenses of ($3.6) million , or ($0.01) per diluted share, and ($13.4) million , or ($0.04) per diluted share, respectively.

Same Property NOI Performance

For the three months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company reported an increase in same property NOI of 13.9% versus the comparable 2020 period.

, the Company reported an increase in same property NOI of 13.9% versus the comparable 2020 period. For the six months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company reported an increase in same property NOI of 5.7% versus the comparable 2020 period.

Dividend

The Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.215 per common share (equivalent to $0.860 per annum) for the third quarter of 2021.

per common share (equivalent to per annum) for the third quarter of 2021. The dividend is payable on October 15, 2021 to stockholders of record on October 5, 2021 , representing an ex-dividend date of October 4, 2021 .

PORTFOLIO AND INVESTMENT ACTIVITY

Value Enhancing Reinvestment Opportunities

During the three months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company stabilized ten value enhancing reinvestment projects with a total aggregate net cost of approximately $20.3 million at an average incremental NOI yield of 18% and added nine new reinvestment projects to its in process pipeline. Projects added include six anchor space repositioning projects, one outparcel development project and two redevelopment projects, with a total aggregate net estimated cost of approximately $47.2 million at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%.

, the Company stabilized ten value enhancing reinvestment projects with a total aggregate net cost of approximately at an average incremental NOI yield of 18% and added nine new reinvestment projects to its in process pipeline. Projects added include six anchor space repositioning projects, one outparcel development project and two redevelopment projects, with a total aggregate net estimated cost of approximately at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%. At June 30, 2021 , the value enhancing reinvestment in process pipeline was comprised of 56 projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately $432.9 million at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%. The in process pipeline includes 19 anchor space repositioning projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately $86.7 million at an expected incremental NOI yield of 8% - 14%; 15 outparcel development projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately $30.4 million at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 11%; and 22 redevelopment projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately $315.8 million at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%.

, the value enhancing reinvestment in process pipeline was comprised of 56 projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%. The in process pipeline includes 19 anchor space repositioning projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately at an expected incremental NOI yield of 8% - 14%; 15 outparcel development projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 11%; and 22 redevelopment projects with an aggregate net estimated cost of approximately at an expected average incremental NOI yield of 9%. An in-depth review of a project that highlights the Company's reinvestment expertise can be found at this link: https://www.brixmor.com/blog/mamaroneck-centre-jim-taylor.

Due to COVID-19, there is inherent uncertainty as it relates to the Company's reinvestment projects, specifically with respect to expected project scopes, expected stabilization dates and expected NOI yields.

Acquisitions

During the three months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company acquired two shopping centers for a combined purchase price of $64.0 million .

, the Company acquired two shopping centers for a combined purchase price of . The Center of Bonita Springs , a 281,394 square foot community shopping center located in the high-income market of Bonita Springs, Florida (Cape Coral- Fort Myers, Florida MSA), for $48.5 million . The Center of Bonita Springs is anchored by a highly-productive Publix and Bealls Outlet | Home Centric and has significant near-term value creation opportunity. The property complements the Company's four other assets in Southwest Florida , three of which have recently been or currently are in redevelopment, and is ten miles from its 100% leased Park Shore Plaza in Naples, Florida .

, a 281,394 square foot community shopping center located in the high-income market of (Cape Coral- MSA), for . The Center of is anchored by a highly-productive Publix and Bealls Outlet | Home Centric and has significant near-term value creation opportunity. The property complements the Company's four other assets in , three of which have recently been or currently are in redevelopment, and is ten miles from its 100% leased in .

Champlin Marketplace, a 91,970 square foot neighborhood shopping center located in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota ( Minneapolis-St. Paul - Bloomington, Minnesota -Wisconsin MSA), for $15.5 million . Champlin Marketplace is anchored by a market dominant Cub Foods and is the Company's ninth property in the market.

( - -Wisconsin MSA), for . Champlin Marketplace is anchored by a market dominant Cub Foods and is the Company's ninth property in the market. During the six months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company acquired two shopping centers, an outparcel adjacent to an existing center and land associated with an existing center and terminated a ground lease and acquired the associated land parcel at an existing center for a combined purchase price of $67.6 million .

Dispositions

During the three months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company generated approximately $69.4 million of gross proceeds on the disposition of two shopping centers, as well as five partial properties, comprised of 0.6 million square feet of gross leasable area.

, the Company generated approximately of gross proceeds on the disposition of two shopping centers, as well as five partial properties, comprised of 0.6 million square feet of gross leasable area. During the six months ended June 30, 2021 , the Company generated approximately $102.6 million of gross proceeds on the disposition of six shopping centers, as well as nine partial properties, comprised of 1.2 million square feet of gross leasable area.

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

At June 30, 2021 , the Company had $1.7 billion of total liquidity, comprised of $405.4 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and $1.2 billion of availability under its Revolving Credit Facility. The Company has no debt maturities in 2021 and only $250.0 million of debt maturities in 2022.

GUIDANCE

The Company has updated its previously provided NAREIT FFO per diluted share expectations for 2021 to $1.70 - $1.76 from $1.60 - $1.70 and same property NOI growth expectations for 2021 to 4.5% - 6.0% from 1.0% - 3.0%.

- from - and same property NOI growth expectations for 2021 to 4.5% - 6.0% from 1.0% - 3.0%. With respect to future periods, the Company's updated guidance:

Reflects anticipated transaction activity



Does not contemplate any tenants moving to or from a cash basis of accounting, either of which may result in significant volatility in straight-line rental income



Does not include any additional items that impact FFO comparability, including litigation and other non-routine legal expenses, loss on debt extinguishment, net and transaction expenses, or any one-time items

The following table provides a reconciliation of the range of the Company's 2021 estimated net income attributable to common stockholders to NAREIT FFO:

(Unaudited, dollars in millions, except per share amounts)

2021E

2021E Per

Diluted Share Net income attributable to common stockholders

$250 - $268

$0.83 - $0.89 Depreciation and amortization

319

1.07 Impairment of real estate assets

2

0.01 Gain on sale of real estate assets

(64)

(0.21) NAREIT FFO

$507 - $525

$1.70 - $1.76

CONNECT WITH BRIXMOR

For additional information, please visit www.brixmor.com;

Follow Brixmor on:

Twitter at https://twitter.com/Brixmor



Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Brixmor



Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/brixmorpropertygroup



YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/Brixmor; and

Find Brixmor on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/brixmor.

CONFERENCE CALL AND SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

The Company will host a teleconference on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 10:00 AM ET. To participate, please dial 877.705.6003 (domestic) or 201.493.6725 (international) within 15 minutes of the scheduled start of the call. The teleconference can also be accessed via a live webcast at www.brixmor.com in the Investors section. A replay of the teleconference will be available through midnight ET on August 17, 2021 by dialing 844.512.2921 (domestic) or 412.317.6671 (international) (Passcode: 13719865) or via the web through August 3, 2022 at www.brixmor.com in the Investors section.

The Company's Supplemental Disclosure will be posted at www.brixmor.com in the Investors section. These materials are also available to all interested parties upon request to the Company at [email protected] or 800.468.7526.

NON-GAAP PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The Company presents the non-GAAP performance measures set forth below. These measures should not be considered as alternatives to, or more meaningful than, net income (calculated in accordance with GAAP) or other GAAP financial measures, as an indicator of financial performance and are not alternatives to, or more meaningful than, cash flow from operating activities (calculated in accordance with GAAP) as a measure of liquidity. Non-GAAP performance measures have limitations as they do not include all items of income and expense that affect operations, and accordingly, should always be considered as supplemental financial results to those calculated in accordance with GAAP. The Company's computation of these non-GAAP performance measures may differ in certain respects from the methodology utilized by other REITs and, therefore, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by such other REITs. Investors are cautioned that items excluded from these non-GAAP performance measures are relevant to understanding and addressing financial performance. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP performance measures to net income is presented in the attached table.

NAREIT FFO

NAREIT FFO is a supplemental, non-GAAP performance measure utilized to evaluate the operating and financial performance of real estate companies. The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") defines FFO as net income (loss), calculated in accordance with GAAP, excluding (i) depreciation and amortization related to real estate, (ii) gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets, (iii) gains and losses from change in control, (iv) impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity and (v) after adjustments for unconsolidated joint ventures calculated to reflect FFO on the same basis. Considering the nature of its business as a real estate owner and operator, the Company believes that NAREIT FFO is useful to investors in measuring its operating and financial performance because the definition excludes items included in net income that do not relate to or are not indicative of the Company's operating and financial performance, such as depreciation and amortization related to real estate, and items which can make periodic and peer analyses of operating and financial performance more difficult, such as gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets and impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets.

Same Property NOI

Same property NOI is a supplemental, non-GAAP performance measure utilized to evaluate the operating performance of real estate companies. Same property NOI is calculated (using properties owned for the entirety of both periods and excluding properties under development and completed new development properties which have been stabilized for less than one year) as total property revenues (base rent, expense reimbursements, adjustments for revenues deemed uncollectible, ancillary and other rental income, percentage rents and other revenues) less direct property operating expenses (operating costs and real estate taxes). Same property NOI excludes (i) corporate level expenses (including general and administrative), (ii) lease termination fees, (iii) straight-line rental income, net, (iv) accretion of below-market leases, net of amortization of above-market leases and tenant inducements, (v) straight-line ground rent expense, and (vi) income / expense associated with the Company's captive insurance company. Considering the nature of its business as a real estate owner and operator, the Company believes that same property NOI is useful to investors in measuring the operating performance of its property portfolio because the definition excludes various items included in net income that do not relate to, or are not indicative of, the operating performance of the Company's properties, such as depreciation and amortization and corporate level expenses (including general and administrative), and because it eliminates disparities in NOI due to the acquisition or disposition of properties or the stabilization of completed new development properties during the period presented and therefore provides a more consistent metric for comparing the operating performance of the Company's real estate between periods.

ABOUT BRIXMOR PROPERTY GROUP

Brixmor (NYSE: BRX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates a high-quality, national portfolio of open-air shopping centers. Its 389 retail centers comprise approximately 68 million square feet of prime retail space in established trade areas. The Company strives to own and operate shopping centers that reflect Brixmor's vision "to be the center of the communities we serve" and are home to a diverse mix of thriving national, regional and local retailers. Brixmor is a proud real estate partner to approximately 5,000 retailers including The TJX Companies, The Kroger Co., Publix Super Markets and Ross Stores.

Brixmor announces material information to its investors in SEC filings and press releases and on public conference calls, webcasts and the "Investors" page of its website at www.brixmor.com. The Company also uses social media to communicate with its investors and the public, and the information Brixmor posts on social media may be deemed material information. Therefore, Brixmor encourages investors and others interested in the Company to review the information that it posts on its website and on its social media channels.

SAFE HARBOR LANGUAGE

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the Company's expectations regarding the performance of its business, its financial results, its liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the sections entitled "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Currently, one of the most significant factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from forward-looking statements is the adverse effect of the current pandemic of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, on the financial condition, operating results and cash flows of the Company, the Company's tenants, the real estate market, the financial markets and the global economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Company and its tenants significantly, and the extent to which it continues to impact the Company and its tenants will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the scope, severity and duration of the pandemic, the speed and effectiveness of vaccine and treatment developments and their deployment, public adoption rates of COVID-19 vaccines and their effectiveness against emerging variants of COVID-19, such as the Delta variant, the direct and indirect economic effects of the pandemic and containment measures, and potential sustained changes in consumer behavior, among others. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in the Company's filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS Unaudited, dollars in thousands, except share information







As of

As of





6/30/21

12/31/20 Assets







Real estate









Land $ 1,749,145

$ 1,740,263



Buildings and tenant improvements 7,810,683

7,714,105



Construction in progress 147,898

142,745



Lease intangibles 551,150

566,448





10,258,876

10,163,561



Accumulated depreciation and amortization (2,745,122)

(2,659,448)

Real estate, net 7,513,754

7,504,113

Cash and cash equivalents 404,144

368,675

Restricted cash 1,242

1,412

Marketable securities 18,188

19,548

Receivables, net 228,583

240,323

Deferred charges and prepaid expenses, net 139,974

139,260

Real estate assets held for sale -

18,014

Other assets 49,288

50,802 Total assets $ 8,355,173

$ 8,342,147











Liabilities







Debt obligations, net $ 5,167,038

$ 5,167,330

Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities 483,791

494,116 Total liabilities 5,650,829

5,661,446











Equity







Common stock, $0.01 par value; authorized 3,000,000,000 shares; 306,105,089 and 305,621,403 shares issued and 296,978,097 and 296,494,411 shares outstanding 2,970

2,965

Additional paid-in capital 3,215,948

3,213,990

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (19,713)

(28,058)

Distributions in excess of net income (494,861)

(508,196) Total equity 2,704,344

2,680,701 Total liabilities and equity $ 8,355,173

$ 8,342,147

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS Unaudited, dollars in thousands, except per share amounts





Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended



6/30/21

6/30/20

6/30/21

6/30/20 Revenues















Rental income $ 286,933

$ 247,434

$ 563,394

$ 527,836

Other revenues 91

186

3,376

2,085 Total revenues 287,024

247,620

566,770

529,921

















Operating expenses















Operating costs 28,755

25,136

60,140

55,492

Real estate taxes 42,257

41,808

85,145

84,672

Depreciation and amortization 81,212

80,829

164,632

163,846

Impairment of real estate assets 431

5,962

1,898

10,560

General and administrative 26,461

24,436

51,106

47,033 Total operating expenses 179,116

178,171

362,921

361,603

















Other income (expense)















Dividends and interest 104

102

191

226

Interest expense (49,689)

(49,852)

(98,683)

(97,206)

Gain on sale of real estate assets 32,603

692

38,367

9,597

Loss on extinguishment of debt, net (32)

(10,386)

(1,229)

(10,391)

Other (466)

(961)

304

(1,719) Total other expense (17,480)

(60,405)

(61,050)

(99,493)

















Net income $ 90,428

$ 9,044

$ 142,799

$ 68,825

















Net income per common share:















Basic $ 0.30

$ 0.03

$ 0.48

$ 0.23

Diluted $ 0.30

$ 0.03

$ 0.48

$ 0.23 Weighted average shares:















Basic 297,216

296,546

297,196

297,194

Diluted 298,277

296,773

298,222

297,485

FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS (FFO) Unaudited, dollars in thousands, except per share amounts





Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended



6/30/21

6/30/20

6/30/21

6/30/20

















Net income $ 90,428

$ 9,044

$ 142,799

$ 68,825

Depreciation and amortization related to real estate 80,368

79,768

162,823

161,788

Gain on sale of real estate assets (32,603)

(692)

(38,367)

(9,597)

Impairment of real estate assets 431

5,962

1,898

10,560 NAREIT FFO $ 138,624

$ 94,082

$ 269,153

$ 231,576

















NAREIT FFO per diluted share $ 0.46

$ 0.32

$ 0.90

$ 0.78 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 298,277

296,773

298,222

297,485

















Items that impact FFO comparability















Litigation and other non-routine legal expenses $ (498)

$ (2,038)

$ (2,329)

$ (2,560)

Loss on extinguishment of debt, net (32)

(10,386)

(1,229)

(10,391)

Transaction expenses (17)

(413)

(49)

(425) Total items that impact FFO comparability $ (547)

$ (12,837)

$ (3,607)

$ (13,376) Items that impact FFO comparability, net per share $ (0.00)

$ (0.04)

$ (0.01)

$ (0.04)

















Additional Disclosures















Straight-line rental income, net (1) $ 3,404

$ (6,422)

$ 5,676

$ (8,559)

Accretion of below-market leases, net of amortization of above-market leases and tenant inducements 3,368

3,150

4,352

6,521

Straight-line ground rent expense (2) (42)

(35)

(88)

(70)

















Dividends declared per share $ 0.215

$ -

$ 0.430

$ 0.285 Dividends declared $ 63,850

$ -

$ 127,694

$ 84,488 Dividend payout ratio (as % of NAREIT FFO) 46.1%

-%

47.4%

36.5%



(1) Includes straight-line rental income reversals of $0.7 million and $2.3 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively, and $11.5 million and $19.4 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively. (2) Straight-line ground rent expense is included in Operating costs on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.



SAME PROPERTY NOI ANALYSIS

Unaudited, dollars in thousands











Three Months Ended





Six Months Ended











6/30/21

6/30/20

Change

6/30/21

6/30/20

Change

Same Property NOI Analysis

























Number of properties

376

376

-

374

374

-

Percent billed

88.0%

89.0%

(1.0%)

88.0%

89.2%

(1.2%)

Percent leased

91.1%

92.2%

(1.1%)

91.2%

92.3%

(1.1%)































Revenues



























Base rent

$ 201,229

$ 203,077





$ 397,720

$ 403,652







Expense reimbursements

59,042

58,024





119,979

119,212







Revenues deemed uncollectible

2,367

(26,617)





(1,977)

(31,955)







Ancillary and other rental income / Other revenues

4,665

3,758





12,188

9,632







Percentage rents

1,491

1,097





3,616

2,802











268,794

239,339

12.3%

531,526

503,343

5.6%

Operating expenses



























Operating costs

(27,748)

(24,077)





(57,498)

(52,383)







Real estate taxes

(41,059)

(39,611)





(81,942)

(79,856)











(68,807)

(63,688)

8.0%

(139,440)

(132,239)

5.4%

Same property NOI

$ 199,987

$ 175,651

13.9%

$ 392,086

$ 371,104

5.7%































NOI margin

74.4%

73.4%





73.8%

73.7%





Expense recovery ratio

85.8%

91.1%





86.0%

90.1%

































Percent Contribution to Same Property NOI Performance:































Change

Percent Contribution





Change

Percent Contribution







Base rent - excluding COVID-19 rent deferrals (lease modifications) and rent abatements

$ (1,311)

(0.7%)





$ (3,136)

(0.8%)







Base rent - COVID-19 rent deferrals (lease modifications) and rent abatements

(537)

(0.4%)





(2,796)

(0.8%)







Revenues deemed uncollectible

28,984

16.6%





29,978

8.1%







Net expense reimbursements

(4,101)

(2.3%)





(6,434)

(1.7%)







Ancillary and other rental income / Other revenues

907

0.5%





2,556

0.7%







Percentage rents

394

0.2%





814

0.2%















13.9%









5.7%



































Reconciliation of Net Income to Same Property NOI

























Same property NOI

$ 199,987

$ 175,651





$ 392,086

$ 371,104





Adjustments:



























Non-same property NOI

5,222

6,586





14,002

17,627







Lease termination fees

4,073

1,746





5,457

3,134







Straight-line rental income, net

3,404

(6,422)





5,676

(8,559)







Accretion of below-market leases, net of amortization of above-market leases and tenant inducements

3,368

3,150





4,352

6,521







Straight-line ground rent expense

(42)

(35)





(88)

(70)







Depreciation and amortization

(81,212)

(80,829)





(164,632)

(163,846)







Impairment of real estate assets

(431)

(5,962)





(1,898)

(10,560)







General and administrative

(26,461)

(24,436)





(51,106)

(47,033)







Total other expense

(17,480)

(60,405)





(61,050)

(99,493)





Net income

$ 90,428

$ 9,044





$ 142,799

$ 68,825





SOURCE Brixmor Property Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.brixmor.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Business Partners to CONVINCE (BP2C), a global communication and education initiative to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among private sector employers and employees, released a statement commending the Biden administration's announcement on July 29 that it will require all federal employees to attest their vaccination status or be subject to masking, social distancing and COVID-19 testing requirements.

The following statement was made by Scott Ratzan MD, executive director of Business Partners to CONVINCE, an initiative of The USCIB Foundation:

"As COVID-19 vaccination rates wane for a variety of reasons, the COVID delta variant is spreading globally. With vaccination as our principal hope to stem the pandemic, we are pleased by the Biden administration's decision to require federal employees and onsite contractors to get safe and effective vaccines. We encourage all eligible Americans to get fully vaccinated. We welcome opportunities to work with government, business and civil society to help achieve the vaccination levels for community immunity.

"We call on BP2C's vast global network, which consists of organizations such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE), Business at OECD (BIAC), Vaccines Europe, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) to support their local governments across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America in communication and education initiatives around COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective and the best way forward out of this pandemic and towards economic recovery.

"We applaud BP2C steering team partner the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), as well as USCIB members Facebook, Google, The Walt Disney Company, Walmart and Uber that have announced new requirements to encourage vaccinations among their workers and ensure a safe workplace. We encourage other companies to do the same and we stand ready to offer resources and communications strategies to employers about vaccine literacy."

ABOUT BUSINESS PARTNERS TO CONVINCE: The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), The USCIB Foundation, and Business Partners for Sustainable Development (BPSD) have launched Business Partners to CONVINCE, a global communication and education initiative to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among private sector employers and employees. The new partnership will play an integral role in a broader, global CONVINCE (COVID-19 New Vaccine Information, Communication, and Engagement) campaign to advance vaccine literacy and help ensure a strong and swift recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic through widespread acceptance of safe, effective and accessible vaccines.

ABOUT THE USCIB FOUNDATION: The USCIB Foundation is the research and educational arm of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). The principal purpose of the Foundation is to carry out research and educational activities designed to promote and advance the benefits of a free-market economy and to demonstrate and document the role of the corporate private sector in economic growth and social development.

SOURCE Business Partners to CONVINCE (BP2C)

Related Links

https://www.businesspartners2convince.org


"Chad has shown steadfast leadership, continually growing and developing the Oil, Gas & Chemical Group in India," says Mike Brown, president of Burns & McDonnell International. "His focus on client service and his connection with the rest of the firm will serve us all greatly as he undertakes this new challenge. I am excited to see him apply his ingenuity, servant leadership mindset and talents in this new role."

Chad has 15 years of experience working across roles including project controls, division cost management, project engineering and project management. He has contributed towards implementing new systems and processes, improving cost-efficiency and developing high-performing teams. By applying skills he's developed through different roles, his team has been working to diversify the firm's India operations in different sectors, product lines and geographies.

"I feel so grateful for this opportunity. I've been part of the Burns & McDonnell India family for last few years and can't wait to see what the future holds," Hotovec says. "First, we must continue to champion the employee experience. Each employee has played an important role in making us a great place to work in Mumbai, and we can build on that foundation by continuing to establish and implement policies defining our commitment to diversity and inclusion and investing in skill development, leadership growth and succession planning.

"We need to continue to be a catalyst for growth and a global center of excellence. We must see to it that we continue to get the right people on the bus and in the right seats and partner with the business lines so they can leverage our support and expand our services around the globe. I also want to see us capitalize on local opportunities by leveraging our technical capabilities and outstanding client service, improving local brand awareness and marketing through proactive engagement, and establishing financial performance metrics that reflect true performance."

Established in 2013 in Mumbai, Burns & McDonnell India is a full-service engineering company with multidisciplinary capabilities across oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, transmission and distribution, energy/power, environmental services, and food and consumer product sectors. During the past three years, Burns & McDonnell India more than doubled the size of its team. It has also been recognised by Great Place to Work Institute for five consecutive years, including in the large company category for the first time in 2021.

For photos and support materials, please visit our MEDIA KIT.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies bringing together an unmatched team of 7,600 engineers, construction professionals, architects, planners, technologists and scientists to design and build our critical infrastructure. With an integrated construction and design mindset, we offer full-service capabilities with more than 60 offices globally. Founded in 1898, Burns & McDonnell is a 100% employee-owned. Learn how we are designed to build.

Contact: Ingrid Nicar, Burns & McDonnell

470-508-9862

[email protected]

SOURCE Burns & McDonnell

Related Links

www.burnsmcd.com


BEIJING, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the second episode of the globally popular internet program Youth Power aired on Friday, the topics of ideals and responsibility took centerstage and triggered spirited debate among young people that will find resonance worldwide.

In this episode, six young people from Zhejiang province, Shanghai, Taiwan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Ukraine gathered in The Affiliated High School of Peking University and told their stories about ideals and aspirations.

They also explored a Chinese Orchestra Club and Fencing Club in a school and delivered impassioned speeches to demonstrate how young people have contributed to world development. Bound with the ideas of youth and growth, this episode conveyed insights on what those of Generation Z regard as ideal.

Wang Licheng, 16, a student of Shanghai Foreign Language School, who is a big fan of drama, obviously enjoyed every second on stage, and why that was so was evident in his speech.



"The stage not only gives me the power to be anyone, but also empowers me to examine my life from the eyes of my characters, thus presenting myself and influencing others," he said

Licheng, the former leader of a school drama club, explained to the audience his long and rewarding journey in forming his ideals and beliefs.

For him, the word stage and all it means extends well beyond the theater and into life outside it such as work. He urged young people to step into the spotlight of the world stage, playing their role as Chinese youth with pride and confidence.

Speaking of Little Soldier Zhang Ga, whom he once played in drama, Peng Junlin, 10, who attends Shanghai Qinpu World Foreign Language School, expressed his admiration for the character.



"Drama is a form of culture that is the spiritual backbone of a nation," he said.

Inspired by the enthusiasm and devotion of Zhang, Junlin said he no longer took a peaceful and happy life for granted.

"It's our duty to inherit the spirit of Zhang and of tens of thousands of others who fought to rejuvenate the Chinese nation," he said.

Yan Weizhen, 17, of Taiwan, offered a unique perspective on Suzhou. Eight years ago, when she moved from Taiwan to Suzhou she was fascinated with the harmony she discerned in traditional and modern architectural styles.

"Living in Suzhou, such a great example of protecting old buildings and history, I learned to appreciate the value of traditional culture and to seek opportunities so that our cultural roots can thrive in modern times," she said.

Ye Xueying, 21, of Hong Kong, who is studying Chinese classics at Wuhan University, started her speech posing the question "What really makes us Chinese?" The answer can be found in the study of Chinese classics, she said. Ye appealed to young people to embrace traditional culture, which she said creates a spiritual connection with the country by making it a part of daily life. Ways of doing this include trying on traditional costumes and listening to traditional instruments, she said.

"Growing up is not only about knowing or learning, but also about creating bonding, from which the sense of belonging comes," said Ye, the only college student in this episode of Youth Power.

Hao Liya, 24, who grew up in a small city in southern Ukraine, and who is now studying for a PhD at Communication University of China in Beijing, said: "China stretches far beyond the stereotypes that many people in the rest of the world hold."

When she arrived in China, both its modernity and its rich culture highly impressed her, and she praised the leadership of the CPC.

"It's so amazing to try delicious Chinese cuisine that is different in every province on a high-speed train," she said.



Hao, who is married to a Chinese, said that if people want to understand each other they must learn to look at everything from each other's perspective.

Chen Shihua, 16, who loves singing, dancing and the violin, and who attends Ningbo Zhenhai Middle School, told of her grandfather's passion for calligraphy and said that made her understand culture confidence was in every Chinese person's blood. When she grew up, she said, she dreamed of becoming a cross-cultural communicator sticking to and passing on Chinese culture.

Youth Power is a series created by China Daily aimed at encouraging young people everywhere to think about world issues and to play their role in making the world a better place. The second episode was welcomed by audiences at home and abroad.

Javaria Nasir, a Pakistani student at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the program and the idea behind it excites him.

"It's going to help young people speak up and talk about their own issues. I think in general young people need more representation, and platforms such as Youth Power are going to give them the representation they need.

"I think it's going to help us communicate better and bridge the gap between different age groups, different countries, religions, cultures and hopefully come together."

Manzi Mike, a Rwandan who is studying at Hangzhou Normal University, said: "I'm really looking forward to watching more of Youth Power and learning from stories of fellow young people. Hearing them tell their stories and talk about their experiences in diverse cultures and backgrounds is really eye opening."

SOURCE China Daily
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chloe & Theo, a scripted climate change feature film starring Dakota Johnson, Theo Ikummaq and Mira Sorvino, with producer Monica Ord and Exec Producers Richard Branson and John Paul Dejoria will be auctioning 10 unique NFTS!

The collection features 10 fan favorite scenes from the movie in which Chloe (Dakota Johnson) plays a fiery homeless girl trying to help Theo (Theo Ikummaq) save the planet. Mixed with passion and humor the NFT scenes are haunting and impactful with incredibly beautiful Arctic backdrops or New York chaos.

Feature Film Chloe & Theo, Starring Dakota Johnson, Theo Ikummaq and Mira Sorvino, Drops Fan Favorite Scenes as NFTs

These "one of a kind" feature film artworks sit at the intersection of Film and Blockchain technology to become pioneers of interactive modern art. Merging cutting edge technology with film.

"We chose to go with the Origin protocol platform as we have long admired Origin's curatorial vision and we are grateful for their ongoing creative collaboration," said Monica Ord, the producer who championed the film after meeting Theo. After attending an event in real life, Ord was so moved by his story she put a team of visionaries together and made the film.

"We could not be more excited," said Ord. "I'm new to this but the NFT revolution can be a game changer for the film industry! Our main mission is to get our climate message out to as many as possible, but this also allows us to reward our fans by allowing them to "own" their favorite scene and a portion of the proceeds goes to climate change makers. Everyone wins! I see a future where we can potentially run NFT campaigns for promoting future film projects but also to help raise budgets for important stories! Such an exciting time! Come make history with us on Aug 3rd and Stay tuned for our next collection."

If you would like to be a part of history, the Chloe & Theo collection of NFTS will go live on Aug 3rd at 5 pm PST

Please sign up at Chloeandtheo.com to find out more and see the collection!

MEDIA CONTACT:

MONICA ORD

[email protected]

SOURCE Chloe & Theo
Territory at Greenhouse in Houston is the third multifamily property Civitas acquired in the past 30 days. Tweet this

Located between West Houston's Energy Corridor and Katy, the property, developed in 2020, is within a 20-minute drive from either downtown Houston or Sugar Land, one of America's best suburbs. It is easily accessible by Interstate 10, Beltway 8, and Grand Parkway. Nearby demand drivers include Wood Group, BP America, Shell Oil Company, ConocoPhillips, Gulf States Toyota, PCL Industrial Construction Co., Citgo, Memorial Hermann Health System, Chase Bank, Houston Methodist West Hospital, Katy Mills Mall, Cullen Park, and A+ rated Katy ISD schools.

Since 2015, Civitas has invested over $157 million in the Houston market across asset types, including multifamily, hotel, and senior living facilities.

Territory at Greenhouse, which closed July 28, is the third multifamily property Civitas acquired in the past 30 days. On July 8, Civitas acquired The Atlantic at Kessler Park, a 64-unit property in an exclusive, burgeoning area of southwest Dallas. On June 29, the firm acquired Center Place Apartments, a 194-unit property in a growing North Texas suburb situated between Dallas and Fort Worth. Both are value-add multifamily properties.

"Center Place and Territory represent the next evolution of our multifamily value-add acquisition strategy," says Jonathan Kern, President and Chief Investment Officer at Civitas. "All three of these investments are indicative of our focus on attainable housing, which is in increasingly short supply. Whether you're talking about acquisitions like these or new developments, this is especially true in the DFW and Houston MSAs, two of the fastest-growing in the country."

Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, Mayde Creek Apartments, LLC, and procured Civitas as the property's buyer and Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation arranged buyer financing.

ABOUT CIVITAS CAPITAL GROUP

Civitas Capital Group is a global alternative investment manager, founded in 2009, offering compelling, niche opportunities in U.S. real estate. Civitas exists to create opportunities that enrich our communities, investors, and employees alike. Driven by relentless creativity, Civitas digs deeper to uncover opportunities that others miss. Follow Civitas Capital Group on LinkedIn. Learn more at civitascapital.com .

SOURCE Civitas Capital Group

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civitascapital.com


The digital creative community has been largely focussed on NFTs, but cloudHQ has a different form of digital art in mind: email templates. As more creatives are looking for new ways to make additional income streams, an often overlooked opportunity lies in the marketing industry.

A large reason for the boom in marketing services is a fascinating correlation between immigrants and entrepreneurship. For example, immigrant founders started 52 percent of all new Silicon Valley companies between 1995 and 2005 alone, and launched 25% of all US businesses (Inc.com, 2/2015). Those founders don't just need help with copy material, they also need help with visual marketing that speaks to a savvy pop-culture audience. This makes for a complementary relationship between creative and small business communities.

Another fun fact is that 81% of small businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel (Emarsys, 2018). Knowing this information, cloudHQ decided to help make email templates more easily shareable to address a growing need for them in the business community. With cloudHQ's new feature, anyone can now share their digital art email templates in just 1 click.

"We recognize the need for great email marketing among small businesses, and we know that many creatives are looking for new ways to make money," Naomi Assaraf, cloudHQ's Chief Marketing Officer states. "By enabling easier access to email templates, we're hoping it helps creatives find consulting jobs with small businesses who need their marketing and language skills."

cloudHQ plans on creating a marketplace for email templates in the near future to further help bridge the gap between supply and demand. In the meantime, Gmail Email Templates by cloudHQ has a generous free basic plan , with a Premium plan upgrade, if needed.

cloudHQ, LLC is located in San Francisco, California, with a distributed team of just under 10 people, all working remotely.

SOURCE cloudHQ

Related Links

https://cloudhq.net


MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) announced that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) granted a New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for single-use duodenoscopes, applicable to the EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope, as part of its Fiscal Year 2022 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System. NTAP was created to facilitate patient access for qualifying new medical technologies that substantially improve the diagnosis or treatment of Medicare beneficiaries. Beginning October 1, 2021, CMS will provide hospitals with additional device reimbursement when the EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope is used for eligible cases in the hospital inpatient setting.

The EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope is designed to eliminate the risk of infection due to ineffective reprocessing of traditional reusable duodenoscopes. Duodenoscopes are used to diagnose and treat various pancreatic and biliary conditions during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures. Every year, more than 700,000 ERCP procedures are performed in the U.S. and approximately 1.5 million are completed worldwide.i In 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that providers utilize duodenoscopes with disposable components or fully disposable devices, when available.ii

The EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope previously received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA as well as transitional pass-through (TPT) payment by CMS, the latter of which allows for incremental device reimbursement for Medicare cases performed in the hospital outpatient setting. Further, in response to a Boston Scientific request, CMS created two unique ICD-10 procedure codes for hospitals to facilitate reporting the use of single-use duodenoscopes when used in the hospital inpatient setting beginning October 1, 2021.

"Securing NTAP, in addition to TPT, for the EXALT Model D Duodenoscope will support health care providers in accessing this device for Medicare patients  a group that represents over 40% of all ERCPs performed in the U.S. each year," said Dave Pierce, executive vice president and president, MedSurg and president, Endoscopy, Boston Scientific. "Adequate reimbursement is key for the adoption of any new technology, and this decision from CMS will help provide hospitals with the means to treat Medicare patients with this device."

The EXALT Model D Duodenoscope is part of the Boston Scientific single-use device portfolio, which includes technologies within the gastrointestinal, pancreaticobiliary, surgical, urological and airway spaces such as the LithoVue Digital Flexible Ureteroscope, SpyGlass DS Direct Visualization System, SpyGlass Discover Digital Catheter, and EXALT Model B Single-Use Bronchoscope.iii

For additional information, please visit the EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope page on the Boston Scientific website.

About Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific transforms lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world. As a global medical technology leader for more than 40 years, we advance science for life by providing a broad range of high performance solutions that address unmet patient needs and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.bostonscientific.com and connect on Twitter and Facebook.

Cautionary Statement Regarding 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. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "anticipate," "expect," "project," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "intend," and similar words. These forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and estimates using information available to us at the time and are not intended to be guarantees of future events or performance. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding our business plans, clinical trials and product performance and impact. If our underlying assumptions turn out to be incorrect, or if certain risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. These factors, in some cases, have affected and in the future (together with other factors) could affect our ability to implement our business strategy and may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements expressed in this press release. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of our forward-looking statements.

Factors that may cause such differences include, among other things: future economic, political, competitive, reimbursement and regulatory conditions; new product introductions; demographic trends; intellectual property; litigation; financial market conditions; and future business decisions made by us and our competitors. All of these factors are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of them are beyond our control. For a further list and description of these and other important risks and uncertainties that may affect our future operations, see Part I, Item IA - Risk Factors in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we may update in Part II, Item 1A - Risk Factors in Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q we have filed or will file hereafter. We disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions, or circumstances on which those expectations may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

CONTACTS:

Nate Illsley

Media Relations

(508) 269-4607 (office)

[email protected]

Lauren Tengler

Investor Relations

508-683-4479

[email protected]

i Internal estimate

ii United States Food and Drug Administration website: " The FDA is Recommending Transition to Duodenoscopes with Innovative Designs to Enhance Safety: FDA Safety Communication" April 10, 2020

iii The EXALT Model B Single-Use Bronchoscope is currently pending FDA 510(k) review and is not yet available for sale in the United States

SOURCE Boston Scientific Corporation

Related Links

http://www.bostonscientific.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Constantine Cannon LLP announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice has joined a portion of its whistleblower lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest managed-care organizations in the country. Kaiser Permanente and various regional affiliates are accused of knowingly submitting false claims for risk-adjusted payments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as failing to return overpayments, resulting in enormous losses to the Medicare Advantage program.

CMS risk-adjusted payments for members with certain conditions under Medicare Advantage (also known as Medicare "Part C") average roughly $3,000 per year per condition. The suit alleges that Kaiser routinely obtained fraudulently inflated risk-adjusted payments by knowingly submitting diagnosis codes for patients that were unsupported by the patients' medical records. The government's intervention focuses on unsupported diagnosis codes that Kaiser allegedly improperly added through addenda to patients' medical records.

The unsealed whistleblower complaint also alleges numerous additional examples of fraudulent conduct by Kaiser, including that Kaiser obtained false risk-adjustment payments by using datamining to make patient diagnoses seem more numerous or more severe (a practice referred to as "upcoding"), pressuring physicians to improperly code diagnoses, ignoring internal audit results, and using chart reviews of external providers to add new diagnoses but not delete unsupported ones. Similar one-way chart reviews are at the core of the United States' massive lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group (UHG), in which Constantine Cannon represents the whistleblower.

The qui tam whistleblower suit, filed under the federal False Claims Act, was unsealed on Thursday, July 29, 2021, and is available here. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, but later transferred to the Northern District of California.

Kaiser Permanente has over 217,000 employees and 12.4 million total members throughout California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia. In 2020, Kaiser reported more than $88 billion in operating revenue.

The whistleblower, James M. Taylor, M.D., was employed at Kaiser's Colorado Permanente Medical Group (CPMG), where he was medical director of revenue cycle/claims and physician director of coding. He is not only a physician but a certified coder and coding trainer who was the recipient of RISE Health's Martin L. Block Award for Clinical Excellence and Innovation. He was elected to the board of CPMG and was also chairman of the entity for two years. He also served as national co-chair of the Kaiser Permanente's ICD-10 Compliance Committee, was the delegate representing all physicians in the regions outside of California in Kaiser's national Coding Governance Group, and was selected to complete Harvard's Executive Leadership Program. At the time he filed his suit, he was the only physician to have received Kaiser's National Revenue Cycle "Distinguished Leadership" award.

While a Kaiser employee, Dr. Taylor repeatedly proposed solutions internally to address the issues outlined in his whistleblower complaint, but corrective action was either ignored by the organizations or only briefly implemented before Kaiser would return to prior behavior.

"The scale of this case, and the number of whistleblowers who have come forward, shows how serious the claims are," said Michael Ronickher, a partner in Constantine Cannon's Washington, D.C., office and co-lead counsel on the case. "Dr. Taylor's unique position within Kaiser, along with his deep knowledge of Medicare Advantage compliance, will be key in helping the Department of Justice recover for the frauds he and the other whistleblowers allege."

Edward Baker, of counsel in Constantine Cannon's Washington, D.C., office and co-lead counsel on the case, added: "Medicare Advantage fraud, especially on this scale, shows a blatant disrespect for the millions of Americans who rely on the program for their healthcare needs, as well as the taxpayers paying for it. We look forward to bringing this case to a successful resolution."

The Preeminent Law Firm in Healthcare Whistleblower Cases

Constantine Cannon is the leading law firm in Medicare Advantage whistleblower cases and has deep experience representing all manner of healthcare whistleblowers in False Claims Act lawsuits against health insurance companies, provider groups, and vendors. Among its many cases, the firm represents Benjamin Poehling in the UHG case, the largest False Claims Act lawsuit for Medicare risk-adjustment fraud in history. That suit alleges fraud by UHG that cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion from 2011 to 2014 alone, according to the Department of Justice. The case is currently expected to go to trial in 2023.

Constantine Cannon also represented Dr. Darren Sewell in a whistleblower suit against Freedom Health and its former COO, which ended in a $32.5 million settlement back to the governmentone of the first major settlements of a Medicare Advantage risk-adjustment fraud lawsuit in history. The firm currently represents Teresa Ross, a former employee of Group Health Cooperative, now owned by Kaiser, which agreed in November 2020 to pay $6.375 million to resolve her allegations of improperly collecting inflated payments from the Medicare Advantage program. The Justice Department has sought to intervene in Ross's related claims against other defendants. Constantine Cannon also represents Kathy Ormsby in a False Claims Act suit against Sutter Health and its affiliates over similar claims of Medicare Advantage fraud.

About Constantine Cannon LLP

With offices in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and London, Constantine Cannon LLP is one of the largest whistleblower practices in the United States. The firm's team of dedicated whistleblower lawyers represent whistleblowers under federal and state False Claims Acts as well as the whistleblower programs of the IRS, SEC, CFTC, DOT, and others.

Constantine Cannon also has deep expertise in practice areas that include antitrust and complex commercial litigation, government relations, securities, and e-discovery. The firm's antitrust practice is among the largest and most well recognized in the nation. Constantine Cannon's experience spans multiple industries, including healthcare, banking, electronic payments, insurance, high tech, telecommunications, the Internet, and government contracting.

For more information, visit the Constantine Cannon website, at constantinecannon.com.

Media Contact

PRCG | Haggerty LLC

(212) 683-8100

Lucy O'Brien, [email protected]

Cristopher Bruce, [email protected]

SOURCE Constantine Cannon LLP

Related Links

http://constantinecannon.com


CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mary Ellen Podmolik on Monday joined the Office of Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas as director of communications.

Podmolik is a seasoned writer, editor and manager who recently left the Chicago Tribune, where she was a director of content and business editor for the past six years.

Prior to that, she was an award-winning business reporter and columnist at the Tribune, a freelance journalist for multiple publications including Crain's Chicago Business and a business reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times.

"I'm thrilled that Mary Ellen has joined our office in this new role, where she will oversee all office communications and outreach," Pappas said. "She will bring her management expertise, writing skills and overall savvy to this office as we continue to develop new ways to bring unparalleled transparency to the property tax system."

"She will play a key role in our efforts to address long-standing inequities in the tax system that stymy both economic growth and generational wealth among minorities," Pappas added.

Podmolik, a graduate of Marquette University, said she looks forward to the challenge.

"While writing on the housing crisis and the Great Recession for the Tribune, I saw up close the difficulties faced by many homeowners in Cook County," Podmolik said. "The uneven recovery that followed, compounded by the pandemic, continues to put homeowners at risk. I look forward to contributing to the important work undertaken by the Treasurer and her team to address these inequities."

SOURCE Cook County Treasurer's Office

Related Links

www.cookcountytreasurer.com


Through the shared value of caring for students, teachers and educators, the collaboration between NSBA and SchoolMaskPack aims to provide high-quality reusable masks to classrooms across the country. In addition to a donation of mask packs for under-served school districts, SchoolMaskPack will give an additional set of masks to teachers and administrators who are purchasing for their schools to help ensure a seamless return to in-person learning. NSBA is a federation of state associations that represent 90,000 locally elected school board officials serving approximately 51 million public school students.

"As students and educators return to classrooms this fall, masks are a critical component to containing the spread of COVID-19 and keeping people safe, especially younger students who are not yet eligible for the vaccine," says Chip Slaven, interim Executive Director and CEO of the Alexandria, VA-based NSBA. "Through this partnership with SchoolMaskPack, we can help ensure that students, schools, and school districts have a smooth return to classrooms this fall."

SchoolMaskPack Chief Commercial Officer George Hartel says the partnership with NSBA is a way to support school communities through their re-openings in September, while vaccine approvals for children under 12 remain under consideration by the federal government.

"With many students too young to be eligible for the vaccines, mask-wearing as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and CDC is the most effective public health practice to reduce the spread of this pernicious virus," says Hartel. "We pioneered a 5-day mask system for kids and families that was designed by parents and teachers, and since June 2020 we have seen over one million parents choose SchoolMackPack as the best solution for their children."

While there is near universal support for school re-openings, the possibilities of ongoing disruption to the continuity of education are significant, says Hartel. "With many parts of the world having a start-stop experience with their school re-openings, we believe that universal mask-wearing will help to keep the focus on in-person learning and reduce potential ongoing disruptions."

CRAYOLA SCHOOLMASKPACK.

For $29.99, you get two sets of the 5-day mask system. Each set includes one mask for each school day, in cool Crayola colors. The masks are fitted with nose clips to give a secure fit and adjustable ear straps that can be tightened or loosened to fit your child's face. The set comes with a laundry bag so you can toss your masks in the wash each week and keep everything in good shape. Parenting.com named SMP the 'must have' item for back-to-school.

About The National School Boards Association

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is a federation of state associations and the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands that represent locally elected school board officials serving approximately 51 million public school students regardless of their disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status or citizenship. Working with and through our state association members, NSBA advocates for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. www.nsba.org

About SchoolMaskPack

SchoolMaskPack is a non-medical mask retailer under Supara Group (Supara), a leading direct to consumer company that focuses on creating life changing wearable solutions through tech apparel. Established in the 1960s, Supara is behind market leading products including GQWhite, the ultimate white shirt, GQWhite Masks, the Crayola official licensed non-medical reusable mask system, and The Good Day Lab CleanShield Stain-Proof Kids T-shirts. Supara believes that the world is our neighborhood and we are responsible to make it a better home. The company strives to add value to people's everyday lives through thoughtful, innovative wearable products that solve neglected problems. The company develops technical and functional garments while creating a true omnichannel retail shopping experience for customers to ensure detailed craftsmanship, comfortable fit and great design. https://schoolmaskpack.com/

MEDIA CONTACT

Hans Lao Cell: 551-208-6026 Office: 212-226 5105 Email [email protected]

Account Director, Sweeney Vesty, 79 Madison Avenue, New York NY 10016

SOURCE SchoolMaskPack

Related Links

https://schoolmaskpack.com


BRENTWOOD, Tenn., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Currax Pharmaceuticals, LLC ("Currax"), a specialty biopharmaceutical company dedicated to expanding access to clinically differentiated, underappreciated medicines  both branded and generic  announces today the relocation of its corporate headquarters from Morristown, New Jersey, to Brentwood, Tennessee. The move accelerates Currax's ability to implement its go-forward strategy, accommodating its expanding commercial organization and continued company growth and development.

"Currax is excited to join the growing healthcare and pharmaceutical community in Tennessee and looks forward to taking a leading role in the continued development of the sector within the region. With a strong base of talent, a wealth of premier academic institutions and future partners, Currax is eager to join more than 500 Tennessee-based healthcare companies to further strengthen its presence in the state," said George Hampton, President and CEO of Currax Pharmaceuticals.

Currax's new headquarters will have approximately 35 employees and will serve as the central office for leadership and home office teams. The company's expanding salesforce will continue to report in from across the country. The new location is 15 minutes from downtown Nashville, and offers convenient access to the Nashville International Airport. The company anticipates adding an additional 20 positions in the Brentwood office in the near-term, and will continue to maintain its European office in Dublin, Ireland.

About Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC:

Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC is a specialty pharmaceutical business focused on acquiring and commercializing prescription Medicines worldwide. Currax distributes a range of both branded and generic pharmaceutical products, including CONTRAVE (naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl), ONZETRA Xsail (sumatriptan nasal powder), Silenor (doxepin), Treximet, (sumatriptan/naproxen sodium), and the authorized generic of Treximet. For more information, please visit http://www.curraxpharma.com/.

Media Contact:

Shannon Susko

Edelman Financial Communications & Capital Markets

[email protected]

SOURCE Currax Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Related Links

http://www.curraxpharma.com/


LONDON, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dense Air Limited ("Dense Air") is pleased to announce that it has agreed with TPG Telecom Limited, to purchase TPG Telecom's 2.6 GHz nationwide spectrum supplementing Dense Air's existing spectrum licenses and enabling Dense Air to work with Australian service providers and cities to build shared 4G and 5G wireless networks that close digital divides and ensure ubiquitous future-proofed connectivity. These first-of-their-kind shared networks will accelerate equitable digital access for cities and communities across Australia, benefiting consumers, network operators, and enterprises. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Dense Air would acquire TPG Telecom's 2.6 GHz nationwide spectrum and also sell to TPG Telecom Dense Air's 3.6 GHz city licenses. Dense Air, which recently acquired 5G mmWave spectrum in the ACMA auction, will use this spectrum in combination with its market-leading neutral host RAN-as-a-Service technology to build shared wireless networks that accelerate contiguous connectivity and extend and enhance the networks of carrier partners. Post the transaction, Dense Air and TPG Telecom look forward to exploring opportunities to use Dense Air's RAN-as-a-service technology solution in the Australian market. Dense Air builds, owns, and operates 4G and 5G "small cell" networks that enhance and extend the traditional "macro" networks built by telecom companies. The global firm, with operations in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, partners with cities and carriers through public-private partnerships to build city-wide networks that ensure equitable wireless connectivity on shared and licensed spectrum. Small cells, deployed by Dense Air on street lights, traffic lights, or rooftops, provide cellular coverage that extends hundreds or thousands of feet rather than the miles covered by macro cells, delivering higher capacity and lower latency to the end user. Small cells complement macro cells by easing network congestion and reaching areas where services deteriorate, providing the building blocks for deploying high-speed 4G and 5G networks. The 2.6 GHz band license to be acquired from TPG Telecom, combined with the 5G mmWave spectrum license Dense Air recently acquired in an ACMA auction, gives the company a platform to offer both 4G and 5G network densification and extension services across Australia. This deal also opens the door for new business models and deployment partnerships. For the consumer, it means faster, more efficient 5G access.

Expanding consumer access to reliable broadband allows more Australians to benefit from the digital transformation in education, commerce, and community services. Those with lower levels of income, employment, and education are most at risk of digital exclusion.

In Australia's urban centres, Dense Air will focus on in-building neutral host solutions, private 4G and 5G networks, and outdoor network densification. In suburban and rural areas, Dense Air will focus on network extension to help all communities benefit from modern necessities like borderless classrooms, remote learning, assisted living, community working hubs, and connected infrastructure.

Paul Senior, CEO of Dense Air said, "We are very pleased to announce the agreement to acquire spectrum from TPG Telecom, which we reached despite the challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This spectrum, along with our other holdings, will allow Dense Air to bring its unique 'RAN-as-a-Service' business model to Australia and enable us to empower cities and communities to build shared neutral host networks that close the digital divide and benefit operators and consumers alike."

About the transaction:

The transaction involves subsidiaries of TPG Telecom and Dense Air Limited entering into an agreement under which TPG Telecom will sell its 2.6 GHz spectrum band licenses to Dense Air Networks Australia. In a separate agreement, a wholly owned subsidiary of TPG Telecom will acquire all the shares of an Australian subsidiary of Dense Air Limited, which holds 3.6 GHz spectrum licenses acquired at auction in 2018.

The agreements for both the 3.6 GHz spectrum transaction and the 2.6 GHz spectrum transaction are subject to conditions precedent, including that the two transactions are completed concurrently, and receive approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Following satisfaction of the conditions, the transactions are expected to complete in September 2021.

About Dense Air:

Dense Air, headquartered in London, UK, has spectrum assets in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia. Focusing on mobile and fixed broadband services, Dense Air builds innovative public-private partnerships with cities to solve connectivity challenges and works with existing network operators to densify and/or extend mobile networks. Dense Air provides a unique carrier of carriers neutral host small cell service, supporting multiple operators through a single RAN infrastructure on clean, licensed spectrum. Working closely with operators and municipalities, Dense Air delivers cost-effective 4G and 5G solutions to support a range of use cases, including enhanced mobile broadband, IoT, public safety, first responder networks, and remote learning.

SOURCE Dense Air
NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dorilton Capital ("Dorilton"), a leading private investment firm, has announced the formation of a new company  Blue Wolf Performance Solutions ("Blue Wolf").

The formation of Blue Wolf represents the combination of two industry leading companies serving the industrial cleaning & maintenance space  Hennigan Energy Services Group ("Hennigan") and NHE Services ("NHE"). Blue Wolf is focused on serving its client's most complex cleaning & maintenance projects to ensure optimal performance of critical assets and equipment.

Hennigan & NHE bring together deep expertise in the sector with over 75 years of combined experience serving clients across utility, nuclear, petrochemical, industrial and municipal industries. Through these business segments, Blue Wolf offers a wide range of services enabled by custom designed equipment including high pressure hydro blasting, heat exchanger restoration, and remote online cleaning.

Leveraging the platform's combined expertise and proprietary capabilities, Blue Wolf offers clients an opportunity to seamlessly access the combined service capabilities of these brands. In addition, the combination of these businesses improves the capacity and resources available to respond to client needs in both routine maintenance and emergency outages.

Blue Wolf operates nationwide with offices in Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, and Alabama offering both in-house and on-site service.

Blue Wolf will maintain the legacy of its constituent brands  which are both recognized leaders within the industry  as well as a commitment to ingenuity and quality.

The company will be led by Tim Hennigan, who was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Blue Wolf. Tim brings decades of leadership and industry experience to the platform, having previously served as the third generation to lead Hennigan Energy Services Group.

"Today marks a milestone in the integration and growth of our companies as our unified brand allows us to showcase our combined strengths and vision for the future," said Tim Hennigan.

About Dorilton

Dorilton is a private investment firm that invests in businesses across a range of industry sectors, working in partnership with management to grow value over the long-term. By providing funding and expertise to drive growth, Dorilton helps its companies and its people achieve their full potential. To learn more visit www.DoriltonGroup.com

About Blue Wolf Performance Solutions

Blue Wolf companies are leading national specialists in industrial cleaning & maintenance services. Blue Wolf leverages the combined capabilities, expertise, and resources of its group of companies to deliver best-in-class service to clients nationwide. To learn more visit www.GoBlueWolf.com

About Hennigan Energy Services Group

Hennigan is a leader in the industrial cleaning industry, delivering complex cleaning services to a broad range of clients across utility, nuclear, petrochemical, industrial, marine, and municipal sectors. With over 50 years experience in the industry, Hennigan is recognized for delivering the highest level of quality, performance, and worker safety every day. To learn more visit www.HenniganEngineering.com

About NHE Services

NHE Services specializes in cleaning heat exchangers through a broad range of services, including its propriety Enclosed Mobile Bundle Cleaner (EMBC) technology. The company has expanded its areas of expertise beyond traditional shell & tube exchangers and has built out a core capability in plate & frame servicing both in-house and on-site. To learn more visit www.NationalHeatExchange.com

For media inquiries and relevant opportunities, please contact [email protected] and [email protected]

Related Links

www.DoriltonGroup.com

www.GoBlueWolf.Com

SOURCE Dorilton Capital
ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmes today announced that it launched a new study assessing the durability of response to COVID-19 vaccinations in patients with hematological malignancies who are undergoing cellular therapies, such as blood or marrow transplantation or CAR-T infusions. The study is part of an expanded portfolio of projects conducted under the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). The study is supported by National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), LabCorp, and Adaptive Biotechnologies.

Emmes has partnered with the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) and NMDP/Be The Match to develop and implement a study enrolling patients and collecting samples to determine how these immunocompromised patients respond to the COVID-19 vaccines. Emmes, the CIBMTR and NMDP/Be The Match collaborated to design a streamlined data collection strategy that uses the company's proprietary Advantage eClinical system with standard data collected as part of the CIBMTR registry. The result: an efficient data collection strategy that was deployed in record time.

Adam Mendizabal, Ph.D., Emmes vice president and co-director of the Emmes Transplant Research Unit, said, " Because patients who have received cellular therapies have diminished responses to other vaccines, the study will help determine if this also applies to COVID-19 vaccines."

Mendizabal noted, "I am proud of the Emmes team, along with our collaborators at the CIBMTR and NMDP/Be The Match, for organizing a study plan, raising funds, and enrolling patients in record time. The support of our clinical colleagues across the United States has been critical to our success."

Krisy Peyton, Emmes project leader, added, "We were ready to launch the study in only one month, and we have already made key changes to the system under tight timelines to accommodate new requirements and expanding needs."

She continued, "Our history of successful collaborations with the BMT CTN, combined with deep subject matter expertise on the part of our Emmes project team, were critical components of a rapid, successful launch."

The study aims to follow 732 patients who have received hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in the last 12 months and who are scheduled to receive a COVID-19 vaccination as part of their standard of care.

The 732 patients enrolled in the study will be in six cohorts defined by type of cellular therapy and timing of vaccination. The primary objective is to compare the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in patients starting their vaccination course less than six months after HCT/CAR T-cell therapy versus those starting the vaccination course six to 12 months after the therapy.

Findings from the study will provide physicians with evidence-based guidance and recommendations about COVID-19 vaccinations for their transplant patients.

Dr. Christine Dingivan, Chief Executive Officer of Emmes, said, "Over the last year, Emmes team members have been dedicated to supporting or conducting clinical trials associated with the accelerated development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and therapies. This work has required tight deadlines, intensive effort and creativity, particularly in conducting remote patient trials.

"This new work is no exception," she added. "It demonstrates that there will be a continued need for research that addresses very specific sets of the population and their responses to COVID-19 vaccines. Emmes is proud to collaborate with the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network, the CIBMTR and the strong coalition of partners involved in this project."

About Emmes

Founded in 1977, Emmes is a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization dedicated to excellence in supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation. The company's clients include numerous agencies and institutes of the U.S. federal government and a wide range of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies throughout the world. To learn more about how our research is making a positive impact on human health, go to the Emmes website at www.emmes.com.

About the BMT CTN

The Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) conducts rigorous multi-institutional clinical trials of high scientific merit, focused on improving survival for patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation and/or receiving cellular therapies. The BMT CTN has completed accrual to 46 Phase II and III trials at more than 100 transplant centers and enrolled over 14,600 study participants.

BMT CTN is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute, both parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is a collaborative effort of 20 Core Transplant Centers/Consortia, The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match and the Emmes Company, LLC, a clinical research organization. CIBMTR is a research collaboration between the NMDP/Be The Match and the Medical College of Wisconsin. Together with MCW/ CIBMTR and NMDP, Emmes has been providing research support to the BMT CTN since 2001, as a key member of the data coordinating center.

More information about the BMT CTN can be found at www.bmtctn.net.

About CIBMTR

The CIBMTR (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research) is a research collaboration between the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). The CIBMTR collaborates with the global scientific community to advance hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and cellular therapy worldwide to increase survival and enrich quality of life for patients. The CIBMTR facilitates critical observational and interventional research through scientific and statistical expertise, a large network of transplant centers, and a unique and extensive clinical outcomes database. For more information on the CIBMTR, please visit www.cibmtr.org or follow the CIBMTR on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter at @CIBMTR.

SOURCE Emmes

Related Links

www.emmes.com


ISLANDIA, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The nominations for Entenmann's Donuts "EntenMAN of the Year" Father's Day Contest have been submitted and there are some seriously sweet father figures out there! After reading through thousands of entries, a panel of judges has narrowed the submissions down to five heartwarming stories. Now it's up to donut fans to help decide who will receive the "EntenMAN of the Year" title in addition to other sweet prizes, including free Entenmann's Donuts for a year and a VIP all-expenses-paid Daytona Race Trip package.

Each finalist has submitted an original short video describing why they deserve the title, which fans can now view and help their favorite finalist bring home the title by casting their votes at www.EntenmanOfTheYear.com from August 2 through August 6.

The "EntenMAN of the Year" Finalists are:

Jeffery C. ( Lompoc, Calif. ) nominated by his daughter, Brittiny

) nominated by his daughter, Brittiny Anthony G. ( Bordentown, N.J. ) nominated by his stepmother, Corrine

) nominated by his stepmother, Corrine Michael E. ( Independence, Mo. ) nominated by his spouse, Stacie

) nominated by his spouse, Stacie Paul W. ( Lehi, Utah ) nominated by his wife, Jen

) nominated by his wife, Jen John B. ( Troy, Mich. ) nominated by his wife, Lisa

"We were overwhelmed by the number of heartfelt nominations and incredible stories about people across the country who have made an impact," said Jason Amar, Director of Marketing at Entenmann's. "We want to thank all of the nominators for recognizing the father figure in their life, and we can't wait for fans to get in on the sweetness and help us decide who will claim the highly anticipated title of 'EntenMAN of the Year!'''

The winner of the Grand Prize package will be announced in August. The nominee with the second highest score will be deemed the First Prize winner and will receive free Entenmann's Donuts for a year in addition to a race-used, Entenmann's-autographed driver fire suit. The remaining finalists and nominators of each of the five finalists will all receive free Entenmann's Donuts for a year.

For more information, including official rules, please visit www.EntenmanOfTheYear.com.

About Entenmann's Bakery

Entenmann's history dates back more than 120 years to 1898 when William Entenmann opened his first bakery in Brooklyn, New York. By the 1960s the company was selling delicious donuts throughout the New York metropolitan area; by the 1970s it began selling nationwide. Today, Entenmann's markets over 100 different baked goods in the U.S., producing more than one billion donuts annually  one of which is the #1-best-selling classic Entenmann's Rich Frosted Donut introduced in 1973.

About Bimbo Bakeries USA

Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) is a leader in the baking industry, known for its category leading brands, innovative products, freshness and quality. Our team of 20,000+ U.S. associates operates more than 50 manufacturing locations in the United States. Over 11,000 distribution routes deliver our leading brands such as Arnold, Artesano, Ball Park, Bimbo, Boboli, Brownberry, Entenmann's, Little Bites, Marinela, Mrs Baird's, Oroweat, Sara Lee, Stroehmann and Thomas'. BBU is owned by Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B de C.V., the world's largest baking company with operations in 33 countries.

SOURCE Entenmanns Donuts

Related Links

http://www.EntenmanOfTheYear.com


STOCKHOLM, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for air transportation of pharmaceuticals, today announced that China Southern Airlines has approved the Envirotainer Releye RLP for usage on their fleet of aircrafts. With this approval, China Southern can now transport the Releye RLP on their extensive network, increasing the capacity to meet ever growing need for temperature-controlled, high-quality and connected ULD solutions.

The Envirotainer Releye RLP is a LD11-sized unit with a unique air flow technology for maximum temperature stability in the cargo bay. The RLP-size fits 3-euro pallets (or 2-US pallets) and fills a strategic gap between the larger RAP-size and the smaller RKN-size allowing for increase efficiency by mixing and matching sizes based on shipment volume. The Releye RLP uses rechargeable batteries to power its electric heating and compressor cooling system and can power its system for over 170 hours on a single charge.

With its unique feature set, the Releye RLP sets a new standard for secure cold chain solutions bringing a temperature-controlled air freight container to market with a new footprint, industry-leading autonomy and fully integrated live monitoring.

"We are happy to welcome China Southern Airlines as the latest carrier of our newest innovation, the Envirotainer Releye RLP container," says Don Harrison, Head of Global Key Accounts, Airlines at Envirotainer. He continued, "We will provide China Southern Airlines with the Releye RLP container so that they can further broaden their portfolio of high-quality temperature-controlled solutions."

"We are excited to be the first mainland China carrier to approve the Releye RLP container." Says Charlotte Huang, Deputy Director of Sales Department, China Southern Air Logistics, "The Releye container sets a new standard for secure cold chain transport at a time when Covid-19 vaccine and other temperature-controlled medicines are being shipped around the world. With its advanced technology in long battery life, track and trace device and environmentally-friendly designs, this groundbreaking container will undeniably promote mutual cooperation between Envirotainer and China Southern Airlines in every shipment of temperature-sensitive pharma."

CONTACT:

Mattias Isaksson

Head of Marketing & Communications

Envirotainer AB

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/envirotainer-ab/r/envirotainer-welcomes-china-southern-airlines-as-the-first-mainland-china-carrier-to-approve-the-rel,c3390757

The following files are available for download:

https://news.cision.com/envirotainer-ab/i/releye-r--rlp-3,c2938965 Releye(R) RLP 3 https://news.cision.com/envirotainer-ab/i/releye-r--rlp-4,c2938966 Releye(R) RLP 4 https://news.cision.com/envirotainer-ab/i/releye-r--rlp-2,c2938967 Releye(R) RLP 2

SOURCE Envirotainer AB
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Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe

Related Links

https://www.bizvibe.com/


AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Everyware, a leading contactless payments and customer engagement solutions company, announces the strategic growth of its team with ten recent hires to support the growing demand of nationwide customers seeking payments solutions. Everyware is well-aligned with the trends in its home base of Austin, TX which was recognized as one of the country's hottest job markets this year, placing No. 2 by the Wall Street Journal in its ranking of the top labor markets, and even nicknamed by Elon Musk as the "biggest boomtown." The demand for contactless payments and SMS communications has launched Everyware into a year of growth and the team has expanded by 30% since January 2021.

"We're hiring and we plan to continue hiring. We will invest in about 50 more positions over the next year from the huge pool of talent pouring into the Austin region," says Everyware Founder and CEO, Larry Talley. "We embrace a culture of thinking big and we're engaging major card brands, which entices top talent to join our team. Our work culture is a fast-paced, fun environment where we allow new talent to push boundaries, learn new skills, and cross-train within other teams."

Everyware, which is comprised of seasoned B2B and B2C strategy executives, brand thought leaders, software engineers, entrepreneurs, and project managers, has expanded its impressive team by adding the following new roles:

Implementation Manager to gather integrated partner requirements, expedite launches, and ensure all of Everyware's product implementations are completed on-time and to customer expectations. They streamline the client onboarding and implementation process, collaborating with internal sales, marketing, support and technology teams, bridging the gap between clients and the product development team.

to gather integrated partner requirements, expedite launches, and ensure all of Everyware's product implementations are completed on-time and to customer expectations. They streamline the client onboarding and implementation process, collaborating with internal sales, marketing, support and technology teams, bridging the gap between clients and the product development team. Two Developers to research, design, integrate, and manage Everyware's enterprise level development projects enabling it to offer enhanced innovative payment solutions. One of Everyware's new Developers further diversifies the team roster and demonstrates Everyware's appreciation for female leaders in technology and payments industries.

to research, design, integrate, and manage Everyware's enterprise level development projects enabling it to offer enhanced innovative payment solutions. One of Everyware's new Developers further diversifies the team roster and demonstrates Everyware's appreciation for female leaders in technology and payments industries. Vice President of Integrated Solutions and Strategy to manage all aspects of the integrated payments division and vertical strategy when connecting to and partnering with ISV's (independent software vendors). This position is responsible for Everyware's ISV partnership growth and simplifying the deployment of its suite of solutions.

to manage all aspects of the integrated payments division and vertical strategy when connecting to and partnering with ISV's (independent software vendors). This position is responsible for Everyware's ISV partnership growth and simplifying the deployment of its suite of solutions. Director of Strategic Partnerships to execute Everyware's partnership strategy, including sourcing, educating, and negotiating with new and current partners. The role enables Everyware to broaden its reach to potential customers and accelerate growth within selected relationships.

to execute Everyware's partnership strategy, including sourcing, educating, and negotiating with new and current partners. The role enables Everyware to broaden its reach to potential customers and accelerate growth within selected relationships. Three Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) to launch new small-to-medium business accounts quickly. The SDRs manage the influx of requests for demonstrations of Everyware to companies across different industries seeking to connect with customers by text and collect payments more quickly.

(SDRs) to launch new small-to-medium business accounts quickly. The SDRs manage the influx of requests for demonstrations of Everyware to companies across different industries seeking to connect with customers by text and collect payments more quickly. Security Officer to monitor Everyware's state-of-the-art IT system and build controls to eliminate threats to data security. The Security Officer establishes protocols and maintains Everyware's many certified-secure compliance status'.

to monitor Everyware's state-of-the-art IT system and build controls to eliminate threats to data security. The Security Officer establishes protocols and maintains Everyware's many certified-secure compliance status'. Staff Accountant to perform daily accounting and administrative functions that support Everyware's business growth and accounting department by processing invoices, transactions, and expenses while handling reporting and daily withdrawals and receivables.

Everyware's new team members are expanding the company's footprint at Austin's Capital Factory, an accelerator community of fellow founders, mentors, and investors. Everyware expects forward momentum to continue at perpetually increasing speed bringing the company closer to its goal of equipping every business with the modern payment and messaging solutions they need.

Anyone interested in joining the Everyware team, please email resume to [email protected]. For more information, visit Everyware at Everyware.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

ABOUT EVERYWARE

Launched by Larry Talley and Scott Orlinsky in 2015, Everyware is a leading contactless payments and customer engagement solutions company. Everyware offers simple billing solutions for organizations in a wide variety of industries helping companies collect payments and connect with customers, especially through text messaging, the ultimate contactless technology. The company helps clients to boost revenue, reduce chargebacks and refunds, as well as improve customer service. There is no other highly secure, mobile communication platform and payment gateway on the market that combines these tools to meet the demand. It is the most straightforward, simple and scalable Pay by Text platform that has the capability to work alongside existing systems with easy integration.

MEDIA CONTACTS FOR EVERYWARE:

Jessica Wade Pfeffer | 305-804-8424 | [email protected]

Tyler Sminkey | 786-390-8510 | [email protected]

SOURCE Everyware

Related Links

http://www.Everyware.com


FREEPORT, Ill., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal feed and ingredients producer Furst-McNess Co. (FMC) announced today it has been acquired by Easy USA Holdings Inc. (Easy USA) of Oskaloosa, Iowa.

A renowned, family-owned livestock nutrition company founded in 1908, FMC has 12 major facilities in eight states and Canada selling animal feeds, premixes, commodities and specialty solutions. The company will retain its name and continue to operate as a stand-alone business, receiving financial, talent and other resources from Easy USA.

No jobs are expected to be affected by this combination; to the contrary, FMC is hiring and looking to bring on board even more talent in the months ahead. Meanwhile, long-time company leader Ned Furst will continue to be involved as chairman emeritus of the board.

"We are a 'hands off' type of owner and are here to assist Furst-McNess in expanding its product offerings and distribution, both in North America and internationally," says Dr. Stevenson Hwang, CEO of Easy USA. "Furst-McNess is a highly respected brand built upon more than a century of solid business capabilities, unique competencies and active corporate values. We look forward to learning from it, working with so many talented people, and supporting the company for additional growth."

Easy USA is a newly formed subsidiary of Easy Holdings Co. Ltd. (Easy Holdings), a $2 billion publicly traded, international animal feed nutrition and feed mill organization with distribution in 65 countries. FMC is expected to realize new growth opportunities especially through another Easy Holdings subsidiary called Easy Bio Inc. (Easy Bio), which delivers feed additives and specialized piglet feeds to more than 30 countries. Hwang is also CEO of Easy Bio.

"Easy USA brings to Furst-McNess significant international distribution channels, financial resources and a new range of product ingredients and products we can now offer in North America," says FMC Board Chairman Eddie Wells. "Conversely, FMC provides Easy USA with a substantial presence in the U.S. animal nutrition industry from which it can now expand. Perhaps best of all, both companies have strong values and workplace cultures that complement one another. When it comes to mergers, it's a perfect match."

For example, FMC's "Our Culture" is very similar to Easy USA's culture in that it focuses on never settling for average or good is enough, earning trust through actions, delivering on commitments and investing in professional and personal development.

"The McNess culture is something we take great pride in," says Mark Poeschl, Furst-McNess president and CEO. "Easy USA brings a wealth of industry knowledge, resources and global connections. Yet it also brings a culture that is similar to ours. And when it comes to what makes a business successful, it's people and their values. Combining the cultures and talents of McNess and Easy USA, along with the impressive portfolio of nutritional products each company offers, creates great synergies that our leadership team sees as invaluable as we move forward."

Says Hwang, "Easy Holdings and Furst-McNess share the vision of never settling in the present and constantly challenging ourselves. Along with this acquisition, we will continue to strengthen our capability in the North American and global animal industry."

About Furst-McNess Co.

Freeport, Ill.-based Furst-McNess Company is a 113-year-old business with a substantial presence and reputation in the American and Canadian livestock feed industry due to its pioneering innovation, strong values and time-honored client relationships. With about 300 people and 12 facilities in the Midwest and Southeast, Furst-McNess annually produces 250,000 tons of vitamin and mineral premixes, starters, commodity blends and other manufactured feeds. It markets an additional 1.6 million annual tons of feed ingredients, commodities, wet brewers grain and specialty feeds throughout the United States and Canada. The company also operates a state-of-the-art research and development facility near Des Moines, Iowa, consisting of 5,200 pig spaces that can be separated into different pens and fed different feeds, allowing for control groups when evaluating and validating new products.

About Easy Holdings Ltd.

Oskaloosa, Iowa-based Easy USA (Easy USA) is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Easy Holdings Co. Ltd. (Easy Holdings), a publicly traded, vertically integrated agricultural business with operations in feed additives, feed manufacturing, farms/livestock production, livestock processing, broiler integration and food products, and distribution in 65 countries. Based in Seoul, Korea, Easy Holdings generates $2 billion in consolidated annual revenues from 50 subsidiaries including five in biotechnology, five in feed solutions, five in farm solutions, five in food solutions, two investment companies and a subsidiary in the Philippines. Eight of its subsidiaries are publicly traded. It employs 4,000 people worldwide including in South Korea, the Philippines, the U.K., Canada and the United States. Two years ago, it made its first U.S. investment when it acquired DFS Oskaloosa, a feed mill operation in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

About EASY BIO, Inc.

Easy Bio Inc. is a livestock company spun-off from Easy Holdings in 2020, operating two divisions: Pathway Intermediates and I-feed. Pathway Intermediates is a leading global animal nutrition brand based on over 30 years of research, has overseas branches and offices in seven countries and exports products to more than 30 countries. I-feed is South Korea's No.1 piglet feed brand, which has delivered specialized feed and nutritional solutions dedicated for piglets since 2001 and established a new standard in the South Korean swine industry.

For more information, contact:

Dale Kurschner

(763) 567-9241

[email protected]

SOURCE Furst-McNess Co.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Genstar Capital, a leading private equity firm focused on investments in targeted segments of the financial services, healthcare, industrials, and software industries, today announced that it has reinvested out of its most recent fund in Association Member Benefits Advisors (AMBA), a national affinity-based membership and marketing insurance agency, in partnership with AMBA's management team. Under Genstar's ownership AMBA has transformed into an essential partner to its association clients, offering membership development, marketing services, website and database management and IT services, among other benefits, drastically increasing the value proposition to the association.

AMBA distributes insurance and other supplementary products primarily through a proprietary network of retired teacher, educator, and state employee associations across 40+ states. AMBA is proud of the incredible partnerships and support provided for these associations. Working alongside Genstar, AMBA has helped their partner associations thrive and gain relevancy in the industry by adding valued benefits, increasing membership and retaining members.

AMBA partners with some of the highest rated carriers in the insurance industry to create an attractive portfolio of products. Working closely with their carriers, AMBA strives to provide access and peace of mind for their customers in the event of a claim. AMBA customers have access to top-of-the-line products and services including long-term care, short-term care, cancer, heart, stroke, emergency medical transportation, dental, vision, Medicare, annuities and life insurance.

Genstar originally acquired AMBA in 2016 and has since then worked diligently with the management team to grow the business organically through product and distribution investments. AMBA has grown into a much larger organization with an incredible employee group and network of benefit specialists focused on serving associations and their members. The investment of new equity capital from Genstar's ninth fund will enable AMBA to further support the membership growth of their partner associations and pursue additional acquisitions that help the company expand into new geographies, broaden product offerings and enhance carrier relationships.

Ryan Clark, President and Managing Director at Genstar Capital, said, "AMBA is the only established player in the retired teacher and public employee association market, and is well positioned to participate in the broader senior market. The company has performed extremely well since our acquisition in 2016, including the recent global pandemic. We are enthusiastic about the untapped opportunities to achieve continued organic growth and to expand the business dramatically via targeted acquisitions. We are excited to continue our partnership with Steve Cardinal and his senior management team to capture AMBA's full potential."

Steve Cardinal, CEO of AMBA, said, "Together with Genstar we have built AMBA into a provider of high-quality benefits and outstanding services to our association clients, insurance carriers, and exclusive agents. We have scaled the business organically and completed five strategic acquisitions that position us as a key partner with associations and their members. The growth prospects for AMBA are bright, both within our existing core markets and by developing new association relationships, as well as capitalizing on sizeable adjacent markets and product lines, including Medicare and annuity products. I thank our incredible employees and network of benefit specialists that are focused on serving our associations and their members. We look forward to working together to build our business in all 50 states."

AMBA is headquartered in Austin, TX. For more information, visit www.amba.info.

About Genstar

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $33 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services, healthcare, industrials, and software industries.

Contact: Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations

914-834-4334

SOURCE Genstar Capital
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

AVI YARON, Individually and On Behalf

of All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiff, v. INTERSECT ENT, INC., LISA D.

EARNHARDT, JERYL L. HILLEMAN,

and ROBERT H. BINNEY, JR., Defendants.

Case No.: 4:19-cv-02647-JSW

SUMMARY NOTICE OF (I) PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION, CERTIFICATION OF

SETTLEMENT CLASS, AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT; (II) SETTLEMENT FAIRNESS HEARING; AND (III) MOTION FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES

AND REIMBURSEMENT OF LITIGATION EXPENSES

TO: All Persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded Intersect ENT, Inc. ("Intersect") common stock between February 27, 2018 and August 1, 2019, inclusive, and were damaged thereby (the "Settlement Class")

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PENDING IN THIS COURT.

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, that the above-captioned litigation (the "Action") has been certified as a class action on behalf of the Settlement Class, except for certain Persons and entities who are excluded from the Settlement Class by definition as set forth in the full Notice of (I) Pendency of Class Action, Certification of Settlement Class, and Proposed Settlement; (II) Settlement Fairness Hearing; and (III) Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Reimbursement of Litigation Expenses (the "Notice"), which is available at www.IntersectSecuritiesLitigation.com or will be mailed to you upon request to the Claims Administrator, as described further below. Unless defined herein, capitalized words used in this Summary Notice are defined in the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement dated May 13, 2021 ("Stipulation"), which is available at www.IntersectSecuritiesLitigation.com .

YOU ARE ALSO NOTIFIED that Lead Plaintiff in the Action has reached a proposed settlement of the Action for $1,900,000 in cash (the "Settlement"), that, if approved by the Court, will resolve all claims in the Action against Defendants and release all Released Plaintiffs' Claims against Defendants' Releasees.

A hearing will be held on October 22, 2021, at 9:00 a.m., before the Hon. Jeffrey S. White, Senior District Judge, at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Courthouse, Courtroom 5, 1301 Clay Street, Oakland, CA 94612 to determine: (i) whether the proposed Settlement should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (ii) whether the Action should be dismissed with prejudice against Defendants, and the Releases specified and described in the Stipulation (and in the Notice) should be granted; (iii) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation should be approved as fair and reasonable; and (iv) whether Lead Counsel's application for an award of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of Litigation Expenses should be approved.

If you are a member of the Settlement Class, your rights will be affected by the pending Action and the Settlement, and you may be entitled to share in the Settlement Fund. The Notice and Proof of Claim and Release Form ("Claim Form") can be downloaded from the website maintained by the Claims Administrator, www.IntersectSecuritiesLitigation.com . You may also obtain copies of the Notice and Claim Form by contacting the Claims Administrator at Avi Yaron v. Intersect ENT, Inc., et al., c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box 173131, Milwaukee, WI 53217, 1-877-777-9611.

If you are a member of the Settlement Class, in order to be eligible to receive a payment under the proposed Settlement, you must submit a Claim Form online or postmarked no later than November 18, 2021. If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not submit a timely and valid Claim Form, you will not be eligible to share in the distribution of the net proceeds of the Settlement, but you will nevertheless be bound by the terms of the Settlement and any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Action.

If you are a member of the Settlement Class and wish to exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you must submit a request for exclusion such that it is received no later than October 1, 2021, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. If you timely and validly exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you will not be bound by the terms of the Settlement or any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Action and you will not be eligible to share in the proceeds of the Settlement.

Any objections to the proposed Settlement, the proposed Plan of Allocation, or Lead Counsel's motion for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of Litigation Expenses must be filed with the Court and delivered to Lead Counsel and Defendants' Counsel such that they are received no later than October 1, 2021, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.

Please do not contact the Court, the Clerk's office, Intersect, Defendants, or Defendants' Counsel regarding this notice. All questions about this notice, the proposed Settlement, or your eligibility to participate in the Settlement should be directed to Lead Counsel or the Claims Administrator.

Requests for the Notice and Claim Form should be made to:

Avi Yaron v. Intersect ENT, Inc., et al.

c/o A.B. Data, Ltd.

P.O. Box 173131

Milwaukee, WI 53217

877-777-9611

www.IntersectSecuritiesLitigation.com

Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice and Claim Form, should be made to Lead Counsel:

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP

Attn: Robert V. Prongay, Esq.

1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100

Los Angeles, CA 90067

Telephone: (310) 201-9150

Email: [email protected]

-OR-

Holzer & Holzer, LLC

Attn: Corey D. Holzer, Esq.

211 Perimeter Center Parkway, Suite 1010

Atlanta, GA 30338

Telephone: (770) 392-0090

Email: [email protected]

By Order of the Court

Source: Glancy Prognay & Murray LLP

Holzer & Holzer, LLC

SOURCE Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP and Holzer & Holzer, LLC
MCKINNEY, Texas, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Globe Life Inc. (NYSE: GL) announced it has acquired Beazley Benefits. Prior to the acquisition, Beazley Benefits was a part of Beazley Insurance Company, Inc. in the US, which is a subsidiary of London-based specialty insurer Beazley plc. This transaction, which closed on August 1, 2021, enhances Globe Life's reach in the worksite market.

Beazley Benefits specializes in customized supplemental health solutions for the employee benefits market, with a product line that includes Supplemental Medical, Group Limited Indemnity, Critical Illness, Short Term Disability, and Accidental Death & Dismemberment. Their wide range of capabilities includes benefits solutions combined with administrative services to assist employees in managing health care costs and easing plan administration. Beazley Benefits generated approximately $40 million of premium in 2020.

"Beazley Benefits has provided accident and health insurance solutions in the US since 2010, partnering with producers to offer supplemental health solutions for the employee benefits market. It has grown into a profitable business that meets the needs of a solid client base, thanks to our highly experienced team. The US employee benefit market operates outside Beazley plc's core businesses, so to ensure Beazley Benefits maximizes its potential, we have agreed to sell our US employee benefits business to Globe Life," said Adrian Cox, Chief Executive Officer of Beazley plc.

Globe Life has continued its strategy to cultivate the delivery of solutions to meet the needs of working families across the country by continuing to innovate and partner with market-leading companies. The acquisition of Beazley Benefits, which will be rebranded as Globe Life Benefits, represents the latest addition to Globe Life's advanced portfolio of benefits solutions.

"We are excited about the addition of Beazley Benefits to the Globe Life family," said Globe Life Co-Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers, Gary Coleman and Larry Hutchison. "Beazley Benefits offers protection-oriented employee benefits through distribution we can continue to grow. This group has a track record of solid growth with a business plan that matches our objectives. We expect a seamless transition, as we have complete confidence in the Beazley Benefits management team and employees. We look forward to welcoming them to Globe Life."

"Our team is excited to be joining a great company that understands the brokers and employers we serve as we continue to grow as a leader and innovator in the employee benefits market," said Brian Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of the newly named Globe Life Benefits division. "Our clients will continue to benefit from the same great service they have come to expect as we transition the business and our team to their new home at Globe Life."

About Globe Life: Globe Life (NYSE: GL) is headquartered in McKinney, TX and has more than 14,000 insurance agents and 3,000 corporate employees. With a mission to Make Tomorrow Better, Globe Life is the top volume issuer of ordinary individual life insurance policies in the U.S. (as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence) and has more life insurance policyholders than any other insurance company (excluding reinsurance companies). Globe Life's insurance subsidiaries include American Income Life, Family Heritage Life, Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company, Liberty National Life, and United American. More information is available at GlobeLifeInsurance.com.

TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory acted as exclusive financial advisor to Beazley, and Mayer Brown LLP acted as legal advisor to Beazley. PJT Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Globe Life, and McAfee & Taft acted as legal advisor to Globe Life.

SOURCE Globe Life Inc.

Related Links

https://home.globelifeinsurance.com


ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- North America Cup Carriers Market: Overview

The food & beverage sector is expanding and becoming progressively dynamic in North America, which is likely to play an important role in driving the North America cup carriers market. In order to meet the soaring demand for on-the-go beverages in the region, several major firms are offering varieties of cup carriers. In addition, the option of takeout food and beverage items has gained traction in North America. There is a high demand for long-lasting and visually pleasing cup carriers. For years, the most prevalent varieties of cup carriers has been made of a strong texturized pulp fiber and durable cardboard-type paper.

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A cup carrier is a tool that allows one to carry many filled beverage cups in one go. The majority of these items are made out of plastic, molded pulp or another flexible material capable of enduring the pressure of filled beverage cups while still being held. It also assists in avoiding the spilling of cold or hot beverages by preventing the carriers or cups from falling down. Cup carriers are presently available in a variety of designs and forms. Thus, to gain new consumers and retain the existing ones in the market, manufacturers are focused on improving robustness and layout design.

Due to the expansion of food service outlets and rising consumption of beverages in North America, the North America cup carriers market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period.

View Detailed Table of Contents at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/82308

Key Findings of Market Report

Integration of Print-on-demand Technology to Make Cup Carriers More Appealing to Customers

In order to generate and replicate pictures on any physical package, digital printing is carried out. Manufacturers frequently utilize this technology to advertise their products by including brand ambassadors, logos, product details, brand information, taglines, and other relevant data on the packaging. Cup carriers are frequently printed using this method to make them more interesting and appealing to the customers. It also serves as a customizing tool, and gives product and brand knowledge to customers. One of the developments that is assisting cup carriers in their market sustainability in North America is the print-on-demand technique. Such technological developments are likely to fuel the growth of the North America cup carriers market in the near future.

Innovation in Designs, Materials to Support Consumer Demand for Convenience, Biodegradability

The most used conventional cup carriers are made from durable cardboard-type paper and robust texturized pulp fiber. Around two to four cold or hot drinks can be securely transported in each style of these carriers. Cup carriers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are simple squares, whilst others come in a more defined shape or have an origami appearance as the edges of the cup are higher. The boundaries are nicely defined and easy to grip. Many cafes in North America favor handles, as they make it simpler to move about and help with balance if one of the hands is already occupied. Many companies are already developing cup carriers with slim designs to make it easier for customers to handle. Moreover, as environmental concerns rise, the trend of eco-friendly products is expected to gain traction. The need for biodegradable and environment-friendly cup carriers is growing in North America, due to rise in popularity of supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, etc.

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North America Cup Carriers Market: Growth Drivers

As a result of rising health consciousness in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, most manufacturers in North America are witnessing an increase in the demand for packaging of flavored milk beverages and healthy drinks. As a result, the need for cup carriers has grown.

are witnessing an increase in the demand for packaging of flavored milk beverages and healthy drinks. As a result, the need for cup carriers has grown. Firms are continuously focusing on improving their cup carrier materials and designs to accommodate the escalating demand for on-the-go foods. Besides, manufacturers of single-use food accessories are ramping up manufacturing of low-cost, environment-friendly items.

North America Cup Carriers Market: Key Competitors

Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP

Graphic Packaging International, LLC

Green Paper Products, LLC

Sabert Corporation

Southern Champion Tray, LP

WestRock Company

North America Cup Carriers Market: Segmentation

Material

Paper/ Molded Fiber

Plastic

Number of Cups

1 to 2

3 to 4

5 to 6,

Above 6

End Use

Food Service Outlets

Institutional Food Services

Household Use

E-commerce to Become Growth Back Bone of Packaging Market, read more about the most trending reports by TMR:

Healthcare Packaging Market - Despite COVID-19 pandemic's unwelcome interruption in various business activities, packaging innovations continue to grab the attention of healthcare industries. Pharmaceutical packaging companies in the healthcare packaging market are involved in continuous R&D to introduce innovations to overcome challenges in child resistant and senior-friendly packaging solutions.

Cosmetic Pipette Market - The cosmetic pipette market is projected to cross the production of 440 million units by 2031. However, variable supply of natural rubber bulbs and issues such as non-compatibility with solvents or oils is concerning pipette manufacturers.

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Press Release Source: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/north-america-cup-carriers-market.htm

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
UPPER PENINSULA, Mich., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 1 Gigabit Internet service will soon be available in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, thanks to an ambitious community broadband expansion effort by Highline Internet.

To provide lightning-fast Internet to as many Upper Peninsula residents as quickly as possible, Highline will leverage existing open access dark fiber and dark wave optical middle-mile infrastructure from Merit Network. Highline is constructing a 6,000+ mile fiber-to-the-home network that leverages federal investment from the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund (RDOF) to deliver real high speed Internet access for tens of thousands of Michigan residents. Engineering and construction work is underway and Highline will begin providing service to customers by the end of this year.

Delivering service by leveraging Merit Network's existing high-performance middle-mile fiber optic infrastructure enables unprecedented speed-to-market to ensure the most timely connectivity to residents in need. Highline will offer Internet service of 1 Gigabit download and 500 Megabit upload, which greatly surpasses current Federal Communications Commission minimum broadband capacity standards. This replicable model reduces unnecessary financial burdens on carriers in addition to facilitating speed of deployment.

The challenges of population density and geography have long created a disparity in access to Internet connectivity in the Upper Peninsula. This digital divide has implications on educational outcomes, economic development, health care, and civic participation, among others. In the wake of a global pandemic, the hardships faced in these Michigan communities have been felt more strongly than communities that are currently connected to high-speed broadband services.

"Highline Internet is committed to putting the Upper Peninsula first in bringing the power of reliable, high-speed fiber Internet to households currently unserved, underserved and unhappily served across the region, enabling our future customers to thrive with a real Internet," said Bruce Moore, president and general manager of Highline Michigan.

"Expansion of our middle-mile network in the early 2010s by leveraging federal investments to create an open access fiber network helped us further the mission of providing high-performance network services to community anchor institutions in rural and remote regions," said Joe Sawasky, president and CEO of Merit Network. "Considering that hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents still lack access to basic broadband service, this collaboration with Highline Internet using our open access dark fiber and dark wave services represents a crucial next step in our common goal to facilitate equal fiber broadband Internet access to everyone in need - regardless of geographic location."

ABOUT MERIT NETWORK

Merit Network, Inc. is an independent nonprofit corporation governed by Michigan's public universities. Merit owns and operates America's longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan's public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained at the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking and IT solutions to Michigan's public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations. For more information: www.merit.edu .

ABOUT HIGHLINE INTERNET

Highline is committed to delivering real high-speed Internet to unserved, underserved and unhappily served homes and businesses. Giving people living in these communities the ability to connect in ways they have always wanted, expected and deserve. Connecting to greater opportunities that come from them fully participating in today's digital world, improving their ability to thrive in the place they already call home. Highline is backed by the strength of ITC Broadband and the Atlantic Engineering Group and their combined 150 year track record of delivering extraordinary customer value and unwavering dedication to providing real high speed internet to communities across America.

For more information: https://highlinefast.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Pierrette Renee Dagg

Director of Marketing and Communications, Merit Network

(937) 212-0631

SOURCE Merit Network

Related Links

http://www.merit.edu


"As the trusted hosting partner of many of the best Magento developers and agencies, we recognized that Magento experts were turning to us more and more frequently to resolve technical problems they were struggling to resolve with other web hosts," said Robert Rand, JetRails Director of Partnerships & Alliances. "Since we take a personalized approach to web hosting, we wanted to showcase our ability to architect individualized solutions for problems that growing eCommerce merchants often face."

For example, Zanders was faced with a slow Magento 2 B2B store, with load times averaging 5-8 seconds. By bringing in Coreshop Solutions, a development agency with expertise in Magento, along with JetRails for optimized Magento hosting services, their total loading time accelerated to just over 2 seconds. Since migrating to a Magento optimized autoscaling AWS hosting account at JetRails, this merchant has seen a 3x increase in eCommerce revenue!

Image3D experienced scalability issues, as well as difficulties making their custom business processes work within the prefabricated hosting environment provided by their former web host. JetRails, in collaboration with CollinsHarper, their web development agency, deployed a custom-architected Magento hosting solution. This included tailored support for their terabytes of photos that their eCommerce shoppers have uploaded to this customized Magento store. It also involved a cost-conscience solution for meeting Image3D's scalability needs, as well redundant failover systems.

Collin Street Bakery had similar challenges and was not able to get the mission-critical hosting support that they needed until they found JetRails, resolving long-term web hosting challenges. What they found in JetRails was a detail-oriented partner that would provide the experts needed for a successful migration. Their new hosting environment included the right mix of CDN, WAF, IDS, SSL, and other tools, alongside critical solutions from malware scanning to website load testing and DNS management. Paired with JetRails 24/7 network operations center (NOC) services, and additional services like off-server backups, JetRails has architected a complete hosting solution that goes beyond raw infrastructure and focuses on the actual objectives of the Collin Street Bakery team. This includes working closely with their eCommerce consultants, Peak Beyond, who orchestrate their Magento strategy. Together they keep propelling this eCommerce website forward with upgrades to Magento as well as MySQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, and other underlying software.

JetRails welcomes such clients, providing a detailed migration service, custom-architected, and individually-optimized hosting environments, 24/7 monitoring, tools from industry-leading tech companies like Cloudflare, Sansec, Sucuri, and New Relic, dedicated account managers, and a support team that knows that anything impacting eCommerce revenue is mission-critical and needs to be addressed immediately.

Customized Magento website owners shouldn't feel like they're stuck with inflexible web hosting solutions, or have to go it alone on raw infrastructure.Whether users are on Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce, JetRails is here to go above and beyond to ensure eCommerce merchants aren't held back by web hosting issues.

About JetRails

JetRails.com provides fully-managed mission-critical website hosting. The JetRails service delivers a personalized hosting experience built for organizations with unique needs and demanding requirements. JetRails utilizes highly-optimized dedicated servers and clusters, as well as hosting environments built and managed on AWS and Digital Ocean, in order to deliver elastic hosting environments. Recognizing that each website has unique hosting needs, JetRails is able to ensure stability and reliability with an advanced technology stack and monitoring services, while also addressing loading speed optimization and scalability. For online store owners that need a reliable hosting partner, JetRails is there, answering support calls within 10 seconds, responding to support tickets within 15 minutes, and guaranteeing 100% uptime, with robust monitoring and industry-leading support.

Press Contact:

Robert Rand

8889972457

https://jetrails.com

SOURCE JetRails
The annual Columbus Day Parade, the largest celebration of Italian American heritage and culture in the United States, will take place on Monday, October 11, 2021, beginning at 11:30 a.m. As Honorees, Gurrera and Pulice will join Grand Marshal Pascucci at the front of the parade and will lead dozens of marching bands and floats and over 100 marching groups up the Fifth Avenue parade route, from 44th Street to 72nd Street.

Marian Pardo, President of Columbus Citizens Foundation, said of the announcement: "In 2021, we have made the decision to have the Parade and our Columbus Celebration Weekend reflect and honor the resilience, renewal and reunion all underway throughout New York City, the nation and our Italian American community. Our Honorees, worthy of celebration in any year, are particularly appropriate for tribute in 2021. The endeavors of both Joe and Jodi in New York reach beyond their roots in our vibrant city and are potent examples of national achievement."

Joe Gurrera is the owner of Citarella, a group of popular epicurean markets, Citarella.com and Citarella Wines & Spirits. Joe also owns Lockwood & Winant, one of the most influential wholesale importers and distributors at New York's iconic Fulton Fish Market, supplying seafood to hundreds of top national chefs and restaurants.

Mr. Gurrera commented; "As an Italian American, I could not be happier to be named as an Honoree for the 2021 Columbus Celebration. I believe that the Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue will be a signal to all who watch that New York City is back, and back stronger than ever. I'm so proud to be a part of this celebration, and of our great city's renewal."

Jodi Pulice is the founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, a woman-owned, full-service commercial real estate services firm. Her firm is recognized as the largest certified woman-owned commercial real estate services firm in the United States.

On being named a 2021 Honoree, Ms. Pulice had this to say: "I'm gratified to be honored by the Columbus Citizens Foundation, which always reminds us that the story of Italian-Americans in this country is the story of economic opportunity. And just as I proudly embrace my Italian-American heritage, I also embrace the principle of economic opportunity. In the same spirit with which my family came here  seeking opportunities to better themselves  I have carried on the tradition through my company, which stands as a leading platform for opportunity and the advancement for women, people of color, and others under-represented in today's commercial real estate industry."

In speaking of Ms. Pulice and Mr. Gurrera as 2021 Honorees, Columbus Celebration Chair Angelo Vivolo praised both individuals, stating, "We are beyond thrilled to have Joe and Jodi  with all their incredible achievements  represent our community of Italian Americans on Columbus Day. They are helping the city's return to greatness every day  and they are so worthy of this honor."

The annual Columbus Day Parade, organized by Columbus Citizens Foundation, is the world's largest celebration of Italian American heritage and culture in the United States.

In addition to planning the Columbus Day Parade, Columbus Citizens Foundation currently provides hundreds of annual scholarships at high school, college, and graduate levels to Italian American students who have academic ability but lack financial means.

The Columbus Day Parade begins at 11:30 a.m. EST on Monday, October 11 and will air live on WABC-7 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. For more information on the parade, please visit columbuscitizens.org.

ABOUT COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION

Columbus Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City committed to fostering an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement. The Foundation, through a broad range of philanthropic and cultural activities, provides opportunities for advancement to deserving Italian-American students through various scholarship and grant programs. The Foundation organizes New York City's annual Columbus Celebration and Columbus Day Parade, which has celebrated Italian-American heritage on New York's Fifth Avenue since 1929. For more information, contact [email protected].

ABOUT JOE GURRERA

Joe Gurrera is the founder and owner of Citarella, his successful group of epicurean markets in New York City, the Hamptons, and Greenwich, CT including Citarella.com and Citarella Wines & Spirits. Joe also owns Lockwood & Winant, which he has built into one of the most influential wholesale importers and distributors at New York's iconic Fulton Fish Market, supplying seafood to hundreds of top national chefs and restaurants. As the author of Joe Knows Fish: Taking the Intimidation Out of Cooking Seafood, he shares his passion and decades of knowledge in the food industry. As a Fellow at the Culinary Institute of America, Joe established The Joe Gurrera/Citarella Culinary Scholarship, enabling a student of Italian-American descent, selected by The Columbus Citizens Foundation, to further their culinary education at CIA. A native New Yorker, Joe remains active in the community supporting organizations like Citymeals on Wheels and City Harvest. He is a board member of several organizations including the New Fulton Fish Market Cooperative at Hunt's Point, the Boomer Esiason Foundation, and the Columbus Citizens Foundation. Joe and his wife Yusi have three children, Helen, Nancy, and Anthony and 6 grandchildren.

ABOUT JODI PULICE

Jodi Pulice is a pioneer for women in the real estate sphere, having founded the first ever Minority/Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) brokerage firm 25 years ago. As the founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, now the largest woman-owned commercial real estate services firm in the U.S., she has been responsible for more than 50 million square feet of office and industrial space nationwide and, along with a first-of-a-kind strategic alliance with the global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, has completed transactions valued at more than $5 billion. As a successful Italian-American businesswoman, holding dual citizenship of the United States and Italy, she has promoted diversity and the empowerment of women and minority-owned organizations in both her professional and personal life for nearly four decades.

CONTACT:

Jefferson Wilson

Director of Marketing & Communications

Columbus Citizens Foundation

Phone: (212) 249-9923 x242

Fax: (212) 737-4413

[email protected]

www.columbuscitizens.org

SOURCE Columbus Citizens Foundation

Related Links

http://www.columbuscitizensfd.org


OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest integrated, nonprofit health care organization, announced it will make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for all its employees and physicians. This is another step in the organization's ongoing effort to protect the health and safety of its workforce, members, patients, and communities.

"As the country's largest integrated care delivery system, we feel it is our responsibility to do everything we can to help bring an end to the pandemic, especially in light of the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases from the highly infectious Delta variant," said Greg A. Adams, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, Inc. "Large groups of unvaccinated people are fueling the current increase in cases and 97-99% of COVID-19 hospital admissions are unvaccinated patients. Making vaccination mandatory is the most effective way we can protect our people, our patients and the communities we serve. We encourage all health systems and business and industry leaders across the country to play a role in ending the pandemic by doing the same."

As of July 31, 77.8% of Kaiser Permanente employees and more than 95% of Permanente Medical Group physicians have been fully vaccinated and the organization has set a target date of September 30, 2021 to achieve a fully vaccinated workforce. Unvaccinated employees and physicians will be required to become fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or apply for medical or religious exemption. Employees will be provided additional education on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and will receive paid administrative time to get vaccinated at Kaiser Permanente's on-site vaccination clinics or at other locations. The organization is working with its labor unions on implementation of the employee vaccination mandate and will also coordinate with local, state and federal laws.

The Kaiser Permanente organization includes more than 216,000 employees and more than 23,000 Permanente Medical Group physicians.

"For 16 months, we have been doing everything we can to save lives, care for COVID-19 patients, and prevent our communities from contracting this deadly virus," said Ramin Davidoff, MD, Co-CEO of the Permanente Federation. "The COVID-19 vaccines offer us the path to move beyond the pandemic in the same way vaccination has brought an end to the epidemics of smallpox, polio, measles and other deadly diseases."

"We must take action to stop this pandemic and get vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccines are scientifically proven to be safe and effective, dramatically reducing the risk of death and serious health outcomes if a person becomes infected. With Kaiser Permanente's mandatory vaccination policy, we ensure that we are doing all we can to protect ourselves, each other, and those we serve from this deadly virus," added Richard Isaacs, MD, FACS, Co-CEO of the Permanente Federation.

As of July 30, Kaiser Permanente has cared for more than 907,418 patients with COVID-19 and has safely administered over 6.8 million vaccine doses with over 68% of Kaiser Permanente members receiving at least one dose.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

For more information, contact:

Marc Brown, [email protected], 510-407-2592

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente
TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KELA , the global leader in actionable threat intelligence, today announced the launch of brand new research along with LUMINT , a new offering providing users with a glimpse into KELA's latest intelligence insights from the dark web including newly listed ransomware attacks, compromised network accesses for sale in cybercrime forums, leaked databases and data dumps, and updates on trending cybercrime threats. KELA's newly released research report, "All Access Pass: Five Trends with Initial Access Brokers," includes an in-depth analysis of Initial Access Brokers (IAB) and their activity for a full year from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

Some of KELA's key findings include:

The largest percentages of victims are located in the U.S. with others in France , UK, Australia , Canada , Italy , Brazil , Spain , Germany and UAE

, UK, , , , , , and UAE Pricing is often determined by company size and level of privileges within the compromised network, with $5,400 as the average price for network access, AND $1,000 as the median price.

as the average price for network access, AND as the median price. Some of the highest sale prices identified were 12 Bitcoin for access to a $500 million company and $100 thousand for access to a national government organization

company and for access to a national government organization These IABs have recently begun using the access to steal from the victims before posting the access for sale

A proven link between initial access listings and ransomware attacks that were executed and publicly announced.

As business models have matured, KELA observed some successful IABs changing their sales methods, moving away from public forums to private channels with trusted buyers. Now, as the economy continues to grow, there are not only new trends emerging amongst existing IABs, but many new sellers entering the zone.

"While remote work became mandatory in 2020, ransomware and associated criminal businesses also saw significant growth. In the last year, IABs have become key components of the ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem, making malicious network access easy and lucrative for many of today's leading attacks. Our researchers were particularly interested in exploring our extensive dark web data to understand how the shift in the real world gave way to the cybercrime underground," said Aviad Gal, Head of Product at KELA. "Now with LUMINT, our complimentary offering, customers can also gain direct access to a window of the information our analysts uncover and synthesize every day. We are excited to empower all organizations - from small businesses to the largest enterprises - with the information they need to defend against the continual mounting cyber threats."

KELA provides unrivaled visibility into adversary behaviors and relevant threats, illuminating and deciphering hidden events, activities and actors that would typically go undetected and unanalyzed. KELA delivers the contextual intelligence for its customers to proactively neutralize threats before it impacts their business.

LUMINT, KELA's new offering, sheds light on unknown, undetected dark web activity and provides users with a glimpse into some of the latest intelligence insights from the dark web including newly listed ransomware attacks, trending threats and the latest data, services and compromises for sale on criminal forums. Armed with this information, security teams will have unique insights to help enrich their knowledge and understanding of the dark web with top highlights curated by KELA's intelligence experts.

For more information or to subscribe, please visit https://lumint.ke-la.com/signup

About KELA

KELA takes away fear of the unknown cyber threats all organizations face. Trusted worldwide, KELA's industry-leading threat intelligence technology automatically penetrates the hardest-to-reach corners of the cybercrime underground to provide organizations with unique, contextualized and actionable insights at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. KELA analysts' deep expertise and customer focus provide customers with tailored intelligence on strategic and tactical threats gathered through automated cybercrime monitoring and analysis. For more information, visit www.ke-la.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1094213/KELA_Logo.jpg

Contact Information

Efrat David

+972-3-970-2720

[email protected]

SOURCE KELA
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell Brasil Petroleo Ltda. (Shell Brasil) announced today a final investment decision taken by the Libra consortium, operated by Petrobras, to contract the Mero-4 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at the Mero field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

This is the fourth production system to be deployed in the Mero field. Final investment decisions were previously taken for the Mero 1, Mero 2 and Mero 3 FPSOs. Each unit has a daily operational capacity rate of 180,000 barrels of oil/day. The Pioneiro de Libra FPSO (50,000 barrels of oil/day) has been producing at Mero since 2017 and is a key source of information for the Libra consortium to aid further development and optimize productivity of the field, reservoir and wells.

"As a replication of previous FPSOs for the Brazilian pre-salt, Mero 4 is a testimony to the way the Libra Consortium partners are working together in an integrated way to streamline and make our processes more efficient," said Wael Sawan, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. "We are proud to continue working alongside our partners to leverage our collective expertise to develop the country's resources in a competitive and responsible manner."

Shell's Powering Progress strategy to thrive through the energy transition includes increasing investment in lower carbon energy solutions, while continuing to pursue the most energy efficient and highest return Upstream investments. In addition to its operations in Brazil, Shell is also the leading operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Editors Notes

Shell Brasil is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc.

is a subsidiary of plc. In addition to operations in Brazil and the US Gulf of Mexico, Shell's deep-water portfolio includes frontier exploration opportunities in Mexico , Suriname, Argentina and West Africa .

and the US Gulf of Mexico, Shell's deep-water portfolio includes frontier exploration opportunities in , Suriname, and . The Mero field is part of the Libra Production Sharing Contract (PSC), signed in Dec 2013 . Libra is located in the Santos basin, 170 km south of Rio de Janeiro in 2100 m of water.

. Libra is located in the Santos basin, 170 km south of in of water. The Libra consortium, which operates production on the Libra block, is led by Petrobras  with a 40% stake  in partnership with Shell Brasil (20%); TotalEnergies (20%); CNPC (10%) and CNOOC Limited (10%). The consortium also has the participation of the Brazilian state-owned company Pre-Sal Petroleo - PPSA, which operates as contract manager.

Petrobras has signed a letter of intent with SBM Offshore for the chartering and provision of the FPSO to be installed at the Mero-4 development.



Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this Release "Shell", "Shell Group" and "Group" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this Release refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This Release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "aim", "ambition", ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', "milestones", ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this Release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak; and (n) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell plc's Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this Release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this Release, August 2, 2021. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this Release.

The content of websites referred to in this Release do not form part of this Release.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this Release that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Shell

Related Links

http://www.shell.com


"The COVID-19 pandemic has really highlighted the disparities in the U.S. health care system," said Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of Lyfebulb. "As a platform that promotes experiential innovation, we are pleased to partner with the Parkinson School and eager to see the range of solutions that create better health care delivery models."

The Innovation Challenge seeks to source a range of innovations from diverse sectors to address the effects of emerging infectious diseases (such as COVID-19) by improving population and public health, health care delivery, and health equity.

According to research from the COVID Equity Response Collaborative, disproportionate health and economic disparities are prevalent in several suburban Cook County communities hardest hit by COVID-19.

"Now is the time, as the country emerges from the pandemic, to drive innovation and develop solutions to improve responsiveness to health crises and identify strategies to eliminate health inequities," said Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, founding dean, Parkinson School. "Our focus at Parkinson is on a holistic view of people and society, preparing students to understand how systems and social determinants of health converge as our students are called to innovate and advocate," she said.

Proposed solutions may include, but are not limited to, digital technologies, devices, consumer products and solutions, and community programs and services. The 2021 Innovation Challenge is open to U.S.-registered organizations in the early/idea stage of development through growth and individuals associated with an established organizational entity. Applicants from underserved communities are encouraged to apply.

Finalists will be announced in late September and will receive an invitation to pitch their solutions to an expert panel of judges comprised of leaders in public health, venture philanthropy, and health care delivery during a two-day, virtual summit (November 16-17, 2021). A total of $75,000 will be distributed among no more than three finalists to advance the development of their innovation. The Innovation Challenge is funded by the generous endowment from Bob and Betty Parkinson, which created the Parkinson School.

Visit Lyfebulb.com to apply and to view eligibility criteria, terms, and conditions. The deadline is September 10, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Lyfebulb.com. There is no entry fee.

About the Lyfebulb and Loyola University Chicago Partnership

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for individuals, populations, and systems. The inaugural 2021 Innovation Challenge seeks to strengthen and engage entrepreneurs from health care, technology, and other sectors as well as the Lyfebulb and Loyola communities. Additionally, the 2021 Innovation Challenge will generate awareness around the effects of emerging infectious diseases and identify promising solutions that reduce health disparities and improve health care delivery for all.

About the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health

Loyola University Chicago launched the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health in Fall 2019 to educate the health entrepreneurs of the future and impact health care accessibility and equity nationally. The Parkinson School offers 17 degree programs and three certificate and internship programs through four areas of study: Public Health Sciences, Healthcare Administration, Health Informatics and Data Science, and Applied Health Sciences. In Fall 2021, it will launch a new 4+1 BSPH/MPH dual-degree program. The Parkinson School builds on the foundations of Loyola's nationally recognized Stritch School of Medicine and its Biomedical Programs, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and Loyola's partnership with Trinity Health (known in the Chicago area as Loyola Medicine). To learn more about the Parkinson School, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaParkinson or on Instagram @loyolaparkinson., follow us on Twitter @LoyolaParkinson or on Instagram @loyolaparkinson.

About Lyfebulb

Lyfebulb is an innovation accelerator that bridges the gap between patient communities and the healthcare industry by working directly with patients and care partners to generate insights and build new solutions to reduce the burden of living with chronic disease. Lyfebulb operates across 11 disease states and counting. For more information, visit Lyfebulb.com, TransplantLyfe.com, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn.

CONTACT:

Loyola University Chicago

Taylor Utzig

Communications Specialist

608-931-3414

[email protected]

Lyfebulb

Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD

CEO & Founder

917-575-0210

[email protected]

SOURCE Lyfebulb

Related Links

lyfebulb.com


BOSTON, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SVB Leerink, a leading investment bank specializing in healthcare and life sciences, announced today that Mairin C. Rooney has joined the firm's Biopharma investment banking franchise to bolster its offerings in life sciences and healthcare.

Ms. Rooney joins SVB Leerink as a Senior Managing Director reporting to Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, Dr. Dan Dubin. She will be based in the New York office.

"Mairin is a strong addition to the senior SVB Leerink team and broadens our leadership in the biopharma and life sciences sectors," Dr. Dubin stated. "The breadth of her relationships, industry insights, and impressive experience heading biotechnology coverage initiatives will enable our team to better serve the needs of new and existing clients. Ms. Rooney's hire is the most recent example of SVB Leerink's continued commitment to expand and evolve our platform in order to offer the best capabilities to our clients through the addition of top talent and industry leading expertise."

Ms. Rooney brings over a decade of healthcare investment banking experience and joins SVB Leerink from Goldman Sachs where she served as Managing Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking group focused on biopharma and biotech clients. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Ms. Rooney was a biopharma investment banker with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. She also held previous healthcare-focused roles in academic, government and not-for-profit settings. Ms. Rooney holds a BS in Biochemical Engineering from the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis and MBAs from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia Business School at Columbia University.

"These unprecedented times have brought the importance of biotech innovation into sharp relief. More than ever, management teams and boards should be able to rely on a trusted partner for strategic advice and capital formation, thus allowing management teams to focus their pursuits on bringing life changing therapies to patients," Ms. Rooney said. "SVB Leerink is committed to long term client partnerships and has an incredible treasure trove of resources and insights to bring to bear. I'm thrilled to be joining a firm with such tremendous momentum driven by an initiative of investment in client capabilities and guided by tightly held values prioritizing the importance of relationships and client needs."

SVB Leerink's biopharma team integrates the considerable expertise of its professionals with its deep knowledge resources, such as its affiliate SVB Leerink MEDACorp, to provide insights on science, drug development strategy, medical treatment paradigms, commercialization and payor dynamics, and transaction structuring that drive uniquely actionable advice on the assessment of business opportunities.

To learn more, visit: https://www.svbleerink.com/

About SVB Leerink

As the leading investment bank to the healthcare and life science industries, we help our clients move healthcare forward. With differentiated sector knowledge, unrivaled expertise, and a complete suite of capital market and advisory solutions, we are the industry's partner of choice. SVB Leerink is a wholly owned subsidiary of SVB Financial Group and is a member of FINRA/SIPC. For more information, please visit: www.svbleerink.com. SIVB-L

SVB Leerink

Contact: Diane Vieira

(617) 918-4097

Weber Shandwick

Contact: Kaitlyn Rawlett

(212) 445-8082

SOURCE SVB Leerink

Related Links

https://www.svbleerink.com/


Now, Marco's is asking fellow Pizza Lovers to get creative and celebrate National Sandwich Month with an ultimate meal mash-up contest. The pizza brand is honoring the launch of its latest sandwich-inspired limited-time offers (LTOs) with a national contest, ' Marco's Pizza Mash-Up: What Sandwich Do You Crave as a Pizza? ' For the entire month of August (Aug. 1-31), Pizza Lovers and sandwich lovers alike are invited to weigh in, sharing what sandwich they wish they could indulge in as a pizza. An epic prize is on the line, including every Pizza Lover's dream - free Marco's pizza for a year!

The Marco's Pizza Mash-Up contest follows the recent launch of Marco's latest, highly-anticipated LTOs  The Philly and The Buffalo Chicken Pizza & Pizza Bowls, which are bathed in rich melty cheeses, loaded with high-quality meats and fresh toppings. Available now at participating locations through September 30, 2021, these new menu items prove that classic loved sandwiches and subs can be transformed into delicious Marco's pizza creations.

"Our guests have a strong appetite for the The Philly and Buffalo Chicken flavor combinations, so we wanted to celebrate the love of these mash ups  and the creativity behind them  with a contest," shared Senior Director of Culinary Innovation, Chef Andy Dismore. "This contest is just another way we're living out our mission, which is to really step inside the Pizza Lovers' mindset to deliver new flavor profiles that are comforting, delicious and, of course, crave-worthy."

One lucky grand prize winner will receive Marco's Pizza for a year, a Pizza Lovers prize pack  including a pizza pool float, pizza board, oven mitts, shakers, pizza socks, sunglasses, koozies and more - and a VIP pizza-making experience with Chef Andy Dismore, where the winner will be thrown a private pizza party at their local Marco's and have the opportunity to toss, make, and serve their pizza mash-up creation.

Entries can be made online via the Marco's Pizza Mash-Up contest page and will be rated based on various criteria including creativity, overall flavor profile, and ingredient compatibility**. The grand prize winner will be selected and announced on October 1, 2021 as the official kickoff to National Pizza Month.

"One of my favorite parts about being a chef is having the opportunity to experiment with flavors and combinations  really getting inventive in the kitchen. And, that's what I want every Pizza Lover to feel with this contest. I honestly cannot wait to see all the creative submissions for the Marco's Pizza Mash-Up  I know our loyal fans will deliver," shared Dismore.

For more information about The Marco's Pizza Mash-Up contest or to find your nearest location, please visit www.marcos.com or download our mobile app available on the App Store or Google Play.

*Online Omnibus study conducted by Directions Research, independently recognized as one of the nation's leading business decision insight firms. The survey was fielded from July 12 to July 13, 2021 among a demographically balanced nationally representative sample of 1,035 U.S. adults 18 years of age and older. Directions Research has authorized these research findings for publication. Directions Research has exercised its best efforts in the preparation of this information. In any event, Directions Research assumes no responsibility for any use which is made of this information or any decisions based upon it.

**See contest landing page for official rules and restrictions.

ABOUT MARCO'S PIZZA

Marco's Pizza is America's Most Loved and Most Trusted Pizza Brand, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives by making authentic Italian quality pizza with fresh ingredients. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate over 1,000 stores in 34 states with locations in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 2 in the Pizza category on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2020 "Franchise 500" ranking, and No. 6 in the Largest Pizza Chain category on Restaurant Business' 2020 "Top 500 Chains" ranking. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 4 in Forbes 2019 "Best Franchises to Buy" Small/Medium Investment and ranking five consecutive years on Nation's Restaurant News' prestigious "Top 200" ranking. For more information on Marco's Pizza franchise opportunities, visit www.marcosfranchising.com or call 866-731-8209.

SOURCE Marco's Pizza

Related Links

http://www.marcos.com


ATLANTA, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AM Best, the leading provider of ratings, news and financial data for the insurance industry worldwide, has affirmed the financial strength rating of "A" (Excellent) with a "Stable" outlook for all member companies of Builders Insurance Group. This achievement demonstrates Builders' strong financial position and its history of positive fiscal performance.

Factors cited by AM Best for Builders' rating include:

Strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR)

Five-year loss and loss adjustment expense, underwriting expense, and combined ratios all in-line with the composite

Strong surplus growth of 34.9% from 2016 to 2020

Formal enterprise risk management program with oversight from both senior management and the board of directors

"Reaffirming our "A" rating with AM Best is an excellent achievement," said Todd Campbell, President & CEO of Builders Insurance Group. "Our customers rely on our insurance products, and our remarkable balance sheet demonstrates we will deliver on our promises with certainty. Our outstanding financial strength also means Builders is well prepared for the meaningful investments we are now making in our workforce, technologies, products, and partners to ensure continued financial performance and an exceptional experience for our agents and their clients."

For more details on this rating, please read AM Best's complete analysis at http://ratings.ambest.com (registration and login required).

Headquartered in Atlanta, Builders Insurance Group delivers innovative Workers' Compensation, General Liability, Property, Umbrella, and Builders Risk insurance through independent agents. Founded in 1992, the company has evolved into a dynamic, financially strong mutual with a philosophy of deeply supportive partnerships and exceptional expertise. For more information, please visit our website at www.bldrs.com.

SOURCE Builders Insurance Group

Related Links

http://www.bldrs.com


WINFIELD, Kan., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MyWorkChoice the leading flexible staffing and workforce management company, today announced a new partnership with Silgan Dispensing. The new partnership will provide workers with dependable full-time and part-time jobs while also giving workers true flexibility to choose their work schedules from the convenience of mobile app.

"When you offer hourly workers flexibility and choice, given today's demands and unpredictable childcare and school schedules, you've just created the workforce of the future," says Tana Greene, co-founder and CEO of MyWorkChoice, the first-to-market solution that delivers a community of dedicated W-2 workers to businesses in the community.

Currently, MyWorkChoice has successfully filled the labor needs of a partner company in Ottawa, Kansas and continues to expand to other locations across the United States with clients such as GE Appliances, Hot Topic, DeWalt, and other Fortune 500 Companies.

As employers ramp up hiring needs this fall and with many people looking to find work quickly, MyWorkChoice not only gives people the choice and control over their working schedule on a weekly basis but also offers the ability to drop shifts and take time off without the fear of being fired.

Brooke C. a mom working at American Eagle in Ottawa, Kansas said, "As a single mom, I needed a second job to supplement my work in real estate. The flexible hours made this the perfect option for me. I work in the warehouse picking and packing orders. When hours are available, I am able to work part-time in a flexible way to earn a consistent income around my other career, and children's schedules. MyWorkChoice is flexible, innovative, and most importantly, EASY."

Those interested in applying for full-time flexible work in Winfield are encouraged to apply here.

MyWorkChoice

MyWorkChoice is focused on helping forward-thinking companies build the workforce of the future. Through a flexible scheduling platform and proprietary app and community of W-2 employee, we bridge the gap between hourly workers who seek flexibility and employers who demand a dependable workforce. For more information contact [email protected] or visit myworkchoice.com.

SOURCE MyWorkChoice
Designed and built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, Lucy will give humankind its first ever close-up look at Jupiter's elusive Trojan asteroids. These celestial objects are important because scientists believe they could hold clues about how our solar system and the planets formed.

Shipping a Precious Package

In the pre-dawn hours Friday, Lucy took the first steps of its 12-year, four-billion-mile odyssey to the "fossils" of the solar system by boarding a cargo plane in Colorado.

And moving a nearly one-ton spacecraft 18 months in the making is no small feat.

After converting a shipping container into its own mini cleanroom environment, a team of Lockheed Martin engineers carefully placed Lucy inside and loaded the spacecraft onto a special transport truck at the company's Littleton, Colorado, facility.

Flanked by its own police escort, the truck made its way to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, where a team of about 40 people from Lockheed Martin, NASA and Southwest Research Institute met Lucy and tucked the spacecraft safely inside its C-17 transport aircraft.

After touching down on the Space Shuttle Landing Strip at Kennedy Space Center, Lucy was moved to Astrotech Space Operations, where it will begin preparations for a 23-day launch window that opens Oct. 16.

What's Ahead in the Journey?

Following its pre-launch testing, launch vehicle integration and liftoff on an Atlas V 401 rocket, the path that lies ahead will see Lucy visit a record-breaking number of asteroids  eight, to be precise.

As part of a highly complex orbital trajectory, Lucy will fly by one Main Belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids  ancient objects trapped within gravity wells created by the combined pull of Jupiter and the sun, near so-called Lagrange Points. One group leads and one group trails Jupiter in its orbit.

The spacecraft will use precise instruments to study the geology, surface composition and physical properties of these primitive Trojan asteroids. Scientific theory hypothesizes these objects were scattered during the creation of our outer solar system roughly 4 billion years ago and later captured in Jupiter's orbit  remaining there, undisturbed, for billions of years.

These genuine "fossils" of the solar system could hold clues about what conditions were like when the planets formed, leading to an even greater understanding of our own origins.

Lucy's first asteroid flyby occurs in 2025, and the last planned flyby will be in 2033.

More About the Mission

For more than 50 years, Lockheed Martin has helped NASA explore every planet in our solar system and continues to develop new technologies for future space missions like Lucy.

Lucy is the seventh of 13 NASA Discovery-class missions in which Lockheed Martin has participated. The company will also build two NASA spacecraft headed to Venus at the end of the decade.

Lockheed Martin Space designed, built, tested, and will operate Lucy out of its Littleton, Colorado, facility. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, is the principal investigator institution and will operate the Science Operations Center (SOC). Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about Lucy on Lockheed Martin's website. For photos, check out the company's Flickr page.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the corporation.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


LA JOLLA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an initiative to establish a series of artificial intelligence research institutes nationwide, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $20 million grant to a partnership of prestigious universities led by University of California, San Diego, and including National University, Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Working together, the universities will form The Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale (TILOS). The five-year research partnership will focus on the optimization of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. They will work closely with industry leaders to develop optimization tools that will enable real-world improvements in key industries, including chip design, robotics, and communications networks.

National University faculty will work with TILOS partners in workforce development and education to update and create career-relevant courses and modules in AI aimed at the growing population of adult learners served by the San Diego-based nonprofit institution, including career professionals, members of the military community, and underserved students in STEM).

"We are thrilled to be collaborating with such incredible institutions on an initiative that directly serves our greater mission as an organization to prepare students today for the jobs of tomorrow," said National University System Chancellor and Interim President of National University Dr. Michael R. Cunningham.

National University, San Diego's largest private nonprofit university, that boasts a 50-year history of serving working adult learners, educators, and veterans, will receive $100,000 a year for five years to support faculty members working on the project, students, and equipment/software. NU is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and is a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities

"This is a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with some of the most prestigious universities in the world to create state-of-the-art curriculum and bring AI and optimization to National University's students," said NU Associate Dean for the College of Professional Studies, Dr. Jodi Reeves. She will serve as the Associate Director for Education and Workforce for TILOS.

With the rapid advance of technology, the existing workforce must update skills more and more frequently. Veterans, people seeking career changes, and underserved populations need opportunities to learn these new skills. National University, a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, as well as the rest of the TILOS partnership intend to build an openly accessible program of continuing education with long-term, lifelong learning and skills renewal as its central tenet. New courses will focus on computing, AI optimization, robotics, networking and chip design. The program also will feature a community outreach element to raise awareness and encourage interest in AI-related careers among non-traditional and underserved learners.

"Being chosen to be part of an institute sponsored by the NSF is a lifetime goal. As professors we are honored and humbled," said Dr. Esmaeil Atashpaz-Gargari, one of two Principal Investigators from the Department of Engineering and Computing at NU.

In an announcement on July 29, the NSF awarded a total of $220 million to 11 different partnerships as part of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes Program. Each institute will receive approximately $20 million to pursue research around the practical application of AI and machine intelligence in a wide range of fields and industries, including engineering, education, agriculture and cyber security. TILOS also will be partially supported by Intel Corporation.

"Our mission at National University is to serve the public good. To take this initiative nationwide with such esteemed partners is an incredible opportunity" said Dr. Shatha Jawad, the second Principal Investigator at NU.

About National University

National University (NU), a veteran-founded nonprofit, has been dedicated to meeting the needs of hard-working adults by providing accessible, affordable, achievable higher education opportunities since 1971. As San Diego's largest private nonprofit university, NU offers over 75 online and on-site programs and flexible four-week courses designed to help students reach their goals while balancing busy lives. Since its founding, the NU community has grown to over 25,000 students and alumni around the globe, many of whom serve in helping industries such as business, education, health care, cybersecurity, and law and criminal justice. Learn more at NU.edu .

SOURCE National University
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Noodles & Company, the national fast-casual brand serving globally-inspired noodle dishes made fresh to order, is excited to announce that it's making back-to-the-office, back-to-school, and truly, back-to-putting-real-pants-on, a little easier with free delivery for all guests every Monday through September 27, 2021. Noodles knows that resuming life, no matter how different it may still look, is going to be challenging for everyone, and the Company is here to help make life a bit easier.

More rewards.

Noodles Rewards will help members get back in the swing of things with weekly deals throughout August and September, from discounts to free food  think of them as a series of little treats to reward yourself for whatever everyday hurdle you conquered! Offers will be announced weekly, and you can get access to these offers by downloading the Noodles Rewards app or visiting Noodles.com.

Safety and convenience are the top priority.

Noodles Rewards helps make life easier for guests so that they can enjoy the noodles they know and love from the comfort of their own home by offering weekly rewards and free delivery. Wherever guests choose to dine, there is nothing more important to Noodles than the safety and well-being of its team members and guests and the Company continues to provide no-contact delivery, socially distanced tables, and enhanced cleaning and safety measures.

Become a Noodles Rewards Member.

Not a Noodles Rewards member? Joining the Noodles Rewards program is quick and easy by signing up online at noodles.com/rewards or by downloading the Noodles Rewards app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. As if deals every week in August and September weren't enough, Noodles is excited to announce that new members will receive a reward for a free small entree after making their first purchase.*

"As a mom of two, I know that life around this time of year is crazy and anything but normal - yet the one thing that we look forward to, and can count on, is our time around the dinner table," says Stacey Pool, chief marketing officer at Noodles & Company. "Our whole team understands that resuming back to everyday life will not be easy, so, we want to help make the process a little simpler by giving back to our loyal fans and rewards members. Life is a balancing act but finding a fresh and convenient meal for you and your family shouldn't be."

More Flavor.

To be there in support of the back-to-school effort, Noodles & Company is offering "You Rock!" coupons, which educators and school staff can use to recognize students for going above and beyond. Each "You Rock!" coupon can be redeemed for one complimentary meal at any Noodles & Company location. Teachers can apply to receive "You Rock!" coupons for their classroom by visiting Noodles.com/giving-back. Applications will be reviewed and fulfilled on a first-come, first-serve basis.



About Noodles & Company

Since 1995, Noodles & Company has been serving noodles your way, with noodles and flavors that you know and love as well as new ones, you're about to discover. From indulgent Wisconsin Mac & Cheese to better-for-you Zoodles and Other Noodles, the company serves a world of flavor in every bowl. Made up of more than 450 restaurants and thousands of passionate team members, Noodles was recently named by Forbes as a winner of America's Best Employers for Diversity Award 2021 and America's Best Employers for Women Award 2021. Additionally, Noodles & Company also has been named one of the Best Places to Work by the Denver Business Journal for its unique culture built on the value of "Loving Life" which begins by nourishing and inspiring every team member and guest who walks through the door. Noodles has also earned the Women in the Lead Certification for its investment in women-empowering initiatives for its female team members and has proudly partnered with the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance to build cultural intelligence within its teams. To learn more and to find the location nearest you, visit www.noodles.com.

*Make one purchase through your Noodles Rewards account online (Noodles & Company) or through the Noodles Rewards app within 30 days of signing up for the Noodles Rewards program and get a reward for a free small entree to use on a future visit. The reward of a free small entree is valid for 30 days after issuance. Additional priced items and proteins not included in free small entree reward. Cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts. Must have a valid Noodles Rewards account to qualify for the free small entree reward.

Media Contact:

Danielle Moore

[email protected]

SOURCE Noodles & Company

Related Links

http://www.noodles.com


American Plumber Stories aims to promote the plumbing trade to the next generation of professionals. The show highlights the stories of plumbers around the nation including how they got started in the plumbing trade and the passion they have for their profession. These stories show how they built a career that allows them to lead financially rewarding and fulfilling lives.

Featured will be plumbers and their unique hobbies such as car racing, kitesurfing and many other exciting stories. Each episode is entertaining but also highlights the true opportunity the plumbing trade has to offer those who are not aiming to pursue a college education or who are unsure which career path to take. Becoming an "American Plumber" is a true alternative. By foregoing significant student loan debt and entering a career early, young plumbing professionals can build a fulfilling life for themselves and their families.

The plumbing trade has been experiencing a significant shortage of workers. The most experienced professionals are nearing retirement age and are exiting the workforce. At the same time the number of men and women willing to learn the trade continues to decline. Today, special high school programs and vocational or trade schools are scarce for aspiring students who want a career in the trades. Compared to higher learning and the promise and perceived security of a corporate career, there is also a negative stigma attached to the plumbing profession. Academic achievement became more favorable and the idea of trade education was left behind.

"Young men and women who enter the workforce early can learn the plumbing trade and make it a long-term career. This also allows many to establish and build their own company. The goal of American Plumber Stories is to update the perceptions of the plumber profession in a documentary-style format. We need to engage with young people, sharing an authentic look at the plumbing trade today and real plumbers' success stories to encourage a new workforce," says Spencer Brown, Pfister's Director of Sales and executive producer of American Plumber Stories.

"The goals of American Plumber Stories are to inspire, educate and entertain. Our hope is that the docuseries changes the image of the industry, helping to attract and recruit new talent."

Initially 12 episodes will be released over the course of 6 months, starting August 2nd. Pfister partnered with chart-topping country music star Craig Morgan as an official brand ambassador and he'll also host each episode. Morgan, who wrote and performed the docuseries' original theme song "Good Life," embodies the values of all those who work in the trade. His integrity, family values and grit echo the ideals of the "working man" and their passion for our Country which delivers on the narrative that each one of us deserves every opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

"I was very excited when Pfister approached me about this project - I am glad to help shine a light on the trade and see what Pfister is doing with American Plumber Stories to help inspire a new generation of plumbers." says Morgan.

American Plumber Stories can be viewed at www.AmericanPlumberStories.com.

Social Media presence is as follows:

YouTube.com/c/AmericanPlumberStories

Instagram.com/AmericanPlumberStories

Facebook.com/AmericanPlumberStories

Linkedin.com/showcase/american-plumber-stories

About Pfister

Pfister, formerly called Price Pfister until 2010, is a brand of bathroom and lavatory faucets, shower systems, showerheads, and accessories and kitchen faucets and other plumbing fixtures. Emil Price and William Pfister founded the company in 1910. Today, the Pfister brand is owned by Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Hardware and Home Improvement Group. Visit www.pfisterfaucets.com for info.

About Craig Morgan: A multi-faceted entertainer, Craig Morgan has made a name for himself as a country music icon, TV personality, celebrated outdoorsman and patriotic Army veteran. One of country music's best-loved artists, Morgan has charted 25 songs on Billboard and thrills massive crowds with signature hits including "Bonfire," Almost Home," "Redneck Yacht Club," "International Harvester," "This Ole Boy," "Wake Up Loving You," and the four week No. 1, "That's What I Love About Sunday." Last year, Morgan released his first new music in over three years  God, Family, Country. The album combines five new songs - including "The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost," Craig's faith-filled tribute to his son Jerry, with remastered versions of some of the most powerful tracks he recorded for Broken Bow from 2002 to 2008, combining his past hits mixed with future signatures. Craig offers his take on Gavin DeGraw's smash, "Soldier." He also teamed up with active duty Army Airborne Rangers Justin Wright and Andrew Yacovone to offer up the summery "Sippin' On The Simple Life."

Craig received one of country music's highest honors when he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. Prior to becoming a country music star and TV sensation, Morgan spent seventeen years serving our country in the Army and Army Reserves. Morgan remains an avid supporter of America's military personnel and has made 16 overseas trips to perform for our troops. He is a recipient of the 2006 USO Merit Award and in 2018 was awarded the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, one of the highest awards the Department of the Army can bestow upon a civilian, in recognition of his significant dedication to our military men and women around the world.

Learn more at craigmorgan.com and engage with Craig on YUDU by visiting YUDUsocial.com in addition to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

SOURCE Pfister

Related Links

https://www.pfisterfaucets.com/


CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quaker Houghton ("the Company";NYSE: KWR), the global leader in industrial process fluids, today announced goals for its global sustainability program. The announcement builds on the Company's earlier commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2050. The full list of 2030 goals announced today reach beyond the critical issue of climate change to complete Quaker Houghton's comprehensive sustainability strategy.

"These commitments demonstrate Quaker Houghton's dedication to driving innovation and delivering a sustainable future for the public, our customers, and our business," said Michael F. Barry, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr. Barry continued, "We have an opportunity to create meaningful progress that benefits future generations and helps our customers keep pace with the demands of a changing world. I am extremely proud of our global team and the goals we have set forth today."

The new 15 long-term goals are based on the results of the Company's 2020 materiality assessment, which was completed with input from customers, investors, suppliers, and internal stakeholders. The targets also align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Company's goals are grouped under four pillars as part of a refreshed sustainability strategy and vision, announced earlier in its 2020 Sustainability Report. By 2030, Quaker Houghton aspires to:

Innovating Together for a Better Tomorrow

Achieve 100% of finished goods in Quaker Houghton's portfolio not classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic (CMRs)

Reduce the Company's use of fossil-based raw materials by 30%

Eliminate 45,000 metric tons of waste at QH FLUIDCARE partner locations

Protecting Our Planet

Achieve carbon neutrality in its global operations

Set science-based targets 1 to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2050

to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2050 Reduce waste to landfill, hazardous waste, and water per ton produced by 20% each

Empowering Our Colleagues & Communities

Have zero serious injury recordables

Achieve zero recordable incidents with more than 5 lost work days at 98% of Quaker Houghton and customer locations

Achieve engagement scores greater than the Company's industry peers

Provide career enhancement programming to 100% of its colleagues

Increase female representation globally and in management to 25-27%

Increase ethnic diversity in the U.S. to 25-27%

Work together to reach 250,000 cumulative hours of volunteering

Invest time and resources to conduct impactful projects in all of the communities where Quaker Houghton manufactures, works, and conducts research around the globe

Sourcing Our Materials Responsibly

Achieve 75% of total direct spend with suppliers that exceed Quaker Houghton's sustainability performance threshold

While the full set of goals announced today complete the Company's holistic sustainability program, Quaker Houghton has also identified short-term milestones that it will reach to help accelerate the achievement of their 2030 targets. These milestones and more information can be found at quakerhoughton.com/sustainability. The Company will also disclose progress updates in its annual sustainability report.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "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. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. We have based these forward-looking statements with respect to the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition, on our current expectations about future events. These forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, intentions, financial condition, results of operations, future performance, and business, including but not limited to our current and future results and plans and statements that include the words "may," "could," "should," "would," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan" or similar expressions. Therefore, we caution you not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. For more information regarding certain risks that we face, refer to the Risk Factors section, which appears in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in subsequent reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend to, and we disclaim any duty or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future events or for any other reason. This discussion is provided as permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Houghton (NYSE: KWR) is the global leader in industrial process fluids. With a robust presence around the world, including operations in over 25 countries, our customers include thousands of the world's most advanced and specialized steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, offshore, can, mining, and metalworking companies. Our high-performing, innovative and sustainable solutions are backed by best-in-class technology, deep process knowledge, and customized services. With approximately 4,200 employees, including chemists, engineers, and industry experts, we partner with our customers to improve their operations so they can run even more efficiently, even more effectively, whatever comes next. Quaker Houghton is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, located near Philadelphia in the United States. Visit quakerhoughton.com to learn more.

1 Science-based targets provide companies with a clearly defined path to reduce emissions through the Science Based Target Initiative, which is in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

SOURCE Quaker Houghton
Brown is a world-renowned makeup artist, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and serial entrepreneur who notably created 10 simple lipsticks that evolved into a global beauty empire. Since leaving Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, she has launched two brands that include her recently announced makeup line, Jones Road Beauty, and Evolution_18, a wellness line that promotes beauty from the inside out. Brown has received numerous awards, including Glamour's Woman of the Year, The Fashion Group International's Night of Stars beauty award, The Jackie Robinson Foundation's ROBIE Humanitarian Award, and more. President Obama appointed her to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiation, and she has also been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Minkoff, in addition to being an industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories, footwear and apparel, is an entrepreneur and founder of the Female Founder Collective. She recently authored Fearless: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success.

Through their individual sessions, both Brown and Minkoff will share inspiring stories of entrepreneurship, resilience and perseverance with business leaders attending TriNet PeopleForce.

On September 14 at 11 a.m. EST, Brown's session will display the art of reinventing oneself, while also developing the necessary leadership skills to manage a brand. Her session will help SMBs learn how to pivot both personally and professionally to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. The discussion will include such topics as:

Following your entrepreneurial dreams

Reinventing yourself to become the best "you"

Overcoming the obstacles that female entrepreneurs often face

Leading by example

How to be a woman entrepreneur

Minkoff's discussion September 15 at 11 a.m. EST will provide insight into channeling the hunger and perseverance necessary to build a company. She will focus on the rules to unlocking creativity, courage and success and more, including:

Breaking free from circumstances and design your own path forward

Harnessing intuition and adopt a Love It and Leave It mentality

Effectively communicating as a leader

Creating two-way networking systems, strong partnerships, and winning collaborations to scale faster

Choosing optimization over balance and making hard work a form of self-care

Fortifying internal grit to push through any fear and achieve your goals

"We are honored to have two inspirational women entrepreneurs in Bobbi and Rebecca on our roster of distinguished speakers for TriNet PeopleForce 2021," said TriNet Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Communications Officer, Michael Mendenhall . "In today's business environment, it is essential to innovate, prepare for the unexpected and build resiliency. Both these amazing leaders bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to offer attendees of the conference."

In 2018, Minkoff launched her podcast, Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff, which is consistently in the podcast category's top 100, and focuses on incredible stories of resilience, failure, and success. In September 2018, she established the Female Founder Collective, a network of businesses led by women who invest in women's financial power, while enabling and empowering female-owned businesses. The organization has grown to over 9,000 members. Today she continues her success as a global brand with a wide range of apparel, handbags, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, eyewear and fragrance.

Brown revolutionized the beauty industry when she introduced Bobbi Brown Essentials in 1991, which were cosmetics designed to highlight a woman's natural look. The Estee Lauder Companies acquired Bobbi Brown Cosmetics in 1995, where Brown served as Chief Creative Officer until she departed in 2016.

Twenty years later, Brown reignited her entrepreneurial spirit and launched her new ventures: Jones Road Beauty and Evolution_18. She has authored nine best-selling books, serves as the Beauty & Lifestyle Editor of Elvis Duran and The Morning Show, and hosts the iHeartRadio podcast Beyond the Beauty with Bobbi Brown.

Occurring September 13-16, TriNet PeopleForce is a one-of-a-kind event taking place both virtually and in-person from New York City. The conference brings together a roster of high-profile leaders to help SMBs reimagine, rebuild and move forward as they come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees will hear from renowned speakers and experts on topics such as SMB agility, calculated risk-taking, the future of work, business resiliency, DEI, healthcare, the state of the economy for SMBs and much more. TriNet PeopleForce also fosters networking opportunities for its participants with business leaders from across the country.

To register for the virtual conference, click here: https://peopleforce.trinet.com/.

Those wishing to attend the live SMB event in New York City can request a ticket by emailing [email protected] .

About TriNet

TriNet (NYSE: TNET) provides small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR solutions tailored by industry. To free SMBs from HR complexities, TriNet offers access to human capital expertise, benefits, risk mitigation and compliance, payroll and real-time technology. From Main Street to Wall Street, TriNet empowers SMBs to focus on what matters most-growing their business. TriNet, incredible starts here. For more information, visit TriNet.com or follow us on Twitter .

SOURCE TriNet Group, Inc.
NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new research study on "Root Canal Market to 2028 is projected to reach US$ 1,388.29 million by 2028 from US$ 1,018.21 million in 2021; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% during 20212028. The growth of the market is attributed to rising prevalence of dental diseases, growing geriatric population and increasing awareness regarding dental health are driving the market growth.

Browse in-depth TOC on " Root Canal Market" (133 - Tables, 81 - Figures, 177 - Pages)

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In 2020, North America dominated the global root canal market. The market growth in the region is rising prevalence of dental diseases, growing geriatric population and increasing awareness regarding dental health are driving the market growth. Dental diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases that affect people at least once in their lifetime. Mere toothache causes discomfort, pain, and disfigurement, and in a worse case, it may even lead to death. According to a report of the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2016, published in September 2018, oral diseases have affected ~3.58 billion people worldwide. Dental caries was ranked 11th among the most prevalent dental disease in the world, and it is a severe periodontal disease that further results in tooth loss. Thus, the prevalence of dental and oral conditions is rising worldwide, and these issues might lead to tooth loss, root canal, dry mouth, cavities, biting difficulties, etc. Tooth decay, periodontal diseases, injuries, accidents, etc., are the conditions that might result in tooth loss. The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that ~6090% of children and ~100% of adults in the world have cavities. Moreover, according to the American College of Prosthodontists (ACP), 178 million Americans are missing at least one tooth. Additionally, on average, 40 million people in the US are suffering from tooth decay problems. The ACP estimated that this number is expected to rise over the next two decades owing to surging prevalence of cavity and tooth decay. According to the American Association of Endodontics, over 15 million root canals are performed every year, more than 41,000 root canals are performed every single day.

As per another WHO report on Tobacco and Oral Health 2018, the inequities of dental diseases still exist, and the burden of oral disease in European countries is rising. The report has also stated that a few of the APAC countries are reporting rise in oral cancer cases. Moreover, according to the Oral Health 2020 of the World Health Organization, ~3.58 billion people worldwide suffer from dental caries (tooth decay) in permanent teeth. Caries of permanent teeth affect an ~2.4 billion individuals worldwide, with 486 million youngsters suffering from the caries of primary teeth. As per the ACP's estimations, this number is expected to rise in the next two decades due to the increasing incidence of cavity and tooth decay. Therefore, governments are taking measures to control the growing burden of dental diseases, and the increasing support is propelling the numbers of endodontic treatments and other dental treatments. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helps manage and guides the state and community programs; it also assists in planning, setting up, and evaluating school sealant programs and complement services provided by private dentists. Therefore, the rising prevalence of dental diseases is propelling the root canal market growth.

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Based on product, the root canal market is segmented into segmented into instruments and consumables. In 2021, the consumables segment held the largest share of the market, by product. The consumables segment of root canal market is also expected to witness fastest CAGR during 2021 to 2028. Based on end-user, the root canal market is segmented into hospitals, dental clinics, and others. In 2021, the dental clinics segment held the largest share of the market, by end user. Whereas the hospitals segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the coming years.

Growing Geriatric Population

The tooth loss problems are more serious and common among geriatric populations, as the process of degeneration takes up pace with age. This is can be associated with age-related changes in poor oral-health status and oral-health practices, as well as increasing stress and other socioeconomic variables later in life. As a result, the aging population may require specialist dental treatments. According to the World Population Prospects data in 2017, the number of people aged above 60 in the world is expected to double by 2050; it is expected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050 from ~962 million in 2017. Further, according to data published in 2018 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of US adults of age 65 and above is expected to reach 98 million by 2060, which would be ~24% of the total population. Most of the older people do not have dental insurance as they use all their benefits during retirement, and federal Medicare programs do not cover routine dental care. With improvements in medical services in recent years, the life expectancy has increased across the world, particularly in developing and under-developed nations.

According to the United Nations' estimations in 2017, there are ~962 million people of age 60 and above across the world, and the number of elderly people is expected to increase to 1.4 billion by 2030, 2.1 billion by 2050, and 3.1 billion by 2100. Moreover, as per the prediction put forth by Indian government in parliament in August 2018, 340,000 Indians will be aged 60 and above by 2050, which would be greater than the aged population of the US. Dry mouth, root decay, gum disorders, tooth loss, denture-induced stomatitis, arthritis, and various drug-related dental problems affect the elderlies, which would continue to propel the root canal market growth in the coming years.

Root Canal Market: Segmental Overview

Based on end user, root canal market is segmented into hospitals, dental clinics, and others. In 2021, the dental clinics segment held the largest share of the market, whereas the hospitals segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the coming years.

Root Canal Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments

Coltene Group, Dentsply Sirona, Inc., Envista Holdings Corporation, Brasseler USA, Diadent Group International, Ivoclar Vivadent Group, Mani, Inc., 3M, Septodont, Inc., and Ultradent Products, Inc. among others are among the key companies operating in the Root Canal market. Leading players are focusing on the new product launch, expansion and diversification of their market presence, and acquisition of new customer base, thereby tapping prevailing business opportunities.

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In December 2019, Dentsply Sirona launched TruNatomy system to ease the root canal treatment. The product offers superior procedural outcomes even in case of curved canal or limited access to root.

In June 2019, Danaher established its sister company, namely Envista Holdings Corporation. It will be a separate company in the Dental segment. This opening will lead to expanding the business of the company.

In Aug 2018, Brasseler USA launched its SmartSupply Automatic Ordering system, which is a convenient recurring delivery option. SmartSupply service is available on the company's U.S. e-commerce site, Shop.BrasselerUSA.com. The company recently launched its Canadian e-commerce site, Shop.Brasseler.ca; SmartSupply enables dental professionals to pick the dental instruments instantly they need most and have them delivered automatically on a scheduled time.

Browse Related Reports:

Pulp and Root Repair Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Product (Bioceramic Liners, Bioceramic Sealers, and Restoratives), Application (Root Canal Treatment (RCT), Pulpotomy, Pulp Capping, and Others), and Geography

https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/pulp-and-root-repair-market

Dental Prosthetic & Implant Consumables Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product Type (Root Form Dental Implants, Plate Form Dental Implants, Crowns, Bridges, Dentures, Abutments, Veneers, Inlays and Onlays); End User (Dental Clinics, Hospitals, Others) and Geography

https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/dental-prosthetic-and-implant-consumables-market

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Contact Person: Sameer Joshi

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SOURCE The Insight Partners
BUCKEYE, Ariz., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopoff Realty Investments ("Shopoff"), a national manager of opportunistic and value-add real estate investments, announced today that the company has successfully sold the third and final phase of Desert Moon Estates in Buckeye, Arizona, including 229 single-family lots.

All three phases, totaling 739 lots across 200 acres, were sold to Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group Inc., who will develop the site into for-sale single-family homes. The second phase, with 256 lots, was sold in October 2020, and the first phase of 254 lots was sold in October 2019.

"Providing new home sites in today's supply-constrained market is critical to overcoming the national housing shortage," explained Shopoff Realty Investments President and CEO William Shopoff. "We are proud to have been able to deliver more than 700 new home lots to Forestar, who create a quality product for future residents."

Shopoff acquired Desert Moon Estates in 2009, with a plan to hold the property during market recovery from the great recession. During the hold period, Shopoff created value by re-engineering the site to provide improved lot segmentation and to reduce costs to finish the lots with value engineering.

Brian Rupp, Shopoff Realty Investments' executive vice president of real estate, added, "We are thrilled to move this project across the finish line and provide new housing opportunities in the west Phoenix Valley. Desert Moon Estates is a master plan with close proximity to schools, shopping and transportation corridors that make this an ideal location for new housing."

Located in the western-most suburb of the Phoenix metropolitan area, Buckeye has seen a variety of suburban development over the past 20 years, with new single-family subdivisions, a new high school to the south, and several suburban shopping centers nearby. Desert Moon Estates' direct access to Interstate 10 will provide future residents with convenient access to the greater Phoenix MSA.

About Shopoff Realty Investments

Shopoff Realty Investments is an Irvine, California-based real estate firm with a 29-year history of value-add and opportunistic investing across the United States. The company primarily focuses on proactively generating appreciation through the repositioning of commercial income-producing properties and the entitlement of land assets. The 29-year history includes operating as Asset Recovery Fund, Eastbridge Partners and Shopoff Realty Investments (formerly known as The Shopoff Group). Performance has varied in this time frame, with certain offerings generating losses. For additional information, please visit www.shopoff.com or call (844) 4-SHOPOFF.

Disclosures

This is not an offering to buy or sell any securities. Such offer may only be made through the offerings memorandum to qualified purchasers. Any investment in Shopoff Realty Investments programs involves substantial risks and is suitable only for investors who have no need for liquidity and who can bear the loss of their entire investment. There is no assurance that any strategy will succeed to meet its investment objectives. The performance of this asset is not indicative of future results of other assets. Securities offered through Shopoff Securities, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC, 2 Park Plaza, Suite 770, Irvine, CA 92614, (844) 4-SHOPOFF.

Contact:

Julie Leber

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1391

[email protected]

SOURCE Shopoff Realty Investments

Related Links

http://www.shopoff.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Udacitythe online learning and talent transformation platform powering the careers of the futurehas partnered with Temasek Polytechnic (TP), a leading institution of higher education in Singapore, to offer joint Nanodegree programs to Singapore citizens and residents. Supported by SkillsFuture Singapore, the knowITgetIT program offers cutting-edge technology coursework aimed to advance Singaporeans' practical skills across a variety of disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

"We're thrilled to partner with Temasek Polytechnic to offer the best of Udacity to Singaporeans," said Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Udacity. "Temasek is at the forefront of Singapore's upskilling efforts, and we couldn't be more excited to contribute to the national transformation into an AI-equipped workforce."

"We were drawn to Udacity's real-world project-based learning method because it aligns with Temasek Polytechnic's own teaching philosophy," said John Leong, Director of Temasek SkillsFuture Academy at Temasek Polytechnic Singapore. "We're excited about giving Singaporeans more access to Udacity's rigorous and cutting-edge technology curriculum to further their careers."

The first Nanodegree programs to be available through the partnership are AI Programming with Python, Introduction to Machine Learning with TensorFlow, and Machine Learning Engineer. Over a three-month period, knowITgetIT participants will receive the high-quality training from subject matter experts that is a hallmark of a Udacity Nanodegree program. In addition, participants will take part in virtual "Connect Sessions" with Udacity instructors to receive mentorship and support throughout the duration of their program.

Applications for the TP/Udacity program will be accepted through August 21, 2021 at this website. Applicants who pass Udacity's technical assessment and are Singapore citizens or permanent residents can apply for a SkillsFuture Singapore course fee subsidy of up to 90% through August 12, 2021. The pilot cohort of this program will kick off on August 30, 2021 and consist of 150 learners who are seeking full-time roles in an AI-related career.

The TP/Udacity partnership furthers the goals of Singapore's National AI Strategy, launched in 2019 to deepen the country's use of AI technologies and transform the economy. Demand for workers versed in AI is at an all-time high; programs like knowITgetIT will help more Singaporeans gain the necessary skills to assume and excel in those roles.

About Temasek Polytechnic

Established in 1990, TP is one of the leading institutions of higher learning in Singapore. Currently it offers 36 full-time diploma courses in the areas of applied science, business, design, engineering, humanities & social sciences and informatics & IT. It also offers over 40 part-time courses, up to the advanced diploma level. TP students undergo a holistic learning system that combines hands-on experience, character education and relevant life skills, in an enriching learning environment.

The Polytechnic has also infused global realities into its programmes and developed a mindset on campus that embraces socio-cultural diversity. These ensure that TP graduates are ready for work or further studies, and to contribute meaningfully to the community. For more information, please visit www.tp.edu.sg.

About Udacity

Udacity is a global, online training platform powering digital transformation and accelerated time-to-market initiatives for Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises. Udacity programs provide industry-created practitioner skills through a series of "Nanodegree" programs consisting of online courses and real-world projects in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing, among other disciplines. Udacity collaborates with expert instructors and over 200 global industry partners including AT&T, Google, Facebook, Mercedes-Benz, and NVIDIA to power technical education. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the private company has operations in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Germany, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Udacity has raised $163 million in funding to date from investors including Bertelsmann, Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, and Drive Capital. For more information, please visit www.udacity.com.

SOURCE Udacity

Related Links

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DENVER, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TerraCap Management LLC, a privately held investment firm with its headquarters in Naples, Florida, announced today the acquisition of Denver Corporate Center I, formerly known as The Office at DTC, for $31,100,000.

TerraCap Management

Denver Corporate Center I (DCC I) is located in Denver, CO within the Denver Tech Center submarket. The eleven-story, Class A office property was built in 1980 and totals 193,000 rentable square feet. TerraCap acquired two sister buildings at this location in August 2019 for roughly $71,000,000. With this most recent acquisition, it will be the first time in many years that all three buildings are under one ownership. TerraCap also acquired two other office properties in the immediate area in a separate acquisition in November 2020.

"For us, this is the final piece of a Tech Center portfolio assemblage," said Steve Good, Partner and National Director of Acquisitions for TerraCap. "Through three separate acquisitions, we'll have five buildings and roughly 750,000 square feet of properties that are ideally located within this dynamic submarket. There is also development opportunity on a land parcel within the property, and we intend to pursue future options with it that could add value to the property."

DCC I's location in the Denver Tech Center provides access to the major freeways I-25 and I-225, both executive and employee housing, and numerous restaurants and amenities. The property is also only  mile from the Belleview light rail station. The Tech Center itself has historically experienced positive rent growth and positive net absorption.

Chris Thompson, TerraCap Partner and Director of Asset Management, said, "With this acquisition, we will be able to rebrand DCC I to match its two adjacent sister buildings, DCC II and III, which we acquired in September 2019. DCC I, II, and III will now have consistent ownership, leasing, and property management, which has not happened since the early 2000s."

The sellers, Origin Investments and Hamilton-Titan Partners, were represented by Tim Richey, Charley Will, Chad Flynn and Jenny Knowlton of CBRE. Brightspire Capital provided debt financing for TerraCap with assistance from C.J. Kelly and Jeff Halsey from CBRE's debt team. JLL was hired for the leasing assignment, and DPC Companies was hired as property manager.

About TerraCap Management LLC

TerraCap Management LLC considers thematic factors such as business formation, employment growth and population growth on a market-by-market basis, as most metros and submarkets have different economic-based industries and therefore move through their economic cycles differently. TerraCap makes moderate strategic overweighting or underweighting to markets, depending on the specific economic drivers influencing supply and demand.

The Investment Manager has been in operation since 2008 with its headquarters located in Naples, FL, the firm also has offices in Tampa, FL, Atlanta, GA, and Denver, CO. As operators, TerraCap believes it can make decisions more efficiently while leveraging expertise from property to property. The firm has over 9 million square feet of commercial assets within its portfolio, with over 1.6 billion dollars of assets under management.

More information can be found at terracapmgmt.com.

For More Information, Contact:

Steve Good

239.898.4454

TerraCap Management LLC

SOURCE TerraCap Management
Guests dining at domestic locations can help support patients and families at St. Jude by adding contributions of any dollar amount to their check totals at the end of their dining experience. To reward the guest for their donation, Texas de Brazil is providing a $5 dining certificate for every $5 donated. Gift certificates have a maximum potential of $50 and must be redeemed during a future visit. Texas de Brazil will be matching donations all month long up to $15,000 and no purchase is necessary to donate.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Each year, approximately 16,000 children and teens in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is about people and organizations coming together to raise funds and awareness needed to cure childhood cancer. Supporters can join St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as it rallies the nation to make a significant impact and save more kids.

"Year after year, our guests continue to support our partnership with St. Jude and because of them, we are able to help St. Jude end childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases," says Salim Asrawi, president of Texas de Brazil. "We value our guests and their contributions, as well as our employees who eagerly promote the campaign to ensure its success," he adds.

Because of generous supporters, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or foodbecause all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 60 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer.

Call Texas de Brazil restaurants for more information or visit texasdebrazil.com and view the 'Specials' page.

About Texas de Brazil Churrascaria

Texas de Brazil is an authentic Brazilian-American steakhouse featuring a continuous dining experience that blends the unique culture of Brazil with the generous hospitality of Texas. The menu features a vast selection of grilled meats, a 50-item salad area, an award-winning wine list and a la carte dessert selections. Founded as a family-owned business in 1998, Texas de Brazil now has locations in 21 states along with 11 international locations. For more information, visit www.texasdebrazil.com .

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food  because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.

SOURCE Texas de Brazil

Related Links

http://www.texasdebrazil.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brattle Group has welcomed economist Veronica Irastorza as a new Principal in its global Antitrust & Competition practice, based in San Francisco. Ms. Irastorza brings deep expertise in antitrust, contract disputes, and damages to a broad range of matters in the energy industry, including regulation, planning, market design, and forecasting.

Veronica Irastorza has joined The Brattle Group's global Antitrust & Competition practice as a Principal in its San Francisco office.

"With her unique, versatile background combining competition and energy, Veronica is a wonderful addition to Brattle," said Brattle President & Principal David L. Sunding. "We are thrilled to add her expertise to our work supporting clients in Mexico, and more broadly in Latin America and beyond."

As a former Undersecretary of Energy Planning and Transition in Mexico, she has worked on all aspects of the electric power sector, including generation, transmission, ancillary services, distribution, and retailing. In natural gas, Ms. Irastorza has in-house experience and has advised companies on the effects of new policies and regulations, due diligence, mergers, acquisitions, and efficiency.

"I'm pleased to be joining Brattle at such an exciting time for the firm," said Ms. Irastorza. "Brattle has long had a reputation for excellent work on behalf of its clients. As its global presence continues to expand in competition and other areas, I'm looking forward to collaborating with talented colleagues to continue supporting my clients around the world."

In addition to her energy expertise, Ms. Irastorza has worked on competition matters related to the transportation, finance, and food sectors. Her practice has spanned numerous jurisdictions around the globe, including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, and the US.

Before joining Brattle, Ms. Irastorza held several other governmental positions in Mexico  in addition to her time as Undersecretary of Energy Planning and Transition  and was an Associate Director at an international economics consultancy.

To learn more about Ms. Irastorza, please see her full bio.

ABOUT BRATTLE

The Brattle Group answers complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. Brattle has over 400 talented professionals across three continents. For more information, please visit brattle.com.

SOURCE The Brattle Group

Related Links

http://www.brattle.com


LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired DiDi Global Inc. ("DiDi" or the "Company") (NYSE: DIDI ): (a) American Depositary Shares ("ADSs" or "shares") pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and prospectus (collectively, the "Registration Statement") issued in connection with the Company's June 2021 initial public offering ("IPO" or the "Offering"); and/or (b) securities between June 30, 2021 and July 21, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period"). DiDi investors have until September 7, 2021 to file a lead plaintiff motion.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

DiDi purports to be the world's largest mobility technology platform. The Company claims to be the "go-to brand in China for shared mobility," offering a range of services including ride hailing, taxi hailing, chauffeur, and hitch.

On or about June 30, 2021, DiDi sold about 316.8 million ADSs in its IPO for $14 per share, raising nearly $4.5 billion in new capital.

On July 2, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China ("CAC") stated that it had launched an investigation into DiDi to protect national security and the public interest. It also reported that it had asked DiDi to stop new user registrations during the course of the investigation.

On this news, the Company's share price fell $0.87, or approximately 5.3%, to close at $15.53 per share on July 2, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

Then, on Sunday, July 4, 2021, DiDi reported that the CAC ordered smartphone app stores to stop offering the "DiDi Chuxing" app because it "collect[ed] personal information in violation of relevant PRC laws and regulations." Though users who previously downloaded the app could continue to use it, DiDi stated that "the app takedown may have an adverse impact on its revenue in China."

On July 5, 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that the CAC had asked the Company as early as three months prior to the IPO to postpone the offering because of national security concerns and to "conduct a thorough self-examination of its network security."

On this news, the Company's stock price fell $3.04 per share, or 19.6%, to close at $12.49 per share on July 6, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

By the commencement of this action, the Company's stock was trading as low as $12.06 per share, a nearly 14% decline from the $14 per share IPO price.

The Registration Statement was materially false and misleading and omitted to state material adverse facts. Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that DiDi's apps did not comply with applicable laws and regulations governing privacy protection and the collection of personal information; (2) that, as a result, the Company was reasonably likely to incur scrutiny from the Cyberspace Administration of China; (3) that the CAC had already warned DiDi to delay its IPO to conduct a self-examination of its network security; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, DiDi's apps were reasonably likely to be taken down from app stores in China, which would have an adverse effect on its financial results and operations; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

Follow us for updates on Twitter: twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased DiDi securities during the Class Period, you may move the Court no later than September 7, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff. To be a member of the Class you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the Class. If you purchased DiDi 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 [email protected], 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.

Contacts

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, Los Angeles

Frank R. Cruz, 310-914-5007

[email protected]

www.frankcruzlaw.com

SOURCE The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, Los Angeles

Related Links

frankcruzlaw.com


ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The back-to-school season can place a tremendous burden on families experiencing lost wages and looming evictions emerging from the pandemic. Nearly one in five American children are living in poverty, and with parents forced to choose between school supplies or food on the table, millions of kids are returning to class less prepared than their peers.

From August 6-8, The Salvation Army and Walmart are joining forces for a nationwide school supply drive to help give students from less advantaged families an equal chance to excel.

"Showing up to school empty handed is like trying to work an office job without a computer, phone, or paper," said Commissioner Kenneth Hodder, National Commander of The Salvation Army. "The American Dream is based on the belief that everyone shares the same level of opportunity regardless of where they're born or their family background. By equipping kids with essential school supplies we hope to make that shared opportunity a reality, making a difference in the achievement of young children now and into adulthood."

The Salvation Army's "Stuff the Bus" program will take place at participating Walmart stores across the country. Members of the public who choose to purchase items can drop them off in specially marked Salvation Army collection bins at the front of each store or search their local Salvation Army's Registry for Good to donate online.

Supplies will be distributed for free to children and youth of all ages within the communities they are given.

"Ensuring kids have essential resources sends a message that students, especially those from low-income and underserved communities, need to hear every day: You matter. We have high expectations for you. You can do it," said Commissioner Hodder.

Walmart and The Salvation Army have partnered for more than 30 years to help meet the needs of local communities. In 2020 and amidst the pandemic, the partnership distributed more than 125,000 supplies to children in need across the country.

The Salvation Army continues to evolve its services to provide low-income families with academic assistance and supplies, enrichment activities and food. In addition, The Salvation Army provided more than 225 million meals, 9.6 million nights of shelter, and emotional and spiritual support to more than 902,000 people in the first year of the pandemic.

For more information about The Salvation Army's programs and services, or to volunteer locally, visit www.salvationarmyusa.org.

About The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army annually helps more than 30 million Americans overcome poverty, addiction and economic hardships through a range of social services. By providing food for the hungry, emergency relief for disaster survivors, rehabilitation for those suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, and clothing and shelter for people in need, The Salvation Army is doing the most good at 7,600 centers of operations around the country. In the first-ever listing of "America's Favorite Charities" by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Salvation Army ranked as the country's largest privately funded, direct-service nonprofit. For more information, visit SalvationArmyUSA.org. Follow us on Twitter @SalvationArmyUS and #DoingTheMostGood

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE The Salvation Army

Related Links

https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/


CLEVELAND, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Max Hobhouse and Sophie Traube, the cyclists for Top to Bottom (T2B) are stopping in Cleveland and will travel a total of over 4,000 miles from Portland to New York City to raise awareness for mental health. COVID-19 has exacerbated many issues regarding mental health and bringing the topic to the forefront is vital. Their own experiences with mental health have led them to this path of not just awareness but awareness of sources.

Max became particularly aware of the connection between being physically active and mental health.

Sophie Traube (L) Max Hobhouse (R) Sponsor Fortnum & Mason

"After suffering an injury in my first year at Berkeley, I decided not to rejoin the rowing team. Unbeknownst to me at the time, sport had been an anchor of my mental health. In my following years at Berkeley, I struggled to find a balanced lifestyle that would allow me to follow my passions while keeping a healthy and productive mentality. At the end of my penultimate year, I finally sought the support that would allow me to gain some zest and stability in my life once again. Since my time in the in-patient program, I have come to understand the power of taking ownership of my own life through getting the right support."

What do I want my ride to share with others? "There is always a tomorrow," Max answered. At one time I didn't see that and now I know what I need to keep healthy physically and mentally.

For Sophie, she has spent a lifetime being a support for friends and was raised with mental health being an open and accepted topic. Max and Sophie kept in touch during lockdown and when Max called her one night with the idea she thought about it and called him back the next day with her answer. "Let's do it, I am in," Sophie empathically said. Understanding a balance lifestyle is something we all must learn whether we are in a crisis or not.

What do I want my ride to share with others? "There is more strength in you than you think," Sophie expressed "and be a friend, be open to listen to others."

Follow their journey on Instagram at t2busa or through their website toptobottomusa.org and cheer them on for ALL of us and better days.

Top to Bottom is a fundraising initiative in aid of two mental health organizations: James' Place (UK) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (U.S.A.)

Sponsors:

Fortnum & Mason

visit their website

Calisitoga Bikes

visit their website

The FTBLR

visit their website

Personal Bikefit

visit their website

Contact:

Jessica Gize

260-255-0077

[email protected]

SOURCE Top to Bottom (T2B)
The kickoff began with a private wreath laying ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial with the Siller family. The family then walked to Arlington County Firehouse 5, one of the stations that responded to the Pentagon on 9/11. They were joined at the firehouse by Tunnel to Towers program recipients, hundreds of walkers and 50 motorcyclists.

At the firehouse, Tunnel to Towers held a press conference to remember the lives the NEVER FORGET Walk is commemorating and to highlight the Foundation's programs. Speakers included Siller, Gold Star spouse Shannon Slutman, fallen first responder widow Dena Parlo, U.S, Army Captain Gavin White, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (IA), Arlington County Fire Department Chaplain Leonard Hamlin, Arlington County Fire Department Captain Justin Tirellli who responded to the Pentagon on 9/11, Home Depot Local District Manager Orrin Burkett, and GMC Zone Manager Casey Garwood. Click here to view clips from the press conference.

"This journey, for the Siller family and for myself personally, I can't tell you how important it is to make sure we never forget what happened 20 years ago. This walk will remind our fellow Americans what happened 20 years ago, so they will tell their children what happened, and they can tell their children, so we keep our promise to NEVER FORGET," said Siller.

The Never Forget Walk is about honoring those lost on 9/11, and all of those lost in the days, months, and years since, in the War on Terror.

"On this day, we remember that while some of these brave men and women may not return from the Towers, they may not return from Afghanistan, they may not return from Iraq, but we have to honor them and we have to remember them. That's why we are here today, to recognize the selfless sacrifice given by these incredible heroes to their communities, to their states, and to our great United States of America," said U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (IA), who served 23 years in the Iowa Army National Guard and served as a military commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Retired U.S. Army Captain Gavin White, who was injured in Afghanistan, thanked those preparing to walk. "For all of you out here today to walk, thank you for bringing attention to something that needs attention. Thank you for sharing with every step memories that need to be remembered."

Arlington County Fire Department Captain Justin Tirellli responded on 9/11 to the Pentagon and spoke about the significance of the over 500-mile journey. "Frank, what you are doing is not just a walk from the Pentagon to Shanksville to New York City. You are carrying the memories of everyone on this journey. That's how we remember, that's how we move forward, that's how we become better," said Tirellli.

After the press conference, Siller and the walkers made their way to the Arlington County Police Department, where Siller presented the department with a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. The walkers continued approximately 8 more miles through DC, passing the National Mall and ending the day with a barbeque at the DC Armory, where the Foundation donated a second piece of World Trade Center steel to the Washington DC Fire & EMS Training Academy.

On Monday, Siller continues his journey and will walk through Arlington, Falls Church and Vienna, VA. He'll walk about 15 miles a day throughout the walk. Each weekend, Tunnel to Towers will host a parade featuring first responders, local officials and residents. The first parade will take place in Winchester, VA on August 7.

For more information on the NEVER FORGET Walk, go to T2T.org/20-Anniversary. Additional assets from Sunday's events are available upon request.

About Tunnel to Towers Foundation

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller, who laid down his life to save others on September 11, 2001. For 20 years the Foundation has supported our nation's first responders, veterans, and their families by providing these heroes and the families they leave behind with mortgage-free homes. For more about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and its commitment to DO GOOD, please visit T2T.org .

Follow Tunnel to Towers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @Tunnel2Towers .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Trevor Tamsen - Tunnel to Towers Foundation

[email protected] 916-524-0941

Kerry Rom - Targeted Victory

[email protected]

SOURCE Tunnel to Towers Foundation
OAK BROOK, Ill., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TVG-Medulla, a healthcare management service organization, today announced they have acquired five new chiropractic clinics in the greater Seattle, WA area as part of the Chiro One Wellness Centers organization. Chiro One Wellness Centers is a leader in providing exceptional chiropractic care.

Sonic Chiropractic, Lake Union Wellness, Solution Chiropractic, Peter J. Hanson, P.C., and Banic Chiropractic, have all joined the organization. This expansion marks a significant step in the company's mission of leading patients and communities to a life of optimal health and wellness through education and service.

"We are so excited to expand our reach into the communities and culture of the western United States. An active lifestyle is integral to West Coast living, and as Chiropractors, we support and celebrate that. We are looking forward to delivering high-quality chiropractic care to new communities with our unique care model," said Sam Wang, Chief Operating Officer of TVG-Medulla.

Seattle's booming tech industry and diverse mix of large and small businesses provide a unique opportunity to serve patients in a dynamic city with a high-energy culture. The varied benefits of chiropractic care, from improving flexibility and mobility to reducing pain, pair well with the West Coast active, outdoor lifestyle.

"We are proud to join an organization with which we share a vision of bringing exceptional chiropractic care to communities across the country. Together, we provide the highest standards of care supported by outstanding clinical care teams to positively impact the lives of our Seattle residents," said Dr. Peter Hanson of Hanson Chiropractic.

A mission-driven organization, Chiro One Wellness Centers is honored to continue to expand the number of patients they serve and support new communities in the Seattle area. To learn more about Chiro One Wellness Centers, visit Chiroone.com.

About Chiro One Wellness Centers

With more than 75 clinics across the country, Chiro One Wellness Centers is leading patients to a life of health and optimal wellness through high-quality, customized chiropractic care. Managed by TVG-Medulla, Chiro One Wellness Centers is leading the charge in providing exceptional chiropractic care through consistent patient outcomes, high patient satisfaction rates, and wellness education around the diverse benefits of chiropractic care. For more information about Chiro One Wellness Centers, please visit chiroone.com .

About TVG-Medulla, LLC

TVG-Medulla, LLC is a healthcare management service organization that provides support and service to all Chiro One Wellness Center clinics. The doctors serving Chiro One clinics have access to Medulla's comprehensive corporate resources, like billing and insurance services, marketing, clinical operations, human resources, facilities maintenance, and IT. Medulla also offers wellness and education services to local communities, employers, and organizations. For more information on practice acquisition, please visit medullallc.com/chiro-one .

Media Contact

Name: Linda Fournier

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Medulla LLC; Chiro One Wellness Centers

Related Links

www.medullallc.com


BOCA RATON, Fla. and BIRMINGHAM, England, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MiX Telematics (JSE: MIX,NYSE: MIXT), a leading global provider of connected fleet and mobile asset management solutions, has announced that the UK's largest independent bus operator, McGill's Group, has chosen MiX Telematics as its connected fleet technology partner. The Contract also includes provision of telematics services to Xplore Dundee, a business recently acquired by McGill's.



The technology chosen encompasses MiX's premium Fleet Manager SaaS solution, with customisable reporting capabilites. In addition, McGill's has enlisted driver monitoring with in-cab feedback, as well as MiX Telematics' AI-powered fleet dash camera solution to improve overall safety, efficiency and operational performance.



"McGill's prides itself on investing in the best vehicles and infrastructure to ensure we can offer a quality service for those who journey with us. That is why we have chosen to partner with MIX as our telematics solution provider as their services offer terrific opportunities for focused driver training, compliance visibility and of course passenger safety and comfort. We are entering an exciting period for McGill's, with 29m of electric vehicles purchased in 2021 alone, to be installed with the MIX Vision AI system, also due to enter service before Scotland hosts COP26 in November," said Colin Napier, McGill's Group Operations Director.

"We are delighted to be selected as McGill's telematics and driver safety partner. We are proud to work with another passenger transport company that shares our passion for safety and environmental sustainability. We are looking forward to many successful years ahead working together in partnership," says Richard Adams, Sales Director for MiX Telematics Europe.



About McGill's

Founded in 1933, McGill's have depots in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone and Coatbridge. In late 2020, McGill's purchased Xplore Dundee from National Express. McGill's prides itself on high-level customer service and invests heavily in the new vehicles, driver training and development. The company has in-house driver training academies in Johnstone & Dundee. McGill's worked closely with the Prince's Trust on the 'Get Into Bus Engineering' scheme, to allow younger workers an opportunity to become engineers with McGill's. The company is also accredited as an Investor in Young People.



McGill's Bus Service Limited is registered in Scotland (SC027238).

About MiX Telematics

MiX Telematics is a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions delivered as SaaS to 744,000 global subscribers spanning more than 120 countries. The company's products and services provide enterprise fleets, small fleets and consumers with solutions for efficiency, safety, compliance and security. MiX Telematics was founded in 1996 and has offices in South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uganda, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and the United Arab Emirates as well as a network of more than 130 fleet partners worldwide. MiX Telematics shares are publicly traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: MIX) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MIXT). For more information, visit www.mixtelematics.com .

For further information:

Marion Calvet

Marketing Manager (Europe)

MiX Telematics (Europe), 6180 Knights Court, Solihull Parkway,

Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham, B37 7Yt

Tel: +44 121 717 5360 / 5379

Mob: +44 7787 103 273

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE MiX Telematics
RESTON, Va., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, today announced it has been awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army to support the Army Geospatial Center's (AGC) High-Resolution Three Dimensional, (HR3D) Geospatial Information Operation and Technology Integration program. This single-award contract has a total estimated value of $600 million if all options are exercised. The period of performance for the contract includes a one-year base as well as three one-year options. Work will be performed predominately in Virginia and various CONUS and OCONUS locations.

"We are excited to support the AGC's critical mission of providing timely, accurate and relevant geospatial data to the warfighter," said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group President. "Throughout the geospatial community, we continue to innovate on behalf of our customers. Leidos looks forward to leveraging our technical, engineering and software expertise to enable our warfighters to maintain a decisive advantage on the battlefield."

Under the contract, Leidos will continue to support AGC's BuckEye mission. The BuckEye program provides mission critical unclassified high resolution color imagery and digital 3D terrain over all operationally relevant areas of the world. The company will continue to provide contractor owned and contractor operated aircraft and a cadre of professionals to support the rapid collection, processing, storage, and dissemination of HR3D geospatial information. The unclassified releasability of BuckEye data is an invaluable tool to meet military and civilian requirements such as strengthening and building partnerships and partner capacity as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Insufficient unclassified HR3D geospatial information limits the ability of the U.S. to adequately engage other nations in expanding their capabilities and working towards a sustainable, secure environment. The HR3D program will address this critical gap for high-resolution mapping products covering the majority of the undeveloped world.

AGC provides a decisive advantage to ground forces and supports the Army's Battle Command Systems. It does so across the world by facilitating the dissemination of relevant geospatial information to every command level as well as to partner nations.

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 40,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $12.30 billion for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended January 1, 2021, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

Melissa Duenas

(571) 526-6850

[email protected]

Thomas Doheny

(571) 474-4735

[email protected]

Jalen Drummond

(571) 992-5046

[email protected]

SOURCE Leidos Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.leidos.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Senate candidate for New York Khaled Salem today announced his 100% support for justified retaliation by Israel in response to the Israeli Foreign Minister's statement that as of now "Iran is not just an Israeli problem." Salem is running against incumbent Chuck Schumer for the 2022 election. Israel's Foreign Minister blames "Iranian terrorism" for an attack in the Arabian Sea that killed two people.

U.S. Senate Candidate Khaled Salem U.S. Senate Candidate Khaled Salem

As of yesterday, a British national and a Romanian citizen were pronounced dead after having been killed by an Iranian attack on a tanker owned by Israeli shipping industrialist, Eyal Ofer. The oil tanker, which may have been attacked by a drone, yet to be confirmed, was in international waters and is now attempting to sail to a safe port.

Salem, an Egyptian-American, stated, "The attack underscores an impending escalation of fighting due to human casualties in international waters. In recent months there have been a number of attacks on both Israeli and Iranian-operated ships."

Salem stressed, "It is time for President Biden and the United States military forces to establish a stronger presence in the Gulf. It must increase involvement to protect the State of Israel. Otherwise, this critical time in the Middle East will erupt into 'unchecked' chaos. I worry about the potential 'flashpoint,' where all-out war is the only answer. Strong democratic allies, NATO and the United Nations must stop sitting on their hands and do something to de-escalate tensions and finally say 'out loud' that they support the safety of Israel's Jewish citizens. The world is tired of the 'back and forth' violence. We can no longer tolerate such brazen brutality and do not want all-out war."

Salem has a clear view of Middle East issues and is dedicated to informing Americans and the world-at-large of terrorist action against the State of Israel.

U.S. Democratic Senate Candidate Khaled Salem Urges Biden Continue Strong Support for Israel

Salem puts full energy behind permanently keeping U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

Khaled Salem, the Egyptian-American U.S. Senate candidate running against incumbent Chuck Schumer in the 2022 election, made clear in today's comments that the establishment of the U.S. Embassy in Israel should stay in Jerusalem. President Biden's predecessor moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Biden agrees the embassy should stay. In February, the U.S. Senate voted 97-3 on an amendment that set aside authorized funding to maintain the embassy in Jerusalem, underscoring the overwhelming support from Americans for Israel.

Candidate Salem is urging the U.S. government to support Israel in not allowing Palestinians to hold two passports and is in favor of permanently cancelling Israeli citizenship for Palestinians who threaten state security and demonstrate in Jerusalem.

"It was made clear during the confirmation hearing for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that the Biden administration would not move the U.S. Embassy from Jerusalem," said Salem, who is also the CEO of the American Human Rights Organization. "The people of the United States back Israel and it is vital for President Biden to 'dig in' and continue to support Israel in its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah. It is essential to call out the underground support given to terrorist organizations from Iran, Turkey and various Arab countries that hide millions of dollars and lethal weapons intended to destroy Israeli Jews."

Salem is positioning himself to unseat four-term incumbent Schumer in the 2022 general election.

Salem has a clear view of Middle East issues and is dedicated to informing Americans and the world-at-large of terrorist action against the State of Israel.

Media contact:

Khaled Salem

[email protected]

1518 348 6868

SOURCE U.S. Senate Candidate Khaled Salem
Village Family is a nonprofit organization that strives to make Norfolk, Va and the surrounding areas a better community by improving the quality of life of those in need by providing residents with top quality donated items, including new clothing, personal hygiene items and essentials. We want to make sure "no one goes to bed hungry". The Village Family Food Pantry distributes on the fourth Sunday of each month at First Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va. To learn more visit our website at www.villagefamilyoutreach.net .

The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is committed to supporting families facing food insecurity across its 10-state footprint. Established in 2001, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry in the communities it serves. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $12 million in grants.

About The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation

The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C. Established in 2001, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to eliminating hunger. The charitable foundation has provided more than $15 million in grant funding helping to nourish communities with fresh food for backpack programs, Kids Cafe's, and other hunger-relief programs as well as funding for long-term programs to help shorten the lines at food banks. The charitable foundation partners with Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief agency, in addition to local food agencies serving the 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states in which Food Lion operates. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com/in-our-community.

SOURCE Village Family

Related Links

https://www.villagefamilyoutreach.net


LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vision Films Inc. ("Vision") announces the theatrical and VOD release of the feature film I Love Us on September 17, 2021 in the U.S. and Canada. The limited theatrical release includes City Cinemas Village East in New York City, the Laemmle Glendale- Los Angeles, Angelika Film Center & Cafe in Plano, TX and Washington, DC, and the Emagine Canton 19 in Detroit.

I Love Us Family Crime Drama Movie From Filmmaker Danny A. Abeckaser

The fourth directorial project from Abeckaser (First We Take Brooklyn (2018), Mob Town (2019), and Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story (2020), under his 2B Films production company. I Love Us captures the story of "Sammy Silver," a classic anti-hero criminal with heart who is unexpectedly faced with events that change the trajectory of his life. Sammy must walk the fine line between his crooked real family and creating a better future for his chosen family. The film further expands Abeckaser's range into the romantic feature realm through this heartfelt story while still integrating his passion for mobster crime dramas. Written by Kosta Kondilopoulos and produced by Kyle Stefanski, Mike Hermosa, Jeff Hoffman, and Abeckaser. The film is executive produced by Ron Rofe, Isaac Gindi, Eddie Gindi, Gustavo Nascimento, and Katie Cassidy.

Synopsis : When a man born into a crime syndicate falls madly in love with a single mother, the existence he's never questioned collides with his hope to become a loving husband and father. After a life-altering event, it becomes evident that his life of corruption must come to an end, but there's only one way outa job that will free him from the syndicate and offer his new family the life they deserve.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/ILoveUsTrailer

The film stars Katie Cassidy (When A Stranger Calls, The CW's Arrow), Danny A. Abeckaser (The Irishman, LANSKY), Robert Davi (The Goonies, License to Kill, Mob Town), David James Elliot (JAG), Jackie Cruz (Orange Is The New Black, LANSKY), Greg Finley (iZombie, Blackjack, The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Jasper Polish (Animal Kingdom), and Harlow Jane (Dig).

Supporting cast includes James Madio, Courtney Lopez, Elya Baskin, Eliad Nachum, Duke George, Ray Boudereau, Diana Madison, George Andreakos, Frank Florio, and Diana Davis. The soundtrack features exclusive new music from Israeli pop sensation, Eliad.

Lise Romanoff, CEO and Managing Director of Vision Films says, "I Love Us is an entertaining crime drama with a strong relationship message  it reminds us how volatile life can be, and how it can change in an instant  for better and worse. Danny Abeckaser and this talented ensemble cast are so real.. that it even makes us root for the bad guys!"

Filmmaker and star, Danny A. Abeckaser shares, "When I was presented with this script, I was blown away by the story and immediately could not get it out of my mind. It was a touching moral journey that I wanted to tell, not only through directing but also by portraying Sammy Silver (the lead) as I envisioned him upon reading the script. This story has real heart, and I am excited to bring this film to life through our incredible cast and Vision as our partner."

I Love Us will be available in select theatres and for streaming on: iTunes, Amazon Instant, GooglePlay, Vudu, Fandango Now, and Vimeo, and all major cable platforms in the US and Canada. DVD retailers will include Amazon and other major online retailers.

About Vision Films

Vision Films is a leading independent sales and VOD aggregator specializing in the licensing, marketing, and distribution of over 800 feature films, documentaries, and series from some of the most prolific independent film producers in the world. Led by Lise Romanoff, Managing Director/CEO Worldwide Distribution, Vision Films releases 2-4 films a month across Theatrical, VOD, DVD, and television platforms. visionfilms.net

About 2B Films:

Danny A. Abeckaser's 2B Films has produced thirteen films to date since its founding in 2013. Film highlights include the 2020 indie hit Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story (Greg Finley, David Arquette, Ashley Greene) currently streaming on all platforms, 2019 Indie hit Mob Town (David Arquette, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, PJ Byrne, Jennifer Esposito), the documentaries Davi's Way (starring Robert Davi) and The Last Shaman with Apian Way, 2018's First We Take Brooklyn (Harvey Keitel, Kathrine Narducci, AnnaLynne McCord), The Curse of Sleeping Beauty, Club Life (Jerry Ferrara), A Stand Up Guy by Mike Young, and The Experimenter, plus Sundance Film Festival selection Holy Rollers directed by Kevin Asch, and the Kevin Asch directed short "Characters" (Lukas Haas, Sara Foster), among others. 2B Films also has several other projects in current development and pre-production. Follow @DannyA27 - Instagram #2BFilms

Contact:

Andrea McKinnon

(818) 415-9442

[email protected]

SOURCE Vision Films, Inc.
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Winmark, The Resale Company, the parent company to resale retail franchises Once Upon A Child, Plato's Closet, Play It Again Sports, Music Go Round and Style Encore, reports a great start to the first half of the year with 18 new signed franchise agreements. With over 2,100 available territories for new franchisees across all five brands, Winmark has its eyes set on aggressive North American franchise development to provide Resale for Everyone.

First Research estimates that the used merchandise stores industry in the U.S. to have annual revenues of approximately $15 billion. As the resale industry continues to thrive, Winmark is on a mission to find great franchisee partners - seeing significant growth in Canada and Texas, and is actively targeting Arizona, California, and Massachusetts for continued development.

"We have always seen significant interest for our resale stores in the past, but the last 18 months has shown an increase in demand for quality used clothing, fitness, sporting goods, music gear, and baby items ," said Renae Gaudette, President of Franchising for Winmark Corporation. "Customers are looking for local, sustainable options to sell their quality used items, get paid immediately, and receive great value in return. All of our brands meet those needs in their communities. With the development in our brands and the resale industry, we are continuing to see growth and interest as 2021 progresses."

By prioritizing innovation, Winmark has continued the enhancement of it's multi-channel offerings and roll-out of its ecommerce system and social selling programs to assist franchisees. This was created in an effort to provide franchisees additional resources for online selling options that has provided tremendous value to their business.

Winmark has solidified its strong position by delivering consumers an experience that is unparalleled in the resale space. The company's commitment to providing quality used merchandise in a clean, welcoming environment sets it apart from other resale concepts and has been a key driver in both consumer and franchise growth. In fact, many of its franchisees were customers prior to opening their own stores.

If you are interested in learning more about franchising opportunities with Winmark,The Resale Company brands, visit winmarkfranchises.com.

About Winmark  the Resale Company

Winmark, the Resale Company, is a nationally recognized franchising business focused on sustainability and small business formation. We champion and guide entrepreneurs interested in operating one of our award-winning resale franchises: Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child, Play It Again Sports, Style Encore and Music Go Round. At June 26, 2021, there were 1,266 franchises in operation and over 2,000 available territories. An additional 36 franchises have been awarded but are not open.

SOURCE Winmark Corporation

Related Links

https://www.winmarkfranchises.com


SUZHOU, China, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi Biologics ("WuXi Bio") (2269.HK), a global company with leading open-access biologics technology platforms, announced that only 13 months after receiving its first GMP certificate, it has once again received a European Medicines Agency (EMA) GMP certificate for the Biosafety Testing facility in Suzhou. This certificate demonstrates WuXi Biologics' compliance to global cGMP biosafety testing standards and regulatory guidelines.

This additional EMA GMP certificate was issued following a remote inspection conducted by Poland's Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate in April 2021. The comprehensive inspection covered not only the Quality Control (QC) testing of a Master Cell Bank (MCB) and Working Cell Bank (WCB) used for the production of an innovative biological product from a global partner, but also the facility's entire quality system. The inspection was conducted in response to the positive scientific opinion issued by the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products (CHMP) on the aforementioned biological product.

Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, commented, "The second EMA certificate is the solid proof of our world-class quality system as well as the technology platforms utilized at our Suzhou facility. However, continuous improvement is the foundation of our organization and thus we will continue to advance our capabilities and quality systems to further enable our global partners to develop novel biotherapeutics."

WuXi Biologics Biosafety Testing team offers cell line characterization and adventitious agent testing for the QC release of cell banks, unprocessed bulk (UPB) lots and raw materials. The team also conducts viral clearance and inactivation studies per global regulatory guidelines. Since 2015, WuXi Biologics Biosafety Testing team has instituted ISO (CNAS), and CMA-certified laboratories in Suzhou, China and established a solid reputation in the industry for its biosafety services as confirmed through regulatory inspections from the EMA, China's National Medical Product Administration (NMPA), and over 300 quality audits from global clients. As one of the largest global biosafety testing providers, the WuXi Biologics Biosafety Testing team has an outstanding execution and compliance track record as demonstrated by zero rejections from over 500 biosafety-related testing studies submitted to regulatory agencies worldwide.

About WuXi Biologics

WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, is a leading global open-access biologics technology platform offering end-to-end solutions to empower organizations to discover, develop, and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing. The company's history and achievements demonstrate its commitment to providing a truly one-stop service offering and strong value proposition to its global clients.

The company is currently conducting on behalf of its clients and partners (as of March 22, 2021) a total of 361 integrated projects: 190 in pre-clinical development; 137 in early-phase (phase I and II) clinical development; 32 in late-phase (phase III) development; and 2 in commercial manufacturing. With a total estimated capacity at around 430,000 liters for biopharmaceutical production planned by 2024 in China, Ireland, the U.S., Germany, and Singapore, WuXi Biologics will provide its biomanufacturing partners with a robust and premier-quality global supply chain network.

WuXi Biologics views Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) responsibilities as an integral component of its ethos and business strategy and aims to become a global ESG leader in biologics manufacturing. We use next-generation clean biomanufacturing technologies and utilize cleaner energy sources. We have also established an ESG committee led by the CEO to increase efficiency while advancing commitment to sustainability. For more information about WuXi Biologics, please visit: www.wuxibiologics.com.



Contacts

Media

[email protected]

Investors

[email protected]

SOURCE WuXi Biologics
XM Cyber competed against many of the industry's leading providers of cybersecurity products and services for this prestigious award. The term "Baby Black Unicorn" signifies a cybersecurity company that has the potential to reach a $1 billion dollar market value within 3-5 years as determined by private or public investment.

"We are honored and thrilled to see our company be named a Black Unicorn for the third year in a row," said Noam Erez, CEO and co-founder of XM Cyber. "XM Cyber brings a new approach that uses the attacker's perspective to find, prioritize and remediate all possible attack paths across on-premises and multi-cloud networks to disrupt attacks before they disrupt business."

"Organizations are increasingly aware that it's not if, but when, an attacker will breach the enterprise network to gain access to their critical assets. The question is then what path will they choose to propagate the network, taking advantage of misconfigurations, bad identity hygiene and vulnerabilities."

The judges were CISSP, FMDHS, and CEH-certified security professionals who voted based on their independent review of each submission including data sheets, white papers, product literature and other market variables.

"We're pleased to name XM Cyber as a winner among a small, elite group of cybersecurity industry leaders in our third annual Black Unicorn awards," said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of www.allegiscyber.com , David DeWalt of www.nightdragon.com , Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com .

About XM Cyber

XM Cyber is the global leader in attack path management. XM Cyber brings a new approach that uses the attacker's perspective to find and remediate critical attack paths across on-premises and multi-cloud networks. The XM Cyber platform enables companies to rapidly respond to cyber risks affecting their business-sensitive systems by continuously finding new exposures, including exploitable vulnerabilities and credentials, misconfigurations, and user activities. XM Cyber constantly simulates and prioritizes attack paths putting mission-critical systems at risk, providing context-sensitive remediation options. Founded by top executives from the Israeli cyber intelligence community, XM Cyber has offices in North America, Europe, and Israel.

For more information: www.xmcyber.com

Social Networks: Follow us on Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube

About Cyber Defense Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazine's 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 please visit https://cyberdefenseawards.com/black-unicorn-awards-finalists-2021/

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA, BlackHat and IPEXPO conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com . Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group (CDMG).

Media Contact:

Seth Menacker

Fusion PR (for XM Cyber)

E: [email protected]

T: +1 (201) 638-7561

SOURCE XM Cyber

Related Links

https://www.xmcyber.com


Lucknow, Aug 2 : Only 36 new Covid cases have been registered in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours with 52 districts reporting not even a single case of Covid.

The number of active cases has come down to 664.

Ten districts -- Aligarh, Amroha, Etah, Farrukhabad, Hathras, Kasganj, Kaushambhi, Mahoba, Pratapgarh and Shravasti -- have been declared Covid-free.

At least 23 districts reported new cases but in single digit.

In view of the possibility of the third wave of Coronavirus pandemic, the number of oxygen plants and ventilator beds have been ramped up in the state. Out of the 541 sanctioned oxygen plants, 254 have become functional. The government also claimed to have readied 156 beds for children in Lucknow of which 56 beds are equipped with ventilators.

"The remaining beds have oxygen support through pipelines and the paediatric Covid ward is ready for use," a government statement said.

"Ventilator unit with 40 beds for children is also ready at Lucknow's Balrampur Hospital and an oxygen generation plant is functional to fulfil the oxygen requirement of 100 beds," it said.

The daily positivity rate in the state stands at 0.01 per cent which is the lowest in the country.

The government spokesman said that daily fresh cases have been limited to less than 100 for nearly 20 days now.

With a density of 690 people per square kilometre, Uttar Pradesh is also the only state in the country to have tested more than three lakh samples a day and over 6.5 crore samples so far.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has again urged the people to continue following safety protocols and take advantage of the mega vaccine drive.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, Aug 2 : The Tamil Nadu government has made a negative RT-PCR test mandatory for people travelling to the state from Kerala. This will be made effective from August 5 onwards.

The Tamil Nadu Health Minister, Ma Subramanian said that the decision was taken following the surge in the Covid cases in Kerala.

Individuals from Kerala who can produce a fully vaccinated certificate with the second dose taken 14 days before the journey will also be allowed entry into the state from August 5 onwards.

However in the border areas of Tamil Nadu like Cumbum, Nagercoil and in Walayar the restrictions have come into effect from Monday onwards with the authorities insisting on the negative RT-PCR certificate or vaccination certificate 14 days before the journey.

Ma Subramanian along with the Tamil Nadu health secretary, J. Radhakrishnan on Sunday inspected the Chennai International airport's domestic and international terminals on Sunday to monitor the Covid-19 screening at the airport.

Minister Ma Subramanian told IANS said, "The cases in Kerala are increasing and, hence the Tamil Nadu state health department has taken a view that a negative RT-PCR certificate taken within 72 hours of travel or a fully vaccinated certificate with the second dose of vaccine taken 14 days before the journey is a must for people from Kerala reaching Tamil Nadu." The minister also said that people travelling by road, rail or by air will have to produce these certificates at the border of Tamil Nadu and that only those who produce the certificates would be allowed entry to the state.

The health department of the state has directed officials in districts where there is a surge in Covid cases to monitor and implement preventive measures to control the surge of cases.

Karnataka has also issued a health alert stating that people from Kerala be allowed to travel into that state only if they produce a negative RT-PCR certificate taken within 72 hours of the journey. The Karnataka health department has made negative RT-PCR certificates mandatory even for those who have taken both doses of vaccine for people from Kerala.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Phnom Penh, Aug 2 : Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the kingdom's first-ever oil extraction had come to a full stop after Singapore-based oil and gas firm KrisEnergy filed for liquidation.

KrisEnergy started pumping crude oil from one of Cambodia's offshore oilfields, Block A, in late 2020, which was the first crude oil production in the Southeast Asian nation, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, the firm went into liquidation in June after production at the oil field failed to meet expectations, leaving it unable to repay its debts.

"On December 29, we announced the first drop of oil -- it's now perhaps a failure," Hun Sen said in a public address here on Sunday.

KrisEnergy, which held a 95 per cent stake in the block, while the Cambodian government owned the remaining 5 per cent, had expected a peak production of 7,500 barrels a day, or 2.73 million barrels per annum.

"In the end, the production was only 1,000 barrels a day. Now, the company goes bankrupt and a tanker that carried the extracted oil had run away because we had not prevented it on time. It entered the Thai territory," he added.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Tel Aviv, Aug 2 : Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has blamed Iran for carrying out the deadly drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman last week.

"I declare unequivocally: Iran carried out the attack against the ship," Bennett said while addressing a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

He added that Israel has intelligence evidence of Iran's involvement in the attack on the oil tanker Mercer Street, reports Xinhua news agency.

Israel expects the international community to exert pressure on Iran that "made a serious mistake", the Prime Minister said.

There is yet to be a responsibility claim for the attack.

In a press conference on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the Israeli allegations as "baseless".

Zodiac Maritime, a London-based firm owned by the Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, said in a statement on July 30 that the attack on its oil tanker Mercer Street the previous day killed two crew members, a Romanian and a Briton.

Iran and armed groups associated with it have been blamed by Israel for using drone attacks to target its ships in the Gulf in previous cases.

The latest incident marked the first time that such an attack resulted in fatalities.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, Aug 2 : The Tamil Nadu health department has swung into action following a slight increase in the number of fresh Covid cases.

The number of fresh Covid cases continued to increase for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday. However, hotspots like Chennai and Coimbatore showed a fall in the number of new cases.

The state on Sunday recorded 1,990 fresh cases when compared to 1,986 cases on Saturday.

The state health minister Ma Subramanian conducted a review meeting with the health officials, including the state health secretary, J. Radhakrishnan on the increase in Covid cases on Sunday. The minister along with the health secretary inspected the Chennai International airport to check on the measures taken on Covid prevention at the airport terminals.

Health officials have also deployed squads in railway stations and bus stations to conduct a check on the people arriving in the state. The state has also made it mandatory for people reaching Tamil Nadu from Kerala and Maharashtra to have mandatory RT-PCR negative reports taken within 72 hours of the journey. The state will allow passengers from these states if they have taken both the doses of vaccine and the second dose 14 days prior to the arrival to TN.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin also conducted a high-level meeting of the police officers, revenue officials and health officials to tackle the increase in Covid fresh cases. Police will be conducting checks across the state. A strong police force has been deployed on the borders with Karnataka, Andhra, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The health department is also creating more awareness among the public on wearing masks, social distancing, and regular use of sanitizer and not to go out of the homes without any specific reason.

The district collectors are being instructed to take stringent action against those violating the Covid standard protocol and to restrict travel without proper reasons.

A task force has been created under the aegis of the district collectors in the districts where the number of cases is increasing. The task force consists of the district police superintendent and district health officer along with other officials. Government has also appealed to all political parties to come together and to create awareness among the people to stay indoors and not to venture out unnecessarily.

State Health Minister Ma Subramanian told IANS, "Government has taken all preventive measures and I am directly monitoring the situation. There is a slight increase and we will not leave any stone unturned to find out the reason behind this slight surge. Health officials are being asked to do micro-level monitoring of the situation. Things are under control and with the cooperation of the people of the state, we are expecting to bring the number of Covid-19 cases down."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Nay Pyi Taw, Aug 2 : Myanmar has vaccinated over 1.8 million people against Covid-19 as of July 21 this year, Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said in a televised statement.

"Vaccines were administered in all regions and states from January 27 to July 21 this year, over 1.8 million people, or 6.08 per cent of the target population, were vaccinated two times," Xinhua news agency quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying on Sunday.

Fifty per cent of the total population is expected to get vaccinated by the end of this year, he added.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Sports, Myanmar reported 3,480 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the tally in the country to 302,665.

The death toll has reached 9,731 after 397 more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, the statement said.

A total of 213,227 patients have been discharged from the hospitals and over 3.16 million samples have been tested for the virus since the onset of the pandemic early last year.

Meanwhile, the State Administration Council on Sunday announced the extension of the public holiday period for one more week to August 8, in an effort to further curb the transmission of the virus.

Min Aung Hlaing also stressed that the military has prepared to admit 39,000 patients at 1,278 treatment centres, while for civilians there 1,453 facilities.

Myanmar detected its first two positive cases of Covid-19 on March 23 last year.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 : In what is seen as a departure from the past, the Congress led opposition in Kerala on Monday staged a disciplined protest on the floor of the assembly demanding the resignation of State Education Minister V. Sivankutty.

On Thursday and Friday the opposition had protested by boycotting the day's proceedings, but on Monday during Question Hour the moment Sivankutty got up to answer questions, the entire opposition members stood up in their seats and started shouting slogans against Sivankutty.

In between the sloganeering, out came the banners which read that Sivankutty has to resign.

Soon came the Speaker M.B. Rajesh's announcement that displaying banners in the House is against the rule and the opposition heeded to that but continued the sloganeering and it ended only after Sivankutty sat after providing the answers.

Incidentally what must be noted is during the present session, the opposition by and large even while expressing their dissent on various issues, is yet to step into the well of the house, which in the previous assemblies was a normal expression of protest.

Sivankutty along with another legislator -- K.T. Jaleel, a former Minister, and four other former legislators will have to face trial after the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the Kerala government's plea to withdraw cases against the CPI-M leaders for vandalism in the state Assembly in 2015.

The vandalism took place on March 13, 2015 when erstwhile State Finance Minister K.M. Mani was presenting the state Budget for the new fiscal.

The then CPI-M-led opposition had taken a strong stand that Mani, who was accused of taking a bribe of Rs one crore from a bar owner for reopening closed bars, would not be allowed to present the Budget.

When Mani began his speech, the Left legislators went berserk, throwing out the Speaker's chair from the dais and also damaging the electronic equipment on his table.

The list of the other accused included former State Minister E.P. Jayarajan K. Kunju Ahamed, C.K. Sadasivan and K. Ajith, who are no longer legislators, while K.T. Jaleel, the former Higher Education Minister is a legislator now.

Since 2020, the late K.M. Mani's party -- Kerala Congress (M), now led by his son Jose K. Mani moved out from the Congress-led UDF and is presently the third biggest ally of the Vijayan government and has been given a cabinet berth.
Ankara, Aug 2 : Forest fires continued to rage across Turkey's south and southwestern coastal resort towns, forcing evacuations of several villages and tourism facilities.

The blaze in the Manavgat district of the Mediterranean province of Antalya reached Sirtkoy village on Sunday, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of residents, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have been on high alert at night for not allowing the flames to threaten the residential homes. But the strong wind diverted the blaze toward our homes. We couldn't do anything," a village resident told the NTV broadcaster.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that seven people have been killed and 507 others affected by the fire in Manavgat, which erupted on July 27.

Meanwhile, many residents and tourists have been evacuated by Coast Guard boats and private yachts in Bodrum, an Aegean resort town of the Mugla province, after a fresh blaze that erupted in the Mazi neighbourhood.

Firefighters in Marmaris, another resort town of Mugla, have been battling the blaze still raging in the area.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of the Turunc neighbourhood.

Some 111 fires that broke out in the past five days in Turkey had been contained by Sunday morning, according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli.

He said six fires were still burning.
Tel Aviv, Aug 2 : The Israeli cabinet has kicked off discussions on the state budget, after more than three years amid a political deadlock.

"After three years in which Israel has been working without a budget, the most basic tool for running a country, we are now submitting for cabinet approval the 2021-2022 budget," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

According to Bennett, the budget includes investments in public transportation, internet infrastructure and technology, and education, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are reducing bureaucracy and increasing competition, for everyone, but mainly for the weaker sectors," he said.

"This government is free to act on behalf of the general interest," the Israeli leader added.

The budget is expected to be brought for the approval of the Knesset, or Parliament, in the next months.

Passing the new budget in Parliament would be the first test for Bennett's new narrow coalition which has 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

During and after the two years of political deadlock and four elections, Israel has used a version of the state budget for 2019, which was approved in March 2018.
Lusaka, Aug 2 : Zambian President Edgar Lungu has allowed the deployment of the army and other forces in an effort to help the police in containing violence that has marred the run-up to the general elections.

In a social media post on Sunday, Lungu said he has allowed the army, Zambian Air Force and Zambian National Service to help the police deal with the security situation witnessed in some parts of the country ahead of the August 12 polls, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Maintaining law and order is a daily chore of the police, but sometimes they need help from other security wings. I have taken this step in order to ensure that the electoral process -- the work of the Electoral Commission of Zambia -- is not interfered with," the President added.

The security forces have already been deployed in Lusaka, the country's capital, which has witnessed violence in the last two days resulting in the deaths of two people, said the President, who added that more officers will be deployed in other parts of the country if the situation demands so.

The Zambian leader expressed sadness that people have been killed for exercising their democratic rights and urged political party supporters to exercise maximum restraint.

Two supporters of the governing Patriotic Front (PF) died in Kanyama township in Lusaka following clashes with supporters of the country's main opposition party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), on July 31.

Supporters of the two parties have engaged in violence as they campaign for the general elections, forcing the electoral body, to suspend their campaigns at one time.
Mogadishu, Aug 2 : Somalia has appealed to the international community to provide urgent lifesaving assistance to 5.9 million people who require humanitarian aid in 2021.

In a statement on Sunday, Khadija Mohamed Diriye, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, also decried the humanitarian funding crises faced by Somalia this year, warning that if action is not taken to address this funding gap, the cost could be catastrophic, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are hugely concerned that because of the humanitarian funding crisis of 5.9 million Somalis, almost half the population of Somalia, including vulnerable children, women and men are at risk of losing access to the life-saving and protection services they desperately need," Diriye said.

The statement came after she convened an urgent meeting between her Ministry and federal member states' ministries for humanitarian affairs and disaster management in Mogadishu.

Diriye said the humanitarian situation has been aggravated by a double climate disaster, drought in some parts of the country and flooding in others, and the impact of political tensions, Covid-19 and the worst desert locust infestation in years.

She called on the international community and donors to secure urgent additional funds to support full operationalisation of the Somalia 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan and scale up advocacy and ensure Somalia does not become a forgotten crisis.

Diriye noted the significant progress made in Somalia over the past years and the risk the current climatic shocks pose to the gains made.
Jammu, Aug 2 : Four flying objects suspected to be drones were spotted in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, said police.

The objects were noticed in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

Police sources said the four flying objects were spotted in the Bari Brahmana area of Samba district.

"Police personnel did not fire at these as they were out of range, but the army was immediately alerted", sources said.

After confirmation from police about spotting these objects, security forces have been out on high alert in and around the area.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27.

If you sign into your device after September 27, you may get username or password errors when you try to use Google products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps.

"If your device has the ability to update to a newer Android version (3.0+), we advise you to do so in order to maintain access to Google apps and services on that device," the company said in an update.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our users safe, Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27, 2021," the company added.

Android 2.3.7 was released nearly 10 years ago.

When support ends for sign-in with a Google Account on Android 2.3.7 and below, the users will receive a username or password error if they try to sign in to their devices or to add an email or calendar account.

"You will be able to sign into your account with a newer Android version (3.0 or newer). If your device has the ability to update to a newer Android version (3.0+), we advise you to do so," Google advised.

If you cannot update your device to a newer Android version (3.0+), you can try to log into your Google account on your device's web browser.

You can still use some Google services when logged into Google on your device's web browser.
Gaza, Aug 2 : Residents of the Gaza Strip said Israel has eased some restrictions on the blockaded enclave by expanding the allowed fishing zone and granting entry access to some imported goods.

On Sunday, dozens of Gazan fishermen gathered to sell various kinds of fish caught a night earlier, saying the expansion of the allowed fishing zone enabled them to fish more.

Mohammed Saeed, a fisherman from the al-Shati refugee camp, told Xinhua that for the first time in months, he had succeeded in fishing many kinds of fish off the coast of Gaza.

"Since 2007, we have been suffering from the Israeli blockade as a result of the political conflict between Israel and the armed Palestinian groups," said Samir al-Masry, another fisherman from Gaza city.

He added that the siege imposed on the sea prevented many fishermen from living a decent life and forced them to rely on aids provided by international institutions.

"We need to put an end to the Israeli restrictions imposed on the sea, and to be able to fish in the entire coast of the Gaza Strip," al-Masry said, adding that both sides should "avoid punishing civilians and let them live in safety".

Also on Sunday, Israeli authorities allowed the entry of 29 vehicles into Gaza, which had been held at Israeli ports since May.

Meanwhile, dozens of goods entered Gaza through the crossing point of Kerem Shalom, the only commercial passage that connects the enclave to the outside world.

Mahmoud Dawood, a car trader from Gaza city, finally received his cars that had been held at the Israeli ports for months.

He expressed his hope that the Israeli authorities would decouple the political and economic situations in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Tamer Ashour, an official in the Syndicate of Vehicle Importers, told Xinhua that only 29 cars were allowed to enter Gaza for the first time after the ban lasted for more than two months.

"On ordinary days, at least 100 vehicles enter Gaza. But after the military escalation between the Israeli army and the armed Palestinian groups, Israel stopped the import of vehicles," Ashour said.

On May 10, Israel waged a large-scale airstrike on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Islamic Hamas Movement and other militant groups fired hundreds of rockets towards Israel.

On May 21, Egypt mediated a ceasefire between the two sides that ended the fighting between the two sides.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, Aug 2 : The US has blamed Iran for carrying out last week's deadly drone attack on an oil tanker in the north Arabian Sea, saying "an appropriate response" is forthcoming.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the State Department said: "Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region.

"There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behaviour. These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved.

"We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming." Zodiac Maritime, a London-based firm owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, said on July 30 that its oil tanker Mercer Street was attacked a day earlier.

The two dead crew members were from Romania and Britain.

Also on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett blamed Iran for the attack, saying his country has intelligence evidence of Tehran's involvement and expects the international community to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic that "made a serious mistake".

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegation, saying they were "baseless".
Jaipur, Aug 2 : Haryana state Congress president Kumari Selja, on Sunday night, made a silent and surprise visit to Jaipur, went to Chief Minister's residence, had a long discussion with Ashok Gehlot and then she quickly returned back to Delhi on Monday morning.

Her silent, sudden and quick trip to Jaipur has left one and all guessing and has triggered fresh speculations about cabinet reshuffle in the state.

Congress sources said that it is highly likely that the long meeting of Kumari Selja with the chief minister is directly linked with the possible reshuffle in Rajasthan.

On Sunday, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Ajay Maken held discussions with Rahul Gandhi on issues related to Rajasthan. Soon after the meeting, late in the evening, Kumari Selja was sent to Jaipur to meet Gehlot.

Sources said that Selja met Gehlot at the behest of the party high command.

Maken during his recent visit to Jaipur had received complaints by MLAs about poor performances of some cabinet ministers, which triggers speculations that a few ministers will be dropped.

Selja is a confidante of Sonia Gandhi and she might have come with a message from the Gandhi family, said veteran leaders here.

The party, however, did not issue any statement regarding her visit to Jaipur and meeting with the chief minister.

Kumari Selja, considered a strong supporter of Ashok Gehlot, was the chairperson of the screening committee to decide the tickets in the last assembly elections. Earlier, she also handled the responsibility as Rajasthan in-charge.

However, this time, her Jaipur visit was kept a secret. Even the vehicles that came to take her from the airport to the CM's residence belonged to Haryana.
Washington, Aug 2 : Besides the surging cases of infections from the Delta variant, the US is also seeing a rise in cases of a respiratory virus known as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a highly contagious, flu-like illness, that is typically more likely to affect children and older adults, according to media reports.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that cases of RSV have risen gradually since early June, with an even greater spike in the past month, the New York Times reported. RSV leads to runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever. It normally begins to spread in the fall, making the summer spike unusual.

"After many months of zero or few pediatric Covid cases, we are seeing infants, children and teenagers with Covid pouring back into the hospital, more and more each day," Dr Heather Haq, a pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston wrote in a series of posts on Twitter.

Haq added that patients have ranged in age from two weeks to 17 years old, including some with Covid pneumonias.

"We are on the front end of a huge Covid surge. We are now having winter-level patient volumes of acutely ill infants/toddlers with RSV, and I worry that we will run out of beds and staff to handle the surge upon surge," Haq tweeted.

The US has in the past two weeks seen a 148 per cent rise in new infections, while hospitalisations have surged by 73 per cent, according to New York Times data.

Health officials are concerned as many schools across the country are set to open, increasing the risk of children being infected.

The Texas health department revealed that RSV cases in the state began to increase in early June, and appeared to peak in the middle of July, the report said.

Similar spike in RSV cases has been seen in Florida where infections "were above those seen at this time in the past years," according to a surveillance report of the virus.

In Louisiana, cases have jumped by 244 per cent in the past two weeks, CNN reported.

RSV cases in Oklahoma have been "exponentially off the charts", Dr Cameron Mantor, chief medical officer for Oklahoma Children's Hospital at OU Health was quoted as saying to The Oklahoman newspaper.

Countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand have also reported a surge in RSV infection cases.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, Aug 2 : Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in Karnataka has directed the private hospitals and laboratories to share the reports of Covid positive patients to BBMP and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) before it is being given to the patients.

Chief Commissioner Gourav Gupta had issued an order in this regard on Sunday evening which mandates private hospitals and labs to update Covid-19 positive cases to BBMP and upload details on the ICMR portal.

"It has come to BBMP's notice that many diagnostic centres and private hospitals are giving out Covid-19 test results to patients directly even before informing BBMP authorities or updating on ICMR portal.

"Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic and it is mandatory for all private establishments carrying out tests and treatment to report all Covid positive cases to BBMP. This will ensure timely and effective containment and surveillance of the infectious disease," Chief Commissioner BBMP Gaurav Gupta stated.

"It is directed that all laboratories, private hospitals testing either Rapid Antizen Test (RAT) or RT-PCR or any other approved Covid tests shall update results on ICMR portal immediately. They should also inform BBMP authorities via email to the Chief Health Officer and respective zonal health officers," the order said.

"If any laboratory or hospital is found to violate the above-mentioned order, strict action will be initiated under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Ordinance 2020, the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (KPME) Act 2017 and Disaster Management Act, 2005," the order stated.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Mumbai, Aug 2 : Online insurance marketplace Policybazaar has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities Exchange Board of India for an initial public offering to raise Rs 6,017.50 crore from the market.

With this, Policybazaar joins a growing number of Indian startups looking to raise funds from the capital markets to support the country's booming digital economy.

The IPO will be undertaken by PB Fintech Ltd, the parent of Policybazaar. The issue comprises fresh issue of Rs 3,750 crore worth of equity shares and an offer for sale of Rs 2,267.50 crore by existing shareholders and promoters.

The OFS will see sale of up to Rs 1,875 crore worth of shares by SVF Python II (Cayman) and up to Rs 392.50 crore by others.

The company also proposes to raise Rs 750 crore through placement of shares before the IPO. Information regarding this has already been shared by the company with the regulator.

A major chunk of money raised through the IPO will be used for expansion of the company's operations and for furthering growth plans. Reports suggest that Policybazaar is seeking a valuation of $5.5-6 billion.

Policybazaar is backed by investors such as Softbank, Temasek, Info Edge, Tiger Global Management and Tencent Holdings Ltd., was founded in 2008 to tap vast under-served Indian insurance market.

It's IPO follows good response received by another Indian startup Zomato. This IPO received overwhelming response from the market that has seen its shares jump over 80 per cent.

Policybazaar works on the business model that provides its customers choice of policies at different price points and helps them in making an informed decision on insurance.

The success of this IPO is expected to open the floodgates for similar entities to tap the market.

Kotak Mahindra and Morgan Stanley are the global coordinators for PB Fintech's IPO. Other bookrunners include Citigroup, ICICI Securities, HDFC Bank, IIFL Securities and Jefferies.
Bhubaneswar, Aug 2 : Orda, a tribal village under Gobara panchayat in Cuttack district is untraceable on any digital device. Neither Google Maps nor any other search engine could tell you where exactly the village is. Last month, when a health department team reached Orda to inoculate the villagers, many fled into the bordering forests to avoid the Covid-19 vaccination doses.

Fear of the unknown, misinformation-fuelled anxiety, lack of trust, a cautious local community and a paucity of effective awareness campaigns mar vaccination efforts in the remote tribal villages of Odisha, as in many other parts of the country.

Most members of the local community here are now opposed to the mass vaccination drive. They are apprehensive about the government's medical intervention in an otherwise healthy community.

"We have seen in the past that several healthy people when given injections became sick and some have even died. We do not have any faith in injections when most of us are quite healthy and without any disease," said Kundia Hembram, a tribal from Orda.

"Recently we saw a man from our village that took some injection and died after that. We do not want to invite trouble by taking the injection," Singha Sundi, another villager told 101Reporters during our visit there.

Spending some time with villagers reveals how unexposed they are to the world outside their hamlet. This, in turn, contributes to the overall lack of trust and increases fear among the locals. The village is still not connected with a proper road and is easily cut-off during monsoons, making travel difficult even on a two-wheeler. The nearest health centre, Gurudijhatia Primary Health Centre, is around 12 km away from the village.

There are several other tribal-dominated areas like Orda that face similar challenges. Here rumours about COVID-19 and its prevention spread faster than authentic information. Pangapada in Tumudibandh Block of Kandhamal district is another such remote tribal village. There is barely any mobile network coverage and the lack of good roads adds to the villagers' woes.

Surath Patmajhi, who is a youth from the Dongria Kondh tribe in the village, has been vaccinated after being persuaded by some voluntary organisations. But the majority of the population of Pangapada remain elusive. He attributed this to several rumours doing the rounds in the village that are influencing villagers against vaccination. It is important to note that Dongria Kondh is among the thirteen Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

"There are around 30 households in my village but till now not more than 10 persons have taken the vaccine. There are several myths in my community regarding the covid vaccines. They believe that these injections could make them sick; it could be used as a birth control measure and may make them infertile; while some also think that this could be a means to eradicate the tribal communities," said Surath. He also added that there had been very few attempts by the government to create awareness about the vaccines among the local community.

A few voluntary organisations are trying to bridge the communication gap through the mobilisation of local communities. Many of the organisations claim that the remoteness of these villages, the lack of telecom connectivity and the dearth of proper, accessible roads pose insurmountable challenges that prevent conventional media and government outreach programmes from helping these villages.

According to a written statement provided by the Ministry of Communication before Lok Sabha in the last Budget Session (March 2021), Odisha hosts a maximum of 6,099 villages with no mobile connectivity which is around 24 per cent of the not connected villages of India.

"In tribal areas, the local community is more likely to believe their local leaders than the outsiders. There is a huge digital divide. Unlike urban areas or well-connected villages, these villagers are not exposed to the best practices. However, they continue to be under threat as many of them come to weekly haats or markets but many do not follow covid-appropriate behaviour," said Ruchika Kashyap, Executive Trustee of Atmashakti Trust, who is working in tribal areas of Raygada and Malkangiri to create awareness among the local communities. She also said that the condition of women and differently-abled people are more worrisome in tribal communities as they do not have a voice in the decision-making process of the village.

Y Giri Rao, a tribal livelihood expert from Vasundhara, Bhubaneswar, said that the way the vaccination drive was initially undertaken, rendered the whole exercise futile.

"The tribal communities in the state are very simple and isolated and not exposed to the ideas and experiments on the covid front. They hardly see people with PPE kits, masks, gloves and other protective gear except in hospitals. The visits of health teams wearing such attire, without taking the local people in confidence first, led to opposition and reluctance among the community and affected the vaccination drive," he told 101Reporters.

Vaccination in tribal areas across the state ran into several operational hiccups due to the shortage of vaccines and the indiscriminate and innumerable closure of drives in several districts. Tribal areas remained the worst-affected as the closures were compounded by vaccine hesitancy and opposition from the community. Moreover, these areas had the least teledensity, smartphone penetration and lack of literacy making it harder for communities to register the fast-dwindling slots online.

Experts also claimed that in several tribal villages, different members of the households often visit forests to collect forest produce or for farming, and unscheduled visits by health teams in such areas have failed to evoke a good response. Some also suggested creative means of communication like skits and folk arts to win the trust of the communities and spread the message.

Gautam Mohanty, Programme Officer at Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme (OTELP), which was the nodal agency responsible for vaccinating PVTGs, said that at least 20,346 members of the PVTGs above the age of 45 years have been vaccinated till now and a total of 2,342 persons in the 18-44 age group have also been vaccinated.

Mohanty said that although OTELP and the health department faced several challenges, it has worked on special plans to counter them.

"The situation was challenging initially, where we saw many people fleeing to forest areas in tribal villages to avoid vaccination but this has changed and we are proving successful now. We started taking the local leaders and volunteers from such areas into confidence and used them to create awareness in their own language and local beliefs." Mohanty also said that village-to-village awareness campaigns with microphones, incentives to visit quarantine centres, special covid-kits for the villagers, etc. helped them to garner their support and that the situation is likely to improve soon.

(The author is a Bhubaneswar-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Most countries around the world whether big or small, developed or developing, pursue a space programme of their own or in collaboration with advanced countries. Most aspects of these programmes are in the public domain and are targeted towards scientific and human advancement.

The spectre of a space was between the US and Russia came to an end with signing of the START Treaty in 1991 between the two. However, China has emerged as a country, which pursues a very secretive space programme and may force the mankind in a space war and global dominance.

There is enough evidence to prove that China's space programme is targeted to move ahead and use space to dominate not only the US but also the rest of the planet. In terms of the US national security, and for the rest of the world also, China's space capabilities have been defined as one of the most significant future threats to the global peace.

China's plans were outlined very clearly when shortly after becoming president in March 2013, Xi Jinping made his ambitions for China's space power very clear. "Developing the space program and turning the country into a space power is the space dream that we have continuously pursued", he said.

"The space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger." China's aim is to become the world's leading space power by 2045. In a 2017 editorial, China Daily had said: "China will become an all-round world-leading country in space equipment and technology. By 2045, it will be able to carry out man-computer coordinated space exploration on a large scale." US concerns

The advances and secret dimension of the Chinese space programme have been duly noted and concerns have been raised by the United States in this regard. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in its 2019 Annual Report to Congress stated that "China is taking steps to establish a commanding position in the commercial launch and satellite sectors relying in part on aggressive state-backed financing that western market-driven companies cannot match".

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, in his written testimony prior to his confirmation hearing in January 2021, declared that Chinese and Russian space activities present serious and growing threats to American national security interests. Chinese and Russian military doctrines also indicate that they view space as critical to modern warfare and consider the use of counter-space capabilities as both a means of reducing US military effectiveness and for winning future wars.

A Pentagon report in 2020 stated that the PRC continues to strengthen its military space capabilities, despite its public stance against the weaponisation of space.... the PRC is developing electronic warfare capabilities such as satellite jammers.... and China probably intends to pursue additional anti-satellite weapons capable of destroying satellites.

Chinese space programme A significant aspect of China's space initiative is the Beidou Navigation Satellite system (BDS), a global navigation satellite system that provides positioning, navigation and timing, in addition to data communication. The Chinese military has created the programme in order not to be dependent on the US-controlled GPS network. A report by the Jamestown Foundation says: "In recent years, the PRC has actively sought to promote the image of Beidou as a civilian-led programme intended primarily for commercial and scientific purposes, however, the program is under overall military direction, with the People's Liberation Army in charge of Beidou's development." Beidou can also be termed as China's "Space Silk Road", which expands China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its land-based and sea-based versions to space. Beidou makes countries participating in the BRI, dependent on China for precision navigation and other space based services.

Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in 2017 that, "Chinese provision of satellite communications, weather monitoring and earth observation add to this vision for a Space Silk Road that overarches and underpins the Belt and Road Initiative. By signing up to the BRI 'Space Information Corridor', the BRI states would become dependent on Chinese-provided space services. That would give Beijing greater power to influence the policy choices of those states, because it would control the vital space capabilities that sustain their economic growth".

We have already seen the negative impact on countries like Sri Lanka and Brazil, which participated in the land and sea versions of the BRI.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission further expressed caution in its 2019 Annual Report thus, "Beijing has specific plans not merely to explore space, but to industrially dominate the space.... Beijing uses its space programme to advance its terrestrial geopolitical objectives, including cultivating customers for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)... China's promotion of... the Beidou global navigation system under its 'Space Silk Road' is deepening participants' reliance on China for space-based services".

China's "Space Silk Road", forms a very crucial part of its ambitious space goals. The commissions' report further states that China has already succeeded in undercutting some US and other foreign launch and satellite providers in the international market, threatening to hollow out these countries' space industrial bases... The aggressive pursuit of foreign technology and talent...continues to be central to this strategy and to China's space development goals in general.

China's Moon Programme The China Daily in 2019 reported that "the next steps in China's manned space programme will be manned exploration of the moon. We will set up bases on the moon to conduct scientific operations, expand a habitable place for mankind and gain experience and expertise for deep-space expeditions beyond the moon. The long-term goal is to send humans to Mars".

Another worrisome development is Chinese cooperation with Russia in this regard. In March, China signed an agreement with Russia to work together to build a research station on the moon, which will carry out research on exploration and crucially, utilisation of the moon. Already in 2013, China launched its first lunar rover to explore the surface of the moon, hoping, among other things, to discover rare earth minerals, which are reportedly abundant on the moon. China's Chang'e 5 lunar probe mission landed on the moon and brought back geological samples to China, which became just the third country to do so after the US and Russia.

In view of these developments it is a foregone conclusion that China will also move ahead to use space to dominate not only the US but also the rest of the world. Its plans for the future wars are space-based, in addition to utilising its large stockpile of surface to air missiles, ballistic and cruise missiles - which can strike from 500 to 5,500 km, thus covering a major part of the globe, without putting its soldiers' boots on foreign soil and indeed it may not portend well.

(Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs. The views expressed are personal)
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 : Starting Monday, all those entering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from Kerala especially at the Walayar border and Thalapadi border in these two states are finding it tough to cross the borders, after the respective state police have made a negative RT-PCR test mandatory for people travelling from Kerala.

The facility of conducting a RT-PCR test is available at the Walayar border.

Meanwhile at the Thalapadi border, at Kasargode and the entry point to Mangalore in Karnataka, those who had records to show that they have taken both the vaccines were allowed, but after 8 a.m., things changed and the Karnataka police insisted that the RT-PCR test is mandatory.

One Keralite who protested was taken into custody by the Karnataka police.

But angry Kerala residents at the border soon swung into action and blocked all vehicles coming from Karnataka and entering Kerala.

"We had contacted the Karnataka officials and they said that those who have taken both the vaccines will be allowed and now they have changed that rule and are insisting a RT-PCR test which should be not later than 72 hours. The police are not even allowing accident victims who are travelling from Kerala to hospitals in Mangalore," said angry protesters.

The sudden decision of these neighbouring governments to restrict free movement is on account of the rising number of daily cases in Kerala which saw a record over one lakh new cases in the past six days, while the test positivity rate continues to hover above 12 per cent, while the national average is 2.81 per cent.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Actor Prateik Babbar, who has been in the Hindi film industry for over a decade now, says that his film 'Dhobi Ghat' which released in 2011, has been a prominent game changer for him.

The 34-year-old actor made his debut in Bollywood with 'Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na'. He was later seen in films such as 'Dum Maaro Dum', 'Aarakshan', 'Mulk' and 'Chhichhore' among many others.

Talking about a project, which he can tag as a game changer for him, Prateik told IANS: "I would say 'Dhobi Ghat' was a prominent game changer for me. It was (the) one." The actor, who is the son of politician Raj Babbar and late actress Smita Patil, says he has a set of projects lined up for release and hopes that changes the course of his career.

"I have a couple of projects coming out this year. Hopefully fingers crossed. It would hopefully change the course of my career for the better. Hopefully," said the actor.

Revealing about his upcoming work, Prateik said: "There's a film with Netflix called 'Cobalt Blue'. It is a Netflix original. It has me in the lead with some new people. It is an extremely emotional, touching and heartbreaking love story. I am very excited about it." "Hopefully this year will have more life changing scenarios for me," he concluded.

'Cobalt Blue' is based on a novel by Sachin Kundalkar. The book tells the tale of a brother and sister who fall in love with the same man, with ensuing events shattering a traditional Marathi family.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Seoul, Aug 2 : North Korea has urged South Korea to cancel its regular joint military exercises with the US, saying that a Pyongyang-Seoul leader-level summit remains unlikely in the short term, state media reported on Monday.

The joint military drills are "an undesirable prelude which seriously undermines the will of the top leaders of the North and the South wishing to see a step taken toward restoring mutual trust and which beclouds the way ahead of the north-south relations", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim Yo-jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong-un, as saying on Sunday night.

"Our government and army will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision," she said.

North Korea has long denounced Seoul and Washington's military drills as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North, Xinhua news agency reported.

Kim Yo-jong also accused the South Korean government of "inflating the significance" of last week's restoration of the two Koreas' cross-border communication lines, which had been severed for over a year.

Those inside and outside South Korea "are freely interpreting" the meaning of restoring communication lines, and "it is a premature hasty judgment" to say that there is a public opinion about the issue of the North-South summit, the KCNA reports quoted her as further saying.

"What I think is that the restoration of the communication liaison lines should not be taken as anything more than just the physical reconnection," Kim Yo-jong said, adding that hasty speculation and groundless interpretation will only bring despair.
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 : The powerful body of the traders -- Kerala Vyapari Vywasayi Ekopana Samithi on Monday said that they are going to open their shops from August 9.

State president of the Samithi, T. Nasirudhin said they gave a lot of time to the government to sort out their issues.

"Nothing has happened and the so-called Covid package which was recently announced means nothing. We will be opening from August 9," said Nasirudhin.

The traders body has been up in arms since the last month and in the second week of July angry traders having their business establishments at Kozhikode launched a massive protest. They clashed with the police shouting slogans that they also want to live.

"Who will pay our debts. This cannot go on indefinitely," were the cries of protests that rendered the air at the once busy Kozhikode Mitayi Therevu (Sweet Street).

Even though the traders' body had made a similar announcement, they backed out at the last moment.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after hearing about the traders' decision to open shops, by passing the Covid guidelines, spoke tough and warned them not to take things for granted.

Now with Nasirudhin coming out strongly, all eyes are on the state level monitoring committee when it meets on Tuesday to decide if they need to have a relook into its Covid protocol strategy.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hyderabad, Aug 2 : Hyderabad-based aerospace firm Raghu Vamsi on Monday announced that it has won a contract with Boeing to manufacture and supply precision components.

The company also announced setting up a facility dedicated to Boeing's requirements in Adibatla, Hyderabad with an initial investment of $15 million. The unit will employ more than 300 people over the next three years.

This manufacturing work will lead to the availability of a pool of skilled workforce in support of the growing aerospace and defence industry in Telangana.

"This is a significant milestone not just for Raghu Vamsi, but for the state of Telangana. The contract is a testimony to our precision manufacturing, consistent delivery, and first-time quality," said Vamsi Vikas Ganesula, Managing Director, Raghu Vamsi.

"This is an important step in our commitment to the Government of India's Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision. As a company with over seven decades of presence in India, Boeing is focused on supporting the development of aerospace and defence capabilities in India," said Ashwani Bhargava, Director, Supply Chain Management, Boeing India.

For over a decade, Raghu Vamsi has been dedicated to manufacturing and supplying high-end and high-quality precision parts to the A&D industry in India and abroad. The company has several strategic partnerships with world-class companies for its technological advances and business growth.

The Hyderabad-based company has been a significant contributor to the developing A&D ecosystem in Telangana and is poised to grow as India becomes a major global aerospace market.

Raghu Vamsi manufactures highly critical parts and sub-assemblies for commercial airplanes, defence and space systems for international and domestic OEMs.

As one of the top Indian exporter in Aerospace & Defence (A&D), the company has four manufacturing units across Hyderabad and joint ventures with international companies focusing on multiple technologies of CNC Manufacturing, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Composites, Fasteners, Gears and Engineering Services. It has been supplying to international and domestic A&D majors like GE Aviation, Honeywell, Rolls Royce, Collins Aerospace, Eaton, Halliburton, DRDO, BDL, HAL and ISRO for the last 15 years.
Firozabad : , Aug 2 (IANS) The newly elected Zila Parishad of Firozabad has moved a proposal to change the name of the district to Chandra Nagar.

The Sadar block pramukh, Laxmi Narayan Yadav, who drafted the proposal, said that the ancient name of Firozabad was 'Chandwar Nagar' and Akbar had changed it to Firozabad in the 15th century.

Firozabad Zila Parishad chairperson Harshita Singh said, "During the first district council board meeting on Saturday, a proposal to change the name of Firozabad to Chandra Nagar was unanimously approved. We will be sending a detailed recommendation to the state government in this regard. We will also pursue the matter with the state authorities to restore the original name of the district." Firozabad is famous for its glassware, particularly bangles.

The official website of the Firozabad district administration mentions, "The ancient name of this town was Chandwar Nagar. The name of Firozabad was given during the reign of Akbar by Firoz Shah, a military official of the Mughal emperor, in 1566. It is said that Raja Todarmal was passing through this town during a pilgrimage to Gaya. He was looted by robbers. At his request, Akbar sent Firoz Shah here. The tomb of Firoz Shah and ruins of Katra Pathanan are the evidence of this." The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress district presidents have raised strong objections over the proposal.

The Samajwadi Party members said that the proposal was moved when none of the opposition members were present.

Congress district president Sandeep Tiwari said, "It is unfortunate that the ruling BJP members are not concerned about massive waterlogging, potholed roads, inadequate water and power supply in the district. However, they want to change the name of the district for political gains because elections are round the corner." Noted historian and AMU professor emeritus Irfan Habib, however, said, "There is no historical evidence that Firozabad was known as Chandwar Nagar. The name Firozabad came into being during the tenure of Firoz Shah Tughlaq. The point that Akbar changed the so-called ancient name of Firozabad is incorrect." The Yogi Adityanath government has already changed the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faizabad to Ayodhya and Mughalsarai to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar.
Bengaluru, Aug 2 : Samsung has set up a world-class artificial intelligence, machine learning and data engineering lab at the KLE Technological University in Karnataka's Hubballi, the company said on Monday.

The Samsung Student Ecosystem for Engineered Data (SEED) lab will provide young Millennials and Gen Z students with opportunities to research in emerging cutting-edge tech areas and help find solutions to real world problems.

The SEED lab will enable students and faculty members at KLE Tech to work on research and development projects along with senior engineers at Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore (SRI-B) who work in the domains of mobile camera tech, speech and text recognition, and machine learning.

This is the first of its kind initiative for Samsung in Karnataka. Collaborative research projects will be open to third and fourth year BTech and MTech students and PhD scholars at KLE Tech. Students will also be encouraged to publish papers jointly with SRI-B engineers.

"India is a repository of young Millennials and Gen Z talent. At Samsung, we envision this lab to become a hub of young minds igniting India's innovation ecosystem, build capabilities among the students to make them industry ready, and also promote industry-academia collaboration. This will further Samsung's commitment to its vision of #PoweringDigitalIndia," said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore, in a statement.

The Samsung SEED lab is spread over 3,000 square feet and is equipped with facilities such as a special dark room with lighting equipment to conduct experiments on multimedia in varied lighting conditions, devices and accessories, image quality analysis tools, amongst others. It also has backend infrastructure to store, process and archive large volumes of data.

"Today, our world is becoming increasingly data-centric, and along with AI, it continues to transform the way we live, work and do business. The Samsung SEED lab is a great initiative that gives the students the opportunity to learn and work under SRI-B engineers on research projects that address the issues facing the world," said Dr Ashok Shettar, Vice-Chancellor, KLE Technological University, Hubballi, Karnataka.

At the end of each project from SRI-B, each student will be awarded certificates for their contribution.

The tech giant has been working with students across top engineering colleges in Karnataka on various R&D projects in areas such as AI, ML, Internet of Things and Connected Devices and 5G networks, as part of Samsung PRISM -- a students' engagement programme. It has enabled many students, over the last two years, to file joint patents with SRI-B engineers.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Afghanistan's First Vice President, Amrullah Saleh is clearly the pre-eminent face of the country's leadership who is not mincing words against Pakistan and its leadership in fomenting trouble.

In a latest tweet, Saleh blamed Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for "once again speaking on behalf of Taliban".

"Once again speaking on behalf of Taliban terrorists, the strategic proxy of his country in Afghanistan & the region, Foreign Minister Qureshi is louder. But can he explain where does he gets his confidence? When was the latest meeting of GHQ with Quetta Shura & HQN?" Saleh queried in a tweet on Sunday.

The tweet comes after Qureshi said that the Taliban would not allow the Islamic State (IS) militants to penetrate into their country.

All of Saleh's messaging over the last few days and weeks is directly attacking Pakistan, the ISI, Pakistan Army and the Taliban.

In an earlier tweet he said: "Afghanistan is under a full scale invasion of Taliban terrorists who have an organised backing & sponsorship in Pakistan. It has to be tackled. Talibs use Doha office for deception. They have no intention to engage in meaningful negotiations." There have been calls to shut down the Taliban's Doha office which is being used to garner legitimacy for its terrorism.

After a huge rally by Pashtuns in Waziristan which slammed Pakistan's role in the proxy war in Afghnaistan, Saleh again attacked Pakistan for extortion.

"Pak used to portray Waziristan as a lawless tribal land sending fighters & terrorists to Afg. Give us 10 digit $$ & we will fix it, GHQ/ISI used to demand frm the West. Now an awakened Waziristan has crushed that falsehood & openly echoes Afghan voices. Higher lies fall harder," he said in an earlier tweet.

The First Vice President has also accused Pakistan of full scale invasion of Afghnaistan.

"The propaganda stunts won't change the reality & improve Pakistan's image in my country. The reality is that Pakistan Army is the architect, strategic master & low profile supplier of the ongoing full scale terror invasion in my country. Forty second twitter clip won't change the reality," he tweeted.

Saleh also said that Taliban is a replica of the IS and Al Qaeda with links to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"Pakistan's diplomatic community is working hard painting & decorating a fictional image for Talibs. On the ground however Talibs 2.0 is nothing but an Afghan replica of IS-K & Al Qaeda, providing bases to foreign 'good & bad terrorists'. The 'good' LeT is their buddies in allegiance.

"To this date no member of the Afghan intelligentsia, no business person other than opium sellers, former or current diplomat, no Afghan of reputation and dignity has joined the Talibs. None. The reason is simple. People are united against a Rawalpindi's GHQ backed clerical dictatorship," Saleh said while implying that Afghans are revisiting Rawalpindi's dictatorship.

(Sanjeev Sharma be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea by former Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery seeking interim bail to marry a girl, who he raped and impregnated when she was a minor. The rape survivor from Kerala had also moved the top court seeking permission to marry Vadakkumchery.

A bench comprising justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari said the High Court has consciously made strong observations in the matter after noting everything. "We see no reason to interfere", said the bench. Earlier, Vadakkumchery had moved Kerala High Court with a plea seeking to marry the victim, but it was turned down.

On Monday, the counsel appearing for the girl urged the top court to allow Vadakkumchery to come out of jail and marry her and added it was a joint request by them. Vadakkumchery's counsel cited sweeping observations made by the High Court in a bail matter. The counsel argued in a bail plea, 'how can my fundamental right to marry be hindered' and added these observations should not be such, which become an obstacle for his application to the jail superintendent. The bench replied, "You invited it yourself".

After hearing arguments, the top court asked the parties to move the High Court in the matter. "Go to the High Court", said the bench.

In February 2019, a court found Vadakkumchery guilty of raping and impregnating a minor and had sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. Following this, the church took steps to dismiss him from priesthood and finally defrocked him in 2020. Vadakkumchery was serving as a parish vicar near Kannur and was the manager of the church-backed-school, where the victim was studying.

A child line agency working among school children had registered the complaint against the priest. He came under pressure after the girl gave birth to a child on February 7, 2017, at a hospital run by the management. On February 27, 2017, he was arrested near Kochi International airport while he was preparing to slip out of the country.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The US and Caribbean are emerging as new hotspots for crude oil imports by India as the country looks at newer markets to diversify its energy sourcing basket and insulate itself from pricing and supply shocks.

As part of this, the country's largest public sector oil refiner, IndianOil, has bought its first crude oil cargo from Guyana in July 2021 and has also entered into a term contract with Washington for optional purchase of US grade crude oil.

The company has signed a term contract with Rosneft, National Oil Company of Russia, to source Urals grade crude.

A look at past years data makes things clearer on how US oil is increasing in India's oil import basket. Crude oil imports from the US increased to 1.9 mt in 2017-18, 6.2 mt in 2018-19, and 10.3 mt in 2019-20, based on Petroleum Ministry data.

It had reached close to 15 mt in FY21.

Replying to a question on country's oil import basket in Lok Sabha on Monday, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also said that to ensure security of crude supplies and to mitigate the risk of dependence on crude from single region, Oil Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) procure crude from countries located at various geographical locations viz. Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, etc.

He also indicated that since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started with production cuts in May last year, the share of Middle East in the country's oil import basket has been shrinking.

During FY 2019-20, before OPEC imposed a cut, import of crude oil by Oil PSUs from Middle Eastern countries was 69.02 per cent (88.9 mt out of total import of 128.8 mt). But during FY 2020-21, import of crude oil from the Middle East reduced to 63.49 per cent (69.9 mt out of total import of 110.1 mt).

This reduction in import of crude from Middle East is mainly on account of crude oil production cut by OPEC since May 2020, as the countries which are members of OPEC, produce and export crude oil to buyer nations as per their agreed modified quota of OPEC plus.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Patna, Aug 2 : A former Rashtrya Janata Dal MLA's son came under attack in Bihar's Banka district, an official said.

Praful Chand Yadav, son of former Katoria MLA Bhola Yadav, was shot at on Sunday.

Praful was on his way from Kushmaha block to Bounsi when unidentified attackers intercepted him near Mahuawaran Jabra village. They fired three rounds of bullets and one of the gunshots hit Yadav below the hip.

After the incident, the assailants managed to flee from the spot taking advantage of darkness. The victim himself informed the incident to his father on a call to his cell phone. Soon a large number of his supporters reached the spot and rushed him immediately to a hospital in nearby Mayaganj.

"After preliminary treatment, the doctors of the hospital referred him to a hospital in Bhagalpur. His condition is out of danger. We have registered an FIR against unidentified persons on the basis of a statement given by the victim, further investigation is on," said Raj Kishore Singh, SHO of Bounsi police station.

Ex-MLA Bhola Yadav said: "My son is in the fray in the upcoming Panchayat elections. He is a prominent candidate for the post of Gram Panchayat head (Mukhiya). We suspect that his political rival may have attacked him."
Seoul, Aug 2 : South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Monday that no decision had been made yet over the joint annual military exercise with the US this year.

Ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan told an online press briefing that nothing was finalised yet over how, when and on which scale the annual South Korea-US command post exercise would be conducted, saying it would be decided by the authorities of the two nations, reports Xinhua news agency.

The combined forces of South Korea and the US have annually staged the summertime command post drills around mid-August, which North Korea has denounced as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

Boo said Seoul and Washington were in close consultations over the issue taking into account the overall situations, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the combined defence posture, the transfer of the wartime operational control, and the support for diplomatic efforts to establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement on Sunday night, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said that the joint military drills were "an undesirable prelude which beclouds the way ahead" in Pyongyang-Seoul relations.

She noted that the restoration of the inter-Korean communication lines should not be taken as anything more than just the "physical reconnection".

On July 27, the two Koreas restored their cross-border communication channels that had been severed for over a year.
New Delhi, Aug 2: After a tepid inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) into Africa in 2020 amid the Covid-19, investors are once again warming up to the continent. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), FDI flows into Africa declined by 16 per cent in 2020 to $40 billion, from $47 billion in 2019.

China, the primary investor in the continent, has also slowed down its investments into the continent leaving an opportunity for other investors.

While the UNCTAD projected FDI inflow into Africa to grow this year, it said that the slow vaccine roll-out programme is a cause for concern. According to UNCTAD, FDI to the continent is projected to grow by only 5 per cent in 2021. But analysts said Africa as an investment destination has led to "an unprecedented curiosity" among other countries, which are now aggressively looking to mute China's dominance in the continent.

"Africa is critical in the new geopolitical and geo-economic contours. The continent, with its vast natural resources, offers a ready growth platform," an analyst told India Narrative.

According to a study published by Brookings Institution last week, Africa is home to 17 per cent of the world population. However, by 2050, it will have 26 per cent of the global population -- 2.53 billion people. "If Africa is not successfully integrated into the global economy, there could be a major threat to global prosperity and stability," the study said, adding that by 2050, the continent will be home to an estimated $16.12 trillion of combined consumer and business spending.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - the mega trade could give a push to intra-continental investment.

Touted as one of the biggest trade deals in the world, the AfCTA aims to create a single market comprising 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of about $3.4 trillion.

Meanwhile, the US may have woken up late in recognising the potential of Africa but is making all attempts to make up for the lost time.

The Group of Seven or G7 has already decided to support US President Joe Biden's proposal of carving out a mega infrastructure plan under the "Build Back Better World" (B3W) initiative, expected to bring in transparency and sustainability. Besides, the initiative will be carried out only in consultation with local communities.

The G7 in its meeting in June also announced that it will increase its support to the Indo Pacific and Africa. "We resolve to collaborate with partners around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific and Africa, to actively promote these shared values for the good of all," said the statement.

India too has pressed the pedal on investments in the region. Sources said that the still-born Asia Africa Growth Corridor-the mega infrastructure project that was launched in 2017 to connect Asia and Africa must be revived.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that Chinese financiers committed $153 billion to African public sector borrowers between 2000 and 2019. "After rapid growth in the 2000s, annual lending commitments to Africa peaked in 2013, the year the BRI was launched. By 2019, though, new Chinese loan commitments amounted to only $7 billion to the continent, down 30 percent from $9.9 billion in 2018," it said.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will meet the leaders of the opposition parties at breakfast on Tuesday morning to discuss joint strategy for the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament to corner the government on people centric issues.

Opposition parties are mulling an idea of holding mock parliament after their demand of discussion on snooping controversy has not been met by the government.

Sources say that in Monday's opposition meet the idea was floated by some political parties but final decision may be taken on Tuesday when the floor leaders of both the houses of the opposition parties will meet on breakfast with Rahul Gandhi.

The invitation has been sent by the office of Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, sources said and the venue is Constitutional Club.

The impasse between the government and the opposition continued on Monday as session entered third week since the commencement.

The flashpoint is the Pegasus project snooping controversy on which the opposition demands discussion but the government says that after IT Minister's statement only clarification can be sought. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has termed it a "non issue".

Amid the blame game, sources have said that both Houses of parliament could function for only 18 hours in 105 hours of scheduled sitting till last week.

In the upper house, a proper debate was witnessed only on Covid while the Lok Sabha could not see any debate, though the government passed important legislations in both Houses of the parliament.

In Rajya Sabha in approximately 11 hours of work, the government managed to pass amendments to Marine Aids Bill, Juvenile Justice Bill and Coconut Board Bill amongst others amid din.

The Lok Sabha, on the other hand, passed the IBC Bill in 7 hours of work while both houses witnessed unruly scenes as TMC MP in the Rajya Sabha, Santanu Sen was suspended for tearing papers after snatching it from the IT Minister, while in the Lok Sabha, MPs from the opposition parties threw papers in the House.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Aug 2: Monsoon is here and Everything is so green and fresh. Earth seems much more beautiful, and lively. Amidst this greenery, imagine slender birds with orangish -- golden plumes on the back, breast and crown with a bright red bill -- all this dressing up is for pairing and breeding. So much so, that bill colour change happens for the short three-four days pairing period! The cattle egret looks more beautiful with its buff feathers all blowing delicately in the breeze-adding a romantic feel to the whole atmosphere in the rainy season.

Monsoon is the breeding season where their coloration changes, their feathers turning a russet orange on the bird's head, neck, chest, and back. The intensity and placement of their coloration varies by subspecies. The cattle egret's beak also transforms into a sherbet-inspired rainbow, from yellow at the tip, blending to red, and then purple-pink around the bird's lores and eyes.

This beautiful white bird adorned with golden buff plumes during the breeding season appears in a totally different look in the monsoon season. This is their nesting time too.

As the name suggests, this widespread resident in India, is commonly found around cattle feasting on the insects disturbed by the grazing mammals. Grasshoppers are its preferred food but it does not mind frogs, toads, lizards and other small mammals. Sometimes you can find them riding on cattle eating parasitic insects as well. In India it is also known as "tick bird". It's a familiar sight, and most birders don't think twice when they see a cattle egret lurking in a herd's wake.

But these unassuming little egrets are downright impressive. In the past 150 years, cattle egrets have self-populated nearly every continent on earth. Just how, and why, remains somewhat of a mystery. Because of their rapid range expansion, cattle egrets are sometimes classified as invasive.

Researchers call the cattle egret a cosmopolitan species of the heron family found throughout the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones of the world. Due to its close relationship with humans and their cattle, the cattle egret has undergone one of the most wide-reaching expansions of any bird species in the world. Anywhere livestock owners - from nomadic herdsmen to today's massive agri-business operations - moved, cattle egrets followed closely behind.

This species has a long relationship with humans and is symbolic in many cultures.

In Hindi it is known as Bagula and in Indian culture, known for calm, determination, observation, silence, solitude, tranquility, independence, partnership and grace. In Africa, the egret was thought to communicate with the Gods. In China, people see the Bird as a symbol of purity, long life, strength, and endurance. Similar feelings exist in Japan with the addition of the Egret representing nobility, devotion, and a graceful spirit. In Greek culture, the Egret is Athena's messenger: The Goddess of Wisdom. People would interpret its crackling shriek as an omen that the Goddess was watching over someone, sailors in particular.

In the world of spirituality, it says that the egret wants you to learn patience. There are many situations in your life you can't force. Often, being anxious leads to making the wrong choice. One of egret's lessons involves learning how to stand quiet and watchful while applying restraint until the perfect situation reveals itself.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Chennai, Aug 2 : The Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP), Tamil Nadu chapter in association with the state health department has trained nurses and doctors to manage Covid-19 in children. The training was conducted online.

Nearly 10,000 staff nurses and 3,800 pediatricians of government and private hospitals of the state were trained to manage Covid-19 in Children to date.

Dr K. Rajendran, State secretary of IAP, Tamil Nadu chapter while speaking to IANS said, "We are aiming to prepare close to 50,000 health care workers in the state to handle an expected third Covid wave. It is a known fact that a majority of nurses are hesitant to handle pediatric Covid-19 cases as they were uncertain on the patient's response to medicines." The main aspect of the training, according to Dr Rajendran is to equip the nurses to understand how to manage the children and when to bring up the alert so that the mortality rates are low.

The training programme has four modules, triaging, clinical management, prevention, and overview of pediatric Covid.

With more Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) coming up, the Indian Association of Pediatrics wants to equip the nurses and doctors to handle this in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

The IAP has already created a health task force that will support the health care workers across the state and an online app is being created. This online app will provide data of the number of oxygen beds, ICUs and on the availability of doctors in pediatric wards across the state.

Dr Ramesh Goutam, Pediatrician, with a Government hospital in Tirunelveli, told IANS, "The IAP has always been taking up novel measures to fight diseases and this is again a novel initiative on the part of the IAP to fight against the possible third wave of Covid-19 pandemic. We have already got training as well as nurses in our department."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Brisbane, Aug 2 : The government of Australia's Queensland state on Monday announced that the current three-day snap lockdown on 11 areas, including the capital city of Brisbane and Gold Coast, will be extended until August 8.

The decision came after the state witnessed an uptick in the number of daily Covid-19 cases, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Monday, Queensland recorded 13 new locally acquired cases, a rise from the nine locally on Sunday.

"It's starting to become clear that the initial lockdown will be insufficient for the outbreak," Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

The state's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young warned residents that the outbreak is escalating.

She called for greater testing and urged people to stay home as much as possible.

To support businesses, Queensland announced a Covid-19 Business Support Program, providing a A$5,000 grants to state businesses.

Meanwhile, Sydney remains the epicentre of the latest wave in Australia.

Authorities have pushed citizens to get vaccinated as the state of New South Wales (NSW) recorded 207 new locally acquired cases on Monday.

The state also recorded another death, a man in his 90s who received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is the 15th Covid-related death during the current outbreak.

Australia has so far reported 34,384 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 924 deaths.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Kumar Manglam Birla, the chairman of Aditya Birla Group, has written to the Cabinet Secretary saying that he is ready to hand over his stake in Vodafone-Idea to any government entity.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, Birla said that, with a "sense of duty" towards 27 crore Indians connected with Vodafone Idea, Birla is willing to hand over his stake to public Sector Unit (PSU), a government entity or any domestic financial entity, or any other entity that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern.

Birla said that VIL has been trying to raise Rs 25,000 crore to sustain VIL operations and pay regulatory and governmental dues.

He said that foreign investors wanted to see a clear government intent to have a three-player telecom market.

In the letter, Birla sought clarity on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), adequate moratorium on spectrum dues and floor pricing adding that without immediate and active government support VIL's operations will be at an "irretrievable point of collapse".

He also said that investors have also sought clarity on these issues.

Birla said that he and his team would be more than happy to work with the government to urgently explore all possible options to save the company and without any consideration to our private interest, Birla said.
Chennai, Aug 2 : The 64-year-old Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) can become a new company for a new set of policyholders if its surplus sharing ratio is changed, said industry experts.

They also said the change in with-profit policy surplus sharing ratio would not only result in technical problems for the LIC but also affect its brand image, new business premium income, market price of the share and other things at least for a short period of time.

"Even though the Sec 28 of the LIC Act has been amended changing the surplus sharing formula to 90:10, LIC continues with the old ratio of 95:5," Shreekant Mishra, General Secretary, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) told IANS.

The with-profit policy portfolio surplus sharing ratio for private life insurers is 90:10.

The central government has decided to divest 49 per cent stakes in LIC in a gradual manner.

The work relating to the disinvestment of LIC has started.

Speaking to IANS R.Ramakrishnan, a Member of the Malhotra Committee on Insurance Reforms said LIC has to honour its commitment to policyholders who had bought their policies when the surplus sharing formula was 95:5.

According to him, if the policyholder surplus is reduced by LIC then there will be two sets of policyholders - those with 95 per cent share (closed group) and those less than 95 per cent share (new or open group).

"The LIC has to maintain two sets of funds, one for the closed group and the other for the new/open group. The shareholder's surplus is different for both the groups," Ramakrishnan, now a consulting actuary after retiring as Chief Actuary of LIC.

"The management did not give any response when the issue of maintaining two fund accounts was raised by us," Mishra said.

For arriving at the surpluses, the value of assets for each group has to be kept separately.

So, for the new/open group, LIC will be like a new company and the policyholders may not get any bonus during the initial years, Ramakrishnan said.

It will take some years for the rate of bonus to be comparable for the policyholders of the closed group.

"This will blunt the competitive edge of LIC in procuring new business as against the private players," Ramakrishnan said.

According to him, the cascading effect will be on the government's plans of future disinvestments and the annual dividend will also go down.

The one option for LIC is to go for gradual change while allowing the majority of with-profit policies to run off.

"Once disinvestment happens, then the focus of the company will be on maximizing returns for the shareholders. Hence LIC may discourage selling with-profit policies," Mishra said.

"From policyholder focus it will become shareholder focus," he added.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : A fresh Covid-19 outbreak in China, deemed to be the largest in months, has spread to more locations, raising concerns over the country's vulnerability to the highly contagious Delta variant, a media report said.

More than 300 cases have been detected within a span of 10 days, the BBC report said.

Local headlines have been dominated by news on the outbreak, and the country's top respiratory diseases specialist has expressed grave concern.

The report said the government has imposed fresh travel restrictions and is testing millions.

It is unclear how many in China are fully vaccinated, although authorities say more than 1.6 billion doses have been administered so far.

A total of 15 provinces and municipalities have now confirmed cases, of which 12 are connected to an outbreak that began in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

Authorities have attributed the spread to the Delta variant and the domestic tourist season.

Although case numbers are considerably lower than other places, it is considered the largest outbreak in months in China, a country that was largely successful in controlling the virus within its borders last year, the BBC report said.

Cases first emerged in July at the Nanjing airport, among workers who had cleaned a plane that arrived from Russia.

Authorities promptly tested 9.2 million residents of Nanjing and imposed lockdown on hundreds of thousands of people.

But over the weekend, the spotlight turned to popular tourist destination Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, where many of the latest cases have emerged.

Travellers from Nanjing were thought to have visited the city recently.

The BBC report said health officials have zeroed in on a theatre in Zhangjiajie, and are now trying to track down about 5,000 people who attended performances and then travelled back to their home cities.

One performance alone had hosted about 2,000 people, according to reports.

All attractions in Zhangjiajie have been closed and tourists are being asked to take a Covid test before leaving the city, local media reports said.

"Zhangjiajie has now become the new ground zero for China's epidemic spread," Zhong Nanshan, China's leading respiratory disease expert, told reporters.

The new outbreak has reached Beijing too, with the city reporting several locally transmitted infections.

All of Beijing's air, bus and travel links to areas with positive cases have been cut.

All tourists have also been banned from entering the capital, and officials are only allowing "essential travellers" with negative Covid tests to enter.

The virus has also reached Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged, with seven people testing positive for the virus.

According to Chinese state media, the city had seen zero locally transmitted infections since June 2020.

China is also battling a rise in cases in Zhengzhou in Henan province, which saw devastating floods just last month, as well as Hainan island, the report said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Wellington, Aug 2 : New Zealand on Monday announced its decision to allow seasonal workers quarantine-free from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the decision at a press conference that seasonal workers will be allowed to travel to New Zealand from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu without going through the 14-day managed isolation and quarantine, reports Xinhua news agency.

Further discussions will be held in the government next week to finalise the decision in principle, Ardern said.

The new quarantine-free travel for seasonal workers will assist industries reliant on seasonal workers from the Pacific, such as horticulture and agriculture, she said.

The three Pacific countries have largely managed Covid-19 well, with no record of community transmissions.

Samoa and Vanuatu have recorded three and four imported cases respectively, with no new cases in recent months.

Tonga has not reported any cases.
Beijing, Aug 2 : The death toll from floods triggered by torrential rains in China's Henan province has increased to 302 as of Monday, according to the information office of the local government.

Another 50 people remain missing, Xinhua news agency quoted the office as saying.

A total of 292 people were confirmed dead and 47 missing in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital.

There were seven fatalities and three missing in Xinxiang city, while Pingdingshan and Luohe reported two and one death, respectively.
Lucknow, Aug 2 : The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to re-open schools with 50 per cent attendance.

According to an official spokesman, schools will re-open with the full Covid protocol from August 16.

It will be mandatory for students to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Students will be required to give the written consent of their parents to attend the schools. Without the consent letter, admission will not be given to the students in the school.

"Intermediate Schools in the state will re-open from August 16 with 50 per cent capacity. Colleges and universities will reopen from September 1," the spokesman said.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on Monday, directed officials to work out modalities in this regard.

The decision, sources said, has been taken in view of the fact that Covid cases have been steadily declining in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government has also directed that admission process for undergraduate and graduate classes should begin from August 5.

In the secondary schools where students have been promoted, the admission process will begin soon so that classes can begin from August 16.
London, Aug 2 : US drug makers Pfizer and Moderna have increased the prices of their mRNA-based vaccines against Covid-19 for the European market, the media reported.

According to the new contracts, a Pfizer shot will now cost 19.50 euros against 15.50 euros previously, while a Moderna jab has been priced at 21.49 euros a dose, from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal, The Financial Times reported.

The supply contracts are being renewed as Europe is anxious to secure supplies for potential booster shots in the face of the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.

Further, the terms of the deals, struck this year for a total of up to 2.1 billion shots until 2023, were renegotiated after phase 3 trial data showed the two companies' mRNA vaccines had higher efficacy rates than shots developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, the report said.

The companies had capitalised on their market power and deployed the "usual pharma rhetoric... Vaccines work so they increased the 'value'," the report quoted an official close to the negotiations official.

Riding on the success of its Covid vaccine, Pfizer, last week, raised its annual vaccine revenue to $33.5 billion in 2021, up from the previously projected $26 billion.

Prices for higher-income countries were "comparable", with middle-income countries charged about half and lower-income countries paying cost, Chief executive Albert Bourla was quoted as saying.

Moderna is expected to announce the second quarter financial results this week. According to forecasts compiled by Airfinity, a life sciences consultancy, the sales of Pfizer's Covid jab will hit 47.1 billion euros with Moderna's reaching 25.2 billion euros, the FT reported.

On the other hand, sales of Oxford/AstraZeneca's Covid jab -- the largest vaccine supplied to low-income countries -- is expected to rise to 12.6 billion euros in 2022, it added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : YouTuber CarryMinati overcame lockdown anxiety while shooting for his debut film 'Mayday' starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn.

Ajey Nagar, 22, who runs his YouTube channel with the name of 'CarryMinati', faced a creative roadblock during the pandemic and couldn't create content for his YouTube channel for the longest time.

He said: "Isolation and the pandemic somewhere affected me at a very subconscious level and there were days I felt creatively challenged. However, the film shoot was a gamechanger in the midst of it all. It was very therapeutic and gave me perspective I was seeking creatively".

Ajey marked his foray in the music score of a Bollywood film with Abhishek Bachchan starrer 'Big Bull'. He was also featured in Salim-Sulaiman's soundtrack 'Date Karle'.

He has rap singles like 'Vardaan', 'Yalgaar', 'Zindagi', 'Trigger', 'Warrior', and 'Bye Pewdiepie' to his credit.
Patna, Aug 2 : The spate of murders in the Bihar capital over the last month has jolted the administration and the common people. The police records show that Patna reported a murder every second day in July.

A total of 16 cases of murder and 11 cases of attempt to murder were registered in July. And on Sunday (August 1), the city reported two murders. The first incident was registered near the Parsa Bazar railway station where unidentified assailants shot auto driver Jitendra Kumar Singh (55) from a very close range. Trainee Deputy Superintendent of Police Priya Jyoti said that the attackers probably killed him over an ancestral property dispute.

"The deceased's son lodged a complaint against his three step brothers for murder of his father. The investigation is underway," Jyoti said.

Another incident occurred in Ambedkar hostel in Patna City locality when a retired professor's son named Vishnu Kumar Simma was gunned down.

Sanowar Khan, the SHO of Bahadurpur police station said: "There is a possibility that two groups of that hostel may have been involved in a quarrel and Vishnu came in the firing range. He was shot on the head and died on the spot.

"We have registered an FIR under the relevant IPC section against unidentified persons. The complaint was given by his brother." In July, the first murder was reported on July 4 when a youth was killed in the Janipur locality. A noted criminal Mithilesh Gop was killed in Alamganj locality on July 6, an auto driver was killed in the Patna City Chowk area on the same day (July 6).

A vegetable and fruit vendor was killed on July 9 in the Shastri Nagar area. A newly wedded woman was killed in Pipra locality on July 14 and a railway engineer was killed in Mokama on July 15.

An elderly person was killed during dacoity in the Musepur village on July 17. A youth was lynched in Masaudhi town over some trivial issue on the same day (July 17). And the third incident was reported on the Patna bypass road when a 12-year-old boy was found murdered.

A youth was lynched in the Pandarak area on July 19, another youth was lynched in the Masaudhi area on July 20. The violent mob alleged that the youth was allegedly involved in stealing a chair.

A trader named Pankaj Kumar was killed in the Patna city chowk area on July 21. A fish trader was killed in Malsalami locality on July 25, an e-rickshaw driver was gunned down in Alamganj locality. A woman killed her husband with the help of her boyfriend in Patna on July 26. A youth was stabbed to death in Naubatpur on July 31 and an elderly person was killed in the Phulwari Sharif locality.

On the rising crime graph of Patna, the officials said that organized crime is preventable but crime committed by individuals cannot be stopped, especially in the densely populated localities.

"We are trying to crack every case in minimum possible time and give a strong message to the criminal-minded persons. Once we can achieve a fast conviction rate, it will automatically reduce the crime graph of the district," an official of the Patna Police said, requesting anonymity.

When contacted, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Upendra Sharma was unable to respond on this matter.
Lucknow: Om Prakash Rajbhar, who was removed from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's cabinet after Governor Ram Naik dismissed him from ministerial position on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, talks to media persons in Lucknow, o Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, Aug 2 : Less than a day after Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said that he was open to alliances with small parties for the upcoming UP assembly elections, former BJP ally, Om Prakash Rajbhar, said that he was also ready to ally with the SP.

Rajbhar told reporters that his coalition of smaller parties - Bhagidaari Sankalp Morcha (BSM) - was open to a tie-up with any opposition party, including the SP if it agrees to fulfil its demands, including quota for various sub-castes within the OBC community.

"Our party is open to alliances for defeating BJP," he said and added that the alliance needed to be forged at the earliest.

The development comes a day after BSP veteran, Sukhdeo Rajbhar, announced his retirement from active politics, and endorsed his son Kamalkant Rajbhar's decision to join the SP.

Another BSP leader, Ram Achal Rajbhar, who was recently expelled by Mayawati, is also reported to be moving towards the SP. This could bolster the Rajbhar community's support to Akhilesh, while he widens space to other OBC sub-castes other than his core Yadav vote-bank.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, who heads the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has been exploring options to cobble up alliances to consolidate the Rajbhar vote-bank, which account for 7 per cent of the total OBC votes and has significant political presence in most assembly seats, essentially in the socio-economically backward eastern UP.

The Bhagidaari Sankalp Morcha (BSM) formed by Rajbhar includes eight other parties, including Krishna Patel's Apna Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Chandra Shekhar's Azad Samaj Party.

Rajbhar's attempt to take on board AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi, however, suffered a setback when the Hyderabad MP unilaterally announced fielding 100 candidates in the upcoming UP elections.

Experts said, SBSP faces a test of its political presence even as BJP escalates measures to woo the Rajbhar community by propping up its own leaders like cabinet minister Anil Rajbhar and Rajya Sabha MP Sakaldeep Rajbhar.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that he is going to comprehensively discuss the new cabinet formation with party President J.P. Nadda this evening.

Talking to reporters, he also hinted at the creation of posts of deputy chief ministers. The meeting is going to be held in the evening. Party President Nadda will take a call on key issues such as how many phases of cabinet inductions should be there, the number of deputy chief ministers, regional and social representations and other matters, Chief Minister Bommai said.

"I arrived in Delhi on Sunday night. Today (Monday) evening there will be a meeting with party senior leaders. A decision will be taken on cabinet expansion and party seniors will tell their final decision," Bommai said.

Bommai further stated that he would also meet the legislators and former ministers who have come to New Delhi from the state.

"I am trying to take everyone along. All MLAs know that everyone will not get a cabinet post. I will also keep in mind that there was a cabinet earlier and then finalise the new one," Bommai maintained.

He said the main formula of cabinet expansion will get a final shape by Monday. The formula includes the number of deputy chief ministers, cabinet posts this time, region-wise preferences and other things.

If the decision comes by this evening, the cabinet expansion will happen on Wednesday, or it will be held on Thursday. The creation of the posts of deputy chief ministers is a part of the formula, Bommai added.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, Aug 2 : To safeguard the interest of its customers, the State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a new security feature -- SIM Binding in YONO and YONO Lite.

The new version of these platforms will protect customers from various digital frauds. With the SIM Binding feature, YONO and YONO Lite will work only on those devices which have SIM of mobile numbers registered with the bank.

To access the new version of YONO and YONO Lite with enhanced security features, users will have to update their mobile app and complete the one-time registration process on these apps.

The registration process verifies the SIM of the registered mobile number with the bank in order to complete the registration. Customers will have to ensure that they register themselves with the device which has the SIM of the registered contact number.

YONO and YONO Lite will work with the basic rule of one mobile device - one user - one registered mobile number. However, the customer can use both YONO and YONO Lite in the same mobile device using the SIM of the registered mobile number with the bank.

In case the customer is using a mobile number that is not registered with the bank, he/she will be unable to complete the registration process on YONO and YONO Lite.

The new SIM binding feature will also allow two different users to access YONO and YONO Lite separately in a dual SIM handset, provided that the SIMs of the registered mobile number of both the users are inserted in the device.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab scheduled to be held next year, five Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders and a former TV host joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday.

A former national general secretary of Akali Dal's women wing, Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, and Gurpreet Singh Shahpur, Chand Singh Chatha, Baljinder Singh Dakoha and Pritam Singh joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP Punjab in-charge Dushyant Gautam, national general secretary Tarun Chugh at the party headquarters here.

The assembly polls in Punjab is likely to witness a quadrangular contest between the ruling Congress, BJP, SAD and the Aam Aadmi Party.

Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia is the daughter of former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia. A former TV anchor Chetan Mohan Joshi also joined the party.

Welcoming the SAD leaders into the saffron camp, Shekhawat said: "Joining of these leaders shows in which direction the wind of change is blowing in Punjab before the assembly poll." Shekhawat alleged that some political parties are misleading farmers for their hunger of power.

Gautam said the people in Punjab want peace and are looking at Prime Minister Narendra Modi with hope. "The BJP family is growing in Punjab and in the coming days more people will also join," Gautam said.

Chugh said that the people believe that the development of the country and all the states including Punjab is possible only under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Deverakonda : , Aug 2 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh police in the state's Chittoor district on Monday arrested four red sanders smugglers and seized 11 tonnes of the precious wood estimated at Rs 5 crore.

The arrested individuals have been identified as M. Manoj Kumar (27), M. Ashok Kumar (26), S. Shankar (27) and L. Dayanand Naidu (37).

On Sunday, the police received a tip off, prompting them to heighten surveillance on illegal red sanders transportation at Devarakonda village.

As they started searching vehicles, a car arriving from Devarakonda temple side tried to zoom past them. Police followed the vehicle and apprehended the driver, Naidu, to discover eight red sanders logs.

Following this, police registered a case at Bakarapeta police station and investigated the suspect.

Naidu told the police that four smugglers along with others have actually created a godown for stolen red sanders in Tamil Nadu.

The smugglers set up the godown at Kannan farmhouse at tank factory, Avadi in Chennai.

On Monday morning, officials from the Chittoor police and the special enforcement bureau (SEB) swooped in on the godown where they found 11 tonnes of red sanders being readied to be smuggled overseas.

In the raid, police seized 11 tonnes of the wood amounting to 380 logs, one truck and a car.

"The value of red sanders along with the seized vehicles is estimated to be Rs 5 crore," said an official.

According to police, Manoj Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Shankar are inter-state smugglers from Tamil Nadu while Naidu hails from Itepalli in Chittoor district.
Chennai, Aug 2 : The opposition AIADMK in Tamil Nadu has joined issue with the DMK and has opposed the proposed Kalaignar Karunanidhi Memorial library to come up at Madurai, the late former Chief Minister's home town.

The AIADMK has said that the state government is going to demolish the house of the architect of Mullaperiyar dam, John Pennycuick, to build the Kalaignar Karunanidhi memorial library. The AIADMK leaders and former Chief Ministers, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami had in a joint statement on Sunday said that the party would join hands with the farmers to oppose any move to demolish the house of John Pennycucik to build the memorial library.

It is to be noted that Mullaperiyar dam which is geographically in Idukki district of Kerala was built by the British architect John Pennycuick and the water from the dam is used for agriculture, farming, and drinking water purposes in several southern districts of Tamil Nadu. People of this part of the state have a special attachment towards John Pennycuick and the AIADMK has taken this up as a political issue as the party knows well that it would get traction among the people of south Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK leadership also said that they don't have any objection to construct Kalaignar Karunanidhi Memorial library at any place where there are no objections.

The coalition partner of AIADMK, PMK also said that the house of John Pennycuick must not be demolished for setting up the Kalaignar memorial library. He called upon the DMK government to construct the library at some other place without disturbing the residence of the architect of Mullaperiyar dam.

While AIADMK is trying to corner the government bringing in Mullaperiyar dam into the picture, the DMK is hitting out with the statement that the opposition is worried over the construction of a library which was beneficial to the youth of the area.

DMK leader and state Public Works Department (PWD), E.V. Velu came out against the statement of AIADMK leaders and said that the opposition party was unhappy over the prospect of establishing a library in memorial to Kalaignar. He also said that the AIADMK was opposed to a good initiative of the state government for the benefit of the youngsters of south Tamil Nadu.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : As many as 301 elephants and 1,401 humans lost their lives in the last three years due to human-elephant conflict, the Rajya Sabha was told on Monday.

A total of 115 elephants died in 2018-19, 99 in 2019-20 and 87 in 2020-21. The number of humans who died during the same period was 457, 585 and 359, respectively, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, said in a statement laid on the table of the House in reply to a question on 'human-elephant conflict' raised by MDMK MP Vaiko.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) provides financial and technical assistance to states/UTs under the centrally sponsored scheme 'Project Elephant' for protection and conservation of elephants and their habitats in the country.

Various other centrally sponsored schemes being implemented by the MoEFCC contribute to the improvement in the natural habitat of elephants by augmenting water sources, planting of fodder trees, regeneration of bamboo etc.

Such schemes include Development of Wildlife Habitat and Project Tiger. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 and the Rules made there under also provide for use of the fund for the development of wildlife habitats, including for elephants, establishment of animal rescue centres, etc., which also contribute to reduction in human-elephant conflict, the Rajya Sabha was told.

The ministry had also issued a guideline for the management of human-elephant conflict on October 6, 2017, and the elephant range states were requested for the implementation of the same.

Critical elephant habitats are notified as 'Elephant Reserve' for focus and synergy in elephant conservation and to reduce conflict.

So far, 30 elephant reserves have been established in 14 major elephant states, the statement said.

The steps taken by the government of Tamil Nadu to address human-elephant conflict included the creation of various barriers such as elephant proof trench, solar fence, construction of walls, driving straying wild elephants into the forests, creation of water bodies, fodder resources, boundary perambulation etc.

The Tamil Nadu government also carries out periodic inspection of sagging and low laying electric lines and their maintenance and also withdraws free electricity to farmers booked under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
August 02 : Taking Brother-Sister Relationship Goals to a whole new level, dapper actor Arjun Kapoor and stunner Janhvi Kapoor have graced the latest cover-spread of Harpers Bazaar India for the entire month of August.

Actor Arjun Kapoor and Janhvi Kapoor, a brother-sister duo, dropped back to back two cover pages for the magazine with different captions and styles.

Actor Arjun Kapoor captioned this post, When Pinky met Roohi. On this cover spread, Arjun is seen wearing a Blazer and T-shirt, Janhvi is seen sporting Janhvi is wearing a Gucci outfit.

Sharing the second cover, Janhvi captioned it, Us judging you for not being real foodies like us...can u tell Ive thought of this caption on an empty stomach #coolerwhenimnothungry

The brother-sister duo is twinning on the second cover, sporting oversized white overalls and looking pretty as ever!

For their first-ever cover together, actors and half-siblings @arjunk26 and Janhvi Kapoor speak about family dynamics, their past, and how they are forging new and stronger bonds.



Read the intimate conversation in the latest issue of #bazaarindia #arjunkapoor #janhvikapoor pic.twitter.com/L1oojKXqMw  Harper's Bazaar India (@BazaarIndia) August 1, 2021

Meanwhile on the work front, Arjun Kapoor has lined-up his first ever horror comedy, Bhoot Police for release. The film also stars Saif Ali Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Yami Gautam.

Arjun also has Ek Villain Returns in the pipeline. The sequel is helmed by Mohit Suri and jointly produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and T-Series. It also stars John Abraham, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria in lead roles.

As for Janhvi Kapoor, she just wrapped Good Luck Jerry, a black comedy directed by Sidharth Sengupta and produced by Subaskaran Allirajah and Aanand L. Rai.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has rushed a multi-disciplinary team to Maharashtra to monitor a Zika virus case reported and assist the Uddhav Thackeray government in effective management in case of an outbreak amid an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Pune city reported the Zika case, after neighbouring Kerala reported a few.

Maharashtra on Sunday reported its first-ever case of Zika virus infection. A 50-year-old woman from Purandar area in Pune district also tested positive for Chikungunya, said health officials on Sunday. The state officials have appealed to people to not panic and follow the safety precautions.

The first case of the Zika virus, amid the already continuing coronavirus pandemic, has prompted the Union Health Ministry to rush the three member expert team. It consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune; a gynaecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; and an entomologist from National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), ICMR, New Delhi.

The team of experts will take stock of the ground situation of Zika virus in the state and assess whether the Union Health Ministry's Action Plan for Zika Management is being implemented properly. It will also recommend necessary public health interventions for the management of Zika.

Several cases of fever were reported from Belsar village in Purandar tehsil from the beginning of July.

Out of five samples sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for testing, three of them tested positive for Chikungunya.

Only Kerala had reported cases of Zika virus infection this year till the Pune case came to the fore. Kerala currently has 63 cases of Zika. Aedes mosquitoes spread Zika virus. They are also carriers of Dengue and Chikungunya.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, Aug 2 : Former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh, who is being probed in an alleged money laundering case, skipped the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons for questioning once again on Monday.

"Deshmukh has skipped summons and has sent a two-page letter to the agency through his advocate," an ED official related to the probe told IANS.

This is for the third time Deshmukh has skipped ED summons in connection with the case. The official said the financial probe agency had sent fresh summons to Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh on Friday asking them to join the probe with the agency on Monday.

On Friday, the Supreme Court did not grant any protection from arrest to Deshmukh on his plea seeking protection from any "coercive action" in the money laundering case registered against him by the ED and scheduled the matter for hearing on August 3.

Deshmukh, who had skipped the previous summonses by the agency, had, in the plea to the top court, challenged these summonses and sought protection for both himself and his son.

Deshmukh has been accused of extortion from a bunch of Mumbai orchestra bars and money laundering, and the matter is being probed by the ED.

It has been alleged that Rs 4.7 crore was collected as "extortion" from the orchestra bars by the now-dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze allegedly on Deshmukh's instructions.

Later, this amount was transferred to Deshmukh's Nagpur-based educational trust by his son, Hrishikesh.

According to the allegation, the transaction was routed via two hawala operators and was showed as a "donation".

The 71-year-old NCP leader is the president of the trust and his two sons, Salil and Hrishikesh, are trustees.

On May 11, a case was registered against the former minister and on June 25, the ED raided Deshmukh's residences in Nagpur, Mumbai, and three other places.

In April, the CBI had conducted raids at four premises of Deshmukh after registering an FIR against him in connection with the case.

Param Bir Singh, former Commissioner of Mumbai Police, in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleged that Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month.

Earlier this week, the top court had adjourned the matter for a hearing on Friday and asked Deshmukh's legal counsel to provide a copy of the plea to the ED and the Maharashtra government.

The ED had earlier arrested Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde after carrying out raids against them and the NCP leader in Mumbai and Nagpur.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The government is of the view that the revamp in the direct tax structure should also involve widening of the tax base, along with phasing out exemptions, the Parliament was told on Monday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the government has taken many steps to restructure the direct taxes regime to increase direct tax revenues, through curbing tax evasion, widening of tax base, promoting voluntary compliance, reducing litigation, and promoting digital transactions.

"The Government agrees with the view that the agenda for a revamped direct taxes structure should be not just to phase out exemption, but also to widen the tax base," he said.

Outlining the measures to curb tax evasion and widen the tax base, Chaudhury said that the scope of tax deduction at source (TDS) and tax collection at source (TCS) has been widened by including new transactions like foreign remittance, purchase of luxury car, e-commerce participants, purchase or sale of goods, acquisition of immovable property among others.

The TDS for non-filers and for non-PAN cases have been increased.

"Equalisation levy at 6 per cent for online advertisement and at 2 per cent for sale of goods/provision of services through e-platform, has been introduced," he said, among several other measures.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Aug 2 : A father from Kerala has moved the Supreme Court seeking extradition of his daughter, along with his grandchild, who were detained in Afghanistan after she left India to join terrorist organization ISIS. He apprehends, after the exit of the US forces from Afghan soil foreign terrorist fighters could be hanged.

The plea filed by V.J. Sebastian Francis said necessary action should be taken by authorities concerned to extradite his daughter Sonia Sebastian @Ayisha and his granddaughter, who is seven-year-old.

The plea said: "Internationally a lenient approach has been taken against the women foreign terrorist fighters like 1st detenue (Ayisha), this is owing to the stand taken by the countries that women only played ancillary roles and therefore could not pose any significant threat to national security." The plea said the issue is urgent in as much substantial changes politically and administratively are going to get effected in Afghanistan, after the US troops exit.

The plea contended that the Centre not facilitating extradition of the detenues is illegal and unconstitutional and violates fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

Stringent anti-terror law UAPA was registered against Ayisha, after she left India and the Interpol had also issued a Red Corner notice against her in March 2017.

The plea said after reaching Afghanistan, Ayisha's husband was killed in the war. "The 1st and the 2nd detenue who accompanied A1 (the husband) and was actively notinvolved in the fight there after his death had to surrender to the Afghan forces on November 15, 2019, along with some other women..." The petitioner claimed that his daughter repents the decision to join the ISIS and she wanted to return to India and face fair trial before a court.

Ayisha had made this statement during an interview with Stratnews Global, which was uploaded as a documentary titled "Khorasan Files: The journey of Indian 'Islamic State' Widows" on YouTube on March 15, last year.

The petitioner said after this interview there has been no information about the whereabouts of his daughter and his grandchild. "Since the defeat of the ISIS in Afghanistan, the Taliban has been seeking immediate withdrawal of American forces from its soil... It is anticipated that subsequent to the withdrawal of the American forces the Taliban and Islamic republic of Afghanistan may enter into a war in which case the foreign terrorist fighters like the 1st detenue could be hanged to death", added the plea, seeking directions to the Indian government to extradite his daughter and grandchild.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Mumbai, Aug 2 : As Ammy Virk and Sonam Bajwa's Punjabi starrer 'Puaada' ('Trick') releases in theatres on August 12, the debutant director of the film Rupinder Chahal and producer Atul Bhalla are excited about its big-screen release.

The song 'Paunda Boliyaan' of the film released recently and choreographer Arvind Thakur shares how the cast and the crew braved the cold to shoot the dance.

Arvind said, "Shooting songs with both Ammy and Sonam is always fun, they both bring so much energy into everything they do, and when they are together they feed off each other's natural chemistry and that makes the choreographer's job so much easier.

"They are one of the big hit pairings of Punjab and have done several romantic songs together so to make this one fresh so it stands out from what all they have done was the challenge. We focused on their clothes and the cuteness of the song story to give it freshness."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hyderabad, Aug 2 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday slammed the Centre for its anti-Telangana stand on river waters.

Reacting for the first time to Jal Shakti Ministry's gazette notification on river management boards, he said the Centre was adopting anti-Telangana stand.

The chief minister also hit out at Andhra Pradesh saying it was resorting to 'Dadagiri' and constructing unauthorised irrigation projects on Krishna River without valid permissions.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was addressing a public meeting at Haliya in Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly constituency.

He made it clear that Telangana will not give up its share of river waters. The state government is taking steps to ensure that farmers do not face any troubles due to lack of Krishna river waters in future.

This was his first reaction after Jal Shakti Ministry issued a gazette notification on July 15 bringing 107 irrigation projects on both Krishna and Godavari rivers under the jurisdiction of river management boards.

The gazette notification finalizing the jurisdiction of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) will come into effect from October 14, 2021.

Following the Centre's move, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will have no powers on the major and medium irrigation projects in their respective states.

KCR said that the government would divert Godavari River waters from Palair to Pedda Devulapalli tank near Nagarjuna Sagar to meet the irrigation requirements of Nagarjuna Sagar ayacut, which is in the Krishna River basin.

The public meeting was organised to thank the people of Nagarjuna Sagar constituency for electing Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate Nomula Bhagat in the recent by-election.

The TRS chief reiterated his commitment to complete all 15 lift irrigation schemes sanctioned for erstwhile Nalgonda district, within next year-and-half.

KCR announced Rs 150 crore for development of the Assembly constituency and also allocated Rs 15 crore each for development of Nandikonda and Haliya municipalities.

Stating that Haliya is lagging in development, he promises to ensure development of the town. He assured people that a degree college and a mini stadium will be built in the town.

KCR also announced several other measures for the development of the constituency.

He reiterated that 'Dalit Bandhu' scheme will be implemented at any cost. He said the government was ready to spend even Rs 1 lakh crore for the scheme, which will become a role model for development of the Scheduled Castes in the entire country.

Of the around 16 lakh to 17 lakh SC families in the state, around 12 lakh to 13 lakh families will get Rs 10 lakh each under 'Dalit Bandhu'. He said steps were being taken to select 100 beneficiary SC families in each Assembly constituency.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : India and China agreed to resolve remaining border issues in an 'expeditious manner' in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations, the Indian Army said on Monday in a joint statement after the 12th Round of India-China Corps commander level meeting.

On July 31, India and China military delegates deliberated for almost nine hours to resolve border crisis at Moldo in the Ladakh region.

The Indian Army stated that this round of meeting was held following the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and People's Republic of China on July 14 in Dushanbe and the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held on June 25.

"The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of India-China border areas," said Indian Army in the statement.

The force further stated that the two sides noted that this round of meeting was constructive, which further enhanced mutual understanding. They agreed to resolve these remaining issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations.

"The two sides also agreed that in the interim they will continue their effective efforts in ensuring stability along the LAC in the Western Sector and jointly maintain peace and tranquility," the force added.

The talks between two countries happened after a gap of three months. Indian military delegates discussed disengagement at friction areas like Hot Springs, Gogra and 900 square km Depsang plains.

Indian delegation was led by Leh-based XIV Corps chief Lt Gen P.G.K. Menon and Additional Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Naveen Srivastava.

The Chinese military delegation was led by Commander of the PLA's Western Theatre Command Xu Qiling, who was appointed earlier this month.

The build-up in Depsang was not being considered part of the current standoff that started in May last year as escalation here took place in 2013. India has insisted during recent military commander meetings to resolve all issues across the Line of Actual Control.

In April, during 11th round of Corps Commander level talk, the focus was also on disengagement on friction points at Gogra, Hot Springs and Depsang. Till now, apart from 12 round of Corps Commanders-level talks, the two forces have also held 10 Major Generals level, 55 Brigadiers-level talks and 1,450 calls over the hotlines.

So far, the troops of two Himalayan giants have disengaged from both the banks of Pangong Tso in February this year.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The government on Monday told Parliament that some Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 685 crore fertilisers import scam but declined to share their names as it "may impact" the ongoing probe.

Replying to a question from Congress Lok Sabha member Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the ED is probing the money laundering scam involving IFFCO Managing Director U.S. Awasthi, based on the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

On involvement of the NRIs and foreign companies in the case, the minister said: "Some of persons are NRIs. Disclosures of further details of the case may not be in larger public interest as the same may impact the ongoing investigation in the case." In its FIR filed in May, the CBI has named Awasthi, Indian Potash Ltd Managing Director Pravinder Singh Gahlaut, Awasthi's sons and Catalyst Business Associates Pvt Ltd promoters Amol Awasthi and Anupam Awasthi, Gahlaut's son Vivek Gahlaut, Pankaj Jain of Jyoti Group of Companies and Rare Earth Group, Dubai, and his brother and Jyoti Trading Corporation President Sanjay Jain, and Jyoti Trading Corporation's Senior Vice President Amrinder Dhari Singh.

Besides them, it has also named chartered accountant and Midas Metal International LLC and other companies promoter Rajiv Saxena, Pankaj Jain's employee Sushil Kumar Pachisia, and unknown directors of IFFCO and unknown others.

According to the CBI FIR, IFFCO and IPL were importing huge quantities of fertilisers, running into several thousands of metric tons, along with raw materials for fertilisers from various foreign suppliers, for the country's farmers, and the government was providing subsidy on them to facilitate supply to the farmers at reasonable rates.

However, it was alleged that in order to cheat government by claiming higher subsidy, some IFFCO and IPL officials were importing the fertilisers and raw materials through Kisan International Trading FZE in Dubai, a subsidiary of IFFCO, and other middlemen, at highly inflated rates, covering the commission meant for the accused, including the MDs of IFFCO and IPL, which was paid or transferred by the overseas suppliers to the accused officials through sham transactions involving the accused.

All these imports were done between 2013 and 2017, it said.

The ED has arrested Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha member A.D. Singh and Delhi-based CA Alok Kumar Agarwal in connection with the case.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Gartala, Aug 2 : The national General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee, claimed on Monday that his vehicle was attacked by BJP workers while he was returning to Agartala after offering puja at the famous Tripureswari temple in Udaipur in southern Tripura.

Banerjee, while talking to the media here, said that BJP workers armed with lathis and bamboo sticks attacked his car, injuring three of his security personnel.

"To obstruct my travel to the Tripureswari temple, frequent road blockades were organised and even school students were used in the blockades," he said.

Subal Bhowmik, who jumped ship from the Congress to the Trinamool along with other party leaders on Friday, claimed that "BJP goons accompanied by party workers organised road blockades and attacked Banerjee".

"When the BJP workers and their goons attacked the convoy of Banerjee, the police remained a silent spectator," said Bhowmik, who had earlier quit the BJP to join the Congress in 2019.

Trinamool's Twitter handle shared some videos and posted: "Such blatant state-sponsored attacks on democracy can only be seen in BJP-ruled states! Last night in Agartala, posters of AITC and Abhishek Banerjee were torn. Did the BJP government in Tripura allow this? Will strict action be taken against the miscreants?" West Tripura district Superintendent of Police Manik Lal Das told IANS: "I have no knowledge about any attack on Banerjee. Some people might have raised slogans when he was moving from Agartala to Udaipur." Das also said that the police are probing the mater of tearing of Trinamool posters.

Tripura police spokesman Subrata Chakraborty said that they have not received any report of physical attack on Banerjee.

However, some people might have raised slogans during his journey to Udaipur, Chakraborty said.

Denying Trinamool's allegations, BJP's Gomati district committee chief Abhisek Debroy said that the party workers led by the leaders on Monday organised rallies and other events to highlight the successful implementation of central schemes in Tripura and the success of the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the state.

"It might be a Trinamool conspiracy to defame the BJP, as no party workers obstructed or attacked Banerjee's convoy during his visit to and from Udaipur," Debroy told the media.
Mumbai, Aug 2 : Indian Bank has entered into an MoU with the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, for extending exclusive credit facility to startups and MSMEs.

SINE provides support to the MSME sector by providing joint research and development arrangements and technical and financial support for incubation and acceleration of high-end technology products.

Under the MoU, SINE will identify the startups and MSMEs based on their credentials and past experience and will refer the list of such members who require financial assistance to the Indian Bank.

This initiative is a part of the bank's 'Ind Spring Board for financing Startups' scheme and will empower startups and MSMEs to realise their research efforts powered by financial support from the bank and backed by incubation facility offered by SINE. The bank will extend loans of up to Rs 50 crore to these startups for their working capital requirements or purchase of machinery, equipment etc.

Speaking on the occasion, Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO of Indian Bank, highlighted the startups' need to be suitably counselled about the significance of equity and debt funding.
Mumbai, Aug 2 : Automobile major Tata Motors will increase passenger vehicles' prices, on an average by 0.8 per cent, depending on the variant and model, effective from August 3.

Besides, the company said it will offer protection from the price increase for 'New Forever range' of vehicles that will be retailed on or before August 31.

The price protection is applicable only on vehicles which are retailed or billed on or before August 31, 2021.

"For the wellbeing of its business and supporting ecosystem, Tata Motors had recently announced that it has set in motion a comprehensive 'Business Agility Plan' to protect and serve the interests of its customers, dealers and suppliers."
Hyderabad, Aug 2 : BJP MLA Raja Singh on Monday offered to resign if Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao was ready to announce a development package for his constituency.

Raja Singh, who represents Goshamahal Assembly constituency in Hyderabad, said that the Chief Minister remembers SCs, STs, BCs, farmers, poor at the time of by-elections, in a reference to the his announcement of 'Dalit Bandhu' scheme in view of the ensuing by-elections to Huzurabad Assembly constituency.

Under the scheme, which will be implemented on pilot basis in Huzurabad from August 16, each Dalit family will be provided financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh.

"People on social media are saying that if their MLA resigns, the constituency will get a package. I have been elected twice from Goshamahal and I am requesting you with folded hands, I am ready to resign whenever you want. My constituency also has SCs, STs, BCs and poor OCs. Announce a good plan for them so that every household get Rs 10 lakh," he told the Chief Minister.

Raja Singh said he would convince his party President to let him tender his resignation but before that a package should be announced for the constituency. He, however, exuded confidence that people will once again elect him.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : In a unique protest, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs on Monday handed over wheat stalks to parliamentarians to highlight the plight of the thousands of farmers who are leading a peaceful protest on the borders of Delhi and seek justice for them.

Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was leading the protest, offered the wheat stalks to NDA ministers and MPs and asked them to introspect about the treatment being meted to the farmers by the Union government.

While the ministers did not accept the wheat stalks, many MPs not only accepted them but some like Rama Devi even put the wheat stalks on their forehead as a mark of devotion.

Addressing the media, Harsimrat Badal said: "If we are partaking our daily bread, we have only farmers to thank. It is shocking that a community to which everyone is beholden is being persecuted by the Union government which refuses to repeal the three black agriculture laws.

"Today we distributed wheat stalks to MPs to appeal to the conscience of our policy makers to be just to the hand that feeds them." She said it was condemnable that the Union government had "shut its eyes to the suffering" of farmers camped on the borders with Delhi for the past eight months.

She said the SAD-BSP parliamentarians had been demanding a discussion on the need for repeal of the three farm laws since the first day of the start of the Monsoon session.

"We moved repeated adjournment motions. But all were disallowed. This government is not ready to listen to the voice of the farmers and this is why we have been protesting in solidarity with farmers outside parliament every day. We will continue our protest till the black laws are not repealed." Harsimrat Badal also condemned the attempts being made by the Centre to not only defame the Kisan Andolan but also belittle the sacrifices made by farmers for this cause.

She said farmers were being bad mouthed and referred to as "terrorists" and "mawalis", "simply because they were standing up to the sinister conspiracy to hand over the agricultural economy to corporates".

The Bathinda MP also condemned assertion of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, saying the Centre did not have any record of any farmer deaths during the ongoing agitation.

"This despite the fact that it is in public realm that 537 farmers have lost their lives during the course of the ongoing protest," she added.
Singapore, Aug 2 : A team of researchers here has found a combination of antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs that can be used to treat Covid-19 patients with mild to moderate disease.

The team from National University of Singapore (NUS) found that a combination of antiviral molnupiravir and anti-inflammatory baricitinib can be effective against the Beta and Delta variants of the virus, the Strait Times reported.

The combination could strongly inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory tests, making it suitable for further clinical evaluation, Professor Dean Ho, director of the NUS's Institute for Digital Medicine, was quoted as saying.

"... we are looking for combination therapies that can eventually be given to patients with mild illness who are recovering at home, or in community care facilities," Ho said.

Experts from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, NUS Medicine and the National University Hospital (NUH) tested 12 drugs -- which included a range of antivirals and cancer drugs.

The molnupiravir-baricitinib combination was identified for possible treatment, the report said.

However, there is no data yet from clinical trials that show the drug combination is effective in all phases of Covid-19 disease, Dr Louis Chai, a senior consultant at the NUH Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted as saying.

While some drugs could reduce the Covid viral load in patients, they may not slow down disease progression or prevent death, he noted.

Molnupiravir "interferes with a part of the virus that is conserved across different variants -- specifically, the enzyme that it uses to copy its genetic material for replication", said Dr Conrad Chan, laboratory director at the Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute from DSO.

Chan molnupiravir "a strong 'backbone' drug candidate from which multiple combinations can be derived", he added.

Ho said his team is now looking to conduct clinical trials for molnupiravir and its drug combinations on Covid-19 patients. Vaccinated individuals with mild to moderate disease could be considered as part of the study cohort, the report said.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The Fortune Global 500 companies experienced an overall 5 per cent drop in revenues in 2020, the largest since 2016, while their aggregate profits were down 20 per cent, the biggest decline since 2009.

Last year's list contained six airlines; with their revenues down 60 per cent in 2020, not a single one made it to the new list.

The Global 500 shrank a little over the past year. After reaching a record high of $33.3 trillion in the 2020 edition, total revenues for the world's biggest companies fell 4.8 per cent to $31.7 trillion this year.

Fortune said the culprit, of course, was Covid-19, which slammed huge swaths of the global economy as countries went into lockdown mode.

Cumulative sales in both the energy and automotive sectors, for example, fell by more than 10 per cent. And all six of the airlines that appeared in last year's ranking failed to make the cut this year.

Despite the setbacks, the heft of the Global 500 remains formidable: The combined sales of the companies on the list are equal to more than one-third of global GDP, Fortune said.

This is the second year in a row in which mainland China (including Hong Kong) has had more companies on the list than the US.

A decade ago, there were 69 companies on the list that hailed from Greater China; now the numbers have gone up to 143. And of the 107 Global 500 companies that are government-owned, over two-thirds are Chinese.

Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, both of which ranked at No. 1 at least twice in this century, each dropped to their lowest Global 500 rankings yet, at No. 23 and No. 19, respectively.

The list's petroleum refiners saw a 36 per cet decline in revenue. Mexico's Pemex was the biggest money-loser of the year (again) with a $23.7 billion loss in 2020.

Saudi Aramco's two-year reign as "most profitable" company is over, with the crown passing to Apple again.

A year ago, there were 14 female CEOs on the Fortune Global 500 list. Now, the tally is 23, representing a rise of nearly two-thirds.

As for who leads the list, well, no surprise there: It's Walmart again, for the eighth year in a row, Fortune said.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Pakistan carries too much unsavoury baggage and labels to be a Dialogue Partner in Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Pakistan has long been considered as a terrorist sponsor. It is currently under watch from the international watchdog on terrorism financing, FATF. It hosts, according to Prime Minister Imran Khan, over 30,000 terrorists. It is home to the largest number of terrorists and terrorist entities proscribed by the UN, various international organisations and more than 100 countries.

A country which has become a synonym for terrorism can only prove to be an embarrassment and disruption for a grouping like ASEAN which faces more urgent challenges of an aggressive China and unprecedented fluidity in global economy.

What ASEAN members would do well to remember is that Pakistan has also been consistently labelled as the "most dangerous place" in the world to be a journalist or a human rights activist.

Pakistan has rarely been a free country for journalists or human rights activism. But it has become one of the worst under Prime Minister Imran Khan. Journalists, bloggers and human rights have been brutally killed, assaulted and threatened in large numbers under his captaincy of the country. In fact, his government's agents have hunted down journalists and activists in other countries where they lived in asylum.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has adopted a more aggressive campaign against the media than his predecessors. He has gone after media companies and owners who refuse to kowtow to his diktat. His government disrupted the functioning of several media houses by ordering unwarranted raids on their offices, stopping their printing presses and blocking their supply lines.

The owner of a powerful media house, the Jang Group, was hauled up on an old charge related to property.

Television companies that refused to tow the line of the Khan government or his patrons in Rawalpindi have been slapped with taxes, fines and allegations of misdemeanor at the drop of a hat.

Even popular anchors like Hamid Mir have not been spared for speaking up against journalists getting assaulted inside their own homes. Several bloggers and human rights activists have disappeared in the past months, with accusing fingers pointing at the government and the military for running a brutal campaign to silence the people. Such a country deserves no place in a respectable organisation like ASEAN.

Pakistan's treatment of its minorities and women, a large number of them Muslims, should also raise heckles among the ASEAN leadership. Pakistan has been punishing Ahmadis and Shias for long. Ahmadis, a minority sect among Muslims, are virtually slaves in Pakistan with no claim to normal citizenship rights like worship or voting. Shias for decades have been targeted by various extremist Sunni outfits, most of them flourishing under the patronage of the state.

Hindus, Sikhs and Christians have rarely, if ever, fair and just treatment as citizens.

Pakhtuns, Baloch and Sindhis, almost all of them Muslims, have been facing the state's brutality for raising their voice for just treatment. Pakistan's worsening human rights record and religious persecution have been highlighted by the US and European Union besides other countries.

With such an abysmal record in safeguarding the interest and life of its own citizens, Pakistan has proved to be a failing state, a factor which alone should nix any move to make it a member of ASEAN.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : India is navigating through tough times, however, its economic prospects appear to be promising over the medium term, Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said.

Addressing the company's shareholders through Maruti Suzuki's 'Annual Integrated Report 2020-21', he said: "With support from SMC in terms of relevant product and technologies, the company will continue to work on all the enablers to cash-in on the opportunities.

"Moreover, SMC, in its recent mid-term plan, indicated to offer relevant products such as 'Utility Vehicles' (UV) to strengthen the company's product line-up, promote the penetration of hybrids and introduce EVs." Besides, Ayukawa said that the partnership between Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation will help the company in gaining access to hybrid technology.

Sharing details on green technologies, he said that recently Suzuki Motor Corporation formulated the 'Suzuki Environmental Vision 2050' to move towards carbon neutrality in new vehicles and business operations.

"In this regard, a project has been initiated to develop strategies and action plans aimed at minimising the company's carbon footprint. Additionally, the company's efforts to promote the eco-friendly CNG technology vehicles started paying off." In FY 2020-21, despite overall sales of the company declining in the domestic market by 8 per cent, the sales of CNG vehicles grew by nearly 50 per cent.

"Towards electrification of powertrain, the Suzuki Motor Corporation, in a joint venture with Toshiba Corporation and Denso Corporation, is setting-up India's first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant with cell level localisation." According to Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R.C. Bhargava, the company's Q1 sales were limited at 353,600 units.

"The performance in the next three quarters largely depends on how effectively all our citizens follow the government's advice to get vaccinated and observe safety protocols. If we can avert the third wave, or substantially reduce its effect, and there are no further waves, economic activities and sale of cars can improve significantly over what was achieved last year." On electrification and various green technologies, he added: "I have no doubt that the large resources that are now being deployed for technology development will lead to lowering the cost of EVs and reducing dependence on lithium, procurement of which poses some strategic issues of national importance." "The time frame for all of this to happen is not certain but meanwhile we do need to reduce import of oil and harmful emissions. Fortunately, in our market conditions, the use of CNG, particularly for small cars, has proved very acceptable to customers. The government has recognised the importance of CNG as a fuel for cars and is making concerted efforts to build the infrastructure to make CNG available in most parts of the country." Additionally, he said that company will seek to improve the technology for CNG cars.

"Hybrid technology also leads to a significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions and is another area for our engineers to work. Thus, these two technologies, coupled with biofuels, gives the country a means of moving towards the final goal of net zero emission." "The use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative and should be considered specially to reduce dependence on importing lithium."
Washington, Aug 2 : The Covid-19 pandemic emerged from a genetically modified virus which leaked from the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), according to an investigation by the US House of Representatives Republicans into the origins of Covid-19, released on Monday.

The report by Representative Michael McCaul, a top Republican at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is based on open source material, the Hill.com reported.

"As we continue to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe it's time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source of the outbreak. Instead, as this report lays out, a preponderance of the evidence proves that all roads lead to the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology)," McCaul said in a statement.

The report also raises concern that the lab was conducting "gain-of-function" research in an unsafe environment.

"We know gain-of-function research was happening at the WIV and we know it was being done in unsafe conditions," he added.

Once dismissed as conspiracy, the "lab leak theory" has recently gained steam with scientists across the world demanding fresh probes into the Covid-19 origins.

The investigation also parallels efforts by US President Joe Biden's administration, which has set a September deadline for the intelligence community to report the origins of the pandemic outbreak.

Meanwhile, China has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the first cases likely emerged from animal to human transmission at a wet market in the city of Wuhan.

According to the Republican report, maintenance and renovation taking place at the WIV and the adjacent lab, the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, related to its hazardous waste treatment system and air conditioning systems while carrying out research on coronaviruses, is a cause of concern.

Such instances were taking place in the months preceding the first known cases of Covid-19, the report states.

Further, the investigators suggest that the first cases of Covid occurred in August or September of 2019, and not mid-November, as other reporting has suggested. They also flagged that scientists at the Wuhan lab, including American researchers, had the ability to modify genetically-altered viruses without leaving any trace that they had been tampered with, the Hill reported.

"An American scientist, Dr Ralph Baric, assisted in creating a method to leave no trace of genetic modification as early as 2005," the report states.

"And as early as 2017, scientists working at the WIV were able to do the same. This makes it clear that claims by the scientific community that SARS-CoV-2 [Covid-19] could not be man-made because it has no genetic modification markers are disingenuous."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : A Task Force of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet will proceed on over two monyhs overseas deployment to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea, and the Western Pacific from early August 2021.

The deployment of the Indian Navy ships seeks to underscore the operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing bonds between India and countries of the Indo-Pacific, a Navy statement said.

The deployment is in pursuit of India's 'Act East' policy and to enhance military cooperation with friendly countries, it said.

The Indian Task Force comprises Guided Missile Destroyer Ranvijay, Guided Missile Frigate Shivalik, Anti-Submarine Corvette Kadmatt, and Guided Missile Corvette Kora.

The latter three ships are indigenously designed and are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors, and are Made in India by defence shipyards.

During the deployment in the Indo Pacific, the ships are scheduled to participate in bilateral exercises with the Vietnamese Peoples' Navy, the Republic of Philippines Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (SIMBEX), and the Indonesian Navy (Samudra Shakti) and Royal Australian Navy (AUS-INDEX).

Further, they would also participate in multilateral exercise MALABAR-21 alongside the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, the Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy in Western Pacific.

The Indian Navy undertakes regular deployments to friendly foreign countries and Indian and the Pacific Ocean regions in furtherance of the Prime Minister's initiative of 'Security and Growth for All in the Region - SAGAR', the statement said.

Further, such engagements build 'Bridges of Friendship' and strengthen international cooperation, it said, adding that these maritime initiatives enhance synergy and coordination between the Indian Navy and friendly countries, based on common maritime interests and commitment towards Freedom of Navigation at sea.

Besides regular port calls, the task group will operate in conjunction with friendly navies, to build military relations and develop interoperability in the conduct of maritime operations.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : India's merchandise exports in July 2021 rose to $35.17 billion, higher by 47.91 per cent on a year-on-year basis, preliminary official data showed on Monday.

Exports during July 2020 stood at $23.78 billion.

The data by Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that in comparison to July 2019, last month's exports rose by 34.06 per cent.

"Exports during April-July 2021 were $130.56 billion, up by 73.86 per cent over the same period of 2020 ($75.10 billion) and up by 21.85 per cent over same period of 2019 ($107.15 billion)." "Till July 2021, India's exports have covered 32.64 per cent of its target exports of $400 billion." Similarly, India's merchandise imports in July 2021 increased by 59.38 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $46.40 billion.
Lucknow, Aug 2 : The Monsoon Session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly will start from August 17.

A government spokesman said that all Corona protocols will be followed for the Assembly session, which is likely to continue for a week.

The session is likely to be tumultuous with the opposition ready to question the state government on issues like violence in the recent panchayat elections and women's safety.

The government is also likely to introduce a Bill on population control in this session, apart from bringing in a supplementary budget.
New Delhi, Aug 2: Slamming the narrative that the Taliban has moderated its behaviour, Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani has asserted that the extremist group has regressed in the past two decades and its behaviour has worsened.

Ghani asserted during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that the extremist group has become "more cruel and more oppressive." It was also not interested in talks without changing the facts on the ground through a military offensive that was likely to last till winter.

"Yes, they (Taliban) have changed but negatively. They have no wish for peace, for prosperity, or progress," he observed.

Ghani's observations come at a time when graphic videos have appeared of Taliban snatching wailing young women from their families and gruesome chopping of hands in public of alleged criminals.

The Afghan President stressed that " we want peace but they want surrender (subdued people and government)." Ghani therefore asserted that Afghanistan had no choice but to go in for a "countrywide mobilization" to counter the Taliban onslaught.

"They will not engage in meaningful negotiations unless the situation changes on the battlefield; therefore, we should have a clear stance. For this, there is a need for a countrywide mobilization," said a defiant Ghani.

Ghani pointed out that the Taliban was creating conditions that would result in an influx of foreign terroir, recreating a condition that emerged after the groups takeover of Afghanistan in 1996. Eventually the Taliban was ousted following the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers in New York by Al Qaeda which had taken sanctuary in the country. Already the Islamic State has taken route in Afghanistan ,setting a precedent for other groups to follow.

Ghani's remarks coincide with the report released by the Afghan watchdog which revealed that 1,677 civilians were killed and 3,644 more were injured in Afghanistan in the first six months of this 2021, ANI reported. This shows an 80 per cent increase in casualties compared to the same period in 2020, the report said.

"Important to note that the total number of civilian casualties in the first six months of 2020 was 2,957, including 1,213 killed and 1,744 injured. A comparison of the abovementioned figures shows that civilian casualties have increased by 80 per cent in the first six months of 2021 compared with the first six months of 2020," the report observed.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The Supreme Court on Monday observed that a possible apprehension of breach of law and order cannot become a ground to detain a person under a preventive detention law, as it rejected the contention that a liberal meaning must be given to the expression "public order" in the context of such a statute.

A bench of Justices R.F. Nariman and Hrishikesh Roy said: "It is clear that at the highest, a possible apprehension of breach of law and order can be said to be made out if it is apprehended that the detenu, if set free, will continue to cheat gullible persons." It noted this may be a good ground to appeal against the bail orders granted or to cancel bail but certainly cannot provide the springboard to move under a preventive detention statute.

The bench pointed out that mere contravention of law such as indulging in cheating or criminal breach of trust certainly affects "law and order", but before it can be said to affect "public order", it must affect the community or the public at large.

The Telangana government counsel argued that the detenu was a habitual fraudster who had created fear amongst the gullible public, and since he was likely to commit similar offences in future, it was important to preventively detain him, as the ordinary law had no deterrent effect on him.

The bench said while it cannot seriously be disputed the detenu may be a "white collar offender" as defined under the Act, yet a preventive detention order can only be passed if his activities adversely affect the maintenance of public order.

It noted that detention order would makes it clear that it is not based on any apprehension of widespread public harm, but the detenu was successful in obtaining anticipatory bail from the courts.

The bench observed to argue that a liberal meaning must be given to the expression "public order" in the context of a preventive detention statute is wholly inapposite and incorrect.

"On the contrary, considering that preventive detention is a necessary evil only to prevent public disorder, the court must ensure that the facts brought before it directly and inevitably lead to a harm, danger, or alarm or feeling of insecurity among the general public or any section thereof at large," said the top court in the 30-page judgment.

It made these observations while quashing a detention order passed against a person under Section 3 (2) of the Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act. The detention order was dated September 28, 2020 and it was connected with five FIRs that have been filed against the person, under Sections 420, 406 and 506 of the IPC. The accused's wife moved the top court challenging the high court order, which did not quash the detention order.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Hackers from China are often accused of cyberattacks on government websites and vital installations, especially when there is a diplomatic row or clash.

This time, however, the accused is the Beijing government. New Zealand has left no ambiguity when it charged the Chinese government for its direct involvement in "malicious" cyber activities. It openly called out the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).

"Chinese state-sponsored actors were responsible for the exploitation of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities in New Zealand in early 2021," said a release issued by the New Zealand government.

Responding to the allegation, China has expressed "dissatisfaction" and accused New Zealand of "Cold War mentality". With the new dispute, China has been embroiled in disputes with every major player in the Asia-Pacific region.

New Zealand's Minister for Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Andrew Little, minced no words while indicting Beijing when he said the cyberattack was carried out by "Chinese state-sponsored actors".

"We call for an end to this type of malicious activity, which undermines global stability and security," said Little while demanding "appropriate action" from Beijing.

A senior minister slamming China directly and invoking global security can be interpreted in two ways. First, the damage that China-sponsored hackers have caused to New Zealand's institutes and overall governance system. Second, it is trying to align with its traditional allies as did Australia, which refused to give in to economic coercion by China.

In the recent past, groups like Five Eyes, SCRI (Supply Chain Resilience) and QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) have made China wary as they intend to question China's hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.

Interestingly, New Zealand had criticised Five Eyes - an intelligence-sharing alliance - for taking on China.

However, the latest development of New Zealand openly criticising China is well in coordination with the statements issued by Five Eyes, European Union, Japan and NATO.

The statement from New Zealand came soon after the US condemned China for "malicious" cyberattacks, which posed a major threat to the country's "economic and national security".

David Capie, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, said the statement by New Zealand is a clear manifestation of differences with China.

"This time you've got a senior government minister fronting the message -- not an official," Capie said.

"The language in the statement is much sharper -- China is accused of 'undermining global security and stability', and the condemnation is being delivered along with a long list of partners," he added.

The shift in New Zealand's geopolitical policy was clear after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country would embrace a larger ecosystem of nations in the Indo-Pacific as the wider home for New Zealand.

Ardern also took a dig at China's one-upmanship in the region, saying, "We also have serious concerns over the situation in the South China Sea, including artificial island-building, continued militarisation, and activities which pose risks to freedom of navigation and overflight." Many small nations in the South China Sea region have challenged Beijing's expansionist behaviour, which has led to conflicts over ownership of small islands and territories in the sea.

Ardern's comment can be seen as New Zealand has joined the bandwagon of the western block that seeks to counter China in its own background.

Things started falling apart after New Zealand decided to speak against the genocide in China's north-western Xinjiang province.

"We need to acknowledge that there are some things on which China and New Zealand do not, cannot, and will not agree. We have commented publicly about our grave concerns regarding the human rights situation of Uyghurs," Ardern had said in May.

The Chinese government is accused of carrying out human rights abuses in the form of abduction, forced sterilisation, and extra-judicial killings of minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Even the opposition party too has supported the Ardern-government though the widening rift between New Zealand and China is going to have a negative economic impact.

National Party leader Judith Collins said, "China is our major trading partner. But we can't just lie down and let cyberattacks occur against our health organisations, government agencies and businesses, and sit there and say nothing." Under the Xi Jinping rule, authoritarianism has increased, and the Beijing government seeks to achieve dominance and total control over its population as well as other countries.

New Zealand must have got the taste of it. It appears that New Zealand has decided to join the US-led anti-China bandwagon to protect itself against harmful Chinese activities. And the recent cyber-attack gave it a reason to do so.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Five journalists have moved the Supreme Court, contending the unauthorised use of surveillance by government agencies have violated their fundamental rights and they are directly affected by the use of Pegasus spyware.

The petitioners -- Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, S.N.M. Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh, and Ipsa Shatakshi - urged the top court to issue directions to the Centre to produce and disclose all materials and documents, with respect to all investigation, authorisation, and orders pertaining to the use of Pegasus on them.

The petitioners alleged they were subjected to deeply intrusive surveillance and hacking by government or some other third party.

In July, veteran journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar had moved the top court seeking a direction for an independent probe by its sitting or retired judge into the alleged Pegasus snooping scandal.

Advocate M.L. Sharma and CPI-M Rajya Sabha member John Brittas have also moved the apex court seeking probe into the spying allegations.

A bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Surya Kant is scheduled to take up matters connected with Pegasus snooping on August 5.

The plea filed through advocate-on-record Prateek Chadha cited the threat posed by this nature of surveillance to journalistic sources and whistle-blowers. The petitioners asked the top court to intervene to ensure free press can continue to exist, and also sought that a judicial oversight mechanism be put in place to deal with any complaints on illegal breaches of privacy and hacking.

The petitioners insisted that action should be taken against all government officials responsible for such breaches.

The journalists claimed the forensic examination of their mobile phones done by Amnesty International has revealed they were targeted using the Pegasus malware.

"The petitioner apprehends that the Pegasus attack on him and other journalists in India will stop confidential informants and whistle-blowers from coming forward and bringing to light wrongdoing at various levels of government and as such, have a detrimental effect on transparency in governance all across India," said the plea filed by Thakurta.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : A Task Force of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet will proceed on over two month overseas deployment to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea, and the Western Pacific from early August.

The deployment of the Indian Navy ships seeks to underscore the operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing bonds between India and countries of the Indo-Pacific, a Navy statement said.

The deployment is in pursuit of India's 'Act East' policy and to enhance military cooperation with friendly countries, it said.

The Indian Task Force comprises Guided Missile Destroyer Ranvijay, Guided Missile Frigate Shivalik, Anti-Submarine Corvette Kadmatt, and Guided Missile Corvette Kora.

The latter three ships are indigenously designed and are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors, and are Made in India by defence shipyards.

During the deployment in the Indo Pacific, the ships are scheduled to participate in bilateral exercises with the Vietnamese Peoples' Navy, the Republic of Philippines Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (SIMBEX), and the Indonesian Navy (Samudra Shakti) and Royal Australian Navy (AUS-INDEX).

Further, they would also participate in multilateral exercise MALABAR-21 alongside the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, the Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy in Western Pacific.

The Indian Navy undertakes regular deployments to friendly foreign countries and Indian and the Pacific Ocean regions in furtherance of the Prime Minister's initiative of 'Security and Growth for All in the Region - SAGAR', the statement said.

Further, such engagements build 'Bridges of Friendship' and strengthen international cooperation, it said, adding that these maritime initiatives enhance synergy and coordination between the Indian Navy and friendly countries, based on common maritime interests and commitment towards Freedom of Navigation at sea.

Besides regular port calls, the task group will operate in conjunction with friendly navies, to build military relations and develop interoperability in the conduct of maritime operations.
Kolasib : , Aug 2 (IANS) Assam and Mizoram say they have taken steps to defuse the border tension, but the national highway connecting the two states are still bereft of transport carrying essential supplies.

During a three-hour trip from Aizawl Airport to Kolasib, the border district with Assam, this correspondent could find only three trucks on National Highway 306.

All were carrying bamboos within Mizoram, the drivers said.

Kolasib residents say no truck carrying essential supplies from elsewhere in India through Assam have arrived in Kolasib on way to Aizawl.

"It is due to the blockage started by Assam. Their government has stopped all trucks to Mizoram. Most of them carry essential supplies like Covid drugs and testing kits," said Kolasib resident Andrew Vanlalauva.

Roadside eateries between Aizawl and Kolasib say their business is down.

"Truck drivers are our biggest clientele. Most come to eat when going towards Aizawl. We cannot find customers since the border trouble started," said V.Sailo, owner of a roadside eatery in Kolasib.

Last Monday, Assam and Mizoram Police fought pitched gunbatttles on the Cachar-Kolasib border, leaving six Assam policemen dead, while 60 others, including many policemen and civilians on either side were injured, many seriously.

A war of words followed but intervention by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has helped contain the situation.

Both Chief Ministers, Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma and Mizoram's Zoramthanga, have pledged to work for peace.

The Centre has deployed CRPF formations on the disputed borders to keep the two warring police forces far apart.

But landlocked Mizoram has already began to feel the pinch.

Battling with a serious Covid situation, the Aizawl municipality had to stop its mass screening program for paucity of testing kits.

A huge consignment of those kits are stuck on the way in trucks that had not been able to ply into Mizoram from Assam.

Prices of all essential commodities are rising.

"If the two Chief Ministers have agreed to peacefully resolve the border dispute, why should Assam stop trucks heading towards Mizoram, " says Kolasib trader Lalsangliana.

The officials are tight-lipped because they don't want the situation to spin out of control.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : THe Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the roles of Amol Awasthi and Anupam Awasthi, both NRI sons of US Awasthi, MD and CEO IFFCO, and Vivek Gahlaut -- also an NRI, and son of Parvinder Singh Gahlaut, MD of the Indian Potash Limited (IPL), in connection with its money laundering probe into the fertilizer scam.

According to ED officials related to the probe, Anupam is the beneficiary in the Africa Strategic Advisory Services, while his brother Amol beneficially owns Catalyst Business Solution Pvt Ltd US and Terra Firma Commodities DMCC, Dubai along with Vivek.

The ED officials also claimed that Vivek also beneficially owns Thorn Lock Associates. An ED source related to probe told IANS: "Several companies owned by Anupam, Amol and Vivek are under the scanner of the agency. Besides there companies, the other accused in the CBI FIR, who acted as the middlemen in channelising the funds are also under investigation." The source said that the role of the Rajeev Saxena, whose name has appeared in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case is also on the radar of the financial probe agency. The source said that group companies of Saxena -- Midas Metal International and others received had received huge amounts as commission from Uralkali Trading Ltd, Guf Marine and rare Earth Group of Pankaj Jain (a middleman) which are reportedly suppliers of fertilizers and related products to IFFCO and IPL.

The ED source said that for justifying the receipt of commission, consultancy agreements were made between Saxena and Uralkali Trading Ltd while invoices for consultancy were raised by Saxena without providing any consultancy.

"The amounts were transferred to Anupam, Amol, Vivek and others by Saxena as per the instructions of middleman Jain," he said, adding that for justifying the amount transfers or payments, Saxena made agreement with Anupam's Africa Strategic Advisory Services and then he raised invoices on the companies of Saxena for the so called services, the official pointed out.

He further said that Catalyst Business Solution Pvt Ltd, is beneficially owned by Amol, Thorn Rock Associates, beneficially owned by Vivek and Terra Firma Commodities DMCC, Dubai beneficially owned by Amol and Vivek received commission from group companies of Saxena without any genuine transactions and such transfers were actually receipt of illegal commission generated out on import of fertilizers and raw materials by the IFFCO and the IPC on inflated prices.

The ED source said that the financial probe agency is "studying" and "scrutnising" the banking transaction details of these companies and till date, it has got the lead of involvement of over 20 more NRIs' role in the case.

The ED source further said that in the CBI FIR it has also been alleged that Saxena, Jain, Sanjay Jain, RJD RS member and Senior Vice President of Jyoti Trading AD Singh, who has been arrested by the ED and Sushil Kumar Pachisia are the intermediaries who channelised the funds through various firms and companies registered in their names or in the names of Amol, Anupam and Vivek.

In the CBI FIR, it has been alleged that Saxena is director in various companies in middle east -- Midas Metal International LLC, Pacific International FZC, Matrix Group Limited, Matrix Grroup DMCC, Rockford DMCC.The official said that Saxena and his associates received a total of Rs 685 crore of illegal commission in the bank accounts of his group companies and individual account of Jain, Vivek, Amol and Singh.

He said that a total of Rs 481 crore has been channelised through Rare Earth Group of Pankaj Jain and remaining Rs 204 crore has been received by Amol, Anupam and Vivek either in the accounts of the firms or companies owned by them or in the form of cash.

The ED official said that "we are preparing the list of transactions in the accounts of the companies beneficially owned by Amol, Anupam and Vivek".

He also said that the agency is also identifying the properties which has been from the amount which thery received in cash or through alleged hawala transactions.

The CBI has registered a case in May this year against Awasthi, Gahlaut, Amol, Anupam, Vivek, Pankaj Jain of Jyoti Group of Companies and Rare Earth Group, Dubai; Sanjay Jain, brother of Pankaj Jain and also President of Jyoti Trading Corporation and beneficial owner of other entities of Jyoti Group; and AD Singh, senior Vice President of Jyoti Trading Corporation, Dubai.

Besides them, the CBI has also named Rajiv Saxena, a chartered accountant, who is the promoter of Midas Metal International LLC and other companies, Sushil Kumar Pachisia, an employee of Pankaj Jain, and unknown directors of IFFCO and unknown others.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)
Bengaluru, Aug 2 : A Congolese man's death in police custody sparked violence in Bengaluru on Monday, leaving several policemen injured, police said.

Six other Congolese were detained in the violence that sparked after they staged a protest in front of the police station.

Commissioner of Police Kamal Pant has ordered a CID inquiry into the incident.

Malu Shindani was detained by J.C. Nagar police late on Sunday on charges of drug peddling. He complained of chest pain and succumbed on the way to hospital.

As his compatriots came to know about the incident, they gathered before the police station to protest, alleging Shindani died due to police brutality.

All efforts to convince them went in vain and the police undertook a baton charge to disperse them but the protestors retaliated and in the scuffle, many policemen were injured.

Additional Commissioner of Police Soumendu Mukharjee, who rushed to the spot, said: "Sub-Inspector Raghupathy had, on a tip-off, arrested Shindani when he came to sell drugs. The police have recovered the material and sent it for testing. One person managed to escape and another was arrested. When he was brought to the police station he did not divulge any details. He had not given any documents.

"Later, he developed chest pain at the police station. He was immediately shifted to nearby Chirayu hospital. Though he was treated, he died after an hour. To ascertain his identity, the police had to contact their (Congolese) association. When the documents were obtained, it was found that his visa had expired in 2015 and his passport had expired in 2017. No other document was available." Further procedures are being conducted, as per the the National Human Rights Commission's guidelines, into the incident, he said.
Eluru : , Aug 2 (IANS) The killing, allegedly by poisoning, of more than 300 stray dogs by a village panchayat in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district has sent local animal rights activists into a fury.

The gruesome incident first came to light on July 29 when animal rights activist Sri Latha Challapalli received a tip-off. She went to the village and was shocked to find the decomposed carcasses of the dogs in a shallow pit on its outskirts.

"The killings took place on July 24 and I got information on July 29. I went to the village and saw the decomposed bodies buried in a pit near the pond. Initially, the local police were not willing to file a case under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act," she said.

According to Sri Latha, the village panchayat officials had roped in members of a local dog-catcher community, to kill the animals. "The dogs could have easily been sterilised instead of murdering them," she contends.

A case has been registered at on the basis of her complaint at the Dharmajigudem police station, under section 429 of IPC and Section 11(l) of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, a police official said.

Meanwhile, the BJP's national Secretary and co-in charge for Andhra Pradesh, Sunil Deodhar, demanded action against the perpetrators of the brutal act.

"Shocking! As result of patronising evils, 300 innocent stray dogs were poisoned & dumped in pits in Lingapalem, Andra Pradesh #AnimalLovers & any sensible human should not let these barbaric killers go unpunished. CM @ysjagan must bring out those guiltily to justice," he said in a tweet.
Mumbai, Aug 2 : The second season of mythological animation series "The Legend of Hanuman" is all set to release on digital platforms with actor Sharad Kelkar as the narrator.

"The Legend of Hanuman Season 2", created by Sharad Devarajan, Jeevan J. Kang, and Charuvi P. Singhal, has been directed by Kang and Navin John, with Devarajan, Sarwat Chaddha, Ashwin Pande, and Arshad Syed the lead writers.

The latest season takes Mahabali Hanuman's journey forward as the mighty warrior faces Ravan and his army.

"The response received by the first season of 'The Legend of Hanuman' was amazing and humbling and has been a milestone for original Indian animation. The heroism of Mahabali Hanuman means so much to the world and so much to all of the people who worked on this project," Devarajan, co-creator of the series, said "With the latest season, we take the story to greater heights with another chapter in Mahabali Hanuman's life and his first encounter with the demon King, Ravan which is brought alive through captivating visuals and comprehensible language. As he learns to wield his newfound power, it is a story of inner growth and heroism that we hope is relatable and inspiring to everyone," he added.

The 13-episode series will be available in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada and will release on Disney+ Hotstar on August 6.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Amid the Mizoram-Assam border row, Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Monday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital and discussed the prevailing security situation in the bordering areas with Assam.

This was the first meeting of Mizoram Governor with the Union Home Minister after a bloody clash over the border dispute between the police personnel of the two states on July 26, killing 5 policemen of Assam Police and injuring over 50 persons including one superintendent of police.

In the meantime, the Mizoram government has withdrawn the FIR registered against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other police officials on Sunday which was duly reciprocated by the Assam Police which also withdrew the FIR against Mizoram MP K. Vanlalvena on Monday on the instruction of Sarma in the interest of de-escalation of tension along the border.

The Assam Police, however, said that criminal proceedings against the erring police personnel and other miscreants will be continued.

The situation had escalated on July 26 afternoon, when at Vairengte auto stand in Mizoram, five Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed and over 50 others, including a superintendent of police were injured as the Mizoram Police opened fire on a team of the Assam officials.

Immediately after the clash, Shah spoke to the Chief Ministers of the both states and advised them to defuse the tension and also asked them to withdraw their police personnel from the site.

Later, on July 28, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla chaired a meeting with the Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of Assam and Mizoram wherein both the states agreed on the deployment of the CRPF in the disturbed border areas along NH306.

During the meeting, both state governments also agreed to continue discussions mutually to resolve the border issue in an amicable manner.

Earlier, Mizoram Home Department Secretary Pi Lalbiaksangi also wrote a letter to the Additional Secretary (Northeast) Piyush Goyal in MHA complaining that armed police personnel were being mobilised by Assam at Dholai and Hawaithang area along the inter-state border.

Citing reports that additional enforcement of around four platoons of Assam Police Commandos have been deputed, he also requested the Union Home Ministry to issue appropriate instructions to Assam government to refrain from such reinforcements and to pull back those contingents.
Agartala, Aug 2 : Trinamool Congress will come to power in Tripura in 2023 Assembly polls as it is the only organisation capable of defeating the BJP, which has been proved in the recent Bengal polls, the partys national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee here said on Monday.

Banerjee said that after 25 years of miss governance by the Left parties, the BJP during its three-and-a-half years' rule in Tripura not only failed to deliver the goods, but also killed democracy in the peaceful state as the state government led by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb is controlled from Delhi.

Accompanied by a host of Trinamool leaders and ministers from West Bengal, Banerjee said that if Bengal can defeat the BJP, Tripura with Trinamool's help will certainly be able to do so in the Assembly polls scheduled in 2023.

"Home Minister Amit Shah became a daily passenger to Bengal during the elections. The BJP government used all the central agencies against Trinamool leaders. Even the Election Commission acted against our party.

"All the BJP leaders, central ministers and the Prime Minister campaigned in the recent polls but still the Trinamool increased its tally as compared to the previous polls (2016)," Banerjee said.

Stating that Trinamool's full-fledged Tripura state committee would be announced within the next 15 days, Banerjee said that he would come to Tripura three to four times a month while other party leaders would also visit the state frequently.

Booth-level committees would be formed in all the 3,324 Assembly booths in the eight districts of Tripura soon, he stated.

The Lok Sabha member said that even before Trinamool started its work in Tripura, the BJP became panicky and out of fear, 23 Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) members were detained by the state police who had come to Tripura just to study the situation in the BJP-ruled state.

"Our struggle to protect the people of Tripura and other organisational activities would be intensified regardless of the attacks we faced here. If BJP intimidates our workers, if they attack our people in Tripura, Trinamool will become more active and expand its base," he said.

Claiming that many BJP MLAs and ministers are maintaining contacts with the Trinamool and had even gone to Kolkata to meet the party leaders, Banerjee said that a large number of party leaders and workers from different political parties in Tripura would soon join his party.

"The BJP has unleashed a reign of terror as there is no existence of opposition parties in Tripura. Henceforth, the BJP's terror and violence against the people would be stopped as the Trinamool would be a big political force in the state with huge organisational capacities," the Trinamool leader said.

Banerjee also said that the BJP in Tripura did not allow the opposition parties to contest in all the local body polls since March 2018 and their candidates had won these polls without any contest.

After the alleged "house arrest" of 23 I-PAC members by the police in Agartala on July 25, seven senior Trinamool leaders, including Bratya Basu, Moloy Ghatak, Derek O'Brien, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Ritabrata Banerjee, have come to Tripura.

All these Trinamool leaders also accompanied Banerjee on Monday.

Trinamool sources said the I-PAC team came to Tripura last week to assess the political situation in the state and look at the potential support base for Trinamool before the 2023 Assembly elections.
Kolkata, Aug 2 : The Indian Air Force (IAF) on the request of the West Bengal government on Monday rescued 31 people including women and children who were trapped in flood at different villages in Khanakul.

According to officials of Hooghly district, on Saturday night, several villages under Khanakul Block - 2 including Dhanyagari, Majhipara, Samanatapara, Mannapara, Saupara were submerged after water from Rupnarayan and Gandheshwari started entering villages through large cracks in the embankments.

The houses in low lying areas were completely washed away and people either had to take shelter on the roof of two storied buildings on the embankments.

They had to stay the whole night under the sky without any food and water.

"The NDRF team was pressed into action on Sunday morning but that failed to reach because of the strong current. The state government, speaking with the district administration, then asked the Indian Air Force to assist them in the rescue operation," a senior district official said.

"Two helicopters were rushed to Aramabagh on Sunday evening but the rescue operation could not be initiated because of low light. The IAF helicopters started the rescue operation from Monday morning and 31 people mostly who were staying on the embankments of Dhanyaguri area were rescued and this includes a nine-month-old child. They were air-lifted and brought to the flood relief centre in Arambagh," the official said.

"We got to know about the situation after some local residents who were trapped in water made some video and sent it to us. The NDRF team tried on Sunday but failed and then we decided to airlift them. The people have been brought to the safe houses and after doing the required medical tests they have been provided with food and medicine,a the official said.

However, the senior officials also said that there are many more people who are still trapped in the water and the IAF choppers will again continue on with their rescue operation on Tuesday.

"Meanwhile, we have dropped dry food packets and tarpaulin so that they can sustain. The water level is not reducing because of the release of water from DVC at the same time. Naturally we will have to wait till the water recedes and then only we can rescue and bring all the people to the safe houses," the official added.
Guwahati/Aizawl, Aug 2 : In a bid to resolve the inter-state border row, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday night said that he will send two senior Ministers to Aizawl on August 5 for "a meaningful dialogue" with the Mizoram government.

The two states have also decided to withdraw most cases filed against each other, including those against Sarma, Mizoram Rajya Sabha member K. Vanlalvena and senior officials of two states.

Sarma, in a tweet, said that "in aid of an early amicable resolution", Agriculture Minister Atul Bora and Urban Development Minister Ashok Singhal would go to Aizawl on Thursday to talk with the Mizoram Ministers and officials to defuse the border crisis, that intensified with the July 26 border clash and firing that left six Assam Police personnel dead and scores of others injured.

"Assam stands committed to ensuring peace on its borders, paving the way for a peaceful & developed North-East," he said.

Noting that he learned his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga has asked Mizoram Police to withdraw the July 26 FIR against Assam officials, he said: "I heartily reciprocate this positive gesture and ask Assam police to withdraw cases against DC Kolasib and SDPO Virengte (sic)." Before Sarma's tweet, Zoramthanga has announced withdrawal of the FIR registered against the Assam Chief Minister and six other senior officials in connection with the July 26 violence.

Zoramthanga posted: "In order to build a conducive atmosphere for amicable solution to the Mizoram-Assam border dispute & to reduce the plight of suffering of citizens, I have directed Mizoram police to withdraw FIR dt. 26.07.2021 filed at Vairengte, Kolasib District, Mizoram against all the accused persons." Sarma earlier on Monday morning asked the police to withdraw an FIR against Vanlalvena which was lodged in the wake of the July 26 border row. The Assam Police had issued summons to Vanlalvena and six Mizoram state officials for their alleged role in the violence and asked them to report before the investigating officers on August 1 and August 2.

In a series of tweets then, he said : "To take this goodwill gesture ahead, I have directed the Assam Police to withdraw the FIR against K. Vanlalvena, Hon'ble MP, Rajya Sabha from Mizoram.

"He (Vanlalvena) was not in that area on that day. We had booked him only for provocative statements.

"I have noted statements in the media by Hon'ble CM Zoramthanga wherein he has expressed his desire to settle the border dispute amicably. Assam always wants to keep the spirit of North East alive. We are also committed to ensuring peace along our borders." Zoramthanga retweeted his Assam counterpart's posts.

Monday's series of developments came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday spoke to both Chief Ministers and urged them to resolve the border issue amicably through dialogue.

Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo on Sunday said that Zoramthanga did not approve of the inclusion of Sarma's name in the FIR, adding that he too was not properly aware of the Assam Chief Minister's name being included in the FIR before it was lodged. Besides Sarma, who was accused of "attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy", six other officials, including an Assam IGP, DIG and the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Cachar district and 200 unidentified Assam Police personnel, were named in the FIR lodged at the Vairengte police station in Kolasib.
Mumbai, Aug 2 : Age is just about the numbers and this holds true for child artiste Yagya Bhasin who has been featured in many television shows, including "Krishna Chali London" and the recent "Yeh Hai Chahatein".

He also made his big screen debut with the film "Panga". Yagya played the loving son of Kangana in the film and he has been praised for his performance in the film.

Becoming an established actor is Yagya's dream and to achieve it, he is ready to do everything.

He shared about the support of his parents and how because of the initial financial crunch, his father taught him the basics of acting.

After looking at his passion for acting, his parents supported him by shifting to Mumbai.

"I remember one day when my father was going to the office, I told him I want to go to Los Angeles and I want to become an actor. My father was quite surprised and told me that it is not possible for us to shift there, but yes, we can try and go to Mumbai," he said.

Yagya's father Deepak Bhasin was working with a government organisation while his mother Sonia Bhasin used to run a beauty salon. Yagya added that his parents had to face a huge objection from their families, especially from the paternal side. Since his father was into a government job, many of his friends had discouraged him, saying that he was taking a big risk.

The 11-year-old actor said: "But my parents did not listen to anyone. They sold everything and we all came to Mumbai in July 2017. Whatever I have achieved today, I owe it to my parents." The initial few months were quite tough for the Bhasin family as Mumbai was new to them and they did not know anything about the city.

Yagya said that he has never been to any acting school since his parents couldn't afford it. He struggled a lot to get his first break in the industry and it was a bumpy ride.

"I have never been to any acting school. There was no time and also we couldn't afford it. So it was my father who used to teach me acting. Though he has never been into acting, it has always been his passion."
New Delhi, Aug 2 : The US army on Monday conducted aerial strikes against the Taliban in Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, killing around 40 Taliban fighters, sources said.

Though the Afghan government did not confirm civilian people being hit, sources in the provincial capital said that eight members of a family, including children, were killed in the strikes.

The sources added that the fighters had attacked the central prison in Lashkargah city which was driven back by the strikes.

The US army has recently intensified its airstrikes on the Taliban to support the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), media reports said.

Earlier, US CENTCOM commander General McKenzie had said that the US army will conduct airstrikes in support of the ANDSF in the fight against the Taliban even after full withdrawal of forces, but acknowledged that the strikes will be over the horizon.

The Taliban had attacked the Lashkargah city nearly 10 days ago and recently toppled two police districts in the city and then got closer to the central jail.

The Afghan government has recently sent reinforcements to the city which led to heavy conflicts between the warring sides, leaving hundreds of families displaced.
Patna, Aug 2 : Friction between NDA alliance partners in Bihar on Monday resurfaced after a BJP minister's remarks on coalition governments.

Panchayati Raj Minister Samrat Chaudhary said that running a coalition government in Bihar is extremely tough.

"Despite having 74 seats, we have given the post of Chief Minister to a leader of a party having only 43 seats to follow the coalition pact.

"Bihar has a coalition government of four parties and each of them have different ideologies. In this case, running a government is not an easy task," Chaudhary said while addressing his party members in Aurangabad district. Keeping this in view, BJP supporters should maintain patience, he added.

Noting that the BJP has governments in many states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc, he said that running a government there is very easy, but execution of work in states like Bihar is extremely tough, as even officials are not listening to the ministers.

Reacting to Chaudhary's statement, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asked him to specify who is not listening.

"If he (Chaudhary) is having any issue, why don't he talk to leaders of his own party," he said after his Janata Darbar on Monday.

"We have been running a coalition government for many years in Bihar and there is no such issue. The coalition is running smoothly between all alliance partners," he added.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Out of the 442 Thermal Power Plants (TTPs), 355 units are complying with particulate matter -- PM norms, 256 units are complying with NOx norm and 68 units are complying with SO2 emission norms, according to revised standards of 2015, the Rajya Sabha was told on Monday.

Also, on the one hand the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been extending the deadline for the TPPs to comply with the revised standards of 2015, on the other, it admitted that it has not done any assessment of impact on environment and health of people due to continued operation of TPPs without complying to revised standards, as per the information provided by Minister of State in the Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey in reply to a question by Member of Parliament, Manoj Kumar Jha.

The MoEF&CC, vide its notification dated March 31, 2021 (Annexure-I) had extended the time line for compliance of revised standards of 2015 for coal based power plants. "As per information submitted by utilities to Central Electricity authority (CEA) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), out of 442 units, 355 units are complying with PM norms, 256 units are complying with NOx norm and 68 units are complying with SO2 emission norms," Choubey said.

The Ministry had notified emission norms on December 7, 2015 for parameters viz. Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Mercury (Hg) and revised the norms for Particulate Matter emission for coal/lignite based TPPs, which were to be implemented within two years from the notification i.e. by December 7, 2017.

Subsequently, in December 2017, the timeline was extended on case to case basis from year 2018 to 2022.

The ministry claimed that it took the decision after taking into consideration following factors: i. Technical challenges such as supply and demand assessment done by CEAI ii. The plan with timelines for phasing was prepared and submitted before Supreme Court, considering supply and demand aspectI iii. Market supply condition as limited technology providers are availableI iv. Supreme Court vide order dated July 29, 2020 in W.P. (C) 13029 of 1985 has seized the matter on certain emission norms.

The Minister also blamed Covid-19 induced lockdowns for slower deployment of instrumentation and equipments, which, he said, prompted the revised timeline for implementation of the new emission norms by TPPs on March 31, 2021.

"The Ministry has not done any assessment of impact on environment and health of people due to continued operation of TPPs without complying to revised standards," Choubey said in reply to a pin-pointed question by Jha that asked whether the Ministry has done an assessment of negative impact on environment and health of people due to continued operation of these TPPs without complying with revised standards?
Chennai, Aug 2 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday unveiled the portrait of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in the state Assembly on Monday.

He also hailed the landmark legislations of the century-old Assembly.

"It would not be wrong to say that this legislature becomes the fountainhead of many progressive legislation which were subsequently repeated across the country to empower the weaker sections of the society and strengthen democracy. The Madras legislature has sown the seeds of a fully representative democratic form of governance which were released after Independence," Kovind said.

Paying rich tributes to former Chief Minister, he said: "For him, his mother tongue was the object of worship, Tamil of course is one of the greatest and oldest languages of humankind. The whole world takes pride in its rich heritage. It was Karunanidhi who ensured that it was granted official recognition as a classical language." AIADMK leaders skipped the occasion but BJP state President K. Annamalai and legislative party leader Nainar Nagenthran attended the programme.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, Tamil Manila Congress President G.K. Vasan, PMK President G.K. Mani, and Congress state President K.S. Alagiri were also present.
Visakhapatnam/New Delhi, Aug 2 : With the Centre virtually ruling out any relook at the decision to privatise the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP), opponents of the move now took their protests to the heart of the national capital.

On Monday, a large number of VSP employees, workers, and representatives of trade unions protested at the Jantar Mantar.

"We have been protesting since many days but the Central government has become obstinate... even filing affidavits in the court, hinting that it will not go back," said a protester at Jantar Mantar.

He said thousands of people are dependent on the steel plant which the Centre is planning to sell.

Protesters vowed that they will not let the Centre sell the VSP and will take support from all sections of people.

Coming to Delhi from the Andhra Pradesh port city, Visakhapatnam Deputy Mayor Jiyyani Sridhar noted that nearly 30 people sacrificed their lives for achieving the steel plant.

He said the state's ruling YSRCP is striving to save the steel plant.

"After today's protest at Jantar Mantar, we will demonstrate in front of Andhra Bhavan on Tuesday. YSRCP will fight hard in support of all these people for the steel plant," he said.

A representative from the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) said they want to safeguard all the public sector units.

"We want to safeguard all PSUs in national interest. We think by privatising all national assets, the government is trying to take regressive steps which will be harmful for the sovereign and self-reliant economy of our country," she said.

The AITUC representative demanded the government to rollback its privatisation plan and save the VSP, which is the pride of the Telugu people.

She said the central trade unions are extending their support for the cause of the steel plant.

"I extend support to this cause which is so dear not only to Andhra people but it is dear to the national working class," she added.

YSRCP Rajya Sabha member V. Vijayasai Reddy said all the MPs from the state's ruling party joined the protesters in Delhi, holding up placards protesting the steel plant sale.

"I assured that we will participate in any protest they take up to save the steel plant," he said.

The YSRCP leader reiterated that their leader and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is completely against the privatisation plan.
Bengaluru, Aug 2 : Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Administrator Rakesh Singh said on Monday that to effectively control the spread of Covid-19, the BBMP officials must work in coordination with the police in order to raise awareness among people on the need to follow Covid rules in the city.

If citizens are found flouting the rules, even after raising awareness, they must be penalised and cases must be filed against them, he said.

He was speaking at the coordination meeting held between BBMP and the police department regarding the enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour in the city.

He said that appropriate measures should be taken to control the virus at the zonal level. Measures must be taken to contain the Covid virus at the grassroots level, he noted.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said strict measures need to be taken to control the Covid spread in the city.

He also instructed the authorities to penalise and file cases against those flouting rules.

Noting that a large number of migrants from Kerala and Maharashtra are coming to the city, the Chief Commissioner said separate teams have been deployed at major bus stops and railway stations in this regard.

Migrants from both states must submit the RT-PCR negative report obtained within 72 hours. If the RT-PCR test is not submitted, the health care team will collect swabs for tests and the travellers will remain in institutional quarantine until the report is received. He also said that mandatory checks must be conducted on people arriving at airports and check-posts.

He stressed the need to follow the night curfew in the city which is from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Police cooperation is key to ensure night curfew is followed properly, he added.

Officials must ensure that Covid rules are followed in crowded areas like markets, malls, temples, hotels and restaurants.

A team of BBMP officials should work in tandem with police personnel to ensure rules are followed and in case of rules being flouted, a fine must be imposed, the Chief Commissioner instructed. Strict measures must be taken at the zonal level to contain Covid. Awareness regarding following Covid norms must be raised through loudspeakers, he said.

BBMP has been taking several of precautionary measures such as physical triage, contact tracing, isolation, and areas with three or more cases are made containment zones to stop the spread of Covid, Gupta said.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that there is good coordination between the BBMP officials and the police staff and added that the police department will cooperate in every way possible. Cases will be filed against those who are not following Covid rules, he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Google on Monday announced it has developed its own custom-built chip to power the next generation of Pixel 6 smartphones that will arrive in the market later this year.

Called Tensor, the AI-enabled System on a Chip (SoC) has been developed specifically for Pixel phones.

"These new phones redefine what it means to be a Pixel. From the new design that combines the same beautiful aesthetic across software and hardware with Android 12, to the new Tensor SoC, everything about using the Pixel is better," said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services.

Google said that Tensor was built for how people use their phones today and how people will use them in the future.

"For example, with Tensor we thought about every piece of the chip and customised it to run Google's computational photography models. For users, this means entirely new features, plus improvements to existing ones," the company said.

With Tensor's new security core and Titan M2, Pixel 6 will have the most layers of hardware security in any phone.

Google has also upgraded the rear camera system on Pixel 6.

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have new materials and finishes, too - like the Pro's light polished aluminum frame, and the 6's matte aluminum finish.

In 2016, Google launched the first Pixel.

"Over the years, we introduced features like HDR+ and Night Sight, which used artificial intelligence (AI) to create beautiful images with computational photography," the company said.

"As more and more features are powered by AI and ML it's not simply about adding more computing resources, it's about using that ML to unlock specific experiences for our Pixel users," it added.
Chennai, Aug 2 : Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss has demanded the arrest of Sri Lankan Navy personnel who opened fire on Indian fishermen.

The PMK leader said in a statement on Monday that in the firing on Sunday night, an Indian fisherman, Kalaiselvan, was injured.

He said that fishermen from Akkaraipettai in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu were fishing in the Bay of Bengal, five nautical miles southeast off Kodiyakarai coast, on Sunday night when Lankan Navy personnel fired indiscriminately on them.

Ramadoss said that there has been an increase in the attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, adding that this was the seventh attack on Indian fishermen in the past two months.

The former minister said that Sri Lankan Navy is continuously attacking Indian fishermen as both the Central and state governments are not objecting to these attacks.

He also said that these attacks have caused huge losses to the Indian fishermen, including damage to boats and fishing nets.

He said that attacking Indian fishermen is a crime and that there was an agreement between India and Sri Lanka against such firings.

He also said that the Indian Coast Guard does not attack Sri Lankan fishermen, who accidentally venture into Indian waters, and instead arrests them and treats them with dignity.

The senior PMK leader said that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel who fired on the Indian fishermen should not be allowed to get away, adding that they should be arrested like the Italian mariners who were arrested after firing and killing fishermen across the Kerala coast.

Ramadoss also said that the Ministry of External Affairs should not to remain a mute spectator over the firing incident, and it should summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India and strongly reprimand him on the treatment meted out by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel towards Indian fishermen.
Bengaluru, Aug 2 : As many as 878 students have rejected their second-year Pre-University (II PUC) results and submitted applications to re-appear in the annual exams scheduled to be held on August 19.

The Pre-University Education department had announced II PUC results 10 days ago. As many as 878, including freshers and repeaters out of 6.6 lakh students have opted to appear in the exam again.

The students do not have the option of going back to the initial results. Most of the students want to improve their marks as they think their Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) marks affected their results.

Second year PUC exams were not held this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The marks secured are based on the candidate's SSLC, First-year PU marks and II PU internal marks. Five per cent grace marks were given to the students.

As many as 2,239 students secured cent per cent and nearly one lakh students got distinction in II PU exams.

A total of 104 Arts students from Indu P.U. College in Ballary district have applied for annual exams rejecting their results. As many as 17,469 private candidates are also appearing for the annual exams.
New Delhi, Aug 2 : Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that as per the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006, new projects/activities or the expansion/modernisation of existing projects/activities, listed in the schedule to the notification, require prior environmental clearance from the Central government or from the state-level environment impact assessment authority after taking into consideration the EIA report, environmental management plan, disaster management plan and public consultation.

Choubey was replying to a question raised by Rajya Sabha member Rewati Raman Singh, who had asked: "Is it a fact that hydroelectric projects, highway projects and haphazardly run tourism projects, which are beyond the potential of the Himalayan valley, are endangering the invaluable natural resources of the Himalayas?" In reply to Singh's question as to whether the government "has taken cognisance of various scientific reports published in recent months after the Uttarakhand disaster in February, 2021 raised serious questions about unsustainable development schemes in the Himalayas", Choubey said: "The National Disaster Management Authority and various scientific departments/institutions conducted studies to ascertain the causes of disaster and to suggest prevention /mitigation measures. The state government has already initiated action on the recommendations of these studies." The Ministry of Power has also constituted a committee under the chairperson of Central Electricity Authority for deciding upon early warning systems in the hilly regions for mitigating the effects of natural calamities, the minister said.

The government also listed the various steps taken for the conservation of Ganga and the Himalayas.

The National Mission on Clean Ganga (NMCG) is carrying out various projects/activities under the Namami Gange programme for the restoration/rejuvenation of river Ganga, which include treatment of municipal sewage, treatment of industrial effluents, drain bio-remediation, river surface cleaning, rural sanitation, river front development, ghats and crematoria development, afforestation and biodiversity conservation, public outreach programme, etc., it said.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has established the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment as a focal agency to advance scientific knowledge and to evolve integrated management strategies for the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources in the Indian Himalayan region. The government of India has also launched the National Mission on Himalayan Studies in 2015-16, a central sector scheme, to support the sustenance and enhancement of the ecological, natural cultural and socioeconomic capital assets and values of the Indian Himalayan Region.

Other initiatives of the government include the National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) under the Department of Science & Technology, the minister added.
New Delhi, Aug 3 : Delhi Police have arrested four persons on charges of raping and killing a nine-year-old girl and then cremating the body at a village crematorium near Delhi Cantonment on Sunday evening, the police said on Monday.

The four accused persons, including a priest, allegedly cremated the body of the girl without her parents' consent or informing the police.

The matter surfaced after the victim's family staged a protest along with the local people on Sunday night.

The police said that the accused persons told the victim's mother that the child was electrocuted to death.

They even told the girl's family members that if matter reaches the police, the body will be sent for autopsy, and the doctors will take out her vital organs and sell them.

The four arrested persons have been identified as Radhey Shyam, the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium, and Salim, Laxmi Narayan and Kuldeep, said Ingit Pratap Singh, DCP, South West Delhi.

According to the DCP, at around 5.30 pm on Sunday, the girl, who lived with her parents near the crematorium, went to fetch water from the water cooler of the crematorium.

At around 6 pm, the priest and the three men known to the family called the girl's mother and showed her the girl's body. They claimed that the girl died of electrocution while having water from the cooler. They also showed burn marks on her wrist and elbow, claiming that her lips had turned blue due to the shock.

"The four men asked the girl's mother not to inform the police about the death. They told her that the police will register a case and the body will be sent for an autopsy, where the doctors will remove her vital organs and sell them. The four men then cremated the body," Singh said.

According to the police, nearly 200 villagers reached the crematorium on Sunday night and staged a protest till Monday evening, demanding that the arrested persons be booked on charges of rape and murder.

Some politicians also joined the protest on Monday, demanding justice for the girl's family.

Women and Child Development Minister of Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam, also visited the victim's family on Monday evening and claimed to have promised to support the family with financial and legal aid.

The Delhi Police have registered a case under Sections 302, 376 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, along with the relevant Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act.
Mattaparru : , Aug 3 (IANS) Ace Telugu film director Sukumar donated Rs 18 lakh to build two new classrooms in the humble government school at Mattaparru village -- where he studied decades ago, in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district.

"Director Sukumar and I inaugurated two classrooms in Mattaparru government school," Razole Janasena MLA Rapaka Varaprasad told IANS.

Varaprasad said Mattaparru village located in Malkipuram mandalam is the native village of the reputed film director.

He said the director studied in the same school where he funded the construction of two classrooms, one of which is a digital classroom.

Appreciating Sukumar's gesture, the lone Janasena MLA noted that any person who takes good care of his parents will also take care of his village.

He said Sukumar, who directed popular blockbusters such as Arya and Rangasthalam, is a family man.

"He has immense respect for his mother and father. Generally people who rise to heights forget the lows they came from. They settle down in places like Hyderabad and other cities and forget their families," Varaprasad noted, but pointed out that Sukumar is not like that.

According to the MLA, the director came from a large family of three older sisters and three more brothers from humble beginnings.

"Despite coming from a poor background in a family of seven siblings, he settled all of them," the legislator noted.

He highlighted that Sukumar takes care of his village and recently spent Rs 45 lakh to build an oxygen plant in the area hospital at Razole, after being moved by the deaths of people during the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

"When people were dying due to oxygen shortage, he resolved that nobody in his home region should die and for achieving that goal he set up the oxygen plant," said Varaprasad.

Sukumar was a popular mathematics lecturer before taking a full fledged plunge into movies in the early 2,000s or noughties.

He taught mathematics topic 'differentiation' to first year intermediate students at a junior college near Adda Vantena in Bhimavaram town in the academic year 2000-01 One of his colleagues from the Bhimavaram college said that Sukumar used to practice mathematics during night time even after getting into movies just to keep in touch with the discipline.

'Pushpa', featuring dancing virtuoso Allu Aravind is his much awaited forthcoming movie while '1: Nenokkadine', '100% Love' and 'Nannaku Prematho' are some of his other movies.
New Delhi, Aug 3 : Newly-appointed Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday met BJP chief J.P. Nadda to discuss cabinet expansion in the state.

Bommai reached the national capital on Sunday evening to discuss the issue with the party's central leadership.

Sources said Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and state BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel were also present during the meeting held at Nadda's residence late evening.

"Nadda and Bommai discussed about the ministers to be inducted and about the formation of the cabinet like number of ministers to be made or the number of Deputy Chief Ministers," a party insider said.

Earlier in the day, Bommai also met BJP national General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santhosh and both the leaders also discussed the likely cabinet.

However, Bommai's meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah could not take place and sources said that it will be held on Tuesday now.

"The list of likely ministers has been discussed between Bommai and Santhosh but finalised only after approval of Nadda and Shah," a source said.

This is the second visit of Bommai to Delhi after being sworn in as the Chief Minister. He was elected leader of the BJP Legislative party after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa resigned on July 26. In his first visit to Delhi on July 30, Bommai met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others.

At present, there is no other minister in the Bommai government. Sources, meanwhile, said that ministerial aspirants have started lobbying to secure a berth in the new cabinet.

A party leader said that an initial round of discussion on Karnataka cabinet expansion took place between Bommai and senior party leaders on Sunday late night.

Before meeting Nadda, Bommai hinted that the cabinet expansion can take place most likely on August 4, if the list is finalised in the meeting with the BJP central leadership.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Aug 3 : The Ministry of Home Affairs has restricted Delhi governments proposal to increase the salary of the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Delhi, sources told IANS.

Proposal for an increase in salary and allowances of Delhi MLAs was pending with the MHA for the last 5 years. Sources privy with the development said that the MHA has "restricted the proposal." The six-member committee of AAP MLAs, which was formed by the Delhi Assembly to take up the issue of the proposed hike in salary of ministers and legislators with the Centre, had sent the proposal last time in March this year.

The Committee had pass the Bill in 2015 with proposal to increase MLA's salary and wages from the current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and their overall monthly pay from Rs 88,000 at present to Rs 2.1 lakh.

The committee had then contented that the salary of Delhi MLAs' hasn't increased since 2011.

It said that Delhi MLAs are amongst the lowest salary receiving MLAs in the country in comparison to other states and Union Territories (UTs).

The Committee had then claimed that MLAs of Uttarakhand get around Rs 1.98 lakh monthly in the name of salary and other service, in Himachal Pradesh Rs 1.90 lakh, in Haryana Rs 1.55 lakh and in Bihar Rs 1.3lakh.

The Rajasthan government pays around Rs 1.42 lakh to its MLAs and Telangana around Rs 2.5 lakh per month.

Many states provide many other services to their MLAs, which the Delhi government doesn't provide like house rent allowance, office rent and staff expenses, allowance for buying office equipments, vehicle for usage, driver allowance, etc.

Sources in Delhi government said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will discuss the matter during the cabinet meeting proposed for Tuesday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Aug 3 : The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has taken cognizance of obscene remarks made on the social media allegedly by five youths against women belonging to another community. The women rights body has issued a notice to the Delhi Police Cyber Cell and demanded immediate arrest of the accused persons.

The DCW has also sought a copy of the FIR from the Delhi Police Cyber Cell.

Giving information about the case, DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal said, "Five persons, who spoke about raping girls from another community on social media, make their numbers public for spreading obscenity should be arrested." "For this purpose we have issued a notice to the Delhi Police. It is very important to instil fear of law in the minds of such criminals." The DCW in a notice sent to Delhi Police has informed that the five accused have been identified as Kunal Sharma, Shringi Yadav, Sukhdev Sahdev, Ram Bhakt Gopal and Vikas Sherawat were found making indecent remarks against women from another community on a social media platform.

The women rights body has sought information from the Delhi police about the action taken against the accused persons and what action it has taken over the matter so far.

The DCW has asked the Delhi police to provide the information by August 5.

Recently some youths made indecent remarks against women on the social media and also made public the phone numbers of those women. These contact numbers along with the posts shared on the social media have been asked to be removed.
United Nations, Aug 3 : India will keep the spotlight on terrorism during its presidency of the Security Council and make a renewed push for international efforts to combat the scourge in all its manifestations, according to India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti said.

Briefing reporters on Monday after his first session as Council president, Triumurti said that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will chair a Council session on threats to international peace and security from terrorism.

That session will also have a briefing on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's report on the Islamic State.

India assumed the presidency of the 15-member Council on Sunday and Tirumurti will lead it through the month.

At the briefing on the Council's agenda for the month, he outlined the three areas that India will use its presidency to put before the global spotlight.

Tirumurti said that India's concern "is not just about cross border terrorism" but also the use of highly sophisticated mechanisms by the terrorists and the financing of terrorism. Terrorism affects all the major areas of the globe and ISIL (Islamic State) has its reach all over the world," he said.

A matter of great concern to all the members of the Council is the increase in terrorism in Africa, and "I've said very clearly that you ignore it at your own peril." India will also be bringing a holistic approach for the first time to the issue of maritime security for the first time to the Council, which has in the past only dealt with certain aspects of it, and seek answers to the dangers on the high seas.

"It is time that the various dimensions of maritime security and crime are discussed in a holistic manner, addressed through international cooperation," Tirumurti said.

"Our objective for the high-level debate is to make a case for equal access for all nations to use to the use of global commons so that sea lanes are rendered as pathways to mutual prosperity and corridors of peace," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over a virtual session next Monday on maritime security, in which African Union President Felix- Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, who is also the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will participate in a demonstration of the global attention to the issue, Tirumurti said.

The open debate "will seek answers from member states to questions such as what could be done to address the drivers of maritime crime and insecurity, how would member states, enhance their capabilities and improve operational coordination to access maritime security threats, and how to advance the implementation of international cooperation," Tirumurti said.

"Issues such as piracy, use of sea to conduct crimes illicit trafficking in narcotic and psychotropic substances, trafficking in persons and illicit firearms and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing have implications for the livelihood and security of coastal communities, international trade, energy security, and the global economy," he added.

The third focus area is peacekeeping given that India has been the largest contributor to UN operations, having sent over 250,000 troops of whom 175 have made the supreme sacrifice.

"We will be strongly advocating for enhanced measures to ensure the safety and security of the protectors of peace," Tirumurti said.

"We will focus on two specific aspects pertaining to it. One is how to ensure the safety of peacekeepers by use of technology and to how to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against peacekeepers," he said.

Jaishankar will preside over the sessions on peacekeeping on August 18.

He said that the adoption of new technologies can "play a significant role in improving the safety and security of the peacekeepers" and will be an "overarching theme of protecting the protectors." Tirumurti said that India was discussing with other Council members a stronger response to the impunity with which peacekeepers are being attacked and adopting a resolution on it.

He noted that according to UN statistics from 2013 onwards "the conviction rate is alarmingly low" of people who have committed crimes against peacekeepers.

But he said that peacekeepers operated in areas where the governments were weak and lacked the resources to effectively prosecute those attacking the peacekeepers.

To remedy this, he said that these countries needed help with capacity-building and financing.

"It has received a lot of support from countries because for us, protecting the protectors is an important aspect," he added.

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

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Moonlight Therapeutics is working on a treatment that has the potential to help address a significant unmet need, and were eager to evaluate its potential in clinical trials. explained Dr. Brian Vickery, Director of the Food Allergy Center at Emory and Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta.

Moonlight Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing treatments for food allergies, announced the receipt of $1.9 million in funding for preclinical studies and product development that will enable preparations for a clinical trial for its lead program in peanut allergy. This funding was awarded through a Phase 2 Small Business grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Moonlights proprietary treatment platform, TASIS  Targeted Allergen-Specific Immunotherapy within the Skin  involves the application of a small, minimally invasive skin stamp to target the delivery of allergens to the skins immune cells to desensitize someone from a food allergy. The dermal stamp is designed for at home self-administration. It is applied for only a few minutes and then discarded. The approach has shown encouraging results in animal models of peanut and other allergies.

This additional funding will enable the company to complete its pre-clinical activities, and submit an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for the peanut allergy treatment with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company received its first private funding last year led by the Central Piedmont Investment Group (CPIG).

We are excited to receive the latest funding so that we can move one step closer to bringing this treatment to the clinic, said Samir Patel, Moonlight Therapeutics co-founder and CEO. We will now focus on completing our pre-clinical research and begin to raise funding for our first clinical trial in peanut allergic individuals.

"Were proud of the progress the Moonlight Therapeutics team has made to develop a unique allergen immunotherapy platform that can address peanut and other food allergies, said Bob Easter, Central Piedmont Investment Groups managing director. CPIG sees tremendous growth potential as there are over 30 million individuals with a food allergy just in the United States.

Allergists have very few treatment options for treating peanut and other food allergies, explained Dr. Brian Vickery, who is the Director of the Food Allergy Center at Emory and Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. Moonlight Therapeutics is working on a treatment that has the potential to help address a significant unmet need and were eager to evaluate its potential in clinical trials.

About Moonlight Therapeutics

Based in Atlanta, Ga., Moonlight Therapeutics is an early-stage biotechnology company developing targeted, allergen-specific immunotherapy treatments for food allergies. Food allergies are estimated to affect more than 30 million people in the United States. Moonlight uses its proprietary platform, TASIS, to target the delivery of allergens to immune cells in the skin. This technology was invented at Texas Tech University. TASIS can be used to deliver individual or combinations of allergens to treat multiple allergies. The company was founded in 2017 and is supported by the Georgia Research Alliance. To learn more, visit moonlighttx.com.

About Central Piedmont Investment Group

Central Piedmont Investment Group considers angel funding support for both start-ups and established ventures. The group is interested in a wide range of business types, and welcomes proposals from any industry. We are located in central Georgia and work with local partners to grow promising businesses throughout the Southeastern United States. Please see cpig.co or contact Bob Easter at 478.719.0700 for more information.
Barbara brings extensive experience in leadership and innovation to our team, said Andrea Keating, President of Crews Control. Her proven track record in the media agency, corporate and digital industries bring a full circle perspective to our clients and company.

Andrea Keating, Founder and President of Crews Control Inc. is pleased to announce that former Havas Media Group Executive, Barbara Kittridge has joined Crews Control, Inc as their Senior Vice President, Strategy and Partnerships. Barbara brings extensive experience in leadership and innovation to our team, said Andrea Keating, President of Crews Control. Her proven track record in the media agency, corporate and digital industries bring a full circle perspective to our clients and company. Barbaras expertise in scaling growth, as well as developing additional services and solutions will position Crews Control to transition to the next level as a creative services agency.

Kittridge departs the media agency business and now pivots to the creative specialist company that works with hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies including American Express, Toyota, The Coca-Cola Company, Miller Coors, and Marriott Corporation to support their internal and external creative services teams globally.

Kittridge states, "I am excited to bring my marketing and business development expertise to the team at Crews Control, Inc. As a women owned business, their commitment to their clients and their unique ability to provide best-in-class media production and creative services in any market in the world delivers unbelievable value and quality talent to their clients. I am so impressed with the partnerships Crews Control has forged with major global organizations, and I welcome the opportunity to continue to accelerate their global growth and deepen their relationships with their incredible roster of clients."

Having spent 5 years in the telecommunications and cosmetics industries at T-Mobile, Vodafone and L'Oreal, Kittridge was responsible for accelerating marketing effectiveness, leading integrated digital marketing strategies, creating multi-channel platforms and media partnerships that spurred revenue growth fostering a culture of accountability. Previously as the EVP, Business Development at Havas Media Group North America she delivered over $2.5 billion in billings growth contributing to winning such accolades as 2016 ADWEEK's US Media Agency of the Year and 2017 MediaPost's Media Agency of the Year. Her cross-cultural work experience while at Publicis included stints in China, CEE (Hungary, Poland) and EMEA which informed the design approaches to solving the marketing challenges of Fortune 500 companies. She worked with market leaders and challenger brands including McDonald's, Kraft, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G, GM, Diageo, Novartis, and Suzuki to spur market share, launch new products and increase marketing efficiency.

Kittridge has been recognized in 2013 by the CMO Club as "CMO of the Year" in the Marketing Innovations category and named as one of "The Women Driving Chicago's Digital Renaissance" by Built in Chicago while serving as CMO at the data and analytics firm, Cardinal Path. She was named to Internationalist Magazines Agency Innovator list in 2009 and led Spark Communications to win MediaPost's 2009 "Boutique Agency of the Year" award. Kittridge graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in History and an MBA in marketing and international business from Loyola University of Chicago - Quinlan School of Business, resides in Northwest Washington, D.C. and is a proud Mom to her rescue dog, Bella.
"These awards recognize our commitment as the developer to fostering a true sense of community for our homeowners," said Diana Carroll, DFW marketing manager for Hillwood Communities.

Hillwood Communities, the award-winning master-planned community developer, based in Dallas, won ten McSAM Awards on July 24, 2021, at the gala hosted by the Dallas Builders Association. This year, the prestigious recognitions included Master Planned Community of the Year, Best Lifestyle Annual Program, Best Welcome Center, Best Community Amenity Center, Lifestyle Director of the Year, and People's Choice for Community of the Year and more.

The McSAM Awards are given annually to builders, developers and their associates who have made a significant and creative contribution in residential marketing through specific achievements in a given year. Hillwood Communities has received numerous McSAM awards throughout its 32-year history for a number of developments in its portfolio.

"These awards recognize our commitment as the developer to fostering a true sense of community for our homeowners," said Diana Carroll, DFW marketing manager for Hillwood Communities. "Our partnership with FirstService Residential provides an amazing, generational benefit for the families in our communities."

Pecan Square, which received the lion-share of recognition this year, is an old-fashioned idea that has become the new reality of what community should always be. The multi-generational community is managed by FirstService Residential, where new homes lead to deeper friendships and a natural relationship to the land and fellow neighbors. Residents can enjoy a traditional town square anchored by Jackson Hall, where they can gather together for annual holiday celebrations and community barbeques.

Pecan Square provides an on-site lifestyle director who coordinates lifestyle programming for the community, facilitating events, both big and small, in-person and virtual, and works hard to foster relationships among residents, schools and local businesses, all while bringing a true sense of community. Candace Culver has been named the 2021 Lifestyle Director of the Year for these reasons and many more.

"The vision for Pecan Square was small-town Texas, and that is exactly what you feel here. Its such an honor to bring that vision to life by creating opportunities for neighbors to connect and watching those relationships turn into meaningful friendships." Candace Culver, Lifestyle Director, said, "Im beyond grateful to be supported by an incredible team with FirstService Residential and Hillwood Communities. Plus, the most kind-hearted and spirited residents make Pecan Square a true one-of-a-kind place."

For more on Pecan Square by Hillwood, visit https://www.pecansquarebyhillwood.com.

About Hillwood

Hillwood, a Perot company, is a premier commercial and residential real estate developer, investor and advisor of properties throughout North America and Europe. With a diverse portfolio of properties and home to many of the world's leading companies, Hillwood is committed to bringing long-term value to our customers, partners and the communities we serve.

Hillwood has delivered more than 30,000 single-family lots in 90 master-planned communities across 13 states and Costa Rica through its Communities division. These communities continue to raise the bar in terms of quality, innovation, and the unmistakable sense of community that sets each property apart. Before laying the physical groundwork for any new residential development, Hillwood Communities takes the time to focus on the ideals that draw people together  and the everyday interactions that strengthen those bonds. Hillwood Communities creates community in every sense by purposefully designing its walkways, gathering spaces, and structural amenities to spark spontaneous encounters and foster shared interests. For more information, please visit http://www.hillwoodcommunities.com.

About FirstService Residential

FirstService Residential is North America's largest manager of residential communities and the preferred partner of HOAs, community associations and strata corporations in the U.S. and Canada. FirstService Residential's managed communities include low-, mid-and high-rise condominiums and cooperatives, single-family homes, master-planned, lifestyle and active adult communities, and rental and commercial properties.

With an unmatched combination of deep industry experience, Texas-market expertise and personalized attention, FirstService Residential delivers proven solutions and exceptional services that add value, enhance lifestyles and make a difference, every day, for every resident and community it manages. FirstService Residential is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation, a North American leader in the property services sector. For more information, visit http://www.fsresidential.com.
Chip and Trevor (Hardy) are a great example of how innovation, diversification, and industry commitment come together to benefit both their operation and their community...

The father-son team of Chip and Trevor Hardy, representing Brookdale Fruit Farm in Hollis, NH, has been named 2021 American Fruit Grower Apple Grower of the Year. The award is presented by American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower magazines, published by Meister Media Worldwide.

A third family member  younger son Tyler Hardy  is also being honored posthumously. An up-and-coming force in high-density planting systems, the Farm Manager at Brookdale died in 2019 at the age of 35.

Collectively, the three Hardys are the 33rd recipient of the award, which originated in 1989. Trevor Hardy and Tylers wife, Madison Hardy, will accept the honor Aug. 19 at the annual USApple Outlook and Marketing Conference in Chicago.

Established in 1847 by Edwin Hardy, Brookdale Fruit Farm has continually evolved over 174 years and seven generations of family members. The diversified fruit and vegetable operation comprises 320 acres in the heart of Hollis  175 of which are dedicated to apple  and includes a farm supplies division that offers irrigation and growing supplies at a fair price throughout the Northeast region.

Innovation is the key to growing the future, Trevor Hardy says. Generations before myself and my father, our grandfather and great-grandfather had always been innovative in the industry. If youre not innovating, youre not improving. Through those innovations, you have to be OK with trying something new and something different and working with your industry partners, and that has led us to a lot of success.

David Eddy, the Editor of American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower magazines and a member of the award selection committee, says both the number and scope of the nominations for the Hardys was impressive.

From their fellow growers to Extension advisers in multiple states, its clear the Hardys have had a tremendous impact on the apple industry throughout the Northeast," Eddy says. "Whats amazing is how the family has managed to remain on top of their game for so many generations.

Sponsored by Valent USA, the Apple Grower of the Year program honors individuals who have influenced the apply industry, both within the orchard and outside of it.

Chip and Trevor are a great example of how innovation, diversification, and industry commitment come together to benefit both their operation and their community," Dion McBay, Vice President of Sales with Valent USA, says. The Hardys are clear leaders in premier apple and specialty crop production and demonstrate a honed passion for research and education through the work they do in advancing irrigation management. Chip and Trevor are committed to continuous improvement and incorporate best-in-class sustainable production practices while partnering openly with local universities. Valent is honored to sponsor this award and congratulate the Hardys on being recognized as Apple Grower of the Year award winners.

The Hardys represent the second New Hampshire farming operation to win the award, following Steve Wood, who had been honored in 1991 while with Poverty Lane Orchards in West Lebanon. He says the Hardys have turned Brookdale Fruit Farm into a depot of collaboration for growers and Extension agents throughout the state and region.

"Brookdale has been an industry leader since I was first working in orchards in the '60s," Wood, now the co-owner of Farnum Hill Ciders in Lebanon, says. "They're good people and deserve this award way more than I ever did in 1991."

George Hamilton, who retired in June from University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, praises the Hardys for their contributions to the agriculture community. Brookdale Fruit Farm, he says:



Provides financial support to agricultural organizations

Offers leadership with various agricultural organizations and community government

Actively supports and conducts research and demonstration projects with faculty and Extension personnel from the University of New Hampshire

Hosts agricultural events for farmers and the general public.

USApple President and CEO Jim Bair notes the Hardy farm was founded in 1847, the same year the U.S. issued its first postage stamp, Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were both born, and Samuel Colt sold his first revolver pistol.

How amazing is that? The Hardys have pivoted over and over to change their farming operation to stay current with changing times, he says. Ive been to their farm, and Ive seen how the Hardys are a perfect example of growers who love what they do so much that theyre willing to do whatever it takes to keep going for another year. And theyve been doing that for 174 years.

About The Award: The American Fruit Grower Apple Grower of the Year Award is presented annually by American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower magazines and honors apple growers who have gone beyond the confines of the orchard and have, through their involvement and leadership, made a real impact on the apple industry. American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower are published by Meister Media Worldwide.

About Meister Media Worldwide

Meister Media Worldwide offers business solutions designed to cultivate a sustainable world through the power of knowledge. It accomplishes this through a host of integrated print, digital and data product offerings, and a variety of in-person events with a singular focus: to further specialized agriculture globally. In addition, its business services division utilizes Meister Medias wealth of knowledge, combined with the latest technology, to develop strategic business services from concept planning through development and delivery. An industry leader, Meister Medias mission is to be your trusted partner, empowering the business of global agriculture to grow a better world. With headquarters in Willoughby, Ohio, Meister Media Worldwide was founded in 1932 and operates out of offices throughout the United States and around the world. MeisterMedia.com
FIRST CONTACT 02-2022 By Buster Johnstone I wrote FIRST CONTACT 02-2022 to make sure that people on this planet know that we are going to have the first contact with our ancient ancestors very soon."

In this day and age, aliens are being talked about more than ever. In Buster Johnstones newly released book, FIRST CONTACT 02-2022, he shows readers evidence of their existence and prepares society on how to be ready for their first interaction. Throughout the book, the author provides proof of the multiple occasions he has witnessed extraterrestrial life and how they will soon be among humankind.

When Johnstone was younger, he lived on an Air Force base where he experienced many exciting phenomena. Since then, he has had multiple interactions with either finding fingerprints or seeing an Orange Orb flying above him in the night sky. Readers will be fascinated to read all of the extraterrestrial experiences he has witnessed throughout his life and how Johnstone gained the knowledge of the first date of contact with aliens.

I wrote FIRST CONTACT 02-2022 to make sure that people on this planet know that we are going to have the first contact with our ancient ancestors very soon, said Johnstone. My book shows photo evidence of the interactions that I have experienced and addresses how this will be a great time in the history of humankind. With Government officials backing up that there is unknown life out there, it is a sign of how society must be prepared for February 2022, and I show individuals throughout the text that it should not be something to fear.

Ultimately, FIRST CONTACT 02-2022 will bring awareness to readers on the first interaction and how to be prepared. By the end of the book, Johnstone advises to welcome these new beings with open arms.

FIRST CONTACT 02-2022

By Buster Johnstone

ISBN: 978-1-6632-2170-4 (softcover); 978-1-6632-2171-1 (electronic)

Available at iUniverse, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author

Buster Johnstone was born in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on April 18th, 1960. He was born on Otis Air Force Base, where his dad was stationed. While growing up, he experienced many things that not all individuals can say they have gone through. In his debut book, FIRST CONTACT 02-2022, Johnstone shares vital facts to know before this event occurs among society and how to be prepared. Johnstone was recently on a podcast discussing his book. To watch the podcast interview, please click here.

General Inquiries:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

480-998-2600

gconnor@lavidge.com


American Eagle has a great deal of experience in the oil and gas industry, and we are excited to have their knowledge and expertise in this area," said David Lowry, CEO of Bennett Motor Express, LLC.

The Bennett Family of Companies is pleased to be able to expand its oilfield service capabilities with the new acquisition of American Eagle, a Broussard, Louisiana-based company founded in 2011. Bennett Motor Express, LLC completed the asset purchase of American Eagle following the pandemic and fluctuations in the oil industry demand.

American Eagle, a division of Bennett Motor Express, LLC, is an industry leading full-service provider of expedited logistics, transportation, and brokerage services to 1000+ customers in the oil and gas industry, primarily serving the Gulf Coast region. With terminals positioned throughout the oil patches of Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, American Eagle specializes in the shipping of oil and gas freight throughout North America.

With a strong reputation in the oil and gas industry, American Eagle will be able to expand Bennetts capabilities in this area. American Eagles offices being in Broussard/Lafayette, Louisiana, they are in a unique position to be able to handle off-shore oil rig freight from the Gulf of Mexico as well as on-shore drilling and support equipment in the oilfields of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

American Eagle is currently able to offer a suite of services to customers in the oil and gas industry to include:



Oilfield Heavy Haul Trucking

Oilfield Hot Shot Trucking

Oilfield Hazmat Trucking

Oilfield Personnel Transport

Rig Moving

Oilfield Freight Brokerage Services

Logistics and Transportation Management

American Eagle was originally founded with the intent to create a new kind of company; one that is centered on tireless attention to customer service, safety, and the deployment of technology solutions to benefit drivers and streamline supply chains. We are excited about the future of American Eagle, and integrating into a larger organization with additional resources that will allow us to move forward as a leading logistics provider in the oil and gas industry and serve customers at the highest level. With their rich history in the industry and commitment to safety, we feel that Bennett Motor Express, LLC, is a perfect fit for both our clients and personnel, said Harold Vice, VP of American Eagle.

The new addition of American Eagle will allow us to expand our efforts in oilfield services substantially. American Eagle has a great deal of experience in the oil and gas industry, and we are excited to have their knowledge and expertise in this area. We look forward to expanding our transportation reach and scope in the industry, said David Lowry, Bennett Motor Express, LLCs CEO. With the acquisition, Bennett and American Eagle will provide over 3,500 drivers and owner operators to its customers. We are fortunate to not only be able to increase our fleet capacity, but to gain additional drivers and owner operators with experience in specialized trucking.

Bennett specializes in other services, including over-dimensional and heavy haul logistics, international freight forwarding and cross-border services from Mexico through their gateway terminal located in Laredo, Texas. American Eagle will now be able to offer these additional capabilities as a division of Bennett Motor Express, LLC.

For more information on American Eagle, visit http://www.aeagleoilfield.com or watch the video here: https://youtu.be/9ZomqF4mG88.

About American Eagle a division of Bennett Motor Express, LLC

American Eagle, as a division of Bennett Motor Express, LLC and with offices in Broussard, Louisiana, is a full-service 24/7 expedited land transportation provider. With a strong emphasis on the Gulf of Mexico and major shale plays such as Marcellus, Haynesville, Barnett, Tuscaloosa, and Eagle Ford, we supply a wide range of capacity to the energy industry and general freight shippers nationwide. From SUV personnel transportation and pickup trucks to 4-Axle tractors pulling a multitude of trailers up to 200,000 pounds capacity, count on American Eagle to solve your toughest logistics challenges. To learn more, visit http://www.aeagleoilfield.com.

About Bennett Family of Companies

McDonough-Ga.-based Bennett Family of Companies are woman-owned, Womens Enterprise Business Council (WBENC)-certified, diversified transportation and logistics companies. Through its nine affiliated operating companies, the Bennett Family of Companies delivers integrated transportation and supply chain management solutions worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.bennettig.com.
HHT is a complicated lifelong genetic disease. The Barrow HHT Program allows us to bring together numerous experts to care for these patients." Jeremy Feldman, MD, a pulmonary specialist, and Director of the Barrow HHT Center

Cure HHT, a non-profit organization headquartered in Maryland, is the only patient advocacy organization in the world funding research, awareness and education for HHT patients, their families and the medical/scientific community. HHT (Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia) is the second most common bleeding disorder, affecting an estimated 1.4 million people of all races and backgrounds globally. HHT affects 1 in 5,000 people, and is as common as Cystic Fibrosis, yet it is far less known and receives less funding for research.

HHT creates abnormalities in blood vessels, called telangiectasias, which are fragile and susceptible to rupture and bleeding, and untreated may result in lung and brain hemorrhage, stroke, heart failure and death. The most common symptom of HHT is frequent and severe nose bleeds, often dismissed. One HHT diagnosis means there is a whole family of potentially affected people spanning generations. There is, as yet, no cure, but existing treatments can be effective if HHT is diagnosed early. Importantly, 90% of those with HHT are unaware that they have the disease. http://www.curehht.org

Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Cure HHT is proud to announce that it has named Barrow Neurological Institute (Barrow) in Phoenix, Arizona, as its 30th Center of Excellence (CoE) in North America, and the only such CoE in Arizona. Cure HHT recognizes CoEs that are equipped with the personnel, expertise, commitment and resources to provide comprehensive evaluation, treatment and education to individuals with HHT and their families. Designation as a CoE follows 18 months of training, mentoring and site visits.

The Barrow HHT Program, in collaboration with Arizona Pulmonary Specialists, at Barrow Neurological Institute works in partnership with Dignity Health to provide patients with an integrated team of specialists who work together within one health care system.

Barrow and Arizona Pulmonary Specialists have a track record of delivering excellence, said Jeremy Feldman, MD, a pulmonary specialist, and Director of the Barrow HHT Center, who partners with Barrow physicians to treat HHT. HHT is a complicated lifelong genetic disease with manifestations that cross multiple organs and multiple specialties. The Barrow HHT Program allows us to bring together pulmonary; ear, nose, and throat; gastrointestinal; interventional radiology; and neurosurgery experts to care for these patients.

Its exciting for Cure HHT to be naming our 30th Center of Excellence in our 30th anniversary year, states Marianne S. Clancy, Executive Director of Cure HHT. We have come a long way since our founding in 1991 by a passionate group of doctors and volunteers dedicated to making HHT better known, especially by the medical community.

In 1991 the organization created its first HHT Center of Excellence at Yale University School of Medicine. Clancy adds: We continue to create new centers nationwide. With such a rare and often misdiagnosed disease, at an HHT center, specialists work with HHT on a daily basis and they know the signs and the symptoms as well as the latest treatments.

In 2019 the organization facilitated the Christopher McMahon Memorial International HHT Guidelines Conference that established new international standards for screenings, diagnosis and treatment, and the publication of the resulting Guidelines in the Annals of Internal Medicine reaching thousands of health care providers worldwide, advancing the organizations goal of educating medical professionals. Cure HHT also hosts the only international scientific conference biennially. Last held in 2019 in Puerto Rico the conference brought together over 200 scientists, medical professionals and patients from 21 countries and 6 continents.

Today Cure HHT is the cornerstone of a global movement, and we continue to expand and build our capacity, Clancy comments. Cure HHT was selected as one of only 30 organizations to participate in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives (CZI) Rare As One Network, providing funding, tools, expansion support, and training to create a larger, more integrated HHT community. As we celebrate our 30th year, the momentum is with us to drive towards a cure for this disease.

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Editors Notes:


Were pleased to name these finalists and winners among a small, elite group of cybersecurity industry leaders and innovators in our third annual Black Unicorn awards

CYBER DEFENSE MAGAZINE (CDM), the cybersecurity industrys leading publication and provider of daily infosec news from around the globe, today announces the winners and finalists in the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 with 7 very important categories, this year.

The term Black Unicorn signifies a cybersecurity company that has the potential to reach a $1 billion dollar market value as determined by private or public investment, see https://tinyurl.com/unicorns-defined and these awards showcase those companies with this kind of incredible potential in the cybersecurity marketplace.

In addition, Cyber Defense Magazine has named winners in the Top 10 for Baby Black Unicorns, Cybersecurity Startups, Women in Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Experts, CISOs and MSSPs this year. Inclusive in our awards, we not only have the Top 10 Women in Cybersecurity to share, we have named our annual Women in Cybersecurity scholarship program winner. One of the award winning Top 10 Women in Cybersecurity had this to say:

Its an exciting time for young women to plan out their future careers in cybersecurity. Its a hot field with hundreds of thousands of career openings and unlimited opportunities for those who wish to make a positive impact on today's digital world, said Carolyn Crandall, Chief Security Advocate/CMO, Attivo Networks, Inc., Kudos to this years scholarship winner.

After reviewing dozens of well written entries from various future leaders, it was very difficult to choose a winner among the candidates, but we found one who we consider stellar. She follows in the footsteps of last years winner Annabelle Klosterman. This years winner is Olivia Gallucci:

Olivia A. Gallucci was named to Rochester Institute of Technologys (RIT) 2020-21 Fall and Spring Semester Deans Lists. Gallucci is dual-majoring in Computing Security and Computer Science, and minoring in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Free Culture. Gallucci finished her freshman year with a 4.0 GPA and is a member of RITs honors program (top 3% of RITs student body). She is treasurer of RITSEC, RITs Cybersecurity Club, and Vice President of RITs Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Chapter. Gallucci has participated in eight cyber cybersecurity competitions, presented eight cybersecurity talks, and sails on RITs sailing team. Gallucci has received multiple student scholarships: (ISC) 2 Womens and Undergraduates Scholarships, RITs $17,500 Five-Year Renewing Presidential Scholarship, and Executive Women's Forum Black Hat Scholarship. She also received a scholarship to present her research, Effectiveness of Threat Mitigation in Layers of the Open Systems Interconnection Model, at the 2021 WiCyS International Conference in Denver, Colorado.

I am honored to be a recipient of the Cyber Defense Media Group Women in Cybersecurity scholarship. I plan to use this scholarship to continue my education in cybersecurity, computer science, and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). This scholarship allows me to immerse myself in new research pursuits, advance my FOSS cybersecurity research, and contribute to developing open-source security initiatives at Rochester Institute of Technology like Open@RIT. I hope that my research will inspire others to pursue secure coding and contribute to FOSS, said Olivia Gallucci. Her stellar bio is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-gallucci

Were pleased to name these finalists and winners among a small, elite group of cybersecurity industry leaders and innovators in our third annual Black Unicorn awards, said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of http://www.allegiscyber.com, David DeWalt of http://www.nightdragon.com, Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of Cyber Defense Media Group http://www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com.

Finally, in parallel to this announcement, the Black Unicorn Report for 2021 with more details about the state of the industry and future predictions is now available for free download at http://www.cyberdefenseawards.com along with the list of all the winners.

About Cyber Defense Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazines 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers, Dr. Peter Stephenson and Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists and winners for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 please visit https://cyberdefenseawards.com/

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA, BlackHat and Infosecurity conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group.
Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Inc. (Vanguard) is pleased to announce the asset purchase of EKC, Inc.s (EKC) z/OS security software products is complete. This strategic purchase bolsters Vanguards current offerings of cybersecurity, z/OS security solutions, professional services and managed services.

EKC selected Vanguard to acquire its product line because of Vanguards long-standing commitment to the z/OS security marketplace. Vanguard has been a valued member of the security community for many decades also, and as such, we are confident that they will continue to provide the fine level of support our valued customers have come to expect over these past decades, says Eberhard Klemens, President and Founder of EKC.

With the addition of EKCs products into Vanguards vast set of successful cybersecurity offerings, Vanguard has further consolidated the independent marketplace for z/OS security products and services. Vanguard plans to support, maintain, and enhance the EKC product line, providing the enterprise security marketplace the level of service expected from both EKC and Vanguard.

This purchase was a perfect fit as Vanguard and EKC both shared similar core values including: putting customer needs first, providing outstanding customer care and support, a primary goal of designing and developing best-in-class security solutions that meet and exceed customers rigorous expectations. Both companies share a foundation of knowledge, experience, and innovation, and both companies still have an actual human person answer the phones when it rings, explained Brian Marshall, President of Vanguard.

Vanguard and EKC have been in business for over 30 years, specializing in enterprise security software and services. Both companies specialize in and provide z/OS cybersecurity software solutions, professional services and managed services for many of the worlds largest institutions, including those in the financial, retail, insurance, and healthcare sectors, as well as for many government agencies.

About Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Inc.

Founded in 1986 to help customers safeguard mission critical applications and data, Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Inc. is the largest independent provider of enterprise security software for addressing complex security and regulatory compliance challenges. Vanguard continuously drives innovation in security software and technology to stay ahead of evolving regulatory requirements and an ever-changing threatscape. Led by some of the most knowledgeable minds in the cybersecurity industry, Vanguards security solutions lead the industry.
"I think digital pathology, by allowing us to have experts in remote sites real-time read a case with us, it just basically shrinks the world." Chair of Pathology, Leading Cancer Centre, U.S

Medi-Tech Insights Key Research Findings in the Digital Pathology market.

Pathology is an area where digitization and automation can bring about significant benefits to patients, physicians, pathologists & labs/hospitals. Consider the following startling facts:



97% of departments dont have enough histopathologists for the workload, and that workload is rising

19 hours/day are spent on physical slide logistics (reported in laboratory with 220 cases/day)

An estimated 98% of pathologists are relying on manual workflows and microscopes for primary diagnosis, which can cause delays and inefficiencies, and create barriers for remote collaboration

Digital Pathology has been around for many years, but the current Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the benefits it can offer to labs, hospitals, clinicians and pathologists.

The benefits are multi-fold:

Improves efficiency workflow

Faster turnaround time leading to benefits for labs, patients & clinicians

Pathologists can focus their time on reading of images

Possibility to tap into wider expertise to improve accuracy of diagnosis

Improves work satisfaction for pathologists

With AI/ML, can aid in improving accuracy of diagnosis

These benefits, coupled with favourable regulatory environment and reimbursement, is expected to drive the market growth. The Global Digital Pathology Market is estimated to reach $ 1.54 billion by 2030 growing with a CAGR of 11% from 2020-2030.

For more granular insights please get in touch https://meditechinsights.com/contact-us/

The current Digital Pathology market is dominated by Scanners which are used to digitally scan the samples. In the coming years, use of AI/ML technologies for image recognition, analysis and aiding in diagnosis are expected to accelerate the growth of the market.

Companies like Philips, Hamamatsu, Leica are largely present in the Scanner segment whereas a number of well-funded start-ups are making inroads in software, AI-ML platforms. Notable companies include Paige, Path AI, Ibex, Aiforia, Proscia, Reveal Biosciences/CellCarta amongst others.

In a recent article, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center highlighted the benefits of digital workflow in pathology and how it helped them immensely during the pandemic - We were motivated by a real concern for our doctors, Dr. Matthew Hanna, Director of Pathology Informatics says. Finding a way for them to work at home has eliminated a huge burden during the pandemic.

The study delves into segment-wise analysis for Scanners, Software, AI/ML applications and the key emerging players & technologies in each of the segments.

Companies that aim to capture greater share in this high-growth market need to focus on:

Understanding key customer pain points and unmet needs with current scanners, software

Keeping abreast of latest developments in AI/ML technologies that aim to revolutionize the way pathology diagnosis is done

Be aware of the challenges including regulatory pathways, reimbursement and develop strategies to overcome these challenges

Through their work in Digital Pathology over the years, Medi-Tech Insights understands the intricacies & nuances of Digital Pathology and has successfully assisted many established players, start-ups to grow revenues by 10x.

Sources: Medi-Tech Insights analysis, Interviews, Company websites

About Medi-Tech Insights

Medi-Tech Insights is a healthcare-focused business research & insights firm. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, blue-chip investors & hyper-growth start-ups. We have successfully completed 100+ projects in Digital Health, Healthcare IT, Medical Technology & Pharma Services in the areas of market assessments, due diligence, competitive intelligence, market sizing and forecasting, pricing analysis & go-to-market strategy. Our methodology includes rigorous secondary research combined with deep-dive interviews with industry leading CXO, VPs and key demand/supply side decision-makers.

Contact:

Ruta Halde

Principal, Digital Health

ruta.s@meditechinsights.com

https://meditechinsights.com/contact-us/
I would like for readers to be ready to abolish one of the last Jim Crow voting suppression tactics being used today  the strategy of locking up Black and Brown people to take away their voting rights.

Following the 2020 election, the topic of voting rights has risen to the forefront of political discussion and debate. In his latest book, author and educator Charlton Sharpe, who writes under the pen name C. Sharpe, sends a simple message  everyone should have the right to vote. In Talk Show: Inmates Voting a Short Story, Sharpe lays the groundwork for voting rights to be extended to all Americans incarcerated for nonviolent offenses and delves into the insidious history behind denying inmates their voting rights.

Talk Show is a short story that unfolds in a screenplay-style format. A radio show host named Ray Thompson interviews his guest, Charles Sharpe, about a fictional Proposition X and takes questions from an eclectic mix of callers. In the story, Proposition X is implied to have been passed in California, reinstating the voting rights of nonviolent incarcerated American citizens in the state.

As Charles takes each callers questions, he drives listeners back to the core of the issue, explaining how President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation did indeed free enslaved people, and the Reconstruction Era saw previously enslaved people soar into political office in the South. But that freedom was short-lived, and the creation of Jim Crow laws swiftly followed. These laws led to disenfranchisement for Black people and People of Color, particularly in the polls where poll taxes and literacy tests were implemented. Laws targeting nonviolent activity, such as loitering and insulting hand gestures, were also introduced and resulted in the mass incarceration of vulnerable populations.

After working with inmates as a GED teacher, one day an inmate asked me the question: Why is it that in America, inmates have voting rights in only two states, Maine and Vermont? That question was posed to me over 20 years ago, and I still have not found a justified answer, Sharpe said. That query is truly what inspired me to write this book. I would like for readers to be ready to abolish one of the last Jim Crow voting suppression tactics being used today  the strategy of locking up Black and Brown people to take away their voting rights.

Ultimately, Talk Show provides a poignant call to action and educates readers on the disenfranchisement faced by vulnerable voters. Sharpes book also raises support for and awareness around the constitutional right to vote for nonviolent offenders.

Talk Show: Inmates Voting a Short Story

By C. Sharpe

ISBN: 978-1-6641-4922-9 (sc); ISBN: 978-1-6641-4921-2 (e); ISBN: 978-1-6641-5614-2 (audio)

Available through Xlibris, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Audible

About the author

Charlton Sharpe, who writes under the pen name C. Sharpe, is an educator and advocate for nationwide inmate voting rights. Sharpes book Talk Show is based on his own life. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Master of Arts degree in education from the University of Phoenix. Sharpe is also the author of The Next Election, and he currently resides in Pittsburg, Calif. To learn more, please visit http://www.ctsharpe.com.

General Inquiries, Review Copies & Interview Requests:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

Danielle Grobmeier

480-648-7557 | dgrobmeier@lavidge.com
In a hot labor market ripe with competition for top talent, Express Employment Professionals is hosting its fourth annual mass interviewing event, now expanded from one day to a full week, Aug. 2-6, 2021.

Formerly called National Interview Day, the event was first created by the staffing company and celebrated in 2018 as a new way to recruit and educate job seekers in a historically tight labor market. With temporary business closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic adding to talent shortages across the country since last year, Express more than 830 franchise locations are stepping up, now more than ever, to provide hope through employment with this expanded hiring event.

Job seekers are encouraged to visit ExpressPros.com/HiringEvent before Monday, Aug. 2 and complete an application to expedite the interview process. Applicants will then be contacted for interviews, possibly before Aug. 2, based on the type of work they are seeking, and as always with Express, will never be charged a fee.

As a free benefit to job seekers and in preparation for an interview, the National Hiring Week website features links to Express Job Journey blog, which provides articles and advice for every step of your career. This includes interview tips, resume critiques, salary negotiations and more.

Express also offers the Job Genius program for those new to the workforce or looking to enter it within the next few years. This free instructional video series contains a job market forecast, career pathing, tips for money management, trending career tracks and everything you need to make decisions for your employment future.

Express has more than 39,000 jobs open across North America and as the economic recovery accelerates from the recession of 2020, companies need workers to sustain growth, said Bill Stoller, Express CEO.

Opportunities are available to get back to work, and our recruiters are ready with a variety of positions. No matter the circumstances, Express continues to strive toward putting a million people to work annually!

***

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena (Karami) Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing company has more than 830 franchises in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Since inception, Express has put more than 9 million people to work worldwide.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 526,000 people globally in 2020. For more information, visit http://www.ExpressPros.com.


This is a coordinated effort from left-leaning third parties and the Biden administration to use executive power and taxpayer resources for the purpose of federalizing elections and taking power away from the states, said Chase Martin, Legal Affairs Director at FGA.

Friday, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to multiple federal agencies requesting communications and documents related to Biden Executive Order (EO) 14019 titled Promoting Access to Voting.

The information that is being requested may help determine whether or not the Biden administration is engaging in unethical and potentially criminal behavior related to benefits provided to third-party organizations. It may also help determine whether or not the administration is misusing federal resources to support voter registration efforts designed to unfairly benefit one political party over another.

EO 14019, issued in March, commands the head of every federal agency to submit a plan outlining the steps their agency will take to promote voter registration and voter participation. It follows the same strategy published in a policy paper written by Demos, a left-leaning organization focused on federalizing elections and expanding the use of the DOJ Civil Rights Division to "[p]ursue aggressive civil and criminal enforcement against all election integrity reforms.

Biden has also named former Demos President Rahman and former Demos Legal Strategies Director Bains to act in roles responsible for reviewing and coordinating regulatory actions taken by federal agencies to further this effort.

This is a coordinated effort from left-leaning third parties and the Biden administration to use executive power and taxpayer resources for the purpose of federalizing elections and taking power away from the states, said Chase Martin, Legal Affairs Director at FGA. With Bidens executive order, federal agencies are forced to work with administration-approved third parties and support their voter registration efforts. This presents a major conflict of interest, and we intend to get to the bottom of it. States everywhere should stand against this executive order that aims to undermine state election laws.

The Foundation for Government Accountability is a non-profit, multi-state think tank that specializes in health care, welfare, and work reform. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org
Were happy to see business pick up for our customers after a difficult year, and its clear, based on our data, that PPE is important but is lacking focus during a pivotal time. - Mark Zisek, Front Desk Supply

Front Desk Supply, a leading hospitality supplier based in San Diego, CA, announced today a frightening trend in sales data - PPE product purchases are declining, even as the Delta Variants presence continues to increase and mask mandates are returning in many communities. Current sales data shows numbers close to 2019 which mirrors the industry at large, however, the downward trend in PPE is concerning. To encourage continued vigilance within the hospitality industry, Front Desk Supply is offering a special on PPE, which can be found at http://www.FrontDeskSupply.com/August2021/.

The Delta Variant has become the new concern this summer, and our hospitality partners should take extra measures to ensure as safe an experience as possible before local, regional, state, or federal guidelines are considered, said Mark Zisek, Director of Commercial Operations, Front Desk Supply.

Los Angeles County, in California, has recently reinstituted its indoor mask policy.

Were happy to see business pick up for our customers after a difficult year, and its clear, based on our data, that PPE is important but is lacking focus during a pivotal time. The hospitality community is keen on moving away from COVID, but as a leader in the hospitality supply industry, we recognize that this situation is far from over, Zisek added.

Front Desk Supply is an industry leader in hospitality supplies, offering diverse items, including key cards, key card holders, Do Not Disturb signs, notepads, pens, valet tags, concierge tags, parking permits, and luggage tags. As the industrys needs surrounding sanitization and safety grew in the wake of COVID-19, the company introduced new additions of personal protective equipment such as face masks, sneeze guards, signage, tamper-tape, and more.

When a hotel or restaurant stocks PPE products for guests and employees, they can feel more at ease in continuing operations safely and effectively no matter what happens, said Zisek.

For the month of August, Front Desk Supply is offering a special on PPE orders at http://www.FrontDeskSupply.com/August2021/ to help the healing hospitality industry.

About Front Desk Supply

Front Desk Supply has over 50 years of Sales, Marketing and Advertising, and Operations experience, along with the wealth of knowledge that comes from producing millions of products for thousands of hotels in the hospitality industry.

Their focus on building customer relationships is ingrained in all employees. Putting the customer first and offering a unique perspective to any situation is a hallmark of Front Desk Supply. Front Desk Supply excels in providing multiple complementary products  it makes for a one-stop shopping experience for customers and ensures messaging flows consistently across products. They expertly offer recommendations that make good business sense.

Front Desk Supply: Making hotels more profitable and their guests stays more memorable.

Contact:

Mark Zisek

Front Desk Supply

mzisek@access-mktg.com

Phone: 858-699-4701 / Fax: 501-665-6489


GroGuru supports the FOOD FUNDED mission of regenerative agriculture, sustainability, and carbon draw down.

GroGuru was named an investor fair finalist at FOOD FUNDED Climate 2021. FOOD FUNDED supports entrepreneurs in food and agriculture to build mission-driven startups that are addressing Social Justice and Climate Change. The community provides a platform to network, learn and grow with a community of investors and partners.

GroGuru is all about strategic water management for the smart farm. They help farmers make more money by increasing crop yield, while more efficiently using water, and other scarce resources, in a more sustainable way.

"It was an honor to present to the group of investors, business leaders and entrepreneurs at this year's FOOD FUNDED Climate 2021 event," said Patrick Henry, president and CEO of GroGuru. "GroGuru supports the FOOD FUNDED mission of regenerative agriculture, sustainability, and carbon draw down. The GroGuru team is passionate about our mission to support farmers and help to heal our planet at the same time!"

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About GroGuru

GroGuru, Inc. is a privately held company based in San Diego, CA, founded in 2014. GroGuru supplies precision soil and irrigation monitoring and management systems to the commercial agriculture industry. GroGuru is all about strategic irrigation management, helping farmers make more money by increasing crop yield and more efficiently using water in a sustainable way.

GroGuru has a patented wireless underground system (WUGS) for soil monitoring, an AI-based recommendation engine in the Cloud, and an intuitive farmer-friendly user interface that farmers can access on their tablet, computer or mobile device. GroGuru sells an innovative hardware-enabled subscription-based solution to farmers that enables optimal irrigation, as well as a software as a service (SaaS) marketed as GroGuru InSites.

GroGurus patented WUGS technology enables a permanent installation of soil sensors, even in annual field crops. GroGuru has been a part of the OCTANE LaunchPad, EvoNexus, AgLaunch, the Yield Lab, SVG-Thrive and Plug & Play AgTech accelerator programs.
A Christmas Fable is an enchanting tale of the Coming of Jesus Christ and the wondrous events that built up to the moment of His birth in Bethlehem. Author Joan Carter was a loving grandmother who spent most of her life in Storrs, Connecticut. She wrote this sweet story late in life and read it to her grandchildren and their children on Christmas Eve. Publishing A Christmas Fable was a heartfelt way for Joans daughter and granddaughter to memorialize her magical story. They teamed up with award-winning artist Susan Monty (susanmonty.com), whose illustrations brought the characters to life. Children of all ages will fall in love with her endearing forest animals.

Carter shares, "It was a cold and crisp Christmas Eve. The animals of the forest come from near and far, through the snow, to gather around Saint Nicholas and hear him read the most wonderful story ever written. He tells them how, many years ago this very night, Joseph arrived in Bethlehem with his wife Mary just in time for her to give birth to baby Jesus. He reminds them all of the amazing events that happened that night, and how the animals were there."

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Joan Carter's new book is an entertaining creation fit for every child. This lovely book brings joy as it takes one on a journey back to the moment when Jesus the Savior first blessed this earth. It is sure to become a family favorite.

View a synopsis of "A Christmas Fable" on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase "A Christmas Fable" at bookstores, or online at Amazon, iTunes, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information about "A Christmas Fable," contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919, or achristmasfable@gmail.com.
Our Honorees, worthy of celebration in any year, are particularly appropriate for tribute in 2021. The endeavors of both Joe and Jodi in New York reach beyond their roots in our vibrant city and are potent examples of national achievement.

Columbus Citizens Foundation today announced Joe Gurrera, owner of Citarella, and Jodi Pulice, founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, as honorees of the 2021 Columbus Celebration. They will join Chairman of Duck Pond Associates, Michael Pascucci, who was previously announced as the 2021 Grand Marshal.

The annual Columbus Day Parade, the largest celebration of Italian American heritage and culture in the United States, will take place on Monday, October 11, 2021, beginning at 11:30 a.m. As Honorees, Gurrera and Pulice will join Grand Marshal Pascucci at the front of the parade and will lead dozens of marching bands and floats and over 100 marching groups up the Fifth Avenue parade route, from 44th Street to 72nd Street.

Marian Pardo, President of Columbus Citizens Foundation, said of the announcement: In 2021, we have made the decision to have the Parade and our Columbus Celebration Weekend reflect and honor the resilience, renewal and reunion all underway throughout New York City, the nation and our Italian American community. Our Honorees, worthy of celebration in any year, are particularly appropriate for tribute in 2021. The endeavors of both Joe and Jodi in New York reach beyond their roots in our vibrant city and are potent examples of national achievement.

Joe Gurrera is the owner of Citarella, a group of popular epicurean markets, Citarella.com and Citarella Wines & Spirits. Joe also owns Lockwood & Winant, one of the most influential wholesale importers and distributors at New Yorks iconic Fulton Fish Market, supplying seafood to hundreds of top national chefs and restaurants.

Mr. Gurrera commented: As an Italian American, I could not be happier to be named as an Honoree for the 2021 Columbus Celebration. I believe that the Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue will be a signal to all who watch that New York City is back, and back stronger than ever. Im so proud to be a part of this celebration, and of our great citys renewal.

Jodi Pulice is the founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, a woman-owned, full-service commercial real estate services firm. Her firm is recognized as the largest certified woman-owned commercial real estate services firm in the United States.

On being named a 2021 Honoree, Ms. Pulice had this to say: Im gratified to be honored by the Columbus Citizens Foundation, which always reminds us that the story of Italian-Americans in this country is the story of economic opportunity. And just as I proudly embrace my Italian-American heritage, I also embrace the principle of economic opportunity. In the same spirit with which my family came here  seeking opportunities to better themselves  I have carried on the tradition through my company, which stands as a leading platform for opportunity and the advancement for women, people of color, and others under-represented in today's commercial real estate industry.

In speaking of Ms. Pulice and Mr. Gurrera as 2021 Honorees, Columbus Celebration Chair Angelo Vivolo praised both individuals, stating, We are beyond thrilled to have Joe and Jodi  with all their incredible achievements  represent our community of Italian Americans on Columbus Day. They are helping the citys return to greatness every day  and they are so worthy of this honor.

The annual Columbus Day Parade, organized by Columbus Citizens Foundation, is the world's largest celebration of Italian American heritage and culture in the United States.

In addition to planning the Columbus Day Parade, Columbus Citizens Foundation currently provides hundreds of annual scholarships at high school, college, and graduate levels to Italian American students who have academic ability but lack financial means.

The Columbus Day Parade begins at 11:30 a.m. EST on Monday, October 11 and will air live on WABC-7 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. For more information on the parade, please visit columbuscitizens.org.

ABOUT COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION

Columbus Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City committed to fostering an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement. The Foundation, through a broad range of philanthropic and cultural activities, provides opportunities for advancement to deserving Italian-American students through various scholarship and grant programs. The Foundation organizes New York City's annual Columbus Celebration and Columbus Day Parade, which has celebrated Italian-American heritage on New York's Fifth Avenue since 1929. For more information, contact jwilson@columbuscitizens.org.

ABOUT JOE GURRERA

Joe Gurrera is the founder and owner of Citarella, his successful group of epicurean markets in New York City, the Hamptons, and Greenwich, CT including Citarella.com and Citarella Wines & Spirits. Joe also owns Lockwood & Winant, which he has built into one of the most influential wholesale importers and distributors at New Yorks iconic Fulton Fish Market, supplying seafood to hundreds of top national chefs and restaurants. As the author of Joe Knows Fish: Taking the Intimidation Out of Cooking Seafood, he shares his passion and decades of knowledge in the food industry. As a Fellow at the Culinary Institute of America, Joe established The Joe Gurrera/Citarella Culinary Scholarship, enabling a student of Italian-American descent, selected by The Columbus Citizens Foundation, to further their culinary education at CIA. A native New Yorker, Joe remains active in the community supporting organizations like Citymeals on Wheels and City Harvest. He is a board member of several organizations including the New Fulton Fish Market Cooperative at Hunts Point, the Boomer Esiason Foundation, and the Columbus Citizens Foundation. Joe and his wife Yusi have three children, Helen, Nancy, and Anthony and 6 grandchildren.

ABOUT JODI PULICE

Jodi Pulice is a pioneer for women in the real estate sphere, having founded the first ever Minority/Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) brokerage firm 25 years ago. As the founder and CEO of JRT Realty Group, now the largest woman-owned commercial real estate services firm in the U.S., she has been responsible for more than 50 million square feet of office and industrial space nationwide and, along with a first-of-a-kind strategic alliance with the global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, has completed transactions valued at more than $5 billion. As a successful Italian-American businesswoman, holding dual citizenship of the United States and Italy, she has promoted diversity and the empowerment of women and minority-owned organizations in both her professional and personal life for nearly four decades.
But the secularists of modern-day America have banished God, gutting America of the very core, the foundation, the essence, of what made it America.

Judge Mark T. Boonstra challenges Americans to return to their political roots in In Their Own Words, Volume 2, The Middle Colonies. Todays God-less America.What Would Our Founding Fathers Think? ($29.49, paperback, 9781662820588; $47.49, dust jacket, 9781662826160; $9.99, e-book, 9781662820595).

In his previous book, In Their Own Words, Volume 1, Boonstra shared writings from Founding Fathers such as John and Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Alexander Hamilton, hoping to give readers a look into their views of politics and religion. In this second volume, he continues his discussion by including Benjamin Franklin, Gouverneur Morris, John Witherspoon, Benjamin Rush and others.

Our Founding Fathers established one nation under God. They understood that our rights come from God and that religion is essential to a free society. But the secularists of modern-day America have banished God, gutting America of the very core, the foundation, the essence, of what made it America, said Boonstra.

Hon. Mark T. Boonstra is a highly respected jurist who has served since 2012 as a Judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals. He earned his J.D. and M.A.E. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Michigan State University. He is blessed to have at his side Martha Mary (Rabaut) Boonstra, who is both a nurse and the general counsel of a large health system, and whose grandfather, Congressman Louis C. Rabaut, authored the "Under God" amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Liberty Hill Publishing, a division of Salem Media Group, is a leader in the print-on-demand, self-publishing industry. In Their Own Words is available online through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
We are an early entrant and have been investing in ADAS and AD software competencies for over a decade. As a result, several OEMs and Tier 1s count us as a strategic partner in the development of autonomous vehicles of the future." Anup Sable, CTO, KPIT

KPIT Technologies, a leading independent software development, and integration partner to the automotive and mobility industry, announced joining the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC). It marks continued efforts to lead the software technology journey with global mobility leaders toward an autonomous future.

KPIT joins leading OEMs, Tier 1s, and semiconductor companies, such as GM, Toyota, Subaru, Veoneer, ARM, Bosch, NXP, Renesas as a member of the AVCC to collaborate and contribute to autonomous driving technology.

AVCC is a global collaboration of automotive and technology industry leaders focused on automated and assisted driving compute solutions. The way autonomous driving solutions are developed is changing rapidly both from the hardware and software perspectives. The role of semiconductors, middleware, operating systems, and importantly embedded software is changing. AVCC helps bring organizations deeply invested in this space to discuss and find solutions for the future.

KPITs expertise and insights from Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)/ Autonomous Driving (AD) development for more than a decade and working on 50+ vehicle production programs will help make key contributions to this consortium on software architectures, platforms, and components.

Mr. Anup Sable, CTO, KPIT Technologies, said, We are an early entrant and have been investing in ADAS and AD software competencies for over a decade. As a result, several OEMs and Tier 1s count us as a strategic partner in the development of autonomous vehicles of the future. AVCC gives us a great forum to bring insights and share experiences specifically around software, middleware, and AUTOSAR.

Mr. Giuseppe Rosso, AVCC Chairperson, said, The AVCC is excited to welcome KPIT in the Consortium. We value KPIT expertise in the ADAS/AD vehicle space and the Consortium is looking forward for their important technical contributions to the working groups and to overall AVCC activities.

About KPIT

KPIT is a leading independent software development and integration partner helping mobility leapfrog towards a clean, smart, and safe future. With 7000 automobelievers across the globe specializing in embedded software, AI, and digital solutions, KPIT accelerates clients implementation of next-generation technologies for the future mobility roadmap. With engineering centers in Europe, the USA, Japan, China, Thailand, and India, KPIT works with leaders in automotive and mobility and is present where the ecosystem is transforming. For more details visit http://www.kpit.com

About AVCC

The Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium, Inc. (AVCC) is a global non-profit group of automotive and technology industry leaders coming together to help accelerate mass production of safe and affordable vehicles with assisted driving and autonomous technology (levels 1-5). The AVCC is defining a scalable reference architecture and platform to meet the assisted and autonomous performance goals within the power, thermal and size constraints of a vehicle. This computing platform will be designed specifically to move todays AV prototype systems to deployment at scale. The group is also collaborating to develop requirements for the compute platform architecture, its hardware requirements, and software APIs for each building block in autonomous vehicle systems. http://www.avcconsortium.org
"We are excited to house this important project at MIC and look forward to supporting Social Capital Builders as they build momentum for youth to build economic and social wellbeing.

DeJesus Solutions, a black owned and operated startup with a mission to increase the social capital literacy of one million youth by 2025, has been accepted as the newest member of the Maryland Innovation Center (MIC), Howard County Economic Development Authority's business accelerator.

DeJesus Solutions Social Capital Builders project works to advance the lifelong economic and social well-being of youth through social capital literacy, analysis and development. It was founded in Howard County in 2018.

The MIC incubator is a 60,000-square-foot facility that houses nearly 30 startups from a variety of industries. In addition to cutting-edge office space, MIC resident businesses gain access to event and conference space, as well as something even more valuable: guidance, insight, and support from MICs network of partners and entrepreneurs.

Access to financing and professional expertise is key, notes Ed DeJesus, the companys founder. With less than 2.6% of all venture capital funding going to Black and LatinX founders, DeJesus knows that he faces a serious challenge ahead.

DeJesus knows the pivotal role social capital plays in helping individuals connect to and excel in, careers and life. Despite the best efforts of workforce and educational programs, many students are failing to secure gainful employment equal to their investments in education and credentialing. DeJesus created Social Capital Builders to change that. With the help of the companys CTO, Adam Douglas, Social Capital Builders is ready to launch their Foundations in Social Capital Literacy curriculum and web-based application this fall.

DeJesus Solutions is currently seeking seed funding from socially conscious investors to scale their Foundations in Social Capital Literacy (FISCL) curriculum and web- and app-based platform.

Chuck Bubeck, the Executive Director of the Innovation Center stated, We are excited to house this important project at MIC and look forward to supporting Social Capital Builders as they build momentum for youth to build economic and social wellbeing.

Learn more: https://www.socialcapitalbuilders.com and https://mdinnovationcenter.com/
Morphisec Logo "The past year has seen the entire cybersecurity industry thrust into the lions den, and we owe a lot to all the cybersecurity professionals who have collaborated on vital threat research and developing solutions to protect our nations most critical enterprises."

Morphisec, a leader in cloud-delivered endpoint and server security solutions, today announced that its CTO and head of threat research Michael Gorelik has been named a finalist in the Top Ten Cybersecurity Experts category as part of the prestigious Black Unicorn Awards for 2021. Gorelik competed against many of the industrys leading cybersecurity experts for this industry recognition that will be presented at Black Hat USA.

Its an honor to be recognized among other industry leaders in this esteemed category, said Michael Gorelik, CTO at Morphisec. The past year has seen the entire cybersecurity industry thrust into the lions den, and we owe a lot to all the cybersecurity professionals who have collaborated on vital threat research and developing solutions to protect our nations most critical enterprises. I wish them all luck for these awards and for the year ahead as we all continue to fight for one common goal: thwarting cybercriminals.

Michael and his threat research team at Morphisec Labs have published numerous pieces of critical research to further the cybersecurity industrys understanding of the threat landscape this year as the pandemic and remote work has dramatically increased the risk of damaging attacks.

In April, his team discovered several rare fileless and evasive techniques used by the developers of Phobos ransomware. Analysis of the cybercriminals' attack chain enabled Michael to link the group to a Panda Stealer that was soon after observed targeting cryptocurrency wallets in a highly damaging campaign. Meanwhile in February, Michael published the attack chain of the once prolific ransomware gang Egregor, discovering entirely new techniques that differed drastically from what had been reported on prior.

Were pleased to name Michael Gorelik of Morphisec as a finalist Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert for 2021 among a small, elite group of information security professionals in our Black Unicorn awards, said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of http://www.allegiscyber.com, David DeWalt of http://www.nightdragon.com, Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of http://www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com.

About Morphisec

Morphisec is the world leader in providing advanced security solutions for midsize to small enterprises around the globe. The companys security products simplify and automatically block modern attacks from the endpoint to the cloud. Unlike traditional security solutions relying on human intervention, Morphisec delivers operationally simple, proactive prevention. This approach protects businesses around the globe with limited security resources and training from the most dangerous and sophisticated cyber attacks.

About the Cyber Defense Black Unicorn Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazines 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators through the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on its Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021, visit: https://cyberdefenseawards.com/black-unicorn-awards-for-2021-the-winners/


Model9 today announced the availability of Cloud Data Manager for Mainframe in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. With Model 9s streamlined deployment and management of mainframe data in the cloud, customers can now address their most pressing challenges and take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform. Model9 is also now designated as Microsoft Preferred Solutions under the Azure IP Co-sell program, which means Microsofts expert sales team will now assist in commercializing the product.

Built on proven and patented technology, Model9s Cloud Data Manager for Mainframe helps mainframe organizations modernize mission-critical data operations and offers a seamless software-based solution to discover, move, transform and manage mainframe data in Azure. Many organizations also use Cloud Data Manager for Mainframe to reduce or eliminate dependency on slow and expensive on-premises tape and VTL storage or to create a third copy of key data in the cloud as protection against ransomware attacks.

There is growing concern with high costs and limited flexibility of the mainframe, particularly with regard to data storage, noted Gil Peleg, Model9 CEO. We believe Azure offers a compelling option for many organizations and Cloud Data Manager for Mainframe is the best way to get there, he added.

Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure, said Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. Were happy to welcome the Model9 Cloud Data Manager for Mainframe solution to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem. The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use.

About

Model9 modernizes mainframe data management and business intelligence in enterprises to help them benefit from cloud economics and accelerate the adoption of hybrid cloud technologies. Its patented software-only technology securely delivers mainframe data to any cloud or on-premises storage platform, eliminating physical and virtual tape alike, and enabling secure integration with advanced analytics tools. Model9 is trusted by the worlds leading financial institutions, government agencies, and transportation companies.
Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, has been an investor since 2008 and is the majority shareholder of Movile.

Movile, one of Latin Americas leading and longest standing investors and growth accelerators for technology companies, has received a new investment from Prosus totaling BRL $1 billion (USD $200 million), the largest primary investment in a single round since Moviles founding in 1998. Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, has been an investor since 2008 and is the majority shareholder of Movile.

The new funds will go towards expanding Moviles current companies, including iFood, a leading foodtech company and one of the biggest tech success stories to date in Latin America; MovilePay and Zoop, two of Brazils leading fintechs; and Mensajeros Urbanos, a Colombia-based logistics company that is also growing fast in Mexico and other LatAm countries. Movile also plans to invest in new innovative tech startups in Brazil and across Latin America.

"Seeing the success of companies like iFood in Latin America has empowered so many new, innovative founders to rise up and join the burgeoning tech ecosystem in the region, said Patrick Hruby, CEO of Movile. "Movile is committed to improving people's lives in the region and beyond, and this includes supporting entrepreneurs, generating new jobs and bringing more practicality and convenience to consumers. With these new funds, we will continue to help quality founders to achieve their big ambitions to build the next success story in the region."

The Movile way of investing

Despite a challenging environment, in the last three years Movile has achieved an average annual revenue growth of 80 percent, and has carried out more than 30 deals in this period. This includes a follow-on funding round in Colombian delivery platform Mensajeros Urbanos in 2020, and an investment this year in Argentina's Moova, expanding Moviles presence in the Latin American market. More recently, Movile invested another BRL$ 170 million in Zoop, one of Moviles fintech companies, as part of the new funding from Prosus.

Moviles successful track record is due to an innovative culture and business vision. They are a strategic investor with solid knowledge and expertise in the Latin American market, which brings a lot of value to people, culture, management, finance and performance. They collaborate closely with companies to ensure their success, which is a unique way of investing and similar to Prosuss own approach, said Roger Rabalais, CFO of Prosus Food and Movile Board Chair.

Next steps: strengthen Logistics, Fintech, and Gaming

Movile plans to continue investing in its current companies, in addition to expanding its portfolio, focusing on the logistics, fintech, and gaming verticals.

Throughout Latin America, online sales are soaring, with e-commerce sales having grown 36.7 percent in the region in 2020, resulting in the need for more and better logistics offerings. In Brazil alone, online sales increased 66 percent in 2020, more than double the rate of growth in the U.S., according to Euromonitor, and is expected to increase 56 percent by the year 2024, according to Worldpay by FIS. Based on this growth, Movile will continue investing in logistics.

The fintech sector has received the most investment in Latin America for the past six years per LAVCA, and will continue to be a core focus for Movile, having recently been established as a formal division within the company that includes MovilePay and Zoop. Recently, a joint initiative between the two launched the iFood Digital Account, developed by MovilePay and built with technology by Zoop. Since its launch in October 2020, MovilePay has already granted around BRL $200 million in credit to small restaurants registered on the iFood platform, with more than 150,000 active digital accounts.

Fintech is a focus vertical for Movile today. In the not-too-distant future, we envision almost all companies will become fintechs and will be able to offer financial services to their customers. Zoop does exactly this for companies and MovilePay also enables this for restaurants, said Hruby.

Movile also focuses on the gaming segment with PlayKids and Afterverse, the gaming brand born within PlayKids, which achieved impressive growth during the pandemic. Movile owns and operates the PK XD and Crafty Lands titles and reaches 50 million players per month, growing quickly into a major global gaming company with players in more than 180 countries.

Afterverse began as a PlayKids innovation cell and achieved quick success, so it now operates independently. It has high potential to become one of the group's major success stories, said Hruby.

Looking ahead, Hruby reveals that Movile will continue to search for companies that complement and add value to the existing Movile ecosystem.

We look for businesses that develop technology-based solutions with exponential growth potential. In addition, it is our mission to bring increasingly diverse talent to the teams at Movile, concluded the CEO of the Movile Group, which already has 5,000 employees, with more than 600 job vacancies amongst its various companies.

About Movile

Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Movile is one of Latin Americas largest investment groups and growth accelerators for technology companies. The Movile team is passionate about challenges and dreams big, with the goal of positively impacting the lives of 1 billion people through its technology and applications. The company and its affiliates employ more than 5,000 people around the world who are specialists in finance, management, culture and innovation. They work daily to support the companies in its ecosystem to achieve exponential growth. Movile Group companies include iFood, Sympla, MovilePay, Zoop, PlayKids, Afterverse, Mensajeros Urbanos and Moova.

For more information, visit: http://www.movile.com.br

###

Media Contacts

Brazil:

Olivia Nercessian

+55 11 95433-0000

olivia.nercessian@movile.com

United States:

Chris Knight

(415) 786-9226 c. (on WhatsApp)

chris@divinogroup.net
After two years in the community, we are glad that we can now accommodate even more patients.

Oak Health Center, Southern California's premier comprehensive mental health outpatient care organization, is pleased to announce the opening of its new Beverly Hills office location, ready to provide the community with the same level of quality care that Oak Health is known for. Oak Health Centers team of providers is ready to create a personalized treatment plan for you and start you on the path to mental wellness.

Oak Health Center was originally founded in 2015 with the purpose of giving the communities they serve an easy way to access comprehensive and compassionate mental healthcare. This new location serves to further that goal. It is conveniently located on Wilshire and San Vicente with on-site parking available for patients.

Once you make your appointment, Oak Health will place you with the appropriate provider, confirm your insurance coverage, and provide scheduling assistance. Their treatment plans are tailored to each unique individual, since every mental health journey is different.

Discussing the new location, Practice Manager Andrew Brewer had this to say: "We are very excited to expand our offerings in Beverly Hills. After two years in the community, we are glad that we can now accommodate even more patients."

The new location officially opened its doors on August 2nd, 2021. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8AM - 6PM. You can find it at 8383 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 518, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. To learn more about the office, visit http://www.oak.care/locations or call (310) 231-6805.

About Oak Health Center

Oak Health Center offers comprehensive mental health outpatient care through our team of psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychologists, therapists, and tele-behavioral health clinicians. With the increasing prevalence of mental illness, the company is looking to make a positive impact on this struggling population. To learn more, visit http://www.oak.care.
Prat has been known by artists as a premium brand for over 50 years.

Prat USA and Itoya ProFolio have joined forces and entered into a long-term agreement to have Prat Paris products distributed exclusively by Itoya ProFolio in North America. This decision increases Itoya ProFolios market footprint and will help to grow availability of much-loved Prat Paris products at art supply stores all across North America.

All strong selling Prat Paris and Start by Prat products will now be made available for wholesale purchase exclusively through Itoya Profolio, located in the greater Los Angeles area.

This is an exciting agreement which brings together two incredible companies leading in the art presentation industry. We have big plans to grow the Prat Paris business in North America with a continued focus on product quality, customer service, high order fill rates, and great new products, said Don Takemura, President of Itoya ProFolio.

His sentiments were echoed by Marie-Laurence Dubray, President of Prat USA, Prat has been known by artists as a premium brand for over 50 years. We are confident that Itoya ProFolio will carry the Prat torch forward into a successful future in both the USA and Canada.

Please contact sales@itoya.com for a catalog and price list for ordering Prat Paris products in the USA and Canada.

Prat Paris was established by French entrepreneur Dominique Prat in 1968. He was fond of design, architecture, photography, and art, and believed that quality could not be improvised. When he discovered the need for quality transportation and storage solutions in the art community, he put in the time and work that built the foundation upon which Prat Paris now resides. Prat Paris has developed and maintains quality in all of the products they offer while remaining competitive with pricing, ensuring that artists have access to the products they need to store, transport, and support their craft. For more information about Prat, please visit http://www.prat-usa.com

From the companys beginnings in 1976, Itoya ProFolio has prioritized offering products for home and office, art supplies, and stationery products that are both innovative and distinctive. Creating and distributing quality products that provide solutions and fill gaps in the storage and presentation world is what Itoya does best. Known for the Original Art ProFolio, presentation books, and portfolio cases, Itoya has expanded their market to include wholesale distribution of products from South Korea, Portugal, Japan, France, and Taiwan. Some of the brands they currently distribute are Hanaduri, mishmash, PuniLabo, Sailor, Kuretake Zig, Prat Paris, and Penlux. For more information about Itoya ProFolio, please visit http://www.itoya.com
I am excited to begin this next phase in my career, knowing that the PCS team I am now a part of has earned such respect throughout the industry. Their depth of leadership, experience and talent is worth the time for all registered entities to check out!

Proven Compliance Solutions Inc. (PCS), recognized throughout the industry for its excellence in North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards compliance consulting services, is pleased to announce the addition of Kenneth (Kenn) Lamb, P.E. to its staff as NERC Consultant for Operations & Planning Standards. Kenn joins PCS after spending eighteen years in the industry as a Transmission Operations Engineer, Transmission Planning Engineer, and Distribution Engineering Manager that included NERC regulatory matters, along with studies, dynamic analysis, and reliability assessments associated with the NERC O&P Standards. His expertise includes power system operations and planning, resource interconnections, Protection & Control, and system studies, as well as being a former NERC certified Transmission Operator.

Kenn holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, a Master of Science in Power Systems Management and he is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New Hampshire. As a NERC Consultant for PCS, he will use his vast experience and expertise to assist entities throughout North America in meeting Reliability Standards compliance.

Francis Esselman, PCS Vice President & Managing Partner, had this to say about Kenn joining the PCS team: The hiring of Kenn is the result of an extensive search for the right person to ensure ongoing, sound advice for our clients. PCS looks forward to our journey ahead! Kenn, welcome to the team.

During his tenure in the electric industry, Kenns engineering skills have been utilized in nearly all aspects of power system management across multiple electric utilities and Regions including:



Responsible for all financial and ISO-NE and NERC regulatory filings and budgeting

Oversaw the Power Generation Group and managed the budget for impacts

Modified and implemented a COVID-19 response for all operations to continue successful service

Managed $13 Million annual budget

Managed 10-Year Planning Cycle

Assisted with Control Room activities

Conducted project modeling  equipment specification, protection schemes, etc.

Utilized OTI Etap modeling software for load flows, short circuit analysis, etc.

Conducted WECC path rating study

Short circuit analysis for merchant interconnections

Coordination of EMS Upgrades

Developed Operating Procedures

Coordinated Voltage Reduction Tests

Developed settings for new projects to include relay and recloser settings

Developed training for System Operators

SCADA

Microwave

Protective Relay schemes

About joining the PCS team, Kenn had this to say: I am excited to begin this next phase in my career, knowing that the PCS team I am now a part of has earned such respect throughout the industry. Their depth of leadership, experience and talent is worth the time for all registered entities to check out! I am impressed with PCS commitment to provide exceptional services to its clients and my hope is to be yet another resource to contribute to this path of excellence.

PCS NERC Compliance Consulting Services has an unsurpassed track record in helping its customers succeed in NERC Regional Entity audits. Whether you need support in the area of Operations and Planning or Critical Infrastructure Protection, Generation Facility, Solar Facility, Wind Facility or Battery Storage site, PCS has the technical expertise and program management skills to help you attain your compliance goals. PCS delivers compliance interpretations based on extensive auditing experience, coupled with programs and processes that provide you confidence for your companys compliance.

For information on how PCS can support your organizations compliance needs, please contact Dale Zahn at 509-504-5496 or visit our website at http://www.provencompliance.com. #NERCcompliance #NERC #criticalinfrastructureprotection #weccreliability #ReliabilityFirst #Texas_RE_Inc. #SERC. #NPCC #CIP #Batterystorage
Kristi Maas, MD I am strongly committed to advocating and expanding access for all patient populations and those in underserved geographic locations.

Reproductive Care Center (RCC), a leading provider of fertility and family building services in Utah and Idaho, announced today that reproductive endocrinologist Kristi Maas, MD has joined its team of fertility experts as a partner. The addition of Dr. Maas is the latest high-profile, strategic move for RCC, who last week announced its partnership with Boston IVFs national fertility network  an industry-leading fertility treatment and research program which operates over 30 fertility centers across the United States.

Double board-certified in Reproductive Endocrinology/Infertility and Obstetrics/Gynecology, Dr. Maas joins RCC from a leading Southern California provider, where she played a significant role in advancing its IVF, research, and LGBTQIA+ family building programs.

She brings to RCC a full range of expertise in reproductive technologies and treatments including IUI, IVF, egg freezing, oncofertility, and more for all patient populations  with a special interest in LGBTQIA+ family building, single parenting options, and PCOS.

Adding a reproductive endocrinologist of Dr. Maas ability to the Reproductive Care Center team is an exciting moment for our practice, patients, and region, said Keith Blauer, MD  Medical Director of RCC. Her commitment to delivering superior patient care and conducting groundbreaking research fits perfectly with RCCs vision and culture, which is dedicated to making a fundamental difference in the lives of our patients.

Dr. Maas arrival at RCC also serves as a long-awaited clinical reunion. In 2013, she graduated from the prestigious Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School/Boston IVF Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) Fellowship Program  which trains the countrys top-tier of fertility specialists.

Additionally, while at the University of Utah, she earned an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering, a Masters of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the universitys school of medicine.

I am strongly committed to advocating and expanding access for all patient populations and those in underserved geographic locations to receive the very best care possible, said Dr. Kristi Maas. The partnering of Reproductive Care Center and Boston IVF is a unique and exceptional event. It marries a locally respected practice that is known for providing high-quality, personalized care with a nationally recognized, premier infertility treatment and research institution. Patients will undoubtedly benefit from this partnership and I am thrilled to reunite with my mentors and colleagues at Boston IVF.

Having closely worked alongside Dr. Maas in her role as an REI Fellow, I can state unequivocally that Reproductive Care Center and the surrounding Salt Lake City communities have gained one of the brightest minds in reproductive medicine, said Alan S. Penzias, MD - Boston IVF reproductive endocrinologist, BIDMC/HMS/BIVF Fellowship Director and Board Member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Dr. Maas is a nationally respected and exceptionally skilled clinician, passionate researcher, a fierce advocate for all people who wish to build a family, and the quintessential physician to help lead RCC as it continues to deliver the highest-level of reproductive care in Utah.

A Wyoming native, Dr. Maas is an active member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society for Reproductive Surgeons, and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART).

ABOUT BOSTON IVF

Boston IVF is one of the largest and most experienced fertility networks in the United States, with more than 100,000 babies born since 1986. Founded as one of the nation's first private practice IVF centers, the Boston IVF network has grown to include over 30 reproductive endocrinologists across 30 centers throughout Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. A renowned innovator of reproductive technologies, advanced protocols, and cutting-edge research, Boston IVF has achieved numerous "firsts" in the field of reproductive care. Its scientific and research arm continues to pave the way for breakthroughs in fertility care and its accredited REI Fellowship Program has graduated numerous reproductive endocrinologists as part of its mission to train the next generation of fertility experts. In 2019, this leading provider of fertility services in the United States was acquired by Eugin, one of the largest IVF networks in the world, with centers throughout Europe and South America. For more information, please visit http://www.bostonivf.com

ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE CARE CENTER

Reproductive Care Center, the first private practice fertility clinic in Utah, has helped individuals and couples to build their families for over 25 years. Utilizing the most innovative and medical protocols, RCC offers a full array of services including IUI, IVF, egg freezing, donor egg IVF, genetic testing, male infertility, LGBTQIA+ family building, and more. Utilizing a myriad of proven reproductive technologies, RCC is able to identify unique trends that often lead to a swifter, more accurate diagnosis for the rarest of infertility cases. For more information, please visit http://www.fertilitydr.com
We are so excited to be bringing these important discussions to everyone live from the show.

RoofersCoffeeShop, the award-winning website where the industry meets for technology, information and everyday business, invites roofing industry panels to attend their live broadcasts and educational panels at the International Roofing Expo (IRE) being held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center August 9  11, 2021.

Coffee Conversations Live

For the first time ever at the IRE, the RCS team will be broadcasting Coffee Conversations, sponsored by ABC Supply, live from the trade show floor in booth 3507 on Tuesday, August 10 and Wednesday, August 11 at 1 p.m. PT. The broadcast will be streamed live on the RoofersCoffeeShop YouTube channel and will focus on Whats HOT in Roofing.

Tuesdays broadcast will feature manufacturers, suppliers and distributors while Wednesdays guests will be some of RoofersCoffeeShops Roofing Influencers. Both days will address what is happening across the country with COVID, the situation with material shortages and price increases, labor and what everyone is expecting in 2022.

We are so excited to be bringing these important discussions to everyone live from the show, said Heidi J. Ellsworth, president of RoofersCoffeeShop. The best part is that for those unable to attend the show, they can still experience it by tuning into our live YouTube stream. We will be doing live streams throughout the show, so we encourage everyone to subscribe to our channel to be sure they dont miss anything.

Educational sessions



Presidents Panel- Tuesday, August 10 at 7:45 a.m. - Ellsworth will be leading an educational session that features presidents and officers of several roofing contractors associations from across the country. Leo Ibarra (WSRCA), Kelly Lea (MRCA), and Greta Bajrami (NERCA) will share what is happening regionally, how their associations are helping and overall lessons learned. This informative panel will help attendees understand how they can network and work with regional associations to mitigate risk and create opportunities for ongoing success.

Taking Your Business 100% Digital - Wednesday, August 11 at 7:45 a.m.  Ellsworth leads a dynamic panel featuring Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) contractor members who share their successes and challenges in going digital. The panel features Curtis Sutton, Rackley Roofing, Ken Kelly, Kelly Roofing, Steve Little, KPost Roofing and Wendy Marvin, Matrix Roofing & Home Solutions.

First-time attendees reception

RoofersCoffeeShop is sponsoring a special, private networking event for first-time attendees prior to the welcome party at the Daylight Beach Club, Tuesday, August 10 at 5:30 p.m. to welcome first-time attendees and give them the opportunity to meet other first-time attendees.

It can be intimidating as a first-time attendee at an event as robust as the International Roofing Expo, said Ellsworth. It was important to us to be part of this networking event as a sponsor because we want those who are new to be greeted with an inviting smile and an opportunity to ask questions in a comfortable environment.

Attendees are encouraged to register for a discounted pass using RoofersCoffeeShops exclusive link. Be sure to visit the RoofersCoffeeShop booth for a Roofing Respect backpack at booth 3507.

About RoofersCoffeeShop

As an award-winning website and online community, RoofersCoffeeShop is committed to being a roofing professional advocate by supplying consistent information, education and communication avenues for all roofing professionals, and especially contractors, while promoting the positive growth, education and success of the roofing industry overall. Visitors to the site continue to find excellent opportunities for sharing information while participating in important ongoing conversations concerning new technologies, safety and the overall roofing trade. From the rooftop to the board room, RoofersCoffeeShop is Where the Industry Meets! For more information, visit http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com.
From Son of Sam to Son of Hope: The Amazing Story of David Berkowitz: a closer look into the journey of a former arsonist, Satanist, and serial killer who eventually leaned on Christ and sought for repentance and redemption from a horrendous life. From Son of Sam to Son of Hope: The Amazing Story of David Berkowitz is the creation of published author RoxAnne Tauriello, a television talk show host and a producer of special events.

Tauriello shares, His name is David Berkowitz. Once the notorious Son of Sam. His former lifestyle consisted of being an arsonist, setting over 1,000 fires, a Satanist, and serial killer, who in the late 1970s brought a wave of terror to the streets of New York. After the biggest manhunt in New Yorks history, the headlines read CAUGHT, and David Berkowitz was sentenced to 350 years behind bars.

While in prison, David Berkowitz became a born-again Christian, and in 1995, RoxAnne Tauriello was granted an interview with the former Son of Sam, where he discussed the dark satanic influences that led to his murderous rampage and how he came to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The RoxAnne Tauriello Show: David Berkowitz interview went on to win the CAPE Award (Cable Award for Programming Excellence).

Follow along as RoxAnne gets to know the former Son of Sam through personal letters, phone conversations, and prison visits. Learn how David Berkowitz serves the Lord in prison and around the world, and read amazing ministry accounts of victory through Jesus Christ.

You will also get a firsthand look behind razor wire and prison walls, as RoxAnne takes you inside the units where inmates are housed in tiny Dungeons of Doom. Learn about strip searches, shakedowns, constant fear, and the loss of all personal freedom.

Now known as Son of Hope, see how Gods love, mercy, and transforming power, changed Davids life from of one of the vilest of sinners to a new creation in Christ. Learn how you too can receive Gods forgiveness of sin, a new life, along with Gods peace, hope, joy, and purpose for life and living, and eternal life in heaven, never to face Gods judgement and hell.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, RoxAnne Tauriellos new book is a powerful account that holds a testimony of how one great sinner walked on a spiritual transformation and began a brand new journey with the saving grace of God.

View a synopsis of From Son of Sam to Son of Hope: The Amazing Story of David Berkowitz on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase From Son of Sam to Son of Hope: The Amazing Story of David Berkowitz at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about From Son of Sam to Son of Hope: The Amazing Story of David Berkowitz, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Investing in anti-theft and safety devices will be rewarded by insurance companies, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Installing certain modifications to their cars will allow drivers to ask for discounts and obtain better rates. Insurance companies will allow drivers to install certain devices and systems, as long as them lower the chances of being involved in accidents or having the car stolen. Drivers can install the following:

SAFETY DEVICES:



Adaptive cruise control. By utilizing sensors and radars, this safety device will monitor the traffic around the car and will try to maintain a safe distance from the car upfront by automatically braking if when the vehicles get too close.

Rear view cameras. A camera that displays a live video feed of the view from the back of a car for the driver to use when backing out or parking.

Blind spot warnings. Sensors monitor the lanes in the left and right of the car, and when they detect a vehicle is in a blind spot, they will issue a visual, or audio warning.

Airbags. Frontal airbags are mandatory since 1999. Additional types of airbags like full-front seat airbags, side airbags can lower the insurance cost.

Automatic emergency braking. Often paired with the adaptive cruise control system, this safety device will begin to automatically brake if they sense a potential collision.

ANTI-THEFT DEVICES

Satellite tracking systems. Small devices that are hidden inside the vehicle, and are capable of emitting signals in order to track their location. Past reports show that 90% of the vehicles that were stolen and had GPS tracking systems installed, were eventually recovered by the authorities.

Steering wheel lock. They are simple to install and quite effective. Place this device over the steering wheel and lock it.

Ignition kill switch. This device will disable the ignition switch and prevent the car from starting. This system is cheap and can be installed in hidden places.

Car alarm. This alarm will emit a strong beeping sound when someone tries to open the car without the right key, or smash the cars windows.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
PURE BOTANIKA 60mg Pain Patch This product provides incredible pain relief! I have now used it on my lower back and my ankle, and I am always surprised at how quick and effective it is. It is important to me to have a natural option for pain relief and to not have to rely on synthetic options like pain pills.

PURE BOTANIKA, a rising star in topical CBD therapy, has become one of the first CBD pain patch brands to successfully launch on Amazon. Their breakthrough product is a next generation transdermal pain patch that delivers 60 mg of broad spectrum CBD over 4 days. The PURE BOTANIKA CBD Pain Patch + Menthol is waterproof, discreet, and side-effect free.

The pioneering company is fueled by what has been proven to be the impressive power of CBD skin patches to treat pain. Their genesis lies in the benefits of treating transdermally, specifically the fact that when patches are used to administer CBD, no medicine is lost to the digestive process, which can also slow down absorption significantly. So patches are a quicker and more economical way to take CBD than oral methods. This highly bioavailable treatment is safe, legal, third-party tested for purity, and already getting rave five-star reviews.

For a lot of people, treating daily pain from muscles and joints, or nerve pain, means too many pills with side effects ranging from stomach upset to the risk of serious addiction. Topical CBD will not cause these issues and has been proven highly effective for soft tissue as well as certain types of nerve pain in the clinical studies that have become more than conclusive over the last five to ten years. But to use the phytocannabinoids in CBD to support the bodys pain and inflammation response and treat pain properly, you need consistent dosage applied over time of high-quality hemp extract (CBD). Thats where pain patches come in.

Pure Botanikas co-founders had been working with patches for a few years, when they found out about a new development in transdermal science and knew they wanted to launch their own pain-fighting product around it. What they developed is the result of the latest in transdermal drug delivery -- a next generation matrix patch featuring drug-in adhesive technology that outperforms top competitors in its class for transmissibility of active medicine through the skin and into the bloodstream.

My partner, Leonard and I, have a real focus on helping people trying to manage pain without pills through what science has shown us is possible with transdermal CBD. I am so proud of the patch weve come up with because it stays on longer than the rest and is proven in lab testing to outperform its competitors on transmissibility through the skin. But what really matters is hearing from customers who have begun to use our patch to get off pain pills and manage their pain in a way that works way better for their lives -- thats really something!

For those curious if this type of pain relief is for them, ordering is quick and easy, especially since Pure Botanika just announced their arrival on Amazon, already garnering positive Feedback such as five-star reviews and video testimonials:

This product provides incredible pain relief! I have now used it on my lower back and my ankle, and I am always surprised at how quick and effective it is. It is important to me to have a natural option for pain relief and to not have to rely on synthetic options like pain pills.

Look for the brands soothing colors and contemporary branding in-stores and apothecaries soon. Until then, you can enjoy free-shipping on orders over $60, and also sign up to hear about new product launches and sales (August 8 is National CBD day, and the company has hinted at a major flash sale that day). Out of California and proud to be co-founded by a female owner, Pure Botanika gives a portion of each of its sales to Feeding America, which has seen food insecurity in the US grow to all-time highs during the pandemic.

This is a brand to watch, having done it right by getting themselves on Amazon early and during a time when the marketplace has shifted almost entirely to online shopping. According to the Brightfield Groups Mid-Year 2021 Report, the CBD industry is poised for stronger growth in 2022...the CBD market is expected to see a lift through the end of the year for the brands that have survived the pandemic...Now is the time to build strong brands across industries to ensure success when competition increases. Look for this company to consistently be on the cutting edge of this growing market-share, continuing to work with science of solving for side-effect free pain relief that works long-term.

About PURE BOTANIKA

Pure Botanika is a health and wellness brand offering quick, free, direct shipping of innovative CBD products designed to get people back to living the life theyre meant to live. The company is headquartered in San Diego and can be found at its online shop and on Amazon.

For more information about PURE BOTANIKA, visit http://www.purebotanika.com
As we prepare for its eighth year, we are excited to bring our global audience even more best-in-class ideas driving the future of senior living design.

This year, communities from around the world will be able to submit new construction and renovation projects in 14 categories, including three new categories: Behavioral Health, CCRC/LPC Lite, and Small Footprint.

The 2021 SHN Architecture & Design Awards is a celebration of the greatest innovations in senior living architecture, design and development from around the world, said George Yedinak, founder of Senior Housing News. As we prepare for its eighth year, we are excited to bring our global audience even more best-in-class ideas driving the future of senior living design.

Submissions are open until October 31, 2021. Winners will be announced in December 2021.

A panel of industry experts with backgrounds in development, architecture and interior design will judge the projects, evaluating entries based on design and aesthetic criteria. Not only will judges analyze design elements such as color, light and landscape architecture, but they will also consider community functionality by analyzing key features that are critical to each property type.

For more information about the awards and this year's competition, visit http://www.shnawards.com.

About the SHN Architecture & Design Awards

The Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards recognize cutting-edge design, excellence and innovation in senior living. The annual awards contest celebrates unique projects and companies that are improving the lives of seniors through innovative design. Visit http://www.shnawards.com for more information about this year's competition, as well as past winners.

About Aging Media Network / Senior Housing News

Aging Media Network is an innovative publishing company based in Chicago, Illinois, and is the publisher of Senior Housing News, Home Health Care News, Behavioral Health Business, and Skilled Nursing News.

Senior Housing News (SHN) is the leading independent source for news and information covering senior housing and senior living. With a global reach of more than 30,000 industry professionals, SHN boasts an audience that includes senior housing operators, developers, banking institutions, real estate investment trusts, private equity and service providers catering to the industry. Visit http://www.seniorhousingnews.com for more information.
Signature Resolution Were excited for the opportunity to provide our alternative dispute resolution services locally to parties in San Diego.

Signature Resolution, a leader in alternative dispute resolution with offices in Los Angeles and Century City, announced today that it has opened a new office in San Diego, California.

Were excited for the opportunity to provide our alternative dispute resolution services locally to parties in San Diego, said Dario Higuchi, managing director at Signature Resolution. With a physical presence here and a range of amenities, this office gives us the chance to help attorneys and their clients in this region to resolve their disputes fairly and quickly, in person. We also look forward to giving back to this community and making a difference in San Diego County.

To open its new location, Signature Resolution has recruited some of the most esteemed legal experts in the region, including Scott Slater Markus and the Hon. Margo Lewis Hoy (Ret.). Markus, San Diegos leading attorney-mediator since 1992, will serve as a mediator for cases involving employment, professional liability, catastrophic injury, real property and business disputes. Judge Hoy, who recently retired from the bench after 11 years on the San Diego Superior Court, will handle disputes in all areas of family law.

The new office is located in Del Mar, with complimentary parking, in a neighborhood that includes numerous upscale restaurants, shops and boutique hotels. As is customary in Signature Resolution offices, the facility will feature a full-service cafe, a lounge for neutrals, state-of-the-art conference rooms with Zoom Rooms video conferencing equipment.

Since our founding in 2017, weve been able to build a reputation nationwide for having an elite panel of neutrals and comfortable, sophisticated offices, said Higuchi. Opening a physical office in San Diego was important to us, and were eager to welcome new and existing clients into our new space and give them the resolutions they deserve.

To learn more about how Signature Resolution can help resolve your next case, visit https://signatureresolution.com.

About Signature Resolution

Established in 2017 in the heart of Los Angeles, Signature Resolution comprises a panel of distinguished neutrals hailing from diverse backgrounds, including respected judges and trial attorneys specializing in virtually every civil practice area. The founding partners inaugurated the organization with a vision of providing the highest level of service and convenience for attorneys and their clients. Signature Resolutions panelists offer unrivaled expertise and commitment to resolve even the most challenging legal matters. For more information about the firms mediation, arbitration and other dispute resolution services, visit https://signatureresolution.com.
"Our mission is to partner with extraordinary and innovative startups to build successful businesses and contribute to our South Florida regional economy."

Glades Capital announced the launch of its first fund today, aimed at investing in early-stage tech startups in the South Florida ecosystem. Glades Capital seeks to deploy seed-stage investments of $50,000 to $250,000, with resources available for subsequent rounds. The firm was founded by Jim Ryan, a Florida-based entrepreneur and startup veteran who has provided capital investments and strategic guidance for regional companies over the last decade. "Our mission is to partner with extraordinary and innovative startups to build successful businesses and contribute to our South Florida regional economy," Ryan explained.

Ryan is the founder of OutPLEX, an international company with more than 2,000 employees specializing in digital transformation at enterprise scale. He has been an investor with Miami Angels and Florida Funders, as well as an advisor to regional university startup accelerators. These include programs at Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, and Broward College. He was selected by the American Academy of Entrepreneurs and GrowFL to support Florida-based companies as a mentor. Ryan also received the American Dreamer Award in 2019 and was the keynote speaker for South Florida's annual Entrepreneur Summit. He is a co-founder and board member of the Venture Mentoring Team. This not-for-profit organization works to train and certify executives as mentors, then matches them with promising entrepreneurs to provide ongoing guidance.

Complementing Jim on the firm's leadership team is Managing Director Declan Ryan. Declan holds an MBA from Simon Business School at the University of Rochester. There, he served as President of Simon Entrepreneurs Association and graduated as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, working with several early-stage companies along the way. The Glades Capital team brings a wealth of knowledge and proven track records of helping companies achieve operational traction and further capitalization.

Commenting on the announcement, Jim Ryan said, "We're excited to launch Glades Capital with a differentiated investment thesis for the region. We aim to put together a diversified portfolio of seed-stage startups, targeting between six to twelve investments over the next three years. My experiences helping startups for the past ten years have helped us build deep personal networks for exceptional deal flow. Our methods are designed to empower startups in the rapidly growing South Florida economy, and we intend to leverage our network and expertise to positively impact the region's startup ecosystem."

South Florida has grown to global prominence as a key market for tech entrepreneurship. Jim Ryan has worked hands-on with some of the most recognized startups in the area as an investor or mentor. The rapid growth in startup ventures has outpaced institutional capital in the region, and there is a market need for local early-round funders who can add value with operational expertise. Glades Capital's combination of funding and mentorship will help regional startups navigate the challenges that face early-stage founders.

"With Glades Capital, we have the advantage of using our unique experiences to do something radically different," said Ryan. "We are serving a very undersupplied start-up community in South Florida that requires early capital to help launch their businesses. We can provide the right level of support to the founders that we partner with. Investment is just the first step. Beyond that, our founders can expect guidance and support from experienced practitioners around the world and access to a unique network of operators and capital resources."

Ryan continues, "Why Glades? We're headquartered in Parkland, where our backyard is the Everglades. This natural wonder is a perfect analogy for the startup ecosystem. There is so much beauty in the Everglades, but also danger. There are channels to navigate safe passage through the treacherous waters. Similarly, early-stage companies have boundless possibilities. But a wrong turn or a poor decision can take a startup underwater. Sharing experiences and best practices is our value add, helping the entrepreneurs we invest with to chart the best course for their companies."

Entrepreneurs interested in applying for funding should inquire online at glades.capital/apply.

About Glades Capital

Glades Capital LLC is a venture capital firm based in Parkland, Florida. Their mission is to invest in early-stage tech and tech-enabled startups in the South Florida region. Glades Capital helps firms in its portfolio navigate to success by providing deep expertise in growth, marketing, fundraising, connectivity, and operations. For more information, visit glades.capital.
IARFC - the Register This Issue contains Leadership Opportunities in the Association. I encourage anyone wishing to support the IARFC Plan of Membership Action for 2021-2022 to seriously consider involvement...Susan Cappa, IARFC Register Editor

Inside the publication are hiring opportunities for a CEO, Managing Regional Director and Region Directors. These roles will be instrumental in advancing the Association over the next 1-3 years. Trustee Chair H. Stephen Bailey, Ph.D., MRFC discusses all levels of leadership and the importance of finding capable persons in his Trustees Chair Desk article.

Robert Laraia RFC, an IARFC US Chapter Board Director and the IARFC Member Focus for this month gives the history of his career path that ended in a founding partnership of NorthStar Wealth Partners. He relates his beginnings, his philosophies and secrets to a successful practice  all the way through to the Zoom culture of Covid. As a corporate sponsor of the 2021 IARFC National Financial Plan Competition, he embraces the competition as a super cool concept that allows him a way of giving back to his industry.

Additional contributed articles include:



20 Years LaterRemember 9/11 and What I Have Learned, By Saul Simon, RFC

How Have Financial Philosophical Paradigms Changed in the Past 20 Years  9/11/2001 to 9/11/2021?, by Monroe Diefendorf, Jr., RFC

First Impressions, by Michelle Blair, RFC

Are Toxic Words Holding You Back from Greater Opportunities and Success?, by David Kinder, RFC

The Core4 Advantage: Four Steps to Business Development Success, by Social Advisor

How Blogging Helps Financial Consultants Generate Leads, by Ryan Van Sickle

How I Managed a 40% Engagement Rate on LinkedIn, by Bryce Sanders

Annual Reviews with Your ClientsFor Easy Sales, by Jeremy Nason, RFC

What the Heck is a HECM? by Guy Paredes, RFC

The Dunton Award Committee is seeking nominations for its annual award in honor of Loren Dunton, the Father of Financial Planning. Members are encouraged to send in nominations of those who have achieved significant experience and status in the field of financial services in general. Download the form and submit to awards@iarfc.org. Nominations close September 30th.

The National Financial Plan Competition is open for University registration along with a call for corporate sponsorships and individual donations. Educators are invited to sign up their teams for the 2022 event. More about how to enter and important deadlines are covered by Financial Planning Competition Coordinator, Vicki Caplinger.

Internationally, the Philippines Chapter highlights its International Facebook podcast series. This lineup of influential consultants (mainly from the US Chapter) will continue through September. It has been beneficial to our members to hear what consultants from the US are doing in their practice, stated Ms. Grace de Vera Escobar, RFC - IARFCPH Chapter Executive Vice President and Production Coordinator for the podcasts. We thank the Association for helping us bring this project to the Philippines members and look forward to the remaining guests.

To access the Register, visit the IARFC website. Those interested in teaching others about their practice and being published can reach out to editor Susan Cappa at editor@iarfc.org. There are opportunities open for the Fall edition.
Technica Corporation, a leader in high-end-systems engineering, operations and maintenance for mission-critical networks, announced it was awarded a $43 million contract to support the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command Intelligence Directorate (ACC/2Y) Blue Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (BlueSCI) and the 690th Intelligence Support Squadron (690th ISS). The base year value is $10 million plus three-year options.

The team will support the ACC Intelligence Directorate and the 690th ISS at Joint Base San Antonio, TX and Wright Pattersons AF Base in Dayton, OH to provide program management support and sustainment of the AF BlueSCI Enterprise. Technica will operate, support and sustain an enterprise that provides a standardized level of service utilized across the AF; institute and expand a framework for centralized Command and Control (C2) of AF BluSCI Enterprise operations and services; and enable standardized and consistent processes.

Technica has supported the ACC Intelligence Directorate since 2017 providing critical engineering and delivering essential innovation, said Technica President and CEO Miguel Collado. This award reinforces our commitment to the AF to provide IT services to manage and sustain current operations, and to evolve the AF BluSCI Enterprise into a more secure, robust, network to support the various National and Air Force missions worldwide."

ABOUT TECHNICA CORPORATION

Technica Corporation, founded in 1991, provides high-end system engineering services to Defense, Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Federal civilian agencies. The company specializes in systems engineering; integration and testing; cybersecurity; and product development, deployment, and support. Technica invests heavily in R&D and is leveraging big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing to support its customers. For more information, please visit http://www.technicacorp.com

Media contact: T. Banks, Track Changes Media, 202.779.3066
This book is to reiterate to the world the Hope, Deliverance and Restoration in God regardless of anything and everything.

Author Christiana Asantewaa Okyere-Folson, (PhD) shares her story of Gods power to overcome any circumstance in Shining Ever Brighter: From Nothing to Something ($25.49, paperback, 9781662821974; $9.99, e-book, 9781662821981).

Asantewaa grew up as one of seven children in Accra, Ghana. Their family circumstances changed when she was 14, forcing her and six siblings to fight for shelter, food and schooling. Even though she passed through tremendous trials, God saw her through and opened the doors she needed to obtain a scholarship to pursue her education in Canada and begin work helping others who are struggling.

This book is to reiterate to the world the Hope, Deliverance and Restoration in God regardless of anything and everything. May your Faith Rise as you navigate the pages of my gift to the world, said Asantewaa.

Dr. Christiana Asantewaa Okyere-Folson is currently a Hegarty Postdoctoral Research Associate at Michigan State University and a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Scholar. She is also a Mandela Washington Fellow, awarded by the US government for her contribution to improving quality of life of vulnerable populations in African contexts. Dr. Okyere-Folson co-hosts a YouTube channel (The Folsons Tube) with her beloved husband Kweku Gumye Folson that focuses on topics including faith, education/career, and relationships.

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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. Shining Ever Brighter is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
On August 12th at 5:30 pm, The Henry Ford will host Sesame Workshops Akimi Gibson, Vice President & Education Publisher, Sesame Learning and Dr. Rosemarie T. Truglio, Senior Vice President, Curriculum and Content for THF Conversations: Back to School with Sesame Workshop: An Innovative Approach to Inclusion & Diversity Education. Hosted over Zoom and in collaboration with The Henry Fords inHub, the virtual conversation focuses on Sesame Workshops research on effective and innovative ways to discuss race, identity, and being an upstander with the youngest learners. The discussion will be hosted by The Henry Fords Senior Manager of Learning Services and On-Site Programs Phil Grumm. To register, visit: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T8f9cFSpTyOIMPPlOXDLag

Since the landmark study that inspired Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop  the nonprofit organization behind the beloved show  has been a leader in the conversation about how media can reach and educate children and their families. Recently, the Workshop conducted extensive research on how to help families build racial literacy and talk about race and racism with young children; this research has informed Sesame Street content, character development, and more. During the virtual conversation, Gibson and Dr. Truglio will discuss how the research has helped them create tools and programs for preschoolers and their caregivers.

Akimi Gibson is Sesame Workshops Vice President and Education Publisher, Sesame Learning. An accomplished product development and educational publishing executive, Gibson has deep expertise in child development and early childhood education, with a particular emphasis on underserved populations. She currently leads formal education initiatives and partnerships for Sesame Workshop, working with industry-leading partners including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and McGraw-Hill Education. Gibson holds degrees in human and child development as well as school administration.

Dr. Rosemarie T. Truglio is the Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content at Sesame Workshop. Dr. Truglio is responsible for the development of the whole-child school readiness curriculum on which Sesame Street is based and oversees content development across new television properties, books, toys, theme park activities, and more. Dr. Truglio has written numerous articles in child and developmental psychology journals and presented her work at national and international conferences. Her current book is Ready for School! A Parents Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5 published by Running Press (2019). She is also co-editor of G is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street (2001) published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is currently the host to The Jim Henson Exhibit: Imagination Unlimited, a traveling exhibition organized by the Museum of Moving Image (MoMI) now through Sept. 6, 2021. The exhibition explores Hensons groundbreaking work for film and television and his transformative impact on popular culture. It reveals how Henson and his team of builders, performers, and writers brought to life enduringly popular worlds and characters, including Sesame Street and so much more. For more information on the exhibit, inHub and THF Conversations, visit thf.org.

About The Henry Ford

Located in Dearborn, Michigan, The Henry Ford, a globally recognized destination, fosters inspiration and learning from hands-on encounters with artifacts that represent the most comprehensive collection anywhere focusing on innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness in America. Its unique venues include Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school. Together with its online presence at thf.org, its national television series The Henry Fords Innovation Nation and Invention Convention Worldwide, the growing affiliation of organizations fostering innovation, invention and entrepreneurship in K-12 students, The Henry Ford inspires individuals to unlock their potential and help shape a better future.
Organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals around senior level leadership are about to become more attainable thanks to a new survey aimed at Latino executives.

ThinkNow, a market research firm that demystifies diverse communities through research technology, and Guerrero Media, an executive communications and advancement firm with a strong foothold in the executive Latino community, have partnered for a research project whose data will help organizations recruit and retain executive Latino talent. Results will be compiled into the Executive Leadership Index, a proprietary insights tool that will be available for distribution to hiring managers, employee resource groups, CEOs, and anyone else tasked with recruiting, retaining, and nurturing diverse talent.

The Executive Leadership Index survey is available via both ThinkNow and Guerrero Medias websites and will remain open for participants until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 30. Latino executives who opt to take this anonymous survey will assist Fortune 1000 companies in shaping decisions that help thousands of employees feel more included and engaged in the workplace. The Executive Leadership Index will be available for distribution later this year.

What is missing from the myriad of important and much needed investments in diversity and inclusion initiatives is the voice of the mid- to senior-level leader. Its important that companies know how to cater to this high-level leader given their influence and ability to impact change and drive strategy at their organization, says Guerrero Media CEO and Cofounder Pedro A. Guerrero. Guerrero Media is proud to partner with ThinkNow, a company that is similar to ours in that we both are independent, Latino-owned companies and have been working in DEI long before it became fashionable. We are excited to leverage the collective voices of the executives connected to our Hispanic networks The Alumni Society, Hispanic Executive, and NextGen Collectiveto enable corporate America to better understand the diverse executives unique needs and wants.

We want to know what companies can do to not only better recruit talent but retain and develop itwhile fostering a sense of belonging through investments in career growth, says ThinkNow Cofounder and Principal Mario Carrasco. Companies cannot expect to attract and ultimately retain diverse executives if they do not understand what this population wants and needs in order to thrive in an organization. To make a company diverse from top to bottom, retaining diverse executives is imperative.

For more information on the Executive Leadership Index and/or survey, please reach out to Cristina Merrill at cristina@guerreromedia.com.

Human resources professionals and others who are responsible for organizational diversity metrics can request a copy of the Executive Leadership Index by emailing info@guerreromedia.com.

ABOUT GUERRERO MEDIA

Guerrero Media works with executives, entrepreneurs, and aspiring business leaders to harness the power of their stories to ignite change in their organizations. Their portfolio of brands includes American Builders Quarterly, American Healthcare Leader, Hispanic Executive, Modern Counsel, and Profile. Guerrero Media is also the organization behind The Alumni Society, a networking organization for Latinos who attended the nations top universities, and NextGen Collective, a networking platform for mid-level Latinx professionals. Learn more at https://guerreromedia.com/.

ABOUT THINKNOW

ThinkNow is a market research firm that demystifies diverse communities through research technology. The firm also owns and operates one of the largest and most representative Hispanic online panels in the industry, DigaYGane.com, which provides sample to leading market research companies around the world. Learn more at thinknow.com.
Tiffs Treats is Giving out Free Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies All Day On National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, Wednesday, August 4th It was a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies that inspired Leon and I to start this business 22 years ago as college sophomores, said Tiff's Treats' Tiffany Chen. We love to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and were excited to treat our fans to a free warm cookie in-store all day.

Tiffs Treats, the Texas-based warm cookie delivery company with 65 locations throughout the southern U.S., is giving out free warm chocolate chip cookies in all of its stores Wednesday, August 4th, to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Additionally, the brand is selling its popular freshly-baked cookies for just $12 per dozen all day.

Cookie lovers who follow Tiffs Treats social media channels should also stay tuned for a code for 100 free cookie dozens to be posted daily from Monday, August 2nd through Sunday, August 8th. The first 100 followers to redeem the code on the Tiff's Treats App each day will receive a dozen free cookies (delivery fees may apply).

It was a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies that inspired Leon and I to start this business 22 years ago as college sophomores, said Tiffany Chen, Tiffs Treats co-founder. We love to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and were excited to treat our fans to a free warm cookie in-store all day.

Cookie fans can stop by any Tiffs Treats store on August 4th to pick up their free chocolate chip cookie (limit one per person per day, customer must be present to receive free cookie).

Tiffs Treats bakes and delivers classic cookies and brownies from stores across Texas and in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, N.C., and Oklahoma City, OK. Since its founding in 1999, the company has sold more than 75 million chocolate chip cookies, selling more of this classic flavor each year than any of its other 10 cookie flavors (with snickerdoodle currently in second place).

Tiffs Treats founders Tiffany and Leon Chen signed a book publishing deal with Harper Horizon earlier this year to tell the unlikely story of how they took the business from $20 and a college apartment kitchen to a rapidly growing brand with millions of customers and $85 million in funding. The book will be available in 2022 and will include homemade versions of some of their favorite cookie recipes.

About Tiffs Treats

In 1999, Tiffany Taylor accidentally stood up Leon Chen for a date. As an apology, she baked and delivered a batch of warm cookies, and the concept of warm cookie delivery was born. Tiff and Leon, just 19-year-old sophomores at The University of Texas at Austin at the time, opened Tiffs Treats with $20, a cell phone and a dream. Since then, the business has grown to 65 stores in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Oklahoma, with more than 1,500 employees, baking more than 200 million cookies since the company started. The founders are now married and the business continues to grow, but Tiffs Treats has the same core mission: creating memorable moments with treats baked to order and delivered warm. Customers can order online, with the Tiffs Treats app or by phone, all supported by industry-leading technology and top-notch customer service. The charitably-minded company continually gives back with hundreds of thousands of cookies per year donated to nonprofit organizations and most store opening celebrations benefiting a local charity. To date, Tiffs Treats has donated well over $1 million in products and funds to charitable organizations. To learn more, please visit https://www.cookiedelivery.com.
TRX Systems In-Building Coverage and Analysis System (ICAS)

TRX Systems, developer of NEON Indoor Location Solutions, announced today that it has been awarded a Phase II research contract by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, administered by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), to deliver an In-Building Coverage and Analysis System (ICAS).

The TRX ICAS solution enables individual first responders to conveniently characterize the LMR and LTE coverage inside buildings using their own LMR radios and FirstNet LTE mobile devices. Through an easy-to-use phone interface and intuitive 3D signal map visualization, the TRX ICAS solution will quickly inform public safety users about wireless coverage gaps within individual buildings, including all critical infrastructure and other large public buildings across a first responders total service area. With advanced knowledge of potential communications issues, first responders can take appropriate actions to maintain situational awareness and ensure their personal safety during operations.

DHS awarded TRX the SBIR Phase II funding to address specific homeland security technology needs and fill large gaps in first responder technology. The SBIR program is focused on near-term commercialization and delivery of operational prototypes to federal, state, and local emergency responders as well as internal DHS entities.

In Phase I of this program, TRX validated the feasibility of ICAS objectives by integrating with first responder radios and FirstNet LTE devices, mapping network service coverage in three representative buildings, storing the resultant signal maps in the cloud, and producing simultaneous, side-by-side visualization of LMR and FirstNet service signal maps. During Phase II, TRX will expand and harden Phase I capabilities to successfully operate the ICAS solution at scale across the public safety community. Key Phase II objectives include simplifying the process of collecting and updating coverage data, delivering coverage maps and alerts directly to user devices, providing aggregated visualizations of buildings across an Area of Responsibility (AoR), and conducting extended field testing with selected fire departments to verify system performance and validate usability.

First responders rely on their LMR radios and FirstNet LTE devices to maintain situational awareness and ensure their personal safety, said Jeff Kunst, Vice President of Product at TRX Systems. Phase II of this DHS S&T award will keep first responders safer by enabling access to up-to-date and easily understood wireless coverage maps prior to entering a building, giving them advance knowledge of where they will have reliable communications and, most importantly, allowing them to avoid areas where they are likely to lose contact.

About TRX Systems

TRX Systems is the developer of NEON GPS-denied location solutions, delivering location, mapping, and proximity solutions where GPS is not available or is unreliable including indoors, underground, in dense urban areas, and where GPS is jammed or erroneous. NEON delivers ubiquitous, low-cost, GPS-denied location through the use of advanced sensor fusion, ranging, and patented dynamic mapping algorithms. NEON location technology provides the foundation for a number of commercial applications, including NEON Personnel Tracker and NEON Signal Mapper.

TRX's indoor location software development has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Army, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). For more information, visit http://www.trxsystems.com.
Fine and Ultrafine Air Pollution sensor The negative consequences to health from aerosol pollution consisting of particles smaller than 300nm are beginning to be more widely recognized. However, the technology for detecting those particulates is still expensive and not widely available. AirSpeQs mission is to change that.

Aerodyne Microsystems Inc dba AirSpeQ, a fine and ultrafine air pollution sensor company based out of Berkeley, California is excited to announce that it has been granted two additional patents for its innovative thin film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) based particulate matter (PM) air pollution mass sensors.

US patents 10,921,224 and 11,047,777 are the second set of two patents granted to the company. The company has three more patents pending.

Patent 10,921,224 is a system for detecting and analyzing particles in an air stream includes an inlet, a particle concentrator and a particle discriminator having an air channel with a cross-sectional geometry that changes within at least one of the inlet, particle concentrator and particle discriminator. The system may have a sheath air stage including a port for providing sample air, at least one sheath air inlet port for providing sheath air, and a sheath air combining region. The system may include an airflow compression stage having a varying air channel that narrows as the air stream traverses the airflow compression stage to pre-concentrate particles within an interior region of the air stream. The system may include an airflow expansion stage having an air channel that widens to slow the airstream and particle velocities. A portion of the air channel height may be narrowed to allow 1 larger thermophoretic force to be generated.

US Patent 11,047,777 is a system for concentrating particles in an air stream that includes an air channel having a first open end and a second open end. The air channel may be enclosed by a channel wall extending from at least the first open to the second open end. Two or more heater elements may be positioned between the first open end the and second open end. The heater elements may be positioned near a periphery of the air channel and cooperatively configured to force particles in the air stream away from the periphery and towards an interior region of the air channel. Particles in the air stream may be thermophoretically forced towards the interior region of the air channel when the heater elements are heated and thermal gradients emanating from the heater elements are generated.

AirSpeQs National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant supplemental Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) funding supported office actions that resulted in the granting of these two patents. NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering, said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.

AirSpeQ has won industry accolades including the NASA Earth Space Air Prize, the Top 100 Red Herring companies in North America, the Edison Award in 2020 and the Talents Taipei 2020 competition. David Woolsey, Chief Technology Officer and named inventor noted: The negative consequences to health from aerosol pollution consisting of particles smaller than 300nm are beginning to be more widely recognized. However, the technology for detecting those particulates is still expensive and not widely available. AirSpeQs mission is to change that.

About Aerodyne Microsystems Inc, dba AirSpeQ: AirSpeQ was founded at the end of 2015 and began operations early 2016. AirSpeQ is committed to protecting human health and the planet with its affordable high-quality fine and ultrafine air pollution sensors. Based on patented Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) and film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology, it leverages over twelve years of research and development at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The company has received funding from NASA, NIH and NSF. For more information visit http://www.airspeq.com or watch a short introductory video at https://www.airspeq.com/intro-video
Sepulvado (left) and Hubert Since 1984, Crowley has provided more than $3 million in scholarship funding for more than 1,000 students.

Crowley Maritime Corp. has awarded Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarships to Mavry Sepulvado and Andrew Hubert of the Texas A&M University Maritime Academy. The recipients earned the scholarships based on their academic performance, cadet shipping experience and interest in pursuing a career at sea.

Sepulvado, a senior from New Caney, Texas, is pursuing a degree in marine transportation. He is a first-generation college student and serves as treasurer for the Triathlon Club. Sepulvado served his sea term aboard the Crowley-managed tanker Golden State. After graduation, Sepulvado hopes to become a captain and pursue a career at sea.

Hubert, from Milwaukee, Wis., is a freshman marine transportation student. Prior to attending Texas A&M Universitys Maritime Academy, Hubert served in the U.S. Navy as a sonar technician. During his sea term, Hubert served aboard the Crowley-managed tanker American Freedom. After graduation, he plans to pursue a career at sea.

Since 1984, Crowley has provided more than $3 million in scholarship funding for more than 1,000 students. The company has also donated more than $2 million over the years to support other educational programs. In 1994, Chairman and CEO Tom Crowley Jr. established the Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship Program in honor of his father who led the company to extraordinary heights before passing away in 1994. The company continues to give scholarship dollars to deserving students in the U.S., Alaska and Puerto Rico. In 2006, the program was expanded to Central America, and to date has provided financial assistance to more than 20 students in that region. To learn more about the Crowley scholarship program, visit http://www.crowley.com/scholarship.

About Crowley

Crowley Maritime Corporation is a privately held, U.S.-owned and -operated maritime, energy and logistics solutions company serving commercial and government sectors with more than $2.5 billion in annual revenues, over 160 vessels mostly in the Jones Act fleet and approximately 6,300 employees around the world  employing more U.S. mariners than any other company. The Crowley enterprise has invested more than $3 billion in maritime transport, which is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. As a global ship owner-operator and services provider with nearly 130 years of innovation and a commitment to sustainability, the company serves customers in 35 countries and island territories through four business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions and Crowley Fuels. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com.
James P. Foshee, M.D.

U.S Dermatology Partners is pleased to welcome Board-Certified Dermatologist & Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeon Dr. James Foshee to their Sun City West, Peoria, and Phoenix Tatum locations.

Dr. James Foshee is a Board-Certified dermatologist and Fellowship-trained Mohs micrographic and reconstructive surgeon who specializes in the treatment of skin cancer.

Dr. James P. Foshee grew up in North Phoenix and received his B.S. in physiology from the University of Arizona. He earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed an internship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital before returning to the University of Arizona for his dermatology residency. After residency, he received further fellowship training in Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology, as well as lasers and cosmetic procedures at the Center for Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis.

He is a member of the American College of Mohs Surgery, and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, with special clinical interests in surgical and non-surgical treatment of skin cancer, cancer reconstruction, transplant dermatology, lasers, and scar treatment.

He is an avid Arizona Wildcats fan and enjoys cooking and spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Dr. Foshee will treat patients at our Sun City West, Peoria 91st, and Phoenix Tatum offices and is now accepting new patients. Contact our office today to request an appointment.

About U.S. Dermatology Partners

As one of the largest dermatology practices in the country, U.S. Dermatology Partners patients not only have access to general medical, surgical, and cosmetic skin treatments through its coordinated care network but also benefit from the practices strong dermatology subspecialty thought leaders and medical advisory board. To be the best partner to its patients, U.S. Dermatology Partners is fervently focused on providing the highest level of patient-first care, and its team, therefore, includes recognized national leaders in areas such as clinical research, psoriasis, and Mohs Surgery. To learn more, visit usdermatologypartners.com.
I am honored to be serving as the next Youth Observer and advocating for an institution that ensures this generation and the next are living in a world in which we have an equitable chance to survive and thrive."

The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) announced today that Ms. Cynthia Yue, a Tennessee native and rising senior at the George Washington University, has been selected as the 2021-2022 UNA-USA Youth Observer to the United Nations. In this role, Yue will engage young Americans in the work of the United Nations and amplify their voices at UN events during her one-year term.

I am honored to be serving as the next Youth Observer and advocating for an institution that ensures this generation and the next are living in a world in which we have an equitable chance to survive and thrive, Yue said. I plan to use my voice to serve as a champion for unity and diversity at all levels, to empower young people to speak out about the issues they care about, and to bridge the gap between the UN and our nations youth for a brighter tomorrow.

Yue brings nearly seven years of experience as a volunteer leader at UNICEF USA and serves on their National Council. Yue has witnessed firsthand the UNs lifesaving work across the world, and how women and children are often disproportionately affected by global challenges like COVID-19, climate change, and poverty.

Cynthia begins her tenure as Youth Observer at a unique timeas the world continues to fight and recover from a global pandemic, said Rachel Bowen Pittman, Executive Director of UNA-USA. Youth involvement is critical to building a better global future and we are excited for Cynthia to use this platform to connect with young Americans and represent their voices on the world stage.

UNA-USAs Youth Observer to the UN program began in 2012. Yue succeeds Mr. Dustin Liu, who recently received his Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Learn more about UNA-USAs Youth Observer program, and follow Cynthia as she begins her term as the UNA-USA Youth Observer on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA):

The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) is a grassroots movement of Americans who support the vital work of the United Nations in U.S. communities, colleges, and Congress. For more than 75 years, UNA-USA and its national network of 20,000 members and 200 chapters have promoted strong U.S. leadership at the UN through advocacy campaigns, youth engagement, outreach programs, and public events.

###

MEDIA CONTACT:

Gillian Wilson | gwilson@unfoundation.org
For families across the nation, the prospect of gaining the upper hand on money matters can be daunting, and the pandemic has only exacerbated financial anxieties. At the height of the Covid-19 crisis, business entrepreneur and ministry leader Charles Todd embraced an opportunity to address common concerns about managing money by sharing lessons from the Bible.

Angela Todd, Charles Todds wife and coauthor of the Money Mike & the Gang childrens books, describes the moment that inspired the seriesa moment when her husband received a request from a higher power. Charles was sitting outside on the patio, Angela Todd says, when he felt a question arise in his spirit that asked, Would you teach my church about finances? He laughed at the thought and said, Im not qualified, and then tried to reason with the Lord, saying, Why me? and No way!

Charles put the matter out of his mind, but the next day, a church leader approached him to ask if he would consider teaching courses on financial freedom. He and Angela Todd laughed at Gods sense of humor and recognized the immediate opportunity. So the challenge began, Angela Todd says. Charles dove into prayer and helped create a curriculum to teach biblical finances to the body of Christ.

Part of the reason why Charles Todd didnt necessarily feel qualified to talk about money matters was that he and Angela once lost everything. We were bankrupt, broke, had no income, no hope, and were way over our heads in bad debt, Angela Todd says. We moved into the basement of my parents home to survive, which led to divorce.

But the Todds realized their struggle gave them the authority needed to talk about money challenges. The revelation was, wow, we have a testimony, says Angela Todd. And if we can help people avoid making the same mistakes, well, then, now we really have something!

Charles Todd didnt expect to have so much fun creating the curriculum. As he prepared for the courses, he came up with the idea of having lively cartoon characters teach kids and their parents about biblical financial prosperity. With Angela Todds input and support, Money Mike, Charless alter ego in the form of a money tree; Saving Sam, a full piggy bank; Loan Shark, the bad guy with fangs and a briefcase; and Giving Grace, a sassy gift box with a pink bow, were born.

Chock-full of helpful financial terms, appealing illustrations, simple steps, and scripture, the Money Mike books make it easy for families to learn about managing money. Money Is Easy is the first of four planned books. Next up are Giving Is Easy, starring Giving Grace; Saving Is Easy, starring Saving Sam; and Say No to Debt!, starring the Loan Shark.

The Todds knew their idea was unique. Even the most faithful of families might not think to look to the Bible for financial guidance. But the Bible has much to say about how to give, save, and invest finances, Angela Todd says. Other important topics in the Bible are debt, having the right relationship with money, and how we should be prospering to be a blessing to our childrens children. Gods word is designed to bring life into anything it is applied to.

The Todds also want to shed light on a topic that is often shied away from. Many churches like to skip over talking about money altogether, so as not to seem like they are trying to get peoples money, Angela Todd says. But this is actually robbing God of blessing his people with true prosperity.

The Todds hope to help others avoid the devastating cycles of debt and poverty they went through. Society preaches go to school, get an education, but go into debt doing it, then intern, then work years and years to pay off your debts, Angela Todd says. That is a nutty merry-go-round. And millions have been sucked in.

At the heart of the Money Mike brand is the partnership between Angela and Charles. The pair have worked together in business and ministry for more than 22 years. And while Charles Todd may be the voice of Money Mike, he credits his wife with giving the brand its magic. Im the basic nuts and bolts and Angela is the whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherry on the top that makes it so much more enjoyable to get down! Charles Todd says. Im relying on God and Angela.

More information can be found at moneymikeandthegang.com.
More than 2,500 authors have put their names to a letter in London's Sunday Times as part of the Save Our Books campaign, launched in an effort to maintain the U.K.'s "copyright exhaustion" principle. The paper also ran a news story about the campaign.

Exhaustion of copyright refers to an author's sellingor licensing of a publisher to sellcopies of their book in designated markets. It is feared that the British government will approve a relaxation of the territorial component of copyright, enabling editions meant for markets beyond Europe to be sold in the European Economic Area, including the U.K.

Signatories to the letter include Kazuo Ishiguro, Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, Philip Pullman, Cressida Cowell, David Nicholls, Adam Kay, Reni Eddo-Lodge, and Sophie Kinsella, among others. The letter states: "Weakening the U.K.'s copyright laws would impair our ability to earn an income which would have a devastating impact on this country's vibrant, world-renowned book industry. If writing becomes a profession only accessible to the wealthy, important stories will not be told."

Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association, said: "This letter is a clear and urgent call from authors to avoid an outcome that weakens our copyright laws. Britain is a world leader in publishing and currently exports more books than any other country in the world. The wrong outcome would jeopardize the whole books industry and vandalize the U.K.'s cultural landscape. It would mean fewer books, by fewer authors, for fewer readers. We urge the government to Save Our Books."

Among the other signatories are Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Val McDermid, William Boyd, Paula Hawkins, Alice Oseman, India Knight, Hallie Rubenhold, Tim Peake, Naomi Ishiguro, Prue Leith, Carol Ann Duffy, Peter James, and Nikesh Shukla.

Save Our Books is an initiative of the U.K.'s Publishers Association with the Society of Authors, the Association of Authors' Agents, and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society.

A version of this story initially ran in BookBrunch.
Rolls-Royce has conducted research and development for its jet engine components in the 55,000-square-foot Purdue Technology Center Aerospace since 2017. Rolls-Royce, Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation are investing to further expand Rolls-Royces facilities in the Purdue Aerospace District. (Photo by American Structurepoint Inc.)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Aerospace engine manufacturing giant Rolls-Royce will expand its already large footprint at Purdue, thanks to a new commitment among the university, the Purdue Research Foundation and the company.

The enhanced partnership, announced Monday (Aug. 2), calls for Rolls-Royce to further expand its facilities in the Purdue Aerospace District, which is adjacent to the university. The new test facilities will be used to develop high-altitude and hybrid-electric engines to power the next generation of U.S. military aircraft. Rolls-Royce West Lafayette will be developed through a multimillion-dollar investment from the research foundation, Purdue University and Rolls-Royce North America.

The partnership is a major win for the national security and technology pillar of Purdues Next Moves, announced by President Mitch Daniels and Purdue trustees in April.

Purdue is delivering new, one-of-a-kind facilities that are national assets and will further differentiate the university as a state and national leader in securing and defending our country, Daniels said. With this vital partnership and support from our good friends at Rolls-Royce and others, we continue to expand our role as the economic engine for this region of Indiana and beyond.

Rolls-Royce already has facilities focusing on digital engine controls and conducts advanced technology engine research at Purdue's Zucrow Laboratories in the district. Its part of a longstanding partnership between the company and university spanning several decades of conducting aerospace research. The company also employs hundreds of Purdue engineers.

The facility will enable Rolls-Royce North America to continue its legacy of providing full-service advanced design, development, production and aftermarket support of world-leading propulsion solutions.

Tom Bell, chairman and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America, said, Rolls-Royce has a proud history of supporting our U.S. military and commercial customers, and this new significant investment will continue to grow our capability to serve our customers. This reflects yet another major investment in Indiana, and we are also planning significant upgrades to test facilities at our Indianapolis manufacturing campus, which has benefited from a recently completed $600 million modernization program to grow advanced manufacturing and technology capability. We thank both local and state governments for their ongoing support.

Mung Chiang, Purdues executive vice president for strategic initiatives and the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, said testing to be conducted by Rolls-Royce will substantially advance national security.

"Todays announcement is pivotal for two reasons," Chiang said. "It represents the largest single economic development success to our neighborhood with Rolls-Royce colleagues and the largest research collaboration with a private-sector partner. It also advances the excellence at scale by Purdue in creating the epicenter of aerospace engineering R&D in the U.S."

Theresa Mayer, Purdue University executive vice president for research and partnerships, said, We look forward to having deeper engagement with Rolls-Royce as part of Purdues rapidly growing defense research and technology ecosystem. The researchers working in these facilities will be able to leverage the deep expertise of our faculty and staff, as well as our new and existing facilities for research, design, testing and evaluation.

Brian Edelman, Purdue Research Foundation president, said the investment fits PRF's goal to advance the mission of Purdue University.

"The foundation supports President Daniels' vision to establish the university as a leader among institutes of higher education in the realm of national security," Edelman said. "The investment to expand Rolls-Royce's presence in the Purdue Aerospace District is a strategic one that will make the vision become a reality, and lead to more actions in the same initiative. The generous support from Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Commerce, West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County provides another example of the strong ecosystem we are building with community, university and corporate partners.

Writer: Steve Martin, 765-430-5150, sgmartin@prf.org

Sources: Brian Edelman

Mung Chiang

Mitch Daniels

Theresa Mayer
The "March for Justice" will be Aug. 21 at the Riehle Plaza in Lafayette. The event starts at 10 a.m. and will go until 8 p.m.
Rolls-Royce has conducted research on its jet engine components in West Lafayette since 2017.
Gov. Cuomo announced Monday that MTA and Port Authority employees working in New York facilities will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested weekly starting Labor Day.
Bohemia Media is a London based production and distribution company representing film, TV, performance and theatre arts. Launched by Phil Hunt, managing director of Bankside Films and Head Gear Films, it focuses on projects made by under-represented groups and the deal includes UK film, TV and theatrical rights. Bohemia is planning a UK limited window release later this year; it will then be available for Netflix and other SVOD platforms, in addition to Bohemia Euphoria, the recently launched SVOD platform.

When We Speak tells the story of three women at the centre of high-profile exposes, revealing what drove them to speak out and the fallout it had on their lives. The film features Hollywood actress Rose McGowan, who lifted the lid on Harvey Weinstein, intelligence officer Katharine Gunn (portrayed by Kiera Knightly in the 2019 feature film Official Secrets) who leaked confidential documents relating to the Iraq war and ex Oxfam manager Helen Evans who uncovered the scale of the sex for aid scandal within the charity sector.

Its been such a privilege to tell the stories behind the actions of these hugely courageous women," said Wiser Films founder Tasneem Brooker on the new films. "Were particularly proud of When We Speak as it also shows the breadth of output and ambition we have at Wiser Films. From popular returnable formats that bring true diversity into traditionally homogenous environments to access driven premium feature docs and series, our diverse voices at Wiser Films have many more stories to tell.
Berks places

New Berlinville seen as Boyertown suburb
One day last week I made a startling discovery as I was walking through my neighborhood in Kalispell, Mont. For some reason, an extraordinary number of houses were flying the U.S. flag on their front porches.

This was several weeks after the Fourth of July and more than two months after Flag Day, but lets face it: Even in heartland Montana, flying the flag is an increasing rarity, holiday or not. Yet, as I walked a two- or three-block radius from my home, I kept noticing the Stars and Stripes saluting me.

Coincidentally, I was just putting the final touches on my new book, What Matters Most: God, Country, Family and Friends, and it seemed like maybe God was trying to tell me something about the character of our country. What was it about that flag that was cherished by so many residents of a small town in the Mountain West, and what was it about the American spirit that made Old Glory the proper symbol for our time?

It got me thinking. I remembered how on July 6 when I had gone out to remove the flag from my own porch after the holiday weekend, I noticed a flag was still flying on a home about a block away. That inspired me to keep my own flag up as well. After all, our country seems to be in need of inspiration more than ever. With so many athletes, celebrities, and politicians ripping down our national traditions, smack-talking our national heroes and questioning our values, it seemed like the least I could do.

I wasnt alone. In dozens of homes in my neighborhood the decision had been made to make a statement with the red, white and blue. Was it a movement? Was there a meme or a hashtag that had encouraged my neighbors to #FlyYourFlag or to be #FlagProud?

None that I could find. I did a Google search and discovered that there was no evidence of an organized patriotic movement to promote flag flying. Instead, it seemed entirely spontaneous. I decided to knock on doors to see what had motivated some of my neighbors to keep their flags flying instead of packing them away in shame, like so many of their fellow Americans who had been told that America was a racist, evil country with no redeeming value.

One young homeowner who asked to be identified as Mrs. Wood spoke for me and probably millions of others:

With all the craziness going on, we think its important to remember the fundamentals, she said. People are trying to change a lot in our country all at once, and people need to remember what really matters.

Boom! I promise I didnt pay her to practically quote the title of my new book , but it was assurance that my premise was correct. God, country, family and friends  those are the fundamentals that anchor our lives, and when the winds of change shift, it is to those fundamentals that we cling, not bitterly, as President Obama suggested in a famous quote, but proudly and confidently.

Mrs. Wood spoke of the veterans in her family who had served under the flag, and noted, Nowadays they dont get the respect they deserve. It made me think of Francis Scott Keys War of 1812 paean to the durability of both our republic and our flag. No matter how perilous the fight, no matter how violent the assault, O say can you see  that our flag was still there.

Down the street, I talked to another neighbor who was flying not just the American flag, but also a Trump 2020 flag. When asked why he was flying the banners in tandem, he said that for him they represented the same thing: Freedom, America, our rights, what the country used to be for years, and what President Trump wanted to continue.

For us, it represents a rebellion in a way, against the transformation of the country my neighbor sees happening in the Biden administration, he added. We still believe in our liberties. Montana is a conservative state. You still have more rights here, hunting, fishing, guns, but that could change.

As for the Trump flag? Thats us giving our middle finger to the Democrat socialists.

In a sense, thats what I suspect the motivation is for many of us flying our U.S. flags, too. Its not that everyday Democrats dont love the country, but they are in thrall to an ideology that is willing to sacrifice everything uniquely American and replace it with a self-loathing counterfeit orthodoxy that would rob us of our ingenuity, our character and our exceptionalism. Most of us dont want to fight, certainly not with guns, but we know that if we dont fight back at all, we will be absorbed and erased and canceled.

In a word, the flag stands for freedom. Its against the racist indoctrination of critical race theory. Its against mask mandates without science. Its against restrictions on religion. Its against open borders. Its against rewriting history. Its against murder in our cities and criminals given free rein. Its against rigged elections. Its against censorship. In short, its against what our Founding Fathers called tyranny.

So, if there isnt a movement to #FlyYourFlag, maybe it is time to start one. Maybe it will start in a small neighborhood of hard-working Americans in Northwest Montana. Id like to think so.

Conservative icon Steve Bannon, the host of War Room, likes to say that courage is contagious. With any luck, maybe patriotism is too.
Chris Young has announced a new North American fall tour in support of his upcoming album, Famous Friends.

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The Famous Friends tour will kick off Oct. 21 at the First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock, Ark., before wrapping up on Dec. 5 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Young will be joined by Mitchell Tenpenny and Callista Clark on the tour.

Tickets go on sale for the general public starting on Friday.

Young will release Famous Friends on Aug. 6. The country star last released the album Losing Sleep in 2017.

Here is the full list of dates for Chris Young 's Famous Friends tour

Oct. 21 -- Little Rock, Ark., at First Security Amphitheater

Oct. 22 -- New Braunfels, Texas, at Whitewater Amphitheater

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Oct. 23 -- Grand Prairie, Texas, at Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie

Nov. 4 -- Rapid City, S.D., at Summit Arena at The Monument

Nov. 5 -- Rochester, Minn., at Mayo Civic Center Arena

Nov. 6 -- Bemidji, Minn., at Sanford Center

Nov. 11 -- Sugar Land, Texas, at Smart Financial Centre

Nov. 12 -- Baton Rouge, La., at Raising Cane's River Center

Nov. 13 -- Corpus Christi, Texas, at Concrete Street Amphitheater

Nov. 18 -- Green Bay, Wis., at Resch Center

Nov. 19 -- Coralville, Iowa, at Xtream Arena

Nov. 20 -- Dekalb, Ill., at Northern Illinois University

Dec. 5 -- Uncasville, Conn., at Mohegan Sun Arena
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 80F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Greenville, NC (27833)

Today

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Greenville, NC (27833)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 87F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Vidant to require COVID-19 vaccine for all employees: 'We cannot take off any of the control measures at this time,' official says
Brattleboro swimmers compete in their first home meet, an inter-squad competition, at Living Memorial Park, in Brattleboro, Vt., on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. The other meets have been canceled because of weather and then the other two teams pulled out because of growing COVID-19 numbers.
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Judy Fox is a volunteer with the Berkshire chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. Mark Reynolds is the executive director of Citizens Climate Lobby . The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of

the Brattleboro Reformer.
Archie "Charlie" Green, 90, of Coal City, passed away, Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Funeral Services will be held 2:00PM Sunday, August 8, 2021 at Blue Ridge Funeral Home, Beckley. He will be laid to rest at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens. Friends may gather with the family from 12:00PM until tim
BOZALAN, Turkey (AP)  Selcuk Sanli set his two cows loose, put his familys most treasured belongings in a car and fled his home as a wildfire approached his village near Turkey's beach resort of Bodrum, one of thousands fleeing flames that have coated the skies with a thick yellow haze.

For the sixth straight day, Turkish firefighters battled Monday to control the blazes that are tearing through forests near Turkeys beach destinations. Fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures, the fires that began Wednesday have left eight people dead. Residents and tourists have fled vacation resorts in flotillas of small boats or convoys of cars and trucks. Many villagers have lost their homes and farm animals and have had trouble breathing amid the heavy smoke.

Overall, some 10,000 people have been evacuated in Mugla province alone, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday.

Sanli returned to check on his house Monday in Bozalan only to find that the fire had flared.

Property is an important part of life but life itself comes first, he said as he prepared to leave once again.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Twitter that crews were still tackling nine fires in the coastal provinces of Antalya and Mugla that are popular tourist areas. Other active fires were in the provinces of Isparta, Denizli, Izmir and Adana.

Another fire in Tunceli, in southeast Turkey, was contained on Monday, the minister said earlier. In all, 137 fires that broke out in over 30 provinces since Wednesday have been extinguished.

We are going through days when the heat is above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), where the winds are strong and humidity is extremely low, Pakdemirli said. We are struggling under such difficult conditions.

In Bozalan, Esra Sanli sobbed as she pointed at a fire raging near the village.

Theres no plane, theres no helicopter, theres no roads. How is this going to be extinguished? How?" she said.

Firetrucks, with their sirens on, drove toward Bozalan, while villagers were seen herding cows away from the area.

On Sunday, residents were forced to evacuate the nearby village of Cokertme as flames neared. Some got on small boats and others left by cars as the fire got closer and closer  scenes that Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the nearby resort of Bodrum, described as hell. Precautions were taken to protect two nearby thermal power plants.

An evacuation order was also issued for the town of Turunc, near the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla province. People carrying suitcases fled on small boats.

Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday that some tourists were able to return to their hotels after the threat dissipated.

The EU said it helped mobilize firefighting planes from Croatia and Spain to help Turkey. Planes from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have also been fighting the blazes. Spain said it was sending two water-dumping aircraft and one transport plane as well as 27 soldiers to help.

The EU announcement followed allegations that the Turkish government was compromising firefighting efforts by refusing help from Western nations. Pakdemirli refuted that, saying that the government had only refused offers for planes whose water-dumping capacities were less than five tons. A total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were tackling the fires, he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government has also been widely criticized for failing to purchase state-of-the-art firefighting planes.

In Marmaris, Mayor Mehmet Oktay said fires were still burning in two locations and estimated that 11,000 hectares (28,000 acres) of forest had been incinerated. On Monday, a fire reached the edge of the village of Hisaronu, burning a number of homes and descending down a mountainside toward a road as police evacuated ambulance crews and journalists.

Our lungs have been burning for the past five days, Oktay told Haberturk television.

The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said at least 27 people affected by the fires were still being treated in hospitals while hundreds of others had been treated and released.

Soylu, the interior minister, said authorities were investigating the cause of the fires, including human carelessness and possible sabotage by outlawed Kurdish militants. He said one person was detained over allegations that he may have been paid by the group to start a fire.

Experts, however, mostly point to climate change as being behind the fires, along with accidents caused by people. Erdogan has said one of the fires was started by children.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece, where people had to be evacuated by sea to escape the flames.

__

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Ayse Wieting in Istanbul and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed.

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Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Gov. Gavin Newsom has a simple way to beat back the recall election that could force him out of his job: Get Democrats to vote.

But it may not be as easy as it sounds. Democratic registration almost doubles that of Republicans in the state, but party leaders are alarmed because Republicans appear more eager to vote, which is backed up by polling. Some Democrats might not be paying attention because they are convinced Newsom is headed toward an easy victory.

The kind of voter Newsom needs to connect with is 37-year-old barber Dwayne Speed of Sacramento, who is a registered Democrat but has been thinking about switching to independent. He felt Newsom pushed his own personal agenda during the pandemic. But he isnt convinced by recall supporters either and hasn't decided how he will vote.

I want to know every single basis that theyre trying to recall him on, Speed said. Nobodys going to have a job and do it 100% perfectly.

Interviews with about 20 voters across Sacramento, Fresno and Los Angeles reveal the challenges Newsom faces just two weeks before ballots start arriving in voters' mailboxes ahead of the Sept. 14 contest. While a handful of voters had decisive plans to vote for Newsom, many were aware of the recall but hadn't yet formed an opinion, did not know when the election was scheduled, or were lukewarm on Newsom.

Among Newsoms challenges: Voters arent used to elections in odd-numbered years, and certainly not in September. Many voters have turned away from television platforms that carry ads, and resurgent coronavirus rates could make people unwilling to answer a knock at the door from a campaign worker. But every voter will get a ballot in the mail, giving them an easy opportunity to participate.

The recall effort was launched by novice Republican activists last year before the pandemic took hold, and they successfully gathered more than the 1.5 million signatures required by state law to place it on the ballot. Their effort was initially seen as a long shot that drew little attention. But signatures spiked after Newsom was caught dining out at the high-end French Laundry restaurant in Northern California for a birthday party while urging people to stay home and avoid gatherings.

In Los Angeles, 24-year-old Nick Yi, a registered independent who is between jobs, said he hasnt been paying much attention to the recall, in part because he has been staying away from news to avoid accounts of Asian hate crimes, which he finds upsetting.

He expects to vote and tends to lean Democratic. But he doesnt have a strong impression of Newsom, calling him someone who is passionate and Republicans dont like.

As Newsom's team looks to engage voters like Yi, they are spending significant time branding the effort as a partisan contest. The majority of his TV ads have made a case against the recall rather than one for Newsom, branding it as a Republican power grab."

One ad shows video of people storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. In another, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tells voters we've seen Trump Republicans across the country attacking election results and the right to vote. Now they're coming to grab power in California."

Democrats are openly sounding the alarm. Juan Rodriguez, campaign manager of the anti-recall effort, told The Associated Press he is very concerned" about turnout. In an interview with editorial boards for McClatchys California newspapers, Newsom warned that the recall would have profound consequences" heading into the 2022 midterm elections. The campaign has already sent 14 million text messages to voters, and Rodriguez said enthusiasm is increasing as Democrats learn more about the race.

Three months ago, Myra Coble of Fresno was a Democrat who was convinced Newsom couldn't be recalled. Now she's a volunteer with the county party trying to convince other Democrats not to rest on that assumption.

Our fear is that in this election, Republicans will turn out and Democrats will be complacent because they think it cant happen, she said.

Democratic President Joe Biden won Fresno County with 53% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election. Though Fresno and other counties in the Central Valley are home to fewer voters than population power centers like San Diego and Los Angeles, Newsom has touted his commitment to the region throughout his governorship and traveled there regularly.

But his message doesn't always break through. Curtis Selland and Leslie Pugsley are two Fresno County Democrats who will vote to keep Newsom but aren't his biggest fans.

Pugsley, 57, applauded the job Newsom did during the early months of coronavirus when he acted quickly to shut down schools and businesses. But she thinks he comes off as a snooty San Francisco liberal who isnt genuine.

On the opposite end, Christina Grout, 37, is a Democrat and mother of two from Sacramento who is excited to support Newsom.

A disability justice advocate, she pays close attention to state politics and appreciated Newsom's handling of the pandemic. If anything, she would have liked to see him be more aggressive by keeping the state's mask mandate in place longer. The state dropped its mandate for vaccinated people on June 15. But on Wednesday, state officials began recommending people wear masks indoors again.

I feel proud to be a Californian, Grout said.

Los Angeles County, meanwhile, could present Newsom's biggest challenge. It is home to more than 3 million Democrats and is a place where statewide elections can be won or lost. But voters often shrug at politics and can be especially difficult to get to the polls, even during a routine November election.

Outside a local library, independent Jonathan Montes, 22, said he plans to vote but is undecided about Newsom. He is troubled by climbing rents and the unchecked spread of homelessness - people could be seen slumped in doorways nearby, or splayed beneath trees.

Hes going to give Newsom a close look before making a decision, but at this point I would like to see someone else, Montes said. Newsom hasnt lived up to expectations.

___

Blood reported from Los Angeles.
NEW LONDON  The acres of concrete and asphalt covering downtown had begun to weigh on the leaders of this old port city by the end of the last decade.

Every time it rained hard, water would run off those hard surfaces and overwhelm the citys outdated stormwater system before flowing down toward the busy riverfront and onto Bank Street.

We lived with flooding on Bank Street for years, Mayor Michael Passero said.

The problem became so persistent that by 2018 Passero and other city officials turned to a decade-old pilot program allowing New London and three other coastal cities to establish their own stormwater authorities for the first time. Within a year, New Londons authority was raking in more than $1 million from property fees on impervious surfaces, which it used to replace three large water pumps dating to the 1970s. Now downtown streets rarely flood, officials say.

Its been one of the greatest successes Ive seen in municipal government, Passero said. Its just been remarkably successful.

Mounting concerns over sea level rise led lawmakers this year to expand the stormwater pilot program statewide as part of a wider effort to combat coastal flooding. But poor participation in the program and opposition to new fees on property owners could portend challenges for shoreline towns seeking to follow New Londons lead.

In Guilford, where Gov. Ned Lamont recently signed the coastal-resiliency bill in a floodplain, First Selectman Matthew Hoey said the town has not aggressively considered establishing an authority, adding that doing so would force new fees on a large number of properties in the town.

We are very much concerned that this would be another user fee or tax that would impact everyone, Hoey said.

Leaders in other shoreline towns, including Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, said they had not begun any conversations about establishing their own stormwater authorities under the new law.

In Madison, First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said the town is reviewing a number of programs established by the legislation, including setting up a stormwater authority.

We are assessing the many different mechanisms available to us to plan for and tackle infrastructure needs in order to make our town more resilient to climate change, Lyons said.

Low participation

While the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection made four towns eligible for the pilot program in 2007, it took more than a decade for New London to become the first to participate. The others, Norwalk, New Haven and Stonington, never followed suit.

Despite the lack of participation in the stormwater pilot program, its expansion to all cities and towns was a priority issue, for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities this year, according to the groups lobbyist, Randy Collins. New requirements from state and federal regulators have been squeezing municipal stormwater budgets in recent years, Collins said, forcing towns to seek new sources of funding.

If they want to keep their property taxes down, this is a way to do it, Collins said.

Under the new law, the fees levied by municipalities to fund stormwater authorities must be based on the amount of impervious surface on a property, with the owners of large hard-top surfaces such as shopping centers and parking garages paying more due to the amount of runoff they create. Property owners would be able to reduce the amount they owe by implementing certain stormwater mitigation measures.

The bill also requires that municipalities charge a fee on properties typically exempt from paying property taxes, such as non-profits, colleges and state-owned properties. However, the amount that can be paid by hospitals was capped under a previous settlement with the legislature.

Critics of the pilot program labeled the fees a storm tax, leading to opposition among some local elected officials. Officials in New Haven, Norwalk and Stonington did not offer comment on the reasons why those cities declined to participate in the pilot program.

Environmental advocates, meanwhile, hailed the bill as an important component to combat the effects of climate change in Connecticut. Sea levels in Long Island Sound are projected to rise by 20 inches over the next three decades, according to the University of Connecticuts Institute for Resilience and Climate Adoption, leading to more frequent flooding along the coast.

Kelsey Wentling, a river steward for the Connecticut River Conservancy, said that climate change is also likely to overwhelm the ability of existing stormwater systems designed to filter out trash and pollutants, adding to the concerns of environmentalists.

Were anticipating that the frequency and intensity of precipitation and rainfall in the northeast is going to increase, and weve actually seen it increasing in the last three to four decades, Wentling said. As a result, these heavy and intense rainfalls actually lead to an increase in pollution in our rivers and ultimately also the Long Island Sound.

In testimony submitted to lawmakers in March, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes noted that stormwater authorities had become commonplace in other states, with more than 1,800 in operation nationwide. Dykes said municipalities can also use the fees they collect to leverage even more funding through state and federal match programs.

DEEP strongly believes this will also be a valuable tool to ensure an adequate revenue stream to support compliance with federal Clean Water Act requirements and address long-standing stormwater issues in many towns, Dykes wrote.

Big improvements

While Passero recalled that getting approval for New Londons stormwater authority in 2018 was a politically heavy lift, once it was established, city employees quickly got to work implementing the new program.

For Joseph Lanzafame, the citys director of public utilities, that meant working with another employee to map the entire citys layer of impervious cover and establishing a structure to assess fees, which were set at $7.50 per 1,000 square feet of impervious cover. We had a utility from start to finish in about 15 months, Lanzafame said.

In its first full year of operation, the stormwater authority collected nearly $1.3 million in fees, according to city budget documents. That ended what Lanzafame described as chronic funding shortfalls when stormwater management relied on the citys general revenues, and allowed officials to quickly tackle long-running issues such as the flooding on Bank Street.

We have seen in the city big improvements overall in water quality and in water quantity control. Lanzafame said. That really should be the goal for cities to control those two things.

Collins, the lobbyist for CCM, also heaped praise on New Londons efforts, which he called wildly successful, and likely to spark interest among other city leaders.

I would be stunned if no one else took advantage of it, Collins said.
Chelsea Lucas and her fiance, Joseph Adelmann, want to show the world that you dont have to be young and rich to travel the world.

To do that, Lucas, a 28-year-old professional recruiter from Port Carbon, and Adelmann, a 32-year-old engineer from New Jersey, created the Bucket List Beauty lifestyle brand.

We hear people say, Oh, if only I was younger, if only I had more money,  Lucas said. We want to share with people that its easier than they think.

Lucas and Adelmann met in Pottsville in 2015 and quickly discovered a shared passion for travel. Their first trip together was in 2017, when they went to Switzerland, France and England. Since then they have seen Germany, Austria and Egypt, too.

I like the novelty of going to a new area, Adelmann said, learning about a new area. I enjoy learning about the different cultures and seeing some of the differences, some of the similarities and moving on to the next location.

They climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, went paragliding in the Swiss Alps and rode camels in front of the Pyramids of Giza (something they talked about doing on one of their first dates). They document their adventures on the YouTube channel Bucket List Beauty and the Instagram account @bucketlistduo_, which has almost 9,000 followers as of July. The photos say it all. Lucas kisses the Sphinx, holds hands with Adelmann beneath the Eiffel Tower and imitates The Sound of Music in Austria.

She makes a small amount of money from the views on her videos and helps people plan their vacations here and there, but Lucas has bigger plans. She wants to expand the Bucket List Beauty brand and turn it into her primary source of income, hopefully around the time when she and Adelmann marry in 2022.

Who knew there were two types of crepe? Adelmann says in one video as he and Lucas roam the streets of Paris.

At first, Lucas posted makeup and lifestyle content online, hence the Beauty in Bucket List Beauty, but later shifted her focus to visiting the places on her bucket list. Adelmann called the experience invaluable.

In the U.S., he said, we forget that theres a whole world out there with a rich history that dates back very far, farther than the founding of our country.

Travel gives you an opportunity to meet new individuals and cultures that are so different from mine, Lucas said. By traveling and learning these customs and what is happening in their day-to-day lives, makes me connect to my home area of Pottsville.

Lucas and Adelmann were in Egypt in February and March of 2020, mere weeks before the world shut down. At the time, there was a COVID-19 outbreak on a cruise ship in the Nile River. A group of schoolgirls asked to take a picture with Lucas because they had never seen a woman with such light skin and hair before in their lives. They wanted to remember the day they saw a woman with hair like the sun.

Egypt was the biggest culture shock the two had ever experienced, but as the trip went on, Lucas saw similarities to Schuylkill County everywhere she went. Five times a day, Lucas and Adelmann heard the Muslim call to prayer, verses from the Quaran shouted from the minarets of mosques.

Its just identical to church bells in Pottsville, Lucas said, or church bells anywhere.

Bucket List Beauty embraces a philosophy of sociable travel  treating the people you see in foreign countries as friends you just havent met yet, and focusing on similarities rather than differences.

At the end of the day its working people who provide for their family and care for others, she said. Traveling gives you such a great opportunity to learn about other people and learn about yourself.

One week after the European Union reopened its borders, the Bucket List Duos travels continued. They were in Italy from July 9-17 and met a Belgian family in Bellagio who opened their doors to them. Even though the Belgians spoke little English, they talked about life, food and travel. They even served Lucas and Adelmann a late-night dinner of Belgian waffles. The hospitality reminded Lucas of home.

I think in Schuylkill County, its so common to meet someone and immediately feel like theyre family, she said. Theyll welcome you into your home, theyll offer you a meal, theyll take care of you like youre their children.

In a bucolic town in the Swiss Alps, Lucas and Adelmann wandered into a meat shop filled with cheese and sausage. They ordered the kielbasa  and felt like they were back at Kowaloneks in Shenandoah.
Frackville

The Frackville Seniors Citizens group is accepting reservations for a trek to the Windcreek Casino, Bethlehem, scheduled for Aug. 26. The bus will depart from the the senior center at 8:30 a.m. and from Bethlehem for the return trip at 4 p.m. To make reservations, or for more information, call Kathy Kraft at 570-874-3531.

McAdoo

The McAdoo High School alumni groups final homecoming celebration will be held Oct. 3 at Capriottis. The reservation deadline is Sept. 20. Anyone who did not receive an invitation should call Geri at 570-454-4322 or Mary (Dolly) at 570-929-3658.

Pottsville

The Pottsville Salvation Army, 400 Sanderson St., will have a rummage sale from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 14. All are welcome to participate. For more information, call 570-622-5252.

Pottsville

Lets Swing, a dance featuring the M&J Big Band of Pottsville, is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Aug. 6, at the St. Patrick Roman Catholic Parish Center, 313 Mahantongo St. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be available (BYOB). Tickets, at $20 each, are available by calling the parish at 570-622-1802.

Shenandoah

Knights of Columbus Francis Cardinal Brennan Council 618, 201 W. Cherry St., has monthly hoagie sales. Sales are set for 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the following dates: Aug. 17, Sept. 7 and Oct. 12. To order in advance, or for information about pricing and choices, call 570-462-1430 or 570-590-1188. The council also has twice-monthly bingo games with the following dates for the remainder of the year: Aug. 8 and 22, Sept. 12 and 19, Oct. 3 and 17, Nov. 7 and 21 and Dec. 5, all at the council home. Doors open at noon and bingo starts at 2 p.m.; the site is accessible to the handicapped. Call the aforementioned numbers for more information.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN  On a cloudy Sunday afternoon, women, young and old, came to the Walk In Art Center to celebrate National Girlfriends Day.

The center sponsored an event titled The Girlfriend Experience calling it a womens beauty and wellness expo.

The expo featured displays of jewelry, makeup, clothing and baked goods and ice cream, wellness activities, wine tasting and more.

Demonstrations were ongoing throughout the afternoon and included yoga, meditation and workouts all with music by guitarist and vocalist Rebekah Leigh in the background.

Jennifer Mengel, a volunteer at the Walk In Art Center, said VIP packages were sold in advance, entitling the purchaser ways to pamper themselves, including a wine slush from King Cole Winery, a five minute chair massage from The Holistic Healing Spa, a chocolate bundle from C&C Candies, a girlfriend photo shoot by Three Visions Photography and 10 tickets for the Dooney and Bourke raffle and Chinese auction.

Karen Noon, of Ashland, attended the event with her friend, Nanette Del Valle, owner of The White Formal Boutique in Schuylkill Haven.

Noon said women who take the initiative to start their own business despite many having obligations with children and families deserve credit and should be supported in their endeavors.

You have to support the womens businesses in the community, she said. They work hard and they deserve it.

Noon called Sundays event a wonderful time for women to enjoy the company of their friends and commended the Walk In Art Center for hosting it.

Del Valle said she has been in business for 12 years and appreciates the chance not only to spend time with her friend but also to see other women doing the exact thing, being together.

Tamara Soto Cervantes, 17, and her mother, Joan Trosterud, both of Schuylkill Haven, spent time looking at jewelry and just bonding.

I just love spending time with her, Cervantes said. We have fun and just like hanging out together.

Trosterud felt the same way, taking in mother-daughter time.

Its really nice, I get to spend time with my best girlfriend, she said of her daughter.

Marlo Lipko and Kelly Puzzi, both of Orwigsburg, walked through the displays eating ice cream Sunday that was made fresh minutes earlier.

Its a good time out and a good chance for girls to pamper themselves, Puzzi said. Its nice to spend quality time with your friend and support womens businesses while doing it.

Three women from Pine Grove said they saw the event in an advertisement and decided to make the trip to Schuylkill Haven.

Cathy Hartzell, Joanna Laczynski and Barbara Huntzinger live next to each other in a retirement community and spent a lot of time together.

We live three houses in a row and always try and do things together, Laczynski said. Were just three old ladies who look for good things to do.

On Sunday, that good thing was to travel to Schuylkill Haven and enjoy the expo.

Stephanie James, rental manager at the Walk In Art Center, said judging by the amount of VIP bags that were sold in advance and the number of people just walking through the door, the event appears to be a success.

We did in conjunction with National Girlfriends Day and were glad we did, she said. Its something to do on a not so nice Sunday afternoon.
POTTSVILLE  The illustration is something out of an old Western. A daring gang of rough-and-tumble bandits leaps from a bridge onto a helpless canal boat in the middle of the Schuylkill River, prepared to ransack its precious cargo. According to 19th century Pennsylvania newspapers, this was an ordinary day for the Schuylkill Rangers, a gang of robbers who terrorized the Schuylkill Canal from the 1840s to the 1880s.

But how much of the traditional story of the Rangers  which was luridly retold in dime novels, striking fear into the hearts of the men and boys who piloted the canal barges  is true? How much of it is mere artistic license? Wes Schwenk says the sensational stories of the Schuylkill Rangers are 75% trustworthy.

If you want the true story of the Schuylkill Rangers, you have to go to Schwenk.

Schwenk, a Schuylkill Haven native with a checkered sweater and a voice that cracked sharply with each fact and anecdote, presented the lecture Pirates of the Canal: The True Story of the Schuylkill Rangers at the Schuylkill County Historical Society in Pottsville on Thursday. Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd, Schwenk, who now works as a collections manager at the U.S. Navy Museum in Washington, recounted his extensive research on a largely-forgotten piece of local lore.

I wouldve called them gangsters, mobsters, Schwenk said. You could call them a lot of different things. They essentially used the Schuylkill Canal system to attack vessels.

The term Schuylkill Rangers referred to several unrelated groups of criminals who committed robbery, burglary and arson all along the 106 miles of water between Philadelphia and Pottsville. Sometimes it was for the money, other times it was just for the thrill of it.

Their name came from a gang operating in southwest Philadelphia, best known for their robbery of the citys Catholic Beneficial Savings Fund in 1869. At the time, the Savings Fund housed over one million dollars.

The average group of Rangers consisted of five to 10 men, always outnumbering the crew of the average canal barge back then. The Rangers charismatic ringleaders included William Wild Bill Katon, William Burglar Bill Keaton and Harry Red Carrol. The strongest leader of them all was Jimmy Hagerty.

They committed many heinous acts, Schwenk said.

While dramatic stunts like jumping off a bridge were rare, the Rangers were used to the barges valuable cargo of coal, money and agricultural products which was right there for the taking, and not even Philadelphia had a police force large enough to stop them.

The scoundrels even threatened to seize the city of Pottsville with an armed mob of 200-300 men (at the time, Pottsville had a population of 6,000).

They wreaked all kinds of havoc, Schwenk said, and it wasnt odd to see them in the pages of newsprint.

Wild newspaper reports included a Rangers sweetheart who wore a necklace of policemens teeth, knocked out just for her. The Miners Journal, Pottsvilles most prominent news source at the time, claimed the Rangers were so powerful they practically had their own labor union and chose who got to be a Schuylkill Canal boatman.

Once, a barge was selling coal down the river for $1.60 per ton, instead of the Schuylkill Rangers preferred price of $1.70. A mob of Rangers brutally beat the boatman and captain, and sank the boat.

This is where the sources reliability is questionable. The editor of the Miners Journal, Benjamin Bannan, fiercely opposed Irish Catholic immigration. The Schuylkill Rangers were predominantly Irish-American (No offense to the Irish, Schwenk said. Any Irish in here?) Otherwise facing brutal toil and low wages in the mines, they were drawn to the promise of riches from the defenseless canal boats.

The sensational part, to me, fills the void of how we talk about England in the same time period, Schwenk said. They sensationalize everything about Jack the Ripper. How much of Jack the Ripper was true? If you sensationalize like that youre gonna sell a lot more newspapers.

In small towns by the canal, a Schuylkill Rangers rampage was often the newsworthy occurrence. In those days, Mother comes to visit son could be front page news. However, newspapers of the time were less interested in selling copies and more interested in warning readers about this gang of desperadoes. They also wrote about the barge captains who defended themselves. Hatchet-wielding Henry Boyer of Reading scared off the Rangers when they attacked his boat in Philadelphia. Peter Berger of Cressona and boatman Edward Heiser fought back with knives (likely much smaller than how they looked in newspaper drawings) and pistols.

Your pistols didnt work well, authorities told them. You only killed one man. Next time you have to kill all you can.

According to newspapers of the time, the mayor of Philadelphia gave Heiser a new revolver for his birthday.

In the 1880s, the Schuylkill Rangers declined due to the arrest of Jimmy Hagerty and the canal being made obsolete by the railroad. Like how the train replaced the barge, the Schuylkill Rangers boat assaults were eclipsed by the Old West train robberies of the Jesse James and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. While those names went on to become legendary, the Rangers faded into obscurity.
100 years ago  1921

Much of the time of the Pottsville Merchants Association Monday night was devoted to a heated discussion of the associations future relationship to city politics. The policy in the past has been to hide their force under a bushel, praying fervently that the right man might be elected to office but doing little on their own initiative to insure the efficient charter of council.

75 years ago  1946Independent anthracite operators of Pennsylvania who met in the Necho Allen Hotel here Thursday to discuss the acute car shortage and learn what can be done about it will meet again next week at a time and place to be decided for future discussion and action.

50 years ago  1971To me the Schuylkill Haven Hi-Rise represents the best in workable government. Its dedication represents much more than dollars  much more than bricks and mortar. It represents a state of mind  a concern, an awareness  and it shows that government can work, State Sen. Frederick H. Hobbs, as guest speaker, told his audience at the dedication ceremonies of the Schuylkill Haven Hi-Rise building Saturday.

25 years ago  1996

FRIEDENSBURG  Three young Schuylkill County riders went to the equestrian competition in Atlanta with an Olympic dream of their own. All three  Amanda L., 16, and Michele S. Bosak, 13, and Alesse M. Coover, 11, all of Friedensburg  have had at least a fleeting thought abut competing in the Olympics someday.
The Friends of Tuscarora and Locust Lake State Parks, formed in March as a chapter of the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation, is completing tasks and planning events at the two facilities in Schuylkill County.

With a mission is to inspire stewardship and to sustain and enhance Pennsylvanias state parks and forests, the group meets monthly, alternating between the parks in Barnesville.

Volunteers work closely with state park staff and perform volunteer repairs and cleanup as needed.

Tasks tackled so far include:

 Picking up trash along side roadways leading to and around the parks.

 Cleaning dump sites within the parks.

 Trimming trees, planting flowers and mulching around the Tuscarora park office.

 Clearing park trails.

Future projects at the parks will include:

 Building and monitoring blue bird boxes.

 Repairing playground equipment.

 Repairing trails.

A number of fundraising events are taking place throughout the year, the next being Bark in the Park, a free event from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 3 at Locust Lake.

Educational programs, a dog walk, low-cost microchipping, silent auctions and more are planned.

Donations, sponsorships and vendors are needed.

Contributions and donations to the program are tax deductible because the friends group is a nonprofit organization,

Donations can be made at www.bit.ly/donatetofriendsoftll. To keep up with the happenings, follow the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FriendsofTLL or visit www.bit.ly/FriendsofTLL.

For more information, email FriendsofTLL@hotmail.com.
A Task Force of the Indian Navys Eastern Fleet is scheduled to proceed on an Overseas Deployment to South East Asia, the South China Sea and Western Pacific. The task group is likely to move from early August for over two months from departure. This has been planned in pursuit of Indias Act East policy and to enhance military cooperation with friendly countries. The deployment of the Indian Navy ships seeks to underscore the operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries. The aim is to ensure good order in the maritime domain and strengthen existing bonds between India and countries of the Indo Pacific.

Indian Navy Eastern Fleet task force under Act East policy to enhance inter-country military cooperation

During the deployment of the task force in the Indo Pacific, the ships will participate in bilateral exercises with the Vietnamese Peoples Navy, the Republic of Philippines Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (SIMBEX), Indonesian Navy (Samudra Shakti) and Royal Australian Navy (AUS-INDEX). Further, they would also participate in multilateral exercise MALABAR-21 alongside the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy in the Western Pacific. The task group comprises Guided Missile Destroyer Ranvijay, Guided Missile Frigate Shivalik, Anti-Submarine Corvette Kadmatt and Guided Missile Corvette Kora. The Guided Missile Frigate Shivalik, Anti-Submarine Corvette Kadmatt and Guided Missile Corvette Kora are indigenously designed and equipped with an array of weapons and sensors. These have been made in India by Defence Shipyards.

The task force deployment to further Security and Growth for All in the Region  SAGAR

The Indian Navy often undertakes such deployments regularly to friendly foreign countries and Indian and the Pacific Ocean regions. This is done in furtherance of the Prime Ministers initiative of Security and Growth for All in the Region  SAGAR. These engagements will help build Bridges of Friendship and strengthen international cooperation. The maritime improve the coordination between the Indian Navy and friendly countries basis common maritime interests and commitment towards Freedom of Navigation at sea. In addition to the regular port calls, the task group will operate in collaboration with friendly navies, also to build military relations and develop interoperability in the conduct of maritime operations.

(IMAGE: @PIB_INDIA / TWITTER)
As the country continues to battle against the pandemic, Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Monday said that "Made in India" Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine doses are likely to be available from September-October. Dr Reddy's Laboratories and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) had signed an agreement for the distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine in India.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories in a statement said," We expect that locally manufactured doses are likely to be available from the September-October period."

Dr Reddy's Laboratories on availability of Sputnik V vaccine

Informing that they have received 31.5 lakh doses of component 1 and 4.5 lakh doses of component 2 of the Sputnik V vaccine in India, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said that it is working closely with the RDIF to ramp up supplies. It further said that it is also working closely with its partners in India for manufacturing readiness.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories' release read, "The Sputnik V vaccination launch we initiated as a pilot in May 2021 has seen gradual and steady commercial scale-up and roll-out all over India since then, having now reached around 80 cities in India. We have partnered with major hospitals around the country and set up our cold chain infrastructure across more than 300 locations since the vaccine requires -18 degree C temperature."

Earlier, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) had issued a statement, stating that the production of Russia's Sputnik V COVID vaccine is expected to come fully on stream in September. It had said, "Production in India is expected to come fully onstream in September and RDIF expects India to become a major production hub for the Sputnik V vaccine with such companies as Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest vaccine producer, Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen Laboratories working to produce the vaccine."

Russia's COVID vaccine-Sputnik V

The vaccine has been developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and is being marketed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), globally. Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the marketing partner for the vaccine in the country, has been importing the shots from Russia. By September-October, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, apart from imported shots, is expected to make available locally manufactured shots. The vaccine has been approved for emergency use in India.

Apart from India, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 67 countries. The data gathered during the vaccination of the population in a number of countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, San-Marino, UAE, and others, shows that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective coronavirus vaccines. Russian health officials have so far, received no reports of unusual blood-clotting disorders in persons who received the Sputnik V vaccination.

The vaccine uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. It employs a different vector for each of the two shots, given 21 days apart. According to Gamaleya and the RDIF, Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92 per cent.

(Image: ANI, PTI)
Three days before the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370- an article that stood as a barrier between the complete integration of the of Jammu and Kashmir with India, a 'toolkit' of Pakistan was unearthed by the Republic Media Network. In the said toolkit, the Imran Khan-led Nation has chalked out its plan to mobilize global forces and lobby an anti-India agenda worldwide through the use of candle marches, protests outside Indian embassies across the world, and a massive Twitter storm in protest of the abrogation of Article 370 India.

Even as Pakistan attempts to peddle its own relevance to the topic, Republic Media Network on Monday launched a campaign that will bury that of the neighbouring country. Republic's campaign calls for the celebration of the second anniversary of Article 370's abrogation as a day of the full integration of India. It calls for the celebration of the entire country finally coming under the aegis of one Constitution and one National Flag, and the removal of the artifact of the past and its consignment to the rubbish bins of history, as the union territory and its neighbour Ladakh usher in a new era.

Republic Celebrates August 5, netizens join in

The Kashmiri people have fought so long and now there voices are being heard



Don't bow down to the enemy India is the best and will always be the best #RepublicCelebratesAugust5  ARNAB FAN  (@ARNABMYOBZara) August 2, 2021

I fully support Kashmir and am very happy to hear the good news



The Kashmiri people deserve this can't wait for August 5



This is a big day for Kashmir @republic #RepublicCelebratesAugust5  ARNAB FAN  (@ARNABMYOBZara) August 2, 2021

#RepublicCelebratesAugust5



We owe a lot to our brave Soldiers. Kashmir is a sacred place. Let there be Peace and Reverence of Life. Let there be a celebration of Oneness.

One Nation and One Constitution. Jai Hind @Republic  ArunD (@ArunD70254911) August 2, 2021

#RepublicCelebratesAugust5 Abrogation of article 370 , is a gift by Narendra Modi. Nationalists in Kashmir are happy. Celebrate this day , the 5 th of , August. Some terrorists , in , in Kashmir, sympathises with  Taliban  , of Afghanistan. Development , in Kashmir can begin.  Vinod Kumar (@vindkum) August 2, 2021

Iam going to celebrate & make all the anti nationals watching uncomfortable ~Arnab #RepublicCelebratesAugust5  Devina  (@arnabisfire) August 2, 2021

*Stone pelting reduced by 87%

*Terrorist activity reduced to 40% since 2020

*Develpoment projects underway .

* No (rogue )Porkistan flags

* #KashmiriPandits being rehabilitated back . many more !



Thank you #Modi ji #RepublicCelebratesAugust5  #SMILE  (@Drssshetty) August 2, 2021

#RepublicCelebratesAugust5



Any decision that uphold the dignity of human life and rights must be celebrated. Great decision done by Modiji Govt 2 years ago.  ArunD (@ArunD70254911) August 2, 2021

#RepublicCelebratesAugust5 Make Jammu and Kashmir so prosperous...that people of POK willingly join India.  Totlani Krishan (@kktotlani) August 2, 2021

What was the now abrogated Article 370?

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was a 'temporary provision' that granted autonomous, special status to the state. In 1947, the provision was drafted by Sheikh Abdullah, who was appointed as the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir by Maharaja Hari Singh and former India PM Jawahar Lala Nehru.

Under part XXI of the Constitution that looks at 'Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions,' the state was accorded with the special status under Article 370. All the provisions of the Constitution applicable to other states were not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir until the abrogation of the said article by the Narendra Modi government on August 5, 2019. Along with Article 370, article 35 was also abrogated by the two houses of the Parliament, which defined who are permanent residents of the state, and barred citizens from the rest of the country from settling or buying property in the said region.
A massive security breach has come to the fore in Jammu ahead of the second anniversary of the Abrogation of Article 370 and also two weeks ahead of Independence Day. Two suspects wearing Army uniforms were spotted at Mangal Market near the Railway station in Jammu. The suspects fled after the Army personnel approached them for interrogation.

Republic Media Network has accessed the CCTV footage of the suspects fleeing the spot. According to the sources, the two suspects had come to a barbershop. The Army personnel who were at the shop asked them to show their ID cards after which the suspects ran away. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has now launched a search operation and are trying to ascertain the identity of the suspects.

Speaking on the issue, Defence Expert Brigadier Anil Gupta has said that he knew that Pakistan will attempt to perpetrate terror activities ahead of the anniversary of the Abrogation of Article 370 or ahead of Independence Day. He called that Jammu is the target of the Pak sponsored terror perpetrators.

"There is a lot of intelligence inputs that before August 5 or closer to August 15, Pakistan is planning a big action somewhere in Jammu. Their target this time is Jammu because their repeated attempts to target Jammu have failed and they somehow believe that if Jammu is targeted it will trigger communal clashes, which is what Pakistan wants. This (two suspects) is a big security lapse and I hope they are caught soon otherwise there could be a problem," Brigadier Anil Gupta said.

CCTV screengrab of the suspects on the run:

Eyewitnesses elaborate on the incident:

This incident which raises concerns about the possibility of something untoward comes at a time when political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, such as the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP and the Farooq Abdullah led People's Conference have demanded from the J&K Administration to give security clearance for all.

Republic Media Network has spoken to the eyewitnesses who gave out a first-hand account of the incident. One of the eyewitnesses said that the army personnel was already having a haircut at the barbershop.

"He (Armyman) asked one of the suspects who he was. Army personnel said to the suspects 'you don't look like someone from the army. Show me your ID'. One of the suspects said they will go get his ID card from their bags. The Armyman asked one suspect to stay while the other goes to get the ID card. Meanwhile, the other suspect who was behind the Armyman pushed him and both the suspects ran away. The Armyman shouted to alert the people to block the suspects while they were on the run, but we did not know what was happening as the suspects were also in army uniform," one of the eyewitnesses said.
Hitting out at opposition parties for disrupting Parliamentary proceedings, Union Minority Affairs Minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday alleged that the Opposition is trying to 'hijack' the proceedings of Parliament on the basis of 'fake' and 'fabricated tales.'

"May God give the Opposition wisdom": Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Slamming the opposition camps, the Minority Affairs Minister said, "There has been no rush in passing bills. Discussions have taken place in the Business Advisory Committee accordingly. Bills have been circulated. Circulars are being issued 48 hours in advance and are delivered to all the members, which comes after writing in the business. But the problem is if you (Opposition party members) stay in the 'well' instead of discussing or participating in the debate, may God give you wisdom."

"We want the Opposition to debate or discuss the bills or any issue they want. But if you are in the well, then how will the bills get passed?" the Minister asked while censuring the Opposition. "The attempt to hijack the proceedings of Parliament is wrong. You should abide by the complete system of Parliament and participate in the debate and discussions," the Minority Affairs Minister added.

Minister Naqvi alleges Opposition of 'fake and fabricated tales'

The senior BJP leader also alleged that the Opposition is trying to disrupt the proceedings of the House on the basis of 'fake and fabricated tales'.

Responding to TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Santanu Sen's suspension for the remaining period of the Monsoon session, Minister Naqvi said, "The Chairman will take his decision. Information and Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw was providing a statement on an issue that created a lot of ruckus in the parliament. There was an opportunity to raise questions. Instead, the TMC MP tore the papers. It is clear that the issue they have is far away from logic and facts. They are simply trying to disrupt the proceedings of the House on the basis of fake and fabricated tales."

Notably, on July 23, TMC MP Santanu Sen had snatched the statement on the Pegasus issue from the Minister of Communications and Electronics & Information Technology of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha and tore it into pieces. Following the act, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu suspended the TMC MP Santanu Sen for the remaining period of the ongoing Monsoon session.

It may be noted here that, since the commencement of the Monsoon session of the Parliament on July 19, both the houses - Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, have failed in accomplishing any vital business, except the passage of some bills amid continued protests from opposition parties over the Pegasus and farmers' issues. The Opposition and the ruling saffron party are in a logjam with the former seeking a debate over the Pegasus issue.




NASA is set to launch the second uncrewed flight Boeings CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission to the International Space Station. The mission is targeted to launch at 1:20 pm EDT on August 3, Tuesday. Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, NASA informed in an official press release. Nearly 30 minutes after its launch, the Starliner will perform its orbital insertion burn to begin its daylong trip to the space station and is scheduled to dock to the ISS at about 1:37 pm Wednesday.

The #Starliner team's North Star means launching a safe spacecraft on a successful mission. Our Starliner @Commercial_Crew Vice President and Program Manager John Vollmer says this is the week the team has worked for and they're ready. #OFT2 pic.twitter.com/VFV2PwBEiO  Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) August 1, 2021

The spacecraft will carry more than 400 pounds of NASA cargo and crew supplies to the space station. It will return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of cargo, including the reusable Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members, NASA said in the release. OFT-2 will demonstrate the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket, from launch to docking, to a return to Earth with a desert landing in the western United States, it continued.

Developed in collaboration with NASA's commercial Crew Program, Boeing's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spacecraft was designed to accommodate seven passengers for missions to low-Earth orbit. For NASA service missions to the International Space Station (ISS), it will carry up to four NASA-sponsored crew members and time-critical scientific research. Boeing's 21st-century space capsule is reusable up to 10 times with a six-month turnaround time and flaunts wireless internet and tablet technology for the NASA crew.

 In two days, @BoeingSpace's Starliner spacecraft will launch to the @Space_Station! Weather is currently 60% "GO" for liftoff.



Starliner is scheduled to dock to the orbiting laboratory on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at about 1:37 p.m. ET: https://t.co/4u8v2sU0Ij pic.twitter.com/GRnfa5RECz  NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) August 1, 2021

We're two days away from the start of the #Starliner #OFT2 flight test mission!



Join us for launch on Aug. 3, 1:20 p.m. ET. The broadcast starts at ~12:30 p.m. ET: https://t.co/ziK3KepBB0 pic.twitter.com/IcKHo31LgE  Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) August 1, 2021

One can watch the launch LIVE on NASA TV at 12:30 pm Tuesday. Continuous coverage is planned through Starliner orbital insertion with a post-launch news conference scheduled for 3:30 pm. According to NASA, the uncrewed mission is expected to generate valuable data toward NASA certifying Boeings crew transportation system for regular flights to and from the space station.

Wednesday, Aug. 4

10:30 a.m.  NASA TV rendezvous and docking coverage begins.

1:37 p.m. (scheduled)  Docking

Thursday, Aug. 5

8:30 a.m.  NASA TV hatch opening coverage begins

8:40 a.m.  Hatch opening

9:40 a.m. (approximately) Welcoming remarks

NASA TV Launch Coverage

NASA TV live coverage will begin at 12:30 pm on NASA TV
Terrified tourists fleeing Turkeys deadly wildfires were airlifted to security and rescued via flotillas and boats on Sunday. Wildfires engulfed holiday destinations in Antalya and Mugla, and popular Brit resorts close to Marmaris as firefighters fought the blazes for the fifth consecutive day. Tourists and residents were warned to evacuate to safety in Turunc, a town in the seaside resort of Marmaris, the Associated Press reported. Several Navy ships were stationed at the sea for mass emergency evacuations if the fire got deadlier. As of Sunday, the death toll from the Turkish wildfires reached eight.

[Credit: AP]

The heatwave across Southern Europe started the wildfires across the Mediterranean that spread to the Marmaris shoreline into the hills, charring large scathes of forests. In the footage that emerged, helicopters were seen rescuing the tourists from the impacted areas and several tourists were evacuated out of the Brit resorts as the blazes erupted turning the sky crimson. Vacationers in Turkeys Bodrum were seen fleeing loading their suitcases on the boats, several others evacuated on the yachts from a seaside as the entire coastline turned into an inferno. Chaos swept the hillside as tourists escaped the risky region that now has nearly 235,000 acres of forests burned.

There is a massive forest fire going on in Manavgat district which is located in Antalya, Turkey. Dozens of animals died and a lot of people were hospitalized due to wildfires and it's growing even more with the wind.



Please rt and help to spread this #ManavgatYaniyor pic.twitter.com/GKmVldks8N  ole (@leeknowslips) July 29, 2021

[Credit: Maxar satellite image]

4,000 Turkish firefighters battling deadly blazes

Firefighters are reportedly battling more than 70 fires across 17 Turkish provinces since last week, of these, 14 large ones are still burning as flames were exacerbated by the strong winds. More than183 have been hospitalized with fire sustained injuries. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a presser that at least 1,080 firefighting vehicles, 5 military planes, 45 helicopters were deployed to bring the deadly wildfires under control. An estimated 4,000 Turkish firefighters are on the ground currently dousing the flames across the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.

As the winds are blowing at 50 kilometers per hour and the temperatures have soared above 40 degrees celsius, the task was more challenging than ever. The Turkish Forestry Minister, however, tweeted that 111 fires were under control. Wildfires have also spread to the Italian island of Sicily and in western Greece. Experts have blamed climate change.

[Credit: Twitter/@defis_eu]

[Credit: Twitter/@lilhuziofficial]

[Credit: Twitter/@4rk_ys]
Clashes continued in critical parts of Lashkargah city, the capital of Helmand province, as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated due to an uptick in Taliban offensives. On Sunday, skirmishes were reported in Lashkargah city's District 1 near the police headquarters and the provincial governor's office, according to Tolo News. Many portions of the city have fallen to the Taliban in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Helmand's Members of Parliament (MPs) have stated that if the city does not receive support, it will be out of the government's control.

Ghulam Wali Afghan, a Helmand MP, was quoted by Tolo News as saying, "the fighting has reached District 1 and is 100 meters or 200 meters away from the provincial governor's compound. Fighting is underway to capture the base in the province and the people are concerned." Another Helmand MP Karim Atal said, "clashes are underway near the Helmand governor's compound, the police headquarters and the NDS office. They will fall if attention is not paid to them,"

The Taliban has taken control of 70 districts and Spin Boldak

With the complete withdrawal of foreign soldiers only a few weeks away, Afghanistan has seen an increase in violence in recent weeks as the Taliban have escalated their onslaught against civilians and Afghan security personnel. According to Tolo News, the Taliban took control of 70 districts, as well as the border town of Spin Boldak, in July. The government claimed that 11 districts had been retaken from the Taliban in July, but five of these have since fallen back to the Taliban, Yaftal in Badakhshan, Chakhansur in Nimroz, Malistan in Ghazni, Garmsir in Helmand, and Guzara in Herat.

313 civilians and 239 security force members were injured in security incidents and Taliban strikes in just a month of July. During this time, 700 citizens and 216 members of the security forces were injured, according to the data. The Taliban has suffered a significant number of casualties throughout this time.

The US will completely withdraw the place by September

Then-US President Donald Trump and allies agreed in February 2020 to work out a deal with the Taliban over the withdrawal of international combat forces. President Joe Biden said earlier this year that the withdrawal will take place by September.

(Inputs from ANI)
The Coronavirus situation in Pakistan is worsening day by day, as the country is witnessing a fresh spike in daily COVID cases. After observing around 5,000 cases on Aug, 01, the country recorded around 4,858 fresh cases and around 40 deaths a day after on Monday, Aug, 2.

As per the data released by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the COVID-19 death toll now stands at 23,462. "Statistics 2 Aug 21: Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 56,414 Positive Cases: 4,858 Positivity %: 8.61% Deaths: 40," NCOC said in a tweet.



Statistics 2 Aug 21:

Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 56,414

Positive Cases: 4858

Positivity % : 8.61%

Deaths : 40  NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) August 2, 2021

According to the NCOC, Pakistan's COVID-19 tally has risen to 1,039,695. Meanwhile, the positivity rate of infections was recorded at 8.61%.

Smart lockdown announced in Paks capital

Pakistan on Sunday imposed a smart lockdown in various sectors of the capital due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. According to a notification issued by the Islamabad district magistrate, the movement of residents will be restricted in 27 streets in different sectors with a high COVID-19 positivity rate. Exemptions to the order include essential services and supplies like pharmacy and medicine shops, grocery store and bakeries, patients for medical aid/medical consultation, rationing, drinking water supplies, utilities and emergencies, Dawn reported.

"The citizens are requested to make prior arrangements for their convenience including ration, medicines and reschedule their engagements/office work before the onset of lockdown/sealing date and time," the notification read, as reported by ANI. This comes after Sindh province imposed a partial lockdown from Saturday till August 8 in view of surging COVID-19 cases.

Imran Khan's Minister blames India for COVID-19 spread in Pakistan

Apart from this, in a baseless allegation, the Imran Khan-led government has blamed India for the virus spread in the country. In a baseless allegation, Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry have blamed India for the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan.

Taking to Twitter, Fawad Chaudhry asserted that the Modi government's 'irresponsible handling of COVID-19 has impacted Pakistan's efforts to tackle the pandemic. He added that the situation in India has pushed Pakistan into deep trouble. Moreover, he also attacked the Indian government for failing to tackle the Delta variant spread and said that 'Pakistan is again at the mercy of Coronavirus.'



At the time when the world was close to victory in its war against #Corona irresponsible handling of #ModiJanta has again pushed us into a deep trouble, Indian extremist Govt failure led to #DeltaVariant spread and we are again at the mercy of Virus  Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 31, 2021

(With ANI Inputs)
The battle which started with the insurgent group Taliban seeking to re-establish Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan has now escalated to bone-rattling strikes and counter strikes. In the latest development, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANDSF) conducted a joint operation along with the Afghan Air Force (AAF) leading to the elimination of more than 400 terrorists in the past 24 hours. It is imperative to note that the Central Asian countrys military forces have been continuously striking Taliban hideouts since Saturday leading to deaths of tens of fighters, destruction of mass ammunition as well as shelling of multiple terrorist hideouts.

455 #Taliban terrorists were killed and 232 were wounded as a result of #ANDSF operations in Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, Kandahar, Herat, Faryab, Jowzjan, Balkh, Samangan, Helmand, Takhar, Kunduz and Baghlan & Kapisa provinces during the last 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/BpIcc4utlU  Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) August 2, 2021

9 #Taliban terrorists were killed & 4 others wounded in an operation conducted by #ANDSF at the outskirts of #Kandahar provincial center, yesterday.



Also, 5 weapons and some amount of their amos & equipment were destroyed.  Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) August 2, 2021

15 #Taliban terrorists were killed & 8 others were wounded in #airstrikes conducted by #AAF in Azrat Sultan district of #Samangan province, yesterday.



Also, some amount of their weapons & amos were destroyed.  Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) August 2, 2021

36 #Taliban terrorists were killed & 19 others wounded in joint operations conducted by #ANDSF with support from #AAF at the outskirts of #Lashkargah city, #Helmand provincial center, yesterday.



Also, 3 enemy vehicles were destroyed. pic.twitter.com/JLp9ZaE0TL  Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) August 2, 2021

In the latest update, the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that a total of 455 terrorists were killed while another 232 were wounded in the combative operations. As per the ministry, the troops targeted Afghan camps in the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, Kandahar, Herat, Faryab, Jowzjan, Balkh, Samangan, Helmand, Takhar, Kunduz, and Baghlan & Kapisa. Previously, the ministry shared a video of the airstrike that it conducted in Zherai. The six-second video captures the exact moment when the missiles landed on the terrorist camps.

#Taliban terrorists hideouts were targeted by #AAF in Zherai district of #Kandahar province yesterday. Tens of #terrorists were killed and wounded as result of the #airstrike. pic.twitter.com/mM1uVyeXMu  Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) August 1, 2021

Since May, the Taliban has seized several key Afghani border areas and posts, launching a major offensive after the complete drawdown of the US-led coalition forces from the region and ending the 20-year cold war between war-torn Afghanistan and President Joe Biden-led State.

Taliban has become 'more cruel'

Taliban has become "more cruel and oppressive, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out on Sunday as the war-ravaged country witnessed relentless violence and chaos with its key border crossings falling into the hands of the Talibani terrorists. Amid the sweeping offensive across north Afghanistan, Ghani held a virtual cabinet meeting with his officials wherein he said: "Yes, they (Taliban) have changed but negatively. They have no wish for peace, for prosperity, or progress; we want peace, but they want 'surrendered, subdued people and the government'.

"They will not engage in meaningful negotiations unless the situation changes on the battlefield; therefore, we should have a clear stance. For this, there is a need for a countrywide mobilization, Afghanistans President told officials in his remarks, as cited by the ANI news agency.

Image: MODAfghan/Twitter
The Opposition parties of Malaysia have marched to Parliament on Tuesday seeking the resignation of the incumbent Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. This comes after the Prime Minister shut the Parliament for the next two weeks amidst political turmoil in the country. Dozens of legislators assembled near Parliament with a banner demanding the resignation of Muhyiddin and his Cabinet. Despite the mounting pressure from the Opposition lawmakers to arrange a debate over the Malaysian king's allegations against the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin postponed the lawmakers demand and shut the Parliament for two weeks.

Malaysian Opposition lawmakers said Muhyiddin Yassin failed as a Prime Minister

Citing the risk of COVID-19 after eleven of the Parliament staff developed infections of highly contagious delta variant, the health ministry advocated the pros of closing the Parliament for the next two weeks. However, the opposition called it a politically motivated move to block any challenges to his leadership. Earlier on July 29, Thursday, the king alleged Muhyiddin for misleading Parliament on the status of ordinances it issued during the seven-month coronavirus state of emergency last year. Subsequently, the opposition immediately filed a motion of no-confidence against Muhyiddin.

Malaysian Opposition united in seeking Yassin's resignation

While addressing the media personnel, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said that the Muhyiddin has failed as a Prime Minister by his decision to shut the Parliament. Earlier today, the lawmakers were stopped from marching to protest a two-week lockdown of Malaysias Parliament. Reacting to the blockade of police, the lawmaker said that the 107 opposition leaders were united in seeking the resignation of the Prime Minister. He alleged that Muhyiddin worked against the constitution by blocking the lawmakers from carrying out their duties. He slammed the government for cowardice and said they must eventually face the people.

Kuala Lumpur has been facing political turmoil following the abrupt resignation of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last year. Since then, Muhyiddin has been ruling the country after securing a razor-thin majority. Muhyiddin, 72, had served as the deputy prime minister under former Prime Minister Najib Razak but was sacked in 2015. Also, he had served as the Home Minister in Mahathir's Cabinet.

(With inputs from AP)

(Image Credit: AP)
A mysterious object has been caught on camera shooting through the sky above Turkey. The people of Izmir in Turkey were stunned as they heard an explosion in the sky during the night. After the explosion, the sky turned bright green for a few seconds. Social media has been flooded with videos of the event and netizens are of the opinion that the sky turned bright green due to a meteor.

Sky turns green in Turkey

A user who goes by the name gemmahowell8 on Twitter shared the video alongside the caption "Izmir Turkey overnight people thought it was a meteor". The video shows the object striking over the city of Izmir, Turkey and before disappearing, the object turned the sky green. The video not only shocked the people of the region, but also the social media users who saw it.

Izmir Turkey overnight people thought it was a meteor  pic.twitter.com/SxYbVHpqHZ  Gem Gem (@gemmahowell8) July 31, 2021

Hasan Ali Dal, an Astrophysics lecturer on Twitter explained that the event in Izmir was a meteor event. He added that the event is known as a "fireball". He added that the phenomenon occurs when a meteor begins to burn as a result of its rapid entry into the upper layers of the atmosphere and its heating. It usually burns away in the upper atmosphere and should be considered as a more specific version of the phenomenon known as a 'shooting star' among the people and it is often experienced during the period of meteorite rains. He added that the Perseid Meteor Shower occurs between July 24 and August 24 each year and revealed that presumably this piece is also associated with this rain.

Gectigimiz gece saat 01:54 civarnda Izmirde gokyuzunde video kayd yaplan olay bir meteor olaydr. Daha onceki yllarda gunduz saatlerinde yasanms cok benzer bir olayn buradaki video kaydndaki gibi gorunen ve Fireball (Atestopu) olarak bilinen bu olay, pic.twitter.com/tMKe56ClSj  Hasan Ali Dal (@hsnldl) July 31, 2021

bir meteorun atmosferin ust ksmlarna hzla girerek snmas sonucu yanmaya baslamasyla ortaya ckan bir goruntudur. Genelike atmosferin ust ksmlarnda yanp yok olur. Halk arasnda yldz kaymas olarak bilinen olgunun daha belirgin hali olarak dusunulmelidir ve  Hasan Ali Dal (@hsnldl) July 31, 2021

The video of the event shared by gemmahowell8 on Twitter has garnered 20K views and several reactions. Netizens stunned to see the video took to the comments section to share their views. One user commented, "looks like a meteor, what else can it be? a rocket? Where was the impact?". Another individual commented, "ever notice how all "meteors" generally come from the same direction? up in the sky at an angle, always the same angle". Another individual commented, "Yeah there was a huge one in Russia several years back that behaved exactly like this did. Terribly scary sight, regardless!".

looks like a meteor, what else can it be? a rocket? Where was the impact?  nagihatoum (@nagihatoum) August 1, 2021

Yeah there was a huge one in Russia several years back that behaved exactly like this did. Terribly scary sight, regardless!  Alex Kuno (@alexkuno) August 1, 2021

ever notice how all "meteors" generally come from the same direction? up in the sky at an angle, always the same angle  Storm Surfer (@Stormsurfer83) August 1, 2021

IMAGE: gemmahowell8/Twitter
Amid the rise in Delta variant of COVID-19 cases, the Philippines government has announced extension of night curfew in Manila. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in an online briefing, informed that the COVID-19 cases have been rising in the country, reported Xinhua. Vergeire added that the people hospitalised due to COVID-19 has also increased.

Night curfew in Manila

Vergeire announced that Metro Manila will impose lockdown on Friday to curb the spread of the Delta variant. Vergeire added that Metro Manila mayors will enforce curfew hours from 8 pm to 4 pm to limit the people's movement in the capital city, as per the report. It is worth mentioning that the government has imposed lockdown for the second time in a year to control the spread of COVID-19.

The Philippines Department of Health on August 2 report 8,167 additional coronavirus cases, taking the country's overall cases to 1,605,762. The active cases in the country stands at 62,615. The people who have recovered stands at 9,095, bringing the number to 1,515,054. The total number of deaths reported due to COVID-19 were 77 taking the overall tally to 28,093.

Ngayong 4 PM, Agosto 2, 2021, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 8,167 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 9,095 na gumaling at 77 na pumanaw.



Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 3.9% (62,615) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/qG4RM6U9ax  Department of Health (@DOHgovph) August 2, 2021

It is worth noting that the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been urging people of the country to get vaccinated. In his televised address on July 29, Duterte has warned that the people who refuse to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 will not be allowed to leave their homes. Duterte mentioned that there is no law mandating the vaccine restriction but added that he is ready to face lawsuits to keep viruses off the streets. Last month, the Philippines president had threatened to order the arrest of people who refuse COVID-19 vaccination. In his televised address, Duterte told the people to leave the country if they would not cooperate with efforts to end the public health emergency.

IMAGE: AP/Pixabay

Inputs from AP
The United States and the United Kingdom joined Israel on Sunday in alleging Iran carried out a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.

Calling it a unlawful and callous attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country and its allies planned a coordinated response over the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken soon followed, saying there was no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behaviour. The strike on the Mercer Street marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called suicide drones in attacks previously, which crash into targets and detonate their explosive payloads. However, Israel, the U.K. and the responding U.S. Navy have yet to show physical evidence from the strike or offer intelligence information on why they blame Tehran.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
In the midst of the Taliban's relentless violence in Afghanistan, the European Union has reiterated that if the terrorist group gains power through force, the EU and other countries will not recognise their regime. According to The Afghanistan Times, Thomas Nicholson, the leader of the European Union delegation to Afghanistan, remarked, "if Taliban rise to power militarily, the EU will not recognize them." He also expressed concern over the country's security situation, stating that the EU is doing everything it can to stay involved.

Nicholson further said, "We are clearly very concerned about the situation. We are trying to stay involved in Afghanistan as much as possible and will continue our development assistance. We will be involved politically as well. If they put the plan of the Islamic Emirate on the table in the 1990s, or any plan that is the Islamic Emirate, no, it will not be acceptable."

Taliban has grown more cruel and oppressive: Afghan President

Violence in Afghanistan has risen in recent weeks as the Taliban has intensified its onslaught following the withdrawal of US and NATO soldiers from the country. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stated on Sunday that the Taliban has grown "more cruel and more oppressive" over the last two decades. He remarked during a televised cabinet meeting, "yes, they (Taliban) have changed but negatively. They have no wish for peace, for prosperity, or progress; we want peace but they won't surrender (subdued people and government)."

In the first six months of this year, 1,677 civilians were murdered and 3,644 more were injured in Afghanistan, according to a study released by an Afghan watchdog. This is an 80% increase in casualties when compared to the same period in 2020. According to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), these killings occurred in 1,594 separate security situations.

UN envoy also warned Taliban

The UN Secretary-Special General's Representative for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, warned the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) meeting at the Presidential Palace on July 28 that the world will not engage with the Taliban unless peace talks continue. She stated that if they abuse human rights and heinous atrocities occur in districts under their control, the Taliban will not be considered a viable international partner.

(Inputs from ANI)
Colombia's defense minister Diego Molano visited on Saturday visited a coastal city that's become crowded with migrants from Haiti, Africa and Cuba who want to go to the United States.

He warned that illicit groups or others would not be allowed to take advantage of the local residents or the migrants that have been stranded there.

"We, of course, won't permit anyone, citizen or business, or illicit group to take advantage of this municipality or the citizens of this region to obtain resources that feed illicit activities," he said.

"We will also not permit the Gulf Clan (drug trafficking group) to use or manipulate through human trafficking the (migrant) situation that's developing here," he added.

Local officials estimate more than 10,000 migrants have massed recently in Necocli, a city of some 20,000 people better known for its beaches, coconuts and burbling mud volcanos.

It has become a bottleneck on the global migrant trail that winds through South and Central America, and on to Mexico and then the U.S. southern border.

Necocli residents say they have never seen so many migrants and city authorities have declared a "public calamity" because of water shortages caused by the additional demand from the migrants.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
A US Air Force Navigator missing since the late 1960s was found after scientists scanned the seafloor last year, according to The New York Times. In July 1967, a pair of American B-52 bombers collided over the South China Sea while approaching a target in South Vietnam. Seven crew members escaped, although rescue units from the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard failed to find six other men, including a navigator from New York, Major Paul A. Avolese. It wasnt until last year that scientists scanning the seafloor found one of the B-52s and recovered Avoleses remains.

While speaking to the media outlet, Eric Terrill, one of two divers who descended to the wreck, said that it was very humbling to be diving a site that turned out as hollowed ground, and realising that maybe the team was in a position to help bring closure back to families that had been missing the lost aviator. As per reports, scientists said that the retrieval highlights a change in the ability of the Pentagon's quest for personnel still missing because of the Vietnam War. For decades, such efforts have primarily focused on land in previous conflict zones, however, in this case, American investigators searched in an underwater site close to the long coastline of Vietnam through high-tech robots.

For this mission, the officials used three six-foot-long robots with the ability to scan up to 229 feet on either side and to produce high-resolution imagery of the seafloor. The wreckage of one B-52 came into view. Then the team saw human remains on the seabed. About 24 hours later, the remains were brought to the surface. A lab in Hawaii eventually identified them as Major Avoleses.

Robotic underwater becoming essential for the investigation

Rear Adm. Nancy Hann reportedly said that their use of the technology is part of a bigger trend. Hann, who manages a fleet of nine aircraft and 16 research and survey vessels for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that the robotic underwater is fast becoming essential tools for ocean science and investigation. She added that these vehicles have proven to be a force multiplier in terms of mapping the seafloor, tracing and investigating wrecks and other sunken objects, and gathering data in sites that ships and other vehicles cannot easily access.

Further, lead archaeologist for non-profit organization Project Recover, Andrew Pietruszka explained the reason for the new focus on the undersea crash sites of Vietnam and said that many land-based leads have been exhausted. The team worked on the new recovery mission with the DPAA or the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Pentagon's arm designated to find and return fallen military personnel. Pietruszka said that enabling Americans to bring underwater robotic vehicles into Vietnamese-controlled sites of the South China Sea, equipment that could employ military applications for both governments, is tactfully sensitive, as well. He added that securing permission for the recent mission was a heavy lift for all parties.

According to the media outlet, Major Avolese was born in 1932 and he served in the 4133d Bomb Wing of Air Force in Vietnam. He, together with his crew flew from a US base in Guam, along with other B-52s to bomb a South Vietnam target. As two of the bombers manoeuvred into place roughly 65 miles southwest of the then-called Saigon, they collided, bursting into flames and forming a fireball. One person on Major Avoleses plane, Maj. Gen. William J. Crumm was the first of several American generals killed in the war.

Following the crash, the Air Force's Col. Mitchell Cobeaga told the parents of Maj. Avolese that the collision's exact cause was unknown. Thirty-five years old at the time of the crash, Major Avolese was declared dead a few days after Cobeaga wrote a letter to his parents. The US military later classified his remains, as well as those of the five others missing, as non-recoverable. Still, investigators pursued potential leads about the wreckage of the two B-52s for decades.

(Image: Twitter)
The monks and nuns have protested being forced to return to secular life, according to video clips posted to social media sites.

Local authorities evict monks and nuns from Gansu's Hongcheng monastery in an undated photo.

Authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu have forcibly shut down a Tibetan monastery in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, evicting the monks and nuns by force, RFA has learned.

Monks at Hongcheng monastery, also known as the Yulingta monastery, are shown in videos of the incident holding up banners that read "Forcible defrocking of monks is illegal and unacceptable!" and other protest slogans.

Videos also showed monks sitting on the roof of the monastery shouting down at a group of unidentified people on the ground.

Nuns wailed in mourning at being made to leave, while others shouted "Stop this! Stop this!" and "Film everything! Let's jump!"

An employee who answered the phone at the Yongjing county ethnic minority and religious affairs bureau declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Monday.

"I don't really know about this," the employee said. "You should call the office. I don't know about the resettlement arrangements for Hongcheng monastery."

The employee said Director Cui of the monastery management committee was responsible for "resettling" the monks and nuns.

Repeated calls to Cui's cell phone rang unanswered on Monday.

An employee who answered the phone at the Xihe township government offices near Hongcheng declined to respond to questions when contacted by RFA on Monday.

"No, nothing like that happened," the employee said. "Where are you calling from? Name? Phone number? I need you to register."

Many monks detained

U.S.-based commentator Ma Ju, who has been following the incident, said many monks were detained during the eviction.

He said Hongcheng likely won't be the last monastery to be targeted.

"They are getting ready to eliminate all Tibetan temples and monasteries within the majority Han Chinese area of China," Ma said. "This is one of their policies."

"They believe that this place was a way for Tibetan Buddhism to gain a foothold in mainland China."

The move is likely linked to a recent visit by the Chinese Communist Party's Panchen Lama, who said Tibetan Buddhism must not be used as a tool for "hostile foreign forces" to undermine CCP rule.

Online comments said local officials were likely interested in the monastery's wealth, as it had received a surge in donations during the coronavirus pandemic.

Long-running campaign

Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, Representative of the Office of Tibet in Taipei, said the evictions have been part of a long-running campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to evict monks and nuns in Gansu.

"It's even worse in Gansu than it was during the Cultural Revolution," he said, in a reference to the political turmoil and mass destruction of cultural institutions that took place under late supreme leader Mao Zedong from 1966 to 1976.

"The CCP also forcibly defrocked monks and nuns from 1956 through 1959 to 1965, in the name of so-called national reforms in Tibet," he said.

"This is a very serious matter. It's not as simple as saying that they are trying to sinicize Tibetan Buddhism," he said.

He said the CCP is likely trying to eliminate the practice of Tibetan Buddhism anywhere within China's borders.

A Gansu-based historian surnamed Gao said the move was in line the CCP's campaign of church demolitions and cross removal.

"Now they are targeting Tibetan Buddhism, forcibly defrocking monks and nuns," Gao said. "There is a fundamental lack of respect."

The Hongcheng monastery was already destroyed once in 1958, before reconstruction began under President Hu Jintao in 2011 using donations gathered by Gentsong Rinpoche, a religious leader.

"Local Chinese authorities expressed concern and suspicion about how the monastery had become so wealthy, and used this as an excuse to investigate and overhaul," the Tibet Post newspaper reported.

"Ultimately, the matter ended with a demand that the monastery share its income equally with the local government," the report said.

"Random and unreasonable inspections became more and more frequent. Gradually, the problem escalated until the government decided to directly seize the monastery, expel the monks, and force them to live a secular life against their will," it said.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Rapper and K-pop artist Kris Wu, also known by his Chinese name Wu Yifan, is in detention pending an ongoing investigation.

Rapper and K-pop performing artist Kris Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, is shown in an undated photo.

Canadian rapper and former K-pop star Kris Wu is arrested by Beijing police for the alleged rape of a minor, Chinese police said in a recent announcement.

"We have arrested Wu **fan (male, age 30, Canadian national) on suspicion of rape after seen online reports that he repeatedly tricked young females into having sex, and other related situations," the Chaoyang district branch of the Beijing police department said in a July 31 statement on its official Weibo account.

"The suspect is in detention, and further investigation is under way," it said.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s official newspaper, the People's Daily, said foreign citizenship didn't confer immunity to prosecution.

"Whoever breaks the law will be punished by law," the paper said in a recent op-ed piece. "Remember: the greater the degree of celebrity, and more popular someone is, the more self-disciplined and law-abiding they need to be."

The Central Politics and Legal Affairs Committee responded on Weibo that Chinese laws must be abided by on Chinese land.

State-run media said the arrested man was Kris Wu, whose Chinese name is Wu Yifan.

Several brands have already pulled out of sponsorship deals with Wu, whose arrest came after several young women came forward to add their own allegations.

The sister of Wu's main accuser Du Meizhu retweeted the police announcement, adding the words: "Our efforts haven't been in vain ... all of the injustice we have suffered will be channeled into motivation."

'A victory for women's rights'

Chinese feminist Lu Pin said in a commentary on Medium.com that Wu's arrest was "a surprise and also a victory" for women's rights in China.

"Maybe he won't wind up getting convicted and sentenced, but it's clear to everyone that Wu won't be getting back on his pedestal," the group wrote.

"Everyone is talking about it ... [meaning that] the impact of the Chinese #MeToo movement has reached unprecedented levels," the post said. "This is far more than just a victory for a few women or girls."

But it said the arrest was far from being a total victory.

"The response of the law to women's rights is still very limited and unpredictable," Lu wrote, adding that the greatest impact of the Chinese #MeToo movement had been on women and girls, who had educated themselves and connected with a wider community as a result.

"Celebrating this moment has nothing to do with anticipating a bright future," she said. "There is no certainty that the next case will be handled fairly. Many victims still have no voice, many social media accounts continue to disappear, and feminism is still seen as an oppositional force."

"There is less and less room for debate or action, and I have constantly been asking myself lately how the movement can even continue," Lu wrote. "The fall of Kris Wu doesn't bring any answer to this question."

The Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to the People's Daily, said Wu would serve a jail term of anywhere from 10 years to life, if convicted.

Li Xueqin, a well-known talk show star who claims that she is a fan of Wu, deleted all her posts related to the idol, the paper said, adding that social media platform Sina Weibo had deleted its topic page for the rapper.

"Chinese media outlets including People's Daily, China Women's News, the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee's official news website, Legal Daily, China anti-drug network have all released posts commenting on the severity of the Wu scandal and noting that it will be handled in accordance to the law," the paper said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Myanmar armed forces chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing salutes during an annual parade put on by the military to mark Armed Forces Day in the capital Naypyidaw, in a screengrab from a broadcast by state-run Myawaddy TV, March 27, 2021.

Myanmar's junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday declared himself prime minister in a newly formed caretaker government and extended military rule through 2023, state media reported on Sunday, six months after he led a coup that ousted the civilian government.

In a state television statement and a speech by Min Aung Hlaing, the military regime extended army control over the country of 54 million people to two-and-a-half years, more than double the one-year emergency the junta announced days after it seized power from Aung San Suu Kyis elected government on Feb. 1.

In order to perform the countrys duties fast, easily and effectively, the state administration council has been re-formed as caretaker government of Myanmar, a state-run Myawaddy TVpresenter said.

State media quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying "We will accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023, 18 months after the coup announcement had said democracy would be restored.

"I guarantee the establishment of a union based on democracy and federalism," he added.

Protesters make the three-finger salute beside a banner featuring junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in a demonstration against the military junta in Yangon, July 3, 2021. Credit: AFP The general also said his administration was ready to work with the representative to be named by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The 10-nation bloc is expected to finalize a special envoy to deal with the crisis at a virtual meeting this week.

The announcement came exactly six months after the army seized power, alleging that Aun San Su Kyis landslide re-election victory in the countrys November 2020 election was the result of extensive voter fraud.

The junta, which has yet to produce evidence of its claims, on July 26 annulled the results of the 2020 election, drawing condemnation from political parties who condemned the move as illegal and said they will not honor it.

Analysts questioned the constitutionality of the newest move by a military regime that has presided over widespread violence and death, and is accused of mishandling the countrys worst COVID-19 outbreak.

It has been six months since the military coup and they are yet to bring stability in the country, said Than Soe Naing, a political analyst.

What's more, everything in the country is going down in all aspects. In their own words, Myanmar is on the verge of falling off a cliff.

Min Lwin Oo, a Norway based Human Rights lawyer, told RFA the new arrangement announced on Sunday is a violation of the Constitution that was reminiscent of moves army generals took in 1958 when they abolished everything and formed a new government.

There is no provision for forming a caretaker government in the Constitution, he added.

The junta has violently suppressed mass protests against army rule, arresting at least 5,444 people and killing 940, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Armed resistance by local Peoples Defense Forces in urban and rural areas have killed hundreds of soldiers and police, according to the local fighters and citizen journalist reports.

The coup also dealt a serious blow to efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in the country, whose healthcare system on the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of the coronavirus. The number of COVID-19 infections rose Sunday to 299,000, with at least 9,334 deaths.

Judging by the speech Min Aung Hlaing gave today, the military council has upgraded itself as a civilian administration. This action serves as a road map for a delayed power transfer, said Aung Myo Min, a rights activist who serves as the shadow National Unity Government (NUG)'s minister for human rights.

They intend to remain as a government for some time and make the people adapt to the new normal under their rule. They will gradually move toward legalizing themselves as a legitimate government, he told RFA.

The other reason they changed themselves to a civilian government is to gain international recognition. They definitely want international recognition, added Aung Myo Min.

But they underestimate the truth that changing the appearance or name will not change the peoples opinions nor international legal actions, he said.

Reported by San San Tin and Nayrein Kyaw for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Khet Mar. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
But critics see a stunt to gain international recognition for the self-styled 'caretaker government.'

Myanmars junta on Monday released jailed political activists and government employees who took part in anti-coup protests, a day after announcing that it would extend its hold on power, in what observers say was a move meant to appease international critics of its rule.

Mondays amnesty comes a day after military chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing declared himself prime minister in a newly formed caretaker government that will rule through 2023. He said he would release all political detainees who had not played a leading role in anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

Political analysts said the use of the term caretaker is an attempt by the junta that overthrew Myanmars elected government to get recognition as a civilian government at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Among those released Monday were prominent critics of the junta, including the abbot of Myawaddy Mingyi Monastery, Ven. Ariyabiwuntha; Dr. Pyae Pyo Naing, from the Mezaligone Sub-district Hospital of Ayeyarwady regions Ingapu township; and Dr. Than Min Htut, the Chief of the Pathein District Hospital in Ayeyarwady.

The juntas Ministry of Home Affairs said 27 state employees who were imprisoned for joining the CDM would be released in Ayeyarwady region on Monday, while an official from the Yangon Region Prisons Department said that around 20 prisoners would be freed. The names and exact number of those permitted to leave detention were not provided.

Ven. Ariyabiwuntha, who was arrested on the day of the militarys coup detat for criticizing its interference in Myanmars political system, was released from Mandalays Oboe Prison, his lawyer Zey Lin Maung told RFAs Myanmar Service.

He was arrested on Feb. 1 and disrobed that very day. The following day, he was charged under Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation of the military and taken to court for a trial that lasted the next several months, he said.

Finally, on June 15, he was found guilty  and sentenced to six months in prison with labor. It seems he was freed because he had completed his term [on Aug. 2].

Dr. Pyae Pyo Naing, who was arrested on Feb. 11, had been charged under Section 188 of the Penal Code, which prohibits civil servants from refusing to follow orders, and Section 25 of the Disaster Management Law, his lawyer, Hla Tin, told RFA.

Hla Tin said it was not immediately clear why Dr. Pyae Phyo Naings case was closed or why he was released from Hinthada Prison, where he had been held for the past six months.

[The guards] said his brother came to pick him up. As far as I know, he was arrested for joining the CDM, he added, referring to the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement against junta rule.

Dr. Than Min Htut, who was arrested on March 12 and charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for state defamation, was released from Pathein Prison Monday morning, according to a statement on his social media page.

Nothing surprising about this

In a state television statement and a speech by Min Aung Hlaing in civilian attire, the military regime on Sunday extended army control over the country of 54 million people to two-and-a-half years, more than double the one-year emergency the junta announced days after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyis elected government on Feb. 1.

Sundays announcement came exactly six months after the army seized power, alleging that Aung San Suu Kyis landslide re-election victory in the countrys November 2020 election was the result of extensive voter fraud.

The junta, which has yet to produce evidence of its claims, has violently responded to widespread protests, killing 945 people and arresting 5,474, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

On July 26, the junta annulled the results of the 2020 election, drawing condemnation from political parties who condemned the move as illegal and said they will not honor it.

An official from the AAPP told RFA on condition of anonymity that Mondays amnesty was simply a bid by the military to dampen international criticism of its rule.

This is their usual practice, he said. There is nothing surprising about this, nor is there any reason to be thankful. These people shouldnt have been arrested in the first place and they shouldnt have been in prison at all.

The official suggested additional amnesties will occur as pressure continues to build on the regime.

Mondays release comes nearly five weeks after the junta freed 2,296 inmates from various prisons across the country in a move that was greeted with skepticism by critics who called it a stunt to gain international recognition.

Despite the two amnesties, the AAPP estimates that more than 5,400 people remain in custody on politically motivated chargesincluding deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, the chief ministers of various regions and prominent political activists, as well as CDM employees and other civilians.

Dr. Than Min Htut (L) and Ven. Ariyabiwuntha (R) in undated photos. Citizen journalist Bid to prolong power

On Monday, political analysts mostly dismissed Min Aung Hlaings announcement that he was reorganizing the juntas management committee into a caretaker government with himself as prime minister, calling it part of a bid to prolong his grasp on power.

Kyaw Thiha, an NLD candidate who won a seat in parliament in the 2020 elections, results of which the junta annulled last week, said Min Aung Hlaing had planned to rule Myanmar ever since he became commander in chief of the countrys defense forces and that the move was made to secure his role at the top.

He wanted to be No. 1, no matter how deep in poverty it put the country or how many people died as a result. He cannot think of anything else, he told RFA.

Dr. Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a human rights researcher, said Min Aung Hlaing had formed a caretaker government with himself in the role of a caretaker prime minister in civilian clothes to gain international recognition more easily.

It isnt as easy for him as a military leader, he said.

Despite the transformation, some observers predicted that the junta will not easily survive without popular support, noting the brutality it has demonstrated during the past six months.

Thar Tun Hla, chairman of the Rakhine National Party (RNP), said he fears such a lack of support could lead Min Aung Hlaing to extend his control of the country again before the two years of state emergency are up.

We are worried he might come up with additional delays in the long term, he said.

Defending the junta, Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the military-aligned Thayninga Strategic Studies Institute, told RFA the junta had been transformed to govern more effectively.

Its legitimacy will follow automatically after it has taken control of the country and made progress, he said.

Third wave worsens

Amid the political machinations, the coronavirus continues to set records in Myanmar, where the healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of outbreaks.

The countrys public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and have been turning away all but the most seriously ill, while others were forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia.

The number of COVID-19 infections rose Monday to a total of 306,354 with at least 10,061 deaths, according to the juntas Ministry of Health and Sports, although the actual number is believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by charity groups that provide free burial services.

More than 60 percent of reported deaths have occurred in the past month alone, with the number of confirmed cases doubling in the last two months.

On Monday, 16 international aid agencies warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar, citing soaring rates of infections in communities in Kayah state and the eastern Bago region, which have witnessed mass displacement in recent months due to fighting between the military and Peoples Defense Force (PDF) militias formed to protect the public in the wake of the coup.

Healthcare facilities remain shuttered throughout the country as healthcare workers who have joined the CDM face violence and threats, while more than 400 doctors and 180 nurses have been given arrest warrants since the takeover, the agencies said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, lockdown measures, travel restrictions, bureaucratic impediments and insecurity are hampering humanitarian service delivery, they said, adding that cases of food insecurity and indebtedness are expected to climb significantly in the coming months, due to rising food prices, job losses and currency depreciation.

As aid agencies operating in Myanmar, we call on political leaders to do everything possible to assist the people of Myanmar in their hour of need, the statement said.

Their actions should include the immediate  scale up [of] aid and vaccination for all across Myanmar, the groups said, adding that the military must end its attacks on healthcare workers and provide urgent access to assistance for those who require it.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc vows to renew his fast if his demand for a reduced sentence is not met.

Jailed Vietnamese democracy activist Tran Huynh Duy Thuc has ended a months-long hunger strike, his third since October, but said he will starve himself to death if his 16-year sentence for subversion is not reduced to five years, family members say.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc launched his latest strike on Feb. 20 but ended it on July 8 after prison officials visited him six days before to urge him to resume eating, his brother Tran Huynh Du Tan told RFA on Monday, saying his brother had then eaten a little rice and drunk some Ensure nutritional milk.

But he told them that he would [resume and] continue his strike even if he has to die, Trans brother said, adding, He said he does not joke around with his life and that he doesnt want to remain in prison any longer.

Either he is released, or he will die, he told them, he said.

Speaking to his family by phone on July 30, just three weeks after ending his strike, Tran said he felt as if he had returned from the brink of death, his brother said. He cant walk by himself, and he has fallen and fainted several times.

Calls to prison authorities at Detention Center No. 6 in Nghe An province seeking comment on Trans condition on Monday were not answered.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who has already served 11 years of his 16-year prison term, was arrested in May 2009 for writing online articles criticizing Vietnams one-party communist state and was convicted in 2010 on charges of plotting to overthrow the government under Article 79 of Vietnams 1999 Penal Code.

He is now demanding that charges against him be changed to involvement in preparation to commit a crime, an offense calling only for a five-year term of imprisonment under Vietnams revised 2015 Penal Code, and Trans family and lawyers have tried several times to petition authorities for his sentence to be reduced.

Continuing source of concern

Trans health in prison has been a continuing source of concern to his family following a series of hunger strikes.

In July 2019, Tran began a hunger strike over poor conditions in detention, including the removal of electric fans from cells in the soaring summer heat, and an earlier strike in August 2018 left him exhausted and thin after he protested police pressure on him to admit his guilt in the offenses for which he was jailed.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Vietnam 175 out of 180 in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index. About 25 journalists and bloggers are being held in Vietnams jails, where mistreatment is common, the Paris-based watchdog group said.

Vietnams already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply last year with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress held in January. Arrests continue in 2021.

Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney.
A Belarusian journalist has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of insulting the country's authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and slandering two police officers.



The verdict in the case against Syarhey Hardzievich, 50, comes as part of a massive government crackdown in Belarus on independent media, human rights defenders, and activists.



The journalist from Drahichyn, a city 300 kilometers southwest of Minsk, was also ordered by a Belarusian court to pay a $1,600 fine, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said on August 2.



The charges against Hardzievich stem from messages in a Telegram chat group that were deleted last year.



Hardzievich, who worked for a popular regional news outlet, The First Region, rejects the charges.



The Vyasna human rights center declared Hardzievich a political prisoner.



Vyasna says that, in July alone, Belarusian police have conducted more than 200 raids on the offices and apartments of activists and journalists. Dozens of journalists remain in custody either awaiting trial or serving their sentences.



Belarusian authorities have ramped up pressure against nongovernmental organizations and independent media as part of a brutal crackdown against those who dispute the official results of the August 2020 presidential election.

Election officials declared Lukashenka the winner, but demonstrators and opposition leaders say the results were rigged in his favor.

With reporting by AP
YEREVAN -- Armenian President Armen Sarkisian appointed acting Prime Minister Nikola Pashinian to the post of prime minister on August 2, the first day of the parliament's new term following an election six weeks ago.

Sarkisian signed the relevant decree after the ruling Civil Contract party nominated Pashinian to the post as lawmakers started the inaugural session.

Pashinian has 15 days to win approval for a cabinet from parliament.

His Civil Contract party holds 71 of the legislature's 101 seats since snap elections in June prompted by a crisis following a truce in intense fighting with neighboring Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby districts.

The 44-day eruption of a decades-long unresolved war with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Azerbaijani territory concluded with a Moscow-brokered truce in November that cemented Azerbaijani control over regions that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians for almost 30 years.

Street protests broke out in which Pashinian's opponents blamed him for the loss of control over the territories to the bigger and better-equipped Azerbaijani military.

Pashinian and his supporters have said former leaders of the country, including ex-Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, were also responsible for the war's outcome.
A senior EU official is due in Lithuania on August 2 to discuss further measures to curb the growing number of people illegally crossing the border from Belarus.

Lithuanian authorities have reported a sharp increase in irregular arrivals in its territory from Belarus in recent months in what is seen as revenge by Minsk after the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions on Alyaksandr Lukashenka's repressive regime.

Lithuania has also become a center for the Belarusian opposition, led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, since a disputed presidential election last year.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson will meet Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte in Vilnius, according to Brussels. She is then due to visit the Padvarionys border crossing point, together with Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite.

Within one day, almost 200 people crossed the border earlier this week, bringing the total number of intercepted migrants this year to 3,500 -- compared to 81 in the whole of last year. Most of them have applied for asylum.

The Baltic country, which shares a nearly 680-kilometer border with Belarus, accuses Minsk of deliberately allowing migrants across its borders.

Lukashenka has repeatedly threatened to allow migrants from war zones such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to cross into the EU in response to sanctions imposed on Minsk following the disputed presidential election in August last year and a subsequent crackdown on those protesting the strongman's claim that he won reelection by a landslide.

Additional border guards from the EU border agency Frontex have already been sent to the country in recent weeks and more are set to follow.

In her talks with Lithuanian lawmakers, Johansson plans to outline more closely the nature of additional EU support.

More EU sanctions on Belarus are also a possibility.

With reporting by dpa
Mohammad Mosaed, an Iranian journalist who fled Iran last year to escape a prison sentence, says he is in the United States.



Writing on Twitter, Mosaed said he arrived six months after crossing the border into Turkey during winter, which he said made his escape more difficult.



Mosaed said he was grateful to the U.S. administration for allowing him into the country.



He added that he aims to remain independent and will not become the employee of any government, including the United States'.



Mosaed vowed to continue to raise his voice like millions of Iranians whose voices have not been silenced "by batons and bullets, nor by money and filtering."



Mosaed fled to Turkey in January by foot after being summoned by Iranian authorities to serve a nearly five-year prison sentence on charges of "colluding against national security" and "spreading propaganda against the system."

Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court had also banned Mosaed from conducting journalism activities and from using all communications devices for two years.



The Committee To Defend Journalists (CPJ) had described the ruling as a further attempt by Iranian authorities to try to "suppress the truth."



A freelance economic journalist who had worked for several reformist publications, Mosaed was detained in late 2019 after posting a tweet critical of an Internet shutdown imposed by Tehran during the violent November 2019 antiestablishment protests sparked by a sudden rise in the price of gasoline.



"Knock knock! Hello Free World! I used 42 different [proxy sites] to write this! Millions of Iranians don't have [I]nternet. Can you hear us?" Mosaed tweeted with the hashtag #Internet4Iran that Iranians had been using to protest the Internet blackout. His tweet went viral and days later he was detained for two weeks.



Mosaed was again detained for several hours a few months later by the feared intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for criticizing the establishment on social media, including the country's slow response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.



While in custody, Intelligence agents ordered Mosaed to delete his Telegram channel and suspended his Twitter account, the CPJ reported.



The CPJ awarded Mosaed its 2020 International Press Freedom Award for his courage covering corruption, demonstrations, and the Iranian government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.



Scores of Iranian journalists have in past years been summoned, harassed, threatened, and sentenced to prison.



Many have been forced to leave the country.

In December, authorities executed Ruhollah Zam, the manager of the popular Telegram channel Amadnews accused of inciting violence during Iran's 2017 protests.



The execution sparked a chorus of protests and condemnations, including by the CPJ, which said Iran's government had now joined "the company of criminal gangs and violent extremists who silence journalists by murdering them."



Iran is ranked 174 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
Tehran warned on August 2 that it would respond swiftly to any threat to its security, as the United Kingdom summoned the Iranian ambassador over what London and allies say was a deadly attack on a commercial ship off the coast of Oman ordered by Tehran.



Britain, the United States, and Israel have accused Iran of being behind what they say was a deadly bombing last week by an unmanned drone on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.



All three have said they will work with allies to respond to the July 29 incident, which killed a Briton and a Romanian aboard the ship.



"Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure," Iranian state TV quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Said Khatibzadeh, as saying.



The same day, Britain summoned the Iranian ambassador in London in connection with the attack.



"Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security," a British government statement announcing the summons said, adding that "vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law."



The Mercer Street attack marks what is thought to be the first fatal attack on commercial shipping since antagonism and tensions were ratcheted up amid naval confrontations in the vital shipping routes through the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.



Those incidents have piled up since the United States withdrew in 2018 from a 3-year-old nuclear agreement between world powers and Tehran trading sanctions relief for checks on Iran's disputed nuclear program.



British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on August 1 that "We believe this attack was a deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran."



The U.S. Navy escorted the damaged vessel to a safe port and said evidence "clearly pointed" to a drone attack.



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.



Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accused Tehran of a "cowardly" denial of responsibility, while his foreign minister suggested the attack merited a harsh response.



Iranian television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Khatibzadeh as saying he "strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the British foreign secretary against Iran, which were repeated by the U.S. secretary of state in the same context and contained contradictory, false, and provocative accusations."

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
BISHKEK -- The ousted first president of independent Kyrgyzstan has returned from Russian exile to Bishkek for questioning in connection with an investigation into possible corruption around one of the world's biggest gold mines.

It is ex-President Askar Akaev's first trip to the post-Soviet Central Asian republic since he fled peaceful pro-democracy rallies in 2005.

He was immediately taken to Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UNMK), which said he was sought in connection with a probe into the development of the Kumtor gold mine.

After the questioning, Akaev told journalists outside the UKMK offices that he was "very happy" to be back in his native country and thanked President Sadyr Japarov for "allowing" him to visit Bishkek.



Akaev did not elaborate on the investigation or questioning, saying that the probe is still under way and adding, "I came to help the government with the investigations and further development of our country."



He also said that "there might have been some mistakes" during his tenure as Kyrgyzstans president.

Kumtor has been a target of financial and environmental disagreements for years and is currently the subject of an ongoing battle for control between the Kyrgyz state and the mine's operator, Canadian Centerra Gold.

UKMK chief Kamchybek Tashiev said on July 8 that Akaev and another exiled former Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiev, had been added to the international wanted list as part of the Kumtor corruption probe.

Tashiev said the Kyrgyz government intends to prove in international court that Centerra Gold paid bribes to top Kyrgyz officials.

Akaev fled to Russia during the so-called Tulip Revolution in 2005.

Bakiev has been in exile in Belarus since being toppled by anti-government protests in 2010.

The giant Kumtor gold project has been the focus of international attention since a new Kyrgyz government moved to temporarily take over operations at the mine over what President Japarov said was a necessary move to remedy environmental and safety violations.

In May, the Kyrgyz government approved a law allowing it to take control for up to three months of any company that operates under a concession agreement in Kyrgyzstan if that firm violates environmental regulations, endangers the local environment or the lives of people, or causes other significant damage.

Centerra has called the Kyrgyz actions "wrongful and illegal" and said in July that it had filed additional arbitration claims against the government in Bishkek over Kumtor.

In recent months, Kyrgyz authorities have arrested several former officials and current lawmakers in connection with the case.

Akaev was president from 1990-2005 but since his departure had avoided returning to Kyrgyzstan even for the burial of close relatives.
More than 180,000 people have signed an online petition opposing a Russian law enacted this month that allows for the hunting of animals on the endangered species list.

The law says that in order to monitor, regulate reproduction rates, and prevent mass diseases, hunting such animals is allowed "for scientific purposes."

It came into effect on August 1.

Environment activists have argued against the law for months, saying the new regulation will pave the way to illegal hunting and poaching, citing previous cases when officials in some Russian regions hunted endangered wildlife.

Their main concerns are about such endangered species as snow leopards, polar bears, Siberian tigers, saiga antelopes, and others that inhabit Russia.

The "scientific research" rationale echoes a longtime argument by Japanese officials that has allowed the continuing hunting of endangered whales in protected waters despite the meat from such hunts appearing in food shops.

The signature drive protesting the new Russian legislation continues online.
A court in central Russia has sentenced a Ukrainian citizen to more than three years in prison after convicting him of trying to smuggle parts from a Russian missile system to Ukraine.



Ukraine is fighting a seven-year war against Russia-backed separatists and Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged on August 2 that the man has "links to the Security Service of Ukraine."



Russian media reports about the conviction, by the Yoshkar-Ola City Court in the Volga region's Republic of Mari El, did not disclose the man's identity.



A court in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don last week sentenced a Russian and an Armenian to between 9 1/2 and 10 1/2 years in prison after finding them guilty of trying to smuggle parts of a S-300 missile system to Ukraine.



Russia has arrested and convicted multiple Ukrainian and Russian citizens on charges of spying for Ukraine or providing Kyiv with classified information.



Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been tense since 2014, when Russia forcibly seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and armed Russia-backed separatists ignited a conflict in eastern Ukraine that has left more than 13,200 people dead.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
The U.S. State Department has rejected a claim by Russia's ambassador to the United States who said Washington had asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country by September 3 after their visas expired.



State Department spokesman Ned Price said on August 2 that the Russian diplomats "can apply for an extension" of their visas. Such "applications are reviewed on a case by case basis," he added.



In an interview with the National Interest magazine, Russian envoy Anatoly Antonov said that the embassy received a list of 24 Russian diplomats who are expected to leave by September 3.



"Almost all of them will leave without replacements because Washington has abruptly tightened visa-issuing procedures," Antonov said in the interview published on August 1.



Last week, the State Department said it had laid off 182 local employees from its diplomatic missions in Russia ahead of an August 1 deadline set by the Kremlin to do so.



The move by the Kremlin came after Washington expelled Russian diplomats from the United States and tit-for-tat closures of diplomatic facilities in both countries amid deteriorating relations.



Russia announced its ban after President Joe Biden signed an executive order on April 15 outlining the expulsions of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against dozens of Russian individuals and entities.



Biden signed the order in response to Russian interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the arrest of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, and other actions against the United States and its interests.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Seven-year-old Hudson Domack stands with South Kingstown Police Officers in the hopes of encouraging others to donate blood. Domack hopes to inspire 96 donations by mid-August, the same number of transfusions he had as an infant in life-saving treatment.
MANSFIELD  It was me.

I wrote the headline and used the word pot as a synonym for marijuana or cannabis in a story I wrote earlier this week about a groups effort to get the psychoactive plant legalized for recreational use.

I had around 300 choices. There are hundreds of names for the controversial flora. My reasoning for ending up with pot is a bit anti-climactic.

Here it is: Its short, punchy  good for headlines.

Some readers balked at the use of the word, decrying it as slang. One particularly verbose, yet, articulate, commenter on Facebook feared the use of the word pot promulgated the negative stigma surrounding marijuana use.

Cannabis use isnt about smoking pot in a shed behind the school, wrote Adrienne Krizan.

She went on to provide examples of some of the medical benefits of marijuana. Her take that the word "pot" had a negative connotation is something we kicked around in the newsroom at length.

I know there is a stigma around marijuana use. No argument there.

However, the comment did pique my interest about pot and its usage. Where does it come from?

Instead of participating in the tone-deaf back-and-forth that so often unfolds on social media, I decided to do some research. And then I shared my findings with my colleagues. Then, my editor suggested I write a column.

So, here goes.

The Associated Press Stylebook, a journalists bible, has this to say about the plant with many monikers.

Marijuana is the dried flower of the cannabis plant and is used as a drug for recreational or medical purposes. Use marijuana on first reference generally; pot and cannabis are also acceptable. Some prefer cannabis because of arguments the term marijuana was popularized in the United States in the early 20th century to stoke anti-Mexican sentiment. Slang terms such as weed, reefer, ganja or 420 are acceptable in limited, colloquial cases or in quotations.

The entry goes on to provide clarity on additional terminology and usage details. According to the AP and my journalism camrades, I did nothing wrong.

Now, I know language is fluid. It changes and molds like clay. Some people, or cultures, use words that might carry different meaning for others.

So it doesn't escape me that pot could carry negative connotations for some.

Personally, pot is not slang. It means what it means, and to me, it means marijuana, or cannabis  whether its being used medically or recreationally.

A quick Google search on the origins of pot will call up an article on Dictionary.com. The word came into use in America in the 1930s. The theory explains it as a shortening of the Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya, a shortened version of potacion de guaya.

The literal meaning is potion, or, drink, of grief. It is a wine or brandy in which marijuana buds have been steeped.

Another theory exists that the word refers to a teapot, referencing another early usage of marijuana-infused tea.

Scholars and linguists alike, though, admit these theories lack evidence.

So, who knows.

I just know I wont stop using the term  both in spoken and written language  any time soon.

Dillon Carr is an Ontario High School and Ohio State University graduate. He is a reporter at Ashland Source.
Rocky Mount, NC (27804)

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Sanford, NC (27330)

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A higher than normal heatwave has struck Greenland, subjecting its ice sheet to a massive melting event, with an ice melt supposedly enough to cover the entire state of Florida with water.

Danish researchers who have been monitoring the site since Wednesday, July 28, have noted that the vast ice sheet covering the Arctic location has already melted at a rate of about 8 billion metric tons each day. This year's massive melting event is almost twice the normal average during summertime, the researchers reported via the Polar Portal, the platform run by Danish research institutions monitoring the Greenland Ice Sheet and the sea ice surrounding the Arctic.

ALSO READ: Melting Polar Ice Caps: What are Its Effects on the Earth's Rotation? Here's What Expert Says

Runoff Enough To Cover Florida

According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, parts of the ice sheet have registered temperatures of more than 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), which is more than twice the normal average summer temperature. Additionally, Nerlerit Inaat airport, located in Sermersooq in easter Greenland, recorded 74.1 degrees Fahrenheit (23.4 degrees Celsius) - the highest temperature logged since the airport started recording.

In its Twitter update, the Polar Portal explains that the recent massive melting event is "enough to cover Florida with two inches of water." It also noted that while it's not yet as severe as the 2019 melt in terms of gigatons of ice, the area affected by the ongoing melt is slightly larger than that from two years ago.

In 2019, the Greenland Ice Sheet saw its greatest recorded ice loss. According to NASA, it shed 532 billion tons of ice, surpassing 463 billion tons of ice melted back in 2012. A 2020 study published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal reported the melt using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment - Follow On (GRACE-FO) satellite mission.

The Greenland Ice Sheet

The massive Greenland Ice Sheet covers about 660,000 square miles (1.7 million square kilometers) of land area, equivalent to almost 80% of the nation of Greenland. It is currently the second-largest ice sheet left on Earth, after the larger Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has been recorded at least since the 1990s, with an accelerated rate noted since 2000. Polar Portal researchers say that the mass lost from the ice sheet in recent years is about four times as much as the cumulative losses from before 2000. According to the 2001 document Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis from the IPCC, should the Greenland Ice Sheet melt completely, it would raise the ocean levels around the world by 24 feet (7.2 meters).

Another study, published in the Nature Communications Journal, examines the recent Greenland Ice Sheet contributions to global sea-level rise in the context of the CMIP 6 design, an experimental framework that assesses multiple climate change models, considering a variety of factors to assess their effect. It suggested that at the rate it is going, ocean levels could see an increase of about 10 to 18 centimeters by 2100, an estimate 60% faster compared to previous estimates.

However, researchers are optimistic about the cool start to this year's summer season, making the ice retreat this year still within historically acceptable values.

RELATED ARTICLE: Greenland Ice Sheet Leaking Dangerous Levels of Mercury into Rivers and Waterways

Check out more news and information on the Greenland Ice Sheet in Science Times.
Have you returned your ballot?

Aug. 3 marks the primary election in Seattle, and data from King County Elections shows that only 17.39% of voter's ballots have been returned and counted. Countywide, 16.69% of ballots have been returned, according the the latest ballot return statistics.

In the primary election, voters will pick top contenders who will face off in the general election in November. This year has drawn a record amount of candidates, with a total of 646 filing with King County Elections to run for office. Of that, 217 candidates will appear on the Primary ballot.

From the issues at stake to important dates, here's everything you need to know about the upcoming primary.

Can I still register to vote?

You can still register in person at the King County Elections Office in Renton or at a Voting Center up until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

What's on the ballot?

Seattle voters will decide who will advance to the general election for several seats on the Metropolitan King County Council, including Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. King County Executive, who leads the council, is also up for election, with incumbent Dow Constantine running against former state Sen. Joe Nguyen and several other candidates.

With incumbent Mayor Jenny Durkan not seeking reelection this year, Seattle residents will choose between 15 candidates for the city's highest position, advancing the top two to the general election.

Two Seattle City Council seats, Positions 8 and 9, are also up for election. Current Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda has raised more money than any other candidate for Position 8 and will likely advance. Position 9 is set to be a tighter race between Fremont Brewing co-owner Sara Nelson, activist and 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver and Council President Lorena Gonzalez's legislative aide, Brianna Thomas, all seeking the position.

Seattle City Attorney is another position up for grabs. Incumbent Pete Holmes is seeking his fourth term, running against public defender Nicole Thomas-Kennedy and Ann Davison, who ran for lieutenant governor last year as a Republican.

A full list of candidates for each position can be found here.

There is one ballot measure that will be voted on by the entire county: an extension of the "Best Starts for Kids" levy, which was approved in 2015. Several other special purpose districts may have their own ballot measures. A full list of the measures can be found here.

GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM

How do I return my ballot?

If you are returning to a drop box, it must be submitted by 8 p.m. on Aug. 3 to be counted. There might be lines from last-minute voters, so plan ahead. The nearest drop box location can be found here.

Those who need extra assistance completing their ballot can also go to one of the county's six voting centers.

If you plan on returning your ballot by mail, it must be postmarked by Aug. 3. Postage is not required for returning your ballot. However, King County Elections does not recommended that voters return ballots via mail this close to the primary, and instead suggests voters find their nearest drop box to ensure their ballot is counted in time.

What if I didn't get my ballot?

If you are a registered voter in the county and did not receive your ballot in the mail, call King County Elections at 206-296-8683.

How can I track my ballot?

View your registration information and track your ballot here.
Washington whale watchers are mourning the loss of the southern resident orca pod's oldest male, Cappuccino (K21), who is presumed to be dead after found in distress last week in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with a completely collapsed dorsal fin.

The cause of death is still undetermined, but could include starvation, a chronic disease such as cancer, or both according to Paul Cottrell of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans Marine Mammal Unit.

The Orca Behavior Institute reported that while K21 was swimming far behind the rest of the pod, there were no signs of physical injuries, ruling out the likelihood of a ship strike. At 35 years old, it is more likely that K21 died of illness. The average lifespan of male killer whales is 30 years.

Born in 1986, K21 was one of the most identifiable residents with check-mark-shaped saddle patches and a notch in his tall dorsal fin. He had been living without any immediate family members after the death of his sister in 2012 and was later "adopted" by K16, a female known as Opus, who was born just a year before him.

Institute Director Monika Wieland Shields suggested that K21 might have chosen to be alone in his final moments, explaining why he fell behind the rest of the pod and was swimming alone.

"In recent years, all three Southern Resident pods have gathered several times in the Salish Sea alongside a birth or death in the population," Shields wrote in a Facebook post. "We will never know for sure why they all chose to come here now, or how they made the decision of whether or not to be with K21 in this moment. While there are many similarities between us and them, it is important to remember that whale culture is not human culture. I trust them to handle these difficult moments in the way that is right for them."

With K21 presumed dead, the number of southern resident orca whales drops to 74. Only one whale calf has been born this year, a female (L125) in the L pod born in February. Last year, the J pod welcomed two new calves within a single month of each other: one female, born to Eclipse, and one male, born to Tahlequah. The K pod  the smallest of the three resident pods  has not had any viable offspring since 2011.

The habitat of the endangered orca whales did receive new federal protections last week. The National Marine Fisheries Service finalized rules to expand the orca's critical habitat from the Canadian border all the way down to Point Sur in California, adding 15,910 square miles of foraging areas, river mouths and migratory pathways.

"These critically endangered orcas are finally getting the federal habitat protections they desperately need," said Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This long-overdue habitat rule will help save these extraordinary animals and their prey from pollution, noise, harassment and habitat degradation."
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  The Afghan president on Monday blamed the American troops' speedy pullout for the worsening violence in his country and said that his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the rapidly advancing Taliban.

Ashraf Ghani also urged lawmakers to back a national mobilization drive against the Taliban amid an intensifying war between the Taliban and Afghan government forces over the past few months as U.S. and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-torn country.

An imported, hasty peace process  a reference to Washington's push for negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban  not only failed to bring peace but created doubt and ambiguity" among Afghans, Ghani said in his address to Parliament.

The Afghan president arrived by helicopter for the extraordinary session of the house, called because of the dire situation on the ground. Ghani touched down at the Darul Aman Palace in Kabul and inspected an honor guard before heading inside.

The Taliban are now trying to seize provincial capitals after already taking large swaths of land and scores of districts in more rural areas, as well as several key border crossings with neighboring countries.

The Taliban do not believe in lasting or just peace," Ghani said. He predicted a sea change on the battlefield in the next six months" that would push the Taliban back, without elaborating.

He claimed that Afghan forces are up to the task and have the capacity" to defeat the insurgents. But in past weeks, Afghan forces have struggled against the Taliban onslaught, and have often been left without reinforcements and resupplies.

Hours after the president's remarks, Taliban fighters seized control of Helmand province's government radio and TV building in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. Resident Haji Sadullah said they broadcast religious songs and invited people to follow their path for close to an hour on both AM and FM frequencies,

Government officials did not immediately comment. The building is located 400 meters (a quarter mile) to the north of the provincial governor's office, which is still under the control of the government along with a few other government installations.

Taliban were announcing that Radio Sharia started broadcasting after almost 20 years, Sadullah said.

On Sunday, the Afghan armed forces spokesman, Gen. Ajmal Omar Shinwari, told reporters that three provinces in southern and western Afghanistan face critical security situations. Southern Kandahar  the birthplace of the Taliban  as well as Helmand and Herat provinces have witnessed several attacks.

Helmand provincial council chief Attaullah Afghan said the Taliban now have control of Lashkar Gah's seventh district. On Monday, elite Afghan commando units were dispatched to help defend the city.

There has been relentless gunfire, air strikes and mortars in densely populated areas. Houses are being bombed, and many people are suffering severe injuries, said Sarah Leahy, Helmand coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.

The group, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, said in a statement Monday that life in Lashkar Gah was at a standstill as residents hunker down inside their homes, afraid to venture out.

Some of our colleagues are staying overnight in the hospital as its safer, but also so they can keep on treating patients," the organization said. The situation has been dire for months but now it is even worse.

Faizullah, who like many other Afghans goes by one name, told The Associated Press over the phone that he fled Lashkar Gah with his family and was now following the Helmand River to safety. Clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have intensified, he said, and Afghan security forces are out of supplies and food in the city.

Back in Kabul, Ghani claimed his government has the financial and political support of the United States and the international community to turn the tide even as he urged the insurgents to rejoin peace talks.

We either sit knee to knee at the real negotiating table or break their (Taliban) knees on the battleground Ghani said.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's Supreme Court has floated compromises that would block the evictions of dozens of Palestinians in the east Jerusalem of Sheikh Jarrah, where attempts by Jewish settlers to expel them from their homes helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants in May.

The cases examined Monday involve four Palestinian families, numbering a total of about 70 people.

The settlers have been waging a decades-long campaign to evict the families from densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods just outside the walls of the Old City, in one of the most sensitive parts of east Jerusalem.

The settlers say the homes are built on land that was owned by Jews prior to the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim such property, a right denied to Palestinians who lost lands and homes in the same conflict. The Palestinians say they have owned the properties for decades.

The cases have been swirling through the legal system for years, and lower courts have approved the evictions of the four families. The Supreme Court had been scheduled to issue its ruling in May, but delayed its decision after the attorney general, in light of heightened tensions, requested more time to consider the cases.

During Monday's hearing, the Supreme Court proposed a pair of compromises, according to Ir Amim, a Jerusalem human rights group that supports the Palestinians and which sat in on the hearing.

It said the first proposal offered the residents protected status, meaning they would be protected from eviction for years in exchange for recognizing the settlers' ownership over the land. This offer would allow the four families the right to pass down their properties for two generations.

But after the four families rejected the proposition, the court proposed an alternative settlement where the four families would receive protected status while instead acknowledging that Israel once registered the properties with previous Jewish owners, according to Ir Amim. It said the settlers rejected that proposal, while the families asked for more time to consider it.

The settlement was very challenging, especially with the implied acknowledgment of the ownership of the other side, said Ahmad Amara, a consultant to the residents legal team. He said the court gave the sides one week to respond.

The plight of the Sheikh Jarrah families has drawn widespread international attention and criticism of what Palestinians and human rights groups say are discriminatory Israeli property laws aimed at pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem to preserve its Jewish majority. The Israeli rights group BTselem and the New York-based Human Rights Watch both pointed to such policies as an example of what they say has become an apartheid regime.

Weeks of unrest  highlighted by heavy-handed Israeli police tactics against residents and demonstrators who supported them  contributed to the heightened tensions that erupted into war on May 10, when Hamas militants in Gaza, claiming to be defenders of the holy city, fired a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem.

A cease-fire took effect May 21, but the long-running campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families continued.

The threatened evictions fueled protests and clashes in the run-up to the war and pose a test for Israels new governing coalition, which includes three pro-settlement parties and a small Islamist faction. For the sake of unity, the government has tried to sideline Palestinian issues to avoid internal divisions.

During a visit to the region in May, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged Israel to refrain from moves that could reignite tensions, including the Sheikh Jarrah evictions.

Israel has determined the homes were owned by Jews before the 1948 war surrounding the country's creation.

After that war, Jordan controlled east Jerusalem. The families, who were made refugees during the 1948 war, say that Jordanian authorities offered them their homes in exchange for giving up their refugee status.

Things changed after Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 Mideast war, and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state and view east Jerusalem as their capital.

In 1972, settler groups told the families that they were trespassing on Jewish-owned land. That was the start of a long legal battle that in recent months has culminated with eviction orders against 36 families in Sheikh Jarrah and two other east Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Israeli rights groups say other families are also vulnerable, estimating that more than 1,000 Palestinians are at risk of being evicted.
This graphic includes the number of Master Loggers and wood-related businesses in each county and illustrates the importance of the forest industry to state's economy.
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Keene, NH (03431)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 61F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

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A few passing clouds. Low 61F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Monday, Aug. 2, and if it seems like theres more traffic congestion on weekends, youre right. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

While the coronavirus vaccines are effective at preventing serious outcomes from COVID-19 and are very good at preventing infections, evidence that breakthrough infections are not as rare as previously believed is growing.

The culprit appears to be the highly infectious delta variant, which is the dominant strain across the country and is testing the strength of the vaccines. This has led to public health setbacks and rapidly increasing infection rates.

It is COVID on steroids. In many ways this is a different virus than the virus we were dealing with earlier this year, said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Read more from Erin Allday about what makes the delta variant so infectious and able to overwhelm vaccine immunity.

 Data shows that this age group is driving the latest coronavirus surge in San Francisco.

 A recently released report about the delta variant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could mean the return of mask mandates in the Bay Area.

 The CDC report released Friday points to an increase in breakthrough infections in a highly vaccinated Massachusetts community.

 The CDC says the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox. Heres what that means.

 Dozens of fully vaccinated staff members at two San Francisco hospitals have developed COVID-19 over the past month and a half.

 Weekend traffic in the Bay Area is much closer to reaching 2019 levels, and some cases have exceeded it.

An outdated symbol?

Leah Millis/The Chronicle 2016

More than 40 years ago, Gilbert Baker created a rainbow flag as a decoration for San Franciscos Gay Freedom Day Parade. Its become a symbol for the gay community and was intended to represent inclusion and liberation.

Now some in the LGBTQ community are questioning whether it is an outdated symbol that is favored by primarily white, cisgender queer people. Today, many different flags are being raised to represent the LGBTQ community.

The debate over what flag should fly from the pole at Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market streets has provoked strong feelings, writes Tony Bravo.

Around the Bay

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

 Back to school: Bay Area schools are expected to reopen this month for in-person learning, but things will not look normal for the highly anticipated return. From Heather Knight: A shortage of staff to provide child care for kids before and after school has S.F. parents scrambling.

 Closing the rental gap: Rents in some affordable U.S. cities are catching up with S.F. amid a national rebound. Rent relief: Visit this interactive county-by-county map to find out how you can receive rental assistance.

 California wildfires: The Dixie Fire grew by 3,600 acres in Northern California on Sunday. Also: The survival of a camp that offers low-income residents a chance to enjoy the Sierra is in jeopardy after a wildfire evacuation last week.

 Helping or hurting? A slew of recent disability lawsuits filed in S.F.s Chinatown is alarming shopkeepers and D.A. Chesa Boudin.

 A cool summer: For the first time in more than 50 years, S.F.s temperatures didnt reach the 70s in July.

 No new information: A weekend search for a missing Berkeley runner yields no new clues.

 Costly and controversial: San Francisco could require gas appliances be switched to electric because natural gas is the second largest polluter in the city.

 Criminal charges? Shasta Countys D.A. says PG&E is criminally responsible for the 2020 Zogg Fire, which killed four people.

 From Joe Garofoli: A recent poll shows most Californians believe crime is getting worse, but most also dont want a return to get-tough-on-crime solutions.

An outdoor lovers dream

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

The Bay Area Ridge Trail is about 70% complete, covering nearly 400 miles through all nine Bay Area counties.

But many gaps remain to make the route one contiguous hiking path that could put it in the ranks of the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. Completion is challenging in the populated metro region and requires coordination among land management groups, local governments and individual property owners.

Read more from Gregory Thomas about what it will take to finish the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

Also: Efforts to crack down on Lake Tahoe vacation rentals are once again ramping up in parts of the region to address a growing housing crisis.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown, Anna Buchmann and Kellie Hwang and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact the writers at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com, anna.buchmann@sfchronicle.com and kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com.
Federal courts in California have for years been deluged with suits accusing businesses of violating the rights of disabled customers with ramps, curbs, sales counters and other structures that fail to meet legal standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But a series of recent suits filed in San Franciscos Chinatown is alarming shopkeepers and angering District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

One defendant is Fanly Chen, owner of the GoApple store in Chinatown, which repairs cell phones and sells accessories. Chen, the single mother of a 9-year-old boy, says she is almost a year behind in her rent because of losses during the pandemic. She was recently served with papers from lawyers for a wheelchair-using customer saying her countertop was too high and warning that she faced damages and legal fees for that and other violations of the disability law.

I couldnt sleep because I dont know what to do, said Chen, who is working with other Chinatown merchants to hire a lawyer. This whole case  I cant afford it.

Neither can other small businesses, said Boudin, who has announced plans to investigate the wave of suits and the lawyers behind them. He has also established a working group, with representatives from the Chinese American community and the disabled community, to advise businesses of their rights and obligations.

There are several reasons for the lawsuits, including limited knowledge of the laws requirements; the cost of compliance, particularly in older buildings; and, in Boudins view, plaintiffs lawyers who are less interested in aiding people with disabilities than in lining their own pockets.

But a principal reason is the federal law itself, adopted to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, transportation and access to any facilities open to the public.

Passed in 1990 with bipartisan support, the ADA, unlike other civil rights statutes, did not assign a federal agency to enforce its guarantee of equal rights for people with disabilities or punish wrongdoers. It left that task to disabled Americans and their lawyers  like the San Diego law firm that has filed more than 1,500 suits in California this year.

The ADA didnt come with resources or effective mechanisms to enforce it, Boudin said in an interview. Thats not fair to the disabled community, not fair to the mom-and-pops, the small businesses targeted in the latest wave of filings. ... These lawsuits are focused far more on enriching plaintiffs lawyers than they are on vindicating disability rights.

But a longtime disability rights lawyer says the law is working the way it was designed to work.

Celia McGuinness of Oakland has sued hotels, restaurant chains and even police officers for violating the rights of people with disabilities and served two terms on the California Commission for Disability Rights, appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She noted that the law, signed by President George H.W. Bush, had strong Republican support  the vote among Senate Republicans was 32-8, and backers included Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Pete Wilson, who later that year would be elected governor of California.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

It was drafted as a small-government solution, that the market would take care of enforcement, McGuinness said. The people who were injured could file lawsuits and the people who caused the harm would end up paying.

And a federal appeals court says even the filing of hundreds of suits by a single plaintiff, which in other contexts might be evidence of abusive litigation, can be traced to the design of the ADA.

In a ruling in 2007, when suits under the law were proliferating, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco noted that the statute allows plaintiffs to sue only for barrier-removing injunctions, not monetary damages. Plaintiffs may also seek attorneys fees, typically at least $25,000 per case, and in California can invoke a state law imposing civil penalties of $4,000 per ADA violation.

As a result, the court said, most ADA suits are brought by a small number of private plaintiffs who view themselves as champions of the disabled. ... For the ADA to yield its promise of equal access for the disabled, it may indeed be necessary and desirable for committed individuals to bring serial litigation advancing the time when public accommodations will be compliant with the ADA.

One such plaintiff is Albert Dytch, 71, a marriage and family therapist in Oakland, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and has filed 180 lawsuits since 2009. As he told the New York Times, The law is subsidizing me to correct things. Then I earn money to defray the exorbitant costs of being disabled.

Californias most prolific ADA law firm is Potter Handy in San Diego, which has an affiliate called the Center for Disability Access and has filed more than 1,500 suits so far this year. Its approach was illustrated in a suit filed in February by Orlando Garcia, one of 157 cases he has filed in San Francisco federal courts.

Garcia has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and travels frequently, the suit said, because he is an ADA tester and actively engaged in finding law-breaking businesses and hauling them before the courts to be penalized and forced to comply with the law.

The suit, still pending, accuses the Chancellor Hotel, on Powell Street in Union Square, of maintaining a website that failed to specify any protections it has for disabled guests, such as the dimensions of doors and desks and whether toilets have grab bars. Garcia has not yet patronized the hotel but is being deterred by its lack of specified facilities and is entitled to $4,000 for the violations, his Potter Handy lawyers said.

Another Potter Handy client, Scott Johnson, has filed thousands of ADA suits  more than 6,250 since 2003, according to the Sacramento Bee. Johnson, a quadriplegic, is also an attorney in Carmichael (Sacramento County) and was criminally indicted in 2019 on charges of failing to report income from his lawsuits and settlements. With the charges still pending, Johnson has shifted his focus to the Bay Area and reportedly has filed more than 1,000 suits in the past two years. Court records show many of the suits have been settled, for sums not publicly disclosed.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Recently, Garcia sued Chinatown businesses, including the Dim Sum Corner restaurant on Grant Avenue. The suit said he visited the restaurant in June and encountered steep entrance ramps, an outdoor dining area bordered by steps rather than ramps, and tables that were too low for his wheelchair, all in violation of the ADA.

The restaurants co-owner, Jaynry Mak, said the suit seemed like kind of a shakedown, and that no one in the restaurant could even recall a wheelchair-using customer in June.

Mak is also a lawyer.

Fortunately with my background, my partners and myself can fight this lawsuit  were not inclined to pay them anything, she said in an interview. But then I thought about all the other merchants in Chinatown, who arent as fortunate, who dont speak the language, who are intimidated by lawsuits. Its extremely stressful for them.

Lily Lo, manager of the Northeast Community Federal Credit Union in Chinatown, said about 170 business and property owners attended a workshop she held two weeks ago, and many reported being hit with disability suits by Garcia and others. Some of the suits claimed lack of access to restaurants as early as March, when the restaurants hadnt yet reopened to indoor dining, Lo said.

I told them you just have to have an attorney to represent you. You cant pay them (the plaintiffs), Lo said. I advised them, be strong, stay positive. Were trying to get businesses together, talking to attorneys to find one or more who can handle multiple cases, she said. Some people say, I just want to get rid of it. I cant sleep.

Meanwhile, Mak said, businesses in Chinatown have been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because of the widespread perception of the disease as a Chinese virus.

Prior to the pandemic we had about 200 storefronts on Grant Avenue, and now only 40 are open, she said. To be hit with these fraudulent, frivolous lawsuits is another challenge for our community (as we) try to get back on our feet.

Boudin said plaintiffs attorneys who are abusing the law for profit could be charged with criminal extortion, could be sued by his office for unfair competition and could also be referred to the State Bar for disciplinary investigation.

Its fine for the suits to target chain companies, public agencies, big entities like ballparks, the district attorney said, but small companies run by immigrants usually lack access to legal help and have little choice but to settle for cash payments.

In response, Dennis Price, an attorney with Potter Handy, said by email: Every single suit filed by our firm is based on investigated and confirmed violations of state and federal law. While it is true we have filed some suits against businesses in Chinatown, that is because those businesses have failed to comply with the law and as a result discriminated against not just our clients, but the disabled community generally.

It is a shame to see DA Boudin, who was elected as progressive, turn his back on civil rights enforcement and engage in this one-sided sensationalism, Price said.

As the lawyer and his colleagues point out, the suits allege violations of legal standards for disability access  inclines of access ramps, width of store aisles, heights of countertops and restroom facilities. Settlements generally require the owner to meet those standards, a mandate that may be expensive but also increases compliance with the law and improves access for other customers with disabilities.

And without a regulatory agency to oversee compliance and punish violators, private lawsuits, even serial filings with virtually identical wording, may be the only practical existing means of enforcing the ADA.

Boudin wants state and federal governments to provide funds for businesses to meet the laws standards. McGuinness, the Oakland disability rights attorney, says the law should place the financial burdens on property owners, whose leases commonly require tenants to pay the costs of accommodating patrons with disabilities and that businesses should not use people with disabilities and their advocates as a convenient scapegoat.

Hene Kelly, former chair of the state Democratic Partys Disability Caucus, said the problem is a law that had really no teeth and served as an invitation to profit-driven lawyers.

Its important to allow all people to be able to get in and get out of the store, in and out of a restaurant, to be able to go to a play and not have to say I cant get in because I cant walk up those stairs, said Kelly, 79, a Democratic Party regional director and a retired schoolteacher who has had periodic mobility problems. On the other hand, theres also the problem of people using this to make their own money.

The solution, if there is one, she said, is for the state to strengthen its disability laws, for local governments to fund repairs in old buildings like those in Chinatown, and for the legal system to deal with abusive attorneys.

Bob Egelko and Carolyn Said are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com, csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter @BobEgelko, @csaid
One of the rarest animals in California, thought to be long gone from its namesake home until recently, the Sierra Nevada red fox will be listed by the federal government as an endangered species, earning it new protections and a chance to rebound.

The fox, whose numbers today are estimated to be below 100 statewide, was rediscovered in the Sierra in 2010. A motion sensor camera taking pictures of wildlife caught an unexpected image of a red fox near Sonora Pass, upending the belief that the animal had been wiped out of the range decades earlier.

A second cluster of red foxes lives north of the Sierra near Mount Lassen, though the endangered status applies only to the southern population. Most of this population is in and around Yosemite National Park.

Listing is not something that were ever happy to see, Josh Hull, supervisor of the listing and recovery division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento, told The Chronicle. But in this case, I think this is a species that will get some good conservation attention.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said the decision to list the Sierra Nevada red fox as endangered would be published Tuesday in the Federal Register. It will go into effect 30 days later.

The animal is already protected under the California Endangered Species Act, but the additional designation is expected to add new safeguards, such as requiring federal agencies to further consider the foxs well-being in their planning, as well as bring more funding for protection programs.

It will help us accelerate the conservation of this species, Hull said.

Red foxes are common in the United States, but the Sierra Nevada red fox is genetically distinct. Its generally a hardier animal able to weather the higher, colder mountain areas that it lives in, generally 8,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level. Its smaller, for example, and its feet are furrier.

While the fox once thrived across the snowy Sierra and southern Cascades, its faced several threats over the past century and a half, starting with trappers, then losing habitat to livestock, logging and coyotes, and most recently struggling with wildfires and drought. The native fox also has begun to breed with non-native foxes, further undermining its genetics and numbers.

Federal officials say the animals decline is sharpest in the Sierra population, raising questions about its long-term ability to reproduce here. Just 18 to 39 individuals are estimated to exist across Alpine, Fresno, Inyo, Madera, Mono and Tuolumne counties.

The Cascade population of the Sierra Nevada red fox, which includes Californias northern group, has not experienced such a slide, officials say. As a result, it was not included in the listing decision.

The decision also did not include designation of critical habitat, a move that often accompanies an endangered species determination in order to protect the land that the struggling species lives on. In this case, though, at least some of the foxs range is already parkland and wilderness with safeguards.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which has been pushing for the listing of the fox for a decade, praised the federal action as a positive first step.

This is probably one of the rarest animals in North America, said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the environmental nonprofit. Its got a really small range. Without some assistance, the Sierra Nevada population could blink out; we could lose it.

Millers group, which has filed two lawsuits to expedite the federal listing decision, said its still reviewing the action to see if it went far enough. Specifically, the organization is looking to see if critical habitat should have been designated for the red fox and whether the Cascade population of foxes deserves similar endangered status.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
Moments after all but two Bay Area counties announced an indoor masking mandate, reactions to the renewed restrictions flooded social media, ranging from frustration to confusion to overwhelming relief.

Though not necessarily a surprise to many Bay Area residents who have been tracking the spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus around the region, the restrictions incited a disconcerting deja vu to bleaker times.

The news seemed to prompt a mix of emotions: relief, anger, confusion and a special kind of fatigue endemic to a pandemic that has has no end in sight.

But for many, the restrictions brought a sense of hope, and appreciation for public health officials who acted in response to growing number of breakthrough cases among vaccinated individuals, and to the increasing number of unvaccinated people who have been hospitalized and in some cases died, from COVID-19.

Other Bay Area residents expressed frustration over the erratic state of public health messaging. Some reserved their ire for the yet-unvaccinated,, a subsection of the population whom many blame for the latest surge.

Last week, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said the city is averaging a daily case rate 10 times higher than it was in early June. Cases among unvaccinated people are double those who are vaccinated, and hospitalizations are eight times higher, according to officials.

But most of all, it seemed, people were worried and confused: Confused about the back-and-forth state of the mask mandate, and worried about what the mercurial state of affairs communicated to people who might be on the fence about getting vaccinated.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

On the fifth anniversary of the killing of an 18-year-old shot to death as he sat in the passenger seat of a car, Oakland Police on Sunday asked the public for help with the unsolved case.

Just before 8 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2016, Jordan Holmes was fatally shot on the 5700 block Avenal Avenue in Oakland. On Sunday, the police released an image of the suspect vehicle -- a 2011 black Acura MDX.
A brush fire ignited Monday morning on a remote island near Oakley, prompting several residents to evacuate by ferryboat.

The blaze is burning on Bradford Island, a 2,172-acre private island located near Oakley in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta inhabited by fewer than a dozen full-time residents.

As of mid-morning Monday, the fire was about half out, but one section was still burning aggressively  and the landowners were on their own in fighting it, said Rob Davies, Board President of the Bradford Island Reclamation District.

Crews from the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District responded to the call around 2:30 a.m. and assisted with evacuations and protecting life safety.

As of Monday morning, the fire had reportedly burned 212 acres and at least six homes, according to fire officials and the reclamation district. Residents who chose to stay were fighting the fire with rented water trucks and trying to siphon water onto the island to flood it with water, Davies said.

Steve Aubert, public information officer for the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, said its unclear how the fire started, but that the blaze was burning in an area rife with peat dirt, which is composed of dead and dying debris and material. Much of the island is used for agriculture and ranching operations.

No injuries or deaths were reported by Monday morning. The fire has now been turned over to the Bradford Island Reclamation District, Aubert said.

Only three residents chose to be evacuated off the island by ferryboat, but the rest chose to stay, Aubert said, adding that since the island is outside of the East Contra Costa Fire District, the district can only assist up to a certain point.

With us being the closest resource, well go assist with life-saving emergencies, but thats all we can do, said Aubert.

Davies said aside from help from the district engineer, several board members and employees, landowners were mostly on their own in trying to fight the blaze.

Weve had to do it before, he said.

In 2010, a blaze broke out on the island, prompting 15 people to evacuate off the island and residents to fight the fire themselves, with hoses, tractors and a single water truck, according to the East Bay Times. The fire caused an estimated $675,000 in property damages.

Davies said part of what is fueling the fire aggressively are the Himalayan blackberry bushes all over the island, which burn quickly because of how much oil they contain.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain
Last Tuesday, a customer at Community Foods Market in West Oakland, upset about the stores indoor mask mandate, threw a bag of groceries at a cashier, shattering glass items that were inside of it, owner Brahm Ahmadi said. Earlier in the month, another customer threw a watermelon at an employee, and in a separate incident the general manager had to duck to avoid a full can of soda that a customer chucked at his head, Ahmadi said.

Since Community Foods Market started asking customers to mask up again in mid-July, verbal animosity and even physical harassment from customers have become a regular occurrence, Ahmadi said. His employees are worn down and stressed out, forced back into the role of public health enforcers amid conflicting local, state and federal guidance over the past few weeks.

For weeks, some businesses have been creating their own policies around masks and proof of vaccination, while others are hesitant to do so out of fear of the potential conflict with customers. But on Monday, Bay Area health officers announced a renewed indoor mask mandate that will apply to everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated, to stem the surge of the highly contagious delta variant. That might take the pressure off business owners.

The restriction applies to Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties and the city of Berkeley.

Ahmadi didnt file police reports about the violent incidents because officers response can be delayed by a few days, he said. Security staff usually try to de-escalate the situation and ask the customers to leave, in some cases escorting them out of the store.

The cashier who had a bag of groceries thrown at her last week called out for the next two shifts, he said. Ahmadi posted about the harassment to Instagram on Sunday with the message in the hope of supporting his staff: Please dont assault us.

We believe this is in everyones best interest but, he said in an interview with The Chronicle, were bearing the brunt of some of the frustration thats being expressed in these unfortunate ways.

Ahmadi supports the new mask mandate to help private businesses like grocery stores, restaurants and bars navigate the issue.

Businesses are not in a good position to enforce public practices with regards to public health, Ahmadi said. Were not equipped for it. We really need public agencies to be the lead and the primary source of enforcement behind these things. Its not realistic to assume the private sector either has the will to lead or the capacity to do so.

Community Foods Market reinstated its mask requirement days after Bay Area officials July 16 recommendation that everyone, regardless of their vaccination status, wear masks indoors again.

Ahmadi said he was relieved, even in the absence of a firm mandate, to have something to hang a mask requirement on. He had reluctantly stopped asking customers to wear masks inside after Californias June 15 reopening, which he said felt premature especially given the lower rates of vaccinations in West Oakland. According to public health data, the ZIP code where the store is located has a 66% vaccination rate, compared to Oaklands overall 68% rate and San Franciscos 77%.

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Were being extra cautious given we serve a population that tends to be more vulnerable or more at risk to COVID, he said.

Throughout 2020 and early 2021, when everyone was still required to wear masks inside businesses, there were few outbursts at Community Foods Market. But now, more customers push back against being asked to wear a mask, Ahmadi said. They cite the fact that theyre vaccinated and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention isnt requiring masks indoors for vaccinated people.

He was relieved to hear Monday about the return of indoor mask restrictions in the Bay Area. He said he hopes it will clamp down on negative outbursts at the grocery store.

Its unfortunate that rising infection rates are forcing reinstatement of mask mandates but we are relieved as a small business to be able to cite the county ordinance when enforcing our own mask policy, Ahmadi said.

Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
Michael Minas flagship space in San Franciscos Financial District is undergoing a major transition: The famed restaurateur has permanently closed his eponymous Middle Eastern fine dining restaurant. In its place, hes opening Estiatorio Ornos a Michael Mina Restaurant, an upscale Greek restaurant emphasizing seafood.

In a sense, the new restaurant is a return to form for Mina, whose national acclaim was born at Aqua, also located at 252 California St. Aqua was also known for seafood, and Mina said he remodeled the restaurant space to feel more lively and social with Aqua in mind. Three tableside carts will rove the dining room, featuring fish; fresh breads and dips like hummus and tirokafteri (whipped feta); and dessert.

And Estiatorio Ornos will employ what Mina is calling a fish sommelier, a seafood expert who will go from table to table describing the days catches and ideal preparations. Whole fish could be crusted in crumbled phyllo dough, or it might be wrapped in grape leaves and then baked in a mound of salt.

Estiatorio Ornos is scheduled to open in September.

Named after Ornos Beach in Mykonos, where Mina recalled a particularly magical evening dining on grilled fish, the 76-seat restaurant aims to capture the warm yet airy vibe of the islands of Greece. There will be a tasting menu but, unlike the outgoing Michael Mina restaurant, there will also be a la carte options and the ability to eat family-style.

Courtesy David Varley

When the restaurant Michael Mina shifted from its Michelin-starred modern American menu to a Middle Eastern tasting menu in 2018, Egypt-born Mina described it as the pinnacle of his career. It held a Michelin star and was the chefs most acclaimed business in his 42-restaurant empire. But his outlook changed during the pandemic.

I think we all got a year to really think about a lot  not just what was going on in our lives at that point but what you really enjoy in your life and in your career right now, he said.

Mina started to miss the energy of Aqua compared to the formality of a tasting menu restaurant. He thought more about his roots in seafood. Most of all, he realized that the most rewarding part of his career over the past several years has been collaborating with other chefs, such as Ken Tominaga at Pabu and Ayesha Curry at International Smoke.

With Estiatorio Ornos, hes working with chefs Girair Jerry Goumroian and Nikolaos Georgousis, who own Meraki Greek Grill in Las Vegas. The restaurants menu reflects what Goumroian and Georgousis grew up eating as well as Mina, who said the history of Greek influence in ancient Egypt is evident in the countrys cuisine.

Mina, Goumroian and Georgousis opened a restaurant called Estiatorio Ornos in Florida last year, but its significantly different than the one that is coming to San Francisco, Mina said. The upcoming restaurant is less than half the size, with more elaborate food. Dishes may also be plated tableside, like rice pudding from the dessert cart packed with traditional Greek sweets.

Provided by Hennessy Dao Collective

While the team hasnt landed on a tasting menu price yet, Mina said he expects most diners will walk away spending $75-$95. In addition to the daily whole fish offerings, there will be regular seafood options like prawns cooked in ouzo, spicy tomato sauce, dill and feta; scallops with quinoa and pistachio; and one of Minas favorites, lobster spaghetti in a tomato sauce cooked low and slow, almost overnight.

Diners less interested in seafood will also find some Greek standards like roasted lemon chicken and oregano-scented grilled lamb chops.

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Wine will reflect the Greek and Mediterranean regions, a similar focus to the original Michael Mina days. And cocktails will feature Greek spirits such as ouzo, mastiha and tsipouro.

When the space is complete, it will have a free-flowing feel to the architecture, with huge windows, pastel colors and billowing curtains. The playlist will be inspired by Mykonos, the island most famous for its nightlife and thumping music.

While Michael Mina carved out a specialty with San Franciscos only Middle Eastern tasting menu, Estiatorio Ornos will also be one of the citys rare high-end Greek restaurants alongside Kokkari Estiatorio.

We can still do Michelin-starred food. We can still do beautiful food, Mina said. But we can do it in a way where its not all a tasting menu.

Estiatorio Ornos. Scheduled to open in September. 252 California St., San Francisco. www.michaelmina.net

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
As San Francisco struggles with an exploding drug epidemic that killed more than 700 people last year, a new city-run response team hit the streets Monday to try to help people who survive an overdose.

The hope is to prevent a future, potentially fatal overdose by directing people to resources and treatment. The influx of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has exacerbated the citys drug crisis over the past few years, with fatal overdoses rising from 441 in 2019 and 259 in 2018.

We know that overdose deaths are preventable and every person who dies is someones son, daughter, friend, or neighbor. It is urgent that we save lives by doing what we know will work best, Mayor London Breed said in a statement. The Street Overdose Response Team is focused on helping people who are most at risk get the help they need to start their recovery.

The new team comes as pressure increases on Breed and the Board of Supervisors to deal with the citys drug crisis. Many advocates say that the city isnt doing enough to directly address the tragedies on the streets, as well as systemic problems  like homelessness and mental health issues  that fuel the crisis.

While the SORT team did its first run in the morning, by the afternoon, at least one person had died of an apparent overdose. Around 3 p.m., a yellow body bag flapped in the wind at the corner of Jones Street and Golden Gate Avenue with a vial of Narcan on the ground.

One man walking by said he called the paramedics when he saw someone laying motionless on the sidewalk, with drool coming down the side of his cheek. The paramedics were unable to save the man with more Narcan, he said. When they left, the police stood guard over the body for about an hour until the Medical Examiner finally came.

The Street Overdose Response Team (SORT) is one of several street crisis teams rolled out recently as officials try to address San Franciscos twin behavioral health crises: addiction and mental illness. San Francisco also recently hired a new head of behavioral health, who will lead the citys attempt to reform its system of care: Mental Health SF, a $100 million-a-year initiative.

SORT  initially made up of a paramedic and public health specialist  will reach out within 72 hours of an overdose and can offer a range of services, including buprenorphine, which helps ease withdrawal; rescue kits that include the overdose reversal drug Narcan; and help getting into substance use treatment facilities or housing or shelter.

San Francisco has limited long-term care options  like residential treatment, housing and case managers  for those who want help. Its unclear how the team will navigate the shortage. The city recently announced plans to add 400 mental health and addiction treatment beds, but the timeline to open some of the beds is uncertain.

Housing and shelter is particularly important because the unhoused are among those most at risk of an overdose. The rate of overdose deaths among homeless people doubled in San Francisco over the past year, accounting for at least one-quarter of all overdose deaths, according to city data.

SORT will start by responding to calls 12 hours a day and ramp up to 24/7 by early 2022. The idea is to make sure patients  who are referred by hospitals, the 911 system and community partners  get follow-up care. The team hopes to be able to work with approximately 700 individuals within the first year. Once its up and fully running, SORT will cost about $5 million a year to operate, according to the health department.

At full expansion, SORT will consist of medical specialists such as doctors and nurses; behavioral health specialists including counselors and psychotherapists; and peer counselors with related, lived experience.

Peer counselors  who are from the community, who have the same life experience as the people were outreaching to  are crucial in helping those who might be resistant to treatment, said Dr. Barry Zevin, the medical director of street medicine at the health department.

SORT is a response to emergency-room doctors and paramedics observing that people are more likely to accept treatment immediately after an overdose, Zevin said, although theres no data to prove that. He added that there is data that show people with addiction disorders are responsive to low-barrier treatment.

Sometimes having a near-catastrophic life event is a time when people reflect on what theyre doing, said Kevin Lagor, a nurse practitioner with the health departments street medicine team. Ultimately all were trying to do is connect people to help if theyre ready for it. We cant force anything on anyone.

Officials said other efforts to stem fatal overdoses include opening a methamphetamine sobering center this fall with 20 temporary beds to connect to care, and expanding access to buprenorphine through telemedicine and by delivering it to high risk housing sites and other locations.

Those overdose interventions  including SORT  will cost around $13 million a year, a fraction of the citys $13.2 billion budget. But the health department will spend a total of $606 million on all behavioral health initiatives this fiscal year, according to a spokesperson, up approximately $70 million from last year.

In addition, the citys budget will add more than $1 billion to tackle homelessness over the next two years, on top of the $600 million existing two-year spending.

Kristen Marshall, director of the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project, which manages the citys overdose response, said that while she deeply respects the people who are part of the SORT team, officials are simply responding to pressure and the new initiative is not a long-term solution. Actual solutions would involve addressing systemic issues  including inadequate access to food, housing and water  that lead to people overdosing, Marshall said.

I dont care how many times you check on them after an overdose, Marshall said. They need dignified housing.

Supervisor Matt Haney said SORT will bring overdose survivors into a larger system of care that may help them access basic needs including housing, food and water. Haneys district includes the Tenderloin and SoMa, where 40% of all overdoses occurred in 2020.

I mean this is not the whole solution. This is a part of the solution, Haney said. If someone has experienced an overdose, the right thing to do, including to address the broader needs that person has, is to have trained public health first responders.

Haney added that funding for 400 new treatment beds, increased street outreach and more counseling services also made it into the budget.

The city is also ramping up the availability of Narcan, expanding to settings such as primary care clinics, housing sites, food pantries and dining halls. Already, the city is seeing a spike in the use of Narcan, which was administered more than 4,200 times in the first six months of 2021 versus 4,300 times in all of 2020.

That sharp rise in Narcan reversals is related to the rise of fentanyl, Zevin said.

Two years ago, I saw virtually no one using fentanyl on purpose in San Francisco, Zevin said. Now, essentially all of my patients are using fentanyl.

While the pace of overdose deaths dipped slightly this year, the share that involved fentanyl held steady at about 75%.

Activists have said one way to cut down on overdoses would be to open a safe drug use site where users are supervised and can access treatment. San Francisco officials have expressed support for such a site, but are waiting on state legislation to permit the sites, which has been delayed.

In the meantime, SORT will try to help save lives. The effort will complement the Street Crisis Response Teams, which began working last year. Those teams have mental health professionals who respond to some 911 calls in place of police, with the goal of helping those who are mentally ill, high on drugs, homeless or all three.

Chronicle staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.

Omar Shaikh Rashad is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: omar.rashad@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @omarsrashad
Josie Lepe/Special to the Chronicle

Facebook employees across the U.S. will be required to wear masks when in the companys offices regardless of vaccination status, the company said Monday. The requirement takes effect Tuesday.

The health and safety of our employees and neighbors in the community remains our top priority. Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants, and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirement in all of Facebooks U.S. offices, regardless of an employees vaccination status, Facebook spokesperson Chloe Meyere said in an email.
Heyward Donigan became Rite Aids CEO months before the coronavirus pandemic brought some big changes to how drugstores operate.

Online sales grew after customers first rushed to stores to stock up on cleaning supplies and then stayed home. Like its rivals, Rite Aid started offering same-day prescription deliveries. The company also partnered with Instacart and DoorDash to deliver other products.

Meanwhile, the drugstore chain dove into a remodeling campaign centered around its pharmacies.

Donigan wants pharmacists to become reliable sources for advice about healthy living. But while company leaders polish Rite Aids health care reputation, they still struggle with how to handle tobacco sales.

The 60-year-old Donigan spoke recently with The Associated Press. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: With sales shifting online, how will consumer behavior change permanently?

A: Besides our e-commerce growth ... we also are seeing significant delivery growth. Were also rolling out buy online, pick up in store. Were meeting customers where they are and allowing this diverse set of delivery and pickup options to be a permanent part of our solution.

Q: How do you expect customers to continue using stores?

A: The vast majority of our customers have been and will continue to come into stores. We want people to consult with the pharmacy. Our store remodels center around the pharmacy experience and, of course, people cant get shots at home. The other important part of our remodel is the beauty area. Our target customers, women between 25 and 49, are looking for an experience and theyre looking for a little bit of a getaway.

Q: Why target that population?

A: Those are people taking care of their children, their pets, their spouses and their parents. I call it buy one, get five free. Its a very rich target. Its a growing segment, and these women are really stressed. They want that experience ... what we call what you want and what you need. What you want, wine. What you need, Tylenol.

Q: With the health emphasis, why are your stores still selling tobacco?

A: We havent publicly come out with the full exit strategy for tobacco. We are thinking through right now whats the right strategy, not just for our customers, but also whats right from a shareholder and a (company performance) perspective. But more to come on that, I expect.

Q: You have around 2,500 locations. Will we ever see drugstores go through another wave of new store construction like we did several years ago?

A: I think right now all of us are making sure we have the right pharmacies in the right locations and enough capital to support the ones we have. And were going to be doing a whole host of different remodels tailored to the local market.
NEW YORK (AP)  Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Monday:

Square Inc., up $25.12 to $272.38.

The digital payments company is buying Afterpay in an all-stock deal valued at about $29 billion.

Parker-Hannifin Corp., down $6.57 to $305.46.

The motion and control technologies company is buying aerospace and defense company Meggitt.

ON Semiconductor Corp., up $4.58 to $43.64.

The semiconductor components maker reported strong second-quarter financial results.

TG Therapeutics Inc., down $7.57 to $27.42.

The biopharmaceutical company reported disappointing second-quarter financial results.

Foot Locker Inc., down $1.20 to $55.86.

The footwear and clothing company is spending more than $1 billion to buy Eurostar and Text Trading Co.

Caterpillar Inc., down $1.59 to $205.16.

The construction equipment company slipped along with the broader industrial sector and market.

Silicon Laboratories Inc., up $6.04 to $155.03.

The technology company announced a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock.

Facebook Inc., down $4.35 to $351.95.

European Union regulators are opening an investigation into the social media company's plan to buy Kustomer.
Seven Bay Area counties  San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Marin and Sonoma  are now mandating that everyone  regardless of vaccination status  wear masks indoors as the delta variant of COVID-19 spreads in the region.

The seven highly vaccinated counties previously recommended, but did not require, masks indoors. Napa and Solano counties are the only Bay Area counties not mandating indoor masking, but Napa County issued a recommendation two weeks ago.

The long-speculated order (which takes effect Tuesday) comes after the CDC updated its mask guidance to recommend that everyone  even those fully vaccinated  wear masks indoors. The CDC report notes that even though vaccinated individuals are at minimal risk of severe disease if a breakthrough infection occurs, there is some evidence vaccinated individuals who become infected can spread the virus to others.

Health officials from the seven Bay Area counties (plus the city of Berkeley, which is under its own public health jurisdiction) formally announced the new order at noon Monday. San Francisco officials signaled last week an indoor mask mandate was where the region was headed.

During the Monday briefing, county health officials did not directly answer questions on how long the mandate would last or whether further measures such as business closures will be considered. Officials said that hospitalization numbers will be closely monitored to determine when the new order will change.

The officials also said that the order is not a ban on indoor dining, as bars and restaurants can continue to operate at full capacity and masks can be removed while eating and drinking.

The county health officials all stated that the vast majority of current hospitalizations are unvaccinated patients, and that when doctors do see a vaccinated patient, that patient is either elderly or has a serious underlying health condition.

The seven Bay Area counties join Los Angeles, Sacramento and Yolo counties in mandating masks indoors for everyone. Those 10 counties make up approximately half of the state of California's population.

At the state level, the California Department of Public Health currently recommends indoor masking and encourages individual counties to convert recommendations to requirements if local officials deem it necessary.

This story is developing and will be updated as more information is made available.
San Francisco is among the most highly vaccinated urban populations in the world, with 77% of residents 12 and older fully vaccinated, the city said in a statement Friday.

Research shows those inoculated individuals are well-protected against severe disease and death, even as the highly contagious delta variant drives up cases in the city and across the country.

Yet despite the majority of San Franciscans receiving jabs in their arms, the thing that keeps city Deputy Health Director Dr. Naveena Bobba up at night is the small portion of the population who is unvaccinated. "The biggest worry right now are our cases are going up quickly in a short period of time," Bobba said. "We know 23% of people havent gotten vaccinated. That represents thousands of people."

San Francisco is averaging 194 new cases a day as of July 24, compared with an average of 27 new daily cases on July 1, according to the city's COVID dashboard. For perspective, at the peak of the pandemic on Jan. 8, the city was recording an average of 373 new daily cases.

Despite the delta surge, deaths and hospitalizations are down dramatically. The city reported 163 deaths in January, compared with five in July. There are 78 COVID patients hospitalized in the city, compared with 256 at the peak.

"We are seeing an uptick in cases due to delta and I think the biggest thing to know is we know vaccines will prevent serious illness and death," Bobba said. "... The vast majority of hospitalizations are in those who are unvaccinated. Even those who are vaccinated and do end up in hospital tend to do OK."

The 23% of San Francisco's population who are unvaccinated translates to about 126,869 individuals. Who are these people? There's no single defining characteristic, but the city's vaccination data reveals some trends.

20- to 30-somethings make up the largest group not getting vaccinated

The percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated for the virus to die off and protect unvaccinated people is unknown, since COVID-19 is a new virus and research is ongoing. But in San Francisco, 77% clearly hasn't been enough to fully stop spread, with cases still on the rise.

Young adults, 25 to 34 years old, are the age group with the highest number of unvaccinated people; they are also the largest age group in the city.

"Their vaccination rate is lagging and as a number that's significant because they represent the biggest demographic in S.F.," Bobba said.

There are an estimated 204,639 people age 25 to 34 in San Francisco, and of those, 56,584 remain unvaccinated, according to the city's COVID dashboard. By comparison, 14,529 individuals age 18 to 24 are unvaccinated and 18,144 people age 35 to 44 haven't gotten the jab.

"They are the people who are out working, theyre the people who are out in bars and clubs, and theyre the people who we need to find out how we can motivate them to get vaccinated," said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a UCSF epidemiologist.

People don't get vaccinated for various reasons, ranging from lack of access to political beliefs, but Bibbins-Domingo said that among young adults she has found many opt to not get inoculated because they don't perceive that they're at high risk.

Data suggests young adults can contract more severe disease, though certainly not as readily as seniors, and the city is seeing an increasing number of 20- to 30-year-olds hospitalized.

"From a week ago, the median age of hospitalized COVID patients was 48, and 25% [of hospitalized COVID patients] were under age 35," Bobba said.

While 25- to 34-year-olds have lagged in vaccinations, Bobba said teenagers have done an excellent job of getting shots.

There are an estimated 33,938 kids ages 12 to 17 in the city, and of those only 2,517 haven't been inoculated.

Seniors 75 and over are skipping vaccines more than those 65 and over

Of the estimated 74,120 seniors age 65 to 74 living in S.F., a mere 424 of them remain unvaccinated. Those 75 and older are behind on vaccinations: Of the 60,907 people in the oldest age group, 9,642 remain unvaccinated.

"Its surprising because theyre at the highest risk," said Bobba, who noted that the city is working on connecting with those seniors who are homebound and cannot readily access a vaccination site.

Black and white residents have lower vaccine rates than other racial groups

Black residents are the racial group with the lowest percentage of people vaccinated, at 61%, followed by white residents at 66%. Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians have the highest percentage at more than 90%, followed by Native Americans at 84%, Asians at 78% and Latinos at 74%.

"In every age group, theres a percent represented by the white population. ... Its the highest demographic," said Bobba, noting that of the race groups, whites represent the largest number of unvaccinated individuals.

Of the estimated 354,423 white people living in the city, there are 136,900 who haven't gotten the shot, according to the city data. (Note: The city's race and ethnicity data includes those younger than 12, who are ineligible for the vaccine, so the number of unvaccinated individuals is greater than the number of eligible unvaccinated individuals.)

There are roughly 43,782 Black people in S.F.; of those, 19,817 are unvaccinated.

"African Americans are very undervaccinated and very high risk, but theyre also not going to be driving the numbers that drive the majority of spread in unvaccinated because theyre such a small proportion," said Bibbins-Domingo.

New cases are revealing pockets of unvaccinated people in some neighborhoods

Data on new cases  and the neighborhoods where those cases are occurring  offers clues into where those who remain unvaccinated live in the city. While some of the new cases are breakthroughs in individuals who were vaccinated, the majority are in unvaccinated people. The average case rate per 100,000 residents for vaccinated people is 16.2, compared with 36.8 for unvaccinated people, the city said.

The Department of Public Health says only 16 fully vaccinated San Franciscans have ever been hospitalized for COVID; none have died.

Of the neighborhoods, Bayview-Hunters Point is seeing the highest number of new cases, followed by the Western Addition, South of Market and Visitacion Valley. While the Bayview has the city's highest vaccine rate of any neighborhood, with 83% of residents completing a vaccine series, Bobba said pockets of the area remain undervaccinated compared with the overall city rate.

"Unfortunately those pockets are getting the virus," she said.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 2 to include information on the vaccination rates for Pacific Islanders and updated at 6 p.m. to clarify numbers on vaccine rates by race and ethnicity.
Theres been a lot written about the so-called San Francisco exodus, including by this very writer. The data shows its not entirely true, even if it felt like everyone fled the city when COVID-19 hit.

Exodus or not, now were starting to hear the opposite. Weve heard murmurings of people who left  whether directly related to the pandemic or not  who are moving back and taking advantage of the city they love at a slight discount.

Even our very own reporter Michelle Robertson chronicled her return to the city she loved.

SFGATE spoke with five people who moved away in the past two years who recently returned. Here are their stories.

Erik Utter lost his job at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater on Mission Street when the pandemic shut down all indoor activities. Without an income and no end to the pandemic in sight, he moved in with his parents about three hours away in Arnold, Calif.

With rents at a heavy discount and an end in sight, Utter moved back at the end of December 2020. I love the Hayes Valley area but could never afford it, but I saw deals for around $1,500 with two months free for studios in the area and knew that wasn't going to last. It was the housing that made me look for the job, actually, I kind of did it backwards.

For those that were able to work remotely during the pandemic, some took advantage and tried out different cities to live in.

Jacqueline McGraw and her partner packed up and left San Francisco in February 2021 to try an experiment in nomadic living. They drove cross country and stayed in various cities, but ultimately returned in June 2021. What brought us back was less a romanticized love of San Francisco  though theres a little bit of that too  than the boring old fact that our jobs are based here. And even after seeing many beautiful cities, we felt more confident in our ability to advance our careers in a city like San Francisco.

Emmanuel Gomez left behind his friends and a decent job in San Francisco in late 2019, when the pandemic was only news in China. He was planning to study for a year in Australia, but his university soon switched to online classes. He couldnt find work to supplement his education and heard from friends in the Bay Area who were now working remotely with their companies.

In early 2021, he secured a job back in the Bay Area. By the time I moved back to the Bay Area in June 2021, the rental market was attractively low, and there were announcements of restaurants and bars opening up and allowing indoor dining, he said. Interestingly, I timed my return well to a very different S.F.

Like many others, MJ Paul Espinoza sought more space and access to the outdoors during the pandemic and moved out of the Tenderloin in March 2020 in favor of stints in Laguna Beach, San Luis Obispo, and the Mojave Desert. Hed been a resident of San Francisco for 16 years, working in a variety of industries, the last recently in fitness, though the virus largely stalled that industry. But hes headed back this week, having just signed a lease and gotten work at his former fitness clubs.

Several things brought me back to the Bay. Car culture, heat, and lack of good food in SoCal to start, he explained. The rent had dropped so much in the city that it made sense for me to pack up.

Southern California also didnt turn out to be the right move for Monika Madrid and her family. They had previously lived in Marin before moving to Marina del Rey for work, though the pandemic quickly followed. While I loved working from home during lockdown and enjoyed 'some' of the beach life of Los Angeles, when my company gave the green light to continue hybrid work life, I jumped at the chance to move back to the trees of Marin, she said. I really missed the trees.

She hated the L.A. traffic, really missed the easy access to hikes and nature, and time at the beach wasnt as easy as she thought it would be due to parking limitations. Now, theyre back in San Rafael.

The best part for me has been the return to the amazing restaurants, fantastic wine, and of course, the beautiful redwoods. We are home, she said. My son also frequently reminds me that people are nicer here in Marin.
Transgender Californians have had to endure police harassment, a disturbing rise in hate crimes, and a trans candidate for governor who thinks trans women shouldnt compete in womens sports, even though she herself is an athlete.

But for many trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals, a far more mundane activity can be nearly as contentious: ordering a simple cup of coffee. Theres scarcely a trans woman in America who hasnt been confronted by the innocuous-sounding greeting, How may I help you, sir? by a customer-facing employee at least once. (Swap in maam for most trans men.) Then, if your chosen name doesnt match the cashiers idea of your gender identity, you may get an awkward stare along with your macchiato.

Enter Fluid Cooperative Cafe, opening Monday morning in La Cocina Municipal Marketplace in the Tenderloin. A project by a trio of trans San Franciscans  Shannon Amitin, Santana Tapia and JoJo Ty  with plenty of nightlife experience among them, its intended to be a welcoming space in keeping with La Cocinas efforts to empower marginalized communities.

By us, but for all is Fluids governing principle. When its three principals open the proverbial door  clad in pink, white, and baby-blue aprons representing the colors of the Trans Pride flag  they will be the newest tenant in a food hall that soft-opened several months ago, with the mission of bringing accessible, delicious food to an underserved neighborhood every weekday from 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (Fluid will open at 8 a.m.)

We want to make sure that were representing within the space, Shannon, who typically uses only their first name, says of the aprons. So I think thats a good visual cue to know that there are trans folks in the house. (Disclosure: We are former colleagues at San Francisco Pride.)

La Cocina doesnt specifically brand themselves as queer or LGBTQ+, so we hope with our partnership, we can connect with other communities and say, Hey this is us, wed like to get to know you all and share this space with you, says Ty, who grew up in the Excelsior and cut his teeth in the food industry at a Smitten Ice Cream in Pacific Heights. We dont want people accidentally misgendering our customers with Hello, sir. Every TGNC person has experienced that.

Queerness in coffee is undoubtedly having a moment. Sprudge, the industrys trade publication, recently profiled a number of trans and gender nonconforming leaders in coffee, including Cheyenne Xochitl Love of Queer Wave Roasters, from which Fluid sources some its beans. And just before Pride weekend, the queer-owned cafe Milk SF  unrelated to NYC-based dessert purveyor Milk Bar  hung out its shingle on Valencia Street next to the LGBTQ-friendly Glama-Rama salon.

But Fluid is symbolically important in other ways. For starters, its a cooperative endeavor, without the traditional capitalist hierarchy. Decisions are made via consensus or near-consensus. Since there are only three people to start, that necessarily means a two-thirds decision. But as the co-op grows, Fluid will use a formula that gradually brings decision-making closer to a seven-eighths majority requirement, reviewed weekly and with full transparency. This is a marked difference from those 8,000-square-foot temples, with their deep-pocketed investors and pricey cuppings, which have characterized so many Third Wave operations.

Fluids location  in a former post office on Hyde Street and Golden Gate Avenue  may be just as significant. For more than half a century, the Tenderloin has been recognized as the home of a significant trans population, although that recognition may have been at the receiving end of a police baton. Since its inception in 2017, the Transgender District has made enormous gains, elevating the profile of its unique trans history, and working to secure housing for trans women of color and other marginalized populations. (Although the co-op lies just outside its footprint, the district provided Fluid with a seed grant.)

In spite of its trans population, the Tenderloin has generally lacked trans-owned businesses. So Fluid hopes to be a pioneer in that regard.

Courtesy Fluid Cooperative Cafe

Its important for folks to come down and see you working, Shannon says, as someone from an unrelated La Cocina project passes bottles of a tamarind-flavored probiotic drink to our table. It personalizes it and shows that this is a project worth investing in.

People can still do that, through GiveButter or via a forthcoming Patreon. Basic levels of support get you the standard mugs and T-shirts, but the team is hoping to snag a deep-pocketed donor or two with promises of access to special events. This is where Tapia, a well-known drag performer and a face of BARTs Not One More Girl anti-harassment campaign, comes in. Fluids engagement will begin with an open mic and gradually develop from there.

Theres talk of a drag brunch, so who knows? Tapia says, pointing to the Marketplaces small stage. An affordable, accessible drag brunch.

The term community has been beaten to death from overuse, but in the context of LGBTQ+ culture, it is all too often synonymous with nightlife. Tapia, although herself a nightlife pro, wants that to change.

Trans people need somewhere to go thats not a bar, she says, adding that shes excited for people to connect over a variation of the cafe de olla that her grandmother made her. I remember talking to my grandma about those precious moments that we shared over coffee and that made me excited to build this. Every part of Mexico has a different recipe. My family is from Guadalajara but we lived in Tijuana, and access to all the ingredients wasnt possible, so we made do and made new traditions and new recipes. That kind of relates to the culture of the Tenderloin: underserved, but we still make beauty here.

While the full menu and its specialty beverages have yet to be finalized, Shannon notes that Fluid is working with three queer- or trans-owned coffee roasteries: Equator, Oaklands Queer Wave, and Maquina, out of Pennsylvania. Affordability is paramount, given the Tenderloins demographics and La Cocinas focus on accessibility. Still, all three Fluid members know that no matter how low the prices may be, some will grumble.

We may not know everything, but were here to listen to best serve what the community needs, not just assume what they need, Ty says. Were just passing the torch that our trans-cestors gave us to future generations.

In doing so, they prepared an inclusivity workshop on Friday to help educate workers from La Cocina Marketplaces other stalls on gender and sexuality issues. Some of those vendors, like Estrellitas Snacks and Los Cilantros, may already be familiar to Bay Area foodies, as is the not-yet-opened stall selling Nepalese dumplings, from Binis Kitchen. That education can run both ways.

Hey, Nepalese doesnt have gendered pronouns! Tapia says.

Fluid Cooperative Cafe, located inside La Cocina Marketplace at 101 Hyde St. in San Francisco, is open starting Monday, Aug. 2. The hours of operation are Monday - Friday, 8-a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, closed.

Peter-Astrid Kane (they/them) is the communications manager for San Francisco Pride and a former editor of SF Weekly.
Hope is dwindling in the search for Philip Kreycik.

After 22 agonizing days searching for the the 37-year-old Berkeley runner, police now say that they have searched every single area in and around Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park where Kreycik could be.

"We pretty much 100% covered where he could've been, should've been or would likely show up," Pleasanton Police Lt. Chris Niederhaus told press at a local high school where volunteer search teams were being coordinated on Saturday afternoon.

The news came after the Pleasanton Police Department resumed their official search on Friday.

On Saturday, police crews from 17 Bay Area agencies combed trails and a canyons in the park. They pulled GPS data from all the various search teams, both volunteer and official, to make sure every location was doubled checked. This included an area around Tejan Creek, due to a new theory. Local runners told authorities it's not uncommon for people abandoning their hike, possibly due to intense heat, to take a shortcut through the heavy bush and steep paths there to return to their cars.

This is another theory that maybe he went in a different direction, Niederhaus said. Its not out of the realm of possibility.

This search too, though, yielded nothing.

Kreycik went missing on a run at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park on July 10. The PG&E analyst and avid runner parked his car near the Moller Ranch staging area around 11 a.m., after telling his wife he was going for an hourlong run. When he didn't return home as expected that afternoon, his wife reported him missing. Kreycik's car was found undisturbed, with his wallet and cell phone in it, police said.

Last week Kreycik's friend and fellow runner Chris Thoburn shared new details on the effort in a Q&A on the Find Philip Kreycik Facebook group.

Thoburn revealed that security cameras at a UPS store where Kreycik was dropping off a package showed him entering and leaving the lot, and traffic cameras and the car's FastTrak also trace him to the staging area at the park.

He also speculated that heat exhaustion took its toll on his friend. It is unclear if Kreycik carried water with him, and temperatures in the area hit a soaring 105 degrees that day. The terrain in the park, which spans a large area between Pleasanton and Hayward in the East Bay Regional Park District, is rugged and steep, and the creeks are currently without much water.

"Philip was NOT heat adapted," Thoburn wrote. "He lived on the Oakland/Berkeley border and most of his training was on the Bay side of the ridge. This means he rarely ran in temps above 80, and morning and evening runs (where he typically had time) would have been in the 50s or 60s."

Hundreds of missing posters line the streets and trails around the park, and the volunteer search has expanded into neighboring cities of Dublin, Fremont and Castro Valley. Police reported no new leads this weekend, and are continuing to ask the public's help.

Despite the search now moving into its fourth week, Kreycik's family hold on to some hope.

"We're hopeful," Kreycik's father Keith Kreycik told ABC7. "We're still hopeful that things are going to turn around."

Anyone with information about this case can call the Pleasanton Police Department at (925) 931-5107
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Five Florida police officers have been charged with battery connected to the violent arrests of two Black men last week, prosecutors announced Monday.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle held a news conference to announce the first-degree misdemeanor charges against Miami Beach police Sgt. Jose Perez, Officer Kevin Perez, Officer Robert Sabater, Officer David Rivas and Officer Steven Serrano. The officers had previously been suspended, and Fernandez Rundle said additional charges might follow. All five officers turned themselves in earlier Monday.

Surveillance video shows an officer chase Dalonta Crudup, 24, into the lobby of the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach in the early morning hours of July 26. The officer orders Crudup onto the ground at gunpoint, and Crudup complies. Moments later, more than a dozen other officers run into the lobby and surround Crudup, who can be seen on the ground with his hands behind his back.

Fernandez Rundle said body camera footage shows Sgt. Jose Perez kick a handcuffed Crudup three times, while Officer Kevin Perez kicked Crudup at least four times.

Fernandez Rundle said surveillance video also shows Khalid Vaughn, 28, using a cellphone to record Crudup's arrest from about 12 feet (4 meters) away. Body camera footage shows Vaughn backing away at the instruction of an officer when Sabater tackles Vaughn to the floor and repeatedly punches him. Fernandez Rundle said Rivas and Serrano also struck Vaughn.

Officers said they initially followed Crudup into the hotel because he struck a bicycle patrol officer while driving a scooter recklessly. That officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of leg injuries. Crudup was charged with several counts, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer

Charges against Vaughn of resisting an arrest with violence and impeding a police investigation have been dropped.

The police officers' union didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment about the battery charges.
TOKYO (AP)  Poland granted a visa Monday to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said she feared for her safety and that her teams officials tried to force her to fly home, where the autocratic government was accused of diverting a flight to arrest a dissident journalist.

An activist group that is helping athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya told The Associated Press that it bought her a plane ticket to Warsaw for the coming days.

The current standoff apparently began after Tsimanouskaya criticized how officials were managing her team  setting off a massive backlash in state-run media back home, where authorities relentlessly crack down on government critics. The runner said on her Instagram account that she was put in the 4x400 relay even though she has never raced in the event.

The runner was then apparently hustled to the airport but refused to board a flight for Istanbul and instead approached police for help. In a filmed message distributed on social media, she also asked the International Olympic Committee for assistance.

I was put under pressure, and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent, the 24-year-old said in the message.

The rapid-fire series of events brought international political intrigue to an Olympics that have been more focused on operational dramas, like maintaining safety during a pandemic and navigating widespread Japanese opposition to holding the event at all.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: What is important is that everyone who asks for protection, for refugee status, is afforded that opportunity.  The Japanese authorities have done what they can to protect her, and I think that is the most important part. No one should be forced to go home under threat or under force. 

Belarus authoritarian government has relentlessly targeted anyone even mildly expressing dissent since a presidential election a year ago triggered a wave of unprecedented mass protests. And it has also gone to extremes to stop its critics, including the recent plane diversion that European officials called an act of air piracy.

In this context, Tsimanouskaya feared for her safety once she saw the campaign against her in state media, according to the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, the activist group that is helping her.

The campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in Belarus, Alexander Opeikin, a spokesman for the foundation, told the AP in an interview.

State media have continued to come down hard on Tsimanouskaya. Presenters on state TV channel Belarus 1 called her decision to seek asylum a cheap stunt and a disgusting act, and described her performance at the Olympics as a failure.

Tsimanouskaya competed for Belarus on the first day of track events Friday at the National Stadium in Tokyo. She placed fourth in her first-round heat in the 100 meters, timing 11.47 seconds, and did not advance.

She was due to compete again in the Olympic 200-meter heats on Monday, but she said her team barred her from participating in a complaint filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She asked the court to overturn that decision, but the body declined to intervene.

Tsimanouskayas next steps were not clear. Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, a Polish deputy foreign minister, said the runner asked for the humanitarian visa for now and can still seek refugee status once in Poland. Vadim Krivosheyev, of the activist sports foundation, said she planned to seek asylum.

Another Polish deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, told the Onet.pl news portal that once in Poland, Tsimanouskaya will be free to chose whether to stay there or to go to another safe country.

Tsimanouskayas husband, Arseni Zdanevich, meanwhile, confirmed to the Russian Sport Express newspaper that he left Belarus for Ukraine.

Athletes seeking asylum at global sporting events is nothing new  though Tsimanouskayas circumstances differ from the typical situation. Requests for asylum were especially frequent during the Cold War but they have also happened occasionally in the decades since. As many as 117 athletes defected at the Munich Olympics in 1972, according to reports at the time. At least four Romanians and a Soviet associated with the Olympics defected at the Montreal Games in 1976. And Cuban athletes have frequently done so.

Underscoring the seriousness of the allegations, several groups and countries say they are helping the runner. Poland and the Czech Republic offered assistance, and Japans Foreign Ministry said it was working with the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympics organizers.

The IOC, which has been in dispute with the Belarus National Olympic Committee ahead of the Tokyo Games, said it had intervened.

The IOC  is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC for clarification, it said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the Belarus Olympic team did not respond to a request for comment.

Many critics of Belarus' government have fled to Poland. A top Belarusian dissident in the country, Pavel Latushka, said Tsimanouskaya and those supporting her had sought assistance from various European governments, but Poland was the quickest to respond.

Przydacz said on Twitter that in addition to granting the humanitarian visa, Poland would also help the runner to continue her sports career. Poland always stands for Solidarity," he said.

Several hours after she entered the Polish embassy, Tsimanouskaya was still believed to be inside.

Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek also tweeted that the Czech Republic has offered her asylum.

The Belarus National Olympic Committee has been led for more than 25 years by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and his son, Viktor.

Both Lukashenkos are banned from the Tokyo Olympics by the IOC, which investigated complaints from athletes that they faced reprisals and intimidation during the crackdown following the wave of anti-government protests over the last year.

Lukashenko perceives all criticism as part of a plot by Western countries, said Valery Karbalevich, an independent Belarusian political analyst. Tsimanouskayas protest is viewed as part of a broader movement of hundreds of Belarusian athletes who stood against the beatings of peaceful demonstrators and for a year have been taking part in street rallies.

The standoff over Tsimanouskaya comes just months after the dramatic diversion of a passenger plane flying between two EU countries. Belarusian authorities ordered the plane to land in Minsk  and pulled journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend off the flight.

The elder Lukashenko maintained that there was a bomb threat against the plane and thats why a fighter jet was scrambled to force it to land, but the move was roundly criticized by Western leaders.

Pratasevich, who ran a channel on a messaging app used to organize demonstrations against Lukashenkos rule, left his homeland in 2019. He has been charged with fomenting mass unrest and is under house arrest while he awaits trial.

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Associated Press journalists Daria Litvinova and Daniel Kozin in Moscow, Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, and James Ellingworth in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
SAN DIEGO (AP)  The number of children traveling alone who were picked up at the Mexican border by U.S. immigration authorities likely hit an all-time high in July, and the number of people who came in families likely reached its second-highest total on record, a U.S. official said Monday, citing preliminary government figures.

The sharp increases from June were striking because crossings usually slow during stifling  and sometimes fatal  summer heat.

U.S. authorities likely picked up more than 19,000 unaccompanied children in July, exceeding the previous high of 18,877 in March, according to David Shahoulian, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security. The June total was 15,253.

The number of people encountered in families during July is expected at about 80,000, Shahoulian said. That's shy of the all-time high of 88,857 in May 2019 but up from 55,805 in June.

Overall, U.S. authorities stopped migrants about 210,000 times at the border in July, up from 188,829 in June and the highest in more than 20 years. But the numbers aren't directly comparable because many cross repeatedly under a pandemic-related ban that expels people from the country immediately without giving them a chance to seek asylum but carries no legal consequences.

The activity was overwhelmingly concentrated in the Border Patrol's Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley sectors in south Texas, accounting for more than seven of 10 people who came in families.

In the Rio Grande Valley sector, the epicenter of the current surge, agents stopped migrants about 78,000 times in July, Shahoulian said, up from 59,380 in June and 51,149 in May.

The government disclosures came in a court filing hours after immigrant advocacy groups resumed a legal battle to end the government's authority to expel families at the border on grounds it prevents the spread of the coronavirus.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention renewed those emergency powers, known as Title 42 and named for a 1944 public health law. The Homeland Security Department said it would continue to enforce the ban on asylum for single adults and families despite growing pressure from pro-immigration groups that it isn't justified on public health grounds. Unaccompanied children are exempt.

Title 42 is not an immigration authority, but a public health authority, and its continued use is dictated by CDC and governed by the CDCs analysis of public health factors, the department said in a statement.

The final count for July border arrests isn't expected for several days, but preliminary numbers are usually pretty close. Over the first 29 days of July, authorities encountered a daily average of 6,779 people, including 616 unaccompanied children and 2,583 who came in families, Shahoulian said.

The number of people stopped in families is expected to hit an all-time during for the 2021 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, Shaoulian said, adding it will likely be higher if courts order that the pandemic-related powers be lifted.

The rising numbers have strained holding facilities, Shahoulian said. The Border Patrol had 17,778 people in custody on Sunday, despite a COVID-19 adjusted capacity of 4,706. The Rio Grande Valley sector was holding 10,002 of them.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups said Monday that they were ending settlement talks with the Biden administration over their demand to lift the pandemic-related ban on families seeking asylum.

The impasse resumes a legal battle before U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington.

We are deeply disappointed that the Biden administration has abandoned its promise of fair and humane treatment for families seeking safety, leaving us no choice but to resume litigation," said Neela Chakravartula, managing attorney for the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.

Since late March, the ACLU has been working with advocates to choose particularly vulnerable migrants stuck in Mexico for the U.S. government to allow in to seek asylum. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said the exemptions will continue for another week.

Seven months of waiting for the Biden administration to end Title 42 is more than enough, Gelernt said.

The breakdown reflects growing tensions between advocates and the administration over use of expulsions and the government's decision last week to resume fast-track deportation flights for families to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Last week, the International Rescue Committee and HIAS also said they were ending efforts to help the administration choose asylum-seekers to exempt from the pandemic-related ban. The asylum advocacy groups had been working on a parallel track with the ACLU to identify particularly vulnerable migrants stuck in Mexico.

The CDC said Monday that the ban would remain until its director determines that the danger of further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States from covered noncitizens has ceased to be a serious danger to the public health.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  The Montana Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality alert Monday for a large swath of western and south central Montana as smoke from local and regional fires continues to blanket the state.

The alert is in effect until further notice for Big Horn, Carbon, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Rosebud, Sanders, and Yellowstone counties.
DALLAS (AP)  Air travel in the U.S. is hitting new pandemic-era highs, and airlines are scrambling to keep up with the summer-vacation crowds.

Despite rising numbers of coronavirus infections fueled by the delta variant, the U.S. set another recent high mark for air travel Sunday, with more than 2.2 million people going through airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

That is nearly 11,000 more people screened than July 18, and the highest number since Feb. 28, 2020, before the U.S. felt the full brunt of the pandemic. However, air travel was still down 17% Sunday from the same Sunday in 2019.

The resurgence of leisure travel, coupled with some bad weather, has led to delays and flight cancellations at airlines struggling to ramp up after being crushed by the pandemic. Airlines have thousands fewer workers than they did before the pandemic, and at times they have been caught short-staffed even though they received $54 billion in taxpayer money to keep employees on the payroll.

By midafternoon Monday, Spirit Airlines canceled about 290 flights  more than one-third of its schedule  citing weather and operational challenges. That was after canceling one-fifth of its flights Sunday. The Florida-based discount carrier was working around the clock to get back on track," spokesman Field Sutton said.

The disruptions created long lines at airport ticket counters in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Some stranded passengers speculated that the breakdown in service was caused by a strike or work slowdown. The airline and labor unions said the rumor was false.

American Airlines canceled 500 flights, or 16% of Monday's schedule by late afternoon.

With other planes mostly full this summer, airlines are struggling to rebook passengers on canceled flights.

David Snell, who runs an air-tour business in Dallas, was stuck in Detroit after American canceled his Monday night flight home and emailed him a list of available flights  none of which were sooner than Wednesday. When Snell looked into Tuesday flights, he said, prices started around $1,200 or 30,000 frequent-flyer points.

They are absolutely gouging people who are trying to get home after cancellations, Snell said. He said he called American three times and spent four hours on hold before buying a $308 one-way ticket on Southwest. Everyone was left to fend for themselves.

American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Ahles said a seat opened up on a flight Tuesday afternoon from Detroit to Dallas via Philadelphia, and the airline would ask Snell if he would like to take it.

Monday's cancellations came one day after 7,400 U.S. flights arrived at least 15 minutes behind schedule on Sunday  the governments definition of late  and more than 900 were canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware. Nearly half of Sunday's cancellations were at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, American's largest hub, which was hit with afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

There have been at least 5,000 delayed flights on most days since early July, according to FlightAware figures. Southwest, American and Spirit are among airlines with the biggest problems. For Sunday and Monday combined, Southwest delayed more than 2,500 flights and American more than 1,600.

A key senator is quizzing several airlines to explain the high numbers of flight delays and cancellations. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said airlines did a poor job of managing their workforces and might have failed to live up to the purpose of the taxpayer funding.

The travel recovery faces a renewed public-health threat, as the number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to rise. The seven-day rolling average of new U.S. infections is around 80,000 a day, up nearly 150% from two weeks ago, although the increase in deaths is far smaller.

Airline officials say they haven't seen bookings suffer because of the delta variant, although some have said it could delay the return of business travel, which airlines were hoping would gain speed this fall.

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David Koenig can be reached at www.twitter.com/airlinewriter
AMHERST, Mass. (AP)  Civil War tablets inscribed with the names of Black soldiers of the famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and 5th Cavalry are on display in Amherst after 30 years in storage.

Debora Bridges, the daughter of late World War II veteran Dudley Bridges Sr., returned to Amherst a year ago and began advocating for the tablets' return. Bridges and her daughter wrote to Town Hall and urged for the tablets to be displayed after they were removed from Town Hall during renovations decades ago, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The superintendent of Alaskas largest school district will recommend universal masking in schools this fall.

The plan would focus on allowing for full participation in activities, clubs and social learning opportunities, Deena Bishop, the superintendent of the Anchorage School District, said in a letter to parents over the weekend.

The school board is set to review Bishops plan Tuesday. Classes begin Aug. 17.

Besides masking indoors, the Anchorage Daily News reports the district will continue regular cleaning of classrooms, buses and offices. Bishop also said upgrades have been made to HVAC systems for optimal air flow.

Regardless of vaccination status, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide.

The CDC cited the risk of spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

The Anchorage district also recommends that anyone who is sick stay home. Vaccination clinics will continue for students who are eligible.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A court in Belarus convicted a journalist of insulting the president in messages in a deleted chat group and sentenced him to 1 1/2 years in prison, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said Monday.

The verdict in the case against Siarhei Hardziyevich, 50, comes as part of a massive crackdown that Belarusian authorities have unleashed on independent media and human rights activists.

Hardziyevich on Monday was found guilty of insulting the president and slandering police officers, according to the association. The court sentenced him to a prison term and a $1,600 fine.

The charges against the journalist from Drahichyn, a city 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Belarus' capital of Minsk, were brought over messages in a chat group on the messaging app Viber which was deleted last year.

Hardziyevich, who worked for a popular regional news outlet, The First Region, has maintained his innocence. His defense team demanded the charges be dropped due to a lack of evidence and because the crime was impossible to establish.

I have nothing to do with these crimes, I don't consider myself guilty," Hardziyevich said in his address to the court before the verdict.

The Viasna human rights center declared Hardziyevich a political prisoner.

Belarusian authorities have ramped up the pressure against non-governmental organizations and independent media in recent weeks, conducting more than 200 raids of offices and apartments of activists and journalists in July alone, according to Viasna.

Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has vowed to continue what he called a mopping-up operation against civil society activists whom he has denounced as bandits and foreign agents.

Lukashenko faced months of protests triggered by his being awarded a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that the opposition and the West saw as rigged. He responded to demonstrations with a massive crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police.

A total of 29 Belarusian journalists remain in custody either awaiting trial or serving their sentences.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  A Sudanese official says local authorities in Kassala province have found around 50 bodies, apparently people fleeing the war in neighboring Ethiopias Tigray region, floating in the river between the countries over the past week, some with gunshot wounds or their hands bound.

The official said Monday a forensic investigation is needed to determine the causes of death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Two Ethiopian health workers in the Sudan border community of Hamdayet confirmed seeing the bodies found in the Setit River, known in Ethiopia as the Tekeze. The river flows through some of the most troubled areas of the nine-month conflict in Tigray, where ethnic Tigrayans have accused Ethiopian and allied forces of atrocities while battling Tigray forces.

Tewodros Tefera, a surgeon who fled the nearby Tigray city of Humera to Sudan, told The Associated Press that two of the bodies were found Monday, one a man with his hands bound and the other a woman with a chest wound. Fellow refugees have buried at least 10 other bodies, he said.

He shared a video of men appearing to prepare a shroud for a body floating face-down in the river.

Tewodros said the bodies were found downstream from Humera, where authorities and allied fighters from Ethiopia's Amhara region have been accused by refugees of forcing out local Tigrayans during the war while claiming that western Tigray is their land.

We are actually taking care of the bodies spotted by fishermen, Tewodros said. I suspect there are more bodies on the river.

While it was difficult to identify the bodies, one had a common name in the Tigray language, Tigrinya, tattooed on his arm, the surgeon said.

Another doctor working in Hamdayet who saw the bodies told the AP that some of the corpses had facial markings indicating they were ethnic Tigrayans.

I saw a lot of barbaric things, said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Some had been struck by an axe.

Witnesses at the river told him they had not been able to catch all the bodies floating downstream because of the waters swift flow during the rainy season, the doctor said.

An Ethiopian government-created Twitter account on Monday called the accounts of bodies a fake campaign by propagandists among the Tigray forces.

Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, on Monday visited a refugee camp in Sudan hosting thousands of Ethiopians who fled the Tigray war. She next will visit Ethiopia to press the government to allow humanitarian aid to Tigray, a region of some 6 million people where the worlds worst hunger crisis in a decade is unfolding. The U.S. says up to 900,000 people now face famine conditions.

The U.N. food agency said it is working to provide food to Tigray through Sudan despite frayed ties between Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

Negotiations to access the blocked Tigray region have proved to be quite difficult, Marianne Ward, the World Food Programs deputy country director in Sudan, said. She said WFP has already moved 50,000 tons of wheat to Ethiopia through Sudan.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.
DETROIT (AP)  Federal prosecutors have dropped charges, at least for now, against a Canadian trucker who was arrested at the U.S. border early last month with more than a ton of marijuana in his rig, after his lawyer made the case that he was an unwitting victim of the drug smuggling scheme.

Tasbir Singh, 32, was detained on July 7 after border agents in Detroit found more than 2,200 pounds (998 kilograms) of marijuana worth an estimate $3.2 million in his truck.

Singh told authorities that he believed he had picked up compression springs in North York, Ontario. The delivery was supposed to go to Ohio. Because of COVID-19 rules, he never got out of his truck while it was being loaded, his attorney Ellen Michaels said.

I had not done anything wrong," Singh told the Detroit Free Press.

Michaels said Singh was the victim of marijuana dealers who hacked into the trucking company's computers, created a fake order for springs and packed the trailer with marijuana.

He had no knowledge of what was in his truck," Michaels said.

The U.S. attorneys office filed a request with the court on July 22 to have the criminal complaint against Singh dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile the charges at a later date.

The complaint was dismissed and the defendant released in order to allow the government to investigate further and decide whether criminal prosecution of Singh is appropriate, Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office, said in a statement.

Prosecutors also stated in court documents the government needs additional time to identify all other individuals who should be held criminally responsible for the pot smuggling, the Free Press reported.

Singh, a native of India, was released from custody on July 23. During his 16 days locked up, he missed his naturalization ceremony in Canada. He has since returned to his home in Windsor, Ontario.

They gave me justice, Singh said.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's legal adviser within state government for several years has returned to a private law practice.

The law firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd in Greenville, South Carolina, announced on Monday that William McKinney is back with the business.

McKinney was general counsel in the governor's office since Cooper took his gubernatorial oath in January 2017. And McKinney was special counsel to Cooper for roughly two years during Cooper's last term as attorney general. His government career with Cooper goes back to the 2000s.

As general counsel, McKinney led attorneys who offered legal strategies as Cooper issued executive orders and states of emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic and when Cooper challenged in court legislative actions that lessened his gubernatorial powers. He also helped negotiate tribal gambling compacts.

McKinney went to law school at the University of South Carolina, and began his legal career as an associate at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd. He'll work in both South Carolina and in Raleigh.

Cooper's office has not yet named McKinney's successor.
COCOA, Fla. (AP)  An 11-year-old boy was shot by another child after finding a gun inside a home in Florida, authorities said.

The shooting happened Sunday evening near Cocoa, news outlets reported.

The child was taken to a hospital where he was reported to be in stable condition, officials said.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the shooting, and said they don't yet know whether anyone will be charged.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP)  European Union officials on Monday pledged millions of euros to help Lithuania tackle a migrant crisis that it blames on the government of neighboring Belarus and its authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Ylva Johansson, the EU commissioner of Home Affairs, arrived in Lithuania on Sunday, a day on which a record 287 people walked into the EU territory from Belarus  more than three times as many as in all of last year.

This is a provocation of the Lukashenko regime. We must show that there is no free access to EU territory," Johansson said.

"Lithuania, the EU, the Schengen states must prevent illegal access to this area. That is why we, the whole EU, support Lithuania to defend our common external border with Belarus, Johansson told reporters.

So far this year, 3,832 migrants have been detained in Lithuania. That compares with 81 in 2020. More than two-thirds are Iraqi citizens. Iraqi airlines have increased flights from Baghdad to Minsk from two to four a week and are also starting flights from Basra, Irbil and Sulaymaniyah.

Lithuania has accused Belarusian authorities of organizing the illicit border crossings as an act of retaliation by Lukashenko. Since he was announced as the winner in an August 2020 presidential vote that the West denounced as rigged, he has cracked down on opposition protests in his country and his main election challenger fled to Lithuania.

Lithuania's border guard service announced Monday that it cannot accommodate any more new immigrants and urged the government to relocate people to other facilities.

We have managed this until now, but I must admit we have reached the limit of our possibilities, said director of the service Rustamas Liubajevas.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte expressed hope the European Commission will be able to handle the rapidly deteriorating situation.

The first task is to reduce the potential of the flow itself. The biggest expectation here is for the EU to be able to use its negotiating position with the Iraqi government, Simonyte told reporters.

Johansson promised Lithuania would not be left alone. I will send a delegation that will spend a few days here to discuss in detail the possibility of funding a good border protection system that includes monitoring and protection against illegal migrants, she said, adding that 20-30 million euros will be allocated to this by 2022.

Lithuania wants to build a physical barrier with Belarus, which it estimates will cost more than 100 million euros ($119 million). EU funding is not usually permitted to finance the building of border barriers.

We will eventually build it, no matter how much aid is sent by the EU. The border must be protected, Simonyte said.

Later Monday, police used a water cannon and tear gas to disperse a crowd of immigrants who were rioting over the crowded living conditions at Rudininkai detention center and a tent that failed in the rain. Several young Iraqis were removed from the center for questioning, police said.

The Rudininkai military training ground, 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Vilnius, was converted into one of the country's many migrant detention centers in July.

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Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.
FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP)  A man serving decades in prison for conspiring with his daughter to kill her ex-husband in one of New Jersey's most notorious murder cases lost a bid to withdraw his guilty plea on Monday.

Thomas Dorsett pleaded guilty to murder and arson for hire in the 2010 death of Stephen Moore. He admitted bludgeoning and strangling Moore behind the familys house after Moore arrived to drop off the couples young daughter, then hiring someone to set Moore's mother's car on fire with Moore's body in the trunk. Prosecutors said Dorsett wound up torching the car himself.
PARIS (AP)  A giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to female twin cubs early Monday, a French zoo announced, declaring they are very lively, pink and plump.

The Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, said the twins were born shortly after 1 a.m. They weigh 149 and 129 grams (5.3 and 4.6 ounces).

Their mother Huan Huan and father Yuan Zi are at Beauval on a 10-year loan from China aimed at highlighting good ties with France. The twins are their second and third cubs after the first panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng, in 2017.

Huan Huan is taking care of them very well. She took them in her mouth to lick them and clean them. We can hear little cries, the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo said the cubs' genders were determined by the Chinese experts in charge of taking care of them but will need to be definitively confirmed since external genitalia does not appear until panda cubs are several months old.

The births come after the zoo announced with great joy in March that Huan Huan and Yuan Zi had mated eight times." Veterinarians then carried out an artificial insemination to have as much chance as possible to see a pregnancy.

Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and their pregnancies are notoriously difficult to follow.

We just lived a moment of rare intensity. These births are always very exceptional but they also bring some surprises, said Delphine Delord, director of the Beauval Zoo.

The cubs will not be named before 100 days. They will spend a few years in France before being sent to China, the zoo said.

Other nations in Europe also have giant pandas, including Austria, Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Finland.

There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and about 500 in captivity worldwide.

China for decades gifted friendly nations with its unofficial national mascot in what was known as panda diplomacy. More recently the country has loaned pandas to zoos on commercial terms.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  Lightning bolts struck the parched forests of southern Oregon hundreds of times in 24 hours, igniting some 50 new wildfires even as the nation's largest wildfire continued to burn less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) away, officials said on Monday.

State, federal and contracted firefighters, augmented by helicopters and planes dropping fire retardant, pounced on the new wildfires in national forests in southwest Oregon before they could spread out of control. The largest one was estimated at up to 5 acres (2 hectares).

Thunderstorms unleashed some 700 lightning bolts that hit the ground and also brought rain to some places, but left others dry while triggering multiple fires, said Margueritte Hickman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Firefighters and support personnel worked through the night to locate and extinguish fires.

After a storm like this, its important to quickly and efficiently suppress these fires when theyre small, not only to protect our communities, but to free up firefighting resources to provide aggressive initial attack on the next fire, says Dan Quinones, fire staff officer for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The Oregon Department of Forestry estimated the number of new fires at 50. No towns or homes were immediately threatened.

The Bootleg Fire, at 647 square miles (1,676 square kilometers) the nation's largest, was 84% contained Monday, though it isn't expected to be fully contained until Oct. 1. Such megafires don't usually burn out until late fall or early winter when moisture increases and temperature decreases.

Firefighters driving bulldozers straightened the ragged edge of a fire line that had been gouged out by firefighters to keep the Bootleg Fire from spreading further east, the firefighting command center said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Oregon and attend a briefing Tuesday with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on wildfire response, prevention and preparedness efforts.

Vilsack is co-chair of the Biden Administrations Wildfire Resilience Interagency Working Group and Interagency Drought Relief Working Group.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP)  An autopsy was planned Monday for a West Virginia infant who died over the weekend after suffering non-accidental trauma, authorities said.

One-month-old Rowan Cooper Grayson-Seech was pronounced dead late Saturday at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, Harrison Sheriffs Detective Sgt. Zach Mealey told The Exponent Telegram. The boy had been hospitalized since Wednesday.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa man was sentenced to a decade in federal prison for cyberstalking a Minnesota woman with conduct the judge likened to a form of mental torture.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams also ordered Michael Shawn McGuire, 58, of Cresco, Iowa, during a sentencing hearing Friday to pay a $15,000 fine and $17,500 in restitution to the woman. The U.S. attorney's office said in a news release Monday that McGuire pleaded guilty in December to four counts of cyberstalking.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran on Monday reported more than 37,000 new coronavirus infections, the country's single-day record so far in the pandemic, state media reported.

State TV said health workers registered 37,189 new COVID-19 cases since Sunday  surpassing the previous daily record of 34,951 infections reported on Tuesday. Also, there were 411 deaths, bringing the country's total death toll in the pandemic to 91,407  the highest in the Middle East.

The new surge has been fueled by the contagious delta variant, and Iranian authorities say less than 40% of the population follows measures such as wearing face masks and social distancing. Iranian health officials have regularly warned that hospitals in the capital, Tehran, and other major cities are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Also on Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the government to discuss the possibility of a two-week shutdown of the country, which Health Minister Saeed Namaki requested a day earlier.

Namaki in a letter to Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, suggested the military could help enforce a lockdown.

Authorities have avoided imposing heavy-handed rules on a population badly equipped to bear them. Iran, which has suffered the worst virus outbreak in the region, is reeling from a series of crises: tough U.S. sanctions, global isolation, a heat wave, the worst blackouts in recent memory and ongoing protests over water shortages in the southwest.

Less than 4% of Iranians have been fully vaccinated. Many front-line medical workers have been vaccinated with Irans locally produced shots or the Chinese state-backed Sinopharm vaccine that report say may be less effective than other inoculations.

Irans government announced that its homemade vaccine provides 85% protection from the coronavirus, without disclosing data or details. Iran also imports Russias Sputnik V vaccine, as well as the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot through the United Nations-backed COVAX program.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's defense minister said Monday that Iran's alleged attack on a merchant ship in the Arabian Sea last week was "a stepping-up of the escalation of hostilities by Iran, and called for international action.

Benny Gantz addressed Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and said the drone strike on the Mercer Street that left two crew members dead  one from the United Kingdom and one from Romania  was in violation of international law and human morality. He charged that Iran was behind at least five attacks on international shipping in the last year.

The United States, Britain and Israel have blamed Iran for the fatal attack on the Israeli-linked oil tanker. Iran denies involvement.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called suicide drones in attacks previously. The region has seen a rise in attacks on commercial vessels in the aftermath of the disintegration of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

This is exactly the reason why we must act now against Iran, which is not only striving toward nuclear arms, but is also bringing about a dangerous arms race and intends to destabilize the Middle East with terrorist militias who are armed with hundreds of drones in Iran, Yemen, Iraq and other countries in the region, he said.

Gantz said that any future agreement between world powers and Iran to rein in its nuclear program must also address Iranian's aggression in the region and harming both innocent people and to the global economy.

This is not a future threat, rather a tangible and immediate danger, he said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was confident that Iran carried out this attack.

It follows a pattern of similar attacks by Iran, including past incidents with explosive drones, he told reporters at the State Department. There is no justification for this attack on a peaceful vessel on a commercial mission, international waters rise action is a direct threat to freedom of navigation and commerce, took the lives of innocent sailors.

Blinken said the U.S. was in close contact with the U.K., Israel and Romania and "there will be a collective response. He did not elaborate on what that response might be.
CHICAGO (AP)  A judge on Monday granted lawyers for Jussie Smollett more time to prepare arguments on several issues, including whether they can introduce a key witnesss previous conviction for battery.

Cook County Judge James Linn scheduled the next hearing in the case for Aug. 26.

But Linn also urged lawyers for Smollett and the special prosecutors office to get prepared for a trial or other resolution to the charges that the actor staged a racist and homophobic attack in January 2019.

One of Smollett's attorneys said after the hearing that the legal team has evidence to prove Smollett is innocent of the charges that he lied to police about an attack prosecutors allege he staged himself.

Like many people in Chicago, when I first heard of the Smollett case  I was absolutely certain that he was guilty based on the media coverage, attorney Nenye Uche told reporters. But I can say now categorically, looking at the evidence, hundreds of pages so far, and there are many, many more to look at, so far its obvious to us hes absolutely innocent.

Uche and the other attorneys would not elaborate about the evidence, saying that it would be disclosed in court.

Uche was at the center of a legal dispute that slowed progress in the case, as Special Prosecutor Dan Webb argued that Uche had a conflict of interest because he had spoken to the two men who Smollett allegedly hired to help him carry out the attack.

But on Friday, Linn ordered that Uche could remain on the case but prohibited him from questioning the two brothers, Abinbola and Olabinjo Osudairo, should the case go to trial.

Uche told the judge on Monday that he needed more time to prepare arguments on several pre-trial motions, including the defense's hope to introduce evidence about the older brother's prior conviction.

Smollett, who was starring in the television show Empire at the time of the incident, has been charged with felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing false police reports about what happened. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.

Smollett attended Monday's virtual hearing and told the judge he was in New York City.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  In his first campaign ad as a Republican candidate for Nevada governor, Joe Lombardo picks up a badge, a gun and a tactical vest that says police while a 911 call plays in the background.

A voiceover says the Las Vegas-area sheriff kept his city safe, while other communities rioted and burned.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig, another Republican who has formed an exploratory committee to run for Michigan governor, has a similar message. In his ad, hes driving through city streets, declaring that Detroit never burned in the demonstrations following George Floyds killing in 2020.

More than a year after Floyds murder in Minneapolis by a white police officer prompted debate over police reform and whether to slash law enforcement funding, the two are among a half-dozen police chiefs and high-ranking law enforcement officers moved to run for higher office to defend the need for public safety.

The candidates are white, Black and Latino and a mixture of Republicans and Democrats, whose political views mostly tack toward the center but sometimes defy traditional party lines. As violence rises in cities nationwide, the outcome of these elections could send a strong signal about evolving attitudes on policing and crime in America.

The first test came in the New York City mayoral race, in which former police officer Eric Adams won the Democratic primary in a large field of candidates. The next test comes Tuesday in Ohio, where state Rep. Jeff LaRe, a former Fairfield County deputy sheriff, has made a pro-law enforcement stand a centerpiece of his campaign in a GOP primary race to fill an open congressional seat.

Across the aisle, Florida Democratic congresswoman Val Demings, who is challenging Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in next years Senate race, is a former Orlando police chief who has taken pro-police stances but also sponsored criminal justice reform legislation.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales is a Democrat who has been declaring crime in the city to be out of control as he runs in this years nonpartisan mayoral contest, challenging incumbent Tim Keller, a Democrat.

Leading the pack has been Adams, a former New York Police Department captain who won his mayoral primary in June amid an increase in shootings in the city. Adams, who is expected to win the general election in November, made rising violent crime a focus of his campaign.

Like the other candidates with law enforcement backgrounds campaigning for higher office, Adams has been open to policing reforms but made clear he doesnt approve of some of the most strident calls for change.

Adams has spoken out against police misconduct and founded a group that fought racial profiling in law enforcement and pushed police departments to diversify their ranks. But he has also defended the controversial stop-and-frisk police strategy as a useful tool that has been abused.

Adams and Craig, who are both Black, have made a point to reject the calls from progressive activists to defund the police. Demings, who is also Black, has said she does not support defunding the police but has said there may be better ways to respond to mental health problems and drug misuse than with police.

Supporters have generally used the term defund the police to mean shifting money from law enforcement to other programs, such as having social workers respond to nonemergency calls. Some progressives have supported disbanding police departments.

In Nevada, a political swing state with a Democratic governor seeking another term next year, Lombardo has both embraced the phrase and used it as a cudgel against the left as he competes in a Republican primary while running a force of some 5,000 officers in the Las Vegas metro area.

Im on the record saying if you want to defund me, I have no problem with that as long as its used appropriately in something that would benefit us in the law enforcement space, Lombardo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

But on his campaign website and Twitter account, Lombardo declares he will stop all efforts to defund the police and said, The GOP is NOT the party of defund the police. His campaign video decries liberal politicians who try to defund the police.

When asked about the mixed messages and if he thinks voters know he supports defunding the police, Lombardo said he drew a distinction between his use of the phrase and the way other activists have used it.

A lot of time when you talk about defunding the police, people assume its just take the money away from the police because they dont deserve it, he said. When I talk about defunding the police, Im talking about: Give me some resources that supports what were trying to do, and Ill provide some of the funding out of my budget to support that.

Laura Martin, the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, was among the activists and organizers who met with Lombardo during last summers protests to discuss the demonstrations and police response. She said he made comments then indicating he was supportive of the defunding the police concept, but she felt his main point was stopping the protests.

I think he wanted to come across as understanding, but at the same time his officers were brutalizing protesters, she said. It seems like he says what he needs to say in front of the audience that needs to hear it.

Lombardo, who is white, said he believes systemic racism exists in some police departments across the U.S. but not in his own.

He blames rising homicide rates on some social factors related to the pandemic, but he also pointed to criminal justice reforms in the state Capitol in recent years, which included reductions in penalties for some drug and theft crimes. I believe that crooks dont see punishment associated with their acts, he said.

Democrats, meanwhile, have pointed to the rising homicide rates as a sign that Lombardo was derelict in his duty.

Rather than protecting families in Southern Nevada, hes touring the state asking for a promotion, said Molly Forgey, a spokesperson for Nevada Democratic Victory.

Chris Burbank, the former police chief of Salt Lake City, said its a mistake to give police chiefs too much credit or blame for crime rates when the state of the economy, poverty, health care access and jobs have a much bigger impact.

Burbank, who is now the vice president of law enforcement strategy for the Center for Policing Equity, said sheriffs and chiefs running for higher office should be scrutinized for how they responded to demonstrations or rioting in their cities last year and whether they have the public's trust and confidence.

Lombardo and Craig have been touting their responses to the protests and contrasting their cities with places where peaceful protests were accompanied by violent clashes, vandalism and some burned buildings. But both chiefs have been dogged by lingering criticism of their departments responses last summer, which included the use of tear gas and large-scale arrests that demonstrators and legal observers said were unjustified and carried out with excessive force.

When Lombardo appeared at a recent panel on policing put on by the Las Vegas-area NAACP, he was repeatedly interrupted by audience members wearing T-shirts that read Justice for Jorge Gomez, a 25-year-old man who was fatally shot by police at a demonstration after Floyds killing.

Police said Gomez carried guns and wore body armor, and the Democratic district attorney declared the officers who shot Gomez would not face charges. But the mans family has called for police to be held accountable for his death, and a federal wrongful death lawsuit is pending.

Lombardo was asked what he would say to people who have concerns about bad actors in the department.

I would want them to have trust in me as your sheriff" to investigate any allegation of improper force and to hold people accountable, he said.

He said the number of people who have been disciplined in his department has increased exponentially over the past five years because were paying attention and were holding them accountable. And eventually that will change behavior.

Someone in the audience shouted: But why do they keep killing people?

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Associated Press writers Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and David Eggert in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A federal judge on Sunday ruled that state courts should handle a lawsuit to overturn St. Louis-area mask mandates.

Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern Missouri U.S. District Court sent the case back to state court, saying that the mask-mandate challenge primarily deals with state laws.

Missouris Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt last week filed the lawsuit in state court in hopes of blocking the new mask mandates in St. Louis city and county, which took effect last week.

Lawyers for the city and county later asked a federal judge to take up the case instead.

But Clark ruled that the the issue deals with state laws on local health orders almost exclusively. He said local judges should be the ones to decide the case.
BERLIN (AP)  The German government on Monday condemned an outburst of violence at weekend protests in Berlin against the countrys anti-coronavirus measures.

More than 60 police officers were injured, some of them severely, police said. At least one journalist was also injured.

It was not clear how many protesters were injured, but Berlin police said a 48-year-old man died after being detained by officers during Sundays protests.

The man had complained of tingling in his arm and chest while officers checked his ID. Officers provided first aid to the man until an ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital, where he later died, police said.

Berlin prosecutors said later on Monday that a routine investigation into the mans death appeared to show that he died of a heart attack. They also said in a statement that before police had checked the mans ID, he had broken through a police block, knocking down and injuring an officer who then subsequently chased him down and detained him.

Violent clashes and the abuse of the right to protest are not acceptable, government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said.

Among those injured was Joerg Reichel, the head of the Berlin branch of German journalists union dju. Reichel was pulled from his bike, beaten and kicked by protesters, Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported.

Demmer said the attack on Reichel was completely incomprehensible and must be condemned.

The group Reporters without Borders cited attacks on reporters in Germany during anti-lockdown protesters in its annual World Press Freedom Index that ranked the country two places lower than in 2020.

Almost 1,000 people were temporarily detained during the demonstrations, which saw outbursts of violence as protesters defied orders to disperse and tried to break through police lines in various parts of the capital. Police opened investigations against 503 of them, including 59 cases of resisting police and 43 cases of assaulting officers.

Germany has relaxed many of the measures imposed during the height of the pandemic, but some requirements to wear masks indoors and present negative COVID-19 tests or certificates of vaccination are still in place.

A spokesman for Germanys Interior Ministry said experience had shown that far-right extremists have tried to join such coronavirus protests in the past.

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Follow all AP stories on the global pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
EAST TAWAS, Mich. (AP)  An 8-year-old Saginaw girl drowned in Lake Huron over the weekend after she began struggling while swimming with relatives near Tawas Point State Park, officials said.

The girl was at the park Saturday with her family and they were swimming with a group when witnesses saw her and a second girl in distress in the water, said Peter Wright, a captain with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' law enforcement division.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Two Mississippi residents with houses worth more than $1 million have been receiving coverage under the Medicaid program that is designed to help low-income residents, according to a report released Monday by the state auditor's office.

Auditor Shad White said those are examples of waste that could be curbed, and money that could be saved, if Mississippi legislators allow the Division of Medicaid to communicate directly with the state Department of Revenue to verify information that people provide when applying for Medicaid coverage.

Under current state law, the Division of Medicaid must rely on people to report their own income and to supply documents such as tax returns. The law does not allow the Division to request information from the state Department of Revenue.

White said such verification could save the state money by revealing possible false reporting by recipients.

When you spend more money on Medicaid, thats less money for other stuff, White, a Republican, said during a conference call with reporters.

White's office on Monday released its annual single audit report of how state agencies have spent federal money. This one was for the budget year that ended June 30, 2020.

Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for the needy, elderly, blind and disabled. It is paid by federal and state governments. Because Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, it receives one of the most generous portions of federal money for Medicaid.

The audit report said the Mississippi Division of Medicaid has been investigating the two possible fraud cases with people receiving Medicaid coverage despite having income that was too high. One person had taxable self-employment income higher than $300,000, and another had taxable self-employment income higher than $100,000. The auditors office said it verified that both people own homes with fair market value exceeding $1 million.

The Division of Medicaid says an adult with two dependent children may earn no more than $476 a month for the family to be eligible for coverage. That is $5,712 a year.

Mississippi has a population of about 3 million. Nearly 773,000 people were enrolled in the state's Medicaid program in June. That is up from about 697,000 in June 2020.

The audit report said both people with the high incomes and expensive homes were still receiving Medicaid benefits and have been receiving them for more than a year.

The fiscal year payments for these two instances that might not have been eligible to receive the benefits totaled $9,414 of questioned costs," the audit report said.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP)  A Mississippi man was sentenced to life without parole for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend inside the Walmart where she worked as an optometrist.

William Thomas Tommy Chisholm was found guilty of capital murder in the killing of Dr. Shauna Witt after just 26 minutes of deliberation on Friday, The Commercial Dispatch reported. Witt ran the eye clinic at Walmart Vision Center in Starkville, and was seeing a patient who brought along her 4-year-old daughter when Chisolm entered the store in January 2018.
RAYVILLE, Mo. (AP)  A man was killed when the off-road vehicle he was driving in suburban Kansas City crashed, according the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The crash happened Saturday night near Rayville when the four-wheel utility vehicle slid on a gravel road, went off the road and overturned, investigators said.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  The New Mexico Supreme Court is upholding the sentencing of a man who, as a teen, killed three members of a family with a large pickax.

The high court announced in a news release Monday that it determined Nicholas Ortiz's constitutional rights were not violated because he was sentenced as an adult for three first-degree murder convictions.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  The state of New Mexico moved forward Monday with a carrot-and-stick approach to immunizations against COVID-19 with a renewed $100 payout to newly vaccinated residents.

That $100 offer remains in effect through the end of August. The strategy was pioneered by New Mexico for several days in June, with about 25,000 eligible participants. The states $5 million sweepstakes prize for one vaccinated resident is scheduled to be awarded on Saturday.

President Joe Biden recommends that more states use cash payments to increase the pace of vaccination, as health authorities grapple with the more-contagious delta variant.

Starting on Tuesday, New Mexico is requiring that vaccine-eligible state workers either get the shot or get tested each week for infection.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week described the strategy as a little incentive, a little mandate.

Thats the sort of movement, I think, that will get us closer and closer to the goals that we need in order to protect ourselves adequately from delta and any other mutated version of this terrible virus," she told a news conference.

New Mexico was an early standout in deploying the vaccine, and immunization rates exceed 90% among eligible residents in Los Alamos County.

Immunization rates still lag in many rural and politically conservative counties, including the oil-producing region that abuts West Texas. Fewer than one-third of eligible residents in Roosevelt County are fully vaccinated.

The state continues to emphasize the availability of coronavirus testing. And it is prodding people to voluntarily participate in a crowdsourcing initiative that uses smartphones to track close encounters with people who later test positive for COVID-19.

Across the nation, a growing number of businesses are requiring their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, alarmed by the rise of the delta variant and frustrated that vaccination rates in the U.S. have plateaued.

Others are stopping short of a mandate while taking steps to make it more onerous for workers to remain unvaccinated, requiring them to take regular COVID tests or denying them certain privileges reserved only for the vaccinated.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Newly formed Tropical Storm Ignacio joined Hurricane Hilda over the open Pacific on Monday, but neither was forecast threaten land.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ignacio was expected to remain well below hurricane force and fade back to a depression by Tuesday.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP)  A German diplomat on Monday took office as the top international envoy to Bosnia, facing opposition from the country's Serbs, who have rejected both his appointment and a ban on genocide denial brought by his predecessor.

Christian Schmidt took over from Valentin Inzko, an Austrian diplomat, at a ceremony in the capital, Sarajevo. The Office of High Representative that Schmidt will run was established after Bosnia's 1992-95 war to oversee peace implementation and promote reconciliation and development.

While backed by the United States and the European Union, the United Nations office has recently has faced criticism from Bosnia's Serbs and their allies Russia and China, who have demanded that it be dismantled, reflecting a bid by Moscow and Beijing to increase their influence in the Balkans.

In a speech, Schmid pledged that he will work to help Bosnia reach stability and economic prosperity nearly three decades after the war that killed over 100,000 people and left millions homeless. He also urged the international community to step in more resolutely to help achieve these goals.

Bosnia-Herzegovina must be put back on the political agenda of the international community and the European Union, he said. I take office with a firm will to help the people here.

As the top international body in Bosnia, the OHR has the authority to impose decisions or dismiss officials who undermine the post-war ethnic balance and reconciliation efforts among the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, and the Bosnian Serbs and Croats.

A decision earlier this month by Inzko to impose a ban on genocide denial has angered Bosnian Serbs, who have sought to minimize the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, Europe's only post-World War II genocide.

Inzko also banned the glorification of war criminals. He was appalled that Bosnian Serbs widely honor their wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic as heroes, though both have been convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison by an international tribunal.

In response, the Bosnian Serb nationalists have pledged to block Bosnia's joint institutions and the assembly of the Bosnian Serb entity, the Republika Srpska, has overwhelmingly rejected Inzko's decision.

In addition, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has repeatedly campaigned for the separation of the Serb entity from Bosnia, also has rejected Schmidt's appointment as illegal" and announced a boycott of his future moves.

Dodik said Monday that he won't go to Sarajevo Tuesday for Schmidt's scheduled meeting with members of Bosnia's three-member presidency and reiterated that the Bosnian Serb entity won't carry out his decisions."

The dispute illustrates ongoing tensions in Bosnia long after the war that started after Bosnian Serbs rebelled against the country's split from the former Yugoslavia and took control over large swaths of territory to create an own self-styled state, expelling Bosniaks and Croats.

The genocide in Srebrenica happened after Bosnian Serbs took control over the eastern enclave in July 1995. They executed Bosniak men and boys and dumped their remains into mass graves which were later dug up and reburied to cover the crime. The victims remains are still being unearthed and identified.

Both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia have declared the Srebrenica massacre a genocide.

Schmidt said that the goal for Bosnia now must be to strengthen the country and move it closer to EU membership that it is striving to achieve. He cited German reunification as an example that miracles are possible.

It will be our job to overcome boundaries in peoples mind, he said.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  An off-duty San Diego police officer was arrested outside a bar over the weekend on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a gun, authorities said.

Police said the man displayed a personal firearm in a threatening manner during a disturbance at the bar in the Pacific Beach area on Saturday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
CORUNNA, Mich. (AP)  An official resigned as chairman of a county board in Michigan, the latest fallout from his decision to give himself a $25,000 bonus with federal COVID-19 relief money and reward others in the community.

Jeremy Root will remain one of seven Shiawassee County commissioners but will no longer lead the board.
On Friday, John Bennett, the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, posted on the group's Facebook page and made a striking comparison: Private companies requiring employees to get the vaccine, he said, are just as bad as the Nazis forcing Jews to sew the yellow Star of David onto their clothes.

"Those who don't KNOW history, are DOOMED to repeat it," read the caption, below an image of the Star of David patch with "Unvaccinated" written across the top.

The post triggered swift condemnations from top state Republicans and Jewish organizations in Oklahoma. But on Sunday, Bennett doubled down on his comments in a nearly seven-minute video he shared to the party's Facebook page.

"[The Nazis] gave [Jews] a star to put on, and they couldn't go to the grocery store, they couldn't go out in public, they couldn't do anything without having that star on their shirt," Bennett said. "Take away the star and add a vaccine passport."

Bennett, a Marine Corps veteran who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was elected chair of the Oklahoma GOP in April. The former state lawmaker has a history of making hateful comments, specifically about Muslims, according to the Oklahoman.

In a town hall in 2014, he said Islam "is a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out." In 2017, Bennett drafted an 18-question survey for Muslims in Oklahoma to fill out before he agreed to meet with them in his legislative office. One of the questions asked was "Do you beat your wife?" A senior imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City told the Oklahoman that Bennett threatened to demolish all the mosques in town.

Bennett is the latest GOP official to equate the persecution of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to mandates related to covid. In March, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) compared vaccine passports to Nazis forcing Jews to wear the yellow Star of David. In June, Washington state Rep. Jim Walsh (R) wore a yellow Star of David during a live stream, stating that it conveyed how "denying people their rights . . . can lead to terrible outcomes."

Also in June, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) apologized after she repeatedly compared mask mandates to the Star of David. But she evoked the Holocaust again in July, this time calling those leading a vaccine push from the Biden administration "brownshirts." The term refers to a paramilitary group that helped Hitler and the Nazis gain power in Germany.

The image of the yellow Star of David patch that Bennett posted on the Oklahoma Republican Party's Facebook page on Friday included what appeared to be identification numbers and a chip.

The post also said: "Limited access to travel within their State, Province or Territory. The bearer may not fly, cannot enter a pub, restaurant, club or theatre. . . . WAKE UP PEOPLE - Is this sounding familiar?"

Top Oklahoma GOP lawmakers condemned Bennett. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, and U.S. Sens. James M. Inhofe and James Lankford, along with other state and federal lawmakers, released a joint statement Friday evening in which they called the Facebook post "irresponsible and wrong," the Oklahoman reported.

"People should have the liberty to choose if they take the vaccine, but we should never compare the unvaccinated to the victims of the Holocaust," the statement said.

Shane Jemison, vice chair of the Oklahoma GOP, also released a statement calling the comparison "offensive to the survivors and victims of the Holocaust, as well as the Jewish people."

"Equating the possibility of private entities requiring their employees to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to the Holocaust is beyond abhorrent, disgraceful, and a gross misrepresentation of the Republican Party and its values here in Oklahoma and nationally," Jemison wrote.

Despite the stark disapproval from his colleagues, Bennett defended his claims in the video he posted Sunday afternoon and refused to apologize.

"The Star of David, when they put that on the Jews, they weren't sending them directly to the gas chambers. They weren't sending them directly to the [incinerator]. This was leading up to that," Bennett said.

He warned that vaccine mandates are "totalitarian" and that if Oklahoma Republicans don't act now, "it's going to end in the same exact result as we saw when nobody stood up whenever the Jews were told that they had to wear that star."

Bennett also called the vaccine mandates "communist," "unconstitutional" and "a direct attack on our liberties." He criticized his fellow Oklahoma GOP members for speaking out against his post and accused them of not caring about Oklahomans' "liberty and freedom."

In a statement released Saturday night, the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City called Bennett's comparison "ill-informed and inappropriate."

"It is sad and ironic that anyone would draw an analogy from the largest recorded genocide in the 20th century with public health attempts to save lives," the statement said. "Let us each strive to learn from the atrocities of the Holocaust by treating each person with dignity and respect - when we agree and especially when we disagree."
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A woman was killed in an early-morning shooting in Omaha, police said, and officers have arrested a suspect in the case.

The shooting happened just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday in north Omaha, police said in a news release. Arriving officers found a critically injured woman, later identified as 45-year-old Jennifer Hickman, and rushed her to a hospital, where she died.
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)  Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been officially appointed to the post by the country's president after Pashinyan's party won an early parliamentary election in June.

The newly elected parliament convened for the first time on Monday, and Pashinyan's Civil Contract party, which has the majority of the seats, nominated him to be the prime minister. Shortly after, Armenia's President Armen Sarkissian signed a decree to that effect. In accordance with the country's constitution, a cabinet must be formed within 15 days.
NEW DELHI (AP)  Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, has been living in the Indian capital of New Delhi since 2013 when he fled violence in Myanmar. Stateless, and now homeless after a fire razed his camp, the 35-year-old lives in a tent with as many as 10 other people at a time.

Before the pandemic, he ran a small business selling groceries from a shack. But that was closed during India's harsh, months-long lockdown, and his savings are gone. He and his family have been surviving on donated food, but he has to return to work soon, despite the risk of getting COVID-19 and infecting others.

Although some refugees in India have begun getting vaccines, no one in his camp has received shots. Just over 7% of India's population is fully vaccinated and vaccine shortages have plagued the nation of almost 1.4 billion.

The disease doesnt discriminate. If we get infected, locals will also, Salimullah said.

It wasnt supposed to be like this.

For months the World Health Organization urged countries to prioritize immunizing refugees, placing them in the second priority group for at-risk people, alongside those with serious health conditions.

That's because refugees inevitably live in crowded conditions where the virus can spread more easily, with little access to the most basic health care or even clean water, said Sajjad Malik director of the U.N. refugee agencys division of resilience and solutions.

They are really living in difficult situations, he said.

Over 160 countries included refugees in their plans, but these have been upended by supply shortages. According to the WHO, some 85% of vaccines have been administered by rich countries. In contrast, 85% of the world's 26 million refugees live in developing countries struggling to vaccinate even the most vulnerable, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Some countries, like Bangladesh, pinned their hopes on COVAX, the global initiative aimed at vaccine equity. In February, it altered its original vaccination plan to include nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps on the countrys border with Myanmar. Initial deliveries were scarce, but in the last few weeks, the country has received more than 6 million doses.

Globally the initiative has delivered less than 8% of the 2 billion vaccine doses it had promised by the end this year.

Even in countries where refugee vaccination has started, supplies remain an issue. In Ugandas Bidi Bidi camp less than 2% of the 200,000 refugees have received a single shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with second doses in short supply after India stopped exporting them after its own cases exploded.

Other obstacles ranging from language barriers to misinformation about vaccines are exacerbating the problem. Thomas Maliamungu, a South Sudanese refugee and teacher in Bidi Bidi, said he overcame his fears to get his first shot only after it was made mandatory for teachers.

Based on the rumors on the ground, I never wanted it," he said.

Some countries, like India, initially required documents like passports or other government identification, that many refugees lack to register for vaccines. Online registration was also a barrier for many without internet access.

India started vaccinating people in January. Four months later documentation requirements were eased. The Chin community in New Delhi, a Christian minority who fled the violence in Myanmar, started getting shots in June. By then, Indias monstrous surge had already ripped through their crowded settlement, with entire families falling sick and dying.

With the citys health system collapsing, refugees struggled to get a hospital bed and private hospitals were charging around $4,000 for a few days, said James Fanai, president of the Chin Refugee Committee in Delhi. Getting oxygen was almost impossible, he said.

Registration initiatives, like volunteers going to camps to help refugees sign up for vaccines, have sometimes fallen flat, said Miriam Alia Prieto, the vaccination and outbreak response adviser for Doctors Without Borders.

Many arent in camps but living with relatives, she said, noting refugee populations in Jordan and Lebanon.

Due to the transient nature of some refugee populations, some countries in Europe are gravitating towards using the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine for refugees. Prieto said that Spain is waiting for these vaccines to arrive. Greece began a drive for those living in migrant camps and shelters in early June using Johnson & Johnson shots.

Refugees are getting shots in EU countries, but the situation is worse in other parts of the continent, said Frido Herinckx, COVID-19 Operations Manager at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescents Regional Office for Europe. For example, only some 1.5% of people in Armenia and 4.2% in Ukraine are fully vaccinated.

In some countries, like Montenegro, the fear of arrest or deportation remains an obstacle and, he said, Red Cross volunteers are accompanying migrants, including refugees, to help them get shots while ensuring they weren't arrested afterwards.

"So (its) keeping that firewall between ... the border guards and the health service, he said.

But even if vaccine supply increases theres the issue of liability  the question of whos responsible in rare cases of serious side effects from the vaccine.

Humanitarian organizations can apply to distribute vaccines under the humanitarian buffer  a contingency mechanism set up by COVAX as a last resort. But doing so also means accepting liability for any serious side effects.

Prieto said Doctors Without Borders wants to try to get vaccines from the manufacturers but doesn't want to assume liability. Many vaccine makers have refused to ink deals for vaccines or ship them without that stipulation.

Another obstacle, she said, is that sometimes a vaccine greenlit by WHO is not yet authorized by the host country, creating a mismatch between what vaccines are available and what can be used.

Were in this weird phase where theres a drug being approved, but no one wants to take liability, she said.

As the virus continues to spread, the difficulties facing vaccinating refugee populations around the globe could spell disaster for host communities.

The virus doesnt distinguish between a national and a refugee. So, if you dont protect and save your refugee population it becomes a public health issue, Malik said.

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Milko reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. AP journalists Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

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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.

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This story was first published on Aug. 2, 2021. It was updated on Aug. 6, 2021, to correct Bangladeshs vaccine delivery.
ROME (AP)  The governor of the area including Italys capital, Rome, sought on Monday to assure residents that a powerful hacking intrusion into the region's website, into its second day, wont interrupt COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Lazio region governor, Nicola Zingaretti, also told reporters that the hacking attack, launched from abroad and still underway after more than 36 hours, hasn't and wont disrupt ambulance, emergency room, transfusions, admissions to hospital or other health services.

But until the hacking is resolved, residents of the region wont be able to sign up via the regions website, to receive the vaccine. "The reservation system is temporarily suspended,'' he said.

The governor described the attack as probably the most serious one that ever happened on national territory.

"We are defending our community from these criminal and terroristic attacks.'' Zingaretti vowed, without providing details.

The hacking was under investigation by intelligence and cybersecurity experts.

Zingaretti dismissed as unfounded reports that a ransom demand had been made, and added that the attack was launched from abroad. He said that a second hacking attempt, launched about two hours after the first one shortly after midnight Sunday, was successfully fought off.

Existing appointments for a first or second dose of the vaccine through Aug. 13 in the region will be honored, Zingaretti said.

The hacking won't in any way slow down the vaccination process,' Zingaretti pledged.

Some 70% of Lazio residents who are 12 or over and eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine are fully vaccinated. Nationwide, that figure is 60%.

Lazio Health Commissioner Alessio D'Amato said some 50,000 COVID-19 vaccines were administered on Sunday, with the only repercussion being a slowdown in registering the data, since all information had to be recorded manually.

Citizen's privacy about health care data contained in the region's database hadn't been compromised, the commissioner said.

On Friday, the nation begins its so-called Green Pass system. Under those government rules, people in Italy must show certification that they have had a least one vaccine dose, or tested negative within 48 hours, or have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six months if they want to dine indoors, enter a cinema, museum or gym or attend a concert or other event drawing a crowd.

With many in Italy anxious to get their "Green Passes,'' Lazio authorities said at most the hacking would cause a 24-hour delay before vaccine injections will be registered.

There was concern other local governments in Italy might fall prey to a cybersecurity attack.

Until today we invested a lot in security, but what happened in Lazio worries me,'' said Tuscany's regional governor, Eugenio Giani.

"How could we have, starting from January, been able to administer 4.1 million doses of vaccine without an internet network" operating in Tuscany, he asked.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Ding! Ding! San Francisco's iconic cable cars were chiming their bells and rolling again on the city's hills Monday after being sidelined for 16 months by the pandemic.

At Powell and Market, one of the cable car's stops, a line of people snaked around a cable car turntable waiting to ride a car to Ghirardelli Square or Fisherman's Wharf.

Our cable cars are part of what makes San Francisco a world-class destination, and their return is just the latest sign that our city is bouncing back," said San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

Breed said it will be free to ride the cable cars in August and asked people to be patient because the service won't follow a regular schedule until September when the historic trolleys will resume full service in all three lines and start charging a riding fee.

Frank Miller, of San Antonio, said he and six members of his family arrived in San Francisco last week and have already visited some of the city's top landmarks. They rode a ferry to Angel Island and visited Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf but Miller said riding the cable cars was a highlight for him.

I grew up watching Full House so, everybody knows the cable cars. We definitely want to ride the trolley cars through the city, said Miller, 40, who was waiting with his family to ride from Powell Street and Market to Fishermans Wharf.

Before the pandemic, 25 million tourists visited San Francisco annually, with many of them riding the cable cars that are as synonymous with the city as Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.

About 17,000 riders packed onto the cable cars daily before they were parked in March 2020 as the city locked down and sheltered in place. It was the longest shutdown since the 1980s, when the system was fully reconstructed, according to the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency.
SEATTLE (AP)  A year after racial justice and anti-police demonstrators took over part of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, there are lines outside the restaurants in and around the former protest zone.

Pickup soccer games and dog owners playing fetch dominate a park formerly occupied by a tent encampment. Corn, kale and zucchini flourish in a community garden dug by the protesters, next to the letters BLM fashioned from lengths of hose.

But issues crystallized by the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest  policing, equity, disorder and homelessness  are animating Seattles Tuesday mayoral primary, a contest that highlights a political divide between activist-left voters and more moderate progressives.

The election comes weeks after Democratic primary voters in New York's mayoral race chose a centrist former cop who balked at calls from the left to defund the police. The question is whether voters in overwhelmingly liberal Seattle will also back moderate candidates who reject pleas to reduce police budgets or candidates who support the agenda espoused so forcefully by protesters during last summers rallies.

Many residents are frustrated, with large swaths saying the city is on the wrong track. Six years after the city first declared homelessness an emergency, Seattle remains mired in a humanitarian crisis, with tent encampments and open air drug use a feature of many neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, as gun violence soars in Seattle and other major cities, there has been so much attrition at the Seattle Police Department that officers take several hours to respond to nonpriority calls.

These people need to get down to business and clean up the mess in this city, said Joe Howard, a Black 48-year-old financial trader who lives on Capitol Hill and decried the disorganized nonsense of the protest zone. I understand you want to open up society, you want a fair and equitable society, but just being airheaded about things behind a liberal ideology is not going to achieve that.

Fifteen candidates are seeking to advance to the November election. Seattles elections are nonpartisan. The top two-vote getters Aug. 3 will face off in the general election.

Mayor Jenny Durkan, who was heavily criticized over her handling of last summers protests, cited the need to focus on the citys pandemic response as a reason for not seeking a second term.

Among those vying to replace her are Bruce Harrell, a former City Council member endorsed by the business community; City Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez, a civil rights attorney who has strong support among labor groups; Colleen Echohawk, the recent executive director of Chief Seattle Club, a nonprofit that builds affordable urban housing for Native Americans; and Jessyn Farrell, a former state legislator who is a leading advocate for mass transit.

Several have compelling personal stories. Harrell grew up in Seattle's Central Area, a redlined neighborhood; his father was a Black transplant from the Jim Crow South, and his mother's family was Japanese and interned during World War II. An attorney, he served three terms on the City Council, advocating for police accountability, before retiring in 2019 amid tough reelection prospects.

Echohawk, whose grandmother fought for decades to secure her familys right to subsistence fishing in the Alaskan interior, is Pawnee and Upper Athabascan. She has served on the city's Community Police Commission and would be one of the first Native people elected mayor of a major U.S. city.

Gonzalez's parents were migrant farmworkers in central Washington; she picked cherries as a child before becoming a lawyer and representing victims of police brutality. As council president she has helped pass a payroll tax on big corporations, such as Amazon, to pay for city services, as well as worker protections such as a secure-scheduling law.

But Gonzalez, and to a lesser extent Harrell, could suffer from their ties to the council.

Voters see the problems this city is facing, like homelessness, getting worse, said Sandeep Kaushik, a Seattle political consultant who is not involved in this years campaign. "They dont see City Hall offering solutions, and they blame what they see as the overly ideological, performative and scattershot approach of the City Council.

That includes the council's response to last summer's protests.

Amid nightly conflict that was sometimes worsened by the Seattle Police Department's heavy-handed response, officers abandoned a precinct building on Capitol Hill; protesters seized a several-block area, set up barricades and declared it a police-free zone.

It featured free-speech circles, mutual aid tents and movie screenings, but was derided by then-President Donald Trump and conservative media, and its atmosphere grew more menacing as time wore on. The city cleared it out after more than three weeks, following multiple shootings.

Much of the City Council  including Gonzalez  embraced activists' calls to defund the police in favor of unarmed responses to crisis calls and increased spending on services to avoid crime. But votes to reduce the department by as much as 100 officers and to cut the command staff's salaries backfired when Carmen Best, the city's first Black police chief, who had deep support among minority communities, quit in protest.

More than 200 officers have left the department since the protests.

You had a majority of the council that embraced a significant policy move without much analysis or consideration," said Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association. Now its had to retreat from it, but they did a lot of damage."

He suggested the candidates could learn from the city's pandemic response: Once Seattle became the first region hit by the virus, government, public health officials and business leaders pulled together to respond. The government was transparent about what was working, adjusted what wasn't working, and weathered the crisis better than many other urban areas.

Annie Campbell, 36, owns a salon and works as a cashier at a news stand on Capitol Hill. She supported the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest in the beginning, but then it turned hostile. She didn't feel safe in her neighborhood because there was madness outside  there was stuff on fire. She called 911, and dispatchers told her no one was coming.

It gave her an idea of what she wants in a mayor.

Somebody who is ready for anything, Campbell said.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. (AP)  State authorities in Georgia have opened a probe after deputies in Clayton County shot a man while executing an arrest warrant.

Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday that they had been asked to investigate an officer-involved shooting.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP)  The South Dakota Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit to go forward alleging police officers used excessive force when arresting a Sioux Falls woman in 2016.

Nichole Boggs sued in Second Circuit Court for injuries she suffered when two police officers took her into custody while investigating a call for help at her apartment. When officers arrived they found an injured man, Boggs' son, outside the apartment complex and determined he had been hurt in his mother's apartment.
EL ENCANTO, Honduras (AP)  Dr. Claudia Lazo is asked: How many of your patients are depressed?

All of them, she answers.

All of them. All of them. All of them. All of them. All of them.

The patients at her modest rural health center suffer from solastalgia -- sadness and pain provoked by the loss of their environment. Theyve lost their physical homes and their psychological well-being.

On the night of Nov. 24, 2020, their town -- La Reina -- was wiped from the face of the earth.

___

This story is part of a series, After the Deluge, produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

___

Home to about 1,000 people, the town in western Honduras was hit by two powerful hurricanes within three weeks, natural disasters made far worse by local deforestation and climate change. La Reina was buried by a landslide.

No one died. But seven months later, La Reinas people remain homeless, and adrift. They are alive, but their place in the world is gone -- the place where they lived, loved, dreamed, had children, grew coffee, corn and beans.

Here, they had invested their savings and money sent home from relatives in the United States, transforming a mountainside into a town of 300 homes. Nature has taken it all back.

Olga Ondina, 52, suffers from insomnia, unable to sleep in an unfamiliar house. I wake up at midnight and try to go to my old bathroom, but it isnt there anymore, she says.

She gathers red flowers from the site of the home where she raised her five children, to be displayed in the homes of relatives who have taken her family in. I realize Im not at home, and I cry. My parents lived and died here, my children were born here. Today I came to cry.

Over the decades, Julio Villanueva Melgar, 70, raised a family and made a living in La Reina. Villanueva feels as if hes been hurled into a new and more hostile universe.

One becomes crazy, disoriented, Villanueva says. You dont fit in anymore.

Orlando Perdomo, muscular from working the land for much of his 56 years, sits and spends the afternoon with a group of friends alongside a lake born of the same rainfall and landslide that devoured his hometown.

When the first cracks in the earth opened after Hurricane Mitch (in 1998), my father said the he wouldnt live to see it, but that we would see the town disappear, that the future would bring death, Perdomo recalls.

Lazo has treated nearly all of La Reinas people, and hes seen a lot of tears.

They sit in front of me and I ask them, How are you? They start to cry.

Their own actions are partly the cause of their predicament. For decades, the people of La Reina cut cedar and cinnamon trees from the highest slopes of surrounding mountains to expand their coffee plantations and get timber to build their homes.

The severed roots rotted, and no longer fixed the soil on the hillside. Pelted by days of intense rain from hurricanes Eta and Iota, the earth rose up and devoured La Reina within hours, burying its remains beneath tons of slick, slippery mud.

Lazo cautions against blaming the victims. They didnt deforest the countryside because they wanted to, but because of poverty, he says. They needed to warm themselves, to build, and the country gave them no option other than cutting down the forest.

Now, Lazo tries to piece these broken people together again. Medicine can help some sleepless nights, but it doesnt cure collective depression in a country with a humble, rural population without psychological or psychiatric services, he says.

How do you cure what cannot be cured? the doctor asks.
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP)  An arrest has been made following a Twin Cities crash that killed a toddler and injured five others, the Minnesota State Patrol said.

According to the patrol, an SUV hit a barrier on a bridge, flipped over some fencing and landed on Interstate 94 below in Brooklyn Center about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  After being delayed more than a year because of possible COVID-19 exposure, a murder trial for an Ojo Caliente man is slated to begin this week.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that jury selection was underway Monday for the trial of 25-year-old Mark Hice, who faces first-degree murder and other charges.
PHOENIX (AP)  The lower courts in Arizonas largest county braced Monday for new filings allowing landlords to remove renters for failure to pay after a national eviction ban expired over the weekend, but officials said the brunt of any action isnt expected for days.

Some believe there will be a large flood of case activity; others believe it will be just a light sprinkle, which builds gradually over time, said Scott Davis, spokesman for the Maricopa County Justice Courts that oversee eviction filings in metro Phoenix.

Davis said how quickly or dramatically things play out depends on landlords, who must follow certain legal steps before locking renters out. For a tenant previously protected by the moratorium ban who followed all the rules, a landlord had to wait until Monday to file a writ of possession, starting at least a five-day process unlikely to result in an eviction until next week, he said.

"It can be easy to get caught up in the fear scenario that hundreds or even thousands of people suddenly will become homeless this week. This is simply not the case and the courts have taken steps to ensure this will not happen, he said.

Elsewhere in the Southwest, rental assistance is available in Nevada but the burden is on renters not landlords to seek help. In New Mexico, a state moratorium remains in place to prevent evictions for non-payment of rent.

In Arizona, landlord advocacy groups like the Arizona Multihousing Association have encouraged members not to evict tenants who have applied for government funds to pay off back rent, but owners don't have to follow that suggestion.

The associations president and CEO Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus said last month smaller property owners in particular have struggled for months to pay their own mortgages and taxes with many tenants not paying rent.

A lot of small landlords are having a very hard time, said LeVinus.

She said about 11% of the state's landlords have been forced to sell at least one property and some 12% have left the rental business entirely.

LeVinus said many landlords are working with tenants to get their back rent, waiving fees and helping them fill out government relief applications. But only about $67 million of Arizona's nearly $900 million in rental relief funds had been distributed by late June.

Phoenix tenant Donald Anderson said he was assisted by his own landlord and a dedicated caseworker with a nonprofit that's helping distribute the government money.

Anderson said working together they got more than $12,000 in government funds to pay back rent that piled up when he and his wife had to temporarily stop driving for Uber and Lyft.

"Having a cooperative landlord really helps, he said.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP)  Police in Wichita are investigating separate shootings that happened over the weekend and wounded four people.

The first shooting happened Friday night in central Wichita, when a man was shot as he stepped out of his vehicle, police said. The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A woman was killed when her car was struck by a train, authorities said.

The crash happened Monday morning in the Mid-City neighborhood when her car went onto the tracks, WWL-TV reported. It happened near Interstate 10 west and South Carrollton Avenue, police said.
The Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday will discuss funding options for the first phase of the city's Your Parks, Your Future plan, which would include replacing facilities at Heather Farm Park.

The council identified Civic Park Community Center and Assembly Hall, Heather Farm Park Community Center, Clarke Memorial Swim Center, and Shadelands Art Center, as infrastructure priorities for 2017 and 2018. All four were built in the late 1960s and 70s and were identified as nearing the end of their life spans.

Your Parks, Your Future was initiated in 2018 as a two-phase project. The first would focus on future arts and recreation programming at the four facilities. The second would focus on creating a 10-to-15-year master plan for Heather Farm Park and Civic Park, including design plans.

The council put the project on hold in June 2020, over the COVID-19 shutdowns, but reaffirmed its commitment to the plan in March as a priority for 2021-2022.

To improve accountability and transparency in California's special education system, funding should bypass local cost-sharing consortiums and go directly to school districts, according to a new report released Thursday.

The report, compiled by researchers at the nonpartisan consulting firm West Ed, is the second of a two-part study of ways to improve funding for California's 725,000 students with disabilities in K-12 public schools. Funded by private foundations, the report will be presented to the governor, Legislature and other state officials.

When Sunnyvale Community Services' personnel hand out back-to-school supplies for 1,600 low-income students on Monday, it will be the result of a joint effort nearly spanning the United States.

Boxes of supplies were due in Sunnyvale last week, but COVID-19-related shipping delays stalled them in Memphis.

Members of the Sunnyvale Rotary Club reached out to three similar clubs in the Memphis area. Those clubs contacted local logistics people and executives at Federal Express, where the supplies had stalled. FedEx management helped negotiate the transfer of the shipment and arranged for a partner shipping company to drive them to California by Sunday evening, according to a release from Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS).

If you want to grab a drink in San Jose, you might soon have to show you got a COVID-19 shot -- just like San Francisco.

Haberdasher, a speakeasy-themed bar in downtown San Jose, announced a day after the state reopened it would require proof of vaccination to enter. A banner on the bar's website reads, "No proof, no entry."

Owner Cache Bouren got the idea from a podcast that suggested business owners require checking vaccine cards at entry. When the state's reopening date came near, he polled his workers to see if they supported the idea. They did.

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider asking staff to prepare an amendment to the county building code requiring electricity to be the sole source of power for all new residential and non-residential (hotel, office and retail) buildings, while prohibiting the installation of natural gas piping.

The new buildings affected would be in areas where the California Energy Commission has accepted studies demonstrating the cost effectiveness of the new requirements for all climate zones in the county.

Walnut Creek police want to increase its presence in Nordstrom at Broadway Plaza, after a series of "grab and run" thefts officials believe may be connected to "organized retail crime groups."

The city council will have to sign off on the increased police presence, which would be budgeted over the next year and come through voluntary overtime from officers, estimated to cost $231,514. Nordstrom would fully reimburse that amount to the city in quarterly payments.

The council will take up the matter at its Tuesday meeting. A staff report for the meeting says vehicles belonging to the same groups targeting high end stores around the Bay Area, have been captured on video casing Broadway Plaza.

Petaluma Police arrested two people Sunday morning, suspected of stealing the catalytic converter from a resident's vehicle as it sat near Clegg Ct.

Just minutes after initially calling police to report the theft at 10:59 a.m., the Petaluma resident called back to say she'd spotted the alleged thieves in a vehicle near Petaluma Blvd. North and Magnolia Ave.

Police stopped the vehicle near Magnolia and Lohrman Lane and found the catalytic converter in the vehicle, along with numerous battery-powered saws, hand tools and floor jacks in the rear passenger area, along with a small amount of methamphetamine.

Police released a photo of a suspect's car connected to a shooting death of a teen five years ago in East Oakland.

Jordan Holmes, 18, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car when someone outside shot into the vehicle about 8 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2016 in the 5700 block of Avenal Avenue, police said. Holmes was found a few blocks away by police in the 5800 block of Walnut Street, where someone had driven him in search of safety, police said.

On Sunday, police for the first time released a photo of the shooting suspect's car, a 2011 black Acura MDX, in hopes it will generate information about the unsolved case.

Monday's forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area from the National Weather Service calls for partly cloudy skies, with highs ranging from the mid to upper 60s along the coast to the mid 70s to mid 80s around the Bay, with inland valleys reaching the mid 80s to low 90s.

Overnight lows will range from the mid 50s to the mid 60s. High pressure is expected to rebuild over Southern California on Tuesday, bringing more inland warming while the marine layer continues along the coast.

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.
By Lloyd Alaban

San Jose Spotlight

If you want to grab a drink in San Jose, you might soon have to show you got a COVID-19 shot -- just like San Francisco.

Haberdasher, a speakeasy-themed bar in downtown San Jose, announced a day after the state reopened it would require proof of vaccination to enter. A banner on the bar's website reads, "No proof, no entry."

Owner Cache Bouren got the idea from a podcast that suggested business owners require checking vaccine cards at entry. When the state's reopening date came near, he polled his workers to see if they supported the idea.

"The second I brought it up, the entire crew was on board," Bouren told San Jose Spotlight.

While Bouren's employees support the policy, patrons haven't taken so kindly to it. He said he's gotten threatening emails, and Haberdasher had its Yelp page shut down because of one-star reviews from customers unhappy with the bar's requirement.

In one instance, Bouren said he received a threatening phone call from a 20 plus-member biker gang who promised to show up--unvaccinated--daring the bar's workers to stop them from entering.

The gang never came.

"I'm f--ing sick of these trolls," Bouren said. "And it's just people coming in making their stupid, politically motivated comments. For me, this has never been about politics. This is simply about protecting my staff's health because, without them, I wouldn't have a business at all."

San Jose bars aren't the only Bay Area watering holes requiring proof of vaccination upon entry.

The San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, a loose association of about 500 owners across approximately 300 bars, jointly made the decision Monday to require patrons to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter. Negative tests or vaccination cards aren't required for people who sit outside.

Each bar will be in charge of figuring out how to enforce the requirements, which could include asking patrons to show their vaccine cards or using California's electronic vaccine verification system.

Ben Bleiman, president of the bar alliance, said the decision--fueled by frustration--was easy to make.

"One thing that was really clear from the conversations we were having was how frustrated our group members were with these idiots who weren't getting vaccines. The ones who can, but choose not to," Bleiman said. "If you think you know more than all the data and all the scientific experts, you're narcissistic."

A recent uptick in COVID infections forced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its mask guidelines, recommending people wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. Santa Clara County is also recommending residents mask up when indoors.

With positive infections rising across the state again, spurred by the highly-contagious Delta variant, California lawmakers and business owners are mulling the recommendation. Experts however say that "breakthrough" cases, or infections among vaccinated people, are rare and almost always accompanied by only mild symptoms.

Though there isn't a similar bar alliance in San Jose, owners are encouraging each other to put voluntary policies in place.

7 Stars Bar & Grill, a "Star Wars"-themed pub on Bascom Avenue just outside the city's upscale Santana Row neighborhood, opened its doors last week after cautiously releasing a YouTube video stating their intentions to require only proof of vaccination for entering.

"I thought there would be more backlash. I was nervous," said Marya Cunha, who owns 7 Stars with her husband, Paul. "The idea that if we were responsible for an outbreak that got people sick, that would've weighed really heavily on us."

The couple told San Jose Spotlight they haven't had any problems with customers over the requirement. They've actually seen an uptick in customers who specifically go to the bar because of the requirement.

Short of an actual government mandate from local officials, some bar owners say their hands are tied.

Eric Nielsen, owner of SP2, a bar and restaurant in downtown San Jose's San Pedro Square Market, says the burden of making sure his workers are safe is overwhelming. While he hasn't implemented a policy requiring proof of vaccination to enter, he says he will if the case count continues to rise and that his priority is the safety of his workers and customers.

Regardless if people want to get vaccinated or not, he says the local government needs to step up.

"I really wish the county or the government would do their job and just say if you want to go eat indoors, you need proof of vaccination," Nielsen said. "But now, they want all the onus on the business owner... If that's what you think is best for the public good, why isn't that the rule? It doesn't make any sense why I'm the harbinger of good and bad news."

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.
Ludington, MI (49431)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
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Ludington, MI (49431)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some heavy this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Page Content

On June 24, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-69, which adds to Connecticut's Fair Employment Practices Act an explicit ban on Connecticut employers inquiring into the ages of prospective employees "on an initial employment application." The new law, An Act Deterring Age Discrimination in Employment Applications, goes into effect on Oct. 1.

Restrictions on Employers



Under the new law, Connecticut employers may not request or require prospective employees to provide the following information on an initial employment application:

Age.

Date of birth.

Dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

Exceptions



Employers may request or require information related to an applicant's age if that information is based on a bona fide occupational qualification or need or if the employer needs the information to comply with applicable state or federal laws.

Employer Takeaway

As a result of P.A. 21-69, employers should review their current job application forms and processes to ensure that they do not request or require job applicants to provide their age, date of birth, or dates of attendance or graduation from an educational institution. Employers also should verify that no other documents calling for this information are required of applicants with the initial employment application.

Employers should review any of their jobs for which age-related information is elicited to determine if there are applicable state or federal laws requiring them to collect age-identifying information or if there is a bona fide occupational qualification or need that justifies collecting this information. If that review indicates the employer may have a specific, justifiable need for the information, the employer should discuss the specific facts and circumstances with their legal counsel.

If age-identifying information is needed to comply with state or federal law, or for another occupational qualification or need, those factors should be documented with human resources to support the presence of such questions on the initial application, in the event of a challenge.

In addition, since the new law is limited to information that is requested or required on an initial employment application, in certain circumstances age-identifying inquiries may be permissible for legitimate business reasons at a later stage in the hiring process. Employers should exercise caution, however, in eliciting information about age or any other protected characteristic and should do so only if the information is needed for legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons and is not used as an impermissible factor in the hiring decision.

Finally, employers should ensure that employees engaged in the hiring process are educated about the new inquiry limitations.

Kyle Roseman and Lori B. Alexander are attorneys with Littler Mendelson in New Haven, Conn.  2021 Littler Mendelson. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
This time, however, the accused is the Beijing government. New Zealand has left no ambiguity when it charged the Chinese government for its direct involvement in "malicious" cyber activities. It openly called out the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Hackers from China are often accused of cyberattacks on government websites and vital installations, especially when there is a diplomatic row or clash.

"Chinese state-sponsored actors were responsible for the exploitation of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities in New Zealand in early 2021," said a release issued by the New Zealand government.

Responding to the allegation, China has expressed "dissatisfaction" and accused New Zealand of "Cold War mentality". With the new dispute, China has been embroiled in disputes with every major player in the Asia-Pacific region.

New Zealand's Minister for Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Andrew Little, minced no words while indicting Beijing when he said the cyberattack was carried out by "Chinese state-sponsored actors".

"We call for an end to this type of malicious activity, which undermines global stability and security," said Little while demanding "appropriate action" from Beijing.

A senior minister slamming China directly and invoking global security can be interpreted in two ways. First, the damage that China-sponsored hackers have caused to New Zealand's institutes and overall governance system. Second, it is trying to align with its traditional allies as did Australia, which refused to give in to economic coercion by China.

In the recent past, groups like Five Eyes, SCRI (Supply Chain Resilience) and QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) have made China wary as they intend to question China's hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.

Interestingly, New Zealand had criticised Five Eyes - an intelligence-sharing alliance - for taking on China.

However, the latest development of New Zealand openly criticising China is well in coordination with the statements issued by Five Eyes, European Union, Japan and NATO.

The statement from New Zealand came soon after the US condemned China for "malicious" cyberattacks, which posed a major threat to the country's "economic and national security".

David Capie, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, said the statement by New Zealand is a clear manifestation of differences with China.

"This time you've got a senior government minister fronting the message -- not an official," Capie said.

"The language in the statement is much sharper -- China is accused of undermining global security and stability', and the condemnation is being delivered along with a long list of partners," he added.

The shift in New Zealand's geopolitical policy was clear after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country would embrace a larger ecosystem of nations in the Indo-Pacific as the wider home for New Zealand.

Ardern also took a dig at China's one-upmanship in the region, saying, "We also have serious concerns over the situation in the South China Sea, including artificial island-building, continued militarisation, and activities which pose risks to freedom of navigation and overflight."

Many small nations in the South China Sea region have challenged Beijing's expansionist behaviour, which has led to conflicts over ownership of small islands and territories in the sea.

Ardern's comment can be seen as New Zealand has joined the bandwagon of the western block that seeks to counter China in its own background.

Things started falling apart after New Zealand decided to speak against the genocide in China's north-western Xinjiang province.

"We need to acknowledge that there are some things on which China and New Zealand do not, cannot, and will not agree. We have commented publicly about our grave concerns regarding the human rights situation of Uyghurs," Ardern had said in May.

The Chinese government is accused of carrying out human rights abuses in the form of abduction, forced sterilisation, and extra-judicial killings of minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Even the opposition party too has supported the Ardern-government though the widening rift between New Zealand and China is going to have a negative economic impact.

National Party leader Judith Collins said, "China is our major trading partner. But we can't just lie down and let cyberattacks occur against our health organisations, government agencies and businesses, and sit there and say nothing."

Under the Xi Jinping rule, authoritarianism has increased, and the Beijing government seeks to achieve dominance and total control over its population as well as other countries.

New Zealand must have got the taste of it. It appears that New Zealand has decided to join the US-led anti-China bandwagon to protect itself against harmful Chinese activities. And the recent cyber-attack gave it a reason to do so.

--IANS

arm/
The Allahabad University (AU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the IndUS Setu Global Foundation at Stanford University for mutual collaboration in various fields.



The MoU was signed by AU Vice-Chancellor Prof Sangita Srivastava on behalf of the university, and Priya Tandon and Nandini Tandon on behalf of the Foundation.



The scope of the collaboration programs will be interdisciplinary, pedagogical and involving world-class academicians, industry executives, government leaders at local and national levels.



The collaboration will take place in several key emerging areas of research including information technology, environment conservation, social justice and sustainable development.



AU public relations officer (PRO), Jaya Kapoor said: "One of the key areas which the collaboration involves is encouraging innovation and entrepreneurial involvement with Silicon Valley. The training with the Silicon Valley technology industry will help in skill development and open exposure to the highest levels of research and employment opportunities.



"The MoU will provide a bridge for international exchanges between US-India around technology education".



Under the New Education Policy, there is a stress on training to work with Information Technology with special emphasis on AI.



The MoU will help in giving a broad base to the capacity to work in this direction.



Another very important area that the MoU has agreed to develop, includes work on measures about environment conservation through encouraging global thought in the area.



It will also work on areas of healthcare.



Under the prevailing conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, it becomes all the more crucial to give attention to strategies to handle the crisis.



The proposal also hopes to achieve an understanding of how to go about the objective of sustainable development in the face of the challenges involved in achieving an optimal balance between environmental conservation and development needs.



Another key area that the MoU will cover is to increase awareness regarding social justice, humanitarianism and diversity.



The IndUS Setu Global Foundation was launched in 1994 at Stanford University.



It was set up to develop dialogue, collaboration and understanding between India, the US and their allies including Australia, Israel, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Kumar Manglam Birla, the chairman of Aditya Birla Group, has written to the Cabinet Secretary saying that he is ready to hand over his stake in Vodafone-Idea to any government entity.



In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, Birla said that, with a "sense of duty" towards 27 crore Indians connected with Vodafone Idea, Birla is willing to hand over his stake to public Sector Unit (PSU), a government entity or any domestic financial entity, or any other entity that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern.



Birla said that VIL has been trying to raise Rs 25,000 crore to sustain VIL operations and pay regulatory and governmental dues.



He said that foreign investors wanted to see a clear government intent to have a three-player telecom market.



In the letter, Birla sought clarity on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), adequate moratorium on spectrum dues and floor pricing adding that without immediate and active government support VIL's operations will be at an "irretrievable point of collapse".



He also said that investors have also sought clarity on these issues.



Birla said that he and his team would be more than happy to work with the government to urgently explore all possible options to save the company and without any consideration to our private interest, Birla said.
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A 31-year old entrepreneur from Sydneys eastern surburbs has capped an extraordinary rise after agreeing to sell the payments firm he founded less than a decade ago, Afterpay, to US financial technology giant Square for $US29 billion ($39 billion).

Nick Molnar, a graduate of Moriah College and Sydney University, developed the idea for Afterpay together with a neighbour in Rose Bay, investment banker Anthony Eisen, after the two met in 2012. The business Afterpay was founded in 2014. In the biggest corporate deal in Australian history, the duo agreed on Monday to sell the business to Square, which is led by Twitter founder and billionaire Jack Dorsey.

Anthony Eisen, left, and Nick Molnar. Credit:Eamon Gallagher

In striking the deal, the two Australians cemented their status as the nations biggest winners to date from the technological revolution sweeping through finance.

The deal also caps a remarkable journey for Afterpay, a company that has helped to launch a multi-billion dollar industry and cultural phenomenon by targeting millennial consumers with short-term instalment loans that do not charge interest.
Extra leave, virtual yoga classes, and zoo tours for children are some of the ways big companies are trying to help their employees cope with the Sydney lockdown.

NAB people and culture executive Susan Ferrier said the bank was providing staff with an extra 10 days of paid pandemic leave for illness or home schooling. Other employers, including the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Ernst & Young (EY) have also provided webinars for adults and online craft, dance, Minecraft and LEGO activities for children. PwC provides virtual yoga and Pilates classes and virtual coffee catch-ups for staff, while Westpac hosts virtual tours of zoos and museums for the children of employees.

Ms Ferrier said the NAB webinars covered topics such as how to cope with cabin fever and how to set up an ergonomic home workstation.

EY has offered all Sydney staff a cash voucher to help them buy healthy meals while working from home.

Nancy Lu, a consultant at EY with three sons aged 6, 12 and 15, takes flex leave and joins EY webinars that support parents and carers. She feels better organised to handle the lockdown this year. Unlike last lockdown, she avoids scheduling back-to-back meetings so she can take breaks to help her youngest son with schoolwork.
A judge has allowed a former Australian Federal Police officer to keep her workers compensation payments on top of a $1.25 million settlement over allegations her supervisor said hed reward any colleague who could work out if her breasts were real, and showed her explicit images on his iPhone.

The woman, who The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have chosen not to name, alleged the sergeant rubbed himself against her, made repeated comments about her breasts and professionally undermined her in harassment so severe it destroyed her happiness, relationship and career.

The AFP agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a claim against the force and four officers without admitting any wrongdoing. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The woman, who had worked at Sydney International Airport, made a workers compensation claim in 2014 over the allegations dating back to the year before, which resulted in payments worth $677,363.

But in 2018 she made an additional discrimination claim to the Human Rights Commission against the AFP and four officers. The AFP settled in September last year for $1.25 million without admitting liability.
I am grateful to be fully vaccinated but I know vaccine hesitancy runs deep in my Pasifika community here in Sydney. My own Fijian family, even those who have contracted the virus, are hesitant about the vaccines. I have had some very intense conversations with family members about the need to get vaccinated, and the role this plays in countering the impacts of the virus.

Professor Jioji Ravulo, who has struggled to convince his Pasifika community of the urgency of vaccination. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Even while hospitals are overwhelmed in Fiji and the World Health Organisation declares Fijis spread of the virus one of the worst in the world, Ive tried to provide my family reliable information from reputable news sources and government health websites, but to no avail.

Im on an emotional roller-coaster, trying to keep up with my own isolation experiences of lockdown while preaching the good news of vaccines. Much of this hesitancy is fuelled by social media posts from within our Pasifika communities, which are labelling vaccines as unnatural and promoting the virus as a scamdemic.

Mistrust of the benefits of Western medicine and treatments is real, especially where health professionals have not built a positive relationship with our communities. As a community we rely heavily on traditional medicines and may not seek Western medical treatment.
Good lawyers stick to the letter of the law. Great lawyers seek justice for the disadvantaged and a fairer society. Such as it was with Hal Wootten, who quickly tired of working for corporate clients and instead committed himself to all sectors of society, including the downtrodden.

Such was his social conscience that as a young man he belonged, if briefly, to the Communist Party. During his busy career as a solicitor, barrister, Queens counsel and Supreme Court judge, he helped the fledgling Papua New Guinea state and established the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of NSW. He initiated the formation of the Aboriginal Legal Service, jointly presided over the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, sat on the Native Titles Tribunal and the Australian Law Reform Commission, presided over the Australian Conservation Foundation and, in his later years, took up the Palestinian cause.

Hal Wootten, QC represented the underdog.

When appointed Founding Dean of Law and Justice at UNSW, he said: A law school should communicate to its students a keen concern for those on whom the law bears harshly.

John Halden Hal Wootten was born at Tweed Heads on December 19, 1922, son of a dairy farmer, Thomas Wootten, and Lydia (nee Jarrett), on the far north coast of New South Wales. The family was not well off. Thomas banana-growing venture was ruined by disease, and he went bankrupt. Woottens birth had been difficult and he was saved from serious disability of one arm by an Aboriginal woman who offered to massage it. Wootten was 11 months old when his father died and he and his mother then moved onto her parents farm. Four years later, the grandparents retired and the family moved to Sydney, where his mother trained as a dressmaker. Wootten attended Willoughby Public School and Sydney Boys High.
Is there a linguist in the house? Pritam Ghosh of Beverley Park reports that the following was spoken by top bureaucrat Mike Pezzullo in a Senate hearing: Subject to undertaking that textual exegesis of the document that youve got in front of you, just to remind myself of the context of that fragment  I have read it umpteen times, backwards and forwards and still do not understand what exactly is being obfuscated here.

I find it interesting that bees knees (C8) is usually attributed to something that has exemplary qualities of some sort, says George Manojlovic of Mangerton. What on earth is so special about bees knees, I wonder, and, for that matter, cats whiskers, ants pants and ducks guts? Out of the four, which is best?

It never rains but ... On the subject of crossed lines (C8), after moving into my previous abode, the landline number I was given had obviously belonged to a brothel, meaning I would get calls at any time, day or night, writes Judy Hungerford of North Curl Curl. They took some time to convince that no, I didnt accept credit cards, number nine was not the house speciality and unfortunately Miss Monsoon was not available. Peter Whitford of Harrington Park recalls: When I was growing up in the 1950s, we were fortunate in having a telephone. However, its number was one off from the local convent. Whenever my mother would answer a call inquiring: Is that the Mother Superior?, she would respond: No  this is a Superior Mother. Indeed, she was.

With the Sunday COVID report of 239 cases, 26 infectious, 35 in isolation, my wife called out is this a record? 21? What do you mean? I asked. Mandarin seeds (C8), she responded. Ill ask I replied. Thanks, Michael Milston of Orange (as opposed to mandarin).

Warwick Sherman of Huntleys Point writes: In the 1940s, Churchill made the V sign for Victory, in the 1960s, many made the V sign for peace. In the 2020s, we should make the V sign for vaccination and for the anti-vaxxers, the V sign for vasectomy to stop procreation of more disbelievers. Then, the V sign in 2022 might be for vacation.
Sydneysiders trying to follow health authorities calls to get vaccinated say they are spending hours on the online booking system, which one vaccine communication expert described as death by websites.

People seeking to book a COVID-19 vaccine online are directed to use the federal vaccine eligibility checker to prove they qualify before being shown a list of individual providers, ranging from NSW Healths mass hubs to local GPs, to contact separately.

Software engineer Fraser Hemphill designed a vaccination appointment aggregator after his friend, who worked as a nurse, was unable to book an appointment. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The process has been complicated by availability, particularly for those eligible for Pfizer shots. On Monday afternoon, Pfizer first dose appointments were not available until mid-August at St Vincents Hospital, October at the Sydney Olympic Park hub and November at Westmead Hospital.

Software developer Fraser Hemphill, 28, created his own website which aggregated Pfizer appointments after a friend who worked as a nurse spent hours attempting to book.
Looking for some positives in lockdown? The delayed 2020 Olympics is Trump-free. Dick Barker, Epping Theres something wrong when fear is used by PM I have had my first AstraZeneca shot, but I do understand the fears some have in regard to being vaccinated with it. Fear is a great driver of the population and at a time when good messaging is crucial (when large numbers of the population get their news from social media), it has been a complete mess.Fe ar of further lockdowns and/or getting COVID-19 is now being used by the PM (who happily raced to get the best choice, Pfizer) to encourage people to get a less suitable  for them  vaccine and to have it administered in a less effective way. All this because that PM didnt order enough of the most suitable vaccines for the populace and didnt want to spend money on better quarantine facilities. Brenton McGeachie, Queanbeyan West The Olympics is a role model for the wearing of masks. Competitors, officials, volunteers and citizens of Tokyo show the world it can be done. Its the way to go until this rampant virus is under control. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach With the Premier proclaiming August the month when we should do a vaccination blitz, others have been crying out for more incentives to encourage the population. If ones own life as well as that of loved ones and the rest of the community is not incentive enough, then what is? Gerard Kirwan, Cremorne

Vaccinate or perish. George Fishman, Vaucluse I am an 86-year-old codger and had my first AstraZeneca vaccination on March 25 and the next one 12 weeks later. I am now anxious to have my third shot ASAP. Does this mean that I have now become addicted to this vaccine? Ferdo Mathews, Robina (Qld) Not quite up there with Kennedys ask not what your country can do for you, or Churchills we shall fight them on the beaches, or even Martin Luther Kings I have a dream, Scott Morrisons thought on the weekend? We will get there when we get there. I am already feeling inspired. Wayne Stinson, Merimbula With apologies to the Flick company, why not adapt their catchy advertisement from the 1950s for the present crisis. How can you be sure there is no COVID at the door/Lurking on the floor/Pain and death galore,/Get a quick jab, thats your answer,/Remember two jabs and its gone. Denise McElhone, St Ives Those who refuse a COVID-19 vaccination have a new name: Control Group. Douglas Irvin, Artarmon

Flagging national insignia update Your correspondent is correct in his request for a flag that truly represents modern Australia (Letters, August 2). His plea, predictably, will be met by the spurious claim that to change our flag will be grossly disrespectful to those service personnel who fought and died under it. But that claim is historically inaccurate in that more service personnel fought under the Union Jack, the Australian Red Ensign and the British Naval Ensign than the current Australian Blue Ensign. As to the claim that the flag is somehow imbued with an almost divine status, that flew out the window when Scott Morrison chose to wear it as a protective device against COVID-19  and it was further sullied when rioters and freedom fighters reduced it to a badge of xenophobia. Trevor Somerville, Illawong I disagree with a push to replace our flag with a new version vandalised with national symbols. Canada muffed their flag change in 1965. Two colours of red and white are anaemic. Did they forget they are lapped by the Pacific and Atlantic blue? Too many Australians have died under our ensign. Rue the roo. Mike Fogerty, Weston (ACT) Your correspondent may be right about updating the British colonial symbols of the Australian flags. Australia is now beholden to other nationalities. Joy Cooksey, Harrington Balance of power

Regarding your correspondents claim that Gough Whitlam begun the current trend of openly political advisers (Letters, August 2): Robert Menzies public service advisers may not have been openly political, but they were still aligned with the Liberal Party by virtue of the selection processes of the day, which favoured university graduates coming from the wealthier backgrounds in the days before free university education. During those days, universities were out of reach for the working class, which meant senior and higher public positions tended to be filled by the upper classes. This meant that the governing Liberals enjoyed unspoken support of the public service. The Liberals had been in power for 23 years by the time Gough won office in 1972, so it would have been very likely that the majority of the mandarins in Canberra  openly or not  were mainly Liberal-leaning. And it would have been highly unlikely they would have been able to give full and frank advice for the common good if they were harbouring tacit disdain of the working class and Labor supporters. For better or worse, Whitlam may have been trying to redress the balance of political advice. Ian McKenzie, Mount Annan Volunteers uncounted I received and completed the census last Thursday (Letters, August 2), and I am hoping Im not dead on the 10th. What disappoints me is that the large number of volunteers who run so much of this city wont be counted in this census. Have you done any voluntary work in the last two weeks? Well, no. No zoo, no potting at the council nursery, no picking up grandkids from school. Not counted yet again. Rosslyn Jeffery, Castle Hill Leading the charge Ah, Matthew Lesh, you are indeed living freely (Life is risky, but we must get on with it, August 2). You say Australia should emerge from its hiding and restrictions and follow Britains lead, despite it still having thousands of cases a day. Really? But you make no mention of the resultant self-isolation or the risk of long COVID-19 and their impacts on peoples lives and livelihoods, which in turn affect whole families. Or note the mental and physical toll on overwhelmed medical and hospital staff. But you are right: vaccination is a key answer. We envy Britains lead with that. Jennifer Fergus, Manly

Private v public People have come to believe that the private sector will always do things more efficiently than the public sector. And theyve increasingly done so without any evidence. But that shouldnt apply to monopoly services. The problems with private monopolies are well known. And such services are the sorts of things that the public expects governments to provide. Ross Gittins article (Why government reforms often do more harm than good, August 2) suggests the argument is more nuanced. It is not monopolies per se that are the problem, but the lack of regulation. Governments should not just believe that privatisation is the extent of reform that is needed. David Rush, Lawson Hopes and dreams The government now has the opportunity to wedge Labor by introducing policies in the national interest on housing affordability, taxation and the environment (Letters, August 2). It should tackle negative gearing and capital gains, cancel tax cuts and replace coal. I know  yer dreamin. John Duff, Lavender Bay Federal Labors Anthony Albanese is right to drop the contentious negative gearing and capital gains tax policies of his predecessor, Bill Shorten. You cant achieve anything if you cant get elected, and the combined powerful interests of the property and financial sectors with all their lobbying and advertising dominance would assure just that. Theres plenty of other fronts to criticise the Morrison government. Take housing, failed quarantine measures, his non-existing climate change goal for 2050, obsessive pork barrelling and the shameful treatment of refugees as a start. Larry Woldenberg, Forest Lodge

We want better Not good enough, Ken Wyatt. The Indigenous have been waiting for a voice since 1788 (Voice may not be ready before poll, says Wyatt, August 2). Peter Mahoney, Oatley Fully vetted Your correspondent (Letters, August 2) suggests vets be allowed to administer COVID-19 vaccines, with the bonus of microchipping. Why not include spaying and a tick bath? Nicholas Triggs, Katoomba Early blow-in

Climate change (Letters, August 2): Blowfly, August 1, 2021. Aidan Cuddington, Umina Beach So our koel is in Jannali? I wondered where hed got to. David Sayers, Gwandalan Arr-ey, arr-ey night Further to RSL clubs (Letters, August 2), I proffer Arr-ey, rhyming with starry. This can typically be heard in such exhortations as, Seeya up the Arr-ey for a cuppla schooies.Ross Krippner, Byron Bay Everybody knows the RSL is no longer the Rissole, its the Arr-ey (menu includes calamari). The choice of watering hole in fair dinkum towns is the B-A-R: the Bowlo, the Arr-ey or the Rubbidy.

Steve Cornelius, Brookvale
A Brisbane Girls Grammar student has tested positive to COVID-19.

The news comes after the school said on Saturday they were advised a parent had tested positive to the virus, and they had previously attended the school on Friday from 5.25pm to 8.30pm.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School in Spring Hill. Credit:Pic: Brisbane Girls Grammar.

A letter from Queensland Health explained that anyone who had been at the school between 8am and 6pm Friday, when the student was present, was considered a close contact and must get tested and quarantine with their household.

The venues visited at the school on Friday include the main entrance area from 6pm to 6.45pm, at the queue for food vans, the String Room on Level 1 of the Creative Learning Centre from 6.45pm to 7.05pm, and the four floors of scientific classrooms at the New Science Learning Building from 7.15pm to 7.45pm.
NSW recorded 1219 cases of COVID-19 last week, 710 of which were linked to known clusters and 509 were unlinked. These mystery cases are concerning clues about undetected chains of transmission. But what do we know about the cases that are linked to known sources? From the publics point of view, not much.

We know their local government areas and postcodes, although these relate to the persons registered address, not the place of transmission. We recently learnt the cases by age and were shocked to realise almost 200 children under 10 had been infected in two weeks.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant at the daily COVID briefing on Monday. Credit:James Brickwood.

But when it comes to the workplaces, households and networks being affected, we know little beyond broad themes such as essential work in freight and food processing.

NSW has generally been a leader in data transparency throughout this pandemic. In April 2020, it was the first state to release postcode and transmission source data in a format that helped analysts such as myself to make sense of it. In the past, it released a wealth of information about clusters via press releases and surveillance reports. They were so detailed, we understood the chains of transmission that carried COVID-19 from inside the City Tattersalls Club, onto the X39 bus, into a physiotherapy practice and onwards to close contacts.
The cancellation of a world-class motorcycle race at Phillip Island has left a $42 million hole in the local economy, sparking a push by the Bass Coast Shire for new projects to entice domestic visitors and offset the financial damage.

The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix attracted an estimated 92,000 people to Phillip Island before the pandemic, and businesses say the event delivered major economic benefits to the region.

The MotoGP in Phillip Island in 2019. Credit:Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Border closures resulting in the loss of international travellers, who were drawn to the penguin parade and other attractions, has also inflicted major financial pain on Phillip Islands tourism-dependent economy.

The Bass Coast Shire is now seeking state and federal government funding for an infrastructure binge to stimulate more domestic tourism in the region and break Phillip Islands economic reliance on international travellers.
Victoria recorded four new local cases of COVID-19 on Monday after national cabinet agreed to review protocols for truck drivers to ensure freight workers do not reintroduce the coronavirus into the state.

All four cases are linked to current outbreaks and have been in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period, the Department of Health said.

However, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has warned the Delta outbreak in Victoria will have a long tail and he expects more cases, putting pressure on any decision about home visits.

Well have a long tail to this outbreak, there might be another week or more of a trickle of cases, he said. And we need to make sure that we can clear those remaining 3000 primary close contacts, and make sure that no one has been out in the community during a potentially infectious period that might kick all of this off again.
Perth property prices recorded the lowest increase across the nation last month as analysts flag a slowdown triggered by affordability concerns and first home buyer incentives ending.

Property prices across Australia surged 1.6 per cent higher in July, CoreLogic data released on Monday showed. Dwelling values are now up more than 14 per cent from the start of the year and more than 16 per cent in the last 12 months, the fastest rise in more than 25 years.

Spearwood recorded the highest median property increase in July with 3.3 per cent to $485,000. Credit:Paul Rovere

Perth prices lifted 0.3 per cent in July, with an almost 11 per cent increase seen over the last 12 months. The median house value for July was about $556,500, while apartments increased 0.6 per cent to about $404,200.

Its a relatively low growth rate when compared to the other capital cities but it does still signal a steady uplift across Perth, CoreLogics head of research Australia, Eliza Owen said.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

A Perth Uber driver who slit his wifes throat and left her bleeding on the floor just two months into their forced marriage will spend at least 19 years behind bars.

Mohammad Ali Halimi, 25, was sentenced in WAs Supreme Court on Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 19 years for the murder of Ruqia Haidari, 21, at their Balcatta home last year. His sentence was backdated to January 18, 2020, when he was taken into custody.

Mohammad Ali Halimi sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 19 years for the murder of Ruqia Haidari.

Details of the couples troubled and loveless marriage were aired in court during the first day of Halimis sentencing last week, shining a light on the grim reality of forced marriages in Australia.
A member of a group that allegedly made plans to overthrow the Federal government and was responsible for a video circulated on social media falsely claiming to feature Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has been charged.

Police in recent weeks uncovered a group of people who allegedly arranged the manufacture of AFP replica badges that ended up dumped in a Queensland creek, and were also involved in the creation of the social media video detailing anti-government sentiment and encouraging others to join.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

On Saturday, a Perth man was charged with impersonating a Commonwealth public official.

Police allege the 49-year-old Tuart Hill man claimed to be an AFP official during an unsuccessful attempt to obtain stamps and ID badges bearing the official AFP logo from a commercial business.
Federal funds are being put at risk in schemes handing out more than $10 billion with inadequate checks on ministerial power, according to a new study of programs ranging from job projects to commuter car parks.

At least eight schemes have fallen foul of audits that identify flaws including gaps in checking how the money is spent and, in the case of the $660 million car park program, no merit criteria at all to decide funding.

The Auditor-General was scathing about a $660 million fund used to pay for commuter car parks. Credit:Paul Jeffers

The Centre for Public Integrity, an independent group led by former judges and anti-corruption experts, said its analysis of the recurring failures proved the need for reforms in Parliament to increase scrutiny of mammoth spending.

Billions of dollars of taxpayers money is being spent through flawed grant programs, said the chair of the centre, Anthony Whealy, QC.
Transport and logistics giant Toll Group has conceded it may be the company that failed to comply with Australias cyber spy agency for weeks after it was hit by a significant cyber attack.

Australian Signals Directorate boss Rachel Noble revealed in June that her agency found out about a major cyber attack through media reports and struggled to get information from the company for 13 days, despite the incident having a national impact on our country.

Toll accepts it could have been faster in responding to the ASDs request for information. Credit:Bloomberg News

Toll Group suffered two major cyber attacks in 2020, which led to the company shutting down a number of systems across multiple sites and business units.

In response to a question on notice from Liberal senator James Paterson, the chair of Parliaments security and intelligence committee, Toll Group said it was not in a position to know to which company Ms Noble was referring.
Outdoor dining at pubs and clubs will be allowed, gyms can reopen with strict rules and students will be back in classrooms once a majority of NSW adults are vaccinated under the state governments plan for how Sydney emerges from lockdown.

The long-awaited road map is yet to be publicly released, although Premier Gladys Berejiklian has begun citing targets of between 50 and 60 per cent of inoculated adults as a trigger for easing Sydneys restrictions.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has again cited targets of between 50 and 60 per cent vaccination rates as triggers to easing restrictions. Credit:James Brickwood.

Ms Berejiklian has shifted her focus from reducing the COVID-19 case numbers to increasing the vaccination rate as the way out of Sydneys lockdown on August 28 but has not yet identified which restrictions would be eased.

Two senior government sources familiar with the plan but not authorised to speak about the details said the finalised road map, which Deputy Premier John Barilaro was tasked with preparing, was to be released last Wednesday when the lockdown was extended for another four weeks.
But in a potentially powerful signal, Walmart said employees at its headquarters will be required to get vaccinated by October 4. The biggest precedent so far has come from the federal government, the nations largest employer. President Joe Biden announced last week that all federal employees and contractors must get vaccinated or put up with weekly testing and lose privileges such as official travel. The federal government has said it will cover the costs of the weekly tests. As for other employers, insurance may pay for such testing at some workplaces but not others. Bidens decision could embolden other employers by signaling they would be on solid legal ground to impose similar rules, said Brian Kropp, chief of research at consulting firm Gartners human resources practice.

But Kropp said some companies face complicated considerations that go beyond legalities, including deep resistance to vaccines in many states where they operate. Loading Retailers like Walmart might have a hard time justifying vaccine requirements for their workers while allowing shoppers to remain unvaccinated, Kropp added. Stores have mostly avoided vaccine requirements for customers for fear of alienating them and because of the difficulty in trying to verify their status. In surveys by Gartner, fewer than 10 per cent of employers have said they intend to require all employees to be vaccinated. But a shift is building amid frustration over plateauing vaccination rates and alarm over the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

On Monday, the US finally reached Bidens goal of dispensing at least one shot to 70 per cent of American adults  but a month late and amid a fierce surge that is driving hospital caseloads in some places to their highest levels since the outbreak began. The president had hoped to reach his target by the Fourth of July. The Union Square Hospitality Group, a group of New York City restaurants and bars founded by Danny Meyer, is now requiring employees and customers to be vaccinated by September 7. The San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, a group of about 300 bars, made a similar decision following a meeting where the thing that stood out was anger and frustration toward vaccine holdouts, said founder Ben Bleiman. A sign in Springdale, Arkansas reminding employees to wear a mask before entering the location. Credit:AP While some companies fear vaccine mandates will drive workers away, the pandemic itself is also causing absenteeism. Bleiman said he recently had to close his bar for a night after his bartender, who was fully vaccinated, tested positive and a replacement couldnt be found.

Some employers are concluding that requiring vaccines is simpler than trying to come up with different rules on masks and social distancing for the small number of unvaccinated employees. A Walmart employee prepares to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a Walmart in Chicago. Credit:AP BlackRock, the global investment manager, is allowing only vaccinated workers into its US offices for now and said people will be free to go maskless, as local health guidelines allow, and sit next to each other and congregate without restrictions. The firm said 85 per cent of its US employees are vaccinated or in the process of getting shots. Matthew Putman, CEO of New York-based high-tech manufacturing hub Nanotronics, said he agonised over his decision to impose a vaccine mandate on his more than 100 employees. As it turned out, nearly all of them were already vaccinated, though he dreads the prospect of having to fire any holdouts. I hate the thought. But if it has to happen it has to happen, Putman said. I lost a ton of sleep over this but not as much sleep as Ive lost over the fear of infection.

Other mandates could provide a clearer test of the potential for employee backlash. Hospitals and nursing home chains, for instance, are increasingly requiring the vaccine. So far, such mandates have survived legal challenges. More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused to get the COVID-19 shot were fired or resigned after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the requirement. Atria Senior Living, which operates more than 200 senior living communities across the country, was among the first to mandate vaccines for its staff in January. It worked. Nearly 99 per cent of Atrias 10,000 employees are vaccinated, and only a tiny fraction quit over the requirement, said CEO and Chairman John Moore. Our residents deserve to live in a vaccinated environment. Our staff deserves to work in a vaccinated environment, Moore said.
Written by Ashley Stimpson, a freelance writer based in Maryland. This article was originally published in the June 2021 issue of the Bay Journal and was distributed by the Bay Journal News Service.
William "Bill" Hamilton, age 64, of Somerset, KY, passed away on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville. Services are pending at this time and will be announced later. You are welcome to view the obituary and send condolences to the family at our website: www.LakeCumber
Retrofitting modern security to old or protected heritage buildings used to be an installers nightmare. Wiring could be complex, with damage to ancient architecture or door hardware a constant risk. Now, wireless access control devices that match the protection and durability of wired technology, have made it straightforward.

For a facilities manager, the security remit for any building or space is broadly the same. People and assets must be kept safe. Access to the most sensitive areas should be carefully filtered. Intrusion has to be stopped. Yet, installation, wiring and larger modifications present a unique set of challenges in an older building.

Battery-powered access control

Battery-powered access control devices can add equivalent features wirelessly, at lower and more predictable cost, because no cabling is required around the door. In a wireless system, locks for doors, cabinets and other openings communicate over-the-air with a network of hubs. These may be placed close to existing mains power sources, minimising disruption to the building fabric.

Software makes the access decision, which is communicated back to locks via the hub

Software makes the access decision, which is communicated back to locks via the hub. Everything happens almost instantly and wire free. In an old building or structure, choosing to wire for door security opens up not only expense, but also uncertainty. Indeed, when working under old floors and inside walls, which are 100 years or more old, surprises are guaranteed. At the installation stage, big surprises can be very expensive.

Wireless access control cylinders

Aesthetics is another concern. Wireless access control cylinders, for example, offer durable, certified electronic security paired with a minimal visual impact.

At a heritage property, low-profile security solutions are a must. In addition, replacing mechanical locks with wireless electronic door devices reduces the manual workload involved in handling and tracking physical keys  saving time and money for property managers.

Retrofitting 21st-century locks to a 16th-century building

In updating access control for one school property in Spain, installers faced precisely these challenges. The Colegio Diocesano Santo Domingo in Orihuela is more than just a school. Its historic buildings date back to the 1500s. An on-site museum needs protection from the same access system. This is a heritage site, as well as a place of learning.

Hence, the brief for a new access system required minimising disruption on two fronts. The college buildings are a Resource of Cultural Interest and on Spains heritage registry. Hence, they must not be damaged. School leaders wanted to avoid disturbance to everyday learning. Wireless locks were the answer.

Wireless locks installed

In addition to the main entrances and classrooms, access to private spaces such as lifts, offices, staff rooms, the church, the museum, the library and the IT room is constantly monitored, said the schools IT Manager, Francisco Fernandez Soriano.

Francisco adds, Thanks to our SMARTair devices installed at more than 300 doors, the security team can find out who has accessed which space and when, at any time. This increases security for children and for staff because no unauthorised people can enter the school.

SMARTair system

Installation of the schools new SMARTair system demanded little work

Installation of the schools new SMARTair system demanded little work. Some doors are 500 years old, so major alterations were not possible. ASSA ABLOYs SMARTair door devices are easily fitted without drilling or wires.

To install a SMARTair cylinder, for example, a professional simply replaces the existing mechanical cylinder with the battery-powered SMARTair device. The system was installed without a hitch and also without any disruption to classes, confirms Fernandez Soriano.

Flexibility for school and care home security

At the Vejle Friskole in Denmark, key management had been eating up a very long time, approximately 5 hours a week, explains Henrik Kkel, the schools Technical Service Officer.

Now, mechanical keys have also been replaced by a wireless access control system. More than 80 doors and cabinets around the school are secured with SMARTair locks. At a historic property like Vejle Friskole, the customer required that devices were easy and unobtrusive to retrofit.

SMARTair locks installed at Vejle Friskole

It was really bad [before] because we had big problems with keys that were lost, said Henrik Kkel, adding There was a lot of work on keying in and handing out. Today, Vejle Friskole staff spends around 5 minutes a week managing their access system.

Henrik adds, It's incredibly easy to figure out and it takes 1 minute to code a student. Even managing the leasing of school buildings for non-school events is simple and secure. Facilities staff issue digital credentials for the duration of an event, then cancel them immediately afterward via the software, with no concerns that someone may have copied a physical key.

Electronic locking system

Pamplonas Casa de la Misericordia, in Spain, also switched their century-old building from mechanical to electronic locking

Pamplonas Casa de la Misericordia, in Spain, also switched their century-old building from mechanical to electronic locking. To meet the day-to-day care needs of over 500 residents, they had a specific set of demands for a new access system.

Real-time control over the premises was essential. In a residence like ours it is critical to have real-time management that allows us to interact with a door at any time, explains Ernesto Serra, Facility Manager at the Casa de la Misericordia.

Advanced wireless technology

The system also needed to be flexible and expandable, so it could be installed in two phases. Advanced wireless technology suited to retrofitting in an old building was another must-have as this 1930s building has large doors and walls up to 1 m thick.

A wireless solution that allows us to install access control without wiring up the buildings is a big advantage, the system has adapted to our present and future needs, said Ernesto Serra.
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This latest episode of American Horror Stories was their best one yet. This episode is exactly what I was expecting  everything I wanted  out of American Horror Stories. The opening for The Naughty List was wonderful.





It was the first episode that really felt like a spinoff and not just a poor replication of American Horror Story despite it still having the exact same theme.





The story, the drama, the gore! Even the unabashed name-dropping made this episode better. It was a little dumb, a lot chaotic, and it had a cast of characters whose actors mightve embodied them a little too well.





So lets meet our cast: Kevin McHale (Glee) as Barry, Nico Greetham (The Prom) as Zinn, Dyllon Burnside (Pose) as James, and Charles Melton (Riverdale) as Wyatt. Usually, when a cast is entirely men, especially in the horror genre, I tend to lean away from it, but something about this group just works.





These four run a YouTube channel that consists of pranks, party videos, and more, very similar to popular YouTubers right now, especially group ones. The episode starts with the Bro House (ugh) filming a man committing suicide by jumping off of suicide bridge.





They upload it at a huge house party that soon after empties. The only person who verbally thinks its a bad idea is Barry, however, he still records, presumably edits, and uploads it anyway.





Their next idea is a video of the Bros being homeysexual  when men are overly affectionate towards their friends  to gain the attention and attraction of their female fan base in an attempt to win back the public.





Then, finally, what leads to their ultimate demise is when the group heads to the mall during Christmastime. There, they interrupt a Mall Santa gig, sexually harass a female employee, and announce to a group of children that Santa Claus isnt real. Very classy.





The writers of this episode were clearly trying to sensationalize these men, the men of YouTube, the men of many scandals, but in turn, actually hit the nail right on the head.





The episode is quite reminiscent of many YouTube scandals without directly saying so. Logan Pauls suicide forest video . James Charles' many apologies , where he's been called out for supposedly fake crying, and so on and so forth.





However, the men of the Bro House would come to a much different end than that of many real-life scandalous social media stars, mostly because a lot of these stars havent really had an end. Theyre still around. Theyre still producing content and consistently working their way towards a full-blown comeback.





However, when it comes to The Bros, one by one, they are killed, thanks to a man we can only assume took up the mantle of Leigh Emerson from American Horror Story: Asylum. Emerson was a spree killer who killed 18 in one night in December, including a mall Santa.





The best shot in this episode comes at the end after everyone is dead and Santa has presumably gone on the run. Theres a long shot of the giant Christmas tree at the Bro House, lit up in all red lights, topped with Zinns decapitated head.





As the shot zooms out to show the rest of the tree, we notice that the ornaments have been swapped for body parts, all the way down to the very bottom of the tree.





A lot of people didnt enjoy this episode, saying it wasnt good or funny, that they cant believe Ryan Murphy signed off on this (uh, have you guys seen Glee?), and more. I personally thought it was such a fun episode.





Maybe Im biased because I love the actors, but during The Naughty List I got to play a game called Charles Melton Crop-Top Watch to determine how many different crop-tops his character wears in this episode, and I thoroughly enjoy any episode of television in which men are wearing crop-tops.





It was five, by the way. Wyatt went through five crop-tops in this episode.





Overall, its clear that American Horror Stories is still trying to grasp whether they want to take themselves seriously or just have fun, and Im also still not sure which it is. The first three episodes were very take-yourselves-seriously, but The Naughty List was absolutely not.





I would love it if they embraced the chaos and stupidity they could come up with given a new cast of characters every episode and a different story every week.





What did you guys think of this episode of American Horror Stories? Who was your favorite character? Were you in on the crop-top watch? Let me know in the comments below!
He had dyslexia and despite being very intelligent, his teachers did not seem to understand it. His loving mother, on the other hand, knew of her son's abilities and trusted him. To such a degree that one day she got him out of the car and told him to find the way to his grandmother's house from there, which was several kilometers away: he was six years old. As a teenager, he dreamed of having something to do with the world of music, so he founded a student magazine on the subject. Shortly after, they put him in jail for a full day for piracy (he sold records that he was passing illegally from abroad). Our friend had many dreams, one of them was to become an astronaut. He never studied engineering or any scientific career (a prerequisite to be) his entire life went unnoticed by NASA or any space agency. To date, I could not enter any agency; how to do it if you studied until you were 16 years old. Never changed. All his life he has dreamed of impossible feats and business.

His stepfather gave him his last name, and in contrast to our friend mentioned above, this was a great student: he was given valedictorian recognition in his high school, and then he graduated summa cum laude as an electrical and computer engineer from one of the best universities. of the world. Of course, his intellectual level allowed him to belong to the best club, the best fraternity, and the best association in the university. Recently graduated, he was offered a job in the best companies of the time such as Bell Labs, Andersen Consulting and Intel, but he decided to work in a Fintech, then in a traditional bank, to finish Wall Street in an investment fund known for its use of complex mathematical models. He was an exceptional bureaucrat, highly regarded by his bosses. He quickly rose to the vice presidency in his thirties, but he dreamed of something else: owning a bookstore and selling his books online. When he told his boss, he talked to him at length to make him see reason; it seemed to him a madness produced by a typical crisis of age. It should be remembered that when he gave his high school graduation speech, his dream was much more ambitious: he said he wanted to colonize space and turn the earth into a national park.

If you're a true wannapreneur , I'm sure you can guess who we're talking about. Indeed The first is Richard Branson , who as of July 11 officially became an astronaut ; he traveled in his own ship into space to "evaluate the customer experience" (always so joking) of Virgin Galactic : the first space tourism company.

The second is Jeff Bezos , who became an astronaut on July 20 and is in the space race along with another wannapreneur ; Mr. Elon Musk who also wants to colonize other planets.

Although it must be said that recently Bezos was surpassed by Musk and his company SpaceX in obtaining contracts with NASA as in the Artemis project to return to the Moon, and for this reason he has decided to compete with Branson in the suborbital tourism niche; a promising market said to reach $ 5 trillion by 2025 (others estimate even $ 30 trillion).

You may be interested: Richard Branson is successful for these 3 reasons

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic & Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin. Image: Richard Branson via Facebook / El Espanol.

How dare you

I did not like the administrative solutions that an advisor gave me for an issue that I have to solve in another country (I will not say exactly the issue because the walls hear), so I googled, and voila !: I found a tutorial that spoke exactly about the topical. There was even a link to a Facebook group for people with the same problem - I confess that I had not used this platform for a long time, but I decided to join.

I was stopped by a warning that said: Wannapreneurs not accepted .

I'm not a millennial , but I was immediately offended. And I had a strange internal dialogue with my shadow:

Me: How can I be a wannapreneur If my family has always started businesses from scratch, it is in my blood As a child I sold imported  scratch n sniff  stamps at school, in fact, I was 17 years old when I started to sell stuffed animals on my car on the street (illegally) to raise money for my beach vacation: I was sorry, but I put up with it to earn extra money.

My Shadow (MS): You are a wannapreneur

Me: "How dare you?" Nor that outside of those who put on checkered shirts rolled up or wrap themselves in pashminas to go to the "coworking" and waste time between cushions and coffee macchiato, I do have real clients, I don't go around imagining things.

MS: You are a wannapreneur.

Me: Please I have founded niche magazines, and I have even had my good failures, as should happen to every innovative entrepreneur : I have sold spy equipment for jealous boyfriends I was even a pioneer in giving seduction courses in Mexico, which I say Mexico , Latin America, what do I say Latin America ... The Hispanic world. All of them resounding failures that prove that I am a true entrepreneur.

MS: You are a wannabe, and you know it ...

Me: Let's see I give training and consultancies in renowned companies; I advise politicians who, by the way and by chance, won elections even in governorships; my team is compact, but it grows with me; I try so hard that I even take time to teach master's degrees; one of my books has even been a best seller in advertising for several years. Do you have a short time?

MS: Enough! Please ... What petty examples are those. I know you and you are simply a wannapreneur. That's it, don't kid yourself.

Me: "How dare you ...?" How dare you!? Argh ...

The power to aspire to be

A little conscious and honest observation is enough to understand how the world works:

My girlfriend's cats live in an apartment. They are very spoiled and are always at the window aspiring to one day go out on the street, they always try to escape and when they succeed they cause a real family drama.

My neighbor says she takes care of two stray cats. He feeds them and lets them stay in a utility room on the patio. Although I do not vaccinate or operate on them, I try not to judge her because her work is good and I do not do better than that. They are beautiful and strangely they both have short tails; I imagined terrible things but my neighbor clarified to me that they are born with that characteristic. The youngest kitten always seeks to break through all kinds of obstacles that I put, in order to expand her territory and do "mischief" in my home (she calls other cats to mate). Never stops Always aspires to expand its territory.

They are two cases that reach the same point: What being in nature does not aspire to expand? All living beings and even some that are not, like viruses, do. That is why communism that limits the individual always fails and that is why we are all wannabes in one way or another, even Bezos and Branson. It is more than an ideology, it is more than biology, it is a primordial force: the universe wants to "be", it wants to expand infinitely and always.

Okay ... I accept it shade , thinking about it: I am a wannapreneur .

How dare you: part two

Bezos was a wannabe , and still is. Even in the face of his obvious failure against Elon Musk, he still wants to be that which, for the time being and although he is the richest man in the world, he will not be able to.

Me: How dare you imply that Bezos or Branson are wannapreneurs? Don't you dare compare yourself.

Branson is worth $ 5.2 trillion, Bezos is worth that times seven, which is more than Qatar's GDP. Do you think, in those leagues, he doesn't look like a wannabe? Do you think that a genius in science does not think that someone like Branson without a formal minimum education "pretends" to be what he is not?

Do you think Musk was not a wannapreneur when he lived under his desk thinking about a digital bank that ended up being PayPal? Even as an 80 million dollar "little" millionaire, wasn't he a wannabe wanting to compete with a billion-worth Mercedes Benz, Ford or Toyota with a poorly made little electric car? Thinking of launching rockets better than NASA or ROSCOSMOS without having the slightest idea of how, wasn't it considered being a pretentious wannapreneur?

It can even happen to you judging the next Bezos: If at your graduation, a smart classmate with not many economic resources says in his speech that he wants to colonize Mars, would you think that he is a pretentious wannabe?

The ego of the human being and the frustration it generates is a force of nature, a shadow that we must assimilate and stop denying: I know employees who want to be managers, managers who want to be directors, and directors who want to be CEOs. I also know CEOs of millionaire companies who dream of putting up a small cafe; Directors of the highest level in transnational companies who secretly accept to envy you who are reading me, because you have a small independent business when they consider themselves luxury slaves. I know businessmen with a thousand employees who would like to own the competition because the others have five thousand.

And I also know very young people who can't find a job and all they want is an opportunity: I was one of them. And when I was no longer ... What would have happened if I had not wanted something else even as a newly hired employee? What would have happened if me being "the director" had not wanted to be what I am now? Whatever that is.

If you still do not achieve what you want, I will not tell you like others: "do something about it." If you haven't done anything, it's because you don't feel so frustrated yet. And it's OK! I swear I am not saying it ironically: I am content if you imagine it and wish it even if you are 20, 45 or 65 years old, because imagining is the very seed of life. If you stop being a wannapreneur, you stop having what it takes to honor the sheer force of our nature.

Or what do you think is the percentage of wannapreneurs who read Entrepreneur ? Understand that we are the true heroes of history.

Now I am clear about my frustration, and maybe I will always do what the kittens want and try, without really being very different from them: the only difference will be to be a little more aware.

PS: I was accepted into the Facebook group.

"There is no point in starting your own business if you don't do it out of frustration." - Richard Branson

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Two people with the same hobby "traveling and working abroad" met in the internship (internship) of a large company in 2015, both 21 years old, they would not know that later they would develop a business together.

Carlos Tello and Rodolfo Perez were always struck by living and working in other countries. After graduating and after several internet searches Carlos succeeded, continued his studies in Ireland and then decided that he wanted to go to Asia, while Rodolfo continued to develop professionally in Mexico, but without forgetting his dream.

"In 2018, when I was working in a large company, I contacted Carlos again because I saw that he had had these experiences abroad, he was working in China and I approached him to ask him how he had gotten there, how he had gotten that experience," he explains. Rodolfo Perez in an interview with Entrepreneur in Spanish .

These two young people kept in contact and when vacancies were opened in the company for which Carlos worked in the Asian country, the entrepreneur did not hesitate to contact his friend. They were working together, gaining experience and being a solution for the Chinese in terms of understanding the Latin American market.

You may be interested: The entrepreneurs who sent two of the sharks from Shark Tank Mexico 'flying'

During this time, both young people began to develop their own business ideas until they hit the nail on the head and thought of a solution for the returns of products from the marketplaces in China that made customers from countries like Mexico.

Without much hesitation when a vacancy came out that Carlos also shared with me, it also applied and we met again in 2019, working in another company together, now in China, no longer in Mexico. And from there, everyone had their time in that company, we began to develop our own businesses, which was our intention, I believe that we were always on the path of entrepreneurship , explains Rodolfo.

We were working for a while [in an ecommerce company] and after those opportunities, others opened for us to undertake, which was simply to provide consulting services to the Chinese. And there comes a point where we were a solution for them, their solution in Latin America. Because of that, the Komet store was born , says Carlos Tello.

Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank Mexico.

A second chance

Komet is an online store that sells returns and liquidations of large marketplaces in Mexico. What these entrepreneurs do is buy the products returned by customers to large e-commerce stores and make them available to others on their website in the form of batches.

"All this that you see of lots and things that maybe could not be sold in the first instance and at a certain price level, well with us they have a second chance to sell themselves at a much better price and that in fact allows you to do business to our clients , explains Carlos.

They also have a product called "surprise boxes", which can range from clothing to electronic objects and represent the only way to acquire some products without having to pay for them in bulk.

Empower others

According to Invesp data, at least 30% of all products ordered online are returned, compared to 8.89% for physical stores. This represents losses and a process that can become "cumbersome" for the world's largest marketplaces. For example: returning a product from Mexico to China could cost much more than even destroying or disposing of it.

Carlos and Rodolfo seek to solve this problem, giving a second life to this type of article. In addition, entrepreneurs become the bridge for others to earn extra income.

"In the mere business, when acquiring products in very large batches, volume and wholesale, the clients that we normally attract and that are our strong base, are entrepreneurs and microentrepreneurs who want to start a business or have a second source of income," says Rodolfo .

Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank Mexico.

Komet sells items in bulk with the aim that its customers can repair and resell or even just resell to others and that this generates a profit for them.

Now in the pandemic that many jobs were lost, we heard several success stories from our clients who found in the Komet store a way to be able to buy products, repair them in some cases, and in others just resell them to get a profit and thus get ahead. in these months that have been quite complicated , they explain.

Sudden swim in the tank with sharks

Since this venture was born in June 2020, Carlos works and lives in Hong Kong , China, while Rodolfo is in charge of operations in Mexico.

A late application to Shark Tank Mexico that airs every Friday at 9:30 p.m. on Canal Sony , would make them believe that they would not participate in the program. However, an unexpected vacancy was opened and with less than a month in advance Carlos had to find a flight to Mexico City.

Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank Mexico.

"The truth is that we applied late and luckily we had to be called to replace a team that could not go to the end ... It was something more or less sudden, since I did not notify Carlos more than a month in advance that I had to find a flight from Hong Kong to Mexico. It also got a bit complicated because it was just in the middle of the pandemic and there were many limitations out there, but we believed that it was worth it ... Due to our experience working together we had already had presentations of an important business level, but not in this format ", he explains Rodolfo.

Turn them into unicorn

The entrepreneurs came to the tank asking for 5 million pesos (approximately 250 thousand dollars) for 15% of their company. After the negotiation talk, they received offers from Alejandra Rios , Arturo Elias Ayub and Rodrigo Herrera .

"From the hand of Rodrigo and mine, I think we are going to fly it out of the canyon park ... Rodrigo and I have been waiting for a unicorn and we want it to be this one, " said Arturo Elias Ayub.

Finally, after a counter offer, Carlos and Rodolfo accepted a proposal from Arturo and Rodrigo that was 6 million pesos for a 33% stake with the condition that they return one million to the sharks after the first sale.

Image: Courtesy of Shark Tank Mexico.

I remember that when we entered the tank we were nervous and that even though you have the experience, the knowledge, and you are sure of the project, of course it causes you a certain nerve to be on that stage more after having played the entire 5 seasons. in a couple of days, but I think we were sure that what we were going to present made sense, we were sure of all the information and that was key. As an experience it was very cool to be able to live with other entrepreneurs, to be able to share ideas in the short time or in the few moments that we were able to talk, says Rodolfo.

Key allies

From last year until now, entrepreneurs have achieved sales of 10 million Mexican pesos and although they declare that the most difficult thing has been "to start turning the wheel", which for them means finding customers, suppliers and allies, they have shown to do so very good.

"Thanks to the commercial relationships we achieved [in China], having gone to live in that country and because the clients we had from other businesses, we were able to leverage a little to obtain good deals and not require such a high initial investment," explains Carlos .

In order for you to achieve key allies for your venture, these young people explain to us that the most important thing is:

Have real interest: show that you are really interested in doing that business.

Be sincere and respectful.

Solve problems.

If you put these three points together, you are going to have a win-win relationship because you are truly and sincerely interested in solving the problems of the other part of the business and both of you are going to win that way, says Carlos.

"Communicate, understand the needs and create that genuine interest in solving the problem and not only looking for a benefit for yourself," Rodolfo concludes.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Connecticuts two U.S. senators anticipate major investment funding will be coming to Connecticut, including rail, highways, bridges, coastal resiliency and Veterans Affairs programming, in the pending trillion-dollar infrastructure compromise bill they expect to vote on by the end of the week.

During a morning virtual news conference from Washington, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy said that once President Bidens infrastructure legislation is passed in the Senate and House of Representatives, an even larger follow-up will be pursued by congressional Democrats under so-called budgetary reconciliation rules.

This bill will be transformative for Connecticut, Blumenthal said of the trillion-dollar package. It will mean billions of dollars that make our roads, bridges and rail so much better.

While funding numbers are subject to change this week during the Senates amendment process, the legislation released Sunday night would give Connecticut about $30 billion over five years for repairs to rail lines, and a $106 million increase for New York and Connecticuts Long Island Sound water quality programs, including cleaning rivers and coastal restoration projects to prepare for climate change.

Our goal is to finish this bipartisan proposal by the end of the week and then very, very crucially move to a second package, Blumenthal said, describing the follow-up legislation as much bigger and broader. He noted that transit infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades, stressing that the first round of funding does not include the $117 billion needed over 15 years to upgrade the Northeast Corridor for high-speed rail.

The best way to view this bipartisan proposal is that it is a very profoundly significant down payment, Blumenthal said. Its a start. A good start, but only a first step. More funding for day care, continuing the child tax credit and funding free community college will be the focus of the follow-up legislation. We have a once in a generation opportunity, Blumenthal said. We are under a moral and historic imperative to move forward with these two tracks.

We have the chance to do something historic this week, Murphy said, adding that he would spend most of Monday reviewing the trillion-dollar compromise agreed upon by five top Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. This bipartisan bill represents the biggest one-time investment in infrastructure in this countrys history, and we should get it done. This infrastructure bill has a potential to be an economic game-changer for Connecticut.

He and Blumenthal agreed that the $30 billion rail investment, including $24 billion for the joint federal and state partnership on train tracks in Connecticut, plus $6 billion for Amtrak, is no where near the commitment needed for high-speed regional rail service.

Murphy recalled that not that long ago, Connecticut would get about $4 million a year for Long Island Sound projects. In recent years it has increased to $30 million. The additional $106 million over five years would improve water quality while funding storm-surge, coastal-restoration, sewage treatment and storm water runoff projects on both the New York and Connecticut sides of the Sound.

The U.S. Coast Guard would get about $50 million in new investments, including $6 million to improve the home of the historic cutter Eagle at the City Pier in New London.

Murphy and Blumenthal said they expect proposed amendments to take most of the week, unlike the period where the former Republican majority, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, offered little chance for changes to legislation.

This is a bill that has been under negotiations for over a month, Murphy said in response to a question. The broad outlines of the bill are widely known. I dont see any reason why it wont be a big bipartisan vote at the end. Blumenthal said that the legislation stands a better chance for passage because states around the country would similarly benefit.

Obviously we cant disregard the fact that Mitch McConnell has said he is 100-percent focused on making Biden fail, Blumenthal said. Thats a reality of our lives here. There are areas where we can come together. This one is perhaps the best example, because every state - red or blue - has roads, bridges, rail, ports that need upgrading and modernizing, and there is a core of Republicans who want to get that job done.

During an unrelated, ceremonial bill signing at the U.S. Navys Submarine Base in Groton on Monday morning, Gov. Ned Lamont pointed to the nearby Gold Star Bridge in the distance - carrying Interstate-95 traffic over the Thames River, calling it a big priority.

I know how important that is to Electric Boat, Lamont said. I know trucks can only go over it in one direction when theyre fully loaded. I know we want to get the railways speeded-up in any way we can. I want to fix those bridges that are not in a state of really good repair and at least make sure they are safe. Those are some of the real priorities we have.

Staff writer Julia Bergman contributed to this report.
FAIRFIELD  Lane Mayville had a great fourth-grade year on Zoom last year. He made new friends, earned good grades.

This year, school districts will not be required to offer online learning, and Fairfield has chosen not to, for any students, so Lane would have to go to school in person.

The problem is, his mother, Marney White, has a rare disease and the COVID-19 vaccine was unable to provide antibodies after chemotherapy destroyed her immune cells.

Gov. Ned Lamont, school board Chairwoman Christine Vitale and others have emphasized that, at this point in time at least, students are expected to go to school in person this year after spending the last school year online.

For White, her husband, Erik Mayville, and Lane, the issue is not whether they want Lane to go to school with his friends; they do. For them, the issue is the fear that her unvaccinated son could bring COVID home, endangering his mothers life.

White, a professor in the Yale School of Public Health with a background in epidemiology and psychology, was diagnosed in 2019 with pemphigus vulgaris. Its an autoimmune disease characterized by severe blisters on the skin, she said. Its a one-in-a-million disease, genetic, with some kind of environmental exposure they think.  Its so rare that it makes research on this disease very hard, but the treatment is very effective.  It saved my life from the pemphigus, but then made me extremely vulnerable to coronavirus and COVID.

White said the treatment, also used for lymphoma and multiple sclerosis, results in about 75 percent of patients being unable to develop antibodies after being vaccinated. Since March 2020, none of the family has left their property. Erik Mayville left his job as a child psychologist working with children with autism and other developmental disabilities. White taught online, including the only undergraduate epidemiology course at Yale.

Last year, Fairfield developed a Remote Learning Academy, in which she said her son excelled. It was the largest school in the district, with about 10 percent of students enrolled, White said. Others went to school partly remotely and partly in person once that was allowed.

My son was really happy because he made a lot of new friends through remote school, White said. So he had a great experience with the public school this past year in 2020-21. He had a whole class of other kids, an excellent teacher.  And he really flourished. He really had a great experience.

She said they were shocked but pleased because they expected Lane to have a hard year and possibly have to repeat fourth grade. But academically he did great. He was really happy, said it was his best year, White said. I certainly credit his extraordinary teacher for that, extremely focused and devoted on giving these kids a good experience. I mean, she was amazing. And he was happy and  much more confident, too, which is interesting. And again a surprise.

White also said she believes Superintendent of Schools Michael Cummings is supportive and understanding of her circumstances. But with the new school year approaching, Lamont said districts no longer were required to offer a remote option because the best education, not to mention social growth, happens in person. There will be no Remote Learning Academy or other online option in Fairfield or many other school districts this year, unless the pandemic once again forces changes in policy. Lane would have to return to Roger Sherman Elementary School.

When the governor announced that all kids would be back in person, the districts then said, OK, no more remote. Were not doing remote, White said. And so thats leaving those of us with medical vulnerabilities without an option to send our kids to school. Its simply too high risk for an unvaccinated child to be in a school building, mixing with other unvaccinated children, given that kids are just as likely to transmit the virus as adults. Children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated but the state has mandated wearing masks in school.

In an April 29 email, Cummings wrote to White that, since online education no longer will be required, the Remote Learning Academy will not be offered beyond the end of this school year. Further, there will not be any other option for voluntary daily access to remote learning. We will continue to follow all mitigation and quarantine requirements required by the state departments of Education and Public Health.

The school district also would not give her guidance on homeschooling or private schools that might offer remote education, White said. In a complaint filed July 20 with acting Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, White quoted Cummings as writing, Unfortunately, the district would not have a recommendation on a homeschool or private option. There are several organizations and support groups that do provide this information and can act as a clearinghouse. We continue to await further guidance on options and direction from the state and we will share that as soon as it is available.

Asked for comment from Cummings, spokeswoman Andrea Clark said in an email, the district does not comment on individual student circumstances.

White said while she does not know how to homeschool and doesnt know what a fifth-grade curriculum entails, well hobble through it. But, remembering how sick she was last year, she said, I really feel for the people right now who are going through bone marrow transplants, chemotherapy, all of these horrible treatments  and are now essentially being tasked with homeschooling their children. And not only that, educating themselves as to how to homeschool, trying to find a homeschool curriculum.

She said if homeschooling doesnt work out, they may have to have Lane repeat fifth grade. My kid has literally been watching out of windows as every other kid gets to live life to the fullest, she said. And theyve all been in school, theyre able to do sports, and thats wonderful for them that they dont carry this kind of risk for themselves or back to their family, but its a remarkably ableist culture.

She said those who dont want their children to wear masks and ask her when shes going to let Lane live his life makes her feel as though this has been a pandemic of selfishness in many ways.

I wish that I could look the other way and pretend that Im not vulnerable, but I have the knowledge in hand that I dont want to die and leave my child, White said. And thats what this all comes down to, and nor do I want my child to be tasked with that. Like  he had to go to school and then as a result his mother died. Like thats a horrible burden for any child to have to carry.

She said she has offered to live separately, but that her husband and son refuse. They wont do it; they want to help me through this. Its sweet, but its a burden.

Lamont has focused on the importance of students going back to in-person learning, but he also has said there may be circumstances in which remote learning is necessary.

During a visit to Windsor Locks High School in March, Lamont praised the enthusiasm of the teachers and students, as well as some of the Zoom teaching that was going on.

I hope everybody gets back to school, Lamont said. Id like them to get back to school next week and Id like them certainly to get back to school in the fall, but there may be some folks that dont feel ready, maybe theres a compromised immune system, maybe there are a variety of reasons where they cant, so I think there will be some virtual learning that continues.

In a press conference last week, Lamont said, Im not looking for people to have excuses not to send their kids to school. Im trying to do everything I can to do it safely.  Maybe some have preexisting conditions or reason they dont feel like they can get to school. Thats why weve renewed contracts with a number of our remote learning partners to make sure there is an option on the table if thats the case, but I hope its for a small minority of kids.

The state Department of Education issued guidance on the future of remote learning in state schools, based on legislation passed in June. It said because the evolving pandemic may require remote learning to be reinstituted, school districts are also encouraged to develop a local policy to address how remote learning might be used to provide continued educational opportunities  in rare and individualized circumstances, for students with elevated risks from COVID-19 exposure due to co-habiting family members with documented vulnerability to COVID-19, among other reasons.

Education Department spokeswoman Laura Stefon said in an email, we are committed as an agency to working with districts to explore their development of continued educational opportunities for students during this public health necessity.

In June, the Fairfield Board of Education wrote to Lamont asking for the mask mandate for students to be removed and for the state to use federal American Recovery Plan money to implement a synchronous state-run Remote Learning Academy for medically vulnerable students modeled on any/all of this year's successful local models for the 2021-2022 school year.

Board Chairwoman Christine Vitale said Friday that while the district has no plans to offer a remote option this year, Were still awaiting updated health guidance that might change the conversation.

She said the health and safety of our students remains our highest priority and if there are families in very specific and individualized situations, that I would think that those families would be discussing with the superintendent, and I appreciate that it is difficult when youre not talking about the student necessarily but the family at home.

White said there have been no discussions with Cummings about how to resolve her dilemma.

Rachel Kent of Fairfield is in a similar situation. Her four children have also attended Roger Sherman Elementary School, but she has stage 4 tongue cancer. Im in what they call no evidence of disease currently, she said. While her treatment appears to have halted her cancer, the unfortunate side effect for me is that my immune system has not bounced back after a year and a half, she said. Her doctors have told her to exercise extreme caution.

Kents children are 6, 8, 10 and 11. The oldest, Eleanor, will be eligible for a vaccine when she turns 12 in November. She also found out last week that all of my children have been accepted into the Moderna trial for 2- to 12-year-olds and will receive their first shots Aug. 9.

That doesnt mean they will all get the vaccine, however. Some participants in the trial will receive a placebo, though they will be told whether they are receiving the vaccine.

I cant homeschool, not just from lack of desire but I have four such different learners at different levels of education, Kent said. She said if Eleanor can go to school, she may be able to homeschool the others. What to do about school is the eternal debate, she said. If Eleanor goes to school, not all of her peers are vaccinated, but theyve all been able to have that choice  I feel better about sending her in, she said.

She also has looked at online learning in Florida or California, but its expensive, as much as $400 to $1,000 per credit (an English class would be one to three credits per semester).

Were being put in a really hard position, to be honest, Kent said. Were waiting until we absolutely have to make a choice.  At the end of the day, I have a wonderful public school that all of my children have gone to. I walk my children to school. We chose this town and this place because of that.

Kent said she was co-chairwoman of the Remote Learning Academy PTA. I was in constant communication with parents and Mr. Cummings.  I hate to be harsh, but I do feel like at the end of the school year, no one wanted to hear it anymore. The school board did not take into consideration voices they had been hearing.

A parent survey received few responses, but there was less than 10 percent that said there would be no need for RLA in the fall. The rest of them all said maybe or yes.

Fairfield is not alone in not offering a remote learning option this year. Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, New Haven and Bridgeport are among them. Old Saybrook Superintendent Jan Perruccio said in an email, We are still working on plans to provide remote learning  for any students in quarantine. And Laurie Pallin, superintendent in Montville, said that, while remote learning will not be offered as a rule, we will provide remote learning for students who are quarantined or isolated due to COVID-19 in the upcoming year.

White said the refusal to offer remote learning is a further insult to injury. The people who are most in need of protecting  compromised people, elderly people, people with preexisting serious medical conditions, are those who are most likely to suffer severe consequences, both in terms of health and unemployment, she said.

Weve had to remain isolated. Our lives have been obviously completely put on hold and yet were still grateful that were able to survive. But it is somewhat of a slap in the face to essentially be told, get out of our way; if youre not comfortable, stay home. And then at the same time also be kind of villainized, as though, if it werent for sick people, nobodys lives would have been affected by the pandemic.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382

Correction: This story was edited to clarify that Andrea Clark is a spokeswoman for the Fairfield Public Schools.
The U.S. on Monday finally reached President Joe Bidens goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into 70% of American adults -- a month late and amid a fierce surge by the delta variant that is swamping hospitals and leading to new mask rules and mandatory vaccinations around the country.

In a major retreat in the Deep South, Louisiana ordered nearly everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear masks again in all indoor public settings, including schools and colleges. And other cities and states likewise moved to reinstate precautions to counter a crisis blamed on the fast-spreading variant and stubborn resistance to getting the vaccine.

As quickly as we can discharge them theyre coming in and theyre coming in very sick. We started seeing entire families come down," lamented Dr. Sergio Segarra, chief medical officer of Baptist Hospital Miami. The Florida medical-center chain reported an increase of over 140% in the past two weeks in the number of people now hospitalized with the virus.

Biden had set a vaccination goal of 70% by the Fourth of July. That figure was the low end of initial government estimates for what would be necessary to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. But that has been rendered insufficient by the highly contagious delta variant, which has enabled the virus to come storming back.

There was was no celebration at the White House on Monday, nor a setting of a new target, as the administration instead struggles to overcome skepticism and outright hostility to the vaccine, especially in the South and other rural and conservative areas.

The U.S. still has not hit the administration's other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4. It is about 8.5 million short.

New cases per day in the U.S. have increased sixfold over the past month to an average of nearly 80,000, a level not seen since mid-February. And deaths per day have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 259 to 360.

Those are still well below the 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day seen during the worst of the outbreak, in January. But some places around the country are watching caseloads reach their highest levels since the pandemic began. And nearly all deaths and serious illnesses now are in unvaccinated people.

The surge has led states and cities across the U.S. to beat a retreat, just weeks after it looked as if the country was going to see a close-to-normal summer.

Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties announced Monday they are reinstating a requirement that everyone  vaccinated or not  wear masks in public indoor spaces.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City airport and transit workers will have to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. He stopped short of mandating either masks or inoculations for the general public, saying he lacks legal authority to do so.

Denver's mayor said the city will require police officers, firefighters and certain other municipal employees to get vaccinated, along with workers at schools, nursing homes, hospitals and jails.

Minnesotas public colleges and universities will require masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. New Jersey said workers at state-run nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals and other such institutions must get the shot or face regular testing.

North Carolina's governor ordered state employees in the agencies under his control to cover up indoors if they are not fully vaccinated.

And McDonalds said it will require employees and customers to resume wearing masks inside some U.S. restaurants regardless of vaccination status in areas with high or substantial coronavirus transmission. The company didnt say how many restaurants would be affected by the new mask mandate.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said a nationwide vaccination requirement is not on the table, but noted that employers have the right to take such a step.

The U.S. Senate saw its first disclosed breakthrough case of the virus, with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina saying he has mild symptoms.

In Florida, it took two months last summer for the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 to jump from 2,000 to 10,000. It took only 27 days this summer for Florida hospitals to see that same increase, said Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew.

She noted also that this time, 96% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated and they are far younger, many of them in their 20s and 30s.

Amid the surge, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his anti-mask, anti-lockdown stance, warning in a fundraising email over the weekend: Theyre coming for your freedom again.

While setting a national vaccination goal may have been useful for trying to drum up enthusiasm for the shots, 70% of Americans getting one shot was never going to be enough to prevent surges among unvaccinated groups. And when he announced the goal, Biden acknowledged it was just a first step.

Its the level of vaccinations in a community  not a broad national average  that can slow an outbreak or allow it to flourish.

Vaccination rates in some Southern states are far lower than they are New England. Vermont has fully inoculated nearly 78% of its adult population. Alabama has just cracked 43%.

___

Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Michelle Liu in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
Over the years, Ive described some overlooks as having a church-steeple view  those places where you look out across a sea of green with only a lonely spire poking through as your human company. This overlook, along a 1,000-foot-long ledge at Coney Rock Preserve in Mansfield, fits that description perfectly and provides a nice bookend to a hike that begins at a 120-year-old iron bridge across the Fenton River.

The journey starts along the southern portion of the 40-mile-long Connecticut Forest & Park Associations Blue-blazed Nipmuck Trail that runs from Mansfield Hollow State Park to Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union. Along this 10-mile portion of the trail, hikers will cross a pair of iron truss bridges that look somewhat out of place in the wilderness. The path continues to the aptly named Fifty-Foot Cliff and on to Coney Rock, both with tremendous views across a mostly undeveloped portion of eastern Connecticut.

The Nipmuck is Algonquin for freshwater pond place and there is no shortage of rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, bogs and kettle holes along its path. From the trailhead on the north side of Route 89, visitors travel along the path through the forest to a flood-control area along Schoolhouse Brook down to the river and the first span, simply known now as Iron Bridge South. A second span  Iron Bridge North  is located about a mile upstream.

Both bridges were relocated in 1999 from streets around Mansfield by the towns department of public works. The south bridge once crossed Mount Hope River, while the north bridge passed over the Willimantic River. The town secured a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection and moved them both to the Nipmuck Trail. The bridges were built by the Berlin Construction Co. in 1901 and are some of the earliest examples of truss spans in the state. Other bridges built by the company and incorporated in hiking areas around Connecticut include the Red Bridge along Meridens Quinnipiac River Gorge Trail and iron bridge at Lovers Leap State Park in New Milford.

After taking in the beautiful views up and down the river from the south span, visitors can take the Fenton River trail on the western banks of the waterway or continue along the Nipmuck, which travels along the eastern side through deep pine forests and past a beautiful marsh. Hikers looking to do only the bridge loop can return to the trailhead along either path.

About 1 miles from the second bridge is the Fifty-Foot Cliff with its forested views and the distant University of Connecticut Spring Hill Farm barns along with Naubesatuck Lake and the Fenton River Valley. The cliff is actually 100 feet tall. According to the towns brochure, the name Fifty-Foot was chosen more for poetic alliteration than for topographic accuracy. No matter how high the cliff is, the views are spectacular.

Continuing along the trail, hikers will be wowed by the sight of an old wolf tree along a stone wall. The tree once sat along a farmers field, providing shade for animals. It now stands amid a forest that has regrown in the former fields and around the tree. A little farther along the path is Old Carter Hill Road, a former farm and carriage path lined with stone walls, ferns and huge trees.

The path eventually winds into the ruins of the Chaffeeville Silk Mill with its huge stone dam and mill foundations. The Nipmuck eventually connects with the road and Coney Rock Preserve. A steep path leads to the top of Coney Rock and more spectacular views including sights like the Fenton River, Naubesatuck Lake and Mansfield Hollow State Park. On clear days, its said that one can see into Rhode Island.

The origin of the name Coney is murky. It could have been someones last name or been named after the rabbits, also known as coneys, that populated the area. According to an old legend, when the area was used as farmland, visitors could stand on the top of the cliff and shout a greeting across the valley to the Fifty-Foot Cliff and it would echo back to the speaker, and vice versa.

The preserve is a neat place to explore with trails through woodlands filled with stone walls, ferns and birch trees and a jumble of huge boulders known as Proposal Rock. This name is easier to derive  the previous property owners parents were engaged there.
Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
Monday, 02 August 2021 22:48:50 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Bolivian state-run company Empresa Siderurgica del Mutun (ESM), which is currently developing a steelmaking and iron ore complex, has named a new CEO following the resignation of the companys former top executive.

As a result, the minister of mining, Ramiro Guzman, appointed Jorge Alvarado Rivas as the companys new interim CEO. Rivas is challenged with completing works at ESMs iron ore and steelmaking complex by 2023.

According to a letter obtained by SteelOrbis, the former CEO of ESM, Gustavo Choque Velasquez, sent a resignation letter to the nations president, Luis Arce, on July 8. Velasquez said he was falsely accused of corruption, although he did not specifically name or address the corruption claims.

I cannot allow that such lies damage neither the brilliant management of (the Bolivian) government overseen by your authority, nor the excellent management of the Mr. minister of mining, the reason by which I present my irrevocable resignation to the role of executive president of Mutun, Velasquez said in a letter.

Velasquez said the corruption charges were politically motivated and fabricated. Velasquez had also been appointed as an interim CEO of ESM earlier this year, as reported by SteelOrbis.
AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) calls on the Ministry of Justice to "observe the independence" of the NGO registration process and not to transfer the Register of Associations and Foundations to any other institution.

"AUR asks the Ministry of Justice to abandon the idea of transferring the Register of Associations and Foundations to an institution that can be influenced by the political factor and to deal, instead, with the really pressing issues in Romania that fall within its competence, such as human trafficking, smuggling, organized crime, political cases or political interference in the administration of justice," AUR said in a press release on Monday.

According to the same source, at present, the procedures for registration and modification of the acts of non-governmental organizations fall within the competence of the courts, "which means that political interference is - at least theoretically - minimal," and by transferring these procedures to an institution public, fully funded from the state budget, "the guarantee of objectivity - even apparent - will disappear, and the influence of the political factor will be able to extend where, by definition, it should not even exist", Agerpres informs.
The General Council of the Bucharest City Hall (CGMB), meeting on Monday, adopted a draft decision regarding the extension of the association with McDonald's by a period of 15 years.

"We conclude today the additional contract with McDonald's. As you know, the contract with McDonald's for six locations in Bucharest started 26 years ago. Following this contact, we would receive until these months somewhere around a million RON per year. After the signing of the contract, we will receive somewhere around 5 million RON per year, updating thus with the market value of this real estate that we hold," said the General Mayor, Nicusor Dan, in the sitting of the CGMB.

The decision provides for the approval of an additional act to the association contract of 1995 with McDonald's Romania, currently Premier Restaurants Romania SRL, negotiated and agreed upon the basis of the report done by an expert accredited by the National Association of Authorized Appraisers of Romania (ANEVAR), Agerpres informs.

The General Mayor is empowered to sign, as legal representative of the city, the addition that pertains to the following places: Mihai Bravu Road no. 307, Oltenitei Road no. 21, Colentina Road no. 79, Basarabia Boulevard no. 99, Buzesti Street no 47-51, and Buzesti Str. 47A, as well as Calea Rahovei no. 237.

The associate will pay to the owner a percentage of the monthly net sales of each restaurant that functions on the property of the associate, but no less than the minimum guaranteed sum, both calculated on certain formulas.

The minimum guaranteed sum will be indexed automatically on January 1, 2023, and for the following period on each January 1, for the entire duration of the association.

According to it, if at a certain point, the owner's right on the entire surface of land that is the object of a placement in the sense of the association is transferred in full to third parties, the association for that placement will cease, with the parties to conclude an additional act in this respect.
Enel X Romania is building two photovoltaic power plants with a total installed capacity of about 2 MW, for the manufacturer of chromed steel bars and pipes Nimet Targoviste.

According to a press release sent on Monday to AGERPRES, the project is worth approximately 1.5 million euros and involves the turnkey delivery of two systems that integrate over 4,100 high-efficiency photovoltaic panels, with mono-crystalline type cells, located at the two Nimet factories in Lazuri and Targovita localities, Dambovita county.

Another component of the project is the infrastructure for electric mobility, by installing at the two factories several charging points for electric vehicles, Agerpres informs.

"Enel X Romania helps companies to identify the most appropriate technologies to make their energy consumption more efficient and, implicitly, for their business to become sustainable. By offering them reliable turnkey services and solutions for local electricity production with photovoltaic panels, our customers experience significant savings in energy costs, which are subsequently reflected in increased competitiveness. In addition, our solutions contribute to environmental protection, including through the development of electric mobility infrastructure. We are pleased that Nimet has chosen Enel X products Romania, we remain a reliable partner in the energy transition," said Mirel Jarnea, head of B2B E-Industries, Enel X Romania.

According to Samy Numan, managing director, the two photovoltaic plants represent a first step in the company's move to reach an installed photovoltaic capacity of 6 MW by 2023.

The photovoltaic systems mounted on the roof of the Nimet factories will ensure an annual electricity production of about 2,350 MWh, contributing to the reduction by 740 tonnes/year of carbon dioxide emissions.

Enel X Romania has in its portfolio projects implemented for the most important companies in sectors such as food, retail, logistics centers, shopping centers and office buildings. In total, more than 20,700 photovoltaic panels have been installed, which contributes to the reduction of approximately 3,300 tonnes/year of carbon dioxide emissions. The annual savings registered by the companies that have installed such energy production sources exceed 900,000 euros, by eliminating the costs associated with the transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as the contributions for green certificates and cogeneration.

Enel X Romania is part of Enel X, Enel's global business line dedicated to the development of innovative products and digital solutions in sectors where energy has the greatest potential for transformation: cities, homes, industries and electric mobility. Enel X Romania manages electric mobility services, with charging points for electric vehicles available throughout the country, photovoltaic panel solutions for industrial and commercial customers, advanced e-city and e-home systems.
Energy in general will continue to become an increasingly expensive product because we must begin to own its unsustainable use in the last 50-60 years, Corneliu Bodea, chairman of the Romanian Energy Centre (CRE) and CEO of Adrem, tells AGERPRES for its "New energy technologies" project.

"We've been talking so much about resilience in recent years, and I think that's good, because we're living times of development that are coming at us with a surplus of instability and difficult prediction. In such times, increasing resilience is essential and should be a mandatory chapter in financial reporting for certain areas of activity that can have such a large impact on industry and people in general. In fact, risk analysis and treatment have already become a reporting chapter, and I consider an extension to what the resilience of systems and organisations means to be a correct measure," Bodea pointed out.

In his opinion, energy in general will continue to become an increasingly expensive product because we must begin to own its unsustainable use in the last 50-60 years. It is not an easy thing to accept as long as energy is at the basis of the construction of so many prices for products essential to life, but it is a reality that must be taken seriously, Agerpres informs.

"Also at the time of writing, we are a few days after exceeding this year as well the consumption of renewable resources, and we live on debt, as experts have very suggestively calculated. This time that we are exceeding the Earth's capacity to sustain our consumption is falling closer to half of every year, and we are borrowing more and more from some descendants who will not necessarily agree to pay our debts. The main form of responsibility would be to get involved in the aspects related to the sustainability of our actions and especially to the efficiency of energy consumption. The European Union is allocating serious funds for that, both forge and household consumers," added Bodea.

The economic pressure on hiking energy prices in the EU is mainly generated by CO2 taxation and is likely to encourage investment in both energy efficiency and renewable technologies. The sustainability of this mechanism can prove problematic for economies where the standard of living is lower and where the profitability of the economy is marginal.

"Romania is such an economy and I believe that the concern to manage the alleviation of energy poverty and compensate vulnerable consumers should be a priority together with endorsing support schemes for energy efficiency for companies and industrial consumers. Simple and efficient schemes, with pragmatic action and smart management can be quickly developed in a dialogue with industry and trade associations. The lack of such swift action will generate political tension and thus deter decision-makers from taking decisive steps towards taking up negotiated climate-neutrality targets. It seems that we still have time, but 2024 is a year of four rounds of elections and the campaign will start soon. Ideally, until then, we should have implemented solid support and development schemes that would mitigate the impact of energy prices, while ensuring a new level of energy development for Romania," Bodea added.
President Klaus Iohannis sent a message on Monday on the occasion of the European Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual commemorative event organised by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in which he says that further efforts must be made to educate on the Roma genocide.

"Every year, on 2 August, we pay tribute to the memory of half a million Roma children, women and men who were killed in Europe during the Holocaust. They were the victims of a brutal, dehumanizing regime that promoted racism, anti-Semitism, hatred and intolerance as state policies. Remembering is a fundamental dimension of life. In Romania, about 25,000 Roma were deported to Transnistria, with about 11,000 losing their lives. It is our duty today to bring forth their memory and ensure that such atrocities will not be repeated. At this point, the need for remembrance is more important than ever," Iohannis says in the message.

He points out that, in the context created by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is once again an alarming increase in racism, anti-Semitism and hate-motivated speeches targeting the Roma, especially online, and that the duty of political leaders is to combat these developments, to publicly condemn without hesitation any statement that incites hate, Agerpres informs.

"We must also continue our efforts to develop appropriate tools that allow us to protect our societies against these threats," Iohannis adds.

The president says that Romania has made important steps in the direction of taking on the Holocaust, combating racism and anti-Semitism and can now be considered a regional model, given that, in May 2021, the National Strategy for preventing and combating anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech was adopted. This allows better training for public officials dealing with this phenomenon.

President Iohannis also says that, at international level, Romania was one of the countries that supported strongly, in 2020, the adoption by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) of a working definition, which is not legally binding, of anti-gypsy/discrimination against Roma, a major project of the German Presidency of IHRA.

Moreover, Klaus Iohannis advocates the need to make further efforts on education on the genocide of the Roma, showing that young generations must know the truth about this tragic episode of European history.

"We must make sure that we educate young generations on this tragic episode of European history. Every society has this fundamental duty to make certain that new generations know and keep the truth alive. We support strengthened efforts to include the genocide of the Roma during the Second World War in educational programmes, as well as efforts to protect the last survivors. Europe is based on respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Promoting cultural, religious and ethnic diversity is the best way to prevent conflicts and build peaceful democratic societies. As President of Romania, I reaffirm my country's firm commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, promoting democratic values and condemning any racist act, combating discrimination, anti-Semitism, extremism, and racial or ethnic violence," Iohannis concludes.
One of the workers caught under a collapsed trench wall at a building site near the National Library was found dead, the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate for Emergency Situations informs.

Another one, who was stuck up to his waist, was freed from the loose earth, is conscious and in stable condition, the cited source said.

A 50-year-old and a 33-year-old man have already been dug out; they were both conscious and taken to the University Hospital and the Floreasca Emergency Hospital, respectively, informs Agerpres.

The firefighters continue their search for a fifth worker, who was also buried under the collapsed trench.

The Special Rescue Detachment is taking action at the site with specific equipment.
Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) is paying "pious homage" to the memory of the Roma Holocaust victims, pointing out that "the sufferings of the Romany people in Nazi concentration and extermination camps and their allies during WWII were long unknown to the general public, which contributed to the perpetuation of prejudices affecting this community."

August 2 marks the National Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day - Samudaripen, established by law in 2020.

In a press statement released on Monday, MAE says that, according to the final report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, about 11,000 Roma died, out of the approximately 25,000 who were deported by the Antonescu regime to Transnistria.MAE also points out that national and international initiatives to promote education, research and commemoration of the Roma genocide must be supported, as "in the absence of knowledge of Samudaripen's history, prejudice and stigmatisation of members of the Romany community will continue."At the same time, MAE is "firmly" condemning the proliferation of "hate speech against members of the Romany community, especially online."On August 2, 1944, about 3,000 Romany people from the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp fell victim to the Nazi regime. About 500,000 Roma were killed in Europe during the Holocaust, according to MAE.To commemorate the victims, August 2 was declared the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day by the European Parliament Resolution of April 15, 2015.At the same time, under Law 124/2020, August 2 was established nationally as the National Roma Holocaust (Samudaripen) Remembrance Day. Samudaripen means mass murder in Romani, agerpres reports.
Romania is firmly condemning what it calls "absolutely unacceptable," namely a drone attack on the Mercer Street ship that resulted in the death of the ship's captain, a Romanian citizen, "who fell in the line of duty in a dignified manner," according to the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE).

In a press statement released on Monday, MAE says that "considering what has been presented by Romania's international partners regarding the fact that the attack was deliberate and coordinated by Iran, Romania is calling on the Iranian authorities to explain what happened without delay, reserving the right to act accordingly, together with its international partners, for an appropriate response."

The ambassador of Iran in Bucharest was urgently summoned to MAE for that purpose, Agerpres informs.

At the same time, MAE reiterates that "the attack on a civilian target, which has resulted in loss of life and significant property damage, has no justification and must be strongly condemned at the international level."

According to the statement, in order to identify the most appropriate response measures, MAE continues to coordinate with Romania's allies and partners.

"MAE is with the families and relatives of the 'Mercer Street' ship victims, while and providing all the support for the ongoing repatriation of the deceased Romanian nationals."

According to the AFP news agency, the United States is sure that Iran has committed the criminal attack on the oil tanker operated by an Israeli billionaire in the Oman Sea, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Sunday, joining Israel and the United Kingdom.

On Thursday, "Mercer Street" was the target of a drone attack in the Oman Sea. The attack resulted in two deaths, a British man working for the Ambrey security company, and a member of the Romanian crew, according to shipowner Zodiac Maritime, an international company based in London owned by Eyal Ofer.
The Australian judge, Jonathan Beach, ordered the patent commission to reconsider DABUS application. His 40-page order ponders the meaning of the word inventor and reviews the state of artificial intelligence research. It even touches on religion, saying, We are both created and create. Why cannot our own creations also create?

Ryan Abbott, a law professor at the University of Sussex in England and one of the attorneys who represents Thaler in patent proceedings, said the South African patent is an important precedent.

This is a critical point of public policy that will have a significant impact on how we generate innovation using artificial intelligence, Abbott said.

By enforcing a human inventor requirement, he argues, the U.S. and other nations will discourage companies from investing in cutting-edge AI.

For example, he said, German company Siemens developed a computer-designed automotive suspension system. None of their engineers were willing to say that they were the inventor, so they abandoned it because they felt they couldnt do a patent application, Abbott said.
We had a roboticist on our research team, because we expected to find robots, she said. Instead, at one company, she said managers showed them a computer they had recently installed in a corner of the factory  which allowed workers to note their daily production figures on a spreadsheet, rather than jot down that information in paper notebooks.

The bulk of the machines we saw were from before the 1990s, she said, adding that many had installed new computer controllers to upgrade the older machines  a common practice in these tight-fisted operations. Most had also bought other types of advanced machinery  such as computer-guided cutting machines and inspection systems. But not robots.

Robots are just one type of factory automation, which encompasses a wide range of machines used to move and manufacture goods  including conveyor belts and labeling machines.

Nick Pinkston, CEO of Volition, a San Francisco company that makes software used by robotics engineers to automate factories, said smaller firms lack the cash to take risks on new robots. They think of capital payback periods of as little as three months, or six  and it all depends on the contract with the consumer who is ordering parts to be made by the machine.
You can imagine school districts deciding to wait a month or two for the delta wave to quieten, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last month. I am not saying it will happen, but it is easy to imagine that. It is also easy to imagine some people might say I am just going to wait a couple of months before going back to work. If schools dont open, then caretakers have to stay home and if people dont go back into the labor force, job growth wont be so strong.

Here we go again?

Roughly 7 million fewer people are employed in the United States today than before the pandemic, Labor Department surveys of businesses and households show, despite record job openings.

The employment recovery has been notably lumpy for women, who bore a greater share of job losses early in the pandemic. Many had returned to the labor force by summer, but in August and September last year more than 1 million women aged 20 and older left the workforce as most schools reopened to online instruction only and kids were parked at home.

This year women have reentered the workforce in greater numbers than men, dovetailing with the increase in in-person instruction as the school year wore on, and the reopening of a number of industries where they are over-represented.
Looking to put a fresh spin on things as kids head back to class after last year's patchwork of remote and in-person learning?

Start with a perfectly them lunch container and other on-the-go eating and drinking gear. There are lots of stylish and sustainable options, given the creative ways that lunch foods (and the way we tote them) have changed in recent years.

Back in the day, a typical lunch being unpacked in the cafeteria might have consisted of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, some cookies, maybe a few carrot sticks or a bag of chips. These days, the food in packed lunches is much more diverse, as are the containers.

Bento boxes, lidded bowls, insulated totes  its easy to find the right vessel for your food.

One focus now is on Earth-friendly products: Single-use plastics are being subbed out for reusable versions. It's up to us, parents, to train the next generation to remember to bring everything home to wash and reuse!
It is a much younger population that is being hospitalized today, Mayhew told MSNBC on Monday. At one Jacksonville hospital, the average age is 42, she said. We have 25-year-olds in the hospital in intensive care on ventilators, she told the cable network. Weve got to convince 25-year-olds, 30-year-olds, that this is now life-threatening for them.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also sounded the alarm, urging but not mandating bars, restaurants and other private businesses to require all customers be vaccinated before entering. The Democratic governor also said that vaccines could become mandatory for nursing home workers, teachers and healthcare workers if case numbers do not improve.

Private businesses  I am asking them and suggesting to them to go to vaccine-only admission, Cuomo said. I believe its in your best business interest. If I go to a bar and I want to have a drink and I want to talk to the person next to me, I want to know that that person is vaccinated.

Cuomo also announced that all employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the trains and subways, and all the workers from his state for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the regions bridges, airports, and tunnels, would need to be vaccinated by Labor Day on Sept. 6 or submit to weekly testing.
JEFFERSON CITY  A Nevada-based company and two of its executives are asking a Missouri judge to halt efforts by the state to collect $1.6 million in penalties linked to an alleged investment scam.

Golden Genesis Inc. is scheduled to argue its case against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in a hearing set for Aug. 20 in Cole County.

The legal action is in response to Ashcroft ordering the company to pay the penalties after allegedly defrauding seven Missouri investors.

The Secretary of States Securities Division found that Golden Genesis Inc., along with the companys founder and CEO Thomas F. Casey, and its co-owner and de facto chief financial officer, Dennis R. Di Ricco, defrauded investors, many of them retired senior citizens, by selling unregistered, nonexempt, promissory notes. They were found to have utilized an unregistered Las Vegas-based broker-dealer, Retire Happy LLC, to sell more than $9 million of the notes.

Investors were promised high returns and were given sales materials containing false and misleading information, Ashcrofts office said. New investment monies were used to pay prior investors their purported returns.
UPDATED on Tuesday with surveillance images of man sought by police.

RICHMOND HEIGHTS  Police were searching Monday for a man seen carrying a rifle and running into a parking garage after a shooting Sunday in Richmond Heights.

The gunman shot and seriously injured a man after robbing him about 5:15 p.m. Sunday on Galleria Parkway near Interstate 170. The victim was conscious and alert when officers arrived.

Richmond Heights police Capt. Rick Tes said the victim, a man about 40 years old, was shot after he got off the MetroLink train nearby. He was off the platform, and closer to Galleria Parkway, when he was shot, Tes said.

Tes said investigators watched surveillance videos from MetroLink and nearby businesses. He said the gunman may also have been riding the train before the shooting but police don't believe he used the train to escape.

Witnesses told police that a man carrying some type of rifle ran to the parking garage of the Boulevard St. Louis. He later was seen walking in an alleyway behind businesses in the 1100 block of Brentwood Boulevard, police said.
EDWARDSVILLE  A St. Louis man was sentenced to 65 years in prison Monday for the murder last year in Granite City of an ex-boyfriend of a woman he was then dating.

Kadeem Noland, 28, is not eligible for early release and must serve 100% of his 65-year prison sentence, Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp ruled Monday.

Noland was found guilty by a jury in May of first-degree murder in the death of Jason A. Thomas, 36, who was shot and killed in the 2200 block of Benton Street on Jan. 8, 2020.

Prosecutors say Noland and his girlfriend at the time, Kristine Mills, 35, of Granite City, went to Thomas home that day to pick up Mills possessions from Thomas, her ex-boyfriend.

Mills was also charged in the death and pleaded guilty in June to obstructing justice. She was sentenced to six years in prison, authorities said.
A last-minute boost from big business has pushed campaign fundraising to nearly $550,000 for a proposed tax increase benefiting St. Louis Community College.

Proposition R on Tuesdays ballot would authorize the issue of bonds worth $350 million for projects to upgrade and modernize facilities to help attract new students, according to the college.

There is a desperate need for a trained and educated workforce in St. Louis County and St. Louis city, said Jeff Pittman, chancellor of the community college.

The projects would update and expand career training programs in health care, information technology, financial services, biotech and manufacturing, Pittman said.

There are thousands of job openings right now in these areas, he said.

If passed, property taxes would increase by 8 cents for each $100 of assessed value, which would take the college systems levy from 19.87 cents to 27.87 cents. If the measure passes, the tax on the average home worth $324,000 would increase by about $49 a year, with the community college district accounting for nearly $172 of the total property tax bill. Overall, the tax increase is expected to raise $24 million to $28 million a year.
Khan, who did not participate in the committee meeting Monday, later dismissed the questioning of his account as a transparent sham.

I stand by my letter to the council chairperson, he wrote in a text message to the Post-Dispatch. This charade of an inquiry is designed only to impugn my character and credibility.

A spokesman for County Executive Sam Page backed Khan, casting the criticism as the product of political operatives and cherry-picked witnesses. The spokesman, Doug Moore, also noted the administrations separate investigation of the allegations is ongoing.

The comments capped a full day of back-and-forth in what could prove a turning point in Khans story. Once a side note to the battle over a new mask mandate, the fight over the health directors letter has evolved into one of the hottest controversies in county government. And without further proof of Khans allegations, calls for his dismissal seem likely to only get louder.

The firestorm began last Wednesday when the county released Khans letter to Days roughly 24 hours after Khan took questions on a controversial new mask mandate from a council dead-set on ending it in a chamber full of opponents egging them on.
This year, Republicans in the Legislature and GOP Gov. Mike Parson will control the redrawing of the states eight U.S. congressional seats.

Because of continued population loss in the city of St. Louis, the heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, will likely take in more areas of the current 2nd.

That means the 2nd could extend farther into GOP-friendly St. Charles or Jefferson counties, making the district less favorable to Democrats than in the past.

Wagner has not said whether she will seek another term in the U.S. House or if she will join the crowded field vying for the states open U.S. Senate seat.

Wagner jumping into the Senate race could trigger a wave of campaign announcements from other Republicans seeking to replace her in the House.

Gunbys campaign said her bid would be focused on building relationships and unifying a region fractured by hostile, partisan politics.

The announcement said Gunby would put Missouris families and workers first through policies that benefit organized labor, expand voting rights and reimagine how Americans receive affordable, quality health care.
Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.
An Israeli firm (Elbit) recently revealed its new MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) vehicle, similar to Chinese design that can carry two pods, each with guided rockets of different calibers and weight. The PULS MCLS (multiple caliber launch rocket system) is mounted on a 6x6 or 8x8 heavy truck that can be airlifted, with pods, by a C-130 transport. Each pod is designed to carry and launch a specific rocket type. Current pods are available for 18 Accular 122mm (max range of 35 kilometers), ten Accular 160mm (40 kilometers), four EXTRA rockets (150 kilometers) and a pod with two Predator Hawk rockets (300 kilometers). PULS is designed to be easily configured for any number of fire control systems, making the system more attractive to export customers. Israeli PULS systems work with a new Israeli fire control system that coordinates the use of multiple ground and air launched missiles and rockets. This new fire control system was used successfully in 2021 when Hamas started another war with the massive launch of thousands of rockets. This attack was defeated within days using the new Israeli fire control system, which included some innovative systems for quickly finding targets for Israeli rockets and missiles and destroying more targets in a shorter time, with fewer Israeli losses than in the 50-day 2014 Hamas war.

This began back in 2011 when Israel decided to replace most of its 155mm artillery with guided rockets. That led to a proliferation of new guided rocket designs. That was followed by training some of these rocket battalions to fire GPS guided rockets into inhabited areas. Currently this means Gaza, where Israel has heretofore used F-16s firing smart bombs or helicopters using guided missiles to attack terrorist targets there. Now, GPS guided rockets take over more and more of these missions. This is a lot cheaper and, with more shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles showing up in Gaza, a lot safer for Israeli pilots.

In 2018 Israel formed a new artillery unit composed of long-range (300 kilometers or more) surface-to-surface missiles. This was prompted by the success the Americans were having with GPS guided rockets in Afghanistan. The weapon used in Afghanistan was the 309 kg (680 pound) GMLRS (guided multiple launch rocket system), a 227mm GPS guided rocket that entered service in 2004. It has a range of 70 kilometers and the ability to land within meters of its intended target at any range. This is because of using GPS, plus a less accurate back up inertial guidance system, to find its target. Israel accepted that the American use of GPS guidance in rockets, while more expensive, was more effective than the cheaper (but less accurate) Israeli developed rocket guidance system and even cheaper unguided artillery shells.

Israel went ahead and developed its own GPS guided rockets, like the Romach, a 175mm rocket similar to the American GMLRS but smaller and with a range of 35 kilometers. Israel has also developed a GPS guided 155mm artillery and 120mm mortar shells. Each tank battalion has some of these 120mm mortars and using GPS guided shells does not require using a lot of ammo to get the job done. In effect, Israel has all but eliminated the use of the traditional artillery barrage, reducing ammo use by over 90 percent. This meant many artillery units were not needed and were disbanded.

In 2016 Israel introduced the locally developed EXTRA (EXTended Range Artillery) GPS guided rocket. This is a 570 kg (1,254 pounds) 306mm weapon that has a max range of 150 kilometers. There is a ship-launched (Trigon) version of this in service and an air-launched (Rampage) version that enters service in 2019.

This radical shift in artillery weapons has been coming since the 2006 war with Hezbollah when the Israelis found that they did little damage to Hezbollah bunkers, even though over 120,000 unguided 155mm shells were fired at them. Meanwhile, they noted that the U.S. 227mm MLRS rockets with GPS guidance were excellent at taking out similar targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel equipped its unguided 160mm Accular rockets with GPS. These 110 kg (242 pound) rockets have a range of 40 kilometers and enable one bunker to be destroyed with one rocket. The larger and more accurate (lands within 5 meters of the target versus 10 meters) Romach came out of that project.

The long-range rocket unit formed in 2018 was initially equipped with LORA (Long Range Artillery Rocket). Israel introduced LORA in 2007 and back then it was noted that the Israeli weapon was similar to the U.S. ATACMS. Each LORA missile weighed up to 1.8 tons depending on which type of warhead was installed. These warheads weighed from 400 to 600 kg. Normally range is 300 kilometers but that can be extended to 400 kilometers with a lighter warhead. GPS guidance is standard, with jam proof INS backup, and will put the warhead within 10 meters (30 feet) of the aim point.

LORA was an improvement on the American ATACMS (introduced in 1986) and one was fired from a MLRS launcher that normally carried six of the standard 227mm MLRS rockets. Both LORA and ATACMs are 610mm rockets that weighed about the same and used a GPS/INS guidance system. Both are basically short-range ballistic missiles. Where LORA differed was in that it was carried, four to a sealed launcher, on a heavy truck. Moreover, LORA was designed from the beginning to be operated from ships and to use additional guidance system options. The one that was known about was a two-way video link that enabled an operator to confirm the target, abort if necessary and also adjust aim to make it a bit more accurate. Israel has other guidance system options which are not advertised, like a pattern matching system that will provide even more accuracy and is jam proof (no GPS or radio link).

In 2017 Israel announced a successful test of a new version of its LORA system that can be mounted and fired from standard shipping containers. The test involved a truck hauling a shipping container parked on a ship deck. The containerized LORA uses a minimum of two containers; one containing four missiles each in the standard sealed container, and the standard electric (not hydraulic) system to point the missile skyward so it will be fired without the rocket blast damaging the ship. Another container contains the control center and some maintenance and test equipment. In the original ship launched version the launch center electronics were installed in the ship CIC (Combat Information Center) like other fire control equipment. A ship could carry four or more containers with launchers and the container version could also be used on land with the containers mounted on any heavy truck or tractor-trailer designed to carry those containers. The new container system also makes it easier to add more firepower to existing warships or even unarmed naval support vessels. LORA also has a ground (and bunker) penetrating conventional warhead for LORA.

Israel is using its experience with LORA to design and build more long range (300 kilometers or more) guided rockets to take over missions previously handled by manned aircraft. In addition to LORA there is also the experience with loitering munitions. Israel now has a ground-launched version of its air-launched Delilah cruise missile. Delilah saw combat for the first time during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Delilah is a 1.3-ton weapon, with a range of 250 kilometers and a 30 kg (66 pound) warhead. It uses GPS, inertial systems and onboard vidcam for guidance. Delilah is designed to cruise around, taking and transmitting vidcam images to detect the right target, then attacking. In Lebanon, it was used to attack trucks carrying missiles. Delilah can stay in the air for up to half an hour and has been used in Syria several times during 2018 to destroy air defense systems. The ground-launched Delilah is meant for any type of target. There was always talk of a longer-range Delilah and now that there is a ground-launched version and a longer range (at least 500 kilometers) version might be a useful addition to the long-range missile artillery unit. Israel currently plans to spend as much as $2 billion on his unit over and next decade and initially the unit is receiving $500 million for more LORA missiles and launch vehicles.
TICKERS: LWD

Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports (8/2/21)

Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable discusses the latest news from Lakewood Exploration with the company's president.



Maurice: Joining us for conversation is Morgan Lekstrom, the president of Lakewood Exploration Inc. (LWD:CSE). It's great to have you join us today to share the latest developments on Lakewood Exploration and the exciting flagship Silver Strand, which has the makings of becoming the next pure silver play in the United States. Before we begin, Mr. Lekstrom, please introduce us to Lakewood Exploration and the opportunity the company presents to shareholders.

Morgan Lekstrom: Lakewood is a new silver company. We're a pure silver play. We are looking at our flagship asset in Idaho, the Silver Strand Mine. It was a past-producing mine, and we are looking to go in there, explore it, put the ore body to depth. It was mined at a very shallow depth, only 90 meters. There's so much potential there. It was held in by a bunch of feuding parties back in the day. The whole land package has never been consolidated like what we've done.

And by consolidating this land package, we're able to get a five-and-a-half-kilometer strike put together, which allows us the opportunity to explore the area. From what we're seeing on the surface and in the underground, and we'll talk about those news releases later, it looks very promising to have a large, large resource and payoff for shareholders, but also near-term production potential, which is the pillar of what we are looking to accomplish at Lakewood.

Lakewood Exploration is looking for that large exploration payoff, near-term production potential, but also acquisitions, at the same time, that fit that model. We do have a triple-pronged approach, and our big concentration right now is on that large exploration payoff at Silver Strand.

Maurice: The value proposition is quite compelling. Let's go on site. Mr. Lekstrom, please introduce us to your flagship Silver Strand and acquaint us with the region and some of your neighbors.

Morgan Lekstrom: Silver Strand is our flagship mine. It's in Idaho, in the Silver Valley-Coeur d'Alene, which is one of the most prolific areas on the planet for silver. The region has produced nearly 1.3 billion ounces of silver. Companies such as Hecla Mining Co. (HL:NYSE) and Coeur Mining Inc. (CDE:NYSE) have had their start there. You also have the deep mines within the region, the Lucky Friday Mine, Galena and Sunshine, respectively.

There are not a lot of regions in the world that have extracted as much silver as the Silver Valley-Coeur d'Alene. The Silver Strand is one of the last, I would say, unexplored assets in this area. This is such an exciting opportunity for us. As a pure silver company, we look forward to putting this to depth. Our neighbors in the valley have mines go down to 2,000 meters. We have only scratched the surface, as the Silver Strand is at 90 meters of the original workings. We're going to start drilling the Silver Strand, with an emphasis to start pushing that ore body down to prove it.

The unique thing about Silver Strand, too, is that we have something called a gold credit. What that means is there's a portion of the ore that comes out that has gold in it. And unlike the rest of the mines around the area, this is actually very high-grade goldwhat we'd consider higher-grade, which is 5 grams a tonne. What we're looking at is 5 to even 10 grams a tonne.

To put that into terms, most mines are built on 1 gram a tonne or less. Silver mines: Most mines are built on 100, 200 grams a tonne. We're seeing anywhere from 300 to 2,700 grams a tonne out of Silver Strand (press release), and this is just the top. If anything is proven in this area, the deeper you go, the better the grade. We're looking forward to running our exploration program and getting going on this.

Maurice: The Silver Strand has a historical resource. What is the exploration plan and timeline moving forward to have a complaint NI 43-101?

Morgan Lekstrom: We're currently working on our NI 43-101 in the background, and we plan update the market by the end of summer. We are looking to run the first stage of our exploration program, as we've been saying, by the end of late summer. We're working on our plans right now. I work all the time with our geology team making sure we're looking at the right area and the right mix of geology. We don't want to do things in an unmethodical way.

In our latest announcement, we were proud to convey that we brought on Rob Burk (press release), which is just a tremendous value add for us. Ron is an exceptional geologist and exceptional exploration leader. He's worked for some huge companies like Centerra Gold Inc. (CG:TSX; CADGF:OTCPK) and Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK:TSX; TCK:NYSE). Having calls with Ron and having that advisor in the background has helped us already home in on what we're looking at in terms of exploration, and also, how we can make the Silver Strand resource NI-43-101-compliant, build it out and make it a huge discovery. The upside potential of this resource is massive.

Maurice: Having the intellectual capital of someone like Mr. Burk doesn't show up on the balance sheet, but those are the accretive moves that a company has to make to achieve success. Now that we know the plan, let's test the proof of concept to date. Since our inaugural interview two months ago, Lakewood Exploration has had some exceptional sample grades. What can you share with us?

Morgan Lekstrom: Absolutely. As stated earlier, we just announced 2,744 grams a tonne. Keep in mind, most mines are built on 100 to 200 grams a tonne silver. We're getting that from our existing underground, which everyone said, "Oh, it's been mined out." Our geologists go in there with new techniques, new technology. They take chip samples in areas, and it's just a key indicator for us that there's that high-grade mineralization. We're seeing it on the surface as well.

There are outcrops all over the place. Having the ability to walk along this 5.5-kilometer strike length has helped us and help build the Silver Strand story out, along with the upside potential of this resource. Being able to walk on ground that hasn't been walked up to our Burnt Cabin asset gives us confidence that we may be on to something very intriguing. And if anything that is shown by our results of that, between 1,700 and 2,700 grams a tonne just from chip samples, there's a huge potential here.

Maurice: Certainly sounds like it is. Well, let me ask you this, were the sample grades a surprise, or is this what the team had expected?

Morgan Lekstrom: You expect good results, or you hope for good results. But honestly, I wasn't expecting to see 2,700 grams a tonne right away off a chip sample. It was unexpected, but it was also encouraging. These high grades reaffirmed to the team in the background that we're doing the right thing. We're looking in the right areas. And that when we begin the first phase of our exploration program, we're going to be looking in the right area.

We have something a lot of companies don't have, which is that existing underground, the ability to go in the historical mining there that was just hand-to-mouth, small scale. We have the ability to blow this resource out big and score some value for the shareholders.

Maurice: Multilayer question here, and you referenced drilling: What activity is currently being conducted on site, and is the goal to twin the historical holes?

Morgan Lekstrom: I can't provide the full details on that currently, as we are finalizing the plans, and then we'll have a news release around that. But I can tell you that we're looking at extending the current non-43-101-compliant resource to depth, to use the words you used, to "proof of concept," which is more than a concept for us. We want to show that identity between the mineralization we're seeing on the surfacethe gold creditsee how far that goes, and we also want to get this thing to depth.

Like I said before, a lot of these mines in the area go down to like 2,000 meters, and we're only at 90. For us, it's all about drilling and getting down there and chasing that resource down.

Maurice: Before we leave the site, what is the next unanswered question for Lakewood Exploration? When can we expect a response, and what will determine success?

Morgan Lekstrom: I'd say the next unanswered question for Lakewood is: What's in the pipeline as far as acquisitions? And all I can say on that is stay tuned. What's going on at Silver Strand for drilling? We're looking forward to drilling in the late summer. Plus, we're adding very, very competent, meaningful people to our team.

My background as a mine builder: I've worked all over the world building mines for large companies, small companies. It changes the dynamic of the team when you have geologists, amazing capital markets people and mine-building folks in the mix. We do have what it takes to take something through exploration, make the resource huge and build it. That's a very unique position for us and for the mining industry.

Maurice: Yes, sir. The synergies complement one another with Lakewood Exploration. You have experts with a proven pedigree of success. You were brought on board recently, as well as Mr. Burk, and who else was added to the team, sir?

Morgan Lekstrom: We have Lawrence Roulston. We have Ron Burk, like you mentioned. Myself. We have Kristina Pillon. She's our head of investor relations (IR). She's unbelievable in what she does as well. And just lots of energy in our team so far. We're going to add a lot more people in the right time and the right positions.

We added our chief geologistI can't forget himPhil Mulholland. Phil is an exceptional geologist with a proven track record in the Western U.S., in Idaho as well. He's worked all around the Coeur d'Alene area. He's worked all over Montana. He's worked for big companies like Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX:TSX; GOLD:NYSE). I just can't say enough good things about Phil and his dedication to the profession, but also to the Silver Strand project. The ideas that flow, we're just approaching it with a very unique and new technology.

And Phil's the right person to be working with that side of it, his ideas and the crew, between him and Ron and how we all communicate together.

We have Joness Lang in the background too, who's also a proven capital markets expert, and he's senior VP for Maple Gold Mines (MGM:TSX.V; MGMLF:OTCQB).

Maurice: Switching gears, let's look at some numbers. Mr. Lekstrom, please provide the capital structure for Lakewood Exploration.

Morgan Lekstrom: We have about 33.8 million shares out. We have about 7.5 million shares free trading right now. We've got 7.5 million warrants out, and we've had a very good run so far. Very successful. I think we're hitting all the right tunes and all the right notes with our capital structure. It's very tightly held. We're in a very good place from a capitalization standpoint and a treasury standpoint. We just raised $3.5 million with 14 million shares. We are well positioned to execute, and to execute on exactly what we're saying and won't need more capital anytime soon.

Maurice: You're also rewarding shareholders. Speaking of the market cap, Lakewood Exploration has been on a roll. Since our inaugural interview on May 31, the stock was trading at $0.29, and since has moved up to $0.76. Congratulations, sir.

Morgan Lekstrom: Thanks, Maurice. It's exciting and positive to see the markets responding to the Silver Strand and the Lakewood story, but also to the capital structure. How this whole company has been structured is important to a shareholderto know that there is a lot of room to grow, but it's also tightly held. It's not just a large vehicle of shares out everywhere. We're making sure that we have the ability to bring the value of the shareholders in a meaningful way.

Maurice: And speaking of shareholders, I am a proud shareholder, by the way.

Morgan Lekstrom: Oh, thank you.

Maurice: Honored. Before we close, Mr. Lekstrom, what would you like to say to shareholders?

Morgan Lekstrom: I know I said this earlier, but be on the lookout for the execution of our three-pronged approach on the acquisition side. Stay tuned.

Maurice: Looking forward to it. What keeps you up at night that we don't know about?

Morgan Lekstrom: I've been on many projects around the world, and there's been a lot of times I've been kept up late at night for reasons I don't want to go into it. But here with Lakewood Exploration and the Silver Strand, I'm not kept up at night because we have such a competent team. We have such good leadership in the right places. If there is something, we work it out right away. We have enough credible experience around us to solve challenges and not to delay. It's a unique position as a company, but even for me to be the president of the company to have that ability to lean on technical experts like Ron Burk, to lean on our VP of exploration Lawrence Roulston when we need to, and collaborate and have those great conversations. It's unique.

Maurice: Last question: What did I forget to ask?

Morgan Lekstrom: As much as I say we're in the makings of a great mining company, I just remind people that silver is one of these commodities that isn't just a hedge. It's used in manufacturing. It's used in making of video cards for cryptocurrency mining. It's used in making a semiconductor. It's used in making the microchips.

This is not a commodity to be taken lightly. If the historic proves anything, we're underperforming compared to our other commodities. I think there's a big opportunity here. I'm a silver bull, but I think proven from the technology side and the market side, I think we're onto something amazing here. Lakewood is getting positioned and we are positioned to take advantage of that for our shareholders.

Maurice: Mr. Lekstrom, for someone that wants to learn more about Lakewood Exploration, please provide those contact details one more time.

Morgan Lekstrom: Take a look at our website, lakewoodexploration.com. If you go to the bottom, Kristina Pillon's phone number and email are there. She's fantastic to speak with; if any questions need to be relayed up to me, she can do that.

Maurice: Hands down, I have to give it to you, your corporate deck is amazing. It's the best I've seen ever. I'd encourage anyone to go to the website. Take a look at their corporate presentation. They've put a tremendous amount of effort and it shows. All right. Mr. Lekstrom, it's been a pleasure speaking with you, sir. Wishing you and Lakewood Exploration the absolute best.

Morgan Lekstrom: Thanks, Maurice. You too.

Maurice: And as a reminder, I am a licensed representative to buy and sell precious metals through Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, where we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium, to offshore depositories, and precious metals IRAs. Give me a call at (855) 505-1900 or you may email [email protected]. Finally, please subscribe to www.provenandprobable.com, where we provide mining insights and bullion sales. Subscription is free.

Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

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(Tribune News Service)  An Air Force captain was killed in a motorcycle crash on a South Carolina interstate, officials said.

The airman was identified as 29-year-old Capt. Raymond Zheng, a C-17 pilot assigned to the 14th Airlift Squadron, according to Joint Base Charleston.

Team Charleston is devastated by the loss of our Airman and brother, Col. Robert Lankford, commander of the 437th Airlift Wing, said in a news release. We express our deepest sympathies to Rays family, friends and the Airmen who have worked alongside him. Everyone who met Ray knows how much of an impact he brought to the mission.

At about 7:40 a.m. Friday, Zheng was involved in a single-vehicle wreck on Interstate 26 west, close to the Ravenel Bridge landmark, WCIV reported. He was rushed to the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Charleston County coroner.

Officials said Zheng, who was from New York, will be missed.

Those in need of counseling resources can contact a base chaplain, the mental health professionals, military and family life counselors, unit first sergeants and their chain of command, Joint Base Charleston said. Phone numbers for most resources can be found at www.jbcharleston.jb.mil.

As of Sunday, the Charleston Police Department was in charge of investigating the off-base crash. Both the military and coroners office released few details about the case.

2021 The Charlotte Observer.

Visit charlotteobserver.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC .
A commercial salvage boat crew rescues a boater from the water after a vessel overturned near Lake Worth Inlet on Aug. 1, 2021. A U.S. Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet boat crew, a commercial salvage boat crew and good Samaritans rescued nine people after their vessel overturned. (U.S. Coast Guard)

LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. (Tribune News Service)  Nine people were rescued from the water near the Lake Worth Inlet on Sunday after their vessel overturned, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

The rescue effort began at about 5 p.m. Sunday after another boater contacted authorities by radio to notify them about the overturned vessel.

The stranded boaters were removed from the water by a small Coast Guard Station-Lake Worth Inlet boat, SeaTow and other boaters, and were safely returned to shore. They were reported to be in good health, and none required medical treatment, the Coast Guard reported.

The cause of the incident remains under investigation.

Its important to remember to always wear a life jacket while taking part in activities on the water, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Joel Hernandez said in a prepared statement. Wearing proper protective gear could save your life.

jwhigham@pbpost.com

2021 www.palmbeachpost.com.

Visit palmbeachpost.com.
A photo of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum on June 7, 2019. (Facebook)

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Tribune News Service)  St. Augustine may have seemed a long way from the fighting of World War II, but a St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum exhibit shows how close the war was.

To disrupt commerce and the allied war effort, the navy of Nazi Germany sent submarines to patrol the East Coast of the United States and sink shipping.

To defend against the Nazi U-boats, the U.S. Coast Guard set up observation stations along the East Coast where Coast Guardsmen would patrol, observe and report any sightings of enemy vessels. One of the highest of these observation points was 165 feet above the ground atop of the St. Augustine Lighthouse.

Being in 1942, after the Japanese attack on Perl Harbor when the United States entered the war, Coast Guardsmen stood watch from the observation deck of the lighthouse 24 hours a day, reporting by radio any shipping and submarine sightings to a navy office in the Government House in St. Augustine.

In 2020, the Lighthouse Museum restored barracks near the lighthouses base where the observers lived to house an exhibit showcasing their contribution to the war effort during the first year of the conflict.

People now dont realize how close to our shores the war was, said Kathy Fleming, executive director of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. Nazi subs hunted shipping in the water right off the beach.

A dramatic example of this is featured in the museum with an exhibit of the sinking of the oil tanker SS Gulfamerica off the coast of Jacksonville on April 10, 1942. Silhouetted by the lights of Jacksonville Beach, the ship was torpedoed by German submarine U-123, causing the deaths of 19 men.

Displayed in the exhibit is a video by marine archaeologists from the lighthouses research program whose divers documented the wreckage of the Gulfamerica.

The German U-Boat operations along the East Coast, informally called Operation Drumbeat, lasted until the late summer of 1942 and resulted in the sinking of more than 600 ships and the loss of thousands of lives.

Before dawn on June 16, 1942, a German submarine landed four Nazi spies on Ponte Vedra Beach who planned sabotage military bases. The Germans, along with four other spies that landed in New York, were captured.

The World War II generation was the greatest generation, but theyre also the silent generation. They didnt say much, but they did so much, Fleming said. That is part of what is special about this exhibit, to remind us of their service.

The exhibit also tells of how the Ponce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College, in the city was used as a training facility for Coast Guard recruits during the war. At any one time, more than 2,500 young men and women were trained and housed there. Photos on display show Coast Guardsmen marching from the Castillo de San Marcos and through town.

In addition to what is on display, the museum has an archive of thousands of items from the war era that includes uniforms, letters, logs books and photographs.

A big part of the project was to collect oral histories from the men and women who served here. Museum staff has recorded hundreds of hours of interviews that are part of their collection.

There is an account from a guy that was here in St. Augustine who was bridge patrol on the old Vilano Bridge during the war who watched a Nazi sub come into the port of St. Augustine through the inlet and turn around and head out again. said Jay Smith, a historian and museum staffer who worked on the project.

And the project is continuing.

The current exhibit documents the war effort through 1942, but we are still collecting oral histories and artifacts and are working to included the rest of the conflict, Smith said.

This is part of our history here because the lighthouse was part of the coastal defense during the war as well as coastal navigation, Fleming said. In terms of a story, it is important to be educational because very few people know the story of the U-Boats being this close to us. If we can tell the story to the next generation or the generation after that, that is what we are here for.

St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum is a nonprofit organization the preserves the 165-foot lighthouse that was completed in 1871 as well as documenting and preserving the maritime history of the First Coast.

The museums St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime program conducts research and maritime archaeology statewide.

(c)2021 The St. Augustine Record, Fla.

Visit The St. Augustine Record, Fla. at www.staugustine.com
Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, speaks at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. (Screenshot)

WASHINGTON  Top military commanders on Monday urged defense industry leaders to concentrate on the new weapons and ships that the Navy needs to compete with rival nations such as China and Russia.

Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, requested that the defense industry stop lobbying Congress to build equipment the Navy no longer wants and be a bit more agile in pivoting to new technologies and new platforms.

Although it's in industry's best interest  building the ships that you want to build, lagging on repairs to ships and submarines, lobbying Congress to buy aircraft that we don't need  it's not helpful, the Navy's top officer said Monday at the Navy Leagues Sea-Air-Space conference  the first in-person major naval conference since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It really isn't in a budget-constrained environment.

In the proposed 2022 Navy budget, service leaders call for canceling one of two guided-missile destroyers planned for 2022 and speeding the divestment of F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets. Congress has been critical of the plans, proposing to save the second guided-missile destroyer in a House Armed Services Committee markup of the budget on Wednesday and regularly questioning divestments.

The Navy feels a sense of urgency against a rising China, and the service has been working to move the needle in a bureaucracy thats not really designed to move very fast, Gilday said. To do so, he said, the service must work with industry leaders.

This is about the prosperity of this country, the economic security of this country, the national security of this country, Gilday said. Its going to take a new approach in terms of what we build, how we build it and the timelines on which we deliver. It has to change, and I know we have to do it together.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the conference that adapting to a new character of war will require a change in what the military buys  and urged industry leaders to back those needs.

It isn't about how much money we're spending  it's what we're spending it on, and how it reflects the operating environment of tomorrow, Milley said. In the joint force, we have prioritized nuclear modernization, long-range fires, hypersonic technology, artificial intelligence, shipbuilding, microelectronics, space, cyber and 5G as the top-tier technologies we want to fully develop.

Additionally, unmanned technologies will be highly important in the near future, as a significant proportion of both sea and air assets probably will be unmanned as early as next decade, he said.

By that time frame, up to one-third of our subsurface and surface fleet [will] be unmanned, Milley said. Additionally, about 40-60% of future Air Force air wings and squadrons will be robotic pilotless.

Milley predicted a country that can master those technologies could have a decisive advantage in the next war.

There are very few things as expensive as preventing a war, but there are two that are more expensive: One is fighting a war, and the most expensive of all is fighting and losing a war, he said. Every single cent spent on the U.S. military is an investment to maintain global great-power peace in order to deter war.
HUDSON, Mass. (Tribune News Service)  Theres a story behind every name on The Rifle.

Soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy, sailors who hunted down U-boats, Marines who drove back the Japanese, one island at a time.

There are more than 200 names on the M-1 Garand rifle owned by Andy Biggio, all of them World War II veterans, all of them sharing stories in Biggios book, The Rifle: Combat Stories from Americas Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand.

On Sunday, nearly 60 of these veterans gathered at the American Heritage Museum to take part in a book signing. Fifteen also received the French Legion of Honor, given to veterans who took part in campaigns to liberate France.

Recipients include Allison Doc Blaney, of Natick, and Winston Pat Flynn, of Lexington.

Biggio, who served with the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, began the project to honor his great-uncle, who was killed in action during World War II. Biggio purchased an M-1 Garand, which was standard issue during the war, and began interviewing veterans.

Ive been wanting to meet these guys since I was a kid, he said.

Biggio also understood that the opportunity to interview these veterans was short, and getting shorter; one statistic shown during the ceremony said that fewer than 600,000 World War II veterans (among 16 million who served) were still alive as of 2019.

Of the 208 veterans who signed the rifle, Biggio said 30 were gone.

Andy was born to do this, said Mildred Cox, of Quincy, who served with the Marines during World War II as a stenographer based in Cherry Point, North Carolina. He expressed himself so beautifully.

During the signing, visitors queued up to purchase a copy, then had the veterans sign them. At one point, the line snaked through most of the exhibit space from World War II through the Persian Gulf War.

The oldest veteran present was 105-year-old Henry Maruszevicz, of Lowell, who served in the Army with the 276th Armored. He was also a recipient of the Legion of Honor. According to his daughter, he still lives alone, mows his lawn and drives.

The ceremony to present the Legion of Honor was also a chance to cheer the veterans, which happened several times. One veteran got a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday in honor of his 100th.

The American GI made all the difference, said Gov. Charlie Baker, who stopped by during the ceremony to honor the veterans.

The event also featured a short video on the story behind The Rifle, as well as trips made with World War II veterans to Belgium (where veterans had lunch with a German war veteran) and Italy; as well as a silent auction of Rifle-related items, with proceeds to help veterans take a trip to Normandy.

In addition to being an author and a member of the Boston Police Department, Biggio is also helping with the 10th annual Wounded Vet Run on Sept. 19. Details can be found at https://theyfoughtweride.com/.

(c)2021 MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, Mass.

Visit MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, Mass. at www.metrowestdailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC .
Buy Photo (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)

Frankfurt, Germany, June 19, 1948: Actress Lana Turner relaxes after arriving by train from Paris for a 10-day tour of military bases in the U.S. zone and Berlin. Turner talked about her recent run-ins with the press in London: The British have the worst press Ive ever seen, she said. Turner was one of the top pinup subjects for World War II soldiers.
U.S. Africa Commands Gen. Stephen Townsend last week visited a Somali military base 60 miles outside of Mogadishu in Baledogle, a site where U.S. forces came under attack in 2019. Townsend met with an elite Somali infantry unit. (Twitter)

STUTTGART, Germany  The U.S. militarys top commander for Africa made a quiet visit to a remote base in Somalia on a recent tour through the region, meeting with commandos in a contested area where American special operators once came under fire.

U.S. Africa Command confirmed that Gen. Stephen Townsend was at the Baledogle Military Airfield last week to meet with Somalias advanced infantry unit, known as the Danab Lightning Brigade, which the U.S. has focused on developing over the past several years.

The visit came as U.S. forces renew airstrikes against al-Shabab militants after a six-month pause. On Sunday, the U.S. launched its third airstrike in two weeks, in support of Danab and other Somali troops that had come under attack, Voice of America reported.

AFRICOM did not elaborate on the purpose of Townsends visit to Baledogle, home to the Danab brigades headquarters, but it is a potentially risky stopping point given the security situation in southern Somalia.

U.S. Africa Commands Gen. Stephen Townsend, third from left, poses for a photo during a visit last week to a Somali military base 60 miles outside of Mogadishu in Baledogle, a site where U.S. forces came under attack in 2019. Townsend met with an elite Somali infantry unit. (Twitter)

In 2019, the U.S. was forced to launch airstrikes against militants after U.S. and Somali troops were attacked at the Baledogle complex, which is in a desert about 60 miles northwest of the capital of Mogadishu. The U.S. military had been making improvements to the base, including expanding the airfield.

The U.S. had maintained a regular presence at Baledogle until January, when former President Donald Trump ordered American forces out of the country. Since then, the U.S. has sent troops to Somalia on a rotational basis.

AFRICOM on Friday issued a statement highlighting Townsends tour through East Africa, but made no public mention of the Baledogle meeting with Danab troops, which was highlighted on social media by Somalias military.

Townsend, whose five-day trip ended Friday, said AFRICOM remains committed to battling militants and working with regional partners such as Kenya.

In East Africa, we work alongside Kenyan forces to fight al-Shabaab, maintain awareness in the western Indian Ocean, and assure regional security, Townsend said in a statement. We are grateful for our relationship with Kenya, which will only continue to grow as we move forward together.

In addition to his Baledogle visit, Townsend held talks in Mogadishu and in Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti.
Tigrayan women Tarik, 60, center, and Meresaeta, left, who fled from the town of Samre, roast coffee beans over a wood stove in a classroom where they now live at the Hadnet General Secondary School in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on May 5, 2021. (Ben Curtis/AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya  A Sudanese official says local authorities in Kassala province have found around 50 bodies, apparently people fleeing the war in neighboring Ethiopia's Tigray region, floating in the river between the countries over the past week, some with gunshot wounds or their hands bound.

The official said Monday a forensic investigation is needed to determine the causes of death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Two Ethiopian health workers in the Sudan border community of Hamdayet confirmed seeing the bodies found in the Setit River, known in Ethiopia as the Tekeze. The river flows through some of the most troubled areas of the nine-month conflict in Tigray, where ethnic Tigrayans have accused Ethiopian and allied forces of atrocities while battling Tigray forces.

Tewodros Tefera, a surgeon who fled the nearby Tigray city of Humera to Sudan, told The Associated Press that two of the bodies were found Monday, one a man with his hands bound and the other a woman with a chest wound. Fellow refugees have buried at least 10 other bodies, he said.

He shared a video of men appearing to prepare a shroud for a body floating face-down in the river.

Tewodros said the bodies were found downstream from Humera, where authorities and allied fighters from Ethiopia's Amhara region have been accused by refugees of forcing out local Tigrayans during the war while claiming that western Tigray is their land.

"We are actually taking care of the bodies spotted by fishermen," Tewodros said. "I suspect there are more bodies on the river."

While it was difficult to identify the bodies, one had a common name in the Tigray language, Tigrinya, tattooed on his arm, the surgeon said.

Another doctor working in Hamdayet who saw the bodies told the AP that some of the corpses had facial markings indicating they were ethnic Tigrayans.

"I saw a lot of barbaric things," said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. "Some had been struck by an axe."

Witnesses at the river told him they had not been able to catch all the bodies floating downstream because of the water's swift flow during the rainy season, the doctor said.

An Ethiopian government-created Twitter account on Monday called the accounts of bodies a fake campaign by "propagandists" among the Tigray forces.

Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, on Monday visited a refugee camp in Sudan hosting thousands of Ethiopians who fled the Tigray war. She next will visit Ethiopia to press the government to allow humanitarian aid to Tigray, a region of some 6 million people where the world's worst hunger crisis in a decade is unfolding. The U.S. says up to 900,000 people now face famine conditions.

The U.N. food agency said it is working to provide food to Tigray through Sudan despite frayed ties between Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

Negotiations to access the blocked Tigray region have proved to be quite difficult, Marianne Ward, the World Food Program's deputy country director in Sudan, said. She said WFP has already moved 50,000 tons of wheat to Ethiopia through Sudan.

Magdy reported from Cairo.
A firefighter uses a drip torch to ignite vegetation while trying to stop the Dixie Fire from spreading in Lassen National Forest, Calif., on Monday, July 26, 2021. (Noah Berger/AP)

HONOLULU  Firefighters have gotten more control over a wildfire in Hawaii that forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend and destroyed at least two homes on the Big Island, but officials warned strong winds Monday could raise the danger again.

Authorities lifted evacuation orders Sunday night but warned that they could be reinstated at any time and that people should be ready to leave.

"This is the largest fire that we've had here in Hawaii County," Cyrus Johnasen, director of communications for Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth, said of the more than 62-square-mile (160-square-kilometer) blaze. "We would like folks to feel safe but not forget that this is an emergency."

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

Even though Hawaii has a wet, tropical climate that isn't typically at risk from large fires, blazes could become more frequent as climate change-related weather patterns intensify.

The islands have seen a downward trend in overall rainfall in recent years. Drought conditions have reached the most severe level in some parts of Hawaii in recent years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight.

In the Hawaii fire, two homes were confirmed destroyed so far, and officials asked residents to report any additional damage.

Big Island officials said Sunday night that they were unable to fly over the blaze to get an updated size estimate. The fire is likely to have grown larger since the last flyover, and officials said they would try again Monday.

Some nearby roads were closed, making certain neighborhoods inaccessible to residents, but there was no imminent threat to homes.

Hawaii County Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said winds were expected to increase Monday.

"Our current wind forecast is showing wind patterns between 18 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph," Todd said Sunday night, "and so while throughout the evening our crews will be working to build fire breaks with dozers and back burns, this temporary lift on the mandatory evacuation may have to be reinforced later on due to prevailing weather patterns."

The fire chief said nearby communities could be inundated with smoke and that anyone with health or breathing problems should find somewhere else to stay.

Johnasen said that the fire chief's message could soon change.

"Right now homes are not in danger," Johnasen said Monday. "That doesn't mean they couldn't be in danger later this evening, or early tomorrow morning or even later this week, so be on high alert."

In California, where several wildfires were burning, containment on Monday reached 35% for the largest, the Dixie Fire, which covered about 388 square miles in mountains where 45 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

Evacuation orders and warnings were lifted over the weekend for several areas in the northern part of the state. But gusty winds were expected to push flames through extremely dry fuels on remote hillsides.

Over the weekend, a lightning-sparked wildfire threatened remote homes along the Trinity River in California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The 5-square-mile McFarland Fire was 5% contained Monday.

previous coverage Evacuation orders lifted as crews make progress against western fires
This story has been corrected

Buy Photo Airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, work to untangle a metal fence from a pile of rocks that washed up on the banks of the Nims River in Rittersdorf, Germany, during the severe flooding last month. More than two dozen airmen from the base volunteered to help clean up along the river banks on July 31, 2021. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

RITTERSDORF, Germany  The Nims River flows through the heart of this village in the rural Eifel region, skirting a moated castle that has stood since medieval times.

On Saturday, the waterlogged stone fortress was the meeting point for more than two dozen U.S. military personnel, who volunteered to help the town of about 1,400 clean up in the aftermath of Europes severe flooding last month.

Rittersdorf was spared the deaths and the worst of the destruction caused by the floods, which killed about 180 people in western Germany and left thousands homeless.

But a water line above the castles first floor windows shows where the Nims crested at over 6 feet on July 14 and 15, pouring into the castle and homes along the banks.

The river uprooted trees, fences, street signs and anything else in its path in the worst flooding longtime residents say they have ever seen.

Village leaders last week reached out to the U.S. military community, asking for help in cleaning up debris still scattered in the basin.

We know that they are (our) friends in hard times, Otmar Koch, the deputy mayor of Rittersdorf, said of the Americans. We need a lot of help here.

No one in the village was hurt, but Koch said about two dozen families in the area lost their homes.

About 25 people at Spangdahlem Air Base answered the call for help, base officials said, as did a few airmen from Ramstein Air Base. About 20 military families at Spangdahlem living off base were displaced by the floods, base officials have said.

I got lucky. I had a stream of water going through my basement, said Rachael Kohlwey, a civilian aircraft mechanic at Spangdahlem. But my neighbors were dealing with a meter and a half, 2 meters of water, and theyve lost everything. It makes you want to cry.

These are our neighbors, our friends, were embedded in these communities, Kohlwey said, so when you see a catastrophe like this, you cant help but want to help.

Senior Airman Calixto Rodriguez, 24, an aircraft maintainer with the 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said he helped clean up last month in Ehrang, a village near Trier that was flooded by the Kyll River.

It was bad, he said. After I went there, I told everybody that I knew, the people there are struggling. All the streets were just covered in filth and glass and dirt. I wanted to come back and help out.

Buy Photo A boy steps over a metal pole uprooted during the severe floods in mid-July along the Nims River in Rittersdorf, Germany, on July 31, 2021. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Senior Airman Calixto Rodriguez, left, and Airman Kyle Koury try to break apart a piece of debris while cleaning up the banks of the Nims River in Rittersdorf, Germany, on July 31, 2021. More than two dozen airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base volunteered to help clean in the aftermath of last months severe flooding in western Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Airman Kyle Koury of Spangdahlem Air Base moves a pile of debris along a path next to the Nims River in Rittersdorf, Germany, on July 31, 2021. More than two dozen airmen from the base volunteered to help clean up the area in the aftermath of last months severe flooding in western Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Stephanie Anderons, a German married to a retired American airman, helped clean up parts of the river bank on July 31, 2021, in Rittersdorf, Germany. Western Germany saw some of its worst flooding in decades last month. (Marcus Kloeckner/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Damage from the mid-July flooding in Rittersdorf, Germany, on the Nims river, on July 31, 2021. Volunteers from the U.S. air bases in Spangdahlem and Ramstein came to the town to help clean up the damage. (Marcus Kloeckner/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo A group of volunteers help clean up the town of Rittersdorf, Germany, July 31, 2021. People from the Spangdahlem and Ramstein military communities volunteered their time following the mid-July flooding of the Nims River. (Marcus Kloeckner/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Senior Airman Calixto Rodriguez of Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, removes trash from the banks of the Nims River in Rittersdorf on July 31, 2021. More than two dozen airmen from the base volunteered to help clean up the river in the aftermath of last months severe flooding in western Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Residents of Rittersdorf, Germany, thank airmen with refreshments for helping them clean up their village in the aftermath of severe flooding last month. More than two dozen airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base and a few from Ramstein Air Base helped villagers clean up debris along the Nims River on July 31, 2021. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Doris, a resident of Rittersdorf, Germany, who declined to provide her last name, stands on a bridge overlooking her familys mill and a house her family rents to Americans on the banks of the Nims River, July 31, 2021. Both buildings were damaged during historic floods last month. Doris said the river at its peak covered the bridge on which she was standing. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo A tree sticks out from a window next to the Nims River in Rittersdorf, Germany, on July 31, 2021. The river rose to more than 6 feet and damaged homes and buildings along the river earlier last month, in flooding that residents say was the worst in their lifetime. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) Patrik Aubart said the flood waters first came through the yard at his home in Rittensdorf, Germany on July 15, 2021. More and more water came, he said of the Nims River flooding. Then we realized that we had to get out. (Patrik Aubart)

The mud along the Nims banks had dried by Saturday. Airmen sorted the debris into wood, metal and other garbage, piles which the Germans loaded into trailers hitched to tractors to be dumped or burned.

Ive just been jumping in wherever Im needed, moving stuff, loading up trailers, said Airman Kyle Koury of the 52nd Health Care Operations Squadron at Spangdahlem. It always feels like a good days work when its needed.

Many residents were also out cleaning up Saturday. The Americans help allowed them more time to work on their yards and their homes, some of which were still full of mud and debris, they said.

The flood came quickly, recalled Pascal Schoenhofen, who lives near the Nims. Sandbags couldnt hold back the water, which started pouring into his house from two sides.

Then it was too late, he said. Even the firefighters were helpless at this point.

Patrik Aubart, who lives close to Schoenhofen, said the water first came through the yard. More and more water came, he said. Then we realized that we had to get out.

The state will provide $3,000 in direct help, but that is nothing compared to the damage, he said.

From a bridge overlooking the Nims, Doris and her son, Kilian, surveyed the damage to a former mill that has been in the family for 400 years, and a house they rent to Americans.

The house was built in 1934 at a height thought safe from flooding, they said.

The river crested the bridge and water filled the houses first floor, said Doris, who asked that only her first name be used. The original kitchen tiles and wood flooring were destroyed.

The day of the flood was the first night in the house for her American tenants, a military family from Spangdahlem, she said.

We have to renovate everything, she said. Hopefully the family wants to come back.

Correction Patrik Aubarts first name was spelled incorrectly in a previous version of this story.
A 100-year-old man who allegedly served as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II will stand trial in October for alleged complicity in the murder of more than 3,500 people during the conflict, German media reported Sunday.

German prosecutors in February charged the man, who hasnt been identified by authorities due to the countrys privacy laws, for being an accessory to murder. He is accused of working at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located roughly 20 miles north of Berlin, from 1942 to 1945, according to the Welt Am Sonntag newspaper. The camp held 11,000 Jewish prisoners in 1945.

A representative for the man could not be reached and it isnt clear if the defendant has retained an attorney.

The prosecution of a centenarian reflects how law enforcement officials are racing against time to bring some closure for elderly Holocaust survivors and their families, as more and more Nazi personnel and their victims die in old age.

Until a landmark court ruling in 2011, German prosecutors were generally required to prove defendants had committed specific acts, against specific victims, to convict them of World War II-era war crimes. The threshold was near-impossible to meet due to the general anonymity of camp guards to victims and the decreasing number of witnesses decades after the war.

But that year, a Munich court found John Demjanjuk guilty of being an accessory to murder for having served as a guard at Sobibor concentration camp. The courts decision paved the way for convictions that largely rested on whether the defendant had served at a Nazi death camp. Demjanjuk, who died in 2012, denied he had been a guard.

The 100-year-old man joins scores of elderly suspects recently brought to trial for having allegedly worked for the Nazi regime at concentration camps.

Irmgard Furchner, a 96-year-old woman who prosecutors say worked as a secretary to the commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp, will face trial this year for alleged complicity in the murder of more than 11,000 people, according to Der Spiegel, the German news magazine. A legal representative for Furchner could not be reached.

Last year, Bruno Dey, a man in his 90s who served as a guard at the same camp as Furchner, was found guilty by a Hamburg court for complicity in over 5,200 murders from 1944 to 1945. He was given a suspended sentence.

More than 60,000 people perished at Stutthof, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In February, Friedrich Karl Berger, a 95-year-old Tennessee resident with German citizenship was deported to Germany after the Justice Department found him to be a willing participant in the inhumane treatment of prisoners at a concentration camp near the German-Dutch border.

German prosecutors later dropped charges against him due to lack of evidence.

Between 2001 and 2018, at least 105 individuals were convicted, deported, denaturalized, or extradited by authorities in North America and Europe for allegedly participating in Nazi war crimes, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group.
Christian Schmidt, new head of Bosnia's Office of the High Representative, or OHR, left, with Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of OHR, during a ceremony in the capital, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. Schmidt on Monday took office as the top international official in Bosnia, amid tensions with the country's Serbs who have rejected both his appointment and a ban on genocide denial brought by his predecessor. (AP)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina  A German diplomat on Monday took office as the top international envoy to Bosnia, facing opposition from the country's Serbs, who have rejected both his appointment and a ban on genocide denial brought by his predecessor.

Christian Schmidt took over from Valentin Inzko, an Austrian diplomat, at a ceremony in the capital, Sarajevo. The Office of High Representative that Schmidt will run was established after Bosnia's 1992-95 war to oversee peace implementation and promote reconciliation and development.

While backed by the United States and the European Union, the United Nations office recently has faced criticism from Bosnia's Serbs and their allies Russia and China, who have demanded that it be dismantled, reflecting a bid by Moscow and Beijing to increase their influence in the Balkans.

In a speech, Schmidt pledged that he will work to help Bosnia reach stability and economic prosperity nearly three decades after the war that killed over 100,000 people and left millions homeless. He also urged the international community to step in more resolutely to help achieve these goals.

"Bosnia-Herzegovina must be put back on the political agenda of the international community and the European Union," he said. "I take office with a firm will to help the people here."

As the top international body in Bosnia, the OHR has the authority to impose decisions or dismiss officials who undermine the post-war ethnic balance and reconciliation efforts among the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, and the Bosnian Serbs and Croats.

A decision earlier this month by Inzko to impose a ban on genocide denial has angered Bosnian Serbs, who have sought to minimize the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, Europe's only post-World War II genocide.

Inzko also banned the glorification of war criminals. He was appalled that Bosnian Serbs widely honor their wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic as heroes, though both have been convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison by an international tribunal.

In response, the Bosnian Serb nationalists have pledged to block Bosnia's joint institutions and the assembly of the Bosnian Serb entity, the Republika Srpska, has overwhelmingly rejected Inzko's decision.

In addition, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has repeatedly campaigned for the separation of the Serb entity from Bosnia, also has rejected Schmidt's appointment as "illegal" and announced a boycott of his future moves.

Dodik said Monday that he won't go to Sarajevo Tuesday for Schmidt's scheduled meeting with members of Bosnia's three-member presidency and reiterated that the Bosnian Serb entity "won't carry out his decisions."

The dispute illustrates ongoing tensions in Bosnia long after the war that started after Bosnian Serbs rebelled against the country's split from the former Yugoslavia and took control over large swaths of territory to create their own self-styled state, expelling Bosniaks and Croats.

The genocide in Srebrenica happened after Bosnian Serbs took control over the eastern enclave in July 1995. They executed Bosniak men and boys and dumped their remains into mass graves, which were later dug up and reburied to cover the crime. The victims' remains are still being unearthed and identified.

Both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia have declared the Srebrenica massacre a genocide.

Schmidt said that the goal for Bosnia now must be to strengthen the country and move it closer to EU membership that it is striving to achieve. He cited German reunification as an example that "miracles are possible."

"It will be our job to overcome boundaries in people's mind," he said.
A man runs in the fire-devastated Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. (AP)

BOZALAN, Turkey  Selcuk Sanli set his two cows lose, put his family's most treasured belongings in a car and fled his home as a wildfire approached his village near Turkey's beach resort of Bodrum, one of thousands fleeing flames that have coated the skies with a thick yellow haze.

For the sixth straight day, Turkish firefighters battled Monday to control the blazes that are tearing through forests near Turkey's beach destinations. Fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures, the fires that began Wednesday have left eight people dead. Residents and tourists have fled vacation resorts in flotillas of small boats or convoys of cars and trucks. Many villagers have lost their homes and farm animals and have had trouble breathing amid the heavy smoke.

Overall, some 10,000 people have been evacuated in Mugla province alone, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday.

Sanli returned to check on his house Monday in Bozalan only to find that the fire had flared.

"Property is an important part of life but life itself comes first," he said as he prepared to leave once again.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said crews were still tackling seven fires in the coastal provinces of Antalya and Mugla that are popular tourist areas. Other active fires were in Isparta, 380 kilometers (236 miles) northeast, and in Denizli province in southwest Turkey.

Another fire in Tunceli, in southeast Turkey, was contained on Monday, the minister said. In all, 129 fires that broke out in over 30 provinces since Wednesday have been extinguished.

"We are going through days when the heat is above 40 C (104 degrees Fahrenheit), where the winds are strong and humidity is extremely low," Pakdemirli said. "We are struggling under such difficult conditions."

In Bozalan, Esra Sanli sobbed as she pointed at a fire raging near the village.

"There's no plane, there's no helicopter, there's no roads. How is this going to be extinguished? How?" she said.

Firetrucks, with their sirens on, drove toward Bozalan, while villagers were seen herding cows away from the area.

On Sunday, residents were forced to evacuate the nearby village of Cokertme as flames neared. Some got on small boats and others left by cars as the fire got closer and closer  scenes that Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the nearby resort of Bodrum, described as "hell." Precautions were taken to protect two nearby thermal power plants.

An evacuation order was also issued for the town of Turunc, near the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla province. People carrying suitcases fled on small boats.

Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday that some tourists were able to return to their hotels after the threat dissipated.

The EU said it helped mobilize firefighting planes from Croatia and Spain to help Turkey. Planes from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have also been fighting the blazes. Spain said it was sending two water-dumping aircraft and one transport plane as well as 27 soldiers to help.

The EU announcement followed allegations that the Turkish government was compromising firefighting efforts by refusing help from Western nations. Pakdemirli refuted that, saying that the government had only refused offers for planes whose water-dumping capacities were less than 5 tons. A total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were tackling the fires, he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has also been widely criticized for failing to purchase state-of-the-art firefighting planes.

In Marmaris, Mayor Mehmet Oktay said fires were still burning in two locations and estimated that 11,000 hectares (28,000 acres) of forest had been incinerated. On Monday, a fire reached the edge of the village of Hisaronu, burning a number of homes and descending down a mountainside toward a road as police evacuated ambulance crews and journalists.

"Our lungs have been burning for the past five days," Oktay told Haberturk television.

The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said at least 27 people affected by the fires were still being treated in hospitals while hundreds of others had been treated and released.

Soylu, the interior minister, said authorities were investigating the cause of the fires, including human "carelessness" and possible sabotage by outlawed Kurdish militants. He said one person was detained over allegations that he may have been paid by the group to start a fire.

Experts however, mostly point to climate change as being behind the fires, along with accidents caused by people. Erdogan has said one of the fires was started by children.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece, where people had to be evacuated by sea to escape the flames.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Ayse Wieting in Istanbul and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed.
This Jan. 2, 2016 photo shows the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street off Cape Town, South Africa. The oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, authorities said Friday, July 30, 2021. (Johan Victor/AP)

JERUSALEM  Israel's defense minister said Monday that Iran's alleged attack on a merchant ship in the Arabian Sea last week was "a stepping-up of the escalation" of hostilities by Iran, and called for international action.

Benny Gantz addressed Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and said the drone strike on the Mercer Street that left two dead was "in violation of international law and human morality." He charged that Iran was behind at least five attacks on international shipping in the last year.

The United States, Britain and Israel have blamed Iran for the fatal attack on the Israeli-linked oil tanker. Iran denies involvement.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called "suicide" drones in attacks previously. The region has seen a rise in attacks on commercial vessels in the aftermath of the disintegration of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

"This is exactly the reason why we must act now against Iran, which is not only striving toward nuclear arms, but is also bringing about a dangerous arms race and intends to destabilize the Middle East with terrorist militias who are armed with hundreds of drones in Iran, Yemen, Iraq and other countries in the region," he said.

Gantz said that any future agreement between world powers and Iran to rein in its nuclear program must also address Iranian's "aggression in the region and harming both innocent people and to the global economy."

"This is not a future threat, rather a tangible and immediate danger," he said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was "confident that Iran carried out this attack."

"It follows a pattern of similar attacks by Iran, including past incidents with explosive drones," he told reporters at the State Department. "There is no justification for this attack on a peaceful vessel on a commercial mission, international waters rise action is a direct threat to freedom of navigation and commerce, took the lives of innocent sailors."
An HH-60 Pave Hawk flies to an airfield near Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, April 11, 2017. (Penny Snoozy/U.S. Air National Guard)

(Tribune News Service)  Huntington Ingalls Industries has won a contract to help with rescue operations for the U.S. Africa Command.

The contract, with a potential value of $346 million, calls on HIIs fast-growing Technical Solutions division to provide services ranging from planning to maintenance to emergency medical care for Africa Command operations to recover personnel and evacuate casualties.

The contract is for one year with four one-year options to extend.

HIIs support is aimed at reducing evacuation response and transport times and improving survival odds for personnel in the commands east African area of operations.

The command has three base facilities in Djibouti, at the mouth of the Red Sea, and is continuing to support efforts to bring peace to Somalia, still struggling with the al-Shabaab insurgency.

U.S. Africa Command is sponsoring an exercise to enhance maritime law enforcement with forces from Comoros, Djibouti, Georgia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, United Kingdom, and the United States.

As a retired Marine with first-hand experience in the Horn of Africa, I recognize the unique challenges of the region and what this service means to the commanders and soldiers on the ground, Garry Schwartz, president of Technical Solutions Defense and Federal Solutions business group. We are honored to support life-saving operations for our nations service members.

HIIs Technical solutions is one of the only operators of contractor-owned, contractor-operated airborne intelligence collection platforms and provides planning services for intelligence operations.

It also provides professional emergency preparedness services at military facilities around the world.

dress@dailypress.com

2021 Daily Press.

Visit dailypress.com.
A joint University of Canterbury and ESR research team is investigating whether a new enzyme treatment could help solve the global problem of antibiotic resistance.

University of Canterbury Biochemistry Professor Renwick Dobson and ESR microbiologist Dr Craig Billington have developed an enzyme biotechnology that could help address the need for new ways to kill bacteria that are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

The World Health Organisation says antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today and alternative methods for controlling bacterial pathogens are urgently needed.

Professor Dobson says they looked at bacteriophages (phages) - a virus that infects bacteria but is harmless to humans.

The rationale is if the phage can kill bacteria, maybe we can explore the way they do this so that we can do it too.

ESR Science Leader Dr Craig Billington says the potential opportunity for New Zealand from the enzyme biotechnology was significant.



Gaining further knowledge around how the endolysins work could provide the opportunity to develop a biotech industry in New Zealand that can treat specific infections both in Aotearoa and overseas.

Previous findings have shown that you can treat what is called Gram-positive bacteria with a specific endolysin.

An endolysin is an enzyme, or protein, that is produced by phages and eats away at the walls of a bacteria cell.

There is another group of bacteria called Gram-negative bacteria. In addition to having a thick cell wall and an inner cell membrane, these bacteria also have an outer membrane, which means when they are treated with endolysins they cant get through the outer membrane to access the cell wall. Professor Dobson says this is the basis of their research.

Were trying to engineer endolysins so they can penetrate the outer membrane and get into the cell wall.

Carbapenems are the last line of antibiotics that can be used against Gram-negative bacterial infections. Carbapenem resistance in this group of bacteria (also called CPE) is rising rapidly worldwide leaving few, or in some cases no, treatment options remaining. These infections can cause urinary tract, respiratory, wound, and blood infections.

Globally, 4.5 million CPE infections lead to hospitalisation each year. The rate of CPE infections in Aotearoa New Zealand also continues to rise.

Professor Dobson says CPE bacteria are really difficult to treat and they are now resistant to all antibiotics, which could lead to issues particularly for immuno-compromised and older people.

Some antibiotics  such as penicillin  are made up of small molecules that persist. This is part of why we have antibiotic resistance.

Professor Dobson explains, residual antibiotics in the environment around the world means we are being continually exposed to low concentrations of these antibiotics. The bacteria that live with us are seeing these molecules and developing abilities to metabolise and become resistant to them.

The advantage of using endolysins to treat bacteria instead is that they are relatively unstable, meaning they do their job but they dont persist in the environment in the way other antibiotics do.

If you have antibiotics everywhere in the global ecosystem, then youre going to get resistance to it. Then none of the antibiotics work and we get the problems were having now, where we are increasingly having infections that we cant treat. Thats only getting worse.

Professor Dobson hopes to gain knowledge around how the endolysins work and develop a biotech industry in New Zealand that can treat specific infections both in New Zealand and overseas.
PARK HILL [mdash] JOHN BERRY PRESLEY entered this life on April 28th, 1937, in Welling, Oklahoma and passed to his heavenly home July 29th, 2021 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. John was a long-time employee at Wal-Mart, a dedicated father and husband. He was preceded in death by his mother Geneva Wr
Iran opens oil export terminal beyond Strait of Hormuz

Iran has just launched a new export terminal in Jask, Hormuzgan Province, south of Iran, which can receive up to 1 mbd of crude oil from a massive pipeline from Goreh, Bushehr Province.

The terminal is built to allow Iran export its crude oil beyond Strait of Hormuz. The project has been officially inaugurated by a direct order from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani via videoconference on Thursday, July 22, 2021. Implementation of Goreh-Jask crude oil transfer project took place with about $2 billion investment with the aim of creating a daily export capacity of 1 million barrels of crude oil through the new Jask terminal, ensuring continued oil exports, decentralization of export terminals and diversification of oil export centers, sustainable development and job creation on the shores of Makran, where a capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil (per day) has been provided so far, and this capacity will gradually increase to one million barrels in the near future.



The share of more than 90% of domestic manufacturing and maximum use of the power of Iranian contractors and builders is one of the most important features of this national plan; 250 contractors and domestic manufacturers have participated in the projects implementation and by relying on domestic capabilities, the equipment and goods required for the project were manufactured domestically for the first time in the country. The items include slabs, sheets and pipes suitable for sour fluid, raw materials for FBE pipe coating, giant 2.7 MW BB3 pumps, 42-inch class-900 motor valves and all-Iranian control systems.



Another notable feature that stands out in this national plan is the construction and commissioning of about 1,000 kilometers of crude oil transmission pipeline in less than 2 years, with full reliance on domestic capabilities.



To reach its current stage, this project has created 5,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs. Once fully operational, the project will pave the ground for construction of refining and petrochemical facilities in the Makran region, heralding a prosperous and thriving future for the region.






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COVID-19 patients with darker skin might encounter less effectiveness in using pulse oxygen monitors, according to the experts. They have some warnings regarding health devices.

Experts Warn People About Pulse Oximeters

According to BBC's report on Saturday, July 30, the pulse oxygen monitors could sometimes resort to overestimating oxygen levels, as per NHS England.

According to healthcare professionals, the skin pigmentation of COVID patients has something to do with the effectiveness of the tool.

Furthermore, the medical regulators further suggested that those people who are feeling some changes in their bodies should be mindful. As for the part of NHS England, it recommended the Asians and Africans still use the device given that they would consult first to a health expert.

For this case, the immediate review for the pulse oximeters has been issued for MHRA.

Since the pandemic started, many hospitals are struggling to find oxygen supplies. The pulse oximeters are vital for the healthcare workers to monitor the patient's oxygen levels.

However, the "silent hypoxia" might come unexpectedly to the COVID-19 patients without them knowing.

The condition happens when the oxygen levels of an individual have been dropping at a dangerous level.

Read Also: COVID-19 Survivors Who Suffered Lung Damage Face Higher Death Risk Than Cancer Patients, Warns Pulmonary Expert

The Case of an Oxygen Level Drop

In an article written by Daily Mail UK, the case of one patient, Ranjit Senghera Marwaha, showed how a pulse oxygen monitor could have a negative implication to the patient.

According to her, she and her husband had contracted COVID-19 last year. Upon using the device, she noticed that her oxygen levels have been dropping, so she was rushed to the hospital.

"When I went into hospital the first thing they said was, 'you've really left it too late. I was on 14 liters of oxygen - that's the highest they give you just before you move into intensive care," Ranjit said.

Updated Assessment For Pulse Oximeters

According to NHS Race and Health Observatory director, Dr. Habib Naqvi, the updated guidance for the pulse oxygen monitors is always welcome for discussion. He is aware of the claims that the oximeters might put the patients in danger at some point.

Another expert, Dr. Omar Jundi from West Yorkshire stated that he noticed some inaccurate readings in the devices, especially when used to people of color with coronavirus.

He noted that it's good to have research focused on the cultural differences regarding pulse oximeters. This will really tell if those patients who have darker complexions can benefit less from the oxygen monitors.

It's good to use advanced health tech tools to improve the treatment procedure among patients.

However, these equipment might be subject to several flaws, and further studies are needed to prove if they are truly effective or not to a certain race.

Related Article: Oximeter Possibly Detects COVID-19's Troublesome Symptom: Here's Where to Buy It, Amazon and More!

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A CDC study reported heart inflammations in 397 COVID-19-vaccinated children, according to a recent report by The Epoch Times.

The COVID vaccine in question is the Pfizer BioNTech, which led to the youngsters aged 12-17 being diagnosed with heart inflammation. This information was included in a study published by the CDC on July 30.

All of the kids suffered from myocarditis, which is a heart ailment that mostly affects young boys. However, the study also claimed that the inflammations weren't really a direct result of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, as per the findings. The CDC study covered a period between December 14, 2020 and July 16, 2021, wherein they reviewed multiple reports of adverse vaccination reactions via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

The results are also actually presenting far more benign implications that result from getting vaccinated against the coronavirus. Out of the 8.9 million youths who got vaxxed as of July 16, the 397 children who were diagnosed with inflammation comprised a tiny 4.3 percent of the total. The total amount of adverse reactions recorded were 9,246, which is extremely small compared to the almost 9 million-individual sample size.

This is more or less right where scientists want the number of adverse reactions to be, especially in youth. According to NationwideChildrens.org, the risk of developing myocarditis after a COVID vaccine is extremely low. And should anyone develop it, recovery is very possible even with not much treatment.

Read also: COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Ages 5 to 11 Years Old May Come Soon from Manufacturers, as Requested by the FDA-Is it Safe?

Does This Mean that COVID Vaccines Aren't Safe for Kids?

No, they're going to be safe. Here's why.

The Pfizer jab which was mentioned in the CDC study is actually one of only two vaccine brands so far (the other one being Moderna) which are frontrunners for a potential FDA approval. For now, the COVID-19 vaccine for kids from these two companies is still in the trial phase, and that's an extremely good thing. It means the companies still have more than enough time to work the kinks out.

Vaccinating children against the coronavirus is never as simple as doing it to adults, because youngsters come in so many different ages. And with those age brackets come widely varied immune system responses to a COVID vaccine.

The CDC Is NOT Fear Mongering

What the CDC published in their study might sound alarming, but again, consider the sample size. 397 out of 8.9 million points to an extremely low chance of getting a heart ailment or anything else more serious.

COVID-19 vaccines can't be given to children for now. But that's the entire point of the clinical tests. Scientists are performing the trials on children as young as two years, to others aged 5 to 11. They're covering a lot of bases at once, which is more than enough to improve the chances of developing a safe vaccine for all young people.

Related: COVID-19 Vaccine: Canadian Authorities Slammed for Violating Privacy of Unvaxxed Residents

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : GettlyImages/ Tomohiro Ohsumi ) Apple Watch series update

Apple Watch Series 6 Titanium models are out of stock nationwide.

The titanium cases are part of the latest Apple Watch edition, and fans of the product who are planning to purchase their own titanium watch may not be able to for a while, and Apple has not said when a new batch will be rolled out.

The watch is unavailable for pick-up and delivery in several Apple retail stores in the United States.

Apple Watch Titanium Models are Unavailable

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Apple Watch Series 6 titanium models are unavailable in the United States.

The watch, which starts at $799, is speculated to be discontinued since the Apple Watch Series 7 is just two months away from being rolled out. Apple also has not released an official statement about the shortage of the Apple Watch Series 6.

Also Read: Apple Watch Series 6 Solo and Braided Loop Size Mismatch? Return by Set-Pushes Re-Delivery As Late as November!

Gurman shared his theory on the case. He believes that Apple had run out of titanium models. Given the lackluster response to the debut of the Apple Watch Series 6, the tech company may have only produced a small amount as they did not expect them to sell well at all.

Gurman added that Apple may have stopped manufacturing the titanium models months ago and are now running out of supply.

All that fans can do now is wait and see if Apple will choose to keep the titanium models for the Apple Watch Series 7 or go for a more expensive material like gold and ceramic.

Apple Watch Series 7 Details

Since the Apple Watch Series 7 is just a couple of weeks away, fans are curious about its features and overall look.

According to iMore, the upcoming Watch Series 7 will have a smaller processor to make room for a better and longer battery life.

Apple leaker Jon Prosser added that the Watch Series 7 will have a squared-off design based on leaked information, which is different from the usually curved sides of Apple Watches.

Gurman reported that the new Apple Watch would have thinner bezels. The display will also be closer to the screen.

As for the colors, the tech giant debuted new Watch colors in 2020, and it might release a new range of colors this year too. Prosser stated that a green-colored watch might make its debut.

Features, Release Date, and Price

According to Tom's Guide, the new Apple Watch Series 7 could have support for ultra-wideband capabilities with features like measuring your blood sugar levels, unlocking hotel rooms, and unlocking doors.

This is an upgrade from the Apple Watch Series 6 feature of measuring blood color and oxygen conent.

Gurman also added that Apple is planning to add a new processor and better wireless connectivity.

As for its release date, Apple is known to go for fall release dates. The rumors for the Apple Watch Series 7 point to a release in August or September.

The tech company released its new models in September 2020, but this was due to the delays in releasing the iPhone 12.

For the price, Apple Watch Series 6 was sold for $399. The Apple Watch Series 7 is predicted to cost a bit more due to its better features.

Related Article: Apple Vs. Masimo: New Lawsuit Asks FTC To Ban Watch Series 6-Claiming Pulse Oximetry Feature Bypasses Its Patents

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Written by Sophie Webster

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new anti-breast cancer AI could help medical experts identify breast cancer more efficiently and quicker. This new artificial intelligence acts like an independent second reader, which assists radiologists in the process of examining breast images.

The new machine learning technology called the Mammography Intelligent Assessment AI will soon be released in Ireland to support breast cancer screening activities. It was developed by Kheiron Medical Technologies, a science firm currently based in the United Kingdom.

As of the moment, the innovation is already being released in various parts of the region. It is being offered through medical supply Hospital Services Limited, which currently distributes surgical devices and medical supplies to private and public hospitals.

UK-Based Hospital Services Limited also covers Dublin and Belfast.

"We're excited that Mia is the first AI independent reader solution available for use within the breast screening community across the island of Ireland," said the developers.

Anti-Breast Cancer Artificial Intelligence MIA

According to Irish Mirror's latest report, the new anti-breast cancer AI is a great innovation since it helps radiologists to enhance breast cancer detection and patient outcomes drastically.

Also Read: Shutterstock Secures Strategic Partnership With AWS Data Exchange, Expected to Advance Computer Vision Solutions

"According to Breast Cancer Ireland, 690 deaths are attributed to breast cancer annually in the Republic of Ireland and 3,700 women in Ireland are diagnosed every year with breast cancer," added MIA's creators.

They further explained that MIA could help both women and medical experts fight the rising breast cancers cases. Hospital Services Limited's Chief Executive Officer Dominic Walsh added excitedly announced that they are currently looking forward to bring the new artificial intelligence throughout Ireland.

In other news, ten AI healthcare startups are also taking advantage of AI's advanced features to enhance the public's health. Meanwhile, other agencies are using it in various science activities. These include the recent detection of sunken ships with 92% accuracy.

Other Advanced AIs

Aside from the latest MIA, Forbes also reported that experts used an AI application, which allegedly detects early COVID-19 symptoms.

This health innovation was lead by Kings College London scientists and researchers. They explained that users must input the symptoms they experienced in the new AI application for the last three days.

After that, the new app will automatically provide outputs based on the medical complications they are experiencing, which could be linked to COVID-19.

For more news updates about MIA and other artificial intelligence, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NIST to Create a Framework Outlining the Risks of AI Technologies

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : GettlyImages/ Simon Dawson ) Rick Astley YouTube

YouTube confirmed that Rick Astley's 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up" has officially surpassed 1 billion views on the platform.

The catchy song became a part of internet culture in the early 2000s thanks to the Rickroll meme, and its popularity helped the video reach a new milestone.

YouTube Confirms Rick Astley's Song Has Hit 1 Billion Views

Astley posted a video on his personal Instagram account and thanked everyone for their support for his music stating that what happened is "amazing, crazy, wonderful."

Since numerous music videos have crossed over 7 billion views in the past few years, especially videos from famous artists such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and BTS, hitting the 1 billion mark is not as prestigious as it once was.

However, the new milestone shows that the Rickroll prank has stayed strong throughout the years.

Also Read: 'Never Gonna Give You Up' Performed On Floppy Drives Is Pure Internet

According to a report from Billboard, the music video hit daily views of 2.3 million on April Fools Day. There have also been "Fortnite" emotes and 4K remasters of the Rickroll video.

In 2008, Rick Astley Rickrolled the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The meme was also used when the San Diego Padres pranked the Boston Red Sox just when the people thought they were about to sing "Sweet Caroline."

In 2016, Rick Astley released his album titled 50, which debuted number 1 in the United Kindom.

Astley announced that he would be celebrating the good news by releasing a limited 7-inch vinyl record of all of his 80s songs, according to BBC.

History of Rickrolling

Rickrolling began in 2007 on online chat forums such as Reddit and 4chan, where users would post links that directed those who click it to a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." This was when Rickrolling was born.

Rickrolling was supposed to be an evolution of an earlier famous prank called duckrolling, where people were sent an image of a duck on wheels with the song "The Picard Song" by DarkMateria, according to Forbes.

Since its release, Rickrolling has evolved. Students have pranked their teachers by handing out exam papers with a printed screenshot of Rick Astley's music video.

Protestors have blasted the song using boomboxes while they were in the middle of a heated debate with Scientologists.

Banners that contained the video link in binary code were also hang up in public places. In London's Liverpool Street train station, hundreds of people did a Rickroll flash mob.

Even celebrities were in on the prank. Numerous A-list stars have participated in and been subject to their own Rickrolls.

In 2015, the Foo Fighters Rickrolled through crowds of Westboro Baptist Church members known for their hate speech.

In the same year, hacking group Anonymous Rickrolled ISIS by playing "Never Gonna Give You Up" during the terrorist group attempt at recruiting people online.

Famous characters like The Muppet's Beaker have had the Rickroll treatment too.

The most famous celebrity who got Rickrolled would have to be former President Barack Obama, who made a prank parody called "Barack Roll."

The parody has been watched more than 7 million times, and it features a mix of Obama saying Astley's lyrics while he and TV host Ellen DeGeneres danced.

Other Rickrolled that happened in politics included Republican John McCain, a tweet from the White House, and a video of the Oregon Houses of Parliament. They dropped Astley's lyrics into their parliamentary discourse.

Related Article: 'Super Mario Maker' Course Takes Rickrolling To The Next Level

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : GettlyImages/ ISHARA S. KODIKARA ) COVID-19 vaccine Florida

Florida residents have numerous options that they can choose from to get their COVID-19 vaccination shots.

Health officials are urging people to get vaccinated as COVID-19 cases continue to rise among the unvaccinated. If you wish to get vaccinated, here are the options available for you:

All Florida Counties

The Florida Department of Health launched hotlines for all 67 counties. You can view the complete list of toll-free numbers on the FDH's official website. You will be notified via email if you've been scheduled for a shot, according to Sun Sentinel.

If you wish to search for available vaccine locations near you, you can log in to vaccines.gov, a website that the federal government launched. It will search vaccine sites across the United States by location down to 1 mile from a vaccine site and your zip code.

You can also send a text. Just text your zip code to GETVAX for English or VACUNA for Spanish so you can get a list of locations that administer vaccine shots.

You will also get a notification if it is time for your second COVID-19 vaccination shot.

Also Read: White House COVID-19 Response Team Confirms 40% of the Week's Cases Came From Just 3 States-Which Ones?

Retail Pharmacy

Publix supermarkets in all of Florida are currently offering vaccination shots. You can schedule an appointment or you can visit their clinics at any time.

You can also get vaccinated at a CVS Pharmacy. You can find a list of pharmacy locations and make an appointment via the CVS Pharmacy website.

You can also get your COVID-19 shots at select Sam's Club and Walmart pharmacies. You can go to Walmart's official website to register.

Winn-Dixie also offers shots by appointment, and you can sign up for an appointment through Winn-Dixie's official site.

If you visit any of the said establishments, you will be required to wear a mask before getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot.

Vaccine Locations in Central Florida

Counties in Central Florida have rolled out instructions to assist those interested in getting COVID-19 shots, according to WKMG.

Veterans Affairs

The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lake Nona, Orlando, and the Lake Baldwin Medical Center in Orlando are both offering vaccination for veterans, regardless of their age, according to TampaBay.com.

The caregivers, family members, and beneficiaries of the veterans are also welcome. If you wish to register, you can visit https://www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/ or walk into the clinic.

Brevard County

For Brevard County, you can call 866-201-5420 or log in to myvaccine.fl.gov to pre-register. There is also a drive-thru vaccine site at 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way.

Flagler County

For Flagler County, you can contact 1-866-201-1541 or check out myvaccine.fl.gov to pre-register. The vaccinations are done at 150 Sawgrass Road in Bunnell at the Flagler County Fairgrounds. People are asked to arrive 15 minutes before their appointment.

Lake County

For Lake County, you can call 866-201-6909 or log in to myvaccine.fl.gov to pre-register for the vaccine. You can also visit lake.floridahealth.gov or follow @FLHealthLake on Twitter for updates.

Marion County

Marion County's Department of Health is currently offering vaccination operations in different locations within the county. You can check out http://tinyurl.com/MarionCOVIDvax or contact 352-644-2590 to pre-register.

Orange County

Orange County residents can pre-register for a COVID-19 vaccine via the OCFL.net/vaccines site. You can also sign up for email updates to know more about how the country distributes the available vaccines.

Related Article: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Single Dose Shows 80% Effectivity, Says CDC, Completing Two Guarantees 90%

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Written by Sophie Webster

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Google Doodle has reminded us that we are an evolution of the initial species that lived on Earth and that humans are from the "Homo Erectus" line.

In 1984, researchers have found traces of skeleton fragments believed to be from the Homo Erectus, and this has led to the focus on fossils that looked at early humans who roamed the planet.

There were a lot of places that were believed to be where "cavemen" or ancient humans have lived, as its remains were spread throughout the land. One fossil was found in China, and it is believed to be around 150,000 to 412,000 years old.

Google Doodle: Turkana Human

One of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century and modern civilization is its origins, and it is celebrated by Google Doodle, calling the discovery "Turkana Human." According to Google, this group of researchers was initially unaware that the small piece that they have found on the lake of Turkana Basin was a hominid species of the "homo Erectus" classification.

This discovery was found and revealed last August 1, 1984, and it made way to a massive study that looked at human evolution in a different light. The expedition was said to have begun in 1967, and it has lasted as much as 20 years, as the scientists kept digging to search for the remains.

This has given way to the knowledge that humans are not from a single lineage, and instead, coming from multiple origins. As added by the Smithsonian, there were as many as 24 species believed to be the origins of humans, and the final evolution is the "Homo Sapiens," where the current society identifies.

Read Also: How Food Processing Helped You Learn How To Talk

Homo Erectus in 1984

The Homo Erectus in 1984 was called the "Turkana Boy," and was found at Lake Turkana Basin in Kenya, where a group of researchers has found it on a "fossiliferous lake."

According to the Smithsonian where its remains reside now, the Turkana Boy from the Homo Erectus group was in fact at a developing age of 8 to 9 years old, as it did not have third molars.

The fossil of Turkana Boy was believed to be 1.6 million years old and was from the continent of Africa. The boy also stood at around 5 feet and 3 inches, and is 40 percent complete in terms of bone structure.

Human Evolution

Human Evolution has been a massive debate in a lot of years, as a lot of theories have suggested that humans were coming from different origins.

The species of Homo sapiens have gone on to build the society which people live in now, creating a lot of great innovations and discoveries that launched the world into modernity.

It is not bad to look at the origins of the human species, and Google Doodle has reminded people that they have gone through a lot, and evolution does not stop from being homo Erectus to the now homo sapiens.

Related Article: Teeth Analysis Reveals Ancient Hobbit Humans Evolved From Larger Species

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Telemedicine is the new term for over-the-phone consultations with doctors, and other health professionals, especially amidst this time of the COVID-19 pandemic where people cannot go outside. The process has both pros and cons, challenges and benefits for its users, as not everyone can fully enumerate the ailments they feel.

After a long battle with the pandemic, the CDC has brought back mask policies to further protect both the vaccinated and unvaccinated from COVID-19, as the Delta Variant continues its rampant spread.

Due to the Delta strain, people would be left to stay at home and be protected from the corona, but not from the sick feeling they have. This is where Telemedicine comes in.

Telemedicine: What is It?

Telemedicine is the process of using the telephone as the channel where a patient can communicate to the doctor and enumerate how they feel. Its primary goal is to deliver healthcare despite the distance and absence of a patient's physical self in a hospital or clinic, and this may be due to plenty of reasons.

For now, the reason is COVID-19, especially as it threatens the health of humans as anyone can be infected by the virus, both child and adult, of all races, classification, and more.

Even the vaccinated community may be at risk for contracting COVID-19 especially amidst the Delta, which SAGE warns to soon mutate into something worse.

Telemedicine Challenges

Of course, telemedicine has challenges to bring to both patients and doctors, and one of which is the cellular or landline connection used for the transaction. Not all doctors or hospitals offer video conferencing, and even that has difficulties.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the most crucial problems to face is service, and that includes the Internet, Cellular, or Landline connections. It is fair to say that not all have access to either of these technologies, far more those in remote areas.

On the other hand, New Kerala mentioned that not everyone can communicate well, and while it is already hard for an able person to fully describe how they feel, what more for disabled ones. This includes those with speech impairments and disorders, which have difficulty in expressing themselves.

The challenges for this kind of tech are not yet over, as another major thing is that doctors cannot fully make a diagnosis for an individual's case without tests done in a hospital.

Read Also: Digital Vaccination Cards can be Stored on Your Phone, Here's How

Telemedicine Benefits

As much as challenges hindering the effectiveness of Telemedicine, it also has its benefits, especially amidst this COVID-19 pandemic. One of which is the safety they can have as patients stay at home and communicate remotely.

Another thing is that it would also benefit them with regards to less money spent, as most telemedicine services are free consultations, as well as less travel fee. Also, this has evolved the way humans tackle everyday concerns, and telemedicine helps in bringing more to a patient than what is expected.

Should Telemedicine Stay?

Since its emerging use amidst this COVID-19, Telemedicine has benefited a lot of people, with regards to their health concerns. While challenges are significant and hindrance, it still gives a certain benefit for people to air out their problems or ailments, without the risk of contracting the virus.

Telemedicine should stay, and people should have the chance to voice out their concerns at any time and any place.

Related Article: Florida COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment: Here's How You Can Schedule an Appointment in Different Counties

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Eric Yuan, the CEO of video communications tool Zoom, was rejected eight times, believe it or not, before he was eventually granted a U.S. visa.

What would have happened if he was never granted a visa at all or if he gave up trying to get one at some point? Would Zoom exist? It is probably a thought that no one would want to mull on, especially with how much Zoom has integrated itself in everyone's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here's the story behind the one who made Zoom possible and faced every rejection head on to make sure his dream became a reality.

Eric Yuan's Journey from China to America

Eric Yuan was raised in the Shandong Province of China by his parents, who are both geology engineers.

He went on to study at the Shandong University of Science and Technology, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics as well as a minor in computer application.

Yuan then went on to earn a master's degree in geology engineering from the China University of Mining and Technology.

A career in geology, however, was eventually off the cards from Eric Yuan when he found himself inspired by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Determined to start a tech career, Yuan migrated to Silicon Valley in 1997.

That was definitely easier said than done. According to his profile on Forbes, his visa application was rejected eight times before it was finally approved.

Eric Yuan and Cisco

According to a separate Forbes article, Eric Yuan joined a startup company called Webex, which was eventually acquired by Cisco in 2007. Yuan was then chosen to lead the company's engineering group.

He eventually saw what was wrong with Cisco's video conferencing service. According to the Forbes article, "the service simply wasn't very good."

It lacked modern features and was slow due to the fact that the systems first had to identify which product was being used whenever a user logs in. Yuan eventually decided to leave Cisco to put up his own company.

Related Article: Zoom Estimates to Double Its Revenue Amid Coronavirus Restriction But With Much Higher Costs

Zoom Video Communications

Believe it or not, Zoom was first known as Saasbee.

Eric Yuan knew that he wanted to take on the video conferencing software market, but not all of his investors were keen on the idea. It was mostly because of the competition already present, which included Skype and Google Hangouts.

Yuan was undeterred and after changing the name from Saasbee to Zoom, launched the beta of his video conferencing tool in September 2012. The service was eventually officially launched a few months later in January 2013.

Zoom Booms in the Pandemic

Eric Yuan and Zoom saw a boom in their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began to spread around the world in 2020. As governments imposed lockdowns and people were forced to distance themselves from loved ones, Zoom became a tool people used to communicate, to attend their classes and meetings, and even to play games with friends and family.

According to a report by Barron's. Zoom "grew its user base 30 times" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The communications technology company also experienced a boom as far as Zoom's revenue in the first quarter of 2021 is concerned.

"Zoom reported April-quarter revenue of $956 million, up 191% from a year ago, after three straight quarters of growth above 350%," the report adds.

As for its CEO, Eric Yuan now has a net worth of $16.5 billion, according to Forbes. He was also named as TIME's Businessperson of the Year for 2020.

And if you are wondering if Eric Yuan experiences 'Zoom fatigue just like you do, yes, he does.

Also Read: Zoom-Bombing Will Not Stop Unless You Do This Says CEO Eric Yuan

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Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Fish Fry has been acquired by a New York-based private equity firm that plans to accelerate the companys growth.

MidOcean Partners said it will grow Louisiana Fish Fry through organic initiatives and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Days after Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was "seriously considering" a mask mandate for all Louisiana residents, vaccinated or unvaccinated, he is scheduled to again address the public on Monday afternoon.

UPDATE: Gov. John Bel Edwards reissues indoor mask mandate for Louisiana. See what's covered.

Several business and hospital leaders from across Louisiana will be joining Edwards at the 2:30 p.m. press conference.

On Friday afternoon Edwards stopped short of mandating masks. He said he wanted to give state officials and leaders time to review new data and guidance from the CDC on masks and the transmission of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

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I understand that people dont want to wear a mask, but have you seen the people in the hospitals struggling to breathe? Have you watched the testimonies given just this week in Louisiana in our hospitals by doctors and nurses and patients themselves? Edwards said. That mask is not an onerous burden to prevent that, to prevent yourself from having it or to prevent spreading the disease to someone else that might end up in the hospital.

Reporter Blake Paterson will be live tweeting the news. Follow him on Twitter and follow along below.

Can't see the embed below? Click here.
When Gov. John Bel Edwards lifted Louisianas mask mandate at the end of April, he warned that loosening restrictions wasnt a one way street and that he would reimpose the rules if COVID-19 came roaring back.

On Monday, as hospitals statewide buckled under an unprecedented surge in patients, Edwards followed through on his word.

Schools, businesses, universities, churches, and any other indoor public settings in Louisiana will require a face mask for entry beginning on Wednesday, under a proclamation Edwards signed that expires September 1.

It has become extremely clear that our current recommendations on their own are not strong enough to deal with Louisianas fourth surge of COVID. In fact, nobody should be laboring under the misapprehension that this just another surge, Edwards told reporters Monday in announcing the order he had already signed. This is the worst one weve had thus far.

Gov. John Bel Edwards' Emergency Order on Mandatory Masking Gov. John Bel Edwards' Emergency Order, 137JBE2021, that reinstates Mandatory Masking indoors for everyone over the age of 5 years.

The return to restrictions comes as the pandemic enters a new stage defined by the delta variant, a highly contagious strain of COVID-19 first identified in India that now accounts for most new cases in Louisiana. On Monday, the state reported 11,109 new confirmed and probable infections of COVID-19. More than 2,000 of those cases were among children.

The three coronavirus vaccines available in Louisiana continue to provide immense protection against the delta variant. Those who are fully vaccinated are 25-times less likely to get hospitalized or die from COVID-19, and eight-times less likely to get infected in the first place, said Dr. Joe Kanter, the state health officer.

But recent data suggests that unlike previous strains of COVID-19, when a fully vaccinated person gets infected with the delta variant, they can be just as contagious as unvaccinated people.

While vaccination reduces ones chance of becoming infected with COVID-19, if you are fully vaccinated, and you do become infected with COVID-19, you can still relatively easily transmit the virus to other people, Kanter said.

This is new with delta. And this is why with delta, unfortunately, when we are in a surge, which we are now, it is not enough to say you only need to mask if your unvaccinated, Kanter added.

The delta variant has ripped through Louisiana in recent weeks, and hospitals statewide are buckling under a tsunami of COVID-19 patients  the vast majority of which are unvaccinated. Doctors from several Louisiana hospitals facing an acute shortage of staff pleaded with the public on Monday to take up mask-wearing.

Hospitalizations soared on Monday to include 1,984 patients, and Edwards said that Tuesdays update will top the previous record set on Jan. 7, during the viruss third wave, when there were 2,069 people hospitalized. The vast majority of patients are unvaccinated.

Click HERE on this a link to see the slides being used during the press conference.

Louisiana COVID numbers: 8,705 more confirmed cases, 244 more hospitalizations The number of coronavirus patients in Louisiana continued to increase at an astonishing speed over the weekend, with 244 more people hospitali

I cannot in good conscience sit by while our hospitals lose the capacity to deliver life-saving care to COVID patients and non-COVID patients alike, Edwards said.

At Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, the number of COVID-positive patients stood at 155 on Monday  accounting for nearly a quarter of the hospitals capacity. The facility welcomed a 33-member disaster strike team from the federal government on Monday, which will be capable of staffing six additional ICU beds.

These are the darkest days of our pandemic. We are no longer giving adequate care to our patients, said Dr. Catherine ONeal, a professor at LSU and the hospitals chief medical officer.

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The updated order means that students will have to mask-up when they return to the classroom in the coming weeks, side-stepping a patchwork of local decisions that emerged in recent weeks in lieu of a directive from the governor. The mandate will apply to anyone in grades K-12, as well as students at colleges and universities.

+17 Besieged by COVID, Our Lady of the Lake gets backup from federal disaster strike force A federal strike team of doctors and nurses arrived at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge on Monday to provide back-u

We cant send children back into schools unvaccinated and unmasked. Quite frankly, we need the safest possible setting for them, so that we can have as many children physically present, in person, in our schools as possible, Edwards said. Its vitally important that we protect our children, especially those who are too young to be vaccinated.

Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Childrens Hospital New Orleans, called the delta variant an infectious disease specialists worst nightmare and said that every pediatric facility in the state is absolutely full. He said half of the children in his hospital were perfectly healthy before contracting COVID-19. There hasnt been an open intensive care bed at his hospital in weeks.

"I am as worried about our children today as I have ever been," said Kline, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.

Kline said that the moral thing for adults to do is get vaccinated, if only to protect Louisianas children.

Over the seven-day period ending Friday, 90.4% of new COVID-19 cases, 89.3% of hospitalizations and 85% of deaths were among those who were not fully vaccinated, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Edwards order was met with support from Louisianas business community. He was flanked at his press conference by representatives from the states restaurant and oil and gas industries.

Our healthcare members have reported this week that COVID-19 cases are rapidly increasing due to the Delta variant, especially in younger and unvaccinated populations, Stephen Waguespack, head of the powerful business lobbyists, Louisiana Association of Business & Industry, said in statement moments after Edwards made his announcement.

This troubling trend must be addressed, especially as our students head back to school, businesses get back on their feet, and Louisiana families return to normal after the pandemic shutdown. For these reasons, we recommend compliance with the executive order and urge anyone not yet vaccinated to consult with their doctor about doing so, Waguespack said.

The National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small business, also asked for compliance.

Small business is taking the pandemic seriously, and we encourage them to follow todays executive order. Our members understand that the sooner this virus is brought under control, the sooner we can avoid an economic downturn because of it, Dawn McVea, NFIB state director for Louisiana, said in a statement.

At this point it is unquestionable that universal masking has proven to be an effective strategy to reduce community spread of COVID-19, Kanter said. Is masking perfect? Of course not, nothing is. Will it prevent COVID 100% of the time? Of course not. Is it highly effective when employed at the community or statewide level? Absolutely.

For those who remain skeptical of vaccines, or the importance of masking up in this moment, Edwards asked: "Do you give a damn? I hope you do. I do."

"Ive heard it said often: Louisianas the most pro-life state in the nation. I want to believe that. It ought to mean something. In this context, it ought to mean something," Edwards added in closing.
The plans of many Louisiana schools to make masking optional for the about-to-start 2021-22 school year were upended Monday when Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he is once again making mask-wearing mandatory indoors, including inside school buildings.

The order takes effect Wednesday and applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated. It comes as school staff begin returning from summer break to get ready for students who will arrive in the days ahead.

We cant send children into schools unvaccinated and unmasked, Edwards said.

The return of the mask mandate, which was in effect last school year, nullifies previously announced plans of schools across the state to make masks optional this year.

The mandate, which will be in effect until at least Sept. 1, is expected to prompt a cascade of new announcements from schools. Many school leaders were already delaying release of final rules or made clear previously approved rules would need to be revisited.

Masks still optional in Baton Rouge Catholic schools, but final word coming Monday The Diocese of Baton Rouge, for now, is sticking with making masks optional for students and staff in the 2021-22 school year, but will announ

Minutes after the governor's press conference, Livingston Parish Superintendent Joe Murphy issued that district's rules of the new school year. Livingston had previously planned to make masking optional.

Livingston Parish Public Schools will comply with the state guidelines, just as we have throughout the past year, in our response to health concerns caused by the COVID pandemic, Murphy said. Our greatest responsibility has been, and will always be, the health and safety of our students and employees.

Bishop Michael Duca also quickly issued new guidelines as well as a statement saying the schools in the Diocese of Baton Rouge would comply with the governor's proclamation. The diocese had initially planned to require masking only for the unvaccinated.

Duca reversed that decision the next day amid an outcry, but has signaled since that the severity of the latest surge might force that to change.

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"I believe these difficult decisions will enable us to safely begin our school year while observing the new realities we are facing as a community," said Duca. "If circumstances change in the future, we will also change our practices based upon medical advice, wisdom and common sense."

Iberville Parish schools also quickly updated their rules Monday.

The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is planning to announce its final rules Tuesday afternoon. The Baker School Board is taking up its plans Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the Zachary School Board is scheduled to revisit its previous plans an hours later at 7 p.m. Ascension Parish is planning to update its rule no later than Wednesday afternoon. Central schools plan to release information before teachers return to school on Aug. 9.

While masks continue to be worn in schools, other safety measures that were in effect last year are going away. Students in most schools will be able to keep just three feet apart as opposed to six feet, and most capacity limits on indoor gatherings are no longer in place.

Schools have greatly downscaled virtual learning options for those worried about being inside school buildings.

Edwards has been moving in this direction for days. On July 23, he strongly recommended a return to universal mask-wearing, and had been signaling that he might turn that recommendation into a mandate. He said his decision was prompted by the severity of the fourth surge of the deadly coronavirus, fueled by the ultra-infectious delta variant.

This is the worst one weve had thus far, Edwards said.

As cases rise, Baton Rouge-area schools stick with optional masking  at least for now Despite a new surge in coronavirus cases, school leaders in greater Baton Rouge are sticking with plans to reopen campuses with few restrictio

The new mask mandate is a bit different than last years when it comes to schools. The new one applies only indoors, whereas last year's also applied to many outdoor public spaces. Also, last years mandate exempted Pre-K to second-graders, while the new one applies to children as young as five years old, typically kindergartners.

Preschools are exempted under the new order, but Gov. Edwards suggested they should wear masks as well, noting that the American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for universal mask-wearing starting with two-year-olds.
After a big family celebration Saturday night, Debbie and Rachel Tullos had an important errand to run Sunday morning: getting a negative COVID test that would allow Rachel to return to school in Tennessee the following day.

The mother and daughter headed to an Ochsner urgent care center off Highland Road and reserved their place in line, then decided to wait in the car, family member Randy Rice said Monday. One minute they were cranking the air conditioning against the Louisiana summer heat and simply killing time, keeping each other company  and the next they were fighting for their lives, unable to escape the hail of bullets piercing their vehicle.

There in that parking lot, two generations of Tullos women crossed paths with Aaron Morgan, 28, a stranger to them. He had already stabbed his grandmother to death and seriously injured his mother before fleeing the scene, according to law enforcement.

Officials said Morgan was trying to carjack the women, then shot and wounded another driver parked behind them. Moments later, he discovered an SUV someone had left unlocked and running.

Morgan took off in the SUV and led law enforcement on a pursuit that crisscrossed south Baton Rouge, ending near a CVS at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Jefferson Highway, where deputies shot him twice and took him into custody. Morgan is recovering from the gunshot wounds and will be booked into jail after his discharge from the hospital, officials said.

Just minutes before the parking lot shooting, Debbie had complained about the subpar coffee she was drinking, so her husband offered to bring her another cup while she waited with Rachel, their adult daughter, Rice said. Rachel, who has autism, spends most of her time at a special school in Tennessee, which requires negative COVID tests for residents returning from travel.

She was shot in the shoulder  a bullet remains lodged in her collarbone  while Debbie was struck in the face. One bullet ripped through her mouth and another grazed her head, Rice said.

Miraculously, both are expected to make a full recovery. Rice said the family has consistently gotten good news since the initial tragedy upended their lives Sunday morning. He said neither victim ended up with brain damage, though Debbie will likely need significant surgery. Rachel escaped serious injuries to her respiratory system, which the doctor called a miracle.

"We feel like God put his hand in front of the bullets and deflected them, because another inch or two would have been tragic," Rice said. "They're not out of the woods yet, but overall very blessed and fortunate."

Because the shooting unfolded outside a medical clinic, all three victims received almost instantaneous attention from doctors and nurses who ran outside to render aid. Rice described them as a godsend, and even the mayor commended their actions.

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Rice said the incident delivered a stark reminder that life is filled with both hardship and hope.

"My niece Rachel is the epitome of innocence," he said. "She would never hurt a fly, and yet she was targeted like this."

He said Debbie has a passion for life that even now radiates from her hospital bed. Just 24 hours after the shooting, she was gesturing around the room to communicate with her husband and keep everything in order. Both mother and daughter have been asking after each other often, inquiring from their respective hospital rooms  "these innocent people, two beautiful souls," Rice said.

The doctors are hopeful Rachel will be able to come home in a few days, he said, while Debbie will likely remain hospitalized longer.

+10 Man kills grandmother, wounds four more, including mother, in Baton Rouge rampage, sheriff says A man stabbed his grandmother to death and injured his mother Sunday morning, starting a rampage that crisscrossed south Baton Rouge, left thr

Meanwhile, significant questions remain about what prompted the wild rampage. Attempts to reach Morgan's family Monday were unsuccessful.

Morgan has almost no criminal history in East Baton Rouge. His only prior arrest was in 2011 when he confessed to spray painting a slang term for marijuana on a bus at the Life Tabernacle Church in Central. That was just months before he graduated from Central High School, records show.

Social media posts show that Morgan suffered a serious motorcycle accident in 2012 that left him in critical condition. He was hospitalized for months in Colorado before returning home to Baton Rouge, his family had written on a Facebook page that was later taken down.

A few new details emerged Monday about the series of events Sunday morning. Morgan had been living with his grandmother, Dianne Gafford, for about two months at her home in the Wimbledon Estates neighborhood off Perkins Road, officials said.

Investigators say that, after stabbing her to death and wounding his mother, Morgan took a gun and car belonging to his grandmother and drove to the shopping center off Highland Road where he shot the three victims and fled in the stolen SUV.

He ditched the SUV in a strip mall parking lot on Bluebonnet Boulevard, then shot at another motorist who was uninjured, officials said. Morgan ran around behind the row of businesses and tried to break into a nearby apartment, according to Casey Rayborn Hicks, spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge sheriff. When that was unsuccessful, he hid behind a tree and pointed his gun at deputies, who shot him twice and took him into custody.

Officials declined to provide a timeline on when Morgan will likely be booked into jail.
State officials are about to unveil the first snapshot of student achievement during the coronavirus pandemic amid forecasts that key test scores will drop sharply.

"I believe the disruption we had with COVID, particularly the distance learning, was not nearly as effective and beneficial for student learning as in-person learning," said Jim Garvey, a Metairie attorney and the longest serving member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The exams are called LEAP 2025 and measure what students know about math, English, science and social studies.

Students in grades 3-12 took the tests in April and May.

Louisiana students will resume testing soon, but how will the exam results will be used? One year after key tests were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Louisiana public school students will soon resume traditional year

The results are scheduled to be announced Wednesday.

BESE members are to get briefed by state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley ahead of the public announcement.

But there is a widespread assumption that, like many schools across the nation, the pandemic has triggered a major learning loss in Louisiana that began in March, 2020 when classrooms closed nine weeks ahead of schedule in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.

"For me it is hard to imagine we didn't fall over the past year," said Barry Erwin, president of the Council for a Better Louisiana and a veteran of more than two decades of tracking public school operations.

Brigitte Nieland, government affairs director for the advocacy group Stand For Children, made the same point.

"There was just too much time lost in the classroom," Nieland said. "I don't know how the scores could have survived not dropping."

Around 75% of students were in classrooms at the end of the 2020-21 school year.

The tests were cancelled last year by Gov. John Bel Edwards. But even in the 2019 test cycle, well before the pandemic, students were struggling to reach Louisiana's latest goal for academic achievement.

LEAP results mostly unchanged, Zachary again state leader Louisiana's drive toward a key education target barely moved for the fourth consecutive year, according to figures released Thursday by the st

Results of the exams fall into one of five categories: Advanced, mastery, basic, approaching basic and unsatisfactory.

Students will have to average mastery for a school to achieve an A-rating by 2025.

In 2019 a total of 34% of students in grades 3-8 reached mastery, up 1 percentage point over 2018.

The pandemic not only turned traditional instruction upside down.

It forced schools to suddenly have to rely on distance learning to keep students afloat in a state where two-thirds of students live in low-income families.

Access to computers and tablets and reliable internet access were among a host of problems that appeared overnight.

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Garvey said he expects scores in Louisiana and other states to drop. "That is why we are putting so much money into summer school next year and next year and next year," Garvey said.

Nearly 200,000 students turned out for summer school this year, up to four times the normal attendance. Those classes were and will be a big focus of the $4 billion in federal stimulus dollars sent to Louisiana.

The Texas Education Agency reported last month that spring testing showed students in grades 3-8 failing to meet grade level expectations increased across nearly all subject areas and grade levels.

Math scores showed the biggest drop, the agency said, and districts with a higher percentage of students learning virtually showed bigger declines.

A report by McKinsey & Company said, at the end of the 2020-21 school year, students on average were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading.

In a statement Brumley said, "There is no denying that the catastrophic hurricanes and global pandemic impacted our LEAP scores."

"Louisiana truly faced extraordinary obstacles in the classroom."

"Nonetheless, Louisiana students, teachers, administrators and parents showed unwavering resiliency every single day," Brumley added. "That is what makes Louisiana what it is," he said. "We don't run from adversity. We face it head on together."

Kelli Bottger, director of political strategy for the American Federation For Children, said her visits to schools in recent weeks has allowed her to see data that spells out how some students are suffering academically.

Bottger said students have lost around three to four months of instruction because of the upheaval in schools for the past two years.

"It was a pandemic," she said. "I would be shocked if it was pretty," she said of the upcoming LEAP results.

Louisiana students will resume testing soon, but how will the exam results will be used? One year after key tests were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Louisiana public school students will soon resume traditional year

Belinda Davis, a BESE member who lives in Baton Rouge, has said she is concerned that schools will suffer because students who opted out of the tests due to safety concerns will get zeroes on their tests.

The state Department of Education said last week participation rates for children in grades 3-8 was 98.5% and 93.4% for students in grades 9-12.

LEAP scores are usually linked to letter grades given to public schools and districts.

90% of Louisiana school districts want to pause letter grades, 'show grace' in pandemic Amid rising concerns, officials in 90% of public school districts in Louisiana oppose the issuance of school letter grades because of the uphe

BESE has not decided whether grades will be issued this year, in part because of concerns that a big drop in test scores will translate into bad marks statewide.

The state has already made several allowances for the pandemic.

A 2020 state law bans using the scores to help evaluate teachers. Another law prohibits using the results to determine whether fourth- and eighth-graders advance.
Jerry Ceppos is running out of options as well as time.

On Aug. 23, LSU resumes in-person classes with a mask mandate but none for vaccines. Though students start moving in this week, social-distancing rules are still up in the air.

If Ceppos hews to the schools plan, the 76-year-old mass communication professor  whose age and health conditions make him particularly prone to the now-more-contagious coronavirus  will start teaching scores of students in a physical classroom in just a few weeks.

Or, if he can help it, hell stay virtual.

+2 COVID protocols at LSU: Vaccine mandate not likely, but here's what could be required Though the final decision hasnt been made by the newly installed leadership at LSU, students returning to campus in a few weeks probably will

Social distancing is logistically impossible if we have full classrooms, he said. If the school isnt going to require vaccinations, we have to consider an online option.

One of the only ways he can think of to exercise that option is to ask for disability accommodations. This week, Ceppos joined a host of fellow faculty members  exactly how many remains unclear  in filing petitions to work out exemptions under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Rosemary Peters-Hill is one of them.

The associate French studies professor said she has a medical condition that weakens her immunity to COVID and most any virus. While 90% of faculty say theyre vaccinated, LSUs only sense of student inoculation rates comes from a self-reported, sparsely answered survey.

By that measure, just 30% of students say they took the jab.

Peters-Hill thinks lack of experience contributes to the disparity. Many students dont live with family and might not feel the same responsibility or urgency to get vaccinated.

As parents, as people who have lost family members, friends and colleagues, we know what this virus can do, she said.

Weve lived it.

With her immune deficiency and two children  aged 7 and 5, one with a heart defect, both too young for the shot  Peters-Hill shares Ceppos anxiety heading into the fall semester.

Im vaccinated, she said, but Im terrified.

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With the prospect of standing before a 70% unvaccinated class amid a pandemic surge galvanized by the far-more-catchable delta variant, Peters-Hill would rather not take her chances.

She, too, plans on requesting ADA accommodations. And she urges colleagues in her shoes to consider the same tack.

LSU didnt give us the option to work from home because of COVID this semester, she explained. ADA accommodation requests are always available.

Just a few months into his role as Louisiana State University president, William F. Tate IV is under enormous pressure to get things right when it comes to pandemic protocols. In May, the month he was hired to replace Tom Galligan, 90% of the faculty voted in favor of required vaccination  something hundreds of universities throughout the U.S. have since managed to mandate.

The Advocates attempts to arrange an interview with Tate about the issue were unsuccessful. But in a July 29 Zoom meeting with faculty, he explained some of his rationale.

Mandating masks is a given, he told them. But requiring vaccines isnt an option because its so legally fraught. Winston Decuir, LSUs legal counsel, later explained that the university cannot make COVID-19 vaccination a requirement for on-campus learning without infringing on students constitutional rights.

LSU mandating vaccines would likely invite litigation  Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has already sued some other schools over the matter. The question of constitutionality, however, appears to be up for debate. In the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge recently upheld the constitutionality of Indiana University's decision to mandate COVID vaccinations.

Louisiana medical school has no interest in political battle, but defends vaccine rules After Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry last week threatened legal action against a north Louisiana medical school over rules compelling 

As for social distancing, Tate told faculty in the Zoom call that hell announce those rules sometime this week.

During the July 29 Zoom call, LSUs medical advisory committee suggested capping classroom capacity at 50%, which Tate said hell consider among other ideas.

Ceppos said he understands how tough these decisions are  especially for a new university president. But the stakes are too high to leave people hanging.

I know the administration, and I know theyre concerned about our health and safety, he said, but the politics of this pandemic have resulted in their timid response to this great crisis.

Ceppos said he vividly remembers the fear and uncertainty he felt ascending the stairs of LSUs Manship School of Mass Communication Building in March 2020, when the pandemic first reared its head in the United States.

Now, 17 months later, the thought of returning to the same place with so many of the same dangers is giving him flashbacks.

That day is engraved in my mind, he said. And I dont want to relive it. I dont think anyone does.
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A senior regional executive at banking giant HSBC has claimed the Chinese governments controversial crackdown on Hong Kong and its own corporate giants will benefit society and investors in the long term, despite widespread concerns from western authorities about the situation.

Against the backdrop of turbulent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the Chinese government last year passed sweeping laws that expose people found guilty of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion to life imprisonment. China has also in recent weeks escalated a crackdown on its own corporates, particularly in the technology sector, triggering steep share price falls for prominent companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba, WeChat owner Tencent and ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing.

HSBCs Asia Pacific chief investment officer Cecilia Chan says the Chinese governments reform agenda is good for business.

Speaking exclusively with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, HSBC Asset Managements Asia Pacific chief investment officer Cecilia Chan said the controversial national security laws had improved the business environment in Hong Kong and had brought stability to the semi-autonomous city. She also said the governments moves to rein in its technology giants could boost competition.

I respect peoples view but at the same time you had lots of disruptions to retail business. It also affected peoples lives as well. People could not go out. It reduced a lot of local consumption, Dr Chan said.
The federal government has flagged drive-through COVID vaccination clinics will start popping up across the country from mid-September.

Plans for an accelerated national COVID-19 vaccine campaign, led by Australias vaccine rollout co-ordinator Lieutenant General John Frewen, were released on Tuesday.

According to the document, drive-through clinics, which may include stadium carparks, have been prioritised to enable the vaccination of people aged 30 years and above, and to support vaccination efforts in regional and rural areas.

The drive-through clinics are scheduled to start taking shape in mid-August, with the first pilots due to start operating in mid-September.

The clinics are expected to start operating at scale in most jurisdictions by mid-October, however, not all jurisdictions will be able to support this channel.

Meanwhile, the plan also flagged the piloting of workplace vaccination in mid-October, before being introduced across most jurisdictions by late November along with vaccination clinics at retail hubs.

School COVID vaccination programs could start in early December.
A COVID-19 cluster at an inner west aged care facility has grown to 20 cases, as it is revealed fewer than a third of aged care workers in the state are fully vaccinated.

NSW reported 207 new local coronavirus cases on Monday, 102 of which had not yet been linked to known cases.

Summer Hills Wyoming aged care facility as residents were moved to hospital on Monday. Credit:Louie Douvis

The cluster at the Wyoming aged care facility at Summer Hill grew by six cases on Monday to 18 residents and two staff, the largest cluster seen at an aged care facility this year.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed the facility had been attended by an assistant in nursing who worked across three sites before testing positive to COVID-19.
Queenslands top doctor had warned that the states fortune in avoiding coronavirus outbreak was at risk of running out.

By Monday morning, midway through a three-day lockdown, the luck was gone.

The state had held snap three-day lockdowns three previous times in 2021, the most recent last month, and they have all succeeded in stopping outbreaks.

However, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young warned last week that after seeing 13 separate incursions of the virus in six weeks, most of them involving the highly transmissible Delta variant, Queenslands good luck was at risk of running out.
Hospitality and retail businesses will lose up to a billion dollars during south-east Queenslands lockdown, as industry heavyweights call on the government to review fees and extend support packages.

A one-off payment of $5000 to ease the financial burden for businesses was announced on Monday, with the grants available to those with an annual turnover of more than $75,000 and an annual payroll of up to $10 million.

But while the $5000 payment would be encouraging for businesses, it would not go a long way, said Daniel Gschwind, the chief executive of the Queensland Tourism and Industry Council.

The tourism expenditure in Queensland was more than $2 billion a month pre-COVID-19, but since then, the industry had lost $82 billion nationally.
Fire crews have extinguished a blaze at Victorias new Tesla Big Battery, the largest lithium-ion battery in the country, after taking more than three days to bring it under control.

One of the Tesla megapack batteries at the site in Moorabool, near Geelong, caught fire during testing shortly after 10am on Friday.

Smoke billows from a fire at Victorias new Tesla Big Battery on Friday. Credit:Nine News

The Victorian Big Battery, with a capacity of 300 megawatts and 450 megawatt-hours, is three times bigger than the initial size of billionaire Elon Musks Tesla big battery built in South Australia in 2017.

Owned and operated by French renewable energy giant Neoen, the battery was scheduled to begin operating before this summers peak demand period.
The families of deceased sexual assault victims will no longer need a court order to speak publicly, under changes to the law set to be introduced to the Victorian Parliament.

Legislation introduced last year resulted in sexual assault survivors and the loved ones of victims who had died having to seek a courts permission if they decided to go public with their stories.

Jaime-lee Pages sister, Carol (pictured), was murdered by her stepfather in 1997.

It technically meant that even families who had spoken out previously, such as the loved ones of rape and murder victims, would need the courts permission to comment publicly on their deaths.

The government effectively reversed the laws for survivors late last year. In amendments set to go to Parliament on Tuesday, it now wants to do the same for families and loved ones of victims who have died.
We know that our mental health system is broken. The recent Royal Commission showed us that young people are being let down, particularly those living in rural areas. Changes are coming, but it might not be enough to save those who are currently struggling.

The Victorian Student Representative Council (VicSRC) declared a youth mental health crisis earlier this year. Students are calling for more support with their mental health despite the changes already made by the Department of Education and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Returning to school is a blessing for some, a curse for others. Victorias fifth round of remote learning has only made the conversation around youth mental health more urgent. As a VCE student who has spent the past two years in intense and irregular lockdowns, I have seen first-hand the impact on young peoples mental health.

VicSRCs student mental health support pledge calls for schools to be proactive and put students mental health first. Students are struggling and schools have a duty of care and a responsibility to support us.

Schools that sign the pledge will be accountable to their students, with their name and the requests they have committed to displayed on the VicSRC website. We need to change the narrative that schools are purely for academics because they arent.

I can attest to the major mental health crisis firsthand. I am struggling with mental health issues that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. My normal support network of school and work have been taken away, and the uncertainty of when another lockdown will happen causes huge anxiety. The mental health system has become even harder to navigate. Earlier this year, a very close friend of mine attempted suicide and was hospitalised. It was a lot to handle, and without my normal support network around me, I didnt know what to do.

VCE is hard and students are burning out. Study designs are packed with more content than can fit into a 35-week period but calls to change this have fallen upon deaf ears. Cuts to the study design shouldnt be a luxury or a consequence of spending the majority of the year in lockdown.

As someone who sat a year 12 subject last year, we were still racing to finish, even with a two-week delay in exams and less content to cover. Right now, it doesnt feel like Ill cover all the content for exams and thats extremely stressful. Despite this sentiment being echoed by students all around the state, nothing is being changed and thats extremely disappointing.
A sweat-inducing pompous relic or a status symbol that brings order and ceremony? Whichever way you slice it, wigs in Victorian courts appear to be near extinction.

While NSW silks still cling to a below-the-shoulder full-bottomed wig for cermonies, in woke Victoria (as one self-professed old QC characterised the state) the Supreme Court banned the garb in 2016, magistrates dont wear them at all and in the County Court, where judges are given the choice, the numbers are dwindling.

According to the latest wigipedia  the list that barristers use to keep track of which judges wig 13 out of 70 County Court judges don the 17th century white crown of horsehair, a decline from 23 in 2015.

The general rule of thumb is if the judge wigs, then so do the barristers, and despite its dwindling status, the states leading purveyor of the garment still sells wigs, which cost $1350, to new barristers every year.
Media experts say YouTubes decision to suspend Sky News Australia from its platform has exposed the need for Australias communications watchdog to review broadcast standards to ensure they remain relevant in the era of misinformation.

YouTube on Sunday handed the broadcaster a seven-day suspension for breaching its COVID-19 misinformation policies, prompting a debate about the role of the Australian Communications and Media Authority in addressing misinformation spread through traditional broadcast mediums.

Sky News Australia has been temporarily banned from uploading content onto YouTube. Credit:Peter Braig

ACMA said it had received 23 complaints about Skys coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of 2020, including seven relating to a July 12 segment on the Alan Jones program featuring Jones and federal MP Craig Kelly.

An ACMA spokesman said it had referred the complaints onto Sky and was monitoring Skys response to ongoing community concerns about its coverage as well as whether the current code of practice provisions and the way they are managed by broadcasters are adequate.
Vulnerable 12- to 15-year-olds will be eligible for the Pfizer vaccine from next week and residents in Queenslands COVID-19 hotspot are being urged to get any available vaccine as outbreaks worsen around the country.

Fast coronavirus testing could also become more widely available as trials of the rapid antigen tests continue in aged care facilities around NSW.

Vulnerable children aged 12 to 15 will be eligible for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from Monday, August 9. Credit:Mark Stewart

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) highlighted the increasing risk of outbreaks outside Sydney and reiterated its updated advice on the risks and benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as 11 south-east Queensland local government areas were included in the Commonwealth hotspot definition and the state recorded 13 new cases.

ATAGI reaffirms previous advice that in large outbreaks, the benefits of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca are greater than the risk of rare side effects for all age groups, the group said in a statement.
The soldiers  a commander with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and the balance captains and majors  would join an international observance force of at least 250 at the invitation of the UN Secretary-General, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar. Their job would be to patrol Iran and Iraq  particularly the border areas  and report any breaches of a ceasefire to Mr Perez de Cuellar.

Fifteen Australian Army officers will be sent to the Persian Gulf as part of a peace monitoring force if the United Nations can get Iran and Iraq to implement a ceasefire.

Australias agreement was announced yesterday by the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, at an official lunch for his British counterpart, Mrs Thatcher. There are now, at last, some grounds for hope after the prolonged tragedy of the Iran-Iraq war, Mr Hawke said. Australia has been asked by the United Nations Secretary-General to make personnel available for a peacekeeping force there and we have indicated our willingness to do so.

Later, Mr Hawke told journalists Australia had consistently expressed a deep concern about the tragedy of the Iraq-Iran war, and weve used our efforts to try and get some resolution of it. It was appropriate then, to respond to a UN request when it does seem to offer the possibility of an end to that tragedy.

But before there can be a peace observing team, there must be a proper ceasefire. And given the apparent advantage Iraq has not gained in the fighting that will not easily be achieved in talks at the UN, even with Irans agreement last month to accept unconditionally UN resolution 598.

That year-old resolution, the basis of any UN-sponsored ceasefire, demands an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of all forces to internationally recognised boundaries and the early exchange of prisoners of war.

The Defence Minister, Mr Beazley, said yesterday that Australias agreement to participate was subject to satisfactory administrative and security arrangements, leaving the impression that this might be an impediment to the Australian officers going.
Van Buren, AR (72956)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High around 90F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 70F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
In this Monday, June 13, 2016 photo, graffiti is written on the side of a mobile home at the Little Farm trailer park in El Portal, Fla. In a city known for its glitzy, luxurious condo towers, affordable rental housing is hard to come by.
In this Aug. 29, 2016, file photo, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Todd Young speaks after receiving the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber in Indianapolis.
FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2014 file photo a bus sits in front of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
Heather Randazzo, a grow employee at Compassionate Care Foundation's medical marijuana dispensary, trims leaves off marijuana plants March 22, 2019, in the company's grow house in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
Staff Reporter

Tim Gruver is a politics and public policy reporter. He is a University of Washington alum and the recipient of the 2017 Pioneer News Award for Reporting. His work has appeared in Politico, the Kitsap Daily News, and the Northwest Asian Weekly.
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A group of more than 350 illegal immigrants wait for Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas, on July 25, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

644 Percent Increase in Haitians Illegally Crossing US Border

Many of the Haitians crossing into the US left Haiti years ago, see now as a good time to come to the US

DEL RIO, TexasThousands of Haitians are illegally crossing the southwest border into the United States.

Border Patrol agents have apprehended 15,599 Haitians from January through June this year, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics. In the same period last year, 2,097 Haitians were apprehended.

Many of the Haitians left their home country years ago and have been living in South America, according to a Border Patrol agent in the Del Rio Sector, where the vast majority are crossing.

The Epoch Times spoke to several Haitians on July 25, both on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande before they crossed, and on the Del Rio side after they crossed into Texas. That morning, about 350 illegal immigrants were waiting for Border Patrol by the border fence in Del Rio. Most were Haitian.

One Haitian couple said they left Haiti two years ago, and their 9-month-old baby was born in Chile. They plan to live in New York.

One woman said she left Haiti in 2012 and lived in the Dominican Republic. She plans to live in Brooklyn, New York.

Another man left Haiti in October 2016 and flew to Chile. If you have a family unit, they let you into Chile easily, he said.

One Haitian man said he left Haiti in September 2019 and went to Brazil first. Hed spent the past four months in Mexico City before crossing the border. He said he has a job lined up in a manufacturing plant in Indianapolis.

Others said they left Haiti four to five years ago.

Just one couple The Epoch Times encountered said they left Haiti recently. Two months ago, they took a boat from Haiti to Chile, then flew to Monterrey, Mexico, before getting on a bus to the border city of Acuna, Mexico, and crossing into Del Rio. They plan to live in Boston.

Identification

Acuna, Mexico, has become a hub for migrants from all over the world to converge and then make illegal entry into the United States. Its less violent than many of the other cartel-controlled border-crossing plazas in Mexico, and the river is walkable.

A port of entry is nearby, but the migrants say its easier for them to cross illegally and harder for the United States to turn them away.

On the riverbank in Acuna, The Epoch Times watched 36 Haitians and Cubans cross within 50 minutes.

Many of the Haitians paused to tear up and discard the paperwork they had with them. Passports, visas, and identification cards were strewn all over the ground. Theyre told its harder to be deported from the United States if one doesnt bring ID.

A spokesperson from CBP told The Epoch Times that the agencys top priority is border security.

When agents encounter an individual that is not in possession of any form of identification, CBP relies on articulable observations that include agent interviews, interactions between other migrants, and systems records checks to help identify the individuals nationality, the spokesperson wrote via email.

Additionally, CBP may contact the migrants stated home country consulate to verify identification.

The spokesperson didnt explain what happens to an individual who cant be identified.

Even with identification, the United States has run into difficulties with deporting Haitians, as the country sometimes refuses to take its citizens back.

Pursuant to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, Zadvydas v. Davis, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is forced to release illegal immigrants who are in detention and ready for deportation after six months if their country of origin wont accept them or issue travel documents for them.

In 2015, a Haitian man whom Haiti refused to accept back when the United States tried to deport him was released after six months and subsequently murdered a 25-year-old Connecticut woman in her home.

Waves of Haitians have come into the United States in years past. Historically, border agents have apprehended most Haitians after they crossed into Puerto Rico. And more Haitians have been apprehended at the northern border than at the southern border until in recent years.

From October 2015 through late September 2016 (right before the U.S. presidential election), about 5,000 Haitians presented themselves at Californias San Ysidro port of entry.

Again in 2019, during the last border surge, thousands of Haitians made their way into the United Statesnot through ports of entry anymore, but into Del Rio after illegally crossing the Rio Grande.

Temporary Protected Status

The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program is a form of humanitarian relief that has, since 1990, granted temporary legal status and work authorization to nonimmigrant aliens in the United States who are from countries affected by natural disasters, conflict, or other extreme adversity.

About 55,000 Haitians living in the United States are currently beneficiaries of TPS, which allowed Haitian nationals who were in the United States before the devastating 2010 earthquake to stay and work in the United States until it was deemed safe to return.

During the Trump administration, the designation was set to expire and the 55,000 Haitians were expected to return to their home country by July 22, 2019.

At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said the number of displaced people in Haiti had decreased by 97 percent since the 2010 earthquake. A subsequent court ruling placed an injunction on the programs termination for Haitians, and it continued.

After President Joe Biden took office, Haitis TPS designation was extended for 18 months and expanded to include Haitians who had recently entered the United States.

On May 22, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that Haitians who were in the United States as of May 21, 2021, were now eligible to apply for TPS.

The following month, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 6,000 Haitians, compared to 200 in June 2020.

On July 30, Mayorkas again extended the designation to Haitians who had entered the United States by July 29, in part due to the July 7 assassination of Haitis President Jovenel Moise.

Since the 2010 earthquake, the United States has made available over $5.1 billion in assistance to Haiti, according to the White House.

Citizenship

Some politicians and pro-amnesty advocates have long been trying to create a pathway to citizenship for TPS holders and are eyeing the current budget reconciliation process to achieve it.

However, the Supreme Court ruled on June 7 that TPS isnt a gateway to a green card. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the court opinion that entering the country illegally precludes an individual from obtaining a green card.

A grant of TPS does not cure a foreign nationals entry without inspection or constitute an inspection and admission of the foreign national, Kagan wrote, quoting a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services determination.

Meanwhile, by 2017, about one-quarter of Haitians granted TPS had already either filed for or have been granted lawful permanent resident status.

Nationals from 12 countries currently have TPS designation: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Burma (also known as Myanmar), Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
At Lone Madrone Winery in Paso Robles, Calif., roses at the end of vineyard rows provide early detection of disease and insects before they can infect the vines. (Courtesy of Athena Lucero)

A Serendipitous Road Trip to Paso Robles

Not all roads lead to Paso Robles wine country in Californias Central Coast. But in 2015, two events would lure me back to the Golden States rising star.

In May of that year, a visit to then-new Bristols Cider House, in the town of Atascadero next door to Paso (the shortened moniker for Paso Robles), introduced me to hard cider made by Neil and Jackie, a brother-and-sister team from Bristol, England, aka cider country, because they couldnt find the refreshing fermented beverage made from apples that they so loved back home.

Today, their operation thrives with a loyal following.

At Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, Calif., guests enjoy tastings of Rhone-style wines. (Courtesy of Athena Lucero)

In July 2015, while visiting Manchester, England, I wandered into a wine merchants shop. In its narrow slice of space, a single wall filled end-to-end with fine wines from around the world entranced my curiosity. Knowing I was from California, the store manager pulled open a drawer and revealed a bottle of Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc.

Thats from Paso Robles, I said, touched by this happenstance moment on the other side of the Atlantic.

Fast forward to May 2021 as COVID-19 restrictions began loosening. My husband and I agreed it was time to celebrate our return to normal with a road trip back to rustic Paso, 3.5 hours from Los Angeles. Its wide-open space paints the quintessential California landscape of shady oaks, acres of rolling vineyards, and romantic roads winding in between. With 200-plus mostly family-owned wineries spread throughout, we could barely wait for in-person wine tasting again amid Pasos famous warm and laid-back spirit.

Today, it is Californias largest American Viticultural Area (divided into 11 districts), and the states next major wine region. And then some.

Enter Robert Haas, an American wine merchant and leader in the wine industry, and the esteemed Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel, located in the Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine region in Frances Rhone Valley. In 1987, Haas and the Perrins partnered to grow Rhone grape varietals in Paso Robles after discovering that conditions here are exactly that of the Rhone due to the ideal Mediterranean climate and calcareous limestone, rare in the United States, that allows for the same dry-farming methods of Europe. Eleven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, hot days dip dramatically to cool nights. With 40- to 60-degree temperature changes in a single day, the diurnal shift here is the largest of any growing region in the country.

By 1990, Tablas Creek Vineyard was born, and Haas joined the pioneers of the American Rhone wine movement. Today it is the only winery in the country to have all 14 Chateauneuf-du-Pape grapes, and over the decades its grafting program has made Rhone varietal cuttings available to vineyards around the country. Counoise, Grenache blanc, Grenache noir, Marsanne, Mourvedre, syrah, Roussanne and Viognier are just half of the Rhone varieties.

Suffice it to say, Tablas Creek was our first winery stop. Here Ray King, tasting-room host extraordinaire, offered a fantastic minicourse on the journey of Rhone grapes to America with a tour of the vineyard and a divinely comprehensive tasting sessionemphasizing Pasos spectacular climate for making elegant wines.

Saxophonist Tyler Anderson treats passersby to soothing jazz tunes at City Park in the center of downtown Paso Robles, Calif. (Courtesy of Athena Lucero)

The grapes get cooked during the day, said King, and then have reprieve overnight to get this nice acidity. The result is naturally well-balanced grapeseven before we manipulate them into wine.

Following this total-immersion minicourse in Rhone-style wines and Pasos French connection, we called it a day to absorb it all and worked our way back to the lively atmosphere of downtown Paso. Streets lined with shops, art galleries, a movie theater, its popular General Store (that sells more than just provisions), and dining spots just about everywhere were abuzz with locals and visitors heading out to dinner. And in the center of it all, the inviting green space of City Park offered rest and respite, enhanced by soulful tunes, compliments of a passionate saxophonist.

Our tasting itinerary continued over the next two days at equally remarkable small-production wineriesNiner, Brecon, Lone Madrone, and Epoch in neighboring Templetoneach sharing their own Paso stories while showcasing exquisite estate-grown varietals and flagship blends.

After finishing our flight of fabulous wines at Lone Madrone Winery (loved the Chenin blanc), I asked Lorraine, our tasting host, how the name Lone Madrone came about.

The first cabernet sauvignon vineyard that Neil sourced for Lone Madrone had one madrone tree, she said. It has a beautiful reddish shiny bark. We have a picture of it inside.

Instantly, my 2015 excursion to Bristols Cider in Atascadero flooded my memory, especially when owner Neil Collins talked about the lone madrone photograph hanging on the wall.

Then, Lorraine brought out samples of different cidersalso sold at Lone Madrone.

Cider has become quite the thing here, she said. Its refreshing after a day of wine tasting.

I was smitten by all of this, but there was more to come: Collins is also the winemaker and vineyard manager at Tablas Creek. In the late 1990s, he worked for a year at Chateau de Beaucastel then returned to California and Tablas Creek, where he has been ever since. Lone Madrone is Collinss own label. His cider and wines are made at the cider house in Atascadero.

And how fitting it was that two years ago, Collins received the prestigious 2019 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year award from the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.

Indeed, this journey was about connecting the dots.

When You Go

TablasCreek.com

LoneMadrone.com

EpochWines.com

NinerWine.com

BreconEstate.com

My overnight accommodation was Hotel Cheval: HotelCheval.com

For more information on Paso Robles: TravelPaso.com

Athena Lucero is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at Creators.com. Copyright 2021 Creators.com
White House press secretary Jen Psaki gestures as she speaks at a daily press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on July 27, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

After Riding Pandemic Into Office, Biden Administration Unsure in COVID-19 Response

Commentary

There is some natural justice in the shambles of the Biden administrations COVID-19 policy.

This administration benefited miraculously from the onset of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virusall polls prior to the arrival of the pandemic had indicated that President Donald Trump would be reelected.

The Democrats and their almost airtight phalanx of social and national political media support immediately saw the coronavirus as their key to victory. They created a War of the Worlds state of public hysteria. Almost overnight, the United States was enshrouded in a compulsive fear of all other people as spreaders of a virus that was implicitly given powers almost on par with the bubonic plague of medieval times.

They preemptively mocked then-President Trump as anti-science and demanded a complete economic shutdown of the country, which they could then blame on him and frame him as the Herbert Hoover of the 21st century.

Scarcely before Trump had opened his mouth on the subject in public, he was being denounced by his wall-to-wall media enemies for being a racist for shutting down direct flights from China and identifying China as the source of the virus, as well as for being a heartless slave to filthy lucre for not shutting down practically everything in order to ensure the survival of everybody, even if the United States became a nation of socio-phobic moles and sloths living on posted benefit payments.

The most prominent and alarmist scientists were immediately enthroned as oracles. The Democratic strategists no doubt recognized that they could be relied upon, as subjects of immense media and public scrutiny, to occupy the last millimeter of the limelight with Alfred Hitchcock-like tales of impending doom if the most draconian measures werent taken. The president astutely assembled a committee of eminent scientists and public health experts presided over by Vice President Mike Pence.

Five-Day Hold

For approximately a week, there was the usual coming together of the nation in the face of an emergency, an approximate five-day abatement in the more frenzied attacks on Trump, and a general comradeship along the lines of the endlessly repeated television news signoff: We are all in this together.

This was judged by the Democratic strategists to be an adequately decent interval before holding the president to blame for every conceivable COVID-related shortcoming. He was a bigot in opposing the Chinese, a laggard in proposing shutdowns, and a short-sighted sluggard in assisting all of the states to have the equipment and hospital capacities they would need, even as governors Newsom of California and Cuomo of New Yorkboth strenuously vocal political opponents of Trump and his administrationacknowledged that the president had promptly delivered everything that they had asked of him.

The scientists, hugely publicized and deferred to by a scientifically illiterate media and public, became pontifical. The now-infamous Dr. Anthony Fauci, articulate and persuasive, had much of the United States believing that they would never shake hands again and couldnt touch any surface with their bare hands for fear of the evil droplets that might strike them down, while the proposed remedies varied radically almost from week to week.

Masking, which was useless in March, was obligatory even when outdoors in April. Bidens medical advisor, Zeke Emanuel (brother of the failed former mayor of Chicago), declared that the country would need to be shut down for years. After the first month of immense unemployment increases, the Democratic media propaganda machine began hanging the poor economic status of the country, for which they had been clamoring, around the presidents neck like a giant booby prize.

As he was producing an economic depression, he was also squandering lives by his unspecified incompetence. This particular fraud has persisted: Its latest espouser was the egregious Carl Bernstein, who recently designated Trump a war criminal within his own country on CNN because of the thousands of Covid deaths due to his [unspecified] criminal negligence.

Political Deadweight

Trumps principal contribution to the struggle with the coronavirus was his ingenious collaboration with the major drug companies in the fast-track development of vaccines two or more years ahead of expert expectations.

The initial response from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was that they wouldnt trust any vaccine sponsored by Trump. Once in office, they pinned their entire anti-COVID-19 program on the swiftest possible dissemination of vaccines developed under Trumps auspices.

To be fair, Trump did do considerable damage to his own credibility by shouldering Pence aside and taking the daily press briefings on the virus himself. His answers were normally cogent and indicative of his grasp and management of the issues.

But he enabled his media enemies to pack the briefings with insolent baiting questions: Mr. President, do you regret your lies?

There were endless debates about the value of therapies as the Democratic media insisted on declaring absolutely everything to be useless and hopeless except indefinite lockdowns, accompanied by fierce denunciations of Trump for producing an economic depression even as he was a slacker in pursuing a solution to the crisis.

The president also waxed hot and cold about how soon the recovery would come and the shutdown would end, and he allowed himself to be drawn into sterile debates about the value of hydroxychloroquine and other therapies. He managed the pandemic well as an executive, but poorly in terms of public relations.

As all the world knows, the coronavirus pandemic was used as the excuse to modify voting and vote-counting rules in ways that may quite possibly have altered the election result. Biden and Harris limped into office after a tainted election and took great credit for distributing the vaccine their predecessor had developedthe credibility of which they had scorned because of Trumps role in the astoundingly rapid development and deployment of the vaccines.

The media, with Trumps partial inadvertent cooperation, had succeeded in making the pandemic a serious political deadweight to Trump. Bidens absurd masking, distancing, and pandering to fears of the pandemic and to those who were irrationally fearful of it made his COVID-19 management a principal source of support for him and of his honeymoon approval rating.

With the arrival of COVID-19 variants and an uptick in the incidence of the CCP virus, the administration and its star scientists have fallen about in contradictory suggestions about what to do.

The Facts

The entire COVID-19 effort has been beset by the reluctance of the Democratic media to give adequate emphasis to the statistical facts: The fatality rate among healthy people beneath the age of 65 is less than 1 percent, and even among those with other problems who are older than 65, the recovery rate is approximately 95 percent.

These new variants spread quickly, but are generally less dangerous than the initial strain of COVID-19.

Masks appear to be virtually useless and are an absurd placebo and fashion piece, such as bell-bottom trousers from the early 1970s.

The vulnerable categories of people must be segregated, and it would be permissible to require them to be vaccinated. For the rest, people should decide for themselves. A total of 97 percent of hospitalized COVID cases are unvaccinated people.

The facts necessary for making the appropriate executive decisions are available, and the failure of this administration to be clear or sensible is particularly telling, given the massive disinformation campaign they inflicted on Trump, which, along with the electoral skulduggery in the swing states, won them the election.

Trump gave them the vaccine and the winning strategy, and theyre bobbling it. All thats needed is a little leadership.

Conrad Black has been one of Canadas most prominent financiers for 40 years and was one of the leading newspaper publishers in the world. Hes the author of authoritative biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, and, most recently, Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other, which has been republished in updated form. Please follow Conrad Black with Bill Bennett and Victor Davis Hanson on their podcast Scholars and Sense.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
This illustration picture taken on Nov. 15, 2019, shows the logo of the Fiji Airways' Airbus A350 XWB during its delivery ceremony of the first Fiji Airways Airbus A350 aircraft at the Airbus delivery center in Colomiers, southwestern France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia Bankrolls $68M Fiji Airport, Amid Pacific Competition With Beijing

Australia will provide $68 million to Fiji to assist with airport upgrades amid a wider influence push into the South Pacific region against Beijings encroaching hegemony.

The government-backed Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) will partner with ANZ Bank to support infrastructure upgrades to increase passenger capacity at Nadi International Airport to help the nation recover from COVID-19.

Zed Seselja, minister for the Pacific, said Australia was committed to supporting the South Pacific with high-quality, affordable infrastructure projects.

This project is a great example of why Australia established the AIFFP, Seselja said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

Australias loan and guarantee package will enable Fiji Airports to continue development during COVID-19, preparing for the reopening of Fijis international border.

ANZ Bank CEO Shayne Elliott said in a statement (pdf): ANZ plays an important role connecting customers to the growing trade and investment opportunities across the region.

Investing in infrastructure that puts Fiji in a position to quickly scale up capacity once international travel resumes is critical to driving future growth.

The airport funding will be the fourth project supported by the AIFFP, which comes under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. So far, the body has bankrolled five projects in the region, including a solar farm in Papua New Guinea, an undersea cable for Palau, and a hydro-power system in the Solomon Islands.

Announced and established in 2018 under Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the AIFFP is part of Australias wider Pacific Step-up, which was established amid concerns that Beijing was building influence in the South Pacific region via low-cost lending to island nations.

People gather at the airport three times per week to welcome and farewell passengers from Suva, Fiji, on Aug. 15, 2018, in Funafuti, Tuvalu. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Lumix)

The latest announcement comes following revelations in July that the government and Australian telecommunications giant Telstra were working together on a potential bid to buy the mobile networks of Digicela global telco with interests mainly in the Pacific and Caribbean region.

Experts told The Epoch Times that despite the deal not being commercially viable, the government was still keen to bankroll a potential acquisition of the company to ward off any potential bid from Beijing.

The South Pacific region has been the center of a tug of war between democratic allies and Beijing. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), vaccine donations, and diplomatic influence to gain support from Pacific Island leaders.

The response from Pacific nations has varied, with some nations embracing ties with Beijing and others outright rejecting it.

Over the weekend, Samoas new Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa stood by a pledge to scrap a BRI port development near the nations capital worth $100 million.

Her stance was a major shift from that of Samoas incumbent leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who, for most of his two-decade-long rule, has maintained close ties with the CCP.
Protesters taking part in a national day of action against mining giant Santos, in Sydney, Australia on December 3, 2020. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Australian Oil and Gas Giants to Merge Amid Climate Change Pressure

Australian fossil fuel giants Oil Search and Santos are close to a merger that will create a $21 billion entity and a new entrant to the top 20 largest oil and gas companies globally.

The merger talks come as the resource industry undergoes a major shift amid mounting pressure from the climate change movement.

Santos, Australias second-largest independent gas producer, is offering Oil Search a six percent premium on its share price, with Oil Search shareholders owning a 38.5 percent stake in the merged entity, while Santos will own 61.5 percent.

Oil Search, which runs oil and gas production operations in Papua New Guinea, will recommend its shareholders accept the offer.

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said, It represents a compelling combination of two industry leaders to create an unrivalled regional champion of size and scale with a unique diversified portfolio of long-life, low-cost oil and gas assets.

A general view of Santos tower in the Brisbane CBD, Australia, on December 19, 2019. (AAP Image/David Clark)

The merged company would have strong cash generation from a diverse range of assets which provides a strong platform for sustainable growth and continued shareholder returns, he said in an investor announcement.

The merger also builds on our industry-leading approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) through the combination of Santos net-zero 2040 pathway.

Rob Nicholls, associate professor of regulation and governance at the University of New South Wales, called the merger logical and said climate change action would remain top of mind throughout the life of the new entity.

For Santos, its another in a series of logical acquisitions; for Oil Search, its a good exit price, he told The Epoch Times. The fossil fuel sector is increasingly difficult to bank. Increasingly, institutional investors are unwilling to commit significant funds unless there is a planned move to carbon neutrality.

Financial companies, including banks, insurers, and retirement funds, have been shifting their investment or services away from businesses deemed to be major emitters.

The moves come in response to global trends and climate change activism in the boardroom.

The Insurance Council of Australia noted in a recent submission (pdf) to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth that in 2006, 62 investment companies (controlling over US$6.5 trillion in assets) signed on to the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment.

The pledge saw corporations move to incorporate ESG issues into their decision-makingincluding climate change action to reduce global emissions.

By April 2018, the number of companies signed on increased to 1,715 companies (controlling US$81.7 trillion), including Australias Big Four insurers Allianz, IAG, QBE and Suncorpwho control 70 percent of the countrys insurance market.

This has led local mining industry players in Australia to complain of the difficulties in getting major projects off the ground. In contrast, global resource firm BHP has begun looking at opportunities to sell off its petroleum business.

The issue is currently the focus of an Australian parliamentary inquiry.

Regarding Santos and Oil Search, Nicholls added that only a small number of businesses could continue to operate free from climate change pressure.

The merged entity will need to be able to demonstrate a path to carbon neutrality over time in order to continue access to capital markets, he said. The challenge is that although burning natural gas creates less CO2 per unit of energy generated than coal, it remains a fossil fuel with no renewable component.
India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (R) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hold a joint news conference at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi on July 28, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken Finds Common Ground With India on Afghanistan

NEW DELHIU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited New Dehli, India, for the first time on July 27 and 28 to discuss global issues of common interest with the Indian administration, including the situation unfolding in Afghanistan.

Geo-political analysts told The Epoch Times that statements from both sides reflect the common thinking India and the United States share on Afghanistan, and the role the two countries are set to play against authoritarian powers.

He has conveyed very, very clearly the thinking of the United States administration on the subject. I mean, the threat that Afghanistan and India face, both these countries face from the combination of Pakistan and China, Madhav Nalapat, a geopolitical analyst and the vice-chairman of the Manipal Advanced Research Group, told The Epoch Times.

According to Nalapats sources, Blinken conveyed some very important messages from U.S. President Joe Biden to the Indian administration.

At a joint press conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on July 28, Blinken said the United States remains engaged in Afghanistan and continues to support the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani through various forms of assistance, including assistance to the countrys security forces and diplomatic support in bringing together the Ghani government and the Taliban in a meaningful way to resolve the conflicts.

Ultimately, an Afghanistan that does not respect the rights of its people, an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people, would become a pariah state. The Taliban says that it seeks international recognition, that it wants international support for Afghanistan. Presumably, it wants its leaders to be able to travel freely in the world, sanctions lifted, et cetera, Blinken said in reply to a question about whether the U.S. government has done enough to pressure Pakistan over its support for the Taliban.

Taking over the country by force and abusing the rights of its people is not the path to achieve those objectives. Theres only one path, and thats at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict peacefully and to have an Afghanistan emerge that is governed in a genuinely inclusive way and thats representative of all its people.

The Afghan government has repeatedly accused Pakistan of training, financing, and supporting Taliban terrorists.

We have accurate intelligence reports that more than 10,000 Pakistani have entered Afghanistan from Pakistan, while another 15,000 are encouraged to come. This shows that a regular institution is training and financing Taliban, a spokesperson for President Ghani said in a video message sent to media, reported Asian News International on July 31.

A nine-member Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Talibans co-founder and head of its political commission, met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on July 28. Wang claimed that the U.S. withdrawal was due to the failure of its policy in Afghanistan. Wang called the Taliban an important military and political force in Afghanistan and said the terrorist group had encouraged China to join peace talks.

Blinken said in an interview with Indian news network CNN-News18 that a greater role for China in Afghanistan could be a positive thing.

No one has an interest in a military takeover of the country by the Taliban, the restoration of an Islamic emirate. Everyone has an interest in a peaceful resolution of the conflict and some kind of government that emerges thats truly representative and inclusive. And so, if China is acting on those interests, if other countries are acting on those interests, thats a positive thing, he said.

However, Nalapat said Blinkens visit to India indicates that both India and the United States want to prevent the domination of the Indo-Pacific by the Chinese Communist Party and its allies.

Nalapat said that both countries want to prevent the spread of extremism, very frankly, which is completely backed by that authoritarian power, the Peoples Republic of China, referring to the Taliban.

He said that hes very certain that Blinken was discussing that when an inevitable attack comes on India, on Afghanistan, how India and the United States, which have some very powerful militaries between the two of them, will coordinate.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and U.S. Ambassador to India Atul Keshap (R), deliver remarks to civil society organization representatives in a meeting room at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India, on July 28, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Support for Kabul

Experts told The Epoch Times that statements made during Blinkens New Delhi visit indicate that the two big democracies support the democratically elected civilian government at Kabul.

Blinken told the press in New Delhi that the two countries share a strong interest in a peaceful, secure, and stable Afghanistan.

As a leader and critical partner in the region, India has made and will continue to make vital contributions to Afghanistans stability and development, and well continue to work together to sustain the gains of the Afghan people and support regional stability after the withdrawal of coalition forces from the country, he said.

Enayat Najafizada, founder and CEO of the Kabul-based Afghan Institute of War and Peace Studies, told The Epoch Times that New Delhi wants to coordinate its support to Afghanistan with the United States.

India has always been a staunch supporter of Afghanistan and the Afghan state. All the support and assistance of India to Afghanistan has always been through the state. It has been a state-to-state relationship at least over the past 20 years since the presence of the international community in Afghanistan, Najafizada said.

Jaishankar said in the joint press conference that he and Blinken had specifically discussed Afghanistan and that peace negotiations should be taken seriously by all parties currently involved in Afghanistan.

The world wishes to see an independent, sovereign, democratic, and stable Afghanistan at peace with itself and with its neighbors. But its independence and sovereignty will only be ensured if it is free from malign influences. Similarly, unilateral imposition of will by any party will obviously not be democratic and can never lead to stability, nor indeed can such efforts ever acquire legitimacy, he said.

During Blinkens and Jaishankars interaction, it was apparent that India has noted that the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan is a policy prerogative of the Biden administration, according to Kashish Parpiani, a fellow at Observer Research Foundations Mumbai center.

In the context of the U.S. continued role with an over the horizon strategy, India and the U.S. seem to have agreed to continue support for the democratically elected civilian dispensation in Kabul.

Afghan women cadets march during a training program at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai on Feb. 18, 2021. (Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images)

Its likely that India will lend support to the Afghan airforce and also continue to provide training to the Afghan National Army. India has offered a helping hand to the Afghan government and to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, according to Najafizada.

The Afghan Army Chief of Staff was scheduled to travel to Delhi to discuss with Indian authorities what kind of support Afghanistan needs and what kind of support India can offer. As I have heard from several sources, Afghanistan needs a lot of support on air capabilities, given that airpower gives the Afghan forces on the ground an upper hand, he said.

India is very concerned about the advances made by the Taliban in Afghanistan and will join like-minded powers to halt these advances, Najafizada said.

Nalapat said hes very happy that Western forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan because they arent needed thereAfghans are a proud people, and they dont need any foreign forces on their soil.

What is needed is weapons. What is needed is data, intel. What is needed is logistical support. And then what is needed is financial support. The Europeans and Japanese are giving financial support. The Americans are providing logistical, intel, and weapons support. And if I may say so, the Afghan National Army will take care of the manpower requirements with training by the Indian Army, Nalapat said, noting that he doesnt believe that India will send soldiers to fight in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and Home Secretary Priti Patel during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford, Surrey, England, on July 27, 2021. (Yui Mok/PA)

Boris Johnsons Satisfaction Rating Among Conservatives Plummets

The satisfaction rating of Prime Minister Boris Johnson among the Conservative grassroots took a nosedive in July, barely clinging to positive territory, a new poll suggests.

In the latest monthly Cabinet League Table poll by British blog ConservativeHome, the prime minister scored a satisfaction rating of a mere 3.4 points, 35.8 points lower than the previous month and 52.2 points lower than two months ago.

The result comes after Johnson reversed his previous position and is seeking mandatory vaccine passports in nightclubs and other crowded venues.

It also comes after the PM faced backlash for planning to avoid self-isolation by participating in a test-and-release pilot programme that isnt available to the wider public and growing anger over a so-called pingdemic that has seen tens of thousands of people out of work after being pinged by the National Health Services (NHS) COVID-19 app as contacts of those testing positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

However, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunakwho also planned to join the pilot programme before changing his minddidnt suffer the same loss as the prime minister.

Sunak lost 6.5 points in July but remained in second place in the league with a score of 74.1 points.

Johnson had already had a bad month in June, during which he saw the resignation of scandal-hit Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the Tories lost two by-elections.

This isnt the first time Johnsons rating has plunged. Last September, it dropped to -10.3 before picking back up.

July has also been a tough month for Home Secretary Priti Patel, who lost 20 points.

The home secretary is having a difficult relationship with the police force after she announced a pay freeze for officers whose salary is more than 24,000 ($33,300).

The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents 130,000 police officers, said last month that it had lost confidence in Patel.

Her failure to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the English Channel may be another major factor in the decline in her rating.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, who negotiates trade deals around the world, is top of the league table with a score of 88.6.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, scoring 71.3, remains in his previous position of third place.

Brexit minister Lord David Frost remained in fourth with a score of 68.9. He has recently requested to renegotiate parts of the Brexit deal, a popular move among some Brexit supporters who werent happy with the terms he had previously agreed to.

The new Health Secretary Sajid Javid scored 66.6 points, slightly lower than the previous month. Javid announced a 3 percent pay raise for the NHS.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson remains in unpopular territory, with a score of -44.1 points.
The destruction wrought by mob-driven cancel culture comes with even greater costs than individual lives turned upside down and dreams destroyed. (Zenza Flarini/Shutterstock)

Cancel Culture: A Remanifestation of Fascism

Commentary

If history teaches us anything, it is that the past is perhaps the single darkest shadow haunting humanity.

Since the dawn of human civilization, our modern world has made countless attempts to rewrite, escape, and even purge its most dreadful memories, while clinging dear to that which is better remembered.

Lets face it: the past can evoke indescribable pain. Awaken grief. Expose secrets. Produce anger. Move us to vulnerable places.

Nonetheless, the past not all bad. The past can inform present reason. Provide reassurance for the future. Reveal hidden truths. Remind us of where we have been, who we are, and with that, what we can overcome. Allow me to elaborate.

Some years ago during what many would call the first manifestations of the cancel culture movement, I attended a U.S. history lecture. Spirited debate over the existence of racist, xenophobic, and white supremacist symbols in America consumed the large auditorium.

As an ardent proponent against racism, I was naturally inclined to agree with those who vehemently argued that such symbols should be wiped from our nations memory. After all, I pondered, nothing good could come from the continued existence of such symbols in our culture.

Another student then decided to take the debate one step further. The young man suggested certain religious statues and symbols should be destroyed. In particular, he argued that all statues, paintings, stained glass and imagery depicting Jesus as a white man should be torn down.

History was not lost on me. I understood that Jesus was born in region geographically close to Egypt, which raises questions about his physical appearance.

As a Christian and as a Black man, this was my first time facing the dichotomy of a challenge to symbols of my faith and, by contrast, to my strong opinions about race-relations. After much reflection, I decided that my relationship with God was far too valuable to be dependent on or beholden to a certain illustration or depiction of Jesus. I took note that these symbols were reminders of how far our society and culture have come.

The goal of this debate was noble: to purge our nation of painful reminders of racial supremacy.

In reality, purging our nation of certain symbols cannot rid our nation of all painful reminders of racial supremacy.

It is akin to the belief that purging our nation of the Declaration of Independence would remove painful reminders of our nations empty promises of equality for all in 1776. Removing symbols will never purge the wrongdoing. Purging the wrongdoing, on the other hand, could better remove the behavior causing the harm.

That led me to a more intimidating questionthe question of where it all ends. That is, the destruction of symbols that represent that which offend many in our society. With that, I questioned what destroying some of these symbols could cost our culture in the long run.

George Orwell undoubtedly grappled with this same question 72 years ago when he decreed, He who controls the past controls the future. This world-renowned author enlightened us to this inherent truth in the aftermath of the Second World War and Holocaust.

Sure, we do not presently face the tyranny that terrorized our ancestors and stained red the moral fabric of history. Nevertheless, we bear witness to a movement with the underpinnings of revolutions that produced the same terror: namely the cancel culture movement.

Today, a growing number of Americans and civilians worldwide are becoming increasingly unapologetic about their distaste for their governing institutions, influencers, creeds, and ideologies. In an altruistic effort to reinvent the institutions that govern and influence our culture, many have taken it upon themselves to purge their institutionsreligions, governments, and even private enterprisesof a dreadful past.

Around the world, we see statues and symbols representing various creeds and faiths plundering down when they reflect an image of a particular race. We witness constant public degradation and shaming of moral transgressors.

We see government officials removed from office without so much as an opportunity to address accusations. We have seen classic cartoon characters such as Speedy Gonzales and Dr. Seuss removed from television and bookstores. In short, the conduits and characters for moral transgressions are being purged, but the behaviors causing those transgressions are not.

Locally, institutions throughout the nation are following suit. Earlier this year, 44 San Francisco school sites had the names of authors, presidents, conquistadors and a United States Senator, removed from the institution in an effort to purge the school of any unworthy iconic figures.

Similar tactics were employed by the Nazis less than a century ago. Some months following Hitlers reign in 1933, the German book trade produced a blacklist with the names of more than 200 authors. Universities set the authors books aflame. They applied the same logic to statues and memorials. In an effort to purge Germany of wooden war memorials they deemed offensive, the Nazis destroyed all such memorials. These were once deemed harmless acts to cleanse Germany of its indecent past. It was rewriting history in the name of justice.

Soviet Union Leader Joseph Stalin used similar means by which to ethnically and religiously cleanse the Soviet Union. Among the most controversial means, Stalin attempted to completely destroy religion and replace it with cultural and governmental dogma. Tearing down age-old religious shrines, paintings and symbols, Stalin erected new shrines and introduced new martyrs for the worship of Russias revolutionist history.

Time and again, cancel culture has worked to discredit influencers, destroy religion, and rewrite history. Other tyrants such as Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Gaddafi have employed similar tactics, and have ultimately led movements resulting in mass oppression or genocide. In the past, we would have called these pioneers of cancel culture by their true name fascists.

Fascism is the forcible suppression or destruction of oppositionthe opposition being anything that does not align with the fascists opinions or beliefs. The word fascism is derived from the root word fascio, which is the Italian word for bundle. Taken together, fascism represents bundles of people who suppress or destroy virtually anything that opposes their ideologies. Cancel culturehowever well-intentionedis a modern-day remanifestation of fascism.

As individuals and as a nation, we cannot forget our past, lest we forget ourselves in the process. Most importantly, as illustrated by the tyrannical regimes of Hitler, Stalin, Amin and Hussein, purging difficult memories from history will only leave the next generation uninformed and vulnerable to repeat the same mistakes.

Sure, our nations history is rooted in seeds of hatred, greed and human indifference, to say the least. The bitterness of 400 years of slavery endured by our Black ancestors is a difficult past to face. I face it everyday. Nevertheless, it reminds us not to repeat the same mistakes and of what our nation has overcome.

For 245 years, our nation has overcome unimaginable bouts with inequality that plagued generations of color, including the three-fifths compromise which saw the government fail to ensure equal protection for all Blacks under the law and perpetuated unfathomable injustices in our criminal justice system. The civil war also challenged the foundations upon which our nation rested, and the bloody cost of more than half a million men, women and children.

Beyond the brutal injustices and grave mistakes, you will find within the darkness of our past countless lanterns of hope.

Our nation united in the face of injustice, armed with weapons of love and courage. They marched. They fought. They bled. They wept. They made every effort possible to bring about equal protection of the laws, womens suffrage, an end to slavery and segregation. Beyond our beloved shores, our nations military fought in the Second World War to defend our freedom and put a stop to the genocide of over 2.5 million Jewish people. Though we are far from it, we continue along the path to hold true to our values.

As we journey that stony path together, let us take courage and face our nations history, the good and the bad. Our nation will never be perfect, but each of us can do our partscollectively and individuallyto make real the promises of this nation for ourselves and for those around us. Remember, regardless of its imperfections, America is still our country.

Jonathan Madison worked as professional policy staff for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. He regularly provides opinions on Fox Business Mornings With Maria and has appeared on the following networks and television shows: Saturday Night Live, KRON 4 News, NBC Bay Area News, and KTVU Channel 2 News. As chairman of the Alameda County Bar Association Real Estate Section, Jonathan leads a team of real estate attorneys in educating the County of Alameda in simple and complex legal matters. Beyond this, he leads a prison ministry at the San Francisco County Jail. He is lead attorney at The Madison Firm and can be reached via email at Jonathan@themadisonfirm.com.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Licensed vocational nurse Jelisa Stewart prepares a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for farmworkers at a County of Santa Clara mobile vaccination clinic at Monterey Mushrooms in Morgan Hill, Calif., on March 3, 2021. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

Cedars-Sinai Officials Say Local and Statewide Vaccination Uptick Is Good News

LOS ANGELESThe number of people getting their first jab of a COVID-19 vaccine increased last week by 40 percent compared to the week before at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and health officials statewide also are reporting an uptick in first-dose vaccinations.

More people are finally getting their shot, Cedars-Sinai officials said on Aug. 2 as they compared vaccine distribution between the weeks of July 19 and July 26, having dosed 600 people last week. Statewide, California reported an increase of 20 percent in the total number of first vaccine doses administered to more than 265,000 people the week of July 19 compared to the week of July 12.

Any increase in the number of individuals being vaccinated at this point is very welcome news, said infectious disease specialist Dr. Soniya Gandhi, who is the vice president of Medical Affairs and associate chief medical officer at Cedars-Sinai.

Gandhi said that vaccination is the most powerful tool we have to get control of this pandemic.

Cedars-Sinai officials said the increase could be due to the recent spike in the spread of the virus. Los Angeles has been experiencing sharp increases in daily case numbers, hospitalizations, and test-positivity rates over the past several weeks, with the increases attributed to the highly infectious Delta variant.

Over the past eight months, millions of people in the U.S. and around the world have been safely vaccinated. The data overwhelmingly shows the vaccines to be effective at preventing serious illness that causes hospitalization, and death, LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on July 31. To really beat back transmission, however, we need to have higher levels of vaccination, particularly among our younger residents.

Ferrer said the county has now seen two consecutive weeks of small increases in the number of people receiving a first dose. Between July 19 and 25, about 70,000 doses were administered in the county, up about 7,500 from the previous week.

Regardless of what may be driving the rise in vaccinations, frontline medical workers said the increase is welcome news as they watch the number of COVID-19 patients swell again.

Its great that people are doing their part to try and slow this down, said Dr. Isabel Pedraza, director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai. The numbers of COVID-19 patients are clearly climbing in the hospital now, and virtually every one of those patients is unvaccinated. Seeing vaccinations increase makes me hopeful that maybe we wont see as big of a spike as last time.
Workers install the final letter for a giant TRUMP sign on the outside of the Trump Tower in Chicago, Ill. on June 12, 2014. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago Officials Trying to Block $1 Million Tax Refund on Trump Building

Chicago officials are trying to block former President Donald Trump from receiving a $1 million tax refund that the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board ruled is owed on his Chicago skyscrapers 2011 tax bill.

The office of Cook County States Attorney Kimberly Foxx filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Appellate Court on July 9 disputing the refund, noting that the money would come out of the property taxes due to the city of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools and several other government agencies.

The lawsuit comes after the board ruled in a 5-0 vote in June that the former president is owed a total tax refund of $1.03 million as the value of the Trump International Hotel & Tower had been overassessed.

The tax agency ruled that the Cook County Board of Review overestimated the value of the buildings hotel rooms and retail space, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment.

The dispute over the tax bills on the high-rise building is the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle over Trumps tax bills that started more than 12 years ago and has led to more than $14 million in tax breaks for the former president.

Originally, the state agency rejected Trumps argument that the vacant stores had no value because he could not find any tenants to lease them. A hearing officer for the state agency rejected Trumps argument that the vacant stores at the building had no value because he couldnt lease them. But a staff member later wrote a report that Trump was entitled to the refund.

The agency delayed acting on the case until Trump was out of office and in June voted to reduce the assessment on the buildings commercial property.

This comes as the Department of Justice said that tax officials must hand over Trumps tax returns to a congressional panel, after a lawyer in the departments Office of Legal Counsel on July 31 reversed a 2019 decision that said they didnt have to be given to Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, because Neal was disingenuous about the true purpose of seeking the returns.

After Trump was elected in 2016, a number of Democrats have attempted to obtain his tax returns. The former president has refused to release them to the public.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
China's DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen during a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

China Could Soon Use Nuclear Weapons to Coerce the US, Experts Warn

The Chinese regime could use its strengthening nuclear capabilities to coerce the United States in as soon as a few years time, experts say, following recent reports exposing Beijings secret efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal.

China will have about 250 new silos, underground facilities for housing and launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), once it is done building them, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said in a report released last week. That number, according to the think tank, is more than all of the silo-based ICBMs operated by Russia and about half of Americas ICBM force.

The Chinese missile silo program constitutes the most extensive silo construction since the US and Soviet missile silo construction during the Cold War, the report stated.

About 110 of the new silos are located at a field near Hami, a city in the eastern parts of Chinas far-western Xinjiang region, the FAS revealed, citing satellite photos. Another site was uncovered by California-based James Martin Center in June. Researchers found an unfinished field with about 120 silos located in Yumen, a city in Xinjiangs neighboring Gansu Province.

The silo construction at Yumen and Hami constitutes the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever, the FAS report stated.

Nuclear Coercion

The significance of the latest silo discovery is that the Chinese military may be on its way to an initial warhead inventory of over 3,000, Rick Fisher, senior fellow at Virginia-based think tank International Assessment and Strategy Center, told The Epoch Times.

China is now beginning a sprint to nuclear warhead superiority, he said in an email.

The discovery of Beijings clandestine activities also raises the question of what else it may be doing to build its nuclear capabilities that the international community doesnt know about, said Patty-Jane Geller, a policy analyst for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation.

She noted that some have dismissed the threat posed by Beijing by citing public estimates of its nuclear stockpile which put it at 350 warheads, still a fraction of the inventory held by the United States and Russia. But the findings show that we shouldnt just be playing this numbers game, Geller said.

We cannot just be considering them as a country with just a few nuclear weapons anymore. We have to take them more seriously, she told The Epoch Times.

I dont think most Americans would be okay with living with a China who can coerce the United States with a strong military capability.

The United States may begin seeing nuclear coercion by Beijing as early as mid-decade unless the U.S. takes counter actions now, according to Fisher.

The threat is heightened if the regime teams up with Russia to combine nuclear forces to strong-arm the United States. For instance, it could prevent a future weak American President from coming to the defense of Taiwan should Beijing attack, he said.

Unless America responds quickly we will be facing an era of strategic inferiority, constant bullying, and even nuclear attack by China and Russia, Fisher said.

Military vehicles carrying DF-31AG intercontinental ballistic missiles participate in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019, (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Minimum Deterrence

Chinas nuclear expansion draws into question whether Beijing is still committed to a minimum deterrence posture, which it has publicly maintained for decades. The policy calls for the regime to keep its nuclear stockpile to the minimum level necessary to deter nuclear threats.

Fu Cong, director-general of the Department of Arms Control at Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, repeated the regimes commitment during the annual EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Conference last November.

I think its clear now that China is moving away from [minimum deterrence] and becoming more ambitious, Gellar said. In addition to building new silos, Gellar said that China was also deploying new nuclear-capable bombers and developing ICBMs that could carry multiple warheads at once.

The FAS report argued that in light of the new silos, China has move[d] out of the minimum deterrence category.

This build-up is deeply concerning, [and] raises questions about the PRCs [Peoples Republic of China] intent, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

The spokesperson added: Despite PRC obfuscation, this rapid build-up has become more difficult to hide and highlights how China is deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimum deterrence.

At the time of writing, Chinas foreign ministry has yet to comment on the new silos.

Inside China, calls have mounted for the regime to expand its nuclear arsenal. For instance, last May, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of hawkish state-run newspaper Global Times, took to his Chinese social media account calling for Beijing to quickly increase its number of nuclear warheads to over 1,000, including a minimum of 100 DF-41 ICBMs. He said the warheads were needed to curb U.S. strategic aggression.

Experts estimate that DF-41 ICBMs have an operational range of 9,300 miles (15,000 kilometers), making them capable of hitting the continental United States.

Also in May 2020, Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told Global Times that Beijing needs to increase its number of nuclear weapons in order to effectively curb the United States nuclear strike and nuclear deterrence against China.

Last week, Global Times published an editorial in response to the two reports on Chinas new silo fields. The article did not deny or affirm the findings, but said that the regime should have a nuclear force strong enough to make the USfrom the military to the governmentfear.

US Warnings

Geller said the FAS report affirmed Admiral Charles Richards previous warnings about Chinas growing nuclear capability. Richard is the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the countrys nuclear weapons.

During a congressional hearing in April, Richard said (pdf) that Chinas nuclear stockpile was undergoing an unprecedented expansion and Beijing was on the pace necessary to double their nuclear stockpile by the end of the decade.

He added that the regime was on the cusp of deploying a full strategic nuclear triadland-based missiles, submarines, and bombers.

China is capable of executing any plausible nuclear employment strategy regionally now and will soon be able to do so at intercontinental ranges, Richard said.

In response to the new discovery of Chinas silos, the U.S. Strategic Command said in a tweet: the public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it.

New Course

Washington needs to chart a new course in the face of the growing military threat posed by Beijing.

To secure America from future Chinese and Russian nuclear threats, the Biden Administration is going to have to reverse its initial arms control and nuclear reduction preferences to instead lead the most aggressive U.S. nuclear buildup since the Cold War, Fisher said.

After taking office in January, President Joe Biden renewed the New START arms control treaty for another five years until Feb. 5, 2026. The treaty, signed in 2010, limits Russia and the United States to no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads

Fisher said the treaty must be abandoned since it no longer advances American security.

While efforts have been made to bring in China for trilateral arms control negotiations, Beijing has rejected the call saying that the number of its nuclear arsenals was low compared to those of the United States and Russia.

According to Geller, the New START arms control treaty is outdated because it was signed at a time11 years agowhen we definitely didnt know about the Chinese expansion that were seeing today.

The minimum thing we need to do is complete our own nuclear modernization efforts, Geller said.

Cathy He contributed to this report.
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller looks on as President Donald Trump addresses reporters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C., on July 15, 2020. (Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Images)

COVID-19 Cases Coming in Through Southern Border: Stephen Miller

President Joe Bidens border and immigration policies are allowing COVID-19 to spread throughout the United States from the porous southern border, former Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller said on Sunday.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, Miller, founder of America First Legal, took aim at the presidents decision to suspend a Trump-era policy of forcing illegal aliens to return to their country of origin amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden suspended federal Title 42 order and has released unaccompanied children and families into the United States, where they ostensibly await immigration court dates.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since Biden took office, around one million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the southern border. In June, agents apprehended 188,829 people illegally crossing the border, up from 180,034 in May, according to CBP.

A central part of the strategy after the pandemic hit was an authority known as Title 42, Miller told show host Maria Bartiromo, explaining that the rule had allowed border officials to remove individuals who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border posing a serious COVID-19 risk. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

The principle of it is very simple, which is that during a pandemic, if you come into this country, your very presence here, if you enter unlawfully, is a threat to public health and full stop, you go home, Miller continued. Theres no process, theres no procedure, theres no asylum. You are removed either to Mexico or to a third-party country or your home country.

Miller said hes concerned that these individuals would then go on to infect other immigrants, border patrol agents, and community members.

There is no way to safely conduct illegal immigration during a pandemic, Miller said, adding that he believes it is the most unsafe form of travel.

Revoking Title 42 has meant that every month, vast amounts of unaccompanied minors and many families have been able to enter the country and spread COVID-19 throughout the United States, Miller continued.

He also warned that Americans arent guaranteed protection even if border officials test immigrants who enter the United States, noting that COVID-19 can remain in a persons system for many days before registering a positive test.

Those who test negative are crammed together with other illegal aliens, including those whose tests may return positive.

With reports of rapid spreading of the Lambda variant in South America, Miller added, This administration is bringing variants into this country  This is an attack on the health of every citizen.

In March, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted during a hearing that some illegal immigrants were not tested for the virus or expelled at the border.

Millers remarks follow a lawsuit (pdf) that he filed in June with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stop the Biden administrations catch-and-release border policy, claiming that its allowing COVID-19-infected illegal immigrants to enter the country.

At the same time the Administration is urging Americans to get vaccinated, they are resettling thousands of unvaccinated illegal aliens into their cities, towns, and schoolsand placing the cost and burden of all healthcare services for these new arrivals in the taxpayer tab, Miller said in a statement about the lawsuit at the time.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, echoed Millers remarks last week, saying that part of the problem with surging COVID-19 cases in the United States is unvaccinated immigrants crossing the southern border and getting dispersed throughout the country.

Meanwhile Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who has been critical of the White Houses immigration policies, said on Sunday that something has to change.

Our DHS agents, & border communities, are overwhelmed & must be prioritized. DHS will again encounter over 180,000 immigrants at the southern border during Julyadding to the more than 1M immigrants that have arrived at the southern border in FY21, Cuellar said on Twitter.

Separately, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has accused the Biden administration of knowingly importing COVID-19 into Texas from across the borderwillfully exposing Texans and Americans alike.

Until President Biden and his Administration do their jobs to enforce the laws of our nation and protect Americans, the State of Texas will continue to step up to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law, Abbott said last week.

The Biden administration didnt immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
COVID-19 Hits Flood-Stricken Zhengzhou and Surrounding Areas

As severe flooding overwhelmed the city of Zhengzhou, a new surge of COVID-19 was reported over the weekend in Henan and other nearby provinces. The Chinese regime announced that nearly three dozen people are infected with the Delta variant in Zhengzhou, and residents are worried that authorities are concealing the severity of the situation.

On Aug. 1, the Chinese regime announced that new COVID cases were reported in Jiangsu, Henan, Hunan, Yunnan, Shandong, Hubei, Hainan, Anhui, and Ningxia. Authorities did not disclose the number of confirmed cases, but they believe the new surge in infections began in Nanjing city, Jiangsu Province on July 20, where 204 cases were reported as of July 31.

On the same day, the regime announced two confirmed cases and three asymptomatic carriers in Fujian Province. Authorities said the source of the recent infections was a man who contracted the CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after he returned home from his recent travels abroad as a worker on a cargo plane.

Zhengzhou is the capital city of Henan and was hit with heavy rainfall and severe flooding on July 20. The surrounding cities were also affected by the floods, including Xinxiang which is still partly submerged in floodwaters as of Sunday. On Aug. 2, authorities announced the death toll in the province climbed to 302 and over 50 people are still missingthough the numbers could be much higher.

The Henan provincial government was concerned the flooded cities would create the right conditions for the CCP virus to spread unchecked. Authorities began to impose travel restrictions, and two senior officials in Zhengzhou were sacked for failing to contain the spread of the virus at a local hospital.

On Aug. 1, Zhumadian and Shangqiu, two cities in Henan, reported two confirmed casesone from each city.

Henan, home to 99.4 million people, administered over 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 31. The regime didnt mention whether the newly confirmed COVID patients have already been vaccinated.

The CCP announced new vaccine mandates on Aug. 1. Teenagers between 15 to 17 years old will be vaccinated this month; children between 12 to 14 years old will be vaccinated in September; and all children who are eligible to get the vaccine must receive two doses before the end of October.

A man maintains order with a speaker as residents queue to receive the tests for COVID-19 in Zhengzhou, Central Chinas Henan Province on July 31, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

Cluster Outbreak in Hospital

The new wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Zhengzhou is centered around the Zhengzhou No. 6 Hospital.

On July 30, a 39-year-old pregnant woman tested positive for COVID-19 at a local clinic before she was scheduled to receive medical treatment for her cervical spine, becoming the first diagnosed patient in this Zhengzhou outbreak. The woman lives near the No. 6 Hospital, but didnt visit the hospital.

The aforementioned newly diagnosed patient in Shangqiu had visited this hospital before July 27.

Authorities in Zhengzhou then announced 32 new infections by the end of July 31, and reported another case on the following day.

Most of the infections are from Zhengzhou No. 6 Hospital. They are custodians, medical staff, and patients, Wang Songqiang, director of Zhengzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press briefing in Zhengzhou on July 31.

The Henan provincial government revealed more details about the new outbreak at a press conference on Aug. 1.

The virus of the Zhengzhou outbreak spreads fast and it is highly contagious. Most of the infections are related to Zhengzhou No. 6 Hospital, said Zhang Ruoshi, vice director of Henan provincial health commission. The outbreak is in the pre-epidemic stage now, and is hard to prevent and control.

Zhang confirmed the CCP virus in the Zhengzhou outbreak is the Delta variant.

A woman receives a test for COVID-19 in Zhengzhou, Central Chinas Henan Province on July 31, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

COVID Control After Floods

The Henan provincial government is concerned the outbreak would be more difficult to control because the recent flooding caused a lot of damage to infrastructure and millions of homes.

Since July 31, residents in Zhengzhou were ordered to take the COVID-19 test. Henan authorities arranged about 5,400 medical workers from other cities in the province to run the testing sites in Zhengzhou.

On Saturday, authorities imposed travel restrictions in Henan. The provincial government announced that people are not allowed to leave the province unless its an emergency, while residents in Zhengzhou are forbidden leave the city unless they have tomore than ten residential compounds are under lockdown.

On the same day, the central authorities in Beijing ordered each county-level town to prepare at least 300 separate rooms for quarantine. This order made the public anxious about the true scale of the outbreak because many believe the Chinese regime has downplayed the severity of the pandemic and other natural disasters.

It (the regimes action) is strange. The outbreak must be very severe  much worse than [the regime] announced. Otherwise, they wont dismiss the senior officials, Zhengzhou resident surnamed Li told the Chinese-language Epoch Times on Aug. 1.

On the afternoon of July 31, the Zhengzhou city government announced that Fu Guirong, the director of Zhengzhou city health commission, and Ma Shuhuan, the Chinese Communist Party boss of Zhengzhou No. 6 Hospital, were both dismissed from their posts due to the recent outbreak. The sudden move served as a warning to incumbent officials who are expected to implement effective measures to stem the spread of the virus in their cities.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media in Melbourne, Australia on Feb. 16, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Dan Andrews Accused of Misusing Tax-Payer Funds After Allegations Staffers Spied On Focus Groups

Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson has accused State Premier Daniel Andrews of misusing public money after reports emerged in the Herald Sun and The Australian that staffers from Andrews private office were given login details, to allegedly allow them to secretly spy on tax-payer funded focus groups that were run by a former Labor pollster.

Staffers from Daniel Andrews office were given logins allowing them to spy on taxpayer-funded focus groups. There is no place Andrews wont go, Wilson said in a statement he posted to Twitter on Aug. 1.

His misuse of public money to advantage his Labor machine stinks. This polling shouldve been paid for by Labor, not the taxpayer.

The accusations from Wilson come after the Herald Sun, and The Australian ran reports on alleging that during the height of Victorias 112-day lockdown in 2020, former Labor pollster and political consultant, John Armitage of QDOS Research, produced fortnightly surveys on how the Victorian public rated the Andrews governments handling of the pandemic, including how the public felt about Daniel Andrews.

The Australian alleged that Armitages research played a crucial role in shaping the premiers strategy, tone and language during the 2020 lockdown, including his appearances at over 100 press conferences.

QDOS works with the government on behaviour change campaigns, according to the companys website.

Since 2016, Armitage has been paid $2 million in taxpayer funds to conduct a five-year deal to monitor the public opinion of Victorians.

According to the Victorian parliaments public accounts and estimates committee, nearly $800,000 over five years has been spent on the premiers Facebook advertising, reported the Herald Sun.

Heavily redacted emails between GDOS and the premiers office, obtained and published by The Australian, also allegedly show that the Premiers Private Office (PPO) had involvement in drafting and approving questions for the surveys.

The surveys also included scoring the governments leadership out of 10.

Members of the PPO, including the Premiers chief-of-staff Lissie Ratcliff, were also invited to watch live streams of the QDOS conducted focus groups.

Hi (redacted) and Lissie, heres the Zoom link for tonights group (females living in South Yarra), QDOS research director Sue Loukomitis wrote on May 25, 2020.

DPOS and Victorias Department of Premier and Cabinet have been contacted by The Epoch Times for comment.
DC Mayor Seen Maskless at Events Before and After Implementing New Mask Rules

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared to be celebrating at an event, maskless, hours before her own policy that mandates masks for citizens in the district was put into effect.

One picture that was uploaded to social media shows the Democratic mayor on July 30 surrounded by a large crowd of people, none of whom appear to be wearing masks, at a gathering two days prior to her 49th birthday.

A second picture shows her next to award-winning celebrity comedian Dave Chappelle along with three other people, none of whom had their faces covered.

The picture was taken for Chappelles return to Washington on July 30, where the comedy icon appeared at two notable district venues over the weekend, according to a statement by Bowsers office.

D.C. is open, and we are so proud to welcome home Dave Chappelle, Bowser said. Washingtonians have waited months to be able to enjoy shows like this one again, and it makes it even sweeter to be able to reopen one of our favorite venues with a performance from one of the worlds most beloved comedians and a D.C. native.

Chappelles appearance marked the first live public event at The Anthem since March 2020. According to the statement, everyone was required to mask up at both the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and The Anthem.

Dave Chappelle during UFC 264: Poirier v McGregor 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 10, 2021. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

A new mask rule was announced by Bowser on July 29, requiring every resident 2 years and older to wear a mask indoors in Washington, effective on July 31 at 5 a.m.

Bowser, who has been criticized in the past for ignoring her own CCP virus restrictions after visiting a high-risk state, is now facing a second round of backlash after she was seen not masking up.

Although the photos were taken shortly before the mask mandate went into effect and the mayor wasnt technically breaking her own rules, the pictures, which have since gone viral, made people ponder how concerned the mayor is about the virus.

Shes a true believer it looks like! Just hours away from her mandate, one person wrote on Twitter.

So much hypocrisy, another commenter wrote.

The mayor stated on social media on July 31, just hours after she was seen at the event housing more than 20 people without a mask, that by masking up, the community can be protected.

Lets stay in this together, DC, Bowser wrote on Twitter. By masking up, we can protect our community and keep DC open.

According to mask guidance (pdf) by city officials, people who are fully vaccinated against the CCP virus can attend outdoor activities without a mask or social distancing. Its unclear if those attending the gatherings had been inoculated against COVID-19.

On Aug. 1, one day after Bowsers new policy requiring masks was put into effect, she was once again seen without a mask at a wedding that she officiated.

The pictures, obtained by the Washington Examiner, show Bowser maskless at a table not actively eating or drinking. As a reporter for the agency tried to approach the mayor and ask why she was maskless at an event legally obligated to enforce mask compliance, security blockaded the journalist.

Bowsers office has since pushed back against the criticism, saying that any photos taken of her indoors without a mask were during dinner.

If Mayor Bowser was photographed indoors without a mask, it was during the indoor dinner, when she was eating or drinking, the office said in a statement.

The mayor was previously criticized in November, after she traveled to Delaware to attend the victory speech of President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, despite the state being listed as high risk for the CCP virus at the time. She later defended her trip as essential travel.

I do a lot of things to advance the interests of the District of Columbia, Bowser said. And some of them are formal, and some of them are informal, but all of them are necessary.

She also said the trip was under official government business and excepted under mayors order.

From NTD News
A firefighter uses a drip torch to ignite vegetation while trying to stop the Dixie Fire from spreading in Lassen National Forest, Calif., on July 26, 2021. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

Evacuations Lifted as Progress Made Against Fires in US West

BLY, Ore.Firefighters in Oregon reported good progress in the battle against the nations largest wildfire, while authorities canceled evacuation orders near a major blaze in Northern California and another on Hawaiis Big Island.

Containment of the Bootleg Fire in remote southern Oregon was up to 84 percent late Sunday. It was 56 percent contained a day earlier.

That reflects several good days of work on the ground where crews have been able to reinforce and build additional containment lines, fire spokesman Al Nash said.

The blaze has scorched over 646 square miles (1,673 square kilometers) since being sparked by lightning July 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

Californias Dixie Fire covered nearly 388 square miles (1,005 square kilometers) in mountains where 42 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

Firefighters monitor a firing operation, where crews set ground fire to stop a wildfire from spreading, while battling the Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, Calif., on July 26, 2021. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

The fire was 33 percent contained Sunday evening, and evacuation orders and warnings had earlier been lifted for several areas of Butte and Plumas counties.

The cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Authorities warned that with unpredictable winds and extremely dry fuels, the risk of flare-ups remained high.

In recent days, lightning sparked two wildfires that threatened remote homes in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Evacuation warnings remained in place Sunday for communities along the Trinity River.

In Montana, a wind-driven wildfire destroyed more than a dozen homes, outbuildings, and other structures, authorities said Sunday. Evacuations were ordered after flames jumped a highway and moved toward communities near Flathead Lake in the northwestern part of the state.

Crews also battled major blazes in northeast Washington and northern Idaho.

Nearly 22,000 firefighters and support personnel were battling 91 large, active wildfires covering 2,813 square miles (7,285 square kilometers) in mostly western states, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported last week that while a robust monsoon has delivered drought-easing rainfall to the Southwest, critically dry conditions persist across Northern California and the Northwest, where there has been an expansion of exceptional drought, the worst category.

Dry conditions and powerful winds made for dangerous fire conditions in Hawaii. A wind advisory was issued Sunday for portions of Lanai, Maui, and the Big Island.

A fast-moving wildfire on Hawaiis Big Island grew to 62.5 square miles (101 square kilometers), prompting mandatory evacuation orders. Those orderswhich forced thousands of residents out of their homeswere lifted Sunday evening. However, authorities told residents to remain alert.

Smoke from the Dixie Fire rises over trees in Lassen National Forest, Calif., near Jonesville, on July 26, 2021. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

County officials ask all residents of the affected areas to only return home if absolutely necessary, Hawaii County spokesperson Cyrus Johnasen said in a statement. Smoke and other conditions may make returns unsafe for those with prior and underlying respiratory conditions.

Local media reported at least two homes had been destroyed. Two community shelters were open for residents who werent able to return home, the Hawaii Red Cross said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gives an opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to COVID-19, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 11, 2021. (Greg Nash/Pool via Reuters)

Fauci: Amount of Virus in COVID-19 Breakthrough Delta Cases Almost Identical to Unvaccinated

Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, said that federal data showed that the amount of virus in Delta strain COVID-19 breakthrough cases of those who are vaccinated is nearly identical to levels seen among unvaccinated people.

What we learned thats new  is that when you look at the level of virus in the nasopharynx of people who are vaccinated who get breakthrough infections, its really quite high and equivalent to the level of virus in the nasopharynx of unvaccinated people who get infected, Fauci said in an interview with CBS News Face the Nation on Sunday. The nasopharynx is part of the nasal cavity near the back of the throat.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Fauci, who is head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said it was unusual to find that the levels of the Delta variant in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people are really quite similar, almost identical.

He cited data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for his assertion, adding thats why the CDC updated its guidance around mask-wearing last week.

So we know now that vaccinated people who get breakthrough infections can spread the virus to other people, Fauci said. The fundamental basis for the CDC modifying their guidelines and saying now, If youre an area of a high or substantial trend of level of virus, namely a red or an orange zone, when youre in an indoor public setting, you need to wear a mask. Thats the fundamental reason for that change.

Late last week, the CDC released a study from Barnstable County, Massachusettswhich includes Cape Codthat revealed that 74 percent of COVID-19 Delta cases in a recent outbreak were among vaccinated individuals.

That study, which was published days after the CDC released its updated guidance, was cited by the federal health agency to recommend that individuals regardless of vaccination status wear masks indoors in high-transmission areas.

Findings from this investigation suggest that even jurisdictions without substantial or high COVID-19 transmission might consider expanding prevention strategies, including masking in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status, given the potential risk of infection during attendance at large public gatherings that include travelers from many areas with differing levels of transmission, researchers wrote, explaining why people should wear masks inside.

In recent days, the Biden administration has been criticized for what some have described as poor messaging and a lack of transparency over the latest CDC guidance on masking. The delay in the publication of the CDC study, as well as recent public comments made by several White House officials about lockdowns, were flagged as confusing and contradictory.

Fauci, in a separate interview with ABC News on Sunday, said the United States likely wont go into a lockdown over the Delta variant.

I dont think were going to see lockdowns. I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country, not enough to crush the outbreak, but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter, he said.
Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as he testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 20, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AP Photo)

Fauci, HHS Hiding Something With Redacted Emails: Sen. Johnson

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Aug. 1 suggested that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci are hiding something from Americans by redacting key information in correspondence that the public deserves to have.

The redactions in Dr. Faucis emails are hiding something. They need to be transparent. This is information the American public deserves to have, Johnson said on Twitter.

Johnson is one of five Republican senators demanding answers from the HHS after the department redacted parts of an email between National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) chief Fauci and U.S. researcher Peter Daszak, president of the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.

EcoHealth Alliance has worked directly with Chinas Wuhan laboratories to research coronaviruses. The group has sent federal funds to support gain-of-function research at Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), where there have since been reports of the first possible cases of COVID-19 detected in late 2019.

Daszaks organization in the past received $3.7 million in funding from NIAID, at least $600,000 of which was sent to the WIV.

Troves of internal emails detailing the findings were obtained by nonprofits and news organizations through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A portion of an email was redacted using an exemption reserved for information related to pending law enforcement proceedings.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 26, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

I really want the emails of Dr. Fauci, Johnson said during an appearance on Fox News The Ingraham Angle, noting that the emails were heavily redacted.

So we sent a letter with five members of my committee, that if five members do request this, the agency shall turn them over to us. We got the exact same FOIA requests, except for one paragraph was not redacted, and when it was redacted, it was for apparently being related to an open law enforcement investigation, he said.

But we saw the paragraph, Johnson said. It has nothing to do with the law enforcement investigation. So that brings into question all the redactions, and by the way, Congress is not subject to those same four redactions, so they are hiding something. Again, that just reduces my trust and faith in these agencies.

They need to come clean. They need to be transparent. This is information the American public deserves to have.

The group of lawmakers, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), in a letter last week to Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, also questioned why that portion had been redacted, the Washington Examiner reported.

The paragraph above does not appear to contain any information that could reasonably be expected to interfere with [law] enforcement proceedings, they wrote in their letter. This example calls into question HHSs redaction process, not only for FOIA requests from the public but also for documents produced to Congress.

Fauci and the HHS didnt immediately respond to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.

It comes as calls for a probe into the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus have intensified in recent months as the hypothesis that the virus could have been the product of experiments at the WIV receives wider recognition.

President Joe Biden on May 26 ordered the U.S. intelligence community to conduct an assessment with a 90-day deadline.
Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration answers a question during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to Covid-19 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on May 11, 2021. (Greg Nash / POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

FDA All-Hands-on-Deck to Get COVID-19 Vaccines Fully Approved

Health experts say a wave of mandate more likely after FDA grants full approval

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accelerated its reviewing process to get Pfizer and other COVID-19 vaccines fully approved as rapidly as possible, which will give the Biden administration, local governments, and employers more flexibility to mandate the vaccines.

FDA staff will conduct a thorough review process, while balancing the incredible sense of urgency necessary, both of which are needed to ensure that any vaccine that is authorized or approved meets our rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality, FDA said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, saying the full approval may encourage some people to get vaccinated.

We have taken an all-hands-on-deck approach, including identifying additional resources such as personnel and technological resources from across the agency and opportunities to reprioritize other activities, in order to complete our review to help combat this pandemic surge, the statement reads.

Currently, the three COVID-19 vaccines in AmericaPfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnsonare all under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

Pfizer submitted its full approval applicationa biologics license applicationin May, and Moderna applied for the license on June 1. Johnson & Johnson has said that it would apply later this year.

Syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines lie on a tray during a program without an appointment, in Sant Vicenc de Castellet, north of Barcelona, Spain, on July 6, 2021. (Albert Gea/Reuters)

Last month, the FDA said regulators were targeting January 2022 for completion of the review, but that does not mean approval will not happen before that time.

Standard vaccine reviews would be within 12 months, but the FDA aims to complete priority vaccine reviews within eight months of receiving the application, Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), told the Washington Post last Friday.

CBER is responsible for regulating vaccines in the United States.

Marks acknowledged that approved COVID vaccines would make it easier for employers or governments to mandate the vaccines.

Im speaking in an informal sense, not like a [Department of Justice] lawyer  But by and large, there seems to be a better feeling for having a licensed product to make something a requirement, Marks said in the interview.

The Department of Justice issued an opinion last week, saying COVID vaccine mandates by public agencies and private businesses are legal even though the vaccines are under EUA.

Marks also said that once the vaccines are fully approved, doctors administering the vaccines might use it off label, such as giving a third shot to patients.

Once you have a licensed product, if a provider wants to use it in a responsible way, according to the practice of medicine, then that is their right and they can use it off label, Marks said. They could use it as they see fit, but they would actually have to feel like they were within the scope of practice of medicine in their jurisdiction  and doing something reasonable.

Under EUA, doctors must administer the vaccines exactly as required by the FDA.

The FDA has been under growing pressure to fully approve the COVID vaccines.

President Joe Biden said on July 21 that he estimated the full approval of the vaccines would be announced maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October, theyll get final approval, reported Fox News.

President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on July 29, 2021. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Bidens chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci also told reporters in July that he would be astounded if the three vaccines couldnt get full approval.

On July 29, Biden announced strict rules to urge federal workers and contractors to get vaccinated or else they need to wear masks, engage in social distancing, and submit to regular COVID-19 testing. Later that day, he said, its still a question of whether the federal government can mandate the whole country.

Health experts predicted that a wave of mandates might come after the full approval of the vaccines.

I think once the vaccines go through full FDA approval, everything should be on the table, and I think that everything will be on the table at the level of municipalities, states, employers, venues, government agencies, Andy Slavitt, Bidens former COVID response coordinator, told NBC news.

Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote on Twitter that a full license would give cover for organizations to mandate.

Some states have banned COVID vaccine mandates or vaccine passports in government agencies or schools. But some states, like Ohio, for example, banned COVID vaccine mandates in schools based on the vaccines EUA status. So once the vaccines get fully approved, the prohibition will not apply.

The pentagon reported it had directed commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as early as Sept. 1, pending full FDA licensure.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Zachary Stieber and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Raquel Heres gets a COVID-19 rapid test to be able to travel overseas, in North Miami, Fla., on July 31, 2021. (Marta Lavandier/AP Photo)

Florida Breaks Record in COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations as Numbers Rise Across US

Florida is seeing a record number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations amid a nationwide increase in COVID-19 metrics.

Some 10,217 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were being cared for in hospitals in recent days, according to data submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by facilities.

The number was a sharp increase from recent months and above the peak of 10,179 seen on July 23, 2020, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Another record was set over the weekend. Florida, on July 31, reported 21,683 new COVID-19 cases, which was more than 2,000 higher than the previous record set in January. The state reported 30,531 cases on Jan. 2, but skipped Jan. 1, so that number covered two days.

The new record came after Florida authorities reported 110,477 new cases in the week of July 23, an increase of 18 percent from the prior week.

Floridas Democratic agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who is running for governor, said the increase in hospitalizations is pushing our hospital system to capacity, which has dangerous implications beyond COVID-19.

Fried, a Democrat, urged people in a video message to get vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

Of Floridas 57,526 inpatient hospital beds, approximately 47,541 were occupied, according to the facility data submitted to federal authorities.

Hospitals in some parts of Florida have expressed concern about reaching capacity due to the influx of COVID-19 patients.

Stephanie Montford Derzypolski, a spokeswoman for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, said the hospital on Aug. 1 had 70 COVID-19 patients, most of whom were unvaccinated.

This is no longer people with comorbitities [sic] in their 70s and 80s but otherwise healthy people in their 20s 30s and 40s. These people come in begging our doctors for the vaccine but it is too late for them. Friends..I beg you to get vaccinated if you havent, she wrote on Facebook.

Between July 23 and July 29, 108 people died with COVID-19 in Florida, according to state data, an indication of how many COVID-19 patients are ultimately recovering regardless of their vaccination status.

The Florida Hospital Association reported that the average age of people with COVID-19 in hospitals is younger than during previous peaks. The group also said that no hospitals are reporting a serious shortage of supplies for now.

Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, told The Epoch Times that we recognize that cases and hospitalizations have shifted to a younger demographic because we have been so successful with vaccinating seniors.

We must continue this stride to expand vaccination rates across eligible age groups, she said in an email.

Most cases in Florida in the past 30 days have been among people aged 20 to 49 and have been among unvaccinated people, Pushaw said. Most hospitalizations are among those between the ages of 40 and 69.

DeSantis, a Republican, has avoided implementing mask or vaccine mandates, in contrast to some counterparts who govern larger states. He told a press conference last month that he views the increase in COVID-19 cases as expected, referring to the CCP virus as seasonal. However, he has encouraged people to get vaccinated, especially older folks, who are among those most vulnerable to getting severe symptoms of COVID-19.

A group waits to get COVID-19 tests in North Miami, Fla., on July 31, 2021. (Marta Lavandier/AP Photo)

Clinicians care for COVID-19 patients in the improvised COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, on July 30, 2021. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The records in Florida arent isolated. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise across the United States. Some experts say the rise is fueled by the Delta variant of the virus.

The variant was blamed for an outbreak in Massachusetts in July, which triggered an abrupt reversal of mask recommendations for vaccinated Americans. They are now being told to don masks indoors if they live in areas with high or substantial transmission of the CCP virus, which includes virtually all of Florida.

New COVID-19 cases nationwide topped 100,000 on July 30 for the first time since February, while daily admissions of COVID-19 patients have climbed above 6,200 on average, according to data hospitals submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The average of daily cases across seven days was an increase of 31 percent from the prior week while the hospitalization average was up 40 percent from the week before.

Cases were up sharply in a number of states, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

On July 30, 451 new deaths were reported in the United States, part of a rising trend after dropping under 100 on July 4.

Deaths lag behind cases and hospitalizations because people typically battle COVID-19 for some time before dying. Additionally, fewer people who get sick die when compared to earlier in the pandemic, when treatment options were less varied and there were no developed COVID-19 vaccines.

The highest threat and severe outcomes are happening in places with low vaccination rates, and among unvaccinated, people, this moment, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, told reporters in a phone briefing last week. And most importantly, the associated illness, suffering and death could have been avoided with higher vaccination coverage in this country.
A teacher leads an English class on the first day the children were allowed to return this year for in-person classes at a school during the coronavirus pandemic in Berlin, Germany on March 9, 2021. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Parent Organization Sues Florida School District to Locate Alleged Very Pornographic Childrens Textbooks

A lawsuit has been filed against Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) in Florida after two public records requests were denied regarding a list of 42 books that the requestor believes have very pornographic content that may be available to children as young as 4 years old.

The lawsuit was filed reluctantly but we had to say to Broward County that we need this information, Rick Stevens, one of the founders and co-managing directors of Florida Citizens Alliance (FLCA) and pastor of Diplomat Westland Church in Cape Coral, Florida, told The Epoch Times. It is public information and, since the first part of June, we have been trying to get them to respond.

FLCA is the organization that requested the information from the Broward school district.

We want to know what materials they have in their media centers and libraries, Stevens said, explaining that the two months of delays and excuses they faced to find simple answers begs one question: What are they trying to hide?

The truth is, the school district is stonewalling, Alexander Bumbu of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), explained to The Epoch Times. Thats why the lawsuit was necessary. We wanted to know if theyre hiding something and were very concerned that they are possibly exposing kids to inappropriate stuff.

PJI is one of the largest, faith-based, non-profit legal defense firms in the country with offices from coast to coast, Bumbu said. Since our founding in 1997, PJI has been a beacon for parental rights. In that role, PJI represents FLCA, a parental rights organization, which informs parents about potentially pornographic materials in their government schools. FLCA compiled a list of books and hired PJI to file a public records request to learn if Broward County Public Schools possesses any of those books and which schools those books are located in.

A similar request, with a different list of books, was made to BCPS and other Florida school districts in 2019. At that time, BCPS admitted to having 82 percent of the listed books.

That is a fact that BCPS would no doubt be embarrassed about now, Bumbu attested. Under Florida law, BCPS is responsible for monitoring the materials in its schools. Floridians have a clear right to see those materials. FLCA is doing what any parent would do if they were concerned about what his or her kid is being exposed to in school.

A Jaw-Dropping Experience

One of the books on the list that FLCA submitted in 2019 has a drawing of a naked woman bent over forward holding a hand-held mirror to examine her genitalia, Bumbu explained, calling the first time he saw the image a jaw-dropping experience.

BCPS admitted in 2019 to having this book in some of their schools, including an elementary school, Bumbu added. If you cant be shown these images on your evening news, they should not be shown to your kid in school.

BCPS officials didnt respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

The image described by Bumbu is in a book titled Its Perfectly Normal, recommended on Amazon for children 10 and up in grades 5 to 8. Another image in the book depicts a man and a woman engaged in sexual intercourse.

Sexual intercourse happens when two peoplea female and a male or two females or two malesfeel very sexy and very attracted to each other and want to be very close to each other in a sexual way, the book reads as it goes into a graphic description of sexual intercourse.

Its Perfectly Normal wasnt on the 2021 list of books submitted to BCPS by FLCA, so FLCA doesnt know if that book is still being made available to 10-year-olds.

In the end, they still didnt provide all of the information I asked for, Bumbu noted, explaining that BCPS is still withholding exactly where in the schools the books they admit to having from the 2021 list are located: media centers, instructional materials, supplemental materials, or reading lists.

Our parents send their children to school with the expectation that their children will get a good education and the school will take care of them, Stevens said. Well, when the parents send their children to school they have a reasonable expectation that the school is doing the same thing, monitoring the materials and making sure they are the right kind of things for their children to be exposed to. We dont know whats going on in Broward County, so we cant help but wonder what theyre trying to hide from the parents and the residents of Florida. Thats what we want to find out. What are they trying to hide?

The foot-dragging Broward County Public Schools put me and Florida Citizens Alliance (FLCA) through an eight-week-long saga and odyssey into the bureaucratic abyss, Bumbu lamented. BCPS finally provided me with a list Thursday, three days after I filed the lawsuit, but they didnt provide all of the information I asked for.

The list BCPS provided shows which schools the books are located in but it doesnt specify where in the schools those books are located.

Matter of Great Concern

For those who arent concerned with children as young as 4 years old being exposed to books showing or talking about people engaged in sexual acts, Bumbu believes the two months of stonewalling by BCPS should still be a matter of great concern.

BCPSs stonewalling undermines Floridians rights to access public records, Bumbu insisted. That is why its imperative that a public example be made of BCS to show that government school districts can and should be held accountable for disregarding Floridians rights to access public records.

Keith Flaugh, managing director of FLCA, said advocates of the inappropriate material are trying to accuse his organization of trying to ban books.

Were not banning books, Flaugh told The Epoch Times, explaining they are trying to prohibit the availability of inappropriate materials to minors. Its not banning books any more than its banning guns or drugs from school property. These are harmful materials and our public schools have no place distributing or allowing them.

These books are sexually explicit and age-inappropriate, Flaugh insisted, and books like Its Perfectly Normal are very pornographic.

Books such as Sex, Puberty and All That Stuff, on the 2021 list of inappropriate books, teaches minor children aged 11 to 16 all about erections and their alternative names: stiffy, hard-on, and boner. This Book is Gay (also on the 2021 list) provides minor children aged 14-17 detailed instructionsincluding explicit drawingson how to have boy-on-boy and girl-on-girl sex.

According to Flaugh, these books are in direct violation of Florida obscenity statutes, including statutes 847.001, 847.012, and 1006.31.

While BCPS admitted to having 82 percent of the books deemed inappropriate on their 2019 list, Bumbu said BCPS now claims to have only nine of the books on the inappropriate content list for 2021.

Thats still nine books, Bumbu said.

The most popular of the nine books is a young adult (YA) novel by Judy Blume called Forever, originally published in 1975. According to Amazon, the recommended grade level for this book is nine and up.

Nothing is glossed over: sexually transmitted infections, abortion, contraception and periods, reads James Dawsons review of the book for The Guardian in 2015. Whats startling when reading Forever in 2015 is how modern it feels. The cherry on the cake is potentially gay character Artie. Yes: LGBT+ characters in a YA novel from before YA even existed. Amazing.

According to the list provided by BCPS, 86 schoolsincluding Gulfstream Academy (K-8), Annabelle C. Perry, Beachside Montessori Village, and Coral Springs (PreK-8)have at least one copy of the book. Without knowing where the books are located in each school, no one can find out if the book is available by choice to any child through the library or whether it is being used as a supplemental resource or recommended by a specific teacher through a reading list.

Arguably, Forevers influence is so powerful it was almost the first and last word on teen sex, Dawson opined of the book BCPS now may have available to Pre-K children as young as 4 years old. Virginity was lost so perfectly it was almost as if no author ever need bother again.

In Florida, the age of consent is 18 years old, and sexual intercourse with someone who is under 18 is considered statutory rape. However, Florida does have a close-in-age exemptionalso known as Romeo and Juliet lawwhich protects underage couples who engage in consensual sex from prosecution when both participants are significantly close in age and one or both are below the age of 18.

Flaugh told The Epoch Times they are moving forward with their lawsuit.
GOP Report Points to Wuhan Lab Leak as Source of CCP Virus

House Republicans have released an addendum to their Origins of COVID-19 (pdf) report released last year, concluding that evidence points to a leak from a Chinese lab as the source of the outbreak.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the updated (pdf) report on Aug. 2, which was authored by the panels Republican staff.

As we continue to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe its time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source of the outbreak. Instead, as this report lays out, a preponderance of the evidence proves that all roads lead to the WIV, McCaul said in a statement, referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the lab at the heart of the controversy over the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the pathogen that causes the disease COVID-19.

The addendum to the report cites multiple pieces of evidence in support of the conclusion that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab, including actions by Chinese officials and scientists at the WIV to hide or cover-up the type of research being done at the facility. It also cites what it refers to as new and underreported information about lax safety protocols at the lab.

This aerial view shows the P4 laboratory (C) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on May 27, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

The preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory sometime prior to September 12, 2019, the updated report reads. The virus, or the viral sequence that was genetically manipulated, was likely collected in a cave in Yunnan Province, PRC, between 2012 and 2015.

The updated report also says that Wuhan lab researchers, CCP officials, and potentially American citizens all directly engaged in efforts to obfuscate information related to the origins of the virus and to suppress public debate of a possible lab leak.

Chinese officials have rejected the notion that the virus came from a lab and have insisted it made a natural jump from animals to humans. A March report from the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the virus likely has a natural origin and that the lab leak hypothesis was extremely unlikely, although WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that more studies are needed, that all hypotheses remain on the table, and that we have not yet found the source of the virus.

The WHO has called for a follow-up probe into the origins of the virus, including further studies in China along with lab audits, which Chinese officials have recently rejected. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of Chinas National Health Commission, said at a recent press conference that he was surprised by the WHOs request for a team to return to Wuhan, calling the move not scientific.

In May, President Joe Biden called on U.S. intelligence officials to investigate the origins of the CCP virus, including the possibility of a lab leak, and to report their findings in 90 days.
Students walk through the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in North Carolina on Aug. 18, 2020. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

Group Seeks to Compel Education Department to Require Procedural Safeguards in Alleged Sex Offenses

Three conservative groups are asking the Supreme Court to allow them to intervene in litigation aimed at making the Biden administration adhere to a Trump administration rule that guarantees students accused of sexual improprieties procedural safeguards in administrative proceedings.

The case, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) v. Victim Rights Law Center, was docketed on July 21. The petitioners are three nonprofit organizations that promote free speech and due process on college campuses: FIRE; Independent Womens Law Center; and Speech First Inc.

Among the governmental respondents are Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and the Department of Education. The other respondents are Victim Rights Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates, Legal Voice, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, and seven individuals.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that a person or group that wants to intervene in a lawsuit is required to show that none of the existing parties adequately represent its interests, according to SCOTUSblog. Several federal appeals courts have come up with a two-tiered system for considering such requests.

Under this system, intervention on the side of a private party requires showing only that the existing parties will inadequately represent the intervenors position; however, when intervening on the side of the government, a presumption that the government will adequately represent the intervenors position must be overcome. Some circuits [of the U.S. Court of Appeals] apply similar, yet weaker, versions of this presumption, and some circuits have rejected it altogether.

In the case at hand, the petitioners state in their Supreme Court petition that they favor keeping a rule interpreting Title IX that was adopted on Aug. 14, 2020, by the Trump-era Department of Education that abandoned the agencys sweeping Obama-era definition of sexual harassment and established new procedural safeguards for those accused of sexual improprieties.

When the rule was nearly finalized last year, Nicole Neily, president of petitioner group Speech First, defended it.

The Department of Educations new Title IX rules provide much-needed clarity for students, universities, families, and administrators. For far too long, the process for adjudicating serious allegations on campus has been plagued by bias, vagueness, and overreachundermining a system that was intended to ensure access to education for all students. Over the past decade, the definition of discrimination has expanded on campus to encompass constitutionally protected expressioncreating a climate of fear and suspicion on campus and destroying students appreciation for the traditions of fairness upon which this country was built.

Title IX refers to Public Law 92-318, or the federal Education Amendments of 1972. It amended four federal education-related statutes.

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, the legislation begins.

For its first quarter-century, Title IX enforcement aimed at equalizing the participation of the sexes in high school and college sports. But that changed in 1980, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled in Alexander v. Yale University that under Title IX, sexual harassment constituted sex discrimination. The legal team representing the students who brought the case was advised by radical feminist law professor Catharine MacKinnon, who has described rape as whenever a woman has sex and feels violated.

FIRE and the other two petitioners have asked to intervene on the side of the Department to defend what they call in their petition the culmination of a years-long rulemaking processa key regulation mandating the most significant changes to administrative proceedings under Title IX in the history of that important statute.

A federal appeals court presumed the Department would adequately represent Petitioners and affirmed the denial of their motion to intervene, and as a result, the petitioners were denied the ability to raise their proposed constitutional defenses of the Departments Title IX Rule despite the fact that the Department refuses to raise those defenses, which conflict with the Departments own interests in the litigation.

But the Biden administration seems to want to restore the Obama-era rule that stripped accused students of procedural safeguards, critics say.

The Education Department announced in April that it would carry out a comprehensive review of the Departments regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as part of implementing President Bidens March 8 Executive Order on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.

Building educational environments free from discrimination, where our nations students can grow and thrive, is a top priority of the BidenHarris Administration, Cardona said.

Todays action is the first step in making sure that the Title IX regulations are effective and are fostering safe learning environments for our students while implementing fair processes. Sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination, including in extracurricular activities and other educational settings, threaten access to education for students of all ages. As Secretary, I will work to ensure all studentsno matter their background, who they are, or how they identifycan succeed in the classroom and beyond.

The Department didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
Joint Terror Attacks in Nigeria Kill Scores Amid Claims Authorities Stood Down

Armed terrorists in Nigerias Plateau state have killed 45 defenseless farmers, burned more than a dozen villages, and displaced 27,000 even as military and police stood by, eyewitnesses told The Epoch Times.

The attack was carried out for several hours without any form of intervention from men of Operation Safe Haven in Jos to curtail it, said Malison Davidson, national publicity secretary of the Irigwe Development Association, in a statement after the night attack West of Miango town, 12 miles West of Jos.

The gunmen came after dark and killed residents with impunity for hours, according to Aya Bitrus, who narrowly escaped death that evening.

They entered our villages after dark shouting Allahu Akbar [Allah is great]. I heard and saw more than 200 Fulani with guns and machetes, he told The Epoch Times. They were speaking Fulani and Hausa language. My friend was killed. He couldnt escape. He couldnt run. He is a cripple. I cant say how I escaped, it was God that saved my life.

The killers armed with AK 47 rifles were 500 strong and stayed for hours on the evening of July 31 from 7 p.m. to after midnight without military intervention, Davidson said. The same mass of terrorists likely struck again early on the morning of Aug. 2 in a set of villages 25 miles west of Jos, according to witnesses.

We loudly call on the authorities to stop this act of terrorism being demonstrated on the Irigwe nation. We want to reiterate that it is nothing less than genocide on the Irigwe people, and this will not be taken as we will via all legal means end it, Davidson said.

Davidson confirmed that raiders of villages near Miango killed seven, wounded nine, and burned down 275 houses, leaving 7,000 people homeless. A follow-up attack on nine villages in the neighboring district of Kwall, lasted six hours and took the lives of 38 more people, according to survivors. The center of the Kwall District on the afternoon of Aug. 2 filled up with terrified displaced people numbering 20,000, mostly women and children.

They were after my life because I am no more a Muslim, Pastor Adamu Musa, a convert from Islam who was wounded by bullets to his arm, hand, and hip, said in a hospital bed at Enos Hospital in Miango. I forgive them, but I want them to accept Christ. Christians should unite and defend themselves, but pray for each other more. I am happy that I am alive to preach the gospel of Jesus.

Pastor Adamu Musa, shot during a terrorist attack in Jebbu Miango, Plateau State, Nigeria. (Lawrence Zongo/The Epoch Times)

Detailed warnings of the attacks were shared widely two days in advance.

Information is right now indicating different locations where Fulani militias are gathering for a massive attack on the Plateau particularly on Miango, Kwall, and Fobur and its neighboring villages. They have mobilized from neighboring states. Some are camped at the bushes of Lere, Damakasuwa, Fadan Chawai, and Zagun areas read a July 30 alert sent to the Religious Freedom Coalition in Virginia, which operates an orphanage in Miango.

Reactions from human rights specialists in Washington and Nigeria were swift.

These Fulani jihadist attacks are classic examples of both forced displacement and genocide, wrote Gregory Stanton, founder and president of Genocide Watch. The Fulani are taking over large swathes of Nigeria to make the areas Fulani. That is forced displacement. The massacres intentionally target substantial parts of other ethnic and religious groups. That is genocide.

The fact that these attacks happened over two days after explicit warnings to the Nigerian Armys Third Division, and were within three miles of its large Army base in Jos, is proof that the Nigerian government and Nigerian Army are complicit in this Fulani jihad.

Meanwhile, the American Embassy in Nigeria has made no protest and issued no comment. The American Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard, regularly has tea with Fulani leaders. Leonard is in full denial about this genocide. Mary Beth Leonard is the April Glaspie of Nigeria.

Ambassador Glaspie came under fire for reportedly saying to Iraqi authorities that the United States wouldnt intervene if Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi forces into Kuwait.

I am deeply saddened by the killings and atrocities that have taken place in Miango land over the past two weeks, said Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

There is a rhyme and pattern to the atrocities. They aim to kill, maim, and demoralize. They aim to drive the indigenous people out of their ancestral homeland, with intent of taking over and dispossessing of their ancestral lands.

The silence of the federal authorities on this crisis is so loud that it is becoming deafening. The silence can only mean one thingapproval and acquiescence to evil.

Displaced people walking out of Jebbu Miango, Plateau State, Nigeria, on the morning of Aug. 1, 2021. (Masara Kim/The Epoch Times)

The Plateau state police commissioner, Edward Egbuka, arrived at the community at around 9:45 a.m. with more than 50 Police officers in 11 vans. His men were taking pictures of burnt houses, but he couldnt confirm the actual number of people killed and houses burnt published in a TVC News report.

The report from Nigeria Army and Nigeria military is false and fake, said a clergyman from Miango District who declined to give his name for fear of retaliation. The military are compromising for long [time]. Despite the presence of mobile police officers, seven people were killed, houses burnt including houses of my kinsmen. The federal government should remove Maj. Gen. I.S. Ali, commander of the 3rd Armored Division of the Nigeria Army and Commander Operation Safe Haven.

Egbuka didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.

However, the public relations officer for the police said on Aug. 2 that the police were on top of the situation.

Officer Ubah Ogaba, the Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Plateau command, confirmed the incident to newsmen and said that the command had since deployed its personnel to the area to ensure law and order, according to a media report.

Ogaba reported stated that an investigation into the act of terrorism is underway.

The Police are on top of the situation; more personnel have been deployed to the area. Investigation is also ongoing to bring the perpetrators to book.
Lockdowns in Canada Went Against Hard Lessons Learned From Previous Pandemics: Emergency Management Expert

WHO guidelines issued prior to COVID-19 warned against measures such as closing businesses and schools to curb pandemics

Canadas use of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic goes against all previous knowledge, published studies, and Canadian pandemic response plans, says a former head of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, adding that the collateral damage will last for at least a generation.

We just ignored [existing pandemic plans] and placed the medical officers in charge who were not trained to do this, said David Redman, adding that those existing plans from all provinces and territories as well as the federal government can be found on pandemicalternative.org

Redman was speaking at a webinar hosted by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy on July 29, commenting on how governments have sidelined pre-established emergency plans prepared based on all the hard lessons learned from previous pandemics.



He pointed to a guidance document published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in September 2019, prior to the arrival of COVID-19, titled Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza.



The best infectious disease doctors in the world had produced this document repeatedly about every five years, last updated immediately before this pandemic, Redman said.

Out of the 15 [non-pharmaceutical interventions listed in the document]ones that weve come to know, closure of business, closure of schools, isolation of people that have been exposedall three of those were strongly recommended against in a pandemic of this nature, he said. Why? Because it was known from previous pandemics that those measures have no significant impact on the spread of a viral disease of the nature of COVID.



David Redman, former executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, in August 2018. (Handout)

Quarantine of exposed individuals, entry and exit screening for infection in travellers, border closure, and contact tracing are among the six non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) listed in the WHO document that are not recommended under any circumstances.

The document additionally states that the evidence base on the effectiveness of NPIs in community settings is limited, and the overall quality of evidence [of their effectiveness in reducing influenza transmission] was very low for most interventions.

Workplace closures should be a last step only considered in extraordinarily severe epidemics and pandemics, the WHO document states. And while it said school closure can be used during a severe epidemic or pandemic, it advised that the adverse effects on the community should be fully considered (e.g. family burden and economic considerations), and the timing and duration should be limited to a period that is judged to be optimal.

A Matter of Due Diligence

A number of scientific studies have been done during the COVID-19 pandemic to review the effectiveness of the lockdowns. A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation in January, titled Assessing mandatory stay-at-home and business closure effects on the spread of COVID-19, called these measures the most restrictive NPIs for controlling the spread of COVID-19 and concluded that they do not produce the desired results.

While small benefits cannot be excluded, we do not find significant benefits on case growth of more restrictive NPIs. Similar reductions in case growth may be achievable with less-restrictive interventions, stated the study.

In his paper titled Canadas Deadly Response to COVID-19, Redman wrote that the use of these NPIs had in fact been discussed during the development of pandemic plans in every province and territory, as well as at the federal level, with the advantages and disadvantages made known and taken into account.



I cant figure out why they didnt follow the very plans that they knew existed, he said in the webinar. And that to me is due diligenceyou either knew or should have known.



Redman also noted in his paper that by mid-March 2020, it was known that people most at risk from COVID-19 were seniors.



For example, his paper referred to a WHO report from the week of March 2329, 2020, which showed an increase in the death rate for people aged 50 and above in the European region. For those under 50, COVID-19 was not deadly in most cases, appearing to be less serious than annual seasonal influenza, Redman wrote. For people over the age of 70 and for those over the age of 60 with other severe comorbidities, COVID-19 virus was recognized as a serious concern.



Redman argued that governments, due to a lack of due diligence, jumped to obvious or seemingly logical assumptions of how to resolve tasks. One example, he said, was the assumption that the only way to deal with COVID-19 was to enact severe authoritarian lockdowns as witnessed in China.



We had time to develop options for care for our most at risk, but chose to follow the failed lockdowns of China, Italy and Spain in the first wave, he wrote. In subsequent waves, ignoring all evidence and science, we continued to follow the failed use of lockdowns, killing tens of thousands more of our most-at-risk.



Paramedics take an elderly patient from the Tendercare Living Centre long-term care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scarborough, Ont., on Dec. 23, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Use of Fear

Redman noted that the unconscionable use of fear during this pandemic to ensure the publics compliance has caused a breach in confidence in government that will last a decade or more. The damage to our democracy will last at least a generation.



The intentional use of modelling (never considered for use in this manner) to create fear, the use of daily case counts to create fear, the use of specific cases to manipulate the public into belief that COVID-19 was equally deadly to all age groups, the use of the term variants of concern with misleading percentages given for spread and terms like may be more deadly, never attempting to place COVID-19 into perspective of other daily risks, acting as if lockdowns were the only way to save lives. These are all tools of fear to control the public, he wrote.



The use of fear, whether intentionally or not, will result in long-term, unpredictable, uncontrollable, and severe collateral damage, he stated in his paper.

Overall, the lockdowns have caused massive collateral damage to mental health, societal health, childrens education and socialization, individuals with other severe illnesses, the national economy, civil rights, and trust in democracy, wrote Redman.



Redman said the prime minister, premiers, and medical officers of health are responsible for this deadly Canadian response.



When areas of responsibility are not met, either by lack of due diligence or knowingly disregarding requirements, accountability must be enforced.


Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (C) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Louisiana AG Threatens Legal Action Against College Over Vaccine Mandate

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is opposing vaccine mandates at in-state colleges and universities, saying they violate student rights.

Landry sent a letter, made public Thursday, to Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), located at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, warning of a possible lawsuit if the college doesnt amend its vaccination policy.

As I have previously stated, I intend to pursue legal action to protect the rights of Louisiana residents attending VCOM who have declared their objections to the coercive mandate to be vaccinated with an EU-approved [Emergency Use] vaccine, he said.

Landry maintains that vaccine mandates violate state and federal law. He approached the colleges administration after several students said they were retaliated against for refusing to get vaccinated.

These complaints have included recordings of conversations with VCOM staff engaging in harassing and coercive conduct targeting students who have exercised their right to opt-out of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, he said.

The medical school disputes the attorney generals characterization of events and says it has acted in accordance with the schools health and legal obligations.

The intention of VCOMs coronavirus vaccine policy, is and always has been the safety of our students, the safety of our employees and workplace, as well as the safety of the patients being cared for by our students, faculty and staff, VCOM said in a statement.

Unfortunately, the policy was not accurately described in the letter, which was the first communication VCOM received from the Attorney Generals office, the statement said. From the beginning, VCOM has committed to remain compliant with the laws of Louisiana.

The school explained that all but three of its 300 students are vaccinated, and that it offers an exemption process for mandatory vaccines.

The avenue to request a medical, religious, or judicially approved exemption to the policy has been made available to those students, VCOM said, adding that dissenting students could also defer admission until the next academic year when COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be fully approved by government health agencies.

In his letter, Landry said the schools exemption process was structured to deny waivers.

VCOM has threatened the students with costly delay or abandoning of their medical education, which is clearly intended to coerce them into being vaccinated and is not necessary to protect public health. By focusing on the small number of known students who have vigorously objected, you are missing the point that the law protects this minority view, he wrote.

Complicating matters is the schools partnership arrangement with the University of Louisiana-Monroe, a taxpayer-funded public school. VCOM is a Virginia-based private entity with satellite medical schools in several states, including Louisiana. It occupies space at ULM and works with the university but is not part of it.

University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson has said VCOM is separate from the state higher education system and is therefore free from the attorney generals claims. Landry disagrees.

The clash may serve as an indication of future events regarding Louisiana State University and its 34,000 students, the most of any higher education institution in the state.

The LSU faculty voted for mandatory student vaccines at the close of the spring semester, but a mandate has not yet been implemented.

A faculty resolution cites Duke, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Brown, and Cornell universities as all requiring student vaccines as a condition of in-person attendance for Fall 2021. The approach would entail updating LSUs existing immunization policy covering measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, and meningococcus.

The LSU Faculty Senate requests that PS72 be revised to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all eligible students wishing to enroll in in-person classes or other events on campus or implement a similar requirement via another administrative policy or procedure, the resolution reads.

Landry confronted LSUs then-interim President Thomas Galligan and asserted state university employees and students are protected against mandated coronavirus vaccines because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not officially approved them.

The FDA is streamlining its vaccine approval process though its unlikely a finalized approval will come prior to LSUs fall semester, which begins Aug. 9. ULMs fall semester begins Aug. 16.

Landry gave VCOM until Friday, July 30, to respond to concerns outlined in his recent letter.

It is my understanding that VCOM has advised it will determine whether the students objections meet VCOMs standards sometime in the next two weeks. I would like to have an answer by close of business Friday or I will join in seeking legal protection for the students, he said.

By William Patrick
Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona Senate, work during a 2020 election audit at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz. on May 1, 2021. (Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)

Maricopa County, Dominion Defy Arizona Senates Subpoenas

Officials in Arizonas largest county and Dominion Voting Systems on Monday announced their defiance of the state Senates latest round of subpoenas, continuing a feud that started last year.

Maricopa Countys Board of Supervisors decided in a closed session not to deliver any more election-related materials or information to the Arizona Senate, despite a judge earlier this year ruling subpoenas from the body lawful.

In a 6-page letter to Kory Langhofer, attorney for Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, county officials said that auditors hired by Fann already have some of the information they seek and will not receive the rest at this time, or ever.

Fann sought ballot envelopes or ballot envelope images; user names, passwords, and security keys for election machines; voter records; routers or router images; and splunk logs.

Allister Adel, the countys attorney, told Fann that the county has already provided ballot images. The county recorder, Stephen Richer, will produce the ballot envelopes themselves, but only if theres confirmation that appropriate security measures are in place, Adel wrote. Richer will also work to produce voter records.

The county does not have user names, passwords, or security keys requested for the machines, officials claim. Moreover, the request is moot because the machines have been returned to the county, they say. Also, they are refusing to hand over routers or router images, or splunk logs, claiming that doing so would be a security risk.

The Arizona State Senate in Phoenix, Ariz., is seen on Aug. 2, 2021. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

The latest subpoena may not be lawful, Adel added, because it was issued while the state Senate was out of session. The county offered a similar raft of general objectionssuch as describing the subpoena as overboardthat it did last year, leading to a court battle that ended when Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason ruled that the subpoenas were valid.

In a separate letter to Langhofer, a lawyer representing Dominion said the subpoena the company received was legally defective.

Eric Spencer, the lawyer, alleged that the document violated Dominions due process rights, its Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, and its rights under the Arizona Constitutions Private Affairs Clause.

Because the Subpoena is illegal and unenforceable, Dominion hopes that litigation over the Subpoena will not be necessary. Should litigation result, however, Dominion intends to pursue all remedies available to it, including (but not necessarily limited to) recovery of its attorneys fees, expenses, and damages under state law, Spencer said.

Dominion also objected to public records requests made by the Arizona Senate seeking records from its company. CEO John Poulos told Langhofer in a missive that Dominion is not a public body and therefore has no obligation to make its records available for public inspection.

He also alleged that security keys and passwords needed to access some levels of the machines used in Maricopa Countythe ones the county claims it does not holdare not public records.

Accordingly, because the Law has no application, Dominion will not produce or allow inspection of the materials requested, Poulos said.

Arizona Sen. Warren Petersen (L), and Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R) hear testimony during a hearing on the Maricopa County audit in Phoenix, Ariz., on on July 15, 2021. (Allan Stein/Epoch Times)

Fann, a Republican whose caucus ordered the audit, told The Epoch Times in an email that the Arizona Senate was preparing a formal response to the county and Dominion.

Randy Pullen, a retired auditor and a former chair of the Arizona Republican Party who serves as a spokesman for the auditors, did not provide comment before this article was published.

Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers, a Republican, told The Epoch Times that senators received the letters.

We are undaunted and undeterred, and well pursue more formal action here in the next day or so, she said.

That action will likely not include another vote on holding Maricopa Countys board in contempt. The Arizona Senate is not currently in session, and two Republicans have said they now oppose the audit, meaning such a vote would likely fail.

Stay tuned and youll see movement, Rogers said. We definitely will not be stymied.
Australian Defence Force personnel and NSW police load food packages for delivery to people in lockdown at the Prairiewood Leisure Centre on Aug. 2, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Australian Military Joins COVID-19 Lockdown Monitoring in Sydney

The Australian military began patrolling the streets of Sydney on Aug. 2 to monitor a COVID-19 lockdown, with some even tasked with going door to door.

About 300 unarmed military personnel were going to peoples houses to check whether individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 were isolating at home, Sydney police commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters at a press conference.

Fuller said the military operation would be centered around the welfare of the community and ensuring that stay-at-home orders  are observed, according to SBS. Police officers will be assisted by ADF personnel as they deliver food parcels, conduct welfare door-knocks, and go through compliance checks of stay-at-home and self-isolation orders, he said.

The sight of military troops on the ground drew condemnation from several groups and locals.

Australian Defence Force Brigadier Michael Garraway said troops wont be enforcing any laws.

I want to say right up front that we are not a law enforcement agency, he told reporters. Thats not what well be doing. The tasks weve got underway today, for example, are delivering food, assisting people with setting up vaccination stations, and those sorts of tasks.

Other tasks, he said, include contact tracing with the Department of Health.

NSW Police check drivers on Enmore Road as part of the enforcement of Public Health orders in Sydney, on July 31, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

An ambulance officer and staff are seen at the entrance of the Hardi Aged Care Nursing Home Facility at Summer Hill in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 2, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Throughout the pandemic, Australia has imposed some of the harshest lockdown measures in the world. But in the lastest lockdown in response to the Delta variant, cases have not dropped as authorities had hoped. The state of New South Wales, home to Sydney, reported 207 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to official data. Meanwhile, a lockdown in Australias third-biggest city, Brisbane, has been extended to Aug. 8 from Aug. 3 as 13 local transmissions were detected.

Australian Defence Force personnel and NSW police deliver food packages to people in lockdown in the Fairfield district in Sydney on Aug. 2, 2021. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Australia has recorded some 34,000 COVID-19 infections and 924 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised that lockdowns will ease once the country vaccinates 70 percent of eligible citizens, which should happen, he said, by the end of the year.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A child receives a nucleic acid test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Nanjing, in eastern Jiangsu province on July 29, 2021.(STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Millions Under Lockdown as China Attempts to Control Delta Outbreak

Millions of people are currently confined to their homes in China as the regime races to contain its largest COVID-19 outbreak in months, driven by the spread of the Delta variant. The surge has caused concerns about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines against the highly infectious strain.

Chinese health authorities have blamed the Delta variant for a rise in infections spanning 14 provinces and including Beijing. The recent outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, was first reported on July 20 in the eastern city of Nanjing, where nine airport workers were identified by routine tests.

On Aug. 2, the national health commission confirmed 43 fresh cases across the nation, pushing the total of infected numbers over 300 within 10 days. But this figure isnt likely to reflect the true total, given the Chinese regime is known to grossly underreport its virus numbers.

Dont trust [the authorities] announcement. Actually, we dont believe it, a Beijing citizen surnamed Wang told The Epoch Times on July 30.

The residential area where Wang lives has been under lockdown since July 28.

On Aug. 2, the Beijing authorities gave stay-at-home orders to hundreds of thousands of people in the Haidian District after a resident was found infected with the CCP virus that morning.

A resident surnamed Zhou confirmed to The Epoch Times on Aug. 2 that she was informed the residential area was locked down in the morning. She said residents are receiving nucleic acid tests, and suggested that the lockdown wouldnt be lifted before several rounds of mass tests were completed.

Flights, trains, and buses have been canceled from areas in the capital where the CCP virus has been found, locking out tourists during the peak summer holiday travel season, despite the vast majority of the citizens having been inoculated with Chinese vaccines.

As of Aug. 1, more than 96.98 percent of the adult population in the capital have been vaccinated with at least one dose, while the fully vaccinated rate reached 92.14 percent, Beijings National Health Commission said. The vaccination of those aged 12 to 17 began on Aug. 1.

Being vaccinated doesnt mean staying in a safe box, said Xu Hejian, the spokesperson of the Beijing authorities said at a press conference on Aug. 2.

The official data indicate many infected cases in the fresh outbreak had received Chinese vaccines. In Nanjing city, health officials conceded on July 22 that almost all infected cases had received vaccines, except for one person under the age of 18. The official website of the airport, where the first cluster broke out, shows that more than 90 percent of the airport staff had received Chinese vaccines by May.

Stringent Control

The Chinese regime has scrambled to track people who had traveled through the Nanjing Lukou International Airport.

Nantong City, about a three-hour drive from Nanjing, has sent 16,000 people who had been to the airport since July 6 to hotel quarantine.

Local public security officials said on Aug. 2 that administrative punishments had been imposed on two people because they failed to report their travel histories, even though the two showed a negative COVID test, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Lin Tian (pseudonym), a local IT company owner, told The Epoch Times on July 31 that he had been in quarantine in a hotel since July 21.

I dont know how they know [my travel history], he said, suggesting the authorities may trace close contacts through tracking ID cards or monitoring cellphone location.

He said people in hotel quarantine receive nucleic acid tests every day.

Meanwhile, authorities in Wuhan, where the CCP virus originated in late 2019, sealed off seven residential compounds and roads, and quarantined more than 2,000 people after seven cases were reported on Aug. 2, Xinhua reported.

A local resident surnamed Yang told The Epoch Times on Aug. 2 that people are currently required to undergo nucleic acid testing. Meanwhile, videos circulated on Chinas social media show empty shelves and refrigerators in a grocery store.

According to Wuhans National Health Commission, one person among the infected is related to a tour group who had been to the popular tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, where many of the latest cases emerged.

Zhangjiajie City, in the northwest Hunan Province, has become another focus of concern, because travelers from Nanjing were thought to have visited. Beijing health officials said the three who tested positive for the CCP virus recently had been to the city.

Zhangjiajie is now trying to track down more than 2,000 people who had attended a performance on July 22. The city has locked down all 1.5 million residents and shut all tourist attractions.

In the recently flood-stricken city of Zhengzhou, the Chinese regime has imposed travel restrictions after nearly three dozen people were reportedly infected.

Luo Ya, Gu Xiaohua, and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak speaks during a news conference on the state's response to the coronavirus outbreak at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas, Nev., on March 17, 2020. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Nevada Mandates Weekly COVID-19 Testing for Unvaccinated Government Workers

The state of Nevada says it will require weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated government workers starting this month.

The rule will go into effect starting Aug. 15. Individuals who arent fully vaccinated, meaning they havent received two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or the single-dose J&J vaccine, will have to submit their results to a human resources officer or department supervisor.

The vaccine is the best tool we have to combat this virus and we are committed to making State government a safe and healthy environment for all employees and the public we are charged with serving, said Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, in a statement late last week. State employees have always led by example, and I remain confident they will continue to step up and follow these new mitigation strategies that will enable us to better protect each other and the fellow Nevadans we serve.

State government workplaces that reach 70 percent vaccination of employees will not have to follow the weekly testing protocol. However, the masking requirement will have to remain if they work in a county that is determined to have a high transmission rate of the virus, according to the governors office.

The mandate comes days after the Biden administration announced a similar policy for unvaccinated individuals, saying they must submit to regular COVID-19 tests.

Right now, too many people are dying or watching someone they love die and say, If Id just got the vaccine, President Joe Biden said in the East Room of the White House late last month. This is an American tragedy. People are dying who dont have to die.

In a statement released by the White House, the administration said new rules are needed due to the Delta COVID-19 variant.

Anyone who does not attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job no matter their geographic location, physically distance from all other employees and visitors, comply with a weekly or twice-weekly screening testing requirement, and be subject to restrictions on official travel, the White House stated in a fact sheet.

A number of major unions pushed back against Bidens announcement, including the American Postal Workers Union (AWPU). The union argued that it isnt the role of the federal government to mandate vaccines or other testing measures.

Maintaining the health and safety of our members is of paramount importance. While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent, the unions statement reads.

Brian Rothenberg, a spokesman for the 397,000-member United Auto Workers, told The Associated Press that it is against vaccine mandates due to religious or health concerns.

Larry Cosme, the head of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents 30,000 federal officers and agents, said the shots shouldnt be compelled but stressed that the union is encouraging workers to get vaccinated.
North Carolina Mandates Vaccines for State Employees and Health Care Workers, School Board Debates on Masks

Citing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant and the unvaccinated, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has issued vaccine mandates for state employees and state-run medical facilities.

On July 29, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) said in a press release that state government employees are required to show proof of vaccination status and urged private businesses to enforce the requirement as well.

If an employee hasnt been vaccinated, he or she must wear a mask, be tested once a week, maintain six feet of distance from others, not gather with other unvaccinated people who do not live with them, and not travel.

On July 27, the Division of State Operated Healthcare Facilities, which operates within the NCDHHS, issued a mandate requiring employees of state-run health care facilities to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30 or face disciplinary action.

In a press release, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) said, though hes been vaccinated, he doesnt support the mandate, calling the decision to be vaccinated a personal one and should be made between a doctor and a patient.

North Carolinians will not be bullied into being vaccinated against their will, particularly with a vaccine that has yet to be approved by the FDA, Moore said in the press release. Our healthcare workers are certainly capable of weighing the risks and benefits and can make their own decision about the vaccine. This mandate could force healthcare workers to choose between their employment and their conscience. Now is not the time to risk losing any of our healthcare workers who have been at the front lines of this pandemic.

According to NCDHHS COVID-19 dashboard report on Aug. 2, there were 2,190 newly reported cases, 1,359 currently hospitalized, and 13,670 total deaths in North Carolina.

The dashboard also reports that 61 percent of the adult population has had one dose of the vaccination, and 58 percent have been fully vaccinated.

In addition to its mandates, the NCDHHS, using the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) updated guidelines, recommends that North Carolina K-12 schools require staff, teachers, and students to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, though each school district can decide if students and staff will be required to wear masks.

School Mask Mandates

Data collected by the North Carolina School Board Association (NCSBA) tracks which schools are implementing either mandatory or optional mask policies.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted 8-1 in favor of mask mandates for its K-12 school system on July 30.

If I look at the DHHS numbers, hospital admissions average 2.3 percent of children under the age of 17, which comes out in actual numbers as two admissions a day, said Sean Strain, one board member who voted against the mandate. Now thats two more than I wish it were, he said in the meeting, but my question is: what problem are we trying to solve? If we are trying to solve the pandemic of the unvaccinated adults by imposing restrictions and constraints on our unvaccinated and unvaccinated children who are not at risk, I have an issue with it. Then this recommendation is not for the health and safety of our students and staff. Its a public health community action that actually is not targeting a significant risk, because the significant risk is not born out by the data.

Other schools school board members cited NCDHHS, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the Mecklenburg County Public Health, echoing recommendations by those organizations that said all individuals in a K-12 setting should wear face masks indoors.

On June 1, the Union County Board of Education in Monroe, North Carolina, according to the NCSBA, approved a resolution to request that Cooper rescind his executive order regarding mask wearing in schools and direct the NCDHHS to update its public health toolkit.

In addition, the board voted to ask Cooper to not require school employees or students to receive a COVID-19 vaccination prior to attending school, and if Cooper does mandate masks and vaccines, the board agreed to ask that the North Carolina General Assembly intervene with legislation to prevent the mandates.

Moms for Liberty

At the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board meeting was Moms for Liberty, a parental rights organization protesting the K-12 mask mandate.

Brooke Weiss, chairwoman for the Mecklenburg County chapter of the national nonprofit, told The Epoch Times that the vote wasnt a surprise, but that they still wanted to have a presence.

The rights of the parent are being eroded, she said, adding that its the job of the parents to raise their kids, not the schools.

Weiss started the Moms for Liberty chapter in North Carolina after seeing her daughters homework assignment that had a question comparing slavery to the holocaust.

It was a holocaust minimizing question, Weiss said. We are a Jewish family, so I didnt appreciate them basically saying that slavery was worse because white people in America did the same exact thing to black people that the Nazis did to Jewish people. Slavery was an atrocity, as the holocaust was, but they dont need to be compared, because slavery was not the calculated murder of six million people.

The curriculum resembled other curriculums parents had reported that that reflected the teachings of critical race theory (CRT), a teaching based on the Marxist concept of class struggle, pitting two social classesthe bourgeoisie and the proletariatagainst each other.

CRT uses this framework, but replaces the bourgeoisie with white people, and the proletariat with black people, or the oppressor and the oppressed, respectively.

It took her two weeks to see more of the test that was administered, though she never got to see the entire curriculum, she said.

Among the causes for which Moms for Liberty says it fights are individual medical rights, such as the wearing of masks in schools.

Weiss said she hasnt seen any evidence that masks work, she said.

There are no studies, and if there are studies, they arent scientific studies because there is no control group, Weiss said. They are not comparing their findings to groups that arent wearing masks.

Weiss clarified that Moms for Liberty is not an anti-vaccine group and they do not deny that COVID-19 is serious.

We just think that it should be up to individuals as far as making their own medical decisions, Weiss said.

The Pandemic of the Unvaccinated

Both President Joe Biden and Cooper fortified the narrative that the current resurgence of COVID-19 has been caused by the unvaccinated.

Look, the only pandemic we have now is among the unvaccinated, Biden said on July 16 to a reporter at the White House.

Cooper said at a news conference on July 29, Unvaccinated people are driving this resurgence and getting themselves and other people sick.

Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), told The Epoch Times that she believes that the unvaccinated are being blamed for the Delta variant in order to hype up peer pressure on the vaccinated and to marginalize them into submission.

The HFDF is a health rights advocacy group active in legal fights against government overreach.

After HFDF filed a lawsuit against a school district in Los Angeles for mandating vaccines last year, the school district retracted its vaccine mandate the next day, Manookian said.

Manookian said HFDF has several lawsuits addressing government overreach of mask and vaccine mandates in airports and other travel hubs, and a lawsuit against a major university that has mandated vaccines.

Manookian said, after having spoken with several physicians, what she has been told is that the Delta variant is 99 percent the same as COVID-19, and while it may be more contagious, it is less virulent, as is the case as most viruses evolve and spread through the population.

The truth is that in Britain roughly 50 percent of recent cases of the virus, in particular the Delta variant, were in fully vaccinated individuals, Manookian said. In Israel, the latest I heard was that in a recent outbreak 83 percent of cases were in fully vaccinated and a large majority were Delta variant. In the United States, there have been so many tens of thousands of cases and many, many deaths in fully vaccinated individuals that the CDC stopped counting the number of cases in vaccinated individuals unless the case resulted in hospitalization or death.

Politicization of Science

As far as whether masks work, Manookian said, the narrative has become not scientific, but political.

There is some very definitive research showing that masks do not stop the spread of viruses such as SARS-doc-2 or flu, Manookian said. In the spring of May 2020, the CDC published a review of 10 randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of masks on the spread of flu, and they found that there was negligible impact. Its important to remember that randomized controlled trials are considered one of the gold standards in science. Amazingly, CDC published a study, then completely disregarded it and recommended that people wear masks.

Because the virus can be spread via aerosols and the gaps in the masks are 1,000 to 5,000 times the size of the particles of the virus, she said, the argument that the masks stop visible droplets does not consider what is microscopic, leaving the argument for wearing masks even less valid.

Wearing a mask increases carbon dioxide levels and reduces oxygen levels that can literally kill brain cells, Manookian said, which damages the developing brain of the K-12 student.

But theres also the psychological and emotional impact that masks have on children, and how they impede them from developing, Manookian said. Children learn how to read people, how to form words and speak, how to give cues to others through their faces and others faces, and we are preventing that from happening.

Despite other studies within the CDC and internationally that show masks are ineffective, she said, the CDC has continued to advise people to wear masks, creating two narratives: one from people who do their own research, and the other from people who listen to the state narrative of federal health agencies as projected by the legacy media outlets.

This can only be explained by the politicization of science, Manookian said.
Raven Saunders of the United States gestures on the podium after winning silver in shot put at the Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo on Aug. 1, 2021. (Hannah Mckay/Reuters)

Olympic Committee Looking Into Gesture American Made on Podium

The International Olympic Committee is reviewing a gesture a Team USA silver medalist made on the podium, which could violate rules the panel announced in April.

Raven Saunders made an x above her head on Sunday in Tokyo while on the podium after winning the silver medal in shot put.

Saunders told The Associated Press that she made the symbol because its the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.

I really think my generation really dont care, Saunders added. Shout out to all my black people, shout out to all my LBGTQ community, shout out to everybody dealing with mental health. Because at the end of the day, we understand that its bigger than us, and its bigger than the powers that be.

The International Olympic Committee said before the Olympics that athletes who protested by making gestures on the podium would face punitive measures.

Violations would be examined on a case-by-case basis, officials said at the time.

Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the committee, told a press conference on Monday that we are looking into the matter and will now consider our next steps.

Athletes are free to express themselves during press conferences, on social media, and in other venues. But Adams noted that most athletes, in a survey of thousands of them, said they did not want protests during competitions or on podiums.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee told news outlets that Saunderss gesture was respectful of her competitors and did not violate our rules related to demonstration.

Saunders took to Twitter to write, Let them try and take this medal, adding, Im running across the border even though I cant swim.

She added a laughing emoji.

Saunders, 25, of South Carolina, lost to Chinas Lijiao Gong. New Zealands Valerie Adams took bronze.

Im really proud to win this competition for my country and not only for myself but also for all the people in China who supported me, Gong told reporters.
Photographer Snaps Stormy Sublime SunsetOver Land and Seaat Carova Beach, NC

A New York photographer recently captured a surreal stormy sunset during a trip to Carova Beach, North Carolina, which left him more than a little impressed.

George Wang, who works at an engineering consulting company in the tri-state area, was on a drive with his friends when they noticed something unusual on the horizon.

We were driving down the beach during a brief sunny moment after its been raining the whole week, Wang said during an interview with The Epoch Times.

While driving, we noticed a red spot in the [distant] storm so we drove as close as we could.

They drew near, without getting too close, and Wang and his friends realized that the red spot was the effect caused by storm clouds backlit by the warm glow of the North Carolina sunsetwhich passed through the squall and lit up the horizon like fire.

Awestruck, Wang got out his drone and captured a shot of the mesmerizing scene, which was broken into areas of sand, sea, sunset, and stormy clouds above.

He managed to capture this:

I captured multiple landscape images with 50 percent vertical overlap. Then I merged the image together to create a vertical panorama within Lightroom, Wang explained.

Wang and his friends were amazed by the spectacle; and he took to social media to share the photo.

We were in pure awe to be present at something so beautiful, we paused to enjoy the moment for as long as we could, he said.

Wang specializes in environmental portraituredepicting people in an environmentas a hobby, while working a day job in information technology.

I am in the field of information technology, I am in love with all things tech-related. DSLR cameras and drones are all part of my digital collection, he said.

That being said, I have always loved photography, it is my hobby. My main interest is new experiences, and [I] will pretty much enjoy anything.

Despite being a technology buff, Wang developed an interest in photography in his earlier years, mainly landscape photography, and it became a hobby.

When I started photography initially, I mainly focused on landscapes, he said.

However, over time, I found that a bit boring because its usually missing subjects. So I now shoot environmental portraits.

Sometimes, though, no subjects can compare to a sublime storm or ethereal sunset on a beautiful beach.

Here is more photography by George Wang:

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
Washington police officer Gunther Hashida is seen in an undated photograph. (Gunther Hashida Memorial & Family Support Fund/GoFundMe)

Police Officer Who Responded to Jan. 6 Capitol Breach Dies by Suicide

A Washington police officer who responded to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol was found dead inside his home last week.

Gunther Hashida, 43, killed himself and was found on July 29, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department told The Epoch Times.

We are grieving as a Department as our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Hashidas family and friends, the department said in an emailed statement.

Hashida worked for the agencys Emergency Response Team, an outfit in its Special Operations Division. Hes the third law enforcement officer who responded to the Jan. 6 incident to take his own life.

Washington police officer Jeffrey Smith committed suicide in the aftermath of the breach, officials disclosed later in January. And U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood killed himself on Jan. 10.

Brian Sicknick, another Capitol Police officer, died on Jan. 7 from natural causes.

A GoFundMe fundraising page states that Hashida left behind a wife and three children.

The page described him as a devoted and loving husband and father.

It didnt elaborate on what drove him to end his own life.

The page had raised more than $16,000 as of Aug. 2, with a stated goal of $50,000.

More than 535 people have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, which left more than 150 officers injured.

Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told members of Congress that other officers suffered injuries such as bruising that they didnt report.

Law enforcement officers showed bravery in the face of this unprovoked and vicious attack, he testified in January.

Four officers who took part in the response testified in a separate hearing last month, recounting harrowing scenes that they believe could have lead to their deaths.
Gina Johnson and family attended Shen Yun performance at Monfort Concert Hall in Greeley, Colorado on Aug. 1, 2021. (NTD Television)

GREELEY, Colo.Shen Yun Performing Arts is always a great treat for families. On the occasion of Shen Yuns performance in Greeley, Colorado, on Sunday evening, Gina Johnson, a symphony oboist attended with her family.

Johnsonwho has played in both the Cheyenne and Fort Collins Symphony Orchestrasdescribed Shen Yuns orchestra as phenomenal.

I thought it was extremely well balanced. Some instruments were very familiar, and it was neat to hear the Chinese instruments that were featured, she said.

Shen Yuns unique orchestra blends the best of two worldsthe sounds of classical western instruments as the base accentuating the distinctive sounds of traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu or pipa.

They were all excellent. [The erhu] was perfectly in tune all the time, which is not easy to do on string instruments. She played beautifully, Johnson said.

The 4,000-year-old erhu is a Chinese violin that is said to mimic the sound of human voices.

I thought it was a very even combination of eastern and western [instrumental sounds]. Both sides of the world were represented well in the orchestra. [It was] very professional all the way around, and magical, she said.

Johnson was also impressed by Shen Yuns dancers who depict stories that carry messages from Chinas past civilizations as well as cultural dances from its many ethnic groups.

The versatility of the dancers was impressive, she said.

I think for me it was getting to see that you can dance with anything. You can dance with brooms; you can dance with napkins. It was really  well done. I loved the balance, learning about the culture, the balance between fast and slow, [it] was really educational, Johnson said.

She summed up her evening as a beautiful cultural experience.

The stories are very well told [one needs to] step into somebody elses culture to understand the values that go along with that culture, she said.

Dot Diemer, a speech and language pathologist, and Bryce Cox, a software engineer, accompanied Johnson and her family to see Shen Yun. They purchased tickets last year before the pandemic forced the closure of most theatres in the U.S.

It was absolutely worth [the wait], said Diemer. I think everybody should see it. It was beautiful.

Gina Johnson, her family and friends, Bryce Cox and Dot Diemer enjoyed a Shen Yun performance at Monfort Concert Hall in Greeley, Colorado on Aug. 1, 2021. (Michelle Yang/The Epoch Times)

Cox said that the performance was extremely well done. The costumes, the music, the dance, everything was outstanding, he said.

Just perfect, Cox said, adding that he enjoyed the story and its sense of spirituality on the divinity of human nature.

[That] message was important to me, he said.

Shen Yun showcases 5,000 years of Chinese traditions through classical and folk dance. Chinese culture is based on spirituality that has largely been lost since the beginning of the rule of the Chinese Communist Party over 70 years ago.

Reporting by NTD Television

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.
Workers walk outside the Olymel pork processing plant in Vallee-Jonction, Que, on Oct. 29, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Quebec Pork Industry Says Thousands of Pigs Risk Being Euthanized If Strike Continues

MONTREALQuebec pork producers are asking the province to end a labour strike at a major slaughterhouse because thousands of pigs risk being euthanized.

The producers want Labour Minister Jean Boulet to force both sides to negotiate at the Olymel plant in ValleeJonction, Que., south of Quebec City.

David Duval, head of porkproducing group Les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec, says about 130,000 pigs were ready for slaughter last week but some were instead transported to Alberta and the United States.

He says the backlog of pigs waiting for slaughter is creating space issues, causing the animals to become aggressive, which isnt good for their health.

Olymel said on July 30 it had accepted a settlement proposal from the conciliation team, but the labour union said it had received no salary offer from the company over the past few days.

Employees at the plant have been on strike since April 28.
Secretary Yellen to Brief House Democrats on Status of Emergency Rental Funds

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will provide an update to House Democrats on Tuesday about the steps being taken to distribute $46.5 billion in federal funds that were allocated to prevent evictions during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Yellens upcoming briefing in a Monday letter to Democrats explaining how the House will proceed with the effort to extend the year-long moratorium after it expired this weekend.

President Joe Biden urged Congress to take action to extend the moratorium after the Supreme Court in June ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overstepped its authority in issuing the moratorium.

U.S. Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington had struck down the moratorium as exceeding the CDCs authority but put her ruling on hold. The supreme court voted 5-4 to allow the moratorium to remain in place until its expiry at the end of July.

In a brief opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he agreed with Friedrichs ruling, but voted to leave the ban on evictions in place because of its imminent expiry and because those few weeks will allow for the additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds.

Those of us who wanted the extension were disappointed with the statement of Justice Kavanaugh, who stated that while he would vote for the extension once, he would not extend it again, said Pelosi.

Pelosi said Democrats are introducing legislation to extend the moratorium until the end of October because it would give us time to get the money out and to make the COVID-19 case to the Supreme Court that the urgent need for the moratorium has not gone away.

Universally, our Members demand that the $46.5 billion provided by Congress be distributed expeditiously to renters and landlords, Pelosi said in her letter. Members have asked for information regarding the distribution of the funds so far. The data that is available is based on the first tranche of money: $24 billion, up until June 30.

Although House members are in their districts for the next month, Pelosi said they are on 24-hour notice to return for any votes. Progressives such as Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are holding a sit-in at the U.S. Capitol demanding that Democrats come back to extend the moratorium.

The Department of Treasury, which is in charge of moving the funds to states and local governments, will provide information to members about the status of the previously allocated funds.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police release tear gas into a crowd during clashes at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Selfies Lead to Huntington Beach Mans Arrest in Capitol Breach

LOS ANGELESA Huntington Beach home remodeling contractor has been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, including unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, and obstructing Congress, after a fellow member of his church prayer group tipped off the FBI, according to court papers obtained Aug. 2.

Glenn Allen Brooks, 61, allegedly climbed through a broken window of the Capitol during the melee and subsequently boasted of his active participation in the riots by sharing photos of himself inside the Capitol to members of the prayer group, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Brooks was arrested on July 29. It wasnt immediately known when he was expected to be arraigned in the District of Columbia.

According to the complaint, after the FBI received an online tip about Brooks potential involvement in the breach, the prayer group member who saw the photos gave authorities the defendants address, phone number, and email address.

Afterward, an FBI agent conducted surveillance of Brooks home and noted the suspects white beard, which allegedly matched the beard worn by the suspect in the photos, along with other clothing and physical attributes, the document states.

The Justice Departments investigation into the Capitol attack has led to criminal charges against almost 600 people, including dozens of California residentsone of whom is a former La Habra police chiefwho have been accused of conspiring to attack Congress in order to stop the final certification of President Joe Bidens Electoral College victory.
Michael Gray, attended a Shen Yun performance at the Monfort Concert Hall in Greeley, Colorado, on Aug. 1, 2021. (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times)

GREELEY, Colo.Michael Gray, a visual artist, found Shen Yun Performing Arts resonating with his world view of beauty and values at an evening performance in Greeley, Colorado on Aug. 1.

Growing has to come from inside, he said.

Shen Yun, based in New York, showcases Chinas 5,000 years of traditional culture through the medium of classical and ethnic dances. These dances are accompanied by a unique world-class orchestra that blends the sounds of traditional Chinese and European instruments.

Beautiful things like this  those traditional cultures were ways of expressing these really unique and beautiful ideas, Gray said.

Shen Yuns stories are based on the traditional spiritual teachings of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianisma legacy of spiritual civilization that preceded the rise of the Chinese Communist Party when such values were lost.

Dance and art forms are part of the universal element that binds all of us together, Gray said. They express the universal values of freedom and goodness.

No matter where you are in the world, and what your fundamental beliefs are, its just that ultimate goodness that brings all of us together, Gray said.

The storytelling was playful and joyful, he added. Shen Yuns mini-dramas portray stories with humor, sadness, and joy, and contain moral teachings that have been passed down over many generations.

Gray thanked the Shen Yun performers for their dedication and sacrifice in presenting such a world-class performance.

Theyre doing a wonderful job. Im grateful to be here, he said.

Reporting by Lily Yu and Diane Cordemans.



The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.
Filipinos mark Independence day with a protest against continued Chinese intrusions into Philippine waters, outside the Chinese Embassy on June 12, 2021 in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. Local fishermen have expressed disappointment at the governments lackluster stance on China's incursions, and continue to legally fish the West Philippine Sea waters as long as they can. Prior to Duterte's presidency, the Philippines won a landmark case against China in 2016, which invalidated China's claims in the South China Sea within the country's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

South China Sea Tension Brings the Philippines to a Crossroads

The Philippine government, which once tried to defuse the South China Sea conflict by wooing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is facing mounting discontent at home due to repeated provocations from the latter. The defense establishment is also increasingly dissatisfied with President Dutertes concessions to the CCP in the South China Sea.

It all started with the Hague arbitration five years ago. The Philippines accused the CCP of violating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by claiming maritime rights based on the nine-dash line in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, as well as maritime law enforcement and reef development activities. It then filed a complaint with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.

On July 12, 2016, in the absence of the CCP, the PCA issued an award in support of almost all claims of the Philippines on issues related to the case. The tribunals five arbitrators unanimously ruled that under UNCLOS, the CCP has no historic rights to the natural resources of the South China Sea based on the nine-dash line. The tribunal also found that the CCPs land reclamation in the South China Sea had caused irreparable damage to the environment and asked the government to stop its activities in the Sea.

On July 12, the fifth anniversary of the award, several countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, called on the CCP to comply with the ruling. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty would cover attacks on the South China Sea.

The Award conclusively settled the status of historic rights and maritime entitlements in the South China Sea, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on the fifth anniversary of the issuance of the Award on the South China Sea Arbitration. We welcome the increasing number of states that have come in support of the award and what it stands for.

Relations between Manila and Beijing have become increasingly strained this year over disputed claims in the South China Sea. In March, hundreds of Chinese ships were stranded in the Philippines exclusive economic zone. Manila made repeated demands on Beijing to withdraw them, to no avail.

In April, the Philippine Foreign Ministry issued a statement asking hundreds of Chinese militia fishing boats, gathered in the Philippines exclusive economic zone, to leave the Whitsun Reef. The CCP insists it owns the reef and that its fishing boats are doing nothing wrong to shelter there.

Manilas defense establishment is increasingly dissatisfied with President Rodrigo Dutertes failure to take full advantage of the PCAs Award and concessions in the South China Sea.

China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see OGET THE [expletive deleted] OUT, Philippine Foreign Secretary Locsin said in a social media post on May 3 about the CCPs incursions into Philippine territorial waters.

When being criticized for not using proper language as the countrys chief diplomat, Locsin explained in a follow-up tweet, Usual suave diplomatic speak gets nothing done.

Locsins tweet followed a statement from the Philippine Foreign Ministry accusing Chinese Coast Guard vessels of taking proactive action against Philippine vessels conducting exercises near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The CCP-controlled Scarborough Shoal is one of the richest fish areas in the Sea, claimed by both China and the Philippines and a point of tension between the two countries.

On July 19, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said a Chinese navy survey vessel entered Philippine waters while the Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel BRB Cabra was patrolling fishing grounds in the northeastern Spratly Islands. The vessel, hull number 189, was flying a Chinese flag. The Chinese vessel maintained its course, speed, and radio silence, forcing the Philippine vessel to come within earshot and use speakers to issue a warning. Only then did the Chinese vessel change course and leave the areaaccompanied by the patrol boat.

A spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard said they had strictly followed international agreements when confronting the Chinese vessel. This is to ensure that while protecting the nations democratic ideals, they follow a peaceful rules-based approach so that Philippine sovereignty is protected.

The incident occurred on the same day as the fifth anniversary of the PCAs Award in Manilas favor, but the Philippine government didnt release the news of the standoff until a week later.

On July 21, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said before President Dutertes State of the Union address that the Philippines-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) would be amended, not terminated. The Agreement allows U.S. forces to station in the Philippines and provide host countries with military interaction, maritime security, maritime domain awareness and capacity building, and economic benefits.

The Philippines has long been an ally of the United States. However, President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in 2016, changed the foreign policy of his predecessor Benigno Aquino III by reaching out to the CCP for the first time.

On July 26, Duterte delivered his last State of the Nation address in office, reiterating his countrys reluctance to go to war with the CCP over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and calling Xi Jinping a good friend. Referring to the 2016 Arbitration by the PCA, the Philippine President said there was no arbitration because he did not think the document was binding on the CCP. He asked his countrymen: Do you want war against China? Well, Ill tell you, even on the coast beach of Palawan, before you can take off, the missile of China would be there in about five or 10 minutes.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio refuted the president immediately after the address. Thats the reason why we went to The Hague, because war is not an option, he said, adding that the CCP cannot repudiate an international arbitration on the grounds that it did not attend, because it is a signatory to UNCLOS and ratified the Convention in 2006.

When you ratify UNCLOS, you give your consent in advance to any future dispute under UNCLOS settlement mechanism. China has only itself to blame, and it knows that.

Carpio pointed out that even the CCP does not want a war because the Philippines is the only country in the South China Sea dispute that has a mutual defense treaty with the United States.

The last thing China would want to do is to give the United States legal excuse to intervene in the South China Sea dispute, he said, arguing that the CCP is using its military and economic might to intimidate, and the strategy is working.

Because states are being intimidated and leaders like Duterte are being intimidated. Theyre falling into a trap [with] China.

On July 12, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement on the fifth anniversary of the South China Sea arbitration, calling on the CCP and the Philippines to accept the arbitration, and making it clear that any attack on Philippine armed forces, government vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea will trigger the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). The Treaty contains a provision that an attack on one party is considered an attack on the other. Therefore, the two countries will provide assistance to each other.
State Legislators Blast Federal Overreach, Calling It Biggest Threat

The pandemic has exacerbated the trend of growing federal power, and Republican state legislators are concerned about it. New mask guidance has spurred a backlash from local leaders who are now anxious about the possibility of further restrictions, including a vaccine mandate and new lockdowns.

A number of states are fighting against federal restrictions included in the COVID-19 relief plan on tax cuts.

The federal government is exercising its rights far beyond what the constitution allows, according to Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, a Republican.

Thats probably the biggest threat we face, Adams told The Epoch Times on July 30.

State legislators are very capable to manage their affairs. And we really dont need that federal overreach, he said.

Adams, whos also the chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), hosted the organizations annual meeting from July 28 to July 30. Thousands of state and local leaders gathered for the ALEC conference in a Salt Lake City, Utah, hotel to discuss major policy issues.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 30, 2021. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

Republican legislators reacted to the federal governments mask mandates after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) abruptly changed its guidance on July 27, recommending that U.S. residents wear masks throughout most of the country, regardless of their vaccination status.

In many ways, not only is it wrong according to the Constitution, but it doesnt make sense, Adams said, referring to federal overreach during the pandemic.

Washington should allow the states to be able to function and make their own decisions so that they can compare and choose the right policies, he said.

One size doesnt fit all nor does one size give us the ability to have that innovative comparison of different procedures, Adams said.

In May, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people didnt need to wear masks or practice physical distancing in all indoor and outdoor settings. However, in their latest announcement, health officials said universal masking is essential to stop the spread of the Delta variant.

Statewide mandates are pointless in a large geographical state like Kansas, which has very low cases in a lot of areas, according to Kansas state Senator Beverly Gossage.

Ive had COVID. And Ive also had the COVID vaccine after that, Gossage, a Republican, told The Epoch Times.

As a Senator, I felt like I wanted to send the right message. However, this should be left up to the individuals and their doctor, she said. For them to mandate that you also wear a mask, even if youre vaccinated is actually silly.

State Senator Beverly Gossage of Kansas at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 28, 2021. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

In Kansas, Democrat Governor Laura Kelly took strict measures to combat the pandemic this year, which received backlash from the Republican-led legislature. State lawmakers passed a bill this past spring to curtail the emergency powers of the governor to make a statewide mandate. The bill, which was signed by the governor, also limits the power of local public health officials.

Effects of Lockdowns

James Buck, Republican state senator of Indiana said hes worried about the lasting effects of lockdowns imposed during the pandemic.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, he cited Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a positive example and said, If you really put confidence in the locals and their health departments, they can do an admirable job without making it such a blanket issue.

The government is best which governs least. And I think when the federal government tries to dictate downward, that just forces the states to govern downward, and the locals are just caught.

Buck said these mandates have been catastrophic for businesses and employment.

Julie Yamamoto, a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives echoed the same sentiments about lockdowns.

We were very fortunate, in the state of Idaho, that our economy has been robust and rebounding, but we are still feeling the effects of those businesses that were shut down, she told The Epoch Times. Some of those businesses will probably never come back. So, Im worried.

President Joe Biden last week urged local governments to pay people $100 to encourage vaccination. He also set new rules requiring federal workers to show theyre fully vaccinated or undergo regular testing.

James R. Buck, a member of the Indiana State Senate at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 28, 2021. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

According to the CDCs data, more than 163.8 million people in the United States are fully vaccinated, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the population.

CDC Director Rochelle Walenscky on July 30 told Fox News that the Biden administration was looking into the possibility of a federal vaccine mandate. Her statement drew a lot of attention and hours later she posted a correction on Twitter, stating that There will be no federal mandate.

A national vaccine requirement is not under consideration at this time. Thats where we are with that, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said at a press briefing at the White House on July 30.

Federal Ban on State Tax Cuts

American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by Biden in March provided $350 billion in fiscal aid for state and local governments. A provision in the bill, however, creates a complication for states as it prohibits using the money directly or indirectly to reduce net tax revenue, implying that states cannot cut taxes.

I was really offended at the idea that the federal government would pass a law that says a state cannot choose to cut its taxes. You know, Washington is growing, Lincoln Fillmore, a Republican state senator for Utah told The Epoch Times.

I wish that they would keep their fingers out of Utahs tax policy.

Utah State Senator Lincoln Fillmore at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 28, 2021. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

Legislators argue that the provision is against the constitution and violates the principles of fiscal federalism. In addition, the word indirectly bothers many legislators who claim that it is creating ambiguity. More than a dozen states, including Utah have filed lawsuits to challenge the provision.

The ALEC publication Rich States, Poor States has ranked Utah as the top state for economic outlook for the past 14 years. Utah has implemented key policy reforms in line with free market principles, according to experts, which have strengthened the states economy.

Our economy has been going great. And I hope that Utahs able to cut taxes, Fillmore said. This year, weve got more money than we need to spend. And I would love to return some of that to taxpayers.

State governments received too much federal funding to fight the pandemic and now theyre looking for ways to spend it wisely, according to Jonathan Williams, chief economist at the ALEC.

The provision that bars states from cutting taxes is the biggest assault on federalism, he told The Epoch Times.

There are lots of different legal arguments and some of the preliminary rulings have been pretty positive for conservative state legislators to push back against this.

ALEC is an organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets, and federalism.

This years ALEC conference attracted legislators from both sides of the aisle. While most attendants were Republicans, there were some Democrats who joined the meeting as well.

We had a lot more Democrats at this meeting than we have in the past, Lisa Nelson, CEO of the ALEC said.

I think there are a lot of Democrats who actually agree with our principals and agree with what were doing, she told The Epoch Times.

According to Nelson, the level of interest to this years meeting and the growth of the organization are signs that at the state level, people understand and support limited government and free markets.

But Washington does not see it the same way and that frustrates the state legislators, she said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the launch of an antitrust investigation into large tech companies outside of the Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 2019.(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Texas Attorney General: Federal Government Cant Order Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that he doesnt believe the federal government can order mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations or mask-wearing.

I dont think the federal government can order this, and so its going to be up to the states to decide what theyre going to do, Paxton told Newsmax over the weekend, adding that he believes federal law stipulates people cant be forced to disclose health information around COVID-19, including their vaccination status.

I would absolutely think federal law would cover that, Paxton, a Republican, said in the interview. But also, what right does the Congress of the federal government have to tell anybody that they have to be vaccinated. Thats an individual choice.

He added: I dont know under what law they would have to operate under, but they certainly cant tell the American public that they have to be vaccinated.

His comments may contradict a recent opinion issued by the Department of Justices Office of Legal Counsel saying that federal law doesnt prohibit public agencies and private businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccines under the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations emergency use authorization.

The agencys opinion (pdf) noted that some have questioned the legality of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and concluded that federal law concerning the FDAs emergency use authorizations (EUA) on COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson doesnt prohibit public or private entities from imposing vaccine requirements, even when the only vaccines available are those authorized under EUAs.

For instance, the opinion said, certain schools will require vaccination in order for students to attend class in person, and certain employers will require vaccination as a condition of employment.

It comes as the Biden administration recently announced that federal employees would have to get fully vaccinated or be subject to routine COVID-19 testing. Reports have said that U.S. Postal Service workers would be exempt from the mandate.

However, on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that a nationwide vaccination requirement is not on the table but said that employers have the right to take that step.

When asked whether there was any consideration of a vaccine requirement to enter federal property, Psaki said, Not across the country, no.

Several states, including New York, have ordered state agency employees to get vaccinated or also be subject to regular tests. On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said that workers with state-run transportation agencies will now be subject to such a mandate.

Throughout the pandemic, the federal government has implemented few COVID-19-related restrictions and namely has targeted travel and public transportation. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidancenot mandatesaround mask-wearing.

Some Republican-led states this year have passed laws that forbid the usage of vaccine passports in government agencies and offices. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, went a step further and signed a law that prohibits all private businesses from using vaccine passports in his state.
Sir James Douglas was Chief Factor of the Hudsons Bay Company who became governor of Vancouver Island (185164) and British Columbia (185864). He is recognized as the Father of British Columbia. (Public domain)

The Push to Change British Columbias Name

Commentary



Is it time to change the name of British Columbia? An opinion article in The Tyee, an influential online publication based in B.C., says its the right thing to do. According to the piece, the name honours Englands racist colonizers and lionizes Columbus.

The Village of Pemberton thinks the name should be changed too. They recently put a resolution forward at the Lower Mainland Local Government Associations AGM calling for a petition to the provincial government to change B.C.s name, claiming it only represents a brief period of the provinces history and fails to honour First Nations or the multicultural range of its settlers.

But in my opinion the name shouldnt be changed. For one thing, Sir James Douglas, who did much to establish colonial settlement, trade, and industry on the West Coast, was anything but a racist. For another, part of his resistance to American expansionism was offering a haven to anyone who suffered discrimination south of the border, regardless of their race.

Father of British Columbia



The Colony of British Columbia was named by Queen Victoria in 1858, united with the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1866 and joined Canada as a province in 1871. This brief colonial period saw the transformation of B.C. from an unroaded wilderness inhabited only by indigenous people and a handful of Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) trading posts into a thriving Canadian province, home to tens of thousands of settlers of all races and nationalities from the United States, elsewhere in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Douglas is rightfully recognized as the Father of British Columbia. Born in South America, the mixed-race son of a Scottish sugar planter and a West Indian woman, Douglas was educated in Scotland and joined the Canadian fur trade at the age of 15. In New Caledonia, the name Simon Fraser gave to mainland British Columbia, Douglas met and married his bosss daughter, Amelia Connolly, whose mother was the daughter of a Cree chief.

By 1840, Douglas was Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver, the Pacific headquarters of the HBC on the Columbia River in the vast Oregon Country under a joint American and British occupancy that stretched from Mexican Californias northern border to Russian Alaska, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

At the time, the U.S.-Canada border on the 49th parallel ended at the Rocky Mountains, but negotiations to continue it prompted Douglas to scout out a location for new headquarters on Vancouver Island where he was taken with Camosack, the original name for Victoria Harbour. Local Lekwammen people welcomed the establishment of a HBC trading post and were paid in blankets to cut pickets for the new forts walls.

In 1846, the 49th parallel was continued to the Salish Sea. Following the Oregon Trail westward in wagon trains, American settlers poured into the territory while, leaving the graves of five infant children behind, James and Amelia Douglas relocated themselves and their three surviving children to Fort Victoria.

Here they would be free from the persecution of U.S. race laws that declared all Caucasian men to be equal before the law but negroes, Indians and Chinamen  not permitted to vote or to testify in the courts against white men. Neither could they own land or intermarry with white people. Both Douglas and his family were categorized as coloured persons and, after almost 200 years of operating in North America, so were most of the other employees of the Hudsons Bay Company in Fort Vancouver.

The Canadian fur trade created close alliances between the British and the indigenous peoples who brought them the valuable pelts. Many of the traders were of mixed-race backgrounds and, in a land without roads or trains, Hudsons Bay canoe men were almost entirely mixed-race Metis and eastern First Nation. Mexicans employed as mule train drivers and Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) working in various trades added to the diversity. The U.S. race laws applied to them too, and the first English colonists of British Columbia followed Douglas north of the border to escape legislated racism, not to perpetuate it.

By 1851, Douglas was both a HBC Chief Factor and the governor of the new Colony of Vancouver Island. His correspondence reveals that he was a moral man who opposed slavery, prostitution, and child labour. He recognized indigenous peoples and proceeded in signing treaties with them as required by British law, but with more attractive lands further south and the dangerous passage around Tierra del Fuego between the new colony and the motherland, settlement was slow.

In 1858, everything changed. Word got out there was gold in Frazers River and veteran miners from Californias 1849 gold rush flooded into Fort Victoria. The first ship full of gold seekers more than doubled its population overnight, and they kept coming in by the hundreds to book passage on the steamboats that plied the Fraser as far as the head of navigation at Yale.

In the face of an ultimate invasion of 30,000 American miners, James Douglas rose majestically to the occasion. He was determined that New Caledonia would not become part of the United States. Without any formal authority to do so, he forced them to acknowledge the authority of the British Crown by extracting a $5 head tax for entering the colony and an additional $5 for a miners licence before they could board the steamboats.

In July of 1858, the New York Times commented on Douglass half-breed wife and urged American miners to bypass Fort Victoria and come overland via Oregon Territory to avoid paying the fees. Within a year, the American miners could declare themselves to be free and independent and ask to be admitted to the Union. However, with open warfare between the Yakima Indians and the U.S. Calvary south of the border, most of the miners came via Fort Victoria and paid the fees instead.

At the behest of Douglas, Queen Victoria proclaimed the mainland to be the Colony of British Columbia in August of 1858. Columbia was taken from the cross-border Columbia River named for the first ship to anchor in the rivers estuary, the rebuilt Columbia Rediviva, which in turn was named for the Lady Columbia, a female personification of American liberty who was supplanted by Uncle Sam, although Hollywoods Columbia Pictures is still represented by a torch-bearing goddess figure and not a medieval Italian navigator. The name makes it very clear that north of the 49th parallel, the Columbia was a British river, not an American one.

Despite the proclamation of the new colony, the possibility still loomed that the miners would exterminate indigenous people as they had done in California. To his great credit and with very little armed assistance from England, Douglas was able to maintain peace between the American miners and the Fraser Canyon tribes.

Douglas travelled up the Fraser and assured the Statlimx people who gathered in Lillooet to meet him that they would be treated in all respects as other British subjects, magistrates would hear their complaints, and they could stake claims and mine gold on the same terms as anyone else.

Douglas further resisted American expansionism by welcoming those who faced discrimination south of the border. British Columbia would be a refuge for political exiles, and the original indigenous people and all who cameregardless of their race or mixture thereofwould enjoy equal rights, privileges, and the protection of British law.

At his invitation, hundreds of African Americans, including civil rights leader Mifflin Gibbs and thousands of Chinese miners and shopkeepers, headed north to enjoy freedom under the British flag where a diverse merchant community rose in Victoria that also included many Jewish members.

Sadly, it was not to last. The Americans who stayed became the majority and they soon gained control of government after Douglas was gone. Little by little, the same racist and exclusionary laws they were accustomed to south of the border were brought into effect in British Columbia.

However, hopefully a fuller understanding of the brief period of the provinces history that saw its birth will foster a new appreciation and respect for the original anti-racist values the name British Columbia actually represents, and that honour for all can yet be found in it.

Jane Carrico is a journalist based in B.C.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Trump Amends Big Tech Lawsuit as 65,000 Americans Submit Censorship Stories

Former President Donald Trumps legal team has amended his class-action lawsuit against Big Tech to incorporate additional class representatives and more censorship stories provided by everyday Americans.

According to the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Trumps July 7 lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google is adding additional censorship experiences from some of the nearly 65,000 people who submitted them to the institute.

Late last night, Amended Complaints were filed in the Big Tech lawsuits against Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Inc., Jack Dorsey, Google LLC, and Sundar Pichai, AFPI said in a July 28 statement.

Since the initial filing on July 7, 2021, nearly 65,000 American people have submitted their stories of censorship through America First Policy Institutes (AFPI) Constitutional Litigation Partnership (CLP) at TakeOnBigTech.com, AFPI added.

Trump said at a July 7 press conference outlining his plans for the legal action that he expected thousands of people would join his lawsuit. Several people invited to speak at the press conference shared their experiences of what they said amounted to censorship by social media platforms.

Joining us this morning are just a few of the many Americans who have been illegally banned or silenced under the corrupt regime of censorship, Trump said at the time.

These brave patriots are included in the lawsuit and thousands more are joining as we speak. Thousands more. Theyre all wanting to join. This will be, I think will go down as the biggest class action ever filed, Trump predicted.

AFPI said in its statement that Trumps amended complaint includes additional censorship experiences and incorporates additional class representatives, including Dr. Naomi Wolf and Wayne Allyn Rootindividuals on opposite ends of the political spectrum who highlight the bipartisan need to protect the thoughts and voices of all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.

Wolf, a longtime liberal and former adviser to the political campaigns of both Bill Clinton and Al Gore, told The Epoch Times American Thought Leaders program in a recent interview that the growing number of people banned from Big Tech platforms is leading to a wave of self-censorship.

Wolf, who was banned by Twitter in June for allegedly sharing so-called misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, said the chilling effect her ban has had on other journalists is evident because some have reached out to her directly.

Ive gotten so many emails from other reporters saying, I really admire you, Im so sorry you were deplatformed. And when I would say Well, can you say that publicly? They universally said, I would, but Im really afraid of being deplatformed. And Ive seen the self-censorship that has gone on in the wake of some high-profile de-platforming of journalists, she said.

Naomi Wolf attends the Fed Up premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on May 6, 2014. (Rommel Demano/Getty Images)

Trump said at the July 7 press conference that his suit centers on protecting the First Amendment right to free speech.

Were asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies illegal, shameful censorship of the American people, and thats exactly what they are doing, the former president said.

Were demanding an end to the shadow banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well. Our case will prove this censorship is unlawful, its unconstitutional, and its completely un-American, added Trump, who himself was banned from major social media platforms following the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Twitter, Facebook, and Google said in January that they banned Trump over his claims that the Nov. 3 election was stolen and alleged that he contributed to the Jan. 6 violence. Twitter executives have said Trumps ban will be permanent, Facebook imposed a two-year ban on the former presidents account, and Google-owned YouTube has said it would maintain his suspension until it determines that the risk of violence has decreased.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were named in the lawsuitsas well as the companies themselves. Trump said the lawsuits will seek a court award of punitive damages over the suspension.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference announcing a class action lawsuit against big tech companies at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, N.J., on July 7, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Trump Lawyer: Tax Return Release Is Harassment, Politically Motivated

A lawyer for former President Donald Trump said the Department of Justices recent statement that the former president must hand over his tax returns to Congress is tantamount to harassment.

Last week, the Justice Department said the Department of Treasury must hand the documents over to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has long sought information about Trumps finances. During the Trump administration, the Treasury Department blocked their release.

But Ronald Fischetti, Trumps personal attorney, said that in his long career, hes never seen anything like this.

This politicization and harassment of Mr. Trump is uncalled for and outrageous, the lawyer said in a statement to reporters. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the Office of the President of the United States. Is no one safe? The Democrats are doing this in an attempt to degrade Mr. Trump and it is a disgrace. They had tried to have him removed on two prior occasions and failed.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the head of the Oversight panel, wrote last month in a renewed request that he wants six years of Trumps returns due to national security concerns.

As I have maintained for years, the Committees case is very strong and the law is on our side. I am glad that the Department of Justice agrees and that we can move forward, Neal said in a statement last week following the Justice Departments opinion.

Previously, the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel refused to authorize the release of Trumps taxes and argued House Democrats lack a clear purpose for having them. The departments previous position noted that the law doesnt require Neal to state a purpose for requesting tax returns but at the time, concluded that Congress cannot give itself the right to compel information that doesnt serve a legitimate legislative purpose and amounted to an unprecedented use of the Committees authority and raised a serious risk of abuse.

Fischetti cited that prior order, which was handed down under the Trump administration, and questioned why the agency would reverse course now.

With respect to his tax returns, the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, on a prior occasion, refused to authorize the release and ruled that the Democrats lacked a legitimate legislative purpose and that it was politically motivated. Whats changed? This has been ongoing for years. Enough is enough, he added.

But now, the Justice Department said that the Trump-era opinion was incorrect, saying: The statute at issue here is unambiguous: Upon written request of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary shall furnish the requested tax information to the Committee.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Justice Department for comment.
UK Tension With Iran Rise After Oil Tanker Attack

LONDONBritain and Iran issued warnings to each others diplomats Monday as tensions escalated over a recent attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea.

Britain began the day by summoning Irans ambassador, Mohsen Baharvand, to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in response to Thursdays drone strike on the MV Mercer Street, which killed a British national and a Romanian.

Minister James Cleverly, who oversees Middle East affairs, reiterated that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security, and reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The United States, Britain, and Israel have blamed Iran for the fatal attack, though Iran denies involvement.

Calling it an unlawful and callous attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that the UK and its allies were planning a coordinated response.

Irans Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the British charge daffaires in Tehran to protest Raabs comments. Iran rejected and strongly condemned these hasty, contradictory, and unsubstantiated statements, the ministry said.

Iran will defend itself with a timely, appropriate, and decisive response to any adventurous action, the ministry said.

The ministry added that this is not the first time that Britain has made accusations against Iran without providing evidence.

The attack on the Mercer Street is the first known fatal strike on commercial shipping in the region after years of tensions over the tattered nuclear deal between western nations and Iran.

By Danica Kirka and Amir Vahdat
A picture of Frederick Reines Hall in the physical sciences plaza at the University of California, Irvine. in Irvine, Calif. on August 30, 2004. (Allyunion at English Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

University of California Lab Assistant Sues State, Union in Federal Court to Stop Compulsory Dues Collection

University of California at Irvine Lab Assistant Amber Walker opposes the political agenda of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), but union officials keep collecting dues from her against her will.

So, represented pro bono by attorneys from the National Right to Work Legal Foundation (NRTWLF), Walker has filed a class-action lawsuit against her union, the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) affiliate of the CWA, and the State of California.

In briefs filed July 30 with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Walkers attorneys argued that a state law requiring public employers like the university to defer to unions like the UPTE on dues issues violates the U.S. Supreme Courts 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision.

The Janus decision held that compulsory union dues violate an employees First Amendment right of association and that public employee dues can only be collected with the written permission of the employee.

The Janus decision, however, allowed unions to control the process an employee must follow to stop the collection of compulsory dues. The result is unions have imposed a wide variety of bureaucratic, time-consuming requirements that often frustrate, confuse, or deceive individuals trying to satisfy them.

In her suit, Walker told the court that she sent UPTE union bosses a letter in June 2021 exercising her right to end her union membership and all union dues deductions from her wages, according to the NRTWLF in a statement announcing Walkers lawsuit.

Although Walker submitted this message within a short annual escape period that UPTE officials impose to limit when workers can revoke dues deductions, they still rebuffed her request, telling her she needed to mail them a copy of a photo ID to effectuate her revocation.

The photo ID requirement, clearly adopted to frustrate workers attempts to exercise their constitutional rights, is mentioned nowhere on the dues deduction card Walker had previously signed to initiate dues payments.

The university and UPTE officials have continued to take money from Walkers wages against her will. It appears they plan to continue to do so for at least another year as the UPTEs arbitrary and short annual window period elapsed by the time UPTE officials notified Walker that her attempt to stop dues was rejected for lack of photo ID.

The university is required to defer to UPTEs dictates under the California statute that gives unions total control over public employees dues deductions.

California CWA union bosses clearly value illegally filling their coffers with Ms. Walkers money over respecting her First Amendment and due process rights, NRTWLF President Mark Mix said in the statement.

They created this photo ID requirement out of thin air to block workers from exercising their Janus rights, safe in the knowledge that Californias union dues policies would stifle any chance a public worker has of getting his or her employer to stop seizing dues money for the union, he continued.

By giving union bosses total control over how and when workers can exercise their First Amendment Janus right to stop dues payments, California is allowing the fox to guard the henhouse to the detriment of public employees constitutional rights, Mix said.

In two related cases, the foundation said in the statement that it is also urging the Supreme Court of the United States to take up two class-action cases defending public sector employees First Amendment Janus rights from union boss-created escape periods that restrict the time in which public employees can stop financial support of an unwanted union.

One of these cases, brought for Chicago Public Schools educators, challenges an escape period that limits the exercise of this right to one month per year, while the other brought for New Jersey educators contests a similar period that lasts only ten days per year.

Walkers suit reflects the challenges facing individual employees who do not support the political agendas of the nations biggest labor unions, including the CWA.

Unions represent only 6.3 percent of all private sector workers, but more than five times as many public employees are members of labor organizations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In a report released July 23, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) said labor unions spent at least $1.8 billion on political activities during the 2020 presidential election.

The NILRR said the $1.8 billion figure is based on Department of Labor mandatory union spending disclosures known as Schedule 16 Form LM-2 financial reports for the filing years 2019 and 2020, as well as state and local government reports on union political activities and Federal Election Commission (FEC) spending reports.

The LM-2 reports are signed by union presidents and union secretary-treasurers. Under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959  officers are subject to criminal penalties for willful failure to file a required report and for false reporting, the NILRR report said.

A significant source of funding for reported Schedule 16 activities are union dues and fees collected from men and women who would be fired for refusing to pay, the report said.

Congressional correspondent Mark Tapscott may be contacted at: mark.tapscott@epochtimes.nyc. Follow him on Twitter at @mtapscott and on Parler at @Mtapscott.
Former Afghan interpreters who worked with U.S. troops in Afghanistan demonstrate in front of the U.S. embassy in Kabul, on June 25, 2021. (Stringer/File Photo/Reuters)

US Expands Afghan Refugee Program, Citing Taliban Violence

The Biden administration is intensifying its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from Afghanistan, citing increased levels of Taliban violence.

The State Department said on Aug. 2 that its expanding the scope of Afghans eligible for refugee status in the United States to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk due to their U.S. affiliation, but who are ineligible for a special immigrant visa (SIV) because they didnt work directly for the U.S. government or didnt hold their government jobs long enough.

By creating a Priority 2 category for certain Afghan nationals and their family members within the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), the State Department is expanding eligibility to include current and former employees of U.S.-based aid and development agencies, along with other relief groups that receive U.S. funding.

Also eligible are Afghans who are or were employed in Afghanistan by a U.S.-based news or nongovernmental organization, as are current and former employees of the U.S. government and the NATO military operation who dont meet the minimum time-in-service criteria for an SIV.

Access to the USRAP is a critical mechanism to provide protection for these individuals, the State Department said in the statement.

The expanded eligibility occurs amid a surge in violence in Afghanistan by the Taliban, who are now trying to seize provincial capitals after taking large swaths of land and scores of districts in more rural areas.

Meanwhile, the first group of Afghan SIV applicantsmost of whom served as translators or did other work for U.S. troops or diplomatsbegan arriving in the United States last week. The first planeload of some 200 evacuees arrived at Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia, on July 30, where they were expected to remain for up to seven days for processing.

These arrivals are just the first of many as we work quickly to relocate SIV-eligible Afghans out of harms wayto the United States, to U.S. facilities abroad, or to third countriesso that they can wait in safety while they finish their visa applications, President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The newly arrived refugees are among 2,500 SIV applicants who will be brought to the United States in the coming days, according to Russ Travers, Bidens deputy homeland security adviser.

As many as 50,000 or more people ultimately could be evacuated in Operation Allies Refuge, the Biden administrations program to support the relocation of at-risk Afghans.
Shops on Sydney Road in Brunswick display signs informing customers of their closure in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 5, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Victorian Micro-Businesses and Start-Ups Are Falling Through the Cracks: Council of Small Business

Victorian start-ups and micro-businesses not registered for GST are being excluded from the Victorian governments support payments amid overwhelming pleas for assistance.

According to the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, rules around the Business Assistance Package were inequitable and unfair, especially with businesses not registered for GST but suffering proportionately with other GST-registered businesses reported The Age.

GST registration is optional for businesses turning over less than $75,000 annually, with many start-ups and micro-businesses not meeting the requirements for financial assistance.

Its inequitable. Its treating start-ups, micro-businesses and sole traders in a different category altogether when they are not, small business council interim chief executive Alexi Boyd told The Age.

Its just not right to be treating these businesses any differently from any other when they are suffering proportionately, just as much as larger ones, Boyd added.

Last week, the Victorian Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Martin Pakula, announced a $400 million state and federal government package for small and medium-sized businesses. Victoria Treasurer Tim Pallas praised this deal as working in the interests of the nation, of the state, of the federation, but most importantly, of the people of our respective states.

However, Pakula said designing a fraud-resistant scheme to provide financial assistance to a sparsely regulated micro-business sector was difficult. There are around 150,000 Australian Business Numbers not registered for GST in Victoria.

On July 21, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that the vast majority of micro-businesses not registered for GST will be eligible for a payment of $600 or $375 per seven-day period.

The Victorian Government will establish a concierge service to help these businesses access this support, Andrews said.

Since July 23, the Business Victoria Concierge Service has taken more than 180 calls a day, with more public servants scheduled to work at the call centre from Aug. 2 to meet demand. Extra staff will allow an extra 250 follow-up calls per week.

So far, of the 1816 calls made to the concierge service, 1424 made been resolved without the need for a follow-up, a Victorian government spokesperson told The Age.

Were making sure the businesses most affected by the lockdown have a chance to emerge from it in decent shape, so they can continue to play their vital role as employers and drivers of Victorias economy, Pakula said.

However, Victorian Opposition Leader Michael OBrien said the Andrews government should do more to assist small businesses.

The end of lockdown doesnt mean the end of pain for small businesses, and were calling on the government to step up, to help more, because small businesses desperately need it, OBrien said.

This comes as Victoria records 2 new local cases of the Delta variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, on Aug. 2 amid an easing of restrictions announced last week.

On Aug. 1, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said Victoria was tracking really well to further ease restrictions on Aug. 11.

Meanwhile, NSW recorded 207 new cases as stay-at-home orders remain in place until at least Aug. 28.

Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison pointed to the need for short and sharp lockdowns to deal with the impacts of the pandemic.

AAP contributed to this report.
Patricia Gay / Hearst Connecticut Media

WILTON  With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing new guidance that people in substantial transmission areas should continue wearing masks in public indoor spaces, some local businesses in Wilton consider whether to make adjustments to their store policies.

As of Friday, Cate Finnecy, owner of Classically Cates Boutique in Wilton, said she is currently abiding by the guidelines she has adopted for some time  requiring masks for unvaccinated customers and requesting that those vaccinated still wear it, but are not required to.
HIGHLAND  The new 2021 Madison County Fair Queen was literally standing tall after she was crowned during Saturdays pageant in Highland.

My favorite thing about myself is my height, said six-foot-tall Madeline Bouillon, the new queen. It used to be my biggest struggle and now it is my favorite thing.

The 18-year-old Bouillon was chosen from a field of eight contestants who were interviewed by the four pageant judges and then competed onstage in the pageants speech, pop question, swimsuit and evening gown segments.

It still doesnt feel real. It feels like Im in a dream, Bouillon said immediately after being crowned. I cant explain how thankful I am. I am beyond ecstatic to start my journey. All I wanted to do is be proud of myself, and now I am here.

Bouillon is from Carlinville and will attend Lewis and Clark Community College in the fall, then transfer to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to major in education with the career goal of becoming a high school science teacher. The new queen was the 2015 Junior Miss Macoupin County and said she enjoys pageants like the one on Saturday because they are empowering for women.

If it wasnt for pageants I would not have the confidence and skills I have today, Bouillon said.

The retiring queen, Elizabeth Moon of Alton, served for two years because the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of last years Madison County Fair and pageant.

You would think that it seemed like forever but it really didnt, it flew by really quickly, Moon said. I enjoyed going out and meeting people in the community, getting to compete at state and making lifelong friendships.

The new queen will follow in Moons footsteps and compete at the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant in Springfield during January 2022 for the chance to reign over the Illinois State Fair next year. That and other exciting things await Moons successor.

She has a lot to look forward to, Moon said. I know she is going to have a great year, shes going to have a lot of fun at state, and she is going to make so many great new friends along the way.

Eleven-year-old Kinley Heath of Collinsville was crowned the 2021 Junior Miss Madison County from a field of five contestants during the same pageant on Saturday.

I just entered the pageant to have fun and make new friends, Heath said. I like meeting new people, and am looking forward to many things at the fair, especially the rodeo.

Retiring Junior Miss Courtney Picklesimer brought chuckles from Saturdays crowd when she unrolled six feet of paper on stage and said she had a few people to thank. Picklesimer said she has many fond memories of her reign.

The funniest was when I was with my Little Miss on the way to the State Fair and she got bright pink lipstick all over her moms car, even on the ceiling, Picklesimer said. She was just messing around and things got a little crazy.

The 2021 Junior Miss Madison County Fair has a lot to look forward to.

Getting to go to different events and getting really active in the community, Picklesimer said. I know the new Junior Miss will have lots of fun adventures ahead.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  A heat wave baking southeast Europe has fueled deadly wildfires in Turkey and threatened the national power grid in Greece as governments scrambled Monday to secure the resources needed to cope with the emergency.

Temperatures reached 45 C (113 F) in inland areas of Greece and nearby countries and are expected to remain high for most of the week.

Battling deadly wildfires along its coastline for a sixth day, Turkey broadened an appeal for international assistance and was promised water-dropping planes from the European Union. The fires have been blamed for the deaths of eight people in recent days.

The help for residents in Turkey's fire-ravaged areas couldn't come soon enough. At the coastal village of Bozalan, resident Esra Sanli looked over at the blaze.

Its burning. Its obviously burning. Theres no plane, theres no helicopter, there are no (access) roads, she said, sobbing. How is this going to be extinguished? How?

In Greece, an emergency was declared in fire-hit areas on the island of Rhodes, which is near the Turkish coast. Workers with health conditions were allowed to take time off work, while Greek coal-fired power stations slated for retirement were brought back into service to shore up the national grid, under pressure due to the widespread use of air conditioning.

Pregnant and other vulnerable workers in North Macedonia were told to stay home.

Dann Mitchell, a professor of climate science at the University of Bristol, said the heat wave in southeast Europe is not at all unexpected, and very likely enhanced due to human-induced climate change.

"The number of extreme heat events around the world is increasing year on year, with the top 10 hottest years on record all occurring since 2005, Mitchell told The Associated Press.

This year, we have seen a number of significant events, including a particularly dramatic heat wave in western Canada and the U.S., that was extreme even for current levels of climate change," Mitchell said. "These black swan events have always happened, but now they sit on the background of a hotter climate, so are even more deadly.

As hot weather edged southward, Italy and Croatia were experiencing storms as well as wildfires. A small tornado in Istria, on Croatias northern Adriatic coast, toppled trees that destroyed several cars, hours before a large wildfire erupted outside the nearby resort of Trogir, threatening homes and the local power supply.

Some 30 people were treated for light smoke inhalation in Italys coastal city of Pescara after flames tore through a nearby pine forest. Beach-goers nearby had to be rescued by sea Sunday from that wildfire.

That zone of pine forest is a nature reserve, and its completely destroyed. It brings tears to see it. The environmental damage is incalculable. This is the heart of the city, its green lung and today it is destroyed, Pescara Mayor Carlo Masci said.

Cyprus, recovering from a major wildfire last month, kept water-dropping planes on patrol to respond to fires as they broke out.

If you dont react right away with a massive response to any outbreak, things can turn difficult quickly, forestry service chief Charalambos Alexandrou told state-run media. The conditions are war-like.

On a visit to the power grid operator Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged members of the public to avoid daytime use of ovens, washing machines and other energy-demanding appliances to reduce the risk of blackouts. He described the weather conditions in Greece as the most severe since a deadly heat wave in 1987.

It was the year that Ioanna Vergou, deputy mayor of the northern Greek town of Skydra, was born. The town of 5,500 briefly ranked among the hottest in the country. She said municipal workers had been given earlier shifts and those needing public services were handed water and sent to an air-conditioned waiting area.

Many people here have compared the heat wave to what happened in 1987, she said. But hopefully it will be easier this time round. We are all just waiting for it to pass.

___ Mehmet Guzel reported from Cokertme, Turkey and Colleen Barry reported from Milan, Italy. Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Ayse Wieting in Istanbul, Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, North Macedonia also contributed. ___

Follow all AP stories about climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate
Laguna founder KP Ho calls for Phuket, other Sandbox destinations to be Green listed as COVID safe havens

PHUKET: As Bangkok grapples with rising numbers of COVID infections, leading tourism voice KP Ho, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Group, has told European envoys, airlines, senior officials and business leaders, that for Phuket Sandbox to succeed it is imperative for Phuket to be given green destination status.

COVID-19Coronavirushealthtourismeconomics

By The Phuket News

Monday 2 August 2021, 12:12PM

Speaking at the Phuket Sandbox Summit held at Laguna Phuket, KP Ho called on policy-makers in Europe and around the world to support Phuket as a separate green zone.

Phuket has the potential to lead the global tourism recovery, as the historic Phuket Sandbox initiative sets the standard for other destinations to follow, he said. But, to succeed, governments need to recognise it as a safe, self-enclosed destination, rather than combining its travel status with the rest of Thailand. (See full address by KP Ho here.)

KP Hos position was supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) at the Phuket Sandbox Summit. Deputy Governor for International Marketing Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Americans, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, said, We are trying to propose Phuket to the UK government to be on the green list of destinations, even though Thailand is on the amber list. We are optimistic about Phuket Sandbox. Phuket is safe and we will never compromise anyones safety.

He confirmed there were almost 300,000 rooms booked until the end of August in SHA Plus hotels, with nearly 13,000 arrivals and 124 flights after 28 days, with many more scheduled. Top markets are the US, UK, Israel, Germany, France, the UAE and Switzerland with an average length of stay of 11 days.

As anxiety grows across Southeast Asias key travel destinations struggling with infection numbers, the Phuket Sandbox model is rapidly becoming the standard bearer of hope for the tourism industry, said a release announcing KP Hos statement.

Launched on July 1, the Sandbox enables fully-vaccinated international visitors to fly directly to the destination and stay on the island quarantine-free. Hotels need to ensure at least 70% of their staff have received vaccines  the same inoculation rate as Phukets population, creating herd immunity against COVID-19. While the high level of protection doesnt prevent people from catching COVID-19, it does significantly reduce the likelihood of serious infection and hospitalization.

Infections and re-infections are not what really count; its hospitalisation rates and ICU rates that count. The Thai government has to emphasise those new numbers and shift the narrative towards how many people are really getting sick?, not are the numbers going up? said Mr Ho.

By reporting this data, he said, it should be possible for Phuket to be set apart from the rest of Thailand and placed on the safe list of destinations to visit.

This is not without precedent; the UK government for example, has put the island of Madeira on its green list, while the rest of Portugal remains on the amber list. The same rule applies to Denmark and the Faroe Islands, he added.

Whats really important is that EU countries  the national governments, spurred on by travel agents, the media and other people  recognise that its necessary to disengage the perception of Phuket from the rest of Thailand. It should be a situation where Thailand could be a red alert zone but Phuket could be a green zone, said Mr Ho.

It could be possible to create a series of Sandboxes in other destinations, such as Koh Samui [which recently launched Samui Plus], Bali and Phu Quoc. As long as that Sandbox is well-organised, as it is in Phuket, it should be separated from the rest of the country.

Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong, also present at the summit, added, I would like to confirm we support Phuket Sandbox. We are making sure people on the island and all visitors are safe so we can run the Sandbox smoothly and continue to welcome more tourists to Phuket.

Presenting the latest data on Phuket sandbox flights and tourist arrivals, C9 Hotelworks Managing Director, Bill Barnett, added, There is a lot at stake but what is clear is that Phuket Sandbox is alive and well, and its working.

The Phuket Sandbox Summit was held at Laguna Phuket, attended by:
Phuket village goes under lockdown

PHUKET: Baan Nanai in Moo 7, Tambon Thepkrasattri, in Thalang District, has been ordered to close to contain the spread of COVID-19 after eight local residents in the village were found to be infected, resulting in many local high-risk contacts.

COVID-19Coronavirushealth

By The Phuket News

Monday 2 August 2021, 10:29AM

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

Villagers collect food and other essential supplies handed out yesterday as their village went into lockdown to prevent the spread of more infections of COVID-19. Photo: PR Phuket

The area is locked [down]. People inside [the area] cannot move out, and outsiders cannot come in, confirmed the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket)

The road through the village has also been closed to traffic, Thepkrasattri Mayor Prasong Trirat announced through an official announcement on Friday (July 30).

Thepkrasattri Municipality will temporarily close the route through Baan Nanai, which is considered a risk area. The road is to be closed to traffic from the entrance to Soi Thepkrasattri 14 to the exit of Wat Phra Thong from July 31 until further notice, Mayor Prasong explained.

Thalang District Chief Suwit Suriyawong yesterday (Aug 1) presided over the handing out of survival bags to local residents at the entrance to the village.

Present to oversee the handing out of the bags containing food and other essential household supplies were Wandee Woonciew, who as Phuket Governor Narong Woonciews wife is the President of the Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross.

Also present were Thepkrasattri Mayor Mr Prasong along with Sittichai Chantawat, Kamnan of Tambon Thepkrasattri, and other relevant officers.

Mr Sittichai explained that there are about 150 households in the Baan Nanai area.

Right now, eight people in the areas have been confirmed infected, and many high-risk people were taken into local quarantine venues, he said.

From the disease investigation, most of them were infected from a cluster in Cherng Talay and from those who came from other provinces, Mr Sittichai said.

We have discussed with Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew and other officials about what measures to introduce to control the number of infected cases, and the meeting members altogether agreed to close the area, he said.

We have closed the route through the area, sent medical staff to conduct proactive screening and taken high-risk people to quarantine venues. The people remaining in the area must strictly follow the disease control measures, he added.
PRU sets up as second field hospital

PHUKET: Three hundred beds have been set up in a meeting hall at Phuket Rajabhat University (PRU) in Rassada which is to be designated as the second field hospital for light green cases on the island.

CoronavirusCOVID-19health

By The Phuket News

Monday 2 August 2021, 02:39PM

The additional 300 beds have been set up at the University hall because all beds at the first field hospital at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) are already fully occupied, Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong explained after the inspection on Saturday (July 31).

Rassada Municipality is responsible for arranging the paper beds, bedding, and fans donated by private companies. There are also partitions and mosquito wire screens. The field hospital is expected to be ready and open for patients on Aug 3, he said.

I have to thank all officers, staff, and volunteers for together helping to set up this field hospital, V/G Pichet added.

The last update on bed occupancy at PSU came last Monday (July 26) by Dr Chalermpong Sukontapol, Director of Vachira Phuket Hospital. He explained that of the total 170, 75 were occupied at that stage.

However, there have since been a number of green-zone patients detected, so we need to prepare the PRU as another field hospital with 70 beds in the first phase and a total of 195 beds in the second phase, Dr Chalermpong said.

Meanwhile, Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon outlined the current situation with bed occupancy rates at hospitals in Phuket in a special live broadcast on Friday (July 30).

Right now, there are 694 beds in all hospitals on the island. Of that number 249 beds, or 36%, have been occupied, and 445 remained unoccupied, he said.

We have 33 intensive-care units (ICUs) for red zone patients and 16 rooms have been occupied. Among the 16 patients, only two patients need to use the hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Dr Kusak said.

From the board which Dr Kusak used to explain, there are 226 rooms for yellow zone patients of which 115 rooms are occupied. There are 435 rooms for green zone patients of which 130 are occupied.
Soi Dog Foundation returns to Phuket Stray Dog Shelter, carries out vaccination drive

Soi Dog Foundation carried out annual vaccinations of all dogs at the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter in Thalang last Wednesday (July 28) in collaboration with the Phuket Provincial Office of the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) and a number of local volunteers.

Community

By Soi Dog Foundation

Monday 2 August 2021, 12:37PM

A total of 739 dogs were vaccinated at the shelter  also known as the government dog pound  against six diseases, including rabies, distemper and parvovirus. Bravecto was also dispensed to 16 dogs with severe skin problems, and Soi Dog will be dispensing the tick and flea treatment to the remaining dogs in the coming weeks.

Tawin Sawangsin, the newly instated head of the Phuket DLD, attended the vaccination drive and expressed his support for the collaborative effort being taken to improve the welfare of the dogs at the shelter.

The team here has been doing everything they can to look after these dogs; however, when more and more dogs arrive, taking care of them all is a huge undertaking, he said.

With the help of Soi Dog and volunteers, these dogs will receive better care, and all of the work here will be more effective which the DLD is willing to support, he added.

Mr Tawin added that the health of staff and volunteers was of utmost importance and that COVID-19 safety regulations must therefore be adhered to at all times.

It was thanks to Mr Tawin that Soi Dog and local volunteers were permitted to reenter the shelter after it was closed to external assistance in January. The vaccination drive therefore marked a positive step forward.

Starting next week, Soi Dogs veterinary team, community outreach team and animal rescue officers will resume their regular work at the shelter to ensure that all dogs housed there are neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, protected and against ticks and fleas and treated for any other health issues.

The teams  who last year alone administered over 4,600 treatments on-site and admitted over 250 dogs to Soi Dogs hospital in Mai Khao for further care  are looking forward to continuing to support the shelter for the benefit of the dogs who call it home.
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Today

Windy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 79F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy. High 89F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 3

Chicago Stepping Classes: 6-7:30 p.m., Tango Event Center, 212 E. Elm St. Alton. Every Tuesday $5 per class.

Hearland Prairie Hike: 5:30-7 p.m., Gordon Moore Park, 4550 College Ave., Alton.

Godfrey Village Board Meeting: 6 p.m., Godfrey Village Hall, 6810 Godfrey Rd., Godfrey.

Open Paint: 6-8 p.m., Black Crow Designs, 2521State St., Alton.

Whiskey Tasting: 3:30-9 p.m., Tonys Steakhouse & Bar, 102 W. 9th St., Alton. $15 includes three .75 oz whiskey tastings and a $5 gift certificate to use in house or for your carry out order the same night.

Camelot Cribbage Club: 6 p.m., Camelot Bowl, 801 Beltline Rd, Collinsville. Occurs every Tuesday. For more information, call Phill at 618-288-7910.

Jersey County Farmers and Artisan Market: 4-7 p.m., Outrageous Outdoors parking lot, 902 S. State St., Jerseyville. Every Tuesday until Sept. 28

For information about Al-Anon Meetings, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4

Music in the Park in Granite City: 7 p.m., Civic Park, 1301-1323 Niedringhaus Ave., Granite City. The Skylark Brothers and Mechelle Smith will perform. Event is every Wednesday from Aug. 4-Sept. 15

Xtreme Bar Bingo at Alton VFW: 7-9 p.m., Alton VFW Post 1308, 4445 Alby St., Alton.

Xtreme Bar Bingo at Edwardsville Legion: 7-9 p.m., Edwardsville American Legion Post #199, 58 S. State Route 157, Edwardsville.

Xtreme Bar Bingo at Wigglers: 7-9 p.m., Wigglers Bar and Grill, 7243 Saint James Dr., Edwardsville.

Celebrate Recovery Alton: 6:30-9 p.m., Calvery Baptist Church, 1422 Washington Ave., Alton.

Pussy Cat and the Swallow Tails: 6-9 p.m., Big Daddys Edwardsville, 132 N. Main St., Edwardsville.

Al-Anon Meeting: 9:15 a.m., First Baptist Church Room 107 (ring buzzer), 201 S. Moreland Road, Bethalto.

Al-Anon Meeting: 7 p.m., Upper Alton Baptist Church and Preschool, 2726 College Ave., Alton. For more information, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS): 9 a.m. weigh-in; 9:45 a.m., meeting immediately follows the weigh in until 10:30 a.m., First Christian Church, 160 E. Lorena Ave., Wood River. Complimentary first meeting. For more information or if you intend to attend call Virginia at 259-7343.

Al-Anon Meeting: 7 p.m., Holy Family Community Center (Basement), 2606 Washington Ave., Granite City. For more information, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Madison man charged last week in the shooting death of a Texas resident was indicted Thursday by a Madison County grand jury.

Marvin E. Treadway, 48, of Madison, was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, both Class M felonies.

Treadway is accused of shooting Antwone L. Brown, 48, of Katy, Texas in the 500 block of Washington Avenue, Madison on July 16.

The incident started when the Madison Police Department received a series of 911 calls regarding a shooting in the 500 block of Washington. When officers arrived, they found Brown, who had been visiting the area. He was airlifted to a St. Louis area hospital where he died as a result of his injuries.

The Major Case Squad was activated at the request of the Madison Police Department, and about 15 officers participated in the investigation.

Treadway was taken into custody several days later by the U.S. Marshal Service and Major Case Squad investigators in the 4200 block of Biverton Drive, Swansea.

Bail was originally set at $3 million.

Other indictments announced Thursday include:

 Joshua C. Dodd, 21, of Edwardsville, was indicted for armed violence, a Class X felony; unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, an enhanced Class 2 felony; and unlawful possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a Class 2 felony. Dodd was originally charged June 24, and the case was originally presented by the Collinsville Police Department. According to court documents, on June 24 Dodd allegedly was found to be in possession of a Springfield XD 9 mm handgun and was also found to be in possession of oxycodone with intent to deliver. Dodd has a 2018 Madison County conviction for burglary, making him ineligible to possess weapons. The armed violence charge stems from the proximity of the weapon and drugs. Bail was originally set at $150,000.

 Michael S. Selhime, 27, of Bethalto, was indicted on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, both Class 2 felonies, and resisting a peace officer and criminal damage to government supported property, both Class 4 felonies, in a separate indictment. He was originally charged July 12, and both cases were originally presented by the Alton Police Department. Between May 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020, Selhime allegedly committed sex acts with a 16-year-old girl. On July 9, he allegedly resisted an Alton correctional officer who was removing a sharp metal object from his possession and damaged a toilet paper holder valued at less than $500 in the Alton Police Department Jail. Bail for the sexual abuse charges was originally set at $100,000; and $50,000 for the resisting and criminal damage charges.

 Aareon D. Vaughn, 28, of Alton, was indicted for two counts of aggravated battery, both Class 2 felonies. The case was originally presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On July 16 Vaughn allegedly threw feces at two corrections officers at the Madison County Jail. Bail was originally set at $50,000. Vaughn is being held after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in a fatal shooting in Alton in October 2020.

 Kenneth E. Holloway III, 51, of Alton, was indicted for unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was originally presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On Oct. 14 Holloway allegedly was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of Alprazolam. Bail was originally set at $30,000.
EDWARDSVILLE  A St. Louis man on Monday was sentenced to 65 years in prison for the January 2020 murder of Jason Thomas in Granite City.

Kadeem Noland, 27, was sentenced to 65 years for the Jan. 9, 2020, murder of Jason Thomas, 36, of Granite City. He must serve 100 percent of his sentence.

This violent criminal came from St. Louis to Granite City to commit this terrible crime, and he will be serving this sentence until he is in his 90s thanks to our Madison County criminal justice system, said Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine. Due to the strong sentence handed down today, he will no longer be a threat to the public.

On Jan. 9, 2020, Granite City Police responded to reports of gunfire on Benton Street in Granite City. Thomas was found to be deceased when officers arrived on the scene. An investigation led police to a St. Louis hotel where Noland and Kristine Mills, 34, were arrested.

According to court documents, Noland fatally shot Thomas over a romantic relationship with Mills. She later pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing justice and was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2020. At her sentencing, Thomas brother, Ronald Wilderness of Granite City, said he forgave her.

A Madison County jury found Noland guilty of first-degree murder on May 21.

At Mondays sentencing hearing, Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp also heard evidence of further acts of violence committed by Noland while in custody. On April 15 Noland was charged with possession of a shiv or homemade knife. He was charged again on May 10 with the same crime.

On Monday Haine thanked the Granite City Police Department, the Madison County Sheriffs Department, the Alton Police Department and Assistant Madison County States Attorneys Jacob Harlow and Katie Warren for their work in the case.
EDWARDSVILLE  Two Missouri residents on Friday were charged in a string of thefts and one robbery at the Granite City Walmart from April to June.

Darris L.A. Lewis, 23, of St. Louis, and Sherico L. Taper, 25, of Pagedale, Missouri, were each charged July 30 with one count of robbery, a Class 2 felony; and three counts of retail theft, all Class 3 felonies.

Both cases were presented by the Granite City Police Department.

According to court documents, on June 27 the two allegedly took two Apple I watches from an employee of the Granite City Walmart, 379 Pontoon Road, by pushing and grabbing him. They also allegedly took Apple 1 phones valued in excess of $300 from the store on April 11, May 18 and May 28.

Bail was set at $100,000 each.

Other felony charges filed July 30 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Evans R. Ellison, 40, of Wood River, was charged with domestic battery (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. On July 13 Ellison allegedly grabbed a household or family member, swung her around and pushed her, causing her to hit her head. He has a 2018 conviction for violation of a court order/domestic violence out of Pierce County, Washington. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Roberto R. Cortez, 26, of Granite City, was charged with offenses relating to motor vehicles, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On April 18 Cortez allegedly was found to be in possession of a stolen 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche. Bail was set at $50,000.

 Samantha S. Kearney-Cripps, 34, and Holly M. Ollis, 33, both of Springfield, Missouri, were each charged with unlawful possession of a stolen license plate, both Class 2 felonies. The cases were presented by the Granite City Police Department. On June 24 the two allegedly were found to be in possession of a stolen license plate for a 1989 Buick LeSabre. Bail was set at $50,000 each.

 Christian J. Chandler, 28, of Litchfield, was charged with obstructing justice, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Illinois State Police. On July 13 Chandler allegedly gave false information to an ISP trooper during a traffic accident investigation. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Sonny J. Carter, 45, of East Alton, was charged with theft under $500 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. On July 27 Carter allegedly was found to have illegally restored water and sewer service after being turned off by the village. He has a 2013 Madison County conviction for theft. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Ryan J. Scroggins, 20, listed as homeless out of Wood River, was charged with theft under $500 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. On July 20 Scroggins allegedly took a bicycle valued at less than $500 from another person. He has a 202o Madison County conviction for robbery. Bail was set at $15,000.
GRANITE CITY  Police are investigating two gunshot victims found early Monday morning.

At about 2 a.m., officers responded to Illinois 3 for a report of gunshots, according to Granite City Police. Upon the arrival of officers two people were found with multiple gunshot wounds and were immediately transported to a hospital in St. Louis.

Granite City Police requested the assistance of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis to aid in the investigation. After its activation, one of the shooting victims Ahmaad R. Nunley, 30  succumbed to his injuries. The other shooting victim remains in the hospital.

On Monday 15 officers were working the investigation. No additional information was released Monday.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the Major Case Squad at 618-876-9027 ext. 1104.


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Shirley P. McNeil, age 85, of Corbin, KY, passed away on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at St. Joseph Health in Lexington, KY. Born in Corbin, she was the daughter of the late Raleigh and Nancy Mitchell. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her sister, Zelda Patterson; and three
Breathe a sigh of relief: Britain's banks seem to be in a healthy state and they are once more returning cash to shareholders by paying dividends and buying back shares.

Private investors will be gratified by this news, which is proof that pandemic anxiety is receding. But some may also be wondering whether this is as good as it gets.

Fintechs, the new breed of challenger digital institution, are snapping at the heels of the mainstream banks  Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Natwest  whose legacy IT systems make innovation expensive.

Edward Firth of broker KBW says that the annual cost of operating a customer's account at one of the traditional names is 150- 200. At Starling, the challenger bank with its cloud-based systems, it is about 57. '

The incumbents face a multi-year challenge that only looks set to get worse,' he says.

Such concerns have been heightened by this month's stock market debut of Wise, the money transfer group that allows customers to bypass the banks. Its shares have risen from 800p to 981p, highlighting the view that fintechs are the future.

Competition is coming from another source for the UK banks. US giant JPMorgan Chase has snapped up the British robo-adviser Nutmeg and may also try to sell home loans here.

John Cronin of broker Good body is among those who believe that a challenger could break into the mortgage business where Lloyds, owner of Halifax, controls 20 per cent.

The returns from this lending can be attractive  but only if costs are kept low. Anyone with a portfolio packed with traditional bank stocks may now be alarmed.

This would be an overreaction, given the huge market share still held by the High Street names and the inertia of account holders (idleness, not love keeps us faithful). But monitoring the possibilities for diversification into fintech would still be useful.

As Giles Worthington of Sanlam, the fund manager, says: 'Catastrophe is not coming tomorrow.'

But the High Street names are being 'disintermediated' with rivals making inroads into profitable parts of the banking business, such as credit cards and foreign exchange. 'Your bank should know more about you than anyone on the planet,' says Worthington. Problem is, the traditional banks' systems (bits of which were built in the 1970s) impede the use of their precious customer data to sell more products.

Newcomers, by contrast, exploit their knowledge of customers with ease. But what do we know about these interlopers? When will it be possible to invest in them? And how risky are they?

Many investors woke up to the fintech threat when it was revealed this month that Revolut, a UK digital bank founded in 2015, was valued at 24billion following the injection of finance.

This equals the 24billion market value of Natwest, a group that includes the 300-year old Royal Bank of Scotland.

Revolut has no immediate plans for a flotation. However, Stripe, the Californian payments processing giant, is said to be closer to a float on Wall Street.

This business, started 11 years ago by Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison and with former Bank of England governor Mark Carney on the board, could be worth as much as 72billion.

That is exciting for holders of Baillie Gifford's US Growth and Scottish Mortgage trusts, which have stakes. It is expected that Klarna, the 33billion Swedish company, will go public at some point. Set up in 2005, it has 90m users worldwide, with 14m in the UK. Klarna provides BNPL (buy now, pay later), which allows shoppers to spread the cost of purchases and is an alternative to credit cards. Even Apple would like to break into this lucrative area, which is growing at 39 per cent a year in the UK, although regulation may slow this.

Starling arrived on the scene in 2017, but already has 2.4m current accounts. This week it acquired a mortgage lender and confirmed its intention to float in late 2022 or early 2023. Unlike some other fintechs, Starling is profitable. Its backers include Goldman Sachs and the Chrysalis investment trust, which also owns a slice of Klarna.

As an investor in Scottish Mortgage, I am taking a bet on the fintech incursion. But I do question some of the excitement. Venture capitalists are pouring money into the industry. Yet it's uncertain how some of these start-ups will earn revenue, let alone be profitable.

Against this background, it's worth noting that the consensus of analysts rate Barclays and Lloyds a buy and HSBC and Natwest a hold. If you think that US banks are adapting slightly better to the fintech incursion, the Liontrust Global Dividend Fund holds JPMorgan Chase, an institution which can trace its roots back to 1799.
Small banks could be given a boost under Bank of England plans to relax tough rules.

Since the financial crisis, lenders have been forced to hold a bigger capital safety net once they reach a certain size, in case they collapse.

Seeing the light?: In a letter to 11 banks, the Bank of England said it is considering ditching a rule that requires banks with at least 40,000 current accounts to raise the extra capital

The aim is to avoid taxpayers footing the bill, but small banks including TSB and Metro have complained that the rules are making it harder for them to grow.

In a letter to 11 banks, seen by the MoS, the Bank of England said it is considering ditching a rule that requires banks with at least 40,000 current accounts to raise the extra capital.

It said: 'There may also be scope for the bank to significantly raise or even remove the indicative transactions accounts threshold. We propose to work closely with you... to assure ourselves that this would be a feasible prospect before making any decision to change or remove the transactions account threshold.'

One bank boss said ditching the requirement would make Britain a more attractive place for start-up banks to grow.
Hollywood's Sunset Studios chain has a new sister site  in Hertfordshire.

The 700m development in Broxbourne, which will be announced today, is the first the chain has built outside of Tinseltown.

It will be used for television, film and digital production and is expected to create 4,500 jobs.

Star quality: The 700m development is the first the chain has built outside of Tinseltown

Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone, the partner behind the project, said they wanted to make Broxbourne  17 miles north of central London  'one of the largest world-class film and television studio campuses'.

The investment comes at a time when the popularity of video streaming services has turbocharged demand for new content.

That has led to intense competition for studio space, leading to a string of expansions and new developments such as Sky's new complex in Elstree, as well as deals by Netflix and Disney to sign leases with Shepperton and Pinewood Studios.

Britain's creative industries are seen as among the best in the world, with the film industry alone contributing an estimated 4.6billion to GDP and supporting more than 117,000 jobs.
The pingdemic is exacerbating a recruitment problem and creating such a void that desperate employers are offering five-figure sign-up bonuses to start.

Companies struggling to hire the most include retailers, HGV haulage and logistics operators and healthcare providers.

It's forcing the likes of HC One, Elysium Healthcare and Tesco to offer golden hellos of 10,000, 5,000, and 1,000 respectively, according to research conducted by global search engine Adzuna.

Nearly 700,000 people have been pinged by the NHS Covid-19 app causing chaos among retailers and healthcare providers who are suffering from staff shortages

More than a million jobs need filling...

There are now more than 1.1million jobs are vacant through a combination of a skills shortage and the NHS app which has pinged nearly 700,000 users telling them to self-isolate at home after being exposed to someone with Covid-19.

Adzuna says that retailers have been hit particularly hard with 30,958 jobs left unfilled.

This is up 14 per cent from just four weeks ago when there were 27,139 jobs on offer. There are 10,262 positions available for supermarket workers, and 5,825 openings for retail assistants.

The pingdemic crisis has forced supermarket Iceland to announce that it will hire a further 2,000 workers to cover staff absences, which has resulted in the closure of some stores.

M&S has meanwhile warned that it may reduce its opening hours because of the pingdemic.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of job search engine Adzuna, says: 'The pingdemic has hit just as businesses start to get to grips with filling open roles.

'The struggle to hire is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses, with hundreds of thousands of workers still on furlough, hesitation among others to go back to work, fewer overseas workers available to fill positions, and a lack of skilled staff in some sectors.

Andrew Hunter says firms are struggling to fill roles because of the 'pingdemic'

'The pingdemic has compounded these issues, as many jobseekers are forced to self-isolate over attending interviews or starting work.

'This is on top of absences from existing staff who have been pinged.

'It's a critical moment for industries like the wedding sector and some smaller independent shops and restaurants, who are relying on the summer period to make up for lost income needed to keep their businesses afloat.

'Meanwhile in sectors like construction and manufacturing, the pingdemic is causing pent-up demand as projects are delayed, meaning even more pressure to find staff going forwards.'

Job perks

According to Adzuna there are a total of 72,244 jobs (6.5 per cent of all jobs ads on the platform) that are advertised as 'urgent' or requiring an 'immediate start'.

Offering lucrative sign-up bonuses is the latest tactic employed by some recruiters desperate to fill positions  particularly as they find themselves short-staffed over the busy summer months.

Tesco has announced that new HGV drivers that join the company before 30 September 2021 will receive a bonus of 1,000.

Asda is also offering 1,000 sign up bonuses to HGV drivers too in some areas while Aldi is offering a driver apprenticeships programme.

Several recruiters are offering sign up bonuses of between 500 and 10,000 according to research by Adzuna

In the healthcare sector some recruiters are offering up even more lucrative bonuses.

HC One is offering a 10,000 welcome bonus (pro rata) for a registered nurse for its care home Cairnie Lodge in the coastal town of Arbroath to work night shifts.

Meanwhile the Priory Group is looking for a mental health nurse and offering a sign-up bonus of 5,000.

Others offering smaller sign-up bonuses include FIS Global which is offering 2,200 for successful customer care agent applicants and Home Instead which is offering 600 for a care assistant position.

Voyage Care is offering 500 for those who successfully land its support worker role.

This comes after recruiters like Robert Walters said salary hikes of between 20 to 30 per cent are now 'commonplace' for some hard to source white collar roles across the UK.

The sign-up bonus may be lucrative but it may also hide a lower salary

Should you take a sign-up bonus?

Signing bonuses are one-time payments given to employees on top of their salary when they start a new job. While they're increasingly common, they're not offered to ever job in every sector.

It's possible to get a sign-up bonus when you're fresh out of university or school, but that's not always a given as it really depends on the type of job and sector you're applying to and how desperate they are for talent.

According to recruitment platform, Monster, more experienced job seekers could get signing up bonuses of between five and 10 per cent of their base salary.

But there are some downsides to sign up bonuses. Hunter says: 'Depending on the company, they may be paid as an up-front lump sum or split into multiple payments over a period.

'Companies may also put other qualifying terms around these such as requiring you to stay working for them for a certain period, and you should ask the HR department to clarify these conditions.

'It's also important to note that these bonuses are subject tax and National Insurance in the same way as your regular pay cheque.'

They may also hide a low salary. Hunter adds: 'The most common reason for a company offering a signing bonus is to help them compete for skilled staff, but there are a couple of other reasons too.

'First, offering a signing bonus can be a way of compensating for a lower salary.

'If a company has set salary bands and can't meet a candidate's salary expectations, they may offer a signing bonus to make up the shortfall.

'In this case it's important to weigh up if taking an upfront bonus will be worth the long-term dip in salary.

'Second, signing bonuses can be a way of making up for any great benefits that a jobseeker may be losing by moving roles.

'Paying for a relocation can be another reason for offering a signing bonus.

'Finally, they're often offered as part of a package to c-suite executives or high-level managers as a recognition of their expertise and a way of tempting them across.'
South Sudan has struggled with war, famine and chronic political and economic crisis since these scenes of celebration a decade ago

South Sudan on Monday swore in hundreds of lawmakers to a newly created national parliament, a long overdue condition of a fragile peace deal that ended civil war in the young country.

In all, 588 MPs -- a mix of delegates from the ruling party and former rebel factions who signed the truce -- took the oath of office at a ceremony in Juba presided over by the chief justice.

The creation of an inclusive national assembly was a key condition of the 2018 ceasefire that paused five years of bloodshed between government and rebel forces that left nearly 400,000 people dead.

Like several other urgent and crucial provisions of the peace accords, the convening of parliament went long unfulfilled, eroding trust between the political rivals that unified in a tenuous coalition after the war.

It comes nearly a year behind schedule and remains incomplete, with 62 MPs absent from the swearing-in ceremony, some because of squabbles with the government over the power-sharing arrangement.

Daniel Awet, deputy of the ruling SPLM party, hailed the occasion as a show of unity.

"It is only through unity of purpose and love of one another that we progress our country and secure the future for the young generation that have been saved after long wars," he told the lawmakers, community representatives and church leaders present for the occasion.

President Salva Kiir did not attend the event.

- 'We are watching' -

South Sudan has struggled with war, famine and chronic political and economic crisis since celebrating its hard-fought independence from Sudan a decade ago.

The ceasefire was just the latest inked between Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, whose rivalry ignited the conflict that left the world's newest country ethnically riven and desperately poor.

Their truce still largely holds but it is being sorely tested, as politicians bicker over power and promises for peace go unmet.

Map of South Sudan

Last week, a coalition of civil society groups launched a public campaign to demand political change after the 10 turbulent and bloody years of independence.

"Know that South Sudanese are watching you," said Justine Badi Arama, the archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Sudan, who offered prayers ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

The number of lawmakers has grown from 450 to 650 in the new assembly -- more delegates than seats allow for in the existing building, where a planned expansion is behind schedule.

"For the time being however, we appeal to the honourable members to be patient as we struggle to rectify this situation," parliament's new speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba told lawmakers.
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ALBANY  When former Clifton Park businessman Michael Mann is sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Albany for his $100 million bank fraud scheme that led to the collapse of his payroll company, MyPayrollHR, in 2019, government attorneys are hoping Mann will be sent to federal prison for more than two decades.

Mann's attorney Michael Koenig is hoping that U.S. District Court Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn will be much more lenient  and recommend his client serve his sentence at the same mid-level prison where the late Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff did time.

Prosecutors in Acting U.S. Attorney Antoinette Bacon's office have asked that Kahn sentence Mann to 264 months in federal prison, or 22 years behind bars. Mann would be in his 70s when he is released under that scenario.

Although Koenig did not recommend an exact sentence to Kahn, he asked that Kahn deviate from federal sentencing guidelines, citing several cases where a defendant accused of similar crimes was sentenced to five years or less.

Koenig also asked that his client serve his time at the federal correctional complex in Butner, N.C., the minimum-and-medium security prison where Madoff served his time before dying in April.

Madoff was given a 150-year prison sentence for masterminding a massive scheme that robbed thousands of Americans of their savings and retirements.

FCI Butner would be "close to (Mann's) wife," Koenig wrote to Kahn in a sentencing memo filed with the court on July 28. Ultimately, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will have the final say on where Mann serves his sentence if he is indeed sent to prison.

Mann's scheme began in 2013, federal prosecutors say, during a period of time when Mann was creating and acquiring many different companies to try and expand a consulting company that he owned called ValueWise.

One of the companies Mann acquired was MyPayrollHR, a payroll services firm that had legitimate operations and revenues.

Mann funded these business ventures by obtaining millions of dollars in business loans from various finance companies and banks using forged financial documents that inflated the revenue stream of his businesses, some of which had no operations. Mann also obtained a $42 million line of credit from Pioneer Bank of Colonie.

When Mann had trouble repaying the loans, he would divert payroll money from his MyPayrollHR clients, money that Mann returned before anyone could figure out what he was doing.

That was until Labor Day weekend of 2019 when Bank of America and Pioneer Bank froze Mann's accounts after uncovering suspicious activity.

"Because Mann had improperly routed payroll and tax funds through his Pioneer accounts, these monies became frozen at Pioneer and thousands of people did not receive their paychecks," federal prosecutors wrote Kahn.

Mann and his wife sold their home on Great Sacandaga Lake after his guilty plea in 2020 and moved to North Carolina, where they have ties.

Although the court has not disclosed where Mann and his wife live in North Carolina, Mann has been working for a logistics company there where he has been doing "an excellent job," according to Koenig.

A LinkedIn account under Mann's name says he is vice president of sales and operations for a logistics company in High Point, N.C.

A call to the company was not immediately returned.

One of Mann's business interests along with his payroll firm and other ventures was a basketball program he founded for top NCAA recruits called Lincoln Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. The program was shut down shortly after Mann's scheme was uncovered in September 2019, forcing players to scramble to find new schools.

Although Koenig did not mention Lincoln Academy, he wrote Kahn that Mann used basketball as a way to help others.

"Michael volunteered with and contributed to youth basketball, through sponsorship and coaching, for low-income, inner-city youths who, but for Michael's commitment of time and money, would have been unable to play," Koenig wrote, adding that "Michael served as a mentor and positive role model to these young men."

Koenig also argued that Mann should be granted a short prison sentence because he immediately cooperated unconditionally with federal and state law enforcement when his scheme collapsed.

"Prior to any known investigation or communication from law enforcement, Michael directed his attorney to pro-actively contact the United States Attorney's Office so that Michael could turn himself in, admit his conduct, cooperate with authorities, and assist in unwinding what occurred so that, to the extent feasible, he could work to remedy the harm caused by his actions," Koenig wrote in his memo.

Koenig also says the judge should consider that Mann's cooperation with authorities led to the prosecution of Luke Steiner, who admitted to aiding Mann in his bank fraud scheme for $11,300 in Amazon gift cards. Steiner pleaded guilty to wire fraud in February and is scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

Prosecutors "may still be investigating at least one other individual," using information provided by Mann in the case, Koenig asserts, pointing to Mann's pre-sentencing investigation report that is not public.

Mann ultimately pleaded guilty last August to 12 felonies, including bank fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and filing false tax records. Federal sentencing guidelines call for a term of 17 years to 32 years in federal prison for his crimes.

The massive scheme left thousands of workers across the country without paychecks and Mann's lenders struggling to survive massive financial losses totaling more than $100 million.

Koenig cited Mann's charitable work and letters sent by friends and family in support of a lower sentence, although Kahn agreed to keep those letters sealed and out of public view after Koenig made the request due to the negative publicity that Mann's supporters would likely experience if their letters were made public. One of those who wrote a letter of support was Mann's current employer.

Prosecutors argue that Mann could have admitted his crimes earlier  and if he had the financial impact of his crimes would have been much less. Workers whose companies used Mann's payroll service went unpaid when his payroll company MyPayrollHR collapsed.

"Mann would have demonstrated more character and integrity if he had confessed earlier in time," the government's sentencing memo states. "For instance, had he confessed only two weeks earlier, when he had caused losses only to the banks and the financing companies, he would have avoided tens of millions of dollars in damages."

Prosecutors also cited letters that Mann's victims wrote the court, many of them revealing heartbreaking tales of financial ruin and mental health issues.

"The victims letters to the court, spanning several hundred pages, report financial losses, shuttered businesses, employees who quit in frustration, negative media attention and other reputational harm, death threats, and anxiety, depression and other emotional distress," prosecutors wrote. "Many victims said the experience was the worst of their professional lives. Many victims asked for Mann to be imprisoned for the rest of his life."
Imagine this: A brash, rich, overly ambitious guy from Connecticut feels so slighted about getting snubbed for a promotion that he decides to double cross his boss  whos also one of this unlikeable fellows few friends  and almost gets away with it except his message falls into the wrong hands.

No, its not a plotline from the upcoming season of Billions involving hedge funds, millions of dollars and a misdirected email.

Were talking American history and Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, whose infamous fall from American hero to turncoat played out in the Hudson Valley 241 years ago this summer. Hes the guy we all love to hate, who we know to be a traitor for trying to give West Point to the British. But hes a more layered villain than that.

An upcoming documentary produced, written, and directed by a trio from the Capital Region to be released this fall seeks to peel back some of those layers to get at the heart of one of historys most complicated characters.

Were trying to let people understand that his contributions to the independence movement far outweigh the consequences of his later change of allegiance, said filmmaker Tom Mercer, who grew up in Saratoga Springs and lives in Colonie.

Hes such a go-getter

Interim Archives/Getty Images

To really understand Arnold, who was regarded as a fierce warrior and skilled leader of the Continental Army, its best to start at the beginning.

The son of a Connecticut businessman whose alcoholism left his wife and children destitute, Arnold was obsessed with restoring his family name. Intelligent, driven and brash, Arnolds sense of honor was offended easily and often. He was a successful maritime merchant before the war, and his forceful demeanor and drive often ticked off his peers.

Hes a no-nonsense guy, said James Kirby Martin, whose 1997 book, Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Hero Reconsidered, serves as the primary source for the documentary film. If hes going to do something, he does it. George Washington liked him. Others didnt. Some were jealous of him because hes such a go-getter. Some people just dont like that.

Yes, Arnold had baggage. But he was also pretty brilliant, a quality that some historians say gets overlooked in favor of the traitorous stuff.

Keith Lance/Getty Images

This guy was kind of a natural at military tactics without having any formal military training, said Patrick K. ODonnell, author of a dozen books on American military history. Arnold had the right sense of when to attack and when to defend.

That innate ability to envision a battle plan, coupled with his logistical skills and lead-from-the-front mentality, made Arnold a formidable opponent. The British discovered this between May 1775 and October 1777 when Arnold, among other accomplishments, co-commanded the force that captured Fort Ticonderoga without firing a single shot, and when he charged enemy lines at Saratoga  an act of bravery that changed the course of the second battle there and ultimately led to the British surrender.

His triumphs were many, but Arnold felt he never received enough credit, especially at Saratoga, where the American commander, Gen. Horatio Gates, glommed most of the glory despite staying away from the actual fighting.

Was Gates spotlight the last straw for Arnold? No, but it was one of many slights that led to his turning traitor, Martin said.

He had given his all short of being killed, and he thought: is it worth it? said Martin, emeritus professor of history, University of Houston.

Peggy Shippen and West Point enter stage left

Stock Montage via Getty Images

A widower with three young sons being raised by his sister in Connecticut, Arnold was nearly crippled by leg wounds suffered at Quebec City and Saratoga. In 1778, he accepted Washingtons appointment as military governor of Philadelphia.

By then, Arnolds devotion to the American cause was already wobbly. His disillusionment intensified in Philadelphia, where he became the target of local radical patriot leaders who loathed him, especially after he married Margaret Peggy Shippen, whose loyalist leanings were no secret in a city recently occupied by the British. One of her previous acquaintances was John Andre, a handsome British officer who would emerge as a key player in Arnolds downfall.

Vivacious and beautiful, Shippen was 18 to Arnolds 37 when they met. They married in April 1779. Soon after, Arnold wrote to the British commander in New York City offering his services to the Crown. Did Shippen push him to become a traitor? Some historians, including Martin, dismiss scenarios depicting Shippen as Eve to Arnolds Adam.

The story goes that he was [a] puppy dog in love with this beautiful teenager and would do anything she wanted, he said. I think thats a nice story, and I think its part of the myth that surrounds Arnold.

The historian argues that Arnolds abandonment of the American cause for independence from Great Britain was the result of years of abuse from two main sources: the Continental Congress and a cabal of his fellow American officers.

The revolutions political leaders controlling military promotions and spending stiffed Arnold, despite his crippling wounds suffered in battle. And several fellow officers he served with in various campaigns perpetuated enough backstabbing, rumors and outright lies against Arnold to fill up several seasons of Survivor.

Bob Krist/Getty Images

In 1780, Arnold asked Washington for an appointment as commander of the American defenses at West Point, on the Hudson River 45 miles north of Manhattan. West Point, bristling with artillery and manned by thousands of Continental troops, was considered the Gibraltar of the Hudson because it prevented the British from venturing upriver to Albany and thereby blocking off New England from the other colonies. Washington was eager to reward Arnold with such a key posting.

Washington thought he was giving Arnold a prize when he gave Arnold command of the Hudson Highlands Department, which included West Point, said Army Col. James M. Johnson (Retired), executive director and military historian for the Hudson River Valley Institute, based at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

But Arnold had every intention of turning over that prize to the British, Johnson said. Just weeks after arriving at West Point in early August 1780, Arnold gave Andre, the officer he met through his wife, a signed pass that allowed the British spy  traveling as John Anderson  to move through American lines. Arnold also handed over plans of West Points extensive defenses.

The West Point plan goes awry

Courtesy New York State Archives

The British, armed with information and access from Arnold, couldve launched a renewed effort to capture West Point at a time when the focus of the war had shifted to the southern colonies, where the Continental Army was barely hanging on.

Instead, Arnolds scheme to hand West Point over to the redcoats for 20,000 English pounds was derailed on Sept. 25, 1780, when Andre, making his way south to British positions, was stopped on the Albany Post Road, now Route 9W, near Tarrytown by three New York militiamen. The trio searched Andre and found several papers stuffed into his boot, including the pass signed by Arnold.

Busted.

The militiamen took Andre to their superior officers, setting in motion a flurry of activity that resulted in Arnold bolting from his breakfast table once he realized his treachery had been discovered. After a hasty conversation with his wife, who was with him and their 6-month-old son at their home in Garrison across from West Point, Arnold told his aides he had to head over to West Point and made his escape to a waiting British warship anchored on the Hudson.

When Washington and his entourage arrived for a planned meeting with Arnold, Shippen feigned a meltdown, giving her husband time to make his getaway. When Washington learned what had transpired, he was stunned. Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, the true hero of Saratoga, had gone over to the other side.

In a dispatch Washingtons headquarters sent out to nearby American outposts, Arnolds treachery was deemed Treason of the Blackest dye.

Andre was tried as a spy, convicted and hung in Tappan in Rockland County on Oct. 2, 1780.

Arnold, reunited with Shippen and their son, led British troops in attacks against American positions in Virginia and his home state of Connecticut, but they had no impact on the outcome of the war.

He and his family left for London in late 1781. They later moved to Canada for a time before returning to England. Benedict Arnold died in London on June 14, 1801.

Telling the story of a hero-turned-traitor

John Carl D'Annibale

A shared love of New Yorks Revolutionary War history led filmmaker Mercer to partner with Anthony Vertucci, the films other co-producer and writer, and director Chris Stearns on the Arnold film starting in 2002.

Stearns said he, Mercer and Vertucci were hanging out at Mercers camp one day when they first started talking about Arnold, and how each felt he hadnt been given his due as far as his early heroics for America were concerned.

We compared notes and said, Gee, theres something to this, Stearns said. When you really look at the totality of what he did in that early period, its hard to deny what he did for this nation.

Filming of Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed, which is targeting a November 2021 release on cable and streaming platforms, has occurred on and off since then, with more scenes added when money became available.

Narrated by actor Martin Sheen and starring Peter OMeara (Band of Brothers) as Arnold in re-enactments, the two-hour documentary includes commentary by prominent historians and combines live-action footage of battle re-enactments with computer-generated special effects to depict actions fought on land and water.

The film seeks to balance what is widely known about Arnold  his scheming treason  with what is less known, chiefly his military service on behalf of the Continental Army.

I feel Benedict Arnold's life deserves a fresh look because his story is so much more interesting than the public perception of him, Mercer said. His story is an exciting action-adventure wrapped in heroic tragedy. What more could a filmmaker ask for?

--

Mechanicville-born Chris Carola is a freelance writer living in Saratoga Springs. He worked 37 years in daily journalism, the last 31 as an Albany-based reporter for The Associated Press.
Anaplasmosis, a serious and once-rare tick-borne illness, remains a health concern in the broad Hudson Valley region. Sullivan County health officials have reported 32 cases of anaplasmosis there in the first six months of this year, the same amount recorded in all of 2019. That year, the county had recorded just 9 cases of the illness by the end of June.

Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw said they are seeing a dramatic rise in cases, but that Lyme Disease remains the prevalent tick-transmitted disease. The county had 653 cases of Lyme and 32 cases of anaplasmosis in all of 2019. In the first six months of this year, there have already been 322 cases of Lyme and 32 cases of anaplasmosis.

Sullivan County, like other counties in the region, didnt use 2020 as a comparison year because there were especially low numbers then, potentially due to COVID-19.

Sullivan County joins Putnam County and the Capital Region in seeing an increase in anaplasmosis. Putnam County officials reported 47 confirmed cases in the first half of the year, nearly doubling the average of 26 cases the county has seen each of the past five years. Farther north, Warren and Rensselaer County health departments are reporting a fourfold increase in cases, too.

In Dutchess County, the Department of Behavioral and Community Health reported no unusual spike in anaplasmosis cases this year. Columbia County health officials have also noted that they are treating both Lyme and anaplasmosis cases equally. In central New York, Onondaga County has reported six cases this year alone, compared to a total of three cases over the past five years.

If we keep going at this rate, well be double or more at the end of this year compared to 2019, said McGraw, who noted that Sullivan Countys rural nature and the publics urge to spend a lot of time outdoors now increases risk.

McGrew reported there have been a number of hospitalizations as a result of tick-borne disease this year, which underscores the importance of doing tick checks and getting appropriate treatment in a timely manner. She was not aware of any fatalities.

Anaplasmosis is transmitted to humans primarily by infected nymphal ixodes scapularis ticks, also known as deer ticks, who pass on the bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Infected humans likely experience a fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If left untreated, anaplasmosis can lead to respiratory problems, bleeding, organ failure and even death  particularly among the elderly and the immunocompromised.

While Lyme Disease can sometimes cause the characteristic bullseye rash, anaplasmosis does not cause any rash whatsoever, said Sullivan County Public Health Educator Jill Hubert-Simon in a press release. Even if you have not seen a tick, if you are feeling any of these symptoms, please reach out to your health care provider to discuss both Lyme Disease and anaplasmosis testing.

Hubert-Simon said these illnesses can be successfully treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early.

Officials wont have a firm accounting of this years increase in anaplasmosis until the state Health Department tests their collection of ticks for a variety of pathogens, which determines prevalence and spread.

In the meantime, the best defense is prevention. There are a number of ways to prevent an infection from a tick, including applying permethrin to clothing, protecting lower legs by pulling socks over pant hems, hiking in the middle of a trail versus vegetation-lined trail edges, doing frequent full-body tick checks, and putting clothes in a hot dryer after returning from a hike.

Have tick removal tools handy so any ticks can be removed quickly. People may want to put the removed tick in a plastic bag and store it in the freezer; if you do get sick, take it with you to the doctor so the tick can be tested to aid in a diagnosis.
ALBANY  As virus caseloads surge across the state, New York will not implement a statewide mask mandate, and neither will local counties  yet.

Most counties in the Capital Region have hit a coronavirus transmission rate that, under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, triggers a recommendation that the unvaccinated and vaccinated wear masks indoors when in areas of "substantial or high transmission.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has been largely stripped of his emergency powers that allowed him to make unilateral decisions during the pandemic, urged private businesses to mandate vaccines on Monday and pressed local governments to follow the new federal mask guidance and not deny reality.

Local governments, you should adopt that CDC mask guidance," Cuomo said at a news conference in Manhattan Monday morning. "Show leadership, and do it, and save lives.

Yet despite a surge in the delta variant that has case numbers and hospitalizations rising, Capital Region counties are taking a wait-and-see approach to firm mandates.

While all recommend people follow the guidance, they won't mandate indoor mask wearing.

If the situation changes, we will respond accordingly," said Albany County Executive Dan McCoy following the governors remarks on Monday.

Schoharie County Public Health Director Dr. Amy Gildemeister said enforcing a mandate would be difficult without state support.

Many people, she said, would be resistant.

Issuing a mask mandate seems impossible without backing from the governors office, Gildemeister said. After this much time in a global pandemic, our staff is exhausted. Quite frankly, were understaffed and have troubling hiring.

Saratoga County is following the current New York State Public Health Order as it pertains to face coverings while the SHARP Task Force reviews the CDC guidelines, Christine Rush, a spokeswoman for the county said, referring to the new task force of county, school and business officials responsible for guiding recommendations for the local community.

Rensselaer County issued a similar statement and said officials are keeping a close eye on the situation, communicating with neighboring counties and making substantial investments in the fight against the virus by expanding community vaccination clinics throughout the county.

We are also encouraged by the low rate of hospitalizations during the recent increase in cases, said county Director of Operations Rich Crist. Residents should continue to use common-sense and be aware of CDC recommendations in the coming days.

And Schenectady County strongly encourages everyone to follow the CDCs most recent guidance.

We continue to review data daily and encourage residents who are eligible and able, but not vaccinated for COVID-19, to visit one of our free community PODs, said county spokesperson Erin Roberts, referring to points of dispensing for vaccines. Vaccination is the key to keeping our community healthy and safe as we continue to navigate through the pandemic and the effects of the delta variant.

Columbia County didn't respond for comment Monday.

Much of the Capital Region is now enveloped in renewed concern over spread of the more aggressive variant. Warren and Montgomery counties also hit "substantial" transmission level Monday.

Albany County hit the threshold of 50 to 99 new cases of the virus per 100,000 residents on Saturday that triggered the CDC advisory. So did Schoharie and Columbia, joining Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties, all of which remain in the elevated level of viral spread as of Saturday, the most recent day for which data is available.

As of mid-day Monday, the CDC hadnt released updated numbers that may downgrade a countys status from substantial to moderate, which doesnt trigger the mask-wearing recommendation.

Cuomo said only the state Legislature can issue a statewide mandate.

Its going to be up to the state Legislatures appetite to wade into that situation, Cuomo said.

Yet absent a special session, the onus is on county governments for now.

If they don't act, we'll end up where we were last year where we're in a state of emergency and the state has to act, Cuomo said.

The governor on Monday also urged private businesses to mandate vaccines and warned that if cases of the coronavirus continue to rise, he believes that private health care workers, teachers and nursing home workers should be mandated to be vaccinated.

While Erie, Monroe and Onondaga counties have also reached substantial infection rates, the Capital Region has the most counties of any upstate region where the majority of regional counties have substantial spread of coronavirus, according to the CDC's map tracking cases by county.

You saw the movie, Cuomo said. You know how this turns out. You know what happens with the delta variant. You know what those facts mean. You know what's going to happen in the movie. Don't wait for what you know is going to happen. We beat the damn thing by being smart the first time. Be smart again.
ALBANY  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday urged private businesses to mandate vaccinations for customers and employees and warned that if coronavirus cases continue to rise, a vaccine mandate should be put in place for private health care workers, teachers and nursing home staff.

Cuomo stopped short of calling for a statewide mask mandate, indicating that such policies do not work as well as the vaccines. The state, though, is no longer under a declared emergency, limiting the governor's ability to mandate statewide policies.

"I don't believe a mask policy will be enough," Cuomo said at a news conference in Manhattan on Monday morning. "I think we will have to talk about a vaccination policy."

Cuomo spoke as infection rates in counties across New York, including Albany County on Sunday, passed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's threshold that recommends mask-wearing indoors, regardless of an individual's vaccination status.

"If the numbers don't come down, I think you have to consider mandatory vaccines for nursing home workers," Cuomo said. Teachers and front-facing health care workers also should be mandated to be vaccinated if the spike continues. "These are the places where one person can infect literally dozens in the course of a day."

Cuomo especially urged teachers to come up with a policy to incentivize or require vaccines as soon as possible because considering the regular school year starts in a month. He noted that if a teacher needed to be fully vaccinated, that would need to get the shot as soon as possible.

The New York State United Teachers union said in a statement Monday it is against vaccine mandates, but supports voluntary vaccination or testing protocols.

"It's critical that districts come up with plans to make testing available on-site and at no cost," said the union, which represents 600,000 workers in the state. "What we have not supported is a vaccine mandate."

Cuomo said last week he planned to work with public sector unions on solutions.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Port Authority also will require vaccinations for employees  or weekly testing for COVID-19, Cuomo said.

The governor pushed for private businesses, which, outside of a state of emergency, are not within his control, to require vaccinations not only for workers but for customers. He pointed to professional sporting events that required a high percentage of entrants to prove they had been vaccinated or to provide a recent negative test. He suggested businesses use the mobile app the state has developed to verify vaccination status.

"I believe it's in your business interest to run a vaccine-only admission," Cuomo said.

On mask wearing, Cuomo said he was deferring to local governments to adopt the CDC guidance.

"People are going to be upset no matter what you do, so show leadership and do it," Cuomo said.

Last week, Cuomo called for state employees to be vaccinated, particularly those in state-run public hospitals.

"Legally, I can only do it for our own hospitals," Cuomo said. "I believe this should be extended."

Cuomo pointed to hospitals run by the city of New York and other local governments to mandate its employees to be vaccinated.

A Department of Justice ruling last month determined employers can require its employees to be vaccinated, despite the COVID-19 vaccine having emergency authorization. Cuomo said if the federal government fully approves the vaccine, it could allow governments to then mandate vaccines.

"It would be what the Legislature's appetite to wade into that," Cuomo said.

The Legislature is not scheduled to come back to Albany until January. It could convene a special session and take up an issue like mandating vaccines. The Legislature may come back for other issues, too, like over investigations into Cuomo.

Melissa DeRosa, the governor's secretary, noted on Twitter during the governor's announcement the concern over the the spread of the coronavirus potentially leading to a mutation of the virus that existing vaccines may not protect against.

"I worry that even more dangerous variants  including vaccine-resistant ones  could emerge if uncontrolled spread continues," tweeted Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the CDC and commissioner of the New York City health department. DeRosa pointed to this tweet from Sunday as Cuomo pushed forward his message Monday morning.

Both the daily cases of the coronavirus and the positivity rate have multiplied by six times from July 1 to August 1. Hospitalizations have doubled and the daily additions have substantially increased. Deaths, which typically lag behind cases and hospitalizations metrics, have begun to increase. Health officials have constantly reminded the public that nearly all people in the hospital are people who are unvaccinated. The change in masking guidance from the CDC, Cuomo noted, was from learning that vaccinated people who unknowingly become infected can easily transmit the virus. The new understanding of the delta variant came from a case study of a recent massive spike in cases out of Cape Cod.

An additional one million people have been vaccinated over the last month. The weekly average of doses administered, now down to 263,000, has dropped 40 percent from the weekly average one month ago.

Last week, Cuomo said about a quarter of the state's eligible population for vaccines have yet to be vaccinated, making up about 3.5 million people. About 57 percent of all New Yorkers have completed their vaccinations and 69 percent of adults, according to CDC data, which typically reports fewer people than in the state's data.
CATSKILL  A 36-year-old Athens man was killed when his motorcycle collided with a tow truck on Sunday, State Police said.

Jason Andrew died at the scene of the 9:05 p.m. crash on Route 23A in the town.
Nathan Lord, a Afghanistan War veteran, has been promoted to brigadier general by Maj. Gen. Thomas Spencer, commander of the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard.

Lord of Waterbury, Vt., was promoted during a ceremony at his family home at York, Maine. The 33-year veteran spent most of his military career with the Vermont Army National Guard. He now served as deputy commander of the Troy-based New York Army national Guards 42nd Infantry Division.

The 42nd Infantry Division includes soldiers from across the Northeast and New England. Because the division is headquartered in Troy, Lord had to transfer from the Vermont Army National Guard to the New York Army National Guard. He is serving as the deputy commander for support for the 42nd Division, which has 20,000 soldiers assigned to elements in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Hampshire.

Lord was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon completion of an Army reserve Officers Training Corps program. He had served as a full-time National Guard officer. His previous assignments included as company executive officer and company commander, operations officer at the Mountain Warfare School at Camp Ethan Allen, Vt., battalion executive officer, operations officer for the 86th Troop Command, training officer and executive officer for the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and operations officer for the Vermont Army National Guard.

Lord had commanded the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry (Mountain) from 2006-09 and the Army Mountain Warfare School from 2009-11. He served as the executive officer for the 86th Brigade Combat Team from 2011-2013. He then served as the brigade commander for the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) from August 2017 to July 2020. His most recent assignment was as the Vermont Army National Guard chief of staff from July 2020.

He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom serving in Afghanistan as the battalion training team chief from 2003-04. He is a graduate of the University of Maine, the U.S. Army War College, Army Mountain Warfare School, the Winter Assault Climber Course, the Sniper Course, Northern Warfare Training Center, and the Norwegian Winter Warfare School. Lord has earned a Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, a Parachutist Badge, a Combat

New lieutenant colonel: Jacob Searles of Saratoga Springs has been promoted to lieutenant colonel in the New York Air National Guard. Searles serves as the assistant director of the 224th Support Squadron of the 224th Air Defense Group, Rome. The 224th ADG is composed of the 224th Air Defense Squadron and 224th Support Squadron, and Detachment 1st and 2nd Detachments that serve in the Washington, D.C. area. The 224th ADG provides the forces to conduct the Eastern Air Defense Sector's mission of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

New sergeant major: Gregory Martin of Latham has been promoted to sergeant major during a ceremony at the New York Army National Guard Headquarters in Latham. His wife, Donna had a role during the ceremony. She pinned his new rank insignia on his uniform. Martin, an Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran has been assigned to serve as the operations noncommissioned officer in charge of the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division. He previously served as the operations noncommissioned officer of the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

Martin began his Army career in 1986 with the active Army's 101st Airborne Division before transferring to the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division, 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the 42nd Infantry Division, to Afghanistan in 2009 with the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, to Kuwait and United Arab Emirates in 2014 with the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade and again to Kuwait in 2020 with the 42nd Infantry Division.

Veterans Housing

Dax Beach, Mohawk Chevrolet sales and leasing advisor presented, and a Mohawk customer presented more than $1,000 to the Veterans & Community Housing after a month-long effort to raise awareness of the coalition needs. During the presentation, paid winning customer John Larose of Troy a car payment of $530 and donated the same amount to VCHC. During May, Beach initiated a campaign that involved a drawing of all customers who leased or financed a car with him, promising to make their July payment and match that amount as a donation to VCHC.

Beach said the goal was to raise awareness for the local non-profit that provides housing and support services to homeless veterans and their families.

To learn more about the Veterans & Community Housing Coalition, visit their website: vchcny.org.








ALBANY  The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission is seeking input on a once-in-a-decade process of redrawing political boundaries that often can have an outsized influenced on local and state politics.

The public meeting is at 2 p.m. Monday for people in the Capital Region and Mid-Hudson Valley to provide insight into their congressional districts, as well as their state Assembly and Senate districts.

Those interested can join the virtual meeting broadcast through the commission's website. Public input is limited to three minutes and the meeting is expected to go through the work day and into the early evening. People can register online to comment during the meeting or can submit a response online.

The commission's meetings, which its leadership is calling "listening sessions," are intended to gather an initial round of comments from the public about what works and what needs improvement in an effort to represent ever-changing communities in a cohesive fashion.

There are two additional meetings after Monday, one for the Southern Tier and Central New York and one for the Finger Lakes and Western New York.

After the listening sessions, the 10-member, bipartisan commission plans to draw its first version of the map of the new congressional, Assembly and Senate districts by Sept. 15. New York is losing one congressional district, coming down to 26 seats, after the count from the U.S. Census Bureau. The exact district that will be lost has not been determined.

The commission will first need the Census Bureau's detailed local counts to better know where any changes may be needed based on demographic and population shifts.

"This process will only work if you have your voices heard," commission Chair David Imamura said July 12 at a virtual news conference announcing the listening sessions. "We cannot draw lines for your communities if we do not know where your communities are."

In 2014, lawmakers agreed to make the commission as a means to try to pull the political influence from lawmakers, who traditionally drew the maps. Previously, the ruling party could have the ability to tilt the scales further into its favor, critics of the old system had argued. Federal laws protect against certain potentially discriminatory policies in redrawn lines. Critics have continued to point out the commission, with eight of its 10 members appointed by politicians, remains heavily influenced by partisan politics.

The state Legislature retains veto power of the commission's redistricting maps, which are likely to be presented sometime between November and January.

Voters will also have a chance to determine the future governor in 2022 along with influential midterm congressional elections. The state's Republican Party has championed a slogan of ending "one-party rule," with Democrats controlling both houses and the executive chamber. Redrawn district lines could influence the dynamics of the upcoming election cycle.
MIAMI  Inside a COVID-only intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, all eight beds are filled with patients.

Six of the eight patients are younger than 50 years old. None of them has been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The youngest patient, a 27-year-old woman on a ventilator, had to be resuscitated with a bag valve mask after her blood oxygen saturation levels crashed. The oldest, a 71-year-old man, has been in the ICU for two weeks. He has been in a coma for three days. When he awakens, if he awakens, he will be a widower. The mans wife, also hospitalized with COVID-19, died two days earlier.

Many health care workers at Jackson Memorial thought the end of the pandemic was in sight, largely due to the effectiveness of the vaccines. Then the delta variant took hold, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates, and cases are surging again, only at a faster clip.

It just went boom, said Ademola Ayo Akinkunmi, director of patient care services for Jackson Health.

Nurse managers and staff scrambled to create more space at Miami-Dades public hospital for the sudden rush of new patients, but they have struggled with what feels like a Sisyphean task.

No matter how hard we work to discharge patients, Akinkunmi said, we know there are others coming.

During the past month, the COVID-19 pandemic has roared back to life with astonishing speed and frightening virulence, crushing hopes for an end to the epidemic and presenting new challenges for public health officials.

New infections and hospital admissions are rising, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, relatively low vaccination coverage and the resumption of social activities.

At the same time, new evidence strongly suggests that even vaccinated individuals can catch and spread the virus  confounding public health officials struggling to persuade more Americans to get inoculated.

In Florida, the number of new cases and the rate of positive tests for the virus that causes COVID-19  a measure known as the level of community transmission  is high in all 67 counties, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

On Saturday, Florida reported 21,683 new COVID-19 cases as of July 30, the single-highest daily COVID-19 case count since the pandemic began 18 months ago, according to CDC data. The seven-day moving average soared to 15,817, a more than 750% increase since July 1.

The sudden and unexpected resurgence threatens the return to normalcy that many Americans have longed for after 18 months of the pandemic. Many felt they had done their part by getting vaccinated, but their resolve has turned to anger as they see that preventable disease and death is soaring, primarily among the roughly 50% of the nation that has not yet been vaccinated.

As cases surge, the daily count of total vaccine doses administered in the United States has plummeted from a seven-day rolling average high of 3.4 million in mid-April to fewer than 450,000 on July 29, according to CDC data.

The vast majority of transmission, the vast majority of severe disease, hospitalization and death is almost exclusively happening among unvaccinated people, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said this week during a press call to announce that the agency had reversed its earlier recommendation that vaccinated persons did not have to wear masks indoors or outside because they were protected.

Walensky said new evidence had emerged that some vaccinated people infected with the delta variant may be contagious and spread the virus to others. This new science is worrisome, she said. But in announcing the update, Walensky did not provide evidence for the change.

The CDCs about-face was sharply criticized as inconsistent and confusing by leading Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis. Efforts to enforce the new guidance in the U.S. House of Representatives triggered a standoff, with some members refusing to wear masks as had been ordered by the Capitol Hill physician.

On Friday, the CDC released a new report of the agencys investigation of an outbreak in Massachusetts during July. Investigators found that among 469 cases of COVID-19 linked to summer events and large public gatherings in Barnstable County on Cape Cod, nearly three quarters or 346 cases occurred in fully vaccinated individuals.

No deaths had been reported as of July 27, the CDC report said. But five people were hospitalized, including four who were fully vaccinated. One hospitalized patient between the ages of 50 and 59 was not vaccinated and had multiple underlying medical conditions. The four vaccinated patients ranged from 20 to 70, and two had underlying medical conditions.

The delta variant was the predominant strain in the outbreak, according to the report, which said that infection with delta led to similarly high viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDCs updated mask recommendations, Walensky said in a prepared statement on Friday. The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others.

Delta remains the dominant variant circulating in the United States, making up more than 80% of the virus samples genetically sequenced in recent weeks.

THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT

For doctors, nurses, technicians, therapists and other health-care workers who have been caring for patients without a break since March 2020, the sudden surge has hurt morale, said Magdalena Nisr, a nurse manager for Jackson Health who works on the COVID-19-positive patient floor.

Its very depressing to see that as a community were going back to the numbers that we had at the beginning of the pandemic, Nisr said.

Last summer, when Jackson Health was slammed with a surge of COVID-positive patients, hospital administrators suspended non-essential surgeries in order to open more beds. Most of the patients were elderly, and many had underlying medical conditions that raised their risk for severe outcomes from the disease, said Alix Zacharski, a nurse and manager of the medical intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial.

This time around, patients are younger, healthier and sicker.

Unlike last year, were getting a very young population, which is extremely concerning because this time were now getting young people without pre-existing conditions, Zacharski said. So thats scarier.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Zacharski was working in the ICU when a 27-year-old patients vital signs crashed, triggering an alarm on a computer monitor in the nurses station. Her blood oxygen saturation levels had dropped suddenly from 95 to 64. Normal readings usually range from 95 to 100, and anything below 90 is considered low.

As the patients heart rate accelerated, Zacharski and her colleagues rushed to the patients room and removed the ventilator from her throat. Then they applied a bag valve mask, pumping the air bag by hand to force oxygen into the patients lungs.

The medical team revived the patient, and her blood oxygen levels slowly recovered. Its possible that the patients blood oxygen levels crashed because of a mucus plug, Zacharski said, emphasizing that dangerous complications can arise at any time.

PATIENTS COMING IN MUCH SICKER

Many of the COVID-positive patients admitted in recent weeks appear to Zacharski to be more severely ill than those she saw last year.

People come down with it within five days and theyre really sick, she said. They are coming to the hospital saying, I dont feel good. I cant breathe. Thats when youre feeling, Oh, this is very different from what it was before. 

By the time a patient gets to the ICU, Zacharski said theres not much more that nurses can do other than to help relieve the patients anxiety and get them to focus intensely on something most people do without thinking: breathe.

Doctors and nurses try mightily to avoid having to put a patient on a ventilator, she said, and every failure carries a heavy emotional burden.

Its very hard for us when someones eyes are looking at you, staring at you, deadlocked, pleading and begging you, hugging you to help them breathe, Zacharski said. Thats the part that stays with us. Its really hard.

PANDEMIC OF THE UNVACCINATED

The highest spread of new infections and severe illness is happening in places with low vaccination rates and among unvaccinated people.

Floridas vaccination rate tracks closely with the nations coverage.

About 50% or 164.2 million Americans were fully vaccinated as of July 30, according to CDC data. In Florida, around half the eligible population 12 and older had not been fully vaccinated as of July 29, according to the state health departments weekly COVID-19 status report, which counts 10 million fully vaccinated Floridians, or about 52.5% of an estimated 19.1 million eligible residents.

Miami-Dade has a relatively high vaccination rate  85% of vaccine-eligible residents have received at least one dose and 70% were fully vaccinated as of July 29, according to the CDC.

Still, there are nearly 8 million Floridians who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it, said Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist with the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Almost 1 million of those are people 65 and older, he said.

Daily infections continue to increase across the country, with the seven-day rolling average now up to 67,080 new cases per day, nearly five times the most recent low on June 19, when there were 11,473 cases, according to the CDC. Florida infections were up to 15,817 cases per day, as per the seven-day rolling average the state reported to the CDC on Saturday accounting for more than 1 in 5 of all cases reported in the United States.

Deaths from COVID-19 also have begun to rise nationally, with the seven-day rolling average up to 275 deaths per day, which is more than 60% higher than the most recent low of 170 deaths the CDC reported for July 10. Florida deaths have ticked up, too  rising to a seven-day rolling average of 43 per day on July 29 or more than 70% higher than the 25 deaths reported for July 10.

With rising infections come more COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Some of the fastest increases have occurred in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, including Florida, Nevada, Arkansas and Missouri.

In response, some Florida hospitals have suspended visitations and others have taken the more drastic step of restricting elective surgeries while administrators scramble to find space for intensive care patients and to shore up nursing and staffing shortages.

Brevard Countys Health First, which operates four hospitals, paused all elective surgeries not considered essential through Aug. 15 while Jacksonvilles Baptist Health asked surgeons to delay some elective surgeries at its six hospitals because of the rise in COVID-19 patients.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings this week announced that local hospitals are in crisis from the surge  one week after Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava issued a similar warning about rising hospital admissions, particularly among the unvaccinated, and urged everyone to get the vaccine to protect themselves and others.

On Wednesday, with cases and hospitalizations continuing to rise in Miami-Dade, Levine Cava mandated masks at all county facilities and urged businesses to require them indoors, too.

YOUNGER PATIENTS

Though hospital admissions continue to rise in Florida and elsewhere, they remain well below the peaks of spring and summer 2020. But there are notable differences between the patients admitted in recent weeks and those hospitalized during the waves last year.

Patients older than 80 are no longer the majority, as they were in 2020. Many more are middle aged and younger, reflecting a national trend. About 73% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 were under the age of 65, according to CDC data as of the week ending July 24.

Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System, the public hospital for South Broward, said patients are likely younger this time around because health officials emphasized the importance of vaccinating the elderly early on.

Its a good prediction that had we been more effective in getting the entire population vaccinated over the last six months, that we wouldnt be where we are, he said.

Memorial Health is now proceeding as though this July will be a repeat of last year, when COVID-19-related admissions peaked at 674 patients across the systems six hospitals. The hospital system reported 420 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, including 55 who were in intensive care units. Only one person was vaccinated in the ICU, and 96% of the 420 were unvaccinated.

Administrators are hiring extra staff to handle increased patients, dialing back in-person meetings and reinforcing masking and social distancing.

Any surge starts the way this surge is starting, Napp said. Theres no way to know how long it will last or how high it will go. ... We are already preparing for being back where we were last summer.

NEW MANDATES

Higher vaccination rates could have averted the current crisis, Walensky said when announcing the new CDC guidance, which calls for all Americans, vaccinated or not, to wear masks indoors in areas with high levels of community transmission. The CDC also recommends that everyone in K-12 schools wear masks indoors, including students, teachers, staff and visitors.

Walensky acknowledged the disappointment and fatigue that many may feel at having to take a step back at this stage in the pandemic, when theres a vaccine that could help to end it but many have chosen not to take it. She said it was a difficult decision to reverse course.

People are tired, frustrated and many are facing mental health challenges, she said. But the continued pace of deaths, illness and hospital admissions for what is now a preventable disease demanded a change.

It is not a welcome piece of news that masking is going to be part of peoples lives who have already been vaccinated, Walensky said. This new guidance weighs heavily on me.

But growing frustration and anger has helped drive support for vaccine mandates.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated or face repeated tests and other restrictions. Biden, seeking to revive the nations stalled vaccination drive, also called on states to offer a $100 reward to individuals who get fully vaccinated.

The Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to mandate vaccination for employees while California and New York City announced requirements for their public workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly tests.

The presidents announcement followed public calls this week by the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and other medical professional groups that all healthcare workers be vaccinated. Some Florida medical centers, including Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale and the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, already require employees to be vaccinated.

At Jackson Health System, where about 60% of its 13,000-person workforce is vaccinated, CEO Carlos Migoya said he is considering a vaccine mandate. He acknowledged that the coverage rate for Jackson Health employees is low and said administrators were working to boost take-up of the shots and to dispel rumors and misinformation about the vaccine.

Jackson employees are no different than every person out in the street, he said.

GETTING SICK VERY FAST

A big difference this summer is the delta variant, which appears to replicate much faster, with the virus becoming detectable four days after exposure compared with an average of six days in people with the original strain, said Dr. Lilian Abbo, an infectious disease specialist at Jackson Health.

The people getting sick coming in now are getting sick very fast, Abbo said. We were not seeing that before.

Abbo said vaccinated individuals also are testing positive and some develop symptoms, but that the vast majority are still protected from severe illness and even death from COVID-19.

Vaccines work, she said.

Napp, the chief medical officer for Memorial Health, said the vaccine is key to long-term control of the virus that causes COVID-19.

No matter which strain predominates, it is likely to become one of the thousands of viruses that circulate regularly, some of which can cause severe illness, such as the flu, and some that dont, such as the common cold.

Once a person has been exposed to the virus, its possible that they will become infected again but the illness may not be as severe as the initial bout.

But for now, the virus has infected only a fraction of the population  meaning theres a lot of wood left to burn. And first-time cases tend to be the most severe.

Any virus that appears on the scene as this one has will be here forever, Napp said. Its not going away. Its going to be in the general circulation of viral pathogens.

At Baptist Health South Florida, doctors expected an uptick in cases after the Fourth of July holiday. But the delta variant accelerated the rise to worrisome levels. COVID-19-related admissions have soared at Baptist Health  with 616 patients hospitalized across the nonprofit systems 11 hospitals in Monroe, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties as of Friday.

Fridays census of patients with COVID-19 at Baptist Health hospitals was a 58% increase over the prior week, and a 159% spike over two weeks ago.

Dr. Sergio Segarra said the high level of community transmission in South Florida is not just a statistic. It drives many more patients to the hospital and strikes people in all walks of life.

The virus is rampant in the community and were seeing it in families. Were admitting a husband and wife, a husband, wife and child, he said. All those things are happening.

We dont have those elderly patients. Its a younger population. So were often able to treat them as outpatients, Segarra added. But those that get admitted and get hospitalized are obviously a lot sicker. So even though theyre younger, theyre a lot sicker and unfortunately they can succumb to COVID as well.

At Jackson Healths three facilities in North Miami Beach, Miami and South Miami-Dade, COVID-positive patients are also rising and trending younger.

As of Friday, Jackson Health reported 232 patients admitted with COVID-19  nearly four times as many as the 59 people hospitalized with the disease on July 1, but less than half the number of patients Miami-Dades public hospital saw at the pandemics peak on July 26, 2020, when there were 487 patients.

Nine out of 10 patients admitted with COVID-19 in recent weeks were not vaccinated.

HE DECLINED THE VACCINE

While the most severely ill patients at Jackson Health go to the ICU, there are more patients with milder symptoms from COVID-19 in the medical surgical wing.

Thats where Hialeah resident Victor Suero was recovering from COVID-19 on a recent weekday, in a section of the hospital called South Wing Seven.

Suero, 34, was admitted to Jackson Memorial on July 21 with a 102.5-degree fever and complaining of fatigue. Suero said he had chosen not to take the vaccine.

Ive had every opportunity to get vaccinated, he said.

Suero, who works as a utility lineman, chalked up his hesitance to get vaccinated as, just a personal preference.

Then he said he had not taken the vaccine because he just moved back to Miami from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where transmission of the virus was lower. Suero said he was also concerned that the vaccine might have an adverse reaction with medication he is taking to heal an infection in his left leg, which is still recovering from an open fracture that he suffered in a motorcycle accident in October.

Suero said he was not wearing a helmet at the time of his motorcycle accident, and that he considers himself very lucky to have avoided a serious head injury.

He said his mother and sister, who are vaccinated, have been urging him to take the vaccine, but he hadnt listened. Suero said he doesnt fall for disinformation, and acknowledged that perhaps his political preferences and a feeling of youthful invincibility may have something to do with it.

Its not from a lack of having it from both sides because Im conservative, but at the same time my mom and my sister are both fully vaccinated. So theyre always bugging me about it, too, he said. Obviously, I dont believe that if I get the vaccination Im going to grow a third leg. Its just that Im a healthy male. I dont really have any problems. Even for what I just went through, for me, it just felt like a really bad cold just with a fever. I know there are people who have it a lot worse than I do. But it was just a calculated risk on my behalf that I felt I would rather live with the consequences of being without it.

Suero said he is reconsidering that decision now, in part because he fears what COVID-19 might do to his healing leg, which requires more surgery to repair the fractures.

I dont want any complications with that. So thats going to be more of the driving factor, he said. Because if theyre going to tell me something like, Okay, well COVID is going to mess up my chances of saving my leg, then yeah, thats going to be a simple answer to go get the vaccination.



(Miami Herald staff writer Sarah Blaskey, el Nuevo Herald staff writer Ana Claudia Chacin and Miami Herald newsroom developer Albert Franquiz contributed to this report.)
When a federal judge in Brooklyn imposed a non-prison sentence Wednesday for NXIVM defector Lauren Salzman, it was no surprise.

The 45-year-old daughter of NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman testified over four grueling days, helping federal prosecutors bury NXIVM leader Keith Raniere at his 2019 trial. A jury convicted the disgraced personal growth guru known as "Vanguard" of all charges, including sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and racketeering crimes. He is serving 120 years in prison in Tucson, Arizona.

What was surprising, however, was that in the weeks leading up to Lauren Salzman's sentencing, her attorneys took a page right out of the NXIVM playbook in a sentencing recommendation to Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. On the 34th page of a 38-page memo, Salzman's lawyers attacked news outlets - a prime target of Raniere for two decades.

The Phoenix-based lawyers, Hector Diaz and Andrea Tazioli, went so far as to claim that the press caused harm to their client and other longtime NXIVM members who were charged in 2018 alongside Raniere. All of those defendants have since pleaded guilty to federal crimes.

The lawyers  without evidence  claimed Lauren Salzman was the victim of targeted media hit pieces.

Then, the lawyers stated: Though Lauren was not charged with or convicted of any sex-related offenses, she has faced a social stigma because of the extensive media attention garnered by NXIVM that labeled her as a member of a sex cult.

The judge, of course, was well aware that trial testimony and their clients admission established that Lauren Salzman was a first line master in Ranieres extortion-filled club, Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS). In that group, sleep-deprived and calorie-starved female slaves were given assignments to sexually seduce Raniere.

Meanwhile, one of the witnesses at Raniere's trial, a California bondage device salesman, testified that another "first line" DOS member (answering directly to Raniere) had ordered ankle shackles and a "jail cell."

Apparently, such happenings might lead some to suspect a sex cult was at large. That would include the judge who, during Wednesday's sentencing, used the term "NXIVM sex cult."

Diaz and Tazioli, however, cast blame on the messenger, ignoring that Raniere had targeted journalists among the "enemies" of NXIVM for simply reporting what was happening.

Left unsaid in the defense memo was that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought the NXIVM case following news reports, including a New York Times report of women being branded on their pelvic areas in DOS. Or that it was news outlets, beginning with the Times Union in 2003, that exposed Raniere's organization initially known as Executive Success Programs.

Many journalists, including Times Union reporters, were among those perceived enemies whose names were kept in files kept in Nancy Salzmans basement in Halfmoon. Nancy Salzman, who will be sentenced Sept. 8 for her guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy, committed underlying acts that included conspiring to commit identity theft to get the names and passwords of email accounts of those perceived enemies.

Conspiring to obtain email accounts would certainly fall into the caused harm category, but in their memo, Diaz and Tazioli said it was their client who suffered at the hands of relentless media outlets whose obsession with this matter has caused harm to most of the defendants in this case, but in particular Lauren, who previously never had any media exposure.

Over two decades, Raniere and his disciples in the Capital Region-based organization engaged in unchecked gaslighting, psychological torment, manipulation and sexual predation of his victims. And Lauren Salzman, by all accounts, appears to have moved on from that world. The judge indicated that she, now working as a dog groomer, was on the right path (as opposed to the "stripe path" that was part of NXIVM, whose members wore sashes that contained stripes signifying their level of advancement).

Diaz and Tazioli included more than 25 letters in their sentencing memo on behalf of their client. With the exception of Lauren Salzman herself and her mother, every name was redacted - even close family members.
One person is dead and a four-year-old is in critical condition after a two-vehicle crash last Thursday near Amsterdam.

State Police said Monday the crash occurred after a 20-year-old woman from Rochester was driving east on the Thruway and got off at Exit 27. Troopers said the investigation showed that the woman took the curve too quickly for the wet road conditions and drove into oncoming traffic, striking a Saturn Ion head-on.
Anyone using fake vaccination documentation to get into Canada could end up facing a stiff fine.

The New York Times reports two Canadians who recently traveled from the U.S. to Toronto were fined nearly $20,000 each after they allegedly provided false proof of vaccination.

Here's are some of the requirements to get across the border.

The country's Public Health Agency handed out the penalty, according to the Times. The fines total $19,720 for allegedly using false proof of vaccination and pre-departure tests, failing to stay at a government-authorized accommodation and failing to be tested when they arrived in Canada.

The Times reported it wasnt clear how the travelers arrived in Canada, why they had fake documents or if they were infected.

The situation might serve as a warning to any unvaccinated Americans considering use of fake shot documents to cross when the border reopens on Aug. 9.

Canadas decision to open its borders to vaccinated American tourists is likely to be a big event for New Yorkers used to crossing the border on a regular basis.

The country has been closed to most American tourists since late March of 2020, when COVID-19 vaccines were in early development and then-President Donald J. Trump estimated the U.S. and Canada would keep their shared border closed for roughly 30 days.

Nearly seventeen months later, and with a number of restrictions still in place, the Canadian government will start to allow entry to American citizens or permanent residents who can prove they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with jabs from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca-Oxford.
Faye Louise Musick, 77, passed away Tuesday, August 3, 2021, following a long illness. She is the daughter of the late Thomas George and Wilda Glide (Saffle) McCord of Fairmont. She was born on November 28, 1943, in Fairmont, WV, and graduated from Fairmont Senior High School in 1961. She at
With the Venango and Warren county fairs fast approaching, what draws you to the fair?

You voted:
Mississippis department of health reported that the state saw almost 5,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend as the virus surges statewide
Indian Police Bust Cybersecurity Scam Call Center

While most companies use contact centers to support customers and expand their business opportunities, the technology is sometimes used for nefarious purposes. Like any tool, call centers can be used for fraud.

According to the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center, losses from scam call centers are on the rise, especially those scams that invent a cybersecurity problem and extort money to fix the non-existent problem. The FBI noted that the total losses reported by scam victims increased to $3.5 billion in 2019 from $1.4 billion in 2017. A Harris poll conducted last year that surveyed 2,000 American adults revealed that 22 percent of respondents reported that they had lost money to a phone-based scam in the past year.

Many, though not all, of these scam call centers are originating in India. This week, police in Delhi, India arrested 12 people who were reportedly running a fake call center that fraudulently took money from call recipients in the U.S. and Canada for the purpose of fraudulent cybersecurity. Victims were duped into paying for the fake services via gift cards that were redeemed in U.S.-based bank accounts of these foreigners, according to the Delhi police. The police raid of the scam call center yielded 19 computers, 13 mobile phones, two internet routers, one switch, the script used by the scammers, telecommunication software, VOIP-calling dialers and incriminating data in computers and mobiles.

The accused used to dupe foreigners living in the USA and Canada in the name of cyber-security, said Delhi police in a statement. They cheated innocent foreign nationals on the false pretext of providing them technical support by posing as technical support staff of Amazon. The accused used their pop-up vendors to send fake pop-ups to the foreign residents saying, ransomware detected', 'security warning', 'hacking/compromising of Amazon account' etc. They instructed people to call up the number put up on the pop-ups to get the security threats resolved in exchange for a payment.

The accused have been charged under sections 34, 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code ( IPC (News - Alert) ) and 66C/66D sections of the countrys IT Act.

Edited by Luke Bellos
[August 02, 2021] Arch Oncology Strengthens Medical and Clinical Leadership Teams with Key Appointments

 Seasoned oncology leaders Louie Naumovski, M.D., Ph.D., appointed as Chief Medical Officer; Amit Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D. as Senior V.P., Clinical Development and Steve DeMattos as Senior V.P., Clinical Operations 

 These and future appointments position Arch for leadership in the CD47 space  BRISBANE, Calif. and ST. LOUIS, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arch Oncology, Inc., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of anti-CD47 biologic therapies, today announced several key leadership appointments in newly created positions, including Louie Naumovski, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer, Amit Agarwal M.D., Ph.D., as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, and Steve DeMattos as Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations. We are delighted to welcome Louie, Amit and Steve to Arch. With their appointments, we continue to build a world-class team to support our pipeline of biologic programs for the treatment of cancer, and further position the Company as a leader in the CD47 space, said Laurence Blumberg, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Arch Oncology. Their unique combination of oncology expertise in solid and hematologic malignancies across early and later stages of development, as well as their research experience and demonstrated excellence in clinical operations, make these hires a tremendous asset for Arch. We plan to continue to expand the clinical program of our differentiated anti-CD47 product candidate AO-176, beyond our current Phase 1/2 clinical trials for solid tumors, both as a monotherapy and in combination with paclitaxel or pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA), and multiple myeloma as a monotherapy and with standard therapies. Louie Naumovski, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Naumovski, M.D., Ph.D., joined Arch Oncology with over 30 years of experience as a physician-scientist and senior leader in the biopharmaceutical industry, with an extensive track record in early clinical development of novel oncology drugs, including antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), novel biologics and small molecules. Most recently, Dr. Naumovski served as Group Medical Director of Oncology Early Development and as a Volwiler Clinical Research Fellow at AbbVie, where he was responsible for leading cross-functional teams to develop the strategy, design and implementation of IND filings and exploratory and randomized Phase I/II clinical trials of ADCs and other biologics in the Oncology/Immunology spaces. Prior to his role at AbbVie, Dr. Naumovski was a Project Team Leader and an Associate Medical Director of Exploratory Clinical Development at Genentech BioOncology, where he similarly guided the strategic direction of cross-functional early drug development teams through IND filing and exploratory and randomized Phase I/IIclinical trials. Previously, he was Director of Cancer Biology at Pharmacyclics, where he directed in-house preclinical research and planned Phase I and II studies with motexafin gadolinium in lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and solid tumor indications. Earlier in his career, Dr. Naumovski served as an assistant professor of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Stanford University School of Medicine and as attending physician at the Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital at Stanford after completing a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Stanford. He holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford University and a B.A. in Microbiology from University of California-Los Angeles.



Im pleased to join Arch at this exciting time for the company and look forward to working with the team to translate the promise of Archs differentiated approach to the development of anti-CD47 agents into much-needed medicines for patients suffering from cancer, said Dr. Naumovski. I believe AO-176s unique combination of features among anti-CD47 antibody therapies, including lower binding to normal cells and negligible binding to red blood cells, enhanced binding to CD47 in acidic environments found in tumors, and induction of programmed and immunogenic cell death make it a promising novel therapeutic in the immuno-oncology space. Amit Agarwal M.D., Ph.D., as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development

Dr. Agarwal M.D., Ph.D., joins Arch Oncology from Bristol-Myers Squibb where he served as Multiple Myeloma Global Disease Lead and managed their CAR T portfolio and pipeline of CelMods. He was responsible for guiding the development strategy for the MM portfolio. Previously, Dr. Agarwal was Myeloma Disease Lead, USMA at Celgene and led multiple launches. Dr. Agarwal is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist and extensive clinical development experience. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant professor at The University of Arizona where he provided care for patients with hematological malignancies and served as principal investigator for phase 1-3 interventional trials for patients with multiple myeloma. He holds a Ph.D. in Human/Medical Genetics from Virginia Commonwealth University and an M.B.B.S. in Medicine from University of Pune. I am excited to join the Company to support the next phase of pipeline development as we expand the AO-176 clinical program to include additional solid tumor indications and combinations, and other hematological malignancies beyond multiple myeloma, said Dr. Agarwal. Steve DeMattos as Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations Mr. DeMattos has over 30 years of broad development expertise and clinical operations experience, from preclinical discovery through registration, in both small and large biotech and pharmaceutical companies alike. He joins Arch Oncology from Xencor, where he served as Vice President, Clinical Operations. Prior to Xencor, Executive Director of Oncology Program Management at Geron. Previously, he held senior project management roles at PDL Biopharma and Allergan and leadership roles in Clinical Program Management at Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, Ilex Oncology, and Monsanto-Searle. At his various roles, Mr. DeMattos developed strategy and solutions to complex global clinical operations issues ranging from clinical site feasibility to regulatory compliance and was involved in filing over 75 completed major regulatory filings and approvals, including an NDA for Celebrex and BLAs for Enbrel. Mr. DeMattos holds a B.S. in Microbiology and Biochemistry from University of Michigan. I am thrilled to join the Arch team and look forward to executing on the clinical development plan to advance AO-176 in multiple indications both in solid and hematologic tumors, said Mr. DeMattos. About Arch Oncology

Arch Oncology, Inc. is a privately held, clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of potential best-in-class biologic therapies for the treatment of patients with solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. AO-176, the Companys next-generation anti-CD47 antibody, is highly differentiated, with the potential for an improved safety and efficacy profile relative to other agents in this class. AO-176 is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with select solid tumors and with hematologic malignancies, both as monotherapy and in combination with standard therapies. In addition, the Company is advancing a pipeline of antibody programs for the treatment of cancer. For more information, please visit www.archoncology.com. Arch Oncology, Inc.

Investor and Media Contacts: Investors:

IR@archoncology.com Media:

IR@archoncology.com



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[August 02, 2021] Avaap Elevated to National Premier Tableau Partner Status

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avaap, an industry-focused technology management and advisory services consulting firm known for creating innovative solutions to solve customers toughest data challenges, today announced the growth and expansion of its Tableau partnership and being named a National Premier Partner in Tableaus Partner Program.

Tableau, a visual analytics platform, empowers people and organizations to make the most of their data by changing the way problems are solved. The Tableau Partner Program supports leading Tableau partners as they inspire and empower customers with confidence in their data. Tableaus recognition and acknowledgement of Avaaps growth as an analytics services provider, our track record in delivering exceptional analytics capabilities to our clients, and our deep commitment to their continued success leveraging Tableau reinforces the value Avaap brigs to clients across the U.S., says Nehul Vyas, Avaap analytics director and leader of Avaaps Tableau solution offerings. Avaaps team of high-caliber data and analytics consultants and solution architects have the skills and experience to help organizations in all industries harness the power of their data to make more informed, data-driven business decisions, and in turn, instill a data-driven culture across an organizations footprint. We are incredibly excited about our continued collaboration with Tableau in the joint pursuit of providing exceptional analytic capabilities to our current and future customers and clients.



Avaap embodies our core mission to help people see and understand data by offering solutions addressing our customers key challenges, said Tableau Vice President of Americas Partners Stan de Boisset. By achieving Tableau Partner Network (TPN) Premier status, Avaap demonstrates its successful ability to deliver quality customer experience. I look forward to scaling the success of our customers together. About Avaap

Avaap is a cross-platform industry-focused technology management consulting and advisory services organization. We offer a broad portfolio of services in Workday and Tableau to accelerate business goals, deploy technology solutions, and integrate current systems for business efficiency. Our consultants boast full life cycle expertise from system selection through post-production support, including BI and data analytics and a strategic approach to change management powered by Prosci research, data, and concepts. Our customers include health systems, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. Avaap executes with a purpose-driven approach that combines expert-level technology consulting, industry knowledge, and deep application expertise with superior customer experiences. Visit www.avaap.com to learn more.



Contact: Melissa Prusher info@avaap.com

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[August 02, 2021] Bimini Capital Management to Announce Second Quarter 2021 Results

Bimini Capital Management, Inc. (OTCQB:BMNM) ("Bimini" or the "Company"), today announced that it will release results for the second quarter of 2021 following the close of trading on Thursday, August 12, 2021. Earnings Conference Call Details An earnings conference call and live audio webcast will be hosted Friday, August 13, 2021, at 10:00 AM ET. Participants can receive dial-in information via email by following the link: https://www.incommglobalevents.com/registration/q4inc/8411/bimini-capital-second-quarter-earnings-conference-call/ A live audio webcast of the conference call can be accessed via the investor relations section of the Company's website at https://ir.biminicapital.com or at https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3191208/01197DE346909C4034E615AE1CF04694, and an audio archive of the webcast will be available until September 13, 2021.



About Bimini Capital Management, Inc. Bimini Capital Management, Inc. is an asset manager that invests primarily in residential mortgage-related securities issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).

Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Bimini Advisors Holdings, LLC ("Bimini Advisors"), we serve as the external manager of Orchid Island Capital, Inc. ("Orchid"). Orchid is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust (NYSE: ORC). Orchid is managed to earn returns on the spread between the yield on its assets and its costs, including the interest expense on the funds it borrows. As Orchid's external manager, Bimini Advisors receives management fees and expense reimbursements for managing Orchid's investment portfolio and day-to-day operations. Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, Bimini Advisors provides Orchid with its management team, including its officers, along with appropriate support personnel. Bimini Advisors is at all times subject to the supervision and oversight of Orchid's board of directors and has only such functions and authority as are delegated to it. We also manage the portfolio of our wholly-owned subsidiary, Royal Palm Capital, LLC ("Royal Palm"). Royal Palm is managed with an investment strategy similar to that of Orchid. Bimini Capital Management, Inc. and its subsidiaries are headquartered in Vero Beach, Florida. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005618/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Broward Health First U.S. Hospital System Using Innovative VirtaMed Laparoscopic Simulator

Broward Health Medical Center, home to the Broward Health Graduate Medical Education Simulation Lab in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has become the first United States medical institution to receive the VirtaMed LaparoS surgical training simulator. This mixed reality laparoscopic simulator provides resident doctors with a simulated environment to prepare for clinical practice safely and efficiently. Broward Health will use the LaparoS for general surgery training with an emphasis on patient safety. First installed in June 2021, the LaparoS has left an impression on residents and professors alike. "We chose the LaparoS because it offers our residents a more realistic simulation of what they will encounter in the operating room," said Dr. Ivan Puente, General Surgery Program Director at Broward Health Medical Center. "We feel very strongly that this will not only enhance their skill development but also contribute to patient safety." The LaparoS training simulator is from VirtaMed, the world leader in medical simulation training. In contrast to other forms of medical training with simulators, LaparoS training modules capture the whole procedural preparation, including positioning of the patient and placement of tools. The simulator offers real-time learning in the form of haptic feedback, complication training and guided prcedures.



"Simulation is a great way to enhance medical skills," says Kimberly Mazili, Business Development Manager for VirtaMed. "Broward Hospital Medical Center has already had years of success with our orthopedics simulator. It was a logical step for Broward to be the first to get our new LaparoS so they could extend the capacity of their simulation center and their residency programs." Providing comprehensive training with medical simulation technology

Broward Health has a long history of using simulation to train its next generation of surgeons. Medical students at Broward Health Medical Center have access to a medical skills simulation lab with a variety of simulators, including the VirtaMed ArthroS simulator for arthroscopic skills training. The addition of the LaparoS expands the resources available for skills development in a risk-free training environment. In the spirit of advancing medical education, Broward Health Medical Center hosted a VirtaMedEd training day for residents in general surgery, orthopedics and gynecology. Using simulators supplied by Broward Health's Simulation Center and VirtaMed, the training day provided residents with an opportunity to practice instrument usage and specific procedures in a risk-free training environment. For more information on simulation training for laparoscopic procedures, visit https://www.virtamed.com/laparos. ### About Broward Health Broward Health, providing service for more than 80 years, is a nationally recognized system in South Florida that offers world-class healthcare to all. The Broward Health system includes the statutory teaching hospital Broward Health Medical Center, Broward Health North, Broward Health Imperial Point, Broward Health Coral Springs, Salah Foundation Children's Hospital, Broward Health Weston, Broward Health Community Health Services, Broward Health Physician Group, Broward Health Urgent Care, Broward Health International, and Broward Health Foundation. For more information, visit BrowardHealth.org. About VirtaMed VirtaMed believes medical education is powerfully delivered through data-driven simulation solutions. Since 2007, we have developed the leading solutions for training outside the operating room because we believe healthcare professionals should never have to perform a procedure for the first time on a patient. VirtaMed's simulators provide the most realistic and cost-effective training available for laparoscopic surgeons. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005094/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Community Bank System Acquires Assets of Boston Area Insurance Agency

Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU) announced today that it acquired the assets of the Thomas Gregory Associates Insurance Brokers, Inc. ("TGA"), a specialty-lines insurance broker based in the Boston marketplace. TGA's assets were acquired by OneGroup, NY, Inc. ("OneGroup"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Community Bank System. OneGroup is Community Bank System's insurance agency subsidiary, with a team of over 200 advisors and specialists providing risk management services, business insurance, personal insurance, employee benefits and human capital consulting, as well as retirement plan consulting through its affiliated OneGroup Retirement Advisors, from eighteen offices located in New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida and now Massachusetts. The TGA acquisition not only provides OneGroup with a New England presence, but also brings additional specialty-lines expertise to the organization that management expects to leverage across the broader Community Bank System customer base. TGA is expected to give OneGroup a profile of approximately $35 million in annual revenues. "We are very excited to be partnering with TGA, a respected and growing provider of both personal insurance and specialty-lines business risk insurance," said Community Bank System President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark E. Tryniski. "The transaction will strengthen and complement our existing OneGroup insurance and risk management service offerings, and represents an attractive opportunity to expand our insurance business in New England. We are delighted to welcome the entire TGA team to the Community Bank System organization and look forward to the future of the combined company." Community Bank System, Inc. operates more than 225 customer facilities across Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts through its banking subsidiary, Community Bank, N.A. With assets of over $14.8 billion, the DeWitt, N.Y. headquartered company is among the country's 125 largest banking institutions. In addition to a full range of retail, business, and municipal banking services, the Company offers comprehensive financial planning, insurance and wealth management services through its Community Bank Wealth Management Group and neGroup NY, Inc. operating units. The Company's Benefit Plans Administrative Services, Inc. subsidiary is a leading provider of employee benefits administration, trust services, collective investment fund administration and actuarial consulting services to customers on a national scale. Community Bank System, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Company's stock trades under the symbol CBU. For more information about Community Bank visit www.cbna.com or https://ir.communitybanksystem.com.



This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of CBU's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause the actual results of CBU's operations to differ materially from its expectations: the macroeconomic and other challenges and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the negative impacts and disruptions on public health, corporate and consumer customers, the communities CBU serves, and the domestic and global economy, including various actions taken in response by governments, central banks and others, which may have an adverse effect on CBU's business; current and future economic and market conditions, including the effects of declines in housing prices, high unemployment rates, U.S. fiscal debt, budget and tax matters, geopolitical matters, and any slowdown in global economic growth; fiscal and monetary policies of the Federal Reserve Board; the effect of changes in the level of checking or savings account deposits on CBU's funding costs and net interest margin; future provisions for credit losses on loans and debt securities; changes in nonperforming assets; the effect of a fall in stock market prices on CBU's fee income businesses, including its employee benefit services, wealth management, and insurance businesses; the successful integration of operations of its acquisitions; competition; changes in legislation or regulatory requirements; and the timing for receiving regulatory approvals and completing pending transactions. For more information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from CBU's expectations, refer to its reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) "), including the discussion under "Risk Factors" as filed with the SEC and available on CBU's website at https://ir.communitybanksystem.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and CBU undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005133/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Doosan Robotics Appoints Experienced Global Business Strategist William (Junghoon) Ryu as New CEO

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Doosan Robotics announced that the company appointed William (Junghoon) Ryu as its latest chief executive officer. Ryu joined the board of directors at Doosan Robotics on July 1, 2021, leaving his role as VP of the corporate strategy office at parent company Doosan Group. Having proven his leadership skills and business acumen at Doosan Group, Ryu is expected to enhance technological collaboration with the parent company's new business areas, while initiating more customer-oriented businesses to expand collaborative robot applications and advance robotics technology. "I am honored to take on the leadership role at Doosan Robotics and join forces with the incredible team, aiming to drive innovation and growth of the company to become number one in the robotics industry," said Ryu. "Doosan Robotics i a young and uprising organization. I am excited for more agile practices to accelerate servicing our products to customers in the market with breakneck speed of changes."



Prior to joining Doosan Robotics, Ryu built over 20-years of successful track record in key business functions, including finance, strategy, marketing, and new business development. Beginning as an in-house business consultant at Doosan Group in 2007, he took part in the company's M&A projects and was heavily involved in the post-merger integration process of Doosan's affiliates. He also worked across the subsidiaries on new product development and open entry while initiating efforts to achieve operational excellence. Transitioning to sales lead for Doosan Infracore, Ryu oversaw the entire construction equipment market channels in China. In the recent five years, he ushered in Doosan Group into the next era of innovation, incubating and accelerating new business fields, including robotics, drones, and logistics solutions. Ryu graduated from Sogang University in Seoul with a degree in business administration and completed his MBA from the University of Michigan.

About Doosan Robotics Doosan Robotics, founded in 2015 by Doosan Group, creates technology for the next generation of manufacturing. Established in 1896, Doosan Group is one of the oldest and largest companies in South Korea, specializing in machinery, plant engineering and component materials. The group has 25 affiliates and 114 global entities worldwide, generating a revenue of USD 15 billion in 2020. More information about Doosan Robotics is available at https://www.doosanrobotics.com/en/. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/doosan-robotics-appoints-experienced-global-business-strategist-william-junghoon-ryu-as-new-ceo-301345942.html SOURCE Doosan Robotics

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[August 02, 2021] Dorsey Continues to Expand Capital Markets Practice with Addition of Josh Erekson

International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that Josh Erekson has joined the Firm as Of Counsel in the Capital Markets Practice Group in Salt Lake City. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005704/en/ Josh Erekson has joined Dorsey as Of Counsel in the Capital Markets Practice Group in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Dorsey & Whitney LLP) Josh Erekson's practice focuses on securities and capital markets. He assists issuers and underwriters with 1933 Act and 1934 Act filings, public offerings and private placements. As a former in-house counsel at Huntsman Corporation Josh serves as an integral team member for the public companies he represents. He also advises clients in all realms of corporate law, including federal and state securities law compliance, the formation and financing of start-up businesses, and supporting mergers and acquisitions.



Before joining Dorsey, Josh was a partner at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, in Salt Lake City, and part of that firm's transactional practice group focusing on securities and capital markets. Josh also served as corporate counsel at Huntsman Corporation, where his practice focused on SEC (News - Alert) regulatory compliance and general corporate legal matters. He was also an attorney at two California-based firms, where he represented private and public companies in general corporate matters such as formation, capitalization, venture financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Josh received a B.A. in Political Science and B.S in Economics from the University of Utah and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. "Josh has extensive experience in corporate law, including federal and state securities law compliance," said Dorsey Managing Partner Bill Stoeri. "He is another example of our strategic hiring. His practice and experience dovetails nicely with Dorsey's strong capital markets and M&A practices."

About Dorsey & Whitney LLP Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in banking & financial institutions, development & infrastructure, energy & natural resources, food, beverage & agribusiness, healthcare, and technology, as well as major non-profit and government entities. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005704/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Esri Signs Goodwill Protocol with Atlas University

Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, today announced it signed a protocol to extend cooperation with Atlas University in Istanbul, Turkey, through its distributor, Esri Turkey. In doing so, Atlas University seeks to enable students to learn and develop the application of geospatial technology in all their activities. Atlas University was established in 2018, and it aims to use geographic information system (GIS) solutions in its related units, especially in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences. For this purpose, the Continuous Education Center (AtlasSEM) in the university will also serve as a GIS base. This center will be allocated to provide training on GIS, using Esri technology, and courses will be included in the online training contents offered by AtlasSEM. Additionally, the institution will jointly conduct research and development activities in the field of GIS. Evaluating the protocol, the president of the Board of Trustees of Atlas University, Dr. Yusuf Elgormus, emphasized the cooperation between Atlas University and Esri Turkey, and commented, "Moving forward, I firmly believe that R&D studies will contribute to the transformation of our university's scientific potential into economic value." He continued that he hopes the cooperation will help Atlas University develop in order to commercialize intellectual property rights and increase industrial research and the entrepreneurship and innovation index. "We did not hesitate for a minute to cooperate with Atlas University, aprogressive and dynamic university in the fields of education and R&D," said Baris Uz, Esri Turkey CEO. "It is an institution that realizes the importance of GIS and supports all kinds of efforts and studies in this regard, aiming to increase geographical literacy in our country."



For the first academic year, nearly 1,000 students joined the on-site ArcGIS training, and many more are expected to join remotely. "We continue to work enthusiastically toward the goals we have set together," continued Uz. "At Esri Turkey, we are working to spread Esri's vision and technology in the country, especially for our young people to bring together individuals from all walks of life. We believe in breaking new ground in Turkey and hope that this cooperation will be beneficial to everyone here."

With more than 50 years of experience supporting the use of geospatial technology in academic institutions, Esri aims to ensure that GIS is used effectively at all levels of education as part of the company's "Lifelong Learning" vision. To learn more about Esri's new education center at Atlas University, visit atlas.edu.tr/en/surekli-egitim-uygulama-ve-arastirma-merkezi/. About Esri Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations globally and in over 200,000 institutions in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. Copyright  2021 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005222/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Forescout Closes an Agreement With Multipoint and Ingecom to Gain Presence in the Mediterranean

KEFAR SABA, Israel, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forescout, leader in the security of the Enterprise of Things, has signed in July a distribution agreement with The Multipoint Group, a Value Added Distributor (VAD) expert in IT security and Internet technology solutions, to expand the commercialization of its solutions in Israel, as well as in the neighboring country, Palestine. Recall that the manufacturer already had a presence in Israel, since the company was founded in that state in the year 2000 and since then distributes its technology in that geographical area.

The recently reached agreement is only Forescout's first step to further strengthen its position in the Mediterranean area thanks to the strategic alliance of The Multipoint Group and Ingecom, a VAD specialized in cybersecurity and cyberintelligence solutions, which closed both distributors in January 2021. The manufacturer now sets its sights on the benefits that the joint strength of the two VADs will bring to boost its sales in the whole area they cover. Ingecom has been marketing Forescout's solutions since 2010 in Spain and, subsequently, also in Italy and Portugal. Now, thanks to the alliance made between both VADs, the manufacturer will be able to increase its reach, adding synergies that will allow it to develop a unified channel strategy through a single interlocutor in the different countries where these distributors have a presence. Jorge Hermosillo, Director, Southern Europe-Balkans-Israel at Forescout, states that: "Our philosophy and channel model fits perfectly with the characteristics of The Multipoint Group presence, capillarity and experience in the market, technical competence and proactivity in busines generation. This agreement, reinforced with the alliance between Multipoint and Ingecom, adds great flexibility of expansion in line with our business strategy."



For his part, Ricardo Resnik, CEO of The Multipoint Group, points out that: "Forescout is a benchmark in the technology of VISIBILITY and control of devices in both IT and OT networks. We are very happy to start working with them in Israel and Palestine. In addition, thanks to the strategic alliance reached with Ingecom, we are going to take a step further, providing the manufacturer with a broader coverage in all the countries where we have a presence." Due to this agreement signed between Multipoint Group and Ingecom at the beginning of the year, both VADs have expanded their distribution market, covering a total of nine countries, almost all of them bathed by the Mediterranean Sea and members of the European Union  Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Romania  in addition to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Forescout has not been the only manufacturer to sign up to the benefits offered by this strategic alliance. At the end of January of this year, SealPath joined the agreement, expanding the distribution with Multipoint Group of Israel to the rest of the countries where the VAD has presence, in order to become the reference IRM manufacturer also in these regions. These two companies come to swell the list of manufacturers that have opted for the alliance of The Multipoint Group and Ingecom, consolidating the portfolio of both distributors to unify it. At the moment, the VADs have a common portfolio of eleven solutions consisting of AlienVault (AT&T Security), ExtraHop, Forescout, Garland Technology, Kela, ReSec, SealPath, Thycotic, Vicarius, Yubico and Zimperium. Simplify risk management Forescout's technology focuses on actively defending the Enterprise of Things by identifying, segmenting and enforcing policies on each of the devices that connect to the corporate network. Specifically, Forescout provides an enterprise platform deployed at scale capable of monitoring IT and OT networks from a single dashboard, without the need to install agents and independent of the company's infrastructure. In addition, it provides intelligence on connected devices, allowing organizations in any industry to accurately classify risk, detect anomalies and quickly remediate cyber threats, without disrupting critical business assets. In its more than 20 years of experience, Forescout has protected the Enterprise of Things of more than 4.000 companies and government agencies in more than 90 countries, effectively mitigating the risks of devices connected to the network. Contact: Ricardo Resnik

MultiPoint Group

Hacharoshet, 2

Kefar Saba No State or Province, 4464002

74-702-7017 http://multipoint.eu.com/



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[August 02, 2021] HilltopSecurities Launches HTS Commodities Division

Hilltop Securities Inc. (HilltopSecurities) today announced the expansion of its commodities brokerage and trading business with the launch of a new division, HTS Commodities. The division consists of 19 experienced commodities professionals in Texas and Tennessee, including nine in Amarillo, and three in Memphis who joined the firm on July 30. The team will provide a full suite of commodities trading, risk management, and wealth management services to farmers and ranchers across the United States. The new additions include managing directors Brock Thompson and Will Snead in Amarillo, who serve as co-heads of HTS Commodities' central plains region and managing directors Lewis Williamson and Marvin Coleman in Memphis, who serve as co-heads of the mid-south region. They join HilltopSecurities' legacy team of seven commodities professionals in Plano, Texas. The newly expanded group is co-headed by Richard Konkel and Jerome Gaudry, with each bringing over two decades of banking, commodities, and financial engineering experience. "The launch of HTS Commodities with the addition of 12 highly experienced and accomplished commodities and futures professionals is another important step in HilltopSecurities' growth plan," said Brad Winges, President and CEO of HilltopSecurities. "We are proud to welcome these talented individuals to our team and look forward to their contributions as we continue to seek opportunities to build this business and expand our product offerings to farmers and ranchers in the United States." HTS Commodities will focus on a broad range of commodities and futures trading including livestock, grains, cotton, energy, metals, U.S. market indices, and U.S. and foreign currencies, among other wealth advisory services. In addition, the division will provide commodities consulting services and customized hedging strategies for producers, consumers, and investors. HTS Commodities' recent hires more than double the size of the firm's existing commodities desk with plans to continue its growth throughout other geographic regions. "As a full-service investment bank, HilltopSecurities is focused on expanding across our business lines and the markets we serve to deliver a comprehensive suite of financial services for our clients," said Konkel. "The launch of HTS Commodities marks a significant milestone as we increase the scope of our trading and hedging solutions for individual and institutional clients. We're excited to begin this next chapter and look forward to continued growth for HTS Commodities," added Gaudry. More information about HTS Commodities can be found at HTSCommodities.com.



About Brock Thompson Thompson co-founded TRU Trading, LLC in Amarillo in 2012 before announcing last month that the firm's nine employees were joining HilltopSecurities. He has spent 19 years working with clients in the agriculture and energy industries, providing marketing recommendations and commodity risk management. He has been a Commodity Trading Advisor and has advised clients on managed futures programs. Thompson remains active in the cattle feeding industry as a cattle feeder and is a member of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. He is also a member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Tax and Finance Committee, as well as the College of Agricultural Developmental Council for Texas A&M University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Animal Science.

About Will Snead Jr. Snead is a co-founder of TRU Trading, LLC and has 15 years of experience in the commodities industry focusing on risk management strategies in the agriculture and energy sectors. He has previously served as a wealth manager for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. In addition to his experience as a futures broker and systems trader, Snead is a licensed real estate agent with TRU Land Realty Group/Keller Williams, servicing the farm and ranch industry, and also co-founded crop marketing management firm, TRU Vision Ag. He is a graduate of Texas A&M where he earned a degree in Finance and Accounting. About Lewis Williamson Jr. Williamson brings 37 years of experience to his role at HTS Commodities, most recently as senior vice president with Morgan Stanley where he served as a commodity specialist focusing on risk management. He has deep experience in the soy crushing industry, ethanol sector, grain elevators, broiler industry, and exporters of U.S. agricultural products. He also has focused on balance sheet analysis for the row crop sector throughout his career. Williamson began his career with Merrill Lynch. About Marvin Coleman Coleman joins HTS Commodities from Morgan Stanley in Memphis, Tennessee, where he served as senior vice president, commodity futures specialist. He has more than two decades of experience advising agricultural entities and select individuals on their commodity hedging and speculative programs, with a special focus on rough rice futures. About Hilltop Securities Inc. Hilltop Securities Inc. delivers forthright advice and tailored solutions to municipal issuers, institutions, broker-dealers, and individuals. The full-service investment bank and registered investment adviser is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with offices across the United States. Areas of focus include public finance; municipal and taxable fixed income underwriting, sales, and trading; retail brokerage services; securities clearing; structured finance; and securities lending. A wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTH), HilltopSecurities' affiliates include Momentum (News - Alert) Independent Network Inc., PlainsCapital Bank, and PrimeLending. Learn more at www.HilltopSecurities.com. Member: NYSE/FINRA/SIPC. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, except as required by law, we do not assume any duty to update forward-looking statements. . Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning such things as our plans, objectives, strategies, expectations, intentions and other statements that are not statements of historical fact, and may be identified by words such as "building," "focus," "grow," "look," "plan," "seek," "view," "will" or "would" or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases. For further discussion of such factors, see the risk factors described in Hilltop's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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/20210802005229/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Janus Henderson Quantifies Diversity Goals, Adds Recruitment Programs to Match

Janus Henderson Investors recently established goals for diversity and inclusion (D&I) recruitment and added to its internship programs to reach those goals. It hopes the move will help it find a new generation of talent and maintain a position of leadership in the active asset management space. Increasing diversity in senior management positions is the company's top D&I priority. It aims to increase the number of women in senior management positions from 24% to 30% by 2023 and increase the number of racial and ethnically diverse senior managers from 11% to 16%. Chief Executive Officer Dick Weil said, "The success of our business and clients is based on our ability to uncover unique market insights and information. We're a people business. Having diverse, unique perspectives at the decision-making table enables us to make better investments. Like many in the financial services industry, we haven't always had the recruitment mechanisms to find and develop diverse candidates so we're improving our abilities by seeking partnerships that help us extend internships, mentoring and training to women and ethnically diverse talent." The lack of diversity in some areas of the corporate world has prompted the growth of non-profit organizations designed to address the issue. Janus Henderson is a proud corporate partner to organizations like the Greenwood Project, 10,000 Black Interns, Girls Who Invest, College Track, INROADS and Investment20/20, which gives it many opportunities to find diverse, capable talent that traditional corporate recruiting techniques may miss.



Each of Janus Henderson's partners offers some combination of training, mentoring, scholarships and, maybe most importantly, internships to encourage more diversity in the corporate world. Janus Henderson's latest partner, the Greenwood Project, exposes high-achieving Black and Latinx students to career opportunities in the financial industry through paid internships, educational field trips and a summer Financial Institute that provides simulated training for the financial services and technology industries. Head of Diversity and Community Relations Demesha Hill said, "Intentional goal setting has helped us find the right partners and track progress toward increasing diversity. Last year, we increased ethnic diversity by more than 3% in the U.S. so we're seeing encouraging progress already. That gets us even more excited about the partnerships we're establishing and our ability to meet all the goals we've laid out."

Janus Henderson considers the programs successful if 50% of eligible participants receive and accept full-time employment offers. Notes to editors Janus Henderson Group (JHG) is a leading global active asset manager dedicated to helping investors achieve long-term financial goals through a broad range of investment solutions, including equities, fixed income, quantitative equities, multi-asset and alternative asset class strategies. At 31 March 2021, Janus Henderson had approximately US$405 billion in assets under management, more than 2,000 employees, and offices in 25 cities worldwide. Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). This press release is solely for the use of members of the media and should not be relied upon by personal investors, financial advisers or institutional investors. We may record telephone calls for our mutual protection, to improve customer service and for regulatory record keeping purposes. Issued by Janus Henderson Investors. Janus Henderson Investors is the name under which investment products and services are provided by Janus Capital International Limited (reg no. 3594615), Henderson Global Investors Limited (reg. no. 906355), Henderson Investment Funds Limited (reg. no. 2678531), Henderson Equity Partners Limited (reg. no.2606646), (each registered in England and Wales at 201 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3AE and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) and Henderson Management S.A. (reg no. B22848 at 2 Rue de Bitbourg, L-1273, Luxembourg and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier). Henderson Secretarial Services Limited (incorporated and registered in England and Wales, registered no. 1471624, registered office 201 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3AE) is the name under which company secretarial services are provided. All these companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Janus Henderson Group plc. (incorporated and registered in Jersey, registered no. 101484, with registered office at 47 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey JE1 0BD). [Janus Henderson, Janus, Henderson, Perkins, Intech, VelocityShares, Knowledge Shared, Knowledge. Shared and Knowledge Labs] are trademarks of Janus Henderson Group plc or one of its subsidiaries.  Janus Henderson Group plc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005361/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Laird Connectivity and KORE Partner to Deliver Wireless Solutions and IoT Services

AKRON, Ohio and ATLANTA, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Laird Connectivity, a global leader in wireless technology, today announced a partnership with KORE, a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and worldwide Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS). Under this partnership, the companies plan to offer a broad portfolio of wireless IoT sensors, gateways, and services that deliver wireless connectivity in remote or hard-to-reach locations. With this partnership, customers are able to leverage the combined hardware and services in a way that compresses the time to market by months. More IoT devices will be connected over the next ten years than at any other time in history. Laird Connectivity's portfolio of IoT devices delivers high performance with unparalleled design flexibility. These innovative solutions leverage low-power cellular and LoRaWAN connectivity to enable simple, out-of-the-box integration and provide everything needed to create a complete device-to-cloud solution in any environment. "Organizations around the world are moving into what we call the decade of IoT," said KORE president and CEO Romil Bahl. "More IoT devices will be connected over the next ten years than at any other time in history. As a result, we will be able to harness the power of data in ways never imagined, especially in industrial asset location tracking and device monitoring. We look forward to simplifying the implementation of IoT projects for companies just starting their IoT journey and for those that already have IoT projects underway and are eager to reduce the complexity of deployment." Leveraging nearly two decades of IoT knowledge and experience, KORE simplifies the complexity of IoT with complete, global IoT management capabilities. The company enables customers' IoT visions with seamless execution and a constant focus on maximizing the return on IoT investment. It will be instrumental in helping Laird Connectivity supply and support customers with their IoT device implementations. "As companies investing in IoT gain momentum, we are seeing an increasing number of businesses realize their need for additional connectivity solutions and services from a more integrated group of partners," said Matt Lubeley, director of Business Development, IoT Sales at Laird Connectivity. "Our partnership with KORE helps bring our products and offerings to a larger and more diverse group of clients and customers while accelerating their time to market and improving verall ROI."



To learn more, please continue to the Laird Connectivity partners page or visit the KORE CaaS solutions page. About KORE

KORE is a pioneer, leader, and trusted advisor delivering mission critical IoT solutions and services. We empower organizations of all sizes to improve operational and business results by simplifying the complexity of IoT. Our deep IoT knowledge and experience, global reach, purpose-built solutions, and deployment agility accelerate and materially impact our customers' business outcomes. For more information, visit www.korewireless.com.

About Laird Connectivity

Laird Connectivity simplifies wireless connectivity with market-leading modules, antennas, IoT devices, and customer-specific wireless solutions. Our products are trusted by companies around the world for their performance and reliability. With best-in-class support and comprehensive product development services, we reduce your risk and improve your time-to-market. When you need unmatched wireless performance to connect your applications with security and confidence, Laird Connectivity delivers  no matter what. For the latest news or more information, visit: lairdconnect.com | twitter.com/LairdConnect | facebook.com/LairdConnectivity | linkedin.com/company/lairdconnectivity Laird Connectivity Media Contact:

Tyler Mewhirter

Laird Connect

Channel Marketing & Events Manager

Phone: 443.605.8961

Email: Tyler.Mewhirter@lairdconnect.com Or KORE Investor and Media Contact:

Jean Creech Avent

KORE

Vice President, Investor Relations and Public Relations

Phone: +1 843-986-8229

Email: jcreechavent@korewireless.com Investors:

investors@korewireless.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of revenue and other financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity and expectations. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of CTAC or KORE's management. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by any investor or other person as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of CTAC and/or KORE. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including general economic, financial, legal, political, and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the potential effects of COVID-19; risks related to the rollout of KORE's business and the timing of expected business milestones; changes in the assumptions underlying KORE's expectations regarding its future business; the effects of competition on KORE's future business; and the outcome of judicial proceedings to which KORE is, or may become a party. If the risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that KORE presently does not know or that KORE currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect KORE's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. KORE and CTAC anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause these assessments to change. However, while KORE and/or CTAC may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, each of KORE and CTAC specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing KORE's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/laird-connectivity-and-kore-partner-to-deliver-wireless-solutions-and-iot-services-301345784.html SOURCE KORE Wireless

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[August 02, 2021] Leaseweb Global Acquires iWeb To Build Significant Market Share in Canada

Leaseweb Global, a leading hosting and cloud services company, today announced the acquisition of iWeb, one of Canada's foremost providers of cloud hosting, server hosting & hosted solutions. The acquisition enables Leaseweb to build a significant market presence in Canada, which now becomes its third biggest international region by revenue, behind The Netherlands and U.S. Founded in 1996, iWeb, previously part of INAP, offers high-performance dedicated servers and cloud hosting from its three Montreal-based data centers. By integrating iWeb with Leaseweb's global network, current and future customers will have the ability to seamlessly expand into the region, while benefiting from globally available cloud infrastructure. The move will also be attractive to organizations who require a market presence in North America, but need to host their data outside the U.S. iWeb employs 92 people across its flagship Montreal data centers, providing high-speed global connectivity via ISP peering in Montreal and Tier 1 providers, offering users Dedicated Servers, Private Cloud, Security Services and Colocation. iWeb's solutions provide cost, efficiency, customization, and security benefits for customers. Powered by 99% renewable hydroelectricity, they host thousands of servers for clients across a diverse range of industry sectors. Greater Montreal is a fast growth hub for organizations that rely on powerful, reliable and secure cloud and data center infrastructure. As recently as 2019, the city was recognized as 'Data Centre Location of the Year' in the 12th Datacloud Global Awards. With team, product, cultural and customer synergies, iWeb represents a strong commercial and organizational fit for Leaseweb, and is its latest acquisition in the region, following in the footsteps of ServInt in 2018, Nobis Technology Group in 2016 and Shore.net in 2013.



"We have followed the development of iWeb with great interest for a number of years, and as a business with very similar DNA to our own, we know they will bring a wide range of complementary services and skills to our presence in Canada," commented Con Zwinkels CEO at Leaseweb Global. "They live and breathe hosting, have a deep understanding of the requirements of Canadian customers, and we're delighted to welcome them to the Leaseweb team." "Today is a very exciting day for iWeb employees, customers and partners. We are joining a team that is focused on product, growth and customer experience," said Roberto Montesi, CEO at iWeb. "We have long admired Leaseweb as a competitor. Now, as colleagues, we look forward to deploying new offerings quickly in our Montreal location to match the Leaseweb portfolio. This is an exciting state in our journey and ensures that Canada becomes a huge part of the future Leaseweb success story."

About Leaseweb Leaseweb is a leading Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider serving a worldwide portfolio of 18,000 customers ranging from SMBs to Enterprises. Services include Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Dedicated Servers, Colocation, Content Delivery Network, and Cyber Security Services supported by exceptional customer service and technical support. With more than 80,000 servers under management, Leaseweb has provided infrastructure for mission-critical websites, Internet applications, email servers, security, and storage services since 1997. The company operates 20 data centres in locations across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, all of which are backed by a superior worldwide network with a total capacity of more than 10 Tbps. Leaseweb offers services through its various sales entities, which are Leaseweb Netherlands B.V. ("Leaseweb Netherlands"), Leaseweb USA, Inc. ("Leaseweb USA"), Leaseweb Asia Pacific PTE. LTD ("Leaseweb Asia"), Leaseweb CDN B.V. ("Leaseweb CDN"), Leaseweb Deutschland GmbH ("Leaseweb Germany"), Leaseweb Australia Ltd. ("Leaseweb Australia") and Leaseweb UK Ltd ("Leaseweb UK"), Leaseweb Japan KK, Leaseweb Hong Kong LTD. For more information visit: www.leaseweb.com. About iWeb iWeb provides the on-demand server and cloud infrastructure that allows customers worldwide to deliver today's Internet-based technologies and to create tomorrow's online innovations. Since 1996, Montreal-based iWeb has been rated among the world's top web infrastructure providers based on performance and reliability and among Canada's fastest growing companies. www.iweb.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005129/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Lightbeam Health Solutions Partners with Surescripts to Promote Medication Adherence Across Populations

Lightbeam Health Solutions, the leader in end-to-end population health management solutions and services, announces a new partnership with Surescripts, a nationwide health information network. The Surescripts Medication History for Populations service will be available to Lightbeam clients through the partnership, adding valuable insights on top of the robust analytics already available within the Lightbeam platform. Patient medication history information helps round out value-based care organizations' clinical data by providing care teams with a history of all medications prescribed and filled. Users can access patient medication data sourced from pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies themselves. This added solution equips providers with more complete information to make informed decisions on medication management, identify patients who may be at risk, and anticipate adverse drug events. Surescripts Medication History for Populations includes a newly launched patient notifications feature that provides real-time medication adherence alerts, including the ability to inform care teams when patients do not pick up prescribed medications. For organizations managing high-risk, high-cost conditions such as diabetes, these notifications are instrumental in early intervention before a preventable high-cost hospital event or admission occurs. "Clinical intelligence, including medication history, that is accurate, timely, and actionable is the next step in our journey for closing costly gaps in care," explained Mike Pritts, Chief Product Officer of Surescripts. "With our expanded solutions, including patient notifications, Surescripts is helping providers proactively follow up with patients and address lapses in care, missed care interventions, medication non-adherence, and gaps in care that plague the system today."



"Medication adherence is the single biggest issue around patient compliance," said Kent Locklear, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer of Lightbeam. "For providers managing patients with chronic conditions, overcoming the barriers to compliance is key in ensuring successful outcomes. This partnership provides another powerful avenue through which providers can transform patient care and improve lives." For more information about the Surescripts-Lightbeam partnership and to demo Lightbeam's industry-leading population health management platform, visit the Lightbeam Health Solutions booth, #2060 in the Sands Expo, at HIMSS21 in Las Vegas, Nevada, from August 9-13, 2021.

About Lightbeam Health Solutions Lightbeam Health Solutions delivers a revolutionary model for managing patient populations and associated risk. Lightbeam's vision is to bring health data into the light through the use of analytics, and to provide the insight and capabilities healthcare clients need to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time. Lightbeam's platform facilitates end-to-end population health management for ACOs, payers, provider groups, health systems, and other healthcare organizations aspiring to provide superior care at a lower cost. For more information, visit www.lightbeamhealth.com, and follow Lightbeam on LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005470/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Mastercard Partners with Birmingham Department of Innovation & Economic Opportunity to Launch Ascend Birmingham Helping Local Businesses Get Digital

With spend already declining in Birmingham pre-COVID, the decrease rapidly accelerated in Birmingham's downtown and surrounding tracts because of the pandemic significantly impacting the city's small businesses. Minority owned businesses in the region saw an outsized impact from the downturn and are a priority focus amidst recovery. Mastercard and the Birmingham Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity are working to address this with the introduction of Ascend Birmingham. The program is focused on helping local small businesses pivot to digital operations and thrive in an age of a more digitally engaged consumer. "The City of Birmingham is thrilled to partner with Mastercard on this key initiative, which will go a long way in reaching our goal of making Birmingham a hub for minority-owned small businesses," Mayor Woodfin said. "Allowing these businesses to flourish in digital spaces not only increases their reach but their creative potential as well. It's an incredible opportunity for our business community." With support from Square, Accion Opportunity Fund and Sunrise by Lendio, Ascend Birmingham will provide education, tools and resources focused on building out an effective digital presence, accepting digital payments, growing and managing your business, gaining access to capital, and keeping your business and your customers protected. Participants in the program will also be provided a custom curated business kit that includes solutions such as a Square Reader for Contactless & Chip along with website development software, bookkeeping software and a professional bookkeeper from Sunrise by Lendio, advisory expertise from Accion Opportunity Fund, Mastercard cybersecurity and data insight solutions and other City-provided resources. Mastercard and the City of Birmingham have also partnered to deliver a city focused Digital Doors platform with always-on content and resources for local owners. "We applaud the efforts of Mayor Woodfin and the Department of Innovation & Economic Opportunity to ensure the endurance of Birmingham-based small businesses and are proud to partner with the city so that owners have access to the tools and resources necessary to thrive in today's digital age," said Michael Froman, vice chairman and president Strategic Growth for Mastercard. "The resiliency and drive of small business owners is unprecedented and supporting their recovery is the single most important thing we can all do for economic and social vitality." Birmingham-based small businesses interested in learning moreand signing up for an upcoming Ascend Birmingham cohort can visit here. Mayor Woodfin and Mastercard will also recognize three Birmingham businesses selected to be part of the national Priceless campaign, which highlights creative businesses offering unique experiences for patrons. Ursula Smith, founder of the Ursula Smith Dance Co.; Evan and Eleny Christen, owners of Pinspiration Birmingham; and Tanesha Sims-Summers, founder and CEO of Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co. are the Birmingham honorees.



"Leveraging data-driven insights, we are partnering with the City of Birmingham to assess the impact of the pandemic on the local economy and help protect local communities and businesses that are most at-risk," said Linda Kirkpatrick, president of North America for Mastercard. "With these insights we can engage our network of partners and prioritize investments in order to proactively build a foundation that fosters an equitable recovery." "As an entrepreneur, I have had to adapt to a number of obstacles and uncertainties. When confronted with a problem or difficult situation I never run, which cultivated my faith, resilience, courage and fortitude needed to thrive in life and business. Opening a new studio location, a month before the pandemic hit Alabama forced me to pivot to a digital platform. This allowed me to expand my reach from Florida to Germany," said Ursula Smith, Owner of Ursula Smith Company.

In Solidarity with Birmingham As part of its In Solidarity initiative, Mastercard has embarked on a multi-city road show with Birmingham as the focus for the next stop. To support the region in helping close the racial wealth and opportunity gap for Black communities and business owners Mastercard and Blavity, Inc. the pre-eminent media resource for Black millennials, are partnering to launch a virtual discussion addressing a financial system that has systemically disadvantaged and excluded Black communities with a view to advancing opportunity and equitable growth in Birmingham. Speakers include: The honorable Randall Woodfin, Mayor of Birmingham, the Birmingham Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity, Rev. Arthur Price, Regions Bank and Morgan DeBaun, CEO, Blavity. Expanding Digitally with Customer Experience and Safety Prioritized Ascend Birmingham is part of Mastercard's wider recovery efforts designed to support businesses and governments across the globe looking for resources to help better manage the health, safety and economic risks presented by the recent pandemic. Recovery Insights offers a set of tools, innovation and research that can provide some certainty today and support data-driven decision-making for a more digital tomorrow. More information on Mastercard Recovery Insights can be found here. About Mastercard Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. www.mastercard.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005515/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Miami Virtual Program, Arizona Ready to Help Students Navigate These Uncertain Times in Education

Miami Virtual Program, Arizona (MVPAZ), a full-time, online public school serving students in grades 8-11 throughout the state, is ready to kick off the new school year and give students an education option designed to help them reach their full potential. MVPAZ students and teachers open their laptops to start the 2021-2022 school year tomorrow, August 3. "Last year was rough for a lot of Arizona families, but MVPAZ provides that consistency parents need for their child's growth and education," said Bouchra Bouanani, head of school for MVPAZ. "And we can help give your student a leg up on their next level of work or education too!" Students who attend MVPAZ have the opportunity to look to the future. High school students can participate in the Career Prep Program and enroll in classes that will help them discover and explore potential careers in IT, Health & Human Services, Business & Marketing, and Art, Audio/Visual Technology & Communications. Students can also earn college credits while still in high school, giving them a head start in their state and potentially saving them thousands of dollars in college tuition costs. For most parents, the new school year comes with cautious optimism. Many families realized during the pandemic that attending school online is a safe alternative that allows them to focus on their child's future. Accordig to a recent survey by Stride, Inc., 91 percent of parents agree that it's important for their children to have multiple school options, including full-time online or a hybrid model that blends online and in-person learning. And almost two-thirds of parents would consider full-time online public school after their 2020 pandemic-driven virtual education experience.



Students choose online learning for a variety of reasons, including advanced learning, a bullying-free environment, and the flexibility to support extracurricular pursuits or medical needs while maintaining a focus on academics. MVPAZ's online platform gives students the opportunity to pursue their academic goals in a supportive environment and at an appropriate pace for their learning style. MVPAZ is still accepting enrollments for the 2021-2022 school year. To learn more and how to enroll, visit MVPAZ, or download the Stride K12 mobile app for iOS and Android (News - Alert) devices - where families can enroll, prepare for the first day of school, and monitor students' academic progress throughout the school year. For more information on the Career Prep Pathways and socialization, click here, and for more info on the Academic Pathways and Clubs, click here.

About Miami Virtual Program, Arizona Miami Virtual Program, Arizona (MVPAZ) is an online public-school program of the Miami, AZ Unified School District that serves students in grades K-11. MVPAZ is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). MVPAZ's individualized approach gives Arizona students the chance to learn in the ways that are right for them. Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more about MVPAZ, visit https://mvpaz.k12.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005003/en/

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[August 02, 2021] MidOcean Partners Acquires Louisiana Fish Fry, a Leading Branded Flavor and Seasonings Platform

MidOcean Partners ("MidOcean"), a premier middle market private equity firm focused on the consumer and business services sectors, announced today that it has acquired Louisiana Fish Fry (the "Company"). Louisiana Fish Fry is an industry leading manufacturer and supplier of authentic, Louisiana-inspired food products. The Company's products are sold through leading grocery, mass and foodservice customers with a broad reach across the United States. MidOcean intends to accelerate the Company's growth and drive value through comprehensive organic initiatives and strategic M&A. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Company manufactures and distributes coatings, sauces, spices, seasonings, marinades, bases and other Louisiana-inspired food products. Louisiana Fish Fry is known for its great tasting, authentic products that are aligned with long-term consumer preferences. The Company is led by an experienced senior management team, including CEO, Michael Morse, and CFO, Gary Galeziewski, under whose leadership the Company has expanded national distribution and increased household penetration while maintaining its commitment to Louisiana-based flavors and brand authenticity. "We are excited to partner with MidOcean to continue driving outsized growth for Louisiana Fish Fry," said Michael Morse. "MidOcean has an impressive track record in executing transformational growth. Their partnership, expertise and industry knowledge will enable us to dedicate our focus to key areas of our strategy, such as investment in our people and organic sales growth, which will come from expanded distribution and product development. We look forward to better serving our customers and end consumers while expanding into new markets." Daniel Penn, Managing Director at MidOcean, commented, "MidOcean has been evluating opportunities in the branded food category for a number of years and is thrilled to partner with Louisiana Fish Fry's exceptional management team for the Company's next phase of growth. Our focus in this sector has been in partnership with DJ Jenson, a MidOcean Operating Partner with over 30 years of expertise in the industry and who will serve as Chairman of the Louisiana Fish Fry Board. Joining DJ on the Board will be two of our other world-class Operating Partners, Tony DeLio and Lisa Mann, both of whom have highly relevant branded food experience, as well as Dave Moran, a long-time industry executive and investor."



DJ Jenson joined MidOcean as an Operating Partner and dedicated resource to MidOcean's efforts in the food and beverage sector in 2019. Mr. Jenson has over three decades of senior leadership and brand-building experience across a broad range of top-tier consumer brands, including numerous food and beverage platforms. As a hands-on operator, he has a track record of accelerating growth of revenues, earnings and brand equity without compromising core values, culture, authenticity or purpose. Prior to joining MidOcean, Mr. Jenson had over a decade of private equity experience, served as a director on the boards of numerous consumer businesses and held senior leadership roles at Burton and Timberland. "I'm excited to partner with the Louisiana Fish Fry management team and look forward to driving growth and building on the legacy of this incredible brand," said DJ Jenson. "Louisiana Fish Fry offers a wide variety of authentic, delicious products for its customers with numerous avenues for continued growth. We plan to focus on maintaining the strong heritage of the brand, while also expanding into new geographies, channels and product lines. We look forward to executing this strategic plan by working closely with the Louisiana Fish Fry team."

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP acted as legal advisor to MidOcean. About Louisiana Fish Fry Louisiana Fish Fry invites the rest of the world to experience the essence of the state of flavor: Louisiana. Founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1982, Louisiana Fish Fry manufactures and distributes a broad selection of Louisiana-inspired food products to a national customer base of leading grocery and mass market retailers, as well as foodservice distributors. Products include fry mixes, boil seasonings, sauces, entree mixes and more. For more information, please visit louisianafishfry.com About MidOcean Partners MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle-market private equity and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has targeted investments in high-quality middle-market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and manages a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005175/en/

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[August 02, 2021] MyHeritage to Acquire 90% of Filae

MyHeritage, the leading global service for discovering your past and empowering your future, announced today that it has signed agreements to acquire 90.91% of the share capital and 89.11% of the voting rights of Filae, a leading family history service in France, through TreeHouse Junior Limited, a parent company in the MyHeritage group. Under the terms of these agreements, MyHeritage acquires all shares of Filae held by Geneanet and Trudaine Participations, i.e., a total of 710,782 Filae shares representing 43.08% of the share capital and 42.23% of the voting rights of Filae, at a price of 20.75  per share, and shares of the founders and historical shareholders of Filae, including its founder and CEO Toussaint Roze, i.e., a total of 789,161 Filae shares, representing 47.83% of the share capital and 46.88% of the voting rights of Filae, at a price of 20  per share. Following these two operations, MyHeritage will hold 90.91% of the share capital and 89.11% of the voting rights of Filae. With the contemplated cancellation by Filae of its 55,321 treasury shares, these percentages will increase to 94.06% in share capital and to 92.13% in voting rights. The announcement marks the dawn of a new era for French genealogy that will leverage Filae's expertise in French historical records and MyHeritage's cutting-edge technologies and global reach. This marks the 12th acquisition by MyHeritage and reinforces the company's position as the leading family history service in Europe. Founded in 1994, formerly known as NotreFamille.com and Genealogie.com and renamed Filae.com in 2016, the company is dedicated to making genealogical research easier and more accessible through innovative technologies and exclusive collections of digitized and transcribed historical records from France. The underlying values of ease of use, accessibility, and innovation, coupled with a deep passion for genealogical content, have served as the foundation for the ongoing relationship between MyHeritage and Filae. Both companies' founders saw a combination as the natural next step in this relationship. Founded in 2003, MyHeritage has developed one of the world's leading family history platforms. Powered by unique and proprietary technologies, MyHeritage is currently used by 90 million registered users worldwide and is available in 42 languages, which is a testament to the company's international reach and diverse user base. MyHeritage users have collectively created tens of millions of family trees, and the platform is home to a vast collection of nearly 14 billion historical records. The platform's many featuresinclude world-class tools that are based on artificial intelligence.



Following the acquisition, the exclusive historical record collections housed on Filae will be made accessible to MyHeritage users, creating new opportunities for genealogical discoveries for individuals around the world with French roots. MyHeritage's resources and technologies will enable Filae to accelerate the digitization and indexing of additional historical record collections, which will be made accessible to users of both platforms. Filae will remain a French company based in Paris and will continue to operate autonomously. Filae's founder, Toussaint Roze, will continue to manage the company and its operations will continue uninterrupted. The scope of services available to current subscribers on Filae will remain unchanged and special benefits will soon be introduced to its members. "As we did when we acquired Geni.com eight years ago, our plan is to maintain Filae's independence and existing team, and strengthen it," said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. "French genealogists have much to gain from this combination, which brings together MyHeritage's resources, its powerful matching technologies, and Filae's extensive historical archives and its expertise in French genealogy. The acquisition of Filae is a significant step for MyHeritage that builds on a longstanding relationship of trust and mutual respect."

"We sought to accelerate our growth and recognized the incredible opportunity before us," said Toussaint Roze, Founder and CEO of Filae. "MyHeritage has unparalleled experience, technological expertise, and an excellent reputation, and we are confident that by combining our respective strengths, Filae will experience strong growth that will enrich the family history resources for anyone of French descent." Privacy Guarantee MyHeritage has a strong privacy framework that includes a strict commitment regarding the privacy of users' data, making it unique among the major genealogy companies. Its privacy policy states unequivocally that MyHeritage has never sold or licensed personal data or genetic data and will never do so in the future. Next Steps MyHeritage, through parent company TreeHouse Junior Limited, will file a simplified mandatory takeover bid on the remaining Filae shares not acquired by MyHeritage, at a price per share of 20.75, followed by a squeeze-out. Subsequently, Filae will be delisted from the French stock exchange. Concurrently, Trudaine Participations will file an application to the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF - French stock market authority) to note that its takeover bid filed on February 9, 2021 (AMF Deposit No. 221C0318) has become purposeless within the meaning of Article 232-11 of the AMF's general regulations. Filae will have to file its draft response note to the draft simplified tender offer initiated by MyHeritage, which will notably include the reasoned opinion of the board of directors of Filae and the supplementary report of the independent expert on the draft simplified tender offer initiated by MyHeritage. In the coming days, Filae will redeem its two categories of convertible bonds for a total amount of 2.3 million to be drawn from its available cash. In the context of this transaction, Filae, Geneanet, Trudaine Participations and MyHeritage have signed a settlement agreement putting an end to the disputes between them. About Filae Filae.com (ISIN code: FR0010221069, Ticker code: ALFIL) is published by the company Filae SA. Created by Toussaint Roze, this French company has for years been developing unique expertise in the research and development of innovative technologies to facilitate the general public's access to its roots. The company is based in Paris and has more than 15 employees. Thanks to legislative advances in terms of Open Data and the reuse of public archives, the company has been providing since December 2016 an exclusive offering of digitized, transcribed and indexed genealogical content and is developing algorithms to facilitate public access to historical records. About MyHeritage MyHeritage is the leading global discovery platform for exploring family history. With billions of historical records and family tree profiles, and with sophisticated matching technologies that work across all its assets, MyHeritage allows users to discover their past and empower their future. MyHeritage DNA is one of the world's largest consumer DNA databases, with more than 5 million customers. MyHeritage is the most popular DNA test and family history service in Europe. Since 2020, MyHeritage is home to the world's best AI technologies for enhancing and colorizing historical photos. www.myheritage.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210801005070/en/

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[August 02, 2021] National University Part Of Prestigious Team Selected For $20M National Science Foundation Grant To Study AI And Optimization

LA JOLLA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an initiative to establish a series of artificial intelligence research institutes nationwide, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $20 million grant to a partnership of prestigious universities led by University of California, San Diego, and including National University, Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas at Austin. Working together, the universities will form The Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale (TILOS). The five-year research partnership will focus on the optimization of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. They will work closely with industry leaders to develop optimization tools that will enable real-world improvements in key industries, including chip design, robotics, and communications networks. National University faculty will work with TILOS partners in workforce development and education to update and create career-relevant courses and modules in AI aimed at the growing population of adult learners served by the San Diego-based nonprofit institution, including career professionals, members of the military community, and underserved students in STEM). "We are thrilled to be collaborating with such incredible institutions on an initiative that directly serves our greater mission as an organization to prepare students today for the jobs of tomorrow," said National University System Chancellor and Interim President of National Universiy Dr. Michael R. Cunningham.



National University, San Diego's largest private nonprofit university, that boasts a 50-year history of serving working adult learners, educators, and veterans, will receive $100,000 a year for five years to support faculty members working on the project, students, and equipment/software. NU is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and is a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities "This is a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with some of the most prestigious universities in the world to create state-of-the-art curriculum and bring AI and optimization to National University's students," said NU Associate Dean for the College of Professional Studies, Dr. Jodi Reeves. She will serve as the Associate Director for Education and Workforce for TILOS.

With the rapid advance of technology, the existing workforce must update skills more and more frequently. Veterans, people seeking career changes, and underserved populations need opportunities to learn these new skills. National University, a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, as well as the rest of the TILOS partnership intend to build an openly accessible program of continuing education with long-term, lifelong learning and skills renewal as its central tenet. New courses will focus on computing, AI optimization, robotics, networking and chip design. The program also will feature a community outreach element to raise awareness and encourage interest in AI-related careers among non-traditional and underserved learners. "Being chosen to be part of an institute sponsored by the NSF is a lifetime goal. As professors we are honored and humbled," said Dr. Esmaeil Atashpaz-Gargari, one of two Principal Investigators from the Department of Engineering and Computing at NU. In an announcement on July 29, the NSF awarded a total of $220 million to 11 different partnerships as part of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes Program. Each institute will receive approximately $20 million to pursue research around the practical application of AI and machine intelligence in a wide range of fields and industries, including engineering, education, agriculture and cyber security. TILOS also will be partially supported by Intel Corporation. "Our mission at National University is to serve the public good. To take this initiative nationwide with such esteemed partners is an incredible opportunity" said Dr. Shatha Jawad, the second Principal Investigator at NU. About National University National University (NU), a veteran-founded nonprofit, has been dedicated to meeting the needs of hard-working adults by providing accessible, affordable, achievable higher education opportunities since 1971. As San Diego's largest private nonprofit university, NU offers over 75 online and on-site programs and flexible four-week courses designed to help students reach their goals while balancing busy lives. Since its founding, the NU community has grown to over 25,000 students and alumni around the globe, many of whom serve in helping industries such as business, education, health care, cybersecurity, and law and criminal justice. Learn more at NU.edu . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-university-part-of-prestigious-team-selected-for-20m-national-science-foundation-grant-to-study-ai-and-optimization-301346373.html SOURCE National University

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[August 02, 2021] PG&E's Corporate Sustainability Report Shares Progress on Safety Improvements, Clean Energy Milestones, and Serving Customers

PG&E (News - Alert) today released its annual Corporate Sustainability Report, which reviews the company's performance through a "triple bottom line" lens on serving people, the planet, and California's prosperity. "I am proud to say that in 2020, we continued to move forward on our sustainability goals, despite the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the most extreme weather and wildfire conditions California has ever seen," said Patti Poppe, CEO of PG&E Corporation. "We are working every day to shrink our company's carbon footprint, help customers reduce their own energy use, and adapt our gas and electric system to changing climate conditions." Using statistics and stories, the comprehensive online report brings PG&E's sustainability commitment to life. Contents detail the accomplishments PG&E achieved in 2020, notably: Delivering some of the nation's cleanest energy, with about 85 percent of our electricity coming from greenhouse-gas free resources.

Investing $7.6 billion to enhance and upgrade our infrastructure for safely, reliability, and wildfire mitigation.

Completing substantial work to strengthen our natural gas system, including industry-leading gains in process safety, asset management, and technology innovation.

Working to keep our customers, communities and coworkers safe during te COVID-19 pandemic through financial assistance programs and support for customers, $1 million to nonprofits to help address food insecurity, and safety precautions and policies for coworkers.

Helping customers avoid more than 769,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide through our energy efficiency programs - roughly $308 million in energy bill savings.

Directing $3.88 billion - or 38.9% of our total expenditures - toward diverse suppliers, our highest dollar amount ever.

Issuing a Human Rights Statement in furtherance of our commitment to conduct our business in a manner that respects the human rights of all.

Awarding contracts for more than 1 gigawatt of battery energy storage, strengthening the state's grid efficiency and reliability.

Launching a multi-year Climate Vulnerability Assessment.

Contributing $17.5 million to charitable organizations through our Better Together Giving Program and The PG&E Corporation Foundation, designed to help address critical social, educational and environmental challenges.



"Tackling the challenges of climate change?and doing so with an increasing focus on vulnerable communities?can only be met through collaboration and partnerships," said Rose McKinney-James, Managing Principal of Energy Works, former Nevada PSC Commissioner and a member of PG&E's Sustainability Advisory Council. "From clean energy and transportation to system affordability and resilience, the most sustainable solutions will be the ones we create by working together."

About PG&E Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005607/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Primis Expands Partnership with HUMAN for a Fourth Year, Continuing the Fight Against Ad Fraud

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Primis , the leading Video Discovery platform for global publishers and the founders of Sellers.guide , today announced they are expanding their partnership with HUMAN , the global leader in collective protection against sophisticated bot attacks and marketing fraud. This marks the fourth year the two companies have partnered in the battle against ad fraud.

"We are committed to the fight against bad actors in digital media, said Maayan Segal, VP, Clients of Primis. Providing publishers and advertisers with a safe and trustworthy environment continues to be our primary goal and there is no better partner to have in this battle than HUMAN." We are thrilled to expand on an already outstanding partnership with Primis as we continue enhancing our capabilities aimed to protect the growing video ecosystem from fraud and attacks by bad actors, said HUMAN SVP of Customer Success Operations Megan Baker. "Primis continues to play a leading role in the fight against fraud as evidenced by the publication of their new Sellers.guide tool, which bolsters publishers' good yber hygiene with clear and actionable insights into how to clean and maintain the use of their ads.txt filesa vital part of ad tech."



The partnership, focused on the measuring of SIVT, will continue to enable Primis publisher community to operate within the video supply chain with confidence that the impressions that pass through are human-verified. Primis is part of a growing community of HUMAN partners that collectively protect the industry from sophisticated fraudulent methods. HUMAN verifies more than ten trillion digital interactions per week, working directly with the largest internet platforms, DSPs and exchanges. The technology uses a multilayered detection methodology to spot SIVT and stop sophisticated bot attacks, incorporating technical evidence, continuous adaptation, machine learning and the Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team. As a result, HUMAN Advertising Integrity blocks non-human traffic across all platforms, from desktop and mobile web to CTV and mobile app.

About Primis, Video Discovery Primis is a Video Discovery platform that increases revenue for publishers by helping their users discover high-quality video content. Primis video discovery technology is used by 100s of digital publishers, empowering 300M uniques with an engagement-based video experience that recommends video content users love, automatically skipping content they dont interact with. Primis is owned by Universal McCann and The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) holding itself to the highest standards in digital advertising. To learn more, visit primis.tech . About HUMAN HUMAN is a cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from bot attacks to keep digital experiences human. We have the most advanced Human Verification Engine that protects applications, APIs and digital media from bot attacks, preventing losses and improving the digital experience for real humans. Today we verify the humanity of more than 10 trillion interactions per week for some of the largest companies and internet platforms. Protect your digital business with HUMAN. To Know Whos Real, visit www.humansecurity.com . Media Contact: Kyle Kuhnel

Broadsheet Communications for Primis

kyle@broadsheetcomms.com



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[August 02, 2021] Revel Acquires The Woolfer, the Leading Social Platform for Women Over 40; Announces $3.5M Seed Round

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Revel , a West-coast based community and event platform for midlife women, is pleased to announce its acquisition of The Woolfer , the largest NYC-based social platform and website for women over 40. The newly integrated company, which will be called Revel, will become the most significant multi-platform community of women 40 +. Revel has also announced a $3.5M Seed round led by August Capital. Additional investors include Forerunner Ventures, Y Combinator, Maveron, Alexis Ohanian, Villi Iltchev, Chris Bennett, Elizabeth Weil, Andy McLoughlin, and Gordon Sween. Nina Lorez Collins, Founder of The Woolfer, will stay on as Chief Creative Officer of Revel. The Woolfer -- which originated as a closed Facebook group in 2015 called "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?" -- has seen significant organic growth, now reaching a tight-knit online community of over 25,000 women who live all over the country. Collins describes Woolfers as "a highly engaged and fiercely feminist group of likeminded women who gather in-person and virtually for open and honest discussions about everything from books, health, and relationships, to the funny and real aspects of aging." What started as an ironic question that Collins frequently asked herself as she entered perimenopause -- and inspired her book: What Would Virginia Woolf Do? And Other Questions I Ask Myself As I Attempt to Age Without Apology published in April 2018 -- has developed into a platform that helps tens of thousands of women navigate and take agency over their aging. Today's over 40 women are 83 million strong in the US. Studies have shown Gen Xers and Boomers have significant buying power and influence on other generations. They are even spending one-third more annually than millennials. Yet this group of women often feel overlooked, and seek communities and media that address who they are and what they are interested in. "Our demographic has demonstrated that we want to be heard. We're more settled in who we are than ever beforeand we're very comfortable expressing ourselves. We're also extremely busy, juggling careers, children, and elderly parents. Communities like The Woolfer and Revel help us problem solve and share what we're going through with support, humor, and grace, and crucially, without judgement," added Collins.



When Revel launched in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2019, the platform allowed members of the community to self-organize in-person events with fellow members. The pandemic convinced Revel's co-founders, Lisa Marrone and Alexa Wahr, to embrace virtual events sooner than planned, and by the end of 2020, Revelers were organizing more than 50 virtual events on the site each week, on topics ranging from a monthly Investment Club to a weekly Purpose & Age Conversation Group. Today the Revel community is over 5000 members strong, largely based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Washington DC. Its acquisition of The Woolfer means doubling the size of their community and expanding their national footprint by adding women all over the country. Revel has had technology at its core since the very beginning. In addition to a female-led engineering team, Revel designs the platform from the ground up, bucking the trend of designing for millennial/Gen Z audiences. User research is a pillar of the company's design process, and Revel's goal is to offer its users a safer, more intimate, more bespoke space to connect than other platforms like Meetup or Facebook

"We are thrilled to bring the Woolfers in to the Revel community. More members means more creative energy on the platform and more fun and interesting events, making us a richer and more vibrant space overnight," said Wahr. "Our shared mission is to ignite an empowered, confident, and supportive community of women worldwide, who defy outdated stereotypes about what is possible as women age -- and this acquisition is a huge step forward towards achieving this vision." Within the next few months, Revel will build a "Groups" feature, which is akin to the Community features "Woolfers" currently enjoy on their app and Facebook group. The fully integrated website is expected to launch in October as a one-stop destination for conversations and events and content for women over 40. What Revelers can expect: A scalable tech platform (built by a female led engineering team) so that Revel can deliver on its mission to ignite an empowered, confident, and supportive community of women worldwide

engineering team) so that Revel can deliver on its mission to ignite an empowered, confident, and supportive community of women Former Woolfer members will now be able to self-organize events - no matter where in the country/world she lives! - using all the event creation tools that Revel has built

More support of a larger staff which will enable more great programming & events, more community moderation, more stimulating voices.

A new newsletter called "The Weekly Reveler" and a podcast, "Raging Gracefully" About Revel

Revel was founded in 2019 by CEO Lisa Marrone and COO Alexa Wahr, two women in their mid-thirties whose vision quite literally extends beyond their years. Revel's mission is to ignite an empowered, confident, and supportive community of women worldwide, who defy outdated stereotypes about what is possible as women age. Early on, Revel earned a coveted spot with Y Combinator, a start-up incubator program that has helped launch more than 2,000 companies, including tech brands such as Dropbox, Airbnb, DoorDash and Instacart. The commitment from Y Combinator caught the attention of other big-name investors, including Forerunner Ventures. To date Revel has received $6M in Seed funding. Revel initially launched in the San Francisco Bay Area and has since expanded to Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Washington DC Metro Area. The acquisition of The Woolfer will expand Revel's footprint across the United States. For more information, go to hellorevel.com. Media Contact

Lindsay Stevens

315649@email4pr.com

213-200-9638 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/revel-acquires-the-woolfer-the-leading-social-platform-for-women-over-40-announces-3-5m-seed-round-301345992.html SOURCE The Woolfer

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[August 02, 2021] Schulte Roth & Zabel Announces Addition of Leading M&A Lawyer Brian Miner

Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) announces the addition of Brian C. Miner as a partner in the M&A and Securities Group. He joins the firm from Holland & Knight. Mr. Miner concentrates his practice in private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies. He has substantial experience across a broad range of sectors, including financial services and asset management, life sciences and healthcare, energy and manufacturing. Mr. Miner frequently advises clients on acquisitions and dispositions of interests in alternative asset management firms, including structuring, negotiating and executing minority investments in private equity fund managers. "We are excited to welcome Brian to the firm. His sophisticated private equity M&A practice and experience across a range of industries will be a tremendous asset to our group and our clients," said Ele Klein, chair of the M&A and Securities Group, co-chair of the global Shareholder Activism Group and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. "Brian has a great depth of practice advising on complex transactions, and his broad expertise and deep knowledge will further enhance our client offerings," said David Efron, SRZ co-managing partner and co-head of the Investment Management Group. "As SRZ continues to grow, we are proud to have Brian join our firm as we further strengthen our capabilities ina core practice area," commented Marc Elovitz, SRZ co-managing partner and chair of the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group.



"I am delighted to join SRZ and its talented team of lawyers to further grow the firm's market-leading corporate practice while providing the best-in-class client service SRZ is known for," said Mr. Miner. SRZ's M&A and securities lawyers regularly advise on complex deals for many of the world's most active and influential private equity firms. The firm's M&A transactions have been consistently recognized as "Deals of the Year" by industry rankings and the group is recognized by both Chambers and The Legal 500.

Mr. Miner received his J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law and his B.S. from Wake Forest University. About Schulte Roth & Zabel Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (www.srz.com) is a full-service law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC and London. As one of the leading law firms serving the financial services industry, the firm regularly advises clients on corporate and transactional matters and provides counsel on regulatory, compliance, enforcement and investigative issues. The firm's practices include: antitrust; bank regulatory; bankruptcy & creditors' rights litigation; blockchain technology & digital assets; broker-dealer regulatory & enforcement; business reorganization; complex commercial litigation; cybersecurity & data privacy; distressed debt & claims trading; distressed investing; education law; employment & employee benefits; energy; environmental; finance & derivatives; financial institutions; hedge funds; individual client services; insurance; intellectual property, sourcing & technology; investment management; litigation; litigation finance; mergers & acquisitions; PIPEs; private equity; real estate; real estate capital markets & REITs; real estate litigation; regulated funds; regulatory & compliance; securities & capital markets; securities enforcement; securities litigation; securitization; shareholder activism; tax; and white collar defense & government investigations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005144/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Semiconductors Market in Vietnam to grow by USD 6.16 billion|Technavio

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio has been monitoring the semiconductors market in Vietnam and it is poised to grow by USD 6.16 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 19% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Technavio reports offer customer landscape matrix and vendor landscape analysis that assists global businesses to obtain growth opportunities.

Download FREE Sample Report The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Broadcom Inc., Hitachi Ltd., Intel Corp., NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SK Hynix Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Texas Instruments Inc., and Toshiba Corp. are some of the major market participants. The growing use of IoT will offer immense growth opportunities. To leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Semiconductors Market in Vietnam 2020-2024: Segmentation

Semiconductors Market in Vietnam is segmented as below: Device

o PMICs

o Microchips

o RFID Application

o Consumer Electronics

o Communications

o Automotive

o Medical Devices

o Others To gain access to detailed market landscape, vendor analysis, and future trends impacting the growth of the market, download a sample:

https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40861 Semiconductors Market in Vietnam 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis and Scope

Some of the major vendors of the semiconductors market in Vietnam in the Semiconductors industry include Broadcom Inc., Hitachi Ltd., Intel Corp., NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SK Hynix Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Texas Instruments Inc., and Toshiba Corp. To help businesses improve their market position, Technavio's report provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. The report also covers the following areas: Semiconductors Market in Vietnam size

size Semiconductors Market in Vietnam trends

trends Semiconductors Market in Vietnam industry analysis Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports.

Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform



Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the semiconductors market in Vietnam are designed to provide entry support, customer profile & M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Semiconductors Market in Vietnam 2020-2024: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024

Detailed information on factors that will assist semiconductors market growth in Vietnam during the next five years

during the next five years Estimation of the semiconductors market size in Vietnam and its contribution to the parent market

and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the semiconductors market in Vietnam

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of the semiconductors market vendors in Vietnam Related Reports on Information Technology Include: Global Biochip Market- The biochip market is segmented by technology (microarrays and microfluidics) and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South America).

Download FREE Sample Report Global Compound Semiconductor Market- The compound semiconductor market is segmented by end-user (consumer electronics, communications, defense and aerospace, automotive, and others), type (GaAs, GaN, SiC, and others), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and MEA).

Download FREE Sample Report Table of Contents:

PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface

2.2 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem

Market characteristics

Value chain analysis

Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition

Market sizing 2019

Market outlook

Market size and forecast 2019-2024 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION Market segmentation by application

Comparison by application

Consumer electronics - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Communications - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Automotive - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Medical devices - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Others - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by application PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

PART 08: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY DEVICE Market segmentation by device

Comparison by device

PMICs - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Microchips - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

RFID - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by device PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK

PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers

Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Rising demand for autonomous vehicles

Growing number of smart homes

Growing investments in 5G technology PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview

Landscape disruption

Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered

Vendor classification

Market positioning of vendors

Broadcom Inc.

Hitachi Ltd.

Intel Corp.

NXP Semiconductors NV

Qualcomm Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

SK Hynix Inc.

STMicroelectronics NV

Texas Instruments Inc.

Toshiba Corp. PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology

List of abbreviations

Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: media@technavio.com

Report link: https://www.technavio.com/report/semiconductors-market-in-vietnam-industry-analysis View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/semiconductors-market-in-vietnam-to-grow-by-usd-6-16-billiontechnavio-301345169.html SOURCE Technavio

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[August 02, 2021] Students Pitch Ideas to Change Higher Ed, College Leaders Listen: REP4

Some high school students in Pennsylvania believe grit matters when applying for college, and they figured out a way to measure it. They will get the chance on August 5 to pitch higher education leaders on their idea to have college admission counselors look beyond transcripts and other conventional, standardized evaluations when assessing readiness for college. Their idea is to measure students' stamina and persistence when pursuing goals as another characteristic indicating success in college. They call it a GRIT score, and they are proposing an app that records daily activities and uses an algorithm to formulate a score that represents students' goals, passions and time commitment. Admissions teams could use that score to more fully evaluate students' potential for success. The students joined hundreds of other high school learners, many who are underserved, to develop their idea as part of REP4, a national alliance that stands for Rapid Education Prototyping. The alliance is made up of six colleges and universities across the country seeking to address issues of eqity, access and other pressing concerns faced by many underserved students.



The GRIT score, and other ideas from high school students around the country, could be coming soon to college campuses everywhere. The innovative and central tenet of REP4 is mining fresh ideas from today's students on how to improve equity in higher education, then actually putting the best ideas into practice at colleges and universities.

The first round of proposals to help shape the future of higher education will be presented Aug. 5 in a virtual national event hosted by Grand Valley State University, the convener of REP4. The other five founding institutions are Amarillo College, Boise State University, Fort Valley State University, San Jose State University and Shippensburg University. Leaders from those institutions will review live presentations of 12 proposals - including the GRIT score - by the students who created them. The ideas emerged from recent regional summits for high school students held by the alliance institutions. Part of the selection process includes voting beginning Aug. 3. Students are encouraged to vote. To see the Aug. 5 presentations and to vote, register here. This national event is part of an ongoing initiative to encourage students to find solutions to barriers to higher education. For more information, visit rep4.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005774/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Tech Recruitment Titan Expands Office Base to Toronto

UK tech staffing specialist Frank Recruitment Group today announced that it will be opening a new office in Toronto, Ontario. Opening in October, the new office will take the company's number of global hubs to 22, showing consistent growth and demand for its cloud staffing firms around the world. The Toronto base will initially be home to both the firm's Nigel Frank and Mason Frank brands, specializing in sourcing candidates for Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure and Dynamics, and Salesforce roles, respectively. Frank Recruitment Group started in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK with just three members of staff. Today, it has since grown to become the leader in global cloud IT recruitment, with an ever-growing team of over 1,900 members of staff. The addition of the Toronto location means there will be an extra 14 jobs created in the area initially, with goals to grow these opportunities even further within the Canadian territory. The firm's expansion into Canada was fueled by the burgeoning tech scene in Toronto, which just last year was regarded as the fastest growing tech market in North America. Over the past three years, the city was reported to have enjoyed more growth than the New York, Seattle, and Boston markets combined. The Toronto office will help the cloud recruitment firm to further expand its reach within the Americas and will assist in satisfying the demand for IT professionals who can complete digital transformations and cloud migrations. "The pandemic has applied global pressure for cloud architecture to be not only implemented, but properly understood," said Vice President of Talent Acquisition Matt Woodford who will oversee the new office. "The work-from-home message meant offices around the world had to rely on the cloud to transmit and hold important data that could be shared with employees and partners, no matter where in the world they were working from." He added: "By bringing our expertise and knowledge to clients and partners in a city where IT professionals are already in demand, and where the market is thriving, we hope to be able to prove our world-leading cloud recruitment status and help many businesses go the extra mile - particularly where the pandemic might otherwise have set them back." On the expansion, Rowan O'Grady, President of Americas said: "I am thrilled to be able to share our company's latest plans with the market. Last year was difficult for so many businesses, and it really highlighted the importance of the digital infrastructure companies need to have in place to be able to operate in today's increasingly onlineworld."



He continued: "Opening another office in an area where the tech market is booming will mean we can work to connect even more talented IT professionals with businesses and help them land their dream roles. It's what we're most passionate about, and being world-leaders in IT staffing recruitment, it's certainly something we pride ourselves on doing, so we hope that Toronto is as excited as we are for the new venture." The Toronto office will be located at 70 The Esplanade #200, Toronto, ON (News - Alert) , and will open its doors for business on the 1st of October 2021.

Note to editors: ABOUT FRANK RECRUITMENT GROUP Frank Recruitment Group is a division of Tenth Revolution (News - Alert) Group, the world's leading experts in cloud talent solutions. Founded in Newcastle upon Tyne, in 2006, Frank Recruitment Group creates and delivers highly sought-after professionals in some of the industry's most skills-scarce ecosystems. The company employs nearly 1,900 people across 21 offices, including Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa, Denver, Scottsdale, Charlotte, and Irvine in the US. EMEA and APAC are served by nine offices across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, with further locations in Singapore, Japan, and Australia. The group operates seven trading brands that each focus on a specific technology product: Jefferson Frank (AWS), Nigel Frank International (Microsoft Dynamics and Azure), Mason Frank International (Salesforce), Washington Frank (enterprise ERP), Anderson Frank ( NetSuite (News - Alert) ), Nelson Frank ( ServiceNow (News - Alert) ), and FRG Technology Consulting (Marketing Automation and emerging technologies). Frank Recruitment Group was named one of Europe's fastest-growing companies and received recognition as one of the UK's top 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits. The group plans to expand its outreach globally and attract more trainee recruiters in strategic hubs to meet demand for its services. For more information, visit: www.frankgroup.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005453/en/

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[August 02, 2021] TenureX Raises $5M Series Seed, Poised to Become the Next Generation Platform for Corresponding banking as a service

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TenureX, the Next Generation Platform for corresponding banking as a service, announced today a successful Seed Series round of $5M. The round was led by Fintop Capital (together with its JV: JAM & Fintop), with additional participation from Chris Adelsbach, Jason Henrichs, Nissim Bar-El, Tom Brown, Rob Frohwein, Kathryn Petralia, Jonathan Ebinger, Ehud Arad, and Roman Regelman, in addition to existing investors, including VentureIsrael, and Hack VC. TenureX is building a Platform for financial institutions and small-medium banks that enables them to co-operate with each other seamlessly and confidently, one transaction at a time without any adjustments, risk, or cost. The platform frees banks and other types of financial institutions from the constraints of rigid and complex corresponding banking relationships. By offering a seamless, "one to many" on boarding process and an X-Ray view on each transaction through an easy-to-operate digital pre-validation and acceptance protocol, TenureX enables its customers to seamlessly, securely, and confidently connect and cooperate with other banking partners, by way of an API or a web portal. TenureX puts the transaction at the center and has reimagined the way small-medium sized banks and other types of financial institutions view corresponding banking from an institutional level, trust based, to an objective single transaction level. The company's hyper growth over the last year has been driven by forward thinking financial institutions from the US and Europe (first adopters) who have for too long experienced the lack of innovation and legacy model governing this banking service. TenureX aims to allow its customers to improve, streamline, and ultimately expand their domestic and cross-border wire transfers execution capabilities with current and future banking partners over a reliable and controlled digital network. TenureX's Platform creates a new workflow and validation process based on enhanced unified data sets to enable pre-validation capabilities (Know Your Transfer) for every transaction, programmatically and at scale. The TenureX platform brings a new level of data quality and "up-to the-minute" accuracy to the industry. TenureX's protocol and novel approach offers financial institutions, regulated fintech and small-medium banks a higher-certainty at a lower cos, and an alternative to messaging systems, which tend to charge expensive fees without facilitating the relationship and without reducing the risk.



"TenureX is led by a great team who possess the maturity, experience, and resilience to innovate within a massive market which has yet to be treated by the FinTech revolution. Small-medium banks, both in the US and globally serve a critical function in the economy and it is important to provide them with tools to stay relevant and grow their offerings to their end-consumers", Said Fintop Partner Mr. John Philpot. Fintop has a history of backing category-defining companies and TenureX has all the makings of one. "Our ability to lead the market is further validated by the conviction of our investors who present a unique set of qualities and backgrounds that are synergetic to TenureX's execution of its ambitious mission, in addition to Angels drawing a pool for world known fintech leaders and bankers" said Izhar Arieli, CEO of TenureX. "We've proven that wire transfers are a huge business generator to small-medium banks and financial institutions. This guarantees that every member will find partners to work with, create relationships without the risk that is implied in this business, and all while streamlining its wire transfers services. The TenureX platform will always grant the fastest and best possible experience when dealing with member banks."

Many FI's have already voiced their support for the solution. Jason Henrichs, CEO of Alloy labs, said "By putting the transaction in the center TenureX is taking friction out of the payments through adding intelligence and automation that allows financial institutions to scale their partnerships and volumes. I'm excited to part of their big vision." "Cross border payments are at the heart of the financial system and have always been one of the biggest drivers for banks to expand and create more value. Relationships between banks and financial institutions were always cognizant of the need to provide an effective compliance process while maintaining a frictionless experience for consumers," said Chris Adelsbach, UKBAA Angel Investor of the year 2018/19. "As TenureX's approach balances these needs very well, I am excited to announce my investment into the company. TenureX's solution has the potential to remove friction, improve the customer experience while driving growth and maintain a low risk environment." The company plans to use the investment to further accelerate its network growth, adding more members to the network, each of which will improve the validation, quality, and coverage for all members. This flywheel effect will drive further value for the network's existing members, improving data coverage and accuracy. About TenureX Democratize corresponding banking TenureX is an innovative platform that frees banks and other types of financial institutions from the constraints of rigid and complex corresponding banking relationships. By offering an X-Ray view on each transaction and an easy-to-operate digital pre-validation and acceptance protocol, TenureX enables its customers to seamlessly, securely, and confidently connect and cooperate with other banking partners on a single transaction basis. TenureX aims to allow its customers to improve, streamline, and ultimately expand their domestic and cross-border wire transfer execution capabilities with current and future banking partners over a reliable and controlled digital network. About Fintop&Jam Investing in Companies Solving Problems That Banks Face, JAM FINTOP is helping community banks proactively identify, invest in and implement the right technology to remain relevant and competitive. Maintain relevance by accessing new technologies. We invest in companies developing solutions that allow banks to more effectively compete against megabanks, neo banks and fintechs. JAM FINTOP Bank Network - We actively engage with our bank partners to understand their needs, introduce them to new technology and foster an innovation mindset. TenureX is the first investment of Fintop&Jam from their mutual joint venture and the first investment in Israel by Fintop. For press or media inquiries, please contact: info@tenurex.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tenurex-raises-5m-series-seed-poised-to-become-the-next-generation-platform-for-corresponding-banking-as-a-service-301345906.html SOURCE TenureX

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[August 02, 2021] Tweens, Teens and the COVID Vaccine: What Parents Need to Know Before School Starts

AmeriHealth Caritas, a national leader in Medicaid managed care and health care solutions for those most in need, today announced that it will collaborate with state, community, and provider partners to expand access to vaccine protection against COVID-19 for adolescent Medicaid members ages 12 and older with their parent's or guardian's consent. The aim is to help ensure this young population receives the second vaccine by Aug. 16, 2021, so they are able to return to school in September fully vaccinated. In May 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that children ages 12 and older should receive the vaccine after a clinical trial revealed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 100% effective at preventing COVID-19 with symptoms in children 12 through 15 years old. >



Since COVID-19 vaccines were made publicly available earlier this year, AmeriHealth Caritas has provided members and their households with timely information and education about the various vaccines. The company has also coordinated travel for members to the appropriate vaccine distribution points. This outreach has been conducted for members, including those who face language barriers and/or complex chronic conditions impacted by limited access to the social determinants of health (SDOH), such as transportation, safe housing, education, and economic stability.

These communication tactics continue with targeted outreach to the households of AmeriHealth Caritas' adolescent members in Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, and South Carolina, as well as a special vaccination event in the Philadelphia area. These activities are designed to help adolescents within the Medicaid program get vaccinated. Members of AmeriHealth Caritas' health plans with questions about COVID-19 should contact their plan's Member Services team, found on their member identification card or on their health plan's website. About AmeriHealth Caritas AmeriHealth Caritas is one of the nation's leaders in health care solutions for those most in need. Operating in 13 states and the District of Columbia, AmeriHealth Caritas serves nearly 5 million Medicaid, Medicare, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) members through its integrated managed care products, pharmaceutical benefit management and specialty pharmacy services, and behavioral health services. Headquartered in Philadelphia, AmeriHealth Caritas is a mission-driven organization with nearly 40 years of experience serving low-income and chronically ill populations. For more information, visit www.amerihealthcaritas.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005743/en/

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[August 01, 2021] Chinese Giants GAC and Huawei Will Work Together to Develop a Smart SUV

GUANGZHOU, China, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 9, 2021, GAC Group officially announced an exciting joint project with tech giant Huawei: the two firms will work together to develop a "smart SUV", aiming to hit the market in mass production by the end of 2023. The SUV will be the first joint product of the two enterprises. A medium- to large-size, pure electric SUV, the vision behind the car is one of futuristic, powerful and efficient technology, that will bring exciting new energy capabilities and Level 4 autonomous driving to buyers. GAC Group embraces and encourages extensive technological innovation in its vehicles, and Huawei is a glbal leader in many types of technology. This strategic cooperation will allow them to build a new generation of intelligent vehicles and digital platforms. This SUV and multiple other future models will utilize GAC's GEP.30 chassis platform and Huawei's CCA (Computing and Communication Architecture), as well as carrying Huawei's full stack of intelligent vehicle solutions.



Since signing a strategic cooperation agreement in 2017, GAC and Huawei have worked together in the fields of intelligent connected electric vehicle technology. In September 2020 in Guangzhou, the two firms signed an agreement to further deepen cooperation, with a focus on computing and communication architecture in accordance of the development trend towards software-heavy vehicles.

In the last few years, GAC has seen significant success in realizing vehicle electrification and in various areas of new energy technology. GAC Group is highly committed to research and development, demonstrated by the billions of yuan funneled into the GAC R&D Centers across the world. The global market for electric vehicles is only growing. Data predicts that the EV global market will expand almost fivefold between 2016 and 2027; an annual increase of 20%. GAC Group is positioned to fully embrace this trend towards creating cleaner, greener, better cars, with GAC MOTOR aiming to produce an entirely electrified lineup of vehicles by 2025. This rapid growth demonstrates a new demand in the automobile market for intelligent cars, and for Chinese craftsmanship. With new technologies, new processes and new materials, as well as the use of intelligent manufacturing and comprehensively improved production capacity, GAC and Huawei aim to produce eight models and multiple series of cutting edge electric vehicles, that provide a new driving experience at ever lower costs. SOURCE GAC MOTOR

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[August 01, 2021] Microland recognized as 'Finalist' in the Microsoft 2021 Government Partner of the Year Awards

BENGALURU, India, LONDON and ATLANTA, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Microland today announced it has been named a finalist (runner-up) in the Microsoft 2021 Government Partner of the Year Awards. The company was honored with this recognition among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. Speaking on the recognition Ashish Mahadwar, President of Microland, noted: "The 25-year Microsoft-Microland relationship scales a new high with this recognition. With global scale and over 2,500+ Microsoft experts, Microland continues to help customers assess, implement, manage and transform their IT and application infrastructure. Our work with the Ealing Council to make digital happen in citizen services, when it was most needed, gives us a strong sense of gratification, and this recognition is a motivation to continue to excel in what we do for our customers." "Microland partnered with the council to build the right fit digital transformation strategy. The solutions centered around Dynamics 365 ave digitally transformed the Councilsaving money, increasing efficiency and improving the delivery time for our customers," noted Peter Greeham, Head of IT at Ealing Council.



The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered outstanding Microsoft-based solutions during the past year. Awards were classified in various of categories, with honorees chosen from a set of more than 4,400 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide. Microland was recognized for providing outstanding solutions and services to the London Council of Ealing under the Government vertical. Hugh Eaton, Vice President - Worldwide Government, Microsoft said, "As part of Ealing Council's digital transformation, Microland has enabled the Council to move from paper-based processes to digital, drive operational and cost efficiencies and, most importantly, deliver an enhanced online experience to local citizens through the Council portal. We can only achieve our mission to empower every member of society by combining expertise and skills with partners who share our desire to put people and communities at the heart of everything we do. Microland does just that."

About Microland Microland's commitment to "Making Digital Happen" allows technology to do more and intrude less. We make it easier for enterprises to transition to nextGen digital infrastructure through our extensive service portfolio including Cloud and Data Center, Networks, Digital Workplace, Cybersecurity and Industrial IoT. We ensure that the embrace of the digital services is predictable, reliable and stable. In the COVID impacted world, Microland is making digital happen for enterprises with a laser focus on services that are more relevant to our clients and prospects than ever before, guaranteeing business outcomes. Incorporated in 1989 and headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Microland has more than 4,500 digital specialists across offices and delivery centers in Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and North America. Read more here: https://www.microland.com/ About Microsoft Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1343841/Microland_Logo.jpg SOURCE Microland

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[August 01, 2021] Blockchain Association Singapore announces the appointment of Richard Teng, Former CEO, Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market, to Advisory Board

His appointment will empower BAS with vast experience in the financial and fintech space.

The appointment will expand the current advisory board of Blockchain Association Singapore to three members. SINGAPORE, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) today announced the appointment of Mr Richard Teng, former CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), as a member to its Advisory Board. Mr Teng brings with him vast experience in the financial and fintech sectors across multiple countries. His appointment also coincides with growing institutional interest, rapid innovation, and tightening of regulations within the digital asset sector. Mr Teng's appointment will expand the current Advisory Board of BAS to three members. Mr Teng has previously served as the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), overseeing the development of policies, framework and rules across the areas of listing, trading, clearing and settlement. Prior to his stint at SGX, he was the Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he was responsible for the formulation and administration of the Securities and Futures Act in rlation to the offering of securities, business, and real-estate investment trusts, as well as collective investment schemes.



Mr. Teng has also played a significant role in driving the fintech and financial services sector on an international scale. During his time at the ADGM, he was in charge of developing innovative regulatory regimes and offerings, bridging gaps in the finance ecosystem. He was also recently appointed as an Independent Director to the Board of UAE-based LuLu Financial Holding, driving the global diversification and investment strategy of the financial services sector. Commenting on the appointment, Mr Chia Hock Lai, Co-Chairman, Blockchain Association Singapore, said, "Singapore is a jurisdiction that has strict regulations with clear and transparent guidance on digital assets. Mr. Richard Teng's experience will be a valuable asset in our journey to build a conducive ecosystem, encouraging legitimate players to discover solutions and promote best practices in a collaborative, open, and transparent manner."

Speaking on his appointment, Mr. Richard Teng said, "It is a privilege to join the Advisory Board of Blockchain Association Singapore. I look forward to providing strategic guidance to the BAS in promoting education, exchange of ideas, and thought leadership in the areas of blockchain and digital assets." About Blockchain Association Singapore The Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) seeks to empower its members and the community to leverage blockchain and scalable technologies for business growth and transformation. The Association is designed to be an effective platform for members to engage with multiple stakeholders - both regional and international - to discover solutions and promote best practices in a collaborative, open, and transparent manner. It aims to promote blockchain literacy and build a strong talent pipeline for the digital economy in Singapore. BAS also aims to accelerate the development of blockchain companies operating in or entering into Singapore, and their subsequent integration and acceleration into the Singapore blockchain ecosystem. For more information, please visit https://singaporeblockchain.org/ . SOURCE Blockchain Association Singapore

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[August 01, 2021] BEST Inc. Partners with Cainiao to Launch Cross-border Logistics Services from China to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia

HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BEST Inc. (NYSE: BEST) ("BEST" or the "Company"), a leading integrated smart supply chain solutions and logistics services provider in China, today launched its full-chain, direct logistics service to ship parcels from China to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The services will be operated in partnership with Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, ("Cainiao Network"), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group. For e-commerce consumers in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia who select this logistics service, their parcels will be shipped directly from anywhere in China to BEST's warehouse in Shenzhen. From there, the parcels will then be shipped directly to Bangkok in Thailand, Hanoi in Vietnam, or Phnom Penh in Cambodia, after clearing Chinese customs. Parcels can be shipped via land, sea, or air, depending on customers' needs. Certain exclusions such as powder or liquid-based products are shipped by land, while time-sensitive products are delivered by air. They will then be shipped to BEST's sortation centers in Bangkok, Hanoi or Phnom Penh, before being dispatched for last mile deliveries. Customers will be able to track the parcels in real-time throughout the entire delivery process.



This news comes after BEST's partnership with Cainiao Network last year to launch cross-border logistics services linking China to Malaysia and Singapore. Together with this launch, there is now a comprehensive logistics network supporting the Southeast Asian region, which facilitates a more efficient delivery process for cross-border e-Commerce parcels and improve overall customer experience. Since 2020, BEST has established comprehensive logistics networks in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, comprising 24 sortation centers and over 1,000 service stations, enabling the Company's provision of its full-suite logistics services to customers.

"Southeast Asia has been a key focus area of BEST's global strategy, and we plan to invest more in the business and the region. We have developed express delivery networks into five markets in the region, providing customers with speedy, reliable, and cost-efficient services, while facilitating the growth of cross-border e-commerce," said Johnny Chou, Chairman and CEO, BEST Inc. "To address consumer demands and needs, we have established a direct China-Southeast Asia e-Commerce logistics service, which further demonstrates our strategic focus in the region. With our latest launch into Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, and partnership with BEST, our goal is to deliver superior customer experience to local consumers in Southeast Asia," said Au Yeong Shong Kwong, Head of Cross-Border, Singapore and Malaysia, Cainiao Network. About BEST Inc. BEST Inc. (NYSE: BEST) is a leading integrated smart supply chain solutions and logistics services provider in China. Through its proprietary technology platform and extensive networks, BEST offers a comprehensive set of logistics and value-add services, including express and freight delivery, supply chain management and last-mile services, truckload service brokerage, international logistics and financial services. BEST's mission is to empower business and enrich life by leveraging technology and business model innovation to create a smarter, more efficient supply chain. For more information, please visit: www.best-inc.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/best-inc-partners-with-cainiao-to-launch-cross-border-logistics-services-from-china-to-thailand-vietnam-and-cambodia-301344948.html SOURCE BEST Inc.

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[August 01, 2021] UnionPay International and bp in Europe Announce New Payment Acceptance Partnership to Allow the Acceptance of UnionPay Cards Across the Network of Fuel Stations in Portugal

LISBON, Portugal, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionPay International, one of the world's leading payment brands, and bp in Europe announced a new acceptance partnership for the acceptance of UnionPay cards across the network of over 500 fuel stations in Portugal. bp started accepting UnionPay as one of its major payment methods in the end of 2020. Further European countries are planned to follow this next year. This is the latest agreement signed by UnionPay with a leading European operator of fuel stations. In Europe, UnionPay is now accepted by more than five million merchants, covering around 70% of all the bankcard-accepting merchants in Europe. Yang Shengliang, Deputy General Manager of UnionPay International European Branch said: "We are delighted to have secured this major agreement with BP, which has one of the largest network of fuel stations in Europe. When travel is reactivated globally, e are sure that we will see a significant increase in the number of visitors to Europe travelling around the continent by car, both for business and as tourists and this partnership perfectly matches their needs.



"UnionPay is now accepted by around 70% of all bankcard-accepting merchants in Europe and this growth reflects our increasing focus on key European sectors including travel, hotels and catering and SMEs. This strategy serves not only our increasing cardholder base in Europe but also the expanding market for Asian visitors. We look forward to announcing further acceptance agreements with key merchant groups over the coming months." UnionPay cards issued in and outside Mainland China can be used smoothly in UnionPay's global acceptance network which currently covers 55 million offline merchants in 180 countries and regions. Consumers are using UnionPay cards frequently in their local daily spending and international travel. UnionPay becomes the preferred payment method of many overseas residents.

About UnionPay International UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on the growth and support of UnionPay's global business. In partnership with more than 2400 institutions worldwide, UnionPay International has enabled card acceptance in 180 countries and regions with issuance in 70 countries and regions. UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest cardholder base and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay cardholders and merchants. For more information, please visit: www.unionpayintl.com/en SOURCE UnionPay International

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[August 01, 2021] Accelerating digital economy key for inclusive integration in APAC: Huawei Webinar

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Participants in the webinar entitled "Accelerate Digital Economy for Inclusive Integration in Asia Pacific  Connecting Digital Industries in Pandemic", organized by Huawei, on Thursday called for leveraging digital opportunities to build an inclusive ecosystem and promoting regional integration, which is particularly important while still combating the pandemic. A digital economy is increasingly perceived as the way to overcome disruptions caused by COVID-19. Representatives and thought leaders from governmental, industrial and academic sectors across Asia Pacific joined the virtual conversation to explore the multiple facets of digital economy, from a market, technology, inclusiveness and sustainability perspective. Ambassador of Indonesia to China, H.E. Djauhari Oratmangun pointed out in his keynote speech that a new digital economy is shaping the region. "The digital transformation has been significantly accelerated during the pandemic, speeding up business changes. Indonesia endeavors to expand digital economy to achieve social recovery and digital transformation. I would love to witness how Huawei adds value in the face of fast-growing digitalization," he said. Based on digital knowledge and infrastructure, the digital economy has powered a growing proportion of regional GDP and boosted resilience amid the pandemic. ASEAN predicts the digital economy will contribute 1 trillion US dollars to regional GDP by year. Countries from the region have released future-oriented roadmaps on removing trade barriers, improving digital coverage and ensuring ubiquitous access to digital services to facilitate the implementation of the digital economy. "The development of digital economy ecosystem is a process that involves active participation of multiple stakeholders including those from the private sectors. We welcome the initiative of Huawei to organize thisdialogue to practically advocate the process," said Dr. Le Quang Lan, Assistant Director for ICT and Tourism Division, ASEAN Secretariat, when referring to enabling a digital economy ecosystem to accelerate social recovery and regional integration.



Being part of the ecosystem, Huawei is committed to enabling ASEAN's Digital Masterplan 2025 in three key areas, namely ICT connectivity, talent empowerment and ecosystem incubation, according to Jay Chen, Vice President at Huawei Asia Pacific. The digital economy unfolding in the region addresses inclusive access to digital service, a landscape facilitating startup scale-up, and a circular, sustainable economy. Dr. Tan Khee Giap, Chairman of the Singapore National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (SINCPEC), stressed the importance of the social considerations of digitalizing the economy during the panel discussion. "Digitalization is not just about technology progress, but quality empowerment of digitalization to the public at large is paramount if inclusive integration is to be achieved. The role of the government is providing digital capability as a public good, it can be complemented by private sector ICT companies such as Huawei with quality connectivity."

Dr. Alvin P. Ang from Ateneo de Manila University agreed with the openly accessible approach on upskilling public with digital knowledge. "The education system must put in context at the foundational elements of digitalization. Whether it's in the basic education level or in the middle ages or those who are working already, trying to learn and upgrade themselves. We have to invest in them and give our rural areas an opportunity to catch up by at least providing them with the basic skills to get through the technology highway," he said. Huawei has long recognized the critical importance of providing everyone digital skills and leave no one behind as economies digitalize. Over the years, Huawei has launched multiple programs to train over 100,000 people with ICT empowerments in the region in cooperation with governments, universities, and NGOs. Conveying the business perspective, Professor Jose Decolongon, COO & Managing Director of Corporate Foresight, Embiggen Consulting Philippines said, "Micro, small, medium enterprises need to have understanding on digitalization to perceive the opportunities when it comes to exploring the digital side of the business. Challenges are faced by these enterprises but also the large organizations. It's related to coverage and speed of digital infrastructure. This is where telecom players such as Huawei and our local players can play an important role." For a sustainable digital economic ecosystem, new technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things and Cloud provide great promise in terms of enhancing de-carbonization and the circular economy. In Asia Pacific, Huawei has increased investment in sustainable green solutions, leveraging clean power generation, electric transportation, and smart energy storage. This sustainable trend is captured in Vietnam. "Vietnam is at the turning point for catching up fourth industrial revolution and our economy is very open, relying more on innovation and sustainability. And the digital transformation in Vietnam has linked with inclusive integration in ASEAN and Asia Pacific, in which Huawei can play an important role," said Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, Director of the Institute for Brand Strategy and Competition. "The next five years could see the ASEAN region make giant strides towards becoming a digital society, and the transformation will enable member states to recover faster from the pandemic. Huawei, together with ASEAN partners, is committed to enabling the ASEAN Digital Master Plan 2025 and create new value for the leading digital community and economic bloc," said Jay. SOURCE Huawei

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[August 01, 2021] First-time borrowers and first generation entrepreneurs displayed tremendous resilience during pandemic: NeoGrowth Social Impact Study 2021

MUMBAI, India, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoGrowth, India's leading digital lender serving underbanked SME businesses, recently released the Social Impact Report 2021, which indicated that the company extended 64.5 percent of its loans to first-time borrowers while 84 percent of the total loans disbursed were to first generation entrepreneurs to overcome COVID-related challenges and capitalize on the opportunity. The study was conducted on a sample from a base of over 20,000 MSMEs across seven cities including Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. It aimed to measure and evaluate the impact created by loans in the lives of its customers. While India grappled with the COVID-19 outbreak and despite the challenging headwinds, NeoGrowth extended its lending to first-generation entrepreneurs, assisted women entrepreneurs, and enabled customers in job creation and improvement of credit scores. The pandemic disproportionately impacted women, by deepening existing economic and social inequalities, as observed in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2021. The company's loans to women-run or women-led businesses showed an uptick of 32 percent. 4 percent of the total loans disbursed by the company were to first generation women entrepreneurs during the pandemic, thus robustly supporting this section of society. Almost 85 percent of the customers surveyed were impacted due to business shutdown or low business. 70.6 percent of all customers sustained their business through their own savngs, while 10.6 percent opted for a further loan from the company. Interestingly, envisaging a hit to their existing business due to the pandemic, 3 percent of the customers started another business in areas that were booming.



The company advocated and convinced 92 percent of its borrowers to avail of health insurance. As per the survey, 86.6 percent of the respondents showed an increase in the number of their employees, post availing loans from NeoGrowth.

The process of digitisation was greatly accelerated by the lending sector, which witnessed 38 percent YoY growth as of September 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. NeoGrowth disbursed payments through digital channels, increasing transparency, and assisted customers with the process of digitising their business through its proprietary DiGibizz platform. This is particularly relevant as 22.4 percent of the customers surveyed were not even graduates and 26.5 percent of the MSMEs were from Tier-2 cities. Dhruv Khaitan, Founder & Chairman, NeoGrowth said, "Mankind has been faced by almost insurmountable challenges but MSMEs have adapted and displayed great resilience. The digital lending model along with customer-centric business philosophy have enabled us to stay close to our customers and empower them with both empathy and resources, to tide over this unprecedented crisis. We are proud of the social impact of our business activities in terms of job creation, assisting women entrepreneurs, improving credit scores and lending to first-generation entrepreneurs." These insights form part of an annual assessment conducted by NeoGrowth. Over these years, NeoGrowth has successfully maintained its unique product proposition by providing collateral free, short-term, quick, and customized business loans on flexible repayment terms. Having disbursed loans amounting to more than INR 6,500 crores, NeoGrowth has been funding and enabling MSMEs to grow and sustain their businesses while continuing to tread on its initial journey of achieving inclusive growth. NeoGrowth also focused on driving economic growth by accelerating digitization of MSMEs and strengthening their credit history. About NeoGrowth: NeoGrowth Credit Pvt. Ltd is a Systemically Important, Non-Deposit taking NBFC and a pioneer in SME lending based on the underwriting of digital payments data. NeoGrowth provides finance to small business owners to drive business growth that matches their ambitions. Hassle-free loans are powered by technology innovations and leverage the digital payments ecosystem. It provides financing to retailers, restaurants, apparel shops, kirana stores, petrol pumps, groceries, pharmacies and other MSMEs with flexible repayment options and customized products addressing multiple business needs. It not only helps its customers grow but also drives financial inclusion making a positive social impact. NeoGrowth is backed by renowned investors, namely Omidyar Network, Aspada Investment Company, Khosla Impact, Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund - Quona Capital, IIFL Seed Ventures Fund and Leapfrog Investments.

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[August 01, 2021] Alpha Latam Management, LLC and its Colombian Affiliates File Chapter 11 to Facilitate Sale of Colombian Assets

MIAMI, Aug. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpha Latam Management, LLC (" ALM ") and certain of its affiliates that operate its Colombian business (the " Debtors ") filed voluntary petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Debtors are a technology-enabled financial services company that have historically provided consumer lending products in Colombia. The Debtors' affiliates operating in Mexico, including Alpha Holding, S.A. de C.V. (" Alpha Holding " and such affiliates, collectively with the Debtors, the " Company ") are not included in the chapter 11 filing. Alpha Holding announced on April 20, 2021, that it would restate its financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2018, and 2019 (the "Prior Period Financial Statements to correct an error in Alpha Holding's accounting for its derivative positions. Alpha Holding also identified additional accounting errors that it anticipates will result in a restatement of other assets and other accounts receivable in its financial statements for previous years, including the Prior Period Financial Statements, or a current write-down of other assets and other accounts receivable. The accounting errors ultimately resulted in several defaults and events of default under the Company's funded debt obligations. Though the Company endeavored to negotiate forbearance and waiver agreements with several of its lenders, such efforts were unsuccessful. Given these events, the Company no longer had access to the new financing necessary to continue originating new loans, and accordingly has ceased its on-balance sheet origination activities. Today's actions became necessary despite the Company's best efforts to streamline the business by implementing significant cost-cutting measues.



To fund working capital needs, the Debtors have obtained, subject to Bankruptcy Court approval, debtor-in-possession financing for a senior secured facility of $45 million. The Debtors expect access to the debtor-in-possession financing, together with its incoming cash from collections, will provide them with sufficient liquidity to consummate a value-maximizing sale transaction of their Colombian loan portfolio. The Debtors have requested Bankruptcy Court permission to continue operating the Colombian business without interruption to ensure that collections of all outstanding loans continue in the ordinary course. The Debtors intend to continue to act in accordance with Colombian governmental regulations, including with respect to employee benefits and severance payments associated with recent work force reductions.

Court filings and claims information are available at http://cases.primeclerk.com/alphalatam. About AlphaCredit AlphaCredit is a technology-enabled, financial services company in Latin America that provides consumer loans to individuals and financial solutions for SMEs in Mexico and Colombia. Forward-looking statements This release includes "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and reflect the Company's current views about future events. The words "believe," "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "will," "intend," "seek," "could," "should," "may," "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions, certain risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this release. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, Bankruptcy Court approval, risks associated with our ongoing creditor discussions, including our ability to negotiate agreements with our creditors on commercially favorable terms or at all, limitations on the availability of capital, volatility in the Company's business, and the Company's ability to comply with its financial and other covenants and metrics in its financing agreements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by the Company, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alpha-latam-management-llc-and-its-colombian-affiliates-file-chapter-11-to-facilitate-sale-of-colombian-assets-301345817.html SOURCE Alpha Latam Management, LLC

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[August 02, 2021] OMRON Launches PCB Inspection System "VT-S10 Series"

KYOTO, Japan, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- - Industry-first Imaging Technique and AI Achieve Reductions in Skill Requirements for High-precision Inspection - OMRON Corporation based in Kyoto, Japan, announced on August 2 that it will globally launch on August 5 the PCB inspection system "VT-S10 Series," which features an industry-first (*1) imaging technique and AI to automate the high-precision inspection process for electronic substrates, thus eliminating the need for specialist skills. As the inspection of in-vehicle electronic substrates becomes increasingly difficult with the growing need for the fifth-generation mobile communication system (5G), electric vehicles (EVs), and autonomous driving, this new offering from OMRON performs high-precision inspection of such key components to maintain and enhance their quality, thus contributing to the security and safety of society. AI-powered PCB Inspection System VT-S10 Series: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202107278166-O1-3XrXar23 In recent years, demand for electronic substrates for 5G, EVs, and autonomous driving has grown rapidly, which in turn is raising the quality requirements of substrates since these applications involve risks to human lives. As substrates become more dense and miniaturized, inspection becomes more challenging, with the result that conventional PCB inspection systems struggle to take an accurate image of solder shapes, which limits the scope and parameters of inspection. Meanwhile, on production floors, amid the growing shortage of skilled workforce and humanpower in general, workers are required to avoid congestion and close contact and to limit their movement as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It has thus become urgent to reduce the frequency of visual inspections and lower the experience and skill requirements for setting and starting up automated inspection equipment, in addition to advancing inspection accuracy. Equipped with OMRON's proprietary MDMC (Multi-Direction Multi-Color) imaging technique, the VT-S10 Series automatically optimizes irradiation angles, colors, and light intensity of illumination during inspection of substrates according to characteristics such as the shapes of electronic components and soldering on the substrates, thus reducing the human-hours required for setup by approximately 70%. (*2) Furthermore, with the assistance of AI that has been taught the imaging knowhow OMRON has accumulated over more than 30 years in the field of automated inspection, as well as knowledge in solder inspection, this PCB inspection system is capable of automating inspections that have hitherto had to rely on human senses, significantly improving inspection accuracy. Under the banner of the strategic concept "innovative-Atomation," which consists of the "three i's," namely, "integrated (evolution in control)," "intelligent (intelligence developed through ICT)," and "interactive (new harmonization between humans and machines)," OMRON is driving innovations on the production floor. Through the integration of the widest range of control devices and the use of AI fully versed in solder inspection, the VT-S10 Series is the latest offering from OMRON that embodies the "innovative-Automation" concept. Going forward, OMRON will continue evolving production floors hand in hand with customers. By expanding the scope and parameters for automated inspection, OMRON hopes to free operators from simple, monotonous work so that they can engage in more creative work, which it believes ultimately contributes to the security and safety of society.



Notes: (*1) The first PCB inspection system to incorporate MDMC imaging technique (as of July 2021, company data)

(*2) As validated by an experiment conducted with multiple customers, in which the time for creating a program and the inspection accuracy rate were compared Key Features 1. MDMC imaging technique significantly lowers chances of erroneous decisions:

By utilizing OMRON's proprietary MDMC illumination, the company has developed an imaging technique for high-precision inspection of ever-advancing substrates and components. Through the flexible manipulation of irradiation angles, colors, and light intensity, it has become possible to capture solder shapes more accurately than conventional imaging methods, eliminate the interference of shadows of neighboring tall components, and distinctly read patterns on substrates and prints on the surface of components. Industry-first MDMC Illumination:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202107278166-O3-414E98bD (1) 3D imaging from all angles for accurate inspection of complicated solder shapes Accurately Capturing Solder Shapes in 3D:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202107278166-O2-K8a6i7WZ (Image1: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202107278166/_prw_PI9fl_L9rnOSa5.png) (2) Accentuated white lighting eliminates the influence of illegible printing to achieve accurate character inspection (Image2: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202107278166-O4-84Qw2u9P) 2. Minimizing programming human-hours by quantitative inspection and AI-assisted qualitative inspection:

Based on the knowledge that the company has accumulated in solder shape inspection, as well as images gained through MDMC illumination, OMRON has developed AI dedicated to solder inspection. The company combined this AI-assisted inspection with quantitative inspection by MDMC to achieve reductions in both the required level of teaching skills and the chances of erroneous decisions. In a validation test with a customer, OMRON verified a reduction in visual inspection human-hours by 85%. (Image3: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202107278166/_prw_PI7fl_uK6IFTur.jpg) 3. M2M system for production of defect-free products:

Linking data with production equipment from other manufacturers allows for monitoring quality trends, which prevents defects from occurring. (1) Visualizing quality by developing a database of inspection results, including measurement values and images, from each process (2) Improving the first pass yield rate by automatically optimizing post-print/post-placement inspection criteria based on the inspection results in the final process (3) Linking data with other production equipment manufacturers to reduce and prevent defects

A validation test with a customer showed that, with the introduction of this M2M system, the defect ratio was reduced by more than 50% by detecting and dealing with quality variations before defects occurred. (Image4: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202107278166/_prw_PI6fl_I8t9KFP9.jpg) About "innovative-Automation": https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202107278166-O1-KFjO8Dwp.pdf About OMRON Corporation: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202107278166-O2-6BWhsklw.pdf View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omron-launches-pcb-inspection-system-vt-s10-series-301345799.html SOURCE OMRON Corporation

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[August 02, 2021] Limitless Technology Noticed Significant Shifts in Customer Behaviour during the COVID-19 Pandemic

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- After over three years of operation in the e-commerce industry in the Philippines, Limitless Technology's portfolio company Flower Chimp has noticed a significant uprise in its 2021 flower sales, contributed by an unexpected customer segment: Filipinos living overseas. With over 12 million people spreading globally, the Filipino diaspora has increased their spending in gift-giving such as sending flowers by 7% during the pandemic as a way to strengthen emotional bonds with people back home during the COVID-19 lockdown. This is especially apparent during local celebrations in the country. During Valentine's Day 2021, which is the world's biggest celebration for floral gifting, overseas Filipinos contributed as much as 55% of flower sales on Flower Chimp , while the locals, facing job losses and economic difficulties in the Philippines, contributed less than half of the company's orders for the occasion, down from 60% in the previous year. Flower Chimp also observed that the average spending for local Filipinos had dropped by 9% compared to overseas Filipinos' 4% drop, signalling a more conservative spending pattern domestically compared to their counterparts living abroad. "We know that the pandemic has changed a lot of behaviour when it comes to shopping, but the daa we currently have truly show the strength of human bonds. People were trying to connect with each other during these hard times, either by spending more to make occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries extra meaningful, or just trying to say hi from abroad. Even when they are away from each other, people are still buying gifts to show how much they care for one another," comments Niklas Frassa, COO of Limitless Technology.



As the rest of the world is slowly opening up borders and resuming local economies, the Southeast Asia region is seeing its deadliest COVID-19 outbreak yet. In the Philippines, daily cases continue to be above the 6,000 mark in July 2021 and the fight is long from over. Taking this into account, Flower Chimp is gearing up for a tough remainder of 2021, while also preparing itself for a more positive outlook in 2022. "We are known for our compelling value and quality, and we're looking forward to continuing these offerings even when times are hard. Consumers are now becoming more comfortable with online shopping, knowing that it offers convenience unlike any other, especially while trying not to leave the house. For us as an online flower delivery company, we want to be seen as the 'last mile connector' between you and your loved ones during the lockdowns. Whenever your presence is needed but you couldn't be there physically, consider us as your partner in gifts that are both meaningful and of high quality," adds Frassa.

According to Think With Google, Google's marketing trends and insights platform, searches on Google Images for 'unique gifts for' have grown globally by over 100% year on year since 2019. With more and more people looking for inspiration online before they hit the checkout button, Flower Chimp says it will be ramping up its strategy of offering gifts that are unique in the market to make sure that the brand stays at the top of mind among Filipino customers when it comes to gift-giving. Besides flower bouquets, Flower Chimp also offers gifts such as chocolate bouquets and preserved flowers. On top of free delivery, the company also offers same-day shipping nationwide for all its orders and is currently looking to expand its product catalogue in the coming months. For more information regarding Flower Chimp Philippines and its full offerings, please visit https://www.flowerchimp.com.ph About Limitless Technology Limitless Technology is an internet-holding company with a track record of launching and scaling e-commerce businesses in Southeast Asia and Australia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the company has an outpost in Manila, Philippines and possesses an online presence in five countries. SOURCE Limitless Technology Sdn Bhd

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[August 02, 2021] SMOOT unveils new smart EV concept with swappable-battery innovation

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PT Smoot Motor Indonesia (SMI) has proudly launched their environmentally friendly smart electric vehicle called SMOOT. The Indonesian-made electric motorcycle embodies proprietary battery-swapping technology invented by PT Swap Energi Indonesia. This technology enables users to eliminate the hours needed to charge batteries, which is an innovative alternative to the available offerings currently in the market. Indonesia's economy relies heavily on the use of motorcycles to support the mobility of daily life. With over 112,000,000 motorcycles in use (BPS, 2019), Indonesia is the 3rd largest motorcycle market in the world. However, this has directly contributed to the high levels of air pollution that is affecting public health. While electric motorcycles are expected to be widely adopted in Indonesia to combat this, the reticent level remains high among the users. This is mainly due to an assumption that electric motorcycle is not as practical as the traditional one, as it usually takes up to 4-6 hours to charge. For active people with a highlevel of mobility, the nine (9) seconds of battery-swap innovation from SWAP Energy is just perfect to shatter any hesitancy in the market.



"By switching to the environmentally friendly SMOOT motorcycles which are equipped with the SWAP Battery System, users don't have to worry about travelling long distances and running out of battery or the unreasonable charging time anymore. Now they can minimize their commuting expenses while at the same time, make a positive contribution to reducing air pollution," said Founder and CEO of PT Smoot Motor Indonesia, Irwan Tjahaja. It is called a "smart" electric motorcycle because vital information such as licence number, mileage, vehicle condition, battery status, location of motorcycles and even anti-theft mechanisms can be accessed through the SWAP App.

The SWAP Battery System and App also provide users access to hundreds of battery exchange locations (SWAPPoin) that are strategically placed around Jakarta. Here, they are able to conveniently book and change their empty batteries with a fresh one, all in around nine (9) seconds. This level of connectivity between vehicle, battery exchange locations and convenience hopes to convince the market that SMOOT is no ordinary electric motorcycle. PT Swap Energi Indonesia has been conducting in-depth research for the development of battery and electric motorcycle technology since 2019. The company has received initial funding from the Kejora-SBI Orbit Fund, a venture capital funding partnership between Kejora Capital (Southeast Asia) and SBI Holdings (Japan). Together, they have been committed to creating an effective yet practical electric motorcycle that every Indonesian can use day-to-day. SMOOT smart electric motorcycles are available on the e-commerce site blibli.com or through the official website at www.smoot.id. About PT Swap Energi Indonesia Since 2019, PT Swap Energi Indonesia has been committed to encouraging the use of electric motorcycles in Indonesia as a smart, energy-efficient solution in everyday life. With 20 years of experience in the battery and energy industry, Swap Energy continues to innovate to develop battery technology that uses renewable energy so as to maximize efficiency and performance for its users. SOURCE Smoot Motor Indonesia

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[August 02, 2021] INALSA expands into Fitness Market with Launch of FITTYFY

NEW DELHI, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- INALSA has launched its fitness brand - FITTYFY this month and it is available on online channels Amazon and Flipkart. (https://www.amazon.in/stores/FITTYFY/page/13B65075-B0BA-4491-A9B6-02E124DBBE52?ref_=ast_bln) This expansion by INALSA has been introduced to develop 360 health and wellness experience for customers. To keep up with COVID times, where gym and fitness centres are shut and unlikely to open soon, building out some kind of home gyms could help one stay healthy and active during quarantine times. People are looking for ways to exercise effectively within four walls and with the launch of FITTYFY, the fitness products will allow us to enter thousands of new homes. FITTYFY FFTM High Performance Treadmill Series The FFTM Treadmill Series offers everything any modern health enthusiast expects in a treadmill. FITTYFY Motorized Treadmill FFTM 250AI includes features like Auto Inclination, 12 Built-in Programs, Sem -Auto Lubrication, Hydraulic Folding System. Next in range are FFTM 250, FFTM 150 motorized treadmills with Manual Inclination, Built-in Programs, Folding System, MP3 and Aux Input. 5 in 1 Manual Treadmill FFTM 410M is an excellent fitness equipment that comes with push up, twister, jogger and stepper providing all machines available in one single equipment. These treadmills will kickstart one's fitness journey and will offr safe and satisfying environment to hit the fitness goals faster and more efficiently.



FITTYFY FFAB Professional Air Bike Series Take any fitness routine to next level with FITTYFY Air Bikes. A stationary exercise bike that combines legs and arms for full body movement. The pedalling builds one's calves, hamstrings, quadriceps and help in making the back and glutes stronger. FFAB 01R Air Bike features flywheel-based resistance, multi-position handle grip, cushioned back rest and adjustable seat height. FFAB 01 Air Bike comes with similar features without back rest option. No matter how one wants to achieve the workout goals, whether easy workout routines or challenging HIIT routines, this Air Bike is a more satisfying and efficient way to burn fat and achieve one's goals.

FITTYFY FFFM Foot Massager Series FITTYFY guides one towards the perfect way to relax and ease tensed muscles. FFFM 80H foot massager is a complete massaging solution that provides extreme relaxation and removes all tiredness and fatigue from every joint in the feet. Its shape has been designed in a way that it adjusts according to your foot, legs, calves and acupuncture points, making you feel more relaxed and rejuvenated after the massage. The model comes with 3 auto programs, 3 personal preference programs, 3 intensity workout levels and fully automatic massage in all positions. Heating function included brings comfortable warmth, targets sore muscles and melts away pain and tightness. FFFM 40H foot massager is next in product range providing professional massage to feet and ankles. The whole body will feel relaxed with the surprising benefits that come along with FITTYFY foot massagers. FITTYFY by INALSA is driven by a mission to make fitness accessible at home. The product line includes entry level and affordable fitness equipment. . With FITTFY, discover a whole range of health and wellness products that will deliver game changing home gyming experience. About FITTYFY by INALSA INALSA is venturing into health, fitness and personal care segment with launch of a new brand FITTYFY. INALSA is a 30-year-old brand in India in Home and Kitchen Appliance segment and has over million satisfied customers in India. With FITTYFY, INALSA aims at providing quality fitness and health products at affordable prices to Indian customers with service network across INDIA. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585903/FITTYFY_Logo.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1585904/FITTYFY_Fitness_INALSA.jpg Media Contact:

Annie Sharma

annies@inalsa.co.in

+91-9654370883

Tuareg Marketing Pvt. Ltd ( INALSA Home Appliances )

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[August 02, 2021] Synthace Unveils First Life Sciences R&D Cloud Addressing Complexity, Speed & Reproducibility for Scientists

Synthace, a leading life sciences software company, today announced the first life sciences R&D cloud that includes a no-code software platform addressing the largest barriers to innovation that R&D life scientists currently face. With the release of this new platform, Synthace is also the first vendor to enable scientists to automate experimentation and insight sharing in a unified, global R&D environment. Scientists can now focus on asking the most impactful questions and unlock the true potential of biology. To solve humanity's hardest problems, such as delivering breakthrough therapies or alternative food sources, the life sciences industry is under tremendous pressure to simultaneously overcome biology's complexity, accelerate speed to scientific insight, and ensure the reproducibility of experiments. Synthace alleviates these challenges by empowering scientists to improve and accelerate decision-making with more statistically powerful, automated experiments that can minimize human error. Furthermore, Synthace's cloud platform leverages intelligent, dynamic automation to produce the highest quality data sets that are primed for machine learning (ML) and other advanced analyses to lead to better insights. With Synthace, the life sciences can now benefit from a quantum leap in experimentation capabilities, accelerating development timelines that would have previously been impossible. Customers Accelerate R&D with Synthace Ipsen has been using Synthace to automate the design and construction of therapeutic candidates. With Synthace, Ipsen produced approximately 90 constructs five times faster than previous methods, substantially increasing the number of molecules entering the screening cascade. The platform also achieved a 10-fold reduction in costs associated with DNA synthesis. Karen Bunting, Director of Protein Sciences at Ipsen commented, "Synthace sits very well at the beginning of our drug discovery process. It allows us to explore larger drug design space by simplifying planning and production of multiple molecule variants with combinatorial construct assembly. These throughput improvements help us deliver well-tolerated and effective therapeutic solutions more rapidly to or patients."



Microsoft (News - Alert) Research also uses Synthace to automatically generate biological data at a volume that allows its ML algorithms to rapidly improve. As part of reporting on advancements in programming biological systems, a member of its Biocomputation Group noted: "Synthace really comes into its own when we're performing experiments with complex layouts like combinatorial construct assembly and design of experiments. When we're building 12 constructs at a time, Synthace automates all the planning that would go into setting up such an experiment and allows it to become routine." A New Paradigm for Life Sciences R&D

Biopharmaceuticals represents one of the few global industries that not only weathered the pandemic relatively unscathed but is also undergoing a new period of innovation. Biopharma organizations are developing everything from COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to cell and gene therapies and antibody-drug conjugates that can change the course of rare diseases.* In order for this R&D to continue at the brisk pace that the world expects, advanced cloud technologies that simultaneously address complexity, speed, and data reproducibility have to meet the growing market demand. "With the launch of our new life sciences R&D platform, we're one step closer to realizing our bold vision of transforming the way life scientists can solve humanity's most pressing problems," commented Guy Levy-Yurista, Ph.D., CEO of Synthace. "Automated experimentation and insight sharing in a global R&D environment is already enabling our customers to achieve their goals. With Synthace, they're accelerating new therapeutics to market even faster, creating a better future for us all." Synthace Life Sciences R&D Cloud The platform provides end-to-end management of the experimental lifecycle, from design through execution to data visualization and knowledge transfer. Synthace adheres to FAIR principles to support interoperability with other major lab informatics platforms to ensure streamlined data management for all of its customers. Only the Synthace Life Sciences R&D Cloud delivers: Complete experimental design, planning and automation, requiring no coding expertise. Scientists can define more informative and impactful experiments that would otherwise be impossible to run and easily implement Quality by Design (QbD) and Design of Experiments (DOE).

Scientists can define more informative and impactful experiments that would otherwise be impossible to run and easily implement Quality by Design (QbD) and Design of Experiments (DOE). Seamless, cloud-based data capture, processing, and visualization . R&D teams can deliver deeper and faster insights from fully contextualized, machine learning-ready data sets that are automatically generated from the laboratory.

. R&D teams can deliver deeper and faster insights from fully contextualized, machine learning-ready data sets that are automatically generated from the laboratory. Minimal deployment and onboarding. Customers experience rapid time-to-insight through Synthace's out-of-the-box platform features and pre-validated protocols for common applications such as ELISA and high-throughput purification, helping them shorten R&D cycles and study more candidates per program. Visit www.synthace.com/platform to learn more about the Synthace Life Sciences R&D Cloud. About Synthace Synthace is a life sciences software company enabling life science the way it should be done. Delivering a life sciences R&D cloud to scientists who want to innovate faster, the Synthace platform seamlessly automates experimentation and insight sharing so that scientists can focus on asking the most impactful questions to unlock the true potential of biology. Top global pharmaceuticals, high-growth biotech companies, leading CDMOs, and innovators in artificial intelligence all turn to Synthace to discover solutions to humanity's hardest problems. To learn more about how Synthace is transforming life sciences for a better future visit www.synthace.com. * Source (News - Alert) : 2021 healthcare and life sciences investment outlook, KPMG. -ENDS- View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005057/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Dense Air Acquires New Spectrum To Build Neutral Host Shared Wireless Networks in Australia

LONDON, Aug. 2, 2021 /CNW/ -- Dense Air Limited ("Dense Air") is pleased to announce that it has agreed with TPG Telecom Limited, to purchase TPG Telecom's 2.6 GHz nationwide spectrum supplementing Dense Air's existing spectrum licenses and enabling Dense Air to work with Australian service providers and cities to build shared 4G and 5G wireless networks that close digital divides and ensure ubiquitous future-proofed connectivity. These first-of-their-kind shared networks will accelerate equitable digital access for cities and communities across Australia, benefiting consumers, network operators, and enterprises. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Dense Air would acquire TPG Telecom's 2.6 GHz nationwide spectrum and also sell to TPG Telecom Dense Air's 3.6 GHz city licenses. Dense Air, which recently acquired 5G mmWave spectrum in the ACMA auction, will use this spectrum in combination with its market-leading neutral host RAN-as-a-Service technology to build shared wireless networks that accelerate contiguous connectivity and extend and enhance the networks of carrier partners. Post the transaction, Dense Air and TPG Telecom look forward to exploring opportunities to use Dense Air's RAN-as-a-service technology solution in the Australian market. Dense Air builds, owns, and operates 4G and 5G "small cell" networks that enhance and extend the traditional "macro" networks built by telecom companies. The global firm, with operations in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, partners with cities and carriers through public-private partnerships to build city-wide networks that ensure equitable wireless connectivity on shared and licensed spectrum. Small cells, deployed by Dense Air on street lights, traffic lights, or rooftops, provide cellular coverage that extends hundreds or thousands of feet rather than the miles covered by macro cells, delivering higher capacity and lower latency to the end user. Small cells complement macro cellsby easing network congestion and reaching areas where services deteriorate, providing the building blocks for deploying high-speed 4G and 5G networks. The 2.6 GHz band license to be acquired from TPG Telecom, combined with the 5G mmWave spectrum license Dense Air recently acquired in an ACMA auction, gives the company a platform to offer both 4G and 5G network densification and extension services across Australia. This deal also opens the door for new business models and deployment partnerships. For the consumer, it means faster, more efficient 5G access.



Expanding consumer access to reliable broadband allows more Australians to benefit from the digital transformation in education, commerce, and community services. Those with lower levels of income, employment, and education are most at risk of digital exclusion.

In Australia's urban centres, Dense Air will focus on in-building neutral host solutions, private 4G and 5G networks, and outdoor network densification. In suburban and rural areas, Dense Air will focus on network extension to help all communities benefit from modern necessities like borderless classrooms, remote learning, assisted living, community working hubs, and connected infrastructure. Paul Senior, CEO of Dense Air said, "We are very pleased to announce the agreement to acquire spectrum from TPG Telecom, which we reached despite the challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This spectrum, along with our other holdings, will allow Dense Air to bring its unique 'RAN-as-a-Service' business model to Australia and enable us to empower cities and communities to build shared neutral host networks that close the digital divide and benefit operators and consumers alike."

About the transaction:

The transaction involves subsidiaries of TPG Telecom and Dense Air Limited entering into an agreement under which TPG Telecom will sell its 2.6 GHz spectrum band licenses to Dense Air Networks Australia. In a separate agreement, a wholly owned subsidiary of TPG Telecom will acquire all the shares of an Australian subsidiary of Dense Air Limited, which holds 3.6 GHz spectrum licenses acquired at auction in 2018. The agreements for both the 3.6 GHz spectrum transaction and the 2.6 GHz spectrum transaction are subject to conditions precedent, including that the two transactions are completed concurrently, and receive approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Following satisfaction of the conditions, the transactions are expected to complete in September 2021. About Dense Air:

Dense Air, headquartered in London, UK, has spectrum assets in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia. Focusing on mobile and fixed broadband services, Dense Air builds innovative public-private partnerships with cities to solve connectivity challenges and works with existing network operators to densify and/or extend mobile networks. Dense Air provides a unique carrier of carriers neutral host small cell service, supporting multiple operators through a single RAN infrastructure on clean, licensed spectrum. Working closely with operators and municipalities, Dense Air delivers cost-effective 4G and 5G solutions to support a range of use cases, including enhanced mobile broadband, IoT, public safety, first responder networks, and remote learning. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dense-air-acquires-new-spectrum-to-build-neutral-host-shared-wireless-networks-in-australia-301345924.html SOURCE Dense Air

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[August 02, 2021] OpenTeQ collaborates with Microsoft & Oracle for Digital Transformation in organizations

The company forays into Canada to drive Digital Transformation with customized solutions HYDERABAD, India, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenTeQ, (ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 compliant) a Global Digital solutions & IT services firm has joined hands with Microsoft & Oracle to accelerate digital transformation. This partnership enables OpenTeQ to deliver a customized, highly optimized, best-of-both-clouds experience with their enterprise solutions. OpenTeQ can now create cross-cloud solutions including multi-application cloud deployment and integration, multi-layered cloud data management, cross-cloud data analysis and rapid migration of operations to the cloud to optimize output while maximizing the agility, scalability and efficiency across the enterprise. With this collaboration, OpenTeQ aims to bring a modernized IT ecosystem to facilitate the emerging technological requirements of its clients. OpenTeQ, with over a decade of experience, offers a range of services and solutions such as development and integration, business processes services, engineering services, quality assurance & testing, digital engagement, data & analytics, and loud-enabled IT operations.



OpenTeQ also announced that they will be starting operations in Canada which will help them to explore fresh avenues in the world of digital transformation. Speaking about the new IT Solutions, Mr. Narendra Anumolu, Director, OpenTeQ Technologies, said, "In a world where remote working has become a fundamental necessity, we have partnered up with Microsoft & Oracle to take our digital transformation goals ahead with swiftness. This alliance provides us flexibility and ongoing support to continue leveraging our standard architectures and allowing us to focus on generating business outcomes that maximize returns. OpenTeQ has always been the partners of choice for businesses to level up their IT game. With Microsoft's professional expert cloud services on our side, we are confident that we will continue to deliver innovative and compliant solutions, enabling our clients to draw deep insights and predictive analysis in real-time to uncover new business opportunities, increase operational efficiencies, empower employees and offer a better experience to our customers."

OpenTeQ's services include application, development and integration, business processes services, engineering services, quality assurance & testing, digital engagement, data & analytics, and cloud-enabled IT operations. With these services, OpenTeQ works the entire product lifecycle starting with prototyping to development, testing, sustenance & maintenance. The solutions enable agility, scalability, and operational effectiveness to build a digital roadmap. About OpenTeQ - OpenTeQ is an Enterprise Services firm with global presence, and proven expertise in offering IT Consulting, Technology Solutions and Digital Transformation. As a software and system integration company, we provide enterprise services to meet the IT needs of our customers. OpenTeQ is the preferred technology partner of small, medium, and large enterprises in P&C insurance, manufacturing, oil & gas and many more, worldwide enabling them to leverage IT as a strategic asset. Empowered by industry expertise, technical excellence, and trusted services, we have been able to nurture success in multiple technologies and verticals. Our hybrid model of on-shore, near-shore, and offshore engagement ensures our clients succeed. E-Link: https://www.openteqgroup.com/ Media Contact:

Konnections IMAG -

Anurag Kumar

anurag.kumar@konnections.co.in Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1438201/OpenTeQ_Logo.jpg

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[August 02, 2021] LendingClub and PYMNTS Second Report Finds Americans Living in the South Central Region are Most Likely to Live Paycheck to Paycheck

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC), the parent company of LendingClub Bank, America's leading digital marketplace bank, today released findings from its second Reality Check: Paycheck-To-Paycheck research series, conducted in partnership with PYMNTS. The first report found that the majority of Americans (54 percent) living paycheck-to-paycheck; this second August edition examines regional differences. The key takeaway: In every region within the United States, Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with certain regions faring better than others. Americans Living in the South Central Region are Most Likely to Live Paycheck to Paycheck According to the research, nearly 59 percent of all consumers in the South Central region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky) of America live paycheck to paycheck (compared to 54 percent nationally), with 25 percent of respondents living there struggling to pay their monthly bills. South Central residents are also 20 percent more likely to live paycheck to paycheck and 22 percent more likely to have trouble paying their monthly expenses than Mountain residents. Americans living in the Northeast states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine) are also living paycheck to paycheck at a higher-than-average rate (nearly 56 percent), with 23 percent of respondents living there struggling to paytheir monthly bills.



Those living in the Northeast and South Central are more cash strapped than most: Forty-five percent of consumers earning more than $100,000 in the Northeast live paycheck to paycheck , compared to 40% nationally, with 19 percent of them struggling to pay their monthly bills.

, compared to 40% nationally, with 19 percent of them struggling to pay their monthly bills. Seventy-one percent and 69 percent of millennials living in the South Central and the Northeast regions, respectively, live paycheck to paycheck.

Older "Bridge" millennials  consumers born between 1978 and 1988 that therefore "bridge" the gap between older millennials and younger Generation X consumers  living in the Northeast region of the United States are 20 percent likelier to be living paycheck to paycheck than those in the Mountain states. On the other end of the spectrum are the Mountain states (New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana) where consumers residing in this region are the least likely to live paycheck to paycheck. Mountain state residents are also tied with residents in South Atlantic states (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware) as being the second-least likely consumers to have trouble paying their monthly bills. Though, it's worth noting that the financial lifestyle gap is largest in the Mountain region, where low earners are 150 percent more likely than high earners to be caught in the paycheck cycle.

Americans Living in Urban Areas are More Likely to Live Paycheck to Paycheck The cost of living in metropolitan areas tends to be higher than in rural areas, making it difficult for many consumers to pay their bills. According to the research, 63 percent of all consumers residing in metropolitan areas live paycheck to paycheck which is 24 percent higher than in rural areas. The South Central and the South Atlantic regions are exceptions to this rule, where consumers living in rural areas within these regions are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck than such consumers living in towns and cities, as 58 percent and 59 percent of each region's rural residents do so, respectively. In comparison, 52 percent of metropolitan residents in the South Central and 51 percent of town residents in the South Atlantic live paycheck to paycheck. Even so, consumers living in rural areas in the South Central and South Atlantic are 16 percent and 7 percent less likely, respectively, to be living paycheck to paycheck than those living in major metropolitan areas across the country. "No region of the United States is immune to falling into the paycheck to paycheck cycle, and no single defining factor determines who will and will not ultimately become immersed in it," said Anuj Nayar, Financial Health Officer at LendingClub. "There is a clear need for the financial industry to step up and provide products and services that help all Americans effectively manage their cashflow so they can plan and save for their futures, no matter where they live." To view the full report, visit: https://www.pymnts.com/study/reality-check-paycheck-to-paycheck-study-finances-loans-geography-millennials Methodology Reality Check: The Paycheck-To-Paycheck Report is based on census-balanced surveys of 7,116 U.S. consumers conducted throughout Q2 2021, as well as an analysis of other economic data. About LendingClub LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC) is the parent company of LendingClub Bank, National Association, Member FDIC. LendingClub Bank is the leading digital marketplace bank in the U.S. Members can gain access to a broad range of financial products and services through a technology-driven platform, designed to help them pay less when borrowing and earn more when saving. Since 2007, more than 3 million members have joined the Club to help reach their financial goals. For more information about LendingClub, visit https://www.lendingclub.com. CONTACT: For Investors: IR@lendingclub.com Media Contact: Press@lendingclub.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lendingclub-and-pymnts-second-report-finds-americans-living-in-the-south-central-region-are-most-likely-to-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-301345836.html SOURCE LendingClub Corporation

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[August 02, 2021] App Orchid Selected for IAOP's 2021 Recognition for Excellence in Strategic Partnerships

SAN RAMON, Calif., August 02, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IAOP revealed today that App Orchid was selected for their 2021 Excellence in Strategic Partnerships Recognition for demonstrating excellence in collaboration, innovation, and outcomes. "We are honored to be chosen by IAOP for this recognition," says Vaibhav Nadgauda, CEO of App Orchid. "Developing strategic partnerships with our customers is one of our core values at App Orchid. To be recognized for collaboration and innovation is a testament to our wonderful team. We would also like to thank bp for being an integral part of this journey." This recognition was judged on collaborative problem solving, the impact of the innovation involved, outcomes, and resulting value from the engagement between bp and ContractAI  App Orchid's Contract Management tool. IAOP's recognition and awards programs acknowledge organizations and individuals whose decisive actions have led to substantial transformation or change at their company. "True collaboration is an essential component of any successful partnership," said Debi Hamill, IAOP CEO. "We see this every year in our Global Outsourcing 100 applicants that are contributing their success to strategic partnerships. For that, IAOP is thrilled to congratulate App Orchid as a recipient of the 2021 Excellence in Strategic Partnerships Recognition" About App Orchid

The App Orchid platform helps enterprises build AI fueled apps for the Energy, Utilities, and Insurance industries. The App rchid platform uses deep learning and natural language processing with industry specific content delivered through knowledge graphs, to create powerful predictive apps. App Orchid blends historical and real-time, structured, and unstructured data with user "tribal knowledge" to deliver innovative enterprise apps, including solutions ContractAI, AssetThink, CustomerThink and DocuThink. The Big Data based in-memory technology helps to identify patterns, risks and opportunities previously impossible with traditional analytical tools. A natural language powered user experience interface makes information retrieval as simple as using Google. App Orchid helps enterprises achieve their digital transformation objectives easily through rapid deployment, low cost implementation and minimum disruption across their organization. For more information, please visit www.apporchid.com.



About IAOP

IAOP is the global association that brings together customers, providers, and advisors in a collaborative, knowledge-based environment that promotes professional and organizational development, recognition, certification, and excellence to improve business service models and outcomes. Our members and affiliates worldwide are digging deep at IAOP conferences, learning at IAOP chapter meetings, getting trained and certified at IAOP courses and workshops, and connecting through IAOP social media, all with one goal: better business results. Whether you are a customer, provider or advisor, new to collaborative business models like outsourcing, or you are an experienced professional, IAOP connects you and your organization to our growing global community and to the resources you need to get the results your company deserves and demands. Visit www.IAOP.org. This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/app-orchid-selected-for-iaops-2021-recognition-for-excellence-in-strategic-partnerships-301345620.html SOURCE App Orchid

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[August 02, 2021] C4ISR Market worth $147.1 billion by 2026 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets

CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a research report "C4ISR Market by Solution (Hardware, Application Software & Services), Platform (Airborne, Land, Naval, Space), Application, End User (Defence & Space, Homeland Security, Commercial), Installation, and Region - Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the C4ISR market is projected to grow from USD 119.9 billion in 2021 to USD 147.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 4.2% from 2021 to 2026. The C4ISR market is growing at a significant rate across the world, and a similar trend is expected to be observed during the forecast period. The deployment of small, reliable, and sophisticated C4ISR systems in a wide range of applications has increased their demand across the globe. Advancements in ISR technologies and improvements in their manufacturing techniques have led to reduced costs of these systems. Enhanced defense and surveillance capabilities of armed forces and law enforcement are the key factors driving C4ISR market. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=1315 Growing investments by several governments particularly in developed and developing economies such as the US, India, and China, among others. COVID-19 has affected the C4ISR market growth to some extent, and this varies from country to country. Industry experts believe that the pandemic has not affected the demand for C4ISR in applications. "Based on application, the Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) segment of application is expected to lead the C4ISR market from 2021 to 2026." Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of activity in the advancement of ISR technology for mission critical data. In September 2020, Lockheed Martin develops signals intelligence capabilities for the Distributed Common Ground System, the Air Force's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) system by using agile development. "Based on platform, the land segment is estimated to lead the C4ISR market from 2021 to 2026." Based on platform, land segment is estimated to lead the C4ISR market from 2021 to 2026 and is projected to grow further due to the increasing need of multi-mission unmanned ground vehicles (UGV's) for reconnaissance and target acquisition, and increasing need of remote surveillance nd piloting, global automation and data management. In January 2019, Canada's Government has awarded three contracts total worth USD 621.5 million to General Dynamics (GD) Mission Systems (Canada) to support of the Canadian Army's Land command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) system.



Browse in-depth TOC on "C4ISR Market" 200  Tables

60  Figures

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Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=1315 "The North America region is estimated to account for the largest share of C4ISR market in 2021." Based on region, North America is expected to lead the C4ISR market from 2021 to 2026. The US is the largest market share for C4ISR in North America. The increasing investment on C4ISR systems to enhance defense and surveillance capabilities of the armed forces, modernization existing military platforms, critical infrastructure and law enforcement agencies are increasingly using C4ISR systems are key factors expected to drive the C4ISR market in North America. Contracts were the main strategy adopted by leading players to sustain their position in the C4ISR market, followed by new product developments with advanced technologies. Many companies also collaborated to set up special centers for the research & development of advanced C4ISR technologies. The C4ISR market is dominated by a few globally established players such as Northrop Grumman (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), BAE Systems (UK), Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US) and General Dynamics Corporation (US), among others. Related Reports: Electronic Warfare Market by Capability (Support, Attack, Protection), Platform (Airborne, Naval, Ground, Space), Product (EW Equipment, EW Operational Support), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025 Command and Control Systems Market by Application (Government & Defense, and Commercial), Solution (Hardware, Software, Services), Platform (Land, Airborne, Maritime, and Space), Installation Type, Installation Base, and RegionGlobal Forecast to 2025 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact:

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[August 02, 2021] CEMEX Joins Two World-Leading Initiatives to Achieve Carbon Neutrality

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. ("CEMEX") (NYSE: CX) announced today that it has signed the Business Ambition for 1.5C commitment led by the We Mean Business Coalition in partnership with the Science Based Targets initiative and the U.N. Global Compact. With this commitment the company has joined The Race to Zero Campaign of the UNFCCC. The decision to join these two major global alliances reflects the company's strong commitment to climate action. The Race to Zero Campaign was launched to mobilize net-zero commitments from cities, businesses, and investors ahead of the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November 2021 ("COP26".) All members of the Coalition pledge to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century at the latest, in line with global efforts in limiting global warming to 1.5C. These objectives align with the CEMEX Future in Action program to reduce its carbon footprint by delivering net-zero concrete globally by 2050. "In the road leading up to the COP26, I am delighted to announce that we have signed the Business Ambition for 1.5C and joined The Race to Zero Campaign. CEMEX's commitment to Climate Action runs deeps, and we are excited to partner with prominent global organizations to deliver on this challenge. Implementing climate solutions require active collaboration between industry, governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral agencies, and we intend to continue to play an active role in these efforts. We encourage ohers to join us in this important challenge," said Fernando A. Gonzalez, CEO of CEMEX.



In addition, CEMEX submitted its new 2030 target of below 475 Kg CO 2 per ton of cementitious product for validation to the Science-Based Targets initiative as part of its commitment to fulfill its ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050. CEMEX is a global construction materials company that is building a better future through sustainable products and solutions. CEMEX is committed to achieving carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development. CEMEX is at the forefront of the circular economy in the construction value chain and is pioneering ways to increase the use of waste and residues as alternative raw materials and fuels in its operations with the use of new technologies. CEMEX offers cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and urbanization solutions in growing markets around the world, powered by a multinational workforce focused on providing a superior customer experience, enabled by digital technologies. For more information, please visit: cemex.com

CEMEX assumes no obligation to update or correct the information contained in this press release. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. CEMEX intends these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in the U.S. federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect CEMEX's current expectations and projections about future events based on CEMEX's knowledge of present facts and circumstances and assumptions about future events, as well as CEMEX's current plans based on such facts and circumstances. These statements necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from CEMEX's expectations. The content of this press release is for informational purposes only, and you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. CEMEX is not responsible for the content of any third-party website or webpage referenced to or accessible through this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005234/en/

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[August 02, 2021]

Centerfield Completes Acquisition of Leading Digital Marketing Solution for Insurance Industry, Datalot

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centerfield, a technology enabled customer experience company, today announced the completion of a transaction to acquire Datalot, a leading digital marketing solution for auto, home, health and Medicare insurance companies, from an investment fund affiliated with Lightyear Capital.



Centerfields digital brands and industry leading platform, Dugout, engage in-market consumers and automate end-to-end customer acquisition for leading brands in home services, business services, e-commerce, senior services and many other categories. With Datalot, Centerfield will serve the insurance industry, which is expected to spend more than $11 billion annually in digital customer acquisition by 2025.

Founded in 2009, Datalots digital marketing solutions and technology platform deliver more than 10 million qualified consumers to over 40 leading carriers of auto, home, health and Medicare insurance each year. With offices in Brooklyn and Denver, Datalot has more than 300 employees.

The transaction is te fourth Centerfield add-on acquisition since the company was acquired by Platinum Equity in December 2019.







About Centerfield

Centerfields owned & operated web sites and technology platform, Dugout, convert millions of shoppers of a service into buyers of a brand. Working with the worlds top marketers, Centerfield delivers millions of new customers for residential services, business services, and a variety of other consumer product and service categories. Centerfield's marketing and sales technology platform, Dugout, and leading consumer guides engage more than 150 million in-market consumers to help them make complex purchasing decisions. Centerfield is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Connect with Centerfield via our Blog , Twitter , Facebook, or LinkedIn .

Contact:

Steve Stratz

For Centerfield

206.300.9134

steve@relevanzpr.com
[August 02, 2021] Solar FlexRack Supplies Trackers and Mounting Solutions to Swinerton Renewable Energy for a Total of 80 MW of Distributed Generation Solar Projects

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals and an innovative leader in photovoltaic (PV) mounting and solar tracker solutions, announced that it has supplied its solar trackers and mounting technology to Swinerton Renewable Energy (SRE), named the top U.S. EPC, for a total of 80 MW of distributed generation solar projects. Located in Connecticut, California and Illinois, SRE's latest 30 MW of projects will utilize Solar FlexRack's TDP 1.0 and TDP 2.0 Solar Trackers in eleven community solar projects and builds upon the prior 50 MW of completed solar projects between the two companies. Swinerton Renewable Energy will provide design, procurement and construction management on the portfolio and SOLV, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of SRE, will provide O&M services on the latest set of projects. "Our SOLV Construction Management Services team is committed to building solar projects that provide maximum value for our clients, our partners and local communities, and our suppliers are critical in meeting this goal," said George Hershman, President of Swinerton Renewable Energy and SOLV, Inc. "Solar FlexRack's team helps de-risk projects through their reliable solar trackers, mounting systems and robust support services. We look forward to working closely with Solar FlexRack on this new set of projects." In 2019, community solar projects in the U.S. exceeded 2 GW for the first time, and new community solarinstallations are set to reach 1 GW per year by 2021, according to Wood Mackenzie. In addition to bringing the benefits of clean energy to local communities, this set of distributed generation community solar projects will contribute to California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 60 percent by 2030, Connecticut's RPS of 40 percent by 2030, and Illinois' RPS of 25 percent by 2025. Solar FlexRack's single axis tracker systems were selected for these projects due to their versatility, land use optimization and ability to easily fit into smaller parcels.



"We're looking forward to working further with SOLV Construction Management Services to deliver clean energy access and cost savings to local utilities and their customers through these additional community solar projects," said Steve Daniel, Executive Vice President of Solar FlexRack. "We truly appreciate having long-term partners who share our dedication to completing high quality projects with maximum efficiency." Construction of this additional 30 MW of solar projects is underway and these projects are expected to be complete in 2022. Once complete, the total 80 MW of joint solar projects between the two companies will produce enough energy to power nearly 60,000 homes per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 108,000 cars from the road. SRE and Solar FlexRack also anticipate an additional 20 MW of joint solar projects to be delivered in the coming year to eventually bring the size of the companies' joint projects completed to 100 MW.

About Solar FlexRack Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals, is an integrated solar company that offers custom-designed, fixed tilt ground mount and single-axis solar tracking systems in the commercial and utility-scale solar mounting industries. Solar FlexRack also offers full turnkey packages, including engineering, geotechnical, pullout testing, field, layout, and installation services to address the actual site conditions of an installation and provide a full scope of services from design to delivery and installation. Solar FlexRack has completed over 2.5 GW of solar racking installations in 40 states across America and five countries globally. For more information, go to solarflexrack .com, and follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and LinkedIn . Solar FlexRack Media Contact: Staci Lombardo

315608@email4pr.com

330-799-1855 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solar-flexrack-supplies-trackers-and-mounting-solutions-to-swinerton-renewable-energy-for-a-total-of-80-mw-of-distributed-generation-solar-projects-301345507.html SOURCE Solar FlexRack

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[August 02, 2021] tZERO Markets Begins Onboarding Exodus Investors in Preparation of Trading Exodus Shares

tZERO, a leader in blockchain innovation and liquidity for digital assets, announced today that its wholly owned, FINRA member broker-dealer subsidiary, tZERO ATS, plans to admit the Exodus Movement, Inc. (Exodus) Class A common stock for secondary trading on the regulated alternative trading system operated by tZERO ATS (subject to customary due diligence and compliance with applicable regulatory requirements). The shares represent approximately $75 million of equity in Exodus, a Delaware corporation that has developed a leading non-custodial cryptocurrency software platform. It is anticipated that trading of Exodus Class A common stock will commence on the tZERO ATS this quarter (Q3 2021). Investors with an account at tZERO's retail broker-dealer subsidiary, tZERO Markets, will be able to trade Exodus Class A common stock on the tZERO ATS. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005245/en/ tZERO Markets has begun onboarding Exodus investors into its online trading platform. Investors seeking to purchase or resell the Exodus Class A common stock who do not have yet an account at tZERO Markets should visit https://www.tzero.com/investors/register for details on how to open a brokerage account so they are able to trade Exodus Class A common stock once it is live and trading. tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi stated, "Congratulations to the Exodus team for concluding its record raise. We are delighted to join forces with Exodus to support the trading of its digital security." Founded in 2015, Exodus has grown to serve over two million users through its non-custodial, multi-asset software wallet where users can securely manage and exchange cryptocurrencies. Exodus Co-founder and CEO JP Richardson (News - Alert) shared, "We are looking forward to trading the Exodus common shares on the tZERO ATS. Our investors will benefit from having access to liquidity through our partnership with tZERO, who we view as the leader in offering continuous trading for private assets." Exodus closed its Regulation A+ Public Offering on May 5, 2021. The company issued 2,733,229 shares and raised $75 million in gross proceeds. The offering resulted in demand from both institutional and retail investors, bringing over 6,800 new shareholders to its capital structure. Important Risk Information Investors should note that trading securities could involve substantial risks, including no guarantee of returns, costs associated with selling and purchasing, no assurance of liquidity, which could impact the price and ability to sell, and possible loss of principal invested. Further, an investment in single security could mean lack of diversification and, consequently, higher risk. Potential investors are urged to consult a professional adviser regarding any economic, tax, legal or other consequences of trading any securities as described herein. References to Exodus' non-custodial, multi-asset software wallet are solely high-level descriptions of Exodus' business. Holdings of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets are speculative and involve a substantial degree of risk, including the risk of complete loss. There can be no assurance that any cryptocurrencies or other digital assets will be viable, liquid, or solvent. This communication is not intended to imply that any digital asset services are low-risk or risk-free. For more information about Exodus' business, including risk disclosures related to its non-custodial, multi-asset software wallet business, please refer to Exodus' Offering Circular that was filed with the SEC (News - Alert) and its SEC filings available at: https://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.



No Offer, Solicitation, Investment Advice or Recommendations This release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation for any security, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory or other services by tZERO or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors or employees. No reference to any specific security constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that security or any other security. Nothing in this release shall be considered a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any security, future, option or other financial instrument or to offer or provide any investment advice or service to any person in any jurisdiction. Nothing contained in this release constitutes investment advice or offers any opinion with respect to the suitability of any security, and the views expressed in this release should not be taken as advice to buy, sell or hold any security. In preparing the information contained in this release, we have not taken into account the investment needs, objectives, and financial circumstances of any particular investor. This information has no regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation, and particular needs of any specific recipient of this information and investments discussed may not be suitable for all investors. Any views expressed in this release by us were prepared based upon the information available to us at the time such views were written. Changed or additional information could cause such views to change. All information is subject to possible corrections. Information may quickly become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.

Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements. In addition, from time to time, tZERO, its subsidiaries, or its representatives may make forward-looking statements orally or in writing. These forward-looking statements are based on expectations and projections about future events, which is derived from currently available information. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, including financial performance and projections; growth in revenue and earnings; and business prospects and opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as "may," "should," "expects," "anticipates," "contemplates," "estimates," "believes," "plans," "projected," "predicts," "potential," or "hopes" or the negative of these or similar terms. In evaluating these forward-looking statements, you should consider various factors, including, without limitation: the ability of tZERO and its subsidiaries to change the direction; tZERO's ability to keep pace with new technology and changing market needs; and competition. These and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions. The forward-looking events discussed in this release and other statements made from time to time by tZERO, its subsidiaries or their respective representatives, may not occur, and actual events and results may differ materially and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. tZERO, its subsidiaries, and its representatives are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this release and other statements made from time to time by tZERO, its subsidiaries or its representatives might not occur.





About tZERO tZERO Group, Inc. (tZERO) and its broker-dealer subsidiaries provide an innovative liquidity platform for private companies and assets. We offer institutional-grade solutions for issuers looking to digitize their capital table through blockchain technology, and trade on a regulated alternative trading system. tZERO, through its broker-dealer subsidiaries, democratizes access to private assets by providing a simple, automated, and efficient trading venue to broker-dealers, institutions, and investors. For more information on tZERO, please visit https://www.tzero.com/. tZERO is not a registered broker-dealer, funding portal, underwriter, investment bank, investment adviser or investment manager, and is not providing brokerage, investment banking or underwriting services, recommendations or investment advice to any person, and does not provide any brokerage services. tZERO takes no part in the negotiation or execution of secondary market transactions for the purchase or sale of securities and at no time has possession of investor funds or securities in connection with such transactions. About tZERO ATS tZERO ATS, LLC is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC. More information about tZERO ATS may be found at https://brokercheck.finra.org/. Digital securities that trade on tZERO ATS are conventional uncertificated securities. Ownership of such securities is reflected on the traditional books and records of regulated market participants. The term "digital" refers to the blockchain technology elements of a security that are intended to enhance investor experience through added transparency. About tZERO Markets tZERO Markets, LLC is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC. More information about tZERO Markets may be found at https://brokercheck.finra.org/. Digital securities available on tZERO Markets' platform are conventional uncertificated securities. Ownership of such securities is reflected on the traditional books and records of regulated market participants. The term "digital" refers to the blockchain technology elements of a security that are intended to enhance investor experience through added transparency. About Exodus Founded in 2015, Exodus is a multi-asset non-custodial cryptocurrency software platform that removes the geek requirement and keeps design a priority to make cryptocurrency and digital assets easy for everyone. Available for desktop and mobile, Exodus allows users to securely manage and exchange cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and more across an industry-leading 10,000+ asset pairs from a beautiful, easy-to-use software platform. The non-custodial functionality is encrypted locally on users' own devices, ensuring privacy, security, and complete control over their wealth. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005245/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Colorado Venture Summit is Back With the Most Talked About Tech Event in Colorado

DENVER, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorado Venture Summit is thrilled to be back this year, offering the most talked about tech event in Colorado. This year's main event will take place on September 30th at the Rally Hotel in McGregor Square, right in the heart of Downtown Denver. Colorado Venture Summit offers an exclusive opportunity that is focused on making connections that drive business. Tens of millions of dollars have been invested from Summit connections to date. The main event is exclusive to a curated group of founders and CEOs from venture-backed tech companies in the Rocky Mountain region and VC investors. The event is limited to 140 attendees and will allow only two professional service companies per industry. The main event offers over 7 hours of unstructured networking, with the addition of more opportunities for one on one meetings. Tickets to the main event include a private dinner for attendees and VCs to continue their conversations from the day and build upon relationships. Following dinner, the event will conclude with an evening party which welcomes non-venture backed tech founders and CEOs, as wel.



"After having to cancel the Summit last year, we are thrilled to be able to bring it back this year, and at a new and exciting location", said Brian Wallace, Managing Director at Access Venture Partners and Co-Chair of Colorado Venture Summit. ""This event has connected numerous later stage venture and growth investors with Colorado companies leading to hundreds of millions in growth financings." For more information and to check your eligibility, please visit https://coloradoventuresummit.com/

About Colorado Venture Summit

Colorado Venture Summit is an exclusive curated attendance event and the premier venture capital event in the Rocky Mountain region. The focus of the summit is to make connections that drive business, using round table discussions and one-on-one meetings to help venture capital investors and tech CEOs create mutually beneficial business partnerships. To learn more about the summit, or to register, visit www.coloradoventuresummit.com/ Contact:

Farra Lanzer

315613@email4pr.com

970-542-3284 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/colorado-venture-summit-is-back-with-the-most-talked-about-tech-event-in-colorado-301345447.html SOURCE Colorado Venture Summit

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[August 02, 2021] Creatio Unveils No-code Revolution at its ACCELERATE Event in November

BOSTON, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Creatio , a global software company that provides a leading low-code/no-code platform for process management and CRM,?today announced its 2021 ACCELERATE virtual conference taking place November 9 - 10, 2021. "No-code Revolution" is the theme of this year's event, which will bring together a diverse community of IT, digital and business leaders to explore and discuss the revolutionary power of low-code/no-code technologies and what that means for the enterprise software space. ACCELERATE 2021 will feature revelational discussions from an exciting lineup of speakers and panelists on how co-code is reshaping the future of technology to support new methods for operational excellence. Attendees can expect to connect with peers from various industries all over the world and leave with actionable insights for adopting no-code as a basis to drive enterprise-wide technology and cultural transformation. "Creatio's ACCELERATE No-code Revolution is a one-of-a-kind experience for IT, operational and digital professionals," said Creatio CEO and Founder Katherine Kostereva. "Last year we gathered thousands of experts globally. During 24 hours, we were sharing expertise, discussing ideas, and inspirig each other to accelerate business growth. This year, once again we are bringing together the most innovative leaders in IT and business to discuss how no-code will empower citizen developers to revolutionize the future of enterprise software development into 2022 and beyond."



At ACCELERATE 2020, more than 20,000 tech and business professionals attended from 5 continents to hear from experts like Jason Schenker, the Chairman of the Futurist Institute and the President of Prestige Economics, Paul Greenberg, Managing Principal of The 56 Group, LLC, guest speaker Kate Leggett, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Dr Chris Parry, Rear Admiral, CBE PhD, Churchill College, Cambridge, and many more. Participants in this year's event can again expect a revolutionary take on the unlimited potential of no-code from the brightest minds in business and technology throughout hundreds of sessions. To stay updated on this year's full conference agenda, speaker lineup and to save your spot, register at: https://www.creatio.com/page/accelerate-2021 .

About Creatio

Creatio is a global software company providing a leading low-code platform for process management and CRM. The company combines an intuitive low-code platform, best-in-class CRM and a robust BPM in a single solution to accelerate sales, marketing, service and operations for mid-size and large enterprises. Creatio is highly recognized as a market leader by key industry analysts and together with hundreds of partners, operates in 110 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit www.creatio.com Media Contact

Vera Mayuk

617-765-7997

315607@email4pr.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/creatio-unveils-no-code-revolution-at-its-accelerate-event-in-november-301345545.html SOURCE Creatio

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[August 02, 2021] Outreach Strengthens Leadership Team, Welcomes Melton Littlepage as New Chief Marketing Officer

SEATTLE, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Outreach, the fastest-growing sales intelligence and engagement platform provider, today announced Melton Littlepage has joined as chief marketing officer. Littlepage now leads the global team responsible for marketing strategy, including product, brand, demand generation, communications, and technology alliances, to drive growth and extend Outreach's category leadership. Littlepage is a seasoned software marketing leader with a strong track record of innovation, creativity, and growth acceleration in enterprise SaaS leaders. He joins Outreach from Tenable, where he led marketing for one of the most respected and innovative brands in cybersecurity. Littlepage also served as senior vice president of marketing at New Relic and as CMO at Schoology, the edtech leader acquired by PowerSchool. Prior to that, he held a succession of marketing leadership roles for more than 10 years at Concur, a multi-billion dollar B2B SaaS company. "Outreach is becoming the indispensable platform that increases efficiency, predictability, and growth for revenue innovators," said Manny Medina, founder and CEO of Outreach. "Melton is the creative strategist that Outreach has been looking for as we continue down our path of digital transformation, growth, and dominance in the sales engagement and intelligence category. He has already hit the ground running fast and we are glad to have him on board." "Outreach brings real-time intelligence and automation to sales workflows and guides teams how to act in the moment to improve performance," said Littlepage. "From a marketer's perspective, ther is no deeper satisfaction than helping sales teams to discover what is actually working to drive their growth and stop wasting time on opportunities that will never close."



Outreach also added Stefan Schulz, an experienced finance executive with a proven track record of leading public software companies, to its Board of Directors. In addition, Schulz will serve as the chairman of the Audit Committee. "Stefan is a strategic addition to our board," said Medina. "His long career leading successful public software companies and his expertise in how they plan, operate, and execute will be invaluable as Outreach moves into our next phase of growth."

Schulz has more than 30 years of experience as a finance executive. He is currently CFO and EVP of PROS Holdings (NYSE: PRO), a leading provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions that optimize shopping and selling experiences. Previously, Schulz was CFO of two other public enterprise software companies: Digital River, a global provider of commerce-as-a-service solutions, and Lawson Software, a global enterprise resource planning software company. Prior to Lawson Software, Schulz worked at BMC Software during a period of high growth and at the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen. Schulz has a bachelor of business administration in Accounting from Lamar University. "In the past year alone, Outreach has grown at a remarkable rate because it provides solutions with measurable, tangible value and prioritizes its customers," said Schulz. "True enterprise-grade software has the exceptional ability to compound success across large, highly distributed teams, and that's exactly what Outreach does. I am excited to join the board at Outreach, and I look forward to working with the company to further scale the business globally." About Outreach

Outreach is the largest and fastest-growing sales intelligence and engagement platform provider that helps companies dramatically increase productivity and drive smarter, more insightful engagement with their customers. Outreach is the only solution provider to integrate sales engagement, conversation intelligence, and revenue intelligence into one platform. The only sales engagement and intelligence platform to make the Forbes Cloud 100, Outreach was also the fastest-growing vendor in the category on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500. More than 4,800 companies such as Adobe, Tableau, Okta, Splunk, DocuSign, and SAP depend on Outreach's enterprise-scale, unparalleled customer adoption, and robust AI-powered innovation. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.outreach.io . PR Contact:

Amanda Woolley

pr@outreach.io View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/outreach-strengthens-leadership-team-welcomes-melton-littlepage-as-new-chief-marketing-officer-301345790.html SOURCE Outreach

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[August 02, 2021] EQT Private Equity exits Curaeos to Colosseum Dental Group

EQT Private Equity exits Curaeos, a pan-European dental service organization with activities in the Netherlands , Germany , Italy , Belgium , and Denmark , to Colosseum Dental Group Under EQT Private Equity's ownership, Curaeos has made significant investments in integrating its network of 186 dental clinics and improving operational efficiencies, which has supported a successful transformation of the business amid the Covid-19 pandemic Curaeos will continue its next phase of development together with Colosseum Dental Group, creating the leading European dental platform under the ownership of family-owned Jacobs Holding STOCKHOLM, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT VII fund ("EQT Private Equity") has signed a definitive agreement to exit Curaeos (the "Company") to Colosseum Dental Group, a Zurich-based global dental service organization owned by family-owned Jacobs Holding AG ("Jacobs Holding"). Headquartered in Oosterhout, the Netherlands, Curaeos is a platform of 186 dental clinics serving over one million patients across the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Denmark. Curaeos acts as a multi-functional service organization for its clinics, allowing the dentists to fully focus on providing patients with the best possible care. Curaeos' Shared Service Center supports and facilitates dentists with HR, finance and administration, quality and care management, procurement, marketing and communication and general management. Shortly after EQT Private Equity acquired Curaeos in 2017, the Company entered a challenging period caused by internal complexities. Under EQT's ownership and the Curaeos management team's leadership, the Company has made significant investments in integrating its network of 186 dental clinics, improving operational efficiencies and enhancing learning, development and culture, which have transformed the business into an efficient and scalable dental service organization. As Curaeos' operations were heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, EQT Private Equity initiated a restructuring process in 2020. EQT and the lenders stood by the Company and worked closely together with the management team to secure a sustainable and long-term capital structure that looks beyond the pandemic. Curaeos will continue its next phase of development together with Colosseum Dental Group, creating the leading European dental platform. Anders Misund, Partner within EQT Private Equity's Advisory Team, said, "We are pleased to have found a long-term home for Curaeos with a strategic, family-owned organization. Curaeos' management has played an instrumental role in the transformation of the business and is well equipped to continue its operational development under its new ownership. We would like to thank CEO Chris Cools, CFO Bart Borms, as well as all of Curaeos' dentists, management and employees for their commitment and hard work over the past few years". Chris Cools, CEO of Curaeos, said, "We would like to thank EQT for supporting us closely and helping us navigate through the uncertainties created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Curaeos platform is substantially stronger today and we are now ready to continue our positive trajectory as part of the leading European dental service organization together with Jacobs and Colosseum Dental Group." The transaction is expected to close during Q3 2021. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction. Jefferies acted as exclusive financial advisor to Curaeos and Clifford Chance LLP provided legal counsel. About EQT EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 67 billion in assets under management across 26 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas with total sales of approximately EUR 29 billion and more than 175,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership. More info: www.eqtgroup.com Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram About Curaeos Curaeos is a platform of dental clinics, with activities in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Denmark. Curaeos is headquartered in the Netherlands and serves more than one million patients through its pan-European network of 186 clinics. Curaeos acts as a multi-functional service organization for these clinics, allowing the dentists to fully focus on providing patients with the best possible care. Curaeos Shared Service Center supports and facilitates dentists with HR, Finance and administration, quality and care management, procurement, marketing and communication and general management. CONTACT: Contact EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-private-equity-exits-curaeos-to-colosseum-dental-group,c3391462 The following files are available for download:







https://mb.cision.com/Main/87/3391462/1450166.pdf Press Release EQT VII Curaeos_8.2.21 https://news.cision.com/eqt/i/eqt-curaeos,c2939521 EQT Curaeos



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[August 02, 2021] Graduating High School Seniors Secure Meaningful Tech Careers Through YearUp Wilmington and Zip Code Wilmington Collaboration

WILMINGTON, Del., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- YearUp, Inc. and Zip Code Wilmington, two nonprofit workforce and tech training organizations, are helping graduating high school seniors and current college students gain valuable Java software programming skills and paid internships, so they can escape minimum wage jobs and secure meaningful careers in the technology sector. Each year, more than 100 Wilmington-area students ages 18-26 are accepted into the YearUp Wilmington program of which about a third sign up for its software training curriculum that is developed and facilitated by Zip Code Wilmington, a software developer training program in Wilmington, Delaware. With college tuition costs on the rise, YearUp Wilmington and Zip Code Wilmington are striving to increase applications and tech career opportunities for their graduates in order to grow Delaware's economy. Applications for the Fall 2021 YearUp Wilmington's software training program are available now. "We understand graduating high school seniors  especially in today's pandemic hiring environment  are looking for options when it comes to the next stage in their education and career building," said Peter Lonie, YearUp Site Director at Wilmington University's New Castle County Campus. "There are a significant number of Wilmington-area graduating seniors who can't afford to pay the high-price of 4-year colleges and many who need to contribute to their family's monthly income. YearUp Wilmington's software coding program, which is taught by a Zip Code Wilmington instructor, can be an answer for these students  giving them valuable training through Zip Code Wilmington's proven curriculum, and in a highly-sought after skillset, with the potential of making more than $80,000 a year." How it Works

YearUp Wilmington and Zip Code Wilmington are celebrating the third year of their collaboration, which has produced more than 60 graduates from the Software Training track. This one-year program features six months of learning and development in a Java software programming immersion environment taught by a Zip Code Wilmington instructor followed by a six-month internship at a local corporation to gain real-world tech experience. The YearUp Wilmington software training program is free, and students accepted into the program receive a weekly stipend and technology resources for the duration of the program. Many graduates turn their internships into full-time careers at leading-Delawarebusinesses such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Sallie Mae. Others seek to continue their studies at Wilmington University because the Zip Code Wilmington curriculum is approved for 12 transferrable credit hours in Computer Science along with six transferrable credit hours for other aspects of YearUp Wilmington training for a total of 18 transferrable credit hours. These transferrable credits translate to $6,858 the students earn while in the YearUp Wilmington's software training program.



"As the lead instructor for Zip Code Wilmington's YearUp Wilmington curriculum, I see first-hand how the program is bridging the opportunity divide for our area's young adults who lack resources to gain meaningful career training right out of high school," commented Mikaila Akeredolu, technical instructor at Zip Code Wilmington. "As a Zip Code Wilmington graduate myself and coming from modest beginnings, I can relate to our students. I understand how truly valuable this training program is as it gives our students, and their families, an entirely new outlook on life." To apply to YearUp Wilmington's software programming course, visit www.yearup.org. https://www.yearup.org/students/become-a-student To learn more about Zip Code Wilmington, please visit www.zipcodewilmington.com .

About Zip Code Wilmington

Zip Code Wilmington is a 12-week coding bootcamp located in Wilmington, Delaware, that gives students the technical, interpersonal and leadership skills needed to secure a competitive software developer job and increase their earning potential. Zip Code Wilmington's program prepares its students to become highly qualified and trained technology talent, while connecting students with corporate partners throughout the program. Founded in 2015 by Ben duPont, Jim Stewart, and Porter Schutt (Co-founders), the program has nearly 500 alumni. To learn more about Zip Code Wilmington, please visit www.zipcodewilmington.com. About Year Up Inc.

Year Up is an award-winning, national 501(c)3 organization that enables motivated young adults to move from minimum wage to meaningful careers in just one year by providing the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their full potential. Through a one-year, intensive program, Year Up utilizes a high-expectations, high-support model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships at more than 250 top companies. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to enable young adults with a viable path to economic self-sufficiency and meaningful careers. Year Up has served more than 30,000 young adults since its founding in 2000. Year Up is active in 35 campuses across the U.S., including Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, the National Capital Region, New York City/Jersey City, Pittsburgh, Puget Sound, Rhode Island, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Wilmington. Year Up has been voted one of the "Best Non-Profits to Work For" by The NonProfit Times. To learn more, visit www.yearup.org, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/graduating-high-school-seniors-secure-meaningful-tech-careers-through-yearup-wilmington-and-zip-code-wilmington-collaboration-301346046.html SOURCE Zip Code Wilmington

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[August 02, 2021] Products Empowered by Tuya Smart Design Win iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 and Red Dot Design Award 2021

HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA), a global leading IoT cloud platform, celebrates the products empowered by Tuya Smart's industrial design team that won this year's iF DESIGN AWARD and Red Dot Design Award. The WL2 Smart Camera and two voice remote controls stood out for innovative design and clean style. The WL2 Smart Camera was awarded the Red Dot Design Award 2021, while the Voice Remote Control won both an iF DESIGN AWARD and the Red Dot Design Award. As the IoT Cloud Platform, Tuya Smart Industrial Design team has helped many brands to choose from the elegant designs they have initiated - by empowering the designs, Tuya helps the clients to grow and stand out in the global markets with more competitive products solutions, and better user experience. The Voice Remote Control addresses the consumer pain point of multiple misplaced remotes by creating a central voice-controlled hub to control many home electronics. In addition to offering an interconnected network for home devices, the product also features minimalist design and intuitive user interactions. The universal remote control allows users to click into the app or use voice control to state a command and control a variety of products across the home in seconds. The console's streamlined silhouette and discrete design allow the product to satisfy user need for technology while also blending into any home style. The Voice Remote Control was awarded this year's iF DESIGN AWARD in the product discipline, and was also recognized with a Red Dot Design Award. The WL2 Smart Camera, winner of the Red Dot Design Award 2021 was laded for its notable geometric design and smooth lines, making it an attractive addition to the home. In addition to its minimalistic shape, the WL2 Smart Camera provides private residences and families with a sense of security by offering a wide range of functions including HD night vision, mobile monitoring, full HD resolution, two-way voice intercom and remote control.





2021 is the third year that products empowered by Tuya Smart's industrial design team have won the Red Dot Design Award and iF DESIGN AWARD, with a total of nine products and design winners to date and many more finalists. By the end of March 2021, more than 310,000 pieces of smart hardware have been intelligently upgraded through Tuya Smart's IoT Cloud Platform. In addition to providing services such as app control, hardware development and cloud development, Tuya Smart will continue to empower more developers to provide consumers with smart products that are both stylish and functional. About Tuya Smart (Tuya Inc.) Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA) is a global leading IoT cloud platform with a mission to build an IoT developer ecosystem and enable everything to be smart. Tuya is the largest IoT PaaS business in the global market of IoT PaaS in terms of the volume of smart devices powered in 2020, according to CIC. Tuya has pioneered a purpose-built IoT cloud platform that delivers a full suite of offerings, including Platform-as-a-Service, or PaaS, and Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, to businesses and developers. Through its IoT cloud platform, Tuya has enabled developers to activate a vibrant IoT ecosystem of brands, OEMs, partners and end users to engage and communicate through a broad range of smart devices. For more information, please visit: Tuya Smart's Website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/products-empowered-by-tuya-smart-design-win-if-design-award-2021-and-red-dot-design-award-2021-301346047.html SOURCE Tuya Smart

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[August 02, 2021] Pax8's Ryan Walsh Recognized on CRN's 2021 Top Executives List

DENVER, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pax8, the best place for IT professionals to buy cloud products, today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Ryan Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at Pax8, to its 2021 Top 100 Executives list. This annual list honors the passionate and hard-working technology executives supporting, growing, and redefining the IT channel. The executives named on this list have demonstrated their commitment to the channel and proved themselves exemplary leaders through their innovative channel-focused strategies and initiatives.

Ryan is a forward-thinking leader who has dedicated his career to helping partners achieve more with cloud technology, said John Street, Chief Executive Officer at Pax8. Under his guidance, Ryan created a thorough process to bring on best of breed vendors who align with our strategy to make it easy to buy, manage, and sell technology. Ryan is an integral part of our leadership team, driving partner success in the modern channel. CRNs Top 100 Executives list acknowledges the tech visionaries blazing new trails within the larger IT space. It honors executives across four sub-categories: the 25 Most Influential Executives, Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders, Top 25 Innovators, and Top 25 Disruptors, each with its own set of strengths that impact the IT channel. New technology trends, such as the shift to remote work, cloud computing, SaaS, and IoT, have forced companies to rapidly adapt to an IT landscape that gets more complex by the day, said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. However, with IT executives like those featured on our CRN 2021 Top 100 Executives list leading the charge, those same companies are better equipped to tackle modern IT challenges. These leaders have demonsrated an unceasing commitment to business growth and IT innovation, and I have no doubt theyll continue to do so as new challenges arise.



The Top 100 Executives list will be featured in the August 2021 issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/Top100 . About Pax8

Pax8 is modernizing how partners buy, sell, and manage cloud. As a born-in-the-cloud company, Pax8 simplifies the buying journey, empowering its partners to achieve more with cloud technology. The companys technology displaces legacy distribution by connecting the channel ecosystem to its award-winning transactional cloud marketplace. Through billing, provisioning, automation, industry-leading PSA integrations, and pre and post-sales support, and education, Pax8 is a proven disruptor in the market. Pax8 has ranked in the Inc. 5000 for three consecutive years  #68 in 2018, #60 in 2019, and #111 in 2020  as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. If you want to be successful with cloud, you want to work with Pax8. Get started today at www.pax8.com.

Follow Pax8 on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn , and Facebook. Media contact:

John Trent

PR Manager at Pax8

jtrent@pax8.com



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[August 02, 2021]

Sophos Showcases Channel Strength with 6 Award Wins

Sophos Named ChannelPros 2021 Readers Choice Award Winner

for Endpoint and Network Security, EDR/XDR and Managed Security Services

Sophos Chief Executive Officer Kris Hagerman and Senior Vice President Kendra Krause

Named CRN Top 100 Executives

BURLINGTON, Mass., Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today announced it has won six awards from top industry publications ChannelPro and CRN, showcasing the companys channel strength and executive leadership.

Sophos received ChannelPros 2021 Readers Choice Award in four categories, including best endpoint security vendor, best EDR/XDR vendor, best managed security services provider, and best network security vendor. Sophos ranked highest as the gold winner for endpoint, EDR/XDR and managed security services. ChannelPro readers voted Sophos Intercept X with XDR, Sophos Managed Threat Response and Sophos Rapid Response as the most SMB- and partner-friendly channel solutions and services.

CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has also named Sophos Chief Executive Officer Kris Hagerman and Senior Vice President of Global Channels Kendra Krause to its 2021 list of Top 100 Executives. Hagerman is further honored as one of CRNs top 25 influential executives and Krause as one of CRNs top 25 channel sales leaders for the fifth consecutive year. These annual lists recognize industry-best executives who are supporting, growing and redefining the IT channel through innovative strategies and initiatives.

Were in the midst of a global ransomware crisis, and the role of channel partners in protecting organizations from these crippling attacks has never been more urgent or critical, said Hagerman. Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups like REvil and DarkSide, which were behind the notorious Kaseya and Colonial Pipeline attacks, are making it easier than ever for novice cybercriminals to get their hands on off-the-shelf, ready-to-use ransomware kits. Theyre raising the stakes, and Sophos research shows that ransomware recovery costs have more than doubled in the last year. The only way to fight back is with powerful and effective cybersecurity, and Sophos is fully committed to arming partners with true best-in-class, enterprise-grade security solutions and services to stop even the most nefarious adversaries before they cause damage.







These are the latest in a series of channel accolades. Already in 2021, 12 Sophos executives received CRN 2021 Women of the Channel awards and CRN named five Sophos executives 2021 Channel Chiefs. Sophos also earned a 5-star rating in CRNs 2021 Partner Program Guide, and tops CRNs 2021 lists of coolest endpoint and managed security, cloud security and mobile security companies.

Last year, it became more evident than ever how much our readers rely on partnerships with vendors, distributors, and professional associations to help them stay competitive, said Michael Siggins, president and publisher of The ChannelPro Network. Now with optimism on the rise, our readers give recognition to the brands they rely on most. These results give us a unique indicator of the most trusted brands that will power the channel in 2021 and beyond.





ChannelPros 2021 Readers Choice Awards are available online at https://www.channelpronetwork.com/2021RCA.

The CRN Top 100 Executives list is also available online at www.CRN.com/Top100 , and will be featured in the August 2021 issue of CRN Magazine.

About Sophos

Sophos is a worldwide leader in next-generation cybersecurity, protecting more than 500,000 organizations and millions of consumers in more than 150 countries from todays most advanced cyberthreats. Powered by threat intelligence, AI and machine learning from SophosLabs and SophosAI, Sophos delivers a broad portfolio of advanced products and services to secure users, networks and endpoints against ransomware, malware, exploits, phishing and the wide range of other cyberattacks. Sophos provides a single integrated cloud-based management console, Sophos Central  the centerpiece of an adaptive cybersecurity ecosystem that features a centralized data lake that leverages a rich set of open APIs available to customers, partners, developers, and other cybersecurity vendors. Sophos sells its products and services through reseller partners and managed service providers (MSPs) worldwide. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.

About The ChannelPro Network

The ChannelPro Network provides targeted business and technology information for IT channel partners who serve small and midsize businesses. Via a monthly magazine and associated online properties, the ChannelPro Network delivers expert opinion, analysis, news, product reviews, and advice vital to a resellers business success. Perspectives from VARs, vendors, distributors, and analysts are spotlighted daily. No other media company focuses on the small and midsize marketplace like ChannelPro. More information is available at www.ChannelProNetwork.com.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn , and Facebook.

 2021 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Contact information: Brandon Reid, sophos@marchcomms.com
[August 02, 2021] Merit Financial Advisors Acquires Consilium Financial Group

Merit Financial Advisors ("Merit"), a Georgia-based financial advisory firm that specializes in financial planning and wealth management solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families and those navigating life transitions, has acquired Consilium Financial Group ("Consilium"). The acquisition expands Merit's presence in its headquarters of Atlanta and enhances the firm's financial planning capabilities. Consilium is a comprehensive financial planning and wealth management firm based in Roswell, Georgia. Founded by Kirk Wilkerson, CIMA (News - Alert) , CFF, and Andy Lubben, CFP, the firm provides risk management, tax planning, estate planning and investment services for high-net-worth individuals and families. Consilium first aligned with Merit in 2015 through its Independent Advisor Partner Program, integrating with the firm's investment offerings and operational support. The acquisition allows Consilium team members and clients to access Merit's full suite of services, resources and solutions. The entire Consilium staff will join Merit, with Wilkerson and Lubben each assuming the role of Regional Director. The firm manages $291 million in client assets. "Our team at Merit is driven by a commitment to delivering superior client services and designing personalized solutions that advance our clients' financial and life goals," said Rick Kent, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Merit. "Our long-term growth is fueled by aligning with firms that share this philosophy. We have had the pleasure of working closely with Andy, Kirk and the Consilium team for the last six years, and we are thrilled to fully integrate them into the Merit family." Wilkerson and Lubben added: "Our existing partnership with Merit has been a significant driver of our growth. As we lok to the future, we recognize the tremendous potential a deeper alignment with the firm presents for our clients and business. We are excited to leverage Merit's resources for our clients, helping to enhance their experience with our team and extend our ability to support their long-term financial goals."



This is Merit's first acquisition since taking a minority growth investment in December 2020 from Wealth Partners Capital Group ("WPCG"), a financial services holding company, and a group of strategic investors led by middle-market private equity firm HGGC. The investment will support Merit's ongoing and strategic growth trajectory as it seeks to acquire like-minded advisors and teams. "We are excited to close this transaction with Merit," said Rich Gill, Senior Partner of WPCG. "The financial services industry continues to evolve and consolidate, and the Consilium/Merit partnership underscores the importance of attracting and retaining experienced advisors and leaders with strong cultural alignment."

The acquisition closed on July 30, 2021. Financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed. About Merit Financial Advisors Merit Financial Group, LLC, doing business as Merit Financial Advisors ("Merit"), is a national wealth management firm that supports both the independent broker-dealer and RIA models. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Merit has 24 additional offices throughout the U.S. and managed $5.59 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021 ($3.53 billion in advisory, $1.95 billion in brokerage assets and with $112 million in assets under advisement). Merit's mission is to establish and exceed the financial goals of its clients, while also providing its advisors and offices with practice management resources, an industry leading technology platform and the investment expertise needed to drive growth and deliver a superior client experience. For more information, please visit www.meritfinancialadvisors.com. Investment advice offered through Merit Financial Group, LLC, an SEC (News - Alert) -registered investment adviser. About Wealth Partners Capital Group Wealth Partners Capital Group ("WPCG") is a financial services holding company, which has partnered with Merit Financial Advisors ("Merit"). WPCG supports Merit by identifying and integrating like-minded registered investment advisers and financial advisors who are seeking access to expanded business capabilities, strategic growth and customized transition solutions. The WPCG management team is led by partners John W. Copeland, Rich Gill and Sean Bresnan. For more information, please visit www.wealthpcg.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005399/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Great American Insurance Group Introduces New Comprehensive Asset Protection Policy

Great American Insurance Group's Fidelity / Crime Division is pleased to announce the release of its new Comprehensive Asset Protection Policy (CAPP), a modern commercial crime policy designed to protect businesses and organizations, small and large, from crime-related losses. The Fidelity / Crime Division listened to its customers' needs, researched the marketplace, and utilized its unmatched experience in both underwriting and claims to develop this comprehensive policy. The clear, easy-to-read and direct policy language addresses present-day exposures by incorporating standard enhancements and adding new coverages without abandoning the tradition and familiarity of commercial crime coverage. "The goal was to look at the endorsements our customers desire and incorporate them into one form, as to not clutter the policy or confuse the customer. Then we sought to add cover for new exposures that have developed recently," said Frank Scheckton, Divisional President, Great American Fidelity / Crime. "With the rapid changes in technology and life as we know it, the crime insurance product needed to be updated to keep up with the times. Our customers need crime coverage that responds to new payment methods and covers them for exposures that did not exist a few years ago. Developing a new proprietary form was important for the future of our Division and for the future protection of our customers." Coverage highlights under CAPP include: Employee Theft inclusive of direct loss of money, securities, cryptocurrency or other property

Employee Theft of Client's Property and ERISA Dishonesty

Computer Crime Coverages including Computer Hacking, Fraudulently Induced Transfer, Funds Transfer Fraud and Destruction of Data by Hacker

Credit, Debit or Charge Card Forgery

An expanded definition of Employee to include frequently requested classifications

Claims Expense as a standard insuring agreement

Automatic coverage for new subsidiaries nd enhanced Consolidation and Mergers language

Enhanced Discovery of Loss and Duties in the Event of Loss language

Worldwide coverage (where permitted by law)



The Great American Fidelity / Crime Division celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020 and is the third-largest writer of commercial crime coverage in North America, based on rankings published by the Surety & Fidelity Association of America.

For complete coverage highlights and to learn more about CAPP, please visit www.crimeinsurance.com. About Great American's Fidelity / Crime Division With more than 25 years of protecting virtually every class of business from crime-related losses, Great American's Fidelity / Crime Division has a depth of experience in both underwriting and claims that is unmatched in the marketplace. As one of the largest monoline crime insurers in the hemisphere, the Fidelity / Crime Division maintains $50 million in underwriting capacity for private and public businesses, financial institutions and governmental entities, fine art and $65 million in a broad kidnap, ransom & extortion policy. Additionally, Fidelity / Crime offers specialized products and programs for casinos and gaming operations, armored car companies, mining risks, ATM companies, security guards and check cashers. Coverage description is summarized. Refer to the actual policy for a full description of applicable terms, conditions, limits and exclusions. Policies are underwritten by Great American Insurance Company, an authorized insurer in all 50 states and the DC. About Great American Insurance Group Great American Insurance Group's roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the operations of Great American Insurance Group are engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses. Great American Insurance Company has received an "A" (Excellent) or higher rating from the A.M. Best Company for more than 110 years (most recent rating evaluation of "A+" (Superior) affirmed January 28, 2021). The members of Great American Insurance Group are subsidiaries of American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG), also based in Cincinnati, Ohio. AFG's common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFG. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005397/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Azul Announces Commercial Support for the Eclipse Temurin OpenJDK Distribution

Azul, provider of the Java platform for the modern cloud enterprise, and the only company 100% focused on Java, today announced the immediate availability of commercial support for the Eclipse Temurin OpenJDK distribution as part of its Azul Platform Core offering. Enterprises adopting OpenJDK now have additional choices of contractually supported Java distributions for their development and production environments, from desktops to on-premise to cloud deployments. "Azul is the established leader in providing commercial support offerings for OpenJDK distributions," said Azul President, CEO & Co-Founder Scott Sellers. "By expanding our Azul Platform Core offering to include support for Eclipse Temurin, we're giving Java users even more choice in what supported version of OpenJDK they want to use. Azul is a founding member of the Adoptium Working Group and we're quite excited about the impact this project will have in the Java community." Azul is the largest commercial support provider for OpenJDK, according to the recent JVM Ecosystem Report1. It leads multiple OpenJDK projects and is a highly regarded contributor in the OpenJDK and Java communities. Enterprises rely on Azul and its Azul Platform Core and Prime OpenJDK offerings to power the most demanding Java workloads around the globe. "We are excited about the availability of Eclipse Temurin as part of the Eclipse Adoptium project, and we're happy to see vendors such as Azul step up and offer commercial support services for the Temurin distribution," said Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director at Eclipse Foundation. "As a vendor-neutral organization, we recognize it takes a community of vendors to provide Temurin users with support options to meet their Java production needs when they deploy OpenJDK distributions across desktop, clouds and hybrid infrastructres."



Eclipse Temurin is a free OpenJDK distribution produced as part of the multi-vendor Eclipse Adoptium Project and Working Group, of which Azul is a founding member. For enterprises and organizations that have corporate governances, regulatory requirements, or need dependable commercial support services for sustaining ongoing and critical business operations, the Azul Platform Core offering now provides commercial support for Eclipse Temurin users including: Support coverage backed by contractual SLAs

Guaranteed timely access to TCK-tested new and security updates

Application triage, root cause analysis, and production issue workarounds

Out-of-cycle patches from Azul's world-class Java engineering team

Patent indemnification

24 x 7 x 365 phone & web support services Resources

Azul Platform Core

Azul Platform Core Support for Eclipse Temurin

Download Azul Zulu Builds of OpenJDK

Eclipse Adoptium: Adoptium Celebrates First Release

AdoptOpenJDK: Transition to Eclipse - An Update

Snyk: JVM Ecosystem Report 2021 About Azul Azul, provider of the Java platform for the modern cloud enterprise, is the only company 100% focused on Java. Millions of Java developers, hundreds of millions of devices, and the world's most highly regarded businesses trust Azul to power their applications with exceptional capabilities, performance, security, value, and success. Azul's customers include 27% of the Fortune 100, 50% of Forbes Top 10 World's Most Valuable Brands, all 10 of the world's Top 10 financial trading companies, and leading brands like Avaya (News - Alert) , Bazaarvoice, BMW, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Telekom, LG, Mastercard, Mizuho, Priceline, Salesforce, Software AG, and Workday. Learn more at azul.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @azulsystems. 1 https://bit.ly/3ha6afV View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005458/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Make It Happen: Snapmaker Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 2, 2021 /CNW/ -- Since its inception in 2016, Snapmaker has been on a mission to bring industrial experiences of digital manufacturing to consumers. In 2017, its first all-metal 3-in-1 3D printer Snapmaker Original made its debut on Kickstarter and raised over 2.2 million dollars. Two years later, Snapmaker 2.0 was launched and raised 7.85 million dollars, making it the most funded technology project in Kickstarter's history. After fulfilling two crowdfunding campaigns, the company raised millions of dollars in series A funding in March 2021, dedicated to R&D and talent recruitment. Now in its fifth year, Snapmaker has grown from 4 to 200 employees with over 60,000 machines shipped to more than 120 countries and welcomed by makers, hobbyists, educational organizations, and small business owners. Reflecting on 5 years in business, company CEO Daniel Chen remarked: "I take pride in what we have achieved over the last 5 years. It's a milestone that shows our team, users, and partners believe the work we do is valuable. We wouldn't have come so far without yor unwavering support, and I would like to take this chance to express our gratitude and celebrate the significant moment together."



"Our brand concept has shifted from "Make Anything" to "Make Something Wonderful" over the years. In the beginning, we hope to empower every user with the ability to make anything. However, life is short, and we only have limited time and energy to focus on what we're passionate about." In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Snapmaker will host a series of events themed with "Make It Happen" from August to October in an effort to share with its users, partners the milestones and challenges of the last 5 years, while looking forward to future opportunities. The celebration campaign consists of online events to engage with users and win special prizes, a global anniversary sale to offer attractive discounts, and a virtual party.

As part of the celebration, Snapmaker will also make a charitable contribution to animal protection, STEAM education, and sustainability. In addition, a featuring 5th-anniversary website will also be launched to interact with different parties, sharing Snapmaker's story, the CEO's message, and details of the events. Moving forward, as Daniel said, "We've seen exceptional growth and development over the course of the last 5 years, but there's still a long way to go. Next up, we will continue making tools accessible to regular consumers with engineering technology to empower each individual to enjoy making, and make something wonderful. " About Snapmaker Snapmaker is an innovative and fast-growing company dedicated to developing desktop digital fabrication machines. Snapmaker focuses on 3D printing, laser engraving as well as CNC carving technologies and develops high-quality, modular, and multi-functional 3D desktop machines. Contact info Email address: press@snapmaker.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/make-it-happen-snapmaker-celebrates-its-5th-anniversary-301346081.html SOURCE Shenzhen Snapmaker Technologies Co., Ltd.

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[August 02, 2021] ECHO Leading Healthcare Payment Platform to Integrate with Virtual Benefits Administrator Software to Improve Plan Management and Electronic Payment Adoption

ECHO Health, Inc. (ECHO), providers of industry-leading payment processing technology, are announcing a new strategic partnership and integration with Virtual Benefits Administrator (VBA) software, which offers a full suite of proactive, cloud-based healthcare administration solutions. Sharing a strong commitment to digital solutions that streamline internal processes and eliminate waste, ECHO's integration with VBA software is an exciting development that will improve the efficiency of plan management and payment methodologies. The two platforms communicate seamlessly, leading to reduced administrative costs and increased productivity across organizations. Founded in 1997 and now processing more than $1 billion in payments every week, ECHO provides digital payment processing for healthcare, workers' compensation, property and casualty, and other specialty insurers. Using a single, secure, streamlined payment system, ECHO specializes in removing barriers to digitization and immediately connects clients to a network of more than one million electronic-ready insurance vendors and providers - the largest network in the nation. VBA is dedicated to offering software solutions that facilitate efficient and effective administration across a wide array of clients. Their software's premium functionality includes integrated customer service dashboards, intuitive benefit plan design and testing, and more. "We're xcited to collaborate with VBA to help our mutual payers optimize their resource allocation and be more efficient," said Tom Davis, EVP Business Development & Strategy for ECHO. "The integration of our industry leading platforms for payment and claims adjudication helps automate manual processes while allowing payers to achieve total electronic adoption. The VBA solutions are a perfect complement to ECHO's core mission of simplifying payments and saving clients' money."



"The system that VBA has developed helps our clients solve their data management issues with leading-edge software," said Michael Clayton, CEO of VBA. "ECHO's approach is fully aligned with the solutions VBA provides. Working with ECHO will be an amazing opportunity to further streamline our shared users' payment processes so they can focus on improving their businesses." About ECHO Health, Inc. ECHO Health, Inc. (ECHO) is the leading provider of electronic healthcare payment solutions. ECHO processes 300 million claims and pays more than $60 billion annually to providers and members from industry-leading payers. Founded in 1997, ECHO is a privately held company located in Westlake, Ohio. For more information, please visit echohealthinc.com or call 440.835.3511.

About Virtual Benefits Administrator Virtual Benefits Administrator (VBA) is a proactive, leading edge software design company providing custom solutions to the insurance industry for nearly 20 years. Uniquely delivered on a secure, cloud-based architecture, VBA provides one-common architecture for all Employee Benefit Administration. Our software development process focuses on continuous improvement to address the requirements of the ever-changing healthcare industry. This empowers clients to focus on business strategy and growth while streamlining their operations. Learn more at vbasoftware.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005478/en/

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[August 02, 2021] You Won't Find Better Wine Deals for These Two Weeks in August

PETALUMA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wine Spies, the original online 'flash' wine retailer, today announces a two-week-long Cellar Stocker Days sales event. Wine Spies celebrates the launch of their all new website with a two week event featuring the most incredible wines. In their 14 year history, Wine Spies has featured thousands of wines, bringing one new wine each day to their loyal customers. Between August 2nd and 15th, they will feature some of the most exciting wines ever seen on their website. The deals range from rare Bordeaux classified-growths, high-scoring Napa Cabernet (such as TOR, Addax, Chimney Rock, and Crane Assembly), under-$20 wines that deliver unparalleled value, exclusive inaugural releases, and more.



"Over the last year, we've continued to increase the quality of our wine offers. Our newest curation agent brought with him decades of wine experience and education, elevating our wine selections to new heights, and across all price points. Our Operatives (Wine Spies' customers) will continue to enjoy access to wines they won't find anywhere else, and we're really overdelivering during the Cellar Stocker Days event - on both quality and value. These wines were nearly impossible to get and are some of the best we've ever featured on the site." says owner Jason Seeber, aka "Agent Red". All of the Cellar Stocker wines will be quantity-limited, and available on a first come first served basis. Most will sell out, so Operatives are encouraged to check in early and often to see what's still available. Make sure that you're in the know for this special event - and all of Wine Spies' daily offers - by signing up for the mailing list at winespies.com.

Cellar Stocker Days is part of Wine Spies' multi-week 'Next Gen Launch Party' event, beginning on August 2nd. This event includes the inaugural release of Wine Spies' original wine brand Enigma, an accompanying NFT auction backed by 5 uniquely labeled bottles of Enigma's inaugural Cabernet Sauvignon release, and the rollout of an entirely new website featuring a host of never before seen services. CONTACT: Claire "Agent Chenin" Perkins 559-797-7422, agentchenin@winespies.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/you-wont-find-better-wine-deals-for-these-two-weeks-in-august-301345441.html SOURCE Wine Spies

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[August 02, 2021] Crystal Technologies embarks on Inter-chain DeFi quest

Tallinn, Estonia, Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crystal Technologies has recently released an updated version for their key product, namely the Crystal Wallet . It is a multi-chain wallet that supports various prominent blockchains, and enables its users to manage more than 100 thousands crypto assets at ease. The list of supported blockchains and token standards grows over time. This release once again reaffirms the startups commitment on their Inter-chain DeFi quest.

Besides the multi-chain wallet, the project revealed in its roadmap an interesting DeFi product lineup for their Crystal Ecosystem. They plan to launch a set of Decentralised Exchanges on Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Tron and Solana within the next 9 months, and eventually connect them all into a single inter-chain decentralised liquidity hub. The team stated that via this product lineup, they aimed to bolster the interconnectivity among the various blockchain platforms, as well as DApps and liquidity protocols inhabiting those blockchains. Crystal Technologies is raising funds via the offering of their CrystalToken ( CRT ) to materialise their roadmap. CRT serves as the main utility token in Crystal Wallet and other DeFi products in the Crystal Ecosystem. Besides, CRT also gives its holders governance authority on the development of Crystal Products.



The token offering is scheduled to start on August 6th. According to the token distribution plan , 45% of the total supply is offered to the public via their token sale, while another 15% is reserved for airdrop and bounty campaigns. Their token sale has been mentioned in various popular IEO review sites such as ICOHolder , Coincodex or ICOHotLink The project is boosting its presence on social media platforms via a series of bounties on Twitter . Each participant is entitled to receive 200 CRT upon completing a few simple steps such as downloading and giving a review for the Crystal Wallet application on Google Play or Apple App Store . Besides, they are also actively promoting their Ambassador Program whose primary purpose is to enlist notable Crypto Youtubers to join forces with them in their marketing frontier. The team reported that more than 3,000 participants have whitelisted for their upcoming token sales in the last 3 days, and through a multi-faceted social marketing campaign, they are targeting 20,000 by the start of their token sale.

Media Contacts- Website: https://crystalwallet.eu/

Email: support@crystalwallet.eu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrystalWalletEU

Telegram: https://t.me/CrystalWalletEU

Token Offering: https://crt.crystalwallet.eu/



PR Contact-

Name- Samiran Mondal

Company- News Coverage Agency

Email- Newscoverage.agency@gmail.com

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OptionMetrics Releases IvyDB Canada 3.0 Amid Increased Interest in Canadian Options, Expands Data to Help Investors Better Analyze Market Trading Strategies

OptionMetrics, an options database and analytics provider for institutional investors and academic researchers worldwide, releases OptionMetrics IvyDB Canada 3.0 with comprehensive historical price, implied volatility (IV), and sensitivity data on optionable securities across Canadian indices and equity options. Major upgrades to the database include extension of the volatility surface to better assess shorter- and longer-term strategies, and the addition of a forward price table to calculate option values at different maturities.

OptionMetrics adds 10 days and additional delta values of 10, 15, 85, and 90 (negative for puts) to grid points in its volatility surface. This update allows users to see estimates of IV and options pricing for shorter-term options such as weeklies, plus deltas for out-of-the-money and very deep-in-the-money trades.

A new forwrd price table enables investors to assess future discounted prices with anticipated delivery prices of underlying assets.







With these updates, OptionMetrics refreshes calculations of dividend projections, IV, and greeks. Updates are consistent with those in OptionMetrics' U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific databases, enabling data to be more easily compared.

The release comes as interest in Canadian options continues to rise, with OptionMetrics data showing 14 percent year-on-year average daily option trading volume growth from 2019 to 2021 and 24 percent from 2020 to 2021.

"Canadian option trading volume continues to grow with increased interest in derivatives exposure," says OptionMetrics CEO David Hait, Ph.D. "At OptionMetrics, we work to provide the highest quality, most comprehensive data to enable institutional investors, traders, and academia to evaluate risk, test trading strategies, and perform sophisticated research. Recent updates in IvyDB Canada 3.0 are just one example of why OptionMetrics has become the gold standard in historical options data."

IvyDB Canada provides the historical price, IV, and sensitivity information from 2007 to present for about 600 optionable securities. Data is updated nightly to reflect new closing prices, dividend payments, corporate actions, option contract expirations, listings, and other changes.

Email info@optionmetrics.com for details.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005559/en/
[August 02, 2021] SPIE and IBM Quantum Name Delaware State University Professor Renu Tripathi First Recipient of $100,000 IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award

Renu Tripathi, a professor of physics and engineering at Delaware State University (DSU), has been named the inaugural recipient of the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics. The announcement was made 1 August, during the opening plenary event at SPIE Optics + Photonics. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005074/en/ Experimental setup for a magnetometer using alkali sodium atoms in Tripathi's DSU lab. The yellow glow from a sodium laser is visible in the picture. Left to right: Lawrence Taylor, a freshman pursuing a BS in Engineering Physics; Tripathi; Robin Depto, a BS Electrical Engineering student at Delaware Technical Community College; and Mauricio Pulido, who is pursuing an MS in Applied Optics. (Photo: Business Wire) The $100,000 annual award, presented jointly by the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, supports and promotes research and education in quantum optics and photonics within IBM (News - Alert) -HBCU Quantum Center member institutions, currently 23 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including DSU. The IBM-SPIE agreement stipulates a joint annual award year through 2025, with each organization providing $50,000 per year for a shared total of $500,000 over five years.



"By supporting quantum research programs and education at HBCUs, we hope to contribute to a truly diverse scientific and engineering community," said SPIE President David Andrews. " Quantum (News - Alert) is a rapidly growing area that is already proving critical to technological innovation. We want to make sure that the field is open, accessible, and inclusive for the current and future generations of optics and photonics students, and this new program will contribute to delivering that objective." Tripathi's winning proposal seeks to demonstrate "a quantum gyroscope with a high rotation sensitivity, suitable for inertial navigation applications." She will also be using the award to develop quantum science education curricula and teaching practices at DSU, including providing hands-on experience and training to DSU students through summer research programs and workshops.

"The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center was established to build an ecosystem for traditionally underrepresented students and professionals in the emerging field of quantum computing," said Academic Alliance Lead, Partner Ecosystem at IBM Quantum Dr. Kayla Lee. "By extension, this joint award is an investment in the strengthening of research and career opportunities at HBCUs." "Receiving this prestigious inaugural award from IBM and SPIE will highlight and bring national prominence to our distinctive quantum science research program at Delaware State University," said Tripathi. "It also allows us to broaden the scope of quantum-sensing research, education, and training at the university so that both undergraduate and graduate students will have direct experiential educational exposure to advancements in quantum science and technologies." An SPIE Fellow, Tripathi has given several invited talks at SPIE conferences, has served as an organizing committee member for Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology at SPIE Photonic West since 2019; participated as a panel member on 'Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Sciences & Engineering' at SPIE Optics + Photonics in 2016; and was featured in the 2010 SPIE Women in Optics Planner. In addition, she helped found the SPIE Student Chapter at DSU, and is an active mentor to students there. For more on the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics - including the next award cycle - please visit our dedicated webpage. About SPIE SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves more than 258,000 constituents from 184 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2020, SPIE provided over $5 million in community support including scholarships and awards, outreach and advocacy programs, travel grants, public policy, and educational resources. www.spie.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005074/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Noname Security Strikes Gold at Black Unicorn Awards 2021

API Security Specialist Recognized for $1B Potential

Cofounder and CTO Shay Levi Named Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- API security leader Noname Security today announced that it has been named to the prestigious Top 10 Black Unicorn list and that cofounder and CTO Shay Levi has been named a Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert for 2021 at the Black Unicorn Awards, which take place each year during the Black Hat USA conference. The term Black Unicorn signifies a cybersecurity company that has the potential to reach a $1 billion dollar market value as determined by private or public investment. The Black Unicorn Awards showcase companies with this kind of incredible potential in the cybersecurity marketplace. Noname Security and Shay Levi competed against many of the industrys leading experts and providers of cybersecurity products and services for these prestigious awards. Were pleased to name Noname Security as a Black Unicorn winner and Shay Levi, Noname Security Co-Founder and CTO, as a Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert for 2021. Noname Security and Shay Levi were among a small, elite group of cybersecurity companies and information security professionals in our third annual Black Unicorn awards, said Judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of AllegisCyber Capital , David DeWalt of NightDragon , Dr. Peter Stephenson of Cyber Defense Magazine , and Gary Miliefsky of Cyber Defense Media Group .



The Black Unicorn Awards honor the industrys best. Its a thrill to be recognized for our innovative cybersecurity offering, our traction, and the multi-billion-dollar greenfield opportunity in front of us, said Oz Golan, Cofounder and CEO of Noname Security. Im also proud to see our Cofounder and CTO Shay Levi named as a Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert for 2021. About Noname Security

Noname Security is the creator of the most powerful, complete, and easy-to-use API security platform, trusted by Fortune 500 companies to discover, analyze, remediate, and test their legacy and modern APIs. Noname is privately held, with headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and an office in Tel Aviv. www.nonamesecurity.com About Cyber Defense Awards This is Cyber Defense Magazines 9th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards includes cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 please visit https://cyberdefenseawards.com/black-unicorn-awards-finalists-2021/ About Cyber Defense Magazine Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA, BlackHat and IPEXPO conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com . Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group (CDMG). For Media Inquiries: Chris Ulbrich

Firebrand Communications for Noname Security

nonamesecurity@firebrand.marketing

415-848-9175 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c15a7c7-387e-4d95-b0af-a953a5a836dd https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b13cc343-03ba-4f49-9821-f5fbf034f9a6



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[August 02, 2021] Keyavi Data Wins Four Top 10 Black Unicorn Awards During Black Hat USA Conference 2021

Keyavi Data Corp., an award-winning cybersecurity trailblazer whose game-changing technology is stopping ransomware criminals in their tracks and transforming the very nature of the data security industry, announced today that it won four prestigious Black Unicorn awards at Black Hat's annual conference in Las Vegas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005463/en/ Keyavi Data wins 4 Top Ten Black Unicorn Awards at the 2021 Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas. Keyavi was honored for its breakthrough self-protecting data security technology as the Top 10 Cybersecurity Startup. Three more Top 10 awards were bestowed on company executives: Elliot Lewis for Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert, Jocelyn King for Top 10 Women in Cybersecurity and T.J. Minichillo for Top 10 Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) (pictured left to right). (Graphic: Business Wire) Keyavi received the Top 10 Cybersecurity Startup award, company Co-founder and CEO Elliot Lewis was honored as a Top 10 Cybersecurity Expert, its Chief Information Security Officer T.J. Minichillo as a Top 10 CISO and Co-founder and Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Jocelyn King among the Top 10 Women in Cybersecurity. The ninth annual Cyber Defense Magazine Black Unicorn awards showcase the companies and leaders at the forefront of global security technology innovation. Keyavi and its executives competed against more than 3,600 of the hottest providers of cybersecurity products and services in one of the industry's most prestigious global competitions. "Keyavi Data, Elliot Lewis, T.J. Minichillo and Jocelyn King are among a small, elite group of companies and experts selected to win these Top 10 awards," said judges Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of www.allegiscyber.com, David DeWalt of www.nightdragon.com, Dr. Peter Stephenson (News - Alert) of Cyber Defense Labs and Gary Miliefsky of www.cyberdefensemediagroup.com. The judges evaluated the most innovative firms and individuals solving tomorrow's cyber threats today, those making a huge difference in turning the tide against the massive growth in cyber crime as well improving the cybersecurity industry as a whole. "My team and I are thrilled to have been selected for all four Black Unicorn awards," said Elliot Lewis. "We're going where no other company has gone before - protecting any type of data - anywhere, anytime, under any circumstance in the world - from cyber criminals and accidental loss. In the process, we're rewriting the cyber industry's rules for data security and driving meaningful change to help people everywhere control their own data's destiny. That's a mission we as a company are passionate about and to which we are all deeply committed." Black Unicorn Awards for Top 10 Cybersecurity Startups & Top 10 Cybersecurity Experts Elliot, an internationally acclaimed cybersecurity pioneer, and Keyavi Data, the company he co-founded last year, were honored for breakthrough, one-of-a-kind technology that makes every piece of data so intelligent that it automatically thinks and protects itself, wherever it goes in the world. It is the only company to have not only reached, but surpassed, a previously unattainable goal for universal data security. And, until now, no one else has successfully delivered anything close to this technology. After years helping secure some of the biggest Fortune companies in the world, Elliot realized data was the one constant in a complex, continually evolving IT ecosystem. Even if stored behind a multitude of layered defenses, he reasoned, data remained defenseless against would-be criminals intent on stealing it. So, he set out to simplify this amorphous IT ecosystem into one self-protecting, self-intelligent object - data itself. Despite skeptics in the IT industry who refused to believe data itself could be the centerpoint of all security, Elliot persisted for nearly 10 years in developing and launching Keyavi's disruptive self-protecting, intelligent and self-aware data security technology. Today, the company's API platform and a full suite of applications riding on that platform enable Keyavi-infused data to think for itself, secure itself, continually report its whereabouts and refuse access to unauthorized users. It also allows data to stay under its owner's control - in perpetuity - no matter who has it, where it's stored or how many copies were made. This technology is so revolutionary that it's stopping cyber criminals in heir tracks, including ransomware attackers.



"Data security shouldn't be about putting up sky-high walls to stave off hordes of attackers," Elliot said. "Those walls, no matter how high or how thick, won't defend against adversaries who manage with greater frequency and sophistication to penetrate networks and steal data without anyone detecting the intrusion, sometimes for years. "Nor should data security be about piling on more tools onto your tech stack in the hopes of making your business more secure. Solving the problem of leaky data right from the get-go requires completely rethinking your strategy for securing data. True cyber resilience is about helping a business grow by providing visibility into how data is used, how it interacts with your customers, your ecosystem and operations. Instead of data being a business risk, it should be a contributor to business growth."

By making the impossible possible, Elliot proved the skeptics wrong. And, in the process, we can all sleep better at night, knowing data is safe and secure, everywhere and anywhere it travels. Experience the power of Keyavi's technology for yourself at a live webinar or request a trial here. Black Unicorn Award for Top 10 CISOs As a nationally renowned cybersecurity and threat intelligence expert recognized the world over, there is no cyber threat that T.J. hasn't seen, fought against or helped remediate during more than 25 years of tracking cyber criminals. The Black Unicorn judges recognized T.J. for his deep expertise, vigilance and lifelong commitment to developing, implementing and maintaining the highest level of security processes, regulatory compliance and defenses for safeguarding data assets against evolving cyber threats and risks. T.J.'s formidable career and expertise managing security operations and cyber investigations span strategic intelligence roles on Wall Street, Fortune 100 financial services companies, the military, energy and technology startups. During his distinguished career as a chief threat intelligence officer (CTIO) and threat intelligence expert, he led multiple security operations, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, penetration testing and Red Teams. He's built fusion centers with specialized threat hunting groups and managed high-level threat-hunting initiatives. He is also an expert at conducting regulatory and policy assessments and aligning those policies with industry best practices. An enthusiastic proponent of training the next generation of security leaders and espousing security best practices for mitigating cyber risks, T.J. actively participated in and contributed his expertise to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence-sponsored Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University Cyber Intelligence Tradecraft Project, which is designed to promote the cyber threat intelligence profession across the U.S. National Critical Infrastructure and the creation of higher education degree programs in threat intelligence. At Keyavi, T.J. is responsible for overseeing the ongoing evaluation, testing and monitoring of security controls to protect the company, its customers and third-party suppliers against an ever-evolving and widening cyber threat landscape. He also manages Keyavi's security operations, threat & vulnerability system, cloud security, application security, policy enforcement and user training and awareness initiatives. "Data breaches, phishing scams and ransomware attacks touch every aspect of modern life," T.J. said. "The fallout from these cyber crimes equates not only to lost company sales and revenue but loss of critical intellectual property being exfiltrated and sold to the highest bidder on the dark web, negotiated for ransom or exposed publicly to cause brand or reputational damage. "Security should never be viewed as a business 'blocker' but as an enabler, supporting business processes and workflows in ways that boost productivity, growth and revenue. I'm fortunate to be a CISO at Keyavi, where game-changing data security breakthroughs are redefining the future of a far safer data environment for everyone." Black Unicorn Award for Top 10 Women in Cybersecurity Jocelyn is a "mover, shaker and glass-ceiling breaker" with exceptional business leadership, a deep dedication to fighting cyber crime, and a lifelong commitment to raising awareness of cybersecurity and technology career opportunities and advancement for women. With 20 years of Silicon Valley leadership, and twice named a "Top 20 Women to Watch," Jocelyn is an expert at creating successful, customer-centric cybersecurity and technology organizations, increasing the velocity of their marketing and sales, and nurturing startups into growth engines. She is also a strong advocate for continuous innovation in the cybersecurity profession along with the diversities and cultures that drive them. Her cross-cutting perspective and expertise with global marketing and sales demand generation has landed her significant roles at top Fortune companies, such as Intel (News - Alert) , as well as startups. Jocelyn has also advised and advanced cybersecurity and technology startups on leadership, acquisition and exit strategies. In 2020, Jocelyn helped launch Keyavi Data in her twin roles as co-founder and the company's first chief marketing officer, where she develops and executes highly targeted strategies to nurture new business partnerships and drive customer growth and satisfaction. She also excels at ensuring the company's technology value is inseparably linked to customer success and business outcomes. "I love working in startup environments that combine strategy with rapid execution to solve critical industry problems, "Jocelyn said. "That's why I thrive in cultures like Keyavi's, where cross-functional collaboration, creativity and metrics-driven business results are valued as much as launching breakthrough products like our self-protecting, intelligent data API security platform. "Cybersecurity is a high-demand field, with millions of job openings worldwide and huge opportunities for women and minorities opening up. Diversity of experience, thought and background - not just gender - are just as important in attracting talent to the cyber field. I'm proud to be one of the voices influencing hiring managers to look outside the confines of a computer science degree or government career to women with backgrounds in analytics, risk management and other non-traditional tracks that can add unique perspectives and round out a cyber team's core capabilities and strengths." About Keyavi Data Corp. Headquartered in Denver, Keyavi's multi-award-winning self-protecting, intelligent and self-aware cybersecurity technology enables an individual piece of data to think for itself, secure itself, refuse access to unauthorized users, stay continually aware of its surroundings and automatically report back to its owner. The company's API platform and a full suite of applications riding on that platform also provide data owners with powerful controls to allow, revoke or deny access to their information - no matter who has it, where it's stored, or how many copies exist. Under development for years before launching in 2020, this multi-patented technology is so unique and innovative that leading industry analyst firm Omdia designated "self-protecting data solutions" as a new cybersecurity industry category, with Keyavi as the clear leader. Keyavi's easy-to-use yet robust solution delivers the ultimate in peace of mind for public and private organizations, their remote workforces and partner ecosystems in solving the security challenges of controlling confidential and intellectual property from data leaks, breaches and ransomware. To learn more about Keyavi and its breakthrough technology, visit https://keyavi.com/our-technology/. Follow Keyavi on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter using the @KeyaviData handle and hashtags #Keyavi #CybersecResilience. Keyavi Data and Intelligent Directory are trademarks of Keyavi Data Corp. All rights reserved. About Cyber Defense Awards This is Cyber Defense Magazine's ninth year of honoring cybersecurity innovators, in this case the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 on our Cyber Defense Awards platform. In this competition, judges for these prestigious awards include cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of Allegis Cyber and David DeWalt of NightDragon with much appreciation to emeritus judge Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. To see the complete list of finalists for the Black Unicorn Awards for 2021 please visit https://cyberdefenseawards.com/black-unicorn-awards-finalists-2021/ About Cyber Defense Magazine Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA (News - Alert) , Black Hat and IPEXPO conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group (CDMG). Note to Editors: A video of Keyavi CEO Elliot Lewis thanking the Black Unicorn award judges is available on Keyavi's YouTube channel. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005463/en/

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[August 02, 2021] IQST - iQSTEL Announces MasterCard Debit Card Giveaway With $10 To $1000 Balance Through MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem Shareholder Contest

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iQSTEL, Inc. (OTCQB: IQST) today announced a shareholder giveaway designed to promote the company's new MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem. Our MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem consists of a MasterCard Debit Card, a US Bank

Account, a Mobile Application with Wallet, cryptocurrency exchange services, international remittances, and mobile top up capability. We anticipate the MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem to generate $128 million in revenue over the next five years and to include a substantial EBITA contribution. The company announced a limited launched of its MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem on July 6th, 2021. After successfully rolling out the limited launch to identify and resolve potential system or process gaps or bottlenecks, iQSTEL is now ready to ramp up more customers. iQSTEL is beginning the ramp up first with a special program for its 19,000 loyal shareholders. iQSTEL will randomly select 2,000 shareholders to receive a MAXMO MasterCard Debit Card with no enrollment fee and more than 500 shareholders will get a balance from $10 to $1,000. Shareholders can look for details on the MAXMO MasterCard Debit Card Giveaway coming later this week in an announcement on the company's Ambassadors Facebook Page. The announcement will include a link to our MAXMO MasterCard Debit Card Giveaway Promo on our web page- www.iqstel.com We expect our MAXMO MasterCard Debit Card Giveaway to contribute to a rapid growth of Eosystem customers making our overall MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem even more attractive to potential bank, retailer, and professional association partners in Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, and other Latin American countries where we are actively developing partnership opportunities.







Mr. Iglesias Commented "We are very excited about the overall potential of our MAXMO Fintech Ecosystem. We have a great and cutting edge fintech product, and through our MAXMO MasterCard Debit Card Giveaway, our shareholders will be among the first in enjoy it. At the same time, the cross-selling opportunities with our other business divisions are already in place. For example, the purchase financing we plan to offer in conjunction with our Electric Motorcycle initiative through our EVoss initiative in Latin America ." iQSTEL Inc (OTCQB: IQST) (www.iQSTEL.com) is a US-based publicly-listed company with an Independent Board of Directors offering leading-edge Telecommunication, Technology and Fintech Services for Global Markets, with presence in 15 countries. The company provides services to the Telecommunications, Electric Vehicle (EV), Financial Services, Chemical and Liquid Fuel Distribution Industries. iQSTEL has 5 Business Divisions: Telecom, Electric Vehicle (EV), Fintech, Technology and Blockchain, with worldwide B2B and B2C customer relations operating through its subsidiaries: Etelix, SwissLink, QGlobal SMS, SMSDirectos, Global Money One, IoT Labs and itsBchain. The Company has an extensive portfolio of products and services for its clients: SMS, VoIP, international fiber-optic connectivity for 5G, Cloud-PBX, OmniChannel Marketing, EV Batteries, EV Chargers, EV Battery Management System, EV IoT Connectivity, Mobile App For EV Connectivity, EV Dashboard Display, Visa/Mastercard Debit Card, Cryptocurrency Exchange Services, Money Remittance, Mobile Top Up, IoT Smart Gas Platform, IoT Smart Tank Platform, Mobile Number Portability Application MNPA (Blockchain Platform) and Settlement & Payments Marketplace SPM (Blockchain Platform).

Safe Harbor Statement: Statements in this news release may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and iQSTEL Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release. iQSTEL Inc.

IR US Phone: 646-740-0907, IR Email: investors@iqstel.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iqst--iqstel-announces-mastercard-debit-card-giveaway-with-10-to-1000-balance-through-maxmo-fintech-ecosystem-shareholder-contest-301346179.html SOURCE iQSTEL, Inc.

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[August 02, 2021] Fonds de solidarite FTQ Invests to Support an Ownership Transfer to Quebec Hands in the Scientific Research Equipment Field

MONTREAL, Aug. 2, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - The Fonds de solidarite FTQ is proud to announce an investment to support an ownership transfer of the French company EMKA Technologies ("EMKA") to Quebec engineer and entrepreneur David Brunet. Mr. Brunet, who managed the Canadian subsidiary of the SCIREQ group, will take over the reins at EMKA as president and CEO on August 2. EMKA is a world leader in the design and production of scientific instruments for preclinical respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological research. With a team of some 75 employees working at the intersection of engineering and life sciences, EMKA offers a full range of equipment, software and hardware for professionals in the field. EMKA has offices in Europe, the United States, China, Japan and Canada (Montreal). "David Brunet is a passionate engineer and manager who has proven his talent in business development and multidisciplinary project management within the EMKA family," said Patrice Jolivet, Vice President, Investments, Agri-Food and Health at Fonds de soidarite FTQ. "This transaction once again speaks to the Fonds' commitment to supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and the development of healthcare companies in Quebec."



"Our team is proud to partner with the Fonds de solidarite FTQ to ensure the company's future and develop EMKA to its full potential. EMKA operates in a highly specialized life sciences niche. The Fonds' team worked closely with ours to understand our business and develop a financing structure tailored to our needs," said David Brunet. About EMKA TECHNOLOGIES

EMKA Technologies provides biomedical research laboratories around the world with state-of-the-art scientific instruments for cardiovascular, neurological and respiratory physiology and pharmacology research. Founded in 1992, the company has built a reputation for excellence by developing a complete range of hardware and software, along with unique expertise to support research professionals. Its customer base includes the most prestigious pharmaceutical, academic and government laboratories in the world. EMKA's products are cited in more than 3,000 scientific publications and contribute to the advancement of science on asthma, COVID-19, hypertension, neurodegenerative diseases, as well as to the approval of innovative therapies. About the Fonds de solidarite FTQ The Fonds de solidarite FTQ invests to build a better society by channelling the savings of its 723,501 shareholders into development and risk capital investments to help Quebec transition to a green economy, to a human-centred world of work, and to a healthier society. The Fonds offers businesses unsecured financing and strategic support. With $17.2 billion in net assets as at May 31, 2021, the Fonds has supported more than 3,437 partner companies and 247,612 jobs. To learn more, visit fondsftq.com. SOURCE Fonds de solidarite FTQ

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[August 02, 2021] CMG Financial's Tammy Turner Named 2021 HousingWire Women of Influence

SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- National mortgage media group HousingWire announced the 2021 Women of Influence. CMG Financial's Eastern Divisional Sales Manager, Tammy Turner, was honored on the 11th installment of this annual list of leading women in the mortgage, real estate, and fintech industries. Tammy was recognized for her passion for promoting homeownership, her intuitive mentorship, and her proven success growing the Eastern Division. In her past five years at CMG Financial, Tammy has grown her division from 5 offices, primarily in 2 states with less than 100 employees, to 50 locations in 16 states, with over 600 employees. Total production has increased from $600 million in 2016 to $5.2 billion in 2020, a nearly 900% growth rate. To celebrate this monumental achievement, Tammy's dedicated team of sales and operations professionals shared their extraordinary experiences about working with Tammy. Watch their stories here: www.cmgfi.com/join/tammy. "Another way to describe our Women of Influence honorees this year would be the women who are making an impact, which is something we saw woven into each of these amazing award winners," Brena Nath, HW+ managing editor, said. In 2020, Tammy's division led the way in finding efficiencies. From origination to underwriting, Tammy and her leadership team created better reporting and a feedback loop on file quality. Through the changes she implemented, she was able to increase her loans per employee by 50%, and underwriting decisions per day by 40%. 60 days after her pilot program, Tammy's strategies were adopte by the entire Retail Channel, leading to a record 2020 with total originations doubling from $7.5 billion to $15 billion.



"The winners of the Women of Influence award are truly remarkable! The contribution of these incredibly accomplished leaders to our industry is hard to overstate," HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler said. "We're excited to honor them and shine a spotlight on their achievements." To find out what it's like to work with inspirational leaders like Tammy Turner visit: www.cmgfi.com/careers/recruiting.

About CMG Financial CMG Financial is a well-capitalized, privately held mortgage-banking firm founded in 1993. The company makes its products and services available to the market through three distinct origination channels including Retail Lending, Wholesale Lending, and Correspondent Lending. CMG Financial currently operates in all states, including District of Columbia, and holds federal agency lending approvals with HUD, VA, RHS, GNMA, FNMA and FHLMC. Throughout the mortgage banking and housing markets, CMG Financial is widely known for responsible lending practices, industry and consumer advocacy, product innovation, and operational efficiency. About HousingWire HousingWire is the most influential source of news and information for the U.S. mortgage and housing markets. Built on a foundation of independent and original journalism, HousingWire reaches over 60,000 newsletter subscribers daily and over 1.0 million unique visitors each month. Our audience of mortgage, real estate and fintech professionals rely on us to Move Markets Forward. Visit www.housingwire.com or www.solutions.housingwire.com to learn more. Media Contact:

Madelynn Graham

Phone: 443.455.1137

Email: madelynng@cmgfi.com Related Images tammy-turner-housingwire-women-of.png

Tammy Turner HousingWire Women of Influence 2021

Tammy Turner HousingWire Women of Influence 2021 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cmg-financials-tammy-turner-named-2021-housingwire-women-of-influence-301345897.html SOURCE CMG Financial

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[August 02, 2021] NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Begins Launch Preparations

DENVER, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Lucy spacecraft has officially arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to begin preparations ahead of its launch this fall. "This spacecraft is so much more than a piece of hardware, it's a work of art, and I'm incredibly proud of how the team came together to build this through a global pandemic," said Rich Lipe, Lockheed Martin Lucy program manager. "To be here now, starting to prepare for launch, is a terrific feeling." Designed and built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, Lucy will give humankind its first ever close-up look at Jupiter's elusive Trojan asteroids. These celestial objects are important because scientists believe they could hold clues about how our solar system and the planets formed. Shipping a Precious Package In the pre-dawn hours Friday, Lucy took the first steps of its 12-year, four-billion-mile odyssey to the "fossils" of the solar system by boarding a cargo plane in Colorado. And moving a nearly one-ton spacecraft 18 months in the making is no small feat. After converting a shipping container into its own mini cleanroom environment, a team of Lockheed Martin engineers carefully placed Lucy inside and loaded the spacecraft onto a special transport truck at the company's Littleton, Colorado, facility. Flanked by its own police escort, the truck made its way to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, where a team of about 40 people from Lockheed Martin, NASA and Southwest Research Institute met Lucy and tucked the spacecraft safely inside its C-17 transport aircraft. After touching down on the Space Shuttle Landing Strip at Kennedy Space Center, Lucy was moved to Astrotech Space Operations, where it will begin preparations for a 23-day launch window that opens Oct. 16. What's Ahead in the Journey? Following its pre-launch testing, launch vehicle integration and liftoff on an Atlas V 401 rocket, the path that lies ahead will see Lucy visit a record-breaking number of asteroids  eight, to be precise. As part of a highly complex orbital trajectory, Lucy will fly by one Main Belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids  ancient objects trapped within gravity wells created by the combined pull of Jupiter an the sun, near so-called Lagrange Points. One group leads and one group trails Jupiter in its orbit.



The spacecraft will use precise instruments to study the geology, surface composition and physical properties of these primitive Trojan asteroids. Scientific theory hypothesizes these objects were scattered during the creation of our outer solar system roughly 4 billion years ago and later captured in Jupiter's orbit  remaining there, undisturbed, for billions of years. These genuine "fossils" of the solar system could hold clues about what conditions were like when the planets formed, leading to an even greater understanding of our own origins.

Lucy's first asteroid flyby occurs in 2025, and the last planned flyby will be in 2033. More About the Mission For more than 50 years, Lockheed Martin has helped NASA explore every planet in our solar system and continues to develop new technologies for future space missions like Lucy. Lucy is the seventh of 13 NASA Discovery-class missions in which Lockheed Martin has participated. The company will also build two NASA spacecraft headed to Venus at the end of the decade. Lockheed Martin Space designed, built, tested, and will operate Lucy out of its Littleton, Colorado, facility. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, is the principal investigator institution and will operate the Science Operations Center (SOC). Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Learn more about Lucy on Lockheed Martin's website. For photos, check out the company's Flickr page. About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the corporation. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-begins-launch-preparations-301346238.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin

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[August 02, 2021] Community Brands unveils Ravenna TUITION

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Brands, the leading provider of cloud-based software and payment solutions for schools, associations, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations, recently made new tuition payment capabilities available in its industry-leading admission and enrollment management suite, Ravenna. Ravenna TUITION helps schools increase their enrollment yield and retention, all while saving hours of valuable staff and administrative time. New Ravenna TUITION creates one connected family admission and onboarding experience and supports schools' stability. "By creating one connected admission through onboarding experience, we are strengthening our commitment to our partner schools and their families," says Aldor Delp, Executive Vice President of Tuition & Enrollment Systems at Community Brands. "Ravenna TUITION will help our schools achieve long-term financial stability and fulfilltheir missions."



Schools who use Ravenna TUITION can enjoy the simplicity of seamlessly applying credits such as deposits and financial aid awards to tuition bills, integration with industry-leading financial aid software SSS, built-in robust reporting, automated invoice reminders and customized emails. Families also benefit from streamlined accounts and logins, automatically synced data from application, to enrollment, to billing and the ability to choose the payment plan that works best for their budget. With nearly a decade as a proven, highly configurable admission and enrollment solution, this announcement showcases a modernized approach to private and independent school business office management. This newly integrated feature set centralizes admission, enrollment, tuition and financial aid management, for both families and school staff.

The innovative, flexible platform updates announced today are immediately available to schools. Better meet tight admission and enrollment deadlines, gain insights faster than ever, clearly communicate with families, and eliminate time-consuming data transfers by powering your entire enrollment experience on one premier, integrated enrollment suite. Learn more about Ravenna today. About Community Brands

Community Brands is the leading provider of cloud-based software and payment solutions to associations, nonprofits, and K-12 schools. Specifically for charitable nonprofits and schools, the Community Brands Education and Nonprofit portfolio provides the industry's most complete set of software solutions for nonprofits and K-12 schools of all sizes. Nonprofits benefit from award-winning fund accounting and fundraising solutions, purpose-built from the ground up to empower them to achieve and grow their impact in our communities. Paired with a complete set of K-12 solutions encompassing enrollment management, financial aid, student information systems, and digital payments, schools are empowered to raise funds and deliver on their missions. To learn more, visit communitybrands.com or follow us on LinkedIn. Media contact:

Karen Wright

karen.wright@communitybrands.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/community-brands-unveils-ravenna-tuition-301346217.html SOURCE Community Brands

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[August 02, 2021] New Banking Institution Sunstone Trust Open for Business

Sunstone Trust Company has been approved as a de novo trust company by the state of California and has opened operations as a banking institution. Sunstone Trust provides high touch fiduciary and wealth management services and specializes in serving first- and second-generation immigrants. The company is one of only eight independent trust companies licensed in the state. Sunstone is majority-owned by first-generation immigrants and specializes in protecting the wealth and serving the interests of families and individuals who have immigrated to the United States or desire to do so. Services are available in multiple languages, including English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. Sunstone serves client needs comprehensively or in partnership with existing professional advisors. The company manages all types of assets, including stock and bond portfolios, commercial real estate, residential real estate, and private company stock. Further, Sunstone will offer clients access to its proprietary common trust funds. "More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. every year looking to build their American dream. Our history and expertise allow us to uniquely serve those coming to the U.S. and growing their wealth. We ar committed to being a true industry leader by providing an exclusive blend of trustee services, language services, and unequalled customer service to our clients in the U.S., Asia, and beyond," says John Shen, Founder and Chairman of the Board.



"We have an opportunity to deliver high-net worth services to communities that have not yet been well-served," adds Dan Wheeler, CEO, Sunstone Trust Company. "In addition to world-class personal service, we are bringing exciting innovations to the fiduciary wealth management industry. We look forward to being a trusted partner to our clients and to other banks, RIAs, and fiduciaries that want to deliver more and better services to their clients." About Sunstone Trust Company

Sunstone Trust is a California-chartered trust company providing wealth growth and management services. The Company's lead founder, John Shen, is an American success story and has built two other California-based financial companies with more than 500 high-net-worth client families and over $1.2 billion in combined assets under management:

American Lending Center is a private non-bank lending institution and nationally recognized leader in SBA lending with a focus on minority or women-owned and other disadvantaged small businesses.

Sunstone Management, Inc. is a diversified private capital management and investment firm that offers comprehensive wealth management solutions to its high-net-worth clients with a focus on investments in U.S. startups, small businesses, and lower middle markets. Sunstone is a member of the Association of Trust Organizations and the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. For the most up-to-date news, follow Sunstone Trust Company on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005653/en/

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[August 02, 2021] Nexa and SearchKings Teaming Up to Offer Businesses a Comprehensive Demand Generation Solution

PHOENIX, Aug. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexa Receptionists Holdings LLC ( "Nexa" ), the leading provider of tech-enabled business services for companies of all sizes across the US, and SearchKings , one of the fastest-growing digital advertising agencies for small- to mid-sized businesses in North America, announced today a partnership to help clients in the home services, healthcare, legal, real estate and retail & eCommerce industries scale their revenue. The comprehensive solution starts with top-tier digital advertising to generate leads and ends with rapid omnichannel business answering to increase conversions and sign-up new customers. "We regularly hear from clients that our 24/7 call, chat and text offerings help them significantly reduce costs while expanding service and lead capture," said Nexa CEO Jeff Mosler. "This partnership creates a new way to execute on that missionclients can leverage the end-to-end SearchKings and Nexa solution to maximize speed-to-market and return on investment." Rather than hiring and training in-house staff, customers can use SearchKings' expertise as a Gogle Premier Partner and Microsoft Elite Partner to create customized, lead-generating digital advertising campaigns and then leverage Nexa's expert-level virtual receptionist, call answering and live chat & text services to improve their response times and boost campaign lead conversiondriving down marketing costs and increasing revenue along the way.



"Lead generation is much more than just 'making the phone ring' in 2021," said SearchKings President Darryl Margaux. "Today, businesses are measured and graded on their ability to answer calls in real time, and provide accurate feedback to companies like Google and Microsoft in order to maximize campaign performance. By partnering with a company like Nexa, our customers are modernizing their business and paving the way for continued success in the ruthless world of digital advertising." "From the onset of our relationship, it's been clear that Nexa and SearchKings shared a passion for creating high-value outcomes for our clients," said Mosler. "We're excited to partner with SearchKings and see how this comprehensive solution helps drive real growth for both our clients."

To learn more about scaling your business with Nexa and SearchKings, visit try.nexa.com/search-kings-press or searchkings.ca/contact/ . About Nexa Receptionist Holdings, LLC Nexa Receptionists Holdings, LLC is a leading provider of tech-enabled business services for companies of all sizes across the United States, helping them grow and scale with 24/7 virtual receptionist, call answering & appointment scheduling, inbound & outbound sales, live chat & text, and client & patient intake services. The company's two brands, Nexa and Alert Communications , serve clients across industries like home services, healthcare, legal, real estate, retail & eCommerce and technology, among others. Founded in 1982, Nexa is headquartered in Phoenix with locations in Camarillo, CA, Richmond, VA and Austin, TX. About SearchKings Founded in 2009, SearchKings designs, builds, and manages digital advertising campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses in a variety of verticals including home services and professional services. With over 5000 customers, 1000+ five-star Google reviews, and 85 employees and growing, SearchKings is one of the fastest growing digital advertising agencies in North America. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexa-and-searchkings-teaming-up-to-offer-businesses-a-comprehensive-demand-generation-solution-301346376.html SOURCE Nexa

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INVESTOR ALERT: Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Announces Investigation of Concho Resources Inc. (CXO) on Behalf of Investors

Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces an investigation on behalf of Concho Resources Inc. ("Concho" or the "Company") (NYSE: CXO) investors concerning the Company's possible violations of the federal securities laws.

In 2018, Concho planned and constructed the Dominator Project ("Dominator") located in the Permian Basin. It consisted of 23 wells.

On July 31, 2019, Concho revealed the wells at Dominator were spaced "too tight," leading the Company to reduce its active rig count to 18 (down from 33 in the first quarter of 2019) to avoid overshooting budgets.

On this news, Concho's stock price fell 22% per share on August 1, 2019, thereby injuring investors.

If you purchased Cocho 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 Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com, or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.







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/20210802005762/en/
NASHVILLE  Funds to research exports of Tennessees hardwood will benefit the wood products industry statewide and strengthen international markets. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has been awarded an Emerging Markets Program (EMP) grant from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service to study Tennessee hardwood viability in Vietnam.

TDA will receive approximately $200,000 under the EMP grant. Funds will be used to conduct a research mission to Vietnam to meet with furniture manufacturers to survey supply chain needs, species and grade preferences, and current Tennessee hardwood utilization.

Dr. Andrew Muhammad along with TDA Business Development consultants will conduct and compile the research. Dr. Muhammad is an agricultural economist and the Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA).

The research that is now possible with the EMP funding will have an impact across Tennessee  from our largest sawmill to our smallest forest landowner, Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, D.V.M. said. We appreciate the support from USDA and the partnership with UTIA to make meaningful and long-lasting efforts like this possible.

An additional research mission will take place in Tennessee with Vietnamese furniture manufacturers to tour wood supplier facilities, educate manufacturers on product availability, and create supply chain connections. Research and analysis of the Vietnamese wood products market will complement the trade mission activities.

Its fulfilling to lead research that impacts decision-makers and industry participants, Dr. Muhammad said. This EMP project is an excellent research opportunity that will inform how Tennessee can increase wood product exports to Vietnam.

The Tennessee Department of Agricultures mission is to serve the citizens of Tennessee by promoting responsible uses of our agricultural and forest resources, developing economic opportunities, and ensuring safe and dependable food and fiber. Visit www.tn.gov/agbusinessdevelopment to learn more.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes, Tennessees Adjutant General, announced today that Col. Warner Nubbin Ross, from Hardeman County, will serve as the Tennessee Military Departments Assistant Adjutant GeneralArmy effective immediately.

Col. Ross is a proven leader with experience gained from numerous deployments and command positions held within the military as well as leadership positions in the civilian sector, said Holmes. His experience will be invaluable and we are fortunate to have him on our command team.

As the Assistant Adjutant General-Army, Ross will be responsible for more than 9,000 Tennessee National Guard Soldiers serving throughout the state. Prior to this appointment, he served as the commander of the 194th Engineer Brigade headquartered in Jackson. Ross will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General during a ceremony, in Bolivar, on Sept. 19.

In order to serve as the Assistant Adjutant General-Army, Ross was first approved by a federal general officer recognition board, then confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and appointed by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.

Currently residing in Toone, Ross started his military career in 1990 by enlisting in the Tennessee National Guard as an infantryman. He then commissioned as an infantry officer in 1991 after attending the Tennessee National Guards Officer Candidate School. Over the next 30 years, Ross served in various command and staff positions to include the commander of 1st Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and commander of the 194th Engineer Brigade. He deployed to Iraq twice for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 and 2010 as well as served in Kuwait in 2020.

Ross holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Mississippi and dual Masters Degrees in Education Curriculum and Administrative Supervision from Freed-Hardeman University. He is a graduate of the United States Army War College where he received his Masters Degree in Strategic Studies. He also has a distinguished career in education and has served as the Hardeman County Director of Schools since 2012.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Sgt. William Lukens, a tactical generator mechanic in the Tennessee Army National Guards 208th Area Support Medical Company in Smyrna and a senior at Middle Tennessee State University won the 2021 Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition at Camp Navajo, Arizona.

Lukens was one of thirteen finalists who represented the best National Guard Soldiers and Non-Commissioned Officers in the nation during a grueling four-day event that concluded on July 23. It feels amazing, said Lukens, and I am really excited to carry out what I learned here back to my unit and sharpen the skills of other Soldiers.

With an elevation of 7,000 feet, Camp Navajo presented its own challenges for the competitors. Two weeks before arriving in Arizona, Lukens prepared himself for the higher elevation by hiking part of the Appalachian Trail; I did 33 miles with a 55-pound pack. I left about 2 p.m. and hiked until 1 a.m. and I took a nap and then I went the rest of the 10 miles.

The first day of the competition started with the Army Combat Fitness Test followed by a helicopter flight to the desert. Shooting is something I really enjoy, said Lukens. We started with shotguns and pistols. We then flew back to the camp. We fired M-4s at night with [night vision goggles]. It was a lot of fun. I hadnt done that before!

After three hours of sleep, next came land navigation. I was really proud of myself. I quickly found five out of five points. Following land navigation, the competitors were graded on warrior tasks: radio checks, first aid, the grenade range, weapons range, programming a dagger (a military GPS), setting up a claymore mine, and sending a 9-line medical evacuation report. To make it even more interesting, these were timed events with a mile long run in-between.

Next, the Soldiers worked two final events with a combination of stressors. The first event involved troubleshooting an M-4 rifle -- blindfolded. The final event was assembling two different rifles from a box full of parts, in the dark, while loud music played in the background.

The final event on the second day of competition was designed to test these professionals in a unique environment. The competitors were bussed to an Olympic sized pool to demonstrate how well they swam in full uniform. We had to swim 25 meters with an M-4 over our head, said Lukens. If your weapon went in the water, you failed.

The next four events involved diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a piece of tactical gear, swimming 50-meters, 100-meters, and treading water with their hands over their heads without going under. Again, in each event the Soldiers were in uniform. I came in second in the swimming event, so Ill train harder for next time, said Lukens.

On the third day, the competitors were taken to the desert and put into three-person teams. They were graded on a field artillery exercise where they demonstrated firing for effect and an urban operation exercise where they demonstrated clearing a building. Next, the drove out to Arizonas Mogollon Rim for a ruck march with a 35-pound pack. Lukens finished first. The Soldier who came in second was a full 20 minutes behind him.

The final day of competition was a little more cerebral. There was an essay contest, a written exam, and the competitors appeared before a formal board. The competitors were also tested on their drill and ceremony.

They didnt tell me how well I did, but they said I could have failed an event and still won, said Lukens.

That evening, everyone attended an awards banquet where it was announced that Lukens was the best of the best and the 2021 Army National Guard Soldier of the Year. He was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal and Soldier of the Year trophy.

This is a great honor, said Lukens. Im proud to represent my state during the competition and I look forward to representing all 54 states and territories in the upcoming Army Best Warrior competition. This has been an amazing experience.

Lukens enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2017. In addition to being a college student and president of his fraternity (Kappa Sigma), he is employed full-time with the Guard in Smyrna. He is keeping his plans for the future open, but leaning heavily toward becoming a drill sergeant. Ill never forget what my drill sergeant, Drill Sergeant Grainger, said, a deficiency that goes uncorrected becomes a new standard.

Lukenss will be moving on to the U.S. Armys Best Warrior competition to compete against Soldiers from Active Duty and the Reserves this fall. He will be representing the more than 330,000 Soldiers from 54 states and territories in the National Guard.
The folks who watch Fox news on the regular know this dude but our progressive pals should realize he's a pretty big deal.



We post this presser because it's noteworthy and STILL CURIOUS THAT JOCO SHERIFFS haven't jumped on this bandwagon.

Here's the word . . .



America's Sheriff Endorses Kris Kobach for Kansas Attorney General

August 2, 2021 (Wichita)  Americas Sheriff today announced he endorses Kris Kobach for Attorney General of Kansas. David Clarke, a conservative critic of Antifa and the socialist BLM movement, served as Milwaukee County Sheriff for 15 years in Wisconsin.



When law enforcement officers are under attack by the media and the Left, Kansas needs an attorney general who has a track record of backing the blue," said Clarke. "Kris Kobach has experience defending sheriffs across the country, and he is representing Texas sheriffs right now in federal court.



Kobach currently represents four sheriffs in a lawsuit against the Biden administration. The administration issued a memorandum that prevents sheriffs and ICE agents from detaining and removing from the country illegal aliens who commit serious crimes.



I have worked closely with Kris and know he will be one of the nations best advocates for law enforcement," said Clarke. "I give Kris my strongest endorsement for Kansas Attorney General.



Clarkes law enforcement career stretches back to 1978. He served in a variety of capacities including Lieutenant of Detectives, Captain of Police and commander of crimes against property and in the intelligence division before his election to sheriff in 2002 and earning the moniker of Americas Sheriff.



I am grateful to Americas Sheriff, David Clarke, for his endorsement of my campaign. Sheriff Clarke knows firsthand the important role Attorneys General play in getting criminals off the street and keeping our communities safe, Kobach said.



Clarke joins a growing number of law enforcement professionals who support Kris Kobach in the Attorney Generals race. Last week, ten Kansas county sheriffs announced their support of Kobachs campaign, calling the former Secretary of State the law and order candidate. The Kansas sheriffs endorsing Kobach include:



Bill Carr, Ford County Sheriff



Kris Casper, Wichita County Sheriff



Andy Dedeke, Leavenworth County Sheriff



Kevin Friend, Linn County Sheriff



Brian Hill, Shawnee County Sheriff



Scott King, Pawnee County Sheriff



John Merchant, Brown County Sheriff



Brandon Mitchell, Ness County Sheriff



Tim Morse, Jackson County Sheriff



Vernon Valentine, Anderson County Sheriff

###############



Developing . . .


The Kansas City dress code restarts despite widespread dissent of the contradictory public health orders.



Again, we won't forget that Mayor Q said that a mask order "wasn't necessary" on July 25th.



In any event, here's the local news round-up via links compiled by www.TonysKansasCity.com . . .



Kansas City's new mask mandate is back today. Here's what you need to know. KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Kansas City's second mask mandate has begun, with new rules on when you should be masked up and when you can go without a face covering.

COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES: Mask mandates now in place in KCMO, NKC Here are the latest COVID-19 updates around the Kansas City metro area, and in Kansas and Missouri.What you need to know:The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday the state has 330,932 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 5,247 deaths since the outbreak started.

Mask mandate is back in place for public places within KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - People visiting grocery stores, restaurants, museums and other places of public accommodation within the city limits of Kansas City, Missouri, will now have to wear a face mask beginning Monday. Mayor Quinton Lucas issued a new mask order taking effect Monday morning and lasting until AUg.

Lawsuit over St. Louis mask rules sent back to state court THAT HAD TBEO DONE. IT IS A HUGE PROBLEM. OUR DOCTORS HAVE BEEN TELLING US, IT'S A PROBLEM FOR A WHILE. TODAY, WE ARE TAKING REAL STEPS TO MAKE SEUR THAT WE ADDRESS THAT CONCERN LONG TERM.

CDC Offers Explanation On Why It Again Recommends Masks Indoors Newly released data from an outbreak in Massachusetts show that fully vaccinated people with breakthrough infections stemming from the delta variant can spread the virus to others, although the CDC stressed that the situation is rare. This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations.

New mask guidelines trigger backlash The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) new mask guidance is spurring confusion and backlash as the country tries to respond to the shifting threat of the delta variant. Many public health experts called the CDC prudent for recommending that even fully vaccinated Americans should wear masks in indoor public places in areas of the country with high amounts of transmission.

Fauci 'respectfully disagrees' that masks are a 'choice': 'Infection is impacting everyone' White House Chief Health Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has rejected the idea that face masks are a "personal choice" in the face of the increasingly severe delta variant of the coronavirus. The United States on Thursday recorded almost 80,000 new COVID-19 cases - well below the January peak of nearly 300,000 new daily cases, but a stark rise from a month ago when daily cases were under 10,000.

Developing . . .
PRINCETON - John Edward Barbour, of Princeton, IN and formerly of West Terre Haute, passed away on July 7, 2021 while on vacation in a bowling tournament in Las Vegas. He was born on October 19, 1956 to Daniel C. Barbour and Margaret Rhyan Barbour. John was a 1974 graduate of West Vigo High 
CANTON - Joseph Knox Elementary School, along with other Cherokee County School District schools across the county, welcomed students back Monday morning for the first day of the new school year.

Knox teachers and faculty eagerly welcomed kids and parents into the school. Cherokee County School District saw a little under 40,000 students on the first day of classes Monday.

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Ethan Johnson Ethan is a reporter covering the cities of Holly Springs & Canton. He also covers city governments and lifestyle. He is a graduate of Kennesaw State University. Follow Ethan Johnson Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
I am trying to find out whether anyone else has experienced poor communications and poor customer service from Cunard after finding out that Cunard canceled Queen Elizabeth's fall sailings. The details and my specific questions follow.

Until last week we had been looking forward to our cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth from Barcelona to Singapore from mid-October to mid-November of this year, 2021 (Q132P / 23 Days Asia).

Last week we received a call out of the blue from a Cunard representative who wanted to sell us a cruise. That was a surprise, and we told the person as much since we already had a cruise coming up. She did not know that, which concerns me very much.

When we gave her our reservation number for the Barcelona-~Singapore cruise, she told us the cruise had been canceled by Cunard. This was alarming, because we had not received any notification from Cunard to that effect and still have not. However, the Cunard web site confirms that Queen Elizabeth sailings during the time period of our cruise have been canceled. We told the representative that we wanted to have our fare and other charges refunded to the credit card to which it was initially charged.

A short time later the same representative called back to ask if we'd be interested in using a voucher to take a similar Cunard voyage at a later date in 2022 when, presumably, travel has returned to normal. After analyzing the offer we rejected it because 1) the value was not 125% of what we had paid, which is what the representative had represented, but closer to 106%; and 2) at leas two of the stops we were most looking forward to had been dropped from the itinerary.

We again asked for a refund. While the representative said the request would be processed, my confidence in Cunard is shaken because:

1) the company failed to notify us directly of the cancellation via email or any other means, which at a minimum is poor customer service;

2) after we asked for a refund the company still called back and tried to persuade us to accept a voucher for another cruise in lieu of a refund even though the substitute cruise and the terms for the cruise were not as described; and

3) we still haven't received any communication from Cunard acknowledging that we have canceled the cruise and a refund will be forthcoming. In contrast, when you cancel an air reservation on line or over the phone with a reservations agent the email from the airline confirming the cancellation appears almost instantaneously.

Has this or something like it happened to you with respect to Fall, 2021 cruises on Cunard? If so, did Cunard notify you of the cancellation? When did they notify you? Have you asked for a refund and, if so, what has Cunard's response been?

Thank you in advance for any comments you might make.
I just entered La Paz last night from Lima, Peru. I am a U.S. Citizen so not all of these will apply to you. It's not an easy entry process, but as long as you have all your documents in order, you shouldn't have any problems.

EVERYONE (unless a Bolivian national) was required to show the following (printed):

1. Negative PCR test taken within 72 hours.

2. Proof of health insurance valid for Boliva and with Covid coverage. I was quite surprised how strict they were with this requirement and they looked carefully at the validation dates of the policy. Make sure it covers your ENTIRE STAY in Bolivia.

3. Address of where I was to stay in Bolivia (I printed my Airbnb itinerary)

4. Proof of return or onward travel (I printed a copy of my flight itinerary leaving Bolivia and they actually looked up my confirmation code to see that it was valid at the check-in counter)

5. Bolivia health declaration form (they will give one to you on the plane upon arrival but it's easier to do it before you board).

6. Customs form (given to you on the plane upon arrival)

And for U.S. Citizens who do NOT already have a Bolivian visa:

6. Photocopy of the photo page of your passport

7. $160 cash in clean, unmarked, untorn bills (I am not sure if they accept credit card so I just brought cash to be 100% sure).

The visa process is a bit cumbersome. Definitely plan for some extra time, especially if you are not one of the first off the plane. I was in the second row and from the time I left the plane to the moment I met my driver outside customs was 60 minutes. However, the lines get long and they move slow, so plan for much more time if you are seated towards the back.

You will first need to go to the main visa counter. They will review your documents and then tell you to pay at the payment window. There they will once again take your passport and review your documents. Then you pay the cash and they will take your photo. They will affix the paper visa into your passport complete with photo, and once completed they will hand back your visa with a paper folder to return BACK to the first immigration official. YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO BACK TO THE END OF THE LINE! Just return to the same first window you started with and they will then take your paper folder, take your photo again, and finally stamp your passport and off you go.

I used Shuttlesafe Bolivia for my transfer from the airport to Airbnb. It was $20 including the tip and was marvelous. Quick and easy and they had a big van to carry all my crap. I highly recommend them.

Lastly, the elevation here is NO JOKE. The airport is over 11,000 ft up. I have recently been to Cusco and Quito but arriving here made me light-headed. Just relax, don't rush, and if you need to catch your breath then do so. I recommend not carrying too many carry-ons.

Almost forgot to mention - NOBODY asked to see proof of yellow fever vaccination. I got one in Lima because passengers from Peru are technically required to show proof of vaccination when arriving in Bolivia. But not a single person even mentioned it. At least I'm protected!

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Edited: 02 August 2021, 20:05
Hi,

I'm planning to visit the Balkans in mid-August and I'm figuring out if the travel plan below is actually possible with the current covid restrictions. As far as I'm able to find, during normal times these routes do have (multiply) direct bus connections daily but I can't find exactly if these routes are currently operating. I'm also slightly worried because I did read recent topics here on the Tripadvisor Forum about there aren't any international bus lines currently arriving/departing Skopje Bus Station. This is the itinerary I have in mind:

Bus: Sarajevo > Podgorica

Bus: Podgorica > Kotor

Bus: Kotor > Skopje

Bus: Skopje > Pristina

Any help would be much appreciated. P.s. I've traveled to many cities in the Balkans before COVID so don't mind I'm missing out any important Balkan destinations (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria) in the itinerary above.
Tucson, AZ (85741)

Today

Mostly sunny skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 101F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 78F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Two men appear before the Princes Town Magistrates Court -- in separate matters, but both are accused of sex crimes against teenagers.

And, police report more breach of curfew arrests
Ukraine police say 130 cases of human trafficking have already been detected in the first half of 2021.

Thats according to Deputy Interior Minister Kateryna Pavlichenko who spoke at the presentation of an audio documentary series "It Wont Happen to Me" covering the topic of trafficking in persons, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As for statistics, the National Police say 130 cases of human trafficking have already been exposed in the first half of this year," Pavlichenko said.

She noted that the vast majority of established cases of trafficking in persons involve attracting victims to criminal activity, and the second and third most frequent cases are about labor and sexual exploitation.

For his part, head of the Migration Police Department with the National Police, Serhiy Panteleiev, noted that this year the police succeeded in exposing and liquidating 26 organized criminal groups engaged in human trafficking, which consisted of 139 suspects.

"Regarding the fight against human trafficking, we deal with two issues: human trafficking, which begins and completes in our country, where labor and sexual exploitation are more common; and human trafficking, which begins in our country with recruitment, completing its corpus delicti in other countries," the officer said.

According to Panteleyev, Ukrainian police are currently participating in four international investigation teams in cases where victims were recruited in Ukraine before being trafficked across the border.

"There have been no such (international investigation  ed.) groups previously. This allows us to conduct investigation simultaneously both in our country and in countries where the crime completes, as well as to transfer the evidence obtained to those countries," he noted.

Read also: Government approves concept of program to combat trafficking in human beings

For her part, Pavlichenko called on those who have encountered a situation involving human trafficking or has been in such a situation to report such cases, contact the police and social services.

She explained that such information would be useful to other citizens and would be used by the police to bring perpetrators to justice, resolve similar crimes, expose criminal organizations, and prosecute all those involved.

As reported earlier, July 30 marks World Day against Trafficking in Persons, according to the UN decision.

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The Ukrainian Navys diving unit has arrived in Romania to participate in the Dive 2021 multinational mine clearance diving exercise.

Thats according to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Ukrinform reports.

"The combined diving unit of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on board the Oleksandr Okhrymenko search and rescue vessel arrived at the Romanian Naval Forces naval base in Constanta. The purpose of the visit is to participate in the multinational anti-mine diving exercise Dive 2021, which kicks off today, August 2, involving representatives of Ukraine, the United States, Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia, "the statement reads.

The drill taking place in the Black Sea, within Romanias territorial waters, will consist of four phases.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Dive exercise has been held since 2011. Previously, Ukraine participated only as an observer. This year, the Ukrainian Navy will take a direct part.

The 30-strong combined unit will be involved, as well as the Navys Oleksandr Okhrymenko search and rescue vessel.

The key purpose of the exercises is to exchange the diving experience in searching and neutralizing subsurface explosive objects, as well as in planting explosives, and performing other subsurface missions.

im
In the Black Sea, Ukrainian navy crews, together with their Georgian counterparts from the Coast Guard and the Border Police Department took part in the PASSEX drill.

This was reported on Facebook by the press service of Ukraines Navy Command, Ukrinform wrote.

"The objective of the event was to maintain security in the Black Sea, improve skills and interoperability of the crews of Ukrainian Navy vessels and Georgian crews in performing joint naval operations (tasks) as part of multinational tactical groups," the statement said.

It is noted that during the drill in the designated area, elements of tactical maneuvering, an overboard rescue, and cargo transfer were practiced. Practical towing was also worked out.

On the Ukrainian side, the Sloviansk Island-class patrol boat was involved in the exercise, while the Georgian side was also represented by the Ochamchiri Island-class boat of the Coast Guard and the Sukhumi patrol boat of the Border Police Department.

The Ukrainian Command noted that all elements of the exercise were completed as planned, in accordance with NATO standards and procedures.

As Ukrinform reported, on May 27, the Ukrainian and UK navies conducted a PASSEX joint exercise in the Black Sea.

im
Ukraine is not considering the option of purchasing Russian natural gas and is not holding talks on this issue, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

According to Ukrinform, he said this in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"We are not considering such an option at all, and we are not holding any talks about it. That's where we have such a very clear position. In principle, we want Ukraine to start exporting gas, rather than importing it. We now produce about 20 billion cubic meters [of natural gas] per year, and the whole of Ukraine consumes about 30 billion cubic meters. Accordingly, we import 10 billion cubic meters. At the same time, if we look only at household consumers, we will see a slightly different situation," Vitrenko said.

He said that Ukraine should increase natural gas production so that it has more gas than all consumers need.

op
Ukraine's readiness for the heating season makes up 50%, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

More than 50% of facilities have already been prepared for the heating season. Last week a meeting of the Anti-Crisis Energy Headquarters was held, the key topic of which was planned preparation and stable passage of the autumn-winter period. According to regional state administrations, as of mid-July, more than 50% of residential buildings and social and cultural facilities, 51% of boiler houses, and 54% of heating networks were prepared," Shmyhal wrote on Facebook.

He also noted that Ukrainian universities will get funds for energy efficient renovation of educational buildings and dormitories. In particular, the country will receive EUR 49 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a EUR 10 million grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P). "Last week, contracts were signed within the framework of the Higher Education in Ukraine project," the prime minister recalled.

According to him, the modernization of buildings will improve the learning and living conditions for students at universities, as well as contribute to significant resource savings and the transition to a green economy.

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Aerial firefighting crews with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine made 18 flights in the past day, dropping a total of 144 tonnes of water over the areas in Turkey affected by wildfires.

Thats according to the press office of the State Emergency Service, Ukrinform reports.

"On August 1, the SES aircraft (two AN-32Ps) fought fire in the province of Antalya in the Republic of Turkey, making 18 water discharges (144 tonnes). A total of 34 discharges (272 tonnes) have been carried out since they engaged in the operation, the statement reads.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on July 28, wildfires broke out in the area of Manavgat (Antalya province), spreading to the provinces of Osmaniye, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Adana, Mersin, and Mugla.

On July 30, Ukraine deployed two An-32P firefighting planes with a 14-strong support group to help Turkish firefighters. These are experienced professionals who have gained experience in operating across mountainous areas and previously been involved in tackling large-scale fires in Montenegro, Israel, and Georgia.

The two aircraft landed at Gazipasa Alania Airport.

im
Ukraine pursues its efforts to make sure that Russias Nord Stream 2 gas pipe never starts operations once its construction is completed.

Thats according to CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuriy Vitrenko, who spoke in an interview with RFE/RL, Ukrinform reports.

"The battle is lost, but the war isnt. And our war against Nord Stream 2 continues. The battle thats lost is most likely what it looks like  thats the very construction of Nord Stream 2 that will be completed. Now comes our next 'battle,' or the ongoing 'battle' were engaged in, which is to ensure that this pipeline, whether its completed or not, never launches," the CEO said.

Read also: House passes bill providing for assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Nord Stream 2

According to Vitrenko, its important to prevent the commercial use of the gas pipeline. "Because whats important for Ukraine is not whether this pipe is out there or not, its that gas doesnt flow through it bypassing Ukraine. And we need to make sure that this gas doesnt flow through this pipe," Vitrenko stressed.

The officials added that Ukraine has all the levers to this end. In particular, it could be proved that the pipeline operator is controlled by Russia's Gazprom and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, European legislation prohibits a single person or group from controlling both gas production and transportation, so the pipeline operator will not be able to pass the required certification.

"And this is even spelled out in that joint statement released by the United States and Germany. They say that they will do everything to ensure that European legislation, in particular the Third Energy Package, is applied both to the letter and spirit of the law," said Vitrenko.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on July 21, the U.S. and German governments issued a joint declaration outlining their position on the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The document has sparked massive criticism, including from Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had sent formal requests for consultations with Germany and the EU, in line with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

Nord Stream 2: Background

Nord Stream 2 is a Russian gas pipeline under construction, bypassing Ukraine. It is being laid along the Baltic Sea seabed to connect Russia and Germany. The project cost is estimated at EUR 9.5 billion. The sole shareholder is Russias energy giant OJSC Gazprom. In December 2019, construction was suspended due to sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. At the time, the pipeline was 96% complete.

The new U.S. administration, led by President Joe Biden, now says it is impossible to stop the construction of the pipe at this stage.

At the same time, criticizing the U.S.-German agreement, Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus Marcy Kaptur said "Congress must reject any deals that fail to protect transatlantic security and Ukraine's sovereignty," as reported by Ukrinform.

In turn, the European Commission reminded that in case of completion of the gas pipeline, it will be subject to the provisions of the so-called EU Gas Directive, which does not allow the monopoly use of such infrastructure.

The Commissioner for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia with Germanys Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Matthias Luttenberg, stated his countrys readiness to hold consultations on Nord Stream 2, initiated by Ukraine.

im
Foreign diplomats arriving at entry-exit checkpoints in Kherson region see the situation on the administrative border with the occupied Crimea with their own eyes and then write reports, forming pro-Ukrainian messages for the heads of their states.

They all say that it is very important for them to see the situation with their own eyes. For many, Crimea is just an e-mail or a report on an A4 paper, while it is a completely different experience to see the situation with their own eyes, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Anton Korynevych said on the air of the Dom TV channel.

He noted that 22 foreign delegations had already visited the entry-exit checkpoints with the occupied peninsula, while Donbas used to form the greater part of the Ukrainian issue in the international political agenda.

According to him, ambassadors visiting the administrative border with the occupied peninsula can form their own opinion about the consequences of Russia's occupation of Crimea.

An ambassador of a foreign state at the administrative border is an ambassador who then writes a report to the center. An ambassador who formulates certain messages for his or her government and does so just before the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform. Seeing an entry-exit checkpoint controlled by the Russian Federation a few hundred meters away and realizing that this is an occupier and this is the Europe of the 21st century... Korynevych noted.

Despite increasing attention to the territory adjacent to the occupied peninsula, Korynevych believes that such a large-scale international summit as the Crimean Platform should be held in the Ukrainian capital.

As a reminder, Ukraine intends to launch on August 23 the Crimean Platform  a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to step up the efficiency of international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, increase international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime, and achieve the main goal: to de-occupy Crimea and return it to Ukraine.

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The original Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk will be brought to Ukraine for the first time on August 16 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Ukraines independence.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said this while presenting the concept of celebrating Independence Day during the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Ukraine's Image Abroad" on August 2, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The struggle for independence lasted more than one day; therefore, we will celebrate victory in this struggle for more than one day. A week before Independence Day and for the first time in the history of our country, the original Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk will be brought to Ukraine. All citizens will be able to see the document at St. Sophia Cathedral starting from August 16," Zelensky said.

He added that the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence is a very important day, because it is an opportunity to understand what Ukrainians have learned during the years of independence and what else they need to learn in order to never lose it  this is what the celebration is dedicated to.

The president noted that the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the countrys independence will consist of 10 main events.

As reported, a military parade will take place in the center of Kyiv on Independence Day, August 24.

The day before, on August 23, the first summit of the Crimean Platform and the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen will be held.

The Pylyp Orlyks Constitution is a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman of Ukraine Pylyp Orlyk.

It established the principle of the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. The document limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a Cossack parliament called the General Council.

The Old Ukrainian-language original, signed by Orlyk, accompanied by a diploma signed by King Charles XII of Sweden was found in 2008 by Ukrainian researchers in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, Moscow. The Latin-language original is kept in the National Archives of Sweden.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced it opens its doors to vaccinated travelers starting from August 1.

According to Saudi Press Agency, fully vaccinated tourists can enter the Kingdom without the need for an institutional quarantine period, provided that upon arrival they present an official vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test taken within 24 hours before entry.

The list of approved vaccines in the Kingdom includes vaccines produced by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

On August 1, Ukraine recorded 265 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 2,553,534.

A total of 5,632,783 doses have been administered in Ukraine since it launched a vaccination campaign, with 3,599,167 people receiving their first dose and 2,033,616 people receiving both doses (two people received their first dose abroad).

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New border crossing rules will take effect in Ukraine this week: both Ukrainians and foreigners will be obliged to take a COVID-19 test when entering the country.

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Nation Health, Medical Care and Medical Insurance, MP with the ruling Servant of the People faction, Mykhailo Radutsky, shared the update on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

New border crossing rules will take effect this week. To minimize the risk of coronavirus mutations, Ukrainians and foreigners shall take a test when entering the country. Exceptions are applied to Ukrainian citizens who have received at least one COVID-19 jab, as well as and residents of other countries holding certificates. For non-vaccinated (with vaccines approved by the WHO) travelers arriving from Russia and India, if they have been in the country for more than seven days, self-isolation is mandated," said the statement.

Read also: Vaccinated Ukrainians allowed to enter Saudi Arabia

According to Radutsky, the new rules are more than loyal. For example, in Israel, where 60% of the population is vaccinated, from July 30 it is generally forbidden to travel to the red zone countries  Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, India, Russia, Mexico, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Spain, UK, Georgia, Cyprus, and Turkey. All passengers arriving in Israel are required to take the test. For refusing to take the test, a $1,200 fine is provided. Non-vaccinated passengers, even those with a negative test result, shall remain in self-isolation for a week before passing the second test. The country's authorities have also decided to reintroduce green passports (Israeli vaccination certificates). Attending mass events, restaurants, fitness clubs, and synagogues without this document is prohibited.

"Ukraine will later be forced to introduce restrictions for non-vaccinated citizens. The Ministry of Health has already announced that, if the epidemiological situation deteriorates, schools allowed to operate will have to have at least 80% of teachers vaccinated (currently only half of the staff must be vaccinated)," Radutsky said.

According to the deputy, it is logical to introduce similar restrictions for transport carriers, catering establishments, commercial or utility companies whose employees are in direct contact with the population.

"A sick bus driver infects no fewer people than a teacher. We in Ukraine are not talking about compulsory vaccination, no one has the right to force anyone to get the jab. But it is fair to demand that jobs involving contact with a large number of people be performed by vaccinated employees," Radutsky stressed.

He noted that a month ago, there was a shortage of vaccines in Ukraine before the country received more than 4.5 million vaccine doses over the past two weeks. Vaccination is open to all, the official stressed, adding that companies are offered to apply for group vaccinations right at the office premises.

"Therefore, now everyone decides for themselves  leisure and full-time work or forced restrictions during the next coronavirus wave," said the Committee chair.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, over the past 24 hours, on August 1, a total of 38,080 people were vaccinated for COVID-19 in Ukraine.

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| By Deborah Kotz

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have launched a new online tool that could more quickly advance medical discoveries to reverse progressive hearing loss.

Ronna Hertzano (left) and Claire Fraser.

The tool enables easy access to genetic and other molecular data from hundreds of technical research studies involving hearing function and the ear. The research portal called gene Expression Analysis Resource (gEAR) was unveiled in a study last month in Nature Methods. It is operated by a group of physician-scientists at the UMSOM Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) in collaboration with their colleagues at other institutions.

The portal allows researchers to rapidly access data and provides easily interpreted visualizations of datasets. Scientists can also input their own data and compare it to other datasets to help determine the significance of their new finding.

This tool will save scientists a significant amount of time, said study corresponding author Ronna Hertzano, MD, PhD, associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery at UMSOM and founder of the gEAR. Instead of relying only on identifying mutations in genes for hearing loss, researchers can easily identify which cells express any gene in the ear, and how this expression changes, for example, as a result of noise exposure or in processes of regeneration in other species.

Hertzano and her team recently added data from the BRAIN initiative to a specialized domain of the gEAR portal to provide access to those performing neuroscience studies to better understand brain function and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers. The portal is free and available to any researcher seeking access.

Users of the portal can do a variety of applications depending on their needs. They can access the dataset uploader and add their dataset into gEAR to view their data in a private setting. This enables them to see their findings in the context of other public data before posting their results online or submitting their paper for publication. Once a manuscript is published, a permalink can be included in the manuscript which links readers directly to a curated view of that dataset.

The gEAR portal currently includes over 800 datasets, which we carefully reviewed before inputting, Hertzano said. We currently have more than 1,200 registered users and over 80 citations in research studies. We are expecting a large increase now that our methods paper is published.

Hertzano and her colleagues did a soft launch of the portal a few years earlier and publicized its existence via discussions with colleagues and user workshops at scientific meetings.

The Hearing Restoration Project, a nonprofit research consortium funded by the Hearing Health Foundation, provided initial support of gEAR in an effort to better understand the mystery of hair cell regeneration  why hair cells in the ear regenerate in certain animals but not in humans. Our hair cells do not naturally regenerate when they die off due to aging, excess noise, or exposure to certain potent medications like chemotherapy drugs for cancer. For this reason, hearing loss is usually permanent and cannot be reversed. The consortium uses genomic analyses to compare molecular processes in species that do not regenerate hair cells.

"The gEAR team closely interacts with the consortium researchers who also serve as our focus group, providing priceless feedback and suggestions, Hertzano said.

Understanding how the expression of certain genes plays a role in hair cell regeneration  and how enzymes and other proteins mediate that process  could lead to new treatments to reverse hearing loss by triggering a regeneration of these cells.

By enabling rapid access to enormous datasets, the gEAR portal can serve as a valuable hub for community building around common research areas, said Claire M. Fraser, PhD, the Deans Endowed Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and director of IGS. Having access to data in large repositories is not enough. Whats essential is that gEAR curates and organizes the data into an accessible format so it can be used to address important scientific questions.

Study lead author Joshua Orvis, lead bioinformatics software engineer at IGS, and study co-author Yang Song, PhD, bioinformatics analyst II at IGS, were instrumental in the development of gEAR. Researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, University of Iowa, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Bar-Ilan University in Israel also contributed to this study.

The gEAR portal is an outstanding example of the value of close collaboration of clinicians, biologists, and engineers to bridge the gap in technology and make the critically important 'omic' data generated across the world immediately accessible to biologists in a meaningful format, said E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president for medical affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor, and UMSOM dean.

The gEAR portals development has been funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Hearing Restoration Project, part of the Hearing Health Foundation.
About Luciano

Colombian-Venezuelan actor, Luciano DAlessandro, has been supporting UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, since 2018. Based in Colombia, Luciano is committed to promoting integration and discouraging acts of xenophobia against the refugee and migrant population coming from Venezuela.

Lucianos support for UNHCR began through the Somos Panas Colombia campaign, a communication strategy created by UNHCR in 2017 to promote the integration of Venezuelans in Colombia. Luciano has also promoted UNHCR fundraising campaigns, including an initiative to procure a mobile health unit for Colombian and Venezuelan women without access to health services.

As one of the most renowned actors in Colombia, Luciano uses his platform to share information and raise awareness through live events on social media. He joined the #NosDamosLaMano (#WeShakeHands) challenge, promoting the message that humanity unites us beyond our differences.

In June 2021, Luciano hosted the commemoration event of World Refugee Day in Colombia. This was attended by Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who thanked Luciano for his commitment to UNHCR as a high profile supporter.

Luciano is dedicated to his work for UNHCR and has said: UNHCR, Colombia and Venezuela can count on me; I am here to contribute. If we all row towards the same goal, life and our coexistence can be easier. We need to put ourselves in other people's shoes.
Oregon, WI (53575)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
A celebration of the life of Coach Bert Williams will be held on Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, at 2 p.m. in Northridge Christian Church with the Rev. Mac Enfinger and the Rev. Stephanie Caldwell officiating. The family will receive friends on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the First Uni
Wayne Roberts, street corner preacher of "Freedom Ministries," said a "Clothes Closet" was started four months ago in the building, and a baptismal tub was donated two weeks ago. About a month ago, Wayne and his wife Susan moved to Bullock County. (Photo by Faye Gaston)
DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 02nd Aug, 2021) Agriculture has been identified as the most promising sector for investment in sub-Saharan Africa, a survey released by Dubai Chamber has revealed.

The survey polled participants of previous editions of the Global Business Forum Africa (GBF Africa), including traders and investors, and explored their insights and views on various aspects of investment across the continent. The findings shed light on investment trends in Africa that will be discussed at the forthcoming Global Business Forum Africa (GBF Africa 2021), which is being organised by Dubai Chamber and Expo 2020 Dubai.

The high-level event will take place on 13th and 14th October, 2021, at Expo 2020 Dubai under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The survey found that 61 percent of respondents believed that agriculture represented the most lucrative area for investment in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, followed by telecommunications (45 percent).

In addition, cash was the preferred option for investment among 61 percent of respondents, followed by commodities (48 percent), hedge and private equity funds (42 percent), bonds (32 percent), stocks (24 percent), mutual funds (18 percent) and Exchange Traded Funds (15 percent).

The abundance of natural resources was the factor identified as the one that most positively impacts investment opportunities ahead of economic growth, demographics, domestic markets, a large low-cost labour force and the political and social environment.

Of the 10 sub-Saharan countries included in the survey, Ghana was identified as the most favourable destination for investment, with 63 percent of respondents highlighting the country.

This was followed by 62 percent who voted for Nigeria as the most promising destination.

Ghana also scored highly as the sub-Saharan African country that was the easiest to do business in terms of foreign direct investment, tying with Rwanda at 53 percent.

Transparent business regulations and a legal framework were most likely to boost trade relations between Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council, with 66 percent of respondents highlighting these factors. internet of Things and artificial intelligence were regarded as offering the most investment potential in a post-pandemic world, followed by blockchain, drones, virtual reality, robotics, 3D printing and augmented reality.

The GBF Africa 2021 at Expo 2020 Dubai will be structured around three pillars: Reset, Restore and Definers, with the first exploring new ways that African countries can work together to deliver on the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while the second focuses on models for innovative and sustainable trade. The third assesses the resilience of the continents emerging businesses and the role of government in providing an enabling infrastructure for commerce and trade.

As the Official Business Partner to Expo 2020 Dubai, the Dubai Chamber is running a series of commerce and trade initiatives throughout the six months of the event, including three of its flagship global business forums, The GBF Africa, GBF Latin America and the inaugural GBF ASEAN, in addition to the 12th World Chambers Congress.
As many as 36 more patients of coronavirus died overnight lifting the death toll to 6,057 while 1,847 new cases emerged when 13,107 tests were conducted in Sindh

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :As many as 36 more patients of coronavirus died overnight lifting the death toll to 6,057 while 1,847 new cases emerged when 13,107 tests were conducted in Sindh.

This was stated by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a statement issued here on Monday. He added that 36 more patients of COVID-19 lost their lives lifting the death toll to 6,057 that constituted 1.6 percent death rate.

Shah said that 13,107 samples were tested which detected 1,847 cases that constituted 14 percent current detection rate.

He added that so far 5,039,917 tests have been conducted against which 387,145 cases were diagnosed, of them 86 percent or 333,102 patients have recovered, including 325 overnight.

The CM said that currently 47,986 patients were under treatment, of them 46,517 were in home isolation, 35 at isolation centers and 1,434 at different hospitals.

He added that the condition of 1250 patients was stated to be critical, including 97 shifted to ventilators.

According to the statement, out of 1,847 new cases, 1,342 have been detected from Karachi, including 422 from East, 339 South, 237 Korangi, 206 Central, 117 Malir and 21 West.

Hyderabad has 121, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad 50 each, Jamshoro 34, NausheroFeroze 25, Tando Allahyar 22, Matiari 19, Badin 17, Thatta six, Khairpur, Sanghar and Umerkot two each, Shikarpur and Tharparkar one.

Murad Ali Shah urged people to abide by the SOPs issued by the government.
Madagascar authorities have arrested 21 suspects over an assassination attempt on President Andry Rajoelina, local media reported on Monday

ANTANANARIVO (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Madagascar authorities have arrested 21 suspects over an assassination attempt on President Andry Rajoelina, local media reported on Monday.

Berthine Razafiarivony, general attorney of the court of appeal of Antananarivo, told a briefing on Sunday that based on tangible, material evidence in the hands of investigators, the main instigators of the plot have been identified, L'Express de Madagascar reported.

The suspects intended to eliminate five Malagasy political figures, including president Rajoelina, she said.

"Several people were involved in this affair," including five generals from the army and the gendarmerie, Razafiarivony said.
Thirty-three people died in a horrific collision between a fuel truck and a bus in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, police said Monday

Kikwit, DR Congo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Thirty-three people died in a horrific collision between a fuel truck and a bus in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, police said Monday.

The victims were engulfed by a "huge fire sparked by the collision" overnight Saturday near Kwango in the west of the country, local police captain Antoine Pululu told AFP.
(@FahadShabbir)

German politician Christian Schmidt on Monday took over as the top international envoy in Bosnia despite opposition from Russia and Bosnian Serbs who consider him "illegal" and say they won't work with him

Sarajevo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :German politician Christian Schmidt on Monday took over as the top international envoy in Bosnia despite opposition from Russia and Bosnian Serbs who consider him "illegal" and say they won't work with him.

The former German agriculture minister succeeded Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, whose decision to end his term by imposing a ban on genocide denial in late July angered Bosnian Serb political representatives.

The 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces, a few months before Bosnia's war ended, has been deemed genocide by a number of international judicial verdicts.

But Serb leaders usually deny the atrocity amounted to genocide, instead calling it a "great crime".

The main role of the UN representative in Bosnia is to oversee the implementation of the peace deal that ended the Balkan country's 1992-1995 war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs.

The official also has various executive powers, including to impose laws and sack elected officials.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina must be put back on the political agenda of the international community and the European Union," Schmidt said during his inaugural speech on Monday.

"I am very optimistic about the ability of the international community, Europeans, Americans and all other countries of the world to work together to achieve this.

" Regularly shaken by inter-ethnic disputes, Bosnia aspires to join the EU but has yet to obtain official candidate status.

Bosnian Serbs are close allies of Moscow and oppose the country's accession to NATO.

Schmidt enjoys the support of the main Western nations, but Russia protested when the Peace Implementation Council, an international body independent of the United Nations, appointed him in May.

Russia believes his appointment should have been approved by the UN Security Council, which gave the green light when Inzko was named in 2009.

Moscow proposed a draft resolution to the Security Council, co-sponsored by Beijing, under which the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia would close in July 2022.

The draft was rejected.

The Serb member of Bosnia's joint presidency Milorad Dodik labelled Schmidt's appointment "illegal and illegitimate".

"We will not cooperate with him (Schmidt) and we will not implement his decisions," Dodik told local media Sunday.

The Bosnian Serb political leader said he would not attend a meeting between the presidency and Schmidt, due Tuesday.

The new top international envoy did not comment on Bosnian Serbs' views about him.
Families wept as they were reunited at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday, with fully vaccinated passengers arriving in England from the US and EU no longer required to quarantine

Heathrow, United Kingdom, Aug 2 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Families wept as they were reunited at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday, with fully vaccinated passengers arriving in England from the US and EU no longer required to quarantine.

Tight controls on foreign travel have been in place in Britain for over a year, leaving families separated during the coronavirus pandemic.

But restrictions in England and Scotland eased on Monday, leading to emotional scenes at Heathrow, Britain's busiest hub.

"We're feeling very excited, almost overexcited," said Michael Blake, 71, as he waited with wife Sue to see their son Eliot and 8-year-old grandson for the first time in 18 months.

"It's been such a big chunk of (our grandson's) life that he hasn't seen any grandparents," Sue told AFP, as she waited for the 6:20 am (0520 GMT) flight from New York.

On sight of her son, Sue ducked under the barrier at arrivals and embraced her grandson, wiping tears from her eyes.

Her family were one of the first to take advantage of the new policy, which came into force in England and Scotland from 4:00 am.

Under the new rules, people fully jabbed with a vaccine approved by the US food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency can travel from any country on the British government's "amber" traffic light list without having to self-isolate at home for 10 days.

They still need to do a pre-departure test and take another test on day two after arriving.

- 'Disaster' warning - Separate rules will continue to apply for those arriving from France due to the government's concern over the "persistent presence" of the Beta variant, which is believed to be more resistant to vaccines.

Those who are not fully vaccinated will still have to quarantine on arrival.

Britain is in the midst of another wave of the virus due to the Delta variant, although case numbers appear to be stabilising, while its vaccine drive has seen more than 70 percent of adults fully jabbed.

While England and Scotland have loosened their quarantine requirements, the previous rules still apply in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Embattled airline bosses called the rule changes a positive step but said industry recovery efforts were being hampered by continued international restrictions.

Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye told BBC radio that the industry would not "get back to normal" until the US opens its borders to people travelling from Britain.

Industry leaders also warned the government against introducing another category to its traffic light list, designed to warn travellers of the possibility that countries with rising cases could be put onto the red list at short notice.

"It would be a disaster to bring in an amber watchlist on top of the amber list, the green list, the red list," Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told ITV.

"At the moment the system in the UK is choking off recovery, and it's not helping the sector because there's no confidence to book because people are worried about places changing at short notice anyway," he added.

csp-jwp/jit/yad
(@FahadShabbir)

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday that Iran's alleged involvement in the attack on the Mercer Street tanker in the Indian Ocean violated international law and was an act of "escalation."

The Japanese-owned vessel was attacked off the coast of Oman last week, resulting in the deaths of two crew members, citizens of Romania and the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accused Iran of being involved in the attack. Later, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made statements to the same effect.

"The recent attack on Mercer Street, which resulted in the death of two innocent civilians, is a clear violation of international law, is immoral and constitutes an escalation. That is why we must act now against Iran," Gantz told the parliament.

The minister added that "Israel has many tools and options to protect its citizens."

Iran has denied having any role in the incident. Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected statements by the US and the UK as groundless.
Fifteen soldiers were killed Saturday in an ambush by unidentified armed individuals in Torodi, a department in Niger's western Tillabery region, near the border with Burkina Faso, the Defense Ministry has said

NIAMEY (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Fifteen soldiers were killed Saturday in an ambush by unidentified armed individuals in Torodi, a department in Niger's western Tillabery region, near the border with Burkina Faso, the Defense Ministry has said.

"Elements of the Defense and Security Forces of Operation Saki 2, on a supply mission for the Boni outpost in the north of the Torodi department, were ambushed by armed terrorist groups," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"They came across an improvised explosive device in their efforts to evacuate the wounded.

This attack caused 15 soldiers killed, six missing and seven wounded," it said.

Army and police forces, backed by the air force, have launched a wide sweep in the area, the statement said.

Niger has in recent years suffered devastating attacks in its western part, perpetrated by terrorist organizations linked to Alkaidah in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi), Ancar Dine and other militant groups based in north Mali. Hundreds of civilians and soldiers were killed in those attacks, according to official statistics.
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Doctors in Nigeria's state-run hospitals on Monday began a strike over pay, insurance benefits and poor facilities, union leaders said, as the country faces a third wave of coronavirus

Lagos (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Doctors in Nigeria's state-run hospitals on Monday began a strike over pay, insurance benefits and poor facilities, union leaders said, as the country faces a third wave of coronavirus.

The strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which represents around 40 percent of doctors in Africa's most populous country, is the latest in a series of medical staff work stoppages.

"The nationwide strike started at 8:00 this morning. It's an indefinite strike," NARD president Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi told AFP.

"There will be no exemption for doctors handling Covid-19 cases." He said the industrial action was to push government to honour its agreement on pay arrears, hazard allowance and insurance benefits to families of doctors who have died of the virus.

"We are asking government to pay insurance benefits of 19 of our members who have died in the line of duty," he said.

Okhuaihesuyi said Nigerian doctors were ill-equiped and under-funded for the job while the facilities in state-run hospitals "are deplorable." He said some states owed several months of salaries and other benefits, adding that the strike would not be suspended until the union's demands were met.

"We appeal to Nigerians to bear with us. Doctors and their families are suffering.

We can no longer pay our bills because of government's insensitivity and neglect of our welfare." There are some 42,000 doctors in Nigeria, out of which 16,000 are resident doctors -- medical school graduates training as specialists.

Doctors have long complained of a lack of beds and drugs in hospitals as well as inadequate protective equipment.

Other demands include life insurance coverage, a pay rise and payment of unsettled wages.

The doctors union has previously called work stoppages on similar issues, grounding activities in government hospitals before calling them off.

The union called off a 10-day strike in April. Health services and activities were paralysed before it was suspended.

Authorities fear any reduction in capacity this time could harm the country's ability to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, including a programme to administer vaccines.

Nigeria with a population of 210 million has officially recorded 174,315 Covid-19 cases and 2,149 deaths since the first case of the virus in February 2020. But the real figures are believed to be much higher, in part because of low testing rates.

Last month, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it had detected the more contagious Delta variant, putting officials on alert for a third wave of infections in the country.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) Boeing's Starliner spacecraft designed for manned flight will launch on its second test un-crewed cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday after a delay from last week over weather conditions, NASA announced.

"Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida," the agency said in a press release. "The mission is targeted to launch at 1:20 pm EDT [Eastern Daylight Time] Tuesday, August 3."

About 30 minutes after launch, Starliner will perform its orbital insertion burn to begin its daylong trip to the space station, the agency said.

"The spacecraft is scheduled to dock [at] the space station at 1:37 pm [EDT] Wednesday, August 4," the release said.

The US space agency described the OFT-2 flight as "an important un-crewed mission designed to test the end-to-end capabilities of the new system for NASA's Commercial Crew Program."

The spacecraft will carry more than 400 Pounds of NASA cargo and crew supplies to the ISS, NASA said.

It will then return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of cargo, including reusable Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members, the agency added.

"OFT-2 will demonstrate the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket from launch to docking to a return to Earth in the desert of the western United States," the US space agency said in an earlier release.

The un-crewed mission will provide valuable data toward NASA certifying Boeing's crew transportation system for regular flights with astronauts to and from the ISS, the agency noted.

The test launch was originally scheduled for last Friday but was delayed because of weather conditions in the area, the space agency acknowledged.

Starliner's previous and first un-crewed test mission was in December 2019, when it failed to dock with the ISS because of an orbit insertion anomaly.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) The situation with the provision of medical assistance to Russian tourists injured in a bus accident in Turkey is under the control of the Russian Health Ministry, the ministry said on Monday, confirming three fatalities in the accident.

Earlier in the day, the bus carrying Russian tourists capsized in the province of Antalya near the resort town of Manavgat.

Tour operator Intourist told Sputnik earlier that the death toll among Russian tourists from the accident had increased to four.

At the moment, according to the Russian Health Ministry, three of 22 people in the bus have died, five are in serious condition, and another two are in intensive care.

"The situation with the provision of medical assistance to Russian tourists is under the control of the Russian Health Ministry," the statement says.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Swiss police on Monday detained as many as 83 climate activists who blocked the entrances to the UBS and Credit Suisse headquarters in downtown Zurich, protesting against the banks' investments in environmentally damaging projects

ZURICH (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) Swiss police on Monday detained as many as 83 climate activists who blocked the entrances to the UBS and Credit Suisse headquarters in downtown Zurich, protesting against the banks' investments in environmentally damaging projects.

The activists began occupying Paradeplatz Square and Bahnhofstrasse Street at about 6.00 a.m. (04:00 GMT), the police said. By noon, police had taken about 30 people into temporary custody.

"A total of 83 people (47 women and 36 men) were taken to police stations," the statement read.

The police added that the case would be handed over to the Zurich Prosecutor's Office.
India and China have held the 12th round of corps commander-level talks in eastern Ladakh to discuss further disengagement of forces along the line of actual control (LAC), the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) India and China have held the 12th round of corps commander-level talks in eastern Ladakh to discuss further disengagement of forces along the line of actual control (LAC), the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

The negotiations took place at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side of the region.

"The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of India-China border areas. The two sides noted that this round of meeting was constructive, which further enhanced mutual understanding," the ministry said in a statement.

The top army commanders also agreed to resolve the outstanding issues "in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols," as well as to further maintain a dialogue and negotiations on the matter, the statement said.

The lack of a marked border between India and China has long been a source of tensions between the countries. Instead, they have the LOC created after the 1962 war between the nations. The tensions have been on the rise since May 2020 when the first skirmishes between the countries' border forces took place, resulting in multiple fatalities.

In a bid to settle the conflict, the two nations launched the disengagement consultations in early June 2020, with the first phase of disengagement on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Lake completed this February.
The University of South Florida Board of Trustees (BOT) voted unanimously today to select Rhea Law to serve as the universitys interim president. Law will begin her term today, Aug. 2, with the appointment subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors at its next meeting Aug. 31- Sept. 1.

Law, who was recommended for the position last week by BOT Chair Will Weatherford, is a USF alumna and former chair of the BOT with deep ties to the university and Tampa Bay region.

She earned an undergraduate degree in management from USF, putting herself through school while working as the university research project administrator for the Office of Sponsored Research. She then earned her terminal degree in law at Stetson University College of Law, where she later served as Chair of their Board of Overseers, helping to select both a dean of the College of Law and president of the university. She is one of the founding members of the USF Board of Trustees, where she spent five years as vice chair and four years as the first and only female chair, contributing significantly to USFs growth and evolution as a Research 1 public university. She served on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee for USFs last two presidential searches.

Law is the former chief executive officer and chair of the board of Fowler White Boggs, a Florida law firm. She led the merger of Fowler with a national firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, in 2014. She was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the USF Law Alumni Society, served as a member of the USF Research Foundation Board and was named a 2018 Distinguished Alumna by the USF Alumni Association. She also chaired the Board of Directors for the Health Professions Conferencing Corporation with the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). In 2018 she was inducted as an honorary member of the USF Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of her support of research and innovation at USF. In 2013, she was granted an Honorary Doctor of Medicine Degree from the USF Morsani College of Medicine. She formerly served on the Board of Directors for the Tampa Bay Technology Forum and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Board of Directors and currently serves on Moffitts National Advisory Board.

She has extensive connections across Tampa Bay. She was the first honorary commander of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base and thereafter served as the chair of the inaugural MacDill Support Council, where she continues to serve as a member. She is a member and a past chair of the Florida Council of 100, where she currently serves on the Executive Committee and chairs the Economic Competitiveness Committee. She has also chaired the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, and she twice chaired the Tampa Bay Partnership, which during her tenure represented an eight-county span across Tampa Bay. She has also served as a member of the Hillsborough County Business Advisory Group and the Pasco County Business Advisory Group - among many other leadership positions within the community.

Law previously announced that she will not apply for the permanent president position.

In the coming weeks, the Board of Trustees will meet again to discuss next steps in the national search for a new president.
Bishops in the US welcome government efforts to evacuate and save Afghan nationals who helped US troops during the two decades of US military campaign in Afghanistan. They insist that the sacrifices that these people have made "should not go unacknowledged."

By Vatican News staff writer

Bishops in the US have hailed government efforts to provide refuge for Afghans who assisted US forces during the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan. The Biden administration launched Operation Allies Refuge, an initiative to relocate thousands of Afghans who worked as interpreters and translators during the military campaign and who now fear for their safety.

We are proud to have the opportunity to welcome and assist those who have kept Americans safe in Afghanistan, said a statement signed by USCCB President Archbishop Jose Gomez and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, Bishop Mario Dorsonville.

By working with the United States, the Bishops said, each of these individuals has put their lives and those of their family and friends at risk. As they now leave everything behind to begin new lives here, the many sacrifices theyve made should not go unacknowledged.

US war in Afganistan

Since 2001, the US has been involved in a military campaign in Afghanistan and later Iraq. During that time thousands of Afghans and Iraqi citizens have assisted US troops, humanitarian personnel, and diplomats in the region by providing interpretation, translation, transportation, security and other vital services, often at great risk to themselves and their families.

In 2006, US Congress authorized a bipartisan humanitarian program to provide Special Immigration Visas (SIV) for these helpers. In July 2021, Congress also passed a bipartisan emergency supplemental appropriations bill, allocating over $1 billion for humanitarian support and assistance for them, as well as authorizing an additional 8,000 visas for the SIV program, and streamlining the US visa application process for at-risk Afghans.

US President Biden announced plans to end the military mission in Afghanistan by September, and has already pulled out most of the US troops from their main Afghan airbase at Bagram, north of Kabul. The White House also announced the emergency relocation to the US of Afghan SIV applicants in the final stages of processing.

The first group of some 200 Afghans promised refuge by the Biden-led administration arrived on American soil on Friday. The evacuees left their country, escaping the clutches of Taliban militants who have targeted interpreters, even killing some of them as retribution for their aid to US troops.

Welcoming others

In the statement, the bishops welcomed the opportunity to partner with the government, through Migration and Refugee Services, as well as other Catholic charities, to ensure the warm welcome, safe relocation, and resettlement of those who have already contributed greatly to the US. They also applauded Congress for approving the emergency supplemental appropriations bill to help provide protection and welcome for Afghans in danger.

The bishops held up the Churchs teaching that each person is created in the image and likeness of God and we must uphold the inherent dignity of every person.

More so, they concluded, Pope Francis has emphasized welcoming the newcomer, saying that it is an invitation to overcome our fears so as to encounter the other, to welcome, to know and to acknowledge him or her, and an opportunity to draw near to the other and see where and how he or she lives.
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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman arrived in Phnom Penh on June 1, with the alleged presence of Chinese military personnel at Ream Naval Base at the top of the agenda  a contentious issue that put the bilateral relationship in question. In the weeks following Shermans visit, other senior diplomats, all allies of the U.S., have made visits, some virtual, to Cambodia and talked trade, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and Cambodias turn to chair ASEAN in 2022. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab landed in Phnom Penh on June 23. Japans Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi held online talks with his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh on June 25. Most recently, Australias Foreign Minister Marise Payne had a phone call with Cambodias top diplomat Prak Sokhonn on July 7.

The increased engagement is also evidenced in a slew of vaccine donations from the U.S., U.K. and Japan. The three have pledged or delivered 1 million, 415,000 and 1 million vaccines, respectively, to add a stable inflow of Chinese-made Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines which have made possible Cambodias high rates of vaccination. Cambodian officials said last week that Australia too hadpromised to provide an unspecified number of vaccines. It is not a coincidence, said Em Sovannara, a Cambodian political commentator.

Sovannara and other observers said the U.S. and its allies were making a concerted effort to engage with Cambodia, which has grown closer to China  on account of the latters investment and trading capacity. Another reason, they said, was Cambodias chairing of ASEAN next year. They are engaging in part to ensure Cambodias more neutral stance as [ASEAN] chair rather than letting Cambodia take a China-leaning stance like our last chairmanship in 2012, which would be too late, he said. Informally called the Phnom Penh Fiasco, ASEAN failed to issue a joint communique at the end of the 2012 summit in the Cambodian capital. The unprecedented event was attributed by participants and observers to Cambodias reluctance to include language critical of Chinas activities in the South China Sea. Thus, these visits and calls by Western allies to engage Cambodia is to make sure that the latters foreign policy directions would be balanced and acceptable by the West, Sovannara said.

Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the U.S.-based think tank RAND Corporation, said the recent meetings were likely held to understand Phnom Penhs positions going into 2022. It's very much a critical year [2022] because you have so much going on in the region. I mean, obviously China, and the long-delayed conclusion of a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, he added. I'm under no illusion. I don't think it [the Code of Conduct] is going to be concluded next year, anything like that, but at least to see it moving forward under Cambodia's chairmanship, I think, is an important thing. Grossman is referring to the 1996-proposed ASEAN code of conduct for the contentious waters of the South China Sea, after China laid claim to the Mischief Reef, off the Philippines coast. Twenty-five years on, the code of conduct is yet to see the light of day. Grossman said the post-coup violence and crisis in Myanmar would remain as ASEANs complete disaster, and it was unlikely that Cambodia, as a fellow authoritarian state, would chastise the Tatmadaw. During a July 7 phone call with his Australian counterpart, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn expressed his governments readiness to work with fellow ASEAN member states and partners "to support Myanmar's return to the path of normalcy and democratic transition", according to a Cambodian Foreign Ministrys post-call readout. But during a special ASEAN-U.S. Foreign Ministers Meeting held on July 14 with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Prak Sokhonn underscored the principle of non-interference, the Foreign Ministry said, a phrase often cited by Cambodia to deflect criticism of local human rights violations. On the South China Sea, [Prak Sokhonn] encouraged all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalating the situation and to seek a peaceful solution to disputes in accordance with the international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS, a Foreign Ministry document from the meeting reads. The U.S. has repeatedly raised concerns over Chinese-backed coastal development in Koh Kong province - for which Chinese-linked developer UDG was sanctioned last year  and assistance to modernize Cambodias Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk. Speculation that there will be a permanent Chinese military presence at the base has been denied by Cambodia.

Grossman said Cambodia was leaning heavily on China and that the latter had increasing influence within the country. But then there is also a notion that Cambodia, at some point in the future, may begin playing and bringing these countries [western allies] into the fold and kind of playing them off China, he said. The Joe Biden Administration, with its America is Back foreign policy outreach, is working hard to court like-minded allies to pursue human rights and democratic agendas in the region and the Asia Pacific. Four out of nine ASEAN member states  excluding Brunei -- are authoritarian, according to the latest global democracy index released in February by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Six of the eight heads of ASEAN governments  excluding Brunei and Laos  are enlisted in the press predators gallery by the Reporters Without Borders. Cambodia features in both lists. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch, said he didnt believe the U.S. and its allies would compromise its strategic interests to counter Chinas influence in the country. The idea that somehow a few prominent visitors going to Cambodia means that human rights issues are off the table, I think, is that you cannot draw that conclusion, Robertson told VOA Khmer in a phone call interview. I think Cambodia will continue to face even more pressure on human rights as the 30th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords comes up in October this year.
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Flask back ... Zimbabwe army in running battles with MDC Alliance supporters angered by the delay in the announcement of election results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission led by Priscilla Chigumba. Should Zimbabwe hold the next polls without tangible electoral reforms?
Some non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe have filed an urgent court application seeking to stop Harare Provincial Development Coordinator, Tafadzwa Muguti, from shutting down entities which did not comply with his orders to unveil their work plans and programs to the state-controlled body.

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said its member, Tonderai Bhatasara, has filed the application challenging the arbitrary actions by Muguti purporting to ban NGOS in Harare.

Bhatasara filed the application on behalf of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

In the application, we have asked the High Court to interdict anyone from enforcing, interfering, suspending or stopping operations of NGOs, Trusts, Civil Society Organisations and Faith-Based Organisations or in any way acting on the contents of the press statement issued on 29 July by Muguti.

Responding to the ZLHRs application, in a tweet, Mugutu said its not surprising that organizations including Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, failed to comply with his directive.

He claimed that such organizations are consistently critical of the government and they lead in spreading lies that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe.

Apart from Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, some of the organizations that may be forced to shut down are the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, National Association of Youth Organizations, National Transitional Justice Working Group, Womens Coalition of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe National Students Union, and Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children.

Indications are that these organizations are challenging the constitutionality of Mugutis office in monitoring NGO operations.

In another tweet, Mugutu said there are 17 NGOs that have provided their work plans to his office.

He said, The office of the PDC would like to thank the all NGOs &Trusts that have submitted their work plans & programmes. We encourage all development partners to work together with us.

Harare Metropolitan province is committed to ease of business and shall therefore support all the organisations that have complied with our request to implement their programmes & projects. Let's work together to build an upper middle income society.

Organizations that have submitted their work plans as per Mugutis order include Child Protection Society, Royal Business Consult Trust, J.F Kapnek Trust, HelpAge Zimbabwe, Mavambo Orphan Care, Centre for Sexual Health &HIV & AIDS Research, Life Empowerment Support Organisations, Zichre, AIDS Counselling Trust and Msasa Project.

Others are Voluntary Service Overseas, Population Services Zimbabwe, SOS Children's Villages Zimbabwe, Christian Blind Mission, The China Africa Economy & Culture Exchange & Research Centre Trust and Zimbabwe National Organisation for Residents Trusts.
The Wall Street Journal reports that hundreds of people were quarantined at a luxury hotel in Beijing, China, after a person travelling with Zimbabwes Vice President Constantino Chiwenga tested positive for COVID-19.

The newspaper reports that guests at Legendale Hotel were quarantined on Thursday when the unidentified aide tested positive for coronavirus.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Chiwenga hired a private jet to fly to China to undergo a throat treatment.

Indications are that Chiwenga has not contracted coronavirus.

Information Secretary, Nick Mangwana, did not respond to questions sent to him 24 hours ago amid reports that the vice presidents trip to China was kept a secret by the Zimbabwean government.

Chiwenga, who led a coup that toppled former Zimbabwean strongman the late Robert Mugabe in 2017, was hospitalized in China in 2019 for more than four months for an unknown illness.

In September last year, Chiwenga announced that the government would no longer avail foreign currency for state officials intending to receive treatment of any ailment in foreign hospitals.

He said, We will not export our patients. We will not make referrals to our patients. It is everybody, ministers. Those who have been going out it is you and me. Is it not it? Altogether but that export bill was too high and that is what we want to do away with. Zimbabwe has a national medical bill that is high. It is, therefore, imperative that the country develops a method of containing the import bill through health care innovations for import substitution.

"This entails inverting the import bill burden into export receipts either in part or most importantly in the whole. This will improve the funding of the national health care system. We will have hospitals that will specialize in different treatment services across the country. We are restructuring from the village health worker right up to the top hospital."

Zimbabwean hospitals are currently almost full of COVID-19 patients amid concerns that the Delta variant is killing a large number of people in the country. Almost 500 people died of COVID-19 in the country in the past week.
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale

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Kuwait , abbasiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Shaked alot...Government should give an alret  if they knew it beforehand | 17 users found this interesting.

Sabah as Salim, Mubarak al Kabir (61.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 10-15 s : I was sitting in my office on the roof and my chair vibrated slightly and I heard some of the walls creak and the door subtly vibrate. it was so light i wasnt sure if I was imagining it or if it was caused by someone running in the hallway | 9 users found this interesting.

kuwait (60.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was sitting on a horizontal couch watching a soap opera, drinking a cup of water, when I felt very horizontal shaking (might be the effect of the couch I was sitting on but I dont know for sure) anyway I just sat there in shock with the cup still in my hand, and I could hear the laundry rack shaking and other than that I was too shocked to focus on anything else. | 5 users found this interesting.

Jleeb al shuwaikh Abbassiya (80.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was working from home. My desktop on the take started shaking for at least 2 to 5 seconds. I was shocked and came out opening my door. My Neighbor also came out. he also felt the shake. | 3 users found this interesting.

Kuwait City, Al Asimah (64.1 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : people who were sitting in office felt and standing people did not felt i was in 7th floor | 2 users found this interesting.

/ Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I feel light shaking such a Like rocking... this is first time I felt in my life oh god please save us and every one. | One user found this interesting.

al, asimah / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was at my study desk when all of a sudden I felt my chair moving. I checked around and saw that my curtains were shaking as well. I went to check on my mother if she felt anything, and she did. | One user found this interesting.

Jleeb al shuyoukh / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was sitting with my child when the earthquake start I just stand up and wear my abaya become very nervous May Allah subhanahu ta'ala save everyone | One user found this interesting.

Fintas, Kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : I was sat on the sofa and it was moving from side to side several times. My plants were all shaking too. | One user found this interesting.

Salmiyah (44 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : I felt the floor swaying. Then I looked up and the hanging lights also shook.im on the 5th floor. In salmiyah Kuwait

Al Farwaniyah (53.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : I was sitting on my coat. Suddenly at 11 32am ( my area- Jleeb Al shuyoukh,Kuwait) Me and my coat started swinging together for a short time,then it stopped.

al jahra (39.5 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : i felt it in this hour 11:32 am ,, swinging my bed left and right | One user found this interesting.

Salmiya, Al-Hawli Governate / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : While I was sitting on a wooden chair, my hips made swinging movements & the decor in my room started moving furiously

Salmiya, Kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Was sitting down and heard rattling of hanging window decoration, then saw plants swaing before noting the side-to-side swaying motion of the building. It lasted for several seconds; the plants continued to swayed for a few seconds after the building stopped.

Kuwait, mangaf / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Magnitude 4.2 earthquake Affected countries: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait 29 km from Al Jahra  Aug 2, 11:31 AM | One user found this interesting.

ABDULLAH ALMUBARAK AL SABAN KUWAIT / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Nothing.Just confused is there really earthquake in Kuwait because of my 3years working here ...it is my first time to witness and feel the light shaking of the floor. | One user found this interesting.

Mahboula / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : God save the country | One user found this interesting.

Jahra, Kuwait / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Just a very mild tremor. | One user found this interesting.

Al ada / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Be safe everyone..and safety first | One user found this interesting.

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : this is the second time in 2 weeks or there abouts | One user found this interesting.

salmiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : Stromger than the last event like this aweek or so ago. | One user found this interesting.

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking light fixtures, vibrating chairs | One user found this interesting.

Al Farwaniyah (52.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Salmiya block 12 (66.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 30-60 s (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 30-60 s

Al Mahbulah, Al Ahmadi (66.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Sabah Al Ahmad (67.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Was asleep during event, was not of noticeable effect to wake me.

Al Farwaniyah (56.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

Al Fahahil (67 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : It was long

Farwaniya kuwait (56.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Farwaniyah (56.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Al Ahmadi (62.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Table and cupboard shaking when writing

Hawalli (64.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Al Manqaf, Al Ahmadi (65.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Kuwait, mangaf (0 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

Al farwaniyah (54.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 15-20 s

Al Farwaniyah (52.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Salmiya (67.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

360 Mall (58.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Felt shaking badly as felt dizzy.

kuwait city (58.4 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ahmadi Industrial Area, Kuwait (62 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Felt a vibration on my office chair and my feet. Then saw the PC monitor swinging slightly.

Al Farwaniyah (56.8 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

near Al Fahahil (68.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Qairawan (44.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Al Manqaf, Al Ahmadi (66.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Abuhalifa (66.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short

Ahmed al jaber air force base (22.6 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Abdullah Al Mubarak (50.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Al Ahmadi (62.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Al-Masayel, Mubarak al Kabir (65.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh (52.3 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Mangaf (66.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I am dizzy and i have headache.

Al Farwaniyah (54.4 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Al Mahbulah, Al Ahmadi (66.8 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

Farwaniya kuwait (56.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Al Manqaf, Al Ahmadi (66.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Felt the shaking for five seconds. A flat screen monitor on my desk was shaking sideways.

mangaf block4 kuwait (66.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Sabah al ahmad (67.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

kuwait city (49.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Sabah alahmed, kuwait (63.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Janub as Surrah, Al Farwaniyah (55.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Sabah al ahmad (67.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Like heart beat causes to shake my body.

Sabah as Salim, Mubarak al Kabir (61.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Mangaf, Kuwait (356.4 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (71.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Al Fahahil (66.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

North west alsulabikit (47.1 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Al Farwaniyah (54.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Fahaheel (66.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : Felt shaky dizziness all are very scary

Al Farwaniyah (52.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Salwa (66.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Al Farwaniyah (53.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Ahmadi (59.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Sabah al Salem, Kuwait (57.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was laying on my bed and it swayed from side to side for a few seconds.

Egaila (64.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Al Ahmadi (58.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short

salmiya (70.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

salmiya (25 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Al Fahahil (67.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Al Abdaliyah (25.8 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ahmadi at work (59.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Kuwait City, Al Asimah (58.7 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : Yes

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (71.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 10-15 s

Mangaf (67.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was sitting on chair and was swaying side to side

Sabah alsalem (65.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Shaking on the 8th floor of a apartment

jahra (40.3 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Abu Halifa (66.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s

salwa (66.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Al Farwaniyah (52.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Kuwait (60.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Shaking of desk chair

shuweikh (52.3 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : we are one story building and i felt it

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (70 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Kuwait (61.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Abu halifa (66.6 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Equake

eqaila (64.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

ahmadi (62.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s

Mangaf,Ahmadi ,kuwait (66.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shook it for few seconds

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (68.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Feel of shake and all of our staff feel it

Janub as Surrah, Al Farwaniyah (57.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : The building shook a bit. The sliding doors opened

kuwait jahra industrial area (37 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Sabah as Salim, Mubarak al Kabir (61.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Slight shaking of bed and cupboards

Salmiya, Kuwait (59.8 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Kuwait City, Al Asimah (63.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Al Mahbulah, Al Ahmadi (66.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Surra (62.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : sitting in 1st floor house (above ground floor) ... weak swaying for 2 seconds

near Al Ahmadi (62 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Ahmadi (100.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Light shaking

Sabah Al Ahmed City (67.7 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (67.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Sabhan (59 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Kuwait (34.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : Rolling

Rumaithiya (67.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Janub as Surrah, Al Farwaniyah (55.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Al Mahbulah, Al Ahmadi (65.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ahmadi (62.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ahmadi (59.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s

kuwait (69.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s

Kuwait (66.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s : Stronger than usual

Al Farwaniyah (52.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Kuwait (67.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Salmiya, Hawalii, Kuwait (62.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (69.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / single vertical bump / very short

Farwaniya block 3 (56.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Swinging twice while am in the 6th floor of our building watching on my laptop

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (67.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Kuwait (67.1 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

fahaheel (66.7 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (68.3 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Rumaithiya (68.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Kuwait (66.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Salmiya Kuwait (70.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : The curtains started to shake

Fahaheel, Kuwait (48.8 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

As Salimiyah, Hawalli (67.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

near Al Wafrah, Al Ahmadi (82 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Egaila (64.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Mahboula (65.7 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging : I was sleeping in 4th floor, suddenly my bed was shaking and I woke up because of the shaking and saw the water in my fish bowl vigorously and new it was an earthquake

Kuwait City (62.7 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt In the office at the time. 32nd floor. Didnt feel it. (reported through (reported through our app / not felt

Ahmadi / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Home , abdullah almubarak / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : The bed shaked

Home , abdullah almubarak / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : The bed shaked

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Felt dizzy and not so good.Then realised it was a tremor

Jleeb Al Shuyoukh block 4 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Salmiya / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : I felt a light shaking because I was on the sofa

riqqa / Weak shaking (MMI III)

hawalli / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : hawalli, kuwait ibn khaldoon street

Farwaniya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Jalleb / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : I was sitting and the chair moved and I was like magic woah but I realized it was earthquake

Al Jaber Air Base / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

fahaheel / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

qurain / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Mahboula Kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV)

hawally / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : i was on my bed and felt swinging twice my body right and left side

Yarmouk / not felt

jaber al ahmad / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

riggae / not felt

Work / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Ahmadi, Fahaheel / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Feel like shaking your of all objects

near Four Points Sheraton / not felt

Abraq khaitan / not felt

/ not felt

Abu halifa ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Abu Fatira / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 15-20 s

Managaf block 4 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Just a little bit of shaking for couple of seconds and then it was over

AHMADI / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Fahaheel / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Continuous vibration for 30 seconds

Mangaf, Kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 20-30 s

Minageash / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : We felt the building shaking

Kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : I felt the bed moving

Ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Egaila / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

Kuwait City / not felt

Fahaheel / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s

Farwaniya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : The bed was shaking and the doors were slamming back and forth

Jleeb / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s

egaila / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : it was shaky..

kuwait salmeya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s

Kuwait , funaitees / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : My chair and table started shaking sideways , along with my body. Felt very weird !

Abuhalifa / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Salmiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

mahboula kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging

Sharq / not felt

kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Salmiya / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Ahmadi / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Kuwait / not felt : Nothing felt but got the messages about it from others

Mubarak Al Kabeer / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Shaking like a boat on a rough sea

Kuwait, Maidan Hawally / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Farwaniya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

abbasiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

SULAIBIYA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Kuwait, Fahaheel / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Heavy tremors

Mangat block 4 street 21,kuwait / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : Please take care all..

Mahboula / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Qairawan / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Kuwait / not felt : no i didnt

zahra / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Mahboula / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Mahboula, Kuwait / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Working / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Riggae / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Qeirawan kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Swaying

ahmadi / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Mahboula / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Salmiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Salwa / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

salwa / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : just an earthquake

shuwaikh / not felt

Hawally / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Hawally / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Mahboula / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Ahmathi near Kuwait floor mill / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : Really i feel today earthquake i went office outside

Farwaniyah / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Salmiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : Saw the tea shaking inside the mug

Kuwait city / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : its 2/3 seconds horizontal shake

Abuhalifa / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shaking swinging of objects

mehboula kuwait / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Kabed / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Hawally / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

abu halifa / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Jamal Abdul Nasser Street, Block 3, Ghornata, / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Dropped pin / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Building shook for about 1-2 seconds.

Salmiya / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Fahaheel / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Riggae / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s : I felt a little heavy in my head.

Mahaboula / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Home / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : It felt so powerful

Salmiya block 6 Kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Ahmadi / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Abraq Khaitan / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Salwa / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s

Kuwait city / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Jleeb Al Shuoukh, Kuwait / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Salmiya / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 15-20 s

Kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Egaila / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Sabah Al Salem, Kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Hotel Ibis Salmiya Kuwait / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

shuweikh / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : we are single level building and we felt it

Free Trade Zone / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Kuwait / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Salmiya / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

Burgan / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : the usual mix vibration, building shaking irratically

Ahmadi / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

kuwait national petroleum company / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

ARDIYA KUWAIT / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s
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Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s : I feel it well, it is scary, hope that not to be anymore this night | 2 users found this interesting.

Prishtina (46.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short : Im o 9th floor apartment maybe tagts why i feel it | One user found this interesting.

Urosevac (19.2 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : One big vertical shake followed by a few lateral shakes | One user found this interesting.

Prishtina, Kosovo (48.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : The entire couch moving | One user found this interesting.

Prishtina (48.6 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Kacanik, Komuna e Kacanikut, Ferizaj (8.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Strpce, Ferizaj (16.2 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ferizaj (15.9 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ferizaj (13.7 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

gjilan kosovo (28.4 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : i felt my bad shake

Strpce, Ferizaj (26.9 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Drhtanje casa, kreveta, sporeta

Prishtina (48.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : I havent felt anything

Prishtina (48.6 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : A sudden sharp jolt

Lipkovo (25 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Ferizaj (19.9 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Ferizaj (15.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Ferizaj (19.2 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Partes (20.4 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : e

near Himare, Rrethi i Vlores, Vlore (271.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Skopje (28.8 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Kumanovo (34.6 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Ferizaj (19.7 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

near Vranje, Pcinja, Central Serbia (57.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating

Ferizaj , Kosovo (19.8 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Usje, Grad Skopje (31.8 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Prishtina (46.9 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Gjorce Petro, Grad Skopje (26.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : I was on the floor and then it was shaking

Kacanik, Komuna e Kacanikut, Ferizaj (8.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Usje, Grad Skopje (32.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Gjorce Petro, Grad Skopje (26.9 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

Vitina (9 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

Gjorce Petro, Grad Skopje (26.7 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : A

Skopje (30.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Tetovo macedonia (37 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I become suspicious

Tetovo macedonia (37 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I become suspicious

Prizren (57.6 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Skopje (28.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Vitina (9.3 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Prishtina (49.7 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Vitina (7.6 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : I Want to sleep

Grcec, Saraj, Grad Skopje (32.4 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Radishani, Butel, Grad Skopje (23.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short

Vitina (15.3 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Felt it

Kumanovo (36.8 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

Strpce, Ferizaj (23.3 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : My bed moved.

Kuchevishte (19.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Radishani, Butel, Grad Skopje (19.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

, Sopiste (34.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

near Prilep (89.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Not stong but I fell I live on 6 flor

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Ok

Ferizaj, Zaskok (21.7 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Doganaj te Kacanikut / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Pshtum

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Viti / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Tetovo / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Komogllave / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Einen lauten knall

Glloboqica-kacanik / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

sejdi sejdiu / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / very short

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s : shaking well for up to 15sec, very bad feeling when you are on 8th floor...

skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Prizren (47.7 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short Light quake (reported through (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Kacanik / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Viti / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s

molliq / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s

Pristina (47.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : .

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Fireworks like

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : Its was not a big one but still it shaked

Viti / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Kein gutes

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short : Slight lateral shake

skopje, macedonia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s

Pristina (47.5 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : .

Kacanik kovaceq / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Bajnice / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Boden vibrierte. Lampe wackelt

Prishtina, Kosovo / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s

Kacanik / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

Saraj / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s

Prishtine / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Tearce / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

skopje (27.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : A short but clear shaking

Tetovo / not felt : Non ho sentito niente

Jasmin, Drobesh / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ferizaj, kosovo / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : 3.3 Magnitude

Pristina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Kumanovo, s.Otlja / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Vitina, Kosovo (10 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : It was very short, it lasted about 1 or 2 seconds but it was a hard shake, it moved objects on top of the forniture but the forniture only shaked

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Ferizaj / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Asn

Verban / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Hani Elezit / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Ferizaj / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Greme / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

durres / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : .

Kaqanik (6.1 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : ..

skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Ferizaj / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s

skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : sofa shook

Pristina (48.7 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s : Slight shifting of bed

Kacanik Kosovo / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : Dangerous

Ferizaj / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Bed shaking

Ferizaj / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

kacanik / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : Two short up-down bumps

santa rosa / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s

Saraj / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : .

Ferizaj / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Ferizaj, pleshine (19.6 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Shaking of everything in the house

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Pobozje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Ferizaj (18.9 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Could feel the couch shaking and the lamp was swinging.

durres (2.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : very weak

Kaqanik / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Gllobocices / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Prishtina / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Hani i Elezit / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : bbbbbbbbbb

Prishtina / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Kaqanik / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Skopje (26.3 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Pristina / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : A quick short but decided, lateral shake, felt in the house I am in. On 'ground floor + 1". Sitting on office chair, arms on table, writing on computer.

Prishtina / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I was sitting im my couch and i felt like i am dizzy

Skopye (28.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Pristina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Aerodrom skopje (32.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : M

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ferizaj / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Pristina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Pristina felt all building

Skopje Gazi Baba / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Skopje / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Skopje Macedonia / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Kumanovo (36.4 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Skopje (24.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : .

Ferizaj (18 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Pristina (48.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : It felt like very light horizontal shaking....I was not even sure whether it happened at all...lasted 5-6 seconds

Kumanovo / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Kumanovo (36.3 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

pozharan / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / very short

Kumanovo / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : short and strong shake

Kumanovo (35.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Skopje, Macedonia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s : Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short

ili (33.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Pleshine Kosovo (20.6 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : .

Prishtine / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Kabash / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 s : An earthquake

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

Vitina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s : Little earthquake

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / very short

Elez Han (10.2 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Skopje (32.9 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Gjilan (29.1 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Tetovo / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short

Kacanik kosovo / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Prishtina (48.6 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Hani i Elezit / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Skopje / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Small shaking

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

Skopje, karpos (26.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : B

Prishtina / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : shaking

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Ferizaj / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Skopje (25.5 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Just a weak quake

Pristina / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

kacanik / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

kumanovo / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

Skopje / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : I felt it

Tetovo / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Skopje / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s

Gjorce Petrov / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

skopje / Moderate shaking (MMI V)

Ferizaj / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Skopje / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Pristina (49.6 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Shake indoors
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Say it with me: Hurting women is not it. From the streets to the timeline to movie trailers, the message does not seem to be going through some of your heads. Thats including and especially whoever asked for Austin Ames Chad Michael Murray to star in Ted Bundy: American Bogeyman. Might as well have called it American Man because theres nothing mythical about the man who kidnapped, raped, and murders at least 20 women in the 1970s except the myth films like this or Zac Efrons Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile (which shares the same producers) have been trying to sell. Theres always that need thats left, desire for more, Holland Roden delivers as FBI agent Kathleen McChesney. Its a never-ending cycle, like a serial. No need to go serial killer, ah! They do it for you. Apparently not every role can be as groundbreaking, show-stopping, and illuminative as his role in Alicia Keyss Un-thinkable (Im Ready) music video. Watch Chad Michael Murray in Ted Bundy: American Bogeyman in theaters one night only, August 16, and on demand September 3.

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Alabama school systems should require the wearing of masks when students, teachers and employees return this school year, the Alabama Department of Public Health says.

Implementing universal masking, spacing, and vaccinations (when age-appropriate) recommendations will allow more students to remain in school, more parents and grandparents to remain at work, and most importantly prevent an outbreak in the school that could spread to the community at large, the department reports in official guidance released Monday.

The ADPH is not requiring its guidance on masking and other issued to be followed, just asking local school board to adopt the measure.

As of Monday, the only North Alabama school system requiring the wearing of masks is the Huntsville City School System.

ADPH does remind school systems that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires the wearing of masks on school buses  no matter what local rules may exist.

CDCs Order to wear masks while on public conveyances applies to all public transportation including school buses. Regardless of the mask policy at school, passengers and drivers must wear masks on school buses, including on buses operated by public and private school systems, subject to the exclusions and exemptions in CDCs Order, the guidance says.

Read the full report below:
YouTube has temporarily barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content over misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Google-owned platform, the broadcaster was issued a "strike" last Thursday, which prevents it from posting videos or live-streams for a week. Three strikes over a period of 90 days would result in a permanent removal of the channel.

A YouTube spokesperson did not disclose which videos by Sky News Australia had violated its policies, but said in a statement issued on Monday that "we don't allow content that denies the existence of Covid-19 or that encourages people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus."

Public health authorities have warned against using the two drugs to battle the coronavirus.

YouTube does "allow for videos that have sufficient countervailing context, which the violative videos did not provide," the representative added.

Sky News Australia hit back in a statement Monday, saying that it "expressly rejects that any host has ever denied the existence of Covid-19 as was implied, and no such videos were ever published or removed."

A spokesperson for the broadcaster added that "we take our commitment to meeting editorial and community expectations seriously."

Sky News Australia is run by a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, owned by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The channel, which is known for its conservative commentators, has 1.86 million subscribers on YouTube.

On Sunday, the outlet posted an online article by its digital editor, Jack Houghton, who argued that the decision was "a disturbing attack on the ability to think freely."

In the piece, he claimed that YouTube's decision to suspend the network was "for publishing opinion content the tech giant disagrees with."

"Among the videos deemed unpalatable for societal consumption were debates around whether masks were effective and whether lockdowns were justified when considering their adverse health outcomes," Houghton wrote.

"It is hard not to look at some of these tech giant censorship decisions as being based on one factor, the political persuasion of the person making the comments."

Australia has recently been undergoing a series of strict lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Just last week, stay-home restrictions in Sydney were extended by four weeks over concerns about the highly transmissible Delta variant. The intensity of the measures have triggered fierce public debate.

YouTube, for its part, maintains that its policies are in place to "prevent the spread of Covid-19 misinformation that could cause real-world harm."

"We apply our policies equally for everyone regardless of uploader," the spokesperson said.

Social networks have been under pressure to rein in false claims about the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

Last fall, YouTube said that it would remove videos that included misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, while CEO Susan Wojcicki told CNN's Poppy Harlow that the platform had worked to take "a really tough line" on the subject.

"We've implemented more than 10 different policies on Covid," she said in an interview last October.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
A Palm Beach County, Florida, judge ordered the destruction of video evidence previously suppressed in the case against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, according to court documents.

Judge Leonard Hanser on Friday ordered that the "state shall destroy the suppressed evidence forthwith and submit documentation to this Court outlining the steps it took to comply," records show.

Kraft was one of dozens charged in relation to a 2019 prostitution and human trafficking investigation at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter. He was later charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution.

Kraft's legal team challenged the validity of the search warrant that let authorities install hidden cameras inside the spa, saying it violated Florida law and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In June 2020, a state appeals court sided with a lower court decision to throw out the video evidence in the case.

Kraft, who has been owner of the Patriots since 1994, pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2019 and offered an apology, saying he "hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans and many others who rightfully hold me to a higher standard."

Charges against him were dropped in September 2020 after the office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said the state solicitor general would not seek another appeal in the case. "Although there was probable cause to make an arrest, the evidence cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged and is insufficient to support a criminal prosecution," State Attorney David Aronberg wrote.

The state previously argued against Kraft's attorneys' motion to dismiss the video evidence, stating they had no interest in releasing the evidence to the public, through public records requests or otherwise, absent a court order, documents show.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
There are several emotions a student can feel heading into a new school year, ranging from excitement to anxiety.

This year, North Alabama school districts are expecting the majority of students to come back in-person.

Since some students are still concerned about the pandemic, districts are ensuring they will have resources in place.

For a year and a half, incoming Huntsville City Schools' freshman Krayton Jones has been learning from home.

"I miss hanging out with my friends, I haven't talked to them in like over a year," Krayton said.

But thanks to the band, Krayton has been able to get a head start on reuniting with those friends at Columbia High School. For Krayton, his decision to stay at home was not because he didn't feel like going to class. He was nervous.

"He did not want to go back to school because he was afraid of catching Covid," Phyllis Jones said.

His mother said it was not until their family got vaccinated, they finally decided it was time to head back to in-person learning.

"Everyone still doesn't take it seriously enough to practice social distancing and keeping themselves safe," Phyllis said.

Krayton always planned on wearing a mask, but now he is feeling less anxious knowing his classmates will be required to.

"Cause we're still in the pandemic, it'll still keep you safe," Krayton said.

Over at Madison County Schools, the enrollment rate into the new year is looking slightly above last year's. The district has been preparing for a full return.

"The last 16 months have been a challenge, it's looked very different, looked different than ever before," Supervisor of Student Services Keith Trawick said.

While this year may look more normal, Trawick is investing more resources into mental health as a result of the pandemic.

"One of the biggest things we've been able to do is hire a mental health coordinator for Madison County Schools," He said.

The grant-funded position will help counselors and teachers stay on top of students' needs.

"Kids are definitely going to be anxious to come back to school, for multiple reasons. A lot of kids have enjoyed staying home for this year and a half so," Trawick said. "We want them to know that coming back to school isn't a bad thing. They need to be here, we want them to be here."

Back in Huntsville, at Columbia High School, Krayton's mother admits learning from a computer does not compare to the face-to-face interaction.

"It's good to get out, I'm glad to get out a little bit myself," she said.

Right now, Huntsville City Schools is the only district in North Alabama requiring masks. Other districts are leaving the choice up to parents but say that could change.
Former President Donald Trump to hold rally in Cullman on Aug. 21, the Alabama Republican Party announced Monday.

It will be at 7 p.m. at York Family Farms, 1872 County Road 469, Cullman. Click HERE for ticket information.

President Donald Trump President Donald Trump

According to the state GOPs release:

This Save America rally will be held in conjunction with the Alabama Republican Party Summer Meeting and marks President Trumps further support of the MAGA agenda and accomplishments of President Trumps Administration.

Doors open at 2 p.m. for 45 Fest with music and guest speakers. More speakers join at 5 p.m., and Trump gets under way at 7 p.m.

Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl issued the following statement regarding Trump's visit:

"The Alabama Republican Party is thrilled that President Trump is coming to Alabama and holding a rally in conjunction with our annual Summer Meeting. We all know that there is a special relationship between President Trump and the people of Alabama, and I am incredibly excited to be part of bringing him back to our state. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Trump Team since the end of February to make this visit possible. August 21st is going to be an exciting and memorable night for the State of Alabama."

Stay with WAAY 31 on air and WAAYTV.com online for updates
The first day of school is just around the corner for students in North Alabama.

But across the state line, students are heading back on Monday.

WAAY-31 spoke with one mom who says her kids are more than excited to return to normal after they've been home-schooled for a year.

One mom wanted to get the most out of learning.

Where they live, virtual school isn't an option because their reception is not great.

That's why she and her kids decided to go back to the classroom.

"It seem like it went well last year. We didn't hear a lot of issues" said Sarah Bradford.

Sarah Bradford has two children in the Lincoln County School System.

Monday, they'll finally return to the classroom after COVID forced them to go virtual all last year.

"They really want to go back to school and see their friends, and I have my own business and really want to go back and do my own business too," she said.

Bradford told us that even though this year could still bring challenges, she believes they made the right decision.

"Just do the best that you can. COVID or no COVID, just do the best you can," she said.

The Lincoln County School System is not requiring masks in schools and buses, but the district is still recommending they wear one.

They'll also still be sanitizing everything daily and keep social distancing where possible.

Bradford says she's unsure what this year will look like, but hopes other parents know they have options if this doesn't work out.

"Do what feels right for you and if it turns out to be wrong, then change it and change course. It's okay," she said.

Lincoln County Schools is offering free COVID testing at their schools for those who have symptoms during the beginning of of the school year.

It will be available for all staff and students in grades 2 and up, but sudents must have a signed permission form for this.

More pop up testing sites will be set up later this month.

To find out more information on their COVID protocols for this year, click here.
Health officials in Morgan County say they are still seeing fewer young people vaccinated and more being hospitalized with coronavirus.

Officials say the average age of their patients hospitalized with the virus is now 60 and they are seeing people in their 20s and 30s getting sicker from the virus.

"We have today 13 patients in the hospital, only one is in the ICU and we have zero on the ventilators so that is the good news," Anita Walden, the Chief Nurse at Decatur Morgan Hospital, said

And of those patients only two are vaccinated, which Walden said is concerning.

"The same message that we have been saying for months now: Please, please get your vaccination. That is the most important thing that you can do," she said.

But in Morgan County people in the younger age groups are among some of the most unvaccinated.

"Those that are between the ages of 18 and 29 we only have a vaccination rate of about 25.9%, so about 3 out of every 4 people that you encounter in that age group is not vaccinated. So if you're in a large group with that age group about 3 out of every 4 of those people are not vaccinated," Michael Glenn, the Assistant Administrator for the Northern District of the Alabama Department of Health, said.

Glenn says in the 30 to 49 age group only 2 in 3 people have been vaccinated. Glenn said until we get more people vaccinated, we won't be able to return to completely normal and will continue to see hospitalizations going up.

"We'd like to see those vaccination rates increase, that's going to be our key to getting out of this back to some sense of normalcy," Glenn said.

Walden said they are noticing their patients who are vaccinated and infected with the virus are having much milder symptoms than those who are not.
As school systems prepare to open this month, COVID cases across North Alabama are increasing.

Kids 12 and up do have the option to get the COVID vaccine, but some parents have seen their kids don't want one.

"Why would anybody want to be in the hospital hooked to a ventilator and fighting for their lives and putting the loved ones through that? That would be horrible," Darcel Tucker said.

It's a situation that could easily become a reality for the Tucker family.

"My husband is susceptible. He has a heart disease, so the last thing I want to do is bring home by accident the COVID-19 virus to him that could possibly kill him, me or my family," she explained.

Robbie Tucker says he got the shot because of the recent increase in COVID cases.

"With this delta coming out and people dying, you know it worried me, so that's the reason I went ahead and got it done," Robbie said.

Now, they're focused on getting their two kids vaccinated. Both children are skeptical from all the information they've seen online.

"Too much YouTube! Stay away from the internet!" Darcel said.

But, in the end it is a personal choice to get the COVID vaccine.

Shelbrina Lomax is one of the vaccine coordinators at the Madison County Health Department. She mainly focuses on back to school immunizations, but encourages everyone to do their research on any vaccine they're getting.

"I would recommend that you talk to a health care provider. When you're doing your research, just make sure that it is a credible source. A scientific source that is giving you the good information," Lomax said.

Darcel hopes by getting the vaccine she and husband will be role models for their kids to do the same.

"Why not just get the shot? It's so simple. Just come in here, get a shot and you're done and then you're protected," Darcel said.

Now, the Tucker family says they've been able to convince their 17-year-old son to get the COVID vaccine, but they're still working on convincing his older brother.

Darcel says she's convinced he will make the best decision for him and his family.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Rome to mark 700 years of poet's death with first major exhibition dedicated to Dante's Inferno.

Following the success of the Raphael 500 exhibition, the Scuderie del Quirinale returns with a new show marking another important milestone: the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri.

Titled Inferno and running from 15 October to 9 January 2022, the exhibition will comprise more than 200 artworks from over 80 museums, public collections and private collections from Italy, the Vatican and across Europe.

Inferno will document a wide range of hell-related iconography, from the Middle Ages to the present day, in what is hailed as the first major art exhibition dedicated to this theme.

Curated by Jean Clair, the "powerful, ambitious and spectacular" show will take visitors on a terrifying visual journey into the depths of hell, as imagined by artists through the centuries, accompanied by the words of Dante, the 'Father of the Italian language'.

Hell, anonymous, c.1510-1520, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon  Bridgeman Images.

These visions range from the tormented and nightmarish to the romanticised, from Mediaeval to Baroque, up to psychoanalytic interpretations from the 20th century.

The exhibition also presents scenes of "hell on earth" and delves into the concept of salvation, as offered by Dante in the last canto of the Inferno Canticle: And so we went out to see the stars again.

During the show's first weeks, visitors will be able to gaze into the Abyss of Hell by Botticelli, on loan from the Vatican, together with a scale paster cast model of Rodin's Gates of Hell from the Musee Rodin in Paris.

There will be other masterpieces too, by artists including Beato Angelico, Botticelli, Bosch, Bruegel, Goya, Manet, Delacroix, Rodin, Cezanne, Richter and Kiefer.

For exhibition details and visiting information check the Scuderie del Quirinale website. Cover image: Jose Benliure Gil, La barca di Caronte, 1896  Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia.
As of July 20, an estimated 1.73 million people in a country of 67 million were isolating. Almost 690,000 people in England and Wales were told to isolate by the app in the week ended July 21, up 11% from 620,000 the week before, though the rate of increase slowed. The peak was driven in its early stages by a combination of rising infections and increased movement of people. The weekend before most restrictions were ended, the U.K. recorded the highest increase in infections anywhere in the world, with cases topping more than 50,000 per day, although the number had fallen below 28,000 by July 28. The delta variant makes up approximately 99% of all new cases there. Infections were actually higher in the U.K. in early January, but lockdown rules were still in place in many parts of the country, so those who tested positive then likely would have come into contact with fewer people. While England ended most of its Covid restrictions on July 19, various measures still remained in place elsewhere in the U.K. Scotland was on track to remove most restrictions by Aug. 9, most Covid rules were due to be lifted in Wales on Aug. 7, and Northern Ireland has also been relaxing its rules.
Chinese companies seeking capital have long headed to the U.S. stock market to tap its deep-pocketed investors, raising more than $100 billion through first-time share sales over the past two decades. This money flow was immensely profitable for all involved: The founders, the bankers, early investors and new shareholders. Yet all this now looks set to change. China has pledged to write new rules for companies going public outside the mainland and to step up oversight of those already trading offshore. Its unclear whether Didi Global Inc.s contentious initial public offering in June was the catalyst; the U.S. has been taking steps to force some Chinese firms to open their books or face delisting, and now has blocked new public offerings. Either way its a major shakeup for Chinese companies -- which account for about 4% of Americas $50 trillion equity market -- as well as their private equity backers and Wall Street.
Not Ant, it seems. It agreed with regulators on a restructuring plan that will turn it into a financial holding company. After the $2.8 billion fine, Alibaba executives said they were unaware of any other antitrust investigations. The government remains concerned about Alibabas influence over public opinion given its diverse media assets and a significant stake in Weibo. Beijing is said to want the e-commerce giant to sell some of them, including the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. In an example of how sensitive the issue is, Weibo was penalized by the internet watchdog for interfering with the spread of opinions after posts about a scandal involving a senior Alibaba executive were deleted. Overall, authorities in Beijing are expected to tread cautiously, looking to rein in the growing clout of the tech giants without undermining some of the countrys biggest corporate success stories. Education firms are overhauling what they teach, and how they charge for it, to comply with the new rules. Some have cut back on advertising to eliminate a key area of criticism about how they market services to students and parents. Analysts also anticipate that at least some of the major education technology players will have to restructure their business, either spinning off divisions in violation of the new regime or even delisting.
Hong Kongs population fell 0.6% in 2020, the first annual decline in 18 years, and anecdotal evidence suggests departures have continued. Many head for the U.K., which opened a new pathway for residency and eventual citizenship for Hong Kong residents. Social media has been filled with pictures of long check-in lines and fully laden baggage carts for flights to London in an otherwise deserted airport. Media reports tell of a generation disillusioned with how the security law has changed the former British colony. Expats are also thinking of relocating. More than 40% of members responding to a survey in May by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said they might leave amid concerns about the security law as well as the governments handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, including flight bans and lengthy, mandatory quarantines. Hong Kong officials have dismissed suggestions of a brain drain, saying that talented mainlanders are waiting to take the place -- and jobs -- of people who leave.
Tested, not Texted: If your husband has been cruising dating sites while married to you, and now has a habit of testing your trust by feigning ignorance about how to send or reply to a group text, then Id venture an educated guess and say that there is no way for you to get him to stop being himself.
Theirs was a battle of green vs. green. A French energy company called Engie, with an annual revenue of $70 billion in 2019, is in the process of leasing acreage from landowners in Dike with the intent of installing solar panels on the ground. The company has already secured contracts to use 1,850 acres. Those who sign on will receive $500 per acre annually. Residents who are against the project worry it could have unintended environmental impacts, such as increased runoff to nearby parcels of land, and the release of carbon gases stored in the trees that would need to be cleared to make way for the panels.
A: I think thats absolutely the right way to look at it. When it comes to social movements, so often progress happens in fits and starts, rather than in a straight line. When I need a boost of inspiration, I think of the many wonderful, courageous people Ive met in this movement: the people who have lost a father or daughter or best friend to gun violence but keep fighting, day in and day out, or the people who, like me, have been shot but persist despite the physical and emotional scars they have to contend with every day. They arent going anywhere, and neither am I.
Dehghani-Tafti said the criticism of the marijuana case was unfounded. She reached a deal with a 20-year-old man who was arrested at Reagan National Airport in 2018 with 50 pounds of marijuana to plead guilty to two felony charges of felony possession with intent to distribute and be placed on probation. After finishing a lengthy term of probation and community service, the man would be able to withdraw the felony pleas and plead guilty to two misdemeanor possession with intent to distribute charges.
This is, alas, the case for millions of people around the world who find themselves in very difficult situations, and particularly in Afghanistan now, especially a group of people who may have worked for us, worked for NGOs, media organizations, women and girls, and others who feel an acute sense of threat and fear for the future, he said, using an acronym for nongovernmental organizations, or civil society groups.
I really felt as though we had embedded a culture of innovation in the organization, but the target kept moving, said former Seattle chief Kathy OToole, who was hired in 2014 and clashed with Bobb during her four-year tenure. It was getting quite frustrating  not only for the command team but for the officers. It was like consent-decree fatigue.
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The Senates options in the face of the countys defiance are not clear. Fann could ask the Senate to hold the board in contempt, but she does not appear to have the votes to do so. The GOP holds only a one-vote majority in the state Senate, and a previous contempt vote in February failed after state Sen. Paul Boyer (R) said he was opposed. Since then, Boyer has become only more vocal in his opposition to the audit.
I dont say this publicly, but are you watching whats happening in Michigan? Johnson said while discussing the Capitol attack with some of the events attendees. . . . So you think the FBI had fully infiltrated the militias in Michigan, but they dont know squat about what was happening on January 6th or what was happening with these groups? Id say there is way more to the story.
It gets back to the central conflict. It is incredibly difficult to separate the pain of seeing Black and white bodies beaten, murdered and killed because of what they believe in and because of the fight for equality. And that can hurt peoples soul. It can cause them to become bitter, and it can cause them to become hostile. John Lewis was always trying to keep people together. He would say, Dont get down. Do not become lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Thats why this book is dedicated to the preachers of hope. Because the only way to survive, the only way to succeed is to maintain that discipline and that hope and that optimism. Because its the only thing thats worked.
Well look back at this time and just be blown away by what a wrong call that was, epidemiologist Greg Dore said of the initial reluctance to encourage broader use of AstraZeneca. We could have been so much further along the pathway. The urgency was always there, winter was coming, new variants were arriving, but there was too much complacency, and were now paying the price for that.
Lithuania has accused Belarusian authorities of organizing the illicit border crossings as an act of retaliation by Lukashenko. Since he was announced as the winner in an August 2020 presidential vote that the West denounced as rigged, he has cracked down on opposition protests in his country and his main election challenger fled to Lithuania.
Muhyiddin has led an unstable, unelected governing alliance since March 2020 after he initiated the downfall of the reformist government that won the 2018 elections. Parliament has been shut down for several months just after he took office and since January this year, after the king approved his plan for an emergency that has failed to tackle the pandemic.
This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping, a U.K. national died, he said. It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world, and the U.K. will continue to insist on that.
Teresa May, 58, of New Johnsonville, Tennessee, passed away July 9, 2021. Teresa was born March 19, 1963, in Vincennes, Indiana, to Robert and Mary (McPherson) May. Teresa was a loving mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend to many. She had a love for crocheting and was an avid col
Trusted local news has never been more important, but providing the information you need, information that can change sometimes minute-by-minute, requires a partnership with you, our readers. Please consider making a contribution today to support this vital resource that you and countless others depend on.
In North America and Europe, Refinery29 is a publication where under-repesented women can be seen and heard. Now, it is trying to become one of the most progressive news outlets for women in Australia.

It wont be without fierce competitors. Well-established publications like Australian Womens Weekly and Marie Claire and Harpers Bazaar, PopSugar Australia, Mamamia and Nine Entertainment Cos womens lifestyle arm, 9Honey, have had years to make their mark. But head of editorial Zahra Campbell-Avenell is confident the publication, founded in New York more than 15 years ago, has something different to offer to Australian women.

Fashion, for example, will be approached in a different way. We might produce a piece on sustainability, or we might produce a piece on what kind of straight leg jeans work for plus-size women, which I dont think the other publications would go as hard on, she says. Whats also different is the way we tell stories is because were not talking at people. Were not talking about them. Theyre telling their own stories and I think thats hugely different.

Refinery29 has officially launched in Australia.

Refinery29 started as a fashion and beauty blog in New York founded by Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi and Christene Barberich. Over time, it evolved into a publication that covers womens issues such as pay gaps and sexual harassment.
A group of Uber drivers from Sydney and Melbourne have launched legal action in the Federal Court to determine whether they and thousands of other gig economy drivers are entitled to minimum rates of pay and other protections as employees.

Harmers Workplace Lawyers has enlisted Bret Walker, SC, and barrister Sheryn Omeri, who won a similar case against Uber in the UK.

Uber drivers Syed Mubashir and Debra Weddall outside the Federal Court in Melbourne. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

The four drivers, two from Sydney and two from Melbourne, allege Uber has breached the Fair Work Act by not keeping records of their employment, and by not providing pay slips. The court will need to determine whether drivers are employees or independent contractors conducting their own business, as asserted by Uber.

Harmers, which is providing its services on a pro-bono basis, said the applicants were not seeking financial compensation as individuals, but the court could order a financial penalty to be paid for a breach of civil penalty provisions of the Fair Work Act. The applicants would ask the court to order that any financial penalty be paid to the Rideshare Driver Network, which represents thousands of Uber drivers across the country.
So why does burnout seem to be at an all-time high? Is it simply a result of increased awareness of the syndrome compared with previous decades? Certainly, high-profile individuals are more open nowadays about their experiences and so increase community awareness. Australian womens tennis player Ashleigh Barty (ranked world No. 1) has shared with the media her personal experience of developing burnout. Fearing mental exhaustion, she decided to step away from professional tennis before she flamed out completely. Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty has shared her personal experience of developing burnout. Credit:AP Luckily for Barty (and tennis fans worldwide), time out doing a business degree and playing cricket saw her passion rekindle, and she was able to (very) successfully make it back out onto the tennis court feeling like a champion. Burnout in sporting figures is not a new phenomenon. In 2019 journalist Gideon Haigh recorded how Australian cricket icon Sir Donald Bradmans unavailability for the 1930s Bodyline series was officially described as a consequence of him being rundown. Bradman later described how a Sydney consultant physician had ordered him to rest completely.

In an issue of The Psychologist, a monthly publication of the British Psychological Society, authors Jamie Barker and Matt Slater note the prevalence of burnout in elite athletes and pinpoint its origins as reflecting their pressing commitments, performance nuances and the greater likelihood of them being perfectionistic. Rundown: Don Bradman padding up for his practice knock in Adelaide in 1946. Credit:Archive Testimonies from Barty and other luminaries, such as Arianna Huffington, co-founder of Huffington Post, have raised our awareness of how widely distributed burnout is, highlighting that even the most accomplished among us can succumb and possibly be more vulnerable to the syndrome. The globe, the web, digitalisation and fragmentation Its not only the gruelling schedule associated with celebrity that is fuelling the increasing burnout blaze. Todays globalised and digital work culture provides plenty of tinder for burnout. One element is our 24/7 online presence. The new tribe of digital natives is constantly available online and we are no longer able (or permitted) to switch off or turn down the burners at the end of the already extended working day. Arianna Huffington described her own rapid onset of burnout syndrome (after working 18 hours a day, seven days a week) in her book Thrive.

Arianna Huffington wrote about her own rapid onset of a burnout syndrome. Four brief vignettes described by Huffington in her book capture the impact of this societal tempo: how her own mother became angry when observing Huffington reading her emails while simultaneously talking to her children; the observation by a senior executive that, as a consequence of having developed a dependence on technology, she had stopped looking into her childrens eyes; Carl Honore (promoter of the Slow Movement) contemplating one-minute bedtime stories for his two-year-old son; and a writer becoming aware that his hands started twitching if he was away from his phone for more than 30 seconds, and that he couldnt even take a pee without getting bored. So are Westerners  who are, because of current societal norms, becoming increasingly socially fragmented  more prone to burnout than those from non-industrial, non-urban, collectivist cultures? This issue is a hot topic for political economists and, increasingly, for philosophers. One of the latter, Pascal Chabot, has written that: Burnout is a disease of civilisation. And civilisation is bleeding the earth dry. Chabot suggests that we were offered new technologies and informed that they would relieve the burden of work, but ultimately the civilisation of leisure was, in reality, a Trojan horse as now our communications monopolise our time. We have become enslaved to our computers.

Cultural factors complicate conclusions about features of burnout outside the western framework. Death from overwork is a well-recognised phenomenon in Asia, being termed karoshi in Japan, gwarosa in South Korea and guolaosi in China, and with premature deaths generally from a heart attack or a stroke. Burnout: A Guide to Identifying Burnout and Pathways to Recovery. Credit:Allen & Unwin Hard work is a deeply held belief in Asia, attributed partly to Confucian values, high levels of competition for limited education and career opportunities, and the merit attached to getting ahead and seeking a better life. Then there are the organisational settings where hierarchy and peer pressure are dominant plus the importance and ensuing demands of foreign investment, which encourage deregulation to increase competitiveness. On the other hand, burnout as experienced in Asia might simply reflect excessive workloads and technological imperatives. In some collectivist cultures, all workers are required as a given to labour in arduous conditions for intolerable hours to provide the most basic sustenance for self and family. In this context, their expectations may shape their perceptions and responses and provide extra resilience  with no welfare net, their only alternative to drudgery being deeper poverty. As such, working conditions may be judged in a relative rather than an absolute way if the vast mass of the population work under these conditions. Consequently, such workers may be protected to some degree from developing burnout or, if present, view it as normal. There are too few studies as yet to be sure.
Nickel miner IGO Limiteds managing director and chief executive Peter Bradford said on the sidelines of Diggers the BHP deal was a vote of confidence in an underlying thematic. WA is so well-positioned in this electric vehicle battery space, he said. The opportunity is there for WA to work out how far we go. Mr Bradford said state and federal governments had missed an opportunity to help the electric vehicle industry in Australia by not focusing enough on charging infrastructure, despite spending billions on economic stimulus packages. The lag in infrastructure is matched by a different lack of understanding in other sectors becoming reliant on battery and base metals.

Mr Beament said car manufacturers like Volkswagen and Toyota were getting an understanding of where supply chains came from, but the rest of the motoring industry thought they could still just go to Aldi or Costco and pull the material off the shelf. Loading But its not just what is dug up which could change, according to Mr Beament, who announced a renaming of Venturex to DEVELOP with no mention of words like resources in the new title. DEVELOP will look to create an expert underground workforce able to consult and contract to operations around the world. The idea goes that less carbon is created at underground operations compared to open pits, and Australians were global experts on the former.

Mr Beament said people loved the big hole  Kalgoorlies Superpit  but no one would be allowed to dig a similar sized mine again with a town built next to it. Developing an expert workforce would also guard DEVELOP against the cyclical nature of the base metals market, according to Mr Beament. Changing climate agenda and mining go hand in hand Mr Beament was one of many presenters on Monday championing commodities which were part of a new energy economy. Former World Bank vice president and Oxford University globalisation and development professor Ian Goldin  who predicted in 2014 the most likely cause of the next financial crisis would be a pandemic  gave a keynote speech where he spoke about the need for the minerals sector to help guide the transition.

He said there was no climate change solution which did not involve the mining of many metals and minerals. Loading Minerals and metals that are very, very close to all of you, including gold, lithium, nickel, rare earths, and others have tremendously good potential, Professor Goldin said. Lithium, nickel demand demand will increase eight to 10 times at least over the coming decade. The green new deal is the key, question is can we create jobs ... I think theres a huge amount to learn how to use stimulus packages, how do we create meaningful jobs in the long term.

Mr Beament said one of the challenges in filling jobs in the new energy era was turning around the negative perception of the entire mining industry in the minds of young people. He said the industry needed to tell the story of how base and battery metals were needed to help change the world to attract more people into the industry. People still love gold, but cold war fears loom Gold may not be green, according to Mr Beament, but Karora Resources executive chairman Paul Huet told the conference his company, which runs the Beta Hunt project in the WA Goldfields, was working hard to achieve net zero status in the coming years. And gold is not coal with the value of the precious metal continuing to hold throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, once again cementing its status as the go to commodity in a crisis.

Professor Goldin said he thought gold would remain around $US2000 an ounce. Loading I have seen projections for going to $3000 and even $3500 in the 2025 horizon; I think thats too optimistic, I dont think the markets will sustain that but I do think that gold will hold its own in real terms, which means continuing to bubble around $2000 for the next few years, he said. The big looming issue which could create headaches for nearly all sectors of mining is the potential for a new cold war, according to Professor Goldin. The pandemic has also accelerated the rise of China and threat its perceived to pose with the rest of the world, he said.
A tree collapsed on top of a motorist travelling north along the Mitchell Freeway as wild weather wreaked havoc for large parts of WAs coast and inland suburbs.

A driver walked away despite this tree falling on his car on the Mitchell Freeway on Saturday night. Credit:Jo Trilling

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued a take action now warning for parts of the Perth metro area, the Great Southern, South West and Lower South West.

The storm was a weather event only occurring three or four times a year, according to DFES, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and even hail.

Western Power reported power outages to more than 1200 properties in dozens of suburbs including Kelmscott, Armadale, Scarborough, Glendalough, Mundaring, Waroona, Roleystone and Balcatta.
There has been a confusing array of official messages about the AstraZeneca vaccine (which as you know is one of the most widely used vaccines around the world and for many countries their only option). And to be frank, for someone whose day job for two decades has been working in vaccines, even I was confused. The communication void was filled by whoever had the loudest voice and what was heard was AstraZeneca is not good enough and it is not safe. This was deafening. It also ricocheted around the Pacific and PNG. To be fair, AstraZeneca has 0.003 per cent chance of a serious side effect in people less than 60 years old (and the risk is less for those over 60 years). Sadly, six people have died from this. In no way do I mean to trivialise this and my heart goes out to the grieving families. But recently there have been 10 deaths from COVID in New South Wales with the latest Delta outbreak. One was an unvaccinated 38-year-old woman. And last year about 1000 people died from the virus. Nearly all of those people would be alive today had there been a vaccine available  except for those who wanted to wait for Pfizer.

I really dont know why they want to wait. Even one dose of AstraZeneca is 83 per cent effective and two shots is even better, providing 94 per cent effectiveness against Delta. I have had two AstraZeneca shots, so has my husband and my Mum. Australia makes up to one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine each week. We have supply, and our excess is flown to countries in our region who are struggling with COVID-19 and for that I am truly grateful. It is likely that we may all get a booster next year anyway, at least those most at risk, but the science is not quite there yet to guide us. So what impact does waiting for Pfizer and not getting vaccinated have on all of us?

We all know the family hardships of business closures and the impact uncertainty has on mental health, the empty shop fronts, the heart of Melbourne silent and grey, the Arts community beckoning us to get vaccinated so they can continue to feed our soul (and feed themselves), and the threat of the AFL Grand Final being kicked to another state. Loading But what is really cruel, in my opinion, is the one million Victorian school children who have been forgotten. In our state, weve had five lockdowns and schools have been closed for 27 weeks in the last 18 months. Adults not getting vaccinated harms our children. We cant avoid schools closures this year unless people get vaccinated. To fully thrive, children need routines, certainty and the ability to play with their friends in person. A report last week by the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People said 50 per cent of children who completed their survey felt terrible or bad because of the pandemic which has been worsened by school closures. This has got worse. And although millions of dollars have been given to mental health services, the demand is so high that some have closed their books for 2021 and as the waiting lines are so long many are turned away. Instead distressed families bring their children to already overcrowded emergency departments. Many kids will bounce back, but the long term impact of anxiety and depression on the wiring of childrens growing brains is completely unknown. So what can families do? For those less severe, the Raising Childrens network and the Australian Psychological Society has good online resources.

And yet some of us continue to wait for Pfizer. Loading We can change this. The quicker we all get vaccinated, the quicker we can stop snap lockdowns and schools closures, and prevent this ongoing deterioration of what is already a dire situation for our children. But no one has really told us that this is happening or what we are aiming for (at least officially). It continues to be impossible to mute the voices that lead us astray. So we cant blame anyone for not getting vaccinated.


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Community Invited to Food, FUNding & Your Future Carnival

August 2, 2021

OGDEN, Utah Weber State Universitys Community Education Center (CEC) invites the community to the Food FUNding & Your Future Carnival at 2605 Monroe Blvd., Aug. 6 from 5 to 8 p.m.

This event will give students and their families the opportunity to learn about scholarship and financial aid options available to them at Weber State. Experts will be on hand to help students with applications on the spot. Applicants will need to bring identification and estimated gross annual income information. DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students are encouraged to attend.

You can also explore educational programs from badges and certificates to degrees to secure a better future in just a few months, said Niki Tonks, marketing manager for the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics.

Spanish and English speakers will be on hand to answer questions.

The carnival will have a number of activities to entertain family and friends, including lawn games. Hokulia, a local food vendor, will hand out free shaved ice as long as supplies last. Participants may visit various booths from Weber State organizations and learn about different activities and services.

Along with financial information and assistance, the CEC offers a variety of services including English as a Second Language (ESL) courses for non-native speakers. The Weber-Morgan Health Department is also offering COVID vaccine clinics on Mondays and Wednesdays in August from 1-8 p.m.

This carnival is free and open to the public. For more information, visit fb.me/e/159yqLVPN.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Two months ago, Alexis Gevanter was an engaged volunteer advocating for gun safety legislation as the Connecticut chapter leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

But now the 39-year-old Greenwich resident and attorney finds herself in an unexpected position.

She is running as the Democratic candidate and positioning herself as a political outsider as she seeks to succeed Alex Kasser in the 36th Senate District, which includes Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan, in a special election set for Aug. 17. The winner of the three-way race will finish out the two-year term, which runs through the end of 2022. And in a race that is most decidedly a sprint, it is a new but exciting challenge that she says she is eager to tackle.

Advocating for issues has always been a big part of my life, whether it has been as a business attorney, a gun violence prevention advocate or just as a mom in the community, Gevanter said. So when the seat opened up, I thought maybe this is a place where I can use my skills to create positive change by doing what Ive always done, listening, finding common ground, building coalitions and working together.

Kasser unexpectedly resigned from the Senate in late June, and now Gevanter is running against Republican Ryan Fazio and petition candidate John Blankley, something she admits has been a whirlwind.

It has been exciting and invigorating, Gevanter said. Its truly been an honor to run. Ive been blessed to meet so many volunteers and advocacy groups and voters, neighbors and members of our community. Ive learned whats important to them and whats on their minds and how we can best make that change in Hartford.

Many residents want to hear how youre going to make their lives better, especially coming out of the pandemic, she said, and she wants to keep the state on the right path.

Thats why I think I will win this seat, Gevanter said. I am going to be a champion for all of the people of the 36th District.

Gevanter once worked as a legislative aide in the congressional office of former U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman, D-N.J. And despite an interest in policy, she said she never intended to run for office until the seat became vacant and she saw an opportunity to advocate for the district. The Senate seat was long held by Republicans. But when Kasser was first elected in 2018, she became the first Democrat to represent the district since 1930.

In the race, Gevanter looks to focus on her platform, pointing to what she calls the three Ps  prosperity, progress and public safety and health.

Prosperity, she says, includes investment in education, which includes making college more accessible and offering debt-free community college. She said she would advocate for bipartisan state budgets without tax increases and supports eliminating the Social Security tax as well as fully repealing the estate tax in the state.

Gevanter said she would push for more jobs in the state, an area she said her experience as a business attorney would help in attracting businesses to Connecticut.

When it comes to progress, she said it is something we always need to keep our eye on and it includes expanding voting rights in the state, expanding and protecting womens rights, and protecting the environment. Gevanter called these all critical issues that require working across the aisle to accomplish, something she says she has the temperament to do.

Public safety includes gun violence prevention because we need to make sure our kids are safe in schools, on the playgrounds and in their homes, Gevanter said. It also includes emerging from this pandemic by following the science and listening to the experts. And I also think we need to fully fund our police. These are things that are really important to me and to the people of the 36th District.

Calling herself a Ned Lamont Democrat, Gevanter said she would want to be a partner to the governor in Hartford.

Gevanter has lived in the district for three years. A former resident of New York, with a brief period going back and forth to San Francisco, Gevanter said this was always where she and her husband, who has worked in town since 2012, wanted to raise their family. Greenwich, she said, is where they chose to move after they had the first of their two children, who are now ages 4 and 2.

This is an amazing, diverse community, Gevanter said. I think as a mom of young children in this community, as somebody who chose this community, I fully understand why people would come here and what they want out of here for their families and how we make sure our children move back here and this is a place where we can retire.

I keep hearing from people, Alexis, I dont want to die in Florida. What are we going to do about these taxes? We want this to be a multigenerational community where our teachers can live, where our police can live, where our nurses can live as well as our executives and professionals and small business owners, she said.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
AES Indiana, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation, has announced its plans for a new solar energy project in Pike County, Indiana.

The project, called The Petersburg Solar Project, will include the construction of a 250 MW solar field and a 180MWh energy storage facility in Pike County.

According to AES Indiana, the Petersburg Solar Project will connect to AES Indiana's existing Petersburg Generating Station, which is between Indiana 57 and the White River in Petersburg.

Power generated by the project will power the equivalent of 45,000 homes during peak hours, according to AES Indiana.

AES Indiana says it will acquire the project from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, and that NextEra Energy Resources will develop and construct the project.

The Petersburg Solar Project will require approval by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). If approved, the project is expected to be operational no later than May 1, 2024.

The project is also expected to bring new construction jobs and new tax revenue to Pike County.

You can check out AES Indiana's full statement on the project here.
Today

Plenty of sunshine mixing with some fair weather afternoon clouds; very warm but still not that humid.

Tonight

Partly cloudy and not as cool as recent nights.

Tomorrow

Partly sunny and more humid with an afternoon shower or thunderstorm; best chance may be closer to the shore.
Reading, PA (19601)

Today

Plenty of sunshine mixing with some fair weather afternoon clouds; very warm but still not that humid. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy and not as cool as recent nights.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Plenty of sunshine mixing with some fair weather afternoon clouds; very warm but still not that humid. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy and not as cool as recent nights.
NEWINGTON, CT (WFSB)  A rise in COVID-19 cases means old guidelines are coming back.

State health officials 'strongly recommend' all CT residents ages 2 & over mask up indoors (WFSB) - With COVID cases on the rise in Connecticut, state health officials 'strongly recommend' everyone ages two and over wear a face mask 

Masks are now being required in the government buildings of some cities and towns.

This continues as the state's positivity rate rose to over 3% on Monday.

In Newington, masks are recommended in town buildings.

The same goes for city buildings in Middletown, Norwich and New London.

Anyone heading out to a municipal building in Norwich or in Newington will want to check in with the department theyre visiting. Some are requiring appointments.

"The Delta variant is incredibly contagious," said Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim. "If you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, or have any upper respiratory symptoms, I strongly encourage you to get tested for COVID-19, even if you are fully vaccinated."

The guidelines come as the Delta variant continues to spread across the state.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health said its strongly recommending that all residents over 2-years-old wear a mask inside.

"Given the rapid increases in cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut over the last 14 days due to the spread of the Delta variant, the Connecticut Department of Public Health is strongly recommending that ALL CONNECTICUT residents over aged two years, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, return to wearing masks when in indoor public spaces," Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement.

Regarding the vaccination rate in Connecticut, 70 percent of residents are fully vaccinated, and 75 percent have received at least one dose.

Connecticuts vaccination rate is higher than many states, but some say we need rates closer to 90 percent, especially with the Delta variant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also is recommending that everyone wear masks outdoors in heavily populated areas in hotspot counties, which are Middlesex, New London, New Haven, Hartford, Fairfield, Windham, and Tolland.

Over in New Haven, Yale University is requiring students and staff to wear masks indoors and outside on its campus.
The return of conventions is a sign that things are getting back to normal, but the return of rising COVID numbers and new CDC recommendations to wear masks indoors is a sign things are heading in the wrong direction.
Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Willmar, MN (56201)

Today

Lots of sunshine. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 83F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds light and variable.
Dallin Walker, left, environmental scientist, and Ted Turner, right, regional biologist, both for Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, float along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River near Deer Rapids earlier this month. The pair were collecting algae samples for testing.
BOZALAN, Turkey (AP)  Selcuk Sanli set his two cows loose, put his familys most treasured belongings in a car and fled his home as a wildfire approached his village near Turkey's beach resort of Bodrum, one of thousands fleeing flames that have coated the skies with a thick yellow haze.

A plane pours water over the fire-devastating Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo)

BOZALAN, Turkey (AP)  Selcuk Sanli set his two cows loose, put his familys most treasured belongings in a car and fled his home as a wildfire approached his village near Turkey's beach resort of Bodrum, one of thousands fleeing flames that have coated the skies with a thick yellow haze.

For the sixth straight day, Turkish firefighters battled Monday to control the blazes that are tearing through forests near Turkeys beach destinations. Fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures, the fires that began Wednesday have left eight people dead. Residents and tourists have fled vacation resorts in flotillas of small boats or convoys of cars and trucks. Many villagers have lost their homes and farm animals and have had trouble breathing amid the heavy smoke.

Overall, some 10,000 people have been evacuated in Mugla province alone, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday.

Sanli returned to check on his house Monday in Bozalan only to find that the fire had flared.

Property is an important part of life but life itself comes first, he said as he prepared to leave once again.

People on the beach of smoke-engulfed Mazi area as wildfires rolled down the hill toward the seashore, in Bodrum, Mugla, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo/Emre Tazegul)

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Twitter that crews were still tackling nine fires in the coastal provinces of Antalya and Mugla that are popular tourist areas. Other active fires were in the provinces of Isparta, Denizli, Izmir and Adana.

Another fire in Tunceli, in southeast Turkey, was contained on Monday, the minister said earlier. In all, 137 fires that broke out in over 30 provinces since Wednesday have been extinguished.

We are going through days when the heat is above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), where the winds are strong and humidity is extremely low, Pakdemirli said. We are struggling under such difficult conditions.

A man down a road in the fire-devastating Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo)

In Bozalan, Esra Sanli sobbed as she pointed at a fire raging near the village.

Theres no plane, theres no helicopter, theres no roads. How is this going to be extinguished? How?" she said.

Firetrucks, with their sirens on, drove toward Bozalan, while villagers were seen herding cows away from the area.

A man runs from smoke-engulfed Mazi area as wildfires rolled down the hill toward the seashore, in Bodrum, Mugla, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo/Emre Tazegul)

On Sunday, residents were forced to evacuate the nearby village of Cokertme as flames neared. Some got on small boats and others left by cars as the fire got closer and closer  scenes that Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the nearby resort of Bodrum, described as hell. Precautions were taken to protect two nearby thermal power plants.

An evacuation order was also issued for the town of Turunc, near the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla province. People carrying suitcases fled on small boats.

Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday that some tourists were able to return to their hotels after the threat dissipated.

People run away from the fire-devastated Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo)

The EU said it helped mobilize firefighting planes from Croatia and Spain to help Turkey. Planes from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have also been fighting the blazes. Spain said it was sending two water-dumping aircraft and one transport plane as well as 27 soldiers to help.

The EU announcement followed allegations that the Turkish government was compromising firefighting efforts by refusing help from Western nations. Pakdemirli refuted that, saying that the government had only refused offers for planes whose water-dumping capacities were less than five tons. A total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were tackling the fires, he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government has also been widely criticized for failing to purchase state-of-the-art firefighting planes.

A firefighter works as the wildfires engulf an area near the seashore, forcing people to be evacuated by boats, in Bodrum, Mugla, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021.Wildfires in the Turkish holiday destinations of Antalya and Mugla are still raging as firefighters worked to battle the blazes for a fifth day. Authorities warned tourists and residents to keep evacuating Turunc, a town in the seaside resort of Marmaris, and navy ships waited in the sea there to see if a bigger evacuation was needed. (Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP)

In Marmaris, Mayor Mehmet Oktay said fires were still burning in two locations and estimated that 11,000 hectares (28,000 acres) of forest had been incinerated. On Monday, a fire reached the edge of the village of Hisaronu, burning a number of homes and descending down a mountainside toward a road as police evacuated ambulance crews and journalists.

Our lungs have been burning for the past five days, Oktay told Haberturk television.

The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said at least 27 people affected by the fires were still being treated in hospitals while hundreds of others had been treated and released.

Firefighters work in the smoke-engulfed Mazi area as wildfires rolled down the hill toward the seashore, forcing people to be evacuated, in Bodrum, Mugla, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. More than 100 wildfires have been brought under control in Turkey, according to officials. The forestry minister tweeted that five fires are continuing in the tourist destinations of Antalya and Mugla. (AP Photo/Emre Tazegul)

Soylu, the interior minister, said authorities were investigating the cause of the fires, including human carelessness and possible sabotage by outlawed Kurdish militants. He said one person was detained over allegations that he may have been paid by the group to start a fire.

Experts, however, mostly point to climate change as being behind the fires, along with accidents caused by people. Erdogan has said one of the fires was started by children.

A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece, where people had to be evacuated by sea to escape the flames.

__

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Ayse Wieting in Istanbul and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed.

Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Sen. Lindsey Graham has become the first senator to disclose a breakthrough infection after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying Monday he is very glad he received the vaccine, without which his current symptoms would be far worse.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks about the United States-Mexico border during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, July 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Sen. Lindsey Graham has become the first senator to disclose a breakthrough infection after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying Monday he is very glad he received the vaccine, without which his current symptoms would be far worse.

The news prompted several other lawmakers to get quick COVID-19 tests and report their status. A handful of Senate colleagues spent part of the weekend working and socializing with the South Carolina Republican, who attended a gathering on Sen. Joe Manchins houseboat the evening that he first developed symptoms.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Graham said he started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor Monday morning.

After being notified of his positive test, Graham said he would quarantine for 10 days.

I feel like I have a sinus infection, and at present time, I have mild symptoms, the 66-year-old Graham said. I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination, I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse.

According to spokesman Kevin Bishop, Graham was among senators who attended Manchin's event on Saturday. Sam Runyon, a spokeswoman for Manchin, said the West Virginia Democrat "is fully vaccinated and following the CDC guidelines for those exposed to a COVID positive individual.

In the Capitol Monday evening, senators who attended the gathering were present and voting. Manchin said he had since tested negative and said the outdoor event, which lasted several hours and featured hamburgers, was just trying to get people together.

We do everything in a bipartisan way, and thats what we do, Manchin said. I talked to Lindsey today, he's fine.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told reporters that he was also on the boat, named Almost Heaven, and was awaiting test results. Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., were also there and were getting tested.

More senators have donned masks in recent weeks as coronavirus case counts have risen, but they arent required in the chamber, and some still choose not to wear them. The House has returned to a mask requirement.

Senate Democrats will switch back to a virtual caucus lunch Tuesday at the Capitol amid the virus surge. Republicans had been quicker to resume in-person meetings last year, but there was no word if their lunch plans would now change.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican who is vaccinated, was not wearing a mask Monday and said he had not decided whether to put one back on. He said hes concerned that reports of Grahams illness will discourage some to get vaccinated.

On wearing a mask, Blunt said, I think it actually is one of the reasons that people are encouraged to get the vaccine is they dont have to.

Theres no way to know just how risky it was for the people who were near Graham  vaccinated or not. Vaccinated people are at a much lower risk of being infected at all and for contracting a serious case. But the level of risk depends on whether Graham was masked, whether they were masked, how much virus his body was producing when they met, how close they were and for how long.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people determined to have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they are asymptomatic but should be tested within five days and wear a mask indoors for 14 days or until testing negative.

Graham, who was vaccinated in December, has long been a proponent of vaccination, saying during a visit this spring to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston that the sooner we get everybody vaccinated, the quicker we can get back to normal.

Graham's infection comes on the heels of updated CDC guidance urging even fully vaccinated people to return to wearing masks indoors in areas of high coronavirus transmission, citing the surge of the highly contagious delta variant. Recent analysis has shown that breakthrough cases of COVID-19, with mild or no symptoms, still remain rare.

Both congressional chambers have been adopting stricter face covering regulations amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across the country.

Graham, who was wearing a mask, did not answer questions from reporters on Capitol Hill earlier Monday, prior to the statement being issued. Because of Senate votes, Graham was not in attendance at Friday nights Silver Elephant dinner, the South Carolina Republican Partys signature annual fundraiser and an event attended by hundreds, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a headlining speaker.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report from Washington.
DETROIT (AP)  Federal prosecutors have dropped charges, at least for now, against a Canadian trucker who was arrested at the U.S. border early last month with more than a ton of marijuana in his rig, after his lawyer made the case that he was an unwitting victim of the drug smuggling scheme.

DETROIT (AP)  Federal prosecutors have dropped charges, at least for now, against a Canadian trucker who was arrested at the U.S. border early last month with more than a ton of marijuana in his rig, after his lawyer made the case that he was an unwitting victim of the drug smuggling scheme.

Tasbir Singh, 32, was detained on July 7 after border agents in Detroit found more than 2,200 pounds (998 kilograms) of marijuana worth an estimate $3.2 million in his truck.

Singh told authorities that he believed he had picked up compression springs in North York, Ontario. The delivery was supposed to go to Ohio. Because of COVID-19 rules, he never got out of his truck while it was being loaded, his attorney Ellen Michaels said.

I had not done anything wrong," Singh told the Detroit Free Press.

Michaels said Singh was the victim of marijuana dealers who hacked into the trucking company's computers, created a fake order for springs and packed the trailer with marijuana.

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He had no knowledge of what was in his truck," Michaels said.

The U.S. attorneys office filed a request with the court on July 22 to have the criminal complaint against Singh dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile the charges at a later date.

The complaint was dismissed and the defendant released in order to allow the government to investigate further and decide whether criminal prosecution of Singh is appropriate, Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office, said in a statement.

Prosecutors also stated in court documents the government needs additional time to identify all other individuals who should be held criminally responsible for the pot smuggling, the Free Press reported.

Singh, a native of India, was released from custody on July 23. During his 16 days locked up, he missed his naturalization ceremony in Canada. He has since returned to his home in Windsor, Ontario.

They gave me justice, Singh said.
MONTREAL - Brendan Holt Dunn said he wanted to invoke the legacy of his great-great-grandfather, pioneering Quebec industrialist Sir Herbert Holt, in the name of his Montreal-based venture capital fund.

Elisabeth Laett, Holt Xchange's managing partner, is seen in front of portraits of Sir Herbert Holt, right, and other Holt family members at the company's office Friday, July 30, 2021 in Montreal. The company is in a legal battle with Credit Suisse, which operates an unrelated business called HOLT and has registered trademarks for the name HOLT. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

MONTREAL - Brendan Holt Dunn said he wanted to invoke the legacy of his great-great-grandfather, pioneering Quebec industrialist Sir Herbert Holt, in the name of his Montreal-based venture capital fund.

Now, he may have to go to court to keep the name.

His fund, The Holt Xchange, which invests in early stage financial technology startups, is being sued by international bank Credit Suisse for trademark violation.

In a statement of claim filed last year with Federal Court in Edmonton, Credit Suisse subsidiary CSFB HOLT said it owns the right to use the brand "HOLT" when offering financial goods and services in Canada and that the branding and offerings of the Montreal venture capital fund  known as the Holt Accelerator when the lawsuit was filed  is too similar.

The bank, which is seeking at least $100,000 in damages, argues that similarity "will cause confusion amongst Canadian consumers" and reduce the value and reputation of its trademark.

Dunn said he doesn't think there's a risk of confusion.

"We're in different areas, the financial sector as a whole is very broad," he said, adding that he'd never heard of Credit Suisse's HOLT brand before being sued.

"I think what they're worried about is that our name, our family's name is better known than them in Canada," he said in an interview Wednesday. "There is absolutely no overlap."

Elisabeth Laett, managing partner at The Holt Xchange, said the decision to use the Holt family name when the fund launched in 2018 was a reference to the history of Montreal's financial sector and the fund's ambitions to help make Quebec a hub for a new generation of financial technology companies.

"We were the financial hub of Canada, in Montreal, at one point," she said.

When Herbert Holt died in 1941, he was described as the richest man in Canada. A railway engineer who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway, he was knighted for his work planning railways in France during the First World War. He later consolidated several power companies in the Montreal area  which would eventually be expropriated to create Hydro-Quebec  and was president of the Royal Bank of Canada from 1908 to 1934.

Holt was also a controversial figure in Montreal at a time when many French-speaking Quebecers resented the city's English-speaking business elite.

In court filings, The Holt Xchange maintains the Holt name has been used by generations of family members when offering financial goods and services in Canada. It has also filed a counter claim seeking to have Credit Suisse's HOLT trademark struck down.

Credit Suisse's HOLT brand comes from the name of a United States-based financial consulting firm acquired by the bank in 2002 and is an acronym based on the letters of the last names of consulting company's founders. The bank, which filed an application to register the "HOLT" trademark in Canada in 2006, sells software used to value companies, as well as offering consulting services and investment products, under the HOLT name.

Whether consumers would interpret "Holt" in the name of the Montreal venture capital fund as a reference to the Holt family is one of the issues being disputed in court filings.

Teresa Scassa, the Canada Research Chair in information law and policy at the University of Ottawa's law faculty said the courts look at several factors when evaluating the possibility of confusion in trademark cases "including how long each name or mark has been in use, and how similar the goods and services goods or services are, and the way in which they're marketed or sold."

While the Trademarks Act allows people to use their own names as trade names, she said that defence has "been interpreted fairly narrowly,"

"For example, someone named McDonald is not prevented from using their name in business and if they open a burger stand, they're not prevented from using their name in their family business to sell burgers, but they can't just call it McDonald's," she said. Instead they have to make it clear it's a different business.

Credit Suisse spokesman Jonathan Schwarzberg declined to comment on the case, saying the bank can't say anything publicly beyond what's in court filings. No trial date has been set.

Dunn said the fund entered into negotiations with Credit Suisse after the lawsuit was filed and changed its name from Holt Fintech Accelerator to The Holt Xchange in the spring, a move he said he thought would satisfy the bank.

He noted there are other companies using the name Holt.

"I don't understand it," he said. "It's insulting and we're obviously feeling like we're being bullied. We're a very successful family, but no family in the world can go up against a financial institution."

Laett said the Montreal fund has built an international brand around its name, attracting interest from startups from around the world. "We've received roughly 3,000 applications to be part of Holt," she said. "There is a tremendous momentum."

Dunn said he's not open to dropping "Holt" from the company's name.

"It is my personal name and my family's name and our family's history and reputation in Canada," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
MONTREAL - A labour strike at a Quebec pork-processing plant is creating a dangerous backlog of pigs ready for slaughter, putting thousands of animals at risk of going to waste, says the head of an association of pork producers.

Workers walk outside the Olymel pork-processing plant in Vallee-Jonction, Que., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Quebec pork producers are asking the government to intervene and end the ongoing labour strike at the Olymel slaughterhouse in Vallee-Jonction, south of Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

MONTREAL - A labour strike at a Quebec pork-processing plant is creating a dangerous backlog of pigs ready for slaughter, putting thousands of animals at risk of going to waste, says the head of an association of pork producers.

"Considering that a single pig can provide around 600 meals, the potential for waste is astronomical," David Duval said in a recent interview.

Duval's group, Les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec, is asking Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet to force the management of the Olymel plant in Vallee-Jonction, Que., south of Quebec City, and their employees to restart negotiations.

"We have done everything to try to move our animals as much as possible," Duval said. "Every week, we have an increase in the number of pigs waiting. These are pigs that have reached the slaughter stage but cannot be slaughtered."

About 130,000 pigs were ready for slaughter last week in Quebec but some were instead transported to Alberta and the United States, Duval said.

The backlog is creating overcrowding, he added, causing the animals to become aggressive, which isn't good for their health. If they can't be properly slaughtered and processed they will be euthanized instead, he said.

The Labour Department acknowledges the conflict risks causing major problems in the pork industry and says it intends to try and bring both sides back to the negotiation table. "A conciliator was already appointed and we will continue to support the parties until the conflict is resolved," a spokesperson for the department told The Canadian Press Monday.

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Olymel said on July 30 it had accepted a settlement proposal from the conciliation team, but the labour union said it had received no salary offer from the company over the past few days.

"The proposal from the conciliation team contained all the elements capable of rallying the two parties," Olymel vice-president Paul Beauchamp said in a statement. "The attitude of union is incomprehensible and will only delay the resolution of a conflict that has lasted too long."

Employees at the plant have been on strike since April 28. Martin Maurice, head of the labour union affiliated with Confederation des syndicats nationaux, issued a news release July 30 saying members expected a more serious offer from Olymel.

"Our members are more mobilized than ever, and we will do everything to have a collective agreement that lives up to the respect we deserve," he said.

Duval, however, said Monday in a news release the stalled negotiations are "a slap in the face to thousands of pig farmers who, day after day, for more than three months, have been living in distress and are doing their best to manage their pigs in overcrowded buildings."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 2, 2021.
BRISBANE, Australia  A lockdown of Australias third-largest city Brisbane was extended until Sunday because of a growing COVID-19 outbreak.

A group waits to get a COVID-19 test, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in North Miami, Fla. Federal health officials say Florida has reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

BRISBANE, Australia  A lockdown of Australias third-largest city Brisbane was extended until Sunday because of a growing COVID-19 outbreak.

Brisbane and several surrounding municipalities in Queensland state were due to end a three-day lockdown on Tuesday. But the Queensland government on Monday announced the extension after 13 locally acquired infections of the highly contagious delta variant were detected in the latest 24-hour period.

Australias largest city, Sydney, and surrounding cities in New South Wales state are in their sixth week of lockdown. The New South Wales government on Monday reported 207 new locally acquired infections.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Peter Dutton said he was quarantining at home in Brisbane and would attend Parliament remotely. He said in a statement he has tested negative but must quarantine because of a virus cluster at his sons' school.

Dutton was infected with the coronavirus in March 2020 during a trip to Washington, D.C. He has since been fully vaccinated.

Lawmakers who attend Parliament in person face daily saliva tests for COVID-19, must wear masks and must practice social distancing.

Police arrest a demonstrator at an unannounced demonstration at the Victory Column, in Berlin, Sunday Aug. 1, 2021, during a protest against coronavirus restrictions. Hundreds have turned out in Berlin to protest the German governments anti-coronavirus measures despite a ban on the gatherings, leading to arrests and clashes with police. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 World's refugees have been pushed to back of the line amid vaccine shortages

 End of US eviction moratorium will bring more cases to housing courts and lock more tenants out of homes

 Florida broke its record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available

 Thousands protest Germanys anti-virus measures, leading to clashes and detention of some 600 protesters

 Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

People dance swing on the rhythms of a live band by the restaurant Le Marcounet, in Paris, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. The sanitary pass, which proves someone has been vaccinated or recently done a test or recovered from Covid-19, will be mandatory in bars and restaurants, cultural venues of more than 50 people, museums, shopping malls and for long distance travels. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand  New Zealands government plans to slightly ease its strict coronavirus border controls to allow migrant workers from the Pacific to harvest crops and wine grapes.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday it plans to allow some workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to enter without them going through the usual requirement to spend two weeks in quarantine.

Ardern said details of the plan are still being worked through and she cant yet say how many workers might be eligible.

She added that the number of such workers currently in New Zealand was about 3,000 short of the 10,000 typically needed for the harvest.

There are no current outbreaks in Samoa, Tonga or Vanuatu, which have reported a total of just seven COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

PHOENIX  Health officials in Arizona on Sunday reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day.

They say the 2,306 new cases and five additional deaths pushed the states totals to 929,541 cases and 18,251 known deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Arizona had reported 2,066 new cases and 22 deaths on Saturday, the highest daily total since early March. The numbers have been quickly climbing with 1,759 cases and 15 deaths reported Thursday and 1,965 cases and 24 deaths reported Saturday. Public health officials in the state and elsewhere attribute the worsening spread to the very contagious delta variant and low vaccination rates.

COLUMBIA, S.C.  The University of South Carolina is requiring students to wear masks indoors this fall as the spread of COVID-19 has sped up across the state.

School officials said that masks are again required inside campus buildings given Richland Countys high coronavirus transmission rate.

The announcement follows recently updated federal guidance that calls for mask-wearing indoors regardless of vaccination status in areas where the delta variant is rapidly spreading.

Young adults have the lowest vaccination rate across age groups in South Carolina. But public colleges and universities in South Carolina cant require students to get inoculated after lawmakers banned schools from making the vaccine a condition of enrollment.

ORLANDO, Fla.  A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke its previous record for current hospitalizations, set more than a year ago.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread. Florida then had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A push to change the offensive name of a Newfoundland lake began with apparent plans for public consultation but ended in a flood of angry emails and a government about-face, emails show.

The Confederation Building, home of the provincial legislature, is seen in St. John's N.L., Wednesday, March 3, 2021. The CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A push to change the offensive name of a Newfoundland lake began with apparent plans for public consultation but ended in a flood of angry emails and a government about-face, emails show.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced on April 21 it was renaming Red Indian Lake to Wantaqo'ti Qospem, which means "peaceful lake" in the Mi'kmaq language. But the government reversed its decision within a week, citing public discontent.

"What right is there to name any traditional Beothuk territory using a Mi'kmaq, Inuit, Innu or Metis name? Indigenous nations are not interchangeable," said one email to the government on April 22.

I am Lnu (Mikmaw) and very proud of my nation .... Indigenous people, especially local Mi'kmaw people, are finding themselves the target of hateful comments and backlash because of this decision." The sender's name was redacted.

The note was among nearly 170 pages of emails obtained from the province following an access to information request by The Canadian Press for all correspondence about the lakes name in the past year.

Red Indian Lake sits in the central-western interior of Newfoundland, about 530 kilometres northwest of St. Johns. The Beothuk people, who were among the islands original inhabitants, hunted and overwintered on its shores. The last Beothuk is believed to have died in 1829. Last year, the remains of two Beothuk people, Nonosabasut and Demasduit, were returned to the province from a museum in Scotland.

Emails show planning is underway to lay their remains at a site on Red Indian Lake. "Might want to search up anything you can find about Red Indian Lake," writes Peter Hearns, director of the provincial mapping office, on March 2, as a provincial election campaign was underway.

"Apparently once the new government is sworn in, this is one of the first things they want to rename. There is supposed to be a public consultation as well."

That consultation didnt happen. Instead, Minister of Indigenous Affairs Lisa Dempster tabled a motion in the legislature on April 21 to change the name to Wantaqo'ti Qospem, which she said was suggested by Chief Mi'sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nation.

Emails opposing the move began hitting government inboxes almost immediately, with 19 landing within two days. Internal government emails indicate people were also phoning the premiers office with complaints.

Ingeborg Marshall, a Beothuk history scholar in whose name Memorial University recently introduced an award for Beothuk studies, wrote in, saying "a Mi'kmaw name would be an insult to the Beothuk."

"Choosing a Mi'kmaw name does not serve justice, any more than choosing an English one, and in this case it fails to remember and honour the Beothuk," Marshall wrote. "Historically, the lake has been the home of the Beothuk while the Mi'kmaq have resorted to Grand Lake, with no significant attachment to Red Indian Lake."

Most of the people who wrote in agreed the lake needs a new name, though there were some who didnt grasp why the current name is offensive. Most wanted to know why the public wasnt consulted and asked for a name more closely related to the Beothuk people.

That seems to have been part of the initial plan, and there is no indication in the correspondence why it was abandoned.

Emails show the issue of the lake's offensive name came up in a late December virtual meeting between Premier Andrew Furey and the province's Indigenous leaders. Following that meeting, the deputy minister of Indigenous affairs, Aubrey Gover, asked a colleague to find out what the Beothuk had called the lake. Failing that, he asked if there is a known Beothuk word for homeland.

"The closest word we can think of is water: ebauthoo," responded Gerry Osmond, the province's director of arts and heritage. He said the word was apparently learned from two of the last known members of the Beothuk people. Osmond recommended they contact Ingeborg Marshall for advice.

About a week before the name change was announced, it was still unclear what the new name would be. "The premier would like to get moving on this ASAP," Gover wrote to a representative of the Miawpukek First Nation on April 15, while asking for the Mi'kmaq name for Red Indian Lake.

The discussion about the lake's name seems to have been sparked in part by an email from a teacher, who wrote to the government on Dec. 19, 2020. The email note was forwarded through the ranks and mentioned in a virtual meeting between Furey and Indigenous leaders later that month. The search for a new name began the next day.

"I am teaching a young generation that is, rightfully, sensitive to issues like this one," the teacher wrote. "I fear it is only a matter of time before the name Red Indian Lake becomes a national embarrassment. As a proud Newfoundlander, I desperately hope we can address the issue with some manner of dignity before that time comes."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.
MONTREAL - Quebec provincial police say they are searching for two hunters in the Outaouais region who have been missing since Friday.

A Surete du Quebec police car is seen in Montreal on July 22, 2020. Quebec provincial police are searching for two hunters in the Outaouais region who have been missing since Friday. Jonah Dewache, 32, and Dustin Odjick, 37, from Kitigan Zibi First Nation in Maniwaki, northwest of Montreal, were identified as the missing men. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL - Quebec provincial police say they are searching for two hunters in the Outaouais region who have been missing since Friday.

Jonah Dewache, 32, and Dustin Odjick, 37, from Kitigan Zibi First Nation in Maniwaki, northwest of Montreal, were identified as the missing men.

Police spokeswoman, Sgt. Beatrice Dorsainville says the men could possibly be in the sectors of Ferme-Neuve, in the Laurentians region, or Grand-Remous, in the Outaouais.

Dorsainville says the hunters were driving a black, Ford F-150 vehicle registered in Quebec.

She also described Dewache as 6-foot-2 and 150 lbs. wearing dark clothes, while Odjick is 5-foot-8 and 233 lbs. with a green raincoat and jeans.

The police are not able to provide any further details regarding the circumstances surrounding their disappearance but a search on foot and by vehicle is continuing Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 1, 2021.
By the time she found her birth parents, it was too late.

By the time she found her birth parents, it was too late.

Katherine Legrange is a survivor of the '60s Scoop, the large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities, who were then placed with foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991.

She is also director for the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada, which along with former senator and chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Murray Sinclair renewed the call on Monday for a national inquiry into the '60s Scoop.

It was only because her birth father passed away that Legrange was able to obtain information from the post-adoption registry.

She managed to piece together bits of her ancestry  her grandmother was treaty to Ebb and Flow First Nation, her father grew up in Crane River  but other answers remained out of reach.

"If he was still alive, obviously I would have been able to get my birth story and how I got here," she said.

She also discovered her birth mother had committed suicide when Legrange was about nine years old.

"Learning that as an adult was devastating," she said. "You always expect that youre going to be reunited with your family and then when it doesnt happen, its devastating."

Even when she found two of her siblings, the effects of their separation were still apparent. Her sister, having experienced some sort of trauma, is not willing to meet, despite also living in Winnipeg, said Legrange. She did meet her brother, but he passed away of an overdose on June 11. She didnt hear about his death until five weeks later.

"To me, that is indicative of the disconnect that is still there," she said. "I only knew him for a short while, and unfortunately his life was cut short."

The separation from her family, and the revelation of its permanence, has been difficult for Legrange.

"Im angry. Im hurt. Im frustrated. Because its been a lifetime of trying to get answers and when you do, its disappointing," she said.

But through her work and the renewed call for a national inquiry, Lagrange is still searching for answers  this time, answers to broader, more systematic questions.

"I think that we really need to delve into how we got to this point and what we need to do to never be at this point again," she said.

Legrange said almost 10,000 children are currently in care in Manitoba  some estimate as high as 11,000  and about 90 per cent are Indigenous. This extreme overrepresentation is an extension of the '60s Scoop, which is itself an extension of residential schools, and all the result of systemic bias and racism, said Lagrange.

"The magnitude of the removal of children in Canada has not yet been measured. It ought to be...The children who were removed need to know they are not alone, but they also need to know that there were reasons for what happened that were not of their parents making," Sinclair said in a press release.

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Long Plain First Nation Chief Dennis Meeches also weighed in with support. He denounced the 60s Scoop alongside residential schools as two government policies with "a really damaging effect on families and communities."

He said he believes the timing is right for the inquiry, as more attention is finally being paid to residential schools and other issues that have hurt Indigenous communities. He said in order for there to be reconciliation, there must first be an understanding of the reality and the enormity of the injury racist policies have inflicted on Indigenous people.

He said recent steps in Canadian society have been in the right direction, but a more accurate and complete grasp of history is still needed.

"Knowing what we know, we can all make those changes together for a better world," he said. "But Canada can definitely do better. It can."

The release from Sinclair and the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada said its estimated more than 20,000 First Nations children were "scooped" from their families. Many survivors and their families believe the number is much higher.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca
Nearly two centuries after the abolition of slavery in what is now Canada, those gathered to observe the milestone say much work remains to understand and break down barriers still reinforced by racism.

Nearly two centuries after the abolition of slavery in what is now Canada, those gathered to observe the milestone say much work remains to understand and break down barriers still reinforced by racism.

On Sunday, for the first time in the countrys history, Emancipation Day was officially recognized.

Liberal and NDP MLAs hosted events to acknowledge the 187th anniversary.

NDP MLA Jamie Moses held a virtual event Sunday afternoon. He was one of the first three Black MLAs elected in Manitoba in 2019, alongside fellow NDP MLA Uzoma Asagwara and PC MLA Audrey Gordon.

On May 27, Moses introduced a bill in the Manitoba legislature to recognize the Aug. 1 holiday in Manitoba. It has not yet passed, but the federal government unanimously passed a bill on March 24 acknowledging Emancipation Day countrywide.

Black and Indigenous speakers also gathered at St. Norbert Arts Centre Sunday morning for an event hosted by Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard.

Uche Nwankwo, originally from Nigeria and teaches at the University of Winnipeg, said the event brings everyone together to learn from each other and grow with each other. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

Indigenous elder Mike Pierre opened with a teaching about the reclamation of identity and culture and connection.

"Im here for the love of the human family," he said, moments before launching into a song in a rich tenor over the heartbeat of his hand drum.

Jim Bear, former chief of Brokenhead First Nation, also took to the podium. He reminded the room that Indigenous peoples had long-established and complex governments, social systems and cultures before European contact, and this was the context in which Pope Alexander VI told Spain and Portugal they had the right to colonize, convert and enslave the Indigenous people of the Americas.

"Slavery also happened to us," he said. "Unfortunately, it still continues today, because even though were not enslaved as in the past, restrictions and systemically racist policies still exist, still keep us."

For Bear, Emancipation Day was a chance to chip away at the mental blocks that serve to reinforce racism. It was a time to work against the "brainwashing" of Indigenous people, through things such as residential schools and stereotypical portrayals in media, but also to fight ignorance of Indigenous worldview.

"We already had our own ways. We had lifelong learning, and we had mentorship. Now, and even back then, we were already doctors and nurses. We were scientists and astronomers. But we did not have the graduation gown," he said.

Laurelle Harris, a Winnipeg lawyer who specializes in anti-racism, equity and inclusion, gave an impassioned speech on the history of slavery in Canada and the exclusion of Black history in Canadian education.

Jim Bear, former chief of Brokenhead First Nation, spoke at an Emancipation Day event as organizer, Jon Gerrard, MLA, listens in at St Norbert Arts Centre Sunday. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

"Black history is key in history and yet remains mostly absent from our classes," she said.

"We learned the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, but we do not learn the teachings of Indigenous peoples. We do not learn the mythologies of African cultures. In my school, we learned no Black history."

Harris illuminated the role of Canada, or what is now Canada, in bolstering and perpetuating the slave trade.

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The country traded for rum and sugar from slave-run plantations in the Caribbean and supplied salt cod to feed enslaved people. Quebec City, Montreal and Halifax were "network ports" that frequently received ships of enslaved Black men and women  and some of those ships were even built in Canada. Militias in Canada formed to track enslaved people who had run away because, said Harris, "it was a crime to steal himself."

She drew attention to the continued honouring of historical figures who enslaved Black and Indigenous people, such as James McGill, founder of Montreals prestigious McGill University, who listed six Black people in his property holdings.

"The importance of Emancipation Day really cant be underestimated," she said. "We really cant go forward unless we understand where we came from."

The day, by its nature, was sombre, but many also expressed joy at the support the day has gotten. It was a day to look back, to uncover truths and to move forward in a more accurate and complete understanding of history, and also the present.

"Its amazing," said Uche Nwankwo, a University of Winnipeg professor and Liberal candidate who emigrated to Canada from Nigeria. "It brings us together. We feel that energy, that positive energy. We can learn from each other and grow with each other."

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca
It was a day for little steps, and Adam McDonald had been taking little steps for two months. McDonald is a walker, and has now walked, with his brother Stanley, from Fort McMurray to Winnipeg. They are Ottawa-bound.

It was a day for little steps, and Adam McDonald had been taking little steps for two months. McDonald is a "walker," and has now walked, with his brother Stanley, from Fort McMurray to Winnipeg. They are Ottawa-bound.

"When I first started out on May 29, I was just hoping to go for a good little walk. Then after the second day, thats when I heard about the 215 children all the way from Kamloops, B.C. That devastated me. That traumatized me," he said.

After a rush of inspiration from the "Great Spirit," all his negativity lifted, said McDonald. But he couldnt just let it rest, after hearing about "the hurt that innocent children have endured" in residential schools. So he set out to pick a fight with Ottawa and to help unite his Indigenous relatives.

"I hope that this trip accomplishes solidarity for my people," he said.

McDonald was at Vimy Ridge Memorial Park Sunday. About 100 people gathered in Vimy Ridge Park Sunday, many clad in orange shirts with "Every Child Matters" written on them. Jingle dress and fancy shawl dancers hopped on deft toes  the oldest was about 70, with white and black hair pulled back tight into braids; the youngest was maybe four years old, and she hopped up and down in a clumsy imitation of the teenage girls she followed. They were holding a pop-up powwow and barbecue.

Adam McDonald leads the grand entrance at the Every Child Matters pop-up powwow. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

Cars lined up along the park and orange ribbons hung off their antennas and mirrors. One van was covered in orange handprints and the number 5414 painted on a side window.

A little girl walked up to McDonald holding her mothers hand and shyly held up a gift of $120 to help McDonald and his brother along the way. McDonalds face brightened as he thanked the little girl. Others walked up to McDonald and offered him gifts of money and tobacco. Someone had given the brothers running shoes, and someone else had given them eagles feathers.

"All that were getting here on this ground, its such an honour," said McDonald. "I appreciate all the support that we have been getting across the country. Right from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. And were not done yet."

One of the organizers of the pow-wow was only 17. Cierra Roulette, clad in a bright blue fancy shawl dress and a beaded crown, gave an impassioned speech to the crowd. Afterward, tears streamed down her face.

She said residential school survivors had told her to organize an event when she asked what she could do.

"Im very proud," Roulette said. "Im so happy right now because of the support for our survivors."

Cierra Roulette, who was also one of the event organizers, dances at the powwow. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

Roulette went off and prepared herself to dance.

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Tara Martinez was another organizer. She said they wanted to make sure people continue to talk about Indigenous issues. Shes worried about a fall off in public discourse since the original discovery of childrens bodies in Kamloops.

"Theyre treating it like a trend. Its not a trend," she said. "We have priests in Winnipeg saying that our parents are lying. My moms not lying. My moms from the sixties scoop. Shes not lying. She lost her language. She was placed with a pedophile."

She said when she heard about Father Rheal Forests comments in which he accused survivors of lying about sexual assault for financial gain, she cried.

But Sunday provided a glimmer of hope, as she surveyed the crowd of people in orange shirts, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

"Its beautiful," she said. "Were not going to sweep this under the rug anymore."

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca
WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government has ordered residents of cottages in a provincial park near Ontario to evacuate due to an advancing wildfire on the other side of the provincial boundary.

WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government has ordered residents of cottages in a provincial park near Ontario to evacuate due to an advancing wildfire on the other side of the provincial boundary.

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The province issued the order for the Davidson Lake cottage subdivision, located in Nopiming Provincial Park, on Monday afternoon, saying that the Kenora 051 blaze in Ontario continues to advance toward Manitoba.

It says efforts are underway to protect properties in the subdivision, including the placement of sprinklers on cottages and other structures.

Cottagers and residents of nearby Booster Lake, Flanders Lake and Bird Lake are also being warned of a potential evacuation.

According to Ontario's online Forest Fire Info Map, the fire began June 8 and is out of control, at over 1,830 square kilometres.

The Manitoba government said in its latest wildfire update on Friday that wildfires across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northwest Ontario will continue to bring smoke into all parts of the province until conditions improve.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2021.
Well, the often-unpredictable process of weaponizing Albertas grievances has begun. Ever since the Wild Rose province has fallen on hard times, particularly in the oil sector, we knew it was coming.

Opinion

Well, the often-unpredictable process of weaponizing Albertas grievances has begun. Ever since the Wild Rose province has fallen on hard times, particularly in the oil sector, we knew it was coming.

But the truth of the matter is that all of this intergovernmental angst and bitterness has been building for some time. One could single out the June 2020 Fair Deal Panel report, the controversial "Buffalo Declaration" of early 2020 and even Stephen Harpers notable 2001 "firewall" letter as laying the political groundwork for where we are today.

Accordingly, the Alberta government of Jason Kenney has introduced a motion in the provincial legislature to conduct a referendum on Oct. 18 on the federal Equalization Program. The proposed referendum question states plainly: "Should Section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982  Parliament and the Government of Canadas commitment to the principle of making equalization payments  be removed from the Constitution?"

Kenney has rightly acknowledged, however, that a solid vote in favour of scrapping the program cannot be unilaterally implemented by the Alberta government. But an affirmative outcome could be used as a political strategy to get Ottawas attention and to compel it to engage in serious negotiations to revise the cash-transfer program.

Now, its not unusual for provincial governments, or even geographical regions, to call upon the partners of Confederation to fix whatever ails them. We are well aware of the clarion call in Atlantic Canada for "better terms" within the federation.

Yet Alberta is a "have more" province when compared to their poor cousins in other regions of the country. So why take out your frustrations on less well-off equalization-receiving provinces? Indeed, whatever did happen to that "Alberta advantage," I wonder?

To be honest, Im actually befuddled about the precise purpose of holding a province-wide referendum on equalization in the fall. Who exactly is being targeted here  and, more importantly, why?

Is the inevitable favourable outcome supposed to pressure Ottawa into funnelling more federal dollars into Alberta or pushing it to revamp the equalization program? Will it serve to bring other equalization-receiving provincial governments over to Albertas way of thinking? Personally, I just dont see it.

Or, does it have more to do with domestic political considerations within Alberta itself? Simply put, is it about political deflection and changing the channel on the many mishaps that have roiled the Kenney government  from the mishandling of the pandemic to a listless economy?

Just to be clear: the federal equalization program does not take money directly out of the pockets of Albertans. And it is not an extra deduction line on their bi-weekly paycheques. To be sure, no one in Alberta is being penalized by Ottawas equalization scheme. It is also true that the enhanced financial well-being of recipient provinces (such as Manitoba and Prince Edward Island) is not at the expense of non-recipient provinces such as Alberta or British Columbia.

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Crucially, the program has zero impact on the standard of living of Albertans. The redistribution program is intended, admittedly in a complicated fashion, to address fiscal disparities among the provinces. It is supposed to give a helping hand to "have less" provinces in the federation, at a cost of $20 billion or so annually, that have fewer means of raising revenues or generating "fiscal capacity."

Significantly, the program is entrenched (and thus protected from abolition) in section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. As the central provision states: "Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principles of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation."

So, is this equalization referendum Albertas version of Quebecs game of constitutional blackmail? Will it cry foul and seek to incite "autonomous" forces in Alberta if the rest of the provinces reject its characterization of the federation? Is Kenneys Alberta going to set in motion a process to eventually leave Canada if it doesnt get its way?

One should remember that Alberta does not have the political clout of Quebecs 78 seats  especially in the eyes of federal political parties. And it will certainly not be able to squeeze the current federal government, since the province has been a political wasteland for the Liberal party for decades. Nor would it have the backing from a sufficient number of provincial governments to open the equalization file (and thus the two-thirds of provinces needed to approve a constitutional amendment).

Still, its never a bad thing for a province like Alberta to blow off some political steam. And its also important for Canadians in other parts of the country to be mindful of the tough slog in Alberta these days. But other than internal electoral calculations, I fail to see the upside of Kenneys ultimately divisive referendum gambit.

Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Alexi McCammonds journalism career was rapidly ascending. She was a political reporter for Axios and a fixture on cable news.

Opinion

Alexi McCammonds journalism career was rapidly ascending. She was a political reporter for Axios and a fixture on cable news.

Jeffrey Toobin was an award-winning lawyer-turned-journalist. He wrote for The New Yorker, provided legal analysis on CNN and authored a New York Times best-selling book on O.J. Simpson.

And Mimi Groves was accepted to the renowned University of Tennessees cheer team, who were reigning national champions.

Each life was charmed. But social medias penetrating gaze and uncontrollable virality unearthed troubling personal moments for each of them. Their lives became disrupted in ways once unimaginable.

Digital fall from grace

In March 2021, McCammond was primed to assume the editor-in-chief position at Teen Vogue. However, offensive tweets from her teenage years resurfaced. Staff members were outraged and McCammond resigned before she even started.

Toobin was caught exposed during a staff Zoom call, costing him multiple jobs. And a seconds-long Snapchat video showed Groves stating a racial epithet. Public pressure forced Groves off her beloved Tennessee cheer team, and she later withdrew from the university.

Different circumstances, similar results and each was embroiled in cancel culture. Cancel culture is "promoting the cancelling of people, brands and even shows and movies due to what some consider to be offensive or problematic remarks or ideologies."

This phenomenon has exploded due to social medias amplifying powers, societys deep divisions and difficulties redressing longstanding inequities. Violating standards of public morality can exact severe consequences, both online and off. This includes penalizing both the transgressors and those harmed by their offensive words or deeds.

The roots of cancel culture

Cancel culture arose in the popular consciousness decades ago. It is paradoxical that a term now used to counter problems like sexism emerged from a song about a bad romance that was later incorporated into a misogynistic movie scene.

Legendary Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers wrote the song Your Love Is Cancelled in response to a date gone awry. And in dialogue based on that song, Wesley Snipes character Nino Brown dumps his girlfriend in 1991s iconic movie New Jack City: "Cancel that bh. Ill buy another one." Ninos fiery command is harsh and unforgivable.

At its best, cancel culture minimizes regressive attitudes like Ninos sexism. It brings them public attention and earns disapproval. Ideally, the targets rethink their position. And even better? They make amends.

The right to free expression

Democracies celebrate free expression  it is essential to their functioning. In liberal democracies, including Canada and the United States, constitutional protections safeguard a wide range of speech.

But at its worst, cancel culture curtails speech. It threatens this longstanding fundamental freedom. If we limit speech by cancelling those we disagree with, other societal pillars also face peril. When expression is compromised, which freedom is next? Freedom of assembly? Freedom from fear?

Endless purgatory

Cancel culture can grievously impact the cancellees professional status. Their livelihoods could end. Think of comedians Louis C.K. or Aziz Ansari  their once-flourishing careers have withered indefinitely.

The debate regarding what to do with those who have been cancelled persists: Should their careers be terminated entirely, forever and without review? Should they be penalized in proportion to their offence? Should their punishment have an end date?

Cancellation is a widespread viral online phenomenon. Due to its essence, it must exist within public discourse to produce its full effects. Given that it occurs among members of wide-ranging internet communities, trying to tailor cancellations on a case-by-case basis seems improbable. Once guilty in the court of public opinion, there is no appeal.

Ideological divide

We live during a particularly fraught political moment. The ideological division between right and left in todays politics seems like an impassable chasm. This perilous gap has never felt wider.

One month before the last presidential election in the United States, nine out of 10 voters believed the other sides victory would lead to "lasting harm." And both sides claim their speech has been unjustifiably chilled.

During this era of cancellation, opponents transgressions are demonized. Slamming someone as irredeemably wicked on Twitter becomes common. Lives are irrevocably upended. We no longer reconcile differences with respectful conversations.

The long-term outlook for public spaces as marketplaces of ideas becomes worrisome.

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Nuanced considerations

But there is hope. A Politico survey conducted in July 2020 found that 27 per cent of American voters believed that cancellation could positively impact society. From this, the negative valence of cancel culture has the potential to be marshalled for more positive ends.

For example, cancel culture could champion pro-social movements that are broadly accepted, such as the fight against racism. Following the unspeakable death of George Floyd, support for intractable social problems is strong. A 2020 poll showed that two-thirds of Americans supported racial justice protests. This work is of fundamental social importance and requires constant vigilance. Cancel culture could combat racist expression, ultimately promoting social justice.

Coping with COVID-19 has brought longstanding inequalities into sharp relief. These include racial and class differences driving unacceptably poor health outcomes. Cancel cultures dependence on the whim and will of the masses means that we cannot move forward together if we speak separately and alone.

Dino Sossi is an instructional assistant in technology and media at the University of Toronto.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
Editorial

Reluctance. Fear. Dread.

When those are the emotions that underpin consideration of a significant life choice, its an obvious signal that the available options do not meet the needs of the individual facing the decision.

And yet these are the reactions of many Canadians when surveyed about the current state of long-term elder care and the prospect of being placed, or having a loved one placed, in a care home in this country.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of the respondents to an Angus Reid survey, whose results were released last week, said they would do everything in their power to avoid having themselves or a relative/loved one placed in a long-term care home. And nearly as many (44 per cent) said they "dread" the thought of living in long-term care.

The numbers are alarming, but hardly surprising given the carnage that occurred in Canadas long-term care sector during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to figures released last spring by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Canada had the worst record for COVID-19 deaths in care homes among developed countries, with fatalities in nursing and long-term care facilities accounting for 69 per cent of all pandemic deaths (the international average was 41 per cent).

One need only recall the horrors that unfolded at the Maples Personal Care Home in October/November 2020, when an outbreak of COVID-19 in the woefully understaffed facility led to 56 deaths. What happened there, as well as in numerous care homes throughout the province and across Canada, raised serious questions about how such facilities  particularly those of the privately owned, for-profit variety  are staffed, managed and regulated.

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The results of the Angus Reid survey confirm that satisfactory answers have not yet been provided.

Seventy-six per cent of the 1,500 Canadians surveyed last March said the long-term care sector is in need of an overhaul, or at least significant changes. In Manitoba, 73 per cent shared that view, and 60 per cent believe the federal government should be directly involved in setting standards for the care-home industry.

In terms of specific changes, 43 per cent of the national survey respondents said more inspections and greater enforcement of standards are necessary, while 39 per cent recommended increasing the number of staff required to be on duty in care homes. And 55 per cent of respondents said theyd be willing to accept a tax increase to fund the necessary improvements.

Lamentably, only 30 per cent believe the required changes will be made. And therein, perhaps, lies the challenge for legislators at the federal and provincial levels: owing largely to the massive inadequacies exposed by the COVID-19 pandemics ravages, the public has lost confidence in a sector that will play an increasingly crucial role in Canadians lives as a large segment of the population continues to age.

While the oft-repeated call for seniors care to be wrested from the clutches of the for-profit sector and absorbed into the broader public-health system are a fiscal and logistical impracticality that cannot and will not be pursued, it is incumbent on governments to create, implement and rigidly enforce a regulatory framework that ensures the entirely preventable tragedies of the past 18 months are not repeated.

Aging Canadians will inevitably require care. Accessing it should not be a source of fear and dread.
JUNEAU  The Centers for Disease Control released updated masking guidance last week urging people in areas of substantial and high transmission of COVID-19 to wear a mask in public indoor settings, even if they are vaccinated.

Dodge County moved to the substantial level of community spread Thursday and in a press release issued Monday Dodge County Public Health urged following the CDC guidelines.

According to Abby Sauer, Dodge County Public Health Officer, substantial level is when the seven-day total is between 50 and 99 COVID 19 cases per 100,000 population. Although this threshold may seem low compared to the fall of 2020, the key focus of Public Health is prevention.

Dodge Countys seven-day total for the week of July 26, was 92 cases per 100,000. In comparison, the week of July 19, there were 44 cases per 100,000 and the week of July 12, Dodge County totaled 22 per 100,000.

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We are seeing a significant increase in new confirmed and probable cases, said Sauer, Our goal is to curve this trajectory by encouraging our community to follow public health mitigation measures.
Holmes: Right now, our organization is going through an organizational change. Were implementing a new strategic plan and this new organizational structure. My vision is that we will become more relevant in the 21st century. We have exceptional programs on a weekly basis at our Wednesday afternoon luncheon segment, and so we will see an expansion of those programs that we provide that come from local and national leaders.

Rotary traditionally prior to 1987 was a white and male membership, and so now we have women and weve recently added more millennials. Rotary is actually using and highlighting those aspects with the leaders that are right there in our organization.

How else is Rotary Club becoming relevant for the 21st century?

Holmes: The work thats being done is more efficient and less time-consuming. Historically  in some parts of our organization we werent as technological, we werent as savvy with the way we were using social media, the way we were combining communications, and so it was taking a bit more time, and so now weve restructured some things. Weve restructured and repurposed.

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Isaak's attorneys declined to discuss the case ahead of the trial, but court documents and public comments suggest they will argue that police did a shoddy job in their rush to gather evidence and that Isaak had no reason to commit the killings. No motive has been offered by police or anyone at the company.

Juries want to know why something happened, said Alex Reichert, a criminal defense lawyer from Grand Forks who has handled numerous homicide cases but who has no connection to the Isaak case.

It sounds like they dont know why, Reichert said. Can they get a conviction without a motive? Yes. There is no requirement for a motive. On the other hand, it gets very difficult in a circumstantial case without a motive. I havent handled a case with no motive before.

The defense attorneys will have two hurdles to overcome before testimony is heard. One is that Isaak has clashed with his lawyers, at one point saying he wanted to represent himself. The judge removed his primary attorney and essentially told Isaak he needed to be represented by a well-known criminal defense team.

The second obstacle is the brutality of the slayings, Reichert said.
Human trafficking victims and survivors: Hear their voices

Their lived experiences offer the most authentic understanding and familiarity of this life-changing criminal practice.

Every year, 30 July marks the call by the United Nations and member states as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness of trafficking in persons (TIP), but also to advocate for the victims of TIP.

Silence is a key enabler for perpetrators. If victims voices are not invited or allowed at the table, nothing changes and the violence goes on.

This year, the theme is Victims voices lead the way, aiming to put victims at the centre of the campaign. This highlights the significance of victims voices, the influence survivor engagement can have and ultimately advocates for victim empowerment.

In this article, the terms victim and survivor are used interchangeably  when researching trafficking in South Africa, the authors have also seen the important distinction raised of the victim-survivor continuum and the way in which we refer to victims.

Victim is an essential term as it indicates rights violations and that the individuals did not choose these circumstances and cannot and should not be blamed for the trafficking and subsequent events they have experienced. However, the term victim does also take away a sense of agency  and does not recognise their agency in seeking help and in escaping these harmful situations.

In our South African trafficking prevalence study, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the South African Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) as part of the Laser-Pulse initiative with Purdue University, some of the trafficked persons overtly expressed that they do not want their trafficking experiences to define the rest of their lives. In addition, they also indicated that they do not want to have excuses made for them, or be stuck with a victim mindset or mentality. However, some also expressed that as they are still in the process of healing  they do not quite feel like survivors yet. This indicates the need for more adequate terminology, and the recognition that trafficked persons exist on a continuum depending on where they are in their healing and recovery process.

Victims voices matter. Victims are a vital part of understanding the impact and best responses to exploitation and trafficking. With their consent and supported active participation, it can be possible for victims to advocate for holistic and sustainable change.

Prioritising the voices of victims and making sure their experiences and opinions contribute towards policy, advocacy and practice are crucial for an effective response to trafficking in South Africa and beyond. This is particularly important to prevent re-traumatisation, stigmatisation or re-victimisation as victims can be met with ignorance or misunderstanding as they try to seek help.

Victims lived experiences offer the most authentic understanding and familiarity of trafficking. Victims voices represent courage, fear, agency, frustration, scepticism, strength and survival. Their varied experiences are meaningful towards informing, shaping and designing responses and services, raising awareness and shaping policy.

Whether the issue is about prevention and early interventions, better protection mechanisms in aftercare facilities, follow-up after reintegration or researching interventions for persons convicted of trafficking and trafficking-related crimes  the perspective of victims is crucial.

Change is happening. In South Africa, Grizelda Grootboom (a trafficking survivor and author of the book Exit) and Mickey Meji (a sex trafficking survivor and founder of Kwanele Survivor Movement) are strong survivor advocates. Their lived experience-based ability to speak truth to power is creating waves for change. Their survivor advocacy is empowering and it allows us to see the individuals behind the label of victim or survivor.

Grizelda and Mickey are leading the way and providing the foundations for other victims to come forward too. However, this can only be possible on a widespread scale, if it is systematised, and embedded in response due to policy backing. It is therefore crucial that the first-hand knowledge of victims, beyond what should happen in response, are noted and taken into consideration for policy and practice amendments and operating procedures.

We all have much work to do to foster safe, sensitive and empowering environments for victims in our organisations and in our communities. Below are select examples of how we can ensure that victim voices lead the way:

Acknowledge that victim research is crucial in giving a voice to victims experiences and needs. It can enable us to fill in knowledge and skills gaps within counter-trafficking initiatives and effect change in legislation, practice and/or policy;

When setting a research agenda or an intervention, seek victim engagement respectfully and in a dignified manner eg when formulating goals through researcher-practitioner collaborations;

Research recruitment and selection protocols ought to respect the sensitivities and the healing stage and process of the victim;

Provide a safe environment where the victim does not feel more vulnerable, judged, belittled or discriminated against;

When designing data collection instruments and during the actual data collection, consider sensitivities and be aware of points of intersectionality such as gender, sexuality, race, religion, education and class;

Consider your positionality and how that might impact on your interaction with the victim;

The medium(s) provided for victims to voice their concerns and add input should be accessible, appropriate, and not cause more harm;

Victims need to be able to trust the people they report to. Victims could see a continuous lack of prosecutions of trafficking cases as an indication that they will not be believed;

We need to ensure that all voices of different victims, in varied expressions and at different times are heard;

We need to assist victims to build their confidence to report. This is because if their initial disclosure is met with negativity, it can result in them not seeking professional help or reporting their abuse;

Provide opportunities (including anonymously if required) for child victims to share or report their experiences of exploitation;

Practitioners can work with consenting victims to develop anonymous stories that can be shared publicly;

Organisations can engage communications and advocacy specialists to share victim stories in different ways, through various media to target different audiences;

Simply offer survivors a space to tell their stories, in their own words, and in their own way; and

Support survivor-led projects to raise awareness of trafficking, gather allies to listen, amplify survivors voices and co-create change with survivors.

Proposed interventions are flawed if they are not based on the experiences of the victims subjected to the exploitation. How can we know if an intervention to tackle trafficking is actually working if we are not engaging victims in the aftercare programmes? How can we tell if the trafficking situation is getting better in South Africa if we are only focusing on the perpetrator? In each of the response spheres, victims need to be listened to, heard, and their experiences and opinions should guide the way.

The voice of the victim can no longer be ignored. We need to shine a light on victims lived experiences  their voices are central to making a difference.

Ajwang Warria, Heather Dixon, Margaret Roper, Susan Marx, Mosagoaneng Leteane and Cynderella Chadambuka are researchers on a national counter-trafficking study in South Africa. This article was first published in Daily Maverick.
The U.S. finally reached President Joe Bidens goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot in the arms of 70% of American adults. But its a month late and amid a fierce surge by the delta variant that is swamping hospitals and leading to new mask rules and mandatory vaccinations around the country.

Biden set a goal of reaching the 70% threshold by the Fourth of July. But that target was set well before the highly contagious delta variant enabled the virus to come storming back and undermined the assumptions that were used to arrive at that figure.

The U.S. still has not hit the administrations other goal of fully vaccinating 165 million American adults by July 4. It is about 8.5 million short.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The longtime former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany says the diocese covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades and protected clergy by sending them to private treatment instead of calling police.

Bishop Howard Hubbard ran the diocese in New Yorks Capital District from 1977 to 2014. He made the admission in a statement issued through his lawyer to the Albany Times-Union in response to questions from the newspaper.

The Times-Union reported Hubbards statement on Saturday. Hubbard himself has been accused of sexually abusing minors and is accused in lawsuits of covering up abuse by others.

Several churches in Herkimer and Otsego counties are included in the Albany diocese.
UTICA, N.Y. - The City of Utica released a statement around 4:30 Monday afternoon saying 5 residents are still living in the Olbiston Apartments, even though they were supposed to be out by Sunday.

So now, this long drawn out process for the city and these last remaining residents will continue, but the question is for how much longer?

Here is the entire statement from the City of Utica :

"To protect the health and safety of tenants residing in the Olbiston Apartments, the City of Utica posted the building on July 15th and ordered it be vacated by July 30th due to gross negligence of the building owners. As a result of successful collaboration with Oneida County and local service providers, the overwhelming majority of Olbiston tenants have been relocated to either

temporary, transitional or permanent housing. At this time, approximately 5 Olbiston tenants have not yet been relocated.

All Olbiston residents have been offered services and assistance to secure housing, and the city will continue its efforts to relocate the remaining Olbiston tenants. If any tenants refuse to comply with the city's mandate to vacate the unsafe premise, the city will file an Order to Vacate in New York State Supreme Court.

In conversations with service providers, one of the biggest needs for tenants is furniture as many of the new housing locations are not allowing furniture in its facilities due to concerns about the Olbiston's condition. To address this issue, the City of Utica, Compassion Coalition and the Salvation Army Utica Corps are partnering to host a furniture giveaway for displaced Olbiston

tenants.

The giveaway will take place on Thursday August 5th at 11 a.m. at the Salvation Army (14 Clinton Place). The city is also asking for volunteers with trucks to help move furniture to apartments and storage facilities for Olbiston residents. Anyone interested in being a moving volunteer should arrive at the Salvation Army at 1 p.m. Among the items available for Olbiston residents are couches, chairs, coffee makers, pet beds, dressers, dishware and end tables.

The city thanks the Salvation Army for hosting the giveaway and Compassion Coalition for donating 22 pallets of furniture and appliances. The city will be covering moving and shipping fees."

City officials say they will let us know if and when they seek that Order to Vacate notice with the State Supreme Court, but as of right now they are not giving a timeline as to how soon they will take action. They are hoping it doesn't come to that.
OLD FORGE, N.Y.  Old Forge is still under a state of emergency following an explosion at a seasonal home on Hollywood Hills Road on Friday. Police say no one had been at the home since Monday, July 26.

On Monday, Hollywood Hills Road opened to local traffic only as crews continue to pick up debris.

Police are still asking people to avoid the area so authorities can continue to investigate.

Fire officials believe the explosion was propane-related, but are examining appliances and utilities found in the wreckage before making an official determination.

No one was home at the time of the explosion, but one person nearby suffered minor injuries.
DEOWONGO ISLAND, N.Y.  New York State Police have identified the Herkimer County man who died in Canadarago Lake over the weekend.

According to police, 54-year-old David M. Morrissey of Mohawk went into the lake while on Deowongo Island when he saw his boat drifting away, and never resurfaced.

Members of state police, Otsego County Sheriffs Office, state park police, Richefield EMS, Fly Creek EMS and Milford Fire Department were called to the scene around 10:30 a.m. on July 31 for a search and rescue effort after Morrissey was reported missing.

The New York State Police Underwater Recovery Team recovered Morrissey from the lake several hours later.
TRENTON, N.Y. - State Police have released the name of the man killed in the motorcycle accident in Trenton on Saturday.

They say he is 70-year-old Everett Wilson from the town of Wells in Hamilton County. Wells is in the Adirondacks about 50 miles north of Amsterdam.

State Police say Wilson was on his motorcycle when he was struck by a vehicle driven by 60-year-old Wendi Cummings of Land O'Lakes, Florida.

State Police say Cummings was not injured but she was ticketed for failure to yield the right of way at a stop sign.

The accident happened around 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Prospect Depot Road and State Route 365 in Trenton.

State Police say Cummings was traveling north on Prospect Depot Road, entering the intersection and attempting to turn west onto Rt. 365 when she failed to yield the right of way to Wilson who was traveling eastbound on Rt. 365.

Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 63 year old passenger of Cummings was was transported to St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, where she was treated and released.

State Police say the investigation is continuing.
HERKIMER, NY - August has arrived, and that means it's time to start thinking about back-to-school shopping and getting your child that brand new outfit to wear on the first day of school.

Unfortunately not every family can afford to purchase something new for that first day in class. That's where the Tagless charity clothing shop in Herkimer comes to the rescue.

Tagless is a non-profit clothing shop located on Main Street in Herkimer that provides high-quality clothing to those in need - for free.

Right now with school starting back up in September the owners of the shop want to make sure that no child has to show up for the first day in old clothes or worn-out sneakers. They're asking the public to donate any clothes for school-aged children in good shape that they might have laying around.

I was a child that didn't have a lot of money growing up, so I know how it feels to walk into that first day of school and to feel like you don't belong, says the co-owner of Tagless, James Weiderman.

Our goal is to help those kids feel like they can start the school year off fresh and hopefully turn things around".

The owners of Tagless say they are distributing - on average - 2,000 pieces of clothing a month for free to the community. They ask that you limit your selections to 5 items per visit, and one visit per week.

If youd like more information on how you can donate  either clothing items or monetarily - you can go to their Facebook or GoFundMe pages.
Here's a look at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. On December 14, 2012, six adults and 20 children were killed by Adam Lanza, who had earlier killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in their home.

The Shooter

Birth date: April 22, 1992

Death date: December 14, 2012

Birth place: Kingston, New Hampshire

Birth name: Adam Lanza

Father: Peter Lanza, an accountant

Mother: Nancy (Champion) Lanza

Lanza's parents were divorced in September 2009.

A 2014 report by the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate described Lanza as a young man with deteriorating mental health who had a fascination with mass shootings.

Weapons found at the scene were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza.

Lanza used a Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S rifle during the shooting spree. Three weapons were found next to his body; the semiautomatic .223-caliber rifle made by Bushmaster, and two handguns. An Izhmash Saiga-12, 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun was found in his car.

Timeline

December 14, 2012 - At an unknown time, 20-year-old Adam Lanza kills his mother Nancy, 52, with a .22 caliber Savage Mark II rifle. Lanza then drives his mother's car to Sandy Hook Elementary, about five miles away.

At approximately 9:30 a.m., Lanza arrives at Sandy Hook Elementary, a school with about 700 students. The principal, Dawn Hochsprung, had installed a new security system that required every visitor to ring the front entrance's doorbell for admittance. Lanza shoots his way through the entrance.

Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach step out to the hall to see what is going on, and are followed by Vice Principal Natalie Hammond. Hochsprung and Sherlach are killed, and Hammond is injured.

The first 911 calls to police are made at approximately 9:30 a.m. Police and first responders arrive approximately five minutes later.

Lanza enters the classroom of substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau. Lanza kills 14 children as well as Rousseau and a teacher's aide.

He then enters the classroom of teacher Victoria Soto. Six children in the room, as well as Soto and a teacher's aide, are killed. Lanza dies by suicide in the same classroom, ending the rampage in less than 11 minutes.

At about 3:15 p.m., an emotional President Barack Obama gives a televised address, "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." He orders flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings.

December 15, 2012 - Connecticut State Police release the names of the victims: six adult women and 12 girls and eight boys, all ages six and seven.

December 16, 2012 - Obama visits with the relatives of those who were killed. He also attends an interfaith vigil. "We can't tolerate this anymore," he says. "These tragedies must end, and to end them we must change."

December 17, 2012 - Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy announces a statewide moment of silence on December 21. He also requests that bells be tolled 26 times in memory of the victims.

December 18, 2012 - Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson announces Sandy Hook students will remain out of school until January. At that time, they will be taught in a converted middle school.

January 8, 2013 - Malloy announces the names of the people who will serve on the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, to review current policy and make recommendations on public safety, mental health and violence prevention policies.

March 2013 - A new police report reveals Lanza possessed a list of 500 of the world's most notorious mass murderers, and was trying to rack up the greatest number of kills in history.

November 25, 2013 - Connecticut state officials release a report closing the investigation into the shooting and confirm that Lanza had no assistance and was the only shooter.

December 4, 2013 - Audio recordings of the 911 calls from Sandy Hook Elementary are released.

December 27, 2013 - The final report on the investigation into the shooting is released.

November 21, 2014 - The Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate, as directed by the State Child Fatality Review Panel, releases a report profiling Lanza's developmental and educational history. The report notes "missed opportunities" by Lanza's mother, the school district and multiple health care providers. It identifies "warning signs, red flags, or other lessons" that could be learned.

December 15, 2014 - The families of nine children killed, along with one teacher who survived the attack, file a wrongful death suit against the manufacturers and distributors of the Bushmaster rifle, as well as the retail store and dealer who sold the firearm used in the shooting.

March 6, 2015 - The final report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission is released.

December 17, 2015 - In a final agreement, 16 plaintiffs will share in a $1.5 million settlement against the estate of Nancy Lanza. The plaintiffs are from eight separate lawsuits filed in early 2015.

April 14, 2016 - A superior court judge rules that the wrongful death suit against gun manufacturers can proceed. The judge denies a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that firearms companies have limited liability when their products are used by criminals, according to a federal law passed in 2005.

October 14, 2016 - Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis dismisses a lawsuit that families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims had filed against a gun manufacturer, invoking a federal statute known as PLCAA, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The law prohibits lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors if their firearms were used in the commission of a criminal act.

November 15, 2016 - The Sandy Hook families file an appeal, asking the Connecticut Supreme Court to consider their case against the gun manufacturer.

March 14, 2019 - The Connecticut Supreme Court rules that the families of the Sandy Hook victims can go forward with their lawsuit against Remington, which makes the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used in the shooting.

April 5, 2019 - Remington files an appeal with the US Supreme Court, asking the high court to decide on the state's interpretation of a federal statute that grants gun manufacturers immunity from any lawsuit related to injuries that result from criminal misuse of their product.

November 12, 2019 - The US Supreme Court declines to take up the Remington appeal.

July 27, 2021 - Remington offers nearly $33 million to nine families of victims killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in a proposed lawsuit settlement.

The Victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Allison Wyatt, 6

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Anne Marie Murphy, 52 (Teacher)

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Daniel Barden, 7

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47 (Principal)

Dylan Hockley, 6

Emilie Parker, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Jack Pinto, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Jesse Lewis, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Lauren Rousseau, 30 (Teacher)

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Mary Sherlach, 56 (Psychologist)

Noah Pozner, 6

Olivia Engel, 6

Rachel D'Avino, 29, (Therapist)

Victoria Soto, 27 (Teacher)

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Here's a look at Area 51, a highly classified United States Air Force facility located at Groom Lake in southern Nevada.

Facts

The US government's official name for Area 51 is the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is a unit of the Nellis Air Force Base. Today it is used as an open training range for the US Air Force.

According to the CIA, the name Area 51 comes from its map designation. It was also previously referred to as "Paradise Ranch" in order to make the facility sound more attractive to those that would be working there. "Paradise Ranch" was then shortened to "the Ranch." Other nicknames include "Watertown" and "Dreamland."

In 1958, under Public Land Order 1662, the 38,400-acre land area was "withdrawn from public use by the US Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor to the US Department of Energy."

It is located more than 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

It is restricted to the public and has armed guards patrolling the perimeter. It's also impossible to enter the airspace above without permission from air traffic control.

Area 51 has long been a topic of fascination for conspiracy theorists and paranormal enthusiasts who believe it to be the location where the US government stores and hides alien bodies and UFOs.

One popular UFO conspiracy is that in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, remains from a flying saucer that supposedly crashed were brought to Area 51 for reverse engineering experiments in order to replicate the extraterrestrial spacecraft.

In June 2019, a poll conducted by YouGov found that 54% of US adults think it is likely the government knows more than it's telling about UFOs.

Timeline

April 12, 1955 - CIA officer Richard Bissell, who is overseeing the development of the U-2 plane, first sees the site that would become known as Area 51 while on an "aerial scouting mission." Bissell, along with three others, including Col. Osmund Ritland and Kelly Johnson, Director of the Lockheed Corporation's Skunk Works, agree that the area would "make an ideal site for testing the U-2 training pilots" and request the Atomic Energy Commission add the area to its real estate holdings in Nevada.

July 1955 - The CIA begins using Area 51 to develop the high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance plane. Other aircrafts are also tested at the site later, including the OXCART (a supersonic reconnaissance A-12 aircraft) and the F-117 stealth ground attack jet.

November 1959 - A radar test facility is established at Area 51.

October 13, 1961 - In a letter to Bissell, now the CIA's Deputy Director of Plans, CIA Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick writes that Area 51 appears to be "extremely vulnerable in its present security provisions against unauthorized observation."

December 22, 1961 - The first A-12 arrives at Area 51.

1974 - Skylab astronauts inadvertently take photographs of Area 51. The images are reviewed by the National Photographic Interpretation Center and then removed from the rolls of film and stored in a vault.

August 26, 1976 - In a memo from the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence E.H. Knoche to General David C. Jones, the Air Force chief of staff, the National Security Council's Committee on Foreign Intelligence approves the recommendation "that management of Area 51 be transferred from CIA to Air Force by fiscal year 1978."

May 13, 1989 - KLAS (CBS affiliate in Las Vegas) reporter George Knapp interviews Bob Lazar, who exposes details about Area 51. Lazar claims to be working with physicists trying to "back-engineer a downed alien spacecraft." The interview generates public interest in the base.

September 8, 1994 - The US Air Force issues a report stating that the wreckage recovered in Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, often referred to as the "Roswell Incident," consisted of a smashed part of the balloons, sensors and radar reflectors from a classified government project called Project Mogul.

January 30, 1996 - US President Bill Clinton signs a presidential determination exempting the "Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from any federal, state, interstate, or local hazardous or solid waste laws that might require disclosure of classified information concerning that location to unauthorized persons."

March 6, 1996 - A citizen suit between former employees at Area 51 and the Department of Defense is filed. The plaintiffs (former employees) allege violations of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act "in the storage, treatment, and disposal of hazardous waste at the operating location near Groom Lake."

July 23, 1996 - A citizen suit between former employees at Area 51 and the Environmental Protection Agency is filed. The court determines that the administrator of the EPA "completed her statutory duties with regard to the inspection and inventory of the operating location near Groom Lake.

April 2000 - A Russian-built satellite reveals views of Area 51.

September 2003 - US President George W. Bush signs a memorandum to the Environmental Protection Agency. The memorandum to the Administrator states, "I find that it is in the paramount interest of the United States to exempt the United States Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, the subject of litigation, from any applicable requirement for the disclosure to unauthorized persons of classified information concerning that operating location."

2005 - A Freedom of Information Act request is filed by Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson, a senior fellow at the George Washington University National Security Archive. The FOIA request is for information on the CIA's "Lockheed U-2 plane reconnaissance program."

May 17, 2011 - Journalist Annie Jacobsen's book, "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," is published.

2012 - Funding for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, the Pentagon's secret UFO office, ends. The office spent $22 million over five years collecting and analyzing what they considered "anomalous aerospace threats."

August 15, 2013 - The CIA publishes declassified documents which officially acknowledge for the first time that Area 51 is a secret US military site, following the FOIA request filed in 2005. The declassified documents concern the history of the U-2 and A-12 OXCART aerial surveillance programs that were constructed and tested at Area 51. The documents claim the site's secret status was a way to keep information from the Soviets, rather than to cover-up an alien encounter.

December 8, 2013 - At the 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, US President Barack Obama becomes the first president to use the phrase "Area 51" in public, while honoring the actress Shirley MacLaine, who has long been vocal about her interest and belief in UFOs and the extraterrestrial.

April 2, 2014 - In an appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Clinton jokes that while he was president, he asked aides to investigate what the government knew about UFOs and Area 51. He says, "First I had people go look at the records on Area 51, to make sure there was no alien down there."

March 24, 2016 - On "Jimmy Kimmel Live," presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says if elected, she would open government files on any unexplained aerial phenomenon barring any threats to national security.

July 11, 2019 - More than 1.5 million people say they will attend a Facebook event titled "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," pledging to raid Area 51 in a quest to "see them aliens." The post suggests that people run onto the site on September 20, 2019 at 3:00am.

July 12, 2019 - Laura McAndrews, an Air Force spokesperson, says government officials are aware of the Facebook event. She says "(Area 51) is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets."

August 9, 2019 - The Alienstock Festival, a festival celebrating aliens that's set to take place September 19-22 in Rachel, Nevada, is announced. "We're aiming to establish something unique here, a meeting place for all the believers. Come out to the desert to dive into a world full of live music, arts, and camping under the stars," the festival's website says.

August 20, 2019 - Officials in Lincoln County, Nevada vote to pre-sign an emergency declaration in preparation for the influx of visitors.

September 10, 2019 - Organizers cancel Alienstock saying, "critical infrastructure needed was not provided for this festival." Instead, people are encouraged to attend the Area 51 Celebration in Las Vegas.

September 10, 2019 - Two Dutch men are arrested in the Nevada National Security Site near Area 51. The men tell police that they saw the 'No Trespassing' signs, but wanted to take a look at the facility. They later plead guilty to trespassing and illegal parking.

September 20, 2019 - Approximately 200 people show up outside the gates of Area 51 for the "raid" on the facility. Two people are arrested, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff. There is one alcohol-related arrest and a Canadian citizen is arrested for indecent exposure. One woman comes close to crossing and is briefly detained and released at the scene.

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Shen Yueyue (C), Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the All-China Women's Federation, attends the launch ceremony of a national campaign of caring for children in summer vacation in Beijing on July 10. [China Women's News/Yang Rui]

A national campaign of caring for children in summer vacation was launched in Beijing on July 10. With the theme of Party history learning and children's safety protection, diversified voluntary activities for children will be held across the country.

Shen Yueyue, Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), conferred flags on representatives of volunteers at the launch ceremony.

Shen urged the volunteers to implement the spirit of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), actively respond to Xi's call on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, provide more services for people and make more contributions to society.

Shen Yueyue (2nd, left, front row), Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the All-China Women's Federation, at her visit to a revolutionary memorial hall [China Women's News/Yang Rui]

When visiting a revolutionary memorial hall with children, Shen told them revolutionary stories and stories of heroes along the way. Shen encouraged them to inherit the revolutionary spirit, rise up to be the successors of the Communist cause, and make unremitting efforts to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Huang Xiaowei (L), Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation, confers a flag on the organizing committee of the 29th National Youth Patriotism Reading and Education Activity and representatives of teachers and students during the launch ceremony on July 10. [China Women's News/Yang Rui]

During the ceremony, Cai Shumin, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, outlined the information about the campaign. Volunteer and parent representatives expressed their determination and confidence to actively participate in the campaign and protect the healthy and safe growth of children.

A stage play about traffic safety is performed at the ceremony to help children raise their safety awareness. [China Women's News/Yang Rui]

Sponsored by the ACWF, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Education and eight other state organs, institutions and organizations, this year's campaign will include Party history learning and education, children's safety publicity and education on the prevention of drowning and traffic accidents, talents shows, parent-child games, legal publicity and lectures on mental health and other child care services to bring warmth and care to children and help them spend a safety and happy vacation.

The 29th National Youth Patriotism Reading and Education Activity was also launched at the ceremony. Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, conferred a flag on the organizing committee of the activity and representatives of teachers and students.

Since 1993, 28 sessions of the National Youth Patriotism Reading and Education Activity have been held. Through a variety of reading and social practice activities, the activity has attracted the participation of more than 800 million youths.

Participating children at the launch ceremony [China Women's News/Yang Rui]

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)
Ethiopia is no stranger to conflict, or to humanitarian disasters. In the last fifty years, the country has gone through violent, revolutionary change, beginning with a military coup in 1974, followed by a long civil war, which was accompanied by a disastrous famine. Peace finally returned to the country in the early 1990s. A new system of government was put in place, which was designed to accommodate Ethiopias myriad of ethnic groups, giving them autonomy in the form of their own regions, each with an autonomous administration. In the last ten years, the countrys economy has grown exponentially. Thus, it seemed that Ethiopia was on the right track towards prosperity. But in November of 2020, violent conflict took root in the country once again.

About Ethiopia

The political map of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a country in East Africa, or more specifically in what is known as the Horn of Africa. It is bordered to the east by Somalia, to the north by Eritrea and Djibouti, to the south by Kenya, and to the west by Sudan and South Sudan. The country has a long history dating back to the 2nd century CE, when the Kingdom of Axum, which was based in what is now Ethiopia, was a regional trading power. In the 19th century, when most of Africa was under the control of European colonial powers, Ethiopia maintained its independence. The country was invaded and conquered by Italy in 1935, though occupied only until 1941, when British forces liberated the country. In 1974, a military coup overthrew the Ethiopian monarchy. Three years later, a Marxist regime took over the country.

In 1991, following a long civil war in which millions died of famine, the Marxist military regime was overthrown by the forces of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which was composed of several parties representing the countrys different ethnic groups. Two years later, Eritrea, which was situated on the northern Red Sea coast of Ethiopia, was allowed to secede and become independent, making Ethiopia a landlocked country. Ethiopia has since been governed as a federation of several ethnically-based states, including the northern state of Tigray, the site of the current conflict.

Busy street in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa. Editorial credit: fivepointsix / Shutterstock.com

Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa, boasting a population of more than 118 million. These people belong to a myriad of ethnic groups. The largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia are the Oromo and Amhara. Other ethnic groups with sizeable populations are the Somalis, Tigray, Sidama, Gurage, Welayta, Afar, Hadiya, and Gamo. Ethiopia is subdivided into nine regions. As previously mentioned, these regions were drawn up based on the territory inhabited by the various ethnic groups. Tigray, the region in which the current conflict is taking place, is in the northern part of the country, and is bordered by Amhara to the south, Afar to the east, and the independent countries of Eritrea to the north and Sudan to the west. The area of Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa, is also one of the countrys regions. Addis Ababa is the countrys largest city, with a population of more than 2.75 million.

A village scene in Ethiopia, a country with high rates of poverty. Editorial credit: Martchan / Shutterstock.com

Like most countries in Africa, Ethiopia is poor. The country has been stricken by famine on numerous occasions, and has a low per capita GDP (gross domestic product) of $850. Nevertheless, Ethiopia is the fastest growing economy in the region. Between 2010 and 2020, the country averaged an economic growth rate of 9.4%. Ethiopias economy is still heavily dependent on agriculture, which makes up 46% of the countrys total GDP, and employs 85% of its workforce.

How The Tigray Conflict Began

In 2018, following a period of unrest and anti-government protests, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, resigned from his post. He was replaced by Abiy Ahmed, an ethnic Oromo, who instituted a series of new policies, including political reforms, and attempts to improve the countrys diplomatic ties. His government freed many political prisoners from the countrys jails, and lifted the countrys state of emergency. Prime Ministers Ahmeds new policies created a sense of optimism in the country, but it did not last.

View over the part of disputed territory in Tigray, Ethiopia. Editorial credit: fivepointsix / Shutterstock.com

On November 4, 2020, an attack on federal army camps in Tigray took place. Prime Minister Ahmed blamed this attack on the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF was one of the factions in the ruling EPRDF, which took power in Ethiopia in 1991, following the overthrow of the previous military regime. For a time, the TPLF was the dominant faction in the EPRDF. But this dominance was threatened when Prime Minister Ahmed took power. He removed Tigrayan government leaders from their posts, accusing them of corruption and repression. He also set up a new political party, the Prosperity Party, breaking ranks with the EPRDF. The Tigrayans feared that Ahmed intended to recentralize power in the country, and dismantle the federal system.

In defiance of the central government, the TPLF decided to hold a regional election in Tigray in September of 2020. In response, the central government declared the election illegal, stopped funding the region of Tigray, and cut ties with the regional Tigrayan government. When the attack on November 4th took place, Prime Minister Ahmed responded by sending troops into Tigray to conduct a campaign against the TPLF. This campaign included air raids and a ground invasion. In addition, federal Ethiopian troops were said to be getting assistance from neighboring Eritrea. On November 28th, after three weeks of fighting, Prime Minister Ahmed declared an end to operations in Tigray after federal troops captured the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle. Nevertheless, fighting continued afterwards. Moreover, a growing humanitarian crisis began to emerge.

The Conflict Continues

As federal Ethiopian troops advanced into Tigray, tens of thousands of refugees fled the region for neighboring Sudan. Within the first ten days of the conflict, hundreds of people had already been killed. Refugees interviewed by the media described mass atrocities, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians. They also accused the Ethiopian government of ethnic cleansing, saying that the government wanted to push Tigrayans out of their home region.

On March 23, 2021, Prime Minister Ahmed admitted that Eritrean troops were involved in the fighting in Tigray. Indeed, one month earlier, human rights group Amnesty International accused Eritrean troops of slaughtering hundreds of civilians in Tigrays holy city of Axum. Two weeks prior to Ahmeds admission about the involvement of Eritrean troops, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the term ethnic cleansing to describe the violence in the Tigray region.

On April 27th, the United Nations reported that hostilities were still occurring in Tigray. In fact, by late June, the war in Tigray took another turn, as rebel troops undertook an offensive to retake Mekelle. On June 29th, the TPLF claimed that they had retaken the city in its entirety. The group also claimed that they would take their fight to other regions of Ethiopia, and into Eritrea, if they felt it was necessary.

The Humanitarian Crisis In Tigray

Member of the diaspora protest the war in Tigray region of Ethiopia in front of US embassy in Ottawa, Canada, to demand they intervene in Conflict. Editorial credit: meandering images / Shutterstock.com

According to the UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are 5.2 million people in Tigray who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. OCHA also reports that as of November 7, 2020, there were 63,110 refugees who had fled to Sudan because of the Tigray conflict. For the period from May through to December, 2021, the UN is seeking $854 million in funding for humanitarian relief efforts. So far, however, only $419 million has materialized. On June 10th, the UN and other international aid groups reported that more than 350,000 people in the region faced famine conditions, and that millions more were at risk.

In fact, based on the latest figures, it is estimated that 300,000 young children could soon die of starvation. Typically, two thirds of those who die in a famine are young children. Moreover, the famine is not confined to Tigray. Large parts of the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara are also experiencing famine conditions. In all, more than 3 million people in these neighboring regions are affected. Making the humanitarian situation in the Tigray conflict even worse is the destruction of health and agricultural infrastructure. Both the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies have been accused of burning crops, destroying health facilities, and preventing farmers from ploughing their fields.

Obstacles To Providing Humanitarian Aid

Members of Tigray diaspora of the US rally on Washington Square and march along Broadway demanding peace and end of genocide.

Getting humanitarian aid to those most in need in Tigray and neighboring areas has not been easy. In fact, sometimes, it is impossible. For example, one third of Tigrays 6 million people live in areas that are occupied by the Eritrean army, which does not cooperate with humanitarian agencies. Another 1.5 million people live in rural areas controlled by the Tigrayan rebels, which are now inaccessible to humanitarian workers. In many cases, it has been reported that the Ethiopian army blocks aid workers from reaching rural areas under rebel control, claiming that they are helping the rebels. There have also been reports of food aid being stolen. In addition, simply trying to provide humanitarian aid to those in need in Tigray can be deadly, as humanitarian workers in the region have been killed. For instance, on June 25, 2021, the charity known as Doctors Without Borders claimed that three of its employees were brutally murdered. As a result of all the difficulties associated with getting humanitarian aid to the most needy, it is estimated by independent sources that just 13% of the aforementioned 5.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance are actually getting it.
Africa is no stranger to humanitarian crises. In fact, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), more than half of the worst humanitarian crises in the world are occurring in African countries. One of these crises is taking place in the West African country of Burkina Faso. In the last five years, Burkina Faso has witnessed a sharp rise in violence perpetrated by Islamic extremists. Islamic extremism presents a clear and present danger to the entire Sahel region, though it has caused an acute humanitarian disaster in Burkina Faso in particular. The IRC has referred to the crisis in Burkina Faso as the worlds fastest-growing displacement crisis.

A Brief History Of Burkina Faso

Map showing the location of Burkina Faso in Africa.

Burkina Faso is a country in Western Africa. It is bordered to the north and west by Mali, to the east by Niger, and to the south by Cote DIvoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. In 1896, the African kingdoms that made up the territory that is now Burkina Faso were merged into a French protectorate. In 1919, this protectorate gained separate status in French West Africa, and was named Upper Volta, after the river that flows from the countrys Bobo-Dioulasso highlands. In 1958, Upper Volta was given the status of an autonomous republic within the French Community. It achieved full independence two years later.

A series of coups have taken place throughout Burkina Fasos history, especially in the 1980s. One of the coups was led by a military captain named Thomas Sankara, who changed the countrys name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which literally means land of honest people in the indigenous Mossi language. In 1987, Sankara was overthrown by his former ally, Blaise Compaore, who would rule the country until 2014, when another military coup forced him from power. Burkina Faso made a return to democracy a year later. Nevertheless, the country has still not been able to achieve stability. In 2016, Islamic extremists began a series of attacks, beginning with an attack on a hotel and cafe in Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasos capital, killing 29 people. The rise of Islamist terrorism over the next five years would ultimately lead to the humanitarian crisis that the country is currently experiencing.

Demographics And Ethnic Conflict In Burkina Faso

Children of the Mossi ethnic group tending the cattle in Burkina Faso. Editorial credit: Hector Conesa / Shutterstock.com

Burkina Faso is a country of more than 21.5 million people. About half of this population belong to the aforementioned Mossi ethnic group. Other large ethnic groups in the country are the Fulani, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, Gurunsi, Gurma, and Tuareg. The Mossi language is also spoken by 40% of the Burkina Fasos population, but there are a total of 69 different languages spoken in the country. French, the language of the countrys former colonial power, is the official language. Unlike many African countries, Burkina Faso has managed to maintain a relative peace among its ethnic groups, though hostilities between groups over scarce land and water resources has occurred on occasion. The recent rise of Islamic extremism, however, has resulted in further ethnic conflict.

Islamist Groups Fighting In Burkina Faso

A soldier with a gun and the flag of Burkina Faso printed in this uniform.

The main cause of the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso has been the rise of Islamic extremist groups. Several Islamist groups operate in the country. One is a home-grown group named Ansaroul Islam, which was founded by Fulani preacher named Boureima Dicko, otherwise known as Malam Ibrahim Dicko, who began preaching his extremist views in 2009. He gained a following by tapping into the long-time grievances of his fellow Fulani, many of whom believed that they were neglected by the countrys central government. Dicko died in 2017, but his teachings still live on, and have fomented hostilities between the Fulani and other ethnic groups. In many cases, the Fulani have become victims of reprisal attacks by other ethnic groups who accuse them of helping Islamic extremists. These attacks often encourage more Fulani to support the Islamists and be recruited by them. Thus, there is a vicious cycle of conflict.

Another Islamic Extremist group in Burkina Faso is known as Jamaat Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), which translates as the Group to Support Islam and Muslims. This group is actually an umbrella organization for several smaller Islamist groups, including one group that is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, whose founder, the late Osama Bin Laden, masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. JNIM operates mainly in Mali, but has also operated in the north and east of Burkina Faso.

Muslims at prayer in Burkina Faso.

Two other Islamic extremist groups are the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). As their names imply, both of these groups are affiliated with the so-called Islamic State, which has many followers in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. Commonly known by the acronyms ISIL or ISIS, Islamic State once controlled vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. Their local affiliates in Burkina Faso also operate in Mali and Niger. It is important to note that although the groups mentioned above all adhere to extremist interpretations of Islam, they do not have the same philosophies. In fact, these groups frequently clash with each other, adding to the violence that has created the humanitarian disaster in Burkina Faso.

International Intervention And Cooperation

The severity of the violence in Burkina Faso has attracted foreign intervention. The most significant foreign intervention has come on the part of former colonial power, France. French intervention began in 2014, with the launch of Operation Barkhane, whose goal was to combat Islamic extremist groups in the Sahel region, including not only Burkina Faso, but also Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. In 2017, Burkina Fasos military began joint operations with French troops in the northern part of the country. Since then, confrontations between French troops and Islamic extremists have intensified. French involvement in the struggle against Islamic extremism in the Sahel, however, is due to come to an end. Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that French troops would be leaving the area. The announcement comes amid the lack of success in combating Islamists in the Sahel and Macrons desire to move away from the so-called neocolonial approach to Frances relations with Africa.

Burkina Faso has also looked to its neighbors to help it deal with the Islamist violence in its midst. In 2017, the same year that French troops began joint operations with Burkinabe troops, Burkina Faso and the other aforementioned countries of the Sahel set up the G5 Sahel Joint Force (FC-G5S). This alliance was organized at the behest of the United Nations Security Council. It is tasked, not only with fighting the Islamic extremists in the region, but also with ensuring compliance with certain human rights standards. The formation of the FC-G5S reflects the fact that Islamic extremism is a problem for the entire Sahel region.

The Humanitarian Crisis

Laborers having a meal near a gold mine in Koupela, Burkina Faso. Editorial credit: Gilles Paire / Shutterstock.com

Caught in the middle of Burkina Fasos fight against Islamic extremists are millions of suffering civilians. Before the onset of the conflict with Islamists, the country was already poor. In fact, it is among the 25 poorest countries in the world, with a GDP (gross domestic product) per capita of just $768.83. Around 80% of Burkina Fasos population depends on agriculture as a means of making a living. More than 40% of the Burkinabe population lives below the poverty line. In addition, Burkina Faso lacks natural resources. Thus, the current humanitarian disaster has exacerbated an already bad situation.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are 3.5 million people in the country that require humanitarian assistance. This is up from the 2.2 million that needed aid as of January 2020. The humanitarian disaster in Burkina Faso is concentrated primarily in the countrys north and east, the main areas of the country in which the Islamist militias operate. More than one million people have been displaced by the ongoing violence. More than 1.5 million people are in need of protection. These include children, who are at risk of being recruited by armed groups. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also played a role in the humanitarian crisis. As of 2021, Burkina Faso recorded more than 10,000 cases of the disease, plus 118 deaths.

The effect of the coronavirus on the countrys population is small, however, compared to the effects of food insecurity. According to the UNs World Food Program (WFP), an estimated 3.3 million in Burkina Faso face acute food insecurity. Much of this food insecurity has come as a result of the conflict, but another factor can also be blamed: climate change. At the same time as Burkina Fasos conflict with Islamic extremists began, the country was already experiencing a prolonged drought. The amount of water found in the countrys wells and natural resevoirs has been declining, causing farmland to dry out quicker. In addition, the climate has changed to the extent that rains have become unpredictable, coming too early or too late for farmers that depend on them. Most people are aware that whenever water is scarce, there is less water to grow crops. Hence, less food is grown, contributing to even worse food insecurity.
Historic Wrexham pub could be demolished to make way for nine houses

A historic pub in Wrexham could be demolished to make way for nine new houses.

An application has been put forward to knock down the Moreton Inn in Johnstown.

Some residents have voiced concerns about the loss of a property on Ruabon Road, which it is believed could date back to the 18th century.

However, representatives for the company behind the proposals said the business was no longer considered to be viable.

An architect acting on behalf of Nunndale Limited said the pubs demolition would also help to address a claimed shortfall of new homes in the area.

In a planning statement submitted to Wrexham Council, Dafydd Edwards said: We have been approached by our client to obtain planning permission for a residential development located within the settlement boundary of Johnstown.

The public house currently occupying the site has had several failed attempts in creating a profitable business.

It is known in the local community the business has been under several managers over the last decade all failing to create a successful business.

Supporting our application is documentation which is to remain confidential as proof of marketing the property and failed attempts at making the Moreton Inn a profitable business.

He added: We feel this planning application should be looked favourably upon and granted permission as we feel there are no justifiable reasons for refusal.

By agreeing to nine dwellings on this parcel of land the local authority would be able to reduce the deficit of required new homes in the county borough.

Members of the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust have requested for a survey of the building to be carried out before any work begins.

Their calls have been supported by Johnstown councillor David A Bithell.

The deputy leader of the local authority said: I am aware of some local interest, however, the building is not listed.

I have asked the conservation officer to appraise the building in terms of any architectural merits that may warrant its retention.

The building is in private ownership and has sold for redevelopment for housing so it would be a matter for the planning committee to determine.

A decision is likely to be made on the application by the council at a later date.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Even as the outbreak of the extremely-infectious Delta coronavirus variant continues to lurch out of control in Sydney, the countrys most-populous city, and re-emerges in Brisbane, the third biggest, the National Cabinet has proposed a rush to fully reopen the economy.

The bipartisan roadmap adopted unanimously by the federal, state and territory government leaders last Friday amounts to a declaration that the profit-crazed demands of the corporate elite must take priority over the health and lives of millions of people. The National Cabinet, a majority of whom are from the opposition Labor Party, is a de facto coalition government, dictating policy in the interests of the financial elite.

Long lines of cars at inner-west Sydney COVID-19 testing station [Photo: WSWS Media]

The pandemics latest wave in Australia, involving the Delta mutant, has so far not reached the catastrophic levels of many other countries, such as India, Indonesia and Fiji. But it has already led to several thousand infections nationally, and a growing number of hospitalisations and deaths, including among young people.

This underscores the global character of the pandemic disaster, which is worsening because the ruling elites and their governments have all subordinated public health to business interests. They have rejected or prematurely lifted safety measures, thus allowing the COVID-19 virus to mutate into more deadly variants. No one is safe until mass vaccinations are conducted on a worldwide basis.

The immediate dangers to human life were highlighted on Saturday, when Sydneys recorded daily new infections again rose above 200 and yet another Delta outbreak in Brisbane forced the Queensland state government to implement a snap lockdown on the city and across the states surrounding southeastern region. Sudden eruptions of earlier COVID-19 clusters in recent weeks had also compelled state governments to impose short-term partial stay at home orders in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

These are the direct results of the refusal of the New South Wales (NSW) state government, backed heavily by its federal Liberal-National Coalition counterpart, to introduce even partial shutdown measures in Sydney for 10 days after the citys Delta outbreak was first reported in the eastern suburbs on June 16.

Now the NSW government is worsening the risk of mass infection by instructing government schools to return to face-to-face classes for Year 12 students, and permitting construction sites to reopen throughout the city, except for the hardest-hit western and southwestern suburbs.

The mounting consequences of such policies, maintained at the insistence of the corporate elite, have been compounded by the abject failures and inadequacies of the hotel quarantine and vaccination operations presided over by the bipartisan National Cabinet. Even among the most vulnerable members of society, who were meant to be prioritised months ago, 60 percent of those aged over 70 are not yet fully vaccinated, along with high proportions of aged and disability care workers.

The reopening plan outlined by Liberal-National Coalition Prime Minister Scott Morrison declares an intent to end the so-called current suppression Phase A of the health emergency, as soon as the vaccination rate, still languishing at less than 20 percent of the eligible population, reaches just 70 percent, perhaps by December.

The eligible population excludes those under 16, despite the months-old global evidence that the Delta mutant severely affects children. The 70 percent figure required for Phase B, even if reached, would actually represent just over half the total population.

Nevertheless, in Phase B, lockdowns would be made unlikely and vaccinated people would be given yet-to-be detailed exemptions from travel and other safety restrictions. Even in the present Phase A, Morrison said shutdowns would be confined to early and stringent and short lockdowns if outbreaks occur.

In Phase C, if and when the misleading official vaccination rate reached 80 percent, Morrison said metropolitan-wide lockdowns would not be the expectation and travel restrictions would largely be lifted for vaccinated people.

Under the false banner of freedom, Australias capitalist governments, like their equivalents in the US, UK, the European Union, Japan, Israel and elsewhere, are overriding the warnings of health experts because of the economic cost of safety measureseven though deaths will necessarily result.

This message was spelt out bluntly in Fridays editorial in the Australian Financial Review. Backing the National Cabinet plan, it declared: Zero tolerance of cases is now a roadblock on the way out. Overseas experience now shows that even with high vaccination levels an exit wave of casesand deaths toois unavoidable.

Such allegedly unavoidable exit waves have already seen the pandemic resurge across the US, triggering daily new recorded infections of near 100,000, and the UK, where cases have topped 50,000 a day, despite vaccination levels similar to those proposed by the National Cabinet.

With typical contempt for epidemiologists and other medical experts, the financial newspaper said the massive implications of the economic impact of the pandemic were too important to be left just to doctors. Dovetailing with much-publicised anti-lockdown protests and agitation, the editorial expressed the hope that impatience with lockdown-happy premiers would start to grow.

From Morrison down, every government is trying to shift the blame for the crisis onto working class people, accusing them of vaccine hesitancywhen vaccines have been unavailable for monthsand of spreading infections via family gatherings, when most clusters have developed from non-essential workplaces and retail outlets that have been allowed to keep operating.

On the same day that the roadmap was unveiled, there was also a sharp turn towards escalating the police-state conditions that have been imposed on the western and southwestern suburbs of Sydney. The NSW government, in the name of Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, formally asked the federal government for 300 military personnel to assist police enforcement activity, particularly in these working-class suburbs.

The households in these suburbs have borne the brunt of Sydneys infections because they are the homes of the increasingly casualised workers who are employed on the frontlines of the pandemicfrom the overstretched and poorly-paid nurses and aged care workers to the super-exploited food delivery drivers and riders.

These are among the most impoverished areas of the country, where the social crisis and financial distress have been intensified by pandemic job losses, the cutting of welfare payments back to poverty levels and the denial of any government income support to temporary overseas workers and students. Requests for food parcels, emergency relief and financial help have soared in the past month.

As of Monday, soldiers will appear on the streets, patrolling with police, manning checkpoints and knocking on residents doors to see if they are adhering to isolation orders issued against infected people and their thousands of close contacts.

This is a blatant exercise in intimidation and suppression, under conditions of widespread anger over the already oppressive atmosphere created by a heavy police presence, including frequent helicopters buzzing overhead. Many residents in these areas come from refugee and recent immigrant backgrounds, heightening the fears and alarm caused by this operation.

More than 13,000 military personnel have been mobilised in similar operations since the pandemic began. This is also a bipartisan policy. The largest deployment thus far occurred at the request of the state Labor Party government in Victoria during its disastrous second wave in the second half of last year.

But the Sydney operation takes the growing militarisation of society to a new stage. It is specifically targeting the citys working class heartlands, making clear the repressive agenda of cracking down on social unrest and conditioning workers and youth to the sight of troops on home soil.

Like the 201920 bushfire disaster, during which the Morrison government mobilised 3,000 military reservists, warships and planes, the Sydney operation also highlights the acute lack of public health and other civilian resources.

As numbers of community and welfare organisations are asking: Why are hundreds of soldiers being deployed in working class areas, not public health workers to assist people and clarify the stay at home and mask-wearing orders?

The Morrison government has even militarised the vaccine program, placing an army general in charge. There is no proposal from the National Cabinet to allocate the billions of dollars necessary for adequate epidemic quarantine and protection, health care and aged care, despite the breakdowns that have already occurred in these chronically-underfunded and over-stretched services.

Instead, military spending has been boostedto $575 billion over a decadeto create a force to suppress domestic unrest as well as to prepare for war, and more than $400 billion has been handed to big business in support packages, low-cost loans, investment incentives and tax concessions, helping the corporate elite to restructure their enterprises at the expense of workers under the cover of the COVID crisis.

Throughout the pandemic, the federal Labor Party opposition led by Anthony Albanese has provided the Coalition government with constructive support, while shifting its own policies in an ever-more pro-business direction, including by embracing the governments sweeping tax cuts for the wealthiest layers of society. Likewise in NSW, Labor leader Chris Minns has provided unwavering backing for the Coalition government of Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

The same goes for the trade unions, which have opposed lockdown measures and worked hand-in-glove with the employers and the governments to impose cuts to jobs, wages and working conditions.

The Socialist Equality Party, which has been alone in advancing the independent interests of the working class throughout this crisis, issued a statement on June 3, 2020 in response to a previous recovery roadmap.

Entitled, Oppose the premature lifting of COVID-19 safety restrictions! it declared: Via decrees agreed by the so-called national cabinet, Liberal-National and Labor governments alike are gambling with the lives of the population. They are announcing accelerated reopening measures almost daily. In their haste, they are sweeping aside previous timetables, long before the impact of the earlier lifting of restrictions has been revealed.

That warning has been confirmed over and over. Against the dictates of the financial oligarchs and their political and industrial servants, the working class must assert its own interests, for the protection of lives and livelihoods. Genuine working-class organisations, rank-and-file committees, completely independent of the thoroughly pro-business unions, must be built to prevent infection, sickness and death, and combat the corporate-union offensive on jobs and conditions.

Above all, the fight against the pandemic necessarily involves a struggle of workers against the ruling class and its grip over economic and political life. It is a fight against capitalism and for socialismthe restructuring of society on the basis of social need, not private profit and wealth accumulation.
Against the backdrop of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is set to be completed by the end of August, and the rapid take-over of large parts of the country by the Taliban, Russia began military drills with Turkmenistan on Friday, July 30, that are set to run until August 10.

Russia also began 10-day-long military drills on August 1, together with the Tajik armed forces and the armed forces of Uzbekistan. The drills will take place at the Harbmaidon training ground on the Afghan-Tajik border. Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a 800-mile-long (1,303 kilometers) frontier, which has been effectively taken over by the Taliban.

The deeply impoverished country hosts a Russian military base. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed alarm this week about a strengthening of ISIS in Afghanistan amid the US troop withdrawal. He said that Russia was strengthening the military capabilities of its base in Tajikistan and ramping up the training of Tajik forces.

Tajik National Army troops (Image credit: Russian Ministry of Defense CC BY 4.0)

On July 22, Tajikistan held its largest military readiness drills since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, involving around 100,000 servicemen, 130,000 reserve troops and 1,000 armored vehicles. According to Eurasianet, Tajik military recruitment officers have been touring the country, drawing up lists of young people who could be called up as wartime reservists.

From August 9-14, Russia will also conduct its first joint military drills with China since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a joint statement published by Moscow and Beijing on Thursday, The exercise is aimed to consolidate and develop the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era, deepen the practical cooperation and traditional friendship between the two militaries, and further demonstrate the two sides resolve and capability to fight against terrorist forces and jointly safeguard regional peace and security.

The drills in the northern Chinese Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will involve some 10,000 troops along with aircraft, artillery and armored equipment. Both militaries are set to establish a joint command center to oversee the drills. The statement said, The two sides participating troops will be mixed into teams to make plans jointly and conduct training together, in a bid to verify and improve both troops capabilities of joint reconnaissance, search and early warning, electronic information attack, and joint attack and elimination.

The military drills come as the US has resumed bombing Afghanistan in support of government troops that have been rapidly losing territory to the Taliban amid the US troop withdrawal. The Kremlin has also been concerned about news reports suggesting that the US is seeking to establish a military base in one of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

As talks between the Taliban and the official Afghan government have stalled and preparations for the military drills were underway, both Moscow and Beijing welcomed Taliban delegations in July.

On Wednesday, Beijing welcomed a delegation led by the Talibans deputy head, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, for a two-day visit. It was the highest profile visit so far by the Taliban to China. Beijing declared that the Taliban would play an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction of the country. China is particularly concerned about the potential bolstering of Uyghur separatist organizations, which have long-standing ties to the Taliban, going back to the CIA-orchestrated war against the Soviet-backed government in Kabul in the 1980s. At the time, China supported the US involvement in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. However, the Afghan war also turned out to be central for the training and arming of Uyghur separatist and terrorist organizations, which to this day maintain close ties with US imperialism .

By now, the Taliban have seized much of the Afghan province that directly borders Chinas Xinjiang province, which is home to the majority of the Muslim Uyghur population in China and is claimed by Uyghur separatists as East Turkestan. The Taliban has earlier published statements, welcoming Chinese investments and assuring Beijing that it would not intervene in Chinas domestic affairs. A spokesman for the Talibans political office, Mohammad Naeem, stated on Wednesday that it had again assured China that Afghan territory will not be used against the security of any country.

Earlier in July, Taliban delegations visited Turkmenistans capital Ashgabat, as well as Moscow. The visit by a Taliban delegation to Moscow on July 7-8 was, in fact, the third such visit this year. Although the Taliban has been banned in Russia as a terrorist organization since 2003, the Russian government has for many years been in relatively open contact with the Taliban.

According to Russian press reports, at the July meeting the Taliban promised that it would not allow Afghanistan to become a staging ground for attacks on Russia since it had very good relations with Moscow. The Taliban also assured Moscow that it would not violate the Afghan-Tajik border or any other border with Central Asian countries.

Speaking to Gazeta.Ru, Vladimir Dzhabarov, a member of Russias Federal Council and the ruling United Russia party, emphasized, We will cooperate with any lawfully established [Afghan] government. If the Taliban become the lawful government, of course, we will establish relations with them, but under the condition that they will not be hostile toward our country. He added that Russia hasnt had the kind of openly negative relationship with them [the Taliban] as the Americans did.

A political expert, Stanislav Pritchin, cautioned that the Taliban was a very heterogeneous organization and that its central leadership could make no credible promise about the actions of its forces in Afghanistans north since they were recruited from various groups, some of which have their own political agenda. Andrei Kazantsev from the Moscow Higher School of Economics also speaking to Gazeta.Ru, stressed that Russias main concern was to prevent ISIS from consolidating its position in Afghanistan.

In recent months, Russian foreign policy think tanks have increasingly focused on analyzing the impact of the US troop withdrawal on Central Asia and discussing Russias own foreign policy strategy. Fyodor Lukyanov, who is Russias leading foreign policy pundit and maintains close ties to the Putin regime, recently wrote in the think tank journal Russia in Global Affairs, that the withdrawal marked the end of an epoch in American and world politics. He noted, To some extent, Washington doesnt care about what will happen now in Afghanistan and Iraq. Biden speaks a lot about democracy and freedom, but he understands that Americas possibilities are limited and that priorities have to be set. His choice is clear: the opposition to China by means of uniting the free world against it. To keep the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan without any hope of achieving any real success will not further this goal.

Also writing for Russia in Global Affairs, Timofei Bordachev stressed that the Kremlin should approach the troop withdrawal from the standpoint of its implications not just for regional but for world politics. While stressing that in terms of immediate security threats that Russia should work closely with the Central Asian states to bolster defense capacities, he wrote, If the Taliban were to come to power or plunge the country into a new civil war, it would not damage major Russian projects. He continued, [t]he new reality in Kabul is not a threat, but an opportunity to adjust the existing formats of relations with partnersregional and not only.

Much more important for Moscow than the immediate regional implications, he emphasized, was how the new situation in Afghanistan will affect Russias position in relations with China, India, Turkey, Iran, even with the United States and Europe. Particular attention should be paid, Bordachev continued, to a possible involvement by Turkey in Afghanistan; the impact of the situation on Chinas position in Pakistan and South Asia in general and its implications for Indias foreign policy strategy.
Less than four weeks before he left office January 20, President Donald Trump urged top officials of the Department of Justice (DoJ) to just say the election was corrupt, and that he and his supporters in Congress would follow this up with action.

In a conversation on December 27, 2020, memorialized in written notes taken by Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, Trump told Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who had replaced Attorney General Bill Barr only two weeks before, that he needed only a green light from the DoJ and that the president and his supporters in Congress would be able to go forward in their efforts to overturn the election.

Rosen told Trump, according to Donoghues notes, that the Justice Department cant + wont snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election. Trump replied that he understood Rosens position, but wanted him to just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump specifically named two Republican members of the House, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Two weeks later, Perry was the House member who objected to certification of his own states electoral votes. Jordan was the leading Republican opponent of Trumps impeachment, and was vetoed last month by Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Republican leader Kevin McCarthy named him to a seat on the bipartisan House Select Committee to investigate the events of January 6.

The timing of the call to Rosen and the reference to Republican congressmen demonstrates that Trump was focused on the January 6 ceremonial event at the Capitol, where the two houses of Congress were to meet in joint session to certify the Electoral College victory of Democrat Joe Biden. He sought Justice Department sanction for what his own fascist supporters were preparing to do that dayblock the certificationin an effort coordinated with Republican congressional supporters who were to object to the certification inside Congress as the mob gathered outside.

The notes from Donoghue were released Friday by a House committee, after the Department of Justice, now headed by Biden nominee Merrick Garland, said it had no objection.

Trump was citing completely unsubstantiated claims of vote fraud which were circulating on the internet largely because his own political operativesor Trump personallyhad put them out. These included claims of ballot dumps in Fulton County, Georgia (Atlanta), and other allegations involving Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan.

Rosen and Donoghue told him, We are not in a position based on the evidence. We can only act on the actual evidence developed, according to the notes. Told him flat out that much of the info he is getting is false, +/or just not supported by the evidencewe look at allegations but they do not pan out, Donoghue wrote.

Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said the notes show that President Trump directly instructed our nations top law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency.

The December 27 call was one of a series by Trump to Rosen, apparently nearly every day, during the two weeks between Rosen taking office December 23, 2020 and the coup attempt of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol in an effort to block the congressional certification which gave Biden a decisive Electoral College victory over Trump, by a margin of 306-232.

According to Donoghues notes, Trump told Rosen that his supporters wanted him to fire Rosen as head of DoJ and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, a lower-ranking official believed willing to go along with the fraudulent claims of a stolen election.

We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election, Trump told Rosen. People tell me Jeff Clark is great, I should put him in. People want me to replace DOJ leadership.

This coup within the Justice Department was only forestalled when the entire senior leadership of the department informed the White House they would resign if Clark was named to replace Rosen. Trump only backed off after a White House meeting at which this opposition within the DoJ leadership was communicated to him directly.

Trump also demanded that Rosen investigate corruption charges against Hunter Biden, son of the president-elect, a long-running theme going back to Trumps phone conversations with the president of Ukraine, the subject of his first impeachment and Senate trial.

Two days after the December 27 phone call, Rosen and Donoghue went to the White House for a discussion with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and other officials about a bizarre theory that unnamed Italians used satellite technology to tamper with voting machines in the United States. Like most of the claims of Trump supporters about the stolen election, there was no evidence, only allegations that were circulating on the internet.

Press reports claim that Trump decided against filing legal action to block the release of Donoghues notes, despite warnings from his advisers that they could prove damaging. If it gets more attention on the election, he welcomes it, one adviser told the Washington Post .

Subsequently, the Biden Justice Department told Rosen and other former officials of the Trump Justice Department that their conversations with Trump about overturning the 2020 elections were not protected by executive privilege.

A Justice Department letter told Rosen that this case was an exception to the general rule that former officials must protect confidential information derived from their work, including internal deliberations. Instead, extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress in this case, including the investigation into whether former President Trump sought to cause the Department to use its law enforcement and litigation authorities to advance his personal political interests with respect to the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The letter attributed to President Biden the decision that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege with respect to communications with former President Trump and his advisers and staff on matters related to the scope of the Committees proposed interviews, notwithstanding the view of former President Trumps counsel that executive privilege should be asserted to prevent testimony regarding these communications.

This statement would suggest at least a tactical shift in the policy of the White House, which has effectively opposed all efforts to seriously investigate the events of January 6. Biden openly opposed the second impeachment, voted just before Trump left office, and he has avoided speaking on the issue of the January 6 coup, even when directly questioned at his rare press conferences.

In the spring, Biden instructed the Justice Department to side with Trump in relation to his actions on June 1, 2020, when then President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and ordered federal agents to clear Lafayette Square of protesters against police violence so that he could walk across it and be photographed holding up a Bible in front of a nearby church.

But in this case, with multiple congressional committees pressing for access into communications between Trump and the Justice Department during the final weeks of the administration, Biden and his closest advisers evidently felt that it would be too politically damaging to invoke executive privilege to protect Trumps efforts to engineer an official declaration that the 2020 election was corrupt.
The Biden administrations chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, rejected lockdowns as a measure to contain the virus on Sunday, while reported new daily cases in the US spiked above 100,000 for the first time since February, and as cases globally neared 200 million.

In other words, 1 in every 39 people on the planet have contracted the disease, with 1 in 10 having gotten COVID-19 in the United States. Moreover, the massive surge in cases has new record highs in hospitalizations in places such as Austin, Texas, where there are now only seven open ICU beds in a metropolitan region of 2.3 million. In Florida, a record 10,207 people are hospitalized with confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

A member of the medical staff measures the temperature of a traveller at a autobahn park place near Gries am Brenner, Austrian province of Tyrol, at border crossing with Italy on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson )

There is every possibility that Chicago will follow suit, after its Democratic Party-run city government allowed the superspreader Lollapalooza music festival, with its 400,000 attendees, to go forward. In other words, across the US, local, state and federal governments are doing the exact opposite of what is needed to contain the deadly contagion, and promoting policies and events which all but guarantee the continued spread and evolution of more deadlier forms of the ongoing pandemic.

And while deaths, which stand at 320 a day, have not risen as sharply in the United States as cases have, the rise in hospitalizations raises the danger that patients again begin dying from an inability to provide adequate treatment, dangers which were made clear in the first weeks and months of the pandemic in 2020.

Worldwide, deaths caused by the pandemic stand at more than 4.2 million, a figure which currently climbs at more than 9,000 a day. These figures, moreover, are known underestimations. In May, the Economist noted that the actual number of lives lost to the deadly contagion, using excess death counts, is likely to be two to four times higher than official figures, suggesting a real global tally of 816 million dead.

Such staggering death counts are all the more horrific under conditions where the pandemic is accelerating. In a press conference Friday, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned, On average, in five of WHOs six regions, infections have increased by 80 percent or nearly doubled over the past four weeks. In Africa, deaths have increased by 80 percent over the same period. Much of this increase is being driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which has now been detected in at least 132 countries.

In absolute numbers, the most recent low point of daily cases was on June 21, when there was the average fell to 360,000 cases a day. Since then, as the Delta variant has spread around the world, daily case counts have climbed to more than 581,000. And while daily deaths have not had as dramatic an increase, it is worth understanding that worldwide, deaths caused by the pandemic have not been below 7,600 a day since last November.

Not incidentally, it was last November that cases had reached a mere 50 million and officially counted deaths had reached 1.2 million, 10 months after the pandemic began. Now, only nine months later, cases and deaths have increased four-fold.

Unlike last November, however, when even limited lockdowns and other social distancing measures were considered by the worlds capitalist governments, such critical and life-saving policies are being discarded out of hand. Similar to the US, Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson ended the countrys lockdown in July, and the government of Narendra Modi in India refused to implement a national lockdown even as the Delta variant emerged and surged, while at the same time attacking state and local officials for implementing just modest measures.

That no lockdowns are being planned is criminally irresponsible. Fauci himself noted that, things are going to get worse. Indeed they are. The spread of the Delta variant in the US, which has become the dominant variant of the virus in every region of the world except South America, where the Gamma variant remains most prolific, has caused case counts in the US to rise by more than six-fold in less than two months. Some 13,000 people have died from the virus over that same period. The country as a whole has suffered 35.7 million cases and just under 630,000 deaths.

The measures that have been put forward to contain the spread of the disease are inadequate at best. The current drive by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to note in which counties the spread of the pandemic is substantial and to recommend masking indoors in those locations. At the same time, leaked internal documents make clear the agency is well aware of the dangers of the Delta variant and the need for more stringent measures to contain the virus, and has been blocked by the Biden administration.

At the same time, figures such as Fauci have turned toward blaming individuals for not getting vaccinated as the underlying cause for the continued spread of the disease, stating, We have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated.

Nowhere does Fauci mention the fact that hundreds of millions of people in the US and billions around the world wouldnt have had to get vaccinated if governments around the world had responded in a rational and scientific manner to the coronavirus pandemic when it first emerged. While it is true that many are reluctant about getting the vaccine, the fault for the pandemic itself lies at the feet of capitalist governments in the US, Europe, Australia and elsewhere that placed corporate profits above human lives.

It is also worth noting that one of the chief purveyors of misinformation about the pandemicthat it is safe to have school and work amid the pandemic, that mask mandates can be dropped and that testing, contact tracing and lockdowns are unnecessary to contain the pandemichas been the government which Fauci works for. These anti-scientific conceptions have been pushed for months by both Biden and his predecessor Trump and have played a significant role in the anti-scientific attitude of millions toward vaccines.

Nor does anyone in the US media or political establishment raise the necessity of vaccinating the population of the entire planet to actually eradicate the pandemic; vaccines are treated as a solely national question. The evolution of the Delta variant, however, makes clear that stopping the pandemic in just one country is impossible when the coronavirus is allowed to spread essentially uncontrolled elsewhere. Variants inevitably emerge that are fitter and faster, in the words of WHOs Dr. Mike Ryan, and that may totally escape the immunity granted by vaccination.

The dangers of unevenly vaccinating the world are spelled out in the spread of cases both in the US, where cases are spiking most sharply among the unvaccinated, and around the world, most of which still does not have easy access to vaccines. In India, where excess death estimates place the number of fatalities at about four million, more than 40,000 people come down with COVID-19 each day, citing official figures, and the full vaccination rate is just 7.4 percent. In Brazil, where more than 550,000 have died, less than 1 in 5 is fully vaccinated.

Other countries are in equally dire straits, or worse. In Iran, where the Delta variant has caused daily cases to more than triple and daily deaths to more than double in the past six weeks, the fully vaccinated rate is less the 3 percent. In Thailand, which had been relatively untouched by the pandemic until the Delta variant hit it in April, only about 5 percent of its population are vaccinated amid daily case counts that were less than 100 at the beginning of April and have skyrocketed to more than 16,000 now.

Even countries with higher vaccination rates, such as Mexico and Turkey, with 20 percent and 33 percent full vaccination rates respectively, have had sharp increases in their case counts as a result of the Delta variant. Such countries are both examples of the virulence of this new variant, the dangers it and more evolved mutations pose. They and virtually every other country also highlight the need for a globally coordinated and scientifically planned response to end the pandemic.
The daily number of coronavirus infections is rising rapidly in Germany. On Friday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 3,142 new infections in one day, about 1,500 more than a week earlier. Even over the weekend, when there are usually far fewer reports, there were more than 2,000 new infections each day, about 500 more than in the previous week, according to the RKI.

The seven-day incidence rate has more than tripled in the last three weeksfrom 4.9 on 6 July to 17.5 on 1 August. The 7-day mean has risen from 579 to over 3,000 in the same period.

Central train station in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Daily deaths and hospital admissions are also on the rise. The RKI reported 30 deaths on Friday and 21 on Saturday. According to Johns Hopkins University data, the seven-day mean for deaths was 34 on July 30, having doubled in the previous ten days. The seven-day hospitalisation ratethat is, how many Covid 19 hospitalisations there are per 100,000 residents in a weekrose to 0.41, up from 0.29 in mid-July.

The rapid development of the pandemic is exacerbated by the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. According to the RKI, it is now responsible for 91 percent of cases in Germany.

As a result of the ruthless policies of the federal and state governments in reopening the economy, it will only be a matter of a few weeks before the daily infection figures reach new records. In the UK, Spain and France, tens of thousands are already infected with the virus every day. On Friday, 29,622 new infections were reported in the UK, 24,753 in Spain and 24,309 in France. There was a seven-day incidence rate of 299.9 in the UK, 367.4 in Spain and 217.3 in France.

Earlier this week, Chancellery chief Helge Braun (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) even warned of 100,000 new daily infections in Germany in September. Incidence rates of over 800 are unfortunately not unrealistic, he told Bild am Sonntag. Currently, there is an increase in numbers of 60 percent per week. If the delta variant spreads at this rate and we didnt counter it with an enormously high vaccination rate or a behaviour change, we would have an incidence rate of 850 in just nine weeks. That would correspond to 100,000 new infections every day!

Such rates of infection would signify the complete overloading of the health system and another wave of mass deaths. In a model at the beginning of July, the RKI calculated how intensive care utilization could develop in autumn and winter. According to this model, intensive care units would already be heavily utilised, with 6,000 COVID-19 patients at an incidence rate of 400.

Already in previous pandemic waves the health system was overstretched and tens of thousands of people died of the virus in Germany alone. Speaking to broadcaster ZDF, former President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) Uwe Janssens warned against a repeat of this scenario. We saw last year what the consequences are if you wait too long and do nothing. This seems to be repeating itself.

The assessments of serious virologists and the dramatic development of infection rates in Europe and internationally refute the lies of politicians and the media that the danger from the virus has been averted.

An internal RKI paper leaked to the press last week clearly states: The more cases occur, the more cases of the severe progression of the illness (hospitalisations/ICU) and deaths are registeredwith some delaythe higher the burden on the health system. If the incidence rate is very high, the number of these adverse effects also increases, as does the number of severe cases requiring hospital or ICU treatment.

The paper also notes that more than 40 million people in our population [...] currently do NOT have full vaccination protection, warning that high vaccination rates alone are not sufficient to keep the fourth wave flat. Therefore, additional basic protection measures are necessary to lower the fourth wave.

Despite warnings from its own biomedical lead research body, the federal and state governments are sticking to their aggressive reopening policies, ruling out necessary lockdown measures.

As long as our vaccines against the delta variant work so well, a classic lockdown is no longer necessary, Braun claimed. Earlier, Economics Minister Peter Altmeier had told Bild am Sonntag: We must and will prevent a new lockdown.

This is the position of all the capitalist parties who, throughout the pandemic, have put the profits of big business and the interests of German imperialism above the lives of the population. In essence, they follow the line of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has long called for the lifting of all coronavirus protection measures and a return to normality.

At state level, the Left Party and the Greens are now aggressively pushing for the opening of schools. On 6 August, Berlin, which is governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats, Left Party and Green Party, will become the third federal state, after Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg, to return to full in-person teaching after the summer holidays. All other federal states are then to follow by the beginning of September, including Thuringia, led by the Left Party, and Green-governed Baden-Wurttemberg.

The same plans exist for the universities. On Thursday, the Berlin Senate (state executive) announced the resumption of face-to-face teaching in the upcoming 2021-2022 winter semester. In the winter semester, around 200,000 students are expected again at the state, confessional and private universities in Berlin, declared a joint statement by the Senate Department for Science and Research and the state conference of rectors and presidents of Berlins universities.

The return to schools and universities, which the trade unions also support, will massively accelerate the spread of the virus throughout the population. The health and lives of the approximately 14 million pupils and students in Germany are also at stake. The vast majority of young people are unprotected. Only just under 40 percent of all 18-59-year-olds in Germany are fully vaccinated. Among those under 18, the vaccination rate is as low as 1.5 percent.

Current experience leaves no doubt that Covid-19 is also a deadly threat to young people.

The situation in Indonesia is particularly dramatic. According to the Indonesian Society of Paediatrics, there are currently more than 360,000 confirmed cases in children, which corresponds to one in eight infections. In recent weeks, over 700 children have died from COVID-19, including over 150 in the week of 12 July alone. What is particularly shocking is that half of them were less than five years old.

In Brazil, COVID-19 is the leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 19. In the first half of 2021 alone, at least 1,581 young people died from the virus.

And even in developed countries, where the delta variant is spreading rapidly, the number of hospitalisations and deaths among children is rising. In the UK, more than 40 children are now hospitalised with COVID-19 every day. And the number of infected children and adolescents is also increasing in Germany. According to the RKIs weekly report, there is currently an increase in incidence rates especially in the age groups 10-34 years.

The mass death and suffering, previously known only in times of war, must be stopped. More than 91,600 people have already died from Covid-19 in Germany alone. Across Europe, there have been over 1.1 million coronavirus deaths, and worldwide, more than 4.2 million have officially succumbed to the virus. Recent studies suggest that the actual death toll is much higher.

The World Socialist Web Site and the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) have stressed from the beginning that the fight against the pandemic is not just a medical question. It requires the independent mobilisation of the working class based on a socialist programme. To contain the virus and save lives, workers and youth must build independent rank-and-file committees for safer workplaces and education. These must take the fight against the virus into their own hands and organise strikes and protests to enforce all scientifically necessary measures.

In its election manifesto, the SGP writes:

The fight to contain the pandemic is developing into a class struggle, which is showing ever more clearly that the two major classes in society, the capitalist class and the working class, have irreconcilable interests. The official pandemic policy puts profits before human lives. We demand:

The immediate shutdown of all nonessential businesses until the pandemic is under control! Full payments of wages for all workers affected as well as real assistance for the self-employed and comprehensive support for poor households! A globally coordinated vaccine campaign instead of vaccine nationalism and profiteering!

The development of a killer fourth wave of the pandemic underlines the importance of the SGPs campaign and the urgency of this programme.
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) ran three candidates in the student parliament election at Berlins Humboldt University (HU) in June, campaigning among students for a socialist program.

Due to irregularities in the recent postal vote, it is being repeated and the election result will not be known until August. We call on all students to vote again for the IYSSE (List 14) by mail ballot by August 6!

As we explain in our election statement, we are fighting among students, youth and young workers to build a socialist movement against militarism and war, social inequality and the rise of the extreme right.

Election posters of the IYSSE on the campus of the HU

At the first online election event, we pointed out how 80 years after the war of extermination against the Soviet Union, HU professor Jorg Baberowski is trivializing the crimes of the Nazis and laying the ideological groundwork for new wars. At our second event, members of the IYSSE from Germany and Britain addressed the catastrophic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis and explained why an international socialist perspective was necessary to stop the pandemic.

The campaign received a strong response from students and youth. In particular, the disciplinary complaint filed by IYSSE spokesperson Sven Wurm against University President Sabine Kunst at the end of May was widely discussed. Kunst continues to support the right-winger Professor Baberowski, even though he has threatened and physically attacked students.

Many students were appalled that the university administration tolerated and even justified these attacks. A right-wing extremist professor has no place at the university and he certainly shouldnt be defended, one student declared on Instagram. Another student wrote, As a Jew, Im particularly outraged that such a person is being defended (but honestly, not particularly surprised).

A history PhD student stressed the importance of IYSSEs commitment and clear stance against these developments, Silence is always acceptance. I really like what you guys are doing!

WSWS also spoke with 20-year-old Luna, a second-semester social science student at HU, who became acquainted with the IYSSE during the campaign. She supports the disciplinary complaint and condemns the university presidents stance on Baberowski: If you tolerate right-wing extremism and Holocaust relativization at a university, thats as much a political statement from her as from him.

Baberowskis statements, she continues, about Hitler and the war of extermination indisputably relativize the Holocaust and National Socialism and are moreover historically false.

Further: It is incredibly dangerous when such statements are tolerated. The fact that this is happening at the university and that the professors and the university administration are doing nothing is not simply apolitical restraint, but quite clearly a solidarizing with the extreme right. Of course, on the one hand, this leads to students probably no longer feeling comfortable at the university and, on the other, to a rightward shift and in some fields to a right-wing university culture. This supports the formation of new extremist groups and the strengthening of the right in general.

Luna expresses concern about the new rearmament and the idea of giving Germany more power as a country. Most people are not aware of the rearmament, she notes. These are decisions that are being made behind their backs. She points out that right-wing regimes are more and more coming to power in countries around Germany and also all over the world, for example, in Hungary, Austria, Italy, but also in Brazil, where far-right President Jair Bolsonaro rules.

Luna considers it particularly problematic that in Germany, with the Left Party and the Greens, even the parties that present themselves as left-wing support war policies. That way they catch left-wing voters who are actually strongly against rearmament and militarization.

Thats why she finds the work of the IYSSE very important, especially because it advocates very strongly for the cohesion of the working class, which must fight together. The issue of class society is far too often forgotten, she said.

You can see in many undeniable examples that capitalism is moving further and further into its final stages and that it is suffering crisis after crisis, now with the coronavirus, with environmental disasters, in general with the climate disaster, Luna said. But still, capitalism continues to be supported by official politics.

That the IYSSE fights for socialist ideas is why she was particularly drawn to it. As Marx already foresaw, it cant go on like this. I think that worldwide socialism, as Marx said, is the only possible way out. If such a system is properly implemented, there will no longer be the possibilities of exploiting the planet and people as much as under capitalism.

All these problems that are getting worse and worse are driving me to become politically active, says Luna, who also notices a growing mood of protest in her community. Today its incredibly important, especially as a young person, to get involved and show that you dont agree with it and wont accept decisions being made behind peoples backs. Both at universities and in society in general, she says, its necessary for resistance to take place. And I would like to be part of that.

Support the fight for socialism and become a member of IYSSE!
Socialist Equality Party members campaigned in Banbury, Oxfordshire, on Saturday discussing the fire and rehire dispute at the local Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) factory with workers, young people and retirees. Campaigners placed the JDE dispute it in the context of a global resurgence of the class struggle.

Around 300 JDE workers are being balloted on a sell-out deal presented by the Unite union after back-room talks with the company last month. The deal agrees wage cuts of up to 10,000 and brutal shift patterns consisting of two 12-hour days followed by two 12-hour nights in a single 4-day period. If workers do not accept the deal, JDE has warned that termination notices will take effect on September 13.

Workers at the factory began rolling strikes and overtime bans on May 1 against the companys dictates. But they have been left isolated with strikes called off by Unite despite a similar wave of fire and rehire attacks at British Gas, Go North West, Weetabix, Clarkes, Tesco and BCM Farena. Unites sole demand was for a resumption of negotiations with JDE that preserves the unions corporatist partnership with the company.

The deal presented by the union has provoked widespread anger among JDE workers but Unite officials have sought to bludgeon workers into voting yes in the ballot that closes on Wednesday, repeating company threats that JDE will relocate the factory if workers vote no.

SEP members set up a campaign stall in Banbury town centre, advancing a path of struggle against Unites pro-capitalist programme. Around 300 leaflets were distributed including copies of a statement published last Friday,  Reject Unites sell-out deal at JDE: Form a rank-and-file committee to defeat fire and rehire! 

SEP campaign team in Banbury on Saturday (WSWS Media)

Anna, whose brother-in-law works at JDE, gave her thoughts on Unites role in the dispute: I am very, very, disappointed to see that Unite has caved in. I understand perhaps some of their reasons for doing it, but I really do believe that if we dont all stick together, this is more than just JDE, this is affecting workers and their families up and down the country. Solidarity is the only answer. We need to stick together and be strong.

Anna with her mother (Credit: WSWS)

She continued, I would have expected Unite, of all people, to stick it out. I mean, thats what they are asking the workers to do. So, I am very sorry to see Unite agree a deal with the management that apparently is only slightly better than the original deal. Thats not much good to the workers. So, okay, these workers keep their jobs, but if its like my brother-in-law who works at the factory, thats losing 8,000 a year off his salary and incalculable in terms of his pension.

Its not just about this factory in Banbury. It is a domino effect. This now becomes common practice. Any big company can come in, and if they want to change the terms and conditions and fire and rehire, they can do that.

SEP campaigners talked with other friends and family of JDE workers who were critical of the deal and thought it represented an unbelievable attack on workers. Some of them were aware of the role played by Unite and condemned the union for negotiating the deal. They responded enthusiastically when SEP members raised that the fight should be broadened as much as possible, to other workplaces and other countries.

Two former JDE workers also stopped to talk. They said that JDE treats its workers miserably, taking advantage of everything it can to penalise them. The union never attempted to defend them against management while they were working there, no matter how often they called for it.

Another person said what the company was doing was disgusting and it should be fought against. She said her friend is working at JDE and she was familiar with the proposed contract and the role the union is playing: The union is no longer fighting for workers best interests. It should be changed.

Shaun, a chef from Liverpool, said, I think, like you said, they [JDE workers] are being held hostage. They are being forced into a contract they shouldnt have to accept. When asked what he thought about the fact that Unite was promoting an inferior contract, he responded, Well, the unions make money off it. The union gets a cut. He offered a message of support to JDE workers: I dont know you but get together. If they all walk out, theyve got no workers. Even people who dont work there should be fighting for it as well.

Shaun (WSWS Media)

Members of the Socialist Equality Party also campaigned in Manchester outside Go North Wests Queens Road bus depot. Around 400 bus drivers from the depot took indefinite strike action for 11 weeks this year against fire and rehire contracts. The company eventually withdrew its threats on the basis of a deal reached with Unite that slashed pay and conditions.

When told of JDE workers opposition to Unites proposed deal, a group of three drivers said: Unite they stitched us up as much as the company, Well done to the workers at JDE; They opposed the offer? Good on them, we should have opposed it; and Don't accept it. All of us here regret accepting it. Unite stitched us up. All the union reps have left now. Another driver pointed out that recently Go North West had started to take on more new drivers at the garage. He speculated that the company was trying to replace workers who had gone on strike.

Jason, a bus driver from First bus company who is a supporter of the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee also sent a message of support to JDE workers advising them to get out from under the influence of the union: Independent rank and file organisations that challenge the status quo are the future. Workers should be looking at their history of betrayal by unions and instead of stabbing each other in the back (being played by union officials) just to get ahead individually, they should be forming challenges to the narrative collectively. I stand in solidarity, from an industry that is already suffering from union betrayal. Don't let what's happening on the buses happen to you!
Record high numbers of imports from Asia have choked the US West Coast supply chain, causing a backlog of ships unable to dock at the Seattle and Tacoma ports in Washington state along with major ports in California. The increased strain on the seaport system is intensifying efforts to restructure the industry to make US trade more competitive in the world economy and thus place a greater burden upon longshoremen and other logistics workers.

Due to the lack of space in the Seattle and Tacoma ports since the spring, container ships have anchored in unusual spots of the Puget Sound region, such as off the coast of Whidbey Island. The U.S. Coast Guard helped to redirect these ships as they waited days or even weeks to unload cargo. There are so many ships waiting to be offloaded that there are not any free and empty containers for new freight in some cases. Backups in the rail system to the Midwest can mean that ships have to wait five to nine days before they can offload, which in turn causes backups in trucking near the port.

The Port of Long Beach, and the Los Angeles River. (Wikimedia Commons)

Tom Bellerud, the chief operations officer of the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), said, We are seeing a historic surge of cargo volume coming into our ports. The terminals are having a difficult time keeping up with processing all the cargo off these vessels fast enough.

With over 90 percent of the worlds trade being transported by ship or plane, NWSA is North Americas fourth largest container gateway, behind Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York-New Jersey. The NWSA handled over 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2021 so far, making a 14.1 percent increase compared to last year. Imports increased 26.5 percent while exports dropped 12.6 percent. Like other West Coast ports, NWSAs top international trading partners include China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and India.

The backups being experienced in the Pacific Northwest are also facing the West Coast as a whole. In June, the Port of Los Angeles saw about half of arriving ships go straight to anchor to sit for an average of five days before the terminal had space to unload them. Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a July 14 press conference that workers have processed about 50 percent more cargo during the last year when compared to June 2019 numbers. Seroka also said: This is a source of significant concern across the supply chain, and with warehouses filled to the rafters, street dwell time ran as high as eight days in June. The bottom line on this is the continued surge has strained all nodes of the US supply chain, and we must change these trends.

The Port of Long Beach showed similar signs of supply chain strain despite some of its ships being delayed until July due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the Yantian port in China. Imports have increased so much that The Port of Long Beach sent 36 percent more empty containers back across the ocean compared to last year. Demand for household products, electronics, and other goods rose 38.5 percent in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020.

At the Port of Oakland, ships would generally go straight to berth to be unloaded prior to the pandemic. Now ever larger ships with ever more containers typically wait a week anchored in San Francisco Bay before they can be unloaded. Whereas container ships would never anchor before, it is now typical for ships to take up all six to eight anchorages in San Francisco Bay, while many more ships have to idle outside of the Golden Gate Bridge in water too deep to anchor.

Lars Jensen, who analyzes the industry for Vespucci Maritime, says the container shipping industry has not ever seen this scale of turmoil before since the first ship carrying these kinds of containers set sail from Newark, New Jersey in 1956. This turmoil in turn is causing shipping prices and delays to skyrocket.

The rapid rise in imports was triggered by the pandemic, which has caused Americans to rely more upon online shopping for consumer goods and health equipment like face masks and cleaning supplies, much of which is manufactured in East Asia.

Over the last few decades, manufactured goods from Asia have become critical to the entire world economy, fueled by the global integration of productive processes and trade. Electronics, toys, clothes, and other goods are imported from Asia, particularly China. In turn, China imports aircraft, soybeans, motor vehicles, and microchips from the United States.

According to data released in June, Chinas exports rose 28 percent from one year earlier and imports shot up by 51 percent, marking what industry analysts call a great economic recovery from the pandemic as the ruling class seeks a return to normal. Exported goods from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) followed these trends, growing by nearly 54 percent from a year earlier to $33.1 billion.

Globalization of production and trade, which unifies the working class into an international force producing all of societys resources and goods, contrasts sharply with the nationalist aggression against China led by the United States. The American ruling class is concerned about the economic rise of China disrupting the unilateral power that US imperialism enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet Union, and thus causing the economic position of the US to significantly weaken after a decades-long decline. These economic shifts underlay the intensification of geopolitical and military tensions between the United States and China.

At the same time as the US ruling class as a whole seeks to defend its economic status, all the privately owned ports within the United States are competing with one another for a greater share of international imports.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance was founded in 2015 in order to coordinate the ports of Seattle and nearby Tacoma as a means to join forces to compete with Southern California docks, which together process over one-fifth of all US imports. It is the first such joining of ports into partnership in North American history. Along with regional consolidation, ports have been restructuring as part of their fierce regional competition by increasing automation and cutting costs, necessarily causing the heightened exploitation of port workers and the restructuring of labor relations.

Restructuring the ports along the lines of the profit motive are to the detriment of port workers. The Port of Los Angeles reduced its labor force at its TraPac facility by 40 to 50 percent, or about 160-200 jobs, once its semi-automated TraPac facility came online.

Extraordinary pressure is being brought to bear on port workers to ramp up their productivity to move all the freight faster as anchored and idling vessels do not make money, while fuel is being burned and crew is getting paid. While shipping volumes skyrocketed, workers had a harder time processing all the cargo due to understaffing and necessary COVID-19 safety guidelines like social distancing.

Far from opposing these conditions, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) supports longer working hours for its members at ports and other points along the supply chain to make up for the backlog. Frank Ponce De Leon, coast committeeman at the ILWU coast longshore division, said, Opening the ports around the clock would go a long way to easing the congestion and keep cargo flowing. This would have broader ramifications for workers down the supply chain as they also would be pressured to work more hours. We also note that simply expanding gate hours will have no benefit if the next points out into the supply chain are closed for the night or weekend, De Leon added.

In recent years, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has focused attention on resistance to automation and elimination of jobs, as well as support of the Democratic Party and social justice. However, for all its radical talk and attempt to equate the organization today with the militant struggles of port workers in the twentieth century, the ILWU has collaborated with management to keep workers productivity high to boost corporate profit at the expense of workers safety.

Cameron Williams, an ILWU official, said, The pandemic has exacerbated longstanding problems with the nations supply chain, not just at the ports but in the warehouses, distribution centers, railroads, and other places that need to run smoothly in order for longshore workers to move cargo off of the ships. He continued, We continue to work hard and break records month after month to clear the cargo as quickly as the supply chain allows.

As a result of the deadly pandemic, in which the ruling class and unions forced workers into unsafe conditions and allowed the virus to spread, 17 members of ILWU lost their lives to COVID-19 and thousands more were infected. The most recent health and safety issues join the steady erosion of job security and benefits in successive ILWU contracts in the decades since the 1971 port strike. While the older generation of longshoremen enjoys the gains won from bitter struggles in an earlier period, new hires start at bottom tier with wages just above minimum wage.

The exploitation of port workers during this pandemic and the logistical problems related to it show that port management and the trade unions like the ILWU cannot be trusted to look out for the interests of workers. The interconnectedness of the ports and shipping industry with all other spheres of modern life means that the working class is more powerful than ever, but this strength can only be mobilized through a struggle united on an international basis.

We call on port, longshore, warehouse and logistics workers to form rank-and-file committees free of the union bureaucracy and unite with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) to fight for their collective interests and rights against the ruling class.
On Wednesday, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order effectively making it illegal for certain undocumented immigrants to travel within the second largest state in the country. Although Abbotts order is perhaps the most sweeping restriction on the right to travel since Japanese internment, it has received scant attention by the Biden administration, whose anti-immigrant policies facilitated Abbotts measure.

The internal travel ban is an attack on the democratic rights of the entire population and must be actively opposed by workers, regardless of immigration status. In recent months, Abbott has begun enforcing his own state immigration policy, deploying the Texas National Guard and 1,000 state troopers to the border to arrest thousands of immigrants as part of Operation Lone Star. Abbott has also allocated $250 million in state funding to construct a border wall, all with ex-president Donald Trumps explicit approval.

The latest order applies both to immigrants who are released from immigration detention centers as well as immigrants who have entered the US in roughly the last 18 months since Trump invoked Title 42 provisions effectively barring immigration during the coronavirus pandemic. It declares that private individuals, companies and nonprofit organizations cannot transport undocumented people, and that immigrants can only travel in the custody of federal or state police.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, left, speaks at a border security briefing as former President Donald Trump listens at the Texas DPS Weslaco Regional Office, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Weslaco, Texas. (Joel Martinez/The Monitor via AP, Pool)

The proclamation marks a major escalation of Trump and the Republican Partys strategy to scapegoat immigrants for the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It reads: The admittance and movement of migrants under the Biden Administration is exposing Texas to Covid-19 and creating a public health disaster in Texasbusloads of migrants, an unknown number of whom are infected with COVID-19, are being transported to communities across the State of Texas, exposing Texans to the spread of Covid-19.

It concludes: No person, other than a federal state or local law-enforcement official, shall provide ground transportation to a group of migrants who have been detained by CBP [Customs and Border Protection] for crossing the border illegally or who would have been subject to expulsion under the Title 42 order.

The Democratic Party has facilitated these police-state measures. Abbotts order cites the Biden administration as a source of legal authority, stating that the Biden Administration has kept in place the Title 42 order, and for good reason.

Democratic Congressman from Texas Henry Cuellar has joined Abbotts efforts to scapegoat immigrants for the coronavirus pandemic, demanding the Biden administration do a pause of immigration because immigrants might have COVID-19. The Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Abbotts order, but not because it violates the democratic rights of immigrants. Rather, the Justice Department claimed in its suit that Texas usurped the powers of the federal government to regulate immigration.

Because CBP releases immigrants from detention centers by dropping them at nearby bus stops, the order will effectively create homeless encampments at bus stops in border cities like McAllen, El Paso and Brownsville.

The order also applies to recent arrivals who evaded detection but who would have been turned away under Title 42 had they been captured, meaning thousands of impoverished undocumented people in major cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio may now be unable to travel by motorized vehicle, even to drive to work or the grocery store, for fear of being pulled over and deported on the spot.

To enforce the order, Abbott has provided police with powers beyond what even Arizona Republicans attempted to do through the infamous Senate Bill 1070 in 2010. The order allows police to pull over any vehicle that officers have reasonable suspicion to believe is transporting undocumented immigrants, a blank check for racial profiling in a state with a plurality of Latinos. Vehicles that have undocumented immigrants in them will be escorted either back to point of origin or to the US-Mexico border. Vehicles that are illegally transporting undocumented people will be impounded by the state.

The claim that the measure is a health necessity is nothing but a cynical pretext. Abbott has actively fought all health-based restrictions on business during the pandemic. Twenty-four hours after barring immigrants right to travel on health grounds, he issued another executive order prohibiting local authorities from implementing vaccine and mask mandates. As cases surge throughout Texas, the state government promotes vaccine skepticism and appeals to extreme backwardness in order to guarantee corporate profits no matter the human cost.

Abbotts order is a part of Donald Trumps ongoing fascistic strategy. The Abbott administration has also transformed Texas into the epicenter of Trump and the Republican Partys efforts to restrict voting rights nationally.

In June, Trump visited Abbott in Texas and declared, We have an open, really dangerous border. We better go back fast. In April, Texas Attorney General and Trump ally Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration to demand more rapid expulsion of asylum seekers. Paxton was joined in the lawsuit by the America First Legal Foundation, a legal group founded by Trumps fascist advisor Stephen Miller.

On Saturday, Trumps advisor Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News Hannity Show to discuss his collaboration with Abbotts administration to create a new axis in the assault on immigrants.

Miller said, We have unfettered, unrestrained, unchecked illegal immigration from people who are COVID positive being released into Texas, being released in Arizona, being released all across the country at the same time as your kids are suffering from these onerous restrictions [immigrants are] unscreened, unchecked, unvaccinated and unmasked and they are spreading COVID and bringing new variants into the country. Miller also claimed Democrats want immigrants to vote illegally.

In reality, the Biden administration has carried forward the Trump administrations attacks on immigrants. Last week, it announced it was resuming fast-track deportation flights for immigrant families. The Department of Homeland Security announced, By placing into expedited removal families who cannot be expelled under Title 42, we are making clear that those who do not qualify to remain in the United States will be promptly removed. During a June trip to Guatemala, Vice President Kamala Harris warned Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty caused by a century of imperialist exploitation: Do not come.

Throughout the Trump presidency, the Democratic Party systematically dismantled protests against Trumps fascistic attack on immigrants. Democratic Socialists of Americas Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played a critical role in this operation. She traveled to the Texas border during Trumps presidency and feigned anger over the detention of children but has defended the same policies when carried out by Biden, denouncing left critics of his immigration policy as privileged and bad faith actors.

Impoverished Central American workers are not to blame for the spread of the coronavirus. Like the Wuhan Lab lie, the ruling class is seeking to deflect blame for the pandemic, which rests on the shoulders of the American ruling class, and has pursued a bipartisan policy of opposing health restrictions and forcing workers on the job to secure corporate profits. Seven months after Trumps attempted putsch of January 6, the far right is continuing its assault on democratic rights. The Abbott-Trump-Miller attack on immigrants in Texas is an attack on the democratic rights of the working class as a whole and must be opposed.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs recent three-day trip to the United States has yet again made very clear the class interests defended by the Spanish government formed by Sanchez's Socialist Party (PSOE) and his pseudo-left ally, Podemos.

Significantly, Sanchez did not visit the capital, Washington D.C., nor did he publicly meet with Joe Biden or any other official representative of the US government. Instead, he met with investment bankers, hedge fund managers and other major corporate heads. Sanchez was traveling not as a representative of the Spanish people, as is usually presented in the capitalist media but as a lackey in the service of Spains banks and corporations.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a news conference. (AP Photo/Paul White)

The explicit aim of the trip was to attract investments from large vulture funds and other possible US investors. Using the 140 billion euros Spain expects to receive in European Union (EU) bailout funds in exchange for massive attacks on the working classpension and labour reforms and austeritythe PSOE-Podemos governments hopes to obtain an additional 500 billion in private investment.

During his visit, Sanchez met with a long list of banks and fund managers: Ares Management Corporation, Bank of America, Blackstone Group, Bank of New York Mellon, Brookfield Asset Management, Roko Capital Management, J.P. Morgan, Catterton Partners, Lone Star Funds, Morgan Stanley, Providence Equity Partners, Soros Fund Management, Wellington Management Group and also the US Chamber of Commerce in Spain.

Sanchez offered all of them guarantees that he will continue his attacks on the working class. In Spain, Podemos promotes the lie that a new labour reform is part of social measures to improve working conditions, but in the United States, Sanchez made clear that he intends to escalate attacks on workers.

As El Pais explained, The Prime Minister explained to them that the labor reform, agreed with Podemos and also negotiated with Brussels, will mean that Spain is moving towards the German model of labor relations, where there is social peace but also flexibility for employers to adapt to circumstances through the use of furlough schemes, without redundancies.

By German model of labor relations, Sanchez really was talking about the notorious Hartz laws, which created conditions for the emergence of a huge low-wage sector. This in turn served as a lever to smash wages and working conditions, wiping out many thousands of well-paid industrial jobs. The result of the model hailed by Sanchez has been an explosion of social inequality. In Germany, there are 136 billionaires and 542,000 millionaires. On the other hand, 13 million people live in poverty, the highest number since German reunification in 1991.

Sanchez boasted to investors that pro-Podemos unions will suppress the class struggle, El Pais added: Sanchez explained to them that Spain is a country with few strikes, with social peace and constant negotiation between employers and unions. In other words, the trade unions play a fundamental role in suppressing the class struggle and working with big business to impose wage cuts, plant closures and pension reforms.

He also told them not to worry about his governments new housing law. This was of special interest to these hedge funds: Blackstone is Spains largest landlord, with more than 40,000 homes out of the nearly 240,000 managed by hedge funds in Spain, while Lone Star owns around 15,000. Pedro Sanchez made clear that he had no intention of limiting their profits by regulating rents.

This issue affects millions of workers and youth. According the Platform for those Affected by Mortgages (PAH), since 2008 there have been more than one million evictions in Spain.

In addition to the real estate sector, other groups such as J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Providence or Wellington have strong investments in various sectors such as mobile telephony, energy, banking, food and other sectors in Spain. But it is global investment fund BlackRock that has the largest slice of Spains economy, with 17 billion worth of shares in 18 of the 35 companies of the IBEX-35, Spains principal stock market index.

BlackRock is the worlds largest asset management corporation, with $9 trillion in assets under management as of June 2021. It holds stakes in almost all major multinational companies, including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Monsanto and Apple among others. To understand its size and influence, it is enough to say that if it were a country, it would be the worlds third largest economy by size. Its president and CEO, Larry Fink, is known as the fixer, for being the person who fixes things in the financial market. Sanchez reportedly held a private, one-on-one meeting with Fink.

Podemos has covered for Sanchezs visit. Podemos leader and Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz declared, I suppose they have talked about taxes, adding that this is the only interesting thing about a visit to a large investment fund. She concluded, The president has done his job, then cynically explained, Investment funds are in the world to make money and governments, especially progressive ones, are there to improve peoples lives.

Diazs cynicism has no end. She and her government have done nothing but work tirelessly, with the collaboration of the trade unions, to benefit these investment funds. The examples are many.

Spanish banks laid off 15,000 workers in the first six months of this year, all rubber-stamped by the trade unions and endorsed by Diaz herself. This has allowed the banks to announce last week 4 billion in profits, which will keep BlackRock and the IBEX-35 happy.

The monthly rise in electricity bills that is ruining millions of workers, green lighted by the PSOE-Podemos government, is benefiting large Spanish corporations like Iberdrola. The latest pension reform, signed by the government and trade unions with the employers, opens the way towards the privatization of pensions through company pension plansin line with the aggressive promotion of these schemes by the hedge funds in Spain and throughout Europe.

These hedge funds have also profited from the herd immunity policy pursued by Madrid and the European Union, prioritising corporate profits over workers lives. While these firms made billions in profits, the cost in human lives of this policy has been over 100,000 deaths in Spain and over 1.1 million across Europe. Europe is now confronting a new wave under the virulent Delta variant, as capitalist governments across the continent continue to aggressively reopen the economy.

Sanchezs visit to America confirms the warnings that the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) has made about pseudo-left parties like Podemos and their political satellites. Workers cannot expect anything from Sanchez, Podemos, the trade unions or their political satellites. They defend the interests of the billionaires and the big multinationals. The critical question is the struggle to give a political perspective to workers for a struggle against the pseudo-left by forming sections of the ICFI in Spain and throughout Europe.
Anger and opposition is escalating among teachers, school staff, students, and families over the New South Wales (NSW) state Liberal-National governments plan to reopen Sydneys schools on August 16 for up to 70,000 senior Year 12 students. Coming amid a still-worsening COVID-19 Delta variant epidemic in the city, the schools reopening proposal flies in the face of all epidemiological science and, if implemented, is guaranteed to result in deaths and serious injuries.

Faced with predictions by epidemiologists that Greater Sydneys limited lockdown measures are almost certainly going to need to be extended beyond August, the government has feigned concern for the plight of Year 12 Higher School Certificate (HSC) students. The official rationale for sending them back to school is to support their preparation for final year examinations.

NSW Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell declared, Nothing is more important than education, and our HSC students in particular need certainty.

Footscray High School teachers (Image credit: WSWS Media)

This is a contemptible fraud. The very politicians who are shedding crocodile tears over students have starved public schools of funding for decades and created one of the most unequal education systems in advanced capitalist countries.

The real agenda is to use Year 12 students and their teachers as the spearheads of the governments drive to force all students back to face-to-face learning. This is being taken forward on behalf of big business and finance capital to ensure that childrens parents are able to attend their workplaces. The reopening of the schools is a prelude to the wider elimination of all restrictions on business activity and the resumption of regular workplace practices, regardless of the dangers to the working class.

The Liberal-National government of Premier Gladys Berejiklian is pursuing a murderous herd immunity policy, refusing to implement stricter lockdown measures as coronavirus case numbers escalate daily.

The entire political establishment is in lockstep. The Labor Party nationally is in de facto coalition with the federal government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison through the national cabinet. In NSW, the Labor opposition has extended bipartisan support to virtually every initiative of the Berejiklian governmentincluding its school reopening plan. State Labor leader Chris Minns has merely encouraged the government to do more to allow teachers to be vaccinated.

Medical experts have meanwhile condemned the school reopening plan. Sydney is in an unprecedented crisis, Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Dr. Omar Khorshid explained. There is no need for the additional risk of bringing Year 12 back to school, bringing teachers back to school, putting those teachers at risk, putting the families of those teachers, the other staff, the cleaners, the people in the canteens, and of course, the families of Year 12 students themselves. Putting all those people at risk just for this purpose seems nonsensical to the AMA.

The government is reallocating 40,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines from regional NSW to newly eligible Year 12 students in Sydney. This measure has only compounded the vaccine rollout debacle. Many people, including teachers and school staff, have over the weekend had their vaccination bookings cancelled because of supply shortages.

Teachers under the age of 40, nearly half the entire workforce, are ineligible for the Pfizer vaccines and have received conflicting public advice over the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine for their age category.

Students and school staff who are able to access a vaccine between now and the August 16 reopening date will not be protected from COVID-19. A recent study from Scotland reported that effective vaccine protection from the Pfizer vaccine following the first shot is only 12 percent for the first four weeks. It takes weeks after a second dose of vaccine for full antibodies to develop.

Other health risks have also been disregarded. Educators have raised concerns about those students who refuse to get vaccinated. There is also the impossibility of social distancing in classrooms of up to thirty or more students. Movements of students across the city is a further risk of spreading the virus, with one school revealing it has students from 160 different postcodes.

The governments mantra that schools are safe has been repeatedly exposed as a lie. Amid the dangerous pandemic, any indoor venue with significant concentrations of people is a potential vector, as numerous experiences with school infections internationally and in Australia demonstrates.

Likewise false is any suggestion that children and young adults are not at risk from the virus. This is being tragically proven internationally with escalating child infections , hospitalisations and deaths. Shockingly, in the week of July 12 alone, 150 children in Indonesia died with half of them under the age of five.

Over the past fortnight, 200 children aged nine or under have tested positive in Sydney, and almost 25 percent of cases have been aged 19 or younger. Two teenagers with the virus have been hospitalised in Intensive Care Units.

Thousands of students in Sydney have taken to social media to express their opposition to the state government.

Eight separate petitions have demanded the government either cancel or find alternatives to this years HSC and trial exams. One student wrote, My voice is drowned by political platitudes. Am I putting my family at risk by going to school? How are my friends in the Blacktown Local Government Area going to have equal access to their education? How is my teacher going to be safe at school when she isnt eligible for Pfizer, yet has been advised against AstraZeneca by her GP? How is it safe when students have the option to come to school unvaccinated?

Among teachers and school workers there is growing furydirected not just against the state government but also the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF).

The union responded to the school reopening plan with a statement describing the move as premature. NSWTF President Angelo Gavrielatos added that, This does not fill teachers with confidence.

Flagging their intention to collaborate with the governments criminal policy, Gavrielatos and the union bureaucracy explained that, Further assessment of the evolving health crisis will inform the response of the union in the days and weeks ahead.

Ordinary teachers responded angrily. There are hundreds of sharp comments on the NSWTF Facebook page. In response to the union statement, one wrote: So what is the NSWTF doing about it? [] Bring forward the industrial action. OR are you in the pockets of our premier?

Another teacher outlined: Working conditions were a joke as it is and then the government once again demonstrates what little regard it has for our profession. It seems we are disposable. Talking and stamping our feet is getting us nowhere. Why isn't the Federation taking stronger action? What are we paying you for?

Another explained: NSWTF if there is no immediate action I have ZERO confidence in my union. No faith whatsoever. I might as well donate my fees to Vinnies [charity], at least I will know it will be used for a good cause immediately.

Teachers, school staff, and students urgently need to take matters into their own hands. There can be no return to face-to-face teaching while community transmission of the COVID-19 virus continues! The widest discussion needs to be developed on the necessary initiatives, including industrial action, to prevent the scheduled August 16 school reopening. From the beginning of the pandemic, the Committee for Public Education has led the fight for the formation of rank-and-file safety committees in every school, independent of the unions.

This now takes on a life and death urgency and we urge educators, students, and working people in Sydney to contact us and discuss how the struggle is to be taken forward.

Email: cfpe.aus@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commforpubliceducation/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFPE_Australia
25 years ago: Nation-wide general strike in Argentina

On August 8, 1996, over a million workers took part in a nation-wide strike in Argentina to protest the austerity policies of the government of President Carlos Menem. The factory belt around Buenos Aires was virtually paralyzed by the strike, which shut down public transportation and reduced hospitals to emergency care. Outlying industrial cities like Cordoba were also affected.

Banners put up by the striking workers in Argentina

The strike was called by the Peronist CGT confederation, which politically supported Menem, and by the smaller MTA confederation, after the government announced it was scrapping family allowances and ending tax exemption of the meal allowances for low-paid workers, which formed a significant portion of family income.

Menem dismissed Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo in advance of the general strike, but appointed an equally hard-line figure, Central Bank governor Roque Fernandez, to replace him. The government banned demonstrations during the strike and mobilized police in Buenos Aires to attack protesters seeking to set up soup kitchens to feed the strikers. Police waded into crowds with truncheons and opened up with water cannon. Among the victims were representatives of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the human rights group set up to expose the crimes of Argentinas military during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

Four days after the strike, Menem presented a further austerity plan, calling for sharp increases in the cost of fuel and sales tax increases for public transport, medicine and many services, as well as an increase in the retirement age for women from 60 to 65. Meanwhile Fernandez, while demanding that retired workers subsist on $140 a month, declared that he personally needed $15,000 a month to live on, up $5,000 from the monthly living expenses reported by Cavallo.

Later the same month, the CGT announced that it would call for a 36-hour general strike in September, following a meeting to define the future battle route and new route of the union movement. A Gallup Argentina poll showed Menems economic policy at a 21 percent approval rate, with 71 percent saying that they disapproved of Menems performance in office. A further 80 percent said that the Menem administration would not resolve the issues within the presidency which brought workers out on strike.

50 years ago: Industrial Relations Act becomes law in UK

On August 5, 1971, the Industrial Relations Act formally became law in the United Kingdom after it had been approved by the Tory government and given royal assent. The Act was a massive attack on workers rights to strike and organize themselves independently of the trade union bureaucracies represented in the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

British union leader Vic Feather speaking to a mass audience of workers

The law established a National Industrial Relations Court somewhat similar to the National Labor Relations Board in the United States. The Court was given immense powers to determine the legality of strike action and to enforce so-called cooling-off periods when striking workers were ordered back on the job under threat of arrest.

Virtually all labor organizations or strikes outside the tight control of the TUC were banned. Only under specific conditions could the official trade unions call strikes. The Industrial Relations Act saw to it that no-strike clauses would be implemented into workers contracts, essentially making all wildcat strikes illegal.

When the bill was initially proposed in early 1970 and began making its way through parliament, the leadership of the TUC did little to oppose it and made efforts to sabotage the Kill the Bill protests that had been organized among the rank-and-file workers who massively opposed the legislation. As late as March 1971, even after strikes opposing the law and involving millions of workers paralyzed British industry, the TUC refused to make it official policy that member unions refuse to cooperate with the law.

Instead, the TUC hoped to isolate struggles opposing the Act when they broke out and left the issue to the individual unions to decide how to navigate the situation. It was not until September, after the bill became law and member unions had already begun registering with the Court, that the TUC issued a formal statement instructing them not to register.

Despite the conciliatory attitude of the conservative TUC leaders, workers recognized the anti-democratic nature of the bill. In the course of the next three years workers who organized wildcat strikes were targeted by the state for arrest. In these years workers throughout the UK, in particular miners and dock workers, responded to the threats and intimidation with mass strike action.

The law would eventually be repealed in 1974 when Edward Heaths Tory government was voted out of power. However, the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act of 1974, passed by Harold Wilsons Labour government, kept the bulk of the anti-worker legislation in place.

75 years ago: Crisis in Turkish Strait as tensions between the US and Soviet Union deepen

This week in August 1946, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the emerging Cold War threatened to boil over amid a clash over access to and control over the Turkish Straits. Composed of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, the straits were critical to the Soviet regime, being the only naval means of accessing the Mediterranean and the oceans from its Black Sea ports.

On August 7, Soviet officials dispatched a diplomatic note to Turkish authorities, accusing them of having violated the Montreux Convention. Signed in 1936, it gave countries bordering the Black Sea exclusive rights to travel through the straits and established Turkish responsibility for maintaining the arrangement.

The Turkish government had already violated the agreement in the course of World War II. Through most of the conflict, it maintained a nominal neutrality, and allowed vessels of the German and Italian fascist powers to traverse the straits.

Long a point of contention with the Soviet bureaucracy, the issue reemerged at the end of the war. In April 1946, an American battleship, the USS Missouri, traveled into the straits on the pretext of returning the ashes of a deceased Turkish ambassador. As tensions between the Soviet and US governments intensified, Moscow issued its August note, demanding an international conference to establish a new treaty governing the straits.

USS Missouri

This was accompanied by an increase in the Soviet naval presence in the straits and the dispatch of greater numbers of Soviet troops to the Balkans. The US would respond by warning of Soviet designs to take control over Turkey and dispatching its own naval vessels to the region. While this prompted a Soviet backdown, the tensions would persist.

During the course of the Second World War, the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union had signed a series of agreements with the imperialist powers, including Britain and the US. These provided for the establishment of a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, in tacit exchange for the Stalinist suppression of revolutionary upheavals of the working class throughout Europe and internationally. In 1946, tensions increasingly emerged, as American imperialism sought to establish its global hegemony.

100 years ago: Fascists and Socialist Party declare truce in Italy

On August 3, 1921, Benito Mussolinis fascists, the social-democratic Socialist Party and the General Confederation of Labor, the main Italian trade union body, signed an agreement that attempted to call a halt to violence between Fascists and left-wingers. The fascists, who now numbered over 100,000 members, had engaged in a wave of political provocations, attacks and assassinations.

Mussolini in 1921

Particularly active in the countryside, the fascists attacked socialist elected officials, as well as cooperatives of small farmers and suppressed strikes, gaining the support of large landowners. Rank-and-file socialists and Communists fought back. In the first four months of 1921 there had been, by one count, 207 political assassinations, most of them of socialists. Ten socialists were killed on the day of the elections in May.

The fascist offensive had begun as a reaction to the mass occupation of factories by the working class during 1920, under the leadership of factory committees. The mass workers movement was disarmed when the trade unions and the Socialist Party negotiated a return of factories to the owners.

The prime minister, Giovanni Giolitti, head of the Liberal Union, had tolerated the fascist attacks on workers and, in the elections of May 1921, included the Fascists in his electoral coalition. On July 22, an uncharacteristic attack of police on 500 fascist squadristi (armed gang members) near Genoa, which resulted in the death of 18 fascists, sparked a wave of fascist reprisals throughout Italy. Sensing that civil war was imminent, Mussolini sought to tamp down the violence by his followers. The leadership of the Socialist Party also sought peace.

The local fascist leaders rejected the pact, and on August 18, Mussolini even resigned from the fascist national executive commission, although his resignation was rejected. By November Mussolini had denounced the agreement when the National Fascist Party was founded as a revolutionary militia placed at the service of the nation. Fascist violence against workers and farmers organizations continued to mount until Mussolini seized political power in the infamous March on Rome of 1922.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Salvation Army in Terre Haute is ready to help get families ready for school.

The organization is giving away 500 backpacks with basic school supplies for Vigo County kids in grades K-12.

You will have several chances to grab one this week. Here's a list of the dates:

August 9, 9 am to 11 am - 1 pm to 3 pm

August 10, 9 am to 11 am - 1 pm to 3 pm - 4 pm to 6 pm

August 11, 9 am to 11 am - 1 pm to 3 pm

You will need to bring several documents with you to receive a backpack. Those include:

Proof of income or benefits for the last 30 days

Two forms of ID for each child (social security cards and birth certificates are preferred)

The Salvation Army says it continues to accept donations as well. They need items like:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana motorists caught using handheld cellphones while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle now face increased penalties for breaking state law.

A law banning cellphone use took effect in July 2020 to combat distracted driving. That law allowed tickets of up to $500 against violators but delayed by a year any state Bureau of Motor Vehicles points toward a drivers license suspension.

Violations will now result in four points against a drivers license, BMV officials said. License suspensions start once a driver has accumulated 20 points within a two-year period.

Texting and other handheld cellphone use is a frequent cause of crashes, officials said. State law allows cellphone use by drivers only with hands-free or voice-operated technology, except in emergencies.

Drivers also face additional points for speeding in school or construction zones. Those violations will now result in four to eight points against a license, depending on how fast the driver was going.

Traveling Indiana roads is a shared endeavor that is only made safer when we are aware of the law and making good decisions behind the wheel, Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Peter Lacy said during a Thursday news conference.

Police officers across Indiana issued nearly 5,500 tickets and about 10,500 warnings during the first year of the handheld cellphone ban, state officials said.

State Police Capt. Ron Galaviz said many officers have tried to educate drivers about the new law but will from now on be issuing more tickets than warnings.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind (WTHI) - Indiana State University says it will now require face coverings for all indoor activities on its campus.

This mandate includes vaccinated and unvaccinated students, staff, and visitors.

In a letter to students and staff, ISU President Dr. Deborah Curtis said this was not an easy decision to make. She said it is the "right and responsible course of action in light of recent announcements from federal and state public health officials."

ISU will not mandate vaccinations but said they would continue to encourage them.

See the full letter from Indiana State University below:

"Dear Fellow Sycamores:

I am writing to announce that Indiana State University will resume requiring face coverings indoors for all University employees, students, and campus visitors (regardless of vaccination status) effective as soon as possible and no later than 8 a.m. Tuesday, August 3. This requirement will be in effect until further notice and is subject to change based on future guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State of Indiana Department of Health.

This is not an easy decision to make, but it is the right and responsible course of action in light of recent announcements from federal and state public health officials.

On June 18, I had the pleasure of informing you that Indiana State Universitys COVID-19 cases (including individuals in isolation or quarantine) had remained at zero for over ten straight days. This was a moment of celebration as the University, along with most other entities around the state, were able to begin relaxing public health requirements.

The University has also continually and consistently communicated that while ISU will not mandate vaccination, we strongly encourage employees and students to get vaccinated as soon as possible. We have offered on-campus vaccinations while providing information on other vaccine-provider locations in Vigo County. We have offered online portals for employees and students to voluntarily and confidentially upload proof of vaccination to assist University contact tracers in the future.

Despite growing concerns over the Delta variant and other future potential variants of this devastating virus, the overwhelming evidence shows that those who are vaccinated are highly protected against severe illness and hospitalization.

We learned last week of the CDCs new guidance recommending vaccinated individuals to resume wearing face coverings while indoors because of the possibility that they could still be transmitters of the virus. The Indiana Department of Health has echoed this new guidance.

The most important thing is the health and safety of our fellow Sycamores  our students, employees, and their families. Also important is our shared goal of resuming normalized operations of academic and campus life activities.

By resuming the requirement, it is our goal that on-campus, in-person academic and campus life activities and experiences (including University events at full capacity) may be preserved throughout the upcoming academic calendar. Wearing our face coverings indoors will help minimize transmission of the virus while we get back to the on-campus experiences that we treasure.

In the coming days, University division leadership will announce further expectations on how we will conduct ourselves through these continued challenging times.

If you have received your vaccine and voluntarily uploaded your proof of vaccination, thank you! If you have not yet done so, please get vaccinated.

In our true Sycamore spirit, we will weather this challenging time together. Thank you for your role in making this a reality.

Deborah J. Curtis, Ph.D. President"
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) administrators held a news conference on Monday to address the immediate impacts of rising COVID-19 cases.

The administrators said the hospital system currently has enough ICU beds to accommodate the rising number of patients.

(L-R): NMMC-Tupelo President David Wilson, NMHS President/CEO Shane Spees, and NMHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeremy Blanchard. Photo Date: Aug. 2, 2021. (L-R): NMMC-Tupelo President David Wilson, NMHS President/CEO Shane Spees, and NMHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeremy Blanchard. Photo Date: Aug. 2, 2021.

But the big issue currently is having enough healthcare workers.

NMHS is actively recruiting more healthcare workers to offset the spread and to ensure the highest quality of care for its patients.

As of Monday, administrators said there are currently 37 COVID-19 patients in the hospital system.

The hospital system's new visitation policy went into effect on Monday, Aug. 2.

Open this link to view the new policy.

NMHS operates hospitals and clinics in Tupelo, Amory, West Point and more.

Open this link to find an NMHS facility.
ATHENS, Ala. (AP)  A jury will deliberate a second day in the corruption trial of a longtime Alabama sheriff.

Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely is accused of theft of campaign funds, using his office for person gain and taking money held by the sheriffs office.

Jurors deliberated for about three hours Friday and a judge told them to return to court Monday for additional talks.

The 70-year-old Blakely took the stand to deny any wrongdoing.

Still serving as sheriff while under indictment, he faces automatic removal from office if convicted of a felony.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP)  The top administrator at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science says he will leave that job at the end of December.

Germain McConnell has been executive director of the residential high school in Columbus for eight years.

On Jan. 1, he will become chief of staff for the Oxford School District.

The math and science school is for high-achieving juniors and seniors.

It will have 237 students on campus this fall.

The state Department of Education plans to hire a new executive director for the school before the end of the fall semester.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - Local businesses in the Golden Triangle came together to raise a few thousand dollars for the Children's of Mississippi hospital.

The fundraiser was a week long. Moe's Original Bar-B-Que, L.A. Green, and several other businesses collected over $2K.

Several businesses in Starkville Main Street Association donated over $2K to the Children's of Mississippi. Taken: July 30, 2021. Several businesses in Starkville Main Street Association donated over $2K to the Children's of Mississippi. Taken: July 30, 2021.

This was the first time the city held the fundrasing event , but it doesn't seem to be the last.

L.A. Green boutique owner, Lauren Ann Cooper, said the event hit home to her making this fundraiser just a little bit more special.

My oldest son Rhett, he was admitted there for about a week," said Cooper. "We just got to know a lot of the staff and how much the hospital actually does for children. Its not just a hospital. Its so much more than that.

The seven local businesses raised $2,635.40 total for the children's hospital.
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Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, center, stands with protesters on June 3, 2020, in Kansas City, Mo., during a unity march to protest police brutality following the death of George Floyd, held under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Much is weighing on the Kansas City Police Department  a high number of homicides and questionable rates of solving serious crimes, a poor ranking in a national study on discrimination and police violence, and troubled relations with Black and Hispanic residents.

There have been allegations of racism in the department, a break with once-allied pastors over police killings, and calls for the police chief's resignation and a U.S. Justice Department probe of the KCPD.

Many American cities have already changed their approach to policing or are looking to remake it after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, filmed dying under the knee of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, as well as high-profile shootings by police, such as the death of Breonna Taylor of Louisville.

States or cities quickly banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants. Big cities like Chicago  as well as smaller ones like Salina, Kansas  have set up civilian boards to review police use-of-force incidents. Still others have slashed police budgets or redirected funds to keep armed officers from responding to calls that might be better handled by health or social workers.

'Some good cops, some bad': Exclusive poll finds Detroit residents far more worried about public safety than police reform

Some cities and states, such as Iowa, Oklahoma and Florida, have gone the other way, backing a more pro-police approach, banning some protests and effectively allowing drivers to hit demonstrators without punishment while making it illegal for protesters in some circumstances to block traffic.

Kansas City instituted new body-camera rules, the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office launched a site for police-misconduct complaints, and, after police used tear gas and other nonlethal weapons to disperse protests after Floyd's killing, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners restricted use of such weapons at demonstrations.

But this heartland city of 500,000 faces an impediment to change that's unique among medium and big police departments: It falls under strict state control.

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Mayor Quinton Lucas says he knows the troubles in the city, but he is largely powerless to make high-level moves to shift the departments culture, spending or personnel deployment.

Lucas, in the middle of a four-year term, has no authority to hire or fire the police chief, little say on the five-member police governing board, and almost no power to implement what some here say are his too-progressive ideas that amount to defunding the police.

That could change. A lawsuit has been filed in a tug of war over control of the police department between the heavily Democratic city's leaders and the GOP-dominated Missouri state government.

On one side are the police board and the Missouri attorney general, who claim the mayor  a lone voice on the police board  and the City Council are trying to illegally withhold funding from the KCPD budget.

Opinion: If you want to know how battle over defund police plays out, watch New York City election

On the other are Lucas, the City Council, the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office and activists like Gwendolyn Grant of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. They argue that the absence of local control hinders efforts to beat back homicides, better solve crimes and weed out rogue officers.

Gwendolyn Grant

"We provide some $270-plus million a year to that police department, but they answer to no one," said Grant, who filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit as a resident, not president and CEO of the organization. "It's 21st century colonialism to have the state government and state representatives have more power about what's happening in our city."

Unique structure a product of history, politics

Until 2013, St. Louis operated under the same rules, but voters shook the department loose from state rule. The only other American city in a similar position is Baltimore, which is partially under the authority of Maryland, but not nearly to the extent seen in Kansas City.

That is clearly a unique wrinkle, said Ken Novak, criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Lucas, Grant, prosecutors and activists have called for a greater shift of funding away from armed officers and into programs to bridge the gap with minority communities.

"I intervened in that lawsuit on behalf of the 200,000 African Americans in Kansas City," Grant said, alleging that the setup violates tax laws, specifically the Missouri Constitution's Hancock Amendment, and does not afford federal guarantees of equal protection under the law for the city's Black residents.

The motion has since been denied, but Grant is considering other court action to keep her arguments alive.

So why is Kansas City in this position?

History plays a role. The state's domination of the city dates to 1874. State control was interrupted only by the corruption-filled era of Mayor Tom Pendergast in the 1930s. Because of the corruption, the state again took control in 1939.

It's been that way ever since.

New de-escalation tactic: Arizona law enforcement using new tool that can stop people by wrapping their arms, legs

Politics also plays a large role, pitting a red state versus a blue city and mayor and leading to the politicization of the term "defunding police," according to activists, the mayor and criminal justice experts.

The right has broadly panned the idea of shifting resources away from armed officers responding to every 911 call and putting more money into programs to address mental health issues and other social crises, portraying it as an effort by the left to bankrupt or abolish police departments.

Mayor: Problems 'fester' in KC because of no local control.

Part of the battle stems from a decision by the City Council and Lucas to withhold and shift about $42 million from a $273 million budget into programs to strengthen broken ties with minority communities and add ways for social workers and mental health professionals to answer some calls.

"I find it actually very creative," Lucas said of holding back the $42 million. "I think it's been exploited by politicians on the right as defunding just because that's the one-trick pony that I think they're using for any type of policing reform."

State Republican leaders see the move as an attempted power grab by local leaders. Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt has jumped into the fray, filing a brief that alleges the move is illegal under Missouri's revised state statutes.

Lucas, the only no vote on the police board's decision to sue over the funding shift, defended his push for local authority as returning power to voters.

"Our form of governance means that elections actually don't solve (policing) issues," Lucas said.

In other American cities, problems like crime, police abuse and a sharp imbalance between the city's racial makeup and that of the department don't "fester," he said. Elsewhere, police departments are under local control, and mayors run for office "able to say this will change, that will change or we will enhance community policing," he said.

Many Kansas Citians don't recognize that their police are effectively under state control, Novak said, so the issue doesn't resonate with areas of Missouri's largest city that are not impacted by crime.

"The general flavor that I got from Kansas Citians is, 'It doesn't seem broke. Why would we mess with it?'" Novak said.

Yet Lucas and activists say that Black residents, who make up a third of the city, are not treated fairly or their interests represented. They have repeatedly called for Chief Richard Smith to step down or be fired, but he has the backing of the state and the police board, which can dismiss Smith only for cause.

Smith said last week that he has no plans to step down.

Grant, for her part, pulls few punches.

"The Kansas City Police Department is ineffective. It's incompetent," she said. "The chief, the leadership, we consider to be racist. We have over-policing in minority communities. There's no accountability and no transparency."

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Police violence, clearance rate for critical cases questioned

Exactly how many violent crimes, including homicides, that the department has solved is also up for debate. The police state that the clearance rate is solid, sitting at 73% of last year's 176 murders.

Others are calling that good public relations, but bad math.

According to data from the Urban League and the prosecutor's office, the clearance rate for murders in 2020 was 33%  down from 46% in 2019  and just 18% for nonfatal shootings.

"If nonfatal shootings are not cleared, then that's fertile ground for an escalation in fatal shootings," Grant said. "Retribution because (victims) feel like they got to take these matters into their own hands."

Another point of contention: how allegations of police violence are handled.

According to the office of Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, the police department turns over a total of 5,000 cases each year, involving all manner of crimes, to the county for prosecution. The referrals come with a statement of facts to support the charges sought for prosecution.

But with allegations of police use of force or violence, including shootings by police, the department doesn't turn over probable cause statements, prosecution sources say.

This has caused a rift between the two agencies, which must work together to rid Kansas City's streets of violence. Baker has called for outside agencies to investigate fatal police encounters in Kansas City, and the Missouri Highway Patrol has filled that role since June 2020. But the police department conducts in-house investigations into use of force in nonfatal encounters.

In a statement, the police department said probable cause statements amount to testimony under oath, and if the department doesn't believe its officers committed a crime, submitting one would amount to perjury.

"Our department investigators submit a PC statement in occurrences they believe a crime has been committed; that has always been our practice," said spokesman Jacob Becchina.

'Crime remains a constant threat': Detroit's Black residents seek more police presence yet often see slower 911 response

City seeing rise in homicides, reflecting national trend

Lucas and Grant say winning local control is simply a step toward battling a host of problems here, chief among them being violence. The year started with news that homicides in Kansas City had risen to a record 176 in 2020, compared with 2019s 151.

The headlines haven't gotten much better for the department since.

In a study by the Police Scorecard rating 500 police departments across the country on police violence and discrimination, the KCPD ranked 495th.

The police department says the data used in the report is flawed.

As we looked further into the scorecard, some concerns arose," Chief Smith said, adding that department partners who study criminal justice were left with "many questions about completeness, validity, and methods of information gathering, as well as comparison and analysis."

Smith described his department as "constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve."

Kansas City's increase in homicides reflects a national trend. Homicides jumped by roughly 30% nationally during the pandemic, according to some studies, and were up by 25% from 2019 to 2020, according to preliminary FBI data.

The rising toll has drawn in the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced strike forces in cities such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, the Bay Area/Sacramento and Washington D.C.

While Kansas City was not among the cities, Lucas said on CBS' "Face the Nation" July 25 that he would welcome any federal help in combatting crime here.

'Deepening mistrust' prompts call for federal investigation

However, the city may be getting federal attention from a different angle.

On July 26, Jackson County Prosecutor Baker wrote to Garland backing activists calls for an investigation of the KCPD, saying the department is greatly troubled by deepening mistrust between it and its community."

Baker added that there have been too many excessive force and deadly force incidents involving minority community members"

Five officers face charges of excessive force  four of them felonies  but remain, with pay, on the force.

She pointed to the governance of the KCPD as deeply troubling The police board and police command can simply ignore the community.

The relationship is so frayed in many Black neighborhoods that it has devolved into an us-versus-them mentality, Lucas, Grant and activists said.

This broken relationship also plays into the rising homicides and low clearance rates, Novak, Lucas and sources in the prosecutor's office said. People don't trust the police, and they don't want to come forward with information.

Part of the problem, according to Grant, are the personnel stats. Of the roughly 1,250 officers on the KCPD, nearly 77% are white and just 11.7% are Black and 5.4% Hispanic, according to the Urban League. The numbers are even more disproportionate to the city's makeup at higher-rank positions, including in the homicide squad, where there are no Black supervising sergeants, Grant said. The entire command staff in the violent crimes division is white.

For Grant and her supporters  Lucas among them  the answer is local control.

"We believe that the absence of having any control over policies, practices and procedures of a public entity that we fund is absurd," she said. "We need help here."

Follow Eric Ferkenhoff on Twitter: @EricFerk.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Police control in Kansas City, Mo., draws line between the community
Ordering your favorite happy hour cocktail might be a lot more difficult in the coming months, as states continue to struggle with alcohol shortages. As Best Life previously reported, liquor shortages have been plaguing parts of the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast and more states could soon be affected. Read on to find out why liquor stores and bars are finding it difficult to stock their shelves, and which popular vodkas, tequilas, and whiskeys specifically are going missing.a

RELATED: This Is the Most Popular Liquor in Your State, According to Data.

Supply chain issues are causing liquor shortages in at least four states.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in supply chain problems across nearly every industry, from furniture to household appliances. Now, the liquor and beer industries are feeling the squeeze. In particular, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, and South Dakota have been experiencing alcohol shortages.

It takes a complex network of manufactures, shippers, and transportation businesses to get your cocktail to your table. As states continue to open up, bars and restaurants are seeing a flock of customers flood in. While the return is welcome, liquor manufacturers are still ramping up production to meet demand after months of lockdowns. The pandemic has impacted every aspect of bottling and distributioneven the ink used to print labels on bottles is in short supply, Market Realist reports.

That, combined with a shortage of truck drivers, means that many bar and restaurant owners are waiting longer than ever to stock their shelves.

Some of the most popular brands of liquor are becoming impossible to find.

If you live in one of the states facing a liquor shortage, your brand of choice is likely already absent from shelves. Kel Minton, a beverage director for multiple restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina, told Axios it's "nearly impossible" to find vodkas like Ketel One and Tito's.

Casamigos tequila is also hard to come by, according to Milton. Actually, "tequila is really hard to get right now" overall, Dustin Rabb, general manager of Fenwick's in Charlotte, told WNCT. According to The Charlotte Observer, restaurants and bars can't get their hands on "almost all" tequila, including Patron, 1800, Don Julio, and Jose Cuervo.

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"We've never seen anything like this," Keith Haze, a liquor buyer for Southern Spirits, told Fox 46 Charlotte recently. "Just to give you a most recent example, I turned in a purchase order of 42 items 27 of them were out of stock. This is all new, I've been doing this for 18 years and there have been shortages of an item but not situations in every category basically."

Other states have also reported shortages of Malibu rum, Ciroc vodka, Jameson and Crown Royal whiskeys, and Woodford Reserve bourbon, according to Cincinnati's ABC News affiliate and The Charlotte Observer.

Glass shortages are keeping distilleries and breweries from getting their products out there.

In addition to production speed challenges and transportation issues, liquor manufacturers and distributors are also dealing with a shortage of glass, which is crucial in product packaging. "Glassware. Glassware is just a killer. Even if you have the product ready, you can't get it packaged," Reid Beckers, of Classic Beverage of Southern California, told Marketplace.

Glass manufacturers shut down early in the pandemic as they saw demand for their product grind to a halt. When restrictions began lifting across the U.S. earlier this year, glass producers were suddenly trying to speed up their business tenfold.

"As soon as all the markets started reopening, the pandemic started lifting earlier this year, restrictions started lifting overnight [and] there became a huge demand," Dakota Beverage Vice President John Tacke explained to South Dakota local news station KELO.

The glass shortage is affecting beer sales, too. Many bars prefer to sell bottled beer to cans because they can typically charge more for bottles. But at this point, bar owners are taking whatever they can get. "It might come to a point where that's all I have are cans, but it is what it is," Andy Lenz, the owner of the Top Hat in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, told KELO.

In certain areas, cans are hard to come by, too. Mac McHugh, the general manager of Heidelberg Distributing Company, Ohio's largest beer and spirits distributor, told ABC Action News: "We can produce the beer. Our brewers have plenty of beer. They just don't have bottles and kegs and cans to put it in."

RELATED: This Is the Most Popular Cheap Beer in Your State, New Research Shows.

Even if you can find your liquor of choice, its usual bottle may look a bit different.

Copperwing, a distillery in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, has struggled for months to keep glass bottles on its shelves. The distillery makes its own vodka, gin, and whiskey, along with a spirit it calls "Vodskey"alcohol made from bourbon mash but distilled like vodka. The company told its local CBS News affiliate in May it's now pursuing "alternative" bottling methods.

And more of your old favorites may soon have a new look. In Waterloo, New York, one glass manufacturer told The Journal Times they had plenty of stockthat is, if companies were willing to use their pre-produced bottles rather than have custom bottles made.

Bobbi Stebbins of Waterloo Containers said they offer 97 different bottle molds. "We may not be able to provide the exact bottle that someone's looking for, but we're well situated to solve almost any packaging dilemma," she told the outlet.

Some customers have resorted to bringing their favorite alcohol to the bar.

Eric McIntyre, the owner of B2's Bourbon&BBQ in Richmond Heights, Ohio, said some of his customers have been so frustrated by the liquor shortage that they're now bringing their own bottles to the bar.

Many of his customers are just relishing the opportunity to drink in a bar again after not being able to for so long. "People are brand loyal. I've had guests try to bring in their own liquor, ehich is insane," McIntyre told News 5 Cleveland.

All of these shortages will eventually start hitting consumers' wallets, too. Crissy Antoine, the owner of Wheelin on the Rocks Bar in Toledo, Ohio, told WTVG she's paying a premium because of the limited supply.

"The charge is a little bit more and cuts into my revenue," she said. Those increased charges will inevitably be passed on to customersat least for the next few months as production attempts to get back to pre-pandemic levels.

Until then, those in the industry suggest customers practice patience and flexibility with their favorite local watering holes. Molly Wellman, the owner of Japp's in Cincinnati, Ohio, told News 5 Cleveland that now is a great time to try new brands and ask bartenders for suggestions. "If they're a great bartender, they know what to do," she said.

RELATED: This Is the State That Drinks the Most Alcohol, According to Data.
Trump supporters climb the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen."

That's what President Donald Trump told Justice Department officials as part of his insistent pressure campaign to declare the 2020 election corrupt so he and his Republican cronies in Congress could overturn the results and keep him in office, according to notes of a conversation released Friday by a House committee. We may be used to this happening in other countries, yet many Americans believe it could never happen here. Its shocking  but, unfortunately, not surprising, at least to us.

In March of 2019 we wrote a column for USA TODAY entitled, A Donald Trump coup if he loses in 2020? With all the norms hes busted, dont rule it out. We hate to say we told you so, but we did  at a time when most people dismissed the idea as too far-fetched to consider. Its not that we are so prescient. Its just that we understood Trumps authoritarian nature and the weaknesses in our electoral system.

Our election system is vulnerable

After last November, Trumps coup attempt took many forms: He summoned election officials from Michigan and Pennsylvania to the White House to bully them into changing the results in their states; he pleaded with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes to overturn Joe Bidens victory there; and he demanded that Vice President Mike Pence block the final step in the election  the ceremonial congressional count of Electoral College votes.

He also incited insurrectionists to storm the U.S. Capitol to physically prevent that final step on Jan. 6. One could watch videos taken on that day over and over and still gasp in horror. And while all of this was going on, Trump was badgering Justice Department officials to belly up to his Big Lie that the election was stolen from him.

USA TODAY's opinion newsletter: Get the best insights and analysis delivered to your inbox

The man who knew Trump best, his onetime lawyer Michael Cohen, tried to warn us. He testified in Congress more than a year and a half before the election: If Trump loses, there will never be a peaceful transition of power. Only a handful of us took this seriously. After all, there had been 10 incumbent presidents before Trump who had lost reelection and simply turned over the keys to the Oval Office.

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Trump supporters clash with police and security forces outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

But Trump obviously doesnt respect constitutional norms. That is why we tried to sound the alarm. Those who scoffed at the prospect of Trumps refusal to accept defeat apparently allowed themselves to be lulled by patriotic notions of American democratic traditions.

Lets be clear: The problem is not just Trump anymore. Even after the invasion of the Capitol, when their very lives were threatened, eight Republican senators and 139 Republican House members voted against confirming unambiguous Electoral College vote totals in one or more states. And despite what the entire world saw and heard, Republican leaders are now promoting an incredibly distorted picture of what actually occurred on Jan. 6.

Goldfeder and Mitchell: A Donald Trump coup if he loses in 2020? With all the norms he's busted, don't rule it out

The cumulative result of Trumps incessant lying about the election and the GOPs distortion of the insurrection is the absurd belief among many of Trumps supporters that he really won  which leads us to our current concerns. As we think about upcoming elections, we are worried about the movement in several states to strip election administration from experienced and honest officials, and put the final word in the hands of partisan legislators.

We can't rely on apple-pie idealism

Take Georgia, as just one example. An investigation of Fulton County election administrators is under way by Republican state legislators. Fulton, home to Atlanta, has a huge Democratic electorate. Is it possible that in the next presidential or gubernatorial election, the state election board, whose members are now appointed by the Republican legislature, will simply cry fraud and overturn the totals in that county? Post-2020 legislation appears to give them the authority to do so.

Were also nervous that Jan. 6 was but a prelude to 2024. There is no reason to think domestic terrorists will not attempt to steal the next election by, for example, attacking various state capitols as Electoral College votes are being counted. Remember that the Capitol assault was presaged by armed action in the halls of the Michigan Legislature by very similar mobs several months earlier. As difficult as Jan. 6 was, multiple insurrections in various states could upend the next presidential election.

Connie Schultz: On Jan. 6, I feared for my country, my colleagues, my husband. I had no idea how bad it really was.

Under the circumstances, the prospect of future free, fair and democratic elections in the United States is not assured. Although we are not by nature alarmists, the seriousness of this ongoing threat to the republic must be acknowledged. Of course, we hope we are wrong, just as we had hoped we were in our original article two years ago. But lets not rely on apple-pie idealism. Rigorous political analysis and legal guardrails, as well as an alert citizenry, are essential if we are to preserve our democracy.

Jerry H. Goldfeder (@jerrygoldfeder), a nationally recognized election attorney who teaches Election Law at Fordham Law School, was chair of the New York State Bar Associations Task Force on the 2020 Election and consultant to CNNs 2016 miniseries "Race for the White House." Lincoln Mitchell (@LincolnMitchell) teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and is the author of several books, including "The Democracy Promotion Paradox."

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump coup attempt: We warned about the former president in 2019
JOSEPH, Oregon  Vice-Chairman Shannon Wheeler has been dreaming about this day for years.

On Thursday, more than 150 Nez Perce (Niimiipuu) people returned and blessed part of their homeland, a hundred years after the U.S Army drove them from the Wallowa Valley in eastern Oregon.

In direct violation of the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla, the Nez Perce in 1877 were forced from their 7.5 million-acre homeland to a 750,000-acre reservation in Idaho.

For years, the tribe has worked to keep a connection to the ancestral land they were driven from. Last year, they successfully reclaimed part of that land.

Members of the Nez Perce Tribe ride to Amsaaxpa or "the place of boulders," for a land blessing ceremony on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Joseph, Ore. The tribe purchased 148 acres of ancestral land in December 2020, over a century after being forced out of the area.

The Nez Perce tribe purchased a 148-acre property in Joseph, known as Am'saaxpa, or Place of Boulders, in December but could not formally perform a blessing ceremony until Thursday due to COVID-19 concerns.

The property had been privately owned and operated as a ranch for more than a hundred years. It is located at the edge of the city's rodeo grounds.

Reclaiming their land: For Native American activists crossing the nation with a totem pole, sacred lands are their Notre Dame

Surrounded by the Wallowa Mountains, the property rights include the house near Airport Road built in 1884, barns, grassland and Wallowa River frontage where the Nez Perce would camp and catch sockeye salmon.

It also includes the ridge where Chief Joseph once held council.

"We would hope that our ancestors would feel the tears of joy and their tears will turn to joy because they see our people coming back to the land that we belong to," Wheeler said before the ceremony. "Our people know that we sprang from this land and we're tied to the land in that manner and the land is also tied to us in the same way."

The blessing, he said, was important in making sure ancestors could "hear our voices" and "feel our moccasins on the ground again."

Wheeler described the day as bittersweet, a victory following 144 years of sorrow and endurance.

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Forced removal

Wheeler is a descendent of Chief Joseph, one of the several Nez Perce leaders who fought tirelessly to protect the Nez Perce tribe and its land.

Chief Joseph was among the Nez Perce who refused to abide by the 1863 treaty that had stripped the tribe from 90% of its land and required the move to the Idaho reservation.

War broke out in 1877 when Gen. Oliver O. Howard attempted to force non-treaty Nez Perce from the land. Under Chief Josephs leadership, a band of about 700 people traveled more than 1,100 miles while they were pursued by 5,000 U.S troops.

Josephs band surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles and Howard on Oct. 5, 1877, after a final battle at Bears Paw Mountains in Montana. They had been 40 miles short of their goal to cross the Canadian border.

It is estimated that more than 230 Nez Perce people died during the fighting retreat, including women and children.

'Will rest in the quiet': Rosebud Sioux children, taken to a boarding school over 140 years ago, finally laid to res

After their surrender, U.S officials promised the Joseph band that they would be allowed to join the rest of their people at the reservation in Idaho. This turned out to be a lie.

As they were crossing out of the valley, one of the elders at the time told the people to look back as it may be the last time we look at this land, Wheeler said in an interview with the Statesman Journal, which like USA TODAY is a part of the USA TODAY Network. And for many of those people, that was the last time that they looked at that land.

Those who surrendered were sent to Kansas for the winter and exiled to Oklahoma during the summer. It wouldn't be until 1885 that they would be allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest and even then, many including Chief Joseph were relocated to the Colville Reservation in Washington, away from their people on the Nez Perce reservation.

A long time coming

Wheeler remembers one of the first times he visited the property shortly after they signed for the land. He visited alongside other tribal leaders including former secretary Rachel Edwards, executive leader Quincy Ellenwood, cultural resource director Nakia Williamson-Cloud and land enterprise manager Kim Cannon.

We sang a couple of songs at that time over there just to be there. We stood on the ground and just reflected about the moment of us being there, what that meant, Wheeler said, "knowing that in the future more of our tribal membership would be able to be there to celebrate and bless the ground that we were standing on.

Leland Whiteplume and Farley Eagle Speaker ride horses on Amsaaxpa or "the place of boulders," on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Joseph, Ore.

The coronavirus pandemic only delayed the inevitable, said Nez Perce treasurer Casey Mitchell, also a descendant of Chief Joseph.

The time is now for us getting our land back, he said. It means a lot, not only to us here at the council table but to our people as well. Our people have been waiting a long time to go back to the land.

While the Nez Perce people have continued to fish and gather in the Wallowa Valley and near the property  a practice that the Nez Perce also fought to protect and preserve following years of struggles in asserting fishing rights guaranteed to them in U.S treaties  the purchase represents the opportunity to officially call the land their own again, Mitchell said.

Related story: Feds may investigate Native American boarding school in Nevada after discovery of Canadian mass graves

Members of the Nez Perce Tribe ride on Amsaaxpa or "the place of boulders," for a land blessing ceremony on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Joseph, Ore. The tribe purchased 148 acres of ancestral land in December 2020, over a century after being pushed out of the area.

It also reclaims an ancient and sacred camping ground.

We have ancestors that are buried there, Mitchell said. Thats why we have a place name for it already, Am'saaxpa, Place of Boulders, and when Shannon and everyone went to sing their songs it was to let our ancestors know that were coming home. We let them know that were home, were there.

A homecoming

Nez Perce people filled the parking lot of Joseph High School Thursday, preparing to walk and ride through Joseph into Am'saaxpa for the blessing ceremony.

A dozen people on horseback dressed in traditional regalia led more than a hundred others nearly a mile through Joseph to the property. A traditional long tent welcomed attendees at the top of the property.

The walk and ride were deliberate, Williamson-Cloud said.

When they [ancestors] left, they left on horseback, he said.

Now, the Nez Perce were returning to the land on horseback.

Were here, were the survivors, Williamson-Cloud said. Were doing what our ancestors couldnt.

Tribal leaders spoke before the blessing ceremony about what the day represented, reflecting on the history of the Nez Perce tribe and sharing joy about the day's historic event.

Drummers sang seven sets of seven songs, as is traditional in the blessing ceremony.

Ellenwood described the purchase as another steppingstone in Nez Perces growth and history. He said his first visit to tour the property was emotional.

I told them, 'We cant let this slip us by,'  Ellenwood said.

Shari BlackEagle couldnt let the opportunity to come to Oregon pass her by either.

She learned about the event three weeks ago and immediately reached out to her cousins to find out if family would be going.

'Natural stewards of Mother Earth': Green jobs path to middle class, sustainability largely blocked to Native Americans

Shari BlackEagle joins her family in the Nez Perce Tribe for a land blessing ceremony on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Joseph, Ore. BlackEagle's family descends from Chief BlackEagle who is Chief Joseph's brother-in-law.

She made the long trek to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, flying in from Oklahoma.

Her mother had moved to Oklahoma years ago and its where BlackEagle still lives.

She met her father, Norton BlackEagle, face to face for the first time Wednesday night.

The whole day was overwhelming, she said, finally able to meet family shes only known through Facebook and other social media. It's a homecoming in every sense, she said.

Their family descends from Chief Black Eagle, the husband of Chief Josephs sister.

Janet BlackEagle, Shari's aunt, related to Sharis reaction. Shed joined family in Oregon when the Nez Perce celebrated the United Methodist Churchs return of sacred land in Wallowa in May.

I remember the closer we got [to Wallowa] the more it was like, hurry up and get there faster, Janet remembered. We didnt get any sleepwhen we got there, we all felt the spirits.

Its been so exciting, she said.

"It's about arriving at a place to forgive the unforgivable," Norton BlackEagle said about the day.

The family was planning to return to Idaho that day, but not before celebrating Shari's visit some more. Before she had to return to Oklahoma, they'd be showing her other landmarks and sights around the Wallowa Valley.

Follow Dianne Lugo on Twitter: @DianneLugo.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Native American tribe celebrates reclaimed land after 100-year removal
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a sombre state apology on Sunday to the Pacific community for racially targeted immigration raids in the 1970s that resulted in deportations and prosecutions.

The "Dawn Raids", which often occurred early in the morning, took place from 1974 to 1976 when New Zealand's economy was in a downturn and the government clamped down on immigrant workers from the Pacific who overstayed their work visas.

Addressing hundreds of people in attendance for the formal apology, Ardern said members of the Pacific communities continue to "suffer and carry the scars" of the raids in which they were specifically targeted and racially profiled.

"Today, I stand on behalf of the New Zealand government to offer a formal and unreserved apology to Pacific communities for the discriminatory implementation of the immigration laws of the 1970s that led to the events of the Dawn Raids," Ardern said.

"The government expresses its sorrow, remorse, and regret that the Dawn Raids and random police checks occurred and that these actions were ever considered appropriate."

As part of its formal apology, Ardern said her government will provide NZ$2.1 million ($1.5 million) in academic and vocational scholarships for Pacific communities and $1 million in leadership scholarships for young people from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Tuvalu, among others.

Sunday's event included an Ifoga, a traditional Samoan ceremony in which people ask for forgiveness or receive forgiveness, where some ministers and members of parliament draped a mat over Ardern, which was then removed by members of the Pacific community.

"There were no reported raids on any homes of people who were not Pacific; no raids or random stops were exacted towards European people," Ardern said during her apology.

($1 = 1.4339 New Zealand dollars)

(Additional reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes in Sydney; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
hannon Wheeler, left, and Nakia Cloud sit atop horseback prior to the Nez Perce Tribe Land Blessing in Joseph, Ore., on Thursday, July 29, 2021. A special ceremony was planned for Saturday in Idaho to rename a historic collection of artifacts owned by the Nez Perce Tribe.
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Hungary will send an astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2025, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

In a video message on Facebook, Szijjarto said Hungary would be sending the astronaut to the ISS in cooperation with the United States.



The astronaut will travel to the ISS to conduct scientific experiments using Hungarian-made equipment, he added.



The equipment to be used for telecommunications, Earth observation and measuring radiation will be developed by the domestic companies and universities participating in the programme, the minister said.



Though the companies and universities taking part in the programme have accumulated a significant amount of knowledge over the years, the space industry has so far not received nearly the amount of attention it deserves, he added.



One reason to change this, Szijjarto said, was to strengthen Hungarys high value-added sectors, particularly the ones that are already well established.





MTI Photo: Zoltan Balogh
Health-care employees staged a demonstration in Budapest to protest for the restoration of their public employee status and a 30% wage hike.

Zoltan Balogh, the head of nurses chamber MESZK, said that the governments changing the legal status of health professionals in March had been a slap in the face and insisted that the government had not consulted with the unions before the changes were passed into law.



Balogh noted that some 3,000 health-care employees had refused to sign the new employment contracts they were offered due to serious contradictions and unfair conditions in the document.



He said that people in the sector were overworked and increasingly discontent.



Gyula Kincses, the head of doctors chamber MOK expressed support for the protesters demands and said treatment is impossible without nurses.



He noted the mortality figures during the coronavirus pandemic and said having the technology is useless without proper nursing.



He said that providing high-level health-care services required nurses who received decent pay and were not exhausted.
New Delhi: A group of BJP MPs from four northeastern states met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday over the recent border skirmishes between Assam and Mizoram, alleged that foreign forces were fuelling fire in the region and accused the opposition Congress of "politicising" the sensitive issue.

Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal, along with BJP MPs from Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, met Modi in Parliament House. The MPs also gave a four-page memorandum to him.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Rijiju alleged that some "foreign forces are fuelling fire" in the region by making inciting statements and promoting manipulated contents.

The prime minister told the MPs that the Northeast is very close to his heart and his love for the region is very natural. Quoting Modi, Rijiju said the prime minister asserted that he doesn't look at the region from the prism of politics.

In the memorandum to Modi, the BJP MPs said that they want to convey to all those elements who view the Assam-Mizoram issue as a means of "spreading chaos in India that their shenanigans will not work".

The BJP MPs said they were extremely pained by the violence that took place on the Assam-Mizoram border.

"At the same time, we would like to express our clear disapproval of the attempt by sections of our polity led by the Congress Party to indulge in politics over these happenings and use this as a means to indulge in one-upmanship," the MPs said in the memorandum.

The MPs underlined that the chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram have expressed the desire to amicably resolve issues.

"A series of confidence building measures have also taken place over the last few days. Yet, the actions of the Congress Party remain devious and mischievous,? they said, adding that the party and its leaders have zero regard for the culture of the region.

They accused the Congress of politicising this sensitive issue.

The MPs further said in the memorandum that they would like to unequivocally state that under the NDA government led by Modi "development work in the Northeast has been historic and unparalleled".

In contrast, the parliamentarians from the BJP said, "successive Congress governments at the Centre failed to do justice to the dreams of the region. The problem with the party is fundamental -- their view towards our region is patronising, condescending and reeks of a mindset akin to orientalism."

They also hailed Prime Minister Modi for resolving various issues of the region by providing "people-centric solutions'' by signing various accords.

"In line with Prime Minister Modi's vision of providing people-centric solutions to long lasting problems, the Naga Accord, Bodo Accord and the Bru-Reang issue moved towards peaceful resolution," the memorandum reads.

There were 16 MPs in the meeting with the prime minister -- 12 from Assam, two from Arunachal Pradesh and one each from Manipur and Tripura.

At least six Assam Police personnel and one civilian were killed and more than 50 people injured in a fire-fight between the police of the two states on a disputed stretch of their boundary near Dholai in Cachar district on July 25.

The two states share a 164.6-km border between Assam's Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, and Mizoram's Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts.

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New Delhi: As the country is reeling under the fear of a possible third wave of COVID-19, Odisha's Bhubaneswar has achieved the new milestone of becoming the first city in India to achieve 100 percent COVID-19 vaccination, informed Anshuman Rath, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Zonal Deputy Commissioner of South-East, Bhubaneswar.

Anshuman Rath, in an interview with news agency ANI, said, "We had set a target to complete vaccination in a specific timeline. BMC has a record of around nine lakh people who are above 18 years of age in the city. Which includes around 31 thousand healthcare workers, 33 thousand front-line workers. 5 lakh 17 thousand people are in the age group of 18 to 44 years. 3 lakh 25 thousand people are above 45 years of age. We had set a benchmark for these categories to complete their vaccination in the specific timeline by July 31."

ALSO READ | COVID-19 third wave likely in August? Heres what experts have to say

Rath further added, "As per the report, we have already vaccinated 18 lakh 16 thousand people in the city. Only a few people were not being able to take first does due to various reasons. There is a migrating population, who is working in their office in Bhubaneswar and getting the first jab of Covaxin."

The Zonal Deputy Commissioner of South-East also talked about the vaccination of pregnant women. "Pregnant women are getting their first dose at vaccination centres. BMC is running 55 vaccination centres, which includes 30 primary health and community centres, 15 mobilised centres and more than ten drive-in vaccination centres across Bhubaneswar. I thank the people of Bhubaneswar for supporting BMC in achieving the target for the Covid-19 vaccination. All the micro-planning was given by the BMC due to which Bhubaneswar has become the city which has covered 100 percent Covid-19 vaccination," Rath said.

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New Delhi: Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Monday (August 2) reacted to BJP leader Prasad Lad's remark saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can never think of attacking Shiv Sena Bhavan.

The BJP leader earlier stated to have said that if needed, the Shiv Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of Thackeray-led party in central Mumbai, would be demolished.

Issuing rebuttal on Prasad Lad's remark, Raut told ANI, "BJP can never think of attacking Shiv Sena Bhavan. These people are not from BJP. There are some outsiders, some export-import material. These people will take down BJP in Maharashtra. We don't accept this apology."

"The end is near for the BJP in Maharashtra because of the way they are behaving. Whosoever has looked scornfully towards Shiv Sena Bhavan, their leaders and their party were washed away in the gutters of Worli," said the Shiv Sena's editorial mouthpiece, Saamana.

`Shiv Sena Bhawan Todenge` such talk by some degenerate BJP people and clapping on it by Marathi leaders sitting on stage, is this not a traitor to Marathi pride, the Shiv Sena said, adding "Many people having political differences with Shiv Sena, challenged Shiv Sena from time to time. But Shiv Sena stood on those challenges, however, those political opponents never talked about demolishing Shiv Sena Bhavan.`"

Notably, Shiv Sena Bhavan has a statue of Balasaheb Thackeray as well as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. His saffron flag is hoisted at the Bhavan.

While speaking regarding his statement and apologising for it, Maharashtra BJP leader Prasad Lad said, "Yesterday our office was being inaugurated in Mahim. I had received phone calls from many Police personnel who requested that Nitesh Rane and I shouldn`t go there or at least not take out a rally if we go."

He further said, "In my address, I had said that when we come to Dadar-Mahim, then such huge police security is deployed here as if we are going to attack Shiv Sena Bhawan. I have apologised for the statement."

On Sunday, laying the foundation stone of a redevelopment project in Mumbai along with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, "We`re now used to hear criticism but we`re not scared of criticism anymore...We`ve started responding well and strongly to those criticisms, we have started slapping back. We`ll give such tight slaps, that the other person will never get up."

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, who is BJP's Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, told reporters that there is absolutely no room for destructive politics in the party, adding We dont believe in tod-phod politics. It is not part of BJP culture.

(With Agency Inputs)

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New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Partys chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj stated on Monday that the Delhi government does not owe even a single rupee to the MCD. Moreover, the BJP-ruled MCD has to return about Rs. 6,500 crore to the Delhi government. He said that the North MCD has enough money to give funds to their own councilors but no money to pay the salaries of doctors, nurses, and cleaners.

Bhardwaj further said that the North MCD owes Rs 2,407 cr. to the Delhi govt, yet it has decided to give funds of Rs. 50 lakh to its councilors. The BJP-ruled MCD wastes its money on corruption. They do not pay salaries to the employees so that the employees sit on hartals and the MCD can extort money from the Delhi government.

AAP Chief Spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj said, Todays press conference is regarding the North MCD. Some of our colleagues also raised this question in the Vidhan Sabha that does the Delhi government owe any money to the MCD? The MCD and especially BJPs ministers often make a lot of noise regarding this matter. In the house, officially, the Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain informed everyone that the Delhi government does not have to pay even a single rupee to the MCD. Moreover, the MCD owes the Delhi government about Rs. 6,500 crore. And the North MCD has to return Rs. 2,407 crore to the Delhi government that they had borrowed in the form of a loan. The interest on this loan has not been paid for many years.

He said, In this background, the corporation does not pay the salaries of their employees for 3 to 6 months. Doctors in the hospital, nurses, cleanliness workers, teachers in their schools- they do not pay them their salaries for months. They dont pay their salaries to instigate the employees to sit on hartals and throw garbage around the city. During COVID times, even when there are no COVID patients being treated in their hospitals they show that the hospital is shut because the doctors have not been paid their salaries. They do this so that they can force the Delhi government to give them more money.

Bhardwaj said, Every 2-3 months, the MCD uses this same tactic and it has been going on for 10 years. They waste their money because of the rampant corruption in the MCD. And the only way they have to force the Delhi government into giving them money is by withholding the salaries of their employees for 3-6 months and troubling them. The employees end up giving dharnas and hartals after which the MCD asks the Delhi government for more money.

According to Bhardwaj, Yesterday, we got to know this news that the North MCD has decided to give funds of Rs. 50 lakhs to their own councilors. Now that only 6 months are remaining for the elections and they already have a loan of Rs 2,407 crore on their head. Giving funds of Rs 50 lakhs to their own councilors while they withhold the salaries of doctors, nurses, and cleanliness workers for 6 months clearly shows BJPs mentality. This shows that they do have money but instead of paying the salaries of their employees they will give funds to their own councilors.

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New Delhi: A clash broke out between Maharashtra police and BJP workers in Sangli district on Monday (August 2). Traders and BJP workers tried to stop Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's convoy at Harbat Road to make a statement to him following which the clash took place. The Chief Minister is visiting the flood-affected areas of Sangli today.

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New Delhi: As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline, the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday (August 2, 2021) announced to reopen schools, colleges and universities. The Yogi Adityanath-led government informed that intermediate schools in Uttar Pradesh can reopen from August 16 with 50% capacity.

The state government also said that colleges and universities will reopen from September 1.

Instructions have also been given to begin the process of entrance for students in colleges and universities from August 5.

Schools and colleges were shut in Uttar Pradesh due to the second wave of COVID-19 in the country in April and May.

The decision comes on a day when several states including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand reopened their schools for higher classes.

Uttar Pradesh on Sunday reported 36 new COVID-19 cases, which took its total tally to 17,08,476. The death toll in the state currently stands at 22,763 the active COVID-19 count is at 664.

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New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is going to announce the CBSE Class 10 Board results 2021 soon. As CBSE has already declared the results of Class 12 on Friday, lakhs of students of Class 10 are waiting for their turn now. CBSE Exam Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj had on July 30 said that the authorities have started working on the Class 10 results and trying to deliver them by next week.

Here's how to check CBSE Class 10 Board exam results 2021 on cbseresults.nic.in

Once announced, students of the CBSE Class 10 Board can visit CBSE's official website https://www.cbse.gov.in.

On the home page, click on the 'RESULTS' link, which will then take you to cbseresults.nic.in.

Click on the 'Class X Results 2021' option once it is active.

You will be then taken to a new page where you will have to enter your roll number and school number.

Your CBSE Class 10 Board exam result will be displayed on your screen.

Here's how to check CBSE Class 10 Board exam results 2021 on Digilocker

Visit the DigiLocker website  www.digilocker.gov.in or download their app from PlayStore or App Store.

Sign up using your phone or Aadhar number.

After signing up, go to browse documents and then search for the 'Education' column.

In the 'Education' column, click on the 'Central Board of Secondary Education' option.

Once the results are declared, click on the 'Class X Marksheet' option.

Enter your 'Name', 'Year' and 'Roll No' to download your CBSE Class 10th board exam result.

ALSO READ | CBSE Class 10th Result 2021 soon, here's how to check your roll number



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New Delhi: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has said that the ICSE (Class 10th) and ISC (Class 12th) students who want to apply for improvement or compartment exams can register till August 4. CISCE Chief Executive & Secretary Gerry Arathoon on July 30 informed that the registration for the ICSE/ISC 2021 improvement and compartment examinations has been extended from August 1 to August 4.

Arathoon further stated that the ICSE and ISC 2021 improvement and compartment examinations will begin from August 16.

Students who are willing to apply for improvement or have failed can approach their schools to apply for ICSE and ISC 2021 improvement and compartment examinations.

Earlier on July 24, the CISCE had announced ICSE and ISC Board results. In class 10, girls and boys achieved the same pass percentage (99.98 per cent), while in class 12, girls outshone boys by a margin of 0.2 per cent.

The CISCE had cancelled the exams for both classes this year due to the second wave of COVID-19 in the country and the result was prepared on an alternative assessment policy decided by the board.

A total of 2,19,499 candidates, including 54.14 per cent boys and 45.86 per cent girls, had registered for class 10 exams, while 94,011 candidates, including 53.67 per cent boys and 46.33 per cent girls were enrolled in class 12.

For evaluating class 12 candidates, the parameters included average marks of papers and subjects scored in class 11 and 12 through the academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. The average of class 10 marks, including English and best four subjects, and marks of project work and practical exams during class 12 have also been considered in calculation of the final results.

On the other hand, for class 10, the result was tabulated on the basis of average marks scored by candidates in various exams and tests in class 9 and 10 besides internal assessment marks, including the project and practical work.

(With agency inputs)
Mumbai:The Maharashtra government on Monday (August 2) announced further relaxations of coronavirus curbs in 25 districts showing a low positivity rate of the infection, extending the existing business timings of shops, and allowing shopping malls to operate in these districts.

Also, all government, as well as private offices, can operate with full capacity, it said. The relaxations will come into effect from Tuesday morning, said a government order. The state government has not taken any decision on allowing common people to travel by suburban trains in Mumbai.

All shops and other establishments which are currently allowed to operate till 4 pm can now remain open till 8 pm and till 3 pm on Saturdays, it said. Non-essential shops will have to remain closed on Sundays, the order said. The Maharashtra government has also allowed shopping malls to open and operate as per the new guidelines. Outlets such as yoga centers, spas, salons and gyms can operate with 50 per cent capacity and without the use of air conditioning, the order said.

Though the malls will open, no multiplexes, theatres and cinema halls will operate till further order, it said.

There will be no restriction on the movement of people between 9 pm and 5 am on these 25 districts, the order said. The state government has asked the disaster management authorities in Mumbai and Thane districts (which figures among 25 districts with a low positivity rate) to decide on their own set of restrictions.

Many traders in the state and the opposition BJP have been demanding that the timings of shops be extended till 8 pm from the current deadline of 4 pm. Shops and restaurants in the remaining 11 districts (out of total 36), where the coronavirus caseload is high, will continue to operate under existing restrictions.

As per the existing rules, shops and restaurants in these districts are allowed to operate till 4 pm on weekdays. But they have to remain shut on weekends.

These districts are Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Beed, Raigad, and Palghar.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said his government will issue orders on Monday allowing shops to remain open till 8 pm in the districts where the COVID-19 positivity rate is low.

He said allowing all segments of the society in Mumbai local trains would be difficult "in the first phase" as the easing of curbs is being done slowly. Speaking to reporters in Sangli, some 230 kilometers from Pune, Thackeray sought cooperation from people in areas where relaxing the norms was not possible currently due to the caseload.

Thackeray said the pandemic situation in the 11 districts with not-so-encouraging COVID-19 indicators was a cause of worry.

"I have asked district collectors to increase the number of tests as well as doctors to ensure people are protected for COVID-19 as well as water-borne diseases," he said. Speaking on the issue of medical oxygen, the CM said as per an estimate, the amount of medical oxygen required in a possible third wave might be double of what was needed in the second wave, when Maharashtra had to procure it from other states.

He appealed to the private sector to split office timings to reduce attendance in their premises at any one point of time, as well as opt for work from home and work in office turn by turn.
Dehradun: The government of Uttarakhand saw a steep rise of active COVID-19 cases while the neighbouring states saw a decline.

In week 72 (July 25-31), Uttarakhand has seen a 94% rise in new coronavirus cases in comparison to week 71 (July 18-24), according to data provided by the Union Ministry of health.

This alarming development has caused the state to go on high alert as the predicted third wave of COVID-19 approaches.

In week 71 total active cases in the hill state stood 240 which almost doubled to 466 in week 72.

According to a report by the New Indian Express, experts have pointed out that 10 states are already reeling under the weight of rapidly rising of cases including Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram and it is time for Uttarakhand to move ahead in a cautious manner.

July 31, 2021 marks 72 weeks since the first COVID-19 case surfaced in Uttarakhand on March 15, 2020.

Active cases in Uttarakhand till Monday (August 2) stood at 632 with a sample positivity of 0.2% and a recovery rate of 98%. With 23 new cases on Monday, the total number of positive cases detected to date reached 3,42,139, according to the Union heath Minisry report.

The Uttarakhand High Court recently pulled up the state government for the violation of COVID-19 SOPs in tourist places and extended the stay on the Chardham Yatra until the matter pending in the Supreme Court is decided.

Observing that 75 percent of tourists coming to Nainital were not following the COVID-19 SOPs contributing to a rise in positive cases.

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New Delhi: As many as 5,000 police personnel, including commandos, would be deployed and a five-tier security cover put in place for President Ram Nath Kovind, who is set to preside over a commemorative event here to mark the centenary of the state legislature on Monday (August 2, 2021), police said.

The Assembly hall and the state secretariat, both in Fort St George, the Raj Bhavan, and the airport have been brought under the five-tier security cover.

Led by Chennai police commissioner Shankar Jiwal, 5,000 personnel, including those from the commando unit, will be on duty for Kovind's visit.

Precautionary measures and appropriate security arrangements are in place in all the routes that would be used by the President during his visit here, a police release said.

Earlier, Jiwal chaired a meet of senior police officials to review security arrangements and advised them on measures to be followed in view of Kovind's visit.

According to the President's tentative itinerary, he will arrive here on August 2 (afternoon), preside over the centenary fete at the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in the evening and also unveil a portrait of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the House.

On Monday night, Kovind would stay at the Raj Bhavan here and leave for the Nilgiris District on Tuesday.

On August 4, he would visit the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington near Ooty and address the Student Officers of the 77th Staff Course.

He would stay at the Raj Bhavan there and leave for Delhi on August 6.

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New Delhi: The Pegasus row has created a furore in many countries across the world as a cohort of media organisations and other global entities claimed to have unearthed a massive snooping scandal.

However, a deeper look into the connections of these organisations raises serious questions on the legitimacy of such claims.

Many of these organisations have been found to be linked with George Soros Open Society Foundations (OSF). Soros, a Hungarian-born American, is a billionaire, investor and philanthropist who is one of the most controversial figures in the world.

Soros made a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis. He is currently among the 10 richest hedge fund managers in the world with worth around 8.6 billion dollars.

OSF is known to fund organisations that align with its objectives which call for an open society.

In Israel, the organizations that have got grants from OSF include a number of NGOs that deny the legitimacy of Israel. In Palestine, OSF funds NGOs like Al-Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights  both of which are associated with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine  a designated terrorist organisation by US, EU, Canada and Israel.

In India, in January 2020, Soros announced a plan to set up a 1 billion dollar fund to build a global network of higher educational institutions that will help students put up a resistance against growing nationalism.

Soros has called India a Hindu nationalist state which is "suffering the biggest and most frightening setback".

A nexus is trying to alter political realities the world over. One name is imprinted on the narrative its trying to build.

On #GravitasPlus, @palkisu brings you the story of #GeorgeSoros. pic.twitter.com/UIM3VzFpmR  WION (@WIONews) July 31, 2021

This year the Pegasus Project came out which suggests about 300 Indians were spied on.

Is George Soros behind the Pegasus project?

17 media organisations and two global entities  Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories  were part of the Pegasus project. Both Amnesty and Forbidden Stories are beneficiaries of grants from the OSF.

In 2018, Amnesty got a 137,000 Euro grant from OSF for a campaign to repeal a law Ireland had passed.

In June 2021, a month before the Pegasus report came out, OSF named the former secretary-general of Amnesty as its Vice President for Global Affairs.

Forbidden Stories features OSF as a supporter on their website. Sherpa, a French NGO, a persistent litigator in Indias Rafale deal with France has also been a recipient of indirect funds from OSF through a third party.

These clearly establish links between these organisations and Soros. The same goes for the media organisations involved in the project.

The Media Research Centre of the US has said that many media organisations with links to Soros were part of the Pegasus project. The project itself is under investigation in several countries.

These facts point to a global conspiracy behind the Pegasus project. Could it be that a billionaire is using his power, influence and money to make media organisations shape narratives across countries?

Also Read: DNA Exclusive: Exposing the foreign conspiracy behind the Pegasus Project

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New Delhi: As India takes up the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of August, the country will be holding key signature events and will focus on three things, maritime security, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the council virtually on a debate on maritime security.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is expected to travel to New York and will be chairing two important debates, one on technology and peacekeeping and another will be a discussion on Secretary Generals 13th strategic-level report on ISIS.

India is expected to launch a mobile tech platform UNITE AWARE during its presidency for UN Peacekeepers. The platform will increase situational awareness and provides terrain-related information to peacekeepers. New Delhi has contributed $1.64 million towards it and has been working with the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations for the development of the platform. India is one of the largest contributors to UN Peacekeeping missions.

India is a non-permanent member of the UNSC for a period of two years, which began on January 1, 2021. In an interview last week, India's envoy to UN T S Tirumurti said, "We have taken a forward-looking approach on various issues of peace and security" and "provided the much-needed balance in the deliberations within the council."

Other issues that will dominate the agenda of the council will be Syria, renewal of UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)'s mandate, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq when it comes to West Asia. Africa, as always will be the key focus, with the renewal of the mandate of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), Mali, the situation in Ethiopia's Tigray as key areas. In the neighborhood, Myanmar will come up for discussion.

Monday will be the first working day of the council and will see the adoption of the agenda and press conference by Indian envoy Tirumurti. India has been the president of the body in June 1950, September 1967, December 1972, October 1977, February 1985, October 1991, December 1992, August 2011, November 2012. The president decides the agenda for the month, coordinates important meetings and other related issues, and is an influential position.

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New Delhi: Tanveer Ahmad Khan, a resident of Nigeenpora Kund, in the southern part of Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, has secured AIR-2 in the Indian Economic Services (IES) examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). With this achievement, he has become the first youth from Kashmir valley to qualify for the IES exam.

Khan removed all barriers and achieved the top rank, even with the lack of availability of communication and connectivity. Khan studied in a local primary school and later went to Government Degree College Anantnag. He is also has a Masters in Economics from Kashmir University. Following his masters, Khan went to Kolkata for M.phil and was preparing for IES side by side. It was a hard struggle but I never stopped, he said.

Khans father is a farmer and works in Punjab during the winter. While talking about his struggle, Khan said that along with his parents, his maternal uncle Ghulam Nabi Rather, a teacher by profession, kept him guiding and supporting financially and emotionally. This accomplishment is not the only mine, it has many stakeholders, he said.

While remembering his teachers, Khan said one of his teachers namely Bilal Ahmed Wani played a key role in my education. He said, indeed financial support matters a lot but that should not be an obstacle between your goals. Additionally, Khan also hailed NGOs who helped him in difficult times.

After this breakthrough congratulations poured in for Khan. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha took to Twitter and wrote, Congratulations to Tanveer Ahmad Khan of Nigeenpora Kund, Kulgam for getting AIR-2 in Indian Economic Service (IES) 2020. I have always believed that the youth of J&K are inherently capable and full of potential. His feat will inspire and motivate our youngsters. I wish him a bright career.

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Mumbai: Fuming over a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator`s threat to 'raze the Shiv Sena Bhavan', the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)'s a saffron ally on Monday (July 2) warned that the "BJP's end is near" and those who cast an evil eye at the party headquarters, "will be found floating in the Worli gutters".

A BJP MLC Prasad Lad raked up the row by commenting on the posse of the police presence outside the Sena nerve center in south-central Dadar, and said, "if needed, the Sena Bhavan could be demolished", sparking an ugly verbal spat with its former ally.

Though Lad apologized later and expressed regards for the Sena founder the late Balasaheb Thackeray, as the controversy snowballed, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis quickly detached himself from the fracas, saying the BJP doesn`t believe in "the culture of destructive politics".

Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray himself launched a veiled "Dabangg" Sainik-style fighter attack on Sunday, saying they "are not scared of a slap" but those who dared to do it would be paid back in the same coin and in double measure.

While the divide between the two ex-allies just became deeper, the Sena scoffed at the BJP, saying "people who threaten the party are light-weight lowly ruffians, who simply just cannot digest the Sena Flag fluttering atop the Sena Bhavan".

In sharp edits in the party newspapers, `Saamana` and `Dopahar Ka Saamana`, the Sena said the "chindi-chors" (small-time crooks) who talk of attacking the Sena Bhavan are actually targeting the empire of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and the `Marathi Pride` of the `sons of the soil`, cemented by the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray.

It pointed out how the BJP was once a party of "loyal grassroots workers working for the Hindutva ideology, but now it is full of outsiders (defectors from other parties), who have sidelined the original activists to the dump yard -- That is why this party (BJP)`s end is looming near..."

Lampooning the BJP, the Sena said during the post-Babri riots of 1992-1993, the Sena Bhavan was the true protector of the Hindus and Marathis who believes in Hindutva, while these "rioters of today were scared of Pakistan and wetting the mattress at home".

The edit said that Shiv Sena represents justice, hope, and aspirations, while the BJP was a traitor party that did not live up to its promise, but despite this, "today, Sena has become the ruling party in Maharashtra".

Throwing the final gauntlet, the Sena said that those who showed the daring to reach the Sena Bhavan on their feet would not return likewise, "so they should ensure they come with a few who can carry them back on their shoulders".

(With agency inputs)
Mumbai: Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) was expected to release HSC Result 2021 on August 2, Monday. But now the latest reports claimed that Maharashtra HSC Result 2021 is likely to be delayed further as the board has not completed the result computation work yet due to the flood situation in the state.

Though an official confirmation is awaited, several media portals reported that HSC result 2021 is likely to be delayed by 2 more days. Meanwhile, officials asserted that the board is working day and night to prepare the result and release it at the earliest. Notably, the Supreme Court had asked all state boards to declare the 12th exam results by July 31.

Last year, 90.66 per cent of the students had passed the Class 12 HSC exam. However, this year the pass percentage is expected to improve much as the board had to cancel all the exams in the wake of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students may check their results via these websites as well.

1. mahresult.nic.in

2. hscresult.mkcl.org

3. examresults.net

4. indiaresults.com

Maharashtra HSC Result 2021: Steps to check results

1. Visit the official website of MSBSHSE  mahahsscboard.in

2. On the homepage, click on the link MSBSHSE HSC Result 2021

3. Enter your login credentials and click on Submit

4. Your result will be displayed on the screen

5. Check the result, download it, and keep a copy for future reference.

Please stay tuned for all the updates.
Sheopur: Around 60 people were stranded in a flooded building on Monday (August 2) following heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district and efforts were underway to rescue them.

These people had gone to attend a wedding in the two-storey building located near the Vijaypur bus stand on Sunday night, but got stuck as flood waters entered the premises, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Neeraj Sharma told PTI.

The entire ground floor of the building was submerged and people moved to the first floor, he said, adding that the structure's boundary wall had collapsed.

Several areas of Sheopur, located around 400 km from the state capital Bhopal, were inundated after the Parvati river breached its banks following heavy showers.

Heavy rains also pounded Vijaypur tehsil in the district.

Fifty to sixty people had gone to attend a wedding in the building near the Vijaypur bus stand. They got stuck there due to flooding. We have launched a rescue operation. A few people have been moved to a safer place, Sharma said.

He said some other areas in Vijaypur tehsil were also flooded and seven-eight people were rescued from there.

The Vijaypur tehsil in the district received 160.5 mm rain in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am Monday, according to the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) office in the state capital Bhopal.

The IMD on Sunday had issued a 'red alert', warning of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, ranging from 115.6 mm to 204.5 mm or above, along with thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places in 10 MP districts - Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Datia, Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Neemuch and Mandsaur.

Guna's Barod area received the highest 286 mm rainfall in west Madhya Pradesh in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Monday, the IMD said.

Intermittent rains have been lashing most parts of the state since Sunday, it said.

The IMD's Bhopal office on Monday received reports of waterlogging in low-lying areas of various cities in the state.

(With inputs from news agency PTI)

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Kathmandu: Nepal Home Ministry on Monday (August 2) sent a five-member probe panel to Darchula district to investigate the incident where a Nepalese man washed away in the Mahakali river along the Indian border. The panel has been asked to submit its report within 10 days after carrying out an onsite investigation.

For now, the Home Ministry has dismissed the reports of India-Nepal border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) allegedly snapping the rope of an improvised cable.

A five-member committee has been sent on-site to investigate the incident and after receiving the report we will see what further needs to be done. However, we have not received any reports of involvement of the Indian side in the mishap yet, Phanindra Mani Pokharel, Joint Secretary of Home Ministry told Zee Media.

The probe panel includes Joint-Secretary of the Home Ministry, Janardan Gautam, Deputy Inspector General of Nepal Police, Purushottam Kandel, Investigation Officer of the National Investigation Department, Hutraj Thapa, Senior Superintendent of Armed Police Force, Suresh Kumar Shrestha, and Assistant Chief District Officer of Darchula, Jyotsana Bhatta.

Assistant Chief District Officer of Darchula, Jyotsana Bhatta refused to speak to Zee Media on the incident.

The mishap took place on Friday when Jaya Singh Dhami, 33, who was going to his home in Khalanga, fell into the river while trying to cross it through an improvised cable carriage.

A day after the incident, the Home Ministry issued a statement, asking the media to not disseminate "misleading" information, as the incident is under investigation.

The ministry spokesperson, Fanindramani Pokharel, in the statement asked all concerned "not to publish any misleading news in the matter as the incident (SSB untying the cable) has not yet been proven true.

A team of security forces has been deployed to the incident site for fact-finding purposes, the statement said.

In a separate statement, Assistant Chief District Officer of Darchula, Jyotsana Bhatta had earlier said that her office has sent a letter to the local authority concerned in India to help to initiate action for finding the facts related to the incident.

Earlier, CPN (UML) issued a statement strongly condemning the inhuman and cruel incident of the death of Jaya Singh Dhami and urged the Government of Nepal to inquire properly, to seek clarification from India, and to provide compensation.

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New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday (August 2) came in support of a discussion in the Parliament over the Pegasus snooping row. He also demanded an investigation into the allegations.

Talking to the media, Kumar said that the matter is widely being discussed in media and opposition leaders have been demanding a discussion in Parliament on it, therefore, it must be done.

We have been hearing about telephone tapping for so many days, the matter should be discussed, said Bihar CM.

AN investigation into the matter must be done, he added.

Meanwhile, both houses of the Parliament saw repeated disruptions as opposition members kept pushing for a discussion on the matter, while the Centre refused to entertain it.

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day as opposition members continued their protest on Monday. Rajya Sabha proceedings were also adjourned for the day after repeated disruptions.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury termed Pegasus as a `spying scandal` and asked the Centre why it is not investigating the matter.

Speaking to ANI of Monday, the Congress leader said, This government is wasting money. What should we do? Not just in this country, discussions on Pegasus are happening all over the world. Countries like Israel, France, the US, Europe are investigating into the matter. Then, why is the Centre not investigating it? Why is the PM Modi government scared? I tell you, Pegasus is a spying scandal.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the plea of senior journalist N Ram seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping scandal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ram and veteran scribe Sashi Kumar, that the petition has been filed and numbered and needed to be heard in view of the large ramifications of the alleged snooping.

The plea said the alleged snooping represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.

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New Delhi: Senior bureaucrat and Prime Minister Narendra Modis advisor Amarjeet Sinha has resigned from PMO, media reports said on Monday (August 2).

Sinha joined the PMO as advisor to PM in February last year. The reason for his resignation was not immediately known.

Sinha is a retired IAS officer who has handled several projects related to the social sector. A Bihar-cadre officer of 1983 batch, Sinha had superannuated as the rural development secretary in 2019 and was then appointed to the PMO.

Some of the programmes or schemes in which Sinha was involved include MGNREGA, PMAY (Rural), PMGSY, Rurban Mission, DAY-NRLM, etc. He was also associated with the work of training IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie for nearly one and a half decades.

In March this year, former cabinet secretary P K Sinha, who worked there as principal advisor, had resigned from his post at PMO.

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Chandigarh: Schools for all classes reopened in Punjab on Monday, with physical classes resuming after a gap of a few months for pre-primary levels.

The attendance was reported more from rural areas while turnout at many private schools was not that high.

The state government on Saturday had allowed reopening of schools for all classes from August 2 as it further relaxed Covid restrictions in the wake of declining cases.

While all coronavirus-related protocols will have to be strictly followed, parents will have to provide a written consent for their children to attend schools from 8 am to 2 pm.

Officials said schools reopened for all classes across the state on Monday.

Earlier, schools had reopened for pre-primary levels and classes 1 and 2 in Punjab in February this year after a gap of nearly 10 months after classes were suspended in March 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Before deciding to reopen schools for all classes from August 2, the government had already allowed reopening of schools for Classes 10 to 12 from July 26.

Virtual classes will continue for students who are unable to attend classes at schools.

At many places including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Rupnagar, Mohali and Patiala, children looked in a happy and festive mood as they returned to their respective schools after a long break.

Ridhi, a student of Class 9 at DAV Public School in BRS Nagar in Ludhiana, expressed happiness over the decision. " We were really fed up sitting at our homes," she said.

Payal, a Class 9 student in Rupnagar, said she had been missing her teachers and friends and was now feeling delighted to attend the school.

A science student from Amritsar, Rajbir Kaur said, "It is not possible to take practical classes while sitting at home and without a science lab".

Some parents, however, expressed apprehensions on classes resuming in physical mode amid the pandemic.

In Patiala city, 50 per cent attendance was reported in the schools while villages recorded a higher percentage.

According to Gurmukh Singh, the father of an eighth class student of a government school, Patiala, he did not send his child to school because the children had not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Another parent from Patiala, who did not wish to disclose his name, said there was pressure from the "private school lobby" to reopen schools for all classes.

In Rupnagar and some other districts, thin attendance was seen in primary classes, while in Ferozepur, both students and parents had mixed reactions on government's decision to reopen schools for all classes.

Although most parents are still worried about COVID-19, they said they will monitor the progress of the reopening of schools for a week.

Some parents claimed that their wards were unable to learn well through online classes due to the internet connectivity issue.

Many parents expressed apprehensions about a possible spike in COVID-19 cases.

"Of course, I am worried about my daughter's safety, even though she is excited. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the Covid situation, you feel scared," said Pooja Vohra, a parent in Ferozepur.

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly and AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema sought to know from the state government on the basis of which report of doctors and education experts did it take "such a big decision" (on reopening all classes) relating to the lives of 60.5 lakh children, who constitute 20 per cent of the state's total population.

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Lucknow: With an aim to consistently better education facilities, the primary and upper primary schools of the Basic Education Department across the state have been given a major makeover under the Yogi regime.

As the state-run primary schools have outperformed even the private schools in terms of basic facilities and infrastructure, the government schools have seen a massive increase in enrollment of over one lakh children as compared to the enrollment that took place in the last session.

The state government has increased the basic facilities for students in 1.39 lakh council schools that now have smart classrooms, playgrounds, toilets, drinking water and libraries.

To fulfill the 'Quality Education' resolution under Operation Kayakalp, the Yogi government of the state has amalgamated traditional teaching methodology with tech-based learning through computers and projectors to improve the level of education and to encourage the students coming from poor backgrounds in various districts. All the classes have been transformed into smart classes and have been equipped with modern facilities which have also enhanced the receptivity and understanding of the students.

The state government is providing free resources, such as books, bags, stationery, sweaters, shoes and socks, to children of primary classes so that they are not deprived of their right to education due to financial constraints. With this, the government has also worked relentlessly to increase the basic facilities for all the students by introducing various initiatives including smart classrooms, playgrounds, clean toilets, drinking water and libraries and more such facilities.

In addition, the government also ensured that students continue to learn even amid the prevailing covid-19 pandemic. The teachers continued the regular classes of the children by forming WhatsApp groups. As a result of the sustained efforts of the Basic Education Department, even during the prevailing pandemic, more than 1,27,068 students have been enrolled in council schools in the current session.

According to the data provided by the Basic Education Department, the number of students in council schools in the session 2020-21 was 1,83,72,932 whereas in the current session, the number of students has increased to more than 1.85 crores.

Efforts that gave a boost to the education sector

The Uttar Pradesh government, committed to transforming the Basic Education Department in the state, initiated the Prerna Sarathi Campaign to give a boost to online education. In this, a teacher under mission Prerna, identifies a citizen, student, guardian of the child or any other relative of the locality or village around his/her school as Prerna Sarathi, and then the Prerna Sarathi works with teachers to make parents aware of online education in the village and adjoining areas.

In comparison to last year, where only 25 to 30 percent of children were attending online classes, this year over 50 percent of students from every school in UP are studying online. Teachers are sending homework and educational videos to the children by connecting them with e-pathshalas, thereby ensuring regular studies.



Students being provided free uniforms and books

Free shoes, stockings, and sweaters were distributed by the government to 1,59,44,042 students in the last session 2020-21 in the council schools of the Basic Education Department.
Jaipur: Congress leader Kumari Selja has made a short, unannounced trip here to meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, fuelling speculation over a likely reshuffle in his Cabinet.

Selja, who is Haryana Congress president, landed at Jaipur airport on Sunday night, held a brief meeting with Gehlot at his residence and then left for Delhi on Monday morning, party leaders said.

The sudden trip has added to the speculation over the expected reshuffle, amid demands by supporters of former chief minister Sachin Pilot that they should get a bigger share of power in the Congress-ruled state.

There has been no official statement on the meeting but is being speculated that Selja travelled to Jaipur to convey a message from the party's central leadership.

Selja is supposed to enjoy the confidence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and is also considered close to Gehlot.

She was the chairperson of the screening committee formed to decide the Congress candidates in the last assembly elections in Rajasthan.

Congress general secretary Ajay Maken, who is in-charge of Rajasthan at the AICC, last week held a series of meetings with party MLAs and state unit leaders in Jaipur.

In a clear indication that some members of the Gehlot Cabinet may be dropped, Maken had on Friday said a few ministers have expressed willingness to quit the state government to work for the organisation.

The Gehlot government, which came to power in December 2018, has completed half of its tenure.

The demand for a cabinet reshuffle and political appointments to other posts gained momentum in June after some MLAs close to Sachin Pilot expressed resentment, saying promises made by the party high command to him last year had not be fulfilled.

Including Gehlot, there are 21 members now in the Rajasthan ministry and up to nine more can be accommodated. Similarly, there are vacancies in party units at the district level.

The Congress high command had brought about a truce in the Rajasthan unit after rebel MLAs led by Pilot appeared to bring the Gehlot government to the brink of collapse last year.

A three-member AICC committee was formed to look into the grievances of Pilot supporters. But they claim that this has not happened even months later.

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Lucknow: Miffed with Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadavs tweet on the Vindhya Dham ropeway project, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister and BJP spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh has said that the SP has no chance in the upcoming assembly elections and piqued by their partys predictable defeat, he is making nonsensical statements.

Samajwadi Partys defeat in the 2022 elections is a certainty. In fact, this time Akhilesh and his party will be swept out of Uttar Pradesh. People are waiting for the elections to kick you and your party out from the state. Even you know this well too and for this reason, you are engaged in making baseless and nonsensical statements on every petty issue, said Singh.

Hitting out at Yadav, the senior UP Minister further said that the Samajwadi Party is just making false claims and taking the credit for whatever work the BJP has done in the state.

Now, in regard to the development work of Vindhya Dham, Yadav is framing fabricated statements, he said.

The BJP leader said that Yadav is a frustrated person perpetually engaged in misguiding the people of the state through his fallacious claims. It is going to take him nowhere. People have lost their trust in the party. Akhilesh is making an unsuccessful attempt of spreading misinformation and misplaced campaign against the Yogi government, he said.

Akhilesh Yadav is bearing the fruits of what he has done while he was into power and it is the result of his deeds that he is now out of power and not able to show his face in public, he added.

Questioning the SP chief, Singh said, What credentials do you have when you were in the power? The lawlessness, nepotism, corruption and lobbying for terrorists have been hallmark of SP's regime. How you squandered public money in celebrations at Saifai, was a common knowledge, Singh charged, adding "you may continue to dream to regain power but the smart and knowledgable public is not going to fall into your trap so easily. Your dreams are bound to be shattered.

Notably, on Sunday (August 1), Yadav tweeted about the ropeway which was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Vindhya Dham. Yadav credited the development of the project to his government.

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New Delhi: Security forces on Monday (August 2) spotted four drones in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district. The objects were noticed in the intervening nights of Sunday and Monday.

Police sources said the four flying objects were spotted in the Baniyari, Ghagwal, Nad and Ramgadh areas of Samba district. According to reports, the drones were spotted hovering over military establishments in these areas. "Police personnel did not fire at these as they were out of range, but the army was immediately alerted", sources said.

After confirmation from police about spotting these objects, security forces have been put on high alert in and around the area.

Meanwhile, top security and administration officials on Monday reviewed the security situation in the Jammu region at a high-level meeting in Jammu, officials said. The security and intelligence review meeting was chaired by General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 16 Corps Lt Gen M V Suchindra Kumar and was attended by senior civil, police, paramilitary, army and intelligence officers at the 16 Corps headquarters in Nagrota, a defence spokesman said.

The meeting is significant in the wake of the increasing use of drones by Pakistan to ferry weapons and explosives along the Line of Control and carry out attacks on security establishments in the region.

Lt Gen Kumar appreciated the coordination between the army, security forces and civil administration to maintain peace in the region.

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Chennai: A Serosurvey conducted by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Tamil Nadu has indicated that 66.2% of the Southern Indian states population has developed antibodies to Covid-19. The presence of antibodies in the bloodstream shows that a person has either been infected with COVID-19 and developed antibodies to fight the virus or that the effect of vaccination is reflecting.

This survey (random blood tests) which was done in July 2021, covered 26,610 persons across urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu. The latest survey results showcase a steep increase in antibodies in the states population, as the current 62% is up from the 31% seen in Oct/Nov2020 and the 29% seen in April 2020.

According to the Health Department, 17,624 individuals had IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Virus, which causes COVID-19. It is mentioned that the highest seropositivity of 84%v was observed in Virudhunagar district and the lowest of 37% was in Erode district.

The Tamil Nadu Health Department conducted this survey during the declining stage of the second wave of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu and when the vaccination drive had covered nearly 1 crore persons(either single or double dose) by June. Notably, the western districts of the state such as Erode, Coimbatore, and Tiruppur have reported 45% seropositivity, which is said to be related to the consistent reporting of new cases in the region.

Based on tests across 70 districts in 21 states, the 4th National Serosurvey by the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) also says that nearly 2/3rds of the general population has antibodies against COVID-19. However, the data also raises alarm over the fact that nearly 40crore people across India are still vulnerable to COVID-19. It also added that states/districts without antibodies had the risk of further COVID waves.

Owing to the rise in cases in recent days, the Tamil Nadu Government had empowered local administrations, civic bodies to impose restrictions in crowded areas. In line with this, nine crowded market areas in Chennai were ordered shut until August 9th. The Government also warned the people against complacency, thus reminding them the woes of a Lockdown, in case of a severe spike in cases. Effective August 5th, Tamil Nadu Government has made RT-PCR tests or Double-vaccination certificates mandatory for those entering the state from Kerala, which is reporting almost half of Indias COVID-19 caseload. In the case of those who have received both shots, they are allowed to enter Tamil Nadu 14 days after having taken the second jab.

After a period of significant decline to nearly 1,500 cases every day, Tamil Nadus COVID-19 cases are almost at 2,000 daily cases, as per the State Government data.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Monday granted permission to a woman for medical termination of her 22-week pregnancy as the foetus was suffering from serious abnormalities with less chances of survival.

Justice Rekha Palli considered the report of medical board of AIIMS that it agreed with the decision of the would-be-parents to abort the foetus due to the abnormalities.

"Considering the report of experts.., I am of the view that the petition deserves to be allowed. The petitioner (woman) is allowed to terminate the pregnancy," the judge said.

The court granted permission to the couple to get the pregnancy terminated at the hospital of their choice, Lady Hardinge Hospital, and said the gynaecologist concerned shall ensure that the process is done at the earliest.

The court allowed the petition filed by a 32-year-old woman, who completed 22-week gestation period, seeking permission to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy on the ground that the her foetus was suffering from various defects and abnormalities.

Advocate Sneha Mukherjee, representing the woman, submitted that continuation of the pregnancy to its full term not only carries a substantial risk of serious physical handicap to the offspring but also a high chance of morbidity in the foetus.

Section 3 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not permit termination of pregnancy in case the period of gestation is more than 20 weeks.

The couple, who was present in the video conferencing hearing, told the court that keeping in view the abnormalities with which the foetus has been suffering, they are desirous to discontinue the pregnancy.

The court, on July 28, had directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to expeditiously constitute a medical board and examine the woman and furnish a report regarding the feasibility of undergoing termination of her pregnancy.

In January last year, the union cabinet had approved the Medical Termination Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which provides for enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women including survivors of rape, victim of incest and other vulnerable women, like ones with disabilities as well as minors.

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It was a candid conversation with Aam Aadmi party leader and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha and a Twitter user on July 31. The user wrote that she doesnt want free electricity but Raghav Chadha.

To which, Chadha simply replied, I'm not on the manifesto, but free electricity is. Vote for Kejriwal and I promise youll get free electricity, 24x7. Cant commit the same about myself though.

I'm not on the manifesto, but free electricity is. Vote for Kejriwal and I promise youll get free electricty, 24x7. Cant commit the same about myself though :) https://t.co/F0tqLLp1FL  Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) July 31, 2021

AAP is gearing up for the assembly elections in Punjab where the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has promised free 300 unit electricity per month to every household.

Kejriwal has also promised free electricity up to 300 units for every household in Uttarakhand where the assembly polls are due in 2022.

The free electricity and water bait worked for the AAP in the Delhi assembly elections of 2015 and 2020. The state government also delivered on the promises.

In the poll-bound Punjab, which has a rich agricultural tradition, free electricity could be a big impetus for farmers as it will bring down the total cost of farming. Probably thats why even the Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu batted for the same during his fight with the state CM Amarinder Singh. Sidhu is now the state Congress chief.

AAP and Congress are likely to jostle for more seats in the state as they share a common vote bank. AAP has started putting extra focus on Punjab now and this can only make the poll campaigns more interesting from here.

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New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Police has prohibited the religious processions during Muharram due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the circular issued by Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Mukul Goel on July 31, the Shia clerics have raised questions over the objectionable language used in it. They were unhappy with Muharram being repeatedly referred to as a 'festival' in the circular issued to police personnel in all districts. Police officials have also been asked to take clerics in confidence to ensure a ban on congregations

The All India Shia Personal Law Board has now convened a meeting on Monday (August 2) evening to discuss the issue. The clerics have also reportedly demanded that the Yogi Adityanath-led government should immediately withdraw the guidelines and termed it as a 'charge sheet against the Shia community'.

"The guidelines are unacceptable as it shows the peace-loving Shias in poor light," IANS quoted Maulana Kalbe Noorie as saying.

General Secretary of Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Hind, Maulana Kalbe Jawad, said that communication with the DGP would be possible only when the document is withdrawn.

"The language is condemnable. We have asked Muharram committees to boycott meetings convened by the police and administration," he added.

President of the Shia Markazi Chand Committee, Maulana Saif Abbas, said that the person who had drafted the document is apparently conspiring to disrupt peace.

"The DGP should know that Muharram is certainly not a 'festival' but a period of mourning. The guidelines show the insensitivity of the state government towards the Muslim community," Maulana Yasoob Abbas told IANS.

Mukul Goel, in the guidelines issued on Saturday, had ordered that Muharram should be celebrated in the state alongside adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour and by keeping in the mind the restrictions that are in place to check the spread of the virus.

No procession should be allowed on the occasion of Muharram, in view of COVID19 pandemic: Uttar Pradesh Police pic.twitter.com/sTw7ZZk7RD  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 1, 2021

The UP DGP said that the display of any kind of weapon will be disallowed and instructed police officials to take preventive action against anti-social elements and keep a watchful eye on social media for fake and provoking content.

Goel also urged his officers to communicate with religious leaders for spreading awareness about COVID-19 and the need to celebrate Muharram indoors.

"All the programs to be held on Muharram should be decided in the meeting of the peace committee," he said.

Muharram, notably, is the first of the four sacred months of the Islamic calendar. It also marks the anniversary of the battle of Karbala during which Islamic prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussain Ibn Ali was killed. The 10-day mourning period is scheduled to begin on August 10 this year.

Earlier this month, the Yogi Adityanath-led government had also suspended the Kanwar Yatra due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh reported 36 new COVID-19 cases and 76 recoveries on Sunday. The state currently has 664 active coronavirus infections.

(With agency inputs)
Lucknow: In an effort to provide assistance and help mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on the poor, on August 5, free food grains will be distributed to about 80 lakh beneficiaries of Uttar Pradesh at around 80,000 fair price shops under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana.

On the same day, the Prime Minister will interact with the public representatives present at these price shops of the state through video conferencing, during which the beneficiaries will share their experiences of the ration distribution system and how it changed their lives amid the ongoing pandemic.

Around 100 beneficiaries will be invited to each fair price shop and will receive a free ration under the scheme. The Chief Minister has given instructions to ensure utmost transparency during the distribution, for which a nodal officer will be appointed at each shop.



Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given directions to speed up the preparations and make all necessary arrangements. Officials have been asked to install television sets so that maximum people can get the Prime Minister's guidance. The beneficiaries will receive the free food grain in 25 kg ration bags.

In order to help the migrants, poor and under-privileged sections of the society to tide over the hardship of corona times, the government is providing free 5 kg food grains to over 15 crore beneficiaries of the State. Under the scheme, each beneficiary receives 3 kg wheat and 2 kg rice.

Aiming at reducing woes of the economically marginalized citizens and ensuring that no one sleeps hungry in the state amid the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government has so far distributed approximately 100 Lakh MT of free food grains in the State since the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020).



As per the Chief Ministers directives, the distribution was carried out entirely through PoS devices with biometric Aadhaar and dealer authentication in an utmost transparent manner.



The Yogi-led government in Uttar Pradesh has distributed around 7639378.955 MT of free food grains under PMGKAY. While approximately 2360402.64 MT of free ration was separately distributed by the government, which is over and above the ration being distributed under PMGKAY. The total distribution amounts to 100 lakh MT in the state.





With a strong will to conquer the war against Covid-19 along with saving the livelihoods of people, CM Yogi Adityanath is making all efforts to provide relief to the weaker section amid the pandemic. Along with PMGKAY, the UP government of Yogi Adityanath is also distributing free ration, giving double relief to the people. The distribution by the state continued from April to June in 2020, while in 2021, the Yogi government announced the distribution to be carried out for the month of June, July, and August.





Notably, there are more than 1,30,07,969 units of beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Ann Yojna and over 13,41,77, 983 units under Priority Household cardholders



43,572 cardholders in other states and 6616 cardholders from other states took ration.



Under the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme, the facility of national portability has been implemented in the state since June last year, under which 43,572 cardholders of the state have taken ration from other states and 6616 cardholders of other states have availed free ration in Uttar Pradesh.



The ration was delivered to more than 8137 helpless people at their homes.

Five kg ration per unit has been given by the central and state government for 16 months, that is, 80 kg ration has been given to a person so far. Apart from this, more than 8137 helpless people of the state have received free ration by the Food and Logistics Department at their homes.
New Delhi: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has launched Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana under which children who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will be given an assistance of Rs 3000 each.

A total of 2347 boys and girls aged under 21 years have been identified, out of which 1062 children have been benefitted in the first phase of the scheme.

Along with monetary assistance, arrangements are being made for free ration, free education to them according to a statement from the state government. The government will also focus on the skill development of these children.

The Chief Minister said, It is not possible to compensate for the departure of parents and guardians of children during the Corona period. But the state government will always take care of them like a guardian.

All the announcements that have been made since the year 2017 are in the process of being fulfilled. Recently, a package of Rs 200 crores was sanctioned for people associated with Char Dham Yatra and tourism who were affected by Corona, while Rs 205 crores for Corona warriors working in health sector and health sector. The process of recruitment to the vacant posts for the youth is going to start rapidly, the CM added.

State Minister Rekha Arya informed that Vatsalya Yojana will cover those children whose earning parent or guardian died due to the pandemic.

Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana has been implemented for the care of the affected children, rehabilitation, protection of movable immovable property, inheritance and legal rights. Under this scheme, financial assistance of Rs 3000 per month will be given to the children under the age of 21 years, she said.

State Minister Ganesh Joshi said that the government is providing all possible help to the children orphaned by the pandemic.
New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai met BJP president JP Nadda on Monday (August 2) to finalise a list of probables for the keenly awaited expansion of his cabinet. Union Minister Prahlad Joshi and Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel also attended the consultative meeting and according to sources, Bommai reached Nadda's residence at 8.45 pm.

The meeting was rescheduled four times. The chief minister also met BJP national general secretary B L Santosh and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. However, Bommai's meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah could not take place.

Sources said that one round of discussion on cabinet expansion between Bommai and senior party leaders took place on Sunday late night.

In Karnataka, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah took a dig at the BJP government, saying the new CM was running around for cabinet expansion instead of focusing on COVID-19.

"Thousands have died in the absence of adequate hospitals, beds, ventilators and oxygen. It must be prevented from recurring but Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is running around for cabinet expansion instead of focusing on COVID-19," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Karwar, the headquarters town of Uttara Kannada district.

Earlier in the day, Bommai said cabinet expansion can take place most likely on Wednesday if the list is finalised in a meeting with the BJP central leadership. The chief minister, who reached the national capital late on Sunday night, said the expansion will be done in a balanced way keeping in mind the previous team.

"The list may get finalised either today or tomorrow. If it gets finalised tonight, the cabinet expansion can take place on Wednesday," Bommai told reporters.

A comprehensive discussion will be held with BJP chief Nadda about the cabinet formation, including whether it should be done in several stages or one go, he said.

Even balancing of regional and social representation will be kept in mind while deciding names, he added. "Based on these factors, the numbers and names will be decided. Even how many deputy CMs should be made will also be decided in the meeting," Bommai said.

The chief minister further said that in the current political situation efforts will be made to take every one together. "We are hopeful that cabinet making will be fruitful. Not only fruitful, it should serve the purpose of serving the people of the state," he said.

The chief minister also said some aspirants have met him here and held discussions. "They also know not everyone can become ministers," he added. "We will do it in a balanced way keeping in mind the previous cabinet team," he said.

Bommai took oath as the chief minister on July 28 after the resignation of his predecessor B S Yediyurappa on July 26. He is the lone Cabinet member in the government.
New Delhi: A Muslim man who looked after an orphaned Hindu girl married her off to a Hindu man as per Vedic traditions in Karnataka's Vijaypura.

Mehboob Masli is the guardian of an 18-year-old Hindu girl, identified as Pooja Vadigeri. She was adopted and being taken care of by Masil as a father after her own parents refused to bring her up.

Although Masli had four children of his own, he decided to bring the young girl at his home and adopt her.

The girl was married off by Masli on July 31. He performed and facilitated Pooja's marriage to a Hindu man as per customs on Friday.

During the wedding ceremony, Masli while speaking to media said that it was his responsibility to marry the girl off to a man from the religion she belongs to. "She lived in my home for over a decade but I never forced her to practice our religion (Islam) or to marry a Muslim man. It is against the principles of our religion," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

He added that the groom's parents happily accepted the girl without demanding any dowry. The man further urged the people to live in harmny amongst diverse communities.

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New Delhi: Actress Shilpa Shetty has released her first statement after businessman husband Raj Kundras arrest on July 19 in pornography creation and distribution case. The actress calls herself a proud law-abiding Indian citizen and has said she has till now made no comment on the case, which are falsely attributed to her.

Yes! The past few days have been challenging, on every front. There have been a lot of rumours and accusations. A lot of unwarranted aspersions on me cast by the media and (not so) well wishers as well. A lot of trolling/questions posed not only to me but also to my family. MY STAND I HAVE NOT COMMENTED YET and will continue to refrain from doing so on this case as it is subjudice, so please stop attributing false quotes on my behalf, read Shilpas note.

The Hungama 2 actress said in her note that she has full faith in the Mumbai Police and the Indian judiciary. Reiterating my philosophy of, as a celebrity Never complain, never explain. All I will say is, as its an on-going investigation, I have full faith in the Mumbai Police & the Indian judiciary.

The 46 years old requested privacy and said she and her family do not deserve a media trial As a family, we are taking recourse to all our available legal remedies. But, till then I humbly request you - especially as a MOTHER - to respect our privacy for my childrens sake and request you to refrain from commenting on half-baked information without verifying the veracity of the same. I am a proud law-abiding Indian citizen and a hardworking professional for the last 29 years. People have put their faith in ME & Ive never let anyone down. So, most importantly, I request you to respect my familys and my right to privacy in these times. We dont deserve a media trial. Please let the law take its course. Satyamev Jayate! With Positivity and Gratitude, Shilpa Shetty Kundra.

Earlier Shilpa had sued 29 media personnel and publications for "false reporting and maligning her image" in husband Raj Kundra's pornography case.
New Delhi: It's no secret that power couple Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra are known to enjoy the grander things in life. So, when Raj Kundra proposed to Shilpa with a mere 5-carat diamond ring, she was a little unimpressed! In a previous interview with talk show host Shibani Dandekar, Shilpa had described that she was expecting a bigger ring. She said that Raj had planned a surprise proposal for her and said that everyone in her family knew about it except her.

She jokingly said that when Raj revealed the ring from a dessert that they were eating, she was disappointed to see that it was only a 5-carat diamond. Raj, playing along with her, reassured her that he will gift her a bigger ring for their wedding.

Shilpa said on The Love Laugh Live Show, "It was a five-carat diamond ring and I might sound really materialistic but I was like, Its just five carats. I took a while to say yes because I was like, This is not what I imagined. No, no, I am just joking. Because I took two seconds more, he was like, The wedding ring will be bigger."

Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra tied the knot on November 22, 2009, in a lavish wedding ceremony. The couple is parents to son Viaan Raj Kundra, 8, and daughter Samisha Shetty Kundra. Samisha was born through surrogacy earlier this year.

Earlier today, she released her first statement on social media after businessman husband Raj Kundra's arrest on July 19 in a pornography creation and distribution case. The actress called herself a 'proud law-abiding Indian citizen' and said she has till now made no comment on the case. Therefore, she asked media houses to stop attributing false statements to her.
New Delhi: The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed our viewpoint towards the pension system. The pandemic has deepened the need to have a back-up plan that takes care of our old age. It is in this backdrop that National Pension System (NPS) has emerged as one of the most preferred choice for people needing a contingency plan.

The demand for a pension scheme has gained a lot of momentum with government too focusing on Atal Pension Scheme (APS) for a wider reach. In the last one year, the process of opening National Pension System (NPS) account has been made much simpler. And as per Zee Business sources, soon NPS products will be sold in the life insurance companies. This means that individual agents could sell NPS products as they sell life insurance products.

Sources further added that after NPS agents also get the same opportunities on the lines of insurance and mutual fund agents once they get a go-ahead from the insurance regulator. Sources further added that life insurance companies will sell NPS products as distributors and they will will be on the lines of Point of Presence (POP).

Who can open National Pension System (NPS) Account?

Any individual citizen of India (both resident and Non-resident) in the age group of 18-65 years (as on the date of submission of NPS application) can join NPS. Although, opening multiple NPS accounts for an individual is not allowed under NPS, an Individual can have one account in NPS and another account in Atal Pension Yojna.
Washington: National Aeronautics and Space Administration ((NASA) always keeps its interested and curious followers engaged by providing some incredible images and information from its exoplanet exploration missions. Following the same course, NASA has now shared some astonishing images of different characteristic features of the red planet, Mars. These images are captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) which was launched in August 2005.

MRO's primary goal is to search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time.

Youve got mail from Mars, reads the first line of the caption shared along with the images. Our @NASAJPL Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recently released new images showing off the many different features of the Red Planet! Swipe through to explore, read the caption of the post. The share also describes what each picture shows.

MRO Spots Clays and Ice

This image taken by MRO shows ice sheets at Mars' south pole. The spacecraft detected clays near this ice; scientists have proposed such clays are the source of radar reflections that have been previously interpreted as liquid water using data from the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express orbiter.

Layers Blanket a Crater Floor

This image shows a layered rock formation within Jiji Crater that has eroded into buttes and stair-like layers. This formation extends west and east. Similar layered rocks are within several craters in Arabia Terra and Meridiani Planum, including Sera and Banes craters.

Seasonal Changes of Polar Megadunes

This image covers a unique polar dune field during northern spring, revealing some interesting patterns. The main "megadune" formation comprises giant crescent-shaped dunes called "barchans," which have been migrating (from upper-right to lower-left) over the past several centuries or more.

All these images amazed Instagram users and within a couple of hours after sharing they nearly 10 lakh likes and thousands of comments expressing users' amusement.

(Picture credits: NASA)

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Homegrown Koo App has revealed that it has taken strict action against Koo posts which is in line with the compliance and guidelines laid down by the Central Government. Therefore, it has removed over 2,300 Koos and taken the strictest action against more than 66,300 posts.

In accordance with Rule 4(d) of the of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 of the Government of India, Koo has published a social media Compliance Report for July 2021, in the manner required by the Rules, Koo said in a statement.

Koo published this report in the second month as it plans to bring more clarity in the process of enabling compliance requirements on social media, Koo said in a statement.

In July 2021, Koo revealed that the community had reported 3,431, out of which 498 were removed and rest of the 2,933 accounts faced action.

Besides that, Koo took proactive steps to moderate 65,280 Koos, of which 1,887 were removed while other action was taken against the rest of 63,393.

Other action includes overlay, blur, ignore, warn, etc., related to Koos or posts that do not comply with the Government of India guidelines.

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#mute
New Delhi: Yeh Hai Mohabbatein fame actress Divyanka Tripathi has revealed that she will not be a part of Balaji Telefilms Bade Acche Lagte Hain season 2 and agrees with the perception that she would look older opposite actor Nakuul Mehta on-screen.

The actress said her reason for saying no to the show was that it did not resonate with her. Yes, I was offered Bade Acche Lagte Hain 2 and I had even given a look test for the show. But I did not say yes to the show as I could not relate to the character, the actress shared with ETimes.

Divyanka said that after working in the industry for 15 years, she has the right to reject a project if it does not resonate with her. After working for so many years into this industry if it is me or anyone as an actor, we should have at least this liberty to choose a project which I am passionate about, said the Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 alum.

Talking about looking older than the male lead Nakuul Mehta, the actress said, As far as the report of me looking older than him onscreen is considered in fact I totally agree with it. Because when I was offered the show and I was proposed this idea, I was surprise after hearing about the pairing and my family also reacted the same way. They felt that we would look slightly off. But when I spoke to the shows team over the phone, I agreed to do the look test. I felt like lets give the look test and see how our pair actually looks on screen.

The actress further added, I had this feeling that Nakuul and I wont match or look good onscreen together. I am fine with that thought. I feel someone else who comes on board to play the female lead will do justice to the show and I had conveyed my thought across. Ive done this personally.

On the work front, Divyanka is part of Rohit Shetty's hosted adventure reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi 11.
Kabul: At least 254 Taliban were killed and 97 others wounded in operations conducted by the Afghanistan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) in different provinces across the country, said Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan on Sunday (August 1). The Afghan security forces conducted operations and counter attacks against Taliban terrorists in Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, Farah, Jowzjan, Balkh, Samangan, Helmand, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Kabul & Kapisa provinces.

"254 Taliban terrorists were killed and 97 wounded as a result of ANDSF operations in Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, Farah, Jowzjan, Balkh, Samangan, Helmand, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Kabul & Kapisa provinces during the last 24 hours. Also, 13 IEDs were discovered & defused by #ANA," Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan tweeted.

This comes in wake of the drawdown by foreign troops from the war-torn country. Over the last few weeks, the Taliban have captured several districts in Afghanistan including Takhar, the country`s northeastern province. The Taliban seized over 193 district centres and 19 border districts, according to the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

The Taliban have also taken control of 10 border crossing points across the country in Takhar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Herat and Farah provinces leading to the complete shutdown of cross-border movements and trade in these areas.

Earlier, the ministry further disclosed that since April 14, nearly 4,000 ANDSF personnel had been killed, over 7,000 injured and about 1,600 captured by the Taliban. As many as 2,000 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the violence, while 2,200 were injured

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New Delhi: As COVID-19 numbers increase in Pakistan, India is considering putting health restrictions on travellers coming from the country. According to data, the total number of active COVID cases in Pakistan stands at 73,213, as of August 2, 2021.

Sources say, "In view of an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan, relevant Indian authorities are considering to impose health-related restrictions, including institutional quarantine, for all travellers originating from Pakistan."

According to Pakistan's National Command and Operation Centre, in the last 24 hours, at least 40 people lost their lives due to COVID-19, with most deaths occurring in the Sindh province, followed by Punjab. At least 4,858 people tested positive for COVID-19 on August 1.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has announced a number of new restrictions domestically to control the situation. Federal planning minister Asad Umar announced the resumption of 50 per cent work-from-home policy, public transport to operate with 50 per cent occupancy.

The restrictions apply in major cities like Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Karachi and Hyderabad and National Capital Islamabad. The country has also detected the Epsilon strain of COVID-19, which is highly transmissible.

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A state of emergency was on Monday imposed in Japan`s Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Osaka prefectures, joining Tokyo and Okinawa, due to a resurgence in new Covid-19 cases.

The state of emergency for the four new prefectures will last until August 31, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the emergency period in Tokyo and Okinawa was also extended to August 31 from the originally planned August 22.

The Japanese government is planning to roll out standards for easing restrictions with the progress of vaccination of the population.

Under the state of emergency, establishments serving alcohol or offering karaoke services are asked to suspend their business, and those not serving liquor are requested to close at 8 p.m.

The government would offer monetary compensation for compliance.

Outside of the six prefectures, a quasi-state of emergency has been implemented in parts of Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka until the end of August.

The quasi-state of emergency is less restrictive on business activity than the state of emergency.

According to the government`s policy, serving alcohol is prohibited and restaurants not serving liquor are asked to close at 8 p.m. under the quasi-state of emergency as well, and the local governors of the five prefectures could ease restrictions based on improvements in the situation.

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